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.

                                
                                  And sethin als wide als þai er saun
                                
                                  Has no iew hous of his awyn;
                                
                                  Swilk maystris war made þam omell,
                                
                                  And efter þat tyme þus bifell:—
                                  Line 104 
                                
                                  In Rome ane Emperoure was þan
                                
                                  Þat named was sir adrian,
                                
                                  Cristen law wald he none ken,
                                
                                  Bot euer distryed al cristenmen;
                                  Line 108 
                                
                                  Þis Emperoure wele vnderstode
                                
                                  Whore his elders had hid þe rode,
                                
                                  And herby persayued he it right,
                                
                                  For cristen men both day and night
                                  Line 112 
                                
                                  Come to honure þat haly stede,
                                
                                  And bousomly þore made þaire bede;
                                
                                  Þai honurd þe mount of caluary,
                                
                                  In wirschip of þe cros namely.
                                  Line 116 
                                
                                  And þis Emperoure of Rome
                                
                                  Wist cristen men so þeder come,
                                
                                  Þe cros he wold noght þethin take,
                                
                                  Bot þus he ordand for þaire sake
                                  Line 120 
                                
                                  In þat same place to edify
                                
                                  A temple for þaire maumetry,
                                
                                  For cristen men suld þan forbere
                                
                                  In þat stede to mak prayere;
                                  Line 124 
                                
                                  Þan cristen men þat place refused,
                                
                                  None of þam efter þeder vsed,
                                
                                  And so it wurthed at þe last
                                
                                  Þe cros al out of minde was past,
                                  Line 128 
                                
                                  And þat was for no man herd say
                                
                                  Þarof ne in what stede it lay.
                                
                                  Lang efter þe temple of maumetry
                                
                                  Was all distroyd fro Caluary,
                                  Line 132 
                                
                                  Þan groued þe stede with thornes and breris,
                                
                                  And of þe cros no thing men heris;
                                
                                  For two hundreth ȝeres war omell,
                                
                                  Bitwix þe tymes þat I of tell. [folio 150b] 
                                  Line 136

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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 90
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 31, 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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