THE POEMS OF LAURENCE MINOT 1333-1352: FOOTNOTES

1 waning [of the moon] (an unhappy hour)

2 their bulwark [to protect a crew in battle], their anchors, they hung on high

3 A boar [King Edward] is prepared to fight you

THE POEMS OF LAURENCE MINOT 1333-1352: NOTES

AMA = Alliterative Morte Arthure; SGGK = Sir Gawain and the Green Knight; SMA = Stanzaic Morte Arthure; YP = The York Plays. MS = Cotton Galba E.IX Manuscript abbreviations have been silently expanded. All other editorial emendation, except punctuation and capitalization, is cited in the notes. For full references to Collette, Hall, Ritson, Scholle, James and Simons, Stedman, and Wright see the Select Bibliography.

[I] Lithes and I sall tell yow tyll
the bataile of Halidon Hyll.

Battle of Halidon Hill, 19 July 1333: Although often inaccurate in its details, Froissart's Chronicle, composed under the aegis of royal patronage, provides thumbnail sketches of events contemporary with Minot's poems. Froissart suggests some of the complex political background anteceding the Battle of Halidon Hill:

There had been a truce between England and Scotland now for four years, the like to which had not occurred before for two hundred years: but the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed was destined to disturb it. David, who succeeded Robert Bruce on the throne of Scotland, held possession of Berwick, which Edward claimed as part of his own kingdom. The King of Scotland, who followed the advice of his council and chief barons on the subject, resolved that as King Robert, his father, had taken the town in open war from the late King Edward of England, and having kept possession of it during his lifetime, so he would do everything in his power to retain it; and such being the case, neither party was willing to give way. The contest which ensued, however, was fraught with dire misfortune to the Scots, for Edward advanced into their kingdom, destroyed it, and, having taken possession of Berwick, and also many other forts, placed in them several able and expert knights and squires, to protect the border countries. (p. 18)

Froissart glosses over the part played by Edward Balliol (son of King John Balliol, r. 1292-96) and "the Disinherited" in this renewal of hostilities. Led by Balliol and Henry Beaumont, a group of powerful Northern magnates (many of whom had lost holdings in the Lowlands by the 1328 Treaty of Northampton) defeated the Scots at Dupplin Moor in 1332. The Scots in turn having driven Balliol (crowned September, 1332) from the Scottish throne in favor of the young David II, Edward III allowed Balliol to muster support among the English. Hoping to draw Balliol from the siege of Berwick, established on 12 March 1333, the Scots invaded England on March 23, under the leadership of the new regent, Archibald Douglas, and threatened Bamburgh. Edward III arrived before Berwick after Easter, and on 19 July 1333, at the Battle of Halidon Hill, the Scottish army raised to relieve the siege was decisively defeated. Berwick surrendered, David II fled to France, and Balliol swore fealty to England. The Battle of Halidon Hill utilized Edward's strategy, to be employed again successfully on many occasions in the war with France, of waging battle from a defensive position with rows of archers and dismounted men-at-arms.

[1] Rubrication is indicated by bold face text. Heading: Hall suggests all or of be inserted before the bataile in place of tyll.

4 bute. Hall notes that bote (adopted by Scholle) is the only form in rhyme, i.e., 4.58, 6.26.

5 made midelerd and the mone. See "made God medilerth and man," YP 9.158, and the lyric "Heghe Loverd, thou here my bone" from MS. Harley 2253, "that madest middelert ant mone," line 2.

6 bestes and fowles. Scholle emends to the alliterative formula bestes and briddes.

7 socore. Scholle, socor.

9 droupe and dare. An alliterative collocation found only in the rhyming romances and poems of the Alliterative Revival. See "bot ever droupe and dare," AMA line 4007, and "y droupe, y dare," Tolous, line 553.

10 dern. Hall suggests derve. Scholle reads deds for dedes, then dose for done.

12 when Edward founded first to were. Edward III (b. 1312, r. 1327-77; married Philippa of Hainault, a niece of Philip VI of France, in 1328). Edward agreed to support Balliol, and moved his administration to York, calling out the levies of four shires for the defense of the border and invading Scotland in the spring of 1333.

15 sides sare. See "on sides seere," YP 10.340, and frequently elsewhere.

17 prise. Scholle, Stedman, pris.

18 boste. Scholle, Stedman, bost. Normondye. Scholle, Normandye.

19 Thai sent thaire schippes on ilka side. Minot seems to suggest here that the French promised to raise the siege of Berwick but fled before a single blow was offered. Thus is announced a major theme in Minot's poems, that the French are essentially cowards, their boasts empty words, their deeds but few. In fact, Philip VI of France had sent a fleet of ten ships to raise the siege, but it was destroyed by the English at Dundee, mentioned again in 2.24. From 1334 on, there were frequent threats of French retaliation; in August and September of 1335 rumors were rife that Philip VI had assembled a great fleet to attack the south coast of England.

21 es noght at hide. A rhyme tag typical of the rhyming romances.

22 forto is always one word in the MS.

24 wurth. Scholle, Stedman, worth.

25 For. MS: ffor; all initial double f's are treated as majuscules.

30 thareobout. Scholle, tharobout.

33 Jhesu. MS: ihu. Scholle, Iesu; so too in 5.16. The scribe writes ihesus in full at f. 64a².

39 dareand all for drede. Scholle, darand. An alliterative collocation found elsewhere only in the rhyming romances and poems of the Alliterative Revival. Compare "dares for drede," SGGK line 315.

41 Gai. Scholle, Gay. thoght. Collette, thought.


42 on the Erle Morré and other ma. Following the defeat at Halidon Hill, the nine-year old king, David II, and his mother fled to France. By 1335, the Earl of Moray, John Randolph, was regent for David II, and defeated an English expeditionary force under the Count of Namur on the hilltop in Edinburgh. The Earl was later taken prisoner before Bamborough Castle and imprisoned in London.

45 Philip Valays wordes wroght. Through his mother, Edward was the grandson of Philip IV of France and the nephew of the last Capetian king, Charles IV, who died without an heir. Salic law, however, prohibited descent through the female line, and the French crown passed to Charles IV's cousin, Philip VI (r. 1328-50). In 1331, Edward had declared himself willing to perform liege homage to Philip VI for the duchy of Gascony, but in 1334 Philip VI insisted that discussion of the Scottish succession be included in any further Anglo-French negotiations. Edward responded by reasserting his title to the French crown; in 1340 he formally assumed the title "King of England and France." On the collocation wordes wroght, see "wroght neuere in worde," YP 13.181.

46 suld. Stedman, said.

49 manasinges. Scholle, manasings.

54 Oakden compares stout on stede with the phrase "stiff on stede," SMA lines 45, 350, and elsewhere.

56 noght fer fro Berwik opon Twede. City on the north-east coast at the mouth of the river Tweed.

60 of wild Scottes and alls of tame. Scholle, wilde. Hall suggests that Minot here makes a distinction between the Highland Scots, who spoke Gaelic, and the Lowland Scots, who spoke English.

62 boste. Scholle, Stedman, James and Simons, bost.

66 at Dondé now es done thaire daunce. Dundee, a city on the Firth of Tay in eastern Scotland. As Hall points out, daunce is one of Minot's repeated ironic tags (see for instance 5.14, 7.58, 7.74, 7.148-49, 8.72, and 9.3). Compare Pearl, lines 345-46: "For thogh thou daunce as any do, / Braundysch and bray thy brathez breme . . . ." For the collocation done thaire daunce, see YP 11.225; 19.96: "that daunce is done."

68 France. Hall notes that the nasalized a in Romance words before mb, ng,
nc, nd, and nt is written either a or au in the MS, so both France and Fraunce, chance and chaunce.

71, 87 thing. Collette notes that the scribe's normal practice is to use þ to represent th, but in thing he infrequently uses th.

75 caitefes. Stedman, caitefs. The alliterative collocation cursed caitefes occurs in fifteenth-century religious lyrics and in "cursid caytiffis," YP 30.356; 40.27; 47.317.

76, 81 suth. Scholle, soth.

77-78 Sir Jon the Comyn had thai hid; / in haly kirk thai did him quell. John Comyn was defeated by Robert Bruce in 1306 and subsequently murdered, 10 February 1306, in the Gray Friars' Kirk at Dumfries.

80 dole er dight. The phrase occurs in fourteenth-century lyrics and in "that doole schulde be dight," YP 26.184. that. Hall suggests thar.

82 menye. Ritson, Wright, menzé. The word is dissyllabic and in 4.10 rhymes with fre.

87 gaudes might no thing gain. See "gaudis sall noght tham gayne," YP 11.248.

90 proud in prese. Scholle, Stedman, pres. An alliterative collocation found elsewhere only in the poems of the Alliterative Revival and the rhyming romances. See "prowde in prees," Octavian the Emperor, line 1641 and compare prowd in pall 7.110.

92 pese. Scholle, Stedman, pes.


[II] Now for to tell yow will I turn
of the batayl of Banocburn.

MS omits the. Ritson's emendation. The Scottish victory at Bannockburn, 23-24 June 1314: Minot's subject here is less the humiliating defeat of Edward II's English army by Robert Bruce and the Scots than it is the avenging of that defeat in the victory at Halidon Hill.

2 at the Banock burn. Robbins gives the following verses, recorded in Brut, with which Scots women taunted the English:

Maydenes of Engelande, sare may ye morne,
For tynt ye haue lost youre lemmans at Bannokesborn
(p. 262)

3 ye. Ritson, ze. Throughout his edition, Ritson employs z for 3.

6 yit. Scholle, yow.

7 Where are ye, Skottes of Saint Johnes toune. The Scottish city of Perth is so named because it contains a church dedicated to the saint.

8 boste. Scholle, Stedman, bost.

11 worth. Collette notes that the scribe usually uses the Southern form wurth.

