Middle English Literature

of England).
10
extravagant.
11
Harthacnut (r. 1040–2).
12
wisdom.
13
John of Salisbury (ca. 1115–80), Polycraticus.
14
Eugenius III (1145–53).
15
except for where that light wit (“with”) impedes them.
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Force and Order
Ranulf says: These men despiseth hir owne and preiseth other menis, and
unnethe beeth apaide with hir owne estate; what byfalleth and semeth other
men, they wolleth gladlyche take to hem self; therfore, hit is that a yeman
arraieth hym as a squyer, a squyer as a knyght, a knight as a duke, [and] a
duke as a kyng. Yit som gooth a boute to alle manere staate and beeth in
noon astaat, for they that wole take everiche degree beeth of non degree,
for in berynge they beeth menstralles and heraudes, in talkynge grete spekeres,
in etynge and in drynkynge glotouns, in gaderynge of catel hoksters and
taverners, in aray
16
tormentoures, in wynnynges Argi, in travaile Tantaly, in
takynge hede Dedaly, and in beddes Sardanapally, in chirches mamettes,
17
in courtes thonder, onliche in privelege of clergie and in provendres they
knowlecheth hem silf clerkes.
Trevisa: “In wynnynge they beeth Argy, in travaile Tantaly, in takynge
hede Dedaly, and in beddes Sardanapally.” For to understonde this reson
aright, foure wordes [therof ] moste be declared, that beeth these foure:
Argi, Tantaly, Dedaly, and Sardanapally; therfore, take hede that Argus in
an herde, Argus a schippe, a schipman, and a chapman.
18
But here it is more
to purpos that poetes feyneth oon that was somtyme al ful of eyghen in
everiche side, and heet Argus, so that this Argus myghte see to fore and
byhynde, upwarde and dounward, and al aboute in everiche a side, and by
a manere likenesse of this Argus, he that is war and wys, and kan see and be
war in everiche side is i-cleped Argus, and ful of yghen as Argus was. Than
forto speke to meny such he moste be i-cleped Argi in the plural nombre.
Than in that cronyke he seith
19
that they beeth Argy in wynnynge, hit is to
mene that they beeth ware and seeth aboute in every side where wynnynge
may arise. That other word is Tantaly; therfore, take hede that the poete
20
feyneth that Tantalus was a man and slowh his owne sonne; therfore, he was
i-dampned to perpetual penaunce, as the poete feyneth that Tantalus stondeth
alway in a water up anon to the over brerde
21
of the nether lippe and hath
all way evene at his mouth ripe apples and noble fruyt, ne water cometh
with ynne his mouth, he is so i-holde up; and so he stondeth in that array
bytwene mete and drynke, and may nother ete ne drynke, and is an hongred
and athirst that woo is hym on lyve. By a manere likeness of this Tantalus,
they that dooth right nought, there moche thing is to doo in every side,
16
conduct.
17
idolaters.
18
merchant.
19
I.e., Higden.
20
Ovid.
21
outer edge.

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beeth i-cleped Tantaly. Hit semeth that this sawe
22
is to mene, in travaille
they beeth Tantaly, for they dooth right nought therto. The thridde word is
Dedaly; take hede that Dedalus was a wel sligh man, and by likness of hym
men that beeth slighe beeth i-cleped Dedaly in the plurel noumbre, so it is
to mene as hit semeth in this sawe, in takyge hede and in cry they beeth
Dedaly, that is fel
23
and sly. The ferthe word is [Sardanapalli; therfore, take
hede that] Sardanapallus was a kyng, rex Assyriorum, and was ful unchast,
and by a manere liknesse of hym they that beeth swithe
24
unchast beeth
i-cleped Sardanapally.
Ranulf says: But among alle Englische i-medled to giders is so grete
chaungynge and diversite [of clothinge and] of array [and so many manere
and dyverse shappes, that wel nyghe is there ony man knowen by his
clothynge and his arraye] of what degree he is. Therof prophecied an holy
anker to Kyng Egilred his tyme in this manere. Henricus, libro sexto.
25
Englisshe men for they woneth hem to dronkelewnesse, to tresoun, and to
rechelesnesse of Goddes hous first by Danes and thanne by Normans and
at the thridde tyme by Scottes, that they holdeth most wrecches and leste
worth of alle, they schulleth be overcome; than the worlde schal be so
unstable and so dyvers and variable that the unstabilnesse of thoughtes schal
[be] bytokened by many manere dyversite of clothinge.
Magnum occumenicum Constantiente Concilium, vol. 5, ed. H. von der Hardt. Rerum universalis
concilii Constantiensis. Frankfurt: Christiani Genschii, 1699, 85–93.
Language: Latin
[B]esides dukedoms, lands and islands, and dominions in great number,
there are eight kingdoms, namely England, Scotland, and Wales (these
three make up Great Britain), also a kingdom of the sea,
26
and in Ireland,
which adjoins England, four great and notable kingdoms, namely Con-
naught, Galway, Munster, and Meath, just as the registrars of the Roman
curia, clearly and with a seal, mention them together in the catalogue of
Christian kings. There is also the notable principality of John,
27
prince of
22
report.
23
shrewd.
24
very.
25
Aethelred II, the Unready (r. 978–1016) in Henry of Huntingdon, Historia Anglorum.
26
Louise Loomis conjectures this is the Isle of Man, “regnum . . . de Man,” rather than
“regnum . . . de mari” as in the text.
27
John of Lancaster (1389–1435), Duke of Bedford.
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Force and Order
the Orkney and other islands, which number around sixty. These islands
are equal to or larger than the previously mentioned kingdom of France.
But that supplementary decree,
28
we declare, limits the eight provinces for
the assemblies of synods of the chapters of black monks (which, as is well
known, are in, of, and under the power of the English or British nation)
to four provinces, namely to the Irish for one, to Canterbury and York
for the second, to the kingdom of Scotland for a third, and to Burgundy for
a fourth. Out of this supplementary decree and because they base the
premise of their writing upon that decree, it is clearly proved that they are
wrong to write – or rather (always saving their graces) they write less well –
that the English nation has one province, in accordance with the limitation
of the aforementioned supplementary decree that it is only one thirty-sixth