School Exercises from Canterbury, c.1480

111 SCHOOL EXERCISES FROM CANTERBURY, c.1480 nicholas orme We are fortunate in possessing at least a dozen, perhaps two dozen, medieval manuscripts that were put together by pupils in schools in England between about 1400 and 1530.1 They reflect the availability of cheap paper after about the end of the fourteenth century, which enabled students to copy useful texts and preserve the exercises that they wrote from day to day. Thousands of note-books of this kind must have been made, nearly all of which were thrown away in later life or after death, but a few have survived because they were produced by older more skilful hands and included transcripts worth keeping. Two such manuscripts are known at present that originated in Kent. One is MS C47/34/13 in the National Archives, the work of a pupil named Stephen Bukherst in the 1410s at a place yet unidentified. It is a difficult text to study because it is damp-stained and illegible in many places.2 The other, Harley MS 1587 in the British Library, is more accessible in this respect. It was compiled twenty years before the end of the fifteenth century by a student in Canterbury named William Ingram, and forms a valuable historical source in two respects. Not only does it disclose a good deal about how a pupil learnt Latin in a late fifteenthcentury grammar school, but it also contains allusions to the contemporary world and culture in which the pupil lived. William Ingram dated one of the items in his manuscript as 1480,3 and it is probable that most of the other contents were written at around the same time because the writing is fairly consistent in its presentation. The manuscript has only once been discussed in print apart from catalogue entries: by the Catholic historian F.A. Gasquet in an article in The Downside Review in 1891, reprinted a few years later in his volume of essays The Old English Bible.4 He rightly deduced that it was written by Ingram and correctly identified him with a man later recorded as a monk of Christ Church cathedral, Canterbury. Since Gasquet wrote, more has come to light about Ingram and it is possible to establish the outlines of his biography.5 He came from a family local to Canterbury since his mother lived in a tenement there called Stonbrygplase from 1510 to 1524.6 Most of the circumstances of his career suggest that he was born in the 1460s, and therefore in his mid teens or thereabouts at the time NICHOLAS ORME 112 that he was compiling his manuscript, although, as we shall see, there is one contrary piece of evidence. Gasquet supposed that in 1480 Ingram was a novice monk in the ‘claustral school’ of Christ Church, by which he meant the monastery’s school for its junior monks. Ingram certainly became a monk, but he was not formally professed as such until 1484, four years after the sole date recorded in the manuscript. Monks were usually professed in their mid or late teens, within a few months or a year of their admission as novices, which suggests that Ingram was not yet a monk when he began to compile his volume, although he may have been one by the time that he finished doing so, and would have been in later days when he used it. There was more than one school in Canterbury which a boy might have attended before becoming a monk, but the most likely one in Ingram’s case is the almonry school maintained by Christ Church on the outskirts of the monastery.7 The almonry school was different from the school for the junior monks. It catered for two or three dozen boys in their early or mid teens who were ‘seculars’, meaning that they were not monks or required to become so.8 Most were probably relatives of monks, nominees of influential friends of the monastery, or fee-paying sons of wealthy people having links with it. They received board, lodging, and teaching in Latin grammar from a schoolmaster who was also not a monk, in return for doing some duties in the monastic church such as serving at masses. A few of them, selected for their voices, sang at the daily mass of the Virgin Mary in the cathedral’s Lady chapel. Some almonry boys went on to become monks – in 1468 four of them made the transition9 – so that Ingram too could well have come from this school. One sentence in the manuscript states that that ‘Of al lyfes, the lyfe of religion [i.e. the monastic life] is the beste’,10 which suggests that his school was close in sympathy to the monastery. Having elected to become a monk, Ingram would have left the almonry school for the smaller cloister or claustral school kept for the novices and junior monks, which numbered half a dozen or so. Here a senior monk would have supervised them as they learnt the monastic liturgy and the history and customs of the cathedral, while they continued to follow academic studies under this monk or a secular teacher. After 1336, Benedictine monks were required to apply themselves to grammar and logic,11 and Ingram’s involvement in the latter is suggested by the survival of a manuscript in Canterbury Cathedral Library, now in two volumes, containing Latin tracts on logic, which includes an inscription that ‘This book