13 Skottes of Striflin. The town of Sterling, near which was fought the Battle of Bannockburn. The castle of Sterling, held by the English, had been under siege since 1313. If not relieved by 24 June 1314, it was to be surrendered to the Scots.

15 Now have thai, the pelers, priked obout. Hall and Sisam suggest this line refers to Scots border incursions intended to distract Edward from the siege of Berwick.

17 wurth. Scholle, worth.

18 bot ever. Hall suggests and ever.

19 Rughfute. Scholle, Rughfote.

20 berebag. A derisive term for a Scot. Froissart explains:

The Scots are a bold, hardy race, and much inured to war. When they invaded England, they were all usually on horseback, except the camp followers; they brought no carriages, neither did they encumber themselves with any provision. Under the flap of his saddle each man had a broad plate of metal; and behind his saddle a little bag of oatmeal, so that when occasion needed, cakes were made of the oatmeal, and baked upon the plates; for the most part, however, they ate the half-soddened flesh of the cattle they captured, and drank water. (p. 13)

boste. Scholle, bost.

22 Busk the unto Brig. "Brig" is variously emended by editors, but it clearly represents the Flemish city of Bruges, capital of West Flanders in northwestern Belgium, not that the fleeing Scots hid under a bridge. But n.b. spelling in line 25. Ritson, Wright, and Scholle read brig. Hall, Stedman, James and Simon emend to Brug, and Collette to Bruges.

24 Dondé. Dundee, port in eastern Scotland in Angus on the Firth of Tay.

25 The Skotte gase in Burghes and betes the stretes. Minot's stark image of the defeated Scotsman in exile. Alone of the great cloth-making states in the Low Countries, Flanders owed allegiance to France rather than to the Holy Roman Emperor, and was ruled by the unpopular French count, Louis of Nevers. While the official position was pro-French and so favorable to the Scots, Flanders experienced great popular unrest. Louis of Nevers was driven into exile, replaced by a burgher, Jacob Van Artevelde, from whom Henry Burghersh, Bishop of Lincoln, obtained a promise of neutrality in 1337.

Skotte. MS. skottes. Burghes. Ritson, Wright, Scholle, burghes.

26 all thise. Hall compares 3.47 and suggests In all thise.

harmes he hetes. See "Slike harmes hym for to hete," YP 18.136.

27 men that he metes. See "And many men myldely hym mette," YP 30.340.

28 frendes he findes. Compare "fynde me youre frende," YP 19.165, and "To fynde hym with oure frendis," YP 20.48.

29 fune. Scholle, fone. wurth. Scholle, worth.

34 Scholle supplies sir before Edward.


[III] How Edward the king come in Braband
and toke homage of all the land.

The sacking of Southampton, 4 October 1338: Between 1337 and 1339, the French raided at will Dover, Folkestone, Harwich, Hastings, Portsmouth, Rye, and the Isle of Wight, disrupting, among other things, wine importation. French ships were also reported in the mouth of the Thames; an order to drive piles into the river bottom as a precaution against invasion was issued in October, 1338.

2 Ingland. Scholle, Ingeland.

4 grante. Scholle, graunte.

11 MS: trely.

12 into Brabant. Scholle, Braband. Delayed three months for lack of shipping, Edward departed Walton-on-the-Naze for Antwerp on 16 July 1338. The allies acquired in the previous year by the embassy of Bishop Burghersh refused to act, however, until the emperor formally appointed Edward his suzerain in Germany and France.

13 The kayser Lowis of Bavere. Louis the Bavarian (1287-1347) elected Holy Roman Emperor as Louis IV in 1314. On 5 September 1338, at Coblenz, Louis IV invested Edward as his imperial vicar-general, a position with considerable authority over Germany and the Low Countries. Louis IV was paid ,60,000 but did little to further Edward's cause. From 1341 on, he was allied with Philip VI

15 sons. Scholle, sunes; Hall suggests emending to He and his two sons also.

17 prelates. Scholle, prelats.

19 princes and pople. The embassy of the Bishop of Lincoln and the Earls of Salisbury and Huntingdon won Edward the support of the Counts of Hainault, Gelderland, Berg, Cleves, and Marck, the Count Palatine of the Rhine, the Margrave of Juliers, and the Elector of Brandenburg, among others.

19 ald. Scholle, old. yong. Scholle, yung.

21 honowre. Scholle, honowr.

25 Hall, Stedman, and James and Simons do not observe a new stanza here or at lines 49, 59, 85, 94, or 101, although the majuscules beginning these lines (except 101) are clearly decorated with the yellow ink wash which elsewhere indicates stanza divisions.

The duke of Braband. John III, Duke of Brabant and Limburg (d. 1355) also promised support for Edward, at the cost of 60,000 and the promise to establish the wool staple at Antwerp. Froissart sums up:

On the feast of St. Martin King Edward had an interview with the Duke of Brabant at Arques. The town-hall was hung with rich and fine cloths. His majesty was seated five feet higher than the rest of the company, and had on his head a rich crown of gold. Here letters from the emperor to the king were publicly read, by which the King of England was constituted and established vicar of the empire of Germany, with full power granted him to do all acts of law and justice to every one in the emperor's name, and also to coin gold and silver. All persons, moreover, were commanded to do him fealty and homage as vicar of the empire. (p. 20)

31 al. Stedman, all.

36 thare ogayne. Scholle, tharogayne.

37 his moné that was gude and lele. Froissart alludes to the cost of bribery in winning the support of Jacob Von Artevelde in the Low Countries:

By fair speeches, promises, and a bountiful distribution of money, Edward, through his agents, at last prevailed with this powerful individual so far, that by his means the chiefs of the principal towns gave their consent that the King of England and his army might pass through Flanders whenever he pleased. . . . (p. 19)
The authority to coin money granted by Louis IV allowed Edward to establish a mint at Antwerp which produced golden écus bearing the eagle of the Empire over Edward's own name.

40 better. Scholle, Stedman, bet.

42 I wis. Hall, i-wis.

46 whilk. Ritson, whilke.

47 bithoght. Wright, bithought.

49 sone. Scholle, son.

56 childe. Scholle, Stedman, child.

59 At Hamton. Southampton and Portsmouth were raided in 1337-38; Froissart gives the details:

A party of French troops, consisting of Sir Hugh Quiriel and some few others, made a somewhat similar attack [i.e., to that of Sir Walter Manny's earlier attack on the French town of Mortaigne] upon England. As soon as they heard that hostilities had commenced, they landed one Sunday morning in the harbour of Southampton, entered the town whilst the inhabitants were at church, pillaged it, and having loaded their vessel with booty, fell down with the tide, and made sail to Dieppe, where they went on shore, and divided the plunder. (p. 21)

60 gaylayes. Hall notes this as a mistake for galayes.

62 mekill. Wright, makill.

67 stareand. Scholle, starand.

68 knoked. Stedman, James and Simons, knokked.

69 with tham. Hall suggests emending to "something like tham likes now nan other gle, (Cursor, 54)." none. Wright, non.

70 might. Stedman suggests moght as more likely.

fain . . . fle. See "I am ferde be my feyth and fayne wolde I flee," YP 28.265.

71 suth. Scholle, soth.

75-76 whare Cristofer stode / at Armouth. The contemporary chronicler Adam of Meerimuth reports that the great cog Christopher (300 tons, 3 cannon) was taken by the French on the Tuesday before the sack of Southampton, although other reports have it taken off Middleburg with the Edward and two smaller bullion ships, the St. George and the Black Cock, as they were returning home from the sale of the year's wool crop. Yarmouth is on the Isle of Wight.

76 Armouth. Scholle, Aremouth.

77 went. MS: wen. Hall, following Wright, emends to went.

78, 97 galayes men. Scholle, galaymen.

80 and with tham als war tarettes two. Scholle, tarets. The taret, like the galley, was a large ship propelled by rowers (the Genoese galleys under the command of Boccenera [see 10.19 note] were particularly fast and deadly in combat) but was primarily a transport vessel. Galiots were small galleys, and cogs like the Cristopher and Edward were beamy, deep-draft ships of the line.

84 mens. Scholle, Stedman mennes.

86 sone. Scholle, son.

91 schippes. Scholle, schips.

ful. Hall notes this should be omitted, a suggestion followed by Stedman, James and Simons.

93 wane. Scholle, wone, and in the next line, one.

96 baldly. Scholle, Stedman, baldely.

99 Collette supplies So at the beginning of the line.

100 with owten. The scribe's word divisions are often inconsistent.

107 nane. Scholle, none, and in the next line mone.

112 whils. Ritson, while; Wright, whil.

114 untill. Stedman, until.

116 gude. Scholle, gode.

118 lifes. Stedman, lives.

122 gude. Scholle, gode.

125 MS: ihc. Ingland. Scholle, Ingeland.

126 haly hand. Wright, holy. The phrase occurs in fifteenth-century religious lyrics and in "with his holy hand," YP 17.43.


[IV] Edward oure cumly king
in Braband has his woning

Edward's first invasion of France; the Battle of Flamengerie, 23 October 1339: On 1 September 1339, Edward sent a ceremonious challenge to Philip, whose army was at Compiègne. With his allies, Edward marched through Valenciennes towards Cambrai, the first of a number of long raids or chevauchées in which the English laid waste the countryside.

1 Note in MS opposite this line: Ewd III p. 103, a reference to Warton.

2 Braband. The Braband, what is now central Belgium, was a wealthy province caught between English and French loyalties. The region was of strategic importance to the English wool industry. It was battle ground for the disastrous Norwich Crusade later in the century.

3 cumly. Hall notes this is probably a mistaken repetition from the first line.

5 ordanis. Scholle, ordaynes; Ritson, Wright, ordains.

8 grant. Scholle, graunt. gaste. Scholle, gast.

