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The Pore Caitif: An Introductory Study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 July 2016

Mary Teresa Brady
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Extract

The Pore Caitif is a late fourteenth-century Middle English manual of religious instruction intended for the use of the laity. That the compiler himself applied this title to his manual is extremely doubtful. It seems, rather, to be a convenient label of identification of the treatise drawn from his characteristic way of referring to himself: ‘This tretis compilid of a pore caitif'; and again, ‘I my silf caitif and wrecche.' This pseudonym behind which he cloaked his identity must have been transferred, however, at a fairly early date to serve as a title for the treatise, because it appears in several late fourteenth-century manuscripts and in a will proved in 1422.

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Articles
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Traditio , Volume 10 , 1954 , pp. 529 - 548
Copyright
Copyright © Fordham University Press 

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References

1 British Museum, MS Harley 2336, fol. 1r (incipit).Google Scholar

2 Ibid. fol. 118v.Google Scholar

3 Bodleian Library, MS Ashmole 1286, fol. 32v; Glasgow, Hunterian Museum MS 496, fols. 18r, 164r.Google Scholar

4 The Fifty Earliest English Wills in the Court of Probate, London, A.D. 1387-1439 (ed. J. Furnivall, Frederick, EETS [Original Series] 78; London 1882) 50.Google Scholar

5 MS Harley 2336, fol. 1r.Google Scholar

6 R, Gerald. Owst makes this point, Preaching in Medieval England (Cambridge 1926) 280.Google Scholar

7 Harley 2336 MS, fol. 1r.Google Scholar

8 Ibid. fol. 118r.Google Scholar

9 Cf. Yorkshire Writers: Richard Rolle of Hampole, An English Father of the Church and his Followers (ed. Horstmann, Carl; London 1895-1896) II 420-421; Mary Caroline Spalding, The Middle English Charters of Christ (Bryn Mawr College Monographs 15; Bryn Mawr 1914) 99; John Edwin Wells, A Manual of the Writings in Middle English 1050-1400 (New Haven 1916) 369, 372, 482; Margaret Deanesly, The Lollard Bible and Other Medieval Biblical Versions (Cambridge 1920) 346-347; Emily Allen, Hope, ‘Some Fourteenth Century Borrowings from Ancren Riwle,’ Modern Language Review 18 (1923) 1-8; Pfander, H. G., ‘Some Medieval Manuals of Religious Instruction in England and Observations on Chaucer's Parson's Tale,’ Journal of English and Germanic Philology 35 (1936) 251.Google Scholar

10 Chiefly by Hope Emily Allen. Cf. ‘On Richard Rolle's Lyrics,’ MLR 14 (1919) 320–321; ‘Some Fourteenth Century Borrowings’ 1-8; Writings Ascribed to Richard Rolle Hermit of Hampole, and Materials for his Biography (New York and London 1927) 63, 406.Google Scholar

11 See infra, section III.Google Scholar

12 Writings of the Reverend and Learned John Wickliff (British Reformers, ed. The Religious Tract Society, vol. 1; London 1831) 49–122. The book was reprinted by the Presbyterian Board of Publication in Philadelphia, in 1842. The last tract, ‘The Mirror of Chastity,’ is entirely missing, as well as ‘several quotations from the fathers, occasional repetitions, and some other passages’ (p. 49).Google Scholar

13 Cf. the unpubl. diss. (Fordham 1954) by Sister Mary Teresa Brady, R.D.C., ‘The Pore Caitif, Edited from MS. Harley 2336 with Introduction and Notes.’ An edition of the text (from all available manuscripts) is now in preparation.Google Scholar

14 Cave, William, Scriptorum ecclesiasticorum Historia literaria a Christo nato usque ad saeculum XIV (London 1688-1698) I 54.Google Scholar

15 Tanner, Thomas, Bibliotheca Britannico-Hibernica (London 1748) 769–770. The Latinized form of the incipit comes from Bale, see infra at n. 65.Google Scholar

16 Lewis, John, The History of the Life and Sufferings of the Reverend and Learned Wiclif, John, D.D. (2nd ed. Oxford 1820) 202–204.Google Scholar

17 A Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts in the British Museum (London 1808-1812) II 657.Google Scholar

18 Loc. cit. Google Scholar

19 Tracts and Treatises of John de Wycliffe, D.D. (ed. Vaughan, Robert; London 1845) 92.Google Scholar

20 The Lollard Bible 347.Google Scholar

21 ‘Some Fourteenth Century Borrowings’ 4; see infra note 40.Google Scholar

22 ‘Some Medieval Manuals of Religious Instruction’ 251.Google Scholar

23 Lee Utley, Francis, ‘The Layman's Complaint and the Friar's Answer,’ Harvard Theological Review 38 (1945) 141.Google Scholar

