Now! Then! 2024! - Yorkshire On This Day

Excerpt

Since man’s life on earth is a struggle, it is no wonder that those fighting amidst the miseries of this world are troubled by the uncertainty of events, now propitious, now adverse. For the Lord Almighty sometimes allows those he loves to be chastised, since strength, by the infusion of spiritual grace, is perfected in infirmity. All know what a mortal pestilence and infection of the atmosphere is hanging over various parts of the world, and especially England, in these days. This is caused by the sins of men who, callous through prosperity, neglect to remember the benefits of the supreme giver. Thus, since the human condition and impious death threaten, disdaining to spare anyone unless the holy clemency of the Saviour shines down upon his people from on high, it remains therefore to have recourse to him alone, and humbly urge that he avert his wrath and remove the pestilence and repel the infection from the people whom he redeemed with his precious blood. Therefore we enjoin and command that you make it known as soon as possible that devout processions are to take place every Wednesday and Friday in our cathedral church, in other collegiate and conventual churches, and in every parish church of our city and diocese, with chanting of the solemn litany, and that a special prayer be said daily in mass for the alleviation of pestilence and infection of this kind, likewise for the lord the king, the estate of the church, the kingdom, and the whole English people. And we, by the mercy of Almighty God, and trusting in the merits and prayers of the glorious Virgin Mary, His mother, and of the blessed apostles Peter and Paul, as well as the most holy confessor William, and of all the saints, mercifully respite forty days of the penance enjoined by God’s forgiveness upon all our parishioners and others whose diocesans have approved and accepted this indulgence of ours, who, contrite and confessed, have repented of their sins, who have prayed devoutly for those who have been forgiven, who have celebrated masses, who have undertaken processions or have attended them, or who have performed other services of pious devotion. Indulgences duly granted in this respect and agreed to be granted hereafter are equally accepted. And the speedy execution of these things is required in each of the archdeaconries of our diocese by the local archdeacons or their officials. Farewell.

Comment

Comment

Francis Gasquet:

Archbishop Zouche of York was apparently one of the first of the English prelates to recognise the gravity of the epidemic, which in 1348 was devastating Southern Europe, and ever creeping northwards towards England… Judging from a reply of the Pope to a petition of the Archbishop, it would be necessary to conclude that the plague had reached York as early as February, 1349. It is, however, more probable that the petition was sent in the expectation that the scourge would certainly come sooner or later, and it was best to be prepared. From the dates of the institutions to vacant benefices, moreover, it would seem that the province of York suffered chiefly in the summer and autumn of the year 1349 (Gasquet 1893).

Translation based partly on Gasquet, including the perhaps controversial translation of dum as “since.” I think he’s right, and I think The Oxford Latin Syntax agrees with me, though at this early hour I can’t explain why. Ditto for piissime peccatorum. Re frequentem pulsationem > “frequent blows”: inelegant and not completely accurate though it may be, it strikes me as more probable than Rosemary Horrox’s “constant entreaties” (HMG 1770), for which I can find no precedent.

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Original

CCXLVIII.
A LETTER FROM ARCHBISHOP ZOUCHE TO HIS OFFICIAL AT YORK.
(Reg. Zouche 247 b.)
Willelmus, etc., dilecto filio Officiali curiæ nostræ Ebor., ejusve commissario generali, salutem, gratiam et benedictionem. Cum sit militia vita hominis super terram, nimirum si militantes in hujus mundi miseria incertis agitentur eventibus, nunc prosperis nunc adversis, Omnipotens namque Dominus interdum quos diligit lacessiri permittit, dum virtus in infirmitate perficitur, superinfusa gratia spirituali. Quantæ siquidem mortalitates, pestilentiæ, et aeris infectio in diversis mundi partibus, et præsertim Anglicanis, immineant his diebus, non est, cum sit publicum, qui ignoret; et hoc quippe hominum peccata efficiunt, qui, arridentes prosperis, summi Largitoris beneficia negligunt reminisci. Sic, quia sortis humanæ conditio et mortis instent impietas, nulli parcere dedignantis, nisi plebi Suæ de excelsis prospiciat sancta clementia Salvatoris, restat igitur ad Ipsum solum recurrere, Cujus misericordia excedit judicium, et Qui ignoscens benignius de conversione congaudet piissime peccatorum, orationibus insistendo humiliter et precibus, ut Ipse, mitis et misericors Omnipotens Deus, iram Suam avertat, pestilentiamque et infectionem hujusmodi amoveat et repellat a populo prætioso Suo sanguine quem redemit.

