9130 ff. ‘so that at last by reason of his inconstancy and habitual sin we see Incest throw off his vows and leave the order.’
9132. The ‘possessioners’ are the members of those religious orders which held property, as distinguished from the mendicant orders mentioned next.
9138. ses Abbes. If this is singular, the use of the subject form after a preposition is very harsh: it is ‘son Abbes’ (though subject) in l. 12115. Perhaps the monastic rent-collector is spoken of here generally, and as coming from a variety of monasteries.
9139. vois, the usual form for ‘vais,’ as 440, &c.
9143. irroit, see 1688.
9148. ly limitantz, ‘the limitour’: cp. Chaucer’s ironical reference to him at the beginning of the Wyf of Bath’s Tale.
9156. The woman’s husband passes for the father of the children.
9158. au dieu demeine, ‘in the possession of God.’
9168. ‘Than he who does (the same) as regards his neighbour’ (who is not under a religious vow).
9171. This is the case of the widow’s marriage to the Church, the vow of not marrying again, see 17827 ff. This was taken, for example, by Eleanor, sister of Henry III, who afterwards married Simon de Montfort. The vow of course would be dispensed with, and the relations here contemplated are probably those of marriage, notwithstanding the severity with which they are spoken of in ll. 9172-74: therefore the author is doubtful about the punishment of this offence in a future state, and suggests that the arrangements of human law, by which the wife would often suffer in property by such a marriage, may be a sufficient punishment. On this subject see Furnivall’s Fifty Earliest English Wills, E.E.T.S.