Saints Edith and Æthelthryth: Princesses, Miracle Workers, and Their Late Medieval Audience: The Wilton Chronicle and the Wilton Life of St. Æthelthryth 2503528368, 9782503528366

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S AINTS E DITH AND Æ THELTHRYTH

MEDIEVAL WOMEN: TEXTS AND CONTEXTS Editorial Board under the auspices of Monash University Renate Blumenfeld-Kosinski (Pittsburgh University) Juliette Dor (Université de Liège) Constant J. Mews (Monash University) Anneke B. Mulder-Bakker (Universiteit Leiden) Gabriella Signori (Universität Konstanz) Nicholas W atson (Harvard University) M iri Rubin (University of London)

Volume 25

S AINTS E DITH AND Æ THELTHRYTH: P RINCESSES, M IRACLE W ORKERS, AND THEIR L ATE M EDIEVAL A UDIENCE The Wilton Chronicle and the Wilton Life of St Æthelthryth

by

Mary Dockray-Miller

H

F

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Saints Edith and AEthelthryth - princesses, miracle workers, and their late medieval audience : The W ilton chronicle and The W ilton life of St AEthelthryth. -(M edieval women : texts and contexts ; v. 25) 1. Edith, Saint, d. ca. 986--Poetry. 2. Aethelthryth, Saint--Poetry. 3. Christian women saints--Poetry. 4. Christian poetry, English (M iddle)--History and criticism. I. Series II. Dockray-M iller, Mary, 1965- III. W ilton chronicle. IV. W ilton life of St AEthelthryth. 821.1'080351-dc22 ISBN-13: 9782503528366

© 2009, Brepols Publishers n.v., Turnhout, Belgium All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. D/2009/0095/143 ISBN: 978-2-503-52836-6 Printed in the E.U. on acid-free paper

To John A. Dockray who first showed me the intersections between history and legend

C ONTENTS

Acknowledgements Introduction

ix 1

The Wilton Chronicle (Middle English with Modern English Translation)

37

The Wilton Life of St Æthelthryth (Middle English with Modern English Translation)

335

Appendix 1: Founders and Sources Listed in the Wilton Manuscript edited and translated by STEPHEN J. HARRIS

407

Appendix 2: Additional Lines at the End of the Manuscript

421

Glossary

423

Index of Proper Names

453

Bibliography

469

A CKNOWLEDGEMENTS

T

he community of medieval studies scholars around the world and the academic community at Lesley University have both been enormously supportive of this project; I could not have completed this edition without the help of those listed here, and the final work is immeasurably richer for their insight and advice. Any faults that remain are entirely my own. I owe debts of gratitude to Emilie Amt, Mary-Jo Arn, Jessica Bell, Nicholas Bennett, Amy Bernier, Michelle Brown, Cynthia Turner Camp, Patricia Clancy, Christine Evans, Pamela Forde, Martin Foys, Steve Harris, Stephanie Hollis, Kathy Holmes, David Johnson, April Levy, Roy Liuzza, Heather McMorrow, Julie Pease, Bridget Pupillo, Jane Roberts, Linda Roscoe, Rebecca PetersenLeary, Michelle Sauer, Janet Schulte, William Stoneman, Robert Upchurch, Nicholas Watson, Jocelyn Wogan-Browne, and Anne Bagnell Yardley. My greatest debt is to Michael, Cordelia, and Bryn Miller, who chronicle for me the joy of daily life.

INTRODUCTION

W

ith the upsurge in interest in women’s history in general, and in medieval religious women’s history in particular, the time seems right to revisit the two Middle English poems at the very end of the composite manuscript London, British Library, MS Cotton Faustina B.III (fols 194r–274v). The first is a long poem that provides an overview of the history of Wilton Abbey before detailing the life and posthumous miracles of St Edith of Wilton (d. 984), the daughter of King Edgar (r. 959–75). The second text is a much shorter poem that narrates the life of St Æthelthryth of Ely (d. 679), an East Anglian princess who is celebrated for preserving her virginity through two marriages before becoming abbess at Ely. A list of royal ‘founders’ of the abbey, both real and desired, divides the two poems, neither of which has been edited since the 1880s.1 Scholars generally agree that the manuscript is datable quite specifically to c. 1420, since Henry V is the last of these listed kings.2

1

See S. Editha sive Chronicon Vilodunense; im Wiltshire Dialekt aus Ms. Cotton Faustina B III, ed. by C. Horstmann (Heilbronn: Henninger, 1883) for the Edith text; ‘Vita S. Etheldredae Eliensis’, in Altenglische Legenden: Neue Folge, ed. by C. Horstmann (Heilbronn: Henninger, 1881), pp. 282–307 for the Æthelthryth text. An earlier edition of the Wilton Chronicle is available as Chronicon Vilodunense; Sive De Vita Et Miraculis Sanctæ Edithæ Regis Edgari Filiæ Carmen Vetus Anglicum, E Codice Unico Cottoniano Nunc in Lucem Editum: Cura G. H. Black, ed. by William Henry Black (London: Typis Nicholsianis, 1830). Wiesje Emons-Nijenhuis has recently edited only lines 2718–3240 as a vita of Wulfthryth ‘embedded’ in the Wilton Chronicle. See ‘The Embedded Saint, The Wilton Chroncle’s Life of St Wulfthryth’, Revue Benedictine, 119 (2009), 86–120. 2

For a thorough discussion of the dating, see Jocelyn Wogan-Browne, ‘Outdoing the Daughters of Syon? Edith of Wilton and the Representation of Female Community in Fifteenth-Century England’, in Medieval Women: Texts and Contexts in Late Medieval Britain,

2

Introduction

The new editions offered here provide primary source texts important to the study of women’s history in both the early and late Middle Ages. The poems, composed at Wilton Abbey in the early fifteenth century, allow us to see how late medieval religious women practised their devotion to early medieval women saints. While these texts were probably not composed by a woman, they were definitely written for women to read or to hear, and thus illuminate as well the history of women as consumers of literature. The first of the poems has conventionally been titled the Wilton Chronicle, although there is no title in the manuscript; the second poem has received so little scholarly notice that it has no conventional editorial title. I have titled the second text The Wilton Life of St Æthelthryth. The narrative setting for most of both poems is Anglo-Saxon England. It is historical convention that the textual history of the Anglo-Saxon period begins in 597, with the arrival of St Augustine of Canterbury and his mission, and ends in 1066, with the Norman Conquest. Anglo-Saxonists tend to divide these 469 years into a number of smaller periods, and it is striking that each of these Middle English Lives is set at a crucial moment in English ecclesiastical history. Although Æthelthryth’s poem is second in the manuscript, its setting comes first chronologically, so it will be more sensible to contextualize Æthelthryth in the conversion period before turning to Edith and the Benedictine Reform. The conversion period — the first hundred or so years after Augustine’s arrival — has been celebrated as something of a ‘golden age’ for women’s participation and power in the Church and thus in society at large.3 Most notably, Stephanie Hollis has detailed the substance and activity of women in the Church during the conversion period and then the steady decline in women’s ecclesiastical status and power through the rest of the Anglo-Saxon era; Hollis discusses the gradual transformation of the religious woman from miles christi (a more androgynous ‘soldier of Christ’) in the conversion period to sponsa christi (a definitively feminine ‘bride of Christ’) at the end of the period.4 Hollis and scholars like her examine the particular early medieval institution of the ‘double monastery’ as the cornerstone of this female power within the Church.

ed. by Jocelyn Wogan-Browne and others (Turnhout: Brepols, 2000), pp. 393–409. 3

See, for example, Christine Fell, Women in Anglo-Saxon England (London: Colonnade, 1984); Stephanie Hollis, Anglo-Saxon Women and the Church: Sharing a Common Fate (Woodbridge: Boydell, 1992); Clare Lees and Gillian Overing, Double Agents: Women and Clerical Culture in Anglo-Saxon England (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2001). 4

Hollis, Anglo-Saxon Women and the Church, pp. 82–108.

Introduction

3

A form imported from Merovingian Gaul, the double monastery, or minster in Old English, was a religious house for monks and nuns ruled by an abbess.5 During the conversion period, the convent — a religious house only for women — was rare, while the minster was very common. The structure of the houses thus institutionalized the supervision of men by women; the abbesses who ruled the minsters — and their large and wealthy properties — came exclusively from the royal families of the various Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. The connection between the royal family and the minster, in fact, was so close that the abbacy passed between women of the same royal family much as the throne did between male family members. Important double houses include Whitby, Minster-inThanet, Minster-in-Sheppey, Much Wenlock, and Ely.6 Bede celebrates Æthelthryth and Ely, her minster, in his Historia Ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum, even composing an abecedarian poem in her honour.7 He provides the essential facts: daughter of King Anna of the East Angles, Æthelthryth (variously Æthelthryth, Etheldreda, or Audrey) was married first to Tondberht, a South Gyrwan prince, who died shortly after the wedding. She then married Ecgfrith (sometimes called Ecgfrid) but preserved her virginity through twelve years of marriage. Bede assures his readers that Æthelthryth’s body remained uncorrupted after her death, thus proving her to have been a virili contactu incorrupta (uncorrupted by contact with any man).8 While modern readers may be more inclined to believe that she was barren, the salient point here is that Ecgfrith finally allowed her to retire to the religious life, and after a brief stay at the monasterium of Coldingham, Æthelthryth founded Ely in the early 670s (the Liber Eliensis, a later source discussed below, states that she

5

Mary Bateson, ‘Origin and History of Double Monasteries’, Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, n.s., 13 (1899), 137–98. 6

See, for example, Susan J. Ridyard, The Royal Saints of Anglo-Saxon England: A Study of West Saxon and East Anglian Cults (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988). Also see Mary Dockray-Miller, Motherhood and Mothering in Anglo-Saxon England (New York: St Martin’s Press, 2000), chapter 2; Barbara Yorke, Nunneries and the Anglo-Saxon Royal Houses (London: Continuum, 2003). 7

Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English People, ed. and trans. by Bertram Colgrave and R. A. B. Mynors (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1969). All subsequent references to Bede will be to this edition by book and chapter; all translations are from Colgrave and Mynors as well. The section celebrating Æthelthryth is IV .19–20. 8

Bede’s Ecclesiastical History, IV .19. For thorough discussion of Bede’s text, see Virginia Blanton, Signs of Devotion: The Cult of St Æthelthryth in Medieval England, 695–1615 (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2007), chapter 1.

4

Introduction

used land originally given to her by her first husband). She died in 679 and was succeeded by her sister Seaxburh, who had also been a queen (but did not remain a virgin). Ely’s history then follows a pattern typical of the double monasteries during the conversion period: a house for men and women founded and ruled by a former queen on land she controlled, its rule passed to an immediate female relative. Worship of the saintly founder included Seaxburh’s translation of her sister’s body to a finer coffin. Bede celebrates her most for her virginity and humility; her posthumous miracles protected the house and glorified the saint. Æthelthryth was celebrated at Ely and throughout England; after Ely’s refoundation as a men-only monastery in the tenth century, the monks maintained the cult of the founder until the dissolution of the monasteries under Henry VIII in the late 1530s. The existence of The Wilton Life of Æthelthryth in MS Cotton Faustina B.III indicates that, while women no longer lived at Ely, Ely’s founding saint was still a subject of interest for devout women of the late medieval period (see below, pp. 10–12 on textual traditions). Ely’s re-foundation during the tenth century was part of the Benedictine Reform, a movement spearheaded by King Edgar and Saints Dunstan and Æthelwold.9 Dunstan’s positions throughout his ecclesiastical career included Abbot of Glastonbury, Bishop of Worcester, Bishop of London, and Archbishop of Canterbury; Æthelwold was Abbot of Abingdon and then Bishop of Winchester. With the assistance and encouragement of the king, these two men restored and reformed the English Church and Benedictine monasticism in England after the fragmentation and deterioration of the previous hundred years, a period which included devastating Viking invasions. One of the re-founded institutions was Wilton Abbey, originally founded c. 830 but reinvigorated if not wholly renewed by Edgar and the Benedictine reformers (indeed, while the Abbey claims a ninth-century founding, there is documentation only from the tenth century). One of the first post-Reform abbesses was Wulfthryth (also Wultrude or Woltrud), the mother of St Edith. After a history of the abbey’s founding, the Wilton Chronicle narrates miraculous highlights of Edith’s life; the poet is careful to tie the establishment

9

See most recently Michael D. C. Drout, How Tradition Works: A Meme-Based Cultural Poetics of the Anglo-Saxon Tenth Century (Tempe: Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 2006). The classic study is J. Armitage Robinson, The Times of Saint Dunstan: The Ford Lectures Delivered in the University of Oxford in the Michaelmas Term, 1922 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1969).

Introduction

5

and growth of Wilton Abbey to the establishment and growth of the West Saxon royal house and the English Church. The introductory section of English history starts with the reign of Ecgberht (r. 802–39), provides a brief flashback to the migration period, and then proceeds at a breathtaking pace until the ascension of Edgar to the throne in 959. The narrative pace slows as Edgar becomes king; the section detailing the courtship of Edith’s parents is unfortunately missing from the manuscript. The poem reveals how, after an appropriately holy childhood, Edith circulated at the very highest levels of society, despite her status as a resident of Wilton Abbey; the poet depicts her in council with the king her father, in dispute with Æthelwold, and in conversation with Dunstan. The last third of the poem’s almost 5000 lines relates her posthumous miracles, which protected Wilton Abbey and the English royal house. While both poems are thus set during dynamic and important moments in Anglo-Saxon ecclesiastical history, they were composed in the late medieval period at another time of upheaval and change. The Lollard, or Wycliffite, heresy had ebbed by c. 1420, the date of the production of the manuscript, but the spread of England’s only home-grown heresy had shaken the Church with its anti-clericalism and demands for vernacular access to the Bible.10 In addition, the country was in secular unrest: the Hundred Years War had entered into one of its active periods as Henry V claimed and conquered French territory from 1417–20, when the Treaty of Troyes put him next in line in succession to the throne of France. By 1420, Wilton Abbey as well was recovering from a period of turmoil, both financial and religious. Financial trouble throughout the thirteenth century led to lack of maintenance on the abbey buildings; in 1284 and 1302 the nuns were found to be guilty of ‘misconduct’, and in 1317 the abbess was deemed by the bishop to be too old and infirm to manage the abbey effectively. This information comes from records of bishops’ official visitations to the abbey, which evaluated the nuns’ adherence to the Benedictine Rule. Nancy Warren has argued that visitations by bishops were more strict, punitive and hierarchical for Benedictine nuns than for their Brigittine or Franciscan sisters; she notes that, in considering the more liberal visitation practices of the Brigittine and Franciscan traditions, it is also important to remember that both rules were written for women (not

10

See most recently Ian Forrest, The Detection of Heresy in Late Medieval England (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005).

6

Introduction for men and then adapted for women) by women who were very interested in preserving distinctive religious identities.11

Warren argues further that bishops evaluating Benedictine nunneries focused ultimately on the nuns’ chastity and potential threats to that chastity; Benedictine nuns were ‘Christ’s spouses [and] deeply subject to patriarchal authority’, whose misbehaviour could mean the sin of adultery (rather than solely fornication).12 Pastoral concern about, and reprimands of, Wilton Abbey continued through the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries; while Warren’s work cautions us against taking these visitation records at face value, they do indicate financial and managerial if not necessarily spiritual troubles. While rules of enclosure are open to a certain amount of interpretation, the specific criticisms of the state of the buildings and financial records are more concrete. I quote at length from the Victoria County History: To administer the revenues of the house so as to meet its obligations must have been beyond the capacity of many of the abbesses of Wilton and their stewards. Economic difficulties may, as in the 13th century, have been to blame, in part at least, for some slackness of discipline which is apparent at Wilton at the end of the 14th and beginning of the 15th centuries. For there appear to have been some grounds for criticism when the Bishop of Salisbury visited the abbey in 1379. Breaches in the rules enjoining enclosure and prohibiting private property seem to be the most widespread offences at that time: it was also ordered that a careful check be kept on the admission of visitors: no married woman was to sojourn within the convent: all corrections were to be imposed publicly by the abbess in the chapter: the nuns were to reprove their pupils kindly, and were forbidden to entertain themselves with superstitious plays or games. The abbess was more rigorously to enforce the Rule, which had been translated into French for the benefit of the nuns. She was to visit the sick in the infirmary frequently, and she was to drink the same beer and eat the same bread as the nuns. A slackness in the administration of the house is perhaps implied from the command that no letter or deed was to be sealed with the common seal except in the chapter and in the presence of the convent: all deeds were to be registered and compared by at least two clerks of the house: annual accounts were to be kept and read before the convent: the steward was to be chosen with the consent of the abbess and convent. The buildings were apparently in a ruinous state since the repair of the dormitory and other buildings was ordered.13

11

Nancy Warren, Spiritual Economies (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2001), p. 23 (emphasis Warren’s). 12 13

Ibid., p. 6 and chapter 1.

Elizabeth Crittall, ‘Houses of Benedictine Nuns: Abbey of Wilton’, in A History of the County of Wiltshire: Volume 3 (London: Oxford University Press, 1956), pp. 231–42. [accessed 27 July 2006].

Introduction

7

It is interesting to note that the poems edited here were produced at the end of this period in the abbey’s history. By 1423, Archbishop Chicheley reported that Wilton Abbey was in order, and in 1425 the Bishop of Salisbury encouraged pilgrimage to the shrine of St Edith, thus increasing the abbey’s revenues, by granting a forty-day indulgence to those who visited the shrine on 16 September, the anniversary of Edith’s death.14 Extant fifteenth-century pilgrim badges, now in the Salisbury Museum, indicate strong local devotion to Saints Edith and Æthelthryth.15 It seems likely that the poems were produced as devotional reading for a newly reinvigorated (willingly or not) group of nuns who were working to adhere more closely to the Rule, restore their buildings, encourage revenue, and manage their finances. The implied audience, then, consists of Wilton Abbey residents who require instruction in the English traditions and practices of women’s monasticism in general and of their convent in particular (as Black, Horstmann and WoganBrowne have noted). These women need not have been professed nuns, however, as Wilton seems to have acted throughout its history as something of a boarding school and repository for the safe-keeping of the daughters of the aristocracy. Katherine O’Brien O’Keeffe notes that, immediately following the Norman Conquest, numerous young women at Wilton and elsewhere were ‘wearing the veil tactically without making a formal religious commitment’ to protect them from unwanted marriages with the Norman invaders.16 Maud, later queen of Henry I, was educated there as well.17 References to the nuns’ students in visitation records also show that girls and unconsecrated young women resided at Wilton throughout the period; similar practices were in place at Barking Abbey and other convents as well.18 Whether or not they were already professed, 14

Ibid. See also Joyce M. Horn and Robert Hallum, The Register of Robert Hallum, Bishop of Salisbury, 1407–17 (Torquay: Devonshire Press for the Canterbury and York Society, 1982). 15 See Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum Medieval Catalogue Part II: Pilgrim Souvenirs and Secular Badges, ed. by Brian Spencer (Salisbury: Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum, 1990), pp. 48–52. 16

Katherine O’Brien O’Keeffe, ‘Leaving Wilton: Gunnhild and the Phantoms of Agency’, Journal of English and Germanic Philology, 106 (2007), 203–23 (p. 204). 17

William of Malmesbury, Gesta Regum Anglorum, cited in Crittall, ‘Houses of Benedictine Nuns’; online version [accessed 20 July 2009]. 18

See discussion of scolares et juvencules in Laurentia McLachlan’s notes in The Ordinale or Customary of the Benedictine Nuns of Barking Abbey, ed. by John Tolhurst, 2 vols (London: Henry Bradshaw Society, 1928), II, p. 369; part 4 of Marilyn Oliva’s The Convent and the

8

Introduction

the residents of Wilton are presumed by the poet to need instruction in their house’s history. For example, in the Wilton Chronicle the poet states that: Now wolly tell how forther more þe nomes of þe founders everychon, þat he mowe have of hem knowynge þe more In hour preyours for hem þe rather to done. (ll.686–89)

While the intended audience of the poems is thus very clear, there is no internal information about the author.19 The poet’s very conversational narrative voice is with us throughout; for example, in the Wilton Life we are told: and mony a feyre miracull for hurre God hathe þer wrouht In Hely in þat worshupfull abbay Off þe whiche now on comethe in to my þouht þe whiche y chull to how now wryte and say. (ll. 974–77)

Black, Horstmann and Wogan-Browne have all suggested a chaplain or attendant priest at Wilton as the author of the texts; Black even lists names of chaplains known to have been at Wilton, since he argues that the Wilton Chronicle displays a ‘masculine style’.20 Benskin suggests that one of the nuns could have been the copyist (rather than the author); his focus is on regional variation in the Middle English dialects rather than on identification of the author or copyist.21 An inscription on the last folio of the manuscript reads ‘Robert and Richard Wyham’ — these men are likely somehow associated with the manuscript’s production or early ownership.22 While the location of the Community in Late Medieval England: Female Monasteries in the Diocese of Norwich, 1350–1540 (Woodbridge: Boydell, 1998) also discusses lay residents of convent communities. 19

Wilhelm Heuser argued in 1887 that one poet wrote the Wilton Chronicle, ll. 1–2390 and another the end of the Chronicle and all of the Wilton Life. He was refuted by Fischer in 1889, and no twentieth-century scholar has entertained the idea of two different poets. See summaries of Heuser’s and Fischer’s arguments in John Scahill, Middle English Saints’ Legends, Annotated Bibliographies of Old and Middle English Literature, 8 (Woodbridge: Brewer, 2005), p. 181. 20

Chronicon Vilodunense, ed. by Black, p. viii, n. 1.

21

Michael Benskin, ‘In Reply to Dr Burton’, Leeds Studies in English, 22 (1991), 246–51.

22

It seems that this inscription has not yet been mentioned in any publication on the manuscript. A connection to Wyham, a small parish in Lincoln, could possibly help to explain the use of some of the non-Wiltshire dialect forms noted by Benskin (see ‘In Reply’, n. 16); the town of Wytham in Oxfordshire is much closer to Wilton, but the Survey of English Place-Names (ed. by F. M. Stanton and others, 54 vols (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1969–82)) records no instances of Wytham spelled as Wyham (I am indebted to Emilie Amt for her guidance in this matter).

Introduction

9

poem’s composition and reproduction are thus fairly sure, the gender of the author and the copyist are completely unsure. Each of the two roles could have been ably filled by a nun or an attendant priest. Perhaps a more important question is how the poet accessed the sources needed for the composition of the poems, especially the historical sections that begin each text. We do know that Wilton Abbey had at least a decently sized library, since the verso of the last leaf of the manuscript (now damaged and faded) contains a book list generally assumed to be a partial catalog of Wilton’s holdings. The list includes Gregory’s Moralia in Job, texts by Isidore, two ‘psalteris yglosyd’, four ‘gospelariis’, five ‘redyng bokys for the frayter’, and three ‘bokys of henglys’. Sharpe cautions that ‘it cannot be assumed that this represents the sum of the library’.23 The immediate sources for the Wilton Chronicle and The Wilton Life of St Æthelthryth are not listed, although it seems highly unlikely that Wilton would not have possessed a copy of Goscelin’s Legenda Edithae, probably composed at Wilton at the request of the Wilton nuns (see below, pp. 10–12 on textual traditions). The book known as the Wilton Psalter (London, Royal College of Physicians, MS 409) is definitely a Wilton book, as is Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Rawlinson G.23.24 These two psalters are not listed either, however, as they are not yglosyd. One of the two glossed psalters may be the Salisbury Psalter (Salisbury, Salisbury Cathedral MS 150), a Gallican psalter with English glossing; Daphne Stroud makes a convincing argument for that book as a Wilton book as well.25 A processional, which now exists only in a nineteenth-century transcription, could be considered an addition to the list,26 as could some form of the Wilton Cartulary.27

23

Full list with details and commentary available in R. Sharpe and others, English Benedictine Libraries: The Shorter Catalogues, Corpus of British Medieval Library Catalogues, 4 (London: British Library, 1996), p. 645. 24

David N. Bell, What Nuns Read: Books and Libraries in Medieval English Nunneries (Kalamazoo: Cistercian Publications, 1995), p. 214. 25

The Salisbury Psalter, ed. by Celia Sisam and Kenneth Sisam, Early English Text Society (Series), o.s., 242 (London: Oxford University Press, 1959); Daphne Stroud, ‘The Provenance of the Salisbury Psalter’, Library: A Quarterly Journal of Bibliography, 1 (1979), 225–35. 26

Bell, What Nuns Read, pp. 213–14; for discussion of the processional, see Anne Bagnall Yardley, Performing Piety : Musical Culture in Medieval English Nunneries (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006), chapter 5. 27

London, British Library MS Harley 436, ed. by R. C. Hoare in Registrum Wiltunense (London: Typis Nicholsianis, 1827).

10

Introduction

The author definitely travelled to collect the information required, as is indicated by the fascinating reference to Godstow Abbey in The Wilton Life of St Æthelthryth. To introduce the episode of the peeping canon, the poet tells us that the narrative can be found in ‘þe Abbey of Godstw y wys / In hurre legent as y dude þere þat tyme rede’ (ll. 978–79). Emilie Amt has explored the possible contents of Godstow’s library; this legent could be an addition to Amt’s list or possibly a reference to what Amt terms the ‘Chronicle of the House and Monastery of Godstow’. This French text, now mostly lost, included the foundation legend of the abbey and may have included legends about other houses founded by women as well.28 Most crucial here is the direct evidence that there was literary exchange and sharing between one women’s house and another, showing that these texts, whether composed by a man or a woman, must be considered within the active literary milieu of English women’s monasticism in the first quarter of the fifteenth century.

Textual Traditions/Textual Analyses The author of these Middle English poems drew directly on the extensive textual traditions of both saints and on the traditions of literature for women readers. While hagiography may seem generically obscure and possibly unpalatable today, Sarah Salih has noted that ‘it would be difficult to overestimate the popularity of hagiography in late medieval England’.29 A large body of scholarship now focuses on the woman as reader of hagiography and other devotional texts in the High Middle Ages; David Bell and others have argued that women were at the forefront of spiritual devotion in the vernacular.30 By 1420, the reading of both

28

Emilie Amt, ‘Books and Learning at Godstow Abbey’, unpublished paper given at the 39th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo: 2004; Amt, ‘The Rhyming French Chronicle of the Godstow Nuns’, unpublished paper given at The French of England: Multilingualism in Practice conference, Fordham University, 2007. See also The English Register of Godstow Nunnery, Near Oxford, Written About 1450, ed. by Andrew Clark (London: Paul, Trench, Trübner, 1911). 29

See Sarah Salih’s introduction in A Companion to Middle English Hagiography, ed. by Sarah Salih (Woodbridge: Brewer, 2006), p. 10. 30 Bell, What Nuns Read. There is now an enormous bibliography of ‘medieval woman as reader’ studies; select works include Anne Clark Bartlett, Male Authors, Female Readers: Representation and Subjectivity in Middle English Devotional Literature (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1995); Julia Boffey, ‘Women Authors and Women’s Literacy in Fourteenth-

Introduction

11

local and universal saints’ Lives had been prescribed as an appropriate devotional activity for religious women for hundreds of years.31 Jocelyn Wogan-Browne has detailed most thoroughly the textual and cultural connections between women’s religious practice and hagiography, especially the hagiography of female saints.32 The Ancrene Wisse and its attendant Katherine Group texts attest to this relationship in the thirteenth century; Sarah Foot has examined potential texts for women in the Anglo-Saxon period; hagiography for women — and even some by women — was produced throughout the English medieval period in Latin, Anglo-Norman French and English.33 In the Wilton Life, St Æthelthryth herself is credited with reading ‘seyntes lyves in boke’ (l. 272); the Wilton Chronicle tells us of St Edith that ‘Bot ever he lovede over all thyng / to rede and syng upon here boke’ (ll. 1171–72). These meta-textual examples provide an immediately gratified source of imitatio sanctae, since of course the reader or listener is engaging a vita text as well. I will focus here only on the textual traditions surrounding Saints Edith and Æthelthryth, but those traditions are part of this much larger tradition of hagiographical devotional reading for women, not just in England but throughout Europe as well.

and Fifteenth-Century England’, in Women and Literature in Britain, 1150–1500, ed. by Carol Meale (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996), pp. 159–82; A. S. G. Edwards, ‘Fifteenth-Century English Collections of Female Saints’ Lives’, Yearbook of English Studies, 33 (2003), 131–41; Mary Erler, Women, Reading, and Piety in Late Medieval England (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002); C. Annette Grise, ‘Women’s Devotional Reading in Late Medieval England and the Gendered Reader’, Medium Aevum, 71 (2002), 209–25; Rebecca Krug, Reading Families: Women’s Literate Practice in Late Medieval England (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2002), and Writing Religious Women: Female Spiritual and Textual Practices in Late Medieval England, ed. by Denis Renevey and Christiana Whitehead (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2000). 31

See essays on local versus universal saints’ cults by Catherine Cubitt (‘Universal and Local Saints in Anglo-Saxon England’) and John Blair (‘A Saint for Every Minster? Local Cults in Anglo-Saxon England’), both in Local Saints and Local Churches in the Early Medieval West, ed. by Alan Thacker and Richard Sharpe (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002), pp. 423–53 and pp. 455–94, respectively. 32

Jocelyn Wogan-Browne, Saints’ Lives and Women’s Literary Culture c. 1150–1300: Virginity and Its Authorizations (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001). See also Catherine Sanok, Her Life Historical (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2007), especially chapter 2. 33 Medieval English Prose for Women: Selections from the Katherine Group and Ancrene Wisse, ed. by Bella Millett and Jocelyn Wogan-Browne (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990); Sarah Foot, Veiled Women, 2 vols (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2000); Wogan-Browne, Saints’ Lives and Women’s Literary Culture.

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Hagiographical texts are often generically fluid: are they literature? History? Biography? Theology? The Wilton Chronicle is not mentioned in Antonia Gransden’s survey of Historical Writing in England; the nineteenth-century bibliographers at Harvard University’s Widener Library (which retains its own unique call-number system for the older items in the collection) shelved Horstmann’s edition of the Wilton Chronicle in the folklore section.34 Medievalists are therefore engaging in interdisciplinary analysis as they work with hagiographical texts; these narratives, which had been scorned as superstition or folklore in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, have taken a prominent spot in current scholarship on medieval religious and cultural practices.35 The textual traditions of Saints Edith and Æthelthryth are thus a complex mix of texts that perform in a variety of ways: as devotional tools, as indicators of nationalism, as defenders of property rights, and as behavioural manuals.

Historiography and Nationalism Both poems begin with national histories, placing the saints and their abbeys prominently within the development of the English nation and the English church. The poet conveniently lists the poems’ historical sources in the margins of the texts as well as in the list that divides the poems in the manuscript. Most frequently cited is Ranulph Higden’s Polychronicon, cited in the margins as Cronica Cistrensis.36 Nijenhuis argues that the poet simply copied most of the source list from the Polychronicon, and that ‘it is doubtful whether the author ever consulted the works in question’ other than Henricus Crompe’s history of West Saxon monasticism, William of Malmesbury’s Gesta Regum Anglorum and

34

Antonia Gransden, Historical Writing in England, 2 vols (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1974–82). 35

Felice Lifshitz, ‘Beyond Positivism and Genre: Hagiographical Texts as Historical Narrative’, Viator, 25 (1994), 95–113. 36

Ranulf Higden, Polychronicon Ranulphi Higden Monachi Cestrensis: Together with the English Translations of John Trevisa and of an Unknown Writer of the Fifteenth Century, ed. by Joseph Rawson Lumby, 9 vols (London: Longman, 1865–86; repr. Millwood, NY: Kraus Reprints, 1964). A more recent if partial edition of the Middle English translation is John Trevisa’s Translation of the Polychronicon of Ranulph Higden, Book VI: An Edition Based on British Library Ms Cotton Tiberius D. Vii, ed. by Ronald Waldron (Heidelberg: Winter, 2004).

Introduction

13

Gesta Pontificum Anglorum, and the Polychronicon itself.37 These histories provide the information necessary for the poet to show the importance of Wilton and Ely in English history. As such, the Wilton texts are late medieval examples of what Allen J. Frantzen and John D. Niles have called Anglo-Saxonism, a term they define as the process through which a self-conscious national and racial identity first came into being among the early peoples of the region that we now call England and how […] that identity was transformed into an originary myth available to a wide variety of political and social interests.38

The poems’ Anglo-Saxonism values what Wogan-Browne terms ‘the authority of this ancient Wessex nunnery’, lending the weight of history and tradition to the current fifteenth-century abbey.39 For the non-specialist, the beginning of the Wilton Chronicle can seem like a blur of similarly named pre-Conquest kings, all fighting the heathen (usually Danish invaders) and making foundation-level grants to Wilton Abbey. The Wilton Chronicle and Wilton Life thus allow the abbey to create its own historiography, to shape and present its own history and identity; other English women’s houses were engaging in much the same processes throughout the later medieval period, as indicated by the survivals of the Godstow Chronicle (mentioned above), the fourteenth-century Register of Crabhouse Priory,40 and the Barking Ordinale and Customary, a 1404 manuscript that provided calendrical, liturgical and house-specific information about observances for the nuns of Barking Abbey.41 Interestingly enough, the bulk of the Barking manuscript is in Latin, but much of the house-specific information (about appropriate ceremony for the death of the prioress, for example) is in 37

W. F. Nijenhuis, ‘The Wilton Chronicle as Historical Source’, Revue Benedictine, 115 (2005), 370–99 (p. 372, esp. nn. 11 and 13). 38

See ‘Introduction: Anglo-Saxonism and Medievalism’ in Anglo-Saxonism and the Construction of Social Identity, ed. by Allen J. Frantzen and John D. Niles (Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 1997), pp. 1–16 (p. 1). For a discussion of Anglo-Saxonism focused on pre-twentieth-century historiography, see Anthony Brundage and Richard A. Cosgrove, The Great Tradition (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2007), pp. 27–55. 39

Wogan-Browne, ‘Outdoing the Daughters’, p. 396.

40

London, British Library, Additional MS 4731; see The Register of Crabhouse Nunnery, ed. by Mary Bateson (Norwich: Norfolk and Norwich Archaeological Society, 1899), as well as Rebecca June, ‘The Languages of Memory: The Crabhouse Nunnery Manuscript’, in Language and Culture in Medieval Britain: The French of England, c. 1100–c. 1500, ed. by Jocelyn WoganBrowne and others (forthcoming). 41

Oxford, University College Library, MS 169; see The Ordinale, ed. by Tolhurst.

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Introduction

Anglo-Norman French or Middle English, presumably for ease of use by the sisters.42 The Wilton Chronicle’s Anglo-Saxonist historiography focuses the reader on issues of ethnicity and hierarchy. The poet instructs us that the English are named after Hengest, their originary leader; King Ecgberht conquered and united various kingdoms and tribes (ll. 14–45) and then ordained what they should be called. The poet uses ‘we’ to include the audience with the winners in this narrative: ‘And þus Englond toke first his name / In þe gode Kyng Egbertes tyme, / riht as we clepe het þe same’ (ll. 106–08). From the outset, then, Wilton Abbey and its nuns, the readers of the poem, are aligned with power, peace and superiority. Katherine J. Lewis has described similar dynamics of nationalism in the more general popularity of English saints during the later Middle Ages: ‘the Hundred Years War meant that there was a particular premium placed on establishing the singular and superior nature of English national identity in opposition to French’.43 In a similar manner, the initial 108 lines of The Wilton Life of St Æthelthryth describe the seven early Anglo-Saxon kingdoms in order to show how the founding of Ely was tied into the East Anglian and Northumbrian royal houses; here, history is a glorification and enhancement of Ely’s and Æthelthryth’s

42

Ibid., II, pp. 354–64. For an example of another religious text translated into English expressly for women, see the northern metrical version of the Benedictine Rule in Three Middle English Versions of the Rule of St Benet, ed. by Ernst A. Kock, Early English Text Society, o.s., 120 (London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner, 1902; repr. 1972). 43

Katherine J. Lewis, ‘History, Historiography, and Rewriting the Past’, in A Companion to Middle English Hagiography, ed. by Sarah Salih (Woodbridge: Brewer, 2006), pp. 122–40 (p. 129). See also Katherine J. Lewis, ‘Anglo-Saxon Saints’ Lives, History and National Identity in Late Medieval England’, in History, Nationhood and the Question of Britain, ed. by Helen Brocklehurst and Robert Phillips (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004), pp. 160–70. Thelma Fenster and Jocelyn Wogan-Browne make a similar argument in the introduction to their translation of Matthew Paris, Estoire de Seint Aedward le Rei: The History of St Edward the King, ed. and trans. by Thelma S. Fenster and Jocelyn Wogan-Browne (Tempe: Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 2008). See also Robert Allen Rouse, The Idea of Anglo-Saxon England in Middle English Romance (Cambridge: Brewer, 2005); Alexander Barclay, The Life of St. George, Early English Text Society, o.s., 230 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1960); The Life of St Edmund, King and Martyr: John Lydgate’s Illustrated Verse Life Presented to Henry VI: A Facsimile of British Library Ms Harley 2278, ed. by A. S. G. Edwards (London: British Library, 2004).

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Introduction

sanctity.44 These opening lines are adapted almost word-for-word from Book one, chapter 51, of John Trevisa’s English translation of Book one of Higden’s Polychronicon. For example, Trevisa’s version states that ‘Þe þridde kyngdom was of Estsaxon, and hadde in þe est side þe see, and in þe west þe contray of Londoun, in þe souþ Temse, in þe north Soþfolk’.45 The Wilton Life tells us that: þe kyngdam of Estsex þe thrydde was þo […]. Upon þe est syde þis kyngdam hadde þe see, Upon þe west syde the contrey of London, y wys, upon the sowthesyde þe water of Temse hadde he, upon þe northe syde, Sowthefolke, þe story saythe þis. (ll. 33, 37–40)

One crucial difference is that the Wilton Life poet moves East Anglia from its position as the fourth kingdom in Higden’s list to the seventh place, so to build dramatically to the place of Æthelthryth’s birth.46 The coincidence in phrasing, however, is substantial enough that it is safe to postulate that the poet was working from a copy of Trevisa’s English version rather than Higden’s Latin, while composing the Wilton Life. Similarly, the Wilton Chronicle relies on the Polychronicon for much of its first 1000 lines, although the correspondence is not as sure as that of the Wilton Life to Trevisa’s translation. For example, Trevisa’s version of the battle of Ashdown is relatively brief: Englisshe men were i-moeved, and arrayed a bataylle þe fourþe day þerafter uppon Aschedoun. Þere Aluredus was i-dryve for grete nede to come to þe batayle to fore his broþer þe kyng, þat herde a masse þat tyme; þe whiche kyng his prayers to God þat day were moche worthy. For þeyh þe Danes hadde i-take þe hiher place of þe hille, Cristen men com from þe foot of þe hille upward ahenst hem, and slouh Osrik kyng of Danes, and fyve of his dukes, and meny þowsandes of enemyes, and chasede þere oþere al day anon to þe Redynge.47

In contrast, the Wilton Chronicle’s much longer narrative (ll. 259–307) includes trumpets, elements of suspense as the English falter while the king is at the

44

Jill Frederick makes a similar argument about geographical detail in the Lives of AngloSaints in the South English Legendary; see her article, ‘The South English Legendary: AngloSaxon Saints and National Identity’, in Literary Appropriations of the Anglo-Saxons from the Thirteenth to the Twentieth Century, ed. by D. G. Scragg and Carole Weinberg (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000), pp. 57–73. 45

Trevisa’s translation of Book I, chapter 51, in Higden, Polychronicon, II, p. 101.

46

Ibid., II, pp. 101–07.

47

Ibid., V , chapter 33.

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church, heroic descriptions of Æthelred’s last-minute entry into the battle, and moral reflection on the efficacy of hearing the entire mass before entering into combat. A number of incidents from the first section of the Wilton Chronicle have no precedent in the Polychronicon, however, thus showing that the poet did rely on other texts. One of these is a lost treatise on West Saxon monasteries by Henricus Crompe, the source of the narrative of the original founding of the abbey by Elburwe, her brother King Ecgberht, and her husband Earl Walstan of Wilton.48 Another is the lost history of Walter of Oxford, from which the poet drew the narrative of Edward the Elder’s daughter, a toddler who died in the chaos of a battle with the Vikings (ll. 436–67); her death by drowning (she was left unattended in her bath by her frightened nurse) inspired the re-foundation of the abbey by Alfred (ll. 581–95).49 Interestingly enough, the poet occasionally cites the Polychronicon when it is not the source of a section of the narrative. For example, cronica cistrens appears in the margin of the Wilton Chronicle at l. 910, as Edgar’s mother interprets for him his dream with the two apples and the lamp. This episode does not appear in the Polychronicon, but the poet seems to like the legitimacy of the reference anyway. Similarly, the poet cites Bede (d. 735) as an authority on the reign of King Alfred (d. 899) (Wilton Chronicle, l. 660). The source lists and references, whether accurate or not, serve to legitimize further the literary, historical and religious importance of Saints Edith and Æthelthryth, their abbeys and their celebratory poems.50

The Wilton Chronicle The cult of St Edith was obviously primary at Wilton Abbey, and so it is fitting that the poem celebrating her life, works and miracles is a good deal longer than that of Æthelthryth’s. The main source for lines 1023–4977 is Goscelin’s Legenda Edithae, which includes both a vita and a translatio (see above, pp. 12–16, for discussion of the sources of the history section, ll. 1–1022). Goscelin composed

48

See Nijenhuis, ‘The Wilton Chronicle’, p. 371.

49

See Ibid., p. 380, n. 35, for further discussion.

50

See Appendix 1 for the source list on fols 258r–59v, ed. and with commentary by Stephen J. Harris.

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Introduction

the Legenda at Wilton Abbey c. 1080.51 The poet also used the sections of William of Malmesbury’s Gesta Regum and Gesta Pontificum that include details about Edith.52 While the Wilton Chronicle draws most of its episodes from the Legenda Edithae, the Middle English poem changes, expands and adapts its source material to present its readers with a welcoming mix of genres and direct address in a way that was evidently meant to entertain as well as to inform its audience of both secular and professed residents of the abbey. The Wilton Chronicle compliments its readers while it educates them; it presents the history of the abbey to its fifteenth-century audience of abbey residents with anachronism and prominence to showcase the professed life as one of historical glamour and excitement — and stupendous clothing. Indeed, it might not be exaggeration to use the word ‘fetish’ to describe the Wilton Chronicle’s focus on the clothing of St Edith. The famous episode of her rebuke of St Æthelwold is introduced with detailed description of her finery (worn, of course, over a hair shirt): Þis hard hayre he wered hurre body nexst, under a curtull of purpur byse, Enbroudrid wyth gold, as saythe þe text, wyth other clothus above þat were of grette pryse (ll. 1185–88)

Edith’s costly gold-embroidered garments are emphasized over the ‘hard heyre’ in this description; Æthelwold obviously thinks that Edith’s clothing choices are inappropriate when he tells her that Christ delights ‘in lowenesse, in mekenesse, and in charite, / and not in ryalte of clothus weryng’ (ll. 1199–1200). Before and after Edith’s response, the poet says that Edith replied ‘mekeliche’ (ll. 1201 and 1218); there is, however, nothing at all humble about her reply, when she notes that Holy Ghost will dwell under a mantel trimmed with beaver fur as well as one trimmed with goat skin. As in the previous description of her girdle, the 51

For the Latin text, see Goscelin of Canterbury, ‘La Legende de Ste Edithe en prose et vers par le moine Goscelin’, ed. by A. Wilmart, Analecta Bollandiana, 56 (1938), 5–101, 265–307; for an English translation by Michael Wright and Kathleen Loncar, see Writing the Wilton Women: Goscelin’s Legend of Edith and ‘Liber Confortatorius’, ed. by Stephanie Hollis (Turnhout: Brepols, 2004). 52

William of Malmesbury, Gesta Regum Anglorum: The History of the English Kings, ed. and trans. by R. A. B. Mynors, R. M. Thomson, and M. Winterbottom, 2 vols (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1998), chapter 218, as well as William of Malmesbury, Gesta Pontificum Anglorum: The History of the English Bishops, ed. and trans. by Michael Winterbottom and Rodney M. Thomson (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2006), chapter 87.

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Introduction

beaver-trimmed mantel is made prominent with detail. It is a ‘mantyl y furned wyth bever ryht welle’ (l. 1206) — it is well made, with high-quality, thick fur that would be a suitable covering for a delicate purple and gold girdle or other expensive clothes. We cannot know if the fifteenth-century residents of Wilton enjoyed Edith’s theological, verbal and sartorial triumph over Æthelwold, although most modern audiences find it amusing since it plays into our own gender stereotypes about female appearance and consumerism. The details about her decidedly nonreligious clothing certainly indicate that the fifteenth-century audience (officially consecrated or not) was acquainted with fine possessions, and perhaps wanted authorization to continue using and wearing them. Edith’s other expensive clothes figure in the first miracle of the poem, narrated immediately after her discussion with Æthelwold; these two contiguous episodes are both about Edith’s clothing, their proximity contributing to the sense that the readers of the poem are expected to be very interested in Edith’s wardrobe. Edith obviously has a maid who takes care of her fine clothing and cleans her room, which is furnished with sumptuous bed coverings (ll. 1261–62); again, perhaps these details lend legitimacy to similar practices at fifteenthcentury Wilton. Although the maid carelessly allows a spark from a candle to fall into Edith’s clothes-basket, the clothes are not burned, thus proving yet again that God approves of Edith’s wardrobe. The description of a (different?) fine fur mantel furthers the reader’s consumer and fashion satisfaction derived from the episode: ‘þe mantyl þat was furnyd wyth puryd gray’ is specifically noted three times (ll. 1320, 1321, 1331) as furnyd during its escape from the fire. These contextual details tell us that Wilton Abbey’s inhabitants were probably familiar with maids and fine clothes. Throughout the Wilton Chronicle, the poet assumes that Wilton Abbey is an aristocratic institution; the text constantly reinforces the idea that a woman can simultaneously be an aristocrat and a nun. Jocelyn Wogan-Browne has thoroughly detailed the assumptions of aristocracy within the text: the clothing, the use of the term ladyes to describe the nuns, the emphasis on biological kinship throughout the episodes.53 Wogan-Browne also ties the text to the abbey’s possible aspirations towards specifically Lancastrian political power in its gestures related to social class and cultural ambition. It also strives to entertain in such a way that the text could be construed as something of a marketing device for the female professed life at Wilton. 53

See Wogan-Browne, ‘Outdoing the Daughters’, p. 407.

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Introduction

Unconsecrated women in the poem’s audience would learn through the examples of St Edith and the other Wilton nuns that nuns can travel, conduct business, receive visitors from throughout Europe, have maids, wear nice clothes, paint, sculpt, read, and interact with political delegations. These activities in no way preclude rigorous religious practice — indeed, St Edith herself models the many ways in which these activities can enhance religious devotion. As such, the nuns of the Wilton Chronicle figure as glamorous heroines in generically varied episodes: romance, history, theology, supernatural visitation, and comedy. The nun-as-romance heroine is now something of a critical commonplace. Feminist scholars have demonstrated how religious texts frequently present Christ as the romance hero, the virgin saint or nun as the romance heroine. In her discussion of virgin martyr legends, Wogan-Browne argues that the virgin’s ‘passion is an extended and stylized display of romance constancy to the highestranking bridegroom of all’, so that Christ figures as romance hero.54 WoganBrowne focuses on the female saints whose narratives are set in the early Christian period; the romance paradigm is just as applicable to more local saints who are not martyrs. Dunstan’s consolation speech to Edith is the section of the Wilton Chronicle most obviously indebted to romance as a genre (ll. 1998–2024). Dunstan refers to Christ as Edith’s ‘spouse’ six times in the speech; he promises her a crown and a place in heaven. He also relies on a romantic vocabulary of physical attraction: For þe kyng, þy spouse, covetyth þy shappe, and to se also þi fayre bewete, and wyth clothus of joy he wyll þe lappe. For ryht well, douhter, he lovys þe. Heyhe þe, douhter, and haff y doune, For þy spouse doth fast þe call. (ll. 2017–22)

Edith’s consolation on her deathbed is then her waiting bridegroom. He is suitably royal — note that he is a ‘kyng’ — and able to provide appropriate crown and clothing for her. He desires her ‘shappe’ and her ‘bewete’. This bridegroom is obviously a textual analogue to the bridegroom of the Song of Songs; he is also analogous to romance heroes who provide love, joy and fulfillment at a happy ending. The romance becomes excessive as the poem describes King Edgar; in fact, I propose that the missing leaves of the manuscript that contained the description of Edgar and Wulfthryth’s courtship are most likely missing on

54

Wogan-Browne, Saints’ Lives and Women’s Literary Culture, p. 96.

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purpose — that a person of authority at Wilton removed the section wherein the young, lusty, brave, valiant king falls in love with the beautiful, young, noble, conveniently not-yet-consecrated Wilton resident. Edgar is the consummate romance hero. Our poet has ignored William of Malmesbury’s disapproving lists of Edgar’s various sins and indulgences,55 which include sexual profligacy. Indeed, Edgar is accused of improper sexual pursuit of Wulfthryth’s sister (or cousin) Wulfhild in Goscelin’s Vita Wulfhildae; Wulfhild escapes, but the episode does cast a sinister shadow on Wulfthryth’s relationship with the king.56 The Wilton Chronicle focuses instead on the peace and prosperity he brings to the realm, his physical prowess as he challenges the King of Scotland in single combat and his portentous dreams. Edgar even asks for — and respects — his mother’s advice. When he comes to Wilton, it is obvious that he is enraptured with Wulfthryth from her first mention. She reads from the lesson-book in the frater as Edgar eats his meal; her ‘voys’ is ‘myelde and swete’ (l. 1005). He can see her beauty despite her veil (ll. 1008–11), and immediately makes inquiries about her lineage and her behaviour (ll. 1012–13). Wulfthryth is thus in danger of becoming a glamorous romance heroine — of the secular rather than spiritual sort. While Edith is promised the love of Christ the bridegroom, Wulfthryth will win the love of the human king. Although most historians refer to Wulfthryth as a concubine of Edgar, Barbara Yorke has argued persuasively that theirs was an official marriage.57 Whether or not he becomes her actual bridegroom, the courtship of Edgar and Wulfthryth was too obviously secular, sexual and romantic to be part of a poem glorifying Wilton and its religious life. That section, were it in the manuscript, would come between current quires one and two, which are both complete (see below for a description of the manuscript). There are no stubs or other indicators that leaves were cut out between quires one and two, so any physical loss is not immediately apparent. The abrupt break in the narrative necessitates the assumption of a loss, however;

55

William of Malmesbury, Gesta Regum Anglorum, Book 2, chapters 155–59.

56

See Goscelin, Vita Wulfhildae, in ‘La Vie de Sainte Vulfhilde par Goscelin de Cantorbéry’, ed. by Mario Esposito, Analecta Bollandiana, 32 (1913), 10–26. 57 Barbara Yorke, ‘The Legitimacy of St Edith’, The Haskins Society Journal, 11 (2003), 97–113. For an argument that Wulfthryth was the mother of Edward the Martyr as well, see Ann Williams, Æthelred the Unready: The Ill-Counselled King (London: Hambledon and London, 2003), pp. 5–7. See also Emons-Nijenhuis, ‘The Embedded Saint’, pp. 88–91.

