G MAKE WE MERRY MORE AND LESS RAY MAKE WE MERRY MORE AND LESS An Anthology of Medieval English Popular Literature An Anthology of Medieval English Popular Literature SELECTED AND INTRODUCED BY DOUGLAS GRAY EDITED BY JANE BLISS Conceived as a companion volume to the well-received Simple Forms: Essays on Medieval M English Popular Literature (2015), Make We Merry More and Less is a comprehensive anthology of popular medieval literature from the twel�h century onwards. Uniquely, the AKE book is divided by genre, allowing readers to make connec�ons between texts usually presented individually. W This anthology offers a frui�ul explora�on of the boundary between literary and popular culture, and showcases an impressive breadth of literature, including songs, drama, and E ballads. Familiar texts such as the visions of Margery Kempe and the Paston family le�ers M are featured alongside lesser-known works, o�en oral. This striking diversity extends to the language: the anthology includes Sco�sh literature and original transla�ons of La�n ERRY and French texts. The illumina�ng introduc�on offers essen�al informa�on that will enhance the reader’s enjoyment of the chosen texts. Each of the chapters is accompanied by a clear summary M explaining the par�cular delights of the literature selected and the ra�onale behind the choices made. An invaluable resource to gain an in-depth understanding of the culture ORE AND of the period, this is essen�al reading for any student or scholar of medieval English literature, and for anyone interested in folklore or popular material of the �me. The book was le� unfinished at Gray’s death; it is here edited by Jane Bliss. As with all Open Book publica�ons, this en�re book is freely available to read on the publisher’s website. Printed and digital edi�ons, together with supplementary digital L material, can also be found at www.openbookpublishers.com ESS Cover image: Jeanie Dean from John Francis Waller et al., Pictures From English Literature (1870), p. 142, h�ps://www.flickr.com/photos/internetarchivebookimages/14801723273/ Cover design: Anna Ga� book eebook and OA edi�ons ELECTED AND INTRODUCED BY OUGLAS RAY also available S D G EDITED BY JANE BLISS OPEN ACCESS www.openbookpublishers.com OBP To access digital resources including: blog posts videos online appendices and to purchase copies of this book in: hardback paperback ebook editions Go to: https://www.openbookpublishers.com/product/981 Open Book Publishers is a non-profit independent initiative. We rely on sales and donations to continue publishing high-quality academic works. MAKE WE MERRY MORE AND LESS Make We Merry More and Less An Anthology of Medieval English Popular Literature Selected and introduced by Douglas Gray Edited by Jane Bliss https://www.openbookpublishers.com © 2019 Douglas Gray. Jane Bliss (ed.) This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International license (CC BY-NC 4.0). This license allows you to share, copy, distribute and transmit the work for non-commercial purposes, providing attribution is made to the author (but not in any way that suggests that they endorses you or your use of the work). Attribution should include the following information: Douglas Gray. Edited by Jane Bliss. Make We Merry More and Less: An Anthology of Medieval English Popular Literature. Cambridge, UK: Open Book Publishers, 2019, https://doi.org/ 10.11647/OBP.0170 In order to access detailed and updated information on the license, please visit https://doi. org/10.11647/OBP.0170#copyright Further details about CC BY-NC license are available at https://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by-nc/4.0/ All external links were active at the time of publication unless otherwise stated and have been archived via the Internet Archive Wayback Machine at https://archive.org/web Digital material and resources associated with this volume are available at https://doi. org/10.11647/OBP.0170#resources The Faculty of English, University of Oxford, has generously contributed to this publication. ISBN Paperback: 978-1-78374-710-8 ISBN Hardback: 978-1-78374-711-5 ISBN Digital (PDF): 978-1-78374-712-2 ISBN Digital ebook (epub): 978-1-78374-713-9 ISBN Digital ebook (mobi): 978-1-78374-714-6 ISBN Digital (XML): 978-1-78374-715-3 DOI: 10.11647/OBP.0170 Cover image: Jeanie Dean from John Francis Waller et al., Pictures From English Literature (1870), p. 142, https://www.flickr.com/photos/internetarchivebookimages/14801723273/ Cover design: Anna Gatti. All paper used by Open Book Publishers is sourced from SFI (Sustainable Forestry Initiative) accredited mills and