Cam/Corpus/282
NAME
282.
DESCRIPTION
Parchment; iii + 140 + ii; 260 x 190 in double cols; fourteenth century (late).
CONTENTS
Flyleaf (recto): Blank, apart from a couple of initials; flyleaf (verso): Contents list in a seventeenth-century hand; pp. 3-278: The Mirror, the Middle English translation of Robert de Gretham's Anglo-Norman Miroir, beginning imperfectly towards the end of the first quarter of the Prologue (equating with f. 2r of Bodl/Holkham 40), and with the Third Sunday in Advent beginning imperfectly (equating with Duncan and Connolly 2003:43/24), finishing with Quinquagesima, sixty sermons in total.
PARALLEL TRADITIONS
See Bodl/Holkham 40. The present manuscript contains part of the prologue to the Mirror, and sermons 1 to 60. Sermons 8, 9, and 10 are incorrectly headed as being for the Second, Third, and Fourth Sundays after the Octave of the Epiphany instead of the Third, Fourth, and Fifth Sundays.
COMMENTS
The original pagination skipped two pages between 145 and 147; the omitted leaf has now been numbered 146 (a). The manuscript is localised in Middlesex in LALME:I, 62.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
James 1912:II, 48; Blumreich 2002; Duncan and Connolly 2003:xiv–xv.
Sermon Description: Bodl/Holkham 40/022
OCCASION
Second Sunday after Easter.
HEADING/TITLE
Şe Secunde Sunday Gospel aftyr Esteren. Ion şe x.
THEME
Ego sum pastor bonus et cognosco oues [Io 10:11].
LENGTH
46v–49r.
INCIPIT
Ego sum pastor bonus et cognosco oues, et cetera. Ihesus seyde vnto his disciplis, 'Ich am a good herdeman. Şe goode herdeman 3eueş his soule for his scheep. Şe marchaunt, whan he seş şe wolf comen, he fleş, for hym nys nou3t of his scheep. He fleş whan he seş şe wolf comen, and his scheep disparpleş ouer al. Ich a good herdeman and wel knowe my scheep and şei me, as my fader knoweş me and ich my fader forsoşe. And for my scheep I sette my soule. And oşere Ich haue in oşer stede, and hem me byhoueş to bryngen, and şei schul here my voyce for to werchen, and şan on şat day schal [ben] on folde and on herdeman.'
EXPLICIT
Hou hope 3e şat 3e schal brennen şat take şe goodes şat 3e wel wot and ne 3elde hem nou3t, whan Seynt Furci for for3etynge of şat he had taken ri3tfulliche had such penaunce? And şerfore amendeş 3ou for Godes loue, şat 3e may be goode kepers. And takeş so of 3oure scheep şat 3e may 3elde 3ouseluen and hem to God. Amen.
SUMMARY
[The gospel of Io 10:11–16, the good shepherd, is given in English, followed by comment and interpretation.] [47r] Christ is the good shepherd who feeds the soul with spiritual understanding and the body with material food; he feeds both with his flesh and blood. Those who are shepherds within the Church should feed souls with God's word and bodies with material goods so that both are preserved. Those who do not feed their sheep with either words or deeds will be answerable for their deaths. Christ says that the good shepherd should be prepared to give his soul for his sheep, as he himself did. As the body dies through nature, the soul dies through sin. Many shepherds slay their souls through their evil will or, like merchants, they love gold and silver more than their sheep. [47v] They allow their sheep to be ravished by the wolf (the devil and his followers). The devil separates the sheep by tempting them to different sins and the merchant flees, allowing his flock to remain in sin. There are many such shepherds who take the fruit of their flock but do not teach them. Through the prophet God tells his priests how to act; those who do not feed their sheep will suffer eternal pain. Bad shepherds slay the fat sheep (do not chastise the rich or take a reward to forgive their sins); they slay the sick when they do not teach sinners or those in despair. [48r] All those who take holy orders and all who have 'more cunnyng şan oşer' are obliged to teach others and turn them away from sin. Christ knows his sheep and he has corrected their faults. However one's priest is, this is how he ought to be. Those who wish to know Christ must follow his example. Those who are good and do good are his sheep.
Christ orders people to be obedient to their shepherd and provide him with sustenance so that he may do God's work. The priest is a father who consoles, intercedes and chastises; to dishonour a priest is to dishonour God. Priests too must behave as they ought [48v] because they will be judged elsewhere for their conduct here. [An exemplum is given concerning a priest's vision of hell and heaven.] [Ex 1] Thus priests who live on alms and ought to pray for people should think about what end they will come to if they take more than they ought and do not repay it with prayers or give it [49r] to the poor.
BIBLICAL CITATIONS
Io 10:11; Io 10:11–16; Ez 34:2–4; Ez 34:10; I Io 2:6; I Io 2:4; cf. Hbr 13:7; Lc 10:16; Mt 10:40.
PROPER NAMES
St Fursey.
PLACE NAMES
Knaresborough.
CONCEPTS
Priesthood.
EXEMPLA
[Ex 1] When an old priest in Knaresborough 'wişinne şe see' was dying, a young man [angel] took him to see hell. The priest saw souls being tormented by others' pains and a devil threw a soul at him accusing him of killing it. The soul burned his shoulder and he recognised it as that of a man for whom he had forgotten to discharge his responsibilities regarding the man's will. The angel showed the old priest a small part of heaven and then returned him to his body. Everyone marvelled because he had been dead three days. He lived a righteous life from then on and became St Fursey. The burn mark remained on his shoulder as proof of his story.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Blumreich 2002:196–206.
