in such words.
---- _l._ 15, _ora_.--The MS. has _hora_.
_P._ 25, _l._ 2, _Sabbatum_.--Saturday, May 20, 1217. The next day
was Trinity Sunday.
_P._ 28, _l._ 11, _Sabinæ_.--Sabina was a very common term for a
modest woman in low Latin, just as Thais was for a strumpet. See
on the latter word a note in the _Early Mysteries and other Latin
Poems_, p. 131.
---- _l._ 12, _Arabes_.--Arabia, the land of gems and spices, was
believed to contain inexhaustible stores of riches.
_P._ 33, _l._ 4, _Refert ad focariam_.--_Focaria_ was the name
given to the wives or concubines of the priests and clergy, who
had been recently proscribed. It occurs again in the _Apocalypsis
Goliæ_--
Seductam nuncii fraude præambuli,
Capit _focariam_, ut per cubiculi
Fortunam habeat fortunam loculi,
Et per vehiculum omen vehiculi.
I have rendered the word, according to its derivation, by
_fire-side woman_, for it is explained in an old gloss as
_meretrix foco assidens_. See _Ducange in v._ Fuller (Church
Hist. p. 27, folio edit.) makes very needless difficulties on the
meaning of this word, apparently for the sake of introducing some
equally needless jokes. The following article in the _decreta_
of Pope Alexander, printed in the History of Henry of Huntingdon
(Scriptores post Bedam, fol. 1601), p. 589, which one would think
must have passed under his eyes, left little room for doubt;--
“_Ne clerici in sacris ordinibus constituti_ focarias _habeant._
“Clerici in sacris ordinibus constituti, qui mulierculas in domibus
suis sub incontinentiæ nota tenuerint, aut abjiciant eas et
continenter vivant, aut beneficio et officio fiant ecclesiastico
alieni.”
In the statutes of Stephen, Archbishop of Canterbury, MS. Cotton.
Julius D. II. fol. 167, r^o, we find also a chapter--
“_De_ focariis _amovendis._
“Sacerdotibus vero præcipue et spiritualiter in virtute Spiritus
Sancti et sub periculo beneficii districte præcipimus quod
continenter vivant et honeste, concubinas suas a domibus suis
procul expellant, et nullam familiaritatem cum eis de cætero
habeant, nec in propriis domibus nec in alienis, nisi volunt simul
beneficiis et officiis contra hoc agendo privari,” etc.
And again, just after, we have the following title:--
“_De pœna et satisfactione_ focariarum.
“Concubinæ sacerdotum frequenter moneantur ab archidiaconis,
et præcipue a sacerdotibus in quorum parochia morantur, vel ut
contrahant, vel ut claustrum ingrediantur, vel sicut publice
peccaverunt publicam agant pœnetentiam.”
The word _focaria_ is often used by Giraldus Cambrensis. Speaking
of a priest on the Borders of Wales, he says, “More sacerdotum
parochialium Angliæ fere cunctorum damnabili quidem et detestabili,
publicam secum habebat comitem individuam et _in foco focariam_ et
in cubiculo concubinam.” (Wharton, Anglia Sacr. vol. ii. p. 525.)
From this passage it is clear that the name _focaria_ was given to
them because they lived publicly with the priests in their houses,
and _shared their fire-sides_; and from some other circumstances
mentioned in Giraldus, it appears that they were in reality married
to the priests, though the stricter party considered the marriage
to be uncanonical.
_P._ 36, _l._ 2, _Omina_.--The MS. has _Homina_.
---- _Bernard de Rovenac_.--For all that is known of this poet, see
the _Histoire Littéraire de France_, tom. xviii. p. 667.
_P._ 48, _ll._ 7-10, _Regnat nunc impietas_, &c. These four lines
resemble very closely the first four lines of another song, in MS.
Sloane, No. 1580, fol. 160, v^o, which will be printed among the
Poems of Walter Mapes--
Captivata largitas longe relegatur,
Exulansque probitas misere fugatur,
Dum virtuti veritas prave novercatur,
Inperat cupiditas atque principatur.
_P._ 49, _l._ 8, _Wandelardus_.--Perhaps _a Vandal_.
