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English Lyrics of the XIIIth Century


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[section]
 1. 
1. Sunset on Calvary.
 2. 
2. Penitence for Wasted Life.
 3. 
3. ‘On God Ureisun of Ure Lefdi.’
 4. 
[4. Stabat iuxta Christi Crucem.]
 5. 
5. A Prisoner's Prayer.
 6. 
6. ‘Sumer Is Icumen In.’
 7. 
7. Now Comes the Blast of Winter.
 8. 
8. I Walk with Sorrow.
 9. 
9. Love's Madness.
 10A. 
10. Death's Wither-Clench. [A.]
 10B. 
[10. Death's Wither-Clench. B.]
 11A. 
11. Three Sorrowful Tidings. [A.]
 11B. 
[11. Three Sorrowful Tidings. B.]
 12A. 
12. Three Sorrowful Things. [A.]
 12B. 
[12. Three Sorrowful Things. B.]
 13. 
13. Memorare Novissima Tua.
 14. 
14. A Warning to Sir Eode.
 15. 
15. A Prayer to the Redeemer.
 16. 
16. Mater Salutaris.
 17A. 
17. Of One That Is So Fair and Bright. [A.]
 17B. 
[17. Of One That Is So Fair and Bright. B.]
 18. 
18. A Prayer of the Five Joys.
 19. 
19. The Lily with Five Leaves.
 20. 
20. Shroud and Grave.
 21A. 
21. Tell Me, Wight in the Broom. [A.]
 21B. 
[21. Tell Me, Wight in the Broom. B.]
 22. 
22. Gaude Virgo Mater Christi.
 23. 
23. The Ten Commandments.
 24. 
24. A Light Is Come to the World.
 25. 
25. The Bargain of Judas.
 26. 
26. The Journey of the Three Kings.
 27. 
27. Look on Me with Thy Sweet Eyes.
 28a. 
28a. Doomsday.
 28b. 
28b. Doomsday.
 29. 
29. The Latemest Day. [A.]
 29. 
[29. The Latemest Day. B.]
 30. 
30. When the Turf is Thy Tower.
 31. 
31. I Sing of One That is Matchless.
 32A. 
32. A Prayer of Penitence to Our Lady. [A.]
 32B. 
[32. A Prayer of Penitence to Our Lady. [B.]
 32C. 
[32. A Prayer of Penitence to Our Lady. [C.]
 33. 
33. Aspice Mitissime Conditor.
 34. 
34. Man's Leman on the Rood.
 35A. 
35. My Leman on the Rood. I. [A.]
 35B. 
[35. My Leman on the Rood. I. B.]
 36. 
36. My Leman on the Rood. II.
 37. 
37. My Leman on the Rood. III.
 38. 
38. Over the Bier of the Worldling.
 39. 
39. Will and Wit.
 40. 
40. Weal Is a Cursed Thing.
 41. 
41. The Five Blisses.
 42. 
42. An Antiphon of St. Thomas of Canterbury.
 43. 
43. Friar Thomas de Hales' Love Ron.
 44. 
44. Gabriel's Greeting to Our Lady.
 45. 
45. Jesus Sorrows for His Mother.
 46A. 
46. This World's Bliss Will Not Last. [A.]
 46B. 
[46. This World's Bliss Will Not Last. B.]
 47. 
47. Our Lady Sorrows for Her Son.
 48. 
48. ‘Vbi Sount Qui Ante Nos Fuerount.’
 49A. 
49. Dialogue between Our Lady and Jesus on the Cross. [A.]
 49B. 
[49. Dialogue between Our Lady and Jesus. B.]
 50. 
50. ‘Swete Ihesu King of Blisse.’
 51. 
51. ‘Le Regret de Maximian.’
 52. 
52. The Thrush and the Nightingale.
 53. 
53. What Love Is Like.
 54. 
54. A Springtide Song of the Redemption.
 55. 
55. A Prayer to the Mother of Mildness.
 56A. 
56. The Mind of the Passion. [A.]
 56B. 
[56. The Mind of the Passion. B.]
 57. 
57. Be Free with What Christ Sends.
 58. 
58. World's Bliss Have Good Day.
 59. 
59. A Hymn to the Heavenly Father.
 60. 
60. A Song to the Queen of Heaven.
 61. 
61. Mother Mild, Flower of All.
 62. 
62. Now Springs the Spray.
 63. 
63. A Spring Song of Love to Jesus.
 64. 
64. A Song of Sorrow for the Passion.
 65. 
65. An Orison of Penitence to Our Lady.
 66. 
66. I Will Become a Friar.
 67. 
67. A Bidding Prayer.
 68. 
68. Our Lady Help Us at Our Ending.
 69. 
69. In Sign of Love to Man.
 70A. 
70. Decem Precepta. [A.]
 70B. 
70. Decem Precepta. B.]
 71. 
71. Proprietates Mortis.
 72. 
72. A Song of Lewes.
 73. 
73. From Earth to Earth.
 74. 
74. On the Follies of Fashion.
 88. 
[88. A Prayer of Penitence to God Almighty. B.]