belongs to William Ingram, which was composed in the year of the Lord 1478’.12 Studying logic in that year is not easily compatible with the rest of his career, so perhaps he did not compose the volume himself or else the date is wrong: maybe an ‘X’ has been omitted from the Roman form of the date, which should be 1483 or 1488. Ingram was tonsured on 30 September 1483, a rite that is likely to have SCHOOL EXERCISES FROM CANTERBURY c.1480 113 either preceded or accompanied his admission as a novice of the cathedral.13 He was professed as a monk, meaning that he became a permanent member of the community, on 10 June 1484,14 was ordained subdeacon in Canterbury Cathedral on 2 April 1485, deacon there on 24 September 1485, and probably became a priest in the following year.15 In 1504 he was made Custos Martirii, one of the five custodians of the shrine of Thomas Becket, at which date he began to keep an account book relating to his duties in this office and to his other monetary affairs.16 It contains entries of expenses up to 1526 and receipts until 1533. In 1511 he was appointed a penitentiary in charge of hearing confessions and he also did duty as a chantry priest praying for the dead in the cathedral. At times he acted as a tutor in charge of boys who were studying in the almonry school or elsewhere, paying expenses on their behalf.17 There is no sign that he was sent to university, and the records of books that he bought point to someone with interests in general literature as much as in high scholarship. They included the anthology of English moral stories known as Gesta Romanorum in 1507, two books of the Life of St Thomas in 1511, the satirical English work Cock Lorel’s Boat in 1520, and a small Bible in 1521. He also owned a psalter, now in the British Library.18 His duties took him on occasional journeys into Kent and once to London, but he spent most of his life in Canterbury. Since the account book ends in 1533, he may have died in that year and he certainly did so before the dissolution of the cathedral monastery in 1540. This is apparent from the presence of his name as a late addition to the cathedral’s obituary list which commemorated its dead members and friends: the name is entered on 13 August without mentioning a year.19 Ingram’s manuscript is neatly written in his own hand, with a good deal of decorative rubrication, apart from one section which existed previously and which he incorporated. The volume is therefore not a day-to-day record of his work like a modern exercise book. Rather it represents a fair copy of a group of texts chosen by him or recommended to him by his schoolmaster. In effect it amounts to a useful compendium of texts relating to the study of Latin, including vocabulary lists and rules of syntax for the construction of Latin literature, together with a poem on good manners. The volume was worth keeping as a resource after Ingram left school to became a monk, but after about 1500 its material was rendered obsolete by the arrival of ‘humanist’ classical Latin in England. This may have not have bothered Ingram, who was educated before this change took place, but when he died the work would have seemed very old-fashioned, indeed uncouth. Why it was kept thereafter is not known; it may have remained at Canterbury for a time, and its neat appearance may have given it value as a curiosity, especially when interest in the middle ages revived in the seventeenth century. Ingram’s own name appears in the volume twice: first at the end of the opening item (f. 15r) and again in NICHOLAS ORME 114 a Latin note on f. 188v, which states that the book belongs to Dompnus William Inggram (‘dompnus’ being the title of monks who were priests), witnessed by Reginald Goldstone ‘his senior’. There was always an issue in a monastery about what belonged to the community as a whole and what to its individuals, and the statement was probably meant to ensure that Ingram retained possession of the book that he had compiled. The volume contains about fourteen items, which appear in the following order: 1 Nomina altilli[u]m et diuersarum rerum (ff. 1r-15r). A vocabulary of nouns in Latin with English equivalents, arranged under topics, with Ingram’s name at the end. 2 Paradigms of the Latin word doctus (f. 15v). 3 Further vocabulary of nouns in Latin and English (ff. 16r-45v). 4 Three notes in Latin: explanations of seven names from the Bible (f. 46v); why the pax is not circulated in masses for the dead (f. 46v); and the importance of Sunday observance (ff. 46v-47r). 5 Further vocabulary of nouns, adverbs, and prepositions in Latin and English (ff. 47v-50r). 6 Nominatiuus casus regitur figuratiue secundam primam regulam (ff. 51r-62r). Latin grammatical notes with illustrative Latin verses and English glosses, analysing and commenting on Latin sentences. 7 Regule sum, es, fui (ff. 62v-64r). Rules in Latin for conjugating the verb esse. 8 Nominati[u]us casus quia quod venit ante verbum (ff. 64v-95r). Notes on Latin syntax: how to construct clauses, illustrated by model sentences in Latin and occasionally also in English. 