Catherine Eisner: Medieval Song (1)

Thursday 3 March 2016

[ This hitherto untranscribed text is by a hand unknown and no putative attribution to any earlier scriptor should be assayed. ]

Discovered inscribed in cursiva anglicana (Middle English

and Latin) by stylus on a wax tablet. Early 14th Century.

This tabletta (or ceraculum) is in the personal possession

of Catherine Eisner who has transcribed the

orthographical variants, with reference to The Middle English Dictionary

and to The Index to Middle English Verse;

and within the limitations of current scholarship Eisner

believes this text to be a faithful rendering.

O lovely Mary maiden fair,

May all our hearts in faith declare

Praise for these, our mistress’s

Gentlelady courtesies.

O Holy Infant, baby fair

Come intercede and hear our prayer

Call for these, sweet Jesus’s

Gentlechild forgivenesses.

All praise to thee, My Lady.

All praise to thee, Thy Baby.

All praise to thee, Almighty,

Deo gratias. Pray have mercy.

Detail from a 14th-century church window,
Herefordshire, England. The Christ child
holds a small bird, symbol of His coming Passion.

For a transcription of the Second of these medieval verses by an unknown hand, see:

Catherine Eisner