THE LIFE OF SAINT KATHERINE, BOOK 3: FOOTNOTES

1 Lines 14-15: Any labor or service done for this noble queen (Katherine) will not be wasted

2 Lines 70-71: it lies beyond my little spark / Of wit

3 For these words, monk and solitary, mean the same thing, as we read

4 Lines 148-49: I wish greatly to ask you / To take a message from me to a person

5 Lines 192-94: During which time many strategies / And methods were used, and much labor was spent, / To make her marry, but it could not succeed

6 Lines 303-04: Mark and display my Son's sign (i.e., the Cross) on your forehead

7 Lines 365-66: Thus God will work, when He pleases, / With what looks to the world like a very unlikely instrument

8 Lines 666-68: Since no one may explain the hidden origin of these earthly works, / It is no wonder that they (the earthly works) / Should reveal themselves through faith

9 Lines 703-04: His person, as you say, / Has resulted from the union of man and God

10 Lines 921-23: They tell what they saw when they were brought there, / But they cannot convey the feelings and thoughts / They had when they were experiencing that joy

11 Lines 1100-01: to confirm / That everything we perform here is authentic

12 Anyone who had been present would have experienced joy

THE LIFE OF SAINT KATHERINE, BOOK 3: NOTES

6 is. Not in MS.

36 onto. to not in MS.

45 was MS: wall.

52-53 Athanas, of whom . . . / We spoke befor. Prol,, lines 127-69, 1.260-73.

88 Were thei growen, were thei bare or balled. In other words, no distinction was made between the various orders of religious - those that required a tonsure, those that allowed members to be hairy or go bare-headed, etc.

114 ff. He saw a syght. To have a saint approached by a divine commission that directs him to go to an intimidating pagan to convert that person is not uncommon in medieval literature. Compare Ananias' fear of approaching Saul in The Conversion of Paul.

142 ff. Gramercy madame! The humor of this scene, in which one of God's chosen people is completely oblivious of whom he is speaking with, is strongly reminiscent of the humor of mystery plays. For example, in the Towneley Noah play, after God has descended from heaven, conveyed his displeasure with humanity, announced his intention of flooding the earth, and instructed Noah to build an ark, the patriarch burbles: "A benedicite! What art thou that thus / Tellys afore that shall be? Thou art full mervelus! / Tell me, for charite thi name so gracius." The Towneley Plays, ed. George England, EETS e.s. 71 (London: Oxford University Press, 1897), p. 28, lines 63-65.

175 Yet hath sche of me knowyng nevyr a deele. See below lines 470-78 for Capgrave's careful distinction between having God in one's heart and being aware of God.

178 Grete Babell. Compare 1.534-41, where Capgrave notes that Alexandria had been called"Babilon the lasse"! (line 540).

208-09 sche schall love bettyr the hayre / Than any reynes. Though reynes refers to a fine cloth made in Rennes, Brittany, the Virgin may be making an off-color pun, for reynes can also mean "the male generative organ" (MED, reine 2b). Such a pun would not be too surprising in this narrative, whose saints are hardly naives. Later in this book (lines 1104-05), the Virgin will make sure that Adrian is temporarily blinded before Katherine is stripped for her baptism. And Katherine herself insists that, though she may be a virgin, she knows a thing or two about sex (lines 637-44).

212 Sevyn Scyens. The Seven Liberal Arts (see note to Prol., line 143).

327 Lollard. An English heretic whose views derived from the teachings of the Oxford theologian John Wyclif.

369 Poule seyth this best. 1 Corinthians 1:26-29. This is one of two instances in which Capgrave invites his readers to consult Scripture (the other is 4.2279-81) - a radical invitation for the 1440s in a work addressed to a popular audience. Fearing the spread of Lollardy, the Church had taken strict measures to curtail lay access to the Bible.

401-06 Sche lokyd on him and was astoyned sore . . . wondyr fast. Capgrave takes pains to detail Katherine's security measures in 1.337-64.

