xi. 512), and this again may be paralleled from the supreme position of

the Earl Marshal in heraldry. At the head of the Earl of Lancaster’s minstrels in 1308 was an _armiger_. I only find this term again in the burlesque account of the ‘auncient minstrell’ shown before Elizabeth at Kenilworth (_Appendix H_). He was ‘a squier minstrel of Middilsex’ and, as he bore the arms of Islington, presumably a ‘wait.’

E

EXTRACTS FROM ACCOUNT BOOKS

I. DURHAM PRIORY.

[The entries, unless otherwise specified, are amongst the extracts (generally of _Dona Prioris_) from the Bursars’ Rolls between 1278 and 1371, printed by Canon Fowler in vols. ii, iii of the _Durham Account Rolls_ (Surtees Soc.). _D. H. B._ = _Durham Household Book_ (Surtees Soc.), _F. P._ = _Inventories and Account Rolls of Finchale Priory_ (Surtees Soc.). This was a cell of Durham Priory. The minstrelsy often took place at the _ludi Domini Prioris_, either in his _camera_ (_D. A._ ii. 424) or at Beaurepaire, Witton, or other _maneria_ of the Priory. There seem to have been in most years four _ludi ordinarii_ (_D. A._ ii. 296), though occasionally only two or three are mentioned. These were at the feasts of Candlemas, Easter, St. John Baptist, and All Saints (_D. A._ i. 242, iii. 932). But the Prior, Sub-Prior, and brethren seem often to have been _ludentes_, _spatiantes_, or _in recreacione_ (_D. A._ i. 118, 235), without much regard to fixed dates. In 1438-9 they were _ludentes_ for as much as eleven weeks and four days at Beaurepaire (_D. A._ i. 71). See also _D. A._ i. 16, 116, 120, 129, 137, 138, 142, 166, 207, 263; ii. 287, 419, 456, 515; iii. 810, s.vv. _Ludi_, &c.; _D. H. B._ 9, 13, 54, 141, 240, 339; _F. P._ 30, ccxcv, ccccxxxvi.]

1278. Menestrallo Regis Scociae. Menestrallo de Novo Castro.

1299. Roberto le Taburer.

1300-1. Cuidam hystrioni Regis.

1302-3. Histrionibus domini Regis.

1310-11. Hugoni de Helmeslaye stulto domini Regis. Cuidam Iugulatori d’ni Regis. Cuidam Cytharistae.

†1310. Histrionibus d’ni H. de Bello Monte. In scissura tunicae stulti. †1315. Histrionibus ad Natale.

1330-1. In uno garniamento pro Thoma fatuo empto. Histrionibus ad Natale. ” in fest. S. Cuthberti in Marcio. ” ad fest. S. Cuthberti in Sept. ” d’ni Henrici de Beaumond. Citharistae (in another roll ‘citharatori’) d’ni Roberti de Horneclyff ex precepto Prioris.

1333-4. Duobus histrionibus in die Veneris proximo post octavam beati Martini. Histrionibus d’ni Regis quando d’nus noster Rex rediit de Novo Castro. Stulto d’ni Episcopi. Histrionibus comitis Warenne. Histrionibus Regis Scociae.

1334-5. Histrionibus ad Natale.

1335-6. Histrionibus d’ni Regis Scociae. Duobus histrionibus die Sci. Cuthberti. Duobus histrionibus ex precepto Prioris. Histrionibus Novi Castri ad fest. S. Cuthberti. Histrionibus d’ni R. de Nevill, per Priorem. In 1 Cythara empta pro Thom. Harpour. 3ˢ. Cuidam histrioni apud Beaurepaire per R. de Cotam ex dono Prioris. Thomae fatuo ex precepto eiusdem.

†1335. Istrionibus d’ni Regis. Istrionibus Reginae apud Pytingdon. Istrionibus [die Dominica proxima post festum Epiphaniae, quo die d’nus Episcopus epulabatur cum Priore]. Will’o de Sutton, Citharaedo d’ni Galfridi Lescrop eodem die. Istrionibus die Natalis Domini.

†1336. Duobus istrionibus d’ni Regis. Edmundo de Kendall, Cytharaeto, de dono Prioris ad Pascha. Menestrallis de dono [quando Episcopus epulabatur cum Priore].

†1337. In 1 pari sotularium pro Thoma fatuo.

1338-9. Several payments to ‘istriones’ and ‘menestralli.’ In 4 ulnis burelli scacciati emptis pro garniamento Thomae Fole per preceptum Prioris.

1339-40. In panno empto in foro Dunelm. pro uno garniamento pro Thoma fatuo. Willelmo Piper istrioni d’ni Radulphi de Nevill die Circumcisionis.

1341. Pelidod et duobus sociis suis histrionibus d’ni Regis post Natale Domini.

1341-42. In garniamentis emptis pro ... Thoma fatuo (and similar entries, or for ‘Russet,’ ‘pannus,’ ‘Candelwykstret’ in other years).

†1343. Various payments to ‘Istriones.’

1347-8. ‘Istrionibus,’ &c.

1350-51. Istrionibus ad Natale. ” ad S. Cuthbertum in Sept.

1355-6. Will’o Pyper et aliis istrionibus ad Natale. Item duobus istrionibus d’ni Episcopi et duobus istrionibus Comitis de Norhamton in festo Sci. Cuthberti in Marcio. Item istrionibus d’ni Episcopi ad festum Paschae. Item istrionibus in festo Sci. Cuthberti in Sept.

1356-7. In sepultura Thomae fatui et necessariis expensis circa corpus eius, per manus d’ni Prioris (similar entry in miscellaneous roll, ‘Thomae Fole,’ _D. A._ iii. 719). Diversis ministrallis (_D. A._ iii. 718).

†1357. Et Will’o Blyndharpour ad Natale. Et Ioh’i Harpour d’ni Ioh’is de Streuelyn et Will’o Blyndharpour de Novo Castro. Et duobus Trompours Comitis de Norhamton apud Wyuestow. Et cuidam Harpour vocato Rygeway. Istrionibus d’ni Episcopi (and Harpers, &c.).

†1360. Petro Crouder apud Pityngton, per Capellanum. Item eidem Petro pro uno quarterio ordii sibi dato per Priorem. Duobus Istrionibus Episcopi in festo Assensionis Domini. Et cuidam Istrioni Maioris villae Novi Castri per Capellanum.

1360-61. Will’o Pyper et aliis istrionibus ad Natale per manus Ioh’is del Sayles. Cuidam Welsharpour d’ni Will’i de Dalton. Item histrionibus aliorum dominorum.

1361-2. In uno viro ludenti in uno loyt et uxori eius cantanti apud Bewrpayr (_D. A._ i. 127, _Hostiller’s Accounts_).

1362. Item cuidam histrioni harper episcopi Norwychiae in festo Transl. Sᶜⁱ. Cuthberti. Cuidam Istrioni Jestour Jawdewyne in festo Natalis Domini. Will’o yᵉ kakeharpour ad idem festum. Et Barry similem sibi ad id. festum. Et cuidam ystrioni caeco franco cum uno puero fratre suo. Barry harper ex precepto Prioris in una tunica empta.

1363-4. Item cantoribus in Adventu Domini cum histrionibus ibidem ex dono Prioris. Item cuidam histrioni die Dominica _Quasimodo geniti_.

1364-5. To two players of the Lord Duke at the said feast (of St. Cuthbert) (Raine, _St. Cuthbert_, 109, _Surtees Soc._).

1365-6. Barry Harpour, ystrionibus, &c.

1366-8. Ministrallis, Istrionibus.

1368-9. Rob’o Trompour et Will’o Fergos ministrallo in die Sci. Cuthberti.

1373-4. Duobus Ministrallis cum uno Weyng.

1374. 12 ministrallis in festo Sᶜⁱ. Cuthb.

1375-6. Ministrall. in die S. Cuthb. in Mar. Cuidam ministrallo ludenti coram domino Priori in camera sua. Tribus ministrallis Comitis del Marchie ludentibus coram domino Priore. Cuidam ministrallo domini Regis veniente cum domino de Neuill. 12 ministrallis in festo Sci. Cuthb. in Sept. 4 ministrallis domini Principis in festo exaltacionis Sᶜᵉ. Crucis. Cuidam ministrallo in festo Sᶜⁱ. Mathaei. Ministrallis in festo Sᶜⁱ. Cuthb. in Marcio anno Domini, &c. lxxvᵗᵒ. Duobus ministrallis in die Pasche.

1376-7. Willielmo Fergos et Rogero Harpour caeco ad Natale Domini. Aliis ministrallis domini de Percy in eadem fest.

1377-8. Haraldis, histrionibus et nunciis, ut patet per cedulam.

1378-9. Histrionibus ... dominorum Regis, Ducis, et aliorum dominorum.

1380-1. Iohanni Momford ministrallo domini Regis.

1381-2. Ministrallis domini de Neuill apud Beaurepaire cum domina de Lomly. Ministrallo domini Ducis cum uno saltante in camera domini Prioris. (and others.)

1384-5. Ministrallis domini Regis.

1394-5. Ministrallis in festo S. Cuthb., Henrici Percy, domini Ducis Lancastr., domini de Neuill, Ducis Eborac., de Scocia, comitis Canciae, ad Nat. Domini, de Hilton, Ric. Brome ministrallo, in fest. S. Cuthb. in Marc. Uni Trompet domini Regis. Uni Rotour de Scocia.

1395. Item, in vino, speciebus, in donis datis Confratribus, ministrallis et aliis diversis, ex curialitate (_F. P._ cxv).

1399-1400. Ministrallis.

1401-2. Ministrallis.

1416-7. Ministrallis. Diversis pueris ludentibus coram eodem priore in festo Sᶜⁱ. Stephani hoc anno.

1441-2. Per ... capellanum [et] ... per bursarium ministrallis domini Regis et aliorum dominorum supervenientibus.

1446-7. Ministrallis.

1449-50. Ministrallis.

1464-5. Et solvit Iohanni Andrewson et sociis suis operantibus pro nova tectura unius camerae vocatae le Playerchambre (_F. P._ ccxcv).

1465. Item j por de ferro in camera Prioris, j in le plaer cha ... (_F. P._ ccxcviii).

1496. Paid to Robert Walssch for two days playing John Gibson of Elvet ‘herper’ (_D. H. B._ 340).

1532-3. ... bus lusoribus ... Regis, in regardis, in auro, 15ˢ. Et custodi ursorum et cimearum dominae Principis. Et capellano, per bursarium, pro 4 lusoribus domini Comitis de Darby, in auro, 7ˢ. 6ᵈ. (_D. H. B._ 143, the last two items crossed out).

1536-7. In diversis donis datis ministrallis diversorum dominorum.

1538. Paid to the ministrels (_ministrallis_) at ‘le musters’ upon ‘le Gelymore.’

1539-40. Paid to the players (_lusoribus_) of Auklande at Christmas before Master Hyndley, as a present (_D. H. B._ 340).

1554-5. [Cathedral Account.] Paid for two mynstralles.

II. MAXSTOKE PRIORY.

[Printed by Hazlitt-Warton, ii. 97, ‘_ex orig. penes me_.’]

‘In the Prior’s accounts of the Augustine canons of Maxstoke in Warwickshire, of various years in the reign of Henry VI (1422-61), one of the styles or regular heads is _De Ioculatoribus et Mimis_....

Ioculatori in septimana S. Michaelis, ivᵈ. Citharistae tempore natalis domini et aliis iocatoribus, ivᵈ. Mimis de Solihull, viᵈ. Mimis de Coventry, xxᵈ. Mimo domini Ferrers, viᵈ. Lusoribus de Eton, viiiᵈ. Lusoribus de Coventry, viiiᵈ. Lusoribus de Daventry, xiiᵈ. Mimis de Coventry, xiiᵈ. Mimis domini de Asteley, xiiᵈ. Item iiij mimis domini de Warewyck, xᵈ. Mimo caeco, iiᵈ. Sex mimis domini de Clynton. Duobus mimis de Rugeby, xᵈ. Cuidam citharistae, viᵈ. Mimis domini de Asteley, xxᵈ. Cuidam citharistae, viᵈ. Citharistae de Coventry, viᵈ. Duobus citharistis de Coventry, viiiᵈ. Mimis de Rugeby, viiiᵈ. Mimis domini de Buckeridge, xxᵈ. Mimis domini de Stafford, iiˢ. Lusoribus de Coleshille, viijᵈ.... [1432] Dat. duobus mimis de Coventry in die consecrationis Prioris, xiiᵈ.’

III. THETFORD PRIORY.

[From Collier, i. 55, 84, on the authority of a ‘MS. of the expenses of the Priory of Thetford, from 1461 to 1540, lately in the collection of Mr. Craven Orde, and now of the Duke of Newcastle.’]

‘The mention of “plays” and “players” does not begin until the 13ᵗʰ of Henry VII; but “Minstrels” and “Waytes” are often spoken of there as receiving rewards from the convent. The following entries, regarding “plays” and “players,” occur between the 13ᵗʰ and 23ʳᵈ of Henry VII:—

13 Henry VII [1497-8]. Itᵐ. sol. in regard 12 capital plays, 4ˢ. Itᵐ. sol. to menstrell and players in festo Epiphaniae, 2ˢ.

19 Henry VII [1503-4]. Itᵐ. sol. to the play of Mydenale, 12ᵈ.

21 Henry VII [1505-6]. Itᵐ. sol. in regard lusoribus et menstrall, 17ᵈ.

23 Henry VII [1507-8]. Itᵐ. sol. in regard lusoribus div. vices, 3ˢ 4ᵈ. Itᵐ. sol. in regard to Ixworth play, 16ᵈ. Itᵐ. sol. in regard to Schelfanger play, 4ᵈ.

... From the 1ˢᵗ to the 31ˢᵗ Henry VIII, the King’s players, the King’s jugglers, the King’s minstrels, and the King’s bearwards were visitors of Thetford, and were paid various sums, from 4ᵈ to 6ˢ 8ᵈ, by the Prior of the convent there, as appears by the entries in the account-book during that period. On one occasion, 16 Henry VIII, Cornyshe, “the master of the King’s chapel,” was paid 3ˢ 4ᵈ by the prior; but he was then, probably, attendant upon the King, who is not unfrequently spoken of as having arrived, and being lodged at the Priory. Mr. Brandon and Mr. Smith are more than once rewarded as “Jugglers of the King.” The Queen’s players, the Prince’s players, and the players of the Queen of France, also experienced the liberality of the Prior, as well as those of the Duke of Norfolk, the Duke of Suffolk, the Earl and Countess of Derby, Lord and Lady Fitzwater, the Lord Privy Seal, the Lord Chancellor, Sir Thomas Challoner and two gentlemen who are called Marks and Barney.’

IV. WINCHESTER COLLEGE.

[Extracts from _computi_ partly by Hazlitt-Warton, ii. 98, and partly by M. E. C. Walcott, _William of Wykeham and his Colleges_, 206. The _satrapae_ of 1466 and 1479 are said by Mr. Walcott to have been local notables, but a collation to them would not cost so little or be grouped with rewards to minstrels in the _computus_. Ducange says that the word is used ‘pro quodam ministro vel satellite.’ The Magdalen accounts use it for the ‘serjeants’ of the mayor of Oxford (Macray, _Register_, i. 15).]

1400. In dono lusoribus civitatis Wynton venient. ad collegium cum suo tripudio ex curialitate, xijᵈ.

1412. In dat. Ricᵒ. Kent bochier tempore regno suo vocat. Somerkyng, xijᵈ.

1415. In dat. diversis hominibus de Ropley venientibus ad coll. die Sanct. Innoc. et tripudiantibus et cantantibus in aula coram Epō. scholarium, xxᵈ.

1422. Dat. histrioni dⁿⁱ epi Wynton et ioculatori ejusdem 5ᵗⁱ die Ianuarii, cuilibet, xxᵈ.

1425. Dat. Gloucester ioculatori ludenti coram custode et sociis penultimo die Iulii, ob reverentiam ducis Exon. xijᵈ.

1426. Dat. ministrellis d. epi Wynton tempore Nat. Dni. ex curialitate et honestate, ijˢ viiiᵈ. Dat. ij ministrallis comitissae de Westmorland vęnient’ ad coll. xxᵈ.

1433. In dat. mimis dⁿⁱ cardinalis venient’ ad collegium erga festum natale Dⁿⁱ iiijˢ.

1462. Dat’ Epo Nicholatensi visitanti Dominum custodem in hospitio suo de nocte Sᵗⁱ. Nicholai, iiijᵈ.

1464. Et in dat. ministrallis comitis Kanciae venient. ad coll. in mense Iulii, iiijˢ iiijᵈ.

1466. Et in dat. satrapis Wynton venientibus ad coll. festo Epiphaniae, cum ijˢ dat. iiij. interludentibus et J. Meke citharistae eodem festo, iiijˢ.

1467. Et in datis iiijᵒʳ mimis dom. de Arundell venient. ad coll. xiij. die Febr. ex curialitate dom. custodis, ijˢ. In dat. Ioh. Pontisbery et socio ludentibus in aula in die circumcisionis, ijˢ.

1471. In dat. uni famulo dⁿⁱ regis Angliae venienti ad collegium cum Leone mense Ianuarii, xxᵈ.

1472. Et in dat. ministrallis dom. Regis cum viijᵈ. dat. duobus Berewardis ducis Clarentiae, xxᵈ. Et in dat. Iohanni Stulto quondam dom. de Warewyco, cum iiijᵈ dat. Thomae Nevyle taborario. Et in datis duobus ministrallis ducis Glocestriae, cum iiijᵈ. dat. uni ministrallo ducis de Northumberland, viijᵈ. Et in datis duobus citharatoribus ad vices venient. ad collegium viijᵈ.

1477. Et in dat. ministrallis dom. Principis venient. ad coll. festo Ascensionis Domini, cum xxᵈ. dat. ministrallis dom. Regis, vˢ.

