And sette many sundry metis,
Mortreux and puddynges,
Braun and blood of gees,
Bacoun and colopis.
8167. 2 Corinth. xi, 24, 25, 27.
8173, 8180. 2 Cor. xi, 26.
8202. _Mahoun._ Mahoun was the middle-age name of Mohammed, and in the
popular writers was often taken in the mere sense of an idol or pagan
deity.
8204. _justly wombe._ MS. Trin. Coll. 2.
8225. _in a frayel._ Whitaker's text has _in a forel_, which he explains by
"a wicker basket." The second Trin. Coll. MS. has also _in a forell_.
_Forel_ is the Low-Latin _forellus_, a bag, sack, or purse: a _frayel_
(_fraellum_) was a little wicker basket, such as were used for carrying
figs or grapes.
8273. Matth. v, 19.
8292. Psalm xiv, 1.
8368. 1 John iv, 18.
8416. Luke xix, 8.
8418. Luke xxi, 1-4.
8444. _Surré._ Syria.
8474. _a mynstrall._ The description of the minstrel given here is very
curious. For a sketch of the character of this profession see Mr. Shaw's
"Dresses and Decorations of the Middle Ages;" and for more enlarged details
of the history of the craft the reader may consult the Introduction to
Percy's Reliques, and Chappell's History of National Airs.
8518. _a pardon with a peis of leed._ The papal bulls, &c., had seals of
lead, instead of wax.
8526. Marc. xvi, 17, 18.
8541. Acts iii, 6.
8554. Whitaker's text omits all that follows here to l. 8958 of our text,
entering very abruptly upon the subject there treated. Some of the
intervening matter had already been inserted in other places in Whitaker's
text. See our notes on ll. 2846 and 3030.
8567. _cart ... with breed fro Stratforde._ Stratford-at-Bow is said to
have been famous in old times for its numerous bakers, who supplied a great
part of the metropolis. Stowe, in his Survey of London, p. 159 (who appears
to have altered the text of Piers Ploughman to suit his own calculation,
for all the manuscripts and printed editions I have collated give "twice
_twenty_ and ten"), observes, "And because I have here before spoken of the
bread carts comming from Stratford at the Bow, ye shall understand that of
olde time the bakers of breade at Stratford were allowed to bring dayly
(except the Sabbaoth and principall feast) diverse long cartes laden with
bread, the same being two ounces in the pennie wheate loafe heavier than
the penny wheate loafe baked in the citie, the same to be solde in Cheape,
three or foure carts standing there, betweene Gutherans lane and Fausters
lane ende, one cart on Cornehill, by the conduit, and one other in Grasse
streete. And I have reade that in the fourth yere of Edward the second,
Richard Reffeham being maior, a baker named John of Stratforde, for making
bread lesser than the assise, was with a fooles whoode on his head, and
loaves of bread about his necke, drawne on a hurdle through the streets of
this citie. Moreover in the 44. of Edward the third, John Chichester being
maior of London, I read in the visions of Pierce Plowman, a booke so
called, as followeth. _There was a careful commune when no cart came to
towne with baked bread from Stratford: tho gan beggers weepe, and workemen
were agast, a little this will be thought long in the date of our Dirte, in
a drie Averell a thousand and three hundred, twise thirtie and ten, &c._ I
reade also in the 20. of Henrie the eight, Sir James Spencer being maior,
six bakers of Stratford were merced in the Guildhall of London, for baking
under the size appoynted. These bakers of Stratford left serving of this
citie, I know not uppon what occasion, about 30 yeares since."
8572. _a drye Aprill._ This is without doubt the dry season placed by
Fabyan in the year 1351, which, as he describes it, began with the month of
April. The difference of the date arises probably from a different system
of computation. Fabian says, "In the sommer of this xxvii yeare, it was so
drie that it was many yeres after called the drie sommer. For from the
latter ende of March, till the latter ende of Julye, fell lytle rayne or
none, by reason whereof manye inconveniences ensued."
