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The Boke of Brome.
Printed from the Original Manuscript at Brome Hall, Suffolk BY LADY CAROLINE KERRISON
Edited with Notes by LUCY TOULMIN SMITH.
ORIGINALLY PRINTED FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION.
LONDON: TRÜBNER AND CO., LUDGATE HILL, NORWICH: AGAS H. GOOSE AND CO. 1886.
The puzzle of the riddles consists in the words being spelt in a sort of cypher; every vowel is indicated by the letter which follows it in the alphabet; thus, what should be a is written b
o is written p
e is written f
i is written k
w is written x
The rubricator appears to have made a mistake in writing F instead of B (for A) as the initial of the two first lines.
Professor Skeat, who kindly helped me to decipher these queer|looking puzzles, has met with several of the same kind among Anglo|Saxon MSS. In the Sloane MS. 351, fo. 15 vo. (fifteenth cent.) are some curious directions for writing in this style, but more complicated; they are printed in Wright and Halliwell's Reliquæ Antiquæ, vol. ii. p. 15. Other instances, are, doubtless, to be found scattered here and there in old family books like the present. They are also well known in French MSS. It will be observed that the final result of all the five puzzles is highly uncomplimentary to women. I give a solution in the right-hand column.
The poet Lydgate says "An olde proverbe, mesour is tresour," and he has left us two poems on the theme, one of which excellently descants on the various meanings of "measure," moderation among the rest.Lydgate's Minor Poems, Percy Society, 1840, pp. 80, 208.
I do not know any other version of these lines, save one in Sloane MS. 513, fo. 98 vo. (the only English thing in a volume of Latin pieces) though they probably exist in other miscellaneous books. The first line is wanting in the Brome MS. and is supplied from the Sloane; this latter, on the other hand, is not perfect, being cut off at line 70 of the Brome MS. The numerals of each cast are set in figures in the margin of the Sloane, and are transferred here to the left side of the page; they are pictured in red like red dice, on the side of one page of the Brome MS. The curiosity of the poem, otherwise without merit, lies in the combination of two favourite pastimes of our fathers—nay, they are hardly extinct yet.
The three following stanzas are part of a poem by Lydgate which is found in several MSS., as Harl. 116, fo. 124, and Harl. 2251, fo. 173. These contain three or four more stanzas, on Fortitude and other virtues, the two last lines here headed Fortitudo are not however the same. The names of the first and third stanzas are reversed. The scribe was perhaps careless, and did not complete this copy, but the top of the next leaf shows that Lydgate's poems were still in mind; the same hand copied there six lines (incorrectly) from another of his short pieces, beginning—"The more I goo the ferther I am behynd," which is printed in the volume of Lydgate's
o. and Add. 29,729, fo. 131. The final stanza on fo. 81 I have not been able to identify.
This poem is not a romance or a legend, but a relic of the early educational method of teaching religion and philosophy. Instruction by means of question and answer was popular both in England and on the Continent from early times; and examples of such dialogues, embodying not only knowledge on the tenets of faith, the doctrines of religion and morals, but also scraps of metaphysics, ethics, and natural science, are found from the eighth century, if not earlier.
The Joca MonachorumRomania, i. 483 (1872), and analytically compared with the Schlettstadt and Arundel 351 MSS. of Adrian and Epictetus.Itala, supposed to be older than the Vulgate); this really appears to be the prototype of our more modern Adrian and Epotys. Such a dialogue also is found among the works attributed to the Venerable BedeBedæ Collectanea et Flores, pp. 479 b—487 a. This is reprinted in Salomon and Saturn, by J. Kemble, Ælfric Society, 1848, p. 322, a book which contains much early literature of the kind, though the author seems to have been unaware of its middle-age issue in Adrian and Epotys.Disputatio Pippini cum Albino, Zeitschrift für deutsches Alterthum, vol. xiv. (1869), p. 530.Altercatio Hadriani et Epicteti, an ancient dialogue, of unknown authorship, purporting to be held between the Emperor and the philosopher on subjects of natural and speculative science.Altercatio or Disputatio was printed by F. Lindenbrog, Frankfurt, 1628, in a little volume. Another version may be found at the end of a folio volume, edited by S. Gelenius, Basle, 1522, entitled Notitia utraque cum Orientis tum Occidentis, &c.Adrian and Epictus,Arundel MS. 351, fol. 39.Salomon, p. 216; Bartsch, Denkmäler der Prov. Litteratur, p. 306-310; Bulletin de la Soc. des Anc. Textes Franc. (1875), pp. 71-74.Zeitschrift für deutsches Alterthum, vol. xv. p. 166; see also Ib., vol. xiv. p. 546, and on the general subject E. Schröder, in the Auzeiger, band viii. p. 121, bound with vol. xxvi. of the Zeitschrift.Serapeum for 1845, p. 29.Zur Räthsel Litteratur, in Germania (Vienna, 1859) iv. 308.
Although this dialogue has played its part in the literature of every country in Europe, and as M. Meyer says, "apparait avec son carectère chrétien dès les premiers temps du moyen age,"Bulletin de la Soc. des Anc. Textes Fran. (1875), p. 72.Teutonic Mythology, translation 1883, ii. pp. 564-569; as to Yggdrasil, Bartsch in Germania, iv. p. 312.
The form of question and answer gave full play to the close definition of the philosopher, the double and hidden meaning of the scholastic and the theologian, or the statement of old belief, whence the transition to the play of wit and words in riddles was easy. Consequently, in the frequent repetition or copying of these dialogues or catechisms, one, or two, or a group of questions which commended themselves might be inserted from another catechism or from a collection of what seem to us riddles. Riddles, proverbs, apoph|thegmes, question-books, dialogues—all contained the popular wisdom, "part of that stock of traditional sayings which prevailed with living power among us from the tenth till the sixteenth century,"Salomon and Saturn, p. 286.L'enfant sage à trois ans, etc.
