For which cause, permission has been granted: “Ministrallis nostris quod ipsi, ad laudem et honorem Dei et ut specialius exorare teneantur pro salubri statu nostro et præcarissimæ consortis nostræ Elizabethæ reginæ Angliæ, dum agimus in humanis et pro animabus nostris cum ab hac luce migraverimus, necnon pro anima carissimi domini et patris nostri . . . tam in capella Beatæ Mariæ Virginis infra ecclesiam cathedralem sancti Pauli Londoniæ, quam in libera capella nostra regia sancti Anthonii, in eadem civitate nostra Londoniæ, quandam fraternitatem sive gildam (quam ut accepimus fratres et sorores fraternitatis ministrallorum regni nostri prædicti, retroactis temporibus inierunt. . . .) stabilire, continuare et augmentare ac quascumque personas, tam homines quam mulieres eis grato animo adhærentes, in fratres et sorores fraternitatis sive gildæ prædictæ recipere . . . possint et valeant.”
And for the good of the reconstituted gild, “volumus . . . quod nullus ministrallus regni nostri prædicti, quamvis in hujusmodi arte sive occupatione sufficienter eruditus existat, eadem arte . . . de cætero, nisi de fraternitate sive gilda prædicta sit et ad eandam admissus fuerit et cum cæteris confratribus ejusdem contribuent aliquo modo utatur.”
The beneficiaries of his monopoly will have a right to inquire throughout the realm, “de omnibus et singulis hujusmodi personis fingentibus se fore ministrallos,” and to impose fines to be used “pro continua et perpetua sustentatione certarum candelarum cerearum vulganter nuncupatarum tapers,” in the before-mentioned chapels. {437}
XII (p. [213]) POPULAR ENGLISH SONGS OF THE MIDDLE AGES
The following collections may be consulted:
“Ancient Songs and Ballads from the reign of Henry II to the Revolution,” collected by John Ritson, revised edition by W. C. Hazlitt, London, 1877.
“Political Songs of England from the reign of John to that of Edward II,” edited by Thomas Wright; Camden Society, London, 1839.
“Specimens of Lyric Poetry composed in England in the reign of Edward I,” ed. Th. Wright, Percy Society, 1842.
“Reliquiæ antiquæ, scraps from ancient MSS. illustrating chiefly early English literature,” ed. Th. Wright and J. O. Halliwell, 2 vols.
“Songs and Carols now first printed from a MS. of the xvth Century,” edited by Thomas Wright; Percy Society, London, 1847.