Glass ~P Hsi Book .LsT4- PRES ENTED BY The Legend of Longinus in Ecclesi- astical Tradition and in English Literature, and its connec- tion with the Grail H dissertation PRESENTED TO THE FACULTY OF BRYN MAWJR COLLEGE IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY OCTOBER. 1910 BY ROSE JEFFRIES PEEBLES BALTIMORE H. FURST COMPANY 1911 -run fHSCOLLEGS )AM i» 1912 (Vt V3 "7 i PREFACE The present study was presented to the Faculty of Bryn Mawr College in October, 1910, in fulfilment of a require- ment made of candidates for the degree of Doctor of Phi- losophy. The object of the dissertation is, in the main, to investigate anew the origin of the legend of Longinus in ecclesiastical and popular tradition, and to trace its use in mediaeval English literature, as has already been done in the field of French literature by Carl Kroner. In following the course of the Longinus legend I have thought best not to confine attention solely to literary docu- ments, but to include also some account of the part which it played in art and in the liturgy, for the reason that its importance in both these connections undoubtedly contrib- uted to its development in literature, and perhaps even determined to some extent its literary form. Moreover, though the present study has been under- taken primarily from the standpoint of English literature, I have ventured to discuss, in the last two chapters, special problems relating to the literary influence of Longinus which lie wholly outside of that field. The first of these is the resemblance, first pointed out by Bugge, between the Longinus story and the slaying of Baldr. The sec- ond is the relationship which exists between the lance of the Crucifixion and the bleeding lance of the Grail romances. These two chapters, though distinctly in the nature of excursus, deal, after all, with phases of the Longinus legend which are of general literary importance. They appear, therefore, to have legitimate place in a study iii IV PREFACE which treats of the significance of the Longinus theme in the literature of the Middle Ages. I wish to express my hearty thanks to Miss Dorothy Kempe for helpful suggestions; to Mr. Stephen G-aselee, Pepysian Librarian of Magdalene College, Cambridge, for repeated kindnesses, and to Prof. W. H. Hulme, of West- ern Reserve University, for most generously allowing me to make use of his unpublished notes on the Longinus legend. I have attempted to make acknowledgment in my notes for these special indebtednesses. To Prof. Carleton Brown, of Bryn Mawr College, in particular, I am under many obligations. He first suggested to me the subject of this investigation, and he has aided me in the various stages of my work by supplying numerous references, by criticising the manuscript of the dissertation, and finally by carefully going over the proof sheets. I am also indebted for courteous treatment and assist- ance, especially in the manuscript departments, to the librarians of the British Museum, the Bodleian Library and the Cambridge University Library, and for many kindnesses to the libraries of Columbia University, Bryn Mawr College and Vassar College. R. J. P. Vassar College, April, 1911. CONTENTS Introduction Chapter I. The Bible and Ecclesiastical Tradition . 1. Longinus in the Apocrypha .... 2. The Testimony of the Fathers .... 3. Martyrologies, Earlier and Later 4. Other Writers Chapter II. The Legend of Longinus a Fictitious Narrative. 1. Name 2. The Acts of Longinus ..... 3. The Blindness of Longinus .... Chapter III. Longinus in Art . Chapter IV. The Lance of Longinus as Sacred Kelic and in the Liturgy 1. The Lance as Sacred Relic .... 2. Longinus and the Liturgy .... Chapter V. Longinus in Charms Chapter VI. Longinus in English Literature 1. Homilies and Homiletic Treatises 2. The Gospel of Nicodemus ..... 3. The Cursor Mundi . . . 4. The South English Legendary .... 5* The ' ' Northern Passion " 6. Other Poems on the Passion .... 7. The Hours of the Cross 8,. Saint Edmund's Speculum .... 9. English Meditations Derived from Bonaventura. 10. Marian Laments ...... 11. Religious Lyrics ...... 12. The Fifteen Signs before the Day of Judgment. 13. Piers Plowman ....... 14. Chaucer ........ 15. Lydgate ........ 16. A Lollard Creed 17. Romances Exclusive of the Grail 18. The Drama . V PAGE 1 5 6 10 12 22 27 27 31 37 44 56 56 62 72 80 83 87 92 93 96 100 103 106 107 110 115 119 121 123 123 126 127 131 VI CONTENTS - PAGE Chapter VII. Longinus and the Baldr Legend . . . 142 1. The Difficulty of Chronology 146 2. The Gosforth Cross 147 3. The Odin Story 151 4. Frazer's Explanation of the Baldr Myth . . 155 5. Kauffmann's Theory 157 6. The Blind Spearman 160 Chapter VIII. The Lance of Longinus and the Grail . « 166 1. Survey of Testimony 166 2. Pagan Color in the Grail Story . . . 170 I. The Theory of Professor A. C. L. Brown . . 172 1. Celtic Marvellous Weapons and the Bleeding Lance 172 2. The Shining Lance and the Spear of Longinus . 177 3. The Bleeding Lance and the Spear of Longinus. 181 4. The Poisonous and Destructive Lance and the Spear of Longinus 189 5. The Christian Spear a Symbol of Destruction and of Peace 191 6. The Christian Bleeding Lance in Art and in the Drama 193 II. The Theories of Professor Nitze and Miss Weston . 195 1. Professor Nitze and the Celtic Theory . . 195 2. Agrarian Kites as an Explanation of the Grail Ceremony 197 3. Connection between Early Liturgy and Rites of the Mysteries 200 4. Elements Common to Grail Rites, Mysteries, and Liturgy 203 III. The Grail Bite ....... 206 1. The Grail Procession 206 2. Other Ritualistic Points 213 3. The Fisher King 217 THE LEGEND OF LONGINUS INTRODUCTION The literature and art of the Middle Ages found no more popular subject for treatment than the Christian legend of Longinus, the blind soldier who pierced the side of the Crucified and regained his sight through the blood that touched his eyes, who thereupon believed in Christ, and finally, after many adventures, suffered martyrdom. Being an ecclesiastical legend, it found a place, of course, in the martyrologies and f estials of the church. But it is not on the side of hagiography that the story assumed its chief importance. Through the interest which it awak- ened in the popular imagination, the legend extended its influence outside this special province and found its way into literature. These two phases of its appeal are well illustrated by the two dissertations which the legend has called forth. The first of these, written more than two centuries ago by G. H. Goetze (Dissertatio inauguralis de Centurione sub cruce Christi, Lipsiae, 1698), deals with the Longinus legend exclusively from the standpoint of religious history, and attempts to establish the authenticity of the miracle connected with the Crucifixion. Since it contributes nothing to our knowledge of the origin of the legend and does not discuss its use in literature, it is here negligible. The second, by Carl Kroner, Die Longinus- legende, ilire Entsteliung und Ausbreitung in der franzo- 1 2 INTBODUCTION sischen Litteratur, 1 is a serious examination of the early history of the legend and of its occurrence in French literature. If Kroner's discussion of the early forms of the Lon- ginus legend had been more comprehensive, it would not be necessary to take up again the question of its origin. But the growth of a legend in the Middle Ages is a much more complex matter than is recognized in the method followed by Kroner. Though the legend, in rather widely differing forms, appears in several apocryphal documents, he examines only one, the Gospel of Nicodemus. He gives no intimation that the name of the spearman was not always Longinus. He contents himself with the con- sideration of two Longinuses; though, in the first six centuries^ the records show no fewer than a dozen mar- tyrs bearing this name, whose lives perhaps contributed something to the development of the story. He fails to note the history of the lance as a relic and its place in the early liturgy. Nor does he suggest by more than a single sentence the prominence of Longinus in mediaeval icono- graphy, and the influence this popularity must have ex- erted on the spread and growth of the legend. Though Kroner's treatment of the second part of his subject — the use of the Longinus legend in French litera- ture^ — concerns less closely those who approach the exami- nation of the story from the special point of view of Eng- lish literature, it should perhaps be stated that even here he has not been exhaustive. He confines his attention mainly to the presence of the legend in the romances. He cites twenty in which mention of Longinus occurs ; but he might have included in his list as many more. 2 Moreover, i Minister dissertation, 1899. 2 Cf. E. Langlois, Table des Noms Propres compris dans les Chansons de Geste, 1904. INTRODUCTION" 6 he does not point out the importance of the lance of Longi- nus to the crusading romances, nor does he hint at its presence in the Grail cycle 3 — a connection which perhaps more than any other one thing makes the examination of the legend worth while to modern students. Furthermore, Kroner gives only one example, and that without com- ment, of the appearance of Longinus in that queer mani- festation of mediaeval scientific ignorance — the charm. He considers the use of the legend in the drama, but not at all its presence in the liturgical literature that preceded the drama, nor in contemporary religious non-dramatic productions. Nor does he comment on what has been con- sidered a possible Norse parallel to the Longinus legend. Besides these dissertations, there have appeared nu- merous notes on the Longinus legend. Of these the most inclusive is that by Dr. Hulme, who, in his introduc- tion to the Harrowing of Hell, discusses the legends that seem to trace their origin to the Gospel of Nicodemus. He refers to the story of the blind Longinus as one of the most interesting of these, and comments on the strong influence it exerted on both the literature and the art of the Middle Ages. He calls attention to its relationship to the early literature of Scandinavia, and to its importance in the Grail romances. 4 Longinus has been more or less fully considered also by the various writers on the Grail cycle. The most recent of these, indeed, Professor A. C. L. Brown, takes as his 3E. Freymond, Kritischer Jahresbericht uber die Fortschritte der rom. Phil., VIII, p. 269. "C. Kroner hat in seiner Disserta- tion, . . . aus Nationalepen u. anderen Dichtungen verschie- dener Art oft bedeutungslose Stellen iiber Longin gesammelt; er bringt auch Dinge (so S. 52 f.) die zu seinem Thema gar nicht gehoren, gedenkt aber nicht mit einem Worte der Rolle, die die Lanze des Longinus in der Gralsage spielt." 4 EETS., e. s. 100, pp. lxviii-lxix. 4 INTRODUCTION point of departure 5 the bleeding lance, often spoken of in the Grail romances as the lance of Longinus, though that there was any original connection between the two he abso- lutely denies. It seems worth while, then, notwithstanding the work already done on the subject, to consider again the origin and development of the legend. In addition, the present study undertakes to trace the course of the Longinus. story in English literature. This apocryphal martyr is inter- esting to the student of the Middle Ages, on the one hand, as showing how slight a foundation in fact was necessary to the growth of a much-handled tale; and on the other, and chiefly, as indicating how writers of all classes unhesi- tatingly availed themselves of a popular legend, in many cases with no attempt at embellishment or enlargement. 5 PMLA., March, 1910. CHAPTEK I THE BIBLE AND ECCLESIASTICAL TRA- DITION In seeking the origin of a saint's legend, which pur- ports to date back to the time of Christ, one begins nat- urally by scrutinizing all available Christian records, both those sanctioned by the Church, and those not so recognized. Such an investigation, however, in the case of St. Longinus discloses little to authenticate his existence as a contemporary of Jesus. The beginnings of his story abound in confusion and contradiction. His legend was slow in forming and bears every mark of having been manufactured. The dictionary-makers and compilers of popular mod- ern martyrologies 1 give a stereotyped form of the legend without accounting for its origin. They tell us that there is no trustworthy authority for the acts and martyrdom of St. Longinus, that he was introduced to the West by the apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus, and that his name probably derives from a Latinized form of the Greek \6yxV) a spear. They add that the centurion who ex- claimed at the earthquake and believed in Jesus, as re- corded by Matthew and Mark, 2 has been confused with the soldier who, according to John, 3 pierced his side. The Roman Church celebrates the soldier Longinus on the fifteenth of March, and the Greek, the centurion Longinus on the sixteenth of October. These writers state, moreover, that Longinus was blind ; that when he pierced i Baring-Gould, Brewer, Larousse, Mrs. Jameson, etc. 2 Matthew XXVII, 54; Mark XV, 39. 3 John XIX, 34. 5 D THE LEGEND OF LONGINUS the side of Christ, the blood ran down the spear to his hands; that he touched his eyes and regained his sight. He then went into Csesarea in Cappadocia, and preached for a number of years, making many converts. He suf- fered martyrdom under Octavius. §1. Longinus in the Apocrypha In the canonical Gospels, though both the soldier and the centurion appear in the accounts of the Crucifixion, the incidents related of them are wholly unlike, and there is not the slightest indication that they are to be identified as the same person. The conversion of the centurion is related, in fairly similar form^ by Matthew and Mark. The text of Matthew reads : "Centurio autem, et qui cum eo erant, custodientes Jesum, viso terrae motu et his quae fiebant, timuerant valde, dicentes: Vere Filius Dei erat iste." John, on the other hand, though he says nothing of the centurion, gives the only account of the soldier who pierced the side of Christ: "Sed unus militum lancea latus Domini perforavit et continue exivit sanguis et aqua." Nor is there in the earliest of the apocryphal Gospels an identification Of the centurion with the soldier who pierced the side of Jesus. The Gospel of Peter, 4 of espe- cial interest because of its probable early date, omits all mention of the piercing of Christ's side, and consequent- ly of the soldier, merely stating that the Jews, in order to prolong the torments of Christ, commanded that his legs should not be broken. The only thing that suggests the piercing of the side, is the statement in the account of the mocking of Jesus: "Others pierced him with a 4 The Akhmim Fragment of the Apocryphal Gospel of St. Peter, ed. by H. B. Swete, 1893. According to Swete (p. xiii), the date is not later than 170, nor earlier than 150; Harnack assigns the fragment to the years 110 — 130; Dobschutz to the second century. THE BIBLE AND ECCLESIASTICAL TRADITION * reed." 5 But this is probably drawn directly from Mat- thew's reference to the Jews' smiting Jesus with a reed. With the centurion, however, the case is otherwise. He is given a name, though it is not Longinus; and he is converted, though not by an earthquake, as in Mat- thew: "But the Scribes and Pharisees and Elders, being assembled together and hearing that the whole people murmured . . . were afraid and came to Pilate, beseeching him and saying, 'De- liver to us soldiers that we may guard His sepulchre for three days, lest His disciples come and steal Him away, and the people suppose that He is risen from the dead, and do Him mischief.' So Pilate delivered unto them Petronius the centurion with soldiers to guard the tomb. . . . Now in the night, when the Lord's Day was drawing on, as the soldiers kept guard by two and two in a watch, there was a great voice in heaven, and they saw the heavens opened, and two men descend from thence with much light, and draw nigh unto the tomb. And the stone which had been cast at the door rolled away of itself and made way in part, and the tomb was opened, and both the young men entered in. The soldiers, therefore, when they saw it, awakened the cen- turion and the Elders (for they were also there keeping watch) ; and as they had told the things that they had seen, again they saw three men coming forth from the tomb, two of them sup- porting the other, and a cross following them; and the head of the two reached to heaven, but that of Him who was led by them overpassed the heavens. And they heard a voice from the heavens, saying, Thou didst preach to them that sleep; and a response was heard from the cross, Yea. . . . When they saw this, they of the centurion's company hastened by night to Pilate . . . and told all that they had seen, greatly distressed, and saying, 'Truly he was the Son of God.' "6 The next apocryphal account that is connected with our story is of great importance, in that it is usually given as its source. Here for the first time appears the name Longinus, and here we find it applied to both soldier 5 Gosp. of Peter, p. 25. 6 Ibid., pp. 26, 27. <5 THE LEGEXD OF LOXGIXUS and centurion. In the Acta Pilati/ Chapter XVI (Cod. A of Tischendorf), the name Longinus — with slightly varied spelling, it is to be noted — is applied to the soldier (Aoyyi/ios 6 crT/m-nom??), 8 whereas in Chapter XI (a later text, Cod. B) it is applied to the centurion (AoyylfAos 6 ifearovTapxos). 9 In the Latin text, Chapter X, the name is given the soldier : "Accipiens autem Lon- ginus miles lanceam aperuit latus eius." 10 Though the same name is employed for both, 11 the two stories are not otherwise confused. Except the addition of the name, the soldier's story has acquired nothing not already found in John. The centurion is converted to belief in Christ by the marvels that accompanied the crucifixion. A third apocryphal account, the Letter of Pilate to Herod, 12 likewise calls the centurion Longinus, but adds little more to his story: "And my wife Procla, having believed on account of the visions which appeared to her while I was hesitating to deliver Jesus up through thy counsel, when thou sentest that I should deliver him to the people of Israel, because of the ill-will they had, she hav- ing heard that Jesus was risen, and had appeared in Galilee, left me; and took with her Longinus the faithful centurion, and twelve soldiers, the same that had watched at the sepulchre. 7 More frequently referred to as the Gospel of Nicodemus. Ac- cording to Dobschutz (Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible, 1900), it belongs to the fourth (fifth) century. 8 Tischendorf, Evangelia Apocrypha, XVI, 283. sibid., XI, 309. io Ibid., X, 362. ii Lipsius, Die Pilatus Aden, p. 38, calls attention to this con- fusion. 12 M. R. James, Apocrypha Anecdota II (Texts and Studies ed. J. A. Robinson, V) 1897, p. xlviii: "The date which we may assign to the Letters can not be an early one. ... On the other hand, they are found in a MS of the sixth or seventh century in Syriac; and they may quite well be a couple of centuries older than that." Cf. B. H. Cowper, Apocryphal Gospels, p. 389. The Letters of Pilate to Herod "are forgeries; produced perhaps about A. D. 400." THZ EIELZ AMD ECCLESIASTICAL TEADITIO^ 9 . . . And whilst they were standing and wondering and gazing at him, he, conscious of it, looked at them and talked to them and said, 'What is it? Do you still not believe me, Proela and Longinus?' . . . And my wife, Proela, having heard him say these things, and the centurion Longinus who was trusted to watch over the sufferings of Jesus, and the soldiers who jour- neyed with her, weeping and groaning, came and announced to me these things."i3 Herod's Epistle to Pilate, preserving ye: another apoc- ryphal tradition, gives a description of the death of Lon- ginns which is wholly different from that found later in the martyrologies : •'Now in the same hour, the angel of the Lord, having laid hold of the head of Longinus, who pierced the side of Jesus with a s^ear, took him beyond the Jordan to a desert place; and bringing him further to a cave, stretched him on the ground on his face. And a lion was so stationed as to come forth at exil- ing and to consume the body until morning. And in the morning the lion goeth away, and again his body groweth again. And he suffereth this punishment until the coming of the Lord, Jesufi Christ."i4 In this account Longinus. it will be observed, figures simply as the hated executioner who is punished for his wicked deei. TVe appear, therefore, to be dealing with an early stage of the legend before the story of his con- version and niarrvrdoni had been added. These apocryphal accounts would indicate that there were two distinct characters, the soldier and the centu- rion ; the one merely a wicked participator in the cruci- 13 J. de Q. Donehoo, Apocryphal and Legendary Life of Christ, p. 491; cf. James, op. cit.. p. 71, and Cowper, op. cit., p. 393. M Donehoo, op. cit.. p. 496. As to this Epistle. James (op. cit.. p. xlvii, xlviii) remarks: "The amusing story about Longinus, which is appended to Herod's letter, comes from another hand. Longinus is seen in it, not as the converted centurion, who is a saint and martyr of the church, but as the hard-hearted Roman soldier who carried out the sentence of crucifixion. It may rep- resent a local legend of Palestine. The punishment is modelled on that of Tityus or Prometheus." 10 THE LEGEND OF LONGINUS fixion, and the other a convert to belief in Jesus, who at once became a prominent supporter of his faith. The use of the same name for both is difficult to explain, and probably means that the two stories were already to some extent confused. §2. Testimony of the Fathers The testimony of the early church Fathers confirms, in a measure, the indications of two different persons of distinct characteristics. Chrysostom shows clearly that a story of the martyrdom of the centurion was cur- rent in his time, though not fully accepted. However, he gives him no name: "Et centurio quoque Deum tunc glorificavit dicens: 'Vere hie homo Justus erat'. Et turbae quae venerant ad spectandum, per- cutientes pectora sua revertebantur (Luc, 23, 47-48). Tanta est virtus Crucifixi, ut post tot irrisiones et dicteria, et Centurio et populus compungerentur. Quidara vero narrant nunc centu- rionem postea in fide roboratum martyrium fortiter subiisse."i5 On the other hand, according to Chrysostom, the soldier who pierced the body of Christ is still the wicked executioner : "Alia quoque praedicto finem accipit. Venientes enim milites aliorum fregerunt crura, Christi non item. Attamen hi in gra- tiam Judaeorum ejus latus lancea perforarunt, et mortuo corpori contumeliam inferunt. O scelestum et execrandum f acinus! Sed ne turberis, ne dejiciaris, dilecte. Nam quae mala illi voluntate faciebant, veritatem propugnabant. Prophetia namque erat, vi- debunt in quern transfixerunt. Neque hoc tantum; sed etiam iis qui infideles ut Thomae et ipsi similibus. Ad haec etiam myste- rium ineffabile consummabatur. Exivit enim, sanguis et aqua."i6 The centurion's story grows by slight accretions; he is next assigned to a definite locality. Gregory of Nyssa 15 Chrysostom, In Matthaeum Homil. LXXXVIII, LXXXIX, Patrol. Graec. LVIII, col. 177. 16 Homil LXXXIV. Op. cit., LIX, col. 463. THE BIBLE AND ECCLESIASTICAL TRADITION 11 is quoted by Zacagni as authority for the statement that the centurion Longinus became the first bishop of Csesarea. 17 In the Manuale (a pseudo-Augustinian pro- duction), there is reference to Longinus. It adds noth- ing, however, of information: "Longinus aperuit mihi latus Christi, lancea et ego intravi, et ibi requiesco se- curus." 18 Though the fathers of the early church afford us little information so far as the development of the incidents of the legend is concerned, they supply important testimony to the significance which theologians already attached to the deed of Longinus. One may trace an ever growing tendency to give a mystical meaning to the wounding of Christ on the Cross. This inclination is to be observed as early as Ambrose, who declares: "quando de latere ejus aqua fluxit et sanguis, quo laetificavit animas universorum, quia illo flumine lavit peccatum totius mundi." 19 Like- wise Augustine says: "Dormienti Adge fit Eva de latere (Gen. II, 21) : mortuo Christo lancea percutitur latus (Joan XIX, 34) ut profluant sacramenta quibus formetur Ecclesia." 20 The same parallel is drawn again in the Passio Petri et Pauli: "Ut sicut ex costa Adse fabricata est Eva, sic ex latere Christi in cruce positi f abricaretur ecclesia quae non haberet maculam neque rugam." 21 It is evident that from this tendency toward a symbolistic inter- im Zacagni, Collectanea monumentorum veterum, 1698, p. 391. Ex hoc Nysseni loco discimus Longinum Centurionem, qui lancea Christi latus in cruce perfodit, primum Caesareae episcopum fuisse. Zacagni gives no reference to Gregory. I have not been able to find the passage referred to. Cf. Douhet, Diet, des Legendes de Christianisme. (Migne, Encyc. Theol. ser. Ill) supp. vol. 14. Cf. Kroner, op. cit. p. 17. is Migne, Patrol. Lat., XL, col. 961. i* Migne, Patrol. Lat. XIV, col. 1194. 20 Migne, XXXV, col. 1463. 21 Lipsius and Bonnet, Passio Sane. Apost. Petri et Pauli, p. 127. 2 12 THE LEGEND OF LOIS T GINUS pretation of the piercing of Christ with the spear, Longi- nus himself must benefit. His act must be explained in some new way. May this idea have suggested the motive for the conversion of the soldier ? §3. Martyrolooies, Earlier and Later After searching for information about a legend con- nected with the crucifixion, in the apocrypha and in the writings of the church Fathers, one obviously turns to the martyrologies. The early martyrologies, their con- tents and histories, have been carefully examined by modern scholars. Those given by Harnack and Achelis for the first centuries are: (1) Die Depositio Marty rum des Chronographen vom Jahre 354, which, Achelis says, "1st der alteste erhaltene Heiligenkalender, und die Quelle aller abendlandischen Kalender, soweit dieselben Komische Marty rer aufnehmen;" (2) Das Martyrolo- gium Karthaginiense Mabillons; (3) Das Martyrologium Syriacum. In none of these does Longinus appear. It is true that these, as they now exist, are incomplete. The first, the Depositio, is fragmentary, containing only twenty-two- days in all. Moreover, it is chiefly local in character, the saints celebrated being for the most part of Eome or its vicinity. The martyr ology of Carthage, which Mabillon found in 1682, 22 does not include the whole year: beginning with the nineteenth of April, it extends to the sixteenth of February, thus omitting part of February, all of March, 23 and part of April. The 22 Found on the cover of a MS in the library of the Abbey of Cluny. Mabillon dated it seventh cent. ; cf . Achelis, Die Mart, ihre Geschichte u. ihr Wert (Abhandlungen d. konigl. Gesellschaft d. Wissen. z. Gottingen, Phil. Hist. Kl. N. F., Band III, Nro. 3, pp. 18, 19). 23 it is to be noted that the feast of S. Longinus is usually the 15 March. THE BIBLE AND ECCLESIASTICAL TRADITION lo Syriac Martyrology 24 does not contain Longinus in its list of saints, but there is a Longinns of Mashkena in the list of presbyters. 25 The next martyrology is that which goes nnder the name of Jerome. Achelis says: "Die Passionen des M\artyrologinm\ H [ieronymianum] bilden namlich das Bindeglied zwischen den Kalendern der alten Kirche nnd der nachsten Generation dieser Litteraturgattuiig,'' 26 Here the reference to Longinus is brief enough: Idus Martins: In Cappadocia S. Longini Martyris. 27 Achelis. in his Calendar of Jerome, gives two dates: "In Cappa- docien Longinus am id. mart, und 10. kal. dec." 28 In discussing this and other cases of similar confusion, he says: "Ich kann nicht untersuchen, ob in einzelnen Fallen wirklich zwei Martyrer desselben JSTamens in der- selben Stadt existiert haben, wenn ich mich nicht ins Endlose verlieren will." 29 Achelis speaks of the mar- tyrology as a compilation made in the fifth and sixth centuries. 30 Jerome's entry does not indicate whether the centurion or the soldier is meant. From the fact that later the soldier's Feast is on the fifteenth of March, and the cen- turion's, on the sixteenth of October, it seems probable that the Longinus here referred to is the soldier. The two entries for Cappadocia may be merely a mistake, but taken in connection with the confusion of name in the Acta Pilati, it may indicate that the two stories were already confused, and that the soldier had acquired con- nection with Cappadocia from the centurion. 24 w. Wright, An Ancient Syrian Martyrology {Journal of Sa- cred Literature, III (New Series) 1866.) Wright does not fix the date; he says the MS was transcribed A. D. 412 and it is not much older than the MS. (p. 53.) 25 Op. cit., p. 432. 26 Achelis, op. cit., p. 110. 27 Oper. S. Fleronymus, Edit. Veron. (1742) t. XI, 486; Migne, Patrol. Lat. XXX, col. 462. 28 Achelis, op. cit., p. 79. 29 Op. cit., p. 79. 30 Op. cit., p. 211. 14 THE LEGEND OF LONGINUS Instead of considering separately the various mar- tyrologies of the Middle Ages/ 1 in all of which Longi- 3i Henri Quentin, Les Martyrologes Historiques du Moyen Age, Paris, 1908, p. 683, shows clearly their relationship by the fol- lowing diagram: p" Eede- Bede (.Mss. Ie CI.) Bede/(Mk. lie ci.) yonn&is (Ms. 3879) Floms (Ms. de \t. Croix) Martf de Fulda Maur Wohlfard Herman Contract Marf. Remain THE BIBLE AND ECCLESIASTICAL TRADITION 15 nus appears, I shall call attention only to typical forms indicating the development of the legend. In the first group, which belongs to the eighth and ninth centuries, there is definite evidence of the confusion of the story of the soldier with that of the centurion. The soldier Longinus has here borrowed from the centurion's story the incident of the conversion by the miracles which ac- companied the Crucifixion and also that of the 'martyrdom in Cappadocia. The blinding of the cruel judge, a stock episode in the legends of saints, has also been added. The life of St. Longinus is the same in Bede, 32 Rhabanus Maurus, and RTotker, 33 and differs only slight- ly in Ado 34 and Usuardus. 35 The text of Ehabanus Maurus, as printed in Migne, "ex codice MS. monasterii S. Galli/' is as follows: Id. Martii: In Cappadocia passio sancti Longini martyris: de quo in libello martyrii ejus narratur quod aliquando militans sub centurione Romano, in passione Domini latus ejus cum lancea in cruce aperiret, et viso terrsemotu et signis quae fiebant, crediderit in Christum, poenitentiam agens de operibus suis pristinis: postea monachus f actus per triginta et quatuor annos Christo militavit, multos convertens ad fidem Dei; ad extremum vero martyrizavit in Cappadocia sub Octavio praeside, quern, propter infidelitatem suam divino judicio percussum corporea caecitate, post martyrium suum illuminavit.36 32 Migne, Patrol, hat., XCIV, col. 859, Editio Coloniensis. Idus Martii Cappadocia, S. Long. Mart.; also Edit. Bolland. 15 Idibus Cappadocia. 33 Migne, Patrol, hat. CXXXI, col. 1055, Id. Mart, in Cappa. S. Longini martyris: qui cum in passione, etc. 34 Migne, Patrol, hat. CXXIII, col. 167, and col. 343, Sept. 1, apud Caesaream Cappadociae, Longini militis et martyris, qui latus Dom., etc. 35 Migne, Patrol, hat. CXXIV, col. 843, Mar. 15. In Caesarea Cappa.; passio sancti Longini qui latus Dom., etc. 36 Migne, Patrol, hat. CX, col. 1135. 16 THE LEGEND OF LONGINUS Bede and JSTotker differ from Rhabanus Maurus only in making the years of service thirty-eight instead of thirty-four. 37 The tenth-century versions are found in the Acta Sanc- torum of the Bollandists. They give both the acts of the soldier and those of the centurion. The two stories have developed along different lines. The legend of the soldier retains the conversion by miracles, which is found also in the centurion's story. Both also serve in Cappa- docia. The legend of Longinus adds, however, still other incidents more or less common to saints' lives. The Bol- landists print their life of Longinus ex pluribus perve- tustis MSS. However, so far as I can discover, none of these MSS is older than the tenth century. 38 The life of the soldier printed by the Bollandists is too long to quote in full. In substance it runs as fol- 37 Here should be added the Irish Martyrologies, which are not included in the table. The Martyrology of Oengus the Guldee (about 800 A. D.), Whitley Stokes, 1905, makes brief mention of Longinus : X cal. Novembris (p. 218). Escomlud Longini dond rig- "The departure of Longinus flaith as dixu: geguin, gnim as to the Kingdom that is high- tiaisliu, toeb an alaind Issu. est; he wounded — deed that is noblest! — Jesus' splendid de- lightful side." Cf. Oengus, p. 226. Notice also Martyrology of Gorman, W. Stokes, 1895. (By an Irish abbot, latter part of the twelfth cent.) 15 Mar. Longinus or gonad "Longinus by whose cruel Crist i croich do chruadgha spear Christ was wounded on Ba col cen a choemna. the cross: 'twas a sin without (any) defence thereof." 38 in the Analecta Bollandia, where MSS containing the Longi- nus story are cited, several are mentioned as edited in the Acta Sanctorum, March II, pp. 384-386 (which includes the Acta 8. Longinii Milites.) These are: (1) Civit. Carnotensis, cod. 144, saec. X, 777 Passio Sancti Longini Martyris die XXII mensis THE BIBLE AND ECCLESIASTICAL TRADITION 17 lows: Longinus, a soldier sent by Pilate, pierced the side of Christ, and when he saw the sun obscured and the earth quake, believed in Jesus Christ and exclaimed with a loud voice: Vere filius Dei est hie. He was in- structed by the apostles, and went into Csesarea in Cap- padocia, where he led a quiet life twenty-eight years, con- verting many. When word of his success came to Octa- vius, the emperor sent for Longinus, and asked him who he was. Longinus responded, " Christianus sum." Asked his province, he answered "Isauria." When asked if he was free, he replied that he had been a slave to sin, but had been released by the mercy of Christ. Octavius urged him to worship the Roman gods, but Longinus responded that his God was one of sobriety and righteousness, but those of Octavius were gods of iniquity, and that he could not serve two masters. Though Octavius had Longinus's tongue cut out, and his teeth knocked out, Longinus con- tinued to speak. Longinus cast devils out of idols and broke their altars. Recognizing Longinus, the devils con- fessed that they knew his God to be the true one. When asked why they had chosen such resting-places, they gave as a reason that those idols had never been blessed, nor had they had the sign of the cross made on them. Many of the people believed; but Octavius, whose heart the devil had corrupted, accused Longinus of having used magic arts. Aphrodisius told Octavius that Longinus novembris, hoc est X Kalendarum decembris (fol. 260r-261v), t. VIII, p. 134. (2) Civit. Carnotensis, cod. 204, 29°; here the day is given as idus Martii, t. VIII, p. 184. (3) Bibl. Publ. et Acad. Gandavensis, cod. 245 (writing XII and XIII cent), pp. 198-203, t. Ill, p. 179. (4) De Magno Legendario Austriaco, S. Longini Mart., var. MSS. Exemplar Sancrucense, XIII saec; Exempl. Campilili- ense, XV saec; Exempl. Admuntense, XIII saec, t. XVII, p. 50. (5) Bibl. Publ. Civit. et Acad. Leodiensis, cod. 58, XIV saec. (?) (fol. 152v-154r), t. V, p. 339. (6) Bibl. privatae Caes£Tia Austri- aci, cod. 9394, XV saec. (fol. 148-9), t. XIV, p. 259. 18 THE LEGEND OF LONGINUS was right and his God the true one, and in consequence Aphrodisius's tongue was cut out. Thereupon, at the prayer of Longinus, the Lord punished Octavius by strik- ing him blind. After Longinus had suffered martyrdom, Octavius repented and received his sight. 39 The life of the centurion Longinus, printed by the Bollandists, is professedly taken from Hesychius. 40 Til- lemont comments with irony on the statement made by the Bollandists that all the Greek lives of Longinus are drawn from Hesychius, and especially that that of Meta- phrastes has Hesychius as its source; he expresses ab- solute doubt, saying it is a history that contains few facts and many words in the style of Metaphrastes. 41 The Greek story as found in Hesychius and Meta- phrastes is as follows: Longinus, the centurion, is sent to serve at the sepulchre of Christ. He believes in Jesus through wonders, renounces his military service, and with two companions retires to his father's home at Tyania in Cappadocia. There he is beheaded by messengers of Pilate, and his head is taken by them to Jerusalem, where it is thrown outside into a refuse heap. A blind woman comes to Jerusalem from Cappadocia with her only son. Her son dies, and she mourns her misfortune. Longinus appears to her, and tells her that if she will find and bury his head, he will bring her son to glory. She does so> and is rewarded with sight, and a vision of 39 Acta 88. 15 Mart. t. II, 384-86. Cf. Bill. Hagiog. Latina, Brussels, 1900-1901. 40 Acta 88. Mart. II, 736-39, (MS Vatic. 1190). Patrol. Gr. XCIII, 1545-60; cf. Metaphrastes, Patrol. Gr. CXV, 31, (MS Paris 774). Cf. Biol. Hagiog. Graeca, Brussels, 1895. 41 Tillemont, M&moires pour servir a UHistoire Ecclesiastique, Paris, 1693, I, note XXXVIII, p. 477 ff. THE BIBLE AND ECCLESIASTICAL TRADITION 19 her son with Longinus in heaven. She buries her son and Longinus's head together. 42 A curious variant of the last part of this story is found in MS. Paris 797, from which it is printed by the Bollandists. This account runs as follows: A widow, Christina by name, was possessed by a wicked spirit, which tore her cruelly. Longinus appeared to her with- out his head, and told her to go to Jerusalem, to the house of the Prefect Lucian, to seek the head of Longi- nus the centurion, and to replace it with his body; say- ing that if she did so, she should be made well and her son should be taken into his military service. Christina started on her way. When she came to the tomb of the saint, she cried out, and a voice told her that Christ would be her helper. She obtained the head from Lu- cian, the Prefect, for which she paid him two hundred denarii. She and her son took the head to the tomb, which opened with a great light. After the youth had replaced the head, it was as if it had never been cut off. Longinus appeared to Christina that night, told her she should have her health restored, and asked her to choose which she preferred for her son — earthly or heav- enly service. 43 She chose heavenly service. The next 42 Cf. Le Synaxaire Arabe Jacobite, 5th Hatour (1st Nov.) (Pa- trol. Orientalis, pub. and trans, by Rene Basset, III, Fase. 3, 252). The story differs slightly: the soldier, who had borne the order, brought the head to Jerusalem, and gave it to Pilate, who showed it to the Jews, thus rejoicing them, and had it interred in a "monticule" outside Jerusalem. After some time a woman or Cappadocia who had become a Christian through the preaching of Longinus, and who had wept when he was decapitated, became blind by design of God. She went to Jerusalem to pray at the sacred monument in the hope of regaining her sight, etc. 43 Cf. G. H. Gerould, on the Eustace Legend, PMLA., XIX, 351. He traces to Armenian legend the choice given man be- tween good fortune in youth and good fortune in age. Eustace chooses between trial in this life and sorrow in the next; Sir 20 THE LEGEND OF LONGINUS day, accordingly, Longinus appeared to the son in the vineyard, and told him to follow his name, Christian, and be a soldier of Christ, Notwithstanding her choice, when the mother found her son dead, she was overcome with grief. She was comforted, however, by an angel. She then went to Paphnutius, the bishop of Tyania, and told him her story. They buried the son with Longinus. Id a vision Christina was shown her son in heaven with Longinus. After a life of service, she died and was buried in the tomb of Longinus. That this story of the head was important in the East, is shown by the fact that in the Oriental church the find- ing of the head of Longinus is celebrated on a separate day. Two days are given in the calendar: 23 Abib (July) Certamen sancti Longini Cappadocis Centurionis qui latus Christi lancea transfodit Caesareae sub Tiberio imperatore, 4 * and the 5 Hatur (November) Inventio, Capitis Sancti Longini militis, qui Christi latus aperuit.* 5 The two feast days were later probably joined, just as were the two festivals of the Exaltation and of the In- vention of the Cross, also originally two distinct feasts. From the martyrologies, too, one would conclude that the story of the centurion developed first. The legend of the soldier was enlarged by additions from the story of the centurion. It is to be noted that even so late as the tenth century, the martyrologies give no suggestion of the blindness of Longinus himself, though he is con- cerned in the healing of others who are blind — the judge certainly, aDd perhaps also the widow. Of the two types Ysumbras between poverty and woe in youth and in old age; Der Graf von Savoien between eternal sorrow and earthly woe for ten years. 44 Mai, Coptic Martyrologium, Codex Arab. Bibl. Vat. LXIII, 18. ±5 Ibid., Codex 62. Cf. Assemani, Bibl. Med. Cat. Flor., Flor. 1742, p. 164. Arabic Martyrology, 185, XXIII Abibo, S. Longini. THE BIBLE AISTD ECCLESIASTICAL TRADITION 21 of the story of the "invention" of the head, it seems likely that the earlier was the Christina story, and that at first the woman was possessed by a demon, but that after- ward, through the influence of the story of the soldier, her trouble took the form of blindness, a disease that would be peculiarly suitable for Longinus to heal. Even as late as the thirteenth century the Legenda Aurea speaks with some doubt of the blindness of Lon- ginus. 