Robert Mannyng, Handlyng Synne

Ryan Perry (University of Kent at Canterbury)

Ed. by Hugh Magennis, Queen's University Belfast
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.02: English Writing and Culture: High and Late Medieval, 1066-1485.
Vol. editors: Kate Ash-Irisarri (University of Edinburgh), Rory Critten (Université de Lausanne), David Fuller (University of Durham), Natalie Hanna (University of Liverpool), Hugh Magennis (Queen's University Belfast), Jamie McKinstry (University of Durham), Sarah Peverley (University of Liverpool), Sebastian Sobecki (Rijksuniversiteit Groningen)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1303 - 1317

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Poem collection
Story Collection
Translation

Resources

Surviving in nine manuscripts as an excerpt, fragment or complete text, Handlyng Synne is an English vernacular adaptation in verse of the Anglo-Norman work Manuel des Pechiez (or Manuel des Péchés) a text probably composed, also in verse, in the 1270s in the Lincolnshire area. The traditional attribution of the Anglo-Norman text to the name William Wadington has been rejected by recent critics and it is now thought that the Manuel might be connected to the initiatives of the reforming Bishop of Lincoln Robert Grosseteste, although he was certainly not the author. Over fifty percent larger than its source text at 12,600 lines in length, Handlyng Synne emulates the basic structure of the …

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1564 words

Citation: Perry, Ryan. "Handlyng Synne". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 19 January 2006 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=16875, accessed 01 November 2024.]

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