Anon Lil 88^VII

Frammi stattu, er fæddir drottin,
fyrir skínanda barni þínu;
miskunn bið þú að mjúka finni
maðrinn hverr, en glæpir þverri!
Ber þá framm með blíðum vörrum
bænamál fyrir kristnum sálum,
Máría, Jésú móðir dýrust!
Mun þú, að eigi skiljumz eg undan!

Stattu frammi, er fæddir drottin, fyrir skínanda barni þínu; bið þú, að hverr maðrinn finni mjúka miskunn, en glæpir þverri! Ber þá framm með blíðum vörrum bænamál fyrir kristnum sálum, Máría, {dýrust móðir Jésú}! Mun þú, að eg skiljumz eigi undan.

Stand forth, you who gave birth to the Lord, before your radiant child! Ask that every man finds gentle mercy and sins dwindle away! Then bear forth with gentle lips prayers for Christian souls, Mary, {dearest mother of Jesus} [= Mary]! Remember, that I should not be separated out.

Mss: Bb(116rb), 99a(17v), 622(39), 713(14), Vb(255), 41 8°ˣ(133), 705ˣ(21v), 4892(39r)

Readings: [1] er: enn Vb, 41 8°ˣ;    fæddir: fæddi Vb, 41 8°ˣ    [2] skínanda: skínandi 99a, Vb, 41 8°ˣ, 705ˣ, 4892;    barni: guði Vb, 41 8°ˣ;    þínu: mínum Vb, 41 8°ˣ    [3] mjúka: mikla 713, 4892;    finni: so all others, finnir Bb    [4] en: og 705ˣ;    glæpir: glæpi 713, Vb, 41 8°ˣ, 705ˣ, 4892    [5] Ber: fer 622;    þá: so 99a, 622, 705ˣ, þá en Bb, þú 713, Vb, 41 8°ˣ, ‘[...]’ 4892;    með: af 713, Vb, 41 8°ˣ, 705ˣ, 4892    [6] bænamál: so 622, 713, Vb, 41 8°ˣ, bæna Bb, bænar mál 99a, 705ˣ, 4892    [7] Jésú: Jésús 622, sælrar Vb, 41 8°ˣ, fyrir 4892;    móðir: mögur Vb, 41 8°ˣ;    dýrust: hinn dýri Vb, 41 8°ˣ    [8] eigi: ei 622, 705ˣ, 4892, eg ei Vb, 41 8°ˣ;    skiljumz: skiljiz 99a, Vb, 41 8°ˣ, 705ˣ

Editions: Skj AII, 391, Skj BII, 413, Skald II, 226, NN §2983.

Notes: [All]: Cf. the Marian prayer in HómÍsl 1993, 91r: Weſ þu mér at traúſte í andláte míno. oc ſvara fyr mic þeim orþom eſ mér come til hiálpar. þa eſ keomc fyr deómeſtól ſonar þínſ. ‘Be a comfort to me at my death, and answer for me with the words which will help me when I come before the judgement seat of your son’. — [8] eg skiljumz eigi undan ‘I should not be separated out’: An allusion to Matthew’s description of the Last Judgement: Enn þa manzins ſon mun koma i ſinu tignar velldi / og aller Helger Einglar med honum / hann mun þa ſitta i ſæti ſins velldis / og allar þioder munu ſaman ſafnazt fyre honum / og hann mun þa ſundr ſkilia huora fra odrum svo ſem hirder ſundr greiner ſaudi fra kidum ‘And when the Son of man shall come in his majesty, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the seat of his majesty. And all nations shall be gathered together before him: and he shall separate them one from another, as the shepherd separateth the sheep from the goats’ (Hið Nya Testament 1540 [Sigurður Nordal 1933]; Matt. XXV.31-2). Cf. also the sequence Dies iræ from the mass for the dead: Inter oves locum præsta / Et ab hoedis me sequestra / Statuens in parte dextra ‘Give me a place among the sheep, and keep me away from the goats, standing on the right side’ (AH 54, 269). The st. evokes the visual image, familiar from medieval wall paintings in Nordic churches, of Mary interceding for sinners as her son divides the souls being judged into two groups.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
3. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. 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.
5. Sigurður Nordal, ed. 1933. Hið Nya Testament 1540: Oddur Gottskálksson’s Translation of the New Testament (Roskilde, Hans Barth, 1540). Monumenta typographica Islandica 1. Facsimile edn. Copenhagen: Levin & Munksgaard.
6. 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.