Middle English Literature

maid born
Sofere me never to be for-lore,
But whenne that I schale hennes wende,
Grawnte me the blysse wyth-owten ende. Amen.”
Teche hem thus other sum othere thynge
To say at the holy sakerynge.
Teche hem also, I the pray,
That whenne they walken in the way
And sene the preste a-gayn hem comynge,
Goddes body wyth hym berynge,
Thenne, wyth grete devocyone,
Teche hem there to knele a-downe.
Fayre ne fowle, spare they noghte
To worschype hym that alle hath wroghte,
For glad may that mon be
That ones in the day may hym se,
For so mykyle gode doth that syght –
As Seynt Austyn techeth a-ryght –
That day that thow syst Goddes body,
These benefyces schalt thou have sycurly:
Mete and drynke at thy nede,
Non schal the that day be gnede;
needy
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1
I.e., “sacring,” the consecration of the bread and wine.

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2
An outdoor children’s game, probably the original of prisoner’s base.
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Idele othes and wordes also
God for-geveth the also.
Soden deth that ylke day
The dar not drede wythoute nay.
Also, that day, I the plyghte,
pledge
Thow schalt not lese thyn ye-syghte,
And every fote that thou gost thenne,
That holy syght for to sene,
They schule be tolde to stonde in stede
Whenne thow hast [moste] nede.
Also, wyth-ynne chyrche and seyntwary,
Do ryght thus as I the say:
Songe and cry and suche fare,
For to stynte thow schalt not spare;
Castynge of axtre and eke of ston,
axle
Sofere hem there to use non.
Bal and bares,
2
and suche play,
Out of chyrcheyorde put a-way;
Courte-holdynge and suche maner chost,
of quarrelling
Out of seyntwary put thow most.
For Cryst hym-self techeth us
That holy chyrche ys hys hows.
That ys made for no thynge elles
But for to praye in, as the boke telles.
There the pepulle schale geder with-inne
To prayen and to wepen for here synne.
Books
Larger book collections in the Middle English period tended to be eclectic
and restricted to wealthier individuals because of their price, but even less-
moneyed people frequently owned one or more volumes. A newly commis-
sioned luxury book could cost as much as 35 pounds, a simpler missal 20
shillings. Nobility and courtiers often had collections of between five and
fifteen books: Bibles, primers, and other religious writings, historical works,
romances, and books of philosophy (see the image, “Anne of Burgundy,
duchess of Bedford, before St. Anne,” p. 135). These tend predominantly
Books
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Textualities
to be in Latin or French but increasingly in English. Thomas of Woodstock,
duke of Gloucester (1355–97), and Richard II’s uncle, has the largest
recorded collection for the Middle English period, over 80 items. Richard
II inherited 14 books in 1384–5. In the later fifteenth century, an inventory
of one of the Johns Pastons lists 17 works, many of them compilations in
English, including texts by Geoffrey Chaucer and John Lydgate, romances,
and some of William Caxton’s printed books.
Richard de Bury (1287–1345) was born near Bury St. Edmunds in Suffolk
and went on to study at Oxford University. He became tutor to Edward,
earl of Chester, the son of Edward II and Isabella of France. When Edward III
assumed personal rule in 1330, Richard was made envoy to Pope John XXII
at Avignon where he met Petrarch. He was consecrated bishop of Durham
in 1333 and made High Chancellor of England in 1334 and Treasurer
in 1336. He was influential in the founding of Durham College at Oxford,
and he intended that his large library, which he had developed throughout
his life, would supply its basis (see the image, “New College, Oxford Uni-
versity,” p. 149). No list of the books he owned survives, although it is
possible to piece together the kinds of books he preferred, which are fairly
typical of his age: religious works, legal texts, rhetorics and grammars,
philosophies, histories, and poetry and drama.
Richard completed his Philobiblon in the last year of his life. It survives in
35 manuscripts from the late fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, which the
modern editor Ernest Thomas collated for his translation. The Philobiblon
contains praise for books, criticisms of their mistreatment, his stated prefer-
ences for the ancients over the moderns, and his reasons for favoring certain
genres; he also extols the benefits of reading and pleads for the careful
copying and preservation of manuscripts.