THE WYCLIFFITE BIBLE: FROM THE PROLOGUE: FOOTNOTES

1 it . . . wite, one should learn; iiij. undirstondingis, four interpretations.
2 anagogik, anagogic (see note); in deede, in fact.
3 foundament, foundation; goostly, spiritual.
4 in so myche as, in so far as; Austyn, St. Augustine; Pistle, letter; Vincent, Vincentius, Donatist bishop of Cartennae (Ténès); doctouris, learned clerics.
5 agens, against.
6 owen, ought.
7 either, or.
8 owen to sue, should try to emulate.
10 moun be taken, may be observed; forwhi, because.
11 singnefieth, signifies.
11-12 either . . . another, or another such (city).
12 to allegorie, allegorically.
15 tho, those.
16 no but . . . ben, unless they are; opynly, patently.
17 in oo . . . other, in one place or another; opin resoun, plain argument; distroied, refuted.
17-18 either whanne, or when.
18 taken, use.
18-19 Eelde Testament, Old Testament.
21 sones of biheeste, sons of promise (virtuous pagans and Christians).
21-22 Agar . . . mayde, Hagar, the handmaiden.
23 fleschly, carnal; resseyved, received; eritage, heritage.
25 figuratif spechis, figures of speech (figural language)
26 Of Cristen Teching, De doctrina Christiana (On Christian Doctrine); autouris, authors.
26-27 usiden moo, used more.
27 gramariens . . . gesse, grammarians can think of.
28 It . . . war, One should be careful.
29 take . . . lettre, don't interpret literally; sleeth, slays.
30 qwykeneth, gives life.
31 propirly . . . fleschly, in itself (i.e., literally), I interpret in a carnal manner.
32 clepid . . . deth, called more fittingly the death.
33 passith . . . suynge, surpasses that of beasts, is made subject to the carnal interpretation in following.
34 onesté, decorum, honesty.
35 neither, nor.
37 no but, except.
38 blamith . . . coveitise, condemns only avarice; enfoormeth, helps fashion.
39 condiscouns, conditions, qualities.
40 to comynge, future.
41 nursche, foster.
42-43 ether . . . either, either a shadowy likenesse or.
44 rewmys, kingdoms.
45 bylde, build; elde synnes, old sins.
46 either . . . thoo, or their causes.
47 werkis, works; unwijse, unwise.
49 pryvetees, hidden (understandings).
50 feeding either keping, nourishing or sustenance.
51-52 consideracoun, contemplation.
52 expownyng, explanation.
53 sounneth, promote.
53-54 owith . . . gessid, should not be supposed.
54 forbeedith, (and if it) discourages.
54-55 either comaundith . . . doynge, (it) either commands (spiritual) profit or good actions.
58 lijf, life.
62 thurstith, thirsts.
64 gadere . . . heed, gather together coals on his head.
65 that thou undirstonde, so that you should understand.
66 coolys . . . weylyngis, coals of fire are burning wailings; moornyngis of, sorrow in.
67 mad hool, made whole.
69 taken . . . yvel, understood sometimes in a good sense, sometimes in an evil sense.
72 Farisees, Pharisees.
74 tweyne, two; feelid, perceived.
75 it . . . perel, there is no danger (of misinterpretation).
76 prevyd, tested.
77 in hap . . . autour, perhaps the author.
79 bifore sigh, foresaw.
80 redere . . . herere, reader . . . hearer; yhe, indeed.
81 purveyde, saw beforehand; that thilke, that that (same).
82-83 purveyed . . . plentyvousliere, foreseen by God more broadly and universally.
85 Austin . . . Teching,St. Augustine in the third book of On Christian Doctrine.
88 forwhi, which is why.
89 filling, fulfillment.
90 clene, pure.
91 of . . . herte, with all your heart.
93 twey, two.
95 very kunnyng, true knowledge.
97 apis, apes; moldewerpis, moles (lit. "earth-throwers").
98 schenschipe of hemself, (the) ruination, disgrace of themselves.
99 onouris, honors.
100 omage, homage.
101 fynding, discoveries.
102 soget, susceptible.
103 hijdith, hides.
105 tho, such matters.
109 stodie, study; abomynacoun, abomination.
110 herd, heard; purposid in Yngelond, intended in England.
