RICHARD THE REDELESS: FOOTNOTES



1 That he made war in the west on the wild Irish

2 And confused my mind very much and also my wits

3 Whether God would give him grace soon to make amends

4 There is no ruler alive who might conduct himself better

5 So long as he can read English, my life dare I wager

6 Let your wisdom correct it, together with learned men

7 But those who pursue their flesh and their frail thoughts

8 Who lawlessly led your life and that of your people also

9 And taken away was your revelry and rest, because your days were wicked

10 Or by legal proceedings well tempered with love

11 But what became of this crown there is a clerk who knows

12 And paid them on their heads when their pennies failed

13 Lines 66-67: "When serving-men and nobles be equally powerful, / Most wretched are the homes and all who live in them!"

14 Those who feared your law guided you with love

15 There would have been neither murder nor knavery among the powerful

16 Lines 90-91: Or common fellows you consorted with of Harlequin's ilk, / Scorning the laws pertaining to royal governance

17 But because you listened to knaves in this case I affirm

18 That (the molting) deprived your beasts of their bold demeanor

19 They separated and went different ways for summer was slipping away

20 And spoke to the common people as the king's spokesmen

21 And thrust out their chests [with the badges] and oppressed the poor

22 I do not know what ailed you, unless it was loose living

23 There was no person of your land who did not behave as a subject should

24 And cast down the crock (soup pot) amid the coals

25 Every kingdom divided against itself shall be brought to desolation (Luke 11)

26 Who loved you with full loyalty before the practice of livery began

27 For when you wished to be supported by your own limbs (see note)

28 And fail to uphold the law because of powerful lords

29 But how the lords have comported themselves, God knows the truth (see note)

30 You would have had hearts (supporters) enough at your pleasure to walk and to ride

31 And dispossessed the young deer that wanted justice

32 God hears the cry of the poor, and he judges their cause; David in Psalms

33 And occupies himself earnestly to mantle them with feathers

34 Thus this falcon hunted wild fowl in fields all around

35 That rapaciously always seized revenues and fine robes

36 The free man is called again into slavery because of ingratitude, as in The Prick of Conscience and the civil law

37 I wish to praise the nature of the partridge

38 Because the wretch too seldom scraped up food for their stomachs

39 And polished their beaks and turned towards him

40 Who never studied good government, nor reason's books

41 Provided they are dressed appropriately, they care no further

42 For all his wit in truth is wrapped up in his clothing

43 Those dressed in soft clothing are in the houses of kings: in the Gospel

44 Through such insufferable swaggering, which destroys the kingdom

45 Lines 168-69: For they for the piecing pay twenty times more / Than the cloth itself cost, so expensive is the craft

46 But to pursue their pleasure all the days of their life

47 Who were serious in their statements and knew how to be patient

48 And how calmly that steadfast one stood among this frivolous crowd

49 That is, prudent management of revenues and the favor that follows from it

50 That each realm under the arch of the rainbow

51 And by laborers on the land so that livelihood does not fail

52 That each person attended to what pertained to his age

53 For it is as appropriate for men of twenty four years

54 And to ruin arrogant men who acted against right

55 That wisdom and late hours dwell far apart

56 Always surrounded with advantages, and never encountering setbacks

57 And cancel all the legal accusations of those who bring nothing

58 And pled at piepowder courts all manner of complaints (see note)

59 "They understood no legal pleading, as the commons reported" (D&S)

60 Without any answer except for the person who hated his life

61 And were dubbed by a king (leader) for their erstwhile judgments

62 As for example [the earls of] March and Mowbray, and many others as well (see note)

63 When the accounts were reckoned, with the wool customs

64 And when the riot and the revels thus surpassed their income

65 "In deceiving the great, lest [legal] grievances arise" (Sk)

66 We are hardly worthy to receive our payments

67 Lines 55-56: And some had supped with Simon (ecclesiastics) the night before / And appeared for the shire and gained nothing thereby

68 No judge (man of the judge's bench) from the borough or somewhere else

69 Each one of them would have been thrown backwards overboard



RICHARD THE REDELESS: NOTES






Abbreviations: B: Barr's edition of RiR; D&S: Day and Steele's edition of RiR; IMEV: Carlton Brown and Rossell Hope Robbins, Index of Middle English Verse; MED: Middle English Dictionary; MEPW: Dean, ed., Medieval English Political Writings; MS: Cambridge University Library MS Ll.iv.14; OED2: Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed.; PP: Piers Plowman, ed. Schmidt; 6ES: Dean, ed., Six Ecclesiastical Satires; Sk: Skeat's 1886 edition of RiR; Sz: Paul Szarmach's transcription of the MS; Usk: The Chronicle of Adam Usk, ed. Given-Wilson; WGO: Dean, The World Grown Old in Later Medieval Literature; Wr: Wright's 1838 edition of RiR


[Prologus]


Prologus. I use Sk's and D&S's editorial designations for poem divisions - here indicated within brackets - toward the beginning of the work because some of the material in the traditional Prologue seems roughly parallel to the Prologue of Langland's PP. The MS does include passus markers after I.114 ("Passus secundus"), after II.192 ("Passus Tercius"), and after III.371 ("Passus quartus"). B argues against a Prologue, designating the first unit as Passus I. She makes no division after line 87 (beginning "Now Richard že redeles"). The MS contains large capital letters at Prologue line 1; Passus I lines 1, 20, 49; Passus II line 1; Passus III lines 1, 37, 110; Passus IV line 1.

1 And as I passid. The poem begins abruptly, which has suggested to some editors that material has been lost before the manuscript's first lines. But other poems begin with the word "And"; for example, "And by a chapell as Y Came / Mett Y whyte Iesu" (IMEV 298) or John Audelay's "And loue ži god ouer al žyng / ži ne3bore as ži self I say" (IMEV 304). The large capital "A" of "And" is in red.

2 Bristow. The author is familiar with Bristol and the location of Christ Church. This town also is important in the conflict between Henry Bolingbroke, the duke of Lancaster, and Richard after Henry's return from exile. Bolingbroke, along with the Percies of Northumberland, the Earl of Westmoreland, and the Duke of York (whom Richard had appointed as Regent when he went to Ireland), trapped Richard's favorites and advisors - William Scrope, treasurer of England, Sir John Bushy, formerly Speaker of Parliament, and Sir Henry Green - as prisoners at Bristol on 28 July 1399. These were executed as traitors to the realm on the following day.

9 Richard. The scribe or a reader has underlined this proper name and many other names and terms in red. In the opening 25 lines the following words are so underlined: "Richard" (line 9); "Henrri" (line 11); "prince" and "Walis" (line 23); and "kynge" (line 24). For this and other details about the manuscript I am indebted to Paul Szarmach for his close inspection and transcription of it.

11 Henrri . . . est half. Henry of Lancaster landed at Ravenspur on the lower Humber on 4 July 1399, while Richard was waging a campaign against the "wilde Yrisshe" (line 10). He quickly set out for Pontefract Castle - a Lancastrian bastion - and thence to Bristol. The Percies joined him at Pontefract. His rapid progress south through the midlands perhaps caused the author of RiR to proclaim him the "greehonde" (greyhound). See below II.113 and note.

