FRIAR DAW'S REPLY: FOOTNOTES
1 But the oppression of estates is not taught on account of that
2 ``The wheat withers together with the nourishment it affords, and we have no food'' (PLH)
3 And through instruction of his teacher thus questions a friar
4 Who are better acquainted with their Fathers and their Bible in the dark
5 Than he who can read his gloss (troparius) by a long torch
6 For some are ignorant, some are cunning, and some are falsely thought [to be cunning]
7 But, Jack, by my truth (loyalty), you ignorantly lie
8 Less grace has grown among lords and prelates
9 Who won't give communion to his parishioners unless the penny is paid
10 Nor absolve them of their sin without confession money
11 And you value Christ's bitter Passion not [even] as much as a hawthorn berry
12 Jack, you speak in very serpentine terms, and call us soldiers
13 You receive your wisdom through torches quenched in your arse
14 By the same token your preaching, Jack, makes obstinate hearts
15 Who are greater Pharisees than [those] who divide souls
16 A third of the creatures have turned bitter from this
17 Fiercely burning as a firebrand, it was called Wormwood
18 He shed light for men through cunning at the beginning of his career
19 Maximinus or [the] Manichaeans never wreaked more havoc
20 And afterwards, rising to arrogance, disdaining all others
21 [Ready] to die for heresy through madness and foolhardiness
22 The breastplates that you wear are strategems and tricks
23 Poverty goes into the fray before Antichrist's coming
24 The perfect will not be hurt, the evil [have] been [hurt] already
25 Gluttony gathers sticks for the fire, and sloth undermines the walls
26 You don't know any more about patience, Jack, so help me God
27 None (of the three) greater in degree, no (one) more perfect than the others
28 Jack, you hastily enquire, and gladly would know
29 Overturning the woeful sins noted by the Apostle [John]
30 On these three, Jack, by my truth, is anchored all your establishment (college, teachings)
31 For some flee from the world and cloister themselves
32 [Composed] of such folk as those who are gathered together in convents
33 Who stay in cloisters to (avoid) worldly entanglements
34 And according as charity grows in them, the greater is their reward
35 And give them nothing in return although they are indigent
36 Which freely desires to be extended to kindred and strangers
37 And obediently [to] endure burdens that they lay upon us
38 And with both your understandings, despite God's grace, you will err very greatly
39 For they observe this teaching more strictly than the friars
40 And rightly do their duty according to [how] they have chosen
41 Jack, although Judas was a villain, how was Christ the worse for it?
42 Founded originally with charity before it was chased away
43 Such that the roof scarcely hangs on the cross-beams
44 And yet you think they are too fine; ill luck to you for that
45 ``We rent,'' you say, ``to limiters, to carve up all this realm''
46 An uncertain thing it is, truly, to farm out land
47 Jack, Christ paid no tribute out of obligation or debt
48 God knows there is no honor in begging from beggars
49 And you marvel that we get nothing from poor men and priests
50 We would like to persevere on behalf of poor men's prayers
51 Nor [do we] sell any prayers for the dead for so much a year
52 Whether the Carmelite friars may assert such an error of their copes
53 You believe you are creating a ditch for me, but you fall into it yourself!
54 But I don't blame you too much, although you accuse them with serious charges
55 Also you say we covet or desire no sacrament
56 Except confession and burials, which belong to the people
57 You half-wit, you chatterbox, how can these statements be reconciled?
58 Who doesn't even care if he is caught in a lie
59 And perform other charitable acts as they are needed
60 For each spring they claim the law against us
61 But, Jack, do what you usually do and don't stop lying
62 I respect your lying as much as your true statements
63 To imprison the venom which murders many souls
64 And draws outrageous conclusions from a little evidence
65 But turn their attentions to wealthier men and find their lodgings
66 What shall those persons say who hire out their churches
67 You also jabber and cry out against noise in our begging
68 Dear Jack Ignoramus, how do you observe the Gospel?
69 And we say we don't have anything of our own or in common
70 In what manner the Holy Ghost chose Barnabas and Paul
71 Or else he only knows despite what God knows
72 Diminishes my ability more than it increases it
73 And so you say that friars hinder Christ's Church from growing up to heaven
74 You accuse us of saying Christ's body is not there (in the bread)
75 Were it not for the harsh punishings of your founding fathers
76 Not at all obliterated, not at all divided, but only broken as a sign
77 And [Christ] is as much in one part as in the whole [wafer]
78 ``Whatever remains in it is quintessential matter'' (PLH)
79 Cloth-makers, nor cutlers, belt-makers, coffer-makers, nor shoemakers
80 ``Unless the sacred mystery of priesthood should be planted in their souls''? (PLH)
81 Offering to administer a sacrament as if they were priests
82 All should go to ruin in the empty waters
83 Then the ignorant and the learned do not possess the same understanding
84 Scripture is dispersed in its secret places
85 To avenge our faults and amend us of our misdeeds
86 In which you don't need to look far for sorrow and sorcery
87 As in your ignorant tittle-tattle you have openly demonstrated
88 Who slyly wished to have slunk away and no man [would have] cared
89 And say to them that there is no need to hone our clerks' wits
FRIAR DAW'S REPLY: NOTES
1-2 Who shal graunten. Based on Jeremiah 9.1. The apocalyptic opening was commonplace in fraternal writings and complaint literature. A promendicant Latin poem begins with that scriptural passage, as does John Pecham's defense of the friars, Tractatus pauperis contra insipientem.
3 For charite is chasid. Apparently an allusion to the ``cooling of charity'' motif from Matt. 24.12, which was regularly understood as a sure sign of Doomsday's approach. Ironically, the cooling of charity was more often invoked against friars than, as here, against Lollards.