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26. The Journey of the Three Kings.

[_]

Trinity Coll. Camb. MS. 323.

Wolle ye iheren of twelte day,
Wou þe present was ibroust
In-to betlem þer iesus lay?
þer þre kinges him habbet isoust,
a sterre wiset hem þe wey.
suc nas neuer non iwroust,
ne werede he nouþer fou ne grey,
þe louerd þat us alle hauet iwroust.
Þre kinges seten in here þede,
boþen yonge men & hore,
ho iseien one sterre scinen,
ne seien ho neuer none more.
wel ho wisten wou hit hede,
wise men & witti of lore,
þat iesus was icomen for nede
so hit was iquidded yore.
Þre kinges for ho it herden quidden
þat iesus wolde ibore ben;
þe time com ase ho herdden siggen,
a briste sterre ho gunen isen.
40

ha gunnen bone for to bidden,
loc bi-gunnen to greiþen heo,
mirre & stor, gold þet þridde—
huc on of hem brouste þe þre.
Foret þe kinges gunnen iwenden,
þe sterre bi-gon for to springen,
þe on sait, ‘gold we sculen him beden
so me scal to riche kinge.’
‘þe stor is god to prestes nede.’
þe þridde, ‘mirre we sculen him bringe.’
heo comen into heroudes þede
& þer heo herden sotele tidinge.
Þo heroudes herde þe kinges speken,
of alle his blisse he was skere;
ful ney is herte wolde to-breken
& þan he madam glade chere:
‘hendi kinges, fer at-reken,
sechet þat child & comet eft here.’
on him he þoute to ben awreken,
if he wiste on londe wer he wer[e].
Þe kinges weren of fer icomen
þet seli child for-to sechen,
a present ho heden vnder-nomen—
wel was hem þat ho it geten.
þer comet an angele atte frome
& waket hem ase ho gunnen to slep[en],
& bid hem þene grimme gome
Heroudes & is lond fur-leten.
Of þe boru heo gunnen riden
al þoru heroudes rede;
þe sterre was boþen sotel & sene,
into bedlehem heo hem con lede
41

to him þat weldet sonne & mone,
blosmen boþen wite & rede—
lowe he liste ut of is trone
to sauen us alle quike & dede.
Þes cnistes weren a-cneu iseten
& heret þet child of hende hewe;
þau he lutel were þe yet,
for king heo him ful wel icnewe.
þre kinges þe hauet igret,
ibrout heo habbet a present newe.
he bit þat heroudes lond fur-saket—
an angel us saide he nas nout trewe.
Þes kinges were boþe some & saiste,
& under-fongen was here sonde;
a sclepit al þat ilke naiste
ase trewe wid-uten niþe & onde.
þer com an angel & hem awaste
& dede hem wel to under-stonde,
& þene riste wei hem taiste
hammard in-to here owene londe.
Þer he godes wille wrouten,
þe riste-wise king wid-uten rous,
heuene king, ful hei icorn,
iborn was in an asse boss;
her e werede an croune of þorne,
in worlde he ede wit-uten scoes.
þenc þou, mon, þat tou ne bee lorn
for alle dedis þat tou doest.
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