[Homilies 21–24 not included in this edition. See Explanatory Notes.]

Go To Homily 25, Easter Monday

HOMILY 20, THIRD SUNDAY IN LENT: FOOTNOTES

1 Third Sunday in Lent according to Luke

2 Latin rubric (Luke 11:14–28): And he was casting out a devil, [and the same was dumb: and when he had cast out the devil, the dumb spoke: and the multitudes were in admiration at it: But some of them said: He casteth out devils by Beelzebub, the prince of devils. And others tempting, asked of him a sign from heaven. But he seeing their thoughts, said to them: Every kingdom divided against itself, shall be brought to desolation, and house upon house shall fall. And if Satan also be divided against himself, how shall his kingdom stand? because you say, that through Beelzebub I cast out devils. Now if I cast out devils by Beelzebub: by whom do your children cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges. But if I by the finger of God cast out devils; doubtless the king­dom of God is come upon you. When a strong man armed keepeth his court, those things are in peace which he possesseth. But if a stronger than he come upon him, and overcome him; he will take away all his armour wherein he trusted, and will distribute his spoils. He that is not with me, is against me; and he that gathereth not with me, scattereth. When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through places without water, seeking rest; and not finding, he saith: I will return into my house whence I came out / And when he is come, he findeth it swept and garnished. Then he goeth and taketh with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and entering in they dwell there. And the last state of that man becomes worse than the first. And it came to pass, as he spoke these things, a certain woman from the crowd, lifting up her voice, said to him: Blessed is the womb that bore thee, and the paps that gave thee suck. But he said: Yea rather, blessed are they who hear the word of God, and keep it.]

3 Lines 129–30: As if to say: you who ought to recognize me, / And to bring heathen folk to me

4 Lines 171–72: They dare not correct the laity, out of fear, / When they themselves are guilty of wicked deeds

5 For they receive their entire income from the laity

HOMILY 20, THIRD SUNDAY IN LENT: EXPLANATORY NOTES

Abbreviations: CA: Catena Aurea, ed. Newman; CT: Chaucer, Canterbury Tales; MED: Middle English Dictionary; NHC: Northern Homily Cycle; NIMEV: The New Index of Middle English Verse, ed. Boffey and Edwards; Tubach: Index Exemplorum, ed. Tubach. For manuscript abbreviations (ED, A, D, G, L, V), see the Introduction.

The NHC-poet must have been familiar with the centuries-old tradition of anti-clerical satire with its stinging attack on corruption in the church and its clergy, and this homily echoes many of its themes. Monks and friars, more often than priests, were the targets of this tradition, but the abuses mentioned most often (with the exception of simony) were similar: lechery, laziness, avarice, gluttony, the accumulation of wealth, the absence of teaching, and the failure to give a good example through the cleric’s own life. The NHC-poet departs somewhat from the tradition, at the very least in terms of the strength of feeling expressed, in his recurring emphasis on the consequence for parishioners of clerical malfeasance. Though the poet may be speaking to the clergy in this case, his real concern is, as ever, with the laity and with his attempt to set their feet on the path to heaven.

NIMEV 2968, 3288. Manuscripts: A: fols. 89r–94r; G: (missing); D: fols. 107r–110r; L: fols. 30r–30v.

8 Beelzebub. A name used interchangeably in the New Testament for Satan, the prince of demons.

10 faystere. Attested only in its verbal form, faistren (“to bring up”) by MED. For the noun form as it appears in this line of the Ashmole manuscript, McIntosh suggests the meaning “fosterer, boss” (p. 198).

62 Youre sonnes. Jesus, according to Luke (11:14–28), makes the point that since “your sons” (i.e., other Jews) cast out demons, these accusations should also be leveled against them. The NHC-poet expands on Luke’s “they shall be your judges” by categorizing these “sons” as good Jews who, along with Jesus, will judge the others on Doomsday and banish them from the joys of heaven (Luke 11:19–20).

104 este and nythe. See Third Sunday in Advent (3.27n). Este and eft are evidently the same word, both occurring only in the expression este/eft and nythe. See also Eleventh Sunday after Trinity for a further occurrence of the expression (46.294). Compare L: yst & nyth. D: onde & nyþe.

123–24 He that es noght with me, / Agaynes me forsothe es he. Cp. Matthew 12:30 and Luke 11:23: “He that is not with me is against me.”

138 Fra rightwisnes to wrange gates. Here NHC breaks off before the conclusion of the Gospel pericope; what follows is not so much an explication but a lengthy and strongly worded diatribe against bad clergy, inspired by Jesus’ condemnation of those who do not “gather souls to God.” Neither Gregory nor Bede has a homily for this date, but Gregory’s Pastoral Care was probably an influence (see line 164n). Twelfth-century Anglo-Latin satires against corruption in the church and its clergy provided a rich source for the subsequent vernacular preaching of satire and complaint, as seen in the Speculum Stultorum, the Apocalipsis Goliae, and the work of Walter Map and Walter of Châtillon. Robert Mannyng, writing in the vernacular and a close contemporary of the NHC-poet, voices similar concerns in Handlyng Synne (see line 158n). Owst, in Literature and Pulpit, devotes two chapters to this topic, with pages 241–86 focusing chiefly on complaints against the clergy. As Kerby-Fulton points out, most of the anti-clerical satire which flourished in the monasteries and schools was written by clerics and for clerics; the NHC-poet’s intended audience, however, is the laity, with the result that he returns again and again to the consequences for the parishioners of the priest’s failure to teach them the right way (“Piers Plowman,” p. 531).

158 Thus God for slewthe sall thaim tyne. Compare Robert Mannyng’s words in Handlyng Synne: “A persone ys slogh [negligent] yn holy cherche / Þat on hys shepe wyl nat werche” (lines 4821–22).

