This article investigates the role that reader-oriented, unlimited intertextuality – that is, intertextual references only as perceived or even mis-perceived by readers – might have had to play in the transmission, adaptation, and development of the Bevis of Hampton narratives across English and Francophone traditions. In recent years, a number of studies have demonstrated the importance of the multi-text manuscript as a medium for texts to be integrated into new reading communities, and I therefore use multi-text Bevis manuscripts as a starting point for my enquiry. In particular, this article focuses on an Anglo-Norman Boeve de Haumtone manuscript (Leuven, Universiteitsbibliotheek, MS G. 170 or the ‘Firmin-Didot manuscript’, now lost), an English Bevis of Hampton manuscript (British Library, Egerton MS 2862) and a copy of the so-called “first version” of the continental French Beuve de Haumtone (Bibliothèque nationale de France MS Fr. 25516). Beginning with the “intratexts” that occur within the confines of the Firmin-Didot codex, this article moves forward to consider, in more hypothetical terms, the different textual encyclopedias that may have been available to the historic readers of Bevis manuscripts, and the ways in which readerly understandings (and misunderstandings) of a text’s intertextuality could prompt new narrative branches to sprout forth, and eventually lead to the emergence of new traditions.

本文调查了以读者为导向的无限互文性——即仅被读者感知甚至误解的互文引用——可能在汉普顿的贝维斯叙事在英语中的传播、改编和发展中所起的作用和法语传统。近年来，多项研究证明了多文本手稿作为文本融入新阅读社区的媒介的重要性，因此我使用多文本 Bevis 手稿作为我的调查起点。特别是，本文关注的是盎格鲁-诺曼Boeve de Haumtone手稿（Leuven, Universiteitsbibliotheek, MS G. 170 或“Firmin-Didot 手稿”，现已丢失），一份英国汉普顿的 Bevis手稿（大英图书馆，Egerton MS 2862）和法国大陆Beuve de Haumtone（法国国家图书馆 MS Fr. 25516）的所谓“第一版”副本。从 Firmin-Didot 抄本范围内出现的“内部文本”开始，本文以更假设的方式进一步考虑 Bevis 手稿的历史读者可能已经获得的不同文本百科全书，以及通过读者对文本互文性的理解（和误解）可能会促使新的叙事分支萌芽，并最终导致新传统的出现。