ensured a complex and rich manuscript tradition. The work’s most recent editors have argued that the transmission of the text was bifid, meaning that all witnesses of the Dissuasio stem from two families representing separate, irreconcilable archetypes.110 These archetypes, which they term “alpha” and “beta,” may well represent two different authorial versions of the Dissuasio Valerii.111 Alpha appears to be the earliest, and seems to have been in circulation by 1184.112 The copy of the Dissuasio found in the De nugis curialium, on the other hand, belongs to the beta family of manuscripts (though it is interestingly not the best representative of this family). This state of affairs would to be expected if the beta family represents a revised version of the Dissuasio, since by Walter’s own testimony the Dissuasio was already popular by the time Walter revisited it in the De nugis curialium. It seems then, that these two families of manuscript are best thought of as earlier (alpha) and revised (beta) versions of the Dissuasio Valerii. This works well with what we know about the circulation of the alpha and beta groups. The alpha group appears to have spread rapidly throughout the continent and is by far the larger of the two families. Only eight manuscripts belong to the beta group. It is very revealing that in addition to the copy of the Dissuasio in the De nugis curialium, only one other manuscript, British Library Additional 34749, names Walter Map as the text’s author—and both of these belong to the beta (revised) group.113 In other words, the only manuscripts that name Walter Map as the author of the Dissuasio Valerii belong to the small family of manuscripts that I believe represents the revised version of the text, a situation that accords with what Walter himself tells us: that he only added his name after the Dissuasio became incredibly popular. Tellingly, lines 284–317, which contain an overtly Christian exhortation and thus destroy the illusion that the text is indeed ancient, seem to have their origin in the beta version.114 Walter seems to have added this passage only after he revealed his own authorship of the Dissuasio. Only a thorough comparison of the alpha and beta traditions can confirm that he did in fact produce two separate versions—a task that the lack of a good alpha edition renders impossible for the moment. Nonetheless, internal evidence from the De nugis curialium has already shown Walter to be a thorough reviser. It is not surprising in the least that he revised his most successful work.
As a reviser, Walter is no anomaly in the twelfth century. Gerald of Wales wrote five versions of Topographia Hibernica.115 Peter of Blois seemingly could not resist the urge to fiddle with his letters, and later in his life he gave his letter collection a fairly radical overhaul.116 Likewise, the textual tradition of Nigel Wireker’s Speculum stultorum suggests that this popular satire also underwent one revision.117 Walter, like these and other authors, worked through his text with care, tinkering with words, rearranging phrases, and repurposing stories. Importantly, this care does not suggest a careless anecdotist who has hastily jotted down witty sayings. Walter Map may in fact have more in common with William Langland, the most well-known reviser in medieval England; it is a pleasant coincidence that an important copy of Piers Plowman resides in Bodley 851, a happy companion to the only copy of the De nugis curialium.
Chapter 3
Glosses and a Contrived Book
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