161 Thaire parihssenes for to teche. The words found in 2 Timothy 4:2 were often cited in exhorting priests to this duty: “Preach the word: be instant in season, out of season: reprove, entreat, rebuke in all patience and doctrine.”

164 And lates thaire sawles in synne rust. This popular figure is based on Lamentations 4:1: “How is the gold become dim, the finest colour is changed, the stones of the sanctuary are scattered in the top of every street?” Gregory’s Pastoral Care (2.7), with which the NHC-poet was likely to have been familiar, quotes the scriptural text as part of the exhortation that priests not neglect their duty to parishioners. Compare also Chaucer’s later and famous portrayal of the Parson, in the General Prologue of CT:

This noble ensample to his sheep he yaf,
That first he wroghte, and afterward he taughte.
Out of the gospel he tho wordes caughte,
And this figure he added eek therto,
That if gold ruste, what shal iren do?
For if a preest be foul, on whom we truste,
No wonder is a lewed man to ruste;
And shame it is, if a prest take keep,
A shiten shepherde and a clene sheep. (CT I[A]496–504)

179 give to howse. The meaning of this phrase is by no means clear, but compare the MED citation from lines 1003–04 of King Horn: “Ant yshal do to house / Thy dohter wel to spouse,” with the meaning “bring home.” There is nothing comparable in either D or V; G has lost the pages containing this item.

223–24 And think that all thaire mete and drink, / Comes of thaire parihssen swink. Compare the words of the twelfth-century Latin satirist, Walter Map, who similarly cri­ticizes the abuse of tithing: “They buy themselves manors with the goods of the poor” (quoted in translation in Mann, Chaucer and Medieval Estates Satire, p. 58).

239 That mai we se be Saynte Bede. Tubach 542: Bede, preaches to stones. There is, alas, no evidence that this charming anecdote has any authentic connection to the Venerable Bede (d. 735), about whom very little is known beyond what he himself reports in the last chapter of his History of the English Church and People. His life, from the age of seven, was spent in the monastery of Wearmouth and Jarrow in the north of England, so the detail of Bede’s walk over the moors adds a pleasingly authentic touch. Gerould notes the probable source in Legenda Aurea (chapter 181, vol. 2, p. 375), as well as a version in the Alphabetum Narrationum (NEHC, p. 55). Neither of these (nor the version in the later English AT [637]), includes the moor or the birds who, along with the stones, respond to Bede’s sermon.

256 marstire. This spelling is not attested by MED, but the meaning seems obvious.

273 This mirakel have I tolde yow here. Following this unusually short exemplum the poet returns to the theme of priests and preaching, which occupies him for a further twenty lines.

280 And vikars als with thaire brade crownes. MED provides the following definition of vikar: “One appointed to act as priest in a parish in place of the real parson, a parish vicar.” All MED citations are much later than NHC. Given the criticism of priestly avarice and luxurious living in lines 205–10, this may be a further criticism, this time of a broad-brimmed hat as an illustration of pride and ostentation. There is little contemporary information regarding appropriate attire for the secular clergy, but the many allusions to their wearing of secular attire were probably intended as an index of spiritual laxity (Mayo, History of Ecclesiastical, pp. 47–48). The broad-brimmed hat featured in the Ellesmere portrait of the monk was particularly associated with clerical fashion in the fifteenth century; though this is too late for NHC, the proposed sumptuary law of 1402 which would have forbidden any cleric, with certain exceptions of rank, from wearing any hat “‘passing the points of the shoulders’ in the breadth of its brim” suggests an attempt to legislate against an offence which may well have begun earlier (Mullaney, “Language of Costume,” p. 41).

293 Yitt es a worde in oure Gospell. The NHC-poet now returns to the concluding verses of the Gospel pericope (Luke 11:24–28), turning his attention away from the priests who teach God’s word and towards those who receive it.

294 almos. This appears to be the noun almos used with an adjectival meaning, though no such form is listed by MED.

302 For in weete stede findes he moste reste. Springs, wells, and streams are among the favored habitats of the devil (J. Russell, Lucifer, p. 71). The idea that the devil prefers wet places could also have been influenced by English folkloric traditions. The monsters of Beowulf, for instance, inhabit misty moorlands, and Grendel’s mother lives behind a waterfall (e.g., Beowulf, ed. Klaeber, lines 1258–61, 1357–62). Guthlac, the seventh-century saint, who goes to live in the marshy fens of East Anglia, is much abused by the demons who live there (Felix’s Life, pp. 89, 103).

313 He comis and findis his chaumbir swepid. Bede explains that the house is “swept and garnished, that is, purified by the grace of baptism from the stain of sin, yet replenished with no diligence in good works” (CA 3.408).

324 sevene fendes. For medieval writers, the number seven often suggests the seven deadly sins, as indicated by the next line: “That es to saie with synnes all.” Compare Bede: “By the seven evil spirits which he takes to himself, he signifies all the vices” (CA 3.408).

349–50 This er the wordes of oure Gospell / Als man with Yngliss tonge mai tell. Our author has been so warmly energized by his subject matter on this occasion, that he has abandoned his usual orderly sequence of Gospel paraphrase, homily, and exemplum with the result that this couplet occurs just a few lines from the end of the entire item.

HOMILY 20, THIRD SUNDAY IN LENT: TEXTUAL NOTES

For manuscript abbreviations (ED, A, D, G, L, V), see the Introduction.

17 slightis. MS: mightes, canceled, followed by slightis.

259 fayr. So D. MS: full.

331 For. MS: W, canceled, followed by Ffor.