111 feyned, false; cheef universitee, i.e., Oxford.
112 weylyng, wailing; orrible, horrible.
113 traytouris, traitors; puple, people.
114 fourme, classes (form).
115 comensid, received a Master's degree; tweyne yeer aftir, for two years afterward.
116 ix. yeer, nine years.
116-17 can . . . gramer, knows generally his grammar.
117 traveile ful soore, work very hard.
118 fynding,support.
121 Jerom, St. Jerome (author of the Vulgate Bible); ij., second.
122 iij., third; iiij., fourth.
124 birling, pouring out; whether, (tell me) whether.
125 birlith, poured out; quyke, living.
126 leesinge, losing; chijld . . . fourmed, child might be educated.
127 wher, (or tell me) whether; stirith, stirs up.
128-29 deme . . . experiens, they judge justly who have seen it with their eyes and have known it through experience.
130 punsche, punish.
131 Sumtyme, At one time; arsistris, masters of arts (arceters).
133 dispitouse oothis, spiteful oaths.
134 cyvylians, experts in civil law; canonistris, experts in canon law; so bisy . . . lernyng, so eager for their studies.
135-36 nyce array, foolish dress.
136 ydilnesse, idleness.
137 dyvynys, theologians (divines); outtirly, utterly.
138 lyveden, lived (their lives); clennesse, purity.
139 deligat, greedy.
140 wombe, stomach.
141 maaken leesingis, make lies; eschewe . . . persecuscoun, avoid bodily persecution.
143 at iye, with their eyes; ij. orrible, second horrible.
145 passe, surpass.
146 freel, frail.
146-47 sclaundrid . . . kynde, afflicted by this cursed sin against nature.
147 iij., third; forswering . . . semble hous, swearing falsely in the assembly house.
149 portenauncis, appurtenances, accessories.
151 very, true; hooliche, wholly.
152 iiij., fourth; letten, impede.
153 yhe, namely.
153-54 spendid . . . art, spent nine or ten years studying the arts.
154 hethene, heathen.
155 bileeve, belief; ceese of venjaunce, cease from vengeance; it, i.e., the nine or ten year study of arts.
156 punschid soore, severely punished.
158 wite ye, know this.
161 no gret charge, [it is] no great matter.
162 hethen mennis, heathen men's.
164 Jerom, St. Jerome.
165 yvels to comynge, evils to come.
165-66 delyvered . . . neighinge, rescued from the approaching danger.
166 justiliere, with greater justice.
167-68 but . . . amendid, if they mend their ways.
168 j. book, first book.
169 here, heed; manasid of, threatened by.
171 eretikis . . . synnes, heretics hardened in their sins.
173 kyin, cattle, kine.
174 schenschipe, destruction; owen, ought.
174-75 on thre maneris, in three ways.
175 bi the lettre, literally.
176 the ij. . . . allegorie, second time allegorically; goostly, spiritual.
178 Natheles for Lyre, Nevertheless, since Nicholas of Lyra, author of important postils on Scripture.
180 sygh, saw.
181 withouteforth, on the outside.
183 prevy, hidden; j. prologe, first prologue.
185 oo, a single.
193 the sense . . . allegorik, in the allegorical (i.e., typological) sense.
197 thou owist . . . bileeve, you should believe.
198 whedir . . . go, where you should end up.
199 may . . . ensaumple, an example may be made.
200 sumtyme, at one time.
201 Jude, Judaea.
202 alargid, enlarged.
205 sigh, saw.
206 ourned to, adorned for.
207 rengninge, reigning.
209 modir, mother.
212 myche, much.
213 Davith . . . preching, David says of the apostles and their preaching; the soun . . . out, their voices went out.
214 eft, again.
215 puplis, peoples.
222 kunnynge, knowledgeable.
229 heriyng, praise; suynge, clinging to.
230 foundement, foundation.
230-31 covetouse . . . woode, greedy clerks are mad.
232 stoppen, block access to; moun, may.
235 symple creature, humble person.
237 felawis . . . Biblis, colleagues and helpers, to gather together many old Bibles.
237-38 doctouris . . . glosis, doctors of the Church and ordinary glosses (scriptural commentaries).
238 sumdel, somewhat.
