OSBERN BOKENHAM, LIFE OF ST. ANNE, FOOTNOTES

1 Lines 12-13: as my inevitable fate decrees

2 Lines 87-88: Who intend to say something about your family, through your favor

3 Lines 123-24: But for our purposes [what matters is that] the third [son] was called / Solomon and the fourth Nathan in truth

4 Lines 127-28: The custom of Scripture does not ordinarily / Record the genealogy of women

5 [Now that you] understand these things, listen [as I continue]

6 An old container preserves the scent of what it held when it was new

7 To purify them with smoke from burning incense

8 Do you think I could repair these misfortunes?

9 Who drinks salt water to quench his thirst

10 And at once, in a way that Joachim did not understand

11 And from Anne's womb sprang the vessel that held the Savior (the oil of salvation)

OSBERN BOKENHAM, LIFE OF ST. ANNE, EXPLANATORY NOTES

1-96 Although Bokenham begins this poem with professions of poetic incompetence, he obviously does not expect the reader to believe him. The Prologue in particular is full of classical allusions, echoes of earlier English poets, and other literary conventions (including the pretense of incompetence itself), and it is written in a conspicuously elaborate and demanding stanza form that rhymes sixteen lines on just three sounds (ababbcbccbcbbaba).

3 rethoryens. A term used in the fifteenth century for excellent or eloquent writers, not just masters of rhetoric in the modern sense. The modifier fyrsh is probably a form of "fresh" (meaning something like "new," "vigorous," or "fertile"), but it could conceivably be "first," referring either to the preeminence of the poets named in line 4 or to their reputation as the originators of courtly poetry in English.

4 Gowere, Chauncere, and now Lytgate. The three most famous English poets of the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries. John Gower and Geoffrey Chaucer had both died several decades before Bokenham began to write, but John Lydgate (author of the elaborate verse Life of Margaret in the present collection) was still alive; hence the now in line 4.

9 fer in age. Bokenham mentions elsewhere in this collection that he was 50 when he began it in 1443. Despite his repeated suggestions of poor health and decrepitude, he evidently lived another two decades.

25 leysere and space. A pair of near synonyms meaning "time and opportunity." Bokenham evidently liked this phrase, since he uses it again at line 73.

36 claryfye. A word meaning not only "reveal, set forth, declare," but also "illuminate, brighten" and "glorify, exalt."

41 For treuly I make a protestacyon. An unmistakable echo of Chaucer, who used slight variants of this line on three occasions: "But first I make a protestacioun" (CT I[A]3137), "Therfore I make protestacioun" (CT X[I]59), and "And here I make a protestacioun" (TC 2.484).

49-64 More echoes from Chaucer, most obviously the modesty formulas used by the Franklin (CT V[F]717-22), who also claimed to know nothing about rhetoric because he had never slept on Mt. Parnassus or learned any Cicero.

66 Denston Kateryne. On Katherine Denston, see above in the final paragraph of the Introduction to this legend. The reversal of her two names here is presumably done for the sake of the rhyme.

77-78 One expects a reference to the thread of life, the length of which was determined in classical mythology by the three Fates who spun it, measured it, and finally cut it off; but the fatal web (line 78) here seems to be a flimsy woven fabric that Death will unravel.

85 of thy womanhede. A common late-medieval definition of ideal womanhede, or "womanliness," made it almost synonymous with mercy and tender-heartedness. One of the clearest examples is the passage in The Knight's Tale that relates the noble ladies' reaction when Theseus angrily sentences Palamon and Arcite to death: "The queene anon, for verray wommanhede, / Gan for to wepe, and so did Emelye, / And alle the ladyes in the compaignye. / Greet pitee was it, as it thoughte hem alle . . ." (CT I[A]1748-51).

92-94 A reference to the tradition that Mary was consecrated to God in the temple at the age of three and remained there for the rest of her childhood. Mirk alludes to it in his sermon for the Conception of the Virgin, lines 41-42, and Bokenham himself gives a fuller account below at lines 615-74.

