Life of St. Werburge - Henry Bradshaw
Edited by Catherine A. M. Clarke
chapter 20
Howe a great fire, like to distroye all Chestre, by myracle ceased / whan the holy shryne was borne about the towne by the monkes.
stanza 237
1654Whan they had ended the holy
letanye
litany
From place to place procedyng in stacion,in procession,
ceremony
Anone a stremyng
sterre appered
sodaynlye,At once / shooting star / suddenly
A white doue descended afore the
congregaciondove
Approchyng as to helpe them / a signe of consolacion.
The people
reioysed of that
gostly syghtrejoiced / spiritual
And praysed saynt Werburge with power and
myght.
stanza 238
1661So by >the merite of this blessed
virgin
The fire began to cesse - / a myracle
clere -cease / excellent
Nat passyng the place / where the holy shryne
Not passing
Was borne by the bretherne / as playnly
dyd appere.
The citezens dyd helpe in their best
manere;to the best of their ability
The feruent great fire extincted was
in-dedeextinguished
By grace aboue nature / in story we may rede.
1
above
stanza 239
1668
The clergie, the
burges
/ and the
comons all,citizens
Consyderynge the goodnes of this virgin
bright,
With tendernes of hert and loue in speciall
Magnified and praysed our lorde god
almyght
And blessed Werburge by day, also nyght,
Whiche hath preserued of her great
charite
Who / through her great kindness
Chestre from distruction in extreme
necessite.need
stanza 240
1675Vnto her shryne
the people all went,
The clergie before, in maner of
procession,
Thankyng this virgin with loue feruent
For her mercy and grace shewed them vpon;showed to
them
Deuoutly knelynge there made oblacion,prayer
Sayeng full sadly / 'we shall neuer
able bevery solemnly
The place to recompence for this ded of charite'.
2
To repay
the place for this act of mercy
chapter 21
A breue rehersall of the myracles of saynt Werburge after her translacion to Chestre
stanza 241
1682These fore-sayd myracles and signes celestiall,
3
By diuine sufferaunce shewed
manifestly,indulgence / clearly
Magnifien
this virgin and blessed
moiniall
Honour / nun
With mycle worshyp, honour and victory,great
Playnly declaryng vnto your memory
What singular grace / worshyp / and
excellencespecial
Our sauiour shewed for his spouse openly,
4
As is rehersed at masse in her sequens.
5
As is told at mass
during the liturgy in her honour
stanza 242
1690To expresse all myracles written in
the placetell
In a boke nominate the
third passionarye,
6
book called
It wolde require a longe tyme and space,
To the reders tedious (no meruayle
sothly).no wonder, indeed
Wher[for]e we omytte to writte of
them specially,For that reason
But touched in generall vnto your audience,
To reioyse and comfort your hertes
inwardly,gladden
As ye may considre in her sequens.contemplate
stanza 243
1698Certaynly, it is knowen by bokes
express:known / clearly
Sith that saynt
Werburge came to Chestre
cite,Since
By the power of god and myracle, doutles,without
doubt
She hath defended the towne from ennemite,
From barbarike nacions full of
crudelite, barbaric nations / cruelty
Of who we haue shewed with diligence,
Preseruyng her seruauntes / and the
monastery,
As is declared in her true sequence.
stanza 244
1706Also of her goodnes preserued she hase
The sayd towne from fire in extreme
necessite;
Many diuers tymes to their
ioye and solacedifferent / joy
Releuyng
the citezens in wo and
penalite.Comforting / hardship
For it is well knowen, by olde antiquite
since long ago /
through old books
Sith
the holy shryne came to their presence,Since
It hath ben their comfort and gladnes, truly,
As playnly appereth in her sequens.
Footnotes
- 1.
- Bradshaw's reference to 'grace aboue nature' recalls the medieval theory of miracles, as outlined by authors such as Anselm, which defines a miracle as an event above and beyond the laws of nature or human skill and action. See Ward, 1982, 3-19. Back to context...
- 2.
- Robert Barrett notes that Bradshaw 'includes the idea of impossible recompense as a preemptive strike against a citizenry all too ready to enter into conflict with the abbey - and all too capable of winning that struggle'. See Barrett, 2009, 45. Back to context...
- 3.
- In this chapter (as well as chapters 22 and 23), the stanzas increase in length to 8 lines, indicating the higher subject matter and more elevated style here in these final panegyric sections. Back to context...
- 4.
- Werburgh is Christ's 'spouse', having entered into a symbolic marriage with him through her religious vows. However, as the whole church may be understood as the 'spouse' or 'bride of Christ (see for example Revelations 21:2), Bradshaw's choice of metaphor implies Christ's demonstration of grace to Christians more widely. Back to context...
- 5.
- In this chapter each stanza ends with the word 'sequens', foregrounding the formal commemoration of Werburgh in the liturgy and the church (specifically the monastery of St Werburgh) in Chester as the custodian of her memory. Back to context...
- 6.
- Bradshaw's apparent source, the 'third passionary' (no longer extant) seems to have been a compilation bringing together various different hagiographic and miracle texts relating to Werburgh. Alan Thacker notes that '[l]egends about the saint, together with a Life, probably that attributed to Goscelin of Saint-Bertin, were said in the 16th century [by Bradshaw] to be preserved in a book called the "third passionary". The corpus of miracle stories was probably put together in the late 12th century: it comprised wonders associated with both the canons of the old minster and the monks of the new abbey, extending, it was claimed, from the reign of Edward the Elder (899-924) to 1180'. Thacker remarks further that '[t]he evidence suggests that in the 12th century the monks of St. Werburgh's were actively presenting their patroness as the special protector of the earls and their city', and the 'third passionary would fit within this programme of commemoration and promotion. See A.T. Thacker, Early Medieval Chester, Lewis and Thacker, 2003, 16-33, 31, also available via British History Online. In her edition of Goscelin of Saint-Bertin's Life of St Werburgh, Rosalind Love makes a good case for identifying the 'third passionary'. 'London, Gray's Inn Library 3 is the first and only surviving volume of a four volume legendary, written in the early twelfth century at St Werburgh's Chester... Inserted paper flyleaves (fols. ii, iii) contain a list, in an early sixteenth-century hand, of the contents of the present volume, and of three others which are now lost, in alphabetical order of saints with a reference for each Life to the number of the volume and the leaf within it... The list of contents includes, for leaf 172 of the now-lost third volume of the legendary, the item "Werburg et sic consequenter de Sexburga, Ermenilda etc'"... Presumably, then, this was a copy of the [Life of St Werburgh] ... though quite what might have been encompassed by "etc." is another question, frustratingly unanswerable. Corroboration of this information comes from the English version of the Life of St Wærburh by the Chester monk Henry Bradshaw, who refers more than once to the presence of a Latin Life of Wærburh in "the third Passionarie" of Chester'. See Love, 2004, lviii. Back to context...