Bewnans Ke / The Life of St Kea

Nicholas Williams, Graham Thomas

Description

In 2000, a sixteenth-century manuscript containing a copy of a previously unknown play in Middle Cornish, probably composed in the second half of the fifteenth century, was discovered among papers bequeathed to the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth.

This eagerly awaited edition of the play, published in association with the National Library of Wales, offers a conservatively edited text with a facing-page translation, and a reproduction of the original text at the foot of the page – vital for comparative purposes. Also included are a complete vocabulary, detailed linguistic notes, and a thorough introduction dealing with the language of the play, the hagiographic background of the St Kea material and the origins of other parts in the work of Geoffrey of Monmouth.

The theme of the play is the contention between St Kea, patron of Kea parish in Cornwall, and Teudar, a local tyrant. This is combined with a long section dealing with the dispute over tribute payments between King Arthur and the Emperor Lucius Hiberius; Queen Guinevere’s adultery with Arthur’s nephew Modred; the latter’s invitation to Cheldric and his Saxon hordes to come to Britain to assist him in his conflict with his uncle; and Arthur’s battle with Modred.

Winner of the 2008 Holyer An Gof Award for Cornish language publications.

Preface

Acknowledgements

Introduction, ix; Albert le Grand's "Life of St Ke"

Bewnans Ke: Synopsis

Albert le Grand's "Life of St Ke" and Bewnans Ke compared

Motifs found in the legend of St Kea and other saints' lives

St Kea, patron saint of Kea Parish

Bewnans Ke, Beunans Meriasek, and Glasney College, Penryn

The date of the composition of Bewnans Ke

The pronunciation of Middle English unstressed -e

The textual transmission of Bewnans Ke

Spelling and language

Phonology

Morphology

Syntax

Lexicon

Versification

Editorial method

Abbreviations

Bibliography

BEWNANS KE / THE LIFE OF ST KEA; Text and Translation

Notes

Index and glossary of Cornish words

Index and glossary of English words

Index of French words

Index of Latin words

Sujets

• Medieval
• HISTORY
• Histoire
• Cornualles
• Edad Media
• Celtic mythology
• Saint Kea
• General officer
• Geoffrey of Monmouth
• Middle Ages
• History of Europe
• Cornish language
• King Arthur
• General
• Performance
• Cornwall
• Europe

Informations

• Publié par: University of Exeter Press
• Date de parution: 02 mars 2015
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780859898997
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