1479. Et in datis satrapis Wynton venientibus ad coll. festo Epiphaniae, cum xijᵈ dat. ministrallis dom. episcopi venient. ad coll. infra octavas epiphaniae, iiiˢ. Dat. lusoribus de civitate Winton. venientibus ad collegium in apparatu suo mens. Iulii, vˢ vijᵈ.

1481. Et in sol. ministrallis dom. regis venientibus ad collegium xv die Aprilis cum xijᵈ solut. ministrallis dom. episcopi Wynton venientibus ad collegium iᵒ die Iunii, iiijˢ iiijᵈ. Et in dat. ministrallis dom. Arundell ven. ad coll. cum viijᵈ dat. ministrallis dom. de la Warr, ijˢ iijᵈ.

1483. Sol. ministrallis dom. regis, ven. ad coll. iijˢ iiijᵈ.

1484. Et in dat. uni ministrallo dom. principis et in aliis ministrallis ducis Glocestriae v die Iulii, xxᵈ.

1536. In dat. ministrallis dⁿⁱ regis venientibus ad coll. xiij die April pro regardo, ijˢ.

1573. In regardis dat’ tibicinis dominae reginae cum vino, vijˢ iiijᵈ. In regardis dat. lusoribus dominae reginae, vjˢ viijᵈ.

V. MAGDALEN COLLEGE, OXFORD.

[Extracts from account books made by J. R. Bloxam and W. D. Macray, _A Register of the Members of St. Mary Magdalen College, Oxford_, First Series, ii. 235; New Series, i. 3; ii. 3. The dates given below are for the year in which the account begins.]

1481. pro cerothecis pro chorustis, iiijᵈ.

1482. vᵒ die Decembris pro cerothecis episcopi in festo S. Nicholai iiijᵈ.

1483. pro cerothecis datis ad honorem Sancti Nicolai duobus choristis, viijᵈ.

1484. pro cerothecis Episcopi in festo Sancti Nicholai et eius crucem ferentis, viijᵈ.

1485. ‘Ursarii’ of Lord Stanley dined with the Fellows.

1486. pro factura sepulturae erga pascham, xijᵈ. ‘Sex vagatores’ dined with the servants. Solut. viᵒ die Ian. citharistis et mimis tempore ludi in aula in regardo, in tempore Nativitatis Domini, viijᵈ. Solut. pro quodam ornamento lusorum vocato _ly Cape mayntenawnce_, ixᵈ.

1487. pro vestimentis lusorum tempore Nativ. Domini, consilio unius decani, iiˢ ijᵈ. pro clavis ad pannos in ornatum aulae pendendos, jᵈ.

1488. Sol. Iohanni Wynman pro scriptura unius libri de servicio episcopi pro die Innocencium, vᵈ.

1490. Singers from Abingdon, London and Hereford entertained.

1494. Sol. Pescode servanti quandam bestiam vocatam _ly merumsytt_ ex consilio seniorum, quia Rex erat apud Woodstocke, xijᵈ.

1495. Sol. Henrico Mertyn pro lino, _alyn_, et aliis emptis pro ludo in die Paschae, xvijᵈ ob. Sol. Pescod ducenti duo animalia nuncupata _mermosettes_.

1502. Sol. in expensis factis tempore Nativitatis Domini, in biberiis post interludia et alia, xiijˢ iiijᵈ.

1506. To John Burgess, B.A., ... xᵈ were paid for writing out a miracle-play (‘scriptura lusi’) of Sᵗ. Mary Magd., and vˢ. for some music; and viijᵈ to a man who brought some songs from Edward Martyn, M.A. For his diligence with regard to the above miracle-play, Kendall, a clerk, was rewarded with iˢ. pro expensis mimi, iiijˢ, at Christmas.

1507. in quatuor refectionibus citharistae, at Epiphany.

1508. Sol. famulo Regis ducenti ursam ad collegium, ex mandato Vice-presidentis, xijᵈ.

1509. Sol. pane, cibo et aliis datis pueris ludentibus in die Paschae, mandato Vicepr. xvijᵈ ob.

1510. Sol. pro expensis factis in aula tempore Nativitatis Domini, xiijˢ iiijᵈ. Sol. cuidam mimo tempore Nativitatis Domini in regardo, viijᵈ.

1512. Sol. Petro Pyper pro pypyng in interludio nocte Sancti Iohannis, vjᵈ. Sol. Iohanni Tabourner pro lusione in interludio Octavis Epiphaniae, vjᵈ. Sol. Roberto Johnson pro una tunica pro interludiis, iiijˢ.

1514. pro carnibus [? carbonibus] consumptis in capella tribus noctibus ante Pascha et in tempore Nativitatis, ijˢ.

1518. To Perrot, the Master of the choristers, ‘pro tinctura et factura tunicae eius qui ageret partem Christi et pro crinibus mulieribus, ijˢ vjᵈ.’

1520. pro pane ... datis clericis in vigiliis Sᵗⁱ. Nicolai. pro cerothecis puerorum in festo Sancti Nicolai.

1526. pro merendis datis episcopo capellanis clericis et aliis in vigilia Sᵗ. Nicolai.

1529. pro ... episcopo Nicholai.

1530. pro pueris in festo Sancti Nicholai.

1531. Solut. mimis dominae principisshae, xxᵈ. Pro biberio dato sociis et scolaribus post interludia in tempore Natalis Domini, vjˢ viijᵈ.

1532. To the Queen’s players, by the President’s order, xiiᵈ. pro biberio dato sociis post ludum baccalaureorum in magna aula, vjˢ viijᵈ.

1535. pro merenda facta in vigilia Sancti Nicolai. Actors at Christmas, iiiiˢ iiijᵈ. pro merenda facta post comediam actam, ixˢ iijᵈ. ‘ioculatoribus Regis,’ by the President’s order, xxᵈ.

1536. pro biberio in nocte Sancti Nicholai. Sol. mimo pro solatiis factis sociis et scholasticis tempore Nativitatis Domini, viijˢ.

1537. pro carbonibus consumptis in sacrario, per custodes sepulchri, et per pueros in festis hiemalibus, ijˢ [and in other years].

1539. pro bellariis datis sociis cum ageretur comedia, viijˢ.

1540. pro epulis datis sociis eo tempore quo agebatur tragedia, viijˢ iiijᵈ. pro bellariis datis sociis et clericis vigilia divi Nicolai, iiijˢ viijᵈ. pro pane et potu datis semicommunariis dum curabant publicam exhibere comediam, xxᵈ.

1541. A ‘tympanista’ was hired at Christmas and comedies acted.

1554. 30 Ian. in adventu [dom. Matravers] ad tragedias per duas noctes, xlijˢ viijᵈ ob. Pro epulis datis sociis post exactas tragedias, xˢ ixᵈ.

The only Elizabethan entry I need note is:—

1561. Sol. Joyner, pictori, depingenti portenta religiosorum in spectaculo Baulino, iijˢ iiijᵈ ... depingenti nomina haeresium in spectaculo (in aula) quod choristarum moderator [Richard Baull] ordinavit.

VI. SHREWSBURY CORPORATION.

[Extracts from the Bailiffs’ accounts by Owen and Blakeway, _Hist. of Shrewsbury_ (1825), i. 262, 267, 275, 284, 290, 292, 325 sqq.; and by W. D. Macray in _Hist. MSS._ xv. 10. 25. It is not always clear to which calendar year an entry belongs. The accounts run from Michaelmas to Michaelmas, but Owen and Blakeway generally quote entries under one calendar year and sometimes under one regnal year.]

1401. ‘Histriones’ of the Prince and the Earl of Stafford. ‘Menstralles’ of the Earls of Worcester and Stafford.

1409. Players [i.e. in these early accounts, ‘histriones,’ not ‘lusores’] of the countess and earl of Arundel, of Lord Powis, Lord Talbot, and Lord Furnivall. Players ‘in honorem villae’ at the marriage of a cousin of David Holbache.

1437. Minstrels of earl of Stafford.

1438. Livery to two town minstrels, ‘voc. _waytes_.’

1442. Some town minstrels called ‘histriones.’ In same year, ‘histrionibus regis,’ and in subsequent years ‘histrionibus’ of earl of Shrewsbury and others, including one ‘voc. Trumpet.’

1450. Players and minstrels at coming of duke of York from Ireland.

1457. Denaria soluta uni ministrallo domini principis [Edward] pro honestate villae. Quatuor ministrallis domini ducis de Bukyngham. Duobus ministrallis d’ni de Powys. 1 lagenae vini de Ruyn dictis ministrallis. Denaria data uni ministrallo d’ni principis et suo puero. iiij. ministrallis d’ni ducis de Eboraco. iv. ministrellis d’ni ducis de Excestro.

1474. Regardo ministrallis d’ni ducis de Clarence.

1478. Waltero Harper ministrallo d’ni principis. Regardo dato uni ministrallo ducis Gloucestris vocato le Taborer. Regardo sex ministrallis d’ni Regis.

1479. Soluta pro liberata ministrallorum vocatorum Wayts, quilibet eorum. Soluta pro conductu unius ministralli vocati Wayt a villa de Norhampton usque Salop. Soluta pro quodam regardo dato uni ministrallo d’ni Regis via elemosinaria causa eius paupertatis et aetatis.

[From this point _histriones_ replaces _ministralli_ in the accounts.]

1483. Soluta pro quodam regardo dato sex histrionibus domini Regis pro honestate villae. Pro vino dato dictis histrionibus in praesencia ballivorum et aliorum proborum hominum pro honestate villae. Pro liberatura communium histrionum vocatorum le Wayts villae. Soluta ursenario domini Regis pro honestate villae.

1495. Pro vino dato domino Principi [Arthur] ad ludum in quarell.

1496. Wine given to the minstrels of our Lord the King. To the King’s minstrels. To the Queen’s minstrels. To the Prince’s players. To the Earl of Derby’s players. To the Earl of Shrewsbury’s players.

1503. In regardo dato ij Walicis histrionibus domini Regis.

1510. ‘Lusoribus’ in feast of Pentecost. ‘Histrionibus’ of Earl of Shrewsbury and King.

1516. In vino, pomis, waffers, et aliis novellis datis et expenditis super abbatem Salop et famulos suos ad ludum et demonstrationem martiriorum Felicianae et Sabinae in quarera post muros. In regardo dato lusoris eiusdem martirii tunc temporis hoc anno.

1517. Regardo ursinario comitis Oxoniae. In regardo dato ursinario domini Regis pro agitacione bestiarum suarum ultra denarios tunc ibidem collectos.

1518. In vino expendito super tres reges Coloniae equitantibus in interludio pro solacio villae Salop in festo Pentecost.

1520. Ralph Hubard, minstrel of Lord de ‘Mountegyle.’ In regardo dato iiijᵒʳ interlusoribus comitis Arundele ostendentibus ballivis et comparibus suis diversa interludia. Et in vino dato eis et aliis extraneis personis intuentibus interludia, ultra denarios collectos. In regardo dato histrionibus Iohannis Talbot militis pro melodia eorum facta in presencia ballivorum. In regardo dato iij histrionibus comitis Arundelle pro honestate villae Salop. In regardo dato Benet & Welles histrionibus comitis Salop. In regardo ij histrionibus comitissae de Derby pro honestate villae Salop. Et in vino expendito per ballivos et compares suos audientes melodiam eorum. Histrionibus domini Regis ex consuetudine. In regardo dato et vino expendito super Willelmum More histrionem domini Regis eo quod est caecus et principalis citherator Angliae.

1521. Regardo dato M. Brandon ioculatori domini Regis pro honestate villae Et in vino expendito par ballivos & compares suos videntes lusum et ioculationem dicti ioculatoris ultra ij denarios collectos de qualibet persona villae extraneis exceptis. Soluta pro una roba nova depicta, sotularibus & aliis necessariis regardis & expensis factis super Ricardum Glasyer, abbatem de Marham, pro honestate & iocunditate villae. In regardo dato portitori communis campanae circa villam pro proclamacione facta pro attendencia facienda super abbatem de Marham tempore Maii hoc anno. In regardo dato iiijᵒʳ histrionibus domini Regis de consuetudine. Histrionibus comitis Derby. Regardo dato ursinario ducis Suffolke ultra 2ˢ. 3ᵈ. de pecuniis collectis de circumstantibus ad agitacionem ursarum suarum. Pro ursinario domini marchionis Dorsett.

1522. ‘Ursenarius’ of duke of Suffolk. In regardo dato ioculatori domini Regis.

1524. ‘Histrio’ of Henry Knight. ‘Histriones’ of Earl of Derby. ‘Histriones’ of Lord Mount Egle.

1525. In regardo dato iiij histrionibus comitis Arundell. Et in vino expendito super ballivos & compares suos audientes melodiam et ludentes inspicientes. In regardo dato iiijᵒʳ interlusoribus ducis Suffolk. Interludes of the Lady Princess, and wine spent at hearing their interludes.

1526. In regardo dato custodi cameli domini Regis ostendenti ballivis et comparibus suis ioca illius cameli. Interlusoribus dominae principissae. Ralph Hubard, minstrel of Lord de ‘Mountegyle,’ with one Lokkett.

1527. In regardo dato lusoribus villae tempore veris et mensis Maii pro iocunditate villae. Interlusoribus dominae principissae. Interluders of our Lord the King. ‘Histriones,’ of Sir John Talbot, Arthur Neuton and Sir John Lyngen.

1528. ‘Ursenarius’ of marquis of Exeter.

1530. ‘Histrio’ of baron of Burford.

1531. Data interlusoribus dominae principissae.

1533. Soluta Thomae Eton pro factura unius mansionis de duobus stagiis pro domino presidenti [Bishop of Exeter] et ballivis tempore ludi septimana Pentecostes. Et in regardo dato lusoribus ad dictum lusum et pro reparacione ornamentorum suorum. In vino dato domino presidenti & ballivis in mansione sua tempore lusi in Quarrera pone muros. In regardo dato lusoribus & interlusoribus domini Regis ostendentibus & offerentibus ioca sua. Et in vino expendito super eos et comitivam ballivorum & comparium suorum audientium & supervidentium lusum & melodiam eorum. In expensis factis in garniamentis, liberatis et histrion[ibus] pro domino abbate de Marham tempore mensis Maii pro honestate villae hoc anno.

1535. In regardo m[agistro] Brandon, ioculatori domini Regis. In regardo dato histrionibus extraneis melodiam et cantilenas eorum coram ballivis et comparibus pronunciantibus.

1538. Data in regardo lusoribus domini privati sigilli. Data in regarda lusoribus domini principis [Edward]. Expendita super lusores domini principis, domini privati sigilli, domini visitatoris ... pro honestate villae. ‘Histriones’ of Sir Thomas Cornewall and of Thomas Newport. Rogero Philipps, goldsmyth, pro argento et emendacione colarium histrionum villae. ‘Ursenarius’ of marquis of Exeter.

1540. Data in regardo quibusdam interlusoribus de Wrexam ludentibus coram ballivis et comparibus suis in vino tunc expendito. ‘Item, Mr. Bayleffes left on pᵈ more the same day at aftʳ the play. ‘Item, the vj men spend appon the kyng’s pleyers in wyne. ‘Item, there was left on pᵈ by Mr. Bayleffs wᵗ my Lorde Prinssys plears on Sonday after Seint Bartlaumew day. ‘Item, there was sent them the nyght to supper a poˡ of red and a poˡ of claret. ‘Item, Mr. Bayleffs left on pᵈ on Sonday after owre Lade day wyth my Lord Prinsys plears.’ Cuidam iugulatori ludenti coram ballivis.

1541. ‘Ursenario ducis Norfoxiae.’

1542. In vino dato interlusoribus post interlusum in cimitirio sancti Cedde coram commissariis domini Regis ballivis et aliis. Cuidem ursuario de la Northewiche. Ursiatori praepotentis viri comitis Derby ad ij tempora. Pro reparacione et pictura ornamentorum abbatis de Mayvole. Et soluta pro una toga de nova facta dicto abbati de Mayvole. Soluta Ricardo Glasier pro labore suo in ludendo abbatem de Mardall.

1548. Interlusoribus ludentibus cum domino abbate de Marall. Soluta Iohanni Mason, peynter, pro pictura togae pro dicto domino de Marrall. In regardo istrionibus ludentibus ante viros armatos. Cuidam istrioni ludenti ante viros equiles equitantes ad Scociam.

1549. James Lockwood ‘servienti et gestatori domini Regis.’ Interluders of Sir John Bridges and of Sir Edward Braye. William Taylor, and others, interluders of the town of Salop, playing there in the month of May. ‘Histriones’ of William Sheldon and of Lord Ferrers [last use of term histrio].

1552. Interluders of Lord Russell. Soluta domino de abbott Marram et pro apparatu eorum videlicet pro calciamentis tunicis et aliis vestibus.

1553. Expendita per ballivos et associatos suos die lunae in le Whitson wuck post visum lusum. Pro tunicis et aliis vestimentis ac pistura eorundem pro Robyn Hood. In vino dato eisdem interlusoribus. In regardo le tomlers.

1554. In regardo Thomae Staney le jugler. Wyett le gester.

1559. Regardo lusiatoribus domini Stafford.

1561. Item, gyvyn unto my lord Wyllybe’s playarys in reward. Item, spent at the gullet on the saem playarys.

1565. To Master Baly Pursell with the Quenes players.

1566. Yeven Mr. Justes Throgmerton’s mynstrell.

1574. Paid and geven to my L. Sandwayes man, the berwart. The players of noblemen and others and ber-wards of noblemen and mynstrells of noblemen, this yere, viiiˡⁱ xˢ viijᵈ.

1576. Leid out to my lord of Derby and my lord Staffart’s musicions.

1582. Bestowed on her Majesty’s players this yere.

1591. To my lord of Derby’s musysyons, and to the erle of Woster’s players ... to my L. Beachem men, beinge players.

[From _Books of Council Orders in Hist. MSS._ xv. 13, 16, 18.]

