EXCERPTS FROM THE GESTA ROMANORUM, SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY AND NOTES
(Emperator Felicianus, Godfridus a Wise Emperoure, and The Punished of Adulterers)
EMPERATOR FELICIANUS, FOOTNOTES
1 regnyd, reigned.
4 ordeyned, planned; Happyng, It just so happened.
5 see, sea.
8 y-do, done.
9 yede, went.
10 cowde, could; nigromauncer, magician.
11 biyende, across; wite, [like to] know.
12 crafte, magic.
15 travayle, work.
17 afore, before.
19 hielie, familiarly.
20 what skile, for what reason.
22 holpyn, helped.
24 merveile, amazement.
25 hore, whore; y-be, been.
27 mowe, might.
29 Yis, Yes.
31 can, knows.
32 sotilté, subtlety; nigromancien, magician.
33 anoon, soon; arowis, arrows; shete, shoot.
34 brest, burst; wordle, world.
35 do aftir, follow.
36 Do of, Take off.
37 bad, commanded.
38 myrour, mirror.
40 myster-man, sorcerer.
42 bowe2, duck.
43 smytene, shot.
46 strook, stroke.
48 i-be, been.
53 trowe, attest to.
59 scheter, shooter; swapte, ducked.
65 mede, reward.
67 fond, found; yede, went; meyre, mayor.
68 howe, what.
69 statys, nobles.
70 emsampill, example; veniaunce, sin.
71 faire endid his liffe, lived out his life well.
74 wordle, world.
75 yen, eyes; prowde, pride.
77 gostely, spiritually.
79 scil. (scilicet), that is to say; grucchith, complains.
84 which, who.
85 dartys, arrows.
91 prelatis, prelates.
94 enjoyned, bound.
98 encresing, increasing; peyne, pain.
99 bymenyth, means.
100 discrecion, discretion; jebet, gibbet.
103 devidid, divided.
105 per, through.
106 Ad quam nos et vos perducat, &c., To which He leads us and you, etc.
GODFRIDUS A WISE EMPEROURE, FOOTNOTES
1 childerin, children.
3 biquathe, bequeathed; holly, wholly.
4 clepid, called.
5 tenementes, properties.
7 mevable, movable.
8 scil. (scilicet), namely; riall, royal.
14 scole, school.
15 god i-nowhe, goods enough.
18 purchas, chattel.
19 take, give.
21 yede, went.
24 i-storid, inspired.
25 stille, close; store, possession.
27 i-nowe, enough.
28 hight, was called.
29 luste, desire; coude, could.
31 coveyte, want.
32 petucion, request.
39 gevithe, give.
40 or, before.
42 goste, go; les, lose.
43 birde, love.
45 i-don, done.
46 dud, had.
49 feyne, devise; lesynge, lie; i-broke, broken into.
50 borne awey, stolen; hili mevid, greatly upset.
52 holpin, helped; hedirto, before.
53 trowid, trusted.
59 afor, before; thorowe, by.
60 gate, acquired; wordly, worldly.
62 seye, discover.
63 deyntefulle metis, gourmet cuisine.
64 trowest, trust.
69 thryfte, wealth.
71 Iwisse, Indeed.
74 entirid, entered.
75 i-stole, stolen.
76 feynid, pretended; trowid, believed.
78 leve, cease.
81 worthe, became.
82 ivele apayde, very angry.
84 her, here.
87 unthrifti, untrustworthy.
89 dide, pretended; hostelle, room.
93 thoute, thought; reysid, raised; ferrest coste, farthest coast.
95 bestes, beasts; shulle, shall.
96 i-holynd, stolen.
99 trowid, trusted.
104 lever, rather.
105 ligge, lie.
109 and, but.
111 bale, grief.
113 briddis, birds; heir, air.
116 brende of, burned off.
117 towchid, touched; crewette, cruet.
119 frewte, fruit; ete, ate; lepre, leper.
122 of, off.
125 clansid, cleansed; lepr, leprosy.
128 whens erte thowe, where do you come from.
129 leche, physician; hennys, hence.
130 lechis, physicians; hele, heal; peyne of hir hedis, loss of their heads.
131 y-faylid everychone, failed everyone.
133 Tho, Then.
135 hole, whole.
136 mo, more; behite, asked.
140 enquerid, inquired.
141 hauntid, attended.
142 wolde, was going.
144 there as, where.
148 turmentid, tormented.
149 sotill, skillful.
150 messagers, messengers; and, [to see] if; vouchesaffe, promise.
