WYNNERE AND WASTOURE: FOOTNOTES

1 Here begins a treatise and good short debate between Winner and Waster

2 Lines 1-2: Since Britain was settled after Brutus had conquered it, / Following the destruction of Troy because of internal treason

3 Wise words and subtle, and each word obscures the next (or, hides another intention)

4 Because he (the son) shall not stay behind (i.e., at home) when he (the father) grows old and gray

5 And hares shall crouch upon hearthstones for their lairs

6 Lines 29-30: But nevertheless, at the end, when men are revealed for what they are / Work will bear witness to those who know how to work best

7 Barnacle geese with their beaks make a ringing sound on the bark of trees (or, peck noisily at their shells)

8 So riotous were the rough streams that made so much noise (reached so far)

9 Pushed forward out of the woods, in phalanxes they deployed

10 That either army in hatred had for the other

11 And each one gaily surrounded with fastenings of blue

12 High upon a wooded hill (or possibly stronghold, used figuratively) a nobleman stands up

13 Dressed as a savage man of the wood (see note) in twisted tufts of fur

14 The king's beard was berry-brown (see note) - embroidered with birds

15 Go, tell the bold warriors over yonder who await on the battlefield

16 With neck armor and armor covering the stomach polished very shinily

17 With pieces of armor for the arms of bright steel linked very tightly

18 With a well-fitting tunic fastened at the sides

19 With three papal bulls of white color embroidered within it

20 That he who is head of Holy Church, I believe he is there

21 Lines 54-55: I hold that person to be a fool who would go to war even though legal disputations in court might settle the issue, / When he has found [Wynnere's] friend (lawyer), who never failed him (in court)

22 He had a heavy purse who got them all to come here

23 The ends of belts (that hang down after they have passed through the buckles) are tapered to round tips, the end of the belt (tucked) away

24 And from the time when he discovers for certain where the fault rests

25 Let neither man be angry to act as he (the king) deems (or, let neither man be angry to act as he purposes)

26 And now are their bridles ready, and they have set out upon their ways

27 "You are welcome, lords, both of you, as retainers of our house''

28 It seemed I drank so deeply it bleared both my eyes

29 But then the king spoke, saying, "Make known what you're named

30 Those who profitably will save and spend not too much

31 The devil may wonder at the wealth he enjoys at home

32 Therefore judge (doom) us this day, for God's love in heaven

33 With your violent behavior and contentiousness you consume my goods

34 Then there's nothing but "fill the cup'' and "fetch it forth,'' to make you show your money

35 Every laborer in the field ought to be the more inspired by fear to work

36 Than if goods be covered up, hidden, or laid away in chests here

37 Your son and your executors, each one ruins the other

38 And mortal sin, for their deaths, were indicted by a jury of twelve

39 That utterly disgraced were those men and Chief Justice Shareshull together with them

40 As if this were not enough, another course comes after

41 Mawmene (a chopped meat dish) that men steep (in wine) to fill their gullets (see note)

42 Every course costs a mark for every two people

43 That each man in the street may hear blaring of trumpets

44 Thus are you scorned with good reason, and disgraced accordingly

45 "Regular meals would be better than a single merry feast''

46 A hen would cost a halfpenny by the end of half a year

47 To go into the woods to show him the recesses of the estate

48 Now they (the wives) are foolish girls of the new fashion, so foolishly dressed

49 Lines 421-22: In order to give such an example, to show others / That they should leave pomp and pride, (something) which poverty often teaches.

50 To avoid ignominy and shame where men are gathered

51 And if my people are proudly arrayed, I am pleased all the better

52 You give orders to wait on the weather, then curse the time

53 That you had not prepared your houses and organized your servants

54 I hold that person crazy who worries about winning his mate

55 As willing to go mad as to anger you (even) once

56 I.e., no matter how long Winner remains in the land, he will not be able to keep up with Waster

57 Go forth into Cheapside, a chamber set up there

58 Bring him to Bread Streat (in Cheapside, noted for its bakeries), beckon with your finger

59 That if anyone find a penny in his purse, let him be damned (have his eyes put out)
 

WYNNERE AND WASTOURE: EXPLANATORY NOTES

T refers to Trigg's edition of the poem; T-P to Turville-Petre's 1989 edition; G to Gollancz's edition.