1556. 16 May. The bailiffs to set forward the stage play this next Whitsontide for the worship of the town and not to disburse above £5 about the furniture of the play.

1570. 8 July. Lease of pasture ‘behind the walles, exceptinge the Quarrell where the plases have bine accustomyd to be usyd.’

1575. 17 July. Five marks to be given to Mr. Churchyard for his pains taken in setting forth the show against the Queen’s coming, being sent hither by the Lord President.

VII. THE HOWARDS OF STOKE-BY-NAYLAND, ESSEX.

[From accounts of Sir John Howard, in _Manners and Household Expenses_ (Roxburghe Club, 1841), 325, 511.]

2 May, 1465. Item that he [my master] delyverd the pleyers at Moleyns [a servant of Sir John’s] weddynge, ijˢ.

12 Jan. 1466. And the sonday nexte after the xij day, I ȝafe to the pleyeres of Stoke, ijˢ.

[From accounts of John, Lord Howard, afterwards Duke of Norfolk, in _Household Books of John, Duke of Norfolk, and Thomas, Earl of Surrey_ (ed. Collier, Roxburghe Club, 1844), 104, 145, 146, 148, 149, 202, 336, 339.]

29 Aug. 1481. I paid to the pleirs of Turton [Thorington] Strete, xxᵈ.

26 Dec. 1481. Item, the xxvj day of December, my Lord toke the Plaiers of Kokesale [Coggeshall], iijˢ iiijᵈ.

27 Dec. 1481. Item, to the Plaiers of Hadley [Hadleigh], and the olde man and ij. children, vjˢ viijᵈ.

7 Jan. 1482. Item, to the Plaiers of Esterforde, iijˢ iiijᵈ.

9 Jan. 1482. Item, to Senclowe, that he paid to my Lord of Essex [Henry Bourchier] men, plaiers, xxᵈ. Thei are of Canans.

22 May, 1482. Item, that my Lord yaffe to the cherche on Whitson Monday at the pley, xˢ.

25 Dec. 1482. Item, on Crystemas day, my Lord gaff to iiij pleyers of my lord of Gloucestres, iijˢ iiijᵈ. Item, the same day, my Lord gaff to iiij pleyers of Coksale, iijˢ iiijᵈ.

9 Jan. 1483. Item, the same day, my Lord paid to Garard, of Sudbury, for all suche stoffe as folewyth, that he bought for the Dysgysing [a schedule of paper, gunpowder, ‘arsowde,’ pack-thread, &c., follows]. Summe totall, xxjˢ ob.

[From accounts of Thomas, Earl of Surrey, in _Household Books_ (_ut supra_), 515, 517, 519.]

20 Dec. 1490. Payd for xviij yardes of lynen cloth, that M. Leynthorpe had for dysgysyng, at iiijᵈ the yard, ... vjˢ iiijᵈ.

[Other expenses for the disguising follow.]

27 Dec. 1490. Item, payd to the playars of Chemsford, vjˢ. viijᵈ.

2 Jan. 1491. Item, the said day, in reward to the panget [pageant (?)], iijˢ iiijᵈ. Item, payd to ——, when he went to Bury to fach stuff for dygysers on Saynt Stevens day, xvjᵈ.

8 Jan. 1492. Item, in reward to the players of Lanam [Lavenham], xlˢ.

[The Howard accounts also include many payments for minstrelsy, &c. The Duke of Norfolk kept singers, a harper, children of the chapel, and two fools, ‘Tom Fool’ and Richard, ‘the fool of the kitchen.’]

VIII. THE ENGLISH COURT.

[From Rymer, _Foedera_, x. 387. A memorandum _de strenis, liberatis et expensis_, at Christmas, 1427.]

A Jakke Travail et ses compaignons feisans diverses jeuues et entreludes dedeins le feste de Noell devant notre dit sire le roi, 4 lib.

Et as autres jeweis de Abyndon feisantz autres entreludes dedeins le dit feste de Noel, 20 sol.

[Extracted by Collier, i. 50, from the _Household Book_ of Henry VII, 1491-1505, and the _Book of King’s Payments_, 1506-9. I cannot identify the former; the latter appears to be vol. 214 of the _Miscellanea of the Treasury of the Receipt of the Exchequer_ (Scargill-Bird, _Guide to the Public Records_, 228). I omit, here and below, entries referring to minstrelsy, disguisings, and plays by the King’s players and the Chapel. Probably some of the performances were given at London; others before the King on progress. I have corrected some of Collier’s dates from the similar entries in Bentley, _Excerpta Historica_, 85, taken from a transcript in _B. M. Add. MS._ 7099.]

1 Jan. 1492. To my Lorde of Oxon pleyers, in rewarde, £1.

7 Jan. 1493. To my Lorde of Northumberlande Pleyers, in rewarde, £1.

1 Jan. 1494. To four Pleyers of Essex in rewarde, £1. To the Pleyers of Wymborne Minster, £1.

6 Jan. 1494. To the Frenche Pleyers for a rewarde, £1.

31 Dec. 1494. To 3 Pleyers of Wycombe in rewarde, 13ˢ 4ᵈ.

4 Jan. 1495. To the Frenshe Pleyers in rewarde, £2.

20 July, 1498. To the pleyers of London in rewarde, 10ˢ.

14 June, 1499. To the pleyers with Marvells, £4.

6 Aug. 1501. To the Pleyers at Myles End, 3ˢ 4ᵈ.

2 Jan. 1503. To the Pleyers of Essex in rewarde, £1.

20 May, 1505. To the Players of Kingeston toward the bilding of the churche steple, in almasse, 3ˢ 4ᵈ.

1 Jan. 1506. To the players that played afore the Lord Stewarde in the Hall opon Sonday nyght, 6ˢ 8ᵈ. To my lorde Princes players that played in hall on new-yeres even, 10ˢ.

25 Dec. 1506. To the Players that played affore the Lord Stewarde in the Hall opon Tewesday nyght, 10ˢ.

2 Jan. 1509. To my lord of Buckingham’s pleyers that playd in the Hall at Grenewich, 6ˢ 8ᵈ.

[Extracted by Collier, i. 76, from the _Book of King’s Payments_ for 1509-17, now vol. 215 of the _Miscellanea of the Treasury of the Receipt of the Exchequer_. The document is more fully analysed in Brewer, ii. 1441. It is an account of the Treasurer of the Chamber.]

6 Jan. 1512. To the Players that cam out of Suffolke, that playd affore the Lorde Stewarde in the Kings Hall opon Monday nyght, 13ˢ 4ᵈ.

1 Jan. 1515. To the Erle of Wiltyshires playres, that shulde have played in the Kings Hall oppon Thursday at nyght, in rewarde, 13ˢ 4ᵈ.

1 Jan. 1516. To the Erle of Wilshire’s players, 13ˢ 4ᵈ.

[From _Accounts of Treasurer of Chamber_ in _Trevelyan Papers_ (C.S.), i. 146, 161, 174.]

1 Jan. 1530. To the Prince’s plaiers.

1 Jan. 1531. To the Princes pleyers. Item, paid to certain Players of Coventrye, as in wey of the Kinges rewarde, for playnge in the Corte this last Cristmas.

1 Jan. 1532. To the Princesse plaiers.

F

MINSTREL GUILDS

A. FRANCE.

1. _Arras_, †1105.

The famous _Pui d’Arras_ (vols. i. p. 376, ii. p. 88) was in a sense a minstrel guild. According to tradition a plague was stayed by a simultaneous apparition of the Virgin in a dream to two minstrels, which led to the acquisition of ‘le joyel d’Arras,’ the miraculous ‘cierge de notre Dame.’ This was about 1105, and the result was the foundation of the _Confrérie_ or _Carité de N. D. des Ardents_, which afterwards developed into the _pui_. This was not confined to minstrels, but they were predominant. The _Statutes_ say, ‘Ceste carité est estorée des jogleors, et les jogleors en sont signors[680].’ The objects of the _pui_, however, were religious, social, and literary. It was not a craft guild, such as grew up two centuries later.

2. _Paris_, 1321.

Ordinances were made in 1321 ‘à l’acort du commun des menestreus et menestrelles, jougleurs et jougleresses’ of Paris for the reformation of their ‘mestier,’ and registered with the provost of Paris in 1341. They chiefly regulate the employment of minstrels within the city. The ‘mestres du dit mestier’ are to be ‘ii ou iii preudes hommes’ appointed by the provost on behalf of the King. A number of ‘guètes’ and other minstrels sign, beginning with ‘Pariset, menestrel le roy,’ and ending with ‘Jaque le Jougleur.’ As a possible head of the ‘mestier’ is named ‘li prevost de Saint-Julian.’ This seems to contemplate the foundation of the _hospice et confrérie_ under the patronage of SS. Julian and Genesius, and in close connexion with the ‘mestier,’ which actually took place 1328-35. But in the later Statutes of 1407 the head of the guild is called the ‘roy des ménestriers,’ and as by this time the guild seems to claim some authority over the whole of France, it is probable that this ‘roy’ was identical with the ‘roy des menestreuls du royaume de France,’ a title which occurs in various documents from 1338 onwards. He may also have been identical with the ‘roy’ of the King’s household minstrels (cf. p. 239). The Paris guild lasted until the suppression of all such privileged bodies in 1776[681].

3. _Chauny._

The corporation of ‘les Trompettes jougleurs’ of Chauny was founded during the fifteenth century. This town claimed to provide _bateleurs_ for all the north of France[682].

B. ENGLAND.

There are two early jurisdictions over minstrelsy, which are not strictly of the nature of guilds.

1. _Chester._

Tradition has it that †1210 Randal Blundeville, Earl of Chester, besieged by the Welsh in Rhuddlan Castle, was relieved by Roger Lacy, constable of Cheshire, with a mob of riff-raff from Chester Midsummer fair. Randal gave to Lacy, and Lacy’s son John gave to his steward Hugh de Dutton and his heirs the ‘magistratum omnium leccatorum et meretricum totius Cestriae.’ The fact of the jurisdiction is undoubted. It was reserved by the charter to the London guild in 1469, claimed by Laurence de Dutton in 1499, admitted upon an action of _quo warranto_ as a right ‘from time immemorial,’ further reserved in the first Vagrant Act (1572) which specifically included minstrels, and in the successive Acts of 1597, 1603, 1628, 1641, 1713, 1740, 1744. It lapsed when this last Act was repealed in 1822. Up to 1756 the heir of Dutton regularly held his _curia Minstralciae_ at Chester Midsummer fair, and issued licences to fiddlers in the city and county for a fee of 4½_d._, afterwards raised to 2_s._ 6_d._ Thomas Dutton (1569-1614), under puritan influences, inserted a proviso against piping and dancing on Sundays[683].

2. _Tutbury._

Letters patent of John of Gaunt dated 1380 and confirmed by an ‘inspeximus’ of Henry VI in 1443 assigned ‘le roy des ministralx’ in the honour of Tutbury to arrest all minstrels within the honour not doing service on the feast of the Assumption. It was a custom that the prior of Tutbury should provide a bull for a bull-running by the assembled minstrels on this feast. The court was still held by an annual ‘king of the fiddlers,’ with the steward and bailiff of the honour (including Staffs., Derby, Notts., Leicester, and Warwick), at the end of the seventeenth century, and the minstrels claimed to be exempt, like those of Chester, from vagrancy legislation. But their rights were not reserved, either by the Charter of 1469 or the Vagrant Acts[684].

The first English craft guild of minstrels is later by a century and a half than that of Paris.

3. _London._

A charter of Edward IV (1469), ‘ex querelosa insinuatione dilectorum nobis Walteri Haliday, marescalli [and seven others] ministrallorum nostrorum,’ declares that ‘nonnulli rudes Agricolae et Artifices diversarum Misterarum Regni nostri Angliae finxerunt se fore Ministrallos. Quorum aliqui Liberatam nostram, eis minime datam, portarunt, seipsos etiam fingentes esse Ministrallos nostros proprios. Cuius quidem Liberatae ac dictae Artis sive Occupationis Ministrallorum colore in diversis Partibus Regni nostri praedicti grandes Pecuniarum Exactiones de Ligeis nostris deceptive colligunt et recipiunt.’ Hence illegitimate competition with the real minstrels, decay of the art, and neglect of agriculture. The charter then does two things. It makes the royal minstrels a corporation with a marshall elected by themselves, and it puts them at the head of a ‘Fraternitatem sive Gildam’ of minstrels already existing in the chapel of the Virgin in St. Paul’s, and in the royal free chapel of St. Anthony. All minstrels in the country are to join this guild or be suppressed. It is to have two _custodes_ and to make statutes and ordinances. The jurisdiction of Dutton over Chester minstrels is, as already stated, reserved[685]. A ‘serviens’ or ‘serjeant’ seems to have been an officer of the guild[686]. With this exception nothing more is heard of it until 1594, when a dispute as to the office of the Master of the Musicians’ Company called for the intervention of the Lord Keeper[687].’ In 1604 the Company received a new charter, which gave it jurisdiction within the city and a radius of three miles from its boundaries. It was further restricted to the city itself under Charles I. It still exists as the Corporation of the Master, Wardens, and Commonalty of the Art or Science of the Musicians of London[688].

The London guild would appear, from its peculiar relation to the royal household minstrels, and its claim to jurisdiction throughout the country, to have been modelled upon that of Paris. This claim was evidently not maintained, and in fact at least three other local guilds can be shown to have existed in the sixteenth century. A search, which I have not undertaken, would probably readily discover more.

4. _Canterbury._

Ordinances, dated 1526, of the ‘felowshyp of the craft and mystery of mynstrells’ give the prerogative right to perform in the city to the members of this body, saving the privileges of the city waits, and ‘the King’s mynstrells, the Queane’s, my Lord Prince’s, or any honorable or wurshipfull mann’s mynstrells of thys realme[689].’

5. _Beverley._

An order of the Governors of the city (1555) recites an old custom ‘since Athelstan’ of the choice by minstrels between Trent and Tweed of aldermen of their fraternities during Rogation days, and renews orders for the ‘fraternity of our Lady of the read arke in Beverley.’ The statutes deal with the employment of minstrels in Beverley, and with their ‘castells’ at the Rogation-day procession. A new member must be ‘mynstrell to some man of honour or worship or waite of some towne corporate or other ancient town or else of such honestye and conyng as shalbe thought laudable and pleasant to the hearers.’ It is claimed that such are excluded from the ‘Kyng’s acts where they speake of vacabonds and valiant beggers.’ Quite in the spirit of the London charter of 1469 it is ordered that ‘no myler shepherd or of other occupation or husbandman or husbandman servant’ shall assume the functions of a minstrel outside his own parish[690]. The earliest notice of this guild in the Beverley archives seems to be in 1557[691], but the terms of the order and the existence of pillars put up by the minstrels in fifteenth-century churches in Beverley[692] point to some informal earlier association.

6. _York._

A craft of Mynstrells certainly existed by 1561, in which year they undertook the pageant of Herod at the Corpus Christi plays[693].

G

THOMAS DE CABHAM

[The following extract from a _Penitential_ formerly ascribed to John of Salisbury, but now to Thomas de Cabham, Bishop of Salisbury (†1313), is printed by B. Hauréau, _Notices et Extraits de Manuscrits_, xxiv. 2, 284, from _B. N. MSS. Lat._ 3218 and 3529ᵃ, and by F. Guessard and C. Grandmaison, _Huon de Bordeaux_, vi., from _B. N. Sorbonne MS._ 1552, f. 71. The two texts differ in several points. According to Gautier, ii. 22, there are several similar thirteenth-century _Penitentials_, and it is difficult to say which was the original. The doctrine laid down about minstrels is often repeated in later treatises. See e.g. a passage from the fifteenth-century _Le Jardin des Nobles_ in P. Paris, _Manuscrits français_, ii. 144.]

Tria sunt histrionum genera. Quidam transformant et transfigurant corpora sua per turpes saltus et per turpes gestus, vel denudando se turpiter, vel induendo horribiles larvas, et omnes tales damnabiles sunt, nisi reliquerint officia sua. Sunt etiam alii qui nihil operantur, sed criminose agunt, non habentes certum domicilium, sed sequuntur curias magnatum et dicunt opprobria et ignominias de absentibus ut placeant aliis. Tales etiam damnabiles sunt, quia prohibet Apostolus cum talibus cibum sumere, et dicuntur tales scurrae vagi, quia ad nihil utiles sunt, nisi ad devorandum et maledicendum. Est etiam tertium genus histrionum qui habent instrumenta musica ad delectandum homines, et talium sunt duo genera. Quidam enim frequentant publicas potationes et lascivas congregationes, et cantant ibi diversas cantilenas ut moveant homines ad lasciviam, et tales sunt damnabiles sicut alii. Sunt autem alii, qui dicuntur ioculatores, qui cantant gesta principum et vitam sanctorum, et faciunt solatia hominibus vel in aegritudinibus suis vel in angustiis, et non faciunt innumeras turpitudines sicut faciunt saltatores et saltatrices et alii qui ludunt in imaginibus inhonestis et faciunt videri quasi quaedam fantasmata per incantationes vel alio modo. Si autem non faciunt talia, sed cantant in instrumentis suis gesta principum et alia talia utilia ut faciant solatia hominibus, sicut supradictum est, bene possunt sustineri tales, sicut ait Alexander papa. Cum quidam ioculator quaereret ab eo utrum posset salvare animam suam in officio suo, quaesivit Papa ab eo utrum sciret aliquod aliud opus unde vivere posset: respondit ioculator quod non. Permisit igitur Papa quod ipse viveret de officio suo, dummodo abstineret a praedictis lasciviis et turpitudinibus. Notandum est quod omnes peccant mortaliter qui dant scurris vel leccatoribus vel praedictis histrionibus aliquid de suo. Histrionibus dare nichil aliud est quam perdere.

