[196] “Mirour,” 24625. Cf. the corresponding passage in the “Vox Clamantis,” Bk. VI. According to Hoccleve, “Law is nye flemëd [= banished] out of this cuntre;” it is a web which catches the small flys and gnats, but lets the great flies go (Works, E.E.T.S., iii., 101 ff.).
[197] Walsingham, an. 1381. The evil repute of jurors is fully explained by Gower, “Mirour,” 25033. According to him, perjury had become almost a recognized profession.
[198] Gautier, loc. cit., p. 352.
[199] Lyndwood, “Provinciale,” ed. Oxon., p. 272.
[200] “Piers Plowman,” B., xv., 237, and xx., 137.
[201] Pollock and Maitland, “History of English Law,” vol. i., p. 387; Lyndwood, “Provinciale,” pp. 271 ff. It is the more necessary to insist on this, because of a serious error, based on a misreading of Bishop Quivil’s injunctions. The bishop does, indeed, proclaim his right and duty of punishing the parties to a clandestine marriage; but, so far from flying in the face of Canon Law by threatening to dissolve the contract, he expressly admits, in the same breath, its binding force.—Wilkins, ii., 135.
[202] Wilkins, “Concilia,” i., 478.
[203] Froissart, Buchon, iii., 235, 258.
[204] “Piers Plowman,” C., xi., 256. Gower speaks still more strongly, if possible, “Mirour,” 17245 ff. Chaucer’s friend Hoccleve makes the same complaint (E.E.T.S., vol. iii., p. 60), and these practices outlasted the Reformation. The curious reader should consult Dr. Furnivall’s “Child Marriages and Divorces” (E.E.T.S., 1897).
[205] “Adam of Usk,” p. 3; cf. “Eulog. Hist.,” iii., 355 (where the price is given as 22,000 marks), and 237, where the negotiations for another Royal marriage are described with equally brutal frankness.