Middle English Literature

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Conventions and
Institutions
Benedictine Rule
Monastic orders existed in Ireland and Wales in the fifth century, first
arrived in England in the sixth and seventh centuries, and in the eighth
century the Rule of St. Benedict (480–ca. 550), Benedict’s set of codes for
behavior, also came to be known in the British Isles. Receiving additional
impetus after 1066 and then again with the arrival of orders of canons and
friars in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, the monastic orders had their
maximum numbers at the beginning of the fourteenth century, declined
with the pestilence later in the century, then recovered significantly. From
their inception many monastic houses received large endowments, were
powerful landholding institutions, and were deeply and directly involved in
the economic, legal, and social lives of all of society’s strata in both imme-
diate and extended geographical areas.
William Caxton (ca. 1422–92) began his career as a merchant. In the
1440s he went to Bruges, Cologne, and Ghent where he began his career as
a printer and translator. He returned to England in 1476 with movable type
and proceeded to publish over one hundred titles in the remaining sixteen
years of this life, including several of Chaucer’s, Gower’s, Lydgate’s, and
Malory’s works as well as his own translations.
Six English translations of the Benedictine rule survive from the eleventh
century to 1516. None of the translations is dependent on each other, nor
is any direct French or Latin source known. Caxton’s edition from about
1490 also contains Heinrich Suso’s Horologium sapientiae and other texts,
and it, like several manuscript versions, is addressed to both men and women.
Also like the other versions, Caxton’s print lays out the qualifications and

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Conventions and Institutions
duties of the abbot and abbess, the process of admission to the order,
directions for divine service, cultivation of obedience and the twelve rungs
of the ladder of humility, and the practical regulation of dress, food, and
manual duties.
Primary documents and further reading
Blake, N. F. (1969) Caxton and His World. London: André Deutsch.
Knowles, D. (1948–59) The Religious Orders in England, 3 vols. Cambridge: Cam-
bridge University Press.
Knowles, D. and R. N. Hadcock (1971) Medieval Religious Houses: England and
Wales. New York: St. Martin’s Press.
Pantin, W. A. (ed.) (1931, 1933) Documents Illustrating the Activities of the General
and Provincial Chapters of the English Black Monks, 1215–1540. Camden Society,
3rd series, 45, 47. London: Royal Historical Society.
Caxton, W. (trans.) “The Caxton Abstract of the Rule of St. Benet.” In E. A. Koch (ed.)
(1902) Three Middle English Versions of the Rule of St. Benet and Two Contemporary Rituals for
the Ordination of Nuns. EETS, o.s. 120. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner, 120–38
(selections).
Language: English (Southeast Midland)
Book date: ca. 1490
[B]ere in thy mynde this synguler note that the hede or the sovereyn wyth
all the congregacion streytly be bounde to folowe the rule in every poynte
and that none of theim be soo bolde to decly[n]e or departe therfro so that
none folowe the wyll of theyr owne mynde oonly but ever be redy to be
reformyd. The subgettes also owe to be ryght ware that they make no strife
wythyn or wythout wyth theyr sovereyns; yf that they doo, anone lete hem
have the streyt reguler punysshment wyth the fere of God and in kepynge
the rule, remembrynge that the hede withoute ony dowte shall yeve a full
streyte accompte oo day of all their jugementes and byhavour to God atte
ferefull daye of rekenynge . . .
Also, the sovereyn and the subgettes owe ever to flee idylnesse, the
norisshe
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of al synnes, and to be ocupyed ever in vertu, lovyng God wyth all
their herte, of all theyr soule, and of all their strength, and theyr neyghbour
as theyr selfe, doyng ever unto theym as they wolde be done unto, dyspisyng
theyrselfe, and folow Crist by the crosse of penaunce. Also, they must
chastyse theyr body and flee the pleasur therof and to use fastynge, and
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nourisher.

