13. The Purification of Mary

by: Garrett P. J. Epp (Editor)

from: The Towneley Plays  2017

[fol. 60v] SIMEON 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 [fol. 61r] 45 50 55 60 65 70 ANGEL 1 75 ANGEL 2 80 SIMEON 86 90 [fol. 61v] 95 100 105 110 JOSEPH 116 120 125 MARY 130 ANGEL 1 135 140 ANGEL 2

Simeon Angel 1 Angel 2 Joseph Mary Incipit purificacio Marie. 1 Mightfull God, thou us glad, That heven and erthe and all has mayde; Bryng us to blys that never shall fade, As thou well may, And thynk on me that is unweld. Lo, so I hobyll all on held That unethes may I walk for eld; Now help, Lord Adonay. Bot yit I mervell, both evyn and morne, Of old elders that were beforne, Wheder thay be safe or lorne Where thay may be: Abell, Noye, and Abraham, David, Daniell, and Balaam, And all othere mo by name Of sere degré. I thank thee, lord, with good intent Of all thy sond thou has me sent, That thus long tyme my lyfe has lent, Now many a yere; For all ar past now, oonly bot I. I thank thee, Lord God almyghty, For so old know I none, sothly, Now lyfyng here. For I am old Symeon: So old on lyfe know I none That is mayde on flesh and bone In all medyll erd. No wonder if I go on held: The fevyrs, the flyx make me unweld; Myn armes, my lymmes ar stark for eld, And all gray is my berd. Myn ees ar woren, both marke and blynd. Myn and is short; I want wynd. Thus has age dystroed my kynd And reft myghtys all. That shortly mon I weynd away; What tyme ne when I can not say, For it is gone full many a day Syn dede began to call. Ther is no warke that I may wyrk, Bot oneths crall I to the kyrk; Be I com home, I am so irk That farther may I noght, Bot settys me downe and grankys and gronys And lygys and restys my wery bonys, And all nyght after grankys and goonys, On slepe tyll I be broght. Bot nevertheles, the sothe to say, If I may nather by nyght ne day For age nather styr ne play, Nor make no chere, Yit if I be never so old, I myn full well that prophetys told, That now ar dede and layde full cold, Sythen gone many a yere. Thay sayde that God, full of myght, Shuld send his Son from heven bright In a madyn for to light, Commen of David kyn, Flesh and bloode on hyr to take And becom man for oure sake, Oure redempcyon for to make, That slayn were thrugh syn. Bot Lord that us thy grace has hight, Send me thy sond both day and nyght, And graunt me grace of lyfys light, And let me never de To thou sich grace to me send That I may handyll hym in my hend That shall com oure mys to amend, And se hym with myn ee. Thou, Symeon, drede thee noght. My Lord that thou has long besoght, For thou has rightwys beyn, Thyn askyng has he grauntyd thee, Withouten dede on lyfe to be To thou thy Cryst have seyn. Than, Symeon, harkyn a space; I bryng thee tythyngys of solace. Forthy ryse up and gang To the temple; thou shall fynd thore Godys Son thee before That thou has yernyd lang. Lovyd be my Lord in wyll and thoght That his servant forgettys noght, When that he seys tyme. Well is me that I shall dre Tyll I have sene hym with myn ee And no longer hyne. Lovyd be my Lord in heven That thus has by his angell steven Warnyd me of his commyng. Therfor will I with intent Putt on me my vestment, In worship of that kyng. He shal be welcom unto me. That Lord shall make us all fre, Kyng of all mankyn, For with his blood he shall us boroo, Both fro catyfdam and from soroo, That was slayn thrugh syn. Tunc pulsabunt. 2 A, dere God, what may this be? Oure bellys ryng so solemply For whomsoever it is. Now certys, I can not understand Bot if my Lord God all-weldand Be commen, that all shall wyse. This noyse lyghtyns full well myn hart. Shall I never rest, and I have quart, Or I com ther onone. Now well were I and it so were, For sich noyse hard I never ere. Oure bellys ryng by thare oone! Mary, it begynnys to pas Fourty dayes syn that thou was Delyverd of thy son; To the temple I red we draw To clens thee and fulfyll the law, As oure elders were won. Therfor, Mary, madyn heynd, Take thi chyld and let us weynd The tempyll untyll, And we shall with us bryng Thise turtyls two to oure offryng; The law we will fulfyll. Joseph, that wyll I full well, That the law every deyll Be fulfyllyd in me. Lord, that all myghtys may, Gyf us grace to do this day That it be pleassyng to thee. Angeli cantant “Simeon iustus et timoratus.” 3 Thou, Symeon, rightwys and trew, Thou has desyred both old and new To have a sight of Cryst Jesu As prophecy has told. Oft has thou prayd to have a sight Of hym that in a madyn light. Here is that chyld of mekyll myght; Now has thou that thou wold. Thou has desyryd it most of all […]