H

PRINCELY PLEASURES AT KENILWORTH

[From _Robert Laneham’s Letter_ (ed. F. J. Furnivall for New Shakspere Society (1890); and in Nichols, _Progresses of Elizabeth_, i. 420) describing the entertainment of Elizabeth by the Earl of Leicester at Kenilworth, in July, 1575. G. Gascoigne, _The Princelye Pleasures at the Courte at Kenelworth_ (1576, in Nichols, i. 502), leaves undescribed what he calls the ‘Coventrie’ (ed. 2, ‘Countrie’) shows.]

I. A SQUIRE MINSTREL.

Mary, syr, I must tell yoo: Az all endeuoour waz too mooue mirth & pastime (az I tolld ye): éeuen so a ridiculoous deuise of an auncient minstrell & hiz song waz prepared to haue been profferd, if méet time & place had béen foound for it. Ons in a woorshipfull company, whear, full appointed, he recoounted his matter in sort az it should haue been vttred, I chaunsed too be: what I noted, heer thus I tel yoo: A parson very méet séemed he for the purpoze, of a xlv. yéers olld, apparelled partly as he woold himself. Hiz cap of: his hed séemly roounded tonster wyze: fayr kemb, _that_ with a spoonge deintly dipt in a littl capons greaz was finely smoothed too make it shine like a Mallard’s wing. Hiz beard smugly shauen: and yet hiz shyrt after the nu trink, with ruffs fayr starched, sléeked, and glistening like a payr of nu shooz: marshalld in good order: wyth a stetting stick, and stoout, that euery ruff stood vp like a wafer: a side gooun of kendall green, after the freshnes of the yéer noow, gathered at the neck with a narro gorget, fastened afore with a white clasp and a keepar close vp to the chin: but easily for heat too vndoo when he list: Séemly begyrt in a red caddiz gyrdl: from that a payr of capped Sheffield kniuez hanging a to side: Out of hiz bozome drawne forth a lappet of his napkin, edged with a blu lace, & marked with a trulooue, a hart, and A. D. for Damian: for he was but a bachelar yet.

Hiz gooun had syde sleeuez dooun to midlegge, slit from the shooulder too the hand, & lined with white cotten. Hiz doobled sleeuez of blak woorsted, vpon them a payr of poynets of towny Chamblet laced a long the wreast wyth blu threeden points, a wealt toward the hand of fustian anapes: a payr of red neatherstocks: a pair of pumps on hiz féet, with a cross cut at the toze for cornz: not nu indéede, yet cleanly blakt with soot, & shining az a shoing horn.

Aboout hiz nek a red rebond sutable too hiz girdl: hiz harp in good grace dependaunt before him: hiz wreast tyed to a gréen lace, and hanging by: vnder the gorget of hiz gooun a fair flagon cheyn, (pewter, for) siluer, as a squier minstrel of Middilsex, that trauaild the cuntrée this soommer seazon vnto fairz & worshipfull mens hoousez: from hiz chein hoong a Schoochion, with mettall & cooller resplendant vpon hiz breast, of the auncient armez of Islington:

[Apparently the minstrel was got ready; but not shown. He was to have recited an Arthurian romance in verse.]

II. THE COVENTRY HOCK-TUESDAY SHOW.

And héertoo folloed az good a sport (me thooght) prezented in an historicall ku, by certain good harted men of Couentrée, my Lordes neighboors thear: who, vnderstanding amoong them _the_ thing that coold not bee hidden from ony, hoow carefull and studious hiz honor waz, that by all pleazaunt recreasions her highnes might best fynd her self wellcom, & bee made gladsum and mery, (the ground-worke indeede, and foundacion, of hiz Lordship’s myrth and gladnesse of vs all), made petition that they moought renu noow their olld storiall sheaw: Of argument, how the Danez whylom héere in a troubloous seazon wear for quietnesse born withall, & suffeard in peas, that anon, by outrage & importabl insolency, abuzing both Ethelred, the king then, and all estates euerie whear beside: at the greuoous complaint & coounsell of Huna, the king’s chieftain in warz, on Saint Brices night, Ann. Dom. 1012 (Az the book sayz) that falleth yéerely on the thirtéenth of Nouember, wear all dispatcht, and the Ream rid. And for becauz the matter mencioneth how valiantly our English women for looue of their cuntrée behaued themseluez: expressed in actionz & rymez after their maner, they thought it moought mooue sum myrth to her Maiestie the rather.

The thing, said they, iz grounded on story, and for pastime woont too bee plaid in oour Citee yéerely: without ill exampl of mannerz, papistry, or ony superstition: and elz did so occupy the heads of a number, that likely inoough woold haue had woorz meditationz: had an auncient beginning, and a long continuauns: tyll noow of late laid dooun, they knu no cauz why, onless it wear by the zeal of certain theyr Preacherz: men very commendabl for their behauiour and learning, & swéet in their sermons, but sumwhat too sour in preaching awey theyr pastime: wisht therefore, that az they shoold continu their good doctrine in pulpet, so, for matters of pollicy & gouernauns of the Citie, they woold permit them to the Mair and Magistratez: and seyed, by my feyth, Master Martyn, they woold make theyr humbl peticion vntoo her highnes, that they might haue theyr playz vp agayn.

But aware, kéep bak, make room noow, heer they cum! And fyrst, ... Captain Cox cam marching on valiantly before, cléen trust, & gartered aboue the knée, all fresh in a veluet cap (master Goldingha_m_ lent it him) floorishing with hiz tonswoord, and another fensmaster with him: thus in the foreward making room for the rest. After the_m_ proudly prickt on formost, the Danish launsknights on horsbak, and then the English: each with their allder poll marcially in their hand. Eeuen at the first entrée the méeting waxt sumwhat warm: that by and by kindled with corage a both sidez, gru from a hot skirmish vnto a blazing battail: first by speare and shield, outragious in their racez az ramz at their rut, with furious encoounterz, that togyther they tumbl too the dust, sumtime hors and man: and after fall too it with sworde & target, good bangz a both sidez: the fight so ceassing; but the battail not so ended: folloed the footmen, both the hostez, ton after toother: first marching in ranks: then warlik turning, the_n_ fro_m_ ranks into squadrons, then in too trianglz; fro_m_ that intoo rings, & so winding oout again: A valiant captain of great prowez, az fiers az a fox assauting a gooz, waz so hardy to giue the first stroke: then get they grisly togyther: that great waz the actiuitée that day too be séen thear a both sidez: ton very eager for purchaz of pray, toother vtterly stoout for redemption of libertie: thus, quarrell enflamed fury a both sidez. Twise the Danes had _th_e better; but at the last conflict, beaten doun, ouercom, and many led captiue for triumph by our English wéemen.

This waz the effect of this sheaw, that, az it waz handled, made mooch matter of good pastime: brought all indéed intoo the great court, een vnder her highnes windo too haue been séen: but (az vnhappy it waz for the bride) that cam thither too soon, (and yet waz it a four a clok). For her highnes beholding in the chamber delectabl dauncing indéed: and héerwith the great throng and vnrulines of the people, waz cauz that this solemnitee of Brideale & dauncing, had not the full muster waz hoped for: and but a littl of the Couentrée plea her highnes also saw: commaunded thearfore on the Tuisday folloing to haue it ful oout: az accordingly it waz prezented, whearat her Maiestie laught well: they wear the iocunder, and so mooch the more becauz her highnes had giuen them too buckes, and fiue marke in mony, to make mery togyther: they prayed for her Maiesty, long, happily to reign, & oft to cum thither, that oft they moought sée héer: & what, reioycing vpon their ampl reward, and what, triumphing vpon the good acceptauns, they vaunted their play waz neuer so dignified, nor euer any players afore so beatified....

Tuisday, according to commandement, cam oour Couentrée men: what their matter waz, of her highnes myrth and good acceptauns, and rewarde vntoo them, and of their reioysing thearat, I sheawd you afore, and so say the less noow.

I

THE INDIAN VILLAGE FEAST

[From Sir Walter Elliot, _On the Characteristics of the Population of Central India_, in _Journal of the Ethnological Society of London_, N. S. i. 94 (1869).]

In the north-east corner of the central mountainous region represented on the map, between the Mahanadi and Godavery rivers, is found a tribe which has preserved its normal character remarkably free from change and from external influence. The Konds, or, as they call themselves, the Kuingas, although only discovered within the last thirty-five years, are better known than most of the other barbarous tribes from the fact that for ages they have been in the habit of sacrificing human victims in great numbers to secure the favour of the deities presiding over their dwellings, fields, hills, &c., but especially of the earth-goddess.

The successful efforts employed to abolish this barbarous rite have made the subject familiar to all, and it is remarkable that such knowledge should have failed to attract attention to a practice precisely similar in its objects and in its details, which is observed in every village of Southern India, with this single difference, that a buffalo is substituted for a human victim. My attention was early drawn to this practice, which is called the festival of the village goddess (_Devi_, or _Grama Devati_), the descriptions of which led me to believe it might throw light on the early condition of the servile classes, and resolving to witness its celebrations, I repaired to the village of Serúr, in the Southern Mahratta country, in March, 1829. It would occupy too much time to describe the ceremony in full, which is the less necessary as the details vary in different places; but the general features are always the same.

The temple of the goddess is a mean structure outside the village. The officiating priests are the Parias, who, on this occasion, and on it alone, are exempt from the degrading condition which excludes them from the village, and from contact with the inhabitants. With them are included the Mangs or workers in leather, the Asádis or Dásaris, _paria_ dancing-girls devoted to the service of the temple, the musician in attendance on them called Rániga, who acts also as a sort of jester or buffoon, and a functionary called Pót-raj, who officiates as _pujári_ to a rural god named also Pót-raj, to whom a small altar is erected behind the temple of the village goddess. He is armed with a long whip, which he cracks with great dexterity, and to which also at various parts of the ceremony divine honours are paid.

All the members of the village community take part in the festival with the hereditary district officers, many of them Brahmans. The shepherds or _Dhangars_ of the neighbouring villages are also invited, and they attend with their priests called _Virgars_ or _Irgars_, accompanied by the _dhol_ or big drum peculiar to their caste. But the whole is under the guidance and management of the Parias.

The festival commences always on a Tuesday, the day of rest among the agricultural classes, both for man and beast. The most important and essential ceremonies take place on the second and fifth days. On the former, the sacred buffalo, which had been purchased by the Parias, an animal without a blemish, is thrown down before the goddess, its head struck off by a single blow and placed in front of the shrine with one fore-leg thrust into its mouth. Around are placed vessels containing the different cereals, and hard by a heap of mixed grains, with a drill plough in the centre. The carcase is then cut up into small pieces, and each cultivator receives a portion to bury in his field. The blood and offal are collected into a large basket, over which some pots of the cooked food which had been presented as a meat offering (_naivedya_) had previously been broken, and Pót-raj taking a live kid called the _hari-mariah_, hews it in pieces over the whole. The mess (_cheraga_) is then mixed together, and the basket being placed on the head of a naked Mang, he runs off with it, flinging the contents into the air, and scattering them right and left, as an offering (_bhut-bali_) to the evil spirits, and followed by the other Parias, and the village Paiks, with drawn swords. Sometimes the demons arrest the progress of the party, when more of the mess is thrown about, and fowls and sheep are sacrificed, till the spirits are appeased.

During the whole time of the sacrifice the armed paiks keep vigilant guard, lest any intruder should secrete a morsel of flesh or a drop of blood, which, if carried off successfully, after declaring the purpose, would transfer the merit of the offering to the strangers’ village.

On the return of the party from making the circuit of the village another buffalo, seized by force wherever it can be found (_zulmi-khulga_) is sacrificed by decapitating it in the same manner as the former; but no particular importance is attached to it, and the flesh is distributed to be eaten.

The third and fourth days are devoted to private offerings. On the former all the inhabitants of caste, who had vowed animals to the goddess during the preceding three years for the welfare of their families, or the fertility of their fields, brought the buffaloes or sheep to the _paria pujári_, who struck off their heads. The fourth day was appropriated exclusively to the offerings of the Parias. In this way, some fifty or sixty buffaloes and several hundred sheep were slain, and the heads piled up in two great heaps. Many women on these days walked naked to the temple in fulfilment of vows, but they were covered with leaves and boughs of trees and surrounded by their female relations and friends.

On the fifth and last day (Saturday) the whole community marched in procession, with music, to the temple, and offered a concluding sacrifice at the Pót-raj altar. A lamb was concealed close by. The Pót-raj having found it after a pretended search, struck it simply with his whip, which he then placed upon it, and, making several passes with his hands, rendered it insensible; in fact, mesmerised it. When it became rigid and stiff he lifted it up and carried it about on the palm of his hand, to the amazement of the spectators, and then laid it down on the ground. His hands were then tied behind his back by the _pujári_, and the whole party began to dance round him with noisy shouts, the music and the shepherd’s drum making a deafening noise. Pót-raj joined in the excitement, his eyes began to roll, his long hair fell loose over his shoulders, and he soon came fully under the influence of the _numen_. He was now led up, still bound, to the place where the lamb lay motionless. He rushed at it, seized it with his teeth, tore through the skin, and ate into its throat. When it was quite dead, he was lifted up, a dishful of the meat offering was presented to him; he thrust his bloody face into it, and it was then, with the remains of the lamb, buried beside the altar. Meantime his hands were untied, and he fled the place, and did not appear for three days. The rest of the party now adjourned to the front of the temple, where the heap of grain deposited the first day was divided among the cultivators, to be buried by each one in his field with the bit of flesh. After this a distribution of the piled-up heads was made by the hand of the Rániga. About forty sheep’s heads were given to certain privileged persons, among which two were allotted to the Sircar! For the rest a general scramble took place, paiks, shepherds, Parias, and many boys and men of good caste, were soon rolling in the mass of putrid gore. The heads were flung about in all directions, without regard to rank or caste, the Brahmans coming in for an ample share of the filth. The scramble for the buffalo heads was confined to the Parias. Whoever was fortunate enough to secure one of either kind carried it off and buried it in his field. The proceedings terminated by a procession round the boundaries of the village lands, preceded by the goddess, and the head of the sacred buffalo carried on the head of one of the Mangs. All order and propriety now ceased. Rániga began to abuse the goddess in the foulest terms; he then turned his fury against the government, the head man of the village, and every one who fell in his way. The Parias and Asádis attacked the most respectable and gravest citizens, and laid hold of the Brahmans, Lingayats, and Zamindars without scruple. The dancing-women jumped on their shoulders, the shepherds beat the big drum, with deafening clangor, and universal license reigned.

On reaching a little temple, sacred to the goddess of boundaries (_polimera-amma_), they halted to make some offerings, and bury the sacred head. As soon as it was covered, the uproar began again. Rániga became more foul-mouthed than ever. In vain the head-men, the government officers, and others tried to pacify him by giving him small copper coins. He only broke out with worse imprecations and grosser abuse, till the circuit being completed, all dispersed; the Parias retired to their hamlet outside the town, resuming their humble, servile character, and the village reverted to its wonted peaceful appearance.

Next day (Sunday) the whole population turned out to a great hunting-party.

I found this remarkable institution existing in every part of India where I have been, and I have descriptions of it corresponding in all essential points, from the Dekhan, the Nizam’s country, Mysore, the Carnatic, and the Northern Circars. The details vary in different places, but the main features agree in all, and correspond remarkably with the _Mariah_ sacrifice of the Konds, which also varies considerably on minor points in different places.

J

SWORD-DANCES

I. SWEDEN (_Sixteenth Century_).

[From Olaus Magnus, _Historia de gentibus septentrionalibus_ (1555), Bk. xv. chh. 23, 24.]

Ch. 23, _de chorea gladiatoria vel armifera saltatione_.

Habent septentrionales Gothi et Sueci pro exercenda iuventute alium ludum, quod inter nudos enses et infestos gladios seu frameas sese exerceant saltu, idque quodam gymnastico ritu et disciplina, aetate successiva, a peritis et praesultare sub cantu addiscunt: et ostendunt hunc ludum praecipue tempore carnisprivii, maschararum Italico verbo dicto. Ante etenim tempus eiusdem carnisprivii octo diebus continua saltatione sese adolescentes numerose exercent, elevatis scilicet gladiis sed vagina reclusis, ad triplicem gyrum. Deinde evaginatis itidemque elevatis ensibus, postmodo manuatim extensis, modestius gyrando alterutrius cuspidem capulumque receptantes, sese mutato ordine in modum figurae hexagoni fingendi subiiciunt, quam rosam dicunt: et illico eam gladios retrahendo elevandoque resolvunt ut super uniuscuiusque caput quadrata rosa resultet: et tandem vehementissima gladiorum laterali collisione, celerrime retrograda saltatione determinant ludum, quem tibiis vel cantilenis, aut utrisque simul, primum per graviorem, demum vehementiorem saltum et ultimo impetuosissimum moderantur. Sed haec speculatio sine oculari inspectione vix apprehenditur quam pulchra honestaque sit, dum unius parcissimo praecepto etiam armata multitudo quadam alacritate dirigitur ad certamen: eoque ludo clericis sese exercere et immiscere licet, quia totus deducitur honestissima ratione.

Ch. 24. Alia etiam iuvenum exercitatio est, ut certa lege arcualem choream ducant et reducant, aliis quidam instrumentis, sed eadem ut gladiatorum saltantium disciplina reducta. Arcubus enim seu circulis inclusis [inclusi?], primum modesto cantu heroum gesta referente vel tibiis aut tympanis excitati, gyrando incedunt seque dirigentis, qui rex dicitur, sola voce reducunt, tandem solutis arcubus aliquantulum celerius properantes mutua inclinatione conficiunt, veluti alias per gladios, rosam, ut formam sexangularem efficere videantur. Utque id festivius sonoriusque fiat, tintinnabula seu aereas campanulas genu tenus ligant.

