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We will continue to publish all new editions in print and online, but our new online editions will include TEI/XML markup and other features. Over the next two years, we will be working on updating our legacy volumes to conform to our new standards.
Our current site will be available for use until mid-December 2024. After that point, users will be redirected to the new site. We encourage you to update bookmarks and syllabuses over the next few months. If you have questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to contact us at robbins@ur.rochester.edu.
Art. 51, Jesu Crist, heovene kyng: 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); CCC: Corpus Christi College (Cambridge); CUL: Cambridge University Library (Cambridge); IMEV: The Index of Middle English Verse (Brown and Robbins); IMEV Suppl.: Supplement to the Index of Middle English Verse (Robbins and Cutler); 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).
In Jesus Christ, Heaven’s King, the speaker seeks a good outcome for his soul beyond this sad world of “care, serewe, ant pyne” (line 24). The poet of this verse prayer does not wish to construct a dramatic monologue such as is found in the similarly penitential An Old Man’s Prayer (art. 45). The chanson d’aventure opening at line 10 (“This ender day in o morewenyng”) begins to situate the speaker in a specific moment, but, lacking narrative development, it remains a simple device imported from secular lyric style. A similar but more developed instance occurs in An Autumn Song (art. 63), lines 11–13. The scribe sets Jesus Christ, Heaven’s King in a thematic sequence on fols. 75–76 (arts. 49–53) (Revard 1982, p. 134–36). For commentary, see the bibliography in MWME 11:4341–42; and Durling, p. 278.
[Fol. 75va–b. IMEV, NIMEV 1678. MWME 11:4190 [16 ]. Scribe: B (Ludlow scribe). Quire: 8. Meter: Four 6-line tail-rhyme stanzas, aa4b3cc4b3, with a prefacing 3-line prayer, aa4b3, which could attach to stanza 1. Layout: Double columns. Editions: Wright 1842, pp. 59–60 (no. 19); Böddeker, pp. 193–94; Patterson, pp. 88–89; Brown 1952, pp. 9–10 (no. 8); Brook, pp. 52–53 (no. 16). Other MSS: None.]
Go To Art. 51, Jesu Crist, heovene kyng
In Jesus Christ, Heaven’s King, the speaker seeks a good outcome for his soul beyond this sad world of “care, serewe, ant pyne” (line 24). The poet of this verse prayer does not wish to construct a dramatic monologue such as is found in the similarly penitential An Old Man’s Prayer (art. 45). The chanson d’aventure opening at line 10 (“This ender day in o morewenyng”) begins to situate the speaker in a specific moment, but, lacking narrative development, it remains a simple device imported from secular lyric style. A similar but more developed instance occurs in An Autumn Song (art. 63), lines 11–13. The scribe sets Jesus Christ, Heaven’s King in a thematic sequence on fols. 75–76 (arts. 49–53) (Revard 1982, p. 134–36). For commentary, see the bibliography in MWME 11:4341–42; and Durling, p. 278.
[Fol. 75va–b. IMEV, NIMEV 1678. MWME 11:4190 [16 ]. Scribe: B (Ludlow scribe). Quire: 8. Meter: Four 6-line tail-rhyme stanzas, aa4b3cc4b3, with a prefacing 3-line prayer, aa4b3, which could attach to stanza 1. Layout: Double columns. Editions: Wright 1842, pp. 59–60 (no. 19); Böddeker, pp. 193–94; Patterson, pp. 88–89; Brown 1952, pp. 9–10 (no. 8); Brook, pp. 52–53 (no. 16). Other MSS: None.]
Go To Art. 51, Jesu Crist, heovene kyng
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