View source for Christ I

{{Short description|Anonymous Old English poem about the coming of Jesus Christ}}
{{EngvarB|date=April 2023}}
{{italic title}}
{{Infobox Medieval text
<!----------Name---------->
| name                  = ''Christ I''
| alternative title(s)  =
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| image                 = File:Exeter_Book_(Exeter_Cathedral_Library_MS_3501)_folio_10r.jpg
| width                 =
| caption               = Exeter Book folio 10r, showing lines 139-71 of the poem, and the way in which the manuscript marks the section break between what modern scholars identify as lyrics 6 and 7. The image also illustrates post-medieval glossing of the poem.
<!----------Information---------->
| full title            =
| also known as         = ''Advent Lyrics'' or ''Christ A''
| author(s)             = Anonymous
| ascribed to           =
| compiled by           =
| illustrated by        =
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| audience              =
| language              = [[Old English]]
| date                  = Unknown, possibly around 800
| date of issue         =
| provenance            =
| state of existence    =
| authenticity          =
| series                = Old English ''Christ'' poems, along with ''[[Christ II]]'' and ''[[Christ III]]''
| manuscript(s)         = [[Exeter Book]], folios 8r-14r
| MS class 1            =
| MS class 2            =
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| MS class 6            =
| MS class 7            =
| principal manuscript(s)=
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<!----------Form and content---------->
| verse form            =
| length                =
| illustration(s)       =
| genre                 = Religious poem in 12 subsections
| subject               = The [[Advent]] of Christ
| setting               =
| period covered        =
| personages            =
| personages (long list)=
| sources               =
| below                 =
}}
'''''Christ I''''' (also known as '''''Christ A''''' or ('''''The''''') '''''Advent Lyrics''''') is a fragmentary collection of [[Old English]] [[poems]] on the coming of [[Jesus|the Lord]], preserved in the [[Exeter Book]]. In its present state, the poem comprises 439 lines in twelve distinct sections. In the assessment of [[Edward B. Irving Jr]], "two masterpieces stand out of the mass of Anglo-Saxon religious poetry: ''[[The Dream of the Rood]]'' and the sequence of liturgical lyrics in the Exeter Book ... known as ''Christ I''".<ref>Edward B. Irving Jr, '[https://www.jstor.org/stable/44509636  The Advent of Poetry: ''Christ I'']', ''Anglo-Saxon England'', 25 (1996), 123-34.</ref>
The topic of the poem is [[Advent]], the time period in the annual liturgical cycle leading up to the anniversary of the coming of Christ, a period of great spiritual and symbolic significance within the Church — for some in early medieval Europe a time of fasting, and the subject of a sermon by [[Pope Gregory I|Gregory the Great]] (AD 590-604).{{sfn|Mershman|1907}} The Old English lyrics of ''Christ I'', playing off the Latin antiphons, reflect on this period of symbolic preparation.
== Manuscript and associated texts==
''Christ I'' is found on folios 8r-14r of the [[Exeter Book]], a collection of [[Old English]] poetry today containing 123 folios. The collection also contains a number of other religious and allegorical poems.{{sfn|Rumble|1998|pp=285}} Some folios have been lost at the start of the poem, meaning that an indeterminate amount of the original composition is missing.<ref>Lara Farina, 'Before Affection: Christ I and the Social Erotic', ''Exemplaria'', 13 (2001), 469-96 (479 n. 25) {{doi|10.1179/exm.2001.13.2.469}}.</ref>
