Mary in medieval texts

MEDIEVAL AND RENAISSANCE Our Lady's Lawsuits in TEXTS AND STUDIES I.:Advocacie Nostre Dame

(Our Lady's Advocacy) VOLUME 393 and

La Chapelerie Nostre Dame de Baiex

(The Benefice ofOur Lady's· Chapel in Bayeux)

''Avocat en ciel et en terre"

Judith M. Davis and F.R.P. Akehurst Translators

Based on the Text Edited by Girard Gros

ACMRS (Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies)

Tempe, Arizona )'()11

Published by ACMRS (Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies) Tempe, Arizona © 2011 Arizona Board of Regents for Arizona State University. All Rights Reserved.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Our lady's lawsuits in l'Advocacie nostre dame (Our lady's advocacy) ; and, La chapelerie nostre dame de Baiex (The benefice of our lady's chapel in Bayeux) I Judith M. Davis and F.R.P. Akehurst, translators; based on the text edited by Gerard Gros.

p. cm. -- (Medieval and Renaissance texts and studies; v. 393) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-86698-441-6 (alk. paper)

1. French literature--To 1500--Translations into English. 2. Mary, Blessed Virgin, Saint--Legends. 1. Davis,Judith M . (Judith Mary) II. Akehurst, F. R. P. TTL eros, Gerard. IV. Advocacie Nostre Dame. English. V. Chapelerie Nostre­ name de Baiex. English.

PQJ :;02.E5087 2011 l3-1] '. JO<)·-uc22

2011007174

Cover Image Paris, Bibliotheque Nationale de France, MS fr. 1103, f. 4Ov. Published with the permission ofBibliotheque Nationale de France.

This book is made to last. It is set in Adobe Caslon Pro, smyth-sewn and printed on acid-free paper to library specifications. Printed in the United Stales ofAmcl'ica

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Prefoce

Ilcknowledgements

Introduction to the Works

Dates and Authorship

Manuscripts

Editions

The Advocacie: Genres, Audiences, Theological and Religious Contexts, Sources, Legal Procedure

The Chapelerie: Genres, Audience, Sources, Theological and Religious Contexts, Historical Context, Legal Procedure

Translators' Comments

1.'Ildvocacie Nostre DamelOur Lady's Advocacy

Notes

I.a Chapelerie Nostre Dame de BaiexlThe Benefice ofOur Lady's Chapel ill Bayeux

Notes

1\ ihliography

VII

IX

Xl

Xlll

xv

XIX

XXI

XXXlll

XXXVlll

1

121

133

177

185

00

INTRODUCTION

Much French religious literature of the fourteenth century strikes a doleful note of melancholy in that "calamitous" era of plague and warfare. Two Anglo-Nor­ luan narrative poems, however, stand out as exceptions: 1:Advocacie N ostre Dame (Our Lady's Advocacy) and its companion piece, La Chapelerie de Baiex (The Ben­ 'lice ofOur Lady's Chapel in Bayeux). The Advocacie offers a sophisticated and dra­ Illatic rendering of theological debates about the nature of the Fall and Redemp­ (ion, emphasizing the role of the Virgin Mary in the economy of salvation. The ( :hapelerie offers an exceptional and critical insight into the contemporary strug­ ~lc between church and crown over control of ecclesiastical revenues, highlight­ illg the putative role of the Virgin in preserving for the bishop the income from (lie benefice of the church that bears her name. Written in octosyllabic rhyming co uplets, the two works operate within a legal framework, treating a variety of i ~ sues and procedures governed by both civil and canon law.

The importance of the Advocacie lies in its status as the first French ver­ 1l:l <.: ular interpretation of an ancient theme: Satan making his claim to human louIs before a heavenly court. The subject of this narrative is a trial in a court of law where Jesus is judge; Satan is attorney on behalf of the plaintiffs, denizens of Hell; and Mary acts as advocate for the defense. Satan seeks justice from the ,'ourt for having been deprived of the right to his share of souls, won by Hell­ lind lost to God - as he claims, through the sin of Adam and Eve. After Jesus I ehuffs his attempt to bring a criminal suit against the human race, Satan pres­ ("1l tS a power of attorney from Hell which authorizes him to proceed in a civil 11I lit;Jesus finds it to be without error, accepts it, and sets the court date for Good li'riday.

In a council of Heaven parallel to the council of Hell that gave Satan his I'n:dentials as attorney, Mary accepts the role of advocate for the defense. The Virgin asks God to deny the Devil's claim, and although Satan is expert in canon ilrld eivillaw, Mary proves to be an effective defense counsel. When Satan insists 1hat he must be restored to peaceful possession of the souls he previously held hy right of adverse possession, Mary responds that Satan never had good title to [host: souls but possessecl them in bad faith. A frustrated Satan then resorts to divin e law, citing the Ge nesis ('ale of the Fall; Mary counters that since he was (h e t:au ~1O of'that Fall rha( argum ent should fail, otherwise Satan would benefit 1'1' 0111 hi~; fraud.

xu Introduction

To make her case during her juridical battle with Satan, the Virgin cites cus­ tomary law and Roman law as well as canon law and papal decretals. For more than half the proceedings, she conducts herself in the character of a highly ca­ pable advocate, although this competence includes ad hominem attacks on her opponent. She vilifies Satan, frustrates his legal maneuverings, and presents her case eloquently and forcefully. When her adversary persists, however, she throws herself down before Jesus, appealing to him in a dramatically emotional pleading. With the encouragement of her divine Son, she resumes her previous mode of re­ futing Satan's arguments, stating that Christ's death on the cross outweighed the world's sin, and that when humans repent, God extends mercy. She makes a final tearful appeal to Jesus, after which there is no doubt of the outcome. Jesus deliv­ ers the verdict that all humans who have repented and confessed will be admitted to Paradise. God the Father and the Holy Spirit concur. The Devil is beaten; the court spectators rejoice and the affair ends with a resounding Salve Regina.

Like the Advocacie, the Chape/erie concerns opposing claims of title and pos­ session, this time involving two different bishops ofBayeux, Pierre de Benais and Guillaume de Trie, who succeeded Pierre in office, and representatives of two kings: Philip IV (reigned 1285-1314) for the first lawsuit and Philip V (reigned 1316-1322) for the second. At issue in this shorter work is the benefice or "living" from the Virgin Mary's chapel in Bayeux. The king's men argue that the income of the benefice derives from the chapel situated on the king's property, his castle. The bishops allege a two-hundred-year-old right to the income based on a char­ ter from William the Conqueror (reigned 1066-1087) granting the benefice to their predecessor, his half-brother Odo, bishop ofBayeux.

The first case recounted in the Chape/erie is an appeal from the local author­ ity to the king's Treasury, a court comparable to the Court of the Exchequer in English law. Bishop Pierre represents his own interests and a prosecutor, Lau­ rent Herout, advances those of the crown. The bishop expresses publicly his wish for the chastisement of anyone who would deprive Our Lady of her due; Herout mocks him and is struck dead as soon as he returns to his townhouse. Inter­ preted as a sign of the Virgin's punishment, Herout's death inspires general pity and fear. The officers of the Treasury Court, especially, find it prudent to render a verdict in favor of the bishop.

Some time later, the king overrides the first verdict at the instigation of his courtier, Adam d'Orleans, and bestows the benefice by fiat on a cleric named Pierre l'Archier. Bishop Guillaume de Trie takes the lawsuit to the king's court at Paris and there demands to be put back in possession of Our Lady's benefice. In Paris, even before the two sides begin their pleadings, Bishop Guillaume asks the Virgin Mary to expedite her case and demands how she can let enemies of her Church live. His malediction takes effect. Adam d'Orleans becomes vio­ lently ill and dies after learning that the king's court has rendered a judgment in favor of Our Lady and her bishop. The real sentence in this case, however, is pronounced by the author, who declares that both Herout and Adam deserved to

!lltroduction xm

die - spiritually as well as bodily - for daring to oppose the Virgin: she is the advocate on earth as well as in heaven of all those who call upon her.

Of the two works, the Advocacie is by far the more entertaining and complex. It refers with equal ease to canon and civil law, Marian legends, books of the Old and New Testaments, and theological commentaries ranging from the fourth l'Iuough the thirteenth centuries. The author combines elements of a courtroom drama and a homiletic exegesis on the Atonement with an account of the Vir­ gin Mary's miraculous mediation. Multigeneric and multivalent, the Advocacie challenges modern readers esthetically and intellectually. In the Chape/erie, on rhe other hand, the author refers to historically verifiable persons and lawsuits conducted in both the regional court of Bayeux and the king's court at Paris, comparing the malefactors in his tale to New Testament evildoers but providing little embellishment to his narrative. This work has more in common with Mar­ ian tales of the previous century - especially those that deal with Mary's pun­ ishment of those who thwart her will- than with more erudite genres. Given its mixture of history and legend, it may be classified as a miracle it clef

Dates and Authorship

We can be reasonably certain that both works were written between 1321 and 1124. Editors and historians alike have cited evidence of the two lawsuits that pit­ I(;d the bishops of Bayeux against representatives of the French king. The author oC the Chape/erie, who identifies himself as an eyewitness to the second suit, states ill line 675 that the verdict was rendered in 1321. The bishop involved in that ac­ I'ion was Guillaume de Trie, who held the bishopric until 1324. Most scholars hdieve that both the Advocacie and the Chape/erie were written within that three­ year period, although it is possible that the Advocacie was written earlier. 1

There is good evidence and critical opinion that a single author wrote both works. Gaston Raynaud stated that the two were "inseparable" and that the Chape/erie was a "personal work" of the "translator who had put the Advocacie into

1 Gerard Gros, "LAdvocacie Nostre Dame et la Chapelerie Nostre Dame de Baiex par I'anonyme de Bayeux" (Ph.D. diss., University of Paris IV, 1980), 20. Alphonse Chas­ 'ia11t, who published extracts from the Advocacie, was among the first to date both works: I .:lft/vocacie Notre Dame ou La Vierge Marie plaidant contre Ie Diable (Paris: Aubry, 1855), x ,~i, For a fuller treatment of dates based on the events recounted in the Chapelerie, see C harles LanglOis, "L'Anonyme de Bayeux, auteur de quatre poemes en frano;:ais," in His­ / 0 ;/'(' Littemin de la j"mnce (Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 1926),35:385-94, here 390-93. S~C; abo Ga~toll Raynaud's preface to Anatole de Montaiglon, I.;Advocacie Nostre-Dame d I,d Chi/pdail' NO,l'tn' ...[)utll(' tI(' Ra;l'x (Paris: Academie des Bibliophiles, 1869; preface "I H()h), v v ii. '

XV XlV Introduction

rhyme."2 Anatole de Montaiglon numbered the lines of the two works consecu­ tively, treating them as one. Charles Langlois believed that both works, as well as the two poems that preceded them in the only manuscript in which both appear, were written by the same author. 3 Gerard Gros's study oflanguage and versifica­ tion indicates a single author. 4 Gros also noted that the first line of the Chapelerie represents a transition from and completion of the Advocacie, observing that the Virgin demonstrates her power in both heavenly and earthly courts. 5 We believe that these arguments in favor of a single author appear convincing.

Exact identification of the author has eluded scholars thus far. During the nineteenth century and well into the twentieth, some attributed authorship of both works to one Jehan or Jean de Justice. Alphonse Chassant based his attri­ bution on the opinion of Victor Pezet, a jurist who had published the text of the Chapelerie in 1848. 6 In a later article, Pezet describedJehan de Justice (d. 1353) as a canon of the cathedral of Bayeux and a lawyer in the parlement of Paris. 7 Gas­ ton Raynaud was uncertain about the authorship.8 Charles Langlois observed that Jean de Justice was a cleric in the service of the king, and if indeed he had witnessed the events of the trial that ended in 1321, he would have exercised his influence to thwart rather than support the claims of the bishop.9 Gerard Gros agrees with Langlois, as does A. -F. Labie-Leurquin. 10

Other scholars speculated that the Advocacie, in particular, was the work of a pre-eminent fourteenth-century jurist, Bartolo da Sassoferrato, the putative author of a "Satan's lawsuit" entitled Tractatus quaestionis ventilatae coram D. Jesu

2 Raynaud, "Preface," v-vi. 3 Langlois, "L'Anonyme," 394. Langlois observed that the Advocacie and Chape/erie

were assigned one incipit or beginning line by Arthur U.ngfors, Les lncipit des poemes franrais anterieurs au XV!' siecle (Paris: Champion, 1917),389.

4 Gros, "L'Advocacie," 27-36. 5 Gerard Gros, "L'Avocate et sa vocation: Etude sur la dramatisation d'une propriete

mariale dans rAdvocacie Nostre Dame," in LeJeu theatral, ses marges, sesfrontieres: Actes de la deuxieme rencontre sur l'ancien theatre europeen de 1997, ed. Jean-Pierre Bordier et al. (Paris: Champion, 1999), 125-40, here 128-29.

6 Chassant, I.:Advocacie, x-xi. Pezet's edition of the Chapelerie appeared in the Re­ cueil des travaux de la Societe libre d'agriculture, sciences et arts de I'Eure, 2' serie, 8 (1847­ 1848): 314-49.

7 V[ictor] Pezet, "Notice Explicative sur un poeme manuscrit du commencement du XIV' siecle, ayant pour titre: La Chapelle de Baiex," Bulletin de la Societe d'agriculture, sci­ ences, arts et belles-lettres de Bayeux 5 (1850-1851): 103-49, here 144.

8 Raynaud, "Preface," vi. He did admit the possibility that Jean de Justice could have been the author, however.

9 Langlois, "L'Anonyme," 393-94. 10 Gros, "L'Advocacie," 21; Anne-Frans:oise Labie-Leurquin, "Jean de Justice," in

Dictionnaire des lettresfranraises: Le moyen age, ed. Genevi~ve Hasenohr and Michel Zink (Paris: Fayard, 1992), 794-95.

f71 troduction

(;'/Jristo inter Virginem Mariam, ex una parte, et diabolum, ex alia parte ("A Trea­ lise on the Qyestions Raised in the Court of Our Lord Jesus Christ between Ihe Virgin Mary, the Party of the First Part, and the Devil, the Party of the Second Part"), also known as the Processus Satanae contra Beatem Virginem coram judice Jesu ("The Case of Satan vs. the Blessed Virgin in the Court of Jesus the ,1l1dge")Y The dating of this work, which bears a very close resemblance to the .!Idvocacie, has proved problematic. Ifindeed the TractatuslProcessus is the work of Bartolo da Sassoferrato, it postdates the Advocacie, for Bartolo was born in 1313 or 1314 and the Advocacie was written between 1321 and 1324. If the Tractatusl 1'1"ocessus is not the work of Bartolo, it may predate the Advocacie - but it may he based on or constitute an elaboration of earlier Latin works. It is also possible ,hat the Advocacie circulated in learned circles and later was adapted by and at­ Iributed to Bartolo; both the Advocacie and the TractatuslProcessus Satanae employ protracted and technical legal arguments to explicate Church doctrines regard­ ing the Fall and Atonement within the framework of a court trial. The two works probably had a common Latin source (see below).

The author of the Advocacie and the Chapelerie, then, remains anonymous. I Ie was in all probability a canon lawyer attached to the episcopal court of Bay­ ellx. Highly educated, undoubtedly a cleric, master of multiple discourses, he was wdl versed in both canonical Scripture and apocrypha; Roman, canon, and cus­ mrnary law; theological treatises covering a wide range of time and topics; and Marian hymns and literature, including her miracles. The Chapelerie testifies to II is familiarity with contemporary events as well as Marian tales. He was certain­ ly privy to knowledge about the events of the first lawsuit he describes and had Ii rst-hand knowledge of the second, as he often reminds his audience. He may well have been the cleric who accompanied Guillaume de Trie to Paris. 12

Manuscripts 13

()f the manuscripts described below, only one contains the Chape/erie. The suc­ (.·<.: S8 enjoyed by the Advocacie both during and after the era of its composition was 11.0 doubt due in part to the appeal of its "Maryvs. Satan" theme and in part to the

II Bartolo da Sassoferrato, Tractatus quaestionis ventilatae coram D. Iesu Christo inter Vilg il1em Mariam, ex una parte, et diabolum, ex alia parte, in Opera, vol. 11 (Venice: Giun­ r.. , l5 flO-1581), 127-29.

I)' Based on the author/narrator's first-person observations in the Chapelerie, ~. ;r(J s considers it likely that he was the clerk of Bishop Guillaume de Trie of Bayeux ( " 1 :!llivocacie," 20, 249).

1:1 M anuscript descriptions appear in Gros, "L'Advocacie," 5-11 and are translated IWI'c. I. \'(,s adds allo tlwr fi-agJn('I'lt (,(Hlla jIll'd in Paris, Bibliotheque Nationale n. acq. fr. (0 001 (Gild nf'iI\(' ('(")\)' nf'II1I' I('xl .1('1':1<'111'.1 ( ['nlll iliI' Dijon manuscript). See G. Gros, Le

xx Introduction

Bibliophiles. Mai 1869. In-12, viii-136 pages. 200 copies on Holland paper, 10 on Chinese paper. On the back of the book there is a tailpiece bearing the motto "En apprenant mourant," "Dying while learning," Montaiglon's motto. Another series (a reprint of the entire book or perhaps only a change of cover) carries in the same place a banderole bearing the motto, "Encore plus de lumiere," "More light" - 1866.

Montaiglon had prepared and printed the text in 1869 for the Academie des Bibliophiles but wanted to collate his text with that of the Dijon manuscript. He died in 1895 before completing his work; Gaston Raynaud directed the publica­ tion of the text the following year, adding a preface of his own.

Montaiglon's edition is a considerable improvement over Chassant's, provid­ ing the complete texts of both the Advocacie and the Chapelerie and numbering the lines consecutively for the two works. The transcription and the syntactic and stylistic establishment of the text are for the most part accurate. Until the end of the twentieth century, this edition - with its useful glossary and preface ­ served a limited readership well.

Gerard Gros, 1980

This edition was presented as a doctoral thesis to the University of Paris IV (Sor­ bonne) in 1980: "UAdvocacie Nostre Dame, suivie de La Chapelerie Nostre Dame de Baiex, par l'Anonyme de Bayeux. Edition avec Introduction, Notes et Glos­ saire par Gerard Gros." Typed manuscript, 278 pages. Gros wished to offer a scholarly presentation of the text that incorporated variants from all the known manuscripts, contained explanatory notes, and expanded the glossary - espe­ cially since the Montaiglon edition, limited and long out of print, was virtually inaccessible in all but a few university libraries.

Like Montaiglon, Gros used the manuscript of Evreux (Bibliotheque Mu­ nicipale, MS . 8), the only one to present the totality of both the Advocacie and the Chapelerie, as his texte de base. He examined this manuscript and the Paris manuscript (Bibliotheque Nationale, MS. 1103) on site, consulting the Dijon and Tours manuscripts in microfilm. His edition contains the text (A) of the two works on the right-hand page. On the left-hand page are listed all of the vari­ ants (B, C, D) that, he believed, had the potential to alter the sense of a given line. Gros numbered the lines of the Advocacie and the Chapelerie separately. Like Montaiglon, he added some accents and diacritic marks that were seldom used in the fourteenth century, such as the accent grave.

Following the notes to the Advocacie, the edition adds two appendices to this work. The first compares the Advocacie with the Processus Sathanae attributed to Bartolo da Sassoferrato; the second incorporates line references to the Roman law D igest. The notes to the Chape/erie are followed by a brief list of proverbs and folk sayings; a list of images taken from bestiaries; ail index of proper names; and a glossary, all of which include references to both works.

Introduction xxi

TheAdvocacie: Genres, Audiences, Sources, Theological And Religious Contexts, Law

Genres

Given the complexity of the Advocacie, it is difficult to assign it to anyone genre. Twentieth-century scholars recognized the dramatic character of the work, but there was no consensus regarding its intended audience or effect. Gerard Gros calls it "semi-dramatic" and notes that the Dijon manuscript, in particular, delib­ erately separates the dialogue from the narration. 21 Moshe Lazar and Dan Terk­ la treat the Advocacie as a dramatic work. Lazar sees Satan and Notre Dame as "characters in a popular scenario," players in a "divine chess game [in which] the White QIeen inevitably defeats the Black King";22 he published large segments of the Advocacie in modern French in the form of a prose drama. 23 Terkla places it "under the sub-heading of what [Hope] Traver called a 'processusjocoserius,' that is, a text which portrays a 'humorous judicial procedure'" and calls it "a Basochian proto-drama" which prefigured the fifteenth-century Basochian causes grasses or burlesque lawsuits. 24 Jody Enders cites the Advocacie as an example of the "letteraturizzazione of rhetoric" that "traditionally inspired rhetorico-dramatic

21 Gerard Gros, "Le Texte narratif au seuil de la dramatisation: L'Exemple de LYldvocacie Nostre Dame (au Manuscrit de Dijon, Bib!. Mun ., 525)," in L'Economie du dialogue dans I'ancien theatre europien, ed. Jean Bordier (Paris: Champion, 1999), 53-68, here 60 .

22 Moshe Lazar, "Satan and Notre Dame: Characters in a Popular Scenario," in A Medieval French Miscellany, ed. Norris J. Lacy (Lawrence: University of Kansas Publica­ tions, 1972), 1-14, here 6. Like Lazar, Steven Taylor comments on Gautier de Coinci's use of chess imagery a century before the Advocacie, calling Mary "God's Qyeen" in the "cosmic chess game [that] was ... a compelling one in the medieval cultural context": "God's Qyeen: Chess Imagery in the Poetry of Gautier de Coinci," Fifteenth Century Studies 17 (1990): 403-19, here 411. See also Marilyn Yalom, Birth of the Chess Queen (New York: HarperCollins, 2004), chap. 7, "Chess and the Cult of the Virgin Mary."

23 Moshe Lazar, L e Diable et la Vierge: Textes dramatiques du moyen age (Paris: Chris­ tian Bourgeois, 1990). In 1994, F.R .P. Akehurst prese nted segments of an English trans­ lation and legal commentary in "I.:Advocacie Nostre Dame: A Law Suit Made in Heave n" at the 29'h International Congress on Medieval Studies in Kalamazoo, Michigan, directing some of his colleagues in a dramatic interpretation of the work.

24 Dan Terkla, "A Basochien Proto-Drama and Its Mariological Context: I.:Advocacie Nostre Dame," Medieval Perspectives 6 (1991): 87-100, here 91. Terkla points out (94) that the Basoche was an organization of Parisian law clerks "and was founded sometime around 1303, during the time of Philip the Fair (1268-1314)." For the fictitious, of­ ten burlesque case:; hrought by the Court of the Basoche, see Howard Graham Harvey, Th e 1heatre q(thl" [la.vod/t·: 'fb,. Contributioll q(the Law Societies to French Medieval Comedy (C ambri.dge.; , MI\: 1llIlva1'<1 lJn i wr~ity Press, 1941). See also Hope Traver, "The Four 'l)aughrCfS "(' e; ,,.I: 1\ Mil illl' ,,(Ch:IIIJ.Cillj.( Doctrine.;," PMLA 40 (1925): 44-92.

XXU Introduction

forms," identifying it as a "dialectical" work that "would encourage revelation of a reflection on moral and theological truths."25 Monique Leonard recognizes the varieties of genre represented by the Advocacie and relates it to disputations, de­ bates, miracle tales, and prayers. 26

Contemporaries of the Advocacie's author saw the dramatic potential in this text. A fragment of a fourteenth-century manuscript found by Graham Runnalls in the Bib1iotheque Municipa1e of Angers contains a play "more than one-third of the lines [of which] ... also appear in the Advocacie Nostre Dame." 27 1his dra­ matization may have been influenced by the author's knowledge of the Dijon manuscript, also dating from the fourteenth century, that features rubrics desig­ nating different sequences of the work, functioning as chapter titles or signaling the identity of the character who is speaking. 28

Dramatic tension in the Advocacie is heightened by the theological and legal ramifications of the antagonists' arguments: this is not merely a highly intellec­ tual disputatio, complete with references to Scripture, church fathers, theological authorities, Marian devotions, canon law, and civi11aw. It is also a vivid illustra­ tion of the chicanery, insult-laden pleadings, and histrionic gestures that, we may infer, often prevailed in medieval courts of law. 29

Barbara Newman has proposed "a new category of medieval writing, 'imag­ inative theology'," to describe "the pursuit of serious religious and theological thought through the techniques of imaginative literature."3o We believe that the

25 ]. Enders, Rhetoric and the Origins ofMedieval Drama (Ithaca and London: Cor­ nell University Press, 1992),33, 165-67. Enders calls the work a "literary trial" and ob­ serves that "the author commemorates simultaneously the passage from mnemonic to dramatic image and from histrionic legal delivery to drama" (222), presenting a detailed account of the plot (223-33).

26 M . Leonard, Le Dit et sa technique litteraire des origines it 1340 (Paris: Champion, 1996),28-32,324-31.

27 Graham Runnalls, "The Mystere de l:Advocacie Nostre Dame: A Recently Discov­ ered Fragment," Zeitschriftfur Romanische Philologie 100 (1984): 41-77. Runnalls observes that in no other French mystery play "does the Virgin Mary intervene on behalf of man­ kind and become involved in a threesided argument, placed in a legalistic context, with God and the Devil" (44-45).

28 See Gros, "Le Texte Narratif," 53-68. Gros also notes that 67.57 percent of the lines in the narrative Advocacie - two-thirds of the text - consist of speeches: "L'Avocate," 135.

29 Louis Cons recognized similarities in the depiction of legal procedure between the Advocacie and La Farce de Pathelin: L:Auteur de la Farce de Pathelin (Princeton: Prince­ ton University Press, 1926), 152-53 . He dismissed the idea that either work originated in the Basoche (154). Enders emphaSized the role of the actor in both the theater and the courtroom in her chapter "From Legal Ritual to Dramatic Representation in Classical Antiquity and the Middle Ages," Rhetoric, 69-128.

30 B. Newman, God and the Goddesses: Vision, Poetry and Belief in the Middle Ages (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2003), 292-95.

Introduction XXUI

Advocacie is a work of imaginative theology that incorporates drama, doctrinal interpretation, and illustrations oflegal procedure, both straightforward and slip­ pery. Satan, as befits his name (in Hebrew ha-satan, the accuser or adversary), op­ poses the Virgin Mary who embodies the definition of advocate (from the Latin advocata, called to plead or intercede on behalf of another) in a clever exposition of learned religion that is also accessible - through its burlesque of legal procedure and the extravagant behavior of its antagonists - to a less learned audience. 31

Audiences

The courtroom setting of the Advocacie lends itself to "performative theology" in its dramatic presentation of opposing doctrinal points of view. Performative elements also entered into the delivery of sermons and the telling of pious tales, encouraged by the Fourth Lateran Council to combat heresy and appeal to the laity. 32 During the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, in particular, the church emphasized more affective means of reaching a lay audience whose members of­ ten lacked even rudimentary knowledge of their religion. 33

The drama as well as the theme of the Advocacie derive from a truly ancient source: the rite of exorcism of catechumens prior to their baptism, usually per­ formed on Holy Saturday after a day of preparation on Good Friday. In this paraliturgical performance, first described by Theodore of Mopsuestia in the late

31 The perennial opposition of Mary and Satan in medieval tales and plays was based on Genesis 3:15, in which God says to the serpent (Satan), '''1 will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and hers; he will strike your head, and you will strike his heeL" Mary was considered the "new Eve" and Jesus , her Son, would defeat the Devil through His death on the cross.

32 The dramatic elements of Christian ritual both suggest and illustrate theologi­ cal concepts: see, for example, O.B. Hardison, Jr., Christian Rite and Christian Drama in the Middle Ages: Essays in the Origin and Early History of Modern Drama (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1965). Evelyn Vitz has emphaSized the performative aspects of medieval romance, hearing in the octosyllable an ideal line for recitation and performance and emphasizing the importance of the voice in romance works: Orality and Performance in Early French Romance (Cambridge: D.S. Brewer, 1999). See also Adrian P. Tudor, "Preaching, Storytelling, and the Performance of Short Pious Narratives," in Performing Medieval Narrative, ed. Evelyn Birge Vitz, Nancy Regalado, and Marilyn Lawrence (Woodbridge: D.S. Brewer, 2005), 141-53.

33 Michel Sot, Jean-Patrice Boudet, and Anita Guerreau-Jalabert, Histoire culturelle . de fa France: Le Moyen Age (Paris: Seuil, 1997), characterize the use of the vernacular, in particular, as "a sey\c.; and mode of expression adapted to a public interested in the­ c)logy but ncc.: ding "~l1l ~ laJlI re illinders of the basic fundamentals of faith and dogma" (1 5:1 - S4). .

XXtv Introduction

fourth century,34 "catechumens dress and behave in such a way as to emphasize their miserable state of captivity under Satan." The exorcists serve as advocates for these prisoners, taking "the role of lawyers who plead with God in a suit on behalf of their clients .... Satan is present as defendant, and God is the judge" in this "courtroom drama." God hands down a verdict condemning the Devil and the candidates are free to renounce Satan, "all his angels, all his service, all his illusion, and all his pomp."35

The Advocacie would offer a similar dramatization in a much more accessible vernacular form to an audience of catechumens, an "interpretive community"36 whose members would have been much better prepared to understand the rite of baptism, conducted in Latin, after an introduction in their own language. 37

The Advocacie could also have been destined for an audience oflawyers. The academic disputatio, or debate, had been common to the study of law and theol­ ogy since the middle of the twelfth century. Debate scenes also figured promi­ nently in religious drama. 38 The adversaries in these disputes cited both the an­ cient Roman law (preserved in the Digest rediscovered in Pis a during the eleventh century) and canon law (the first section of which, the Decretum, was compiled by Gratian and others in about 1140). Theoretical or fictitious cases were compiled and presented as academic exercises called brocarda during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Procedural treatises proliferated during this time; known as ordines, such treatises first appeared in the second half of the twelfth centu­ ry. Written in Latin, they "satisfied throughout Europe the need for thorough descriptions of procedures." 39 Perhaps the most famous ordo was the Speculum iudiciale of Guillelmus Durandus (Guillaume or Guilhem Durand). "[W]ritten

34 See Raymond Tonneau and Robert Devreesse, trans., Les Homelies catichetiques de Theodore de Mopsueste (Vatican City: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, 1949),351-61.

35 Henry Ansgar Kelly, The Devil at Baptism: Ritual, Theology and Drama (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1985), 149-50.

36 Vitz, Orality, 281. 37 Gros stated that the Advocacie posed several problems, citing audience as one ex­

ample and suggesting that perhaps the work could have been read on a liturgical feast such as Easter: "Le Diable et son adversaire dans I.:Advocacie Nostre Dame," in Le Diable au moyen age, Senefiance 6 (Aix-en-Provence: Publications de l'Universite de Provence, 1979): 239-58, here 239. This view is supported by the work of Hardison, Tudor, and Kelly, supra; the drama associated with the Holy Week liturgy includes graphic attesta­ tions to Christ's victory over the powers of Hell as well as rejections of Satan by the cat­ echumens.

38 Moshe Lazar emphasized that works of the early theater "complete the sermon" by offering concrete illustrations of "the exempla and [their] abstractions": "Enseignement et Spectacle: La 'Disputatio' comme 'scene afaire' dans Ie drame religieux du moyen age," Scripta Hierosolymitana 19 (1967): 126-43 , here 127.

39 Linda Fowler-Magerl, Ordines Iudiciarii and Libelli de Ordine Iudiciorum (Turn­ hout: Brcpols, 1994),56.

Introduction xxv

between 1271-76 and revised 1289-91," the Speculum was "a manual of proce­ dural law, including criminal procedure, in ecclesiastical courts. The procedural law of ... Roman law had been taught, but it had been combined with local pro­ cedure in different ways in different places. Durandus ... produced a unified code.... This manual remained very popular for centuries."40 The Speculum states at one point that "even the [DJevil should have his case heard in court."41

A medieval audience of both canon and civil lawyers would have been enter­ tained - and perhaps informed - by this celestial trial. Theologians would have understood the subtle ramifications of the antagonists' arguments. The general public would have enjoyed Satan's antics as well as the impassioned extravagance of Mary's pleadings on their behalf And all would have been edified at the "hap­ py ending" that assured the repentant sinner of God's divine mercy.

