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Date of Graduation

5-2026

Description

This undergraduate research is a work of textual criticism identifying and evaluating a variant redaction of Dares Phrygius' De excidio Troiae that originated and circulated in Britain and Wales during the High Middle Ages. De excidio Troiae is a Latin text ascribed to Dares Phrygius, purportedly a soldier who had written a firsthand account of the Trojan War. Since knowledge of Greek was rare in the West during the medieval period, this text became one of the prominent sources for learning about the Trojan war. I am looking to a redaction, or version, of the text that appears to have circulated in Britain starting around the 12th century, although the details of the redactor remain obscure. Utilizing codicologist Louis Faivre d’Arcier’s work on this text, his list of the 7 manuscripts identified as part of this unique British redaction is what guides my research. D'Arcier collated, or categorized, these manuscripts into the unique recension in question, and is the leading scholar in this research, with not much other previous studies on this specific redaction available. My aim is to work towards a preliminary study of this Anglo-Welsh version by comparing one of the 7 manuscripts in this group, Exeter, Cathedral Library MS 3514, to two manuscripts part of the “parent” branches in its family tree in order to identify what changes had been made. To do so, I compare EG with its “parent” manuscripts closely and document any changes that occur. These changes are then categorized by nature of the change to determine not just if there are differences in the text, but in what ways the text is changed, and what that says about medieval editing. So far, my results are that this is indeed a unique recension, and I am finding interesting editing choices by the redactor who was utilizing multiple versions of the text and compromising between the two when the texts diverged from each other. I am also looking to explicate Welsh textual circulation at large, as well as what narrative was responsible for people's understanding of the Trojan War in the British Isles. Many notable medieval British authors, such as Geoffrey of Monmouth, were aware of this story and were influenced by it in their own writing. It is important, especially in an academic standpoint, to understand where the sources for our sources come from and to develop that foundation before we build upon our understanding of medieval literary history. Beyond this, this study will further illuminate the reception and understanding of the Trojan War, one of the oldest and influential Greek myths in the Western world, in both the medieval world and the modern.

Publication Date

2026

Document Type

Book

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts in English

Degree Level

Undergraduate

Department

English

Advisor/Mentor

Smith, Joshua

Disciplines

Arts and Humanities

Keywords

Humanities

A Preliminary Study on a Variant Recension of De excidio Troiae

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