9 his heritage to win. At Ghent in January 1340, Edward formally assumed the title to the Crown of France; his "heritage" is another of Minot's formulas for the dual monarchy. Wright prints the following Epigram on the Assumption of the Arms of France:

Jus E. regis Angliae in regno Francorum
Rex sum regnorum bina ratione duorum;
Anglorum cerno me regem jure paterno;
Jure matris quidem rex Francorum vocor idem.
Hinc est armorum variatio bina meorum,
M. ter centeno cum ter denoque noveno.
(Pol. Poems, I, 26.)

[The Right of Edward King of England in the Realm of France.
I am king of the two realms for a twofold reason.
I regard myself a King of England by right deriving from my father.
I am indeed styled King of France by right on my mother's side.
Hence come my two coats of arms in the year 1340. (James and Simons, p. 85)]

12 Ritson omits the first and.

16 langer wil. Stedman, longer will.

17 fast will he fare. Compare "forthe faste to fare," YP 5.173.

18 grapes. The Brabant is not known for its vineyards, but served rather as the mustering point for Edward's attack on France. England was a great importer of wines in the fourteenth century, especially from Burgundy and Gascony. The French king's disruption of the trade in the 1330's had nearly doubled the price in the latter part of the decade, with only about a third of the quantity in 1333-34 (6166 tons) being imported in 1339-40 (2022 tons). With the truce in September 1340, prices dropped to a pre-war level and wine was plentiful again in England. See Margery Kirkbride James, Studies in the Medieval Wine Trade (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971), pp. 19-34.

19 ferd. Scholle, fered; Hall suggests that ferd is "practically dissyllabic."

20 God. Scholle, Iesus.

22 nobill. Scholle, nobil. Scholle inserts als after duc.

25 floure de lice. Scholle, flour de lis. de lice is one word in MS. The fleur de lys was the heraldic symbol of the French kings. See A European Armorial, ed. Rosemary Pinckes and Anthony Wood (London: Heraldry Today, 1971), pp. 68, 88.

26 wan. Scholle, gained.

27 fast he fled for ferde. See 7.90, ferd war fast fleand, and compare "for ferdnes may we flee," YP 47.122.

28 right. Scholle, righte. Hall suggests emending to rightwis, see 7.113.

aire. Scholle, hair.

32 wit. Scholle, with. in. Hall, comparing Wyntoun's Chronicle, V 3153, suggests into.

33 batale. Scholle, bataille.

34 his men. Perhaps repeated from line 32. Scholle emends to He bad tham tham purvay; Hall suggests He bad his menye tham purvay.

35 lenger. Scholle, leng.

37-38 He broght folk ful grete wone, / ay sevyn oganis one. MS: boght. Advancing toward Peronne, Philip occupied Edward's county of Ponthieu with a massive army. What Minot characterizes as Philip's cowardice may have been politic caution, for Edward's allies, notoriously unreliable, probably posed no long-term threat.

38 oganis. Ritson, Wright, ogains; Scholle, ogaynes.

39 wapnid. Ritson, Wright, wapind.

40 MS: whe. Ritson, when.

42 than durst he noght cum nere. On 23 October 1339, near the village of Buironfosse, Edward deployed his forces in the formation that had proved so successful at the Battle of Halidon Hill: knights dismounted and banks of archers enfilade. Froissart reports that Philip was discouraged from the attack by an unfavorable forecast which arrived from his uncle, the renowned astrologer King Robert of Sicily. Perhaps Philip also suspected an English trap. In any event, Philip forbore the attack.

43 mornig. Hall notes this may be a genuine form and so James and Simons.

44 Ingliss. MS: igliss.

45 changed. MS: shanged.

47 gude. Scholle, god.

50 stalwortly. Ritson, stalworthly. schelde. Scholle, scheld.

54 frek to fight. A collocation found only in the rhyming romances; compare "frekke for to fighte," The Siege of Milan, line 1430.

55 sir. Written above the line in MS.

56 walld. Scholle, Stedman, wald.

57 gayned. Hall suggests gamed.

61-62 It semid he was ferd for strokes / when he did fell his grete okes. In the first English military dispatch to survive, Edward writes angrily to his son, the Black Prince: "Whereupon the foe withdrew his van and gave orders to encamp, made trenches around him and cut down large trees in order to prevent us approaching him" (Packe, p. 86). Philip had previously replied to Edward's challenge that if Edward "would choose out a place not fortified with trees, ditches or bogs, the King of France without fail would afford him battle." This failure to live up to the terms of the challenge is seized upon by Minot as further evidence of Philip's perfidy.

63 pavilyoune. Scholle, pavilyoun.

66 doune. Scholle, doun.

67 The king of Beme had cares colde. Philip's great army included three kings: blind King John of Bohemia, Philip's cousin Philip of Evreux, King of Navarre (line 70), and the young exile David of Scotland.

68 ful. MS: fur; James and Simons supply a second ful before bolde.

69 Scholle inserts for after stede.

70 Ritson, Stedman, and Collette supply He and at the beginning of the line.

71 war faire feld in the ferene. The line is probably corrupt. Skeat suggests that feld may mean struck down (followed by Collette and James and Simons) or is perhaps an error for fled. Hall thinks that Faire is a scribal error for fain and for, and proposes to read "War fain for fered in the ferene." Scholle emends feld to felid, and Stedman proposes "War faire fayn in the ferene." Hall suggests the words feld in the were inserted later, but examination of the MS under ultraviolet light reveals no sign of scraping. For another example of a king hiding in fear in the heather, see the note to 9.34.

74 felde hat. Scholle, felde it hat. Flemangrye. Scholle, Flamengerye.

77 dukes that war doghty. See "my duke doughty," YP 30.30.

79 raw. Scholle, row, and in the next line, blow.

89 hied him hame. Compare "Hamward I rede we hye," YP 20.9, and "hye you hame," YP 16.191.

90 giff. Stedman, gif.

91 the lely flowre. That is, Philip, King of France.

92 halely. Scholle, hally.

93 sogat. Ritson, so gat; Stedman, James and Simons, so-gat.

95 Collette omits that.

96 berde. Scholle, Stedman, berd.


[V] Lithes and the batail I sal bigyn
of Inglisch men & Normandes in the Swyn

The Battle of Sluys, 24 June 1340: On Saturday 24 June 1340, a fleet of two hundred and sixty English ships attacked the French flotilla anchored at Sluys (now Vissingen) in the mouth of the river Zwin. Once ships had engaged, medieval naval battles were simply land-battles fought across decks, and the ships of the French fleet were chained together by squadrons, a tactic that provided more room for maneuvering troops. It also meant that an entire line of ships could be taken at once, as were the French at Sluys. The chronicle of Geoffrey Le Baker de Swynebroke provides the details:

An iron cloud of bolts from crossbows, and arrows from bows, fell upon the enemy, bringing death to thousands; then those who wished, or were daring enough, came to blows at close quarters with spears, pikes and swords; stones, thrown from the ships' castles, also killed many. In brief, this was without a doubt an important and terrible naval battle which a coward would not have dared to see even from afar off. The sheer size and height of the Spanish ships rendered useless many of the blows cast by the English; but, finally, the first French squadron was defeated, abandoned by its men, and then captured by the English. The French ships were all chained together, so that they could not be separated from one another; thus only a few English ships were needed to guard one group of those which had been abandoned, the remainder being better able to direct their attention to the second French squadron, attacking it with some difficulty. None the less, this squadron was to be disabled even more easily than was the first, for the French abandoned their ships, large numbers of men jumping, of their own accord, into the sea. The first and second squadrons thus overcome, and with the light giving way to dusk, the English, since it was getting dark and they were very exhausted, decided to leave matters as they were until the morrow. (Allmand, pp. 128-29)

The Battle of Sluys was a notable English victory; the French flagship, Saint-Denis, was taken, and the Christopher recaptured along with the Edward. In all, two hundred and thirty ships fell into English hands. Shortly thereafter, Edward commemorated this victory with the minting of the first English gold coin, the noble, whose obverse shows Edward, armed with sword and shield, standing in his cog, Thomas; on the shield are quartered the arms of England and France.

1 Minot with mowth. Minot here refers to himself by name for the first time. It should be noted that the alliterative phrases mene with mouthe, as well as mele with mouthe and munne with mouthe, are important survivals from early Middle English alliterative poetry in the poems of the Alliterative Revival. Their use here links Minot's poems to a long practice of alliterative composition. Like the phrase "as I in toun herde, / with tonge" from SGGK, lines 31-32, however, these phrases should not be taken as self-evident testimony for an oral poetic tradition.

2 suth sawes and sad. Compare "the soth sawe," YP 33.288.

mens. Scholle, mennes.

4 sorow suld slake. The phrase occurs in fourteenth- and fifteenth-century religious lyrics and in "do my sorowe to slake," YP 39.45.

6 bute. Scholle, bote.

7 Valas. Scholle, valays.

8 sir Hugh Kyret. Hugh Quièret, appointed Admiral of France in 1336. He died of his wounds at the Battle of Sluys.

13 ferd. Scholle, fered.

14 thare lered Inglis men tham a new daunce. One of Minot's favorite ironic tags. See note to 1.66.

MS: anew. The scribe not infrequently runs a into a following n; see aname, line 16. Collette omits tham.

15 buriase. Ritson and Wright, burjase; Scholle, burias.

17 Sluse. Scholle, Sluys.

18 Normandes. Scholle, Normands.

19 Bruges. Stedman, James and Simons, Brug. Ipyre. Scholle, Ipres. hereof. Scholle, herof.

20 Edward . . . that was in Arwell. King Edward had returned to England in February of 1340 and called upon Parliament to raise further monies, troops, and ships for the war effort. Edward was prepared to sail again for Antwerp from Orwell at Whitsun, but word came of the great French fleet assembled at Sluys. Edward commandeered sixty additional ships and finally sailed on 22 June 1340.

22 sergantes. Scholle, seriantes.

23 Normandes. MS: Nomandes. Scholle, Normands; Stedman, Normandes. war. Stedman, James and Simons, were.

25 sune. Stedman, sone.