9 Luce carens luce sancte luce prece luce (ff. 96r-117v). ‘Differential verses’ in Latin, a common teaching format of the day in which words of similar form but different meanings are grouped together in verses for memorising. 10 O magnatum filii, nostri commensales (ff. 118r-120v). The fifteenthcentury Latin poem Castrianus, a courtesy poem written for boys at Winchester or Eton colleges. Gasquet mistakenly thought that it was a poem for young monks.20 11 Extracts from the Grecismus of Evrard of Béthune on the eight parts of speech, beginning at Chapter 9, transcribed by ‘Adam’ in 1396 (ff. 121r-188r).21 This section therefore predates Ingram’s work. 12 A copybook (ff. 189r-200r and 203v-214r) in which lines of Latin have been carefully written out repeatedly, with elaborate capital letters. The first section proceeds alphabetically. 13 Four whole or partial letters in English, probably exemplars of how to write letters (ff. 200v-201r). 14 There are also numerous scribbles and pen-trials (ff. 188v, 188*r-v, 201v-203r, 214v). SCHOOL EXERCISES FROM CANTERBURY c.1480 115 These contents do not embrace everything that a grammar-school boy would have studied. They do not include any accidence apart from Sum, es, fui, meaning texts that taught the forms of Latin words, nor most of the literature learnt by pupils which chiefly consisted of late Roman and medieval religious and moral poetry. But the manuscript illustrates the amount of time that was spent on syntax, the correct construction of Latin; on learning vocabulary, both nouns and similar words of the kind that we would call homonyms and homophones; on learning Latin verse, both hexameters and rhythmic ‘goliardic’ couplets; and on mastering the writing of script in an elegant way. In this last respect Ingram’s manuscript is unusual among surviving grammatical miscellanies in containing a copybook section that shows the skill of writing being acquired. The knowledge of Latin he gained was wide in extent but sometimes faulty in detail. There are several mistakes in his transcriptions, suggesting that he did not always manage to write the language correctly, through haste or lack of knowledge. Apart from what it tells us about the school curriculum, Ingram’s manuscript throws some light on contemporary life in a wider sense. Item number 8, the tract beginning Nominatiuus casus quia quod venit, uses a common technique of medieval grammatical teaching by illustrating the rules of syntax with sample sentences, known in the fifteenth century as latinitates or ‘latins’ in English, a selection of which is edited below. An alternative name for such sentences, from about the 1480s, was vulgaria or ‘vulgars’.22 Such sentences often centred on matters of everyday life: the schoolroom, the boys’ families, local affairs, the seasons, or the news of the day, and many of the examples in this tract take that form. Some are presented in both English and Latin versions so as to demonstrate how one language should be translated to the other; all are in prose except for one that is in verse in both languages (f. 66v). Although Ingram transcribed the tract in Kent, there is no reference in the latins to Canterbury or any other local town except for a mention of pilgrims going to the shrine of St Thomas (f. 72r), which would have been in the general knowledge of schools anywhere in England. Instead there are indications that the tract originated further north, perhaps in Lincolnshire or south Yorkshire. These include allusions to the bishop of Lincoln (f. 68r) and to the king of England sometimes staying at Lincoln (f. 75r), four references to York (ff. 65*v, 75v, 79r-v) one of which describes the schoolmaster riding there on a visit, one to Beverley (f. 79v), and one to Pontefract (f. 75v). There is also a sentence about a ‘chanter’ (teacher of choral music) instructing choristers (f. 73v). Although Christ Church, Canterbury, had singing boys, the term ‘chorister’ was not usually applied to boys of this kind in monasteries; it was most often used in cathedrals, collegiate churches, or large private chapels. This may be NICHOLAS ORME 116 another indication that the tract came from a school close to such an institution, perhaps in Lincoln or York. There would be nothing odd in a tract written in one town making its way to another, through a schoolmaster or former pupil. Grammar schools followed a common curriculum, the poem Castrianus came from Winchester or Eton, and another sentence in the tract resembles one in a Bristol miscellany of about 1430 (f. 74v). But the consequence is that the latins in the tract should be regarded as illustrative of fifteenth-century England in general rather than Canterbury in particular. Inside school we hear that the place is full of scholars, and that boys ‘appose’ or question each other in debate about grammatical matters (ff. 66v, 68v). Outside, as well as the mention of pilgrims at Becket’s shrine (f. 72r), there are references to the powers of the king of England (f. 68r), London as a ‘city of guile’ or deception (f. 72v), and a mysterious soldier who fought at Pontefract and was rewarded with land in France (f. 75v). Not all the sentences are realistic, however. We hear