Dominicans, called, in France, Jacobins. This order was introduced
into England in 1221. Rutebeuf says that instead of adhering to
their primitive humility and poverty, the Jacobins became the
richest and most overbearing of all the orders. Jubinal, vol. i.
pp. 152, 175-179.
_P._ 148, _l._ 240, _devyns_ seems to be a mere variation of
_devys_, thus spelt in order to accommodate the rhyme.
_P._ 149. SONG OF THE HUSBANDMAN.--This Song is in many parts
extremely difficult to translate, from the numerous words in it
which do not occur elsewhere, as well as from the abruptness of the
phraseology. The same may be said of one or two other songs printed
from the same manuscript.
_P._ 154, _l._ 14, _halymotes_.--This word means literally _holy
meetings_. It is translated _sabbath_, in the supposition that
there is some allusion to the popular notion of the festive
meetings of the devils and the witches.
_P._ 160. SONG ON THE SCOTTISH WARS.--The copy of this Song
preserved among the manuscripts of Clare Hall was first pointed out
by Mr. Hunter, in the Appendix to the last Report of the Record
Commission. I have obtained a copy of part of it by the kindness
of Mr. Halliwell, who was unable from different circumstances
to continue his transcript beyond the 72nd line. The Oxford MS.
I only know through Mr. Halliwell’s description of it: to judge
by the articles contained in this MS., I should be inclined to
think they were mostly copied from the Cottonian MS. Titus A. XX.
In the Cottonian MS., Claudius D. VI. this poem bears the title
“Commendatio Gentis Anglorum et processus guerræ inter Anglos et
Scotos.” In the Clare Hall MS. the Song is attributed to the “Prior
de Blithe.” The Prior of Blythe, in Nottinghamshire, at this time,
was William Burdon. See Ellis’s Dugdale, iv. 621. The MS. in the
Sloane Library seems to be a transcript from a monastic register,
perhaps of Alnwick, in Northumberland, for the reference in the
margin is, “Regist. Prem. fol. 59, a.” It is there attributed
to the Prior of Alnwick. The original title seems to have been
“Rithmus bonus de bello Scotiæ ad Dunbarre;” which the transcriber
had first copied, and then, after erasing it, substituted the
following, “Prioris Alnwicensis de Bello Scotico apud Dunbarr,
tempore regis Edwardi I., dictamen sive rithmus Latinus; quo de
Willielmo Wallace, Scotico illo Robin Whood, plura, sed invidiose,
canit.” Ritson, in his preface to Robin Hood, was misled by this
latter title, and cites it as a proof that this hero was popular in
the thirteenth century. In MS. Cotton. Titus A. XX. a hand of the
sixteenth century ascribes this poem to Robert Baston.
It will already have been observed by the reader, that, in verse
of this kind, the fourth line of each tetrastich is an hexameter
(sometimes a pentameter), taken from some poet then popular,
and often from a classic writer. In the MS. from which the
Sloane transcript was made, the authorities for the hexameters,
in the present Song, were indicated in the margin. They are
as follows:--_ll._ 4, _Morus_.--8, _Cato_.--†8, _Cato_.--†12,
_Poetria_.--†16, _Oracius_.--12, _Cato_.--16, _Doctrinale_.--20,
_Doctrinale_.--24, _De proprio_.--28, _Doctrinale_.--32,
_Cartul._--36, _Urbanus_.--40, _Doctrinale_.--44, _Morus_.--48,
_Theodorus_.--52, _De proprio_.--56, _Vulgat._--60, _Pu_....--64,
_Vulgat._--68, _Buliardus_.--72, _Oracius_.--76, _Oracius_.--80,
_Oracius_.--84, _Cato_.--88, _Ovidius_.--92, _Doctrinale_.--96,
_Cato_.--100, _Cato_.--104, _Ovidius_.--108, _Cato_.--112,
_Cato_.--116, _Cato_. (?)--120, _Cato_.--124, _Cato_.--128,
_Cato_.--132, _Doctrinale_.--136, _Cato_.--140, _Cato_.--144,
_Poeta_.--148, _Poeta_.--152, _Orasius_.--156, _Virgilius_.--160,
_Statius_.--†164, _Oratius_.--†168, _Teodorus_.--164,
_Omerus_.--168, _Ovid. Omer._--172, _Cartul._--176, _Veritas
evangelica_.--180, _De proprio_.--184, _Ovidius_.--188,
_Vulgat._--192, _Doctrinale_.--196, _Vulgat._--200,
_Doctrinale_.--204, _Idem_.--208, _Oracius_.--212, _De Vulg._--216,
_Doctrinale_.--220, _Amianus_.
