JOHN GOWER, IN PRAISE OF PEACE: FOOTNOTES
1 Pious King Henry, you were chosen by Christ, / Who rightfully came when you caught your own realms, / You conquered evils and restored property to good people, / And you bestowed new joys to a sorrowful people. / I have hope for what you have brought because what you have restored so far / Will raise up through honest blessing what was said of old; / And for you, grateful thanks are given freely.
IN PRAISE OF PEACE: EXPLANATORY NOTES
4 God hath thee chose. In the opening stanzas, Gower repeats some standard justifications for Henry's usurpation of Richard II: the good fortune of divine sanction, hereditary right, and popular consent. Compare Chaucer, The Complaint of Chaucer to His Purse: "O conquerour of Brutes Albyon, / Which that by lyne and free eleccion / Been verray kyng" (23-24). It is only later in the poem (see below, lines 50-70) that Gower alludes to the martial component of Henry's accession to the throne. On both Chaucer's and Gower's poems as examples of Lancastrian propaganda, see Strohm, "Saving the Appearances: Chaucer's Purse and the Fabrication of the Lancastrian Claim" (chapter 4 in Hochon's Arrow).
25 thow art lerned. On Henry IV's books, see Doyle, "English Books"; Meale, "Patrons, Buyers and Owners"; and Summerson ,"English Bible."
29 Kyng Salomon. This is an abbreviated version of Solomon's career. Although in CA Solomon is initially lauded for his wisdom (7.3891-3942), he is nonetheless later denounced for violating chastity, the fifth principle of kingship, since his polygamy and promiscuity lead to idolatry and the division of his kingdom (CA 7.4469-4545).
36 Alisaundre. See the tale of Alexander and the Pirate (CA 3.2361-2480), in which a pirate convinces Alexander that the nature of their exploits differs only in degree. The tale concludes with the consequences of Alexander's tyranny: "Thus was he slain that whilom slowh" (CA 3.2461). Although in some versions of Book 7 Gower includes an exemplum showing Alexander's pity (CA 7.3168-3181), Porter ("Gower's Ethical Microcosm") argues that Gower's Alexander represents the failure to achieve "ethical self-governance."
50-70 In these three stanzas, Gower reiterates four times that war is permissible only when one must defend "the lawe of riht" (line 56) and one's "rightful heritage" (line 59), echoing the official Lancastrian rhetoric used to defend the "naked illegality" (Pollard, Late Medieval England, p. 25) of Henry's usurpation of Richard II; see Barron, "Deposition of Richard II."
66 For of bataile the final ende is pees. The notion is Augustinian in origin; see Yeager, "Pax Poetica."
107-08 It sleth the prest . . . Forlith the maide. See CA 3.2275-6. Macaulay points out several other echoes: line 78 (CA 3.2265), line 113 (CA 3.2294), line 115 (CA Prol.444), and line 155 (CA Prol.89).
174 Pes was the ferste thing. See Matthew 5:9: "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of God."
178 beqwath to His disciples there. See John 14:27: "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you: not as the world giveth, do I give unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be afraid."
250 Sarazins. Following an aborted attempt to aid Christians against Saracens in Africa, Henry did complete a campaign against the pagan Lithuanians in Prussia. See Du Boulay, "Henry of Derby's Expeditions."
Although the crusade is here condoned as a legitimate outlet for chivalric bellicosity, in CA Genius condemns the activity as violating Christ's law of charity. See, for instance, 3.2481-2546 and 4.1679-81: "A Sarazin if I sle schal, / I sle the Soule forth withal, / And that was nevere Cristes lore."
254 Holy Cherche is in hersilf divided. A reference to the two papal courts - at Rome and Avignon - of the Great Schism, responsible, in Gower's view, for Lollardy and other heresies. See CA Prol.328-498.
267 The two defaltes bringen in the thridde. The first two faults or failures are the Great Schism (1378-1417) and the internecine wars between Christian powers; these lead to the third, the threat of non-Christians. In other words (line 260), the head is sick and the limbs ache, allowing the body of the Church to be attacked by either infidels or heretics.
281-83 The Nine Worthies, three pagan (Alexander, Hector, Julius Caesar), three Jewish (Judas Maccabeas, David, Joshua), and three Christian (Charlemagne, Godfrey of Boulogne, Arthur), are often cited as paragons of a transcultural nobility and chivalry, but also, as here, as exemplary victims of the power of transience and mortality. Godfrey of Boulogne, duke of Lorraine (1061-1100), was the leader of the First Crusade and king of Jerusalem (1099-1100). Judas Maccabeus (c. 2nd century BC), whose exploits are described in 1 and 2 Maccabees, led the Jewish revolt against the Hellenist Seleucids, restored the Temple, and established a period of self-rule.
295 to winne or lese a chace. In the medieval game of tennis, chase refers to the "second impact on the floor (or in a gallery) of a ball which the opponent has failed or declined to return; the value of which is determined by the nearness of the spot of impact to the end wall. If the opponent, on sides being changed, can 'better' this stroke (i.e., cause his ball to rebound nearer the wall) he wins and scores it; if not, it is scored by the first player; until it is so decided, the 'chase' is a stroke in abeyance" (OED). In other words, in tennis, as in life, the significance or meaning of a given action can be understood only in retrospect.
