Though the real name of the author, called the "Gawain Poet", is unknown, some inferences can be drawn from an informed reading of the works. The original manuscript is known in academic circles as
Cotton Nero A.x, following a naming system used by one of its owners,
Robert Cotton, a collector of Medieval English texts. Before the manuscript came into Cotton's possession, it was in the library of
Henry Savile of Bank in
Yorkshire. Little is known about its previous ownership, and until 1824, when the manuscript was introduced to the academic community in a second edition of
Thomas Warton's
History edited by
Richard Price, it was almost entirely unknown. Now held in the
British Library, it has been dated to the late 14th century, so the poet was a contemporary of
Geoffrey Chaucer, author of
The Canterbury Tales, though it is highly unlikely that they ever met. The three other works found in the same manuscript as
Pearl (commonly known as
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight,
Pearl, and
Cleanness or
Purity) are often considered to be written by the same author, who is accepted to be from the
Staffordshire/
North Shropshire/
Cheshire area. However, the manuscript containing these poems was transcribed by a copyist and not by the original poet, known by scribal errors. Suggested emendations may be found in "
Patience: An Alliterative Version of "Jonah" by the Poet of "Pearl." Although nothing explicitly suggests that all four poems are by the same poet, comparative analysis of dialect, verse form, and diction have pointed towards single-authorship. What is known today about the poet is largely general. As
J. R. R. Tolkien and
E. V. Gordon, after reviewing the text's allusions, style, and themes, concluded in 1925: W. A. Davenport commented: The Gawain-poet had a flair for vivid pictures and dramatic situations, and found intellectual delight in pattern: combinations of qualities provides much of the enjoyment of the poems, the conflict between them some uncertainty and complexity. Four works were shaped by a man of subtle mind, interested in not just narrative and describing opportunities of his material, but in exploring its equivocal nature. Many problems experienced by readers in interpreting poems, and the wide variety of interpretations offered for Sir Gawain and the Green Knight are shown to stem from the poet’s complex view of moral questions (103). The most commonly suggested candidate for authorship is John Massey of Cotton, Cheshire. He is known to have lived in the dialect region of the Gawain Poet and is thought to have written the poem,
St. Erkenwald, which some scholars argue bears stylistic similarities to
Gawain.
St. Erkenwald, however, has been dated by some scholars to a time outside the Gawain poet's era. Thus, ascribing authorship to John Massey is still controversial and most critics consider the Gawain poet an unknown. ==Style==