1-2 A number of alliterative poems (most famously Sir Gawain and the Green Knight) open by referring to Britain's founding by Brutus, the great-grandson of Aeneas. The legend stems from Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae. The tradition of Aeneas' treason in betraying Troy was also well known in the Middle Ages; it stems from Servius' commentary on the Aeneid. For a poem that probably alludes to the Statute of Treasons (see below, note to 130ff.), the opening seems particularly apt.

4 nyne. Cardinals in Middle English are used for ordinals fairly frequently (Tauno F. Mustanoja, A Middle English Syntax, I: Parts of Speech. Mémoires de la Société Néophilologique de Helsinki 23 [1960], p. 306). On the chaos of the time Turville-Petre (1989) observes: "The brilliant victories over the French at Crécy and Calais in 1346-47 were succeeded in 1348 and the following years by the horrors of the Black Death, when it seemed that, with starvation, increased crime and a severe shortage of labour, economic and moral order was collapsing" (p. 41).

5 witt and wyles. The poet alludes to abuse of two of man's three faculties, intellect and will. Memory is the third.

10-16 Political prophecies of this sort were not uncommon in England during the later Middle Ages: Thomas of Erceldoune's Prophecy (4-5), for instance, parallels the impossible situation of finding hares on hearthstones. These prophecies, as indeed the entire genre of complaint they are part of, emerge from an old tradition in which the "abuses of the age" are catalogued (Bestul, pp. 55-58). The effect of such pronouncements did not pass unnoticed: in 1402 a law was passed which forbade the making of prophecies. Invoking the Apocalypse and Judgment Day in particular was common in French and English allegorical romances of the time. Solomon's reputation in the Middle Ages as not only a sage but magician and prophet makes him a fitting figure to evoke, especially in a debate poem.

15 lede hem at will. T-P and G read: lede at hir will. But T notes that leden, "marry," normally requires a direct object (p. 18).

19-23 Criticism of present-day poets and jongleurs was familiar in medieval allegories and histories. Perhaps closest to Wynnere is the Chandos Herald, who in the Prologue to his Life and Deeds of the Black Prince (lines 1-30), written in French, says that "once those who made fine poems were regarded as men of authority, but now greater heed is paid to a chatterer, a false liar, a juggler, or a jester."

21 in fere. The reference to companions here perhaps alludes to patronage.

24 chyn-wedys. T-P points to the derisive mockery of the word, which is modeled on heroic vocabulary (e.g., here-wedys, "battle-garments," i.e., armor).

25 thies. T-P and G emend to three.

32 Wandering in the west beside a stream is a common convention in Middle English poetry; see Bestul, p. 66.

36 hill. "Hill" could possibly mean a mound overgrown with plants here, as it does in Pearl, line 41 (Elliott).
hawthorne. The hawthorn tree was sometimes associated with the supernatural world (T). Compare Death and Liffe (lines 30-31) and The Romance of the Rose (line 4002), where the hawthorn also appears (T-P).

39 Bernacles. Barnacle geese were exotic creatures: they were thought to grow in shells which adhered to trees overhanging water (T).

40 foles. T-P: fowles.

50 The armies of Wynnere and Wastoure are in either woods, separated by the glade.

58 appon hate. This is the MS reading; T, T-P, and G emend to hethe. For "upon" as "in," see line 67: appon Ynglisse tonge, and OED sv. 10b. As in the Middle English The Wars of Alexander (line 42), "upon" here denotes a state or condition; it was often associated with states of hostility. There is no need to emend the MS.

59-68 Following Speirs, Elliott argues that the topography of the dream recalls settings used in the medieval circular theater, as well as the lists of medieval tournaments and pageantry. The caban here, for instance, corresponds to the highly decorated judge's box or pavilion at fourteenth-century English tournaments. Although the cabin is adorned with emblems of the Order of the Garter (see note to line 68), one should observe that Edward III's tournaments consisted of series of single combats, not the mock battles of an earlier age. Juliet Vale (pp. 73-75) suggests that a scene like the one described in the poem may have been part of the Christmas "ludi," or court games, that were held in 1352: in them there appeared a group dressed as Dominicans and another dressed as merchants, both with their own banners.