46 Since this is the version usually referred to> as the source of the Longinus story in the Middle Ages, I quote the text in full : Longinus fuit quidam centurio, qui cum aliis militibus cruet domini adstans jussu Pylati latus domini lancea perforavit et videns signa, quae fiebant, solem scilicet obscuratum et terrae motum in Christum credidit Maxime ex eo, ut quidam dicunt, quod cum ex infirmitate vel senectute oculi ejus caligassent, de sanguine Christi per lanceam decurrente fortuito oculos suos tetigit et protinus clare vidit. Unde renuntians militiae et ab apostolis instructus in Caesaria Capadociae viginti octo annis monasticam vitam duxit et verbo et exemplo ad fidem multos convertit. Cum autem a praeside tentus fuisset et sacrincare nollet, jussit praeses omnes dentes ejus excuti et linguam abscidi, Longinus tamen ex hoc loquelam non perdidit, sed accepta securi omnia ydola comminuit et f regit dicens: si dii sunt, vide- bimus. Daemones autem de ydolis exeuntes in praesidem et in omnes socios ejus intraverunt et insanientes et latrantes se Longini pedibus prostraverunt et ait Longinus daemonibus: cur habitatis in ydolis? Qui responderunt: ubi Christus non nomi- natur et ejus signum non est positum, ibi est habitatio nostra, Cum ergo praeses insaniret et oculos amisisset, dixit ei Longinus; scito quia sanari non poteris, nisi quando ne occideris; quam cito enim a te mortuus fuero, pro te orabo et sanitatem tibi corporis et animae impetrabo. Et statim eum decollari jussit; post hoc abiit ad corpus ejus et prostratus cum lacrimis poenitentiam egit; et continue visum recepit et sanitatem et in bonis operibus vitam finivit.47 46 The blindness was shown in art by the eighth or ninth cen- tury. Cf. p. 48. 47Voragine, ed. Graesse, 3d, 1890, cap. XLVII, 202. 22 the legend of longinus §4. Other Writers Other means for distributing the story of Longinus that were probably no less influential than the martyr- ologies are to be noted. Such writers as Petrus Comes- tor in the twelfth century, Vincent do Beauvais in the thirteenth, and Cardinal Bonaventura and Ludolphus de Saxonia in the fourteenth, all include Longinus, giving the story of his miraculous healing in connection with the history of the passion of Christ; and sometimes, as in the case of Vincent, adding also the sufferings and martyrdom of St. Longinus. 48 The first of these accounts, that in the Historia Scho- lastica of Petrus Comestor, is very brief; indeed, the name of Longinus is not mentioned. There are, supple- menting the gospel account of the piercing of the side 48 Numerous unpublished martyrologies also exist, which con- tain the story of Longinus. As far as I have examined them, I have found no new type of the legend. A few of these are: Bibl. Bodl. Catol. Codd. Graeci. Codicis Miscell. No. 137 (XI saec.) which includes Longinus in the Martyrology for October. The story follows the Metaphrastes version. Cf. also Trin. Coll. Cambr. MS 210 (saec. XI?), no. 13, fol. 92; Trin. Coll. Cambr. MS 198 (XII-XIII saec.) no. 11, fol. 77; and British Mus. Addit. MS 36654, A. D. 1103, no. 13. Besides these Greek texts, there are: Rawl. MS C. 440 (ssec. XII exeuntis), no. 15, fol. 176b, Passio S. Longini martyris, which follows the Bollandist centurion type; MS Vespasian B. 10, fol. 21b; Harl. 2802, Passionale, (1464), Longini no. 285; Harl. 3545, Legendarium Sanctorum (XV cent.) fol. 272; Addit. 6524, French (XIV cent.) fol. 51b. A few others make Longinus the soldier; in Arundell MS 330 (XIV saac), he is a soldier, though not blind, and his ministry follows the usual form; in Sloan MS (XIV saec.) no. 2478, fol. 10b, his blindness is healed, but the account is condensed; in Trin. Coll. Cambr. 316 (B. 14, 31) (XV cent.) no. 24, his blindness is healed, his ministry and martyrdom follow the usual types. Cf. also Cambr. Univ. K. K. 1.22 MS (early XIV cent.), Martyrologium, and MS Liturg. Bodl. 333 (1468), Longinus 15 Mar. the usual soldier type. ( THE BIBLE AND ECCLESIASTICAL TRADITION 23 of Jesus, a few words referring to the cure of the soldier's blindness: "et qui lanceavit eum, ut tradunt quidam, cum fere caligassent oculi ejus, et casu teti- gisset oculos sanguine ejus, clare videt." 49 In his Speculum Historiale, Vincent, under De TJul- nere domini lateris, in his gloss cites Comestor, and in his text quotes from Comestor the passage given above. To the extract he adds the following: a Ex gestis eius Protinus illuminatus in Christus credidit. Unde mili- tie cedens instructus ab apostolis: in Cesarea Capadocie XXXVIII annis monachicam vitam duxit & in omni sanctitate permanens verbo & exemplo plurimos ad Chris- tum conuertit." 50 In his next chapter Vincent gives the life of Longinus, De Martyrio eiusdem longini militis. It is unnecessary to quote this, since it follows closely the form of the story found in the Bollandist acts of the soldier. In the Meditationes vitae Christy found in the earlier editions of St. Bonaventura's works, 51 but no longer thought to bo of his composition, 52 reference to the legend of Lon- ginus appears in the form of a lament of the Virgin. With John, the Magdalen, and her sisters, Mary stands under the Cross lamenting. With a great noise wicked 49 Migne, Patr. CXCVIII cols., 1633, 1634. 50 Lib. VII, cap. xlvi. 51 Sancti Bonaventurae . . . Opera, London, 1668. 52 Dr. H. Traver considers Cardinal Bonaventura of Padua to be the author. For discussion of her authorities, see The Four Daughters of God, Bryn Mawr, 1907, p. 41, note 2. The question of authorship appears to be unsettled. Peltier {Bonaventurae Opera, Parisiis, Besancon, 1864-71, XII, p. xlii) holds that the work is not that of the "seraphic doctor," nor that of Bonaven- tura of Padua, but of a Franciscan of San Gimignano in Tuscany or the neighborhood, perhaps Joannes de Caulibus. Cf. also L. F. Powell, introductory note to Nicholas Love's Mirrour of the Blessed Life of Jesus Christ, Oxford, 1908. 24 THE LEGEND OF LONGINUS men come and break the bones of the thieves. When they turn to Jesus, Mary implores them to have mercy, telling them that Jesus is already dead, but "unus autem Longinus nomine, tunc impius, & superbus, sed post conuersus, & martyr, & sanctus, porrigens lanceam de longe, eorum preces, & rogamina contemnens, latus Domine Jesu dextrum vulnere grandi aperuit & exiuit sanguis & aqua." Mary then faints in the arms of the Magdalen and her companions. This treatise was enormously popular in the Middle Ages. Thien comments on the fact that it was trans- lated into Swedish, Danish, Italian, Catalan and Middle English. 53 It was of great importance in English lit- erature, being translated more than once. There is also a metrical English version. 5 * The passage quoted above from the Meditationes as- cribed to Bonaventura reappears almost word for word in the Vita Jesu Christi by Ludolphus of Saxonia. Odd- ly enough, the addition made by Ludolphus to this pas- sage reproduces precisely the second extract already quoted from Vincent de Beauvais. Though he gives marginal references to his authorities, Ludolphus makes no acknowledgment of indebtedness to Bonaventura 55 or to Vincent. This treatise by Ludolphus also forms the basis of a Middle English life of Christ, and consequently is of special interest. 53 TJoer die Englischen Marienklagen, p. 11. 54 Cf. pp. 107, 108. 55 Miss Traver, op. cit., 45, who takes Bonaventura of Padua to be the author of the Meditationes, thinks Ludolphus depended on Bonaventura. If Joannes de Caulibus is the author of the Medi- tationes, the question of dependence becomes more difficult — since the only date given for Joannes is 1376, (see Chevalier, R6p. des Sources Hist, du Moyen Age, who follows Wadding), and Ludolphus died in 1378. THE BIBLE AND ECCLESIASTICAL TRADITION 25 The writers last mentioned add nothing to the de- velopment of the legend. Looking back over the accounts which precede them, we see that the record furnished by pseudo-ecclesiastical history is unsatisfactory. We learn from it that apocryphal details were attaching themselves to the story of the centurion as early as the second cen- tury ; that the name Longinus was applied to both soldier and centurion in the fourth century; that accounts of the ministry and martyrdom of the centurion also came into the tradition in the fourth century, and were recorded in the martyrologies in the fifth, or sixth, century (Je- rome) ; that between the sixth and ninth centuries there was little growth — the cruel judge struck with blind- ness being the only addition; that by the tenth century there were two stories, one concerning the centurion, and one, the soldier, and that the two were evidently already confused, containing, as they both do, the incidents of conversion by earthquake, and service and martyrdom in Cappadocia; and finally that even as late as the thir- teenth century, the church accounts express doubt on the subject of the blindness — the episode in the story that appealed most strongly to the people of the time. The first question that suggests itself after going through this mass of narration is, how did the centurion and soldier become confused? It is probable that the soldier who pierced the side of Jesus was first one of the soldiers who served under the centurion at the crucifixion, and who guarded the tomb. In the incident of the vere, filius Dei, originally ascribed to the centurion, gradually the soldiers under the centurion came to share, and finally, as the one soldier assumed greater prominence, it was transferred to him alone. The stories were more and more confused. Sometimes the soldier, sometimes the centurion 26 THE LEGEND OF LONGINUS is called Longinus; sometimes it was tlie centurion and again it was the soldier, who pierced the side of Christ. But there are other difficulties. How did the name Longinus originate? Why did the legend of the soldier become the more popular, absorbing as it did incidents from the life of the centurion ? It is to be noticed that the incidents not so appropriated — such as the widow healed of her blindness, and the Christina story — never got into literature at all. CHAPTEE II THE LEGEKD OF LONGHSTUS A FICTITIOUS JSTAKKATIVE Ecclesiastical history, by its inconsistencies and by its reluctance to accept certain popular features of the story of Longinus, such as that of his blindness, shows that other legend-forming forces were at work, and that the accounts found in the martyrologies record only the re- sults — vague but more or less final — of this myth-working process. That the legend of Longinus is fictitious is shown by the examination (1) of his name and (2) of his acts, or his life as saint and martyr. §1. Name Before considering the possible source of the name Lon- ginus — the name which was finally attached definitely to the saint and which appears in all literary applications of the legend — we may note the fact that other names for- merly existed for the centurion and for the soldier. Ref- erence has already been made to the name Petronius 1 used i A. Stiilcken, in an article on the Gospel of Peter in Handbuch zu den Neutest. Apocryphen, Edgar Hennecke, 1904, p. 84, remarks: "Der Hauptmann der Grabeswache hat einen Namen bekommen: Petronius; die spatere Legende nennt ihn Longinus. Diese — in einem Fragment, das die Namen Jesus, Golgotha, usw. nicht nennt — auffallige Genauigkeit im Detail weist nicht auf Tradi- tion, sondern auf das Bestreben, den Mangel an Tradition durch scheinbar intime Kenntnis zu verdecken: der Hauptmann, der nachher selber Zeuge der Auferstehung wird, muss auch schon im apologetischen Interesse moglichst genau bezeichnet werden. Der Name ist wohl in Anklang an 'Petrus' gewahlt." 3 27 28 THE LEGEND OF LOISTGINUS for the centurion in the Gospel of Peter. There is also a more or less indefinite tradition that confuses the soldier who pierced the side of Christ and the centurion who was converted at the crucifixion, with that other centurion who appeared as witness in the examination of Jesus before Pilate. "Post haec quidam centurio dixit, Ego in Caphar- naum vidi Jesum et rogavi cum dicens Domine, puer mens, iacet paralyticus in domo. Et dixit mihi Jesus, Vade, et sicut credidisti fiat tibi. Et sanatus est puer ex ilia hora." 2 The name of this centurion, according to Fabricius, 3 was C. Oppius ; he was a Spaniard, the son of Caius Cornelius and the father of C. Oppius, both of whom were also cen- turions. He was the first of all the Gentiles who, after the death of Christ, was baptized by the Apostle Barna- bas. He afterwards became the third bishop of Milan. It is to be noted in this connection that some authori- ties state that Longinus, who pierced the side of Christ, was known before his conversion as Cassius.* Profillet calls the centurion Saint Ctesiphon (or, without explana- tion, "Abenadar, le centurion du Calvaire"). He had been ordained bishop at Pome, according to Profillet, and was sent to preach the word in Spain. 5 Bede calls the soldier Legorrius. 6 Xavier says the name should be Ina- tius or Ignatius. 7 Again, JSTeale, recently and without 2 Teschendorf. Latin Gesta Pilati, chap. VIII. 3 Fabricius, II (1832), note, p. 982. 4 J. E. Stadler, HeiUgen L exicon, states that the name of the soldier Longinus before his conversion was Cassius. Profillet, Les Saints Militaires (15 Mar.), says that Cassius, afterwards called Longinus, was second in command among the guards at the cross. 5 Profillet, Les Saints Militaires, under 15 May. He says Ctesi- phon can not be identified by history. GCollectaneis Append. Ill; cf. Douhet, Diet, des legendes du Christianisme, Migne, Encyc. Theol. ser. Ill, supp. vol. LIV. 7 P. Xavier, Historica Christi Persice, 1639, pars. Ill, 489. LEGEND OF LOXGINUS A FICTITIOUS XAERATIVE 29 mentioning his source, says: "Not many illustrious prel- ates have adorned this see (Caesarea of Cappadocia) : . . . its first bishop is said to have been Saint Primianus, bet- ter known by the name of Longinus, the soldier who pierced the Saviour's side with his spear. 8 Still a differ- ent form of the name — though in this case only a corrup- tion of Longinus — appears in a late vernacular version of Xicodemus's Gospel cited by Thilo: "And then the Jews commanded that a knight should be brought forth, whose name was Logenious ; and this Logenious was blind, etc." 9 Of the same sort is probably the "Longimus" in some of the Greek texts of Xicodemus. 10 It is hardly worth while to pause over these names; except as furnishing further evidence, if more were needed, as to the contradictions that abound in regard to the life of our saint, they are not of interest. The name by which he is always known in literature is Longinus. The explanation generally offered is that the spearman de- rives his name from the Greek ^oyxv, lance, used in John (XIX, 34) : "Sed unus militum lancea latus ejus aperuit. mi This account of the name seems entirely probable ; such origins are not uncommon. ReifTenberg mentions others: 8 J. M. Neale, Hist. Holy Eastern Church, 1850, pp. 31, 32. 9 Thilo. Codex Apoc. Novi Testam. 1832, p. cxlv. 10 Cf. p. 8. 11 J. Spiegelius, Prudentius Cathemerinon (note on vulnus, p. 85): "Auditi aliud magis ridiculum, in Joannis Evangelio legi- tur — Nostri Theologi, sive sono vocabuli Graeci decepti, ubi apud Graecos\67x^ id est lancea scriptum est, crediderunt percussorem ilium Longinum esse appellatum; & ita in ilium hoc nomine excla- mantes invehunter, sive divini verbi semiantores Longinum pro- prio nomine milite ilium appellant. Non miror si nos ridemus: quoniam & diabolum ipsum & ilium que isti dicunt Longinum, puto, si talia audiunt, maximos risus excitare." 30 THE LEGEND OF LONGINUS "Nous savons qu'un jeu de mots a souvent produit des effets surprenants, que Saint Longin, Saint© Veronique, Saint Architriclin, doivent leur existence a des equivoques, a une espece de calemhourg produits par Fignorance, que des equivoques out determine les offices de beaucoup d'autres." 12 Though the name Longinus may easily have arisen thus through the mere blunder of a translator, another possible explanation must also be considered. In the Pseudo-Linus Passio Sancti Pauli Apostoli, the three soldiers who con- duct Paul to the place of his martyrdom, are converted by him on the way. He directs them to go the next morning to the place where his body lies and tells them they will find there two men, Titus and Luke, who will baptize them. These soldiers are known as Longinus, Megistus, and Acestus. 13 It has been suggested more than once that the name Longinus was first connected with the soldier converted at the execution of Paul, and that it was after- wards transferred to the centurion (soldier) converted at the crucifixion of Christ. 14 The date of the Paul story, as told in the Pseudo-Linus Passio, would not be against such a theory. The Passio is a fragment and belongs, according to Lipsius and BatifTol, 15 to the fifth or sixth century. But accord- 12 Chevalier au Cygne, p. xciv. Cf. H. Etienne, Apologie pour HCrodote, Lyons, 1592, p. 573 ff. 13 Lipsius and Bonnet, Acta Apostolorum Apocrypha, Lipsiae, 1891. Pars Prior, pp. 30, 32, 37, 39, 42, 113. Also Grk. pp. 114, 115, 116. 14 Cf. Bugge, Studien iiber die Entstehung die nordischen Got- ter und Heldensagen, German trans., O. Brenner, p. 39. Dr. Hulme, in unpublished notes which he has kindly allowed me to use, likewise makes this suggestion. 15 P. Batiffol, Vigoroux Dictionnaire de la Biole, 1895. Acts of Peter and Paul. R. A. Lipsius, Die Apocryphen Apostelge- schichten u. Apostellegenden, II (1887), 113. LEGEND OF LONGINUS A FICTITIOUS NARRATIVE 31 ing to Lipsius, the Pseudo-Linus has as source Greek Acta, fragments of which, independent of the Pseudo- Linus, occur elsewhere. Lipsius sees in these acts a Gnostic work of the second half of the second century. He thinks it possible to recognize traces of this primitive source in the Pseudo-Linus as it now exists. That he con- siders the Paul-Longinus episode a part of the early acts, he shows in his discussion of the use made by Chrysostom of these earlier acts. In speaking of the version used by Chrysostom, he says: "Der von Paulus bekehrte Kerken- meister, ist wol eine Peminiscenz an die Geschichte des Pseudo-Linus von der Bekehrung der Prafecten Longinus und Megistus und des Centurio Cestus oder Acestus . . . denen Nero die Bewachung des Gef angenen und die Volls- treckung des Todesurtheils ubertragt." 16 It is certainly possible that the writer of the Acta Pilati story of the centurion (in this case it could not be the soldier who pierced the side of Christ, for, in the Acta Pilati, the soldier is not converted) may simply have transferred the name Longinus from some such story as this of Paul, which offers the parallel of the conversion of an attendant by the death of a martyr. The question, how- ever, can hardly be settled conclusively without more evi- dence. A fact that must also be taken into account is that, according to the Greek text, the name of the soldier who guarded St. Paul, was not Longinus, but A0770?. §2. The Acts or Life of Longinus If this multiplicity of names does not speak well for the historical origin of Saint Longinus, the number of Lon- ginuses who have suffered martyrdom does not lessen the is Ibid., II, 246. 32 THE LEGEND OF LONGINUS confusion. It has already been shown that the soldier and the centurion 17 have been confused. It seems not impos- sible that incidents from the lives of other martyrs also contributed to the growing story. In Migne' s Dictionnairt Hagiogra'pliique, eight martyrs bearing the name appear, the last in the sixth century. In the Petits Bollandistes, there are also eight, two of whom differ from those in the Migne list. Baronius mentions eleven Longinuses ; Cheva- lier, eight; and John of Ephesus, one not included by either Baronius or Chevalier. Some of these derive from our Longinus story; others perhaps had independent ori- gin and were absorbed by it. I enumerate only the most interesting of these martyrs : (1) The Longinus associated with Paul, to whom reference has already been made. (2) Saint Longinus, soldier and martyr at Marseilles, who, with two others, guarded Saint Victor in prison. All three guards were converted by the miraculous light that illuminated the prison in the night. Victor took them to the sea and baptized them. After they had refused to sacrifice to the gods, Maximian, who was at Marseilles, ordered them to be punished with death. They were de- capitated the 21 July, A. D. 290. 18 Maury tells us that the facts of the life of Saint Victor of Marseilles are drawn from those of Christ, Victor, in his opinion, repre- sents Christ triumphant, victorious ; he adds : "Ces gardes sont au nombre de trois, nombre mystique qu'on sup- posait au moyen age avoir ete celui des gardes de Jesus. 17 And possibly a second centurion; cf. p. 28. 18 Migne, Diet. Hagiog.; Petits Bollandistes; Chevalier; Rui- nart, Acta primorum Martyrum sincera et selecta, XI, p. 297; Tillemont, Memoires pour servir a Vhistoire Ecclesiastique, 1701, IV, p. 551. LEGEND OF LONGINUS A FICTITIOUS NARRATIVE 33 L'un d'eux se nomine Longin, com me un de ceux du Christ." 19 (3) St. Longinus, who suffered martyrdom at Caes- area in Cappadocia with S. Aphrodisius, honored by the Greeks 1 September. 20 The Bollandists take this to be the Longinus who pierced the side of Christ. As various days are given by different churches for the celebration of St. Longinus, this identification is entirely probable. 21 (4) St. Longinus, a soldier, who suffered martyrdom at Satales in Armenia, with ten brothers, soldiers like him- self. Emperor Maximian, because they refused to sacri- fice to the gods, deprived them of military rank, and ex- iled them to various places, where they died in misery. They are honored 24 June. Here the name of the place, Satales, is similar to that often given as the home of Lon- ginus who pierced the side of Christ. 22 (5) Saint Longinus, who suffered martyrdom with Saint Eusebius and many others. They were beheaded after suffering cruel torments, during the persecution of Diocletian, and are celebrated 24 April. The names and also the place and date of martyrdom of this group vary greatly. Acta Sanctorum, 24 April, gives as martyred in Nicodemia in 303 : Eusebius, E"eonis, Leontius, Longinus and four others. Baronius gives a very similar list as martyred in Perga in Pamphilia in 19 A. Maury, Croyances et Legendes du Moyen Age, 1896, p. 112. 20 Diet. Hagiog.; Bollandists, Acta. 8S. 1 Sept. 21 Acta. SS. 1 Sept. 22 This place-name varies greatly. Tillemont gives Adrales or Sandrales, near Tyania in Cappadocia; a Greek MS of the XI cent. (MS Bodl. Misc. 137) gives Sandiale; Hesychius, Sand- rales. On the other hand, in the Bollandist Latin Acts, Longinus when questioned says his home is in Isauria in Asia Minor. In Christus Patiens, he is from the Ansonians. 34 THE LEGEND OF LONGINUS 305 : Leontius, Actius, Alexander and six others, and also Leontius with Eusebius, Neone, and Longinus; also in Lycia: Theodorus, Oceanus, Ammonianus, Juli- anus. 23 But in 308, under Constantine, Baronius has this list of Martyrs: Theodorus, Oceanus, Ammianu3, Julianus, Caritine, Eusebius, Neon, Leontius, Longinus. 24 That a whole group of martyrs should thus be assigned to varying years and places, indicates how easily such stories grew. That this Longinus was confused with the soldier of the crucifixion, the Bollandists show in their discussion: "Michael monachus, canonicus Capuanus, parte 4 Sanctuarii Capuani, edidit quatuor Kalendaria Sanctorum, qui Capuae fuerunt in veneratione; & in horum Kal. tertio. Thesauri dicto, atque in quarto ejus Codicis, qui est ordinarium totius anni, proponitur mem- oria S. Longini Martyris: proponitur memoria S. Longini Martyris: in tertio etiam dicitur celeb rari festum cum tribus lectionibus. An occasione S. Longini Socii SS. Eusebii, Neonis & Leontii Martyrum sit introducta dicta memoria, nescimus. At lectiones esse de Longino, qui latus Christi aperuit, & exclamavit, Vere filius Dei est iste, annotat Michael. Ista vero sunt duorum, quorum alter Longinus miles, alter Longinus Centurio fuit." 25 (6) John of Ephesus gives an account of Longinus (A. D. 568), chaplain to Pope Theodosius, and mission- ary to Nubia, in which the following suggestive incident appears. When Longinus went from the Nubians to the Alodaei, he had to pass through the unfriendly land of 23 Annales EccUsiast. Ill, 398. 24 Op. cit., p. 455. 25 Cf. J. E. Stadler, Heiligen Lexikon, S. Longinus (24 Apr.) ein Martyrer in Nikomedia, dessen Haupt in Capua verehrt wird, und den Einige irrig ftir den hi. Seitenei bffner Longinus halten, was wohl auch anderswo geschah." LEGEND OF LONGINUS A FICTITIOUS NARRATIVE 6b the Maporitae, "and when their King heard that Longinns had started on his journey, Satan in his envy stirred him up to set watchers in all the passes of his kingdom on the roads, both in the mountains and in the plains, as far as the Sea of Weeds, in hopes of arresting Longinns, and so hindering the salvation of the powerful people of the Alodaei. But God preserved him, and blinded the eyes of those who wanted to seize him; and he passed through them, and went on his way and they saw him not." 26 The parallel here seen, though slight, is perhaps worth noting ; the enemies of Longinus are blinded by God, just as the cruel judge who is persecuting Longinus is blinded. Several facts in the complete Longinus legend may have been derived from these varying accounts. First and most important, the name Longinus itself was possibly used for the guard of Paul before it was so employed for the centurion, sometimes the guard at the tomb, in the cruci- fixion story. If Bede's statement that the soldier's name was Legorrius be accepted as preserving ancient tradition, it may be that confusion arose because of the resemblance of the two names, or that some one, knowing the stories of the two soldiers — both miraculously converted by the spectacle of a martyr's death — attached unintentionally the name of one to the other. It is much more likely that Bede's name is a corruption, due to the lack of definite information about St. Longinus. However this may be, whether the name was first obtained by adoption or con- fusion, the supposed derivation of the word — its sig- nificance as spearman or lance-bearer — would be enough to make the attachment permanent. In addition to the name, the commanding of the saint to worship images may 26 Hist, of the Church, trans, by R. Payne Smith, 1860, pp. 319, 320. 36 THE LEGEND OF LONGINUS easily be obtained from these stories, as may also the blinding of the judge. Too much, however, must not be made of these resemblances, as many saints were com- manded to worship idols, and it was not uncommon for God to interpose and punish those who were tormenting Christians. Other evidence that the story of Longinus is manufac- tured, is found in related saints' legends, and in the con- ventional character of some of the incidents that enter into its making. Le Blant has called attention to some of these: "II est evident que la piece est supposee. On re- marquera toutefois que l'auteur en a caique le debut sur des actes antiques dont elle reproduit en cet endroit la forme. J'y retrouve les expressions courantes exhibere, vocare, les interrogations relatives a la condition, a la patrie, et la reponse typique Christianus sum. C'est a raison de cette ciroonstance que je crois pouvoir relever ici plusieurs termes d'un recit manif estement apocryphe." 27 This response occurs in the earliest martyrology records. In Eusebius's History of Martyrs in Palestine, 28 Epiph- anius replied in the same way to the governor. In the Coptic life of St, George, the same answer is found. 29 Eusebius records, too, that Romanus was condemned by the judge to be burned, but the sentence was altered by the Emperor Diocletian, and his tongue was cut out in- stead. Like Longinus, he preached without his tongue. 30 Romanus was also bidden to worship idols, paralleling in this another detail of the Longinus story. The cruel judge 27 E. Le Blant, Les Actes des Martyrs, 1882, p. 147. 28 Ed. Wm. Cureton, 1861, from Syriac MS Brit. Mus. 12150, A. D. 411. 29 e. Amelineau, Les Actes des Martyrs de UEglise Copte, p. 241. The Coptic St. George was condemned by Gelasius in 494. 30 Cureton, op. cit., p. 8. I LEGEND OF LONGINUS A FICTITIOUS NARRATIVE 37 is found in all the accounts by Eusebius. J. A. Robinson, commenting on the Passion of S. Perpetua, says: "The old story was lacking in the one feature which charac- terizes so> many of the fictitious narratives of martyrdoms, and to which the appellation 'Acta' more especially re- fers. There was no account of the prolonged controversy between the martyrs and the cruel or the kind-hearted judge." 31 The cruel judge appears in the Longinus story in the eighth and ninth century accounts. §3. The Blindness These related stories, though they throw light upon the sources of many of the details in the Longinus legend, do not account for the incident that became of utmost im- portance in the literary use of the story in the Middle Ages: viz., the blindness of Longinus and his miraculous healing by the blood of the crucified Christ. Tillemont suggests as a possible explanation that the blindness grew out of the account given of Longinus in Christus Patiens "mal explique." 32 Though the man who pierced the side of Jesus is not called the centurion, the in- cident is much the same. When the stream of blood gushes from the side of Christ, the spearman, amazed, cries out, "Verily, this dead man is the son of God." He then falls before the cross, and anoints his head in the flowing stream, in order, as it seems, to have purification. 33 This explanation is no> longer possible for the reason that 31 J. A. Robinson, The Passion of 8. Perpetua, 1891, p. 15. Rob- inson says the name of S. Perpetua is given in the Rom. Calendar of the fourth century. The MSS at present known are not earlier than the tenth century. 32 Mem. pour Servir a UHist. Eccles., 1693, I, note xxxix. 33 Ed. J. G. Brambes, 1885, 11. 1071-1115. 38 THE LEGEND OF LONGINUS the old passion poem is not now thought to have been written in the fourth century by Gregory ]STazienzen. Krumbacher says of it: "Das einzige uns erhaltene Drama der byzantinischen Zeit ist der gewohnlich Xpurrbs irdaxoov (Christus patiens) betitelte Cento. Nach- dem die Meinung, das Werk gehore dem Gregor von Nazianz, allgemein aufgegeben ist, bleibt der Verfasser vorerst unermittelt; sicher ist nur, dass er in einer ganz spaten zeit> warscheinlich im 11 oder 12 Jahrhundert lebte." 3 * C. Chabeneau, after quoting John XIX, 34-35 — "Sed unus militum lancea latus eius aperuit et continuo exivit sanguis et aqua, Et qui videt, testimonium perhibuit, et verum est testimonium eius — comments: "L'Evan- gile ajoute: Et qui videt . . . Seraient-ce par has- ard ces mots lus dans un texte corrompu et mal compris qui seraient la source premiere de la fable de l'aveugle Lon- gis recouvrant miraculeusement la vue? ??35 Kroner ac- cepts the conjecture of Chabeneau as a satisfactory so- lution of the difficulty, and attempts elaborately to show how the mistake probably occurred. 36 This explanation is ingenious, but hardly necessary. Moreover, there is no indication of such corruption in any available text. 37 Kroner remarks further: "Eine dritte Ansicht ist die folgende: Longinus sei nicht blind gewesen, und wenn bei ihm von Blindheit die Rede sei, so sei diese doch nur 34 Geschichte der byzantinischen Litteratur, 1891, p. 356. Kro- ner (op. cit., p. 28), who is evidently unacquainted with criticism on the subject, cites Christus Patiens as the earliest literary treat- ment of the Longinus legend. 35 Revue des langues romanes, 1888, IV, 405. 36 Kroner, op. cit., p. 26. 37 Cf. Wordsworth, Novum Testamentum Nostri Jesu Christi Latine, Oxonii, 1895, pp. 635, 636. I LEGEND OF LOXGIXUS A FICTITIOUS XAREATIVE 39 als eine geistige Blindheit aiifzufassen. Longinus war ja in der That vor seiner Bekehrung blind, aber diese Blindheit ist dann identisch mit der Blindheit, der Eins- ternis des Heidentums. Nun, das klingt ja ganz schon, aber est ist doch sebr fragwiirdig, ob man dem ungelehr- ten Volke soviel Verstand und Uberlegung zutrauen darf, dass es in solcher Weise von einer 'geistigen Blind- heit' 'sprechen konnte.' " 38 Notwithstanding Kroner's objection, it was common in the Middle Ages to speak of spiritual blindness in physical terms, and in more than one case confusion has resulted. Maury, though he does not mention Longinus in this connection, illustrates the point by numerous examples. "Un paien," he says, "un pecheur endurci a-t-il ete illumine des lumieres de l'fivangile par la doctrine de Jesus, suivant le language figure de la foi nouvelle, il a ete gueri de son aveugle- ment. Cette confusion de l'expression metaphorique et du sens litteral a laisse, j usque dans un des premiers monuments de l'antiquite chretienne, une trace irrecusa- ble. Dans le recit de la conversion de Saint Paul, rap- porte dans les Actes des Apotres (Acts IX, 10, 18) aprcs avoir dit que le saint apotre, allant combattre la religion naissante, fut tout a coup eclaire par Dieu, illumine par un trait de la divine clarte, on ajoute qu'a son arrivee a Damas, des ecailles tomberent de ses yeux qu'elles ob- scurcissaient et qu'il recouvra la vue. Or ici, dans cette circonstance, rien n'indique que Paul ait ete aveugle, au contraire tout temoigne de sa parfaite vision. Evidem- ment, il y a la un fait ajoute apres coup, par un legen- daire ignorant qui aura pris au sens propre la clarte qui a illumine l'apotre, et qui, pour rendre le miracle pins 38 op. cit., p. 25. 40 THE LEGEND OF LONGHSTUS frappant, aura suppose cette circonstance ou se montrent tout a la fois son ignorance et sa fraude." 39 Saint Odile was cured of blindness by baptism. The legend adds that the saint was blinded by "la folle super- stition des Gentils." 40 Again: "Saint Vincent Ferrier rapporte en outre un miracle bien ridicule dont on gros- sissait encore de son temps toute cette fable des larrons. D'apres ce theologien, le bon larron Dismas fut gueri de son aveuglement par la lumiere, que Fombre du Sei- gneur porta sur lui. Pierre Damien attribue simplement la conversion de ce meme Dismas a une priere de la Vierge, qui reconnut en lui un de ceux entre les mains desquels elle etait tombee en allant en figypte. II est aise de voir que le fait rapporte par Saint Vincent Fer- rier, doit sa naissance a la double acception du mot lu- miere, mot qui a ete pris du sens figure au sens physique." 41 A similar confusion is seen in the Bohairic accounts of The Falling Asleep of Mary. When the Apostles were taking the body of Mary to burial, they were attacked by the Jews, who wished to burn the body : "And the lawless Jews, when they approached the bier, a mist and a darkness came upon them; they became blind, and there was no one to lead them by the hand . . . even as the Holy Ghost said by the mouth of David the prophet in the eighty-first Psalm, They knew not, neither did they understand; they go in darkness' . . . Then they cried out, saying, woe to us, O our Master Christ, for we have sinned against heaven, and before thee. Forgive us, for we are children of Abraham. If Thou givest us the light of our eyes, we will know the glory of Thy Godhead, and we will believe on Thee and on Thy virgin mother; for she is our sister. Now when they said these things, 39 Essai sur les Legendes Pieuses du Moyen Age, pp. 154, 155. 40 ibid., p. 156. 41 Ibid., p. 290. LEGEND OF EOKGINUS A FICTITIOUS NARRATIVE 41 Christ was moved unto compassion for them, and set them free from their blindness and their error."42 The tendency in the Middle Ages was to make all sym- bolical representation real and literal. This was espe- cially true of the Passion. The theological idea that no drop of the sacred blood was lost is shown in the pictures of the time by angels holding cups under the wounds. The idea that Christ overcame death may likewise be indi- cated by the representation of a skull at the foot of the cross. 43 This same effort to make the symbolical tangible is shown in the change of qualities to people. "Le double sens d'un nom a souvent sum. Ne penetrant jamais an fond de la signification d'un mot, le peuple s'est souvent arrete a sa signification apparente et les legendes nees de ces malentendus sont sans nombre. II suffit de citer sainte Sophie, sainte Foy, sainte Esperance et sainte Charite qui, de vertues abstraites, sont devenues des saintes reelles. . . . L'eglise de S. Sophie fut con- sacree par Constantin a la sagesse divine . . . Mais le peuple en fit une sainte et Constantinople pretendait en posseder le tombeau: A la tombe saincte Souphye Ki fu virgene de bonne vie. {Roman de Mahomet) Le nom de S. Luce est forme du mot lux, lumiere, et oeil 42 Forbes Robinson, Coptic Apocryphal Gospels, Texts and Stud- ies, vol. IV (1896), 119. From MS Vat. LXI. Robinson does not date the MS. He says the colophon following this piece gives the year 678 of the martyrs, but this date may belong to what follows instead of to what precedes. The other versions are printed from MSS that he does not date earlier than the tenth century. 43 Cf. Maury, op. cit., p. 289. 42 THE LEGEND OF LON'GINUS dans le style poetique. Cette etymologie explique pour- quoi la croyance populaire disait qu'on avoit dans son martyre brule les yeux a, cette sainte et pourquoi on l'invoquait pour les maux d'yeux." 44 From these examples, it is easy to see how frequently in the case of a saint, physical blindness was established on no better evidence than that he had passed from dark- ness to light upon his conversion to belief in Christ. When one considers these specific illustrations of change from spiritual to physical blindness, in the light of the general tendency of the Middle Ages to make everything objective, to leave nothing without literal presentation, it is no longer difficult to account for the blindness of Longinus. The healing of Longinus by blood is likewise not with- out parallel. Blindness was often healed by blood. In one of the stories in the Seven Sages of Rome (the tale of Sapient es) the king was blinded by heaven, in punishment for the bad government of the seven sages. By the advice of a child, the king decapitated the seven sages and re- gained his sight. 45 Saint Perpetua was healed of blind- ness by the blood of Paul. Saint Christopher blinded the judge who was causing his suffering by miraculously turn- ing the arrow. The judge, following the advice of Chris- topher, anointed his eye with the blood shed by the martyr at the time of his death, 46 was cured and became a Chris- tian. 47 In Lovelich's History of the Holy Grail/* Na- 44 ibid., p. 300. 45 in the Mid. Engl, metrical version, vv. 2579-2774, Ed. K. Campbell, Seven Sages of Rome, 1907, pp. 88 ff. Cf. Campbell's remarks on this tale, p. c-ci. 46Lipsius and Bonnet, op. cit., p. 213 ff. 47Furnivall, Lives of the Saints, Trans. Phil. Soc. 1858, p. 65. 48 EETS, 1874, bk. II, ch. XVII, 218. LEGEND OF LONGINUS A FICTITIOUS NARRATIVE 4o sciens looked on the Grail and was struck blind. He had his sight restored to him by anointing his eyes with the blood of the lance which had been in the side of Joseph of Arimathea, 49 The idea of the efficacy of blood is a very old one. Cumont says: "The barbarous custom of allowing the blood of a victim slaughtered on a latticed platform to fall down upon the mystic lying in a pit below, was prob- ably practiced in Asia from time immemorial. Accord- ing to a widespread notion among primitive peoples, the blood, is the vehicle of the vital energy, and the person who poured it upon his body and moistened his tongue with it, believed that he was thereby endowed with the courage and strength of the slaughtered animal. 50 The legend of Longinus is then, beyond question, fic- titious. Whether the name Longinus ultimately attached to the soldier connected with the crucifixion was bor- rowed from the soldier converted by Paul or not, it was evidently affected by its supposed derivation and so be- came permanent. The other facts of his story, includ- ing his blindness and his miraculous healing, are to be explained by the ordinary mediaeval processes of narra- tive accretion. 49 Other ailments besides blindness were healed by blood. Compare the well-known healing of the leprosy of Amiloun by the blood of the children of Amis {Altengl. Bibl. II, w. 2221 ff.), which goes back ultimately to a story told of the Emperor Con- stantine, in the Acta 8. Sylvestri (cf. Dollinger, Die Papst Fabeln des Mittelalters. p. 53 ff.) Constantine, stricken with leprosy, in order to be cured, must bathe in a pool filled with the blood of children. He gives up this proposed cure and is baptized un- der Bishop Silvester instead. The Acta Sylvestri is first men- tioned in the Gelasian Decretal Be libris recipiendis et non re- cipiendis (492-496 A. D.) 50 The Mysteries of Mithra, trans, by T. J. McCormack, 1903, p. 180. 