The Liflade of St. Juliana

362 Pages·1872·19.67 MB·English

by  Oswald Cockayne (ed.) & Edmund Brock (ed.)

Juliana*

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JftJIade
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PROM
TWO OLD ENGLISH MANUSCRIPTS OF 1230 A.D.
WITH
[inp into JW^rn v^**,
BY THE
KEY. O. COCKAYNE, AND EDMUND BROCK.
EDITED BY THE
EEV. OSWALD COCKAYNE,
M.A.,
ST. JOHNS COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE;
EDITOR OF LEECHDOMSSTARCRAFTANDWORTCUNNING,ETC.ETC.
10
u>
LONDON \
: 1
PUBLISHED FOR THE EARLY ENGLISH TEXT SOCIETY, BY
N. TRUBNER & CO., 8 AND 60, PATERNOSTER ROW.
MDCCCLXXII.
51
51.
HERTFORD
:
PBINTIDBY STEPHEN AUSTIN & SONS.
PREFACE.
IT had been my purpose, in editing }>e following text, to take
some vivacious notice of any criticisms on J?e last treatise I had
undertaken for J?e Early English Text Society ; but so long
a time has elapsed since "Hali Meidenhad" appeared, J?at ]?e
public interest in attack and defense, lunge and parry, must
have long since died away. Whatever I say, ]?erefore, must be
sobered down into temperance and calm; must be simply J?e
result ofJ>e toil of ]?e student and translator.
My critics made some easy and cheap fun out of ]? and $ :
none of ]?em seemed to have any distinct notions on J?e subject.
I have lately, elsewhere, stated facts ; ]?at Je earliest MSS.
favour ]?e ft, and use it in combinations of all kinds, employing
it, wi]> few exceptions, all trough a volume, and seeming to
forget }> almost entirely: later writings use ]? more by far fan
]>e ojer form. Much learning arises in reviews out of mo)>er
wit; to supply J>e void of known tru^, a certain inborn fteory
is developed; and because Mr. Novice 'Sinks J?e Saxons ought
to have made a difference, between Jorn in 'Sick, and forn in
]?aet,he holds opinion J>at ]?ey did. Jen some bold assertor tells
us J>at all deviations from his doctrine are corruptions of ]?e
Norman scribes, as ifFrenchmen had written for King -ZElfred.
Now I hold ]?at in our modern times it is very difficult to
separate ]?e sounds, fe utterance in some instances is distinctly
discernible, but in ofers J>e two change places easily. It is to
be concluded J>at, using ]>e characters indifferently, ]?e English
writers held J?esounds to be identical.
An Edinburgh reviewer, a known writer, finds what he
considers a mistranslation on page 36 of "Hali Meidenhad."
"pe hound at ]>e hide" is, to his ears, not sense. When a
householder kills a sheep or ox, }>e hide is valuable eijer for
VI PREFACE.
use or sale; it stinks; it is ferefore ftrown over ]?e palings,
or over a pole outside ]?e house: a hungry dog, a lean dirty
dog, ranging about, smells flesh, or guts, or blood, or hide,
and coming, pulls at, and drags ]?e reserved skin : and )>at
does it no good; broomsticks and stones drive away J>e ruffian.
"But," says he, "Hude is a well-known word in Anglo-Saxon,
signifying Hearth." Some trace of Hude as HeorS may be
found at p. 223 of]?e folio edition of)>e "Laws and Institutes,"
but ]?e intervention of a friend and J>e courtesy of ]?e reviewer
himself have made me aware that it is Je Scottish usage which
makes J>e word " well known," and Jat J>is sense is recorded by
Jamieson, as any may see.
Anofer gentleman of dialectic fame writes about Steap: and
]>e greater part ofhis remarks may be summed up by observing
]?e Latin Altus, high or deep; similarly we might understand
steap. He quotes Percy Folio, vol. i. p. 467:
Heereinthis ground deepe
is awaterstrong and steepe.
Such a river seems to me to run at a steep gradient, or a fall of
one foot in four: and so to deserve ]?e eprSet "strong." And
I find I have noted two additional places out of "Salomon and
Saturn," line 570, Se steapa gim,pe bright gem, and line 827,
where fis word is applied to fire.
Neverfeless I will not conceal from ]?e reader, whose edifica
tion is fe main point, fat a new and unexpected signification
has come before me : >e passage quoted in St. Marharete,
p. 108, from Horn. I. 456, is a translation from ]>e Latin pub-
lisht in Acta Sanctorum, Aug. 25 (not 24), and Steape eagan
represents Oculi grandes. Andhere I must leave >is word.
Under >e word Ranged in >e glossary of >e Cleveland
Dialect some remark about Eondin is made.
On
p. 4, St. Marharete, last line, Makelese, it is suggested,
