permittit inscie stultos dominari_.--The reader will hardly fail to
call to mind the similar sentiment expressed in the line of Milton--
“Licence they mean, when they cry liberty.”
_P._ 115, _l._ 858, _p’rat_.--The MS. has pr̄at, the meaning of
which is by no means clear.
_P._ 116, _l._ 875, _Veritas, lux, caritas, calor, urit
zelus_.--Perhaps the commas should be omitted after _veritas_ and
_caritas_, and the whole be translated, “Truth is light, charity is
warmth, zeal burns.”
_P._ 117, _Regis esse noveris nomen relativum_.--It would be by
no means uninteresting to collect the expressions of the popular
doctrine concerning the kingly character held by our forefathers
at different periods. Perhaps it may not be considered altogether
foreign to the subject to point out here a few of them.
I.--In a MS. of the tenth century (MS. Cotton. Nero, A. I., fol.
71, r^o.) we have, among some other things of a similar kind,
the following sketch of the opinion of the Anglo-Saxons on this
subject, said to be from the pen of Alfric:--
Cristenum cyninge ge-byreð on cristenre þeode, þæt he sy eal swa
hit riht is folces frofer, ⁊ rihtwis hyrde ofer cristene heorde,
⁊ hym ge-byreð þæt he eallum mægene cristendom rære, ⁊ Godes
cyrcan æghwar georne fyrðrie ⁊ friðrie, ⁊ eal cristen folc sibbie
⁊ sehte mid rihtre lage, swa he geornost mæge, ⁊ þurh ælc þing
riht-wisnesse lufie, for Gode ⁊ for worolde. For þam þurh þæt he
sceal sylf fyrmest ge-þeon, ⁊ his þeodscype eac swa, þe he riht
lufige, for Gode ⁊ for worolde. ⁊ him ge-byreð þæt he geornlice
fylste þam þe riht willan, ⁊ á hetelicest yre þam þe þryres wyllan.
He sceal mán dæde men þreagean þearle, mid woroldlicre steore; ⁊
he sceal ryperas ⁊ reaferas ⁊ worold-struderas hatian ⁊ hynan;
⁊ eallum Godes feondum styrnlice wiðstandan; ⁊ ægðer he sceal
beon mid rihte ge milde ge reðe, milde þam godum, ⁊ styrne þam
yfelum. Ðæt bið cyninges riht, ⁊ cynelic ge-wuna, ⁊ þæt sceal on
þeode swyþost ge-fremian. La! þurh hwæt sceal Godes þeowum ⁊ Godes
þearfum frið ⁊ fultum cuman, butan þurh Crist ⁊ þurh cristenne
cyning? Ðurh cyninges wisdom folc wyrð ge-sælig, ge-sundful, ⁊
sigefæst, ⁊ þy sceal wis cyning Cristendom ⁊ cynedom miclian ⁊
mærsian, ⁊ á he sceal hæþendom hindrian ⁊ hyrwan.
He sceal boc-larum hlystan swyþe georne, ⁊ Godes beboda geornlice
healdan, ⁊ ge-lome wið witan wisdom smeagan, gyf he gode wile
rihtlice hyran. ⁊ gif hwa to þam stræt sy ahwar on þeode, þæt riht
nelle healdan swa swa he scolde, ac Godes lage wyrde, oððe folc
lage myrre, þonne cyþe hit man þam cynge, gif man þæt nyde scyle,
⁊ he þonne sona ræde ymbe þa bote ⁊ ge-wylde hine georne, to þam
þe his þearf sy huru unþances, gif he elles ne mæge. ⁊ do swa him
þearf is, clænsige his þeode, for Gode ⁊ for worolde, gif he Godes
miltse ge-earnian wylle.