4 CHAPTER III LONGINUS IN ART The history of Longinus in art, 1 more definitely in some respects than the literature of the period, shows the hold which his story had on the mediaeval imagination. Be- fore the fourth century there is no mention in litera- ture, it will be recalled, of the name of the spearman who pierced the side of Christ. In the group of martyr- ologies belonging to the eighth and ninth centuries the incident of the blindness is not included in the story ; nor even in the later Bollandist version is it mentioned. Still more surprising is it to find the Legenda Aurea, as late as the thirteenth century, referring to the blindness with some reservation. Judged by its literature, clearly the Church was slow to add this element to the story. In early Christian art, on the other hand, the blindness of Longinus and his miraculous healing is used to show the great mercy of the Saviour, certainly not later than the eighth or ninth century, and perhaps earlier. Of the great influence of the Passion on the mediaeval imagination, fimile Male says, "II faut ar river a la Passion pour rencontrer la legende. Comment eut-il pu en etre autrement ? Les siecles mystiques, le XIP et le XIII e , reverent sans cesse au drame inoui. Cette mort i Kroner, op. cit., p. 34, has the following to say of Longinus's connection with art: "Auch giebt es noch eine Menge allerdings schon alterer Gemalde, die Christus am Kreuze darstellen, aul denen man einen Soldaten sieht, der eine Lanze im Arme halt, auf den Knieen liegt und betet; an der Lanze klebt Blut, — off en- bar soil diese Person den hi. Longinus vorstellen, der dem Herrn fur seine Bekehrung dankt." 44 LONGINUS IN ART 45 its liturgical value; and, on the other hand, the prominence of the lance in the most solemn service of the Greek Church greatly enhanced the value, as a relic, of the lance already honored independently as an instrument used in the cru- cifixion itself. Since, however, the two uses have led to separate literary development — the lance as a relic as- sociating itself with the romances which deal with the crusades, and the lance of the mass connecting with the spear of the Grail romances — it will be convenient to consider first, the lance as a relic, and, second, the re- lation of Longinus and his lance to the liturgy. §1. The Lance as a Sacked Relic The earliest reference I have found to the history of the lance used at the cross is that in the Departure of My Lady Mary: "In the year 345 (Greek era, A. D. 33 or 34) ... my Lady Mary came forth from her house, and went to the tomb of the Messiah. . . . But the Jews, as soon as the Messiah was dead, closed the tomb. . . . And the Jews took the cross of our Lord, and the other two crosses, and the spear with which our Saviour had been 56 THE LANCE AS A RELIC AND IN THE LITURGY 57 pierced, and the nails which they had fixed in his hands and feet, and the robes of mockery which he had worn, and hid them."i In a Breviarius de Hierosolyma, which dates from about 530, there is a description of the Basilica of Constantine in Jerusalem: a Et est in medio civita- tis basilica ilia, ubi est lancea, unde percussus est Dominus, et de ipsa facta est crux, et lucet in nocte sicut sol in virtute diei." 2 In 570, Antony, the martyr, saw the lance in the basilica of Sion. 3 Arculf, about 670, also testifies that he saw the spear with which the sol- dier pierced the side of Christ. According to him the spear was fixed in a wooden cross in the portico of Con- stantine's basilica, its shaft being broken into two parts. He states that the whole city of Jerusalem resorted to the basilica in order to kiss and venerate the spear. 4 Bede gives testimony as to the lance in his time: "Lancea militis insert a habetur in cruce lignea in por- ticu martyrii, cujus hastile in duas intercisum partes, a tota veneratur civitate." 5 iW. Cureton, Ancient Syriac Documents (from the year after our Lord's Ascension to the beginning of the fourth century). Reprinted in Journal of Sacred Literature, 4th ser. Ill, 1865, p. 133. 2 Pilgrim Text Soc. I, 26; Tobler and Molinier, Itinera Hieroso- lyma, I, 57. An exactly similar account is found in the De terra Sancta, IV, of Theodosius. circa 530 (Tobler and Molinier, I, 64). 3Pilg. Text. II, 18; Tobler and Molinier, I, 126. *Pilg. Text. I, 34; Tobler and Molinier, I, 153. A very late pilgrim reference is interesting in this connection: The Pil- grimage of Sir Richard Guylforde to the Holy Land, A. D. 1506, Camden Sc. 1851, p. 4. "Frydaye to Labrylle, and to Lyon, where we taryed bothe Saterdaye and Sonday, and vysyted the relyque3 at the Yle where saint Anne lyeth and Longyous; there is also a cuppe of an emerawde stone whereof oure Sauyoure Crist dranke at his maundy." For the history of this emerald cup, see Th. Sterzenbach, Ursprwig und Entwicklung der Sage vom heil. Oral, 1908, pp. 28 ff. 5 De Locis Sanctis, Giles, IV, 408. 58 THE LEGEND OF LONGINUS After this time there are varying accounts of the whereabouts of the lance, 6 until in 1098, the crusaders discovered it at Antioch. 7 Perhaps the most interesting reference to this discovery is found in the letter of the lords to the Pope: Epistola Boamundi Principls Antiochiae, Reymundi Comitis Sancti iEgidij, Godefredi Ducis Lotharingise, Roberti Comitis Normannias, Roberti Comitis Flandrensis, & Eustachii Comitis Boloniae ad Urbanum II, Papam. Anno, 1098. Quare ita desolati & amicti fuimus quod fame & alijs multis angustijs morientes, equos & asinos nostros famelicos internci- entes multi nostri comederunt. Sed interim clementissima miseri- cordia omnipotentis Dei nobis subveniente & pro nobis vigilante, dominicam lanceam, qua latus Jesu Christi Longini manibus per- foratum fuit, sancto Andrea Apostolo cuidam famulo Dei ter reve- lante & ipsum locum ubi lancea jacebat demonstrante, in Ecclesia beati Petri Apostolorum principis invenimus. Cujus inventione & multis alijs divinis revelationibus ita confortati & corroborati fuimus ut qui antea amicti & timidi fueramus, tunc ad bellum faciendum audacissimi promptissimique, alij alios hortabamur."« There are two accounts of the finding of the lance by the pilgrims. That given by most historians follows an early anonymous authority: "Erat autem quidam peregrinus de nostro exercitu, cui nomen Petrus, cui antequam Civi- tatem intraremus, apparuit Sanctus Andreas apostolus, dicens, Quid agis, bone vir? Cui ille respondit: Tu quis es ? Dixit ei apostolus : Ego sum Andreas Apos- 6 Moroni (Dizionario, XXXIX, 89 ff.) comments on Bede's testi- mony, and states that afterwards the Saracens invaded Jerusa- lem, and carried the sacred iron to Antioch and buried it. 7Fulcherius Carnotensis (1058) Historia Hierosol. Recueil des Historiens des Croisades, III, 344; cf. also H. Hagenmeyer, Anonymi Oesta Francorum, 1890. cap. XXVIII; cf. V. de Beau- vais, Spec. Historiale, lib. XXV, cap. C, De inventione lanceae saluatoris nostri ihesu Cristi. 8 S. Baluzii, Miscellaneorum, Paris, 1678, I, 415. THE LANCE AS A RELIC AND IN THE LITURGY 59 tolus. Agnoscas, fili, quia, dum villain intraveris, va- dens ad eeclesiarn beati Petri, ibi invenies lanceam Salva- toris nostri Jesu Christi, ex qua in crucis pendens pati- bulo vulneratus est." 9 Another quite different explana- tion is given in Le Chevalier au Cygne. A Christian slave at Antioch goes to Peter the Hermit and says: (1. 8173) "A ceste sainte eglise dont ichy vous devis Avoit moult de relicques, ce nous dist ly escrips." These relics include the robe of Jesus, and the lance of Longinus, which Helena had left there, and which had been kept in St. Stephens, Antioch, unknown to the Saracens. The lance was exhibited by Peter to Godfrey and the other cru- saders, and its genuineness was tested. It shone and it filled the place with a sweet odor. The lance was discov- ered at an extreme moment ; the famine was so great that a mother devoured her child. When the sacred lance was taken into battle, however, victory was gained and the troubles of every kind were at an end. 10 9 Anonymi Gesta Francorum, ed. H. Hagenmeyer, Heidelberg, 1890, cap. XXV, year 1098. io De Reiffenberg, Le Chevalier au Cygne et Godefroid de Bouil- lon, II, LXXX. Moroni, Dizionario di Erudizione Storico-Ecclesi- astica, says that after the finding of the Lance by the Crusaders, it was deposited in Constantinople, and adds that, according to some authorities, it was there in the sixth century. Rohault de Pleury, Mgmoire sur les Instruments de la Passion, Paris, 1870, p. 274, has also traced the history of the relic. According to him, in 1243, Baldwin sent the point to St. Louis with other relics that he had in trust from the Venetians. A part was sent in 1492 by Bajazet, emperor of the Turks, to Innocent VIII, who placed it in St. Peter's at Rome. Benoit XIV had made a piece like the point at Paris, and found that it fitted the part in Rome. Pleury said he had not been able to see the spear at St. Peter's. The Sainte- Chapelle possessed the point in 1793, and it was removed from there to the Bibl. Nat.; but it was not, he asserted, at the time he was writing, at either place. Cf. Du Cange, sub voce, "Lancea, Caroli Magni." 5 60 THE LEGEND OF LONGINUS The lance of the crucifixion held prominent place among the relics which Charlemagne is said to have brought back with him from his visit to Constantinople. P. Meyer 11 discussing these says: "D'apres une tradition constatee dans la Chanson du Pelerinage de Charle- magne,, le grand empereur aurait rapporte de Constanti- nople un des clous de la Crucifixion, en meme temps que d'autres reliques." In the Karlamagnus-saga of the twelfth century, Charles visits the tomb of Christ, re- turns by Constantinople, and aids the king of the Greeks against the Infidels, The Greek king offers to become the vassal of Charles; but Charles refuses to accept his offer, and asks only for relics. He is given the "suaire" the point of the lance of the crucifixion and the lance of St. Mercure. He places the relics in different French cities, and has the lance point set in the hilt of his sword. It is named from that time "Joyeuse." 12 The lance is included by William of Malmesbury in ar account he gives of the presents sent by Hugh of France to Athelstan, whose sister he desired in mar- riage : "Ensem Constantini magni, in quo litteris aureis nomen an- tiqui possessoris legebatur; in capulo quoque super crassas auri l^minas clavum ferreum affixum cerneres, unum ex quatuor quos Judaica f actio Dominici corporis aptarat supplicio: lanceam Ca- roli magni, quam imperator invictissimus, contra Saracenos exer- citum ducens, siquando in hostem vibrabat, nunquam nisi victor abibat; ferebatur eadem esse quae, Dominico lateri centurionis 11 La Chanson des Clowechons, Romania, XXXIV, 96. 12 G. Paris, Biol, de VEcole des Chartes, XXV, 102. Cf . Gautier, Epopees Franc. Ill, 292. In the Iter Jerusol. eleventh century, Epopees Franc. Ill, 288, the relics given Charl. are: crown, nail, piece of the wood of the cross, 'suairC (robe, or shroud of Jesus), the chemise of the virgin, the ceinture that held our Lord in his cradle, and the arm of Simeon. THE LAN^CE AS A RELIC AND IN THE LITURGY 61 manu impacta, pretiosi vulneris hiatu Paradisum miseris mortali- bus aperuit."i3 Among the miraculous properties connected with such a relic, one would certainly expect to find the power of heal- ing. And in Clement Brentano's Passion de Notre Sei- gneur Jesus Christ this property is explicitly ascribed to the lance. Longinus, we are told, in the course of his ministry converted many and "guerissait des malades en leur faisant toucher un morceau de la sainte lance qu'ii portait avec lui." 14 Brentano's Passion, it is true, is of late date, but in this matter it may easily reflect earlier tradition. According to Moroni, the sacred lance is still preserved at Home; there is, however, the additional statement by the same authority that a similar lance is preserved at Prague, and another in ]STorimbiga. 15 The lance, then, was in the Middle Ages, according to tradition, an object of veneration and reverence — one of the most prized of the crucifixion relics. It had miraculous qualities ; it shone by night as the sun shines by day: it blazed when proof of its authenticity was needed; it healed the sick. It was identified with the marvellous weapons of kings; it brought victory in bat- tle and help in trouble. 13 De Gesta Regum Anglorum, Rolls Series, 1887, 1, 150. Cf. Gervase of Canterbury, Rolls Series, 1880, II, 47, and Chron. Henry Knighton, Rolls Series, 1889, I, 20. 14 La Passion de notre Seigneur, d'apres les visions d'Anne Catherine Emmerich, tr. de l'allemand, quoted by l'Abbe" Pronllet, Les Saints Militaires, Paris, 1891. 15 S. C. Malan, Original Documents of Coptic Church, 1873, p. 10, adds yet another to the places that claim possession of the lance of Longinus. "His spear-head, without the shaft, is one of the relics enshrined in the Cathedral of Etchmiadziu, where it was shown me not long ago." 62 THE LEGEND OF LONGINUS §2. LONGHSTUS AND THE LlTURGY The tendency to dwell upon the physical sufferings of Jesus is conspicuously illustrated, as we have seen, in the art of the Eastern church. The same tendency ap- pears also in the Oriental liturgy, and during about the same period, that is, from the fourth to the ninth cen- turies. In Sophoeles's Greek lexicon of the Roman and Byzantine period, B. C. 146 to A. D. 1100, ^ojxv is denned as follows: "A little spear with which the sacramental bread is pierced by the priest in commemo- ration of the piercing of the side of Jesus." 16 This "lit- tle spear" assumed large importance in the ritual of the mass. [Nevertheless, the influence of the story of Longi- nus does not manifest itself in the liturgy any earlier than in the other records already considered. It is now possible to examine the liturgy of the church at Jerusalem as early as the fourth century. 17 From its general character, we should expect to find some mention of Longinus and his act, the piercing of the side of Christ, but there is none. The fourth century, accord- ing to Cabrol, marked a most important transformation in the liturgy. Up to that time the Christians had usually held their religious meetings in secret. Under Const antine they met openly. Great churches were built, "on institua des processions ; les chants et les autres parties de l'omce se developperent," 18 He adds justly: 16 E. A. Sophocles, 1870. 17 Peregrinatio Silviae (Etheriae). Reprinted from Bill, delV Accad. storico giuridica, IV, Rome, 1887, in Christian Worship, a Study of the Latin Liturgy up to the Time of Charlemagne, by L. Duchesne, Eng. Ed., London, 1904, App. pp. 490 ff. 18 Les Eglises de Jerusalem au TV siecle, 1895, p. 31. THE LANCE AS A RELIC AND IN THE LITURGY 63 "L'histoire chi Seigneur est rappelee, vecue a nouveau; c'est un drame en action, c'est presque, a certains mo- ments, mais avec un caractere plus grave, le mystere, tel que le moyen age le mettra en oeuvre quelques siecles plus tard." 19 Especially significant is the omission of all reference to Longinus in that part of the Good Friday service which has to do with the adoration of the cross, for the feast of the Adoration or Exaltation of the Cross, it should be remembered, is the one with which Longinus is later associated. 20 If the lance had attained any im- portance in the church by the fourth century, it would surely have found mention here among the other relics. The following account of the Adoration of the Cross is given by Silvia: "Et sic ponitur cathedra episcopo in Golgotha post Crucem, quae stat nunc; residet episcopus hie cathedra; ponitur ante eum mensa sublinteata; stant in giro mensa diacones; et affertur lo- culus argenteus deauratus in quo est lignum sanctum crucis; aperitur et prof ertur ; ponitur in mensa quam lignum crucis quam titulus. Cum ergo positum fuerit in mensa, episcopus sedens de manibus suis summitatis de ligno sancto premet; diacones autem 19 Op. cit., pp. 35, 36. 20 Cf. ^lfric's sermon on the Exaltation of the Cross, p. 83 ff., the first vernacular reference to Longinus in English literature. The feast of the 'Exaltation' was either the same as the 'Adora- tion,' or early became fused with it. S. C. Malan, Hist, of Copts and their Church, p. 38, says the origin of the 'Exaltation of the Cross' was the appearance of the cross to Constantine. The feast is celebrated on the 14 or 15 Sept. Duchesne, Origines du culte Chretien, p. 124, says that the exaltation without doubt was intro- duced after the recovery of the cross by Heraclius in the year 628. On p. 263 he states that the feast of the cross, 14 Sept., is the anniversary of the dedication of the Constantine basilica in 335. Attached to it is also the association of the discovery of the true cross. It was an occasion that drew to Jerusalem a great concourse of bishops, monks, and pilgrims. It lasted eight days. 64 THE LEGEND OF LONGINUS qui in giro stant custodent. Hoc autem propterea sic custoditur, quia consuetudo est ut unus et unus omnis populus veniens, tarn fideles quam cathecumini, acclinant se ad mensam, osculentur sanctum lignum, et pertranseant. ... At ubi autem osculati fuerint crucem [et] pertransierint, stat diaconus, tenet anulum Salomonis et cornu illud de quo reges unguebantur; osculantur et cornu attendant et anulum.21 Not until the seventh or eighth century, in fact, does the lance appear in the liturgy. It occupies an import- ant position in the liturgy of Saint Chrysostom, for which, unfortunately, it is impossible to give an exact date. Swainson thinks the Mass of the Presanctified hardly earlier than the seventh century. 22 This of Chry- sostom is a little later. 23 In the Mass of Chrysostom we see the attempt already spoken of, to reproduce with all its symbolical significance the suffering of Jesus on the cross : 1 "Deinde accipit sacerdos in sinistra manu oblationem, in dex- tera vero sanctam lanceam; et cum ea signum faciens supra sigillum oblatae, ter dicit: In memoriam Domini et Dei et Salva- toris nostri Jesu Christi. Et statim infigit sanctam lanceam in dexteram partem sigilli, et scindens dicit: Tamquam ovis ad occisionem ductus est. In sinistra similiter infigens sanctam lanceam dicit: Et sicut agnus sine malitia coram tondente se sine voce., sic non aperit os suum. In superiore autem parte sigilli infigens sanctam lanceam dicit: In humilitate ejus judicium ejus sublatum est. In inferiori etiam sigilli parte rursus infigens sanctam lanceam dicit: generationem ejus quis enarrabit? 21 Duchesne, op. cit., p. 510. 22 Swainson, The Greek Liturgies, 1884, p. xxviii. 23 Op. cit., p. xxxvi. The Liturgy is not assigned to Chrysostom in the oldest Barberini MS. (Duchesne, Origines du culte chre'st., p. 71, states that Cod. Barb. no. 77 of the eighth or ninth century is the oldest MS of the Byzantine Liturgy.) It was assigned to Chrysostom a little later. THE LAK"CE AS A RELIC AND IX THE LITURGY OO Diaconus vero in qualibet incisione dicit: Dominum precemur. Tenens autem dextera manu stolam, postea dicit diaconus: Tolle, domine. Et sacerdos immittens sanctam lanceam, ex obliquo dexterae partis oblatae, extollit sanctum panem, sic dicens: quia tollitur de terra vita ejus perpetuo, nunc et semper, et in saecula saecu- lorum. Amen. Et ponens ipsum sublimem in sancto disco, postquam dixit diaconus, Immola, domine, sacerdos sacrificat ilium in modum crucis, dicens: Immolatur Agnus Dei, qui tollit pecca- tum mundi, pro mundi vita et salute. Et convertit aliam partem quae habet superne crucem; et dicit diaconus: Punge, domine. Sacerdos autem ipsum in dextera pungens cum sancta lancea dicit. Et unus militum lancea latus ejus aperuit; et statim exivit sanguis et aqua.24 The account of the mass found in Pseudo-Germanus is also interesting. Here the name of Longinus appears : Lancea vice est ejus quae latus Domini punxit. Lancea ex- purgari, significat illud, 'tanquam ovis ad occisionem ductus est,' etc. Discus lectica est in qua corpus Domini componitur a sa- cerdote et diacono, qui sunt Joseph et Nicodemus . . . Vinum simul et aqua, sunt egressi ex latere ejus sanguis et aqua: quemadmodem ait propheta. Panis ei dabitur ad cibum, et aqua ei ad potum fidelem. Nam vice lanceae quae punxit Christum in cruce a Longino, est haec lancea, etc.25 The symbolism of the mass is explained by Theodorus Studites : Nonne unguentum sanctum existimas effusum fuisse ut esset typus Christi? Sanctam mensam pro vivifico ipsius sepulcro? Sindonem quae mensae imponitur, pro sindone qua involutus sepulcro mandatus est? Sacram lanceam pro ea qua divinum ipsius latus apertum fuit? Spongiam pro ea, qua fuit potatus felle? Crucis imaginem pro ligno vivifico ?26 The importance of the lance of Longinus in the liturgy is illustrated also by the mass of the Syrian Jacobites. 24 Pseudo-Chrysostom, Paris, 1838, XII, 1013. 25 Pseudo-Germanus, Migne, Patrol. Gr. 98, col. 397. 26 Patrol. Gr. 99, col. 489. OD THE LEGEND OF LONGINUS It is in part similar to the mass of Chrysostom. There occurs also in the service this sentence: "By the nails in thy hands and thy feet, by the spear which pierced thy side, pardon me mine offences and my sins." 27 Another striking testimony of the imposing position of the lance in the mass of the Eastern Church is given in the translation from Old-Slavonic by P. Kuvochinsky: "Then the Priest shall take the Bread into the left hand, and, holding in his right the Holy Spear, shall make therewith the sign of the cross above the seal on the Bread, saying: In remembrance of our God and Saviour Lord Jesus Christ (Thrice). And immediately he shall thrust the spear into the right side of the Seal, and as he pierceth it, shall say: He was led as a sheep to the slaughter. And, piercing the left, he shall say: And as a spotless lamb before his shearers is dumb, so opened He not his lips. And piercing the top, shall say: In his humiliation His judgment was taken away. And piercing it from underneath, shall say: For His generation who shall declare itf And the Deacon, gazing reverently at the Mystic Rite, holding his stole in his hand, shall say at each incision: Let us pray to the Lord. While the priest thrusts the spear obliquely from below into the right side of the Bread, and removes the part upon which is im- printed the Seal, the Deacon shall say: Master, take it hence, for This Life is taken from the earth. The priest, having laid it, inverted, upon the Paten, and the Deacon having said: Master, make the sacrifice. He shall sacrifice it, cutting it crosswise, and say: Sacrificed is the Lamb of God who taketh away the sins of the world for the life of the world and its salvation. He shall then turn upward the other side, which beareth upon it the emblem of the cross, and shall pierce the right side with the spear, while the Deacon shall say: 27 p. E. Brightman, Liturgies Eastern and Western, p. 107. THE LANCE AS A RELIC AND IN THE LITURGY 1 Pierce, Master. And the Priest shall say: One of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear and there came forth blood and water, and he that saw it bare witness and his witness is true?% In discussing the symbolism of the liturgy, Kuvoch- insky notes that the entrances are very impressive : "At the procession of the Lesser Entrance, the priest comes forth, followed by the deacon, who carries a large book of the Gospels typifying the teaching of our Lord." The Great Entrance, the carrying of the elements of the Prothesis to the altar, contains more that is striking: "It symbolizes the last Advent of Christ when he shall come with glory. First comes the reader bearing a high candlestick with a lighted candle. After this follow the deacon or deacons in order, symbolizing the ranks of angels. Then comei those who bear the Holy Gifts. If there be more than one present, each of the rest holds a sacred object — the cross, the spoon, the spear." 29 These instances of the reverence shown the lance in the comparatively early history of the Church, grow in suggestiveness in the light of the increasing importance of the relic in the Middle Ages, culminating in the four- teenth century in the "Feast of the Nails and the Lance." 30 The extravagant feeling of the time endowed the lance with contradictory powers. On the one hand it was a 28 The Liturgy of the Graeco-Russian Church, trans, from Old Slavonic by P. Kuvochinsky, London, 1909, pp. 33 ff. Cf. also The Office of the Prothesis, Neale, Hist, of Holy Eastern Church, 1850, p. 344. 29 p. Kuvochinsky, op. cit., p. xxii. so Jo. Henr. a Seelen, Be Festo Lanceae et Clavorum, Misc. Lubecae, 1734, p. 347. Cf. J. C. Thilo, Codex Apoc. Novi Test., note p. 587. Cf. also Mone, hat. Hymnen des Mittelalt, I, 175. 68 THE LEGEND OF LONGINUS weapon, world-conquering, flesh-subduing, devil-banish- ing — an instrument of vengeance, to be used against those hostile to Christ. On the other, it was honored as a blessed deliverer, which had opened a fountain of grace; it was the means by which the Church had issued forth from Christ's wounded side, the bride from the side of the bridegroom; it was also a sacrificial imple- ment which had wounded the heart of the Redeemer, in order that the heart of the sinner might be healed. A fourteenth century sermon of Henricus de Hansia illus- trates well this somewhat complex attitude toward the lance : "Videte arma salutis, crucem, lanceam & clavos. Videte char- acteres victorie, quorum contemplatione vincitur mundus, caro compescitur, conterretur demonium. . . . Lancea equidem aqua & sanguine dedicata lateris Christi, que nobis thesaurum pretiosum de profundo Cordis Dei effodit, que fontem gratiarum clausum effluere fecit, que sponsam de latere sponsi formauit, que cor vul- nerauit redemptoris, ut cor sanaretur peccatoris." "Surgite in aduersarios Christi, extrahite gladium lanceam in turbatores pacis, erigite hastam, vibrate lanceam defensari eccle- siam, que de Christi latere effluxit lancea perforati, eft'undite iram vestram, inimiciciam non in subjectos Christianos, sed in gentes, que Christum non nouerunt & in regna, que nomen eius non inuocauerunt, vestraque arma Christi ne teneatis ociosa, neque splendorem fulgurantis haste triumphalis Jesu Christi rubigi- nare permittatis etc."32 It is possible to judge from the comment made by Seelen, who quotes this sermon, just how far veneration of the lance itself went. He attempts in every way to show how impious the cult of the nails and lance came to be. lie quotes from Bishop Luitprand's account of Otto: "Rex sese cum omni populo lacrymas fundens ante victoriferos Clauos manibus Domini nostri J. C. 32 Cf. Seelen, pp. 380-383. THE LA^CE AS A RELIC AI^D IX THE LITURGY 60 affixos, suaeque Lanciae impositos in orationem dedit, quantumque iusti viri tunc valeret oratio, res manifesta probauit, Eo namque or ante qnum ex suis nullus occum- beret hostes sunt omnes in fugam connersi etc. 33 And again, from Krantznis, who is speaking of Henry: "Sac- ram Lanceam venerabundns nexis genibus adomuerit." 34 And, further, without direct quotation: "Urspergensis quoque in Hist. Ottonis I egregiam eius victoriam, quam modo memorauimus, Lanceae ab ipso adoratae refert ac- ceptam. 35 Seelen condemns especially the superstition that by worship of the lance victory is obtained, 36 and demons are brought to nought. It is interesting to note other evidences of the currency of these beliefs about the lance in the Middle Ages. As a victory-bringing weapon it is identified with the mar- vellous weapons of heroes; as an object which gives power over evil spirits, it becomes important in spells and 33 Luitprandus, Be Rebus Gestis Ottonis Magni (960-4), loc. cit., p. 134; cf. Seelen, 372. 34 Krantznis, loc. cit, p. 73; cf. Seelen, 372. 35 Seelen, p. 372. 36 in this worship of the spear itself, there are interesting non- Christian parallels, which suggest that the practice was an old one Christianized. A. Wilder, in his edition of R. P. Knight's Symbolical Language of Ancient Art and Mythology, pp. 114, 115, gives a note on the subject. He quotes Plutarch, Romulus: "In Rhegium a spear was set up and worshipped as Ares, or Mars." Justin, Hist. XLIII, 3: "From the beginning, the ancients have worshipped spears as emblems of the immortal gods." "Herodo- tus also declares that the Scythians erect an iron scimiter as the effigy of Mars, and offer to it more sacrifices than to all the other gods of the pantheon. The Getae, Goths, Alans and Sarmatians also worshipped a sword, as Ammianus Marcellinus declares (XXXI, 2): 'Their only idea of religion is to plunge a naked sword into the ground, with barbarous rites, and worship it as Mars.' " 70 THE LEGEND OF EONGINUS charms; as a death-dealing instrument of sacrifice, it becomes the symbolic weapon used in the mass. The deed of Longinus was not only kept before the minds of the people of the Middle Ages by the presence of the lance in the mass, and by the special feast days — such as the "Exaltation of the Cross," and the "Feast of the Nails and the Lance." They were reminded of it also by such prayers as this, from The Booh of Nunna- minster, which dates from the eighth century. (fol. 30a) De latere domini. O medicinae diuinae mirabilis dispensator qui tibi lancea latus aperire permisisti, Aperi mini quaeso pulsanti ianuam uitae, in- gressusque per earn confitebor tibi per tui uulnus lateris omnium uitiorum meorum [fol. 30b] uulnera per misericordiae tuae medi- camen sana, Ne umquam indignus presumptor tui corporis et san- guinis reus efficiar, Pro meritis propriis meorum peccatorum, Sed ut anima mea miserationum tuarum abundantia repleata, Ut qui mini es pretium ipse sis et praemium, Domine Jhesu Christi, Amen.37 37 Printed by W. de Grey Birch, An Ancient MS of the Eighth or Ninth Century (Hampshire Record Society, 1889), p. 77. I do not know how ancient the following "parodies" to be used on Good Friday are: Ad sanctum Longinum Qui uno lanceae ictu Jesu cor, & Mariae animam pertransiuit. Ave Mariae animae, et Jesu cordis lanceator sanctissime Longine. Magna misericordia, mira dementia, & gratia plena Dominus tecum functus est. Tu ei dira lancea vulnerasti prae- clarum cor, & purissimam matris animam: & Ipse tibi pretioso sanguine sanauit caecum oculum, & faedam animam: & fecit te suum Eremitam, Episcopum, & Martyrem. Benedictus tu inter omnes Christi milites, pontifices, & confessores, & benedictus fruc- tus lanceae tuae Jesu ex latere emanatus, Ecclesiae nempe eximia Sacramenta, quae cum sanguine, & aqua ab illo exierunt. Sanc- tissime Longine fac ut lancea tua clauis adaperiens tatoruu the- sauroru ostium & gladius doloris pertransiens animam sanctae Mariae matris Dei, sit pro nobis peccatoribus nunc gladius doloris, quo ploremus scelera nostra, & passionem Domini nostri Jesu Christi, eiusque Matris, & in hora mortis nostrae sit clauis adape- THE LANCE AS A RELIC AND IN THE LITURGY 7l The lance, it has been shown, early became important in the liturgy of the Eastern Church. There the whole passion scene was re-enacted. The sacrificial significance was emphasized as strongly as possible, and the ceremony itself made dramatic largely by the use of the lance. The reverence paid the lance grew until it resulted in open, superstitious adoration of the crucifixion relic, as a sacred object considered powerful and miracle work- ing in itself, when the whole practice was condemned by the Church. ries [sic] iannas regni Caelorum, ubi sunt thesauri indificientes [sic] : & satiabimur gloria, & gaudiis sempiternis Amen. Ave Maria Parodiis, C. Tomasio, Rome, 166 [4?], p. 85. The above I owe to the kindness of Mr. Stephen Gaselee, Pepy- sian Librarian, Magdalene College, Cambridge. CHAPTER V LONGHsTUS AND CHARMS The charms with which we find the name of Longinus connected are another evidence of the fusion in the Mid- dle Ages of Christian legendary and heathen customs. "What maintained the use of the spell-prayer in full vigour throughout the earlier and mediaeval epochs of Christendom, even in the orthodox ritual/' Farnell tells us, "was chiefly the practice of exorcism and the belief in demons and demoniac possession; and the legal institu- tion of the ordeal contributed also to its maintenance." 1 The spirit of the Leech Books is, however, for the most part, Christian. The church was hostile toward charms, which were thought to be connected with pagan idola- try — the work of evil spirits and demons. In conse- quence charms were met by counter charms. Invocations to spirits and the occult powers of nature were replaced by invocations to Christ and the saints. 2 That charms of the same general character as these of the Middle Ages, are of high antiquity is shown by Baby- lonian and Assyrian religious literature. Professor Jas- trow comments on the great number of "texts containing formulas and directions for securing a control over the spirits which were supposed at all times to be able to exercise a certain amount of power over men." 3 The charms, or incantations, themselves, he characterizes as 1 Farnell, The Evolution of Religion, 1905, p. 230. 2 J. F. Payne, Eng. Medicine in A. 8. Times, 1904, pp. 109, 110. 3 Religion of Babylonia and Assyria, p. 253. 72 LONGmTJS AND CHARMS 73 "appeals interspersed with words of a more or less mys- tic character." 4 Notwithstanding the fact that charms are of such high antiquity, I have found only one English charm concern- ing Longinus that has come down to us in Anglo-Saxon. Wi]> gestice. WriJ> Cristes mal and sing J?riwe J?aeron ]?is and pater noster, longinus miles lancea ponxit dominum et restitet sanguis et re- cessit dolor.5 Perhaps the most interesting of the Longinus charms, because of its suggestion of ancient tradition, though itself belonging to the Middle English period, is this against the toothache: A charme for the tethe-werke. Say the charme thris, to it be sayd IX times, and ay thris at a charemynge. I conjoure the, laythely beste, with that ilke spere That Longious in his hand gan bere, And also with ane hatte of thorne That one my Lord's hede was borne, With alle the wordis mare and lesse, With the Office of the Messe, With my Lorde and his XII postilles, With oure Lady and her X, maydenys, Saynt Margrete, the haly quene, Saynt Katerin, the haly virgyne, IX tymes goddis forbott thou wykkyde worme, That ever thou make any rystynge, Bot awaye mote thou wende, To the erde and the stane!6 4 Ibid., p. 283. 5 Cockayne, Leechdoms, I, 393; cf. Brand, Popular Antiquities, p. 279; W. G. Black, Folk-Medicine, p. 80 (Folk-Lore Society, XII); Payne, op. cit., p. 130. a Reliquiae Antiquae, I, 126 ("Paper MS. Lincoln Cathedral A. 1, 17, compiled by Robt. Thornton 1430-1440"). cf. Horstmann, R. Rolle, I, 375. 74 THE LEGEND OF LONGINUS This idea of the worm as the cause of toothache goes back to Babylonia. Rogers says in this connection: "Of all the literature of incantations perhaps no single piece has more human interest than the so-called legend of the worm." "After Anu [had created the Heavens] The Heavens created [the Earth] The Earth created the Rivers The Rivers created the Canals, The Canals created the Marshes, The Marshes created the Worm. Then came the Worm to weep before Shamash Before Ea came her tears: — 'What wilt thou give me for my food, What wilt thou give me to destroy?' 'I will give thee dried bones, (And) scented wood!' 'What are these dried bones to me, And scented wood!' Let me drink among the teeth, And set me on the gums (?), That I may devour the blood of the teeth And of their gums destroy the strength ; Then shall I hold the bolt of the door"7 One wonders how a charm for the toothache became associated with Longinus. The connection may be due to the fact that spear-throwers were used in folk medicine in the cure of the ailment. Frazer, in discussing the transference of evil says: "To cure the toothache some of the Australian blacks apply a heated spear-thrower to the cheek. The spear-thrower is then cast away, and the toothache goes with it, in the shape of a black stone called karriitch." 8 This custom probably goes back to 7R. W. Rogers, Religion of Babylonia and Assyria, 1908, pp. 155, 156. 8 Golden Bough, II, 149. LONGHSTUS A3T> CHARMS 75 early times and may, I think, explain how Longinus and his lance became connected with the charm, the spear naturally suggesting to the christianizing agent the fa- mous Christian spearman. The charms in which the name of Longinus appears most frequently are those for the staunching of blood. Sometimes his own miraculous healing is referred to, though no direct connection is made between his case and that of the person for whom the charm is used. (1) To Staunch Bleeding. "A soldier of old thrust a lance into the side of the Sa- viour; immediately there flowed thence blood and water — the blood of Redemption and the water of Baptism. In the name of the Father •{• may the blood cease. In the name of the Son »J« may the blood remain. In the name of the Holy Ghost »f« may no more blood flow from the mouth, the vein, or the nose."9 (2) jfor to stawnche blode. "fferst haue the name of the man or of the woman than go to chirche and sey this charme and loke thow sey hit but for man or woman devoutly. When oure lord jhesus Cryst was don on the cros than longius come thedir and stange hym with hys spere in the syde — blod and watir com out at the wownde he wypid his eyene an saw anon thorow the holy vertu that god showede. y coniure the blode that thou come nozt owt of this cristyn man and nomme the manys name twyes -j -/ or her name. In nomine patris •£• fit filii •£• et spiritus sancti •{• Amen. Say is charme thryes ne dar the neuer recche wher the man or the woman be so thow know his name or her."io 9W. G. Black, Folk Medicine, pp. 79, 80 (MS. Liber Loci Bene- dicti de Whally, 1296-1346); cf. Trin. Coll. Cambr. MS. O. 9, 26 (James 1438), fol. 4*. lOAshmol. MS 1443 (fol. 101). Cf. Holthausen, Anglia xix, 80, for an almost identical charm; cf. also O. Ebermann, "Blut- u. Wundsegen," Palaestra, xxiv, 46, for a slightly different text. 6 76 THE LEGEND OF EONGINUS (3) Charme for \io] staunche blod. "Longeys let our lord Jesura Crizst blod, which blod was holy and god. Thorw that iche blod thai is holy and good, I comawnde J?e, Jon or W., ]?at Ipow blede no more."n Many others show some confusion, being united, as Ebermann has pointed out, with the Jordan charm. 12 In Ashmolean MS 1418 (Part IV, f. 14) there occurs the following charm: (4) for to staunche blood. "Longeus that worthy knyght with a spere he persed the syde of our lord, and anon ther went out blod and watter, the blod of redemption, the watter baptism •£• In the name of the father rest blod, in the name of the sone cese •$• blod, •£• *n the name of the holy gost goo out no drope of blod, as veryly as we beleve that our lady mary is truly the mother of god, and as verely as she bare her sone Crist, so hold you still vaines and blod, and so rest blod as the watter of Jordaine rested when Crist was baptized in that watter, so rest blod in the name of the blessed trenyte." Here the Longinus charm has been combined with some such charm as this: Charm to stop bleeding. Our Saviour Christ was born in Bethlehem, And was baptized in the river of Jordan: The waters were mild of mood, The child was meek, gentle, and good. He struck it with a rod and still it stood, And so shall thy blood stand, In the name etc. Say these words thrice, and the Lord's Prayer once.is ii Anglia xix, 80, "Rezepte, Segen u. Zauberspruche aus zwei Stockholmer Handschriften." (second half of the fourteenth cen- tury). O. Ebermann, op. cit., p. 46. 12 Op. cit., 47. Here are found also a number of German Lon- ginus charms. 13 W. Henderson, Folk-lore of the Northern Counties of Eng- land, p. 169; cf. W. G. Black, Folk-Medicine, p. 76. LONGIJSTUS AND CHARMS 77 (5) Charme for to Siaunche Blood. Longinus miles latus •{• domini nostri •£• Ihesu Christ •{• lancea perforauit, & continuo exiuit sanguis et aqua in redemptionem nostram •£• Adiuro te sanguis per •£• ihesum •£• Christum per •{• latus eius per •£• sanguine eius, sta •£• sta •%• sta •{•. Chvistus et Johannes descenderunt in flumen iordanis. Aqua obstipuit & stetit. Sic faciat sanguis istius corporis. In •£• Christi nomine •{• et Sancti Johannis Baptiste. Amen, & dicat ter pater noster.i* (6) A charm for the hlody flyxe. In nomine Patris et Filli et Spiritus sancti, Amen! Stabat Ihesus contra flumen Jordanus et posuit pedem suum et dixit, "Sancta aqua per Deum! Te conjuro, Longinus miles, latus Domini nostri Jeshu Christi, lancea perforavit et continuo exivit sanguis et aqua sanguis redempcionis, aqua baptismatis. In nomine Patris, cessit sanguis! In nomine Pilii recessit sanguis! In nomine Spiritus Sancti non exeat sanguis gutta ab hoc famulo Dei, sicut credimus quod sancta Maria vera mater est et verum infantum genuit Christum, sic retineantur vene quam plene sunt sanguine; sic restat sanguis sicut resticit Jordanus quum Christus in eo baptizatus fuerat. In nomine Patris et Filii etc.15 A different type is found in charms to draw iron out of wounds. It is not difficult to see how Longinus should have come to be connected with these. (1) "A Notable charme or medicine to pull out an ar- rowhead, or anie such thing that sticketh in the flesh or bones, and cannot otherwise be had out. Saie three severall times kneeling: Oremus, praeceptis salu- tarihus moniti, Pater noster ave Maria. Then make a cross saieing: The Hebrew knight strake our Lord Jesu Christ, and I beseech thee, O Lord Jesu Christ by the same iron speare, bloud 14 MS of the time of Edw. IV. Notes and Queries, IV, (7th ser.) 56. is Reliquiae Antiquae, I, 315; cf. Palaestra XXIV, 47, for a slightly different charm without English title. 