Handlyng Synne is a scary text. It and its source, the Manuel des Péchés, present the consequences of sin and improper or incomplete confession in stark, often terrifying terms: priests and holy men with uncanny powers for detecting mortal sin,2 strangulation by invisible hands (877-976, 2221-352, 3156-242, 6377-492), sudden death in mid-sin (877-976, 2697-722, 3356-96, 4703-32, 11,719-54), the horrific desecrations of sinners’ corpses or graves (1547-82, 1741-862, 7983-8080, 8747-78, 11,083-126), pleas for release from tormented phantoms (2221-352, 3556-620, 10,403-96, 11,011-66), lurid visions of hell (1369-486, 2221-352, 2473-590, 3156-242, 3243-310, 4369-514, 5237-312, 6637-722, 10,403-96), avenging demons, often armed with hooks or knives (1252-84, 2473-590, 3156-242, 4369-514, 7727-882, 8161-274, 8446-570, 8747-78, 8821-84, 11,853-89), etc. At times the author, Robert Mannyng of Brunne, makes the case quite directly; in the last section, on the conditions of confession, for example, he does not beat around the bush: ‘Ne forhele [conceal] nat þy mysdede: / Goddes veniaunce shalt þou drede’ (11,709-10). The necessity, even efficacy of fear also forms a conscious element of many of the illustrative exempla. In the account of the evil squire of King Conrad, Mannyng stresses his pathological lack of fear in the face of a potentially lethal illness. This squire, guilty of extortion, treason and sacrilege, has a kind of manly courage in the face of death that dooms him to hell. In fact, he is initially described in positive chivalric terms: ‘of body vaylaunt, [valiant] / Yn armes was he a doghty squyere’ (4374-5). But when King Conrad, on a visit to his sick bed, acting as surrogate confessor, urges him to repent, the squire refuses to be afraid:

This foolhardy courage ultimately damns the squire, who has a fitful vision

of angels and devils visiting his bedside with books of his good and bad

deeds respectively.