In the above list of names, _Poetria_ refers to the celebrated
work of Galfridus de Vinesauf. _Poeta_ seems to be a mere error
of the scribe for _Poetria_. _Doctrinale_ is here only another
name for the _Parabolæ_ of Alanus de Insulis. _Cato_ refers to the
well-known _Disticha_. _De proprio_ means that the verse is of the
author’s own making.
_P._ 164, _l._ 44, _Joannis_, John Baliol.--In the Cottonian MS.
Claudius D. VI. the following lines are here inserted, which
evidently do not belong to the poem:
“_Exprobratio Scotorum._
Caude causantur, regnarunt, apocapantur;
Privantur caude, fas fandi, Scotia, plaude.
_Responsio Anglorum._
Scotia scotabit strebæ, Scotus vix latitabit;
Anglia, jam pange, fas fandi, Scotia, plange.”
_P._ 168, _l._ 102, _Johannem Warenniæ_.--This was the same John de
Warenne, Earl of Surrey, who, staunch to the party of Henry III.,
had escaped from the battle of Lewes. He commanded the English army
at the battle of Dunbar, was afterwards made Governor or Guardian
of Scotland, and was again at the head of the English forces when
they were defeated at Stirling.
_P._ 169, _l._ 1, _Quod Trentam non transient_.--The King had
carried with him to London the Scottish knights whom he most
suspected, and, before he went to Flanders, he exacted from them
solemn oaths that during his absence they would not repass the
Trent without his permission.
_P._ 170, _l._ 138, _ad Strivelyne_.--The battle of Stirling was
fought on Thursday the 11th of September, 1297.
_P._ 171, _l._ 141, _comes dux Anglorum_.--The Earl of Surrey
(Warenne).
---- _l._ 147, _Levenax et Ricardus Lundi_.--For an account of
this reverse, and the part which the Earl of Levenax (Lennox) and
Richard Lundi acted, see Knighton, in Twisden, coll. 2516, et seq.
_P._ 172, _l._ 163.--This line is evidently corrupt; but, as it is
only found in one MS., I have no means of correcting it.
_P._ 173, _l._ 163, _Cremare Northumbriam_.--The invasion of
Northumberland and the burning of Hexham and Corbridge are told by
Matthew of Westminster, p. 427. See also Peter Langtoft, in the
present volume, p. 287; and Knighton, coll. 2520, et seq. None of
them mention the damages done at Alnwick.
---- _l._ 167, _Vesey, Morley, Somervile, Bertram_.--The poet
seems to refer to members of those families who had distinguished
themselves in opposing the inroads of the Scots at different
periods, but who were dead at the time of this invasion.
_P._ 174, _l._ 186, _Willelmo datum est militare pignus_.--On his
return from the expedition into England, Wallace was solemnly
installed Guardian of Scotland.
_P._ 176, _l._ 205, _die Magdalenæ_.--The battle of Falkirk, so
fatal to the Scots, was fought on St. Mary Magdalen’s day, the 22nd
of July, 1298.
