Legends of the holy rood; Symbols of the passion and cross poems. In Old English of the eleventh, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries. Edited from Mss. in the British Museum and Bodleian Libraries, with introduction, translations, and glossarial index, by Richard Morris.

                                
                                  Þan king Constantine gert call
                                
                                  Of Iewry þe maisters all,
                                
                                  Forto enquere by þaire clergy
                                
                                  What thing þat signe suld signify:
                                  Line 68 
                                
                                  Þai said, "sir, lely we ȝow hete,
                                
                                  Byfor þis tyme was a prophete
                                
                                  Hight ihesuc, and [in] þis same Ceté
                                
                                  Was he hanged on swilk a tre;
                                  Line 72 
                                
                                  Ful many men þarbi was mend,
                                
                                  And grete vertu þarof was kend,
                                
                                  Bot sone efter þe iews it hid,
                                
                                  For no might suld of it be kid,
                                  Line 76 
                                
                                  And how it was hid sal ȝe here.
                                
                                  Sir, it bifell in þis manere—
                                
                                  When ihesuc vnto ded was done,
                                
                                  Þe iews þan tok þaire counsail sone,
                                  Line 80 
                                
                                  Forto hide þat ilke haly tre,
                                
                                  So þat it suld noght honurd be;
                                
                                  Vnder þe grete hill of caluary
                                
                                  Þore groue þai it ful priuely,
                                  Line 84 
                                
                                  With two crosses þat theues on hang,
                                
                                  And also þe nayles þat war strang;
                                
                                  Al kest þai priuely in a pyt, [folio 150:2] 
                                
                                  So þat no man suld of þam wit;
                                  Line 88 
                                
                                  Þore haue þai liggen, on þis maner,
                                
                                  Sethin more þan two hundreth ȝere,
                                
                                  Sethin Tytus and vaspasian come
                                
                                  And destroyd mony iews of Rome;
                                  Line 92 
                                
                                  For right als þai boght ihesu fre
                                
                                  For thritty penis of þaire moné,
                                
                                  So war þai sold to þaire enmy
                                
                                  Euer thritty iews for a peny;
                                  Line 96 
                                
                                  On þis wise war þai al broght doun,
                                
                                  Vnder þe Emperoure subieccione,
                                
                                  So þat no man wun þore sald
                                
                                  Of þe Emperure bot þai wald hald,

                                  Line 100

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Title: Legends of the holy rood; Symbols of the passion and cross poems. In Old English of the eleventh, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries. Edited from Mss. in the British Museum and Bodleian Libraries, with introduction, translations, and glossarial index, by Richard Morris.
Author: Morris, Richard, ed. 1833-1894,
Canvas: Page 89
Publication: London,: Pub. for the Early English text society, by N. Trübner & co.,; 1871.
Subject terms: Crosses -- Legends.

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Collection: Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse
Link to this Item: https://name.umdl.umich.edu/aha2702.0001.001
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Full citation: "Legends of the holy rood; Symbols of the passion and cross poems. In Old English of the eleventh, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries. Edited from Mss. in the British Museum and Bodleian Libraries, with introduction, translations, and glossarial index, by Richard Morris." In the digital collection Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse. https://name.umdl.umich.edu/aha2702.0001.001. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed May 29, 2025.

Legends of the holy rood; Symbols of the passion and cross poems. In Old English of the eleventh, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries. Edited from Mss. in the British Museum and Bodleian Libraries, with introduction, translations, and glossarial index, by Richard Morris.

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