167:, by far the most important source for both poems. They both have an intimate knowledge of law and the courts, which has led some to believe that the author or authors were law clerks. Both poems manifest a delight in word play, though this is typical of alliterative poems generally. But the differences are striking as well.
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edition that "the two fragments form part of one larger composition." This assertive opinion has also generally fallen out of favour within the academic community for a more nuanced and cautious belief. As James Dean argues: "The two alliterative fragments do have much in common. They both presume to
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The narrator travels to individual groups to debate the true nature of "Mum" and the "Sothsegger," but instead finds only ignorance (a side-effect of "Mum's" qualities), and discovers that "Mum's" pervasive influence lies at the heart of corruption within the King's advisers, nobles, scholars
191:... to be a truth teller and name names may have proved too much for him. He prefers more general, satirical attacks to explicit personalities or incidents... It seems best to hold open the possibility that there may be a connection between them, but there may not be.
53:, meditating on statecraft and attacking state institutions that oppress and exploit the poor. Indeed, this attack on the rich and defence of the poor is a theme found throughout the poem, a typical line being:
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The poem then ends with the narrator consulting a variety of texts and stories, including a collection of "pryvé poyse" (l. 1344) detailing political abuses, a story of
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contains specific allusions to events and personalities of
Richard II's reign, but this is not the case with
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Mum and the
Sothsegger Edited from the Manuscripts Camb. Univ. Ll. iv. 14 and Brit. Mus. Add 41666.
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Beneath the surface of the debate form, the content is primarily that of a medieval
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wrote the piece, but this theory is no longer accepted by the academic community.
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is an anonymous fifteenth century alliterative
English poem, written during the "
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79:(ll. 871–1287), where the idealised Sothsegger king is presented as a
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ignores
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also became heavily intertwined with the fifteenth century poem
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Truth-Telling and the
Tradition of Mum and the Sothsegger
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advise a king, include satirical critiques, and imitate
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In its latter stages the poem also includes an extended
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That for faute of your fees fallen in thaire pleyntes.
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Look ye reeche not of the riche and rewe on the poure
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29:between the principles of the oppressive figure of
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37:("Truth-Speaker", cognate with the modern word "
302:Richard the Redeless and Mum and the Sothsegger
252:Richard the Redeless and Mum and the Sothsegger
264:Cambridge Companion to Literature in English
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175:and the latter part of his reign, whereas
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215:Mum and the Sothsegger
132:Mum and the Sothsegger
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27:medieval debate poetry
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183:'s administration...
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321:Middle English poems
185:Richard the Redeless
169:Richard the Redeless
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140:John Bale
100:The Devil
81:beekeeper
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181:Henry IV
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92:Travels
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104:Merlin
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