make glad feeble hobble; bent over; (see note) hardly; age (see note) lost Wherever (see note) more various gifts; (see note) continued deceased living middle-earth bent over fevers; dysentery; feeble limbs; stiff beard eyes; worn; dim breath; lack breath; (see note) destroyed; nature taken must; (t-note) nor Since death work; do; (t-note) crawl with difficulty; church weary That I may not go further groan; groan lie yawn truly neither; nor stir remember; that which Since (t-note) redemption sin promised gifts life’s die Until; such hands sin eye fear sought righteous (t-note) Until Therefore; go there long yearned for Beloved (see note) endure hereafter; (see note) angel’s voice save captivity; sorrow (see note) solemnly (see note) Unless; almighty guide sound cheers health; (t-note) immediately heard; before on their own (t-note) say; go accustomed to do gracious turtledoves; (see note); (t-note) (see note) every part is almighty (t-note) (see note); (t-note) righteous much power desired; (t-note) (t-note)

Go To 14. The Doctors

Footnotes

Play 13, THE PURIFICATION OF MARY: FOOTNOTES

1 Here begins the purification of Mary

2 Then [bells] shall ring

3 The angels sing “Simeon, just and devout” (see note)

Play 13, THE PURIFICATION OF MARY: EXPLANATORY NOTES

ABBREVIATIONS: Chester: The Chester Mystery Cycle, ed. Lumiansky and Mills (1974); CT: The Canterbury Tales, ed. Benson (1987); DSL: Dictionary of the Scots Language; Elliott: The Apocryphal New Testament, ed. Elliott; EP: The Towneley plays, ed. England and Pollard (1897); MED: Middle English Dictionary; MS: Huntington MS HM 1 (“the Towneley manuscript”); N-Town: The N-Town Plays, ed. Sugano (2007); OED: Oxford English Dictionary; REED: Records of Early English Drama; SC: The Towneley Plays, eds. Stevens and Cawley (1994); s.d.: stage direction; Whiting: Whiting, Proverbs, Sentences, and Proverbial Phrases; York: The York Corpus Christi Plays, ed. Davidson (2011).

The Purification of Mary and Presentation in the Temple are celebrated at the Feast of Candlemas on 2 February, which follows both Epiphany (6 January) and the Feast of the Holy Innocents (28 December) in the liturgical calendar. This may explain the placement of this play here as in Chester (where it is paired with the episode of Christ and the Doctors, as it is in the Coventry Weavers’ play as well). Chronologically, however, the play belongs earlier: as stated in lines 115–120, based both on Luke 2:21–39 (where it immediately follows the visit of the shepherds) and the law as laid out in Leviticus 12, the visit to the Temple occurs forty days after the birth, and thus prior to any sojourn in Egypt. The play is incomplete, due to the loss of two leaves (the bifolium at the center of the K-signature gathering) which also contained the beginning of the play of the Doctors. As it stands, the play of the Doctors likely lacks the equivalent of at least one full page of text (roughly 50 lines; see the headnote to play 14 below), which means that up to three full pages (and approximately 150 lines) may have been lost from the Purification play, almost certainly including an appearance by the prophetess Anna (see Luke 2:36–38, as well as other dramatic versions of the episode), along with the Purification ceremony itself, and the presentation of the infant to Simeon, who utters the well-known Nunc dimittis (“Now dismiss . . . ”; see Luke 2:29–32 and the note to 22.57–60) — a liturgically familiar Latin canticle that is clearly sung in at least two versions of the episode (see the stage directions following Chester 11.166 and N-Town 19.146; the Coventry version is missing a leaf at this point). The opening speech by Simeon and the final extant stanza, spoken by Angel 1 are written in 8-line, tail-rhymed stanzas, while the intervening dialogue (lines 73–132) is written in a similar 6-line stanza form.


6 on held. The phrase literally means “downhill” or “on an incline” (see MED helde (n.1)); compare helden (v.), senses 2–3). Simeon, like virtually all old men in medieval English drama, complains at length of his infirmity.