Introduction

21

that loss thus is likely as great as a full quire of text.58 It is sensible to hypothesize that the courtship and marriage/consummation quire was removed from the manuscript by a person in authority — someone who wanted the romance of the poem to reinforce the audience’s choice of the religious life, not to suggest that a student or novice could catch the king’s attention with a pretty face and sweet voice. In addition to romance, the Wilton Chronicle of course provides history. One notable absence from the Wilton Chronicle’s version of history is Queen Edith (c. 1025–75), wife of Edward the Confessor and formidable patron and resident of Wilton Abbey. Nijenhuis remarks on her absence but does not attempt to explain it.59 It is possible that her story was too similar to Wulfthryth’s to be included; that is, it was too much of a secular romance. Queen Edith spent her girlhood at Wilton and left it to marry the king; after the Conquest she probably retired to Wilton, with all her social and financial power.60 The poem’s history sections make Wilton Abbey prominent within English history; they provide historical role models that are portrayed as both chaste and culturally powerful. While Queen Edith mounted a public relations campaign after her husband’s death that advertised their marriage as chaste, she does not fit the profile of ideal Wilton nun propagated by the Wilton Chronicle. Most prominent of these ideal figures is Elburwe, sister to King Ecgberht and widow of Earl Walston (ll. 138–40), who is an active founder as well as a devout resident once her husband is dead. In addition to its reliance on romance and history, however regulated or censored, the Wilton Chronicle also provides an episode of supernatural visitation. While the ‘ghost story’ did not exist as a genre in the Middle Ages, at least as it is understood in modern terms, narratives about spirits of the dead figured throughout the medieval period in most languages. Andrew Joynes defines such ‘ghosts’ as ‘“undead” corporeal presences, which come back across the border between the dead and the living and re-visit in an imploring or

58

This supposition that an entire quire has been lost follows the work of Chronicon Vilodunense, ed. by Black, p. x, and of Wogan-Browne, ‘Outdoing the Daughters’, pp. 395–96, n. 8. 59 60

See Nijenhuis, ‘The Wilton Chronicle’.

See Pauline Stafford, Queen Emma and Queen Edith (Oxford: Blackwell, 1997) for a discussion and contextualization of Queen Edith’s life.

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Introduction

menacing fashion the communities where they once dwelt’.61 While ‘ghost’ and ‘haunting’ are modern words with modern definitions,62 the supernatural visitation of Wilton Abbey could be termed an episode of haunting — one in which the Wilton audience sees a Wilton nun as a sympathetic and admirable main character. A Wilton nun named Elburwe (not the same Elburwe as the ninth-century foundress) is visited by the ghost of her cousin Bryxyn, a suitably greedy and social-climbing aristocrat who stole land from Wilton Abbey when he was alive, despite Elburwe’s request for restitution of the land.63 After his death, he haunts Wilton and its environs ‘hoggyliche’ (l. 3979); Elburwe and her companions ‘herdyn Bryxin make a schryke wyth routhefull chere’ (l. 4016); even when he has vanished, ‘grundede and gronede he dude full sore þo’ (l. 4027). Elburwe is steadfast, despite her fear during these supernatural events; she feels pity for the ghost and prays for him. Only after his heirs give back the land can his soul rest in peace, thus proving Edith’s power and Elburwe’s righteousness. Humour and adventure provide similar opportunities to showcase the ‘ladyes’ of Wilton as attractive role models. While none of the episodes provides ‘comedy’ in its classical sense, the series of episodes involving King Cnut draw on techniques of the fabliaux and other comic narratives to ridicule Cnut while glamorizing Edith and her abbey.64 The source of Cnut’s characterization is William of Malmesbury’s Gesta Pontificum, which provides the crude and nasty Cnut who insults Wulfthryth with sexual innuendo and coarse language. Goscelin’s Translatio Edithae also presents the narrative but portrays Cnut as a devout follower of St Edith from the start.65 The Wilton Chronicle avoids the

61

Andrew Joynes, Medieval Ghost Stories: An Anthology of Miracles, Marvels, and Prodigies (Woodbridge: Boydell, 2001), p. xi. For discussion of the permeability between lay and clerical attitudes towards such spirits, see Jacqueline Simpson, ‘Repentant Soul or Walking Corpse? Debatable Apparitions in Medieval England’, Folklore, 114 (2003), 389–402. 62 For discussion of these terms in reference to medieval literature, see R. A. Bowyer, ‘The Role of the Ghost Story in Medieval Christianity’, in The Folklore of Ghosts, ed. by H. R. E. Davidson and W. M. S. Russell (Woodbridge: Brewer, 1981), pp. 177–92. 63

See Warren, Spiritual Economies, chapter 3, for discussion of actual legal cases like the one described in this episode. 64

Recent work on humour in medieval literature is vast; for a brief overview, see Brewer’s introduction to Medieval Comic Tales, ed. by Derek Brewer, 2nd edn (Woodbridge: Brewer, 1996). 65

William of Malmesbury, Gesta Pontificum Anglorum, chapter 87; Goscelin, Legenda Edithae; Translatio, chapter 12 (this and all subsequent references are to the edition published as ‘La Legende’, ed. by Wilmart).

23

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didactic and judgmental tone of both, however, so that the episodes featuring Cnut are humorous rather than overly righteous. Cnut is a fool — he insults Wulfthryth, doubts Edith’s sanctity, thinks that he should be able to order the wind and rain, and fails to notice that the elaborate shrine is too short for Edith’s body. The poem uses the physical comedy more customary in the fabliaux to make Edith a comic heroine in this part of the narrative. As the rude king looks at her uncorrupted body, she sits up: and made a sygne, as þaw he wold þe kyng have smytte wyth hurre fust under his cheke. And when þe kyng sawe þat mayden do so, he was all assmayhydde, and dredde hurre þo full sore, and fell doune to þe grounde ded asswo. (ll. 3381–86)

Even the threat of Edith punching him in the face makes Cnut fall down; she does not actually have to hit him. More physical comedy follows when Edith obligingly crunches up her limbs to fit into the too-small shrine (ll. 3530–31). There are numerous similar episodes of physical comedy — for example, the monks devoted to St Ywi trying to get his relics off of the altar where they (the relics) had affixed themselves. While the medieval audience would have approached miracle narratives with much more belief than any modern one, the humorous aspects are still readily apparent. Benedicta Ward has discussed the medieval reception of miracle texts, noting with reference to Augustine that miracles were understood to be ‘wonderful acts of God shown as events in this world, not in opposition to nature but as a drawing out of the hidden workings of God within a nature that was all potentially miraculous’.66 However, the Wilton Chronicle poet notes the general decline in belief in miracles: And also, meracles ben mow nouht sette by, For nomon nyl leve no meracle now. Bot when hit falluthe to ony mon for vengance amys, þey seyn þat hit nys bot amys happe or amys prowe, bot þey nyl not say þat hit for vengance ys. (ll. 4965–69)

The poet encourages just the sort of belief described by Ward; throughout the Wilton texts, the miracles are presented as historical fact. Existence of or belief in miracles does not preclude the use of humour in miracle narratives, however; all of these episodes present St Edith and the nuns of Wilton as the just and

66

Benedicta Ward, Miracles and the Medieval Mind: Theory, Record, and Event 1000–1215 (London: Scolar Press, 1982), p. 1.

24

Introduction

righteous victors in these humorous contests, with the entertainment coming at the expense of the abbey’s antagonists. Wilton’s nuns are consistently the victors in the sacred and secular conflicts that structure the episodes of the narrative. As her victories proceed, St Edith’s body becomes more elevated as well. The source texts are all quite clear about the level of Edith’s bodily incorruption: her right thumb and her belly did not rot, but the rest of her body did.67 The miraculous incorruption of Edith’s right thumb was so well-known that it was included in the illustration cycle of the early fourteenth-century Ramsey Psalter; the image shows Dunstan administering communion from behind an altar, on which rests the finger of St Edith.68 The Wilton Chronicle initially adheres to this version of events (ll. 2471–78).69 Less than one thousand lines later, the bishop asserts that St Edith was completely incorrupt at her translation: ‘and when he was take up of þe urthe, he was as wholl / and as freysshe as he was ony tyme þat day byfore’ (ll. 3360–61). By the end of the poem, Edith herself is promoting her total incorruption: Lowe, see here my hondone and my fete also, how holle and sounde my body ys, and how myhty and how quyke ycham nowe also, For of body ny of leme no corrupcyon þer nys. (ll. 4886–89)

The poet has thus elevated Edith from her original semi-incorrupt status to fully incorrupt, rewriting and recasting this aspect of the abbey’s history as well — perhaps not history as it was, but as it should have been. In all of these instances, the initial audience of the Wilton Chronicle would have understood the text as constant confirmation of the superiority of Wilton Abbey, its nuns, its patron saint and, by extension, its inhabitants — the women of the audience themselves.

67 William of Malmesbury, Gesta Regum Anglorum, p. 218; Gesta Pontificum Anglorum, p. 87; Goscelin, Legenda Edithae; Translatio, chapter 1. 68

New York, Pierpont Morgan Library MS M. 302, fol. 5 v. To view this image and other Ramsey Psalter leaves, see [accessed 20 July 2009]. 69

See Wogan-Browne’s analysis of Edith’s ‘intact but blemished’ state in ‘Outdoing the Daughters’, p. 404.

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The Wilton Life of St Æthelthryth Those women were also the intended audience for The Wilton Life of St Æthelthryth, the shorter companion text to the Wilton Chronicle. The most important source texts for The Wilton Life of St Æthelthryth are Bede’s Historia Ecclesiastica and the Liber Eliensis, although multiple versions of her life were composed and circulated throughout the medieval period. St Æthelthryth was enormously popular throughout medieval England — numerous calendars include her feast day, and versions of her Life exist in Latin, Old English, Middle English, and Anglo-Norman French.70 These include: Bede, Historia Ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum (IV.19–20), completed AD 731;71 Ælfric of Eynsham, Natale Sancte Æðeldryðe Virginis, completed c. AD 997;72 Gregory of Ely’s early twelfth-century verse Life;73 The prose vita and related miracula texts embedded in the narratives of the twelfth-century Liber Eliensis and related Ely texts,74 with variations according to the manuscript witnesses;75 – The late thirteenth-century La Vie Seinte Audree by a poet named Marie; this poet could be a nun from Ely’s daughter house of Chatteris or possibly Marie de France;76 – – – –

70

For a thorough discussion of the history of the cult, see Blanton, Signs of Devotion.

71

Bede’s Ecclesiastical History, ed. and trans. by Colgrave and Mynors.

72

Aelfric’s Lives of Saints, ed. by W. W. Skeat, Early English Text Society, o.s., 82, repr. as o.s., 76 and 82 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1885; repr. 1966), pp. 432–41. 73

‘Gregory of Ely’s Verse Life and Miracles of St Aethelthryth’, ed. by Pauline Thompson and Elizabeth Stevens, Analecta Bollandiana, 106 (1988), 333–90. 74 Liber Eliensis, ed. by E. O. Blake, Camden Third Series, 92 (London: Offices of the Royal Historical Society, 1962). For the modern English translation, see Liber Eliensis: A History of the Isle of Ely from the Seventh Century to the Twelfth, trans. by Janet Fairweather (Woodbridge: Boydell, 2005). 75 For a thorough discussion of the manuscripts and their relationships, as well as translations of the miracula texts, see The Hagiography of the Female Saints of Ely, ed. by Rosalind C. Love (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004). 76

The Life of Saint Audrey: A Text by Marie de France, ed. and trans. by June Hall McCash and Judith Clark Barban (New York: McFarland, 2006). An older edition that does not claim Marie de France as author is La Vie Seinte Audree: poeme Anglo-Normand du XIIIe siecle, ed. by Osten Sodergard (Uppsala: Uppsala Universitets Arsskrift, 1955). On the authorship question, see June Hall McCash, ‘La vie seinte Audree: A Fourth Text by Marie de France?’, Speculum, 77 (2002), 744–77; Jocelyn Wogan-Browne, ‘Rerouting the Dower: The Anglo-Norman Life of

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– The short vitae contained in three fourteenth-century manuscripts of the South English Legendary;77 – the short fifteenth-century rime royal poem by Henry Bradshaw, part of his larger Life of St Werburh of Chester.78 The author of The Wilton Life of St Æthelthryth relied heavily on both Bede and the Liber Eliensis. However, the text is changed in both minor and major ways; it is dramatically cut in parts and yet dramatically expanded in others. Since an exhaustive list of differences would not be appropriate here, it must suffice to say that many of the changes indicate the poet’s desire to re-inscribe male clerical authority over Æthelthryth and her abbatial successors, her sister Seaxburh and her niece Eormenhild (this poet also includes Seaxburh’s other daughter, Eorcengota, as an abbess of Ely, although Bede makes it clear that Eorcengota went to Brie as a nun).79 For example, the Wilton Life states that Wilfrid attends Æthelthryth on her deathbed and administers the last rites, while Bede states that he was in Rome when she died; similarly, in the Wilton Life, her translation is orchestrated by Wilfrid, with Seaxburh merely a supporting character rather than the main mover of the action that Bede shows her to be.80 Ecgfrith is presented in a more positive light than in the Liber Eliensis; while he is a violent and frightening pursuer there, in the Wilton Life he quite reasonably desires a child to inherit his dominions (l. 193). The poet also seems very focused on the practical logistics of this saint’s life and posthumous episodes — most extraordinarily, the poet invents an entirely

St Audrey by Marie (of Chatteris?)’, in Power of the Weak: Studies on Medieval Women, ed. by Jennifer Carpenter and Sally-Beth MacLean (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1995), pp. 27–56. See also Blanton, Signs of Devotion, chapter 4. 77

These are: Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Bodley 779, fol. 279v; Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Eng Poet.A.1 (the Vernon Manuscript), fol. 33r, col. 2; London, British Library, MS Egerton 1993, fol. 163r. I am enormously grateful to Prof. Robert Upchurch for sharing his transcriptions of the Bodley 779 and Egerton 1993 Lives with me. See also A. I. Doyle, The Vernon Manuscript: A Facsimile of Bodleian Library, Oxford, Ms. Eng. Poet. A.1. (Cambridge: Brewer, 1987). 78 The Life of Saint Werburge of Chester by Henry Bradshaw, ed. by Carl Horstmann, Early English Text Society, o.s., 88 (London: Trübner, 1887). 79 80

Bede’s Ecclesiastical History, III.8.

While Wilfrid is a major figure in Æthelthryth’s life, she receives only passing reference in his. See Eadmer’s ‘Vita Sancti Wilfridi’, ed. by Bernard James Muir and Andrew J. Turner (Exeter: University of Exeter Press, 1998), and The Life of Bishop Wilfrid by Stephanus Eddius, ed. by Bertram Colgrave (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985).

Introduction

27

new character, the carter who brings the marbull ston from Cambridge to Ely (thus answering the crucial question of how a small group of monks managed to get an unblemished marble sarcophagus through the fens to their monastery). This carter is even accorded a vision of St Audrey, and receives her ring of monastic profession as payment for his services (Sexburwe buys the ring back from him so that it can rest on the high altar at Ely). Another major adaptation is the conflation of two posthumous miracles into one. The Liber Eliensis and its attendant texts tell two stories of attempted sacrilege regarding Æthelthryth’s shrine. In the first, a ninth-century Viking marauder breaks a hole into the side of the sarcophagus, and is destroyed by the wrath of God soon after. In the second, one of the tenth-century secular canons (who inhabited the abbey between the Viking depredations and the Benedictine Reform) attempts visual confirmation of Æthelthryth’s intact body by poking various objects into the hole left by the Viking. He is blinded, the abbey is visited by a plague, and his wife and children are all killed (his marriage and family are further indications of his immorality). Virginia Blanton, Catherine Karkov and Monika Otter have each written about the obvious sexual imagery implicit in these miracles stories — both the (male) Viking and the (male) canon wish to violate the inviolable (female) saint’s shrine/body, and they pay for that desire.81 The Wilton Life conflates these two stories so that the Viking and the canon’s family disappear, leaving the canon to make a hole in the sarcophagus with a chesell (l. 995) and then insert a pole (an hrde) with a hook on the end, which he will use to draw away the cloth and see her ‘body nakede þer as hit lay’ (l. 1005). While our poet seems to have lost sight of his practical, logistical goals for a moment — it would be very difficult to make a hole in a marble sarcophagus with a chisel in a short period of time — he does provide a moment of humour as the pole sticks inside the coffin, since ‘þat blessude virgyn nold not let þe herde go’ (l. 1011). A more sophisticated example of the poet’s wit appears later in this episode, when a pun informs us that the canon can ‘see’ that he is blind — ‘he sye well and veriliche þat he clene blynde was’ (l. 1025), with extra

81

Catherine Karkov, ‘The Body of St Aethelthryth: Desire, Conversion, and Reform in Anglo-Saxon England’, in The Cross Goes North: Processes of Conversion in Northern Europe, AD 300–1300, ed. by Martin Carver (York: York Medieval Press, 2003) pp. 397–412. Monika Otter, ‘The Temptation of St Æthelthryth’, Exemplaria, 9 (1997), 139–63; Virginia Blanton, ‘Ely’s St Aethelthryth: The Shrine’s Enclosure of the Female Body as Symbol for the Inviolability of Monastic Space’, in Women’s Space: Patronage, Place, and Gender in the Medieval Church, ed. by Virginia Chieffo Raguin and Sarah Stanbury (Albany: SUNY Press, 2005) pp. 47–73. See also chapter 3 of Blanton’s Signs of Devotion.

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irony loaded into the use of the word clene, previously reserved for discussion of Æthelthryth’s virginity. The poet of The Wilton Life of St Æthelthryth and the Wilton Chronicle seems also to be aware of the current fashion in dream–vision literature.82 Dreams and visions abound throughout both texts, almost all additions to the source narratives. In the Wilton Chronicle, Edgar’s dream of his children is most prominent, but many of the characters are accorded a dream-visit from St Edith. In the Wilton Life, Æthelthryth herself has dreams/visions of angels a number of times before her death. The newly imagined carter sees St Æthelthryth — as do Wilfrid, Seaxburh and various recipients of miraculous interventions. These additions seem something of an attempt to make the narrative more fashionable; this attempt was probably successful, as the manuscript was marked up for printing at some point in its history.83 Finally, the poet may have drawn on contemporary practices to portray Æthelthryth and her sisters as similar to the Wilton audience that read or heard the poem. For example, the description of the Maundy Thursday foot-washing ceremony in the Wilton Processional seems to be echoed in the list of Æthelthryth’s ascetic practices in the Wilton Life; the nuns would wash the feet of the poor before washing their own feet, and Æthelthryth washed her own feet last (ll. 327–28).84 The poem is constructed to glorify the saint and her abbey — and also to delineate and establish continuities between the poem’s subjects and its intended audience. While a number of bibliographic tools erroneously indicate that The Wilton Life of St Æthelthryth is unfinished, it ends definitively with an ‘amen’ on fol. 274v .85 A later, unfinished, 21-line addition in another hand at the bottom of that

82

For an overview, see Robert Easting, Visions of the Other World in Middle English (Woodbridge: Boydell, 1997). See also J. Stephen Russell, The English Dream Vision: Anatomy of a Form (Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1988). Russell discusses the popularity and fashion of the dream vision throughout the text but most explicitly on p. 16. 83

John Ayto, ‘Marginalia in the Manuscript of the Life of St Edith: New Light on Early Printing’, The Library: Transactions of the Bibliographical Society, 32 (1977), 28–36. 84 85

Yardley, Performing Piety, pp. 130–39.

Carleton Fairchild Brown and Rossell Hope Robbins, The Index of Middle English Verse (Lexington: University of Kentucky Press, 1943), as well as Charlotte D’Evelyn and Frances A. Foster, ‘Saints’ Legends’, in A Manual of the Writings in Middle English 1050–1500, ed. by Jonathan Burke Severs (Hamden: Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1970), pp. 553–649, note that it ‘ends imperfectly’. Wogan-Browne (‘Outdoing the Daughters’, p. 395, n. 8), calls it ‘incomplete’. Blanton discusses the addition as if it is part of the main text (Signs of

Introduction

29

folio accounts for these erroneous descriptions of the Wilton Life as unfinished. The addition, which does break off mid-episode, is included as Appendix 2; its existence raises interesting questions about the existence, scope and dissemination of Middle English verse saints’ lines in quatrain form.

Description of the Manuscript London, British Library, MS Cotton Faustina B.III is a composite parchment manuscript of 275 folios with three main sections. Although Cotton could have acquired the texts as a previously bound group, it is much more likely that he bound the texts together to fit the needs of his collecting habits. His name is inscribed on both fol. 1r (top) and fol. 194r (bottom), indicating that it is most likely he acquired fols 194–275 separately from the rest of the manuscript and then bound the unrelated sections together. Its current contents consist of: fols i–iii: early modern front matter fol. 1r : lists of the kings of England (left column) and of the abbots of Peterborough (right column) fols 1v–152: various documents relating to the holdings of the abbey of Peterborough fol. 153: list of Roman emperors from Octavius Caesar to Constantine fols 154–93: the Regularis Concordia fols 194–258r: the Wilton Chronicle fols 258r–59v: Lists of founders of Wilton Abbey and of sources for the Wilton Chronicle fols 260–74: The Wilton Life of St Æthelthryth fol. 275v : list of books and ‘Robert and Richard Wyham’ inscription 2 modern end leaves The modern binding is a gold-tooled leather with the manuscript’s contents and ‘MUS. BRIT. BIBL. COTTON FAUSTINA B. III’. on the spine. The folios have been numbered three times, twice in ink and once in pencil (which seems most recent). For uniformity of discussion, this description and the folio

Devotion, p. 254).

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Introduction

indicators throughout the edition use the older ink foliation followed in the British Library’s description of the manuscript.86 All of the folios have been trimmed to achieve uniform size among the texts, so that there has been loss of marginalia throughout. The folios measure 24.6 cm × 17 cm (9.75 in. × 6.75 in.). Folios 194–275, which will be termed ‘the manuscript’ herewith, have a written space of 19.5 cm × 11 cm (7.75 in. × 4.5 in.) and no evidence of pricking or ruling. Bound with the other texts in its current state, it is heavy and somewhat unwieldy, but it is easy to imagine that the manuscript would have originally been much lighter and easy to use. Its script is a typical fifteenth-century Anglicana with some use of Secretary forms. The text is written in a brown/gray ink that was probably black initially. Pointing is erratic throughout the manuscript (see below, pp. 33–35 on editorial procedures). Manuscript decoration is somewhat sparse. The Wilton Life of St Æthelthryth contains no colour. The first ‘A’ of the Wilton Chronicle is blue, its embellishment red (fol. 194r). The rhyme braces (which occur mostly towards the beginning of the Wilton Chronicle) are red. The tilde-like marks that indicate some of the quatrains are red, except for some in the brown/gray ink on fol. 200r (these marks also cluster towards the beginnings of the texts). The manuscript contains only one illustration, a dragon-like beast at the bottom of fol. 243r. It is probably not by the scribe, as its ink is a lighter brown than the ink of the text (the same lighter ink made some otiose lines at the bottom of the folio as well as a now-illegible erased marginal note). The beast’s legs and the bottom of its tail have been lost to trimming, but its head and body are intact. There is nothing in the narrative to account for its presence, with its comical expression, hooked beak, dangling beard, and suave hairstyle. Other decoration is apparent throughout the manuscript in the enormously exaggerated ascenders of the letters of the first lines of most of the folios. Some of them extend to the end of the folio, having been cut short by trimming. Many are simply extended lines, but many others include geometric patterns or floral designs (see Figure 1, fols 234v–35r).

86

The description is available online at [accessed 12 June 2009].

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Figure 1. Note exaggerated ascenders with decorative motifs in the top line of script. London, British Library, MS Cotton Faustina B.III, fols 234 v–35 r, c. 1420. Copyright the British Library Board.

In addition, both fol. 237r and fol. 238r have small hands with extended index fingers in the right margins, pointing to an especially important part of the text. While these texts are working texts, meant to be read for private or communal devotion, the scribe did make an attempt to decorate them with the limited skills and tools available. Collation of fols 194–275: 112 , (missing quire), 2–512 , 612 (with two stubs), 76, 5 8 (has been bound out of narrative order). Wogan-Browne points out that the binding mistakes are modern rather than medieval.87

Prosody and Language On the whole, the poems are unevenly crafted. The texts include speeches of great rhetorical power, like Dunstan’s consolation to Edith on her deathbed

87

Wogan-Browne, ‘Outdoing the Daughters’, p. 396, n. 8.

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(Wilton Chronicle, ll. 1998–2024), with its echoes of the Song of Songs. There are moments of humour (Æthelthryth holding the pole inside her tomb), heroism (Æthelred’s entrance into the battle against the Vikings), and even romance (Edgar’s first sight of the beautiful Wulfthryth as she reads in the refectory). However, they also demonstrate tedious repetition and over-reliance on formula (compare Wilton Chronicle, l. 69, ‘and put ye Saxsones a heyn in to thraldam and wo’, with l. 76 only seven lines later, ‘And put þe Saxsones a heyn in thraldom and wo’). The prosody of both poems indicates the strengths and limitations of both the poet’s sources and the poet’s skills. Both texts are written mostly in quatrains with varying line lengths. WoganBrowne terms the form ‘four-stressed, unspectacularly rhymed loose long-line’.88 Couplets mark the beginning of the Wilton Chronicle (ll. 1–2 and 3–4) and the end of the vita section of that poem (l. 2381–82). Line lengths vary from eight syllables (l. 15 and others) to 25 syllables (l. 4232). The poet uses internal rhyme (wombled and tombled; l. 3205) as well as alliteration (‘and so furforthe he was forthe fulte wyth Goddis grace’, l. 1066), showing awareness of a variety of poetic forms and devices. The ABAB quatrain is an unusual choice of form. The couplet is the preferred form for the verse history chronicle (Robert of Gloucester’s Metrical Chronicle, for example) and for many verse Lives in French or English (like the texts of the South English Legendary).89 Henry Bradshaw chose rime royal for his Life of Werburge of Chester, perhaps as a form of homage to Chaucer’s rime royal in the Second Nun’s Tale, a verse Life of St Cecilia.90 88

Ibid., p. 398.

89

The Metrical Chronicle of Robert of Gloucester, ed. by W illiam Aldis Wright, 2 vols (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1887; repr. Kraus Reprints, 1965). For English texts, see The Early South-English Legendary, or, Lives of Saints: I. Ms Laud, 108, in the Bodleian Library, ed. by C. Horstmann (London: Trübner, 1887; repr. Millwood, NY: Kraus Reprints, 1987). For bibliography of Old French verse Lives, see Martine Thiry-Stassin, ‘L’hagiographie en Anglo-Normand’, in Hagiographies: Histoire internationale de la littérature hagiographique latine et vernaculaire en Occident des origines à 1550, ed. by Guy Philippart (Turnhout: Brepols, 1994), pp. 407–28, as well as The Lady as Saint: A Collection of French Hagiographic Romances of the Thirteenth Century, ed. by Brigitte Cazelles (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1991), pp. 319–24. I have found only one other Life composed in quatrains, the Old French St Agnes, but that poem’s form is AAAA, BBBB, etc. See The Old French Lives of Saint Agnes, ed. by A. J. Denomy (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1938). 90

The Life of Saint Werburge, ed. by Horstmann; The Riverside Chaucer, ed. by Larry Dean Benson, 3rd edn (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1987). Also of interest is the Middle English Lyfe of Saynt Radegund, which has been inconclusively attributed to Bradshaw. Originally printed by

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These texts were composed and copied during a time of enormous linguistic change, and the poet’s/scribe’s inconsistencies reflect that change. Rather than choose between þe or ye (distinguished in the manuscript only by the curve on the tail of the y), the scribe simply allowed the two forms to coexist in the Wilton Chronicle.91 We see thys as well as þys, thonge as well as þonge. Adverb forms look to the text’s past and future — leyhtlocure (Wilton Chronicle, l. 4832) may have seemed somewhat archaic in 1420, while leyhtlyche (l. 4357) and mekeliche appear with the forms leyhtely (l. 8) and mekely (l. 491) that seem more familiar to modern eyes. Similarly, modern readers may be unused to the use of bot (Modern English but) at the beginning of sentences — for this poet, bot is a conjunction that implies continuation rather than contrast. Three uses of the French madame (Wilton Chronicle, ll. 1332, 3320; Wilton Life, l. 484) remind us of the trilingual nature of the culture that produced the texts.92 The marginalia demonstrates linguistic mixing as well. There are four occurrences of the phrase soþuum miraclosum (fols 214r, 217r, 217v, 256v). Soþuum seems to be an English word with a Latinate ending, while miraclosum seems to be some sort of corruption of miraculum. (Miraculum, the ‘correct’ form, occurs throughout the marginalia as well.) Soþuum miraclosom, a linguistically hybridized tag that shows the manuscript’s users how to find a section narrating a ‘true miracle’, is another testament to the linguistic fluidity of the manuscript’s culture. The texts as a whole demonstrate a number of features local to the Salisbury/Wilton area. Most ably discussed by Michael Benskin,93 these include the use of Middle English he for Modern English she throughout. Related to the Old English pronoun heo, the feminine he is without doubt the linguistic feature most likely to confuse modern readers.94

Pynson in 1521, the text is available electronically by subscription through the Chadwyck-Healey Literature Online database. 91

For discussion of ye-forms, see Jane Roberts, Guide to Scripts Used in English Writings up to 1500 (London: British Library, 2005), p. 200, plate 45. 92 For discussion of the linguistic milieu of women’s monasticism in England, see WoganBrowne’s introduction to Saints’ Lives and Women’s Literary Culture. 93 94

Benskin, ‘In Reply’.

Forms of he/heo/she etc. are the fourth most important dialect localizer in the Linguistic Atlas of Late Medieval English. The dot-maps of volume 1 show the Wiltshire localization of Middle English he for Modern English she. See A Linguistic Atlas of Late Medieval English, ed. by Angus McIntosh, M. L. Samuels, and Michael Benskin, 4 vols (Aberdeen: Aberdeen

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Editorial Procedures and Conventions Since these poems exist only in this unique copy, there are no issues of family relationships among copies (although Nijenhuis has argued convincingly that there was another version of the Wilton Chronicle, now lost, used by John Leland in his Collectanea).95 Corrections throughout the manuscript indicate that the scribe was working from an exemplar for both poems, and that (as Benskin and Wogan-Browne both note) the scribe was not the author. Corrections have been silently included here, so that re-ordered lines or words appear in the corrected order. I have capitalized all proper names throughout, although the scribe’s use of capitals to indicate proper names is spotty as best; even ‘God’ is capitalized infrequently. I have also capitalized titles that precede proper names (Duke Hengest, Seynt Awdre) and regularized spacing in proper names (Westsex rather than the occasional West sex). Past participles are represented with no spacing (ysey), although the manuscript almost always disconnects the syllables (y sey). Other spacing has been regularized to conform to Modern English usage, so that amonn (Wilton Chronicle, l. 695) becomes a monn; numerous similar instances occur throughout both poems, although not with any regularity. Additional added capitals come at the beginning of most sentences (a very few already had capitalized first words) for ease of comprehension. All scribal capitals have been left unchanged, whether ‘correct’ (by modern standards) or not. Throughout, abbreviations have been silently expanded. Usually, expansions follow precedent in the manuscripts (so that ‘wt’ becomes the frequently used ‘wyth’ rather than the uniquely used ‘with’). Precedent was occasionally difficult to establish; for example, the scribe initially uses goddes, goddys, goddis, and goddus for Modern English genitive ‘God’s’. The scribe settles into goddus by the second half of the Wilton Chronicle, however, providing precedent for expansion of godI. When there was no precedent immediately in the text, I have used the University of Michigan’s online Middle English Dictionary as a guide.96 The scribe occasionally crosses a double-l (ll), but the use of this sometimeabbreviation for final ‘e’ is so erratic that I have treated all such crosses as otiose

University Press, 1986). 95

Nijenhuis, ‘The Wilton Chronicle’, p. 392.

96

[accessed 20 July 2009].

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35

strokes.97 Another odd scribal practice is the frequent (but inconsistent) use of doubled, lower-case f (ff ) in a position where no capital or doubled-f is appropriate (for example, y ffere; Wilton Life, l. 3). In these instances, I have eliminated an f in favour of reader comprehension. When the doubled-f seemed correct (usually at the end rather than the beginning of a syllable), it remains unchanged (for example, haffe; Wilton Chronicle, l. 81). Erratic or inconsistent spellings have remained unchanged. Æthelthryth is referred to as Audre, Audry, Awdre, and Awdrey throughout the Wilton Life; rather than choose one, I have left them all to give the reader the flavour of the variety of the Middle English orthography. The pointing in the manuscript is erratic at best, and it has been eliminated in favour of punctuation comprehensible to the modern reader. All punctuation, therefore, is editorial rather than scribal. Some parts of the poems display frequent points, at the ends of lines, at the ends of clauses and at places in between; other sections have very little if any pointing. One jarring scribal habit is to break a compound subject with a point, so that Etheldrede · and hurre sustre Sexburwe are enshrined at Ely (Wilton Life, l. 582). As with other pointing incidences, however, there is no regularity in the use of this specific practice throughout the text. I have tried to remain minimal in any added punctuation, focusing most on alerting the reader to direct speech and sentence endings.98

Note on the Translation The translation presents the text in straightforward Modern English prose with the goal of providing assistance to the reader. Empty phrases that serve the rhyme scheme rather than the narrative have been eliminated (y wys is the most common). Middle English bot is often eliminated or translated as Modern English and, since it usually acts as a conjunction of continuation rather than of contrast. One of the challenges of the translation process was to restrain the impulse to revise and edit as well as translate, so that the poems’ redundancies

97

I am enormously indebted to Mary-Jo Arn and Jane Roberts for their advice on this matter. 98 I have been guided here by Mary-Jo Arn, ‘On Punctuating Medieval Literary Texts’, Text, 7 (1994), 161–74. For a discussion of (and argument against) ‘over-determined’ editorial practice and punctuation, see Christine Rose, ‘Feminist-Medieval Editorial Practice and the Early English Text Society’, Medieval Feminist Forum, 39 (2005), 38–46.

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and verbosity are evident in the translation along with their images, their humour and their engaging narrative tone.

The Wilton Chronicle

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Almythty God in Trinite, Fader and Sone and Holy Goste, helpe and spede and consell me, as þu art God of myhtus moste. And heve me grace to brenge to godde heyndynge, Jhû, for Seint Edys1 sake, þys werke þat y so unconnynge presumpwysly have undere take. For y considere and knowe well hytte, þat thyngus þat have ben fer paste leyhtely slydyth from mannys wytte, Bote hif þey ben in story wryton or caste. Wherfore y thenk in story to wryhte Of kingus þat have ben her byfore here in Westesexe to touche a lyte Seyhthe Kynge Egbert2 was fyrste ybore. For sump tyme in Westesexe þere was a kynge. Egberte was þat kyngys name.3 A douhty knyht, and of godde gouernynge, and a mon he was of riht godde fame. Þis douhty knyht Egbert, Alquimundys4 sone, To þe kyngdome of Westsex was coroned kynge In þe ayhte hundreth here save on after þat Jhû of Mary dyd spryng. And after also he was ye twelthe kyng þat in Westsex cristyndam nome, After Kyngylf,5 þat holy thyng, Þat by Seynt Byryn crystyn be come. And at Wynchester ycronyd he was Of Elmeston6 þat was bysshope þo. And þe thryd here after, thoro Goddus grace, Seynt Swythyn7 was j born also.

1

St Edith (961–84).

2

Ecgberht, King of Wessex (r. 802–39).

3

Right margin: Cronica Cistrensis.

4

Ealhmund, father to King Ecgberht.

5

Cynewulf, King of Wessex (r. 757–86).

6

Helmstan or Elmestan, Bishop of Winchester (c. 838–52).

7

St Swithun, Bishop of Winchester (852–63).

The Wilton Chronicle

Almighty God in Trinity, Father and Son and Holy Ghost, help and speed and counsel me, since you are God of greatest might. And Jesus, for St Edith’s sake, give me grace to bring to good ending this work that I have undertaken here so ignorantly and presumptuously. For I have considered, and know it well, that events which occurred far in the past tend to fall from people’s thoughts unless those events are preserved and written in stories. Therefore, I think to write a little bit in this story about kings that were here in Wessex since before King Ecgberht was first born. For a long time ago in Wessex there was a king. Ecgberht was that king’s name. He was a bold knight, and a good governor, and a man of very great fame. The bold knight Ecgberht, son of Ealhmund, was crowned king of the kingdom of Wessex in the eight-hundredth year, less one, after Jesus did spring from Mary. And after that, he was also the twelfth king that accepted Christianity in Wessex after Cynewulf, that holy man, who was converted to Christianity by St Byron. And he was crowned at Winchester by Elmestan who was bishop then. The third year after, through God’s grace, St Swithun was born also. (29)

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Byfor þis tyme in Bretayne þer were Syxe kyngdomes more þen his,8 Bot foure þis kyng knytte yfere, as in trewe story wryten hit is. Þe kyngdam of Kent he wonne firste wyth mony a batell strong and sore, and drof owte þe kyng þat he never dirste Chalenge þat kyngdam after more. Þe kyngdam of þe Marche he wone also, þis douhty knyghte Egbert ye kyng. And þe kyngdam of Exsex he wone þerto And hade yuse foure in his governyng. And also by fore his tyme, y wys, þis lond was clepyt all hole Bretaynie þat now Englond yclepyt ys, For Kyng Egberd yt name dede downe layne.9 To wex þe Bretones for hurre synne. Pictis and Scottys and Hyrysshe also and þe Denmarkes come þo first ynne. And þe Saxsones were þo clepud ynne also, In Kyng Wortyngeis10 tyme, hym to helpe, and so yai deden hym service þo. Five moner of pepull here dwellyd þo Bot how yay deden after y nylt not helpe, For afterward yai drevyn þe Brytones houht Fro herre owne habitacyonn in þis lond here, and drevyn hem in to Walys wyth outen douhte and in to þis day þay dwell het here. From Saxsonye in Almayne þer comen, y wys, thre maner of pepull of one tonge, Saxones and Jutys and Englysshe, þat thralles weren here full longe.

8

The seven kingdoms that make up Anglo-Saxon England are Kent, Sussex, Essex, Wessex, Mercia, Northumberland, and East Anglia. 9 10

Lower left margin: R.O. Cotton Bruseas in elaborate calligraphy. Vortigern, fifth-century British chieftain.

The Wilton Chronicle

Before this time in Britain there were six kingdoms more than this one, but this king Ecgberht joined four of them together, as it is written in a true story. He conquered the kingdom of Kent first, with many strong and fierce battles, and he drove out the king so that he dared not challenge Ecgberht for that kingdom afterwards. This bold knight, Ecgberht the king, conquered the kingdom of Mercia also, and he conquered the kingdom of Essex as well and had those four under his rule. Also, before this time, this land was truly called Britain all as a whole, which is now called England, for King Ecgberht did decide upon that name. Five tribes of people lived here then, to vex the Britons for their sins. Picts and Scots and Irish also, and then the Danes first came into the country. And the Saxons were called into the country also, in King Vortigern’s time, to help him, and thus they did service for him then. But how they fared after, I cannot tell, for afterward the Saxons drove out the Britons from their own habitation in this land here, and drove them into Wales, without any doubt, and they live there yet up till this day. The Saxons and Jutes and English came from Saxony, in Germany, three tribes of people with one language that were slaves here for a long time. (61)

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Bot afterward þey weron long lordus and kynges here and hadden all þis hole reme in her governante,11 till Wyllyam Bastard,12 as he het mowe yche day here, come owt of Normandy in Fraunce and slow King Haralde13 in þe batell of Hastynge, and all his ost he scomfytyd þere also. And þo of all Englond he was ycronyd kynge and put ye Saxsones aheyn in to thraldam and wo. Knyhtes and swyers he made þo bounde, þe wyche byfore gentyls and lordes byfore þat were. Dukys and herles he drof owte of þis lond, þey durst not here abyde for fere, and made mony of hem lordes þo, þat comen wyth him from Normondy, And put þe Saxsones aheyn in thraldom and wo, By cause of here synne of here foly. For pryde, covetyse, and lechery, God toke opon hem suche vengance þus. And falslyche to forswere hem þey nere never wery. Here owne King Harald haffe hom ensampull of yis. Bot Kyng Egberd, of þe wyche I speke to hou of here, usede no poyntes of suche synnes, ny of suche foly, wherfore he knytte foure kyngdomes yfere and governed hem well and full monfully. Bot when he had brouht þo foure kindames to hepe, and won þe cyte of Chester also, he commandede all men to clepe all his lond Englond þo. And he commandede his men also To clepe all þe Saxsone Englysshemen, and all þe Britones þat were þere þo to ben yclepud Wallisshemen.

11

Left margin: Cronica Cistrensis. The information in these lines is adapted from the Polychronicon, Book V , chapter 1. 12

William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy and King of England (r. 1066–87).

13

Harold Godwinson, last Anglo-Saxon king (r. 1066).

The Wilton Chronicle

But afterward they were lords and kings here for a long time and had all this whole realm in their governing, until William the Bastard, as you can yet hear any day, came out of Normandy in France and slew King Harold in the Battle of Hastings, and all of his army he defeated there also. Then he [William] was crowned king of all England and he put the Saxons again into slavery and woe. He made knights and squires into bondsmen, who had been gentlemen and lords before. He drove dukes and earls out of this land (they dared not stay here for fear), and he made lords of many of those who had come with him from Normandy, and put the Saxons again into slavery and woe because of their sin and their folly. For their pride, greed and lechery, God took such vengeance thus upon them. And they were never weary of falsely forswearing themselves against him. Their own King Harold gives an example of this.But King Ecgberht, of whom I spoke to you before, committed no points of such sins, nor of such follies; therefore, he joined four kingdoms together and governed them very well and very manfully. When he had brought the four kingdoms into a group, and won the city of Chester also, he then commanded all men to call all his land England. And he commanded his men also to call all the Saxons Englishmen, and all the Britons that were there then were to be called Welshmen. (93)

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Britones were long j clepud Cadewallesmen after Cadwall þat was here14 kyng. bot Saxsones clepud hem15 heyhthen Walsshemen by cause of sherte spekying. And Saxsones were yclepud Engestis men, Englys and Jutys bothe yfere, For Hengestis16 was þe first duke of hem and in to þis lond he dede hem lere. for ryht as Walshemen token17 hure name of Cadwall þat þo hure kyng wys, Ryht so Englisshemen token hure name of here owne Duke Hengistis. And þus Englond toke first his name In þe gode Kyng Egbertes tyme, riht as we clepe het þe same, And herrafter shulde wyth owhte lyme. And when Kyng Egbert, as I sayde heyre, had set in pese þus all his lond, and scomfidid his enmyes wyth batel and monhode yfere, and made all þis reme to ben yclepud all hole Englond, he satte þo in grete rest and peys, for nomon durst wyth hym werre, for he was a monnfull knyht wyth ouhte leys. His name was knowe bothe nehe and ferre. For when he had þus foure kyngdames to geder satte, he dwelte at Wyltone wyth ouhte leys nyne wynter long after þat, in gode rest and in gode peys. And other whyle at Wynchester he dwelte also, and eke at Salisbury in þat tour, and in mony other places mo, as a kyng ouhte of suche honour.

14

MS: there; the t a later addition; reference is to Cadwalla, King of Wessex (r. 685–88).

15

MS: them; the t a later addition.

16

Hengest, semi-legendary patriarch of the Kentish kings.

17

MS: token token; neither is crossed out.

The Wilton Chronicle

The Britons had long been called Cadwallsmen, after Cadwalla that was their king, but the Saxons always called them Welshmen because of their short way of speaking. The Saxons were called Hengestsmen, English and Jutes both together, since Hengest was their first duke and he led them into this land. For just as the Welshmen took their name from Cadwalla who was their king, so Englishmen took their name from their own Duke Hengest. And thus England first took its name in the time of the good King Ecgberht, just as we call it the same, and hereafter shall call it forever. And when King Ecgberht, as I said here, had thus set this peace in all his land, and defeated his enemies with battle and his personality together, and made all his realm to be called all whole England, then he sat in great rest and peace, for nobody dared to make war against him, for he was very truly a manly knight. His name was known both near and far. For when he had pulled those four kingdoms together, he lived at Wilton nine winters after in good rest and in good peace. Sometimes, also, he lived at Winchester, and also at Salisbury in the tower, and in many other places, as a king ought to in such great honour. (125)

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An holy mon forsothe he was, and gret almys he dede for Goddes sake. Religyose houses in mony a plase For Goddys love he let þo make. In þe toun of Wyltone let make on18 In þe worshippe of owre lady By consel of Bysshop Elmeston, þat was bysshop of Wynchester þo sycurlye. And threttene sustren he sette þere Inne to serve þere God bothe nyght and day. A religiose house þey clepte hit þenne, Seynt Mary churche þerto þo laye. For Elburwys19 love he made þat place, þat was þe erle of Wyltones wyf byfore, and Kyng Egbertes sustre also he was, and þere inne also hee was ybore. Erle Wolstones20 wyf forsothe hee was, Or he toke þe mantell and þe rynge. And to make a religiose house of hur owne place he prayede hur brother Egbert þe kynge. Kyng Egbert grantede hit anone by consell of Elmoston, as I sayde here. Þis ordinance was þus ydon Of his regnyng þe threttythe here. Þis religiose house was foundyd þere þe threttythe here of his regnynge, and ayhte hundryd and thretty here after yt Jhû of Mary dud sprynge.

18

Right margin: Henricus Crompe.

19

Elburwe, a founder of Wilton Abbey, sister to King Ecgberht and wife of Walston.

20

Walston, a West Saxon nobleman and husband to Elburwe.

The Wilton Chronicle

Truly, he was a holy man, and he did great acts of charity for God’s sake. He founded religious houses in many places for God’s love. In the town of Wilton he founded a house in honour of Our Lady by the counsel of Bishop Elmestan, who was the Bishop of Winchester then. He set thirteen nuns there to serve God both night and day. They called it St Mary’s Church then. He established that house for his love of Elburwe, who had been the wife of the Earl of Wilton before; she was also King Ecgberht’s sister, and she had been born in Wilton. Truly, she was Earl Walston’s wife before she took the mantel and the ring of religious profession. She had asked her brother, King Ecgberht, to allow her to make a religious house on her own land; he granted that request with the counsel of Elmestan, as I said before. This grant was thus enacted and the religious house founded in the thirtieth year of his reign, eight hundred and thirty years after Christ was born of Mary. (153)

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And sevene here lenge het left his lyff In his remys governyng wyth ouhte blame.21 A sone he hadde by Osyth his wyff.22 Atwolf23 was þat chyldys name. Bot afterward when he was ded, at Wynchester was his byryenge, and Atwolf his sone, as I have red, anone after was made her kynge. Þis Atwolf was croned kyng here, after þat Goddis sone was bore ayhte hundreth and ayhte and thretty here and thre monethus and nyne dayes more. King Atwolf was an harlasmon and loved ryht well to serve God. Forsothe harme nold he do none bot he wold do meche gode. Þis kyng had in hys levyng Foure sones by hys weddyd wyff, Osburwe he het, þat semely thynge.24 Children had he nomo in all his lyff. After he was kyng, he wedded hure sone, his owne spencers douht he was. In Westsex he dwellyd þo all one, At Wylton in his owne place. For Wyltone was a gode toune þo, and meche pepull þeder drowe. Þe kyng dwellud þere meche also, For plentythe of vitel þer was ynowe. Hit was meche þe bet for his sake, for he was a full honest mon.

Right margin: Henricus Crompe.

22

Osyth, wife of Ecgberht and perhaps also abbess of Polesworth (see The Monastic Matrix, [accessed 12 June 2009]). 23

Æthelwulf, King of Wessex (r. 839–58).

24

Osburh, wife of King Æthelwulf.

The Wilton Chronicle

Ecgberht ruled the realm justly for seven more years afterwards; he had a son named Æthelwulf with his wife Osyth. Ecgberht was buried at Winchester and Æthelwulf became king in turn, as I have read. This Æthelwulf was crowned king eight hundred and eight and thirty years and three months and nine days after God’s son was born. King Æthelwulf was a virtuous man, who loved very much to serve God. Truly, he did not wish to harm anyone or anything, but always to do much good. This king had four sons with his wedded wife Osburh, that lovely woman. He had no other children during his lifetime. After he became king, he married Osburh right away — she was his lieutenant’s daughter. That lieutenant lived at Wilton in Wessex on his own lands, for Wilton was a good town even then, and many people came there. The King lived there much of the time as well, for there was plenty of food there. Wilton prospered because of him, for he was a very honest man. (183)

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Churches and Abbays he ded do make wyth inne his reme mony one, and to holy churche þis kyng haff þan þe tenthe part of his lond. By consell of Seynt Swythan, þat þo was bysshop of Wynchester, I understond, þe religiouse house of Wyltone he encreset also, þe whiche his fader had j made byfore. And mo religiouse wymen he sette þerto and haff londes and rentes well more. For mon of holy chirche he loved full welle, and gret cher to hem ever he made. And also wyth Seynt Elmistone, when he dede dwelle, Ordor of Sodekyn forsothe he hade, For a monn of holy chirche he wolde hane be25 bot þe reme nold not consent þerto. For þere was non other heyr bot he, For Kyng Egberd had sones no mo. Wherfore afterward he went to Rome, to Leo þat was pope þere þanne,26 to be assoyled of þat by his dome, For þat was þe consell of Seynt Swythanne. And wyth hym he toke Alured his sone,27 þat hongest was of hem all, and a twelmounth at Rome he dud wone. Þe Pope Leo men dede þo calle, he granted also þo to pay to Rome Every here a peny, y wys, Of yche an house in his kyngdom, þat Peter Pounse yclepud het is. For byfore his tyme, þe lawe was suche þat what mon had don ony opene horribull synne, As smytten his fader or mon of holy chyrche, To þe pope he most go his pardone to wynne.

25

Right margin: Cronica Cistrensis.

26

Pope Leo IV (847–55).

27

Alfred, King of Wessex (r. 871–99), known as ‘the Great’.

The Wilton Chronicle

He established many churches and abbeys within his realm, and this King gave to Holy Church a tenth part of his land. By the counsel of St Swithun, who was Bishop of Winchester then, I understand, Æthelwulf also enriched the religious house of Wilton, which his father had established before. He placed more nuns there, and gave more lands and rental income to the Abbey. For he very much loved those dedicated to the Holy Church, and he always provided them many benefits. Because of St Elmestan, he held the rank of sub-deacon; he wished to be wholly a man of the Church, but the realm would not consent to that wish. There was no other heir to the throne, since King Ecgberht had no other sons. He went sometime after this to Pope Leo in Rome, to be absolved of all his sins, since that was the counsel of St Swithun. He took his youngest son Alfred with him, and he lived for a year in Rome. He took counsel with Pope Leo, and he agreed to pay to Rome every year a penny for each house in his kingdom, a tax that is still called Peter’s Pence. For before Æthelwulf’s time, the law said that any man who had committed a horrible sin, like killing his father or a man of the Holy Church, had to go to the Pope to receive a pardon. (217)

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I fedryd to gedere þey most þedur go, Ryht as thewys gone to þe galowe tre. Kyng Athwolf sawe hem oft so do, and had of hem ryht gret pete þo he gate to Englond suche a privilage þat non Englysshemonn shuld go more þeder in suche a manere. He granted þo to þe Pope Leo suche a talage Of every houwse in his kyndam, a peny by her. Bot quen he had dwelled þere all yt here, home thoro Fraunce he come, y wys, Kyng Charlys douhter he weddede þo þere,28 and in to Englonde wyth hure ycomen he ys. He regned here two and twenty wyntre In grete worship and in gret prosperite. He dyed and byreyd was at Wynchester. Of þis plase, byfore y sayde, þe secund founder was he. Athelbald his sone was mad kyng þo.29 He regned here bot on here, yche understonde. His owne stepmoder was wedded hym to, aheyns þe lawes of þis londe. He wedded Iudyth, þat was his fader wyff, Wherfore all thyng fell to hym a mys.30 He dyed for vengaunce of his synnefull lyff and at Shirburne yburyed he ys.