Thus it was, in course of time, that the Christian religious legend and ethics became grafted on to the philosophic dialogue, and it is probable that from a Latin original some English theological rhymer, of the fourteenth or fifteenth century, drew his inspiration for the following poem. The poet must also have used other sources, as we may judge by the study of two portions of the poem. Lines 163-218 describe the substances of which Adam was made, and the effects of the preponderance of different materials on a man's character. This subject is found in many places; in the prose Old English Salomon and Saturn (ques. 8, 9, Kemble, p. 180); in a Latin and Old English ritual of the tenth century, a German poem of the twelfth century, and other instances quoted by J. Grimm;Teutonic Mythology, Stallybrass's translation (1883), ii. p. 566.De Adam et Eve feme, Bib. Nat. Fr. 1553, fol. 286;Salomon and Saturn, p. 194.Bulletin de la Société des Anciens Textes Francais (1883), p. 96.o, which gives twelve reasons in answer; to a MS. of the thirteenth century in Paris (Bib. Nat. nouv. acq. fr. 1098, fol. 60);Bulletin de la Société des Anciens Textes Francais (1883), p. 96.
From a comparison of the style of thought, and of the theological dicta of this poem, with those of similar passages in the Chaucer, in the thirtieth stanza of his but, as it has been suggested by Dr. Schroeder, as all the books he speaks of here are romances, except Cursor Mundi, the conjecture may be hazarded that Adrian and Epotys was written about the same period, viz., the early part of the fourteenth century. The name of the old well-known Altercatio Adriani et Epicteti had been adopted, the philosopher's name became shortened to Epicte, and finally pronunciation brought it to Epotis, when the dialogue itself no longer bore a trace of its heathen descent.Rhyme of Sir Thopas, mentions Ipotis:—Ipotis, under which name no romance is known, it may be that the singer had the romance Ipomydon in his head, and for once made a slip of the pen. We get no other indication from him of what Ipotis was.
Seven copiesAltenglische Legenden, neue folge, Heilbronn, 1881, pp. 341, 511.i.e., found in the Brome copy only: these are indicated by letters—a, b, &c. The whole thing, though following pretty closely the Vernon, and in the latter part the Cotton, is by no means identical in language or expression; only those variants are given, however, at the foot, which may serve to explain errors or difficulties of the Brome text. Inversion of lines is shown by the figures, exchange (if it may be so called) of lines, in a few cases, may be seen from the foot notes. A few lines are supplied from the Vernon or Cotton between [], where they fill up the sense of the Brome copy.
The substance of the poem is as follows:—A child who calls himself Epotys is brought before the Emperor Adrian in Rome. He answers the Emperor's questions (to which there is no preamble) as to Heaven, God, the Word, Trinity. He describes the seven heavens (ll. 52-87), the nine orders of angels (ll. 90-114), the week of creation (ll. 115-158), of what Adam was wrought (ll. 164-218), the sea (ll. 221-226), the hour when Adam lost Paradise (229-236 f.), the seven sins of Adam, in which, descanting upon gluttony, he leads to the whole story of the fall and the redemption (ll. 239-352). The Emperor is further told what are the five sins that lead man's soul to hell (ll. 359-408), the four forms of penance that may save him (ll. (387)-(396), the four virtues that lead to bliss (ll. (398)-470), four deaths a man may die (ll. 418-428), the two sins that God will not forgive (ll. 431-456). He is instructed how a man shall bear himself so that the devil may not injure him for sin (ll. 471-480), and what three deeds will please God (ll. 484-508). The child then gives thirteen lengthy reasons why men fast on Friday (ll. 511-594), after which the Emperor solemnly conjures him to say who he is, whereupon he avows himself to be Jesus, and departs (ll. 595-608). The writer boldly says that St. John the Evangelist told this tale in Latin.
The poem, in bringing Hadrian and Epictetus, St. John and Christianity thus together, offers a curious example of the power of traditional names.
For ll. 67, 68, the Vernon has,—
In Vernon these two lines stand:—
Vernon ends thus:—
Cotton has but two lines after 1. (606) 612, viz.:—
The total of lines in this Brome version amounts to 660. The Vernon contains 622, the Cotton. Calig. A II. 608 lines.
Five English plays on the subject of Abraham's sacrifice are known, the Brome MS. gives a sixth, and no two are alike.Mistére du Viel Testament, pub. par Baron J. de Rothschild (Soc. des Anciens Textes Franc. 1879), vol. ii. p. xviii.History of Dublin, by Walter Harris, London, 1766, p. 148.Sacrifice d'Abraham out of the collection Le Mistére du Viel Testament, which M. Rothschild says "parait avoir été plus d'une fois représenté comme une mystére distinct."
The performers to whom the play of Abraham and Isaac was allotted in various towns did not always belong to the same trade; in Newcastle-upon-Tyne the slaters produced it; in Beverley the
Though the Newcastle play has not been preserved, the following account of expenses incurred in performing it in A.D. 1568, was extant in 1789 in the book of the Slaters' Company:—
The play now printed from the Brome MS. is superior to other versionsAbraham and Isaac with the Brome version, Anglia, vol. vii. part 3. (Halle, 1884).
With regard to the versification of the play the reader will observe that it is irregular, in several places the lines run in clear stanzas of five lines, rhyming a b a a b; in others they appear to be in stanzas of eight lines, rhyming alternately, with a frequent short line or
It must be remarked also that interjectional phrases and ex|clamations were probably often treated as prose in this piece, as they certainly were in the York plays. This adds to the difficulty of discovering the normal stanza. Three stage directions only are found (after lines 289, 315, and 383): they are written in the MS· as part of the text. The rest, with the title personages, and scene of the play, are my addition. The names of the speakers are written in the margin of the original.
IN the first century after Christ the expectation of the last day gave rise to descriptions of the signs which should betoken it, shaped by fervent imagination, not only upon our Lord's predictions in Luke xxi. 9—11; Math. xiv. 7 and xxiv. 29; Mark xiii. 24, but also on other passages, as Ezekiel xxxii. 7, 8; Joel ii. 10, 32; Isa. xiii. 9, 10, and xxxiv. 4, and others. The apocryphal fourth book of Ezra, Bishop Hippolytus, Lactantius, Eusebius, Jerome, and Augustine, one after the other, took up the legend,—increased, defined, or modified it.
