FREERS, FREERS, WO YE BE: FOOTNOTES

1 Lines 30-31: Although they are [normally] just petty thieves / who help themselves to the penance money

FREERS, FREERS, WO YE BE: NOTES

1 Freers. MS ffreers. Here and elsewhere in this poem I substitute F for initial ff. The manuscript lines are written as long lines, with the Latin ending each line. In these notes I do not record Wr's normalizations of the text in PPS, which include a for o in folnes and floure, final e on some words, doughtour for doughtor, etc. Wr reprints his PPS version in Reliquiae Antiquae.

5 Whan seyntes. There is a direct lineal descent from the fallen angels (here called seyntes) to the satanic friars.

7 synnus seven. The author alleges that the fallen angels transmitted the seven deadly sins (pride, envy, anger, sloth, avarice, gluttony, lust) directly to the friars. Wr, PPS, reads the for tho (MS þo).

9 ffloure. Wr, PPS, spells fflauré.

10 quem. Wr, RA and PPS, reads quae.

18 fruges. A reference to the first fruits of Romans 8:23 ("And not only it, but ourselves also, who have the first fruits of the Spirit"). See also PPC lines 728-29: "Right so fareth freres with folke opon erthe; / They freten up the furste-froyt and falsliche lybbeth."

23-25 Odur thi wyff . . . or thi sun. In antifraternal literature friars were alleged to be lecherous and untrustworthy, especially when they could enter homes. For a parallel see Preste, Ne Monke, Ne Yit Chanoun, lines 73-96.

29 Jacke and Gylle. Proverbial for every male and female. See Whiting, Proverbs, J2 and J7.