BEWNANS KE
The Life of St Kea
Bewnans Ke hardback 1/2/07 10:18 am Page 1
BEWNANS KE is jointly edited by: BEWNANS KE is a previously unknown Middle BEWNANS KE is an important
• Graham Thomas, formerly of Cornish play, discovered in a late-sixteenth contribution to our knowledge
the Department of Manuscripts century manuscript bequeathed to the National and understanding of Middle
and Records, National Library of Library of Wales, Aberystwyth. The theme of the Cornish, adding many new
Wales, and play is a dispute between St Kea, patron of Kea words and phrases to its lexicon
• Nicholas Williams, Associate parish in Cornwall, and Teudar, a local tyrant. and increasing considerably the
Professor of Celtic Languages, In addition, a long section relates to King Arthur, corpus of known Middle
CorUniversity College Dublin. Queen Guinevere’s adultery with Arthur’s nephew nish literature. It also provides
Modred, and Arthur’s battle with Modred. fascinating new evidence for the
cult of St Kea in Cornwall and
The play is an important contribution both to the
substantial support for Cornish
lexicon and the literature of Middle Cornish.
engagement in the Arthurian
It also provides fascinating new evidence for the
tradition.
cult of St Kea in Cornwall and substantial support
A complete list of titles published is available from:
University of Exeter Press for Cornish interest in the Arthurian tradition.
Reed Hall
Streatham Drive This first critical edition combines meticulous
Exeter scholarship – including a systematic
introdEX4 4QR Graham Thomas
uction to the play’s context and language – withUK
and
www.exeterpress.co.uk an accessible presentation of the edited text
Nicholas Williams BEWNANS KE
alongside a modern translation.JACKET DESIGN: Bettina Newman
JACKET IMAGES: Front cover: King Arthur armed, carrying
his red shield blazoned with the Virgin and Child (© British The Life of St Kea
Library Board. All rights reserved, 20 A.ll.f.4). Back cover: ISBN 978-0-85989-800-3
Photograph of St Kea Church by Patrick Matthews.
A CRITICAL EDITION WITH TRANSLATION
ISBN 978 0 85989 800 3
UNIVERSITY OF EXETER PRESS
9 780859 898003 edited by Graham Thomas & Nicholas Williamswww.exeterpress.co.ukbewnans-ke 2006-09-01 16:12 Page i
EXETER MEDIEVAL TEXTS AND STUDIES
General Editors: Vincent Gillespie, Marion Glasscoe and M. J. Swanton
Bewnans Ke
____________________
The Life of St Kea
A previously unknown play in Middle Cornish was
discovered in the year 2000, in a late sixteenth-century
manuscript among papers bequeathed to The National
Library of Wales, Aberystwyth. On the basis of its language
and possible references in the text to contemporary
politics, it is argued that the play was composed in the late
fifteenth century, probably by an individual associated
with Glasney College, Penryn. The theme of the play is the
religious dispute between St Kea, a Celtic saint venerated
in Cornwall and Brittany, and Teudar, a Cornish tyrant.
This work, by Graham Thomas and Nicholas Williams, is
the first critical edition of the text.bewnans-ke 2006-09-01 16:12 Page ii
rBewnans Ke Folio 2 , NLW MS 23849D
(© The National Library of Wales)bewnans-ke 2006-09-01 16:12 Page iii
Bewnans Ke
____________________
The Life of St Kea
A critical edition with translation
edited by
Graham Thomas
Nicholas Williams
in association with
The National Library of Walesbewnans-ke 2006-09-01 16:12 Page iv
First published in 2006 by
University of Exeter Press
Reed Hall, Streatham Drive
Exeter, Devon, EX4 4QR
UK
www.exeterpress.co.uk
in association with
© 2006 Graham C. G. Thomas and Nicholas J. A. Williams
© in the original manuscript of Bewnans Ke: The National Library of Wales
The right of Graham C. G. Thomas and Nicholas J. A. Williams to be identified as authors
of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act 1988.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN-10: 0 85989 800 8
ISBN-13: 978 0 85989 800 3
Typeset and design by Michael Everson, Evertype, Westport, Co. Mayo, Ireland.
www.evertype.com. Set in Palatino.
Printed in the UK by Antony Rowe Ltd, Chippenham.bewnans-ke 2006-09-01 16:12 Page v
Contents
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii
Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . viii
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
Albert le Grand’s “Life of St Ké”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
Bewnans Ke: Synopsis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvi
Albert le Grand’s “Life of St Ké” and Bewnans Ke compared . . xxii
Motifs found in the legend of St Kea and other saints’ lives . xxxiv
St Kea, patron saint of Kea Parish. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxxvi
Bewnans Ke, Beunans Meriasek, and Glasney College, Penryn . . . xli
The date of the composition of Bewnans Ke . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xliv
The pronunciation of Middle English unstressed -e . . . . . . . . . . xlvi
The textual transmission of Bewnans Ke . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xlvi
Spelling and language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xlix
Phonology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . lix
Morphology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . lxi
Syntax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . lxv
Lexicon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . lxviii
Versification. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . lxxv
Editorial method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . lxxix
Abbreviations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . lxxxii
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . lxxxiv
BEWNANS KE / THE LIFE OF ST KEA
Text and Translation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Notes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333
Index and glossary of Cornish words . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417
Index and glossary of English words . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 478
Index of French words . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 481
Index of Latin words . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 482bewnans-ke 2006-09-01 16:12 Page vibewnans-ke 2006-09-01 16:12 Page vii
Preface
The manuscript of Bewnans Ke is difficult to read in places and
defective in others; it is also frequently corrupt. We have done
our best as editors to produce a text which is faithful to the
manuscript, is good Cornish, and gives reasonable sense. We
are aware that we have by no means solved every problem
and correctly interpreted every crux. It is nonetheless our
hope that by offering this first critical edition to the public, we
will enable those who come after us to investigate further the
background to this fascinating play and to make sense of
those passages that we have failed fully to understand.
viibewnans-ke 2006-09-01 16:12 Page viii
Acknowledgements
In the course of preparing this edition, we have received help
and encouragement from a number of people. We wish to
record here our gratitude especially to Morfydd Owen for
generously giving her time and offering valuable advice
during the early stages of editing; to Emeritus Professor
Charles Thomas for sharing with us his extensive knowledge
regarding the topographical references in the play and for his
continuing interest in our project; to Dr Oliver Padel for
placing his own transcript of the manuscript at our disposal
and for his opinions on a number of difficult or ambiguous
textual readings; and to Daniel Huws for his views on the
handwriting of the manuscript. We are also grateful to
members of staff of The National Library of Wales,
Aberystwyth: in particular Barbara Davies and Dafydd Ifans for
first recognizing the significance of the manuscript, and
Dr Rhidian Griffiths and Ann Ffrancon for overseeing the
early stages of production. We should like to thank
Michael Everson for the superb work he has done on the
typesetting and layout and on preparing the indexes. Finally
we wish to thank Anna Henderson and Simon Baker at
University of Exeter Press for coordinating the book’s
publication.
viiibewnans-ke 2006-09-01 16:12 Page ix
Introduction
The play edited in this volume is the first addition to the
corpus of literature in Middle Cornish since the discovery of
1Tregear’s Homilies in 1949. The first section of the play (lines
1–1251) begins acephalously owing to the loss of five folios
and deals with the confrontation of St Kea, a Celtic saint
venerated in Cornwall, Brittany and elsewhere, with Teudar, a
local Cornish tyrant; it ends abruptly owing to the loss of a
further two folios. When the text resumes, the action has
shifted to a band of knights, squires, bishops and other
dignitaries who are on their way to the court of King Arthur.
This second section (lines 1252–3308) deals with King
Arthur’s quarrel with the Roman emperor, Lucius Hiberius,
concerning the tribute the Britons were forced to pay to Rome;
Queen Guinevere’s adultery with Arthur’s nephew, Modred;
the latter’s invitation to Cheldric and his Saxon hordes into
Great Britain to assist him in his conflict with his uncle; and
Arthur’s battle with Modred. The play ends with a scene in
which Guinevere regrets her behaviour. The rest