Art. 97, Scriptum quod peregrini deferunt

by: Susanna Greer Fein (Editor)

from: The Complete Harley 2253 Manuscript, Volume 3  2015

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¶ Scriptum quod peregrini deferunt ab Ecclesia Sancti Salvatoris in Asturiis. ¶ Dilectissimi fratres in Christo, qui Deum in celis atque in terra omnia quecunque vult posse non dubitatis, manifesta vobis relatione et firma veritate intimamus que, vos audientes, ortamur ut fide vera et plena credatis: quod Deus omnipotens, mirabili potencia et secreto suo consilio, archam de lignis inputribilibus ab apostulorum dicipulis factam sive fabricatam, innumeris Dei magnalibus plenam. Ab urbe Ierosolimitana transtulit in Affricam, ab Affrica in Cartaginem, a Cartagine in Yspalym, ab Yspali in Tholetum, a Tholeto in Asturias ad Ecclesiam Sancti Salvatoris, loco qui dicitur Ovetum. Que archa ibidem aperta exstuit. In qua, aperientes plures invenerunt arcellas aureas, argenteas, et eboreas. Quas aperire cum Dei timore ac reverencia presumentes viderunt oculis in eisdem subscripta Dei, magnalia contineri appositis scriptis, per se quie predicta manifestissime declarabant. Invenerunt siquidem cristallinam ampullam cum cruore Domini fuso, videlicet, de latere illius ymaginis quam quidem fideles ad similitudinem Christi fecerunt quam perfidi Iudei, antiqua perfidia obstinati, ligno affixerunt, et lancea ut veri vivi Christi latus percusserunt. Ex qua ad fidem passionis Christi astruendam exiuit sanguis et aqua. De vera cruce Domini maximam partem; de sepulcro Domini; partem spinee corone; de sindone Domini; de sudario Domini; de tunica Domini; de pannis in quibus Dominus iacuit in presepio involutus; de pane quo saciavit Dominus quinque milia hominum; de pane cene Domini; de manna qua pluit Dominus filiis Israel; de terra montis Oliveti ubi Dominus ascensurus in celum pedes tenuit; de terra ubi pedes tenuit quando Lazarum suscitavit; de sepulcro ipsius Lazari; de lacte matris Domini; de capillis et vestimentis eius; pallium quod dedit ipsa regina celi Yldefonti tunc archiepiscopo Tholotane sedis; de pallio Elye; manus sancti Stephani prothomartiris; sandale dextrum beati Petri apostoli; frons beati Iohannis Baptiste et de capillis eius; de ossibus Innocencium et de articulis digitorum; de ossibus trium puerorum Ananye, Azarie, et Mysaelis; de capillis cum quibus Maria Magdalena tersit pedes Domini; de lapide cum quo signatum est sepulcrum Domini; de oliva quam Dominus tenuit in festo ramis palmarum; de petra montis Synay supra quam Moyses ieiunavit; de virga cum qua divisit Moyses Mare Rubrum filiis Israel; partem piscis assi et favum mellis; multa preterea corpora sanctorum; ossa prophetarum; multa etiam aliorum sanctorum, martirum, confessorum, et virginum. Diversa ibi pignora in capsis aureis, argenteis, et eboreis, tenentur recondita, quorum numerum sola Dei sciencia colligit. Extra ipsam archam habentur corpora sanctorum martirum Eulogii et Lucricie et beate Eulalie; emeritensis sancti Pelagii, martiris; sancti Vincencii, martiris, atque | Alberis; et sancti Serani, episcopi, et sancti Iuliani, pontificis, qui predicam archam a Domino benedicam a Tholeto Ovetum transtulit; et corpus regis Costi, qui Ecclesiam Sancti Salvatoris fundavit; et corpus sancte Florentine, virginis. Crux etiam ibi monstratur opere angelico fabricata spectabili modo; sporte apostolorum Petri et Andree; lignum cuiusdam trabis deficientis ad edificium eiusdem ecclesie quod Deus mirabiliter augmentavit. In ipsa autem, principali ecclesia habetur una de sex ydriis in quibus Dominus in nupciis aquam convertit in vinum. Quisquis autem, divina inspiratione vocatus tam preciosa ac gloriosa sanctorum insignia visitare meruerit, auctoritate Dei et beatorum apostulorum Petri et Pauli et a Romana ecclesia. Ipsi ecclesie vel eidem Ecclesie Sancti Salvatoris auctoritate Dei vel hac auctoritate concessa, sciat sibi ab episcopo eiusdem sedis et a ministris eiusdem terciam partem iniuncte sibi penitencie condonari sive dimitti, et se in confraternitatem eiusdem ecclesie recipi, ita ut vir et femina faciat singulas missas celebrare singulis annis vite sue pro defunctis confraribus Ovetenensis ecclesie. Et, in obitu suo, mittat pro se oblationem      quam voluerit. Et tunc sui confratres debita pro eo persolvent officia, etc.