28

MS: lines 227 and 228 written as one line; Judith was the daughter of King Charles the Bald. After Æthelwulf’s death, she married his son Æthelbald, who was probably much closer to her age. 29 Left margin: rex Athelbaldus (re lost due to trimming); reference to Æthelbald, King of Wessex (r. 858–60). 30

Left margin: Cistrens. This section draws on Polychronicon, Book V , chapters 32 and 33.

The Wilton Chronicle

Those people had to go to Rome fettered together like thieves going to the gallows. King Æthelwulf had seen them often, and he had great pity for them. Therefore, he negotiated for England the privilege that no Englishman would have to make that journey. Instead, he granted to Pope Leo the tax of a penny a year for every house in his kingdom. When he had lived in Rome all that year, he came home through France, and there he married King Charles’s daughter and came back to England with her. He reigned here two and twenty winters in great honour and great prosperity and then he died and was buried at Winchester (as I said before, he was the second founder of that house). Æthelbald his son became king then, who ruled only one year, I understand. Against the laws of this land, he married his own stepmother, Judith, who had been his father’s wife, and because of this sin, all things turned out badly for him. He died as revenge for this sinful life, and he is buried at Sherborne. (241)

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And þen was Ethelbryt ycroned hure kynge31 of all Westsexns londe, þe whyche was in his brother levying 245 kyng of Kent, as I understonde, and regned after hym fyve here ryht, and had Westsex and Kent bothe yn fee, and dyed þo thoro Goddes myht, and at Wimburne yburyed was he. 250 Bot when Ethelbryht was þus forthe past, hys brother Etheldrede was ycroned þo kynge32 anone after þat in gret hast. Gret grace he hade thoro gode levynge, for an holy mon forsoothe he was, 255 and loved full well Goddys servyse. Every day he wold here a masse as sone as he ded up ryse. Wherfore hit fel hym oft by grace to have of god what yt he bedde. 260 In experience hit fell by case At Asshedone wase hath ye story redde. For at Asshedone a tyme hit fell by case, þat Osege, þat kyng of Denmarkes was þo, come to Asshedone wyth grete manasse, 265 wyth other lordys mony on mo. Bot Kyng Etheldrede was þere redy, y wys, wyth Alured his brother and other mo, forto aheyn stonde all his malys And to kepe þat countre fro hem also. 270(fol. 197r) Herlyche in þe moretyde forsothe hit was þat þis batel shuld þere ydo be. Bot Etheldred went to chyrche a gode pas to here a masse þere of þe Trynite.

31 Left margin: rex Ethelbryhtus (re lost due to trimming); reference to Æthelberht, King of Wessex (r. 860–65). 32

Left margin: Etheldredus; reference to Æthelred, King of Wessex (r. 865–71).

The Wilton Chronicle

Then Æthelberht was crowned king of all the West Saxon lands. He had been King of Kent during his brother’s life, I understand, and then reigned for five years with Wessex and Kent both in fee. He died through God’s might and was buried at Wimborne. When Æthelberht had thus passed on, his brother Æthelred was crowned king right afterwards in great haste. Æthelred had great grace because of his virtuous living, for he was truly a holy man and loved God’s service very much. Every day he would hear mass as soon as he woke up, and therefore it often happened that God granted his requests. For example, history tells us that in the barren lands at Ashdown, Osege, the king of the Vikings, came with great threats and many lords. King Æthelred was ready there, with Alfred his brother and many more, to stand against Osege’s malice and to keep the country safe from him. Truly, the battle was set to be fought early in that morning, but Æthelred went to church for a long time to hear the mass of the Trinity. (273)

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Bot þat whyle þe Danys in þe feld chesen hure place ryht at hure owne wyll, bot Kyng Etheldred a bode and herd his masse. And made his preyers knelyng full styll. Bote Alured his brother was in þe feld, monfullyche wyth all his men, wel arayed wyth spere and shelde. Þe mynstrals blwe hure trompus yen. þus men bygonne and scarmysshute fast, þe twey hostes bothe yfere. Þe Englysshemen þey woxe a gast and bygunne to falle all hure chere. Þe Englysshe lordys loke doun after hure kyng, and speke and prayden hym come to hem anone. Bot he nold not þen for no thyng, tyl all þe masse were fully don. Bot when þe masse was all ydoe, Kyng Etheldrede heyhede hym full fast. Þe Englysshemen bygonne to fle, For þey were full sore agast. Þe kyng toke þo to hym his horse, and in þe Trinitys holy name he hym blessed and mad a crosse, and bad his men to do þe same. He prekede in to þe felde þo full snell, among þe Denmerkes so kene, and all þat he met adoun he fell, and slowe hem all be dene. Þe Dane kyng he slowe, y wys, and all his lordys þat were þere, and þus þe victory was his þorowe help of þe Trinity and of þe masse þat he dud here. By whyche ensawmpull I may well see how gracyose hit is a masse to here, and nomlyche of þe Trinity, To every worthy kyng or bachelere.

The Wilton Chronicle

While the Vikings in the field chose their places just as they desired, King Æthelred waited and heard his mass, and said his prayers while kneeling quietly. His brother Alfred was in the field, however, most noble with all his men, well equipped with spear and shield. Then the minstrels blew their trumpets — the men began to skirmish immediately, the two armies both together. The Englishmen grew fearful and began to lose their courage; the English lords looked towards their king and spoke, praying that he would come to them right away. But he would not leave for any reason until all the mass was completely finished. When it was over, King Æthelred hurried to the battlefield, where the English forces had begun to flee since they were so very afraid. The king took to his horse, and blessed himself and made a cross in the Trinity’s holy name, and ordered his men to do the same thing. He rode at full speed into the field among the savage Vikings, and every one he met fell down and he slew them all with scorn. He killed the Danish king and all the Viking lords that were there; thus the victory was his through the help of the Trinity and of the mass that he heard before the battle. I can see by this example how beneficial it is for every worthy king or knight to hear a mass, especially a mass of the Trinity. (309)

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Bot þen sone after dyed þis kyng Etheldrede þat was þe elder brothere þe ayhthe here of his regnyng. Alured was herre þo, þere nasse non othere.33 Bot nowe y chull how tell, by Goddys grace, For whom he ben yholde to preyhe fore, and who were first funders of þat place of þe whyche y spake of byfore. In þe eyhte hundreth here34 after þe incarnacyone hit fell by case þat Ethelmund, þat of þe Marche þo was kynge,35 Come in to Westsex wyth gret manasse to make þe Erle of Wylteshyre his underlynge. Bot Welstone, þat was Erle of Wylteshyre þo,36 aheynestode hym wyth gret strennthe and mayne, wyth mony a mon of Wylteshyre mo, and drof hym to his lond ahayne. Bot in þat batell was slawe, y wys, Alquimundy þat holy mon, fader37 Erle Wolstones wyffus he wys. For hym he made gret soro and mone. And for his soule a chyrche lette make In Wylton, fast by his owne place, to syng and red for his sowle sake þat a collage yclepud þo hit wasse. Bot in þe honour of owre lady hit had ben foundyd ferre byfore, bot thorow strong werre securlye, hit was almost clene forlore. And so for Seynt Alquimondyes love hit was fyrst ymade, of Welston þat was Erle of Wylteshye þo, and afterwarde for Elburwys love, as y ere sayde, Kyng Egberd made þe religiose house þerto.

33

Left margin: Rex Alrudus.

34

here is an editorial addition.

35

Coenwulf was King of Mercia (796–821), so the text’s identification is incorrect here.

36

MS: þoo.

37

MS: fader ends line 327 but has been moved to keep the rhyme scheme intact.

The Wilton Chronicle

Soon after this battle, King Æthelred died in the eighth year of his reign; he was the elder brother of Alfred, who was the heir since there was no other claimant. Now by God’s grace I shall tell you for whom you are required to pray, and who were the first founders of this religious house of which I spoke earlier. In the eight-hundredth year after the Incarnation, Æthelmund, the King of Mercia, came into Wessex with great threats to make the Earl of Wiltshire his underling. But with great strength and vigour, Walston, who was Earl of Wiltshire then, stood against him with many men of Wiltshire, and drove him back to his own land again. In that battle the holy man Ealhmund was slain, who was Earl Walston’s father-in-law. Walston mourned greatly for Ealhmund, and endowed a church in Wilton, right near his own lands, to sing and read for his soul. It was called a college then, even though the church had been founded long before in honour of Our Lady — because of the fierce war, however, it had almost ceased to exist. So for St Eahlmund’s love it was made first by Walston that was Earl of Wiltshire then, and afterwards made for the love of Elburwe, as I said before, when King Ecgberht made the religious house there. (341)

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And so Erle Walston was furst founder of þat chirche38 For Seynt Alquimondyes love, y wys. And Elburwe þat religyose house let after whirche, and so þe fyrst founder þerof he was, by consent of Egberd þe kynge, þat was hure owne brother. And so he was furst cause of þat house makynge. He preyde hym so feyre, he myht non other, bot grauntede for be hure patrone and mayntenere of þat place. And Elburwe hure self dede þerinne wonne, sone after þat þe erle ded was. And Kyng Egbert haffe bothe londys and rente to þat place and þe churche, y wys, For his love þat alle thyng sente, And þus þe furst founder of kynges he ys. And Atwolf his sone, þat holy mon, haff londys and rentys þerto, as y sayde ere. And Ethelbald, his son, when he was gone, of kynges was þe thryd founder. And Kyng Ethelbryht, þat worthy knyht, þe fourthe founder he was þerto. And Etheldrede, þat holy wyht, was þe fyvethe founder also. Of kyngys founders fynd I no mo y wryton in no story, y wys, Bot Wolston and Elburwe þat weren þo þe first causes of all þis. Bot after Etheldrede, Alured his brother was ycroned kynge, þat was þe hongust brother of all, a full wysmon and of full gode governing.39

Left margin: Henricus Crompe.

Right margin: Cronica Cistrensis; this section is adapted from Polychronicon, Book V , chapter 30 and Book VI, chapter 1.

The Wilton Chronicle

So Earl Walston was the founder of that church first for St Eahlmund’s love. Afterwards, Elburwe established that religious house further, and so she was the first founder by consent of Ecgberht the king, who was her own brother, so she was the first cause of that house’s founding. She prayed to him so fervently that he could do nothing but grant that she would be the patron and maintainer of that house. Elburwe did live there herself, soon after the earl was dead. King Ecgberht gave both lands and rents to that house and that church for his love of all holy things, and thus he is the first of the kingly founders. Æthelwulf his son, that holy man, also gave lands and rents to that house, as I said before. After Æthelwulf’s death, his son Æthelbald was the third kingly founder. King Æthelberht, that worthy knight was the fourth. Æthelred, that holy person, was the fifth. I find written in history no other kings who were also founders of this house. Remember Walston and Elburwe, who were the very first of all. After Æthelred, Alfred his brother was crowned king, the youngest brother of them all, a very wise man and a very good ruler. (372)

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Alured þe gode kynge men dedon hym calle. For quen he was a hong thyng, To Rome wyth his fader he went. And of Leo þe pope was anyntyd kynge, þe grette grace God hym sent. Þis Alrud lyved and regnyd kyng here Nyne and twenty wyntre nyhe. In grete travayle and werre yfere, þus Danes weren full fals and slyhe, and werreden wyth hym ever full fast. Bot he was ever a douhty knyht, and overcome hem at þe last, þoro þe grace of Goddys myht. An holy mon forsothe was he, and servede God bothe nyht and day, for he dipartede hem þree, In what maner y chull how say. Of foure and twenty houres, y wys, hyf þe nombre be deparhtyd in þre, Eyhte, eyhte, and eyhte hit ys. Conte hit well and he mowe se. Þe first eyht houres of þe day, he served God hevene kyng, þe secund eyhte houres in rest and play, þe thryd eyhte houres in his remes governynge. Thre waxe candels he let make þen, Every candell yleyche of weyht, In his chapell forto bren all þe day and eke þe nyht. Þuse thre candels were ordeyned þere Forto depart þe tyme of þree, In maner ryht as I sayd ere, as þe story telleth well me. Kyng Alured het dude more þen þis. He departed his rentys in two, hym selfe þe to halfe and no more, y wys. Þe toþer half in almys dede was do to churches and abbays þat weren pore.

The Wilton Chronicle

Men called him King Alfred the Good, for when he was a young boy he went with his father to Rome, and was anointed king by Pope Leo. God sent him great Grace. This King Alfred lived and ruled here for nine and twenty winters in great distress and war together, since the Danes were very false and cunning and they fought with him very fiercely. But he was ever a bold knight, and he overcame them at the end through the grace of God’s might. Truly, he was a holy man, and served God both night and day; he divided the day into three parts. I will tell you how he did so. Of four and twenty hours, if that number is divided in three, it is eight, eight, and eight. Count it well and you can see for yourself. For the first eight hours of the day, he served God, heaven’s king; he spent the second eight hours in rest and play; he spent the third eight hours in governing the realm. He ordered that his attendants make three wax candles, each alike in size, to burn in his chapel all day and all night. The three candles were used there to divide the time into three parts in the manner that I said before — history tells me this. King Alfred did yet more than this. He divided his income in two, no more than half to himself — the other half was given in deeds of alms to churches and abbeys that were poor. (410)

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Þe ton half þus haff he, þay to have hit for evermore In possessyon and in fee. After þe Incarnacyon ayhte hundreth here senty and fyve hit was, þat Kyng Alured was cronyd here kynge, for heyre of Westsex non other þere nasse bot Alured þat worthy thynge. Bot wyth inne þe moneth after þis, þat Alured kyng of Westsex was made, þe Danys comen to Wylton, y wys, and a grete batell þere he hade. Bot Kyng Alured was redy at Wylton þe, and Edward his sone,40 þat worthy knyht, wyth mony an other douhty lord mo, þat fouhte wyth þe Danys wyth all hure myhte. A gret batell þat day þere was, y wys, and mony a mon þere þat day was slawe. For þat day fell to eyder part amys, and mony a mon was þat day ydo to dawe. Bot first quen þe pepull þe sothe herde þat þe Danys to Wyltone ycomen were, for sothe þey were full sore a drede, and cryeden and wepton all yfere. Wymen and children þay cryheden fast, and prayed God to help hem for his grace, for þey weren full sore agast, bothe of hem self and of here place. Bot Edward Senior þat dwelte þere þo had a hong chylde to douhter, y wys, þat wyth hure norse was þere also. Forsothe wyth hurre hit fell amys. For þat day þat child was dede, hurre soule past up to heven blysse.

Edward the Elder, King of England (r. 899–924).

The Wilton Chronicle

He thus gave the one half for them to have evermore in possession and in fee. It was eight hundred seventy five years after the Incarnation that Alfred was crowned king, for there was no other heir to Wessex except Alfred, who was a worthy man. Just a month after Alfred became king, however, the Vikings came to Wilton and he had a great battle there. King Alfred was ready at Wilton, and Edward his son, that worthy knight, with many more bold knights, fought with all their might against the Danes. There was a great battle that day, and many men were slain there that day. That day ended badly for both sides, and many men died that day. When the people first heard the truth — that the Danes had come to Wilton — they were very much afraid and together they cried and wept. Women and children cried very much, and prayed to God to help them in his Grace, for they were very badly frightened both for themselves and for their homes. Edward the Elder, who lived in Wilton at that time, had a young daughter who was there with her nurse. Truly, that was a terrible day, for that child died that day, her soul passing up to the bliss of heaven. (443)

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Bot as I have in story oft redde, þe cause of hurre deyth forsoth was þis, Ryht as hit was y chull hou lere, Ryht as þe story doth me tell. Water and herbus were sodone yfere To han wasshe þat chyld every delle. Bot þe norse, þat shulde þe chyld have kepte, herd crye and sorwe on ycha syde. Þe chylde in þat water leyge he lette, and for hat hit in þat tyde. Þis child nasse bot þre here of age when hit was dede at Wyltone þis, of hurre fadres first mariage Elflede was hurre name y wys.41 And when þis childe was þis þer deyde, Ryht gret sorowe was made þerfore. Bot when þey seyhe non other redde, þey thongdone God and mournedone no more, and burydone þat chyld full honestly, both erlys and barnesse and ladyes clere, In Seynt Maryes churche þer fast by þere as þe religiose wymmen were. Bot all þawe þis childe were þis deyed and buryed þere, and þat gret batell at Wylton ydo, mony gret batels after þat het þere were y don bytweynne Alured and þe Danys mo. Bot in þe fourthe here after, hit fell by case þat þey comen to Chypenham and distryhede þe contre clene, and distryhede and brenden up þe kynges place, þat þerof nasse þere no thyng sene. And Kyng Alured dwelt in Selwode þo To have had þere summe rest in pore aray. Bot twenty men had he wyth hym, no mo. By fysshyng and hondynge het levedone þere þey.

Elflede, daughter of Edward the Elder and Ecgwyn.

The Wilton Chronicle

As I have often in history read, this was the cause of her death; I shall teach you just as it was, just as history tells me. Herbs had been soaked together in water to wash that child all over, but the nurse, who should have kept watch over the child, heard cries of sorrow on every side and left the child lying in the water and forget her in that time. This child, not yet three years old when she died at Wilton, was from her father’s first marriage; her name was Elflede. Great sorrow ensued at Wilton when her death was discovered, but since the earls and barons and noble ladies saw no other course, they thanked God and mourned no more, and buried that child very honestly in nearby St Mary’s church, where the religious women were. Although this child was dead and buried there, and that great battle fought at Wilton, there were many great battles fought after that between Alfred and the Vikings. Four years after her death, the Vikings came to Chippenham and destroyed the entire country, destroyed and burned the king’s home, so fully that there was nothing left to be seen of it. King Alfred lived in Selwood then, intending to have some rest there, even in such poor condition. He had no more than twenty men with him, and they lived by fishing and hunting. (477)

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Bot sone after hit fell by case In Selwode, in þat wyld countraye, þat Kyng Alured full hevy was and in a preveye place all one he lay. And his men one fysshyng from hym weron gone. Bot in his preyers he knelyd full styll þo by hym come an olde hore monn. And sayde,42 ‘Syr Kyng, rest hou wylle? Syre kynge’, he sayde, ‘ychave ferre gone. Somme meyte hemme for charyte?’ Þe king loked upon on þat old mon and sayde, ‘Y thonk God in Trynite’, and lufte up his hondon two And thonked God mekely of his grace, þat he wold fouchesafe to send hym to Another as pore a mon as he hym self was, to aske of hym gode þat had nouht hym self to take to, bot as pore beyger shuld askethe of an noþere. Þe kyng clepte after his mon þo, and sayde, ‘Þowe schalte have, myn owne brother’. Þe kyng sayde, ‘Syre, he shull fayn have Suche gode as God has heve to me. Y thonk God þat yche ouhte have For his love to heve nowe to þe. Panterere, yche þe prey’, qd þe kynge, ‘heve þowe some mete to þis mon For his love þat made all thyng let hym not hongry no furre gone’. His panterere to a lofe þo, ywys, and brake hit evene an two, and sayde, ‘Syre, he shuld have þis, For loves have y no mo’. Þis pore mon toke þis bred and his leve also, and forthe on his way con passe.

sayde is inserted in the left margin.

The Wilton Chronicle

One day in Selwood, in that wild country, King Alfred was very dejected, and he lay alone in a private spot. His men had gone fishing and were away from him. He was kneeling very still in his prayers when an old grizzled man came to him and said, ‘Sir King, do you wish to rest? Sir King, I have travelled far; may I have some food, for charity?’ The king looked upon that old man and said, ‘I thank God in Trinity’. He lifted up his two hands and thanked God meekly for his grace, that God would deign to send to him a man as poor as himself to ask of him for something that he did not have for himself, just as one poor beggar would ask something of another. The king called to his men then, and said, ‘You shall have something, my own brother’. The king said, ‘Sir, I shall gladly give you anything that God has given to me. I thank God that I have anything to give you now, for his love. I pray you’, said the king to the pantry-keeper, ‘give some food to this man. Let him go hungry no further, for the love of him who made all things’. His pantry-keeper took a loaf of bread and broke it evenly in two, and said, ‘Sir, you should have this one, for I have no more loaves’. This poor man took this bread, and took his leave also, and passed forth on his way. (511)

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Þey nyste never where he was ago,43 ne of his trodus, no sygne þer nasse. Bot sodenlyche he vanysshede a way, 515 none of hem wyst whederwarde, Þe bred þat he reserved styll þere layd, of þat loffe toke he no parde. Þen come þus fysshers home a swythe and plenteythe of fysshe þey hadden ynowe, 520 and etone and drongone and made hem blythe. Þe kyng afterwarde to slepe he hym drowe. Bot when þe kyng was yfole a slepe, a wonder syht hym thoht he saye, þat a semely prelet stode at his fete, 525 lyke to a bysshop in his araye, and sayde, ‘Syre kyng, take he gode hede To serve God in ryhtwysnasse, and pore men love to clethe and fede, and all men of holy churche bothe more and lasse, 530(fol. 200r) And love religiose wyth alle houre myhte, and loke þat he done hem encrese, and þowe shalle overcome þy enmyes anon ryht, and leve afterward in gode rest and pese’. Þe kynge askede anone what was his name, 535 and what mon and whethen þat he wasse. ‘Cudberth44 of Dereham’, he sayde, ‘ychame þat tell þe nowthe of þis casse. And When þu art in þy prosperite, Ryht at þyn owne lest, 540 loke þat þowe thenk þen upone me. For þow shall fynd þat for þe best. Icham þe pylgrym þat bad þe brede, þat God hath send nowe to þe.

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VI,

Left margin (trimmed): Cronica Cistrensis. This section is based on Polychronicon, Book chapter 2. 44

St Cuthbert (d. 687), Bishop of Lindisfarne; his body was enshrined at Durham Cathedral.

The Wilton Chronicle

They never knew which way he was going; there was no sign of any footprints. He suddenly vanished away, none of them knew where. The bread that he had received still lay there; he took no part of that loaf. The fishermen came home just then, and they had plenty of fish, enough for everyone. They ate and drank and enjoyed themselves together. Afterwards, the king drew himself away to sleep. When he had fallen asleep, he thought he saw a wondrous sight, that a noble prelate stood at his feet, attired like a bishop, who said, ‘Sir King, take good care to serve God in righteousness, and to clothe and feed poor men and all those of Holy Church, both great and low. Care for religious houses with all your might, and make sure that you enrich them, and then you will overcome your enemies and live afterward in good rest and peace’. The king asked his name right away, and asked who he was and where he was from. ‘I am Cuthbert of Dereham’, he said, ‘that tells you now about your situation. When you are in your prosperity, just as you have wished, make sure that you then think of me, for you shall find that is most beneficial for you. I am the pilgrim that asked for the bread, the one whom God has sent to you. (543)

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Loke þat þow do as ychave þe rede, and lowe well God and he will love þe. For he knowyth þy conscyens ryht well, and þy gode hert he knoyth also. He wolle þe whyte every dell, Full well þu myht trust þerto’. 550 Þe kyng a woke anone after þis and a gret charge he toke hym upone for in a Iogulers lykenesse, y wys, he went to aspye what dede his fon. And when þe kynge had aspyet ryht well, 555 Ryht at his owne plesaunce and leste, hom aheyn he come full snell, and tolde his monn all þat he sawe both most and leste. Bot þo come Hampshyre, Wylteshyre, and Somerset to, To help þe kyng in his nede. 560 And anone to here enmyes þey wenton þo and slowe hem and toke hem every hede. Þe kyng of Denmark hold hym anone þo and granted crystenmon ever to be. And thretty gret lordys mo 565 Weren ycrystonyd in þe nome of þe Trinite. Alured toke up þe kyng from þe fonston, and his godefader bycome ryht þere, and clepte þe same ‘Ethelston’ þat ‘Gurminde’45 was yclepud byfore, v 570(fol. 200 ) And haffe hym loundys and rentys, y wys, bothe to hym and to his wyffe. And Alured lyved after in rest and peys þe most part of all his lyffe. And kyng Alured went to Wylton þo, 575 From þe yle of Hethelynge. And þe bysshop Swytheline was þere also, for at Wyltone þo was his dwellynge. 545

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Guthrum (d. 890), the Viking king baptized in 871 at the behest of Alfred the Great.

The Wilton Chronicle

Make sure that you do as I have counselled, for if you love God well, then He will love you. He knows your conscience very well, and he knows your good heart also. You can trust very surely that he knows your thoughts all the time’. The king awoke right after this, and he took upon himself a great challenge; he disguised himself as a clown and went to spy on his enemies’ doings. When the king had spied upon them very closely, just as he wished to do, he came home again very quickly and told his men all that he had seen, both the greatest and the least. Then the men of Hampshire, Wiltshire, and Somerset came to help the king in his need. They went then to their enemies and slew them and took every head. The King of the Danes yielded then, and agreed to be a Christian man forever afterwards. Thirty more great Danish lords were christened then in the name of the Trinity. Alfred took the Danish King to the baptismal font, and became his godfather right there, and called him ‘Ethelston’ who had been called ‘Guthrum’ before. Alfred gave lands and rents both to him and to his wife. Alfred lived afterwards in rest and peace for the most of the rest of his life. He went to Wilton from the isle of Athelney. The Bishop Swythelin was there also, since he lived in Wilton. (577)

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Þe kyng did maken abbeys þo, for to werre he thoght no more. At Wyltone he let make one of þo þat honestlyche stont het ryht þore. Of his owne maner wyth ouhte wene, he let þere an abbay þo make, þorow preyer of Egwne þe quene,46 for Elflede þat chyldys sake. And also Edward his sone graunde þerto By preyour of Elflede his sustre dere,47 þat was godmoder and aunte also of Elflede ye chyld þat was ded þere. And Swythelyne þat was bysshop þo48 was made cheffe procutour of þat place, and so he was procutor and gret helper þerto, For a full holy mon forsothe he was. In Merche forsothe, þe seveneth day, at Wyltone þis batell was þus ydo, þe same tyme dyede þat lytill may þe story tellyth and sayth ryht so. In August þe ij her after þe twenty day, King Alured leyd þe first ston In þe name of owre lady, þat blest may, and of Seynt Bartholomey, þat holy mon. For bytwene ye assumpsyon and his day hit was, þo secunde fery þat þay begone to wyrche, and þe kyng was þere þo in þat place and leyd þere þe first stone of þat churche.

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Ecgwyn, wife of Edward the Elder and mother of the drowned child Elflede.

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Æthelflaed, Lady of the Mercians (d. 918), sister to Edward the Elder.

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Left margin: Will. Ryvalens. William of Rievaulx is a fictional historian invented by Kirkstead; see Richard Sharpe, A Handlist of the Latin Writers of Great Britain and Ireland before 1540 (Turnhout: Brepols, 1997), p. 803.

The Wilton Chronicle

The king founded abbeys then, since he thought no more of war. At Wilton he founded one of them, that still stands nobly right there. He founded an abbey right there in his own way, without doubt, because of the prayers of Ecgwyn the queen, for the sake of Elflede, that child who had drowned. Also, Edward, Alfred’s son, made grants to the abbey because of the prayers of his dear sister Æthelflaed, who was godmother and aunt also of Elflede the child who had died there. Swythelin, who was bishop then, was made chief manager of that abbey, and in that role he was a great help to the abbey, for he was truly a very holy man. On the seventh day of March this battle was fought at Wilton, the same day that little maid died — history tells us rightly so. In August of the second year after the twentieth day, King Alfred laid the first stone in the name of Our Lady, that blessed maiden, and in the name of St Bartholomew, that holy man. For they began to work on the second weekday between the assumption and St Bartholomew’s Day, and the king was there then in that place, and laid there the first stone of that church. (605)

75

76

The Wilton Chronicle

(fol. 201r) 610

615

620

625

630

635

49 50

After þe Incarncyon ayhte hyndreth here and foure score here mo and ten, þis abbay was fyrst set here By Syre Alured þat was Kyng then, and after þe bygynnyng of þe first priory49 Thre score full here and thre, þat was fyrst foundyd in Kyng Egberdes day, For Elburwes love his sustre free. And wythinne two here þis abbey was wrouht and brouht to a parfytte hende. Bot of þe dedycacyon spake y ryht nouht, For every here hit comys in mynde. Bot Radgunde was fyrst sacryd addas þere, þe erlys douhter of Wylteshyre, Ethelstone. And þe relygiose wymen þat weron at Seynt Mary churche byfore weren broht þeder þo everychon. And other maydones mony mo also weron veylled þo in þat abbay. Radgund and twelff other maydones mo weron yweylled þere in on day. So þat in þe first bygynnyng Syxe and twenty wemen þere were, and hadden þere hurre levyng To serve God þere all yfere. Bot þen in short tyme after þis, King Alured fell in gret age.50 He send Bysshop Swytelyn, y wys, In to Yende for hym on pilgremage. And Ethelston, þat was Erle of Wylteshyre þo, to þe courte of Rome was sendet In pylgremage for þe kyng also. And all þis he dede in gode entent.

MS: lines 609 and 610 written as one line.

Right margin: Cronica Cistrensis. This section is adapted from Polychronicon, Book chapters 1 and 2.

VI,

The Wilton Chronicle

This abbey was first set here eight hundred, four score, and ten years after the Incarnation by Sir Alfred who was king then; that was three score and three years after the founding of the first priory in King Ecgberht’s day for the love of his noble sister Elburwe. Within two years, this abbey was built and brought to its finalized state. But I have not spoken of the dedication of the abbey, for every year it comes to your attention. Radegund was the first consecrated abbess there, the daughter of Ethelstan the earl of Wiltshire. Every one of the religious women that were at St Mary’s church before were brought to the abbey, and many other maidens were veiled there as well. Radegund and twelve more maidens were veiled there in one day. In that first beginning, there were twentysix women who lived there to serve God all together. A short time after this, King Alfred fell into great age. He sent Bishop Swythelin into India for him on a pilgrimage, and Ethelstan, who was Earl of Wiltshire, was sent to the court at Rome on pilgrimage for the king also. He did all these things with good intent. (637)

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(fol. 201v) 650

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Bot quen Kyng Alured had regnyd þus here abouhte a thretty long wynter, he was ded and leyde on bere and buryed he was at Wynchester. Bot fyve abbeys he let make byfore þe tyme þat he was ded: Pollesworth and Whytteby for Seynt Modewynes sake, as ychave ofto in story red, In þe whyche dwelt Seynt Ede his aunt, y wys, Seynt Modewyne and Ede and Osyth yfere.51 Bot Seynt Ede yschryned het þere ys, Whose wolle go þedur may fynde hit þer. And þe abbay of Wyltone he made also, and þe abbay of Shafttysbury also made he, and haffe londys and rentys gret won þerto, by casue of Ethelgore52 his douhter free. Þe universyte of Oxenford forsothe he made, as story trewe telleþ wel me, for þe Abbottyes Neotys53 consell he had þat universite to make wyth lawys fre. Þe abbey of Ethelyngiseie he let make and set þer inne monchus þo mony yfere, and þe abbey of Glastynbury, as Bede dothe spake, and Elfryde54 his douhter made abbas þere.

51

Modwenna was an abbess of Burton-on-Trent who taught Edith of Polesworth (not to be confused with Edith of Wilton); Osyth was a founding abbess at Polesworth and perhaps the wife of King Ecgberht as well. 52

Probably Alfred’s daughter Æthelgifu, Abbess of Shaftesbury.

53

St Neot, monk and then hermit (d. 877).

54

Alfred’s daughter Elfrida married Count Baldwin of Flanders and did not enter the religious life.

The Wilton Chronicle

When King Alfred had reigned here for about thirty long winters, he died and was laid on his bier and buried at Winchester. He had founded five abbeys before he died: Polesworth, and Whitby for St Modwena’s sake, as I have often read in histories, in which lived St Edith his aunt, saints Modwena and Edith and Osyth together. That St Edith is enshrined there yet, and anyone who wishes may find her there. The abbeys of Wilton and of Shaftesbury he founded also, and gave lands and great rents to them, because of his noble daughter Æthelgifu. Truly, he also founded the university of Oxford, as true history tells me well, for he had the counsel of Abbot Neot to make the university with noble laws. The abbey of Athelney he also founded, and set many monks in there together, as well as the abbey of Glastonbury, as Bede says, and Alfred made his daughter Elfrida abbess there. (661)

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Bot when all þis was þus ywrouht and his sowle to heven ypast,55 þe crone was to his sone ybrouht and cronede hym kyng in gret hast. Bot when his sone was crownede kyng, þo wheche was clepte Edward Seniore,56 þe neynthe hundred here wyth ouhte lesynge after þat God of Mary was bore, and regned after Alured his fader fre hollyche twenty wynter and fyve, and fourteyn children by wyffus þre Kyng Edwarde had in his lyve. Towns and abbeys and castels fre mony one in his lyff he made. A douhty knyht forsothe was he, And in his lyffe meche worshepe hade. He regned here in prosperite þe herys ynombred byfore, and atte his day ysette, þo dyede he, and to þe abbey of Wynchester his body was bore. Now have I told how opynly here who was þe fyrst founder of þis abbay, and why hit was made, and in what here, and how Elfled was ded and in what day. Now wolly tell how forther more þe nomes of þe founders everychon, þat he mowe have of hem knowynge þe more In hour preyours for hem þe rather to done. Athelstone was Edwardys sone fyrst ybore,57 and of all Englonde fyrst kyng he was, And so nasse nev non hym byfore, Seyhth Hengestys and Orsus come inne by casse.

55

MS: lines 662 and 663 written as one line.

56

Left margin: Edward senior.

57

Left margin: Rex Athelstan (section adapted from Polychronicon, Book VI, chapter 6); reference is to Æthelstan, King of Mercia, Wessex, and then all of England (d. 939).

The Wilton Chronicle

When all this was completed thus, and Alfred’s soul had passed to heaven, the crown was brought to his son, now called Edward the Elder, and he was crowned in great haste in the nine-hundredth year after God was borne of Mary. He reigned after Alfred, his noble father, for twenty-five whole winters, and King Edward had fourteen children by three wives in his lifetime. He established many towns and castles and noble abbeys during his life. Truly, he was a bold knight, and he had much honour in his life. He ruled there in prosperity the years I numbered before, and on his appointed day he died and his body was carried to the abbey of Winchester. Now I have told you openly here who were the first founders of this abbey, and why it was made, and in what year, and how Elflede was dead and in what day. Now I will tell you further the names of every one of the founders, so that you may have more knowledge in order to improve your prayers for them. Æthelstan was Edward’s first-born son, and he was the first king of all England — there had never been one before, ever since Hengest and Horsa had come. (693)

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Þat thryd founder forsothe he was, of þis nowe ymade abbay. And meche gode he dede to þat place as in hour mynymentes fynd he may. Sexstene here he regned here kyng. He was a monn of ryht gret grace. Þe fyrst here of his regnyng Seynt Dunstone58 also ybore he was. And when he had regnyde here sexstene here, as ichave redde in trewe story,59 he was ded and layde on bere, and I-buryed at Malmesbury. And after hym was made king þo, Edmund his halfe brother, y wys.60 Sevene here he regnede and nomo, and at Glastonbury yburyed he is. Twey sones he had in hys lyffe, Edwyge61 and Edgar62 his hole brother, By Elvine, his weddede wyffe. Þey regneden eyther after oþer. To Cantyrbury he come by casse, and þere Kyng Edmund was ded. Þe fourteyþ founder forsothe he was, as ychave in story red. Edred his hole brother was made þo kynge,63 and regnede fullyche ten here here, For Edwyge nasse bot a honge thynge. His age nasnot fullyche sevene here.

58

St Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 988).

59

MS: lines 702 and 703 written as one line.

60

Right margin: Rex Edmundus; reference is to Edmund, King of England (r. 939–46).

61

Eadwig, King of England (r. 955–59).

62

Edgar, King of England (r. 959–75).

63

Right margin: Rex Edredus (section adapted from Polychronicon, Book VI, chapter 8); reference is to Eadred (known as ‘Weak-in-the-Feet’), King of fluctuating boundaries within England from 946–55.

The Wilton Chronicle

Æthelstan was truly the third founder of the established abbey. He did much good for this house, as you can find in our legal documents. He reigned here as king of very great grace for sixteen years. In the first year of his reign, St Dunstan was born. When Æthelstan had ruled sixteen years, as I have read in true history, he died and was buried at Malmesbury. After him Edmund, his halfbrother, was made king, who ruled for no more than seven years; he is buried at Glastonbury. Edmund had two sons in his lifetime, Eadwig and Edgar his full brother, by Elvine, his wedded wife. Those sons reigned one after the other. King Edmund went to Canterbury one time, and there he died. He was the fourth founder of this abbey, as I have read in history. Edmund’s full brother Eadred was made king then, and ruled for ten full years here, for Eadwig was still only a young child then; he was not even seven years old. (721)

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730 (fol. 202v)

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Bot when ten here weren þus fully past, gret seknesse to hym come þo, and after Seynt Dunston he send in hast, For he was his consyler and his confessor also. Seynt Dunston heyhede hym full fast, and hyrne to God for hym he bedde. Bot when þe furst dayes jurney was full past, an angell hym told þat he was dede. And ryht as þat voys come to Seynt Dunstone here, his horse fell doun to þe grounde, And dyede anon þo ryht þere, wythouht ony stroke dount or wounde. Seynt Dunston full well knewe þo in his thouht þat þe kyng was ded, y wys. And to Wynchester þo was he brouht, and in þe old abbey yburyed he ys. bot when þis kynge was þus forth past his sowle to God in Trynite Edwyge was made kynge þo in hast,64 In Kyngeston in þat gode cete. And þe furst day of his crownynge, Into spousebreche he fell anone, and suche on he was all his levyng, For all þat Seynt Dunstone myht done. Bot for Seynt Dunston spake to hym þerof, and conselede hym to leve his synfull lyffe, ouhte of his reme he hym drofe, In to Fraundrus wyth soro and stryffe. Abbeys and monchus he hatede, y wys, by cause of Seynt Dunstone his lore. Þe abbey of Malmesbury he haff his clerkys, and sayde monchus shuld dwell þere nomore. Bot by casye of Elvine, his moder dere, þe abbey of Wyltone he dede encresse. And so he was þe fyvethe foundere of þat Abbey wyth ouhte lesse.

Left margin: Rex Edwid.

The Wilton Chronicle

But when ten years had passed, a great sickness came to Eadred. He sent for St Dunstan in haste, for he was his counsellor and confessor both. St Dunstan travelled very urgently, and hoped that God heard his prayers for the king. But when the first day’s journey was over, an angel told St Dunstan that the king was dead. Just as that voice came to St Dunstan, his horse fell down to the ground, and died immediately right there, without any blow or dent or wound. St Dunstan knew well in his thought that the king was truly dead. The king’s body was brought to Winchester then, and he is buried in the old abbey. When this king had thus passed his soul to God in Trinity, Eadwig was made king in haste, in the good city of Kingston. But even on the first day of his crowning, he fell right away into adulterous living, and he behaved like that throughout all his life, despite anything that St Dunstan could do. When St Dunstan spoke to him about these matters, and counselled him to leave his sinful life, the king drove Dunstan out of the realm, into Flanders, with sorrow and strife. That king hated abbeys and monks because of St Dunstan’s teachings. He gave the abbey of Malmesbury to his clerks, saying that monks would never dwell there anymore. But because of Elvine, his dear mother, he did make gifts to the abbey of Wilton, and so he is the fifth royal founder of the abbey. (757)

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770 (fol. 203r)

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For he confermyde holyche þerto all thyng yheve byfore, and haffe þerto londys and rentys mo, by cause þat his fader was þere ybore. Bot þen þis kynge dyede after anone. He regned here bot foure here, For God toke vengauns hym upon, For þe synnes þat he dede here. He dyede sodanly for his synne, and at Wynchester yburyed he was. Bot Seynt Dunstone to prey for hym, he nolde never blynne, So þat his soule ydampned nasse. For as sone as he was deyde, Seynt Dunston knewe þat by vysyon, And to God for hym so he badde, þat his sowle was savyd from dampnacyon. Bot of þis kyng speke y nomore, for he dyed þus as y dede say, and to Wynchester he was ybore, and buryed in þat olde abbey. Bot when Edwyge was þus a go, Edgar his brother was made þo kynge.65 For all England consentede þerto, For he was a virtuose thyng. Sexstene wynter he was olde when he was cronyd kynge of Seynt Dunstone and seynt Oswolde,66 atte Bathe ysacryd wyth ouhte lesynge.67 In þe nyenthe houndryd here syxsty, save one, after þat Goddes sone was ybore, Edgar þat was Edmundys honge sone to ye kyndam of Englong was ycore.

65

Right margin: Rex Edgarus.

66

St Oswald, Archbishop of York (d. 992).

67

This section is adapted from Polychronicon, Book VI, chapter 9.

The Wilton Chronicle

He confirmed completely all the grants that had been given before, and gave even more rents and lands as well, because his father had been born at Wilton. When this king had ruled only four years, however, he died because God took vengeance upon him for the sins he committed on earth. He died suddenly because of his sin, and he is buried at Winchester. St Dunstan never ceased praying for him, so that the king’s soul was not damned. St Dunstan knew by a vision as soon as he was dead, and he asked God for the king that his soul be saved from damnation. But I will speak no more of this king, who died as I said and was borne to Winchester to be buried in the old abbey there. When Eadwig had thus passed on, Edgar his brother was made king, for all England consented to him, who was a virtuous person. He was sixteen winters old when he was crowned king and consecrated by St Dunstan and St Oswald at Bath. In the nine-hundred and sixtieth year, except one, after God’s son was born, Edmund’s young son Edgar was crowned in the kingdom of England. (789)

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800

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(fol. 203v)

68

And seyth þat here þat Kyng Alured layde þe furst stone of þis newe abbay, þat stonte here het, Foure score here and foure, save one, ben past forthe seyhthe þat hit was sette. And seyth Egberde and Elburwe his sustre, y wys, bulden up þat religiose house yfere, sevene score here and sex hit is, for hit nys neyther furre ne nere. And sexstene wyntre and more he regnyd here, In gret worshep and prosperite, as þe trewe story wolle how lere, an holy mon forsothe was he. For when þat chylde was bore, y wys, Seynt Dunston was at Glastynburry, and þere he herde an angel say ryht tys, ‘Now may Englond be glad and merry, For rest and pese shall þerinne be, by all þis kynges tyme, y wys, and holy levyng in prosperite. God hathe þat childe ygraundyd þis. And all þe tyme þat þy lyffe doth last þe prosperite shall never a slake bot quen þy sowle to hevene ys past meche soro shall ben for syne sake’.68

Inserted in the upper right corner of fol. 203v are seven lines that provide another version of lines 814–17 in a different hand: yn his herte he was ful glad and cunselyd þe hyng kyng þat he schuld not do amys but love wel God ever wyth gode herte and sad wher fore so hyly encresyd þe kyng in al godenes and yn so grete prosperite encressyd al so and so muche trowþe and pees yn hys tyme was that no mon to oþer wulde mys do This attempted correction is another confirmation that the scribe was working from an extant copy of the poem.

The Wilton Chronicle

Since that year in which King Alfred had laid the first stone of this new abbey that yet stands here, four score and four years, except one, have passed. Since Ecgberht and Elburwe his sister built that religious house together, seven score and six years have passed. Edgar ruled here more than sixteen winters in great honour and prosperity, for he was a holy man, as you can learn in a true history. When Edgar was born, St Dunstan was at Glastonbury, and he heard an angel say, ‘Now England should be glad and merry, for there will be rest and peace and holy living in prosperity through all this king’s reign — God has granted this gift to that child. And all the time of his life, that prosperity will never cease; but when his soul passes to heaven, there will be much sorrow’. (813)

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69

So heylyche encresset þis kyng in all godenesse, And in so gret prosperyte he encressed also, and so meche pese and trewthe in his tyme wesse, þat no monn to other wold mys do. Ny in alle þe tyme of his regnynge, Theff ny mycher forsothe þere nasse, So monfull he was in his governyng, and so full of vertu and of grace. And also he was a full semely mon, þawe he of stature never not full heyhe.69 An hardyer knyht nasse now where non, For in dedus of armys he was full slyhe. A full monfull mon forsothe he was, as by an ensampull y may how tell. For in a tyme hit fell so by case, þat þe kyng of Scotlond dud wyth hym dwell. And upone a day, as he myry satte In gret myrthes, as y chave redde, he sayde he mervaylede muche of þatte, þat Kyng Edgar was so mechel adredde of all men þat dweltone hym aboute, of kyng or prynce bothe ferre or nere, and þat every yle of hym hadden douht, and þat homagelyche to hym þey dedon so abeyhe, Seyht he is of stature so lyte, and also so hong of age, and þat men þat hadden gret dyspite, Durston doune to hym none ouhte rage. In maner of scorne þuse wordes he sayde, For to him he hadde a preveyhe enmyhe, and hulte hym nothynge wel apayde, þat so mony kynges dudon to hym obeyhe. Bot Kyng Edgar herde sone of þat, þat þe kyng of Scotland had þus ysayde.

This section is adapted from Polychronicon, Book VI, chapter 9.

The Wilton Chronicle

King Edgar enriched the land in goodness, prosperity, peace, and truth so much that no man would act against another. In all the time of his reign, there were no thieves or troublemakers because he was so bold in his governing and also so full of virtue and grace. He was also a very handsome man, even though he was not very high of stature. There were no hardier knights anywhere, for he was very adept in deeds of arms. Truly, he was a very bold man, as I can show you with an example. As I have read, one time, the King of Scotland was living with him, and as that King sat merrily in great mirth, he said that he marvelled greatly that King Edgar was so greatly feared by all the kings or princes who lived around him, far or near, that they did homage to him humbly and did not dare to do any outrage against him, even though he was so short and also so young. The King of Scotland spoke thus scornfully, for he had a secret animosity towards King Edgar, and thought that he did not deserve to have so many kings obeying him. But King Edgar soon heard of what the King of Scotland had boasted. (847)

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The Wilton Chronicle

Wherfore in to a wode he hym gatte as þawe he wold wyth hym han playde. And when he had hym in to þe wode brouht, and no mon wyth hem bot þey tweyne yfere, Kyng Edgar of hym he haffe ryht nouht, þaw he meche þe more mon were, and sayde, ‘Syre kyng, have here a sworde þat of stele ryht well ys made, And avowe now þy worde, þat þow behynd me has ysayde. Here ben tweyn, chese þow ye best, For þow schall fyht here or þowe go. For of us tweyne þow arte þe mest, bot loke who ys þe stronger of us two’. Þe kyng of Scotlonde was þo all abaysshette, and fell doune anone to his fotte, and mercy mekelyche of hym he ayschette, and sayde, ‘Syre kynge, fyht wolly notte. Bot of any worde þat ychave sayde, Syre Edgar, y preye how forheve hit me’. ‘Syre’, qd Edgar, ‘y hold me well apyde. Holyche þy askyng I graunte to þe’. And þo þey paston forthe yfere, þuse kyngus bothe, wyth play and game, and to Edgar he swore ryht þere þat he nold never hym more blame. And also in þe furst here of his regnynge, upone a day hit fell by case, þat Edgar rode ouht on his pleyenge In to a forest neyht to his place. And when he come into þat forestes syde, a gret lust he had to slepe. And under a tre he doune hym leyde. A mervayle swevene þo con he mete. Hym thouht þat his grebyche lay hym besyde, as gret wyth whelp as he myht go, and þat þe whelpus wyth in hure body in þat tyde Burke fast at þe kyng and hure also.

The Wilton Chronicle

Therefore, he went with him into a forest as if he planned to joust with him. King Edgar cared nothing for his boasts and scorned him, even though the Scottish King was a much larger man. When he had brought him into the forest, and there were no men with them but those two together, King Edgar said, ‘Sir King, have here a sword that is very well made of steel, and make good on your words that you have said behind my back. Here we are, two men; you can choose the best one yourself, for you will fight here before you go. You are the larger of the two of us, but look to see who is the stronger’. The King of Scotland was then ashamed; he fell down at Edgar’s feet, humbly asked mercy from him, and said, ‘Sir King, I will not fight with you. I pray you to forgive me any words I have said against you, Sir Edgar’. Edgar said, ‘Sir, I hold myself well repaid. I grant to you all that you ask’. Then they went forth together, these two kings, happily jousting and hunting. The King of Scotland swore to Edgar right there that he would never disrespect him again. One time, in the first year of Edgar’s reign, Edgar rode out for his amusement into a forest near his palace. When he had come into the forest, he felt a great desire to sleep. He lay down under a tree, and then he dreamed a marvellous dream. He thought that his greyhound lay beside him, greatly pregnant with puppies, who barked from within her body at the king and at her. (885)

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(fol. 204v) 900

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Hym thoht also þat a broke by hym þere ron, and þat upone þe bonke þerof an appultre stode, and þat twey fayre appullon crowedone þeron, bot þey folle doune bothe in to þat flode. And when þuse appullon were bothe yfalle In to þat broke þat ron hym bysyde, a voys he herd þere clepe and calle and sayde, ‘Wel þe betyde, welle ye betyde’. Also he met þat a lampe so bryht hongede an heyre upone þat tre, þat haff abouht hym so gret leyht yat all ye contrey þe better myht se. Bot when Kyng Edgar had met þis sweve and seye hit, hym thouht, verely in syht, he askede hys moder, Elvine þe quene, what þis sweve signifye myht. ‘Sone’, he sayde, ‘y chull how tell þe significacyon of þis swevene. Þuse whelpus þat burken on þe so snell wyth inne hure moder body, by semene, and signifyen þat men, wyth ouht douht, þat after þis tyme shull by bore, þat wyth all hure myht wolle be a bouht þat holy chyrche were forlore. Her body signifyeth world so, syre, þe whelpus signifyen heretyces, y wys, þat wollen wyth all hure myht desire to pervert þe lawe for covetyse. Þey wollen desyre wyth all hure myht70 all religiose folke forto shende, and have gret how, bothe day and nyht, how þey myht best bryng hit to an ynde. And þy self, sone, sygnifyeth þis tre. For þe shulde bryng forth fruyte of grace.

Left margin: Cronica Cistrensis; this dream vision is not included in the Polychronicon.

