and there came to them a fair young man, and welcomed them courteously
and called each by name, and did great reverence to Saint Brandon. And
he said to them: "Be ye now joyful, for this is the land that ye have
sought, but our Lord will that ye depart hence hastily, and He will
show you more of His secrets, when ye come again into the sea, and our
Lord will that ye lade your ship with the fruit of this land, and hie
you hence, for ye may no longer abide here, but thou shalt sail again
to thine own country, and soon after thou comest home thou shalt die.
And this water that thou seest here departeth the world asunder, for on
that other side of this water may no man come that is in this life. And
the fruit that ye see here is always thus ripe every time of the year;
and always it is here light as ye now see. And he that keepeth our
Lord's hests at all times shall see this land or he pass out of this
world."
And then Saint Brandon and his monks took of that fruit as much as they
would, and also took with them great plenty of precious stones, and
then took their leave, and went to ship weeping sore because they might
no longer abide there. And then they took their ship and came home into
Ireland in safety, whom their brethren received with great joy, giving
thankings to our Lord, which had kept them all these seven years from
many a peril and brought them home in safety, to whom be given honour
and glory, world without end. Amen.
And soon after, this holy man, Saint Brandon, waxed feeble and sick
and had but little joy of this world, but ever after his joy and mind
was in the joys of heaven. And in a short time after, he, being full
of virtues, departed out of this life to everlasting life, and was
worshipfully buried in a fair abbey, which he himself founded, where
our Lord shewed for this holy saint many fair miracles. Wherefore let
us devoutly pray to this holy saint that he pray for us to our Lord
that He have mercy on us; to whom be given laud and honour and empire,
world without end. Amen.
Translated by William Caxton
THE LIFE OF SAINT MARGARET[39]
_Here followeth the glorious life and passion of the blessed virgin and
martyr Saint Margaret, and first of her name_
Margaret is said of a precious gem, or ouche, that is named a
margaret. Which gem is white, little, and virtuous. So the blessed
Margaret was white by virginity, little by humility, and virtuous by
operation of miracles. The virtue of this stone is said to be against
effusion of blood, against passion of the heart, and to confortation
of the spirit. In like wise the blessed Margaret had virtue against
shedding of her blood by constancy, for in her martyrdom she was most
constant, and also against the passion of the heart, that is to say,
temptation of the devil. For she overcame the devil by victory, and
to the confortation of the spirit by doctrine, for by her doctrine
she comforted much people, and converted to the faith of Christ.
Theoteinus, a learned man, wrote her legend.
The holy Saint Margaret was of the city of Antioch, daughter of
Theodosius, patriarch and prince of the idols of paynims. And she was
delivered to a nurse for to be kept. And when she came to perfect age
she was baptized, wherefore she was in great hate of her father.
On a certain day, when she was fifteen years of age and kept the sheep
of her nurse with other maidens, the provost Olybrius passed by the way
whereas she was, and considered in her so great beauty and fairness,
that anon he burned in her love, and sent his servants and bade them
take her and bring her to him. "For if she be free, I shall take her
to my wife, and if she be bond, I shall make her my concubine." And
when she was presented tofore him he demanded her of her lineage, name,
and religion. And she answered that she was of noble lineage, and for
her name Margaret, and Christian in religion. To whom the provost
said: "The two first things be convenient to thee, that is that thou
art noble and art called Margaret, which is a most fair name, but the
third appertaineth nothing to thee, that so fair a maid and so noble
should have a God crucified." To whom she said: "How knowest thou that
Christ was crucified?" He answered: "By the books of Christian men."
To whom Margaret said: "O what shame is it to you, when you read the
pain of Christ and the glory, and believe one thing and deny another."