64 ther. MS: thre. T: th[er]; T-P: the; G: th[ies]. he. T: he[u].

66 fresche. T-P: Frensche.

68 This line translates "Honi soit qui mal y pense," the motto of the Order of the Garter, which was formed by Edward III in either 1347 or 48; it was apparently officially instituted in 1349. The Order consisted of the king and twenty-six chosen knights, each of whom wore a blue garter circumscribed with gold (see line 62), which symbolized a lasting bond of friendship and honor. Edward also had a round table made for his knights.

70 holt. T-P: hale.

71 wodwyse. The wildman was a popular figure of untamed strength in medieval pageantry, art, heraldry, and literature (T). For a brief account, see Larry Benson, Art and Tradition in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1965), pp. 72-83; the standard study is Richard Bernheimer, Wild Men in the Middle Ages (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1952). Some of Edward III's own livery seems to have been decorated with "wode woses" (T-P: 45). "Dressing up" had become common in tournaments by the end of the fourteenth century (Glynne Wickham, Early English Stages 1300-1600, [New York: Columbia University Press, 1980], I, 42-44); the "wild man" was one of the figures people dressed up as.

76-82 The "wodwyse" bears the royal arms of England on his lambrequin, a mantle that hangs from the back of his helmet.

78-80 The heraldry of Edward, the Black Prince, bears the fleur-de-lis of France in the top left and bottom right quarters of the field (before and behynde) and the three rampant leopards (heraldically called lions) of England on the upper right (one lofte) and lower left (on lowe undir). As T-P notes: "The arms of France were quartered with those of England in 1340 with reference to Edward III's claims to the French Throne" (p. 45).

79 with sex grim bestes, as in MS. T: with [orfraied] bestes; T-P: with sex egre bestes; G: with sex [irous] bestes.

83 knyghte: MS: kynge. The emendation, accepted by most editors, avoids referring to the king, who is inside the pavilion, not next to it, before the narrator actually sees him three lines later. T-P, however, retains the MS reading and interprets the line: "by the (heraldry of) the pavilion I recognized the King that I was looking at" (p. 45). In his 1982 edition T-P identified the king specifically as Edward III.

90-92 These lines are difficult. I have followed Turville-Petre in retaining the MS reading and see Bery-brown was his berde as an awkward ellipsis that refers to Edward, whose beard was in fact brown. Gollancz emends was to as, and interprets the king's clothes to be the same color as his beard. Trigg, however, may be right to say that these lines are among the most corrupt in the poem; her emendation is Bery broun was [the bleaunt], i.e., the material.

94 gerede full riche. The MS reads: girde in the myddes, which the scribe probably anticipated from the following line. If the MS reading is retained, as in T-P, the sense would be that the garters were wrapped around the middle of the birds.

97 daderande tham semede. A dative form could have a nominative function with an impersonal verb in Middle English. "Seem" was in transition from an impersonal to a personal verb at the time (Mustanoja, A Middle English Syntax, pp. 112-13).

100 Edward was known for his love of hawking.

115ff Various attempts have been made to identify the herald from his jupon: Gollancz suggested the Black Prince, Salter a member of the Wingfield family. Sir John Wingfield was chief administrator for the Black Prince from 1351-61. As Trigg notes, however, wings were a common heraldic device.
Reed, Middle English Debate Poetry (pp. 264-66), suggests that in sending a minister to pray for peace and to summon feuding parties to appear before the king for arbitration of their dispute, the poet recalls the protocols of Parliament, which also opened with a call for peace and the king's declaration that he is willing to decide the pleas of his people.

121 caughte. MS reads caughten, which is ungrammatical. Editors who emend for reasons of alliteration suggest: T-P broched in ("urged his horse in swiftly"); G brawndeschet ("brandished"); T brayede ("seized").

125 Send his. The MS form is kept here as a possible contraction of sendeth. T and G emend to Sendes. Gollancz's emendation of erande to bodword is tempting.

127 no. Again the MS reading is kept. For no= "nor," see MED, s.v., conj.

