Chapter XVII: Masks and Misrule (8)

[1087] Martene, iii. 41 ‘[at second Vespers] Cantor ... dicit ter _Deposuit_ baculum tenens, et si baculus capitur, _Te Deum Laudamus_ incipietur ... [at Compline] ascendunt duo clerici super formam thesaurarii et cantant _Haec est sancta dies_, &c. et post _Conserva Deus_, et dum canitur verberant eum clerici baculis, et ante eos cantores festi et erupitores.... Post incipit cantor novus _Verbum caro factum est_, et hoc cantando ducunt eum in domum suam per parietes cum baculis feriendo. Si autem baculus non accipitur, nihil de iis dicitur, sed vadunt, et extinguitur luminare.’

[1088] Cf. Appendix L.

[1089] Chérest, 9, 55, quoting _Acta Capit._ (1453) ‘item circa festum Innocentium ordinatum est quod in ecclesia nullae fient insolenciae seu derisiones potissime tempore divini servitii et quod pulsentur matutinae non ante quartam horam. Permittimus tamen quod reverenter et in habitu ecclesiastico per Innocentes et alios iuvenes de sedibus inferioribus dictum fiat officium, saltem circa ea quae sine sacris ordinibus possunt exerceri’; (1510) ‘item turpem illum abusum festi fatuorum in nostra hactenus ecclesia, proh dolor, frequentatum quo in celebritate sanctorum Innocentium quidam sub nomine patriarchali divinum celebrant officium, penitus detestamus, abolemus et interdicimus.’

[1090] Lebeuf, _Mém. concernant l’Histoire ... d’Auxerre_ (ed. Challe et Quantin, 1848-55), ii. 30; iv. 232 (quoting _Acta Capit._ partly extracted by Ducange, s.v. _Kalendae_); and in Leber, ix. 358, 375, 385.

[1091] ‘Cum domini nostri rex et alii regales Franciae sint valde dolorosi, propter nova armaturae factae in partibus Ungariae contra Saracenos et inimicos fidei’; cf. Bury-Gibbon, vii. 35.

[1092] ‘Ordinavit quod de caetero omnes, qui de festo fatuorum fuerint, non pulsent campanam capituli sui post prandium, dempta prima die in qua suum episcopum eligent, et etiam quod in suis sermonibus fatuis non ponant seu dicant aliqua opprobria in vituperium alicuius personae.’

[1093] Lebeuf, _Hist. d’Auxerre_, ii. 30.

[1094] I suppose the intended action took shape in the _Quinque Conclusiones_ of Gerson (p. 292), in which he quotes the dictum of an Auxerre preacher that the feast of Fools was as _approbatum_ as that of the Conception. To this there seems to be a reference in the account of the Abbot of Pontigny’s sermon in the _Acta Capit._ ‘praedicavit ... quod dictum festum non erat, nec unquam fuerat a Deo nec Ecclesia approbandum seu approbatum.’ Lebeuf, in Leber, ix. 385, points out that Gerson was intimate with one member of the Auxerre chapter. This was Nicolas de Clamengis, whose _Opera_, 151 (ed. Lydius, 1613), include a treatise _De novis celebritatibus non instituendis_, in which the suppression of feasts in his diocese by Michael of Auxerre is alluded to.

[1095] These were canons of inferior rank at Auxerre (Ducange, s. v. _tortarius_).

[1096] Canons J. Boileaue, Devisco, Pavionis, Viandi and H. Desnoes. Was Viandi the canon John Vivien who, according to Lebeuf, _Hist. d’Auxerre_, iv. 234, noted on his Breviary (now _Bibl. Nat. Cod. Colbert._ 4227) that at first Vespers on the Circumcision, _Hodie Christus_ was sung after each Psalm, ‘quia Festum Circumcisionis vocatur in diversis ecclesiis festum Fatuorum’?

[1097] Chérest, 76; Julleville, _Les Com._ 234; Lebeuf, in Leber, ix. 358, 373, quoting a _Cry pour l’abbé de l’église d’Ausserre et ses supposts_, from the _Œuvres_ of Roger de Collerye (1536). This resembles the productions of the _confréries des fous_ (cf. ch. xvi) and begins,

‘Sortez, saillez, venez de toutes parts,
Sottes et sots plus prompts que liépars.’

[1098] Dunot de Charnage, _Hist. de Besançon_, i. 227; Rigollot, 47; Leber, ix. 434; x. 40.

[1099] The anonymous author of the _Histoire de l’Église d’Autun_ (1774), 462, 628, gives _probata_ from the _Acta Capitularia_ for some, but not all of his statements. Du Tilliot, 24 and possibly Ducange, s. v. _Festum Asinorum_ appear also to have seen at least one register kept by the _rotarius_ which covered the period 1411 to 1416.

[1100] ‘Deliberaverunt super festo folorum quod fieri consuevit anno quolibet in festo Circumcisionis Domini, ad resecandum superfluitates et derisiones quae fieri consueverunt ... item quod amodo non adducatur asinus ad processionem dictae diei, ut fuit solitum fieri, nec dicatur cantilena quae dici solebat super dictum asinum, et supra officio quod fieri consuetum est dicta die in Ecclesia dicti Domini postea providebunt.’ Ducange says that the ass had a golden foot-cloth of which four of the principal canons held the corners. On the _cantilena_ cf. Appendix L.

[1101] ‘Ordinaverunt quod festum folorum penitus cesset.’

[1102] ‘Concluserunt ad requestum stultorum quod hoc anno fiat festum folorum ... cum solemnitatibus in dicto festo requisitis in libris dicti festi descriptis ... qui defecerit in matutinis et aliis horis statutis comburatur in fonte.’

[1103] ‘In fine Matutinarum nonnulli larvati alii inordinate vestiti choreas, tripudia et saltus in eadem ecclesia faciunt ... [aliquos] ad fontem deferunt et ibi aqua intinguntur.’

[1104] Cf. ch. xix. A representation of the ‘Flight into Egypt’ might well come into a play of Herod. The _Hist. d’Autun_, 462, says that, before the reform of 1411, the ass appeared as Balaam’s ass in connexion with a _Prophetae_ on a stage at the church door. There was a procession to church, and the Prose. The _rex_ received a cheese from the chapter.

[1105] Cf. ch. xv.

[1106] ‘Regna Herodis et Episcopatus Innocentium, seu fatuorum festa hactenus ... fieri solita ... abolentes.’

[1107] ‘Quod vulgo dicitur _Les Gaigizons_ ... amplius neminem balneare aut ... pignus aufferre.’ It is here only the choice of ‘bishop’ and ‘dean’ of Innocents, ‘quod festum fatuorum a nonnullis nuncupatur’ that is forbidden. Apparently ‘Herod’ had died out.

[1108] Du Tilliot, 100; Petit de Julleville, _Les Com._ 194. Amongst Du Tilliot’s woodcuts is one of a _bâton_ (No. 4) bearing this date 1482. It represents a nest of fools.

[1109] Ibid. 21.

[1110] Ibid. 74 ‘Icelle cour a ordonné et ordonne, que defenses seront faites aux Choriaux et habitués de ladite Église Saint-Vincent et de toutes autres Églises de son Ressort, et dorésnavant le jour de la Fête des Innocens, et autres jours faire aucunes insolences et tumultes esdites Églises, vacquer en icelles, et courir parmi les villes avec danses et habits indécens à leur état ecclésiastique.’

[1111] Pilot de Thorey, i. 177.

[1112] Pilot de Thorey, i. 178 (_Statuta_, c. 40) ‘Item statuimus et ordinamus, quod ex nunc cessent abusus qui fieri consueverunt per abbatem vulgariter vocatum stultorum seu sociorum ... Item statuimus et ordinamus, cum in ecclesia Dei non deceat fieri ludibria vel inhonesta committi, quod, in festis Sanctorum Stephani, Iohannis evangelistae, Innocentium et Epiphaniae, domino de cetero officiatur et desserviatur in divinis, prout in aliis diebus infra fieri statuetur, et quod nullus, de cetero, ut quandoque factum fuisse audivimus, portetur in Rost, et quod, de nulla persona ecclesiastica vel seculari cuiuscumque status existat, inhonesti vel diffamatorii rithmi recitentur, et quod nullus pignoret aut aliena rapiat quovisimodo.’ A Vienne writer, in Leber, ix. 259, adds that the performance of the office on the three post-Nativity feasts by deacons, priests, and choir in the high stalls was continued by these Statutes, but suppressed about 1670.

[1113] Lancelot, in _Hist. de l’Académie des Inscriptions_ (ed. 4to), vii. 255, (ed. 12mo), iv. 397; Ducange, s. v. _Kalendae_; Du Tilliot, 46.

