LCIENSED PROOFS. POST PEER REVIEW Current Issues in Medieval England, ed. Letizia Vezzosi, Berlin: Peter Lang, 2021 (Studies in English Medieval Language and Literature, 59), pp. 59-85. (ISSN 1436-7521; ISBN 978-3-631-86274-2-Print) Patrizia Lendinara On the Trail of Bibbesworth Abstract: The Tretiz of Walter of Bibbesworth exerted quite an influence on literature over the two centuries that followed its composition. It served as the basis for two long works in French – accompanied by a full translation in English – which were employed as learning tools, while its effect was evidently felt in a number of bilingual (or trilingual) glossaries, such as the Glossary in Cambridge, St John’s College, E.17 (120). Later French language learning tools circulating well into the fifteenth century also display a working knowledge of the Tretiz. Keywords: Walter of Bibbesworth, Tretiz, Glosses, Glossaries, Loanwords, Homonyms. 1. A Work that Left its Mark The Tretiz ‘pur aprise de langage’ written by Walter of Bibbesworth enjoyed a wide popularity in England. Not only is the Tretiz attested by a remarkable number of manuscripts, but its influence is evident in a number of French language learning texts dating from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The overlapping with the Nominale in Cambridge, University Library, Ee. 4.20 is considerable and the bulk of the anonymous treatise Femina is taken from the Tretiz. A number of glossaries pick up the French words belonging to the lexical fields covered by the Tretiz (e.g. names of animals and their cries, trees, food and farm implements) and their ME renderings provided by the glosses which accompany the work in several manuscripts. In the Manières de Langage, whilst dealing with the vocabulary necessary for English travellers in France, a few sections follow verbatim (albeit in abbreviated form) the similar sections of Bibbesworth’s work. The Orthographia Gallica (Johnston 1987) employs the lists of French words cramming the lines of the poem, focusing on the homonyms which are subtly deployed by Bibbesworth. All these pieces of evidence bear witness to the currency and influence of the Tretiz in England during the whole of the fourteenth century and beyond. 2. The Tretiz On the basis of the other works composed by Walter of Bibbesworth and what is known of the author’s life, the Tretiz ‘pur aprise de langage’ 1 was written in 1270 at the latest. 2 The Tretiz is addressed to people who had some knowledge of French and, in its Prologue, is presented as a tool for the children of Dionyse (Dionysia or Dionisie) de Munchensy, who apparently wished to teach French to her two stepchildren, Joan and John, and to her own son, William; thereby likely improving her own French in the process. The lines of the long composition relate to a number of areas of French vocabulary: parts of the body, clothing, names of animals (as well as collective names for animals and their voices, with particular regard for birds), flowers, fruits, trees, agricultural pursuits, food and table settings (Jambeck 2005). The author’s command of French lexis is remarkable and he makes skilful use of French 1 “Tretiz […] pur apprise de langage” is how the work is defined in the prologue of Cambridge, University Library, Gg. 1.1 (G) (sec. xiv 1/4 ). 2 Baugh (1959) dated the composition to 1240-1250. William Rothwell (1982: 282) endorsed this dating; he, however, would push back the assumed date of composition over time in his following essays and in his edition. Owen (1929: 41) would date the work to 1280-1290.