• The Awntyrs off Arthur: Introduction

H. Taylor Collection, Princeton, New Jersey. Editions (arranged chronologically) Madden, Frederic. 1839. See Bibliography of Editions and Works Cited. Robson, John. 1842. See Bibliography of Editions and Works Cited. Amours, F. J. 1897. See Bibliography of Editions and Works Cited.

• The Annunciation

The angel to the vergyn said. By John Audelay. Index no. 3305. MS: Bodl. 21876 (Douce 302), fol. 24a-b (fifteenth century; West Midlands Shropshire dialect). Edition: Ella Keats Whiting, ed., The Poems of John Audelay, EETS o.s. 184 (1931; rpt.

• The York Corpus Christi Plays: Play 8, The Building of Noah’s Ark

the pageant in the Register has been extensively corrected by a later hand, identified in at least in part as John Clerke’s (see RB, pp. 420–21). The story of Noah and the Flood appears in Genesis 6–8, adapted from earlier

• The York Corpus Christi Plays: Play 14, The Nativity

still was not a final version is suggested by the entry in the civic records in 1567 which specifies that John Clerke is to enter into the Register plays not previously included along with “of the Tylars the lattr part

• The York Corpus Christi Plays: Play 15, The Offering of the Shepherds

as we gange. Mirthe, in this context, simply suggests singing; see Dutka, Music, p. 100. A partly erased addition by John Clerke, read by Beadle under ultraviolet light (RB, p. 428), suggests that a conclusion to the play was wanting.

• The York Corpus Christi Plays: Play 18, The Flight to Egypt

pageant as it was at the time it was entered, but possibly not as it stood in the sixteenth century. John Clerke notes that “This matter is mayd of newe after another form” — a comment that was subsequently deleted.

• The York Corpus Christi Plays: Play 19, The Massacre of the Innocents

presumably only two mothers have speaking roles, though in regard to speech designations the manuscript here is not reliable. By John Clerke’s time, the text had been revised or, more likely, replaced, for he entered the comment that “This matter

• The York Corpus Christi Plays: Play 22, The Temptation in the Wilderness

welde. If Jesus will fall down before him and honor him, Diabolus, the prince of this world (so described in John 12:31), will give him all kingdoms and all countries. See Matthew 4:7–9, but Diabolus does not take Jesus up

• The Poems of Robert Henryson: Introduction

the Medieval Arts of Rhetoric. New York: Garland, 1993. [An "open thesis" study of Henryson's use of rhetorical tradition.] MacQueen, John. Robert Henryson. Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1967. [A major study emphasizing Henryson's role as a transitional figure.] McDiarmid, Matthew.

• Robin Hood and the Potter: Introduction

This text makes specific the suspicion of towns and business practices touched on elsewhere, as when in the Gest Little John refuses to measure cloth like a draper, or when Robin returns the knight's repayment to honor them both. Robin

• St. Andrew and the Three Questions in the Scottish Legendary (c. 1400): Introduction

this type in the hagiographic tradition concerns an anonymous desert hermit of Egypt, and is told in the life of John of Lycopolis in the History of the Monks in Egypt, written in Greek at the end of the fourth

• Sir Perceval of Galles: Introduction

merits of the poem, including its skillful integration of narrative details, its effective characterization, and its sustained comic tone.] Speirs, John. Medieval English Poetry: The Non-Chaucerian Tradition. London: Faber and Faber, 1957. Pp. 122-38. [Discusses the mythological aspects of Sir

• The Northern Homily Cycle: Homily 18, Second Sunday in Lent

John 3:18: “My little children, let us not love in word, nor in tongue, but in deed, and in truth.” This idea is expressed more than once in the epistles of John, who was considered to be identical with

• The N-Town Plays: Play 38, Cleophas and Luke; Appearance to Thomas

Cleophas and Luke are apparently returning from a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. All of these plays are based on Luke 24:13–45, John 20:20–29, and Mark 16:11–14. The N-Town version, like Chester Play 19, combines the pilgrim play with the risen Christ’s

• The N-Town Plays: Play 39, Ascension; Selection of Matthias

(see note); (t-note) By; to say ninth; truly; (t-note) exactly; more food Now get hear await; Father’s promise by While John [the Baptist], truly; man’s vow to you (t-note) follow; (see note) agree to tell us give; lasts forever Sirs;

• William Paris, Life of St. Christina

Right holy martirs to be His. Thus som have grace or thei borne be, As had the Baptiste, goode Seint John; And some in tendre age, pardé, As Cristyn had, that faire woman; And some in elde when youghte is

• Piers the Plowman's Crede: Introduction

at the Avignon consistory before the Pope (8 November 1357), FitzRalph demanded that the friars be stripped of their privileges. John Wyclif formulated similar concepts for clerical disendowment. The author of PPC articulates significant aspects of the Lollard agenda, including

• Item 36, The Legend of the Resurrection: Introduction

large candle was placed in the choir of medieval churches, where it stood for forty days until Ascension Day. As John Mirk explains in his Festial, this light signified “that Christ, the which ys the chef lyght yn holy chyrch

• Anticlerical Poems: Lo, He That Can Be Cristes Clerc

meetings when they should be sleeping or keeping military watch over the castle. 33 old castel. A reference to Sir John Oldcastle, Lord Cobham, with whom the Lollard insurrection of 1414 was chiefly associated. 57 don. So RHR; MS print

• Item 20, Lybeaus Desconus: Introduction

lines or six lines with some frequency thereafter; Rate has bracketed rhyming lines in groups of three. Printed Editions Hales, John W., and F. J. Furnivall, eds. Bishop Percy's Folio Manuscript, Ballads and Romances. 3 vols. London: N. Trübner and