And she said and affirmed Him to be crucified by His will for our
redemption, and now liveth ever in bliss. And then the provost, being
wroth, commanded her to be put in prison. And the next day following
he commanded that she should be brought to him, and then said to her:
"O good maid, have pity on thy beauty, and worship our gods, that thou
mayest be well." To whom she said: "I worship Him that maketh the
earth to tremble, whom the sea dreadeth and the winds and creatures
obey." To whom the provost said: "But if thou consent to me I shall
make thy body to be all to-torn." To whom Margaret said: "Christ gave
Himself over to the death for me, and I desire gladly to die for
Christ." Then the provost commanded her to be hanged in an instrument
to torment the people, and to be cruelly first beaten with rods, and
with iron combs to rend and draw her flesh to the bones, insomuch
that the blood ran about out of her body, like as a stream runneth
out of a fresh springing well. They that were there wept, and said:
"O Margaret, verily we be sorry for thee, which see thy body so foul,
and so cruelly torn and rent. O how thy most beauty hast thou lost for
thy incredulity and misbelief! Now believe, and thou shalt live." Then
said she to them: "O evil counsellors, depart ye, and go from me; this
cruel torment of my flesh is salvation of my soul." Then she said to
the provost: "Thou shameless hound and insatiable lion, thou hast power
over my flesh, but Christ reserveth my soul." The provost covered his
face with his mantle, for he might not see so much effusion of blood,
and then commanded that she should be taken down, and to shut her fast
in prison, and there was seen a marvellous brightness in the prison, of
the keepers.
And whilst she was in prison, she prayed our Lord that the fiend that
had fought with her, He would visibly show him unto her. And then
appeared a horrible dragon and assailed her, and would have devoured
her, but she made the sign of the cross, and anon he vanished away. And
in another place it is said that he swallowed her into his belly, she
making the sign of the cross. And the belly brake asunder, and so she
issued out all whole and sound.
This swallowing and breaking of the belly of the dragon is said that it
is apocryphal.
After this the devil appeared to her in likeness of a man for to
deceive her. And when she saw him, she went to prayer and after arose,
and the fiend came to her, and took her by the hand and said: "It
sufficeth to thee that thou hast done, but now cease as to my person."
She caught him by the head and threw him to the ground and set her
right foot on his neck, saying: "Lie still, thou fiend, under the
feet of a woman." The devil then cried: "O blessed Margaret, I am
overcome. If a young man had overcome me I had not recked, but alas! I
am overcome of a tender virgin; wherefore I make the more sorrow, for
thy father and mother have been my good friends." She then constrained
him to tell why he came to her, and he answered that he came to her to
counsel her for to obey the desire and request of the provost. Then
she constrained him to say wherefore he tempted so much and so often
Christian people. To whom he answered that naturally he hated virtuous
men, and though we be oft put aback from them, yet our desire is much
to exclude them from the felicity that they fell from, for we may never
obtain ne recover our bliss that we have lost. And she then demanded
what he was, and he answered: "I am Veltis, one of them whom Solomon
closed in a vessel of brass. And after his death it happed that they of
Babylon found this vessel, and supposed to have founden great treasure
therein, and brake the vessel; and then a great multitude of us devils
flew out and filled full the air alway, awaiting and espying where we
may assail rightful men." And when he had said thus, she took off her
foot and said to him: "Flee hence, thou wretched fiend." And anon the
earth opened, and the fiend sank in. Then she was sure, for when she
had overcome the master, she might lightly overcome the minister.
Then the next day following, when all the people was assembled, she
was presented tofore the judge. And she, not doing sacrifice to their
false gods, was cast into the fire, and her body broiled with burning
brands, in such wise that the people marvelled that so tender a maid
might suffer so many torments. And after that, they put her in a great
vessel full of water, fast bounden, that by changing of the torments,
the sorrow and feeling of the pain should be the more. But suddenly
the earth trembled, and the air was hideous, and the blessed virgin
without any hurt issued out of the water, saying to our Lord: "I
beseech thee, my Lord, that this water may be to me the font of baptism
to everlasting life." And anon there was heard great thunder, and a
dove descended from heaven and set a golden crown on her head. Then
five thousand men believed in our Lord, and for Christ's love they all
were beheaded by the commandment of the provost Olybrius, that time in
Campolymeath, the city of Aurelia.