---- _l._ 211, _trutannus_.--This word is the origin of the
modern word _truant_. Its primary meaning has not been accurately
ascertained, but it seems to have been most generally used for
a person who wandered about, and gained his living by false
pretences, or passed himself under a different character to that
which really belonged to him. It is applied sometimes to abbots or
priors who lived abroad and neglected their monasteries, or to
monks who had quitted their houses, as in the passage of Giraldus,
quoted at p. 369.
_P._ 178, _l._ 234, _Margaretam reginam_.--Edward married, in
second nuptials, Margaret, sister of the King of France.
---- _l._ 243, _Comyn, Karryk, Umfraville_.--Three of the most
active leaders of the Scots in their opposition to Edward. The Earl
of Karrik was Robert Bruce. Gilbert de Umfraville, Earl of Angus,
had been one of Edward’s Commissioners for manning and fortifying
the castles in Scotland.
_P._ 183, _l._ 11, _collectio lanarum_.--The oppressive duty upon
wool, which was the staple of English commerce at that period, was
severely felt and complained of. In 1296, the King seized all the
wool in the merchants’ warehouses, and sold it for his own profit,
paying for it, as usual, with tallies, and promises to repay
them to the full. “Ministri regis omnes saccos lanæ, quinarium
numerum excedentes, datis talliis, acceperunt ad opus regis, et ab
unoquoque sacco, numerum quinarium non excedente, ab ipsis eorum
dominis, nomine _malæ totæ_, xl. solidos extorserunt.” Hemingford,
p. 110.
_P._ 186, _l._ 11, _de fust manger_ (de fusto manducare).--In low
Latin, _fustum_ was a generic name for everything made of wood.
It need hardly be said that it means here the plates and other
utensils of the table, which among the lower classes were generally
of this material. It would be more reasonable, says the writer of
the song, if the court would eat out of wooden vessels, and pay for
their provisions with silver, than to live sumptuously with plate,
and only pay their victuals with wooden tallies.
---- _l._ 13, _Est vitii signum pro victu solvere lignum_.--The
King’s purveyors were a great grievance to the peasantry. In
the curious poem of “King Edward and the Shepherd” (printed by
Hartshorne from a MS. in the University Library, Cambridge), the
latter personage is made to say:--
“In Wynsour was I borne;
Hit is a myle but here beforne,
The town then maist thou see.
I am so pyled with the Kyng,
That I most fle fro my wonyng,
And therefore woo is me.
I hade catell, now have I non;
Thay take my bestis, and don thaim slon,
And payen but _a stick of tre_.”
And when the King, in disguise, promises to obtain redress, the
Shepherd proceeds--
“Sir,” he seid, “be seynt Edmonde,
Ther is owand .iiii. pounde
And odd twa schillyng.
_A stikke_ I have to my witnesse,
_Off hasill_ I mene that hit is,
I ne have non other thyng.
* * * *
Thei do but gode, the kynges men,
Thei ar worse then sich ten
That bene with hym no dell.
Thei goo aboute be .viij. or nyne,
And done the husbondes mycull pyne,
That carfull is their mele.
Thei take geese, capons, and henne,
And alle that ever thei may with renne,
And reves us our catell.
Sum of them was bonde sore,
And afturwarde honget therfore,
For soth as I you say.
Ȝet ar ther of them nyne moo;
For at my hows thei were also,
Certis, ȝisturday.
Thei toke my hennes and my geese,
And my schepe with all the fleese,
And ladde them forth away.
Be my doȝtur thei lay al nyȝt.
To come agayne thei have me hyȝt;
Of helpe I wolde yow pray.
With me thei lefte alle their thyng,
That I am sicur of theire comyng,
And that me rewes sore.
I have fayre chamburs thre;
But non of them may be with me
While that thei be thore.
Into my cart-hows thei me dryfe;
Out at the dur thei put my wyfe,
For she is olde gray-hare.”
_P._ 187. SONG ON THE FLEMISH INSURRECTION.--This Song was printed
by Ritson, in his _Ancient Songs_.
