Item 17, A Prayer at the Levation

by: George Shuffelton (Editor)

from: Codex Ashmole 61: A Compilation of Popular Middle English Verse  2008

5 10 15 20 fol. 26v       26 30 35

Welcom, Lord, in forme of bred. In thee is both lyffe and ded;            Jhesu is thi name. Thow arte God in Trinyté, Lord, thou have mercy of me,            And kepe thou me fro schame. Hayll Fader, heyll Sone, Heyll Holy Gost fro heven come;            Heven kyng thou arte crouned. Heyll man of myghtys most, Fader and Son and Holy Gost;            Of a meyd thou were borne. Heyll Jhesu, blyssed mote thou be, Heyll blyssed blossom on tre;            Welcom be thi sond. Heyll frute, heyll floure, Heyll Jhesu our savyowre,            In water and on londe. Heyll kyng, heyll knyght, Heyll man of most myght,            Prince syttyng in trone. Heyll the Sone of most honour, Heyll duke and emperour            Of all this werldys wone. Heyll flessch, heyll blode, Heyll Jhesu of myld mode,            Heyll be thou kynge. Heyll be thou bred beste, Heyll Fader feyrest;            Thou madyst all thing. Heyll rose upon ryse, Heyll perle of price, Heyll God that alle thinge woste, Heyll Fader, Son, and Holy Goste;            Welcom in forme of brede. AMEN QUOD RATE

in the form of the Eucharist; (see note) death (t-note) (t-note) greatest power may command (message) throne (see note) world’s abundance spirit rose on the stem; (see note) (see note); (t-note) knows; (see note); (t-note) (see note)

Go To Item 18, The Knight Who Forgave His Father’s Slayer, introduction
Go To Item 18, The Knight Who Forgave His Father’s Slayer, text

Footnotes

Item 17, A PRAYER AT THE LEVATION: EXPLANATORY NOTES

Title No title or incipit. The title given here comes from the rubric given to the text in the Vernon MS. The medieval index of the Vernon MS calls the poem “Sixe salutacions to the Trinité in tyme of the elevacioun of Godis body.” Though the poem is sometimes referred to by its first line, “Welcome, Lord, in forme of bred,” several other Middle English levation prayers share this same opening or very close versions of it. The text begins halfway down the page of fol. 26r, immediately after the conclusion of the preceding text.

22 Heyll the Sone. Rate has transposed this and the following line, but since this mis­take makes no effect on the sense, no emendation has been made.

31 rose upon ryse. A traditional image that appears in many secular love lyrics and in praises of the Virgin Mary. For an example of the former, see “Ichot a burde,” in Brook, Harley Lyrics, pp. 31–32. For an example of the latter, see “Heyl gloryous virgyne,” in C. Brown, Religious Lyrics of the XVth Century, pp. 53–54.

32 perle of price. See Matthew 13:46–47.

33 Heyll God. This reading is a conjectural emendation; see the Textual Notes. The stanza is defective, lacking a rhyme for the final line. Compare the reading in the Vernon MS:

Heil Rose uppon Rys,
Heil mon of most pris,
For us thou were ded;
Heil God ful of miht,
Godus sone that art so briht,
In forme thou art of bred. (Horstmann, Minor Poems, pp. 24–25)

35a AMEN QUOD RATE. A drawing of a grinning fish separates this colophon from the following text.

Item 17, A PRAYER AT THE LEVATION: TEXTUAL NOTES

3 MS: this entire line is added in the right margin.

6 MS: this entire line is added in the right margin.
schame. MS: word at the end of the line lost due to cropping of the page.

32 perle. MS: perls.

33 Heyll God that. MS: Heyll that.