130ff These lines have been thought to refer to the Statute of Treasons of 1352. Salter has shown that if this is the case, the poet's allusion is at best very general, for the offenses in the poem, abrogation of the king's privilege to ride with unfurled banners and disturbing his peace, correspond imprecisely with the stipulations of the Statute, which in fact classified the act of leading one armed band against another as a felony rather than as a treasonable offense. On the other hand, by using the word ryall (line 128), the messenger seems to imply that the armies have committed a treasonable offense, and riding with banners displayed was, as T-P notes (p. 45), evidence of levying open war, which remained an act of treason under international law.
Furthermore, as Trigg notes, the phrase "his pese to disturbe," both here and at line 318, might deliberately echo William Shareshull (see note to line 317), who summoned Parliament to draft the Statute of Treasons by saying that "the King has understood that the peace of his realm has not been kept as it should have been, and that the disturbers of the peace and maintainers of quarrels and riots in the land have harmed many of its people." Even though this phrasing is formulaic, it does seem likely, all told, that the poet is making some reference to the Statute here.

136 amonges thies wyes one. The MS reading is retained despite the diffuseness of syntax and possible error of repeating one from the line preceding. T and G emend to thies wyes amonges.

144 bulles. The MS reading is bibulles, which could possibly mean "Bibles," though the orthography is against it. T, G, and T-P all emend to bulles. Holinshed (Chronicles) reports that in 1343 one challenger in a tournament held at Smithfield came dressed as the pope, and brought twelve others with him who were dressed as cardinals (Bestul, p. 103). During the 1340s and 50s, feelings in England ran high against the Pope, whose power and demands for money were conveyed by pronouncements known as bulls.

149-55 The "band of green" on the lawyers' banner has been associated with the "green wax" used to seal a writ. The extra cost for such sealing (sixpence), without which a sheriff could not receive the writ, provided income for lawyers and a popular target for those who satirized them.

157 galegs. Emended from MS galeys by all editors. As part of their vow of poverty, Franciscans were supposed to go shoeless, but wearing the simple galegs, a kind of shoe the apostles were thought to have worn, seems to have been an accepted practice among the friars.

159 These are Saint Francis' folk, who say all are doomed to die

163 was. T-P emends to es.

164 balle. An emendation of MS balke, accepted by all editors.

166 mayne. The MS reads maye, which makes little sense. All editors emend to mayne, which gives the line the sense "when the sun is at its strongest." Havely argues that the banner contains elements, such as its emphasis on light, that are drawn from Dominican iconography and hagiography.

176, 186 Internal details suggest that these lines have been transposed by the scribe. The Carmelites (known as White friars) were famous for their devotion to the Virgin (see line 177); the Augustinian friars wore black habits with leather girdles (see lines 182-87). The three boarsheads are a common heraldic sign; if they are indeed on the banner of the White friars, this resonates with the fact that Carmelites were charged in particular to be abstemious and to practice frugality.

177 ordire. Most editors emend to ledis for reasons of alliteration. The pattern xa/ax is found in the poem, but, as Trigg notes, only when voiced/unvoiced or couplet alliteration is involved. Still, the poem is too short to rule out the possibility that the same pattern could occur in other circumstances: it appears three times in Parlement.

189-90 Some wittnesse of wolle. The MS has Some of witnesse of wolle. This entails taking wittnesse as a noun rather than a verb, which is possible, but awkward. For "merke" in the next line as a generic plural, "trademarks," see MED, s.v. 5a.

193 After the lengthy elaboration of Wynnere's army, the brevity of the description of Wastoure's forces is striking. What this terseness means, however, is open to debate.

197 hedir broghte. T-P: broghte hedir.

201 wye. The MS wyes is an error for the singular form.
demeth. The MS reads doeth, which makes little sense. Most editors emend as here.

215 sowrede. T-P: sowed.

217 See note to line 367.

236 The devyll wounder one. More idiomatic ME usage would omit the one, since it seems to make wounder a verb when it actually is a noun.

237 heghe howses. These have been interpreted as houses Wastoure owns but has not rented. The phrase, however, often carried connotations of pride and ostentation: see MED s.v. 1a.

