Handlyng Synne
Handlyng Synne,by Mannyng of Brunne , a verse treatise on sin, written in rough octosyllabics in lively narrative and begun in 1303 . It is based on the French Manuel des pechez, written in the north of England by William of Wadington . It deals with sin under various headings: the Ten Commandments, the Seven Deadly Sins, Sacrilege, and the Sacraments, culminating with Penance. Each sin is illustrated by a story, rather in the manner of Gower 's Confessio Amantis, and the value of the work lies in Mannyng's narrative vigour. His most familiar and often anthologized story is ‘The Dancers of Colbek’ (item one, for example, in Sisam's Fourteenth Century Verse and Prose), which tells of some churchyard revellers, including the priest's daughter, who would not stop dancing when the priest bade them do so and whom he cursed, condemning them to dance incessantly for a year. They do this, and at the end of the year the...
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