65. _a Minoure._ These were the Gray or Franciscan Friars, founded at the
beginning of the thirteenth century by St. Francis of Assise. They are
supposed to have come to England in 1224, when they settled, first at
Canterbury, and afterwards at London.
75. _a Carm._ 95. _Maries men._ The Carmelites, or White Friars, pretended
to be of great antiquity, and were originally established at Mount Carmel,
from whence they were driven by the Saracens about the year 1238. They were
brought into England in 1244, and settled first at Alnwick in
Northumberland, and at Ailesford in Kent.
About the date (or a little before) of our poem, the Carmelites appear to
have been very active in asserting in a boasting manner the superiority of
their order over the others. An anecdote told by Fuller (History of
Cambridge, p. 113), under the year 1371, affords a curious illustration.
"John Stokes, a Dominican, born at Sudbury, in Suffolk, but studying in
Cambridge, as champion of his order, fell foul on the Carmelites, chiefly
for calling themselves 'The brothers of the Blessed Virgin,' and then by
consequence all knew whose uncle they pretend themselves. He put them to
prove their pedigree by Scripture, how the kindred came in. In brief, Bale
saith, 'he left red notes in the white coats of the Carmelites,' he so
belaboured them with his lashing language. But John Hornby a Carmelite
(born at Boston in Lincolnshire) undertook him, called by Bale Cornutus, by
others Hornet-bee, so stinging his stile. He proved the brothership of his
order to the Virgin Mary by visions, allowed true by the infallible popes,
so that no good Christian durst deny it."
130. _Freres of the Pye._ The Fratres de Pica, or Friars of the Pye, are
said to have received their name from the circumstance of their wearing
their outer garment black and white like a magpie. Very little is known of
their history. They are said to have had but one house in England.
143. _Robartes men._ See before the notes on the Vision, ll. 88 and ll.
3410.
155. _miracles of mydwyves._ The monks had many relics and superstitious
practices to preserve and aid women in childbirth. One of the commissioners
for the suppression of the monasteries mentions among the relics of a house
he had visited, "Mare Magdalens girdell, and yt is wrappyde and coveride
with white, sent also with gret reverence to women traveling:" he had
previously spoken of "oure Lades gyrdell of Bruton, rede silke, wiche is a
solemne reliquie sent to women travelyng wiche shall not miscarie _in
partu_." (MS. Cotton. Cleop. E. iv, fol. 249.) See the account of a gem,
which had a similar virtue, in Matthew Paris's History of the Abbots of St.
Albans.
305. _the Prechoures._ The Black Friars, or Dominicans, were founded by St.
Dominic, a Spanish monk of the end of the eleventh century. They were
called Friars Preachers, because their chief duty was to preach and convert
heretics. They came into England in 1221, and had their first houses in
Oxford.
327. _posternes in privité._ These private posterns are frequently alluded
to in the reports of the Commissioners for the Dissolution of the
Monasteries in the reign of Henry VIII. One of them, speaking of the abbey
of Langden, says, "Wheras immediatly descendying fro my horse, I sent
Bartlett your servant, with all my servantes to circumcept the abbay and
surely to kepe _all bake dorres and startyng hoilles_, and I myself went
alone to the abbottes logeying joyning upon the feldes and wode, _evyn lyke
a cony clapper full of startyng hoilles_." (MS. Cotton. Cleop. E. iv, fol.
127.) Another commissioner (MS. Cotton. Cleop. E. iv, fol. 35), in a letter
concerning the monks of the Charter-house in London, says, "These
charterhowse monkes wolde be callyde solytary, but to the cloyster dore
ther be above xxiiij. keys in the handes of xxiiij. persons, and hit is
lyke my letters, unprofytable tayles and tydinges and sumtyme perverse
concell commythe and goythe by reason therof. Allso to the buttrey dore
ther be xij. sundrye keys in xij. [mens] handes wherin symythe to be small
husbandrye."
351. _merkes of merchauntes._ Their ciphers or badges painted in the
windows. For examples, see the note in Warton's History of English Poetry,
vol. ii, p. 98, last edition.