Theological and Religious Contexts

No previous scholarship has dealt extensively with the theological background of the Advocacie; commentators have either missed or ignored the religious di­ mensions of the work, although Gros included numerous scriptural references in his edition. The focus of all the legal maneuverings of the poem, however, is the defeat of the Devil by Christ's death on the cross in atonement for the sins of the world.

Satan's claim to the souls of humankind is based first of all upon the story of Adam and Eve's fall recounted in Genesis. Since that time, according to the apocryphal Gospel ofN icodemus, the Devil held captive in Hell all who had died since the Fall. After his death and before his resurrection, however, Christ de­ scended into Hell (an event called the Harrowing of Hell) and delivered the souls held in captivity there, depriving Satan of what the Devil viewed as his.42 The

40 F.R.P. Akehurst, "Guillelmus Durandus," in The Rise ofthe Medieval World 500­ 1300: A Biographical Dictionary, ed. Jana K. Schulman (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2002), 185-86. The Basel edition of the Speculum was reprinted in Aalen by Scientia Ver­ lag in 1975.

41 Qyoted in Kenneth Pennington, "Due Process, Community and the Prince in the Evolution of the Ordo iudiciarius," Rivista internazionale di diritto commune 9 (1998): 9-47, here 36.

42 The Gospel ofNicodemus dates from about the mid-fourth century, although the idea dates back to the second century, according to Montague Rhodes James, ed. and ITans., Th e Apocryphal New Testament, 2nd ed. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989),95. Zbig­ niew Izydorczyk places the Latin translation which is the origin of "[a] 11 West European vernacular versions" in the fifth century: The Medieval Gospel of Nicodemus: Texts, Inter­ texts, and Contexts in Western Europe, MRTS 158 (Tempe, AZ: ACMRS, 1997),43-101, wh i k in the same vol\l me l{ ichard O'Gorman describes it in the "Vernacular Literature ()V M(O(li (':va l Fr:tll<:.e," 1(n- 31. O'Gorman cites three Norman versions of the work dating J('t)\\1 I·he thirh '(' \l1 II " '111111'), (l()4 -5), Jacobus d..: Vomf!;inc (c. 1230 --1298) cited the Gospel

xxvii xxvi Introduction

Church fathers couched Satan's claim to human souls in terms of "the Devil's rights,"43 and throughout the Middle Ages theologians debated the existence and nature of those alleged rights as well as whether Adam's fall incurred a debt to Satan or to God. Related debates concerned the satisfaction of that debt and the continuing "rights of Satan" to the souls of humankind. Augustine (354-430) and others held that the fall of Adam and Eve incurred a debt to the Devil, re­ corded in a decree attested in Colossians 2, that was destroyed by Christ's death on the cross. Although that debt was wiped out, Satan still could claim rights to - and exercise power over - human souls due to their sinful state. Anselm (1040-1109) and his followers, on the other hand, maintained that the Fall in­ curred a debt to God rather than Satan and that Christ's death had paid that debt in full. They dismissed the idea that the Devil had any rights to humankind because everything and everyone ultimately belonged to God. 44 The scholastic theologian Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) upheld Anselm's position, stating that "the Devil's power was dependent only upon humanity's state of sin; therefore, the forgiveness of sins and the reconciliation to God [through Christ's passion and death] meant the end of the Devil's power."45 The Advocacie presents a brief for the more merciful Anselmian and Thomistic interpretations of the Fall and Redemption in a format which renders doctrine accessible to audiences of clerics and lay folk alike.

The religious background of both the Advocacie and the Chapelerie reflects a Mariology that began with the Church fathers in the second century and reached its high point in the thirteenth, when hundreds of legends and tales about the Virgin's miraculous interventions in human affairs circulated throughout the Christian world. Mary was the subject of homilies, psalters, books of hours, of­ fices, songs, poems, prose works, masses, hymns, and dramas. 46 Descriptions of

ofNicodemus in his commemoration of Christ's resurrection: The Golden Legend, trans. William Granger Ryan, 2 vols. (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993), 1:222­ 24. Note: the Dijon manuscript containing the Advocacie also features the Evangile de Nicodeme (see above, xvii).

43 Kevin J. Ruth, "Toward a Vision of the Devil's Rights in the Theatre of Late Me­ dieval Europe" (Ph.D. diss ., Rutgers University, 2004), presents a complete history of the concept of the Devil's rights (10-75).

44 For an extensive analysis of the two positions, see C.W. Marx, The Devil's Rights and the Redemption in the Literature ofMedieval England (Cambridge: D.S. Brewer, 1995). Emily Steiner discusses the implications of Colossians in Documentary Culture and the Making of Medieval English Literature (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003), 100-3.

45 Marx, The Devit's Rights, 43; Ruth, "Toward a Vision of the Devil's Rights," 53-57. 46 Literally scores of books and articles dealing with medieval Marian miracles ap­

peared during the twentieth century, among them Hilda Graef, Mary: A History ofDoc­ trine and Devotion, combined ed. (London: Sheed and Ward, 1990); Jaroslav Pelikan, Mary Through the Centuries (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1996); Marina Warner,

introduction

Mary as advocata appeared in countless medieval devotional works. 47 Litanies invoked her as the refuge of sinners and comforter of the afflicted; and the anti­ phon Salve Regina, or "Hail, Holy O!Ieen," cited in the Advocacie and alluded to in the Chapelerie, undergirds both works. It is worth quoting in full here for the images that pervade the Advocacie in particular:

Salve, Regina, Mater misericordiae, vita, dulcedo, et spes nostra, salve. Ad te c1amamus, exules filii Evae. Ad te suspiramus, gementes et fientes in hac lacrymarum valle. Eia ergo, advocata nostra, illos tuos misericordes oculos ad nos converte. Et Jesum, benedictum fructum ventris tui, nobis post hoc exilium ostende. 0 clemens! 0 pia! 0 dulcis Virgo Maria!

Hail, holy Qyeen, mother of mercy, our life, our sweetness and our hope! To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve; to thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears. Turn then, most gracious Advocate, thine eyes of mercy towards us, and after this our exile show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus. 0 clement, 0 loving, 0 sweet Virgin Mary!48

As Gros observed, both texts illustrate her advocacy of the human race, "more or less implicitly in this world, explicitly in the other."49 Her ability to reward or punish was taken for granted, as Gautier de Coinci and others had established, and it would have been no surprise to either a learned or an illiterate audience that opponents (the Devil in the Advocacie and the king's men in the Chapelerie) of Mary and her servitors would meet miserable ends.

Alone ofAll her Sex (New York, Vintage, 1983); Sally Cuneen, In Search of Mary (New York: Random House, 1996); and David A. Flory, Marian Representations in the Miracle Tales of Thirteenth-Century Spain and France (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 2000). A comprehensive analysis of Marian miracles appears in Paule Beterous, Les Collections de Miracles de la Vierge en Gallo- et Ibero-Roman au XIII' siecle (Dayton, OH: University of Dayton, 1983-1984).

47 See, e.g., Johannes Jacobus Bourasse, Summa aurea de laudibus Beatissime Virginis Mariae, vol. 9 (PariS: J.-P. Migne, 1862), cols. 869-875.

48 According to Hilda Graef (Mary, 229), the Salve Regina is perhaps the best known and loved of the "so-called Marian antiphons." It was probably composed "to­ wards the end of the eleventh century or the beginning of the twelfth . . . . [It] expresses her power as [humans'] advocate with God and her mediation between themselves and Christ." The Salve Regina has been attributed to Adhemar, bishop of Le Puy (d. 1098). 'Ulis translation is found in Mary Ford-Grabowsky, Spiritual Writings on Mary (Wood­ ~rock, VT: SkyLight Paths Publishing, 2005), 192.

·19 eros, "J :Avocate," no: "plus ou moins implicitement en ce monde, explicitement cia n, l'alltn:." .

:" X'V i i ,: Introduction

Sources

The theme of Satan making his claim to human souls before a heavenly court has been the cause of some taxonomic confusion. Over the centuries, different versions have emphasized different theological or biblical elements, and works dealing with Satan's claim and featuring Satan and Christ or Mary - regard­ ing both the subject and several key arguments - have been described indis­ criminately as the processus Sat(h)anae ("Satan's lawsuit"), the processus Belial ("the Devil's trial"), or the proces de Paradis (the "trial of Paradise"), 50 Under the rubric of processus Sathanae may be placed the twelfth-century Latin legal battle be­ tween Christ and the Devil, the Conjlictus inter Deum et Diabolum; a thirteenth­ century vernacular work, II Piato di Dio con Nemico ("The Dispute of God and the Enemy");51 the fourteenth-century Advocacie itself; and Bartolo da Sassoferrato's Tractatus question is ventilatae coram D, Jesu Christo inter Virginem Mariam, ex una parte, et diabolum, ex alia parte ("Treatise on the Qyestion Raised in the Court of Our Lord Jesus Christ between the Virgin Mary, the Party of the First Part, and the Devil, the Party of the Second Part"), Thirteenth-century works include a so-called "processus Beliaf" in Dutch that contains a significant number of the same plot elements as the Advocacie. 52

Later works introduced many additional biblical and historical charac­ ters (the processus Belial and the proces de Paradis).53 Most of these were dramas

50 The tradition of the processus Satanae has been "misleadingly called 'the trials of Satan'; it should rather be called 'Satan's lawsuit,' in which the devil is not defendant but plaintiff, pressing his claim for humanity before a divine tribunal., .": Henry Ansgar Kel­ ly, review of C.W. Marx, 'The Devil's Rights, Speculum 72 (1997): 859-61, here 861.

51 Contrasti Antichi, Cristo e Satana, ed. Franz Roediger (Florence: Libreria Dante, 1887),5-48.

52 This is jacob van Maerlant's Merlijn, ed. Johannes van Vloten (Leiden: E.]. Brill, 1880). See Traver, "The Four Daughters," 50-53.

S3 In the late fourteenth century (138112), Jacopo da The ramo, bishop of Spoleto (1349-1417), wrote the Compendium breve Consolalio peccatorum nuncupatum; et apud non­ nullos Belial vocatum adpapam Urbanum sextum conscriptum, better known as the Processus Belial. Theramo not only elaborated significantly on the processus Sathanae, but substitut­ ed Moses for Mary as the advocate and introduced a score of biblical and historical char­ acters. Elements of this Processus Belial, a more Christocentric work, informed an Occitan work on the Last Judgment (see Moshe Lazar, Lejugement Dernier (Lojutgamengeneral), Drame provenral du xv siecle [Paris: Klincksieck, 1971]). These elements also influenced or appeared in Passion plays of the fifteenth century as the proces de Paradis. Both Mer­ cade and Greban produced Passion plays which included this trial before the throne of God, featuring the "four daughters of God" (Mercy and Truth, Justice and Peace from Psalm 85) as well as characters ranging from Adam and Eve to the figures, both scrip­ tural and fictitious, at the foot of the cross. For a cogent account of Satan's lawsuit or the "trials of Satan" through the centuries, see Marx, 'The Devil's Rights, 58-64. For an analysis of the works that include Mercy and Truth, Justice and Peace, consult Traver,

!1/ 11' f)(/uction . XXIX

1'" 'lIsed on Christ's suffering and death, and it is the Passion plays that can be I,n 'perly identified as featuring the proces de Paradis. 54

Of the works dealing with the processus Sathanae or "Satan's lawsuit," only ,Ill' Conjlictus, the Advocacie, and the Tractatus employ protracted and technical 1" Hal arguments to explicate church doctrine regarding the Fall and Redemp­ I I., I II within the framework of a court trial involving only two or three figures. Of III CS C three, the Advocacie is unique in its use of the vernacular, its sophistication, Ilid its encyclopedic knowledge of both sacred and secular sources.

One credible model for both the subject and several key arguments in the I;I.vocacie is the earlier Latin prose work, the Conjlictus inter Deum et Diabolum,

, I I ~() known as the Altercacio Diaboli contra Christum, dating from the mid-twelfth 1'(' lIturY. According to C.W. Marx, "[i]t is one of the earliest literary texts to 1i11(; legal language and metaphor in connection with the theological ideas which 1'!lIcrged from the twelfth-century controversy over the Devil's rights. It antici­ l ,oLt,'s by many decades developments in the popular Latin and vernacular tradition of rb/' 'trials ofSatan."'55

The Conjlictus draws upon both Roman and canon law in a much more tech­ II ;<.:al way. It uses far more specific citations than the Advocacie, which merely al­ Ilides to legal principles and precepts, while describing the same kind of heavenly I rial. At issue in both works is the allegation that by his death Christ unjustly re-. lilt lVed humanity from the power of the Devil. Heavily concerned with the matter ,.t'justice, the Conjlictus presents two opposing views: Satan argues that even af­ 1('1' Christ's death freed humanity from the power of Satan, God was still obliged III treat the Devil justly. Christ challenges that view, holding that God was not qbliged "to give the Devil his due" because "the Devil was guilty of the crimes of dcccption, robbery and treason."56 In the Advocacie, the Devil takes up the same Ih cological and legal issues, but Mary rather than Christ refutes Satan's claims.

'The Conjlictus author's use of Latin would preclude any understanding of II H; text by a general lay audience, who would not have been able to respond

,,, Ihe Four Daughters," 44-99. For a discussion of the proces de Paradis as an illustration ,if' the theology of salvation, see Jean-Pierre Bordier, Lejeu de la Passion: Le message chre­ lim at Ie thtatrefranfais (XII!' -XV!' s.) (Paris: Champion, 1998), 161-256, and Charles M :rl.Our, "Dieu, Justice et Misericorde dans Le Mistere du Viel Testament," Le Moyen Age 'I I (1985): 53,-73 . Carmen Cardello de Hartmann presents an overview of works on the I heme in "Die 'Processus Sathanae' und die Tradition der Satansprozesse," Mittellatein­ IJc/.Jc:J jahrbuch 40 (2005): 417-30.

54 Spurgeon Baldwin and James W . Marchand make clear and accurate distinc­ I iOIlH bl:IWeen what they call the "Trial of Satan" and the proces de paradis: "The Virgin Milry bdore the Heavenly Court," Medievalia et Humanistica n.s . 18 (1992): 79-84, here 7!J - H'1 .

I~ C.W. Marx, "An Edition and Study of the Conjlictus inter Deum et Diabolum," N/,.rlilllll ./JI!Vllm 59 (1990): 16- 40, here 16-17, emphasis added.

',C, M.arx, "r.diriol1," 21.

xxx Introduction

to figures of Christ and the Devil arguing their theological issues by means of highly technical citations of civil and canon law. This work could have been one of the brocarda used in the university to teach law and theology. The Advocacie, on the other hand, has both scholarly and popular appeal. Its author employs the vernacular, citing Scripture and alluding to popular Marian prayers and legends. He skillfully manipulates contemporary stereotypes in his portrayals of Satan and Mary to render theology vividly and dramatically to an ordinary audience of lay folk. He also satisfies a court oflearned colleagues by offering them a rhymed and metered disputation that illustrates the difference between chicanery (Satan) and procedural integrity (Mary) and illuminates the difference between harsh justice and mercy for the "poor banished children of Eve" who constitute the hu­ man race. 57

Another Latin source, the most plausible one for the Advocacie and featuring Mary as well as the Trinity, is a thirteenth-century work, the Advocacia beate Ma­ rie {sic} Virginis contra demonem pro genere humano necnon processus domini Guidonis

de Colomedio quondam episcope Cameracensis tempore Bonifocii octavi ("The Advo­ cacy of the Blessed Virgin Mary against the Devil on Behalf of the Human Race, or the Trial [written by] Dom Guido de Colomedio, formerly Bishop of Camb­ rai in the Time of Boniface VIII"). This text is one of several Latin versions of what may be called the proto-Advocacie that circulated during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. 58 The author, a canon, jurist, apostolic notary and treasurer of the church of Noyon, ended his clerical career (d.1309) as bishop of Cambrai under his French name ofGui de Colle di Mezzo. In 1269, he was a canon of the cathedral of Bayeux; his name appears as Guido da Collemezzo, one of twenty­ six Italian canons living in Bayeux during that century. 59

57 Louis de Carbonnieres mentions the Advocacie briefly in the context of four­ teenth-century procedure: La Procedure devant la chambre criminelle du parlement de Paris au XIV siecle (Paris: Champion, 2004), v.

58 Carmen Cardelle de Hartmann, Lateinische Dialoge 1200-1400: Literaturhisto­ rische Studie und Repertorium (Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2007), 308-13. "The time of Boniface VIII" refers to the reign of Boniface as pope from 1294 to 1303. Although the manuscript Cardelle de Hartmann cites dates from the fifteenth century, many other ver­ sions of the Advocacia existed earlier. An edition of a fourteenth-century text of this work, its often garbled Latin indicating several removes from the author's original, appears in Ina Friedlander, "Processus Satanae contra genus humanum: En forbisedd litterar text i en formularbok fran Vadstena Koster," in Archivistica et Mediaevistica Ernesto Nygren ob­ lata (Stockholm: Norstedt & Soners, 1956), 123-57, here 142-47. Barthelemy Haureau reproduced, with some corrections, most of a fourteenth-century version: Paris, Biblio­ theque Nationale. MS. Lat. 18216, fol. 94-99, in his Notes et extraits de quelques manuscrits latins de la Bibliotheque Nationale, vol. 6 (Paris: Klincksieck, 1893), 92-105.

59 See Felix Lajard, "Gui de Colle di Mezzo," Histoire Litflfraire de la France (Paris: H. Welter, 1898) 25:280-83; and Pascal Montaubin, "Les Chapitres cathedraux secu­ liers et la centralisation pontificale au XII Ie siecle," in Sylvette Lemagnen and Philippe

/111 roduction XXXI

The brief text of the Advocacia does not refer to sources in canon and civ­ il law, nor cite Church fathers and theologians. The arguments of Mary and ;):l1an rest on reliable religious foundations, but the legal framework and refer­ f'II C<':S, as well as allusions to church authorities, are lacking. Most of the princi­ I,:d themes and arguments of the much longer rhymed French version, however, .' :111 be found in this work. In the very first pages there are more than a dozen l,Ioints of convergence with the Old French text; the narrative lines throughout 1111; French follow the Latin faithfully; and even the insults Mary hurls at Satan il rio; translated colorfully and accurately.

There can be no doubt that the author of the Advocacie had access to the I dll"in prose work, and we believe that Bartolo probably used it as well. 60 The idea 1) 1' Mary rather than Christ arguing in favor of humanity may have come from II work entitled Riflections on the Annunciation of Mary (Mariale sive CCXXX qllilestiones super Evangelium 'Miss us est'). Long ascribed to Albert the Great (Al­ IH-rtns Magnus, c. 1200-1280)61 and then to Richard of St. Laurent, 62 the Mari­ ,tit" is most likely the work of an anonymous thirteenth-century cleric, perhaps a Ilc nedictine or Cistercian. 63 In the Mariale sive CCXXX quaestiones super Evan­ .I;dium, Qyaestio CI, the author affirms that Mary "knew civil law and canon law II l1d decretals to the highest degree. The wisdom of the [A]dvocate is manifest in I hr<.:e ways: First, that she wins every case before a just and wise judge; second, l l~,::til1St an astute and sagacious adversary; and third, in regard to a hopeless case. lillt the most Blessed Virgin, before the most wise judge, the Lord, against the

Tvl anneville, eds., Chapitres et cathedrales en Normandie (Caen: Musee de Normandie, i';l')7), 253-72, here 271.

(,Q Barthelemy Haureau reached the same conclusion in the nineteenth century: No­ li, ,'.1' 6:106-7.

(,1 Irvin M. Resnick and Kenneth F. Kitchell, Jr., Albert the Great: A Selectively An­ !lolated Bibliography (1900-2000), MRTS 269 (Tempe, AZ: ACMRS, 2004), 74.

('2 According to Luigi Gambero, the one who identified Richard as the author was 1I';:lnJ Bogard, who edited and published it in Douay in 1625 under the title Domini Ni ..hardi a Sancto Laurentio, qui ante quadrigentos annos floruit, De Laudibus B.M. V. libri \. /I, mira pietate ac eruditione reftrti (Mary in the Middle Ages, trans. Thomas Buffer [San

1:":1I1Cisco: Ignatius Press, 2005], 222). The Mariale appears under Richard's name in the / {i.,·loire Litflfraire de France (Paris: H. Welter, 1895), 19:23-27, here 24.

I,:, Graef, Mary, 270-73, citing the definitive work of two scholars: Albert Fries, Die 1111/1'1' dem Namen des Albe/ius Magnus ziberlieftrten mariologischen Schriften: literarkritische 1.!I//("I".I'uc!Jung, BCitrage 'lUI' G cschi chtc del' Philosophie und Theologie des Mittelalters 37 (MuIIS!"!;r: Asch cnoor fF, '1')5 '1) :111,1 J'. 13runo Korosak, Mariologia: S. Alberti Magni eiusque IOill'qIlU/illlll ( f{n rn.c: At':I.-i\-'lIlia lVl IIrillrt:l, 1(J$4). She notes that "[tJhe Mariale differs from Ihl' work of Rieila I'd o( St. I ,,,,, '("" 1 i'l iI,:,! it II:;"" tbe strict scholastic method of ques­ li"" :,, ohj("('tl\III N all\l l~ nl "l j ll ili i " (X/ I),

XXXII Introduction

most clever adversary, the Devil, obtained a favorable verdict in our desperate case. Therefore she was the wisest advocate. "64

Legal Procedure

In the Advocacie, the celestial court operates under the double procedural reg­ ulations of civil and canon law. Within its meticulously structured legal frame­ work we find a pretrial conference, a joinder of issue (plaintiff's presentation of his case), motions to dismiss, continuances, requests for judicial remedies of various kinds, legal and emotional arguments and summations, interlocutory appeals, and a final and binding sentence or verdict. Both Mary and her diabolical opponent are expert in Romano-canonical procedure, as any good fourteenth-century law­ yers would be. In addition, Mary cites papal decretals to make her case. 65

During the pretrial procedure of the Advocacie, Satan commences the lawsuit by an oral complaint addressed to Jesus that the human race be damned. His first cause of action is a criminal one, brought under canonical procedure to redress a violation of the law. Jesus rejects Satan's proffer of evidence in this action but will entertain a civil suit; over Satan's objections he sets the trial date for Good Friday. 66 On that day, when Jesus calls the human race to respond to the Devil's summons, no one answers; Satan declines to seek an immediate judgment, how­ ever, preferring to wait and hope that humanity will be judged in default. Jesus

64 "Qut1!stio C1. Utrum sciverit [Beatissima Maria] in summo jura civilia, leges et de­ creta? ITEM, quod jura civilia leges et decreta scivit in summo, patet hoc modo: 1. Sapi­ entia advocati manifestatur in tribus . Unum, quod obtineat omnia contra judicem justum et sapientem. Secundo, quod contra adversarium astutum et sagacem. Tertio, quod in causa desperata . Sed beatissima Virgo contra judicem sapientissimum Dominum; contra adversarium callidissimum diabolum, in causa nostra desperata sententiam optatam ob­ tinuit: ergo sapientissima advocata fuit": Albert the Great, Opera Omnia, ed. August and Emil Borgnet, vol. 37 (Paris: Ludovicus Vives, 1898), 160.

65 On the convergence of Roman and canon law in the Middle Ages, see G.R. Evans, Law and Theology in the Middle Ages (New York: Routledge, 2002); R.H. Helm­ holz, The Spirit ofClassical Canon Law (Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 1996); D.H. Van Zyl,fustice and Equity in Greek and Roman Legal Thought (Pretoria: Academica, 1991), and others. A particularly cogent account of procedural law from the twelfth cen­ tury on can be found in C.H. von Rhee, "Civil Procedure: A European Ius Commune?,"

. European Review ofPrivate Law 8 (2000): 589-611. 66 Satan objects in vain that Good Friday is a holiday and verdicts then are worth­

less; Jesus replies that the court and the laws are his and he can name the court date. Under canon law, "[S]ummary procedure ... allowed judges to hear cases and take tes­ timony during some periods when the conduct of formal judicial business was normally forbidden": James A. Brundage, Medieval Canon Law (London and New York: Long­ man, 1995), 140.

II/troduction XXXllI

! kelines to apply strict justice and prefers to act in equity.67 He delays the hear­ ing, and has Satan thrown out of Paradise for the night.

At the behest of a heavenly council, the Virgin Mary accepts the role of ad­ vocate for the defense of the human race. Her first action is to demand Satan's t'l'cdentials; when Satan objects to her presence as a woman and - what is worse

. the judge's mother, she replies that women may lawfully defend minors, the poor, and widows. 68 Although an outraged Satan demands an order in limine (a preliminary order) prohibiting her from participating as an advocate in the pr6­ ,'(:cdings, Jesus refuses. Satan next seeks summary relief through a possessory 'letion, a Roman-law procedure like that of the customary-law action of nove! di.rseisin: that is, he as plaintiff must be "put back into peaceful possession" of ('he souls he previously possessed. Title (legal ownership) is not at issue in an ac­ I'ion for nove! disseisin, only the most recent seisin (possession). 69 However, Mary I ransforms the case into a trial of title by responding that only the unlawfully dispossessed must be placed back in possession of what they had. Satan never had good title to those souls, he was a mere detentor or holder and was only im­ prisoning them, which is different from owning them and constitutes possession in bad faith under both canon and Roman law. 70 When Satan then requests an interlocutory judgment (a partial summary judgment) that he is the owner ofhu­ man souls by adverse possession (also called prescription), Jesus decides that he is not entitled to possession. In legal terms, by arguing that he is the owner, that

67 James A. Brundage, Medieval Can on Law (London and New York: Longman, (999), 156 : "Fourteenth century writers further elaborated the distinctions between jus­ "ice, equity and law ... These writers regarded equity as a principle of mitigation, which a( Ijusted the rigors of strict law to the varied needs of individual situations." For a detailed discussion of the concepts and their application in this work, see Judith M. Davis, "Giv­ i ng the Devil His Due: Justice and Equity in I..:Advocacie Nostre Dame," in Courtly Arts and I/.If Art of Courtliness: Proceedings ofthe 11'h Triennial Congress ofthe International Courtly l.itemture Society, ed. Keith Busby and Christopher Kleinheinz (Woodbridge: Boydell & (hewer, 2006), 373-84.

68 Mary's statement that a woman may be of assistance before ecclesiastical judges is ,', ,rrect, although the admission ofwomen to court was problematic in canon law. Women l'IluJd be admitted to act as advocates and proxies in canonical procedures, but there was lIot always agreement on the prac,tice even in the mid-twentieth century. SeeJohnJ. Krol, 'fbe Deflndant in Contentious Trials (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America i>r(,;ss, 1942), 79. See also the note to 11. 890-900.

m The idea that seisin relates only to land is a later development in Anglo-Norman law. In this poem and in the law of the era and area in which it was written, seisin (actual possession and the rights related to actual possession) could be an attribute of both real ;\nd pcrsonal property. See Frederick Pollock and Frederic Maitland, The History ofEng­ li,I'b l .o'w, 2nd eel. (Ca mbridge: Cambridge University Press, 1968),2:32.

70 See Barry Nicholas, An Introduction to Roman Law (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1'1(,,), J12 .

xx.,'''/,) Introduction

he has tit/e by advers e posse:::;!OIl, SIII"II has lost the advantages of an action for novel disseisin. 7J He ha~ blkll ililo Mary's trap.

Having failed at human l:iw, a frw;1 rat('d Satan resorts to divine law, citing the Genesis tale of tht: Fall, hili IVI aI")' ""lIllters that since he was the cause of that Fall he should not be allowed 10 pk-ad beca use he would benefit from his fraud. The Devil then asks God to pUll ish Iht' crilll( ; on His own initiative. Mary points out that when a plaintiff has several way:; of proceeding, he has to choose one and stick to it: the Devil has maJe an dt:etioll of remedies, and his request must be denied. Satan did not appeal Christ's rejection of his petition for novel disseisin; therefore, the matter is res judicata (ddinil-ively decided) and cannot be revisited. Further efforts by Satan are met by Mary's impassioned pleas; she declares that Christ's sacrifice on Good Friday outweip;hed the world's sin - furthermore, when humans repent, God extends mercy. Jesus delivers the final verdict in favor of the human race. God the Father and the Holy Spirit agree.

The Chapelerie: Genre, Audience, Sources, Theological and Religious Contexts, Historical Context,

Legal Procedure

Genre

Although its appeal is not limited to the elite, the Advocacie represents a more learned religion with its many references to the Bible, theological commentar­ ies, and books of law. As a miracle Ii clef, the Chapelerie reflects some elements of popular religion with its predilection for miracles and its belief in Mary's inter­ vention in human affairs (although, in the words of Eamon Duffy, both elite and popular works dealt with "distinct but interpenetrating devotional worlds.") 72 Miracles are stories of supernatural intervention by God or one of the saints in the natural world, presented as true accounts, often by an eyewitness or some­ one who claims to know an eyewitness, for the instruction and edification of an audience of believers. 73 Simon Yarrow speaks of miracle stories as expressing the

71 According to Pollock and Maitland, "[Under] the influence of Roman law, or through the medium of canon law ... the position of a defendant in an action as a gen­ eral rule would have been preferable to that of a plaintiff... . Therefore, when there is to be litigation everyone would wish to be a defendant" (History, 2:47). Satan's positioning himself as a perennial plaintiff thus puts him at a disadvantage .

72 Eamon Duffy, "Elite and Popular Religion: The Book of Hours and Lay P iety in the Later Middle Ages," in Elite and Popular Religion, ed. Kate Cooper and Jeremy Gregory, Studies in Church History 42 (Woodbridge: Boydell and Brewer, 2006), 140­ 61, here 149.

7J For the relationship between dit and miracle, see Leonard, Dit, 325-28. Miracles are defined and discussed at length in Benedicta Ward, Miracles and the M edieval M ind

111/ reduction xxxv

lli etoric of redemption" and observes that "[u]ltimately they emphasized not the .1 1I 1 ~rence between elite and popular religion but between belief and unbelief." I '" speaks of "a moral economy of redemption in which good Christians have II wir devotion rewarded and bad ones get what is coming to them." 74In this re­ jI"I' C, the Chapelerie resembles some of the more florid tales that recount Mary's

1"lIlishment of those who disobey or disrespect her,75 in which she dispenses a I, 'udal kind of justice by eliminating the enemies of her vassals. Gerard Gros III\l i observed that "[T]he Virgin, invisible but vigilant, intervenes in favor of IIII' clergy whose benefice she defends, by twice producing - invariably, almost ,," 'C hanically - an inverse miracle: the king's representatives, relentless in their • II, lrts to dispossess Our Lady, suffer a sudden and violent or a slow and agoniz­ i llg death, both committing spiritual suicide, so to speak." 76 Like other stories of IVl llrian retribution the Chapelerie is a cautionary tale, warning secular authorities III II to challenge the immense power behind the claims of religious authority.

Audience

Ik audience of the Chapeleriewas necessarily much smaller than that ofits more ,i, ill11atic companion piece. This miracle Ii clifwould have entertained both clerics IIHI nobles sympathetic to the hierarchy living in the Bayeux region who could

11.l'preciate the fatal sentences pronounced by heaven on the bishops' opponents. " would have appealed also to those who were familiar with the personae of ill\' lawsuits or who wished to learn court gossip presented in an amusing and "" if'ying fashion. Bishop Guillaume de Trie himself would have been flattered, '111d members of his retinue impressed, with the account of that prelate's saintly .llId efficacious defense of the church's revenues . 77 (Indeed, it is possible that the hi ~hop commissioned this work, which may help to explain its brevity as well as 11. relatively harsh didacticism.)

( 1IIIiladelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1987). See also Joseph Morawski, "Me­ h ll l!,( t.: s de liw: rature pieuse," Romania 61 (1935): 157-62 .

/ 4 S. Yarrow, "Narrative Audience and the Negotiation of Community in Twelfth­ ( '(' lItury English Miracle Collections ," in Elite and Popular Religion, ed . Cooper and ( :"<;gory, 65- 77, here 71.

75 Beterous, Collections, mentions Mary's retributive role in miracle stories (165-82). 71, Gros , "L'Avocate," 128-29: "[L]a Vierge invisible mais vigilante intervient en

1\lvcur du clerge dont dIe defend les biens, en suscitant par deux fois, invariablement, lII ~<.:haniquement presque , un miracle inverse: les representants royaux, acharnes adepos­ J ~ d('r Notre Dame, subissent une mort soudaine et violente pour run, lente et mauvaise I lt lllr I'autre, et pour ainsi dire se tuent spirituellement tous deux."

