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.

                                
                                  Till he come tyll þat same ceté,
                                  Line 172 
                                
                                  Whare Cosdroas so sitand es
                                
                                  Als a god in grete reches.
                                
                                  Into þe toure he went full sone
                                
                                  And fand him sitand in his trone,
                                  Line 176 
                                
                                  Dubbed obut with pricius stanes,
                                
                                  And dight ful nobilly for þe nanes.
                                
                                  Biside him stode þat haly tre
                                
                                  Þat þai had soght so forto se;
                                  Line 180 
                                
                                  And souerainly for þat tre sake,
                                
                                  Wirschip to him gan þai make.
                                
                                  Þan cosdroas was full affraid,
                                
                                  And þus Eraclius to him said:—
                                  Line 184 
                                
                                  "If þo will haue þi life in land,
                                
                                  Als I say sall þou vnder-stand,
                                
                                  For þou has done þis tre honore,
                                
                                  Þat bare ihesu oure sauyore;
                                  Line 188 
                                
                                  All if þou did it noght for him
                                
                                  Vnto þe grante I life and lym.
                                
                                  At þe reuerence of þis haly tre,
                                
                                  If þo will trow in ihesu fre,
                                  Line 192 
                                
                                  And forsake all þi mawmetry,
                                
                                  Þat þou and þi folk yn affy,
                                
                                  And turn þe unto ihesu crist,
                                
                                  And in his name will be baptist,
                                  Line 196 
                                
                                  Þi life in land þan haue þou sall
                                
                                  And all þi kingdom still withall.
                                
                                  And if þou will noght do þis rede
                                
                                  With my swerd þou sal be dede."
                                  Line 200 
                                
                                  Þis sarzin wald noght turn his mode,
                                
                                  To leue his fals goddes for no gude.
                                
                                  Þarfore Eraclius ful sone [folio 178b:1] 
                                
                                  Strake of his heuyd with-outen hone,
                                  Line 204 
                                
                                  And bad þat he sul[d] haue beriing,
                                
                                  By-caus þat he had bene a king.
                                
                                  Þan þai toke þat haly tre,

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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 127
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 7, 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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