¶ A text that pilgrims bring from the Church of the Holy Savior in Asturias. ¶ Most beloved brothers in Christ, who do not doubt that God can accomplish everything whatsoever he wishes in heaven and on earth, we confide in you with a clear report and firm truth things with which we encourage you, as you listen, that you believe with full and true faith: that all-powerful God, according to his marvelous power and secret resolution, moved an ark made or crafted of incorruptible wood by the disciples of the Apostles, filled with countless wondrous objects of God. He moved it from the city of Jerusalem to Africa, from Africa to Carthage, from Carthage to Seville, from Seville to Toledo, from Toledo to Asturias to the Church of the Holy Savior, in a place that is called Oviedo. There the ark was opened. In it, the people opening it found many little gold, silver, and ivory arks. Those who with fear and reverence of God presumed to open these little arks saw with their own eyes that in them were contained the wondrous objects of God, signed with writings attached to them, which declared very clearly the aforementioned things. Indeed, they found an ampule of crystal with the gore that poured forth from the Lord, which is to say, from the side of that image which, in fact, the faithful made in the likeness of Christ and which treacherous Jews, persevering in their ancient treachery, affixed to wood, the side of which they struck with a lance as if it had been that of the true living Christ. From this image came forth blood and water to add to the faithful recreation of the Passion of Christ. They found a very great part of the Lord’s true cross; [part] of the Lord’s tomb; part of the crown of thorns; of the Lord’s muslin; of the Lord’s shroud; of the Lord’s tunic; of the swaddling clothes in which the Lord lay wrapped in the manger; of the bread with which the Lord satisfied five thousand people; of the bread of the Lord’s last supper; of the manna that the Lord rained down for the sons of Israel; of earth from Mount Olive where the Lord set his feet as he was about to ascend to heaven; of earth where he set his feet when he brought back Lazarus; of the tomb of Lazarus himself; of the milk of the Lord’s mother; of his hair and clothing; the mantle that the queen of heaven herself gave to Ildephonsus then when he was archbishop of the see of Toledo; of the mantle of Elijah; the hand of the first martyr Saint Stephen; the right sandal of the blessed apostle Peter; the forehead of the blessed John the Baptist and some of his hair; some of the bones and finger joints of the Innocents; some of the bones of the three boys Ananias, Azarias, and Misael; some of the hair with which Mary Magdalen washed the Lord’s feet; some of the stone with which the Lord’s tomb was sealed; some of the olive that the Lord held on the festival with palm branches; some of the rock of Mount Sinai upon which Moses fasted; some of the rod with which Moses parted the Red Sea for the sons of Israel; part of the roast fish and honeycomb; plus many bodies of saints; bones of prophets; many too of other saints, martyrs, confessors, and virgins. Various tokens are hidden away there in gold, silver, and ivory casks, the number of which only the wisdom of God grasps. In addition to the ark itself, there are held there the bodies of the sainted martyrs Eulogius and Lucretia and blessed Eulalia; of the early Saint Pelagius, martyr; of saint Vincent, martyr, and | Alvaro; and of Saint Seranus, bishop, and of Saint Julian, pontiff, who moved the aforesaid ark that had been blessed by the Lord from Toledo to Oviedo; and the body of King Costus, who founded the Church of the Holy Savior; and the body of Saint Florentina, virgin. Also on display there is a cross handcrafted by the work of angels in remarkable fashion; the baskets of the apostles Peter and Andrew; the wood of a certain beam that was insufficient for the construction of the same church, which God miraculously enlarged. What’s more, in the main church is kept one of the six jugs in which the Lord converted water into wine at the wedding. Moreover, whoever is summoned by divine inspiration to visit such precious and glorious trophies of the saints will gain merit by the authority of God and of the blessed apostles Peter and Paul and by the Roman Church. By the authority of God, or by this authority granted to the Church itself or to the Church of the Holy Savior, let him know that a third part of the penance imposed on him is pardoned or remitted by the bishop of the same see and by its ministers, and that he is received into the confraternity of the same church in such a way that a man and a woman may have celebrated every single mass for every single year of their life for the dead confreres of the church of Oviedo. And, upon his decease, may the person have sent on his behalf an offering as he willed. And then his confreres will perform offices for him as contracted, and so forth.