II. SHETLAND (_Eighteenth Century_).

[From Sir Walter Scott’s _Diary_ for August 7, 1814, printed in Lockhart, _Life of Scott_ (1837), iii. 162; (1878) i. 265.]

At Scalloway my curiosity was gratified by an account of the sword-dance, now almost lost, but still practised in the Island of Papa, belonging to Mr. Scott. There are eight performers, seven of whom represent the Seven Champions of Christendom, who enter one by one with their swords drawn, and are presented to the eighth personage, who is not named. Some rude couplets are spoken (in _English_, not _Norse_), containing a sort of panegyric upon each champion as he is presented. They then dance a sort of cotillion, as the ladies described it, going through a number of evolutions with their swords. One of my three Mʳˢ. Scotts readily promised to procure me the lines, the rhymes, and the form of the dance.... A few years since a party of Papa-men came to dance the sword-dance at Lerwick as a public exhibition with great applause.... In a stall pamphlet, called the history of Buckshaven [Fifeshire], it is said those fishers sprung from Danes, and brought with them their _war-dance_ or _sword-dance_, and a rude wooden cut of it is given.

[A footnote by Lockhart adds:—]

Mr. W. S. Rose informs me that, when he was at school at Winchester, the morris-dancers there used to exhibit a sword-dance resembling that described at Camacho’s wedding in _Don Quixote_; and Mr. Morritt adds that similar dances are even yet performed in the villages about Rokeby [Yorks, N.R.] every Christmas.

[The following account was inserted in a note to Scott’s _The Pirate_ (1821).]

To the Primate’s account of the sword-dance, I am able to add the words sung or chanted, on occasion of this dance, as it is still performed in Papa Stour, a remote island of Zetland, where alone the custom keeps its ground. It is, it will be observed by antiquaries, a species of play or mystery, in which the Seven Champions of Christendom make their appearance, as in the interlude presented in _All’s Well that ends Well_. This dramatic curiosity was most kindly procured for my use by Dr. Scott of Haslar Hospital [died 1875], son of my friend Mr. Scott of Melbie, Zetland. Dr. Hibbert has, in his _Description of the Zetland Islands_, given an account of the sword-dance, but somewhat less full than the following:—

‘WORDS USED AS A PRELUDE TO THE SWORD-DANCE, A DANISH OR NORWEGIAN BALLET, COMPOSED SOME CENTURIES AGO, AND PRESERVED IN PAPA STOUR, ZETLAND.

PERSONÆ DRAMATIS[694].

(_Enter MASTER, in the character of SAINT GEORGE._)

Brave gentles all within this boor[695], If ye delight in any sport, Come see me dance upon this floor, Which to you all shall yield comfort. Then shall I dance in such a sort, As possible I may or can; You, minstrel man, play me a Porte[696], That I on this floor may prove a man.

[_He bows, and dances in a line._

Now have I danced with heart and hand, Brave gentles all, as you may see, For I have been tried in many a land, As yet the truth can testify; In England, Scotland, Ireland, France, Italy, and Spain, Have I been tried with that good sword of steel.

[_Draws, and flourishes._

Yet I deny that ever a man did make me yield; For in my body there is strength, As by my manhood may be seen; And I, with that good sword of length, Have oftentimes in perils been, And over champions I was king. And by the strength of this right hand, Once on a day I kill’d fifteen, And left them dead upon the land. Therefore, brave minstrel, do not care, But play to me a Porte most light, That I no longer do forbear, But dance in all these gentles’ sight. Although my strength makes you abased, Brave gentles all, be not afraid, For here are six champions, with me, staid, All by my manhood I have raised.

[_He dances._

Since I have danced, I think it best To call my brethren in your sight, That I may have a little rest, And they may dance with all their might; With heart and hand as they are knights, And shake their swords of steel so bright, And show their main strength on this floor, For we shall have another bout Before we pass out of this boor. Therefore, brave minstrel, do not care To play to me a Porte most light, That I no longer do forbear, But dance in all these gentles’ sight.

[_He dances, and then introduces his knights as under._

Stout James of Spain, both tried and stour[697], Thine acts are known full well indeed; And champion Dennis, a French knight, Who stout and bold is to be seen; And David, a Welshman born, Who is come of noble blood; And Patrick also, who blew the horn, An Irish knight amongst the wood. Of Italy, brave Anthony the good, And Andrew of Scotland King; Saint George of England, brave indeed, Who to the Jews wrought muckle tinte[698]. Away with this!—Let us come to sport, Since that ye have a mind to war. Since that ye have this bargain sought, Come let us fight and do not fear. Therefore, brave minstrel, do not care To play to me a Porte most light, That I no longer do forbear, But dance in all these gentles’ sight.

[_He dances, and advances to JAMES of Spain._

Stout James of Spain, both tried and stour, Thine acts are known full well indeed, Present thyself within our sight, Without either fear or dread. Count not for favour or for feid, Since of thy acts thou hast been sure; Brave James of Spain, I will thee lead, To prove thy manhood on this floor.

[_JAMES dances._

Brave champion Dennis, a French knight, Who stout and bold is to be seen, Present thyself here in our sight, Thou brave French knight, Who bold hast been; Since thou such valiant acts hast done, Come let us see some of them now With courtesy, thou brave French knight, Draw out thy sword of noble hue.

[_DENNIS dances, while the others retire to a side._

Brave David a bow must string, and with awe Set up a wand upon a stand, And that brave David will cleave in twa[699].

[_DAVID dances solus._

Here is, I think, an Irish knight, Who does not fear, or does not fright, To prove thyself a valiant man, As thou hast done full often bright; Brave Patrick, dance, if that thou can.

[_He dances._

Thou stout Italian, come thou here; Thy name is Anthony, most stout; Draw out thy sword that is most clear, And do thou fight without any doubt; Thy leg thou shake, thy neck thou lout[700], And show some courtesy on this floor, For we shall have another bout, Before we pass out of this boor. Thou kindly Scotsman, come thou here; Thy name is Andrew of Fair Scotland; Draw out thy sword that is most clear, Fight for thy king with thy right hand; And aye as long as thou canst stand, Fight for thy king with all thy heart; And then, for to confirm his band, Make all his enemies for to smart.

[_He dances.—Music begins._’

‘FIGUIR[701].

‘The six stand in rank with their swords reclining on their shoulders. The Master (Saint George) dances, and then strikes the sword of James of Spain, who follows George, then dances, strikes the sword of Dennis, who follows behind James. In like manner the rest—the music playing—swords as before. After the six are brought out of rank, they and the Master form a circle, and hold the swords point and hilt. This circle is danced round twice. The whole, headed by the Master, pass under the swords held in a vaulted manner. They jump over the swords. This naturally places the swords across, which they disentangle by passing under their right sword. They take up the seven swords, and form a circle, in which they dance round.

‘The Master runs under the sword opposite, which he jumps over backwards. The others do the same. He then passes under the right-hand sword, which the others follow, in which position they dance, until commanded by the Master, when they form into a circle, and dance round as before. They then jump over the right-hand sword, by which means their backs are to the circle, and their hands across their backs. They dance round in that form until the Master calls “Loose,” when they pass under the right sword, and are in a perfect circle.

‘The Master lays down his sword, and lays hold of the point of James’s sword. He then turns himself, James, and the others, into a clew. When so formed, he passes under out of the midst of the circle; the others follow; they vault as before. After several other evolutions, they throw themselves into a circle, with their arms across the breast. They afterwards form such figures as to form a shield of their swords, and the shield is so compact that the Master and his knights dance alternately with this shield upon their heads. It is then laid down upon the floor. Each knight lays hold of their former points and hilts with their hands across, which disentangle by figuirs directly contrary to those that formed the shield. This finishes the ballet.

‘EPILOGUE.

‘Mars does rule, he bends his brows, He makes us all agast[702]; After the few hours that we stay here, Venus will rule at last. Farewell, farewell, brave gentles all, That herein do remain, I wish you health and happiness Till we return again.

[_Exeunt._’

The manuscript from which the above was copied was transcribed from _a very old one_, by Mr. William Henderson, jun., of Papa Stour, in Zetland. Mr. Henderson’s copy is not dated, but bears his own signature, and, from various circumstances, it is known to have been written about the year 1788.

K

THE LUTTERWORTH ST. GEORGE PLAY

[From W. Kelly, _Notices Illustrative of the Drama, &c., ... from ... Manuscripts of the Borough of Leicester_ (1865), 53. The version is that ‘performed in some of the villages near Lutterworth, at Christmas 1863.’]

THE CHRISTMAS MUMMERS’ PLAY.

DRAMATIS PERSONÆ.

1. CAPTAIN SLASHER, _in military costume, with sword and pistol_. 2. King of England, _in robes, wearing the crown_. 3. PRINCE GEORGE, _King’s Son, in robes, and sword by his side_. 4. Turkish Champion, _in military attire, with sword and pistol_. 5. A Noble Doctor. 6. Beelzebub. 7. A Clown.

_Enter Captain Slasher._ I beg your pardon for being so bold, I enter your house, the weather’s so cold, Room, a room! brave gallants, give us room to sport; For in this house we do resort,—Resort, resort, for many a day; Step in, the King of England, And boldly clear the way.

_Enter King of England._ I am the King of England, that boldly does appear; I come to seek my only son,—my only son is here.

_Enter Prince George._ I am Prince George, a worthy knight; I’ll spend my blood for England’s right. England’s right I will maintain; I’ll fight for old England once again.

_Enter Turkish Knight._ I am the Turkish Champion; From Turkey’s land I come. I come to fight the King of England And all his noble men.

_Captain Slasher._ In comes Captain Slasher, Captain Slasher is my name; With sword and pistol by my side, I hope to win the game.

_King of England._ I am the King of England, As you may plainly see, These are my soldiers standing by me; They stand by me your life to end, On them doth my life depend.

_Prince George._ I am Prince George, the Champion bold, And with my sword I won three crowns of gold; I slew the fiery dragon and brought him to the slaughter, And won the King of Egypt’s only daughter.

_Turkish Champion._ As I was going by St. Francis’ School, I heard a lady cry ‘A fool, a fool!’ ‘A fool,’ was every word, ‘That man’s a fool, Who wears a wooden sword.’

_Prince George._ A wooden sword, you dirty dog! My sword is made of the best of metal free. If you would like to taste of it, I’ll give it unto thee. Stand off, stand off, you dirty dog! Or by my sword you’ll die. I’ll cut you down the middle, And make your blood to fly.

[_They fight; Prince George falls, mortally wounded._

_Enter King of England._ Oh, horrible! terrible! what hast thou done? Thou hast ruin’d me, ruin’d me, By killing of my only son! Oh, is there ever a noble doctor to be found, To cure this English champion Of his deep and deadly wound?

_Enter Noble Doctor._ Oh yes, there is a noble doctor to be found, To cure this English champion Of his deep and deadly wound.

_King of England._ And pray what is your practice?

_Noble Doctor._ I boast not of my practice, neither do I study in the practice of physic.

_King of England._ What can you cure?

_Noble Doctor._ All sorts of diseases, Whatever you pleases: I can cure the itch, the pitch, The phthisic, the palsy and the gout; And if the devil’s in the man, I can fetch him out. My wisdom lies in my wig, I torture not my patients with excations, Such as pills, boluses, solutions, and embrocations; But by the word of command I can make this mighty prince to stand.

_King._ What is your fee?

_Doctor._ Ten pounds is true.

_King._ Proceed, Noble Doctor; You shall have your due.

_Doctor._ Arise, arise! most noble prince, arise, And no more dormant lay; And with thy sword Make all thy foes obey.

[_The Prince arises._

_Prince George._ My head is made of iron, My body is made of steel, My legs are made of crooked bones To force you all to yield.

_Enter Beelzebub._ In comes I, old Beelzebub, Over my shoulder I carry my club, And in my hand a frying-pan, Pleased to get all the money I can.

_Enter Clown._ In come I, who’s never been yet, With my great head and little wit: My head is great, my wit is small, I’ll do my best to please you all.

_Song_ (_all join_). And now we are done and must be gone, No longer will we stay here; But if you please, before we go, We’ll taste your Christmas beer.

[_Exeunt omnes._

L

THE PROSE OF THE ASS

[The text is taken from the following sources:—

i. _Beauvais, thirteenth century._—(_a_) [Duc.]—Ducange, _Glossarium_ (ed. 1733-6), s.v. _Festum_, from a lost MS.; copied incorrectly by Gasté, 23, and apparently also by Clément, 158: (_b_) [B¹]—_Brit. Mus. Egerton MS._ 2615, f. 1, with music for singing in unison: (_c_) [B²]—Same _MS._ f. 43, with music harmonized in three parts; partly facsimiled in _Annales Archéologiques_ (1856), xvi. 259, 300.

ii. _Sens, thirteenth century._—[S]—_MS. Senonense_, 46ᵃ, as printed by G. M. Dreves, _Analecta Hymnica_, xx. 217. The text has also been given from the MS. by F. Bourquelot, in _Bull. de la Soc. Arch. de Sens_ (1858), vi. 79, and others. The version of Clément, 126 is probably, like the facsimile given by him in _Ann. Arch._ vii. 26, based on one ‘calqué’ from the MS. by a M. Amé, and, where it differs from that of Dreves, is the less trustworthy. Dreves, xx. 257 (cf. _infra_) and Millin, _Monum. Ant. Inédits_, ii. 348, also give the music of the opening lines. Modern settings are provided by B. De la Borde, _Essai sur la Musique_ (1780), and Clément, in _Ann. Arch._ vii. 26, and _Chantes de la Sainte Chapelle_. An old French translation of the text is printed in Leber, ix. 368.

On these Beauvais and Sens MSS. cf. ch. xiii.

iii. _Bourges._—[Bo.]—The first verse with the music and variants in the later verses are given by A. Gachet d’Artigny, _Nouveaux Mémoires_ (1756), vii. 77, from a copy of a book given to Bourges cathedral by a canon named Jean Pastoris. Part of the Bourges music is also given by Millin, _loc. cit._

I print the fullest version from Ducange, italicizing the lines not found elsewhere, and giving all variants, except of spelling, for the rest.

Outside Beauvais, Sens, and Bourges the only localized allusion to the prose that I have found is the Autun order of 1411 (vol. i. p. 312) ‘nec dicatur cantilena quae dici solebat super dictum asinum.’ It is not in the Puy _officium_ for the Circumcision, which, though in a MS. of 1553, represents a ceremony as old as 1327 (U. Chevalier, _Prosolarium Ecclesiae Aniciensis_, 1894). The _officium_ is full of _conductus_ and _farsumina_, and the _clericuli_ at second Vespers _tripudiant firmiter_. The _sanctum Praepucium_ was a relic at Puy.

The following passage is from Theoph. Raynaudus, _Iudicium de puerorum symphoniacorum processione in festo SS. Innocentium_ (_Opera Omnia_, 1665, xv. 209): ‘Legi prosam quandam _de asino_ e Metropolitanae cuiusdam Ecclesiae rituali exscriptam; quae super sacrum concinebatur in die S. Stephani, et dicebatur _prosa fatuorum_, qua nihil insulsius aut asino convenientius. Similis prosa _de bove_, quae canebatur in die S. Ioannis, intercidisse dicitur, haud magno sane dispendio. Itaque hae prosae erant particulae festi fatuorum, occoepti a die S. Stephani.’ I have never come across the ‘Prose of the Ox,’ or any notice of it which appears to be independent of Raynaud’s.]

I.

Orientis partibus Adventavit Asinus, Pulcher et fortissimus, Sarcinis aptissimus. 4 _Hez, Sire Asnes, car chantez,_ _Belle bouche rechignez,_ _Vous aurez du foin assez_ _Et de l’avoine a plantez._ 8

II.

_Lentus erat pedibus,_ _Nisi foret baculus,_ _Et eum in clunibus_ _Pungeret aculeus._ 12 _Hez, Sire Asnes, etc._

III.

Hic in collibus Sichen Iam nutritus sub Ruben, Transiit per Iordanem, Saliit in Bethleem. 20 _Hez, Sire Asnes, etc._

IV.

_Ecce magnis auribus_ _Subiugalis filius_ _Asinus egregius_ _Asinorum dominus._ 28 _Hez, Sire Asnes, etc._

V.

Saltu vincit hinnulos, Dammas et capreolos, Super dromedarios Velox Madianeos. 36 _Hez, Sire Asnes, etc._

VI.

Aurum de Arabia, Thus et myrrham de Saba Tulit in Ecclesia Virtus Asinaria. 44 _Hez, Sire Asnes, etc._

VII.

Dum trahit vehicula, Multa cum sarcinula, Illius mandibula Dura terit pabula. 52 _Hez, Sire Asnes, etc._

VIII.

Cum aristis hordeum Comedit et carduum: Triticum e palea Segregat in area. 60 _Hez, Sire Asnes, etc._

IX.

Amen dicas, Asine, Iam satur de gramine, Amen, Amen, itera, Aspernare vetera. 68 _Hez va, hez va! hez va, hez!_ _Bialx Sire Asnes, car allez:_ _Belle bouche, car chantez._ 71

B¹ has heading _Conductus asi adducitur_; S, _Conductus ad tabulam_.

5-8 B¹, ² _Hez, hez, sire Asnes, hez_; S. _Hez, Sir asne, hez_; Bo. _He, he, he, Sire Ane. He._

18. B¹, ²; S, _Enulritus_.

21-4. B¹ _Hez, hez_ (and so in all verses but last); B² _Hez_ (and so in all verses); S, _Hez, Sir asne, hez_ (and so in all verses).

vi. B¹, ² omit; Bo. places after viii.

59. Duc. _a palea_.

65. Duc. adds (_hic genuflectebatur_).

66. Bo. _Iam satis de carmine_.

69-71. B² _Hez_; Clément,

_Hez va! hez va! hez va! hez!_ _Bialx, sir asnes, car chantez,_ _Vous aurez du foin assez_ _Et de l’avoine a plantez._

I append the air of the Sens prose, as given by Dreves, _Analecta Hymnica_, xx. 257.

