Harley Lyrics

The Harley Lyrics is the usual name for a collection of lyrics in Middle English, Anglo Norman (Middle French), and Latin found in Harley MS 2253, a manuscript dated ca. 1340 in the British Library's Harleian Collection. The lyrics contain "both religious and secular material, in prose and verse and in a wide variety of genres." The manuscript is written in three recognisable hands: scribe A, scribe B or the Ludlow scribe, and scribe C.

The manuscript Harley MS 2253 contains 141 leaves of parchment or folios measuring 11 1/2 by 6 1/2 inches. It can be divided into two parts based on content: the first 48 leaves, booklets one (quires 1-2, folios 1-22) and two (quires 3-4, folios 23-48), contain religious poetry in the late-thirteenth century hand known as scribe A, whilst the remaining five booklets are written in the early-fourteenth century hand of the Ludlow scribe; apart from some pigment recipes at the beginning of booklet three (quires 5, folios 49-52) penned by scribe C. Containing miscellaneous material, secular as well as religious, in prose and verse, this division is not, however, reflected in the quire division, since the division is found on folio 49, part of a quire running from folio 47 to 52; an earlier assumption that this division indicated two separate manuscripts bound together is therefore incorrect., page 1.

The Ludlow scribe Nothing is known about the identities of scribes A and C, however in discussing scribe B Fein informs us that "Much has been written about the Ludlow scribe, especially since Carter Revard’s landmark research that dates his hand as it appears in three manuscripts and forty-one legal writs." The Ludlow scribe like a number of others is, because of the lack of evidence and the distance of time, somewhat anonymous yet their 'hands' (their characteristic writing style) makes them recognizable. "As the maker of a key manuscript, the Ludlow scribe is a leading figure among a growing company of copyists now recognized for the value of what they preserved." There is evidence that this scribe "flourished as a professional legal scribe in the vicinity of Ludlow from 1314 to 1349." Those aforementioned forty-one legal writs are dated from December 18, 1314, to April 13, 1349. Fein notes that "If he was in his twenties when he inscribed the first of these documents, then he was born in the last decade of the thirteenth century. He may have died during the Black Death, which swept through England from 1348 to 1350, so his dates can roughly be set from about 1290 to about 1350."

The metanarrative Revard explains that "...a savvy reader of the whole anthology can see that there is a metanarrative that unifies the anthology." he further explains that a metanarrative works by, what has been called, "oppositional thematics". That is to say that, each text in the collection is deliberately placed such that it opposes or speaks to the narrative or viewpoint of the preceding texts or texts. In booklet three though, we can see that there is not always a clear relationship and that a knowledge of the sources used by the scribe to set up such oppositions is required to fully grasp the inter-textual meaning. The two poems which precede scribe C's recipes, are ABC a femmes and De l’Yver et de l’Esté, both are Anglo-Norman or Middle French. They appear to have nothing in particular to say to each other. The former is a text that celebrates women, highlighting their decency, kindness and long suffering natures. Fein observes that the poem “…deftly equates the sexual pleasure women hold for men with the heavenly delight, healing, and salvation ushered in by Mary’s role in God’s incarnation.” The writer asserts that any man who does not appreciate the worthiness of women is a base creature. The latter however is a Debate poem "...a late medieval form that might have been inspired by and modeled on Virgil’s Eclogues." It concerns an argument between the Summer and the Winter that seems to have almost pagan overtones. The actual relationship of these texts can only be guessed at.