that the king is to marry the daughter of the emperor of Germany, which was not a likelihood for most of the fifteenth century, and one that ‘the mayor of London shall wed my aunt’ (f. 70r). Similarly the statement that the pope could deprive a cleric of a rich benefice was possible but virtually unheard of (f. 69v). Other parts of the material encourage good behaviour or religious observances, reflecting the fact that education was expected to inculcate virtue as well as learning. Children should obey their betters (f. 68v). A person’s soul is long sullied by sin (f. 74r). It is good to restrict one’s drink to water in the evenings before days in honour of the Virgin Mary (f. 68r). A priest prays for souls in purgatory (f. 74v). There are also two proverbs (ff. 66v, 67v). Further evidence of this strand of education is to be found in the poem Castrianus with its detailed advice about good behaviour in terms of table manners, civility to other people, and the good use of one’s time. A second source for social history is to be found in a longer series of proverbs inserted into the differential verses Luce carens.23 Nine pages into these verses, the Latin suddenly gives way to alternate lines of English and Latin, containing 51English proverbs with Latin translations. These occupy four pages, after which the text resumes in Latin alone. Proverbs occur as translation exercises in other school manuscripts, usually as stray examples (like two that occur in the work on syntax). Smaller collections of them survive from manuscripts relating to the Lincoln region and to Barlinch Priory, Somerset.24 Most of those in Ingram’s anthology are in verse, generally ‘leonine’ verse with internal rhymes, and many are recorded elsewhere in their Latin or English versions or in both, but about twenty-seven of the Latin and eleven of the English forms do not appear in the standard dictionaries, making them of particular interest to proverb collectors. Two of them are not actually straightforward proverbs and are not translated into verse. The opening sentence, ‘Hur, hur, the shrew SCHOOL EXERCISES FROM CANTERBURY c.1480 117 berys the bure’, i.e. the villain has a plant bur on him, could be one, but might equally represent a playground taunt or part of a game. Another item looks like the cry of a market stallholder or an itinerant fishmonger: ‘Five herynges for a peny, blod in the gyl, six for another, pyl garlik pyle’, The rhyme means that you can buy five fresh herrings (‘blood in the gill’) for a penny, and if you do, you can have six for your second penny, which will make good eating with fresh peeled garlic. Finally a two-line verse in Latin, recorded elsewhere, in translation ‘Adam, Samson, David, Lot, and Solomon were deceived by a woman; who then shall be safe?’ is an adage rather than a proverb, and a clerical antifeminist one at that! Ingram’s manuscript therefore is of interest from more than one point of view. It shows us autobiographically some of the tasks, skills, and knowledge absorbed by a teenaged pupil in a grammar school, which he copied for his present needs and perhaps for his future life. It reveals the kinds of texts that were being taught in Canterbury at the very end of the late-medieval era of Latin, just before the humanist style of the language became fashionable in England, beginning at Oxford in that same year 1480.25 These texts turn out to have been typical of the day and to belong to a national culture in which there seem to be links with Bristol and the north. Finally the manuscript gives us brief and tantalising snatches of everyday speech through the proverbs, and everyday life through the Latin sentences. A garden grows full of nettles. A road is full of sheep. A clerk rings the bell sweetly. People enjoy fine croissants. A terrifying storm takes place with thunder and lightning. The chanter teaches his choristers. Drapers are busy appraising cloth. These are precious reminders of the world in which fifteenth-century boys learnt their Latin, and in which they were envisaged as using it. AN EDITION OF THE LATINS AND PROVERBS IN HARLEY MS 1587 In this edition, mistranscriptions in the text are preserved and explained in the notes. Contractions are expanded in italics; punctuation and use of capitals follows modern practice. The sign / indicates alternative versions, and the letter ‘thorn’ (Þ and ƿ), standing for ‘th’, is inserted where it occurs in the manuscript. Reference numbers have been added to the latins and proverbs. I. Selected latins from ff. 64v-95r [f. 65*v] 1. The master rydyn and gone to York shal dred no thefis. Magister a quo transito et equitato Eboracum non formidabit latrones. NICHOLAS ORME 118 [f. 66r] 2. I am com to lere gramer. A me venitur ad locum vbi addiscam gramaticam / A Iohanne venitur a loco vbi studiunt gramaticam. [f. 66v] 3. Þe ferer womon, the more gyglote; The smaller pecis, ƿe mo to the potte.26 Quante vel quanto venustior consistat femina, tante vel tanto maior consistat meca. Quante vel quanto pise sunt graciliores, tante vel tanto olle succedunt plures. 