[1114] ‘... _Te Deum_, et tunc per consocios subtollitur, et elevatur, ac super humeros ad domum, ubi caeteri pro potu sunt congregati, laetanter deportatur, atque in loco ad hoc specialiter ornato et praeparato ponitur, statuitur et collocatur. Ad eius introitum omnes debent assurgere, etiam dominus Episcopus, si fuerit praesens, ac impensa reverentia consueta per consodales et consocios electo, fructus species et vinum cum credentia ei dentur, &c. Sumpto autem potu idem Abbas vel maior succentor ex eius officio absente Abbate incipit cantando ea quae secuntur; ab ista enim parte sclafardi, clericuli ceterique de suptus chorum debent esse simulque canere, ceteri vero desuper chorum ab alia parte simul debent respondere.... Sed dum eorum cantus saepius et frequentius per partes continuando cantatu tanto amplius ascendendo elevatur in tantum quod una pars cantando, clamando, _è fort cridar_, vincit aliam. Tunc enim inter se ad invicem clamando, sibilando, ululando, cachinnando, deridendo ac cum manibus demonstrando, pars victrix quantum potest partem adversam deridere conatur ac superare, iocosasque trufas sine taedio breviter inferre.

A parte Abbatis. _Heros._

Alter chorus. _Et nolic. nolierno._

A parte Abbatis. _Ad fons sancti bacon._

Alii. _Kyrie Eleison._

Quo finito illico gachia ex eius officio facit praeconizationem sic dicendo: _De par Mossenhor Labat è sos Cosselliers vos fam assaber que tot homs lo sequa, lay on voura anar, ea quo sus la pena de talhar lo braye_. Tunc Abbas aliique domum exeunt impetum facientes. Iuniores canonici chorarii scutiferique domini Episcopi et canonicorum Abbatem comitantur per urbem, cui transeunti salutem omnes impertiunt. In istis vero visitationibus (quae usque ad vigiliam Natalis Domini quotidie vespere fiunt) Abbas debet semper deportare habitum, sive fuerit manta, sive tabardum, sive cappa una cum capputio de variis folrato.’ It is curious how the characteristic meridional love of sheer noise and of gesture comes out.

[1115] _De indulgentiis dandis_:

[St. Stephen’s Day]

De par Mossenhor l’Evesque,
Que Dieus vos donne gran mal al bescle,
Avec una plena balasta de pardos
E dos das de raycha de sot lo mento.

[St. John’s Day]

Mossenhor ques ayssi presenz
Vos dona xx balastas de mal de dens,
Et à vos autras donas atressi
Dona 1^a coa de rossi.

[1116] ‘Deinde electus per sclafardos subtollitur et campanilla precedente portatur ad domum episcopalem, ad cuius adventum ianuae domus, absente vel praesente ipso domino Episcopo, debent totaliter aperiri, ac in una de fenestris magni tinelli debet deponi, et stans dat ibi iterum benedictionem versus villam.’

[1117] Ducange, s. v. _Kalendae_; Bérenger-Féraud, iv. 14.

[1118] Papon, _Hist. de Provence_ (1784), iv. 212.

[1119] Rigollot, 125.

[1120] Bérenger-Féraud, iv. 131, quoting Mireur, _Bull. hist. et philos. du Comité des Travaux hist._ (1885), N^{os}. 3, 4.

[1121] Rigollot, 171; Fauris de Saint-Vincent, in _Magasin encyclopédique_ (1814), i. 24. A chapter inventory mentions a ‘mitra episcopi fatuorum.’ The _Council of Aix_ in 1585 (Labbé, xv. 1146) ordered the suppression of ‘ludibria omnia et puériles ac theatrales lusus’ on Innocent’s day.

[1122] Thiers, _Traité des Jeux et des Divertissements_, 449; Du Tilliot, 33, 39, quoting [Mathurin de Neuré] _Querela ad Gassendum, de parum Christianis Provincialium suorum ritibus ... &c._ (1645) ‘Choro cedunt omnes Therapeutae Sacerdotes, et ipse Archimandrita; in quorum omnium locos sufficiuntur Coenobii mediastini viles, quorum aliis manticae explendae cura est, aliis culina, aliis hortus colendus: Fratres Laicos vocant, qui tunc occupatis hinc et inde Initiatorum ac Mystarum sedibus, ... Sacerdotalibus nempe induuntur vestibus, sed laceris, si quae suppetant, ac praepostere aptatis, inversisque; inversos etiam tenent libros in quibus se fingunt legere, appensis ad nasum perspicillis, quibus detractum vitrum, eiusque loco mali aurati putamen insertum.... Thuricremi Sanniones in cuiusque faciem cineres exsufflarunt, et favillas ex acerris, quas per ludibrium temere iactantes, stolidis quandoque capitibus affundunt; sic autem instructi non hymnos, non Psalmos, non liturgias de more concinunt, sed confusa ac inarticula verba demurmurant, insanasque prorsus vociferationes derudunt.’ The same M. de Neuré (whose real name was Laurent Mesme) says more generally that in many towns of the province on Innocents’ day, ‘Stolidorum se Divorum celebrare festa putant, quibus stolide litandum sit, nec aliis quam stolidis illius diei sacra ceremoniis peragenda.’ He quotes (p. 72) from a _Rituale_ a direction for the singing of the _Magnificat_ to the tune ‘Que ne vous requinquez-vous, vielle? Que ne vous requinquez-vous donc?’

[1123] Bérenger-Féraud, iv. 17.

[1124] _C. of Toledo_, N^o. 38, in 1582 (Aguirre, _Coll. Conc. Hisp._ vi. 12); _C. of Oriolana_, in 1600 (Aguirre, vi. 452): cf. pp. 162, 350.

[1125] Pearson, ii. 285; C. M. Engelhardt, _H. von Landsberg_ (1818), 104; C. Schmidt, _H. von Landsberg_, 40. Herrad was abbess of Hohenburg, near Strasburg, 1167-95. The MS. of her _Hortus Deliciarum_ was destroyed at Strasburg in 1870, but Engelhardt, and from him Pearson, translated the bit about the Epiphany feasts: cf. ch. xx.

[1126] Dreves, _Anal. Hymn._ xx. 22 (from the Gradual, _Cod. Monacens._ 157, f. 231^{vo}); after quoting a decree against _cantiones_ of the _C. of Lyons_ in 1274; ‘ne igitur propter scholarium episcopum, cum quo in multis ecclesiis a iuniore clero ad specialem laudem et devotionem natalis Domini solet tripudiari, saecularia parliamenta nec non strepitus clamorque et cachitus mundanarum cantionum in nostro choro invalescant ... ego Iohannes, cognomine de Perchausen, Decanus ecclesiae Mosburgensis, antequam in decanum essem assumptus ... infra scriptas cantiones, olim ab antiquis etiam in maioribus ecclesiis cum scholarium episcopo decantatas, paucis modernis, etiam aliquibus propriis, quas olim, cum rector fuissem scholarium, pro laude nativitatis Domini et beatae Virginis composui, adiunctis, coepi in unum colligere et praesenti libro adnectere pro speciali reverentia infantiae Salvatoris, ut sibi tempore suae nativitatis his cantionibus a novellis clericulis quasi ex ore infantium et lactentium laus et hymnizans devotio postposita vulgarium lascivia possit tam decenter quam reverenter exhiberi.’

[1127] The following may all be for Jan. 1, and I do not think that there was a _scholarium episcopus_ on any other day at Mosburg: _Gregis pastor Tityrus_ (Dreves, _op. cit._ 110), _Ecce novus annus est_ (Dreves, 131, headed in MS. ‘ad novum annum’), _Nostri festi gaudium_ (Dreves, 131, ‘in circumcisione Domini’), _Castis psallamus mentibus_ (Dreves, 135, 251, ‘cum episcopus eligitur’), _Mos florentis venustatis_ (Dreves, 135 ‘dum itur extra ecclesiam ad choream’), _Anni novi novitas_ (Dreves, 136 ‘cum infulatus et vestitus praesul inthronizatur’). Some other New Year _cantiones_ found elsewhere by Dreves (pp. 130, 131) have no special reference to the feast.

[1128] Dreves, _op. cit._ 136 (beginning _anni novi novitas_), 250, with musical notation.

[1129] Dreves, _op. cit._ 110, 254, with notation.

[1130] Wetzer und Welte, _Kirchenlexicon_, s. v. _Epiphany_, quoting Crombach, _Hist. Trium Regum_ (1654), 752; Galenius, _de admir. Coloniae_ (1645), 661. The date of the _Ritual_ is not given, but the ceremony had disappeared by 1645.

[1131] ‘Admiscent autem natalitias cantiones, non sine gestientis animi voluptate.’