152 i-seyne, examined; uryne, urine.
153 oo, one; but, except.
154 preve, follow.
156 i-shriven, confessed.
160 deseyvid, deceived.
163 beddis fete, foot of the bed.
169 angr, agony; yede, gave; sprite, spirit.
178 mevable, transformed.
180 feithe, faith; owithe, ought.
181 twartynge, opposition.
184 synevey, mustard.
185 vereliche, truly.
190 prophitable, profitable.
191 perfite charité, love.
193 offirde, sacrificed.
195 translatid, transformed.
197 lesithe, loses.
199 ofte tyme, many times; assentithe, gives in.
201 wordle, world.
202 dude, did.
203 wretin, written.
204 i-liyten, enlightened.
206 have of, take off.
208 cher, countenance; lepr, leprous.
210 his, its; figur, figura (i.e., metaphorically).
215 etithe, eats.
217 entrithe, enters.
218 rechithe, gives.
THE PUNISHED OF ADULTERERS, FOOTNOTES
1 bawde, procuress.
3 avoutery, adultery; throw, through.
4 deye, die.
4-5 here herte, her heart.
5 synfull, sinful.
7 criature, creator (elements of communion); shrevyn, confessed.
8 torne, turn.
9 faste, profusely.
10 modre, mother.
12 deyedyn, died.
14 aperid, appeared.
15 aferde, afraid.
19 myddes, middle.
20 addre, adder.
21 lefte, shed; hame, skin; withoute, outside.
23 cawderon, cauldron; wellyng, boiling.
28 sothyn, seethed (boiled).
29 anone, soon.
32 Knewes thou, Do you know.
38 be, by.
39 throw, through; hame, skin.
43 almess dedes, alms deeds (charity).
EXCERPTS FROM THE GESTA ROMANORUM, SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
Manuscripts in Middle English
Balliol 354, fols. 1a-3a (c. 1450, East Midlands).
Cambridge University Ff. 1.6, fols. 216a-245b (late fifteenth century).
British Library Additional 9066, fols. 5a-87b (late fifteenth century). [Base text for The Punished of Adulterers.]
British Library Harley 7333, fols. 150a-203a (1440-96). [Base text for Emperor Felicianus and Godfridus a Wise Emperoure.]
Gloucester Cathedral MS 22, pp. 723-87 (late fifteenth century).
Early Printed Editions
de Worde, Wynkyn (1510-15) [Contains an abbreviated number of tales beginning with the story of Atalanta. See Burke Severs and Albert E. Hartung, A Manual of the Writings in Middle English, 1050-1500 (New Haven: Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1967-).]
Robinson, Richard, ed. Gesta Romanorum: A Record of Auncient Histories Newly Perused by Richard Robinson (1595). Delmar, NY: Scholars' Facsimiles & Reprints, 1973. [A revision of Wynkyn de Worde's edition.]
Editions
Herrtage, Sydney, ed. The Early English Versions of the Gesta Romanorum. EETS e.s. 33. London: N. Trübner & Co., 1879.
Madden, Sir Frederic, ed. The Old English Versions of the Gesta Romanorum. London: Roxburghe Club, 1838.
Oesterley, Hermann J., ed. Gesta Romanorum. Berlin: Weidmannsche Buckhandlung, 1872. [The Latin text.]
Sandred, K. I., ed. A Middle English Version of the Gesta Romanorum, Uppsala: University of Stockholm, 1971.
Siatkowski, J., ed. Gesta Romanorum Linguae Polonicae (1543): cum fontibus latinis et bohemicis. Köln: Böhlau, 1986.
Weiske, Brigitte, ed. Gesta Romanorum: Untersuchungen qu Konzeption und Überlieferung. Tübingen: Max Neimeyer Verlag, 1992.
Selections
B. G., ed. Evenings with the Old Story Tellers: Select Tales from the Gesta Romanorum. New York: Wiley and Putnam, 1845.
Brunet, M. G., ed. LeViulier des Histoires Romaines: Ancienne Traduction François des Gesta Romanorum. Paris: Chez. P. Jannet, 1868.
Dick, Wilhelm, ed. Die Gesta Romanorum. Nach der Innsbrucker Handschrift von Jahre 1342. Amsterdam: Rodopi Editions, 1970.
Komroff, Manuel, ed. Tales of the Monks from the Gesta Romanorum. New York: The Dial Press, 1928. [A translation of some of the tales in the Latin text.]
Swan, Charles, ed. Gesta Romanorum: Entertaining Moral Stories. London: Routledge & Sons, 1905.