It behoves a Christian King in a Christian people, that he
be all as it is right the people’s protector, and a just
shepherd over the Christian flock, and it behoves him that he
with all his might raise Christendom, and advance and protect
God’s church everywhere diligently, and pacify and reconcile
with just law all Christian people, as he most earnestly
may, and love justice in every thing, before God and before
the world. Because by that he shall profit himself in the
first place, and also his people, whom let him love rightly,
before God and before the world. And it behoveth him that he
diligently help those who wish for justice, and ever most
hatefully persecute those who wish for wrong. He shall punish
men severely for evil deeds, with secular punishment; and he
shall hate and put down thieves and robbers and oppressors of
the world; and sternly resist all God’s enemies; and he shall
be with justice both mild and severe, mild to the good and
stern to the bad. This is the king’s right, and the manner of
a king, and this shall be most efficient in the people. Lo!
through what shall peace and help come to God’s servants and
to God’s poor, except through Christ and through a Christian
king? Through the king’s wisdom the people shall be happy,
prosperous, and victorious, and on that account shall a
wise king enlarge and increase Christianity and royalty,
and ever he shall hinder and persecute heathendom. He shall
listen very diligently to scholars, and diligently hold God’s
commandments, and frequently search wisdom from his witans,
if he will rightly hear what is good. And if any one openly
be any where in the people, that will not hold justice as
he should, but infringes God’s law, or obstructs the law of
the people, then let people declare it to the king, if they
would extinguish that violence, and there let them soon take
counsel for the amends, and subdue him diligently, until that
he be reduced at last by force, if he may not otherwise.
And let him do as it is needful for him, purify his people,
before God and before the world, if he will earn God’s mercy.
And again, a little further on (fol. 72, r^o.)--
Ælc riht cynestol stent on þrim stapelum, þe fullice ariht
stænt. An is _Oratores_, ⁊ oðer is _Laboratores_, ⁊ þridde
is _Bellatores_. _Oratores_ syndon gebedmen, þe Gode scylan
þeowian, ⁊ dæges ⁊ nihtes for ealne þeodscype þingigan georne.
_Laboratores_ syndon weorc-men, þe tilian scylan þæs þe eal
þeodscype big sceal libban. _Bellatores_ syndon wig-men, þe eard
scylon werian, wiglice mid wæpnum. On þyssum þrim stapelum sceal
ælc cynestol standan mid rihte on Cristenre þeode. ⁊ awacie heora
ænig, sona se stol scylfð; ⁊ ful berste heora ænig, þonne hryst
se stol nyþer, ⁊ þæt wyrð þære þeode eal to un-þearfe.
Ac staþelige man ⁊ strangige and trymme hy georne, mid wislicre
Godes lage ⁊ mid rihtlicre worold lage, þæt wyrð þam ðeodscype
to langsuman ræde. ⁊ soð is þæt ic secge, awacie se Cristendom,
sona scylfð se cynedom; ⁊ arære man un-laga ahwar on lande
oððon únsida lufige ahwar to swyþe, þæt cymð þære þeode eal to
un-þearfe. Ac do man swa hit þearf is, alecge man un-riht, ⁊ rære
up Godes riht, þæt mæg to þearfe for Gode ⁊ for worolde. _Amen._
Every just throne stands on three props, that stands
perfectly right. One is _Oratores_, and the other is
_Laboratores_, and the third is _Bellatores_. The _Oratores_
are the men of prayer, who shall serve God, and by day and
night intercede for the whole nation. The _Laboratores_ are
the workmen, who shall labour in order that all the nation
shall live thereby. The _Bellatores_ are the men of war (_i.
e._ knights), who shall defend the land, valiantly with
weapons. On these three props shall every throne stand with
justice among Christian people. And if any of them become
weakened, soon the throne wavers; and if any one of them
fail entirely, then the throne falls down, and that will
be the entire ruin of the people. But let man establish
and strengthen and confirm them diligently, with the wise
law of God and just law of the world, that will be to the
nation for a lasting counsel. And it is true what I say, if
Christendom be weakened, soon royalty wavers; and if people
raise lawlessness everywhere in the land, or love everywhere
wickedness too much, that brings the people entirely to ruin.
But let people do as it is needful, let people put down
injustice, and raise up God’s justice, that may bring it to
prosperity before God and before the world. _Amen._
II. In the curious poem of the proverbs of Alfred, composed perhaps
in the twelfth century, and which is here quoted from a MS. of the
earlier part of the thirteenth century (MS. Trin. Coll. Cambridge,
B. 14, 39) is the following account of the duties of King and
People.
