‘O conquerour of Brutes Albioun,Which that by lyne and free elecciounBen verray kyng,’ &c.
‘O conquerour of Brutes Albioun,Which that by lyne and free elecciounBen verray kyng,’ &c.
‘O conquerour of Brutes Albioun,Which that by lyne and free elecciounBen verray kyng,’ &c.
‘O conquerour of Brutes Albioun,
Which that by lyne and free eleccioun
Ben verray kyng,’ &c.
In the margin, however, Gower places the right by conquest last, and tempers the idea of it by the addition ‘sine sanguinis effusione.’ Henry’s challenge claimed the realm by descent through ‘right line of blood’ (that is, apparently, setting aside descent through females, cp.Eulog. Hist. contin.iii. 383) and by ‘that right which God of his grace hath sent me ... to recover it’ (that is, by conquest). To these was added the right conferred by parliamentary election. It is not at all necessary to suppose that he relied on the legend about Edmund Crouchback, which had been officially examined and rejected (Adam of Usk, p. 30). His reference to Henry III may have been occasioned only by the fact that he was himself of the same name, and would come to the throne as Henry IV.
324. That is Oct. 13, the Translation of Edward the Confessor.
341.augit.This form is given by all the MSS.
352 ff.Rot. Parl.iii. 426.
364 ff.Rot. Parl.iii. 425.
368 ff.Rot. Parl.iii. 430 ff.
378 ff.Rot. Parl.iii. 449 ff.
384 ff. This refers to the fact that the dukes of Aumerle, Surrey, and Exeter, the marquis of Dorset, and the earl of Gloucester, were condemned to lose the titles of duke, marquis, and earl respectively. The case of the earl of Salisbury was reserved for future decision by combat with lord de Morley.
388 f. This seems clearly to imply that Bagot was eventually pardoned, and this conclusion is confirmed byRot. Parl.iii. 458 (overlooked by the author of Bagot’s life in theDict. of National Biography), where there is record of a petition presented by the Commons for the restoration of his lands (Feb. 1401), which seems to have been granted by the king.
394 ff. This is confirmed by Walsingham, ii. 242, andAnnales Henrici IV, p. 320.
402 f. Holland and Kent are the former dukes of Exeter and Surrey,now earls of Huntingdon and Kent. Spenser is the former earl of Gloucester.
417 f. Kent and Salisbury were put to death by the populace at Cirencester, and Despenser at Bristol. The earl of Huntingdon was captured and irregularly executed in Essex.
420 ff. For the feeling in London cp.Chronique de la Traïson, pp. 92, 93.
432 ff. The statement here is not that Richard deliberately starved himself to death on hearing of the failure of the rising and the death of his associates, but that he lost hope and courage and could not eat, ‘quod vix si prandia sumit, Aut si sponte bibit vinum,’ and that he desired the death which came to him. This is not an incredible account, and it is fairly in accordance with the best evidence. Most of the contemporary authorities give starvation as the cause, or one of the causes, of death, and the account of it given in our text agrees with that of Walsingham (ii. 245),Annales Henrici IV, p. 330,Eulog. Hist. contin.iii. 387. The Monk of Evesham mentions this commonly accepted story, but thinks it more probable that he was starved involuntarily: ‘Aliter tamen dicitur et verius, quod ibidem fame miserabiliter interiit,’ and this is also the assertion of the Percies’ proclamation (Harding’s Chronicle, ed. Ellis, p. 352). Creton says,
‘Apres le roy de ces nouvelles,Qui ne furent bonnes ne belles,En son cuer print de courroux tant,Que depuis celle heure en avantOncques ne menga ne ne but,Ains covint que la mort recut,Comme ilz dient; maiz vrayementJe ne croy pas ensement:’
‘Apres le roy de ces nouvelles,Qui ne furent bonnes ne belles,En son cuer print de courroux tant,Que depuis celle heure en avantOncques ne menga ne ne but,Ains covint que la mort recut,Comme ilz dient; maiz vrayementJe ne croy pas ensement:’
‘Apres le roy de ces nouvelles,Qui ne furent bonnes ne belles,En son cuer print de courroux tant,Que depuis celle heure en avantOncques ne menga ne ne but,Ains covint que la mort recut,Comme ilz dient; maiz vrayementJe ne croy pas ensement:’
‘Apres le roy de ces nouvelles,
Qui ne furent bonnes ne belles,
En son cuer print de courroux tant,
Que depuis celle heure en avant
Oncques ne menga ne ne but,
Ains covint que la mort recut,
Comme ilz dient; maiz vrayement
Je ne croy pas ensement:’
and he proceeds to say that he rather believes that Richard is still alive in prison (Archaeologia, xx. p. 408). Adam of Usk (p. 41) says that Richard was brought almost to death by grief and the disappointment of his hopes, but that his death was partly caused by the scantiness of the food supplied to him. TheChronique de la Traïsontells the story about Piers Exton, which was afterwards commonly accepted by historians, but this was certainly not current at the time in England.