17 parceit. This word, which Sk glosses as "power of perception" and B as "perception," means "the power of understanding" or "comprehension" (MED, s.v. parceit, 1, cit-ing this line from RiR).

25 as a liage to his lord. MS: as a lord to his liage. Sk follows the MS, but D&S, B, and Sz all transpose since the poet is liege rather than lord.

27 wuste. D&S and B emend MS: wost (2 singular pres. indicative) for the past tense. "MS. wost; but see Pass. i. 11.49 and 64, below" (Sk, I, p. 604).

28 geve. So D&S and B; MS and Sk: 3eue; Wr: 3eve. The "g" sound rather than the "y" sound is required for the alliteration, as in ageyn in line 29.

33 preie. MS: preise. B's emendation.

41 D&S move this line to line 45.

43 croune. So Sk, D&S, and B. MS and Wr: grounde. Grounde in this line is dittography (inadvertent repetition) from grounde in the previous line and does not alliterate, as croune does, with Cristen and kyng.

50 fondyd. So Sk, D&S, and B. MS: fordyd, with n written above the r. The fyve wyttis here means, as in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (lines 640 and 2193), the five senses. The senses can have moral as well as physical value, for example, as guardians of the soul in PP. Sir Inwit (conscience, moral sense) has "fyve faire sones":

Sire Se-wel, and Sey-wel, and Sire Here-wel že hende,
Sire Werch-wel-wiž-žyn-hand, a wi3t man of strengže,
And Sire Godefray Go-wel . . . .
(B 9.19; 20-22)
 See; Say; Hear
Work; powerful
51 tretis. David Lawton has argued that alliterative poets, claiming to be "God's instrument," would refer to their work in "the morally elevated term 'tretyse'" ("The Unity of Middle English Alliterative Poetry," p. 80).

56 rode of Chester. B notes that the same oath is used by Sloth in PP, V.460 (p. 251), though, given the author's apparent concern for the king whom he would counsel in this section of the poem and the loyalty of the Chester retainers to Richard, the oath may have additional significance.

60 make it more better. The humility trope is common in late fourteenth-century poetry as the author presents his work for amendment or correction.

68 shall fele fawtis. Sk, I, p. 605, suggests that fynde has been omitted and emends the line. The sense of fele (adj.) in his reading would be "many." B reads fele as a verb (albeit not in the usual participial form) and glosses the term "discover." I have followed her reading.

69 youghthe. So Sk, D&S, and B; MS, Wr: youghe.

72 culorum. Short for in saeculum saeculorum. This contraction ('culorum) signifies, as in passus IV.61 (or in PP A III.258, B III.280, C III.432), "final meaning," conclusion, or "when all is said and done" and which closes prayers, hence the essence of something. In the MS "culorum" is underlined.

77 My sovereyne. Ostensibly his king is Richard; but since he will attack Richard and his government so forcefully at the beginning of passus I, he might be referring to Henry. In another sense the appeal might be to a Lord whose reign will never go astray.




[Passus Primus]

6 daiez. MS: daie3.

weren wikkid. I follow D&S and B in adding these two words to the end of line 6. In the MS, Weren wikkid begins line 7.

8a Radix omnium malorum cupiditas. In the margin, glossing "coveitise" (line 8).

17 peté. A corrector has somewhat clumsily emended this to pyte. The phrase preysinge of polaxis is in this context ironic.

20 derklich endited. "obscurely composed," an important phrase repeated at III.63. The MED glosses derkliche in signification 2 as "Of speaking or writing: (a) in a veiled or figurative manner; allusively, mysteriously, subtly; (b) vaguely, obscurely." The author, who seems to draw on both significations in his narrative, foregrounds his technique of alluding to historical persons through heraldic animals (Henry of Hereford is variously the greyhound, the eagle, the hen, and the falcon; his supporters are chickens or waterfowl; and so forth). His metaphors can become extended and mixed. See the Introduction.

25 gostis. So Sk, B; Wr reads gestis, and this might be the correct reading. It appears that a corrector has altered the e of gestis to o.

26 harnesse. So the MS, Wr, Sk, and B. D&S emend to harmesse ("harms," "injuries").

32 Ye come . . . knewe. Richard's father, the Black Prince, died in 1376 and King Edward III, Richard's grandfather, died in 1377, elevating Richard to the kingship at the age of eleven. The sentiment here echoes the biblical admonition, "Woe to thee, O land, when the king is a child" (Eccl. 10.16; and see PP Prol. 195a). Usk frames his chronicle as follows: "Many great things were hoped for in the time of this Richard's reign; but, because he was tender of age, other persons who had charge of him and of the kingdom did not cease to inflict wanton evils, extortions, and other intolerable injustices upon the realm" (p. 3).

35 vertuous. MS: vertus, with ou written above the u.

42 derve. So Sk, D&S, and B (derue). Wr in this line and at line 69 reads derne, dark, secret, hidden. The MS minims can support either reading but derve, from OE deorfan, makes best sense in this context, and this is the sense supported by the MED (s.v. derve, 2, and glossed as "precious" [jewel]).

46 ther it be oughte. B, noting the defective alliteration in the half-line, inserts "pounced" (embossed) after it and before be.

51 nest. So MS; Wr: neft.

55 pannes. With a quibble on pence.

58 huntyd. So Wr, Sk, D&S, and B; MS: hunyd.

61 that ye with ferde. As with language elsewhere in RiR, this line contains echoes of moral lyrics on the transitoriness of the world such as "Al es bot a fantum žt we with ffare" (IMEV 189; compare 190).

66-67 The charge of social climbing and a ruinous leveling of class distinctions as a sign of social decay was common in satirical and prophetic literature. See PP B III.203-05; Piers the Plowman's Crede, lines 748-51 and note to lines 748-49, and The Plowman's Tale, lines 301-08, in 6ES; and Thomas of Erceldoune's Prophecy, line 15 and note, in MEPW. These two lines are bracketed in the MS.

67 Woll wo. Sk emends to Well wo.

73 not. So D&S, B; MS: nott (?). It is not clear that the scribe intended the second t, which is faint.

77 nadde. MS: had not written above in a different hand.

78 cautell. MS: crafte written above in a different hand.

79 youre hervest is ynne. The clear implication is that it is a bitter harvest: as you sow, so shall you reap. Also, as Sk observes, "you need not expect further help" (II, p. 290).

80 wyteth. So Wr, Sk, D&S, B (wyte[t]h); MS: wyteh. Sk translates: "Blame not your council, but rather yourself for it, viz. for the fact that ill fortune has befallen the faithless" (II, p. 290).

83 clerlie. So D&S and B. MS and Wr: clergie. Sk: [žoru] clergie. The scribe regularly spells this word clergie, including at III.26 and 190.

