Make We Merry More and Less: An Anthology of Medieval English Popular Literature

Acknowledgements xv
Abbreviations xvi
Editor’s Preface xvii
Introduction 1
Chapter 1: Voices from the Past 15
A. Snatches and Snippets 16
i) ‘Merie sungen the muneches binnen Ely’ 16
ii) A secular lullaby, ‘Wake wel, Annot’ 17
iii) Fragments of a Dance song: ‘Atte wrastlinge’, ‘At the ston-castinges’ 17
From a Worcester Cathedral MS 17
iv) ‘Ne saltou, levedi’ 17
v) ‘Ich habbe ydon al myn youth’ 17
vi) ‘Dore, go thou stille’ 17
vii) A lament, quoted in a lawsuit: ‘Wela! qua sal thir hornes blau’ 17
viii) From the Red Book of Ossory: ‘Alas! How shold y singe’ 18
ix) ‘Whenne bloweth the brom’ 18
B. Scenes and Events from Chronicles and Letters 18
Chronicles 18
x) ‘there arose suche a sprynggynge and welling op of waters’ [1336] 18
xi) The Plague of 1348 18
‘And in the xxiii yere of his regne, in the este parteys’ 18
‘In this same yere [1352], and in the yere afore’ 19
xii) A Storm [1364] ... and a Great Frost [1435] 20
xiii) A Lynching [1427] 20
xiv) An Affray against the Lombards [c. 1458] 21
xv) Religious Unrest at Evesham [1377] 22
xvi) A Heretic Venerated [1440] 22
‘The xix yeer of kyng Harri’ 22
‘The Bishop of Salisbury murdered’ [1450] 23
xvii) A Portent [1440] 23
xviii) Roger Bolingbroke, Necromancer [1440] 23
Letters; Paston Letters 24
xix) News from a Wife [1448] 24
xx) Another Dispute [c. 1451] 25
xxi) Local News [1453] 25
xxii) A Wife’s Suggestions [c. 1459] 26
xxiii) A Husband in playful mood [1465] 26
xxiv) A Son’s Requests [1471] 27
xxv) A Valentine Letter [1477] 28
C. Popular Beliefs 29
xxvi) The Shipman’s Vision [1457] 29
xxvii) Ghostly Battles [1365] 30
from Walter Map
xxviii) A Wife Rescued 31
xxix) A Fairy Lover 31
xxx) Herla and his Troop 33
Charms 34
xxxi) ‘Whatt manere of ivell thou be’ 34
xxxii) For the Nightmare 35
xxxii a) A charm for staunching blood 36
xxxiii) Prognostications: ‘Giff sanct Paullis day be fair and cleir’ 36
Prophecies 36
xxxiv) ‘Woe to the Red Dragon’ 36
xxxiv a) ‘Then schal Cadwaladre Conan calle’ 37
xxxv) Prophecia Merlini 38
xxxvi) ‘When the cocke in the north hath bilde’ 38
D. Popular Religion 39
Prayers 39
xxxvii) ‘Moder of God, wich did lappe thy swete babe’ 39
xxxviii) Prayer to a Guardian Angel 39
xxxix) from Richard de Caistre’s prayer 40
From The Book of Margery Kempe 41
xl) A Visionary Meditation 42
xli) A Pilgrim with a Crooked Back 43
xlii) A Visiting Priest Reads to Her 44
xliii) A Fire at Lynn 45
xliv) A Woman who was Out of her Mind 46
xlv) A Conversation with Christ 47
xlvi) Margery’s Own Tale 48
Chapter 2: Ballads 51
A. Medieval and Early Modern Ballads 55
i) Judas 55
ii) Saint Stephen and Herod 58
iii) The Battle of Otterburn 60
B. From PFMS 64
iv) Adam Bell, Clim of the Clough, and William of Cloudesly 64
v) A Gest of Robyn Hode 77
vi) Sir Aldingar 87
vii) Glasgerion 90
C. Some Later Ballads 93
viii) Fair Annie 93
ix) The Three Ravens 95
x) Thomas the Rhymer 96
Chapter 3: Romances 101
i) Havelok 103
ii) Sir Orfeo 108
iii) Emaré 113
iv) Octavian 118
v) Sir Gowther 120
vi) Chevelere Assigne 122
vii) The Turke and Gowin 124
viii) Sir Lambewell 125
ix) Thomas of Erceldoune 127
Chapter 4: Tales and Legends 133
A. Anecdotes and Tales in Chronicles 135
i) Siward 135
ii) Gunnhild 136
B. Moral Tales, Exempla 137
iii) The Cursed Dancers 137
iv) A Merry Poor Man 138
v) Alexander and the Pirate 139
vi) Envy in Little Girls 139
