Beati Qui Esuriunt
BEATI QUI ESURIUNT: NOTES
1 Beati qui esuriunt. A poetic rendition of Matt. 5:6: "Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after justice: for they shall have their fill."3 justiciam. So Harley MS (i[us]ticia[m]); Wr justitiam. See also line 5: nequiciam/ nequitiam, and passim.
7 encennia. The Royal MS reads exhennia, treasures.
34 cedunt. Above this word the MS scribe has written "i. re" or "i.e., recedunt."
59 cum capite cornuto. "The head dress of the ladies of rank and fashion at this period was arranged in the form of two horns" (Wr).
73 relatores. Middlemen who deliver the complaint to the judges.
78 janitores. Door-keepers in venality satires always present special difficulties to those wishing access to courts. For similar lines, see Crux est denarii potens in seculo (De cruce denarii) especially lines 77-100; or Qui potest capere quod loquor capiat (De mundi cupiditate) lines 53-68. See also Yunck, The Lineage of Lady Meed, p. 80 (citing a Latin poem attacking the Court of Rome): "Si das, intrabis protinus: si non, stas, stabis eminus" (If you give, you shall quickly enter: if you don't, you remain standing; you shall remain standing, far off), and The Simonie lines 142-44: "The porter hath comaundement to holde hem widoute the gate, / In the fen. / Hu mihte theih loven that Loverd, that serven thus His men?"
111 bedellis. Bailiffs and beadles were associated with legal and bureaucratic harassment in venality satire and complaint literature. A bailiff was "an officer of justice under a sheriff, who executes writs and processes, distrains and arrests"; a beadle was "a messenger of justice; a warrant officer; an under-bailiff" (Alford, Glossary, s.v. Baillif and Bedele). Alford cites PP B.3.2: "Now is mede . . . Wiþ bedelis & baillifs ybrout to þe king." For a similar view of beadles, see The Simonie 337-41, and Song of the Husbandman 37-39, 51-56. The beadle became proverbial for overzealous officiousness, as the beadle in Shakespeare's 2 Henry IV (V.iv) whom Doll Tearsheet calls, among other things, a "thin man in a censer" and a "filthy-famish'd correctioner."
114 transmittantur. Wr's emendation of MS transmutantur.
119 averia. "The term averium is commonly used to signify all kinds of moveable property; but more particularly to signify cattle and horses" (Wr).
126 Clericos. "The scribe has written above this word, in the MS. "i. pauperes."
130 ballivam. Wr translates as "bailiwick," the jurisdiction or district of a bailiff. For similar views of bailiffs, see The Simonie, lines 289-94; Song of the Husbandman, lines, 25-28; and God Spede the Plough, lines 37-39.
114 transmittantur. Wr's emendation of MS transmutantur.
119 averia. "The term averium is commonly used to signify all kinds of moveable property; but more particularly to signify cattle and horses" (Wr).
126 Clericos. "The scribe has written above this word, in the MS. "i. pauperes."
130 ballivam. Wr translates as "bailiwick," the jurisdiction or district of a bailiff. For similar views of bailiffs, see The Simonie, lines 289-94; Song of the Husbandman, lines, 25-28; and God Spede the Plough, lines 37-39.
[Song on the Venality of the Judges]
(British Library MS Harley 913 fols. 59r-59v)
5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100 105 110 115 120 125 130 135 140 |
Beati qui esuriunt et sitiunt, et faciunt justiciam, et odiunt et fugiunt injuriae nequiciam; quos nec auri copia nec divitum encennia trahunt a rigore, nec pauperum clamore; quae sunt justa judicant, et a jure non claudicant divitum favore. Sed nunc miro more multos fallit seculum, et trahit in periculum, mundi ob favorem, ut lambeant honorem. Hoc facit pecunia, quam omnis fere curia jam duxit in uxorem. Sunt justiciarii, quos favor et denarii alliciunt a jure; hii sunt nam bene recolo, quod censum dant diabolo, et serviunt hii pure. Nam jubet lex naturae, quod judex in judicio nec prece nec precio acceptor sit personae. Quid, Jhesu ergo bone, fiet de judicibus, qui prece vel muneribus cedunt a ratione? Revera tales judices nuncios multiplices habent - audi quare: Si terram vis rogare, accedet ad te nuncius, et loquitur discretius, dicens, "Amice care, vis tu placitare? Sum cum justitiario qui te modo vario possum adjuvare; si vis impetrare per suum subsidium, da michi dimidium, et te volo juvare." Ad pedes sedent clerici, qui velut famelici sunt, donis inhiantes; et pro lege dantes, quod hii qui nichil dederint, quamvis cito venerint, erunt expectantes. Sed si quaedam nobilis, pulcra vel amabilis, cum capite cornuto, auro circum voluto, accedat ad judicium, haec expedit negotium ore suo muto. Si pauper muliercula, non habens munuscula, formam neque genus, quam non pungit Venus, infecto negotio suo pergit hospitio, dolendo corde tenus. Sunt quidam ad hanc curiam, qui exprimunt juditiam; dicuntur relatores; caeteris pejores. Utraque manu capiunt, et sic eos decipiunt quorum sunt tutores. Et quid janitores? Qui dicunt pauperibus curiam sequentibus, "Pauper, cur laboras? Cur facis hic moras? Nisi des pecuniam Cuique ad hanc curiam, in vanum laboras. Quid, miser, ergo ploras? Si nichil attuleris, stabis omnino foras." De vicecomitibus, quam duri sunt pauperibus, quis potest enarrare? Qui nichil potest dare, huc et illuc trahitur, et in assisis ponitur, et cogitur jurare, non ausus murmurare. Quod si murmuraverit, ni statim satisfecerit, est totum salsum mare. Hoc idem habent vitium, cum subeunt hospitium cujusdam patriotae, vel abbathiae notae, quo potus et cibaria, et cuncta necessaria, eis dentur devote. Nil prosunt sibi talia, nisi mox jocalia post prandium sequantur, et cunctis largiantur, bedellis, garcionibus, et qui sunt secum omnibus. Nec adjuc pacantur, nisi transmittantur robae suis uxoribus ex variis coloribus. Si non clam mittantur, et post sic operantur: quotquot habent averia ad sua maneria cum impetu fugantur, et ipsi imparcantur quousque satisfecerint, ita quod duplum dederint; tunc demum liberantur. Clericos irrideo suos, quos prius video satis indigentes, et quasi nil habentes, quando ballivam capiunt; qua capta mox superbiunt, et crescunt sibi dentes, collaque erigentes, incipiunt perpropere terras et domos emere, et redditus placentes; nummosque colligentes, pauperes despiciunt, et novas leges faciunt, vicinos opprimentes; fiuntque sapientes. In hoc malum faciunt, et patriam decipiunt, nemini parcentes. |
(see note) (see note) (see note) (see note) (see note) (see note) (see note) (see note) (see note) (see note) (see note) (see note) |
Go To The Simonie
Return To The Table of Contents