103 Lady. I.e., female ruler.

Empresse of Helle. Delany explains this title, which is also used by Lydgate, as a reference to a tradition in the Eastern church in which the Virgin Mary herself "descends into the underworld to witness the punishment of sinners [and then] intercedes with Jesus to gain a period of respite for the damned" (Bokenham, A Legend of Holy Women, p. 201).

118-59 Although the immediate source for this discussion of Anne's noble ancestors is the Legenda aurea of Jacobus de Voragine, it draws on a long tradition of efforts by Christian commentators to deal with two problems in the Gospels: their failure to give any genealogy whatever for the Virgin Mary, and the fact that they give two conflicting genealogies for her husband, Joseph. The list of Joseph's ancestors in Matthew 1:1-17 agrees with the longer list in Luke 3:23-38 on most of the sequence from Abraham to David, but after David they diverge radically. Matthew traces a line of descent through Solomon to Joseph's father, whom he calls Jacob, son of Mathan; Luke, a line through Nathan, another son of David, to Joseph's father Heli (or Eli), son of Mathat, grandson of Levi, and great-grandson of Melchi.

121-22 Bersabee . . . Urye. A very cautious reference to the greatest sins in David's life, as related in 2 Samuel [2 Kings in Vulgate and Douay] 11-12: an adulterous affair with Bathsheba, whose husband Uriah was serving loyally in David's army, and David's concealment of the adultery by contriving the death of Uriah. 1 Chronicles 3:5 names the four sons born to Bathsheba and David after he married her. But 2 Samuel 12:13-28 mentions an additional son: a nameless infant whose life was taken by God to punish David's crimes against Uriah.
     The form of Bathsheba's name here is not unusual in medieval sources. Manuscripts of the Vulgate used many different spellings, and two of the most common were Bethsabee and Bersabee.

126 Jerom and Damascen. That is, St. Jerome (c. 347-420?), who translated much of the Bible from Hebrew and Greek into Latin and wrote important commentaries on a number of books as well, and St. John of Damascus (c. 675-750), a Greek theologian, polemicist, and commentator.

131 they two. I.e., Jerome and John of Damascus.

134-36 for nothynge . . . kynredes. Probably a reference to Numbers 36:1-10, which directed the children of Israel to marry within their own tribes so that family property would not be scattered. Modern translators tend to interpret this rule as applying only to women who would actually inherit property, but the wording in the Vulgate could be taken as applying to everyone.

138 streyned. According to the Protevangelium of James, which shaped the view of Joseph until the end of the Middle Ages, Joseph was divinely chosen to be the husband of the Virgin Mary, although he protested that he was too old and would become a laughing-stock if he took such a young wife.

150 Melchy. Mentioned above in line 142.

156-57 The rule about marrying a childless brother's widow and designating her first son to perpetuate the dead brother's name is found in Deuteronomy 25:5-10.

158 And gat Joseph. The Legenda aurea adds another sentence at this point to underline the conclusion reached by John of Damascus: "Joseph therefore was by birth the son of Jacob of the line of Solomon, and by law the son of Heli of the line of Nathan: in other words, the son born according to nature was the son of the father who begot him, but, according to the law, the son of the deceased" (Jacobus de Voragine, trans. Ryan, 2.149-50).

188 Jacob supplanted hys brother Esau. The story is told in Genesis 27.

213 my wyt is schort, as ye may se. Echoes the naively apologetic stance of Chaucer's narrator in The General Prologue to The Canterbury Tales: "My wit is short, ye may wel understonde" (I[A]746).

223-26 Delany resolves the apparent confusion in these lines with this translation: "And when she had arrived at the age of discretion - I don't know what age that was, according to their laws, but probably not too young . . ." (p. 33).

238 Jhesus Syrach. Ecclesiasticus, also known as "Wisdom of Jesus Ben Sirach," is one of some fifteen books in the Septuagint, the ancient Greek version of the Hebrew Bible, that are generally either omitted from Protestant translations of the Bible or relegated to a section called "Apocrypha" because they were not included in the final canon of Jewish scriptures. The Roman Catholic Church has always accepted these books as canonical, and some of them (including Ecclesiasticus) were important sources of texts for liturgical use and preaching during the Middle Ages. For the "like to like" passage cited by Bokenham, see Ecclesiasticus 13:19-20 (Douay) or 13:15-16 (more recent translations).