78 THE LEGEND OF LONGINTJS and water, to pull out this iron. In nomine patris & filii & Spiritus Sanctis (2) to draw out Yren de Quarell. "Longinus Miles Ebreus percussit latus Domini nostri Jesu Christi: sanguis exuit etiam latus; ad se traxit lancea •{• tetra- gramaton •{• Messyas •£• Sother Emanuel •£• Sabaoth <%* Adonay •£• Unde sicut verba (ista fuerunt verba). Christi, sic exeat ferrum istud sine quarellum ab isto Christiano. Amen. And sey thys Charme five tymes in the worschip of the fyve woundys of Chryst."i7 A curious French charm of the thirteenth century is found in a Cambridge MS: "Treis bons freres estoient ke aloient al mont d'Olivet por coillir herbes bones a plaie & a garison. Et ancontrerent nostre Seignor Jesu Crist, & nostre Seignor lor demanda: "Treis bons freres, ou alez vous? & il responderent: 'Al mont d'Olivet por coillir herbes de plaie & de garison.' Et Nostre Sire dit a eus: 'Venez o moi, & me grantez en bone fei ke vous nel diez a nul home ne a femme ne aprendrez: Pernez oile d'olive & leine ke unkes ne fust lavee, & metez sor la plaie.' Quaunt Longins l'ebreu aficha la launce en le coste" nostre seignor Jesu Crist, cele plaie ne seigna, ele n'emfla point; ele ne puoit mie, ele ne doloit mie, ele ne rencla mie, el n'eschaufa mie. Ausi ceste plaie ne seine m£s, n'emfle point, ne pue mie, ne doile mie, ne rancie point, n'eschaufe mie. En le nun del Piere, el nom del Fiz, el nun del Seint Espirit. Pater Noster treis fois."i8 The Longinus ballad in Wales, cited in part in an- other connection, 19 is also of the nature of a charm as is shown by the context. In a note the editor adds: "The 16 Reginald Scot, The Discoverie of Witchcraft, 1st ed. 1584; ed. B. Nicholson, Lond. 1886, pp. 219, 20. Incomplete in Ebermann. op. cit., 50. 17 W. G. Black, op. cit., p. 79. Without English beginning and ending in Ebermann, op. cit., p. 48. 18 P. Meyer, "Les MSS Francais de Cambridge, Trinity College," Romania xxxii, 77. 19 Cf. p. 164. LONGINUS AND CHA.EMS 79 poem goes on to express the notion of Mary's dominion over Purgatory; 'Over the mountain, the cold mountain, I saw Mary with a halo about her head establishing a place betwixt every soul and hell:' and promises immu- nity from evil dreams to such as record and say the lines." 20 20Robt. Owen, Sanctorale Catholicum, 142. Owen adds, Lon- ginus is called in Brittany "Longius am dall," the blind. This recalls a Spanish expression, "el finzido Longinos," applied to beg- gars pretending to be blind. El Donado Jiablador, novella del Doctor J. de Alcala (1624), p. 510. CHAPTER VI LONGINUS IN ENGLISH LITERATURE In English literature the story of Longinus appears frequently. From the tenth to the sixteenth centuries 1 his legend is found in every type of literary production. Naturally the metrical Lives of the Saints, or Festials, find place for so popular a legend. The early sermons for feast days that were drawn from these festials like- wise include his story. Later mystic homilists of the Richard Rolle type show little interest in the martyrdom of Longinus, but in directing attention to the suffering of Christ on the cross and to the divine love that would sacrifice itself for the happiness of sinful man, they dwell on the divine act itself — the shedding of the blood of re^ demption and the miraculous water of baptism; and so celebrating the deed, they recall also the spearman inti- mately connected with it. The emphasis is shifted ac- cording to the mood of the writer, from the wicked, dolor- ous act which showed the ingratitude of man for the great sacrifice made by Jesus, to the blessed consequences which followed the stroke of the spear. The blood of Christ shed at the crucifixion of the Saviour became through the church the sustenance of man and the means of making him one with God. Occasionally Longinus's legend is l It is surprising to note that Longinus has been made the sub- ject of a nineteenth century English poem. Aubrey de Vere {Legends and Records of the Church and Empire, 1887, p. 33) has turned back to the old martyrologies for inspiration, and written the life of Saint Longinus, without, however, giving the old story any fresh turn. It is a more or less mechanical rehearsal of the events in the life of the martyr. 80 LONGINUS IN ENGLISH LITERATURE 81 used to illustrate the great mercy of Jesus in granting pardon, and confirming it by a miracle of healing, even at the moment when Longinus was depriving him of life. From these sermons — themselves more or less lyric expressions of the ardent love of his followers for Jesus, — it is an easy step to the definite lyrical type found in the Hours of the Cross, the Meditations on the Passion, the Sorrows of the Virgin, and to the pure lyric which has for its burden divine love. In addition to these special types of religious literature, there are the narrative poems on the Passion, which deal at length with the sufferings of Jesus, into which laments, meditations and lyrics are introduced. Closely related to these passion poems stands the treat- ment of the life and sufferings of the Saviour in the relig- ious drama. Here the legend of Longinus becomes of great importance, enabling the dramatist, as it does, to represent in fullest reality the agony of Jesus on the cross, the divine grace shown by Jesus to his chief tor- mentor, and the establishment through the suffering of Jesus of the church as his representative on earth. Longinus is likewise introduced into the crusading romances that have to do with the regaining of the Holy Land, or the relics of Christ's passion, from the heathen. All relics in the Middle Ages were venerated and be- lieved to possess miraculous power; but those connected with the passion itself were of the greatest significance, as precious in themselves, and as retaining somewhat the divine power of Jesus himself. In the Middle Ages no dividing line was drawn between religious and secular literature. Consequently, a legend, popular in one kind of writing, was inevitably carried over into the other. As a result saints and martyrs became heroes of romance, 82 THE LEGEND OF LONGINUS and heathen gods and heroes became Christian saints, with feast days in the calendar of the church. Christian expla- nations attached themselves to the productions of pagan art. Heathen charms were transformed into Christian exorcisms. Mary took the place in secular song of the lover's mistress; Jesus replaced the earthly lover. There is no distinction in types used; whether in secular love- lyric, vision poem, dirge, romance or drama, the religious writer employed exactly the same forms, frequently with only the slightest modification. Not only is the legend of Longinus embodied in every literary type known in the Middle Ages; it is found in the writings of the great, as well as in those of the obscure. The author of Piers Plowman, Chaucer, Lydgate, all made use of the familiar story. 1 i Interesting as showing its very general employment for all kinds of purposes, is the appearance of Longinus in a poem writ- ten by Walter Map, when Archdeacon of Oxford, against the Cistercians. According to Giraldus Cambrensis {Opera IV, 219) Map's ill-feeling toward the Cistercians was due to some trouble he had with them over the rights of his church at Westbury. Only one line of Map's poem has been preserved, and that is found in the reply made by Canon Bothewald of Saint Fride- swide to Map. This invective is printed in the catalogue of the Ashmolean MSS (MS 1281, fol. 272 b). Cf. Latin Poems of Walter Mapes, T. Wright, Camden Society, 1841, app. p. xxxv: Lancea Longini, grex albus, ordo nephandus, Cum monachis albis Longini lancea venit: Non quoniam feriant, sed feriantur ea, Lancea sunt illis vilis cibus, aspera vestis, Mansio deserti, nocte dieque labor. Cum contempnantur, et plus aliis patiantur. Pro Christo, non est ordo nephandus eis. Ordo quisque bonus, set non bonus ordine qui vis: Nee tamen ordo sue laudis honore caret, etc. The poem contains 90 lines. LOXGIXUS IX ENGLISH LITERATURE 83 §1. Homilies axd Homiletic Treatises The earliest vernacular account of Longinus that I have found, occurs in ^Elfric's alliterative metrical hom- ily, The Exaltation of the Holy Cross. iElfric in adding the story of Longinus appears to have departed slightly from the current usage in such sermons, offering in this respect the first illustration of what later occurs fre- quently. The English writer often, on finding in his Latin or French source mention of the lance or of the sufferings of the crucifixion, was reminded of Longinus and so enlarged his original by the addition of the legend. For iElfric's sermon I have found no definite source, 2 but very similar sermons are common. St. Andrew of Crete in his homily De Sancta Cruce 3 refers to the pierc- ing of the side of Jesus on the cross. Joseph, Archbishop of Thessalonica, 4 in the same connection, mentions the sacred wood of the cross, the nails, the lance. Callisti, Patriarch of Constantinople 5 (later, of course, than iElfric), includes in his homily on the Exaltation of the Cross reference to the conversion of the centurion at the cross. JElfric, then, seems to be following the general type of such homilies. He uses the story of Longinus to show the great mercy of the Saviour : Swa milde is se haelend J>set he miltsian wolde his agenum slagum gif hi gecyrran woldon. and biddan his miltsunge . swa swa heora msenig dyde. 2 The sources of this sermon have not been considered by the various investigators of JElfric's sources, J. H. Ott, M. Forster, C. L. White. SGretser, Opera (1734), II, 72. 4 Ibid., 85. 5 Ibid., 191. 84 THE LEGEND OF LONGINUS swa swa se hundredes ealdor . J>e hine hetelice stang on his halgan sidan . and siSSan him beah to. se hundredes ealdor hatte longinus. He geseah tSa sona hu seo sunne aJ>ystrode. fram mid-daege otS non . and eall middan-eard bifode. and stanas, toburston . >a beah he to eriste sleande his breost . and secgende hlude. Uere . filius dei est hie . So]?lice J?aes is godes sunu. He forlet Sa his folgots . and ferde to ]?am apostolum. and wearS gelaered to geleafan J?urh hi. and mid fulluhte a}?wagen fram his fyrlenum dsedum. He daelde J?a his eahta ealle on aslmyssan. and on clsennysse leofode . swa swa cristes Segen. on mycelre forhaefednysse . and J>am haej?enum bodade J?one so]?an geleafan . and synne forgifennysse. and to-wearp deofolgild . and wundra gefremode on godes naman . otS >aet sum gramlic dema hine ge-martyrode mid micclum witum. Ac he worhte fela wundra aetforan J>am deman. betwux )?am tintregum . and ablende ]?one deman >urh godes mihte . J?set menn mihton tocnawon (sic) hu mildheort se hselend is . J?e hine mersode swa. He wearj? J?a . beheafdod for Saes haelendes naman. I?one ]>e he aer gewundode waslhreowlice on rode. and wunatS on ecnysse on wuldre mid him. Octauius hatte se hae]?ena dema J?e hine acwealde . ac he com siSSan peer he ofslagen waes . and gesohte his lie biddende forgifennysse mid wope and heofunge. pa geseah he sona gesundfullum eagum. ]?urh ]?one ylcan onliht >e hine aer ablende. and se dema J>a deorwurSlice bebyrigde longines lichaman . and gelyfde on crist aefre wuldrigende god . ots J?aet he gewat of life. Sy wuldor and lof J?am wel-willendan gode. Se t5e aefre rixat5 on ecnysse. AMEN.6 ^Elfric's story of Longinus resembles the general type found in the first account in the Acta Sanctorum. He 6 Lives of the Saints, EETS., 94, 154 ff.; cf. Morris, Legends of the Holy Rood, EETS., 46, 107. Skeat, EETS., 94, p. xxiv, dates the Lives of the Saints about the year 994. LOJSTGINUS IN ENGLISH LITERATURE 85 omits some details: he does not mention Csesarea as the place of the martyrdom, he does not include the long con- versation with the judge, the tortures, the recognition of Longinus by the demons — in fact, many of the stock de- tails found usually in the acts of saints. Longinus in this account is the centurion, and there is no reference to his blindness. The next mention of Longinus — this time a slight one — occurs in a thirteenth century sermon, ]>e Wohunge of Ure Lauerd. This homily is interesting in two re- spects: it speaks of Christ after the fashion of the mediaeval mystics, in phrases which closely correspond to those used in the secular love lyrics of the time; and it refers also to the sacramental and mystical blood of re- demption and water of baptism, the fruit of Christ's death. "Bote ne binche ham nawt Set bat he is ful pinet ne bat rewfule deade bodi nulen ha nawt friSie. Bringen forb longis wis bat brade scharpe spere. He buries his side cleues tat herte. And cumes flowinde ut of bat wide wunde, be blod bat bohte, be water bat te world wesch of sake and of sunne."7 There is here perhaps a slight implication of the blind- ness of Longinus in the suggestion that he was led forth. Curious in its relation to the ]>e Wohunge of Ure Lauerd , is a treatise of the following century, entitled A Talhyng of J>e Loue of God. Horstmann prints the lat- ter from the Vernon MS, the only MS in which it is known to occur. Horstmann calls it an imitation of Richard Eolle, "the work of a (probably young) monk of the Fra Angelico type, who, shut out from the world in his monastery, finds comfort in sweet meditation and 7 Old English Homilies (XII, XIII centuries) ed. by Morris, EETS., 29 and 34, 283. 86 THE LEGEND OF LONGINUS song. It is one of the pearls of Old English literature." This treatise is not only an imitation of Kolle, of whose Meditatio de Passione Domini 8 there are in the Talhyng definite reminders in phrase and incident, but it is a combination of two earlier homilies. Attention has not been called to the fact, so far as I know, that the first eight pages reproduce with enlargement the homily known as On Ureisun of oure Louerde, and that the last thirteen reproduce quite as definitely \e Wohunge of Ure Lauerd. 9 The reference to Longinus in the Talkyng occurs in the following passage : But ^it my derworJ?e leof whon J?ei hedden J>e slayn. al at heor wille, ne J^ouite hem not }?at Inouj, >at J?ei seje J?i dede bodi so reubli honge on Roode; ne wolde ]?ei not spare ]>e deCdl ne o-lyue, but brouhte for> Longius J?at was a blynd kniht, and token him a scharp spere to stinge J?orw ]?in herte, so J>at hit clef 8 Engl. Stud. VII, 454 ff.; also Rich. Rolle of Hampole, I, 83 ff. Morris, op. cit., p. x, takes the Wohunge to be a paraphrase of a portion of the Ancren Riwle and perhaps, in its original form, by the same author. 9 The sources and authorship of the Wohunge and the Ureison have been investigated by Einenkel, Anglia V, 265 ff., and by Vollhardt (Einfluss der lateinischen geistlichen Litter atur auf der englischen Ubergangsperiode, 1888). Einenkel finds resem- blances to the Ancren Riwle, Sawles Warde, and Holi Meidenhod, and attempts to show that the Wohunge and the Ureison were written by nuns for whom the Lord was in the Middle Ages the type of the perfect man, just as the Virgin was for the monks the type of the perfect woman. Vollhardt dismisses as unfounded the question of a woman's authorship, and shows that such mystic, fervid expression of adoration of Christ was common in the Latin writers most influential in mediaeval Christian English writing. Vollhardt (p. 48 ff.) cites interesting parallels to the Wohunge and the Ureison found in Meditationes and Orationes of Anselm, with additions from the De Anima of Hugo of Saint Vic- tor. The present writer expects to consider this matter more fully in a separate study. LONGINUS IN ENGLISH LITERATURE 07 a-tuo and of )?at ilke welle of lyf, J?orw J>at grisly wounde: runne two floodes: J>i Riche precious blod J>at al pe world bou^te, and ]?at deore holy water J>at al ]?is world wosch Of sake and of synne.io Though Longinus is here referred to as blind, nothing is said of his healing or conversion. The interest is not, of course, in the story of Longinus. But that his name was almost indissolubly connected with the wound in the side of Christ is clearly indicated. The account of the passion is one of the passages most enlarged by the later writer. Here he definitely reminds one of Eolle, dwelling as he does on the horrible suffering of Christ on the cross, and of Mary in witnessing her son's agony. §2. The Gospel of Nicodemus The great popularity of the Gospel of Nicodemus in England has been discussed by Wiilker, who pointed out its significance in Western literature, and later by Pro- fessor Hulme in the introduction to his edition of the poetical Middle English versions. 11 It was repeatedly translated in both poetry and prose. The separate legends which it includes were by this means scattered everywhere. Though the texts now in existence are not of earlier date than the fifteenth century, Professor Hulme thinks the poetical version "was probably first translated not far from the beginning of the fourteenth century." 12 He calls attention to the fact that the "in- 10 Horstmann, R. Rolle II, 361. ii R. P. Wiilker, Das Evangelium Nichodemi in des abendldndi- schen Literatur, 18 ff., 66 ff.; W. H. Hulme, The M. E. Harrowing of Hell, etc., EETS., e. s. 100. i2/&id., p. xxi. 88 THE LEGEND OF LONGINUS fluence of the Evangelium Nicodemi was felt in Eng- lish literature long before the period of the religions drama/' and says the Latin version was known in Eng- land not long after the introduction of Christianity. 13 The metrical versions printed by Professor Hulme are from the following MSS : B. M. Cotton Galba E. IX ; B. M. Harl. 4196; B. M. Addit. 32,578; Sion College arc. L. 40. 14 The reference to Longinus contained in these texts is slight. The Harley and the Cotton MSS do not mention Longinus by name, nor do they give the legend, though they betray its influence in the statement that the spearman is blind. The Harley reads: 1. 625 A blynd knyght, so thoght bam best, A spere J?ai gaf gud spede; To Ihesu syde J>ai gan it threst, And blode and water out yhede. Aside from the blindness, there is here no addition to the Latin original. The Sion MS adds also the name Longinus. It is in the Additional MS, however, that the influence of the legend appears most clearly. In this, one not only finds Longinus named, bui also mention of the cure of his blindness: To longeus an betoke a spere A blynde knyght was in bat rowte; To ihesu herte he gon it bere, And watre & blode anon wente oute And sprent on longeus eghen bere And sone he sawe witnouten doute The Gospel of Nicodemus was current in English also in a number of prose versions. 15 Some of these give no 13 lUd., p. lxvii. 14 Ibid., pp. xv ff. for description and relation of the MSS. 15 Ibid., pp. xxxiii ff . for list and description of prose MSS. LONGINUS IN ENGLISH LITERATURE 89 fuller account of the story of Longinus than is found in the metrical version. The Salisbury Cathedral MS 39 (fol. 135), the British Museum MS Additional 16165 (fol. 101), and the Worcester Cathedral MS 172 (fol. 4) 16 all make brief reference to Longinus. They all fol- low the Latin original closely. The Worcester Cathedral MS reads: "Longius the knyght forsoth takyng a spere opened his side and ther issued out bloode and water. " In the later versions the story is elaborated. MS Harl. 149, which is "comparatively late," according to Pro- fessor Hulme, and shows "traces of modernization," gives a much fuller account: (fol. 261) "Than the prynces comaunded a knyght named Longeus that he schuld perce hys syde wyth a spere (fol. 262) And he so dyd and oute of the wownde came bloode and watyr whych ranne alonge by the spere to hys honde, and wytft the same honde he touched hys yghen and forthwythal, hys syght was restoryd and bare wytnes of trowthe. And al thys was done vppon the mownte of Golgotha whych now ys called Caluarye." Somewhat different is the story found in the Black Letter edition of the Gospel of Nicodemus by Wynken de Worde (1509) : 17 "And than sayd the knightes in scorne yf J>u be kynge of Iewes delyuer now thyselfe / and than was commaunded that a knyght sholde be broughte forthe whose name was Longeus/ and hym they made to put a spere to Ihesus syde. This knyght Longeus was blynde and soo the prynces of the lawe made hym for to perce our lordes syde / and so there came out of it bothe blode and water/ and so the blode came rennynge downe by the spere shafte vnto Longeus hande / and he by auenture weped his eyen with his hande/ and anone he dyde se." 16 Prof. Hulme has most generously allowed me to use his tran- scripts of these and the following prose MSS. 17 P. 18. Cf. Hulme, op. cit., p. lvii, for discussion of early printed versions. For the use of this transcript also I am in- debted to the kindness of Professor Hulme. 90 THE LEGEND OF LONGINUS Closely related to the Gospel of Nicodemus 18 and con- taining likewise references to Longinus, is the so-called Siege of Jerusalem attributed to Adam Davy. 19 The poem is a long one, written in rhyming couplets. 20 Ber- gau 21 considers four MSS: Laud 622, Douce 78, Digby 230, Additional 10036. He comments on the fact that it is called variously "The Bataile of Jerusalem," the title in Laud MS; "The Vengeance of Goddes Deth," found at the end of the Laud MS ; or "The Sege of Jerusalem," the form used at the close of the Digby MS. The poem is difficult to classify. Bergau calls it "eine Art religiosen Epos . . . geschrieben zum! Lob und Preise unseres Iiei- landes Jesu Christi." 22 He divides it into four parts: the Passion of Christ, the Healing of Vespasian, the Siege of Jerusalem, the Punishment of the Jews. 23 The section devoted to the Passion — which is the only one of concern to the present study — is based, as the au- 18 Prof. Hulme, op. cit., p. xxii: "In its complete form this poem does contain (11. 395-666) the principal features of the Gospel." 19 The catalogue description of Douce MS 78 states that the poem was at one time ascribed to Adam Davy, and even to Lydgate. It was written the third quarter of the fifteenth century (?) Dr. Henry Bradley (Diet. Nat. Biog.) says of Davy that he was "a fanatical rhymer" who "has obtained unmerited importance in literary history from the fact that he was formerly supposed to be the author of all the poetry contained in the Bodl. MS Laud 622." He sees no reason why he should not have written the present poem, "though there is no real evidence on the point." 20 Another version written in alliterative verse I have not been able to examine. 21 F. Bergau, The Vengeance of Goddes Death, Konigsberg, 1901. 22 ibid., p. 41. 23 ibid., p. 42. LONGINUS IN ENGLISH LITERATURE 91 thor expressly informs us, upon the Gospels and the Gospel of Nicodemus: — v. 7 ff . Gospelles I drawe to witnesse of J>is matere more and lesse And pe passioun of Nichodeme Who J?at take]? right good yeme.24 Reference to the healing and conversion of Longinus is introduced in the course of a brief summary of the won- ders attending the death of Jesus. I quote from the text of MS. Douce 78 (fol. 30a) : And as sone as Criste was broate of lyfe per fylle mony wondres also blyfe Some of J>am y schall you telle pay byn as trewe as is pe gospelle When Centurio behilde and saide bus Verely ]?is is godis ihesws And so dede longeus pe blynde knyjhte Aftur >at he had his syate pe temple of pe iewys a to dede clefe And men y beryd ded and deffe Dede arise and walke aboute Fro towne to towne a grette route.25 24 Cf. Bergau, p. 42, for sources of the whole poem. 25 A fragment is found in a Pepysian MS printed by R. Fis- cher, (Archiv. Ill, 285 ff. and 112, 25 ff.) under the title Vindicta Salvatoris. It does not, however, contain the Longinus incident. The whole poem has also been edited by J. A. Herbert, 1905, for the Roxburghe Club. This edition I have not seen. Besides these printed texts and the MSS already referred to, there are numerous MS versions. To those enumerated by Bergau and Kopke may be added: (1) B. M. Addit. MS, 36523 (middle of XV cent.) Art. 1; (2) Ashurnham Addit. MS, 130 (XIV-XV cent.) Art. 3, (Hist. MSS C. Rep. VII, 106); (3) Harl. 4733; (4) B. M. Addit. 36983, Art. 6. 92 THE LEGEND OF LONGINUS §3. The Cursor Mundi The story of Longiims naturally appears in the Cur- sor Mundi, 26 described by Morris as a storehouse of relig- ious legends and quaint conceits. In the four manu- scripts printed by Morris, the story occurs in two forms. The shorter form is found, with little variation, in MSS Fairfax, Gottingen, and Trinity. I quote the passage from the Trinity text : 11. 16834 ff. Of him [Jesus] brake bei no bone But blynde longeus wib a spere: pat knyjt was one pe iewes made him bourse his side: to put hit sone anone A^ein his wille he hid dude: perfore he made mone Blood & watir out of his syde: Muchel bo bere ran Of bat blood ran to his hond: his siote soone he wan. It is to be noted that Longinus is represented here as unwilling to do the deed — an early instance of this de- tail. The Cotton MS of the Cursor contains an interesting interpolation. Hupe calls attention to the fact that this manuscript, following 1. 16814, adds 72 extra lines, writ- ten in a second hand and in a different (Midland) dia- lect. 27 The Longinus story is a part of this addition. It runs as follows : 1. 21 (Add.) Of oure lorde brake bai no lym, For he was ded by-fore. Bot calden a blynd knight To wirk after ber lore, 26 Ed. Morris, EETS. 27 Cursor Mundi, Introd. p. 63*. LONGINUS IN ENGLISH EITEKATUKE 93 With a spere in hand And til his hert hit sett, per -with he therled his hert, Bothe blode & water oute lett By ]?e spere til his hand Ran doun of his blode, He wipped is egen >er-withe And sijt he hade ful gode. "Mercy," he cried, "oure lord!" And gart cristen him I-wis Sithen for his luf was slayn And a gode marter is. Though the name Longinus is not mentioned here as in the other MSS, the story is much fuller, containing as it does, reference to the subsequent life and martyr- dom of Longinus. His cry for mercy is, moreover, sug- gestive of the dramatic treatment of the story. 28 §4. The South English Legendary In the South English Legendary the legend of St. Longinus, though absent from what Horstmann 29 takes to be the oldest extant MS, Laud 108 (about 1285-95), is included in many of the later versions. 30 This great 28 Professor Carleton Brown, "The Cursor Mundi and the South- ern Passion," Mod. Lang. Notes, Jan., 1911, has shown, since the above was written, that this Cotton interpolation was bor- rowed from the "Southern Passion," the corresponding passage of which he prints from Harl. MS, 2277. See for the Longinus episode, 11. 23 ff. 29 C. Horstmann, South English Legendary, EETS. 87, p. xlll. 30 The life of Longinus appears in the following MSS (cf. Horstmann, South English Leg., EETS, p. xiv ff.): Corp. Chr. Coll. Cambr. 145 (ca. 1320), no. 21, fol. 32 (cf. Zupitza, Anglia I, 397) ; Egerton 1993 (ca. 1320), no. 31, fol. 119; Vernon (ca. 1380), no. 18, fol. 14; Trinity Coll. Cambr. R. 3, 25 (James no. 605) (ca. 1400), no. 25, fol. 50, and no. 63, fol. 122; St. John's Coll. Cambr. B. 6; cf. also Horstmann, Altengl. Legenden, Paderborn, : - THZ EJSGSND OF LONGINUS Festialj like the Lege ..:.: Aurea 3 of which it is appar- ently independent, is a storehouse of legends — a col- lection of sermons or material for sermons for all the festivals ;■: :Le year. Horstmann, who recognizes it as "one of the most important works of mediaeval lit ture," d:s:\;^f5 its formation: "The collection grew slowly ...::: was the work of many decades of years. of many coll abora tors, most likely the joint work of a whole abbey, that ■:: Gloucester, where the plan seems to have been fixed and brought into definite shape." 31 Though the story of Loogiinis does not occur in the Laud MS 105, there is reason to believe that it was in- sorporated into the Festial only a trifie later. In the list :: contents of MS Harleian i!i!77 and MS Corpus Christi College. Cambridge, 145. printed by Horstmann, St. Longinus is no. 21. Unfortunately, in the Harleian (abc;:: 1300] . long c:::s:^:ed the oldest MS of the Fes- tial. the first 2± numbers are now missing. The text I give here is from Laud MS Miseell. -163 (fol. 16 h ). The catalogue stares that it is an English Festial of the fourteenth century. Seint Longius ^vas a blind knyght. ]?o CTirist was done on rode Pilat him made our lord stynge and oter fat fer stode To his herte he smote re spere jr-o he feld fre blod per vrith he wipte is blind even and ]?ei were cler and god pis knight \>o he my*te see. he saw £e erfe quake And fre eclips of the sonne }?e deuel he gan forsake M the apostles he let him enn'stene and site by he rede IS":, p. xxx, ffi.: Trim Coll. Oxford 57 (end of fourteenth cen- tury): Laud Misc. 463 (beginning of the fifteenth century), no. 22. fol. 16. The life of Longinus appears also in the following MSS, the contents of which are not given by Horstmann: Add. 10301 (fourteenth century), fol. 68; Tanner 17 (fifteenth cen- :;:;•- . no. :: fed 3 ! Pepys 2344. :*- zzrs.. s~. p. -:::. LONGHSTUS IN" ENGLISH LITERATURE 95 In pe lond of Capadoce hard lyf he gan lede A maner monk as J>ei he were seuene and twenty ^ere pis noli man sent longius in penaunce woned pev pe lu>er prince was J>ere herde of him speke So he lette fette hym to his c7mstdom to breke He bad him hononre is fals godes bot he him with seide And seide he might as wel be stille with is fole rede pe prince let for wratthe ]?o all be te> in his heued With strong yren draw out per was not on bileued Sibe he hat kerue of is tonge Faste bi pe more And aet he spak borw godes grace as he dide bifore Sire prince he seide i am belimed for bin false godes loue let mi lord boru me with hem speke and loke who shal beo aboue Seint longeus all her fals goddes with an ax alto drow pe deueles flowen bikke out and maden deol y now pai went anon to be luber men )>at per aboute stode Some bicome blinde anon some gydye send wode And to drowe alle here limes with oper sorwe y now pe prince was bothe blind and wod and all his limes to gnow Longius axed bes foule wightes whi pei woned bere In mamutes and in fals godes more ban elles where pei seide we mow no wer men so wel bitraye As ber with fals bileue ne our maistre so wel paye And for god is not ber nempd ne is signe is not bere perfore god pes we have ber and reste with oute fere Seint longius for bouit pat pe prince himself had so y gnawe pu worst neuer he seide hoi ar bu me bringe of dawe And panne i wol bidde for pe bat our lord shal pe sende hele of body and of soule in his seruise to ende pe prince let smyte of is hed as had er i seid bifore pe bodi fel adoun and for^euenes bed Our lord him sent is wit a^en and his eyen also Seint Longeus he had mercy of bat he hadde misdo He let him baptise anon and bicom gode man with alle pe godnesse bat he hadde ber bi seint longius gon bifall Now god for py mercy bat bu seint longius hast y do forjeue us our misdede her and bring us to heuen also.32 32 The legend of Longinus is found also in the Passion included in the South English Legendary. Horstmann gives the contents of the Passion in MS St. John's Coll. Cambr. B. 6 (c. 1400) and mentions Longinus (Altenglischen Legenden, Neue Folge, Heilbronn, 1881, Lv). It is probably contained also in other 96 THE LEGEND OF LOJSTGINUS The story as given here follows closely the Golden Legend type, though I do not mean to imply that it is taken from Voragine. The questions of the judge and the Aphrodisius episode are omitted, and the whole ac- count is much more popular in tone. This full form of the story never really got into literary usage. The cruel judge and the miracle of his healing are heard of no more. Caxton's translation of the Legenda Aurea should per- haps be noted in this connection. In the legend of Lon- ginus, Caxton appears to follow the Latin text. This particular legend is not discussed by Butler, but as he does not include it in his lists of those specifically drawn from the English or the French sources, I infer that he would derive it from the Latin version. It is fuller than the Latin, but contains no incidents that cannot be ac- counted for by the Latin text. 83 §5. The "Northern Passion" The Longinus story is of importance in the "Northern Passion," which exists in several manuscripts. 34 Horst- MSS of the South English Legendary. In Horstmann's lists of the contents of these MSS (EETS., 87, XIII ff.) the Passion ap- pears in the following: Harl. 2277 (c. 1300) ; King's Coll. Cambr. 15 (c. 1350); Vernon (c. 1380), no. 33; Trin. Coll. Oxf. 57 (c. 1380) without first days of Passion Week; Laud L 70; Tanner 17 (fifteenth century); Bodl. 779 (fifteenth century), no. 8. Pro- fessor Carleton Brown has published, since the above was writ- ten, the part of the "Southern Passion," which contains the Lon- ginus episode from Harl. 2277 (cf. note 28). Miss M. M. Keiller is preparing an edition of the "Southern Passion" from sev- eral MSS. 33 Cf. Pierce Butler, Golden Legend, p. 75, for discussion of sources. He does not identify the English source. 34 Horstmann, Altenglische Legenden, Neue Folge, Heilbronn, 1881, p. lxvi, discusses the Northern Passion in Cambr. Univ. MS Gg. 5 31: "Dieselbe Passio begegnet, ohne die nordliche Samm- LONGINUS IN ENGLISH LITEEATURE 97 mann has printed a portion of it from Harleian 4196 (Archiv. 57, 78 fL). This version in the part which in- troduces the story of Longinus, differs somewhat in ar- rangement from the usual type; the centurion story does not immediately precede the Longinus episode as it usually does in passion poems and in the mediaeval drama. I give the text here from Ashmole MS 61. 35 The poem in question begins at fol. 87 b with the lines: "Lystyns lordynges I wyll you telle of mekyll pete I may you spelle" The Longinus story comes at fol. 104 a : Besyde J?e rode per stod a man His ry^ht name telle you I can A gret cry he gan make When he sey J?e wondis slake Centyr \>at was hys name For hys cry J>e jeues gane schame He seyd J?is is godts sone Therfore J?ei dyd hyra in prisone The oJ?er dey aboute none When J»at day was all done lung, in MS Gg. I, 1, fol. 122 . . . hier im stidlichen Dialect, . . . ferner in MS Pf. V, 48, Ii, IV, 9; in Dd. I, 1, ... In Harl. 4196 ist sie in die Sammlung selbst aufgenommen, zugleich umgearbei- tet und am Ende durch einige Zusatze, zu denen das northumbr. Evang. Nicod. oft wortlich beniitzt ist, vermehrt (solche Zu- satze sind die Abschnitte Joseph petiit corpus Jhesu, de libera- tione Joseph a carcere). Meine friihere, auf diese Gleichheit gestutzte Annahme, dass die Passio vom Dichter des Evang. Nicod. herriihre, ist nicht richtig, da die Passio weit alter ist, wohl aber ist wahrscheinlich, dass der Dichter des Ev. Nic. der Umdichter der Harl.-Version der Passio ist." 35 Ashmol. 61 is described by Black as "a collection of Metrical Romances, Lays and other Poems in Old English, made by one Rate, in or before the time of Henry VII" (Catal. of Ashmole MSS, Oxford, 1845, col. 106). THE LEGEND OF LONGINUS There come a man of ryche se That dwellyd in pat contre Joseph was hys name ryue He loued Jhesu as hys lyue Forth anone he wente hys gate To he come to sire pylate He seyd sire pylat I praye the That body bu grante me Soffere me to take hym done Or bat I hens gone Syre pylat seyd I grante be We wyll wyte fyrst if he dede be He callyd forth kny^hts hende With Joseph forto wende As he seyd unto Jhesu And loke pat he be dede inow ^iff he be dede take hym doune stylle And late Joseph haue hys wylle The knyohts per gane forth gone To be rode bei come anone First bei come pe beues to Bobe ber theys wer broke in two Seth bei stode in pat place And beheld Jhesu in be face The sey well bat Jhesus was dede To breke hys bonys it was no nede Besyde be rude stude a knyght That longe hade foregone hys syght Longews was bat kny^htys name He was bothe blynd and lame They made hym under Jhesus stond And pute a spere in his hond They leyd be spere to Jhesus syde Pute up bei seyd what so betyde Longews pute be spere hym fro To Jhesu herte it gane go The blode gane anone oute sprywge And be water anone oute wrynge Fro synwe we wer with hys blod bought And fro hell bar we wer brought LiOiigeus stode welle styll ban By hys fyngerys be blode ranwe With pat blode he wyped hys face LONGHSTUS IN ENGLISH LITERATURE 99 Than of hys syght he hade grace On hys kneys he gane doune falle And of Jhesu mersy calle He sey I wyst not what 1 dede Bot as oJ>er hade me bede Joseph toke done J?e body anone And leyd it in a feyre stone.36 Though it is dangerous to cite parallels when only short sections of long poems have been carefully ex- amined, it may be well to call attention to the fact that there is a slight resemblance between the story of Lon- ginus in the "Northern Passion" and that found in The Lamentation of our Lady and Saint Bernard. This gen- eral resemblance is perhaps a little strengthened by the use of a line in the Vernon text common to all the ver- sions of the "Northern Passion/' "Beside the rood there stood a knyght," etc. 37 36 The story of Longinus as here given is practically the same in this group of eight MSS; (1) Ashmole 61, (2) Cambr. Dd. 1.1 (second half of fourteenth century), fol. 18b (a part of the Longinus story is missing where the MS is torn); (3) Cambr. Gg. 1.1 (first half of fourteenth century), no. 11, fol. 133a; (4) Cambr. Gg. 5.31 (early fifteenth century), no. 3, fol. 169a; (5) Cambr. Ii, 4.9 (handwriting of the fifteenth century), fol. 37a; (6) B. M. Addit. 31.042, no. 3; (7) Cambr. Pf. 5.48 (fifteenth century) no. 5, fol. 39a (signed Gilbert Pilkington, who accord- ing to S. Lee, Diet. Nat. Biog., fl. 1350, and is the reputed author of "The Tournament of Tottenham"); (8) Rawl. C. 86 (end of the fifteenth century), fol. 26b. (at the end: "Iste liber constat [words erased] Wyllimis Aylysburry monachus Sancti Salvatoris de Bermundsey"). Cf. G. L. Kittredge, Am. Journ. Philol. X, 2; Hammond, Chaucer Bibl. Man. p. 185. Miss F. A. Foster of Bryn Mawr College is engaged in editing the Northern Passion from nine MSS. 37 Cf. note 67 for resemblance to the Lamentation of our Lady. 100 THE LEGEND OF LONGINUS §6. Other Poems on the Passion The story of Longinus, cast in much the usual form, appears in an unprinted fifteenth century poem on the Passion, found in Cambridge University MS Dd. 11, 89, fpl. 183 b . It is written in alternate rhyming lines : Longinus brou^te a spere ful kene And set hit to his swete syde poru^ bidding of his enemyes breme He made bere a wounde ful wyde His swete herte pat was so dene WiJ? bat spere was opened bo per ran out water and blod ful schene pat was raunsom of oure wo per was mercy y seye ful son pe kny^t hadde y ben blyn ful longe pe herte blod by be spere down ron He felede hit wet upon his honde per wib he wippede bobe his eyen poruj >at blod he hadde }>e grace Anon bat bodj ful wel he seyje pat bere was honged in bat place Mercy he gan crie ful sone And in his herte he sikede sore pe fader of heuene herde his bone Hit was for^euen hym ry^t bore.ss The unknown author of the Scottish Legends of the Saints, though he does not include Longinus in his cal- endar of saints, tells the story of his healing and mar- 38 Title, "How ich Cristenman owe for to hafe a remembrance of the passion of our Lord Jesu Criste." It begins: Of alle the joyes that in this worlde may be That thorw wyt to man myth be ordeyned and wroute A swete lofe thowt is praised of me, etc. LONGIITUS IN ENGLISH LITEEATTJRE 10: tyrdom in the account of the life of Christ which he gives in his Prologue: 1.37 I hafe translatit symply sume part, as a fand in story, of Mary & hir sone Ihesu. 1.69 & hou bat longius, be knycht bat of his ene had tynt be sycht, & mad jet bare in cristes syd a slope, bat ves hath lang & vyd, vith ane scharpe spere a-pon he rud, hot, quhen til his hand ran he blud, & vith hat hand [he] twechit his he, thru grace of god he can se, & syne of god sic grace he had, bat for hyme he ves martyre mad.39 The following Cornish Passion follows closely the gen- eral type: 217. In aga herwyth y ^ese- vn marreg longis hynwys dal o ny wely banna* ef rebea den a brys gew a ve yn y jewle. gans an e^ ewon gorris ha pen lym rag y wane* je golon Ihesus hynwys 218. Longis sur an barth dyghow. je grous Ihesus y jese jen marreg worth y hanow- y a yrhys may whane yn corf Ihesus caradow. en gew lym ef a bechye pwr ewn yn dan an asow« dre an golon may ^ese 217. Along with them was a soldier named Longis: Blind was he, he saw not a drop; he was a man of worth. Into his hands a spear was put by the Jews, And a sharp point for him to pierce to mild Jesus' heart. 218. Longis, sure, was on the right side of Jesus' cross, To the soldier by his name they bade that he should pierce. Into the body of lovable Jesus, the sharp spear he darted Right under the ribs, so that it was through the heart. 39 Legends of the Saints, (ac. 1400 A. D.) Scottish Text Society I, 3. Cf. Horstmann, Barbour's Legendensammlung. Heilbronn 1881, I, 3. 102 THE LEGEND OF LONGINUS 219. An golon y jeth stret bras^ dour ha goys yn kemeskis ha ryp an gyw a resas* ie aewle neb an gwyskis y wholhas y oewlagas^ gans y eyll leyff o gosys dre ras an goys y whelas- Ihesus crist del o dy igtis 220. (fo. 19 a.) Eddrek mur an kemeras. rag an ober re wresse ^y ben dowlyn y co^as. arluth gevyans yn me ^e dall en ny welyn yn fas- ow bos mar veyll ow pewe Ihesus 20 jo a avas- pan welas y edrege 219. From the heart there came a great spring, water and blood mixed, And ran down by the spear to the hands of him that struck him: He bathed his eyes with his one hand that was bloodied — Through the blood's grace he saw how Jesus was dighted. 220. Great sorrow seized him for the work he had done. On his knees he fell — "Lord, forgiveness!" he said, "Blind was I, I saw not well, that I am living so vilely." Jesus forgave him when he saw his sorrows.^o in The persistence of the popularity of Longinus legend is shown by the fact that his story is included in the sixteenth century poem by Walter Kennedy on the Passioun of Christ.^ As pointed out by Holthausen, 42 and as stated by Kennedy himself ("As Lendulphus and vtheris can record"), Ludolphus of Saxonia is Kennedy's principal source. In the use of the Legend of Longi- nus he follows Ludolphus. 