[1132] _Tractatus de precatione Dei_, i. 302 (†1406-15), in F. Palacký, _Documenta Mag. Ioannis Hus vitam illustrantia_ (1869), 722: ‘Quantam autem quamque manifestam licentiam in ecclesia committant, larvas induentes--sicut ipse quoque adolescens proh dolor larva fui--quis Pragae describat? Namque clericum monstrosis vestibus indutum facientes episcopum, imponunt asinae, facie ad caudam conversa, in ecclesiam eum ad missam ducunt, praeferentes lancem iusculi et cantharum vel amphoram cerevisiae; atque dum haec praetendunt, ille cibum potionemque in ecclesia capit. Vidi quoque eum aras suffientem et pedem sursum tollentem audivique magna voce clamantem: bú! Clerici autem magnas faces cereorum loco ei praeferebant, singulas aras obeunti et suffienti. Deinde vidi clericos cucullos pellicios aversa parte induentes et in ecclesia tripudiantes. Spectatores autem rident atque haec omnia religiosa et iusta esse putant; opinantur enim, hos esse in eorum rubricis, id est institutis. Praeclarum vero institutum: pravitas, foeditas!--Atque quum tenera aetate et mente essem, ipse quoque talium nugarum socius eram; sed ut primum dei auxilio adiutus sacras literas intelligere coepi, statim hanc rubricam, id est institutum huius insaniae, ex stultitia mea delevi. Ac sanctae memoriae dominus Ioannes archiepiscopus, is quidem excommunicationis poena proposita hanc licentiam ludosque fieri vetuit, idque summo iure, &c.’

[1133] The quotation given above is a translation by J. Kvíčala from the Bohemian of Huss. There seems to be a confusion between the ‘bishop’ and his steed. It was probably the latter who lifted up his leg and cried _bú_.

[1134] Grosseteste, _Epistolae_ (ed. Luard, R. S.), 118 ‘vobis mandamus in virtute obedientiae firmiter iniungentes, quatenus festum stultorum cum sit vanitate plenum et voluptatibus spurcum, Deo odibile et daemonibus amabile, ne de caetero in ecclesia Lincolniensi die venerandae circumcisionis Domini nullatenus permittatis fieri.’

[1135] Ibid. _op. cit._ 161 ‘execrabilem etiam consuetudinem, quae consuevit in quibusdam ecclesiis observari de faciendo festo stultorum, speciali authoritate rescripti apostolici penitus inhibemus; ne de domo orationis fiat domus ludibrii, et acerbitas circumcisionis Domini Iesu Christi iocis et voluptatibus subsannetur.’ The ‘rescript’ will be Innocent III’s decretal of 1207, just republished in Gregory IX’s _Decretales_ of 1234; cf. p. 279.

[1136] _Lincoln Statutes_, ii. 247 ‘quia in eadem visitacione nostra coram nobis a nonnullis fide dignis delatum extitit quod vicarii et clerici ipsius ecclesiae in die Circumcisionis Domini induti veste laicali per eorum strepitus truffas garulaciones et ludos, quos festa stultorum communiter et convenienter appellant, divinum officium multipliciter et consuete impediunt, tenore presencium. Inhibemus ne ipsi vicarii qui nunc sunt, vel erunt pro tempore, talibus uti de caetero non praesumant nec idem vicarii seu quivis alii ecclesiae ministri publicas potaciones aut insolencias alias in ecclesia, quae domus oracionis existit, contra honestatem eiusdem faciant quouismodo.’ Mr. Leach, in _Furnivall Miscellany_, 222, notes ‘a sarcastic vicar has written in the margin, “Harrow barrow. Here goes the Feast of Fools (_hic subducitur festum stultorum_).”’

[1137] What was _ly ffolcfeste_ of which Canon John Marchall complained in Bishop Alnwick’s visitation of 1437 that he was called upon to bear the expense? Cf. _Lincoln Statutes_, ii. 388 ‘item dicit quod subtrahuntur ab ipso expensae per eum factae pascendo ly ffolcfeste in ultimo Natali, quod non erat in propria, nec in cursu, sed tamen rogatus fecit cum promisso sibi facto de effusione expensarum et non est sibi satisfactum.’

[1138] _Statutes_ of Thos. abp. of York (1391) in _Monasticon_, vi. 1310 ‘in die etiam Circumcisionis Domini subdiaconis et clericis de secunda forma de victualibus annis singulis, secundum morem et consuetudinem ecclesiae ab antiquo usitatos, debite ministrabit [praepositus], antiqua consuetudine immo verius corruptela regis stultorum infra ecclesiam et extra hactenus usitata sublata penitus et extirpata.’

[1139] _Inventory_ of St. Paul’s (1245) in _Archaeologia_, l. 472, 480 ‘Baculus stultorum est de ebore et sine cambuca, cum pomello de ebore subtus indentatus ebore et cornu: ... capa et mantella puerorum ad festum Innocentum et Stultorum sunt xxviij debiles et contritae.’

[1140] Sarum _Inventory_ of 1222 in W. H. R. Jones, _Vetus Registr. Sarisb._ (R. S.), ii. 135 ‘Item baculi ii ad “Festum Folorum.”’

[1141] N^o. 27 in the list given for ch. x. Father Christmas says ‘Here comes in “The Feast of Fools.”’

[1142] Cf. the further account of these post-Nativity feasts in ch. xv.

[1143] The _C. of Paris_ in 1212 (p. 279) forbids the Feast of Fools in religious houses. But that in the Franciscan convent at Antibes is the only actual instance I have come across.

[1144] There were _canonici presbiteri_, _diaconi_, _subdiaconi_ and even _pueri_ at Salisbury (W. H. Frere, _Use of Sarum_, i. 51).

[1145] On the nature and growth of vicars choral, cf. Cutts, 341; W. H. Frere, _Use of Sarum_, i. xvii; _Lincoln Statutes_, passim; A. R. Maddison, _Vicars Choral of Lincoln_ (1878); H. E. Reynolds, _Wells Cathedral_, xxix, cvii, clxx. Vicars choral make their appearance in the eleventh century as choir substitutes for non-resident canons. At Lincoln they got benefactions from about 1190, and in the thirteenth century formed a regularly organized _communitas_. The _vicarii_ were often at the same time _capellani_ or chantry-priests. On chantries see Cutts, 438.

[1146] The Lincoln vicars chose two Provosts yearly (Maddison, _op. cit._); the Wells vicars two Principals (Reynolds, _op. cit._ clxxi).

[1147] Reynolds, _op. cit._, gives numerous and interesting notices of chapter discipline from the Wells _Liber Ruber_.

[1148] In Leber, ix. 379, 407, is described a curious way of raising funds for choir suppers, known at Auxerre and in Auvergne, and not quite extinct in the eighteenth century. It has a certain analogy to the _Deposuit_. From Christmas to Epiphany the Psalm _Memento_ was sung at Vespers, and the anthem _De fructu ventris_ inserted in it. When this began the ruler of the choir advanced and presented a bouquet to some canon or _bourgeois_ as a sign that the choir would sup with him. This was called ‘annonce en forme d’antienne,’ and the suppers _defructus_. The _C. of Narbonne_ (1551), c. 47, forbade ‘parochis ... ne ... ad commessationes quas defructus appellant, ullo modo parochianos suos admittant, nec permittant quempiam canere ut dicunt: Memento, Domine, _David sans truffe_, &c. Nec alia huiusmodi ridenda, quae in contemptum divini officii ac in dedecus et probrum totius cleri et fiunt et cantantur.’

[1149] When, however, Ducange says that the feast was not called _Subdiaconorum_, because the sub-deacons held it, but rather as being ‘ebriorum Clericorum seu Diaconorum: id enim evincit vox _Soudiacres_, id est, ad litteram, _Saturi Diaconi_, quasi _Diacres Saouls_,’ we must take it for a ‘sole joke of Thucydides.’ I believe there is also a joke somewhere in Liddell and Scott.

[1150] Cf. p. 60; Gautier, _Les Tropaires_, i. 186; and _C. of Treves_ in 1227 (J. F. Schannat, _Conc. Germ._ iii. 532) ‘praecipimus ut omnes Sacerdotes non permittant trutannos et alios vagos scolares aut goliardos cantare versus super _Sanctus_ et _Agnus Dei_.’

[1151] The ‘abbot’ appears to have been sometimes charged with choir discipline throughout the year, and at Vienne and Viviers exists side by side with another _dominus festi_. Similarly at St. Omer there was a ‘dean’ as well as a ‘bishop.’ The vicars of Lincoln and Wells also chose two officers.

[1152] I suppose that ‘portetur in rost’ at Vienne means that the victims were roasted like the fags in _Tom Brown_.

[1153] Ducange, s. v. _Kalendae_.