---- _ll._ 15-18. With the little information given in the song,
it is difficult to ascertain who were the four brothers the writer
intended to satirise. This punning way of deriving and explaining
proper names was by no means uncommon during the middle ages. In
a splendid Bible in three volumes folio, written in England early
in the twelfth century, and now preserved in the Library of St.
Geneviève at Paris, the scribe gives the following very curious
account of his family. Its being previously inedited will be a
sufficient excuse for inserting it here.
“Hanc Bibliothecam scripsit Mainerus scriptor Cantuariensis. Sed
ne ab ignorantibus parentelam suam putaretur nothus, sive spurius,
placuit ei nomen proprium suum et nomen propinquorum parentum
suorum scribere et ethimo-logizare. Ipse itaque scriptor inter suos
recto nomine Mainerus nominabatur, quod nomen ei desienter datum
est; Mainerus enim interpretatus est, imitata in sua manu gnatus,
quia peritus fuit et gnarus in arte scribendi. Pater ejus Wimundus
nominabatur, quod nomen interpretatum Latine sonat _hodie mundus_;
poterat enim de eo dici cotidie quod mundus esset, quod mundus in
mundo munde vixit, ad Creatorem suum sine immunditia migravit.
Nomen matris suæ dicebatur Anglice Livena, quod Latine sonat
_lætitia_; fuit enim mulier hylaris, facie decora, moribus ornata
et pudica, et semper in largiendo bona sua pro Dei amore datrix
hilaris; sana et incolumis per .lxxx. annos et plus feliciter
vixit. Avus suus nominabatur Ulgerus, i. ulnas gerens; fuit enim
vir magnus et fortis, qui magnas habebat ulnas. Nomen aviæ suæ
dicebatur Anglice Elvera, quod interpretatur _Dei vidua_, quæ et in
bona viduitate diu vixit. Quatuor habuit fratres et unam sororem,
quorum primus vocabatur Radulphus, i. ratus et adustus, i. firmus
in adolescentia; fortis enim valde juvenis fuit. Secundus dicebatur
Robertus, quia a re nomen habuit, spoliator enim diu fuit et prædo.
Tertius nuncupabatur Giroldus, girovagus enim fuit omnibus diebus
vitæ suæ. Quartus nominabatur Johannes, quod nomen interpretatum
sonat _Dei gratia_; et iste gratiam Dei gratia Dei adeptus est;
fuit enim juvenis ætate, senex moribus, virgo castitate, vita
beatus. Soror ipsius dicebatur Dionisia, id est Deo nitens;
nitebatur enim semper bonis operibus ad Deum venire. Animæ omnium
istorum et animæ omnium fidelium defunctorum per misericordiam Dei
requiescant in pace! Amen!”
_P._ 51. SONG UPON THE TAILORS.--It is scarcely necessary to say
that the three lines which form the theme of this song, are the
commencement of Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Llewellin, Prince of Wales,
invaded the Marches in 1263.
_P._ 53, _l._ 3, _capucium_.--The name capuce was given sometimes
to a separate piece of apparel with which the head was covered, and
at others to the upper part of the tunic of the monks which covered
the head. In the present instance it must be taken in the former
sense. A full account of the different senses of the word will be
found in Ducange.
---- _l._ 6, _almucium_.--The aumuce was a separate article of
clothing which covered both head and shoulders. One of the articles
of the canons for the behaviour of the monks, given by Pope Clement
V., was, “ut almutiis de panno nigro, vel pellibus, caputiorum
loco, uterentur.”
---- _l._ 14, _Tyeis_.--The French and Anglo-Norman form of the
Latin _Teutonicus_. It is the origin of the name of several old
English families.
_P._ 57, _l._ 4, _Cernite_.--The MS. has _scernite_.
_P._ 58, _l._ 2, _Frollo_.--This personage is a famous character in
the fabulous history of Arthur, and is there said to have been King
of Paris under the Romans. When hard pressed by Arthur, who had
conquered “all France and all Germany,” he took refuge in Paris,
and was besieged there. The people in the city beginning to feel
the effects of famine, persuaded Frollo to engage Arthur in single
combat. The battle was said to have taken place in the “isle”
(insula Parisiensis), the part of the French capital included
between the two branches of the Seine, in which, at the present
day, stand Nôtre-Dame and the Palais de Justice, with its beautiful
Sainte-Chapelle. The story of Arthur and Frollo is told at length
in Geoffrey of Monmouth.