the waste is disposed of in an environmentally friendly way. Contents Acknowledgements xv Abbreviations xvi Editor’s Preface xvii Introduction 1 Chapter 1: Voices from the Past 15 A. Snatches and Snippets 16 i) ‘Merie sungen the muneches binnen Ely’ 16 ii) A secular lullaby, ‘Wake wel, Annot’ 17 iii) Fragments of a Dance song: ‘Atte wrastlinge’, 17 ‘At the ston-castinges’ From a Worcester Cathedral MS 17 iv) ‘Ne saltou, levedi’ 17 v) ‘Ich habbe ydon al myn youth’ 17 vi) ‘Dore, go thou stille’ 17 vii) A lament, quoted in a lawsuit: ‘Wela! qua sal thir 17 hornes blau’ viii) From the Red Book of Ossory: ‘Alas! How shold y singe’ 18 ix) ‘Whenne bloweth the brom’ 18 B. Scenes and Events from Chronicles and Letters 18 Chronicles 18 x) ‘there arose suche a sprynggynge and welling op 18 of waters’ [1336] xi) The Plague of 1348 18 ‘And in the xxiii yere of his regne, in the este parteys’ 18 ‘In this same yere [1352], and in the yere afore’ 19 xii) A Storm [1364] ... and a Great Frost [1435] 20 xiii) A Lynching [1427] 20 xiv) An Affray against the Lombards [c. 1458] 21 vi Make We Merry More and Less xv) Religious Unrest at Evesham [1377] 22 xvi) A Heretic Venerated [1440] 22 ‘The xix yeer of kyng Harri’ 22 ‘The Bishop of Salisbury murdered’ [1450] 23 xvii) A Portent [1440] 23 xviii) Roger Bolingbroke, Necromancer [1440] 23 Letters; Paston Letters 24 xix) News from a Wife [1448] 24 xx) Another Dispute [c. 1451] 25 xxi) Local News [1453] 25 xxii) A Wife’s Suggestions [c. 1459] 26 xxiii) A Husband in playful mood [1465] 26 xxiv) A Son’s Requests [1471] 27 xxv) A Valentine Letter [1477] 28 C. Popular Beliefs 29 xxvi) The Shipman’s Vision [1457] 29 xxvii) Ghostly Battles [1365] 30 from Walter Map xxviii) A Wife Rescued 31 xxix) A Fairy Lover 31 xxx) Herla and his Troop 33 Charms 34 xxxi) ‘Whatt manere of ivell thou be’ 34 xxxii) For the Nightmare 35 xxxii a) A charm for staunching blood 36 xxxiii) Prognostications: ‘Giff sanct Paullis day be fair 36 and cleir’ Prophecies 36 xxxiv) ‘Woe to the Red Dragon’ 36 xxxiv a) ‘Then schal Cadwaladre Conan calle’ 37 xxxv) Prophecia Merlini 38 xxxvi) ‘When the cocke in the north hath bilde’ 38 D. Popular Religion 39 Prayers 39 xxxvii) ‘Moder of God, wich did lappe thy swete babe’ 39 xxxviii) Prayer to a Guardian Angel 39 xxxix) from Richard de Caistre’s prayer 40 From The Book of Margery Kempe 41 Contents vii xl) A Visionary Meditation 42 xli) A Pilgrim with a Crooked Back 43 xlii) A Visiting Priest Reads to Her 44 xliii) A Fire at Lynn 45 xliv) A Woman who was Out of her Mind 46 xlv) A Conversation with Christ 47 xlvi) Margery’s Own Tale 48 Chapter 2: Ballads 51 A. Medieval and Early Modern Ballads 55 i) Judas 55 ii) Saint Stephen and Herod 58 iii) The Battle of Otterburn 60 B. From PFMS 64 iv) Adam Bell, Clim of the Clough, and William of Cloudesly 64 v) A Gest of Robyn Hode 77 vi) Sir Aldingar 87 vii) Glasgerion 90 C. Some Later Ballads 93 viii) Fair Annie 93 ix) The Three Ravens 95 x) Thomas the Rhymer 96 Chapter 3: Romances 101 i) Havelok 103 ii) Sir Orfeo 108 iii) Emaré 113 iv) Octavian 118 v) Sir Gowther 120 vi) Chevelere Assigne 122 vii) The Turke and Gowin 124 viii) Sir Lambewell 125 ix) Thomas of Erceldoune 127 Chapter 4: Tales and Legends 133 A. Anecdotes and Tales in Chronicles 135 i) Siward 135 ii) Gunnhild 136 B. Moral Tales, Exempla 137 iii) The Cursed Dancers 137 iv) A Merry Poor Man 138 viii Make We Merry More and Less v) Alexander and the Pirate 139 vi) Envy in Little Girls 139 vii) A Lecherous Woman carried off to Hell 139 viii) The Weeping Puppy 140 ix) Pope Joan 141 x) An English Witch 142 C. Local Legends 143 From Gervase of Tilbury 143 xi) Peak Cavern 144 xii) Laikibrais, St Simeon’s Horn and a mysterious Dog 145 xiii) Wandlebury Ring 146 xiv) A Mysterious Drinking Horn 147 D. More ‘free-standing’ Literary Examples 148 xv) Hereward 148 xvi) The Childe of Bristowe 150 E. Religious Tales and Saints’ Legends 157 xvii) Mary of Nemmegen 157 xviii) Saint George and the Dragon 159 xix) Saint Julian 159 xx) A Saintly Fool 160 xxi) The Virgin Mary saves a Thief 161 Chapter 5: Merry Tales 163 i) The Tale of the Basyn 164 ii) The King and the Hermit 168 iii) Rauf Coilyear 174 iv) The Freiris of Berwick 178 v) Kynd Kittok 190 vi) The Wright’s Chaste Wife 191 vii) Noodle Stories: 200 The Man who had a Goose 200 Penning the Cuckoo 200 Runaway Cheese 201 A Demonic Grasshopper 201 German Merry Tales: 202 viii) Howleglass would fly 202 ix) The Parson and the Bishop’s Lady 202 Early Sixteenth-Century Jests: 204 x) Wedded Men at the Gates of Heaven 204 xi) No Welshmen in Heaven 205 Contents ix Chapter 6: Animal Tales 207 A.