University of Virginia Library

Search this document 
Handlyng Synne

Mannyng, Robert (fl. 1288-1338)

collapse section 
[section]
collapse section 
Roberd of Brunne's “Handlyng Synne.”
  
[THE PROLOG.]
collapse section 
[section]
collapse section1. 
[The First Commandment.]
  
[subsection]
  
[The Tale of the Tempted Monk.]
  
[On Witchcraft and Dreams.]
  
[The Tale of the Witch and her Cow-sucking Bag; and how a Bishop faild to work her Charm, because he didn't believe in it.]
collapse section2. 
[The Second Commandment.]
  
[subsection]
  
[Against Swearing Oaths.]
  
[The Tale of the Bloody Child.]
collapse section3. 
[The Third Commandment.]
  
[subsection]
  
The Tale of the Vine-Storms and the Saturday half Holy-Day.
collapse section4. 
[The Fourth Commandment.]
  
[subsection]
  
[The Tale of the Fond Father.]
  
[The Tale of the Mother who curst her Child.]
collapse section5. 
[The Fifth Commandment.]
  
[subsection]
  
[The Tale of the Knight who had a Vision of the Judgment.]
  
A tale
collapse section6. 
[The Sixth Commandment.]
  
[subsection]
  
[The Tale of the Adulterous Wife, whose Skeleton split in two.]
  
[The Tale of St. Macaire and the Two Good Married Women.]
collapse section7. 
[The Seventh Commandment.]
  
[subsection]
  
[The Tale of Zenon, the would-be Thief: how he reformd himself.]
  
[The Tale of the Knight who robd a Poor Man.]
  
[The Tale of Seint Forsyne's Visit to Hell.]
collapse section8. 
[subsection]
  
[The Eighth Commandment.]
  
[Tale of the Rich Forswearer at a Trial in London.]
  
[The Bible-story of John the Baptist's Death.]
  
[þe Gest of Syre Jepte,—or the Tale of Jephthah and his Daughter.]
 9. 
[The Ninth Commandment.]
 10. 
[The Tenth Commandment.]
collapse section 
Here bygynneþ þe seuene dedly synnes.
collapse section1. 
[The Seven Deadly Sins;—and first of Pride.]
  
[subsection]
  
[The Tale of the Hypocritical Monk of the Abbey Tangabaton.]
  
[The Tale of the Proud Lady, who was burnt to ashes again and again in Hell by a Burning Wheel.]
  
[The Tale of the Knight and Monk who lovd new Fashions.]
  
[The Tale of the backbiting English Monk.]
collapse section2. 
[Of Anger, the 2nd Deadly Sin.]
  
[subsection]
  
[The Tale of the Merciful Knight, and how the Crucifix kist him.]
collapse section3. 
[Of Envy, the 3rd Deadly Sin.]
  
[subsection]
  
[The Tale of the Bear which kept the Hermit's Sheep, and how it was slain by envious Monks.]
collapse section4. 
[Of Sloth, the 4th Deadly Sin.]
  
[subsection]
  
[The Tale of the English Squire who put off his Repentance till too late.]
  
[Against Tournaments.]
  
[The Tale of the Minstrel who was kild for disturbing a Bishop.]
  
[A Tale of Bishop St. Robert Grostest of Lincoln, and why he lovd Music.]
  
[The Tale of the Father that would not chastise his Child.]
  
[The tale of ‘Syre Ely’ and his wicked Sons.]
  
[The Tale of the Priest Carpus's Vision, and how merciful God is.]
collapse section5. 
[Of Covetousness, 5th Deadly Sin.]
  
[subsection]
  
[The Tale of the Hard Judge.]
  
[Of Simony.]
  
[Of Usurers.]
  
[The Tale of Pers the Usurer.]
  
[The Tale of Lucretius, and how the Devil leapt into him.]
  
[The Tale of the good Hermit who gave away the Money he had saved.]
  