249-50 The quotation comes from Horace, Epistles I.2.69-70: "Quo semel est imbuta recens servabit odorem, testa diu" (Loeb Library translation by H. R. Fairclough, quoted by Delany: "The jar will long keep the fragrance of what it was once steeped in when new," p. 202n332.)

289-92 As Delany notes, p. 202n34, the Old Testament contains no such explicit, general curse on childless persons as these lines suggest; but a number of passages can be taken as implying that fertility is a sign of God's favor and barrenness a sign of His disapproval. See for example Deuteronomy 7:14, Isaiah 54:1, and Leviticus 20:20-21.

475-78 The story of Sara's long barrenness begins in Genesis 15:1-5, with Abraham's lament and God's promise that he will have countless descendants, and does not conclude until Genesis 21:1-8, when the promise is finally fulfilled with the birth of Isaac.

479-81 The story of Rachel's barrenness until the birth of Joseph is given in Genesis 29:28-30:24. For Joseph's later role in saving his people from starvation, see Genesis 39-47.

482-86 For the story of Samson's birth to Manoah and his barren wife, see Judges 13; for Samuel's birth to Hannah, the barren wife of Elkanah, see 1 Samuel 1:1-2:21. Both stories are worth comparing in detail with the legend of Joachim and Anne, for which they obviously served as models.

557 gate whiche hath name of golde.The Golden Gate, on the eastern wall of the ancient city, was believed in the Middle Ages to be the same gate through which Jesus entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. For further information, see Richard M. Mackowski, Jerusalem, City of Jesus: An Exploration of the Traditions, Writings, and Remains of the Holy City from the Time of Christ (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 1980), p. 135.

588 Whan Phebus . . . ny runne. That is, the sun had nearly finished its annual passage through Virgo, the sixth sign of the zodiac (which ran from August 12 to September 11 in Bokenham's time). Chaucer frequently uses similar astronomical references to specify dates and times, as did Boccaccio and Dante (among others) before him.

591 the oyle-tunne. Although this looks from a modern perspective like a very odd metaphor for Mary, it would presumably have made much more sense in an era when oil was most closely associated with healing, comfort, light, and (because of its use in the sacraments) salvation.

607 John Lydgate's Life of Our Lady is available in a critical edition by Joseph A. Lauritis et al. (Pittsburgh: Duquesne University, 1961).

610-12 No one has yet identified a work conforming to Bokenham's description (a 10-book collection of Latin "wedding songs" in praise of the Virgin Mary).

612 dytees. Although this word would become "ditty," in Bokenham's time it had not yet taken on its modern English connotations of brevity and simplicity. It comes from the Old French dité or ditié, and could apply to a literary composition of any length, either in verse or prose, whether intended to be read, recited, sung, or even performed as a drama.

615-20 For the astronomical reference, see explanatory note to line 588 above.

675-82 Bokenham's reluctance to say anything more definite here about Anne's later life might suggest that he himself was uncomfortable with the tradition of her three marriages, but it might just mean that he thought it tactless to bring up the possibility of widowhood and remarriage in a poem addressed to a married couple like the Denstons. Curious readers might well wish to consult the Latin poem in balaade-ryme (line 682) in which he claims already to have expressed what best plesyth [him] (line 680) on the subject of Anne's other husbands and daughters, but unfortunately that work seems to have been lost.

OSBERN BOKENHAM, LIFE OF ST. ANNE, TEXTUAL NOTES

Abbreviations: A = British Library MS Arundel 327, fols. 27r-39r [base text]; H = Carl Horstmann; S = Mary Serjeantson.

3 hadde. A's reading; S: dede.

11 faste. A's reading; S: fast.

60-61 the cruel wreche / Orpheus. My emendation. A reads cruel wreche / Of Orpheus, but the of looks like a scribal error, probably induced by the ambiguity in ME of the form wreche, which could mean "punishment" (from OE wræc) as well as "miserable person, outcast, villain" (from OE wrecca).

66 youre. A's reading; S omits the final -e.

76 begunne. Corrected in A from begynne.

91 floure. Corrected in A, which originally omitted the o.

