Digital Index of Middle English Verse: No. 860

DIMEV 860

IMEV 527.5

NIMEV 527.5

Blessed be the sweetest name of our Lord / Jesu Christ

Balade added by Caxton to be said by those pleased with the Lyfe of Our Lady which precedes it in the printed book — one stanza rhyme royal

Note: Ringler Jr. (1988)

XRingler Jr., William A. Bibliography and Index of English Verse Printed 1476-1558. London: Mansell, 1988

TP 264.5; cf. 1534 and 6115; Preceded by Latin prose, ‘Benedictum sit dulcissime nomen…’ of which it is a translation; follows 1534 and 6115.

Author(s): William Caxton

Title(s): ‘Balade’

Subjects: epilogues; prayers, to Virgin Mary; Virgin Mary, prayers to; Christ, praise to; translations

Versification: — seven-line — ababbcc

Bibliographic Ghosts:

Manuscript Witnesses:

1.Source: Manchester, Chetham’s Library 6709 [Mun. A.4.104], f. 159

First Lines:

Blessyd be the swettest Name of owre lorde
Ihesu Cryste and moste gloryous Marye
His Blessyd modir with Eternall acorde
More than evir to endure In glorye…

Last Lines:

…Blesse vs Marye the mooste holy Vyrgyne
That we Regne In Hevyn with the Ordres Nyne

Note: Copied from Caxton.

Editions:

Duff, Edward Gordon. Fifteenth Century English Books. Bibliographical Society, London: Oxford UP, 1917: 75.

Crotch, Walter John Blythe, ed. William Caxton: Prologues and Epilogues. EETS o.s. 176 (1928; repr. 1973): 85.

Aurner, Nellie Slayton. Caxton: Mirror of fifteenth-century letters; a study of the literature of the first English press. London: Philip Allan, 1926; repr. New York: Russel & Russel, 1965: 294.

Lauritis, Joseph Aloysius, ed. A Critical Edition ofJohn Lydgate’s Life of Our Lady. Duquesne Studies, Philological Series 2. Pittsburgh: Duquesne University, 1961; orig. ed. diss. University Pennsylvania 1951 (Ralph Albert Klinefelter); 1952 (Vernon F. Gallagher), 1958 (Lauritis), in 3 vols: 52.

Print Witnesses:

1.Source: STC 17023. Lydgate, John, The lyf of our lady, Caxton, [1484] , sig. M.5

First Lines:

Blessid be the swettest name of our lord
Ihesu crist and most glorious marie…

Last Lines:

…Blesse vs marie the most holy virgyne
That we regne in heuen with the ordres nyne

Editions:

Dibdin, Thomas Frognall. Typographical Antiquities. Revised Joseph Ames and William Herbert. 4 vols. London: Bulmer, 1810, 1812, 1816, 1818: 1.341.

priven: verb To deprive (sb.) of (sth.), deny (sb. sth.); ppl. prived, bereaved, bereft of, deprived of; without; (b) ~ of (from), to deprive (sb. of sth.), deny (sth. to sb.), exclude (sb. from sth.); prived of (from), deprived of (sth.), bereft of; lacking, without; ben of god priving, be a robber of goods; (c) to depose (sb.), dismiss; ~ of (from), deprive (sb.) of (power, kingdom, etc.), remove or dismiss (sb.) from (office or position); (d) to take (sth.) away; prevent (sth.), deny, oppose; weaken (the body); -- also without obj. MED