85 kayseris. So Sk, D&S, B; MS, Wr: Kayseceris. In the MS lordes / rulers is written in a different hand above Kayseceris. As the author anticipates a future readership for his poetic treatise, he situates it in a "mirror for princes" tradition. See Judith Ferster, Fictions of Advice, pp. 36-37.

86 sir. MS: lorde written above in a different hand.

89 yeme. MS: guyde/rule written above in a different hand.

90 Hurlewaynis kynne. The kin of Harlequin would be goblins or sprites who cause mischief in the night. B thinks this phrase applies especially well to Richard's much-criticized favorites Robert de Vere, John Bushy, William Bagot, and Henry Green (the latter three comprising Shakespeare's "caterpillars of the commonwealth"). The further implication from the entire passage is that these ministers are too common to help Richard govern effectively; hence they remain strangers to the nature ("kynde") of statecraft.

99 busshinge adoun. This phrase refers to Richard's ruthless treatment of those who, in the poet's judgment, were most loyal to him: the Appellants Arundel (executed), Gloucester (murdered), and Warwick (banished). In busshinge - explained by Sk as "pushing, butting" - there is wordplay on John Bushy, one of "Hurlewaynis kynne" (line 90). Richard's despised favorites were often the subject of such wordplay, as in There is a Busch That Is Forgrowe (in MEPW), whose anonymous author attributed Gloucester's death to Bushy.

100 a fals colour means "false pretence; as in Acts xxvii.30. This false colour was Green; see Pass. ii. 153" (Sk, II, p. 290).

113 burnes. MS: barons written above in a different hand.


Passus Secundus

2 lyverey. MS: the first y written over an e, here and in most other instances of the word (II.26, 35, 57, 60, 79, 93, 104; III.182, 330). So too the y in by (II.83 and III.41) and brymme (II.80). Sk, D&S, B, and Sz all read e, as in levere, be, and bremme, all of which instances are suited to the dialect. I have followed the y forms (which also suit the dialect) on grounds that it is not possible to determine whether the correction has been made by the original scribe or a later normalizer. It is perhaps of interest that the use of y in these instances brings RiR into conformity with practices in Mum.

Livery were uniforms identifying men used as a private army; and the liveries usually included identifying badges as well as colors. King Richard provided livery to special troops or household retainers - such as the Cheshire guard - who wore badges as well. The king's special badge was a white hart (see II.4). The hart in Passus II becomes the chief element in an extended metaphor of hunting and exploitation of the poor by violent retainers, either those of Richard or of powerful barons. Magnates retained their own armies, which made for considerable complaint in the late fourteenth century. In 1390 Parliament passed the Statute of Livery and Maintenance outlawing private armies and their uniforms. For a discussion of the social implications of this statute, see Paul Strohm, Social Chaucer (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1989), pp. 18-20. See also Mum line 803 and note.

3 gaf. So D&S, B: [g]af; MS, Wr, Sk: 3af. The alliteration in this line and in Prol.28 requires the "g" rather than the "y" sound.

9 Egle. The Eagle is Henry Bolingbroke. "That the Eagle means Bolingbroke is placed beyond all doubt by Pass. iii. l. 69. An eagle was one of the numerous badges of his grandfather Edward III" (Sk, II, p. 292). The Eagle is capitalized by the scribe in this line and elsewhere in the poem. It is also sometimes underlined in red.

14-17 They severid . . . half yere after. Richard's ministers flee, but they retain their horns (i.e., they are still dangerous).

16 togedir. to was inserted above the line.

17 yere. MS: a inserted above yere to indicate a yere.

20 merke his liegis. This refers to the sign of the White Hart, Richard's special badge or emblem, which identified his special liege-men.

25 Or. So MS, Wr. Sk, D&S, and B emend to Of, which is possible (dittography from lines 24 and 26); but the difficulties of syntax and meaning in this passage are not eliminated by the emendation.

28 many curse servid. Although an early reader has written "deserved" above servid in the MS, the sense is that people were served curses as if they were receiving legal writs of summons. See also II.185 and note.

40 Lieges. So Sk, Wr; D&S and B read Liages. The MS vowel is either an a or an imperfectly formed e.

43 homeliche hertis. The quibble on hertis = Richard's harts and hertis = men's "hearts" is most explicit in this phrase: those of simple heart receive the injuries from Richard's ravaging hertis.

50 Tyl. So Sk, D&S, B: (Wr: Ty[ll]). MS: Ty with l inserted with a caret.

53-54 Yit am I lewde . . . To coveyte. D&S translate these lines: "Yet I am ignorant, and manifest little of any good quality which could entitle me to covet, &c."(p. 90).

55 how. So MS, Wr, Sk; D&S, B: what.

56 ladde. So Sk, D&S, B; MS and Wr omit.

57 begynne. So MS and Wr; Sk, D&S, B emend to beganne.

61 fayled. So D&S, B; Wr, Sk: ffolwyd. The word ffayled is written above ffolwyd in the MS.

62 lene to youre owen lymes. This is a figurative expression referring to Richard's acting with the aid of his supporters (limbs). The king, as director of the body politic, should be the "head," but Richard has dispersed political authority among his favorites. See Introduction, pp. 8-9.

64 wankel. D&S's excellent emendation, adopted by B. MS, Wr, and Sk: feble, which is probably dittography from the previous line and which spoils the alliteration.

69-76 Reson - here close to the virtue of Prudence - speaks as an allegorical figure, agreeing that a counselor must advise a lord with caution and yet he must speak the truth to protect his lord.

93 For. So D&S, B; MS, Wr, Sk: And.

94 gayes. Sk glosses this word as "ornaments": "a gay signifies anything gaudy or gay, as a highly coloured child's picture, or a fine piece of clothing . . . . It here refers to the badges and privileges already spoken of" (II, p. 293). Although this is doubtless the case, the syntax in this line requires personification of gayes or persons who wear the badges.

102 sowid. MS: shewed written above.

106 had costis. MS: had may be stricken, though it is unclear; in appears in a later hand in superscript. Sk, D&S, and B all read in costis, which is satisfactory, but so is had costis. Sk emends aboughte at end of the line to aboute, as does B.

108 privy. D&S gloss this word as "manifest" rather than "secret" or "special" and explain: "Apparently a ME. adjective 'preue,' proved, manifest, was confused by scribes, with 'preue,' privy" (p. 90). Sk glosses as "secret, special."

113 good greehonde. Henry of Lancaster (Bolingbroke), even though he has already been cast as the eagle (II.9). He may be called the "greehonde" because of his swift progress through England from Ravenspur to Bristol after his return from exile. But the chronicler Adam of Usk explains the eagle and greyhound symbolism for Henry in terms of the prophecies of Merlin and John of Bridlington:
According to the prophecy of Merlin, this duke Henry is the eaglet, for he was the son of John; following Bridlington, however, he should rather be the dog, because of his livery of linked collars of greyhounds, and because he came in the dog-days, and because he drove from the kingdom countless numbers of harts - the hart being the livery of King Richard (p. 53).
For the prophecies of Merlin, see MEPW, pp. 9-10; for a Lancastrian application of the prophecy of Merlin involving Henry, see Strohm, England's Empty Throne, pp. 12-13. The author of Mum includes a section mocking Merlin prophecies such as these (see lines 1723-33). In the MS lines 113-14 are joined with a bracket in the left margin.

