Part 5 (2/2)
Another said: ”He who uses anything a dog or mouse has eaten of, or a weasel polluted, if he do it knowingly, let him sing a hundred psalms; and if he knew it not, let him sing fifty psalms.” These are but samples of many superst.i.tions with which the thought of the Middle Ages was tinctured.
A considerable treatise might be written upon the superst.i.tions of the English women; it would contain astonis.h.i.+ng disclosures as to the effect of the unreal world of fairies, goblins, and the like upon woman's development and status during the Middle Ages. She was undoubtedly influenced in her daily life, in almost all her duties and undertakings, by the terrors with which her superst.i.tions filled her.
The legacy of a pagan system was slowly thrown off, and, with all the credulity of the religion of the times, it is to the credit of the Church that, by its proscriptions as well as by its healthier teaching, superst.i.tion in many of its forms lessened its hold upon the minds of the people. And yet it was needful, if historical fact denotes a social necessity, that these superst.i.tions should culminate in a belief in witchcraft, and woman, because of her credulity, become the scapegoat of the gnomes and witches which existed in her simple faith. Even so cultured a person as Augustine, one of the most prominent of the Church Fathers of his time, declared it to be insolent to doubt the existence of fauns, satyrs, and suchlike demoniac beings, which lie in wait for women and have intercourse with them and children by them. It was this belief which extended into a labyrinth of darkness and superst.i.tion throughout the Middle Ages.
The reasoning of the Church was perfectly simple: if the miracles of the Apostles and of Christ were of divine agency, then the marvels performed by magicians before the astonished eyes of the heathen were to be accredited to Satan. The Church never doubted the existence of malignant spirits, but bent its endeavors toward persuading the people to give up converse with them. If a woman gave herself over to Satan or any of his minions, the only resource was to put her to death.
Horrible as were the witch burnings of the Middle Ages, the Church sincerely believed that it was exorcising the Devil from the lives of the people; and by the terrible examples it made of those who were accounted as having sold themselves to the Evil One, it believed it was placing a deterrent upon others who might be minded to yield themselves to diabolical possession. The Church was but sharing the universal belief of the times, and, as the guardian of the spiritual interests of mankind, it sought the purification of society by severe measures which, it felt, were alone suited to the gravity of the subject. From this belief in devil possession arose a veritable system of Christian magic; charms, amulets, exorcisms, abounded; thus, white magic was opposed to black magic.
But when the belief in witchcraft led to papal promulgations against it and against all who dared entertain doubts upon the subject, and when it led also to the appointment of tribunals for the trying of ”witches,” there was placed in the hands of malice and ignorance a power from which no woman, however exalted in rank or pure in character, was secure, provided only she incurred the enmity of someone bent upon effecting her ruin.
The genesis of the belief lies even back of the prevailing superst.i.tions of the times, and is to be found in the lower regard in which the female s.e.x was held. As we have said, chivalry did not cover with its aegis all women, but only those of a certain cla.s.s; in the Middle Ages, the opinion held of women in general was not flattering to the s.e.x. The descriptions of witch trials and the processes for the extortion of confessions; the indignities of many sorts to which women were subjected; the horrors of a system which virtually made one become an informer upon her neighbor, lest she be antic.i.p.ated by charges preferred against herself; the whole dreary round of the subject and its literature: all these are too uninviting to permit of detail. It is sufficient for our purpose to say that throughout Europe--for the delusion was so widespread--certainly not less than a million persons were burned, or otherwise put to death, as witches during the Middle Ages. So great a holocaust had to be offered up by women as a sin offering for their s.e.x!
The state of education had much to do with the manners and opinions of the Middle Ages. In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries there was a feeling of the necessity for extending and improving education.
There was spread abroad a degree of popular instruction. It was not an uncommon thing for ladies to be able to read and write. Among the amus.e.m.e.nts of their leisure hours, reading began to have a very much larger place than formerly. Yet, popular literature--the tales, ballads, and songs--was still communicated orally rather than in writing, though books were more extensively circulated. Often persons of wealth and culture had extensive libraries. Excepting in the case of those who followed or desired to follow the career of scholars, the women were less illiterate than the men.
In considering the dress of the women of England during the Middle Ages, the sumptuary laws pa.s.sed for its regulation are of interest in themselves as affording a view of the dress of the several cla.s.ses of society, and they also serve to ill.u.s.trate upon what simple lines the distinctions of society were drawn.
In the thirty-seventh year of the reign of Edward III., a curious complaint was submitted to Parliament by the Commons against general extravagance in the use of apparel; whereupon an act was pa.s.sed in regulation of the matter. One of the provisions of this act, as it related to women, prescribed that the wives and children of the grooms and servants of the lords and of tradesmen and artificers should not wear veils costing more than twelvepence each. The wives and children of the tradesmen and artificers themselves should wear no veils excepting those made with thread and manufactured in the kingdom; nor any kind of furs excepting those of lambs, rabbits, cats, and foxes.
The cloth for their dresses was also to be of a prescribed kind.
