"Wives Many Oon"?

Some passages in the Prologue exist in several very early manuscripts but not in Hengwrt, which is probably the oldest manuscript of the Canterbury Tales. For a closer look at a few of these passages, and to think about what difference they might make,

Later manuscripts display many differences as well. Not all changes are "errors" -- some "young" sources may be as authoritative as "old" ones. But many changes -- marginal comments and even changes in the text -- demonstrate the responses of early readers, perhaps including the scribe. For a closer look at some changes in a later, less authoritative manuscript,