JOHN LYDGATE, THE LYFE OF SEYNT MARGARETE, EXPLANATORY NOTES

1-77 Lydgate's Prologue elaborately defines his account as a literary text based on other texts within a long rhetorical tradition. Note the difference from the openings of those narratives designed for a listening audience.

24-28 daysye. Daisy; also called a "margarita"; hence Lydgate's use of it in his stanza developing flower images in connection with Margaret. The white lily traditionally symbolizes chastity; red roses, the shed blood of a martyr.

29-53 Margarete is also a name for the pearl, which Lydgate describes and compares with St. Margaret in these stanzas. This passage closely parallels the prologue to Margaret's legend in the Golden Legend (or Legenda aurea) of Jacobus de Voragine.

41 palme. A symbol of martyrdom in western iconography.

43-44 cordyal. Lydgate is listing some of the medicinal properties attributed to pearls. They were also ground up and used as a coagulant, to stop blood flow - making them useful in connection with childbirth, as well as other medical emergencies.

56-57 aureat lycoure/ Into my penne. A figure for poetic inspiration.

69 Lady Marche. Anne Mortimer, countess of March (d.1432), who requested that Lydgate write this Life. Daughter of Anne of Woodstock and Edmund, earl of Stafford, she married Edmund Mortimer, earl of March, in 1415. Anne might have become queen, since Mortimer was considered the legitimate heir of Richard II, but Henry V was chosen instead.

72 Frensshe and Latyne. The languages of the court and the church, respectively.

120-26 Lydgate's account places unusual emphasis on Olibrius' inner feelings when he first sees Margaret. For a moment he sounds almost like a courtly lover.

139 of foreyne lyne. Other versions of the legend have him explicitly consider the possibility that she might be a mere serf.

164-82 Olibrius begins by being much politer and more complimentary to Margaret than he sounds in most other retellings. Compare this passage, e.g., with lines 81-94 in the stanzaic version.

232-59 Lydgate places unusual emphasis on the onlookers' pitying response to Margaret's ordeal. Compare this passage, e.g., with lines 139-50 in the stanzaic version.

283-398 Lydgate compresses the critical scenes of the dragon and the demon, making them the same demonic figure in two different forms, both of whom Margaret apparently defeats while lying bound in her prison cell. Rather than a vigorous fight with the demon in human form, here her prayer accomplishes the task and placing her foot on his back seems purely symbolic. In lines 298-301 Lydgate offers a well-known image of Margaret: her hands together in prayer as she stands on the defeated dragon. In lines 314-15 her two foes are again conflated: she stands on the human-shaped demon, but he is described as a serpent. In line 397 the demon is again called a dragon, and in lines 316, 323, 344, and 393 he is again linked with serpents.

316-22 See Luke 10:19, "Behold, I have given you power to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and upon all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall hurt you"; and Genesis 3:15, "I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel." Margaret also alludes to the fact that her deed will be recorded and remembered, which was in fact an important part of her cult. (See below, especially lines 454-62.)

351-71 The demon's hatred for people stems from his envy that God created humankind to replace those angels who followed Satan and fell from heaven to hell. Therefore, humans will have the place in heaven which the demons know was once theirs.

372 Salamon. King Solomon. See explanatory note to lines 223-32 of the stanzaic Life.

396 withedrowe. I.e., she removed her foot from his back rather than cause him more duress.

401-03 This kind of explicit connection between the dragon/demon and Olibrius is also made in the Legenda aurea (Jacobus de Voragine, trans. Ryan, l.370).

419 boylyng water. This touch may be original with Lydgate. Other versions of the legend suggest that the torturers sought to increase her suffering by plunging her alternately into fire and cold water.

432 heveded by vengeaunce. Beheaded for vengeance. That is, the 5000 new converts are executed immediately after their conversion. The next stanza suggests that Olibrius wants to have her killed before there are any more conversions.

463-73 Lydgate's version of Margaret's prayer for women in childbirth carefully makes God, rather than Margaret, the agent (literally, the physician). Unlike the version in MS C of the stanzaic Life (lines 315-18), Lydgate's version also makes no explicit mention of the infant's health.

495-96 Threttene kalendes . . . / Of Jul. Thirteen of the calends of July. This is July 20, Margaret's feast day in the western church. In the eastern church her feast is celebrated on July 17.

498-518 This passage is borrowed from the end of the chapter on Margaret in the Legenda aurea. Neither MacCracken nor editors of the Legenda have identified the "holy saint" being quoted.

511 maisterasse. Margaret's example during her lifetime makes her a model to be revered and imitated by everyone.

Lenvoy "The Envoy." A direct address to the reader or hearer at the end of a poem.

519-32 Although the poem was written at the request of Anne, countess of March (named in line 69), here Lydgate extends his audience to all gentlewomen, and then to all women who have need of the saint's assistance in childbirth, and finally to all people who need her help because of any kind of trouble.

533-39 The final stanza prays for the protection of Margaret and other martyr saints to help Lydgate and his readers resist the relentless attacks of the three enemies - the world, the flesh, and the devil. (See also the Prologue, lines 47-53). Margaret's particular efficacy is in protection against demons, but because she resisted the temptation to accept Olibrius' offer of marriage and endured torture, she has triumphed over the other two enemies as well. Note that "disease" is mentioned in all three stanzas of the Envoy, becoming broader and broader in its implications.

