14.  II, pp. 56-9.

15.  It is curious here to note the antiquity of the term ‘bloody’ as an expletive.  The Menagier says:  ’Forbid them ... to use ugly oaths, or words which are bad or indecent, as do certain evil or ill bred persons who swear at bad bloody fevers, the bad bloody week, the bad bloody day (’de males sanglantes fievres,’ ‘de male sanglante sepmaine,’ ’de male sanglante journee’), and they know not, nor should they know, what a bloody thing is, for honest women know it not, since it is abominable to them to see the blood but of a lamb or a pigeon, when it is killed before them.’—­Ibid., II, p. 59.

16.  The section on household management described above occupies sec.  II, art. 2, of the Menagier’s book (II, pp. 53-72).

17.  I, pp. 171-2.

18.  I, pp. 172-3.

19.  The cookery book occupies sec.  II, arts. 4 and 5 (II, pp. 80-272).

20.  II, pp. 222-3.  Translated by Dr Furnivall in A Booke of Precedence (E.E.T.S.), pp. 152-3.

21.  II, pp. 108-18, 123.  The feast was still a thing of the future when the Menagier thus gathered all the details.  He calls it ’L’ordenance de nopces que fera maistre Helye en May, a un mardy ... l’ordonnance du souper que fera ce jour.’

22.  ’The office of the woman is to make provision of tapestries, to order and spread them, and in especial to dight the room and the bed which shall be blessed....  And note that if the bed be covered with cloth, there is needed a fur coverlet of small vair, but if it be covered with serge, or broidery, or pinwork of cendal, not.’—­II, p. 118.  The editor quotes the following ceremony for blessing the wedding bed:  ’Benedictio thalami ad nuptias et als, Beredic, Domine, thalamum hunc et omnes habitantes in eo, ut in tua voluntate permaneant, requiescant et multiplicentur in longitudinem dierum.  Per Christum, etc. Tunc thurificet thalamum in matrimonio, postea sponsum et sponsam sedentes vel jacentes in lecto suo.  Benedicentur dicendo:  Benedic, Domine, adolescentulos istos; sicut benedixisti Thobiam et Sarram filiam Raguelis, ita benedicere eos digneris, Domine, ut in nomine tuo vivant et senescant, et multiplicentur in longitudinem dierum.  Per Christum, etc.  Benedictio Dei omnipotentis, Patris et Filii et Spiritus sancti descendat super vos et maneat super vobiscum.  In nomine Patris, etc.’—­Ibid., I, Introd., p. lxxxvi.

23.  Chaucer, Tale of Melibeus, Sec. 15.

CHAPTER VI

THOMAS BETSON

A.  Raw Material

1. The Stonor Letters and Papers, 1290-1483, ed.  C.L.  Kingsford (Royal Hist.  Soc., Camden, 3rd Series), 2 vols., 1919.  The Betson correspondence is in vol.  II.

2. The Cely Papers, selected from the Correspondence and Memoranda of the Cely Family, Merchants of the Staple, 1475-88, ed.  H.E.  Malden (Royal Hist.  Soc., Camden 3rd series), 1900.