7'1 Louis Cons surm ised that the Chape/erie appealed mainly to regional Norman IIl\ 'f'CS t'~ , which ex plains why it appears only in the Evreux manuscript, formerly kept in

I i, ~, lihrary of the ahh ey on .yn: (1.'!III/til/r, ISS).

2 3 I;Advocacie Nostre Dame

Ci Commence L'Advocacie Nostre Dame Sainte Marie et Vez Ci les Resons pour Qyoy Elle est Apelee

Advocate de L'Umain Lignage

Se touz ceulz qui onques nez furent, et touz ceulz qui au jourd'uy durent, et trestouz ceulz qui sont a nestre, estoient vis, et chescun mestre pour respondre et pour opposer, 5 si ne pourroient il gloser, ne dire, en cent mil ans d'espace, les biens, Ie pouer et la grace de la douce Vierge Marie. Qye alie de cuer se marie 10 ne peut avoir nulle deffaute; combien qu'el soit grant dame et haute, a touz ses amis confort preste et atous lour besoings est preste, ne neul n'en veult lessier ne perdre. 15 Bon se fet atel Dame aerdre et eschiver fol rigolage, quer s'amour n'est mie volage. Nul ne la peut amenusier; l'en pourroit plus tost espuisier 20 toute la mer, goute aprez goute, que sa bonte deviser toute. Se chescun grenet de gravele devenoit langue as pre et ysnele pour opposer et pour [rJespondre, 25 si ne pourroient eulz espondre Ie grant bien et la grant value de la Vierge, que je salue en dis ant Ave Maria. Onques clerc tant n'estudia 30 qu'il en peust venir au fons . J30 ne sera, ce croy, sauf hons qui tout son bien pense acomprendre, et pour ce vuil ael entendre, que l'en me tendroit afolie 35 de metre y rna melencolie.

La bonne gent, qui sont passez, si se sont efforciez assez

( i"rLady'sAdvocacy

Here Begins the Advocacy of Our Lady Saint Mary, and You See Here the Reasons Why She is Called the

Advocate of the Human Race

I I" all those who were ever born, lilld all those who are alive today ;1I)d all those yet to be born wne now alive, and each one a master trained iii answer and present arguments 5 \' (·t they could not explain, J lor recount, in a hundred thousand years, Ille gifts, the power, and the grace "j'lhe sweet Virgin Mary. VVhoever is married to her in his heart 10 (';\1'1 have no defect; ;drhough she is a high and great Lady ·Ilte gives comfort to all her friends, cllid is ready for all their needs, :llId she will not abandon or lose anyone of them. 15 II is a good thing to cleave to such a Lady I nd avoid foolish levity; 1; lr her love is not fickle. No one can diminish her; you would more quickly dry up 20 the whole ocean, drop after drop, than describe all her goodness. I revery little grain of shingle I)ccame an ardent and lively tongue, 10 present arguments and answer, 25 I hey could not explain 1he great goodness and the great worth elr the Virgin, whom I salute hy saying AVE MARIA. No clerk has ever studied enough 30 I (I plumb the depths of it; Ilever, I think, will any man be successful who is trying to comprehend her goodness, ;wd for this reason I want to do something else I~)r people would think I was mad 35 1(1 lise lip my imagination on that.

'The good folk who have passed on ":lVC cried very hard

4 Llidv ocacie Nostre Dame

de sa bonte retrere et dire; mes sens humein n'i peut souffire, se Dieu n'i vouloit conseillier, ne nul ne s'en doit merveillier; quer dedens son ventre porta Ie fils Dieu, qui enfer mort a; en son cors vout celuy descendre, que terre et ciel ne peut comprendre. Le tresor de toute sagesce garda; ne fut ce grant noblesce? all; s'el n'i avoit partie, la chose seroit mal partie. Elle est dame, si com je crey, haut es cyex, du conseil secrey. Dieu l'ennoure et ill'escovient; en Exode, bien m'en souvient, dict et ensiegna la tenour de porter a sa mere hennour, et si l'ayme et hennoure ensemble. Donc m'est il avis, ce me semble, qui bien a reson y regarde, que ceulz qu'elle ayme n'aront garde, quer poy d'ennour Ii porteroit qui ses amis condempneroit. Nous qui l'amons, fames et hommes, ses procheins et ses amis sommes, donc devon nous estre asseur, quant nostre amie a tel eur, et Dieu mei:smes s'i oblige. Soit donc chascun son homme lige, et touz nos cuers Ii prameton et en sa garde nous meton, quer a dampnement n'iert ja mis nul de ceulz qui sont ses amis . Elle est mestresse de la Court; se son filz se cource, elle acourt et luy demonstre sa mamele dont l'aleita, virge et pucele, et il n'iert ja si soupris d'ire, quant elli veut retrere et dire qu'elle nourri et Ie bercha et [que] Ie cuer Ii trespercha quant elle vit en croiz pendu,

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I ( I recount and tell of her goodness; IlIlt human wisdom is not sufficient for it 40 II l1less God deigned to lend his aid, IlIld this should amaze no one; IIII' in her womb she carried 11,(; son of God, who has conquered Hell; I'l: was pleased to come down into her body 45 whom heaven and earth cannot contain. She kept the treasure of all wisdom; W:lS this not great nobility? Yes; for if she had not been part of it lit e undertaking would have begun badly. 50 She is, I believe, a lady highly Idaced in heaven, a close counselor. ( ;ud honors her and accommodates her; i II Exodus, I remember well, I Ie ordered and taught the obligation 55 i o honor one's mother \l lId thus He both loves and honors her. ' I his is why it seems to me II" you consult right reason, I hat those whom she loves need have no care; 60 lor she would give little honor 10 anyone who condemned her friends. We who love her, men and women, :I re her friends and her relatives, ' HI that we should feel safe, 65 I.i nce our friend has such good fortune HIld even God defers to her. I .c t every one therefore be her liege man ;Ind let us all promise her our hearts II lld place ourselves under her protection 70 I ~) r no one will be sent to damnation who is one of her kinfolk. Sil t;: is mistress of the Court; ii' her son is angry, she runs up :Iltd shows him her breast, 75 :\1 which she, maid and virgin, nursed him ;llld he will never be so overcome by anger- when she wants to tell him and explain la'IW she nursed and rocked him :'Ild how her heart wa s pierced 80 w l1I'l1 she ~aw him han g ing ()n the rros s­

6 7 I;Advocacie Nostre Dame

que son dit ne soit entendu; quer, quant son douz filz la regarde, son yre et son courout se tarde, quer il y vient en remembrance qu'elle nourri en son effance si qu'el ne Ii sceit chose dire de quoy ilIa sache escondire.

Le Deable nous het a mort et a nous acuser s'amort; mes, s'il acuse, el vient pledier, preste pour ses amis edier. El sceit opposer et respondre pour nostre adversaire canfondre; quer, quant il nous veult accuser, el n'a pas apris amuser, mes est preste et appareillie et CUrlouse et esveillie de pleidier pour l'Umaing Lignage; elle est advocat bon et sage et souvent par plet no us delivre. Je treuve escript en .1. libre pour quoy et par quel aventure l'en l'apele en Sainte Escripture Advocat, et dont cela vint. Je scey bien comment ceu avint; quer en l'Escripture l'en treuve, qui me souffit pour toute preuve, saint Pol Ie dit et determine, qu'elle est fete a nostre doctrine.

L'Evangile s. Jehan conte, dont chescun doit tenir grant conte, tout droit u tresiesme chapitre, com me u cars Judas Ie traltre Ie Deable d'enfer se mist, Sathenas, qui tant s'entremist que tout bien luy fist enhalr et son propre mestre trahir, qui de soy tel tesmoing prestoit que prophete et fils Dieu estoit. En soit bien comme en paradis Eve, nostre mere, jadis fut condempnee par sentence par peehie d'inobedlence

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"11 1 ! ,ady's Advocacy

111 .1i what she says will not be heard; 1. ,1 when her sweet son looks at her lol l! anger and his rage subside; I , ,, I hen he remembers 85 11, 1\[ she nursed him in his childhood " , I hat nothing she may say to him • ,III he gainsay.

'lhe devil has deadly hatred for us, I' lid is killing himself to accuse us; 90 I'ill if he accuses, she comes to plead our case, " wdy to help her friends. %1' knows how to present arguments and respond I " confound our adversary; I, " ', when he comes to accuse us, 95 .h,· is not accustomed to waste time, 1'111 is ready and prepared, !\l1I1 vigilant and careful III plead for the Human Race; l.i lr is an advocate good and wise 100 ,11111 often delivers us by her pleading. I lind written in a book wily and for what reason Jil l' is called in Holy Scripture

,III advocate, and where that came from. 105 I II now well how that happened; r,"' it is found in Scripture, which is sufficient prooffor me: !;aint Paul says and determines 11':lt it was made for our instruction. 110

The Gospel of Saint John tells (w hich everyone should heed well) , ight there in the thirteenth chapter 1,01'1 Satan, the Devil from Hell, entered III(' body of the traitor Judas 115 il ild so worked on him ,kit he grew to hate all good works, 1111( I he betrayed his own master, who testified of Himself 111:ll He was a prophet, and the Son of God. 120 II i~ well known how in Paradise 1':l'e, our mother, long ago wa s (,;ondemned in a sentence Ipl' I'!\(; sin of disobedience

8

et pour ceu furent condempnez tous ceulz qui furent d 'Adam nez. Par cette condempnatton en avoit la possessIon Ie Deable, qui les prenoit quant chescun a sa fin venoit. Mes Dieu, qui est Ie Roy des Roys, si vout abatre cest desroys, quer pitie de ses creatures out, ce dient les Escriptures; mes la chose fist si a point que de reprise n'i a point. Qier, se fame a premier pecha, fame aprez ceu nous redrecha: Eve mist la main a la pomme, dont el dechut Ie premier homme; mes, s'Eve folement ouvra, sainte Marie recouvra et amenda celIe defaute; quer Ie filz Dieu de sa tour haute u cors Marie descendi, qui vie pour mort nous rendi. Mes Ie Sathan rien ne savoit se Dieu vray cors humain avoit; quer, s'ill'eust de voir sceii, ja tant comme il eust peu n'eust este crucifie; mes n'en lert certefie. Si estoit touzjors en doutance et de luy et de sa puissance, quer il entendoit bien de soy qu'il soustenoit et fain et soy et qu'il estoit homme pesible, et ce luy sembloit impossible que Dieu nule defaute eust ne que meseise avoir deust.

Autre chose Ie dechevoit: les miracles aperchevoit dont mout feisoit tout en apert, si com par l'Evangile apert. 11 ne pout Ie Ladre tenir que hors nu convenist venir d'enfer, quant Jhesus l'apela,

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IllId f()r this reason were condemned 125 loi l who were born of Adam. II)' I his condemnation, I1 I1 Devil had possession of them 11111 I took them wIlen each came to his end. 130 11111 G od, who is the King of Kings, Wll illed to put right this wrong IIII' he had pity on his creatures, \11.'.I.-cling to the Scriptures; \",,1 he accomplished this so well 135 111 :11 there is no question oflosing them again. 1;'111', if a woman first sinned, I' woman restored us afterwards. 1,;\11' took the apple in her h and jill( I caused the fall of the first man. 140 11111' if Eve acted foolishly, I lill y Mary made up for it li lld amended this defect; j"" rhe Son of God from his high tower ,'li llie into the body of Mary, 145 II.· wh o gave us back life for death. 11111' Satan did not know iI':II' God had the true body of a man; lo r ifhe had truly known that, 11{' VCr, as long as he could have prevented it, 150 Wlluld He have been crucified; 1,,11' Satan had no certain knowledge of it. I It- was always in some doubt ,'oll cerning Him and His power IIIi' he had personal knowledge 155 Ih :lt He suffered both hunger and thirst,

' 'l11d that He was a peaceful man, \llId it seemed to him impos sible Illat God should have any imperfection 1 11 ' that he should experience any discomfort. 160

Another thing deceived him: lit' ~aw the miracles ," which He did many openly, "" ii' appea rs in the Gospel. Sill an could not prevent Lazarus 165 1'"111 Il(lvin~ to leave Hdl wh e ll J(; SII S r:tlkJ hilll 0111',

IO

et mout se doutoit pour cela, et pour ce estoit il plein d'ire qu'il ne pouvoit savoir ne dire s'il iert Dieu en humanite ou pur homme sans deite. Et pour ceu qu'en ceu avoit doute Ie mestre d'enfer et sa route, .1. grant concile en assembla, et au derrenier lour sembla qu'il estoit filz Dieu vraiement; mes trop lour aloit malement, quer ja estoit amort livre, et par luy seroit delivre, ce lour sembloit, l'Umain Lignage, et eulz estoient assez sage, pour entendre les Prophecies qui devoient estre acomplies.

Les prophetes distrent, de voir, qui voudroit fere son devoir, qu'il convendroit a mort livrer .1. homme pour touz delivrer et qu'en enfer se descendroit, et touz les cheitis y prendroit; rien n'i vaudroit veroil ne porte qu'ovecques Ii ne les emporte. Einsi les deables disoient qui de nostre bien se douloient; quer c'est a chetif grant soulas quant il ne se voit pas soul las, mes en compaignie en sa peine; einsi iert, c'est chose certeine.

Le conseil d'enfer s'accorda pour ce qu'Eve Adam encorda, et que fame est malici:ouse et de sa nature engignouse, qu'eulz iroient, par lour barate, parler ala fame Pilate. Mout tres forment la menachierent, et en dormant Ii enchargierent qu'envers son mari tant felst que Jhesum a mort ne melst; s. [M]ahieu dist en s'Escripture qu'elle y mist grant peine et grant cure;

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• ( Ilir L ady's Advocacy II lId he was very suspicious because of that, and he was very angry because h<.: could not know or say irHe was God made man or a pure man without Godhead. And because of his doubt in this matter, ' IIe master of Hell and his train t :llled together a great council :llId in the end it seemed to them I hat he was truly the Son of God; I'\It things were going badly for them '()I" He had already been delivered up to death :llId it seemed to them I he Human Race would be saved by Him and they were clever enough (0 understand the prophecies which had to be accomplished.

In truth, the prophets said, i rone studied them properly, Iltat one man would have to be given up to death i II order to deliver them all :llld that He would descend into Hell ;lIld would deliver all the prisoners; 110 bolt or door would avail I() keep Him from taking them away with Him. 'I hus spoke the devils who were saddened by our good fortune; (i)r it is a great consolation to a captive II when he sees he is not unfortunate alone, I'llt has company in his grief; ::() it was, and that's certain.

The council of Hell agreed . I hat because Eve had deceived Adam

:t I lei because women are malicious :llId deceptive by nature, Illat they would go, in their deception, I 0 ~peak with the wife of Pilate. ' I hey threatened her very greatly :11 Id while she was sleeping, instructed her III persuade her husband lilli' to put Jesus to death. :;aim Matthew says in Scripture i1' :11 she pUI: grcal 'ahor and effort into this;

II

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I2

mes trap tart fut; jit iert rendu aus Juyes pour estre pendu. Si dist Ie mauves deputere: "Ceu qui est fet n'est pas it fere!" Dieu l'avoit einsi ardene, anciez qu'il fust de mere ne. 11 fut mort et enseveli et se resuscita de Ii et les partes d'enfer brisa, dont touz ses amis hors mis a, et adonc fut l'Umain Lignage absouz du premerein servage; nous fumes touz it icelle houre delivrez, s'en no us ne demoure.

Le Deable, nostre aienemi, quant il vit ceu, de deul fremi, quer il n'ama onques on bien. Apres cela, ne scey combien, quant il vit qu'il out tout perdu, de sa perte tout esperdu, plein de grant rage et de grant guile, il rassembla .1. grant concile, si tres grant et si renomme que tout ensemble, it jour nomme, touz les deables d'enfer vindrent et taus it .1. conseil se tindrent ceulz qui it cel concile furent. Qyer .1. procuratour eslurent pour l'Umain Lignage semondre pour demander et pour respondre par devant Dieu, en sa presence, et pour oyr droit par sentence. Tele iert sa procuration, mes c'estoit lour entenclon de ramener l'Umain Lignage du tout au premerein servage.

Mes, se je di que Ie Deable, tout soit il fel et non voiable, auchune foiz devant Dieu viengne, nulluy pour merveille nu tiegne; quer, qui veult parler de tel chose, y convient que son fet propose du tout it l'umaine maniere;

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( JI/I" Lady's Advocacy IJ

I)111 it was too late: He was already delivered I,) I he Jews to be crucified. 1\ Ild the evil low-born one said: "' 1 hat which is done is not to do again." ' Ihus had God ordained it 215 he/c)re He was born of His mother. I 1(" was put to death and buried .llld arose from the grave '1IId broke the gates of Hell, delivering all His friends, 220 II lid then the Human Race W;IS absolved of its first servitude; we were all freed from it at that time .llId it is no longer part of us.

The Devil, our enemy, 225 when he saw this, shivered with pain, Inr he never loved the good. AJ'I'cr that, I do not know how long after, wilen he saw that he had lost everything, qllite devastated by his loss, 230 1IIII of a great rage and a great deviousness, III" called a plenary council, 11 0 huge and so proclaimed iI,at on the appointed day, all together, itl [ the devils of Hell assembled 235 .lIld they all agreed on the same plan who participated in that council. I,'or they chose a plaintiff's attorney I I! summon the Human Race, I, .r I he lodging of a complaint and an answer 240 1... lc)re God, in His presence, .lIld to hear a sentence read out. III is was their attorney's instruction,

1"1 ( it was their intention I" return the Human Race 245 ( , I III plctely to its original servitude.

But ifI say that the Devil, , , 1' i I as he is and invisible, .II'I'<.:arcd at one time before God, Iii ' OIIC should take it for a marvel; 250 ,; '" whocver wants to talk about this subject IIllI i; ( st: t fi)rth his mat't: rial III I" 1I11Jlktcly human n ; nll S,

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si est la chose plus legiere et plus aesie a entendre. 255 <2!ti voudroit en Job garde prendre, si camme son livre Ie touche, Dieu parloit a Sathan de bouche.

Ne cuide nul que dire vuille que Ie Deable ne se duille, 260 en quelconques lieu qu'il se boute. <2!ti ceu cuideroit n'entent goute; quer, en queillieu qu'il soit present, touzjors angoisse ou peine sent; sa peine par est si diverse 265 qu'en ses os est aussi aerse comme au mesel sa maladie. Je ne croy pas que nul ja die que mesel puisse estre gari pour cela s'il devient mari 270 ou a reigne ou a contesse, quer son mal pour ce ne Ie lesse; touzjors est mesel et pourri combien qu[e] aiese soit nourri. Pour cecy est il bien voiable 275 que tout einsi est Ie Deable; quel part qu'aventure Ie meine, il seuffre continuel peine .

Einsi la letre Ie glosa. Se .1. asne sus son dos a 280 .1. fez de busche ou de charbon, ou fust par mal tens ou par bon, et fust du fez bien agregie, cuidiez vous qu'il fust alegie s'il iert devant Ie roy de France? 285 Nenil. La meins n'auroit grevance. Le Deable est de tel maniere; s'il est devant Dieu ou derriere, ou prez ou loing, ou coste a coste, touzjors art ii, ou fruit, ou toste, 290 et seuffre si tres grant angoisse qu'il n'est nully qui Ie caignoisse.

Le devant dit procuratour vint devant Dieu, en grant atour, fonde, maliciouz et sage, 295 pour acuser l'Umain Lignage;

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I hil s the tale is more agreeable I'lid easier to understand. 255 Iryou want to take Job as an authority, IHI his book tells it, t : Ild spoke directly to Satan.

Let no one think I wish to say fi,at the Devil is not in pain 260 wll(;rever he turns up. Whoever would believe that, understands nothing; lor, wherever he is, 11, t; Devil feels anguish or pain all the time; l oI ~ pain is so pervasive 265 !I, at in his bones he is as afflicted 1111 a leper by his sickness. I do not think anyone would say IIHlt a leper could be healed il iJ (; became the husband 270 .d' a queen or a countess, Ipr his sickness does not leave him for this reason; II<' is still leprous and wasting away 1" ,wever comfortably he is looked after. Ihis, it can be seen, 275 IK I he case with the Devil; wh(;rcver fortune leads him II(' suffers continual pain.

'Ibis is the way the Book explains it. I i' an ass had upon his back 280 \1 I, )ad of brush or charcoal, wht:ther in bad weather or good, 111'.1 was weighed down by the load, ,I" you suppose his burden would be lighter II 11 (; appeared before the king of France? 285 No. He would have no less a burden there. :1" it is with the Devil: wh(;t her he is before God or behind Him, I I t' fI r or far, or side by side, I,l' is always burning or frying or roasting, 290 1111.1 he su ffers such great torment 1' 1· llu 'one may know.

The aforesaid attorney .ljll" ; 'U·(;J before God in his official robes, I'n'l't:r1y appointed, filII of lI1:lIi( 'c alld wdl prepared 295 ,,, aCClise rhe 1111 lYla 11 I{ :I i' ,·;

I6 I.;Advocacie Nostre Dame ' hll t.ady's Advocacy I7• autre chose ne vouloit querre. "Creatour de ciel et de terre, dist il, cest condempne escoute; la felonnie d'enfer toute 300 m'a de son conseil retenu et pour ce suy je cy venu, de procuration garni, si que n'en puisse estre escharni, et tu es de justice plein. 305 De l'Umain Lignage me plein, et je croy, a m'entenclon, que, pour ten information, m'orras contr'eulz tel chose dire qui assez te devra souffire." 310

Adonc a Jhesucrist tournee sa chiere, et dist: "As tu journee vers eulz? Les as tu fet semondre?" Donc commencha Sathan a grondre et dist: "Nenil. Mes aviser 315 te vuil; bien saurey deviser, par certeine information, qu'eulz sont touz a damnation. En mon dit n'aura que reprendre, fors que tu me vuilles entendre." 320 Dieu respondi, sans fere y pause: "Tu sces que de chescune cause, quant les parties ont bien dites lour resons, sceit l'en les merites, et tu n'as cy point de partie. 325 Saches que je ne te croy mie, quer bien scey c'onques bon ne fus; ten information refus, quer recevoir ne la convient; n'ez tu cely, bien m'en souvient, 330 qui es ytel com tu soulois? Au monde enfornier me vouloies, quant tu dei:s que je f6sse des pierres pain: se je vousisse, je les eiisseassez tost fetes. 335 Tu m'as trop fet d'itiex entretes. Tu me d6s ames oreilles que tu me donrroies merveilles se je te vouloie aourer.

Ii,' f, ought nothing else. ", 're:ttor of the heavens and the earth," Iii' t: :tid, "listen to this damned one; III Ihe felons of Hell 300 II IIVe: retained me as counsel 111.1 for this reason I have come here 1\'1 1h my attorney's appointment ~ " Ihat I cannot be laughed out of court; ,\ lid You are full of justice. 305 My complaint is against the Human Race Illd it is my belief and understanding i II!l I, as an information for You, \ "ll will hear me say such things against them ,' III:hould be enough for You." 310

Ihen Jesus Christ turned His face to him ,I IIII said, "Have you a court date 111',;Iinst them? Have you had them summoned?" Ih (: 11 Satan began to grumble

,111.1 he said: "No. But I want to 315 IlIl i)l'm You: I will be able to show I, ), :t ~ure information tIHII' they are all to be damned . 111(:re will be nothing to complain of in my recital p,()vided that You will listen to me." 320 I !od replied, without a pause: " VIIII know that in any suit IV II\:I1 the parties have properly stated Ihrir pleadings, then only do you know the merits, ,qHI here you have no adverse party. 325 I ,ltl l'en: I do not believe you, I,,, I am aware that you were never good; I I ct'u se your information,

. Itll' it is not proper to receive it; iii' \' you not, as I remember well, 330 I!! PI as you used to be? \",\1 wanted to tempt Me in the world, wh~' n you told Me to make 1'1'(' ;\(1 from stones. If! had wanted, I "(Htld easily have done it. 335 YIlU have made too many such demands on me. \"" I whispered in my C:I r IliIIl YOli would giw IIII' III !II \'1 ·11 ; Ir I would adore ,\'01"

• 11,,1' Lady's Advocacy I8 LAdvocacie Nostre Dame I9 Illy from here without delay, 340

quer nul prodon ne te do it croire; Fuy toy de cy, sans demourer, 340

it,r no worthy man should believe you; 1',111 don't know how to tell the truth." tu ne scez dire chose voire."

Le Deable dist derrechief: 'TI1e Devil said again: I' You are the very source of justice,"Tu es de justice Ie chief,

justice vuil; tu es Justice, 345 I want justice; You are Justice, 345 fei la moy. N'est-ce ton office? I{ iv t.: me justice. Is it not Your duty?

v, HI are not very kind to me. Tu ne m'ez pas mout debonnere. Puis qu'autre chose ne puis fere l'I ill t.: e I can't do anything else

'et l'euvre est einsi attournee, ) 1 I It! the affair has turned out this way,

donne lour certeine journee 350 . 1 1i ~ ign them a day certain 350 apledier ci tout egaument. 1111' pleadings on both sides. Je suy fonde souffiesaument I al11 sufficiently empowered

pour enfer et pour sa grant route; 1," Hell and its great company.

et, qui en voudroit fere doute, 1\ lid if there should be any doubt,

vez ci rna procuration 355 '1 1:(; here my attorney's appointment 355 sans vice et sans defection." Iwyond reproach, without error."

Dieu la vit, qui bien l'eprouva, ( ;"d saw it, and looked it over thoroughly, il l I( I when He found it without mistakes,et, quant sans vice la trouva, IIII'll He replied to the Devil: au Deable lors respondi:

"Sathenas, pas ne t'escondi, 360 "S aran, I am not denying you a hearing. 360 Hilt I do not like to see you here. mes je n'aim pas mout ton sejour; Nnw we must fix a date." or convient acorder Ie jour."

Dist Sathan: "Soit donc ademain; Mll tan said: "Let it be tomorrow, then. du brief jour grant joie demain." /I II l:arly date is the cause of great joy."

Dieu dist: "Ce ne feroy je mie; 365 God said : "I will not do this; 365 I would be wronging the other party. je feroie tort apartie.

Ou as tu or ce droit trouve? Where did you find this law? Tu scez bien et l'as eprouve, V"II know full well, and have experienced

la voie est longue et mal errante. 1h:lt· the way is long and never straight. I will give you a hearing, I promise you. 370 Je feroy droit, je te creante. 370

Tu sez bien que les droiz recordent, Y,," know that the Laws provide ' 111:lt, when two parties are in disagreementquant .II. parties se descordent

du jour, que Ie juge Ie donne, liholl t the COurt date, the judge names the day, w it hout any challenge. sans ceu que null'en achesonne. I ilill the judge. On my authority I say 375

je met jour au saint vendredi Je suy juge: pour moy Ie di, 375

1 11 111 setting the court date for Good Friday \v h l' ll 1 was hung on the cross ." que je fuy en la croiz pendu."

Qyant Sathanas l'out entendu, \tVh cn Satan heard this,

si respondi par tres grant ire: III' repljed very angrily:

"Ha, sire, ce n'est rien adire; 380 " ll ;1, S'Ire, tI'1at s notI'1H1g; Ln say; 380' Ih l' d;,y whi ch You havl: l lilllll'd 111 '['\ ' Ie jour que tu as ci nomme 111 '<o I"l11n and wl'lI · klll)\,vfl ;est sollempnel et renomme:

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y n'est lieu OU ferie ne soit. Les droiz dient, chescun Ie sceit, que sentence a tel jour rendue doit estre pour nule tenuej done ne vaudroit rien rna semonse, ne mon pledier, ne rna responsej quer Ie prod:z qui en vendroit, chescun pour mauvez Ie ten droit. Droit Ie dit, fen suy bien recors." "Le feu d'enfer t'arde Ie cors," ce dist Jhesucrist luy meismes: tu scez bien que les droiz feismesj au droiz donnon auctorite; mes tu scez bien par verite que les droiz ne nous donnent mie auctorite, que que nus die. Pour ce voulon, comment qu'il aille, que procez et semonse vaille, non contretant que la journee est ferie et mout hennouree. Einsi iertj je ne t'en di el." Lors appela saint Gabriel: "Va, dist il, sonne ta buysine: si fey Ie jour et Ie termine savoir a tout l'Umain Lignage; s'eulz n'i sont, eulz auront damage; et lour fey bien a touz espondre que ceulz d'enfer les font semondre."

Ce fet, Sathan s'en retourna en enfer, OU nul bon jour n'a, et lour recorda les nouveles qui ne lour furent pas mout beles. Touz les deables, qui la furent, virent mout bien et aperchurent que Dieu fere ne lour vouloit nulle grace plus qu'il souloit; mes a ce sans plus s'aerdirent que parler de justice oirent.

Ala jornee en grant atour transmistrent lour procuratour, qui sagement peine mei:st que Dieu justice lour feist. Qtant Ie jour vint de quoy je di,

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I ht.: re's nowhere that it's not a holiday. ' lhL: Laws say, as everyone knows, f I,at a verdict handed down on that day 385

.. hould be considered null and void, 'I" then my summons would be worthless, d lid both the pleadings and the answer; ,; II' the lawsuit heard on such a day would be considered a bad one by all. 390 ' II' L: Law says so, I remember it well." ,. May hellfire burn your body," /11 1it! Jesus Christ himselfj '''Y\Hl know very well that We made the Laws; WI.:. give authority to the Laws; 395 hilt you know very well, in truth, Ihat the Laws do not give Us '1III'hority, whatever anyone says. I'"\)[ this reason, whatever happens, Our will is Ihllt the suit and the summons be valid 400 ,I('spite the fact that the day indicated II, a holiday, and much celebrated. ~ ;( l let it be, I'm not telling you anything else."

.. 1Il(,; n He called Saint Gabriel: "( ;0," He said, "blow your trumpet, 405 ,llld inform the whole Human Race ,''' the court date, and how far off it is. ,,' d1ey do not appear, they will suffer loss, II lid explain to all of them 1Il:lt the denizens of Hell are having them summoned." 410

When this was done, Satan went off back I .. 1IeH, where he spends no good day .lIld told them the news wh it; h was not very welcome. /\ II the devils who were there 415 11' :!lized and understood Ihil l' God did not want to show them any more I.rvor than He usually did; IHII' Ihey seized on one thing II,al t hey heard tell ofjustice. 420

On the day of the trial, in his court robes Il\I'y Sl.:.nt off their attorney, with in structions to make a shrewd effort Iii have G od do them justice . VVh Cll t:;U)H' thl: da)' oj' wlti,,1t I r;]I(';!l(, 425

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qui estoit au saint vendredi, Ie procuratotir lors racourt et vint bien matin a la Court, quer bien sout, par texte et par glose, que qui est auctour d'une chose, il doit monstrer sa diligence; quer trop pis vaut sa negligence que de cil qui se doit deffendre: il se garda bien de mesprendre, quer a la Court out poy d'amis. 11 vint, au jour qui fut la mis, u lieu OU Dieu souloit venir pour droit et jugement tenir. Mes je parle a maniere humaine et tout mon propos y demaine: la ou Ie pape est, la est Romme; einsi doir entendre tout homme que paradis est proprement la OU Dieu tient son jugement: Dieu a des mansions plus d'une; la OU il est, la Court s'aune. La vint Sathan tres bien matin, qui bien sceit franchois et latin et sceit respondre et opposer et toute Escripture gloser, et fallaces plus de cent a. Qyant Dieu vint, il se presenta et Ie dist: "Je suy Ie dampne. Contre ceulz qui sont d'Adan ne, au jour ici en ta presence pledier vuil et oir sentence."

