Scribe 5

Lines 1-474 in 6-line tail-rhyme stanzas rhyming aabccb; remainder in short couplets. 4444 lines. 4620 lines in Kölbing's edition which includes in its lineation 176 lines from a leaf lost after f.188.

Translated from an Anglo-Norman romance c.1300. Traditionally thought to have been composed in the dialect of Southampton.

Four other manuscripts of the same redaction as Auchinleck:
BL Egerton MS 2862 (olim Trentham-Sutherland). Late 14th century. Suffolk. Egerton also has in common with Auchinleck: King Richard, Sir Degare, Floris and Blancheflour and Amis and Amiloun.
CUL MS Ff.2.38 (olim no. 690). Late 15th century. Ff.2.38 also has in common with Auchinleck: A Penniworþ of Witt, The Seven Sages of Rome, Guy of Warwick (different version) and Sir Degare.
Caius Cambridge MS 175. 1400-1450. S. E. Midlands. The Caius MS also has in common with Auchinleck: King Richard and Seynt Katerine.
Naples, Royal Library MS XIII.B.29. c.1457.

Other versions contained in:
Trinity College Cambridge MS 0.2.13/IV (James's no. 1117). Late 15th century. Fragment.
Chetham's Library MS 8009. Late 15th century. E. Midlands.

Editions:
E. Kölbing, Beues of Hamtoun, EETS ES 46, 48, 65 (London: Trübner, 1885, 1886, 1894).
J. Fellows, 'Bevis of Hamptoun: Study and Edition', unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Cambridge (1979). (All MSS in parallel).

Manual I, 25; 215. Index 1993.