413 All heyll, madame! Adrian echoes the angel Gabriel's greeting to the Virgin Mary at the Annunciation. Capgrave elaborates the analogy between Gabriel's visit to Mary and Adrian's visit to Katherine in lines 465-76.

470-76 Ryght as Gabriell . . . we wyll take hede. For a useful discussion of patristic and medieval views of the Annunciation, see Jaroslav Pelikan, Mary Through the Centuries: Her Place in the History of Culture (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1996), pp. 81-94.

524 ff. sche is modyr and also clene virgyne. Adrian is referring to a central tenet of Marian theology, namely, the perpetual virginity of Mary. Like many late medieval writers, Capgrave insists on Mary's singularity as a virgin mother, but he also does everything possible to humanize her by portraying her as a sensitive and affectionate mother-in-law. His emphasis on Mary in the legend is consistent with the intense devotion to the Virgin that marked late medieval piety. Also typical is his depiction of Christ as a fully humanized suitor.

553 Eleyn the fayre lady of Grees. Helen, famous beauty and wife of the Greek king Menelaus, whose abduction by Paris precipitated the Trojan War.

611 in pytte. A depression in the body, perhaps a dimple or the hollow of the neck.

635 And yet sche is a mayden at asay and sale. According to a popular tradition derived from the apocryphal Infancy Gospel of James (c. 150), a midwife tested Mary's virginity after she had given birth to Christ. An East Anglian dramatization of the incident that is roughly contemporaneous with Capgrave's legend can be found in the Nativity play of the N-Town Cycle. See The N-Town Play, ed. Stephen Spector, EETS s.s. 11 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991), pp. 152-63.

644 he. Not in MS.

694-707 How may ye couple . . . offendyth phylosophye! Katherine's objection to a Christ "coupled of contraries too" (line 702) anticipates a point one of the philosophers will raise with her in 4.1703-05.

724 That ye were bounden sumetyme with a bonde. Capgrave refers to the practice of swaddling infants, that is, binding their limbs with narrow strips of cloth so that they cannot move freely.

730 onto. on not in MS.

766 The Fyrst Mevere. See note to 2.1354.

799-804 Of the men of Sodom aboute Lothis hous . . . thei schull not see. The blinding of the Sodomites is recounted in Genesis 19:11.

826 That be the aungell led Abacuc to the lake. In verses 33-39 of Bel and the Dragon, an addition to the Book of Daniel composed in the second century BC (appearing among the Apocrypha in the Revised Standard Version and as Daniel 14 in the Vulgate Bible), an angel intercepts the prophet Habakkuk as he is bringing food to workers in the field, telling him to take the meal to Daniel, who has been cast into a lions' den in Babylon. When Habakkuk protests that he does not know any such place, the angel carries him there and back by the hair.

856 Ye hafe set your trost hyere than myselve. Katherine's surpassing of her spiritual teacher echoes her surpassing of her secular teachers in 1.414-19.

874-75 as David fro the schepe / . . . if we take kepe. See 1 Samuel 16:11-13. Samuel summoned Jesse's youngest son, David, from his job herding sheep and anointed him King of Israel.

887 dun. MS: downe.

919 We can not speke it. Capgrave is repeating a commonplace of mystical literature, namely, that people who have a direct experience of the godhead cannot describe their experiences (and hence Capgrave cannot relay them).

927-29 Seynt Poule hymselve . . . in that secree. For Paul's comments on his heavenly vision, see 2 Corinthians 12:1-7.

933 holy crisme. Sacramental liquid consisting of a mixture of oil and balsam.

949 Wolcome of clennesse very swete rose. On the odor of Christ that signifies purity,"an odor that leads to life," see 2 Corinthians 2:14-16. Compare Tiburce in Chaucer's Second Nun's Tale who, in the presence of St. Cecile, smells the scent of lilies and roses:"The sweete smel that in myn herte I finde / Hath chaunged me al in another kynde" (VIII [G] 251-52). The red rose is affiliated with martyrdom and here may anticipate the conclusion to Capgrave's saint's life. It is also traditionally associated withe Virgin Mary, the heavenly rose in eternal bloom, because her body is not destroyed by death.