240 Lire, Nicholas of Lyra.
241 dyvynis, theologians.
242 harde, difficult.
243 iiij., fourth; sentence, meaning.
245 it is . . . knowe, one should know.
247 opin (either openere), plain (or plainer).
248 suid, followed.
249 and ellis, otherwise.
250 superflu, superfluous.
251 ablatif . . . absolute, see note.
252 covenable, appropriate.
255 acorde, harmonize.
256 red, read.
257 tens, tense.
259 wexe drie, become dry.
263 open, clear; to Englisshe it, to translate it into English.
264 derk, obscure.
265 renneth, runs.
267 nede axen, is required.
270 lettid by relacion, impossible because of the context; openli, unambiguously.
273 ben like, are similar.
274 purposide, intended.
279-80 loke . . . newe, examines many (Bibles), especially recent ones.
281 late, recently.
282 Ebru, Hebrew.
282-83 Jerom . . . fro, St. Jerome, of Nicholas of Lyra, and [of] other expositors, disagrees with.
285 Sauter, that, Psalms, which; discordith . . . Ebru, diverges most from the Hebrew version.
290-91 where . . . deme, whether I have translated as clearly or more clearly in English than the Latin, let wise men judge.
291 langagis, languages.
292 ne doute, (let there be) no doubt.
294 theraboute, at it (i.e., studying Latin and English and translating).
296 expoune, explain.
297 shortliere, more quickly, or, perhaps, concisely.
298 myche . . . groundliere, with greater acumen and grounding; late postillatouris, recent exegetes.
301 spille . . . long, not waste our time, whether it be short or long.
305 hem thinkith, they think; defaute. . . kunnyng, lack of holiness and of knowledge.
305-06 replicacioun . . . colourable, argument seems plausible.
306 forwhi, because.
307-08 LXX. translatouris, translators of the Septuagint (Greek) version.
310 neither . . . so, nor had they such.
314 meene, unsophisticated; stidefast, steadfast.
316 gileful, cunning, fraudulent.
317 late, recently; appreve, authorized.
318-19 bi . . . power, i.e., knowlingly and deliberately.
319 putte awei, omit, neglect; leste, least; leste lettre, most trivial letter.
320 either charge, or weight.
321 deadli, mortal; for . . . theron, for they know nothing about it.
323 either . . . hem, or anything which might aid them.
324 lefulli, licitly.
325 weeryng of, wearing.
326 witen . . . wherfore, don't know why.
328 gilt . . . cuyssyns, golden saddle or use cushions.
330 foli domis, foolishness.
331-32 idiotis hardi, ignorant people bold.
333 dursten . . . do, never dared to do; replicacioun . . . lewid, rejoinder is so ignorant.
334 no but . . . scorn, only silence or polite scorn.
335 neither . . . weren, and neither were they.
335-36 neither . . . kouden, nor did they at all know.
336-37 ceessiden . . . tunge, never ceased until they had [translated] Holy Scripture into their mother tongue.
343 this day, today; trewe, honest.
345 passith mannis, surpasses man's.
346 moun be noumbrid, may be numbered (counted).
349 he semyde . . . kunnyng, he seemed (in his own mind) to have some knowledge.
350 was hardi, made bold.
351 rederis, readers.
352 derkere sentencis, more difficult (obscure) meanings.
353 Grosted, Robert Grossteste, bishop of Lincoln.
358 loken . . . bokis, scrutinize their chronicles and books.
359 expounide, explicated.
360 King Alvred, King Alfred was once thought to have founded Oxford University.
361 Sauter, the Psalms.
362 wolde . . . lengere, would have [translated] more if he had lived longer; Beemers, Bohemians.
363 exposicioun, exegesis.
364 modir langage, mother tongue.
364-65 Whi . . . wite, I can't think why Englishmen should not have the same [translations] in their mother tongue.
369 equivok, equivocal, ambiguous.
372 Salme, Psalm.
375 mut, must.
376 avoutrie, adultery.
379 clene, pure.
381 dresse, guide.
385 up, upon.
389 travel, labor, pains.
390 seme . . . hard, although it seem ever so hard.

