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.

                                
                                  ho delt hit wisely as ho wilde,
                                
                                  þat al þis werlde hit is fulfilde
                                
                                  of þe name and of þe smelle, [folio 91b] 
                                
                                  for-þi is gode þer-of to telle.
                                  Line 428 
                                
                                  Eline ne walde noȝt for lete
                                
                                  þe naylis, in hende and fete
                                
                                  þat driuen ware; ful ȝorne ho soȝt
                                
                                  til ho ham fand, fund ho noȝt,
                                  Line 432 
                                
                                  a werk of ham ho wroȝt ful fine
                                
                                  In bridel of king costantine;
                                
                                  was na cristal als briȝt,
                                
                                  ne sa shene to mani siȝt;
                                  Line 436 
                                
                                  quidder-sum [MS. sim.]  he ferde þat sire,
                                
                                  þe bridel briȝtnes bare of fire;
                                
                                  mani þat sagh þat bridel briȝt
                                
                                  turned to þe grace of goddis miȝt.
                                  Line 440 
                                
                                  costantine ham bare iij. ȝere,
                                
                                  quen he droghe til his endinge nere,
                                
                                  out to þe bridil he ham laȝt,
                                
                                  and to be side þe crois ham taȝt,
                                  Line 444 
                                
                                  þat mani vertu siþen wroȝt,
                                
                                  þorou miȝt of crist þat vs boȝt;
                                
                                  at costantine noble and in fraunce
                                
                                  god has made mani mustraunce.
                                  Line 448 
                                
                                  ¶ At saint denis is his croun,
                                
                                  wiþ þa nailis redy boun;
                                
                                  mani man come seke and sare
                                
                                  at þaire hele had fundin þare.
                                  Line 452 
                                
                                  ¶ now þe crois is broȝt til ende,
                                
                                  þe crois miȝt mote vs defende;
                                
                                  qua-sum [MS. sim.]  þis tale can beter tende,
                                
                                  for cristis loue he hit amende;
                                  Line 456 
                                
                                  þis tale, queþer hit be il or gode,
                                
                                  I fande hit writen of þe rode.
                                
                                  mani tellis diuerseli,
                                
                                  for þai mai finde diuerse story,

                                  Line 460

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 120
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 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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