---, and Wynnard Hooper, eds. and trans. Gesta Romanorum: Entertaining Moral Stories. New York: Dover, 1959.
Related Studies
Archibald, Elizabeth. Apollonius of Tyre: Medieval and Renaissance Themes and Variations. Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 1991.
Brewer, Derek. "Observations on a Fifteenth-Century Manuscript." Anglia 72 (1954-55), 350 ff.
Loomis, Laura Hibbard. Mediaeval Romance in England: A Study of the Sources and Analogues of the Non-Cyclic Metrial Romances. New York: Burt Franklin, 1960.
Marchalonis, Shirley. "Medieval Symbols in the Gesta Romanorum." Chaucer Review 8 (1974), 311-19.
Metlitzski, Dorothea. The Matter of Araby in Medieval England. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1977.
Palmer, Nigel F. "Exempla." In Medieval Latin: An Introduction and Bibliographical Guide. Ed. F. A. C. Mantella and A. G. Rigg. Washington: D. C.: Catholic University of America Press, 1996. Pp. 582-88.
Scanlon, Larry. Narrative, Authority, and Power: The Medieval Exemplum and the Chaucerian Tradition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994.
Speed, Diane. "Middle English Romance and the Gesta Romanorum." In Tradition and Transformation in Medieval Romance. Ed. Rosalind Field. Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 1999. Pp. 45-56.
EMPERATOR FELICIANUS, NOTES
The manuscripts used for the Gesta Romanorum excerpts in this edition are Harley 7333 and BL Additional 9066. The first of the narratives - Emperor Felicianus - appears in Harley 7333; Godfridus appears in both Harley 7333 and BL Additional 9066, and The Punished of Adulterers appears only in BL Additional 9066. The number order here is consistent with Sydney Herrtage's EETS edition (see Select Bibliography) which contains the contents of both manuscripts which are highly abbreviated. Unless indicated otherwise, I have followed earlier editions in their interpolations of missing dipthongs, syllables, or individual letters. Abbreviations: Har: Harley 7333; Add: BL Additional 9066; Herr: Sydney Herrtage.
1 Felician. Though the Gesta Romanorum was understood by its medieval audience as "history," the Emperor's name is not historical. Etymologically related to the Latin felicitatis meaning "beatification, or capable of beatification," in English it more generally means "felicity" or "happiness." In the Latin text Titus reigns.
4 that she ordeyned for hire husbonde to be ded. This phrase echoes in lines 9-10: "ordeyned for his deathe." Herr cites the Latin text which implies that the husband, knowing of his wife's propensity for infidelity decides to go on pilgrimage to the Holy Land: Nec de adulterio desistere volebat. Miles vero cum hoc vidisset, contristatus est valde in animo suo et cogitabat terram sanctam visitare. ("Nor did she wish to put an end to the adultery. The knight saw this, sorrowed greatly in spirit, and decided to visit the Holy Land"). An amusing parallel of such male defensive practice may be found in Chaucer's The Wife of Bath's Prologue, where her fourth husband goes on pilgrimage, then dies (some say mysteriously) on his return.
Happyng. The meaning of this suggests that the pilgrimage is not coincidental. The Latin text says Accidit (It happened).
10 nigromauncer. Necromancer, a term that came to be associated with sorcery and witchcraft, originally referred to someone who prognosticated events by means of communication with the dead. A medieval tradition of necromancers includes not only Merlin, King Arthur's wizard, and Nectanabus, a magician to Alexander the Great, but also the much revered Roman poet Virgil. Virgil's prophecies, like those of Merlin and Nectanabus, were looked upon with suspicion by some medieval writers in part because of the poet's association with the pre-Christian Sibyl. Other medieval poets, like Dante for instance, extol Virgil's virtues, hence Virgil's association with the realm of the dead, makes him an appropriate candidate for guiding Dante the Pilgrim through the Inferno. Interestingly enough, though Virgil is not named in this particular Gesta narrative in others included in the Anglo-Latin collection he is explicitly identified. For a comprehensive discussion of the poet's reputation in the Middle Ages, see Domenico Comparetti, Vergil in the Middle Ages, trans. E. F. M. Benecke (Hamdon, Conn.: Archer Books, 1966). For a recent general discussion of necromancy see Richard Kieckheffer, Forbidden Rites: A Necromancer's Manual of the Fifteenth Century (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1997).