Then Olybrius, seeing the faith of the holy Margaret immoveable, and
also fearing that others should be converted to the Christian faith
by her, gave sentence and commanded that she should be beheaded. Then
she prayed to one Malchus that should behead her, that she might have
space to pray. And that got, she prayed to our Lord, saying: "Father
Almighty, I yield to Thee thankings that Thou hast suffered me to come
to this glory, beseeching Thee to pardon them that pursue me. And I
beseech Thee, good Lord, that of Thy abundant grace, Thou wilt grant
unto all them that write my passion, read it, or hear, and to them
that remember me, that they may deserve to have plain remission and
forgiveness of all their sins. And also, good Lord, if any woman with
child, travailing in any place, call on me, that Thou wilt keep her
from peril, and that the child may be delivered from her belly without
any hurt of his members." And when she had finished her prayer there
was a voice heard from heaven, saying that her prayers were heard and
granted and that the gates of heaven were open and abode for her, and
bade her come into the country of everlasting rest. Then she, thanking
our Lord, arose up, and bade the hangman accomplish the commandment of
the provost. To whom the hangman said: "God forbid that I should slay
thee, virgin of Christ." To whom she said: "If thou do it not thou
mayest have no part with me." Then he, being afraid and trembling,
smote off her head, and he, falling down at her feet, gave up the ghost.
Then Theoteinus took up the holy body, and bare it into Antioch, and
buried it in the house of a noble woman and widow named Sincletia. And
thus this blessed and holy virgin, Saint Margaret, suffered death, and
received the crown of martyrdom the thirteenth kalends of August, as
is founden in her story; and it is read in another place that it was
the third ides of July. Of this virgin writeth an holy man and saith:
"The holy and blessed Margaret was full of the dread of God, sad,
stable, and worshipful in religion, arrayed with compunction, laudable
in honesty, and singular in patience, and nothing was found in her
contrary to Christian religion; hateful to her father, and beloved of
our Lord Jesu Christ." Then let us remember this holy virgin that she
pray for us in our needs.
Translated by William Caxton
PIOUS TALES
A MIRACLE OF GOD'S BODY
A MIRACLE OF THE VIRGIN
THE TRANSLATION OF SAINT THOMAS OF CANTERBURY
A MIRACLE OF GOD'S BODY[40]
There was a man beyond the sea, a miner who lived in a city and who
sought under the earth for the stones out of which men get silver and
gold. He worked and dug in the hill, and a dreadful thing happened to
him: a large part of the mine fell down, closing him in. His fellows,
who were loyal to him, believed that he was dead, so they took counsel
together and went to tell his wife. This woman bewailed her husband
sorely (would God there were many such women!). She helped his soul in
all ways by giving alms and offerings. She offered for his sake at the
altar a pitcher full of wine and a fair loaf, also, every day during a
whole twelve months, except on one day. Few such women we find now, who
are so kind to their husbands, but this wife with all her power wrought
for him both day and night.
It happened at the end of the twelve months that his fellows went to
the hill and came to the very place where they had left their companion
at work. They began right there and, piercing through, found the man
in good estate, alive, without any injury or wound. Each one was
filled with amazement, and there was good reason why the men should be
in doubt as to how he had lived all that year. Then he told them how
he had lived there alone. "I have lived a gracious life through the
courtesy of my wife, who every day has sent me wine and bread, except
on one day, when I ate nothing."
They led the man in to the town and told the miracle everywhere
through the city and through the country. At last it happened that
he mentioned the name of the day when he fasted, and his wife said
the same thing,—the day she made no offering was Good Friday. Now you
may hear how a devout deed of alms will feed a man, and so you may
understand that God is always pleased with good offerings.
In spite of this tale, trust not your wives, nor your children, but
make your offerings yourselves. So kind a woman as I have told about
does not live now, you may be sure. And no clerk who reads this will
ever find one of such good deeds. You men who are now present and
hear about the sacrament, know that the sacrament on the altar has
power over all things, as I have shown to the ignorant but not to the
learned, for the clerks know it well. Let us pray our Creator that our
Saviour, the Sacrament, will save us body and soul, and grant that we
may love Him and be His forever.
Translated by M. H. S.