A Greek acrostic, which in the fourth and fifth centuries was embodied by Lactantius in his Divina Institutio and translated by Augustine into Latin hexameters,Civitate Dei, lib. 18, cap. 22.Die Legende von den Fünfzehn Zeichen vor dem jüngsten Gerichte, in Paul and Braune's Beiträge, Halle, 1879, vol. vi. p. 412, and to the references in it; to an article by E. Sommer, in the Zeitschrift für Deutsches Alterthum, vol. iii. p. 523; and especially to that by Caroline Michaëlis in Archiv für das Studium der neueren Sprachen, &c., 1870, vol. xlvi. p. 33; to references in Mätzner's Altenglische Sprachproben, i. 120, and in Furnivall's Adam Davy's Five Dreams, &c., E. E. T. Soc., 1878; for French version to the Bulletin des Anc. Textes Francais, 1879, pp. 74, 79—83, and to the drama of Adam, ed. V. Luzarche, Tours, 1854, p. 71; as to Provençal, see Daurel et Beton, ed. P. Meyer, Soc. des Anc. Textes Fr. 1880, p. xcvii. The Northmen of the tenth century, or thereabouts, put the story into the Wolospa (see Vigfusson and Powell's Corp. Poet. Boreale, i. lxvii. ii. 625, 637, 650; in Old Irish about the twelfth century, Dr. Whitley Stokes tells me, it is found in a collection of poems on the histories of the Bible, Saltair na Rann (Anecdota Oxon. Oxford, 1883, ed. Whitley Stokes), Nos. cliii.—clix. The old Friesian version is printed in Max Rieger's Lesebuch, p. 213.
A great many of these poems and writers, the earliest of whom appears to be Bede,Collectanea et Flores, Works, Cologne, 1612, iii. p. 494.
There are many middle English poems on the Signs of Doom. It is found sometimes included as part of a long collective poem, as in the Cursor Mundi, ll. 22428—22710, in part iv.; Hampole's Prick of Conscience, ll. 4738—4817; and Sir David Lyndesay's Monarche, book iv. ll. 5450—5509. The legend is embodied in a shorter poem
Debate between the Body and the Soul,Saltair na Rann, in describing only seven signs.Ezechiel, foretelling Anti|Christ and the End of the World, in the Chester Plays, ed. T. Wright, Shakespeare Soc., 1847, vol. ii. p. 147; or it is a short detached piece confined to the subject alone. Examples of these have been printed from eight manuscripts.Adam Davy, &c., p. 92, from Laud MS. 622; Furnivall's Hymns to the Virgin and Christ, E. E. T. Soc., 1867, p. 118, from a MS. at Trin. Coll., Cambridge, B. xi. 24; J. Small's English Metrical Homilies of the Fourteenth Century, Edinburgh, 1862, p. 25; Chester Plays, ed. for Shakespeare Soc. by T. Wright, 1847, vol. ii. p. 219, from Harl. 913, fol. 20, and Harl. 2255, fol. 117; Varnhagen, in Anglia, vol. iii. 1880, pp. 533, 543, from Cambridge University, Ff. ii. 38, fo. 42, and Cotton Caligula, A. ii. fol. 89.
Lines 11 and 12 stand thus in Cotton:—
This poem and part of the note are also printed in Englische Studien, vol. ix. part i., 1885. I am indebted to Herr C. Stoffel of Amsterdam for several corrections of that print.
THE story that St. Patrick, in order to excite the tardy faith of his fellow-countrymen, built an abbey in Ireland, at the entrance to a cavern, in a valley (or, as some say, on the top of a mountain), and established a ceremonial by which those who would go through the horrors of passing a night locked up alone in the cavern, and should come out alive from it, should escape purgatory after death, became popular and widely spread from the twelfth century. The narration of the experiences of Sir Owen or Owain, an English knight, who victoriously made this expiation for his sins in A.D. 1153, has been left on record by Henry of Saltrey, a monk born at Huntingdon, living about that time.Triadis Thaumaturgæ seu Divorum Patricii, Columbæ, et Brigidæ acta, ed. Johannes Colganus, Lovan., 1647, tom. ii. pp. 274-280; also in Florilegium Insulæ Sanctorum Hiberniæ, Paris, 1626, ed. Thomas Messingham.
The Legend of St. Patrick's Purgatory also gave rise to some other stories, such as the Visions of Tundalus, and the Vision of St. Paul; but these are distinct from the Visions of Sir Owen, which have an air of historic veracity given them by the mention of King Stephen, in whose time the events are supposed to have occurred.
Setting aside Latin, French, or Spanish redactions, we find in English three separate metrical versions, dating from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. In the first volume of Englische Studien,Engl. Studien, bd. i. p. 186, and bd. v. p. 493.a, b; by this means the displacement or inversion of lines, in several places, is easily to be recognised at sight.
To account for such considerable variations it seems that the scribe of one, or perhaps of each manuscript, must have written down the poem from memory; some of the changes (it is not safe to call them in either case mistakes, not knowing which is nearest the original) are such as would follow from the recollection of similar phrases, as cues, which occur more than once (see ll. 302, 360, 395). Others would arise from a recollection of the ryme, or of the sense, while the exact words failed the memory.
It may be useful to recall that another English metrical version of this legend, differing much from the others, and in a southern dialect, has been printed from three MSS.,miracles at the end of The Life of St. Patrick, in a collection of the Lives of Saints in verse.Altenglische Legenden, (Paderborn, 1875), pp. 149-211. Some of these MSS. are a little earlier in the fourteenth century than the Auchinleck MS.; but probably those two versions of the popular story existed side by side
Engl. Stud. i. pp. 57-98 (see St. Patrick's Purgatory, by Thomas Wright, 1844, and Le Voyage du puys S. Patrix, réimpression textuelle augmentée d'une notice bibliographique, par Philomneste, junior, Genève, 1867, under which nom de plume M. P. G. Brunet has given a valuable sketch of the development of the legend and its bibliography.
Lines 363 and 364, here omitted, are;—
THE trials and martyrdom of St. Margaret appear to have been popular in England in early times. Several versions of the legend, in prose or verse, are found from the eleventh to the fourteenth centuries: four in Old English, several in Latin. The former have been printed by Mr. O. Cockayne;Seinte Marherete, the Meiden ant Martyr, edited by Oswald Cockayne for the Early English Text Society, 1866. This contains three Old English versions; the fourth he printed in "Narratiunculæ." (See Foreword, pp. vi. vii.)Altenglische Sprachproben, Berlin, 1867, 1st Abtheilung, p. 200.
