The 'Roman de la rose' and the poems of MS Cotton Nero Ax, 4

Abstract

Certain resemblances between passages in the poems of Cotton Nero A x,4 and the Roman de la Rose are widely recognised. C.G.Osgood, for instance, in his edition of Pearl pointed out several passages which, he suggested, may have been influenced by the French poem and Sir Israel Gollancz has pointed to its possible influence in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. I do not so much want to add to this list of possible connections as to attempt an assessment of what the poet or poets of the MS made of ideas which can be explained more easily by reference to the Roman. There is one indisputable piece of evidence that the Roman was known to the author of one of these poems.