4. The wyser man ƿat ƿu apposis, ƿe sotiller answer shal ƿu have. Quante vel quanto subtiliori homini apposueris, tante vel tanto subtiliorem responsiones obtinebis. 5. Spanysche irne is hardyst of al irn. Ferrum Hispanium est durius omni ferro. 6. Of al lyfes, ƿe lyfe of religion is the beste. Inter omnes vitas, vita religiosa est maxime securior. [f. 67v] 7. I prowd and ƿu prowd, who shall bere the ashes owt?27 Mei superbi et tui superbi, vter exportabit cineres? [f. 68r] 8. The kyng of Inglond to ponysh it is ƿe trespasours ayene his lawis. Regem Anglie puniendum est proditores / preuaricantes contra suas leges. 9. The byshop of Lyncolne to ponysh it is ƿe brekers of goddis law. Episcopum Lcon’l [sic] puniendum est leges diuinas preuaricantes. 10. It is right to drynk water in evyns of owr lady. Bibendum est aqua in vigilijs beate Marie virginis.28 [f. 68v] 11. It is childur to obey the bettres. Sistitur a pueris suis prestancioribus obedituris. 12. The garden growis ful of netels; ƿe tres hang full of apuls. Vrtice crescunt orto existente illarum plena; poma pendunt arbore existente illorum plena. 13. The wey rennys ful of shyp. Oues currunt via existente illorum plena. 14. Þe scole sittes ful of childurn. Pueri sedunt scola existente. 15. Me opposid in a hard laten it befalles sumwhat to be sparid. Michi cui opponitur in difficili latinitate interest aliqualiter parci. SCHOOL EXERCISES FROM CANTERBURY c.1480 119 [f. 69v] 16. This tre a hundird fote longe and a dosen ynchis brode is to be cast in-to ƿe water a dosen fote depe. Istud lignum centum pedibus et latum duodecem pollicibus proiciendum est in aqua profundam duodecem pedibus. 17. A thefe hath reste my faderes old jvery bought for whitils haftes.29 Latro priuauit patrem meum ebore antiquo empto pro cultellarum manubrijs. 18. The pope haƿ reste my cosen a riche benefice, whom thefys newli have rest xx li. Papa priuauit cognatum meum diuiti beneficio, quem latrones nuper spoliauerunt viginti libris. 19. Drapers prayse cloth at ther will. A pannarijs licet pannis ad suum velle. [f. 70r] 20. The kyng of Inglond shal wed ƿe emperowys doghter of Almayn. Regi Anglie nubet filia imperatoris Almanie. 21. The meir of London shall wede my avnte. Maiori London’ nubet amica mea. 22. My fadir owtlawd and for to be owtlawyd, wo is me his eyre. Patri meo exulanti et exulanturo, ve mihi, heredi suo. [f. 70v] 23. Xxj clerkes shal ryng xxj bellis havyng xxj hedes.30 Viginti vnus clerici pulsabunt viginti vnam campanas habentes viginti vnum capita. [f. 71r] 24. Viginti vnus homines currunt ad pilam pedalem. Xxj men ren at ƿe fote bale. [f. 71v] 25. My eme haƿ ij rych benefys. Auunculus meus habet duo beneficia quorum vtrumque est diues. [f. 72r] 26. Pilgryms ar gone to Canturbery to worshyp ƿe shryn of seynt Thomas. A peregrinis transituris Cantuariam ad honorandum lipsam sancti Thome martyris. 27. The kyng having ryche kingdoms hath promoted my broƿer to ij rich benefies, which hath a pore mancipul. Rex habens regna quorum quodlibet est diues promouit fratrem meum ad duo beneficia quorum vtrumque est diues, qui habet mancipium qui est pauper. NICHOLAS ORME 120 [f. 72v] 28. London a cite is ful of gyle. Ciuitas Londonie est plena dolo et subtilitate. 29. John behovys a new gone31 a-yenst ƿe fest of Pasche. Johanni noua toga est oportuna erga festum Pasche. [f. 73r] 30. Owr gardener and hys wyfe and owr manciple ar to be accused of mannessloghter. Ortilanus noster et sua vxor et nostrum mancipium sunt accusandi de homicidio. [f. 73v] 31. This chanter shal teche yong queresters to know ther proporcions in musike which are not liste32 to lerne. Iste precentor erudit iuuenes parophonistas ad cognoscendum suas proporciones in musica, quibus non licet addiscere. 32. Þe clerk rynges ƿe bel swetly. Clericus pulsat campanam suauiter sonantem. 33. Þe reyne renys, ƿe lightenyng lightyns, while ƿe thundur thundirs, owr hertes qwakynge for fere. Pluiam pluente, fulmen fulminante, dum tonitrum tonitruat, nostris cordibus trementibus pre33 timore. [f. 74r] 34. Syn haƿ be rotyd in my soule by longe custom. Peccatum radicatum est / uel fuit in anima mea per consuetudinem diutinam. [f. 74v] 35. I have etyn my non mete34 whil my fadir meltis wax, whos sone, a prest, haƿ thoght on solis lieng in purgatori.35 Ego fui vescens mea merenda dum pater meus fuit liquens ceram, cuius filius, presbiter, fuit reminiscens animarum iacencium in purgatorio. 36. How moch cost a yerd of this [cloth]? Quanti uel quanto constabat vlna istius panni? [f. 75r] 37. John of feir face is of sotil wyte. Johannes pulcer facie / uel pulcra facia est subtilis ingenij / uel subtili ingenio. 38. The kyng of Inglond somtyme soiorns somtyme at London and somtym at Lyncolne. Rex Anglie perhendinat aliquam Londonijs et aliquam Lincolnie. SCHOOL EXERCISES FROM CANTERBURY c.1480 121 [f. 75v] 39. My em dwellis at Shene and my aunte at Yorke. Amiculus meus manet / uel moram trahit Vernone et amita mea Eboraci. 