The Auchinleck MS. at Edinburgh (date about 1310), fo. 16 b, contains another redaction, and a later one still is found in a MS. at Oxford, written about 1450 (Ashmolean, 61, fo. 145). These two have been printed by Dr. C. Horstmann.Altenglische Legenden, Heilbronn, 1881, p. 236.Altenglische Bibliothek, Heilbronn, 1883.
Our Brome example is another copy of the Ashmolean poem; there being, indeed, not many years between the dates of the two MSS. The verbal variations made by the scribe are numerous, but not for the most part very important; but while, on the one hand, omitting two or three lines found in the Ashmole (which are here printed between square brackets), on the other several fresh lines are given (here marked by a, b, &c.), which are evidently omitted in the Ashmole copy. Unfortunately, however, the Brome copy is incomplete, stopping short at line 365 of the Ashmole, of which the concluding 253 lines are wanting. The numbering of the lines is made to correspond with that of the Ashmolean copy, as printed by Dr. Horstmann.
NOTHING is said as to what was the special occasion on which the following repetitions were to be made; there is nothing else on the page.
In the worchepe of god and of owre lady and
Also ye must sey in the worchepe of Seynt Ramayn and Seynt Barbera, Seynt Symond and Seynt Mawtholde, xv paternosters, xv aues, and iij credys; and thes must be seyd v tymys, that is, to nyte onnys, and to morow in the mornyng ageyn, and to-morow at nyte ageyn, and the nest day in the mornyng ageyn, and the nest day at nyte onnys; and ther is all.
A TRENTAL was an office of thirty masses, three of a sort, which were said for the dead, to deliver their souls from torment, according to Canon Rock on the burial day; low masses were said in the side chapels, and at all the altars in the church: a trental of masses used to be offered up for almost every one on the burial day."Church of our Fathers, vol. ii. p. 504.History of Hawsted, 2nd ed., p. 16.Ducange, s.v. trentale, and tricenarium.
The masses of the trental appear to have been performed, sometimes all on the one day, sometimes on thirty separate days, one each on three days within the octaves of each of the ten feasts; and to the proper mass for the day might be added the Dirige (or morning
dirige or dirge, from the beginning of the first anthem at matins, " Dirige Domine Deus meus in conspectu tuo viam meam."—Rock, ii. 503.Cott. Caligula, A ii. fo. 84 vo. of the fifteenth century, and Lambeth, 306, fo. 110, printed in Furnivall's Political, Religious, and Love Poems, 1866, Early English Text Society, p. 83.dirige, but the prayer also desired by the Brome writer is not among them. The poem (of 240 lines) tells how his mother's ghost, in torture for her sins, appeared to Pope Gregory, and enjoined him to sing "a trentelle
She added that they should be said "within the octaves of the feasts."
The correspondence of the Brome trental with the trental thus ascribed to the authority of Pope Gregory will be remarked, and we may feel pretty sure that we have here a usual composition of this favourite Office for the Dead. That the rest of the form was variable, according to the wish of the person who ordered the masses, is indicated by this little record at Brome no less than by a will of 1448,
Deus summa spes, there is nothing in the manuscript to tell.
The "month's mind," sometimes mentioned in connection with a trental, appears to have been a day kept in remembrance of the departed a month after death, when a number of masses, probably a trental, was performed for his soul, and a dinner or feast given. "In Ireland," writes Sir Henry Piers, 1682, "after the day of interment of a great personage, they count four weeks; and that day four weeks, all priests and friars, and all gentry, far and near, are invited to a great feast (usually termed the month's mind). The preparation to this feast are masses, said in all parts of the house at once, for the soul of the departed. If the room be large you shall have three or four priests together celebrating in the several corners thereof. The masses done, they proceed to their feastings; and after all, every priest and friar is discharged with his largess."Dictionary of Antiquities, ed. 1870, vol. ii. p. 231.Archæologia, vol. i. pp. 11-14; Brand's Dictionary of Antiquities, ed. 1870, ii. 229; also Rock's Church of our Fathers, ii. 518; and Dr. Skeat's Notes to Piers Plowman, text C., x. 320, p. 198.
Spenser, in Mother Hubberd's Tale, 1. 453, refers to the old state of things as past:—
"Their diriges, their trentals, and their shrifts, . . . . . . Now all those needlesse works are laid away."Quoted in Brand's Dictionary of Antiquities, ed. 1870, vol. ii. p. 231.
These Directions for Trental and for Prayers (p. 119) are written apparently by the same hand which wrote the Accounts, Articles of Leet and Baron, &c., i.e., Robert Melton.
Trentals er comonly seyd xxxti massis and noDeus summa spes: they know it that hath seyd trentals. The massis er thes folowyng;—First iij of the nateuite of owre lord as of Crystmes day, iij of Epiphanie as of Twelth day, iij of the
Of eche of thes, iij messes.
THE following forms appear to have been copied from original documents, as among them are found the names of some well-known neighbouring places and of Lord Scales. The transcriber translated each one as he copied it, writing in first the Latin, then the English; probably the local scriveners were none too strong in their Latin grammar, and it would be useful to be sure of the right form, when a legal deed had to be drawn up.The Case of the Free Scriveners of London, 1749, pp. 24-27.) If the London scriveners were thus deficient, it is not surprising that those who fulfilled their functions in the country should be glad of such aid as these forms and translations would furnish. It may be noted that several words in Nos. 9 and 12 were a puzzle to the translator, who left them blank in the English.b), 10 (b), near the beginning of each.mysse = messuage (1); dow|hows = pigeon-cote (4); feeding = pascua (5); stermpond or pool, the true meaning of stangna or stagna, (Fr. étang).i.e. strem) = stangna; turve-dole = turbaria; plegys of corte = visu franci plegii (5); thowys, plural of thow, = those (5b); ostey = hospicium (11). "In to the wytenesse of the wych thynge," is the rather clumsy equivalent sometimes used for the formula "in cujus rei testimonium."