[Music:

Orientis partibus Adventavit Asinus, Pulcher et fortissimus, Sarcinis aptissimus. Hez, Sir Asne, hez.]

M

THE BOY BISHOP

I. THE SARUM OFFICE.

[From C. Wordsworth, _Ceremonies and Processions of the Cathedral Church of Salisbury_ (1901), 52, which follows the practically identical texts of the printed _Processionals_ of 1508 (ed. Henderson, 1882, 17) and 1555 and the printed _Breviary_ (ed. Procter-Wordsworth, I. ccxxix). Mr. Wordsworth also found the office in two MS. breviaries (_Sarum Chapter MS._ 152 and _Peterhouse, Cambridge, MS._ 270). In the MS. (†1445) processional from Salisbury Cathedral (_Chapter MS._ 148), on which his book is mainly based, there is a _lacuna_, probably due to intentional mutilation, where the office should come. I find no allusion to the Boy Bishop in the printed _Sarum Missal_ (ed. Dickinson, 67), or in the _Sarum Consuetudinary_, _Custumary_, or _Ordinal_ (Frere, _Use of Sarum_).]

⸿ _In die sancti Johannis._

[De Episcopo Puerorum.]

_Ad uesperas, post memoriam de S. Stephano eat processio Puerorum ad altare Innocencium, uel Sancte Trinitatis et Omnium Sanctorum quod dicitur Salue, in capis sericis, cum cereis illuminatis et ardentibus in manibus, cantando, Episcopo Puerorum pontificalibus induto (executore officij, siue Episcopo presente) incipiente hoc responsorium._

_Solus Episcopus Innocencium, si assit, Christum Puerum, uerum et eternum, Pontificem designans, incipiat_:

_R._ Centum quadraginta quattuor millia qui empti sunt de terra: hij sunt qui cum mulieribus non sunt coinquinati, uirgines enim permanserunt. Ideo regnant cum Deo et Agno, et Agnus Dei cum illis.

_Tres pueri dicant hunc uersum._

_V._ Hij empti sunt ex omnibus, primicie Deo et Agno, et in ore illorum non est inventum mendacium. Ideo.

_Omnes pueri dicant cantando simul hanc prosam_

Sedentem in superne.

_Chorus post vnumquemque uersum respondeat cantum prose super vltimam literam E._

_V._ Sedentem in superne maiestatis arce-e.

_V._ Adorant humillime proclamantes ad te-e.

_V._ Sancte · Sancte · Sancte · Sabaoth rex-e.

_V._ Plena sunt omnia glorie tue-e.

_V._ Cum illis vndeuiginti quinque-e.

_V._ Atque cum innocentissimo grege-e.

_V._ Qui sunt sine vlla labe-e.

_V._ Dicentes excelsa uoce-e.

_V._ Laus Tibi, Domine-e.

Rex eterne glorie-e.

_Chorus respondeat_ Ideo regnant.

_Ad hanc processionem non dicatur_ Gloria Patri _sed dum prosa canitur tunc Episcopus Puerorum thurificet altare: deinde ymaginem Sancte Trinitatis_.

_Et postea dicat Sacerdos, modesta uoce, hunc uersum._

_V._ Letamini in Domino, et exvltate iusti.

_R._ Et gloriamini omnes recti corde.

_Deinde dicat Episcopus Puerorum, sine_ Dominus uobiscum, _sed cum_ Oremus, _oracionem_.

Deus, cuius hodierna die preconium innocentes martires non loquendo sed moriendo confessi sunt: omnia in nobis uitiorum mala mortifica, vt fidem tuam, quam lingua nostra loquitur, eciam moribus uita fateatur. Qui cum Deo Patre.

_In redeundo precentor puerorum incipiat responsorium de S. Maria, uel aliquam antiphonam de eadem._

_R._ Felix namque es, sacra uirgo Maria, et omni laude dignissima. Quia ex te ortus est Sol iusticie, Christus Deus noster.

_Et, si necesse fuerit, dicatur uersus_:

_V._ Ora pro populo, interueni pro clero, intercede pro deuoto femineo sexu: senciant omnes tuum leuamen, quicumque celebrant tuam solempnitatem. Quia ex te Gloria · Quia ·

_Et sic processio chorum intret, per ostium occidentale, vt supra. Et omnes pueri, ex vtraque parte chori, in superiori gradu se recipiant; et ab hac hora vsque post processionem diei proximi succedentis nullus clericorum solet gradum superiorem ascendere, cuiuscumque condicionis fuerit._

_Ad istam processionem pro disposicione puerorum scribuntur canonici, ad ministrandum eisdem, maiores ad thuribulandum, et ad librum deferendum, minores ad candelabra deferenda._

_Responsorio finito, cum suo uersu, Episcopus Puerorum in sede sua dicat uersum modesta uoce_:

_V._ Speciosus forma pre filijs hominum:

_R._ Diffusa est gracia in labijs tuis.

_Oracio._ Deus qui salutis eterne beate Marie uirginitate fecunda humano generi premia prestitisti; tribue, quesumus, vt ipsam pro nobis intercedere senciamus, per quam meruimus Auctorem uite suscipere, Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum Filium tuum. _Que sic terminetur_: Qui Tecum uiuit et regnat in vnitate Spiritus Sancti Deus. Per omnia secula seculorum. Amen.

Pax uobis.

_R._ Et cum spiritu tuo.

_Sequatur_ Benedicamus Domino, _a duobus uicarijs, uel a tribus, extra regulam_.

_Tunc Episcopus Puerorum intret stallum suum, et in sede sua, benedicat populum._

_Et interim cruciferarius accipiat baculum episcopi, conuersus ad Episcopum, et cum uenerit ad istum versum_ Cum mansuetudine _conuertat se ad populum et incipiat hanc antiphonam sequentem_ (_que non dicatur Episcopo absente_): _et cantet totam antiphonam vsque ad finem_.

_Ant._ Princeps ecclesie, pastor ouilis, cunctam plebem tuam benedicere digneris. _Hic conuertat se ad populum sic dicendo_:

Cum mansuetudine et caritate, humilitate uos ad benediccionem.

_Chorus respondeat_: Deo gracias.

_Deinde retradat baculum Episcopo, et tunc Episcopus Puerorum, primo signando se in fronte, dicat, hoc modo incipiens_:

Adiutorium nostrum in nomine Domini:

_Chorus respondeat sic_: Qui fecit celum et terram.

_Item Episcopus, signando se in pectore, dicat sic_:

Sit nomen Dei benedictum:

_Chorus respondeat_: Ex hoc nunc, et vsque in seculum.

_Deinde Episcopus Puerorum, conuersus ad clerum, eleuet brachium suum, et dicat hanc benediccionem_:

Crucis signo uos consigno:

_Hic conuertat se ad populum, sic dicendo_:

Nostra sit tuicio.

_Deinde conuertat se ad altare, dicens_:

Qui nos emit et redemit,

_Postea ad seipsum reuersus ponat manum suam super pectus suum dicendo_:

Sue carnis precio,

_Chorus respondeat, vt sequitur_, Amen.

_His itaque peractis incipiat Episcopus Puerorum COMPLETORIUM de die, more solito, post_ Pater Noster _et_ Aue Maria.

_Et post Completorium dicat Episcopus Puerorum ad chorum conuersus sub tono supradicto._

Adiutorium nostrum in nomine Domini,

_Chorus respondeat_: Qui fecit celum et terram.

_Episcopus Puerorum dicat_:

Sit nomen Domini benedictum:

_Chorus._ Ex hoc nunc, et vsque in seculum.

_Deinde dicat Episcopus_:

Benedicat nos omnipotens Deus, Pater, et Filius, et Spiritus Sanctus.

_Chorus_: Amen.

⸿ _In die SS. Innocencium_

si in DOMINICA euenerit:

_Eodem modo processio fiat vt in die S. Stephani, excepto quod hac die tres pueri prosam in eundo dicant, in medio procedentes: que in ipsa stacione ante crucem ab eisdem terminetur._

_In eundo, R._ Centum quadraginta.

_V._ Hij empti.

_Prosa._ Sedentem in superne.

_Sequatur._ Gloria Patri, et Filio.

Ideo.

_In introitu chori, de Natiuitate, vt supra._

AD MATUTINAS _in Die Innocencium_:

_In tercio Nocturno, post lecciones et cetera, ad gradum altaris omnes pueri incipiant nonum Responsorium._

_R._ Centum quadraginta, _ut supra_.

_Omnes simul dicant uersum_:

_V._ Hij empti. Gloria Patri. Ideo.

_V._ Justi autem.

IN LAUDIBUS, _post Ps._ Laudate, _Episcopus Puerorum dicat modesta uoce, quasi legendo, Capitulum, loco nec habitu mutato, quia per totum diem capa serica vtitur_ (Apoc. xix.)

_Cap._ Vidi supra montem Syon Agnum stantem, &c.

_Ympnus._ Rex gloriose martirum. _De Communi plurimorum martirorum_ (Brev. Sarum, ii. 406).

_V._ Mirabilis Deus.

_Ant._ Hij sunt qui cum mulieribus, _et cetera, quam precentor dabit Episcopo_.

_Ps._ Benedictus.

_Oracio._ Deus, cuius hodierna, &c. Qui tecum uiuit.

_Tunc omnes pueri dicant, loco_ Benedicamus, Verbum Patris (Brev. Sarum, i. p. cxc).

_Chorus respondeat._

_Consequenter dicat Episcopus Puerorum benediccionem super populum eodem modo quo ad uesperas precedentes._

_Post tres Memorias (scilicet de Natiuitate Domini, de S. Stephano, et de S. Johanne) dicat Episcopus Puerorum benediccionem super populum, sicut et post Completorium supra dictum est._

_Deinde tres de secunda forma dicant_ Benedicamus Domino, _more solito_.

AD VESPERAS. _Episcopus Puerorum incipiat._

Deus in adiutorium meum intende.

_Ant._ Tecum principium.

_Ps._ Dixit Dominus (_cix_).

_Capitulum._ Vidi supra montem.

_R._ Centum quadraginta.

_Hoc Responsorium ab vno solo Puero, scilicet Cancellario, incipiatur ad gradum chori, in capa serica, et suus versus ab omnibus pueris cantetur in superpelliceis in stacione puerorum, cum prosa, si placet, et eciam cum_ Gloria Patri.

_V._ Hij empti sunt.

_Ympnus._ Rex gloriose martirum. _De Communi._

_V._ Mirabilis Deus.

_Episcopus Puerorum incipiat antiphonam_:

_Ant._ Ecce vidi Agnum stantem.

_Ps._ Magnificat.

_Oracio._ Deus, cuius hodierna.

_Dicta oracione, omnes pueri loco_ Benedicamus _dicant_ Verbum Patris.

_Ant. ad gradum altaris._

_Et chorus totum respondeant._

⸿ IN DIE S. THOMAE ARCHIEPISCOPI MARTYRIS.

_Ad Vesperas, post memoriam de S. Johanne, accipiat cruciferarius baculum Episcopi Puerorum, et cantet antiphonam_ Princeps ecclesie, _sicut ad primas uesperas_.

_Similiter Episcopus Puerorum benedicat populum supradicto modo._

_Et sic compleatur seruicium (officium Puerorum) huius diei._

II. THE YORK COMPUTUS.

[I have expanded the following document from the copy printed with all the contractions by Dr. E. F. Rimbault in _The Camden Miscellany_ (C.S.), vii (1875), 31. The original roll was in the possession of the late Canon Raine.]

Compotus Nicholay de Newerk custodis bonorum Johannis de Cave Episcopi Innocencium Anno domini etc. nonagesimo sexto.

[Sidenote: _Clausura._]

In primis receptum de xij denariis receptis in oblacione die Nativitatis domini. Et de xxiiij solidis j denario receptis in oblacione die Innocentium et j cochleare argenteum ponderis xx_d._ et j annulum argenteum cum bursa cerica eodem die ad missam. Et de xx_d._ rec. de Magistro Willelmo de Kexby precentore. Et de ij_s._ rec. de Magistro Johanne de Schirburne cancellario. Et de vj_s._ viij_d._ rec. de Magistro Johanne de Newton thesaurario ad Novam. Et de vj_s._ viij_d._ rec. de Magistro Thoma Dalby archidiacono Richmunde. Et de vj_s._ viij_d._ rec. de Magistro Nicholao de Feriby. Et de vj_s._ viij_d._ rec. de Magistro Thoma de Wallworthe.

_Summa_ lv_s._ v_d._

[Sidenote: _Villa._]

Item rec. de vj_s._ viij_d._ rec. de Domino Abbate Monasterii beatae Mariae virginis extra Muros Eboraci. Et de iij_s._ iiij_d._ rec. de Magistro Willelmo de Feriby Archidiacono Estridinge.

_Summa_ x_s._

[Sidenote: _Patria._]

Item de iij_s._ iiij_d._ rec. de domino Thoma Ugtreht milite. Et de ij_s._ rec. de priore de Kyrkham. Et de vj_s._ viij_d._ rec. de priore de Malton. Et de xx_s._ rec. de comitissa de Northumbria et j anulum aureum. Et de vj_s._ viij_d._ de priore de Bridlyngtone. Et de iij_s._ iiij_d._ de priore de Watton. Et de iij_s._ iiij_d._ de rectore de Bayntone. Et de iij_s._ iiij_d._ de Abbate de Melsa. Et de xx_d._ rec. de priore de Feriby. Et de vj_s._ viij_d._ rec. de domino Stephano de Scrope. Et de ij_s._ de priore de Drax. Et de vj_s._ viij_d._ de Abbate de Selby. Et de iij_s._ iiij_d._ rec. de priore de Pontefracte. Et de vj_s._ viij_d._ rec. de priore Sancti Oswaldi. Et de iij_s._ iiij_d._ rec. de priore de Munkbretton. Et de vj_s._ viij_d._ rec. de domino Johanne Depdene. Et de vj_s._ viij_d._ rec. de domina de Marmeon et j anulum aureum cum bursa cerica. Et de iij_s._ iiij_d._ de domina de Harsay. Et de vj_s._ viij_d._ de domina de Rosse. Et de ij_s._ rec. de Abbate Ryavalli. Et de ij_s._ rec. de Abbate Bellalandi. Et de ij_s._ rec. de priore de Novoburgo. Et de xx_d._ rec. de priore de Marton.

_Summa_ v lib. x_s._

_Summa totalis Receptorum_ viij lib. xv_s._ v_d._

De quibus dictus Nicholaus compotat.

[Sidenote: _Expensae infra civitatem._]

Ad ‘O virgo virginum.’ In pane pro speciebus j_d._ In cervisia vj_d._

Item in sua Cena. In pane vij_d._ Et in pane dominico iiij_d._ In cervisia xxj_d._ In carne vitulorum et mutulorum ix_d._ obolus. In sawcetiis iiij_d._ In ij anatibus iiij_d._ In xij gallinis ij_s._ vj_d._ In viij wodkoks et j pluver ij_s._ ij_d._ In iij dos̄ et x feldfars xix_d._ In parvis avibus iij_d._ In vino ij_s._ iij_d._ In diversis speciebus xj_d._ In lx wardons v_d._ ob. In melle ij_d._ ob. In cenapio j_d._ In ij libris candelorum ij_d._ ob. In floure ij_d._ In focali j_d._ ob. Item coco vj_d._

_Summa_ xv_s._ vj_d._ ob.

Item die Innocentium ad cenam. In pane iij_d._ In cervisia v_d._ In carne vitulorum et mutulorum vij_d._ In pipere et croco j_d._

Diebus veneris et sabbati nichil quia non visitarunt.

Item dominica prima sequentibus diebus lunae Martis Mercurii nichil quia non visitarunt.

Die Jovis seu die Octavarum Innocentium inierunt versus Kexby ad dominum de Ugtrehte et revenerunt ad cenam. In pane ij_d._ In cervisia iiij_d._ In carne v_d._

Diebus veneris et sabbati nichil quia non visitarunt.

Dominica ija seu die Sancti Willelmi devillaverunt. In pane ad Jantaculum ij_d._ In cervisia iij_d._ In carne v_d._

Die lunae cum ebdomade sequente nichil quia extra villam.

Dominica iija cum ebdomade sequente extra villam.

Die sabbati revenerunt ad cenam. In pane j_d._ ob. In cervisia iij_d._ In lacte et piscibus iij_d._

Dominica iiija nichil.

Die lunae inierunt ad scolas et post Jantaculum devillaverunt. In pane ij_d._ In cervisia iij_d._ ob. In carne vij_d._

Die sabbati revenerunt ad cenam. In pane ij_d._ ob. In cervisia ij_d._ In piscibus vj_d._

Dominica va usque ad finem Purificationis nichil.

_Summa_ v_s._ vij_d._ ob.