---- _ll._ 10, 11, _Arthurus_.--King Arthur, the hero of so many
romances. _Broinsius._ (?) _Constantinus._--Constantine the
Great, whose mother Helena was said to have been a British lady.
_Brennius_: the conqueror of Rome, who, according to the British
history, was a Briton.
_P._ 58, _ll._ 13, 14, _Karolum_--Charlemagne; _Ricardum_--Richard
Cœur-de-Lion: both of whom were the heroes of romances and popular
songs. The same two heroes of French and English fable are
mentioned in a curious passage of the Polychronica of Ralph Higden:
“Quemadmodum Græci suum Alexandrum, Romani suum Octavium, Angli
suum Ricardum, Franci suum Karolum, sic Britones suum Arthurum
præconiantur.” P. 225, in Gale’s Scriptores.
_P._ 59. THE SONG OF THE BARONS.--The transcript of this curious
fragment was communicated to me by Sir Frederick Madden. The
original is written in a contemporary hand on a roll twenty-two
inches long, by three broad, and was evidently intended to be
carried about by the minstrel who was to sing it. On the reverse
had been written a curious interlocutory poem in English of a later
period, entitled, “Interludium de Clerico et Puella.” It was, in
1838, in the possession of the Rev. Dr. Richard Yerburgh, Vicar of
Sleaford, in Lincolnshire.
Such rolls appear to have been in common use. A very curious vellum
roll of the fifteenth century, containing chiefly religious songs
with the music, and, among the rest, a copy of the well-known song
on the battle of Agincourt printed by Percy, has been recently
deposited in the Library of Trinity College, Cambridge. I am
informed that another, of the thirteenth century, has been lately
found among the archives of Sir John Hanmer, Bart., containing
an Anglo-Norman romance previously unknown, on the adventures of
Melors, son of Melians of Cornwall. Among the Sloane MSS. in the
British Museum (No. 809), is an early copy of the curious poem of
Walter de Biblesworth, designed for the instruction of children
in the French language, written in a similar manner on a roll of
parchment, evidently for the purpose of being more easily used in
a school.
---- _l._ 1, _de Warenne ly bon quens ... en Norfolk_.--John, Earl
of Warenne, a staunch supporter of the royal party, in whose cause
we shall soon afterwards find him fighting at Lewes.
---- _l._ 7, _Sire Jon Giffard_.--Sir John Giffard, of Brimsfield,
in Gloucestershire, a firm adherent of the Barons. When Sir
Roger de Clifford delivered Gloucester to Prince Edward, Giffard
fortified his castle of Brimsfield, and greatly annoyed the
royalist garrison of the former place. For an account of his
exploits at this time, see Robert of Gloucester’s Chronicle, pp.
538, 539. He was on the Barons’ party at the battle of Lewes, and
was taken prisoner there; but afterwards, when Simon de Montfort
was in the height of his power, Giffard deserted him. See Robert of
Gloucester, p. 550.
_P._ 60, _l._ 1, _Sire Jon Dayvile_.--Sir John Dayvile, or D’Ayvile
(Robert of Gloucester calls him in one place De Eivile) does not
appear very prominent in these troubles till after the death
of Simon de Montfort at Evesham. He then headed those of the
Barons who established themselves at Chesterford in the Peak, and
afterwards was the chief of those who held the Isle of Ely against
the King. Knighton calls him “homo callidus et bellator fortis.”
See Knighton (in Twysden), col. 2454; Chron. Thomæ Wikes (Gale),
pp. 81, 82; Robert of Gloucester, p. 564.
---- _l._ 7, _De Cliffort ly bon Roger_.--Roger de Clifford first
took part with the Barons, but early in the war deserted them, and
delivered Gloucester castle, which he held for them, to Prince
Edward. He was with the King at Northampton.
---- _l._ 13, _Sire Roger de Leyburne ... ses pertes que Sire
Edward le fist_.--Sir Roger de Leyburn was at first a partizan
of the Barons, and had been taken prisoner at Rochester Castle,
and committed to the custody of John Mareschall. It was on this
occasion, probably, that he was visited with the penalties alluded
to in the song. He was afterwards seduced by the royal party, and
made Warden of the Cinque Ports. He was with the King at the taking
of Northampton, at the defence of Rochester, where he was wounded,
and at Lewes.