THE WYCLIFFITE BIBLE: FROM THE PROLOGUE: NOTES

1-2 iiij. undirstondingis . . . anagogik. The familiar medieval four-fold interpretation of Scripture developed by exegetical thinkers such as Augustine, Bede, and Rabanus Maurus. The "literal," also called the "historical," interpretation concerns the historical events (what happened, what the Bible says); the other three senses are allegorical or "goostli," involving "deeper meanings" and including the "allegorical" or "typological" understanding (people, places, and things of the Old Testament prefigure Christ and the New Testament); the "moral" understanding (pertaining to good and evil, virtues and vices); and "anagogical" (which concerns the state of souls after death and God's ultimate dispensation). The True Copye of a Prolog (R. Crowley, 1550) presents the "understandings" in a slightly different order: "Literal, Moral, Aligorike, & Anagogike." Henceforth I will record only very significant variants in The True Copye (TC), whose orthography reflects sixteenth-century rather than fifteenth-century conventions.

4 Pistle to Vincent. Vincentius, once a student with Augustine in Carthage, was in the early fifth century the leader of a Donatist sect, the sect of Rogatus, and was stationed at Cartennae (Ténès) in northwest Africa. He wrote to Augustine on the subject of coercion, accusing him of straying too far into polemics and controversies and away from disciplined study. Augustine replied to Vincentius and talked about scriptural interpretation. See Augustine's Epistle 93.

21 Agar. The barren Sarah gave Hagar, her Egyptian slave, to her husband Abraham; Abraham conceived Ishmael by Hagar (Gen. 16). Hagar allegorically symbolizes the Old Testament, which must yield place to the New (= Sarah, matriarch of the chosen people). For the interpretation of Sarah, see the present text lines 18-20 (citing Galatians 4). See especially verses 21-31. For a standard interpretation of Sarah and Hagar, see Augustine, De Civitate Dei 15.34.

26 Of Cristen Teching. De Doctrina Christiana (On Christian Doctrine). See 3.5.

29 the lettre sleeth. 2 Cor. 3:6; see also Augustine's discussion in De doctrina Christiana 3.5.

34-35 onesté of vertues. TC honestie and vertuis.

35-37 Onestee of vertues . . . no but charité. TC Honesti of vertuis perteinith to the loue of God and our neyghbours. Truth of feyth perteynith to knowe God and thy neighboure. Holy scripture co¯mau¯dith nothyng but charitie.

38-39 enfoormeth the vertues . . . condiscouns of men. TC enformith the good vertus either þe good conditio¯s of men.

43 Jeremye. Jer. 1:10.

54 and forbeedith wickidnesse. TC And if it forbyd wickidnes.

57-58 If ye eten not . . . lijf in you. John 6:54.

62-63 If thin enemy . . . to hym. Proverbs 25:21; Rom. 12:20.

63-64 Thou schalt gadere . . . heed. Proverbs 25:22: "For thou shalt heap hot coals upon his head, and the Lord will reward thee"; Romans 12:20: "For, doing this [feeding the enemy], thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head." In the B text of Piers Plowman, Patience counsels love and understanding of one's enemies: "Cast coles on his heed of alle kynde speche; / Both with werk and with word fonde his loue to wynne" (13:144-45).

67 enemy of a man. TC enemie of that man.

68-70 Also the same word . . . singnefieth the devyl. Interpretation in bono (in a good sense), signifying Christ, and in malo (in an evil sense), signifying the devil. The lion, king of beasts and destroyer, is the classic example. See De doctrina Christiana 3.25.

71-72 Be ye war . . . ypocrisie. Matt. 16:6.

