Life in a Medieval Village - Frances Gies [71]
The priest’s instruction of adults came largely through confession, in which he not only examined the penitent’s morals but his religious knowledge:
Believest thou in Father and Son and Holy Ghost…
Three persons in Trinity,
And in God (swear thou to me)?
That God’s son mankind took
In maid Mary (as saith the Book),
And of that maid was born:
Believest thou this?…
And in Christ’s passion
And in His resurrection…?
That He shall come with wounds red
To judge the quick and the dead,
And that we each one…
Shall rise at the day of Doom And be ready when he come…?49
The manuals coached the priest to interrogate the penitent about his behavior: “Have you done any sorcery to get women to lie with you?” “Have you ever plighted your troth and broken it?” “Have you spent Sunday in shooting, wrestling, and other play, or going to the ale house?” “Have you stolen anything or been at any robbing?” “Have you found anything and kept it?” “Have you borrowed anything and not returned it?” “Have you ever claimed any good deed of charity that was another man’s doing?” “Have you been slow to teach your godchildren Pater Noster and Creed?” “Have you come late to church?” “Have you without devotion heard any sermon?” “Have you been glad in your heart when your neighbor came to harm, and grieved when he had good fortune?” “Have you eaten with such greed that you cast it up again?” “Have you sinned in lechery?” “If your children are shrews, have you taught them good manners?” “Have you destroyed grain or grass or other things that are sown? Are you wont to ride through grain when you could go to one side?”50
The penitent must confess his sins completely and without reservation. If he killed a man, he must say who it was, where, and why. If he “sinned in lechery,” he must not give the name of his partner, but he should tell whether she was married or single, or a nun, where the sin was committed, and how often, and whether it was on a holy day. The penance should fit the sin, light for a light sin, heavy for a heavy, but never too heavy for the penitent to perform, lest he ignore it and be worse off than if he had not gone to confession. “Better a light penance to send a man to purgatory,” wrote John Myrc, “than a too heavy penance to send him to hell.” Even more sagely, a woman’s penance must be such that her husband would not know about it, lest it cause friction between them.51
Above all, the priest must teach by example. His preaching was worth little if he lived an evil life. The sins he was especially warned against indicate those he was most likely to fall into. He should be chaste; he should be true; he should be mild in word and deed. “Drunkenness and gluttony, pride and sloth and envy, all these thou must put away.” The priest must forsake taverns, trading, wrestling and shooting, hawking, hunting, and dancing. “Markets and fairs I thee forbid.” He must wear “honest clothes,” and not knightly “basinet and baldric.” His beard and crown must be shaven. He must be hospitable to rich and poor. And finally,
Turn thine eye that thou not see
The cursed world’s vanity.
Thus this world thou must despise
And holy virtues have in vise [view].52
9
VILLAGE JUSTICE
TWICE OR MORE EACH YEAR THE VILLAGERS gathered for the hallmote: hall, meaning manor house, and mote, meeting. The records of this legal body provide unique insights into the relationship between lord and village community, and at the same time demonstrate the frictions and stresses of everyday village life.
The hallmote was the lord’s manorial court, presided over by his steward, and transacting primarily the lord’s business: collecting merchet, heriot, entry fees, and other manorial dues,