_P._ 61, _l._ 16, _Ly eveske de Herefort_.--Peter de Egueblanche,
Bishop of Hereford, a staunch adherent to the King, and, by his
oppressions, exceedingly obnoxious to the Commons. In 1263, the
Barons seized and imprisoned him, and confiscated his treasures. He
was a native of Savoy.
_P._ 62, _l._ 1, _ly pastors de Norwis_.--Simon de Wanton, Bishop
of Norwich, from 1257 to 1265, chaplain to King Henry III., and one
of his justices.
---- _l._ 7, _Sire Jon de Langelé_.--According to the Annales de
Dunstaple, the estates of _G._ de Langley were plundered soon after
the arrest of the Bishop of Hereford:--“idem facientes de maneriis
G. de Langele et ejus bonis.” Vol. i. p. 354. Perhaps this was the
same person.
_P._ 62, _l._ 13, _Sire Mathi de Besile_.--We should perhaps read
_Machi_; Robert of Gloucester and Stow call him _Macy_. He was a
French knight, who had been made Sheriff of Gloucester, after the
King had sworn to the articles of Oxford. The Barons ejected him,
and put another sheriff in his place; Sir Macy came with a body
of armed men and the authority of the King, reinstated himself by
force, and drove away his rival. Sir Roger de Clifford and Sir John
Giffard came against him, besieged and took Gloucester Castle, and
imprisoned him along with the “Freinss bissop” of Hereford, whom
they seized immediately afterwards. Robert of Gloucester mentions
the confiscation of his property:--
“And Sir Jon Giffard nom to him is quic eiȝte echon,
And al that he fond of is, and nameliche at Sserton.”
The song here printed was evidently written just after this event,
and previous to the subsequent desertion of Clifford and others
mentioned in it.
---- _l._ 18, _treget_.--It has been suggested that this word
represents the Latin _treugellum_, a little truce.
---- _l._ 19, _mi Sire Jon de Gray_.--John de Gray held on the
King’s party, and was rewarded for his loyalty by the grant of
various high offices. The circumstance alluded to in the song is
thus told in the Annales de Dunstaple (Ed. Hearne, vol. i. p. 357);
it occurred in the disturbances in London in 1263.--“Quo perpetrato
facinore, cives Londoniarum contra ipsum et alios de consilio regis
in civitate commorantes, insurrexerunt; in tantum quod hospitium
Johannis de Grey extra Ludgate invaserunt, et equos ejus triginta
duo et alia quæcunque ibidem inventa abduxerunt: ipso Johanne cum
difficultate maxima ultra alveum de Flete fugam arripiente. Idem
fecerunt de domibus et bonis Simonis Passelewe.”
---- _l._ 21, _que must_, quod movit.
_P._ 63, _l._ 4, _Sire Willem le Latimer_.--Sir William le Latimer
was a firm adherent of the King, and held at different times
several offices of trust. He suffered considerable losses in the
Barons’ wars. He afterwards appears to have accompanied Prince
Edward to the Holy Land, and was at the siege of Carlaverock in
1300. He died in 1305, at a very advanced age. Knighton calls him
_miles strenuissimus_.
_P._ 63. SONG OF THE PEACE WITH ENGLAND.--It has been suggested
to me that the word _cul_ in this song is only a form of _col_
(collum); and I am told that among the titles of some fables in
the same manuscript there is one of the stork “au long _cul_.” In
this song, however, I am inclined to think such an interpretation
not admissible. It is a rude burlesque not only upon the event to
which it relates, but upon the English in general, and contains
much coarse humour such as is not uncommonly used at the present
day. The grammatical construction is, evidently by design, a
complete confusion of tenses, numbers, and genders. It appears to
me that not a little of the effect it was intended to produce,
depended upon the coarse play upon words involved in the use of
the expression above mentioned. When the reciter introduced King
Henry to his auditors, and they expected he was going to sigh from
his heart, instead of completing the sentence _il suspire de cœur_
(p. 65), _i. e._ ille suspirat de corde, he introduces another
word beginning with the same letter, and says _il suspire de cul_
(ille suspirat de culo). That _Trichart_ in the preceding line
was intended for a pun upon _Richard_, we may conjecture from the
rhymes in the English song on the same person’s name, p. 69. Again,
at p. 66, it would naturally be expected that he would place his
lance against his enemy’s _cœur_; the blow was to be so strong,
that if his opponent did not give way, he would himself suffer in
that part which was in communication with the saddle, and where, of
course, the resistance was concentrated. These jokes must have been
extremely diverting to the class of people for whom this song was
designed.