4 state. Estate or condition. John Gower often ascribed the lack of order in his times to decadent political conditions. See also JU note to line 6.
5-6 Now apperith the prophecie. Rev. 6.12-13 and Joel 2.28. This political use of prophecy derives from Latin tradition and specifically from ``The Prophecies of Merlin'' in Geoffrey of Monmouth's History of the Kings of Britain. See also ``Political Prophecies'' in Historical Poems of the XIVth and Xvth Centuries, ed. R. H. Robbins (New York: Columbia University Press, 1959), pp. 118-21.
11 twelve pointes. Twelve stars (Rev. 12.1).
15 ground of Goddis. PLH, after a manuscript corrector of D, reads grounding of țis, but the MS and Wr read ground in goddis. I emend to ground of Goddis. The phrasing comes from JU. See note to JU 79.
18 poverte that Crist hath approved. Luke 6.20: ``Blessed are ye poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.'' Daw refers to the general attacks on mendicancy in JU and other Lollard treatises.
21 Foxes frettid in fere. An allusion to the story of Samson and the Philistines (Judges 15.4-5). Samson loosed three hundred foxes, joined at the tails and carrying torches, into the Philistines' wheat; the flames also burned the vineyards and oliveyards. The allusion here is meant to convey general devastation.
23 Achan. Achan stole from Jericho and was stoned in the Vale of Achor (Joshua 7). D reads achor; but Wr and PLH emend to Achan. ``Substitution of man for place is demanded by the sense'' (PLH).
24 Lollardis. Lollards were often accused of substituting fables for Scripture, although they also attacked others for telling fables and stories. See the exchange between Host and Parson in The Parson's Prologue.
25-26 Datan and Abiron. Dathan, Abiram, and Korah, sons of Levi, aspired to the priesthood but God destroyed them, sending them down to Sheol (Numbers 16).
27 Baal preestes. An allusion to the priests of Baal who, at Elijah's instructions, ask their god to send fire for their sacrifice. When Baal fails but the Lord sends fire for Elijah's sacrifice, all the priests of Baal are killed (3 Kings 18.20-40).
31 On wounder wise. In his Notes to JU, Skeat observes that the author of FDR sometimes echoes Upland's phrasing, as in this phrase, ``On wounder wise,'' which mocks JU's ``and in a wondir wise'' (57).
31-66 Reply to JU 56-63.
34 Wede, corn. The phrasing is from JU 60 (which, however, reads in the MSS either wode corn or corne wode). PLH emends to whete corn reading whete, corn; I emend JU to wede, corn based on this line (and 55); but the correct reading may be wede corn (= wheat-corn). Or perhaps wede means ``weeds'', in which case there could be an allusion in 31-35 to Matt. 13.25, 38-39 (the parable of the weeds).
41 leyen hem a water. An idiom for ``overcome them'' or ``set them to rest.'' See PPC 782.
42 summe ben lewid, summe ben shrewid. A proverbial or formulaic expression that appears often in Middle English lyric poetry.
45 Frere Daw Topias. The name Daw may be explained as a completion of ``Jackdaw,'' with ``Jack'' referring to Jack Upland, whose tract FDR answers. The name Topias seems to allude to Chaucer's Sir Thopas, anti-hero of Chaucer the pilgrim's first attempt at a Canterbury tale. Sir Thopas, a bumbling, comic knight, is a parody of the hero of tag-line romances, and his name, ``topaz,'' a girl's name, suggests that gem's lapidarian perfection: purity. The point seems to be that Friar Daw Topias, like his romance namesake, undermines himself such that he becomes a figure of ridicule. It is odd that the narrator of this supposedly polemical work refers to himself in the third person and characterizes himself as ``lewid as a leke.''
46-51 D and Wr print these lines in the following order: 47, 49, 50, 46, 48, 51. PLH prints them in a different order: 47, 46, 48, 49, 50, 51.
49-51 That we ben not lege men . . . obeien to bishopes. See JU 58-59 and 145. Daw acknowledges that friars report immediately to their Provincial and then to the Pope; they obey bishops but ``not so fer forth as seculeer preestes,'' who report to a more rigorous hierarchy than friars.
51-52 We obeien. Friars did not answer to bishops but rather directly to the Pope through their Provincial. The secular clergy often complained that friars circumvented the traditional ecclesiastical hierarchy through their own chain of command. See FitzRalph's Defensio curatorum, a widely disseminated work.
55-56 Wede, corn . . . ferme the dikes. Daw points out that friars, unlike commoners or ``Jack Upland,'' do not perform manual labor. This replies to JU 59-60.
57-58 Although Poul. See especially 1 Thess. 2.9, where Paul mentions both working and preaching; and Acts 6 (division of labor between working and preaching).
66 But thi venym. Compare Chaucer's Pardoner, who says of his preaching: ``Thus spitte I out my venym under hewe / Of hoolynesse, to semen hooly and trewe'' (VI [C] 421-22).
67-74 Daw's reply to JU 64-65.
71 wickide worme - Wiclyf by name. Daw indicates that John Wyclif (d. 1384) and his followers, the Lollards, are the enemy. Later on, Daw refers to Upland's ``sory secte'' (119). Wyclif's attacks on the Church ranged far beyond criticism of mendicancy. Both the Franciscan friar William Woodford and the Benedictine monk Uthred of Boldon inter alia assailed Wyclif's writings. See also PPC 528 note.
72 cisme. Probably a reference to general divisions in the Church rather than to the Great Schism, which began in 1378 with the election of Urban VI (the Italian Pope) and the subsequent election of Gregory VII (the French Pope).
75 seven sacramentes. The rites of baptism, confirmation, the Eucharist, penance, extreme unction, ordination, and matrimony.