Dieu li dist: "Seuffre toy, maufey! Ne soies pas si eschaufey! Tu sez bien, selon l'Escripture, tant comme la jornee dure ne doit l'en deffaute douner. Tu pe~s bien assez jargouner! Sus eulz veus defaute: or atent! Bien scey que ton vouloir la tent." Le Deable, quant l'entendi, desiques a noune attendi. En ce tens, qui mout lui tarda, la contenance regarda:

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which was Good Friday, III~ attorney returned !llld came into court very early in the morning; IIII' he knew very well, from the text and the gloss, I hat the plaintiff in a suit 430 rillllUld make a show of his diligence; I,ll' his lack of zeal does him more harm Ikln that of the defendant. I Ie took care to make no errors, IIlI' he had few friends at court. 435 I Il.: appeared, on the appointed day, I II the place where God used to go III hold court and give judgment. Illit I am speaking in human terms 1IIId direct all my effort toward it; 440 where the Pope is, is Rome; I hil s everyone should understand I hat Paradise is, properly speaking, Il w place where God holds His court. ( ; od has many mansions; 445 I il l.: court assembles wherever He is. Saran appeared there very early in the morning. I Ie can speak French and Latin \l lId knows how to give answers and raise defenses tilld gloss the whole of Scripture, 450 II lid he has more than a hundred false premises. Wh en God came, he presented himself IlIld said: "I am the damned; I. ,day, here before You, I want to argue my case and hear the verdict 455 .1!.(lIinst those who were born of Adam."

God said to him: "Wait now, evil one; dOIl't get so heated up; 11( ,\.1 know that according to Scripture ( I .!,·fault should not be declared 460 1\;. long as the day lasts. YIlli l.:an talk all the lawyer talk you wish, 1" HI want a default judgment against them; now just wait; I k llow that's where you're going." W 111; 1'1 he heard Him, the Devil 465 wll i(~d until nones, three in th e afte rnoon. AII thi s time, which pa~scd ~ IIlwl)' fill' him, I,,' Ilioked at those arlllllJrillilll ,

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si vit les sains de paradis, cha .v., cha .vI., cha ,XX., cha dis, alans et venans, ce Ii semble, et estrivans de deul ensemble. Lors parla plus hardiement et se rescria hautement: "Pere, qui es souverain juge, je ne vieng [pas] ici par druge; ne die nul que je m'absente: contre Ie monde me presente."

Dieu Ii dist: "Tes tey, importun! Cuides tu que j'en deport un vers toy, pour faillir de justice? Nenil. Ce n'est pas mon office. Ne t'ey je dit, bien m'en souvient, qu'atendre tout Ie jour convient? Or atent donc, et ne t'ennuyt, pour savoir s'eulz vendront ennuyt." II atendi en tel ardure, einsi, si qu'a la nuyt oscure; lors cria a grant alenee: "Halas! Ou est justice alee quant es cyex a peine la treuve! Y semble que c'est bonne preuve que justice est partout faillie." Einsi se pleint et bret et crie.

"Or vien avant, maleiire, dist Dieu, j'ay assez endure: tens est que tu soiez oy," Lors fut Ie Deable esjoy et moustra tantost sa semonse. Sans fere luy autre response, Jhesucrist dist a l'audience que l'en feist partout silence et apelast l'Umain Lignage. Lors n'y out nul saint, tant fust sage, a cuy tout Ie cuer ne fremist. L'audience tout haut se mist et l'Umain Lignage appela, et disoit de cM et de la: "Se il i a nul qui les secoure, si vienge avant: il en est houre ." II cria diz foiz, voire vint;

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I Ie saw the saints of Paradise, JIcre five, here six, here nine, here ten, 470 walking to and fro, it seemed, Ind discussing sorrowfully among themselves.

' I hen he spoke more boldly, 1!lId cried aloud: "Father, who are the sovereign judge, 475 / did not come here as a joke, without good reason; Ic.:t no one say I withdraw, I am here to accuse the World."

God said to him: "Qyiet, you are out of turn; do you think that I will send even one human 480 10 you, and thus fail in justice? No; such is not my duty: did I not tell you, I remember it well, I hat you had to wait the entire day? So wait, and be patient, 485 and see if they will come before nightfall." IIe waited, with the same hot impatience, IIntil it was dark night; Ihen he cried with all his breath: "Alas! Where has justice gone, 490 ~o that I can scarcely find it in heaven? / r seems to prove indeed I'hat justice is lacking everywhere." 'Ihus he complains and shouts and yells.

"Now come forward, ill-fated one," 495 said God. "I have endured long enough; it is time you were heard." ' /11en the Devil was pleased, and immediately showed his summons. Without giving him any other response, 500

.Jesus Christ said to the marshal I'hat everyone should be silent and called the Human Race to appear. ' / hen there was no saint, however wise, whose heart did not tremble. 505 ' / he marshal climbed to the highest point and called the Human Race, saying on this side and on that : "[fthere is anyor'\(; to lwlp rhem, lei him com(' 1()rw:lnl; il i,; lillII'," 510 f It; cried !'en, \.: V\.: II IWe'lII)' 1IIlI l":;

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nul n'y envoia, ne ne vint. Chescun se tut tout esperdu, quer bien cuiderent que perdu fust l'Umain Lignage ace point: es cyex n'out lors de joie point. Sathenas, qui avant sailli, cuida qu'il n' eiist pas failli, mes il parla mout simplement et dist malici:ousement: "Ne cuide nully que je vuille que l'Umain Lignage se duille par moy, ne par rna pled erie. Halas! Ce ne demant je mie! Je n'ey pas la cole si haute, combien qu'eulz soient en defaute. "Vous," dist il aDieu, "qui avez toute sc'ience, bien savez comme tel defaute est punie: un povre juge escuminie et ses grans sentences fulmine

, quant l'en ne vient adroit termine. Je ne suy mi si cruel, quicunques ait entendu eli je vuil courtoisement pledier; s'il fust qui lour vousist edier, proceder am'iablement vuil jeu: d 'el ne suy en dement. Une letre sans plus demande assez petite, non pas grande, en laquele il ait contenu que je suy amon jour venu et me suy a houre deue comparu avostre veue."

Tout ceu disoit il par malice; il requeroit droit et justice; ce peroit qu'i nu coigneust; ne Ii chaloit fors qu'il peust, comment qu'il deust avenir, l'Umain Lignage retenir par pechie d'inobed'ience et avoir sur cela sentence; quer nos premiers peres en furent dampnez, quer par cela dechurent

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II" one sent a messenger, no one appeared . I ~vcryone remained silent, quite at a loss, IlI r they thought that the Human Race WII S lost at this point; ,11I; re was no joy in Heaven then. i:!l I:m , who leaped forward, 1.,.licved he had not failed, hli he spoke very humbly l i l i d said in bad faith: "No one should believe that I want dll,: Human Race to be cast down I "'c ause of me, or by my pleadings . " la s! That is not what I want; r ,lin not in such a vengeful mood l'llwever much they may be in default. \' 1/1.1," he said to God, "who have Iill knowledge, You are aware i'llW such a default is punished. '\ pt:tty judge excommunicates

,llId fulminates his great judgments wil en a party fails to come to court on time. I am not so harsh, whoever has heard to the contrary; I want to prosecute politely; I t' I here were anyone who wanted to help them, I want to proceed with the suit "I(uably; I ask for nothing more. i\ II [ ask is a writ, , ,1i1 1all one, not a large one, II which it is stated

I ":It I appeared in court on time "lid that I appeared before You ,II rile proper time."

He said all this in m alice; I,., was asking for a hearing and justice. II was clear that he would not have admitted that he cared for nothing, wharcver happened, I · ~ ' · t.; pt to be able to get bac k the Human Race I; ,,. I'he sin of disobedience \,".1 have a judgment on this matter; I; II ' rhat is how ollr first parents \V l'rc damned, how all th e.i r descendants

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tous ceulz de lour succession; 555 I. II fell" that reason; 555 mes Jhesus en sa PassIon 1.\11 ,1 1..: SUS, by His passion, les absoust touz de ce pechie: II Hi olved them all from this sin; par cela sommenedrechie. II 11 ,1 is how we were redeemed. Mes le Deable s'avisa, 1\ 111 the Devil thought that he, qui tousjors mauves avis a 560 560w/l" always has evil plans et touzdis pense a traison, Ii,!.! is always plotting treason, qu'il nous rauroit en sa prison 1\11 ,uld get us back into his prison s'en cel pechie no us peu[s]t metre. II I.e could attribute this sin to us. Pour ce demanda ilIa letre 1,',,1' I'his reason he asked for the writ, se tel grace peust trouver: 565 .1 he could obtain this favor; 565 par cela pust il prouver II H\I, way he could prove que fusson inobed"iens, 111111 we were disobedient, pour metre no us en ses liens. il l" I get us into his bonds.

Mes Dieu, qui est de tel nature But God, Who is of such a nature qu'i coignoist toute chose oscure 570 tlitli He understands all hidden things 570 et qui pour nous y entendoit, 11111 Who was looking out for us, vit bien a quel fin y tendoit. II IW well what end he had in mind. Si li dist en ceste maniere: : \ II( I He spoke to him in this way: "Fuy t'en, Sathan, va t'en arriere, "Fkt.:, Satan, get back; quer ta petici:on refuse. 575 I'll [refuse your request. 575 Tu sces que juge souvent use, \ • III are aware that, without sin or error, sans fere ne pechie ne vice, " illdge often acts, teil foiz est de pure justice, II 'lIl1{: times in pure justice, et auchune foiz de rigour, .1 lid other times in strict justice,

580whi ch is much more forceful, et aucune foiz d'equite; qui est de trop greignour vigour, 580

Ii II(' sometimes in equity; tu scez bien que c'est verite. VO lt know that this is the truth. Tout juge, se tu t'en recordes, 1\ lIy judge, if you remember, a bien en son arc ces .III. cordes: IItI:1 these three strings to his bow; de laquele qu'il veut peut trere, 585 lit' r an shoot with whichever one he likes, 585 et droit n'est pas ace contrere, Iliid the Law is not opposed to this. Considere ces JIll. clauses, \ 'ililsider these four issues, tens et lieuz, persones et causes; 11111 1..: and place, parties and suits; juge, qui ce veut regarder, " jlldge, if you examine this, y peut bien droiture garder 590

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, 'i lll k~cp within the law 590I ' en feisant, tout de son office, equite, rigour ou justice, Souvent doit l'en, ce dit la letre, devant justice equite metre: je ne fez point d'iniquite 595 se je vuil user d' equite, et d' equite vuil jeu user.

Ily exercising, on his own initiative, i'. I'lity, rigor, or justice. " ltl' text says that you should often 1" :1(',' {:qu ity before justice; , ,1111 not acting improperly 595 Ii"I Wallt to act with equity, I II" 1 I do want to nct with cqu ity;

JO I.;Advocacie Nostre Dame

Qyant a present bien peus muser: nous assignon et remuon, aloignon et continuon, et pour cause toute aprouvee, a demain, iceste journee, pour ce qu'il puisse miex valoir." "De tout ce ne me peut chaloir," dist Sathan, "qui luy contr'argue ha! Qy'est justice devenue!" "Comment!" dist Jhesucrist, "arriere! Sathan, es tu de tel maniere? D'equite user vouli'on, si comme nous te dislon; mes, quant l'en fet droit, deul en as. Trebuchiez moy cel Sathenas," dist iI, "tout hors de paradis! Aussi en chait i1 jadis." Des cyex fut jete a grant honte.

Si fist a ceulz d'enfer son conte comment l'en l'avoit mal tretie et comme il avoit esploitie. · Touz ceulz d'enfer y accoururent; se les autres nouveles furent dures et mauveses et sures, cestes furent encor plus dures. De lour besoigne assez parlerent et toutes voies s'acorderent que nul ne peut juge acuser puis que d'equite veut user, et, se grace n'est departie de juge a presente partie, il n'est mie pour ce parjure, ne i1 ne fet a nul injure. Einsi disoient lour avis les deables, ce m'est avis.

La court des cyex fut mout troublee, ou joie seut estre doublee, quer mout lour desplut et costa: un grant concile an ajousta. Par lieux s'aloient assemblant de creinte et de poour tremblant, et couroient par cha, par la; chescun l'un al'autre en parla;

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f'i)r today, you can think about it. We assign and put off and delay and continue 600 I his hearing until tomorrow alld for a well approved reason, :;n that things may be done better." "I don't care about all this," ·.aid Satan, who objects to Him: 605 "Oh, what has justice become!" "What?" said Jesus Christ, "get back, Satan, is this how you are? We wished to act with equity, as We told you; 610 I'lit when the law's laid down, you're peeved. ' Ihrow this Satan for me," ;;aid He, "right out of Paradise; he has fallen from here before." I Ie was thrown down from Heaven in great shame . 615

He told his story to those in Hell, how he had been badly treated li nd how he had acted. A II those of Hell came running; I,. the previous news was 620 lIard and bad and bitter, I h is news was even worse . ' I hey talked long abut their business hilt came to the conclusion I hat no one can accuse a judge 625 wllO wants to act in equity, .lld if no favor is shown IIy the judge to the party before him, IIll: judge is not thereby forsworn 1\lId he does injury to no one. 630 ' I hils the devils gave their opinion ;'1 it· appears to me.

'Ihe Court of Heaven was greatly troubled, wll(.: re joy is usually twice as great, I( 11' events displeased them greatly and pained them; 635 II go 1' <: at council gathered th ere. Ihey came together from v,Hious plates

I 1I'IIlhiing with kar alld fri)'. ht, lIit! fall about lwJ'1' all.1 1111 '1'1';

(' Ill'll (lilt' spoke 10 ,iiI' ",IIt'I I. :11'00111 il; 640

J2 I;Advocacie Nostre Dame

du Lignage Humain doute avoient, mes conseil metre n'i savoient. Bien disoient tout esperdu que tout Ie monde fust perdu se ne fust la missericorde de Dieu, chescun d'eulz s'i acorde, qui si bien avoit besoignie que Ie jour estoit aloignie a l'endemain, par equite; chescun dit que c'est verite.

Tant parlerent de ces merveilles que la rumour vint as oreilles de la douce Virge Marie qui de cela fut plus marrie que qui ly donnast un buffet. Elle enquist tout Ie voir du fet et sout qu'i n'y out rien mue, mez Ie jour fut continue a l'endemain certeinement. El dist devant touz hautement: "Or n'aiez doute ala journee. Me verrez vous tout attournee d'estre advocat pour eulz respondre et pour Ie Deable confondre; bien vous povez asseiirer james ne pourroie endurer l'Umain Lignage a desconfire: tant ferey qu'il devra soufhre."

Qyant celIe parole out retrete, onques ne fut tel joie fete com les sains de paradis firent; quer la delivrance bien virent puis que celIe out la chose emprise, qui est si sage et si aprise que rien ne creint, ne rien ne doute, ne Ie Deable, ne sa route.

Le desloial procuratour qui fut trebuchie de la tour de paradis vileinement, si com je dis premiere me nt, en cui de paresce n'a point, acourt tresbien matin rap oint. En consistore s'est tapi,

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I hey were afraid for the Human Race, I ' l it they did not know what advice to give. ' II H':y said disconsolately I hat everyone would have been damned I,"t for the mercy 645 ,, ( God, and each one agreed about this, Who had done His work so well i I,at the court appearance was put off IllItil the next day, in equity; f'1'l:r yone said it was the truth. 650

They spoke so much about these marvels I hat word reached the ears .,1" the sweet Virgin Mary who was more upset by this ,11:m if she had been given a blow on the ear. 655 :~ h c inquired about the truth of the matter ,111<"1 learned that nothing had been changed \ llIt the court appearance was continued >lutil the next day, certainly. ~ ;hc said aloud, before all of them: 660 "Now have no fear for this appearance. \lOll will see me quite prepared I" he an advocate, to respond to them ,lIhl to defeat the Devil; lit .11 can be quite confident 665 II,al' I could never bear to see i I, l; Human Race defeated; I will do whatever it takes. "

When she had spoken these words, 1I(:vt:r was such joy manifested 670 IHi I he saints of Paradise displayed; Ipr they saw deliverance /i!Jl Ct: the Lady had taken on this task who is so wise and learned I h:lt she fears nothing and is afraid of nothing, 675 II(",i" ler the Devil nor his train.

'llle dishonest attorney "" lin had been tossed down ignominiously I"t IIlI the tower of Paradise, 1111 I ~aid before, 680 II \ whom there is no sloth, \11'l ll,;art:d again vt: ry carly ill (h I,; m orning. r I" Ii id hims cl fin thc I'<II Hl inl M y,

34 I.:Advocacie Nostre Dame r)111" Lady's Advocacy 35

mes n'y out sarge ne tapi. hilt there was neither cloth nor carpet to cover him. Mes au cuer out tant d'amertume 685 1\ Ild he had such bitterness in his heart 685 que tout en esprent et a1ume, I hat it made him catch fire and burn quer grant doute [a] que nul ne viegne I( )I' he was very much afraid that someone would come qui l'Umain Lignage soustiegne. II) support the Human Race. Tantost vit Jhesucrist venir Soon he saw Jesus Christ appear pour droit et jugement tenir, 690 II) hold the trial and the hearing, 690 nob1ement et en grant array !lob1y and in full array si comme il apartient aroy. liS befits a king.

La mere au roy qui tout cria The king's mother, to whom everyone cried out, oy bien que chescun cria heard very well that each one was shouting que 1e Deab1e estoit venu. 695 I hat the Devil had made his appearance. 695 Y n'i out ne grant, ne menu, ' I here was not one of them, great or small, angre n'archangre, saint ne sainte, ~ lngel or archangel, male or female saint, qui n'eiist grant doute et grant crainte. who was not afraid and in great fear. E1 ne jut, ne ne sommeilla: She did not lie down or sleep: tout maintenant s'apareilla 700 !;he dressed herself immediately 700 pour a1er acelle journee; In go to this court appearance; mout fut richement atournee, Nhe was accompanied in rich array, quer toute 1a cheva1erie Ii Ir all the nobility of heaven des cyex vint en sa compaignie. ,'arne forward in her party. Q!ant el dut de son lieu partir, 705 When she left for the court 705 maint angre y out et maint martir, I here was with her many an angel and many a martyr, et tant de virges y avoit, and there were so many virgins que nu11e nombre n'en savoit, Ihat no one knew their number, et si y revint maint apostre. and many an apostle came as well. Chescun dist: "L'eneur sera nostre, 710 I':ach one was saying: "The victory will be ours 710 puis que rna Dame 1a reyne since Our Lady the queen veut desfendre ceste atayne. " is willing to defend against this attack." Einsi 1a Mere Dieu menerent 'Ihus they led forward the mother of God et de lie 10er se penerent; chescun en passant l'enclina 715 I

and all were at pains to praise her; ":lch one in passing bowed low 715

en chantant Ave Regina; II: . while singing "Ave Regina ." de douz chans chante[re]nt assez; nul n'en poveit estre 1assez;

II ' I hey sang many sweet songs; IlO one could be wearied by this;

chescun disoit en son 1angage, cach one said, in his own language, pour donner 1i greignor courage: 720 in order to encourage her: 720

"N'aiez pas des pecheors honte; "Be not ashamed of these sinners; y ne fust pas de toy tel conte, n'au fi1z Dieu ne fusses pas mere,

I here would not be so much made of you, lIor would you have been the mother ofGod

s'Adan, nostre premerein pere, if Adam, our first father, n'eiist pechie par son outrage; 725 Ilao not sinned hy hi:; outrageous behavior; 725 soustien donques l'Umain Lignage ~ lI ~;tain, th cl'dc)rc . till' rlllrnan Race

J6 Udvocacie Nostre Damt'

a cuy tu es si bien tenue: bien scez que tu en es venue."

La Dame ne s'en courcha pas, mes tout belement, pas a pas, s'en vint tres bien matin a court. Bien sceit que pas ne sera court Ie plet, quer certeinement pense qu'elle y metra bonne deffense. Par la OU la Dame passa chescun y vint et entassa, et disoit chescun a grant joie: "Vez ci ma Dame; fetez voie." Einsi s'en vint en consistore desirant d'avoir la victore, et vint, Dieu mercy, tout a tens . Ja iert Ie mal advocat ens, qui ne fesoit mes fors atendre que il peiist deffaute prendre.

Qyant Dieu vit sa mere venir, de rire ne se pout tenir et, quant ilIa vit apreuchier, nul ne Ii pourroit repreuchier, a sa destre la fist seer, que chescun Ie pout bien veer. Qyant la Mere Dieu fut assise aprez son fils, qui tant la prise, et elle out .1. poy atendu, "Beau filz," dist el, "j'ai entendu que Sathan, pour ne scey quel chose, vers l'Umain Lignage s'oppose et l'a fet devant toy semondre; et je suy preste de respondre se l'en lour veut den demander. Or Ii fey donques commander qu'il viegne pledier sans deloy: il sceit assez canon et loy pour troubler .1. bon jugement; et tu scez bien certeinement c'onques bien n'iessi de sa bouche. L'Umain Lignage trop me touche quer fen fuy estrete et nourrie. Or ploure Ie Deable ou rie et face grant deul et grant noise,

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I 1/'"'''' IJdvocacy J7

I \p lll you are so attached; 'I I 'IClW you sprang from them yourself"

II.\" Lady was not annoyed by thi~, ,I . 1, '1' by step, gracefully, 730 , . ,illl l; very early to the court.

III II! Ilware that the case will not be short, I I,, · ~'ertainly thinks

I.• wi ll put up a good defense. , 'I)' Where the Lady passed 735

I .\fil ii\.: came and crowded around, II, I ,.11 said with great joy: 11i ,. t! iii my Lady; make way for her." III " " "hl; came into the consistory

i·· II" " to> have the victory, 740 :".I rd' l; appeared, thanks be to God, in good time. II" l'vil advocate was already there, t, ,, II)', nothing but waiting

t I '1 "1" if he could obtain a default. When Jesus saw His mother enter, 745

ii , ,·I.uld not help smiling , ... 1 whl;n He saw her approach, ". ,lid what no one could hold against Him: II, ,"ade her sit at His right hand .. d.:l1' everyone could see her well. 750

W I".: II the mother of God was seated '" ~ i t·o her Son who cherishes her so, 'ii' I rille had waited a little, I,, ' /.aid: "Dear son, I have heard

""'t Satan, I know not why, 755 ' N li ce nsing the Human Race "II[ has summoned them before You. \ lid I am ready to make an answer

II .'"yone wants to make a complaint against them. "" ·I\·f()re, have him commanded 760 ,,, ,'orne with his pleading without delay. I It.: knows enough Canon and other Law '" l'OlTupt a good hearing " ." I YOll can be quite sure lilill no good ever came out of his mouth. 765 ' lil t: Illlman Race touches my heart br c:llIsc 1 was born ana raised in it. Now ieI' fhe Devil bngh or cry, 11 .,.1 IN him lila lIe WOI" :llId :I great noise,

38 39 I;Advocacie Nostre Dame

pour eulz serey, comment qu'il voise. Viegne avant, si face sa pleinte." Adonc n'y out ne saint, ne sainte, qui la Dame ne merchiast et qui tout haut ne s'escriast: "Vez la le mauvez sourquidie de bien et de grace vuid[i]e, l'orde puant beste camuse, celuy qui nos freres acuse. Onques ne cess a ne ne cesse de fere au Lignage Humain presse. Or est tout mu et tout tremblant; il ne fet mie Ie semblant qu'il fist par plus de cent foiz ier; onques ne cessa de noisier. Or viegne avant dire son conte." Lors out il grant deul et grant honte, quer bien pensa que sa besoigne seroit tout tenue a hoigne. Il vint, quant il fut appele; mes pas ne doit estre cele qu'il vint tenant la chiere basse comme povre persone lasse, quer il n'osoit pas regarder la Virge, qui devoit garder tout l'Umain Lignage et deffendre. Et si redoit l'en bien entendre, tout fust elle esperituel, qu'eHe esgardoit d'uyel si cruel que bien peroit la douliance de son cuer par sa contenance.

"Or chi," ce luy dist nostre Sire, "di tantost, se tu veuz rien dire encontre le Lignage Humain, pour quoy huy es si venu main. Or te delivre en brief espace." "Ha," dist Sathan, "sauf vostre grace, gardez ne fetez chose neuve, et que sanc et char ne vous meuve. Pere saint, tu es verite et es en touz lieuz equite. Tu dis que je die rna cause. Non ferey: lil n'en direy clause,

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( ),,1' Lady's Advocacy

I will be on their side, whatever happens; 770 h him step forward and lodge his complaint." ' 1 hen there was neither male nor female saint who did not thank the Lady, .111U who did not cry aloud: .. See here the evil upstart 775 II(' reft of grace and goodness, Ihe filthy, stinking, pug-faced beast, I he one who is accusing our brothers. I Ie has never ceased, and does not cease now, from harassing the Human Race. 780 I Ie is silent and trembling, he doesn't have the expression now I hat he had more than a hundred times yesterday; he never stopped yelling. Now let him come forward and tell his tale." 785 ' I hen he had great woe and shame lor he was convinced his business would all be considered falsehood. lie came when he was called; hilt it must not be concealed 790 I hat he came with his head hung low like a poor exhausted person; ii)r he did not dare look at II Ie Virgin, who had undertaken to protect and defend the whole Human Race. 795 And you must understand, :t I though she was so pure of spirit I hat she stared with such an implacable eye Illat the sorrow of her heart was visible on her face. 800

"Come here," Our Lord said to him, .. if you have anything to say, say it now !I),;ainst the Human Race ';)r which you came here so early in the morning. Now make your speech short." 805 "1\11," said Satan, "save your Grace, I ake care not to change the procedures, ;1Ilc! let not flesh and blood sway You. I loly Father, You are truth, :llId in all places You are equity. 810 'r'OII are tellinj.!,' nil' 1'1) ~c'l (-()I·th my case; I will not dc ) ~(); I willi,," :. :Il' one sentence,

40 I;Advocacie NostTe Dame

non pas une soule parole; je ne voy a cuy je parole. Tu sd:z qu'avoir doit vraiement .III. persones en jugement: l'auctour faut et Ie deffendant, et Ie juge, qui entendant doitestre a jugier par reson quant il en est tens et seson. Le deffendant ne voy je pas."

La Virge dist ysnelepas: ".III. persones, dist Sathan, faillent a ce que Ie jugemens vaillent, l'auctour, Ie deffendant, Ie juge a cuy les .II. pars ont refuge. Le juge y est, loial et sage, Et j[e] y suy pour l'Umain Lignage; mes je ne voy pas en cest estre nulluy qui pour l'auctour puisse estre, et droit dit, chescun bien Ie sceit, que tout Ie premier fondey seit. Le contrere ne vi jeu onques."

Le Deable respondi donques: "Je suy bien, a m'entencion, fondey par procuration, quer Ie juge bien l'esprouva: onques faussete n'y trouva, et pour ceu oy jeu la semonse." A ce fist la Dame response, aussi com[me] fame qui s'aire, qui de legier s'esmeut a ire, et dist: "Qyant tu te fez partie, y convient que j'aie capie des ces instrumens que tu dis ." "Je seroie trop enrudis," dist Sathan, use je la bailloie devant que ma partie voie: a cuy seroit elle baillie?" "Vez me cy tout .apareillie," dist la douce Virge, "en present; pour advocat me represent." Le Deable respondi la, qui son engin lors afila: "Entent, pere saint, et regarde,

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1/1/ j .t Idy's Advocacy

<I, 'I ,' ven a single word; I , Ill IIot see my adverse party.

, 111 know that truly there must be ""1'\; persons present at a trial: I ! ,II Ilced the plaintiff and the defendant, 111 .1 I'he judge who must be intent ' ''I Judging according to reason l\rlI I'1l the time is right. I .1, \ not see the defendant."

'[he Virgin said without delay: " ll\ lan says that three persons are needed I, Ii' a trial to be valid, 11,1 ' plaintiff, the defendant, and the judge I" whom the two parties are applying. II II: judge is here, fair and wise, ,llId I am appearing for the Human Race, ,,, II L do not see here in court ,illyone who can be appearing for the plaintiff, '"HI the Law says, as everyone knows, /", ~;I lOuld establish his credentials first. I have never seen it the other way around."

Then the Devil answered: "I I I my view, I am lawfully "III itled by an attorney's appointment 1," the judge has approved it; II I: f·()und no mistakes in it and for this reason I "htained an order for a summons." ' Ii, this the Lady responded, Hkl: a woman who is annoyed, ",Ito is easily roused to anger, I lid said: "Since you claim to be a party, I is proper for me to have a copy

;"'1 his instrument you mention." "I should be too hasty," iii I id Satan, "if! handed it over hdllre I saw my adverse party. ·1 .... whom should it be handed over?" "You see me here all ready," ,:11 id the gentle Virgin, "and present: I ~ Iate that I am the advocate." ' 11,cn:upon answered the Devil, who then qUickly produced his stratagem: "I ,i stcn, Holy PM lin, and consider,

4I

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42 43 I.:Advocacie Nostre Dame

tu qui es de verite garde, ta mere ne doit estre oye en fet que soit d'advocacie. Adverti toy que droit commande fame ne peut fere demande n'estre pour autre; c'est la somme; tel office apartient ahomme. Derrechief, c'est bien chose clere, tu es son filz, elle est ta mere, Ie soupechon est tout voiable," (ce dist Sathenas, Ie Deable), Uta mere est, si l'aymes et croiz, ne de lie croire ne recroiz; si t'aureit tost, je n'en dout mie, tourney par devers sa partie. Pour ces .II. causes di jeu voir qu'en ne la doit pas recevoir."

La douce Virge graci:ouse fut de respondre curIo use; si respondi en ceste guise: "Beau chier filz," dist elle, "or t'avise que tu ne soiez desvoie par la fraude acest renoie. II aferme, pour toy dechoivre, que tu ne me dois pas rechoivre. 11 ment, jeu di en audIence , et dit contre sa conscIence: onques ne fut en ly trouvee verite, c'est chose prouvee. Beau fils tres douz, beneiire, tu as de luy trop endure. Tout sens, tout bien et tout los as; les droiz fels et composas; tu scez qu'il ment desloiaument. Se fames tout generaument ne pevent pour autres pledier, si pevent eulz de droit edier en aucuns cas especi:aus, par devant touz offici:aus, et en ces cas ont avantage. Petitz en fans desous aage, veuves persones piteables, tiex gens, maugre touz les deables,

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I i",. Lady's Advocacy

Y ULl who are the guardian of the truth. V•• ur mother should not be heard III rhe matter of trial advocacy. I advise You that the Law requires I h:\t a woman must not be a plaintiff, nor appear 860 "II behalf of another; that's the whole truth. ' I hcse are a man's duties. hccondly, it's quite clear YIIlI are her Son, she is Your mother, Ii. e suspicion of bias is quite evident," 865 (I hus spoke Satan, the Devil), ":'; he is Your mother, and You love and believe her, >llIr do You refuse to believe her; ;111( I I do not doubt that she would soon >lldine You to her party's side. 870 hir both these reasons, I say truly I ltat she should not be accredited."

The gentle, gracious Virgin \V as eager to answer; " lid she did respond, in this fashion: 875 " I'': lir dear Son," she said, "now I advise you [II,t to be misled I,y I:he fraud of this renegade. lie..: avers, in order to deceive You I i,:(t You should not accredit me. 880 lit: lies, right here in court I say, .III( I speaks contrary to his knowledge; W'vcr was truth found in him, II 'v a proven thing. 1.'[ lir dear Son, blessed one, 885 YI HI have endured too much from him; \'0 11 have all wisdom, all goodness, and all praise; Y" 'LI made and composed the Laws; '~lI\I know he is lying dishonestly. II women may not generally 890 I;1.-:1<1 on behalf of others Iil t.:y may lawfully be of assistance I i i [lI Hne special cases I,, -fon; all ecclesiastical judges, II1Id they are permitted to do so. 895 1,,1 lit- children not' yet of age, III )d pitiful widow womell, 1, 11.1, p <o: r~(>ns, ill spitl" ,,1':111 'he I)!.;vi\s,

44 I;Advocacie Nostre Dame

pevent fames par doit deffendre, et Ie juge les y doit prendre. Je croy qu'i n'est desouz Ie trone si tres miserable persone com Ie monde et l'Umain Lignage, que Sathan u premier servage s'efforce mout de ramener pour perpetuelment pener.

"Aprez je suy, parmy son conte, mere au juge. Ce n'est pas honte! C'est hennour et non pas diffame! Sa mere suy, donc suy je fame; quant l'en m'apele au jugement, com me fame, non autrement, rechoif m'i donc; c'est rna requeste. Contre celle mauvese beste, Ie fet vuil comme fame emprendre; a moy apartient a deffendre, car qui est de l'Umain Lignage peut ci avoir trop grant damage, et j'en suy voir, je nu nye mie; si vuil deffendre rna partie; ce n'est pas droiz que je m'en tese. S'escumminiee mauvese, ou juye ou heretique fusse, mes deffenses sauves eusse. Donc doy jeu, je n'en doute mie, en moy deffendant estre ole.