The Addit. MS. 24,844 in the British Museum (kindly pointed out to me by Mr. E. J. L. Scott) is a volume of the time of Henry VIII., containing a number of legal common forms of grants, &c.; but they purport, in nearly every case, to issue from the king or central authority, while the Brome collection illustrates only private or domestic law. The following is a schedule showing the nature of these twelve documents:—
1 (a). Sciant presentes et futuri, quod ego
1. (b). All men presont and for to cum be ade after þe conqueste, þe iijde (ȝere).
2 (a). Sciant presentes et futuri, quod ego Matheus Burgensis Cantabrigge, dedi, concessi, et hac presenti carta mea confirmavi Willelmo, Duke de Cantabriggea, et Mabilie vxori eius, [vnam placeam terræ cum edificiis super edificatis]week, before or after a feast, or else the reckoned day of the month.
2 (b). All men presont and fore to cum be ad of mony at þe feste of þe berthe of owre lord, and to
3 (a). Sciant presentes et futuri, quod egoSic plural, also in English.
3 (b). All men presont and for to cum be a-knowyne, þat I, John Broun of Bery, hath grauntyd and ȝowyne, and be my presont chartyr hath confermyd, to Rychard of S. and to þe eyres of þer bodyes lawfully be-gotyn, j messe with hys pertynences in Preston, lyenge, &c. To haue and to holde þe forseyd mysse with hys pertynences of me and my eyres, to þe forseyd Rychard to þe eyres of hys body lawfully begotyn, frely, wyll, and in pesse; ȝeldynge þer-of ȝerly to me and to my eyres j corne of pepyre at þe feste of Esterne for all owthere duteys. And yf yt happyd þat þe forseyd Rychard deyet with-owte eyres of his body lawfully begotyne, I woll [that] after þe dysses ofe fee be all seruyes þe wyche to þe seyd [messe] þerteyne. And I, þe forseyd John and my eyres, þe forseyd messe with þe pertynences to þe forseyd Rychard and to þe eyrys of his [body] lawfully be-gotyn, and also to þe forseyd Watere, to hys eyres and to hys asseyneys, a-ȝens all men xall warant for euer more. In to þe wy[t]nesse, &c.; be þis, &c.; gowyne.
4 (a). Sciant presentes et futuri, quod ego,
4 (b). All men presont and for to cum be ad. ate þe feste of seynt Botholl, and to doo to þe schyffe lordes of þat fee all servyes þer-of dew and custon. And yf yt happyd þat þe forseyd John dessesse with-owt eyrysI.e. above.
5 (a). Sciant presentes et futuri, quod Ego
5 (b). All men beyng present and for to cumpasture is any kind of feeding|ground, whether in meadow, stubble, or field; but that pascua is a place chiefly devoted to feeding sheep, as on hills, moors, and uncultivated ground.—See Ducange, s.v. pastura.I.e. above.
6 (a). Sciant presentes et futuri quod ego,
6 (b). All men beyng present and for to cum xall know, þat I, Peter
7 (a). Thomas Myngy summonitus fuit admi quinto apud T. infra jurisdictionem hujus cur[i]e, predicti Thomas et Edmundus insimull compu|taverunt inter se super diuersis debitis et pecuniarum summis per prefatum Thomam de predicto Edmundo per antea habitis et receptis, Super quoquidem compoto predictus Thomas inventus fuit in areragis et claris debitis, erga predictum Edmundum in vinginti vnum solidis soluendis eidem Edmundo quandocunque inde requesitus fuisset per eundem Edmundum, predictus tamen Edmundus licet sepius requisitus fuisset de solucione dictorum viginti
7 (b). Thomas Myngy wos summund on to ansswere to Edm. Tunsted in a ple of det, that he schuld ȝyld to hym xxjs. the wyche he to hym owthth the vte ȝere, at T. with-in the jurdyxyun of [t]hys curt, that the for seyd Thomas and Edm. to-gedyr hath [reckoned] be-twyn themselfe, vpon dyuers dettes and summys of mony be the forseyd Thomas of the forseyd Edms. be-for had and rec[eived], vpon the wych cownt the forseyd Thomas wos fownd in a-rerage and clere dette a-ȝens the forseyd Edm. in xxjs., to be payid to þe seyd Edm. wane-someuer he wer requeryed be the forseyd Edm. Neuer-the-lesse all-thow ȝe for-seyd Edm. oftyn|tymys hath requeryd hym for the payment of the said xxjs., the same Thomas to þe seyd Edm. hath not ȝyt content nor payid, but the same xxjs. to hym hath denyed to pay and ȝyt denyeth. Were-for the seyd Edm. seyth that he ys hurt and harmyd be that vn-to the valew of vjs. viijd. and the costes of sute iijs. iiijd., and ther-vpon prosedyth þe sewte.
8 (b). Nouerint vniversi, me Willelmum T. de O. teneri et per presentes firmiter obligari Thome Foxton de S. in decem libris legalis monete, soluendis eidem Thome aut suo certo attornato in festo omnium sanctorum proximo futuro post datum presentium sine dilacione vlteriori, ad
8 (b). Be yt a known to all pepyll, me, Wyllm.
9 (a). Sciant presentes et futuri quod ego, Robertus Thed de Terrynton, dedi, consessi, et [h]ac presenti carta mea confirmaui Johanni Collys de eadem villa, heredibus et assinatis suis, tres rodes erbarii, bruarii et turbare, jacentes in quodam loquo vocato Brakynholme, inter gerbar' bruar' et turbare
9 (b). All men beynge presont and for to cumerbarium or gerbarium, and brueria or bruera, as the five places where the words occur he left blank. The first appears to be the herbage or coarse hay, the right for mowing which was purchasable from the lord of a manor; bruarium was a heath or waste, and implied a right to cut heather; turbaria was a place where turves could be cut; turve-dollys = turf-deals, i.e., pieces of turf or peat. The grant was thus one for the right of cutting certain fodder and fuel.
