Fourteenth Century Verse & Prose

Wiclif's life was stormy. His acknowledged pre-eminence as a theologian and doctor in the University did not satisfy his active and combative mind. 'False peace', he said, 'is g...

Michael of Northgate was a monk of St. Augustine's, Canterbury. From a library catalogue of the monastery it appears that he was a lover of books, for he is named as the donor o...

Now schall I seye ȝou sewyngly of contrees and yles þat ben beȝonde the contrees þat I haue spoken of. Wherfore {135} I seye ȝou, in passynge be the lond of Cathaye toward the h...

To speke of an unkinde man, I finde hou whilom Adrian, Of Rome which a gret lord was, Upon a day as he per cas To wode in his huntinge wente, 5 It hapneth at a soudein wente, Af...

At the time alliterative verse was fitted to become the medium of popular literature. Prose would not serve, because its literary life depends on books and readers. Up to the en...

The year passes, and Gawayne, despite the fears of the court, sets out in quest of the Green Chapel. On Christmas Eve he arrives at a splendid castle, and finding that the Green...

The attitude of the Church towards the vernacular literature of the later Middle Ages did not differ materially from her attitude towards the classics in earlier times, though t...

From internal evidence it would seem that the interpolation first appeared in French. The style is the uniform style of translation, with the same tags—_and ȝee schull vndirston...

The maiden then continues the discussion, explaining that 'the innocent are ay safe by right', and that only those who come as little children can win the bliss sought by the ma...

_a_ 84. 'I trust to have a release from and remission of my debts which are recorded in that book.' _Rental_, a book in which the sums due from a tenant were noted, here means '...

Kend it es how ȝe war kene Al Inglis men with dole to dere. 10 Þaire gudes toke ȝe al bidene, No man born wald ȝe forbere. Ȝe spared noght with swerd ne spere To stik þam, and þ...

137-43. 'This contrivance, as I believe, is prepared, sir knight, for the honour of meeting me by the way. Let God work His will, Lo! It helps me not a bit. Though I lose my lif...

This book had its origin in a very different project. Professor Napier had asked me to join him in producing for the use of language students a volume of specimens from the Midd...

Orfeo was a king, 25 In Inglond an heiȝe lording, A stalworþ man and hardi bo, Large and curteys he was also. His fader was comen of King Pluto, And his moder of King Iuno, 30 Þ...

_i_ 11. _Sent Kasi._ I cannot trace this saint, or his acts against the rats. But parallels are not wanting. St. Ivor, an Irish saint, banished rats from his neighbourhood _per...

3. Saint Germain of Auxerre (MS. _Aucerne_) is famous for his missions to Britain in the first half of the fifth century. This particular story is found in the _Acta Sanctorum_...

If a few sporadic developments be excluded because they may turn up anywhere at any time, then, provided sufficient evidence were available,[29] it would be possible to mark the...

VERB: pres. ind. 3 sg. _loveth_ _a_ 5; contracted _stant_ _a_ 74. 3 pl. _schewen_ _a_ 136, _halsen_ _a_ 148, _be_ (in rime) _a_ 92. pres. p. _growende_ _a_ 80. strong pp. _schap...

[Transcriber's Note: This text has words or letters enclosed in caret brackets < > that were added by the author to complete the manuscript; corrupt readings retained in the tex...

(ii) All long vowels are shortened in stressed close syllables (i.e., _usually_, when they are followed by two consonants): e.g. _kēpen_, pa. t. _kĕpte_, pp. _kĕpt_; _hŭsband_ b...

57. The dowfe is more gentill, her trust I vntew, 505 Like vnto the turtill, for she is ay trew. _Vxor._ Hence bot a litill she commys, lew, lew! She bryngys in her bill som nov...

1. <_Iesus._ M>anne on molde, be meke to me, And haue thy Maker in þi mynde, And thynke howe I haue tholid for þe With pereles paynes for to be pyned. The forward of my Fadir fr...

'This were a wikked way, but whoso hadde a gyde That wolde folwen vs eche a fote:' þus þis folke hem mened. Quatȝ Perkyn þe plouman: 'Bi Seynt Peter of Rome! I haue an half-acre...

Thus ich awaked, wot God, wanne ich wonede on Cornehulle, Kytte and ich in a cote, cloþed as a lollere, And lytel _ylete_ by, leyue me for soþe, Among lollares of London and lew...

7. Therfor I drede lest God on vs will take veniance, 55 For syn is now alod, without any repentance. Sex hundreth yeris and od haue I, without distance, In erth, as any sod, li...

Also Crist wolde not take þe kyngdom whan þe puple wolde haue maad Him kyng, as Iones Gospel telleþ. But if it haade be a prestis office to dele aboute þus bodi almes, {270} Cri...

Hyt fell thus, by fortune, þe fairest of þe yere Was past to the point of the pale wintur. 100 Heruest, with the heite and the high sun, Was comyn into colde, with a course low....

In later texts, _which_, properly an interrogative, appears commonly as a relative, both with personal and impersonal antecedents, e.g. _Alceone... ~which~... him loveth_ XII _a...

_Sir Orfeo_ is found in three MSS.: (1) the Auchinleck MS. (1325-1350), a famous Middle English miscellany now in the Advocates' Library, Edinburgh; (2) British Museum MS. Harle...