967-68 certen tokenes thei bere . . . another bare. Martyrs were typically associated with emblems recalling their passions. For example, Agatha, who had her breasts torn off, usually bears a platter with a breast, while Lawrence, who was roasted, carries a grill. When Katherine joins the assembly of martyrs, she will be carrying a wheel. In some late medieval paintings, these emblems are embroidered on the saints' garments.

993-1001 Hir body . . . se His face. Katherine cannot approach Christ or see his face because she has not yet been cleansed from sin through baptism, as Christ reminds his mother in lines 1032-49. Mary forthwith translates Christ's theological explanation of the sacrament into language that Katherine would surely understand: "It is a goodely usage . . . / Who schal be weddyd onto duke or kynge / Befor hir weddyng to hafe a bathynge" (lines 1069-71).

1025 a. Not in MS.

1053 A prest hafe ye redy. Christ's insistence that Adrian perform both the baptism and marriage ceremonies affirms the clergy's prerogative to dispense sacraments and mediate between God and human beings - a role that was hotly contested by the Lollards.

1226-31 My modyr wyll here. . . . Consent ye Kateryne? Christ's emphasis on Katherine's free choice ratifies a position the Church had taken since the twelfth century, namely, that a valid marriage required the consent of the parties being married and not just their parents. Ideally, as in this case, the parents and children would agree. See James A. Brundage, Law, Sex, and Christian Society in Medieval Europe (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987) and John T. Noonan, "Power to Choose," Viator 4 (1973), 419-34.

1232 wilt. Not in MS.

1251 schortly to ryme. See note to 2.476.

1258 Befor hem all schal ye go in the daunce. See note to Prol., line 8.

1272 Whan Thu commendyd Jon me untoo. John 19:26-27.

1286 calcedony. For a discussion of the properties of this stone, see English Medieval Lapidaries, ed. Joan Evans and Mary S. Serjeantson, EETS o.s. 190 (London: Oxford University Press, 1960), pp. 29-30, 49, 75.

1301 Sponsus amat sponsam. A chant sung at the liturgical office of Matins on the feast of Saint Katherine.

1307-08 This chyrch must folow . . . / The chyrch above in all that it may. Seen from a somewhat different angle, Capgrave's chyrch above is following - or at least endorsing - this [earthly] cherch . . . in all that it may. Witness the emphasis on individual consent in marriage and on the sacraments of baptism and marriage.

1316 fere. MS: dere.

1332 Eyt dayes. The eighth day is associated with the Resurrection, and hence with a new life and a new beginning, as Jacobus de Voragine explains in the Golden Legend 1: 216-17.

1343 think 'not longe.' The allusion is to John 16:16-22, the"little while" of pain before bliss in Christ. See also 5.1514 where Katherine reassures the queen that the torture will last but"a lytyll space."

1390-1421 Oure Lord Godd is of swech a kynde . . . ye wel, madame. Adrian is explaining the doctrine of the Trinity, that three distinct persons make up one God. For a discussion of this complex dogma, see Jaroslav Pelikan, The Emergence of the Catholic Tradition (100-600) (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1971), pp. 172-225.

1428 Swech langage in synfull tunge is but brok. Capgrave seems to be endorsing the orthodox view that the vernacular is a poor medium for expounding doctrine. For a discussion of the clergy's disparagement of the vernacular, particularly for religious exhortation, see Nicholas Watson,"Censorship and Cultural Change in Late-Medieval England: Vernacular Theology, the Oxford Translation Debate, and Arundel's Constitutions of 1409," Speculum 70 (1995), 822-64. See also Rita Copeland,"Why Women Can't Read: Medieval Hermeneutics, Statutory Law, and the Lollard Heresy Trials," in Representing Women: Law, Literature, and Feminism, ed. Susan Sage Heinzelman and Zipporah Batshaw Wiseman (Durham: Duke University Press, 1994), pp. 253-86. By Book 4, Capgrave's scruples about expounding theology in English seem to have vanished.