8576. _Whan Chichestre was maire._ According to Fabyan, John Chichester was
mayor only once, in 1368, 1369, which was the period of the "thirde
mortalytie." The other authorities seem to agree in giving this as the year
of Chichester's mayoralty. He may perhaps have been mayor more than once.
See INTRODUCTION.
8645. Galat. i, 10.
8685. Psalm x, 7.
8707, 8708. The two persons mentioned here (the shoemaker of Southwark and
dame Emma of Shoreditch) were probably eminent sorcerers and
fortune-tellers of the time.
8769-8778. To understand fully this passage, it must be borne in mind that
the corn lands were not so universally hedged as at present, and that the
portions belonging to different persons were separated only by a narrow
furrow, as is still the case in some of the uninclosed lands in
Cambridgeshire.
8812. _Brugges._ Bruges was the great mart of continental commerce during
the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries.
8813. _Pruce-lond_--Prussia, which was then the farthest country in the
interior of Europe with which a regular trade was carried on by the English
merchants.
8827. Matth. vi, 21.
8858. Luke vi, 25.
8879. Psalm ci, 7.
8891. _a lady of sorwe._ The old printed edition has a _laye of sorow_.
8900. Whitaker has no division here, but continues the previous _passus_,
and omits many lines and has many variations in what follows.
8903. _I slepe therinne o nyghtes._ This passage is curious, because at the
time the poem was written, it was the custom for all classes of society to
go to bed quite naked, a practice which is said to have been not entirely
laid aside in the sixteenth century. We see constant proofs of this
practice in the illuminations of old manuscripts. The following memorial
lines are written in the margin of a MS. of the thirteenth century:--
Ne be thi winpil nevere so jelu ne so stroutende,
Ne thi faire tail so long ne so trailende,
That tu ne schalt at evin al kuttid bilevin,
And tou schalt to bedde gon so nakid as tou were [borin].
_MS. Cotton. Cleop. C._ VI, fol. 22, r^o.
In the Roman de la Violette, the old nurse expresses her astonishment that
her young mistress should retain her chemise when she goes to bed:--
Et quant elle son lit fait a,
Sa dame apiele, si se couche
Nue en chemise en la couche;
C'onques en trestoute sa vie
La biele, blonde, l'escavie,
Ne volt demostrer sa char nue.
La vielle en est au lit venue,
Puis li a dit: 'Dame, j'esgart
Une chose, se Dex me gart,
Dont je sui molt esmervillie
C'onques ne vous vi despoillie,
Et si vous ai vij. ans gardée;
Molt vous ai souvent esgardée
Que vo chemise ne sachiés!'
_Rom. de la Viol._ l. 577.
The lady explains her conduct by stating that she has a mark on the breast
which she had promised that no one should ever see.
8906. Luke xiv, 20.
8950. _noon heraud ne harpour._ Robes and other garments were among the
most usual gifts bestowed upon minstrels and heralds by the princes and
great barons. See before, ll. 8480, 8481.
8970. Matth. vi, 25, 26.
8999. John xiv, 13; xv, 16. Matth. iv, 4.
9037. Psalm cxliv, 16.
9039. _fourty wynter._ During the forty years that the children of Israel
wandered in the wilderness, they did not apply themselves to agriculture.
9049. _Sevene slepe._ The legend of the seven sleepers was remarkably
popular during the middle ages.
9101. Psalm xxxi. 1.
9176. Psalm lxxv, 6.
9178. Psalm lxxii, 20. Whitaker's _Passus sextus de Dowel_ ends with this
quotation.
9317. Both in the Vision of Piers Ploughman, and in the Creed, there are
frequent expressions of indignation at the extravagant expenditure in
painting the windows of the abbeys and churches. It must not be forgotten
that a little later the same feeling as that exhibited in these satires led
to the destruction of many of the noblest monuments of medieval art.
9344. Mat. xix, 23, 24.
9347. Apocal. xiv, 13.
9352. Matth. v, 3.