The Wilton Chronicle

He also dreamed that a brook ran by that spot, where an apple tree stood upon its bank. Two fair apples grew on that tree, but they both fell down into the water. When these apples had both fallen into the brook that ran beside him, he heard a voice call, ‘Good fortune to you, good fortune to you’. Also, he dreamed that a bright lamp hung high up in that tree, giving a great light all around him so that he could see the whole country very well. After King Edgar had this dream, and he thought he had seen it truly, he asked his mother, Elvine the Queen, to interpret the dream for him. ‘Son’, she said, ‘I shall tell you the significance of this dream. The puppies that barked so vigorously within their mother’s body show without doubt that men will be born in this time who will try with all their might to mislead Holy Church. Her body symbolizes the world, sire, and the puppies truly symbolize heretics who wish with all their might to pervert the law for their own greed. With all their might, they wish to harm all religious people; they plot day and night about how they might topple religion. The tree symbolizes you, my son, because you will bring forth fruit with grace. (919)

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And þus whelpus þat borken thus at þe, and wyth all her myht do þe manasse, for religiose heylyche he shull encrese, in al hour reme bothe ferre and neyhe. Bot men herafter, wyþ ouht leysse, whollen have þerto full gret envyhe and covet londys and rentys, y wys, þat he shull hyff to relygiose place. And all þat shall be for covetys, and also for defauuhte of grace. Bot ryht as þus whelpus mow do how no harme, bot only stere how from hour rest, Ryht so holy chyrche after þat starme Shall have þe maystre atte best. And þus tweyhe appullon, sone, also þat follen from þis tre so bleyve, Signifye, my chylde, sones two þat he shulle have in hour lyve. Bot þe ton shall for þe toþer dye, and a martyr be, y wys, and regne he shall in hevene an heyhe, and þe toþer in urthe wyth lytyl peys. But he þat þis voys spake to þo þis, ‘Well þe betyde, well þe betyde, Shall regne here and in hevene blys and in þat Ioye ever abyde. Þe lamp, sone, þat is so bryht, Signifyeth a douhter þat he shall have þat shall serve God bothe day and nyht, and clene mayde hure body save. And ryht as þis lampe hefth gret lyht to every creature abouht hit dwellyng, Ryht so shall he heve to every weyht gret ensampull of gode lernyng’. And when þe quene had þus ysayde, and expoundyd þis swevene ryht tys, þe kyng hulte hym well a payde, and mekelyche thongede þe kyng of blys.

The Wilton Chronicle

The puppies bark at you and threaten you because religion will prosper greatly in all your realm, far and wide. Afterwards, these men will have great envy and covet the lands and rents that you will give to religious houses. That envy will come from their greed and from their lack of grace. But just as the puppies can do no harm to you, only bother you in your sleep, in just that way Holy Church shall have mastery over that storm. Also, my son, the two apples that fell from this delightful tree signify two sons that you shall have in your life. One will die for the other one, and be a martyr, and reign in heaven on high; the other will reign on earth will little peace. The voice that spoke to you, saying “Good fortune to you” was of the first son, who shall reign here, then in heaven’s bliss to live ever in that joy. The lamp, son, that is so bright, symbolizes a daughter you shall have, who shall serve God both day and night, and keep herself a pure virgin. Just as this lamp gives great light to every creature living around it, so shall your daughter give to every person a great example of good learning’. When the Queen had spoken thus, and expounded upon this dream, the king thought himself well answered, and humbly thanked the King of Bliss. (957)

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Þe kyng lay at Shaftusbury þo, as ye story telleth well me, bot to Wynchester he thoht to go, Forto vysidete þat contre, and toke his Ierney and forth con past to warde Wynchester, þat fayre cyte, and come to Wyltone at þe last, and a newe fayre churche þere sawe he. Bot when he was þere upone þe doune, þat churche was lusty in his syht. He thouht he wold go doun to toune and soiorne þere, he thouht, all nyht. Wyth hym he toke a prevey mayneye, And toward þat churche full sone he went, for to se þat feyre abbey, and offerre þere in gode entent. Bot to þat churche when he come was, up to þe auter he went anon an heyhe, For þer was made a ryal place, In ye worshepe of owre ladyhe. Religiose wymmen þo dweltone þere, Sacryd maydenys and sustren yfere, and hong maydenys of boke to lere. Þay welcomeden þe kyng wyth ryht gret chere. Bot þe kyng coveted þo of hem anone to see hure fayre place wyth Inne and in to here cloystere wyth hem to gone. Mekelyche þe maydenys grauntede hym þonne. And in to here cloystere þey hym brouht, and after in to þe fraytre þo come he. Þus maydenys mekelyche þo hym be souht wyth hem to take þere charite.71 Þe kyng was meke and gentyl, y wys, and grauntede þus maydenys all hure wyll, and to þe meyte now set he is, and meyte and drynk was brouht ht hym tyll.

Left margin: Legenda ste Edithe.

The Wilton Chronicle

The king was living at Shaftesbury then, as the story tells me well, but he decided to go to Winchester to visit the countryside there. He departed on his journey and travelled towards Winchester, that fair city; when he finally arrived at Wilton, he saw a fair new church there. From the hilltop, the church was delightful in his sight. He thought he would go down into the town and stay there all night. With good intentions, he took a small group of close companions with him and went toward the church to see that fair abbey and go to a service there. When he arrived at the church, he went to the high altar where there was a chapel royally adorned for the worship of Our Lady. Religious women lived there, consecrated maidens and sisters together, with young maidens there to learn from books. They welcomed the king most joyfully. The king asked them if he could see the fair inner sanctuary of the church, and if he could go with them into their cloister. The maidens humbly granted his request, and brought him first into their cloister, then into the dining hall. The maidens humbly asked him then to take a meal with them. Meek and gentle, the king granted to the maidens all they asked; he sat down to the dinner, and food and drink were brought to him. (993)

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Bot of hem þat servede hym at þe borde In þe story ys made no mensyone, Ny of non other I speke no worde bot of þe mayden þat red þe lesson. For at ye lectron a mayde satte, Woltrud was þat maydene name,72 a borones douhter for sothe was þat, and a maydene of ryht gode fame. Þat mayden red þat lesson þo, whyle þe kyng was atte mete. Þe kyng toke ryht gode hed þerto, For hure voys was bothe mylde and swete. An angelis voys, hym thouht hit was, and loke up þat myden upone, and for all here veyle,73 ~~ he seyhe here face, a fayrer hym thouht he sawe never none. And so he thouht in his hert þo þat he was a semely thynge, and askede what kynradone he was come fro, and also of here gode governynge. ‘A borones douhter my lord, was he, þat was a knyht of ryht gode fame, and dwelte here in yis countre Syre Godwin74 was þat knyhtis name. Here fader ys dede, here moder also. Þis mayden here wyth us dothe dwell to serve God here as we shull do. Hit is holyche, my lorde, hure wylle. Forsothe, ysacryd he nysnot het …75

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Wulfthryth, mother of St Edith.

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veyle ~~ are corrections on top of an erasure.

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It may be that the poet is eliding Edith’s mother Wulfthryth with the more famous inhabitant of Wilton Abbey, Queen Edith, daughter of Earl Godwine of Wessex. Goscelin states in the Life of Wulfhild (Wulfhild was abbess of Barking and Wulfthryth’s sister) that their father is Wulfhelm, Edgar’s uncle. However, in the prologue to the Vita Edithe, Goscelin refers to Wulfthryth as ‘Godiva’. 75

Fol. 205v ends here. Part of the narrative is missing; it would have contained the narrative of Edgar and Wulfthryth’s courtship, Edith’s birth, and the beginning of Wulfthryth and

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The story makes no mention of those that served him at the table, and I will speak of none of the others, except the one who read the lesson. For a young woman named Wulfthryth sat at the lectern; she was truly a baron’s daughter, and a maiden of very good reputation. She read the lesson while the king was at his dinner. The king took good notice, because her voice was both mild and sweet. He thought it was an angel’s voice; when he looked carefully at that maiden, he saw her face, even through her veil, and he thought he had never seen a woman more fair. Since he thought in his heart that she was a beautiful woman, he asked what family she was from, and also about her character. ‘My lord, she is the daughter of a baron, Sir Godwin, who was a knight of very good reputation when he lived here in this country. Her father is dead, her mother also. This maiden lives with us here and serves God as we do. To do so is wholly her will. But truly, she is not yet consecrated as a nun …’ (1022)

Edith’s residence at Wilton. See the Introduction for further discussion of the likelihood of a missing quire at this point.

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… And beton here love entyerlyche God above and all crystone creaturis for his love bothe more and lesse. Þey tauhtone Woltrud here moder also, þat was evermore þat mayde by, and toke ryht gode hede þerto, and lyff ever full virtuosely. Þis was þe governyl þey token hem to, þe moder and þe douhter yfere. het was þe douhter þe parfitor of hem two, hyff ony of hem parfitor were. Every nyht wyth ouht lesyng, after þat mateynes weron ydo, he chaysteyssede hure body wyth displynyng and wyth mony a nother afflixione mo. And after, when þe day con spryng, þe kyndam of hevene he souht fyrst, wyth meke preyeres to hevene kynge In whyche was all hure tryst. And when he had done all hure servyse þat ouht to be done wyth inne þe churche, as gladsome as þawe he had come ouht of paradys, he come forthe other thyngus to wyrche. And as besy he was in all thyng to serve hure sustren wyth all mekenes as was Martha or Mary in herre servyng to Jhû, Goddus sone, kyng of grace. For he covetede never in no wyse to be worshepud for here heyhe lynage, bot ever to be meke in lowe servyse, for all to mekenes was here currage, and covetede to serve God to plesynge. And to hurre sustren all yfere he dud hem to plese all diligens, as þawe he had take of hem gret hyre. So lovyng and so lowelyche he was, y wys, to every crystone creture, þat he nold never do to hem a mys In worde, ny dede, ny dishonour.

The Wilton Chronicle

… and they bid her to love God above completely, and to love all Christians of all stations because of her love of God. They taught Wulfthryth her mother also, who was always with that young girl to take good care of her, and who lived very virtuously. The mother and daughter thus together placed themselves into this religious governance. Yet the daughter was the more perfect of the two, if either of them could be considered the better. Every night without fail, when Matins were done, she chastised her body with ascetic practices and with many other afflictions as well. Afterwards, when day came, she was the first to seek the kingdom of heaven with meek prayers to heaven’s king, in whom was all her trust. When she had done all her daily devotion that should be done within the church, she came forth to work on other things, as serenely as if she had come out of paradise. She was as diligent in serving her sisters humbly in all things as was Mary or Martha in serving Christ, God’s Son, King of Grace. She never desired in any way to be honoured for her high lineage, but always wished to be humble in her service, in her posture, and in her desire to please and serve God. She worked with diligence to please all her sisters together as if she had actually been hired by them. She was truly so loving and so humble to all Christian people that she wished never to injure or dishonour anyone by word or deed. (1060)

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The Wilton Chronicle

And meyte and drynke he wold hem heve For grace wyth hure was ever ynowe. For þaw he haff meche, ynowe het dud leve, and every mon to hurre for hure godnes drowe. So virtuoselyche hurre lyff he ladde, and so furforthe he was forthe fulte wyth Goddis grace, þat every monn of here joy hadde, and desyred to see here semely face. What for here deservynge and hurre lynage, Duke, Errelle, and eke Barone, wyth all hurre faderes holle barnage, Putten hem self under here subiectione. And all þe reme of Englond, bounde and fre, Sayden þat he was worthy to bene a quene. And quene of Fraunce he myht han be, bot he nolde never consent to bene. Þere nas no crystone kynge, ny emperour, Bysshop, ny legate, ny cardinall, þat þer nadde hure in gret honour, and herre owne sustre þey deden here call. Also þe pope, I understond, þat was pope of Rome þo, to hure send lettre in to Englonde, and his blessyng wyth hem also. Bot of worldelyche worshepe, he toke none hedd, bot to serve God was all here þouht, and þe pore and þe maymot for to clothe and fede, of oþer wordelyche honour haff he ryht nouht. For lever here was þe pore to fede, þe maymot, þe seke, to wasshe and hele, and blynd lazerus and croked in churche to lede, and from þe deyth to save ryht fele, þen to han ben empyres of Rome, and bore þe corone of ony heyhe astate, Or ellus quene of ony kyndome. So meke and humble he was algate, and ever he was full redy, To help ychemon in his nede.

The Wilton Chronicle

She would give food and drink to them, since grace was always with her. Though she gave much away, she always had enough left that any man could come to her for charity. She led such a virtuous life, and was so filled with God’s grace, that every person had joy from her presence, and all desired to see her lovely face. Because of her merits and her lineage, dukes, earls, and barons as well, with all of her father’s nobles, put themselves under her authority. In all the realm of England, both bondsmen and freemen said that she was worthy to be a queen. She could have been Queen of France, but would never consent to it. There was no Christian king, emperor, bishop, legate, or cardinal that did not hold her in great honour and call her his own sister. I understand that the Pope of Rome also sent letters to her in England and his blessing with them. She took no notice of these worldly honours, however, since all her thought was to serve God, to feed and clothe the poor and the maimed; she cared nothing for worldly honours. She preferred to feed the poor, wash the maimed, heal the sick, and lead into church the blind, the lepers, and the crippled, and to save them from death, than to be Empress of Rome and bear the crown of any high state, or to be queen of any kingdom. She was meek and humble altogether, and always ready to help every man in any need. (1098)

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And thevys ydampnyde for felony From þe Galoys he wolde hem lede. To hurre fader, he wolde ofto knele upone here knen doune to þe grounde. And dampnyd men he savede fele, þaw þey weron dampnyd in þat stounde. 1105 For here fader was ryhtwys to forthfulle þe lawe þorw ouht all his reme, y wys, bot he nolde have no mon yslawe, for he was so mercyfull and so pytewys. Bot ever when any mon dude on mys, 1110 he wolde hit amend wyth all hure myht. So graciose and so godelyche he was, y wys, þat hurre wyll was all wrongus to a ryht. Ychemone and woman lovede here full well. And wylde bestes and folys of flyht 1115 to here clepyng wolde come full snell. And at hurr byddyng þei wolde doun lyht, and of hurre hond þey wold meyte take. Bot dowvys, of briddis, he lovede most and greste chere to hem wolde make, 1120 by cause þey ben legenyd to þe holy gost. For ever he bare in hert full styll þe gospell of þe utans of þe towelthe day, how þe holy gost spake Seynt Jon tyll. ‘Þis is my sone’, þe fader dede say. 1125 For in a dowve likenes he come doune when he spake. Jhû, Goddys sone, was yfolwyd ryht þo. ‘Þis is my sone’, þe fader þo sayde, ‘to hym hede take. For he shall brynge monys sowle from wo’. Þis was þe cause þat he lovede coleron so well, 1130 and for þey weron so meke also, also when he hem clepte, þey wolde full snell ouht of þe eyer com flee hurre to. Also wylde bestus obeyden hem so lovelyche to þis mayde, þat þei wolden take meyte at hurre honde v 1135 (fol. 207 ) Mekelyche and hendlyche, as y how sayde, and when hem bedde styll þey wold stonde. 1100

The Wilton Chronicle

She would lead thieves condemned for felonies away from the gallows. She would often kneel before her father, upon her knees down on the ground, and thus saved many condemned men that had been sentenced at that time. Her father was strict in enforcing the law throughout all of his realm, but she did not wish to have any man slain, since she was so merciful and so sympathetic. Whenever any man committed a crime, she would try with all her might to amend it. She was truly so gracious and so virtuous that it was her desire to right all wrongs. Every man and woman loved her very much. Wild beasts and birds that fly would come quickly when she called. They would lie down at her bidding and take food from her hand. Of all the birds, she loved doves the most, and would show great affection to them because they are associated with the Holy Ghost. She always bore very close to her heart the gospel read during the week of Twelfth Night, when the Holy Ghost spoke to St John. The Father said, ‘This is my son’, for he came down in the likeness of a dove when he spoke. Christ, God’s Son, accompanied him then. ‘This is my son’, the Father said, ‘take heed of Him. For he shall bring man’s soul from woe’. This was the reason she loved doves so well — also that they were very meek, and also that when she called them, they would fly quickly out of the air to her. Wild beasts also obeyed her lovingly, so that they would meekly and courteously take food from her hand, as I said to you, and they would stand still when she commanded them. (1136)

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Also for love of Helie þe prophet,76 y wys, Rafenys he wolde kepe and oft hem fede. And for his love had hem in gret cherysshenys. Þus parfite he was in yche gode dede. For when þat holy profet Helys Tesbitem Flow away from Achab, þat was þo kyng, Rafenys bredde and fleyssh þey brouht hym, bothe on heven and in þe moronynge. He was so virtuose and so full of grace and so meche godenesse he had in herre delyte, þat y nave nouther wytte ny space all here godenesse forto wryte. Here voys was full clere in syngyng, and wryte he couthe, and purtrey also. Full parfite he was in selke worchyng, and full well enbroudre, and leyge gold þerto. Tunyculus and chesepulus he made mony one, and mantillus enbroudire wyth gold full redde, and mitrus ycowchud wyth mony a ryall ston. Bot of worldlyche clothus of pryde he ne toke hede. Worldlyche clothus he wolde none worche To fader, ny brother, by no maner wey. Bot in plesaunce of God and holy churche Fast he wolde worche every dey. Harp he couthe and syng well þerto, and carff well ymagus, and peyntede bothe. Suche virtuose werkus he wolde well do full sotelyche wyth owte ony wothe. Of here virtuose worchung, as y sayde ere, ynam not sufficiant to wryte here all. Wherfore, þerof to speke, y chull steynte here, and somwhat how he lyvede how tell y schall. For full parfite he was in herre levynge and gret penaunce upon herre he toke. Bot ever he lovede over all thyng to rede and syng upon here boke.

Helias the Prophet, also known as Elijah the Tishbite; see I Kings 17.

The Wilton Chronicle

She also kept ravens and fed them often, because of her love of Elias the Prophet, and cherished them very much because of his love. So perfect was she in each good deed. For when that holy prophet Elias the Tishbite fled from King Achab, ravens brought him meat and bread in the mornings and evenings. She was so virtuous, so full of grace, and had so much pleasure in her goodness, that I have neither the wit not the space to write about all her goodness here. Her singing voice was very clear, and she could write, and also compose poetry. She was very skilled in silkworking; she could embroider very well, and couch gold onto her needlework. She made many vestments for the church, chasubles and mantles embroidered with pure gold, and miters inlaid with many royal gems. But she did not value worldly clothes; she would never work on secular clothing, even for her father or her brother. Every day, she wished only to do needlework for the honour of God and Holy Church. She could play the harp, sing her own accompaniment, carve beautiful images, and paint as well. Truly, she did these virtuous works so pleasingly and so well that I am not competent to describe them all here (as I said before). Therefore, I shall now stop speaking about these accomplishments and tell you something about how she lived. She was very pure in her living and took great penance upon herself. She loved over all things to read and sing upon her book. (1172)

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And ofto he fast and lytull he ete, and het every nyht he wolde up ryse. r 1175 (fol. 208 ) He faylede never, bot hyff he were seke, Ony nyht from hurre servyse. A bedde he hadde, ryht well ydyht, wyth ryche clothus of ryht gode aray, bot seldon he lay þere in ony nyht, 1180 bot on an harde borde well ofter he lay. He went yclothud full honestly In ryall clothyng to yche mones syht, Bot on an harde hayre full securlye was next here fleysshe both day and nyht. 1185 Þis hard hayre he wered hurre body nexst, under a curtull of purpur byse, Enbroudrid wyth gold, as saythe þe text, wyth other clothus above þat were of grette pryse. Full honestlyche ever he went ycladde 1190 In blake clothyng, hurre ordur leyke. Bot in gret mekenesse hurre lyff he ladde in lowe servyse to every mon bothe hole and seke. Bot Seynt Adelwold,77 þat holy monn, Spake to þat mayde upon a day, 1195 and sayde þat he herde never of non þat went to Paradys one þat aray. ‘Ny þy hevenelyche spouse, douhter’, qd he, ‘delytede hym never het in suche clothynge, bot in lowenesse, in mekenesse, and in charite, 1200 and not in ryalte of clothus weryng’. Þat mayde mekelyche onswered hym þo, and sayde, ‘Holy fader, under suche clothus of honeste, hyf hit were plesyng to hou to take hede þerto, mowe ben virtwys werkus gret pleynte.

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Æthelwold, bishop of Winchester (963–84); the source is Goscelin, Legenda Edithae; Vita, chapter 12 (this and all subsequent references are to the edition published as ‘La Legende’, ed. by Wilmart).

The Wilton Chronicle

She fasted often and ate very little; yet she still woke up every night to pray. She never failed any night in her devotion, unless she was sick. She had a beautifully adorned bed with richly decorated bed-clothes, but she seldom lay there on any night, lying more often on a hard board instead. She dressed herself most nobly in royal clothing in full view of every man, but secretly wore a rough hair shirt next to her flesh both day and night. She wore this rough hair shirt next to her body under a gown of purple silk embroidered with gold, as the text says, with other very costly clothes on top of that. Very nobly she always went about clad in black clothing according to her order’s custom. She led her life in great meekness, in humble service to every man, both healthy and sick. St Æthelwold, that holy man, spoke to that maid one day, and said that he had never heard of anyone who went to paradise when dressed in the way that she dressed. He said, ‘Daughter, your heavenly spouse is never delighted by such clothing; he delights in humility, in meekness, and in charity, and not in the wearing of royal clothing’. That maid meekly answered him then, and said, ‘Holy father, if it were pleasing for you to notice, under such clothes of honesty there can be great amounts of virtuous work. (1204)

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Fader, wher þe holy gost wolnot as gladlyche wone under a mantyl yfurned wyth bever ryht welle, and wyth as gode wylle take þere his habitacyon, as under a mantyl yfurned wyth a row gotus fell? Jhû, holy Fader, þat us dere bouht, 1210 Take not only hede to monnys clothynge, bot also to bothe his hert and þouht, and also to his gode worchynge. Y chave, my lord, God in my þouht as redy, and þenk upon his gret passioun both nyht and day, 1215 (fol. 208v) And wyth as gode wyll y cholde hym servy, as þaw y were arayed in ryht pore aray’. When þis holy mayde had þus ysayde, and mekelyche to hym þis tale ytolde, þis holy bysshop hold hym ryht well apayde, 1220 and þonkede þerfore God mony a folde, and lette þe grace of God wyth inne here worche, after his owne graciose will, knowyng þat he loved bettre God and holy chirche þen ony wordelyche ryche appayreylle. 1225 And lever he had, as þey trowedone ychone, to sytte upon a matte of þe angoras, þat for Seynt Paules love was yclosud in stone, þen to have ben duchasse, quene, or Emperas. A, Jhû, what is mekenesse and lowenesse worthy 1230 to every mon and woman þat levys here, Seythe allmyghty God in hevene an heyhe hath had hit ever in so gret chere? Of all þe virtwys þat ever mon wrouht, mekenes is best and most worthy. 1235 Wyth mekenes God monnys sowle hath bouht. By cause of mekenes, he was ybore of owre lady. Þart nys non virtwe þat God lovythe more þen mekenes, whoso wolle take hede. By cause of pryde, monys sowle was lore 1240 tyll Goddus sone was for us dede.

The Wilton Chronicle

Father, will not the Holy Ghost live as gladly under a mantle trimmed with beaver pelt, and will not the Holy Ghost take up his dwelling there as under a mantle trimmed with rough goatskin? Holy Father, Christ our redeemer takes notice not only of a person’s clothing but also of the heart and thought and good works. My lord, I already have God in my thoughts, and I think about his great passion both night and day; and I would serve him with just as good a will if I were attired in the clothes of poverty’. When the holy maid had spoken thus, and humbly told this tale to him, the holy bishop held himself very well answered and thanked God many times. He let the Grace of God work within her according to His own gracious will, knowing that she loved God and holy church better than any worldly rich apparel. Each of them trusted that she would prefer to sit upon the mat of the anchoress, enclosed in stone for the love of St Paul, than to have been a duchess, queen, or empress. Ah, Christ, meekness and humility are worthy virtues for every man and woman who lives here, since Almighty God in heaven on high values it always so greatly. Meekness is the best and most worthy of all the virtues that a person can practise. God has redeemed man’s soul with meekness. Because of meekness, he was borne of Our Lady. There is no virtue that God loves more than meekness, as anyone who wishes can observe. Because of pride, man’s soul was lost until God’s son died for us. (1240)

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Wherfore we shuld love hit most and lest, Seythe hit is cause of all honeste, and þat God of all virtwys lovythe hit best. By þis ensampull he mowe wel ysee, 1245 þat he preysede his owne moder over all thynge, as we redon in þe psalme of magnificat, For hurre mekenes and lowe berynge. And for þat, ever lastyng worshepe he hath, and bare þe sone of God most of myht. 1250 Mekenesse was þe first cause þerof, y wys, þat he is made quene of hevene so bryht, and dwellud þere wyth her sone in blys. So falle hit by þis mayden Seynt Ede, þat mekenes and lowenes dud hurre so encresse, r 1255 (fol. 209 ) þat in hurre lyff, as we done rede, gret miracles he dud þoro Goddys grace. Of þe whyche, on ychull how now tell,78 þe sothe as y fynd in story ywryte, þe cas every dele ryht as his fell 1260 to how þat lustenyth hit to wete. A mayde he hadde in a tyme in here servyse þat kepte hurre clothus, here chambur also, þe whiche had brouht þat abbay into gret deseysse, Nad God hym self take hede þat tyme þerto. 1265 For in a nyht, hit fell þat tyme by casse, þat þe cerge, þat stode bryngnyng þat auter by, þis mayde toke hit þo from þat place and blewe owte þe leyht anone sodanly. Bot þe weke hulte styll þe snytte. 1270 Þis mayde heyhede full fast þo a way, and sodenlyche in to þat wyche hit putte, wherenne Seynt Edys clothys þo lay. Þo snotte fast brende, þe clothys cauht hete, and by gonne to brenne ful fast.

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The Wilton Chronicle

Therefore we, greatest and most humble, should love meekness, since it is the cause of all honesty and since God loves it best of all the virtues. You can see that very well by this example: he praised his mother for her meekness and humble bearing above all things, as we read in the psalm of the Magnificat. For that, she has everlasting honour, and she bore the son of Almighty God. Truly, meekness is the primary cause that she was made Queen of Heaven so bright, and dwells there with her son in bliss. It thus happened that St Edith increased her meekness and humility so much that she did great miracles in her life through God’s grace, as we have read. I will tell you one of those miracles now, the truth of it as I find it written in history; I will tell that story, every detail just as it happened, to you who desires to know it. One time, St Edith had a maid in her service who kept her clothes and her chamber. That maidservant would have brought the abbey into great distress, had God himself not taken notice that time. That night, as it happened, this maidservant took the candle that stood burning by the altar and suddenly blew out its light. The wick still held the spark, however, when the maidservant went away. Suddenly, the spark fell into the basket where St Edith’s clothes were stored. The wick burned quickly; the clothes caught the heat and began to burn very quickly. (1274)

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Þis mayde layde herre doune to slepe, bot sone after he rosse up sore agast. For when he begon to slombre and slepe, þe flavour of þat feyre he tastede sone. And up he starte and begon to crye and wepe. Þe ladyes werone a slepe þo everychone. Þe feyre abouht þe auter gon brenne all þe clothus full sone a way. Þis mayde to þe wyche dud fast renne, þere as Seynt Edys clothus þo lay. Þe ladyes a wokon and reson up fast. Þe feyre woxe ever more and more. Þe ladyes werone all full sore agast For drede leste þey weron for lore. Þey besedone hem fast þis feyre to quenche, Every lady wyth all hurre myht. Bot ever to God cryede þat wenche To stanche þat feyre þat was so leyht. Þat wyche nasnot brende never a dell, bot þe feyre brende fast all a bouhte. Seynt Ede hurre self he stod full styll, and of Goddes help he nad no douhte, Sayeng wyth þe prophet on þis manere, ‘Bot hyff God hym self kepe þe cyte well, Cyte and keperus and all yfere To nouht shall fall every dell’, and sayde, ‘Lord God, hyff hit be þi wyll, Stawnche þis feyre, Lord Jhû, y prey nowe þe, at þyn owne lust, for þat is skyll, þat all thyng ever ydo be’. Þo feyre stanchede þo after anone þorow þe grace of Goddus myht, and more harme hit nath not done, bot stanchede anone þo and left his lyht. Þis holy mayde stode and byhulte how hurre clothus lye undur hurre fote among þe gledys all byswulte, bot he set not by þat leste a mote.

The Wilton Chronicle

The ladies awoke and jumped up quickly as the fire grew more and more fierce. The ladies were very much frightened; they feared that their abbey was lost. They busied themselves trying to quench the fire, every lady with all her might. That maidservant cried continuously to God to staunch the blazing fire. The basket was not burned at all, even though the fire burned fiercely all around. St Edith herself stood very still; she had no doubt of God’s help, saying with the prophet in this manner, ‘If God himself keeps the city well, the city and its keeper and all together, then it shall not fall’. She said, ‘Lord God, if it is your will, extinguish this fire. Lord Christ, I pray to you now, by your own desire. All things ever done are done for this reason’. The fire stopped just after that through the grace of God’s might, and did no more harm, but was staunched, leaving only some light. This holy maid stood and saw how her clothes lay under her feet, ruined among the embers, but she cared nothing for that loss. (1312)

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Bot onlyche on God was all hurre truste, and on his godenesse he þouht well more þen in all þe toþer worldelyche burste, or in ony oþer gode þat was þere lore. Bot hurre mayde come forthe þo sore wepynge When he saw þat clothyng in suche aray Among þe feyre so leygynge þe mantyl þat was furnyd wyth puryd gray. Bot to þat mantyl sone he rauht, þat was well furnyd, as y sayde ere, and wyth here hond up hit cauht, bot sone after þat he chanchede here chere. For when he hadde lokede þis mantyll upone, and shakede of þe gledys all by dene, and sawe well þat harme hit hadde þo none, For God had hym kepte allone, he sayde þo, ‘Low, here is a wonder thynge, lo, wheche a marfaylle God hathe here wrouht. Y thonk now heyly God, hevene kynge. Of howre gode, ma dame, is brenne ryht nouht, bot clene ykepte, lo, hit is now here þoro Goddus grace and his heyhe myht. Y blessud be he, my lady so dure, for for how þis miracle is do here þis nyht’. Þe ladyes comen renynge þo on yche a syde to se þe miracle þat þere was ydo. Þe furnyd mantyll þe mayde forth þo leyde, and all þe toþer clothus wyth hit also. And all þe pepull þat sey þat syht, anon þey fell doune to þe grounde , and þongedone heylyche God of myht and also Seynt Ede in þat stounde, and sayden, ‘Lo, lo, mayden full of grace, Whyche a miracle God hath ydon here for þe, Ryht now here in þis same place þat all þe peple mow well ysee’.

The Wilton Chronicle

All her trust was only in God, and she thought more about his goodness than about any worldly misfortune, or about any goods that had been lost there. The maidservant came forth weeping very much when she saw that clothing in such disarray, lying in the burned areas, especially the mantle trimmed with gray fur. Soon, however, she stretched out that mantle that was well trimmed, as I said before, and caught it up in her hand; her expression completely changed. For when she had looked at this mantle, and shaken the embers from it, she saw clearly that it had not been harmed, for God had kept it intact. She said then, ‘Lo, here is a wondrous thing, lo, what a marvel God has wrought here. I thank God, heaven’s king, very much now, because your clothes, my Lady, are simply not burned, but kept clean, here now through God’s grace and his high might. You are blessed, my Lady so noble, for this miracle is done here this night for you’. The ladies came running in from every side to see the miracle that was done there. The maidservant laid out the trimmed mantle, and all the other clothes with it. All the people that saw that display fell down to the ground right away, and fervently thanked God for his might; they also thanked St Edith at that time, and said, ‘Lo, lo, maiden full of grace, what a miracle God has done for you here, right here in this same house so that all the people can see it well’. (1348)

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Seynt Ede stode styll and sayde ryht nouht, bot þongede God onlyche of his grace, and dred þus laudable wordus more in hur þouht þen all þe feyre þat þer by fore was. Bot þis whyche þat nyhe was þere bronde, in witnesse of þe gret miracle þat þere was do, 1355 a lowe in to þe bouke of þe79 chirche was send, þat every mon myht ryht well see þat God hym self had done þat myracle dede, for love of þat mayde þat was so fre, and so parfite in yche gode dede. 1360 Þis miracle was do þus, as ychave sayde, and more marfeyllogur þen y tell con, by cause of Seynt Ede, þat holy mayde, þe whiche God lovede and every monn. And het for þis mayden and for here moder yfere,80 1365 Sone after þis, a noþer miracle God dud het worche. Ryht as hit was ydon ychull how lere and how hit by fell ryht in þis chirche. At Triver,81 by hond þe gret flodde þat ys yclepud þe water of Ryne, 1370 (fol. 210v) was made an abbay ryche and gode In þe worshepe of Seynt Paulyne. And Dan Benne was chanoun of þat abbay, þat techer of þis mayde was, as yche understonde. And þere was a relyke ryche and gay 1375 þat was ybrouht from þe holy londe. A particul of a naylle, forsothe hit was, þis relyke þat y spake of byfore, wyth þe whyche Jhû was ynaylled to ye crasse, to save monkynd þat was forlore. 1350

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MS: þe þe — this doubling is probably the result of an eye skip and a missed line, as the rhyme scheme falters here. 80

Right margin: miraculum; the source is Goscelin, Legenda Edithae; Vita, chapter 14.

81

Trier, beyond the Rhine.

The Wilton Chronicle

St Edith stood still and just said nothing, but fervently thanked only God for his grace. In her mind, she dreaded those words of praise more than all the fire that was there before. In witness of the great miracle that was done there, the basket, which was not burned, was sent into the nave of the church so that every man could see that God himself had done that miraculous deed for love of that maiden so noble and so virtuous in each good deed. This miracle happened, as I have said, and more marvellously than I can even know, because of St Edith, that holy maid, whom God and every man loved. God worked yet another miracle soon after this for this maiden and her mother together. I shall teach you just how it was done and how it happened right here in this church. At Trier, beyond the great Rhine river, there was a rich and good abbey made for the honour of St Paul. Brother Benno, who was St Edith’s teacher, was a canon in that abbey, as I understand. Truly, at that abbey there was a rich and gleaming relic brought from the holy land, a particle of a nail with which Christ was nailed to the cross to redeem mankind that had been lost. (1379)

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And Woltrud and hurre douhter yfere desireden heylyche bothe day and nyht to have som part of þat preciose tresere, hit forto honour wyth all her myht. And to Dan Benne full ofto con þey speke to go to þe abbot and to þe covent, to byche hem somme particull of þat releke. And two þowsonde shyllyngus by hym þey sent, to byche hem somme þerof, hyf þat he myht. And so he dude and sped ryht well. A litull particull sone after he hem dyht, and closede hit wyth in a cresce cristell. And to Wyltone anone he hit brouht. He brouht þat ryche relyke in to þat place, þat was muche derre ybouht, þen þe Juys bouht God of Judas. Bot when Seynt Adelwolde herd of þis, þat þis releke was þedur ybrouht, to Wylton anon þo come he, y wys, and wyth myelde wordus þat ladyes bysouht þerof to hym somme part to heve, hyff hit were here gode wyll. Þus ladyes weron lothe hym to greve, and all his askyng þey grauntede hym tyll. Þis releke was sone ybrouht forthe þo, and upone þe auter hit was yleyde. And a chalys was brouht þedur anone also, þe whyche was made of golde so rede, And a file to file þis nayle a two. Þat nayle a prest toke þo in honde, aheynes evon when hevesong was do, þey dedon þis werke, y understonde. Þis prest bygun and filede ryht fast, Tyll he some part awey þerof hadde.

The Wilton Chronicle

Wulfthryth and her daughter together fervently desired, day and night, to have some part of that precious treasure so they could honour it as much as possible. They often spoke to Brother Benno, asking him to go to the abbot of that house to by some particle of that relic for them. They sent two thousand shillings with him, in case he were able to buy some of it. So he did; he travelled swiftly. Soon after, he obtained for them a little particle of the relic, encased in a cross-shaped crystal. He brought it to Wilton right away, that rich relic that was so dearly bought when the Jews bought God from Judas. When St Æthelwold heard the news that this relic had been brought there, he came to Wilton right away and with gentle words he asked the ladies to give him a part of that relic, if it were their good will.The ladies did not wish to grieve him, and they granted him all that he asked. The relic was then brought forth and laid upon the altar. A chalice was brought there also, which was made of very pure gold, and they brought a file to file this nail into two pieces. I understand that they did this work just at evening, during evensong; a priest took that nail in his hand, and began to file very fast until he had filed a part away. (1413)

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Bot þey byholden and seyen þo at þe last how fast and herne þat nayle bledde, and leke as God was on þe cresse, þey syen as þaw his wondys dud blede, Into þe chaleys wyth ouht lesse, Tyll hit was full of blode full rede. 1420 Bot when þey seyn þis merfeyle syht, and seyhe verylyche þat hit was so, þey cryede God mercy all þat nyht, and meraclelyche God toke hede þerto. And when þe prest seyhe þe nayle blede so, 1425 he ron awey þo anone, so sore he was agast. And þe bysshappe and þuse ladyes were sore a ferd also, and toward hurre chamburs þey went full fast, and weron in soro and penaunce all þat nyht, and preydone mekelyche to God and Seynt Ede82 1430 þat þey wolden, þoro here grace and here myht, Fore heve hem þat gret mysdede. In þe mortyde þo, whanne hit was day, to þat auter þey heyhedone full fast. Bot þat nayle all hole in þe chalys þo lay. 1435 Þat blode was clene to hevene up past. And all þe mynyssionys of þat nayle, þat weron fyled of þat nayle wyth þe file, weron soudryd fast ahayne wyth ouht ony fayle Sadelyche ynowe wyth ouht ony gyle. 1440 And þe nayle was as hole as hit was here, and þe blode was clene ypast a way also. Þey þongedone God heyhelyche þo all yfere For þat myracle þat was þus þer ydo. Bot þat nayle was half yfylyd a two 1445 (fol. 211v) Over evon or þey sye first þat syeht. Bot othermorwyn hit was all hole to gedur ygo,83 þoro Goddus grace and þorow his myht.

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The Wilton Chronicle

But then they saw, as he finished, that the nail bled quickly and strongly, just like God was on the cross. They saw it as though his wounds did bleed into the chalice until it was full of red blood. When they saw this miraculous sight, and realized that it was truly happening, they cried to God for mercy all that night, and miraculously God heeded their prayers. When the priest saw the nail bleed in that way, he was so very frightened that he ran away. The bishop and the ladies were very afraid also, and they went quickly toward their chambers, where they prayed meekly to God and St Edith in sorrow and penance all the night, asking that they forgive their great misdeed through their grace and power. The next morning, when it was light, they went quickly to the altar. There the nail lay all whole in the chalice. That blood had passed completely up to heaven. All the little parts of the nail that had been filed off with the file were mended together without any flaws, firmly enough without any deceit. The nail was as whole as it had been before, and the blood was cleanly passed away also. They thanked God fervently all together for that miracle done there. They had all seen in the evening that nail that was half-filed into two, but by morning it was gone back wholly together through God’s grace and through his power. (1447)

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For þere was no thyng senene, y wys, of þe trace þat þe prest had wyth þe fyle ymade. 1450 Bot all hole to gedur yclosed aheyne hit is. Bot þo weron þuse ladyes in hert full glad þat þis nayle was þus all hole ahayn, as þaw þe file had nothynge ydo þerto. No wonder hit nas þaw þey weron fayne, 1455 þat God wolde for hem suche miracles do. Þen was þe bysshop full sore a dred, lest he hadde displesid God wyth þis dede. And mekelyche for hevenesse of hym he bedde, and also of Seynt Woltrud and of Seynt Ede, 1460 and sayde, ‘Deytron, ycham full hevy, bothe in hert and eke in mode, þat y nam not so worthy to have ony part of þis releke so gowde’. And sayde þouht he dud in his hert anone þo, 1465 þat Woltrud and mayden Ede, herre douhter so fre, meche more skylle hadden þen he, þis releke to, and better weron by loved wyth Gode þen was he, and þouht how þey hadden payde þerfore, and how gret tryst and love þey hadden þere inne. 1470 Wherfore he desyrd þerof for drede nomore, bot dred lest his desyre were to hym gret synne, and knowe well þat þus holy wymenes wyll nas not þerto, þat he ony thyng of þat preciose releke shull have, hyf þey hadde wyst ony oþer wyse to do, 1475 and herre worshepe and his love to save. And anone þo, he let þis miracle þere wryte, In memory to have hit for ever more, to have God þe more in mynd and þe feynde in despyte, and blessede þe tyme þat ever þuse wymmen weron bore, 1480 And toke his leve and past his wey toward Wynchestre, þat fayre cyte, and thongede God herne bothe nyht and day for þis miracle þat was don þere for þus ladyes fre, and knewe well in his hert þo, y wys, 1485 (fol. 212r) þat God loved þus lady ryht entierly, when he wolde kepe þis releke to hem þys, and for hem do þat miracle so openly.

The Wilton Chronicle

Truly, there was no trace to be seen of the marks that the priest had made with the file. It was all wholly together closed again. Then those ladies were very glad in their hearts that this nail was thus whole again, as though the file had done nothing to it. It was no wonder that they were delighted that God would do such miracles for them. Then the bishop was full of dread, since he may have displeased God with this deed. He meekly asked forgiveness from him, and also from St Wulfthryth and St Edith, and said, ‘Daughters, I am very heavy in both heart and spirit, that I am not worthy to have any part of this great relic’. He thought then in his heart that Wulfthryth and the maiden Edith, her noble daughter, had much more appropriate purpose than he for this relic, and were better loved by God than he was; he thought how they had paid for the relic, and about how much great trust and love they had for it. Therefore, he no longer desired a piece of it, but feared that his desire had been a great sin. He knew well that the will of these holy women was that he should not have any part of that precious relic, unless they had known any other way to do so to preserve his love and their honour. Right then, he ordered this miracle to be recorded, to have it in memory ever after and to have God always in mind and the devil in despite. He blessed the time that these women were born, took his leave, and travelled toward Winchester, that fair city; he thanked God earnestly night and day for this miracle that was done there for these noble ladies. Truly, he knew well in his heart that God loved this lady completely, since He wished to keep this relic just for them, and since he would do that miracle so openly. (1487)

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Þis miracle was at þis tyme þus ydo.84 bot þat nayle was half yfylyd a two Byfore þis holy bysshop Seynt Adelwold. God dede hit for love of þus ladyes two and mony won mo, whose woll by hold. Of þe whyche, an other het y chull how tell,85 as y in story ywritone have seyhe, þe very trewthe, ryht as hit by fell in Wyltone in Seynt Ede abbey. Ever hee used, where ever hee went, in yche werk þat hee wrouht, erlyche or late, to blesse hit and here self in Gode entent, þe feyndis power so forto þere wyth abate. Bot upon a day hit byfell ryht thys, þat þis holy mayde and virgyne Seynt Ede had ydon meyte in a dysshe, Pore men þer wyth þere to fede. And forth wyth þat meyte he went full tyde to seche a pore creture. Bot a hong chyld mon come renne a syde, and to þis holy mayde he dude honure, and askede of þat meyte somme part, Ryht as þawe he had hadde gret nede. And anone þis mayde lokede hym towarde, and somme of þis meyte he dud hym bude. Bot first he blessed hit wyth hurre honde, as ever hit was herre use to do. Þis hong chylde þo, þat by hurre dud stonde, anone vanysshede away and was ago, So þat þere nasse now þer child ny monn to take þat meyte of þat mayde.

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Right margin: miraculum; the source is Goscelin, Legenda Edithae; Vita, chapter 15.

The Wilton Chronicle

This miracle was thus done at this time, that the nail was half-way filed in two in front of the holy bishop St Æthelwold. God did it for love of these two ladies; he did many others as well, as those who wish may see. Of those, I shall tell you another, as I have seen written in the history, the very truth, just as it happened at Wilton in St Edith’s abbey. Wherever she went, she always used to bless herself and any work she did, early or late, with good intent to hold off the power of the devil. One day, it befell that this holy maiden and virgin St Edith had prepared some food in a dish, with which she planned to feed the poor. She went out with that food to seek a poor man. Then, a young boy came running to her side, and he honoured this holy maid, and asked her for some of that food as if he had great need. Just then, this maid looked toward him and offered him some of the food. First, however, she blessed it with her hand, as it was usual for her to do. The child that was standing right next to her suddenly vanished and was gone, so that there was no child or any person to take the food from her. (1518)

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Bot he stode all assmayhede as styll as stone, and in hurre hert he þouht and sayde þat hit nas non urthelyche monn, þat þis meyte of hurre wolde have take, Bot a wykkede spirite, or an Angell þe tonn, þat þouht to here some cause to make. Bot þen he stode styll þus in a þouht, and was all assmayed of þis case, where hit were þus by God ywrouht, or how or in what moner hit do was. Bot anon he comforde hurre selfen þereþo by þe ensampull of Seynt Gregory,86 how an angell come hym to, and askede of hym some gode full petwysly. Bot what maner of angell þat hit was, þat come þo þedur þat meyte to crave, þe gret trust þat he hadde in God and in þe cresse From all dysesse, þat mayde dude save. For opynlyche in story fynd y not writone þat hit a evel Spirite was, bot every mon may well knowe and wyte what he was by cause þat he shynte and dred þe cresse. For and he had ben a gode Angell, he nolde not for þe crosse han flowe, bot rather han stonde by hurre full styll and to þe crosse han lowtud full lowe. Wherfore y dar wryte and baldelyche say, þat hit a wykede spirite þo was, þat come þedur to a tempte þat may, hef he hade hadde tyme or space. Bot what maner spirite þat hit were, and what þat ever he purposed hym to done, and by what cause he asked þat almys þere, whethen he come, and hodere he went, knewe no monn.

Pope Gregory the Great (d. 604).

The Wilton Chronicle

She stood, dismayed and still as stone, and in her heart she thought and said that it was no earthly man that would have taken this food from her, but a wicked spirit, or one of the angels who thought to have an interest in her. She stood still, thus in thought, and was confused about the situation, whether it was made by God, or in what manner it had happened. But she comforted herself then with the example of St Gregory, whom an angel had visited and asked very pitiably for some favours. The great trust that she had in God and in the cross did save that maid from all misfortune, no matter what type of angel it was that came there to ask for that food. I do not find it written openly in the history that it was an evil spirit, but every man may well know what it was — because it shunned and feared the sign of the cross. If it had been a good angel, he would not have fled from the cross, but rather would have stood by St Edith very still and bowed low before the cross. Therefore, I dare to write and say straight out that it was a wicked spirit that came there to tempt that maid, if he had had time or space. But no man knew what kind of spirit it was, what he intended to do, for what cause he asked for those alms there, where he came from, or where he went. (1552)

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het þis we mow wyton and know seurly, þat God, knower of all maner thynge, 1555 wolde take þat almys full worthely þat for his love þat holy mayde dude þedur brynge, and þonk here heylyche for hurre gode wyll, þat he wolde þat almys for his love þedur brynge or sende So prively, so mekely, and so styll, 1560 For his love þat all thyng has lende. And so full gretlyche yþongede he was, and wel by lovede of God and of all hurre lynage, For in all Englande þat day þer nasse a wysor wommon þen he of hure age, 1565 (fol. 213r) Ny vertuoser in levyng, y dar well say, þen was þis holy mayde Seynt Ede. And het hurre godenes encressede every day, So þat þe bysshoppus of þe reme toke hem to rede, By consell of Seynt Adelwolde and Seynt Dunstone, 1570 To encresse hurre in hurre degre In governyng of mo abbeus þen on.87 For he was so wyse, gentyll, and so fre, and also þe kyng hurr fader knew þat full well, þat hurre was lever to here maytoynesse and masse, 1575 and upon hure boke to rede and spell, nen to be duchas, quene, or cowntasse. Wherfore þe kyng here fader graunded also þerto, To sacre hurre abbas of þe abbay of Wynchestre, of Berking, and of Wyltone also, 1580 and het hure age nas þo bot fyftene wyntre. Þat mayde onswered þo full mekely To þe kyng, hure fader so dere, and sayde, ‘Syrre, y nam not worthy Forto bere so gret a cure’.

87

Source is Goscelin, Legenda Edithae; Vita, chapter 16.

The Wilton Chronicle

We can understand this, and know surely, that God, who knows all manner of things, would have taken that charity, which that holy maid brought there for his love. God would have thanked her fervently for her good will, which inspired her to bring or send alms for his love, so excellently, so meekly, and so quietly, for his love that has bestowed all things. She was so greatly appreciated, and so well loved by God and all her lineage, that there was no wiser woman in all of England of her age, nor more virtuous in living, I dare say, than was this holy maiden St Edith. Yet her goodness still grew every day, so that the bishops of the realm took council, with the advice of St Æthelwold and St Dunstan, to promote her in the governing of more than one abbey. She was wise, gentle, and noble, and also her father the king knew very well that she preferred to hear matins and the mass, and to read and think about her books, than to be a duchess, queen, or countess. Therefore, the king her father granted that she could be consecrated abbess of the abbeys of Winchester, Barking, and Wilton, even though she was not yet fifteen years old. The maid answered very meekly to the king, her dear father, and said, ‘Sire, I am not worthy to hold such an important position’. (1584)

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Bot þe bysshopus nolde turne non other weys, bot saydone þat he shulde for any thyng ben abbas of þuse þre abbays, and have þe covent in hurre governyng þe abbey of Wynchestre þo securly. Seynt Adelwolde hym self repared þat here in þe worshepe of owre lady and made Seynt Ede furst abbas þere. And þerfore þat mayde, curteys and hende, Durst not aheyn stonde hurre godfadris hest, bot grauntede hym þo at þe hende, and sayde, ‘Syrre, dothe by me as howe thyngyþ best’. Seynt Adelwolde sacrede hurre þo anone Of Seynt Mary abbay of Wynchestre in to abbas, of Berkyng also, and eke of Wyltone. For of þuse þre abbeys abbas he was, þis heyhe state he toke mekelyche aheyn hurre wyll. And of þuse þre abbeys abbas ymade he ys, Bot ever he dwelte at Wylton styll. He nolde not from hurre moder depart, y wys. For lever he hadde to abyde ryht þere, undur hurre moder chasteyssynge, þen ony state gretter howher ellys to here, of cheffenesse or of hyhe governyng. Bot two sprytwall ladyus he ordeynede þo to ocupy þat worshipfull state in hurre absens, and kepe þe coventes of þuse abbays two, and of gode levyng hee haff hem gret evidens. Bot he hurre self dwelte at Wyltone styll wyth hurre moder, as y sayde howe ere, For hurre moder to serve was holyche hurr wyll, well lever þen ony other gret state to bere, and also for he was norysshut up in þat place, and furste yordryd he was þere þerto. And mony miracles þorow Goddus grace For hurre werone done þere also, wherfore hurre wyll was most þere forto abyde.