462 ff. The epithet ‘pius,’ which Gower attaches to Henry’s name in this passage, means in his mouth ‘merciful,’ and in the margin the ‘pietas’ of the new king is contrasted with the ‘cruelty’ of Richard, the vice to which Gower chiefly attributes his fall. There is no doubt that the execution of Arundel and the murder of Gloucester (or the popular opinion that he had been murdered) produced a very sinister impression, and caused a general feeling of insecurity which was very favourable to Henry’s enterprise. It is true also that Henry showed himself scrupulously moderate at first in his dealings with politicalopponents. Gower expresses the state of things pretty accurately, when he says below:
‘R. proceres odit et eorum predia rodit,H. fouet, heredesque suas restaurat in edes;R. regnum vastat vindex et in omnibus astat,Mulset terrorem pius H., que reducit amorem.’
‘R. proceres odit et eorum predia rodit,H. fouet, heredesque suas restaurat in edes;R. regnum vastat vindex et in omnibus astat,Mulset terrorem pius H., que reducit amorem.’
‘R. proceres odit et eorum predia rodit,H. fouet, heredesque suas restaurat in edes;R. regnum vastat vindex et in omnibus astat,Mulset terrorem pius H., que reducit amorem.’
‘R. proceres odit et eorum predia rodit,
H. fouet, heredesque suas restaurat in edes;
R. regnum vastat vindex et in omnibus astat,
Mulset terrorem pius H., que reducit amorem.’
486. This is a perilously near approach to the Wycliffite doctrine.
REX CELI Etc.(p.343)
This piece is here connected by its heading with theCronica Tripertita, but it occurs also in the Glasgow MS. independently and in the Trentham MS. as a sequel to the poemIn Praise of Peace, with the following in place of the present heading, ‘Explicit carmen de pacis commendacione.... Et nunc sequitur epistola, in qua idem Iohannes pro statu et salute dicti domini sui apud altissimum deuocius exorat.’ The poem itself is an adaptation of the original version ofVox Clamantis, vi. cap. 18: see vol. iii. p. 554.
H. AQUILE PULLUS Etc.(p.344)
The word ‘Prophecia’ in the margin seems to be intended to recall the supposed prophecy of Merlin about the ‘filius (or pullus) aquilae’ (Archaeol.xx. p. 257, Adam of Usk’s Chronicle, p. 133).
These four lines immediately follow theCronica Tripertitain the Glasgow and Hatton MSS., and are themselves followed by two quotations from the Psalms (lxxxviii. 23, xl. 3):
‘Nichil proficiet inimicus in eo, et filius iniquitatis non apponet nocere ei.’
‘Dominus conseruet eum, et viuificet eum, et beatum faciat eum in terra, et non tradat cum in animam inimicorum eius.’
In the Trentham MS. we have the lines ‘H. aquile pullus,’ and the above quotations, subjoined to the first eight lines of ‘O recolende,’ as part of the dedication of theCinkante Balades: see vol. i. p. 336.
1.aquile pullus: Henry is called so because his father was named John and used the eagle as one of his cognisances: cp. Adam of Usk, p. 24, ‘pullus aquile, quia filius Iohannis.’ The reference is to a prophecy, one form of which is quoted by the editor of Adam of Usk’s Chronicle, p. 133. For the use of the eagle by John of Gaunt see Sandford’sGenealogical History, p. 249.
2.colla.The reading of S may be supported by reference toVox Clamantis, vi. 876, where our author in borrowing from theAurorasubstitutes ‘bella’ for ‘corda’ or ‘colla.’
3.aquile ... oleum: this is the oil produced for Henry’s coronation, which was said to have been miraculously delivered to Thomas à Becket in a vial enclosed within an eagle of gold, and deposited by him in thechurch of St. Gregory at Poitiers. It was said to have been brought to England by Henry, first duke of Lancaster, and to have been delivered by him to the Black Prince. Thus it came into the possession of Richard II, who is said to have worn it constantly about his neck. He had desired to be re-anointed with this oil, but archbishop Arundel had refused to perform the ceremony (Annales Henrici IV, pp. 297-300,Eulog. Hist. contin.iii. 380).
O RECOLENDE, Etc.(p.345)
The first eight lines of this appear in the Trentham MS. in combination with ‘H. aquile pullus’ as part of the dedication of theCinkante Balades.
