When Y se blosmes spring: notes

Harley lyrics

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When Y se blosmes springe: notes
London, British Library, Harley MS 2253, f. 76r

after line 10: the version in London, British Library, Royal 2.F. viii, has at this point a further stanza, which may have been part of the original version:

Of Iesu Crist hi synge,
That is so fayr and fre,
Swetest of alle thynge;
His othwe hic oghe wel boe.
Wl fer he me sothte,
Myd hard he me bothte,
Wyth wnde to and three;
Wel sore he was yswnge,
And for me myd spere ystunge,
Ynayled to the tree.

I sing of Jesus Christ,
Who is so beautiful and noble,
The sweetest of all things;
I ought surely to be his own.
He sought very far for me,
He bought me with suffering,
With five wounds;
He was beaten most cruelly,
And pierced for my sake with a spear,
Nailed to the Cross.

14. grete nayles threo: in the later Middle Ages, Christ was normally represented as crucified with a single nail through both feet (see, e.g., the illustration to I syke when Y singe).

26. For the, suete Marie: MS For the sone, Marie; Böddeker (see Brook (1968), p. 83) proposed thi for the ('for your son, Mary'), but the Royal MS has suete for sone.

31. con: MS couthe (past tense); the present tense (as in the Royal MS, can) is necessary for the rhyme with lemmon 33.

40. ybroht: MS yboht 'bought' repeats the rhyme-word at 34; the Royal MS has hy-brovt.

49. we: MS whe.

50. vnderfong: MS vndefong.

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Set up by Bella Millett, enm@soton.ac.uk. Last updated 31 July 2003 .