''Aprez tu scez, beau chier filz monde, .III. estaz de gens a u monde: virges, mariees, continens. Qyant en paradis cha vin ens, j'avoie tous Ies .III. eus; bien Ie sces et bien Ie seils, des .III. estaz suy alosee, AJoseph fuy je espousee; virge fuy jeu, de 'ceu me vant, aprez l'esfanter et devant. Virge te portey tout mon terme aussi comme .1. grain de ble germe et donne fruit et se bourjonne sans ceu qu'autre grein ne Ii donne aide ne soustenement;

II 900 II

905 II

910 •

915 II

920 II

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930

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r '.rl/' I,ady's Advocacy 45

,' 1111 be lawfully defended by women, 'i lill the judge must accept them to do so. 900 I lid ieve there is not beneath the throne , IN Ilt!cdy a person ,ill Ihe World and the Human Race, ,,, 110m Satan is trying hard I., n;turn to their first servitude, 905 I •• bt tormented perpetually.

"On the second issue, I am, according to his tale, IIII' mother of the judge. This is no shame! II I ~ an honor and not a slur; I 11111 His mother, therefore I am a woman; 910 . il nce I am called to the court HI :1 woman, and not otherwise, il "cpt me here; this is my request. I will undertake the suit as a woman I,! (ninst this evil animal; 915 'I ';t!ls to me to defend, Ili 'I' ause whoever issues from the Human Race ·' 11 11 suffer great loss in this matter .llId I am part of it, I do not deny it; I1II1 s I want to defend my party; 920 I h; not right for me to be silent. W('rc I an evil excommunicate '" a Jewess or a false heretic, I would still have my defenses; d I<'rcfore, I have no doubt of it, 925 I 1,IIOuld be heard in my own defense.

"In addition You know, fair, dear, pure Son, Ilwre are three orders of women in the world: 1r~ins, married women and the celibate.

W htn I arrived in Paradise, 930 Iliad belonged to all three; V"" know this and appreciate it; I "111 a part of all three orders. I WilS married to Joseph; I pride myself that I was a virgin 935 I,r/(H'C I gave birth, and after it. I r :t rried You to term as a virgin, ,I II it grain of wheat germinates Illd )2;ives fruit and buds out IV IIhOllt another seed p;iving it 940 11"11' or Blistenanct,' .

46 I:Advocacie Nostre Dame

einsi, sans nul atouchement te conchuy jeu et esfantey, de quoy encor hennour grant ey. Tu vels semblable miracle quant Aaron u tabernacle mist la verge seche, flestrie, pour avoir de prestre mestrie, et la verge si se prouva, qu'a l'endemain l'en y trouva branches et flors et fruit meur. J'ay, ce me semble, autd eur, que je canchuy, sans acouchier, ton cors, que je n'ey pas pou chier. Je puis bien dire en audience que j'ay bien garde continence; nui ne me peut de ceu reprendre. Donc di jeu que je puis deffendre touz les .III. estaz de damage, qui sont en tout l'Umain Lignage, et, pour ce qu'en vaut la cdee, doy Advocat estre appdee. Or me re<;:ois donc orendroit quant il est contenu en droit: quer .1. estrange y rechevroies et bien recevoir l'i devroies, sdon les resons que j'ai dites, qui toutes sont en droit escriptes ." Le Sathan, qui de deul fondi, par grant ire lui respondi: "Tu ne Ie seras pas encore: j'en demant interloqutore."

Les resons des .II. pars oies, jugie fut entre les parties que Nostre Dame plederoit et que Deable Ii feroit de toutes ses letres capie. Qyant dIes out en sa baillie, onques tant nes sout esprouver que defaute y peust trouver. Mes el dist aussi com par ire: "Or die ceu que voudra dire ees desloial procuratour!" "Volentiers," dist il, "je m'atour

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II,IIS without having been touched, I , ';Ilceived and bore You, I, " which I still have great honor.

11 11 witnessed a similar miracle 945 he n Aaron planted the dry

", I I hered stick in the tabernacle, " , /-{d the better of the priests; .lId the stick so proved itself ,hal it was found there the next day 950 wi l h branches and flowers and ripe fruit. II li t:e ms to me I have this same good fortune, I hat' without knowing a man I conceived You I I I Whom I am not a little fond. I , :I n avow in court 955 ,11:1(' I have remained chaste; I I, lone can reproach me about this. I hcrcfore I say that I can defend I,. lin loss all three orders \il hich make up the entire Human Race 960 111 <1 for this reason-why hide it?­ I :dlOuld be called an advocate. 111(;refore accredit me right away ill cc it is written in the Law:

IiiI' You would receive a non-relative 965 I lid You should receive such a person I, ,I' the reasons I have set forth wh ich are all written in the Law." Satan, who was melting with pain, re sponded to her in great wrath: 970 " Nevertheless, you will not be accredited; I demand an interlocutory judgment."

The arguments on both sides having been heard, :1 decision was given to the parties I hat Our Lady would make the pleadings 975 :1I1d that the Devil would have a copy made Ii It' her of all his documents. When she had them in her possession, wit'h no amount of effort could she li"d any defect in them. 980 I\11(' ~he said as ifin anger: "Now let this dishonest attorney ::: ly what he wants to say." "Willingly," he said, "I am about to

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adire sans plus reposer: mon fet einsi vuil proposer.

"Syre, je di, quant apresent, quant aucun despoulli[e] se sent, s'il veut proceder loiaument, au premier doit principaument requerre sa possession. Bien scez que la condici:on de cil qui poursiet, droit l'aferme, est la meillour et la plus ferme. C'est ce maintenant que je quier. Comme procuratour, requier, u nom de la grant compaignie d'enfer et de sa felonnie, d'estre restitue de plein. Despoullie suy, dont je me plein: rna possession doy ravoir, quer chescun scet et doit savoir, -partout est la chose sceiie ­ que j'ai possession eiie, bonne, souffisant et pesible, de porter en enfer l'orrible et de tormenter agrant rage trestouz ceulz de l'Umain Lignage. Droit dit, et si font tuyt Ii mestre, que les despouilliez doivent estre restituez premierement, ains que l'en voise au jugement. Pour ce di jeu avant toute euvre, anchiez que de rien rna bouche euvre pour pledier ne pour opposer, qu'arriere me doit l'en poser en pesible possession. Ce fet, je vuil que nous dion nos fez, si comme droit dourra: si en ait qui avoir [en] pourra." L'Advocat al'Umain Lignage respondi, et dist comme sage:

"Entent, beau filz beneiire, Ie fel desloial parjure, Ie Sathenas, filz de Deable, filz d'iniquite, mal creable, qui est auctour de ceste chose

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985 11.1" is how I state my claim .

"Sire, I say that nowadays, 11\ 111 someone feels dispossessed

II Il r wants to proceed honestly III II Ulst first a-nd foremost 990 III I" recover possession. "1 11 k now, and the Law affirms this,

I h " Ihe position of the plaintiff I

1" ll lk without delaying any further.

d, 1." best and firmest. 1110 " is what I am now seeking 995 1,,, 1 I'l:questing as the attorney, I., II,,; name of the great company ,i 11, ,11 and its felonry:

It , II I>Llin full restitution. I 1\llvt: been dispossessed, this is my complaint; 1000 I ~ I"iliid get back possession, t, II ,'vt; ryone knows and should know

,il t; principle is known everywhere- I h,,, I have had possession, I,' " "I, sufficient, unchallenged, 1005 I" . " I'ry off to horrible Hell 111 ,1 "0 torment in great fury ill ill()5e of the Human Race. ,I,! ' Law says, and so do all lawyers,

.1 11 11 I'hose who have been despoiled 1010 " " l il l first be given back possession 111 lu n; they go to trial. I'PI 1his reason, before any further procedures, I" jot'(: 1 open my mouth to say anything more, ." pl'ess my charge or to respond to her, 1015 1 IiIlI S t: be put back

_ 1111 1) peaceful possession. I 1111 ' (; this is done, I want us " I I,Iake our pleadings, as the Law requires; 11/1,1 l'ili..:n let each have what he can get." 1020 IIIi" advocate of the Human Race

1" I,licd, saying like a wise woman: /\ Listen, fair, blessed Son,

11, \' II iII" inolls, dishonest:, pt;rilired one, 1'" I H II, son of a devil, 1025 it lll oj' illiquity, not to b~ Iwlil·vc· d. w ho i ~ rhe plainritf ill I'hi t; , ' lllll',

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et faussete aus droiz impose. nest mout bien acoustume de mentir, Ie fel enfume. Sa menchonge touz aperchoivent: les auctors, dist il, estre doivent restituez premierement; les droiz l'entendent autrement; il ment, Ie fel advocat ort; ce sont les despoilliez a tort que l'en doit, ce dit bien la letre, arriere en possession metre; doncques ne doit pas, quant avoir, l'autour possess'ion avoir. Et si di plus: Ie deffendant, ce font bien les droiz entendant,

, qui a poursis notorement, non par force, mes justement, par bon titre, en bonne maniere, do it l'en restituer arriere. Mes onques Sat han Ie tra'itre n'i out bonne foy, ne bon titre, ne il n'en a letre ne chartre: bien est voir qu'il gardoit la chartre comme .1. bedel, comme .1. truant, comme .1. autre garson puant. Par ceu di jeu, a rna deffense, beau tres douz chier filz, or y pense, -c'est de tout droit l'entenclon­ que cil a la possession et doit avoir, c'est texte et glose, en queil non l'en poursiet la chose. Beau tres touz filz, or t'y avise: la chose est en ton non poursise; tu possis hom me et pOSSelS, quer tu Ie crias et fels. Donc est [ill tien, ton droit y as, quer tu Ie fels et crias. Sathan, ce peut l'en bien savoir, n'i pourroit bonne foyavoir, ne' n'a, ne n'out en chose estrange. Bien pert que voir a faus nous change, et, s'il a poursis longuement ou, pour parler plus proprement,

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1 Ill lrlOsing falsity even on the Law. II I' is very well accustomed I" Itt , the evil one, stinking of smoke; 1030 ~ "I yone sees his lies.

II, ' ~ ;'ys that the plaintiffs must be I', II I (,f all placed back in possession. II h ' I ,aws construe this differently;

11 , I k s, this villainous, filthy advocate; 1035 11 h: the unlawfully dispossessed '" III, must be, as the Law says, 1,1111 I'd back in possession. 11 11 'I'd are, in plain truth, ,I". I ,Iaintiff should not regain possession. 1040 \ ", I I say more: the Laws make it clear

,1, \\ 1 I'he defendant I", has acted, to everyone's knowledge,

II' " by force, but justly, 01, u"l gh good title, in a proper way, 1045 ,Jlelldd be entirely reinstated. 1\,,1 Satan, this traitor, ,,, Ill'r' had good faith or good title, i" " did he have a deed or charter; " I ~ Ir'ue that he kept the prison 1050 111 1'1 ' :\ mercenary, like a scoundrel, II I, I' ~I ()rne other stinking churl. f ' " Ibis reason I say in my defense, I,ll, 1', l.: ntle Son, now think about it; I I II! I he intention of all Law 1055 iI, llI II.I,; person has and should have possession 01 1 whose name the thing is being sought; ! 111 1, h; according to the Law and the gloss. I " " gl.: lltle Son, now take thought: 1,111 ,'asc is pursued in Your name, 1060 ' , 'I I I, nss ess man and possessed him,

I, ll '(. IU created and made him. 111111, lit: is yours, You have rights over him I'll V ilLi made him and created him. I \ I l r (' :Ill be certain that Satan 1065 ' ,,, rid 110t be acting in good faith, III)J III lH;, nor did he ever in anyth.i ng belonging to another. II Iii ,' Ie :lr th at he is chan g ing I rll rh 1'0 fit1sehood, Il li d lrh e has long purslu.:d 111:111, " I 1<1 r' peak ili o n : c; x:I r rl }, 1070

52 I;Advocacie N ostre Dame

a force en prison detenu, de quoy est donc cest droit venu? S'ille tent en estrange non, sera il sien? Je croy que non, qui droit et res on voudra fere: nul ne peut dire Ie contrere. Nulle longue prescripc'ion n'aide a tel possession, ou bonne foy n'est bien gardee; mes onc ci ne fut regardee n'onques ne poursist en sa vie de bonne foy, que que nul die, n'onques n'en fut fors detentour. Or voist hardiement entour et rechine assez et escume, quer je respon droit et coustume que[r] porseer est autre chose que detenir. Bien dire l'ose: il est escript en la Digeste. Donc faudra il a sa requeste; quer je puis bien conclure donques, quant possession n'en out onques, que restitue n'iert il miej quer, la OU il a tricherie sans bonne foy, sans loiaute, ce ne seroit pas egaute qu'il eust restitucion sans titre, par presumpcion. Tout einsi est il en propos en ce que je di et propos. Di moy, dampne et reprouve, te souffict ceu que j 'ai prouve?

"Or me di, la Trinite toute, mon chier filz, qui ci nous escoute, Ie Saint Esperit et Ie Pere, ne firent il, c'est chose clere, Ie premier pere a lour ymage, de cuy vint tout l'Umain Lignage? Donques es tu bien decheus. Comment de bonne foy peus chose estrange bien porseer? Nul droit ne s'i peut asseer. Donc dois tu estre refusez

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1111/. held him in prison by force, IUIW has he acquired this right? I I II \' held man in someone else's name

ill he remain his? I think not. \ Ilynne wishing to keep to law and reason 1075

, ," dd not say the contrary. I ~ \ I long adverse possession ' \ \I :l ll ffice to establish possession f ill'\'(; good faith is not kept; 11111 Ihere was no regard for good faith here, 1080 ill Ii did he ever sue for anything in his life II I good faith, whatever anyone says, ,,," was he ever anything but a mere holder. I~ ' IW he may look around boldly 01" 1«) am and bristle, 1085

10 1\ I reply according to Law and Custom dlill possessing is a different thing I" 11\\ owning; I dare say so; il 111 written in the D igest. II ll'1'd ore he will fail in his request; 1090 (,,1' 1 may therefore conclude

11 1(' 1,; he never had possession, II (' allnot be restored to him; 1,1\ where there is trickery, \V ii hout good faith, without honesty, 1095

I I would not be equity II Ill: were restored to possession 1\1 ,1 hout title, on a mere presumption. II I i ~; is how the reasoning goes

I, oj ' what I say and propose. 1100 1\01 1 me, damned reprobate , 1'1 what I have proved enough for you?

"Now tell me, Holy Trinity together, OI' l' dear Son, who listens to us here, I III' Iloly Spirit and the Father, 1105

du ll'hey not clearly make II, ' I heir image the first father Ij II rn whom eame the whole Human Race? IIIII Syo u lose this point. I IIIW could you in good faith 1110

!'W I! something belonl!: il1H f\l ;I\wrlt er? Nil I:lW could he cit(~d 1<11' il. II J(' n; fi)l'(; YOllr rl,;<)lI l,;:, I 1,II!I,dd I I,' ,11 'lilr.l

54 I.:Advocacie Nostre Dame

par droit. Or respon, se tu scez." Le Deable de deul fondi

et par engaigne respondi: "Qyi voudroit croire ceste dame, james en enfer n'yroit arne; mes y ne seroit pas me stier. Mout s'est or prise abeau me stier, a noisier et ajargonner; nul ne peut .1. soul mot sonner, fors lie, en tout cest consistore. ren demant interlocutore, que rna longue prescripcIon m'aquert par droit possessIon."

Veus les droiz souffiesaument, veu les resons loiaument de l'une et de l'autre partie, y fut dit que par droit n'est mie Ie Deable institue. Qyi adonques l'eust tue, il n'eust mie plus fremi. Pour la Mere Dieu, qu'il cremi,

. rechina et fist male chiere. Sa main mist asa gibechiere, si en sacha hors une Bible mout enfumee et mout orrible, pour nostre Advocat desconfire, et commencha tout haut alire u Genesi, OU Dieu manda anos peres et commanda ces moz, qui ci sont arrengies: 'Bien vuil,' dist iI, 'que vous mengies de tout Ie fruyt que trouverez tant com me en paradis serez, .1. excepte tant soulement. Se vous en mengiez, vraiement en l'oure de tel mort morrez dont delivrer ne vous pourrez.' 11 entendi de mort seconde, ce dient touz les clers du monde, et, qui veut parler proprement, c'est la mort d'enfer droitement; ce n'est rien autre chose adire." Lors se tourne envers nostre Sire

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hI 1.llw. Now answer, if you can." ' n1e Devil was torn by grief,

' ''' I i'esponded thus craftily: II \(nyone wanted to believe this lady,

"" Ii oul would ever enter Hell; 1IIli re would no longer be any need of it.

ow she has started a fine job " I hissing and talking lawyer talk; ~'I one can speak a single word, \ 'cpt her, in this whole consistory.

I I"quest an interlocutory judgment, Illuling that my long adverse possession

' V('S me possession by Law." The law having been consulted

11101 the arguments heard honestly 1"!1iI both parties, II was held that according to Law, d lt,: Devil was not granted possession. I II" would not have trembled less III his death throes. I\,-c ause of the Mother of God, whom he feared, I... bristled and made a wry face. I '" thrust his hand into his pouch ,Ilid pulled out a Bible, IIIII of smoke and smelling most disgusting, 1" defeat our advocate; "' Id he began to read aloud

II Genesis, where God commanded , 110 r fathers, and ordered them with these words, which are here cited: '" I permit,'" He said, '''that you eat .111 the fruit you find ,I :; long as you are in Paradise, with one exception only. Iryou eat of it, then truly II that moment you will die a death ('rom which you cannot be saved.' lie meant the second death, ' i,) say all the clerics in the world, II lid if you want to speak as you should, il is plainly the death of Hell; I here is nothing else to ~ay." ' Ilten he turned to O ur Lord,

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et Ie dist tout en audience: "Regarde. Est ce ci ta sentence?" Jhesucrist dist: "Oil, sans faille." Dist Sathan: "C'est droit qui me vaille. Qyant Adan et Eve fels et en paradis les mels, tu dels que des fruyz menjassent, de tous, fors qu'a .1., n'atouchassent; ton commandement bien olrent mes de touz poins desobeirent et contre ton vouloir pechierent, quer par lour folie mengierent Ie pi ere pomme du pourpris, et pour ce furent il pourpris de maladie si cruel qu'el doit estre perpetuel en to ute leur posterite. N'es tu justice et verite? Fey donc tes paroles estables, ou tu n'es mi veritables, et met a condempnation Adam et sa succession."

Nostre bonne Advocate arriere respondi en ceste maniere: "Beau £lIz, entent a mes paroles; ne pense pas aus paraboles de cel fel plein d'iniquite. 11 a dit d'une auctorite Ie chief maliclousement, mes il a fraudou[lou]sement la queue celee et telie. Devant toy, et a ta velie, je treuve u Genesi escrites, puis les paroles qu'il a dites, comme Sathan mauvesement, que luy que son commandement, Ie mauvez conseil conseillierent a nos peres, dont il mengierent Ie fruyt qui lour iert deffendu, qui puis lour fut mout chier vendu.

"Sathan dist en cest maniere a Eve, la fame premiere: 'Qyant vous de cest fruyt mengerez,

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,,,d he said to Him in the presence of the court: I " ,ole Are these Your words?"

II I~w, Christ said, "Yes, without fail." II I H II said: "This is a law which upholds my side.

\V 11(;n You created Adam and Eve i ll' I placed them in Paradise,

I I \i said they might eat of all the fruits , " cpt one, which they might not touch; dwy heard Your commandment properly, I iI 'l I'hey absolutely disobeyed ",d sinned against Your command, 1,,1' in their folly they ate "II' worst apple in the garden "" I for this reason they were overtaken I'y ~lIch a cruel malady .1, 11 1it should be perpetual, II a II their posterity. \ ,'(; you not justice and truth?

IVhke Your words effective, then, 'I "You are not believable, 111((1 place in condemnation \dam and his seed."

Our good Advocate answered 1' 1111 back in this fashion: "1.':lir Son, listen to my words. I )on't give a thought to the fabulations (If this evil one, full ofiniquity. f k has maliciously quoted 1he beginning of the authority, lour he has fraudulently " ldden and skipped over the end of the passage. lIe/ore You, and in Your sight, I find written in Genesis, i l '-ler the words he quoted, how Satan evilly (t'il'her he himself or another by his command) /, :IVC bad advice to our fathers, lor which reason they ate I he fruit which had been forbidden them, which thereafter cost them very dear.

"Satan spoke in this manner 10, I':ve, the first W(>lII:tu: ' WIH;n you cat this fruil

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itiex comme Dieu est, serez, et bien et mal saurez ensemble; il ne veut que nul Ii ressemble.' Et, pour ce qu'elle se do uta, elli dist: 'lei grant doute a; Dieu nous dist que nous mourrion quant de cel fruyt mengerion.' Sathenas dist, sans demourance: 'Non ferez, n'en aiez doutance; des ce que mengie en aurez, autretant comme il sceit saurez.' Et einsi par sa traison firent ilIa grant mesprison. Selon Ie sens de celIe clause, Sathan fut de lour pechie cause: il fut de lour mort acheson. Si di, par droit et par reson, qu'il ne doit pas estre escoute contre eulz, mes tout hors deboute. Pas n'i doit estre recheu quant par luy furent decheu, Je di que fraude ne doit mie aceluy qui fet tricherie edier, mes elle doit confondre. lei ne sauroit nul respondre. Nul ne doit estre releve de ceu dont doit estre greve, quer chescun doit en son outrage avoir vilenie et damage; et, s'illes povet accuser pour Ie fruyt qu'i lour fist user, sa fraude Ii profiteroit et bien pour mal reporteroit, et auroit ateint son vouloir de ceu dont il se doit douloir. C'est cas expres de decretale. Je vuil donques qu'il se devale et qu'il soit bien vileinement deboute de cest jugement et hors de ceste court chacie, quant par luy furent enlacie ceulz meesmes qu'il fet semondre. Je ne deigneroie respondre

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\ , 111 will be as God is, "lid you will know both good and evil; II, ' does not want anyone to be like him.' \ lid because she was anxious, I" , said to him: 'There is great doubt here:

, : lid told us we should die I wc ate of this fruit.'

'l'll:ln said without pausing: N", you will not, have no fear;

,II ';0011 as you have eaten of it, ,' 1111 will have knowledge as He has knowledge.' '\ lid thus by his treason dl ~'y committed the great offense . \ ",'ording to the meaning of this reading

'11, ( iln was the cause of their sin; I'i ' was the reason for their death.

I,d thus I say, according to Law and reason, hi ' f;hould not be heard ,' p" linst them, but thrown out. I I ... :;\lOuld not even be received to plead ",lI'e they fell because of him,

I Ilily that fraud should not help i I, t' one who is doing the trickery, l lH( it should confound him. I ic-n: he can have no response. N" one should be repaid 1,\, (hat for which he should be harmed, 11\ 11 I(-)f his outrageous actions b, 'illd deserve contempt and loss, lilt I, if he could accuse them

II)' reason of the fruit he made them eat, 1. 1" i'raud would profit him

. Ii lid he would get back good for evil, ,'I(I he would have accomplished his will II, I hat which should make him lament. 1, '14 explicitly stated in the Decreta/s. llirrcfore I want him to step down,

I" Ii I to be ignominiously I" ,c)lcd out of this suit, III It I ( hased out of this court, IIII("C he entrapped IIII' vcry one s he has had ~u mmoned . I WOliid not sw op t u rn ; d~ ,' ;111 answer

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a iuy, ne a ceulz de sa route, quer droit meesmes hors les boute."

C2.!,tant Ie Deable oJ ceu dire, il s'enfia si de deul et d'ire qu'a bien petit qu'il ne creva, quer la response Ie greva. Si dist au juge par malice: "Entent moy, pere de justice, ne me soiez pas tant contrere; fey com bons juges doivent fere, qui en cest cas en tout coste veulent user de lour poste et ensuyvre droit et justice. Or, soit pose sans prejudice que je soie de rna demande, si com celle dame demande, et refuse et escondit, si dois tu entendre a mon dit; quer je requier ton noble office, ou il ne doit avoir nul vice, que l'en punisse Ie forfet dont ray la plainte en cest jour fet. Pose soit que je me teiisse et que james plet n'en meiisse, tu ne t'en devroies pas tere, quer tu es tenu a droit fere. Se les juges droit ne fesoient, les mauz impunis remaindroient: si ne seroit pas equite. A cela, de neccessite, et ce sceivent grant et menu, chescun juste juge [est] tenu, Or punis done, de ton office, Ie monde, ou cy faudra justice,"

Nostre graci:ouse Advocate ne se tint pas a tant pour mate: "Beau filz, dist elle, en tent a moy. Ne t'aym je tant et tant t'amoy, et tant souffri pour toy de peine? Tu es equite souvereine; tu es plein, chescun s'i acorde, de douchour, de misericorde. Beau filz, Ie di premierement,

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I hll ll , nor to those in his train I, " Ik Law itself ejects them ."

When the Devil heard this said, I" ~ w('l!ed up so much with pain and anger ",,(1 I'e almost burst, "'1 Jill: answer harmed his cause. i It ,.. lid to the Judge, in bad faith: I l 'I 'l'l1 to me, father of justice, hU I', he so against me; tli what good judges are supposed to do, III ' i,l this case, as in every situation, Illi (' 0 use their power

III ' 1/; lI!OW law and justice. ~, ' W, let it be supposed without prejudice

111 111 I am refused and thrown out dl llll\ with my complaint, , I Ihi s lady is requesting; I I I! I Illust still pay attention to my words; l ill voke your noble duty,

''' ' 1'( ' there should be no error: " I i hI: offense be punished, I i lO t I "ie I set forth today in my complaint, i \" ' 11 ifit were that I remained silent ' udllever lodged a complaint, \ II/I bhould not be silent, 111 1 Vi'li are required to give a hearing. II ,udges did not give hearings,

,IIIIL'S would remain unpunished, i l id I h is would not be equity. 1,1 I h is, of necessity, I, I)("h the great and small well know,

• II " just judge is held. . /l1I 'I'dare punish humankind 'ii , your own initiative or justice will faiL"

()ur gracious Advocate did not consider herself ti "ic: lled by this argument: " "'11 11' Son," she said, "listen to me. 1" ,11'1 I love You, and haven't I always, " ,I,! haven't I suffered great pain for You? , "" a re sovereign equity; "1"' 1 yone agrees You are full 1/ 1 1',I.' lltlcness and mercy. ", ti, Son, first of all J say

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de rigour de droit proprement, que Ie Deable ne doit mie estre oy arien que il die; ton office requiert, ce dit, mes g'i metroy tel contredit qu'il ne l'aura en nule guise, quer il a autre voie emprise. Ou a il or cest droit trouve, Ie fel traltre reprouve?

"Tu scez, quant aucun ou aucune a de bonnes voies plus d'une, tendans aceu qu'il veut ataindre, Ie juge Ie peut bien contraindre aune des voies eslire, quer une soule en doit souffire, et acelle se doit tenir; sus autres ne peut revenir ne retourner meesmement, puis qu'elle est dite en jugement. Einsi est il, ce n'est pas doute: ce sceit la compaignie toute. Combien que Ie Deable eiist plusors voies, si Ii pleiist l'une petite, l'autre grande, pour ataindre ce qu'il demande, que pas aconfesser ne pense, quer g'i mei:sse grant deffense. 11 se par fist si tres apert, si com par Ie procez apert, qu'il se fist contre moy partie et commencha sa plederie, fonde par procuration, pour venir as'entenclon. Or voit qu'il ne se peut secourre: si veut al'autre voie courre et vient ton office requerre. Ja n'avendra en nulle terre, quer einsi auroit il .Il. voies. Beau fils, y faut que tu y voies, ou je seroie decheiie. C'est chose einsi coigneiie: je di que de droit ne peut prendre autre voie pour moy reprendre.

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illu l lI ('cording to a strict construction of the Law 1III IIIill g that the Devil says IiII I! Id even be listened to;

1(0 ~ I\ys , 'Your own initiative.' 11 111 I would bring up the counter-argument II hI! ht; should not obtain this request III li lly way, for he has taken a different tack. \\I 1. t: n : did he find this law, \II, "viI, treacherous reprobate?

"You know that when any plaintiff 1. \1_ IllUltiple good ways of proceeding IQIVIlrds what he wants to attain 1111 JlIdge can oblige him I, II 'hoo se only one of these ways, 'I I a single one should be enough \lI d he should keep to this one; I" ":-t nllot have recourse to the others, tllJI' ,'ven go back, 1,I) l (: the first is cited in court. II) 11 is; there is no doubt; III' whole company know this. \ It hough the Devil might have had, I hi' had wished, various different ways,

,,11(' ~re at, another small, 1" (Ohtain what he was asking for, i, l' il ilouid not even think of confessing [and avoiding] I,", I would raise a great objection against it. I II- ('ommitted himself openly, HI II Ie suit shows, I I)' ht;wming a party against me, 111111 began his pleading Illlltcd on a letter of appointment,

, III 'wt forth his contention. N, IW he sees that he can do himself no good; Ii '" I he wants to go back and use another way, 111111 asks You to act on Your own initiative. ' 1l,i s will not happen anywhere; [, ' I' I hu s he would be using two methods. I ,'il i i' so n, You must see this, '" ' I shall be undone. II is il well-known legal tenet: I IUly I'hat: hy law he c allnot' c h()()s~: :11111(' diH\;!'t;lIt way t il 0l'l,ollr 11Il',

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"Ne fist il sa peticion de ravoir restitucion? Mes il i fut tout hautement refuse, par droit jugement, qui vit les droiz et qui les lut, puis que certeine voie eslut, que l'autre puisse recouvrer, l'en ne peut pas einsi ouvrer; quer, se celle voie failloit et ala tierce rassailloit, einsi raroit il quarte et quinte; n'en parole nul, ne ne tinte; ce seroit cercle droitement, que droit repreuve malement; touzjors pourroit einsi tourner, semondre huy, demain ajourner, puis fere une petici:on; james a fin ne serion, et einsi par son fellangage metroit il sus aus droiz la rage . Mes ceu ne doit l'en mie dire: ceste response doit souffire.

"Si di plus, beau filz, or escoute: l'en doit metre sa cure toute a confondre son adversaire. ~i peut avoir voie ordinaire, a l'extraordinaire, sans faille, ne doit tourner, comment qu'il aille: einsi est ii, ne plus, ne meins. Or soit donc son propos remeins, quer il a, c'est chose sceue, la voie ordinaire esleue, dont il est si bien cheu, beau filz, comme tu as veu.

"Plus y a: beau filz gracIous, tu scez que cel malici:ous Sathenas, Ie fel homicide, de restituci:on l'alde requise, tout de prime venue, qui extraordinaire est tenue. Mes trop poy luy valut son dit, quer il fut par droit escondit et par just interlocutore,

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Did he not present a request " I 1. (; restored to possession? 1330 I Ii (I he was refused very clearly il j 1.:lW and a correct judgment ' 11i" h consulted and read the Laws; , III LI: he had made a certain choice of one method III could not have recourse to the other. 1335 'I!! II ca nnot work that way, r" l Ir this method failed to work, \Ii- I he tried again with a third, I - hI.' would attempt a fourth and a fifth;

!II' line says a word about permitting this; 1340 II Wnu ld certainly be arguing in a circle, 'I hk h the Law strictly forbids. I It' "ould go round in circles this way, II I II ll10ning today, setting the court date tomorrow,

' I HI I I making a petition. 1345 \V" would never reach the end ofit, 'lid i1ms by his perfidious language III' wI)uld have spite triumph over Law; f 'f ll 110 more should be said. II. II. response should suffice. 1350

"But I say more. Fair Son, now listen: "I ;;!lOuld put all our care !II '" defeating our adversary. \ 11I'I'son who has an ordinary remedy .i 10 1\ dd not on any account have recourse 1355

1· 1 illl extraordinary remedy; ,j, h is how it is, no more, no less. , HI IIIIW let his request be refused,

Iil l \I is obvious that he has chosen d.I/· ordinary remedy, 1360

. ," whieh he has failed badly, fili i Son, as you have seen.