_P._ 188, _l._ 16, _Peter Conyng_.--Peter Coning (in English, Peter
King,) was a weaver of Bruges. A brief account of this insurrection
is given in Matthew of Westminster, p. 444. See, for a more
complete narrative, Michelet’s Histoire de France, vol. iii. p. 76.
_P._ 189, _l._ 8, _avowerie_.--This is the low Latin _advocaria_.
See Ducange, in voce.
---- _l._ 11, _hou_.--The MS. has _hout_.
_P._ 189, _l._ 17, _to clynken huere basyns of bras_.--This
circumstance occurred on the 21st March, 1302, at the beginning
of the insurrection. In the towns of Flanders, as in the boroughs
in England, the people were called up in an insurrection by the
sound of the church bell. There was a famous distich on the bell of
Roland, at Bruges--
Roelandt, Roelandt, als ick kleppe dan ist brandt,
Als ick luye, dan ist storm in Vlaenderlandt.
On the present occasion, the people dared not go to their bell,
on account of their French governors, so they beat their brass
basins:--cumque ad campanam civitatis non auderent accedere, pelves
suas pulsantes ... omnem multitudinem concitarent. Meyer, Annal. in
a. 1301, p. 90.
_P._ 191, _l._ 9, _Conyng_.--This word, in English, meant a
_rabbit_, and is here made the subject of a pun. In Flemish, it
signified _king_.
_P._ 193, _ll._ 17, 18, _Awey thou ȝunge pope!... Thou hast lore
thin cardinals_.--_P._ 194, _l._ 2, _Do the forth to Rome_.--An
allusion to the dissensions between the Pope and the family of the
Colonnas.--“Illis etiam diebus, dominus papa, fidei et orationum
quæ erant beati Petri oblitus, assumens quæ non erant ejus, tam
aurum videlicet a viduis et orphanis quam argentum, non viduis
et orphanis, sed militibus bellicosis illud erogare curavit,
contra schema quorundam cardinalium, eos denique degradando, et
contra regem Siciliæ guerram movendo. Sed dicti regis exercitus de
galeatis turmis domini papæ multa millia viriliter necaverunt.”
Matthew of Westminster, p. 432. This was the famous Pope Boniface
VIII., who suffered so much from the persecutions of the King of
France.
---- _l._ 7, _fot lome_, probably means _foot-lame_, lame of foot.
It occurs again in p. 335 of the present volume.
_P._ 195. A SONG ON THE TIMES.--The MS. from which this song is
taken, MS. Harl. No. 913, was written in Ireland, about the year
1308, by an English monk. For a detailed description of it, see Mr.
Crofton Croker’s _Popular Songs of Ireland_.
_P._ 196, _l._ 19, _hoblurs_.--The name _hoblurs_ (hobellarii) was
given properly to a kind of light-armed soldiers.
_P._ 198, _l._ 14, _geet_.--This word should probably be translated
_goats_, rather than _kids_.
_P._ 199, _l._ 7, _anone_.--In the MS. this word is explained by
the original scribe in the margin as “at one time.”
_P._ 206. SONG AGAINST THE SCHOLASTIC STUDIES.--In the Cottonian
MS. from which this song is taken, a hand of the 16th century has
written in the margin that it was the work of Robert Baston.
The Oxford MS. was pointed out to me by Mr. Halliwell, but I have
not been able to obtain a collation.
_P._ 207, _l._ 2, _propere_.--The MS. has ̃p̃pe, the meaning of
which is not clear.
---- _l._ 10, _Sicut servus Stichus_.--This name was given to a
servant in the Roman comic writers. It is introduced here for the
sake of rhyme.
_P._ 208, _l._ 2, _nullus_.--The MS. has _unus_.
---- _l._ 10, _Thebanas ... vel Trojanas cædes_.--Referring to the
Thebaid of Statius, and the poem _De bello Trojano_ of Joseph of
Exeter, both of them at that period popular reading books.
---- _l._ 16, _Telluris_.--The MS. has _Celurus_.