The wives and children of esquires--gentlemen under the estate of knighthood--might not wear cloth of gold, of silk, or of silver; nor any ornaments of precious stones, nor furs of any kind; nor any purfling or facings upon their garments; neither should they use _esclaires_, _crinales_, or _trosles_--certain forms of hairpins, and suchlike ornaments.
In the case of knights of a certain income, their wives and children were prohibited from wearing miniver or ermine as linings for their garments or tr.i.m.m.i.n.g for their sleeves. The lower cla.s.ses were restricted to blankets and russets for their attire, and these were not to cost more than twelvepence per yard, unless the income of the man was above forty s.h.i.+llings. It is not probable that these enactments were rigidly enforced, and when Henry IV. came to the throne he found it necessary to revive the prohibiting statutes of his predecessor. A number of such sumptuary laws were pa.s.sed during succeeding reigns, but it is not probable that they were ever really effective. Nor were the satires and witticisms of the poets and other writers of the day more effectual than legislation in correcting the extravagances and vices of dress. Whether the poet or the moralist pointed their shafts against them, the dames and the dandies of the time continued to dress as pleased them.
Some of these criticisms so sum up the dress of the day, that to quote them is to see the fine lady attired in all her bewildering array of beautiful stuffs. William de Lorris, in his celebrated poem, the _Romance of the Rose_, has drawn the character of Jealousy, and represents him as reproaching his wife for her insatiable love of finery, which, he tells her, is solely to make her attractive in the eyes of her gallants. He then enumerates the parts of her dress, consisting of mantles lined with sable, surcoats, neck linens, wimples, petticoats, s.h.i.+fts, pelices, jewels, chaplets of fresh flowers, buckles of gold, rings, robes, and rich furs. Then he adds: ”You carry the worth of one hundred pounds in gold and silver upon your head--such garlands, such coiffures with gilt ribbons, such mirrors framed in gold, so fair, so beautifully polished; such tissues and girdles, with expensive fastenings of gold, set with precious stones of smaller size; and your feet shod so primly, that the robe must be often lifted up to show them.” And in a subsequent part of the poem the ladies are advised, satirically, if their ankles be not handsome and their feet small and delicate, to hide them by wearing long robes, trailing upon the pavement. Those, on the contrary, who were more favored in this respect were advised to elevate their robes, as if it were to give access to air, that the pa.s.ser-by might see and admire their trim feet and ankles.
Such were some of the adornments of the fine ladies of the thirteenth century. It is instructive to turn to Chaucer's Canterbury Tales and study the costumes of some of the characters as they are interpreted by Strutt. This will afford a view of the dress of typical persons in the ordinary ranks of life. The Wife of Bath is drawn by Chaucer at full length as a shameless woman, pert, loquacious, and bold, whose favorite occupation is gossiping and rambling abroad in search of fas.h.i.+onable diversions, in the absence of her husband. She had the art of making fine cloth. Her dress materials were expensive, for she had kerchiefs, or head linen, which she wore on Sunday, so fine that they were equal in value to ten pounds; and her stockings were made of fine red scarlet cloth, and ”straightway gartered upon her legs”; her shoes were also new, and to them she had a pair of spurs attached, because she was to ride upon horseback; she wore a hat as broad as a buckler or a target; and she herself informs us that upon holidays she was accustomed to wear gay scarlet gowns.
The Carpenter's Wife, the heroine of the Miller's Tale, has her dress partly described: the collar of her s.h.i.+ft was embroidered both before and behind with black silk; her girdle was barred or striped with silk; her ap.r.o.n, bound about her hips, was clean and white, and full of plaits. The tapes of her white headdress were embroidered in the same manner as the collar of her s.h.i.+ft; her fillet, or headband, was broad and was made of silk, and ”set full high”; probably meaning with a bow or topknot on the upper part of her head. Attached to her girdle was a purse of leather, ta.s.selled or fringed with silk, and ornamented with _latoun_--a kind of copper alloy of which ornaments were made--in the shape of pearls. She wore a brooch or fibula upon ”her low collar,” as broad, says the poet, as the boss of a buckler; her shoes ”were laced high upon her legs.”
In addition to these characters of Chaucer, it may be added that the country Ale-Wife is thus described by a contemporary writer: ”She put on her fairest smocke; her petticoat of a good broad red; her gowne of grey, faced with buckram; her square-thrumed hat; and before her she hung a clean white ap.r.o.n.”
The subject of public entertainment in the Middle Ages brings to light curious practices. In the towns, the burghers were not willing to entertain strangers gratuitously, notwithstanding the Scriptural injunction to do so, reinforced by the reminder that thereby some have entertained angels unawares. The custom of offering entertainment to travellers was, however, still practised in the country districts, but the Anglo-Saxon notion of three days as a reasonable limit for the tarrying of wayfarers seems still to have obtained. Aside from the public inns, rich burghers opened their homes, with their superior comforts, to royal personages and to rich barons, for an honorarium.
