THE BRUCE, Bk. xvii, ll. 593 ff. St. John's College (Cambridge) MS. G 23 (A.D. 1487).
Thai <that> at the sege lay,
Or it wes passit the fift day,
Had maid thame syndry apparale
To gang eftsonis till assale.
Of gret gestis ane sow thai maid 5
That stalward heling owth it had,
With armyt men enew tharin,
And instrumentis als for to myne.
Syndry scaffatis thai maid vithall
That war weill hyar than the wall, 10
And ordanit als that by the se
The toune suld weill assalȝeit be.
And thai vithin that saw thame swa
So gret apparale schap till ma,
Throu [Crabbis] consale, that ves sle, 15
Ane cren thai haf gert dres vp hye,
Rynand on quhelis, that thai mycht bring
It quhar neid war of mast helping.
And pik and ter als haf thai tane,
And lynt <and> hardis, with brynstane, 20
And dry treis that weill wald byrne,
And mellit syne athir othir in;
And gret flaggatis tharof thai maid,
Gyrdit with irnebandis braid;
Of thai flaggatis mycht mesurit be 25
Till a gret twnnys quantité.
Thai flaggatis, byrnand in a baill,
With thair cren thoucht thai till availl,
And, gif the sow come to the wall,
Till lat thame byrnand on hir fall, 30
And with ane stark cheyne hald thame thar
Quhill all war brint <vp> that ves thar.
Engynys alsua for till cast
Thai ordanit and maid redy fast,
And set ilk man syne till his ward; 35
And Schir Valter, the gude Steward,
With armyt men suld ryde about,
And se quhar at thar var mast dout,
And succur thar with his menȝhe.
And quhen thai into sic degré 40
Had maid thame for thair assaling,
On the Rude-evyn in the dawing,
The Inglis host blew till assale.
Than mycht men with ser apparale
Se that gret host cum sturdely. 45
The toune enveremyt thai in hy,
And assalit with sa gud will,—
For all thair mycht thai set thartill,—
That thai thame pressit fast of the toune.
Bot thai that can thame abandoune 50
Till ded, or than till woundis sare,
So weill has thame defendit thare
That ledderis to the ground thai slang,
And vith stanys so fast thai dang
Thair fais, that feill thai left lyand, 55
Sum ded, sum hurt, and sum swavnand.
Bot thai that held on fut in hy
Drew thame avay deliuerly,
And skunnyrrit tharfor na kyn thing,
Bot went stoutly till assalyng; 60
And thai abovin defendit ay,
And set thame till so harde assay,
[Quhill] that feill of thame voundit war,
[And] thai so gret defens maid thar,
That thai styntit thair fais mycht. 65
Apon sic maner can thai ficht
Quhill it wes neir noyne of the day.
Than thai without, in gret aray,
Pressit thair sow toward the wall;
And thai within weill soyne gert call 70
The engynour that takyne was,
And gret manans till him mais,
And swoir that he suld de, bot he
Provit on the sow sic sutelté
That he [tofruschyt] hir ilke deill. 75
And he, that has persauit weill
That the dede wes neir hym till,
Bot gif he mycht fulfill thar will,
Thoucht that he all his mycht vald do:
Bendit in gret hy than wes scho, 80
And till the sow wes soyn evin set.
In hye he gert draw the cleket,
And smertly swappit out the stane,
That evyn out our the sow is gane,
And behynd hir a litill we 85
It fell, and than thai cryit hye
That war in hir: 'Furth to the wall,
For dreid<les> it is ouris all.'
The engynour than deliuerly
Gert bend the gyne in full gret hy, 90
And the stane smertly swappit out.
It flaw <out> quhedirand with a rout,
And fell richt evin befor the sow.
Thair hertis than begouth till grow,
Bot ȝeit than with thair mychtis all 95
Thai pressit the sow toward the wall,
And has hir set [tharto] iuntly.
The gynour than gert bend in hy
The gyne, and swappit out the stane,
That evin toward the lift is gane, 100
And with gret wecht syne duschit doune
Richt by the wall, in a randoune,
That hyt the sow in sic maner
That it that wes the mast summer,
And starkast for till stynt a strak, 105
In swndir with that dusche he brak.