_P._ 209, _l._ 4, _agro ... positis_.--The MS. has _ager_ and
_positus_.
_P._ 212. SONG ON THE EXECUTION OF SIR SIMON FRASER.--This song was
printed by Ritson, in his _Ancient Songs_.
_P._ 213, _l._ 6, _The Waleis_.--Wallace was taken prisoner at the
second battle of Dunbar, in 1305, and was executed at London on the
Eve of St. Bartholomew, (Aug. 24) 1306. The places to which his
quarters were sent were Newcastle, Berwick, Perth, and Aberdeen.
---- _l._ 10, _Simond Frysel_.--This was the original form of the
name of Fraser, and is the way in which it is spelt in all the
English documents.
_P._ 215, _l._ 14, _kyng of somere_.--Matthew of Westminster gives
a popular story, that Bruce’s queen had told him in derision, he
was but a _summer king_, and that his kingdom would scarcely last
in the winter. See Holinshed, p. 314.
_P._ 215, _l._ 9, _Sire Edward of Carnarvon_.--The Prince of Wales.
_P._ 216, _l._ 10, _Sir Emer de Valence_.--Aylmer de Valence,
second Earl of Pembroke, a Baron who was frequently occupied in the
Scottish wars, and who was appointed by Edward to be one of the
guardians of his son, Edward II.
---- _l._ 19, _the batayle of Kyrkenclyff_.--Fought, according to
Holinshed, on the next Sunday after Midsummer day, 1306.
---- _l._ 15, _Sire Thomas of Multone_.--Thomas de Multon, of
Egremond, in Cumberland. He was active in the Scottish wars of this
reign.
_P._ 218, _l._ 17, _Sire Herbert of Morham_.--Apparently a mere
error of the scribe for Norham. Matthew of Westminster relates the
same anecdote.
_P._ 219, _l._ 13, _oure Levedy even_.--The seventh of September,
1306.
---- _l._ 16, _Sire Rauf of Sondwyche_.--Ralph de Sandwich was
constable of the Tower of London (_constabularius turris London_).
_P._ 221, _l._ 7, _a curtel of burel_.--_Burellus_, in low Latin,
_bureau_ or _burel_ in old French, was a kind of coarse and common
cloth.
_P._ 222, _l._ 9, _tu-brugge_.--Perhaps this word means a
drawbridge. It occurs again in Robert of Gloucester, p. 543:--
“And the castel brugge out of the med he barnde fram then ende
To the tu-brugge along, vor me ne ssolde out wende.”
Which means probably that he burnt all that part of the bridge on
the meadow side up to the place where its communication with the
rest was cut off by the raising of the drawbridge.
_P._ 223, _l._ 6, _Erl of Asseles_.--John de Strathbogie, Earl of
Athol. He also was captured and executed.
---- _l._ 18, _Tprot, Scot, for thi strif!_--The word _tprot_
appears to be a mere exclamation of contempt. In a poem on “The
Propertees of the Shyres of Engelond,” printed by Hearne in the
Introduction to the fifth volume of Leland’s Itinerary, we find it
used, as here, against the Scots:--
“Northumbrelond hasty and hoot;
Westmerlond _tprut Scotte_!”
It will be found similarly used in a passage quoted in a note
further on (p. 391). In Sir Thomas de la More’s Chronicle, it is
applied to King Edward II.:--“_Tprut!_ Sire King!” It seems to be
taken from the French: in Jean Bodel’s Jeu de S. Nicolas (Théatre
Français au Moyen-Age, edited by MM. Monmerqué and Michel) it is
put in the mouths of the common gamblers in a public-house:--
“_Tproupt! tproupt!_ bevons hardiement;
Ne faisons si le coc emplat.”--(p. 183.)
And again, immediately after (p. 184):--
“_Tproupt! tproupt!_ où que soit passé, Diex!”
