Harley Lyrics

The Harley Lyrics is the usual name for a collection of lyrics in Middle English, Anglo Norman (Middle French), and Latin found in Harley MS 2253, a manuscript dated ca.

The lyrics contain "both religious and secular material, in prose and verse and in a wide variety of genres.

It can be divided into two parts based on content: the first 48 leaves, booklets one (quires 1-2, folios 1-22) and two (quires 3-4, folios 23-48), contain religious poetry in the late-thirteenth century hand known as scribe A, whilst the remaining five booklets are written in the early-fourteenth century hand of the Ludlow scribe; apart from some pigment recipes at the beginning of booklet three (quires 5, folios 49-52) penned by scribe C.[3] Containing miscellaneous material, secular as well as religious, in prose and verse, this division is not, however, reflected in the quire division, since the division is found on folio 49, part of a quire running from folio 47 to 52; an earlier assumption that this division indicated two separate manuscripts bound together is therefore incorrect.

"[5] The Ludlow scribe like a number of others is, because of the lack of evidence and the distance of time, somewhat anonymous yet their 'hands' (their characteristic writing style) makes them recognizable.

"As the maker of a key manuscript, the Ludlow scribe is a leading figure among a growing company of copyists now recognized for the value of what they preserved.

"[5] Those aforementioned forty-one legal writs are dated from December 18, 1314, to April 13, 1349.

Fein notes that "If he was in his twenties when he inscribed the first of these documents, then he was born in the last decade of the thirteenth century.

He may have died during the Black Death, which swept through England from 1348 to 1350, so his dates can roughly be set from about 1290 to about 1350.

"[6] he further explains that a metanarrative works by, what has been called, "oppositional thematics".

In booklet three though, we can see that there is not always a clear relationship and that a knowledge of the sources used by the scribe to set up such oppositions is required to fully grasp the inter-textual meaning.

The former is a text that celebrates women, highlighting their decency, kindness and long suffering natures.

Fein observes that the poem “…deftly equates the sexual pleasure women hold for men with the heavenly delight, healing, and salvation ushered in by Mary’s role in God’s incarnation.”[9] The writer asserts that any man who does not appreciate the worthiness of women is a base creature.

[9] The latter however is a Debate poem "...a late medieval form that might have been inspired by and modeled on Virgil’s Eclogues.

"[10] It concerns an argument between the Summer and the Winter that seems to have almost pagan overtones.

By virtue of the number of texts it contains, it represents far more complex contextual patterns and references.

Incipit vita sancti Ethelberti,[11] tells the story of St Ethelbert, who begins as a King but ends as martyr, he is killed as a consequence of his honourable and virtuous behaviour in spite of a vision which shows his future murder.

Further into the booklet we meet another apparently honourable and virtuous figure in the earliest surviving English serventes, "...that is, a poem made to mock a beaten enemy.

"[12] Sitteth alle stille ant herkneth to me[13] also called A Song of Lewes, tells the story of the Earl of Leicester, Simon de Montfort, a hero of the Second Barons' War and how he achieved a great victory against the forces of the King at the Battle of Lewes on 14 May 1264.

The text which follows, Chaunter m’estoit,[14] describes his death at the Battle of Evesham, August 4, 1265 where he was killed and dismembered.

In this Anglo Norman text de Montfort is eulogised as a martyr and compared favourably to Thomas Becket.

Fein writes "Looking beyond the praise of Montfort, one senses, too, how the scribe wishes to issue a warning on earthly pride:"[15] In Lystneth, lordynges!

A newe song Ichulle bigynne,[16] Sir Simon Fraser, who has also opposed his King along with William Wallace and Robert the Bruce has been captured and is sent to London to be hanged, then drawn and quartered.

"[17] The parallels are clear, as Fein illustrates "The scribe’s interesting arrangement of material conveys many messages in itself.

24a, 24a*, 24b) points forward to this poem of public execution as well as backward to the death in battle of Simon de Montfort, who was also dismembered.

"[17] Thus the French Simon de Montfort is compared to another traitor the Scottish Sir Simon Fraser and to a true martyr and saint, the Anglo Saxon Ethelbert; thus creating the metanarrative of booklet four.

33va–39rb 39rb 39va–41va 41va–43vb 43vb–45vb 45vb–47vb 47vb–48vb AN prose AN prose AN prose AN prose AN prose AN prose AN prose De la Passioun Jhesu [L’Évangile de Nicodème] Epistle a Tiberie Epistle a Claudie l’emperour De seint Johan le Ewangeliste De seint Johan le Baptist De seint Bartholomeu Passioun seint Piere The Gospel of Nicodemus The Letter of Pilate to Tiberias The Letter of Pilate to Emperor Claudius The Life of Saint John the Evangelist The Life of Saint John the Baptist The Life of Saint Bartholomew The Passion of Saint Peter 9.

51ra–52va 52va 52va 52vb 52vb 52vb 52vb 52vb 52vb AN verse ME prose ME prose ME prose ME prose ME prose ME prose ME prose ME prose De l’Yver et de l’Esté Vorte make cynople Vorte temprene asure Vorte make gras-grene Vorte maken another maner grene Yet for gaude-grene Vorte couche selverfoyl Vorte maken iren as hart as stel Vorte maken blankplum Debate between Winter and Summer How to Make Red Vermilion How to Temper Azure How to Make Grass-Green How to Make Another Kind of Green Another for Yellow-Green How to Apply Silverfoil How to Make Iron as Hard as Steel How to Make White Lead 19.