75-83 Reply to JU 65-67.
84-85 fife ordres . . . foure. For the four orders (Franciscans, Dominicans, Austins, and Carmelites), see PPC. The fifth order might be the Crutched Friars (PLH), but Daw himself is confused as to the fifth order.
84-92 Reply to JU 68-69.
87 I preise not at a peese. See the note to PlT 1163.
88 Fiton. PLH shows that the Vulgate uses ``pythones'' for fiends speaking from the womb (Deut. 18.11 and Isaiah 19.3).
89 thi god is a-slepe. Elijah mocked the prophets of Baal, who could get no response from their god (3 Kings 18.27).
92 than Balames ass. The ass spoke to Balaam, but it was the Lord, rather than the ass, who actually spoke (Numbers 22.21-33). The story is a cautionary tale about obedience to the Lord.
93-104 Reply to JU 69-70.
102 forme . . . lowe chaier. Daw implies that the Lollard curriculum for ``men's wives'' involves ``study'' close to the floor.
103 in your lawe. PLH omits this phrase as hypermetrical, and comments: ``in 3our lawe probably interpolated because the first half-line imputes a moral perfection that in the eyes of the orthodox no Lollard could lay claim to.''
104 callen hem forth her. PLH emends to call on men for țer but the emendation is unnecessary. See Hudson, The Premature Reformation, p. 189 note 83. I adopt Hudson's emendation of rediț for nediț. Hudson glosses: ``and ask for lessons for themselves, saying `Sister, read to me''' (p. 189).
105-11 Reply to JU 70.
106 Perhaps an allusion to Luke 2.49, where Jesus protests that in God's house he ``must be about my Father's business.''
112-28 Reply to JU 71.
114 a rewle. See Matt. 7.20: ``Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them.''
121 Who tythith. Matt. 23.23: ``Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites: because you tithe mint, and anise, and cummin, and have left the weightier things of the law, judgment, and mercy, and faith.''
122 Sterching your faces. Matt. 6.16: ``And when you fast, be not as the hypocrites, sad. For they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast.''
123 Blaunchid graves. Matt. 23.27: ``Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites: because you are like to whited sepulchres, which outwardly appear to men beautiful, but within are full of dead men's bones, and of all filthiness.''
126 Thourgh quenching of torches. PLH cites the Dominican coat of arms, whose Scottish version features a dog with a firebrand running behind St. Dominic.
130 seven trompes. See Rev. 8-11, esp. 11.15. Lines 129-209 paraphrase Revelations 8-11 and continue the apocalyptic theme broached in the poem's opening lines. Lines 129-224 reply to JU 28-72.
134-35 he noieth . . . myngid. PLH emends to noieț . . . myngid because of the ``clumsy'' syntax. I have adopted myngid in line 135 but have retained MS he noieth in line 134 despite the somewhat awkward syntax.
138 sunderers. PLH's good emendation for MS hinderers. Sunderers completes the alliteration and makes sense of line 139: ```divisioun' ben callid.''
140 love-daies. A time when disputes could be settled, including out of court settlements, treaties, and other public and private arrangements. Daw claims that Lollard teachings cause so much discord that disputing parties cannot be reconciled in seven years. Ironically, friars were criticized for involving themselves in litigation during lovedays. Chaucer's Friar Huberd meddled in legal arbitration: ``In love-dayes ther koude he muchel help'' (I 258).
144 ben bitter therof. In Rev. 8.9 the sea-creatures die after the mountain falls into the sea; but Daw speaks of figurative applications. Hence the Lollards send Satan into souls, and he causes people to become obstinate of heart and caustic (145-47). Compare Chaucer's Parson's Tale, on Envy: ``Thanne cometh eek bitternesse of herte, thurgh which bitternesse every good dede of his neighebor semeth to hym bitter and unsavory'' (X 510).
151 With men. PLH provides this reading, giving wiținne? as the MS reading. Wr reads withinne. PLH comments: ``Abbreviation mark misplaced, but the scribe probably intended wiținne. It makes odd sense in the context; before a plural object wiț can mean `among' (OED, with ii.11 = among A.6) which is preferable to `within' in any of its senses.''
157 Maximine ne Maniche. Two unorthodox thinkers: Maximinus, an Arian heretic, who debated with St. Augustine on the Trinity in 427-28; and Mani or Manes, who lent his name to a dualistic strain of medieval Christian heresy (the Manichaeans). When Daw says Maniche he probably refers to later medieval dualism, which was broadly attributed to Mani. Lollardy and Manichaeism share an oppositional stance toward the established Church.
159 fourthe. The MS, PLH, and Wr read iiije in line 159 and iije (``thridde'') in line 160.
162 westheth. Thus the MS. Wr reads wescheth and glosses ``screameth?'' PLH emends to scricheth, and comments: ``The corruption results from misjoining of original ve scricheth. `Screech' (OED, scritch v.) is used from early ME. of the crying of birds.'' The general sense is clear from Rev. 8.13.
170 fift. MS and Wr read first, but PLH correctly emends to fift. See Rev. 9.1.
192 At the sixt. MS and Wr read In țe si3t of. I adopt PLH's emendation, which is based on Rev. 9.13.
194 thridde. MS and Wr read ferthe. PLH emends to thridde based on Rev. 9.15. The MS reading probably anticipates the four angels and four sins of line 195.
198 Poverte preamblis. MS, PLH, and Wr poerte. PLH emends presse to preisen and moves line 198 to before 202.
205 noise in heven was made. Thus MS and Wr. PLH emends to ``voises in heuen seide'' based on Rev. 11.15 and comments: ``The generalized reading of the MS. is slightly uncomfortable with the following `that' clause.''