10 (a). Universis presentes literas inspecturis vel audi|turis, Willelmus de Hopton salutem in domino; noueritis me teneri, et per presentes literas fideliter obligari, Thome Waryn de Cryssyngham in centum libris bonorum et legalium sterlingorum, pro bonis vivis mihi venditis et liberatis in villa de Noramptun, die confescionis presencium, vnde sum bene contentus, quasquidem centum libras sterlingorum predictas teneor et bona fide promitto solvere et deliberare eidem Thome vel suo certo attornato presentes literas ostendentes apud Lincolniam, infra proximos octo dies post quam presentes literas fuerunt vise et ostense sine vlteriori dilacione; et ad istam solucionem sic fideliter faciendam obligo me, heredes et executores meos; et ad maiorem hujus rei securitatem faciendam tales inueni fidejuscores subscritos, videlicet, Johannem de Snoryngs, Thoma de Rokelond, qui sigilla sua vnacum sigillo meo alternatim presentibus apposuerunt. His testibus, &c. Date apud Norampton die omnium sanctorum, anno regni regis E. tercii post conquestum tercio.
10 (b). To all pepyll [that] thys present letter behold or see, William of Hopton sent gretyng in owre lord. Know ȝe me to be hold and be thys presont letter feyth|fully to be bownd to Thomas W. of Cryssyngham in a cli. of good and lawfull mony, for qweke
11 (a). Omnibus Cristi fidelibus ad quos
11 (b). To all feythfull pepyll of Cryst on-tos. of sterling money. The word is believed to have come from the name Easterlings, the merchants of the North German Hans Towns, who were the earliest moneyers in England.Ostey, i.e. household, seems to be this translator's equivalent for hospicium. Compare the French houste, given in Ducange.
12 (a). Sciant presentes et futuri, quod nosa), p. 145.
12 (b). All men beynge presont and for to cum
THESE "articles" carry us back to the older system of English law and polity, when the people being more equally distributed over the land bore a closer relation to the soil than at present, when local justice and local responsibilities were relied on as agents in the administration of public welfare, when peace and order had to be cared for by the people themselves. The Courts Baron and Leet were two important factors in this system.
The Court Baron, or lord's court, was held in every manor, and properly consisted of the free tenants of the lord; the freeholders as suitors (i.e., those who owed suit, or ought to come to each court, from Fr. suir = suivre, to follow) being the judges, the steward being merely the registrar and president. The term is also used to include the customary courts of the copyholders and customary
Custom and Tenant Right, 1882, p. 90.Court Leet Records of the Manor of Manchester, edited by John Harland, Chetham Society, 1864, preface, p. 9. This passage is based upon Coke's 4 Report, 26; 6 Report, 11, 12; Compleate Copyholder, § 31 (ed. 1641, p. 60); and the Statute 4 Edw. I.
A steward presided at the meeting on behalf of the lord, and gave the charge to the homagers (or freeholders), who were sworn in to enquire and adjudicate whether the general articles here following had been kept within the manor. The Court Baron thus, "chiefly regards the suit and service, the trespasses and offences, of the tenants, as relating to the rights and privileges of the lord of the manor."Ibid.
On the other hand "the Court Leet takes cognizance of felonies and misdemeanors, offences and nuisances generally," being "the older and superior tribunal, a Court of Record and the Court of the King." That is, the Court Leet included powers of dealing with the public peace and welfare, and matters which had to be dealt with by the general law of the land; it was the Law-day, held usually in manors, sometimes also in the larger jurisdiction of the hundred, when it was called the Sheriff's Tourn and Leet, because the
Leet for the punishment of enormities and nuisances against the public weal, within the precincts of the same, and its articles and pains are ordained to this end. And it is called the 'View of Frankpledge, because the king may there have ascertained by the view of the steward, how many people are within any leet; and thus have account, and view, by the steward, of their good government and behaviour in any leet. And also the leet was ordained to have every person of the age of twelve years who has dwelt therein a year and a day, to be sworn to be faithful and loyal to the king. And also that the people there might be held in peace and obedience, these Courts Leets were established."Court Leet Records of the Manor of Manchester, 1864, prefatory chapter, p. 7. This chapter contains a mass of valuable information collected in illustration of the history and practice of these courts.
It would require a small treatise to explain the details of these different Articles, dealing with various laws, tenures, and customs anciently in use and derived from a feudal origin. The articles to be inquired of in a Court Leet were dealt with by the Statute of Winchester, 13 Edward I., and articles of the View of Frankpledge of the date of Edward I. or II., are found in The Statute Book (Record edition, vol. i., p. 246), with which the reader may usefully compare these Articuli lete. The great value in old times of this system of inquiry and justice in the matters touching public health, highways, bridges, and sewers, and as to keeping the peace and taking criminals has been shown by my father in several published works,Practical Proceedings for the Removal of Nuisances, by Toulmin Smith, 1856, pp. 2-10; The Parish, pp. 128 and notes, 367-369.English Gilds (ed. Toulmin Smith, Early Eng. Text Soc., 1870, p. 432), and of Sutton Coldfield, printed in Dugdale's Warwickshire, vol. ii., p. 911. There is no reference to such a roll for Stuston, though it may possibly have existed. For useful information on the old terms, tenures, and customs, see Elton's Custom and Tenant Right, quoted above, and the Introduction to the same writer's Treatise on the Law of Copyholds, 1874.Order of Keeping a Court Leet and Court Baron, 1650.
These two sets of articles appear to have been written in the book by Melton himself, the hand resembling that of the accounts.
[Charge by the Steward to the Homagers, of Articles to be enquired by them].
Ye schall treuly enquere and forth presente on my lordys be-halffe all ye pointys yat longeth to the Corte, and to ye plassePlasse, pleas.Hullydom, halidom, the company of saints.
Fyrst ye schall enquere of all yo yat owe sute to this Corte, yf they be here, and all they that make defawte present ther namys, be the otthe that ye haue take.
Also ye schall do us to wete if ther be ony tenaunte ded sithe the last Corte, and ye schall do us to weete what he hylde of my lord, and be what serwyce he is, his nexte eyur, and of what age; what profyte my lord may haue after his deth, as ward, mariage, releeffe, harryet,Harryet, heriot, a gift due to the lord on the death of a tenant.Eschete, escheat, that which falls in due to the lord.
And also be well awysed whether he ware aSkwage, escuage, knight's service.
Also ȝe schall enquere ȝef ony manne be owte-lauyd of feloney, convycte or atteynte of felonye, do us to wete what he heelde of my lorde, and wheyer he helde frely or bondly. For if he helde frely the kyng
Also ȝe schall enquere yf ony manne dyed sesyd of
Also enquere ȝefe yer be ony manne or woman dyed sesyd of ony londys or tenementes yat is helde of this maner, and yf he haue non eyur of his body noyer non eyur colaterall, his lond shall be eschetyd to my lord, be it fre lond or bonde lond.
