THE PLOUGHMAN'S TALE: NOTES
Note on spelling. The scribe of this manuscript was prone to use -y- where Chaucer was likely to use -e- in the plural and possessive -es, the third-person -eth, and the past tense -ed. Examples in the first two stanzas include pylgrymys for "pilgrims," felawys for "fellows," comyth for "come," and Crystys modyr for "Christ's mother."
5 The Host's reference to the "lot" recalls the method for determining the order of tale-tellers initiated in the General Prologue (CT I, 835-45).
6 Chaucer gave the Plowman no name in the General Prologue (CT I, 529-41). Perhaps he is given the name Tylyer to avoid confusion with the more famous literary tiller, Piers Plowman.
16 holsom. HM (Huntington HM 744): needful.
24 owr sheld. HM: our seur sheeld.
27 peyne ay-duryng. HM: eternel peyne.
47 Gabriel's angelic salutation is recorded in Luke 1:28: Et ingressus angelus ad eam dixit: "Ave gratia pleta: Dominus tecum: benedicta tu in mulieribus!" [And the angel being come in, said unto her: "Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women!" - Douay translation.]
49 Of Cristys modyr, of vertu myrroure. HM: Of goddes modir / of vertu the flour.
63 Known as the Rosary in modern times, Our Lady's Psalter was the prayerful recitation of Ave Marias, usually in multiples of 150, the number of psalms in the Psalter. Originating in the monasteries as a devotion for illiterate brothers who could not otherwise participate in the Divine Office, the practice spread beyond the monastic communities and became a popular form of lay piety. See Beverly Boyd, "Hoccleve's Miracle of the Virgin," Texas Studies in English 35 (1956), 116-22. Hoccleve's note in HM 744 (fol. 36a) that "Ce feust faite a linstance de T. Marleburgh" - the London stationer Thomas Marleburgh being master of the guild of Limners and Textwriters in 1423 - indicates his poem was intended for a lay readership.
76 Ave, as in HM; omitted in Ch.
85 Thow, as in HM; Ch: Though.
90 with, as in HM; Ch: which.
94 doon, as in HM; Ch doo. Note that Ch: and neven makes a better rhyme than HM: and meene, suggesting this text derives from a different version by Hoccleve himself.
101 suyng, her psalter. HM: Aue Maria.
103 folwyng. HM: suynge; this substitution to avoid repetition of the word suyng in line 101 again suggests authorial revision in Ch.
107 good apparaylle. HM: fressh apparaille.
114 chosyn shalt thow be. HM: shalt thow chosen be.
123 And hereof. HM: And of this. HM: thow, omitted in Ch.
128 HM: up, omitted in Ch.
130 HM: that, omitted in Ch.
135 unto, as in HM; Ch: to.