should be interpreted Matchless: and to >at I submit.
From want of subscribers enough to >e Early English Text
^
Society,>isJulianahastaken so long to appear intype >at some
PREFACE. Vll
want of cohesion has crept into myassociation of ideas about
it. J>e text on fe left page has been edited by Mr. Brock,
from whose views I have taken one or two suggestions. To fe
word Maumez I demur: it should come into type, I believe, as
Maumets, but a Zed is on fe MS. ]3at Zed I read as TS, or
oferwise, I hold fe MS. Z to be like Zeta, a double letter such
as it is in Italian, and to be a contraction for TS, and not well
exprest by a modern Zed. In fe Domesday Book occurs a
Gozet explained by nobody: now if we take Zed as TS, Cotset
is easy enough to understand, and a suitable interpretation may
be assigned it, even when occurring in company wif Ootarii.
It gives me some pain to say, fat I believe ]>e story of St.
Margaret is convicted of forgery by fe indulgences which in
fe earliest MSS. conclude fe piece. One would not rudely tear
a doll from a childs arms, denouncing it as a waxwork sham;
but readers of Old English are probably rid of early sentiment,
and prepared to look Tru^ in fe face. f>e name'of Juliana has
never been so popular in England as fat of St. Margaret: her
story may be read in fe Acta Sanctorum, Feb. 16, and in fe
Codex Exoniensis in alliterative verse, wanting some leaves.
She is a fabulous personage.
Mr. Mortons opinion fat fe Ancren Eiwle, and, by way of
corollary, my suggestion fat "Hali Meidenhad" *J fe early
lives of St. Margaret, Juliana *j Cayenne were written by
bishop R. le Poor, grows more acceptable fe more I consider
it. Some account of fe nunnery at Tarent is given in fe New
Monasticon (Yol. Y., 619) : "Though Ealf de Kahaines was
the original founder, bishop Poor, who became bishop of Salis
bury in 1217, was fe principal one, and has sometimes had fe
foundation exclusively ascribed to him;" say the editors.
Herbert le Poor, bp. of Sarum, died 6 Feb., 1217, and was
succeeded by Richard le Poor, translated from Chichester died
;
15 April, 1237. Who so likely to interest himself? What
call could an ordinary priest have to recommend an unwelcome
rule of hard self denial to noble ladies? What influence, if he
VU1 PREFACE.
had intruded himself upon J>eir consciences ? Even in fese
days, when very commonplace mediocre scholars often arrive
at ]>Q upper steps of ]?e prelatic stairs, a bishops name has
weight wi]> fashionable ladies.
The auSor of fese little tracts exhibits a fair amount of
learning: ]?e illustration about ]>ejacinct j ]?e carbuncle comes
from }>e dialogues ofSt.Grregorius; St. CyrillusHiersolymitanus
(Catech. xii. p. 106), and St. Johannes Chrysostomos (vol. i.
p. 94 ult., p. 122, 31 ed. Savile), so far countenance J?e doctrine
J>at sin led to commerce of man wif woman, as J?at J?ey teach
fat Adam knew not Eve, his wife, till after their expulsion
from Paradise. J>is opinion was founded on ]?e circumstance
fat ]?e text (Gen. iv. 1) follows fe account of ]?e expulsion: and
doubtless, as still prevalent, was opposed in verse by Milton.
It would sunder j>e Creator of Je universe from )>e Deity to be
worshipped, if it had any real support in our Scriptures, but
such considerations are even now sometimes excluded in Geolo
gical tenets, and were of no avail in ]?e 'Sirteenft century. J>e
doctrine ]?at an eternal reward of a hundredfold is reserved to
virginity, of sixtyfold to widowhood after one marriage, of
Girtyfold to fe married, is compactly fus stated by Augustinus,
as matter of discussion; "Sive virginalis vita in centeno fructu
sit, in sexageno vidualis, in triceno autem coniugalis" (de S.
Virginitate xlvi.).
We
recognize, >erefore, in our writer for >e nuns of Tarent
Kaines, a scholar competently instructed in >e history and
writers ofhis profession; one who wouldbe kindly heard,when
he spoke, by >ose whom he wished to persuade and one whose
;
eyes were turned to Tarent: and he will be bp. B. le Poor.
"From Lelands words >at Tarentnunry of late stode about Crayford
Iridge over Stowre ryvar, lower }an Blanford, it is inferred >at ]?e
demolition of J>e buildings of >is house took place at an earlyperiod
after >e Dissolution. All traces of its buildings have long dis
appeared."
Its records are not in any public collection.