''Christ I'', concerning the [[Advent]] of Jesus, is followed in the Exeter Book by a poem on Jesus's [[Ascension of Jesus|Ascension]] composed by [[Cynewulf]], generally known in modern scholarship as ''[[Christ II]]'', which in turn is followed by ''[[Christ III]]'', on the [[Last Judgment]]. Together these three poems comprise a total of 1664 lines, and are in turn linked to the poems that follow, ''[[Guthlac A]]'' and ''[[Guthlac B]]''. The sequence of ''Christ I-III'' is sometimes known simply as ''Christ'', and has at times been thought to be one poem completed by a single author. Linguistic and stylistic differences indicate, however, that ''Christ I-III'' originated as separate compositions (perhaps with ''Christ II'' being composed as a bridge between ''Christ I'' and ''Christ III''). Nevertheless, ''Christ I-III'' stands as an artistically coherent compilation.<ref name=":0">Roy M. Liuzza, '[http://www.jstor.org/stable/516602 The Old English ''Christ'' and ''Guthlac'': Texts, Manuscripts, and Critics]', ''The Review of English Studies'', 41 (1990), 1-11.</ref>
The text also contains glosses by [[Laurence Nowell]] from the sixteenth century or [[George Hickes (divine)|George Hickes]] from the seventeenth.<ref>{{cite book | editor-first= Bernard J. | editor-last= Muir | editor-link= Bernard J. Muir | year= 2000 | title= The Exeter anthology of Old English poetry: an edition of Exeter Dean and Chapter MS 3501 | edition=2nd | publisher= University of Exeter Press | location= Exeter | isbn= 0-85989-630-7 |pages=15–16}}</ref>
== Origins ==
Because ''Christ II'' is signed by Cynewulf, earlier scholarship supposed that ''Christ I'' might also be his work;<ref name=":1">Edward Burgert, ''[https://archive.org/details/TheDependenceOfPartI The Dependence of Part I of Cynewulf's Christ upon the Antiphonary]'' (Washington, D. C.: Milans, 1921).</ref> but recent research agrees that the authorship is unknown.{{sfn|Schaar|1949|pp=9}}<ref name=":0" />{{rp|4–5}} [[Claes Schaar]] suggested that the poem may have been written between the end of the eighth century and the beginning of the ninth.{{sfn|Schaar|1949|pp=9}}
== Sample ==
[[File:Eala Earendel engla beorhtast - Exeter Book folio 9v top two lines.jpg|thumb|upright=3|center|{{lang|ang|Ēala ēarendel engla beorhtast / ofer middangeard monnum sended}} (second half of top line, first half of second line) - Exeter Book folio 9v, top]]
The following passage describes the Advent of Christ and is a modern English translation of Lyric 5 (lines 104-29 in the numbering of the [[Anglo-Saxon Poetic Records]]):
{{Verse translation|
{{lang|ang|Ēala ēarendel, &nbsp; &nbsp; engla beorhtast,
ofer middangeard &nbsp; &nbsp; monnum sended,
ond sōðfæsta &nbsp; &nbsp; sunnan lēoma,
torht ofer tunglas, &nbsp; &nbsp; þū tīda gehwane
of sylfum þē &nbsp; &nbsp; symle inlihtes!
Swā þū, god of gode &nbsp; &nbsp; gearo acenned,
sunu sōþan fæder, &nbsp; &nbsp; swegles in wuldre
būtan anginne &nbsp; &nbsp; ǣfre wǣre,
swā þec nū for þearfum &nbsp; &nbsp; þīn āgen geweorc
bīdeð þurh byldo, &nbsp; &nbsp; þæt þū þā beorhtan ūs
sunnan onsende, &nbsp; &nbsp; ond þē sylf cyme
þæt ðū inlēohte &nbsp; &nbsp; þā þe longe ǣr,
þrosme beþeahte &nbsp; &nbsp; ond in þeostrum hēr,
sǣton sinneahtes; &nbsp; &nbsp; synnum bifealdne
deorc dēaþes sceadu &nbsp; &nbsp; drēogan sceoldan.
Nū wē hyhtfulle &nbsp; &nbsp; hǣlo gelyfað
þurh þæt word godes &nbsp; &nbsp; weorodum brungen,
þe on frymðe wæs &nbsp; &nbsp; fæder ælmihtigum
efenece mid god, &nbsp; &nbsp; ond nū eft gewearð
flæsc firena lēas, &nbsp; &nbsp; þæt sēo fǣmne gebær
geomrum to gēoce. &nbsp; &nbsp; God wæs mid ūs
gesewen būtan synnum; &nbsp; &nbsp; somod eardedon
mihtig meotudes bearn &nbsp; &nbsp; ond se monnes sunu
geþwǣre on þēode. &nbsp; &nbsp; Wē þæs þonc magon
secgan sigedryhtne &nbsp; &nbsp; symle bi gewyrhtum,
þæs þe he hine sylfne ūs &nbsp; &nbsp; sendan wolde.<ref>''The Exeter Book'', ed. by George Philip Krapp and Elliott Van Kirk Dobbie, The Anglo-Saxon Poetic Records: A Collective Edition, 3 (New York: Columbia University Press, 1936), with vowel length marking added on the basis of John R. Clark Hall, ''A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary'', 4th rev. edn by Herbet D. Meritt (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1960).</ref>
}}
|Hail [[Aurvandill|Earendel]], brightest of angels,
Sent to men over middle-earth,
And true radiance of the sun,
Fine beyond stars, you always illuminate,
From your self, every season!
