A critical edition of a late fourteenth century French verse translation of Boethius' de consolatione philosophiae : boece de confort

The purpose of this thesis is to present the first complete edition of the verse translation of the De Consolatione Philosophic? of Boethius known as version X, supposedly completed by an anonymous Benedictine monk in the late XIV^1 Century. Volume one consists of four chapters. Volume two contains five chapters, a bibliography and an appendix. Volume One ♦ Chapter one serves as an introduction to the edition. The place of this version in the French tradition of translations of the Consolatio as well as information about the author, the title and probable date of the text are discussed. ♦ Chapter two deals with an extensive description of the manuscripts containing this text. The selection of the base manuscript and three control manuscripts is then discussed, and a genealogy of the manuscripts is proposed. A stemma and a table of variants conclude this chapter. ♦ Chapter three examines the close relationship between this text and its model, the Roman de Fortune et de Félicité, the verse translation by Renaut de Louhans. An appendix showing a verse by verse comparison with Renaut’s text accompanies this chapter. ♦ Chapter four presents a linguistic study of the text, including an examination of the dialect and a table of rhymes. It is proposed that the author made a special effort to eradicate evidence of Renaut’s Burgundian linguistic features in favour of those found in the Picard dialect of his time. Volume Two ♦ Chapter one states the principles adopted for the establishment of the text. ♦ Chapter two presents the edited text of the Böece de Confort and the variants from the control manuscripts. A photographic copy of folio 43 recto from Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, nouv. acq. fr. 1982, arguably the most interesting page from the base manuscript, is included. ♦ Chapter three contains the notes. ♦ Chapter four presents a list of proper names. ♦ Chapter five consists of a glossary. The bibliography contains all works, both consulted and cited. In an attempt to make all manuscripts containing a copy of the Böece de Confort more accessible, an appendix, providing for each manuscript the numbers of the first and final verses of both sides of each folio on which this text is found, concludes this thesis.