Also ȝe schall enquere ȝefe ony lond befall
Also ȝe schall enquere if ony mann yat wasse bond tenaunt of this lordscheppe, and dyed sesyd of ony bond lond, ȝe schall enquere of how meche he dyed sesyd of, and how is his neste eyer, and what auauntage my lord may have after his tenaunttes deth, as fynne or haryet, lyke as the custom of the maner wyll.
Also ȝe schall enquere ȝeef ony man hath pur|chasyd ony lond yat is holde of this maner frely, and be what seruyce it is holde ȝe schall enquere, and wee schall warde owte a dusscesDuces tecum was one commanding a person to appear in the Court of Chancery, bringing certain evidences or writings. From the above it appears that the steward and homagers in the Court Baron could make the same kind of order.
Also ȝe schall enquere ȝef ony man hathpresentyd.
Also ȝe schall enquere ȝef ony man or woman hath ocupyed ony of my lordys demen landys, medowis, or pastures, with owte lysens of the lord or of his offeser, or ony bond lond after tyme it hath be sesyd be the omage of ye corte in to my lordys hande, do us to wet, how it is, and how longe he hath ocupyed it so, and of what walew it is be yer, be the othe that ye haue made.
Also ȝef ther be ony man hath lete ony bond lond to ferme for terme of lyffe, or for terme of yerres, with owte lysens of the lord and fynne-makyng in the corte, do us to wete ther-of and of ther namys.
Also ye schall enquere ȝef ony man hath alyenyd ony bond lond be chartre or crafte for terme of lyff or for terme of yerys, the wheche here-after may be in preiudyce to my lorde or hurtyng to his eyurs in tyme cummyng.
Also ȝe schall enquere yef ony bond manei.e., chevage or chiefage, head or poll money, paid by the bond man or woman in sign of the link between lord and tenant, of right due from the tenant, and of protection due from the lord.
Also ȝe schall enquere ȝef ony bond manne of
s. 8d. of gersom,Gersom. A fine or amercement.I.e., present it.
Also ȝe schall inquere ȝef ony mane or womane hath made ony stryppe or waste in my lorddys bond tenmenttes, as lat fall doun ony howses or hewyng ony tymmber whechet in the MS.
Also ȝefe ther be ony mane with-holdith ony rent, sute, or seruice of this maner, be it coke, henne, gosse, pyge, egges, wyntir worke, or summer worke, or ony other rent or serwisse, as peper, gynger, clow,
Also ȝe schall enquere ȝef ony manne hath made ony rescousRescous. Rescue of the goods distrained by driving away the officer.
Also ȝeffe yer be ony mane vsurpyth upon my lord in this lordscheppe, claymyng free booleBoole, bull.
Also ȝeff ony mane hath huntyd or hawkyd
Also ȝef ony mane hath fisshed my lordys seuerall wateres, as pondys, pyttes, or reueres,—do us to wete how they be and what fisshe they haue takyne, be [ȝ]owre othis.
Also ye schall enquere ȝef ony custumable scatheSkathe, injury, damage.
Also ȝe schall enquere ef ony bonde mane of blod hath purchasyd ony free lond be chartre, or ony free lond be falle to hyme be desent of erytage, and that land hath nate be sesyd to my lord and takyne aftyr of my lord be copy, and be encres of rent;—do us to wete be the othis that ye haue made.
Also ye schall enquere ȝef ony maneSkathe, injury, damage.
Also ȝe schall enquere ȝef ony strayes be comyne in to this lordschepe, be it horsse, nete, or schepe, or ony oyer catell, and no mane knowith hos ye propirte is, ȝe schall do us to wete. For ȝef it hath be with in this lordschippe twelmoneth and a day it schall be forfete to my lord, and ȝef it hath not be so long ȝe schall tell us how long it hath be in this lordschepe, and proclamaschone schall be made ther-of; and ȝef ony mane come and make lawfull pruf, he schall haue his best aȝene, and ȝef he pay my lord for the pasture for the tyme ther beyng.
Ye that be hedborwesHed-borowes. The head-borough, or chief-pledge, was originally one man out of every ten who gave surety to keep peace and order, as head of the ten others in the tything.
Fest ȝe schall enquere ȝef all the persons yat schulde do sute to this lete atte thys day, ȝef yat they be her, and they that make defawte presente ther namys be [ȝ]owre othis.
Also ȝe schall enquere ȝef all yo yt haue dwelyd
Preseint, precincts.Out-take, excepted. As to school, see before, p. 158
Also ȝe schall enquere ȝef ony hedborgh of ony oyer lete be come demorauntDemoraunt, dwelling.
Also ȝe schall enquere of all ye defawtes yat ware presentyd at ye last lete, ȝefe they be suffisauntly amendid or not, be the othe yat ye haue made.
Also ye schall enquere of all maner assawtes, as of frayes of hamsokenys,Hamsoken (A.S. ham socn, home liberty), the privilege of a man's own house. Hence it came to mean the fine for breaking this privilege, and the offence itself. Compare the Scotch hamesucken, i.e., the assault on a man in his own house. Frayes of hamsokenys is equivalent to house-breaking or burglary.Owtas, hue and cry (the word seems to be an intermediate between hue and hoot). To raise the hue and cry, for a constable or a private person, was the ancient method of pursuing and taking offenders against the peace and person, and the above article shows how it was regulated.he.
Also ȝe schall enquere of all maner purprises and purprestures,Purprises and purprestures, inclosures and encroachments.Erying = earing, ploughing; merys, land-marks or boundaries (A.S. mære, a boundary). Probably these which could be ploughed up were the earth|balks, strips of raised ground left untouched by tillage between each plot. See next note.Rasyng up of dowlys, i.e., lifting or moving a boundary stone or post. According to Marshall's Rural Economy of Norfolk (among Reprinted Glossaries, iii., English Dialect Society) a dole-stone in Norfolk is a land|mark. Forby says a dole is a boundary-mark in an unenclosed field, often a low post. A dole in some places means a narrow strip of pasture left between strips of arable land; but its primary meaning appears to be a small allotment of land. See Jacobs' Law Dictionary, s.v. dalus and dole.Nosons, nuisance, hurt.