The men ran out in full gret hy,
And on the wallis thai can cry
That 'thair sow ferryit wes thair!'
Iohne Crab, that had his geir all ȝar, 110
In his faggatis has set the fyre,
And our the wall syne can thame wyre,
And brynt the sow till brandis bair.
With all this fast assalȝeand war
The folk without, with felloune ficht; 115
And thai within with mekill mycht
Defendit manfully thar stede
Intill gret auentur of dede.
The schipmen with gret apparale
Com with thair schippes till assale, 120
With top-castellis warnist weill,
And wicht men armyt intill steill;
Thair batis vp apon thair mastis
Drawyn weill hye and festnyt fast is,
And pressit with that gret atour 125
Toward the wall. Bot the gynour
Hit in ane hespyne with a stane,
And the men that war tharin gane
[Sum dede], sum dosnyt, <come doun> vyndland.
Fra thine furth durst nane tak vpon hand 130
With schippes pres thame to the vall.
But the laiff war assalȝeand all
On ilk a syde sa egyrly,
That certis it wes gret ferly
That thai folk sic defens has maid, 135
For the gret myscheif that thai had:
For thair wallis so law than weir
That a man richt weill with a sper
Micht strik ane othir vp in the face,
As eir befor tald till ȝow was; 140
And feill of thame war woundit sare,
And the layf so fast travaland war
That nane had tume rest for till ta,
Thair aduersouris assailȝeit swa.
Thai war within sa stratly stad 145
That thar wardane with [him] had
Ane hundreth men in cumpany
Armyt, that wicht war and hardy,
And raid about for till se quhar
That his folk hardest pressit war, 150
Till releif thame that had mister,
Com syndry tymes in placis ser
Quhar sum of the defensouris war
All dede, and othir woundit sare,
Swa that he of his cumpany 155
Behufit to leiff thair party;
Swa that, be he ane cours had maid
About, [of] all the men he had
Thair wes levit with him bot ane,
That he ne had thame left ilkane 160
To releve quhar he saw mister.
And the folk that assalȝeand wer
At Mary-ȝet behevin had
The barras, and a fyre had maid
At the drawbrig, and brynt it doune, 165
And war thringand in gret foysoune
Richt in the ȝet, ane fire till ma.
And thai within gert smertly ga
Ane to the wardane, for till say
How thai war set in hard assay. 170
And quhen Schir Valter Steward herd
How men sa stratly with thame ferd,
He gert cum of the castell then
All that war thar of armyt men,—
For thar that day assalȝeit nane,— 175
And with that rout in hy is gane
Till Mary-ȝet, and till the wall
Is went, and saw the myscheif all,
And vmbethoucht hym suddandly,
Bot gif gret help war set in hy 180
Tharto, thai suld burne vp the ȝet
[With] the fire he fand tharat.
Tharfor apon gret hardyment
He suddanly set his entent,
And gert all wyde set vp the ȝet, 185
And the fyre that he fand tharat
With strinth of men he put avay.
He set hym in full hard assay,
For thai that war assalȝeand thar
Pressit on hym with vapnys bair, 190
And he defendit with all his mycht.
Thar mycht men se a felloune sicht:
With staffing, stoking, and striking
Thar maid thai sturdy defending,
For with gret strynth of men the ȝet 195
Thai defendit, and stude tharat,
Magré thair fais, quhill the nycht
Gert thame on bath halfis leif the ficht.
15 [Crabbis]] Craggis MS.: Crabys MS. Edinburgh.
63 [Quhill]] How MS.
64 [And]] þat MS.
75 [tofruschyt]] till frusche MS.
97 [tharto]] þar in MS.
129 [Sum dede dosnyt sum dede vyndland] MS.
146 [him]] þame MS.
158 [of]] to MS. the] to MS.
182 [With]] And MS. he fand] haffand MS.
XI JOHN WICLIF D. 1384.
Like Richard Rolle, Wiclif was a Yorkshireman by birth. Of his career at Oxford little is known until 1360, when he is described as 'master of Balliol'. From Balliol he was presented to the living of Fillingham, and, after a series of preferments, he accepted in 1374 the rectory of Lutterworth, which he held till his death in 1384.
