The Middle English Evangelie

Gertrude H. Campbell

doi:10.1632/456948

The Middle English Evangelie

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 December 2020

Gertrude H. Campbell

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The Middle English metrical paraphrase of the gospel narrative bearing the title La Estorie del Euangelie has been printed hitherto only from the fragmentary text in the Vernon MS. Indeed, Horstmann was not aware that any other MS. of this poem existed. In the following pages, the Evangelie is printed from two additional MSS.: (1) a fragment of 519 lines in Dulwich Coll. MS. XXII (D), which Sir George Warner dates about 1300, and (2) a complete text from Bodl. MS. Add. C 38 (B), which according to Mr. Madan was written between 1410 and 1420.

Type: Research Article
Information: PMLA , Volume 30 , Issue 3 , 1915 , pp. 529 - 613

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1632/456948 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1915

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^{page 529 note 1} Printed by Horstmann, with introduction, in Engl. Stud. viii, pp. 254–259; also in Minor Poems of the Vernon ms., EETS. xcviii, pp. 1–11.

^{page 529 note 2} These mss. were called to my attention by Professor Carleton Brown, who also kindly placed at my disposal rotographs of the text in the Dulwich ms.

^{page 529 note 3} The title of V indicates the complete scope of the poem as follows (EETS. xcviii, p. 1; cf. also the English index to the Vernon ms., ibid., p. 11, note): “I ceste liuere est escrit la estorie del Euangelie en engleis solum ceo ke ele est escrit en latin, et continue de 1a Anunciacion nostre seignour Ihe su cri st. De la Natiuite benette. De sa Passion. De sa Resurexion. De sa Ascension e de sa Glorificacion. Et de soun Auenemen t a Jugement et de nostre presentement en cors en alme.”

^{page 530 note 4} Catalogue of the Manuscripts and Muniments of Alleyn's College of God's Gift at Dulwich, by George F. Warner, 1881, i, pp. 344–5.

^{page 530 note 5} Y is dotted in day 18, y 34, may 38, day 49, may 70. inewardly 89, may 125, may 160, syhende 375, fleschly 385, lay 404, may 407, eye 462, hye 518. þ is dotted in þi 13, þat 20, þouht 27, þat 30, þe 36, þe 39, þere 67, þar-inne 86, þouru 388.

^{page 531 note 6} Summary Catalogue of Western mss. in the Bodleian Library, F. Madan, Oxford, 1905, v, p. 764.

^{page 531 note 7} For the relationship of such poems as the Evangelie to the South English Legendary, cf. The Early South English Legendary, ed. Horstmann, EETS. lxxxvii, Introd., pp. vii-viii.

^{page 532 note 8} D follows the story in Luke in the following order: (a) annunciation and conception 224–82, Luke i, 26–37; (b) visit to Elizabeth 283–336, Luke i, 38–56; (c) St. John's birth and naming 337–445, Luke i, 6–25, 58–77; (d) Mary's return 446–9, Luke i, 56. V and B insert (c) in the midst of (b), after Elizabeth's greeting 283–310, and follow it by the account of Mary's stay 329a-336, and the Magnificat 311–29.

^{page 532 note 9} D 318, þat is of mihte to leyse ant binde; B þat mightful is to lese & bynde; V 282, þat mihtful is to lame and blynde. DB 430–1, Of gret mihte scal be þi speche / To godis folc þou schalt preche; V 261, þis speche to godus folc þou schalt preche.

^{page 533 note 10} The Northern Passion, ed. Miss F. A. Foster, Introduction, Bryn Mawr diss., 1913, p. 10.

^{page 535 note 11} For discussion of the relationships of these works to one another and to Augustine, see Lauchert, Geschichte des Physiologus, Strassburg, 1889, pp. 77–79.

^{page 535 note 12} See Notes on these passages.

^{page 535 note 13} The citations include Ysydorus 72, philosophus libro de animalibus 130, Boethius libro consolationis 142, Martinus in sermone quodam 198, Augustinus 220, Beda in glossa 336, Beda predicator 446, cantor 439, magister in historiarum glossa 462, historiarum 503; besides anonymous references at 14, 198, 268, 282, 469, and references in the text of B to Seint Austyn 1549, Bede 1286, Jerome 527, 1271, Bernard 943, Anselm 1789. The majority of these defy identification; see Notes.

^{page 535 note 14} See note on D 198, infra, p. 611; for Martinus, cf. Catholic Encyclopedia, art. Martin of Leon.