208 Shulde for a short tyme. There seems to be a verb, such as ``rule'' or ``govern,'' missing from this line.
210-15 thus to dubby with Scripture. Lines 210-15 = perhaps a reply to JU 73-81, or perhaps to the general tenor of JU. Daw's confessions of ignorance seem to go beyond ``the convention of simulated ignorance'' of PPC 845-47 alleged by PLH.
212-13 an a from the wynd mylne . . . bole foot. Daw professes to be virtually illiterate, although he comes close to saying he doesn't know a hack from a handsaw. The pose is apparently meant to be satirical in that he may not know his letters and yet he understands perfectly well that Upland is a heretic (214-16). See also 648-49: ``Jak, I am not lettered but I am Frere Dawe, / And can telle wel a fyn what heresie amountith.''
225 holilich. MS (margin) holilicch, correcting holy chirche. PLH emends to holily.
225-33 Reply to JU lines 79-81.
227 how Judicare cam in to Crede. A reference to the phrase inde venturus est iudicare vivos et mortuos of the Apostles' Creed. It seems to mean ``how the section on Judgment came to be placed in the Creed.'' Utley comments: ``To say that a man knows how Judicare comes in the Creed would mean in general that he knows his Creed, that he rightly performs his religious duties and realizes their significance, that he knows `how to die' and how to be prepared for the day when Christ will come to judge the quick and the dead.'' A frequent charge against friars was that they did not know the Apostles' Creed. See PPC 62-63 and note.
232-33 unkissid is unknowun . . . Robyn Hood. PLH directs to Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde 1.809 and 2.859-61 and Gower's Confessio Amantis 2.467. See also B. J. and W. H. Whiting, Proverbs, Sentences, and Proverbial Phrases (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1968), R156.
236-57 Reply to JU 82.
239-43 The Holy Ghost proceeds from both the Father and the Son. Daw seems to misunderstand Jack Upland's question about the fraternal orders since he responds generally about God's disposition and ``ordering'' of all things.
245 thre ierarchies, dividid in ordres nyne. The angelic orders were, in descending order, seraphim, cherubim, thrones, dominations, principalities, powers, virtues, archangels, angels. The MS and PLH read iij jerarchies; Wr iij. ierarchies.
251 Of templeres, hospitalers. Both the Knights Templar and the Knights Hospitalers were crusading orders: the Poor Knights of Christ and the Knights of St. John respectively. They became wealthy and powerful through their various military campaigns. Chaucer's pilgrim Knight may have been a Hospitaler. Canons, both regular and secular, were members of a religious order attached to a cathedral. They were frequent objects of satirical attack, as in Chaucer's Canon's Yeoman's Tale.
252-53 Seint Thomas bokes. Thomas Aquinas, a Dominican, defended canons, monks, and Knights Templar in Contra impugnantes Dei cultum et religionem. See PLH's note.
255 manniskynde (PLH's emendation). The MS reads cowde calkyn al manere kyndes perhaps anticipating, through homeoteleuton, how many kyndes of 256.
258-70 Reply to JU 83-90.
266 Lust of fleish . . . lyvynge. A reference to the three temptations of 1 John 2.16: ``because all that is in the world is the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.'' This passage was one of the chief texts for medieval contemptus mundi. By denying the devil three times, Christ is said to have ``reversed'' or resisted the three temptations.
271 Jacke boy. Boy = a term of contempt similar to sirrah; it translates roughly as ``rascal'' or ``lout.''
271-321 Reply to JU 91-96.
283-86 two perfit lyves. Mary and Martha, John and Peter, and Rachel and Leah were traditional pairs for exemplifying the contemplative and active ways of life. In the Epistle of James, the issue is between faith and works (e.g., chapter 2).
287-89 These lyves ben groundid. PLH translates: ``These lives are founded on love by diverse classes of people, by men who, establishing separate orders as a consequence of their vows, and affording us a manifest example, may teach us the Christian life.''
315-18 the epistle of James. See James 1.27 which, according to Daw, defines both the active and contemplative lives.
322-29 Reply to JU 95-96.
328-29 What we yeven. PLH translates: ``it is unnecessary to tell you what we give to the poor, for an act of charity ought to be secret and since it [sc. the act of charity = what we give] will suffer severely at your hands [i.e., come into your possession].''
330-50 Reply to JU 99-108.
334-35 Maniches errours. Daw refers to the charge against the Manichaean dualists that they encouraged promiscuity because of the Manichaean strictures against marriage. Upland had attacked friars with being wedded to their orders more firmly than some husbands were wedded to their wives.
336 PLH suggests Prov. 7.19 as a possible source of this line: ``For my husband is not at home, he is gone a very long journey.'' He also cites an antifraternal lyric (``Preste, ne monke, ne 3it chanoun'') that contains lines to the effect that a friar will do ``his will'' with ``oure dame'' while the ``gode man is fro hame'' (HP XIV & XV, p. 158).
343 And so apostasie. PLH suggests: ``And so we are able to commit apostasy in our souls, our religious habits notwithstanding.''
349-50 These lines might be translated: ``And, Jack, our habits no more make (us) monks and friars than your saddle makes your horse a mare.''
351-57 Reply to JU 109-11.
358-81 Reply to JU 112-14.
360 tipet. A long, narrow strip of cloth attached to a hood. It was purely ornamental. Chaucer's Friar Huberd wears a tippet stuffed with gifts for wives (I 233-34).
360-67 What meeneth thi tipet. Daw's charges against a Lollard for extravagent clothing may seem inappropriate, since friars and not Lollards were proverbial for fancy dress. Yet there are records of fraternal censures against Lollards with respect to clothing. Hudson cites William Woodford, a fourteenth-century Minorite, who claimed that ``the Lollards wore widefurred hoods, fine linen, silver buckles, and furred gowns to their feet'' (The Premature Reformation, p. 146).