73 The rewme . . . sour dough. Matt. 13:33.

88 The fulnesse of lawe is charité. See 1 Cor. 13:13.

89-91 The ende of lawe . . . feith not feyned. 1 Tim. 1:5.

91-93 Thou schalt love . . . lawe and prophetis. See Matt. 22:37-40.

97 moldewerpis. Moles (Talpa europaea), but in this context of flesh versus spirit the word reveals its etymology: molde (mould, ground, earth) + warp (from OE weorpan, throw, cast). In the Middle Ages the mole was proverbial for blindness, avariciousness, and heresy. See Beryl Rowland, Animals with Human Faces: A Guide to Animal Symbolism (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1973), p. 126.

111-12 trewe men. This phrase could mean Lollards, men and women of the true faith, as opposed to "prelates," or false ecclesiastics. Compare "symple men" at line 149 and the phrase "preche treuly and freely" at line 153. See Addresses of the Commons line 15 and note, and Chaucer's Plowman line 3 and note.

114 fourme. A forme was "A fixed or prescribed course of study." See MED s.v. forme 9. First MED citation = Wycliffite Bible.

115-17 This wolde be ix. yeer either ten . . . aftir his gramer. The courses of study at medieval Oxford and Cambridge were exceedingly rigorous. Speaking of John Wyclif's career, K. B. McFarlane has written: "An undergraduate who had started at fifteen would be at least thirty-three before he had completed his training - unless, like some well-born lawyers, he succeeded in obtaining a dispensation to telescope parts of the course. Wycliffe was forty or over, having allowed his studies to be interrupted by administrative and other duties; although already a bachelor of arts in 1356, he did not take his D.D. [Doctor of Divinity degree] apparently until 1372. Not a few others were similarly long" (John Wycliffe and the Beginnings of English Nonconformity [New York: Macmillan, 1953], p. 21). For a helpful account of courses at Paris and Oxford, see Gordon Leff, Paris and Oxford Universities in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries: An Institutional and Intellectual History (New York: Wiley, 1968), and William J. Courtenay, Schools and Scholars in Fourteenth-Century England (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1987).

120 Amos . . . Damask. See Amos 1:3. Amos begins with a denunciation of Damascus but gets around to censuring Judah and even Israel. The Prologue author's point seems to be that Oxford University is implicated in larger illicit social trends, especially in debarring "trewe men" from the study of Scripture.

124 birling. Pouring out (for drinking); from OE byrelian, from byrle, byrele, butler, cup-bearer.

131 arsistris. Arcisters or arceters were masters of arts who had progressed to the study of philosophy. See MED s.v. arcister.

178 Lyre. Nicholas of Lyra (c. 1270-c. 1349), also spelled Lire by the Prologue author: Franciscan exegete, who wrote the highly influential Postilla litteralis super totam Bibliam, a running commentary on the Old and New Testaments of the Bible. The authors of The Wycliffite Bible and of its General Prologue frequently advert to Lyra's glosses (along with those of the Glossa ordinaria) because Lyra's "commentaries often note differences between Hebrew readings in the Old Testament and readings in the Vulgate Latin" (Hudson, The Premature Reformation, p. 244). See also below, lines 221-25.

216-18 as Jerom seith . . . knowe it. Jerome's commentary on Psalm 87:6 (Hudson, Selections from English Wycliffite Writings, p. 174).

226 we ben . . . stonis. "For the identification of the stones allegorically as the gentiles, see Bede's comment on Luke 19.40, PL. 92.570" (Hudson, Selections, p. 174).

229-30 lewide men . . . foundement. Matt. 21:42-44; Acts 4:10-11. The stone = Christ has a venerable history in exegesis, notably in commentary on Nebuchadnezzar's dream of the great image, which is destroyed by the stone cut out of the mountain without hands (Daniel 2:44-45). The Smiting Stone was interpreted as Christ, whose kingdom will on the last day smash world empires.