As you, God born wholly of God,
Son of the true Father, were ever
In the glory of heaven without beginning,
So now your own creation awaits you
Through eternity in need, that you send
To us that bright sun, and you yourself come
So that you illuminate those who for the longest time,
Covered by smoke, and in darkness here,
Dwelled in continual night; enfolded in sins,
They had to endure the dark shadow of death.
Now we believe in joyful salvation,
Brought to people through the word of God,
Which in the beginning was from the Father almighty,
Jointly eternal with God, and now again became
The flesh without sin that the virgin bore
Through suffering to safety. God was with us,
Seen among sins; the mighty child of fate
And the son of man dwelt together,
United amidst the people. We may express
Our thanks to the Lord of victory always through our deeds,
Because he wanted to send himself to us.
}}
== Sources and structure ==
As presented in the Exeter Book, ''Christ I'' is divided into five sections, each marked by a large capital, a line-break, and punctuation, as follows: lines 1-70, 71-163, 164-272, 275-377, 378-439.<ref name=":1" />{{rp|15}}
However, researchers have found it helpful to understand ''Christ I'' as comprising twelve sections or 'lyrics'. Each lyric is introduced with a selection from a Latin [[antiphon]] (verses from Scripture sung before and after the reading of a psalm chosen to reflect the fundamental ideas presented in the psalm), followed by lines of poetry in Old English which expand on that source. Most of the antiphons used are known as the ''[[O Antiphons]]'', which receive their name because they all begin with the [[Latin]] interjection ''O'' (rendered in the poem with the Old English interjection ''ēalā'').{{sfn|Otten|1907|pp=1}}{{sfn|Henry|1911}}{{sfn|Campbell|1959|pp=8}} Medieval manuscripts of the ''O Antiphons'' vary in order and content, meaning that the precise sources for several of the ''Christ I'' lyrics are uncertain.<ref name=":9">Thomas D. Hill, '[https://www.jstor.org/stable/43345706 The Seraphim's Song: The "Sanctus" in the Old English "Christ I", Lines 403-415]', ''Neuphilologische Mitteilungen'', 83 (1982), 26-30.</ref><ref name=":1" />
Several of the Greater Antiphons are not used in ''Christ I'', leading some scholars speculate that, since we know that the beginning of ''Christ I'' is missing, the missing antiphons ("O Sapientia", "O Adonai", and "O radix Jesse") were originally used in the poem but have been lost.{{sfn|Campbell|1959|pp=9}}
The following table summarises the content and sources of each of the twelve lyrics. Unless otherwise stated, information on sources comes from Burgert<ref name=":1" />{{rp|51}} and the antiphon text from [[Bamberg State Library]], MS Misc. Patr. 17/B.11.10, folios 133-62, 10c.<ref name=":9" />{{rp|12–14}}
{| class="wikitable mw-collapsible"
|+
!lyric
!lines
!folios
!topic
!OE incipit
!sources
!greater antiphon?
|-
|1
|1-17
|8r
|Christ as repairer of a broken house.
|lost
|''[[O Antiphons#O Rex Gentium|O, rex gentium]] et desideratus carus,''
''lapisque angularis qui facis utraque unum,''
''veni, salva hominem quem de limo''
''formasti''
|Y
|-
|2
|18-49
|8r
|Christ as redeemer of humankind and
Mary's conception of Jesus.
|''Eala þu reccend ond þu riht cyning''
|''[[O Antiphons#O Clavis David|O, clavis David]] et sceptrum domus''
''Israel, qui aperis et nemo claudit,''
''claudis et nemo aperit, veni et educ''
''vinctos de domo carceris smedentes in''
''tenebris et umbra mortis.''