16 ff. For ‘pietas,’ ‘pius,’ see note onCronica Tripertita, iii. 462.
CARMEN SUPER MULTIPLICI VICIORUM PESTILENCIA (p.346)
‘Putruerunt et corrupte sunt,’ &c. This is in fact a quotation from the Psalms, ‘Putruerunt et corruptae sunt cicatrices meae a facie insipientiae meae,’ xxxvii. 6. (xxxviii. 5).
32.quasi Iouiniani.Already in theVox Clamantiswe have had reference to the ‘new Jovinian’ who is a sower of heresy (vi. 1267), and the person meant is no doubt Wycliffe. Jovinian, the opponent of Jerome on the marriage question, is taken as a type of the ecclesiastic of lax principles. Milman calls Jovinian and Vigilantius ‘premature Protestants’ (History of Christianity, Bk. III. ch. iv).
36.sub grossa lana: an allusion perhaps to the simple russet garb of Wycliffe’s poor priests.
52 ff. Cp.Vox Clamantis, ii. 437 ff., whence many of these lines are taken, e.g. 54-57, 60-77.
54.mortis ymago: that is, the mortal creature.
86. ‘time’ was probably written originally for ‘stude’ in SCH, as well as in F, but it was perceived perhaps that ‘reuereri,’ which was required for the rhyme, would not stand as an imperative. Similarly in line 88 ‘Que fantasias aliter tibi dant’ stood no doubt originally in SCH, and was altered for grammatical reasons.
181 f. This couplet is repeated fromVox Clamantis, vi. 861 f.
190.quam prius, for ‘prius quam,’ as frequently: cp. ll. 202, 292.
199. This line is from Ovid,Metam.vii. 826, ‘Credula res amor est,’ &c., and is quite without sense as it stands here: cp.Vox Clamantis, v. 165.
203 f. 1 Cor. vi. 18.
246 ff. Cp.Vox Clamantis, vi. 445 ff.
250.semel nisi, i.e. ‘once only’ for ‘non nisi semel’: cp.Vox Clamantis, iii. 22.
312.bis deno Ricardi regis in anno.The twentieth year of Richard II is from June 22, 1396 to the same date of 1397. The arrests of Arundel and Gloucester took place in the first few days of the twenty-first year.
DE LUCIS SCRUTINIO (p.355)
The Ecton MS. (E) gives a different form of the marginal notes, as follows: 6. Nota de luce prelatorum et curatorum. 18. Nota de luce professorum. 30. Nota de luce regum. 44. Nota de luce procerum. 51. Nota de luce militum. 58. Nota de luce legistarum et causidicorum. 67. Nota de luce mercatorum. 79. Nota de luce vulgari in patria. 89. Nota quod Iohannes Gower auctor huius libri hic in fine tenebras deplangens pro luce optinenda deum exorat.
25 ff. SeePraise of Peace, 225 ff.
64 f. Cp.Vox Clamantis, v. 703.
91 ff. The language is of course figurative: we must not assume that the author is referring to any physical blindness.
ECCE PATET TENSUS Etc.(p.358)
This piece is found in the Trentham MS. f. 33 vo, following theCinkante Balades. It is probably imperfect at the end, the manuscript having lost the next leaf.
25.que naturatur, &c., ‘which is irresistibly disposed to that which is unlawful.’ This seems to be the meaning, but it is awkwardly expressed.
EST AMOR Etc.(p.359)
This piece occurs also in combination with theTraitié: see vol. i. p. 392. For the substance of it cp.Vox Clamantis, v. 53 ff.
QUIA VNUSQUISQUE Etc.(p.360)
The form given by G is practically identical with that of the Fairfax MS. That of the text, as given by SCH, varies from it in the first paragraph, where it adopts the wording found in the second recension copies, BTA. See vol. iii. pp. 479 and 550.
10. The word ‘meditantis’ is written over an erasure in G.
11 ff. This paragraph, as finally rewritten, seems intended to include theCronica Tripertitaas a sequel to theVox Clamantis: cp. p. 313, where in the note which connects the two works language is used very similar to that which we have here. The author in his retrospective view of Richard’s reign has brought himself to feel that the earlier calamities were a divine warning, by the neglect of which the laterevils and the final catastrophe had been brought about. It has already been pointed out (vol. iii. p. 550) that in the Fairfax MS. this account of the author’s books is completely separated from the text of theConfessio Amantisand is written in a later hand, the same in fact which we have here in the All Souls MS.