236 this symple creature. A plain man. The author sometimes, as here, refers to himself in the third person. He opposes himself to pretentious or arrogant clerics, and he seems to ally himself with "trewe men" or perhaps even "pore prestis." Wyclif sometimes referred to himself as "quidam fidelis," a faithful man; and Margery Kempe would call herself "this creature." See A. Hudson, "A Lollard Sect Vocabulary?" in Lollards and Their Books, pp. 165-80. This pose of the plain man should be compared with the persona of Jack Upland (in JU and UR) or with Piers Plowman.

237 manie elde Biblis. The author might refer to the Vulgate, with Jerome's commentary, and perhaps with interlinear glosses by others; the Vulgate with the ordinary gloss (Glossa Ordinaria); certain translations of Scripture into Old English (including the Gospels); Peter Comestor's Historia Scholastica (a retelling of the Bible with Comestor's comments); Richard Rolle's translation of the Psalms into English; and perhaps other translations of Scripture which have not survived. See Deanesly, The Lollard Bible, chap. 5 and below lines 335-40.

251 ablatif . . . absolute. Ablative is the fifth case in Latin, a case with adverbial function indicative of place (where, whence, wherewith) or in what measure, manner or quality. Ablative absolute is ablative combined with a participle to modify as a self-contained phrase the verbal predicate of a sentence. It may be translated into English by the so-called nominative absolute, often by shifting from passive to active voice, as the author of the prologue explains.

257 same tens. TC same tyme.

270 I resolve it openli. Thus, where this reesoun. TC punctuates: I resolue openly thus. Where thys reason.

284-85 I dide . . . the Sauter. There were two versions of the Latin Psalms, iuxta Hebraicum (according to the Hebrew) and iuxta LXX (according to the Septuagint: see below, note to line 287). The Hebrew version was in regular use until the time of Alcuin, who substituted the Latin translation of the LXX version; after Alcuin, the iuxta LXX or "Gallican" version was standard in medieval Vulgates. The GP authors knew and followed the Hebrew version, with Jerome's comments.

288-90 in ful fewe . . . gloside. "The writer is referring to the discrepancy between the wording of scriptural passages quoted in Jerome's extensive biblical commen-taries (PL 23-26), and that of extant medieval bibles, a discrepancy which would reveal the hazards of textual transmission. As the writer acutely observes, the commentaries, which sometimes involve grammatical analysis, will often provide a check on the accuracy of the Vulgate itself" (Hudson, Selections, p. 176).

305-06 replicacioun . . . colourable. See MED s.v. replicacioun ("Answering, an answer, a verbal response, rejoinder; an argument . . ., etc.") and colourable (1. "Of arguments, superficially attractive, persuasive, plausible"; 2. "Concealing the real purpose, intended to conceal or deceive").

307-08 LXX. translatouris. The translators of the Greek Septuagint Bible, third century B.C., which by tradition was said to have been translated by seventy or seventy-two people in seventy-two days (hence, under divine inspiration).

332 foure greete doctouris. St. Ambrose of Milan (d. 397), who wrote significant allegorical commentaries on Scripture and who taught St. Augustine; St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430), the great theologian and author of Confessions, De Trinitate, De Doctrina Christiana, The City of God, and influential commentaries on Scripture; St. Jerome (d. 420), who translated the Bible into Latin (the Vulgate version); and St. Gregory the Great (d. 604), who wrote Moralia in Job and other major works of exegesis.

360-61 King Alvred . . . Oxenford. A fourteenth-century legend claimed that King Alfred of Wessex founded University College, Oxford. Forged documents supported this allegation. See, for example, Stow's Annales (London: T. Adams, 1615), p. 956; C. F. Bühler, "A Lollard Tract," Medium Ævum 7 (1938), lines 146-47 (p. 174), citing Higden's Polychronicon 6.1.

361-62 Sauter into Saxon. King Alfred translated the first fifty psalms into English prose - the first third of the Paris Psalter, a manuscript of the mid-eleventh century. See Janet Bately, "Lexical Evidence for the Authorship of the Prose Psalms in the Paris Psalter," Anglo-Saxon England 10 (1982), 69-95.

362 Beemers. "Czech versions [of Scripture] did exist before the Hussite period" (Hudson, Selections, p. 176).