A MIRACLE OF THE VIRGIN[41]
Lord, Maker of all things, Almighty God in majesty, that ever, without
beginning, wert and art and shall be, grant us both strength and
opportunity so to serve Thy pleasure that we may, through Thy grace,
dwell with Thee for ever and aye!
We ought to bear well in mind those miracles of our Lady which are
written in true story, showing how helpful she ever is to mankind. Once
upon a time it happened in a city,—hearken well and ye may hear,—when
Jews were wont to be together among Christians, Christians dwelt in one
half of the city, and the Jews were forced to live in one street. The
Christian children had made for themselves a pleasant place in a field,
and there a Jew's child often played with them. The child's father
took no heed of this and never cast an eye upon him, therefore the
child came and went whenever he chose to play. So often did they play
together that the Jew's son learned their games and was just like one
of the Christian children, loved and welcomed by them.
At one Easter time, which the Christians kept with great solemnity,
a beautiful minster had been completed in the midst of the city, and
to it the Christian folk went to hear both matins and mass, as, by
Christian rule, is usual for both the high and the low. Every one in
best array, both husbands and wives, attended. The children followed
their fathers, as they were wont, and the Jew's child with right good
cheer was happy to go with them. When he was well within the church, he
thought he had never been so glad as he was at that seemly sight, such
as he had never seen before—both lamps and tapers burning brightly,
altars wonderfully ornamented, and beautifully wrought gold images of
many good saints.
In a chair sat a comely Queen, all decorated with gold; upon her arm
she bore a blissful Babe, in kingly crown as He should be. The child
looked long at that Lady and at that blissful Babe, and noted how
people told their beads before them, as Christian folk do. The Jew's
child felt such pleasure in all the sights he saw and thought them all
so sweet, that he was almost ravished with joy. When high mass of the
day was done, the priest bade all men kneel down; the Jew's child took
heed of this and knelt among the Christians. Although he was pushed
about by the crowd, he was not afraid, and he spared no pains until he
too received the sacrament. Of such a child no one took notice. When
all things were brought to an end, and every Christian drew towards
home, the Jew, seeking his child throughout the town, saw him come from
the church. He asked his son where he had been while he had sought him
all that day, and the boy told the whole story of what he had done and
seen. The father then waxed mad with anger and said at once, "Thou
gettest thy reward"; and going to his hot oven that gleamed as does
a glowing coal, he cast the child into it, intending to burn him to
ashes. With the mouth-stone he sealed the oven, and thought that the
truth would not be revealed.
When his mother heard this, in the very place where she stood she fell
into a frenzy and for woe became as if mad. Always crying out, she
went tearing her hair, in every street in that city, now up, now down,
everywhere, and folk wondered about her and felt great pity. The mayor
and the bailiffs of the town, when they heard that cry, halted her and
made inquiry as to why she cried so wildly and put people in such fear
and sorrowed so, especially on Easter Day. As soon as she could cease
weeping, this woful mother answered, "Sirs, ye have this city to keep;
as lords ye must needs execute law. Alas! alas! I am destroyed, and
must have help of you; I pray for a just judgment; my cause I shall
prove before you. My husband has burned my child—shut him up in a
glowing oven! Go, see, sirs, and I will give you gold enough."
Both mayor and bailiffs, together with the people, went to the Jew's
oven, and as soon as they had arrived, the mayor commanded, "Put down
the stone." Then every man might easily see how the oven roof, that was
round, was in appearance like glowing glass from roof to ground. The
child sat there whole and sound, not harmed in hand nor hair, amidst
the coals which were all about, just as if he sat in a cool arbor. The
child's mother, when she saw that, thought she had never been so glad;
into the oven she started towards him, and soon had him out with her.
And all the people present there wondered at that strange sight and
praised God with good intent, for a miracle is more than man's might.
They asked him, with one consent, how it was that he had had no harm
among the brands that burned so brightly, and the child answered at
once:
"Never in all my life have I had such great happiness as came to me
after I was put into the oven. Both brands and coals, in truth, that
were beneath my feet, like fair flowers, like special spices, seemed
sweet to me. The blissful Queen, that Maiden mild, who sits in church
on her throne, with that comely King, her Child, that blissful Babe
that she holds on her bosom, shielded me from all harm, from coals
and brands that burned so clearly, from all the flames that flowed so
wildly, and they could never come near me."
