Illis diebus ortus est rumor et ingens clamor in populo eo quod ubi hastilidia prosequebantur, quasi in quolibet loco dominarium cohors affuit, quasi comes interludii in diuerso et mirabili apparatu uirili, ad numerum quandoque quasi .xl. quantoque .l dominarum, de speciosioribus et pulcioribus, non melioribus tocius regni, in tunicis partitis scolicet una parte / de una secta, et altera de alia sectra, cum capiciis breuibus et liripiis ad modum cordarum circa capus aduolutis, et zonis argento uel auro bene circumstipatis in extranseurso uentris sub umbilico habentes cultellos quos daggerios wlgaliter dicunt, in powchiis desuper impositis. Et sic procedeband in electis destrariis uel aliis equis bene comptis de loco ad locum hasiludiorum. Et tali modo expendeband et deuastaband bona sua, et corpora sua ludibriis et scurilosis lasciuiis euxitaband, ut romor populi personabat.
Et
sic nec Deum uerbanteur, nec uerecundam populi uocem erubescebant, laxato
matrimonialis pudicie freno. Nee hii quos sequebantur animaduertebant quantam
graciam et prefulgidam expedicionem Deus, omnium bonorum largitor Anglorum
milicie contulerat, contra mones inimicos undecunque eis aduersantes et
quali priuilegio triumphalis uictorie in omni loco illos pretulerat. Sed
Deus in hiis sicud in cinctis aliis affuit mirabili remediu, eorum dissapando
dissolicionem. Nam loca et tempora ad hec uana assignata imbum resolucione
tonitrui et fulguris coruscacione, et uariarum tempestatum mirabili uentilacione
preocupauit.
In those days a rumour arose and great excitement amongst the people because, when tournaments were held, at almost every place a troop of ladies would appear, as thought they were a company of players, dressed in men's clothes of striking richness and variety, to the number of forty or sometimes fifty such damsels, all very eye-catching and beautiful, though hardly of the kingdom's better sort. They were dressed in parti-coloured tunics, of one colour on one side and a different one on the other, with short hoods, and liripipes cound about their heads like strings, with belts of gold and silver clasped about them, and even with the kind of knives commonly called daggers slung low across their bellies, in pouches. And thus they paraded themselves at tournaments on fine chargers and other well-arrayed horses, and consumed and spent their substance, and wantonly and with disgraceful lubricity displayed their bodies, as rumor ran.
And
thus, neither fearing God nor abashed by the voice of popular outrage,
they slipped the traces of matrimonial restraint. Nor did those whom they
accompanied consider what grace and outstanding blessings God, the fount
of all good things, had bestowed upon English Knighthood in all its successful
encounters with its enemies, and what exceptional triumphs of victory He
had allowed them everywhere. But God in this as in all things mad a marvellous
remedy to dispel their wantoness, for at the times and places appointed
for those vanitites He visited cloudbursts, and thunder and flashing lightening,
and tempestes of astonishing violence against them.