¶ þus quad Alfred,
Englene frovere:
May no riche king
ben onder Crist selves,
bote þif he be booc-lerid,
⁊ he writes wel kenne,
⁊ bote he cunne letteris,
lokin himselven
wu he sule his lond
laweliche holden.
¶ þus quad Helfred:
þe herl ⁊ þe heþeling
þo ben under þe King,
þe lond to leden
mid lauelich i-dedin,
boþe þe clerc ⁊ þe cnit
demen evenliche rict.
For after þat mon souit,
als inpich sal he mouin,
⁊ everiches monnes dom
to his oge dure cherricd.
¶ þus quad Alfred:
þe cnith biovit
kerliche to cnouen
for to weriin þe lond
of here ⁊ of here-gong,
þat þe riche habbe gryt,
⁊ þe cherril be in frit,
his sedis to souin,
his medis to mowen,
his plouis to drivin,
to ure alre bi-lif.
þis is þe cnichs lage,
loke þat hit wel fare.
Thus saith Alfred,
the protector of the English:
There may no just king
be under Christ himself,
unless he be book-learned,
and he know well writings,
and unless he know letters,
to look himself
how he shall his land
hold with good laws.
Thus saith Alfred:
The Earl and the Atheling
they are under the King,
the land to lead
by example of lawful deeds,
both the clerk and the knight
to judge impartially right.
For according as a man sows,
so shall he mow,
and every man’s judgment
falls at his own door.
Thus saith Alfred:
It behoves the knight
carefully to know
how to defend the land
from army and from invasion,
that the rich may have peace,
and the churl be in tranquillity,
his seeds to sow,
his meadows to mow,
to drive his ploughs,
for the sustenance of us all.
This is the knights’ law,
see that it goes well.
III. In the middle of the thirteenth century, at the period of the
Barons’ wars, we have the passage to which this forms a note.
IV. In the reign of Edward III. the writer of Piers Ploughman
gives us the following description of the relative duties of the
different orders of society.
Thanne kam ther a kyng,
knyȝthod hym ladde,
miȝt of the communes
made hym to regne.
And thanne cam kynde wit,
and clerkes he made,
for to counseillen the kyng,
and the commune save.
The kyng and knyȝthod,
and clergie bothe,
casten that the commune
sholde hemself fynde.
The commune contreved
of kynde wit craftes,
and for profit of al the peple
plowmen ordeyned,
to tilie and to travaille,
as trewe lif asketh.
The kyng and the commune,
and kynde wit the thridde,
shopen lawe and leauté,
ech man to knowe his owene.
Then came there a king,
knighthood led him,
the power of the commons
made him to reign.
And then came natural sense,
and he made clerks,
in order to counsel the king,
and to be a safeguard to the commons,
The king and knighthood,
and clergy along with them,
determined that the commons
should find themselves.
The commons contrived
arts by means of natural sense,
and for the profit of the people
ordained ploughmen,
to till and to labour,
as true life requires.
The king and the commons,
and natural sense the third,
created law and loyalty,
each man to know his own.
V. We may compare all these with the Alliterative Poem on the
Deposition of Richard the Second, p. 23, to which, as it is one
of the Publications of the Camden Society, I need do no more than
refer.
_P._ 120, _l._ 947.--This line cannot be construed as it stands,
and is evidently corrupt.
_P._ 121. _William de Rishanger_ was a monk of St. Alban’s, and
is said to have been the King’s historiographer (historiographus
regius) after Matthew Paris’s death. He died in 1312. He tells
us that this song was written before, and not after, the battle
of Lewes; and that it was the defection of some of the Barons
mentioned in the song at p. 59, which gave rise to it. It is,
therefore, probably placed wrongly after the battle of Lewes.
_P._ 122, _l._ 19, _O Comes Gloverniæ_.--This was Gilbert de
Clare, who was extremely active in the cause of the Barons, and
distinguished himself at the battle of Lewes.
_P._ 123, _l._ 3.--The second line of this tetrastich seems to be
lost.
---- _l._ 10, _Comes le Bygot_.--This was Roger Bigod, Earl of
Norfolk, whom the Barons made Governor of Orford in Suffolk, after
the battle of Lewes.
_P._ 124, _l._ 3, _nobis_.--A mere error of the press for _vobis_.
