With respect to the source of this Tale, see vol. iii. p. 450.
1300. _erchedeken._ As to the duties of the archdeacon, here described,
compare A. 655, 658. He enforced discipline by threats of excommunication,
and inflicted fines for various offences. Compare Wyclif's Works, ed.
Arnold, iii. 166.
1305. I. e. he punished church-reeves if they did ill, and all cases in
which wills or contracts had been wantonly violated. 'Lakke of sacraments'
refers, chiefly, to the neglect of the precept to communicate at Easter;
also to neglect of baptism, and, possibly, of matrimony, as that was also a
'sacrament' in the church of our fathers.
1307-8. These two lines occur here in MS. Hl. only; see note to 1294 above.
1309. Usury was prohibited by the Canon Law; cf. P. Plowman, C. vii. 239.