", 111 ere is more: fair gracious Son, \',.11 know that this malicious person, '1I Il: lIl, the treacherous homicide, 1365 I' 1\lIrsted at the beginning 11 '1O (j [lItion, which is considered 11 11 n IT,lOrdinary remedy. 1\111 his request avaibl hilll link , 1" 1 il was not pcnnil'l'cd hy Iii\' L:IW 1370 , /'''\ :I correct inl~: rJ!I l' 1I1111 \1jild gll ll 'III,

66 67 I.;Advocacie Nostre Dan/(

dont courchie fut, et est encore, ne onques Sathan pour cela de la sentence n'apela, dont est elle, comment qu'il chie, trespassee en chose jugie. Bien voiez que je ne di que voir! Donc ne Ie dois tu recevoir a ceste derreniere voie; trebuche ley, si l'en envoie, quer nul ne se doit esjolr de sa desloiaute Olr."

Chescun sceit que de sa nature est fame frelle creature et que de legier creint et doute: einsi fut il, ce n'est pas doute. La Virge creignoit Ie damage et Ie mal de l'Umain Lignage; si tres grant pitie en avoit qu'a poy que parler ne savoit. Qyant Sathenas vit demourer, d'angouisse se prist a plourer: quer c'est toute la contenance de fame, quant elle a doutance de perdre ceu qu'el doit garder. Lors la peust l'en regarder, aussi simple comme une teutre, et ensemble ses mains deteutre, trembler, fremir et sanglouter, eschaufer, suer, degouter! Elle estoit si lasse et si vaine que sus lie n'avoit nerf ne vaine a quoy l'en ne s'apercheust que grant angoisse au cuer eust.

Qyi velst la Virge hennouree si courchie et si emplouree, nulluy, de si dur cuer ne fust, et fust plus dur ne fer ne fust, qui james pour rien se tenist que plourer ne Ie convenist. Lors la velst l'en souspirer et puis sa robe dessirer tout contre val vers les mameles que tant avoit tendres et beles;

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I, k lt angered him and still does; 1,[ ,1 li evertheless Satan did not ' 1'1,(':11 against this decision

• I h:lt it is, whatever happens, iI' , ~I' res judicata. , .", are aware that I am telling the truth. II" Irdore You need not permit him

.11 II Ythis latest remedy; I !\llVe tripped him up, and I dismiss him, "il l no one should be pleased ,.. Il l,;ar about his dishonesty."

I':veryone knows that by her nature ,. ,l llIan is a frail creature 'lId that she is easily frightened and made afraid; II II was, there is no doubt. 111(' Virgin feared the loss li ,t! rhe damage of the Human Race. .1,.. was so concerned for them

,J,.,. she could scarcely speak. \,V I,w she saw Satan standing firm III' hegan weeping with anguish;

I. " iris the very nature of woman n"' o.: n she is afraid , 01 I, Ising what she should protect. 111(;11 you could have looked at her, Itl 'iimple as a turtledove, 1\' I Illging her hands, trembling, .ll llddering and sobbing, II/'toming heated, breaking out in drops of perspiration! ' ,II(: was so weary and helpless , Ili l l' you could see II, her every vein and nerve

.11 HII she suffered great anguish of heart. Whoever had seen the honored Virgin

1,1 upset and in tears, , ",lid not have had so hard a heart, , VI,; Il ifit were harder than iron or wood, ,I,at they would not have been able II i prevent themselves from weeping. Il",:n she was seen to sigh

11,,(\ rend her dress ,1'MIl as far as her breasts whirl! were sofl' :llld Iwallliful;

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et p~is remonstroit sa poytrine ason filz', la douce royne, et devant Ii tout agenous se metoit pour l'amour de nous; puis se restendoit toute plate. Onques n'advocat n'advocate sa cause si ne deffendi, quant devant son filz s'estendi; ce fut aplours, en sou spirant, et en sa robe dessirant; et disoit en ceste maniere de !res douz vis, asimple chiere:

. "Beau filz, ne croy [pas] cel Deable qui me het, il est bien veable. Tu Ie dois par reson hair! N'est ce cil qui te fist trahir et qui aus Juyes t'enlacha? C'est cil qui en ton vis cracha et qui te lia al'estache; il te fist fere mainte trache de grans plaies par my Ie corso Tu en dois bien estre recors; mout te fist ledir et reprendre et puis te fist en la croiz pendre. Tant laboura il et chevi, entre .II. larrons je te vi: je te vi pendre en la balance et te vi ferir de la lance, et te vi d'eisil abrevrer. Nul ne m'an povoit dessavrer. Je demourey, que touz Ie vi rent, quant les apostres s'enfuirent. Et nature Ie m'aprenoit si que prez du cuer me tenoit: a nul ne devoit tant tenir. Comment pourroit ceu avenir que cil qui tant te fist pener et qui te fist si mal mener, et maintenant par son malice vient requerre ton noble office, en nulle maniere l'eust? Ne quel grace avoir deust? Ne t'occist il de mort amere?

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1111' 11 she showed her bosom 1415 1'1 her Son, the sweet queen, 1(lI d got down on her knees 1 1!' ~ )re Him for our sake

• II ld then lay down quite fiat. N" male or female advocate 1420 , v(,.' r pleaded a cause in this way, 111 1' ~he prostrated herself before her Son;

• 1, (; was in tears, and sighing,

"'1.1. tearing her dress, 1!lld she spoke in this way 1425

•

with a very. gentle face, a humble expression: "Fair son, do not believe this devil,

who hates me, it is obvious. till have every reason to hate him!

I ii I'his not the one who caused You to be betrayed, 1430 1111(1 who handed You over to the Jews? I Ie is the one who spat in Your face t"J who lashed You to the stake; I,\, had many gashes made

I. ,\(. g reat wounds in Your body. 1435 \'0 1.1 should remember this well; 1,." had You insulted and accused .I nc! then he had You hung on the cross. Ilrus he labored and succeeded

II q i l that I saw You between two thieves; 1440 I ~aw You hang in the balance, I ~ aw You pierced with a lance, ,llId saw You given vinegar to drink. No one could make me leave You;

II I Hlayed, as everyone saw, 1445 when the apostles ran away, I lid Nature taught me this .u that it was near to my heart; No one should have to suffer so. I low could it happen 1450 Illat the person who made You bear such pain 1111(1 had You so badly treated I\ !ld who now in his wickedness Ii i appealing to Your noble power [:i IO\J ld have what he wants? 1455 What" grace is he entitl ed to ? I lid he not kill YOII wit h a crllel death?

70 L:Advocacie Nostre Dame

Ha, beau douz filz, je suy ta mere, qui te portey .Ix. mois entiers: tu me dois olr volentiers. Je t'enffantey mout povrement et te nourri mout doucement. Ta mere suy, mere m'apeles. Beau filz, regarde les mameles de quoy aleitier te souloie, et ces mains, dont bien te savoie souef remuer et berchier. Tu me feis Ie cuer perchier quant tu souffris de mort l'angoisse. Tout Ie cuer me ront et defroisse toutes les foiz qu'il m'en souvient; mez endurer Ie me convient."

Einsi la douce Virge sainte fesoit ason filz sa complainte com mere qui enfant doctrine, en demonstrant Ii sa poytrine; et luy raloit amentevant souvent ce que yay dit devant: "Beau filz," dist eIle "com me sage, tourne vers moy ton douz visage. Ne suy jeu ta mere Marie? Vez ci Sathan qui me tarie, et ton noble office demande. Il fist au premier sa demande et sa requeste folement; or est maintenant en dement, quant il voit qu'elle n'est pas fete, de jouer d'une autre retrete; or vient maintenant par malice requerre que de ton office soit I'Umain Lignage puni. II est bien mestier qu'aucun i sache sa fraude aperchevoir, quer onques ne dist bien ne voir. Nostre pledier as entendu: je requier que droit soit rendu, oy ses resons et les moies. Se Sathan miex que moy amoies, se se[r]oit bien contre nature! Je ne te requier que droiture:

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1\h, fine, gentle Son, I am Your mother, who carried You nine full months; You should be willing to listen to me. I gave You birth in poverty and brought You up very gently. r am Your mother, You call me mother. Fair Son, look at the breasts with which I used to feed You, and these hands, with which I knew how to handle You and gently rock You. My heart was pierced because of You when You suffered the agony of death; my whole heart breaks and is torn apart every time I remember it, but I must endure it."

Thus the sweet holy Virgin made her complaint to her Son, like a mother teaching her child, showing Him her bosom, and often reminding Him of what I have said before: "Fair Son," she said like a wise woman, "turn Your sweet face towards me. am I not Your mother Mary? See here Satan who is tormenting me and asking You to exert Your noble power. At the beginning he made his complaint and his request in folly; now he is in a frenzy, when he sees his request denied, to try another ploy. Now he is coming in bad faith 1'0 ask that, on Your initiative, 1'l1e Human Race be punished. 'Ihere certainly is a need f()r someone here to notice his fraud, \'ilr he has never spoken goodness nor truth. You have heard our arguments; I request that a decision be given, having heard his arguments and mine, i ryou care more for Satan than for me il would be completely against nature! I a In only asking You fell' what is right;

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J2 I.:Advocacie Nostre Dame / 1111 Lady'sAdvocacy 73

oncques a nul tort ne fels. i have done no harm to anyone. S'au Deable plus obeis II you listen to the Devil qu'a ta mere n'a sa partie, I.,[her than Your mother, or her party, oste moy du livre de vie!" i'

,

Il,w take me out of the Book of Life!" Qyant Jhesucrist le debonnere 1505 When the indulgent Jesus Christ 1505

vit a sa mere tel deul fere 'IiI W His mother make such woe et demener tel conte nance, IllIei put on such a doleful face, et i li souvint de s'effance li e remembered His childhood que nourri l'avoit doucement, when she had brought Him up so gently, i l'en pesa trop malement; 1510 \1 weighed on Him heavily; 1510 et il s'en dut bien ai:rer :lI,d He had to become angry quant par deulli vit dessirer when He saw her rend in anguish la robe qu'elle avoit vestue, I he dress she had put on, et il vit sa poytrine nue; I'lld He saw her naked bosom; ne cuide nul que li pleust 1515 h no one think it pleased Him 1515 longuement: einsi ne peust vcry long, in fact He could not sa grant tristresce consentir. kar His great sadness; Cuer, ce dit l'en, ne peut mentir, I he heart, so it is said, cannot lie, quer poy vaut cuer OU amour n'a. I: )f a heart where there is no love is worth little. Vers le Deable se tourna, 1520 I Ie turned to the Devil, 1520 si dist: "Sathan, va t'en arriere; [lIld said, "Satan, get back, quer ta requeste et ta proiere, ICll' I refuse on all points your request de mon office, qu'as requise, lind your petition you have put forward te refus jeu en toute guise, 10 act on my own initiative, quer par cause t'en escondi." 1525 1; )1' I refuse you for cause." 1525 Sathenas rien ne respondi Satan replied nothing a Jheucrist ne a sa mere, In Jesus Christ or to His mother, mes il se tourna vers le Pere hut turned towards the Father et devers li Sains Esperis, and the HOly Spirit, aussi com se tout fust peris. 1530 :,~ if everything were lost. 1530 · Lour escria tout hautement: lie cried aloud to Them: "Or regardez: beau jugement "Now look: everyone must have seen chescun peut bien avoir veu, J his fine judgment que sanc et char l'ont si meu ICll' flesh and blood - non pas la devine sci:ence- 1535 rather than divine science 1535 a pronuncier teile sentence. have moved Him C'est sa mere qui, par plourer, In pronounce such a judgment. a fet justice demourer, Ir is His mother who, by weeping, et par crier et par tencier. :llId by shouting and arguing, has delayed justice. Je le dis bien au commencier, 1540 ' I he whole court is well aware 1540 ce peut toute la court savoir, Il,at I said at the beginning, que doutouse chose est d'avoir ;1 is a fearful thing to have la mere au juge en son contrere. Ihe judge'S mother as an. adversary;

74 I:Advocacie Nostre Dame

Mes l'en n'eri vout rien pour moy fere! Or lessiez," dist Sathan, "lessiez. rai este .1. petit plessiez, quer chescun me pense a grever. Mes je me pense a relever si bien qu'i de droit ne faudra, que response rien n'i vaudra. " Lors dist a la Virge Marie: "Or cha, dame, estez vous garie? Aurez vous huy assez ploure? Mon droit est par vous demoure: mes vous orrez ja tiex nouvelles qui ne vous seront gueres beles! Plus direy que vous ne voudrez, de quoy en la fin vous doudrez!"

Par sa malice et par sa guile, sacha de son sein l'Evangile, et commencha tout haut a lire la ou Jhesucrist souloit dire: "Le prince du monde est venu. " "Se ceu," dist il, "n'est maintenu, dont l'Evangile fet tel conte, je di que ce sera grant honte. Pere saint," dist il, "il te touche, quer tu le dei:s de ta bouche, dont il ne doit iessir que voir. Se tu fez donc bien ton devoir, je suy de tout le monde prince, non pas, sans plus, d'une province, [mes] de par tout, tant comme il dure, quer de moy parle l'Escripture. Se tu es droit prince et loial, je doy estre prince roial, de fet, ou je tien a frivole l'Evangile, qui en parole: l'en ne doit pas tenir a vaynes ces paroles, mes a certaynes, et ce doit estre chose ferme tout quanque l'Evangile afferme! et c'est le sens, je n'en dout mie, que les bons sont de ta partie et les mauvez sont de la moie, quer y n'i a nulle autre voie.

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hut no one wanted to do anything for me. Now let it go," said Satan, "let it go.

I 1 have been a little cast down I()f everyone is trying to defeat me; I)u t I think I can raise myself up,

I

::0 that the law will not fail, lind no answer will be of any avail." 'I hen he said to the Virgin Mary:

I "Up now, Lady, are you better? Will you have wept enough today?

I My cause has been denied because of you; hut you will soon hear news which will not be welcome to you! I will say more than you would like, which will make you suffer in the end."

In his evil and his fraud he took the Gospel from his breast, and began to read aloud where Jesus Christ used to say: "The prince of [this] world has come." "If," he said, "what the Gospel says is not upheld, r say it will be a great shame. 1 loly Father," he said, "this concerns You, ()r You said this Yourself, from whose mouth should come nothing but truth. If then You do Your duty, I am the prince of all the world, !lot of just a province, Ibut] of the whole thing, as long as it lasts, li)r the Scripture is speaking of me. If You are a righteous and fair prince,

. 1 should be a royal prince in fact, or I hold the Gospel frivolous which speaks about it. 'Ihese words should not be deemed vain but certain ,\ nd everything the Gospel says should be taken as firm. !\nd the meaning is, I have no doubt, rhat the good are in Your care :\nd the evil are my share, li)f th ere is no other nphnation .

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Souvent avient entre nous deuz chose dont nous avon touz deuz, et tu scez bien que droit s'acorde que, quant y peut mouveir discorde ou rlote entre .Il. parties pour aucunes parchonneries de preuchaine communaute, tout bon juge, par loiaute, se do it sus cel point aviser pour la rlote deviser, et soit la chose si partie que chescun ait loial partie.

"Entre nous, .II., s'il t'en souvient, souvent rioter nous convient, quer nos choses sont trap ensemble. Tu fez mout souvent, ce me semble tel chose ateue qui est moie, et je retreuve une autre voie; quer je redi par aventure qu'elle est moie de sa nature, et elle est teue dreitement. Je hey trop tel estrivement, quer nestre en peut maint grant contens. Puis que, toy et moy, avon tens, je te direy que nous feron (et tousjors mes en pez seron, si ne t'en devra pas peser): nous feron biens et maulz peser; les mauvez seront miens touz quites, et les bons, atout lour merites, seront touz tiens; rien n'i demande. Ta part ne sera pas mout grande; se je suy des mauvez seignour, j'aurey la partie greignour; quer ton regne, qui droit fera, u reg art du mien ne sera pas greignour que .1. grein de mil, quer .1. n'en auras pas de mil! Et pour ce que je hey trap noise, je te requier, comment qu'il voise, que l'en face la chose clere. " Jhesucrist regarda sa mere et luy dist debonnerement:

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Ihere often is between us 1" '1 nething which we share, " lid You are aware that the Law agrees Ihat when there appears a dispute 1590 Ii i' an argument between two parties ,'vcr some undivided property 11('1e1 in common, Illen every good judge, in honesty, "hould take counsel on this point 1595 10 end the argument II lid cause the property to be apportioned 1, 1) that each has his proper share.

"The two of us, if You remember, ,,!'ten argue, 1600 IIII' our property is very much intermingled. I! seems to me that very often, "Oll claim as Yours some thing of mine, II lid I find some other way to get it; III" I may perhaps say 1605 I hat it is mine by its nature, lind it is Yours by law. I very much hate such arguing I()t' many a great suit can originate in it; ii iilce you and I have a disagreement, 1610 I'll tell You what we will do, :llld we will always be at peace afterwards; :tlld it should not be painful to You. We will have the good and evil weighed; I he evil will be mine, free and clear, 1615 and the good, with all their merits, . will be Yours entirely; I don't ask for any of them. Your share will not be very big; .i" I am the lord of the evil ones, I shall have the greater share; 1620 I()r if justice is done, Your realm, ,ornpared with mine, will be liD greater than a grain of millet, I()r You will not get one in a thousand. 1\ Ild because I abhor a fuss, 1625 I ask You, whatever happens, Ihal the matter be made clear." hats Christ looked at His mother, :llId said to her killdlv:

79 78 I.;Advocacie Nostre Dame I'

"Dame," il parle courtoisement; "y semble que n'!son requiere; y convient fere sa proiere, s'il n'est aucun qui la debate. Puis que vaus estez Advocate au jour d'uy pour l'Umain Lignage, donnez bonne response et sage, si que vous n'en aiez diffame."

"Ha, beau douz filz," dist Nostre Dame, "ne soiez pas si esmeli! 11 a ceu qu'il requiert eli. quer chescun sceit, et tu Ie scez, que biens et maulz sont ja pesez; et pour ceu respon jeu et di qu'au saint jour du saint vendredi fut pese ton cors proprement! Tel jour comme ier fut droitement, et tout a sa petici:on souffris tu mort et passion: quer par luy les Juyes te pristrent qui en la balance te mistrent; par luy fus tu trahi et pris. Tu, qui es verite et pris, et la bonte de tout Ie mont, je te vi lever contremont en la croiz comme en une poise. Ce fut par luy, mes or l'en poise; et Ie larron plein de pechiez refut de l'autrepart drechiez, aussi comme en une balance; des mauvez portoit la semblance, qui au monde en pechie demourent, qui ne te servent ne hennourent. Tu fus mis en la droite poise, ou l'en voit bien lequel plus poise, et tant y pesas et pendis que si qu'en enfer descend is et d'illec les chetis jetas, que de ton saint sanc rachetas. 'Tant pes as et contrepesas que les en treisis; or les as. Sathan y fut, je n'en dout mie, qui en atendoit sa partie,

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,I Lady, he speaks politely, 1630 ill1d seems to be making a reasonable request; I shall have to grant it, IInless someone challenges it. Si nce you are the advocate IOday for the Human Race, 1635 lXive a good and wise response 10 that you are not disgraced ." "Ah! Fair gentle Son," said Our Lady, "do not be so persuaded. I [e has had what he requested; 1640 I()r everyone knows, and You do too, Illat good and evil are already weighed and for this reason I reply, saying I hat on Good Friday Your body was properly weighed! 1645 II' was a day like yesterday, and in answer to his petition You suffered death and passion; ,1()[ through him the Jews arrested You , who placed You in the peril; 1650 il was through him that You were betrayed and taken, You, who are truth and worth, :1 nd the goodness of the whole world, I saw You raised up on high on the cross, as on a scale. 1655 It was because of him, but now he regrets it, and the sinful thief was raised on the other side as if to balance the scale; he had the appearance of evil men, 1660 those who remain in sin in the world, :md who neither serve You nor honor You; You were put in the true balance, where one can see which side weighs more, and You weighed and forced down that side so much 1665 I'hat you went down as far as Hell and' cast forth from there the prisoners whom You had redeemed with Your holy blood. You so outweighed that other side fhat You brought them out; now they are Yours. 1670 Satan was there, I have no doubt, waiting for hi s share of them,

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quer encor n'avoit cognoissance de ton bien, ne de ta puissance, et je prez de la croiz estoie, ou toute courchie m'estoie; en mon cuer te pesoy dedens plus que de levres ne de dens. Tu fus pese en sa presence et il consenti la sentence, quer onques n'en fut apele. Donc ne peut il estre Cele que la besoigne est tant alee qu'en chose jugie est passee; si n'y a plus nul recouvrier. Or veut maintenant cel ouvrier que l'en poist bien et mal arriere; je n'ay pas apris tel maniere! Tout autressi font, ce me semble, ces enfans qui jouent ensemble: quant aucun pert au commencier, il se prent tantost atencier et dit: 'Or rejouon encore.' Ce ne voil je pas, quant aore quer ce n[e m']est pas aggreable." Lors se tourna vers Ie Deable et si Ii dist par tres grant ire: "Avant, mauves, veulz tu rien dire? Ne scez tu respondre ci mot? Toute la Trinite, qui m'ot, soit que mon filz, don't j'ay conte, qui est du monde la bonte, fut par toy pese et trahi." Le Sathan fut si esbahi de la response qu'el donna que de pieche mot ne sonna; et, quant pieche s'en fut tenu, il dist: "Or est Ie temps venue que merveilleuses choses die par devant ceste compaignie. Or y responne qui pourra; quer tel en rit qui en plourra!

"Je di que tout homme sera dampne, qui bien et droit fera sauf remede, par .III. resons,

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I()r he had still no knowledge of Your goodness and power, and I was near the cross, 1675 where I was totally afflicted; I weighed You inside my heart, more than with my lips and teeth. You were weighed in his presence and he agreed to the verdict, 1680 Ic)r he never appealed it. 'Oms it cannot be concealed that the business has progressed to the point where it is over and res judicata; he cannot go back and change it now. 1685 Now this fellow is trying to work it out so that good and evil are weighed again; this is not the procedure I learned. '[his is just how children act, l think, when they play together; 1690 when one loses at the beginning, he immediately starts to complain and says: 'Let's play it over.' As for the present situation, I don't want to do that, I'or it is not acceptable to me." 1695 'Jhen she turned to the Devil and said to him very angrily: "Come forward, evil one, do you want to speak? Can you answer me a word to this? 'lhe whole Trinity, which heard me, 1700 knows that my Son, whom I have told of, Who is the goodness of the world, was weighed and betrayed by you. " Satan was so abashed at the answer she gave, 1705 "hat for a while he said not a word, and when he had been silent for a while, he said: "Now the time has come I'or me to say wondrous things hcfore this company. 1710 Now let him who can, give an answer; I()r he who laughs now will later weep.

"I say that all men will be damned i I' the Law and the right thing are done, alld without: remedy, for three reasons, 1715

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ne sauf ne sera james hons; c'est tout cler, y n'i a rien trouble . Tout homme par justice double iert dampne pardurablement; c'est essample et commandement. Par essample doit tout homme estre dampne, et tourne asenestre: se par orguil condempnez sommes, pour quoy ne seront donc les hommes condempnez par juste sentence pour pechie d'inobedience? Dieu ne juge pas par cointance, ce sceit bien chescun sans doutance; ce seroit faute de justice, qui est en juge trop grant vice; de ceu nous pourrlon nous pleindre. L'Umain Lignage doit remaindre avec nous, et mourir et vivre, ou nous devon estre delivre. II pechierent com nous fe1smes, pour quoy u feu d'enfer chalsmes, et, se ceulz s'en aloit quites, selon les choses que j'ay dites, faveur bestourneroit justice: Dieu n'est pas si fol ne si nice! Cest essample doit bien souffire: damnez seront; je l'os bien dire.

"Je di plus: or y preigne garde celle fame, qui me regarde. Qii fet contre commandement, il peche trop plus malement que celuy, c'est chose sceue, qui n'a nulle deffense eue. Sire, tu commandas ahomme que il ne manjast de la pomme; et fut la condic·ion mise, s'il en menjoit en nulle guise, qu' il mourroit de la mort de l'ame. Qie peut donc dire celle dame? Se nous, sans nul commandement, sommes touz mis adampnement, par plus forte reson sera homme dampne, qui droit fera;

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and no man will be safe; it 's quite clear, nothing obscure about it. t;:very man will, by double justice, be damned for ever; this is an example and a command. 1720 As an example, every man should be damned and turned over to the side of the condemned; if we are condemned because of pride, why then shall men not be condemned, in a just sentence, 1725 for the sin of disobedience? God does not judge by favoring one side, l:veryone knows that beyond a doubt; it would be a failure of justice, which is a very great defect in a judge; 1730 we could very well complain about that. 'The Human Race should remain with us, and live and die, or we should be set free. 'Ihey sinned as we did, 1735 whereby we fell into the fires of Hell; and, if they were let off scot-free, according to the things I have said, favoritism would reverse justice; God is not so crazy or stupid. 1740 ' [his example should be enough; they will be damned, I dare say so.

"I say further: now let this woman beware who is staring at me. Whoever acts against orders 1745 sins much more grievously, as is well known, than the person -who has had no prohibition. Sire, You commanded man lIot to eat of the apple, 1750 and the condition was laid down I hat if he ate of it at all, he would suffer the death of the soul. What can this woman say, then? I f we, without any prohibition, 1755 are all condemned to damnation, rhen man, with even more reason, will be damn(;d, ifjllst"in; is to be done;

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quer, par sa grande male honte, de commandement ne fist conte, mes l'enfreinst par presumpclon. Se ceulz sont adampnation qui sans commandement pechierent, ceulz qui de la pomme mengierent Ie doivent myex estre d'assez, qui commandemens ont passez. Or res po nne celIe advocate, anciez que plus avant m'enbate pour mes grans resons desploier. Fey luy recognoistre ou noier et respondre, s'el sceit rien dire!" La douce Virge par grant ire Ii dist: "Maleiirous chetis, tes argumens sont trop petis!

"Or entent, Sathenas Deable: en ceu, que tu tiens pour semblable, a trop poy de similitude; qui ne l'aperchoit est trop rude. Tu argues einsi en somme: se nous pechames, si fist homme; par nostre pechie dampnez sommes; aussi doivent estre touz hommes. Mauvez, je te di que tu mens. Tu fez trop fiebles argumens; poy sceit qui bien n'y respondroit. Y semble que c'est abon droit qu'entre vous, mauvez esperis, estes sans remede peris. Entent, mauvese creature: ce fut contre vostre nature, quant du pechie d'orguil pechastes, par quoy en enfer trebuchastes; abon droit y fustes jete: rien n'avlez d'enfermete, qui fere pechier vous deiist, ne qui aceu vous esmeiist; quer Dieu vous avoit si criez qu'en vous nul defaut n'avlez, mes estlez, sans vous douloir, o Dieu tout avostre vouloir; mes de mauvestie pourpensee,

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11)1", to his great shame, h<: took no account of his commandment 1760 hllt presumptuously broke it. II" those are to be damned who sinned without prohibition, I hen those who ate the apple, I hose who broke the commandment, 1765 ,,1)Quld be damned all the more. Now let this woman advocate answer hefore I press on III setting forth my principal arguments. I [ave her admit or deny 1770 and answer, if she can say anything at all." Very angrily, the gentle Virgin ii;lid to him: "Unfortunate and miserable one, your arguments are insignificant.

"Now listen, devil Satan; 1775 what you take to be similar has very little similarity; ;tnyone who does not see this is most ignorant. You argue this way, in brief: if we sinned J so did all men; 1780 we were damned by our sins; I herefore all men should be. I':vil one, I tell you, you lie; you make very feeble arguments; anyone not able to answer them would know very little. 1785 II" seems that it was in justice Ihat you evil spirits have irremediably perished. I ,isten, evil creature: it was against your nature 1790 when you sinned through pride so that you tumbled down into Hell; you were thrown there rightfully. You had no weakness which should have led you to sin 1795 ')f moved you to do so. I,'or God had so created you Ihat you had no defect, Inlt you were, without sorrow, with God, where you had all you could want; 1800 htlt with deliberate malice

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qui atous vous vint en pensee par grant envie et par ardure contre vostre propre nature, envers dieu vous enorgueillistes, pour quoy u feu d'enfer chai·stes. Tel nature n'avoit pas homme. Adam, s'il menja de la pomme et s'il fut inobedient, tu sc{:z bien, amon escient, que de frelle nature estoit, qui acela l'amonnestoit. Cors avoit pesant, fet de terre, qui touzjors al'ame fet guerre; et pour ce Adam tant tendi le fruyt que Dieu li deffendi, quant Sathan li enseigna morst; quer sa nature l'i amorst. Et pour ceu est il bien voiable que ce n'est mie bon semblable d'omme et de Sathan, ce me semble: lour nature poy se ressemble. Fragilite homme blecha; mes, quant le Deable pecha, ce fut de sa mauves tie pure, en venant contre sa nature. Done ne vuil jeu, comment qu'il aille, que ceste reson rien li vaille: quer nul droit aceu ne s'acorde. L'autre reson est fausse et orde. Sathan, qui de mentir ne lasse, dit que qui commandement passe, c'est cil qui peche plus griement; aceu li respon jeu briement.

"Onques Dieu rien ne commanda au Deable, ne ne manda; pour quoy? Qyer mestier n'en avoit: sans commandement bien savoit qu'il devoit lessier et quoy fere, et ceu qui luy estoit contrere; de sa nature, c'est sans doute, coignoissoit il science toute; il iert de tel perfection qu'il avoit la cognicion

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which you all thought of, in great envy and desire against your own nature, you proudly opposed God, 1805 so that you fell into the fires of Hell. Man had no such nature; if Adam ate the apple, and if he was disobedient, you know very well, I think, 1810 that it was his frail nature which led him to it. He had a heavy body, made of clay, which continually warred with his soul. And for this reason Adam was tempted toward 1815 the fruit which God forbade him,

when Satan taught that he should bite it for his nature led him to do so. And for this reason it is quite evident that there is not at all a good comparison 1820 between Man and Satan, I think; their natures are scarcely comparable. Man was wounded by fragility; but, when the Devil sinned, it was out of his pure evil, 1825 acting against his nature. 'Therefore, whatever happens, I do not want this argument to avail him; for there is no Law in agreement with this.

"The other argument is false and stinking. 1830 Satan, who is never tired of lying, says that the more grievous sinner is the one who disobeys a commandment;

. I will reply to him briefly concerning this. God never commanded anything to the Devil, 1835 nor gave him any orders; why should He? For there was no need, he knew without commandments what he should do and not do, and what was bad for him. 1840 'lhere is no doubt that by his nature he knew all things knowable; he was of such perfection rhat he had the knowlcd~e

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de bien et de mal par nature, tant estoit noble creature; de tout avoit certeinete sans rien sentir d'enfermete, et, pour ce que je ci devise, pecha il plus en toute guise, en venant contre tel science, qu'Adam par inobedience. Homme ne povoit, quant avoir, si grant certeinete avoir, quer cors humain, de sa coustume, donne a l'ame tel pesantume que pas ne sceit apercevoir de soy meesmes tout Ie voir. Adam en estoit entechie des anciez qu'il eust pechie: ce sceit qui entendement a. Qyant Ie Sathan Eve tenta, du pechie de transgression pour li[e] metre adampnation, elle dist, com toute esbahie: 'Halas, ce ne feron no us mie; nous mourrion par aventure!' Bien pareit que de sa nature n'avoit pas tel sutillite qu'elle sceust certeinete de ceu qu'avenir l'en devoit; quer Ie cors l'ame decevoit. Mes Sathan doit bien avoir peine, qui avoit science certeine de mal fuyre et de bien eslire. Ceste response doit soufhre.

"Or te tez, dampne desloial! Est la response assez roial? Je t'ey, selon m'entencion, fete tel satiffacion que te desplest et te grieve qu'a poy que Ie cuer ne te crieve. Advocat mauvez, deputaire, tes tey done! Tu te do is bien tere! D'arguer pour nient te penas!" "Je me terey," dist Sathenas; "chescun me court ala gargate.

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1845 so noble a creature was he. He had certainty about everything, f·eeling no weakness, and according to what I am saying here he sinned more in every way

of good and evil by his very nature,

1850 hy going against such knowledge, than Adam did through disobedience. Truth to tell, man could not have such great certainty; for the human body, in the ordinary way, 1855 weighs so upon the soul that it cannot perceive the whole truth about itself. Adam was sullied by his body even before he had sinned; 1860 anyone with any understanding knows this. When Satan tempted Eve with the sin of transgression, to lead her to damnation, she said, as if abashed: 1865 'Alas, we shall not do that; we might die, perhaps.