24 fol. 93r. — In this and the subsequent citations where no particular MS si mentioned, the titles used are those of the New York Public Library MS 68.Google Scholar

25 fol. 91v.Google Scholar

26 fol. 85r.Google Scholar

27 p. 153 (modern pagination).Google Scholar

28 fol. 93r.Google Scholar

29 fol. 97v.Google Scholar

30 fol. 77v.Google Scholar

31 fol. 47v.Google Scholar

32 fols. 82rff.Google Scholar

33 fols. 102vff.Google Scholar

34 Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts II 657.Google Scholar

35 Cf. fols. 101rff., 122rff.Google Scholar

36 Abbott, T. K., Catalogue of the Manuscripts in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin (Dublin 1900) 80–81.Google Scholar

37 Tracts and Treatises of John de Wycliffe 92.Google Scholar

38 Cf. fols. 79vff., and 90vff.Google Scholar

39 Cambridge, St. John's College MS 195, Trinity College MS 336, University MS Ff. VI. 34, British Museum, MS Add. 30,897, MSS Harley 953, 2335, 2336, MS Stowe 38; Lambeth Palace MSS 484, 541; Bodleian Library, MS Ashmole 1286, MS Douce 288, MS James 3, MSS Rawlinson C 69, C 882, MS Bodley 3 Exeter College, Oxford MS 49 John Rylands Library MS 87; Paris, MS, B. N. Anglais 41; Dublin, Trinity College MS 520; Glasgow, Hunterian Museum MSS 496, 520, New York Public Library MS 68. Fifteen other MSS contain only partial texts of The Pore Caitif and afford no enlightenment in the problem of the number and order of the tracts. Consequently, we omit them from consideration here.Google Scholar

40 In the MS, an annotation appears just above the ‘Crede’: ‘Here begynneth the Credo that is the beginnynge of the pore caytiff and be cause that the mater of the forseyd book pore caytiff stondyn not here in order.’ The same hand has noted next to the first of the inserted tracts ‘This longeth not to the pore caytyf.’ In the margin of fol. 117v, at the beginning of the Pore Caitif tract on the Commandments, the same hand has written ‘This is the secunde mater of the pore caytyf.’ The same hand has then marked each of the succeeding tracts as the third, fourth, fifth, etc., matter of The Pore Caitif. Hope Emily Allen refers to the hand as contemporary with the MS, ‘Some Fourteenth Century Borrowings’ 4.Google Scholar

41 The tract may be found in The English Works of Wyclif (ed. D. Matthew, Frederic, EETS, O. S. 74: London 1880) 180–186. Jones ruled it out as being Wyclif's on grounds of style, ‘The Authenticity of Some English Works Ascribed to Wycliffe,’ Anglia 30 (1907) 266. Workman, in this instance and with regard to the major portion of the works assigned by Matthew to Wyclif, remarks: ‘The writings are genuine enough as far as matter goes; the voice is the voice of Wyclif though the hand is not always his.’ John Wyclif: A Study of the English Medieval Church (Oxford 1926) I 331 (Appendix C).Google Scholar

42 In The English Works of Wyclif, ed. D. Matthew, F., chapter six of a treatise ‘Of Faith, Hope and Charity’ deals with the sixteen properties of charity and is similar to this piece. Matthew thinks the work is by a disciple, as the style is not Wyclif's. Jones (266) and Workman (I 330) agree.Google Scholar

43 This is definitely assigned to Wyclif. It has been printed in Select English Works of John Wyclif (ed. Arnold, Thomas, Oxford 1869-1871) III 188-201.Google Scholar

44 This is the Wyclifite tract printed in Select English Works of John Wyclif III 119-167.Google Scholar

45 This tract is printed in The English Works of Wyclif 203-208. Matthew believes it to be an authentic work of Wyclif's, remarking that ‘the tone and manner are Wyclif's,’ and that the invective ‘against the frivolity of the gentry suits better a man who had lived at court than one of the obscure poor preachers’ (203). Workman also assigns it to Wyclif (I 331).Google Scholar

46 This is actually the prologue to the entire treatise. It is followed by the tract ‘The Bileeue.’Google Scholar

47 MS Harley 2336, fol. lr.Google Scholar

48 Ibid. Google Scholar

49 Ibid. fol. 1v.Google Scholar

50 MSS Bodley 938, Harley 2322 and Additional B 66 have completely dropped the prologue establishing this order. MS Camb. Hh. 1.12 has modified it to suit its own pattern of tracts. No conclusion can be drawn whether MS Harley 1197 had a prologue. Leaves are wanting at the beginning of the MS.Google Scholar