They frequently practised extortion upon their accidental guests, and had arts to allure such to their homes. While having the appearance of great exclusiveness, they nevertheless employed persons to be on the watch for travellers. These would approach such strangers, engage them in conversation, and, on pretence of being from the same part of the country, offer guidance and advice to the stranger, who was usually glad to be directed to an ”exclusive” place for entertainment. In some of these places, as well as in the public inns, the guest would be beguiled into contracting gambling or other debts beyond his ability to pay in money, whereupon his belongings were seized, although their value might be greatly in excess of his obligation. The manners and morals of the women in these private places of entertainment were not always commendable.
The tavern was the place of resort for a large part of the middle cla.s.s and practically all the lower cla.s.s of mediaeval society.
Even the women spent much of their time gossiping and drinking in such places, where they found great lat.i.tude for carrying out low intrigues. The tavern was, in short, the great rendezvous for those who sought amus.e.m.e.nt of any sort. It was the ordinary haunt of gamblers. In one of the _fabliaux_, a young profligate is represented as turning into a tavern before which the tavern boy is calling out the price of the beverages on tap there. After inquiring the price of the wines, and receiving the information from the host, the latter goes on to enumerate the attractions of his house: ”Within are all sorts of comforts; painted chambers, and soft beds, raised high with white straw, and made soft with feathers; here within is hostel for love affairs, and when bedtime comes you will have pillows of violets to hold your head more softly; and, finally, you will have electuaries and rose-water, to wash your mouth and face.” He orders a gallon of wine, and immediately afterward a _belle demoiselle_ makes her appearance, for such in those times were reckoned among the attractions of the tavern. It is soon arranged that she shall share his apartment with him, and then a general carousal ensues in which he loses all his money and has to leave even his clothes in payment of his bill. These alewives were looked upon as past masters in deceit, and were heartily despised by those who did not fall into their clutches. In a carved _miserere_ in Ludlow Church, representing Doomsday, one of these characters is depicted as about to be cast into the jaws of h.e.l.l, carrying with her nothing but the finery of her enticement and her short ale measure. The amus.e.m.e.nts of the times, excepting those of a grosser order, or such as have already been mentioned in the previous chapter, centred around the n.o.bility and persons of position; so that their consideration can be deferred for the time being and be taken up in connection with the sports and pastimes of the ladies of rank, as treated in the chapter following.
CHAPTER VI
THE WOMEN OF THE MANORS
The limited means of travel and communication caused the lives of the women of the early English manors to be secluded and, in a sense, protected the wives and daughters of the t.i.tled n.o.bility. The manor house was a world to itself, a centre of law, of society, of industry, and, ofttimes, of culture.
On account of the bad state of the roads and the lack of the modern convenience of quick transmittal of information, the turmoils and upheavals of the cities left the manors unaffected by more than a ripple of their excitement. The manor had its own social and administrative system, which provided for the performance of duties by the various elements of the manorial establishment. In times of wide social disorder, the manor, by reason of its isolation, was often subject to attack; then the courage and fort.i.tude of its female occupants were called forth to the uttermost. Women whose names might otherwise have pa.s.sed into obscurity have been enrolled among England's heroines by reason of just such circ.u.mstances; one such, whose fame carries us back to the Wars of the Roses, was Lady Joan Pelham, wife of Sir John Pelham, Constable of Pevensey Castle. While Sir John was in Yorks.h.i.+re with the Lancastrian Duke Henry, fighting against Richard II., Pevensey Castle was fiercely attacked by Yorkist forces. The continuance of the siege brought on a scarcity of provisions; in this strait, Lady Joan addressed a letter to her husband, which, besides displaying the courage of a n.o.ble English lady, has the additional interest of being the earliest letter extant written by an English woman of quality. It reads as follows:
”MY DERE LORDE:
”I recommande me to yowr his Lordes.h.i.+ppe wyth heart and body and all my pore myght, and wyth all this I think zou, as my dere Lorde, derest and best yloved of all earth lyche Lordes; I say for me and thanke yhow me der Lorde, with all thys that I say before, off your comfortable lettre, that ze send me from Pownefraite that com to me on Mary Magdaleyn day; ffor by my trowth I was never so gladd as when I herd by your lettre that ye was stronge ynogh wyth the grace off G.o.d for to kepe you fro the malyce of your ennemys. And dere Lorde iff it lyk to your hyee Lordes.h.i.+ppe that als ye myght, that smythe her off your gracious spede whych G.o.d Allmyghty contynue and encresse. And my dere Lorde, if is lyk zow for to know of my ffare, I am here by layd in a manner off a sege, wyth the counte of Suss.e.x, Sudray, and a green parsyll off Kentte; so that I ne may nogth out, nor none vitayles gette me, hot wyth my die hard. Wharfore my dere if it lyk zow, by the awyse off zowr wyse counsel for to sett remadye off the salvation off yhower castells wt. stand the malyce off ther sehures foresayde. And also that ye be fullyehe enformede off there grett malyce wyker's in these schyres whyche yt haffes so dispytfful wrogth to zow, and to zowl contell, to zhowr men, and zuor tenaunts ffore this c.u.n.tree, have yai wastede for grett whyle. Farewell my dere Lorde, the Holy Tryn zow kepe fro zour ennemys and son send me gud tythyng off yhow. Ywryten at Pevensey in the castell, on Saynt Jacobe day last past.
”By yhowr awnn pore,
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