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It is quite clear that by her nature she did not have the subtlety to know the certainty 1870 of what would happen to her because of it; for her body deceived her sou1. But Satan should suffer punishment, who had certain knowledge of avoiding evil and choosing good. 1875 This answer should be enough.

"Now you are silent, damned and disloyal one! Is the answer fair enough? [n my opinion, I have given you such satisfaction that 1880 it displeases you and hurts you, that it's a wonder your heart does not burst. L':vil, lowborn advocate, be silent, then; so you should. You argued to no avai1." 1885 "1 shall be silent," said Satan; "f.veryone tries to go for my throat,

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Mes entent, 0 tu, Advocate, et si euvre bien tes oreilles, quer je te direy ja merveilles; y n'i ara plus nul respit." La Virge luy dist par despit: "Comment? Qye ne requiers tu ore a oyr interlocutoire? Orrible mauves enfume, tu y es bien accustume; tralstre, desloial, testu, encor la demandasses tu se tu cuidasses droit avoir!" "Veuz tu," dist Sathenas, "savoir pour quoy de cela me refrein? C'est pour ce que tu mes Ie frein aDieu, si que il ne peut mouvoir, combien que dies faus ou voir. Mes entent, tourne toy de cha: je te di que homme pecha."

La benoiete Virge en l'oure dist a Jhesucrist, sans demoure: "Tes tey! Filz, tourne moy Ie vis, qui juge es de mors et de vis. II pense de moy desconfire, mes je scey trop bien qu'il veut dire, sans moy partir ne remuer. II veut par clauses arguer qui seront, je n'en doute mie fausses, pour la greignour partie; puis veut, par sa male aventure, aussi com de tout voir, conclure. Mes tu scez, a m'entenci:on, s'aucune proposici:on en une part se verefie, s'elle est fausse en l'autre partie, pour tant qu'el soit copulative, y n'est nul qui de ceu estrive qu'el ne doie estre fausse toute, et la peut l'en noier sans doute.

"Avec ceu, di jeu, beau douz sire, il ne peut nulle chose dire sans faus et sans iniquite; quer en la court de veri te

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hut listen you, oh advocate, and open your ears well, fi)!' I have marvels yet to recount; I here will be no respite." 'I he Virgin said to him scornfully: "What? Are you not asking f()!' an interlocutory judgment? Ilorrible, evil, smoke-stinking one, you are used to doing that; (faitor, dishonest, stubborn, you would be asking for an interlocutory i Cyou thought you were in the right." "Do you want to know," asked Satan, "why I'm restraining myself? It's because you have reined God in, i>O that He cannot make a move, however false or true you speak. I~ut listen, abandon that ploy; I am telling you that man sinned."

The blessed Virgin right away said to Jesus Christ, without delay: "Be silent. Son, turn Your face to me, You who are the judge of the living and the dead. lIe thinks he can defeat me but I know only too well what he is trying to say, without leaving or going away. He wants to argue by premises which will be, I have no doubt, false, for the most part. 'Then in his wicked way, he wants to conclude, as if all were true. But I think You know that any proposition in which one term is provably true, if it is false in the other term, provided it is a copulative, (there is no one who contests this) the proposition must be entirely false, and you can certainly deny its truth.

I will add to this, fair gentle Sir, (hat he can say nothing without falsity and iniquity; fill' in the Court of Truth

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a il huy dit menchonge mainte, si que c'est grant doute et grant crainte que il n'esmeuve aucun acroire la faussete pour chose voire, quer il ment et jure et escume. Jeu, qui n'ay mie de coustume de si grans menchonges olr, ne m'en doy pas mout esjolr; quer je suy, je Ie vous creante, de son mentir si recreante, que ne me scey quel part tourner. Je requier, sans plus sejourner, qu'il die a tret chescune clause, et par sey, et qu'il face pause, et par verite pointerey et respondrey et gloserey."

Dist Ie Sathenas: "Vez ci rage! L'Advocat a l'Umain Lignage veut, par force et maugre mien, estre et mon advocat et mon mestre, et mon proces veut ordener, et me veut, ce semble, mener. Estre veut, ce pert, ma nourrice, com se je fusse .1. enfant nice qui ne sceit lire ne pointier. Grant fain a de moy acointier, qui afferme que pointera tout mon parler et glosera! Je requier, tout premierement, que l'en m'oie pesiblement; l'en me doit olr proposer. Aprez ceu si pourra gloser et pointier, et puis repetier et ses responses affetier: si verite sceit, si la conte! Je li ferey ja deul et honte, quer a ses dis repliquerey si bien, qu'engaigne Ii ferey. Touzjors m'assaut et me tarie!"

Adonc dist la Virge Marie, qui ne fut pas petit troublee, quer sen ire Ii fut doublee, si en fut .1. petit plus felle:

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he has told many a lie today so that there is some fear and apprehension that he might persuade someone to believe falsehood for truth, for he lies and swears and foams. 1935 I, who am not accustomed to hear such great lies, would not be very happy about it; for I am, I guarantee You, so exhausted by his lies 1940 that I don't know which way to turn. Without further ado, I request that he say each premise through and separately, and then pause, and in truth I will go point by point, 1945 and I will answer and make comments."

Satan said: "Here is madness. The Human Race's advocate, against my will, wants perforce to be my attorney and my adviser, 1950 and wants to arrange my lawsuit, and apparently she wants to lead me on. She seems to want to be my nurse, as if! were a silly child who cannot read or argue the fine points. 1955 She is eager to instruct me, and she avers she will nit-pick and gloss my whole pleading. I request, first of all, to be heard quietly; 1960 I should be heard to make my argument. After this she can gloss and remark on it and nit-pick, and smarten up her answers; if she knows the truth, let her say it. 1965 I shall soon cause her shame and sorrow, for I will rebut what she says so well that I will confuse her; she's always attacking and provoking me."

Then said the Virgin Mary, 1970 who was not a little upset, for her anger was redoubled and she was more severe about it:

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"Beau filz, je ne voil pas," dist elle, "qu'il allegue en ton regne faus; tu dois corrigier les deffaus et dois les mauvez deb outer, quer nul ne les doit escouter."

. Sathan respondi, sans atendre: "Se vous ne me voulez entendre et Olr ceu que je direy, je me terey; si m'en irey. La justice de cil qui juge voit que l'en fet, s'il est bon juge, deffaut de droit: c'est chose clere."

La persone de Dieu Ie Pere dist lors, qui bien vit la hayne: "0 Marie, des cyex rayne, il requiert reson et justice: lesse luy dire son malice, et puis respon ason propos."

"Pere saint," dist elle, "trap os tel persone et si resprouvee. Ou sera justice trouvee, qui voudra qu'en ton regne die ne faussete ne menterie? Je ne puis pas bien consentir sa. faussete, ne son mentir, dont touzjors Ie voy aspre et chaut."

Dist Dieu Ie Pere: "Ne te chaut: quer de tant greignour joie auras, toy et ton filz, quant tu sauras ases dis par reson respondre et tu Ie pourras bien confondre, et sien en .sera Ie diffame!"

"Or die done," dist Nostre Dame, "Pere saint, quant talent en as!" "L'omme pecha," dist Sathenas, "de ceu ne me doute jeu point!"

Dist Nostre Dame: "Or face point et luy commande qu'il s'arreste, et je suy de respondre preste."

Dist Dieu Ie Pere: "Or est outrage! Lesse luy dire son courage et toute sa reson finer: tu ne peus mie deviner!

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"Fair Son, I do not want," she said, "him to allege something false in Your kingdom; 1975 You should correct defects, and You should throw out evildoers, for no one should listen to them."

Satan replied, without waiting: "HYou will not listen to me 1980 and hear what I have to say, ( will say nothing; and I will go away. Observance of proper procedure by the judge, if he's a good judge, will recognize a denial of justice; it's quite clear." 1985

The Person of God the Father then said, seeing the hatred: "Oh Mary, Ol,ieen of Heaven, what he asks is reason and justice; let him speak his evil, 1990 and then answer what he says."

"Holy Father," she said, "You are listening too much to such a person, a reprobate. Where will justice be found which would expect him to speak 1995 in Your realm no falSity or lies? 1 cannot consent to his falsity nor to his lies, which I see him ever eager and anxious to tell."

God the Father said: "Do not be concerned; 2000 you will have greater joy, you and your Son, when you can reply with reason to his speeches and you can confound him and the disgrace will be his." 2005

"Now say, then," said Our Lady, "Holy Father, what is Your wil1." "Man sinned," said Satan, "of this I have no doubt."

Our Lady said: "Now let him make one argument, 2010 and command him to stop, and I am ready to answer."

God the Father said: "This is outrageous! Let him say what he wants to say and finish his entire argument; 2015 you cannot guess what he is going to say;

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I1 n'a dit ne tout, ne demy!" "Vous dites voir," dist l'Aynemy;

"penser deust asa response, quer, ains que Ie solleil resconse, li pense jeu tel chose adire que nul talent n'aura de rire, fors que par reson se deffende! L'argue einsi, or y entende:

Homme pecha outre me sure contre toy, qui es par nature vraie bonte sans finement; et pour ce di jeu, vraiement, que sans fin condempne sera, qui loiaument Ie jugera, quer la coupe n'iert pas punie se la peine n'est infinie. I1 convoita ta deite; ce fut trop grant iniquite et trop grant desobeissance, qu'i vouloit avoir ta puissance! Tu es Dieu puissant, sans finer; donques dois tu determiner que celuy qui tant s'esdrecha . que contre ta bonte pecha, celuy qui a rebelle este contre ta royal majeste qui est sans fin certeinement, soit dampne pardurablement en enfer, en cors et en arne. Qye dira donques celIe dame qui sans fin ne Ie confondroit? Autrement, pas ne respondroit, selon ceu que droit veut, la peine au forfet: c'est chose certeine."

La tres douce Virge Marie fut .1. petitet esbahie, quer celle reson la greva. Son douz viz contremont leva, si regarda d'uyeul debonnere son filz, comme elle souloit fere quant elle nourri en enfance. Le filz vit asa contenance la grant angoisse qu'elle avoit,

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he has not said all of it, or even half." "You say true," said the Enemy;

"she should think about her answer, /'or, before the sun has set, 2020 I intend to say such things to her which will not make her want to laugh lInless she defends herself through argument. '111is is how it goes, let her listen.

"Man sinned beyond measure 2025 against You, who are by nature !'me goodness without end, and for this reason I say truly that he shall be condemned eternally if he is fairly judged; 2030 for the fault will not be punished lInless the pain is eternal. I-Ie coveted Your deity; this was very great iniquity and very great disobedience 2035 that he wished to have Your power. You are powerful God, without end; therefore You should conclude that the person who so rose up that he sinned against Your goodness, 2040 the person who has rebelled against Your royal majesty, which is certainly eternal, should be damned forever to Hell, body and soul. 2045 What will this lady say now? Who would not confound man forever? Otherwise the penalty would not correspond, according to the Law, to the transgression, that's sure." 2050

The very gentle Virgin Mary was a little abashed, for this argument hurt her case. She lifted up her sweet face; ;\nd she looked with a kind eye 2055 upon her Son, as she used to do when she raIsed Him as a child. . !lIe Son saw on her face her great anguish,

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quer respondre bien n'i savoit. Si li clina si sagement de l'yeul, que par son clinement peu[s]t bien la douce Virge entendre la response qu'el devoit rendre.

Lors se rescria Ie Deable: "Halas! Or est il bien voiable que je ne disoie que voir. Or peut l'en bien apercevoir que ce n'est mie bele druge de recevoir la mere au juge aestre advocat contre sey! Nulle reson dire ne scey ne proposer si grant merveille que Ie juge ne la conseille. Se nous pledisson per aper, elle ne peiist eschaper!"

L'Advocate, einsi espiree, si s'est devers son fiJi viree et dist: "Lesse Sathan jangler. Anciez Ie puist l'en estrangler, beau tres douz filz, que tu feisses chose nulle OU tu mespreisses. Droit feras, s'il avoit jure! Beau filz, qui es beneiire et l'ennoure, de ta nature, par dessus toute creature, angres et hommes t'obeissent: ceulz d'enfer pour ton nom fremissent, que pour lour pechie feis fondre. Beau filz, preste suy de respondre: huymes ne fis response tele. Sathenas, la beste cruele, plein d'envie et d'iniquite, si veut que toute humanite soit sans fin adampnation: c'est sa droite conclusion. Mout a la langue aspre et ague! II allegue einsi et argue:

"Homme pecha,ch'a il conte, encontre toy, qui es bonte sans fin et qui seras sans terme; et pour ce dit il et afferme

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for she really did not know how to answer. 2060 And he winked at her so knowingly with his eye, that by his wink the Virgin could well understand the answer she should make.

Then the Devil cried out again: 2065 "Alas, now it is very apparent that I was only speaking the truth. Now it can easily be seen that it is no joke to accept the judge's mother 2070 as an advocate against oneself. I can advance no argument, nor suggest any great marvel, but the judge gives her advice; if we argued one on one 2075 she would not escape."

The lady advocate, thus inspired, turned toward her Son and said: "Let Satan rail. It would be easier to strang~e him, 2080 fair, very sweet Son, than for You to do anything in which You would be mistaken. You will do justice even ifhe had sworn an oath! Fair Son, who are blessed and honored by Your very nature 2085 above all creatures, angels and men obey You; those from Hell tremble at Your name, whom You sent burning for their sins. Fair Son, I am ready to answer; 2090 I have not made such an answer yet today. Satan, the cruel animal, full of hate and wickedness, wants all of humanity to be damned for ever; 2095 that is his plain conclusion. He has a very rough and sharp tongue. This is what he alleges and argues:

"Man sinned against You, this is what he said, You who are goodness 2100 without end and without limit; and for this reason he says and affirms

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que sans fin iert dampne tout homme. C'est tout son argument, en somme, quer autrement n'iert james fet droite justice du mesfet. Beau filz, je respondrey en ordre, si qu'il n'i saura que remordre. Dieu et homme es, je n'en dout mie, et si es bonte infenie; et tu, qui es sans finement, ton cors fut pendu ledement et mis a condempnafion: bien feis satiffation de ceu qu'Adam avoit pechie. Tu, qui es sans fin, fus drechie en croiz: je t'i vi estendu; pour cel pechie y fus pendu; et pour cela par reson di que ceste peine respondi au forfet qu'Adam par folie fist contre bonte infenie, et pour ce fut greignour la peine que la coupe: c'est chose pleine."

Le Deable mot ne sonna quant ceste response donna: Ie lieu fut tout coy et seris. Le Pere et Ie Sains Esperis distrent lors a Sainte Marie: "Rayne des cyex, ce n'est mie response qui doie souffire; autre chose te convient dire. C'est drois que chescun soit blechie du forfet , selon Ie pechie: ne veulz tu pas qu'insi en aille?" Dist elle: "011, je voil sans faille, Saint Esperit et tu Saint Pere, que chescun son mesfet compere; la ne met jeu nul contredit. Mes Sathenas argue e[t] dit: Pour ce que homme osa mesprendre contre Dieu, qui est sans fin prendre, Adam et tout l'Umain Lignage doit sans fin souffrir Ie damage. Je luy respon en ceste guise."

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that all men will be damned forever. This is, in short, his whole argument, for otherwise proper justice will never be meted out for the offense. Fair Son, I will answer in due form so that he will have nothing to complain about. You are God and man, I have no doubt, and You are infinite goodness, and You, who are without end, Your body was vilely hung and condemned; You made full satisfaction for the sin of Adam. You, who are without end, were placed upon the cross; I saw You stretched out there; You were hung there for this sin. And for this reason I am right to say that this suffering countered the offense which Adam in his folly committed against infinite goodness, and for this reason the punishment was greater than the fault; it's obvious."

The Devil said not a word when she gave this answer; the place was all quiet and hushed. The Father and the Holy Spirit then said to Holy Mary: "Qyeen of Heaven, this answer will not suffice; you will have to add something else. It's right that everyone should suffer his own punishment, according to the sin." Do you not wish that it were so?" She said: "Yes, I want-without exception­ Holy Spirit and Holy Father, that each one expiate his sin, I don't contradict that at all. But Satan is arguing that because man dared to sin against God, who is eternal, Adam and the whole Human Race must suffer the loss forever. 1 am responding to him in this way."

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Le Filz Dieu a donques emprise ceste response pour sa mere; au Saint Esperit et au Pere dist lors tout haut: "Donne m'avez tout jugement, bien Ie savez. Je suy, de rna propre nature, juge sus toute creature; fey si jugie et jugerey, que tort ne fis ne ferey; je ne grieve ne esperne arne. Je di et respon pour rna Dame: se la coupe fut infinie et nul homme ne puisse mie sans fin satisfaclon rendre pour ceu que fin Ie convient prendre, jeu, qui suy Dieu et homme ensemble et sans fin, voil bien, ce me semble, fer'en la satisfaclon et souffrir mort et passIon."

OlIant Sathenas ceu entendi, au filz Dieu response rendi: "Tu es filz Dieu et perdurable, et es sans fin touzjors durable, et es Dieu et homme sans doute. Donques voit bien, qui entent goute, que sans fin n'est pas hons blechie, qui fist si orrible pechie que droiz est que sans fin l'achate."

Done respondi nostre Advocate: "Adam, dist la Vierge, pecha; mes mon douz filz Ie redrecha. Adam pecha, Ie premier homme, et carcha a ses hers la somme qu'eulz ont ja soustenu grant pose; et je respon einsi et glose: mon filz pour ceu u monde vint et pour cela homme devint et souffri mort aspre et amere pour Ie pechie du premier pere. Mauves Sathenas, ne di ja, s'Adam Ie viel nous obliga, qu'a mort soion pour ce livrez; par mon filz fumes delivrez,

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The Son of God now undertook 1:0 answer on behalf of His mother; to the Holy Spirit and the Father He now said aloud: "You have given Me all jurisdiction, You know very well. 2150 1 am, by My very nature, the judge of all things created; I have judged, and I will judge, in such a way that I have not done, nor will I do wrong; I do not harm or spare a soul. 2155 [ say and answer for My Lady: if the fault was infinite, and no man can give satisfaction forever, because he must come to an end, 2160 I, who am man and God together and without end, can very well, I think, provide the satisfaction and suffer death and passion. "

When Satan heard this, 2165 he gave an answer to the Son of God: "You are the Son of God, and eternal, and will endure forever without end, and you are undoubtedly God and man. Then if you understand anything, you see 2170 that man is not suffering forever, he who committed so horrible a sin that it is right for him to pay for it forever. "

Then our Lady advocate responded: "Adam," said the Virgin, "sinned, 2175 but my sweet Son raised him up again. Adam , the first man, sinned and weighed down his heirs with the burden which they have now borne for a long time, and I answer thus, and explain: 2180 my Son came into the world because of that sin, and became a man because of it and suffered a harsh and bitter death because of the sin of the first father. Evil Satan, never say 2185 that because the old Adam bound us that we are given up to death for it; we were delivered by my Son,

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qui nouvel homme devenir en vout; bien t'en peut souvenir! Or dis tu einsi et argues, ne de cest point ne te remues: homme pecha par sa folie encontre bonte infinie. Tu ne scez hoignier autre chose; je te respon einsi et glose: s'Adam pecha par son outrage, si no us fist Dieu tel avantage qu'il vout, et veut et determine, selon l'Escripture devine, s'aucun pecheour chetif peche, se de cel pechie se redreche, des ce qu'il se repentira et pour son pechie gemira, Dieu tantost Ie pechie oublie; et par l'Escripture s'i lie Dieu, qui ayme de sa nature homme, comme sa creature. O!Jant homme touzjors ne sejourne u pechie, mes vers Dieu se tourne et requiert sa misericorde, Dieu luy pramet et luy acorde, qui nulluy ne va decevant, combien que ill'et par devant despit en estat de pechie, quant par grace s'est redrechie, que james ne l'en souvendra, quer ja Dieu tant ne mesprendra; s'il jujoit .II. fois d'une chose, ce seroit tort; c'est texte et glose. O!Janque je di est verite; je ne di fors auctorite; ja n'aura en rna reson clut. Or dit Ie Deable et conclut, qui ses fausses resons ameine: donc aura homme sans fin peine pour ce qu'il fut sans fin coupable. II ment, Sathenas Ie Deable! II veult, par sa male aventure, de fausses premisses conclure que chescun sage doit despire;

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who wished to become 'he new man; you should remember that! 2190 Now you keep saying and arguing, :md you never leave this point: lIlan sinned in his folly :lgainst infinite goodness. You cannot grumble in any other way; 2195 ,his is how I answer you and explain: if Adam sinned by his wrongdoing, God also gave us this advantage: rhat He wanted, still wants and determines according to the divine Scripture, 2200 "hat if any poor sinner sins, ifhe makes amends as soon as he repents and makes moan because of his sin, ,-hen God immediately forgets the sin, 2205 and God binds Himself to this by the Scriptures, God, who by His nature, loves man as His creation. When man does not remain always in sin, but turns towards God 2210 and asks for His mercy, God promises and gives [it] to him, ~however much He had despised him before in his state of sin- God who deceives no one 2215 promises and grants to him, once he has made amends by grace, that He will not remember it; for God will never make such a mistake. [fHe judged something twice it would be wrong; the text and the gloss say so. 2220 Everything I say is the truth; aII I say has backing, there will be no defect in my reasoning. Now the Devil states and concludes, bringing forward his false reasons: 2225 'Therefore man should have punishment without end because he was eternally guilty.' I Ie lies, Satan the devil. Unfortunately for him he is trying 10 draw a conclusion from false prerllises 2230 which every informed person should despise;

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mes il deust conclure et dire: se la coupe est, tout soit elle orde, desteinte par misericorde, par grace doit estre abessiee la peine, et du tout effaciee; quer, si com l'Escripture conte, aussi com la vertu sourmonte ou Ie vice, ou la mauvaise euvre, tout autressi la grace queuvre Ie pechie et du tout efface. Pour ceu fist Dieu ahomme grace; par misericorde seront ceulz sauvez, qui bien fineront."

Le Deable fut si courchie, quant il vit que si acourchie fut du tout en tout son affere, qu'il ne savoit qu'il deust fere; mes, plein de rage et de grant ire, prist atencier et amesdire, et disoit anostre Advocate: "Combien que pour voir me debate et que mes resons soient justes, tu me mesdis touzjors et fustes! Ne me chaut, fors que ne me touches; tu tenches et dis tes reprouches; tu pleures et plains et souspires, tu sanglotes, tu te des sires; tu montres aton filz ton ventre, et tel pitie u cuer Ii entre que tu par force l'amolies! n prent abon gre tes folies; quant tu Ii monstres ta mamele, tu Ie treiz si a ta cordele qu'il ne t'a pover d'escondire! Qyant tu ris, ille convient rire; quant tu pleures, il veut pleurer; il te par veut trop hennourer!"

Dist la Virge: "Or entent a moy. Bien est voir c'onques ne t'amoy; tu esmeus ceste atayne; mon grant povoir et rna hayne verras tu en lieu et en tens. Tu scez les droiz et les entens:

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hut he should conclude and say, ir the fault, however awful, is wiped out by mercy, then the punishment should be remitted 2235 hy grace, and effaced completely; i(Jr, as the Scripture tells, just as virtue overcomes both vice and evil deeds, just so grace overcomes 2240 sin, and completely effaces it. 'l11is is why God showed grace to man; through His mercy will those be saved who make a good end."

The Devil was so enraged 2245 when he saw how he was cut off so completely in his suit, that he did not know what he should do, but, full of rage and great anger, he began to quarrel and hurl insults, 2250 and he said to our Lady advocate: "However truthfully I argue, and however just my arguments are, you are always speaking ill of me and castigating me; [ don't mind, provided you do not touch me; 2255 you quarrel and you reproach, you weep and moan and sigh, you sob and rip your clothes; you show your Son your belly, and such pity enters His heart 2260 lhat you soften Him up by force. He accepts your foolishness when you show Him your breast;

, you pull Him so on your leash lhat He has no power to contradict you; 2265 when you laugh, He has to laugh; when you weep, He wants to weep; He wants to honor you too much."

The Virgin said: "Now listen to me. It is true that I never liked you. 2270 You provoked this attack. I n the right time and place, you will see Illy great power and my hatred. You know the Laws and you understand them;

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bien scez, nul ne t'en peut aprendre, qui a cause de soy deffendre, -non pas par plours tant soulement mes par aguez et soutilment, doit son adversaire grever pour sa bonne cause achever. Se tu te tiens pour decheii, chescun a bien apercheii que c'est tout par ta fole emprise: Blasme t'en donc; si t'en desprise!"

Sathanas dist: 'Tay bien prouve que je n'ay nul ami trouve en cest ostel n'en ceste court:

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You know, no one needs to teach this to you, that whoever is a defendant in a case should defeat his adversary, not only by tears, but by setting traps, and cleverly, in order to bring his case to a good conclusion. If you consider that you have lost your case, everyone has _seen that it was all because of your crazy carryings-on; blame yourself, therefore; I despise you."

Satan said: "I have proved that I have found no friends in this house, nor in this court.

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chescun m'y het et suz me court; chescun m'i des pit et menace; chescun m'i court ala harace. 2290

Everyone hates me and attacks me; everyone despises me and threatens me; everyone hastens to harass me; 2290

Je n'i truis nul qui me conseille, mes chescun te soufle en l'oreille

[ find no one to give me counsel, but everyone whispers in your ear,

et chescun te lobe et te flate." and everyone fawns on and flatters you."

A ceu respondi l'Advocate et dist: "Sathanas plein d'envie, de ceu ne te merveille mie.

2295 To this the lady advocate answered,

saying: "Satan, full of spite, Jo not marvel at this .

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Tu peus bien entendre et savoir qu' es cyex ne pourras tu avoir conseil ne confort ne aide.

You may well know and understand that in heaven you cannot have counsel, or support or help.

Mauvez, desloial, homicide, 2300 Evil, dishonest, homicide, 2300

avise toy, si te repren; se tu veulz conseil, si Ie pren de ceulz d'enfer et de ta route,

seek counsel and start again; if you need counsel, seek it from those of Hell and of your train,

que je ne crein rien, ne ne doute; pren en tant comme tu voudras et les quiex: rien ne me toudras; nul de vous ne me peut rien toudre. Or m'entent; entent, je voil soudre atoutes les objections et atoutes les questions que nul me pourroit opposer, tant sceiist sutilment gloser.

"Je croy que nulluy ne fet doute que la Sainte Trinite toute homme par grant sens ne feist, tout fust ceu qu'aprez mesprelst. Dieu cria tout l'Umain Lignage

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for I fear nothing, am afraid of nothing; seek as much as you want and of whatever kind; you will take nothing away from me; Ilone of you can take anything from me. Now listen to me; I will counter a11 objections and all the questions I'hat could be raised against me, Ilowever subtly they were explained.

"I think that no one is in doubt I hat the entire Holy Trinity neated man very wisely, 110 matter how badly man offended later. ( :od created the whok Human Race

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pour estre hoirs du droit heritage de paradis, qu'il a pramis aceulz qui seront ses amis. Se touz ceulz qui sont d'Adam nez estoient amort condempnez, y s'ensuyvroit, je n'en dout mie, que Dieu auroit par grant folie, non par sens, mes par vanite, establi toute humanite; et ceu ne peut ne ne doit estre; ce seroit vice au roy celestre; ce n'affiert pas adeite. Di, Sathanas, en verite, tout soit ceu contre conSCience, doy je pour moy avoir sentence?"

Le Deable se ravisa et cuer abrachies pris a: "Je 10," dist Ie Mauves, "et prise iceste reson qu'elle a prise, qu'elle a trouvee toute neuve, quer elle est pour moy! Je Ie preuve; valoir me doit et non pas nuyre. Elle dit: 'se Dieu veut destruyre Adam et touz les £lIz Evain, Ie fourmer en fut faus et vain, et tyex ouvraignes furent foles.

,

J'argue einsi de ses paroles; vous, Trinite, bien les olstes; quanque vous fetes et felstes fut fet par sens et par mesure. Or est ceu bien chose seure qu'angres fe·istes et criastes et aprez ceu les condempnastes: pour ceu suy jeu tourne a perte. Donques est ce bien chose aperte que toutes choses pas ne furent fetes par sens, si comme il durent, ou agrant tort condempnez fusmes et mauvese sentence eusmes. Nous devon estre delivrez ou touz hommes amort livrez. Or regardez si reson di."

Nostre Advocate respondi

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10 be legal heirs of the inheritance of Paradise, which He has promised to those who will be His friends. 2320 If all those born of Adam were condemned to death, it would follow, I have no doubt of it, that God would have, in great folly - not in wisdom but in vanity- 2325 established all Humanity, and this cannot nor must not be; this would be a defect in the celestial King; this is not appropriate to a deity. Say, Satan, in truth, 2330 even though it be against your conscience, should I not have the verdict for me?"

The Devil thought for a moment, then hugged himself: "I recommend," said the Evil One, "and I value 2335 this argument she has brought forward, a completely new one she has found, for it is on my side. I will prove it; it should do me good and not harm. She says: If God wants to destroy 2340 Adam and all the sons of Eve, to form them was false and pointless, and these creations were folly. I argue thus with her own words; You, Trinity, heard them; 2345 whatever You make and have made was made in sense and moderation. Now it is quite certain that You made and created angels, and afterwards condemned them; 2350 it is for this reason that I am lost. 1berefore it is obvious that not all things were created according to good sense, as they should have been, or else we were very wrongly condemned, 2355 and we received a wrongful sentence. We should be freed, O[ all men delivered up to death. Now consider whether I am right."

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Et 1uy dist: "Filz d'iniquite, tu mens! Ce n'est pas verite! S'il y out une compaignie d'angres dampnez par lour folie, qui estoient par nombre diz, donc ne scez tu que tu me dis. .Ix. compaignies demourerent qui lour Creatour hennourerent, et se es cyex a .IX. pars ens, tu ne peus dire que par sens Dieu ne 1es criast et fe"ist, ne que de rien y mesprelst. L'umanite voit autrement; quer, se touz sont a dampnement et perduz sans redempc"ion, en vain et sans discrection furent criez, ce peut l'en dire. Di, mauvez, te doit il souffire? Tu estoies or si hardi! Se tu scez rien dire, par di anciez que de cy me remue; et ne tien pas ta bouche mue, fel, des10ia1, plein de malice; requier que l'en face justice et que bon droit te soit tenu. Qy'est tout ton grant sens devenu et ton orguil et tes menaces? Tu as bien gaste tes fallaces et mal deffendu ta partie. Or apert bien ta tricherie! Tout droit scez et toute logique! Respon, se tu scez, et replique!" Sat han se tut, sans mot sonner; y ne 1uy tint de jargonner, quer bien vit, tout parmy son conte, que sa besoigne iroit ahonte, et par reson bien l'entendi. I1 souspira et s'estendi, et prist si forte fin a fere que d'enfer l'oist l'en bien brere.

La Virge pas ne s'oublia; petit 1i cha1ut s'il cria. A nus genous et a nus coutes,

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saying to him: "Son of iniquity, you lie; this is not the truth. If, out of the bands of angels of which there were once ten, one band was condemned for their sin, 2365 then you don't know what you are saying to me . Nine companies remained who honored their creator, and, if there are in Heaven nine-tenths of them, you cannot say that God did not create 2370 and make them in good sense, nor that He did anything by mistake. It is different with humanity; for, if all are destined for damnation, and lost without redemption, 2375 then one could say they were created in vain and unwisely. Say, Evil One, is that enough for you? You were bold enough just now. If there is anything you can say, say it all 2380 before I leave this place; and don't keep your mouth quiet, evil, dishonest one, full of malice; I ask that justice be done, and that you be given a proper hearing. 218S What has happened to all your great skill and your pride and your threats? You have wasted your false premises and represented your party badly. Now your trickery is apparent. 2390 You know all the Law and all the Logic; answer, if you can, with a counter-argument." Satan was silent, without saying a word; he did not care to object for he was well aware that his efforts 2395 would bring him defeat, as he was speaking. And he was quite right in this. He sighed and stretched and began to make such a great summation that they could hear him yelling from Hell. 2400

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toutesses vesteiires routes, dist a son chier filz en plourant: "Beau filz, que vas tu demourant? Fey nous droit, si en est seson, et donne a chescun sa reson ."