26 barons. Scholle, barouns.

27 Thai come byfor Blankebergh on Saint Jons night. On 23 June, off Blankenburgh, the English first caught sight of the French fleet. Aboard his flagship the Thomas, King Edward saw "so great a number of ships that their masts seemed to be like a great wood." Battle commenced on 24 June, the feast of St. John the Baptist - half-ebb (5.33) occurred at roughly 3 p.m. and high tide was around 11:30.

28 well. Scholle, wel. sary sight. Compare "I am sorie of a sight," YP 29.41.

30 the wilde waniand. The period of the waning moon was considered to be unlucky. See 9.25 and 10.6 for other instances of this use. In a note to "The Battle of Neville's Cross," line 25, Robbins cites the Brut on the Scots' defeat in 1422 at Vernon: "But the moste vengeance fell upon the proude Scottes. . . So that they may say wele 'In the croke of the mone went thei thidre warde, And in the wilde wanyende come thei homewarde"' (p. 265). See also the Wakefield Master's The Second Shepherds' Play: "Now walk in the wenyand!" line 405.

31 suth. Scholle, soth.

32 meri. Ritson, mery. sir Robard out of Morlay. Robert de Morley, second Baron Morley (1296?-1360). Commanded in 1338 to guard Yarmouth from the French fleet, Robert was shortly thereafter made Admiral of the Fleet from the Thames to Berwick. As such, he commanded at the Battle of Sluys. He was also present at the Battle of Crécy.

34 Normandes. Scholle, Normands.

36 MS, Ritson, and Wright: es. Hall suggests the error is due to the subsequent es. Collette emends wreches to wretches, Scholle to wrecches; James and Simons emend the second es to is.

37 The erle of Norhamton. William de Bohun (1312?-1360). One of the seven earls belted in 1337, William was appointed one of the commissioners to treat with Philip of France on Edward's claim to the French crown; subsequently, he was appointed a commissioner to treat with Robert Bruce. He took part in Edward's expedition of 1338 and in 1342 was appointed the king's lieutenant and captain-general in Brittany. He was present at Crécy. William died 16 September 1360, and was buried at Walden in Essex

erle. Scholle, Erl.

38 man. James and Simons, men.

39 Sir Walter the Mawnay. Sir Walter de Manny, a native of Hainault, was knighted in 1331. He distinguished himself in the Scottish campaign, particularly at the siege of Berwick. On 11 August 1337 he was appointed Admiral of the Fleet north of the Thames, and according to Froissart, he was the epitome of valor and courage at the Battle of Sluys. He was created a baron of the realm in 1347 and Admiral of the Northern Fleet in 1348. The most distinguished soldier of his time, he died in 1372.

40 Scholle supplies man after bold; Hall suggests burne, Stedman barn. batayl. Ritson, batayle.

41 The duc of Lankaster. Henry of Lancaster (1299-1361). Famed as a youthful crusader in Prussia, Rhodes, Cyprus, and Granada, Henry was appointed to command an army against the Scots in 1336. On 16 March 1337, Edward created him Earl of Derby, and he was present at Sluys where according to Froissart he behaved with great valor. In 1345 Derby was made lieutenant and captain of Aquitaine, and in the same year he succeeded his father as Earl of Lancaster and of Leicester and steward of England. (He was not titled Duke until 1352, evidence that Minot apparently revised the whole series, perhaps adding the rubrics, when he composed the final poem.) Lancaster was present at the siege of Calais and was one of the original knights of the Order of the Garter. He was accounted a perfect knight, the greatest warrior of his time. His daughter and heiress Blanche married John of Gaunt, and her death by plague is commemorated in Chaucer's Book of the Duchess. It has been suggested that Chaucer's portrait of the knight in the General Prologue of The Canterbury Tales is modeled on Henry of Lancaster.

41 Hall does not indicate a stanza here; Stedman and James and Simons do.

42 mani. Wright, many.

43 stalworthly. James and Simons, stalworthy. stint. Stedman suggests stert.

44 Normandes. Scholle, Normands; also 50, 61, and 68.

46 MS: C. Ritson, hundred; Scholle, hundreth.

47 Sir Wiliam of Klinton. William Clinton participated in Edward's first Scottish campaign and was created Earl of Huntingdon in 1337. In April of that year he accompanied Henry Burghersh, Bishop of Lincoln, as ambassador in the Low Countries. He was later made an Admiral, Justice of Chester, Governor of Dover, and Warden of the Cinque Ports. He died in 1354.

Wiliam. James and Simons, William.

49 it semid with thaire schoting als it war snaw. The English longbow again proved its superiority. Froissart's account does not glorify the battle:

The French were equally desirous to engage, and as soon as they were within sight of the English, they filled the Christopher, the large ship which they had captured but a short time before, with trumpets and other warlike instruments, ordering her to begin the attack. The battle was fierce, murderous, and horrible. In the end the English came off victorious, the Christopher was recaptured by them, and all in her taken or killed. (p. 25)

53 The gude erle of Glowceter. Hugh de Audley, b. 1289?, created Earl of Glou-cester 1337. Audley was present with Edward at Buironfosse and accompanied Henry of Derby's expeditionary force to Bordeaux in August of 1345. Badly wounded at Poitiers, Audley died in 1347. Stedman, however, identifies the "gude erle" as James de Audley or Audeley (1316?-1369).

mot. James and Simons, mote.

54 boldmen. Scholle, bolde men; Stedman, bold men.

55 baldely. Scholle, boldely.

56 James and Simons supply the before middes.

57 wretches. Wright, wrecches.

59 John Badding. Hall and particularly Stedman argue that Badding "was probably a personal friend of Laurence Minot." Roscoe E. Parker identifies Badding as John Badding of Winchelsea, officially a master of the galley from the Cinque Ports (PMLA 37 [1922], 360-65).

60 suthwest. Scholle, southwest.

63 John of Aile. Jan van Eyle, a citizen of Sluys, commander of the French forces aboard the Christopher. He was captured in the battle and subsequently beheaded.

64 was comen into Cagent. Scholle, cumen. Probably Cadzant, a village in Zeeland near the mouth of the Scheldt. Cadzant was earlier the site of a famous English attack on the garrison of the Count of Flanders in November of 1337, in which Sir Walter Manny rescued the fallen Earl of Derby. Compare cantly and kene with 7.107 and see YP 22.183, "cant and kene."

65 Bot. James and Simons, bote.

67 swith. Scholle swithe and in the next lines skrithe, kithe.

71 on. Ritson and Wright, in.

72 had. Scholle, haved. won. Scholle, wonnen.

73-74 The kogges of Ingland war broght out of bandes / and also the Cristofir. In addi-tion to the Christopher, the English recovered the Edward, the St George, the Black Cock, and the Rich Oliver.

74 also. Scholle, als.

75 In. A large decorated initial at the top of column b. Hall and James and Simons mark the stanza break two lines later where Sir Edward also has a large black initial decorated with yellow. Collette marks the stanza break at line 75. still. Ritson, stil.

76 Stedman and Hall, Til. James and Simons supply that following til.

77 wurthi. Scholle, worthli.

78 flude. Scholle, flode.

faire mot him fall. See "And felawes, faire mott ye fall," YP 29.214.

80 gudely. Scholle, godely, also in following line.

81 God gif. Compare "God giffe you myght and mayne," YP 10.135.

82 oure. Ritson, our. gude. Scholle, gode.

84 whare. Ritson, Wright, Scholle, where. Normandes. r is interlinear in the same hand. made. Scholle, maked.

85 Wele. Wright, wale.

86 boste. Stedman, James and Simons, bost and in 87.

87 sawls. James and Simons, sawles. sais. Wright, said.


[VI] Herkins how king Edward lay
with his men bifor Tournay.

The Siege of Tournai, July to September, 1340: Toward the end of July, 1340, Edward and his allies invested Tournai, which had been impressively fortified and garrisoned. Froissart provides a summary of the siege:

At the time appointed the King of England set out from Ghent, accompanied by seven earls from his own country, two prelates, twenty-eight bannerets, 200 knights, 4,000 men-at-arms, and 9,000 archers, without counting foot soldiers; these with the fine cavalry of the Earl of Hainault and the 40,000 Flemings of Jacob Von Artaveld, completely invested the city of Tournay. The siege lasted a long time, and many gallant actions were performed. . . . (p. 26)

Heading: Herkins. MS: herknis (?); Collette, Herkin.

1 Towrenay. Scholle, James and Simons, Towrnay.

3 bore. Only here and in 7.21, but bare sixteen times. brenis. Ritson, Wright, brems.

A bore with brenis bright. Collette suggests that the reference to the boar is based on the Prophecies of Merlin in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae, which foretells the conquest of Gaul by an English boar. In the English poem which derives from Merlin's prophecies in Geoffrey, The Prophecy of the Six Kings to follow King John, Edward III is identified as both lion and boar. See notes to 7.1. Minot's reference to Merlin seems not to be idiosyncratic but rather part of a larger pattern of political propaganda. Geoffrey Le Baker, for instance, works in an offhand allusion to the prophecy in his description of the attack at Sluys: ". . . he [Edward III] began to attack the enemy as they had hoped he would. A fearful shout arose into the sky above the wooden horses [the French ships], as Merlin had prophecied" (Allmand, p. 128).

5 semely. Scholle, semly.

6 schilterouns. In 5.63 scheltron and so Scholle. Hall notes that the scribe has followed the analogy of Romance words like resoun, soun.

7 domes day es dight. Compare "dome this day is dight," YP 47.186.

15 harmes. Scholle, harms. Hall suggests rather that harmes is dissyllabic here as in 2.26, and omits that.

16 hele. Hall suggests holde, and in 17, holdes. But more likely hele is simply the indicative form of helen, "to cover or conceal."

19 find ye yowre frende. See "fynde me youre frende," YP 19.165.