40. A sodear fyghtyng at Pomfrete was rewarded in Frans for his doghty dedys. Armuceps pugnans apud Pontemfrattum remunerabatur Francie pro suis artibus strenuis. [f. 79r] 41. I have byn at London and York, ij feir cites. Fui Londonijs et Eboraco que sunt due pulcre ciuitates. [f. 79v] 42. I Yerk is worƿ ij Beuerleys.36 Semel Eboracus valet bis Beuerlatum. [f. 94v] 43. Prym i-rong, it is tym to breakfast.37 Prima pulsato [sic], tempus est soluendi nostrum ieiunium. II. Proverbs, ff. 104r-105v [f. 104r] 1. Hur, hur, the shrew berys the bure.38 Vt, vt, prauus portat lappam. 2. He ƿat wyl not when he may, he shal not when he wold.39 Qui non vult dum quid, cum vellet forte nequibit. 3. When gam is best it is tym to rest.40 Dum ludus bonus est ipsum dimittere prodest. 4. He ƿat yeuyth me a litil wold my lyfe.41 Qui mihi paruum dat me longum viuere optat. 5. Spek no ƿyng but ƿat ƿu may a-wow.42 Nil de me loqui nil quam potest ipse vouere. 6. He fyshith wel that cachith a froge.43 Hic bene piscatur cum rana per hanc capiatur. 7. Nes no mon so shroid as a beger mad a lord.44 Nemo malignatur plus paupere quando leuatur. 8. Better is a byrd in hond then iiij owt.45 Plus valet in dextera volucris quam iiijor extra. 9. Com wynd com rayn, cum neuer a-yen.46 Ventus cum pluuia veniat nunquam retro verti. 10. It is euyl to tech a old dog curtesi.47 Nulla cani vetera possunt vrbana doceri. NICHOLAS ORME 122 11. Me sittyƿ a shrew at ƿe bord stid of a goodman.48 Ocupat in-cestus locum cum desit honestus. 12. He may wel swym ƿat is jwold by ƿe chyn.49 Nare potest melius qui mentem sustinet alius. 13. Who al couetith, all he lesith.50 Qui cupit omnia, perdere plurima sepe videtur. 14. Ned mak ƿe wold wyfe to trot.51 Currere non fesse viduam dat sepe necesse. 15. It is a hard batel ther no man skapis.52 Bella quis audiuit viuus postea viuit. [f. 104v] 16. Ner hope wer, hert wold to-brest.53 Nisi spes fulsiret, cito cor languida periri. 17. Euyl spone woll comyth fowl owt.54 Lanula filata male satur resata. 18. Honger makyƿ herd bones to [be] swete.55 Esse fabas duras fames faciunt tia dulces. 19. The shel sow etyƿ ƿe grownyng his mete.56 Sus taciturna vorat dum garrula laborat. 20. Ther ƿe feshis be best, ƿe women be worst.57 Qua melior piscibus, hic peior femina dicis. 21. The blynde etyth many a flye.58 Manducat muscas priuatus lumine multas. 22. When I byd ƿe the pyge, hold ƿe sacc.59 Dum porcum tibi do, saccum reserare memento. 23. Better is a lark then a whyt hares tayl.60 Plus valet alauda leporum quam candida cauda. 24. In doc, owt netyl, et cetera.61 Emula succede, mordax vrtica recede. 25. Ther is none so bold as blynd Liard.62 Nullus ita secus vadius sicut vt equus. 26. Me prechiƿ a nydil ƿat prechiƿ to a fole.63 Frustra consilitur vbi nulla fides reperitur. 27. A pyper lakyƿ moch ƿat lakyƿ his ouerlyppe.64 Fystulator caret multe qui [caret?] superiore labro. 28. Yet is bettir be one yed then al blynd.65 Melius est esse moneculus quam totaliter secus. 29. He ƿat wyl serue in hal, in ƿe mydes of the basun leteƿ water fal.66 In medio peluis dat aquam qui seruat in aulis. 30. Pryd goth before and sham comyƿ after.67 Fastus precedit, sequitur pudor et male ledit. 31. First a child crepith and afterward goth.68 Primo puer repit et postea pergere cepit. SCHOOL EXERCISES FROM CANTERBURY c.1480 123 [f. 105r] 32. It is no syn to drynke ƿe thyke after ƿe thyne.69 Non est commissum post clarum bibere pissum. 33. Be it bettir or be hit worse, Do after hym that berys the perse.70 Si bene siue male, qui fert loculum emitare. 34. Wel wer hym ƿat wyst to whom ƿat he might trust.71 Bene esset illi qui sciret cui fiduciam adhiberet. 35. V herynges for a peny, blod in ƿe gyl, Vj for a-nother, pyl garlik pyle.72 Quino alleco pro denario, sanguine in brancia / uel cenesta Et seno pro altero, excortica alium, excortica. 36. Good day, my roke is spone.73 Lux bona, prestetur tibi namque colus mea netur. 37. Who has no noƿer on, wyp his ars with a stone.74 Qui non habet stramen, cum petra terge foramen. 38. Well he fyghtes ƿat well fleith.75 Hic bene bellatur qui tanto sponte fugatur. 39. When ƿe fote warmyƿ, ƿe sho harmyƿ.76 Calcius arescit quum pes igne calescit. 40. Wer-wel, Wat, thy pake wryeth.77 O Waltere, vale, nam caret tua tercina vere. 41. Of a raggyd colt comyƿ a good hors.78 De hirco pullo fit pulcher equus. 42. In a good tym ƿe cro brak her ege.79 In bona tempora cornix fregit suum ouum. 43. Semnel hornis be no thornis.80 Non sunt artocopi pungentes cornua spini. 44. Wast onys makyƿ a redy huswyfe.81 Dat dans stultas talam vacuata facultas. 45. Adam, Sansonem, Dauid, Loth, et Salamon, Femina decipit; quis modo tutus erit?82 [Adam, Samson, David, Lot, and Solomon A woman deceived them; who then will be safe?] [f. 105v] 46. When bloyth the brom, then woyth ƿe grom; When bloyth ƿe fors, then shal he wo wurs.83 Rusticus equestis procus est, florente murica; Rusco florente, nulla gaudebit amica. 47. He ƿat no good can nor non wyl lerne, Tho he neuer thryf, who shal hym worn?84 Si quis nil noscat aliud nec discere gliscat, Quamuis non vigeat, quis prohibetur ei? NICHOLAS ORME 124 48. Bytwyn to stolis ƿe ars kyssith ƿe grownd.85 Inter stanna duo labitur anus humo. 49. It is bettyr late then nevyre.86 Melius est tarde quam nunquam velle vigere. 50. Profered serues stinkythe.87 Res olet oblata, res redolet si rogata. 51. Whan bale is hyest, bote is next.88 Cum plus pene gravat, medicina propinquior instat. 