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refresshe the poore peple wyth dedes of mercy, goostly and bodely, and
medle lytyll wyth worldly actes, no thyng preferryng above the love of God,
wrath or deceyte never to kepe in herte or to promyse ony false peas,
kepynge ever charytee, and use never to swere, leeste that by custome ye fall
in perjurie, and sey ever the trouth in herte and mouth, never yeldyng evyll
for evyll but rather good for evyll, doyng no wronge to ony but for to suffre
paciently whan it is done to you. Love your enmyes, and curse hem not,
and be redy to take persecucion for a rightwys mater; never be prowde or
dronklew nor moche etyng or slouthfull, not grutchynge or bakbytynge,
ever puttynge your trust in our Lord God. Whan that ye see ony goodnes in
your-selfe, anone put it to oure Lorde and not to your-selfe. All thinge that
is evyll ascryve to your-selfe. Fere ever the daye of jugement and the dun-
geon of hell, desyrynge wyth all your mynde and herte the everlastyng lyfe,
and have evere deth suspecte afore your eyen, and gyde ever your dedes
wysely in every hour, and be certeyn that God beholdith theim in everi
place, and every evyl thought that commyth to your mynde, anone put it
awaye by thynkyng of Cristes passyon, and shewe theym by confessyon to
your goostly fader, and kepe ever your tongue from evyll and schrewde
langage, and speke lytyll and well, and ever avoyde vayn wordes and disso-
lute laughter and japes, and be glad to here gode lectures and lyves of
sayntes with preyer, dayly waylyng your synnes and the synnes and ignoraunce
of the peple wyth amendes makyng. The preceptes of your sovereyn in all
thynges obey, lefull as to God, and fulfyll them. Love ever chastyte; and flee
ever envy, hatrede, and stryff; and worship your elders; and favour the yong
in all love and drede of God. Ever pray for your enmyes and, or the sone
goo downe, be in perfyte peas wyth theym dayly to your power, and never
dyspeyr of the grete mercy of God. Loo, thyes ben the instrumentes of the
spirituell crafte and occupacion, the which exercisid and doon, oure Lorde
hath promysed to you and us that eye never sawe, nor ere ever herde, nor
cowde ever in-to mannys herte ascende, the whiche to al his lovyng servantes
he hath ordened. Amen.
Obedyence is a grete vertu done without grutchyng or taryenge. It is the
fyrst steppe unto mekenes, and it is right specyous and nedefull to be had
for all peple and namely for relygyous persones. True obediencers, assone as
thei be called or commaundid of theyr sovereyn, anone after the worde
seyde, they be redy wyth all gladnesse to doo the dede so commaundid,
settyng asyde all other thynges undone and their owne wyll in every poynt,
and that wyth all quyknesse of herte and body for drede of our Lorde.
Wherfore, he callyth suche a lyfe a streyt waye to heven and not a comyn
waye where synners take her owne wyll, and be not undir the yocke of
obedyence to an other. Wythouten doubte trew obedyencers folow surely
Benedictine Rule
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Conventions and Institutions
oure Lorde and his wordes where he seyth, “I come not in-to thys world to
doo myn owne wyll but the wyll of my fader the whiche sent me.”
2
Thenne
this obedience is gretly acceptable to God and swete to al Cristen peple
whan it is done quikly and wythoute grutchynge or frowarde
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countenaunce
in worde or in herte. Our Lorde loveth a thyng done unto hym cherefully
in soule, and such obedience done to the sovereyn is done to God and for
God, as he seyth hymselfe. Yf one obey with grutchyng either in worde or
in their herte, fulfyllyng the commaundement of theyr sovereyn, yet it is not
acceptable to God, the whiche beholdyth the herte ever and the wyll of the
doer therof, and he shal have noo grace but rather payne ordeined for
grutchers, without he amende him.
As for silence, doo aftir the cheyf prophete of God, David, where he seyth
in the sauter, “I have seyd that I shall not offende in my tongue. I have put
a kepyng to my mowth and am dompe and therwith made meke and
silent.”
4
In moche speche, as it is writen, synne cann not be avoyded; also,
in the power of the tongue is deth and lyfe. As it accordith to a mayster to
speke and teche, so it behoveth the disciple to here and be silent; wordes of
unclennes voyde or, mevynge to disolucyon or to laughter, ben dampned
by the rule in ony place to be had, and it is commaundid streytly by the
same, none to be so bolde to open their mowth in suche maner of talkyng.
Also, silence is to be kept by the rule at all tymes and spyrituelly at nyght
after complyn, and noo licence thenne is to be gyven to any for to speke but
oonly to officers or to theim that grete nede causith to speke with sadnesse
and honestee, and silence also is to be kept at all refeccions and meles and
in other places, and at other tymes specyfyed by the rule. Yf theyr be founde
ony gylty in theis premyses, thei ought to be punysshid streytly and grevously.
Holy scrypture cryeth and seyth, “He that wyll high hymselfe shal be
made lowe, and he that mekyth hym selfe shall be made high.”
