• Croxton Play of the Sacrament: Introduction

also Wasson, “English Church as Theatrical Space,” p. 32. 80 Wasson, “English Church as Theatrical Space," pp. 31–32. Scherb (Staging Faith, p. 68) also imagines All Saints’ Church as part of the “set.” See also Wasson, “English Church as Theatrical

• De Lucis Scrutinio

the light of them is least bright, who grow rich in the Church through the Anti-Pope promoting avarice.") 3 Si Romam pergas. By "Rome," Gower means the Church itself; like Englishmen generally, he did not recognize the Avignon papacy (see

• Robin Hood and the Curtal Friar: Introduction

Robin Hood and the Curtal Friar: Introduction Return to the Robin Hood Project Return to Menu of TEAMS Texts Copyright Information for this edition the two versions fit together well, with the change of one rhyme word needed

• Robin Hood and the Monk

72 MS: knelyd. Child prints kneled, presumably a minor error. 75 When Robin goes to St Mary's church in Nottingham (the city church, very close to the market he visits as a potter), he is recognised by a gret-hedid monk,

• Poems of Political Prophecy: The Prophecy of Merlin (Magdalene Coll. MS)

who defeated Edward I's forces at Roslin in 1301. Robert Bruce murdered the Red Comyn during a parley at the Greyfriars' church, Dumfries, in 1306. 12 glayvys grownde. So MS; RHR glaringe grounde. RHR's transcription breaks off with these words.

• In Praise of Peace: Introduction

Christ died for peace: How well, then, Gower asks, has the Church followed His teachings? The poet begins with the observation that knighthood is meant to defend the Church and thus ought to be the duty of"everi man" under the

• Item 8, Dame Courtesy: Introduction

Good Wife Taught Her Daughter, as well as the Ten Commandments (items 3, 4, and 6). The emphasis on regular church atten­dance and prayer can be connected to the prayers at morning and night, as well as the prayers to

• The Shewings of Julian of Norwich: Introduction

thriving religious life to which both the older church institutions and the new popular avenues of devotion contributed. Norwich had been a cathedral city at least since 1103, its priory and church planned on a scale to match the older

• Item 6, The Ten Commandments: Introduction

Lambeth, see Cawley, “Middle English Metrical Versions,” pp. 129–32. 2 For the large body of similar works, see Pantin, English Church in the Fourteenth Century, pp. 189–219. 3 Gillespie, “Doctrina and Praedicacio,” p. 40. 4 Saint Augustine devised this numeration

• Codex Ashmole 61: Item 6, The Ten Commandments

of usury, but loaning money at interest was long considered an offense against God by the medieval Church. Simony, the purchase of church offices, was a widely condem­ned practice named after Simon Magus, who in the Acts of the Apostles

• The Northern Homily Cycle: Homily 11, Fourth Sunday after Epiphany

most often, as here, Holy Church (Owst, Literature and Pulpit, pp. 68–76). CA 1.319–23 offers numerous commentaries on the scriptural text (Matthew 8:23–27): e.g., Pseudo-Origen’s: “We are all embarked in the vessel of the Holy Church, and voyaging through this

• Item 17, A Prayer at the Levation: Introduction

rang a small bell known as a sacring bell, and in many cases the larger church bells were rung, so that even those outside the church knew that the Mass had reached its central moment. The priest then raised the

• Lydgate, Saint Austin at Compton: Introduction

as seems more likely, to further the efforts of church authorities (as exemplified in the Lambeth Constitutions of 1281) to regularize the use of excommunication against various forms of resistance to church law, and rigorously to enforce the payment of

• The Life of St. Thaïs: Introduction

by St. Antony whose purpose was to counter this extreme theological position (which had already been officially repudiated by the church): "Those who after their baptism have fallen into sin, as happens nearly everywhere, if they beg for divine mercy,

• Poems Against Simony and the Abuse of Money: Introduction

the Church (with considerable paranomasia on venal, vend and venia [=pardon]): Ecclesiastica jura venalia facit propatulo; sed venalia cum venum dederit, vocat a venia, quam non inveniens venit ecclesia. (169-72, ed. Wright) (He openly sells rights of the Church; but

• The Martyrdom of St. Andrew in the South English Legendary (c. 1270-1280): Introduction

revisions made in reaction, apparently, to the pronouncements of clerics such as Eusebius of Caesarea (in his History of the Church 3.25),11 branding the Greek Acts as heretical. As a result the original collection of Acts, detailing Andrew's missionary journey

• 20. Thescile

by whom I assume she means St. Basil the Great, Bishop of Caesarea, among the most celebrated of the fourth-century Church doctors. He was one of the "Three Cappadocians," along with Gregory of Nazianzus and Gregory of Nyssa. 12 ff.

• Codex Ashmole 61: Item 2, Right as a Ram’s Horn

of satire. Alternatively, these lines may follow Lydgate’s reference to Lollards, religious dissidents who attacked the practices of the established Church. Lollards criticized the Church’s considerable wealth, its reliance on images and theater, and the doctrine of the transubstantiation of

• The Plowman's Tale: Introduction

which launches an attack on monks). The Griffin's best arguments occur at lines 1073-1108, when he points out that the Church should have a leader, the Pope, and a disciplined hierarchy. The Pelican counters the Griffin with: "Christ is our

• Item 36, The Legend of the Resurrection: Introduction

Item 36, The Legend of the Resurrection: Introduction Return to Menu of TEAMS Texts Copyright Information for this edition legends of the Resurrection and the appearances of Christ were almost as popular, surviving in both narrative and dramatic