Middle English Literature

7
Textualities
Audience Reactions to Sermons
Medieval theoreticians and practitioners adapted the Classical arts of rhe-
toric – the artes dictaminis (letter-writing), artes poetriae (poetry), and artes
praedicandi (speaking) – to their specific needs. The focus of the artes or
ars praedicandi became the province of preachers, lawyers, and rulers, who
learned the art of composing and delivering their sermons, arguments, and
speeches. Very little, however, is known about the reception of any of these
oral performances, including sermons, the principal source of religious knowl-
edge for the laity, but information can be gleaned from the various manuals
and other writings.
John Mirk, whose birth and death dates are unknown, became prior of
the Augustinian abbey of Lilleshall in Shropshire and is the author of three
works: Festial (ca. 1382–90), a collection of sermons on feasts indebted to
Jacobus de Voragine’s Legenda aurea, Manuale sacerdotis (ca. 1414), also a
work belonging to the artes praedicandi, and the Instructions for Parish
Priests of about 1400, which draws on William of Pagula’s Oculus sacerdotis.
The Instructions survive in seven manuscripts. Its 1,934 lines of generally
octosyllabic couplets suggest a practical aim for priests: to remember the
religious instruction their lay audiences need throughout their Christian
lives. The following excerpt is from a discussion of the role of communion.
Primary documents and further reading
Hudson, A. and P. Gradon (eds.) (1983–96) English Wycliffite Sermons, 5 vols.
Oxford: Clarendon Press.

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Krul, L. (trans.) (2001) Robert of Basevorn, “The Form of Preaching.” In J. J.
Murphy (ed.) Three Medieval Rhetorical Arts. Tempe: Arizona Center for Medi-
eval and Renaissance Studies, 114–215.
Murphy, J. J. (2001) Rhetoric in the Middle Ages: A History of Rhetorical Theory
from Saint Augustine to the Renaissance. Tempe: Arizona Center for Medieval and
Renaissance Studies.
Owst, G. R. (1961) Literature and Pulpit in Medieval England: A Neglected Chap-
ter in the History of English Letters and of the English People, 2nd edn. Oxford:
Blackwell.
—— (1965) Preaching in Medieval England: An Introduction to Sermon Manuscripts
of the Period c. 1350–1450. New York: Russell and Russell.
Powell, S. (ed.) (1981) The Advent and Nativity Sermons from a Fifteenth-century
Revision of John Mirk’s Festial. Heidelberg: C. Winter.
Ross, W. O. (ed.) (1998) Middle English Sermons. EETS, o.s. 209. Woodbridge,
Suffolk: Boydell and Brewer.
Spencer, H. L. (1993) English Preaching in the Late Middle Ages. Oxford: Clarendon
Press.
John Mirk. British Library MS Cotton Claudius A.ii, fols. 132r–133r. In G. Kristenson (ed.)
(1974) Instructions for Parish Priests. Lund: Gleerup, 82–6.
Language: English (West Midland)
Manuscript date: ca. 1425
Yet thow moste teche hem mare,
more
That whenne they doth to chyrche fare,
Thenne bydde hem leve here mony wordes,
Here ydel speche, and nyce bordes,
And put a-way alle vanyte,
And say here Pater Noster and here Ave.
No mon in chyrche stonde schal,
Ny lene to pyler ny to wal,
But fayre on kneus they schule hem sette,
Knelynge doun up-on the flette,
paved floor
And pray to God wyth herte meke
To geve hem grace and mercy eke.
Soffere hem to make no bere,
commotion
But ay to be in here prayere;
And whenne the gospelle i-red be schalle,
Teche hem thenne to stonde up alle,
And blesse [hem] feyre as they conne
Whenne gloria tibi ys by-gonne,
265
270
275
280
Audience Reactions to Sermons
233

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234
Textualities
And whenne the gospel ys i-done,
Teche hem eft to knele downe sone;
And whenne they here the belle rynge
To that holy sakerynge,
1
Teche hem knele downe, bothe yonge and olde,
And bothe here hondes up to holde
And say thenne in thys manere,
Feyre and softely, wyth-owte bere,
“Jhesu, lord, welcome thow be
In forme of bred as I the se.
Jhesu! for thy holy name,
Schelde me to-day fro synne and schame.
Schryfte and howsele, lord, thou graunte me bo
Er that I schale hennes go,
And verre contrycyone of my synne,
That I, Lord, never dye there-inne;
And as thow were of a may I-bore,