_P._ 125. THE LAMENT OF SIMON DE MONTFORT.--This song was printed
privately, with some other Anglo-Norman poems from the same MS.,
by Sir Francis Palgrave, in 1818, in a collection which is now
extremely rare. It was also inserted in the second edition of
Ritson’s Ancient Songs (1829), where it is accompanied with a
translation in English verse by George Ellis.
---- _l._ 8, _Tot à cheval_.--The Barons were surprised at Evesham
before they were joined by their foot soldiers, and when therefore
they were unprepared for this decisive conflict.
_P._ 126, _l._ 4, _Sire Hue le fer, ly Despencer, tresnoble
justice_.--Hugh Despencer, appointed justiciary of England by the
Barons. He fell at Evesham.
---- _l._ 6, _Sire Henri ... fitz le cuens de Leycestre_.--The
eldest son of Simon de Montfort; he fell in the battle.
---- _l._ 7, _par le cuens de Gloucestre_.--After the battle
of Lewes, the Earl of Gloucester, becoming jealous of Simon de
Montfort’s popularity, deserted to the King, and fought against his
former associates at Evesham.
---- _l._ 14, _une heyre_.--I suppose this refers to Guy de
Montfort, Simon’s second son, who was taken prisoner at Evesham,
but afterwards escaped and fled to the Continent.
_P._ 126, _l._ 15, _les faus ribaus_.--As this word, _ribaldus_,
_ribaus_, _ribaud_, occurs frequently in our Songs, both in Latin,
Anglo-Norman, and English, it may be worth while to say something
about it.
It is one of those curious words of which the origin and primary
signification are very doubtful. It was certainly applied to a
particular class of people, and a class which seems to have been
dependant on the household of the great. Giraldus Cambrensis, when
telling his various troubles and persecutions (Wharton, Anglia
Sacra, vol. iii. p. 575), speaks thus of the witnesses brought
against him by his enemies:--“Archidiaconus (_i. e._ Giraldus
himself) autem statim, productis testibus illis coram auditoribus
ad jurandum, proposuit in singulorum personas se dicturum; in
canonicos Menevenses tanquam perjuros et excommunicatos, in
monachos tanquam trutannos et domorum suarum desertores, in
_ribaldos_ tanquam vilissimos et, sicut cæteri cuncti, mercede
conductos.” And again, on the next page, “Et testium multitudinem
de garcionibus et _ribaldis_ partis adversæ, qui omnes jurare
parati fuerant et testificare ... trutannus ille vilissimus id
totum faciebat; qui et _ribaldos suos_ cunctos ad hoc probandum
simul cum ipso mittebat.... Videns igitur archidiaconus _ribaldos
illos_ ad nutum _dominorum suorum_ quidlibet probare paratos....
Sciens itaque si _probatio ribaldica_ procederet ... _ribaldica
multitudo_, etc.” They seem to have been the lowest class of
retainers, perhaps men without any certain appointment, who had
no other mode of living than following the courts of the Barons,
and who were employed on all kinds of disgraceful and wicked
actions. One authority quoted by Ducange couples “parasitos
atque _ribaldos_.” A story quoted from a MS. at Berne, by Sinner
(Catalogus, tom. i. p. 272), shows us that a _goliard_ belonged to
the class of _ribalds_: now a _goliard_ seems to have been only
another name for a _jongleur_ (joculator), or one who attended the
tables of the rich to amuse the guests by jokes, buffoonery, and
mountebank tricks. An ecclesiastical statute quoted in Ducange
(v. Goliardus) says, “item præcipimus quod clerici non sint
_joculatores_, _goliardi_, seu _bufones_;” and another commands,
“quod clerici _ribaldi_, maxime vero qui dicuntur _de familia
goliæ_, per episcopos ... tondere præcipiantur.” Matthew Paris,
sub an. 1229, says, “quidam famuli, vel mancipia, vel illi quos
solemus _goliardenses_ appellare, versus ridiculos componebant.”