Then men and women, all who were there, both small and great, low and
high, praised God heartily for this miracle. The Jewess through her
son's word was converted to Christ, anon, and the child and all the
Jews accepted the law of Christ. The mayor himself examined the Jew to
judge of his trespass, and twelve men were sworn to speak the truth and
to give their verdict upon the case. They took counsel together, and
came back with one consent. The words of their verdict were, "In that
same oven he shall be burned."
Thus is ended this story of the miracle written above. Grant us joy in
heaven on high, Lord Jesus, for Thy Mother's love. Amen.
Translated by M. H. S.
THE TRANSLATION OF SAINT THOMAS OF CANTERBURY[42]
The translation of the glorious martyr, Saint Thomas of Canterbury,
we shall shortly rehearse unto the laud and praising of Almighty God,
then in the fiftieth year after his passion, which was the year of
jubilee, that is, of remission. For, of ancient time, the fiftieth year
was called the year of the jubilee of pardon and remission, and is yet
used among religious men. For when a religious man hath continued in
his order fifty years, then he shall be admitted to make his jubilee,
and that made, he is pardoned and hath remission of many observances
that tofore he was bounden unto. Then in this year of jubilee from his
passion, was the solemnity of his translation accomplished, in the time
of Honorius, the third pope of that name. The which granted yearly
remissions and indulgences so great and large, that tofore in no time
of mind hath been seen any popes to have granted and given like. Then
let us call to mind that on a Tuesday his translation was accomplished.
On the Tuesday happed to him many things. On a Tuesday he was born,
on a Tuesday he was exiled, on a Tuesday our Lord appeared to him at
Pountney in France, saying: "Thomas, my church shall be glorified in
thy blood." On a Tuesday he returned from his exile, and on a Tuesday
he suffered martyrdom.
Then how this holy translation was fulfilled now ye shall hear. The
reverend father in God, Stephen, Archbishop of Canterbury, Richard,
Bishop of Salisbury, Walter, the prior of the same place, with the
convent, with spiritual songs and devout hymns, when it was night,
went to the sepulchre of this holy martyr, and all that night and day
of his translation they persevered in prayers and fastings. And after
midnight, four priests, elected and thereto chosen, approaching to his
body, took up the holy head with great devotion and reverence, and unto
them all offered it for to kiss it. Then the archbishop and all the
others made great honour to it, and took all the relics of the precious
body, and laid them in a chest, and shut it fast with iron locks, and
set it in a place for to be kept unto the day that the translation
should be solemnized. The day then of this holy translation being come,
there were present a great innumerable multitude of people, as well of
rich as of poor. There was Pandulphus, a legate of our holy father the
pope, and two archbishops of France, of Rheims and Arles, with many
other bishops and abbots, and also King Harry the Third with earls and
barons, which king himself took the chest upon his shoulders, and with
the other prelates and lords, brought it with great joy and honour in
to the place where it is now worshipped, and was laid in a fair and
much rich shrine. At whose holy translation were showed, by the merits
of this holy martyr, Saint Thomas, many miracles. To blind men was
given their sight, to deaf men their hearing, to dumb men their speech,
and to dead men was restored life.
Among all others there was a man, because of great devotion that he had
to be at this holy translation and visit the holy martyr, which came
to the bridge at Brentford by London; and when he was in the middle of
the bridge, meeting there one, was cast into the water. This man, not
forgetting himself, called Saint Thomas unto his help, and besought
him not to suffer his pilgrim to perish, ne to be there drowned. And
five times he sank down to the ground, and five times arose above the
water, and then he was cast to the dry ground. Then he affirmed that
he received no water into his mouth, nor into his ears that did to him
grievance nor hurt that he felt, save in his falling he felt in his
mouth a little salt water; and added more thereto, saying that, when he
sank, a bishop held him up that he might not sink.