96 ff. There is no subtitle in the manuscript at this point, but the beginning of the Life itself is marked by a blank line and a large initial A in line 97. The stanza form also changes at this point, with the 16-line stanzas of the Prologue giving way to the more familiar 7-line stanzas called "rhyme royal."

101-2 The order of these two lines is reversed in A.

119 not. Corrected in A from no.

134 ye. Inserted in margin of A to replace the, which has been cancelled.

135 Olde. Corrected in A from wolde.

wold. Corrected in A from wol.

141 Damescen. Corrected in A from Danescen.

145 of. Inserted above the line in A.

161 the1. A has þe, with the thorn only partly closed at the top. Here and throughout, I have silently converted this ambiguous form to the except when it obviously means "ye."

168 Austeyn. A's reading; S: Austyn.

178 Line inserted in margin of A.

187 is. S's emendation; A: it.

197-99 Lines inserted in margins of A.

199 is. My emendation, supplying a grammatically necessary word that A omits.

217 As. A's reading; S: Als. seyde. S's emendation; A: syde.

225 aftyr. My emendation; A: astyr.

227 in. Emendation as in S and H; A: and.

231 Of. A: Off. Scribes often doubled f, writing off for of or ffrom for from, for example. Since such spellings do not affect the pronunciation, and often cause confusion, they have not been reproduced in this edition.

238 In. Emendation as in S and H; A: And.

248 vertus. My emendation; A: vertush.

259 wynter. Corrected in A from wyntout.

264 Line inserted in margin of A.

273 Clepyd. Corrected in A from Clepud.

283 hym. S's emendation; A: hem.

293 charge. Corrected in A, which originally omitted the r.

299 thy. My emendation; A: they.

305 Line inserted in margin of A.

310 thoo. Emendation as in S and H; A: too.

311 genderure. The reading of A, with the final -e added above the line; S: genderin[g]e.

330 Thy. Corrected in A from hym.

331 This line follows lines 332 and 333 in A, with letters added in the margin to show the correct order.

363 which. A's reading; S adds a final -e.

372 Fro. S's emendation; A: For.

384 unwarly. Corrected in A from unwardly.

390 Thorgh. Corrected in A from Thogh.

393 astoyned. Corrected in A from astouned.

403 quyte. Emendation as in S and H; A: guyte.

404 onys. Corrected in A from wonys.

409 only. Corrected in A from ondly.

451 byschop. The end of this word is unclear in A.

464 Whiche. A's reading; S omits the final -e.

466 Line inserted in margin of A.

477 in. S's emendation; A: and.

478 blessynge. A's reading; S omits the final -e.

481 the. Word inserted above the line in A.

482 Who. Emendation as in S and H; A: Tho.

486 Were. Emendation suggested by H, supplying a necessary verb which A omits.

487 shal have. Emendation suggested by H; A: hath.

489 She. Initial letter erased in A.

491-93 Lines inserted in margin of A.

496 thes. Corrected in A from the.

511 shepys. A's reading; S: schepys.

520 as. A's reading; S adds a final -e.

521 bere. S's emendation; A: bore.

524 com was. S's emendation; A: was com, ruining the rhyme.

533 him. H's emendation; A, S: hem.

535 him. H's emendation; A, S: hem.

558 housholde. Emendation as in S and H; A: husbonde.

560 blessyde. Corrected in A from blessude.

563 goldede. A's reading; H emends to goldene.

566 She. Corrected in A from The, but the initial T left uncanceled.

572 Welkecome. H emends to Wellecome.

592 alle. A's reading; S omits the final -e.

601 to. Inserted above the line in A.

606 Englysshe. A's reading; S omits the final -e.

616 Chaungith. S's emendation; A: Chaumgith.

643 Ryht up. A: Ryht up on, with on canceled.

644 went. Emendation as in S and H; A: wet.

656 worshype. Corrected in A from worshupe.

658 singulerly. Emendation as in S and H; A: singulery.

673 dwelled. Emendation as in S and H; A: dwelle.

685 gracyous. A's reading; S: grasyous.

695 This line follows line 696 in A, with letters added in the margin to show the correct order.