The Song of the Peace with England had been previously printed by
Mons. Achille Jubinal, well known for his numerous publications
of early French literature, in a very curious volume entitled
“Jongleurs et Trouvères,” 8vo. Paris, 1835. M. Jubinal also gave
a translation into modern French of this song, as well as of the
piece I am now going to mention, in the “Journal de l’Institut
Historique,” Jan. 1835, which has been reproduced in the Histoire
de Saint Louis, by the Marquis de Villeneuve-Trans, 8vo. Paris,
1839, vol. iii. p. 614. In the manuscript from which this song is
printed, it is accompanied by a piece in prose on the same event,
and of a similar character, entitled _Le Chartre de la Pais aus
Anglois_, which I venture to reprint here from M. Jubinal’s book,
as the latter is now out of print, and very scarce. It will be
observed that the same style of gross joking which is found in the
song, runs through the charter; a double meaning was evidently
intended, for example, in the words _qu’il fu fet .i. gros pes
entre, etc._, which might be taken as signifying, in this broken
French, either _grossa pax_, or _grossus peditus_.
_La Chartre de la Pais aus Anglois._
“Ce sache sil qui sont et qui ne sont mi, et qui ne doivent mi
estre, qu’il fu fet .i. gros pes entre ce rai Hari d’Ingleter, et
ce riche homme Loys à Parris, sarra forretier de ce grant forrest
à Normandi. Et quant ce rai Hari d’Ingleter voudra vauchier par
son terre, ce riche homme Loys à Parris voudra donier à ce rai
Hari meismes .ii. poronssores à mester soz son houses, por ester
plus minet; et quant ce rai Hari voudra aler de mort à vie, cestui
riche homme Loys à Parris, devra donier à d’Adouart sa fils
cesti chos meism, souz vise quitement, francement di-je, c’avant
c’arier. C’est donques à saver .i. poronssores quant il voudra
vauchier par son terre à meter soz son houses, por ester plus minet
aussinc comme à sa piere. Et por ce que je véele que ce chos fout
fiens en estable, je véele pendez ma saiele à ce cul par derrier,
avoecques la saiele à mi barons d’Ingleter. L’an de l’incarnacion
nostres sinors Jesoucriet mimes qui souffri mort à la crucefimie
por nous, m. cc. lx. i. ij. et iij., à ce jodi assolier, derrière
ce vendredi, à orre que Marri Masalaine chata ce honissement à
honissier les .v. plais Jesoucriet nostre sinors mimes, qui souffra
mort à la croucefin por nous, et Marri Mauvaise-alaine portez ce
honnissement à la Saint Supoucre; et Marri Mauvaise-alaine véez
l’angiel, et l’angiel pona: “Marri! Marri! quei quieré vous quei?”
Et Marri pona: “Je queres Jhesum qui fout à la crucefimie.” Et
l’angel pona à Marri: “Marri! Marri! aléici, aléici: il ne fout pas
çi, il fout alé cestui matin à Galerrie.”
_P._ 64, _l._ 6, _choison_; from _choir_ (cadere).
_P._ 65, _l._ 6, _gondre Glais grondier_, contra Anglos grunnire.
---- _l._ 9, _à l’art_.--Perhaps it should be _alart_, and is
derived from the Latin _alacriter_.
---- _l._ 11, _la conte à Clocestre_.--Gilbert de Clare, who
succeeded his father in the Earldoms of Hereford and Gloucester in
1262, and was a zealous partizan of the Barons, until he deserted
Simon de Montfort before the battle of Evesham.
---- _l._ 15, _la cont Vincestre_.--Roger de Quincy, Earl of
Winchester. Why his name is introduced so prominently, does not
seem clear. He died in the year following (1264), and the title
became extinct.
_P._ 67, _l._ 3, _Rogier Bigot_.--Roger Bigod, Earl of Norfolk.