The texts in booklet four however are more clearly related. By virtue of the number of texts it contains, it represents far more complex contextual patterns and references. However it begins with Hagiography, a Saint's Life. Incipit vita sancti Ethelberti, tells the story of St Ethelbert, who begins as a King but ends as martyr, he is killed as a consequence of his honourable and virtuous behaviour in spite of a vision which shows his future murder. Further into the booklet we meet another apparently honourable and virtuous figure in the earliest surviving English serventes, "...that is, a poem made to mock a beaten enemy." Sitteth alle stille ant herkneth to me also called A Song of Lewes, tells the story of the Earl of Leicester, Simon de Montfort, a hero of the Second Barons' War and how he achieved a great victory against the forces of the King at the Battle of Lewes on 14 May 1264. The text which follows, Chaunter m’estoit, describes his death at the Battle of Evesham, August 4, 1265 where he was killed and dismembered. In this Anglo Norman text de Montfort is eulogised as a martyr and compared favourably to Thomas Becket. Fein tells us that this last text was an expression of a desire by some to see Simon de Montfort canonised, a desire that never bore fruit. The relationship between these three texts is interesting, as is their relationship to the text which follows three short texts concerned with the brevity of life. Fein writes "Looking beyond the praise of Montfort, one senses, too, how the scribe wishes to issue a warning on earthly pride:" In Lystneth, lordynges! A newe song Ichulle bigynne, Sir Simon Fraser, who has also opposed his King along with William Wallace and Robert the Bruce has been captured and is sent to London to be hanged, then drawn and quartered. "The tone of the piece is vigorously nationalistic and anti-Scots." The parallels are clear, as Fein illustrates "The scribe’s interesting arrangement of material conveys many messages in itself. The trilingual meditation on mortality (arts. 24a, 24a*, 24b) points forward to this poem of public execution as well as backward to the death in battle of Simon de Montfort, who was also dismembered." Thus the French Simon de Montfort is compared to another traitor the Scottish Sir Simon Fraser and to a true martyr and saint, the Anglo Saxon Ethelbert; thus creating the metanarrative of booklet four.

Modern transcriptions G. L. Brook is considered an authority on this manuscript. He first published The Harley Lyrics: The Middle English Lyrics of MS. Harley 2253 in 1948 and released a second edition containing "minor corrections and revised bibliography" in 1956. His edition includes a detailed introduction including information on the physicality and orthography of the manuscript, context on secular, courtly love, and religious lyrics, the metre of lyrics, and a brief discussion on the lyrics as literature. His edition includes thirty-two of the original lyric verses included in Harley MS 2253.

Table of contents of Harley manuscript 2253 BOOKLET 1 (quires 1–2, Scribe A)TextFoliosLanguageOriginal TitleEnglish Title1. 1a.1ra-21vb 21vb-22raAN Verse AN VerseVitas patrum ThaisThe Lives of the Fathers The Story of ThaisBOOKLET 2 (quires 3–4, Scribe A)2. 3.

3a.

3b.

7.23ra–33va 33va–39rb

39rb

39va–41va

41va–43vb

43vb–45vb

45vb–47vb

47vb–48vbAN verse AN prose

AN prose

AN proseHerman de Valenciennes, La Passioun Nostre Seignour De la Passioun Jhesu [L’Évangile de Nicodème]

Epistle a Tiberie

Epistle a Claudie l’emperour

De seint Johan le Ewangeliste

De seint Johan le Baptist

De seint Bartholomeu

Passioun seint PiereHerman de Valenciennes, The Passion of Our Lord The Gospel of Nicodemus

The Letter of Pilate to Tiberias

The Letter of Pilate to Emperor Claudius

The Life of Saint John the Evangelist

The Life of Saint John the Baptist

The Life of Saint Bartholomew

The Passion of Saint PeterBOOKLET 3 (quire 5, Scribes B and C)8. 9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

16.

17.49r–50v 51ra–52va

52va

52vb

52vbAN verse AN verse

ME prose

ME proseABC a femmes De l’Yver et de l’Esté

Vorte make cynople

Vorte temprene asure

Vorte make gras-grene

Vorte maken another maner grene

Yet for gaude-grene

Vorte couche selverfoyl

Vorte maken iren as hart as stel

Vorte maken blankplumABC of Women Debate between Winter and Summer

How to Make Red Vermilion

How to Temper Azure

How to Make Grass-Green

How to Make Another Kind of Green

Another for Yellow-Green

How to Apply Silverfoil

How to Make Iron as Hard as Steel

How to Make White LeadBOOKLET 4 (quire 6, Scribe B)18. 19.