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In thys is
shewid that exaltacyon is the doughter and nygh of kyne to pryde, whiche is
mortall. Yf we wyll atteyne and come to the heyth of perfyte mekenes, the
whiche wyll bringe us to the honour of heven in body and soule, lete us lyft
up our herte and mynde unto heven by the skale and lader of Jacob,
descendyng wyth the angels from ony exaltacyon, and clymme up to theym
by mekenes and humyliacion . . .
[The twelve steps are then specified; the sixth and twelfth follow here.]
2
John 6.38.
3
ugly.
4
Psalms 38.2–3.
5
Luke 14.11, 18.14.

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The sixth degre of mekenes is whan one is well content wyth symple
araye or habite, and is glad to be set lytill by and to be take as a drudge or
outcast of the religion, and to be ever redy to doo al thynges that is boden
hym to doo, jugyng him an idyll servaunt and unworthy to God and
man . . . The twelfth degree is whan one, not oonly in his mowthe but
aswell in his body, shewyth meknesse to all that beholde hym as in al his
dedes in chaptour, in chirche, in garden, in felde, sittynge, walkynge, or
standynge, and his hede enclynynge and his sight to the grounde, shewynge
hym selfe every houre gylty of hys synne, havynge ever suspect for to be
brought to the ferefull jugement of God, seyeng thus wyth the publycan,
“Good Lorde, I a synner am not worthy to lyfte up myn eyen to heven.”
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Who som ever hath ascendyd al thise degrees of mekenesse shall anone have
the charyte of God perfitely, the whyche thenne puttyth awaye all drede in
suche thynges, the whyche he dyde afore with drede, and also dooth thenne
al his actes of accustome as it were naturalle to hym, cherefully and wythoute
labour, and that not for the drede of hell he dooth it, but for fervent love
that he hath to God by a custome and delyte of vertue, the whyche grace is
yeven of the holy gooste . . .
The grete vice and syn of properte in relygyon is namely to be cutte awaye
by the rote. Presume none in relygyon to yeve ony thyng or to take wythout
the wyll and commaundement of the sovereyn, nor it is leefull ony to have a
thyng to theyrself propre, not as moche as their owne body, or to have their
own wyll in their power. All thynges to theim necessary is to be had of the
sovereyn accordynge to theyr nede, not acceptynge ony persone more than
an other but accordyng to nede and in-firmyte. And all thynges must be
commyn emonge theym accordyng to the lyfe of the apostles. None presume
to sey: “Suche a thynge is myne.” Yf ony be founde gylty in this venemouse
offence of properte, lete hem twyes or thries be correct; yf they doo not
amende, see thenne to their cha[s]tysment. Yf at ony tyme one nede a lytyll
thyng, thanke he our Lorde and say he ever “Deo gracias,” not beyng sory
that another that nede hath, that pite is shewid uppon hym. And he that
hath suche pite shewyd upon hym shal not therof be proude by contenaunce
or by worde, and thus shall all the congregacyon be in rest and charitee, and
grutchynge layd a syde, the whiche is perilous to be had eyther by worde or
sygne. Yf ony therin be founde culpable, anone put theim to streyt disciplyne.
Eche one be besy to serve other, and none is to be exscusid from the
dressing bord of the kechyn wythout they be seke or other wyse occupyed
for the commyn well. In suche meke and low service is goten grete mede,
6
Luke 18.13.
Benedictine Rule
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Conventions and Institutions
charite, and rewarde, and whan they shall departe wekely from the kechyn
by cours, they owe to make al thynges clene at theyr departyng, and the
clothes that the covent hath fyled with theyr handes or fete, they shall
delyver clene also wyth all mekenes. And moreover theyr owne fete they
shall make clene in theyr departyng, and delyver al the naprye
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and clene
clothes to the celerer. Suche servytoures by the rule may take a lytyll
refresshing of mete and drynke afore high dyner for by-cause of their
attendaunce and servyse at the same . . .
In the tyme of Lent echon by theyr-selfe have the Bible, the whiche they
owe to rede complete and hole besyde theyr servyse, and the seyde Bible is
to be delyverd unto theym atte begynnynge of Lent. And the serchers of
the relygyon owe to see warely about that they be occupyed in lecture
therof Sonday and other, and not aboute fables, japes, or sluggisshenes. Yf
ony suche be founde, see that they be spoken unto sharply ones or twyes,
and yf they amende not theyr-wyth, lete theym be correct soo that all other
maye beware by theym. If theyr be ony so slouthfull or neclygent that they
maye not or wyll not be occupied in redyng or holy medytacyon, thenne
lete theym be assigned to other occupacyons to doo so that they be never
unoccupied in vertu. If they be seke or feble for age, thenne such an
occupacyon is to be put unto theym that they maye awaye wyth and not to
be ydyll, by the discrecion of the sovereyn.
