Maiden Moder Milde
For Christmas
Words: English Traditional from Harleian Ms. 2253, f. 83, British Library, London
Music: Not Stated
Source: E. K. Chambers and F. Sidgwick, eds., Early English Lyrics (London: A. H. Bullen, 1907), #XLIX, pp. 100-101.
Maiden moder milde,
Oiez eel oreysoun !
From shame thou me shilde,
E de ly malfeloun !
For love of thine childe 5
Me menez de tresoun !
Ich wes wod ant wilde,
Ore su en prisoun.
Thou art feyr ant fre,
E plein de doucour ; 10
Of thee sprong the ble,
Ly soverein creatour.
Mayde, byseche I thee
Vostre seint socour,
Meoke ant mylde, be with me 15
Per la sue amour !
Tho Judas Jesum founde,
Donque ly beysa.
He wes bete ant bounde,
Que nus tous fourma. 20
Wyde were is wounde
Que le Gyew ly dona;
He tholede harde stounde,
Me poi le greva.
On ston ase thou stode, 25
Pucele, tot pens aunty
Thou restest the under rode,
Ton jitz veites pendant ;
Thou seye is sides of blode,
Lalme de ly par taunt. 30
He ferede uch an fode
En mound que fust vivaunt.
Ys siden were sore ;
Le sang de ly cora.
That lond wes forlore, 35
Mes il le rechata.
Uch bern that wes ybore
En enfern descenda.
He tholede deth ther fore ;
En ciel puis mounta. 40
Tho Pilat herde the tydynge,
Molt fu joyous baroun;
He lette by fore him brynge
Jesu Nazaroun.
He was ycrouned kynge 45
Per nostre redempcioun.
Whose wol me synge,
Auera grant pardoun.
Notes:
7 wod, mad.
11 ble, appearance, form.
17 Tho, when.
23 tholede, endured,
31 fode, child.
47 Whose, whoso.
Notes for XLIX, p. 348.
Harl. 2253, Printed Böddeker, 220; Wright, S.L.P., 97 ; Wülcker, i, 49. The text is a Southern translation of a West Midland poem.
Extended Citations
Harl. 2253,
Harley 2253 in the British Museum. Parchment, 11 1/2 x 7 1/2. Miscellany of
Latin, Anglo-French, and English verse and prose, in various hands. Wright
conjectured it to be from Leominster Abbey, Herefordshire ; the collector a
clerk ; Böddeker supposes him to have been a vagans. The poems are in
Southern English, often translated from other dialects. An allusion to the death
of Edward I shows that the MS. was not complete in 1307. Some of the English
poems printed by Wright, ; all the English poems by Böddeker, who gives (ix) a
complete list of contents. Ten Brink, vol. i, has good estimate of literary
value of MS. Variants of some of the non-erotic lyrics appear in Egerton 613,
Digby 86, and other MSS.
Böddeker, 220;
Karl Böddeker, Altenglische Dichtungen des MS. Harl. 2253. (Berlin:
Weidmannsche buchhandlung, 1878), pp. 220-222.
Wright, S.L.P., 97 ;
Thomas Wright, ed., Specimens of Lyric Poetry, composed in England in the
reign of Edward the First (London: Percy Society, 1842), #XXXV, pp. 97-98.
[Texts from Harl. 2253.]; Editor's Note: Write cites Fol. 83, ro.
Wülcker, i, 49.
R. P. (Richard Paul) Wülcker, Altenglisches Lesebuch (Halle, a.S.:
Lippert, 1874; Max Niemeyer, 1879), pp. 49-50.
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