Wiclif's life was stormy. His acknowledged pre-eminence as a theologian and doctor in the University did not satisfy his active and combative mind. 'False peace', he said, 'is grounded in rest with our enemies, when we assent to them without withstanding; and sword against such peace came Christ to send.' He lacked neither enemies nor the moral courage to withstand them.
At first, under the powerful patronage of John of Gaunt, he entered into controversies primarily political, opposing the right of the Pope to make levies on England, which was already overburdened with war-taxation, and to appoint foreigners to English benefices. On these questions popular opinion was on his side.
He proceeded to attack the whole system of Church government, urging disendowment; rejecting the papal authority, which had been weakened in 1378 by the fierce rivalry of Urban VI and Clement VII; attacking episcopal privileges, the established religious orders, and the abuse of indulgences, pardons, and sanctuary. Still his opinions found a good deal of popular and political support.
Then in 1380 he publicly announced his rejection of the doctrine of transubstantiation. From the results of such a heresy his friends could no longer protect him. Moderate opinion became alarmed and conservative after the Peasants' Revolt of 1381. Richard II was no friend of heretics. John of Gaunt, himself unpopular by this time, commanded silence. And in 1382 the secular party in Oxford were compelled, after a struggle, to condemn and expel their favourite preacher and his followers. Wiclif retired to Lutterworth, and continued, until struck down by paralysis in the last days of 1384, to inspire his 'poor preachers'—the founders of the Lollard sect which lived on to join forces with Lutheranism in the sixteenth century—and to develop in a series of Latin and English works the doctrines that later came to be associated with Puritanism.
His authorship is often doubtful. In the interests of orthodoxy the early MSS. of his writings were ruthlessly destroyed, as in the famous bonfire of his works at Carfax, Oxford, in 1411. And his followers included not only the simple folk from whom later the 'poor priests' were recruited, but able University men, trained in his new doctrines, bred in the same traditions, and eager to emulate their master in controversy. So his share in the famous Wiclif Bible (ed. Forshall and Madden, Oxford 1850) is still uncertain. Part of the translation seems to have been made by Nicholas of Hereford, and a later recension is claimed for another Oxford disciple, John Purvey. But Wiclif probably inspired the undertaking, for to him, as to the later Puritans, the word of the Bible was the test by which all matters of belief, ritual, and Church government must be tried; and he was particularly anxious, in opposition to the established clergy and the friars, that laymen should read it in their own language. Contemporaries, friend and foe, ascribe the actual translation to him. John Huss, the Bohemian reformer, who was martyred in 1416 for teaching Wiclif's doctrines, states that Wiclif 'translated all the Bible into English'. Arundel, Archbishop of Canterbury, is equally positive when he writes to the Pope in 1412 that 'the son of the Old Serpent filled up the cup of his malice against Holy Church by the device of a new translation of the Scriptures into his native tongue'.
The first selection, chapter xv of the De Officio Pastorali (ed. Matthew, pp. 429 f.), states the case for translation. In the second (ed. Matthew, pp. 188 ff.) some essential points of Wiclif's teaching are explained.
In abuse of his opponents he maintains the sturdy tradition of controversy that still survives in Milton's prose. The style is rugged and vigorous; the thought logical and packed close. And it is easy to see the source of his strength. In an age whose evils were patent to all, many reproved this or that particular abuse, but the system as a whole passed unchallenged. Wiclif, almost alone in his generation, had the reasoning power to go to the root of the matter, and the moral courage not only to state fearlessly what, rightly or wrongly, he found to be the source of evil, but to insist on basic reform. It is difficult nowadays, when modern curiosity has made familiar the practice of mining among the foundations of beliefs, society, and government, to realize the force of authority that was ranged against unorthodox reformers in the fourteenth century. If the popular support he received indicates that this force was already weakening, Wiclif must still be reckoned among the greatest of those who broke the way for the modern world.