364 PLH deletes this line altogether. In the MS it follows line 363, but PLH observes it does not belong there since 363-64 form a unit of thought. PLH speculates: ``It may be that this is a piece of Lollard marginalia induced by indignation at 360-66 (perhaps with original ți for țe), subsequently incorporated into the text.'' After this line, the line numbering of the present edition differs from PLH's.
369-70 My grete coope . . . to frende. Highly ironic, since antifraternal criticism alleged that the large copes signified the very opposite of charity. PLH emends frende to fremde, alien, stranger, but fremde was often spelled with an n. See PlT line 626.
371 cloith of Salomons table. 1 Sam. 2.7?
372 wedding garnement. Matt. 22.11-12.
383-86 Reply to JU 115.
384 moost greye clothis. The lower classes were supposed to wear drab colors such as gray and black. Hudson quotes Thomas Netter as observing that the Lollards wore uniform garments of gray; but she also points out that ``russet'' and ``gray'' were only ``chance variations in the same dyeing process'' (The Premature Reformation, p. 146 and note 176). See also Wendy Scase, Piers Plowman and the New Anticlericalism (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989), pp. 168 and 219-20 note 18. The Franciscans, or Greyfriars, wore grey.
386 And withinne. Matt. 7.15, said of false prophets. This scriptural reference was often applied to friars rather than Lollards.
387-96 Reply to JU 115-17.
389-92 Here and elsewhere a conglomeration of biblical texts. Et iterum = and again. Est tacens. Ecclus. 20.6-7: ``[There is one that holdeth his peace, because he knoweth not what to say: and] there is another that holdeth his peace, knowing the proper time. A wise man will hold his peace till he see opportunity: [but a babbler, and a fool will regard no time].'' Tempus tacendi. Eccles. 3.7: ``A time to keep silence, and a time to speak.'' Sicut urbs. Prov. 25.28: ``As a city that lieth open and is not compassed with walls, so is a man that cannot refrain his own spirit in speaking.''
396 And undur you. PLH emends to And blundir 3e, and translates: ``and if, despite God's grace, you both misinterpret, you will go very badly astray.'' This emendation makes good sense of the line but is far away from the MS reading. Hudson accepts PLH's emendation, glossing blundir 3e bothe as ``go blindly both of you'' and marren as ``perish'' (Premature Reformation, p. 190).
397-406 Reply to JU 117-18.
403 But al is good ynowgh for thee. This line seems to allude to the Lollard custom of eating meat on fast-days. Aston has suggested that Lollards turned meat-eating ``at forbidden seasons [almost] into a kind of secret rite'' (Lollards and Reformers, p. 93).
406 this sermonie. Wr and PLH emend to serimonie on the basis of UR. Daw seems to undercut himself once again as he admits that monks observe the rule of eating in refectory better than friars.
407-21 Reply to JU lines 119-27.
408-09 I adopt PLH's emendation. The lines in the MS read: ``Whi renne we to Rome to be assoilid of țe / Oț țat we han maad & be popis freris.'' Compare Chaucer's description of the Parson, a parish priest, in the General Prologue to The Canterbury Tales: ``He sette nat his benefice to hyre / And leet his sheep encombred in the myre / And ran to Londoun unto Seinte Poules / To seken hym a chaunterie for soules, / Or with a bretherhed to been withholde; / But dwelte at hoom, and kepte wel his folde'' (I 507-12).
422-32 Reply to JU 128-31.
427-30 Quasi morientes. 2 Cor. 6.9: ``As dying, and behold we live.'' The gloss, from the Glossa ordinaria, translates: ``as dying, that is, from sin to sin, according to the opinion of certain people; and behold we live, that is, in good works according to truth itself.''
433-51 Reply to JU 132-34.
436-38 transfigurid. Matt. 17.1-9.
440-41 Crist also took. Matt. 20.17-19.
449-50 To him. See Prov. 10.19: ``In the multitude of words there shall not want sin: but he that refraineth his lips is most wise.'' See also Chaucer's Manciple's Tale: ``The firste vertu, sone, if thou wolt leere, / Is to restreyne and kepe wel thy tonge; / Thus lerne children whan that they been yonge'' (IX 332-34).
452-62 Reply to JU 135-38.
461 Take hede. I adopt PLH's emendation from a marginal corrector. PLH also emends is to I.
463-64 oure coveitise. PLH emends to coventis because of line 465. But see also line 475 and note.
463-77 Reply to JU 138-41.
472-73 To Wyndesore . . . Daw names the chief royal residences, noted for their splendor.
475 The MS reads couetise passiț, but PLH emends to couentis passen (as in 463). Here, although Daw speaks of convents, he also is talking about the sin that lies behind the sumptuous convents: avarice.
478-86 Reply to JU 147-50.
482-83 pardonysters. Much to the resentment of friars, pardoners collected alms at the hospitals of St. Thomas of Acre, St. Anthony, and St. Mary Rouncesval (Charing Cross). Chaucer's Pardoner preached and collected money at Rouncesval.
486 hasilwode. Proverbial for futility, as in Chaucer's Troilus: ``From haselwode, there joly Robyn pleyde, / Shal come al that that thow abidest heere'' (5.1174-75).
487-506 Reply to JU lines 154-67.
488 Sith Crist paiede tribut. Matt. 22.21: ``Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's; and to God, the things that are God's.'' The meaning of this passage was much debated in the late Middle Ages.