323 Th'apostle. St. Paul. See 1 Corinthians 13:1-13.
330 Cassodre. Cassiodorus was a sixth-century Roman statesman and monk. The reference is to his Variarum Libri XII (11.40). Also quoted in CA: "Cassodre in his apprise telleth, / 'The regne is sauf, wher pité duelleth'" (7.3161-62). See further Jones, "Influence of Cassiodorus."
auctorized. On the textual, literary, and cultural connotations of this term, see Minnis, Medieval Theory of Authorship, pp. 73-159, and Scanlon, Narrative, Authority, and Power, pp. 37-54.
337-57 This version of Constantine's conversion is given more fully in CA 2.3187-3496. As a cure for his leprosy, Constantine's physicians suggest that he bathe in the blood of young children, but the emperor is moved to pity by their mothers' grief. In a dream, he is directed by Peter and Paul to visit Silvester and after having been instructed in the basic tenets of Christianity, he is baptized. The "fisshe skales" of his malady fall away and he orders the baptism - upon pain of death - of all of Rome. Genius tells his story in order to represent the efficacy of charity in combating envy. Grady notes that the sanitized version of Constantine's career found in In Praise of Peace is perhaps cleaned up "for the king's consumption" ("Lancastrian Gower," p. 569). On the different versions of Constantine current in the Middle Ages, see Webb, "Truth about Constantine."
IN PRAISE OF PEACE: TEXTUAL NOTES
Macaulay emends British Library MS Additional 59495 in four cases. 1) He elides the final -e in the following imperative forms: Leie, line 122; sette, line 124; Lete, line 129; putte, line 130; thenke, line 162; Beholde, line 276. 2) He changes the possessive pronoun of the feminine singular (here, her) to the more regular form (hire, hir) at lines 108, 254, and 329. 3) He adds -e to adverbial ever and never (lines 89, 126, 127, 148, 181, 241, 301, 350, and 365). 4) For the sake of meter, he sometimes elides (Betwen, line 269; line 384) or adds (highe, line 8; alle, line 90; weie, line 336; more, line 382) a final -e. I have let stand the scribal peculiarities that Macaulay finds contrary to Gower's practice, although in the fourth case his emendations surely help the meter.
In Thynne's version (titled "John Gower unto the Noble and Worthy Kynge Henry the Fourth"), the Latin epigraph is placed at the end of the poem, followed without a break by the Trentham version of Gower's Latin poem Quicquid homo scribat.
Abbreviations: see the Introduction to Good Counsel, Wisdom, and Advice.
1 worthi noble. Th: noble worthy.
3 uppon this. Th: here upon.
4 chose. Th: chosen.
16 thi. Th: the.
17 boun. Th: bounde.
21 is this. Th: this is.
27 whiche. Mac: which, from Th.
30 to. Th omits.
31 the. Th omits.
35 unto the. Th: in to his.
36 histoire. Th: storie.
38 victoire. Th: vyctorie.
39 it. MS: itt, with the second t canceled.
42 he. Th omits.
45 paiene. Th: paynem.
54 as. Th omits.
71 Sustene. So Mac. MS: S, followed by an erasure. Th reads To stere.
every man alyve. Th: everiche on lyve.
74 world mai stonden. Th: lande may stande.
93 that. Th: what.
96 soght. Th: ysought.
121 to. Th: be.
144 ben. Th: be.
153 the. Th omits.
155 and of. Th: of.
164 ben. Th: be.
165 the. Th: be.
173 And. Th: But.
175 Agein. Th: Ayenst.
177 stigh. Th: styghed.
183 paiens. Th: paynyms. See also line 194.
185 herre. Th: erre.
200 which. Th: that.
202 worthi. Th omits.
203 ther is. Th: is there.
which. Th: that.
205 ben. Th: be.
209 paien. Th: payne.
211 to. Th omits.
a. Th: any.
213 ben. Th: be.
216 how. Th omits.
219 the. Th omits.
223 slen. Th: slee.
227 men. Th: people.
238 hemselve. Th: him selfe.
246 setten. Th: sette.
250 be. Th: ben.
251 ben. Th: be.
agein. Th: ayenst.
254 is. Th omits.
263 helpples. Th: helplesse. Mac: helpeles.
265 sleth. Mac: sleeth, from Th.
272 Kyng. Mac: King, from Th.
278 thin. Th: thy.
283 Arthus. Th: and A.
288 mai. Th: many.
291 ben. Th: is.
294 pes. Th: men.
305 it. Th: is.
is. Th omits.
306 be gete. Th: begete.
313 be. Th: ben.
321 the pes. Th: these.
331 regneth. Mac: reigneth, from Th.
ther. Th omits.
342 crualté. MS: y inserted between t and e by later hand.
356 were. So MS, Th. Mac emends to weren: "However the case may be with Chaucer, there is no instance elsewhere in Gower of elision prevented by caesura. The cases that have been quoted are all founded on misreadings" (3.554).
360 oghten. Th: ought.
364 schal. So MS. Mac: shal, from Th.
371 loenge. Th: legende.
378 of. Th omits.
382 see. Stow: sease.