[1154] Gibbon-Bury, v. 201. The Byzantine authorities are Genesius, iv. p. 49 B (_Corp. Hist. Byz._ xi. 2. 102); Paphlagon (Migne, _P. G._ cv. 527); Theophanes Continuatus, iv. 38 (_Corp. Hist. Byz._ xxii. 200); Symeon Magister, p. 437 D (_Corp. Hist. Byz._ xxii. 661), on all of whom see Bury, App. I to tom. cit.

[1155] _C. of Constantinople_ (869-70), c. 16 (Mansi, xvi. 169, _ex versione Latina, abest in Graeca_) ‘fuisse quosdam laicos, qui secundum diversam imperatoriam dignitatem videbantur capillorum comam circumplexam involvere atque reponere, et gradum quasi sacerdotalem per quaedam inducia et vestimenta sacerdotalia sumere, et, ut putabatur, episcopos constituere, superhumeralibus, id est, palliis, circumamictos, et omnem aliam Pontificalem indutos stolam, qui etiam proprium patriarcham adscribentes eum qui in adinventionibus risum moventibus praelatus et princeps erat, et insultabant et illudebant quibusque divinis, modo quidem electiones, promotiones et consecrationes, modo autem acute calumnias, damnationes et depositiones episcoporum quasi ab invicem et per invicem miserabiliter et praevaricatorie agentes et patientes. Talis autem actio nec apud gentes a saeculo unquam audita est.’

[1156] Cedrenus, _Historiarum Compendium_, p. 639 B (ed. Bekker, in _Corp. Hist. Byz._ xxiv. 2. 333), follows verbatim the still unprinted eleventh-century John Scylitzes (Gibbon-Bury, v. 508). Theophylactus was Patriarch from 933 to 956.

[1157] Theodorus Balsamon, _In Can. lxii Conc. in Trullo_ (_P. G._ cxxxvii. 727) Σημείωσαι τὸν παρόντα κανόνα, καὶ ζήτησον διόρθωσιν ἐπὶ τοῖς γινομένοις παρὰ τῶν κληρικῶν εἰς τήν ἑορτὴν ἐπὶ τῆς γεννήσεως τοῦ Χριστοῦ, καὶ τὴν ἑορτὴν τῶν Φώτων [Luminarium, Candlemas] ὑπεναντίως τούτῳ· καὶ μᾶλλον εἰς τὴν ἁγιωτάτην Μεγάλην ἐκκλησίαν ... ἀλλὰ καί τινες κληρικοὶ κατά τινας ἑορτὰς πρὸς διάφορα μετασχηματίζονται προσωπεῖα. καὶ ποτὲ μὲν ξιφήρεις ἐν τῷ μεσονάω τῆς ἐκκλησίας μετὰ στρατιωτικῶν ἀμφίων εἰσέρχονται, ποτὲ δὲ καὶ ὡς μοναχοὶ προοδεύουσιν, ἢ καὶ ὡς ζῶα τετράποδα. ἐρωτήσας οὖν ὅπως ταῦτα παρεχωρήθησαν γίνεσθαι, οὐδέν τε ἕτερον ἤκουσα ἀλλ’ ἢ ἐκ μακρᾶς συνθείας ταῦτα τελεῖσθαι. τοιαῦτά εἰσιν, ὡς ἐμοὶ δοκεῖ, καὶ τὰ παρά τινων δομεστικευόντων ἐν κλήρῳ γινόμενα, τὸν ἀέρα τοῖς δακτύλοις κατὰ ἡνιόχους τυπτόντων, καὶ φύκη ταῖς γνάθοις δῆθεν περιτιθεμένων καὶ ὑπορρινομένων ἔργα τινὰ γυναικεῖα, καὶ ἕτερα ἀπρεπῆ, ἵνα πρὸς γελωτα τοὺς βλέποντας μετακινήσωσι. τὸ δὲ γελᾶν τοὺς ἀγρότας ἐγχεομένους τοῦ οἴνου τοῖς πίθοις, ὡσεί τι παρεπόμενον ἐξ ἀνάγκης ἐστὶ τοῖς ληνοβατοισιν· εἰ μήτις εἴπη τὴν σατανικὴν ταύτην ἐργασίαν καταργεῖσθαι διὰ τοῦ λέγειν τοὺς ἀγρότας συχνότερον ἐφ’ ἑκάστῳ μέτρῳ σχεδὸν τό, Κύριε ἐλέησον. τὰ μέντοι ποτὲ γινόμενα ἀπρεπῆ παρὰ τῶν νοταρίων παιδοδιδασκάλων κατὰ τὴν ἑορτὴν τῶν ἁγίων νοταρίων, μετὰ προσωπείων σκηνικῶν διερχομένων τὴν ἀγοράν, πρὸ χρόνων τινῶν κατηργήθησαν, καθ’ ὁρισμὸν τοῦ ἁγιωτάτου ἐκείνου πατριάρχου κυρίου Λουκᾶ.

[1158] Belethus, c. 120, compares the ecclesiastical ball-play at Easter to the _libertas Decembrica_. He is not speaking here of the Feast of Fools.

[1159] e.g. Du Tilliot, 2.

[1160] S. R. Maitland, _The Dark Ages_, 141, tilts at the Protestant historian Robertson’s _History of Charles V_, as do F. Clément, 159, and A. Walter, _Das Eselsfest_ in _Caecilien-Kalender_ (1885), 75, at Dulaure, _Hist. des Environs de Paris_, iii. 509, and other ‘Voltairiens.’

[1161] Chérest, 81.

[1162] J. Bujeaud, _Chants et Chansons populaires des Provinces de l’Ouest_, i. 63. The _ronde_ is known in Poitou, Aunis, Angoumois. P. Tarbé, _Romancero de Champagne_ (2^e partie), 257, gives a variant. Bujeaud, i. 61, gives another _ronde_, the _Testament de l’Âne_, in which the ass has fallen into a ditch, and amongst other legacies leaves his tail to the _curé_ for an _aspersoir_. This is known in Poitou, Angoumois, Franche-Comté. He also says that he has heard children of Poitou and Angoumois go through a mock catechism, giving an ecclesiastical significance to each part of the ass. The tail is the _goupillon_, and so forth. Fournier-Verneuil, _Paris, Tableau moral et philosophique_ (1826), 522, with the Beauvais _Officium_ in his mind, says ‘Voulez-vous qu’au lieu de dire, _Ite, missa est_, le prêtre se mette à braire trois fois de toute sa force, et que le peuple réponde en chœur, comme je l’ai vu faire en 1788, dans l’église de Bellaigues, en Périgord?’

[1163] Cf. ch. xx. Gasté, 20, considers the Rouen _Festum Asinorum_ ‘l’origine de toutes les Fêtes de l’Âne qui se célébraient dans d’autres diocèses’: but the Rouen MS. in which it occurs is only of the fourteenth century, and the Balaam episode does not occur at all in the more primitive forms of the _Prophetae_, while the Sens Feast of Fools is called the _festa asinaria_ in the _Officium_ of the early thirteenth century.

[1164] Tille, _D. W._ 31. In Madrid an ass was led in procession on Jan. 17, with anthems on the Balaam legend (Clément, 181).

[1165] Clément, 182; Didron, _Annales archéologiques_, xv. 384.

[1166] Dulaure, _Hist. des Environs de Paris_, iii. 509, quotes a legend to the effect that the very ass ridden by Christ came ultimately to Verona, died there, was buried in a wooden effigy at S^{ta}-Maria in Organo, and honoured by a yearly procession. He guesses at this as the origin of the Beauvais and other _fêtes_. Didron, _Annales arch._ xv. 377, xvi. 33, found that nothing was known of this legend at Verona, though such a statue group as is described above apparently existed in the church named. Dulaure gives as his authorities F. M. Misson, _Nouveau Voyage d’ Italie_ (1731), i. 164; _Dict. de l’ Italie_, i. 56. Misson’s visit to Verona was in 1687, although the passage was not printed in the first edition (1691) of his book. It is in the English translation of 1714 (i. 198). _His_ authority was a French merchant (M. Montel) living in Verona, who had often seen the procession. In _Cenni intorno all’ origine e descrizione della Festa che annualmente si celebra in Verona l’ ultimo Venerdì del Carnovale, comunamente denominata Gnoccolare_ (1818), 75, is a mention of the ‘asinello del vecchio padre Sileno’ which served as a mount for the ‘Capo de’ Maccheroni.’ This is probably Misson’s procession, but there is no mention of the legend in any of the eighteenth-century accounts quoted in the pamphlet. Rienzi was likened to an ‘Abbate Asinino’ (Gibbon, vii. 269).