16 dyd make an ymage of erthe. The Anglo-Latin text says that clerks make images de cera (of wax). Image making by any unauthorized person was considered sacrilege by the church, yet the boundary between devotional "magic" - liturgical prayer and eucharistic practices - and the magic of wizards and necromancers is blurred. According to Richard Kieckheffer, a "'clerical underworld' capable of various forms of mischief, including necromancy . . . seems to have been the primary locus for this explicitly demonic magic" (p. 12). Chaucer's House of Fame provides an example of the natural magic or "science" of creating images:
And clerkes eke, which konne wel
Al this magik naturel,
That craftely doon her ententes
To make, in certeyn ascendentes,
Ymages, lo, thrugh which magik,
(Lines 1265-70)
Natural magic and necromancy also figure prominently in The Franklin's Tale when the lovesick and desperate Aurelius, in order to win Dorigen's love, employs a magician to make Brittany's ominous coastal rocks disappear.
19 hielie. Herr points out the Latin word, intime (familiarly), which suggests that the necromancer knows his client's innermost thoughts.
21 be. Har: by. The expression be ded, according to Herr, is of Eastern origin and occurs repeatedly in this narrative as well in other narratives belonging to the Anglo-Latin group.
23 purveith. Herr suggests a verb in the past tense - purveide - since the Latin text reads providit.
24 he had grete merveile. The knight's surprise at learning about his wife's plot against him is consistent with culturally determined attitudes toward wives as being incapable of carrying out criminal acts against their husbands. When women were found guilty of spousal homicide in late medieval England, their punishment went beyond the usual for ordinary homicide; they were not only charged with murder, but with petty treason, making the murder of a husband a crime against the crown.
38 myrour. The mirror or speculum is a multi-dimensional symbol in the Middle Ages. Most often it referred to the reflection of divine order in the world, or the distortion of it by immoral human action; it also served as an emblem of the Virgin Mary. In necromancy any reflective object - bowls, polished fingernails, crystals - could be useful to conjure up demons. This category of divination was condemned periodically. "In 1311 the bishop of Lincoln instructed one of his officials to investigate conjuring spirits in their fingernails and in mirrors, as well as in stones and rings" (Richard Kieckheffer, p. 97). In the Latin text the speculum politum is described as sacram scripturam.
54 cryed. Herr notes that the Latin text reads clamat which has a wider range of meaning including "lamented," "worried," "complained."
66 the knyght went hom. The Latin text complicates the action: domi venisset, uxor eius obviam ei venit, et cum gaudio eum recepit. Miles vero per plures dies dissimilabat; tandem . . . ("the knight went home; his wife went to meet him and received him with joy. The knight was not himself for days until finally. . .") [the quote is continued in line 67 following.]
67 the meyre of the towne. The Latin text - a continuation of the quote above - complicates this scene by substituting the knight's in-laws, other clerics, and a judge for the mayor of the town: pro parentibus uxoris misit et ait eis: Carissimi, hec est cause, quare misi pro vobis: hec est filia vestra, uxor mea, que adulterium sub me commisit et, quod peius est, in mortem meam machinata est. Illa vero cum iuramento negavit. Miles incepit et totum processum clerici recitavit. Quod si non creditis, venite et videte locum, ubi clericus sepultus est. Eos ad cameram suam duxit et corpus clerici sub lecto eius invenerunt. Iudix est vocatus et sententiam dedit, ut ipsa igni combureretur; et sic factum est, et pulvis post per aerem dispergitur. ("he called the parents of his wife and said to them: My friends, here is the reason I have sent for you: here is your daughter, my wife, who has committed adultery under me and what is worse has orchestrated my death. She denied this under oath. The knight then began to relate all the actions of the clerk. Should you not believe this, come and see the place where the clerk is buried. He led them to the chamber and dragged the body of the clerk from under his bed. A judge was called and sentenced her to be burned and when done her ashes dispersed into the air.")
69 herte. Herr notes that the Latin corpus which more generally means "body," "substance," and "physical matter" is limited to a single body part here.
72 Moralitee. The moral differs in the Latin text. The emperor is Jesus Christ, the knight is man, the wife, flesh, the wise man, the clerk, the necromancer, the devil (though he is more often referred to as clericus, e.g., Clericus est diabolus). The bow is avarice, the arrow, pride. Just as Lucifer has tempted Adam, so too has he tempted the knight; without the help of the wise man his soul would have been doomed.
79 The equation of the necromancer with the devil derives, Herr thinks, from the Latin diabolus.
81-82 Caro concupiscit . . . . Galatians 5:17.
85 who. An interpolation defining the relative clause. Herr has that.