In this last passage we find them classed with the famuli, or
household retainers. This class appears, at least in France, to
have enjoyed certain popular rights or privileges. In a very
curious charter of the year 1380, printed in Ducange, we find one
Antony de Sagiac “se _gerens pro ribaldo_, et se dicens de ordine
seu de statu goliardorum, seu buffonum,” claiming a fine of five
pence upon incontinent women, and accused of trying to extract
money from a woman, whom he accused wrongfully, on this account,
“de talique et alio vili questu, quem sub umbra _ribaldiæ_,
_goliardiæ_, seu _buffoniæ_ ejusmodi ... vivebat.” In the household
of the King of France there was a _rex ribaldorum_, whose office
was to judge disputes, &c. which might occur among the retainers of
his class, and who had also a jurisdiction over the public stews.
As the lives of this class of men were set at a small value by
their masters, they were commonly exposed to the first brunt of
battle in the wars, and the name is sometimes given to the body
which is now called the _forlorn hope_ in the attack of a town. The
_ribaldi_ who accompanied the army were also employed in plundering
and destroying the country. As they were people of vile life and
condition, the term _ribald_ came gradually into use as a common
appellation for a low and infamous person, and was used, as in the
present instance, as an epithet of contempt and degradation.
_P._ 128, _l._ 1, _pepulere_.--The MS. has _pepulare_.
_P._ 130, _l._ 8, _Plebs devicta fremit_.--Alluding to the rising
at Chesterfield, the occupation of the Isles of Axholme and Ely,
and other insurrections.
---- _l._ 11, _Urbs Londoniensis_.--The Earl of Gloucester,
dissatisfied with the King’s proceedings after the battle of
Evesham, had taken up arms and established himself at London, the
citizens of which joined his party readily, as they were themselves
enraged against the King for having deprived them of their charter.
_P._ 131, _l._ 2, _Francorum regis germanus rex Siculorum_.--Prince
Edward left England in July, 1270, to join the King of France,
Saint Louis, in his expedition to the Holy Land. Louis was
persuaded by his brother, Charles, then King of Sicily, to turn
aside, in order to make war on the Bey of Tunis, from whom he
claimed a tribute. Louis died at Carthage of a disease produced by
the climate; and when Prince Edward and his English army arrived,
they found their ally dead, and the King of Sicily, who had made
advantageous terms with the Bey, ready to return home. Charles, who
hastened to take possession of the throne of France, refused to
proceed in the crusade, and Edward, who was obliged to go alone,
went over to Sicily, and wintered at Trapani. Here, on the night
of December 23, the day after their arrival, occurred the terrible
storm alluded to in the Poem. Early in the spring, Edward, with his
small army, proceeded on their voyage, and landed at Acre.
_P._ 132, _l._ 5, _Accon respirat_.--Acre was besieged by Bondocar,
Sultan of Babylon, who was preparing to take the place by assault,
at the moment when Edward arrived to raise the siege.
---- _l._ 9, _Assessinus Veteris de Monte_.--On the Old Man of the
Mountain, and the Assassins, or Assessins, much information will
be found in a popular form, in the Marquis of Villeneuve-Trans,
Histoire de St. Louis.
---- _l._ 16.--This seems to be a new testimony against the truth
of the story which makes Edward’s Queen suck the poison from his
wound. A song made on the occasion would hardly have failed to
mention such a circumstance, if it had been known.
---- _l._ 17, _Thomam de Wyta_.--This writer’s name is not found in
Tanner.
_P._ 135, _l._ 13, _comencent_.--Probably an error of the scribe
for _comencement_.
_P._ 136, _l._ 4, _vironum_.--The MS. has _virronum_. _Viro_ is
given by Ducange as synonymous with _baro_, and is supposed to be
derived from _vir_.
_P._ 137, _ll._ 15, 16, _sonme ... prodhonme_.--In old manuscripts
it is quite impossible to say whether the scribe meant _n_ or _u_,
unless we know otherwise which it ought to be, and the _n_ in words
of the form of those just quoted may perhaps be intended for _u_.
But I am rather inclined to think such was not the case.
_P._ 138, _l._ 34, _Sympringham_.--The order of Sempringham,
commonly called Gilbertine canons, was founded by Sir Gilbert de
Sempringham, in the first half of the twelfth century. One of its
peculiarities was the establishment of monks and nuns in the same
house, though their different habitations were carefully separated,
and all intercourse between them strictly forbidden.