ENEIDOS BUCOLIS Etc.(p.361)
These lines, which Gower says were kindly sent to him by ‘a certain philosopher’ (not ‘quidam Philippus,’ as printed by the Roxburghe editor) on the completion of his three books, are found also at the end of the Fairfax MS. The author is probably the same as that of the four lines ‘Quam cinxere freta,’ &c., appended to theConfessio Amantis, which are called ‘Epistola super huius opusculi sui complementum Iohanni Gower a quodam philosopho transmissa.’ I have ventured on the conjecture that this philosopher was in fact Ralph Strode, whom Chaucer couples with Gower in the last stanza ofTroiluswith the epithet ‘philosophical,’ and of whom we know by tradition that he wrote elegiac verse.
O DEUS IMMENSE Etc.(p.362)
There is no reason why the heading should not be from the hand of the author, though added of course somewhat later than the date of composition. The phrase ‘adhuc viuens’ or ‘dum vixit’ does not seem to be any objection to this. It is used with a view to future generations, and occurs also in the author’s account of his books (p. 360, l. 4).
2.morosi: opposed here to ‘viciosi’; cp. l. 57 andEpistola(p. 1), l. 33.
7.foret, ‘ought to be.’
19. Isaiah xxxiii. 1.
49. Cp.Traitié, xv. 7, &c.
62.habet speciale, ‘keeps as a secret.’
74.recoletur: apparently meant for subjunctive.
QUICQUID HOMO SCRIBAT, Etc.(p.365)
Of the three forms given here we must suppose that of the Trentham MS. to be the earliest. It is decidedly shorter than the others, it has no prose heading, and it names the first year of Henry IV in such a manner that we may probably assign it to that year. The poet’s eyesight had then failed to such an extent that it was difficult for him any longer to write; but complete blindness probably had not yet come on, and he does not yet use the word ‘cecus.’ Of the other two forms it is probable that that given by S is the later, if only because the precise date is omitted and the very diffuse heading restrained within reasonable limits. S, it is true, ends with this piece, while CHG have the later pieces; but these were probably added as they were composed,and the All Souls book may have been presented to archbishop Arundel before the last poems were written.
This concluding piece is written in S in the same hand as theEpistolaat the beginning of the book, the heading apparently over the writing of another hand, some parts as ‘dicitur,’ l. 2, ‘tripertita—tempore,’ 2, 3, being obviously over erasure. The original hand remains for ‘est qualiter ab illa Cronica que,’ ‘in Anglia—rerum,’ ‘varia carmina—quia.’
ORATE PRO ANIMA Etc.(p.367)
I have no doubt that this exhortation was set down by Gower himself, who had probably arranged before his death for the promised indulgence, following the principle laid down in the last poem of the collection, of being his own executor in such matters. The verses ‘Armigeri scutum,’ &c., which are appended in the Glasgow MS. were originally upon his tomb, and they have every appearance of being his own composition: cp. p. 352, ll. 217 ff. Berthelette after describing the tomb says, ‘And there by hongeth a table, wherin appereth that who so euer praith for the soule of John Gower, he shall, so oft as he so dothe, haue a thousande and fyue hundred dayes of pardon.’
PRESUL, OUILE REGIS, Etc.(p.368)
This is evidently addressed to archbishop Arundel. The comet referred to is no doubt that of March, 1402. The evils complained of are the conspiracies against the king, and we are told by the chroniclers that the appearance of this comet in the north was taken as a presage of the troubles in Wales and in Northumberland: cp. Walsingham, ii. 248. Adam of Usk, who saw it when on the Continent, says it was visible by day as well as by night, and that it probably prefigured the death of the duke of Milan, whose arms were also seen in the sky (p. 73).
DICUNT SCRIPTURE Etc.(p.368)
5. The neglect complained of is of prayers for the soul of the departed. Gower seems to have followed his own precept and made arrangements for some of the prayers in his lifetime, though others are provided for by his will. Berthelette in his preface to theConfessio Amantis(1532) speaks of Gower’s place of burial as having been prepared by himself in the church of St. Mary Overes, ‘where he hath of his owne foundation a masse dayly songe. And more ouer he hath an obyte yerely done for hym within the same churche, on fryday after the feaste of the blessed pope saynte Gregory.’ St. Gregory’s day is March 12.
FOOTNOTE:819Dr. Stubbs says that the earls of Worcester and Wiltshire were appointed to represent the clergy on this commission, as on that mentionedRot. Parl.iii. 360, which consists of the same persons; but the official record is as given above, and the commission afterwards acted on its powers without requiring the presence of either of these two lords (Rot. Parl.iii. 369).
819Dr. Stubbs says that the earls of Worcester and Wiltshire were appointed to represent the clergy on this commission, as on that mentionedRot. Parl.iii. 360, which consists of the same persons; but the official record is as given above, and the commission afterwards acted on its powers without requiring the presence of either of these two lords (Rot. Parl.iii. 369).