bifor, sive bi for, before..

bifore, before.

biforn, before.

bigan, began.

bigeged, besieged. bizete, begot.

bigge, to build, to be, to remain, to continue. Ab. ASax. (inquit Skinnerus) byczan, ædificare, bigan, colere, byan, habitare. bigged, begged, builded, inhabited. biggen, begin. bizond, beyond. bigonnen, begun.

bigyn, reverencing, obeying, presently.

bihest, command, pat kepe not his bihest, those that keep not his commandments. biheste, promise. biken, acknowledge, bring forth, deliver, render, enjoyn. bikenne, sought out, signifyed, found, assign.

tiker, bickering, strife, contest.

bikere, bicker.

bileft, left, leaving, lived, continued. The Word bileve or beleve for leave was very properly used in old time, when they spoke of sticking closely to any old Laws, and therefore 'tis that we find it in Robert of Gloucester, (p. 470.) when he acquaints us with Thomas of Becket's firmly adhering to the old Laws, rather than strike in with Innovations and new fangled Customs. And the word was so well approved of afterwards, that even the person, that undertook to metaphrase him (tho' his performance was but indifferent) about the time of K. Henry VI. kept to the very word, as may appear from the intire Passage, as I have here transcrib'd it from the vellum MS. of this Metaphrase, that was lent me (since I publish'd Robert of Gloucester) by a curious Gentleman, viz. Thomas Ward of Longbridge, near Warwick, Esq. Noman myght thynke the loue that was be twne him [K. Hen. II.] and seynt Thomas. And the Deuylle had therto envy, and set malice and disturbance betwene the kynge and seynt Thomas. For the kynge woldnot beleve the lawes that he founde, but occupiede suche lither lawes, as othir vn.

happy kynges occupied, as William Bastarde and Wil. liam the rede, and othere. And seynt Thomas wolde not by his wille suffre none iville law, nor iville custome. So that grete stryff

felle betwene hym and the kynge. And som seynt Thomas graunted, and som withseide of the kynge's desires. he graunted thes ar1 ticles that followeth That

& an boundemannes sonne becom a clerke, he shalnot receve þé ordre of pristode, without licens of his lorde. For a bondeman may not be made ageynst his 2 lorde's wille fre. And yf man of holy Churche holde eny lay Fee in his honde, he shalle do therfore kynge's serues that longeth therto, as pledynge, assise of londes & at jugements, saue only at excecusion doynge of 3 deth. Seynt Thomas graunted, Yf eny man were the kynge's Traytoure,

and

had taken the Churche, that hit be levefulle to the kynge and his officers to 4 take him out. And also yf eny Felone's goode were broght to holi churche, that

I

they shulde none suche kepe there. For euery Felon's goodes bene the kynge's. Seynt Thomas graunted also, 5 that no lond shulde be geven. to the Churche, or to eny house of Religion, without the kynge's licens. And this poyntes that followeth seynt Thomas graunted not, and that was to hym grete sorowe aftir' warde. The first was, yf that betwene 1 a Clerke and a lay man were ený stryvynge for eny churche godes, the wolde that the ple shulde be done in his Court. The secunde 2 poynt was, that ther shulde nothir bishop nor clerke goo out of the londe, with out the kynge's licens, and then he shulde swere vppon a boke, that he shulde not purchase none hurt ageynst the kynge, nor none of his. The thred, and if 3 eny man were denoncede a cursede, and when he were come ageyne to amende.. ment, the kynge woldnot that he shulde he shulde" be sworen, but only fynde sewrties to stonde to that holy churche wolde awarde. The fourth, That noman, 4

He. Dele.

that

va

that helde of the kynge, in cheff or in seruice, shulde not be a cursede, without 5 the kynge's licence. The fifte, that all the Bishopryes and Abbeis, that were cant, shuld be in the kynge's hondes, vnto suche tyme that he wolde chuse a prelate therto. And he shuld be chosen out of the kynge's Chapelle, and first or he were confermede he shuld [do] his homage to the kynge. 6 The sixte, if ený ple were to Con-[si] story broght, they shulde appelle from thens to the Archedeken, and from thens to the Bisshoppes Court, and from the Bisshoppes to the Archibisshoppes, and from thens to the kynge, and no ferther. So that, in conclusion, the compleyntes of holi churche must come before the kynge,* and not to 7 the Pope. The seveneth, that alle dettes, that were owynge through truth plight, shulde not be pleded in spiritualle, but in temporalle 8 Court. The eight, that the Petirs pens, that to the Pope shulde be taken, to the kyuge

9 were gadered. The nenyth,

if eny Clerke for felony were taken, and so provede, he shulde first be disgrade, and then throgh Jugement hange hym, or elles drawe. For thies, and many othere good, seynt Thomas fledde out of Englonde, and after warde was martrede. And nedes he must be martrede, or elles holý churche hadde evir be in grete bondage, þat of verey right shulde be fre. And that same yere diede the Emperes Molde.

bilyue, fast. bindis, binds. biriels, burials, graves. bis, grey, black. bisandes, by the sands. biseke, beseech, desire, intrcat. bisemed, beseemed, seemed. bisent, beseeched. bisouh, besought. bish, bishop. Our Ancestors had different ways of writ- * 3 The ing and pronouncing Pope's 8this Word. In Saxon premacy trenched 'tis birceop. In Henry apone. the VIIts time they often writ, and pronounc'd it, pushup. Hence an old MS. Note, that my ingenious Friend Thomas Ward, of Longbridge near Warwick,

is this syllable.

2 And so

Esq;. met with, and communicated to me: Thomas Ulzay pushup of Yourke cardinalle & legate of Lattery dyed at Laycetter the xxix day of Novembyr anno regis H. viii. xxii. Bishop's-Waltham in Hampshire in some Maps is styled BushWaltham. bistad, consumed, confined, put. bistad in hold, put in hold, confined in hold or in prison. bisted, fared, bested, besteed, put to it. fulle hard was bisted, was very hardly put to it. þe clergie ille bisted, the clergy had fared ill.

bisuike, deceive. Ab. Angl. Sax. berpican, supplantare, decipere, seducere.

bit, bit, bite.

bitaken, committed to, given to. bitault, committed, committed to. bite, to bite, to abide, to alight. biteched,committed, intrusted w.th. Ab Ang. Sax: betæcan, tradere. commendare, biten, between.

bitid, it betided, it happened. bitidde, betide, betid.

bi tide, betimes.

bitides, happens. bitraised, betrayed. bitraist, betray'd. bituen, between.

bituene, between, between whiles. bituex, betwixt.

bityme sive bi tyme, betimes, early, soon, presently.

biwan, bewan, won, got. bi went, turned, turned about, winded about. blanne, ceased. blaunche, white. blenk, blink, look aside, transgression, wrong, damage, mischief.

blithe, glad, merry, joyfull. blitheli sive blithely, gladly, rea dily.

blipelý, readily, chearfully, glad. ly. blithly, gladly. blo, blew.

blome, bloom, blossom, flower. Ab Angl. Sax. bloɣm sive bloɲma, flos.

blynfeld, blindfold, blinded.
blythe, glad.
blythely, gladly.
bo, but.

bode, message sive a message,

news, messenger, messengers, rumour, tidyngs, boded, forbode, præsaged. boke, book. The Saxon is boc or bec. The ancients used to write upon the bark of trees, particularly upon the bark of beech trees, the greatest plenty whereof, among us, grew in that Province call'd, probably from thence, Buckinghamshire. Afterwards even pieces of Wood were called also bokes, insomuch that boka' also signify'd an old bit of Wood,

Of