[60] Frankeleyns: a franklin was a rich landholder, free of feudal service, holding possessions immediately from the king. See [p. 28].
[61] Confession, absolution, and penance: sacraments in the Roman Catholic Church.
[62] The rotta was an ancient instrument of the guitar tribe.
[63] Clerk: a scholar probably preparing for the priesthood. In many Roman Catholic countries it was the custom till very lately for poor scholars to ask and receive contributions from the people for the expenses of their education. They were often extremely indigent, coming from the labouring classes. The parson, for instance, spoken of later, is said to be brother of the ploughman travelling with him. The poor scholar and the good parson are ‘birds of a feather.’
[64] Or, abounded: the O. E. snewe, like the Prov. Eng. snee, snie, snive, snew, signifies to swarm.
[65] The table dormant was a permanent table, not a board on trestles such as the ordinary one, mentioned on p. 2. It was only used by very rich people, for it was a new fashion, and expensive. See drawing of table dormant in 14th century, on [page 28].
[66] Well-to-do.
[67] Chaucer speaks, you see, in very different terms of the poor and conscientious parish priest (who was supported only by his benefice and tithes of the people—a small income) from what he does of the monastic orders, corrupted by the wealth they had accumulated. Bell says—“It was quite natural that Chaucer, the friend of John of Gaunt, should praise the parochial clergy, who were poor, and therefore not formidable, at the expense of the rich monastic orders who formed the only barriers which then existed against the despotic power of the aristocracy.” But, however that may be, there is no doubt that these parish parsons actually were a much better and more honest class of men than the monks, and the begging friars, and all the rest, were at this time. They were drawn, like the Roman Catholic secular clergy of the present day, from the labouring classes.
[68] No one of good position rode on a mare in the middle ages.
[69] Summoner: an officer employed by the ecclesiastical courts to summon any persons who broke the law to appear before the archdeacon, who imposed what penalty he thought fit. The Summoners found it to their interest to accept bribes not to report offences: therefore bad people who could afford to pay got off, whilst those who could not afford to pay were punished with rigour. Many Summoners extorted bribes by threatening to say people had transgressed the law who had not; and so they got to be detested by the masses, and Chaucer’s hideous picture gives the popular notion of a Summoner.