Digital Index of Middle English Verse: No. 1086

DIMEV 1086

IMEV 663

NIMEV 663

Cross and courteous Christ this beginning speed

Pierce the Ploughmans Crede — 855 alliterative lines

Note: Ringler Jr. (1992)

XRingler Jr., William A. Bibliography and Index of English Verse in Manuscript 1501-1558. London: Mansell, 1992; prepared and completed by Michael Rudick and Susan J. Ringler

, TM 336; Ringler Jr. (1988)

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

Title(s): Pierce the Ploughmans Crede

Subjects: tales; religious controversy

Versification: — alliteration

Manuscript Witnesses:

1.Source: Cambridge UK, Trinity College R.3.15 (595), ff. 317-328

First Lines:

Cros and Curteis Crist þis bygynnynge spede
ffor þe faderes frendchipe þat fourmede heuene
And þoruȝ þe speciall spirit þat sprong of hem tweyne
And alle in on godhed endles dwelleþ…

Last Lines:

…& ȝyue hem wiit & good will swiche dedes to werche
Þat þei maie wynnen þe lif þat euer schal lesten

Editions:

Wright, Thomas, ed. The Vision and the Creed of Piers Ploughman. 2 vols. London; Pickering, 1842; 2nd ed., rev. 1856.

Skeat, Walter William, ed. Pierce the Ploughman’s Crede. EETS o.s. 30 (1867): 1-32.

Dean, James M., ed. Six Ecclesiastical Satires. Kalamazoo, MI: Western Michigan University for TEAMS, 1991.

2.Source: London, British Library Harley 78, f 3

First Lines:

…And a waited on that wold how wondirly bilt
With arches on eche half ekeliche I cornerd…

Last Lines:

…With wyndows of glas I wrought as a chirche
Than walked I ferre and went al aboute…

Note: Lines 172-207 only.

Editions:

Doyle, A. I. “An Unrecognized Piece of Piers the Ploughman’s Creed and Other Works by Its Scribe.” Speculum 34 (1959): 428-36: 435-6.

3.Source: London, British Library Royal 18 B.XVII, ff. 1-13v

First Lines:

Crose and curtys crist thys begynyng spede
ffor the ffathers ffrendshipe that fformyd hevin…

Last Lines:

…and gyve them wyt and good will such dedes to werche
that they may wynnen the lyff that euer shall lasten

Note: Lines 172-207 only.

Attributed Title: On the Crede (written in a sixteenth-century hand)

Print Witnesses:

1.Source: STC 19904. Pierce the ploughmans crede, [Imprinted at London: By Reynold wolfe, Anno Domini. M.D.L.III. [1553]]

Note: Reprinted, after Langland’s Vision of Piers Ploughman, in Pierce the Ploughmans Crede, R. Wolfe, 1553 .

Editions:

Whitaker, Thomas Dunham, ed. Visio Willi de Petro Plouhman, item Visiones ejusdem de Dowel, Dobet et Dobest…printed from a MS. contemporary with the author…. 2 vols. London: Murray, 1813, 1814.

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