Go To Art. 98, Legenda de sancto Etfrido, presbitero de Leoministria, introduction
Go To Art. 98, Legenda de sancto Etfrido, presbitero de Leoministria, text

Footnotes

ART. 97, SCRIPTUM QUOD PEREGRINI DEFERUNT: EXPLANATORY NOTES

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-1: French 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).

14–18 The icon that bleeds, referred to here, is probably the famous one in Beirut, described in other Harley texts. See the explanatory notes to Pilgrimages in the Holy Land (art. 38), line 169, and to The Land of the Saracens (art. 95), lines 45–46.

25 Yldefonti. Saint Ildephonsus, Archbishop of Toledo (d. 667), author of De virginitate perpetua sanctae Mariae. A legend reports that the Virgin Mary appeared to him and presented him with artifacts of her son. Another legend associates him with the transport of the Arca Santa to Toledo (Janice Bennett, p. 31).

28–29 Ananye, Azarie, et Mysaelis. See Daniel 1:7.

30 de oliva. See John 12:12–13. The mention of the olive in addition to the palm may be the result of a confusion about Mount Olive.

32–33 On the biblical roast fish and honeycomb, see Luke 24:42.

37 Saints Eulogius, Lucretia, Eulalia, and Pelagius are all Spanish martyr saints: the priest Eulogius of Córdoba (d. 859); the two early female virgin martyrs Lucretia of western Spain (d. 306) and Eulalia of Merida (d. 304); and the boy martyr Pelagius [Pelayo] of Córdoba (ca. 912–926). The church still claims the tombs of Saint Eulogius and Pelagius, but not the others.

38 Saint Vincent of Saragossa, the patron saint of Lisbon, was martyred under the Emperor Diocletian around 304. His tomb is in Valencia.
Alberis. Alvaro of Córdoba (d. 861), who wrote the life of Saint Eulogius.
38–39 sancti Serani, episcopi, et sancti Iuliani, pontificis. Seranus and Julian are named as holy men in the legend of the Arca Santa’s removal from Jerusalem (Janice Bennett, p. 36). Although they are not reputed to have moved it from Toledo to Oviedo, their presence in the legend may explain the names found here. Or it may be that sancti Serani/Seraui is an error for Saint Severus of Barcelona, a bishop reportedly martyred under Diocletian around 304, and sancti Juliani refers to Saint Julian of Toledo (642–690), a bishop.

40 regis Costi. “King Costus.” This name is unexplained. The Church of the Holy Savior was founded by King Fruela I of Asturias in 761; he was assassinated in 768. He and his wife are interred there.

41 Saint Florentina (d. ca. 612) was the sister of three Iberian bishops (Leander, Isidore of Seville, and Fulgentius).

ART. 97, SCRIPTUM QUOD PEREGRINI DEFERUNT: TEXTUAL NOTES

ABBREVIATIONS: As: Aspin; Bö: Böddeker; Br: Brook; BS: Bennett and Smithers; BZ: Brandl and Zippel; B13: Brown 1937; Dea: J. M. Dean; Do: Dove 1969; Fl: Flood; Fö: Förster; Fu: Furnivall; HB: Hunt and Bliss; Kem: Kemble; Ken: Kennedy; Mi: Millett; Mo: Morris and Skeat; MS: MS Harley 2253; Mu¹: H. J. R. Murray; Mu²: J. A. H. Murray; NB: Noomen and van den Boogard; Pa: Patterson; Rev: Revard 2005a; Ri: Ritson 1877; Ro: Robbins 1959; SP: Short and Pearcy; Si: Silverstein; St: Stemmler 1970; Tu: Turville-Petre 1989; Ul: Ulrich; W¹: Wright 1839; W²: Wright 1841; W³: Wright 1842; WH: Wright and Halliwell.

49 iniuncte. MS: inuncte.