Life of St. Werburge - Henry Bradshaw
Edited by Catherine A. M. Clarke
chapter 10
Howe an other woman vnlaufully wurkynge was made blynde / and by saynt Werburge restored was to her syght agayne.
stanza 127
884This woman, consyderynge her syght
was gone,
The pleasure of this worlde, her helpe and
succour,
Hauynge to lyue by / small riches or none,
Cried maynly
'out out, alas' euery hour,
'Wo is me wretche,
fulfylled with
dolour!
Alas, I was borne to abyde this wofull
day
My maker to displese! / alas, what shall I say?'
stanza 128
891She called to memorie with hye discrecion
The myracles that Werburge shewed to
mankynde:
By grace she repented / with suche contricion
That water distilled from her eyes
blynde,
Dolefully lamentynge / that she was so
vnkynde;
1
Ruthfully was brought to
Werburge oratory,
Trustyng in this virgin to haue remedy.
stanza 129
898As she continued in her supplicacion,
Wofully wepynge / abidyng the special
grace
Of blessed Werburge / with singular
inuocacion,
Anone she was cured to helth and
solace,
Restored to her eye-sight / she passed
the place,
Praysed our lorde and this virgin pure,
Was a holy woman after, ye may be sure.
chapter 12
Howe a yonge man thries hanged vnlaufully, was thries delyuered by saynt Werburge from dethe to lyfe and lyberte.
stanza 135
940
Almyghty god gaue in
commaundement
By moises lawe to his people echone,
No innocent to slee by wrongfull iudgement
Nor causeles to punysshe by greuous
oppression,
Also to beware of lyght suspection.
2
Wherof a myracle we shall nowe
expresse,
Done in Chestre cite by Werburge theyr patronesse.
stanza 136
947A certayne younge man dwelled in the
cite,
Honest in maners / and of good
conuersacion,
Disposed to vertue and humilite:
Was arrest and taken of a lyght
suspicion
By the officers and rule[r]s of the sayd towne,
Gyltles accused most innocently,
Condemned and iudged to deth
shamfully.
stanza 137
954After sentence gyuen / ministres
were all redy
Vpon the iudgement to do execucion:
He was fettred and brought to
the gebbet
by and by
And as a stronge
thefe hanged ther-vpon.
His frendes and cosyns for hym made
great mone - as
Alas, what tonge myght expresse the wo
They made that tyme departynge hym fro?
stanza 138
961And as this innocent hang in his
payne,
He called to mynd the manyfolde goodnes,
The myracles of Werburge, shewed her,
certayne,
Howe she had saued many in great distres:
3
So, whan he myght no wordes expresse,
In mynde he required her / and humblie dyd
pray
From shamfull deth to saue hym that day.
4
stanza 139
968Whan all the officers departed were thens
Supposynge the soule seperate from
the body,
A white doue descended afore them
in presence
And lyght vpon the
gebbet
immediatly;
The byrde with his
byll
brake the rope, truely,
The prisoner escaped that tyme from deth,
Shortly reuiuynge toke naturall
breth.
5
Footnotes
- 1.
- For discussion of the late-antique and medieval convention that tears demonstrate sincere emotion, see Rosenwein 2006, 49-50. Back to context...
- 2.
- This probably recalls Moses' prescriptions regarding justice and the law in Exodus 20. Back to context...
- 3.
- The hanged man's recollection of Werburgh's previous acts of mercy, as well as his prayers, provide a set of precedents which seemingly move the saint to act. Back to context...
- 4.
- Robert Barrett reads this episode as evidence of the tensions between St Werburgh's and the secular civic authorities in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, observing how here '[t]he saint's intervention repudiates corrupt civic justice'. However, despite the pro-monastic propagandist intent, this story and others in the Life of St Werburge turn out to be 'ineffectual fantasies'. See Barrett, 2009, 49. Back to context...
- 5.
- This stanza, with its stylised scene of the white dove freeing the innocent man from the gallows, is marked by a particularly intense use of alliteration. This is most evident in lines 970-2. Back to context...