|Y
|-
|3
|50-70
|8r-9r
|Jerusalem's eager awaiting of Christ.
|''Eala sibbe gesihð, sancta Hierusalem''
|''O, Hierusalem, civitas Dei summi, leva in''
''circuitu oculos tuos et vide Dominum Deum''
''tuum, ecce jam veniet solvere te a''
''vinculo.''
|Y
|-
|4
|71-103
|9r-9v
|Mary's merits and the wonder of her conception.
|''Eala wifa wynn geond wuldres þrym''
|''[[O Antiphons#O Virgo Virginum|O, virgo virginum]], quomodo fiat istud,''
''quia nec primo te similis visa es, nec''
''habebis sequentem? Filiae Hierusalem, quid me''
''admiramini? Divinum est mystérium hoc quod''
''cernitis.''
|Y
|-
|5
|104-29
|9v
|Christ as the morning star.
|''Eala earendel, engla beorhtast''
|''[[O Antiphons#O Oriens|O, oriens]], splendor lucis aeternae et sol''
''justiciae, veni et inlumina sedentes in''
''tenebris et umbra mortis.''
|Y
|-
|6
|130-63
|9v-10r
|Christ's redemption of humankind.
|''Eala gæsta god, hu þu gleawlice''
|''[[O Antiphons#O Emmanuel|O, Emmanuel]], rex et legifer noster, expectatio''
''gentium et sal vatio earum, veni ad salvandum''
''nos, jam noli tardare.''
|Y
|-
|7<ref>Thomas D. Hill, '[https://www.jstor.org/stable/43621097 A Liturgical Source for ''Christ I'' 164-213 (Advent Lyric VII)]', ''Medium Ævum'', 46 (1977), 12-15 {{doi|10.2307/43621097}}.</ref>
|164-213
|10r-11r
|A dialogue between Joseph and Mary, as Joseph doubts Mary's virginity.
|''Eala Ioseph min, Iacobes bearn''
|''O, Joseph, quomodo credidisti quod antea''
''expavisti? Quid enim? In ea natum est de''
''Spiritu Sancto quem Gabrihel annuncians Christum''
''esse venturum.''
[[Matthew 1#Matthew 1:18-25|Matthew I:18-21]]
|N
|-
|8
|214-74
|11r-11v
|Christ as king.
|''Eala þu soða ond þu sibsuma''
|''O rex pacifice''
|Y
|-
|9
|275-347
|11v-12v
|Mary as [[Queen of Heaven|queen of heaven]].
|''Eala þu mæra middangeardes''
|''O mundi domina''
|Y
|-
|10
|348-77
|12v-13r
|The fulfilment of Isiah's prophecy.
|''Eala þu halga heofona dryhten''
|[[Isaiah 7:14]]
|N
|-
|11
|378-415
|13r-13v
|Praise of the Trinity and of the Seraphim.
|''Eala seo wlitige, weorðmynda full''
|''Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus, Dominus deus sabaoth.''
''Pleni sunt caeli et terra gloria tua, osanna in excelsis.''
''Benedictus qui uenit in nomine domini,''
''osanna in excelsis<ref name=":9" />''
The song of Seraphim ([[Isaiah 6|Isaias 6:3]] ff. and [[Matthew 21|Matthew 21:9]])
|N
|-
|12
|416-39
|13v-14r
|How people should praise Christ.