51 Cf. Concilia Magnae Britanniae et Hiberniae (ed. Wilkins, David; London 1737) II 51ff. Cf. also John Laimbeer Peckham, Archbishop Peckham as a Religious Educator (Yale Studies in Religion 7; Scottdale, Penna. 1934), and the recent biography by Miss Douie, D. L., Archbishop Pecham (Oxford 1952),Google Scholar

52 B.N. MS Anglais 41, fol. 8r.Google Scholar

53 fol. 140v. Somewhat similar, MS Harley 953, fol. 107r.Google Scholar

54 It has been pointed out, e.g. by Philip Schaff, The Creeds of Christendom (New York 1877) I 22, that the legend according to which the Creed was composed by the apostles before their separation from Jerusalem, each of them under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost contributing an article, apparently had its origin in Pseudo-Augustinian sermons, for earlier references to apostolic authorship are without the distribution alluded to. The order of apostles as expressed in Sermo 240 (PL 39.2189) is identical with that in The Pore Caitif, while Sermo 241 (ibid. 2190) gives a different order. Cf. also Bühler, Curt F., ‘The Apostles and the Creed,’ Speculum 28 (1953) 335-339. Mr. Bühler gives a brief history of the tradition which apportions the articles amongst the several apostles and cites a number of Latin, French, German, Dutch, and English texts in which it occurs. He points out some fifteen variations in the order of apostles or combinations of articles. Other Middle English expositions of the Creed which incorporate the legend include those in The Book of Vices and Virtues, The Ayenbite of Inwyt, Caxton's Ryal Book (all descendants of Lorens d’Orleans’ Somme des Vices et des Vertues), and Speculum Christiani. Google Scholar

55 The material of this section shows remarkable parallels with relevant portions of ‘The Pricke of Conscience.’ The presentation of the four degrees of men who will be present at the Judgment, the stern qualities of God as Judge, specific sins of commission and omission for which reckoning must be yielded, the various accusers who will condemn man, are almost identical in both works.Google Scholar

56 The nature and extent of The Pore Caitif borrowings from Rolle will be fully dealt with in a subsequent article.Google Scholar

57 Cf. ‘Some Fourteenth Century Borrowings’ 1-8; Writings Ascribed to Richard Rolle 218.Google Scholar

58 Spalding, The Middle English Charters of Christ (n. 9 supra) edits the text of several charters and provides a general introduction to the type.Google Scholar

59 At the end of the tract appears the statement: ‘Al this sentence seith seynt austyn in his book to the eerl.’ MSS Trinity College, Cambridge 336, Tanner 336, New York Public Library 68, Hunterian Museum 496 and 520 have ‘to the eerl Iulian. ‘The work referred to is the Pseudo-Augustinian Liber exhortationis, or De salutaribus documentis, whose actual author is Paulinus of Aquileia (d. 802). Cf. PL 40.1047-1078 = PL 99. 197-282. The book was apparently known to the late Middle Ages as ‘Augustinus ad Julianum Comitem.’ It is cited by Gratian as such in his Decretum.Google Scholar

60 Yorkshire Writers II 420.Google Scholar

61 The English Text of the Ancrene Riwle (ed. Day, Mabel, EETS, O. S. 225; London 1952) 80.Google Scholar

62 Ibid. p. 81.Google Scholar

63 Cf. C. 23 q. 4 c. 4 (ed. Friedberg, , Corpus juris canonici I [Leipzig 1879] 899-900).Google Scholar

64 Moralia 6.61 (PL 75.764); cf. also Homiliae in Ezeeh. 2.2.9-10 (PL 76.953-954).Google Scholar

65 Bale, John, Scriptorvm Illustrium Bryttannie, quam nunc Angliam & Scotiam uocant: Catalogus (Basle 1559) 454.Google Scholar

66 Todd, James H., An Apology for Lollard Doctrine (Camden Society Publications 20; London 1842) xvii-xviii; Walter Shirley, W., A Catalogue of the Original Works of John Wyclif (Oxford 1865) viii; and Thomas Arnold, Select English Works of John Wyclif I i, xiv, have all censured Bale's indiscriminate and inaccurate attribution of works to Wyclif.Google Scholar

67 Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Historia Liltraria I 54.Google Scholar