494 To tax ne to taliage. ``This alliterative formula is an example of one of a number of stylistic devices widely used in English wills, charters, writs, and other legal instruments from very early times'' (PLH).
499 The prince of provynces. Lam. 1.1: ``the princes of provinces made tributary.''
500 comun lawe. ``Probably the bull Clericis laicos of Boniface VIII, 1296 . . . asserting the complete immunity of the clergy from taxation by the state unless levied with papal permission, on threat of excommunication'' (PLH).
503 persouns. MS perilous aftir. A corrector has inserted persouns in the margin, which PLH adopts as the best sense for the passage.
505 annuellers. Those who sing a mass each year (``annually'') for a fee. An annuell was money for saying a yearly mass. See PPC line 414 and note. Of the new taxation PLH comments: ``Convocation of Canterbury, 3 October 1419, levied a noble from chaplains of parochial chantries (annuellers) of seven marks annual value and upwards.''
507 lettris of brothirhood. Fraternal orders extended letters of fraternization to those who donated to the convent. See PPC 327 (and note) and 417.
507-14 Reply to JU 151-53.
509 lettris. PLH's emendation. There is a gap in the MS after 3our.
511 if autentike thei weren. Official documents, and their seals, were often forged. Daw admits that his order authenticates letters and seals before taking action on them.
513 blake bedes. Either their thirteenth bead on their prayer beads or their wicked prayers.
515-23 Reply to JU 154-67.
516 suffragies. Prayers, esp. for the dead; from Lat. suffragia, pl. of suffragium, prayers. The OED cites pseudo-Wyclif: ``No prelat may assoylle ne graunte hevenely suffragies.''
518 satyllyn. The general sense of lines 515-18 seems to be that people, including friars, are human, hence fallible, and that prayers are efficacious only to a limited extent. They ``settle'' or ``fall'' on everyone in similar circumstances.
519 trentels. PLH emends to trentel. A trental was thirty masses for the dead.
524-37 Reply to JU 160-63.
533 me ne wote. The MS reads me wote, and a corrector has added ne. PLH emends to I ne wote.
534 helide a womman. Matt. 9.20-21. The woman hemorrhaged for twelve years. Daw omits Christ's important statement to the woman in verse 22: ``Be of good heart, daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole.''
538-54 Reply to JU 168-71.
542-44 Sayinge to the riche man. Matt. 19.21: ``If thou wilt be perfect, go sell what thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me.''
555-77 Reply to JU 172-76.
557 undirnym. MS and Wr read undermyn with possibly the idea that charity subverts false imprisonment. But PLH emends to undernym, which makes better sense with and so wynnen her brothir; moreover, JU in the corresponding passage reads vndirnyme hem in charite & so to wynne hem (PLH's text). See also 567: ben undirnomen.
561 Thou wenyst. PLH, observing that the thought is commonplace, directs to Psalm 7.16: ``A lake he openede, and dalf it out; and fel in to the dich that he made.''
564-67 The point of these lines is that civil administration and positive law collapses if Christ's injunctions in the Gospel were to be followed literally.
565 emperour. MS reads Empour. Wr and PLH emend to emperour.
566 ne haunte no domes. MS and Wr read no haunte no domes, which looks like dittography.
569 bothe. PLH; MS and Wr be.
576 goldsmythis. It is possible that the craft of goldsmiths was involved in Lollardy. See PLH's note to 575.
90 Reply to JU 177-78.
586 Thou jawdewyne. MED uncertain of exact signification or etymology, suggesting OF geude (etc.) ``foot soldiers, band of foot soldiers'' and OIt geldra ``ragamuffin'' as perhaps related words, and ``a fool, jester'' as the apparent signification. S.v. jaudewin. See also lines 760, 930 of FDR.
591-600 Reply to JU 178-87.
597 Omnis utriusque sexus. A decretal which stated that members of a parish must be confessed by their parish priest at least once a year. This decree angered friars, who derived considerable income from their powers of confession.
600 oonis suspect . . . half honged. Proverbial. See Whiting and Whiting, Proverbs, Sentences, and Proverbial Phrases, S918, N20.
601-30 Reply to JU 188-96.
605 holdun to. PLH's emendation. MS and Wr omit to.
612-21 Quis, inquit. 1 Cor. 9.7: ``Who serveth as a soldier at any time, at his own charges?'' 1 Cor. 9.14: ``So also the Lord ordained that they who preach the gospel, should live by the gospel.'' In quamcumque. Luke 10.5: ``Into whatsoever house you enter, first say: Peace be to this house.'' (See also JU 194 note.) Luke 10.7: ``And in the same house, remain, eating and drinking such things as they have: for the labourer is worthy of his hire.'' Rom. 15.26: ``For it hath pleased them of Macedonia and Achaia to make a contribution for the poor of the saints that are in Jerusalem.''
624 Loke that every werke. In this line and in lines 626 and 631-36 Daw alludes to the tree and fruit metaphor of Matt. 3.10, quoted in lines 641-42.
631-45 Reply to JU 197-201.
641-44 Omnis, inquit. Matt. 3.10: ``Every tree therefore that doth not yield good fruit, shall be cut down, and cast into the fire.'' Qui non manserit. John 15.6: ``If any one abide not in me, he shall be cast forth as a branch, and shall wither, and they shall gather him up, and cast him into the fire, and he burneth.''
646-73 Reply to JU 202-06.
662 As Arrians. The Arian heretics maintained that Christ was not fully divine. The Sabellians denied the doctrine of the Trinity, holding that the three Persons are merely three aspects of the one God.
671 Hostiensis. Wr and PLH emend the scribal abbreviation (-er MS). Hostiensis was the common name for Henry of Susa (d. 1271), an expert on canon law and author of Summa aurea (Summa Hostiensis).