^{page 536 note 15} “Havelok, ed. Skeat, Oxford, 1902, p. x.

^{page 536 note 16} For other examples of this confusion in the dotting of y and þ, ef. Heuser's comments on ms. Bodl. 425, in Anglia xxix, p. 395.

^{page 536 note 17} E. g., at D 198 lumbum is written for limbum, infirnum for infernum, Signum for sinum. The more usual error consists in the omission of letters; all these cases are noted in the printed text.

^{page 536 note 18} Cf. Havelok 2254, is for his; ed. Skeat, EETS;, p. iv.

^{page 536 note 19} Cf. Havelok, ed. cit., Glossary under olde, ende, be.

^{page 536 note 20} For other examples, cf. Foerster, A 13th-century Dream-book from ms. Earl. 2253, in Herrig's Archiv, xix, p. 36, note.

^{page 537 note 21} For similar instances from Layamon and M. E. Genesis and Exodus of inorganic h due to French scribes, cf. Diehn, Die Pronomina im Frühmittelenglischen, Kieler Stud, zur engl. Philol. i, Heidelberg, 1901, p. 45.

^{page 537 note 22} Cf. Havelok 752, neth, and Skeat's remark in ed. Oxford, 1902, Introd., p. xiii.

^{page 537 note 23} Cf. Havelok 1873.

^{page 537 note 24} This may, however, be dialectical; cf. Note on D 154.

^{page 537 note 25} Cf. Havelok 218, 1644, and ed. Oxford 1902, Introd., p. xii.

^{page 538 note 26} Cf. Björkmann, Scandinavian Loan Words in M. E., Morsbach's Studien für engl. Philol. vii, p. 72, note 1.

^{page 540 note 27} The spelling goed is apparently used to distinguish gōd from gòd; it is found in the North Yorkshire text of Hampole's Commentary on the Psalter, preserved in ms. Univ. Coll. lxiv, of the 15th cent.; cf. Bramley's ed. of the Psalter, Oxford, 1884, and Skeat's note, p. 527. The spelling is also found in ms. Digby 86, where both spellings are used for both words; cf. Middle English Humorous Tales in Verse, ed. McKnight, Belles Lettres Series, 1913; Glossary s. god.

^{page 540 note 28} Cf. Van der Gaaf, The transition from the impersonal to the personal construction in Middle English, Anglistische Forschungen xiv (1904), pp. 77 ff.

^{page 540 note 29} With the exception of shul 1356, mowe 1464, and gun 1705, these Southern plurals stand in glossarial and homiletic passages which could have been easily inserted or omitted at the pleasure of the scribe; cf. the bestiary passages in D. If these passages were interpolated, however, the source cannot have been another poem, as portions of these passages are included in R. Moreover, R, although a Southern text, has the Northern pl. schal 105, where B has shul; these passages, therefore, must have stood in Northern dialect in the original of R. That the scribe of B had two mss. before him appears from the error in the account of Jesus' baptism by John, 825–868, where 825–836 are repeated as 843–854, with textual changes in 828 and 834 which show that the scribe did not merely repeat from the same ms. but must have copied the same passage from two different mss. with slightly different readings. The presence of the Southern plurals may be accounted for on the supposition that the first ms., the basis of B, was a Northern text, in a condensed form similar to V, without the homiletical passages, and that the second ms. was a Southern text in an expanded form, from which the scribe inserted the didatic and other passages in their proper places.

^{page 541 note 30} For a detailed study of the dialect of the Vernon ms., cf. J. Schipper, Englische Alexius-leg enden, in Quellen und Forschungen, xx, 1877.

^{page 541 note 31} The Northern Passion, ed. cit., Introd., pp. 10, 24, 38–39. For a detailed study of the dialect of R, see pp. 24–26.

^{page 543 note 32} The reading palles, however, is found only in B; V reads “Heo leyden him in Bestes stalles,” which may be the original reading.

^{page 543 note 33} Another example of this change of final de to t, destroying the syntax, is found in biwent: shent (inf.) 736–7; read biwende: shende.

^{page 545 note 1} ms., ine as one word.

^{page 545 note 2} ms., Dome as one word.

^{page 545 note 3} ms., title in margin opp. v. 1. Nouu m testamentu m/ d omini n ostri ih asu christi./

^{page 545 note 4} ms., two letters erased after wan; hu (?) faintly legible.