114 lese. The MED, referring to this line, defines lese as "An establishment, or department in the king's household, for keeping of coursing hounds" (signification 3).

117 thou. So MS (žu), Wr, Sk, B. D&S emends to you based on past practice of addressing the king with ye, you.

118 For litill on youre lyf. Sk translates this line, "For little, during your life, it pleased you to have pity on the inferior sort of deer"; and he comments, "A rascal was a lean deer, fit neither for hunting nor eating. So also in l. 129" (II, p. 293). See II.129n.

129 rasskayle. "The young, lean, or inferior deer of a herd, distinguished from the full-grown antlered bucks or stags" (OED2).

139 a meri. MS: ameri. The idea behind this expression, which becomes proverbial, is that moderation brings joy and happiness in ways that excess does not.

139a Deus exaudit clamorem pauperum. D&S: "Cp. Ps. ix.37-8, 'Desiderium pauperum exaudivit Dominus . . . judicare pupillo et humili." (The Lord hath heard the desire of the poor . . . To judge for the fatherless and for the humble.) There is an insert sign from the marginal quotation that lines up between lines 139 and 140.

140 Thus be the rotus. So MS, Wr, Sk; D&S, B: Thus rend be the rotus.

144 chele. MS: colde written above.

145 Egle the eyere. So Wr; MS, B: Egle že Eyere; Sk, D&S: Egle the heyere. Egle is one of the words underlined in the MS; it is similarly capitalized and underlined in lines 176 and 190. B, defending the MS reading, argues that "Eyere must mean 'female' in the restricted sense of 'mother'" (p. 267). The eagle is depicted as tending the brood of chicks like a mother hen.

148 ypynned. B emends to [un]-y-pynned because a negative sense seems to be required. The meaning of the passage is clearly "until they have fully fledged" and are ready to exercise their wings.

151 Tyll trouthe the triacle. Sk translates: "Till Truth, the remedy (for slander), told her true tales to some" (II, p. 294).

152-54 Thus baterid . . . sondrid from other. There is obvious wordplay on Bushy, Green, and Scrope in these lines (see above, notes to Prol.2 and I.99). Sk translates so as to highlight this wordplay: "Thus this bird battered the Bushes around, and gathered up men as they walked on the Green, till all the 'scruff' and Scrope parted asunder" (II, p. 294). The poem There Is a Busch That Is Forgrowe - On King Richard's Ministers - begins:
There is a busch that is forgrowe;
Crop it welle, and hold hit lowe,
   Or elles hit wolle be wilde.
The long gras that is so grene
Hit most be mowe, and raked clene -
   For-growen hit hath the fellde.
155-56 He mellid . . . that they had. Sk translates: "'He so mixed the metal with the hand-mould, (i.e. so moulded events) that they lost, of their limbs, the dearest that they had,' i.e. their heads" (II, p. 294).

156 That they lost lemes. So D&S, B; Sk: That [they] lost [of their] lemes; MS and Wr: That lost lemes. Those who lost their heads were Bushy, Green, and Scrope.

157 foulyd. Henry, as falcon, acted as a "fowler" or one who hunts birds. The wild birds are described as kites or predatory birds.

158 kytes. MS: kuyttes, with kytes written above.

159 laughte. MS: caught written above.

164 boynard that his bagg stall. "Bagg" refers to Sir William Bagot, Sheriff of Leicestershire, who went to Ireland to inform Richard of Henry of Lancaster's return from exile.

164-75 But the blernyed . . . all the peple. Sk paraphrases: "The eagle was striving to seize his prey (Lord Scrope), that he might rend his head off; but the blear-eyed scoundrel (Bagot) who had stolen the treasurer's bag, in which the spoils of the poor were often fastened tightly, made the falcon angry, and anxious that Bagot should be bound. But soon after, this wretch (lorell, viz. Bagot) who had led away this looby (Scrope) all the way over forest and ford, fell, on account of his false deeds, into the domain belonging to Henry, and was caught and brought before him and publicly reproved" (II, p. 295).

165 Where purraile-is . . . full ofte. "Wherein the very rags of the poor were often penned or fastened" (Sk, II, p. 295).

167 hadd. So MS, Wr, Sk; D&S, B: nadd. The word hadd seems to be governed by "floter" in the previous line: Henry is anxious that this scoundrel be brought to justice.

170 ladde. MS: hadde. Sk's emendation.

179 ne with. Sk emends to ne [lau3te] with.

lovyd. From lowe, humiliate, abase.

182 reclayme means a call to return to court (and derives from a French word for recalling a falcon).

185 served. A reader has written "deserved" above this word, which seems like the correct interpretation of it. See also II.28 and note.

186 lymed leves. Birds were trapped by spreading branches and leaves with birdlime.


Passus Tercius

1 beu brid. Henry, the "beau" bird (Eagle or falcon). The author says he will turn to the other animals - the harts (noblemen) - and question why they have acted contrary to their interests.

9-10 These two lines are underlined in the MS, as if the reader regarded the sentiment as proverbial or particularly noteworthy.

11-12 Yit clereth . . . mene wolde. The sense of these lines is that just articulating the problem (saying the clause) does not clear up the author's confusion until he investigates further (more mater).

13 that. So MS, Wr, Sk; D&S, B: of. It is possible that the scribe wrote "žt" anticipating the first word of the next line, but the sense is clear with the MS reading. D&S paraphrase lines 13-16: "I mean, with regard to the harts of strength that has come with years, pricked on by good living and their lusty age, that when they have lived 100 years, they grow weak, etc." (p. 95).

18 harmen. So Wr, Sk, B; MS, D&S: armen. Medieval bestiaries contain the legend about stags - first formulated by Pliny and transmitted by Isidore of Seville and others - that the stag, when it grows old, seeks poisonous snakes in order to drink the venom and so renew its aged skin.

23 as his pray asketh. Sk: "as his prey (i.e. the necessity of swallowing his prey) requires" (II, p. 296).

26 clerlie . . . nat. I adopt two emendations in this line. The scribe once again has written clergie for clerlie (see also I.83 and note), although Wr and Sk retain the MS reading. A corrector has inserted nat above the line in the MS, marked with a caret.