43 lopascon agan Arluth, a Mid-Cornish poem, (Harl. MS 1782, fifteenth century) W. Stokes, Trans. Phil. Soc. 1860, App. 1, stanzas 217 ff. 4i Printed by J. Schipper, Denkschriften d. 7c. Akad. d. Wissen- schaften, Wien, 1902, vol. 48, 25 ff. ^Archiv, 112, 298 ff. 43 Cf. p. 24. L0NGI1\ T TTS IN ENGLISH LITERATURE 103 (CLIX) Bot fra J?ai saw ]?at cristynnit Kingis face All wan and paill, eik closit wes his sycht, His bludy body stif in euery place, Thai estemit J?at ded had done his rycht. Throw ]?e richt syd him woundit a blind knycht With a scharp speir, quhill blude and watter cleir Agane natour his ded hert woundit [sair] (CLX) The precius blud ran vnto Longeus hand, And he his eyne anoyntit with it throu caiss; Off [)?e] tuiching of God sic grace he fond, With e and hert J>at he knew Cristis face; He left his office, resignit in J?at place, Als levit lang in relyiosite. Syne bischope maid and marter deit he. §7. Hours of the Cross It is to be expected that the story of Longinus would be found in the Hours of the Cross. It appears in the Vernon MS Patris Sapiencia, sive Home de Cruce** though it is not found in the Latin text referred to by Horstmann/ 5 nor in the corresponding English poem in MS Bodl. Miscell. Lit. 104, fol. 50. 46 The Vernon version reads as follows : Hora Nona dominus Cristus expirauit, "Heli," damans spiritum patri comendauit, Latus eius lancea myles perforauit. Terra tunc contremuit, & sol obscurauit. Adoramus te, criste, & oenedicimus tibi, Quia per crucem tuam redemisti mundum. 44 Minor Poems of Vernon MS, EETS., pp. 40, 41. 45 Daniel, Thes. Hymnolog. I, 337, the corresponding stanza of which reads: "Hora nona dominus Jesus expiravit, Heli damans animam patri commandavit, Latus eius lancea miles perforavit, Terra tunc contremuit et sol obscuravit." 46 Printed by Horstmann at foot of page, EETS., 98, 37 ff. 104 THE LEGEND OF EONGINUS At Non ]?er Jmrlede Ihesus herte: Longius, a Blynd kniht; He wupte his Ei^en wij? his blod : porwh J>at he hedde his siht. pe eor]?e quok, J?e stones clouen: pe sonne les his liht, pe dede a-risen of heore graues: In tokene of godus miht pat us on Rode bouhte, pe soules ]?at weren in helle: Ihesus sone out brouhte. An interesting relationship is to be noted between the Vernon poem on the the Hours of the Cross, and an "O and I" poem from a Cambridge MS, Gonville and Caius College, no. 175, of the fifteenth century. Hord nond divus Jesus expiravit "At noon J>yrlede hys syde, Longeus, a blynde kny^t He wyped his eyen wij? J>e blood, per wi> he hadde hys sy^t. pe erj?e quook, the stones schoke, pe sunne loste here ly^t; Dede men resen out off here graue, pat was Goddys myit, Wib an O, and an I, >at on ]?e rode us bouhte, For men J>at were in helle for synne Jesus out hem brou2t."47 The Caius poem retains only one line of the Latin text, and begins the fifth long line (the poem is written in half lines) with the refrain "With an O, and an I." The Vernon MS is of course the earlier, and it may be possi- ble that the writer of the Caius version followed the Ver- non, merely inserting the refrain. There are some indi- cations of Southern dialect in the later poem, besides one or two evident mistakes, such as: Adam to rhyme with man, where the Vernon has Sathan; and the substitution of thre hynges for knihtes, as the guards appointed by Pilate to guard the tomb of Jesus. On the other hand, the a O and I" poem agrees in metrical form with the 47 w. Heuser, "With an O and an I," Anglia, XXVII, 313. LONGIiSTUS IN ENGLISH LITERATURE 105 regular characteristics of this type as tentatively formu- lated by Heuser 48 in his study of a group of such poems : the stanza consists of six lines of six or seven stresses rhyming aaaabb, the refrain "With, an O and I" forming the first half of the fifth line. Just what the relationship between these two poems is, it is impossible to decide. It seems in every way more probable that the Caius should derive from the Vernon type. The Caius is more dramatic than the Ver- non, and more lyric because of the addition of the refrain. If this is the true state of the case, however, it would sug- gest that the "O and I" poems originally started from a metrical form like that of the Vernon Home, and that the type was produced by the simple insertion of the "O and I" refrain into a stanza already established. An interesting parallel to the Caius poem is found in Ashmole MS 41, 49 written, according to Black, toward the end of the fourteenth century: (fol. 134a) With an O and an i ]?an dyed our lord ]?at stound A blynd knygth thorow hys syde smote with spere and mad a wound pat spere blode of hys hert toke. per wyth raun water lak Sone and mone vpon to luke. po waxed both blake Stones brosten }?e erth schoke. and dede folke ganne a wake pat J?is is soth in holy boke. Seynt jone to borow i take With an o and an i. Seynt jone i ta[ ] to borw Marie and Cristes passione. vs help [ ]k a sorow. Amen. 48 iMd., 310. 49 Prof. Carleton Brown has kindly allowed me to use his tran- script of the Ashmole "0 and I." 106 THE LEGEND OF LONGINUS §8. Saint Edmund's "Speculum" Horstmann refers to two metrical translations of Saint Edmund's Speculum,, both found in the Vernon MS, 50 the first of these, \e Spore of Love, contains our story; but in the second, How to live parfytly, it is not found. In the Spore the story takes the form of a meditation on the hours; indeed, Horstmann suggests that here the English text is not following the Speculum, but the Home de Cruce from the Vernon MS just quoted. 51 The Spore reads: At noon: of ]>e passion, and of pe Assencion. Be-J>enk J?e at ]?e vre of noon: Whon Crist hed seid }>at al was don, Mildeliche wiJ?-outen bost To his ffader he aeld his gost, And to him he made a cri Hely lama^abatani, pat is to seye aftur J?e Book "ffader, whiere }?ou me forsok?" As hos sei]?, }?us here for to spille; A, lord, for hit was >i wille. . A blynd kniht >en atte laste A Spere borw [his] herte J?raste, pat Blod and water }>en out ^ede. perof we schulde take good hede : pe blynde knijt J?erof cau^te his siht, And ure Bapteme ]?ere hedde mi2t.52 Besides these metrical versions of the Speculum, Horst- mann mentions three prose translations : that in the Thornton MS, which he says is the only Northern one so r. nolle, I, 219. 5i See above, pp. 103, 104. 52 Minor Poems of Vernon MS, EETS., pp. 292, 293. LONGINUS IN ENGLISH LITEEATUEE 107 known; that in the Yernon, which follows more closely, according to Horstmann, the Latin original; and one in a Cambridge MS, Ff 6, 40 (fol. 207), which contains only a partial translation. 53 As far as the Longinus story is concerned, the Thornton version does not depart from the Latin text, which here follows the Bible. The Thorn- ton reads: "And }?are was a knyghte redye with a spere and perchede J?e syde of Ihesu, and smate hym to )>e herte ; and als-sone come rynnande downe ]>q precyouse blode and watire." 54 Horstmann thinks it highly probable that Richard Eolle himself was the translator of the Specu- lum. §9. English Meditations derived feom Bonaventuea The great popularity in England of the Meditationes Yitae Christi, long ascribed to Bonaventura, has already been noted. 55 Almost every Marian lament, whether in- corporated in some longer treatise, or independent, shows trace of its influence. In the English translations the story of Longinus occurs in two forms, one slightly fuller than the other. The metrical version by Robert Mannyng of Brunne, found in MS Harl., 1701, contains the story in the shorter form. Though here the poet has made some additions, they do not affect the episode itself. pan longeus be knyjht dyspysed here pleynt, pat J?o proude was, but now, be mercy, a seynt. A spere he sette to crystys syde, He launced and opuw[de] a wouwde ful wyde. purgh hys herte he prened hym witft mode, 53 R. Rolle, I, 219. 5±IMd., 237. 55 See above, p. 24. 8 108 THE LEGEND OF LONGIJ5TUS And anone ran downe watyr and blode. AA, wrong! aa, wo! aa, wykkednes! To martyre here for here mekenes. pe sone was dede he felte no smerte, But certes hyt perced J?e modrys hert.56 There are also numerous English prose versions of the Meditationes. Bonaventura's text is closely followed in the English version by Nicholas Love, in whose Mirrour of the Blessed Life of Jesus Christ, 57 the Longinus in- cident is exactly the same. Two anonymous English treatises also find direct source in the Meditationes; the first of these is contained under the title, The Privity of the Passion, in the Thornton MS ; 58 the second, entitled Meditacyon after noon of the opening of the syde of our lord jhesus, occurs in Pepys MS, 2125, fol. 35 a . In both 56EETS., 60, 27. 57 Ed. L. F. Powell, Oxford. Cf. the Myrrour of the Blessed Life of Jhesu-Crist, Hunterian MS, 77 (p. 85 Cat. for full description), which evidently corresponds exactly to N. Love's translation. Cf. also Bonaventura's Life of Christ, in English, Trin. Coll. Cambr. MS, B. 10, 12 (James, no. 223), a fifteenth century MS, with excellent miniatures. It begins, "When tyme was comen of forgifnes and mercies of oure lorde in whilke he had or- denede to safe mankynde;" and ends (after the account of the appearance to Thomas), "Whilke ioy and comforth he grawnt us ht wt his precious blode boght us." This appears to be unlike other versions that I have seen. No. 23 of the miniatures, is described in the cat.: "The side pierced, The Virgin swoons. Longinus points to his eye." Cf. also the Mirror of the Blessed Life of Jesus Christ translated by "N" and dedicated to Archbp. Arundel, Lambeth MS, 328, (fifteenth century) ; and the English translation of Bonaventura's Vita Ghristi found in Camb. Univ. MS, Hh. 1.11 (art. 1), "This," according to the catalogue descrip- tion, "contains chaps. 1-5 and 57 to the end;" and Speculum Devotorum, or A Myrour to Devot Peple, in Cambr. Univ. MS. Gg. 1.6 (fifteenth century), which is apparently another English translation of the Vita Christi. 58 R. Rolle, I, 208. LONGINUS IX ENGLISH LITERATURE 109 of these meditations Longinus is described as wicked, but as afterwards converted and suffering martyrdom. The second and fuller form of the story which appears in the Bonaventura translations, adds to the original a reference to the blindness of the converted Longinus. Of this second type there are several somewhat varying texts. That found in MS Egerton 2658 59 (fifteenth cen- tury), fol. 9 a , reads as follows: His modur sniSSe lest bei wold haue ydo so by hym stillich and wi5 a ful rewliche chere wepynge and all noose; she wrynged hur hondes and spak to hem and sayde my dere brebren I beseche yow for be hye goddys loue bat ^e do no more to my dere sone. I am his moder oe weteb wel dere breb?'en bat I offended you neuere ne neuer dide ^ou wrong. And bou^ ^e haue do my sone bis dishese spare]? hym now and I will forreue jow alle be offence and be deeb of my chylde. So myche mercy and pite haueb on me bat ^e breke not his lymes. Doe ^ee seeb bat he is deed and an houre it is sibnes he dijede . . . pan was ber a kny^t bat was blynd and hy^t longius. he was an euyl proude man. And toke litel hede of oure lady talkynge and jit afterward he was a holy seynt and martir for Cristes [loue. cf. Stonyhurst MS. BXLIII. f.56b] blind as he was he pressed among be jewes and wib a spere as bese cruel jewys sette him to to. he shoof hadde as bei bad hym. And opened oure lordes ri^t side a greet wounde. And a none ber gusshed out blode and watre. longius feled wete byng come rennynge downe by be spere to his hond. he gnodded his ey^en ber wib and anone he hadde his sijt and of bat miracle he becam a good man evere after. Another version found in Trinity College Cambridge ITS B. 5.42 (James 374), (fifteenth century), fol. 33% without title in the manuscript, but described by James as a Life of the Virgin and of Christ in English, is clearly 59 Cf. Hulme, op. cit., p. xxxvi, for description of the MS. I am indebted to Dr. Hulme for the use of his transcript of this MS, and also for that of the Stonyhurst MS B. XLIII, fol. 56b, which is another copy of the same text. Dr. Hulme also kindly called my attention to Pepys MS 2498, reference to which follows. 110 THE LEGEND OF LONGINUS also following Bonaventura as far as this extract is con- cerned. I have not examined the whole manuscript. Whan the lewis come to Cryst bycause they founde hym dede they breke not his thyes. But a kny^t amonges hem that hete longius A proude man and A wykid at that tyme but aftur he was conuertid. he was an holy martur not takynge hede to be wepyngws ne the prayours of that holy Companye. But dispytusly with a scharpe spere openyd the syde of oure blessid lord ihesus And made a gret wounde. And clefe his hert out of the whyche wounde ranne bothe blode and water. And as we rede this knyjt was att moste blynde and hit happinyd to him to touche his yen with the blode of Cryste and he myote see aftur ward well ynow. This second type is contained also in the Pepys MS, 2498 (Magdalene College, Cambridge) in a The Passion; caulid the complainte of our Lady." The story of Lon- ginus is found at fol. 38 a : [The knights broke the bones of the thieves] and whan hy comen to hym he founden hym ded hy ne breken nou^th his hypes ac hy duden a knijth bat hijth longys smyte hym in to be side un to be hert and wib be out drawing of be sper comen out water and blode and be dropes of blode ruwnen adowi to longys honde wib whiche he wyped his eijen and als sone he sey &nd whan he sey bat wonder he fel doun on knees and repented hym in his hert and cried mercy, pan wenten be princes and all horn and leften knifes for to kepe be body and i loked to my swete son and seiie his heued bat helde up al be werlde hengeande adoun. §10. Marian Laments Hardly to be distinguished from these Bonaventura Meditations, so far as the Longinus incident is concerned, are the epics or lyrics known definitely as Marian La- ments. Indeed, Thien 60 in his study of the Middle Eng- lish "Marienklagen" does not differentiate them. For 60 uher die engl. Marienklagen, Kiel, 1906. LONGINUS IN ENGLISH LITERATURE 111 his purpose it was of course suitable to consider not only monologues or dialogues in which Mary is the speaker, but. to include passages founded on the planctus wherever They occui — in treatises or poems on the passion, in the drama and elsewhere. I shall take up here only the lament in its more restricted form. The type is of in- terest since it represents, as Professor Gerould remarks, 01 "the movement which from the twelfth century human- ized religion at the same time that it popularized the elements of mysticism. " It is easy to see how the story of Longinus could be- come attached to the Marian lament. In her complaints Mary usually recites in detail the tortures of the cruci- fixion. In the well known Filius regis mortuus est (Lam- beth MS, 853) there occurs this stanza, in which there is reference to the spear, but not to Longinus : O ie creaturis vnkynde! bou iren, J?ou steel, >ou scharp born! How durst ^e slee soure best frend, J>e holiest child )>at euere was born? je haue him woundid, ye haue him pyned; Spere & nail his bodi ha> schorn! pou spere! whi suffridist bou ]?e smyth ]?e grinde So scharpe J>at al his herte >ou hast to-torn? I may crie out on ]?ee bo]?e euen. & morn, A wemless maydens sone J?ou sleest! I wringe & wepe as J>ing for-lorn! Filius regis mortuus est.62 In some cases, however, the appearance of the spear has suggested to the writer the story of Longinus. An interesting lyric complaint of the sixteenth cen- tury — preserved, so far as is known, only in Balliol MS, 354 — contains mention of Longinus. It begins : 61 In his review of Thien's study, Engl. Stud. 37, 406. 62 Pol. Relig. and Love Poems, EETS., 15, 209, 210. 112 THE LEGEND OF LONGINUS Whan J?at my swete sone was xxxti winter old than J?e traytor Judas wexed very bold. The last stanza reads : Thowgh I were sorrowful no man haue at yt wonder, for howge was be erth quake, horyble was ye thonder, I loked on my swate son on J?e Crosse hat I stode vnder, than cam Lungeus, with a spere & clift his hart in sonder. Each stanza is followed by the refrain : O my harte is wo, Mary she sayd so, For to se my dere son dye, & sonnes haue I no mo! 63 Thien 64 comments on the line, "Though I were sorrow- ful no man haue at it wonder/' as a popular phrase in the laments. He cites as sources: Bernard's Tract. (Lat. XI) 65 ft. : tristitia vexabar . . . nee mirum; Dreves, Analecta Hymnica, IV, 87 : ISTec mirum, si sis anxia. The several texts of The Lamentation between our Lady and Saint Bernard vary considerably in the space given to Longinus. The story in MS Rawlinson (Poet. 175), and in MS Cambridge, Dd. 1, 1, is twice as long as that found in the Vernon text, and somewhat longer than that in the Cotton version. The variation in the case of the Cotton MS is caused by a different stanza arrangement and the omission of refer- ence to Longinus in the shifted stanza. Horstmann con- sidered the Cotton (which he dated about 1350) as the oldest MS of the poem. Frohlich, on the other hand, takes 63 Songs and Carols, from Balliol MS, 354, R. Dyboski, EETS., 101, 40; printed by Flugel, Anglia 26, 262; also in Early Eng. Lyrics, Chambers and Sidgwick, pp. 142, 143. e* Op. cit., 20. LONGINUS IN ENGLISH LITEEATUEE 113 the Rawlinson (the middle of the fourteenth century) to be the oldest MS. 65 The Rawlinson text reads as follows: 1.577. I folowd fast with all my myght With John & with my sisters two. Omang J>am J?are J?an stode a knyght, Blynd he was & lame also, And all J>ai said longius he hyght; Vnder J?e cross J?ai gert him go — And sertes pan I saw a syght pat was pe werst of all my wo 585. pai gaf pe knyght a spere full gude, And sett it to my dere son syde, pai bad him styng fast ]?are he stode For any thing ]?at myght betyde. He putt it vp with eger mode, To my sun hert he gert it glyde: And sone brast out both water & blode Of J>at wound J?at was so wyde. 593. pan wex my hert heuy als lede, When ]?at I saw J?at rewfull syght: pe watetr clere & pe blode rede pat ran out of pe wound full ryght;66 pan fell I doune als I war dede, Langer to stand had I no myght; John me comforth in ]?at stede, So did Joseph J>at noble knyght. 601. pe blode ran doune vntill his hand, And J?are with wyped pe knight his eghe, So gatt he syght als he gan stand And luked brade withouten leghe, 65 Ms Rawlinson, Poet. 175 version is printed by W. Frohlich, Be lamentacione sancte Marie, 1902, p. 63 ff. The Vernon text by Horstmann, EETS., 98, p. 297 ff. The Vernon and Cambr. Dd. 1, 1, by Kribel, Engl. Stud., VIII, 85 ff. The Tiber. E. VII, by Horst- mann, R. Rolle, II, 274 ff. For full description of MSS and their relations cf. Frohlich. 66 Dd. l.o96 reads instead — To Longius hand it ran doun rihte. 114 THE LEGEND OF EONGINUS He thanked god of all his sende — Lyftand his hert to heuen on heghe. pat syght sone dele my bale vnbande, And other mo ]?at stode me neghe.67 The Longiims episode apparently is an addition by the English author, since it does not occur in the sermon of St. Bernard, which is supposed to be his source: "Vide- bant Christi corpus sic male tractatum ab impiis, sic lacte- ratum! a pessimis, jacere exanime suo sanguine cruenta- tum." 68 Who this author was, however, is not known. It has been ascribed to Richard Rolle of Hampole, but Horst- mann, 69 Kribel, 70 and Frohlich 71 all agree that it cannot be by Rolle. Horstmann first suggested as the probable author Richard Maidenstoon, 72 and later William Nas- syngton. 73 Frohlich 74 dismisses both these suggestions as unfounded. 67 in Tiber E. VII, the stanza beginning 1.593 follows that be- ginning 1.601. Both these stanzas are omitted in the Vernon text. MS Laud Misc. 463, gives for 11., 602-4, a very pretty varia- tion: He wipid his eyen and wel he sey ffelde and wode water and londe ffoul in firmamente on hey. A slight resemblance in the Vernon text to the Northern Pas- sion is to be noted. L.579 reads: "Besyde J?e Roode per stod a kniit Blynd he was and lome also." The corresponding line in the Northern Passion (MS Ashm. 61) reads: "Besyde J>e rude stude a knyght, J>at longe hade forgone hys syght." See above, p. 99. 68 printed by Kribel, op. cit. p. 109, from Antwerp ed. 1616. 69EET8., 98, 297. 70 Op. cit., 84. 71 Op. cit., 54. 72EETS., 98, 297. 73 j?. nolle, II, 274. 74 Op. cit., 54. L0NGINUS IN ENGLISH LITEKATURE 115 §11. Religious Lyrics The religious lyrics in Middle English, as Chambers 75 has noted, exceed in number the love-lyrics. Several of these have already been included in other connections, as Marian laments, poems on the Hours, or meditations on the Passion. Their origins are usually shown by the remnants retained by them of the older forms from which they derive. For instance, they are often translations with slight expansion of Latin hymns. As in the case of the Vernon Horae de Cruce, they keep the Latin poem as heading, and add in English a free paraphrase, some- times including details not found in the source, as, for example, the Longinus reference in the Vernon poem. Such a poem as this is still further popularized by the inclusion of a refrain, as illustrated by the "O and I" drawn from the Home. 76 Again, a secular lyric serves as the direct model for the religious poet. He addresses the Virgin as the "may," "Mi leove swete lefdi," "Lavedi so fair and so hende." Jesus is the "lemman;" as already noted, in the half lyrical homilies, the Wohung of ure lauerd, and the Talhyng of the Loue of God. All the followers of Rolle show this intimacy of appeal, the de- sire of the love of Christ, as a source of earthly ecstacy and peace. In speaking of Rolle, Chambers says, "All his verse is of love-longing,' filled with that sense of personal contact between the soul and the divine object which appears to be at the heart of the mystical appre- hension. . . . He conceives of love, not as softness, but as fire; to him, as to the trouveres, although in another 75 Cf. Chambers and Sidgwick, op. cit., p. 287. 76 See above, p. 105. 116 THE LEGEND OF LONGINUS sense, it is 'derne love.' " 77 Such feeling is the source of many of the mediaeval religious lyrics. Sometimes these poems succeed admirably in keeping the charm of the secular lyric, then again they are travesties, showing merely a didactic attempt to ecclesiasticize the popular song in order to draw the attention from worldly to heavenly thoughts. A highly secularized, or slightly ecclesiasticized, lyric which mentions the blindness of Longinus without giv- ing the miracle, is this from a fifteenth century MS, edited by Wright. It is prefaced, "A song to the tune of, And I were a mayd, etc." : They hym nayled, and yl flayled, Alas, that innocent! Lunges, blind knyght, with al his myght, With a spere hys hart rent, Hey, now, now, now, Watur and blod fro hys hart yode, And yet that blyssed sone Prayd for thosse that ware hys fosse, To get for them pardone Hey, now, now, now.78 A curious and extreme example of this moralizing pro- cess applied to secular lyrics, is found in The New Not- browne Mayd upon the Passion of Cryste. "The pro- duction," as Hazlitt notes, "consists of a dialogue be- tween Christ and the Virgin Mary, in which the latter intercedes with our Saviour for mankind." The tag, "I am a banysshed man," which appears at the close of each of the sections in which Jesus speaks, gives here an ab- surd effect of caricature. 77 Ibid., p. 289. 78 Songs and Carols, Percy Society, XXIII, 72. LONGINUS IN ENGLISH LITERATURE 117 Longinus is mentioned in Maria's speech: 1.126 Swete sonne, syth ye, To make hym fre, Wold dye of your good mynde; Your herte souerayne Clouen in twayne, By longes the blynde. And all was done, That man alone Shulde not be left behynde; Your goodnes euer Dothe styll perseuer Though he haue ben unkynde; What is offendyd, Shall be amended, Ye shall persayue anon; Ye shall be kynde Yeldynge his mynde And loue to you aloneJ9 Another example of a religious lyric in the dress of the secular — though, in this case the poet is more success- ful — is found in the remarkable poem The Quatrefoil of Love, printed by Gollancz (from Brit. Mus. MS Addit. 31,042). Here the lyric takes the form of a vision and begins in the usual vision style. The marked allitera- tion is to be noticed : In a moruenyng of Maye whenne medowes salle spryng: Blomes and blossomes of brighte coloures: Als I went by a welle: on my playing: Thurghe a merry orcherde bedand myne hourres. He sees a "Turtille" in a tree, which speaks and tells him of a "trew-lufe grysse," "with iiij lef es it sett fulle 79 Early Popular Poetry of England, III, 1, ff. Hazlitt says the poem appears to be a translation from the French. 118 THE LEGEND OF LONGINUS louely aboute." The four leaves represent the Father, Son, Holy Ghost, and Mary. Reference to Longinus is found in connection with the second leaf (stanza xviii) : ^itt spak hat noble kynge, was naylede on hat tre; Untille his modir dere was mournande hat tyde: 'Leue bi wepynge, womane, and morne noghte for me: Take John to bi sone bat standis hi bi side: Johne, take Mary bi moder now moder to be: To kepe and to comforthe 20ure blysse for to byde! pe hate blode of his hert dide Longeus to-see: pat rane by he spere schafte fra his wondis wyde pat daye It was grete dole for to se: When he was taken of he tre: The seconde lefe of the three Was closede in claye.80 The Bannatyne MS contains several poems, which mention Longinus, different in type from those already examined : We that are Bocht with Chrystis Blude Betuix ws and thy fellone sede Ane wall ar Chrystis woundes fyve His body bathit in blud all rede, The scurgis that his flesch did ryfe The speir that Longeus did indryfe In latus eius per vigorem, Schaip the no moir with ws to stryve: Virgo peperit Saluatorem.8i The Latin tags in this and the next poem indicate their probable origin. 80 Furnivall Miscellany, p. 121. 81 Hunterian Club, I, 78. In this edition the first lines are used a.s titles. LO^GmUS IN ENGLISH LITEKATTTRE 119 My wofull Hairt me Stoundis, Fra XII to iiij upoun the croce I hang, Plungit in panis and perplexite; Longius a lance into my body thrang; I wes tane doun, and woundit richelie, My muderis splene pairfit calamide; My blissit body, quhilk passit all riches, Within a crag wes closit quietle: Benedicta sit Sancta Trinitas.82 woundit Spreit and Saule in tell Exile Punyss nocht thy peple, Lord God, in thy grevance; Think quhy thy Sone Cryst sufferit sic passioun; The croun of thorne, the croce, eik Longins lance For manis syn makis intercessioun."83 Compacience perssis My wofull hairt is boyth roiosit and sad, Thy cross, Lord Jesus Chryst, quhen I behald Off my redemptioun I am merry and glaid, Seand thy panis sair wep I wald. Cryand holy, the gaistly sperit thow yald; To Longens hand the blud ran in a rest; Thy pretius blud for our redemption thow said, Quhen thow inclinit with 'Consummatum est.' Dirk wes the sone fra the sext hour to nyne, Mountains trymblit, hillis, erd schuk ard claif; Centurio said, Thow art Godis Sone devyne.84 §12. Fifteen Signs befobe the Day of Judgment Not only in places where it would be expected, such as in descriptions of the passion, or the sorrow of the Virgin, is the story of Longinus found. It may be added to any poem that contains mention of the spear. In this 82 IMd., 84. 8* Ibid., 88. 84 Ibid., 91. 120 THE LEGEND OF LONGINUS way it was inserted in some versions of the Fifteen Signs before the Day of Judgment. Though there are a num- ber of English poems 85 on this theme, the Longinus in- cident appears in only two — those in Cotton MS Caligula A II, 86 and Trinity College Cambridge MS B. 11, 24. 8T The reference to Longinus is more interesting in the Cotton text: The XV. day hyeth bylyve. For her ys no mon on lyfe Fro Adammus day, he fyrst mon, To be dome he shall come hann; And fro he deth he shall aryse, And of he dome full sore agryse, Every man yn XXXti wyntur of olde Shall come he dome to beholde; And every mon shall ohur mete At be mownte of Olyvete. Two angelles shall blawe wyth homes, For drede all shall come at ones; Well sore bey may agryse, That fro be deth ben shall ryse. Two angelles shall come Jesu beforn Wyth schorge and spere and crowne of born, Wyth drery chere and sorrowful mode, And so hyt herte and hys blode, The spere as blody and as sharpe, As he was stongenn wyth to be herte. For nonn envye ne for no pryde Longeus stonge hym borow be syde. But he nam he blode so rede, As he prophesye hym bede, He strokke hyt to hys yesy^th, Hyt wax as clere as candellyght. He sayde: "Lorde full of pyte, 85 Cf. Nolle, Beitrdge, VI, 474; also H. E. Sandison, Archiv f. das Stud. d. neueren Sprach. u. Lit. CXXIV, 80, 81; and Varnha- gen, Anglia III, 534 ff. 86 Printed by Varnhagen, Anglia III, 549. 87 Ed. Furnivall, Hymns to Virgin and Christ, EETS., 24, 123. LONGINUS IN ENGLISH LITERATURE 121 Thys mysdede J>ou for^eue me. I ne dede hyt for no wykkedhede, But as J?ese cursede jewes me bede." Two angelles shall brynge >e rode bry^t, pe blody naylus, so presyous of syght, And say: "Lorde, we beseche J?e, Of all us to have pyte." Then Jesus calls to mind his suffering on the cross ; Mary intercedes ; the evil are condemned to sorrow, and the good are rewarded. Jesus proceeds at once to speak of the pain caused him by the scourges, the spear, the nails, etc. Here, it will be observed, the story of Longinus has been dragged in at the mention of the symbols of the suffering of Jesus. It interrupts the narrative and is out of keep- ing with what precedes and follows, as Longinus is repre- sented as the unwilling instrument. Noteworthy are the lines : But he nam ]>e blode so rede As ]>e prophesye hym dede. No other version of the story with which I am familiar refers to a prophecy in this connection. 88 §13. Piers Plowman No mediaeval writer, great or small, could avoid Lon- ginus. The author of Piers Plowman,, describing the passion of Christ in the framework of a vision, pauses 88 Varnhagen, op. cit. p. 533, comments on the close relationship of the Cotton MS version to that found in Digby 86. He says, in- deed: "Welchem derselben die prioritat gebiihrt, lasse ich dahingestellt sein." The Digby MS does not contain the Lon- ginus story. The Cotton MS is very closely paralleled by the Trinity College Cambridge MS B. 11, 24 (James, 263), also of the fifteenth century. The latter omits the suggestion of prophecy and is somewhat briefer. 122 THE LEGEND OF LONGINUS long enough to tell the story of Longinus. Here the spearman is seen as a gallant and knightly figure, and his deed is spoken of in terms of knightly encounter. The scene is made highly dramatic, and, notwithstanding the secularization, pathetic. 1. 78. Ac Ipere cam forth a knyjte • with a kene spere ygrounde, HUte longeus, as \>e lettre telleth, and longe had lore his si^te. Bifor pilat & other peple • in J?e place he houed; Maugre his many tethe • he was made J?at tyme To take J?e spere in his honde • & iusten with ihesus; For alle J>ei were vnhardy • pat houed on hors or stode, To touche hym or to taste hym • or take hym down of Rode. 85. But Ipis blynde bacheler J?anne . bar hym J?orugh J?e herte; pe blode spronge down by J?e spere • & vnspered J?e kniates eyen. panne fel J?e kny^te vpon knees • and cryed hym mercy — "Ajeyne my wille it was, lorde • to wownde 2OW so sore!" He seighed & sayde • "sore it me athynketh; For pe dede J?at I haue done • I do me in ^owre grace; Haue on me reuth, riitful ihesu!" • & rijt with J>at he wept. Thanne gan faith felly • pe fals iuwes dispise, Called hem caytyues • acursed for euere, For ]?is foule vyleynye • "veniaunce to jow alle, 95. To do pe blynde bete hym ybounde . it was a boyes conseille. Cursed caytyue! • kni^thod was it neuere To mysdo a ded body • by day or by ny^te. pe gree lit hath he geten . for al his grete wounde. For jowre champioun chiualer • chief kniy^t of ^ow alle, jelt hym recreaunt rennyng • ri^t at ihesus wille.89 Longinus, it is interesting to note, is here introduced as the "champion" of the Jews (cf. especially 11. 99-100), 89 Vision of Piers Plowman, Ed. Skeat, B-text XVIII, 78-100: C-text XXI, 81-105. Cf. Kroner, p. 32. LONGINUS IN ENGLISH LITERATUBE 123 so that he stands forth as the protagonist of the anti- Christians. Acting in this representative capacity, he becomes almost an allegorical figure, and his conversion in consequence something more than a private incident. 90 §14. Chattcee Chaucer also has made use of the legend. In his ABC poem, a free translation of the prayer to the Virgin in Guillaume de Deguilleville's Le Pelerinage de la Vie hu- maine, there is found a passing reference to Longinus though no mention of him occurs in the corresponding stanza of the French text : Xristus, thy sone, that in this world alighte, Upon the cros to suffre his passioun, And eek, that Longius his herte pighte, And made his herte blood to renne adoun; And al was this for my salvacioun; And I to him am fals and eek unkinde; And yit he wol not my dampnacioun — This thanke I you, secour of al mankinde.9i §15. Lydgate Lydgate more than once shows his familiarity with the legend of Longinus. The first passage in which he tells the story occurs in the Nightingale — a poem which em- 90 The representation of Christ as a knight engaged in knightly encounter with his enemy is not uncommon in the Middle Ages. Cf. P. Meyer, Introduction to Les Contes Moralises de N. Bozon. Soc. des anciens textes fr., pp. xli-xlii. The allegorical poem on the Crucifixion by Bozon, referred to, has been printed by A. Jubinal, Nouveau Recueil, II, 309 ff.; and by T. Wright, Pierre LangtofPs Chronicle, Rolls Ser., II, App. II, 426 ff. In this poem Christ encounters Belial, who gives him the five wounds. 9i The Minor Poems, Ed. Skeat, 1894, p. 270. The French origi- nal of the poem is printed at the bottom of the page. 9 124 THE LEGEND OF LONGINUS ploys the vision setting, but which in its arrangement fol- lows the Hours of the Cross. The mention of Longinus 1.379. Thus heng oure lord nayled to the tre, Fro the oure of sixt unto the oure of none, — Ande also longe was in prosperite Oure fader Adam, tyll tyme that he had done That high forfet for which he banyshid sone Was in-to yerth, to lyue in langour there Ande all his o[f] spryng, — till Longens with a spere The oure of none, as Iewes hym desyred, Thirled and persed thorgh his hert & side. He, seyng then: "Consummatum est," expired And heed enclyned, the gost yaf vp that tyde Vnto the fader. The sunne, compelled to hyde His bemys bright, no longer myght endure To see the deth of the auctor of nature. Thus hath this brid, thus hath this nyghtingale, Thus hath this blessed lord that all hath wroght, Upon a crosse our soules dere y-bought."92 In Lydgate's Testament, under the sub-title Lyh a Lamb e off ryd in sacrifice, these stanzas occur: Behold the speere moost sharply grounde and whet, Myn herte woundid upon the rihte syde, Behold the reed speer, galle and eysel fett, Behold the scornyngis which that I did abyde, And my five woundys that were maad so wyde Which no man lyst of routh to advertise, And thus I was of meeknesse ageyn pryde, To mannys offence off rid in sacrifise! See how that I was jugid to the deth, See Baraban goon at his liberte, 92 EETS., e. s. 80, 14. Cf. MacCracken, The Ly agate Canon, p. xix, for notice of MSS. LONGINUS IN ENGLISH LITERATURE 125 See with a speere how Longius me sleth, Behold too licoures distyllyng doun fro me, See blood and watir, by merciful plente, Rayle by my sides which auhte I nouhe suffise To man whan I upon the roode tre, Was lik a lamb offrid in sacrifise.93 A reference to Longinus appears also in the first section of the same poem : By blood Jhesus made our redempcioun, With watir of baptym fro felthe wessh us cleene, And from his herte too licours there ran doun, On Calvary the trouthe was wel seene, Whan Longius with a spere keene Percyd his hertet upon the roode [tre]; O man unkynde! thynk what this doth meene, And on to Ihesu bowe adoun, thy kne.94 Lydgate emphasizes here the doctrinal points connected with the sacrifice of the Crucifixion — the atoning, expia- tory 'blood of redemption' and the miraculously shed 'water of baptism.' That Lydgate should introduce mention of Longinus also into his Testament is not surprising. Indeed, when one considers how usual it was to attach the legend to any reference to the spear, it becomes matter for remark that Longinus is not more often found in "Testament" poems. Thien includes this type also among his 'Marien- klagen/ to which it is closely related. Frequently the lance is made prominent, as in the Yernon version of the Testamenfum Christie where Christ is the parchment; the scourge is the pen ; the wounds are the letters ; the spear and nails, the seals. 93 Minor Poems of Dan John Lydgate, Percy Society, II, 262. 9*IMd., it 234. 126 THE LEGEND OF LONGINUS 1.135 pe seles bat hit was seled wij> pei were grauen vp-on a stij> Of gold nor seluer weore pei nouit, Of stel and Iren were pei wrou^t: With pe spere of stel myn herte pei stongen.95 §16. A Lollard Creed Pollard prints in "The Examination of Master Wm. Thorpe, priest, of heresy, before Thomas Arundell, Arch- bishop of Canterbury, 1407," A precise and authentic Lollard Creed. The Archbishop charges William with having infected and poisoned the land with his "untrue teaching and shrewd will," to which William responds: "Sir, since ye deem me an heretic out of belief, will ye give me here audience to tell my Belief?" His creed con- tains interesting mention of Longinus: And notwithstanding that Christ was wilfully, painfully, and most shamefully put to death as to the world, there was left blood and water in his heart, as he before ordained that he would shed out this blood and this water for man's salvation. And therefore he suffered the Jews to make a blind knight to thrust him into the heart with a spear; and this blood and water that was in his heart, Christ would shed out for man's love."96 95 EETS., 117, 647. Though I have found Longinus mentioned only in this Testament of Lydgate, his name is included among the signatures of the witnesses in two versions of Testamentum Christi, MS Harl. 6848, fol. 239, and Add. Char. 5960. For these references I am indebted to the kindness of Miss M. C. Spalding, who expects to publish soon a critical edition of the Middle English versions of the Testamentum Christi. 96 Fifteenth Century Prose and Verse, A. W. Pollard, 107, 108, 110. LONGINUS IN ENGLISH LITERATURE 127 §17. Eomais t ces Exclusive of the Grail In the English romances unconnected with the Grail, Longinus and his lance are of no great importance. Gen- erally speaking, only those of French origin include any reference to the story. As in the French romances — though in English the illustrations are comparatively few, — Longinus's name is found in the long prayers made by the heroes before entering combat. Kroner draws most of his examples of the French use of the legend from such prayers, which occur abundantly. 97 Sometimes, as in the following lines in Robert the Devyll, Longinus is brought in quite incidentally in the course of a reference to the redeeming blood of Christ : And forthe he rode to the church door And discended from his horse right there So he kneled downe in the floore And to oure lorde god he made hys prayer 97 Since Kroner's dissertation was published, E. Langlois has compiled a Table des Noms Propres Compris dans les Chansons de Geste, 1904. His list of the appearances of Longinus includes, in addition to those mentioned by Kroner, the following: Rolant (W. Foerster, Alt. franz. Bib. VI) 200, 352; Rolant (Bib. VII) 290, 291; Berte (A. Scheler, 1874) 1431; Gaidon (Anc. poetes de la France) 42, 43, 66, 131, 170, 255; Anseis de Gartege (Bib. de litt. Verreins CXCIV) 260, var; Gui de Bourgogne (Anc. Poetes) 29, 30, 42, 52, 58, 106; Aliscans (Anc. Poetes) 214; Enhances Vivien (A. Nordfelt) 1895; Girart de Yienne (Poetes de Champ. XVI, 16) 103; Aimeri de Narbonne (Anc. Textes) ; Mort Aimeri 2001; Beuve de Commanchis (Scheler) 520; Parise la Duchesse (F. Guissard et L. Larchy) 2; Renart de Montauban (Bib. des litt. Vereins Stutt, LXVII) 176, 180, 214, 226, 349; Maugis (M. F. Castels, Rev. des langues rom. XXXVI, p. 5-259) 6619; Mort Garin (duMeril) 218; Chanson d'Antioch (P. Paris) I, 132, II, 22, 88, iii; Conq. de Jerusalem (Hippeau) 866, 7031; Baudoin de Sibourc I, 316, II, 154, 171, 304, 321, 322, 365, 374, 447; Bastard de Buillon, 33, 859, 2499, 3242, 4086, 6150. 128 THE LEGEND OF LOMGINUS Saying, swete Jesu that bought me dere Haue mercy on me for that precyous bloude. That ran from your hearte with longis speare Which stonge youe in the side hangynge on the roode.98 A second type of prayer, common in the romances, is found in the long petition of Olyner before his fight with Fierabras, in which he recounts the life of Christ. This is taken from Caxton's Charles the Grete: "O gloryous god, cause and beginning of al that is aboue and vnder the fyrmamente, which for your owne playser fourmed our fyrst fader Adam and for hys companye gauest vnto hyra Eue, by whome al humayn generacyon is conceyued gyuyng to them lycence to ete al maner fruytes reserued onely one, of whyche Eue by the moeuyng of the serpent, caused Adam to ete .... And whan ye were in age by you determyned ye went in the world prechyng to your frendes. Thenne after- ward by thenuyous lewes ye were hanged on the crosse, in whiche so hangyng longyus the knyght by the Induction of the lewes percyd your syde; and whan he byleued in you and wesshe hys eyen with your precious blode he recouered his sy^t fayre and clere and cryed you mercy whereby he was saued. . . . Thus my god, my maker, as thys is trouthe and I byleue it verayly and fermly, be ye in my comforte ageynst thys myscre- aunte that I may vaynquysshe hym in suche wyse that he may be saued."99 Similar in type to the preceding is another prayer in the same romance, offered in this case by Charles for the success of Oliver. The mention of Longinus is as follows : "And after Longyus smote you in the ryght syde to the hert, which was blynde and after that he had leyed on hys eyen of your precuous Blood he sawe moche clerely." 