8 Lord Adonay. See 4.1 and note.

13–14 Abell, Noye, and Abraham, / David, Daniell, and Balaam. Simeon’s brief list of “old elders” (line 10) includes five figures who are physically represented in this collection (Abel, Noah, and Abraham in their respective plays, and both David and Daniel in 7.a), along with the prophet Balaam (see 10.205 and note) who appears as a character only in the Chester plays (see Chester 5).

18 Of all thy sond thou has me sent. That is, for everything you have sent to me; see also line 66. The word sond can mean either the action of sending or, as here, what is sent, specifically by God’s dispensation; see MED sonde (n.), senses 1a and b.

34 Myn and is short; I want wynd. Both nouns here mean “breath,” but in slightly different senses, the first referring to breathing, the second more to the air breathed in; see MED onde (n.2) and wind (n.).

87 When that he seys tyme. That is, when God says that Simeon’s time has come to die.

90 And no longer hyne. That is, not after that time. Simeon rejoices that he will live to see Christ, as requested, but can then die in peace.

102 That was slayn thrugh syn. That is, all humankind, who were condemned to die through Adam’s sin.

106–08 Now certys . . . . all shall wyse. That is, I cannot understand why the bells are ringing, unless almighty God, who shall guide us all, has come (as the infant Christ). The ringing of the bells here is miraculous — see line 114.

125 Thise turtyls two to oure offryng. For those who cannot afford to bring a lamb, this is the minimal offering required by Levitical law prior to the purification ceremony of a woman, forty days after giving birth to a male child; see Luke 2:24 and Leviticus 12:8.

127–29 Joseph . . . . fulfyllyd in me. Joseph, I wish full well to do this, so that I fulfill every part of the law. In Christian tradition, Jesus and his parents are often anachronistically treated as Christians rather than as observant Jews; however, Christ is said to be the fulfillment of the law (see Matthew 5:17–18, Romans 10:4), so Jewish law must nonetheless be properly observed in relation to him.

132, s.d. Angeli cantant "Simeon iustus et timoratus." The antiphon that begins “Simeon, just and devout” (based on Luke 2:25 and echoed in line 133) is sung at Lauds on the Feast of the Purification.

Play 13, THE PURIFICATION OF MARY: TEXTUAL NOTES

ABBREVIATIONS: EP: The Towneley Plays, ed. England and Pollard (EETS, 1897); Facs: The Towneley Cycle: A Facsimile of Huntington MS HM 1, ed. Cawley and Stevens; MED: Middle English Dictionary; MS: Huntington MS HM 1 (base text); SC: The Towneley Plays, ed. Stevens and Cawley (EETS, 1994); s.d.: stage direction; Surtees: The Towneley Mysteries, ed. Raine; York: The York Corpus Christi Plays, ed. Davidson (2011).

37 That shortly mon. So SC. EP: Bot shortly mon. MS: That is written in a different hand over an erasure; mon is in another hand over another word, crossed out and now illegible.

41 I may wyrk. MS: another hand has written haue he in the top margin above this.

59–72 In a madyn . . . . with myn ee. MS: no Maters ben as sade — that is, no matters are as said — has been scrawled upwards in the margin beside these lines, in another hand. SC suggest that these words “may voice a Protestant objection” (p. 532n59–72) to the content here, yet that content has at least as firm a biblical basis as virtually anything in these plays. Nor is it likely that the marginalia refers to later textual revision (as is the case at several points in the York manuscript, where the city clerk has noted deviations from the official script with marginalia such as “this matter is newly mayde”; see for example Davidson’s headnotes to York 12 and 18), although it might conceivably refer to a difference between the text and a remembered text or performance. It is worth noting that the lines that follow, through to the final extant stanza of the play, are written in a different stanza form — a likely sign of revision of the original text prior to the compilation of this manuscript.

77 dede. MS: final e smudged and unclear.

110 and I have. MS: I inserted above the line.

117 Delyverd. SC: Delyuerd. EP: Delyuer. MS: Delyu with an ambiguous flourish.

125 turtyls. MS: the misspelling tutyls is crossed out before this word.

132 to thee. The word to is written in darker ink by a different hand above an ink blot.

132, s.d. Angeli cantant "Simeon iustus et timoratus." MS: the stage direction is worn and faint but still legible (contrary to EP).

140 thou wold. MS: all but the first and final two letters are badly worn.

141 Thou has desyryd it most of all. MS: this is the final line on a full page of writing; as explained in the headnote to the play in the Explanatory Notes, the next two leaves, which included the ending of this play and the beginning of the next, are missing.