248 Compare Parlement, lines 257-60. The merchant who cannot sleep for worry about his goods is a familiar convention.

254 Some rote, some ruste. See Matt. 6:19-21.

256-62 See Matt. 25:31-46.

264 thou. The MS reads tho, "although"; accepting this reading, the line would mean "You speak of a matter although (you) caused it yourself." As Trigg points out, however, the conjunction is spelled thofe elsewhere in the poem, and thou nicely completes the line: Wynnere says Wastoure's excessive consumption has caused the shortages that have made so many poor. T-P and G: thou.

266 playinge. This is the MS reading; it has been variously emended on grounds of alliteration. Some suggested emendations: wayttinge, feasting; wraxling(e), wrastlinge, wrestling; wastinge. See T's note (pp. 33-34) for a summary of the proposed readings.

267 angarte pryde. T-P: augarte pryde; G: angarte [of] pryde.

270 rychely. MS: ryhely. All editors emend to rychely.

276 dede monethe. The drought of March was a recognized (and welcomed) feature of the climate of medieval England: see A. Stuart Daley, "Chaucer's 'droghte of March' in Medieval Farm Lore," Chaucer Review 4 (1970), 171-79.

277-82 Compare this tavern scene and Piers Plowman A.5.185 and 8.67-75.
277 tonne-hede. This could be read as toune-hede, the upper extremity of a town.

282 T-P (p. 55) points to the sexual allusions: "Wee hee" is the noise of an amorous horse; worthe up: "climb up."

286 The allusion is to Matt. 24:40.

288 tynen. The MS reads tymen, which Karen Stern (University of London M. Phil. thesis, 1973) and Lon Mark Rosenfeld (Columbia University dissertation, 1975) interpret as "tames, subdues." Most, however, accept the emendation and gloss "fence in"; Burrow glosses the sense as "harrows."

300 freres it feche. Friars were often named the recipients of goods in wills. See Piers Plowman's Crede lines 404-17, where the friar is so eager to collect upon a wealthy widow's death that he can't stay to answer Will's questions.

308ff. Wastoure implies that Wynnere is so full of worry, he and Wanhope (despair of God's mercy) are kin. Wastoure then goes on to wish that the penances imposed by the Church were drowned in the sea. He then derisively imagines the legal charges for their "deaths," and defies the charge that he would be disturbing the peace for having gotten rid of Wynnere, Wanhope, and the others.

310 ymbryne dayes. Ember days: a three day period of fasting (Wednesday and the following Friday and Saturday) appointed by the Church during each of the four seasons. Fasts were decreed the day before a Saint's day as well; Fridays and Saturdays were always days of abstinence.

317 Sir William Shareshull (?1289-1370), Chief Justice from 1350-61, earned the hatred of many in all classes of society for his part in promulgating restrictive legislation of all kinds, especially the Statute of Laborers in 1351 and the Statute of Treasons in the following year. See Bertha Putnam, The Place in Legal History of Sir William Shareshull (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1950). Both Steadman (1923) and Anderson suggest these lines refer to an uprising in Chester in 1353, where Shareshull held a general eyre (i.e., circuit court).
itwiste. The MS reads it wiste; the line would mean then that Wastoure wants all those destroyed - and Shareshull knew it - who said he disturbed the peace. Itwiste, "together with them," however, makes better sense and is consistent with the scribe's practice of separating the elements of prepositions and pronouns (he writes by syde and hym selven for bysyde and hymselven).

329 owthe. The only instance of a Southern ending for the present tense (T). The form has legal implications; it suggests that Wastoure's followers have entered into sworn legal contracts with him.

332ff. Descriptions of sumptuous feasts are common in Middle English romances: compare Morte Arthure, lines 176-215. The one described here follows the usual sequence of courses.

334 frumentee. A potage made of boiled hulled grain mixed with almond milk and sweeteners; often served with venison.

337 doke. This is the MS reading, though the emendation to dole, "portion" is very tempting. T emends to dole. G translates doke as "dole," comparing the term to docket, or "piece."

345 Martynmesse. November 11, the feast celebrating St. Martin of Tours, at butchering time when salting of meat for winter storage was taking place.