674-98 Reply to JU 207-11.
685 To selle no sacramentis. PLH conjectures that at least a line may have been omitted prior to this line, since there is no proper antecedent for thei, observing that lines 682-85 are not easily reconciled with lines 686-89.
690 Jak, suppose. So PLH; MS Iak I suppose.
699-727 Reply to JU 220-21.
703-04 Crist in His godhede. See, for example, Col. 2.9-10: ``For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead corporeally; And you are filled in him, who is the head of all principality and power.''
705-08 As touching His manheed. Ps. 39.18: ``But I am a beggar and poor: the Lord is careful for me.''
709 And aftir Austin and Jerom. Jerome's gloss to Psalms 39.18 reads: ``Egenus et pauper Christus'' (Christ was needy and poor).
711-13 Crist aftir oo kynde . . . noon harborow. Daw distinguishes between Christ's divine and human natures. As divine, He had no need to beg; as human, He was poor and needy. FitzRalph condemned the argument that Christ begged unnecessarily: ``Also 3if Crist beggide wilfulliche he was a verrey ypocrite, semyng a begger, & was no verrey begger, for Crist was neuer a verrey begger, for no man țat may haue y-now3 at his wille, is a verrey begger, țou3 he begge. But he is a verrey faytour (= deceiver), & he țat beggeț wilfullich may haue y-nou3 at his wille; for elles he beggeț nou3t willfulliche, but he is dryue to by nede, and Crist was neuer ypocrite. Țanne Crist beggide neuer wilfulliche, noțer as a faytour.'' Defensio curatorum, trans. Trevisa, p. 84.
715 Vulpes, inquit. Matt. 8.20: ``And Jesus saith to him: The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.''
718-22 Cave, inquit Jeronimus. Beware, says Jerome, lest by begging for your God you exalt another's riches. And Bernard: O Lord, how you conformed yourself to our poverty in all things, as if one in a crowd of poor men you begged alms from door to door.
726-27 a manciple at Mertoun Halle. A manciple was an officer charged with buying food and other provisions for a college, convent, etc. Daw claims he was a manciple at Merton, one of the oldest colleges at Oxford, and that he learned Latin by rote while supervising purchasing. Chaucer's pilgrim Manciple apparently purchased food for one of the Inns of Court and took considerable pride in outwitting the scholars. It is uncertain whether 726-27 are autobiographical or an aspect of Daw's ``lewid'' persona.
728-39 Reply to JU 222-26.
730-32 the blynde begger. Matt. 20.29-34.
733-35 the pore man. Acts 3.2-10.
736-38 the lazar. Luke 16.20-22.
739 Abrahams bosum. Luke 16.22: ``And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom.'' See also PP B 16.254. Thomas Aquinas explained ``Abraham's bosom'' as Limbo.
740-54 Reply to JU 227-28.
747 helpeth soulis. PLH's emendation. MS helpeț țe soulis.
751 Esdras wroot a newe book. 2 Esdras (or Nehemiah) 8. ``Ezra, though a scribe, did not write the book of the law; he carried it to Israel'' (PLH).
752-54 To Seint Joon. Rev. 1.10-11: ``and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, Saying: What thou seest, write in a book.''
755-56 so many maistris. Matt. 23.10: ``Neither be ye called masters; for one is your master, Christ.''
755-64 Reply to JU 237-39.
760 Jacke Jawdewyn. See 586 note.
761-64 the comoun glose. PLH cites from Nicholas Lyra on Matt. 23.7: ``Desiderare enim scientiam et actum docendi non est malum, sed meritorium: sed desiderare nomen tanum, hoc est malum et superbiae peccatum.'' (To desire knowledge and the act of teaching is not wicked but meritorious. But to desire the name alone [of rabbi or teacher] - this is wicked and the sin of pride.)
765-71 Reply to JU 240-46.
768 the two and twentithe pope. PLH's emendation; MS foure and twentițe. The correct pope is John XXII and not John XXIV. John XXII quarreled especially with the Spiritual Franciscans in the early fourteenth century.
772-89 Reply to JU 249-51.
776-82 Herdes thou nevere. Daw here tells stories of the apostles drawn from Acts 8, 15, and 16. Barnabas and Paul disagreed about circumcision, and they went their separate ways, Barnabas choosing Mark as his companion and Paul choosing Timothy.
784 the mysterie. Daw tries to establish the authority of friars traveling in pairs through other ``twos'' in Scripture: the two Mosaic tablets (Exod. 31.18); two cherubim in the temple (3 Kings 6.23); and two cherubim in the tabernacle (Exod. 25.18). The friars were criticized for this kind of allegorical exegesis.
785 Forto do. PLH's emendation; MS Forto bi, which makes no sense.
789 Crist seith. See Eccles. 4.10: ``Woe to him that is alone, for when he falleth, he hath none to lift him up.''
790-809 Reply to JU 271-76.
798 the Memento put falsly. PLH's emendation; MS fassy, Wr fally. The Memento refers perhaps to ``the commemoration of the faithful departed in the mass: `Memento, Domine, famulorum, famularumque tuarum etc.''' (PLH).
803-04 For noman, seith the Scripture. See 1 Cor. 8.2-3: ``And if any man think that he knoweth anything, he hath not yet known as he ought to know. But if any man love God, the same is known by him.''
804 PLH suggests: ``Or else he only knows in spite of God himself.''
808 sesse. PLH's emendation; MS se (dittography?).
810-38 Reply to JU 286-95.
818 God alle thingis. Wisd. 11.21: ``but thou hast ordered all things in measure, and number, and weight.'' See JU lines 289-90, and PP B 20.254-69, where Conscience tells the friars that God has established everything, including the religious orders, according to measure and number; but, says Conscience to the friars, ``ye wexen out of noumbre'' (269). See also Szittya, The Antifraternal Tradition, pp. 224-27.