[1167] Ducange, s. v. _Festum Asinorum_; cf. Leber, ix. 270; Molanus, _de Hist. SS. Imaginum et Picturarum_ (1594), iv. 18.

[1168] T. Naogeorgus (Kirchmeyer), _The Popish Kingdom_, iv. 443 (1553, transl. Barnabe Googe, 1570, in New Shakspere Society edition of Stubbes, _Anatomy of Abuses_, i. 332); cf. _Beehive of the Roman Church_, 199. The earliest notice is in Gerardus, _Leben St. Ulrichs von Augsburg_ (ob. 973), c. 4. E. Bishop, in _Dublin Review_, cxxiii. 405, traces the custom in a Prague fourteenth-century _Missal_ and sixteenth-century _Breviary_; also in the modern Greek Church at Moscow where until recently the Czar held the bridle. But there is no ass, as he says, in the Palm Sunday ceremony described in the _Peregrinatio Silviae_ (Duchesne, 486).

[1169] A peeress of the realm lately stated that this custom had been introduced in recent years into the Anglican church. Denials were to hand, and an amazing conflict of evidence resulted. Is there any proof that the _Palmesel_ was ever an English ceremony at all? The Hereford riding of 1706 (cf. _Representations_) was not in the church. Brand, i. 73, quotes _A Dialogue: the Pilgremage of Pure Devotyon_ (1551?), ‘Upon Palme Sondaye they play the foles sadely, drawynge after them an Asse in a rope, when they be not moche distante from the Woden Asse that they drawe.’ Clearly this, like Googe’s translation of Naogeorgus, is a description of contemporary continental Papistry. W. Fulke, _The Text of the New Testament_ (ed. 1633), 76 (_ad Marc._ xi. 8) quotes a note of the Rheims translation to the effect that in memory of the entry into Jerusalem is a procession on Palm Sunday ‘with the blessed Sacrament reverently carried as it were Christ upon the Asse,’ and comments, ‘But it is pretty sport, that you make the Priest that carrieth the idoll, to supply the roome of the Asse on which Christ did ride.... Thus you turn the holy mysterie of Christ’s riding to Jerusalem to a May-game and Pageant-play.’ Fulke, who lived 1538-89, is evidently unaware that there was an ass, as well as the priest, in the procession, from which I infer that the custom was not known in England. Not that this consideration would weigh with the mediaevally-minded curate, who is as a rule only too ready to make up by the ceremonial inaccuracy of his mummeries for the offence which they cause to his congregation.

[1170] Marquardt-Mommsen, vi. 191; Jevons, _Plutarch’s Romane Questions_, 134; Fowler, 304, 322; Ovid, _Fasti_, ii. 531:

‘stultaque pars populi, quae sit sua curia, nescit;
sed facit extrema sacra relata die.’

[1171] Fowler, 306.

[1172] Schaff, iii. 131.

[1173] Belethus, c. 70 ‘Debent ergo vesperae Natalis primo integre celebrari, ac postea conveniunt diaconi quasi in tripudio, cantantque _Magnificat_ cum antiphona de S. Stephano, sed sacerdos recitat collectam. Nocturnos et universum officium crastinum celebrant diaconi, quod Stephanus fuerit diaconus, et ad lectiones concedunt benedictiones, ita tamen, ut eius diei missam celebret hebdomarius, hoc est ille cuius tum vices fuerint eam exsequi. Sic eodem modo omne officium perficient sacerdotes ipso die B. Ioannis, quod hic sacerdos fuerit, et pueri in ipso festo Innocentium, quia innocentes pro Christo occisi sunt, ... in festo itaque Innocentium penitus subticentur cantica laetitiae, quoniam ii ad inferos descenderunt.’ Cf. also c. 72, quoted on p. 275. Durandus, _Rat. Div. Off._ (1284), vii. 42, _De festis SS. Stephani, Ioannis Evang. et Innocentium_, gives a similar account. At Vespers on Christmas Day, he says, the deacons ‘in tripudio convenientes cantant antiphonam de sancto Stephano, et sacerdos collectam. Nocturnos autem et officium in crastinum celebrant et benedictiones super lectiones dant: quod tamen facere non debent.’ So too for the priests and boys on the following days.

[1174] Honorius Augustodunensis, _Gemma Animae_, iii. 12 (_P. L._ clxxii. 646).

[1175] Ioannes Abrincensis (bishop of Rouen †1070), _de Eccl. Offic._ (_P. L._ cxlvii. 41), with fairly full account of the ‘officia.’

[1176] Ekkehardus IV, _de Casibus S. Galli_, c. 14 (ed. G. Meyer von Knonau, in _Mittheilungen zur vaterländischen Gesch._ of the Hist. Verein in St. Gallen, N. F., v.; _M. G. H. Scriptores_, ii. 84) ‘longum est dicere, quibus iocunditatibus dies exegerit et noctes, maxime in processione infantum; quibus poma in medio ecclesiae pavimento antesterni iubens, cum nec unum parvissimorum moveri nec ad ea adtendere vidisset, miratus est disciplinam.’ Ekkehart was master of the song-school, and von Knonau mentions some _cantiones_ written by him and others for the feast, e.g. one beginning ‘Salve lacteolo decoratum sanguine festum.’ He has another story (c. 26) of how Solomon who was abbot of the monastery, as well as bishop of Constance, looking into the song-school on the ‘dies scolarium,’ when the boys had a ‘ius ... ut hospites intrantes capiant, captos, usque dum se redimant, teneant,’ was duly made prisoner, and set on the master’s seat. ‘Si in magistri solio sedeo,’ cried the witty bishop, ‘iure eius uti habeo. Omnes exuimini.’ After his jest, he paid his footing like a man. The ‘Schulabt’ of St. Gall is said to have survived until the council of Trent.

[1177] Frere, _Winch. Troper_, 6, 8, 10. The deacons sang ‘Eia, conlevitae in protomartyris Stephani natalicio ex persona ipsius cum psalmista ouantes concinnamus’; the priests, ‘Hodie candidati sacerdotum chori centeni et milleni coniubilent Christo dilectoque suo Iohanni’; the boys, ‘Psallite nunc Christo pueri, dicente propheta.’

[1178] Rock, iii. 2. 214; Clément, 118; Grenier, 353; Martene, iii. 38. These writers add several references for the _triduum_ or one or other of its feasts to those here given: e.g. Martene quotes on St. Stephen’s feast _Ordinarium of Langres_, ‘finitis vesperis fiunt tripudia’; _Ordinarium of Limoges_, ‘vadunt omnes ad capitulum, ubi Episcopus, sive praesens, sive absens fuerit, dat eis potum ex tribus vinis’; _Ordinarium of Strasburg_ (†1364), ‘propinatur in refectorio, sicut in vigilia nativitatis.’

[1179] Martene, iii. 38 ‘tria festa, quae sequuntur, fiunt cum magna solemnitate et tripudio. Primum faciunt diaconi, secundum presbiteri, tertium pueri.’

[1180] Grenier, 353 ‘si festa [S. Stephani] fiant, ut consuetum est, a diaconis in cappis sericis ... fit statio in medio choro, et ab ipsis regitur chorus ... et fiant festa sicut docent libri’; and so for the two other feasts.

[1181] Martene, iii. 38 ‘cum in primis vesperis [in festo S. Stephani] ad illum cantici _Magnificat_ versiculum _Deposuit potentes_ perventum erat, cantor baculum locumque suum diacono, qui pro eo chorum regeret, cedebat’; and so on the other feasts.

[1182] Cf. p. 315.

[1183] Durr, 77. Here the sub-deacons shared in the deacons’ feast.

[1184] The _Consuetudinarium_ of †1210 (Frere, _Use of Sarum_, i. 124, 223) mentions the procession of deacons after Vespers on Christmas day, but says nothing of the share of the priests and boys in those of the following days. The _Sarum Breviary_ gives all three (Fasc. i. cols. cxcv, ccxiii, ccxxix), and has a note (col. clxxvi) ‘nunquam enim dicitur Prosa ad Matutinas per totum annum, sed ad Vesperas, et ad Processionem, excepto die sancti Stephani, cuius servitium committitur voluntati Diaconorum; et excepto die sancti Iohannis, cuius servitium committitur voluntati Sacerdotum; et excepto die sanctorum Innocentium, cuius servitium committitur voluntati Puerorum.’

[1185] _York Missal_, i. 20, 22, 23 (from fifteenth-century MS. _D_ used in the Minster) ‘_In die S. Steph._ ... finita processione, si Dominica fuerit, ut in Processionali continetur, Diaconis et Subdiaconis in choro ordinatim astantibus, unus Diaconus, cui Praecentor imposuerit, incipiat Officium.... _In die S. Ioann._ ... omnibus Personis et Presbyteris civitatis ex antiqua consuetudine ad Ecclesiam Cathedralem convenientibus, et omnibus ordinate ex utraque parte Chori in Capis sericis astantibus, Praecentor incipiat Officium.... _In die SS. Innoc._ ... omnibus pueris in Capis, Praecentor illorum incipiat.’ There are responds for the ‘turba diaconorum,’ ‘presbyterorum’ or ‘puerorum.’