21 sall occurs sixteen times; sal only at 5.6, 6.33 and 8.19.

23 now thar. Scholle, No bowes er for yow bende.

27 mirthes mun ye mis. The phrase occurs in fifteenth-century secular lyrics and in the York plays: compare "my mirth may noghte mys," YP 1.83.

30 and. Scholl, all.

31 I wis. Hall, i-wis.

33 sal. James and Simons, sall.

34 dintes. Scholle, dints. dowte. Collette, dowt.

35-36 Yowre biginges sall men brene / and breke yowre walles obout. Scholle, bigings; James and Simons, bigines. Scholle, bren. Although the outlying country was plundered and largely destroyed, Tournai itself was successful in resisting the siege, which lasted, Froissart says, three days short of eleven weeks, a truce finally having been arranged on 25 September 1340 by Philip's sister, Lady Jeanne de Valois. These lines seem to suggest that Minot composed the poem before the siege was withdrawn.

39 care men sall yow ken. Compare "slyk care was neuere kende," YP 11.260.

40 lord to lout. Compare "lord for to lowte," YP 33.8.

41 yowre. MS: yow.

44 als. James and Simons, as.

45 fande. Scholle, Stedman, fand.

48 broght on bere. Compare "For be thou, blissid birde, unto bere broght," YP 44.50.

50 than cumes Philip to late. Scholle, then. Having marched from Arras, Philip and his army encamped at Bouvines, some ten miles to the west of Tournai, but declined once again to offer battle.

52 hert ye may him hate. Compare "Hartely we hym hate," YP 26.97.

54 till. Scholle, til. Turnay. Scholle, Tournay.

56 The MS has a mark of punctuation between strate and ful and also after still.

60 trow my tale. Compare "Are schalle I trowe no tales," YP 41.163.

61 tuke. Scholle, toke.

62 MS: brwed. Scholle, Stedman, James and Simons brewd; Collette, brewed.

A Braban. John, third Duke of Brabant, a powerful but duplicitous ally of Edward. He seems to have allowed many civilians from Tournai to pass through his lines to join the French at Arras; there were also rumors that he permitted supplies to enter the city. His treachery may have been one of Edward's reasons for abandoning the siege.

64 Giftes grete. Compare "gifte is not grete," YP 16.343.

67 rapely ride. Scholle, raply. See "full rappely I ridde," YP 16.7.

70 moste for mede. Scholle, most. Compare "mater moste were for oure mede," YP 20.68.

71 frely fode. This collocation occurs in fourteenth-century religious lyrics as well as in the York plays, "And I myght fynde that frely foode," YP 15.78, and "that frely foode," YP 19.110.

74 thare in. Scholle, tharin; Hall, tharein.

77 main and mode. Wright, maine. An alliterative phrase found also in Old English poetry and prose, the poetry of Layamon, and the rhyming romances.

78 France. Scholle, Fraunce.

80 grante. Scholle, graunte.


[VII] How Edward at Hogges unto land wan
and rade thurgh France or ever he blan.

Saint Vaast-la-Hougue, 11 July 1346; Caen, 30 July 1346; Battle of Crécy, 26 August 1346: Edward brought to Normandy a large army, perhaps exceeding 15,000 men, many of whom were Welsh and Cheshire archers. The army had been mustered in the expectation of reinforcing Henry of Lancaster in Aquitaine and raising the siege of Aiguillon. According to Froissart, Edward was persuaded to land in Normandy by Godfrey de Harcourt, who promised little resistance and easy plunder.

Headnote: MS: tlurgh.

1-2 Men may rede in romance right / of a grete clerk that Merlin hight. Stedman, romaunce. The creation of Geoffrey of Monmouth (Historia Regum Britanniae, Vita Merlini), Merlin as magician and prophet acquires preeminence in a number of twelfth- and thirteenth-century romances, notably Robert de Boron's Merlin, the anonymous Suite du Merlin, and the English Arthour and Merlin. Geoffrey introduced into the Historia a list of Merlin's prophecies from which derives in its various Latin, Anglo-Norman, and English stages The Prophecy of the Six Kings to follow King John recorded on folio 49a of Cotton Galba E.ix, only two leaves before Minot's poems. Taylor notes that The Six Kings was the prophecy used against Henry IV by the Percy-Glendower faction (The Political Prophecy in England, p. 48).

2 grete. Scholle, gret.

3 wreten. Scholle, writen and in next line witen.

5 Hall observes that yit seems to mark these two lines as an interpolation of the scribe.

6 men. James and Simons, man.

8-9 Out of the north into the sowth / suld cum a bare over the se. The Six Kings characterizes Edward III as a Lion fierce and terrible of heart and as the Boar of Prosperity, Nobility, and Wisdom, who will whet his tusks on the gates of Paris.

11 the se. Wright, these.

13 France. Scholle, Fraunce, and so in lines 16, 23, 35, etc.

14 wrath. Scholle, wroth. tharein. Scholle, tharin.

15 Untill. Scholle, until.

17 mater for to make. Compare "This matere makes me," YP 16.246.

18 prince. Scholle, princes. Hall notes the s is dropped because another s follows.

20 now Laurence Minot will bigin. See the Introduction for the Minots of Yorkshire and Norfolk.

23 for John of France will he noght spare. John of France (b. 1319, r. 1350-64), Duke of Normandy.

24 Normondy. Scholle, Normandy, and so in 38, 72, etc.

26 maste. Scholle, mast.

27 mai. Wright, may.

28 Gaste. Scholle, gast, and so in 29.

30 gude. Scholle, god. Beginning at this line, the scribe marks stanzas by marginal notation.

33 assoyl. James and Simons, asoyl.

35 entred. Wright, entrid.

37 suth. Scholle, soth.

39 at Hogges fand he famen fell. As early as New Year's Day, 1346, Edward gave orders for the fleet to assemble at Portsmouth, but not until July 11, after a week of bad weather had kept them at sea, did the English land at the little sea-port on the coast of Normandy, Saint-Vaast. The surprised town offered no resistance and soon the whole Cotentin peninsula was overrun, and unwalled towns like Barfleur and Cherbourg sacked and pillaged.

40 ful. James and Simons, full.

41 makked grete maistri. Scholle, maked and gret. Compare "he makis on this molde mekill maystrie," YP 31.108, and in many other places.

43 mild Mari. A commonplace of the lyrics and the York plays; see "of mylde Marie," YP 25.522, and many other instances.

45 prese. Scholle, Stedman, pres.

46 pencell. Scholle, pencel.

47 with outen. James and Simons, withouten. rese. Scholle, Stedman, res.

48 unto Cane the graythest gate. By the end of July, Edward had taken the unwalled city of Caen.

51 Sir John of France come al to late. Duke John with a large army had gone south in February 1346 to attack the cities of Aquitaine held by Henry, Earl of Lancaster and his garrisons, and laid siege to Aiguillon on April 5. Indeed, one of Edward's objectives in the invasion of Normandy was to draw John north, raising the siege at Aiguillon and rescuing Lancaster. Duke John however did not break off the siege until August 20, and he did not return to Paris until September.

53 Hall supplies tham after gert, following Morris and Skeat's Specimens; so too James and Simons.

55 tolde. Scholle, told.

56 was. James and Simons, war.

57 war. James and Simons, was.

58 dance. Scholle, daunce.

61 misliking. MS: misliling.

62 treson. Scholle, tresoun.

63 Inglis men. James and Simons, Inglismen.

64 bargan dere thai boght. Scholle, der. See "This bargan sall be bought," YP 9.126.

65 Inglismen. James and Simons, Inglis men.

70 o ferrum. Hall, o-ferrum; Collette, oferrum.

71 wonen. Scholle, wonnen.

72 fals. Scholle, false.

73 how. Wright, now. lye. Scholle, ly.

74 dongen doun. Scholle, dungen. Compare "to be dong doune," YP 33.331.

75 faire. Scholle, fair.

78 at Cressy when thai brak the brig. Hall suggests that Cressy is a scribal error for Poissy. Philip and his army lay on the north of the Seine at Rouen, Edward on the south. The bridge at Poissy was the last before Paris, and on 13 August Philip crossed the bridge and had it demolished as he retreated to Paris. The piers were not destroyed, however, and the English were able to repair the span.

80 than. Stedman suggests the MS may read then, but close examination does not support such a reading. langer. Scholle, Stedman, leng, a reading Hall endorses but does not adopt.

83 baldly. Scholle, boldly.

85 bent. Scholle, bended.

87 tham. James and Simons, them.

90 ferd war fast fleand. See 4.27.

93 Than. Wright, Then.

94 toward the toun. Wright, town. The town is Paris.

95 kumly knight. See "comely knyght," YP 25.514.

104 sembland sene. James and Simons, seen. Compare 8.79 and see "no sembelant be sene," YP 16.149.

105 schelde. James and Simons, scheld. helmis. Stedman, helmes.

106 James and Simons supply thai following bare.

107 cant and kene. See 5.64.

109 prese. Stedman, pres.

110 prowd in pall. A phrase found elsewhere only in the rhyming romances; see "proud yn palle," Libeaus Disconus, lines 389, 1835, and compare proud in prese 1.90.

111 princes suld be wele bithoght. Minot offers here a critique of those princes - William, Count of Namier, Henry, Count of Salm, and John of Hainault - whose allegiance shifted from Edward to Philip between 1340 and 1346.

112 till counsail call. See "ne counsaille to call," YP 29.300.

kinges suld. Hall notes that suld "is clearly due to the preceding line, as ten Brink points out in Scholle, p. 45." till. MS: toll. Ritson, tyll; Hall, till. counsail. James and Simons, counsaill.

113 sall. Scholle, sal.

115 els. Scholle, elles; James and Simons omit the initial or.

117 I wis. Ritson, Hall, i-wis and so line 165.

119 murnig. Hall, murni[n]g; Collette, murning; Stedman, James and Simons, murnig. Compare "that other es chastynig of fless," MS f. 69b.

