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.

                                
                                  a riche liknis ay beris hit,
                                
                                  hit is þe heued of hali writte,
                                
                                  foundement. of our clergie,
                                
                                  rewle hit is of haly vie.
                                  Line 392 
                                
                                  makid hit is of foure and þre,
                                
                                  now is hit talde bot for a tree;
                                
                                  nokis foure and trees þrin,
                                
                                  syn þe þrid was done þer-in.
                                  Line 396 
                                
                                  In trees þrin and faure parates
                                
                                  I. vnderstande þe vij. artis;
                                
                                  of iiij. and iij., qua tellis eyuen,
                                
                                  he sal hit noumbre make of vij.
                                  Line 400 
                                
                                  þou do to gedder x. and ij.
                                
                                  þe laghis twin sal þou finde squa;
                                
                                  In x. sal þou finde þe halde,
                                
                                  in tale of twa þe new is talde.
                                  Line 404 
                                
                                  man has on croice his schaping knawen,
                                
                                  and he him-selfe on vij is drawen,
                                
                                  baþ in bodi and saule, I. say;
                                
                                  þe bodi of elementȝ twies tway,
                                  Line 408 
                                
                                  þe saule hit has of strengthis þrin,
                                
                                  þat takin of cros þai bere wiþ-in.
                                
                                  ¶ quen god þat ordeins alkin state,
                                
                                  of alle in his for-þoȝt he wate,
                                  Line 412 
                                
                                  ferlely puruaied he an;
                                
                                  a cros of tree and noȝt of stane,
                                
                                  bot þat was for to make mende
                                
                                  of þe tree þat was defende:
                                  Line 416 
                                
                                  his cros he has wroȝt with craft,
                                
                                  hit beris schap til alkin shaft.
                                
                                  wele did moises þat hit fande,
                                
                                  and dauid als þat fot þe wande,
                                  Line 420 
                                
                                  and salamon þat fel hit did;
                                
                                  and ho þat hit fande, quare hit was hid,
                                
                                  elaine at squa gerne hit soȝt,
                                
                                  and til our note now has hit broȝt,

                                  Line 424

About this Item

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 119
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
Link to this scan: https://quod.lib.umich.edu/c/cme/aha2702.0001.001/151:4

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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 30, 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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