[Sidenote: _Variae expensae per totam viam._]

In primis. In zona empta pro episcopo iij_d._ In emendacione pilii sui j_d._ In pane equino ante arreptum itineris ij_d._ In oblacione apud Bridlyngtone ij_d._ In elemosina ibidem j_d._ In ferilay apud Melsam iiij_d._ In ferilay apud Drax iiij_d._ In pane equino apud Selby iiij_d._ Item barbitonsori j_d._ In j garth apud Bridlyngton j_d._ In emendacione j garth ibidem ob. In ij pectinibus equinis emptis apud Bridlyngtone et Eboracum iiij_d._ In j garth apud Beverlacum j_d._ In ferracione equorum apud Feriby viij_d._ ob. In emendacione j garth ob. In cena apud Ledes xvij_d._ In feno et avena ibidem xiij_d._ Item in cena apud Riplay xvj_d._ In feno et avena ibidem xij_d._ ob. In ferracione equorum apud Fontans iiij_d._ In ferilay versus Harlsay iiij_d._ In bayting apud Allertone vj_d._ In vino pro episcopo viij_d._ In pane et feno equorum apud Helmslay vj_d._ In ferracione equorum apud Novumburgum iij_d._

_Summa_ x_s._ vij_d._

[Sidenote: _Variae expensae ad usum episcopi infra civitatem._]

In primis. In j torchio empto ponderis xij lib. iiij_s._ iij_d._ In j pilio ix_d._ In j pari cirothecarum linearum iij_d._ In j pari manicarum iij_d._ In j pari cultellorum xiiij_d._ In j pari calcarium v_d._ Item pro factura robae xviij_d._ In furura agnina empta pro supertunica ij_s._ vj_d._ In fururis ex convencione vj_s._ In tortricidiis per totum tempus viij_d._ In carbone marino vij_d._ In carbone ligneo x_d._ In paris candelorum iiij_d._ ob. In xxviij paribus cirothecarum emptis pro vicariis et magistris scolarum iij_s._ iiij_d._ ob. Item pro emendacione capae cericae ij_d._

_Summa_ xxiij_s._ j_d._

[Sidenote: _Stipendia servientium et equorum._]

In primis Nicholao de Newsome tenori suo xiij_s._ iiij_d._ Et eidem pro suo equo conducto ij_s._ Item Roberto Dawtry senescallo vj_s._ viij_d._ Et pro predicationibus ejusdem in capella ij_s._ j_d._ ob. Item Johanni Baynton cantanti medium x_s._ Item Johanni Grene v_s._ Item Johanni Ellay iij_s._ iiij_d._ Item Johanni Schaptone servienti eidem cum ij equis suis x_s._ ij_d._ Item Thomae Marschale pro j equo iij_s._ iiij_d._ Item j sellare pro j equo iij_s._ vj_d._ Item pistori pro j equo iij_s._ vj_d._ Item Ricardo Fowler pro ij equis v_s._

_Summa_ lxvij_s._ xj_d._ ob.

[Sidenote: _Feoda ministrorum in ecclesia ministrancium._]

In primis succentori vicariorum ij_s._ Subcancellario xij_d._ Item cerae puerorum xij_d._ Item clericis de vestibus xij_d._ Item sacristis xij_d._ Item pro ornacione cathedrae episcopalis iiij_d._ Item in ligno pro stallis iiij_d._ Item in denariis communibus xviij_d._ Item custodi choristarum iij_s._ iiij_d._

_Summa_ xj_s._ vj_d._

Summa totalis Expensarum vj lib. xiiij_s._ x_d._ ob. Et sic Recepta excedunt expensas xl_s._ vj_d._ ob. ad usum Episcopi.

N

WINTER PROHIBITIONS

I. 190-200. TERTULLIAN.

[From _De Idololatria_ (_Tertulliani Opera_, ed. A. Reifferscheid and G. Wissowa, in _Corpus Script. Eccles._ xx; _P. L._ i. 674). Part of the argument of c. 15 is repeated in _De Corona Militari_, c. 13 (_P. L._ ii. 97). In _De Fuga in Persecutione_, c. 13 (_P. L._ ii. 119), bribes given by Christians to avoid persecution are called ‘saturnalitia’ given to soldiers.]

c. 10. [de ludimagistris]. Ipsam primam novi discipvli stipem Minervae et honori et nomini consecrat ... quam Minervalia Minervae, quam Saturnalia Saturni, quae etiam serviculis sub tempore Saturnalium celebrari necesse est. Etiam strenuae captandae et septimontium, et Brumae et carae cognationis honoraria exigenda omnia, Florae scholae coronandae: flaminicea et aediles sacrificant creati; schola honoratur feriis; idem fit idolo natali: omnis diaboli pompa frequentatur. Quis haec competere Christiano existimabit, nisi qui putabit convenire etiam non magistris?

c. 14. _Quemadmodum_, inquit, _omnibus per omnia placeo_, nimirum Saturnalia et Kalendas Ianuarias celebrans hominibus placebat? ... _Sabbata_, inquit, _vestra et numenias et ceremonias odit anima mea_; nobis, quibus sabbata extranea sunt et numeniae et feriae a deo aliquando dilectae, Saturnalia et Ianuariae et Brumae et Matronales frequentantur, munera commeant et strenae, consonant lusus, convivia constrepunt.

c. 15. Sed luceant, inquit, opera vestra; at nunc lucent tabernae et ianuae nostrae, plures iam invenias ethnicorum fores sine lucernis et laureis, quam Christianorum ... ergo, inquis, honor dei est lucernae pro foribus et laurus in postibus? ... certi enim esse debemus, si quos latet per ignorantiam litteraturae saecularis, etiam ostiorum deos apud Romanos, Cardeam a cardinibus appellatam et Forculum a foribus, et Limentinum a limine et ipsum Ianum a ianua ... si autem sunt qui in ostiis adorantur, ad eos et lucernae et laureae pertinebunt; idolo feceris, quicquid ostio feceris ... scis fratrem per visionem eadem nocte castigatum graviter, quod ianuam eius subito adnuntiatis gaudiis publicis servi coronassent. Et tamen non ipse coronaverat aut praeceperat; nam ante processerat et regressus reprehenderat factum ... accendant igitur quotidie lucernas, quibus lux nulla est; affigant postibus lauros postmodum arsuras, quibus ignes imminent; illis competunt et testimonia tenebrarum et auspicia poenarum. Tu lumen es mundi et arbor virens semper; si templis renuntiasti, ne feceris templum ianuam tuam, minus dixi; si lupanaribus renuntiasti, ne induaris domui tuae faciem novi lupanaris.

II. 190-200. TERTULLIAN.

[_Apologeticus_, c. 42 in _P. L._ i. 492.]

Sed si ceremonias tuas non frequento, attamen et illa die homo sum. Non lavo sub noctem Saturnalibus, ne et noctem et diem perdam: attamen lavo et debita hora et salubri.

III. †348. PRUDENTIUS.

[_Contra Symmachum_, i. 237 in _P. L._ lx. 139.]

Iano etiam celebri de mense litatur auspiciis epulisque sacris, quas inveterato heu! miseri sub honore agitant, et gaudia ducunt festa Kalendarum.

IV. †370. PACIANUS, BISHOP OF BARCELONA.

[Pacianus, _Paraenesis ad Poenitentiam_ (_P. L._ xiii. 1081). Jerome, _de Viris illustribus_, c. 106 (_P. L._ xxiii. 703), says of Pacianus, ‘scripsit varia opuscula, de quibus est Cervus.’]

Hoc enim, puto, proximus Cervulus ille profecit, ut eo diligentius fieret, quo impressius notabatur.... Puto, nescierant Cervulum facere, nisi illis reprehendendo monstrassem.

V. 374-397. ST. AMBROSE.

[From _De Interpellatione Job et David_, ii. 1 (_P. L._ xiv. 813), concluding a passage on the _cervus_ as a type of David and of Christ. The Benedictine editors think that if the allusion were to the _Cervulus_, St. Ambrose would have reprobated it. But in any case it is only a passing allusion.]

Sed iam satis nobis in exordio tractatus, sicut in principio anni, more vulgi, cervus allusit.

VI. 380-397. ST. CHRYSOSTOM.

[_Oratio Kalendis Habita_ (_P. G._ xlviii. 953). A sermon preached at Antioch.]

Ἀλλὰ πρὸς ἕτερα κατεπείγοντα ἡμῖν ὁ λόγος ὥρμηται, τὰ σήμερον ὑπὸ τῆς πόλεως ἁπάσης ἁμαρτηθέντα ... καὶ γὰρ καὶ ἡμῖν πόλεμος συνέστηκε νῦν ... δαιμόνων πομπευσάντων ἐπὶ τῆς ἀγορᾶς. αἱ γὰρ διαβολικαὶ παννυχίδες αἱ γινόμεναι τήμερον, καὶ τὰ σκώμματα, καὶ αἱ λοιδορίαι, καὶ αἱ χορεῖαι αἱ νυκτεριναί, καὶ ἡ καταγέλαστος αὕτη κωμῳδία, παντὸς πολεμίου χαλεπώτερον τὴν πόλιν ἡμῶν ἐξῃχμαλώτισαν ... περιχαρὴς ἡμῖν ἡ πόλις γέγονε καὶ φαιδρά, καὶ ἐστεφάνωται, καὶ καθάπερ γυνὴ φιλόκοσμος καὶ πολυτελής, οὕτως ἡ ἀγορὰ φιλοτίμως ἐκαλλωπίσατο σήμερον, χρυσία περιτιθεμένη, καὶ ἱσμάτια πολυτελῆ, καὶ ὑποδήματα, καὶ ἕτερά τινα τοιαῦτα, τῶν ἐν τοῖς ἐργαστηρίοις ἐκάστου τῇ τῶν οἰκείων ἔργων ἐπιδείξει τὸν ὁμότεχνον παραδραμεῖν φιλονεικοῦντος. Ἀλλ’ αὕτη μὲν ἡ φιλοτιμία, εἰ καὶ παιδικῆς ἐστι διανοίας, καὶ ψυχῆς οὐδὲν μέγα οὐδὲ ὑψηλὸν φανταζομένης, ἀλλ’ ὅμως οὐ τοσαύτην ἐπισύρεται βλάβην.... Ἀλλ’, ὅπερ ἔφην, οὐ τοσούτων ἐγκλημάτων ἀξία αὕτη ἡ φιλοτιμία· οἱ δὲ ἐν τοῖς καπηλείοις ἀγῶνες γινόμενοι τήμερον, οὗτοι μὲν μάλιστα ὀδυνῶσι, καὶ ἀσωτίας καὶ ἀσεβείας ἐμπεπλημένοι πολλῆς· ἀσεβείας μέν, ὅτι παρατηροῦσιν ἡμέρας οἱ ταῦτα ποιοῦντες, καὶ οἰωνίζονται, καὶ νομίζουσιν, εἰ τὴν νουμηνίαν τοῦ μηνὸς τούτου μεθ’ ἡδονῆς καὶ εὐφροσύνης ἐπιτελέσαιεν, καὶ τὸν ἅπαντα τοιοῦτον ἕξειν ἐνιαυτόν· ἀσωτίας δὲ, ὅτι ὑπὸ τὴν ἕω γυναῖκες καὶ ἄνδρες φιάλας καὶ ποτήρια πληρώσαντες μετὰ πολλῆς τῆς ἀσωτίας τὸν ἄκρατον πίνουσι.... Ταῦτα ἀπὸ νουμηνίας φιλοσόφει, ταῦτα ἀπὸ τῆς περιόδου τῶν ἐνιαυτῶν ἀναμιμνήσκου.... Τὸ παρατηρεῖν ἡμέρας οὐ Χριστιανικῆς φιλοσοφίας, ἀλλ’ Ἑλληνικῆς πλάνης ἐστίν.... Οὐδὲν ἔχεις κοινὸν πρὸς τὴν γῆν, ἔνθα ἡλίου δρόμοι, καὶ περίοδοι, καὶ ἡμέραι.... Τὸ πρὸς ἡμέρας ἐπτοῆσθαι τοιαύτας, καὶ πλείονα ἐν αὐταῖς δέχεσθαι ἡδονήν, καὶ λύχνους ἅπτειν ἐπὶ τῆς ἀγορᾶς, καὶ στεφανώματα πλέκειν, παιδικῆς ἀνοίας ἐστίν.... Μὴ τοίνυν ἐπὶ τῆς ἀγορᾶς ἀνακαύσῃς πῦρ αἰσθητόν, ἀλλ’ ἐπὶ τῆς διανοίας ἄναψον φῶς πνευματικόν.... Μὴ τὴν θύραν τῆς οἰκίας στεφανώσῃς, ἀλλὰ τοιαύτην ἐπίδειξαι πολιτείαν, ὥστε τὸν τῆς δικαιοσύνης στέφανον σῇ κεφαλῇ παρὰ τῆς τοῦ Χριστοῦ δέξασθαι χειρός.... Ὅταν ἀκούσῃς θορύβους, ἀταξίας καὶ πομπὰς διαβολικάς, πονηρῶν ἀνθρώπων καὶ ἀκολάστων τὴν ἀγορὰν πεπληρωμένην, οἴκοι μένε, καὶ τῆς ταραχῆς ἀπαλλάττου ταύτης, καὶ ἔμεινας εἰς δόξαν Θεοῦ.

VII. 380-397. ST. CHRYSOSTOM.

[_Concio de Lazaro_ 1 (_P. L._, xlviii. 963). Preached at Antioch on the day after No. vi.]

Τὴν χθὲς ἡμέραν, ἑορτὴν οὖσαν σατανικήν, ἐποιήσατε ὑμεῖς ἑορτὴν πνευματικήν ... Διπλοῦν τούνυν οὕτω τὸ κέρδος ὑμῖν γέγονεν, ὅτι καὶ τῆς ἀτάκτου τῶν μεθυόντων ἀπηλλάγητε χορείας, καὶ σκιρτήματα ἐσκιρτήσατε πνευματικά, πολλὴν εὐταξίαν ἔχοντα· καὶ μετέσχετε κρατῆρος, οὐκ ἄκρατον ἐκχέοντος, ἀλλὰ διδασκαλίας πεπληρωμένου πνευματικῆς· καὶ αὐλὸς ἐγένεσθε καὶ κιθάρα τῷ Πνεύματι τῷ ἁγίῳ· καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῷ διαβόλῳ χορευόντων, ὑμεῖς ... ἐδώκατε τῷ Πνεύματι κροῦσαι τὰς ὑμετέρας ψυχάς.

VIII. 388. ST. JEROME.

[_Comm. in Ephes._ vi. 4 in _P. L._ xxvi. 540.]

Legant episcopi atque presbyteri, qui filios suos saecularibus litteris erudiunt, et faciunt comoedias legere, et mimorum turpia scripta cantare, de ecclesiasticis forsitan sumptibus eruditos; et quod in corbonam pro peccato virgo aut vidua, vel totam substantiam suam effundens quilibet pauper obtulerat, hoc kalendariam strenam, et Saturnalitiam sportulam et Minervale munus grammaticus, et orator, aut in sumptus domesticos, aut in templi stipes, aut in sordida scorta convertit.

IX. †396. ASTERIUS OF AMASEA.

[_Sermo adv. Kal. Festum_, in _P. G._ xl. 215.]

Δύο κατὰ ταυτὸν ἑορταὶ συνέδραμον ἐπὶ τῆς χθιζῆς καὶ τῆς ἐνεστώσης ἡμέρας, οὐ σύμφωνοί τε καὶ ἀδελφοί, πᾶν δὲ τοὐναντίον ἐχθρῶς τε καὶ ἐναντίως ἔχουσαι πρὸς ἀλλήλας. Ἡ μὲν γὰρ ἐστι τοῦ ἔξωθεν συρφετοῦ, πολὺ συνάγουσα τοῦ μαμωνᾶ τὸ ἀργύριον ... φιλεῖται μὲν τὸ στόμα, ἀγαπᾶται δὲ τὸ νόμισμα· τὸ σχῆμα διαθέσεως, καὶ τὸ ἔργον πλεονεξίας ... τὰ δὲ ἄλλα πῶς ἄν τις εἴποι; μὴ καὶ ἐκκαλυψάμενος γυναικίζεται ὁ ἀριστεύς; κ.τ.λ.

X. 387-430. ST. AUGUSTINE.

[_Sermo_ cxcviii in _P. L._ xxxviii. 1024. In _Sermones_ cxcvi and cxcvii Augustine also attacks the Calends, but in more general terms.]

Et modo si solemnitas gentium, quae fit hodierno die in laetitia saeculi atque carnali, in strepitu vanissimarum et turpissimarum cantionum, in conviviis et saltationibus turpibus, in celebratione ipsius falsae festivitatis, si ea quae agunt gentes non vos delectent, congregabimini ex gentibus.... Qui ergo aliud credit, aliud sperat, aliud amat, vita probet, factis ostendat. Acturus es celebrationem strenarum, sicut paganus, lusurus alea, et inebriaturus te: quomodo aliud credis, aliud speras, aliud amas?... Noli te miscere gentibus similitudine morum atque factorum. Dant illi strenas, date vos eleemosynas. Avocantur illi cantionibus luxuriarum, avocate vos sermonibus scripturarum: currunt illi ad theatrum, vos ad ecclesiam; inebriantur illi, vos ieiunate. Si hodie non potestis ieiunare, saltem cum sobrietate prandete.... Sed dicis mihi; quando strenas do, mihi accipio et ego. Quid ergo, quando das pauperi, nihil accipis?... Etenim illa daemonia delectantur canticis vanitatis, delectantur nugatorio spectaculo, et turpitudinibus variis theatrorum, insania circi, crudelitate amphitheatri, certaminibus animosis eorum qui pro pestilentibus hominibus lites et contentiones usque ad inimicitias suscipiunt, pro mimo, pro histrione, pro pantomimo, pro auriga, pro venatore. Ista facientes, quasi thura ponunt daemoniis de cordibus suis.

XI. †400. SEVERIAN.

[_Homilia de Pythonibus et Maleficis_ (Mai, _Spicilegium Romanum_, x. 222). The author’s name is given as Severian. A Severian was bishop of Gabala in Syria †400, a prolific preacher and an opponent of St. Chrysostom in Constantinople. It seems, however, a little hazardous to ascribe to him a Latin homily.]

Ecce veniunt dies, ecce kalendae veniunt, et tota daemonum pompa procedit, idolorum tota producitur officina, et sacrilegio vetusto anni novitas consecratur. Figurant Saturnum, faciunt Iovem, formant Herculem, exponunt cum venantibus suis Dianam, circumducunt Vulcanum verbis haletantem turpitudines suas, et plura, quorum, quia portenta sunt, nomina sunt tacenda; quorum deformitates quia natura non habet, creatura nescit, fingere ars laborat. Praeterea vestiuntur homines in pecudes, et in feminas viros vertunt, honestatem rident, violant iudicia, censuram publicam rident, inludunt saeculo teste, et dicunt se facientes ista iocari. Non sunt ioca, sed sunt crimina. In idola transfiguratur homo. Et, si ire ad idola crimen est, esse idolum quid videtur?... Namque talium deorum facies ut pernigrari possint, carbo deficit; et ut eorum habitus pleno cumuletur horrore, paleae, pelles, panni, stercora, toto saeculo perquiruntur, et quidquid est confusionis humanae, in eorum facie collocatur.

