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A Mumming for the Mercers of London:
Trinity R.3.20 Verses

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f.86 recto
Folio 85 Recto (Page 171)Folio 85 Verso (Page 172)Folio 86 Recto (Page 173)Folio 86 Verso (Page 174)Folio 87 Recto (Page 175)

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Data Dictionary
Folio 86 Recto (Page 173)
Compare Witnesses: •
Mayre of Londonn made by Lidgate •
Thorougħe þat sugred bawme Aureate •
þey called weren poetes laureate •
Oute of Surreye / by many straunge stronde •
Þis Iubiter / haþe his lettres sent •
Thorougħe oute Europe where he did lande •
And frome þe heven / came dovne of entent •
To ravissħe shortly / in sentement •
ffayre Europe mooste renommed of fame •
Affter whame yit al Europe bereþe þe name •
• Poetes feynen þat þe gret god Iubiter came downe from •
heven for to rauissħe a kynges doughter cleped Europa •
affter whame alle þe cuntreys of Europe2 bereþe þe name •
And thorougħe Egypte / his poursuyant is comme •
Dovne descendid / by þe rede see •
And haþe also / his rigħt wey ynomme •
Thorougħe valeye / of þe drye tree •
By flomme3 Jordan / coosteying þe cuntree •
Where Jacob passed whylome with his staff •
Taking his shippe / to seylen at poort Jaff •
•• In baculo isto . transiui Iordanem istum4 •
And so forþe downe / his Iourney can devyse •
In Aquarye / whane phebus shoon ful sheene •
fforþe by passing / þe gret gulff of venyse •
And sayled forþe soo / al þe Ryver of Geene •
In whicħ see regneþe þe migħty qweene •
Called Cyrses goddesse / of waters salte •
Where Nymphes syng / hir honnour to exalte •
•• Phebus in aquario is als miche to seyne as •
þanne þe sonne is in þat signe •
•• Cypress is a goddess of þe see / whicħ turneþe •
men in to liknesse of bestis 5 and nymphes •
And þer he saugħe / as he gan approche •
With Inne a boote / a fissħer drawe his nette •
On þe rigħt syde / of a crystal Rooche •
ffissħe was þer noon / for þe draugħt was lette •
And on þoon syde / þer were lettres sette •
þat sayde in frensħe / þis Raysoun Grande travayle •
þis aunswere nexst in ordre Nulle avayle6 •
Þanne seyling forþe / by syde many a rokk •
He gane ful fast / for to haaste him dovne •
Thorougħe þe daunger / and streytes of Marrokk •
Passing þe parayllous / curraat7 of Arragoun •
Notes
  1. There's a suspension mark (see the note about "myrrour" above) between the "r" and "y" here, but there's nothing that is obviously suspended and it does not appear to be the otiose mark that terminates "y" in some cases. The examples in the Middle English Dictionary, BL Add. 29729, and the EETS edition all suggest that this particular suspension is otiose. ↩
  2. There is a suspension mark over the "p" here, suggesting that the word is "Europe" rather than "Europ" as the EETS edition suggests. ↩
  3. There is what appears to be a suspension mark above the latter portion of the word, but the likely suspension -- "m" -- is already written out. ↩
  4. "With this staff I passed over this Jordan" ↩
  5. The line-ending mark that occurs throughout appears here after "bestis" ↩
  6. What appears elsewhere as the line-ending mark prefaces the French on this and the line prior. ↩
  7. Both MacCraken and Sponsler render the next to final glyph of this word as "n", but looking at the manuscript -- in particular the rendering of "and" above -- suggests this is a correction of scribal error. BL Additional 29729 has "ourraat," which suggests that the error might have existed in the two witnesses' exemplar. ↩

The work on this manuscript witness was generously sponsored by a ZKS-Lendrum Fellowship in the Scientific Study of Manuscripts and Inscriptions at the Institute for Medieval and Early Modern Studies at Durham University. The transcription of this work is owned by the editor and licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. The images are owned by the Wren Library at Trinity College, Cambridge and are provided under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.