_P._ 67, _l._ 18, _Saint Amont_, means, probably, St. Edmund.
_P._ 69. SONG AGAINST THE KING OF ALMAIGNE.--This song was first
printed in Percy’s Reliques of Ancient English Poetry.
---- _l._ 2, _Kyn of Alemaigne_.--It is hardly necessary to say
that this was Richard Earl of Cornwall, the King’s brother.
---- _l._ 3, _Thritti thousent pound_.--The Barons had offered him
this sum, if he would by his intermediation persuade the King to
agree to a peace with them, and at the same time accept the terms
they demanded.
---- _l._ 10, _Walingford_.--The honour of Wallingford had been
conferred on Richard in 1243.
---- _l._ 12.--Windsor was the stronghold of the royal party, and
had been garrisoned by foreigners.
---- _l._ 15, _mulne_.--“After the battle was lost, Richard, King
of the Romans, took refuge in a windmill, which he barricadoed, and
maintained for some time against the Barons, but in the evening
was obliged to surrender. See a very full account of this in the
Chronicle of Mailros.” _Percy._
_P._ 70, _l._ 8.--The Earl of Warenne escaped from the battle, and
fled into France.
---- _l._ 20, _Sire Hue de Bigot_.--Hugh Bigod escaped with the
Earl of Warenne to Pevensey, and from thence to France. He was
cousin to the Hugh Bigod who took part with the Barons, and was
slain at Lewes.
_P._ 71, _l._ 6, _lyard_.--This word (in low Latin _liardus_)
means, properly, a dapple-grey horse; but it is often used, like
several other similar words, as a common name for a horse in
general. I have interpreted it as meaning a hack; but probably the
passage implies a sneer at Edward, who had been more than once
with his army to Dover, in the hope of taking the castle from the
Barons, and the word may mean simply his horse.
_P._ 72, _l._ 13.--The battle of Lewes was fought on Thursday, (?)
May 14, 1264.
_P._ 73, _l._ 36, _in claustro_.--A great part of those of the
King’s party who quitted the field, took shelter in the abbey of
Lewes, where they were besieged by the Barons.
_P._ 74, _l._ 47, _apud Northamptoniam_.--Northampton had been
taken by the King on the third of April preceding.
_P._ 74, _l._ 55, _monasterium, quod Bellum vocatur_.--I have not
found any notice elsewhere of the contributions forced from the
abbies of Battle and Robertsbridge.
_P._ 75, _l._ 1, _monachi Cystercii de Ponte-Roberti_.--There was
an abbey of Cistertian monks at Robertsbridge, in Sussex.
---- _ll._ 73-77.--With these lines may be compared a passage in
Knighton’s Chronicle (ap. Twysden), col. 2445:--“Et sicut Simon
Machabæus surrexit pro fratre suo Juda, ut pro populo Dei et lege
paterna certaret ad mortem; sic et Simon de Monteforti pro Anglia
erexit se, ut pro legibus et libertatibus ejus usque ad mortis
perniciem dimicaret.”
_P._ 76, _l._ 94, _intumuit_.--In the MS. the scribe has written
_intimuit_ in the margin, either as a various reading, or as an
improvement of his own.
_P._ 78, _l._ 128, _bellici_.--The MS. has _vellici_.
_P._ 79, _l._ 145, _gaudii_.--The MS. has _gladii_ in the text,
with _gaudii_ written in the margin.
_P._ 81, _l._ 193, _S. divina gratia præsul Cycestrensis_.--Stephen
de Berkstead, Bishop of Chichester. He was excommunicated for his
staunch adherence to the party of Simon de Montfort.
_P._ 88, _l._ 325, _movisset_.--The MS. has _novisset_.
---- _l._ 330, _for_ proponerat, _read_ proponeret.
_P._ 89, _l._ 252, _invenire_.--The MS. has _inveniere_.
_P._ 94, _l._ 437, _Testis sit Glovernia_.--Alluding to the
delivery of Gloucester to Prince Edward, and his treatment of the
town.
_P._ 102, _l._ 609, _regis et_.--The MS. has _regisset_.
_P._ 104, _l._ 635, _Unius rex, etc._--This line appears to be very
corrupt, as are one or two others in the poem.