353-59 The MS has lost a small piece from the top left hand corner at this point. The emendations follow those suggested by Gollancz, Burrow (line 356), and Trigg (line 357).

355 [Maw]mene that men stepen. A new reading. All editors have read clepen, translating "what men call mawmene." The manuscript, however, almost certainly reads stepen. Mawmene is a chopped meat dish that very often was made with wine: see MED, s.v. for citations. Wynnere is describing a variation of the dish in which the meat has been soaked in wine.

356 G: [Twelve] mese at a merke; T-P: Aye a mese at a merke. T-P notes (p. 59) that in 1349 a mark (160 pence) could buy two horses.

357 T-P: Siche bot brynneth for bale . . .; G: [Thog]he bot brynneth for bale. . . .

361 myster. T-P emends to hope, noting that "myster, 'need', neither alliterates nor makes sense" (p. 59).

364 ones. MS: one.

366 forthe. T-P emends to forthire.

367 Full freschely and faste. The invitation to fill one's cup with drink for the next fitt suggests an oral presentation (see line 217). T comments on the irony of the invitation, given the account of Wastoure's feast. "The repeated lines seem to be a stylistic remnant of the minstrel's art; certainly the fitt divisions perform little formal or structural function as the poem is too short (barely longer than a single fitt of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight) and its action too continuous to require the pauses. The lines calling for wine are part of the poet's overall fiction, reminding us of the dreamer's presence, with the address to the readers at line 31" (p. 36).

370-74 These lines are difficult. Their sense perhaps is: "Because crops will be good, the price for them will remain low, which will drive Wynnere mad with despair (because of the reduced value of his crops, if we take erthe="ploughing"), and make him (either) hope for a hard year (to drive the prices back up), (or) hang himself." Alternatively, lines 373-74 can mean that Wynnere will expect a hard year (for himself) to follow, which will lead him to hang himself.

372 and it passe. MS: and passe. T's emendation. T-P and G read that it passe.

375ff. For the argument that expenditure is necessary to maintain honor and reputation, see The Romance of the Rose, lines 5232-48.

384-88 These lines seem to mean that without consumption (by the rich), food would become so plentiful and cheap that the poor would have no incentive to work, and the social order would thus be threatened.

386 ete. T-P and G emend to frete ("devour"), for the sake of alliteration and ferocity.

390 moste. MS: moþe, in margin with caret marks.

392ff. Wynnere sarcastically dismisses Wastoure's contention (lines 382-83) that by his spending the lot of the poor will improve.

400 For to save to youre sones. This is the MS reading. It makes adequate, if redundant, sense; its grammar is awkward, but passable. Many editors follow Gollancz and emend to schadowe, "provide shade for."

409 T emends to That are had [ben] lordes . . . on the grounds that this continues Wynnere's argument against the dissolute nobility. T-P emends had to were. It is possible, though, that having spoken of those who have squandered their ancestral estate, Wynnere shows his own concern for the social hierarchy by turning to those who once were servants but now, able to command higher wages, are imitating the upper classes. The passage, nonetheless, is obscure, as is the comparison to the simple maid that ends it; it does seem to pivot, however, about the thought that clothes do not alter the nature of those who wear them.

411 side slabbende sleves. The MS reads elde, which does stand in contrast to the new gett of the line before, but the sense is difficult. Most editors emend to side "wide." Attacks on long sleeves were common in satires of the period. T-P emends to sle₃e ("skillfully made").

415ff. The passage ends as it began, with the poor, but whether the humility and poverty of Mary and Joseph is an example more to be set against Wynnere or Wastoure is hard to say at this point.

422 schewes. G emends to eschewes, glossing the line to mean: "To leave pomp and pride that poverty scorn."

428ff Compare Parlement, 246-60.

434 To see tham faire and free. The MS probably reads To fee tham . . . , which would mean that Wastoure is all the happier, if his people are proudly attired, to hire them (enfeoff) at a generous wage; there are difficulties, however, with this reading, despite its preferability in alliteration. Though T-P reads fee, G and T read see, which makes better sense. The f and s are easily confused, especially late in the MS.