The Wilton Chronicle

But the bishops would not change their minds, and said that she should be abbess of those three abbeys, and have the convent (the abbey of Winchester) fully in her governing. St Æthelwold himself travelled there that year for the worship of our lady, and made St Edith the first abbess there. Therefore that maid, courteous and polite, did not dare to stand against her godfather’s request, but granted it to him in the end, and said, ‘Sir, do with me as you think best’. St Æthelwold consecrated her right then as the abbess of St Mary’s Abbey in Winchester, and of Barking also, and also of Wilton. Although she was abbess of these three abbeys, she took this high state meekly, against her will. Even though she was made abbess of those three abbeys, she lived ever at Wilton. Truly, she did not wish to leave her mother. She preferred to live right there under her mother’s training than to be anywhere else in a greater state of authority or high governing. She then ordained two spiritual ladies to occupy those noble positions in her absence, and to keep the governance of those two other abbeys. She gave them great example of good living. She herself lived still at Wilton with her mother, as I said to you before, for to serve her mother was completely her desire, rather than to sustain any other great state. Also, she had been brought up in that house, and was first ordained there. Many miracles were done for her through God’s grace there, where she wished most to stay. (1621)

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Bot þe coventus were governed ryht well all þre, For oþerwhile he wolde to hem ryde and all þe governell of hem he wold over se. 1625 Bot wyth inne sherte tyme after þys, Kynge Edgar, hurre fadur so dure, wyth inne þe here and half, y wys, he was ded and leyde on bere, when he hadde regnyd here syxstene here 1630 Fullyche complete wyth somewhat more, and sixstene here holde and somewhat more y trowe he were, when he was kyng furst ykore. Bot of his deth, and also his burynge, ychave ywriton howe herebyfore, 1635 and somewhat of his gode governyng, and þat is þe cause þat y wryte here nomore. Bot when þis mayde herde þat her fadur was dede, gret mowrnyng made þat mayde þo, nouht onlyche for hurre self he ne drede, 1640 bot also for mony another mon mo.88 He sorowede not onlyche for here self, y wys, bot also for mony a nother mo, for myche rest, ioy, and blys, þe Reme laste when he was ago. 1645 (fol. 214r) Bot when þe kyng, Edgar, was þus deyde, his sone Edward89 was cronyd kyng by all þe hole remes redde. Ten herre olde was þat semely thyng. A blessed kyng forsothe was he. 1650 He levede not here no whyle, y wys Bot of his deth was gret pyete, as in his story ywrytone hit is.

88 Lines 1640–44 are inserted at the bottom of fol. 213v as a series of non-sequential corrections. 89

Edward the Martyr, King of England (r. 975–78).

The Wilton Chronicle

All three convents were governed very well, for occasionally she would ride to visit them and oversee their governance. Within a short time after this, within a year and a half, her dear father King Edgar died and was laid in state on his bier. He reigned here sixteen complete years, plus some more time; he was sixteen years old, plus a bit more, I trust, when he was first crowned king. I have written for you before of his death, and also his burial, and somewhat about his good governing, so that I do not need to write more of that here. When this maid heard that her father was dead, she made great mourning; she did not feel grief only for herself, but also for many others. She sorrowed not only for herself truly, but also for others, since the realm lost much rest, joy, and bliss when he was gone. When King Edgar was thus dead, his son Edward was crowned king by approval of the whole realm. That noble boy was ten years old; he was truly a blessed king. He did not live here for long, truly, and his death was a great pity, as the history is written. (1652)

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For he regnede not foure here here by sixe wykens, as yche understonde, þat he nas martrid and leyde on bere, In grete myscheffe and gret sorwe to all Englonde. Bot a lytull byfore his deyth, þis mayde Seynt Ede90 upon a tyme hadde gret lust to slepe, and in to hurre orytorie to slepe he hede. Bot a merveylle swene he dude þo mete. Hurre þouht þat hurre ryht hyhe þo ryht þere Fell ouhte of herre heyde þo sodenly. He woke wyth þat, and scrykede for fere, and woke hurre moder and hurre sustren þat lye here by. Hurre moder was sore afferde also, and sayde, ‘Dure God, douhter, what eylluth þe?’ ‘A dredefull swevene, moder, y mette þo, þe whyche, moder, gretlyche grevys me. Me þouht þat my ryht Eyhe fell ouht of my hedde, doun in to þe grounde fast me by. Hit betokenyth þat my brothere shall be dedde Sone after þis tyme now sodenly. For y knowe hit’, he sayde, ‘ryht well, þat hit nyll turne non other warde, bot soden deythe woll come full snell To my brother Kyng Edward’. and ryht so hit by fell afterward sone In what manere y chull hou say þis hong kyng þouht þat he wold gone Into a forest upon a day hym to play and to seyn Etheldrede91 his brother also, þe whyche he loved as his lyff. Bot his stepmoder92 slow hym þo as he dronge þere, wyth hurre knyff.

90

Right margin: soþuum miraclosum; the source is Goscelin, Legenda Edithae; Vita, chapter

91

Æthelred, King of England, known as the ‘Unready’ (r. 978–1016), half-brother to St

18. Edith. 92

Ælfthryth, the mother of Æthelred.

The Wilton Chronicle

He reigned here six weeks less than four years, as I understand, and then was martyred and laid in state on his bier with great misfortune and great sorrow to all England. One time, just a short while before his death, this maiden St Edith had a great desire to sleep, and went into her private chamber to sleep. There, she dreamed a wondrous dream. She thought that her right eye suddenly fell out of her head. She woke because of the dream, and shrieked in fear, and woke her mother and her sisters that were resting nearby. Her mother was very frightened also, and said, ‘Everlasting God, daughter, what ails you?’ ‘I just had a dreadful dream, mother, which greatly grieves me. I thought that my right eye fell out of my head and onto the ground near me. It signifies that my brother will die suddenly, soon after this day. For I know it’, she said, ‘very well that it cannot happen otherwise but that sudden death will come very quickly to my brother King Edward’. Soon afterward, it happened just like this, as I shall tell you. This young king thought that he would go into a forest one day to hunt and also to see his brother Æthelred, whom he loved as much as his own life. But his stepmother murdered him then with her knife as he had a drink. (1684)

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And when Seynt Ede tythynges hadde þat Kyng Edward here brother was þus deyde, myche sorow forsoth he þo made, and byde þat his body to Schaftesbury were leyde in to þe governell of Quene Elvyne, þat was þe moder of Kyng Edgare, þe whyche was het þat tyme alyve and as y trawe he dwelt þo þare. And þus was forthe fulde þe prophecy of þo swevene of þe tweyn appullon þat fellon from þe tre in to þe water in his thenkyng. Ryht so hit was expoundud to hym by his moder Elvyn þe quene, þe furst here of his regnynge. And so was þe swevene of his sustre Seynt Ede of hurre ryht yhe ouht of here hedde fallyng, as he a lytyl byfore myhton rede, was very tokene of his martringe. Bot when Kyng Edwarde was þus deyde, in manere ryht as ychave sayde, þe lordus of þe reme token hem to rede to make hurre quene, þat holy mayde,93 and saydon, ‘Etheldrede ohte not to be kynge, For he was causa of his brotheris deythe, and also for he was so honge a thyng and couhthe nowthre mesure ny methe’. Bot þey ordeyneden a parlement anone ryht þere, to loke who hadde most skyll to ben herre kynge, and duden acord þo all þe reme yfere, þat þis holy mayde shulde have þe reme in governynge. By cause þat Edwarde for Etheldrede was slawe, þey sayden þat he myht not challange þat heritage, ny nomore ryht hadde þerto by ony lawe, non hadde he þat nas not of þat lynage.

Source is Goscelin, Legenda Edithae; Vita, chapter 19.

The Wilton Chronicle

When St Edith had the news that King Edward her brother was dead, she felt much sorrow, and bid that his body should be laid to rest at Shaftesbury under the authority of Queen Elvine, who was the mother of King Edgar and who was still alive at that time; as I understand, she lived there at Shaftesbury. Thus the prophecy of Edgar’s dream was fulfilled, of the two apples that fell from the tree into the water. Just like that, it had been explained to him by his mother the queen Elvine in the first year of his reign. The dream of Edward’s sister St Edith was also fulfilled, the symbol of his martyrdom, when she thought that her right eye fell out of her head — as you can read a little above here. When King Edward was thus dead, in the manner that I have already said, the lords of the realm took council together to make that holy maid into their queen. They said, ‘Æthelred ought not to be king, for he was the cause of his brother’s death, and also he is a young child, and knows neither reason not temperance’. They called a parliament right then to examine who had the most right to be their king. Together, they agreed that this holy maid should govern through all the realm. Because Edward had been slain for the advancement of Æthelred, they said that he could not challenge Edith’s inheritance, and had no more right to the crown by any law, nor had any who was not of the lineage of Edgar. (1716)

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Wherfore þey acordeden all to won entent, of all Englonde to make þis holy mayde quene, and messangeres ben towarde hurre ysent, 1720 (fol. 215r) To Wyltone anon wyth ouhten one wene, to loke what þis mayde wolde say of þis matere ytouchyde byfore. Bot ever continuallyche he sayde nay, and preyhede hem to speke þerof to her nomore. 1725 For he had lever, he sayde, to serve hurre God and ever to kepe herre maydenhode in clannasse, þen ony other rychesse of worldelyche gode, or to ben quene or Emperasse. And when þe messagers seyen herre so stedfast, 1730 þat he nolde for no thynge change here þouht, þey turden hem aheyne at þe last, and suche tythynges to þe lordus þey brouht, and sayden þat hurre hert was as hard as ony stone, and þat þey myht for no thyng change here þouht, 1735 For other encresse of lordshepe kepte he none, bot onlyche to serve God þat all has wrouht. And when þus lordus seyen none other wone bot þat Etheldrede most nede be hurre kyng. For other heyre forsothe nasse none, 1740 Seythe þis holy mayde nolde not ben hurre quene for no thyng. For he nolde none suche charge upone hurre take, bot myche lever he hadde to abyde styll in hurre abbay. And myche more þouht he had a chapell to make, In worhsype of Seynt Denys and of his day,94 1745 þen to bene quene of Englonde and Fraunce yfere, or lady of ony gretter astate, y wys, and sayde þat here kyndam nas not here, bot wyth God hit was in hevene blys.

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St Dennis, third-century Bishop of Paris and martyr; the source is Goscelin, Legenda Edithae; Vita, chapter 20.

The Wilton Chronicle

Therefore, they agreed in one purpose: to make this holy maid the Queen of England. They sent messengers to her, right to Wilton without any doubt, to see what this maiden would say about this matter. However, she continually refused them, and asked them to speak no more of it. She preferred, she said, to serve her God and to keep her virginity in purity forever, rather than to have any wealth of worldly goods or to be queen or empress. When the messengers saw that she was so steadfast, and that nothing would change her mind, they finally returned and brought her message to the lords, saying that her heart was as hard as any stone, and that they could not change her mind in any way since she desired no increase in her worldly status, but wished only to serve God who made all things. When the lords saw that there were no other options, they realized that Æthelred had to be their king. For truly there was no other heir, since this holy maid did not wish at all to be queen. She did not wish to take any such charge upon her but preferred to remain in her abbey. She was much more interested in building a chapel in honour of St Dennis than in being Queen of England and France together, or a lady of any greater estate. She said that her kingdom was not here, but with God in heavenly bliss. (1748)

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And also ever he bare in hurre þouht þe passyon þat God suffrud for us one Gode Fryday, and how dure monkende þere he bouht, and how myche soro was in his moderes hert þat day, and also how lytull his martrus setton by wordelyche gode, and of þe gret sorowe þat þey suffredone for Goddus love here, and how gret love and trust þey haddon in Godde, þat þey nolde never for no peyne change hurre chere. He þouht in hurre hert full oft tymes also, þat he was yspoused to Goddus sone of hevene, and þat he hadde hurre maydenhede a vowyd hym to, and þat he myht never a grette quene bene. Þis was þe cause, as y have oft redde, þat he nolde not quene of Englonde be, bot abyde styll in herre abbay and serve hurre God wyth mekenesse and wyth virginite.95 Bot anone after he let make at Wyltone, y wys, a full fayre chapell of lyme and stone. In þe worshep of Seynt Denys þat chapell was made. Sone after hit was doun, a porche was made byfore þat chapell by gode avyse, wyth þre lytull hates of entrynge, þe wheche weron set on crosse wyse, wyth þre crosses also of ryht gode peyndyng. Þe passioun of God was well peyndud þere, and þe sepulcre of God was peyntede þere also, and þe ymage of Seynt Denys wyth oþer yfere, wyth gold and asere and mony oþer coloures mo. Þis purtator he bare ever in here clene hert, of Goddus passion, as y sayde ere, and of his wo, and of his woundys hard and smert, and in þis newe chapell he peyndede hem þo. Ywallud and yfoundyde þis chapell was full well. And ryht ryallyche ypeyndyde hit was also wyth gold and wyth asere and oþere coloures everedell. Dan Benna halp ryht well þerto.

Left margin: Beda (an anachronism, obviously).

The Wilton Chronicle

She always kept in mind the passion that God suffered for us on Good Friday, and how nobly he redeemed mankind there, and how much sorrow was in his mother’s heart that day. She thought also about how little his martyrs cared for worldly goods, and of the great sorrow that they suffered for God’s love, how they had great love and trust in God so that they never changed their expressions despite the pain. She often thought in her heart as well that she was espoused to God’s son of heaven, and had vowed her virginity to him, so she could never be a great queen. These were the reasons, as I have read, that she did not wish to be Queen of England, but remained in her abbey to serve her God with humility and virginity. Just after this episode, she built a very beautiful stone chapel at Wilton in honour of St Dennis. Soon after it was finished, a porch was made in front of the chapel with a good plan; it had three little entry-gates, which were set crosswise and were painted very well with three crosses. The passion of Christ was also painted there, and the image of St Dennis with others together, in gold and bright blue and many other colours. She bore this picture of God’s passion always in her pure heart, as I said before, as well as his woe and his wounds deep and painful, and she painted them thus in this new chapel. This chapel was built and founded very well. It was also royally decorated with gold and bright blue and every other colour. Brother Benno provided very good help with this project. (1784)

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And when þis chapell was ymade wyth all þe pareyll þat longede þerto, Seynt Dunstone þerof sone warnyng hade and þedur he come to halwe hit anone þo.96 Bot a solempniere dedicacione for sothe þer nas In Wylton never byfore þat day ydone, For God hym self þat day þere was and blessed þat chapell every stone. Wyth joy ycrownyd, þat mayde hym seyhe Frome above come downe wyth ryht glad chere. Bot Seynt Denys come furst doune from God on heyhe And toke þat mayde by þe honde ryht þer. A trewe messangere forsothe was he to bydde hurre byhold upwarde towarde God an hyhe. For God badde hym take hede to þat mayden fre, Ryht as Seynt Jon dude to owre ladyhe. For herre keper forsothe he hadde be long byfore, and savede hurre body, hurre hert, hurre þouht in chastyte, þat he nas never from þe tyme þat he was bore dyfoulyd wyth dede or spotte of sensualyte. In spirite he hurre þat tyme ladde, for he lad not here þere bodyly. Bot Seynt Dunstone was þerof full gladde þat went þo hem fast by. For Seynt Dunstone sawe hit verylyche in seyht, þat Seynt Denys ladde þat mayden by þe honde. And also he sawe þe gret hoge leyht þat was in þat place þere þey dud stonde. And Seynt Dunstone sawe how þat mayde also made full oft tymes a crosse by fore here throte. And to þat ensampull he toke ryht gode hede þo, and sayde, ‘Douhter, þat fyngur shall never rote’. Þus sayde Seynt Donstone, and it sothe hit ys. Þat fyngur rotede never het.

Goscelin, Legenda Edithae; Vita, chapter 21.

The Wilton Chronicle

When this chapel was finished, with all the trappings that belonged to it, they communicated with St Dunstan so that he came there to consecrate it right away. Truly, there had never been a more solemn dedication in Wilton than what was done that day, for God himself was there that day and blessed every stone of that chapel. With an expression of delight, that maid saw him come down from above, crowned with joy. St Dennis came down first from God on high, and took that maiden by the hand right there. He was a true messenger, who told her to look up toward God on high. God had asked him to take a message to that noble maiden, just as St John did to Our Lady. He had been her protector for a long time, and preserved her body, her heart, and her thought in chastity, so that she was never defiled by deeds or blemishes of sensuality, even from the time she was born. He led her that time in spirit, since he did not lead her in body. St Dunstan was very joyous about this visitation that went by him very quickly. He saw it truly in his sight that St Dennis led that maiden by the hand. And he also saw the great, huge light that was in the place where they stood. St Dunstan saw also how that maid many times made the sign of the cross in front of her throat. He took good notice of her example, and said, ‘Daughter, that finger will never rot’. Thus said St Dunstan, and it is the truth. That finger has not yet rotted. (1818)

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Ny never hit ne shall rote here after, y wys, For þat Seynt Dunstone after ward by vision mete. For hit was byfore þe Translacyon of þat holy mayde, to Seynt Dunston ysende and by tokon to hym ytolte, and also openlyche to Kyng Etheldrede here brother ysayde, and also to Ordulf, þat was þe kynges prince so bold, þat hurre honde shulde never yrotyd be, In skynne, blode, flessh, nyhe bone, bot ever stond styll in won dygre by cause of þe gode dedus þat he þer wyth had doune. Bot when þe dedicacione was þus ydoune, in manere ryht as ychave now ysayde, Seynt Donston went to masse þo anone, for all thyng was forthe redy þerto yleyde. Bot when Seynt Dunstone was at his masse,97 Sone after þat holy sacryng, a lettre doun to hym ysend was by Seynt Denys from hevene kyng. Þe tenoure of þe lettre was sothely þis, þat sone after þe hend of fowrty dayes and thre, mayde Edes body shall dye and hurre sowle come to blys, and dwell in hevene wyth angels fre. ‘Þat sote rose blossom, Goddus owne spouse, shall not long wyth how in urthe a byde, bot he shull come up to Goddus howse anon ryht after þis forsayde tyde’. And when Seynt Dunstone þis letter had redde and follyche consayvyd all þe hole entent, sore he wepe and sore he grede, bot no monn ellys wyst what he ment. His mynstres dreddone hem full sore, and yche mon þat abouht þat auter stode, and merveylledone gretlyche wherfore þis holy bysshop was of so drery mode.

Goscelin, Legenda Edithae; Vita, chapter 22.

The Wilton Chronicle

It will never rot hereafter, as St Dunstan dreamed later on in a vision, sent to him before the translation of that holy maid, and also told to him in signs. The vision was also openly stated to King Æthelred her brother, and also to Ordulf, who was the king’s valiant kinsman, that her hand should never be rotted, its skin, blood, flesh, nor bone, but would ever stay in its original state because of the good deeds that she had done with it. When the dedication of the chapel was complete, in the manner just as I have now told, St Dunstan went right to mass, for everything was ready for him to lead it there. While St Dunstan was at this mass, just after the consecration of the Eucharist, a letter was sent down to him by St Dennis from the King of Heaven. The contents of the letter were truly this: that after forty-three days, the maid Edith’s body would die and her soul come to bliss and live in heaven with the noble angels. He read, ‘that sweet rose blossom, God’s own spouse, will not long stay with you on the earth, but she will come up to God’s house very soon at the fore-ordained time’. When St Dunstan had read this letter and fully understood its meaning, he wept sorely and he grieved sorely, but no one else understood why he acted in that way. His ministers were very worried, and each of them stood around the altar and wondered very much why the holy bishop was so very upset. (1852)

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Bot a monke þat was hym þo nyhe, and also þat preveyhe of his consell þo was, askede of hym when he tyme seyhe, what was þe cause of his hevynasse. And he, wyth sore sykyng and snobbyng bothe, unswered þe monk and sayde ryht þus, ‘Þis holy mayden Ede, wyth ouhten othe, shall hastely ben take a way from us. Þis mayden is so clene and so virtuose also, þat þis synfull world, þat so horry ys, may not kepe hurre body no lengur here in wo, bot God98 woll have hurre up to his blys’. Bot when Seynt Donstone had þus ysayde, all þe folke þat hit herde maden gret soro and dolour. Bot þe mayden kneled at þe auters hende ryht well apayde and abode þere to resave hurre saveour. Þo when þis masse was fullyche done, and þis holy mayde yhoselud was, Seynt Donston lette grave þis lettre in ye auter ston, and het þat letter is in þe same place. And also he clepte þat mayden to hym þo, and tolde to herre everydele þis case, and bad hurre take ryht gode hede þerto, ‘For ouht of þis worlde he shull hastely pas’, and badde hurr þat he shulde make hurr all redy, þat he myht clerelyche þat way go, þe whyche lastyth up to hevene an heyhe, and tolde hurre what day he shuld dye also. And when Seynt Dunstone, as y sayde how ere, hadde writone þus day to hurre and eke ytolde, he toke his leve wyth drer chere, wyth wepyng hynone, and hert full colde. Bot þis mayde past forthe and madde gode chere, and þonged God heylyche of his sonde.

God not in MS.

The Wilton Chronicle

When it seemed an appropriate moment, a monk who was a close associate of Dunstan’s, and was often included in his deliberations, asked him the cause of his sorrow. Dunstan, with grievous sighs and sobs together, answered the monk, saying, ‘Truly, this holy maiden Edith will quickly be taken away from us. She is so pure and virtuous that this sinful and moldering world may not keep her here any longer in our woeful state; God will have her come up to his bliss’. When St Dunstan had spoken, everyone who heard him felt great sorrow and grief. But the maiden kneeled at the altar’s edge, very well satisfied, and she stayed there to receive her saviour. When the mass was completely finished, and this holy maid had received communion, St Dunstan had the message engraved into the stone altar, and those letters are still there in the same place. He called that maiden to him and told her the details of the situation, and asked her to take good notice of his words. He said, ‘You will pass soon out of this world’, and he told her to make herself ready so that she might clearly go on that way that extends up to high heaven. He also told her which day she would die. When St Dunstan had written these words and told her thus, as I said to you before, he took his leave with much sorrow, with weeping eyes, and with a chilled heart. This maid proceeded in a good humour, however, and fervently thanked God for his message. (1886)

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Bot when þe tyme was come so nere Evene þe sevethe day by fore, y understonde, almyhty God come from hevene an heyhe, and wyth a mery spouse song knokede at hurre hate, and sayde, ‘Aryse up, my colloure, my frend, and heyhe. For he shull come to me nowe for algate’. Þus versus he shull þus expounde and understonde, þat Jhû, þat was of Mary ybore, to his spouse, Seynt Ede, sende doune a sonde þe sevethe day of hurre deythe by fore. A token of sekenesse he send hurre tyll, to warne hurre þat hurre day was neyhe, and also by a noþer ensampull he knewe full wyll,99 þat he þat nyht next after by swevene seyhe. Hurre thouht þat hurre chaufere, þe whyche was of ledde ymade, In ye whyche water hurre to wasshe was wonto be hatte, was set over a feure bothe gret and sadde, and þat a nox went preyhe aboute all þat and ever as he went he song þis songe, ‘Where ever a spirite woll be, he may both breth and blawe, and his voys þow mayhte here ever among, bot whethen he cometh, and houdere he woll, þu shaltus not knawe’. Lord, what shulde þis swevene ellus signify? Bot þat warnyng to herre from God by þis ox send was, þat hurre soule shulde come sone to hevene an heyhe, Ryht As Baalam was warnyd of þe Angell by his asse,100 To have þe Joy and blys þat evere shall last, as Seynt Dunston had tolde hurre þere byfore. Bot hurre flessh for drede quakedde full fast, bot hurre soule was glad and drede no sore.

Right margin: soþuum miraclosum; the source is Goscelin, Legenda Edithae; Vita, chapter

23. 100

Ryht added as a later correction in the margin; Numbers 22. 1–35.

The Wilton Chronicle

I understand that seven days before the appointed time of her death, Almighty God came from heaven on high and knocked at her gate with a joyful wedding song. He said, ‘Rise up, my dove, my friend, and hasten. For you will come to me now for all time’. You will thus understand and interpret these verses — that Christ who was born of Mary sent down a message to St Edith, his spouse, seven days before her death. He sent her as well a token of sickness to warn her that her day was close; she knew this also through another way, since she saw it in a dream the next night. She thought that her water-pot, which was made of lead, was set over a great and steady fire. This pot usually contained water for her to wash herself. She dreamed that an ox went around it, looking about at everything, and as he went he sang, ‘Wherever a spirit may be, he may breathe and pant; you may hear his voice among you ever; but from what place he comes, and to what place he goes, you shall not know’. Lord, what else could this dream signify? Just as Balaam was warned by his donkey about the angel, this ox was sent to her from God as a warning that her soul would soon come to heaven on high to have the joy and bliss that last forever, as St Dunstan had told her before. Her flesh quivered in fear, but her soul was glad and felt no grievous fear. (1916)

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Hurre obyt he let þo þere do anone and, for herre, prestes he ordeynede to101 syng and rede. He gate to herre tombe no ryall stone bot mony pore men to clothe and fede. Þe þryd nyht after, a noþer swevene het mette he,102 þat a fayre Tombe was made þere of þat leyde, and þat hurre soule was fate to hevene wyth angels fre, and þat hurre body was hollyche in þat tombe yleyde. Of þis chaufre, of þe whyche y dud byfore how tell, þis fayre tombe hurre þouht was þo ymade of þat leyde, and closede hurre body abouht every dell when hit was wyth inne hit yleyde. And also in þe mortyde, when þat nyht was gone, þe colleron þat he was wonde to kepe and fede weron yfonde as deyde as ony stone. Þo knowe hurre moder full well þat he wolde be dede. Hurre dethe day heyhede upon herre full fast. Hurre flessh tremblede and drede full sore. And also he was full sore agast, lest he nadnot plesud God well evermore. Bot ever he cryed to God and preyhede fast, and sayd, ‘Lord God, y betake my soule to þe. Bryng hym to þy Joy þat shall ever last, Lorde Jhû, my trust is all clene in þy pyete. Jhû lorde, y drede me full sore, lest y nave not done to þe aryht. Bot Jhû, þat were of Mary ybore, heve me grace to have my lampe lyht. Jhû, hyff þat my lampe be fonde wyth ouht lyht, of whome shall y aske help, bot onlyche of þe? Lord, as þu art ful of grace and myht, heyhe now fast and come to me. For to me now grete tribulacyon comen ys. Lord God, Jhû, have pyte of me.

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Left margin: soþuum miraclosum.

The Wilton Chronicle

She ordered her funeral mass right then, and appointed priests to read and sing for her soul. She gave no royal gems to her tomb, but gave them to clothe and feed many poor men. Three nights later, she dreamed another dream, that a fair tomb was made there of lead, and that her soul was carried to heaven with noble angels and that her body was completely laid in that tomb. She dreamed that this fair tomb was made from the lead of this water-pot, which I told you about before, and it enclosed her body on every side when it was laid within it. In the morning, when night was gone, the doves that St Edith was accustomed to keep and to feed were found by the sisters as dead as any stone. Then her mother knew very well that she would die. The day of her death approached very quickly; her flesh trembled and was full of dread. She was very afraid that she had not pleased God always, and she cried to God and prayed hard, saying, ‘Lord God, take my soul to you. Bring it to the joy that will last forever, Lord Christ; my trust is very pure in your piety. Lord Christ, I am very afraid that I have not done what is right for you. Christ, who was born of Mary, give me grace to have my lamp lighted. For if my lamp is found without any light, from whom should I ask help, if not from you, Christ? Lord, as you are full of grace and power, approach quickly now and come to me. For great tribulation has come to me now. Lord God, Christ, have pity on me. (1950)

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For full well y knowe non help þer nys, bot onlyche Fadur of Hevene in þe. Wherefore, lord Jhû, forsake me nouht nowe, lorde, in my greste nede.103 1955 (fol. 218r) For wyth gret payne þu hast me bouht. For me, Lord, þu suffrestude, þy woundys blede. Lord Jhû, I pray þe, forsake me nouht. For holyche my trust is, Jhû, in þe. How dure, Lord Jhû, hast þu me bouht. 1960 Þu dyedust for me, Jhû, upone þe tre. Jhû, þaw y dede ofto tymes amys, Evere to plese þe was hollyche my wyll. Y forsoke howe never, my lorde, y wys, and þat he knowe, Jhû, full wyll. 1965 Dure moder’, qde þat mayde ryht anone þo, ‘Preyhe my sustron, þat þey comen all hedure now byfore me, þat y may aske for hevenesse of how and of hem also, of þe displesaunce þat ychave do to how and to hem, my moder fre’. Hurre moder past forth in to þe abbay þo anone, 1970 wepyng and snobbyng wyth hert full sore. Hurre sustren comen þedur to hurre þo everychone, and knelledone doune mekelyche þat mayde byfore. ‘I preyhe how, sustren’, qde þat mayden anone þo, ‘for heve he me all þat ychave aheynes how mys wrouht. 1975 And y preyhe how, dere modur, for hevyth me also, all þat ychave displeyseyde how, in worde, in dede, or þouht’. Þo weptone full fast þus ladyes all, and snobbedone and sykedone full sore. Hurre modur a doune assowe dudde fall. 1980 For sorwe he myht wepe nomore. And all þey sayden, ‘Lady, what nede was þis, of us to aske ony forhevenesse? For treuely, he dudone nevere to us amys, bot heve to us governaunce of gode lore and of grace’.

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for wyth gret payne is included in the lower left corner as the first catchphrase in the MS.

The Wilton Chronicle

For I know very well that there is no help except that of the Father of Heaven in you. Therefore, Lord Christ, do not forsake me now, Lord, in my greatest need. For you have redeemed me with great pain; for me, Lord, you suffered and your wounds bled. Lord Christ, I pray to you, do not forsake me. My trust is in you completely. How valiantly you have redeemed me, Lord Christ. You died for me, Christ, upon the cross. Christ, even though I often sinned, my will was always to please you completely. Truly, I never renounced you, my lord, and you know that very well, Christ. Dear mother’, said that maid right then, ‘ask all my sisters to come before me now, so I can ask for forgiveness from you and from them also for any trespass that I have done to them and to you, my noble mother’. Her mother went into the abbey then, weeping and sobbing with a very heavy heart. Every one of her sisters come there to her, and knelt down meekly before that maid. That maiden said then, ‘I pray you, my sisters, that you forgive me anything in which I have trespassed against you. And I pray you, dear mother, forgive me also, in all that I have displeased you in word, in deed, or in thought’. All those ladies wept very much then, and sobbed and moaned very grievously. Her mother fell down in a swoon. She could weep no more for sorrow. They all said, ‘Lady, what need is there to ask us for any forgiveness? For truly, you never trespassed against us, but gave us governance of good teaching and grace’. (1984)

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Þen spake Wultrude, hurre modur dure, ‘My dure douhter, what shall y nowe do? whom shall y have now to my fere, when he arne þus from me go?’ In þis monere, þey sorwedone and sykede sore, þus ladyes and hurre modur yfere. Þis mayden preyhede hem evermore þat þey shulde ben of ryht gode chere. Bot when hurr mowrenyng was allere mast Seynt Dunston knew full well alle þis, and come to Wyltone anone in gret hast. And all þe sacramentis to hurre he dede, y wys, as shrove herre, hoselder, and aneled herre he dude also, and sayde, ‘Douhter, loke þat þu be of gode chere, For up to þi spouse þu shall now go, and dwell in hevene wyth angels clere. Up to þat place, douter, now shaltow go, þere as joy and blysse shall ever be, joy and myrthe and never wo, in hevene wyth God in Trinity. Reseyve þat corone þu shalt, douhter, also, þat þy spouse hath ordeynyd þere to þe. And dwelle þu shalt þere for evere and ho, wyth coronede virgines an maydens fre. Bot herken, douhter, and ryht wel be holde, For now þy spouse dothe clepte þe to helde to þy mede and meryte a hondrid folde, þat longeþ to þy clene virginite. For þe corone of mayden hode þu shall were, and dwell in hevene wyth þy spouse, for þaw þu be broune, þu art ryht wel shape and fere. Fore, douhter, for hete þy peple and eke þy fadur house, For þe kyng, þy spouse, covetyth þy shappe, and to se also þi fayre bewete, and wyth clothus of joy he wyll þe lappe. For ryht well, douhter, he lovys þe. Heyhe þe, douhter, and haff ydoune, For þy spouse doth fast þe call. To hym þu most come anone, and dwellone in his joyfull hall’.

The Wilton Chronicle

Then Wulfthryth, her noble mother, said, ‘My noble daughter, what will I do now? Whom will I have now as my dearest companion, when you are thus gone from me?’ In this way, these ladies and her mother grieved and moaned fiercely together. Throughout, this maiden prayed that they would be in good humour. As their mourning was at its greatest height, St Dunstan came to Wilton with great haste, knowing all about the situation. He brought the sacraments to her, heard her confession, gave her communion, and administered last rites; he said, ‘Daughter, make sure that you are in a good humour, for you will go now up to your spouse to live in heaven with the clear angels. You shall go up to that place, daughter, where there is joy and bliss forever, joy and mirth, never woe, in heaven with God in the Trinity. You will also receive your crown, daughter, that your spouse has designated for you. You will live there forever onward with crowned virgins and noble maidens. So listen, daughter, and note that your spouse calls you a hundred times over to trust to your reward and your merit, which belong to your pure virginity. You will wear the crown of maidenhood and live in heaven with your spouse. Even though your colour is dark, you are finely shaped and beautiful. Daughter, forget your community and your father’s house, for the King, your spouse, desires your form, desires to see your fair beauty, and he will drape you with clothes of joy. He loves you very much, daughter. Go now, daughter, and be done, for your spouse calls you now. You must go to him and live now in his joyful hall’. (2024)

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And when Seynt Dunstone hadde þus ysayde and of his sermon madde ful an ynde, into þis chirche þey beron þis mayde bytwene herre armis þus ladyes heynde, þe whyche in þe worship of Seynt Denys þat mayde hadde ymade a litull byfore. Bot furst a lady þedur ysend is, To make all thyngus redy þore. Bot inne þe chirche as he dud go, wyth mowrenyng hert and sore wepynge,104 wyth inne þe quere, as hurre þouht þo, he herde queresters full mery synge. So mery songe, as herre þouht, he ne herde never in hurre lyff before. In to þe quere þo to gon he þouhte, bot he seye a litull childe þo stond þore. So fayre a chyld, hurre þouht, he seye never mo, Ny none so leyhtsom, ny so gladde of chere. He sayde, ‘My lady, whodere wolle he go? Þus ben angels þat syng þus here, and abyde þe soule of þat mayde clene, wyth song to bryng hit in to þat house where is joy and myrthe and ever has ben, and wyth suche song, hurre soule to presenton to hurre spouse’. Þo brouht þey þat holy mayden þedur anone and leydene hurre in þat same place. He toke hurre leve þo of every monn and past up to God þo in þat space. Þe sixstenethe day of Septembre, forsothe hit was, þat God after hurre sowle þus sende. ‘Commendo spiritum meum domine’, he sayde ‘in manus tuas’, and ryht wyth þat worde he made an ende.

Right margin: miraculum; the source is Goscelin, Legenda Edithae; Vita, chapter 24.

The Wilton Chronicle

When St Dunstan had spoken, and then made an end of his sermon, these ladies bore this maid in their arms into the church which that maid had built a little while before in honour of St Dennis. First, they sent a lady into the church to make all things ready there, and when she went into the church, with mourning heart and fervent weeping, she thought she heard choristers singing very merrily in the choir. She thought she had never heard such joyous song before in her life. She meant to go into the choir, but then saw a little child standing there. She thought she had never seen such a fair child, nor one so light-hearted or happy in expression. The child said, ‘My lady, where do you wish to go? These are angels that sing here and wait for the soul of that pure maid to bring it with song into that house where there has ever been joy and mirth. With such song, they will present her soul to her spouse’. They brought that holy maiden and laid her down. She took her leave of everyone and passed up to God right there. Truly, it was the sixteenth of September that God sent for her soul. She said, ‘Lord, I commend my soul into your hands’, and with that speech her life ended. (2056)

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Thre and twenty wynter he hadde of age, as þe boke sayth, of herres no more, when he toke hurre leve at hurre lynage, 2060 and at hurre modur þat he was of ybore, and þe fourthe herre of herre brother regnynge, Kyng Etheldrede, as y chave ofto redde, and after þe incarnacyone of Goddus sone, hevene kynge, Nyne hondryd foure score here and foure weren fully spedde. 2065 Bot when þis virgyn was þus forth past, Wultrud hurre modur wepte full sore. Hurre hondys he wronge, hurre teþ he gnast, and cryede, and sayde, ‘My wordly joy now have y lore’. Hurre sustron wepton, hurre herre þey rende, 2070 (fol. 219v) All þey þenne for hurre gret sorwe þey made. Erellus and baronus, bothe sybbe and frende, Every mon fore hurre deyth sore hert þey hade. Bot þe angelus song, and maden gode chere, and brouhton hurre soule up to hevene blys, 2075 and a sote savore þe laste stylle þere wyth þat holy maydenes body, y wys. Þat flavour was as sote to herre, a vis, and as well smellyng, as hem þouhte þere, as þaw hit hadde ycome from paradys 2080 to all hem þat stoden abouhte þe bere. Bot when þe day come of hurre buryenge, gret noyse men myht þo þere here, of clerkus and religiose wepyng wyth gret lordus of þe reme yfere. 2085 For mony gret lordus of hurre keyne Comen þat day to hurre buryenge, and sore weptone and snobbedone þeyne, For þe deythe of þat semely thyng. And a full fayre procession þat day was þere 2090 of bysshoppus, Erellus, and boronys bothe. A fayror, as men saydene, þey seyhe never here, þen was þere þat day wyth ouhtene wothe. A mery masse þer was ysong of clerkus wyth voysus bothe heyhe and clere, 2095 and gret snobbyng and wepyng þer was among.

The Wilton Chronicle

The book tells us that she was no more than twenty-three years old when she took her leave from her family and from her mother who bore her. She died in the fourth year of the reign of King Æthelred her brother, as I have often read, and nine hundred, four score, and four years had passed after the incarnation of God’s son, heaven’s king. When this virgin had thus passed on, her mother Wulfthryth wept very grievously. She wrung her hands, she gnashed her teeth, and cried, saying, ‘I have now lost my worldly joy’. Her sisters wept and tore their hair; they all felt great sorrow for her. Earls and barons, both kin and friends, and every man had a sore heart because of her death. But the angels sang with good humour when they brought her soul up to heaven’s bliss. A sweet smell lingered there with that holy maiden’s body, a smell to them so sweet that they thought it had come from paradise to those standing in the church there. When the day of her burial came, people could hear there a great noise of clerks and nuns weeping together with the great lords of the realm. Many great lords who were her kin came that day to her funeral, and they wept and sobbed fiercely for the death of that beautiful woman. There was a very elaborate procession that day, with bishops and earls and barons. People said they had truly never seen a more beautiful procession than there was that day. Clerks with high and clear voices sang a glorious mass, and among them there was great sobbing and weeping. (2095)

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Bot Seynt Dunston dude hurre body entere wyth inne Seynt Denys churche. In þe urthe colde hurre fayre body he dud entere. For he full ofte had hym ytolde þat he wolde be buryed ryht þere. For wyth myelde wordus hee wolde ofto tell, þat in þat place he wolde yburyed be. Seynt Woltrude, herre modor, knewe þat full well, and ofte tymes wepe þere whene he dud hurre see. Mony a masse þere þat day was songe. and a thousand pore men were well yfedde. For of pore men þat day was þere grete thronge, as ychave ofto in þe boke yredde. Bot twolf hurre modor hulde wyth hurre algate styll To preyhe for þat mayden soule, y wys.105 And het in to þis day þey done þer dwell, at Mary Mawdelynes herre dwellyng het is. To preyhe for þat mayden soule he set hem þere, hurre hert was so tendre of hurre chyld, and so full of drede. And for drede of hurre soule he had gret fere, albut þaw hit nere no nede. Nouht aheyne stondynge þat, in þat place, ofto tyme was ysey full gret leyht, þere as hurre body enterud was, bothe by day and eke by nyht. het had hurre moder bothe douht and drede of hurre douhter soule, y wys, for all þat and made prestus bothe syng and rede and gret penaunce he dud hurre self algate.106 Þis blessud virgyn so full of grace nolde not from hurre moder long dwell.

105

Lines 2110–12 appear at the bottom of the folio.

106

Left margin: miraculum; source is Goscelin, Legenda Edithae; Vita, chapter 25.

The Wilton Chronicle

St Dunstan interred her fair body in St Dennis’s church in the cold earth, for she had often told him with mild words that she wished to be buried there in that place. St Wulfthryth, her mother, knew that wish very well, and often wept when she saw her there. Many masses were sung there that day and a thousand poor people were well fed. I have often read in books that there was a great crowd of poor men that day. Her mother kept twelve of those together with her to pray for that maiden’s soul — and they live there still even now at Mary Magdalene’s. Wulfthryth set them there to pray for that maiden’s soul since her heart was so tender and so full of concern for her child. She had great fear in her concern for Edith’s soul, even though there was no need for it. Despite that concern, there was often seen in that place both by day and night a very great light where her body was interred. But even so, her mother still had doubt and dread for her daughter’s soul, and ordered priests to sing and read; she herself did great penance as well. This blessed virgin, so full of grace, did not wish to be away from her mother for a long time. (2126)

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Þe threttyth day, forsothe hit was, hurre moder he come aheyn tell, and told hurre moder of hurre gode fare, and of þe joy and blysse þat he was inne, and þat he was set upone þe ryht syde þare, As myrth and Joy shall never blynne. As þus visablelyche to hurre modur he dude apere, and spake to hurre in hurre owne langage, Ryht as a neyhbure doth to another here or knyht or squiere to his page, and tolde hurre how þe enviyus feynte Sathanas Dude hurre þere lette wyth all his myht, þat he shulnot havy come to þat joyful place, þere as is ever day and never nyht. ‘And, dure moder’, qd þat mayden þo, ‘þat feyndus powere ydude þo spyll, by help of þo angels þat comen me to and brouht me to hevene aheyn his wyll. And so, dure moder, ychave thrast hym doune into his place, þere as meche sorwe, payne, and myscheff ys. And yche was borone up wyth angels of grace, to heven þer as is ever lastyng joy and blys’. And when þis blessud virgyn had talyd tys wyth hurre dure moder on þis monere, he past forthe up to hevene blys. Hurre modur stodde styll and byhulde ryht þere and in hurre hert full sore he het dredde, nouht ageyne stondyng þat he seyhe and herde well þat þat blessed virgyne hurre douhter ryht well ferde. het almys dede and fastyng he dude everylyche continuell. He dude not lyge, as don mony other wymmen þat atte hurre children dyenge wepon full sore, and ryht sone after forhetone hem and þenk on hem lytull after þat more. Bot he continuede algate styll in þis, in doyng of masse of derche and of almys dede and ever he was hurre self in fastyng and in gret preyeris, y wys, and for hurre douhter had algate gret drede.

The Wilton Chronicle

Truly, it was on the thirtieth day after her death that she came to her mother and told her of her good experience, the joy and bliss that she was in, and told her that she was set upon the right side of God there where mirth and joy never cease. She appeared to her mother and spoke to her in her own language, just as visibly as one neighbour does to another, or as a knight or squire does to his page. St Edith told her how the envious fiend Satan had tried with all his might not to let her go there, so that she would not have been able to come to that joyful place where it is ever day and never night. ‘And, noble mother’, said that maiden then, ‘I overcame the fiend’s power with the help of angels that came to me and brought me to heaven against his will. And so, noble mother, I have pushed him down into his place where there is much sorrow, pain, and sin. I was borne up with angels of grace to heaven, where there is everlasting joy and bliss’. When this blessed virgin had spoken thus with her dear mother in this manner, she passed forth to the bliss of heaven. Her mother stood still and in her heart she still felt fear, even though she had just seen and heard that the blessed virgin, her daughter, had already journeyed to heaven. Wulfthryth still did deeds of charity and fasted continually. She was not one of those many women who weep grievously at their children’s deaths and then soon after forget them and do not think about them anymore. She continued with all these practices, of dirgeful masses and deeds of alms, and she herself was ever fasting and praying, and for her daughter always had great dread. (2164)

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And þus þis blessud womman Seynt Wultrude suffrode for hurre douhter long martirdam in þe abbay, and of þe soule of þat holy virgyne hee hadde gret douhte, and preyhede for hurre continuallyche both nyht and day. Bot afterwarde in hurre hert he was full gladde, 2170 when he sawe so mony myracles ydo þere, and þat so mony sekemen hurre hele þere hadde, of what monere sekenesse þat þey Inne were. Bot þis was þe furst miracle þat God wrouht after for þat mayde sake,107 For hit byfell þus in þe same thryddyþ day, 2175 þat he wyth hurre moder þere spake, þat a mayde chylde was boron in þat contray. Of rychesse þat childus frendus werone well byfore, and ryht gode lyvers þey werone also. Þey hadden preyhede Seynt Ede full ofto, þat when hit were bore 2180 þat he wolde fouchsave to be godmoder þerto. Þe fader and þe moder of þe child þat day ybore weron foulke of ryht gret astate, y wys, and haddone loved Seynt Ede algate byfore, All þe tyme þat he alyve here one urthe was. 2185 (fol. 221r) Wherfore þey preyhedon hurre þat travell to do, and he sayde þat wyth gode wyll he wolde, hyff God wolde fouchesave to consent þerto. And ellus, he sayde, þat he do hit nolde. Bot Seynt Ede was dede forsothe byfore, 2190 and hurre soule fatte to hevene blysse þe thrydtythe day or hit were ybore. Bot het þat holy mayde was þere þat tyme, y wys. For þe same day þat chylde was ybore þat Seynt Ede wyth Wultrude hurre modur spake. 2195 And to þe Cathedrall chirche of Wynchestre he was ybore, for Seynt Alphege108 was redy þere þo for hurre sake.

107

Left margin: miraculum; source is Goscelin, Legenda Edithae; Vita, chapter 26.

108

Elphege or Alfheah, Bishop of Winchester (d. 1012).

The Wilton Chronicle

Thus this blessed woman St Wulfthryth suffered long martyrdom for her daughter in the abbey, and had great anxiety about the soul of that holy virgin, and prayed continually for her, night and day. Afterwards, however, she was very joyful when she saw how many miracles were done there, and saw that many sick men had their healing there, no matter what kind of sickness that had. This was the first miracle that God wrought for the sake of that maid: it befell on that same thirtieth day after her death, the day that she spoke with her mother, that a girl was born in that country. Her family was very rich, and they were very devout people also. They had often prayed to St Edith that she would agree to be the godmother when their child was born. The mother and father of the child born that day owned a truly great estate; they had loved St Edith very much before she died, in the time that she was alive on earth. Therefore, they had asked her to do that favour for them, and she had said with good will that she would, if God would also consent — otherwise, she said she would not do it. But thirty days before that girl was born, St Edith had died, and her soul had travelled up to heaven’s bliss. But that holy maid was truly there at time. The child was born on the same day that St Edith spoke with her mother Wulfthryth. The child was taken to the cathedral church in Winchester for baptism, because St Elphege was ready there for her sake. (2196)

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The Wilton Chronicle

For Seynt Alphege was bysshop þere þo, nexte, after Seynt Ethelwolde, bysshop þere he was, ychose by Seynt Dunstone and by all þe reme also. For by a vysione Seynt Dunstone was ywarnot of þat cas, þat Alphege, þat was abbot of Bathe Abbay, of Wynchester shulde bysshoppe ysacryd be. Wherfore he was ypreyd þat day to cryston þat lytyl mayden chylde so fre. And when þe childe was to þat chirche ybrouht, and þe bysshop was redy þo þore, and hurre godfader and hurre godmores ryht as þey ouht, stode þere redy þe bysshoppe byfore. Þo þe bysshoppe cristenede þat childe full honestlyche, as he well couhthe and ouhte to do, bot in þe laterhende of þe office, sodenlyche, Seynt Ede apperede hem bodylyche to. For ryht as þe bysshoppe toke to hym þe serge wyth lyht and sayde, ‘Have þow, mayde, þis tapur brennynge, þat þu mowe entre Inne wyth God of myht in þe day of þy weddynge’, and to þe childe þat tapur wolde han take, Ryht as þe maner of holy chirche ys. Bot Seynt Ede was redy þere for hurre sake and bede forth hurre honde, y wys. Þe lytull childus honde he streyhte forthe þo To resayve þat tapre wyth þe lyht and þen toke þat tapre þe litull childe fro and in hurre owne honde he hulde hit forth ryht. And when Seynt Alphege had verylyche sey in syht þat Seynt Ede hurre self was redy þo þere to fonge to þe childe as he had yteyht, Ryht alyve as þaw he het were.

The Wilton Chronicle

St Elphege, who was the bishop there after St Æthelwold, was chosen by St Dunstan and all the realm as well. St Dunstan had been warned by a vision that Elphege, who was the Abbot of Bath, would be consecrated bishop of Winchester. Therefore, Elphege was asked that day to christen that noble little girl. When that child was brought to the church, the bishop, the godfather, and the godmothers were ready just as they should be. The bishop christened that child very nobly as well as he knew how. Towards the end of the ceremony, St Edith suddenly appeared to them in her bodily form. The bishop picked up the lighted candle and said, ‘Take this burning taper, little girl, so that you might have a wedding day with Almighty God’. He would have then handed that taper to the child, just as is the practice in Holy Church. But St Edith was ready there for that child’s sake, and offered her hand. She stretched out the little girl’s hand to receive the lighted taper, and then took the taper from the little girl and held it out in her own hand. St Elphege truly saw this sight, that St Edith herself was ready to receive that child there as she had promised, just as if she were still alive. (2228)

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Bot þo sodenlyche he vanysshede a way wyth gret lyht and sote savore yfere, and bodylyche apperede to hurre modur þat same day Sone after þat he hadde ybe þere. And when Seynt Ede was þus forthe past, and all þe servys was welle ydo, Seynt Alphege went þo in gret hast Thedere as þat childus frendus were þo, and tolde hem ryht as he had ysaye, and chargede hem wyth all his myht þat þey shulde never otherwys mary þat may, bot onlyche to þe sone of God all myht. And so þey dedon trewelyche after his redde, and brouhtone hurre to Wylton after ful sone, to lerne bothe to sing and redde. And after warde to religione he was ydone, and was blessud abbas in þat same place, þe thryd after Seynt Woltrude, and of gode governele he had gret grace. Hurre name was yclepud Bryhtwyde.109 Bot twey here ded he was byfore þe translacyon of þis blyssud virgyne Seynt Ede, and wyth angels hurre sowle to hevene was bore, Evere in joy herre lyff to lede. Þen from þis tyme forthewarde, continually, þis blessud virgyne Seynt Ede, in miraclus schewyng110 full bysyly, and haff grace and hele to every monn þat hurre bede. So mony miraclus for hurre God wrouht To every mon þat ony nede hadde, of ony bone þat hurre ryhtwyslyche bysouht, he had anone what ever he badde.111

109

Brightgifu, Abbess of Wilton, third after Wulfthryth.

110

schewing is written in a different hand over an erasure.

111

Right margin: miraculum; the source is Goscelin, Legenda Edithae; Vita, chapter 27.

