page 55
Notes
1. Recent books on heresy include Herbert Grundmann, Religious Movements in the
Middle Ages, trans. Steven Rowan (Notre Dame, 1995); Malcolm Lambert, Medieval
Heresy: Popular Movements from the Gregorian Reform to the Reformation (Oxford, 1992);
Shannon McSheffrey, Gender and Heresy: Women and Men in Lollard Communities
1420-1530 (Philadelphia, 1995); and R. I. Moore, The Birth of Popular Heresy
(London, 1975) and The Origin of European Dissent (Oxford, 1985). A book which
discusses similar issues, while not dealing directly with heresy, is David Nirenberg,
Communities of Violence: Persecution of Minorities in the Middle Ages (Princeton,
1996). Finally, two books which contain medieval texts on sorcery are Richard Kieckhefer,
Forbidden Rites: A Necromancer's Manual of the Fifteenth Century (University Park,
Penn., 1997), and Ambroise Paré, On Monsters and Marvels, trans. Janet L.
Pallister (Chicago, 1983).
2. H. S. Kelly, "English Kings and Fear of Sorcery," Medieval
Studies 30 (1977), 207-238.
3. Heinrich Kramer and James Sprenger, Malleus
Maleficarum, trans. Monatgue Summers (London, 1928), p. 44.
4. Lambert, Medieval Heresy, pp. 4-5.
5. For a general discussion of Middle English romances and their
relationship with social issues, see Stephen Knight, "The Social Function of the Middle English
Romances," in Medieval Literature, ed. David Aers (New York, 1986), pp. 99-122.
6. Frederic Madden, ed., The Weddynge of Syr Gawene and
Dame Ragnelle, in Syr Gawayne: a collection of Ancient Romances and Poems by
Scottish and English Authours related to the celebrated knight of the Round Table (London,
1839), lines 692-93.
7. Walter W. Skeat, ed., William of Palerne, EETS ES 1
(London, 1867), lines 117-20.
8. Skeat, William of Palerne, lines 4096-97, 4104-5.
9. J. R. R. Tolkien and E. V. Gordon, eds., Sir Gawain and the
Green Knight, rev. 2nd ed., ed. Norman Davis (Oxford, 1967), lines 2446-56.
10. Shulamith Shahar, The Fourth Estate: A History of Women
in the Middle Ages (London, 1983), p. 274.
11. Richard Kieckhefer, Magic in the Middle Ages
(Cambridge, Eng., 1990), p. 153.
12. Lines 4550-4606 are missing from Romans of Partenay.
Folio 103b from the French text is used in the EETS edition to replace the missing lines. See
Walter W. Skeat, ed., Romans de Partenay, EETS ES 22 (London, 1866).
13. R. E. Stratton, ed., A Critical Edition of Cheuelere
Assigne (Lewiston, N.Y.,1991), line 10.
14. McSheffrey, Gender and Heresy, p. 110.
15. McSheffrey, Gender and Heresy, p. 137.
16. William R. Jones, "Political Uses of Sorcery in Medieval
Europe," The Historian 34 (1972), 670-87; here p. 682.
17. Jones, "Political Uses," p. 682.
18. Jones, "Political Uses," pp. 683-85.
19. Kieckhefer, Magic in the Middle Ages, p. 155.
20. Stratton, A Critical Edition, p. 19.
21. Stratton, A Critical Edition, lines 329-32.
22. Elizabeth Avilda Petroff, Body and Soul: Essays on
Medieval Women and Mysticism (New York, 1994), p. 26.
23. Lambert, Medieval Heresy, p. 225.
24. See Malcolm Barber, The Two Cities: Medieval Europe
1050-1320 (London, 1993), and A. R. Myers, England in the Late Middle Ages, 8th
ed. (London, 1991), for details on Queen Isabella's actions and the political situation at this time
period.
25. Lambert, Medieval Heresy, pp. 225-83.
26. Stephen Knight, Arthurian Literature and Society (New
York, 1983), p. 116.
27. This reminds one of Marguerite Porete, who was condemned
for her speaking her words (her acts), not for the words themselves. Morgan le Fay is condemned
for her actions as reported by Bertilak and never allowed to speak.
28. Sheila Fisher, "Leaving Morgan Aside: Women, History, and
Revisionism in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight," in The Passing of Arthur:
New Essays in Arthurian Tradition, ed. Christopher Baswell and William Sharpe (New York,
1988), pp. 129-151; here p. 144.
29. Sheila Fisher, "Taken Men and Token Women in Sir Gawain
and the Green Knight," in Seeking the Women, ed. Sheila Fisher and Janet E.
Halley (Knoxville, 1989), pp. 71-105; here pp. 79-80.
30. See Marie Boroff, "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight:
The Passing of Judgment," in The Passing of Arthur: New Essays in Arthurian Tradition,
ed. Christopher Baswell and William Sharpe (New York, 1988), pp. 105-28, for
page 56
a discussion of
Bertilak's ambiguous disenchantment.
31. Robert J. Nolan, "The Origin of the Romance of Melusine: a
New Interpretation," Fabula 15 (1974), 192-201. It should be noted that not all scholars
agree with Nolan's interpretation. For another perspective, see Velma B. Richmond, The
Popularity of Middle English Romances (Bowling Green, 1975).
32. Auvo Kurvinen, ed., Carle off Carlile, in Sir Gawain
and the Carl of Carlisle in Two Versions (Helsinki, 1951), lines 401-7.
33. David Irving, ed., Clariodus: A Metrical Romance
(Lewiston, N.Y.,1991), book 1, lines 1026-32.
33. See Jones, "Political Uses," and Kelly, "English Kings," for
additional information on Joan of Navarre and the Duchess of Gloucester, along with others
accused of sorcery during the same time period.