26-29 coltis . . . hors . . . swan . . . bere. The references in these lines are to nobles executed, murdered, or exiled in 1397 because of their complicity in events of 1388 at the Merciless Parliament. The horse is the Earl of Arundel, Richard Fitzalan, beheaded on Tower Hill, whose badge was a white horse; the colt stands for his son Thomas, who escaped and joined Henry; the swan is Thomas, Duke of Gloucester, murdered at Calais under the ostensible protection of Thomas Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk; and the bear is Thomas Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, exiled to the Isle of Man, whose badge was a black bear. These same symbols appear in Ther Is a Busch That Is Forgrowe and in the prose headnote to John Gower's Cronica tripertita: "There were then three nobles of the realm who were especially disturbed about all this [the events surrounding Richard's deposition], namely, Thomas Duke of Gloucester, who is commonly called the Swan; Richard Earl of Arundel, who is called the Horse; and Thomas Earl of Warwick, whose name is the Bear" (trans. Stockton). The justification for Arundel's execution was his responsibility for the death of Simon Burley, who was executed in 1388 with the connivance of Gloucester, Arundel, and Warwick, despite Queen Anne's alleged begging for mercy on her knees. For more on the swan, horse, and bear, see below, lines 86, 89, 94, and notes to those lines.

32a Propter ingratitudinem . . . in lege ciuili. "The free man is called again into slavery because of ingratitude, as in the Prick of Conscience and the civil law." In the MS the quotation is in the right hand lower margin of fol. 113a. Although the quotation begins on the same line as 30, I place the Latin quotation, with Sk and B, after line 32 (Wr omits). The anaphora of the English lines ("Ne to") would be broken up by inserting the quotation after 30.

37-61 The metaphor now shifts from deer to partridges and their nature as described in medieval bestiaries (books about beasts). The two partridges in this passage stand for Richard, who loses - deservedly - the young partridges to Henry Bolingbroke, the "true mother." In bestiaries the partridge is said to be a "cunning" and "disgusting" bird and "perverted creature" whose male "sometimes mounts the male, and thus the chief sensual appetite forgets the laws of sex." The female will "steal the eggs of another female" even as Richard is said to do in this passage. See T. H. White, The Bestiary: A Book of Beasts (New York: Putnam/Capricorn, 1954), pp. 136-37.

37 bough spareth, that is, birds who build nests on the ground rather than in trees.

42 eiren. So Sk, D&S, B; MS, Wr: heires. Sk's textual note: "MS. heires, which is obviously a blunder; for see l. 50 below. Heires = heirs; but eiren = eggs" (I, p. 616). But heires makes sense too insofar as egg-bearing partridges are concerned with their lineage.

45 congioun. Wr reads this word, which is underlined in the MS (indicating an unfamiliar or doubtful term to the reader), as cougioun.

69 Egle in the est entrid his owen. See the note to Prol.11. Henry of Hereford returned to England to claim the Lancastrian estates after Richard confiscated his inheritance. These lines addressed to the dull-witted Hicke Hevyheed (line 66) - a type - explain and try to justify the author's method of referring to historical personalities in heraldic cypher.

74 hende. MS: the h is in superscript.

79 tenyd . . . twenty yeris. Richard governed from 1377-99. The nestlings - those who follow Henry, the true leader - have complained about Richard's reign for twenty- two years. Tenyd appears in the opening line of the macraronic lyric "Tax has tenet us alle" (MEPW, page 147), a poem on the Great Rising of 1381.

81 tyned. So D&S, B; MS, Wr, Sk: tymed.

82 grotus. MS: e in superscript above the u.

86 swan. The swan refers to Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester, who failid because he died - doubtless murdered - at Calais in 1397 under the ostensible protection of the Earl of Nottingham. In the margin of the MS next to this line: "že Swan."

87 faucon. MS: ffaucon, underlined in red.

89 hors. The horse refers to Richard Fitzalan, Earl of Arundel, who was beheaded in 1397 under escort by King Richard's Cheshire guards and in the presence of his own son-in-law, the Earl of Nottingham. The poem's assertion that people were upset because of the horse's hirte is an example of understatement. In the margin next to this line: "že horse."

93 cronecle. Many chroniclers were eager to support Henry of Lancaster as ablest to govern England in 1399. Adam Usk reports that the Archbishop of Canterbury delivered a sermon of the theme "A man shall rule over them," in which "he praised unreservedly the vigour, good sense, and other qualities of the duke of Lancaster, commending him, and deservedly, as ruler" (p. 69). In the same sermon he censures King Richard.

94 bond. So Sk, D&S, B; MS: brond; Wr: broud. The beere refers to Thomas Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, whom King Richard sentenced to perpetual banishment on the Isle of Man. In the margin next to this line: "že Bear." Henry blythid the bear because he revoked Warwick's banishment (his bond braste).

96 berlingis. Warwick's son Richard and his wife Elizabeth.

97 as. So Sk, D&S, B; MS, Wr: was.

105 They. So Wr, Sk, D&S, B; MS: Že. Wr reads monside as mouside. The marchall refers to Thomas Mowbray, Earl of Nottingham, the "horse's" (line 106) son-in-law, who was present at Arundel's execution. The Earl Marshall's myssedede was his presence at the execution of Arundel and his blindfolding of him.

106 clothed the stede. Nottingham is said to have bandaged his father-in-law's eyes at the execution. D&S and B, on the strength of Henry Bradley's suggested emendation, read cloyed, "lamed," for MS cložed, Sk's reading. Wr reads cloped.

111 persith. So MS, Wr, Sk, B. D&S emend to passith, "surpasses."

124 thynchith. So Sk, D&S, B; MS, Wr: thynthith.

126 fresshe foodis. The author in this section describes what other satirical writers call "gallants": overdressed young men who slavishly follow fashion trends, some of them extravagant and even ridiculous, who affect a certain swagger ("strouutynge") and who announce their presence with "Huff!" or "Hof!" See On the Times, lines 117 and 181 (and note) in MEPW.

128a Qui mollibus . . . Euangelio. The Gospel reference is to Luke 7.25: But what went you out to see? a man clothed in soft garments? Behold they that are in costly apparel and live delicately, are in the houses of kings.

136 For. So Sk, D&S, B; MS, Wr: But (repeated from previous line).

lyghtly. So Sk, D&S, B; MS, Wr: lyghly. at the longe goynge. "The 'longe goynge' here signifies death upon the gallows" (Sk, who translates the phrase as "at their long journey," II, p. 299).

136-37 lepith . . . domes carte. The idea is that the person to be hanged, whether finely clothed or dressed in rags (he who never thrived), will swing in the same way from the gallow's rope (leap as lightly) when the hangman's cart drives away. B observes, "The line draws an ironic contrast between the strouutynge of line 134 and the leap made by a criminal from the cart which takes him to the gallows. For all the antics of the overdressed courtiers, they will overreach themselves and come to an unfortunate end" (p. 277).

140 seintis. Sk, who reads seimtis or semitis (Wr: seimtis), comments "perhaps samites. Samite was a rich silk, into which silver was sometimes interwoven. The line perhaps means 'And use all their silver for interweaving with samites or for ornamenting drinking-horns'" (II, p. 299). D&S translates seintis as "belts." It is clear that the finely dressed courtiers are wasting their money rather than using it prudently.