Discretioni itaque vestræ injungimus et mandamus quatenus faciatis cum omni celeritate qua poteritis publicari, quod, tam in ecclesia nostra cathedrali, quam aliis ecclesiis collegiatis et conventualibus, ac singulis ecclesiis parochialibus nostræ civitatis et diœcesios, singulis quartis et sextis feriis devote processiones fiant cum decantatione letaniæ solemni, et specialis oratio dicatur in missis pro pestilentia et infectione sedanda hujusmodi omni die, similiter et pro domino rege et statu ecclesiæ atque regni totiusque populi Anglicani; ut frequentem pulsationem Salvator exaudiens, creaturæ ignoscat et subveniat quam ad Suam formaverat imaginem ipse Deus. Et nos de Omnipotentis Dei misericordia et gloriosæ Virginis Mariæ, matris Suæ, ac beatorum Apostolorum Petri et Pauli, necnon sanctissimi confessoris Willelmi, Omniumque Sanctorum meritis et precibus confidentes, omnibus parochianis nostris et aliis, quorum dioecesani hanc nostram indulgentiam ratam habuerint et acceptam, de peccatis suis pœnitentibus, contritis et confessis, qui pro præmissis devote oraverint, missas celebraverint, processiones fecerint, eisdem interfuerint, aliave piæ devotionis officia exercuerint, quadraginta dies de injuncta sibi pœnitentia Deo propitio misericorditer relaxamus; indulgentias in hac parte rite concessas et in posterum concedendas ratas habentes pariter et acceptas. Et hæc in singulis archidiaconatibus dictæ nostræ diocesios per locorum archidiaconos, eorumve officiales, faciatis executioni celeri demandari. Valete. Data apud Cawode, xxviijo. die mensis Julii, anno Domini millesimo ccc quadragesimo octavo, et pontificatus nostri septimo.

Translation
… Since man’s life on earth is a struggle, it is no wonder that those fighting amidst the miseries of this world are troubled by the uncertainty of events, now favourable, now adverse. For the Lord Almighty sometimes allows those he loves to be chastised, since strength, by the infusion of spiritual grace, is perfected in infirmity. All know what a mortal pestilence and infection of the atmosphere is hanging over various parts of the world, and especially England, in these days. This is caused by the sins of men who, callous through prosperity, neglect to remember the benefits of the supreme giver. Thus, since the human condition and impious death threaten, disdaining to spare anyone, unless the holy clemency of the Saviour shines down upon his people from on high, it remains therefore to have recourse to him alone, whose mercy surpasses judgement, and who, most generous in his forgiveness, rejoices in the conversion of the most pious of sinners, who, through orison and prayer, humbly urge that he, the gentle and merciful Almighty God, avert his wrath, and remove the pestilence and repel the infection from the people whom he redeemed with his precious blood.

Therefore we enjoin and command that you make it known as soon as possible that devout processions are to take place on every fourth and sixth day of the week in our cathedral church, in other collegiate and conventual churches, and in every parish church of our city and diocese, with chanting of the solemn litany, and that a special prayer be said daily in mass for the alleviation of pestilence and infection of this kind, likewise for the lord the king, the estate of the church, the kingdom, and the whole English people; that the Saviour, hearing the frequent blows, forgives and helps the creatures whom God himself formed in his own image.

And we, by the mercy of Almighty God, and trusting in the merits and prayers of the glorious Virgin Mary, His mother, and of the blessed apostles Peter and Paul, as well as the most holy confessor William, and of all the saints, mercifully respite forty days of the penance enjoined by God’s forgiveness upon all our parishioners and others whose diocesans have approved and accepted this indulgence of ours, who, contrite and confessed, have repented of their sins, who have prayed devoutly for those who have been forgiven, who have celebrated masses, who have undertaken processions or have attended them, or who have performed other services of pious devotion. Indulgences duly granted in this respect and agreed to be granted hereafter are equally accepted. And the speedy execution of these things is required in each of the archdeaconries of our diocese by the local archdeacons or their officials. Farewell.

871 words.

Tags

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• Archbishop of York (18) ·
• Black Death (1) ·
• Bubonic plague (1) ·
• 📌Cawood (Selby) (5), West Riding, now North Yorkshire ·
• Cawood Castle (4) ·
• Crisis of the Late Middle Ages (1) ·
• Francis Aidan Gasquet (1) ·
• Indulgence (2) ·
• Latin (9) ·
• Public health (7) ·
• Rosemary Horrox (1) ·
• Translation (3) ·
• William Zouche (1) ·
• 📌York (164) ·

All tags.

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