The Wilton Chronicle

Then suddenly, she vanished, with great light and sweet odours, and soon after she had been in Winchester, she appeared embodied to her mother that same day in Wilton. When St Edith had thus departed and all the christening service was well done, St Elphege went in great haste to that little girl’s kin and told them all that he had seen. He charged them with all his power that they should never marry off that maid, but only give her to Almighty God. So they truly followed his counsel, and brought her to Wilton soon after to learn to read and sing. Later on, she was professed to the religious life and was blessed abbess in that house, third after St Wulfthryth, and she had great grace in her good governance. She was called Brightgifu, but she was dead two years before the translation of the blessed virgin St Edith. Her soul was carried to heaven by angels to lead her life in joy there forever. Then from this time forth, the blessed virgin St Edith appeared continually in miraculous showings, and diligently gave grace and healing to every person that asked it of her. For her, God performed many miracles to every person that had any need, and granted any request that she righteously made; she was granted whatever she asked. (2260)

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The Wilton Chronicle

Bot of on miracule now y chull how tell, To all þat han lust to know and wete, þe very trewethe every dell, Ryht as y fynd in story wryte. Hurre blessud moder, Seynt Wultrude, toke a twaylle of ryht gode aray, and upon þat virgenys tombe hit layde, to hong þere both nyht and day. Þis twaylle ybordyrd abouht was wyth palle þe mountenesse of a han hondbrede. Abouht þe tombe for honestnas hit was ysowed in lengthe and brede. Bot þus hit byfell upon a day, þat a wommon, þat dwellede þere bysyde, Come to þat tombe hurre bedus to say, and tyll al men were past away he dud abyde. And when all foulke weron þen ago, and he hurre self all on was lafte, hurre holde custone he þouht to do, For ever to stele was hurre crafte. Þis palle enbroudryd wyth gold so rede, From þe twaylle ful sone, he hit kytte wyth hurre knyff in evel spede, and abouht hurre legg full fast hit knytte. In monere of a garthur yknytte hit was abouht herre leg full prevely. To stele hit þus prevely from þat place, hee hurre by þouht þus sotelly. Bot when he had ydon þis dede and wolde han ben past forth upone hurre wey, he myht not passe ouht of þat stede, he was ytrallyd in suche aray. Hurre leygus weron fedyrd wyth hit so fast, þat won fote myht he þennys þo go, bot wepe, and cryede, and hurre armys cast, and sayde, ‘Alas, alas, þat me is wo’.

The Wilton Chronicle

I will tell you know about one of these miracles, and tell every part of its truth to all who have the desire to know and understand it, just as I found it written in history. Her blessed mother, St Wulfthryth, took a beautifully decorated cloth and laid it upon that virgin’s tomb so that it would hang there always. This cloth was bordered with an embroidered stripe the width of a hand. It was attached around the length and breadth of the tomb as an ornament. It happened one day that a woman who lived beside the abbey came to that tomb to say her rosary, and she stayed there under all the other people had left. When all those folk were gone, and she herself was the only one left at the tomb, she thought she would revert to her old ways, since her habit had always been to steal. With her knife, she then quickly and sinfully cut from the cloth the border embroidered with pure gold and tied it tightly around her leg. It was tied just like a garter would be, around the upper part of the leg. She thought to steal it secretly and deviously from that place. But when she had done this deed and would have passed forth upon her way, she could not leave that place but was bound: her legs were fettered by the stolen cloth so that she could not go even one foot from the tomb. She wept and cried and cast her arms out and said, ‘Alas, alas, woe is me!’ (2296)

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Bot þe sexston come to hurre þo anone, and askede what sorwe hurre was, And bad þat he shuld fast þenne gon home to hurre owne dwellyng place. Bot he myht not from þat place passe, For no thyng þat he myht do. Hurre leygus werone yfedryd so fast þat he myht no fote þennys go. And þo he tolde hem every delle wyth mournynge chere and hert full sore, all þe cas ryht as hit byfelle, and cryede, ‘Seynt Ede, mercy and ore’. Bot when he had repentyd hurre þus, and byfore hurre iuge yknowelachyd þis dede, ouhte of þis thraldam ydelyferyd he wys, and thongede God mekelyche and Seynt Ede. And þis goldene rebande was taken from here þo, and in to þe minstre hit was þere brouht, and upon an autre hit was þo ydo, in memory of þis miracule þat þus þere was ywrouht. Þo of þis miracule hurre moder was gladde, when he sawe verylyche þat hit was sothe. Bot het in hert he was a dradde, and to leve hurre preyerus he was full lothe, and ordeynede het þat every day twey prestus shuld þere twey massus synge upon þe auter by fore þe whyche he lay, wyth certeyne urrysones for hurre prayng. Dilexisti iusticiam þe offyce was, of þe ton masse, as yche understonde. Þe toþer was Requiem eternam dona eis, Preying for every soule bothe fre and bounde. Þus twey messus every day he lette synge112 byfore hurre tombe at an auter, y wys, preying ever overe all thynge, þat hurre douhter myht have hevene blys.

Left margin: m, perhaps an indication of miracles to come.

The Wilton Chronicle

The sexton came to her right then and asked what her sorrow was, and told her that she should leave right away to go home her own house. But she could not leave that place, no matter what she did. Her legs were fettered so tightly that she could not go even one foot. Then, she told him every detail, just as it happened, with a mournful expression and an aching heart, and she cried, ‘St Edith, grant me mercy and compassion’. When she had thus repented, and acknowledged this deed before her judge, she was delivered out of this punishment and she meekly thanked God and St Edith. The golden ribbon was taken from her and it was brought into the church and placed upon the altar in memory of this miracle that was performed there. Her mother was very glad about this miracle, once she knew that it was true, but she was still afraid in her heart for Edith’s soul, and she did not wish to leave her prayers. She still provided every day for two priests to sing two masses before the altar on which the cloth lay, including certain orisons in their prayers. As I understand it, in the first mass the office was ‘Having cherished justice’; in the second, it was ‘Grant us eternal peace’, praying for every soul, nobleman’s and bondsman’s. She ordered them to sing these two masses every day at the altar before Edith’s tomb, praying constantly, more than anything else, that her daughter might have heaven’s bliss. (2332)

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Bot sone after þat, worde sprong full wyde of þe miraclus þat for hurre þere do were. For ichemone þat had ony sekenesse in þe contre þer bysyde, hyff he wolde come to hurre tombe, myht have his hele þere. For bleynde men hadden þere hurre seyht, and crokette and maymotte fatton þere hurre hele. Miracules weron do þere þus day and nyht, and sekemen come þedur mony and fele. Lepros men weron clansud mony one þere. Frantyke men haddne þere hurre wytte. Of what sekenesse þat ony mon inne were, his bodylyche hele he myht þere feytte. Of what maner diseyse þat ony monn hadde þo, hyf he wolde mekelyche prey to Seynt Ede, and mekelyche in pylgrimage come hurre to, he hadde þere help or he þenne hede. And when hurre blessude moder had knowynge of þis, and sey hit well every day wyth hurre hye, he knewell þat hurre soule was in very blysse wyth othere blessud virgyns in hevene on heyhe, and thongede God wyth all hurre myht, and full gladde in hert he was also. For every nyht he saw gret lyht aboute hurre tombe when he dud go. Thredtene here continually forsothe þere were Gret miraclus at hurre tombe ydo. And pilgrymys comen ever bothe fer and nere. And presoners ouht of presone weron lousede also. And all þe reme had gret joy, y wys, of þis blessud virgyn Seynt Ede. For what þat ever was done amys, he wolde hem help hyff þey hurre bede. Mo vertwys werkus forsothe he wrouht, þis blessud virgyn Seynt Ede, For his love þat hurre dere bouht, þenne ycon owther wryte or rede.

The Wilton Chronicle

Soon after that one, word travelled far and wide of the miracles that occurred for her there. Any person who had any sickness in the surrounding countryside could have healing if he came to her tomb there. Blind men were given their sight there, and crippled and maimed people received their healing. Miracles were performed there day and night, and many crowds of sick people came there. Many lepers were cleansed there; delirious people regained their wits. Whatever sickness any person had, he could find bodily healing there. If someone would meekly pray to St Edith, and meekly come to her in pilgrimage, he would have her help before he left Wilton, whatever type of disease he had. When her blessed mother knew all these things, and saw them well every day with her own eyes, she knew finally that Edith’s soul was in bliss with other blessed virgins in heaven on high. She thanked God with all her might, and she was very happy in her heart as well. For every night she saw a great light about the tomb when she went there. Truly, there were great miracles performed at her tomb for thirteen years continuously. Pilgrim came always, from far and near, and prisoners were released from prison also. All the realm had great joy from the blessed virgin St Edith, for no matter what (bad things) happened, she would help them if they asked. Truly, this blessed virgin St Edith performed more virtuous deeds than I can either write or read about, all for the love of him who redeemed her. (2368)

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Bot byfore hurre translacion ychave wrytone þis, þe wheche ychave in storyus ofto redde, þe very trewthe ryht as hit tys, After my connyng, so God me rede. And hyff ychave ony thyng mys do, dyscrete reder, y þe mekely prey, þat he wolde fouchesave to correcty hit so, þat y nave no vyleny þere by. And all þat faverythe me in þis, y prey to God and to Seynt Ede, heve hym grace to have þe blys þat Jhû dwellyth inne yn hys Godhede. Amen, amen, for charite, Prey we all þat hit so be. Þis blessud virgyn Seynt Ede113 twolfe here complete in hurre tombe lay, as saffe, as hole, as he upone urthe hede, and gret miraclus wrouht bothe nyht and day. Bot þe threttenethe here, as ychave redde, almyhty God, þe kyng of grace, nolde let hurre body no lengur be hedde, seyth herre soule was in so joyfull a place. Bot by vision sende hurre brother to Etheldrede, þat was kyng of Englonde þat stounde, and by visyon badde hym to Wyltone go, and takon up þat blessed body ouht of þe grounde, and sayde þat body was worthy to have grettore honour among urthelyche peple in þis worde here, of þe whyche, þe soule dwellythe up in hevene toure, among þe virgynis and angelys so clere. Þis visyon þe kyng hym self say firste and merveylede þerof meche in his thouht. Bot to nomonn þerof speke he ne dyrste, bot hulte hym styll as he nouht rouht, tyll hit come to þe thrydday.

Left margin: hic incipit translacio Sancta Edithe; the adaptation of the Translatio in Goscelin’s Legenda Edithae begins here, with Chapter 1 (this and all subsequent references are to the edition published as ‘La Legende’, ed. by Wilmart).

The Wilton Chronicle

I can, however, write about this miracle that happened before her translation; I have often read the truth of it just the way in histories, as God has advised me in my understanding. And if I have mistaken in anything, discreet reader, I meekly ask that you would allow me to correct it, so that I suffer no disgrace from it. For all readers that do as I ask, I pray to God and St Edith to give them the grace to have the bliss of the Godhead of Christ. We all pray for charity so that it might be so: amen, amen. For twelve whole years this blessed virgin St Edith lay in her tomb, as safe and whole as when she walked upon the earth, and she performed great miracles there both night and day. In the thirteenth year, as I have read, Almighty God, the king of grace, did not wish her body to be hidden any longer, since her soul was in such a joyous place. God sent that message by a vision to her brother Æthelred, who was King of England at that time, and ordered him to go to Wilton and take that blessed body out of the ground. The vision said that body was worthy to have greater honour among earthly people here in this world, since the soul lived up in the tower of heaven among the virgins and bright angels. The king saw the vision first himself, and wondered much in his thought. But he did not dare to speak of it to anyone, and kept his own counsel for three days. (2403)

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For thre nyhtes arowe he seyh þat same syht, þen dudde þe Duke of Cornwayle to þe kyng say, ‘Syre, y mette a merveylle swevene to nyht. Me thouht þat a semely lady come me to þis nyht same thre tymes, y wys, and badde þat y chulde heyhe, and to howe go, and grete how well, and say how þys, þat hit was Goddus owne wyll, seurly, þat þe body shulde be here in urthe in gret honour, of þe whyche, þe soule was in hevene on heyhe, ychosyn in to his owne heyhe toure’. ‘For sothe, Ordulfe’, qd þe kyng þo, ‘þis same swevene, verylyche, met y þus thre nyhtes arowe now last a go, and suche a fayre lady me þouht y sey, þat badde me heyhe to Wyltone for my sustre sake, Ede þat was ded mony day a go, and sayde y shulde hurre body up take and do hit grette worshuppe, he badde also’. Bot ryht as þuse twey princes taledone þis, and gretlyche in hurre hert merveyldedone also, a letter from Seynt Dunstone to hem comen ys, þe whyche was Archebysshoppe of Caunturbury þo, I send by a worshipfull knyht, þe whyche hadde sey þe same visione also, Thre tymes byfore in won nyht, Ryht as þe kyng and þe duke hadden ydo. Certyfyenge þe kyng of his vision also, þe whyche he hadde ysey wyth his heyhe, how allmyhty Gode had send hym to a messyngere from hevene an hyhe. Þis messengere was þat mayde Seynt Ede, þe whyche was sende from þe kyng of grace, Furst to hurre brother Kyng Etheldrede, and nexte to syre Ordulf, þat Duke of Cornuayle þo wase, and nexte after to þat worshipfull knyht, of þe whyche y spake of here byfore.

The Wilton Chronicle

He had the same vision for three nights in a row; on the third day, the Duke of Cornwall said to the king, ‘Sir, I dreamed a marvellous dream last night. I thought that a beautiful woman came to me at the same time for the past three nights, and said that I should travel to you, greet you fairly, and say that it is surely God’s will that her body should be held in great honour here on earth, for its soul is in heaven on high, elected into its own high tower’. The king then said, ‘Truly, Ordulf, I dreamt this same dream, most certainly, in the three nights just passed, and I thought I saw a fair lady as well, who ordered me to travel to Wilton for my sister’s sake, for Edith who died a long time ago. She said I should take her body up out of the earth and she also ordered that I show it great honour’. Just as these two noblemen told each other these dreams, and wondered mightily in their hearts, a letter came to them from St Dunstan, who was Archbishop of Canterbury then, sent by an honourable knight who had seen the same vision also, three times in one night, just as the king and the duke had seen. That message certified the king’s vision also, how he had seen with his own eyes that Almighty God had sent to him a message from heaven on high. This messenger was that maid, St Edith, who was sent from the King of Grace, first to her brother Æthelred, then to Sir Ordulf the Duke of Cornwall, and next to that noble knight, of whom I spoke before. (2440)

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Bot when þus thre wittenesse weron þus ydyht by þe blessud Trinity us lore, þo after warde he come sone anone, bryhtore þenne þe sonne in May, 2445 To þis bysshop Seynt Dunstone, and þuse wordus to hym dude say, ‘Almyty God, maker of all thyng, þorwe mynde of his mercy and of his grace, hathe take up my soule to his dwellynge 2450 (fol. 224v)In hevene, into þat joyfull place. Bot het hit pleseth to his benignite To clarfye þat to mones hele here. Wherfore to howe he hath send me, byddyng þat he shulde my body up rere. 2455 In hast to Wylton he bytte how gon to parforme þe fette of his owne wyll, and take up my body from þe urthe anone, þat lyth þere as þowe leydyst hit styll, to claryfy þe powere of Goddus myht 2460 In to monnes hele and his hereynge. For þere shull be wrouht myracles day and nyht þorw þe godenesse of hevene kyng And þat he douht no thyng of þis, ny holde hit for no fantasy, 2465 he shull fynd my body þere, y wys, as hole lygyng as ever alive he hit seye,114 þe organys of þe lemys ouht take, þe whyche childlych y usede when y was chylde, as felyng and seyht ys from hem take 2470 From þe fyngers wyth þe whyche y fedde bestes wylde. Bot all þe remanent of my body, as hole hit ys, Excepte þe organys of þe lemys þe whyche governede my wittes five, and as clene wyth ouht ony corrupcione hit is, as hit was whenne yche was on urthe alyve.

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MS: as ever he alive he hit seye.

The Wilton Chronicle

After these three witnesses were prepared by the knowledge of the blessed trinity, she returned soon, brighter than the sun in May, to the bishop St Dunstan, and said to him these words: ‘Through the greatness of his mercy and his grace, Almighty God, maker of all things, has taken my soul up to his dwelling in heaven, that joyful place. But it pleases his kindness to illuminate that joy here for human salvation. Therefore, he has sent me to you, bidding that he wishes my body risen up. He orders that you go in haste to Wilton to perform this act in accordance with his will: take up my body from the earth, which lies there now just as it was when you laid it there then, to illuminate the power of God in human salvation and to praise him. There will be miracles performed day and night through the goodness of heaven’s king. So that you doubt none of this message, nor think that it is simply a fantasy, you will truly find my body there, lying as whole as it was when I was seen alive — except for the organs of the body parts, which I used childishly when I was a child, since feeling and sight came from them, and came from the fingers with which I fed wild beasts. But all the rest of my body is whole, except the organs of the body parts which controlled my five senses, and it is as pure, without any corruption, as it was when I was alive on earth. (2474)

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And þe thombe of my ryht honde, forthere more, ys as hole in fel and flesshe and blode, wyth þe whyche y was ywonde to blesse me byfore where ever y went, sete, or stode. And also freysshe hit is to lokon now also, as ever hit was in my lyff day. Þe godenesse of God hath ykepte hit so and more bettre þenne y con how now say. Bot more for my fader gulte, for sothe hit is, þat þe organys of my nother lemys ben take away, þen for ony thynge þat y dud my self amys owthere by nyht or ellus by day. Another token he shull have more þerto, þe whyche he shull redylyche se wyth hour heyhe. Þe urthe þat my body lyht on is mevyd also, y mevyd all from þe grounde an hyhe, to shew well þat my body is redy þenne to go, and þat hit is hollyche Goddus owne wyll. Þuse signes he shull se þere and het well mo, þe whyche y nulle not howe now tell’. And when Seynt Dunstone had herd and sey all þis, and Kyng Etheldrede hadde send hym letters also, Towarde Wylton he toke þe way, y wys, also blyve as he myht þeder warde go. Bot syxscore myle to Wyltone he hadde, For he dwelt at Caunturbury þo. And fyve dayes jorneys he þederwarde madde, Ore he come Salysbury to. And þe same nyht þat Seynt Dunstone to Salesbury come, he saw by vysione all þat he saw here and myche more, and grettur credence to hym he þere nonne þen he dudde ony tyme þer byfore. For as sone as he was yleyde, y wys, in his bedde þere to slepe, bot fulyche as slepe het he nys, when he þis swevene dude þere mete.

The Wilton Chronicle

Furthermore, the thumb of my right hand is whole in skin and flesh and blood because I used to bless myself with it wherever I walked, sat, or stood. Now, it is also as fresh to look upon as it ever was when I was alive. The goodness of God has preserved it that way, even better than I can tell you now. The organs of my lower body parts have been taken away, truly, more for my father’s guilt than for anything I myself did sinfully at any time. You will have another token as well, which you will easily see with your eyes. The earth that my body rests on is moved, moved all from the higher ground, to show well that my body is ready to go, and that it is wholly God’s own will. You will see these signs there, and others as well, which I will not tell you now’. When St Dunstan had heard and seen all this, and King Æthelred had sent him letters also, he travelled to Wilton as joyfully as was possible. He had a journey of six-score (120) miles, since he lived at Canterbury. He travelled for five days before he came to Salisbury. On the same night that he arrived in Salisbury, he saw again by vision everything that he had seen before and much more, and he gave even greater credence to the vision than he had any time before. For as soon as he lay in his bed to sleep, but was not yet fully asleep, he dreamed there this dream. (2510)

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Hym thouhte þat he was at Wyltone þo. in þe chirche þere hurre body in tombe was. And gret lyht hym þouht he sey þere, and angels to, and Seynt Denys þat holy martir stode in þat plase. Bytwene þe tombe hym þouht þat martir þo stode, wyth angelus and aposteles dignite, byfore þe auter fayre and gode, y halwyde in þe name of þe Trinity. He saw stonde among hem also þat blessud virgyn Seynt Ede, þe whyche honestlyche spake Seynt Dunstone to, þat sayde, ‘Lowe, syre, take he gode hede. Fader, he knowel what hit plesithe God to do by me, and for he shulde knowe þe trewthe all veryly, God hath sende us now hedur to þe, For þis is þe expounder of Goddus wyll þat stond me by’. Seynt Denys spake to Seynt Dunston þo and sayde, ‘Brother, þe wyll of God is þis, þat he take up þys body and grette worshippe do þerto, of þe whyche þe soule is worshippud in hevene blys. For hit ouhte well to have gret worshepe in urthe here, þe wheche was keper of so clene virgynyte, and þe clene habitacyon of God also yfere. Go forthe, brother, and herre of witenesse take of me’. Wyth þat, Seynt Dunstone from slepe awoke, and verylyche trewe byleve þerof he hadde þo. And anone as hit was day, þe way he toke Towarde Wylton as fast as he myht go. Etheldrede þe kyng, hurre brother, he founde þere þo, and he tolde to Seynt Dunstone his swevene anone. Ordulf þe Duke of Cornuayll, and þe Errell of Dorsed also, þey tolden hym hurre swevenes everichone. Þe bysshop of Wynchester, Seynt Alphege, was þere þo by cause of a vision þat he hadde ysey þre nytes byfore, and þe bysshop of Wylton, wyth other prelates mo. And þere was rehersed þe miracle þat was do when Bryhtwyde was bore.

The Wilton Chronicle

He thought he was at Wilton in the church where her body was entombed. He thought he saw there a great light, and angels too, and St Dennis that holy martyr stood in that place. He thought that martyr stood beside the tomb with angels and honoured apostles, beautiful and good before the altar, hallowed in the name of the Trinity. He also saw that blessed virgin St Edith standing among them, who spoke nobly to St Dunstan and said, ‘Lo, sir, take good notice. Father, you know well what pleases God for you to do for me, and so that you would know the truth with certainty, God has sent us here to you, for this is the expounder of God’s will that stands next to me’. Then St Dennis spoke to St Dunstan, saying, ‘Brother, it is the will of God that you take up this body and do it great honour, since its soul is honoured in the bliss of heaven. It should have great honour here on earth, since it was the keeper of such pure virginity together with the pure habitation of God. Go forth, brother, having taken this testimony from me’. With that, St Dunstan awoke from his sleep, and had very true belief in his vision. As soon as it was day, he took the road from Salisbury to Wilton as fast as he could. He found Æthelred the king, her brother, already there, who told to St Dunstan his own dream. Duke Ordulf of Cornwall and the Earl of Dorset also told him their dreams. St Elphege, the bishop of Winchester, was there as well, because of a vision he had seen three nights before, and the bishop of Wilton was there with many other prelates. St Elphege related the miracle that happened when Brightgifu was born. (2546)

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And when þe kyng and þuse bysshoppus were gedered þus yfere, and þis miracle rehersed byfore ysayd, wyth mony othur miraclus þat þere do were, þey wenton to þe Tombe of þis blessud mayde, and hevyn up þe stone, and leyden hit a syde. Þe urthe also þey caston from þat plase away, and vondeden þat place, and made hit ryde, tyll þey þat blessud body hadden ysaye. Þey founde þo all thyng sothe ysayde byfore, and hurre blessud body all holl þey hit founde, y wys, and a rerede up from þe grounde two fote and more, and all redy to take up, forsothe, hit þo was. Þis blessude body as hole þey hit founde115 Ryht as alyve hit was goynge here, y wys, and as sote a savore come ouht of þat grounde as þaw hit hadde come ouht from paradys. And when þe kyng and þus bysshoppus thre, wyth other prelatus and lordus monyone mo, seyen þat hurre body was as feyre, as hole, as bryht in ble as hit was alyve when hit dude here go, Excepte þe organys as y sayde how ere, As seyht and felynge weron ytaken hem fro, wyth þe same organys þat þey inne were. Bot þe ryht thome was as freysshe as hit alive were þo. Þo were þey glad and þongedon God herne, and hurre moder wyth other maydenes song Te Deum an hyhe. And other pepull fast abouht dudde renne to se how holle þat feyre body þere lye. And Seynt Dunstone toke up þat fayre body þo, þat was so sote so fayre and so bryht, wyth other bysshoppus mony mo, and leyden hit upon Gabriel auter ryht.

Lines 2557–59 are added as a correction at the bottom of fol. 225v.

The Wilton Chronicle

When the king and the bishops were thus gathered together and had related this miracle and many others that had occurred there as well, they went to the tomb of this blessed maid, and heaved up the stone, and laid it aside. They cast away the earth from that spot, and found the right place, and readied it until they had seen that blessed body. They found then that all the things said before were true — they found her blessed body all whole, raised up from the ground more than two feet, and all ready to be taken up out of the earth. They found this blessed body that looked just as if it were alive, walking here on earth, with a smell that came out of the ground as sweet as though it came from paradise. The king and those three bishops, with many other lords and prelates, then saw that her body was as fair, as whole, as bright in complexion as it was when it was alive — except for those organs that I described before, from which sight and feeling came. The right thumb was as fresh as if it were alive. Then they were glad, and earnestly thanked God as Edith’s mother and the other maidens sang Te Deum on high. Other people came quickly to see how whole that fair body was, lying there. With many other bishops, St Dunstan then took up that fair body, that was so sweet, so fair, and so bright, and laid it upon Gabriel’s altar. (2578)

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Þe chirche was so full þo of swetnesse þat come from þat blessud body þat lay byfore hem þere, and wyth so grete joy song and gladnesse þat ychemonn made wyth other yfere, þat every mon myht han ben full glad in hert, cryston mon, or hethone, or what ever he were, 2585 þat gret joy and myrthe to have yseye or herde, þat was among þat peple þo þere. Þus was þe blessud body of þis holy virgyn Seynt Ede wyth suche Joy ouht of þe urthe ytake, as hole, as fayre, as hit upon urthe ude, 2590 and gret myrth was ymade þere for hurre sake. Þe thrydday of Novembre, forsothe hit was, þat þis blessede body up of þe urthe was take, in þe nyenthe hondrys foure score and syxsteth her of grace after þat Jhû was bore of Mary for owre sake, 2595 and þe fyftenethe here of hurre brother rengnynge, Etheldrede þat kyng was in Englonde þo, þe whyche gret tribulacione hadde in his levynge, after þat Seynt Dunstone to hevene was ygo. Bot of Kyng Etheldrede now speke y nomore, 2600 bot of a fayre meracle y chull how tell,116 þe whyche was done þat same day þore, as he mowe in þe legend rede and spell. Þe abbot of Glastynbury þat day was þere and of his monchus tweyne or thre. 2605 (fol. 226v)Bot on of hem brouht hym self in to gret fere. Edulf was þat monchus nome, as he in boke mowe se. Þis monke þouht in his hert þo Some releke of þat blessud body to kete þat day. And wyth his knyffe he went hurre to, 2610 and kotte a pese of hurre curtyll away. 2580

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Left margin: miraculum: Goscelin, Legenda Edithae; Translatio, chapter 2.

The Wilton Chronicle

The church was so full of sweetness that came from that blessed body that lay before them, and each man made such a greatly joyous song with the others, that every person there rejoiced completely in his heart. Every Christian, or even heathen, felt great joy to have seen or heard the celebration that was among the congregation there. Thus was the blessed body of this holy virgin St Edith taken out of the earth with such joy — as whole, as fair as when she walked upon the earth — and great celebration was made there for her sake. Truly, it was the third day of November that this blessed body was taken out of the earth, in the nine hundred, four score, and sixteenth year of grace after Christ was borne of Mary for our sake (AD 996). It was in the fifteenth year of her brother’s reign, King Æthelred of England, who had great tribulation throughout his life once St Dunstan was gone to heaven. But of King Æthelred I will speak no more — instead, I will tell you of a fair miracle, which was done that same day, as you can read or hear from the Legendary. The Abbot of Glastonbury was there that day with two or three of his monks. One of those monks brought himself into great fear. Edulf was that monk’s name, as you can see in the book. This monk thought then in his heart to steal some relic of that blessed body that day. He went to her with his knife and cut away a piece of her girdle. (2610)

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Bot as he kotte þat pese from hurre curtyl away, wyth his knyff he towchede some what hurre brestbone, þat of þat blessede virgyn þere as he lay, þe redde blode from þat touche so fast ron as þawe hit hade come from a lyvyng monn þat hadde be lette blode in a quyke veyne, y wys. And so fast þe blode from hurre body ron, þat all hurre clothus þerof wete wys. And when þe monke sey þat all þe pamet was redde, and all his clothus and huron weron wete also, for sorwe he fell doune aswowe as þaw he were dede. Bot his brethron token hym up from þe urthe þo. And he cryede God mercy and eke Seynt Ede, and repentede hym of þis dede full sore. And all men for hym also þo bede To Jhû þat was of Mary ybore. And when he hadde repentyd hym þus, and þe processione ydo for hym also, þe pament was as clene as hit byfore was and no thyng senene þat þere was do. Hurre clothus were hole as þey ere were. And þe blode from hem was clene ago. And hurre lappe was hole aheyn ally fere, and no thyng senene of þat þat ye knyff had ydo. And when ye monke had seye all þis, and knewe verylyche in hert þat hit was so, Full joyfull in hert he was þerfore, y wys, and all other men þat were wyth hym þo. Bot Kyng Etheldrede was full glad in his hert þo, and Alphege and Seynt Dunstone bothe, y wys, for þat gret myracle þat þey sey þere ydo, and thongedone heylyche God þerfore kyng of blys. Þis miracle was in þe day nexste after hurr translacyon ydo, whyle Kyng Etheldrede hurre brother was þere, and Seynt Dunston and þat holy martir Seynt Alphege also, and also in presense of Seynt Wultrud hurre moder dere.

The Wilton Chronicle

But as he cut that piece away from her girdle, he touched the breastbone of that blessed virgin very lightly with his knife, and the red blood ran as fast from that touch as though it came from a living person who had been bled from a living vein. The blood ran so fast from her body that all her clothes were wet with it. When the monk saw that all the floor was red, and all his clothes as well as hers were wet, he fell down in swoon for sorrow, as if he were dead. His brethren picked him up off the floor, and he cried to God and St Edith for mercy, repenting very fervently for his deed. All the people there also prayed for him to Christ that was borne of Mary. When he had repented in this way and a procession had been done as well, the floor was as clean as it had been before, and nothing could be seen of that episode. Her clothes were as whole as they were before and the blood was completely gone. Her chest was again altogether whole, and nothing the knife had done to her could be seen. When the monk had seen all this, and knew it truly in his heart, he and all the other men with him were very joyful. King Æthelred, Elphege, and St Dunstan rejoiced as well for that great miracle that had seen performed there, and they fervently thanked God, King of Bliss. This miracle occurred on the day after her translation, while her brother King Æthelred was there at Wilton with St Dunstan and that holy martyr St Elphege as well as St Wulfthryth, her dear mother. (2646)

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Sone after, another miracle was do þere het.117 For a lady of þat same abbay wolde han kotte away a gobet of þe vylette þat upon þat blessud virgynes hedde þat tyme lay. And a litul particule þerof he wolde fayne han hadde, and wyth hurre knyff þedur þerfore dudde go. Bot þat blessud virgyn sodenlyche heve up here hedde, Ryht as þaw he hadde ben alyve þere þo, and schewede þat lady wyth hurre chere also þat hit nas not þe wyll of God, ny for hurre hele, þat he wolde so prowdelyche þedere so go, or ony pece of hurre blessud clothus to stele. Bot when þis lady hadde yseye þat syht, he repentede hurre þerof full sore and was sore aferde, and eke affryht, and mekelyche cryede hurre mercy and hore. And of þat miracule he was full glad also. Seynt Wultrude hurre moder was also ful glad in hert, y wys, and all oþer peple þat was in þat place þere þo, and knewell hurre soule had gret joy and eke blys. Bot þat lady was ever after full sore adredde, and gret penaunce ever to hurre he toke, and mercy ever of Seynt Ede he bedde, and all wordelyche lustes full clene forsoke. And ever after forsothe a parfyt lever was he, þe whyche hadde be a ful rechelesse womon byfore, and wel lovede and wel worshepede þat mayde fre, and blessud þe tyme þat he was in ybore. Wherfore þat blessud virgyn Seynt Ede Comfordede þat lady afterwarde in suche manere, ‘God hath grauntyd þe hevene blys to mede, For þy gode werkus, Elbryht, þat þu worchest now here. And wyth þys fourty dayes, y wys, þu shalt come to hevene on hyhe, and dwell þere ever þu shalt in blys wyth God and wyth his blessud mayneyhe’.

Left margin: miraculum: Goscelin, Legenda Edithae; Translatio, chapter 2.

The Wilton Chronicle

Soon after, yet another miracle was performed there. For a lady of that same abbey wished to cut away a piece of the cloth ornament that lay upon the blessed virgin’s head at that time. She would have liked to have had a small part of it, and so went there with her knife. But that blessed virgin suddenly lifted up her head, just as if she were alive, and showed that lady with her expression that it was not the will of God, and not good for her well-being, that she might go there so proudly to steal any piece of the blessed cloth. When this lady had seen this sight, she fervently repented, and she was very afraid. She meekly asked St Edith for mercy, because she was very glad for that miracle. Her mother St Wulfthryth was very glad in her heart as well, as were all the other people in that abbey there. St Wulfthryth knew well that St Edith’s soul had great joy and bliss. That lady who had tried to steal the cloth was ever after in dread for her soul, and always performed great penance and completely gave up all worldly desires as she prayed always for mercy to St Edith. She then led a virtuous life, who had been a very sinful woman before, and she loved and worshipped that noble maiden, and blessed the time in which she had been born. Therefore, that blessed virgin St Edith comforted that lady afterward in this way: ‘God has granted you heaven’s bliss as a reward for your good works, Elbright, that you perform here now. Within the next forty days, you will truly come to heaven on high and live there after in bliss with God and his blessed company’. (2682)

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Seynt Ede warnede þis lady thus, For he shulde knowell þat he had kete of God mercy and grace, and kete wyth hurre repentaunce hevene blys, and to dwell wyth God in his holy place. Þe foure and threttythe day after þat, y wys, bodylyche sekenesse come þat lady to. And þe fourthe day after, here soule past forthe is to hevenelyche joy from wordelyche wo. Wyth hevenelyche lyht and angelys song, hurre soule was fatte up to hevene blys. And Seynt Ede hurre self was þuse angelys among,118 bodylyche he was þere yseyhen, y wys. Þis lady, for þe whyche þuse myraclus weron wrouht, Elbryht was þat ladyes name, y wys. Whoso wolle trust to God þat hym dure bouht, his sowle may ryht sone come to blys. And when þis blessud woman, Seynt Wultrude, had ysey þuse gret myracles þus ydo, and þat mekenesse and levyng of pryde myht breng mones soule to blys so, blessedlocurre hyf he myht he ladde hurre lyff, þen he dudde þere ever by fore, Ever in mekenesse wyth ouht stryff. Mekelyche he levede after þe gospelleslore, and plesede God ever wyth all hurre myht in penaunce doyng, and wyth almys dede, and in gode preyeres bothe day and nyht, and thongede ever God for hurre douhter Ede. And so he continuede ever in vertwys levyng all þe dayes of hurre vertwys lyff. Bot God, þat is knower of all thyng, and maker of pesse, and stauncher of stryff, nolde not let hurre vertwys levyng no lengur behud, bot to shewe hit ouht to mones hele he þouht.

Left margin: marianus scotus. Marianus Scotus, author of an eleventh-century chronicle, was an Irish monk who became a hermit at Fulda.

The Wilton Chronicle

St Edith warned this lady in this way so she would know well that she had received mercy and grace from God, and received heaven’s bliss for her repentance so she would dwell with God in his holy place. The thirty-fourth day after that, a bodily sickness came to that lady. The fourth day after that, her soul passed forth to heaven’s joy from worldly woe. With heavenly light and angels’ song, her soul was carried up to the bliss of heaven. St Edith herself was among those angels; she was seen to be there bodily. The lady for whom these miracles were performed was named Elbright. Whoever trusts to God that nobly redeemed him — that person’s soul can come to bliss in just this way. When this blessed woman St Wulfthryth had seen these great miracles performed, and knew that meekness and renunciation of pride can bring a person’s soul to bliss in this way (if she could lead her life more blessedly), then she did all things there in meekness without any conflict. Humbly she lived according to the teachings of the gospel, and she always tried with all her might to please God in doing penance, giving alms, praying day and night, and thanking God always for her daughter Edith. And so she continued ever in virtuous living all the days of her virtuous life. God, who knows all things, the maker of peace and the repressor of conflict, did not wish to leave her virtuous living hidden; he thought to show it widely for man’s salvation. (2716)

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And ofte tymes, as ychave yrudde, gret myracules for hurre he wrouht. Of þe whyche, on y chull how tell,119 as ycahve redde in trewe story. In þe countre þere as Benna dude dwell, a byson mon dwelt fast hym by, þe whyche hadde ben bleynte all his lyve and het thretty wyntre he was of age. Ny conforde nad, non of childe, ny wyve, het he was come of heyhe lynage. Bot to þe chirche of Treves he wolde ofto go. A litull childe ofto tymes þedur hym ladde, þere as Benne was chanon þo. And so in holy lyvyng his lyff he ladde. Bot whenne he herde Benne speke, he knewe hym well, and Benne wolde talke wyth hym wyth gode chere, and gode tales of Wultrude, and of Seynt Ede, he wolde hym tell, and þis bleynde mon wolde hym full gladlyche here. Bot hit byfell so upone a day, þat he was for hete full long at chirche, For his child was gone forthe to play, For few other werkus wold he wyrche. Þis bysone mon full wery of sete he was, and ryht gret lust he hadde to slepe. He layde hym doun þo ryht in þat place and a graciose swevene þere dude he mete. Hym thouht þat a lady fayre and bryht, lyke to a prelet as þawe hit were, Come to hym þere as he lay ryht, and sayde, ‘Sone, why lyste þu here? Ryse up’, he sayde, ‘and þe way asshe to Wyltone, and to þat abbas Wultrude, and preyhe hurre þat he wolde hurre honden wasshe. And wash þu þi nynon wyth þat water, as yche þe rude, and þu shalt have clerely þy syht hyff þu wult do as y þe rede.

Right margin: miraculum: Goscelin, Legenda Edithae; Translatio, chapter 3.

The Wilton Chronicle

As I have read, He performed great miracles for her; I will tell you one of those as I have read it in true history. In the country where Brother Benno lived, a blind man lived close to him. He had been blind all his life and was thirty years old. He had no comfort of children or of a wife, even though he came from a high lineage. Led by a little child, he would often go to the church at Treves, where Benno was then a canon. And so he led his life in holy living. When he heard Benno speak, he knew him well, and Benno would talk with him with good disposition, and tell him good stories of Wulfthryth and St Edith, which this blind man would very gladly hear. It happened one day that the blind man was forgotten for a long time at the church, since his child-guide had gone out to play, not wishing to do any more work. This blind man grew tired of sitting and had a great desire to sleep. So he lay down right there in the church and dreamed a gracious dream. He thought that a bright and beautiful lady, who carried herself like a prelate, came to him as he lay right there. She said, ‘Son, why do you lie here? Rise up and ask the way to Wilton and to the Abbess Wulfthryth, and then ask if she would wash her hands. And then, as I counsel you, wash your eyes with that water and you will have your clear sight, if you do as I say. (2752)

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Go forthe and travell bothe day and nyht, and smartlyche do as y þe bydde’. Þis bysone mon woke of his slepe, And a full gladmon in hert was he. And for joy he brake ouht and wepe þat ony mon myht have pety to se. Bot Benne sone herde þat wepyng noyce þo, and come to hym sone after anone, and sayde, ‘Beteryke, what deseysse is come þe to, þat þu art now so sorwefoll a monn?’ ‘Nayhe, syre, is for Joy, and no for deseysse no, bot for joy of a swevene þat y have mette now ryht. Me þouht þat a fayre lady come me to, and sayde þat y shulde have my syht, hyf y cholde þe way to Wyltone asshe, and preyhe Wultrude, þat is now abbas þere, þat he wolde in water hurre honden wasshe, and blesse þat water wyth gode chere, and take to me þat water þenne, þat y myht wasshe þer wyth my nynon two. And þenne my syht þere sholdy wynne, hyf y wolde, he sayde, do ryht so. Wherfore, Benne, mekelyche y preyhe now þe, þat he wolde now þedur wyth me go, and speke to þat lady for me, þat þis thyng myht þus be do’. Benne stode styll and herkenede all his speche. And full gladde in hert he was þo also, and sayde, ‘Beteryche, where he be bycome suche a leche, þat he may hele þyn nynon two?’ ‘he, forsothe, syre’, qd Beteryche to Benne þo, ‘þis feyre lady trewelyche dude to me so tell. Wherfore, y prey how þat he wolden now wyth me go, For y thenk no lengur here to dwell’. Benne hadde gode wyll Wultrude to se, and grauntede þus bysone mon þat he wolde wyth hym to Wyltone go.

The Wilton Chronicle

Go forth, travel day and night, and earnestly do as I order’. The blind man awoke from his sleep, and he felt very glad in his heart. For joy he broke out weeping, so that any man would have pity to see him. Brother Benno soon heard the noise of that weeping, and came to him right then, saying, ‘Beteric, what discomfort is come to you to make you so sorrowful?’ ‘No, Sir, I cry for joy, not for any disease, but for joy of a dream I have just now dreamed. I thought a beautiful lady came to me and said that I would have my sight if I would ask the way to Wilton, and ask Wulfthryth, who is now abbess there, if she would wash her hands in water, bless that water with goodwill, and then take that water to me so that I might wash my two eyes with it. She said that if I would do just that, then I would gain my sight. Therefore, Benno, I humbly ask you now if you would go there with me and speak to that lady for me so that this thing might be done’. Benno stood still and listened to all his speech. He was very glad in his heart as well, and said, ‘Beteric, who has become such a doctor, that he might heal your two eyes?’ Beteric said to Benno then, ‘Yes, sir, truly, this fair lady did tell it thus to me. Therefore, I ask if you would go with me, since I plan not to stay here any longer’. Benno wished to see Wulfthryth, and so he agreed that he would go to Wilton with the blind man. (2788)

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And forthe þey wentone, þis bysone monn and he, and comen to Wyltone sounde and save bothe two, And founden Woltrud anon redylyche þere, Abbas as he ouhte forto be, þe whyche welcome Benne wyth ryht gode chere, and þe bysone mon þat myht not se. And Benne told to Wultrude anone þat swevene, þe whyche þe bysone mon hadde mette in Treves chirche, and preyhede hurre for þe kynges love of hevene, þat he wolde fouchesaf his hele to wyrche. Wultrud sayde þat he was not worthy, suche maystryes to wyrche or make, ny durst not tempte hurre God so heyly, ny suche presumpsuisnas upone here take. Bot Benne consulede herre ever þerto, and preyhede hurre to do hit so fast, þat he conscendede þere to also, and so he dude hit at þe last. A basyn wyth water þo forthe was fatte. And Wultrud þerinne hurre honden dude wasshe. Þat bysone mon þo by hurre satte and mekelyche after þat water dude asshe. Bot when he hadde þus hurre honden ywasshe, he knelyng made hurre preyours to God of myht, and in hurre preyours ever he dude asshe þat þis bleynde mon myht have his syht. And when he hadde þus hurre preyours ymade, and wyth hurre hond blessud þis water also, þis bysone mon to þat water he ladde, and wosshe þere wyth his ynon two. And when he hadde wasshe his ynon two wyth þis blessud water so clere, anon he lokede up and sawe all þo þat by hym stoden þat tyme þere. And when he saw all thynge as clerely as þaw he nad never ben bleynde byfore, he þongede God full myeldely and blessede þe tyme þat he was in ybore.

The Wilton Chronicle

They set off and both came to Wilton safe and sound; they readily found Wulfthryth there, who, as abbess, happily welcomed Benno and the blind man. Benno told Wulfthryth right away about the dream which the blind man had in Treves church; he asked her for the love of the King of Heaven if she would agree to work the blind man’s healing. Wulfthryth said she was not worthy to work or make such masterful actions; she did not dare to distress God so much, or to take such presumptions upon herself. But Benno continued to counsel her to the task, and prayed so fervently to her to do it, that she conceded in the end. A basin with water was brought forth and Wulfthryth washed her hands in it. The blind man sat by her and humbly asked her for the water when she was done. When she had washed her hands, however, she knelt and prayed to Almighty God, and in her prayers she asked that his blind man might have his sight. When she had thus made her prayers and blessed the water with her hands, she led the blind man to that water and washed his two eyes with it. When she had washed his two eyes with the clear, blessed water, he looked up right away and saw all the people that stood near him there. He thanked God humbly and blessed the time in which he was born when he saw all things as clearly as if he had never been blind. (2826)

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And þo he sayde to Seynt Wultrud, ‘Y blessede mot þu, my lady, be, For y may now se in all þe worlde so wyde What þat ever me nedyth to se’. And Benne was full glad þo in his þouht, and thongede God þo wyth all his myht, þat suche a meracule for hurre hadde wrouht and heve for hurre love þat bysone mon his syht. Þe sexstenes rong þe belles þo all a bouhte. and þe ladyes song Te Deum an hyhe. and everychemonn to hurre lowe dud lowht þat þis grete meracle þere ydo seyhe. In Seynt Ede chirche of Wyltone, þis meracle was done, Trewelyche, as y howe tell, þe secund here of hurre translacione wose wolle þe trewthe rede or spell. Another miracule het y chul how lere120 To hem þat wollen take hede þerto, how hit byfell þat same here Ryht þere in þat chirche also. Twey prestes, ye whyche were in þat chirche servyng, a litull offense þey hadden ydo To þe meyer, þat was do in Wylton dwellyng.121 Wherfore þey weron arestyd bothe two and in þe preson þey weron ycast.122 And fast yfedryd þey weron þere also. Bot Seynt Woltrude badde þe meyer to tolyvere hem fast ouht of þat penaunce and ouht of þat wo. Bot þis meyer was full of pryde and onswerede Seynt Wultrude, and sayde hurre nay, ‘Nay’, qd þe meyer, ‘þey shull here abyde, and suffre penaunce all þis day’.

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Left margin: miraculum: Goscelin, Legenda Edithae; Translatio, chapter 4.

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Left margin: Istorum sacerdotum ista fuerunt nomina Osmundus et adelmanus (Osmund and Adelman were the names of those priests).

The Wilton Chronicle

Then he said to St Wulfthryth, ‘May you be blessed, my lady, for I can now see anything I need to see in the wide world’. Benno was also very glad, and humbly thanked God with all his might that such a miracle had been performed for her, giving that blind man his sight because of God’s love for her. The sextons rang the bells all around, the ladies sang Te Deum on high, and every person who had seen this great miracle bowed low to her. This miracle was done in St Edith’s church at Wilton, as truly as I tell you, the second year after her translation; anyone who wishes can read or hear the truth. I shall teach you another miracle as well, for those of you who wish to pay attention, which happened in that same year right there in that church. Two priests, who were serving in that church, had offended the mayor of Wilton with a little offense they had committed. Therefore, they were both arrested and cast into prison, tightly fettered there. St Wulfthryth asked the mayor to release them quickly from their penance and woe. But the mayor was full of pride; he denied St Wulfthryth, saying, ‘No, they will stay here and suffer this penance all this day’. (2858)

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Wyth ouht hurre leve, he hem from þe chirche fatte a way and in strong presun þus hem þere cast. And so þey weron payned þere all þat day, þat of hurre lyff þey weron sore agast.123 And of Seynt Wultrud, he toke non hedde, bot hult hem styll so in preson strong. Seynt Wultrud to God he preyhede and bedde þat he nolde not suffre hem abyde þere long, bot to delyver hem þenne þorow his grace From þat peyne þat þey weron þere inne, and to restore hem aheyne in to hurre place. Anon God herde hurre bone pynne. To Wultrude preyours, God toke gode hede, and delyverde hem sone from þat preson so strong, mawgrey þat proude meyeres hedde. Anone, after þat he bodde not long. And to þat meyer, þat was so proude, Suche a sekenesse God hem þo sende, þat of his lyff he was in gret douhtde. And also he hadde clene lefte his mynde. And when he was turmentyd wyth sekenesse so, Ryht in þe same maner as ychave how sayde, To Seynt Wultrude he send messengerus þo. And of hurre grace mekelyche he prayde, and sayde þat he wolde senden þus prestes hurre to, and ever after hurre servand he wold be, wyth þat þat he wolde delyver him ouht of his wo. ‘Y beseche how, lady, þat he wolde preyhe so for me’. And when þis meyers frendus hadden þus ysayde, wepyng and sorwyng in yche a syde, Seynt Wultrude holde hurre ryht wel apayde, and badde hem sende home þe prestes anone in þat tyde. Þenne weron þus prestes delyverd ouht of preson anone, and brouht home aheyne to þat blessud lady þo.

Catch phrase in lower margin: And of Seynt Wultrud.

The Wilton Chronicle

Without her permission, he had them fetched away from the church and cast into a strong prison. They were there all day, in pain, and in fear for their lives. He took no notice of St Wulfthryth as he held them in the strong prison. St Wulfthryth prayed to God, and asked that he would not allow them to stay there long, but would deliver them through his grace from that pain that they were in, restoring them again to Wilton. God heard her pained request. He paid attention to Wulfthryth’s prayers and delivered them soon from that strong prison, despite that proud mayor’s orders. He did not live long after this. God sent a sickness to him so that his life was in great doubt; he was out of his mind. When he was thus tormented with sickness, just as I have told you, he sent messengers to St Wulfthryth, asking humbly for her grace, saying that he would send her those priests and that he would always be her servant, if she could deliver him out of his woe. He said, ‘I beseech you, lady, that you would pray for me’. When the mayor’s friends had told her all this, weeping and sorrowing on every side, St Wulfthryth felt she was requited, and asked them to send the priests home at that time. The priests were delivered out of prison and brought home again to that blessed lady. (2892)

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Bot gret pety hit was to seyn þat proude mon, þo whyche was tourmentyd wyth sekenesse so. Bot when þus prestes weron brouht aheyn home þis, and þe meyer for his mysdede had repentyd hym sore, Wultrud mekelyche preyhede to þe kyng of blys to send hym suche hele as he had byfore. And God herde hurre meke preyours anone, and send hem as gode hele as he hadde eyer. And þe meyer was ever after a gode monn And worshepud ever Seynt Woltrude bothe ferre and nere. And all other men weren gladde to plese hurr þo, and forte displese hurre þey dredden full sore, For þis miracle þat þey seyn þere þus ydo, bot all men duden hurre worshepe, lasse and more. Another meracle het sone after þis was do,124 by cause of þat blessud lady Seynt Wultrude, þe whyche more drede addedde þis other to. For upone a day hit þus bytydde þat a theff, þat had long yley in preson strong, was brokon ouht of þat warde full privelye, and fast ron to chirche among þe þrong, and intrede in to Seynt Edes seynt warye. Bot þe Jaylardes folowedone þis theff full fast, and purseweden after hym in to þat chirche, and sayden þat þey wolden þe hates up barste, and other maystrefull werkus þay wolde wyrche, and sayde þey wolden þat theffe ouht fache, For onymonn þat wold say nay, and breke up bothe lok and lache, and fache þat theffe from þat chirche a way. Bot Seynt Wultrude was sore agast þo, and preyhede Jhû of help and grace To save þis theffe from hongur and wo, and also to kepe hym from þat derke place.

Left margin: miraculum: Goscelin, Legenda Edithae; Translatio, chapter 5.