141 for-doth the coyne. A frequent complaint in satirical literature was the debasement of currency through shaving or clipping gold from existing coins or the introduction of coins with debased metals such as the "lushburnes." See WGO, pp. 216-17; Statutes of the Realm, 2:87 (against melting down money and against foreign currency, 1393, anno 17 Richard II); and "Poems against Simony and the Abuse of Money," in MEPW, pp. 179-242.

145 lawe of Lydfford, in londe ne in water. The allusion is apparently to a proverbial legal practice in the court at Lydford: "First hand and draw, / Then hear the cause of Lydford Law" (Sk II, p. 299). Skeat goes on to point out that the court had jurisdiction only in cases "that did not affect land, life, or limb." Sk, D&S, and B emend MS ne to & because ne "seems to have been written over an erasure" (Sk, II, p. 299) and because "in land and in water" is "closer to the legal formula" (B, p. 277). See Alford, p. 89, who notes that "in londe and in water is a legal formula expressing exclusive jurisdiction."

152 slevis slide on the erthe. Fashion dictated long, dangling sleeves for women but also for men, as in British Library MS Harley 1319, fol. 57, showing the empty throne just after Richard's deposition and fashionably-dressed courtiers with elaborate sleeves extending almost to the floor. The fashion began in France, which provided further weapons to those who would denounce the new trends as degenerate imports. See also Chaucer's The Parson's Tale, which denounces "the superfluitee in lengthe of the forseide gownes, trailynge in the dong and in the mire, on horse and eek on foote, as wel of man as of womman" (X [I] 419). For more on these sleeves, see below line 196 and note and line 234.

154 but. Wr's emendation, adopted by Sk and B. The sense of the line requires "unless."

156 Pernell. Pernell, like Felice (line 160) was a "type" in medieval literature: a woman who loves fine clothes, as Pernell in PP who fails to put her "purfill" (trimming) "in hire hucche" (chest); see B IV.116 (A IV.102). In B V.26-27 (A V.26-27), similarly, Waster asks Pernell to put aside "hir purfile" and "kepe it in hire cofre for catel at hire nede." In RiR, Pernell, Felice, and Sir Pride comprise a little fashion group of their own.

159 the jette. This is a term used satirically to describe Chaucer's Pardoner in the General Prologue to The Canterbury Tales: "Hym thoughte he rood al of the newe jet" (I [A] 682). See also The Simonie, line 118, and Above all thing thow arte a kyng, line 10 (as a verb), with the sense of "to swagger": money "makyth the galandes to jett." See MEPW, pp. 197 and 213. In Above all thing thow arte a kyng (MEPW) occurs the following stanza:



In kynges corte, where money dothe route,

      Yt makyth the galandes to jett,

And for to were gorgeouse ther gere,

      Ther cappes awry to sett.


gallants; swagger

their gorgeous clothing




160 Felice. Another "type," like Pernell, from PP: "Felice hir fairnesse fel hire al to sclaundre" (B XII.46).

163 now late. Either the scribe or the reader/corrector has inserted, with a caret, of above the line between now and late (and very possibly in the same hand as the MS); and Sk and D&S read now of late. Wr and B read now late. Since "now late" is a common Middle English expression - see, for example, Chaucer's Book of the Duchess, line 45 - I retain the uncorrected reading.

164 kerving . . . to pecis. Another important new style of men's clothing involving the sleeves was called "dagging" (see below, line 193). The cloth was cut - wastefully, according to satirical writers - to put curves or ruffles on the edges or holes in the fabric at strategic locations. Chaucer's Parson complains of "so muche pownsonynge [piercing] of chisels to maken holes, so muche daggynge of sheres" (X[I]418). In the margin, a reader has written "kervinge of clothes."

167 proffith. So Wr: (pr[o]ffith); Sk, D&S, B: proffit. MS: prffith.

186 beringe uppon oilles. To bear or hold up oil(s) means to use flattering speech, as in John Gower's Confessio Amantis, when men speak not honestly and forthrightly, "Bot holden up his oil and sein / That al is wel, what evere he doth" (7.2194-95; see also 7.2584-85).

187 assises. The court of assizes determined legal matters of fact by means of assessors or jurymen ("sisours"). See Alford, Glossary, siv. Sise, and The Simonie line 469 and note, in MEPW. Assizers were proverbial for bringing false and malicious testimony into court.

190 clerlie. MS: clergie.

193 Duche cotis. That is, German coats. Observers of the English court sometimes wrote satires against extravagant or foreign (hence allegedly outlandish) dress. The point about the "Duche" coats is that they were alien, not English. In 1337 and 1363 the English parliament felt so strongly about clothing that they passed legislation - called sumptuary laws - to restrict dress according to class.

194 scorne. So D&S: (schorn); MS, Wr, Sk, B: scorte. B glosses as "speak slightingly," (p. 123). D&S cite the Paston Letters for the phrase "tell scorn" and comment, "No such phrase as 'tell short' is recorded, though Piers Plowman, B. xii. 124 has 'sette short be here science'" (p. 101).

196 peniles. Peniles may or may not be a personification of a "type," like Sir Pride (line 176), Witt, Malaperte, and Wisdom (lines 226, 237, and 238 below). On the Times mentions a "Purs Penyles" who, with "Galauntes," "behold, wander through the countriside" (per vicos ecce vagantur; lines 117-18 in MEPW). The phrase peynte sleve also appears in On the Times, line 85, for "Jurrers with payntyt sleves" are the retainers of noblemen (inopes famuli dominorum), a fashion detail which indicates both their status and their ruthlessness.

201 couude. So Wr, D&S, B; Sk: coude; MS: co?ude; same at line 219.

218 hales. These are structures, sometimes hastily constructed, for specific purposes. See MED s.v. hale n. (2): "A temporary structure for housing, entertaining, eating meals, etc." The first entry is from the Middle English Yvain: "Arthure . . . made a feste . . . in Wales, / And efter mete, žare in že hales."

220 Next to this line, in the MS right margin, appears "Wytt was banysshed oute of the courte." In venality satires, the door and doorkeepers - janitores - can be obstacles for the poor or virtuous. See Beati qui esuriunt, line 78 and note, in MEPW, pp. 190, 226.

221 arouutyd. "driven out of the assembly" (Sk). At lines 207-10, D&S speculate that "Somewhere earlier a passage seems to have been omitted describing how Wisdom came to the court and was slighted by graceless courtiers" (p. 101). But the sudden arrival, otherwise unannounced, of a figure of authority is typical of abrupt appearances of Piers Plowman in Langland's poem. Moreover, the narrator here alludes to the story of his expulsion from the court.

222-23 leve . . . he drank. Ironic: the lord and ladies are not pleased with men of discernment and good judgment such as Witt.

228 yhotte trusse. A "trusse" is a pack or a bundle, so Witt is "sent packing" or given the "bum's rush." For this use of yhotte - commanded - see MED s.v. hoten 3a (f).