[The Tale of the Cambridgeshire Miser-Parson.]
  
[The Tale of the Three Dishonest Executors.]
  
[The Tale of the Two wicked Kesteven Executors.]
collapse section6. 
[On Gluttony.]
  
[subsection]
  
[Against making Men drunk.]
  
[The Tale of Dives and Lazarus.]
  
[The Tale of St. John the Almoner, and his great Liberality and Courtesy.]
  
[The Tale of Bishop Troylus and his Thirty Pounds.]
collapse section7. 
[Of Lechery.]
  
[subsection]
  
[The Tale of St. Benet's Temptation, and how he freed himself by rolling in Thorns and Nettles.]
  
[The Tale of the Jew who heard some Devils' Reports of their Deeds to Satan; and how the Devil who got a Bishop to pat a Nun on the Back was most praisd.]
  
[The Tale of the Priest's Concubine, and how Fiends carried off her Dead Body.]
  
[The Tale of St. Justyne, and how the Sign of the Cross protected her from Devils.]
  
[The Tale of the tempted Hermit, or How we should never Despair.]
collapse section 
Here bygynneþ Sacrylage.
  
[subsection]
  
[The Tale of the Reproof that a Norfolk Bondman gave a Knight for not respecting the Sanctity of a Churchyard.]
  
[The Tale of Valentine, and how Devils puld his Body out of its Grave in the Church.]
  
[The Tale of the Temptation of St. John Chrysostom's Deacon.]
  
[The Tale of the Sacrilegious Husband and Wife who stuck together.]
  
The Tale of the Sacrilegious Carollers, and how they danst together for twelve Months without stopping, and then went hopping about singly ever afterwards.]
  
[The Tale of the Devil's Disappointment with the Chattering Women.]
  
[The Tale of Belshazzar's Feast, and the Prophet Daniel.]
collapse section 
Here bygynne the Seuenþe Sacramentys of holy cherche.
collapse section1. 
[Of Holy Bapteme.]
  
[subsection]
  
[The Tale of the Midwife who christend a Child wrongly.]
  
[The Tale of the Bad Bourgeois who lay with his God-daughter and was kild for it.]
 2. 
[Of Confirmation.]
collapse section3. 
[Of the Sacrament of the Altar.]
  
[subsection]
  
[The Tale of the Priest for whom the Sacramental Bread and Wine were turnd into a Child's Flesh and Blood.]
  
[The Tale of the Priest who was enabled to see Folk's sins in their Faces.]
  
[The Tale of the Priest who was waited on by a Dead Lord whom he afterwards sang out of Purgatory.]
  
[The Tale of the Suffolk Man who was taken out of Purgatory by two Masses his Wife got sung for him.]
  
[Bede's Tale of Jumna and Tumna; or, How an Abbot's Mass-singing made the Fetters fall off a Knight in Prison.]
  
[The Tale of the Miner, and how his Wife's Offerings for his Soul fed him while he was buried alive in a Mine.]
 4. 
[Of Penance.]
collapse section5. 
[Of the Fifth Sacrament—Holy Orders.]
  
[subsection]
  
[The Tale of Paschasius's Punishment for not agreeing to the Election of the best Man for Pope.]
  
[A Tale of Warning against buying Bishoprics, and worshipping Bad Bishops' Bodies.]
 6. 
[Of the Sixth Sacrament,—Marriage.]
 7. 
[Of the Seventh Sacrament,—Aneylyng or Extreme Unction.]
collapse section 
Here bygynneþ shryfte.
  
[subsection]
 1. 
The fyrste poynt of shryfte.
 2. 
The Secunde poynt of shryfte.
 3. 
The þred poynt of shryfte.
 4. 
þe fourþe poynt of shryfte.
 5. 
þe fyueþe poynt of shryfte.
 6. 
The syxte poynt of shryfte.
 7. 
þe seuenþe poynt of shryfte.
 8. 
The eyȝtþe poynt of shryfte.
collapse section9. 
The nyȝnþe poynt of shryfte.
  