A newe song Ichulle bigynne Lord that lenest us lyf Enseignement sur les amis Middelerd for mon wes mad Soul of Christ, Sanctify Me A Goliard’s Feast Harrowing of Hell Debate between Body and Soul A Song of Lewes Lament for Simon de Montfort Carnal Love Is Folly What Allures Is Momentary Earth upon Earth The Execution of Sir Simon Fraser On the Follies of Fashion Lesson for True Lovers The Three Foes of Man 29.

106ra–107rb 107va–109vb 110ra–va 110vb–111rb 111rb–vb 112ra–b 112rc–113vc 113vb–114v 114v–115r 115va–117ra 117ra–118rb 118rb–vb 119ra–121ra 121ra–122va 122vb–124va 124va–125r 125ra–127ra 127rb–va 127va–b 128r 128r–v 128v–129v 129v–130v 131r 131v–132r 132r–133r 133v ME verse AN verse AN verse AN verse AN verse AN verse AN verse AN verse ME verse AN verse AN verse AN verse ME verse AN verse AN verse ME verse ME verse ME prose AN prose ME verse ME verse AN prose AN prose AN prose L prose L prose AN & L prose Lustneth, alle, a lutel throwe Le jongleur d’Ely e le roi d’Angleterre Les trois dames qui troverunt un vit Le dit des femmes Le blasme des femmes Nicholas Bozon, Femmes a la pye Un sage honme de grant valour / Urbain the Courteous Talent me prent de rymer e de geste fere / Trailbaston Mon in the mone stond ant strit Le chevaler e la corbaylle De mal mariage La gagure, ou L’esquier e la chaunbrere A bok of swevenyng Ordre de bel ayse Le chevaler qui fist les cons parler Of rybauds Y ryme ant red o my rolle Mon that wol of wysdam heren When man as mad a kyng of a capped man La destinccioun de la estature Jesu Crist Nostre Seigneur Lutel wot hit any mon hou love hym haveth ybounde Lutel wot hit any mon hou derne love may stonde Enseignements de saint Lewis a Philip soun fitz L’enqueste que le patriarche de Jerusalem fist Les armes des roys Scriptum quod peregrini deferunt Legenda de sancto Etfrido, presbitero de Leoministria Quy chescun jour de bon cuer cest oreisoun dirra The Sayings of Saint Bernard The Jongleur of Ely and the King of England The Three Ladies Who Found a Prick The Song on Women The Blame of Women Nicholas Bozon, Women and Magpies Urbain the Courteous Trailbaston The Man in the Moon The Knight and the Basket Against Marriage The Wager, or The Squire and the Chambermaid A Book of Dreaming The Order of Fair Ease The Knight Who Made Vaginas Talk Satire on the Retinues of the Great Hending The Prophecy of Thomas of Erceldoune Distinguishing Features of the Bodily Form of Jesus Christ Our Lord The Way of Christ’s Love The Way of Woman’s Love The Teachings of Saint Louis to His Son Philip The Land of the Saracens Heraldic Arms of Kings Letter for Pilgrims on the Relics at Oviedo The Legend of Saint Etfrid, Priest of Leominster Prayer for Protection 101.

134r 134v 134v 134v–135r 135r 135r 135r 135v 135v 135v–136r 136r 136r–v 136v–137r 137r 137r–v 137v–138v 138v–140r 140v AN prose AN verse L prose AN verse & prose L prose AN prose AN prose AN prose AN prose L prose AN prose L prose AN prose L prose L prose AN & L verse AN prose L prose Quy velt que Dieu sovyegne de ly Gloria in excelsis Deo en fraunceis Confiteor tibi, Deus, omnia peccata mea Gloriouse Dame Rex seculorum et Domine dominator Um doit plus volentiers juner le vendredy Quy est en tristour Cely que fra ces messes chaunter Je vous requer, Jaspar, Melchior, e Baltazar Mundus iste totus quoddam scaccarium est Quy chescun jour denz seissaunte jours Contra inimicos si quos habes Seint Hillere archevesque de Peyters ordina ces salmes Eulotropia et celidonia De interrogandi moribundis beati Anselmi Dieu, roy de magesté Contemplacioun de la passioun Jesu Crist De martirio sancti Wistani Occasions for Psalms in AN Glory to God in the Highest in AN Prayer of Confession Prayer on the Five Joys of Our Lady Prayer for Contrition Reasons for Fasting on Friday Seven Masses to Be Said in Misfortune Seven Masses in Honor of God and Saint Giles Prayer to the Three Kings All the World’s a Chess Board Three Prayers That Never Fail Occasions for Psalms in L Occasions for Psalms Ordained by Saint Hilary of Poitiers Heliotrope and Celandine Saint Anselm’s Questions to the Dying Against the King’s Taxes Seven Hours of the Passion of Jesus Christ The Martyrdom of Saint Wistan