vii) A Lecherous Woman carried off to Hell 139
viii) The Weeping Puppy 140
ix) Pope Joan 141
x) An English Witch 142
C. Local Legends 143
From Gervase of Tilbury 143
xi) Peak Cavern 144
xii) Laikibrais, St Simeon’s Horn and a mysterious Dog 145
xiii) Wandlebury Ring 146
xiv) A Mysterious Drinking Horn 147
D. More ‘free-standing’ Literary Examples 148
xv) Hereward 148
xvi) The Childe of Bristowe 150
E. Religious Tales and Saints’ Legends 157
xvii) Mary of Nemmegen 157
xviii) Saint George and the Dragon 159
xix) Saint Julian 159
xx) A Saintly Fool 160
xxi) The Virgin Mary saves a Thief 161
Chapter 5: Merry Tales 163
i) The Tale of the Basyn 164
ii) The King and the Hermit 168
iii) Rauf Coilyear 174
iv) The Freiris of Berwick 178
v) Kynd Kittok 190
vi) The Wright’s Chaste Wife 191
vii) Noodle Stories: 200
The Man who had a Goose 200
Penning the Cuckoo 200
Runaway Cheese 201
A Demonic Grasshopper 201
German Merry Tales: 202
viii) Howleglass would fly 202
ix) The Parson and the Bishop’s Lady 202
Early Sixteenth-Century Jests: 204
x) Wedded Men at the Gates of Heaven 204
xi) No Welshmen in Heaven 205
Chapter 6: Animal Tales 207
A. Man and Animal; Animals in histories, Cats and adages 210
i) The Fox 211
ii) The Cat 212
iii) Animals in Adages 213
iiia) Animal Proverbs 214
B. Fables, and Stories of Reynard 215
iv) Bozon’s The Goshawk and the Owl 215
Examples from Caxton 216
v) The Rat and the Frog 216
vi) The Eagle and the Fox 216
vii) The Lion and the Rat 217
viii) The Cat and the Rat 218
Fox Tales 218
ix) Tybert the Cat is tempted 218
x) The Fox and the Wolf in the Well 219
Foxes in Songs 224
xi) A Fox Carol 224
xii) The False Fox 225
C. Animals in Exempla or Moral Stories 227
xiii) Adulators rewarded, Truth Tellers condemned 227
xiv) The World’s Glory 228
xv) Saint Jerome’s Lion and the Ass 228
xvi) Silent Bribes: the Cow and the Ox 230
xvii) Swallows 230
xviii) Malevolent Mice 231
xix) A Mouse and a Cat 231
xx) Theft cannot be Hidden 232
xxi) Animals Know that Theft is Sinful 232
D. Further Literary examples 232
xxii) Bird on Briar 233
xxiii) Foweles in the Frith 233
xxiv) I have Twelve Oxen 234
Bird Debates 234
xxv) The Thrush and the Nightingale 235
xxvi) The Owl and the Nightingale 237
xxvii) The Hare’s Lament 239
Chapter 7: Proverbs and Riddles 243
A. Proverbs recorded in Manuscripts and Prints 246
i) Proverbs of Alfred 246
ii) From The Book of St Albans 247
iii) From Richard Hill’s book 247
iv) Miscellaneous Proverbs 248
B. Proverbs in Literary Texts 248
v) The Owl and the Nightingale 248
C. Proverbs in Verses, or Adages 251
vi) Balade attributed to Squire Halsham 251
vii) Keep Thy Tongue 251
Proverbs in Epitaphs 252
viii) ‘Farewell, my frendis! The tide abidith no man’ 252
ix) Graunde Amour’s fictional epitaph 253
x) Adages as embodiments of ancient wisdom 253
xi) Solomon and Marcolfus 254
D. Riddles 255
xii) From the Demaundes Joyous 255
xiii) A Puzzle: ‘Water frosen’ 256
xiv) An Ambiguous Riddle: ‘I have a hole above my knee’ 256
E. Riddle Challenges 256
xv) The Devil and the Maid 256
xvi) King John and the Bishop 258
F. Poetic Uses of Enigma 262
xvii) ‘I have a yong suster’ 262
xviii) ‘Byhalde merveylis: a mayde ys moder’ 264
xix) ‘A God, and yet a man?’ 264
xx) ‘Mirabile misterium’ 264
xxi) ‘Erthe toc of erthe’ 265
xxii) ‘In the vaile of restles mynd’ 265
G. Enigma in Narrative 267
xxiii) The Corpus Christi Carol 268
Chapter 8: Satire 271
A. Snatches: Popular Satire in Action 273