Also ȝe shall enque[re] ȝef ony mane make ony wyndolsse,lay-stall (a dung-hill), carrion, or garbage laid on the highway usually comes in this place.Bowis of hegge-rewis, boughs of hedge-rows.Sty, lane or path. For different kinds of stys or paths see article 10.Brusshall, i.e., brushwood.
Also ȝe shall enquere ȝef ony mane hathFey, to cleanse a well, pit, or ditch, by clearing out the mud.skyp-style appears to be no other than a stile, i.e., a stationary gate which can be easily leapt over.
Also ȝe shall enquere ȝef ony mane hath made ony wrong wey or ony wrong sty,Sty. See article 8.ad quod dampnum, that is dyrecte doune to the eschetor to enquere be ye visnete;Visnete, i.e., vicinity. The enquiry made under the writ ad quod damnum (to find out what harm would ensue by the encroachment) was to be made by sworn men of the neighbourhood, according to old constitutional principle.
Also ȝe shall enquere ȝef ony man hath encrochid to hyme of the comune, with dyche, hege, hows, walle, or pathe, settyng ther up-one with-owte lysens of ye kyng or of my lord; do us to wete what length, what bred, and ther namys yat ded it, be ȝowre othis.
Also ȝe shall enquere ȝef ony mane vse
Also ȝe shall enquere ȝef yer be ony gret thevys a|monges ȝow, sweche as ar stelers of hors, nete, or schepe, or ony oyer good or catell, or ravisshors of mene wyves or servauntes; do us to wete; for this ȝe haue full power to endite heme, and we shall takit under ȝowre selys as ye law wolle.
Also ȝe shall enquere ȝef ony pety bryburs be yer a|monges ȝow, sweche as stelyne shewisShewis, sheaves.Twykke, twitch.
Also ȝe schall enquere ȝef yer be onyAlle-founders, usually called ale-conners or ale-tasters—officers yearly chosen to see that the ale was rightly made, according to the assize.
Also ȝe shall enquere of all oyer witayllers yat selle in this lordshepe, as bochers yat selle on-holsume flessh and wynne no more than ye statute wolle, of xijd a peny; ellys present.
Also ȝe schall enquere ȝef ony manne communeth in ȝour comune but yei that be communers of ryȝte, or ȝef ony mane surchargeth yowre comune, yat is to sey he yat hath
Also ȝe shall enquere ȝef ony mane hath made ony recuseRescuse, a shaking off, driving away. See note to Art. 19 of Court Baron.
Also ȝe shall enquere of weyfe, of stray of catell, de futifes, and de felone, ȝefe ony haue come with in this lordshape; a weyffe is ȝefe a thefe haue stole hors, shep, or net, or ony oyer good or catell, and for drede of takyng or be bywrayyng fleth a wey fro that good or catell; ȝef ony sweche haue be take or sene with-thyne thys lordshepe, do us to wet, be the othes ȝe haue made.
Also ȝe shall enquere ȝef yer is ony mane yat hath noȝte hangyd his fal-ȝatesRural Economy, Reprint III. in English Dialect Society.
Also ȝe shall enquere ȝef ony baly hathDeshertyson, disherison.
And ther-for of thees poyntes and all other yat long to ye corte or to ye lete, in the kynges name and in my lordes, be the othes yat ȝe habe mad, I charge ȝow yat ȝe enquere truly and make us a trew werdyte.I.e., verdict.
This boke witnesseith of sweche cornne as I, Melton, haue bowte of dyuers menne frome Mydsummer in the xvij yere of king harry the vijth as apeurth her-aftur.
Barly bowte in the xvj yere of the reyne of Kyng Harry the vijthe.
Md delyuered to my wyffe in the weke ofs. iiijd. in golde for John Cade and iijs. vjd. in sylwer rec. at Dyse market and of John Prime.
Thes parsell folowyng be owyng to me R. Melton up on the xiiij day of Juyll Ao. H. VII. xvijmo.
Thys boke witnessyth of sweche kornne as I Robt. Melton hath bowte in the xviij yer of Kyng Harry the vijth.
Whete, mesclyn, barly, and ottys, bowte frome Crowche|mes Popular Antiquities, ed. 1873, vol. i., p. 202.th.
This byll witnessith of sweche money as I, R. Melton, reseyuyd of Mastras FroxmerI.e., Catherine, daughter of Thomas Cornwallis, married to Francis Froxmer.—Collins' Peerage, 1812, ii. p. 538.t I, R. Melton, solde longyng to the seyd M. Froxmer from Candylmes in the xxiijti yere of the reigne of Harry the vijth [A.D. 1507-8] on to mydsummer neste after that.
Summa payed for whete, mescly[n], and barly xxxvs.
And so is owyng me iiijd.
t I, Roger Page of Skoles in the Counteȝ of Norffolk, haue sold onto Robert Melton, of Stuston in ye Counteȝ of Suffolk, upon ye last day of May in ye xix yere of ye reigne of kyng Harry ye vijth, xxxvj combes of barly of Chapmannys mett and Chapmannys ward, to be delyuered be ye bushell of ye seyd Robert so his bushell passyth not Harleston mett, and to be delyuered befor the fest of ye natiuite of Cryste next commyng after ye date of this presenttes; xx combes yer of to be deleuered at my plase at Skoles aforseyd, and xvj combes to be delyuered with in a myle of the dwellyng plase of the seyd Robert: and I ye seyd Roger Page knowlage me fully content and paid for the seid fyveth, and if I the seid Roger or myne assignoris make defawte in the deleueraunce of ye [fo. 60] seyd fyve and thretty combes barly befor the fest of Cristmes next commyng, than I the seid Roger Page bynde me myn heyres and executors to forfette and paie to the seid Robert Melton and his assignoris iiijli. of lawful money of Ynglond.
Fresh rosmary, tyme, betany, nepe, iȝope, selendyn. safurun, long pepur, clowes, grennys, hony, tarmaraks.
[A blank space of two lines.]
Nutmygges, and greynys, and long peper, senamun and clowes, masys.
[The rest of the page is blank. The above occurs on a vacant page between some of the accounts, in a hand of the same time, but differing slightly.]