85-86 the devill, beginnith to schete an arowe att the ymage. According to George Ferguson's Signs & Symbols in Christian Art (New York: Oxford University Press, 1954), arrows, though generally used "to suggest a spiritual weapon dedicated to the service of God," also serve as "an instrument of war and death figures in the portrayals of many saints" (p. 304. Sts. Sebastian and Ursula are examples). Here the necromancer equates with both death and fiend. The arrow can also serve as a symbol of the plague. An interesting use of the image of archer, bow and arrows occurs in John Gower's Vox Clamantis where the poet takes the position of archer shooting his arrows into the world. Presenting himself as social critic, poet, preacher, and prophet, Gower points out the corruption in late medieval England by shooting his barbs into an image of a world turned upside down. The image of the archer with his bow and arrow also signified the preacher whose responsibility it was to point out his parishioners' sins.
89 putte downe thyn hed. Herr notes that this is "a mistake of the translator, or more probably of the transcriber"(p. 445). In the Latin text it reads: oportet te deponere vestimenta tua (it behoves you to lay down your clothes).
101 Apostill. The line spoken here, i.e., Suspendium elegit anima mea ("My soul hangs suspended"), is not found in the New Testament, according to Herr, but rather the Book of Job. The quotation is found in 7:15 in the form of a question: Qua mobrem elegit suspendium anima mea, et mortem ossa nea. (For what reason is my soul suspended and my bones dead?)
105 spirit. Har: sprit.
106 Ad quam nos et vos perducat, &c. "To which He leads us and you (and so forth)," or, as translated in a later text: "To the whiche He us brynge, that is kynge everlastinge" (p. 164). Perhaps this alludes to Tobias 10:11, Angelus Domini sanctus sit in itinere vestro, per ducatque vos incolumes . . . . (And the blessed angel of God shall lead you unharmed in your journey.)
GODFRIDUS A WISE EMPEROURE, NOTES
1 Godfridus regnid. This is a fictional emperor of Rome.
2 on his dethebed. The tale opens with a deathbed distribution of wealth, a literary convention more than a customary practice. Implicit in the scene is a hierarchy which appears to render the eldest son primogenitor and therefore the recipient of the more important assets, i.e., the "heritage" (line 3). The second son is bequeathed the property added by the father to the original estate, while the third son inherits the moveable goods, or personal items. As in other tales of the fortunes of the youngest son, ranging from the Joseph story of Genesis to medieval romance, what appears to be a disadvantageous position in the family turns out to be the most beneficial. Here Jonathas gets a university education while at the same time acquires gifts that let him go beyond the material realm to which his brothers are bound.
5 purchas. Har: purchus. Add: omits both the word and the entire phrase: My sone, dyverse londes and tenementis I have bought, and theym all I yeve to the, what so evir thei be, that longe not to the heritage.
8 thre jewell. Har: şe Iwelle. Add: iii. Iewelx.
presious ringe. The magic ring has long been a motif in literature and mythology (the ring of Gyges in Plato's dialogues, for instance). It often appears in medieval romance as a token of the lover's intentions; associated with love and commitment a ring also betokened nuptial bonding.
gay broche. This decorative ornament, when it was not providing wish-fulfillment, functioned to hold a cloak together as it does for Chaucer's Prioress. Chaucer's description of the brooch in the General Prologue to The Canterbury Tales suggests its ability, if not to fulfill desire, then to express it:
Of smal coral aboute hire arm she bar
A peire of bedes, gauded al with grene,
And theron heng a brooch of gold ful sheene,
On which ther was first write a crowned A,
And after Amor vincit omnia.
(I[A]158-62)
The Latin expression - love conquers all - may be read allegorically as well as an expression of human relationship. That the brooch represents wish fulfillment for Jonathas in the Gesta tale prompts a similar reading for the Prioress.
8 riall clothe. This may be understood as something analogous to a magic carpet which suggests Eastern influence, perhaps from A Thousand and One Arabian Nights. Even without its ability to fly a carpet motif inevitably pointed to the Middle East where carpet-making emerged as an important commercial enterprise in the Middle Ages.
28 Felicia. The Latin root is felicitatis, meaning happiness or beatitude, as it was in the first of the Gesta narratives - Emperor Felicianus. Here it seems to be used ironically since Felicia does not seem to embody many positive attributes.
51 grete sorow. This is an interpolation Herr adds based on the Latin text which reads dolorem ostendare ("to show sorrow").
82 ivele. Har: Iwele. Add: omits the mother's angry retort.