[1186] _Lincoln Statutes_, i. 290; ii. ccxxx, 552.

[1187] Gasquet, _Old English Bible_, 250.

[1188] Martene, iii. 40.

[1189] Ibid. iii. 39.

[1190] In his second decree of 1199 as to the feast of the Circumcision at Paris (cf. p. 276), Bishop Eudes de Sully says (_P. L._ ccxii. 73) ‘quoniam festivitas beati protomartyris Stephani eiusdem fere subiacebat dissolutionis et temeritatis incommodo, nec ita solemniter, sicut decebat et martyris merita requirebant, in Ecclesia Parisiensi consueverat celebrari, nos, qui eidem martyri sumus specialiter debitores, quoniam in Ecclesia Bituricensi patronum habuerimus, in cuius gremio ab ineunte aetate fuimus nutriti; de voluntate et assensu dilectorum nostrorum Hugonis decani et capituli Parisiensis, festivitatem ipsam ad statum reducere regularem, eumque magnis Ecclesiae solemnitatibus adnumerare decrevimus; statuentes ut in ipso festo tantum celebritatis agatur, quantum in ceteris festis annualibus fieri consuevit.’ Eudes de Sully made a donative to the canons and clerks present at Matins on the feast, which his successor Petrus de Nemore confirmed in 1208 (_P. L._ ccxii. 91). Dean Hugo Clemens instigated a similar reform of St. John’s day (see p. 276).

[1191] Martene, iii. 40; Grenier, 353, 412. The _Ritual_ of Bishop Nivelon, at the end of the twelfth century, orders St. Stephen’s to be kept as a triple feast, ‘exclusa antiqua consuetudine diaconorum et ludorum.’

[1192] Schannat, iv. 258 (1316) ‘illud, quod ... causa devotionis ordinatum fuerat ... ut Sacerdotes singulis annis in festivitate Beati Iohannis Evangelistae unum ex se eligant, qui more episcopi illa die Missam gloriose celebret et festive, nunc in ludibrium vertitur, et in ecclesia ludi fiunt theatrales, et non solum in ecclesia introducuntur monstra larvarum, verum etiam Presbyteri, Diaconi et Subdiaconi insaniae suae ludibria exercere praesumunt, facientes prandia sumptuosa, et cum tympanis et cymbalis ducentes choreas per domos et plateas civitatis.’

[1193] At Rouen in 1445 the feast of St. John, held by the _capellani_, was alone in question. The chapter ordered (Gasté, 46) ‘ut faciant die festi sancti euangelistae Iohannis servicium divinum bene et honeste, sine derisionibus et fatuitatibus; et inhibitum fuit eisdem ne habeant vestes difformes, insuper quod fiat mensa et ponantur boni cantores, qui bene sciant cantare, omnibus derisionibus cessantibus.’ But in 1446 the feast of St. Stephen needed reforming, as well as that of St. John (A. Chéruel, _Hist. de Rouen sous la Domination anglaise_, 206); and in 1451 all three (Gasté, 47) ‘praefati Domini capitulantes ordinaverunt quod in festis solemnitatis Nativitatis Domini nostri Ihesu Christi proxime futuris, omnes indecencie et inhonestates consuete fieri in dedecus ecclesie, tam per presbyteros dyaconos quam pueros chori et basse forme, cessent omnino, nec sit aliquis puer in habitu episcopi, sed fiat servicium devote et honorifice prout in aliis festis similis gradus.’

[1194] _C. of Toledo_ (1473), c. 19 (Labbé, xiii. 1460) ‘Quia vero quaedam tam in Metropolitains quam in Cathedralibus et aliis Ecclesiis nostrae provinciae consuetudo inolevit ut videlicet in festis Nativitatis Domini nostri Iesu Christi et sanctorum Stephani, Ioannis et Innocentium aliisque certis diebus festivis, etiam in solemnitatibus Missarum novarum dum divina aguntur, ludi theatrales, larvae, monstra, spectacula, necnon quamplurima inhonesta et diversa figmenta in Ecclesiis introducuntur ... huiusmodi larvas, ludos, monstra, spectacula, figmenta et tumultuationes fieri ... prohibemus.... Per hoc tam honestas repraesentationes et devotas, quae populum ad devotionem movent, tam in praefatis diebus quam in aliis non intendimus prohibere’; _C. of Lyons_ (1566 and 1577), c. 15 (Du Tilliot, 63) ‘Es jours de Fête des Innocens et autres, l’on ne doit souffrir ès Églises jouer jeux, tragédies, farces, &c.’; cf. the Cologne statutes (1662) quoted on p. 352.

[1195] H. E. Reynolds, _Wells Cathedral_, 75 ‘_Quod non sint ludi contra honestatem Ecclesiae Wellensis_. Item a festo Nativitatis Domini usque ad octavas Innocentium quod Clerici Subdiaconi Diaconi Presbiteri etiam huius ecclesiae vicarii ludos faciant theatrales in ecclesia Wellensi et monstra larvarum introducentes, in ea insaniae suae ludibria exercere praesumunt contra honestatem clericalem et sacrorum prohibitionem canonum divinum officium multipliciter impediendo; quod de cetero in ecclesia Wellensi et sub pena canonica fieri prohibentes volumus quod divinum officium in festo dictorum sanctorum Innocentium sicuti in festis sanctorum consimilibus quiete ac pacifice absque quocunque tumultu et ludibrio cum devotione debita celebretur.’

[1196] Reynolds, _op. cit._ 87 ‘_Prohibitio ludorum theatralium et spectaculorum et ostentationum larvarum in Ecclesia_. Item, cum infra septimanam Pentecostes et etiam in aliis festivitatibus fiant a laicis ludi theatrales in ecclesia praedicta et non solum ad ludibriorum spectacula introducantur in ea monstra larvarum, verum etiam in sanctorum Innocentium et aliorum sanctorum festivitatibus quae Natale Christi secuntur, Presbyteri Diaconi et Subdiaconi dictae Wellensis ecclesiae vicissim insaniae suae ludibria exercentes per gesticulationem debacchationes obscenas divinum officium impediant in conspectu populi, decus faciant clericale vilescere quem potius illo tempore deberent praedicatione mulcere....’ The statute goes on to threaten offenders with excommunication.

[1197] F. C. Hingeston Randolph, _Bishop Grandison’s Register_, Part iii, p. 1213; _Inhibicio Episcopi de ludis inhonestis_. The bishop writes to all four bodies in identical terms. He wishes them ‘Salutem, et morum clericalium honestatem,’ and adds ‘Ad nostram, non sine gravi cordis displicencia et stupore, pervenit noticiam quod, annis praeteritis et quibusdam praecedentibus, in Sanctissimis Dominice Nativitatis, ac Sanctorum Stephani, Iohannis, Apostoli et Evangelistae, ac Innocencium Solempniis, quando omnes Christi Fideles Divinis laudibus et Officiis Ecclesiasticis devocius ac quiescius insistere tenentur, aliqui praedicte Ecclesie nostre Ministri, cum pueris, nedum Matutinis et Vesperis ac Horis aliis, set, quod magis detestandum est, inter Missarum Sollempnia, ludos ineptos et noxios, honestatique clericali indecentes, quia verius Cultus Divini ludibria detestanda, infra Ecclesiam ipsam inmiscendo committere, Divino timore postposito, pernicioso quarundam Ecclesiarum exemplo, temere praesumpserunt; Vestimenta et alia Ornamenta Ecclesie, in non modicum eiusdem Ecclesie nostre et nostrum dampnum et dedecus, vilium scilicet scenulentorumque (_or_ scev.) sparsione multipliciter deturpando. Ex quorum gestis, seu risibus et cachinnis derisoriis, nedum populus, more Catholico illis potissime temporibus ad Ecclesiam conveniens, a debita devocione abstrahitur, set et in risum incompositum ac oblectamenta illicita dissolvitur; Cultusque Divinus irridetur et Officium perperam impeditur....’

[1198] On the _Pastores_ cf. ch. xix. Gasté, 33, gives several Rouen chapter acts from 1449 to 1457 requiring them to officiate ‘cessantibus stultitiis et insolenciis.’ These orders and those quoted on p. 341 above were prompted by the _Letter_ of the Paris theologians against the Feast of Fools and similar revels. In 1445 (or 1449) a committee was chosen ‘ad videndum et visitandum ordinationem ecclesiae pro festis Nativitatis Domini et deliberationes Facultatis Theologiae super hoc habitas et quod tollantur derisiones in ipsis fieri solitas.’