^{page 546 note 5} ms., ime as one word.

^{page 546 note 6} ms., iwot as one word.

^{page 547 note 7} ms., t above the line.

^{page 547 note 8} ms., ritte, with h above.

^{page 548 note 9} ms., þe deleted by line, with o above.

^{page 549 note 10} Read “se ant here,” for rhyme.

^{page 549 note 11} Infinitive.

^{page 549 note 12} ? kunde.

^{page 549 note 12a} A hyphen before the second part of a compound word indicates a hyphen in the ms.

^{page 550 note 13} ms., in written above the line.

^{page 551 note 14} ms., d written at the left of the line for insertion.

^{page 551 note 15} ? alswo.

^{page 551 note 16} The stain here in the ms. renders three letters illegible; possibly mad.

^{page 554 note 17} ? of.

^{page 555 note 18} ms., in written above the line.

^{page 556 note 19} ms., we written above the line.

^{page 556 note 20} ms., so written above the line.

^{page 557 note 21} At the left of v. 202 in the ms. is an incomplete paragraph sign, stroked out.

^{page 557 note 22} ?iwnide.

^{page 557 note 23} ms., first i written above the line.

^{page 558 note 24} ms., on the left of the paragraph, sign at the beginning of the Latin quotation is a capital B, stroked out. A space of two lines is left after the Latin.

^{page 558 note 25} ms., was written above the line.

^{page 558 note 26} ms., wine written as one word.

^{page 559 note 27} ms. B, in the margin opp. v. 234 are the words (n)e timeas maria &c.

^{page 560 note 28} ms., s written at end of line.

^{page 560 note 29} ms., re written above the line.

^{page 560 note 30} ms., in the margin opp. v. 244 are the words Quom odo fiet istud q uonia m/virum non cognosco./

^{page 561 note 31} ms., in the margin opp. v. 248 are the words Sp irit us s anc tus su perue niet in te &c./

^{page 561 note 32} ms., in the margin opp. v. 250 are the words Quod e nim ex te nascet ur &c./

^{page 562 note 33} ms., h written above the line.

^{page 563 note 34} ms., te written above the line.

^{page 563 note 35} ms., h written above the o.

^{page 564 note 36} ms., u written above the o.

^{page 565 note 37} ms., metīgie; i deleted by dot.

^{page 565 note 38} ms., aswete as one word.

^{page 565 note 39} Infinitive.

^{page 565 note 40} In ms. B, vv. 311–328 stand after vv. 329a-336, and the whole section stands after v. 433.

^{page 567 note 41} ms., a written above the z.

^{page 569 note 42} ms. wrouht, w deleted by dots, b written above.

^{page 569 note 43} ms. wrouht, wr deleted by dots, s written above.

^{page 570 note 44} ms., h written above the t.

^{page 571 note 45} ?godis.

^{page 572 note 46} ms., u written above r.

^{page 572 note 47} ms., t written above n.

^{page 572 note 48} ms., imay.

^{page 573 note 49} ms., t written above the line.

^{page 573 note 50} ms., manion.

^{page 573 note 51} ms., -parare.

^{page 573 note 52} ms., godis.

^{page 573 note 53} ms., imbinde.

^{page 574 note 54} ms., l written above o.

^{page 574 note 55} ?i-cleped.

^{page 574 note 56} ms., r written above the line.

^{page 575 note 57} ms., t written above the line, oc slightly below, with a blur from erasure.

^{page 575 note 58} ms., of serue, as one word.

^{page 575 note 59} ms., amare, a deleted by dot and o placed above.

^{page 575 note 60} In the ms. B, vv. 329 a-336 and vv. 311–328 follow at this point. I print them opp. the corresponding lines in the Dulwich text.

^{page 576 note 61} The page has been trimmed along the outer margin so that very few of the initials in the first column are visible.

^{page 577 note 62} ms., amaide.

^{page 578 note 63} ms. e, deleted by dot.

^{page 579 note 64} ms., amaidin written as one word.

^{page 579 note 65} ms., u written above the line.

^{page 581 note 66} End of the Vernon text.

^{page 582 note 67} ms., h deleted by dot.

^{page 583 note 68} ms., h, deleted by dot.

^{page 583 note 69} ?ms., faint paragraph sign and illegible initial.

^{page 584 note 70} ms., hem, e deleted by dot and i written above.

^{page 584 note 71} Read ageyn comyng, for the rhyme.