234 sleves . . . erthe. The rhetorical device of synecdoche, or part for whole, a favorite of Langland's in PP. "Sleves" here are collectively those with fashionable garments featuring long, trailing sleeves. They might be capitalized (like Malaperte in line 237) and hyphenated: "Sleves-that-slode-uppon-the-erthe." For comparable characters in PP, see B IV.20 ("Suffre-til-I-se-my-tyme") and B XX.312 ("Sire Leef-to-lyue-in-lecherie").

237 Malaperte. A personification of an impudent, bold person.

242 governance of gettinge. I.e., "a just mode of getting money, by imposing moderate taxes; a proceeding which will win grace, i.e. favour. In l. 250 it means government, counsel" (Sk, II, p. 300).

249 these thre degrés. The social ranks mentioned in lines 249-53 include wise counsellors of high standing ("of good age"; "grete"); a warrior class in middle age; and laborers to sustain themselves and the other degrees. In the left-hand margins of the MS the degrees are numbered "1," "2," and "3."

254 Thanne wolde reule. So MS, Wr; Sk, D&S, B: Thanne wolde [right dome] reule. The emendation is unnecessary if we understand line 255 as a noun-clause subject of wolde reule (with anacaluthon or shift in syntax). In the right-hand margin of the MS is written "Agaynste yonnge Counsaylors."

260-61 For it fallith . . . geve good redis. The scribe or a reader has marked off these two lines with a connector ({), as if they were proverbial or worthy of special note.

262 kow to hoppe in a cage. Proverbial figure of ungainliness. See B. J. Whiting, Proverbs, Sentences, and Proverbial Phrases from English Writings Mainly Before 1500 (Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1968), C499. See also The Storie of Asneth, line 14 (in Heroic Women from the Old Testament in Middle English Verse, ed. Russell A. Peck [Kalamazoo, MI: Medieval Institute Publications, 1991], p. 22).

265 not yffoundid . . . tyme. Augustine notably discusses the origins of kingship in The City of God 4 and 19, which he attributes to lawlessness and Realpolitik. See WGO, pp. 151-52. RiR in this section argues that kings were not ordained originally to follow a pleasure principle but to work, like plowmen, for the common profit. For a discussion of the common good in the Ricardian period, see Russell A. Peck, Kingship and Common Profit in Gower's Confessio Amantis (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1978), pp. xxi-xxv.

268 meyntenourz. MS: meyntenour3. "'To mark "maintainers" with maces;' i.e. to beat them; in contradistinction to the marking with badges mentioned above" (Sk, II, p. 300). "Maintainers" were men who served as a private army for the king or powerful lords; they often wore special livery and distinctive badges.

272 And not . . . daies. "The word not has been dropped, making nonsense of the whole. Restore it, and we have - 'And not to rule like bats (awake only at night), and rest all day,' etc." (Sk, II, p. 300). B glosses daies as "dais."

282 That. So Sk, D&S, B; MS, Wr: What. In the right-hand margin in the same hand as the MS: "nota, nota, nota / Over Watchynge."

287 To do . . . brest. "'To do them right reverence, though his back break,' viz. with stooping. We ought to read hem for him in l. 286, or else him for hem here" (Sk, II, p. 300).

288-89 This warmnesse . . . longe dure. "This glow of wealth may not last long with any mortal wight" (Sk, II, p. 300).

293 hevene. So MS, Wr, Sk; D&S: heuene-[3ate]; B: hevene-[gate]. B in support of her emendation cites PP V.594: "Of almesdedes ar the hokes that the gates hangen on."

295 knew. So Wr, Sk, D&S, B; MS: kne.

299 kew-kaw. This term also appears in the margin. D&S: "the sense of the passage is that the justices have to be bribed" (p. 102). Sk and B understand the term as "sudden change," "subversion," or "reversal." B moves line 305 to line 300.

306 prien affter presentis. In margin: "Takynge of presentes."

307 abateth all the billis. "And put down (refuse) all the complaints" (Sk, II, p. 300).

309 weddis. Legal pledges as surety for some legal action. The syntax of this passage is difficult, but the sense seems to be that people will lose their lives all too easily and that pledges will do them no good. In margin: "mayntenance."

317 chyders of Chester. The Chester guard constituted Richard's personal army of archers who were noted for their arrogance and brutality. The chronicler Adam Usk regards them as a ruthless gang who unwittingly contribute to Richard's downfall: "The king, meanwhile, ever hastening to his fall, among the many burdens which he inflicted upon his realm also kept about him in his following four hundred supernumeraries from the county of Cheshire, men of the utmost depravity who went about doing as they wished, assaulting, beating, and plundering his subjects with impunity; wherever the king went, night and day, they stood guard over him, armed as if for war, committing adulteries, murders, and countless other crimes; yet so inordinately did the king favour them that he would not listen to anyone who complained about them, indeed he regarded such people with loathing; and this was the chief cause of his ruin" (p. 49).

319 pledid pipoudris. The summary court of "Pie-Poudre" - held at fairs and markets - was so called because those who attended the court had dusty feet. The author of RiR imagines that the Cheshire guard disrupts the already-corrupt proceedings with their intimidating presence. As B observes: "To plead pipoudris for all pleyntis . . . is tantamount to disregarding proper legal procedure altogether" (p. 285).

320 coyffes . . . usyn. This line is vaguely reminiscent of PP B Prol.211-13: "Yet houed žer an hundred in howues [hoods] of selke - / Sergeant3, it seemed, žat serueden at že Barre, / Pleteden for penyes and pounds že lawe." The passage is unique to the B version. Of the coyffes, Sk declares, "coifs such as were worn by the sergeants-at-law; cf. B. prol. 210; and see houe, i.e. hood, in l. 326" (II, p. 301). See also Mum, lines 1141-44.

322 fyne. The implication is that the Cheshire guard raises such a ruckus in court with their false pleading that they bring about a final settlement, a fyne, although that settlement is unjust.

330 And lente . . . battis. "'And gave men the free experience of their long staves.' To lend leverč is to deliver blows; see Wm. of Palerne, ed. Skeat; ll. 1233, 3822" (Sk, II, p. 301).

336 lyghtliche. MS: lyghliche. For the phrase lyghtliche ylaughte, compare PP and the belling of the cat episode: "And ouerleep hem li3tliche and lau3te hem at his wille" (B Prol. 160; not in the A version).

346-47 Between these two lines Sk adds a "missing" line: ["I my3te not reche redili to rekene the nombre"]. His line count is hereafter off by one from this edition.

347 Of many . . . couude. The MS reads, Of many mo wrongis / žan I write couude, which Wr retains. D&S adopt Sk's insertion of a line before this: I mi3te not reche redili / to rekene že nombre. B has [They wrought] many mo wrongis than I write couude, which I revise for my reading. The Of is pleonastic.

351 seven sterris. Medieval writers use "stars" and "planets" indistinguishably. The seven heavenly bodies alluded to in this line are the moon, Mercury, Venus, the sun, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. "Apparently God is the sun, and Bolingbroke and his army the moon and stars" (D&S, p. 104). See below lines III.367-68.

353 menteyned. Sk, D&S, B; MS, Wr: menteyne it.

