The text of Wace’s Brut and how it is treated by its earliest manuscripts

This article looks at the apparent omissions made to Wace’s original text of the Brut, occurring in the work’s earliest manuscript: Ms D, Durham Cathedral Library C iv 27 (late 12^th or early 13^th century), while admitting that we cannot be sure what precisely that original was like. Editions of the Brut have added to our uncertainty by printing hybrid texts, combinations of different manuscripts. However, a close look at D at least shows us certain interesting characteristics in the early reception of the Brut. Its differences from other early Mss may supply pointers to its patron, commissioning a new manuscript of a popular text, and to his or her tastes, and even, perhaps, suggest the area where it was written.