XII. 408-410. ST. JEROME.

[_Comm. in Isaiam_, lxv. 11 (_P. L._ xxiv. 638).]

_Et vos qui dereliquistis Dominum, et obliti estis montem sanctum meum. Qui ponitis fortunae mensam et libatis super eam_.... Est autem in cunctis urbibus, et maxime in Aegypto, et in Alexandria idololatriae vetus consuetudo, ut ultimo die anni et mensis eorum qui extremus est, ponant mensam refertam varii generis epulis, et poculum mulso mixtum, vel praeteriti anni, vel futuri fertilitatem auspicantes. Hoc autem faciebant Israelitae, omnium simulacrorum portenta venerantes: et nequaquam altari victimas, sed huiusce modi mensae liba fundebant.

XIII. †412-†465. MAXIMUS OF TURIN.

[_Homilia_ ciii, _de Calendis Gentilium_ (_P. L._ lvii. 491).]

Bene quodammodo Deo providente dispositum est, ut inter medias gentilium festivitates Christus Dominus oriretur, et inter ipsas tenebrosas superstitiones errorum veri luminis splendor effulgeret.... Quis enim sapiens, qui dominici Natalis sacramentum colit, non ebrietatem condemnet Saturnalium, non declinet lasciviam calendarum?... Sunt plerique, qui trahentes consuetudinem de veteri superstitione vanitatis, calendarum diem pro summa festivitate procurent; et sic laetitiam habere velint, ut sit magis illis tristitia. Nam ita lasciviunt, ita vino et epulis satiantur, ut qui toto anno castus et temperans fuerit, illa die sit temulentus atque pollutus; et quod nisi ita fecerit, putet perdidisse se ferias; quia non intelligit per tales se ferias perdidisse salutem. Illud autem quale est, quod surgentes mature ad publicum cum munusculo, hoc est, cum strenis unusquisque procedit; et salutaturus amicos, salutat praemio antequam osculo? ... Adhuc et ipsam munificentiam strenas vocant, cum magis strenuum, quod——cogitur.... Hoc autem quale est quod, interposita die, tali inani exordio, velut incipientes vivere, aut auspicia colligant, omniaque perquirant; et exinde totius anni sibi vel prosperitatem, vel tristitiam metiuntur? ... Hoc autem malis suis addunt, ut quasi de auspicatione domum redeuntes ramusculos gestent in manibus, scilicet pro omine, ut vel onusti ad hospitium redeant.

XIV. †412-†465. MAXIMUS OF TURIN.

[_Homilia_ xvi, _de Cal. Ian._ (_P. L._ lvii. 255).]

Quamquam non dubitem vos ... universas calendarum supervenientium vanitates declinare penitus et horrere ... necessarium, nec superfluum reor ... precedentium patrum vobis repetantur alloquia.... Et illorum gravior atque immedicabilis languor est, qui superstitionum furore et ludorum suavitate decepti sub specie sanitatis insaniunt. An non omnia quae a ministris daemonum illis aguntur diebus falsa sunt et insana, cum vir, virium suarum vigore mollito, totum se frangit in feminam, tantoque illud ambitu atque arte agit, quasi poeniteat illum esse, quod vir est? Numquid non universa ibi falsa sunt et insana, cum se a Deo formati homines, aut in pecudes, aut in feras, aut in portenta transformant? Numquid non omnem excedit insaniam, cum decorem vultus humani Dei specialiter manibus in omnem pulchritudinem figuratum, squalore sordium et adulterina foeditate deturpant? ... Post omnia, ad offensionis plenitudinem, dies ipsos annum novum vocant.... Novum annum Ianuarias appellant calendas, cum vetusto semper errore et horrore sordescant. Auspicia etiam vanissimi colligere se dicunt, ac statum vitae suae inanibus indiciis aestimantes, per incerta avium ferarumque signa imminentis anni futura rimantur.

XV. †412-†465. MAXIMUS OF TURIN?

[_Sermo_ vi, _de Cal. Ian._ (_P. L._ lvii. 543). The _Sermo_ is ascribed to Maximus in three good MSS. and the style agrees with his. Other MSS. give it to St. Augustine or St. Ambrose, and it is printed in the Benedictine edition of the latter’s works (_Sermo_ vii. in _P. L._ xvii. 617). The editors, however, do not think it his.]

Est mihi adversus plerosque vestrum, fratres, querela non modica: de iis loquor qui nobiscum natale Domini celebrantes gentilium se feriis dediderunt, et post illud coeleste convivium superstitionis sibi prandium praepararunt.... Quomodo igitur potestis religiose Epiphaniam Domini procurare, qui Iani calendas quantum in vobis est devotissime celebratis? Ianus enim homo fuit unius conditor civitatis, quae Ianiculum nuncupatur, in cuius honore a gentibus calendae sunt Ianuariae nuncupatae; unde qui calendas Ianuarias colit peccat, quoniam homini mortuo defert divinitatis obsequium. Inde est quod ait Apostolus: _Dies observastis, et menses, et tempora, et annos; timeo ne sine causa laboraverim in vobis._ Observavit enim diem et mensem qui his diebus aut non ieiunavit, aut ad Ecclesiam non processit. Observavit diem qui hesterna die non processit ad ecclesiam, processit ad campum. Ergo, fratres, omni studio gentilium festivitatem et ferias declinemus, ut quando illi epulantur et laeti sunt, nunc nos simus sobrii, atque ieiuni, quo intelligant laetitiam suam nostra abstinentia condemnari.

XVI. _Fifth century._ ST. PETER CHRYSOLOGUS.

[_Sermo_ clv in _P. L._ lii. 609.]

Ubi nostram Christus pie natus est ad salutem, mox diabolus divinae bonitati numerosa genuit et perniciosa portenta, ut ridiculum de religione componeret, in sacrilegium verteret sanctitatem.... Quorum formant adulteria in simulacris, quorum fornicationes imaginibus mandant, quorum titulant incesta picturis, quorum crudelitates commendant libris, quorum parricidia tradunt saeculis, quorum impietates personant tragoediis, quorum obscaena ludunt, hos qua dementia deos crederent, nisi quia criminum desiderio, amore scelerum possidentur, deos exoptant habere criminosos?... Haec diximus, quare gentiles hodie faciant deos suos talia committere, quae sustinemus, et faciant tales qui videntibus et horrori sunt et pudori; faciant ut eos aliquando et ipsi qui faciunt horreant et relinquant, et Christiani glorientur a talibus se liberatos esse per Christum: si modo non eorum ex spectaculis polluantur.... Et si tanta est de assensione damnatio, quis satis lugeat eos qui simulacra faciunt semetipsos?... Qui se deum facit, Deo vero contradictor existit; imaginem Dei portare noluit, qui idoli voluerit portare personam; qui iocari voluerit cum diabolo, non poterit gaudere cum Christo.... Abstrahat ergo pater filium, servum dominus, parens parentem, civem civis, homo hominem, Christianus omnes qui se bestiis compararunt, exaequarunt iumentis, aptaverunt pecudibus, daemonibus formaverunt.

XVII. 470-542. CAESARIUS OF ARLES?

[_Sermo Pseud.-Augustin._ cxxix _de Kal. Ian._ in _P. L._ xxxix. 2001. Parts of this sermon are reproduced ‘mutatis mutandis’ in the eighth-century Frankish _Homilia de Sacrilegiis_ (§§ 23-26), edited by Caspari (cf. No. xxxix, below), and also in a MS. homily, _De Kalendis Ianuariis_, in _Cod. Lat. Monac._ 6108 (tenth century), f. 48ᵛ. The rest of that homily is mainly from Maximus Taurinensis, _Hom._ 16 (No. xiv, above). And nearly the whole of the present _Sermo_ is included in the _Homiliarium_ of Burchardus of Würzburg and printed from his MS. by Eckart, _Francia Orientalis_, i. 837.

On the date and authorship of the _Sermo_, cf. Caspari, 67. It is ascribed to Augustine by a _Codex Colbertinus_. His editors, Blancpain and Coutant, treat it as not his (_a_) on account of the difference of style, (_b_) on account of the reference to the _ieiunium_ prescribed by the _sancti antiqui patres_ (i.e. amongst others, Augustine himself: cf. No. x). A _Codex Aceiensis_ ascribes it to Faustinus (i.e. Faustus of Raji), and this is accepted by the Bollandists (_Acta SS. Ian._ i. 2), and by Eckart, _op. cit._ i. 433. Finally a _codex Navarricus_ assigns it to Maxentius. This can hardly be the Scythian monk of that name (†520). Caspari suggests that there has been a scribal error. The _sermo_ is headed ‘De natali Domini. In calendis ianuariis.’ There is nothing about the Nativity in it, and possibly a Nativity sermon and the author’s name of the Kalends sermon which followed it have dropped out. He also thinks Maximus Taurinensis may be meant. However Caspari finally agrees with Blancpain and Coutant, that the style and the allusion to the _triduum ieiunii_ so closely resembling that of the Council of Tours (No. xxii) point to a writer of the first half of the sixth century, and that he may very likely be Caesarius of Arles, who, as his _Vita_ (cf. No. xx) states, did preach against the Kalends.]

Dies calendarum istarum, fratres carissimi, quas Ianuarias vocant, a quodam Iano homine perdito ac sacrilego nomen accepit. Ianus autem iste dux quidam et princeps hominum paganorum fuit: quem imperiti homines et rustici dum quasi regem metuunt, colere velut Deum coeperunt.... Diem ergo calendarum hodiernarum de nomine Iani, sicut iam dictum est, nuncuparunt: atque ut ei homini divinos honores conferre cupiebant, et finem unius anni et alterius initium deputarunt. Et quia apud illos Ianuariae calendae unum annum implere, et alterum incipere dicebantur, istum Ianum quasi in principio ac termino posuerunt, ut unum annum implere, alterum incipere diceretur. Et hinc est, quod idolorum cultores ipsi Iano duas facies figurarunt.... Hinc itaque est quod istis diebus pagani homines perverso omnium rerum ordine obscenis deformitatibus teguntur; ut tales utique se faciant qui colunt, qualis est iste qui colitur. In istis enim diebus miseri homines, et, quod peius est, aliqui baptizati, sumunt formas adulteras, species monstrosas, in quibus quidem sunt quae primum pudenda, aut potius dolenda sunt. Quis enim sapiens poterit credere, inveniri aliquos sanae mentis qui cervulum facientes, in ferarum se velint habitum commutare? Alii vestiuntur pellibus pecudum; alii assumunt capita bestiarum, gaudentes et exsultantes, si taliter se in ferinas species transformaverint, ut homines non esse videantur.... Iamvero illud quale et quam turpe est, quod viri nati tunicis muliebribus vestiuntur, et turpissima demum demutatione puellaribus figuris virile robur effeminant, non erubescentes tunicis muliebribus inserere militares lacertos: barbatas facies praeferunt, et videri feminae volunt.... Sunt enim qui calendis ianuariis auguria observant, ut focum de domo sua, vel aliud quodcumque beneficium, cuicumque petenti non tribuant. Diabolicas etiam strenas, et ab aliis accipiunt, et ipsi aliis tradunt. Aliqui etiam rustici, mensulas in ista nocte quae praeteriit, plenas multis rebus, quae ad manducandum sunt necessariae, componentes, tota nocte sic compositas esse volunt, credentes quod hoc illis calendae ianuariae praestare possint, ut per totum annum convivia illorum in tali abundantia perseverent.... Qui enim aliquid de paganorum consuetudine in istis diebus observare voluerint, timendum est ne eis nomen christianum prodesse non possit. Et ideo sancti antiqui patres nostri considerantes maximam partem hominum diebus istis gulae vel luxuriae deservire, et ebrietatibus et sacrilegis saltationibus insanire, statuerunt in universum mundum, ut per omnes Ecclesias publicum indiceretur ieiunium.... Ieiunemus ergo, fratres carissimi, in istis diebus.... Qui etiam in istis calendis stultis hominibus luxuriose ludentibus aliquam humanitatem impenderit, peccati eorum participem se esse non dubitet.

XVIII. ?470-542. CAESARIUS OF ARLES?

[_Sermo Pseud.-Augustin._ cxxx in _P. L._ xxxix. 2003. The authorship is generally taken to follow that of No. xvii, although a Fleury MS. ascribes it to Bp. Sedatus of Besiers †589.]

Sic enim fit ut stultae laetitiae causa, dum observantur calendarum dies aut aliarum superstitionum vanitas, per licentiam ebrietatis et ludorum turpem cantum, velut ad sacrificia sua daemones invitentur.... Quid enim est tam demens quam virilem sexum in formam mulieris, turpi habitu commutare? Quid tam demens quam deformare faciem, et vultus induere, quos ipsi etiam daemones expavescunt? Quid tam demens quam incompositis motibus et impudicis carminibus vitiorum laudes inverecunda delectatione cantare? indui ferino habitu, et capreae aut cervo similem fieri, ut homo ad imaginem Dei et similitudinem factus sacrificium daemonum fiat?... Quicunque ergo in calendis ianuariis quibuscunque miseris hominibus sacrilego ritu insanientibus, potius quam ludentibus, aliquam humanitatem dederint, non hominibus, sed daemonibus se dedisse cognoscant. Et ideo si in peccatis eorum participes esse non vultis, cervulum sive iuvencam[703], aut alia quaelibet portenta, ante domos vestras venire non permittatis.... Sunt enim aliqui, quod peius est, quos ita observatio inimica subvertit, ut in diem calendarum si forte aut vicinis aut peregrinantibus opus sit, etiam focum dare dissimulent. Multi praeterea strenas et ipsi offerre, et ab aliis accipere solent. Ante omnia, fratres, ad confundendam paganorum carnalem et luxuriosam laetitiam, exceptis illis qui prae infirmitate abstinere non praevalent, omnes auxiliante Deo ieiunemus; et pro illis miseris qui calendas istas, pro gula et ebrietate, sacrilega consuetudine colunt, Deo, quantum possumus, supplicemus.

XIX. 470-542. CAESARIUS OF ARLES?

[_Sermo Pseud.-Augustin._ 265, _De Christiano Nomine cum Operibus non Christianis_, in _P. L._ xxxix. 2239.]

Licet credam quod illa infelix consuetudo ... iam ... fuerit ... sublata; tamen, si adhuc agnoscatis aliquos illam sordidissimam turpitudinem de hinnicula vel cervula exercere ... castigate.

XX. 470-542. CAESARIUS OF ARLES.

[Episcopi Cyprianus, Firminus et Viventius, _Vita S. Caesarii Arelatensis_, i. 5. 42; _P. L._ lxvii. 1021.]

Predicationes ... contra calendarum quoque paganissimos ritus ... fecit.

XXI. †554. CHILDEBERT.

[_Constitutio Childeberti, De Abolendis Reliquiis Idolatriae_, in Mansi, ix. 738; Boretius, i. 2.]

Noctes pervigiles cum ebrietate, scurrilitate, vel canticis, etiam in ipsis sacris diebus, pascha, natale Domini, et reliquis festivitatibus, vel adveniente die Dominico dansatrices per villas ambulare. Haec omnia, unde Deus agnoscitur laedi, nullatenus fieri permittimus.

XXII. 567. COUNCIL OF TOURS.

[Maassen, i. 121; Mansi, ix. 803.]

c. 18. [De ieiuniis monachorum]

Quia inter natale Domini et epyfania omni die festivitates sunt, idemque prandebunt excepto triduum illud, quod ad calcandam gentilium consuetudinem patris nostri statuerunt, privatas in kalendis Ianuarii fieri letanias, ut in ecclesia psalletur et ora octava in ipsis kalendis circumcisionis missa Deo propitio celebretur.

c. 23. Enimvero quoniam cognovimus nonnullos inveniri sequipedes erroris antiqui, qui Kalendas Ianuarii colunt, cum Ianus homo gentilis fuerit, rex quidam, sed esse Deus non potuit; quisquis ergo unum Deum Patrem regnantem cum Filio et Spiritu Sancto credit, non potest integer Christianus dici, qui super hoc aliqua custodit.

XXIII. 572-574. MARTIN OF BRAGA.

[Martin von Bracara, _De Correctione Rusticorum_, ed. C. P. Caspari, Christiania, 1883.]

c. 10. Similiter et ille error ignorantibus et rusticis hominibus subrepit, ut Kalendas Ianuarias putent anni esse initium, quod omnino falsissimum est. Nam, sicut scriptura dicit, viii. kal. Aprilis in ipso aequinoctio initium primi anni est factum.

c. 11. ... Sine causa autem miser homo sibi istas praefigurationes ipse facit, ut, quasi sicut in introitu anni satur est et laetus ex omnibus, ita illi et in toto anno contingat. Observationes istae omnes paganorum sunt per adinventiones daemonum exquisitae.

c. 16. ... Vulcanalia et Kalendas observare, menses ornare, lauros ponere, pedem observare, effundere [in foco] super truncum frugem et vinum, et panem in fontem mittere, quid est aliud nisi cultura diaboli?

XXIV. †560. MARTIN, BISHOP OF BRAGA.

[Quoted in the _Decretum Gratiani_, Pars ii, Causa 26, Quaestio 7, c. 13 (_C. I. Can._ ed. Friedberg, i. 1044), as from ‘Martinus Papa,’ or ‘Martinus Bracarensis’ [c. 74]. Mansi, ix. 857, gives the canon with a reference to _C. of Laodicea_,