[1199] At Sarum a _Constitutio_ of Roger de Mortival in 1324 (Dayman and Jones, _Sarum Statutes_, 52) forbade drinking when the antiphon ‘O Sapientia’ was sung after Compline on Dec. 16. John of Avranches (†1070) allowed for the feast of his ‘O’ at Rouen ‘unum galonem vini de cellario archiepiscopi,’ and the ‘vin de l’O’ was still given in 1377 (Gasté, 47). On these ‘Oes,’ sung by the great functionaries of cathedrals and monasteries, see E. Green, _On the words ‘O Sapientia’ in the Kalendar_ (_Archaeologia_, xlix. 219); Cynewulf, _Christ_ (ed. A. S. Cook), xxxv. Payments ‘cantoribus ad ludum suum’ or ‘ad’ or ‘ante natale’ appear in Durham accounts; cf. _Finchale Priory_ ccccxxviii (Surtees Soc.,) and _Durham Accounts_, _passim_ (Surtees Soc.). I do not feel sure what feast is here referred to.

[1200] Chérest, 49 sqq.

[1201] Ioannes Abrincensis, _de Eccl. Offic._ (_P. L._ cxlvii. 42) ‘Licet, ut in morte Domini, _Te Deum_ et _Gloria in excelsis_ et _Alleluia_ in aliquot ecclesiis, ex more antiquo, omittantur; quia ut Christus occideretur tot parvuli occidi iubentur; et illis occisis fit mors Christi secundum aestimationem Herodis; tamen quia placuit modernis, placet et nobis ut cantentur’; cf. the passage from Belethus quoted on p. 336; also Honorius Augustodunensis, _Gemma Animae_, iii. 14 (_P. L._ clxxii. 646), and Martene, iii. 40.

[1202] _Ordinarium_ of Rouen (fourteenth century) in Ducange, s.v. _Kalendae_; _P. L._ cxlvii. 155; Gasté, 35. On the Rouen feast cf. also Gasté, 48.

[1203] These chants are taken from _Revelation_, xiv. 3 ‘nemo poterat dicere canticum, nisi illa centum quadraginta quatuor millia, qui empti sunt de terra. Hi sunt, qui cum mulieribus non sunt coinquinati, virgines enim sunt. Hi sequuntur Agnum quocumque ierit.’ This passage is still read in the ‘Epistle’ at Mass on Holy Innocents’ day. Cf. the use of the same chants at Salisbury (Appendix M).

[1204] ‘Et tamdiu cantetur _Deposuit potentes_ quod baculus accipiatur ab eo qui accipere voluerit.’

[1205] _Ordinarium_ of Bayeux (undated) in Gasté, 37. On the Bayeux feast and its _parvus episcopus_ or _petit évêque_ cf. F. Pluquet, _Essai sur Bayeux_, 274.

[1206] ‘Dum perventum fuerit ad illum: _Deposuit potentes_, vadunt omnes ad medium ecclesiae et ibi qui in processione stant ordinate eumdem versum, episcopo inchoante, plures replicantes. Qui dum sic cantatur, offert ipse episcopus sociis suis de choro baculum pastoralem. Post multas itaque resumptiones dicti versus, revertuntur in chorum, _Te Deum laudamus_, si habent novum episcopum, decantantes, et ita canendo deducunt eum ad altare, et mitra sibi imposita et baculo cum capa serica, revertuntur in chorum, illo qui fuerat episcopus explente officium capellani, creato nihilominus novo cantore. Tunc chorus, si non fuerit ibi novus episcopus, vel novus episcopus qui baculum duxerit capiendum, cum suis sociis resumit a capite psalmum _Magnificat_, et sic cantant vesperas usque ad finem.’

[1207] _Novus Ordinarius_ of Coutances (undated) in Gasté, 39.

[1208] ‘Post Matutinas conveniant omnes pueri ad suam tabulam faciendam, quibus licitum est maiores personas Ecclesiae minoribus officiis deputare. Diaconis et subdiaconis ordinatis, thuribula imponantur et candelabra maiora videlicet et minora. Episcopo vero, cantori et aliis canonicis aquam, manutergium, missale, ignem et campanam possunt imponere pro suae libito voluntatis. Nihil tamen inhonestum aut impertinens apponatur; antiquiores primi ponantur in tabula et ultimi iuniores.’

[1209] ‘Quo facto dicat [Episcopus] _Deposuit_. Statimque electus Episcopus, tradito sibi baculo pastorali a pueris ad altare praesentetur, et osculato altari in domum suam a dictis pueris deferatur. Et interim, finito tumultu, eat processio ad altare S. Thomae martyris.’

[1210] _Rituale_ (fourteenth century) of Tours in Martene, iii. 39. There was a _cantor puerorum_ as well as the _episcopus_. At second Vespers ‘quando _Magnificat_ canitur, veniunt clericuli in choro cum episcopo habentes candelas accensas de proprio et quando _Deposuit_ canitur, accipit cantor puerorum baculum, et tunc in stallo ascendunt pueri, et alii descendunt.’

[1211] Ducange, s. v. _Kalendae_.

[1212] ‘Omnes pueri et subdiaconi feriati, qui in numero dictorum Innocentium computantur.’

[1213] ‘Ipsa autem die de mane equitare habet idem episcopus Innocentium ad monasteria SS. Mansueti et Apri per civitatem transeundo in comitiva suorum aequalium, quibus etiam maiores et digniores personae dignitatum comitantur per se vel suos servitores et equos, et descendentes ad fores ecclesiarum praedictarum intonat unam antiphonam et dicit episcopus orationem, sibique debentur a quolibet monasteriorum eorundem xviij den. Tullenses, qui si illico non solvantur, possunt accipere libros vel vadia.’

[1214] ‘Cantatis eiusdem diei vesperis, episcopus ipse cum mimis et tubis procedit per civitatem cum sua comitiva, via qua fiunt generales processiones.’

[1215] ‘In crastino Innocentium, quo omnes vadunt per civitatem post prandium, faciebus opertis, in diversis habitibus, et si quae farsae practicari valeant, tempore tamen sicco, fiunt in aliquibus locis civitatis, omnia cum honestate.’ Another passage, referring more generally to the feast, has ‘Fiunt ibi moralitates vel simulacra miraculorum cum farsis et similibus ioculis, semper tamen honestis.’

[1216] ‘In octavis Innocentium rursus vadit episcopus cum omni comitiva sua in habitibus suis ad ecclesiam B. Genovefae, ubi cantata antiphona de ipsa virgine cum collecta, itur ad domum parochialem eius ecclesiae vel alibi, ubi magister et fratres domus Dei, quibus ipsa ecclesia est unita, paraverint focapam unam, poma, nuces, &c. ad merendam oportuna; et ibi instituuntur officiarii ad marencias super defectibus aut excessibus in officio divino per totum annum commissis.’

[1217] ‘Fit ... assignatio post coenam diei Innocentium; ita quod is qui illa die festum peregit, gratias refert episcopo et toti comitivae, ac excusari petit, si in aliquo defecit; et finaliter pileum romarini vel alterius confectionis floreum exhibet ipsi episcopo, ut tradat canonico in receptione sequenti constituto ad futurum annum ipsum festum agendum.’ Cf. the bouquets at the ‘defructus’ (p. 324).

[1218] ‘Si autem facere contemneret adveniente festo, suspenderetur cappa nigra in raustro medio chori, et tamdiu ibi maneret in illius vituperium, quamdiu placeret subdiaconis feriatis et pueris chori; et in ea re non tenerentur nobis capitulo obedire.’

[1219] Amiens: Rigollot, 13 and passim; cf. p. 339.

[1220] St. Quentin: Rigollot, 32; Grenier, 360.

[1221] Senlis: Rigollot, 26; Grenier, 360.

[1222] Soissons: Matton, _Archives de Soissons_, 75.

[1223] Roye: Rigollot, 33; Grenier, 359.

[1224] Peronne: Rigollot, 34; Grenier, 359, 413.

[1225] Rheims: Rigollot, 50; Petit de Julleville, _Rép. Com._ 348; Marlot, _Hist. de Rheims_, ii. 266. In 1479 the chapter undertook the expense, ‘modo fiat sine larvis et strepitu tubicinis, ac sine equitatione per villam.’ Martene, iii. 40, says that there is no trace of any of the _triduum_ ceremonies in the early thirteenth-century Rheims _Ordinarium_.

[1226] Brussels: Laborde, _Ducs de Bourgogne_, ii. 2. 286 ‘[1378] Item xxi decembris episcopo scholarium sanctae Gudilae profecto Sancti Nycolay quod scholares annuatim faciunt 1¹⁄₂ mut[ones].’