121 speche . . . spare. See 8.23 and 10.1 and compare "at my speche wolde thou never spare," YP 6.139.

124 catell. Scholle, catel.

127 lies . . . ful law. The phrase may be found in the Harley lyrics and in the York plays, "and laies hym full lowe," YP 16.6; or "lay thaim full lowe," YP 16.26.

131 mak. Collette, make.

133 Was thou noght, Franceis, with thi wapin / bitwixen Cressy and Abuyle. James and Simons, nought. By the 17th of August, the English had repaired the bridge at Poissy, and the army moved north across the Seine, heading for the Somme and a rendezvous with Edward's Flemish allies. Philip marched from Saint-Denis two days later. Between Abbeville and Amiens, Edward could find no crossing of the Somme, but finally a French informant revealed a ford at Blanchetaque manageable at low tide. The French holding the north bank were defeated by Hugh Despenser and Northampton in the vanguard while high tide prevented Philip's pursuit. The French and English armies finally met in the valley of the Maye (known as the Vallée aux Clercs) on 26 August 1346. Edward again employed the tactics so successful in Scotland, positioning his forces on the high edge of the forest of Crécy-en-Ponthieu - the right flank under the command of the Black Prince, the left flank under the Earl of Northampton. The pursuing French army, almost entirely cavalry, attacked late in the afternoon, uphill and into the glare of the setting sun.

137 Bisschoppes war thare. Thomas de Hatfield, the Bishop of Durham, was one of the military commanders at Crécy.

140 tak. James and Simons, take.

141 delid . . . dint. The phrase may be found in poems of the Alliterative Revival and the rhyming romances. Compare "delen dyntes," Laud Troy Book, line 9233, and "dyntes to dale," SMA, line 1076.

142 the gentill Genevayse. a corrected out of e in the MS; Scholle, Genevays. Running out of ammunition, the Genoese crossbow mercenaries fell back, only to be trampled by the charging French knights.

146 purviance. James and Simons, purviaunce.

147 the best of France and of Artayse. Scholle, Artays. In the chaotic battle that followed, which continued until dark, the flower of French chivalry was cut down. The Count of Flanders, the blind King of Bohemia, the Count of Blois, Philip's brother, Duke of AlenÇon, Ralph, Duke of Lorraine, John, Earl of Harcourt, lay dead on the field. Altogether the English heralds identified 1,542 mounted knights killed. King Philip, twice dismounted, twice wounded, and twice rescued, escaped with his retinue to Amiens to rally the remainder of the army.

148 MS: alto dongyn. Scholle, dungyn; Hall, al to-dongyn.

151 wun. Scholle, won.

154 evermore. Scholle, evermare and in line 156, sare; but see 7.54, 57, 59.

155 armure. Collette, armur.

thik and thin. The collocation occurs elsewhere only in the rhyming romance Sir Degare, line 188.

157 Sore. Scholle, Sare.

158 hym. Hall, him.

160 es. Scholle, was.

161 frend faithfulest. The collocation "faithful friend" occurs in fourteenth-century religious lyrics and frequently in the York plays: "frende faithtfull," YP 16.335, etc.

166 Ritson supplies the before high palays.

168 bigged him bifor Calais. With Duke John and his army nearing Paris, Edward, still without having met with his Flemish allies, moved north again to besiege Calais.

169 romance. Scholle, romaunce.


[VIII] How Edward als the romance sais
held his sege bifor Calais.

The Siege of Calais, 1346-1347: For Minot, Calais is the home port of channel piracy and the origin of the French depredations along the English coast during the late 1330's and early 1340's. He presents the siege of Calais as just retribution for earlier acts of lawlessness. Froissart gives an account of the siege:

Edward marched with his victorious army to Wisant, and having halted there one whole day, arrived on the following Thursday before the strong town of Calais, which he had determined to besiege. When the governor of Calais saw the preparations of the King of England, he collected together all the poorer inhabitants and sent them out of the town in order that the provisions of the place might last the longer; he resolved moreover to defend the town to the last. (p. 49)

Unlike the unwalled cities on the Cotentin peninsula, Calais was strongly fortified, defended by a double curtain wall, a double dike, and a fully provisioned and garrisoned citadel. The town could not be taken by force; Edward resolved to reduce it by starvation, investing the city with a siege and naval blockade. The citizens surrendered on 4 August 1347 and the Truce of Calais was signed at the end of September.

Title: This poem is VII in Ritson, VIII in Scholle, Collette, James and Simons, and VIII or VIIb in Hall.

1 Calays. Ritson and Scholle, Calais.

2 murnig. Hall, murni[n]g; Collette, murning. See 7.119.

4 sall. Scholle, sal.

6 ren. James and Simons, run.

8 care es cumen. See "Oure cares ar comen," YP 6.46; 45.227; or "What care is comen," YP 15.39.

11 gudes. Scholle, godes; MS: albidene.

14 gudes. Scholle, gods.

17 I wis. Hall, i-wis.

19 sal. Stedman, sall. abate yowre blis. See "blisse schal neuere abatte," YP 19.71.

21 hunt als hund dose hare. See the complaint in MS Harley 2253, "The Song of the Husbandman," "honteth ase hound doth the hare," line 56, which is also an example of iteration or stanza-linking.

23 speche . . . spare. see 7.121 and 10.1. Compare "Such speking wille we spare," YP 20.203.

26 to big his boure in winter tyde. To shelter his troops through the winter months of the siege, Edward had constructed near the bridge of Nieulay a grand wooden encampment, Villeneuve-le-Hardi; Queen Philippa joined him there shortly before Christmas.

27 takes he. James and Simons, he takes.

28 MS: segantes. Ritson, Hall, sergantes; Scholle, seriantes.

29 walkes ful wide. Compare 10.9 and "walked full wyde," YP 30.299.

30 MS: ihu. Ritson, Jhesu; Wright and Scholle, Iesu. fro. Collette, from. mischance. Scholle, mischaunce.

31 dar. Ritson, dare.

32 sir Philip and sir John of France. Scholle, Fraunce. As early as April, 1347, Philip and John began to assemble a force to relieve Calais, including those who had survived Crécy as well as Duke John's southern army. On 27 July, Philip's troops arrived at Sangatte, separated from the English forces by the river Hem.

34 grete. Scholle, gret.

37 hald. Scholle, hold.

40 bi counsail of the cardinales. Pope Clement VI sent two cardinals, Annibale Ceccano, Bishop of Frascati, and Etienne Aubert, later Pope Innocent VI, to discuss a treaty between England and France.

41 Cardinales. Scholle, Cardinals.

44 how thai might sir Edward bigile. Minot here reflects English distrust of the papal court at Avignon.

45 bot. James and Simons, bote.

46 grace. Collette, grace.

47 Sir Philip was funden a file. Scholle, founden. Negotiations for a treaty failed, and Philip offered battle. On 2 August, however, a day before the armies were to meet, the French army melted away, chased by Lancaster and Northampton.

50 funden. Scholle, Stedman, fun; that is omitted by Wright.

51 Valas. Scholle, Valays.

54 all. James and Simons, al. ledeing. Scholle, leding.

55 all. James and Simons, al.

57 Ritson continues this as VII, Scholle and Stedman as VIII; Hall calls it VIIc but continues it as VIII

58 suth. Scholle, soth.

60 sare wepeand. Scholle, sar wepand.

61 In kirtell one and swerd in hand. Scholle, on. Robbins cites the Brut on the appearance of the emissaries:

[they] wenten on the walles of the toun, and in other divers placys, as naked as they were bore, saf here chirtys and brechys, & heldyn hire swerdus naked, & the poynt downward, in hire handes, & puttyn ropys & halterys abowte hire neckys, and yolden up the keyes of the toun and of the Castell to Kyng Edward, with grete fere and drede of hert. (p. 267)

Froissart reports the famous story of the Burghers of Calais:

Edward, at first, was unwilling to accept anything but an unconditional surrender of all the inhabitants to his will; at the remonstrance of Sir Walter Manny, however, he agreed to have placed at his absolute disposal six only of the principal citizens, who were to come out to him with their heads and feet bare, with ropes round their necks, and the keys of the town and castle in their hands; upon this being complied with, the rest were to receive his pardon. After some hesitation six citizens were found ready to purchase the freedom of their fellow-sufferers upon these hard terms. They left the town in the way appointed by the king, who received them with angry looks, and ordered their heads to be struck off without delay: all who were present entreated him to have mercy, but he replied that the Calesians had done him so much damage and put him to so much expense, that it was proper they should suffer for it; and without doubt these six citizens would have been beheaded had not the queen, on her knees and with tears in her eyes, entreated him to spare them. (p. 50)

On 28 September 1347, a truce was signed outside the walls. Almost all the inhabitants of Calais were dispossessed; English colonists were offered easy and generous terms, and the city remained in English hands over the following two hundred years.

62 and cried sir Edward, thine are. Ritson, thine we are, and so Wright, Scholle, Hall and Stedman; Hall notes that the MS "is perhaps right." James and Simons, following Stedman and Hall, suggest are here derives from Old English ar, "mercy," citing Octavian: "The Crysten prysoners were full fayne, / When the Sarsyns were y-slayne, / And cryed, 'Lord, thyn ore!"' (lines 1681-83). The form are is preserved in the Northern dialect as late as 1400: "Lord Alexander, thine are, quare is thi wittis?" The Wars of Alexander, line 5361.

65 nobill. Ritson, noble; Scholle, nobil. burgase. Scholle, burias.

67 puple. Scholle, pople.

69 Thai said all. Hall suggests Than said thai all, Philip oure syre.

70 France. Scholle, Fraunce.

72 till. James and Simons, til. dance. Scholle, daunce.