100 In another type of prayer, common in the old French romances, Longinus is mentioned, along with the Magda- ^Roberte the Devyll, London, 1798, p. 28. Reprinted by Haz- litt, Remains of Early Pop. Poetry, I, 244. 99 The Lyf of the Noble and Grysten Prynce Charles the Grete, EETS., e. s. 37, 65, 66. ioo ibid., 71. LOXGIXUS IX ENGLISH LITERATURE 129 lene, Judas, and others, as an example of a great sinner who repented and was forgiven. Of this kind is the fol- lowing from Garin de Lolierain, though in this case Lon- gimis figures alone: "Sire, dit-il je vous ai souvent of- fense, et j'en grand regret. Mais vous avez pardonne a Longis le coup de lance qui vous donna la mort ; preservez- moi aujourdhui ! m01 So far as I am aware, this type of prayer is not illustrated in the English romances. Besides this use of Longinus in prayers, the romances sometimes mention him in connection with the relics of the crucifixion, which, in the crusading romances, play an important part. In Sir Ferumbras,™ 2 the winning from the Saracens of the relics of the crucifixion is one of the motives of the romance. Floripas gives the 'relyques preciouse and f yn' to the French knights : 1.2122 'Be-holde]>, lordes,' sayde sche J>anf and bu]> now murie and glad; pis ys t>at tresour whar-for ? e hani trauayl and tene i-had; Which bat my fader let bere away? of Rome as ft knowe.' Again the relics are brought out in time of trouble and the knights kneel to them and pray for help: 1.5049 Wan be barouns had y-se^en hem alle, On hure knes bay duden falle, and cryde god mercy. pat burde bry^t banne tok hem out, and knelyng bay kussede alle about be relyques with gret honour; And prayede god borw vertue of hem Scholde sauye hem ther fro he]? [en] men. The Saracens scale the walls, but when the relics are 'schewede hem on hur face/ they fall back and from such a great height 'that hure bodies al to-burste.' ioi Ed. P. Paris, 1862, 339. Cf. for other French examples, Kro- ner, op. cit., 34 ff. 102 EETS., e. s., 34. 130 THE LEGEND OF LONGINUS In Sir Ferumbras the lance is not mentioned among the relics, as at the time celebrated in the romance, the lance had already been removed from Jerusalem. 103 In Roland and Yernagu, a related romance, it is included. Constantine showed Charlemagne the relics, the odor of which cured three hundred sick people. There were the holy crown, the arm of St. Simeon, a piece of the cross, our Lady's smock, the rod of Aaron, and one of the nails. And a spere long and smert, pat longys put to godes hert, He gaf charls J?e king; Charles then prayed for a proof of the genuineness of the relics, and the place was filled with a heavenly light. 104 A third point of contact between the legend of Lon- ginus and the romances lies in the invention of the sacred lance at Antioch by the crusaders. Here again English literature illustrates less well than French. In the French romances the episode is treated with more spirit. The invention, however, is found in English in Godefroy of Boloyne. After speaking of the knights dying of hunger, the writer adds: It were a long thyng for to recounte all their meseases; but our lord that in alle his werkes may not forgete mercy sente to them grete comfort, ffor a clerk born in prouynce named peter, cam on a day to the bysshop of puy and to therle of tholouse, and sayd to them in moche grete drede, that the holy apostel seynt andrew had appiered to hym thryes in the nyght slepyng, and warned hym that he shold goo to the barons and saye to them that the speer with which our lord was percid in the syde on the crosse was hyd in the chirch of saint peter in the cyte, the place where it was he had certainly shewd to hym. he said wel that he was not come for to saye ne signefye them, but that 103 Cf. above, chapter on the history of the lance, p. 58. 104 Roland and Yernagu, EETS., e. s. 39, p. 40. LO^GIj^US 1ST ENGLISH LITEEATUEE 131 seynt andreu had menaced hym at the last tyme yf he dede not his message he shold meshappen in his body Thenne began to delue and dygg depe in the place that the clerke had shewed to them. They fonde the spere lyke as he had sayd to them. Thenne had they a Ioye emonge them so grete, lyke as euery man had had as moche as he myght.ioo §18. The Drama In the English mediaeval religious drama the legend of Longinus shows less interesting development than in con- temporary drama in Germany and in France. On the continent the religious drama took its rise earlier and attained in general greater development, the cycles reach- ing great dimensions. It is not strange, therefore, that such an apocryphal incident as the curing of the blind Lon- ginus should receive more attention in the French and German crucifixion plays, than in the English. Though the story occurs in the four great cycles, Chester, York, Towneley, and Hegge, and also in the Cornish Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, there is only the slightest char- acterization of Longinus himself and no enlargement of the episode. Throughout, Longinus is dealt with quite seriously. The accounts for the most part are not given much more dramatic heightening and color than is found in the corresponding narrative treatments of the sub- ject, such as those which appear in the Cursor Mundi and in the Northern Passion. The text devoted to Longinus in the English plays is never very long. The Chester Crucifixion (Play XVII), is one of the more extensive of the plays. The centurion expresses belief in Jesus. Cayphas answers him: 105 EETS., e. s. 64, pp. 200, 201. 132 THE LEGEND OF LONGINUS But when thou seiste his harte bleede, Lett us see what thou can saye. Longes, take the speare in hande, And put from thee, thou ney wounde longeus : O Lorde, I see ney sea nor lande This seven yeaire in good faye. QUARTUS JUDEUS: Have this speare, and take good heede Thou muste doe as the bushoppe thee bede, A thinge that is of full greate nede, To warne I houlde you woode. longyus : I will doe as ye byde me, But on your perrill it shalbe. What I doe I maye not se, Wheither it be evill or good. Tunc Longius lancea perforat latus Christi, dicens Highe kinge of heaven, I thee praye, What I have done well wotte I nere, But on my handes and on my speare Out watter ronneth through; And on my eyes some can fall, That I maye see bouth on and all. Lorde! wherever be this wall, That this watter come froo? Alas! Alas! And wayleawaie! What deed have I done to daie? A man I see, south to saye, 1 have slayne in the streete. But this I hope be Christe vereye, That sicke and blynde hase healed aye. Of mercye, Lorde, I thee praie, For I Wiste not what I did. Jesus, moche have I harde of thee, That sicke and blynde through thy pittie Hase healed before in this cittie, As thou hasse me to daie; LONGINUS IN ENGLISH LITERATTTKE 133 Thee will I serve and with thee be, For well I leeve, in daies three, Thou will rise in thye postie, From enemyes, Lorde, I thee praie."i06 Resemblances to the vernacular literature, such, as have been pointed out, especially in the York Plays, by Miss Smith 107 and Craigie, 108 are here to be noted. Neither of these writers supplies a parallel for this particular passage in the plays. On the other hand, compare the directions given Longinus in the above passage with these lines from the Northern Passion : They made hym under Jesus stond And pute a spere in his hond They leyd >e spere to Jhesus side Pute up J?ei seyd what so betyde Longeus pute )?e spere hym fro To Jhesu herte it gane go. And again the italicized lines above with these from the Passion: On hys kneys he gane doune falle And of Jhesu mercy calle He sey "I wyst not what I dede Bot as oJ»er hade me bede."i09 The italicized lines in the Chester play also show similari- ties to the text of the Cursor Mundi. 'Note particularly the readings of the Trinity MS — 1. 16839. A^ein his wille he hit dude therefore he made mone. — 106 Chester Plays, Thomas Wright, 1843, II, 66. 107 York Plays. Introd. pp. xliv, xlv. 108 Furnivall Misc., 52 ff. 109 For the whole passage, see above, p. 99. 134 THE LEGEND OF LONGINUS and the Cotton interpolation : 1. 33. Mercy, he cried oure lorde, And gart cristen him. I-wis. It looks as if the story had assumed stereotyped form and was used in much the same way by narrative and dra- matic writers. In the York play, Mortificacio Cristi (Play XXXVI), the episode is more briefly dealt with than in the Chester. Here Pilate gives the direction to Longinus. The soldier himself is less rude, indeed he expresses his gratitude, amazement, and love with lyric ardor. The centurion is not included, nor is there any statement as to whether Longinus knew what he was doing. Pilate: Ser Longeus, steppe forthe in bis steede pis spere, too, have hold in thy hande To Jesu J?ou rake fourthe I rede, And sted nou^t but stiffely ]?ou stande Astounde In Jesu side Schoffe it his tide, No lenger bide, But grathely bou go to he grounde, (Longeus pierces Jesus' side) Longeus: O! maker vnmade, full of myght, O! Jesu so jentile and jente, pat sodenly has lente me my sight, Lorde! louyng to J?e be it lente. On rode arte J?ou ragged and rente, Mankynde for to mende of his mys, Fall spitously spilte is and spente, The bloode lorde to bringe vs to blis full free A! Mercy my socoure, Mercy my treasure Mercy my sauioure, pi mercy be markid in me.no no York Plays (fifteenth century) L. T. Smith, 1885, p. 368. LONGIjSTUS IN ENGLISH LITERATURE 135 The Towneley Crucifixion (Play XXIII) treats the episode very briefly — two executioners appear, and one of these is willing to pierce Jesus in order to see if he be dead. The other opposes him and calls on Lon- ginus. Though Longinus asks not to be made to do anything ignorantly, he offers no real objection. When his sight is restored, he says he sinned innocently at the command of others. primus tortor let one pryk hym with a spere And if that it do hym no dere Then is his lyfe nere past. ijus tortor. This blynde knyght may hest do that. longeus. Gar me not do bot I wote what. iijus tortor Not bot put up fast, longeus. A, lord, what may this be? Ere was I blynde, now may I see; Godys son, here me, ihesu! ffor this trespas on me thou rew. ffor, lord, othere men me gart, that I the stroke vnto the hart: I se thou hyngys here on hy, And dyse to fulfyll the prophecy.m Hohlfeld has called attention to parallel passages in this play and York XXXVI, 112 but these do not include the Longinus episode. So far as the treatment of this incident is concerned, there is no significant resemblance. That the metrical form in the Towneley Plays shows great variation has been noted by Pollard, Davidson, in The Towneley Plays, (fifteenth century), A. W. Pollard, EETS., e. s. LXXI, 276. 112 Op. cit., pp. 298, 299. 136 THE LEGEND OF LONGINUS Hohlfeld, Cady and others. In this particular play the variations apparently mark change in mood, and effort is made to suit the metrical form to the speaker. The lament of Mary, for instance, is written in long lines, usually of seven stresses and rhyming in couplets. The torturers use a different stanza, four stresses rhyming aabccb. Longinus's speech is also different, the lines con- taining three or four stresses and rhyming in couplets. The treatment of the Longinus story in the Hegge Burial of Christ (Play XXXIV) is more dramatic than in the cycles already considered. Longinus is again the innocent tool in the hands of the Jews. The centurion, though brought into no connection with the soldier, has here a great deal to say, all to the effect that the wonderful tokens indicate that Jesus is the true son of God. Two knights go with Joseph of Arimathea to Pilate. One thinks Jesus dead; the other wishes to be sure: ponder is a blynd knyth I xal go to, And sone awhyle here xal be wrowth. Here the knyth goth to blynde Longeys, and seyth, Heyl, sere Longeys, thou gentyl knyth: The I prey now ryth hertyly; That thou wylt wend with me ful wyth, It xal be for thi prow veryly. Longeus. Sere, at *our comawndement with 2OU wyl I wende In what place ^e wyl me have; For I trost ^e be my frend; Lede me forth, Sere, oure sabath ^ou save! Primus Miles. Lo! sere Longys, here is a spere! Bothe long, and broad, and sharp anow; Heve it up fast that it wore there, ffor here is game: — show, man, show. LONGINTTS IN" ENGLISH EITEKATUEE 137 Here Longys showyth the spere warly, and the olood comyth rennyng to his hand, and he avantoresly xal wype his eyen. Longeus. O good Lord! how may this be, That I may se so bryth now? This thretty wyntyr I myth not se And now I may se I wote nevyr how! But ho is this that hangyth here now? I trowe it be the mayndonys sone; And that he is now I knowe wel how, The Jewys to hym this velany han don- Here he ffallyth downe on his knes. Now, good Lord, fforgyf me that, That I to the now don have; For I dede I wyst not what, — The Jewys of myn ignoranse dede me rave. Mercy! Mercy! Mercy! I crye.H3 The resemblance already noted in the case of the Ches- ter plays to the Cursor and the Northern Passion are perhaps even more evident here. 114 The Cornish Passion, though briefer, is not unlike the Hegge Passion in the treatment of the character of Lon- ginus. As in the Hegge play, he goes willingly when bidden by the knights, who address him courteously. Ills Tortor longys reys yv thy's gyne vn pols byan lafurye dre worhemmyn a'n instis (et ducit longeum ad cruces et dat lanceam in manum ejus) Longeus me a geneugh yn lowen mar callen guthyl hehen a socor nag a seruys IVs Tortor nebes seruys ty a wra tan syns y'th dorn an giu-na ha herthy'e gans nerth yn ban Longius, need is to thee with us A little while to labour, By order of the Magistrate. I go with you gladly, If I can make any effort Of help or of service. A little service thou shalt do Take, hold in thy hand that spear And thrust it with force up- wards. i^Ludus Coventriae, J. O. Halliwell, 1841 (MS Cott. Vespas. D. VIII, 1468) Play XXXIV, 334, 335. 114 See above, pp. 133, 134. 138 THE LEGEND OF EONGINUS Longeus me a'n herth guel ha gyllyf na vlamyough vy kyn fyllyf rak dal of ny welaf man [hie perforat cor Ihu] I will thrust it the best I can Do not blame me, though I fail For I am blind, I see not at all. Is Tortor benet sewys syre longys synt iouqn whek re'th caro henna yv pyth a thyuys gallas lemmyn lour ganso [tune fluat sanguis super lansea usque ad manus longii Militis et tune terget oculos et in debit et dicit] A blessing follow thee, sir Longius Sweet Saint Jove love thee: That is what I choose; Thou art now very able with it. Longeus Arluth thy'm gaf . del y'th pysaf war pen dewlyn an pyth a wren my ny wothyen rag ny wylyn hag a quellen. my ny'n grussen kyn fen lethys rak del won sur map dev os pur yn beys gynys a vaghtyth glan. vn vap certan os the 'n das du ow ham wyth bras, gaf thy'm a tas the vertu.H4 Lord, forgive me, as I pray thee On my knees; What I did, I knew not, For I did not see And if I had seen, I would not have done it, Though I had been killed; For, as I know surely, Very Son of God thou art, In the world born, Of a virgin pure; a son cer- tainly Thou art to the Father God. My great bad deed, forgive me O Father By thy virtue.H5 In the English plays, it is seen, the legend does not re- ceive much dramatic development. Longinus is some- times aware of the deed he is about to perform when he us The Ancient Cornish Drama, (fifteenth century), ed. and translated by Ed. Norris, vol. I, 460, f. LOXGEXUS IX EXGLISH LITERATURE 139 pierces the side of Christ, and sometimes unaware be- cause of his blindness. He is always overcome with re- pentance. In French and German plays, the legend is treated more freely. The twelfth century Resurrection du Sauveur 116 shows Longinus haggling over the money he is to receive as recompense for the deed, and there is, just after the marvellous cure of Longinus, a spirited bit of dialogue between Pilate and a soldier who tells of the miracle. Longinus is shown as cruel, delighting in his office, in the St. Gall Passion. 117 "So wil ich in dorch- steehen," he says when given the spear, "das ime sin herze muz brechen, sin zauber wil ich so rechen." In the Don- aueschinger Passion 118 he is even more venomous, — "Ich wil mich rachen ouch an dir du woltes uff erd nie helfen mir un hest mich lauffen blind beliben." Longinus is depicted as wicked also in La Passion de Notre Seigneur 119 and in Greban's Mist ere de la Pas- sion. 120 The reverse of this characterization as cruel is found in the Alsf elder Passion 121 where Longinus is rep- resented as merciful: "Ach lieber knecht, ganck mydde! der mentsche lydet pyn und martet viel, die ich nu gern enden wylle." ii6 Theatre Frangais au Moyen Age, Monmerque et Michel, p. 12. H7 Mone, Schauspiele des Mittelalters, Karlsruhe 1846, I, 121. H8 Fifteenth century, Mone, op. tit.,. II, 326. H9 Jubinal, Mysteres inedits du Quinzieme Siecle, p. 254. 120 Fifteenth century, G. Paris, Paris 1878, 346. 121 Fifteenth century, Froning, Das Drama des Mittelalters, III, 796. 10 140 THE LEGEND OF LONGINUS The centurion takes part with Longinus in the Donaue- schinger play. When the blood falls on Longinus's hand, the centurion speaks to him: Loyne, folg mir an alien bass, die hend sind dir von blote naff, Strich das hie an dine ougen, Gelt du werdest geschen und glouben das dieser mensch gewarer Christ Und umb unschuld gestorben ist. In Greban's Passion also the centurion is brought into connection with Longinus. When the blood runs down the spear, the centurion, astonished at seeing the blood mingled with water, declares that this portends some mys- tery. He then testifies that Jesus is the true son of God. Longinus's speech follows at once: O Jhesus, je te cry mercy De tant que je t'ay offense Ne james n'avoye pense" Que tu feusses si haulte chose, Comme Centurion propose. Tu es doulx et plain de clemence Et en icelle confidence Le pur sang qui de toy degoute, La chere et precieuse goute Prendray et mettray sur mes yeux, Esperant qu'il m'en soit de mieulz Et que ma veue se ravoye.122 The action is much longer in these plays. Extended conversation occurs in connection with the leading of Lon- ginus to the cross, and after arrival there the soldiers discuss at length the probability as to whether or not Jesus is yet dead. The soldiers, and, in some cases, Lon- ginus's knights, are given names. In the Alsfelder, as 122 Le Mystere de la Passion, Paris, 1878, p. 348. LONGINUS IN ENGLISH LITEEATUEE 141 he leads Longinus to the cross, the servant sings. Greater however than the difference in length of treatment, and m the specific attributes given Longinus by way of in- dividualizing him, is the difference in tone in these con- tinental plays. In them Longinus is no longer the grave, more or less definitely Biblical, figure of the soldier at the cross. He has become a character, frequently a dis- tinctly humorous one. He and his servant furnish amusement. The contrast in consequence after his con- version is all the more striking. In England, on the other hand, at least so far as the extant texts are concerned, the story of Longinus in the crucifixion plays never underwent any great dramatic de- velopment; the episode was introduced, but was treated in crude and mechanical fashion. It is possible, how- ever, that in England also the episode was later more developed. Among the Corpus Christi pageants at Here- ford, according to the Register of the Corporation for 1503, was a play, "Longys with his Knyghtes," which was assigned to the "Smythes." 123 These 'Knyghtes' in all probability correspond to the servants or companions found in the French and German plays, who serve to lighten and elaborate the incident and to increase the im- portance of Longinus. 123 Chambers, The Mediaeval Stage, II, Appendix, 368, 369. CHAPTER VII LONGINUS AND THE BALDR LEGEND One of the problems most discussed in connection with the Longinus story is its possible relationship with the Baldr myth, as it appears in the Eddie poems. In the well known tale of Baldr, the beautiful, the god without blemish, the son of Odin, beloved of all the other gods, save Loki alone, resemblances to the Longinus story are easily recognized. Baldr's mother Erigg exacted from all things in the animal, the vegetable, and the mineral worlds, an oath that they would not slay her son. The gods then, secure against the possibility of injuring Baldr, found pastime in hurling all sorts of missiles at his invulnerable body. But Loki, the evil one, took on the form of a woman, and learned from Erigg that there was a little tree west- ward from Valhal too young to take the oath — the mis- tletoe. When Loki found the blind God HoSr standing on the outside of the circle, he asked him why he too did not shoot at Baldr. And when Ho$r answered that he could not see, and had no weapon, Loki put the mistletoe arrow in his hand and aimed it for him. Baldr, struck by it, fell to the ground dead. His body was then placed on a funeral pile on his ship Ringhorn. With Baldr was laid Nanna, his wife, who died from sorrow, and both were burned. Bugge traces the Norse form of this legend to the Gos- pel of Nicodemus and mediaeval English sources, making the casting of the mistletoe by the blind Ho$r a repro- duction of the thrusting of the spear into the side of 142 LONGINUS AND THE BALDR LEGEND ±4o Jesus by the blind Longinus. 1 Bugge calls attention to the fact that in accounts of the legend current among the English and Irish, as wiell as elsewhere, the blind Longi- nus has the spear put into his hand and his aim directed just as is the case with Ho$r. 2 And he adds that the belief was common in England and Ireland that Christ did not die until pierced by the lance of Longinus. Loki is identified with Lucifer. Bugge's conclusion with regard to the connection of the Baldr story and the legend of Longinus, is of course used by him to support his general thesis: "that at the time when the mythological Eddie stories took shape, Norwegians and Icelanders were not uninfluenced by the rest of Europe, but that they were subjected, on the con- trary, to a strong and lasting influence from the Chris- tian English and Irish." 3 This influence, he believes, was operative in the ninth and tenth centuries. Into this larger question we need not at present enter. As propounded by Bugge, it aroused, as de la Saussaye re- marks, "a storm of both approval and disapproval, which has not yet subsided." 4 It is sufficient here to> note that i The Home of the Eddie Poems, trans, by W. H. Schofield, 1899, p. xlii ff. 2 Cf. Acta 8. Julianae {Belles Lettres Juliana, p. 39. Acta Sanc- torum, Feb., torn. II, Feb. 16) . The devil tempts Juliana: "Ego sum qui feci Adam et Evam in paradiso praevaricari; ego sum qui feci ut Cain interfeceret Abel fratrem suum . . . ; ego sum qui feci Judam tradere Filium Dei . . . ; ego sum qui compunxi militem lancea sauciare latus Filii Dei," etc., etc. 6 Op. cit., p. xv. 4 In The Religion of the Teutons, 1902, p. 38 ff., de la Saussaye gives a summary of criticism on the question of how far such foreign influence must be admitted, for the general subject of Norse mythology. F. Kauffmann, Balder, Mythus und Sage, 1902, has performed a similar service for the history of Baldr criti- cism. 144 THE LEGEND OF LONGINUS it is the view of most recent critics that Bugge carried his theory too far. As to the specific relationship of the story of Baldr with that of Longinus, the present attitude is fairly sum- marized by Kauffmann: "Seine Deutung [Bugge's] der einzelnen Figuren auf Jesus oder auf Achilleus erscheint aber genau ebenso willkiirlich als die von andern gegebenen Deutungen auf die Sonne oder auf die Unschuld oder auf einen Vegetationsdamon. Die Neueren haben daher entweder an der physikalischen Bedeutung (Much) oder an der moralischen Formel (Detter) festgehalten und (wie z. B. Frazer) auf die Buggesche Sagenkritik iiberhaupt keine Rticksicht genom- men. Selbst diejenigen Forscher, die, wie W. Golther und E. H. Meyer, auf die Gedanken Bugge's eingegangen sind, messen seinen Christlichen und antiken Parallelen nur accessorische Bedeu- tung ZU.5 It is difficult, in the confusion of views at present held by mythologists, to form any opinion as to the origin of the Baldr story. There are arguments offered, though in no case are they entirely satisfactory, in support of many theories. Baldr is explained as Apollo, as Achilles, as Christ, as tree spirit, sun-god, wind-god, moon-god, as the representative of good in the struggle between good and evil, or as peace in that between peace and war, as mere man exalted to the position of a god, or, as one of the most recent investigators of the myth interprets it, as sin-offering or scapegoat for his people. With the ultimate origin of the myth the present study has no concern. Nor can it undertake to decide whether Bugge is right or not in affirming that the form of the story in SaxO' Grammaticus is reminiscent of an older type of the legend than that found in the Eddie poems. The ques- tion of the influence of Longinus is confined to the versions s Op. cit., p. 17. LONGINUS AND THE BALDK LEGEND 145 of the story found in scattered fragments in Voluspd, in Gylfaginning, in Baldrs Draumar, and Lokasenna. As evidence in general for English and Irish influence on the JSTorse lays, Bugge points to the fact that the poems contain not only words of English origin, but also 'poetic/ saga-historical and mythical motives, in the ac- tion of the stories and in their composition, which he likewise traces to English sources. His conclusion that the Baldr story is dependent on the Christian, he bases on the following resemblances: as in the Christian story, Baldr's death is important; all else is subordinate or omitted; his fall is the turn- ing point in the history of the world. Both Christ and Baldr die in their youth. Baldr's slayer, HoSr, is blind, but his blindness is only connected with the slaying of Baldr, as he is not blind otherwise. His blindness, more- over, is the outer sign of inner spiritual blindness : "he is not moved by malice, like Loki, but acts without know- ing what he does." In this respect the story is similar to that of Christ slain by the blind Longinus — the spiritu- ally blind, — the instrument used by the devil. Bugge further notes that the mistletoe, not common in Scandi- navia, is well known in England ; he thinks the mistle- toe weapon used by Hoo> is explained by the superstition current in the west of England, that the cross of the cru- cifixion was made of mistletoe. At the time of Christ the mistletoe was a forest tree, but because of the wicked use to which it was put, it was cursed and became an in- significant plant, 6 Moreover, both Baldr and Jesus are white, without blemish. Both visit hell. Again there is 6 Bugge refers for this statement to Thiselton Dyer, English Folk-Lore, London, 1878, 34. Cf. SUidien iioer die Entstehung der nordischen Goiter, und Heldensagen, p. 50. 146 THE LEGEND OF LONGINUS similarity in the punishment to which their enemies are doomed; Loki, bound in consequence of Baldr's death, recalls Lucifer bound in darkness forever. 7 Striking resemblances are here noticeable — the most interesting are the main incidents : both Christ and Baldr are slain by blind men, not themselves responsible for their deeds, but instigated by evil powers. One uses a spear: the other a mistletoe dart. There are, however, difficulties, and I find myself, in consequence, of the opinion of those later critics who think this Christian influence sec- ondary in importance, and that the myth, before com- ing in contact with the Longinus story, must have had much more its present form than Bugge appears to think probable, §1. The Difficulty of Chronology The first obstacle in the way of Longinus as a source for the blindness of Hoftr is one of chronology. Bugge takes it that these lays were written in all probability in England in the ninth or tenth centuries. It will be remembered that the first positive evidence of the blind- ness of Longinus is found in a St. Gall MS of the ninth century, 8 where the blood from the side of Jesus is shown touching the eyes of Longinus. That this trait of the story was even then not generally current, is shown by its absence from the martyrologies of the ninth and tenth centuries. Moreover, if these Norse stories were written in England as the result of the Longinus legend popular there, they would apparently precede any English story of the same type. The first vernacular account of Longinus 7 Op. cit., pp. xxxix ff. 8 See above, p. 48. LONGINUS AND THE BAEDR LEGEND 147 in England, as far as I know, is found in 2Elf ric's sermon on the Exaltation of the Cross, 9 which belongs to the end of the tenth century, and which contains no reference to the blindness. §2. The Gosforth: Cross Again, there are other stories which explain both the mistletoe weapon and the blindness, and, consequently, make one hesitate to take the Longinus story, which lacks many of the other elements of the legend, as the only, or even the most important, source of the Baldr myth. Be- fore considering these directly, I shall examine another bit of the evidence offered by Bugge for England as the chief source of influence in the Baldr story, a point which is more or less closely connected with one of these stories. For confirmation of his theory Bugge appeals to the Gosforth Cross in Cumberland, which, as he takes it, dates from about the ninth century. Bugge is here mis- taken in the date. All these early crosses 10 are now con- sidered later than they were formerly. To this state- ment the Gosforth Cross forms no exception. Colling- wood connects it with "Irish Viking thought and work" and remarks: "It is just possible that the idea was brought to this coast, frequented by Vikings, at an early time in the eleventh century." 11 Even if the date of the cross did not make it too late to serve as a source for the Eddie lays, there would be other difficulties. For this monument is a curious mixture of pagan and Chris- tian elements. Surmounted by a cross, and adorned on SEETS., 94, p. 114; 46, p. 107. io Professor Cook now thinks the Bewcastle cross dates from about the middle of the twelfth century. ii Collingwood, Early Sculptural Crosses, p. 167. 148 THE LEGEND OF EONGINUS one side by a crucifixion scene, its other sides are much more easily explained by Scandinavian than by Chris- tian story. As G. Stephens says, it is "redolent of heath- endom.' 7 "It openly handles the true faith in a light and interpretation, taken from that olden creed which the Gospel came to supplant. We have pagan Gods and Myths, honorably treated, straight before our eyes." 12 Bugge, in his discussion of the Gosforth Cross, says: "On the west side of this cross may be seen a woman sitting over a fettered man. She is holding a cup in her hand in such a position, that she appears to 1 be pouring out its contents. The man is lying on his back, bound hand and foot, as it seems, to a rock. Close to the man's head may be seen the head of a snake." He identifies the man and woman as the bound Loki and Sigyn, his wife. On the east side he sees "Longinus piercing the crucified Christ with his lance." He adds: "The carv- ings on this monument argue, then, for the view that the author of Voluspd heard in northern England the story of Loki and Sigyn, or verses which treated that story. He may possibly have seen the Gosforth Cross himself, and have been told the story of Loki and Sigyn in explanation of the scenes carved thereon." In the next line he states that "In Codex Regius of Voluspd, the section on Baldr s death and Loki's punishment is placed directly before the strophes on the places of tor- ment of the dead," etc, 13 The question inevitably pre- sents itself: if the author is drawing his inspiration from the cross story only, and if he has no other similar legend of Baldr in mind, why does he replace the cruci- fixion of Christ with the death of Baldr, a death ac- 12 Prof. S. Bugge's Studies on Northern Mythology, 1883, p. 23. 13 Bugge, Home of the Eddie Poems, pp. xlviii-xlix. LO^GIiSTUS AND THE BALDR LEGEND 149 companied by the oath of the plants, the burning of Baldr and Nanna, and other incidents not known to the stbry of Longinus % Moreover, a wholly different explanation for the east face of the Gosforth Cross — and one which connects it directly with Scandinavian mythology — has been sug- gested by W. S. Calverley. 14 "But who is this central figure on the east side of the cross ? who with stretched out arms grasps the rope-like border of the oblong panel, whose side is pierced with the spear. It may be that same Odin whom we have already twice seen [elsewhere on the cross] ; for does not Odin's Rune-song say : 'I know that I hung on a wind-rocked tree, Nine whole nights, with a spear wounded, And to Odin offered, myself to myself: On that tree of which no one knows From what root it springs;' or it may be Baldr the beautiful, the peace-giver, . . . who by the treachery of Loki was slain, . . . And so the beardless man to the left, holding the spear, may be blind Hodr; . . . and the woman to the right may well be ISTanna, the wife of Baldr, . . . or it may be Frigg, who should grieve a second time over the death of Odin, her beloved. " If this is Christian teaching, and it may be, 15 clearly strongly pagan myth is used — and myth that is already formed and consequently familiar to the people taught by it, rather than new myths in the making. This episode may represent a Baldr — or Odin — Christ, but in the cases of other carvings on the cross, the Christian parallel is 14 Archeological Journal, XL (1883), 151 ff. 15 E. H. Meyer, Die eddische Kosmogonie, p. 22, shows how in the catacombs, Christian lessons were taught by pagan mythology. 150 THE LEGEND OF LONGINUS not so obvious. The Loki story has no counterpart in Christian legend which would account for it satisfac- torily. Again the great wolves Skioll and Hati rush to attack the sun and the moon. Heimdall, "the warder of Asgard" who by a blast on the "Giallahorn" has awak- ened a the Ases and Einherian," and Odin riding to seek knowledge in "Mimer's well" as well as other figures readily explained by the "Voluspa appear. The fact that the whole cross is indubitably meant to tell Scan- dinavian story of course makes the Scandinavian the better interpretation for the crucifixion face. It would, however, be difficult to explain this face entirely by Christian analogy if it stood alone. As a matter of fact there is only the semblance of a cross. The figure is surrounded by a rope. The outstretched arms suggest the cross. There is also unquestionably a woman with long hair standing opposite the spearman. This is very unusual if the cross represents the crucifixion of Christ. As shown above, the early type is that in which the spear- man and the sponge bearer appear as corresponding fig- ures. A little later when Mary is included in the group, she is placed opposite John, the first two figures being still retained, thus making two figures on each side of the cross. The fact that such a cross as this can be ex- plained satisfactorily by taking its carvings as illustra- tions of Scandinavian myth, and is less easily explained by Christian interpretations, must suggest that in the early days of its history it was probably considered either pagan or Christian according to the desire of the beholder. As an evidence of Christian coloring in the Voluspa it is not convincing. The use of legend makes it Scandinavian and the date of the Eddaic poems, which according to Bugge took shape during the ninth and LCWGINTTS AND THE BALDR LEGEND 151 tenth centuries, would make the cross too late for any possible influence on their formation. §3. The Odin Story This Odin story is itself interesting as a possible pro- totype of the Baldr legend. Bugge would explain it as also due to the influence of the crucifixion of Christ. Others differ. IVTogk 16 says of the lines quoted from the Voluspd "Die Windgott erzahlt, wie er in seiner Jugend neun Nachte in Weltenbaume gehangen, mit dem Speere verwundet, er sich selbst geopfert, und wie er da nie- dergespaht und die Runen gehoben und von Mimir ge- lernt und den Dichtermeet geschopft habe, l)is er zu dem wurde, was er jetzt vor der Welt ist: das weiseste aller Wesen." 17 O. Bray comments on the same passage in Voluspd': "The sacrifice depicted resembles in many points the hu- man sacrifices that were offered to Odin." Concerning the general type to which this story belongs, she says: "This legend in outline is of a god — call him Odin, Baldr, Osiris, Ishtar, Adonis, — who must be sacrificed or voluntarily die in order that he may rise again in fullness of power, or even give place to some new god. Sometimes it is clear that he typifies the beneficent pow- ers of nature, whether as the sun or the spring, or sum- mer f ruitf ulness ; but occasionally, as here, his signifi- cance is more doubtful." 18 16 Paul's Grundriss III, 343: "Christlichen Einfluss, d. h. den am Kreuze hangenden Christus, in diesem Mythus zu finden, wie Bugge will, ist nicht notig." C. de la Saussaye, op. cit., p. 231, thinks Bugge's view is not to be followed. He cites Gering and Mullenhoff. 17 Paul's Grundriss II, 588. 18 The Elder Edda, 1908, p. xxx. 152 THE LEGEND OF EONGINITS Not very different from this last conception is Frazer's idea of Odin, as he considers Adonis, Attis and Osiris different names for the same god. "The human victims dedicated to Odin/' says Frazer, "were regularly put to death by hanging, or by a combination of hanging and stabbing, the man being strung up to a tree or a gallows, and then wounded with a spear." 19 Frazer sees the counterpart of these Odin sacrifices in the Attis cult. Taking Marsyas, who was hanged on a tree (and whose story is attested), as a double of Attis, he remarks: "We may conjecture that in the old days the priest who bore the name and played the part of Attis at the spring fes- tival of Cybele, was regularly hanged or otherwise slain upon the sacred tree, and that this barbarous custom was afterwards mitigated into the form in which it is known to us in later times, when the priest merely drew blood from his body under the tree and attached an effigy instead of himself to its trunk." 20 Bugge's opinion is made the less convincing by the fact that we find connected with sacrifices to Odin such stories as this of Yikar. Kauffmann tells it, paraphrasing the Norse, as follows: "Konig Vikarr zeigte sich als gewaltiger Kriegsmann. Er hatte viele ausgezeiclmete Kampen urn sich, aber der angesehenste von alien und der Liebling des Konigs war StarkaSr; er stand ihm zunachst an Rang, war sein Berater und Heerfuhrer und seit langen Jahren in seinem Dienst. Da segelte Vikarr mit starker Mannschaft von AgSir nordwarts nach HprSaland musste jedoch wegen schlecten Wetters lange in den Scharen liegen bleiben. Man 19 S. Bugge, Stud, liber die Entstehung der nord. Gotter- u. Hel- densagen, 1889, p. 339; K. Simrock, Die Edda, p. 382; Miillenhoff, Deutsche Alterthumskunde IV, 244 seq.; H. M. Chadwick, The Cult of Othin, 1899, pp. 3-20. All these are cited by Frazer, Adonis, Attis, Osiris, p. 186. 20 Adonis, Attis, Osiris, p. 186. LONGINUS AKT> THE BALDR LEGEND 153 holte ein Orakel ein; dabei wurde kundgegeben, dass Odin als Opfer nach dem Loos einen Mann aus der Kriegsschar fordere. Es wurde geloost und es sprang das Loos Konig Vikars heraus. Alle verstummten. Man kam iiberein, sich iiber die Notlage zu beraten. Um Mitternacbt weckte Hrossharsgrani den Starkatsr und forderte ihn auf, ihm zu folgen. Sie nahmen ein kleines Boot, ruderten zu einer Insel hinuber. wanderten das Geholz hinauf, kamen an eine Rodung und trafen dort eine grosse Versammlung. Da sassen elf Manner auf Stiihlen; ein zwolfter Sitz war leer; den nahm Hrossharsgrani ein und alle begriissten ihn als Odin. Er forderte die Richter auf, dem StarkaSr sein Schicksal zu bestim- men. porr legte ihm das eine, Odin anderes auf und als dies vollendet war, ging die Versammlung auseinander. Da sagte Hrossharsgrani zu StarkaSr, er habe fur das ihm erwiesene Wohl- wollen auf Dankbarkeit Anspruch und verlange von ihm den Konig Vikarr. StarkaSr sagte zu. Da gab ihm Hrossharsgrani einen Speer (geirr) in die Hand und sagte, das solle ein Rohr- stengel sein (reyrsproti) . Am andern Morgen versammelten sich die Berater des Konigs und einigten sich, das Opfer zu veran- stalten. Auf dem Opferplatz stand eine Fohre und ein hoher Baumstumpf. Unten an der Fohre befand sich ein dunner Ast (kvistr mjor, vgl. Vol. 32, 33). Starkat5r stieg auf den Baum- stumpf, bog den diinnen Ast herab und sprach zu dem Konig: 'Nun ist dein Galgen fertig, er sieht nicht eben gefahrlich aus, komm her, ich will dir die Wide um den Hals legem' Der Konig antwortete: '1st dies nicht gefahrlicher als es aussieht, dann durfte es mir nichts schaden.' Er trat auf den Baumstumpf. StarkaSr legte ihm die Wide um den Hals, stach den Konig mit dem Rohrstengel, rief: 'Jetzt opfere ich dich dem Odin' und liess dem Fohrenast los. Der Rohrstengel aber war zum Speer gewo'rden und hatte den Konig durchborht; oben im Gezweig schwebte er und starb." 2 i Bugge thinks this story of Vikar not uninfluenced by the account in the Hdvamdl of Odin's hanging himself. 22 But though he thinks the Havamal story of Odin shows Christian influence, he explains otherwise other sacrifices 2iKauffmann, op. cit., p. 247 f. Cf. Ranisch, Gautrekssaga, Pa- laestra XI, p. cix; cf. Detter, Beitr, 19, p. 500; C. de la Saussaye, op. cit., p. 372; Bugge, Studien, p. 339 ff. 22Bugge, Studien, 342. 