Nigellus Wireker speaks of this as a newly established order,
and satirizes the near collocation of nuns and monks in a spirit
similar to that of our song:--
Canonici missas tantum, reliquumque sorores
Explent; officii debita jura sui.
Corpora, non voces, murus disjungit, in unum
Psallant directe psalmitis absque metro.
And again, in describing his own order, he says, archly,--
Quid de Semplingama? quantum? vel qualia sumam?
Nescio, nam nova res me dubitare facit.
Hoc tamen ad præsens nulla ratione remittam,
Namque necem nimis fratribus esse reor;
Quod nunquam nisi clam, nullaque sciente sororum,
Cum quocunque suo fratre manere licet.
_P._ 139, _l._ 61, _De Beverleye_.--The monks of Beverley were
Franciscans.
_P._ 140, _l._ 71, _De Hospitlers_.--The order of Knights
Hospitalers, founded during the first crusades, was introduced
into England about the year 1100. They were laymen, and, from an
humble beginning, they became exceedingly rich and proud. In the
Patent Rolls (45 Edw. III.) we find that the King “constituit
Ricardum de Everton visitatorem Hospitalis S. Joannis Jerusalem in
Anglia ad reprimendam religiosorum insolentiam, et ad observandam
religiosorum honestatem.” See Ellis’s Dugdale, vol. vi. p. 786.
---- _l._ 79, _De Chanoynes_.--The regular canons were a less
strict order than the other monks in general, and followed the rule
of St. Augustine. One of the rules of their order was expressed
simply thus--“Carnem vestram domate jejuniis et abstinentia escæ
quantum valetudo permittit.” They appear to have been particularly
enjoined frequent abstinence from flesh. However, at the time when
this song was written, they seem not to have observed their rule
in this respect very strictly. Rutebeuf says of them (Jubinal’s
Rutebeuf, vol. i. p. 239)--
En l’ordre des canoines qu’on dist Saint-Augustin,
Ils vivent à plenté, sans noise et sans hustin.
Je lo que leur soviègne au soir et au matin
Que la chars bien nourie porte à l’âme venin.
_P._ 141, _l._ 95, _de Moyne Neirs_.--The Black Monks were the
Benedictines.
_P._ 142, _l._ 115, _Des Chanoygnes Seculers_.--The luxury of the
secular canons is often alluded to by the early satirists. Nigellus
Wireker says of them--
Illud præcipue tamen instituere, tenendum
Omnibus in tota posteritate sua,
Lex vetus ut suasit, ne quilibet absque sua sit,
Et quod quisque suas possit habere duas.
Hi sunt qui mundum cum flore cadente tenentes,
Ne sic marcescat, sæpe rigare student.
Hi sunt qui faciunt quidquid petulantia carnis
Imperat, ut vitiis sit via prona suis.
Rutebeuf (ed. Jubinal, vol. i. p. 239) says that there were many of
them--
----qui ont grant signorie,
Qui poi font por amis et assés por amie.
_P._ 143, _l._ 133, _Gris Moignes_.--Perhaps the Cistercians.
In a poem on the Grey Monks, _De Grisis Monachis_ (MS. Cotton.
Vespas. A. XIX. fol. 56, r^o), which will be found among the works
of Walter Mapes, they are ridiculed for the same arrangement of
clothing,--
Carent femoralibus partes turpiores,
Veneris ut usibus sint paratiores,
Castitatis legibus absolutiores;
In cunctis hominibus nulli sunt pejores.
The _Albi Monachi_ are similarly satirized by Nigellus Wireker for
going without breeches. The Friars de Sacco wore no breeches under
their robes.
_P._ 144, _l._ 154, _l’Ordre de Cilence_.--Perhaps the Carthusian
monks, a branch of the Benedictines, whose order, which was
peculiarly strict, was introduced into England by Henry II. They
were enjoined to live in separate cells, and to keep very strict
silence, and have little communication with each other.
---- _l._ 169, _Les Frere Menours_.--The Friars Minors were better
known as Franciscans, and in France as the Cordeliers. Their order
enjoined, above all things, poverty and humility. They were not to
ride when travelling, unless some manifest necessity or infirmity
obliged them. See Dugdale, vi. 1505.
_P._ 145, _l._ 188.--The MS. has _en autre_, which seems to be a
mere error for _ne autre_.