52. Brend honde dredythe fyre.89 Ignem formidat simel adusta manus. endnotes 1 On medieval school manuscripts, see Nicholas Orme, Education and Society in Medieval and Renaissance England (London and Ronceverte, 1989), especially pp. 73-82, and David Thomson, A Descriptive Catalogue of Middle English Grammatical Texts (New York and London, 1979). 2 Thomson, A Descriptive Catalogue, pp. 258-61. 3 British Library, Harley MS 1587, f. 120v. 4 F.A. Gasquet, ‘The Canterbury Claustral School in the 15th Century’, The Downside Review, 10 (1891), pp. 31-45, reprinted in The Old English Bible, 2nd ed. (London, 1908), pp. 234-43. 5 For his biography, see Joan Greatrex, Biographical Register of the English Cathedral Priories of the Province of Canterbury, c.1066 to 1540 (Oxford, 1997), p. 206. 6 G.H. Rooke, ‘Dom William Ingram and his Account-Book’, The Journal of Ecclesiastical History, 7 (1961), pp. 30-44. This writer had no knowledge of Gasquet’s work or of the Harley manuscript. 7 On medieval schools in Canterbury, see Nicholas Orme, Medieval Schools (New Haven and London, 2006), p. 351. In addition to the Christ Church almonry school there were: St Alphege; St Augustine’s Abbey (almonry grammar school); St Martin (reading, song, and grammar school); and the City (Bishop’s) grammar school. 8 On almonry boys and schools, see Roger Bowers, ‘The Almonry Schools of the English Monasteries, c.1265-1540’, in Monasteries and Society in Medieval Britain, ed. B. Thompson (Stamford, 1999), pp. 177-202. 9 W.G. Searle, Christ Church Canterbury, Cambridge Antiquarian Society Publications, 34 (1902), p. 106. 10 Harley MS 1587, f. 66v. 11 Orme, Medieval Schools, pp. 270-1. 12 Canterbury Cathedral Archives (hereafter CCA), Lit.MS/E/7-8 (Iste liber constat Willelmo Ingram, qui erat compositus anno domini MoCCCCoLXXVIIIo). The author is grateful to Mr Mark Bateson for guidance on the cathedral archives. 13 CCA, Lit.MS/D/12, f. 8v. 14 Ibid. 15 London, Lambeth Palace Library, Register of Thomas Bourchier, ordination lists. He was not ordained as priest up to 25 March 1486 (Bourchier’s last recorded ordination) or after 1 March 1488, when Archbishop Morton’s register begins. 16 CCA, Lit.MS/C/11; discussed by Rooke, ‘Dom William Ingram and his Account- Book’, pp. 30-44. SCHOOL EXERCISES FROM CANTERBURY c.1480 125 17 For further documents relating to Ingram, see CCA, DCc, ChChLet/11/139, and CCA, DCc, Ch.Ant./2/141. 18 British Library, Arundel MS 155. 19 Ibid., Arundel MS 68, f. 38r. 20 On the poem, see Nicholas Orme, ‘Castrianus: a fifteenth-century poem of school life’, Notes and Queries, 255 (2010), 484-90. 21 Evrard of Béthune, Eberhardi Bethuniensis Graecismus, ed. J. Wrobel (Breslau, 1887), p. 54. 22 On latins and vulgaria, see Orme, Education and Society, pp. 73-82, and Medieval Schools, pp. 109-18. 23 The standard modern collection of medieval Latin proverbs is H. Walther, Proverbia sententiarumque Latinitatis medii aevi, 6 vols (Göttingen, 1963-9), hereafter Proverbia, while those of early English proverbs are B.J. Whiting, Proverbs, Sentences, and Proverbial Phrases from English Writings Mainly before 1500 (Cambridge, MA, and London, 1968), hereafter Whiting; M.P. Tilley, A Dictionary of the Proverbs in England in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries (Ann Arbor, 1950), hereafter Tilley; and The Oxford Dictionary of English Proverbs, ed. W.G. Smith and F.P. Wilson, 3rd ed. (Oxford, 1970), hereafter ODEP. 24 Orme, Education and Society, p. 83; idem, ‘More Pages from a Barlinch School- Book’, Somerset Archaeology and Natural History, 134 (1990), 183-5. 25 Orme, Medieval Schools, pp. 118-20. 26 A proverb: Whiting, P102; Tilley, P137. gyglote: giglet, whore. mo: more. meca: perhaps a word connected with meretrix, but a rhyme with femina seems to be required. 27 A proverb: Whiting, A207; Tilley, A 341; ODEP, p. 395. 28 It is to: one ought to, we are going to. evyns: vigils, the previous day or evening of the feasts of the Virgin Mary. 29 ‘A thief has taken away my father’s old ivory bought for knife handles’. 30 There is no significance in the number twenty-one in this and the next sentence, except to show the rule that the ‘one’ is in the singular even though it refers to a number in the plural. 31 Gone: gown. 32 Liste: liking. 33 Correctly pro. 34 Non mete: noonmeat, midday meal. 35 There is a curiously similar sentence in a Bristol school collection of c.1430: ‘Y smothe flynt with the smytyng yrn and ther fel a sparkyl yn-to tyndyr where-of I tend the lygh yn the chylle [i.e. light in a vessel], while the sone hath rosted a colop to his nonemete’ (N. Orme, Education and Society in Medieval and Renaissance England (London and Ronceverte, 1989), p. 110). 36 One York is worth two Beverleys. 37 Prime was the first daylight service of the Church; when the bell rang for it, breakfast was served to the schoolboys, either before school began or possible as a break if the school day had already started. 