Page:Gesta Romanorum - Swan - Hooper.djvu/18

piled in imitation of the "Original Gesta," i.e. the Gesta represented by the set of manuscripts (C) which supplied the Vulgate.

B. Group of Latin and German MSS. This family is best represented by an edition in German, printed by John Schopser, at Augsburg, in 1489.^[1]

C. A group represented by the Vulgate. The MSS. of this group have been greatly influenced by one another, and by entirely distinct collections of stories;^[2] particularly by Robert Holkot's Moralitates. Stories from Gervase of Tilbury appear in some of the younger MSS. of this group.^[3] This group constitutes what Douce calls the "Original Gesta."

I have here given as concise a statement as possible of a great multiplicity of facts. The diversity existing among the MSS. known in England, and their apparent want of connection with the printed editions, gave rise to the theory, upheld by Mr. Douce and combated by Mr. Swan and others, that there were two distinct collections of stories called Gesta Romanorum, one of German, the other of English origin. The early appearance of the Gesta in England, the fact that the Vulgate was only printed on the Continent, as well as the local colouring of certain of the stories, were held to prove that shortly after the compilation of the "Original Gesta" in Germany, a similar set of stories was composed in imitation of it in England. That no copy of the "English Gesta" was printed appeared as strange as the fact that no MS. of the Vulgate had ever been found. As remarked above, Mr. Douce fully expected that a careful search in the libraries of the Continent would reveal the missing MS.

Herr Oesterley's investigations appear to show conclusively that, though there were not two Gestas, in the

1. Oesterley, pp. 1, 245
2. Ibid. pp. 245, 246.
3. Ibid. p. 253.