The Wilton Chronicle

It was a great pity to see that proud man so tormented with sickness. When the priests were brought home again and the mayor had repented fervently for his misdeed, Wulfthryth humbly prayed to the King of Bliss to give the mayor health like he had before. God heard her meek prayers right away and sent health as good as he had ever had. The mayor was a good man ever after, and then always honoured St Wulfthryth, far and wide. All other people were glad to please her; they dreaded to displease her, since they had seen this miracle done there, and all people, both great and humble, gave her honours. Another miracle was done soon after this one, because of that blessed lady St Wulfthryth, which added more dread to that felt because of the other one. One day, it happened that a thief, who had lain long in a strong prison, broke out of that ward very secretly and quickly ran to the church in a crowd. He entered St Edith’s sanctuary. The jailers followed this thief very quickly, pursuing him into the church, and saying that they would burst open the gates and do other feats of strength to fetch the thief out of the church even if anyone told them not to do so. They said they would break the lock and the latch of the church to fetch the thief away from the church. But St Wulfthryth was horrified, and she prayed to Christ for help and grace to save this thief from hunger and woe and to keep him from that dark place. (2926)

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Bot when Seynt Wultrud had preyhede so to Jhû Goddus sone most of myht, God send suche bleynasse þus jaylardus to þat wyth hurre ynon þey sey no syht, bot wenton in þe chirche þere up and doune, and nyst never where þey wenton ny trede. Bot all assmayed, þey setton hem doune and wepton and cryeden fast for drede. Bot anone, after Seynt Wultrude toke þe ryht way to Etheldrede, þat was kyng of Englonde þanne, and mekelyche he dude hym þere pray to heve hurre þe lyff of þat manne, þe kyng grauntede hurre here wyll anone. And þat mon he have hurre þo ryht þere. He thonged þe kyng and went home styll as stone and founde hem bleynde, het ryht as þey were. Bot when þey herden þat he was come home, mekelyche þey preyedone hurre, both day and nyht, þat he wolde have mercy upon hem125 and graunte to hem ahayne hurre syht, and sayden þat þey wolden serve hurre for evermore, mekelyche all þe dayes of hurre lyf, and þat þey repentyd hem wonder sore þat ever þey maden aheyn hurre bate or stryff. And when Seynt Wultrude sawe hem repent hem so mekely, he prayhed to Jhû, Goddus sone, kyng of myht, to graunte to hem ahayn þenne holy bothe hurre hele and eke herre syht. And he graunted to hurre anon hurre bone þorow his grace, and þorow his myht. And þey wenton afterwarde home ful sone, and hadden aheyn bothe herre hele and eke herre syht, and worshepeden ever afterward Seynt Wultrude wyth all herre power, hert, and myht. And so duden all other þe whyche dweltone here bysyde duden to hurre servyse and honour bothe day and nyht.

MS: home.

The Wilton Chronicle

When St Wulfthryth had prayed in this way to Christ, God’s son of greatest might, God sent such blindness to those jailers that they could see no sight with their eyes. They went up and down in the church and never knew where they were going. All dismayed, they sat down and wept and cried earnestly in fear. Then St Wulfthryth made her way to King Æthelred, who was King of England then, and humbly asked him to give her the life of the man in the church. The King granted her wish right away, and gave her jurisdiction over that man right there. She thanked the King and went home, finding the jailers blind and still as stone, just as they had been before. When they heard that she had come home, they meekly begged her, day and night, that she might have mercy on them and grant them their sight again. They said that they would humbly serve her evermore, all the days of their lives, and that they repented earnestly that they had ever caused her any quarrel or strife. When St Wulfthryth saw them repent so humbly, she prayed to Christ, God’s Son, King of Might, to grant wholly to them again both their health and their sight. He granted her request for her through his grace and his power. They went home soon afterwards, and had again both their health and their sight; they honoured St Wulfthryth ever afterward with all their power, heart, and will. So did all the other people who lived near this abbey; they did service and honour to her all the time. (2962)

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Þis meracle was done at Wyltone, as ychave sayde, on þis manere, þe sexstenethe here of Etheldredus regnynge, 2965 þat next after Seynt Edwarde was kyng here, þe whyche was Seynt Edes brother, þat blessud þyng. And a nother grette miracle het þere was do126 in þat same here nexste after þat folewyng, For Seynt Edes sake and for Seynt Wultrude also. 2970 In þe tyme of þe same Kynges Etheldredus regnynge, þere come foure clerkes to Wyltone from ferne londe wyth a litull beryng case full of relekes gode. From Pykardye þey comen, yche understonde, To heve þe pardone of herre relekes to diverse men for herre gode. 2975 (fol. 231v) And also þey comen on pilgrimage to Seynt Ede, For meche gode þey herden of hurre in hurre owne cuntre. And in hope þat þey shulde þe bettre spede, wyth hem þey brouhton þese relekes fre. And among þuse relekes, þat y spake of byfore, 2980 weron þe bones of Seynt Ywen þe confessour,127 y closud in a litull shryne þat myht ben abouht bore, to kepe þuse relekes in grette honour. Bot when Seynt Wultrude wyst þat þuse relekes weron comynge, wyth procession aheynes hem full holylyche he went þo 2985 and brouht hem to þe auter, þe ladyes syngynge, and set þat litull shryne upone Seynt Edes auter also wyth meche worshepe and gret honeste. For God tauht herre ever to do well. For God wolde and know ryht well in privete þat all thyng shulde be ryht as hit fell. 2990 For God hit wolde and knewe hit ryht well, þat þulke relekes nolde never go þen a way. Bot þat þey wolden abyde ryht þere, and ever þere dwell, Ryht þere in Seynt Ede abbay.

126 127

Left margin: miraculum: Goscelin, Legenda Edithae; Translatio, chapter 6.

St Ywi (d. c. 690), Benedictine monk and hermit at Lindisfarne, was ordained a deacon by St Cuthbert. See David H. Farmer, The Oxford Dictionary of Saints, 5th edn (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003).

The Wilton Chronicle

This miracle was done in this way at Wilton, as I have said, in the sixteenth year of Æthelred’s reign, who was king after St Edward, who was St Edith’s brother, that blessed one. Another great miracle was done in the year after for the sake of St Edith and St Wulfthryth. In the time of King Æthelred’s reign, four clerks came to Wilton from a foreign land with a small chest full of good relics. I understand that they came from Picardy, to provide pardons with the power of their relics to various people for their own good. They also came on pilgrimage to St Edith, since they had heard much good about her in their own country. In the hope that they would succeed in their goals, they had brought these noble relics with them. Among the relics, of which I spoke before, were the bones of St Ywi the Confessor, enclosed in a little shrine that could be carried about so that the relics were kept with great honour. When St Wulfthryth knew that these relics were coming to Wilton, she went with holy procession to meet them and brought them to the altar, with the ladies singing, and set the little shrine on St Edith’s altar with great honour and great honesty, for God had taught her ever to do well. God wishes and knows very well that everything should happen just as it does. God knew that these same relics would never leave Wilton, but that they would stay right there forever, right in St Edith’s abbey. (2993)

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Bot when þuse relekes weron þus upon þis auter sette and þe masse ydoune also,128 þuse foure clerkes wenton to hurre mette wyth other clerkus mony on mo. Þey maden mery and glad also, and restede hem þere all þat nyht and othe morwe tyll masse was do, and þen to take herre jorney þey hem dyht. Þo to þe auter after þuse relelkes þey wenton anone, wyth prestes and clerkes in ryht gode aray, bot þis schrene stode þere styll as styff as stone þat all þey myht not drawe hit away. Þey hove, þey drawe, þey shogkeden hit also, and herne þere abouht duden renne and lepe. Bot þenne forsothe hit nolde not go, For all þe help þat þey myht hem gete. Bot when þey seyhe hit nolde not þenne, bot þat hit wolde abyde þere so styll, Sore þey wepton, and saydon, ‘Wollen go henne, For we se welle, þat hit is Goddes owne wyll þat þuse blessud relekus abyde ryht here wyth þis blessud virgyn Seynt Ede and wyth Seynt Wultrude hurre moder dere. For þaw we wolden other weys, we mow not spede’. Seynt Wultrud for þis mracle was full gladde, and specyallyche for þys holy confessourre Seynt Ywenes sake, and also as for Seynt Edes cosyn þey hym hadde. Wherfore grete joy and gladnesse Woltrude made. And to þuse foure clerkus he haff þenne a thousonde shyllynges of golde full rede For þe schrene and þe relekes contened þerinne. And to ben of gode conforth þese clerkes he badde. Bot þey wrongon hurre hondys, and weptone for drede, and renden hurre clothus, and teren herre here, bot ever amonge þey blessedone Seynt Wultrude. Þey wenton anone þo home and taryeden no longer þere.

The y is a later addition.

The Wilton Chronicle

When the relics were set on the altar and the mass was done, these four clerics went to their dinner with many other clerics. They were merry and pleased, and they rested there all that night. The next morning, when mass was done, they prepared to continue their journey. With priests and clerics in good display, they went to the altar to fetch their relics, but the shrine stood there still, as stiff as a stone, so that they could not take it away. They heaved, they pulled, they also shook it, and even ran and leapt around it. But it truly did not wish to go away from there, despite all the help that they tried to get. When they saw that it did not wish to go away, and that it wished to stay there unmoving, they wept fervently, and said, ‘We will leave here, for we see that it is God’s own will that these blessed relics stay here with this blessed virgin St Edith and St Wulfthryth, her mother dear. Even though we wish it were otherwise, we cannot succeed’. St Wulfthryth was very glad about this miracle, especially for the sake of St Ywi the Holy Confessor, as they had him now for St Edith’s companion. Therefore, Wulfthryth made great joy and gladness; she then gave to these four clerics a thousand shillings of pure gold for the shrine and the relics it contained. She told these clerics to be well comforted, although they wrung their hands, wept for dread, and tore their clothes and hair. Even so, they still blessed St Wulfthryth. They went home then, and stayed there no longer. (3029)

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Bot þe contre of Wyltone was þo full gladde, and thongedon God mekelyche and Seynt Ede þat blessud may, For þuse blessude relekes þat þey þere þo hadde, þe whyche ben þere het in to þis day. And also þey hadden Seynt Wultrude in grette honour þen ever þey hadden þat tyme byfore, By cause of Seynt Ywen, þat gode confessour, and of Seynt Ede, þat blessud virgyn þat was of hurre body bore, and also for þat gret somme of golde so rede, þe whyche he payede to þuse clerkus also, þe wheche weron for sorwe so clene wyth ouht rede, and so sore wepyng boskede hem hamarde to go, and also for þe grette cost þat he hade ydo upone Seynt Ede chirche and upone hurre Abbay a litull byfore. For he hadde ywallede well þat abbay all abouht þo and porposede herre forto han ydo het gret cost more. Bot God, þat is knower of all thyng clerely and ordeynyth hit after his owne wyll, nolde not suffre herre no lenger to leve here bodyly, bot ordeyned þat he shulde come hurre douhter tyll, And send doune to hurre a messyngere of sekenesse, And badde her heyhe and make hurre all redy, for he shulde come up to þat holy place and dwell þere ever in joy bothe glad and mery.129 And wyth inne þe utans of hurre douhter Seynt Ede hit was þat Seynt Wultrude was yclept þus up to hevene, to almyhty God þat is so full of grace, of a bryht angel wyth myelde stevene. Þe on and twentythe day of Septembre, forsothe hit was, þat Seynt Wultrude soule past up yp blys. A Seynt Mathies day, þorwe Goddus myht and grace, hurre soule from hurre body departyde ys and brouht up to þe blisse of hevene, wyth angels þat weron bothe bryht and shene, þe whyche song lowde wyth myelde stevene, and brouhton hurre to Ede here douhter, þat mayden clene.

Goscelin, Legenda Edithae; Translatio, chapter 7.

The Wilton Chronicle

The people of Wilton were very pleased, and meekly thanked God and that blessed maid St Edith for the blessed relics that they had there, which are there until this day. They regarded St Wulfthryth with greater honour than they ever had before because of St Ywi, that good Confessor; because of St Edith, that blessed virgin born from Wulfthryth’s body; also for the great sum of pure gold that she paid to those clerics who did not know what to do when they were full of sorrow, fervently weeping as they prepared themselves to go home. The people of Wilton honoured St Wulfthryth as well for the great cost she had incurred for the sake of St Edith’s church and abbey a little while before. She had the abbey well encircled all around by a wall, and intended to do many more costly improvements. But God, who knows all things clearly and orders the world on his own will, did not allow Wulfthryth to live here any longer in her body; he ordered that she should come then to her daughter, and he sent down to her a messenger of a sickness, who told her to hasten to prepare to come up to that holy place and live there forever in glad and merry joy. It was within the week of St Edith’s feast that a bright angel with a sweet voice called St Wulfthryth up to heaven, to Almighty God so full of grace. Truly, it was on the twenty-first day of September that St Wulfthryth’s soul passed up to bliss. Through God’s might and grace, her soul departed from her body on St Matthew’s day and was brought up to the bliss of heaven with bright and shining angels who sang loudly with sweet voices and brought her to her daughter Edith, that pure maiden. (3065)

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And þat hit is þus trewe, as y howe say, was afterward yprevyd ryht well when hurre body was yburyed þat same day. For so þe angel to þe pepul dude tell þat hurre soule was up to hevene blys, and bad þat pepull þerof shulde have no douhte, for forsothe, wyth hurre douhter Seynt Ede he is, and a full joyfull mayney is herre abouhte. Þo þey knew well þat hurre soule was in þe folle blys, and burydon hurre body fast by þere as herre douhter lay. Þus Seynt Wultrude to hevene blys ypast up is In Septembre þe won and twentythe day, and in þe here of grace hit was also after þat Goddus sone was of Mary ybore, a thousond evene and neron mo, and of Etheldrede þe nyntetene here and nomore. Bot now anone after þis securly þat Seynt Wultrude was yburyed fast by þer as herr douhter lay, þat was a lady dwellyng in þat abbay þat wolde vysed hurre tombe everyche day.130 Alflede was þat ladyes name, þe whyche hadde ylovyd Seynt Wultrude ryht well, When he was hurre Abbas and hurre dame, and for hurre dame deth he made gret deylle. And everyche day he wolde abyde styll þere in herre stall, Ryht þere byfore þe Tombe of Seynt Woltrude, tyll he hadde sayde hurre sawter all after þat maytenys weron yseyde. From þe won and twentithe day of Septembre, hurre usse hit was to say hurre sawter tyll Eystere day. Bot on Eyster day hit fell ryht tas as he satte þare, hurre thouht he say þe clothe, þat honged upone hurre tombe þere þo, meve ofte and store wondere fast. And he was afferde and wold fayne þenne han go, bot he durst not meve hurre self for gast.

Goscelin, Legenda Edithae; Translatio, chapter 8.

The Wilton Chronicle

What I tell you now is true, as was proved afterward when her body was buried that same day. For an angel told the people that her soul was gone up to heaven’s bliss, and ordered that the people should have no doubt that Wulfthryth was truly with her daughter St Edith, with a very joyful company all about her. Thus they knew that her soul was fully in bliss and they buried her body right there where her daughter lay. So Wulfthryth passed up to heaven’s bliss on the twenty-first day of September. It was exactly one thousand years after God’s son was born of Mary, in the nineteenth year of Æthelred’s reign. Just after St Wulfthryth was buried next to her daughter, there was a lady dwelling in that abbey who used to visit her tomb every day. That lady’s name was Alfleda, and she had loved St Wulfthryth very much when she was her abbess and her mistress, and she felt great grief for her mistress’s death. Every day, she would stay in her choir stall in front of the tomb of St Wulfthryth until she had said her entire psalter after the service of Matins. Her habit was to do this from the twenty-first of September until Easter. On Easter day, it happened as she sat there that she thought she saw the cloth, which hung about the tomb, move and stir in an unusual way. She was afraid and would have liked to leave, but she could not move because of her fear. (3101)

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The Wilton Chronicle

Bot he loked þo more entierlocure toward þat tombe. And hurre þouht þo þat he sye by þe clothe come þerouht So fayre and so white and so Godelyche a lomb. And for hit was so fayr of þat lomb he nad no douht, bot sayde to hurre sustren, þe whyche setone by sydus herre þo, and het to speke, hurre was full lothe, ‘Lowe, where is a lomb, a fayre whyte lomb, lo, lo. See he not where þat whyte lomb abouht þe tombe gothe?’ And fel doune asswo þo to þe grounde. Bot hurre sustren reson up anone þo in yche a syde, and tokon hurre up þo in þat stounde. Bot þrye þe lomb ron abouht þe tomb in þat tyde. And when þis lomb had þis yron þrye þe tomb abouht, hit went aheyn in to þat same place From þe whyche hit come first ouht, and aperyd nomore after þat to hurre face, bot vanysshed away þo from herre seyht, þat þey seyen þerof after nomore. Þis was in þe mordydy after þat þe sonne shone bryht, aft þat þe Resurreccione was doune in þat chirche þore. And þus þis Astere lomb apered þere, opynlyche in herre syht þat þey myht knowell þat he was þere wyth herre in þat place, And he wyth hym bothe day and nyht þorw his mercy and his gret grace. Bot þenne was Dame Alflede full glad, y wys, of þat syht þat he saw þo in þat place þere, and knewell þat hurre soule was in hevene blys wyth angels þat weron bothe bryht and clere. Þis miracle was þus at Wyltone ydo in þe Astere nexste after hurre body dyenge, nexste after þat hurre soule departyd hurre body fro, in Astere day herlyche in þe mornyng. A nother meracle after þis het God dude wyrche For Seynt Woltrudes love, þat lady fre, at Wylton in Seynt Edus chirche as he mowe in story bothe rede and see.

The Wilton Chronicle

As she looked more closely toward the tomb, she thought she saw a fair, white, and good lamb come from behind the cloth. That lamb was so beautiful that she had no doubts, but said to her sisters who were sitting beside her (even though she did not want to speak), ‘Lo, there is a lamb, a beautiful white lamb — look! Do you see where the white lamb goes around the tomb?’ Then she fell in a swoon upon the ground. Her sisters raised her up on each side and picked her up very shortly. The lamb ran around the tomb three times in that time. When the lamb had run three times around the tomb, it went again into the same spot from which it had first come out and it appeared no more to them, but vanished from their sight so that they did not see it anymore. This happened in the morning time after the sun was shining brightly, after the Resurrection was celebrated in the church there. Thus this Easter lamb appeared there, openly in their sight so that they might know well that He was there with her in that place, and that she was with him both day and night through His mercy and great grace. Then Dame Alflede was very happy about that sight that she saw in that place there, because she knew well that Wulfthryth’s soul was in heaven’s bliss with bright and clear angels. This miracle thus occurred at Wilton early in the morning of the Easter day after Wulfthryth died, when her soul departed from her body. At Wilton in St Edith’s church, God performed yet another miracle after this for the love of St Wulfthryth, that noble lady, as you can read in history. (3138)

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A worshupfull woman in þat contre þo dwelt, þe whyche was twolmonthe seke in þe palsy.131 And so seke he was þat he speke o dwelthe,132 þat ychemon of hurre had pety þat dwelt hurre by. So seke and so febull, forsothe, was þis gode wyff, For he hadde bothe palsy and þe fevere quartyne, þat nomon þat sye hurre by hette hurre þe lyff. And all a full here he hadde hade þat harde peyne, So þat he was brouht so nyhe to þe deythe þo, þat he myht nowthere lyge ny sytte, y wys. And het he þouht to Seynt Woltrude on pilgrimage go, And in an horsbere yleyde þederwarde forsothe he is. Feynt and feble and full seke he was, by þat tyme þat he þedur þo come, bot þorw hurre help and Goddus grace, all hole upon hurre fete he went home. On horse, or on fote, whether þat hurre lust, holle and fryke and sounde he went home, þe whyche was full seke and feble, y wys,133 þe first day þat he to þat chirche come. For wyth inne thre dayes all holle was he. Suche grace God for hurre þere wrouht By cause of Seynt Woltrud þat lade fre, þe whyche mekelyche God for hurre bysouht. Þenne glad and blythe was everyche a lyff, þe whyche dwelton abouht Wyltone þo, what by cause of þe hele of þis gode wyff and also of þe meracle þe whiche þer was do.

Goscelin, Legenda Edithae; Translatio, chapter 9.

132

o dwelthe is in a different hand or at least a different pen; the Middle English Dictionary (available online at [accessed 20 July 2009]) suggests that this phrase could mean ‘confusedly, incoherently’. 133

Line 3157 is reproduced and then crossed out three lines above as well.

The Wilton Chronicle

An honourable women lived in that country then, who had been sick with the palsy for twelve months. She was so sick that she spoke incoherently, and every person that lived near her felt pity for her. This good woman was truly so sick and so feeble that nobody that saw her thought that she would live — she had the palsy and also a fever that recurred every four days. She had had that hard pain for a full year, and was brought so close to death than she could neither lie down or sit without pain. Yet, she thought she should go on pilgrimage to St Wulfthryth, so she was taken there in a horse-cart. She was faint and feeble and very sick by the time she came to Wilton, but through the help of St Wulfthryth and the grace of God, she went home healed, on her own feet. Whichever she wanted, by horse or by foot, she went home whole and fresh and healthy — she who had been truly sick and feeble on the first day that she came into the church. Within three days, she was completely healed. Such was the grace that God showed there because of St Wulfthryth, that noble lady, who meekly petitioned God for the sick woman. Then all the people living there around Wilton were glad and joyous because of the healing of this good woman and because of the miracle done there. (3166)

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And het a noþer miracle ychull hou tell,134 þe whyche was do after þis, for Seynt Woltrude sake. Ryht as hit was, ychull how tell every dell. Y nyl þerof no worde to how of fable make. Bot evene þe very trewthe y chull hou say, Ryht as ychave in trewe story full oft yredde, þat a hong lady of Seynt Ede abbey of þe blody mensone lay so seke, styll in hurre bedde, þat every mon sayde, þat lokede þat seke body upone, bot hyff Seynt Woltrude hurre þe rather holpe, he nysbot dedde, and beron hurre to Seynt Wultrude tombe anone, all yfere ryht as he lay, hurre and hurre bedde, and kneledone doune, and herre preyour þere made to God and to Seynt Woltrude also. And anone after, þat seke lady suche hele hadde þat he myht bothe ryde and eke go. And when þis seke lady was hele þere þus, þorw þe merytte of Seynt Woltrude, þat lady fre, þey thongedon all þe heyhe kyng of blys. And a gode woman forsothe ever after was he. Another grette miracle het þenne þis,135 Jhû for Seynt Woltrude þere dude wyrche. A lytill childe ybore þere wys Fast by Seynt Edes chirche. From þe whyche, sone after þat he was bore, his syht was clene ytake hym fro. His fette and his leggus also weron forlore, þat he myht nowther se ny go. And a grette sekenesse in his body he hadde þerto, þe whyche hadde yholden hym seyhthe he was bore. Crokedde and blynde he was also, þat ychemon holt hym bot as fore lore.

134

Left margin: miraculum: Goscelin, Legenda Edithae; Translatio, chapter 10.

135

Left margin: miraculum: Goscelin, Legenda Edithae; Translatio, chapter 11.

The Wilton Chronicle

I will tell you yet another miracle, which was done after that one for the sake of St Wulfthryth. I will tell you every detail, just as it was. I will not make up even one word as if it were just a fable. I will say to you the very truth, just as I have often read in true history, that a young lady of St Edith’s abbey lay so sick and still in her bed from a bloody discharge, that every person who looked at her sick body said that she would be dead without the help of St Wulfthryth. They bore her right away to St Wulfthryth’s tomb, her and her bed together just as she lay there. They knelt down and made their prayer to God and St Wulfthryth. Just after, that sick lady was healed so that she could get up and walk away by herself. When this sick lady was thus healed through the merit of St Wulfthryth, that noble woman, they all thanked the high King of Bliss. She was truly a good woman forever after. Even another great miracle did Christ work for St Wulfthryth. A little child was born there right near St Edith’s church. Soon after he was born, his sight was completely taken from him. His feet and legs were also crippled so that he could neither see nor walk. He had a great sickness in his body, which had afflicted him since he was born. He was crooked and blind so that every person who saw him thought he was damned. (3198)

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The Wilton Chronicle

And when þis child was in suche degre þat all men sayden þat he was bot leste, het byfore Seynt Wultrude tombe ybrouht was he, and þere hadde he his hele þo at þe laste. For when þat litull chylde was leyde adoune byfore þe tombe, in his bedde as forte han þere yslepte, he womblede and tomblede on bak and wombe, and lowde he cryed, and sore he wepte. Bot þe ladyes, þat in þe Quere dudden rede and syng, hadden grete petey of þis childes sorwe and wo, and tokon Seynt Wultrude profession rynge, and abouht his nekke þey hongedone hit þo. Bot as sone as þey hadden sayde þus herre preyours þere, and þat þe ryng abouht his nek was do, þe childe hym self dude þo up rere, and þere byfore hem upone his fete bygon to go. Þus meraclelyche went þat litull childe þere, byfore hem upone his fete in þat same place, and of his sekenesse was hole and fere and had his seyht eke, þorow Goddus grace. And when þis childe was holle þus, bothe fote and yhe, þe sexstenes rong þe belles anon þo. Þe ladyes song Te Deum full heyhe, and all other pepull made þere gret joy also. So gret grace was wyth þis gode womon Seynt Woltrude, þat what mon, þat hadde upon hym herre professione rynge, Where ever he satte, stode, or hude, hym shulnot harme none hevelle thynge. For so gret vertu was wyth þat rynge þat everyche seke creature, childe or mon, were hit hede ache, or what other thynge, wyth þat ryng his hele he wonne. So blessud a woman was þis lady Seynt Woltrude, þat everyche mon þo of hurre godenesse spake. Meke and myelde he was wyth ouht prude. And mony other vertwys he hadde wyth ouht lake.

The Wilton Chronicle

When his sickness had advanced to such a degree that all people said that he was simply lost, he was brought before the tomb of St Wulfthryth, and was healed there in the end. When that little child was laid in his bed in front of the tomb as if he would sleep there, he writhed and tumbled about on his back and his belly and cried aloud and wept fervently. The ladies that read and sang in the choir had great pity for this child’s sorrow and woe. They took St Wulfthryth’s ring of monastic profession and hung it around his neck. As soon as they had said their prayers there when the ring was hanging around his neck, the child picked himself up and began to walk before them on his feet. Thus the little child miraculously walked before them upon his feet in that place, and he was whole and complete without any sickness. He also had his sight through God’s grace. When this child was thus healed in his feet and eyes, the sextons rang the bells. The ladies sang Te Deum in full voice, and all the other people rejoiced greatly as well. Such great grace was with this good woman St Wulfthryth that any man who had her ring of monastic profession upon him could not be harmed by any evil thing, whether he sat, stood, or was covered. Such great virtue was in that ring that any sick person, child or adult, received healing from that ring, whether for headache or any other illness. This lady St Wulfthryth was so blessed a woman that every person spoke of her goodness. She was humble and gentle, without any pride. She had many other virtues; she lacked none. (3234)

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And mony a gret meracle for hurre God wrouht, well mo þen y con wryte now here, or thenk, or bere now in my thouht, Ore mon ore child to teche or lere. Wherfore of Seynt Wultrude y thenge to stynt here, and speke more of þis blessud virgyn Seynt Ede. And of hurre godenesse ychull how lere of suche thynges as y dede here byfore in story rede. Bot at kyng Etheldrede ychull bygynne, þe whyche was brother to þis blessud virgyn Seynt Ede. And also he was kyng of Englonde het þynne, as he mow feynde in story, whose wolde hit rede. For he regnyd kyng here sevene and thretty full here, in travell, in sorwe, and in gret wo. For his love was yslaw his brother Edwarde þe martir, of his stepmoder þe whyche was his dedly fo. Bot he bouht dure his moder gult. For after þat Seynt Dunston up to hevene was ago, he was never in peys, where ever he dwelt, bot ever in werre and in meche wo.136 Þe Denmarkes drovyn hym in to Normandye, and þere wyth þe duke of Normandye he dwelt long, and come aheyn to London, and þere dude dye, þe Denmarkes werre was upon hym so strong. Bot anone, after þat he was dyde, his sone Edmunde Yronside137 was sone made kynge, bot he regnede not bot nyenne monethus, as ychave redde. Bot so anone, after he made his hendyng, Knoude138 and he weron kynges her bothe in won tyme, as ychave redde. And ever bytweyne hem was hate and loth tyl þe tyme þat he was þus deydde.

136

This section adapted from Polychronicon, Book VI, chapters 13–17.

137

Edmund Ironside, King of England (d. 1016).

138

Cnut, King of England (r. 1016–35).

The Wilton Chronicle

God performed many great miracles for her, many more than I can write here now, or think about, or bear in my thought, or teach or read to any adult or child. Therefore, I think I will cease telling about St Wulfthryth here and speak some more about this blessed virgin St Edith. I will teach you about her goodness with such examples as I have read before in history. I will begin with King Æthelred, who was brother to this blessed virgin St Edith. Also, he was still King of England at this time, as you can discover in the history book if you wish to read it. He ruled as king here for thirty-seven years with distress, sorrow, and great woe. For the love of Æthelred, his brother Edward the Martyr was slain by his stepmother, who was his deadly enemy. Æthelred paid dearly for his mother’s guilty deed. After St Dunstan had gone up to heaven, Æthelred was never at peace, wherever he lived, but was engaged in war and great woe. The Vikings drove him into Normandy, where he lived for a long time with the Duke of Normandy. When he returned to London, he died there, since the Vikings’ war against him was so fierce. After he was dead, his son Edmund Ironside became king, but I have read that he reigned only nine months. After Æthelred was dead, Cnut and Edmund Ironside were both king at the same time, as I have read. There was ever hatred and loathing between them until Edmund died. (3266)

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Bot at Durrehurst þey fouhtone bothe yfere,139 and hurre twey hostes stoden still, and duden no loth. And þer þey acordeden hem in suche a maner, þat þey wolden regne kynges here bothe. Bot þen sone after dyede Edmunde Hyroneside, Ryht as y tolde hou ryht now here byfore. Þo Knoude was made hole kyng of all Englond wyth gret pride,140 and regnede nyentene here and sum what more. Bot Knowde was het no trewe cristen mon, Ny levede no thyng on criston lawe. And þe seyntes of Englonde, he hated ychone Ny set by non of hem an hawe. Bot sone after þat he was made kyng, he come to Wyltone, and þe byssop of Cantyrbury come wyth hym eke, and mony a noþer gret lordyng. For he hulde his householde þere þe Whysson weke, and a grette solemnite þe Kyng Knoude made at Wyltone þo. And mony gret lordys wyth hym weron þere, y wys, and mony bysshopes and abbotes weron þere þat tyme also. And all for þe kynges profit, þis solemnite was made þer þo, y wys, For þe Archebysshop folewode þe Kyng Knoude evermore, and prechede hym þe lawe of Gode algate where ever he hede. Bot þo at Wyltone he was ycristonyd, for þe grete fore þe whyche he had þo þere of þis virgyn Seynt Ede. And as hit was ychull hou now tell, Ryht as hit fell þo þere by grace.

139

The Polychronicon, Book VI, chapter 17 describes the single combat between Edmund Ironside and Cnut; the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle does not include this (probably fictional) episode. See Introduction for discussion of the sources and their characterization of Cnut. 140

Left margin: Rx Conutus.

The Wilton Chronicle

They fought against each other at Deerhurst until the two armies came to a standstill and did no more harm. Then they reconciled themselves in such a way that they would both reign as kings. Soon after that, however, Edmund Ironside died, just as I told you earlier. Then Cnut was completely the King of all England with great pride, and he reigned somewhat more than nineteen years. But Cnut was not yet a true Christian, and he did not believe in Christian law. He hated each of the saints of England and set no value by any of them. Soon after he was made king, he came to Wilton with the Archbishop of Canterbury and many other great lords. He held his court there the week of Whitsunday, and made great ceremony at Wilton. Truly, there were many great lords, bishops, and abbots with him at that time. This ceremony was made there for the king’s benefit, for the Archbishop always followed King Cnut and preached the law of God to him whenever he took notice. He was christened at Wilton, actually, because of the great events which he experienced there regarding this virgin St Edith. I will now tell you about it, just as it happened there by grace. (3292)

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For ryht as þuse lordes seton in hall, and had yetone and dronkon well, þere come in a knyht aryht gode pace, and knelede adoune byfore þat kyng, and sayde, ‘Syre, hyf hit plese how to here, I con howe tell a wondre thyng,141 how hit byfell ryht now wyth inne þis abbey here’. ‘Say on’, qd þe kyng þo, ‘all þy wyll, all þat is plesyng to þe’. ‘Syre’, qd þe knyht, ‘and y chull hou tell a gret marveyll, as thynkuth me. My page, my lord, þe wyche dothe my horses kepe Rode to þe revere to watere þe ton, þe whiche cast hym inne þe revere depe, and lafte hym ryht þere, and come home hym self anone. Bot when y seyhe my horse come rennyng home so, y dredde me full sore for some owterage, And fast ron to þat revere þo, and ryht þer ydrownyd y fonde my page. Bot when y seyhe my page ydrownyd þere, as ded as stone,142 y cryede after help wyth sorow and wo. Bot as y stode þere my self all one, a ryht fayre lady come me to þo, Ryht as y dude after help þo call. A lady of dignite as þaw hit were, and sayde, ‘Syre, what dyeysse is how by fall, and why make he so hevy chere?’ Þat lady y onswerede þo mekely, and sayde, ‘Ma dame, he mow well se here how my page leythe dede, ydrownyd fast how by. How shuld y now ben of gode chere?’

141

Left margin: miraculum; sources of this and following episode of the storm at sea are the Translatio, chapter 12 and William of Malmesbury, Gesta Pontificum Anglorum, chapter 87. 142

Line 3311 is actually inserted into the upper right corner of fol. 236 r; the rhyme scheme indicates its correct position.

The Wilton Chronicle

As those lords were seated in the hall, having just been well feasted, a knight came in at a quick pace and kneeled down before the king, saying, ‘Sire, if it pleases you to hear it, I can tell you a wondrous event that just happened right now within this abbey here’. The king said, ‘As you wish, say all that pleases you’. The knight said, ‘Sire, I will tell you a great marvel, I think. My page who keeps my horses rode to the river to water one of the horses, which threw him into the deep river and left him right there, returning home by itself. When I saw my horse come running home like that, I feared greatly that some outrage had been done and ran quickly to the river. Right there I found my page — drowned. When I saw my page drowned there, dead as stone, I cried for help with sorrow and woe. As I stood there alone, just myself, a very beautiful lady came to me just as I called for help. She looked like a lady of dignity, and she said, ‘Sir, what discord has befallen you, and why do you have such a heavy mood?’ I answered the lady very humbly, and said, ‘My Lady, you can well see here how my page lies dead, drowned right next to you. How could I be in a good mood?’ (3322)

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‘Take up þis child’, qd þat lady þo, ‘and ley hit in þe chirche byfore Seynt Ede, and þy page shall lyve, and bothe ryde and go. Do he, syre knyht, as y how now rede’. And wyth þat þis lady fanysshede away. God whot, of hurre saw y nomore. Bot a hong mon þo come by þe way, and to þe chirche þat page hath bore, and layde hym doune byfore þe chest ryht þere, in whyche þis blessud virgyn leyth yclosot inne. And þe maydenes preyhedone þo all yfere to þat blessud virgyn, þat lay þe chest wyth inne, þat þis childe myht have aheyn his lyff, Ryht as þis lady me sayde byfore. To Seynt Ede þus preyhedone bothe mayde and wyff, and to Jhû þat was of Mary ybore. And wyth inne schortyme, lorde, after þys þat þe maydenes hadden herre preyours þus ymade, þis child rose up, and alyve he ys. And now he is bothe mery and glade. And syre, a gret merveylle me thyngyt hit is, þat ychave how now ytold’. ‘he’, qd þe kyng, ‘he nasnot dede þo, y wys’. ‘heysse, for God’, qd þe knyht, ‘dede he was and his body golde’. ‘hoye, syre’, qd archebisshop þo, and spake, ‘mony grete meracle þis mayden has do’. ‘he, Syre Archebysshop, hold þu þy clappe. For y heve no byleve þerto. Kyng Edgares douhter, yche wene he was, y kete bot upon a wenche. 143 How shulde he ever have suche a grase, whose wolde hym self þis well by thenche?’

Ketenen usually refers to animals when used to refer to reproduction; Cnut’s use of the verb and of the word wench here emphasize his coarseness.

The Wilton Chronicle

Then the lady said, ‘Take up this child, and lay him in the church before St Edith, and your page will live and be able to ride and walk. Do now, Sir Knight, as I counsel you’. And with that, this lady vanished. God knows that I saw no more of her. A young man then came along that way and carried the page to the church. He laid him down right in front of the chest in which the blessed virgin lies enclosed. To that blessed virgin who lies within the chest, the maidens prayed all together that this child might have his life again, just as the lady had told me before. Both the maidens and the wives prayed to St Edith and to Christ that was born of Mary. Within a short time after the maidens had made their prayers, my lord, this child sat up, and he is alive. Now he is both merry and glad. And Sire, a great and marvellous tale it is that I have just now told you’. The king said, ‘Well, he was not really dead then’. The knight said, ‘Yes, for God, he was dead and his body was cold’. The Archbishop spoke then, ‘Truly, Sire, this maiden has done many great miracles’. The king said, ‘You, Sir Archbishop, hold your chatter. I give no belief to this story. I know that she was King Edgar’s daughter, bred by him on a loose woman. How would she ever have such grace? Who would ever think well of her?’ (3354)

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‘A, my kyng’, qd þe bysshop, ‘why do he so to þis blessud virgyn þat hath ybrouht aheyn þis childes lyff? Wollede he fouchesave now þedur to go, and se how hole hurre body þere het leythe? And he leyhe in þe urthe het þrettene here and more, and when he was take up of þe urthe, he was as wholl and as freysshe as he was ony tyme þat day byfore. Þe sothe of þis, he mow well se hyf he woll’. ‘Go we all þedur’, qd þe kyng, ‘wolle we go, to loke wherre hit be so as told þe knyht. For y nelnot byleve þat hit is redyly so, bot hyff y se hit verylyche wyth myn owne syht’. Forthe went þe kyng þo thederwarde anone, and bysshoppes and lordus and abbotes yfere, and to þe chirche þey come ryht sone, and founden þe cheste all redy þere. Þe bysshop toke þo a sencere in his honde, and sensede þat body þere hit lay, and sayde, ‘My lord, woll he come heder and nere stonde, and se þat hit is very trew þat y dude hou say’. Þen come þe kyng and stode hym fast by. And þe bysshop toke up þe lede of þe chest anone. And þe kyng þat mayde sawe, how hole he þer leyhe, and to lawe hurre to scorne þe kyng þo bygone. Bot þo þat mayde rerede up hurre body every whytte,144 and gederede to gedere hurre lymnys þo heke, and made a sygne, as þaw he wold þe kyng have smytte wyth hurre fust under his cheke. And when þe kyng sawe þat mayden do so, he was all assmayhydde, and dredde hurre þo full sore, and fell doune to þe grounde ded asswo. Was he never so sore agast þat tyme byfore. Þe bysshop toke up þe kyng, and conforde hym wyth all his myht, And sayde, ‘Syre kyng, have he no drede, bot trust well God, þe whyche made bothe day and nyht, and mekelyche cry hym mercy, and Seynt Ede’.

Upper right corner: Cistrensis; right margin: miraculum; left margin: line-drawing shows a hand pointing to this line.

The Wilton Chronicle

The bishop said, ‘My King why do you act this way towards this blessed virgin who has brought this child back to life? Would you agree to go there now and see how her body lies uncorrupted in the tomb? When she had lain in the earth more than thirteen years, she was translated, and her body was as uncorrupted and fresh as it was in the days when she was alive. You can see the truth of this if you wish’. The king said, ‘We will all go there to see whether the situation is as the knight told it. For I will not believe that it happened like that unless I see it truly with my own sight’. Right away, the king went to the tomb, together with the bishops and lords and abbots, and soon they came to the church and found the sarcophagus there. The bishop then took a censer in his hand, and burned incense near where the body lay, and said, ‘My lord, will you come over here and stand near the tomb to see that what I said to you is true’. The king stood close to the bishop, who raised the lid of the chest. The king saw the maid, and saw how uncorrupted she lay there; even so, the king began to laugh scornfully at her. With that, the maid rose up very nimbly and gathered her limbs together to show that she would hit the king under his cheek with her fist. When the king saw the maiden act this way, he was very afraid and feared her greatly; he fell down to the ground in a dead faint. He had never been so frightened in his entire life. The bishop helped the king get up, and comforted him as much as he could. He said, ‘Sir King, have no dread, but trust well in God who made day and night, and meekly ask him and St Edith for mercy’. (3390)

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‘I crye hurre mercy’, qd þe kyng to þe byssoppe þo, ‘and bysuche herre mekelyche, þat he wold hit me forheve all þat ychave to hurre eny tyme a mys ydo. And ychull do herre worshippe ever whyle y leve, and trewelyche ychull ever byleve in Gode, and studfastelyche hold me in cristone feythe, and do to þis Abbay both worshippe and gode, by cause of þis holy virgyn þat here now leythe’. Þe kyng from knelyng rose up þo anone, and went to Seynt Gabrielles auter þere fast by, and offerede up þere golde and sylver and ryall stone,145 and toke his leve þere at hem all, and went his wey. And ever after þat, he lovede ryht well Seynt Ede, and worshepude hurre name in every place, and what ever hym nededde to hurre he bede, and ever by hurre he hadde help and grace. Bot ofto tymes on pilgremage, þat blessud virgyn he wold come to. Bot þawe he were kyng and of gret lynage, het mekelyche on fote wolde he to hurre go. For þere shull never non horse of hys, þat he þouht ever upon to ryde, come wyth inne þat place, y wys, Ny nyht, ny day þer abyde. Bot as sone as he come nyhe þat plase, adoune on fote he wold þen þere leyht, and go to hurre tombe upon his fote a soft pace, whether hit were day or nyht. Bot in short tyme after þis, his owne contrey visitede he wolde. For þedur þere weron ycomyn enmyes, þe whyche weron strong and bold. And wyth meke hert þo he preyhede þat may, as he was virgyn trewe and clene, þat he wold be his help in his jorneyhe, And breng hym sone and sounde ahene.

Nijenhuis connects these treasure gifts to Cnut’s gifts to New Minster (‘The Wilton Chronicle’, pp. 384–85).

The Wilton Chronicle

The king then said to the bishop, ‘I beg for mercy from her, and meekly ask her that she would forgive me all trespasses that I have made against her. I will always honour her while I live, and truly believe in God, and steadfastly keep myself in the Christian faith. I will honour and do good works for this abbey because of this holy virgin that lies here now’. The king then rose up from his knees and went to St Gabriel’s altar nearby. He offered up gold and silver and royal gems there before he took his leave from them all and went on his way. Ever after, he loved St Edith very much and honoured her name in every place. He asked her for anything that he needed, and he always had help and grace from her. He often came to that blessed virgin on pilgrimage to Wilton. Even though he was a king of great lineage, he would go to her humbly on foot. He never thought to ride, so that there was never a horse of his that came within that abbey to stay there, day or night. As soon as he would come near the abbey, he would dismount and go to her tomb on foot at a gentle pace, whether it was day or nighttime. A short time after these events, King Cnut wished to visit his own country because strong and bold enemies had invaded there. He prayed to that maid with a humble heart, since she was a virgin true and pure, that she would help him on his journey there and bring him back safe and sound. (3426)

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And when he had þus his preyours ymade, þen went he forthe upon his way. And Seynt Ede in mynde he hade, bothe by nyht and eke by day, and spedde ryht well all his journay, and scomfede his enmyes, and droff hem ouht, and come ham warde when he tyme say, wyth gladsome hert and nothyng prouht. Bot when he was in þe gret see hamartwarde, So gret a storme of wedur on hym fell þo, þat he nas nene ever so sore a ferde, ny never in hert half so wo. Þis tempest was so hoge and so horrible þo146 of wynde, of reyne, of thondere yfere, þat all þe Gables of þe shippe, þey broston a to, and ychemon of his deth had þo gret fere. Þe shipmen losten hurre wytte for drede, and sayden of shipmonnes craft þey cowthe nomore, and sayden, ‘Syre Kyng, we conne no rede. We trowyn þat we ben now ylore’. Þe kyng was carefull þo in hys þouht, and comandede þe wat and þe wynde to have rest. Bot of his commanndyng þey heve ryht nouht, Ny þey abeyhedone hem no thyng to þe kynges hest. ‘What gode is hit’, qd þe kyng þo, ‘Forto be a kyng of remys thre? Þis tempest obeyeth hym nomore me to, Shipmon, þen hit dothe to þe. Bot where art þow now, þu blessed mayde Seynt Ede? Come hedur, hyff þu mow, and help now me, and breng me ouht of þis gret drede, and hyff y may lyve, ychull white hit þe’.

Left margin: miraculum.

The Wilton Chronicle

When he had made these prayers, he went forth on his way. He kept St Edith in mind both day and night, and easily made his journey to Scandinavia. He overcame his enemies, drove them away, and with a light heart and no inappropriate pride came homeward to England when it was the right time. But when he was on his way home, on the great sea, a great storm came upon him. He had never been so sorely afraid, nor so sorrowful in his heart. The tempest was huge and horrible in its wind, rain, and thunder together, so that all the ropes on the ship burst in two and each man aboard feared for his death. The sailors lost their wits in fear, and said they could do no more of the sailor’s craft. They said, ‘Sir King, we know nothing to tell you. We believe that we are lost’. The king was careful in his thought then, and he commanded the water and the wind to rest. But they paid no attention to his commands, nor did they abide by the king’s orders. The king said, ‘What good is it to be king of three realms? This tempest does not obey me any more than it does you, sailors. Where are you now, blessed maiden St Edith? Come hither, if you will, and help me now, and bring me out of this great fear. If I live, I will reward you’. (3458)

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Bot as sone as þe kyng had sayde þat word, Seynt Ede stode ryht þere þis kyng byfore, Fast by þe shippes borde, and sayde, ‘Syre kyng, drede how nomore. Lo, ycham here now, þe same mayde Ede, þe whyche he clepton ryht now here byfore. Of þis wedur, take he non drede, for hit shall greve hou no more. For yche have preyede to hym þat diede þorow Pilates dome, to þe whyche all wedres obeyhen hem to, To heve how grace to come sounde home, and he hath me grauntyd þat hit shall be so’. And þen þis blessud virgyn Seynt Ede at þe kyng toke þo hurre leve, and byfore his shippe upon þe water hede, and wayvede þe wedur away wyth hur sleve.147 Þo was þe wether bothe myeld and styll. And grevede hem after þat tyme nomore, bot hadden þe weder ryht at hurre wyll, and reden hamewarde fast wyth seylle and hore. And save and sounde he come in to Englonde þorwe Goddus myht wyth all his men, knyht, squyere, homone, and page. And to Wylton sone after þat he hym dyht On fote to go to Seynt Ede on pylgrymage. He heyhede hym þedurwarde full fast, and come to Wiltone bothe mery and gladde, and brouht wyth hym of wax a mast. And mony a gret lorde wyth hym he ladde. And when he to þat chirche þere come, To Seynt Edes tombe þo he went anon. And wyth his mowthe, he cust hit oft and lome. Bot a ryall masse was þenne þer ydone.148 Þenne byhulde he þat body so clene, how hit lay þer inne þat trenne chest, Ryht fresshe and rody save hit was lene, and every leyme holle bothe mest and lest.

147

A line-drawing of a hand in the left margin points toward this line.

148

Goscelin, Legenda Edithae; Translatio, chapter 13.

The Wilton Chronicle

As soon as the king said these words, St Edith stood right there in front of the king, close by the edge of the ship. She said, ‘Sir King, fear no more. Lo, I am now here, the same maiden Edith whom you called just before. Do not fear this weather for it will trouble you no more. I have prayed to him that died through Pilate’s judgment, whom all weathers obey, asking him to give you grace to come home safe, and he has granted to me that it will be so’. Then this blessed virgin St Edith took her leave from the king, and walked upon the water in front of his ship, waving the weather away with her sleeve. Then the weather was mild and calm, not bothering them at all after that. They had the weather just as they wished, and rode homeward quickly with sails and speed. He came to England safe and sound through the power of God with all his men: knights, squires, yeomen, and pages. Soon after that, he prepared to go to Wilton on foot on pilgrimage to St Edith. He travelled there very quickly and came to Wilton very merrily. He brought with him two and half pounds of wax as an offering for candles. He led many great lords with him. When he came to the church there, he went right away to St Edith’s tomb and kissed it over and over with his mouth; then a royal mass was said there. Then he beheld that pure body, and saw how it lay in that wooden chest, very fresh and rosy (but a little emaciated). The big and small extremities were all whole. (3494)

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‘Full worthy were þis body’, qd þe kyng þo, ‘To have a schrene of sylver and golde full feyne, þe whyche upone þe see to me come so, and delyverede me þere from gret care and peyne’. Þe kyng clepte his treserere to hym þo anone, and badde þat he shulde blyve þen go, and take sylver and golde ryht gode wone, and to delyver hit to a goldsmyht to make a shrene þat body to. Þis treserere went forth þo, and dud ryht as þe kyng hym badde, and toke a large somme of golde, and delyvered ouht of þat tresery, and to twey goldsmytes hit was yladde To make a large shrene for þat blessud virgynes body. þe kyng haff also to þe Goldsmyhtthus a gret charge þo To take golde and sylver ryht gret plente,149 and bad hem make hit long and large ynow wyth owten ony scate. Þuse goldsmytthes toke þo golde and sylver ynow wyth hem, and home to hurre house wyth hem hit ladde. Bot þey toke þe cursede feynde to hurre conselere þen To stele þat tresere, and made þe shrene meche lasse þen þe kyng hem bad. And so þey duden after þat cursede feyndes redde, and maden þat shrene to short by half a fote and more, and stele þat tresere wyth ouhten ony manere drede of þat blessud virgyn or of Jhû þat was of Mary ybore. And of þe kynges precepte þey token non hede, Ny of mo worde þat þe kyng to hem dude say, bot dudon wonlyche after þe devellys rede, And by stelthe toke meche of þat tresere away. Bot all þaw þay hadde þis gold þus ystole, And put hit inne a privey plase, het all þis dude þis mayde thole and to wyrche up herre werk he haf hem space, and hadden herre hele to make þat shrene wyth ouht mayme or herte. Bot forte reseyve þat blessud body of þat mayde þynne, by half a fote and more hit was þo to sherte.

The rhyme scheme falters here, implying missing lines or words.