i) ‘Maydenes of Engelande, sare may ye morne’ 273
ii) ‘Now raygneth pride in price’ 274
iii) Scottish Derision 274
B. The Wickedness of the World 274
iv) Now the Bisson Leads the Blind 274
v) Where is Truth? 275
vi) Abuses of the Age 276
vii) Sir Penny is a Bold Knight 276
viii) London Lickpenny 278
C. Particular Abuses and Wicked Deeds 282
ix) A Good Medicine for Sore Eyes 282
x) These Friars 283
xi) Thou that Sellest the Word of God 284
D. Against Particular Groups or Individuals 285
xii) Against the Rebellious Scots [1296] 285
xiii) A Scottish song against Edward I when he besieged Berwick 286
xiv) Black Agnes at the siege of Dunbar [1388] 286
xv) The Execution of Sir Simon Fraser 286
xvi) Revenge for Bannockburn 288
xvii) The Fall of Suffolk [1450] 289
E. Parody and Burlesque 291
xviii) The Land of Cokaygne 291
xix) The Tournament of Tottenham 294
Chapter 9: Songs 301
Snatches of Oral Songs 303
i) ‘Bon jowre, bon jowre a vous!’ 303
ii) ‘Of every kune tre’ 305
iii) ‘Al nist by the rose, rose’ 305
iv) ‘Mayden in the mor lay’ 305
v) ‘Ich am of Irlaunde’ 307
vi) ‘Me thingkit thou art so lovely’ 307
vii) ‘Westron wynde when wyll thow blow?’ 307
viii) ‘Sing, cuccu nu! Sing cuccu!’ 307
Christmas and New Year 308
ix) ‘Make we mery both more and lasse’ 308
x) The Boar’s Head 309
xi) The Holly and the Ivy 309
xii) ‘What cher? Gud cher!’ 310
Merriment throughout the Year 311
xiii) God speed the Plough 311
xiv) ‘We ben chapmen light of fote’ 313
Drinking Songs 314
xv) ‘How, butler, how! Bevis a towt!’ 314
xvi) ‘Bryng us in good ale’ 315
Amorous Encounters; Men and Women 316
xvii) ‘Hey, noyney! I wyll love our Ser John’ 316
xviii) ‘How, hey! It is non les’ 317
xix) ‘Hogyn cam to bowers dore’ 318
xx) ‘Say me, viit in the brom’ 320
Miscellaneous Songs 320
xxi) ‘I have a gentil cok’ 320
xxii) ‘I have a newe gardyn’ 321
Nonsense Verse 322
xxiii) ‘Whan netilles in winter bere rosis rede’ 322
xxiv) ‘Hay, hey, I wyll have the whetston and I may’ 323
Religious Songs 324
xxv) ‘Nou goth sonne under wod’ 324
xxvi) ‘Adam lay ibowndyn’ 325
xxvii) ‘Levedie, I thonke the’ 325
xxviii) ‘Can I not syng but ‘hoy’ ’ 326
xxix) ‘Lullay, myn lykyng’ 329
xxx) ‘Mery hyt ys in May morning’ 329
Chapter 10: Drama 331
i) The Killing of Abel The Entrance of Cain (Wakefield/Towneley) 333
ii) Noah and his Wife A Flyting (Wakefield/Towneley) 335
iii) Herod (Coventry) 340
iv) The Trial of Joseph and Mary (N-Town) 341
v) The Play of the Sacrament (Croxton) 342
vi) Wyt and Science 345
vii) Youth 346
viii) Robin Hood and the Sheriff of Nottingham 349
ix) Robin Hood and the Friar 351
Appendix 357
Afterlife, containing additions to some but not all the preceding chapters 357
1. (corresponding to ch. 1, Voices from the Past) 357
i) The Lykewake Dirge 358
ii) A Prophecy (from Thomas Rymour) 359
2. (for ch. 2, Ballads) 361
iii) Sir Patrick Spens 361
iv) Tam Lin 363
v) The Cherry-Tree Carol 368
vi) Brown Robyn’s Confession 370
vii) Hugh of Lincoln 371
viii) Robin Hood and the Curtal Friar 373
3. (for ch. 3, Romance) 377
ix) How Bevis slew a dreadful Dragon 377
4. (for ch. 5, Merry Tales) 379
x) Dr Johnson imitates a Kangaroo 379
5. (for ch. 9, Songs) 379
xi) ‘Down in yon forest there stands a hall’ 380
xii) ‘The heron flew east, the heron flew west’ 380
xiii) The Seven Virgins 381
6. (for ch. 10, Drama) 383
xiv) The Oxfordshire Saint George Play 383
Bibliography 387
Primary Texts 387
Secondary Texts 394