154 THE LEGEND OF EONGINUS to Odin. "Das Eiesultat der obigen Auseinandersetzung ist also, dass der Mythus, O^inn sei am Galgen als Opfer gehangen, erst in der Wikingerzeit durcb den Einfluss von Erzahlungen iriseher oder englischer Christen iiber Christus entstanden ist, wahrend der Braucb dem OSinn oder Wodan Menschen am Galgen zu opfern bei den Nordgermanen uralt nnd acbt germaniscb ist. Dieser Brauch musste aber in bobem Grade dazu beitragen, dass die Erzahlung von Cbristus, der als Opfer am Galgen bieng, von beidnischen Nordlenten in einen Mytbus von O^inn verwandelt wurde, und musste unwilkurlicb mit der eigenen Opferung des Gottes am Galgen in Ver- bindung gebracbt werden." 23 If, bowever, Odin sacrifices are primitive Germanic, tbe elements in tbe Yikar story not explained by Odin or Cbristian influence, such as tbe piercing with tbe cane which turned to a spear when dedicated to Odin, may also well be primitive. 24 These stories make it seem probable that Baldr was substituted for Odin, or that Baldr was himself a sac- rifice to Odin. Tbe Baldr story finds close parallel in the Vikar. Odin replaces Loki as the real opponent of the victim; StarkaSr, HoSr; and Vikar, Baldr. The weapons used — plants that change into spears — in them- selves suggest some ritual tradition. Such ritual tradi- tions are offered in explanation of the story by two of the most recent interpretations of the myth, those of Erazer and KaufPmann. 23 ibid., 344 f. 24 This must recall what looks like a Christian parallel. Gospel of Peter, Swete 1893, 25: "Others pierced Him with a reed." There is no suggestion of death here, however. It is part of the mocking and may be due merely to the smiting on the head with a reed found in Matthew. LONGINUS AND THE BALDS LEGEND 155 §4. Frazer's Explanation of the Baldr Myth. Frazer, in discussing the Baldr myth, selects as the two fundamentally important traits: (1) pulling the mis- tletoe, and (2) burning the god. 25 Neither of them is explained, it will be noticed, by the Longinus story. In connection with the second point, Frazer shows tbat in most parts of Europe bonfires on certain days of the year have been burned from time immemorial. He quotes Mannhardt, 26 as authority for the statement that in the eighth century attempts were made by Christian synods "to put them down as heathenish rites." By numerous illustrations drawn from customs in Rhen- ish Prussia, in the Tyrol, in Swabia, in Oldenburg, in Aachen and other parts of Germany; in the Highlands of Scotland, in Sweden, in France, in England, in Ire- land, in Slavonic countries, in Greece, Italy and Spain, he shows how common these fires were. Moreover, he brings out many traces of human sacrifices in these cus- toms. The burning of effigies in the midsummer fires was not uncommon. These effigies, from numerous in- dications, represented either the fertilizing tree spirit, or the spirit of vegetation. Frazer says: "When the god happens to be a deity, of vegetation, there are special reasons why he should die by fire. For light and heat are necessary to vegetable growth; and, on the principle of sympathetic magic, by subjecting the personal repre- sentative of vegetation to their influence, you secure a supply of these necessaries for trees and crops." 27 The 25 Golden Bough, II, 246. 2QBaumkultus, p. 518 seq. For development of the "Johannis feuer" theory see Kauffmann, op. cit., p. 9. 27 Golden Bough, II, 276. 11 156 THE LEGEND OF LONGINUS fact that in Sweden these fires were known as Baldr's bale-fires, according to Frazer, "puts their connection with Baldr beyond the reach of doubt, and makes it certain that in former times either a living representative or an effigy of Baldr must have been annually burned in them." 28 The fires are generally burned at midsummer, and it is customary also (among Celts and Scandinavians) to gather mistletoe at midsummer. 29 Frazer shows that oak was the wood used in these fires, and so establishes con- nection with the mistletoe element of the legend. Baldr was the spirit of the oak; the mistletoe, according to primitive belief, was the seat of life of the oak. It is logical to suppose that, like the tree, Baldr could be neither killed nor wounded so long as the mistletoe remained un- injured. "The pulling of the mistletoe w^as thus at once the signal and the cause of his death." Baldr's story, then, if we accept Frazer 's theory, is to be connected with vegetation rites of the most primitive kind. Frazer does not, it is true, explain the blindness of HoSr. There is no mention of blindness in the stories which have to do with tree-spirit rites. Very similar, however, are the corn-spirit rites. In both ceremonies, the spirit is represented by a person, and in both its spirit has fer- tilizing influence. Clearly they are nearly akin. Frazer, in his discussion of the Baldr myth, calls attention to the fact that the slayers of the corn-spirit are frequently blindfolded. He cites instances of the custom in Ireland. Sometimes the corn-spirit was represented by a cock tied upon a man's back. Other men, blindfolded, struck at it with branches, until it died. 30 28 md., II, 289-290. 29IMd., II, 295. soiMd., II, 360. LONG-INUS AND THE BALDR LEGEND 157 §5. Kauffmann's Theory Kauffmann, also, bases his theory on a rite. He thinks Frazer's study important and, to an extent, trustworthy, but urges the objection that only Baldr is accounted for by his explanation, that Hoftr, Loki, and the other gods are not included. 31 "Nun scheinen die der Opferung Balders gleichenden Opferspiele der Gegenwart eben die Schlussfolgerung nahezulegen, dass ununterbrochen und in steter Folge am ende eines jeden Jahres ein bildlich an das mythische Uropf er erinnerndes Suhnopf er dargebraeht wurde. Frazer hat diesen Schluss gezogen und ich bin geneigt, mich ihm anzuschliessen. ISTur wiirden nicht die Johannisfeuer, sondern die um die Jahreswende (alten Stils) datierten Festbrauches des Todaustragens ein Anrecht darauf besitzen, die TJeberbleibsel eines alt- germanischen Jahresopfers zu enthalten, das im Balder- mythus seine magische Weihe fand." 32 And again, "Schliesslich vertragt sich Balders Opferung als 'Siin- denbock' aufs beste mit dem Volksbrauch, am Ende jedes Jahres auf einen erlesenen Opferkonig spielweise die Jahresschuld abzuladen unci die Suhnung und Lauterung der Gemeinde zu bewerkstelligen." KaufYmann suggests also that Vali, the son of Odin and Bind, and the avenger of Baldr' s death, may be the god of the new year, as .distinguished from Baldr, the god of the old or dying year. 33 Ho8r as the one who makes the sacrifice, is equal with Baldr. "Die beiden im Opfersakr anient verbundenen 31 Kauffmann, op. cit, pp. 12, 13. zzibid., p. 302. szibid., p. 303. 158 THE LEGEND OF LONGINUS Hauptpersonen werden gerne als Briider bezeichnet und gottliche Wesensgemeinschaft trifft audi fiir HoSr und Balder zu." 34 Hoftr, however, according to the tradition of such ritual, must be punished. StarkaSr, the slayer of Vikar as an Odin-sacrifice, had to flee; so HoSr is banished. 35 As to the mistletoe, Kauffmann finds it impossible to decide which is the original form of the legend — that in which the sword figured, as in Saxo, or that where the mistletoe was used, as in the Voluspd. 36 He calls atten- tion to the folk idea that the soul (or the death) of a person may exist in a plant — as the mistletoe, or in a stone, or in a fish, and to the fact that the person may not be injured in any way whatsoever, "weil seine Seele nicht in ihm ist," 37 He likens the use of the mistletoe in the case of Baldr's death to that of the reyrsproti in Vikar's. In both cases the sacrificial weapon takes the form of a plant that be- comes a spear when employed in the sacrifice. 38 In a note he calls attention to the custom among certain peo- ples of using in the sacrifice not knives, but reeds. He says: "Dem reyrteinn des Odin entspricht der mistel- teimi des Loki. Beide sind als biegsame zweige von den heiligen Baumen der Gotter geholt und als deren Opfer- waffen dedacht." 89 34 ma., p. 274. 35 iMd., p. 260. Note here the equality which Kauffmann thinks essential in the Baldr-Loki relation as compared with the op- ponents in the Christian story. 36 ibid., p. 116. 37 IMd., pp. 157 ff. 38 ibid., p. 249. 39 Ibid., p. 250. Cf. Gruppe, Bericht ilber Myth, und Religions- geschichte, Leipzig, 1908, p. 373. "Die Mistel ist in der germa- nischen Welt allgemein eine Zauber-und Wunderpflanze, die in LONGINUS AND THE BADDE LEGEND 159 The blindness of HoSr, Kauffmann explains as fol- lows: "Die (episodische) '1)1^1161^ HoSrs ist das Symbol seiner (zeitweiligen) Zugehorigkeit zu Loki. ?M0 Frazer, it was noted, made the important traits the pulling of the mistletoe and the burning of the god. KaufTmann emphasizes the second of these, though he ascribes a larger motive; — the god is burned not only to insure fertility and consequent prosperity, but to free men from sin and to give new life to the people. He ac- cepts the suggestion of the mistletoe-soul, but — though he is not clear on this point — appears to apply it differ- ently. He makes the mistletoe the symbol of Loki, god of the underworld or of death — and, consequently, a death- bringing instrument. If Frazer and KaufTmann are right in making the burning of the god the most important trait in the Baldr story, then likeness to Longinus ceases. Any one of the explanations offered in these discussions in regard to the mistletoe — as the seat of the soul of the oak, and so of the oak spirit, as Odin-weapon, like the reyrsproti, or as Loki's peculiar magic symbol — is more satisfactory than the view that it developed from the lance of Longinus. The idea that the spearman is himself not responsible for the deed is not particularly stressed by Frazer or Kauff- besonderer Beziehung zur Erregung und Loschung des Feuers zu stehen scheint, was wahrscheinlich mit der Verwendung der Mistel beim Reibefeuerzeug jusammenhangt. Aus eben diesem Grunde ist sie wohl in die Sage vom Feuergott Loki gekommen." 40 Kauffmann, op. cit., p. 244. Cf. Detter, Beitrage, z. Ge- schichte d. deutsch. Sprach. u. Litt., XIX, 504, who makes Odin the original evil spirit in the Baldr story, from the fact (1) that Odin, the one-eyed god of death, was probably the original blind god; and (2) from the mistletoe motive. Cf. the Vikar story where the reyrsproti was changed to a spear by StarkatSr's words : "Now give I thee to Odin." 160 THE LEGEND OF LONGINUS maim, though in both cases the officiating sacrificial priest, or spearman, would be merely the instrument of the opposing power. It is explained in the Odin-sacri- fice stories where Odin is the real opponent. Blindness would naturally be implied in any of these cases, from the very fact that the spearman is an instrument. §6. The Blind Spearman This idea of the slaying of a god by one who is blind is, however, widespread. A curious instance of such blindness, which is connected also with vegetation rites for the production of life, is one that comes from Silesia. The Whitsuntide king was selected as follows : A man of straw after trial was condemned to death, and fastened to a stake for execution. The young men, blindfolded, tried to pierce him with a spear. The successful one be- came king. 41 The same thing is suggested in this account of the Mahavrata, by A. B. Keith. After discussing the custom of removing the skin of the sacrificed animal, he adds: "More obscure is another rite mentioned in all the sources. To the left of the Agnidhra priest were placed two posts, on which was hung up as a target a completely round skin ; or . . . two skins, one for the chief archer, and the other for any others who were good shots. . . . The exact mean- ing of the ritual is by no means clear. It may be com- pared with the Lapp ritual; after slaying a bear . . . they hung its skin on a post and women, blindfolded, shot 4i Frazer, Lectures on Early Hist, of Kingship, 1905, p. 166. 42 Transactions of the Third International Congress for the Hist, of Religion, II, 56, 57. LONGINUS AND THE BAEDR LEGEND 161 Irish hero tales also offer parallels. Sometimes the suggestion is only that the hero is slain from ambush or by treachery; sometimes the slayer is blind, or has some affliction of the eyes. Rhys tries to show parallelism between the sun-god Lug (or Cuchulainn) and Baldr. Just as Hoftr (blind) slew Balder with the mistletoe at the instigation of Loki, Cuchulainn was slain by Ere or Lugaid, apparently at the instigation of the one-eyed daughters of Calatin. Rhys points out similarity in the names of the avengers of the two heroes, and in the way the slayers are caught — both, in water. 43 All this is far from clear as Rhys works it out, but the suggestion is interesting. Lieu, the sun-god of the Britons, is killed by his wife's lover Grouw. The wife finds out from Lieu how he can be killed. "He told her that he could only die in one way; he could not be killed either inside or outside a house, either on horseback or on foot, but that if a spear that had been a year in the making, and which was never worked upon except during the sacrifice on Sunday, were to be cast at him as he stood beneath a roof of thatch, after having just bathed, with one foot upon the edge of the bath and the other upon a buck goat's back, it would cause his death." Grouw made the spear; the wife prepared the bath. Grouw, from ambush, flung the spear and struck Lieu, who turned into 1 an eagle, from whose wound great pieces of carrion are continually fall- tag." Another case is found in the slaying of Nuada by Balor of the Evil Eye. Balor, the most terrible of the For- 43 Origin and Growth of Religion as Illustrated by Celtic Hea- thendom, p. 529 f.; cf. Lady Gregory, Cuchulain, 1903, p. 339. 44 Charles Squire, The Mythology of the British Isles, 1905, p. 266; cf. ibid., p. 16. 162 THE LEGEND OF LONGINUS mors, had two eyes, but one was always kept shut, for it slew anyone on whom he looked. "This malignant qual- ity of Balor's eye was not natural to him, but was the result of an accident. Urged by curiosity, he once looked in at the window of a house where his father's sorcerers were preparing a magic potion, and the poisonous smoke from the cauldron reached his eye, infecting it with so much of its own deadly nature as to make it disastrous to others. . . . Balor was allowed to live only on con- dition that he kept his terrible eye shut. On days of battle he was placed opposite to the enemy, and the lid of the destroying eye was lifted up with a hook." 45 It is perhaps worth noting that Cumall, who is supposed to be Nuada reincarnated, shared a somewhat similar fate, Cumall being slain by the one-eyed Aed. 46 Cumall was slain by one who has many names, Arc Dubh (Black-Black) and Aed (afterwards Goll). Goll was wounded by Luchtet and his eye destroyed, hence his name became Goll. His treachery cost Cumall his life. Asked by the enemies of Cumall how he could be slain, he refused to tell until he was threatened with death. Then he said Cumall could be slain only by his own sword, and with that only when the hero was in the arms of his wife. Arc Dubh traitorously placed the sword on Cumall's neck when he was asleep, and so killed him. 47 One wonders why the slayer of gods and heroes is so often made blind. We have seen that in the case of Lon- ginus, the legend that grew up about the piercer of the side of Jesus could easily be explained on the score that spiritual blindness was often mistakenly described as 45 Squire, op. cit., p. 48. 46 Henderson, Gelt. Review, I, 204. 47 George Henderson, Celtic Review, I (1904-05), 204, and II, 5. LOISTGINUS AND THE BALDR LEGEND 163 physical. Changes like this were constantly taking place. Such tales, as these just summarized, however, suggest an- other possible origin. It would not be unnatural for such a widespread folk idea to attach itself also to the slayer of Christ. Either explanation would have re- mained apocryphal. Though the tracing of the element of blindness to such ancient rites as the killing of the corn-spirit is entirely reasonable, another ancient conception may also have af- fected it. The slayer may simply be Death, who blindly slays all. This conjecture is made plausible by the cir- cumstance that death is frequently represented with a spear. In a British Museum MS (Addit, 37,049), of the first half of the fifteenth century, Death with a spear is seen piercing the right side of a man in bed. Blood runs from the wound just as in the crucifixion. Death says, "I have sought the many a day For to have the to my pray."48 In MS Stowe 39, The Desert of Religion, on the last leaf, Death, armed with a, spear, confronts a knight, a king, and an archbishop, with verses appropriate to each. 49 The following lines from Chaucer also describe Death with a spear as his weapon : Ther cam a privee thief, men clepeth Death, That in this contre al the peple sleith, And with his spere he smoot his herte a-too And wente his wey with-outan wordes mo.so 48Fol. 38. Miss Louise Dudley called my attention to these illustrations; cf. in the same MS, fols. 19, 39b, 40b, 42a, 42b, 43a and 69. 49 Cat. of Stowe MS, Brit. Mus. 1895, p. 24; cf. Cotton MS, Faust- ina B. 6, §2; Add. 37049, §43, fol. 46. 50 Pardoner's Tale, 675 ff . 164 THE LEGEND OF LONGINUS Many other instances might be cited. 51 A suggestion that in some confused way Longinus represented malign power, is shown in this queer old ballad, which still preserves the tradition in Wales. The ballad is in the form of a dialogue between Our Lady and the Holy Child : "Eair Mother Mary, sleepest thou ? Yes, my dear Son, I am dreaming. Fair mother, what seest thou in thy dream % I see Thee beset, and pursued, and taken, and crucified, and Thy hands and feet nailed. A dark blind man, deceived by the Fiend, 52 is piercing Thee in Thy right side with the point of a spear; and all Thy blessed Blood is being shed." 53 Whether the blind piercer is Death with a spear or not, this idea and the fact that it was so often shown pictorially would in- fluence the story of Longinus and would tend to make the spearman a dark, evil force. In view of all these stories, which show more or less similar traits — most of which obviously could not go back to the Longinus legend as a source — one hesitates to accept the Baldr myth as in any sense derived from the Christian legend. Whatever parallels may exist between Baldr and the Christian story are probably to be explained by the fact that the Baldr myth, going back as it does to primi- tive ritual customs, was, before it came in contact with the Christian story, made up of much the same essential traits, that now characterize it; though in its later stages, it is highly probable that the Norse tale has been some- what influenced by the Christian. 51 Court of Love, 1.294 "Though Deth therfore me thirleth with his spere." Sloane MS, 1896, no. 37, fol. 45. Death with an hour- glass in the one hand, and a spear in the other, threateneth all estates. 52 Cf. Acta S. Julianae (Belles Lettres Juliana), p. 39. 53 Root. Owen, Sanctorale Catholicum, Lond., 1880, p. 142. LOI^GmUS AND THE BALDR LEGEND 165 The theories of Frazer and Kauffmann make this later connection with Jesus and Longinus all the more probable. They have shown that the story of Baldr can be explained by mythic rites, which have as basic ideas the sacrifice of a god in order to obtain renewed life, physical or moral, for his people. With so much in com- mon, it is not difficult to see how in the latest develop- ment of the Baldr story influence of the Christian legend might be suspected. That the Christian legend could be the source of the Baldr story in its Norse form, it is hardly possible to admit, both on account of the dates and of such mythological resemblances as have been pointed out by Frazer and Kauffmann. 54 54 cf. Hubert Mauss, UAnnee Sociale, p. 121 ff. for explanation of the ordinary interpretation of the myth: "Le theme du sacrifice du dieu est un motif dont l'imagination mythologique a librement use ... la mort mythique du dieu rappelle le sacrifice rituel; elle est entouree par la legende, d'ailleurs obscure, mal transmise, incomplete de circonstances qui permettent d'en determiner la veritable nature . . . l'episode des theomachies est l'une des formes mythologiques du sacrifice du dieu . . . l'origine des mythes de cette forme a ete generalement oubliee; ils sont pre- sented comme des combats mSteorologiques entre les dieux de la lumiere et ceux des tenebres ou de l'abime." Cf. Kauffmann, 273-4 ; Cf . Mogk, Paul's Grundriss, III, 324 ff ., who sees the kernel of the myth of Baldr in the death of the god by the weapon in the hands of his enemy, HoSr, and in the avenging of his murder by his brother. Baldr is the sun-god, and the myth is a year myth. Loki naturally is the enemy of the sun. Later other elements were added — the oath, the mistletoe, which is known in folk-lore as a protection against sorcery. It replaces the sword of the earlier form. CHAPTEK VIII THE LANCE OF LOJSTGINUS AND THE GKAIL §1. Survey of Testimony The bleeding lance in the Grail romances is specifically identified by the writers after Crestien with the lance of Longinus. In Wauchier's continuation of Crestien's Per- ceval the lance which Gawain sees bleeding into a silver cup, is explained as that with which the Son of God was pierced in the side, and which will bleed until doomsday. In Manessier's continuation, Perceval is told that the lance is that with which Longis pierced God's side the day he hung on the cross. The Didot-Perceval likewise makes the lance the crucifixion relic ; when Perceval asks con- cerning the lance, he is informed by his grandfather that with this lance Longis pierced the side of Jesus Christ. In the Modena-Pereeval, the Fisher-King tells Perceval that the lance is that which Longis thrust into the side of Christ on the cross. Again in the Elucidation, the seventh part of the Grail story is referred to as the one which is to tell of the lance wherewith Longis pierced the side of the King of Holy Majesty. In the Morte D' Arthur, Balin, in his fight with King Pellam, makes use of the same spear that Longis used when he smote our Lord to the heart. The question is raised, how- ever, as to whether this Christianization is late, and due to the confusion of a pagan symbol with the crucifixion relic, or whether to the earliest users of the Grail legend, 166 THE LANCE OF EONGINUS AND THE GRAIL 167 Crestien and Wolfram, 1 the bleeding lance was. the in- strument connected with Christ's passion. These earliest writers of the Grail romances, it is true, leave us in doubt as to their position in the matter. Crestien does not, like his continuators, explicitly tell his readers the origin of the lance. He describes it as a une blance lance" and adds: 4376 S'en ist une goute de sane Del fer de la lance el somet, Et, jusqu'a la main au varlet Couloit cele goute vermelle. Wolfram von Eschenbach, who describes the lance as bloody and poisonous, and as that with which the Fisher- King had been wounded, fails also to give any account of its origin. To many this failure on the part of Crestien and Wol- fram to make definite statement as to the origin of the i The present writer follows Golther, Brown and others in tak- ing Crestien and Wolfram as the earliest known writers who have made literary use of the Grail legend. Miss Mary Rh. Williams (Essai sur la composition du Roman Gallois de Peredur, Paris, 1909) has attempted recently to show that the Welsh poem is in- dependent of Crestien and that it was probably in part written in the twelfth century. Celtic scholars, however, have not accepted Miss Williams's conclusions. Thurneysen, Zeits. f. Celtische Philologie, VIII, 187, thinks the traces of earlier linguistic forms found in the Welsh MSS do not necessarily indicate a twelfth century original. These forms, he suggests, show rather the usage of a transition period where old and new are confused — the beginning of the thirteenth century. Professor Nitze, Modern Language Notes, XXV, 246 ff., clearly is of the opinion that Miss Williams has not succeeded in disproving Golther's contention that Peredur depends upon Crestien — the view which, as Pro- fessor Nitze remarks, has since 1890 found most frequent accept- ance among scholars. Cf. also M. Roques, Romania, XXXIX, 383 ff.; Golther, LiteraturUatt, 1910, cols. 286-287. 168 THE LEGEND OF EONGINUS lance is no obstacle to belief in its Christian origin. The general Christian coloring of the Grail Castle episode has led Heinzel, Weehssler, Staerk, Burdach, Golther and others to accept unhesitatingly the Grail lance as the Christian relic. Others, though somewhat less positive in their conclusions, also contribute valuable testimony. To this class belongs Birch-Hirschfeld, who says: "Es erschein uns im hochsten Grade warhscheinlich, dass Chrestien mit jener Lanze die Wafie Longins gemeint hat, mit der Christi Seite durch-stochen ward." 2 Hertz derives the lance partly from Christian, partly from Cel- tic sources. 3 Newell also admits the possibility of Chris- tian identification: "The bleeding lance was understood to be that with which Christ was wounded. Such inter- pretation would not be inconsistent with the ethical de- sign of the poem, and would be sufficiently in accord- ance with mediaeval conceptions and usages. On the other hand, it does not follow that the author intended such explanation." 4 In opposition to these, Campbell, Potvin, and Martin, among earlier critics, have taken the lance to be a Celtic talisman, and they have been fol- lowed by other investigators, notably by Nutt, and most recently by Professor A. C. L. Brown, who, supporting his view by new material, expresses his belief in the Cel- tic origin of the bleeding lance. Besides these two more or less generally followed the- ories, the Christian and the Celtic, there are several others. Hagen says the bleeding lance is not Longinus's but a "Zeichen der Bache und des Friedens." 5 Wessel- ofsky makes the lance akin to the lance of Peleus. Pel- 2 Sage vom Gral, p. 273. 3 Die Sage von Parzival und dem Gral, p. 23. 4 The Legend of the Holy Grail, p. 8. 5 Der Gral, p. 82. THE LAJSTCE OF LOA t GIjS t US AND THE GRAIL 169 linor was wounded and healed by the lance, as Peleus was wounded by Cheiron. 6 Miss Weston thinks the lance was originally "the dominant of the two Life symbols; taken into the story it was first to be Christianised; it always precedes the Grail." 7 In Professor Nitze's some- what related hypothesis of the Grail mystery as a life- cult resembling the Greek mysteries, the lance is "the weapon with which the deity's strength has been impaired. It is the instrument of sacrifice, ... as a part of the ritual the lance is of prime importance, since it impairs life" only in order to sustain it elsewhere, the process being imitative or rather 'sympathetic' of what occurs in Nature." 8 According to Professor Baist — whose theory concerning the source of the Grail legends is, as Nutt puts it in his review, one " which treats them as happy- go-lucky manifestations of free artistic fancy" 9 — Cres- tien uses the lance to bring Gawain and Perceval to- gether. Crestien, according to Baist, did not trouble about what the Grail meant. To him there was a well- known motive — the breaking of a spell by the right question. The second question asked in the Grail Castle, that concerning the bleeding of the lance, Professor Baist thinks superfluous to the Perceval legend. 10 That the problem of the origin of the lance in the Grail stories is far from settled is made evident by the fact that the views here enumerated have all either been of- fered as new or urged afresh within the past year. 6 "Zur Frage iiber die Heimath vom heiligen Gral," Archiv. f, Slav. Philologie, XXIII, 374. 7 Legend of Sir Perceval, II, 272. 8 PMLA, XXIV, 404, 406. $ Academy, May 7, 1910. io Parzival und der Gral, 1909, p. 42. 170 • THE LEGEND OF LONGINUS §2. Pagan Color in the Grail Story This survey of the explanations offered as to the origin of the lance by the Grail writers themselves, and by in- vestigators of the romances, shows an array of authority in favor of the Christian interpretation. JsTeverthe- less, the Christian explanation has seemed unsatisfactory to many students of the Grail problem. The objections urged are generally much the same. Professor Nitze lays stress on the fact that "the Grail romances as a class have a heterodox tinge, which is not superficial." This trait, he finds, is characteristic of even the most Christian forms of the story. 11 Professor A. C. L. Brown's opinion is similar: "On a hypothesis of Chris- tian origin somebody must have paganized the Grail story before it reached Chretien and Wolfram. Some- body must have taken the most sacred legend of the Church and adapted it to the purposes of secular enter- tainment." 12 !NPutt held much the same view. Comment- ing, in his review of Professor Brown's study, on the passage just quoted, he says: "This Professor Brown cannot believe ; hence, like myself he seeks for the origin of what is apparently non-Christian in non-Christian ro- mance and saga." 13 Part of this heterodox tinge, to be sure, will easily be explained by the introduction of the Christian relic into avowedly non-Christian story. Crestien, or whoever combined the Grail and Perceval legends, as Golther 1 * 11 Op. cit., p. 371. 12 PMLA, XXV, 11, 12. is Academy, May 7, 1910, p. 445. 14 Parzival und der Gral, in deutscher Sage des Mittelalters und der Neuzeit (Walhalla IV), 1908, p. 2. THE LANCE OF LONGINUS AND THE GRAIL 17 1 and Burdock 15 have both suggested, was treating his sub- ject poetically, not dogmatically. His purpose was not religious edification. If, as has been suggested, the Per- ceval story has as its fundamental idea the instruction or training of an ideal knight, 16 what would be more natural than to comlbine with his education in the ordinary chivalric duties the higher training which should initiate him into the greatest spiritual mystery ? On the other hand, it is impossible to assume that the presence of barbaric coloring in any mediaeval composi- tion marks it as non-Christian. Much of the Christian writing of the Middle Ages, to the modern mind, appears almost unmitigatedly heathen in its use of revolting imagery. This tendency to make the description har- rowing by bloody detail especially characterizes many lit- erary treatments of the crucifixion, and it may be added, of the sacrament. 17 If pagan color in the accounts of the bleeding lance of the Grail romances be the chief ob- jection to its Christian origin, those upholding this view should show that the lance with barbaric properties would be exceptional in Christian literature. Manifestly such a demonstration would be difficult. It should also be remarked that even when the bleeding lance of the Grail stories is taken in its most barbarous manifestation, as a symbol of destruction, it is yet also a symbol of sacrifice, 18 and therefore possesses to an extent mystic significance. Consequently it is easier to find resemblance between the is Literaturzeitung, XXIV (1903), 2821. 16 Cf. Newell, op. cit., 15. 17 Cf. for example, the mediaeval Sacrament Plays. 18 Since the above was written, Nutt, Folk-Lore, XXI, 112, and Mr. Nitze, Mod. Lang. Notes, XXV, 248, have both called attention to the double nature of the function of the lance in the Grail stories. 12 172 THE LEGEND OF LONGINUS Grail lance and the lance of Longinus which, combines with its destructive characteristics others of mystic sanc- tity, than it is to show relationship between the Grail lance and the purely barbarous Celtic weapon of revenge. Nutt must have felt something of this difficulty when, speak- ing of the Celtic talismans, the vessel of plenty and the death-dealing spear, he said: "In so far as these objects could, before their Christian transformation, be charged with mysterious and awe-inspiring potency, in so far as these tales of magic strife could be invested with tra- ditional sanctity, this was the case." 19 Since the pagan coloring in the description of the bleed- ing lance in the Grail romances does not, therefore, in itself exclude connection with the Crucifixion relic, the real question to be considered is, how far other hypotheses serve to explain points not accounted for on the basis of Christian origin. Accordingly, it will be advisable to examine first of all the non-Christian interpretations which have been put forward. I. The Theory of Professor A. C. L. Brown §1. Celtic Marvellous Weapons and the Bleeding Lance The most recent writer on the subject of Grail origins, begins his investigation with the bleeding lance. Pro- fessor Brown sees for the lance, at least as it appears in the romances of Crestien and Wolfram von Eschenbach, which he makes the earliest types of the Grail story, no possibility of any but a Celtic source. "That the lance of Longinus . . . could have given rise by any conceivable develop- 19 Nutt, The Legends of the Holy Grail, 1902, p. 60. THE LANCE OF EOIVGINUS AND THE GEAIL 173 ment to the bleeding lance of Chretien and Wolfram is exceedingly improbable. ... A popular, originally hea- then, and doubtless Celtic tale has become partially Chris- tianized and is gradually almost wholly ecclesiasticized." 20 To narrow this claim of heathen origin to the Celtic field is unfortunate. Other heathen parallels can be ad- duced. The Celtic feeding vessel is now recognized as one manifestation of the wide-spread folk vessel of plenty. 21 The Celtic magic weapons like the Celtic feed- ing vessel, are not without parallel. There are other marvellous heathen weapons. The Celtic otherworld is also a manifestation of a widespread tradition; it finds its counterpart in Teutonic and Oriental mythology. Professor Brown emphasizes the similarity of the Grail lance and the Grail castle to the Celtic heroic weapons and the Celtic otherworld, however, without suggesting that these Celtic marvellous objects and places are not unique, and that such resemblance as exists may be ex- tended also to non-Celtic corresponding objects and places. Before considering these non-Celtic heathen kindred weapons, 22 it will be convenient to examine the Celtic spears themselves. Professor Brown finds his closest parallel to the bleeding lance of the Grail story in the Luin of Celtchar, forged probably by Goibniu the smith of the Tuatha Da Danaan, which he makes identical with the marvellous spear of King Cormac, called Crimall or "Bloody Spear," and also with "the venomed spear of Pezar, King of Persia, which Lugh obtained in an- 20 op. cit., pp. 12, 13. 21 Baist, Parzival and der Gral, 1909, p. 41, states that it is found in Celtic mythology as in every other. Cf. T. Sterzenbach, Ursprung u. Entwicklung der Sage von Jieil. Gral, Minister, 1908, p. 7. 22 Cf. below p. 196 for non-Celtic otherworld. 174 THE LEGEND OF EONGIWUS ticipation of the Second Battle of Mag Tured," the name of which was Slaughterer, the blazing point of which "had to be kept in a great caldron of water. " 23 Professor Brown is seeking a lance that is shining, poisonous, de- structive, bleeding. He fails to find one that bleeds, but only a venomous spear that must be dipped in blood to quell its fury. It may almost be said that the spear of Celtchar or Lugh or Cormac is too marvellous to sug- gest relationship with the spear of the Grail procession, the most marvellous property of which — its bleeding — the Celtic spear, gory as it is, fails to reproduce. An- other description of Lugh ? s spear, — Squire's, — gives it still other marvellous qualities: "He also had a magic spear, which unlike the rod sling, he had no need to wield himself; for it was alive, and thirsted so for blood that only by steeping its head in a sleeping draught of pounded poppy leaves could it be kept at rest. When battle was near it was drawn out; then it roared, and struggled against its thongs; fire flashed from it; and, once slipped from the leash, it tore through and through the ranks of the enemy never tired of slaying." 24 In- deed, Professor Brown himself adds to his enumeration of the magic characteristics of the Celtic weapon many which find no counterpart, in the Grail spear: "Their weapons expanded like a rainbow, or had demons in them, so that they executed slaughter by themselves or testified against those who swore falsely by them ; or they could foretell a battle, or relate all the former exploits of the spear or sword." 25 Even if it were granted that the spear of the Grail ro- mances is heathen, too many weapons with equally super- 23 op. cit., p. 23. 24 Charles Squire, Myth, of the Brit. Isles, p. 62. 25 Op. cit, p. 23. THE LANCE OF LONGINUS AND THE GRAIL 175 natural qualities exist elsewhere to make the Celtic re- lationship inevitable. Fitzgerald explains this wonderful Irish spear or lance as the belt stars of Orion. Speak- ing of Cuchulaimr's sword which "shone in the night like a candle/' he argues that, "as these objects, sword, elbow- stair", belt, alternate in different versions of the same tale, it is fair to conclude that generally we have to deal with different conceptions of the one thing." "It occurs," he continues "as a sword or spear, with Nuada, Lug, Cu- Chulaind, Macha, Oengus, Cormac." 26 These Irish weapons Fitzgerald likens to the marvellous spear of Zeus, of Hermes, of Agamemnon, 27 and other masters, which the Chaeroneans honored above all gods and fed every day. This use of the spear as a symbol of destruc- tive power is general. 28 The Romans worshipped a spear as the image of Mars. It moved of its own accord. 29 "The Scythians revered an iron sword and offered annual sacrifices of sheep and horses to it." 30 In Samoa war- clubs of renowned warriors were venerated. Blood- stained weapons were reverenced and it was believed that they brought success in battle. 31 The cult of the sword or lance was known also among the Germans. The lance of Tiw could slay of itself. It shone like the sun. 32 An- other remarkable weapon is Tig Altesch, "l'epee foudroy- ante des quarante Solimans ou monarques universels de 26 Revue Celtique, V, 199. 27 Cf. also Roscher, Lexicon, who refers to priests and food offerings to the spear. 28 R. p. Knight, Symbolical Language of Ancient Art and Myth. pp. 95, 114. Cf. Pausanias's Description of Greece, Frazer, V, 211. 29 Roscher, Lexicon, s. v. Mars. 30 Pausanias, V, 211. 31 Ibid., V, 211. 32 Mogk, Paul's Grundriss, III, 317. 176 THE LEGEND OF EONGINUS la terre 'avant la creation d'Adam." 33 In ancient Mexico blood was offered in sacrifice to "sacred sticks" or staffs used as spears. 34 Reference to the Persian poison spear of Pisear is made by Professor Brown. The qualities, then, that Professor Brown finds in his Celtic marvellous weapons are wide-spread. The cult of the spear existed not only in Ireland, 35 but everywhere among the ancients. The weapons thus regarded with superstitious veneration are variously shining like the sun, irresistible in battle, venomous, bloody. Reiffen- berg discussing these "armes enchantees ou impenetra- bles," which, as he says, were used so frequently by the trouveres, traces their origin to several sources: Celtic sagas, Scandinavian invasions from the seventh to the tenth centuries, Greek and Roman influence, the relations of Europe with the Orient before and after the Crusades, chivalry, and universal human conceptions. 36 The heathen lances just discussed — whether Celtic or classic — are wonderful enough, too wonderful in fact, to be used in the Grail romances without much modifica- tion. But why should Crestien, or his source, go so far afield for his lance of marvellous properties ? It appears 33 Cf. Chevalier au Cygne, Reiffenberg, 1846, I, pp. cx-cxiv, for a long list of marvellous weapons with names and without. Cf . De la Warr B. Easter, A Study of the Magic Elements in the Romans d'Aventure, Baltimore, 1906. Swords and spears are included in the table of contents among objects with acquired magic proper- ties — light, etc. Cf. also Warton's Hist, of English Poetry, I (ed. 1871), p. 43, for marvellous weapons that expel pestilence, allay winds, bring fruit, etc. — the fabled dart of Procris, Abaris. Cf. also an article on Fabled Spears, Notes and Queries, ser. 2, VII, 89. 34 Pausanias, V, 211, 212. 35 D'Arbois de Jubainville, Le Cycle Myth. Irlandais, p. 188. 36 Op. cit., p. lxxxix. THE LANCE OF LONGINUS AND THE GRAIL 177 much simpler and far more plausible that he should take a lance already in his time made a center for the accre- tian of wonderful characteristics. The history of the spear of Longinus from the sixth to the fourteenth cen- turies shows that it appropriated to itself miraculous prop- erties both Christian and heathen. 37 In doing so it fol- lowed the natural development of stories of saints and relics — a method too well understood to demand illustra- tion here. 38 §2. The Shining Lance and the Spear of Longinus. That the lance of Longinus will supply the marvellous qualities of the bleeding lance of the Grail romances at least as well as Professor Brown's Celtic spear can be demonstrated, I think, by the traits it shows in mediaeval literature outside of the Grail tradition and unaffected by it. Postponing for the present the consideration of the Grail procession as a whole, I shall here discuss only the characteristics of the lance, limiting myself to the 37 Cf. above p. 56 ff. 38 Cf. H. Gunter, Legenden Studien, Koln, 1906. De la Warr B. Easter, op. cit., p. 32, in discussing church magic, calls atten- tion to its frequent appearance in the Romances, and states that in the Middle Ages the Church opposed to the diabolic magic of the heathen its own celestial magic ; consequently relics — exter- nal symbols of the Divine, or of saints — came to have independent power of sanctification. It may be added that when once this independence was obtained the relic would develop its own story independently of the legend to which it was originally attached. The lance of Longinus illustrates this fact. Easter, p. 39, gives an extreme illustration of the way marvellous properties were as- cribed to religious objects. In Raoul de Cambrai, relics are found trembling and jumping upon fair green cloth spread upon the grass: 4948 Et les reliques fremir et sauteler De grant merveille li poist remembrer. 