Editing the B Archetype of Piers Plowman and the Relationship between Alpha and Beta

A reflection on two of the major issues that have arisen in the authors’ reconstruction of the text of the B archetypal copy, for publication as an edition in the Piers Plowman Electronic Archive. The authors firstly defend their use of the stemma, arguing that genetic and ‘direct’ analyses are not mutually exclusive editorial methods. Secondly they examine the large omissions in the alpha and beta branches of the stemma, and consider the consequences for the status of Bx.