Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, 26

Present Location
Shelfmark

26, fol. 130rb

Date
Medieval Provenance

General Information

Summary

St Godric's Hymn A, included as part of the Life of Godric in Matthew Paris's Chronica Maiora, Volume 1. (Volume 2 of his chronicle is Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, 16). The Life of St Godric, a hermetic saint in Durham, was well known, and is recounted in the chronicle of Roger of Wendover and the Nova legenda Angliae as well as the chronicle of Matthew Paris. The other manuscripts of Matthew Paris's chronicle also include the Life of Godric. The Life relates that the hymn was taught to Godric by the Virgin Mary when she appeared to him in a vision.

St Godric's Hymn A (one of three hymns/songs attributed to him) is on fol. 130rb. Its spellings show the influence of a south-eastern dialect, possibly that of St Alban's (Dobson and Harrison 1979; Laing 1993). Unlike other manuscript copies this version of the hymn is not accompanied by neums (musical notation).

Digital Surrogate:

https://parker.stanford.edu/parker/catalog/rf352tc5448

Manuscript Items

Item: fol. 130rb

Title: St Godric's Hymn A

Text: Seinte marie clane uirgine. moder iesu | cristes nazarene. onfo. scild. Þin Godric. onfang. bring | hæali Ƿidh þe in godes rich. Seinte marie cristes | bur. meidenes clenhad. moderes flur. dilie mine sennen. | rixe. i min mod. bring me to ƿinine Ƿidh self god.

Date: s. xiii

Bibliography:

Dobson and Harrison 1979

Laing 1993


Object Description

Form

Codex

Support

Parchment

Extent

260 x 195

Foliation/Pagination

ff. A-B + a-b + i-vi + 1-141+ vii-ix + C-D

Collation

a(2) | A(6(?)) | I(10) (+ 3 half-leaves after 7) II(10) (+ 3 half-leaves after 8) III(12) IV(10)-VI(10) VII(12) (2 canc.) VIII(8) IX(10) X(8) XI(10) (5 canc.) XII(13) XIII(14) (+ 2 leaves after 2, and 1 at the end) | B(2) | 1 flyleaf.

Layout Description

double columns of 56 lines


Hand Description

Decoration Description

Red rubrication and initial letters; decorated initials in red and blue ink


Additional Information

Surrogates

Digital surrogate at https://parker.stanford.edu/parker/catalog/rf352tc5448 (accessed 27 July 2018)


History

Bibliography

Deeming, H., 'The Songs of St. Godric: A Neglected Context', Music & Letters, 86 (2005), 169-85

Dobson, E.J. and F.L. Harrison, eds., Medieval English Songs (London, 1979)

Laing, Margaret, Catalogue of Sources for a Linguistic Atlas of Early Medieval English (Woodbridge: Brewer, 1993)

Reader, R., 'Matthew Paris and Anglo-Saxon England: A Thirteenth-Century Vision of the Distant Past' (unpublished PhD dissertation, University of Durham, 1994)

Trend, J.B., 'The First English Songs', Music & Letters, 9 (1928), 111-28

Zupitza, J., 'Cantus beati Godrici', Englische Studien, 11 (1888), 401-31