• Lydgate, The Siege of Thebes: Secunda Pars

right nought the syyt of the contré, Ful of hilles and of hegh mounteyns, Craggy roches and but fewe playns, Wonder dredful and lothsom of passage, And therwithal ful of beestis rage, Holdyng his way of herte no thyng light,

• Lydgate, The Siege of Thebes: Tercia Pars

of what estat he be. And sith Grekes of old antiquyté, As of knyghthode, who so list tak hed, Ben so famous and so renomed, Yif now of newe the shyning of her fame Eclipsid were with eny spotte

• George Ashby, Complaint of a Prisoner in the Fleet 1463: Introduction

diversorum philosophorum, a collection of versified proverbial material in Latin translated into 1263 lines of rhyme royal verse. (Short paragraphs of Latin prose alternate with single stanzas of English, yet another example of the medieval love of works in mixed

• Robyn Hod and the Shryff off Notyngham

ending of one word and the beginning of another; we accept Greg's emendation: An[d la]te. II. Reconstruction of the dramatic fragment 1 In line 15 Robin addresses the bounty-hunter as Syr Knyght. By contrast, in Robin Hood and Guy of

• Piers the Plowman's Crede: Introduction

microfilm version of British Library MS Reg. 18. B. XVII; by the black-letter edition of 1553, which has manuscript status; by Wright's 2nd ed. of 1856 in The Vision and Creed of Piers Plowman; and by Skeat's edition of 1867

• Robin Hood and the Monk

types of legal proceedings or pleas: criminal and civil. Criminal offenses "appertain to the crown of the lord king," while civil charges "fall within the jurisdiction of the sheriffs of shires." Criminal charges included "tending to the death of the

• Robin Hood and the Potter

sat at her methe, With a nobell chere, To of the screffes men gan speke Of a gret wager, Of a schotyng, was god and feyne, Was made the tother daye, Of forty shillings, the soyt to saye, Who scholde

• The N-Town Plays: Play 24, Woman Taken in Adultery

s.d.: stage direction; s.n.: stage name. Of all the existing dramatic versions of this episode, N-Town’s is the longest and most detailed. Both the Chester (second half of Play 12) and York (first half of Play 14) versions are combined

• Robin Hood and Queen Catherin

are very large quantities of wine, though they may be thought of as sums of money; a courtier like Chaucer -- and like the Poet Laureate to the present day -- was rewarded with stipulated amounts of wine, which could

• Wynnere and Wastoure and The Parlement of the Thre Ages: Introduction

a number of Southern forms which had become part of the language of London. In any case, even if the locale of the language could be fixed precisely, the mixture of forms, as the most recent editor of Wynnere and

• Book of Exodus

of Judges 3:12–13, where the Amelekites join with the Am­mo­nites under the direction of King Eglon of Moab to defeat the Is­raelites. 1926 Josue. Joshua (“Jehovah is his help”) is the son of Nun, son of Ephraim. 1941–44 Getro

• Lydgate, The Siege of Thebes: Introduction

of the relations of kings, nobles, and commons bound by love.18 Lois Ebin finds the moral significance of the story in "the opposition of the word and the sword," and she takes the myth of Amphion's building the walls

• THE BOKE OF CUPIDE,GOD OF LOVE: Introduction

Chaucer's Legend of Good Women, Book of the Duchess, Parliament of Fowls, Anelida and Arcite, Complaint of Mars, Complaint of Venus, and Complaint unto Pity; Hoccleve's Epistle of Cupid; Lydgate's Complaynte of a Lovers Lyfe and Temple of Glass; and

• The Poems of Laurence Minot 1333-1352

Ersbisschop ofYork. Defense of the northern borders had traditionally been the responsibility of the Archbishops ofYork. The incumbent, William Zouche (Edward's Keeper of the Privy Seal [1335] and Treasurer [1340]) was appointed to the see ofYork in

• Sir Orfeo

bethe of wer and sum of wo, And sum of joie and mirthe also, And sum of trecherie and of gile, Of old aventours that fel while; And sum of bourdes and ribaudy, And mani ther beth of fairy. Of

• Lay le Freine

bethe of wer and sum of wo, And sum of joie and mirthe also, And sum of trecherie and of gile, Of old aventours that fel while; And sum of bourdes and ribaudy, And mani ther beth of fairy. Of

• John Gower: In Praise of Peace

Godfrey of Boulogne, Arthur), are often cited as paragons of a transcultural nobility and chivalry, but also, as here, as exemplary victims of the power of transience and mortality. Godfrey of Boulogne, duke of Lorraine (1061-1100), was the leader of

• Siege of Jerusalem

the veil of Saint Veronica that had an image of the face of Christ, was one of the most famous relics in the Middle Ages and a focus of many pilgrimages. Receiving a medal struck with an image of the

• Adam Bell, Clim of the Clough, and William of Cloudesley: Introduction

theme of archery with that of salvation, wishing for all good archers that of heven they may never mysse (line 683). Redolent of heroic simplicity rather than the more uneasy world of the usual outlaw ballads, this ending does of

• Robin Hood and the Monk: Introduction

statement of the dangers of the town (reduced by the loss of material), a mission in disguise (John and Much), the involvement of the king, the frustration of the sheriff, the re-forming of the outlaw band, the establishment of the