85 women. Har: wome. Add: womans wyles.
114 a certeyne pathe. Herr interpolates pathe from the Latin text which reads per quandam viam.
120 hour. Har: honour. Add: houre.
149 she harde telle. Har omits the feminine pronoun. I have added it for the sake of clarity.
152 i-seyne hir uryne. Medieval physicians frequently examined a patient's urine in their attempts to determine the malady. The urine glass even became a symbol of office; an illustration in the Ellesmere manuscript of Chaucer's Physician shows him holding the glass urine bottle up to the light as he makes a prognosis. According to Peter Murray Jones, Medicine in Illuminated Manuscripts (London: The British Library, 1998), "The skilled physician could make his reputation by accurately foretelling the course of an illness. . . . Later authors, and in particular Galen, linked diagnosis and prognosis to a disease theory based on changes in the balance of the four humours (blood, phlegm, black bile, and yellow bile), signified to the physician by changes in urine or pulse" (p. 43).
156 Thou moste be clene i-shriven. The relationship between disease and sin is not as unusual as it may seem. Oftentimes human sin was thought to be physically manifested in the body of the sinner. Leprosy, in particular, was associated with venereal consequences of lechery.
168 likenesse. As Herr suggests this could be read as sikenesse, though the countenance of the lady is the important factor in her punitive rejection by potential suitors.
174 angelis. The hierarchy set up in the beginning of the narrative is followed here. The angels equate with the first son, the prophets with the second, and every Christian man with Jonathas. Reference to the angels follows the Latin text which reads: angeli mali ceciderunt, firmiter alii Deo adheserunt ("the wicked angels fell more firmly adhering to the other God").
179 he gaf. Har: and he. Add: he yaf.
181 twartynge. According to the MED, this gerund derives from the verb thwerten (thwart).
183 Ut supra. Har: ut c. Add: omits the Latin passage entirely.
184 synevey. The meaning of this term is the same as the Latin term for mustard, i.e., sinapis. It recalls the "litel clergeon" of Chaucer's The Prioress' Tale who despite having his throat cut sings while a holy grain is in his mouth only to have his soul released from his dead body when it is taken out. It also recalls the parable of the mustard seed told by Jesus in which the kingdom of heaven is compared to the potentiality of the lowly seed. "A grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in the field: which indeed is the least of all seed: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof" (Matt. 13:31; Mark 4:32; Luke 13:19).
191 Cristin man. Har: Cristiman. Add: cristen man.
perfite. Har: perfe. Add: perfite.
195 translatid. The person practicing perfect charity is promised eternal life. Herr notes a gap in Har after the term is used which is provided by Add: from this world to heven.
206 whiche. Har: wiche. Herr's emendation.
putithe. Har: putthe. Add: departith.
208 wretin. Har: wetin. Add: the Latin passage and its introduction are omitted.
215 whiche. Har: wiche. Herr restores the h as have I.
THE PUNISHED OF ADULTERERS, NOTES
1 bawde. As a go-between the bawd is associated with a long tradition of courtly love; as a panderer or procuress she is more closely aligned with prostitution. This bawd recalls Dame Sirith, the most famous intermediary of English fabliaux.
1-2 housbond-man. "Husband" derives from OE hus + bonden and refers to the male head of household who is "bound" to his domestic duties.
19 grete stone. Since a miracle is about to occur this may allude to the rock of Exodus through which water passed to quench the thirst of the Israelites during their exile in the desert.
20 addre. The snake is a traditional symbol of sin and temptation. But once it sheds its old skin, it is also a sign of Christ the new man, raised on the Cross even as Moses raised the serpent in the wilderness (Numbers 21:4-9; see John 3:14). The Biblia Pauperum ?e? juxtaposes Moses raising the serpent with the Crucifixion, where Christ on the Cross makes redemption possible, whereby the sinner, i.e., the serpent, can slough off the old wrapping of sin by passing through the sharp passage of penance. That the bawd is transformed into a "fayre woman" (line 22), like the serpent shedding its old skin, demonstrates her newly acquired state of grace. The amazing transformations demonstrated here differ from the illusions of magicians and necromancers since they are rendered by someone who has been absolved.
23 cawderon. The punishment is reminiscent of those found in Dante's Inferno, though cauldrons of boiling oil were also found in the legends of saints. St. John the Evangelist, for instance, was martyred when he was placed in such a vat.
38 contricion, confession, and satisfaccion. These acts are prerequisites for absolution. See Chaucer's The Parson's Tale (CT X[I]106-08).