As Holy Kyrke Makys Mynd

DESCRIPTION: Macaronic carol with Latin second and fourth lines. "Jesus, almighty king of bliss, As Holy Church makes him mind, From heaven to earth to save mankind," Mary is told she will bear a son. Jesus is born. He was King of Kings; he was God, man, and king
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: c. 1480 (Heege Manuscript)
KEYWORDS: religious foreignlanguage MiddleEnglish Jesus | macaronic Latin virgin birth
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (10 citations):
Greene-TheEarlyEnglishCarols, #23, p. 16, "(no tile )" (2 texts, from the Heege and Harley manuscripts)
Sidgwick/Chambers-EarlyEnglishLyrics LXXII, pp. 134-135, "(no title)" (1 text)
Brown/Robbins-IndexOfMiddleEnglishVerse, #340
DigitalIndexOfMiddleEnglishVerse #589
ADDITIONAL: Richard Greene, editor, _A Selection of English Carols_, Clarendon Medieval and Tudor Series, Oxford/Clarendon Press, 1962, #9, pp. 62-63, "(Almyghty Jhesu, Kyng of Blysse)" (1 text)
Carleton Brown, editor, Religious Lyrics of the XVth Century_, Oxford University Press, 1939, #86, p. 123, "Angels, Star, and Magi" (1 text, from the Heege manuscript)
MANUSCRIPT: {MSHeege}, The Heege Manuscript, Edinburgh, National Library of Scotland MS. Advocates 19.3.1, folio 59
MANUSCRIPT: London, British Library, MS. Egerton 3307, folio 65
MANUSCRIPT: Oxford, Bodleian Library Bodley 77 (SC ), folio 1
MANUSCRIPT: London, British Library, MS. Harley 275, folio 146

NOTES [115 words]: There is of course no proof that this is traditional. It is true that it is found in four manuscripts, but only one -- the Heege Manuscript -- has any real traditional significance. On the other hand, as Brown's notes point out, there are substantial differences between the texts, and some have a burden and others don't. I think the chances that it's traditional are rather slight. Still, it's widely enough reprinted that I decided to include it, just in case. Brown suggests that it borrows Latin tags from multiple hymns. I admit there is a *lot* of Latin in the song -- more than one would expect in a traditional song. But medieval Catholics remembered a lot more Latin than we do. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.6
File: MEahkmm

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