Digital Index of Middle English Verse: No. 5075

DIMEV 5075

IMEV 3236

NIMEV 3236

Sweet Jesu king of bliss

A hymn based on the Iesu dulcis memoria — fifteen monorhyming quatrains

Note: This hymn was later combined with 2899 in an expanded version, 5077; cf. also 2900 and 2936. The quatrain (=stanza 14 of London, British Library Harley 2253) appears separately as ‘Ora pro Anglia, Sancta Maria, quod Thomas Cantuaria’, in some early prints of Chaucer; cf. Purves (1870)

XPurves, David Laing. The Canterbury Tales and Faerie Queene. Edinburgh: Nimmo, 1870

, 292; & Gilman (1879)

XGilman, . The Poetical Works of Geoffrey Chaucer. Boston: Houghton, Osgood, 1879

, 3.655.

Subjects: hymns, to Christ; Christ, hymns to

Versification: — four-line — aaaa

Manuscript Witnesses:

1.Source: Oxford, Bodleian Library Digby 86 (SC 1687), f. 134v

First Lines:

Swete ihesu king of blisse
Min herte loue min herte lisse…

Last Lines:

…Of þi loue þat is so swote
And wite hit þat hit springe mote

Note: Stanzas 1-3 only

Facsimiles:

Tschann, Judith A., and Malcolm B. Parkes. “Introduction.” Facsimile of Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Digby 86 EETS s.s. 16 (1996).

Editions:

Brown, Carleton Fairchild, ed. English Lyrics of the XIIIth Century. Oxford: Clarendon, 1932: 91-2.

Stengel, Edmund. Coducem Manu Scriptum Digby 86…. Halle: Orphanotrophei, 1871: 62-3.

Stengel, Edmund. Coducem Manu Scriptum Digby 86…. Halle: Orphanotrophei, 1871: 4-5.

Bennett, Jack Arthur Walter, and G. V. Smithers, eds. Early Middle English Verse and Prose. Oxford: Clarendon, 1966: 131.

Oliver, Raymond. Poems Without Names: The English Lyric 1200-1500. Berkeley, CA: University of California, 1970: 97.

Sisam, Celia, and Kenneth Sisam, eds. The Oxford Book of Medieval English Verse. Oxford: Clarendon, 1970: 23-4.

Luria, Maxwell Sidney, and Richard L. Hoffman, eds. Middle English Lyrics. New York: Norton, 1974: 92.

2.Source: Cambridge UK, Fitzwilliam Museum 355 (a), f. 1

First Lines:

Swete ihesu heuene king
ffayr & best of alle thyng…

Last Lines:

…Þou bringe us owt of þis moring
To come to þe at owre ending

Note: Stanza 14 of London, British Library Harley 2253 version only; follows 6299

Editions:

Brydges, Sir Samuel Egerton, and Joseph Haslewood. The British Bibliographer. 4 vols. London: T. Bersley, vol. 1: 1810; vols. 2, 3: 1812; vol. 4: 1814: 2.200.

3.Source: London, British Library Harley 2253, ff. 75rb-75va

First Lines:

Suete Iesu king of blysse
myn huerte loue min huerte lisse
þou art suete myd ywisse…

Last Lines:

…þe vnderfonge in fourme of bred
ant seþþe to heouene þou vs led

Facsimiles:

Ker, Neil Ripley. “Introduction.” Facsimile of British Museum MS. Harley 2253. EETS o.s. 255 (1965).

Editions:

Brown, Carleton Fairchild, ed. Religious Lyrics of the XIV Century. Oxford: Clarendon, 1924. 2nd ed., rev.: G. V. Smithers, Oxford, 1952: 7-9.

Wright, Thomas. Specimens of Lyric Poetry composed in England in the Reign of Edward the First. Percy Society 4. London: Richard, 1842: 57-9.

Böddeker, Karl. Altenglische Dichtungen des MS. Harl. 2253. Berlin: Weidmann, 1878: 191-3.

Horstmann, Carl, ed. Yorkshire Writers. 2 vols. London, Sonnenschein; New York: Macmillan, 1895-96: 2.9-11.

Brook, George Leslie. The Harley Lyrics. Manchester: Manchester UP, 1948; rev. ed. 1956; 3rd ed. 1964: 51.

Luria, Maxwell Sidney, and Richard L. Hoffman, eds. Middle English Lyrics. New York: Norton, 1974: 99-101.

Fein, Susanna Greer, ed. The Complete Harley 2253 Manuscript, Volume 2. Kalamazoo, Michigan: Medieval Institute Publications, 2009: Booklet 5, no. 50.

4.Source: Untraced, Present whereabouts unknown olim Wilton Corporation

Note: One stanza only; listed in Hamer (1995)

XHamer, Richard. A Manuscript Index to the Index of Middle English Verse. London: British Library, 1995

as unidentified, missing or destroyed

Editions:

Brown, Carleton Fairchild, ed. Religious Lyrics of the XIV Century. Oxford: Clarendon, 1924. 2nd ed., rev.: G. V. Smithers, Oxford, 1952: 245.

5.Source: Untraced, Present whereabouts unknown olim George Smith [Harmsworth Sale, Lot 2018, Oct. 1945; Sotheby Sale, Feb. 2, 1960, Lot 317], Art. 3

Note: Fourteen stanzas; listed in Hamer (1995)

XHamer, Richard. A Manuscript Index to the Index of Middle English Verse. London: British Library, 1995

as unidentified, missing or destroyed

6.Source: New Haven, Yale University, Beinecke Library 492 [olim Brooke (sold Sotheby’s 1921); Harmsworth (sold Sotheby’s 1945); George Smith of Marlborough (sold Sotheby’s Feb. 2, 1960, Lot 317); Bodmer], ff. 104vb-105ra

First Lines:

Swete ihesu king of blisse
Min herd loue min herte lise…

Last Lines:

…þu bring me out of þis longing
To come to þe at min ending

Note: Fourteen quatrains