913. _werwolves._ People who had the power of turning themselves into, or
were turned into, wolves. This fearful superstition, which is very ancient,
was extremely prevalent in the middle ages. In French they were called
_Loup-garous_. The history of a personage of this kind forms the subject of
the Lai de Bisclaveret, by Marie de France. Sir Frederick Madden has
published a very remarkable Early-English metrical romance on the subject
of "William and the Werwolf." See on this superstition Grimm's Deutsche
Mythologie, pp. 620-622.
954. _Golias._ There is perhaps here an allusion to the famous satire on
the Monkish orders entitled Apocalypsis Goliæ, printed among the poems of
Walter Mapes.
967. _the kynrede of Caym._ In the popular belief of the middle ages,
hob-goblins and evil spirits (which haunted the wilds and the waters)
literally, and bad men figuratively, were represented as being descended
from the first murderer, Cain. In Old-English poetry, _Caymes kyn_ is a
common epithet for very wicked people. In the Anglo-Saxon romance of
Beowulf, the Grendel is said to be of "Cain's kin."
1051. _wytnes on Wyclif._ In the persecutions to which Wycliffe was
subjected for his opinions in 1382, his most violent opponents were the
Mendicants. He died in 1384, quietly at his living of Lutterworth.
1189. _a lymytoure._ See before, the note on l. 14615 of the Vision.
1178. _stumlen in tales._ An allusion to the idle and superstitious tales
with which the monks filled their sermons, in place of simple and sound
doctrine.
1309. _Water Brut._ Walter Brut (or Bright) was a native of Herefordshire,
and was prosecuted by the Bishop of Hereford for heresy in 1393. A long
account of his defence will be found in Foxe's Acts and Monuments.
1401. _Hildegare._ I suppose this refers to St. Hildegardis, a nun who
flourished in the middle of the twelfth century, and who was celebrated
among the Roman Catholics as a prophetess. Her prophecies are not uncommon
in manuscripts, and they have been printed. Those which relate to the
future corruptions in the monkish orders are given in Foxe's Acts and
Monuments, book vi, and in other works.
* * * * *