73-74 Oure horses, that war faire and fat, / er etin up ilkone bidene. James and Simons, were. Despite the practice of expelling the "bouches inutiles" and the permeability of the English blockade, the citizens of Calais suffered greatly from lack of food. The formula repeated in the Brut, "they eten hors, houndes, cattes & mys" may originate with a message for Philip from John de Vienne [8.82] recovered in the wreckage of a French convoy destroyed off Calais by John Montgomery's ships. John de Vienne writes to King Philip, "Know, dread Sir, that your people in Calais have eaten their horses, dogs, and rats, and nothing remains for them to live upon, unless they eat one another. Wherefore, most honourable Sir, if we have not speedy succour, the town is lost" (Packe, p. 169).

76 hundes. Scholle, houndes.

78 nowther. Scholle, nowþer.

79 sembland sene. Compare 8.79 and "sembelant be sene," YP 16.149.

81 renowne. Scholle, renown.

82 sir John de Viene. Jean de Vienne, seigneur de Pagny (d. 1351). Warden of Calais and a veteran of French expeditions to Scotland, he fought with John of France in Normandy in 1341.

83 wardaine. Scholle, wardain. toune. Scholle, toun.

85 boste. Stedman, bost.

86 strevyn. Scholle, strivyn.

87 mak. James and Simons, make.

88 gifen. Scholle, given.

94 barely. Scholle, barly.

96 MS: so gat, and so Ritson. Hall, Stedman, James and Simons, so-gat; Collette sogat.


[IX] Sir David had of his men grete loss
with sir Edward at the Nevil cross.

The Battle of Neville's Cross, 17 November 1346: The battle was fought about a kilometer west of Durham Cathedral. The English army formed its ranks on a ridge somewhat south of Crossgate Moor, southeast of Baxter Wood and within sight of Bearpark. The Scots were on lower ground to the northwest. A chronicler from Lanercost Abbey provides an account (colored no doubt by the Scots' sacking of his abbey):

About the third hour, on a field hard by Durham, the English host came upon the Scots, led by the Earl of Angus in the front line, a man of noble stock and valiant, ever ready to do battle for his country. The Bishop ordered that no man should spare a Scot and he himself rode against them with such a staff [mace] that without confession he absolved many Scots of all future trouble in this world. Then amid the blare of trumpets, the clash of sword on shield, the hurtling of arrows, you might hear the wailing of the wounded. Arms were broken, heads shattered, many lay dead upon the field. Before the hour of Vespers the battle was over and those Scots who had not fallen, fled. David, who called himself King of Scotland, was taken and sent in chains to the Tower. (Neillands, p. 107)

Collette (p. xxxiii) points out that Minot's poem is very close to a contemporary Latin poem on the same subject and that they share the metaphor of flowers that have fallen:

Si valeas paleas, Valoyes, dimitte timorem;
In campis maneas, pareas, ostende vigorem.
Flos es, flore cares, in campis viribus ares,
Mane techel fares, lepus es, lynx, non leo pares.
Francia flos florem, caput olim nobiliorum,
Jam contra mores leopardus tollit honores.
Subpedito florem, rapio florentis honorem,
Flos fueram, formido feram cun jubare veram.

[If you are worth anything, Valois, put aside fear. Stay in the field, be obedient, display your energy. You are the flower, you have lost the flower, your strength has dried up; Mane, Techel, Phares. You are a horse, a lynx: you do not look like a lion. France is the flower of flowers, the capital once of those of nobler birth. Now, against his nature, the leopard carries off the honours. I supply the flower, I seize the glory of him that prospers. Once I was the flower: now I fear the real beast with its splendour. James and Simons, p. 96]

Wright reproduces the MS lineation by half-line but numbers pairs of half-lines. I have followed Hall and Stedman in printing long lines, as in the other poems, with a dot marking the caesura.

1 Sir David the Bruse. David II, (b. 1324, r. 1329-71), son of Robert the Bruce. Following the defeat of the Scottish army at Halidon Hill (see poem 1), David II had gone with his mother to France for safe-keeping, where he remained until 1341. The phrase at distance may mean "far removed," a reference to David's French exile. On the other hand, the phrase may also mean "in opposition, hostile to," in which case the opening of this poem may refer to the battle at Dupplin Moor, in which Edward Balliol and "the Disinherited" defeated the Scots on 12 August 1332. Dupplin Moor may be the more referred to in line 4; otherwise the more refers to Crossgate Moor, west of Durham, where the Battle of Neville's Cross was fought.

distance. Scholle, distaunce, and launce in the next line.

2 Edward the Baliolfe. Scholle, Baliolf. Edward Balliol the pretender (see poem 1, notes).

3 the north end of Ingland. Edward had foreseen the possibility of renewed hostilities in the North as a result of his French expedition, and he had therefore refrained from mustering the levies in the counties north of the Trent.

4 mischance. Scholle, James and Simons, mischaunce.

5 Sir Philip the Valayse A may him noght avance. Valayse. Scholle, Valys. avance. Scholle, avaunce. Philip had supplied David with both men and money in the hope of creating a distraction in England. Even before Crécy, the Scots were raiding over the border, but in October, in response to summonses from Philip (one dated 20 June 1346 and a later one from Saint-Denis, dated 22 July), David mustered his army, seized Liddell, sacked Lanercost Abbey, and appeared before Durham (see line 16).

6 flowres . . . faire. Scholle, fair. An alliterative collocation frequent in secular and religious lyrics of the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries as well as in the York plays: compare "With flouris fayr," YP 2.71.

9 suld. Ritson, sulde. fonde. Scholle, fande.

10 to ride thurgh all Ingland. Although a large English army (numbering perhaps 15,000) was assembled to meet the Scots, it was all that stood between the invading forces and the rest of England north of the Trent (see line 22).

wonde. Scholle, wande.

11 MS: west minster. Hall, Westminster; Collette, West Minster Hall. stonde. Scholle, stande.

12 Wright supplies onde as the initial word; Hall suggests "perhaps Whils Edward oure king." londe. Scholle, lande.

15 suth. Scholle, soth.

17 MS: fo men. Scholle, famen; Hall, James and Simons, fomen. flay. Ritson, slay. Scholle supplies all before Ingland and so Stedman in brackets.

19 whore. Scholle, Stedman, whare.

20 schipherd staves. Ritson, Wright, schiperd staves; Collette, Schipherd.

22 fro Twede unto Trent. Collette, from. That is, the North Midlands of England. The river Tweed forms the border between England and Scotland; the Trent cuts across the midlands.

26 for. Collette, fro. cataile. Scholle, catail.

27 Hall does not begin a new stanza here.

28 for at the Nevil cros. The Battle of Neville's Cross was fought on or near Crossgate Moor, west of Durham Cathedral.

29 At the Ersbisschop of York. Defense of the northern borders had traditionally been the responsibility of the Archbishops of York. The incumbent, William Zouche (Edward's Keeper of the Privy Seal [1335] and Treasurer [1340]) was appointed to the see of York in 1340 by Pope Clement VI despite Edward's preference for William de Kildesby. He was a military commander of some distinction and fought gallantly at Neville's Cross.

31 Both Dorem and Carlele. A number of editors suggest that Minot here means not the bishops but the men of these towns, for Thomas de Hatfield, the Bishop of Durham, was in France and neither he nor John de Kirkby, the Bishop of Carlisle, is listed among the twelve English commanders commended by Edward. Minot is not alone, however, in placing the Bishops of Carlisle and Durham at the scene of the battle; Froissart puts Thomas de Hatfield in command of the first division with the Marcher lord Henry Percy of Northumberland, and the poem "Durham Field" includes both Bishops of Durham and Carlisle as commanders.

32 wappen. Scholle, wapen.

34 syr David the Bruse A was in that tyme taken. Cut off from his troops, wounded, and fleeing the field, David was captured by John Copeland, but not before he knocked out two of Copeland's teeth. A less heroic account of his capture is given in the Latin poem recounting the battle, printed by Wright:

Brus David auffugit, fugiendo contra leo rugit,
Coplond attingit fugientem, vulnere cingit,
Regem persequitur, David in spinis reperitur,
Copland arestat David cito se manifestat.
(Pol. Poems, I, 46).

[David the Bruce runs away; as he flees, the lion turns and roars. Copeland strikes David in flight and wraps him in wounds. Copeland hounds David, finds the king in the thorn bushes, and arrests him as soon as he shows himself.]

For the alliterative collocation tyme taken, see "tyme of the takyng," YP 29.216.

37 hinde John of Coupland. Scholle, Stedman, James and Simons, hende. John Copeland was a Northumberland squire, later sheriff of the county, and one of the commanders of the third English division. He was rewarded for his capture with an annuity of ,500, made constable of Roxburgh Castle and elevated to a knight-banneret.

38 One line in the MS.

40 the faire toure of Londen. Scholle, tour and so in 41; London. Recovered of his wound, David was finally surrendered to Sir Thomas Rokeby, High Sheriff of Yorkshire, and brought to the Tower of London in late December, 1346.

41 Sone. Scholle, Son.

42 William the Dowglas. Sir William Douglas (d. 1353). A relative of the Earls of Douglas, Sir William was called "The Flower of Chivalry" and the "Knight of Liddesdale." A brilliant border campaigner for the Scots, he was commander, with the Earl of Murray, of the second division at Neville's Cross, where he was captured. Imprisoned in the Tower of London for seven years, he finally swore fealty to Edward.

honowre. Scholle, honour.

43 full. James and Simons, ful. schowre. Scholle, schowr.

44 sethin. MS: seuin or senin, the latter adopted by Ritson, Wright, and Scholle; all other editors emend to sethin.

46 coroun. Scholle, Stedman, croun.

47 luked. Scholle, loked.

48 sir omitted by James and Simons.

49 bigon. Scholle, bigan; Hall suggests bigon fast for to slaken.

51 Valaise. Scholle, Valais. Hall inserts his before brede.

52 toure. Scholle, tour. ines. Scholle, innes.

53 nomen. Scholle, Stedman, numen; Hall offers thaire forward had thai numen.