38 Not otherwise recorded; hur: an interjection, perhaps related to ‘har’ a variant of ‘harou’, an exclamation of anger and contempt (Middle English Dictionary, eds H. Kurath, S. M. Kuhn, et al. (Ann Arbor and London, 1956-2001); the author is grateful to Mr John Simpson of The Oxford English Dictionary for the suggestion. 39 Proverbia, 24417; Whiting, W275; ODEP, p. 890. quid: correctly quibit. 40 Proverbia, 6584; Whiting, G26. 41 Proverbia, 24266a (this MS only); Tilley, G113; ODEP, p. 304, meaning ‘he who gives me a little wishes me to live long’. NICHOLAS ORME 126 42 Proverbia, 16692 (this MS only). loqui: perhaps correctly loquere. 43 Proverbia, 10818; Whiting, F675; ODEP, pp. 263, 273. 44 Proverbia, 16368c (this MS only); Whiting, B186. 45 Proverbia, 21802; Whiting, B301; ODEP, p. 59. 46 Proverbia, 33025; Whiting, W300. 47 Proverbia, 18892; Tilley, D500; ODEP, p. 805. vetera: correctly veteri. 48 Proverbia, 19697. me: one, there. 49 Proverbia, 15884a (this MS only); Whiting, C232; Tilley, C349; ODEP, p. 794. Jwold: past participle of ‘wield’, governed or handled. 50 Proverbia, 24002; Whiting, A91; Tilley, A127; ODEP, p. 9. lesith: loseth. 51 Proverbia, 4781; Whiting, N54; Tilley, N79; ODEP, p. 558. wold: old. 52 Proverbia, 1972a (this MS only). 53 Whiting, H475; Tilley, H605; ODEP, p. 384. periri: correctly periret. 54 Whiting, W571. 55 Proverbia, 7227a (this MS only); Whiting, H643; Tilley, H822; ODEP, p. 392. tia: perhaps a mistake for ita. Different versions of the proverb talk of bones and beans; here the English has ‘bones’ and the Latin ‘beans’. 56 Proverbia, 30917; Whiting, S535. shel: perhaps a mistake for still. 57 Not otherwise recorded; dicis: perhaps a mistake for a word rhyming with piscibus. 58 Proverbia, 14389 (this MS only); Whiting, B348; Tilley, B451; ODEP, p. 67. 59 Whiting, P192. byd: offer or give. 60 Proverbia, 21787a (this MS only). If not a piece of folklore (e.g. signs of good luck), perhaps inspired by the rhyme alauda-cauda. 61 Whiting, D288; Tilley, D421-2; ODEP, p. 402. A proverb, meaning ‘now this, now that’, taken from a charm against nettle rash. emula: correctly enula. 62 Whiting, B71; Tilley B112; ODEP, p. 72. Liard: lyard, a name for a grey horse; other versions of the proverb substitute Bayard. vadius: probably a mistake for validus. 63 Proverbia, 10043. me: one (preacheth to). 64 Tilley, L324; ODEP, p. 627. multe: correctly multo. 65 Proverbia, 14595c (this MS only); Whiting, M263; compare Tilley, E227, E239, M303, and ODEP, pp. 56, 596. yet: it. moneculus: correctly monoculus. 66 Proverbia, 11834a (this MS only). It means that water for hand-washing should be poured carefully into the basin. 67 Proverbia, 8877; Whiting, P385; Tilley, P576; ODEP, p. 647. 68 Proverbia, 22391a; Whiting, C202; Tilley, C332; ODEP, p. 120. 69 Proverbia, 17595 (this MS only). pissum: correctly spissum. 70 Proverbia, 28234a (this MS only); Whiting, P441; Tilley, P646; ODEP, p. 33. 71 Not otherwise recorded. 72 Not otherwise recorded. It means that you can buy five fresh (‘blood in the gill’) herrings for a penny and a further six for another penny, for eating with peeled garlic. This is presumably a market or street-seller’s cry, unless it refers to a game based thereon. cenesta: correctly cenesia. 73 Proverbia, 14137a; Whiting, R163. roke: distaff. 74 Proverbia, 24400a (this MS only). Presumably it means that ‘he who has nothing else must ...’. stramen: straw, commonly used for the purpose. terge: tergi would be better. 75 Proverbia, 10815a (this MS only); Whiting, F141; Tilley, D79; ODEP, p. 256. 76 Whiting, F484. Warming one’s shoe by a fire hurts the leather. SCHOOL EXERCISES FROM CANTERBURY c.1480 127 77 Proverbia, 19600a (this MS only). wer-wel: a mistranscription of fer-well, farewell. pakke: rucksack or pedlar’s pack. wryeth: perhaps wrayeth, i.e. reveals or betrays [you]; the Latin equivalent caret means ‘is lacking’. tercina: for cercina, a form of sarcina, a sack. Wat and his deceitful pack seem to have been proverbial: compare Whiting, 56. Jack, who keeps his love in his pack, occurs in Secular Lyrics of the XIVth and XVth Centuries, ed. R. H. Robbins, 2nd ed. (Oxford, 1955), p. 7. 78 Proverbia, 5071a (this MS only); Whiting, C376; Tilley, C522; ODEP, p. 662. hircus: rough like a goat. 79 Not otherwise recorded. It is a good thing when a crow breaks its own egg. 80 Proverbia, 18528 (this MS only); Whiting, H486, with a similar Latin translation. semnel hornis: fine (simnel) bread rolls in the shape of croissants. 81 Not otherwise recorded. ‘Experience of waste makes one a better manager.’ 82 Proverbia, 519. 83 Proverbia, 27022c (this MS only); Whiting, B565. A young man woos better in springtime when the broom is out, than later when the furze blooms. equestis: correctly equestris. murica: a form of myrica, broom. rusco: correctly rustico. 84 Proverbia, 29054a (this MS only); Whiting, G351. worn: warn. 85 Proverbia, 12624; Whiting, S794; Tilley, S900; ODEP, p. 57. 86 Whiting, L89; Tilley, L85; ODEP, p. 54. 87 Proverbia, 26736a (this MS only); Whiting, S167; Tilley, S252; ODEP, p. 648. 88 Proverbia, 4322b; Whiting, B22; Tilley, B59; ODEP, p. 28. ‘When misfortune is worst, reward is at hand.’ 89 Proverbia, 11387; Whiting, H53; compare C201, Tilley, C297, and ODEP, p. 92, substituting ‘child’ for ‘hand’.