361 Tyll Degon . . . brastyn. Degon and Dobyn (Diggon and Dobbin) must be names for violent rustic types - similar to Chaucer's Miller or Robin of The Miller's Tale - who are noted for breaking doors in. The difference here, of course, is that these are courtroom doors and part of the Cheshire guard's attempts to derail legal procedure.

363 Awakyd for. So D&S: Awakyd [fro]. MS: And awakyd ffor; Wr: And a-wakyd ffor; Sk: Awakyd ffor, B: And awakyd [fro]. The initial And may be dittography from the previous line or eyeskip from the next line.


Passus Quartus

1-16 For where . . . cometh to fayres? This is one long verse sentence, with considerable anaphora (repetition of first words of poetic lines) on ne and nother.

4 fynys . . . faughtis . . . fee-fermes. These terms seem to refer to Richard's attempts to extort money from those who were involved with the challenge to the crown in 1387-88. After the Shrewsbury Parliament dissolved in 1398, Richard demanded that such persons and the seventeen counties that supported his foes seek pardons from him - his pleasaunce - by midsummer. Fee farms were estates that yielded an annual rent due the crown. In Shakespeare's Richard II, John of Gaunt complains to Richard that England "Is now leas'd out" and "Like to a tenement or a pelting farm" (2.1.59-60).

6 nownagis. Nounages were revenues to the crown on land a minor inherited. See also the note to line 7.

7 March and Mounbray are two examples of men elevated to titles and estates at a very young age, thus yielding nounages. Roger Mortimer became fourth Earl of March in 1381, age seven, while a ward of the Earl of Arundel; Thomas Mowbray (spelled mo?bray in the MS), at the age of seventeen, inherited the barony of Mowbray in 1383. "The Chancellor, Richard, Baron Scrope, father of the Scrope who was later King Richard's favourite, objected to the king's extravagant action in thus granting the lands, and was deprived of his office" (D&S, p. 104). Richard seized Mowbray's properties in 1385, when he married against the king's desires. This is an example of the "for-feyturis" mentioned in line 5.

13 purvyours. Sk translates lines 12-13: "Might not go far enough, even with the addition of his rent, to repay the poor for that which his purveyors took from them" (II, p. 302). Purveyors were officials who seized property; the act of "purveyaunce" - the carrying off of property - was a subject of complaint literature. In God Spede the Plough, for example, the narrator says, "The kyngis purviours also they come, / To have whete and otys at the kyngis nede; / And over that befe and mutton, / And butter and pulleyn, so God me spede!" (MEPW, p. 254).

14 poundage. "In the Parliament of 1397 the Commons granted Richard 12d. on every pound of merchandise and 3s. on every tun of wine entering or leaving the kingdom for the next three years" (D&S, pp. 104-05).

15 a fifteneth . . . eke. Two kinds of taxes: a fifteenth and a tenth. At the Shrewsbury Parliament, "Richard had previously demanded an aid of the commons; and on the fourth day (i.e. Jan. 31, 1398) they voted him, with the assent of the lords, a tenth and a half, and a fifteenth and a half; and in addition, as if they sought to make him independent of parliament, granted him the tax on wool, wool-fells, and hides, not for a short and determinate period as usual, but for the whole term of his natural life" (Sk quoting Lingard). "This is clearly," Sk adds, "the very occasion to which our author is referring" (II, p. 302)

17-19 ne had creaunce . . . dette that they owed. This means, says Sk, "that the court-revellers spent so much that they would have been utterly ruined by debt if they had not paid some of it by promises only" (II, p. 302). Bolingbroke in Shakespeare's Richard II characterizes Richard's spendthrift friends as "the caterpillars of the commonwealth" (2.3.165).

28 sente . . . aboughte. In defiance of custom and law, Richard allegedly appointed knights of the shire and others to sit in the 1397 parliament. See McKisack, The Fourteenth Century, pp. 486-87 and Saul, Richard II, pp. 383-84. His purpose was to ensure that the Parliament acceded to his wishes. Sir John Bushy, from Richard's faction, was the Speaker of this parliament. The official record of this Parliament is in Rotuli parliamentorum, 3: 347-85. Also in this parliament Richard promoted a number of earls to the rank of duke. Walsingham reports that the common people referred to these men not as dukes but as "duketti," the little dukes (Annales, p. 223). Among the promotions were Thomas Mowbray, the Earl of Nottingham (to Duke of Norfolk) and Henry Bolingbroke, the Earl of Derby (to Duke of Hereford); the last of the "duketti" became king of England.

44-45 But yit . . . while. The idea behind these lines is that members of parliament went through the motions of presenting arguments, even though their intent was to ratify the actions. "Some argued against the king's right of taxation, but this was merely a blind" (Sk, II, p. 303).

53 siphre . . . awgrym. The cipher has no meaning in itself but only in relation to other numbers, just as some of the members of parliament take up space but contribute nothing.

55 ysoupid with Symond. "Supping with Simon" means hobnobbing with ecclesiastics - "to share in the revels which some churchmen indulged in" (Sk, II, p. 303). This scene recalls Will's meal with Patience, friars, and a gluttonous Doctor of Divinity (PP B XIII) or the narrator's encounter with a huge Dominican friar, "With a face as fat as a full bledder" in PPCr (line 222). D&S think the reference is to Simon Magus and simony (pp. 105-06).

57-59 somme were tituleris . . . no blame served. "These went to the king, and informed him of foes, who were really friends and spoke for the best, and deserved no blame at all" (Sk, II, p. 303).

66-70 some . . . the reson. Sk says these lines refer to "the logic-splitters" (II, p. 303).

71-82 And some . . . ichonne. D&S remark, "This nautical metaphor is especially appropriate on the lips of a Bristol man" (p. 106). The metaphor of the "ship of state" was common as a way of expressing the situation of the commonwealth. See, for example, "A dere God what may this be," a lament on the death of Edward III (IMEV 5).

74-77 Than lay . . . wedir-side. "This seems to mean that the lords lay comfortably sheltered on the lee-side, and warned the steersman as to what was going on on the weather-side; doing so, probably, by guess. Yet the line [77] is rather obscure. The result was that the mast bent, and nearly broke (l. 79); and if they had not taken in the additional sails in time, they would have fallen overboard owing to the lurching of the vessel" (Sk, II, pp. 303-04).

75 bare aboughte . . . maister. As the lords sheltered their boats around the king's barge, they altered the course of (bare aboughte) the barge and then blamed the steersman.

89 owed. So D&S, B; Sk: oweth; MS: owen. "Some, instead of looking after the money due to the commons, asked for what the king owed themselves, and so far succeeded that they were promised an earnest of money (hansell) if they would help the king; for they should be helped to some of the same silver as he received himself" (Sk, II, p. 304).

93 And some . . . for-soke. "And some forsook well-doing, because they feared the great" (Sk, II, p. 304). The poem breaks off on the eleventh line of fol. 119b. The rest of the page is blank. Six blank pages follow.