824 Jakke, if than. PLH's emendation; MS if thou[3]; Wr if thou3. The point is that the world might be better served with more friars, not more Lollards.
837 that that man nedith. MS țat nediț; Wr that nedis. The sense requires ``that which is needed.''
838 Yit many hondis. Proverbial, as in Douce MS 52 (c. 1350): ``Many hondys makyn lyghth worke'' (quoted in The Oxford Dictionary of English Proverbs).
839-93 Reply to JU 316-25.
840-44 Of the solempne sacrament. Wyclif argued that the substance (``subject'') of the bread and wine was not transubstantiated in the Eucharist, whereas the orthodox held that only the ``accidents'' - ``roundnesse,'' ``whitenesse'' - remained after the Transubstantiation. The Lollards (and some orthodox thinkers) were especially concerned about sinful or ``unclean'' priests having the power to handle Christ's body and perform the sacrament of Transubstantiation.
866-68 carpenters ne sowters. ``The Lollards drew most of their support from prosperous tradesmen and artisans. Those hanged on 13 January 1414 after the failure of Oldcastle's rising included a brewer, a carpenter, a dyer, a glover, `and other craftsmen of smaller repute''' (PLH).
878 rapyn. PLH's emendation; MS and Wr ratyn. PLH cites the phrase rape and rend.
885-86 Non, inquit Paulus. 1 Cor. 3.1: ``And I, brethren, could not speak to you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal.''
888 Multa habui vobis dicere. John 16.12: ``I have yet many things to say to you: but you cannot bear them now.''
890-91 Vobis datum est. Luke 8.10: ``To you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God; but to the rest in parables, that seeing they may not see, and hearing may not understand.''
893 Scripturis ben. So MS and Wr. PLH emends to scripture is, and comments: ``If scripturis is a collective singular (cp. Mustanoja, p. 63, quoting CT I 1039) ben is difficult. Daw's argument is based on the secrecy he imputes to Christ in 435-41 and to the Bible in 210-15: `the secrets of the Bible have been dissipated and betrayed.'''
894-923 Reply to JU 326-31.
899 your grace. Ironic.
900 Sathanas pistile = Epistola Luciferi or Epistola Sathanae ad Cleros. This was ``an anti-clerical satire in the form of an open letter to popes and bishops sardonically commending their life and pleading only for a little more loyalty to Beelzebub. Very popular in the Middle Ages, it was current in a number of versions. . . . A Latin version in the Register of John Trefnant, Bishop of Hereford (1389-1404) . . . is translated in Foxe's Actes and Monumentes (1570), i, 599-600. Its close association with Lollardy is suggested by the appearance of an English version immediately following, and in the same hand as, the copy of Upland in C.U.L. MS Ff. vi. 2'' (PLH). The Epistola Sathanae ad Cleros has been edited by Anne Hudson in English Wycliffite Writings (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1978).
901 sorcerie. I adopt PLH's emendation of MS and Wr snowcrie, which the OED records as a hapax legomenon.
909-11 The curse. Daw links the pope's excommunication with Old and New Testament curses: God's curse on Cain and his family (Gen. 4.11-15); God's curse on Korah and his family (Num. 16.24-33); and Christ's curse on the barren fig tree (Matt. 21.19). Daw imagines Upland and his ilk will become cursed wanderers like the descendants of Cain, damned to hell like Korah and his followers, and spiritually barren and ineffective like the cursed fig tree. I have adopted PLH's emendation figge for MS figre, which may be dittography after Figurid at the beginning of the line.
912 Gelboth hilles. The Philistines defeated the Israelites at Mount Gilboa, killing Saul and his sons, which occasioned much lamentation. 1 Kings 31; 2 Kings 1.
913 The sorowe of Sodome. See Gen. 19 and the Pearl-poet's Cleanness.
914 Deus laudem. A reference to Psalm 108, which begins: ``O God, be not thou silent in my praise.''
916 Moab and Ariel. Moab and the Moabites were ancient foes of Israel. See Gen. 19.37; Num. 24.17; Amos 2.1-3; etc. God curses Ariel, or Jerusalem, in Isaiah 29.1-2: ``Woe to Ariel, Ariel the city which David took: year is added to year: the solemnities are at an end. And I will make a trench about Ariel, and it shall be in sorrow and mourning, and it shall be to me as Ariel.''
917 The benysoun of Bethsaida. Matt. 11.21-22: ``Woe to thee, Corozain, woe to thee, Bethsaida: for if in Tyre and Sidon had been wrought the miracles that have been wrought in you, they had long ago done penance in sackcloth and ashes. But I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment, than for you.''
918 the curse of Seint Franceis. Saint Francis, who wished his brothers only to pray and not to read, cursed a Friar Minor who founded a convent for study in Bologna. The friar fell ill and died when a ball of fire and sulphur struck him in his bed.
920-21 the malisoun. Deut. 27.15-26.
922 cattis tailis. The MED s.v. cat 3 (a) cites this phrase as ``the great mullein (Verbascum thapsus).'' But this seems to make no sense in the context of Satan's letter, sorcery (900-01), and Christ's curse. Kissing the buttocks of a cat was thought to be an aspect of Lucifer worship. Another (remote) possibility is the ``cat o' nine tails,'' but the earliest recorded instance of this word dates from the seventeenth century (OED; not mentioned in MED).
924-33 Reply to JU 332-34.
933a Explicit. ``Here ends the composition of Friar Daw Topias, / who at the last invokes John Walssingham / against Jack Upland's questions.''