Text 81: Chaucer's The Friar's Tale (ii)

Original Text:

This worthy lymytour / this noble frere
He made al wey / a manere louring cheere
Vp on the Somnour / but for honeftee
No vileyns word / as yet to hym spak he
But ate lafte / he seyde vn to the wyf
Dame quod he / god yeue yow right good lyf
Ye han heer touched / al fo mote I thee
In scole matere / gpret difficultee

Ye han seyd muche thing / right wel I seye
But dame / here as we ryden by the weye
Vs nedeth nat / to speken / but of game
And lete auctoritees / on goddess name
To prechyng / and to scole of clergye
But if it like / to this compaignye
I wol yow / of a Somnour telle a game

Our Modern translation:

This worthy limiter, this noble friar
He always made a kind of scowling face
At the Summoner, but for courtesy
No insolent word as yet he spoke to him
But finally he said to the wife:
“My lady”, said he, “God give you a good life!
You have here mentioned, as I must tell you,
school matters of great difficulty.
You have said many things right well, I say;
But, my lady, here as we ride along our way,
We need not to speak of anything but of pleasant matters,
And leave authorities, in God’s name,
to preach and to their schools of clergymen.
But if it pleases to all this company,then
I will tell you an amusing story about a summoner.

Text 79 Chaucer's The Parson's Tale

Our Modern translation:

After avarice comes gluttony, which is explicitly against the commandment of God. What Gluttony is?. Gluttony is an unmeasurable desire to eat or to drink, or anything else to satisfy this unmeasurable desire to eat or to drink. This sin corrupted all this world, as is well shown by the sin of Adam and Eve.
Who is accustomed to this sin of gluttony, he may withstand no other sin. He must be at the service of all the vices, that is in the Devil's treasure is where he hides himself and rests. This sin has many species of different types of Gluttony. The first is drunkenness, which is the horrible sepulture of man's reason; and therefore, when a man is drunk he has lost his reason; and this is a deadly sin. But truly, when a man is not accustomed to strong drink, and perhaps he doesn’t know the strength of the drink, or he has feebleness in his mind, or has worked hard, from which he drinks too much , therefore he suddenly caught by drink, it is not a deadly sin, but venial.
The second kind of gluttony is that the spirit of man gets into trouble because drunkenness takes the discretion away from his wit. The third kind of gluttony is when a man devours his food and has no correct manner of eating. The fourth kind of Gluttony is when, through the great abundance of his food, the moistures in his body become disturbed. The fifth kind of Gluttony is forgetfulness is produced by too much drinking, whereby sometimes a man forgets in the morning what he did even the night before.
These are the five fingers of the Devil's hand by means of he draws folk into sin.

An excerpt from Thomas Hoccleve’s poem The Regiment of Princes, a tribute to Chaucer

Original text:

Alas my worthy mayster honorable

Thys landes verray tresouur and rychesse

Deth by thy deth hath harme irreparable

Vnto vs don; hir vengeable duresse

Despoyled hath this land of the swetnesse

Of rethorik, for vnto Tullius

Was nere man so lyk amonges vs.

Also, who was hier in philosophy

To Aristotle in our tongue but thou?

The steppes of Virgile in poesie

Thow filwedist eek, men wot wel enow…

.

(Original text extracted from page 242 from Freeborn, Dennis. From Old English to Standard English. 3rd edition, New York, Palgrave MacMillan,2006)

.

Our Modern translation:

Alas my worthy and honorable master,

true treasure and wealth of this land,

Death has done irreparable harm

To us by your death; her vengeful hardness
Has despoiled this land of the sweetness

Of rhetoric, for since Tullius
There was no man like this among us.

Also, who was heir in philosophy
to Aristotle in our tongue but you?

The steps of Virgil in poetry

you followed too, it is known well enough...

