Pricke of Conscience

Jean E. Jost is an emerita professor of English literature at Bradley University, Peoria, Illinois, where she taught medieval literature, women’s literature and advanced writing for 27 years.

“Fabulous...eminently readable” —Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Teaching

• Table of ContentsAcknowledgments    ixGeneral Introduction    1I. Introduction to the Poem and Manuscript    7Description of HM 128, Huntington Library, San Marino, California    7Contents of HM 128    7Date, Collation, and Hands    7Foliation    8Physical Description and Page Arrangement    8Decoration and Textual Presentation in the Pricke of Conscience, HM 128    8Versions of the Pricke of Conscience    8Manuscript Editions    8Modern and Medieval Editions    9Provenance of the Pricke of Conscience, HM 128    10Authorship    10Dating    10Language (by Hoyt Greeson)    10Manuscript Choice    12Criteria for “Best Text” of Pricke of Conscience Manuscript    12Rationale    15Editorial Policy   Spelling, Punctuation, Capitalization, Abbreviations and Division Markers    16Latin Quotations    16Critical Apparatus    16Bibliographies    17Notes    17II. Pricke of ConscienceFacsimile of Huntington Manuscript 128 Folio 1 recto    21Prologue: God’s Power Folio 1r    23Part I. Man’s Wretchedness Folio 4v    30Part II. The Instability of the World Folio 10v    42Part III. Death Folio 18v    58Part IV. Purgatory Folio 28v    78Part V. Ten Signs of Doomsday Folio 42v    106Part VI. The Pains of Hell Folio 69v    160Part VII. The Joys of Heaven Folio 77v    176Select Glossary (by Hoyt Greeson)    211Select Bibliography: Content of HM 128    238Select Bibliography: Dialect, Sources, and Definitions (by Hoyt Greeson)    240Index    241