_P._ 223, _l._ 21, _with the longe shonkes_.--King Edward, still
known popularly as Edward Long-shanks.
_P._ 224. SONG ON THE VENALITY OF THE JUDGES.--After this song
was printed, I found another copy of it in MS. Reg. 12, c. XII.
fol. 1, v^o. of reign of Edw. II., written likewise as prose,
which presents the following variations:--_P._ 224, _ll._ 1, 2,
_esuriunt | Et faciunt justitiam | et od._--7, _exhennia_.--9,
this line is omitted, and the following begins _Sed quæ_.--11,
_et aure non_.--13, _Sed modo miro more_.--15, _ad peric._--17,
_ambiant_.--_P._ 225, _l._ 1, _hæc_.--7, _nam_ is omitted.--8, _Qui
sensum_.--9, _ei pure_.--14, _Quid ergo Jhesu bone_.--_P._ 226,
_l._ 1, _accedit_.--2, _secretius_.--7, _potest_.--_ll._ 12-18 are
placed after _l._ 10 in the next page.--14, _dona_.--15, _et hoc
pro l._--17, _quamvis prius_.--19, _Si quædam pulcra nobilis |
decora vel am._--_P._ 227, _l._ 2, _hoc_.--12, _ut exprimant_.--13,
_vocantur_.--14, _priores_.--18, _Sed quid_.--_P._ 228, _l._ 1,
_quid laboras_.--2, _quid facis_.--8, _ibis Omere, foras_.--9, _De
vinctibus_.--11, _enumerare_.--19, _Est salsum totum_. This MS.
ends with this verse.
---- _l._ 7, _encennia_.--This word answers as nearly as may be to
the modern word _jewels_. The other MS., of which the variations
are given above, reads _exennia_, i. e. _treasures_.
_P._ 225, _l._ 17, _cedunt_.--In the MS. the scribe has written
over this word “i. re,” that is, “i. e. recedunt.”
_P._ 226, _l._ 21, _cum capite cornuto_.--The head dress of the
ladies of rank and fashion at this period was arranged in the form
of two horns.
_P._ 227, _l._ 13, _relatores_, “qui querelam ad judices referunt.”
Ducange.
_P._ 229, _l._ 13, _transmittantur_.--The MS. has _transmutantur_.
_P._ 229, _l._ 18, _averia_.--The term _averium_ is commonly used
to signify all kinds of moveable property; but more particularly to
signify cattle and horses.
_P._ 230, _l._ 1, _clericos_.--The scribe has written above this
word, in the MS. “i. pauperes.”
_P._ 231. THE OUTLAW’S SONG OF TRAILEBASTON.--This song also was
printed by Sir Francis Palgrave in the collection mentioned in a
former note. The notion that the judges were called Trailebastons
on account of the hastiness of their proceedings, is quite
incorrect. The term was applied not to the judges, but to the
persons judged, who received this name because they carried with
them long staffs. An account of the origin of the Trailebastons
will be found in the extract of Peter Langtoft, at p. 318 of the
present volume. The proceedings against them led to many abuses,
and were often made the means of gratifying personal revenge. The
statute against the Trailebastons was continued in force through
the reigns of Edward II. and Edward III.
_P._ 232, _l._ 1, _souz_.--In old French and Anglo-Norman, the word
_sous_ was not used in its present sense, but represented the Latin
_solidos_.
---- _l._ 7, _le bois de Belregard_.--Perhaps a fictitious name,
invented by the poet.
_P._ 233, _l._ 3, _ly Martyn ... ly Knoville_.--_l._ 5, _Spigurnel
... Belflour_.--By the following commission, given in Rymer, we
find that these Barons were the commissioners appointed to judge
the Trailebastons in the western counties of England. There can
be little doubt that _Belflour_ in the song is meant for the
name which in the commission is _Bellafagus_. This document is
curious, both for the light it throws on the subject, and for
the circumstance that it fixes the period at which the song was
written; it bears date at Westminster, April 6, 1305.