|''Eala hwæt, þæt is wræclic wrixl in wera life''
|''O admirabile commercium''
|N
|}
== Interpretation of structure ==
The order of antiphons that the author uses for the lyrics imply that the poet was not concerned about any distinctions between antiphons, or the order that he had found them in his sources.{{sfn|Campbell|1959|pp=9}} Upon analysis of the position of each poem, no rational order can be found, suggesting that the order of each poem in the sequence is unimportant.{{sfn|Campbell|1959|pp=11}}
==Influence on other writers==
{{further|Eärendil and Elwing}}
[[J.R.R. Tolkien]] was influenced by the following lines from ''Christ I'' (lines 104-5), which inspired his portrayal the character [[Eärendil]] in his [[legendarium]] and is one of many examples of the Old English word ''[[middangeard]]'' which partly inspired Tolkien's [[Cosmology of Tolkien's legendarium|fantasy world]]:<ref>{{ME-ref|Bio|"Reunion", pp. 72, 79}}</ref>
{{Verse translation|
{{lang|ang|Eálá [[Aurvandil|Earendel]] engla beorhtast
Ofer middangeard monnum sended.}}
|
Hail Earendel brightest of angels,
over [[Midgard|Middle Earth]] sent to men.}}
Tolkien wrote "There was something very remote and strange and beautiful behind those words, if I could grasp it, far beyond ancient English."<ref>Day, David. 2003 ''The World of Tolkien''. London: Octopus Publishing Group, p. 8.</ref>
==Editions and translations==
=== Editions ===
* {{citation |title=The Exeter Book |editor-first=George Philip |editor-last=Krapp |editor2-first=Elliott Van Kirk |editor2-last=Dobbie |series=The Anglo-Saxon Poetic Records: A Collective Edition |number=3 |location=New York |publisher=Columbia University Press |year=1936 |oclc= 352008 |isbn= 9780231087667}}, pp.&nbsp;3–49; [https://ota.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/repository/xmlui/bitstream/handle/20.500.12024/3009/3009.html online at the Oxford Text Archive]
* ''The Advent Lyrics of the Exeter Book'', ed. by Jackson J. Campbell (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1959)
* ''The Old English Advent a Typological Commentary'', ed. by R. B. Burlin, Yale Studies in English, 168 (New Haven, CT, 1968)
* ''[https://oepoetryfacsimile.org/ Old English Poetry in Facsimile Project]'', ed. by Foys, Martin et al. (Center for the History of Print and Digital Culture, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2019-); poem edited in transcription and digital facsimile edition, with Modern English translation
=== Translations ===
* ''[[iarchive:christcynewulfa00whitgoog|The Christ of Cynewulf, A Poem in Three Parts: The Advent, the Ascension, and the Last Judgement]]'', trans. by [[Charles Huntington Whitman]] (Boston: Ginn, 1900)
* Cynewulf, ''[http://www.yorku.ca/inpar/Christ_Kennedy.pdf Christ]'', trans. by Charles W. Kennedy (Cambridge, Ontario: In Parentheses, 2000)
==Notes==
{{reflist|30em}}
== References ==
{{refbegin}}
*{{cite book |last=Campbell |first=Jackson J |title=The Advent Lyrics of the Exeter Book |location=Princeton |publisher=Princeton UP |year=1959 }}
*{{cite book |last=Cook |first=Albert S |author-link=Albert Stanburrough Cook |chapter=Introduction |title=The Christ of Cynewulf |editor-last=Cook |editor-first=Albert S. |year=1909 |publisher=Ginn and Company |location=Boston |edition=2nd |url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924060309980 |access-date=15 March 2015 }}
*{{cite encyclopedia |last=Henry |first=Hugh T. |title=O Antiphons |encyclopedia=The Catholic Encyclopedia |volume=11 |location=New York |publisher=The Robert Appleton Company |year=1911 |url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11173b.htm |access-date=15 March 2015 }}
*{{cite encyclopedia |last=Mershman |first=Francis |title=Advent |encyclopedia=The Catholic Encyclopedia |volume=1 |location=New York |publisher=The Robert Appleton Company |year=1907 |url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01165a.htm |access-date=15 March 2015 }}
*{{cite encyclopedia |last=Otten |first=Joseph |title=Antiphon |encyclopedia=The Catholic Encyclopedia |volume=1 |location=New York |publisher=The Robert Appleton Company |year=1907 |url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01575b.htm |access-date=15 March 2015 }}
*{{cite encyclopedia |last=Rumble |first=Alexander R. |title=Exeter Book |encyclopedia=Medieval England: an Encyclopedia |editor1-first=Paul E. |editor1-last=Szarmach |editor2-first=M T |editor2-last=Tavormina |editor3-first=Joel T |editor3-last=Rosenthal |location=New York |publisher=Garland, Inc |year=1998 }}
*{{cite book |last=Schaar |first=Claes |title=Critical Studies in the Cynewulf Group |location=Lund |publisher=C.W.K. Gleerup |year=1949 }}
{{refend}}
== External links ==
{{Wikisource-inline|Crist}}
{{Old English poetry|state=autocollapse}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Christ 1}}
[[Category:Old English poems]]