Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, 26
26, fol. 130rb
General Information
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:
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:
Object Description
Codex
Parchment
260 x 195
ff. A-B + a-b + i-vi + 1-141+ vii-ix + C-D
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.
double columns of 56 lines
Hand Description
Red rubrication and initial letters; decorated initials in red and blue ink
Additional Information
Digital surrogate at https://parker.stanford.edu/parker/catalog/rf352tc5448 (accessed 27 July 2018)
History
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Reader, R., 'Matthew Paris and Anglo-Saxon England: A Thirteenth-Century Vision of the Distant Past' (unpublished PhD dissertation, University of Durham, 1994)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
Georgia Henley