"THE POURE PARSON OF A TOWNE" 335
due turn. Superstition is an integral part of life, and some are
even accused of witchcraft. These things required a strong good
clergy to control them, for men will listen to those whom they
know to have convictions—even though they are inclined to
dispute them: but many a priest was obviously a by-word in
these parishes, just as Sloth the Parson was in his parish, and
men could attach but little credence or respect to anything
they said.
Let us leave them on one side, and take a man as 'capable and
sincere as Chaucer's "poure parson of a towne", and try to
imagine what was his influence in his parish. In the first place,
he stood for something outside the daily round of toil and
bartering, and only reluctantly entered the arena if forced to do
so by stubborn or hostile parishioners who denied him his dues
or privileges. These, undoubtedly, he was forced to stand up
for; but, given a man such as Chaucer's parson, we may well
imagine that he got what was his without undue friction.
Secondly, small though his learning was, he was frequently the
only " clerk" in the village. His superior knowledge and reputed
wisdom settled many disputes, both at the formal "love-days",
and at other times when occasion offered. He could make the
rough account for the reeve, and the preliminary survey called
for by the lord's steward. But, above all, his sacred calling gave
him an authority and a special place which were generally un-
challenged. The Church and its ministers, as we have seen, stood
for much in medieval life, and most villagers went without ques-
tion to their parish church week by week, as well as in moments
of exaltation or of despair. The priest consoled, advised, ad-
monished, encouraged: he was with them at the great moments
of life and death, and for good or ill he was emphatically the
parson—that is the person of the village. Hence we may well
regard him as a focus of all those forces making for good in the
parish, and a constant warrior against evil and superstition.
Evil and superstition, as we have seen, were ever present in
the medieval village; but the Church standing in the centre of
things was a constant reminder to the peasant of that great un-
seen cloud of saints and believers who had gone before, and whose
witness encouraged him to believe in the omnipotence of God
and of His Holy Angels, and in the salvation only to be found