^{page 585 note 72} ms., in the margin opp. v. 708 are the words [N]unc dimittis/ [s]eruum tuu m d omine. The page is trimmed, and the initial letters are cut off.

^{page 591 note 73} mss., in the margin opp. v. 995 are the words Beati paup eres sp iritu./

^{page 591 note 74} ms., from euyl, m euyl deleted by dots and foule written above.

^{page 591 note 75} ms., in margin opposite this line is placed the word Nota.

^{page 598 note 76} The paragraph division should be at v. 1327, instead of v. 1325, as it is in the ms.

^{page 602 note 77} ms., fides in margin.

^{page 602 note 78} ms., spes in margin.

^{page 602 note 79} ms., Caritas in margin.

^{page 603 note 80} ms., de, deleted by dots.

^{page 607 note 81} ms., nota in margin.

^{page 608 note 82} ms., so repeated, deleted by dots.

^{page 608 note 83} ms., vix saluabitur iustus in margin.

^{page 609 note 84} Yuil.

^{page 609 note 85} ms., inyght, i deleted by dot.

^{page 610 note 1} Migne, Patr. Lat., 158, col. 724–5.

^{page 610 note 2} Ibid., 36, col. 465–6.

^{page 610 note 3} Ibid., 177, col. 64.

^{page 610 note 4} An OE. Miscellany, EETS. xlix, pp. 1–25.

^{page 610 note 5} Migne, Patr. Lat. 36, col. 681–2.

^{page 610 note 6} Ibid., 37, col. 1324.

^{page 611 note 7} Ibid., 177, col. 102.

^{page 611 note 8} Ibid., 37, col. 1323.

^{page 611 note 9} Ibid., 177, col. 55.

^{page 611 note 10} The Middle English Genesis and Exodus, ed. Morris, EETS. vii, p. 75.

^{page 611 note 11} Altenglische Legenden, ed. Horstmanri, Paderborn, 1875, pp. 67–69. The introduction of 80 lines is prefixed to the Geburt Jesu in mss. Ashmole 43 and Egerton 1993, both of the early 14th century, and also stands as a separate poem in Laud ms. 622, of the latter 14th century (printed by Furnivall in Adam Davy, EETS. lxix, pp. 93–96.)

^{page 612 note 12} Migne, Patr. Lat. 208, col. 9.

^{page 612 note 13} Ibid., col. 72.

^{page 612 note 14} History of the Holy Rood-Tree, etc., ed. Napier, EETS. ciii, p. 81.

^{page 612 note 15} Migne, Patr. Lat. 39, col. 2107.

^{page 612 note 16} Ibid., 198, col. 1726.

^{page 612 note 17} Minor Poems of the Vernon MS., ed. Horstmann, EETS. xcviii, p. 5, note on v. 162.

^{page 613 note 18} Ed. Small, Edinburgh 1862. The passage runs, “For it falls to a mighty king/That messager word of him bring/Ar he com til his biging/Als sain Jon broht of Crist tithing.”

^{page 613 note 19} Egilsson, Lexicon Poeticum Antiquae Linguae Septentrionalis, 1860.

^{page 613 note 20} Promptorium Parvulorum, ed. Mayhew, EETS. cii, pp. 189, 484.

^{page 613 note 21} Morsbach's Studien für engl. Philol. vii.

^{page 613 note 22} Hymnologicum Repertorium, Louvain, 1892, i, p. 74, nos. 1213–1215.

^{page 613 note 23} Ed. Lyons, 1530.

^{page 613 note 24} Migne, Patr, Lat., 198, col. 1539.

^{page 613 note 25} I. e., Geburt Jesu, v. 749 (Alteng. Leg., ed. Horstmann, Paderborn, 1875, p. 96), Kentish Sermon on the Offering of the Magi (EETS. xlix, pp. 26–29), Ayenbite (ed. EETS. xxiii, p. 211), and Wm. of Shoreham (EETS. ixxxvi, p. 120).

^{page 613 note 26} Migne, Patr. Lat., 198, col. 1543.

^{page 613 note 27} L. c., col. 1625.

^{page 613 note 28} Ibid., 159, col. 282–3.

^{page 613 note 29} See Miss Foster, Northern Passion, Introd., ed. cit., pp. 64–5.

^{page 613 note 30} Migne. Patr. Lat., 198, col. 1630.

^{page 613 note 31} Ibid., 158, col. 721–729.

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