[subsection]
  
[The Bible-Tale of Ananias and Sapphira.]
 10. 
þe tenþe poynt of shryfte.
 11. 
þe eleuenþe poynt of shryfte.
collapse section12. 
þe twelueþ poynt of shryfte.
  
[subsection]
  
[The Tale of how Shrift made a Woman's unconfest Sin fly out of her Mouth as a ‘Blak,’ a ‘Fende of Helle.’]
 1. 
The fyrste grace þat shryfte ȝyueþ.
 2. 
þe secunde grace þat shryfte ȝyueþ.
 3. 
The þred grace þat shryfte ȝyueþ.
 4. 
The fourþe grace þat shryfte ȝyueþ.
 5. 
The fyfueþ grace þat shryfte ȝyueþ.
 6. 
The syxte grace þat shryfte ȝyueþ.
collapse section7. 
The seuenþe grace þat shryfte ȝyueþ.
  
[subsection]
  
[A Tale of How to put the Devil's Eye out spiritually, or How by Shrift a Man made himself invisible to the Fiend who before used to lead him about chaind.]
collapse section8. 
The eyghte grace þat shryfte ȝyueþ.
  
[subsection]
  
That þou falle nat yn wanhope.
  
That þou excuse nat þy synne.
  
That þou make nat þy synne lytyl to seme.
  
That þou make no skornyng yn shryfte.
  
[The Tale of how the Devil came to be Shriven.]

collapse section Collapse All | Expand All expand section
previous section Handlyng Synne
next section
355

The þred poynt of shryfte.

Þe þryd poynt of þy shryfte,
‘Opunly þyn herte vp lyfte:’
So byt God to me and þe,
Þat opunly shal þy shryftë be.
Salamon to vs seyþ, and kalleþ,
‘Seuene tymes on a day þe ryȝtwys man falleþ;’
As oftë þan behoueþ þe ryse,
Ȝyf þou lyue yn ryȝt seruyse.
Þus seyþ þe clerke seynt Austyne,
Þat was a mayster of dyuyne,
‘Ȝyf þou to many prestes atwynne,
Al holyche wylt shryue þy synne,
Þou shalt fynde grace and forȝyuenes,
And mede to þe, for þy mekenes.’
Þre þyngës mayst þou fynde,
Þat wyl þe oute of synnë bynde;
Þe fyrst ys, þat þou mayst lere,
And many dyuers samples here,
Of euery prest, a lessoun,
To knowë þy saluacyoun;
Ȝyf þou haue herde of many a-pryse,
þe morë þou canst, of queyntyse.
þe touþer me þenkeþ a gode resoun,
Þat quyteþ þe fro dampnacyoun,
þe ofter þat þou shewest þy blame,
þe more me þenkeþ þou hast of shame;
þe shame þat þou hast yn þy shewyng,
hyt ys forȝyuenes, to gode endyng.
Þe þred, ys, þat þe weyl weres,
For þou shalt be yn alle preyers
356

Of alle þe prestes þat þe haue shryue,
As longë tyme as euer þey lyue,
For þey are holdë þar-vn-to;
þe order of prest wyl hyt be so;
þe mo prestës þat for þe prey,
þe sunner art þou yn gode wey;
And, at þe day of Iugëment,
To God þey shul make þy present,
þat þou werë clenë shryue,
And þat þey mow be þe forȝyue.
þo þat þou hast here hyd,
þurgh alle þe werld þey shul be kyd,
And askë domë on þe þere,
þat þou, of hem, neuer shryuë were;
For allë þyng þat euer ȝyt was,
Shal þe acoupe of þy trespas;
Þe synnë hymself shal forwreye;
Þyn Inwyt, on þe self, þe dome shal leye.
previous section Handlyng Synne
next section