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Art. 108a, Je vous requer, Jaspar, Melchior, e Baltazar: Introduction

Abbreviations: AND: Anglo-Norman Dictionary; ANL: Anglo-Norman Literature: A Guide to Texts and Manuscripts (R. Dean and Boulton); BL: British Library (London); Bodl.: Bodleian Library (Oxford); CT: Chaucer, Canterbury Tales; CUL: Cambridge University Library (Cambridge); DOML: Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library; FDT: French Devotional Texts of the Middle Ages (Sinclair 1979); FDT-1French Devotional Texts of the Middle Ages, . . . First Supplement (Sinclair 1982); IMEV: The Index of Middle English Verse (Brown and Robbins); MED: Middle English Dictionary; MWME: A Manual of the Writings in Middle English, 1050–1500 (Severs et al.); NIMEV: A New Index of Middle English Verse (Boffey and Edwards); NLS: National Library of Scotland (Edinburgh).

MS Harley 2253 preserves the only known copy of this elegant Anglo-Norman prayer to the Three Kings. It first addresses the Magi in honor of their desire to give to God and how God so readily accepted their gifts. From there, the petitioner turns his address to God, asking that God likewise accept this prayer as a gift and fill the petitioner with gifts of gladness and joy.

[Fol. 135v. ANL 941. Rézeau 2:444. FDT 3037. Scribe: B (Ludlow scribe). Quire: 15. Layout: No columns, written as prose and opening with a red paraph and an red-marked initial. Edition: Hunt and Bliss, pp. 250–51. Other MSS: None. Translation: Hunt and Bliss, pp. 250–51.]

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