THE GOLDEN LEGEND 1851 THE old Legenda Aurea, or Golden Legend, was originally written in Latin, in the thirteenth century, by Jacobus de Voragine, a Dominican friar, who afterwards became Archbishop of Genoa, and died in 1292. a He called his book simply Legends of the Saints. The epithet of Golden was given it by his admirers; for, as Wynkin de Worde says, "Like as passeth gold in value all other metals, so this legend exceedeth all other books." But Edward Leigh, in much distress of mind, calls it ": book written by a man of a leaden heart for the basenesse of the errours, that are without wit or reason, and of a brazen forehead, for his impudent boldnesse in reporting things so fabulous and incredible." This work, the great text-book of the legendary lore of the Middle Ages, was translated into French in the fourteenth century by Jean de Vigney, and in the fifteenth into English by William Caxton. It has lately been made more accessible by a new French translation: La Légende Dorée, traduite du Latin, par M. G. B. Paris, 1850. There is a copy of the original, with the Gesta Longobadorum appended, in the Harvard College Library, Cambridge, printed at Strasburg, 1496. The title-page is wanting; and the volume begins with the Tabula Legendorum. have called this poem the Golden Legend, because the story upon which it is founded seems to me to surpass all other legends in beauty and significance. It exhibits, amid the corruptions of the Middle Ages, the virtue of disinterestedness and self-sacrifice, and the power of Faith, Hope, and Charity, sufficient for all the exigencies of life and death. The story is told, and perhaps invented, by Hartmann von der Aue, a Minnesinger of the twelfth century. The original may be found in Mailáth's Altdeutsche Gedichte, with a modern German version. There is another in Marbach's Volksbucher, No. 32. 283 PROLOGUE The Spire of Strasburg Cathedral. Night and storm. LUCIFER, with the Powers of the Air, trying to tear down the Cross. Lucifer. HASTEN! hasten! O ye spirits! From its station drag the ponderous Is uplifted high in air! Voices. O, we cannot. For around it All the saints and guardian angels The Bells. Laudo Deum verum! Plebem voco! Congrego clerum! Lucifer. Lower! lower! Seize the loud vociferous bells, and Here are harmless! For these bells have been anointed,1 The Bells. Defunctos ploro! 1 One of the curious mediæval rites was the christening and anointing of bells. See Appendix. Lucifer. Shake the casements! Break the painted Panes, that flame with gold and crimson: Scatter them like leaves of Autumn, Swept away before the blast! Voices. Oh, we cannot ; The Archangel Michael flames from every window, The Bells. Funera plango! Lucifer. Aim your lightnings! Massive, iron-studded portals! Sack the house of God, and scatter Voices. Oh, we cannot ! The Apostles And the Martyrs, wrapped in mantles, The Bells. Excito lentos ! Dissipo ventos ! Paco cruentos ! Lucifer. Baffled ! baffled! Craven spirits! leave this labour Over field and farm and forest, Lonely homestead, darksome hamlet, [They sweep away. Organ and Gregorian Chant.] Choir. Nocte surgentes I The Castle of Vautsberg on the Rhine. A chamber in a tower. PRINCE HENRY, sitting alone, ill and restless. Midnight. Prince Henry. I cannot sleep! my fervid brain Calls up the vanished Past again, And throws its misty splendours deep A breath from that far-distant shore To stony channels in the sun! Come back! ye friends, whose lives are ended, Which seemed to darken and decay When ye arose and went away! They come, the shapes of joy and woe, The dreams and fancies known of yore, They make the dark and dreary hours Nor set our souls to the same key Rest! rest! Oh, give me rest and peace ! A weight I am too weak to bear! [A flash of lightning, out of which LUCIFER appears, in the garb of a travelling Physician.] Lucifer. All hail, Prince Henry! Prince Henry (starting). Who and what are you? Lucifer. Who is it speaks? One who seeks A moment's audience with the Prince. A moment since. I found your study door unlocked, You heard the thunder; |