Jhesucrist fist fere silence pour miex entendre sa sentence, que nul n'i peiist metre y son: "Or oez," dist il, "nous dison par sentence diffinitive, combien que Sathan en estrive et qu'il s'en pende et s'en esrage, que touz ceulz de l'Umain Lignage qui auront par devoc1on repentance et confession, et en contriction mourront, devers nous sans fin demouront. Nul n'i ait qui plus s'en debate; mout a [bien] pledie l'Advocate, la Virge Marie, rna mere."

Le Saint Esperit et Ie Pere dis trent donques tout hautement: "Se Dieu Ie Filz veut proprement, et sa mere, hom me soustenir, qui pourroit encontre venir? Nul ne pourroit homme entreprendre, puis qu'eulz l'ont empris adeffendre; et la Virge est de tel merite qu'elle ne doit estre escondite, com bien que la chose soit grande, melsmement quant droit demande."

Atant fina la question, et fut agrant confusIon Ie Deable jus abatu qui pour nient se fut debatu; et ceulz qui es cyex demourerent si tres grant joie demenerent c'onques tele ne fut ole. Toute la court fut esjo'ie pour la sentence qu'ils olrent; et adonc ceste antiene firent, que Saint Eglise encor recorde: "Rayne de misericorde

I.;Advocacie Nostre Dame

2405

2410

2415

2420

2425

2430

2435

2440

2445

Our Lady's Advocacy II5

with all her clothing torn, she said weeping to her dear Son: 2405 "Fair Son, what are You waiting for? Make a judgment, it is time, and give each his due."

Jesus Christ called for silence for the hearing of His sentence, 2410 so that no one should make a sound: "Now hear," He said, "We pronounce, in a final verdict, that however much Satan may struggle and work himself up and rage, 2415 all those of the Human Race who have repented and confessed in devotion and died in contrition will remain with Us forever. 2420 Let no one make further arguments; the Lady advocate has pleaded well, the Virgin Mary, My mother."

The Holy Spirit and the Father tben said aloud: 2425 "If God the Son and His mother want to support the Human Race who could be against it? No one could attack Man if these two are for the defense, 2430 and the Virgin has such merit that she should not be denied, however great the matter, especially when she asks for justice."

Thus the whole affair ended, 2435 and the Devil was beaten down in great confusion, he who debated for naught, and those who remained in Heaven manifested such great joy 2440 as never before was heard. 'The whole court was overjoyed by the judgment that they heard and then they sang this anthem which the Holy Church still remembers: 2445 "Qyeen of mercy,

II6 LAdvocacie Nostre Dame

qui au monde as huy tant valu, chescun de nous te rent salu, nostre douchour et nostre vie, nostre esperance, nostre arnie, rayne de tres grant value, chescun derrechief te salue. " En paradis se deduisoient les sains, qui l'antiene disoient; Ie chief en chanterent et distrent, et tout Ie remanant apristrent aceuiz qui en char et en os estoient; bien vanter m'en os, quer ce fut, a m'entenci:on, par sainte revelation. L'antiene est en la fin devote, qu'a Nostre Dame chante et note l'Eglise par devocion: "Ma Dame, mercy te crion, qui sommes filz d'Eve essiliez, en cest faus monde perilliez; en gemissant et en plourant, souspiron, en toy hennourant, rna Dame, que tu nous confermes en cest faus monde plein de lermes . Ah, nostre douce Advocate, tu n'es ne ne peus estre mate, mes tu mates bien les deables. Vers nous tes douz yex piteables tourne, qui tant sont gracieus, et Jhesu, ton filz glorieus, en cui touzjors ton confort as, Ie saint fruit qu'en ton cors portas, nous monstre, douce Virge monde, aprez l'essil de cest faus monde. o debonnere glorieuse, o debonnaire graci:euse, o tres douce Virge Marie, essauce qui de cuer te prie. "

Einsi l'antiene defina, qui bon chief et bonne fin a, en quoy Sainte Eglise recorde Ie bien et la misericorde, Ie pover et la plederie

2450

2455

2460

2465

2470

2475

2480

2485

Our Lady's Advocacy II7

who was so helpful to the world today, each of us salutes you, our sweetness and our life, our hope, our friend, 2450 queen of great worth, each one salutes you once again." The saints in Paradise who intoned this anthem rejoiced; they said and chanted the beginning, 2455 and taught all the rest to those who were of flesh and blood. And I may congratulate myself that this was directed to me by a holy revelation. 2460 The anthem is the pious celebration that the Church sings and plays to Our Lady in devotion: "0 my Lady, we cry you mercy, who are the exiled sons of Eve 2465 in this perilous false world; trembling and weeping we sigh, in honoring you, my Lady, that you support us in this false world full of tears. 2470 Ah, our gentle Lady advocate, you cannot ever be defeated but you indeed defeat the devils. Turn towards us your tender eyes of mercy that are so gracious, 2475 and show us Jesus, your glorious Son, in whom you always have your support, the holy fruit you bore in your womb, sweet unspotted Virgin, after the exile of this false world. 2480 Oh glorious, kind one, Oh gracious, kind one, Oh most kind Virgin Mary, hear those who pray to you from the heart."

Thus the anthem ended 2485 which has a good beginning and a good end, in which the Holy Church remembers rhe goodness and the mercy, i'l1C power and the advocacy

II8 I:Advocacie Nostre Dame

de la douce Virge Marie, comment Ie monde d€livra: et c'est tout quanqu'en man livre a. Pour cela qu'en vaut Ie celer, doit l'en Ie livret apeler I.:Ildvocacie Nostre Dame: quer el deffent Ie cars et l'ame de tuyt cil qui la veut amer et ason besoing r€clamer.

2490

2495

Our Lady's Advocacy II9

of the holy Virgin Mary, 2490 how she delivered the world, and this is all my book contains. For that reason-why hide it?­ the book should be called The Advocacy ifOur Lady: 2495 for she defends the body and the soul of all those who want to love her and call upon her help in their need.

NOTES TO OUR LADY's ADVOCACY

The title of this work may be ascribed to the poet's knowledge of the Salve Re­ gina, an antiphon widely known and loved during the Middle Ages (see Intro­ duction, page xxvii, for the full text in Latin and English). Mary's defense of the human race reflects the Latin source of the word "advocate": advocatus (fern. advocata), called to aid a cause in a court ofjustice, someone who pleads or inter­ cedes on behalf of another (OED). The Devil's name derives from the Hebrew ha-satan , meaning the accuser or adversary.

Lines

10-11. "Whoever is married to her in his heart" is a favorite topos of Gautier de Coinci (1177178-1236), known for his collection of Marian songs and tales . The fourth stanza of Song 4, Book I, for example, reads: "Marions nous a la vir­ ge Marie. I Nus ne se puet en li mesmarier. I Sachiez de voir, a li qui se marie I Plus hautement ne se puet marier": "Let us marry the Virgin Mary. I No one can marry badly who marries her. I Know for a truth, that the one who marries her I can never marry higher": V. Frederic Koenig, ed., Les Miracles de Nostre Dame par Gautier de Coinci (Geneva: Droz, 1966), 1:30.

44. According to the apocryphal Gospel ofN icodemus, Jesus descended into Hell after His crucifixion and freed all the souls who had been held there by the Devil since the Fall. The Latin version of this fourth-century account, found in Part II of the Gospel, became popular in the Middle Ages as the E v angelium Nicodemi, and Jesus's liberation of souls was later called the "harrowing of Hell." A summa­ ry of the Evangelium Nicodemi and its vernacular tradition can be found in Zbig­

. niew Izydorczyk, "Introduction," in idem, ed., The Medieval Gospel ofNicodemus, MRTS 158 (Tempe, AZ: ACMRS, 1997), 4-19. See also Montague Rhodes James, ed. and trans., The Apocryphal New Testament, 2nd ed. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989),94, 117-44.

46. The idea that Mary's womb contained "Him whom heaven and earth can­ not contain" is found in Sermon 142 of Peter Chrysologus (d. 450), according to Hilda Graef, Mary: A History ofDoctrine and Devotion (London: Sheed and Ward, 1985), 116. It was familiar from the hymn attributed to Venantius Fortu­ !latus (d. 610), "Qyem terra, pontus, aethera" (or "sidera").

54-57. Ex()(t ),(): 1/. .

I22 DAVIS AND AKEHURST

68-70. Swearing fealty to the Virgin and placing oneself under her protection is a theme common to many lyrics of the thirteenth century, expressed in lines such as "Mains jointes Ii fais de mon cuer lijance .. . Et encontre touz son fief garantir," "With joined hands I offer allegiance to her ... and defend her fief against all [enemies]": Recueil de chansons pieuses du XIII' siecle, ed. Edward Jarn­ strom and Arthur Langfors (Helsinki: Suomalaisen Tiedeakatemian Toimituk­ sia, 1910), 1:25.

74-88. The image of Mary moving her Son's heart to mercy by recalling His childhood and her care for Him - particularly her breast-feeding Him - is one of the most popular tropes in Marian literature, including the Miracles de Nos­ tre Dame par personnages, a series of fourteenth-century plays. See, for example, Mary's role in "L'Enfant donne au diable," in Miracles de Nostre Dame, ed. Gaston Paris and Ulysse Robert (Paris: SATF, 1876), 1:3-56. Lines 85-88, cf. 1 Kings 2:20.

104-105. Mary is never called an advocate in the New Testament. Working from memory, the author might have confused Mary with the Spirit or helper noted in John 16:7. The book to which he alludes as his source is unknown. He may have had access to Jean Ie Marchant's Miracles de Notre-Dame de Chartres (written between 1252 and 1262), in which Mary is called "nostre avocace." Ear­ lier, Gautier de Coinci had called her nostre avocas, nostre amparliere, "the person who speaks for us, our intermediary." See Gerard Gras, "L'Avocate et sa voca­ tion," in LeJeu thidtral, ses marges, sesfrontieres (Paris: Champion, 1999), 125-40, here 133, n. 40. The Virgin's reputation as an advocate from the time of Ire­ naeus (c. 125-c. 202) throughout the Middle Ages is attested in Johannes Jacobus Bourasse, Summa aurea de laudibus Beatissime Virginis Mariae, vol. 9 (Paris: J.P. Migne, 1862), cols . 871-75. Bourasse lists one hundred and twenty-eight invoca­ tions to and descriptions of Mary as advocate in sermons, books of praise, litur­ gies, and religious treatises.

109-110. St. Paul says of Scripture that it ("elle") was made for our instruction in 2 Tim. 3:16.

111-118. John 13: 2, 27.

121-130. Gen. 3 and the Gospel ofNicodemus (see note to 1. 44). The doctrine of original sin held that Adam and Eve's sin of disobedience was passed on to all members of the human race as a kind of hereditary blot on their souls. Part of the continuing punishment for original sin was death.

137-143. The Eva-Ave theme dates back at least to the time ofJustin Martyr (d. 165), who "may have received it as part of the post-apostolic tradition." The parallelism "became a favourite subject of patristic teaching" (Graef, Mary, 1: 37). St. Paul posited a corresponding parallel between Adam and Christ in 1

Notes to Ou r Lady's Advocacy I2J

Cor. 15:22 and 45. The opposition between Eve (damnation, loss) and Mary (re­ demption, recovery) was emphasized by all the early church fathers.

147-176. Using the metaphor of a mousetrap, Augustine (354-430) observed that God trapped the Devil by the Devil's own device of deception by using Christ as bait (Sermo 130, PL 39.2003-2004, cited by C.W. Marx, The Devil's Rights [Cambridge: D.S. Brewer, 1995], 12). Satan was deceived by Christ's hu­ manity; although the miracles made him dubious, he could not be sure. Ignatius of Antioch (c . 50-c. 110) "makes the strange statement that both Mary's virgin­ ity and her childbirth were hidden fram the prince of this world" (Graef, Mary, 1:34). Lines 155-156 refer to Luke 4:2-3, where Jesus is tempted by Satan. Line 165 refers to Jesus's raising of Lazarus in John 11:43-44, a foreshadowing of the harrowing of Hell after the crucifixion. The belief expressed in line 172 that Jesus was only human (and not also divine) is the heresy of Arianism.

189. Another reference to the Gospel ofNicodemus (see note to 44). 204-214. The depiction of Pilate's wife is found in Matt. 27:19-20. Gras ob­ serves that this theme is present in the Ci-nous-dit, a work composed about 1318 and thus contemporary with the Advocacie, as well as in the later Livre de la Pas­ sion, 11. 856-903 ("L'Advocacie," 238).

217-224. See the Gospel ofNicodemus, note to 44. The idea that the entire hu­ man race was freed from its "servitude" to Satan with the harrowing of Hell is found in Anselm's Cur Deus Homo. Christ's immediate liberation of souls is abo alluded to in line 1666.

256-258. Job 1:6-12,40-41.

259-278. The idea that the Devil suffers pain wherever he may be comes from Bonaventure (1225-1274), Sententiarum Lib. II, Qyaestio II: "Gehenna est di­ abolus, propter quem facta est. Sicut enim gehenna semper ardet, sic diabolus, ubicumque sit, vel in aere, vel sub terra, semper fert secum tormenta flamma­ rum": "Gehenna is the Devil, for whom it was made. Just as Gehenna burns eter­ nally, so does the Devil, wherever he is: in the air, or under the earth, he suffers the torment of flames": in Bonaventure, Opera Omnia, ed. A.C. Peltier (Paris: Vives, 1864),2:384. Thomas Aquinas (c .1225-1274) also asserted that demons in our world continue to experience the pain of Hell: Summa Theologiae I, q. 64, a.4, reply to Objection 3: Summa Theologica, Pars Prima, ed. Giovanni Littini (Turin and Rome: Marietti, 1925), 348-49. We are indebted to Professor Wendy Love Anderson for the reference in Thomas.

296. The name "Satan" means "accuser" or "adversary." See above at the begin­ ning of these notes.

108. An i7~formation is a particular document that sets out a complaint. The word appears ar;ain, with the same connotation, in lines 317 and 328. The term

I24 DAVIS AND AKEHURST

is still used in modern law, so we retain it here. It is not to be confused with the general term "information," in the sense of "data." The Devil is here trying to have the trial commenced as a criminal proceeding; but by requiring the other party to be present, the judge is making it look more like a civil suit. Indeed, he refuses the information (lines 328-329) and insists on simply setting a trial date for the Devil to make his claim directly against the defendant, the Human Race.

332-339. Luke 4:2-13; also Matt. 4:1-14 and Mark 1:12-13.

352-358. Satan may mean that he is empowered by his letter of appointment to plead in all manner of suits, criminal and civil. An example of such a letter of appointment may be found in The Coutumes de Beauvaisis ofPhilippe de Beau­ manoir, trans. FRP. Akehurst (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1992), §140.

384. Canon law prohibited a lawsuit to be heard on Good Friday, but since God made the laws (1. 394) God can permit the trial to go forward. See Ake­ hurst, Philippe de Beaumanoir, §96.

429. "The text and the gloss" refers to canon law. About 1140, an author always subsequently referred to as Gratian completed a compilation of the Concordantia discordantium canonum. This text is commonly referred to as the Decretum. In a re­ cent book Anders Winroth shows that a second, enlarged recension of the Decre­ tum was completed about mid-century, perhaps by the same author (The Making of Gratian's Decretum [Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001]). This com­ pendium included canons of church councils, scriptural passages, excerpts from writings of the church fathers, papal decisions (decretals), and, especially in the second recension, passages of Roman positive law, organized into causes and ques­ tions. The text was supplemented later in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries by the Glossa Ordinaria, explanations of and comments on the legal issues of the texts. "The texts were never read without the gloss" (RH. Helmholz, The Spirit of Classical Canon Law [Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 1996], 15).

441. "Where the pope is, is Rome." A proverbial expression, it could also refer to the Avignon papacy that lasted from 1307 to 1377.

445. John 14:2.

459. Both Roman and customary law (not Scripture) give the parties most of the day to appear.

466. Nones is the canonical hour of nones, about three in the afternoon.

491. This alludes to the myth ofJustice leaving earth for heaven: e. g., in Ovid, Metamorphoses 1.150. The meaning of audience in this context presents some dif­ ficulties. The general meaning (line 501) is "hearing" and therefore "tribunal,"

Notes to Our Lady's Advocacy I25

but line 506 clearly refers to a marshal or officer of the court, someone acting more or less in the capacity of a bailiff in a modern American court. In the An­ glo-Norman of the fourteenth century, bailli (from which "bailiff" is derived) re­ ferred to a judge/administrator. It seems unlikely that the whole crowd of souls present should be called on to make the announcement. (There is a Latin word, audientiarius, which Du Cange renders "scriba, notarius jorensis, Gall. Audiencier" or clerk of the court: Glossarium, 1: 470.)

531-532. Custom requires fines or other punishments when a party arrives late.

576-597. Book 3, Chapter 1 of the Justinianic (Roman law) Code states, "It is decreed that in all matters preference should be given to justice (iustitia) and eq­ uity (aequitas) rather than to the demands of the strict law (strictum ius)" (quoted in Don Hurter Van Zyl, Justice and Equity in Greek and Roman Legal Thought [Pretoria: Academica, 1991], 90). "Pure justice" is based on natural law and refers to the concept or virtue of rendering to each his own, complying with the law. "Strict justice" or rigor, on the other hand, goes further and may provide penal­ ties or punishments for transgressing the law, while "equity" shows consideration for the circumstances of the alleged transgression. Satan makes his claim for "strict justice," or eternal punishment of human souls; for Mary, justice means equity or mercy. James A. Brundage, Medieval Canon Law (London and New York: Longmans, 1999), 156, states that "[fJourteenth century writers ...elabo­ rated the distinctions between justice, equity and law ...These writers regarded equity as a principle of mitigation, which adjusted the rigors of strict law to the varied needs of individual situations." See also Judith M . Davis, "Giving the Devil His Due: Justice and Equity in the Advocacie Nostre Dame," in Courtly Arts and the Art of Courtliness, ed. Keith Busby and Christopher Kleinheinz (Wood­ bridge: Boydell & Brewer, 2006), 373-84.

611-612. Recalls Jesus's statement in Luke 10:18, "I saw Satan falling like a star from heaven."

683-684. These lines are somewhat obscure. Sarge may refer to an arras or tap­ estry wall-hanging, while tapis is readily identifiable as "carpet." The sense of the lines suggests that Satan, arriving early, sought to conceal himself (perhaps in or­ der to spy upon his opponent and learn something of her strategy) but found no suitable hiding place. According to James A. Brundage, "consistory court rooms came in many different styles . Some courts met in a side chapel in a cathedral or other church. [Others] often met in a room in the bishop's palace, while a few had separate buildings of their own. I think it very likely that the sarge could refer to wall hangings (no doubt to keep out the chill), while the tapis might well be a bit of carpet, since advocates and proctors were usually directed to 'stand in the customary place' when pleading in court" (electronic communication to F.RP. Akehurst, 3 November, 2007).

I26 DAVIS AND AKEHURST

716. The antiphon Ave Regina Caelorum.

721-727. A reiteration of the felix culpa or "happy fault" topos expressed in the Exultet on Easter Eve: if Adam and Eve had not sinned, Christ would not have come to redeem the human race.

749. Again 1 Kings 2:19.

809. God as Justice and Truth is found in John 1:14 and 14:6, also in the second book of Wisdom 7:28; Ps.110: 7; and Rom. 2:2.

812-821. The judge has urged the Devil to begin his case on the substantive is­ sue. But the Devil knows that he must not do so until he has made all his in lim­ ine (preliminary) challenges, for ifhe addresses the substance he will have waived his right to various procedural objections. Courts generally prefer to decide cases on the merits; this preference underlies the rule that preliminary procedural is­ sues are waived if not raised at the first opportunity and before the substantive issues are joined, a rule reflected even today, for example, in Rule 12(g) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. The Devil therefore refuses to argue the merits of his case; instead, he points out that the other party is missing. If he proceeds on a substantive issue he will have waived his right to ask for a default. And, as he had tried to claim the previous night, if the defendant is not present, the de­ fendant (the Human Race) is in default and the Devil wins the suit.

859-861. The Digest of the Justinianic Corpus, Book III, sec. 3 concerns wom­ en's roles in a court of Roman law. In regard to canon law, see Introduction, n. 65.

890-900. "Generally" here, and a few lines later, "special" are used in their le­ gal sense. In legal language the word "generally" has the meaning of "normally, in the great majority of cases, without specificity," whereas "specially" has the meaning of "in particular, specifically." The Virgin is agreeing that the general rule is that women may not be lawyers, but she claims that they may in certain special circumstances, which obtain here. In his Tractatus, Bartolo da Sassoferra­ to justifies Mary's presence in court by saying, "Nost[r]i iudex fili mi ...licet mu­ lieres non admittantur ad postulationis off[iciu]m, t[ame]n pro miserabilib[us] personis coniunctis, pupilis, & viduis bene admittuntur," "Our judge, my Son . . . granted that women may not be admitted to serve as plaintiffs [in court]; however, in the case of poor married folk, minors, and widows they may indeed be admitted" (128 recto).

922-923. Canon law provided for the defense even of those who had rejected the church or who were not Christians.

935. Early church fathers-e.g., Ambrose (d. 397), Epiphanius (d. 403) and Jerome (d. 420)-proclaimed the perpetual virginity of Mary before, during,

Notes to Our Lady's /1dvocacy I27

and after Christ's birth, although the apocryphal Protevangelium ofJames had emphasized it earlier, in the second century.

938. The author echoes here and elsewhere tropes of Marian lyrics of the 12th and 13th centuries. See for example Jarnstrom and Langfors, Recueil; Marcia Jen­ neth Epstein, Prions en chantant: D evotional Songs ofthe Trouveres (Toronto: Uni­ versity of Toronto Press, 1997); and Daniel E. O'Sullivan, Marian Devotion in Thirteenth-Century Lyric (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2005).

947-950. See Num. 17:8-10 for the account of Aaron's rod. In Marian symbol­ ism, it can represent her fecund virginity. The Protevangelium also uses this topos in depicting the choice ofJoseph as Mary's husband.

972. An interlocutory judgment is pronounced during the course of an action but is not a final decision. Satan keeps asking for interlocutory judgments (cf. line 1124), hoping to thwart Mary's claims on behalf of humanity by winning on procedural grounds.

1004. Church fathers and medieval scholastics alike, although they differed regarding the Devil's rights to human souls, did not dispute that he held them until Christ redeemed them through His death on the cross. The Devil's "posses­ sion" of souls before baptism is attested in the rites of exorcism that preceded the reception of catechumens into the Church on Holy Saturday. See Henry Ans~ar Kelly, The Devil at Baptism: Ritual, Theology and Drama (Ithaca: CornelllJniv~~r­ sity Press, 1985).

1077. Nulle longue prescripcion: Since the word "prescription" (which has rrwny meanings) survives in English usage mostly only in the expression "prescriptive right," which could easily be misunderstood, we have avoided the use of "pre­ scription" here and used the modern legal equivalent in Anglo-American law, "adverse possession."

1083. The Roman law of possession, like the medieval law of possession, is ex­ tremely complicated. A word we could have used is detentor as explained by Barry Nicholas, Introduction to Roman Law (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1962), 112 .

1089. Cf. Digest 41.2.

1105-1108. Gen. 1:26-27. In traditional exegesis the "us" and "our" (plural) in "Let us make" and "our image and likeness" referred to all three Persons of the Trinity.

1144-1150. Gen. 2:16-17 (Yahweh addresses the man); Gen. 3:2-3 (dialogue between the woman and the serpent).

1163-1173. Gen. 3:6-24 (the Fall).

1174. See also line 809 for the depiction of God as justice and truth.

I28 DAVIS AND AKEHlJRST

1197-1210. Gen. 3:1-5.

1235. The Decretals, part of canon law, represent the decisions and opinions of various popes. Several collections had been made since the Decretum was com­ piled in the twelfth century and the era in which this poem was written.

1250-1276. Satan is bypassing the formal complaint procedure and going straight to the judge, as if to a court of equity.

1295-1328. Mary refers at length to the election of remedies, an important element of Roman law: the Digest, 14.4, states ("De tributoria actione") that the plaintiff must choose a cause of action and see it through. She continues to refer to Satan's choice throughout her argument to her Son.

1311. Mary anticipates that the Devil may try the defense of confession and avoidance, e.g., that he might have had something to do with the Fall but that God still was obliged to punish the human race.

1355. A plea for an "extraordinary remedy" is a claim for which the plaintiff has no action at common law; it is an appeal for equity, or fairness. In this situ­ ation, Satan wants all of the souls he lost restored to him, called in Roman law restitutio in integrum (Digest 4.1) or complete restitution of a party to the posi­ tion he or she would have been in but for some circumstance beyond the control of the party. See George Long, "Restitutio in Integrum," in William George Smith, ed., A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (London: John Murray, 1875), 987-88; "Restitution," in Black's Law Dictionary, 4th ed. (St. Paul: West, 1957), 1477. Here, Satan uses the term to request restitution to his possession of the souls rescued from Hell by Christ, pleading that whatever the result of his claims, God should nevertheless condemn the human race for disobedience. Mary says he should not be allowed to do this, as he has chosen his legal theory, and lost, so he should not be able to plead a different theory.

1376. Res judicata: a matter or case already judged so that it cannot be raised again. See Akehurst, Philippe de Beaumanoir, §216.

1397. The turtledove is a traditional image in the "bestiaries of Our Lady" as well as in lyric poetry. See for example "Les neufjoies de Nostre Dame," "The Nine Joys of Our Lady," a poem attributed to Rutebeuf, 1. 104: "Turtre qui ses amors ne mue," "Turtledove who changes not her love." According to medieval bestiaries, the tur­ tledove is chaste, gentle to its young, and faithful to its companion.

1441. This is a prominent image in patristic writing.

1145. John 19:25.

1468. Luke 2:35.

Notes to Our Lady's Advocacy I29

1504. Mary's statement echoes Moses' appeal to God in Exod. 32:32: "If you do not forgive the Israelites' sin then take me out of the book you have written." See also Apoc. 13:8,20:15, and 21:27.

1518. A proverb: see ].W. Hassell, Jr., Middle French Proverbs, Sentences, and Proverbial Phrases (Toronto: PIMS, 1982), 78, no. C 233.

1549-1550. Our translation is based on the understanding of qu'i as qui = si ron. The que of line 1550 goes with the si bien, so that the qu'i de droit nefoudra is parentheti cal. Defoute de droit is the failure to give a hearing; Akehurst, Philippe de Beaumanoir (62) uses this expression to indicate a lack of responsiveness in a judge, which is subject to appeal. See also line 1984.

1563. John 14:30; but John 12:31 says "cast out."

1615. Touz quites refers here to a complete release to Satan of all the souls of the sinful. This would amount to an action of quiteclamer (modern "quitclaim") or renunciation of all claims to possession, on the part of Heaven.

1642. The idea that good and evil had already been weighed is attributed to Caesarius of Arles (d. 543) (cf. Homily 14, PL 67.1075-1077). It is also expressed in the Vexilla Reg is, a hymn composed by Venantius Fortunatus (d. 601). Sung regularly during the week commemorating Christ's passion and death, the hymn refers to Christ's reign a ligno, (alluding to Ps. 95:10 [Vulgate]) from a tree, whose branches are compared to the two arms of a scale . The fifth stanza reads: "Beata, cujus brachiis / pretium pependit saeculi, / statera facta corporis, / tulitque prae­ dam tartari ," "Blessed tree, on whose branches / hung the price of the world / thou, balance where His body lies / take from Hell its stolen prize." The idea is found at line 1441 and repeated at 11. 1650, 1654-1655, 1663-1664, 1679.

1657-1662. Luke 24:39-43.

1727. Co intance refers to acquaintance, friendship. Gros interprets it as "favor" ("I.)Advocacie," 263), and the context suggests that one should give no favors to friends or judge automatically against enemies. If that should happen, according to line 1739, "favoritism would reverse justice."

1811-1814. The dualism expressed by Paul in Rom . 7:18-24 formed the basis for the body-soul conflict elaborated by centuries of theologians. Lines 1855­ 1858 reiterate this principle.

1790-1805; 1835-1850. Thomas Aquinas (Commentum in Quatuor Libros Sen­ tentiarum Magistri Petri Lombardi, Book III, Distinction I, Qyestion I, Article II) is the source of Mary's arguments. His commentary on Peter Lombard's Sen­ tences proposed six reasons why the sin of the angels was more deserving of last­ ing punishment (quoted in Hope Traver, "The Four Daughters of God," PMLA 40 [1925]: 44-92, here 85, n. 10). "The fall of Satan arici his minions was [a]

IJO DAVIS AND AKEHURST

particularly important topic, because it focused theological reflection on the re­ lationships between God's Providence, rational free will, love, faithfulness, and sin" (David Keck, Angels and Angelology in the M iddle Ages [New York: Oxford University Press, 1998], 24). Jacobus de Voragine describes the archangel Mi­ chael's victory over the rebel angels and the subsequent banishment of the fallen in the Golden Legend, written about 1260: William Granger Ryan, trans., 2 vols . (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993), 2: 205.

1866-1867. Gen. 3:3.

1910. From a clause in the Nicene Creed.

1920-1925. The study of logic was well entrenched in the schools by the be­ ginning of the fourteenth century. These remarks by the Virgin belong to fairly elementary aspects of the syllogism, the basic building block of formal argument . Elements of logic are found in several of Aristotle's works, but he states in Poste­ rior Analytics 1.16 that" .. .in the case of atomic propositions erroneous inference will be possible not only when both premisses are false but also when only one is false." See Richard McKeon, ed., the Basic Works ofAristotle (New York: Ran­ dom House, 1941), 134; and Hugh Tredennick and E.S. Forster, trans., Posterior Analytics and Topica (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1966). An ex­ planation of the principles applied by Mary appears in Jacques Maritain, Formal Logic, trans. Imelda Choquette (New York: Sheed and Ward, 1946),99-147, esp. 102-3.

1983. Denial ofjustice is failure to give a hearing. Mary is suggesting that God should not listen to Satan any longer. He claims that that is a denial of justice; God seems to agree, and lets him speak.

2025-2045. Satan here is asking for "strict justice," the utter and eternal con­ demnation of the human race.

2113-2115. Augustine and Anselm are in accord on this point.

2158-2164. This is the viewpoint of Anselm in Cur Deus Homo.

2190. See Eph. 2:15, 4:24; Col. 3:10.

2223. We have translated this line as "there will be no defect in my reasoning." The word clut is problematic; Gros interprets it as "conclusion," but that does not seem likely. Montaiglon provides a convoluted gloss: "Clut. Clorre, enc/orre,jorclos, viennent de la forme claudere; conclure, reclus, inclus, employes seulement au par­ ticipe, viennent de la forme cludere, dont vient clut, qui est la forme simple; d'oll Ie sens: "11 n'y aura rien qui ferme, qui arrete, qui detruise mon raisonnement" (118). We have followed Montaiglon.

Notes to Our Lady's Advocacy IJI

2233-2241. Mary argues for equity or mercy due to God's grace. Here she em­ bodies the "mother of mercy" invoked in the Salve Regina. Cf. Rom . 5:20.

2360-2372. Traditionally, there have been nine orders of angels, as described by pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite: Cherubim, Seraphim, Thrones, Domina­ tions, Virtues, Powers, Principalities, Angels, and Archangels. Jacobus de Vorag­ ine describes these orders and their functions in the Golden Legend, trans. Ryan , (2:203-4) for the feast of St. Michael, Archangel. The author of the Advocacie has Mary state (1. 2365) that originally there were ten bands of angels; after the great battle in heaven between some angels who rebelled against God and those who remained loyal to their Creator, only nine remained. The source of this idea ap­ pears to be Aelfric the Grammarian (ca. 955-1020), who "expressed the uncom­ mon opinion that the demons were from a tenth order of angels ranked below the nine orders which remained" (Keck, Angels and Angelology, 25) .

2446-2452; 2464-2485. A paraphrase of the Salve Regina.

2471-2473. The word mat, mater may here refer to the game of chess, in which case instead of "defeat" the translation could have read "checkmate." The topos of the Virgin Mary as chess queen who always checkmates the black king was made popular by Gautier de Coinci. See Introduction, n. 22.