The Wilton Chronicle

The king said then, ‘This body is very worthy to have a very beautiful shrine of silver and gold, since she came to me upon the sea and delivered me there from great care and pain’. The king called his treasurer to him right then, and ordered that he should cheerfully go to take well-earned silver and gold and deliver it to a goldsmith to make a shrine for that body. This treasurer went forth and did just as the king ordered him. He took a large sum of gold from the treasury and delivered it to two goldsmiths to make a large shrine for the body of that blessed virgin. The king also gave a great charge to the goldsmiths to work with that plenteous amount of gold and silver to make the shrine long and large without any loss. The goldsmiths took enough gold and silver with them and carried it back to their house. There, they took the cursed fiend into their counsels to steal that treasure, and they made the shrine much smaller than the king had ordered them to do. So they acted on the advice of the cursed fiend and made the shrine too short by more than half a foot, stealing the leftover treasure without any fear of that blessed virgin or of Christ that was born of Mary. They took no notice of the king’s directive or of any other words that the king said to them, but they acted only according to the devil’s counsel and thus took away much of that treasure by stealth. Although they had stolen this gold and hidden it in a secret place, this maid endured all this and gave them space to do their work. They had her leave to make that shrine without accident or pain. Even so, it was too short by more than half a foot to receive that blessed body of that maid within it. (3528)

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The Wilton Chronicle

Þis body by half herre leggys lenthe hit nolde not þerinne. Bot þis blessud mayde clewhthe up herre legges herre to, and dressud hurre body wyth inne þat shrene full honestly. Bot þe kyng gretlyche in his hert mervaylede þo when he sey þat dede body meve all hurre lemys so delyverly, and sayde, ‘Þe myht of God wyth blessud virgyn hit is, þe whiche hefthe þis mayde grace to worche on þis manere. For a wonderfull meracle forsothe þis now is, þe whyche he has now ydo byfore us here’. Þey closede þe shrene þo and set hit up þere, Ryht as hit stonte het in to þis same day. Þe kyng toke his leve of þat mayde wyth ryht gode chere, and towarde his chambre anone after he toke þe way. Þe lordus pastone forth þo after also anone, and ladyes and maydeyns and all other yfere, So þat þere laste neyther childe ny other monn, bot þe Goldsmyhtthes þey tweyn yfere. For all þe servyse was clene solemplyche ydone, mateyns and masse and all yfere, and all maner peple home weron gone, bothe knyhttes and squyers and ladyes clere. Bot when þe gold smytthes knewen ryht well þat all þe peple was þus ouht of chirche a go, þen went þey þederwarde, as þis tresere lay full snell, Prevelyche forto han ystole it away þo, And tokon up from þe plase þat hit was inne, and thouhton to han ystole hit away wyth hem so. Bot þey myht no fote þer wyth go þynne, For ouht þat ever þey myht þo do. Bot þey weron as bleynd all bothe, y wys, as ever was ony stok or stone. ‘A, felowe’, qd þe ton, ‘for God, now wyth us hit is amys. Alas, felowe, alas, what shull we now done?’ And so þey walkede in þat chirche up and doune, beryng in herre hondys þat stole tresere. For þey nadde no grace other wyesse to done, bot opynlyche in herre hondys þey duden hit bere.

The Wilton Chronicle

The body did not fit in it by half of the length of her legs. But this blessed maid curled up her legs just right, so that she arranged her body within the shrine very nobly. The king greatly wondered in his heart when he saw the dead body move her limbs so nimbly, and he said, ‘The power of God is with this blessed virgin, and it gives this maiden grace to work in this manner. Truly, this is a wondrous miracle which He has done before us here now’. Then they closed up the shrine and set it up there just as it stands yet to this very day. The king took his leave of that maid with a very good humour, and went on his way toward his chamber. The lords passed forth after that also, with the ladies and the maidens and all the others together, so that there was no child or man left there except the two goldsmiths together. All the service was very solemnly completed, the matins and the mass together, and all the congregation had gone home, the knights and squires and bright ladies. When the goldsmiths knew very well that all the people had gone out of the church, they went very quickly toward the treasure, planning to steal it secretly. They picked it up from its place, thinking to steal it away with them. But then they suddenly could go no further, no matter what they did. And they were both as completely blind as any stick or stone. The first one said, ‘Ah, fellow, for God, things look bad for us. Alas, my friend, what will we do now?’ And so they walked up and down in the church, holding that stolen treasure in their hands. They had no way to do anything else, but had to bear it openly in their hands. (3565)

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Þen come þe sexsten to serche þe chirche, and forto have closede þe dorus of þe chirche to, and sey hem in an hyron þere so lorche, askede hem whatt þey dedon þere þo. ‘Alas, syre’, qd þe tone of hem, and bygon to speke, ‘þat ever we weron menn in to þe worlde bore. For Seynt Ede has owre falsnesse so sore upon us wreke, þat we ben undone for ever here after more. For deyd I wote well þat we shull be, when þe kyng knowyth þat we þis golde han þus ystole. And also we mowe no thyng wyth oure ynon see, Ny mow not putte þis golde of owre honden in to non hole. Bot bere hit þus in ychemones opyn syht, þat all men may wondere upon us two. Bot to have þis shame, we han gret ryht, For þe gret falsnesse þat we to þis mayde han do. Bot, gode sexsten, now preyhe we þe, For we durnot speke oure self for drede to all þe ladyes of þis plase and maydens fre, to speke to þe kyng þat we ben not dede, bot þat we myht of owre lyff have some grace þat we myht oure synnes here amende. For a gret synne we han ydone here in þis place For þe whyche now we ben here bleynde. And þat þey wolden mekelyche prey also, to þis blessud virgyn Seynt Ede, to heve us grace henne ever we go,150 us forto amende of owre mysdede’. Þis sexsten þen grauntede hem þo þat he wolde so do. And forthe he went þenne upone his way tyll he come þere þat ladyes to, and tolde hem all þat he had yseyhe. Þuse ladyes wentone þo þe kyng towarde, also bleyve as þey myhtone towarde hym go, to tell hym þe cause why þe shrene was so short, and how þe goldsmethus hade done also.

Lines 3591 and 3592 are reversed in the manuscript, although the rhyme scheme indicates the placement used here. A mark in the margin could indicate the switch as well.

The Wilton Chronicle

The sexton came then to search the church before closing the doors, and when he saw them skulking in a corner there, he asked them what they were doing. The first one said, ‘Alas, sir, that we men were ever born into the world. St Edith has avenged our own falseness so fiercely that we are undone for ever after. For I know well that we will be dead when the king finds out that we have stolen this gold. We cannot take this gold out of our hands to hide it, but must bear it like this in open sight of every man so that all people can marvel at us together. But we deserve this great shame because of the great falseness that we have done against this maid. Good sexton, because of our fear, we dare not speak to all the ladies and noble maidens of the abbey, but we ask you now to ask the king that we not be executed and have some mercy for our lives so that we may amend our sins. We have done a great sin here is this abbey, for which we are now blind. Can you also ask the ladies to pray humbly to this blessed virgin St Edith to give us grace to leave this place so that we can amend our sins?’ The sexton agreed that he would do this for them and he went forth to the ladies and told them everything he had seen. These ladies went to the king, as cheerfully as they could, to tell him why the shrine was so short and what the goldsmiths had done. (3601)

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Bot when þe kyng had þuse ladyes herde and all þe processe of þe sexsten also, he merveyllede hym gretlyche in his hert, 3605 and in to þe chirche he þouht þen to go. And forth he went a ryht gode pace, and into þat chirche he come sone þo, and fonde þe goldsmethus mepyng up and downe in þat same plase as þey hadde long byfore þat tyme ydo, 3610 and spake to hem þo what hym lust. Bot þey ever mekelyche preyheden hym of his grace. And he for haff hit hem at þe last byfore þe ladyes ryht in þat place. Bot het þey myht not no fote þennys go, 3615 bot stodan styll þere blynde in þat place, Tyll þe kyng and þuse ladyes also hadden pre hede Seynt Ede to graunte hem somme grace. Bot Seynt Ede grauntede hem þo sone herre wyll, þat þe goldsmythus shulden þo ouht of þe chirche þen go,151 3620 and lasten þe golde þere leygyng þo full styll, and wenton forthe hurre way wyth sorwe and wo. And eythere of hem went home to his wyff. Bot as bleynde as a betull þey weron evermore. And beggers þey weron also all herre lyff, 3625 (fol. 240v) For all grace and worship þey hadden forlore.152 And when þe kyng had yseyhe all þis meracles þus ydo, and þat Seynt Ede was so forthe full þorowe Goddus grace, meche worshepe and gret cost to þat plase he dude þo. And ever after þat tyme a full gode lever he was. 3630 And meche gode he haff þis abbay of Wyltone to, and confermede all thyng þe wheche was y heve þerto byfore, and repayrede þe chirche, and þe abbay also, þe whyche was by werre almost forlore. And mony werkemen he sette to amende þat chirche, 3635 and masones and carpenters and blemmeres also, and mony oþer men, diverse werkes þere to wyrche, for gret cost he sette upon þat abbay þo. 151

Line 3619 is inserted at the bottom of the folio in a different hand.

152

Left margin: Legenda Edithe.

The Wilton Chronicle

When the king had heard from these ladies, and heard also the story of the sexton, he wondered greatly in his heart and wished to go into the church. He quickly set off and came to the church, finding the goldsmiths moping around in the same spot where they had been for a long time. He asked them what they wanted. They humbly asked for his mercy, and he finally forgave them in front of the ladies in the abbey. Even so, they could not go one foot away from that spot, and stood there blind in that place until the king and the ladies had prayed to St Edith to grant them some mercy. St Edith soon granted their request that the goldsmiths should be able to go out of the church; they left the gold lying there in the church and went on their way with sorrow and woe. They both went home to their wives, but they were stone blind for ever after. They were beggars all their lives, since they had lost all grace and honour. When the king saw all these miracles performed, and saw that St Edith was so powerful because of God’s grace, he did that abbey great honour with many gifts. From that time forth he led a virtuous life. He gave many goods to this abbey of Wilton, and confirmed all the charters and gifts which had been given before. He repaired the church and the abbey, which had been almost destroyed by war. He hired many workmen — masons and carpenters and plumbers — to renovate the church and do a variety of jobs, since he valued that abbey so highly. (3637)

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Bot among þe werkemen, þe whyche wrouhtone þere þo, þe whyche weron þus yhyred by Knoude þe kyng, another gret meracle þer was ydo Sone after þis blessed virgynes Shrynyng. For hit byfell in a litull toune, þat was þe abbay byside, þat a domme childe þerinne was of his moder ybore, þe whyche þat tyme couth bothe go and ryde,153 and werche what werk þat he myht have hys fode fore, þe whyche amonge þuse werkemen yche day dud wyrche wyth an hors, þe wheche he hadde of lytill pryse. He ladde stones from þe quarey to þe chirche. Late and erlyche, þat was his labour and his use. Bot worde spake he never non byfore, whether men dude to hym ryht oþer wronge. For of his moder, domme he was ybore, and also he was wyth ouhte ony tonge. Tong ny speche, as y hou nowe say, hadde he never none byfore, securly. Bot hit byfell sone after upon a day, þat he and his horse weron bothe wery. And in to a medwe þat was þere byfore wyth his horse þo þedur went he, and þouht a whyle þere to abyde, For þere was gras ryht gode plente, and leyde doun hys hede þer to a ston, Somme rest or slepe þere to have, For he was seke and wery and evyll bygone, for meche travell had þat knave. For see and here he myht ryht well, and wolde do all werkes, þe wyche men hym tauht, bot he couthe nowther tale ny tell what þat ever was in his þouht. Bot when he was leyde þere þus doun to slepe, a full graciose swevene þo mette þere he.

Left margin: miraculum: Goscelin, Legenda Edithae; Translatio, chapter 23.

The Wilton Chronicle

Soon after this blessed virgin was enshrined, another great miracle occurred among these workmen who were hired to work there by Cnut the King. It happened in a little town beside the abbey that a dumb child had been born of his mother. He could walk and ride a horse and do enough work to earn his food. He worked every day among those workman with his horse, which he had bought at a small cost. He transferred stones from the quarry to the church. Late and early, that was his work and his custom. But he had never spoken a word before, whether people did right or wrong to him. He was born dumb from his mother, and he also was without a tongue. I tell you now, he truly had never before had tongue nor speech. But it happened one day that he and his horse were both weary, so he went with his horse into a meadow that was right there. He thought to rest a while there for there was a lot of grass in the meadow. He laid his head down on a stone for some rest or some sleep, for he was sick and weary and full of pain — that peasant had endured much hardship. He could see and hear very well, and he could do any task which a person taught him, but he could never tell what was in his thoughts. When he had lain down in the meadow to sleep, he dreamed a gracious dream. (3671)

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The Wilton Chronicle

Hym þouht þat a fayre lady stode at his fete, and sayde, ‘Syric, herken þu well, and take hede to me, and þat þu thenk upon and do ryht as y þe say, and þu shalt have þy tong and þy speche also. Bot in þe nyht þat cometh nexste byfore Seynt Jonys day, in to þe chapell byfore Seynt Ede tombe þu most go, and þere þu most abyde all þat nyht, and in þy hert þu most preyhe Seynt Ede to be þi leche. And othermorwe or hit be day lyht þu shalte have þy tong, and eke þy speche’. Bot sone after þat, Syryc a woke of his slepe. And of his swevene gret merveylle he hadde. And in his hert for gladnesse sore he wepe. And in his þouht, to Seynt Ede his preyours he made, and preyhede Seynt Ede of hurre godenesse þat he wolde fouchesave to be to hym suche a leche, So þat he myht han in þat forsayde plase, as þe lady to hym sayde, bothe his tong and his speche. And when he hadde made his preyours þus to þis blessud virgyn Seynt Ede, he toke his horse þo anone, y wys, and mekelyche towarde his werke he hede. And every day wrouht he full trewely, y wys, tyll þe tyme was comen clene and gone also. And Seynt Jonys nyht also ycomen hit is, in þe whiche to þe chirche he shulde have go. Bot howthe of hym self and heygyng of other children also Maden hym to forhete his swevene, and go to seyhe hem play, wherfore he sone forhate in to þe chapell to go, þere as Seynt Edus blessud body þo lay. Bot when he hadde a while walkude þus among þe children, and seyhe hem play, a grete ache in to his hede ycomen ys, wherfore he nadde no delyte in no game þat he seyhe, bot þouht to his bedde to go þo full hevene. And when he was towarde his bedde goyng, þo he þouht first upon þe swevene þat he hadde mette in þe medwe slepynge.

The Wilton Chronicle

He thought that a fair lady stood at his feet and said, ‘Syric, pay close attention and take good notice of me. Think about what I say, and do just as I tell you, and you will have your tongue and your speech as well. In the night before St John’s Day, you must go into the chapel in front of St Edith’s tomb and you must stay there all night and you must pray in your heart for St Edith to be your doctor. On the next day, before it is daylight, you will have your tongue and your speech as well’. Soon after that, Syric awoke from his sleep and wondered greatly at his dream. In his heart, he wept fiercely for joy. He made prayers to St Edith in his mind, and he prayed to St Edith for her goodness that she would agree to be such a doctor for him that he might have his tongue and his speech in that ordained place, just as the lady had said to him. When he had made these prayers to this blessed virgin St Edith, he took his horse and humbly rode toward his work. Truly, he worked every day very earnestly as time came and passed. Finally, St John’s eve came, on which he should have gone into the church. But his own youth and the playing of other children made him forget his dream. Because he went to see the children play, he soon forgot to go into the chapel where St Edith’s blessed body lay. When he had walked for a while among the children and seen them play, a great ache came into his head so that he had no delight in the game that he saw, but thought that he would go to his bed straightaway. When he was going toward his bed, he suddenly thought about the dream that he had dreamed while sleeping in the meadow. (3709)

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Bot almyhty God þat all hathe wrouht, þorowe þe desire of þat virgyn Seynt Ede, put þat mynde in his þouht wyth þe ache þat God put for þat cause in to his hede. Bot when he had þis swevene þus ycomen in to his meynde, towarde þe chapell he hym drawe and come þedur at þe last. Bot þe durus of þat chapell weron þo yteynde, and all þe hates about þat place weron ystoke fast. Bot he clomb up by a walle ymade of stone, and in to þat chapell full sone come he þo. Bot wyth inne þat chapell lyht of candell þer nas none, Ny mon, ny womon, bot he hym self, no mo. Bot his hedde154 woke so sore, y wys, þat he þouht somme where forto leyge doune to slepe. And in a hyron yleyde to slepe for sothe he is. Bot a wondre swevene þere con he þo mete. Hym þouht þat a semely lady come þere inne in to þat same plase þere, as he to slepe þo lay, and from his fore toppe doune to his chynne wyth hurre ryht honde he mette þat way. Bot as he streke doune hurre honde by his face so, Somwhat ouht of his mowth hym þouht he toke. He slepte not fast byfore þat tyme for wo, bot þen his hert fullyche a woke. And to his mowthe þo his honde he dode to loke what manere thyng hadde be þere. Hym þouht þat his mowthe was þo full of blode,155 Bot þo in his hert he hadde grete fere. And lest þat holy plase wyth þat blode yfolude shulde be, byfore his mowthe his owne hond he dede. And styll his hond ryht þere forsothe so hulte he. And ouht of þat chapell in gret hast he hedde in to a fayre medwe þe whyche was þere byside.

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hedde is inserted in the left margin of this line.

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Lower left margin: Bot þo in his hert as a catchphrase.

The Wilton Chronicle

Through the desire of that virgin St Edith, Almighty God that created all things put that thought in his mind along with the ache that God caused in his head. When this dream came thus into his mind, he steered himself toward the chapel and came there at last. The doors of the chapel were locked, however, and all the gates about the abbey were fastened shut. He climbed up on a stone wall and came quickly into that chapel. There was no candlelight within the chapel, and no man, nor women — just he himself. His head ached so sorely that he thought he would lie down to sleep somewhere. Truly, he laid himself down in a corner to sleep. He dreamed a wondrous dream there. He thought that a beautiful lady came into the same place where he lay sleeping; he dreamed that she touched him with her right hand from his forehead down to his chin. As she stroked her hand down by his face, he thought she took something out of his mouth. He did not sleep soundly after that because of pain, and then his heart awoke fully. He put his hand to his mouth to see what sort of thing was there. He thought that his mouth was full of blood, and he had great fear in his heart. He held his own hand in front of his mouth so that holy place would not be fouled with his blood. Holding his hand right there, he ran out of the chapel in great haste into a fair meadow beside it. (3742)

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For þere ron a broke bothe fayre and clere, and he þouht þat he wolde þere a stounde abyde and wasshe his honden and his mowthe full clene þere. And towarde þat broke full fast he ron, and his mowthe and his honden þer to wasshe. Bot beside in þe medwe þer stode a monn, and how he was, anon, he dude hym asshe. A prest wyth inne þat abbay dude dwell, Sire Brytric, men duden hym þere call, þe whyche was belovede and bylevede ryht well, bothe in chirche cloystre and eke in hall. Bot þe cause of Sire Brytryc beynge þer þat tyme was þis, þe whiche y thenk now to how tell. Sire Brytric hadde a gode horse, y wys, þe whyche he lovede ryht well. Fosothe to pastere þat horse he was þere þo. And for he was hong, and bothe wyld and leyht, he hadde yfedryde to gedur his leygus two. And for drede of thefus he hadde ykepte hym þer meche of þat nyht. Bot as he stode þere by his horse so, of þis Syric Mute he hadde a syht, and askede how he was, þat was þere þo in suche tyme of þe nyht. ‘I cham Syric Mute’, qd he þo and spake anone, ‘þat am here nowe, þe wheche here he see’. Syre Britric stode styll as ony stone, and merveylede hym muche þat hit was he, and sayde, ‘Siric, sone, what dostow þere by þat broke? How mayhte þow speke now þus to me?’ ‘heyhe, sire’, qd he, ‘hyf he ben in ony douht, come hedur and loke, and trewlyche all ryht as hit ys, y chull tell þe’. Britric merveylede þo greteliche in his thouht and come to Syric þo ryht anone. And Syric told Syre Britric ryht as he hadde wrouht, and all þyng ryht as he hadde ydone.

The Wilton Chronicle

A beautiful and clear brook ran there and he thought he would stay there for a while to wash his hands and his mouth completely clean. He ran very quickly toward the brook to wash he mouth and hands. In the meadow, a man stood beside the brook and asked him how he was. He was a priest who lived within that abbey; men called him Sir Britric, and he was loved and honoured very much both in the church cloister and in the noble hall. I think I will tell you now the reason that Sir Britric was there at that time. Sir Britric had a good horse that he loved very much. He was in the meadow to pasture his horse there — since the horse was young, wild, and skittish, he had fettered two of the horse’s legs together. He had stayed there much of the night because he feared thieves. As he stood there by his horse, he saw Syric the Mute, and asked how it came to be that he was there in such a time of the night. Right away, he spoke, and said, ‘I am Syric the Mute, and I am here now, as you can see’. Sir Britic stood as still as stone and wondered greatly that it was he, and said, ‘Syric, son, what are you doing by that brook? How can you now speak to me?’ ‘Prepare yourself, sir’, he answered. ‘If you are in any doubt, come here and look, and I will truly tell you everything just as it happened’. Britric wondered greatly in his mind and walked over to Syric right away. Syric told Sir Britric everything, just as it had happened. (3777)

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‘he’, qd Brytric, ‘Seynt Ede is cause of þis. Bot go we to þe abbay now bothe anone, 3780 and bydde all þe ladyes þat þey up rys, and ryng herre bellus now everichon’. Bot forth þey wentone þo upone herre gate, and come þedur anone bothe two, and knokkede fast and louhde at þe hate. 3785 Bot twey ladyes come þedur þo anone, and speke hem to, and askede who was þere, and whome þey wolde have. ‘Upon þe durre, my lady’, qd Britric þo. ‘For here nys bot Syric, þe mute knave, and y my self, lady, and nomo. 3790 Syric hathe his speche, my lady. What is hour rede? And his tong also, and may speke ryht well, þorow þe grace of God and of Seynt Ede. Shall not þe sexsten reng þe bell?’ ‘Why, may Syric speke?’ qd þis lady þo. 3795 ‘He, for God’, qd Siryc, ‘my lady, þat y may. And my tong ychave now also, þorow grace of Seynt Ede, þat blessud may’. Bot when þuse ladyes herden hym speke, and eke hym syhe, and mony other men þat know hym full well, 3800 þis ladyes song þo Te Deum an heyhe. And þe Sexstens rong þo þe belle. And joyfull þey weron, and grete myrthus made by cause of þis meracle þat þere was ydo. And gret gladnesse in hert ychemon hadde, 3805 mon and womon and children also. And to shewe þat þis meracle was verelyche so, Syric dwelte ever after in þat place and never ouht of þat plase dude he go Bot ever Seynt Edus servande þere he wase. 3810 (fol. 243r) Thys myracle was to do for Seynt Ede156 of Kyng Knowde, þe nyentethe here, y wys.

156

Lines 3810–18 have endured substantial correction in the MS. Line 3810 is added in the upper right corner; lines 3813 and 3814 are added into the margins of lines 3815 and 3816. All of these corrections are in a hand different from that of the main scribe.

The Wilton Chronicle

Britric said, ‘Yes, St Edith is the cause of this. We will now go to the abbey together and ask all the ladies to arise and ring every one of their bells’. They went forth to the gate together and knocked quickly and loudly. Two ladies came right away and asked who they were and what they wanted. Britric said then, ‘Open the door, my lady, for here is Syric the Mute Peasant and I myself with no one else. Syric has his speech, my lady. What is your counsel? And he has his tongue also, and can speak very well through the grace of God and St Edith. Shouldn’t the sexton ring the bell?’ The lady said then, ‘What?! Syric can speak?’ Syric said, ‘Yes, for God, my lady, I can do that. And I have my tongue now also through the grace of St Edith, that blessed maid’. When these ladies heard him speak, and saw him right there, they sang Te Deum on high. Many other men that knew him well saw him also; the sextons rang the bell. There they were all joyful, and made great mirth because of the miracle that occurred there. Every person had great gladness in his heart, men and women and children together. Syric lived forever after in that abbey to show that this miracle had truly happened; he never left, but served always as St Edith’s servant. This miracle was performed for St Edith in the nineteenth year of King Cnut’s reign. (3811)

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And þat same here þe kyng dyede, as y dude rede, and at Lundone yburyed he ys. And when he had made þus his endyng, and his soule to hevene was past, Haralde157 his sone was made þo kyng after þat tyme in ryht grette hast. And in Haraldes tyme, a nother gret myracle þer fell, y wys.158 Þe wheche ryht as hit fell, y chull how tell. For hit byfell in Haraldes tyme ryht tys, þat a gret lorde dude wyth hym dwell. Agamundus, men clepte hym þo, a lord of þe kynges consell, forsothe was he. And servede he dude Quene Emme159 also, þe whyche was þe kynges moder and lady fre. Þis gret lord Agamundus, of þe wheche y spake of byfore, was a false, covetyse mon, y wys. And so was his fadre hym by fore, þe whyche tauht hym ever to don amys. Bot þis Agamundus to þe abbay of Wylton had gret envy and þe lordshepe of Ferland160 covetede fast. For hit lay neyhe his plase þer bye, and to his lordshepe þe merus duden last. And long for hit for sothe he pladde. Bot when he seyhe þat he myht not have hit by no way of ryht, by lordshepe and maystry he hit hulte and hadde. And Quene Emme to þat lordshepe he herre dyht. And so he hulde hit twey here and more, by strenghte and lordeshepe of Quene Emme, þe whiche had maynteynyd hym gretly byfore, by cause he þouht to ben heyre þerof after hym.

157

Known as Harold Harefoot, King of England (r. 1037–40).

158

Left Margin: miraculum: Goscelin, Legenda Edithae; Translatio, chapter 14.

159

Queen Emma (d. 1052), married King Æthelred II (the ‘Unready’) 1002; married King Cnut in 1017. 160

An estate owned by Wilton; probably the estates of West Firle. See Nijenhuis, ‘The Wilton Chronicle’, tables 2 and 6.

The Wilton Chronicle

In that same year, the king died and was buried in London, as I have read. And when he had thus made his end and his soul had passed to heaven, Harold his son was made king in very great haste. In Harold’s time, another great miracle occurred, and I will tell you all about it, just as it happened. During Harold’s reign, a great lord named Agamundus lived with him as a lord of the king’s council. He also served Queen Emma, the noble lady who was the king’s mother. This great lord, Agamundus, was truly a false, greedy man just like his father before him, who taught him to do wicked deeds always. This Agamundus had great envy towards the abbey of Wilton, and he coveted the lordship of West Firle. The borders of this estate touched Agamundus’s lands. He had asked for it for a long time, but when he saw that he could not have it in a legitimate way, he took it through force and political gamesmanship. He then gave lordship of the estate to Queen Emma. He thus held West Firle for more than two years through the strength and lordship of Queen Emma; he thought that he would inherit it after her, since she had favoured him greatly in the past. (3841)

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Bot sone afterward he fell in to suche dygre,161 þat gret sekenesse come his body to, þat all his frendus of hym hadden gret pyte. And of his dethe þey douhtedone gretlyche also,162 And drowyn abouht hym theke and faste, For he drowe herne towarde his last hende. Bot sone after þey weron full fore agaste, when he was clene ouht of his myende. For he cryedde and rorede as þaw he were wode, and badde all his frendys help hym þo, and sayde, ‘Alas þat ever y toke Seynt Edus gode, þat my body is nowe þerfore sorwefull and wo. Help me now, frendes all, y how mekelyche prey. Wyth all hour power and wyth all hour myht, and þat he wolden gon to Quene Emme, and to hurre sey þat Ferelande is Seynt Edus lordshepe by ryht. And say þat hurre maystry is so gret over me, and herre chere so horrible to my syht, and þat y shall never dede ere be tyll he have aheyn hurre londe and herre ryht. For in every plase he is þere redy, when my soule wolde passe me fro, þat hit nys no tyme so hardy ouht of my body forto go. And pus y shall lyve here in peyne, for y shall never deyde here be, tyll Seynt Ede have hurre lond aheyne. Þerfore, go he to Quene Emme and prey hurr þat he come to me’. towarde Quene Emme þey token herre way wyth carefull hert and drewry chere.

Right margin: an erased, illegible note written in the same ink used for the beast (see n.

162). 162

On the bottom of fol. 243r is the manuscript’s only illustration, an elegantly coiffed dragon-like beast (see description of the manuscript, Introduction).

The Wilton Chronicle

But soon afterward he succumbed to a great sickness in his body, so that all of his friends had great pity for him. They were very sure that he would die, so they drew closely about him as he went towards his last end. Soon after, they were very frightened that he was completely out of his mind, for he cried and roared as if he were insane, and asked all his friends for help, and said, ‘Alas, that I ever took St Edith’s property, because now my body is full of sorrow and woe. Friends, I humbly ask you now to help me: Go to Queen Emma and say to her that West Firle is rightfully St Edith’s estate. Say that St Edith’s mastery over me is so great, and her expression so horrible to my sight, that I will never be able to die until she has her land and privileges again. For when my soul would pass from my body, she is ready right there so that my soul is not brave enough to go out of my body. Thus I shall live here in pain, for I will never be able to die until St Edith has her land again. Therefore, go to Queen Emma and ask her to come here to me’. They made their way toward Queen Emma with careful hearts and apprehensive expressions. (3871)

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And sone after to Quene Emme þo come þay, and tolden herre þe case ryht as hit was all yfere, and preyheden herre þat he wolde fouchesave to come hym to, wyth all þe hast þat he well myht. Bot he nadde no gret wyll to hym to go, and sayde yat Seynt Ede to þat londe hadde no ryht. Bot þey preyheden so ofte and so lome, þat at þe last he grauntede þerto þat he wolde to hym þedur come, And help hym ouht of his grette wo. Þo come Emme þedere after sone, as he hem sayde. And when he sey hym peyne so, of hym he had gret pete, and preyhede Seynt Ede, þat blessud mayde, to have mercy upone hem as he was mayden fre, and restored þe lordshepe of Ferlande aheyn to Seynt Edus abbay, y wys. Bot þen was þis wrechede mon full fayne, and mekelyche þongede þe kyng of blys, and mekeliche he cryed Seynt Ede mercy þo, and preyhede herre on hym to have rewthe and pete. And so dude Quene Emme þo also. And knelyng full sore þo wepte he, and made hurre preyours on þis manere. ‘Blessed virgyn’, qd þe Quene Emme þo, ‘have mercy upone þis synfull mon here. And suffre his soule ouht of his body go. And also on me, blessud virgyn, have some pyte, þe wheche mayntenede þis synfull wreche long. And let me never ydampned þerfore y be. And y chull amende to how, mayde, þat y dude wronge’. Bot when þe quene hadde made hurre preyhores þus, anone after þo dyede þat seke wreche mon. And his soule sone after towarde hevene blys ouht of his body forthe dude þo gon. And Quene Emme mekely þonged God þo, and also þis blessude virgyn Seynt Ede. And meche tresere he haff þat abbay to, wherfore he meche þe bettre dude spede.

The Wilton Chronicle

Soon after, they told her the situation, just as it had happened, and asked her if she would agree to come to Agamundus with as much haste as possible. But she had no great desire to go to him, and said that St Edith had no right to that land. But they asked her so frequently and persistently that at last she agreed that she would come there to him to help him out of his great woe. Soon after, she came there as she had said she would. When she saw him in so much pain, she had great pity for him; she prayed to St Edith, that blessed maid and noble virgin, to have mercy upon him. Truly, Queen Emma then restored the overlordship of West Firle to St Edith’s abbey. Then this wretched man was satisfied; he meekly thanked the King of Bliss, meekly begged St Edith for mercy, and prayed to her to have compassion and pity for him. Queen Emma did these things also. She wept very greatly as she knelt and made her prayers in this manner. ‘Blessed virgin’, said Queen Emma, ‘have mercy upon this sinful man here, and allow his soul to depart from his body. And also, blessed virgin, have some pity on me, who abetted this sinful wretch for a long time. Let me never be damned for it. Maid, I will make amends for what I did wrong to you’. When the queen had made her prayers in this way, that sick, wretched man died. His soul soon after went out of his body toward heaven’s bliss. Queen Emma meekly thanked God and the blessed virgin St Edith; she gave much treasure to that abbey, and because of that she had much better fortune. (3909)

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And anone after Kyng Haralde dyede þo. And his brother Hardeknowde163 was made kyng þo anone, þe wheche regnede here bot heres two. And Haralde regnede byfore hym foure here and won. Bot het in Hardeknowdes tyme, a nother miracle was do v 3915 (fol. 244 ) In þe churche of Wylton by fore Seynt Ede, so full of grase, and byfore Seynt Wultrude hurre blessud moder also.164 Bot þe meracle y chull how tell, ryht as hit wase. Þere was a mynchun wyth inne þat abbay þo, þe wheche was come of heyhe lynage. 3920 And a gret lorde he hadde to Cosyn also, þat dude to þat abbay gret ouhtrage. For a parcell of londe he toke away aheyne þe ladyes wylles ychon, þe wheche ryhtwyslyche to þat abbay lay. 3925 And drede of Seynt Ede also he nadde non. Bot sone after þat, hit fell by cas þat a grette sekenesse come hym to, þat to his deyhthe nyhe brouhte he was. And þe lady his Cosyn was send to hym þo, 3930 For he was wyth hym best yknowe, y wys, and sayde, ‘Bryxyn cosyn, y preyhe howe mekely þat he wolde fouchesave to heve us þe londe aheyn þat ouren is For þe love of God almyhty. And thenk on, Bryxyn cosyn, how dredfull hit is 3935 To byreve holy chirche his possessione. For he shall never come in blys, tyll he have made restitucione’. ‘Pes, Elburwe Cosyn’, qd Bryxyn þone, ‘For þu angrus me, þat y am neyhe wode. 3940 For of þat londe, he gette nevere none, Ny of myn non other gode. For of my gode he gete ryht none. Non y my self nyl not be yburyed þere, þaw y shulde now ouht of þis worde gone. 3945 My body shall never come þedur on bere. 163

Harthacnut, King of England (r. 1040–42).

164

Left margin: miraculum: Goscelin, Legenda Edithae; Translatio, chapter 15.

The Wilton Chronicle

Soon after, King Harold died and his brother Harthacnut was made king, who reigned only two years. Harold had reigned before him for five years. In Harthacnut’s time, another miracle occurred in the church of Wilton, before the shrines of St Edith, so full of grace, and of her blessed mother Wulfthryth. I shall tell you that miracle now, just as it happened. There was a nun within the abbey who came from a very high lineage. One of her cousins was a great lord who did great outrage to the abbey. Against the will of each of the ladies, he took away a parcel of land which rightfully belonged to the abbey. Also, he had no fear of St Edith. Soon after, it happened that a great sickness came to him so that he came near to death. His cousin, the nun, was sent to him them, for he was with those who knew him best, of course. She said, ‘Brixon, cousin, I humbly ask if you would agree to give us the land that is ours, for the love of Almighty God. Cousin Brixon, think about how dreadful it is to withhold possessions from Holy Church. He who has done so will never go to heaven until he has made restitution’. Then Brixon said, ‘Shut up, Cousin Elburwe. You make me so angry that I am almost insane! You’ll never get any of that land back, and you won’t get any of my other property either! I do not wish to be buried there, even if I were to leave this world right now. My body will not go there on a bier. (3945)

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Þerfore, Elburwe, speke he of þat mater nomore, and angur me no more now, y þe pray. For ychull holde þe othe þat iche have swore. he get never non þere, by my say’. And when Elburwe sye non other wone, þat he myht no thyng have atte hurre wyll, he rose up þo sone after, and home dude gon, and spake nomore, bot hult hurre þo styll. Þis wreche lay styll and sone after dede he was, þe whiche set no prise by þis virgyn Seynt Ede, and was yburyed in a nother plase. And for his synne afterward full evell dude spede. For gret sorwe and gret pyne afterward hadde he, as hit was ryht well yknewe to mony a mon, and as by visiones hit was ofte ysey, and also yprovyd in verite. For after his deythe, he his spirite in peyne abouht dude gon, and agast sore men bothe nyht and day abouht þat contrey in mony a place, and ladyes also in Seynt Ede abbay, of þe whyche Elburwe his owne Cosyn forsothe on was. For to herre he apparede so horrbyliche, y wys, and in so meche peyne, and in so meche wo, þat gret pyte to here hit ytolde hit ys. And so he dude ofte to mony one mo. For upone a nyht he apperede to hurre ryht þus, as ychall howe tell veriliche in dede. He mette in slepe þat he was in þe chirche, y wys, stondyng byfore þe shrene of Seynt Ede, wyth mony other men and wemmen hurre bedus to bydde. Among þe whyche he seyhe þat cursede Bryxin come, þe wheche was hurre owne cosyn full sybbe, stondyng in a heyron þere, an horrbull foull grome, In an heyron þere before þe auter of Seynt Ede, and hoggyliche lokede upon herre wyth horrble chere, and sayde, ‘Help, Elburwe, help me now in þis nede. Seystow þu not what sorwe y have, and how gret fere?

The Wilton Chronicle

Therefore, Elburwe, speak no more about that matter; I ask you not to anger me anymore. I will adhere to the oath that I have sworn. I say that you will get nothing there’. When Elburwe saw that she would have nothing that she desired, she rose up and went home, saying nothing and keeping her own counsel. Brixon, who had not valued this virgin St Edith, lay still; he was dead soon after and was buried in another religious house. Great evil befell him afterward because of his sin. He had great sorrow and great pain after death, as many men knew very well because it was often seen in visions and also proved in truth. For after his death, his spirit travelled about in pain and frightened people terribly both day and night in many places around that county; he also frightened the ladies in St Edith’s abbey, one of whom was his own cousin Elburwe. It is a great pity to hear it told how he appeared to her in such a horrible manner, in so much pain and so much woe, as he did often to many others as well. One night he appeared to her in this way, as indeed I will tell you truly. She dreamt that she was in the church, standing before the shrine of St Edith to say the rosary with many other men and women. She saw that damned Brixon come among those gathered, he who was her own fullblood cousin. He was standing there in a corner, a horrible and foul figure, in front of the altar of St Edith. Brixon looked dreadfully at Elburwe with a horrible expression and said, ‘Help, Elburwe, help me now in this need. Do you not see what sorrow I have, and what great fear? (3981)

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Now, dure cosyn, wyth all my myht y prey now þe, þat he wolden stonde bytwynne me and Seynt Ede, for fore all þe gode in þe worlde, y nolde herre se, Of hurre ychave so gret fere and so gret drede. Hurre myht and hurre maystry so grete nowe ys, hurre hate is peyne, sorwe, and gret wo. Alas, þat ever y dude to hurre ony thyng amys, For ouht of herre syht y not whodere to go. Bot hurre lofsom chere were now levere to me, þen all þe gode þat ever on urthe was wrouht. So meche sorwe and peyn ychave every day hurre to se, and where ever þat y hyde me ycham ouht souht’. And þen, for þe pete þat he hadde of hurre cosines sorwe and wo, full sore a fryht he a woke, and brayde ouht hurr slepe, and by hulte how horrbiliche Bryxyn from hurre dude go. And for sorwe and pyte, he brake ouht þo and sore wepe, and sayde, ‘Lo, Bryxyn Cosyn, þu noldust not after me werche, bot evermore have þyn owne wyll, and setteste nouht by Seynt Ede, ny by hurre chirche. Bot þu toke hurre londe from hurre wyth ouht ony resone or skyll. And now þu leyste in gret sorwe and in gret peyne for þe falssenesse þat þu duste þis abbay þo to. And now hit nysnot in þy power to heve þat lond aheyn. Alas, Bryxin Cosyn, what woltowe now for sorwe do?’ Bot when Elburwe hadde made þus herre moyn To God of hevene and to þis blessede mayde Seynt Ede, towarde hurre chambre he þouht to gone, For þere he durst no lengur abyde for drede. And all þe ladyes þat weron þat tyme wyth Elburwe þere, of þis grete fraye þe wheche þey sie and herden, weron sore agast. And þey durst not abyde ne leng þere for fere, bot heyhedone hem towarde hurre chamburs fast. And when þuse ladyes weron a resone up to han ygon on þis maner towarde herre chambrus for gast everychon, þey herdyn Bryxin make a schryke wyth routhefull chere and sayde, ‘Abyde, ladyes, and saythe a Pater noster or he gone. Abyde, Elburwe Cosyn, now mekeliche y prey þo, and make þy preyours mekelyche to Seynt Ede, þat he wolde have pyte and rewthe of me.

The Wilton Chronicle

Now, dear cousin, I pray to you with all my might that you would stand between me and St Edith, for I do not wish to look upon her for all the property in the world, since I have such great fear and dread of her. Her power and her mastery are so great that her hate is pain and sorrow and great woe. Alas, that I ever wronged her in any way, for I don’t know where to go to get out of her sight. Her loving expression would now be more desirable to me than all the goods ever made on earth. I have so much sorrow and pain every day when I see her, and wherever I may hide myself, I am found’. Then, Elburwe shrieked and woke herself up, very much frightened by the pity she felt for her cousin’s sorrow and woe. She beheld Brixon’s horrible plight as he vanished from her sight. She broke into tears then and wept for sorrow and pity; she said, ‘Lo, Cousin Brixon, you did not wish to follow my instructions, but always wanted your own way. You set no store by St Edith nor by her church. You took her land from her without any reason or knowledge. And now you lie in great sorrow and pain because of the treachery that you worked on this abbey. But now it is not in your power to return that land. Alas, Cousin Brixon, what will you do to alleviate your sorrow?’ When Elburwe had made her request to God in Heaven and to this blessed maid St Edith, she thought to return to her chamber; because of her fear, she did not dare to remain any longer in the sanctuary. All the ladies that were with Elburwe at that time were very frightened by this great uproar. They too did not dare to remain there any longer, so they hurried in fear toward their chambers. Just as they were getting up to go, they heard Brixon shriek in a pitiful voice, ‘Stay ladies, and say a Pater Noster before you go. Stay, Cousin Elburwe, I meekly ask you, and make your prayers meekly to St Edith so that she will have pity and compassion for me. (4020)

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The Wilton Chronicle

For y darre nowhere abyde to speke wyth hurre for drede. For my peyne is ever more and more, and my sorwe encresseth every day. Alas, þe tyme þat y was inne bore, or þat y ever þat lond of Seynt Edus knewe or syhe’. And wyth þat, Bryxin vanysshede away, and spake nomore, bot grundede and gronede he dude full sore þo, and went forthe lyke as þaw he were forlore, and long afterwarde in sorwe and peyne abouht dude go. Bot when þe heyres, þe wheche hadde þat londe, sie well þis, þat Bryxin hadde so meche peyne and sorwe þerfore, þay restoredone hit aheyn to þat Abbay, y wys, and cryede mekeleche þo Seynt Ede mercy and hore, and sayden, ‘Blessede lady, have he mercy and pite of us, and also on Bryxin, þe wheche is in so gret peyne and wo. For we wyll never displese hou after thus, bot ben howre servandys for ever and hoo’. And so þey made herre preyherys after þat every day, and kneledone full oft Seynt Edus shrene byfor, tyll Bryxin was clene ouht of þat contre ygo away, þat þey herdyn of hym in þat contre nomore. Bot to say þat his soule is dampned for ever more, hit is a poynte of owre byleve. Bot y nyl not þerof speke now to how no lore. For y nyl not deme no mon here, bot þe best we shull ratherest byleve to. For Goddus mercy passeth all þe gode werkes þat he dude wyrche. Bot depe dampnacyon God byhetuth all þo þat byrevyhthe ony possessione from holy chirche. For he dyede wyth ouhte ony repentaunce, as þe story telluth to me, wherfore ychod well he hath meche myschaunce, where ever he dwell or be.

The Wilton Chronicle

I do not dare to stay anywhere and speak with her because of my great fear. My pain is always greater and greater, and my sorrow grows every day. Alas, the time that I was born! Alas, that I ever saw or knew that land of St Edith’s’. With that, Brixon vanished entirely and said no more, but he grunted and groaned very much, departing as though he was completely forlorn. For a long time afterward he went about in sorrow and pain. When his heirs who held the land saw so clearly that Brixon had so much pain and sorrow because of it, they restored it to the abbey again, and humbly asked St Edith for mercy and compassion, saying, ‘Blessed lady, have mercy and pity upon us, and also on Brixon, who is in such great pain and woe. For we will never displease you from now on, but will be your servants for ever’. In this way, they made their prayers every day after that: they often knelt down in front of St Edith’s shrine until Brixon was completely gone from that country, and they never heard from his ghost again. However, it is a point of our belief to say that his soul is damned forever. I will not speak now of that to you anymore, for I will not judge any person here; instead, we will prefer to believe the best of everyone. God’s mercy surpasses even all his good deeds, but God promises deep damnation to all who steal any possessions from Holy Church. For Brixon died without repentance, as the legend tells me, so I know well that he has much mishap, wherever he now dwells. (4053)

277

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The Wilton Chronicle

4055 (fol. 246v)

4060

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Bot of hym y nyl now speke nomore, bot speke we of a nother miracle as gret as þis, how hit byfell in Kyng Edwardus tyme Confessore,165 For in Kyng Hardecounutes tyme forsothe was þis. Bot Kyng Hardeknowde deyde after þis grete wondre anone. And Seynt Edwarde his brother was cronyd þo kyng. And þis gret miracle in his tyme was doune, þe xvij here of his regnyng. And in þe tyme of Henry þe Imperour166 hit was also, and in þe þousonde and two and syxsty here after þat Goddus son was bore, and in þe tyme of þe byssop of Tulayne, þis gret miracle was ydoune, þe wheche y touchede byfore.167 In Almayne þer was a toune, y wys, Colebek hit hadde þat tyme to name. And a chirche of Seynt Magne þerinne þo was. Þere on mydwyntris nyht þis miracle was doun of so grete fame. In þe parysshe of Seynt Magne in Colebek, þer dwelt a monn, and Gerleyne was þat monnes name, y wys, þe whiche in mydwyntrus hevyn to þat churche dude gone. Bot sone after by hym hit fell all amys. For by cause of a womon he þo þedur went, and purposede hym to abyde þer wyth herre all þat nyht. For upone þat mayde was all his love and his entent to have hurre to pamour hyf þat he myht. Bot when he come in to þat chirche lyttone þo, twey wemen he founde tere, and preyhede hem fayche þat mayde ouht.

165

Edward the Confessor, King of England (r. 1042–66).

166

Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor (r. 1056–1106).

167

Left margin: miraculum; this episode has been adapted from Goscelin, Legenda Edithae; Translatio, chapter 16, but versions of it appear in a number of other texts as well, including Robert Mannyng’s Handlyng Synne, for which the Wilton Chronicle was an important source (see Handlyng Synne, ed. by Idelle Sullens (Binghampton, NY: Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies, 1983).

The Wilton Chronicle

But I will not speak anymore of him, nor of the time of King Harthacnut, who died right after that great miracle occurred. I will speak of another miracle as great, which happened in the time of King Edward the Confessor, who was crowned after his brother Harthacnut died. In the seventeenth year of Edward’s reign, when Henry was the Holy Roman Emperor, and in the time of the Bishop of Touraine, one thousand sixty-two years after God’s son was borne, this great miracle occurred. There was a town in Germany called Colbek; within it was a church of St Magne, where this very famous miracle was done on mid-winter’s night. A man named Gerlyn lived in the parish there, and he went to that church on midwinter’s eve. Soon after, many bad things happened to him, however, because he went to church intending only to stay there all night with a woman. All his desire and intent were to have that maid as his lover, if he could. He found two women already there when he came to the churchyard, and he asked them to bring that maid out to him. (4079)

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(fol. 247r) 4095

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168

And when he was come, he toke hurre on his honde, and xij men mo, and daunceden wyth a carall þe chirche abouht. And in þe daunce he hym selfen went byfore, and ladde þat mayden upon his ryht honde. And þus þey song and daunceden þo þore, þat all men þat weron þere merveyllede hem, bothe fre and bound. Bot ever þey song and dauncede yliche fast, and nolde not stonte þere for no monn. Bot þe person hym self come ouht at þe last, and badde hem þat þey shulde stent hurre song or ellus þens gone. Þey nolde not stynt for all þat þe person myht do, bot ever dauncede and songon yliche fast. And het þe mayden was þe persons cosyn þat Gerlen lovede so168 For þe wheche þis daunce so long dude last. Þis was þe refret of þat caroull y wene, þe wheche Gerlen and þis mayde song byfore, ‘Bono rodde be þe wode so grene, and mette he wyth Merfunden, þat semely mayde þore. Wharto shulde we langur tary here? Heyhe we now fast, and go we henne’. Þis was þe refryd of þe caroull þat þey song þere, þuse thre wemen and þuse threttene men. Bot when þe person sye þat þey nolde not stent, bot ever þey dauncede yliche fast, anon aheyn in to þe chirche þo he went, and for angur þus he preyhede at þe last. He prayhede to God and Seynt Magne, þat holy martir, þat God and Seynt Magne wolde graunte þorow herre grace, þat þey shulde not rest hem of all þat here, to daunce so ryht þere in þat same plase.

Goscelin explicitly calls the young woman the daughter of the priest, but this acknowledgment of priests’ families was unpalatable by the fifteenth century. Throughout the episode, cosyn is a later correction in a different hand over erasures — but see line 4215, where the corrector missed douhter. The Polychronicon (Book VI, chapter 18) includes a much briefer version of the miracle that does not include Wilton Abbey.

The Wilton Chronicle

When she came there, he took her hand and with her and twelve other men danced around the church to the music of a carol. He went first in that dance, leading that maiden on his right hand. Thus they sang and danced for a long time, so that all men, both freemen and bondsmen, marvelled at them. Ever they sang and danced quickly together, and would not stand still for anybody. The parson himself finally came out of the church, and ordered them to stop their song or to leave that place. But for all the parson might do, they would not stop, but continued to dance and sing together. The maiden that Gerlyn loved so much was the parson’s cousin — because of him this dance lasted so long. I know that this was the refrain of that carol which Gerlyn and this maid sang: ‘Bono rode by the wood so green, and he stopped there for a long time with Merfunden, that fair maiden. Why should we tarry longer here? Let us go away now quickly’. This was the refrain of the carol that they sang there, these three women and thirteen men. When the parson saw that they would not stop, but continued dancing quickly together, he went back into the church again, and in anger he began to pray. He prayed to God and St Magne, that holy martyr, that they would grant through their grace that the dancers would not rest themselves for all that year and dance in that way right there in that same place. (4109)

281

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The Wilton Chronicle

4110

Bot þe person badde Ahone, his cosyn, þo þat he shulde anon his sustre þynne fayche. And þo Ahon forthe anon after he dude go and anon by þe harme his sustre dude cayche. Bot Gerleyn hulte hurre honde so fast, 4115 þat o fote myht he þennys from Gerleyn þo go.169 Hurre brother wracchede hym þo at þe last, and askede Gerleyn why he dude hold hurre so. Bot Garleyn no worde myht speke to hym þo, bot daunce and song ever yliche fast. 4120 And Ahone drowe his sustre by þe harme so þat evene by þe shuldre atwo hit barst. bot when he sye his sustre have suche an harme wyth carefull hert he sykede full sore and sayde, ‘alas’, and merveyllede gretlyche in hert þat þe arme 4125 so clene from hurre body yclove so was. For þere fell away no blodus drope Ny no blodus drope was senene þo þere Ny he toke non hedde þerof bot dauncede forthe and song here note as herne and as bysiliche as he dude ere. 4130 (fol. 247v) And of hurre hurt he toke nomore hede Ny þaw he hadde yhade no harme. Bot hurre brother, anon in to þe chirche he hede. And to his cosyn he toke his sustre arme, and tolde his cosyn all þe processe 4135 Every delle ryht as hit ydo þere was, and how of herre song and of herre daunce þey myht not seysse, bot songen and daunceden styll in þat same place. Þe person merveyllede þen hym meche of þis, And syhe well þat Seynt Magne had taken one hem vengaunce, 4140 and dredde hym sore leste he had ouhte done amys170 to preyhe so, þat all þe here continualyche þat þey shulde so syng and daunce.

169 170

There seems to be a negative missing from the line — the sister cannot leave the dance.

Lines 4140–41 are inserted at the bottom of the folio by a different hand; their correct place in the text is indicated by the form