20.

21.

22.

23.

24.

24a.

24a*.

24b.

25.

25a.

26.

27.53ra–54vb 54vb

55ra–b

55va–56vb

57r–58v

58v–59r

59r–v

59v

59v–61v

61v

61v–62v

62vL prose L verse

AN verse

ME verse

AN verse

L verse

ME verse

AN verse

ME verseIncipit vita sancti Ethelberti Anima christi, sanctifica me

Quant voy la revenue d’yver

Alle herkneth to me nou

In a thestri stude Y stod

Sitteth alle stille ant herkneth to me

Chaunter m’estoit

Charnel amour est folie

Momentaneum est quod delectat

Erthe toc of erthe

Lystneth, lordynges! A newe song Ichulle bigynne

Lord that lenest us lyf

Enseignement sur les amis

Middelerd for mon wes madThe Life of Saint Ethelbert Soul of Christ, Sanctify Me

A Goliard’s Feast

Harrowing of Hell

Debate between Body and Soul

A Song of Lewes

Lament for Simon de Montfort

Carnal Love Is Folly

What Allures Is Momentary

Earth upon Earth

The Execution of Sir Simon Fraser

On the Follies of Fashion

Lesson for True Lovers

The Three Foes of ManBOOKLET 5 (quires 7–11, Scribe B)28. 29.

30.

31.

32.

33.

34.

35.

36.

37.

38.

39.

40.

41.

43.

44.

45.

46.

47.

48.

49.

50.

51.

52.

53.

54.

55.

56.

57.

58.

59.

60.

61.

62.

63.

64.

65.

66.

67.

68.

69.

70.

71.

72.63r–v 63v

63v

64r

64va–65vb

66r

66v

66v–67r

67r

67va–68va

68va–70rb

70rb–v

70va/71ra/71va

70vb/71rb

71va

71vb–72ra

72ra–va

72va–73rb

73r–v

73v–74v

75ra–b

75rb–va

75va–b

75vb

76r

76v–77r

77va

77vb–78va

78vb–79rb

79rb–vb

79vb

80ra

80rb

80v

80v–81r

81r–v

81va–b

82ra–83r

83r

83r–92v

92v–105r

105va–bME verse ME verse

ME verse

AN verse

AN prose

ME verse

AN verse

ME verse

AN verse

Trilingual verse

AN verse

ME verse

AN verse

ME verse

AN & ME verse

ME verse

AN prose

L proseIchot a burde in a bour ase beryl so bryht / Annot and John Bytuene Mersh ant Averil / Alysoun

With longyng Y am lad

Ich herde men upo mold

Herketh hideward ant beoth stille

Weping haveth myn wonges wet

Most I ryden by Rybbesdale

In a fryht as Y con fare fremede

A wayle whyt ase whalles bon

Gilote e Johane

Les pelrinages communes que crestiensfountenaSeinteTerre

Les pardouns de Acres

Ne mai no lewed lued libben in londe

Of a mon Matheu thohte

Lenten ys come with love to toune

In May hit murgeth when hit dawes

Heye Louerd, thou here my bone

Ichot a burde in boure bryht

Alle that beoth of huerte trewe

Lustneth, lordinges, bothe yonge ant olde

Marie, pur toun enfaunt

Suete Jesu, king of blysse

Jesu Crist, heovene kyng

Wynter wakeneth al my care

When Y se blosmes springe

Ferroy chaunsoun

Dum ludis floribus

Quant fu en ma juvente

Marie, mere al Salveour

Dulcis Jesu memoria

Une petite parole

Stond wel, moder, under rode

Jesu, for thi muchele miht

I syke when Y singe

Nou skrinketh rose ant lylie-flour

Harley Lyrics

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