JOHN LYDGATE, THE LYFE OF SEYNT MARGARETE, TEXTUAL NOTES

Abbreviations: B = Bodleian Library MS Bodley 686 (SC 2527), fols. 193v-200v; D = Durham University Library MS Cosin V.II.14, fols. 97v-106v [base text]; H = British Library MS Harley 367, fols. 80r-83v; L = Cambridge University Library MS Ll.5.18, fols. 29v-41v; M = Henry Noble MacCracken [EETS edition].

Here begynneth . . . According to M, this rubric is found in MSS B and H as well as D. The abbreviation at the end is a dating formula, meaning "in year 8 of the reign of Henry VI."

9 Golde. D's reading. M: Gold.

34 smalle. M lacks the final -e, indicated in D by crossing the double l.

41 her. D's reading. M: hir.

59 thi. D's reading. M: this.

74 therof. D's reading. M: thereof.

122 sawe. D's reading. M: saw.

129 anone. D's reading. M: anoon.

135 sothely. D's reading. M: sothly.

136 her. D's reading. M: hir.

138 strife. D's reading. M: stryfe.

164 thynges. D's reading. M: thinges.

171 fairnesse. D's reading. M: fairenesse.

174 mustest. D's reading, an unusual form. The other MSS cited in M all have commoner alternatives: must (H), maist (L), or myghtest (B).

175 the thride. M's emendation. D: the the thride, followed by an erased word, possibly day.

178 deide. D's reading. M: deied.

182 Whiche. D's reading. M: Which.

195 feith. D's reading. M: feithe.

201 oure. D's reading. M: our.

216 this is. My emendation. Both D and M omit is, which I have supplied on the basis of B and L.

229 hir. D's reading. M: her.

233 Ful. D's reading. M: Full.

240 on to. My emendation. M retains D's reading, unto, without comment, presumably because M construed see as a noun ("sea"). But the MED confirms that the phrase is much likelier to be the infinitive "to see on," "gaze on."

247 thi. D's reading. M: this.

250 oute. D's reading. M: out.

252 thi. D's reading. M: thy.

254 worldly. My emendation. M retains worlde, the reading in D, but H and L both have worldly. B has an odder adjectival form, worldles.

266 myschief. D's reading. M: mischief.

270 Lyke. D's reading. M: Like.

274 take. D's reading. M: taken.

280 hir. D's reading. M: her.

282 destruccyoun. D's reading. M: distruccyoun.

287 hir. D's reading. M: her.

292 anoon. D's reading. M: anoone.

310 maide. M's emendation. D: made.

313 myghte. M's emendation. D: myght.

316 malys. D's reading. M: malyse.

319 shal. D's reading. M: shall.

325 venquysshed. M's emendation. D: vequysshed.

334 doun. D's reading. M: down.

335 atte. D's reading. M: at.

340 there. D's reading. M: their.

frendly.D's reading. M: friendly.

341 thi. D's reading. M: thy.

342 chaste. M's emendation. D: chast.

343 distresse. D's reading. M: distress.

370 the. D's reading. M: thye.

375 spirites. My emendation based on B, H and L. M retains the odd form in D, spiritus.

378 oute. D's reading. M: out.

386 Whiche. D's reading. M: Which.

387 ther. D's reading. M: their.

390 alle. D's reading. M: all.

396 withedrowe. D's reading. M: with-drowe.

400 Venquysshed. My emendation. D: Wenquysshed, which M retains.

405 nexte. M's emendation. D: next.

al. D's reading. M: all.

407 beynge. D's reading. M: beyng.

408-09 do no sacryfice / The fals goddes. The idiom seems to demand a preposition after sacryfice, but there is nothing in M to suggest that any of the MSS inserts one.

420 Reconstruction from M. The line was evidently corrupt at an early stage of transmission. According to M, H has only the same fragment found in D: The water blowyng. B and L have complete lines, but significantly different ones: The watter boilyng with bollys grete and rounde (B); The wawys burbyllyng bothe large and rounde (L).

421 enviroun. D's reading. M: enviroune.

422 doolful. M's emendation. D: dooful.

426 strange. D's reading. M: straunge.

429 peple. D's reading. M: people.

435 al. D's reading. M: all.

439 youthe. D's reading. M: youth.

447 whan. D's reading. M: when.

449-55 D calls attention to this stanza with a prominent note beside it in the margin, apparently in the hand of the original scribe, which says, primo oravit pro suis persecutoribus ("First she prayed for those who persecuted her").

456-62 This stanza is marked with another prominent marginal note, in the same hand, saying, Peticio et pro eius memoriam agentibus et se invocantibus ("There was also a request for those who would honor her memory and call on her").

463-69 This stanza has another prominent marginal note, in the same hand, saying, Etiam devote oravit ad Deum ut quecumque in partu parielitans se invocaverit illesam prolem emitteret ("She also prayed devoutly to God that any woman who called on her in childbirth should deliver an uninjured child"). This note sounds more traditional than Lydgate's version of the prayer, where the emphasis actually falls on the safety of the mother.

477 highe. M's emendation. D: high.

487 shal. D's reading. M: shall.

488 Hir. D's reading. M: Her.

491-93 sowne . . . crowne. My emendations, based on B, H, and L. M retains the odder form, soun, from D, but emends D's croun to croune.

510 sholde. D's reading. M: shulde.

511 alle. D's reading. M: all.

515 virgyn. D's reading. M: virgin.

519-39 This ending is found in D and H but not in the other two MSS collated by M.

524 sykenesse. D's reading. M: syknesse.

534 other. D's reading. M: othir.