Alphabet of tales : an English 15th century translation of the Alphabetum narrationum of Etienne de Besançon, from Additional MS. 25,719 of the British Museum / by Etienne de Besançon

About this Item

Title
Alphabet of tales : an English 15th century translation of the Alphabetum narrationum of Etienne de Besançon, from Additional MS. 25,719 of the British Museum / by Etienne de Besançon
Author
Etienne de, Besançon, d. 1294
Editor
Banks, Mary Macleod
Publication
London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner, & Co., Ltd.
1904, 1905
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Link to this Item
http://name.umdl.umich.edu/AlphTales
Cite this Item
"Alphabet of tales : an English 15th century translation of the Alphabetum narrationum of Etienne de Besançon, from Additional MS. 25,719 of the British Museum / by Etienne de Besançon." In the digital collection Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse. https://name.umdl.umich.edu/AlphTales. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed June 21, 2025.

Pages

DVIII.
Morte subita moriuntur aliquando peccatores, eciam in actu peccandi.

Petrus Damyanus tellis how som̛ tyme þer was a prynce þat hight Salamitanus [Lat. MSS. Princeps Salamitanus, Salanitanus.] . So on̛ a day hym̛ happend̛ to luke vp vnto a hyƚƚ, and he saw bruste oute at þe top of þe hiƚƚ grete low & smoke. And when̛ he saw it he said̛ vnto þaim at stude abowte hym̛; "Withouten̛ dowte þer is som̛ curste ryche man̛ dead̛ & gane vnto heƚƚ, ffor þer is swilk a custom̛ in þat contretℏ, þat when̛ þe dead̛ of a curste riche man̛ drawis nere, þat hyƚƚ wiƚƚ caste oute low & stynk of pykk and burnte stane." And when̛ þis was said̛, apon̛ þe nexte nyght after, as þis prince thoght he was sekur enoghe & lay in his bed with a strompett, sodanlie he dyed̛. Whame, as sho teld̛ afterward̛, sho suffred̛ lyg long vppon̛ hur body, and at þe laste sho felid̛ he was no man̛ bod a stynkyng caryon̛, & keste hym̛ of hur.

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