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Contents • • • • • • • Origins and content [ ] The Ayenbite is a translation of the French (also known as the Book of Vices and Virtues), a late 13th century treatise on; the popularity of this latter text is demonstrated by the large number of surviving copies. The subject-matter is treated primarily; for example, the are identified with the seven heads of the of the. The surviving copy of the work was completed on 27 October 1340, by a monk,.

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This can be stated with rare certainty, for the author specifies all these details himself, writing in the preface, þis boc is dan Michelis of Northgate / ywrite an englis of his oȝene hand. Þet hatte: Ayenbyte of inwyt. This book is [the work of] don Michael of Northgate, written in English in his own hand, that's called: Remorse of Conscience. And in a postscript, Ymende.

Þet þis boc is uolueld ine þe eve of þe holy apostles Symon an Iudas / of ane broþer of þe cloystre of sanynt Austin of Canterburi / ine þe yeare of oure lhordes beringe 1340. Let it be known that this work was fulfilled on the eve of the feast of the holy apostles and, by a brother of the cloister of Saint, in the Year of our Lord 1340.

It is usually assumed that Michael of Northgate was himself the translator, not merely a copyist; the library of St Augustine's contained two copies of the French work at this time (Gradon 1979). Language [ ] Since the work was intended for the use of Kentish commoners, its language has a number of unusual features.

Firstly, the vocabulary shows a marked preference for translating technical terms into compounds of English words, rather than borrowing French or Latin terminology. The title itself is a common example: it uses ayenbite, 'again-bite', for modern English 'remorse', and inwyt, 'in-wit', or 'inward-knowledge', for modern English 'conscience', both terms being literal translations () of the Latin words. Even 'amen' is often translated, into the phrase zuo by hit ('so be it').

It is thus an early example of. Secondly, the orthography transparently reveals many details of pronunciation. Most notably, initial fricatives are regularly voiced: the word 'sin' is spelt zenne, 'father' becomes vader, 'first' becomes verst or averst.

The spelling is unusually consistent for the time, which implies that it is an accurate representation of the author's speech: it has been described as 'as close to a 'pure' dialect as we can get' (Freeborn 1992:172). As such, and particularly given our precise knowledge of its place and date of writing, it is an invaluable resource in reconstructing the linguistic history of southern England. The text is also notable for its archaic compared to other specimens of Middle English.

For instance, the and of are still distinguished; þe t child bed our e Lhord e, þe t gernier/to þe gernier e. The spelling Lhord(e) (Old English hlaford(e)) also suggests retention of the Old English /hl/ consonant cluster. None of these features are found in the, from, which is almost two centuries older. Reception [ ] As Michael explains in his postscript, the Ayenbite was intended to provide a confessional treatise that would be accessible to 'lewede men,' those who could read neither French nor Latin, for the good of their souls. In this aim it can be compared to 's contemporary, but unlike that work, the Ayenbite appears not to have gained any popularity; only one copy has survived, in the manuscript Arundel 57, and that is almost certainly the original (Treharne 2000:526). No demonstrable influence on later works has been found; a 19th-century theory that might have used the work as a source for his has long been abandoned.