435ff. Again it is hard to determine exactly the point of Wastoure's thrust: is he saying (as in line 248) that Wynnere can't sleep because he's worried about his goods? The MS readings, preserved here, however, suggest the opposite: that Wynnere sleeps too soundly, suggesting a slothfulness that is seconded by Wastoure's charge that Wynnere wastes time by putting off making needed repairs to his storehouses and by failing to organize his household to react to a small harvest, if the weather is bad, or a large one, if it is good (T). T-P (p. 62) suggests that Wynnere makes a virtue of his slothfulness, first instructing his men to wait and then cursing because it is too late to do anything: thus the miser saves money in repairs and labor.

445 Thou tast tent. T, G, and T-P emend to Thou tast no tent.

446 make. G emends to makende and translates the line: "I hold him mad that worries such winnings to make."

451 Ferrere. The implication seems to be that the person who happens to live longest has to go farther to fetch wood because the timber from the surrounding countryside for fifteen miles around has already been cut down.

454 myn hert and harmes. MS: hert omitted. All recent editors follow G's emendation. T observes: "The scribe's characteristic error of omission is easily corrected" (p. 45).

460 wale. Rosenfeld derives the word from OE wael, "dangerous, deadly." T suggests "fine, beautiful, pleasant" as perhaps more appropriate. G suggests "swift, quick, moving."

468-73 Part of the manuscript has been cut away here. I have followed Trigg's emendations.

476 potet. An obscure word; Turville-Petre (1982) glosses as "?tippler," a guess I have adopted, though in his 1989 edition he emends to "botet 'booted', i.e., 'equipped for riding"' (p. 64). The situation would somewhat recall that of the Manciple and Cook in The Canterbury Tales. Other suggestions include emending to potener, "one who carries a purse" (G); pert (Stern); potent (Rosenfeld); and petit, "insignificant" (T).

479 to comforth his vaynes. T-P compares the Cretan wine as comfort for hangover to "the hair of the dog" (p. 65).

482 Hotte for the hungry seems to echo a street vendor's cry. T compares the line to Piers Plowman A Prol.104-05 and "London Lickpenny," lines 59ff. (R. H. Robbins, Historical Poems, no. 51).

485 sprede. MS: spre. T-P and G: spred; T: spre[de].

494 this other foules. Probably, as Trigg says, a scribal substitution for an illegible or unfamiliar word. She suggests endes, "ducks"; others read osulles, "ouzels."

498 T-P (p. 65) identifies the proude pales as the "Palais de la Cité." He points out that after 1346, Edward was eager to press his claim to the French crown; he tempted investors and soldiers to underwrite a campaign, whose costs were very high, with the promise of rich profits that could be made.

500 silver. MS: si. All emend to silver.

502 kayre. MS: layren. I follow T's emendation. G and T-P: kayren.

503 A reference to the shrine of the Three Magi in Cologne Cathedral. Gollancz points out that Edward III visited and made offerings at the shrine in 1338.
 

WYNNERE AND WASTOURE: TEXTUAL NOTES

15 hem] hir

64 ther] thre

83 knyghte] kynge

94 gerede full riche] girde in the myddes

121 caughte] caughten

144 bulles] bibulles

157 galegs] galeys

164 balle] balke

166 mayne] maye

176 Be any crafte . . . semyde] copied after185

186 The ordire . . . I wene] copied after175

189 Some] Some of

201 wye] wyes demeth] doeth

264 thou] tho

270 rychely] ryhely

288 tynen] tymen

300 freres] it freres

317 itwiste] it wiste

321 se] se es

353 Caudils] defective to -ils connynges g damaged by worm hole

354 Dariols] defective to -oils

355 Mawmene] defective to -mene

356 Iche] defective to -e

357 That sothe] defective to -othe

358 Me tenyth] defective to -enyth

359 That iche] defective to -he

364 ones] one

372 it] om.

390 moste] mothe

411 side] elde

420 wedes] wordes

430 hir] ir damaged by worm hole

434 see] fee?

454 hert] om.

468 come] defective from co-

469 take] defective

470 beryinge-daye] defective from ber-

471 to holde] defective

472 wonne scholde] defective from wonn-

473 wyng ther untill] defective from wyng

485 sprede] defective from spr-

500 silver] defective from sil-

502 kayre] layren