How be it that a relygious persone owe every tyme to kepe Lent, yet for
by-cause that fewe have thys vertu, therfore we advise and counseyll, seyth
Saynt Benet,
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all of the relygyon spiritually theys forty dayes of Lent to kepe
in all clennesse of lyfe, and to put utterly awaye all theyr neclygences and
olde custome of synne, and thenne more spiritually to gyve theim to prayer,
waylyng and wepinge, redinge, and abstinence in mete and drynke,
wythdrawynge somwhat of theyr takynge in mete and drynke other wyse
than they dide afore, and that wyth good wyll, offerynge it in his mynde to
God and to the poore peple, and to wythdrawe some what of slepe and
speche and wanton behavour. And as for abstynence of mete and drynke, it
owe to be doon wyth the consente ever of the sovereyn and the helpe of
prayer. For yf it be otherwyse doon, it is to be taken of presumpcyon and
vayne glory, and thenne it hath noo mede . . .
Clothynge to the covent, and habyte, is to be yeven accordyng to the
hete of the yere or to the coldenes of the countre that they dwell in, lasse or
more as nede is. And the sovereyn must have consideracion therof and to
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linen.
8
Rule 49.1–3.

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bye suche cloth that is made in that countre or provynce of the vilest and
lyghtest pryce. And as oft as they shal take new, thenne to rendre up the
olde for the use of pore peple. Of other thynges necessary for theyr body
daye and nyght in wynter and somer, and of theyr celles and lodgyng, and
of their behavour in theim with other, the hole rule certifieth, and how the
sovereyne shal dyligently serche that thei lacke no thyng to theym necessary
soo that all occasion of grutchyng, or for ony thynge werkynge, or for ony
thynge kepyng have no place in the relygyon, ever remembryng the wordes
wrytyn in the Actes of the Apostles where it is seyde that it was distribute
and delyverd to echone of theym as theyr nede required . . .
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[A] monestary is to be sette in suche a place where all thynges necessary
soone maye be had so that the covent nede not to passe the boundes of the
clausures therof, the whiche yf thei dide, shulde be perylle for theyr soules.
Saynt Benet woll that the rule be red effectuelly oftymes in the yere afore
the congregacion for by-cause none of hem shal pretende ignorance or ony
exscuse.
Whan ony of the bredern must doo a journey without the clausure of the
place, after licence had, he shall commende hym to the prayer of his sovereyn,
and ever at last oryson in the servyse of God shal a prayer be sayd for him
and all that is absent. And the daye that they come home ayen, they shal lye
prostrate all the servyse tyme and desyre the covent to praye for theym for
theyr excesses done in the journey, as in syght, heryng of ony vanytees or
evyll thynges, or ony voyde wordes. And they shall not tell ony thyng that
they sawe or herd in theyr journey, for it is a grete meane to the destruccion
of suche a place of relygion. And he that presumyth to doo the contrary or
to goo oute of the clausure of the monestary to ony place, thought it be
never so lytil, wythout commandement or licence of the sovereyn, owe to
be streytly punysshyd.
Friars
The mendicant orders first arrived in England in the thirteenth century and
the number of adherents rapidly grew. Two of the four principal orders –
the Friars Preachers (Dominicans or Black Friars) and the Friars Minor
(Franciscans or Grey Friars) – quickly became integral in the life of univer-
sities and commercial centers in the country, the Franciscans producing the
remarkable theologians Roger Bacon, John Duns Scotus, William of Ockham,
9
Acts 4.35.
Friars
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Conventions and Institutions
and John Pecham. Both orders also established houses for women, which
flourished in the fourteenth century. Along with the remaining two orders –
the Augustinians and the Carmelites (White Friars) – the four mendicant
orders had their maximum number of followers (in approximately 190 houses)
in the early fourteenth century before the pestilence. Friars ideally gave up
permanent residence in one locality and material possessions; maintained
contact with communities through preaching, confessions, and burial of the
dead; and were obedient to provincial superiors and ultimately the pope.
Anti-fraternal criticism began almost with the inception of the mendicant
orders because of their real or perceived competition with parish priests and
other secular clergy over the offices of preaching, confession, and burial as
well as the income derived from these sources. Reproof and satire gained
additional impetus from William of St. Amour, a master at the University of
Paris, who wrote De periculis novissimorum temporum (On the Perils of the