The work survives in twelve manuscripts (one of which contains two copies), and in a Latin translation in the fifteenth-century manuscript Cambridge, Gonville and Caius College, MS. 140/80, folios 115v–118v. As listed by Dennis Lynch and Margaret G. Amassian,[4]: 218–19 and by Isabel De La Cruz Cabanillas,[1]: 511 these are:
| city |
repository and shelfmark |
folios |
date |
|---|
| London |
British Library, Arundel 507 |
40r–41r (fragmentary) |
c. 1400 |
| London |
British Library, Additional 22283 (the Simeon Manuscript) |
150v–151v |
late fourteenth century |
| London |
British Library, Additional 37790 (the Amherst Manuscript) |
132r–135v |
fifteenth century |
| Cambridge |
Cambridge University Library, Dd v 64 |
22v–29r |
late fourteenth century |
| Cambridge |
Magdalene College, Pepys 2125 |
99r–101r |
fifteenth century |
| Oxford |
Bodleian Library, Rawlinson A 389 (containing two copies of the text) |
71r–81r (fragmentary), 95v–99r |
early fifteenth century |
| Oxford |
Bodleian Library, English Poetry a 1 (the Vernon Manuscript) |
369r–370v |
late fourteenth century |
| Warminster |
Longleat House, Library of the Marquess of Bath, Longleat 29 |
41v–54v |
fifteenth century |
| Dublin |
Trinity College Dublin, 155 (C.5.7) |
1r–9v |
early fifteenth century |
| London |
Westminster School, 3 |
225r–231r |
c. 1420 |
| Paris |
Bibliothèque Sainte Geneviève, 3390 |
95v–108r |
fourteenth century |
| Tokyo |
Takamiya 66 (previously Bradfer-Lawrence 10) (the Gurney Manuscript) |
24r–28r |
fifteenth century |
Although De La Cruz Cabanillas found the content of most manuscripts very similar overall, Lynch and Amassian noted that manuscripts vary extensively in the detail of their wording. They present the following line of verse (which, as it appears in Dd v 64, means "the thorn crowns the King; that pricking is very sore") as an example:[4]: 220
| manuscript |
text |
|---|
| British Library, Arundel 507 |
missing (fragmentary manuscript) |
| British Library, Additional 22283 (the Simeon Manuscript) |
Þe kyng crounede with þorn ful sore prikkyng |
| British Library, Additional 37790 (the Amherst Manuscript) |
His heede thay crownede with thornes sare prykknge |
| Cambridge University Library, Dd v 64 |
Þe thorne crownes þe keyng; ful sare es þat prickyng |
| Magdalene College, Pepys 2125 |
And þis kyng corowned was with þornes sore prikkynge |
| Bodleian Library, Rawlinson A 389 (text 1) |
missing (fragmentary manuscript) |
| Bodleian Library, Rawlinson A 389 (text 2) |
Þe kyng crowned wiþ þorn, ful sore he is prickynge |
| Bodleian Library, English Poetry a 1 (the Vernon Manuscript) |
Þe kyng crouned with þorne, ful sore he is prikked |
| Longleat House, Library of the Marquess of Bath, Longleat 29 |
Þe thorne crownes þe keyng; ful sare es þat prickyng |
| Trinity College Dublin, 155 (C.5.7) |
Wiþ þornes þei crouned hym kynge, hard was þat prykkyng þat he suffurd þan of hem |
| Westminster School, 3 |
Þe kyng crouned wyth thornes, scharp he was prykkede |
| Bibliothèque Sainte Geneviève, 3390 |
And wiþ þorne kene crouned was þi kynge |
| Takamiya 66 (previously Bradfer-Lawrence 10) (the Gurney Manuscript) |
Þe thorne crownes þe keyng; ful sare es þat prickyng |
Lynch and Amassian concluded that the manuscript closest to Rolle's lost archetype is Cambridge University Library, MS Dd. 5. 64 (and that the Latin translation in Gonville and Caius College, MS. 140/80 is also a primary witness to Rolle's earliest English text),[4] while De La Cruz Cabanillas noted both MS Dd. 5. 64's consistency with Yorkshire English and the fact that the manuscripts seem to come from Yorkshire and the Midlands, with few or no southern examples.[1]