Text 77: From Thomas Usk’s Appeal, 1384 (ii):

Original text:

Also, atte Goldsmithes halle, when al the people was assembled, the mair, John Northampton reherced as euel as he koude of the eleccion on the day to forn, & seyde that truly: ‘Sirs, thus be ye shape for to be ouer ronne, & that ,’ quod he, ‘I nel noght soeffre; lat vs rather al be ded atones than soeffre such a vylenye.’ & than the comunes, vpon these wordes, wer stered, & seiden truly they wolde go to a nother eleccion, & noght soeffre thys wrong, to be ded al ther for attones in on tyme; and than be the mair, John Northampton, was euery man boden gon hom, & kome fast a yein strong in to Chepe with al her craftes, & I wene ther wer a boute a XXX craftes, & in Chepe they sholden haue sembled to go to a newe eleccion, &, truly, had noght the aldermen kome to trete, & maked that John Northampton bad the poeple gon hoom, they wolde haue go to a Newe eleccion, & in that hete haue slayn hym that wolde haue letted it, yf they had myght; and ther of I appele John Northampton.

(Original text extracted from page 240 from Freeborn, Dennis. From Old English to Standard English. 3rd edition, New York, Palgrave MacMillan,2006)

Our Modern translation:

Also, at the Goldsmiths Hall, when all the people were gathered, the mayor, John Northampton, criticised as much as he could of the election on the previous day and said that truly: “Sirs, this sets the scene for us to be trampled under foot, and that”, he said, “I will not tolerate; let us rather die here and now than suffer such mischief.” And then the common people, on listening to these words, were stirred, and said truly they wanted to hold another election, and not tolerate this wrong, or else all die together; and then by the mayor, John Northampton, every man was told to go home and come back quickly in strength to Cheapside with all their fellow craftsmen, and I reckon there were about 30 different craftsmen, and they were meant to assemble in Cheapside to hold a new election, and, truly, if the aldermen had not come to negotiate, and persuaded John Northampton to ask the people to go home, they would have held a new election and, in the heat of the moment, would have killed anyone who tried to stop them, if they had strength; and of this I accuse John Northampton.

Text 76: From Thomas Usk´s Appeal, 1384 (i)

Original text:

I Thomas Vsk… knowleched thes wordes & wrote hem with myn owne honde… Also, that day that Sir Nichol Brembre was chose mair, a non after mete kom John Northampton to John Mores hows, & thides kom Richard Norbury & William Essex, & ther it was accorded that the mair, John Northampton, sholde sende after the persones that thilk tyme wer in the comun conseil of craftes, and after the wardeyns of craftes, so that thei sholde kome to the goldsmitches halle on the morwe after, & ther the mair sholde speke with hem, to loke & ordeigne howm thilk eleccion of Sir Nichol brembre might be letted; &, nad it be for drede of our lord the kyng, I wot wel eueri man sholde haue be in others top. And than sente he Richard Norbury, Robert Rysby, & me, Thomas Vsk, to the Neyte, to the duk of lancastre, to enforme hym in thys wyse: “Sir, to day, ther we wolden haue go to the eleccion of the mair in goddess peas & the kynges, ther kom jn an orrible companye of criers, no man not whiche, & ther, with oute any vsage but be strength, chosen Sir Nichol Brembre mair, a yein our maner of eleccion to forn thys vsed; wher fore we preye yow yf we might haue the kynges writ to go to a Newe Eleccion.”. And the duk seide: “Nay, certes, writ shul ye non haue, auise yow amonges yowr selue”. & her of I appele John Northampton, John More, Richard Norbury, & William Essex.

(Original text extracted from page 239-240 from Freeborn, Dennis. From Old English to Standard English. 3rd edition, New York, Palgrave MacMillan,2006)

Our Modern translation:

I, Thomas Usk… acknowledged these words and wrote them with my own hand…Also, that day that Sir Nichol Brembre was chosen mayor, John Northampton came soon after dinner to John Mores’s house, and there came Richard Norbury & William Essex, and there, it was agreed that the mayor, John Northampton, would send for the people that at that time were in the common council of trades, and for the wardens of trades, so that they would come to the Goldsmiths Hall on the following morning, and there, the mayor would speak to them, to consider and arrange how that election of Sir Nichol Brembre might be overturned; and had it not been for fear of our lord the king, I know well that everyone would have been attacking each other. And then he sent Richard Norbury, Robert Rysby and me, Thomas Usk, to the Neyte, to the Duke of Lancaster, to inform him in this way: “Sir, today, we wished to come to the election of the mayor in God’s and the King’s peace, but there came in a horrible crowd of hecklers, who no one knew, and there, without any other right but sheer force, chose Sir Nichol Brembre as mayor, contrary to the electoral procedures that we have used in the past; consequently, we ask you to issue for us a writ from the king to hold a new election”. And the Duke said: “No, indeed, you should have no writ, sort out the matter among yourself”. And of this, I accuse John Northampton, John More, Richard Norbury and William Essex.