54 fayled thare. Scholle, thare fayled. cumen. Wright, cumin.

57 One line in the MS; the half-line is marked by a punctus elevatus.

59 Fals es thi forward. Compare "false forward is feste," YP 27.101.

60 son. Scholle, sun; Hall suggests thi son seems superfluous. haves. Scholle, has.

61 Scottes. Scholle, Skottes.

63 Cuthbert of Durham. Saint Cuthbert, monk and Bishop of Lindisfarne (c. 634- 87). His remains were translated to a Saxon church at Durham in 999 and again in 1104 into the new Norman cathedral. The prior of Hexham, placing a holy cloth used by St. Cuthbert on a spear point, displayed it like a banner on the battle field, a relic to whose miraculous powers the victory was ascribed (Hall, pp. 91-92).

64 tharfore. Collette, Tharefore; Scholle inserts the before Nevel.

65 Thare. Hall, Thaire.

66 toure. Scholle, tour.

[X] How king Edward & his menye
met with the Spaniardes in the see

Les Espagnols-sur-mer, off Winchelsea, 30 August 1350: Froissart gives the details of the encounter:

About the time of the celebration of this marriage [Earl Lewis of Flanders, who had been betrothed to Edward's daughter, Isabella, fled to France and married a daughter of the Duke of Brabant], there was much ill will between the King of England and the Spaniards, on account of their repeated pillages at sea. It happened that a Spanish fleet had been to Flanders with merchandise, and was about returning, when Edward, who hated the Spaniards greatly on account of the injuries they had done to him, thus addressed his lords: "We have for a long time spared these people, but they do not amend their conduct; on the contrary, they grow more arrogant; for which reason they must be chastised as they repass our coasts." His lords readily assented to this proposal, and a fleet was prepared to meet the Spaniards on their return. The Spaniards had intelligence given them of the King of England's intention; however, they were quite indifferent about it, for they were very good sailors, and had well provided themselves with all sorts of warlike ammunition, such as bolts for crossbows, cannon, bars of forged iron, and large stones. When they weighed anchor, the wind was favourable, and it was a fine sight to see their forty vessels of such a size, and so beautifully under sail. The English fleet, which was well prepared under the command of the king himself and Lord Robert de Namur, met the Spaniards off Calais. The Spaniards had the wind in their favour, and might easily have declined the battle, if they had so preferred; but they disdained to sail by, and as soon as they saw the English, bore down upon them, and commenced the fight: well and bravely it was fought on both sides till nightfall - many were cut to pieces, and many drowned; however, victory declared for the English. The Spaniards lost fourteen ships, and the others saved themselves by flight. (pp. 53-54)

2 wight. Scholle, wighte.

3 ded all thaire dede. Compare "dye for alle our dede," YP 11.404.

4 sail. Collette, sall. see gronde. Scholle, seeground; Hall, see-gronde.

6 it was in the waniand A that thai come thare. By some accounts, the Castilian fleet appeared off Winchelsea in the early evening, about the time of Vespers. See 5.30 for the reference to the waning of the moon.

7 Thai sailed furth in the Swin A in a somers tyde. Under the command of Charles de la Cerda, the Spanish fleet was returning to Spain from the mouth of the River Sluys in Zeeland laden with Flemish merchandise and the spoils of various attacks on English wine and wool shipping.

8 trompes and taburns. Scholle, trumpes. The collocation occurs frequently in poems of the Alliterative Revival and rhyming romances but not elsewhere. See "trumpetts and tabretts," Scotish Feilde, line 90, and "tabre ne trompe," Piers Plowman C xvi, line 205.

9 werkmen. Ritson, Hall, Collette, weremen. Wright, Stedman, James and Simons retain werkmen.

walked full wide. See 8.29 and compare "walked full wyde," YP 30.299.

10 the gudes that thai robbed. Scholle, godes. Like the French citizens of Calais (see the note to 8.1), the Spanish are accused here by Minot of piracy for their depredations on English wine shipments from Bordeaux (see l. 25). Unlike the cowardly French and treacherous Scots, however, the Castilians are for Minot "wight men in were," worthy opponents for Edward's noble warriors, whose ranks included the Black Prince and the ten-year-old John of Gaunt, Sir John Chandos, Henry of Lancaster, and Robert of Namur, who commanded the flagship, Salle du Roy, while Edward himself took command of the smaller cog, Thomas, so acting out the iconography of the recently minted gold noble (see poem 5, headnote).

it. Omitted by Ritson, Scholle, and Stedman.

13 tho. Wright, the. wight. Scholle, wighte. were. Scholle, werre.

14 thaire hurdis, thaire ankers. Tidings of the English fleet gathering at Winchel-sea had reached Charles de la Cerda while still in Flanders. He had delayed his departure, fitting out the merchant vessels in the fleet (the tarets) with high wooden castles from which crossbowmen could fire down on the attacking English ships.

Scholle inserts and after hurdis. here. Scholle, herre.

15 wight. Scholle, wighte. nerr. Scholle, nerre.

17 Fer might thai noght flit. See "to flitte full ferre," YP 9.58.

Scholle inserts flit before thai. Fer. Scholle, ferre.

18 thai bifore. Scholle, bifore thai; Hall suggests that thai had bifore reved.

19 Boy with thi blac berd. The reference is to the Genoese sea captain, Julius Boccanera, known also as Barbenoire or Blackbeard. Under Alfonso IX, King of Castile, Boccanera was made Admiral of the Castilian Fleet and created Earl of Parma. Sailing his squadron of thirty Genoese galleys out to sea, he had escaped capture at Sluys in 1340 (see 5.27).

thou. MS: tho. Stedman and Hall, thou.

20 syn. James and Simons, sin.

21 on. Hall suggests opon.

22 sall. Scholle, sal, and so 23 and 29.

24 dye on a day. A collocation found in fifteenth-century religious lyrics and in the York plays: "I dye this daye," YP 10.257. domp. Scholle, dump.

25 Ye broght out of Bretayne. In November, 1349, the Castilian fleet had attacked English merchant ships sailing from Bordeaux, killing the crews and commandeering the ships and their cargoes.

26 marchandes. Scholle, marchands.

27 Scholle, It es resoun and right that ye evil fare; Hall notes that "gude is super-fluous, but misfare seems necessary to the rhythm."

28 new. Scholle, newe.

29 sir. Wright, ser.

30 strenkith. Scholle, strenkth. Compare "he es a strenkithi swayn," MS 64a².


[XI] How gentill sir Edward with his grete engines
wan with his wight men the castell of Gynes.

The taking of Guînes January, 1352: On 28 September 1347, the Truce of Calais was signed, which was to last for the following eight years. Three years later, a week before Les Espagnols-sur-mer (poem 10), King Philip of Valois died and his son, John of France, succeeded him to the throne. A year after the defeat of the Castilian fleet, a truce was signed with King Pedro of Castile, which would remain in force until 1372. The rubric for poem 11 is therefore somewhat misleading, for the ancient castle at Guînes was not taken with siege engines and force but surrendered to the highest bidder, Edward. Although King John complained to Edward about truce-breaking, he certainly suspected treachery, for he had Sir William Beauconray, who had been the deputy captain of Guînes at the critical moment, torn to pieces by wild horses. Minot's poem follows generally the English account given by Geoffrey Le Baker and Robert of Avesbury, with one significant variation (see line 20, note).

3 Both the lely and the lipard. Edward III was the first English King to quarter the leopards of the Royal Arms of England with the French lily - the fleur-de-lys. The green here would represent the champ or field of the shield.

4 Mari, have minde of thi man. That is, Edward III

minde. James and Simons, mind. whote. Scholle, wote.

5 mak. Collete, make.

7 ful. Collete, full.

8 We wote wele that woning ^. was wikked for to win. Some editors have taken the first person plural as evidence that Minot was present at the capture of the town. Only six miles from Calais, Guînes was an old-fashioned citadel in the process of being reinforced. It would undoubtedly have proven difficult to seize by force.

13 ful. omitted by Scholle. Gentill John of Doncaster. An English archer, reputedly captured by the French and imprisoned at Guînes. The story goes that he escaped, returned to Calais where he assembled a small force, and re-entering Guînes via his escape route, surprised the garrison and captured the town. Stedman points out that Doncaster is not too far distant from Minot family estates in Yorkshire.

15 castell. Collette, castel.

16 folk that he fand. Compare "folke that we her fynde," YP 16.156.

17 Dred. Collette, Drede.

18 faine war thai to fle. See 3.70 and compare "schall be full fayne to flee," YP 27.146.

20 a small bote was tharby. Here Minot is perhaps more reliable than other accounts that may reflect the influence of a literary topos. Chronicles have the moat passable, for the convenience of fishermen, by means of a wall hidden under three feet of water, the location of which was betrayed to John of Doncaster by an enamored French laundress. The reputed treachery of infatuated washerwomen, however, is a commonplace of misogynistic literature and may be traced to a pseudo-Ovidian play, in which a jealous washerwoman conceals the murder of her lover and her rival by betraying the besieged town to the enemy. The play had wide circulation, for it was part of a treatise by John of Garland often used as a school text (see Lawler, p. 139).

24 Franche men. Collette, Franchemen.

29 wendes with wo. See "To wo are we weendande," YP 1.96.

30 wonen. Scholle, wonnen. Hall suggests the for tham.

31 Ye men of Saint Omers. Two years earlier, the French captain of St. Omers, Geoffrey de Chargny, had tried to re-take Calais by suborning Edward's Lombard governor, Sir Aymery de Pavie, with 20,000 crowns. The treachery failed, and the French were defeated.

32 yowre paviliownes. Robbins suggests the word, generally meaning tents, is here to be understood as "standards" or "banners."

33 Scholle omits sir.

34 es. James and Simons, is.

35 bede. Collette, bide.

36 MS: haveves.

37 Scholle omits his right; Hall suggests God save Edward his right.