68 Bibliotheca Britannico-Hibernica 769-770.Google Scholar

69 Ibid. 770.Google Scholar

70 History of the Life and Sufferings of … John Wiclif 202-204. Cf. supra at n. 16.Google Scholar

71 Hervey Baber, Henry, The New Testament, Translated from the Latin, in the Year 1380, by John Wyclif, D.D., To Which are prefixed, Memoirs of the Life, Opinions , and Writings of Dr. Wiclif; and An Historical Account of the Saxon and English Versions of the Scriptures, previous to the Opening of the Fifteenth Century (London 1810) xlvii.Google Scholar

72 Vaughan, Robert, The Life and Opinions of John de Wycliffe, D.D. (2nd ed.; London 1831) II 385.Google Scholar

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75 C. Carrick, J., Wycliffe and the Lollards (New York 1908) 141.Google Scholar

76 See supra n. 12.Google Scholar

77 A Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts in the British Museum I 481, 595; II 654, 657, 178.Google Scholar

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83 Ibid. n. 3. — On the flyleaf of British Museum MS Harley 2336 is an inscription: ‘Dixit Episcopus Cicestrensis quod Frater Minor compilavit hunc librum in suo defensorio.’ Concerning this, the Harleian cataloguer remarked: ‘I doubt not but that this Bishop of Chichester was Reginald Pecok; who was thought to favor the Lollards, and was openly persecuted & deprived as guilty of Heresy’ (A Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts II 657). Shirley popularized the theory.Google Scholar

84 A Catalogue of the Original Works of John Wyclif 55.Google Scholar

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87 Montague Rhodes James, A Descriptive Catalogue of the Manuscripts in the Library of St. John's College, Cambridge (Cambridge 1913) 230–231.Google Scholar

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89 Catalogue of Additions to the Manuscripts in the British Museum 1876-1881 (London 1882) 126; William Macray, in Catalogi codicum manuscriptorum Bibliothecae Bodleianae, Pars V (Rawlinson MSS: Oxford 1862-1900) II 21, 388; Moses Tyson, Hand-List of the Collection of English Manuscripts in The John Rylands Library (Manchester 1928) 20.Google Scholar

90 The Lollard Bible 346 n. 5.Google Scholar

91 Ibid.Google Scholar

92 Cf. Hope Emily Allen, ‘Some Fourteenth Century Borrowings’ 4; Writings Ascribed to Richard Rolle 406.Google Scholar

93 Cf. Montague Rhodes James, The Western Manuscripts in the Library of Trinity College, Cambridge (Cambridge 1900-1904) I 462-463; James, M. R. and Jenkins, Claude, A Descriptive Catalogue of the Manuscripts in the Library of Lambeth Palace (Cambridge 1930-1932) 668-669; John Young and Henderson Aitken, P., A Catalogue of the Manuscripts in the Library of the Hunterian Museum in the University of Glasgow (Glasgow 1908) 408, 422.Google Scholar

94 Wells, Manual (n. 9) 482.Google Scholar

95 John Wyclif II 384.Google Scholar

96 Ibid. 392.Google Scholar

97 Ibid. 384.Google Scholar

98 ‘Some Medieval Manuals of Religious Instruction’ (n. 9 supra) 251.Google Scholar

99 The Holy Bible Containing the Old and New Testaments with the Apocryphal Books in the Earliest English Versions Made from the Latin Vulgate by John Wycliffe and his Followers, ed. Rev. Forshall, Josiah and Frederic Madden, Sir (Oxford 1850) I viii.Google Scholar

100 Ibid. ix.Google Scholar

101 Ibid. viii.Google Scholar

102 A Catalogue of the Original Works of John Wyclif, Nos. 6, 7, 8; pp. 35-37.Google Scholar

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104 Manual 407, 828.Google Scholar

105 The Lollard Bible 275ff.Google Scholar

106 Ibid. 270-271.Google Scholar

107 Ibid. 281. Miss Deanesly also maintains (276) that the matter and style of the prologues and epilogues of the Lollard glosses are similar to those of Purvey's general prologue. She adds further, that Purvey was inhibited from preaching in the diocese of Worcester in 1387. Miss Deanesly's opinion concerning the glosses apparently prevailed, for we find no further reference to their being by the author of The Pore Caitif. Workman, for example, adopts her theory of Purvey authorship (John Wyclif II 161, 164).Google Scholar

108 The Lollard Bible 347.Google Scholar

109 Ibid. n. 3.Google Scholar

110 Ibid. 347.Google Scholar

111 Writings Ascribed to Richard Rolle 406.Google Scholar

112 ‘The Layman's Complaint and the Friar's Answer’ 142.Google Scholar

113 One of the infrequent statements that are made on the nature of the treatise occurs in the British Reformers volume, which apologizes for the past neglect to print the work: ‘This neglect has probably arisen from the little reference it contains to the controversies in which Wickliff was constantly engaged’ (37).Google Scholar