[1227] Lille: E. Hautcœur, _Hist. de Saint-Pierre de Lille_, ii. 217, 223. On June 29, 1501, Guillemot de Lespine ‘trépassa évêque des Innocens.’ His epitaph is in the cloister gallery (Hautcœur, _Doc. liturg. de S. P. de Lille_, 342).

[1228] Liège: Rigollot, 42; Dürr, 82. A statute of 1330 laid the expense on the last admitted canon ‘nisi canonicus scholaris sub virga existens ipsum exemerit.’

[1229] Laon: Rigollot, 21; Grenier, 356, 413; C. Hidé, _Bull. de la Soc. acad. de Laon_, xiii. 122; E. Fleury, _Cinquante Ans de Laon_, 52. A chapter act of 1546 states that the custom of playing a comedy at the election of the Boy Bishop on St. Eloi’s day (Dec. 1) has ceased. The Mass is not to be disturbed, but ‘si les escoliers veulent faire un petit discours, il seroit entendu avec plaisir.’

[1230] Troyes: T. Boutiot, _Hist. de Troyes_, iii. 20.

[1231] Mans: Gasté, 43; Julleville, _Les Com._ 38.

[1232] Bourges: Martene, iii. 40.

[1233] Châlons-sur-Saône: Du Tilliot, 20; C. Perry, _Hist. de Châlons_ (1659), 435.

[1234] Grenoble: Pilot de Thorey, _Usages, Fêtes et Coutumes en Dauphiné_, i. 181.

[1235] _C. of Cognac_ (1260), c. 2 (Mansi, xxiii. 1033) ‘cum in balleatione quae in festo SS. Innocentium in quibusdam Ecclesiis fieri inolevit, multae rixae, contentiones et turbationes, tam in divinis officiis quam aliis consueverint provenire, praedictas balleationes ulterius sub intimatione anathematis fieri prohibemus; nec non et Episcopos in praedicto festo creari; cum hoc in ecclesia Dei ridiculum existat, et hoc dignitatis episcopalis ludibrio fiat.’ _C. of Salzburg_ (1274), c. 17 (Labbé, xi. 1004) ‘ludi noxii quos vulgaris elocutio Eptus puor. appellat’; _CC. of Chartres_ (1526 and 1575; Bochellus, _Decr. Eccl. Gall._ iv. 7. 46; Du Tilliot, 66) ‘stultum aut ridiculum in ecclesia’ on days of SS. Nicholas and Catharine, and the Innocents; _C. of Toledo_ (1565), ii. 21 (Labbé, xv. 764) ‘ficta illa et puerilis episcopatus electio’; _C. of Rouen_ (1581; Hardouin, _Concilia_, x. 1217) ‘in festivitate SS. Innocentium theatralia.’

[1236] There are traces of it in the eighteenth century at Lyons (Martene, iii. 40) and Rheims (Barthélemy, v. 334); at Sens, in the nineteenth, the choir-boys still play at being bishops on Innocents’ day, and name the ‘archbishop’ _âne_ (Chérest, 81).

[1237] Grenier, 358, quoting Le Vasseur, _Epistolae_, Cent. ii. Epist. 68; cf. on the Noyon feast, Leach, 135; Du Tilliot, 17; Rigollot, 27; L. Mazière, _Noyon religieux_, in _Comptes-Rendus et Mémoires_, xi. 91, of _The Comité arch. et hist. de Noyon_. Le Vasseur, an ex-Rector of the University of Paris, writes to François Geuffrin ‘ecce ludunt etiam ante ipsas aras; internecionem detestamur, execramur carnificem. Ludunt et placet iste ludus ecclesiae.... Tam grandis est natu ritus iste, quem viguisse deprehendo iam ante quadringentos annos in hac aede, magno totius orbis ordinum et aetatum plausu fructuque.... O miserum saeculum! ... solo gestu externoque habitu spectabiles, sola barba et pallio philosophi, caetera pecudes!’

[1238] _Chronicon Montis Sereni_ in Pertz, _Scriptores_, xxiii. 144.

[1239] _Monum. Boic._ xiii. 214, quoted by Specht, 228 ‘in festo nativitatis Dominicae annuatim sibi ludendo constituentes episcopum.’

[1240] Vitus Arnpekius, _Chron. Baioariorum_, v. 53, cited by Martene, iii. 40.

[1241] Specht, 228.

[1242] Ibid. 225; Creizenach, i. 391; both quoting E. Meyer, _Gesch. des hamburgischen Schul-und Unterrichtswesens im Mittelalter_, 197 ‘praeterea scholares nunquam, sive in electione sive extra, aliquos rhythmos faciant, tam in latino, quam in teutonico, qui famam alicuius valeant maculare.’ In the thirteenth century a child-abbot was chosen in Hamburg on St. Andrew’s day (Nov. 30). On St. Nicholas’ day (Dec. 6) he gave way to a child-bishop, who remained in office until Dec. 28 (Tille, _D. W._ 31, citing Beneke, _Hamburgische Geschichte und Sagen_, 90).

[1243] Specht, 229.

[1244] Ibid. 228.

[1245] Cf. p. 319.

[1246] Tille, _D. W._ 31.

[1247] Ibid. 299.

[1248] Dürr, 67, quoting a _Ritual_ of the cathedral (‘tempore Alberti’).

[1249] It began:

‘Iam tuum festum Nicolae dives
more solemni recolit iuventus,
nec tibi dignus, sacerdotum Caesar,
promere laudes.’

[1250] Tille, _D. W._ 31, citing Nork, _Festkalender_, 783. Dürr’s tract was published at Mainz in 1755.

[1251] Wetzer und Welte, s. v. _Feste_ ‘consuetudo seu potius detestabilis corruptela, qua pueri a die S. Nicolai usque ad festum SS. Innocentium personatum Episcopum colunt ... ea puerilibus levitatibus et ineptiis plena coeperit esse multumque gravitatis et decoris divinis detrahat officiis ... ne clerus se pueris die SS. Inn. submittat ac eorum locum occupet, aut illis functiones aliquas in divinis officiis permittat, neque praesentes aliquis Episcopus benedictiones faciat, aliique pueri in cantandis horariis precibus lectionibus et collectis Sacerdotum, Diaconorum aut Subdiaconorum officia quaedam usurpent; multo minus convenit ut Canonici aut Vicarii ex collegarum suorum numero aliquem designent Episcopum qui reliquos omnes magnis impendiis liberali convivio excipiat.’

[1252] W. H. R. Jones, _Vetus Registr. Sarisb._ (R. S.), ii. 128; Wordsworth, _Proc._ 170 ‘Item, annulus unus aureus ad Festum Puerorum.’

[1253] _Constitutiones_, § 45 (Jones and Dayman, _Sarum Statutes_, 75; cf. Jones, _Fasti_, 295) ‘Electus puer chorista in episcopum modo solito puerili officium in ecclesia, prout fieri consuevit, licenter exequatur, convivium aliquod de caetero, vel visitationem exterius seu interius nullatenus faciendo, sed in domo communi cum sociis conversetur, nisi cum ut choristam ad domum canonici causa solatii ad mensam contigerit evocari, ecclesiam et scholas cum caeteris choristis statim post festum Innocentium frequentando. Et quia in processione quam ad altare Sanctae Trinitatis faciunt annuatim pueri supradicti per concurrentium pressuras et alias dissolutiones multiplices nonnulla damna personis et ecclesiae gravia intelleximus priscis temporibus pervenisse, ex parte Dei omnipotentis et sub poena maioris excommunicationis, quam contravenientes utpote libertates dictae ecclesiae nostrae infringentes et illius pacem et quietem temerarie perturbantes declaramus incurrere ipso facto, inhibemus ne quis pueros illos in praefata processione vel alias in suo ministerio premat vel impediat quoquomodo, quominus pacifice valeant facere et exequi quod illis imminet faciendum; sed qui eidem processioni devotionis causa voluerint interesse, ita modo maturo se habeant et honeste sicut et in aliis processionibus dictae ecclesiae se habent qui ad honorem Dei frequentant quando que ecclesiam supradictam.’

[1254] Appendix M.

[1255] Jones, _Fasti_, 299.

[1256] Wordsworth, _Proc._ 259. The _oblationes_ vary from lvi_s._ viii_d._ in 1448 to as much as lxxxix_s._ xi_d._ in 1456.

[1257] Jones, _Fasti_, 300; Rimbault, xxviii; Planché, in _Journal of Brit. Archaeol. Assoc._ xv. 123. Gregory, 93, gives a cut of the statue.

[1258] _Ordinale secundum Usum Exon._ (ed. H. E. Reynolds), f. 30.