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British Museum MS. Royal 15 A. xx. fo. 142 b

VII. De quodam spiritu alibi coniurato qui fatebatur se grauiter puniri eo quod erat mercenarius cuiusdam patris familias et furabatur garbas illius quas dabat bobus suis vt apparerent corpulenti; et aliud quod plus se grauat, quod non profunde sed superficietenus arabat terram suam, volens quod boues eius forent pingues, et affirmauit quod erant quindecim spiritus in loco vno grauiter puniti pro delictis suis que faciebant. Supplicauit igitur quod suggereret domino suo pro indulgencia et absolucione quatinus posset optinere remedium oportunum.

 

 

 

 
 
  • Synopsis
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Story VII tells the tale of a ghost who repents for sins committed while he was alive. This particular ghost, when conjured, begs an intermediary to obtain the forgiveness of the ghost's former master for stealing (sheaves of grain) and for his laziness (only tilling the land on the top and not thoroughly, so the bulls would be fat). If he received the forgiveness and indulgence he required, the ghost presumably would be cured of his state and go on to Heaven.

7. About a certain spirit having been conjured elsewhere, who confessed that he was heavily punished there because he was a hired servant of a certain pater familias and he stole that man’s sheaves of grain which he gave to his own oxen so that they would appear fat; and another thing that burdened him more, that he did not plough his land deeply but superficially, wishing that his master's oxen would be fat, and he asserted that there were fifteen spirits in one place that were punished heavily for their own transgressions which they committed. He humbly begged therefore that he suggest to his master for the benefit of indulgence and absolution to what extent he would be able to obtain a suitable remedy.

  Oddly, this story has no setting or character names.  Most of the other stories have a town associated with them, but this one does not, although judging by the duties of the ghost while he was alive, it is likely to have been somewhere rural and arable (Simpson “Ghosts”.) The ghost also appears to be talking to a stranger and not someone he knew in life, which is not something uncommon in these stories.

line 2 The mercenarius appears to be a tenant farmer rather than a mercenary, who had worked the field of his master, and had cheated the master in giving what he promised.

lines 2-3 patris familias The pater familias appears to be the legal term for whoever ran the estate – usually the father of the family.  Taken from the Ancient Roman legal term, the Medievals adopted and altered the meaning slightly so it would fit with their feudal society.  The pater familias would enact wills, marry the daughters of the estate, collect revenue from the serfs, among other things.  As an Abbot could be head of an estate and Churches had substantial amounts of land in the Middle Ages, he could also be a pater familias.  Since this mercenarius only asked forgiveness and absolution from his master, it would seem reasonable that the pater familias was an Abbot here and he worked for Church land.  Only priests could grant absolution, and no other source of forgiveness is mentioned in this story (St. Clair).  Perhaps worth noting is the fact that in the Revised Medieval Latin Word List, pater familias is defined both as “divine title” and “franklin,” which would mean that a pater familias could be either religious or secular (RMLW-L Latham).

line 6 quindecim As with some others of these stories, the principle ghost is the only one visible, although in this case there are fifteen others that accompany the one (Schmitt 143).

line 9 indulgencia An indulgence is a payment made to the church so the monks or priests could say prayers for a person (alive or dead) and help their soul gets closer to God.  Often times indulgences came as ways to motivate people to go on Crusade (Shannon). Almost all of these stories involve the ghost asking for (and receiving) absolution for sins, masses, proper burials, etc. In the case of this particular ghost, he required indulgences as well as absolution (Schmitt 144). “Such anecdotes are typical of the late medieval eagerness to help ‘suffering souls’ in Purgatory” (Simpson 395).

     Story VII of the Byland Abbey Tales is perhaps one of the vaguest of the twelve stories written down by a monk around the year 1400.  There are only three maximum characters, one of whom is merely implied; none of these characters have names and only two of them have some sort of affiliation with farming.  The first is the most important character of the story: the ghost.  Described as a mercenarius, he was likely to have been more of a tenant farmer than a mercenary, as the word would imply, and indeed is used in Story I.  He would work for the second character, the pater familias, and give his proceeds to his master, although the ghost himself would have been a freedman.  Apparently, this ghost did not have remorse in life for stealing grain for his own oxen and for ploughing the land “superficially.”  He does not speak of the punishments of Purgatory as thoroughly as some others in Byland, and indeed, William of Malmesbury gave a rather vivid account of the punishments of Hell and Purgatory in his De Gestis Regum Anglorum.  He does say, however, that there are fifteen other spirits with him, all of whom were punished heavily for their sins.  However, unlike the ghost in Story II, who needed eighty masses, the mercenarius only needed an indulgence and absolution for his sins.  Although this remedy is not unusual in the Byland Stories, the fact that he needed something small for such heavy punishments is noteworthy. According to Jacqueline Simpson, “Such anecdotes are typical of the late medieval eagerness to help ‘suffering souls’ in Purgatory” (Simpson 395).
     The pater familias is not even described, and it is entirely unclear as to whether he was a secular head of the family or a religious.  Churches would have great tracks of land in the Middle Ages, and the Abbot or Bishop would have had control over these lands, making him the pater familias (St. Clair).  However, as the story ends, the pater familias has not even made one appearance.  He is not described in the least, only the transgressions against him.  There is a similar story written by Peter the Venerable about Peter Engelbert, however, where his servant, Sancho, had appeared to him to ask for the same indulgences as the mercenarius here (Schmitt 193).  The stories are particularly similar in almost every regard except for the fact that Peter the Venerable was from Cluny in France and these characters had been named.  The end of Story VII is unknown, as with many of its more specific details.
     Finally, the third character is the stranger to whom the ghost appeared.  The only thing we know about this stranger is that he listened to the sins of the ghost and he did not live in the same place as the ghost, as said by the word alibi, or elsewhere. Most of the other Byland Abbey stories have a town associated with them, but this one does not, although judging by the duties of the ghost while he was alive, it is likely to have been somewhere rural and arable (Simpson “Ghosts”).  Yorkshire, where most of these stories take place and where Byland Abbey is located, is even today very green and rural, so it would not be unreasonable to place the ghost in Yorkshire.  The ghost also appears to be talking to a stranger and not someone he knew in life, which is not something uncommon in these stories.