My Compleinte and Other Poems

Roger Ellis is a senior lecturer in English at the University of Cardiff. Since 1987 he has organised conferences on the theory and practice of translation in the Middle Ages and is editor of volumes 1–6 of The Medieval Translator.

• FrontispieceAcknowledgementsSigla of Manuscripts and Other AbbreviationsIntroductionNotesEditorial PrinciplesA Note on Hoccleve's LanguageMINOR VERSEI. 'Conpleynte paramont'NotesII. 'La male regle de T. Hoccleue'NotesIII. 'Balade et chanceon...a mon meistre H. Somer'NotesIV. 'Balade...[pour] mon meistre Robert Chichele'NotesV. 'Item de beata Virgine'NotesVI. 'L'epistre de Cupide'NotesVII. THE SERIES1. 'My compleinte'Notes2. 'A dialoge'Notes3. 'Fabula de quadam imperatrice Romana'Notes4. 'Ars vtillissima sciendi mori'Notes5. 'Fabula de quadam muliere mala'Notes6; Appendices1. The stanzas added to the 'Conpleynte paramont' in the Middle English Pilgrimage of the Soul2A. A comparison of the version of Hoccleve's first Gesta narrative with selected Latin and Middle English analogues2B. The source of Hoccleve's 'Balade... translatee au commandement de... Robert Chichele.'3. The glosses to 'Ars vtillissima sciendi mori' in S and D, 2704. Additional notes on the textual relations of the non-holograph copies of the 'Conpleynte paramont', 'Epistre de Cupide' and the Series5. Selected variants from the non-holograph manuscript copies of the texts here editedBibliographyEditions of texts or selectionsSecondary literature

The wealth of detail noticed and reported on by Ellis is absolutely staggering ... It is a serious work, offered by a committed textual scholar who has investigated all the complex issues of authority and transmission ... It allows us to bring into the classroom data about the complex and unique history of textual transformation for Hoccleve's works, a real “behind the scenes” look at medieval authorship and composition ... One thing is certain, the reader will know Hoccleve well as poet, translator and scribe after reading this edition cover to cover, all the way through, as Hoccleve long ago exhorted us to do. Ellis's edition, bursting at the seams with historical, textual and critical detail, a feast of both matter and art, will doubtlessly be a major factor in the renaissance of Hoccleve studies.