A. THE TRANSLATION OF THE BIBLE. De Officio Pastorali, chap. xv. MS. Ashburnham XXVII (15th century).
Ant heere þe freris wiþ þer fautours seyn þat it is heresye to write þus Goddis lawe in English, and make it knowun to lewid men. And fourty signes þat þey bringen for to shewe an heretik ben not worþy to reherse, for nouȝt groundiþ hem but nygromansye.
{05}
It semyþ first þat þe wit of Goddis lawe shulde be tauȝt in þat tunge þat is more knowun, for þis wit is Goddis word. Whanne Crist seiþ in þe Gospel þat boþe heuene and erþe shulen passe, but His wordis shulen not passe, He vndirstondith bi His woordis His wit. And þus Goddis wit is Hooly Writ,
{10} þat may on no maner be fals. Also þe Hooly Gost ȝaf to apostlis wit at Wit Sunday for to knowe al maner langagis, to teche þe puple Goddis lawe þerby; and so God wolde þat þe puple were tauȝt Goddis lawe in dyuerse tungis. But what man, on Goddis half, shulde reuerse Goddis ordenaunse and
{15} His wille?
And for þis cause Seynt Ierom trauelide and translatide þe Bible fro dyuerse tungis into Lateyn, þat it myȝte be aftir translatid to oþere tungis. And þus Crist and His apostlis tauȝten þe puple in þat tunge þat was moost knowun to þe
{20} puple. Why shulden not men do nou so?
And herfore autours of þe newe law, þat weren apostlis of Iesu Crist, writen þer Gospels in dyuerse tungis þat weren more knowun to þe puple.
Also þe worþy reume of Fraunse, notwiþstondinge alle
{25} lettingis, haþ translatid þe Bible and þe Gospels, wiþ oþere trewe sentensis of doctours, out of Lateyn into Freynsch. Why shulden not Engliȝschemen do so? As lordis of Englond han þe Bible in Freynsch, so it were not aȝenus resoun þat þey hadden þe same sentense in Engliȝsch; for
{30} þus Goddis lawe wolde be betere knowun, and more trowid, for onehed of wit, and more acord be bitwixe reumes.
And herfore freris han tauȝt in Englond þe Paternoster in Engliȝsch tunge, as men seyen in þe pley of Ȝork, and in many oþere cuntreys. Siþen þe Paternoster is part of Matheus
{35} Gospel, as clerkis knowen, why may not al be turnyd to Engliȝsch trewely, as is þis part? Specialy siþen alle Cristen men, lerid and lewid, þat shulen be sauyd, moten algatis sue Crist, and knowe His lore and His lif. But þe comyns of Engliȝschmen knowen it best in þer modir tunge; and þus it
{40} were al oon to lette siche knowing of þe Gospel and to lette Engliȝsch men to sue Crist and come to heuene.
Wel y woot defaute may be in vntrewe translating, as myȝten haue be many defautis in turnyng fro Ebreu into Greu, and fro Greu into Lateyn, and from o langage into
{45} anoþer. But lyue men good lif, and studie many persones Goddis lawe, and whanne chaungyng of wit is foundun, amende þey it as resoun wole.
Sum men seyn þat freris trauelen, and þer fautours, in þis cause for þre chesouns, þat y wole not aferme, but God woot
{50} wher þey ben soþe. First þey wolden be seun so nedeful to þe Engliȝschmen of oure reume þat singulerly in her wit layȝ þe wit of Goddis lawe, to telle þe puple Goddis lawe on what maner euere þey wolden. And þe secound cause herof is seyd to stonde in þis sentense: freris wolden lede þe puple in
{55} techinge hem Goddis lawe, and þus þei wolden teche sum, and sum hide, and docke sum. For þanne defautis in þer lif shulden be lesse knowun to þe puple, and Goddis lawe shulde be vntreweliere knowun boþe bi clerkis and bi comyns. Þe þridde cause þat men aspien stondiþ in þis, as þey seyn: alle
{60} þes newe ordris dreden hem þat þer synne shulde be knowun, and hou þei ben not groundid in God to come into þe chirche; and þus þey wolden not for drede þat Goddis lawe were knowun in Engliȝsch; but þey myȝten putte heresye on men ȝif Engliȝsch toolde not what þey seyden.
{65}
God moue lordis and bischops to stonde for knowing of His lawe!