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 Constantine was Emperoure
                                
                                  And rewlid rome with grete honoure;
                                
                                  Vnto him was tolde in þat tyde,
                                
                                  How þat þe iews þe cros gun hide.
                                  Line 140 
                                
                                  Vnto his moder he said in hi,
                                
                                  "Moder, sen we haue þe victori
                                
                                  And myne enmise þus er slone,
                                
                                  Thurgh vertu of þe cros allone,
                                  Line 144 
                                
                                  And clerkis has told to þow and me
                                
                                  Þat criste was ded on swilk a tre,
                                
                                  Ful fayn I wold þat tre war soght
                                
                                  And sone vnto more honure broght."
                                  Line 148 
                                
                                  Þan said his moder, saynt Elyne,
                                
                                  "Sun, for suth I sal noght fyne
                                
                                  Þat haly tre or I haue fun."
                                
                                  And sone hir way scho has bigun,
                                  Line 152 
                                
                                  Furth scho went with faire menȝé,
                                
                                  To ierusalem, þat riche ceté.
                                
                                  And when þe iews herd hereof tell
                                
                                  Þat þe quene come þam omell,
                                  Line 156 
                                
                                  Grete wunder had þai albidene,
                                
                                  What thing hir cuming suld bimene.
                                
                                  And al þe iews sone did scho call
                                
                                  To cum into þaire comun hall,
                                  Line 160 
                                
                                  Þe sertayn suth hir forto lere
                                
                                  Of thinges þat scho wold enquere;
                                
                                  Here-fore þe iews had mekil dout,
                                
                                  Þai gedird togeder in grete rout,
                                  Line 164 
                                
                                  And priuely þai ask þis thing,
                                
                                  What was þe caus of þe quenes cuming.
                                
                                  And sum, als þai had herd of hir,
                                
                                  Said scho come for þe cros to spir,
                                  Line 168 
                                
                                  Waron crist vnto dede was broght,
                                
                                  And ilkone said þai knew it noght;
                                
                                  So was þore ane þat hiyght Iudas,
                                
                                  Þat grete mayster omang þam was;

                                  Line 172

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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 91
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 June 2, 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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