The Hymns and Carols of Christmas

Eya martyr Stephane

For Christmas

Words and melody from a parchment roll in the library of Trinity College, Cambridge. (Date, Fifteenth Century.)
Mode IX

See: Cambridge UK, Trinity College O.3.58 (1230)

Compare: Eia, Martyr Stephane (From Rickert with sheet music by J. A. Fuller Maitland, English Carols of the Fifteenth Century.

Source: Richard Runciman Terry, Two Hundred Folk Carols (London: Burns Oates & Washbourne Limited, 1933), Carol #192, p. 41.

Refrain
Eya martyr Stephane,
Pray for us we pray to thee.

1. Of this martyr make we mend1
    Quix triumpharit hodie.
And to heaven bliss gan wende.
    Dono celestis gracie.

2. Stoned He was with stones great,
    Fervore gentis impie.
Then he saw Christ sit in (His) seat,
    Innixum Patris dextere.

3. Thou prayedst Christ for thine enemies,
    O martyr invictissime.
Thou pray for us that high justice
    Ut nos purget a crimine.2

Footnotes from Rev. Terry:

1. The MS. Gives 'make we mende.' As the obvious sense of the line is 'make we mind,' i.e., 'make we mention,' I have given that reading. 'Mende' is so unusual a form in the dialect in which the poem is writen that I have assumed it to be a scribe's error for 'minde.' Return

2. 'Amen' occurs here in the MS. But there is no indication of how it is to be fitted to the music. (Only verse 1 is written under the notes.) Return

Sheet Music from Richard Runciman Terry, Two Hundred Folk Carols (London: Burns Oates & Washbourne Limited, 1933), Carol #192, p. 41.

 192-Eya_Martyr.jpg (114731 bytes)

Sheet Music from Sir Richard Runciman Terry, A Medieval Carol Book: The Melodies Chiefly from MMS. in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, and in the Library of Trinity College, Cambridge (London: Burns Oates & Washbourne Ltd., 1932), Carol #29, p. 54.

AMCB67.jpg (710057 bytes)

Editor's Note:

One of many hymns and carols dedicated to St. Stephen. See: Hymns to St Stephen.

Another collection containing carols from a roll in the Library of Trinity College is J. A. Fuller Maitland, ed., English Carols of the Fifteenth Century From A MS Roll in the Library of Trinity College, Cambridge. (London: The Leadenhall Press, et al., 1891), with added vocal parts by W. S. Rockstro.

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