'The Owl and the Nightingale' and the English Poems of Jesus College MS 29 (II)

An edition of the early Middle English verse sequence contained in the thirteenth-century Oxford Jesus College MS 29 (II) with accompanying translations in Modern English and scholarly introduction and apparatus. The sequence is varied in subject, with poems of religious exhortation set beside others of secular pragmatism. Included are: The Owl and the Nightingale, Poema Morale, The Proverbs of Alfred, Thomas of Hales's Love Rune, The Eleven Pains of Hell, the prose Shires and Hundreds of England, the lengthy Passion of Jesus Christ in English, and twenty-one additional lyrics, most of them uniquely preserved in this manuscript. Made in the West Midlands, the Jesus 29 manuscript is the lengthiest all-English verse collection known to exist in the period between the Exeter Book and the Harley Lyrics.



edited and translated by Susanna Fein



General Introduction Oxford, Jesus College, MS 29 (II): Texts and Translations 1. The Passion of Jesus Christ in English 2. The Owl and the Nightingale 3. Poema Morale 4. The Saws of Saint Bede 5. The Woman of Samaria 6. Weal 7. Death's Wither-Clench 8. An Orison to Our Lady 9. Will and Wit 10. The Annunciation 11. The Five Joys of Our Lady Saint Mary 12. When Holy Church Is Under Foot 13. Doomsday 14. Death 15. Ten Abuses 16. A Little Sooth Sermon 17. Antiphon of Saint Thomas the Martyr in English 18. On Serving Christ 19. Thomas of Hales, Love Rune 20. Song of the Annunciation 21. Fire and Ice 22. Signs of Death 23. Three Sorrowful Tidings 24. The Proverbs of Alfred 25. An Orison to Our Lord 26. A Homily on Sooth Love 27. The Shires and Hundreds of England 28. The Eleven Pains of Hell Explanatory Notes Textual Notes Index of First Lines Index of Proper Names Bibliography