Text 75: The Travels of Sir John Mandeville (ii):

Original text (in a South-East Midlands dialect, 14th century):

Egιpt ιs a ſtrong contre
7 manye plιous hauenys
ben therιn for there lιth
ιn eche heuene toū gret
ryches ιn the entre of the
hauene / Towarð the eſt
ιs the reðe se that rēnyth
rιght to the cete of coſ
tantyn the noble / The
contre of egιpt ιs ιn
lenthe v ιorneιs / but not
bt ιιj ιn breðe for deſertʾ
that aryn there / Betwȳ
egιp and the lond that ιs
callyd / Nūðynea arn
xιι ιoūneιs ιn ðeſertιs
the folk that wonyðe
ιn that contre arn crιſ
tene men but thy arȳ
blake of colo for the ou
gret hete that ιs there
and brennynge of the ſonne.

(Original text extracted from page 239 from Freeborn, Dennis. From Old English to Standard English. 3rd edition, New York, Palgrave MacMillan,2006)

Our Modern translation:

Egypt is a harsh country, and many dangerous ports are therein for there it lies in each port town great wealth in the entry of the port. Towards the est is the Red Sea that runs right to the city of Constantine the noble.The country of Egypt is in length five journeys, but only in breadth for deserts that are there. Between Egypt and the land that is called Numidia there are twelve journeys in deserts. The people that lived in that country are christian men but they are black of colour for the excessive great heat that is there and burning of the sun.

Text 74: The Boke of Mawndevile

Original text (in a South-East Midlands dialect, 14th century):

… That bereth applis grete plente

And who þat cleueth an appul atwyn

A litille beest he fyndith thereyn.

To a litille lombe liche it ys

Of bloode and bone and eke of flessh

And welle shapen atte folle

In al thinge saufe it hath noo wolle

And men and women þere meest and leest

Eten of þat frute so with þat beest.

(Original text extracted from page 238 from Freeborn, Dennis. From Old English to Standard English. 3rd edition, New York, Palgrave MacMillan,2006)

Our Modern translation:

The Book of Mandeville:

...That apples born in great plentyand who cleaves an apple in twoa little beast he finds therein.To a little lamb like it isof blood, bone and also of fleshand well shaped completelyin all things except that it has no wooland men and women there most and leasteat of that fruit so with that beast.

Text 73: The Travels of Sir John Mandeville (i)

Original text (in a South-East Midlands dialect, 14th century) :

Now schall seye зou seweyngly of contrees and yles þat ben beзonde the contrees þat I haue spoken of. Wherefore I seye зou, in passynge be the lond of Cathaye toward the high Ynde, and toward Bachayre, men passen be a kyngdom þat men cleppen Caldilhe, þat is a full fair contre. And þere growthe a maner of fruyt, as þough it weren gowrdes; and whan þei ben rype, men kutten hem ato and men fynden withinne a lytyll best, in flesch, in bon, and blode as þough it were a lytill lomb, withouten wolle. And men eten bothe the frut and the best: and þat is a gret mervueylle. Of þat frute I haue eten, allþough it were wondirfull: but þat I knowe wel, þat god is merueyllous in his werkes.

(Original text extracted from page 238 from Freeborn, Dennis. From Old English to Standard English. 3rd edition, New York, Palgrave MacMillan,2006)

Our Modern translation:

Now I tell you in what follows about the countries and isles that are beyond the countries I have spoken of . Wherefore I say you, in passing by the land of China towards the high India, and towards Bacharye, men pass by a kingdom that they call Caldilhe, that is a very nice country. And there it grows a kind of fruit, as if it was pumpkins; and when they are ripe, men cut then in two parts, and find them within a little beast, in flesh, bone and blood, as if it was a little lamb without wool. And men eat both the fruit and the beast: and that is wonderful. Of that fruit I have eaten, although it was....: but what I know well is that God is marvellous in his works.