Note to Anon Líkn 38VII
[All]: Sts 38-41 (especially 39-40) appear to be based largely on a list of virtues and powers of the Cross in the Icel. homily De sancta cruce (HómÍsl 1993, 18r; HómÍsl 1872, 39; cf. HómNo, 105), beginning with fyr crosse drotteɴs fløia dioflar. hræþesc helvite ‘devils flee before the Cross of the Lord; hell is afraid’. The devils’ fear of, or flight from, the Cross (or its sign) is a common motif. See, e.g., Pseudo-Augustine, Sermo 247 (Auctor incertus [Augustinus Hipponensis?], col. 2203) Hoc signo daemones fugantur ‘At this sign demons are put to flight’, and, from hymns, O crux praeclara, / quam impia / tremunt tartara ‘O famous Cross, which the ungodly, infernal regions fear’ (AH 9, 25); the idea occurs also in the late medieval Icel. Gimsteinn 113/8 enn giædi hans [i.e. krossins] munu dioflaʀ hrædazt ‘but devils will fear its [the Cross’s] virtue’ (ÍM I.2, 329; cf. Máríublóm 18/5-6, ÍM I.2, 176).
References
- Bibliography
- AH = Dreves, G. M., C. Blume and H. M. Bannister, eds. 1886-1922. Analecta hymnica medii aeui. 55 vols. Leipzig: Reisland. Rpt. 1961. New York: Johnson.
- HómÍsl 1872 = Wisén, Theodor, ed. 1872. Homiliu-bók: Isländska homilier efter en handskrift från tolfte århundredet. Lund: Gleerup.
- HómÍsl 1993 = de Leeuw van Weenen, Andrea, ed. 1993. The Icelandic Homily Book: Perg. 15 4° in the Royal Library, Stockholm. Íslensk handrit/Icelandic Manuscripts Series in quarto 3. Reykjavík: Stofnun Árna Magnússonar á Íslandi.
- HómNo = Indrebø, Gustav. 1931. Gamal norsk homiliebok, Cod. AM 619, 4°. Det norske historiske Kjeldeskrift Fond, Skrifter 54. Oslo: Dybwad. Rpt. 1966. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget.
- ÍM = Jón Helgason, ed. 1936-8. Íslenzk miðaldarkvæði: Islandske digte fra senmiddelalderen. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Munksgaard.