178 THE LEGEND" OF LONGINUS descriptions which appear in the earliest of the ro- mances — those for which Professor Brown offers Celtic parallels and interpretations. First to be noted is the whiteness or shining appear- ance of the lance described by Crestien and Wauchier. Several passages in which this characteristic is dwelt upon have already been pointed out by Professor Brown. He refers to the lines in Crestien's account : 4369 Uns varies d'une cambre vint, Qui une tlance lance tint. 6035 Por coi cele gote de sane Saut par la pointe del fer blanch To these passages may be added still another: 7749 Et, de cele goute de sane Que a la pointe del fer blanc. In this characteristic of the Grail lance Professor Brown finds important evidence of its Celtic origin. "The whiteness of the lance," he remarks, "dwelt on by Chretien here, connects the object with the fairy weapons of the Celts;" 40 and again, "The whiteness of the Bleed- ing Lance, on which both Chretien and Wauchier lay stress, (as well as the dazzling brilliancy of the grail) is, therefore, significant and goes far by itself to prove that the talismans of the Grail Castle belong with the mar- vellous possessions of King Arthur, and have a like origin in Celtic legend." 41 39 Op. cit., p. 7. In a foot-note Professor Brown refers also to Wauchier's account of the Grail Castle as given in the Montpellier MS and MS Bib. Nat. 12576. toiMd., p. 7, note 2. 4UMd., 32, 33. THE LANCE OF L0NGH5TUS AKD THE GRAIL 170 It is singular that Professor Brown takes this quality of shining to be so exclusively Celtic that it "goes far by itself to prove" Celtic origin, when it is so general an accompaniment of Christian story. It is a common acces- sory in saints' legends. The angels who appear to them, the saints themselves, their relics, all shine. 42 The cruci- fixion relics, as might be expected, possess this quality : — factum est talem signum quod omnes qui aderamus uidimus Magna autem coruscatio de loco inluxit ubi inuenta est sea crux clarior solis lumine et statim apparuerunt claui illi qui in dnico confixi fuerant corpore tamquam aurum fulgens in terra Ita ut omnes sine dubio credentes dicerent Nunc cognoscimus in quo credimus Duos accipiens cum magno timore optulit uenerabili Aelenae.43 In the tenth century sermon of iElfric on the Exalta- tion of the Cross, in the account of Eraclius's bearing the cross back into Jerusalem, whence it had been taken by the heathen, marvels occur: 109 Waes eac o>er wundor swa J>aet wynsum braetS Stemde [of] J?aere halgan rode J?a J>a heo hamwerd waes. 117 Fala >u scinende rod swiJ>or ]?onne tungla Maere on middan-earde micclum to lufigenne.44 The lance, like- the cross and the nails, has the quality of shining. It will be remembered that the account given of the lance in a Breviarius de Hierosolyma (dating about 530) describes it as shining by night as the sun by 42 See for full discussion and instances too numerous to cite here, H. Gunter, Legenden Studien, "Lichtglanz," pp. 4, 16, 18, 21, 29, 31f., 53, 54, 63, 66f„ 71, 73, 93, 97, 99, 134f., 155. 43 Holder, Inventio Cruris. 44 ^lfric's Lives of the Saints, EETS., 94. 180 THE LEGEND OF LONGINUS day. 45 The early date of this reference to the lance and its marvellous qualities makes it unusually interesting. The same qualities moreover are found when the relics are described in the romances. In Rouland and Ver- nagu, Constantine shows Charlemagne the holy relics: 101 pemperour his wil dede, & ladde him to J>e holy stede, pere he relikes ware; per com swiche a swete odour pat neuer ^ete so swete sauour. Three hundred sick people were cured. Among other relics there were: 111 a parti of J»e holy crosse 119 & a spere long & smert, pat longys put to godes hert, He gaf charls J?e king; & a nail long & gret pat was y-driue hurch godes fet Wih outen ani lesing. When Charles had received these gifts he prayed God for some proof of their authenticity, and — pan decended a lijtnesse, Doun rijtes fram j?e heuen blis, In hat ich place, pat bai wenden alle y-wis, pai hadde ben in parodys, So ful it was of grace.46 45 See above, p. 57. This passage in the Jerusalem Breviary is not unknown to Prof. Brown, for he quotes it in a foot-note on page 12. But he fails to remark upon the similarity of this shining lance of Longinus and the lance of the Grail. Indeed, in this same footnote he denies that the lance of Longinus "had any particular resemblance to the spear of the Grail Castle." ^EETS., e. s., 39, 40. THE LANCE OF LOXGIXTTS AXD THE GRAIL 181 Supernatural light, then, as an accessory of the Grail lance, far from making Christian origin impossible, greatly strengthens such probability. The description of the lance of Longinus — et lucet in node, sicut sol in vir- tute diei — recalls definitely the light accompanying the Grail procession: 4404 Une si grans clartes i vint Que si pierdirent les candoiles Lor clarte, com font les estoiles Quant li solaus lieve ou la lune. §3. The Bleeding Lance axd the Spear of Longinus How does the case stand as to the bleeding lance? Following again Crestien, Wauchier, and Wolfram, as the earliest versions, we find in Crestien: 4376 S'en ist une goute de sane Del fer de la lance el somet Et jusqu'a la main au varlet Couloit cele goute vermelle. and again: 7539 ... la lance dont li fers Sainne tos jors, ja n'ert si ters Del sane tout cler qui ele pleure, Si est escrit qu'il est une eure Que tous li roiaumes de Logres Dont jadis fu li tiere al Ogres Ert detruite par cele lance. 7746 Sire, cies le roi Pesceour Fui une fois et vi la lance Dont li fiers saine sans doutance. To one who knows the story of Longinus, the first of these citations sounds strikingly familiar. In almost every account of the spear-thrust, the blood runs down to the hand of the spearman. Of course, in the legend 182 THE LEGEND OF LONGINUS the miraculous healing of the blindness of Longinus fol- lows. Here only the blood on the lance is given. In Wauchier' s continuation the Grail lance is expressly identified as the relic of the Crucifixion : 20259 C'est la lance demainement Dont li fius diu fu voirement Ferus tres parml le coste. These lines, however, Professor Brown regards merely as a gloss added by Wauchier himself, who "allowed whole sections of his source, which must have been nearly or quite pagan, to remain unaltered, side by side with his later Christian explanations." 47 On the other hand, the de- scription of the lance in Wauchier's narrative he finds to be "more barbaric than Chretien's." The feature which Professor Brown has here in mind seems to be the ex- cessive bloodiness of the description : 20151 Et puis si vit, en. I. hanstier, Une lance forment sainier Dedens une cope d'argent, En eel vassiel fu droitment, Toute fu sanglente environ, Li sans couroit a grand randon Del fier jusques a l'arestuel; Par foi, mentir ne vos en voel, En eel vassiel d'argent caoit, Par. I. tuiel d'or en issoit Puis ceurt parmi. I. calemel D'argent, ja niais ne verez tel, De la mervelle s'esbahit Without stopping to discuss the fact that the blood is here carried by a tube, — the consideration of which will come later, — we note only that in Wauchier the bleeding is more emphasized than in Crestien, and that the lance is Christian. 47 Op. cit., p. 14. THE LANCE OF LOSTGINUS AND THE GRAIL 188 Wolfram's account adds little. The spear is not bleed- ing, but bloody. The pluotec sper is mentioned at 1.21, p. 807, and again at 1.30 f., p. 489 : Daz sper muos in die wunden sin: Da half ein not fiir d'andern n6t: Da wart daz sper bluotec rot. None of the properties of the lance of the Grail Cas- tle, according to Professor Brown, "not even bleeding, are matched by the lance of Longinus." 48 He adds, curi- ously, that, "some of the later Grail romances, indeed, by explaining that the lance of Longinus hied no more after the time of Joseph of Arimathea, indicate that bleeding was not in accordance with the tradition generally cur- rent concerning the relic of the crucifixion. " This, on the contrary, seems to me clearly to imply that bleeding had been connected with the Christian lance. It is not surprising that this should be the case. Miraculous bleeding connected with the crucifixion is an early Chris- tian conception, like the quality of shining in which Pro- fessor Brown finds only heathen reminder. The bleed- ing, however, unlike the shining, is used in two appar- ently contrary ways: it represents on the one hand de- struction and judgment and is made a symbol of terror; on the other, it betokens new life, since the Church comes from the wound in the side of Christ, 49 and since the blood, the life of Christ, becomes the regenerating food of men. The first of these symbolical uses is the one emphasized by Professor Brown. In the bleeding lance he sees merely 48 op. cit., 17. 49 See above, pp. 11, 12. 184: THE LEGEND OF EONGINUS an "extravagantly destructive" venomous implement. 50 And these qualities lie conceives to be "altogether antago- nistic to the Longinus legend, hut in conformity with pa- gan story." Accordingly he turns for the source of the bleeding lance to Celtic literature. In Welsh and Irish mythology he finds, it is true, the Luin of Celtchar=the Slaughterer of Lugh=the Crimall (Bloody Spear of Cormac, a destructive, venomous, flaming spear, which must be dipped in blood to quench its fury) . 51 Professor Brown's chief objection to the lance. of Lon- ginus is, that it lacks the property of bleeding which usually belongs to the Grail lance: "E~o pseudo-gospel or legend of the time before Chretien mentions bleeding among the miraculous attributes of the Christian lance." 52 This objection, however, applies equally to the Celtic spears brought forward by Professor Brown. The Luin of Celtchar is "held point downward over a caldron of blood into which it is ever and anon plunged — a circumstance that might develop into the idea of a lance bleeding into a vessel." 53 "It seems to be identi- cal with the marvellous spear of King Cormac, which was called the Crimall or 'Bloody Spear.' Perhaps therefore bleeding was in Irish tradition an attribute of the Luin. The ancient Irish indeed attributed almost every kind of miraculous and extraordinary property to their lances 50 Unlike Nutt, it is to be noted, who works also on the Celtic hypothesis. Cf. also Folk-Lore, XXI, 112; and Nitze, Mod. Lang. Notes, XXV, 248. 51 Here the dipping in blood may be the Irish way of stating that blood sacrifices were made to the weapons of heroes. Fitz- gerald, it will be remembered, compared the Irish spears with the weapons, famous in cult, of Agememnon and Mars, to which such offerings were made. 52 op. cit., p. 17. 53 ibid., pp. 17, 18. THE LANCE OE LOXGIXUS AJSTD THE GEAIL 185 and swords [except — we inay add on Professor Brown's own admission — that of bleeding]." 54 Finally, Profes- sor Brown even proceeds to suggest reasons why the Irish spears did not bleed: "If bleeding were not often made prominent by the ancient Irish among the prop- erties of their weapons, this may well have been because they were chiefly interested in other more exaggerated and more marvellous qualities. Had bleeding been made the main attribute of a lance in ancient Irish, we may be sure that it would have bled, like the lance of Wauch- ier, in so exaggerated a way that spout and conduit would be needed to carry off the blood. v55 This, it may be granted, is what one would expect to find if bleeding lances had- been- known to Irish tradition. The fact, therefore, that Professor Brown is unable to discover in ancient Welsh or Irish literature a single well attested instance of a lance which bleeds becomes the more sig- nificant. To return now to the lance of Christian tradition, it will be remembered that in the legend it is usually repre- sented streaming with blood. Indeed, so general is this representation of it in mediaeval literature, quite outside Grail influence, that it would be entirely natural for it to be called a bloody spear. The property certainly seems much more to belong to the lance of Longinus than to the Lain of Celtchar dipped in a caldron of blood. The following quotations are all directly connected with the legend of Longinus even when his name does not appear in the lines : Et de la lance vos feri el coste Le sane et l'eve l'eu a as poinz cole GuiUaume D'Orange. w. 767, 768. 54 Ibid., p. 23. The italics are mine. 55 Ibid., p. 24. 186 THE LEGEND OF EONGINUS Et li sans et li aigue, si com je l'ai apris Li coula jusqu'aus puins — La Chanson D'Antioche,56 vv. 325, 326. Et Longis vous feri de la lance a bandon Li sans li vint par l'anste jusqu'aus poins, de randon < Ibid., vv. 687, 689. Le sang et l'eve en fist ruceler; Aval la lance commenza devaler, Jusqu'a ses poigns ne se voulat arester Roman d'Aquinp 11. 195 ff. Longins li grans le feri a bandon; Son blanc coste li parcha contremont, Et sane et eve en issi de randon Dus qu'a ses poins n'i fist arestison. Le Chevalerie Ogier,^ 11. 248 ff. With lines 250-1 above, compare the "barbaric" descrip- tion found in Wauchier, 11. 20156-7 : Li sans couroit a grand randon Del fier jusques a l'aresteul. Also compare "jusque a ses poigns" in the above with Crestien, 1. 4378 : "Et jusqua la main au varlet." When to the above we add a passage describing the wounding of Christ in the Roman de la Violette — which, it is to be remembered, is by Gerbert — 11. 5292 if. : Desci au cuer, que li clers sans Pu aval la lanche coulans Dusc'd ses mains — it looks almost as if there were a more or less stereotyped description of the blood running down the lance to the 56 The beginning of the twelfth century. 57 Twelfth century; cf. Grober, Grundriss, p. 542. 58 Twelfth century; cf. Grober, Grundriss, p. 546. THE LANCE OF LONGINUS AND THE GRAIL 187 hands of Longinus. It might almost be conjectured that the Grail writer knew and used this stereotyped form. That the passage should be so nearly reproduced in the description of the Grail lance is assuredly a remarkable coincidence if it is nothing more. At all events the simi- larity between the lance of Longinus and the Grail lance is here much closer than any yet pointed out between the Grail spear and the Luin of Celtchar. The lance, it is seen, is in literature generally bloody. Professor Golther believes that Crestien in making the lance bleed took this trait over from other bleeding relics. Crestien, though using the sacred objects commonly em- ployed in the Greek mass — candles, chalice, paten, lance, and other relics, — according to Golther, disposed them differently. He showed the blood of Christ dripping from the spear, 59 used the Grail (usually the chalice, the holder of blood) for the host, and so found the paten (usually the bread plate), superfluous. The implication is of course that Crestien thought the blood of Christ, seen on the very instrument with which it was shed, 59 Professor Golther's conjecture that Crestien made the lance take the place of the chalice or grail as bearer of the blood in the Grail procession finds support in the Dispute Between Mary and the Cross (EETS., 46, 136-137) where the cross itself is spoken of as a platter tearing sacrificial food. That the eucharist is meant is made evident by the reference in the next stanza to the eating of the flesh in "godes nous." The Cross speaks: — 1.166 "I bar flesch for folkes feste; Ihesu Christ vre saueour He fedej? hope lest and meste, Rosted a^eyn ipe sonne. On me lay Ipe lomb of loue I was plater his bodi a-boue, Til feet and hondes al-to cloue, WiJ? blood I was bi-ronne." 13 188 THE LEGEND OF LONGINUS would be a more potent reminder than the farther re- moved, less directly connected, blood in the Grail or chalice. Golther's suggestion is both illuminating and adequate, whether taken aesthetically or dogmatically. Such a transfer of the property of bleeding from cross to spear would not be difficult. The fortunes of the cross and the spear are more or less bound up together in mediaeval literature; 60 and if the lance does not bleed, it is suffi- ciently bloody to make a transfer of this kind from one passion relic to another easy. Bleeding was associated with the cross from early times. Note this passage from the Christ: 1084 Usses Dryhtnes rod onsweard stondeS, beacna beorhtast, blode bistemed Heofoncyninges, hlutran dreore biseon mid swate, ]?aet ofer side gesceaft Scire scineS. Professor Cook in commenting on this passage says : a the cross towers like the mythic Ygdrasil dripping with blood, but flooding the whole world with a blaze like sun- light." 61 The lines from the Christ Professor Cook com- pares with the Dream of the Rood, 1.48 : a Eall ic waes mid blode bestemed, / begoten of J?aes Guman sidan.'" "This conception," he remarks, "of the blood-stained cross is at least as early as Paulinus of Nbla, who writes (Epist. 32, cap. 14) : Ardua floriferae crux cingitur orbe coronae, Et Domini fuso tincta cruore rubet. 60 Cf. various Complaints of Mary, Meditations on the Hours, etc. 61 Christ of Cynewulf, p. xliv. THE LAXCE OF LONGZNUS AXD THE GRAIL 189 And again (cap. 17) : Inter fioriferi Coeleste nemus Paradisi. Sub cruce sanguined niveo stat Christus in agris."6i Among other marvels that accompanied the discovery of the true cross by Saint Helena, — Hit was talde of mani man At a licour >er-of ranne, pat wib betinge was bote of bale, And sekenes diuers to make ham hale A vessel >at hit ware noit tint, Stode vnder • bat licour for to hint, for to dele vn-to be vnfere, to sende ouer al be cuntree sere.62 §-i. The Poisoxors axd Destructive Laxce axd the Speak of LoxGixr/s Poisonous and destructive properties have also been associated, at least occasionally, with the spear of the cru- cifixion. Degnilleville in his Pelerinage de Vie Humaine represents Envy with two spears coming from her eyes. One of them is the spear of Longinus, which is described as follows : 6i i&itf., p. 193. 62 Cursor Mundi, 11. 21618-21626; also printed by Morris from Fairfax MS. 14, EETS., 46, 115. Significant is the bleeding of the tree from which Adam and Eve ate the apple, identified with the cross of the crucifixion (cf. EETS., 46, introd. by Morris). It bleeds when approached by the sinful (Horstmann, Altenglische Legenden, Heilbronn, 1881, p. 378): When any synfull come here-ine, As bou seyst, shyld, with me, For vengawnce of bat cursyd synne The blode rynneth oute of bis tre. 190 THE LEGEND OF LONGINUS 8307 De l'autre ot li roi Jhesu Le coste percie et fendu Plus mal li fist le moquement Que les Jui's de son tourment Avoient que le fer ne fist Que Longis u coste li mist Ces glaives sont enracinez En mon cuer parfont et plantez, Mes par mes iex ont (leur) issue Pour (moi) faire beste cornue, Pour moi faire venin getter Par les iex pour envenimer Mes voisins par un suel regart Sans laissier disme ne champart.63 The spear is irtiade venomous, though expressly identified as the crucifixion relic. The connection, it is true, is made in a symbolic way, and Deguilleville was perhaps some- what influenced by Grail imagery. 64 The significant point lies in the fact that Deguilleville did not feel such quali- ties as those here mentioned to be antagonistic to his defi- nitely Christian purpose, nor did Lydgate, who followed him. Not less interesting is the confusion of the flaming sword of the cherubim with the crucifixion relic, — due entirely in this instance to Lydgate : 472 Whos swerd was bloudyd with the blood Off Crystys holy passyon When he made our Redempcion, Mankynd to restore a-gayn. The wych wey, whan I hadde seyn, I was a-stonyd i my syht. But I was coumfortyd a-noon Ryht, Whan I sawh the swerd mad blont 63 Le PeJerinage de Tie Humaine. Roxburghe Club, 1893; cf. Lydgate's translation of this passage, Pilgrimage of the Life of Man, EETS., pp. 402-3. 64 The present writer hopes soon to publish the results of an inquiry into the possible influence of the Grail legend on the Pelerinage de Vie Humaine. THE LANCE OF LONGIXUS AND THE GRAIL 191 Off cherubin, the wych was wont. To brenne as any flawmbe bryht. But now, the sharpnesse & the lyht Was queynte, to do no more vengaunce, By vertu. off Crystys gret suffraunce.65 For the present purpose this confusion makes no differ- ence. It has been said that the sacred spear acquired the marvellous qualities of other weapons. The result of the fusion in this case is to bring together several of the properties Professor Brown is seeking for the Grail lance. This Christian weapon here used as a reminder of the crucifixion, is bloody, flaming, and unquestionably an instrument of vengeance. Though Deguilleville and Lydgate are too late to be of value in the matter of Grail origins, these citations never- theless indicate that poisonous and destructive properties are not necessarily incompatible with the spear of Lon- ginus. §5. The Christian Spear a Symbol of Destruction and of Peace As already remarked, Professor Brown, in the opinion of the present writer, emphasizes too exclusively the de- structive significance of the lance in the Grail procession. It has also another meaning — it is the symbol of peace and new life. Indeed, Professor Brown mainly depends for evidence of the destructive powers of the lance upon a passage in the Mons MS ; which states that a blow from the lance will destroy the land of Logres. This unsup- ported passage, however, hardly seems sufficient, espe- 65 Pilgrimage of the Life of Man. Englisht by Jno. Lydgate, EETS., e. s., 77, 13; cf. 11. 63 ff. 192 THE LEGEND OF EONGINUS cially since the Montpellier MS reading for the same pas- sage is exactly the opposite : 7358 Et messire Gauwains s'en alle Querre la lance dont li fers Sainne tos jors, ja n'ert si ters Del sane tout cler que ele pleure [Montpellier] Einsi est escrit en l'ameure La pes sera par ceste lance. Clearly here is a choice of properties which may well argue the existence of two traditions. If the lance re- ferred to is the Christian relic, the two characteristics do exist side by side. 66 A bit of Christian writing, likewise interesting on another account, illustrates the belief in the double nature of the crucifixion spear. In a fourteenth century Meditacion of \e fyue woundes, it is said of the wound in the side: Out of be largeste and deppeste welle of euere-lastyng lif in be moste opene wounde in Christys blessed syde, cleech vp depp- est and hertyliest watir of joye and blisse withouten eende, bihold- yng beere inwardly how Crist I/iesu god and man, to bringe bee to euerlastynge lyf, suffrede bat harde and hydous deeth on be cros and suffrede his syde to be opened and hym-self to be stonegyn to be herte with bat grisly spere, and so with bat deelful strook of be spere beere gulchide out of Cristys syde bat blysful floode of watir and blood to raunsone vs, water of his syde to wasshe vs, and blood of his herte to bugge vs. For loue of bise blessede woundes creep in to J>is hoot baa]? of Crystys herte-blood, and beer bathe bee; ffor beer was neuer synne of man ne of womman bouit ne wrouat bat was laft with louely sorrowe and hertly 66 l. E. Iselin, whose study, Der morgenlcindische Ursprung der Grallegende, 1909, I have been able to examine only since the completion of my own work, confirms this view. Cf. pp. 115-116. "Es bestand also, wie wir sehen, in der Poesie wie in der Le- genden-literatur eine mystische Redeweise, dass dieselbe Lanze totet und Leben gibt, verwundet und Heil bringt, dass eine Lanze des Paradies verschliesst und eine Lanze das Paradies offnet." THE LANCE OF LONGINUS AND THE GRAIL 193 repentaunce, J?at J?eer ne ys in ]?is welle fully remyssion to buggen it, and watir of lyf fully to clensen it and wasshen it.67 Professor Brown devotes half of his study to the story of Balin and the Dolorous Stroke, which he believes ex- plains the cause of the wound in the thighs of the Grail King. 68 Professor Golther takes the Grail King to be Christ himself wounded in the side by the spear-thrust of Longinus. Discussion of this point will come later. Suffice it to note that an account quite unrelated to the Grail story makes the spear grisly, and the spear-thrust that deprived Christ of life a deelful strooh. It shows, too, how to the mystic mediaeval mind the deed could be at once both wicked and blessed, destructive and regen- erative. §6. The Bleeding Lance in Art and in the Drama It is clear, then, that more can be accounted for by Christian tradition than Professor Brown has recog- nized. In connection with the question of the source of the bleeding spear used by the writers of the Grail ro- mances, it will be well to recall the importance of the spear of the crucifixion in art. It was shown every- where — in manuscripts, on crosses, in churches, with the blood gushing from its point and running down its shaft. Many of these illustrations were so early that they must have been familiar to Crestien and his predecessors. Another possible influence may also be noted. As early as the twelfth century Longinus was seen on the stage 67 Printed by Horstmann among works wrongly attributed to R. Rolle, from MS Univ. Coll. 97, R. Rolle, II, 441. 68 This part of Prof. Brown's study can not be considered here. Nutt (Acad. May 7, 1910, 440) was not convinced that he had made his point. 194 THE LEGEND OF LONGINTJS in the religious drama. According to the stage direc- tions, and the texts of these early plays, the lance must have been shown as bleeding. Notice the stage directions in the twelfth century Anglo-Norman play of the Resur- rection du Sauveur: "II prist la lance; ci l'feri al quer, dunt sane e ewe en issi. Si li est as mainz avale." 69 Com- pare with this the account in La Passione e Risurrezione : Et un de li cavaleri longi ke fo horn de gran statura Lo lao de Cristo fora cum la langa forta e agua Undo g ensi aigua e sango per figura, etcJO Similar is the stage direction in the Saint Galler Pas- sionsspiel: "Cum fixerit eum et sanguis lancea descend- ens tangat oculos, videbit et dicat." 71 The same direction is found in the Ancient Cornish Passion: "Tunc nuat sanguis super lancea usque ad manus longii militis et tunc tergit oculos et uidebit et dicit." 72 It is hardly necessary to cite other instances. The stage directions are explicit and clearly indicate that, by some contriv- ance, blood streamed down the lance. It is to be re- marked that Crestien and his contemporaries probably saw these plays produced, and beheld the lance bleeding realistically before their eyes. With the Christian lance so obviously and suitably at hand, in literature which as writers of romances themselves they must have known, in art productions which they must have seen, and in the drama with which they must have been familiar, why should the Grail romancers seek a bleeding lance in the Luin of Celtchar, which after all does not bleed ? Kepresenting as they do the most extreme position of Celtic interpreters of the Grail problem, the views of 69 Monmerque et Michel, Theatre Francais au Moyen Age, 14. 70 Thirteenth century, Studj. di Filologia, I, 260. 7i Mone, Scliauspiele des Mittelalters, I, 121. 72 Cf. above, p. 138. THE LANCE OF LONGINUS AKD THE GRAIL 195 4 Professor Brown have been thus fully dealt with in order to show that even demands which recognize in the Grail spear none but apparently heathen qualities may be met by Christian explanation. 73 II. The Theories of Professor Nitze and Miss Weston §1. Professor Nitze and the Celtic Theory Professor Nitze explains the Grail rite on the basis of agrarian cult and illustrates by the Eleusinian mys- teries. 74 He still clings, however, with one hand to Cel- tic origin for the Grail legend and wherever it is possible adduces Celtic parallels — his general theory being that such agrarian ritual customs were wide-spread and that the Grail story may very probably be the result of Cel- tic use of these conceptions. Indeed, so ready is Profes- sor Nitze to support the idea of Celtic mediation that in some cases where the Oriental usage, which he is here generally emphasizing, explains the matter he is discuss- ing, he forsakes it for the less definitely related Celtic illustration. For example, though in his discussion of the Fisher-King and his "double" he makes use of Osiris and Adonis, in his reference to the shape-shifting of the Fisher-King, he calls attention to the iact that in this re- 73 it will not be necessary to discuss in detail the opinion of Hagen, who makes the Grail lance a symbol of vengeance and of peace, nor that of Wesselofsky, to whom it is a spear that wounds and heals, for the reason that neither of these views is opposed to the Christian spear, which, as has been shown in the preceding discussion, combines these antagonistic qualities. L. von Schroeder's study, Wurzeln der Gralsage, Vienna Sitzungs- berichte, 1910, was called to my attention too late to be consid- ered. 74 Miss Weston first definitely considered such relationship. Folk-Lore, XVIII, (1907), 283-305. 196 THE LEGEND OF LONGINTJS spect the Fisher-King is like Manannan mac Lir, the great shape-shifter of the Irish. 75 The Irish hero, an otherworld being, also "supplies ale which preserves from death and old age." Such departure from! the Oriental illustrative material is unnecessary. These attributes are found in Oriental conceptions of the underworld ; shape-shifting is general, 76 and the descriptions of the place are not unlike those of the Celtic otherworld in that it is reached with difficulty, and in the palace there is to be found food of immortality, water of life. 77 In one respect this Oriental underworld is of far more interest to the Grail student than is the Celtic. Though, like the Celtic, it is without definite name, one of its epithets significantly enough means "to* ask." I quote Professor Jastrow's discussion of the name: "A third name for the netherworld which conveys an important addition to the views held regard- ing the dead, was Shualu. . . . The priests appear to avoid the names for the netherworld, which were of ill omen, and preferred to describe the place by some epithet, as 'land without return,' or 'dark dwelling,' or 'great city,' and the like. . . . The stem underlying Shualu signifies 'to ask.' Shualu is a place of inquiry, and the inquiry meant is of the nature of a religious oracle. The name, accordingly, is an indication of the power accorded to the dead, to aid the living by furnish- ing them with answers to questions." 78 Shualu then certainly offers in this respect a closer re- semblance to the Grail Castle, also a place of inquiry, 75PMLA., XXIV, 396, 397. 76 A. Wiedermann, Die Toten und ihre Reiche im Glauben der alien Agypter, p. 13. 77 A. Jeremias, Hblle und Paradies bei den Babyloniern, pp. 14, 15, 16, 22. 78 Religion of Babylonia and Assyria, pp. 558, 559. THE LANCE OF LONGINUS AND THE GRAIL 197 than does the Celtic otherworld. This point will be con- sidered more fully later. §2. Agrarian Rites as an Explanation of the Grail Ceremony Professor Nitze's chief interest in this study is not, how- ever, with Celtic relationships. His position he states clearly: "The Holy Grail, by the mediaeval romancers often conceived in terms of a quest, is au fond an initia- tion, the purpose of which is to insure the life of the vegetation spirit, always in danger of extinction, and to admit the 'qualified' mortal into its mystery. I do not believe we can go far wrong in insisting on both its agrarian and its mystic features. . . . Like the Elusinia, the Grail rites may have been agrarian and mystic from the start. At all events, no positive distinction is to be made." 79 According to Professor Nitze's analysis, the "Grail theme contains three essential figures and three important symbols." 80 The figures are: the Fisher-King, the Grail knight, and the Fisher-King's father or "double." For the Fisher-King Mr. Mtze finds it dif- ficult to obtain any one explanatory term. He calls him "an intermediary between the two planes of existence;" "the symbol of creative force in nature," especially mois- ture; "the guide to the other world." 81 The Grail Knight is the initiate. 82 The Fisher-King's father or "double" is the life-god himself. 83 The three symbols are: the Grail, which he equates with the /cictttj or Holy Box of 79 PMLA., XXIV, 394. soma., 395. 81 Ibid., 395. 82 ibid., 398. MIMd., 398. 198 THE LEGEND OF LONGIKUS the Mysteries, "the receptacle for the divine food (wafer or blood) by partaking of which the mortal establishes a blood-bond with the god ;" 84 the Lance, "the weapon with which the Deity's strength has been impaired, . . . the instrument of sacrifice ;" 85 the Sword, the folk-lore Sword of Light. 86 Admitting at the outset that the agrarian rites are in large measure the counterpart of the Grail rites, Miss Weston goes much farther, emphasizing the mystic as the more important features of the resemblance. "This, then," she summarizes, "is my view of the intricate prob- lem of the Grail romances. It started from the standpoint of instruction in the Nature, and Sources, of Life, in all its manifestations, the outward and popular form of such instructions being embodied in the rites familiar to scholars as connected with Vegetation. This teaching, which had been discouraged and displaced by Christian- ity boldly identified itself with its victorious rival, on the outward basis of the reverence paid to the Saint Sang/' 87 Miss Weston holds that "the 'Adonis' rites, as fitly represented, had a triple character; there was the exter- nal ritual, setting forth in objective parable the natural processes of Vegetation, understood and shared by all; and there was secret teaching, probably ritual, of a two- fold character, Phallic and Philosophic ; in both these in- stances tests were required from the aspirant, physical tests probably in the first case, a severe mental training in the second." 88 Following out this idea, she finds si ma., 400. 85 ibid., 404. 86 ibid., 406. 87 Perceval, II, 285. 88 ibid., 256. THE LANCE OF LONGINUS AND THE GRAIL 199 "there was not one vessel, but three, or rather one vessel in three aspects, depending upon the plane on which the instruction was given." She takes the middle plane, that of Humanity, or Actuality, to be the one on which the external rites were celebrated, and would represent this by the Feeding Vessel. The plane below is represented by the "Cup with its companion symbol the Lance, from which it received the Blood, the source of animal life." The plane above is represented by the ec 'Holy Grail, the ultimate source of Spiritual, undying, Life, invisible un- der normal conditions — the vision is vouchsafed as the reward of severe testing." 89 "Each stage," according to Miss Weston, "has its Guardian." The Fisher-King, she makes the vital principle, the Guardian of the 'Holy Grail. The 'Maimed King' is the Fisher-King restrained and hampered by the Flesh, the Guardian of the Rich Grail. The "Guardian on the third, the Phallic, plane," she adds, "can hardly be other than the mysterious third brother retained only in the Perlesvaus, 'the King of the Chastel Morteil (the Body ?) in whom was as much of evil as in the other two of good." 90 Professor Nitze, is here, it will be seen, much more cautious than Miss Weston. The lance in Professor ISTitze's scheme, being the symbol of sacrifice, possesses far greater importance than it has for Miss Weston, who regards it as a phallic symbol appearing only on the lowest plane, the exoteric rites of the Grail. Since it is manifestly impossible at this point to separate the ques- tion of the lance of the agrarian cult from the general interpretation of which it is a part, specific considera- tion of its functions must be postponed. SQIMd., 257, 258. somd., 259, 260. 200 the legend of longinus §3. Connection Between Early Liturgy and Kites of the Mysteries Professor Mtze and Miss Weston are, I think, right in affirming the fundamental similarity of the Grail rites and the agrarian cult. There may also be ground for the additional suggestion made by Professor Nitze that these rites have passed through Celtic hands. At almost every point, however, the question arises, whether the particu- lar matter under discussion cannot as well be explained by Christian custom. This being the case, an interpreta- tion that disregards entirely the possibility of early Chris- tian influence cannot be accepted without question. Espe- cially is this the case at a time when investigators of the origins of Christianity, both within and without the Church, agree that there is close relationship between these early mysteries and early Christian rites. Professor Mtze himself recognizes the possible con- nection between the mysteries he is describing and the early liturgy. "I do not wish to imply," he remarks, "that the Eucharist and the Grail ceremony may not go back to similar primitive rites." 91 That these early mys- teries are related in some way to the ceremonies and be- lief of the early church is now very generally accepted. "The rise of the church/' says Glover, "was accom- panied by the rise of mysteries." "That such ideas," he explains, "should emerge in the Christian commu- nity is natural enough, when we consider its environ- 9i Op. cit., p. 372. Cf. Miss Weston, Perceval, II, 293, "Christi- anity, too, had its Mysteries, and those Mysteries were in aim and practice analogous to the greater Mysteries of India and Egypt." Cf. also Nutt, Folk-Lore, XXI, 115, 117. THE LASTCE OF LOXGIKTTS AND THE GEAIL 201 ment — a world without natural science, steeped in belief in every kind of magic and enchantment, and full of public and private religious societies, every one of which had its mysteries and miracles and its blood bond with its peculiar deity. It was from such a world and such societies that most of the converts came and brought with them the thoughts and instincts of countless generations, who had never conceived of a religion without rites and mysteries. " 92 Farnell calls attention to the "deep indebtedness of Christianity in respect of ritual, organization, and even religious concept to the Eleusinian Mysteries and other mystic societies of Greek lands. . . . The religious affini- ties discoverable between the earlier and later 'Mediter- ranean' systems/' he remarks, "may be classified accord- ing as they appear in the legends, in nomenclature and terminology, in external symbols and liturgical objects, in hieratic institutions, and finally in the ideas, aspira- tions, and concepts of faith." 93 Wernle's testimony is still more important for the pres- ent purpose. He attempts to show that Jesus himself established no mysterious cult, that from the very first he courted publicity, but he adds that the persecution of the Jewish Church and afterwards of the Roman gov- ernment "made of Christianity a sect that shunned the light." The rise of Gnosticism, according to Wernle, caused a number of small sects to appear, and these fell irrevocably under the influence of the mysteries, culti- vating as they did, in common with the mysteries, an esoteric doctrine. In winning the victory over Gnosti- cism, Wernle explains, the Christian teachers adopted in 92 The Conflict of Religions in the Early Roman Empire, 1909, pp. 158, 159. 93 The Evolution of Religion, 1905, pp. 22 ff. 202 THE LEGEND OF LONGINUS many respects the opinions of their opponents. The sacraments show this influence of the mysteries most strongly. Baptism and the Lord's Supper become "mys- terious initiatory rites/ 7 and "sacramental apparatus be- comes ever more and more complicated through competi- tion with other sacraments. " He comments on the fact that Ignatius with "perfect outspokenness calls the Lord's Supper a 'magic rite.' " 94 It would be possible to adduce a great deal more evi- dence on this point. Everyone who deals with the be- ginnings of religions calls attention to such resemblances. It is hardly necessary to note that many Christian fes- tivals are definitely traceable to more primitive relig- ions. Christmas, Easter, the Assumption of the Virgin, to mention only a few, apparently superseded earlier heathen feasts. Accordingly, where, as in the case of the Grail, so much reason appears for believing a legend to be of Christian origin, the presence of traces of earlier heathen ritual will hardly make Christian derivation impossible. To put such obligation out of the question, one would be compelled to show that these antecedent heathen customs were not taken over by the Church as so many similar customs assuredly were. This it would be difficult to do. The points Professor Nitze explains by analogies drawn from the early mysteries may in many cases be more satisfactorily accounted for by the early liturgy. Even the 'heterodox tinge' is less striking if the comparison be made, not with church usages of later times, but with those that found place in the early Church ritual when it was least remote from the corresponding ritualistic cus- toms of the Mediterranean. 94 p. Wernle, The Beginning of Christianity (trans, by Rev. G. A. Bienemann), II, 123 ft THE LANCE OF LONGINUS AND THE GRAIL 203 §4. Elements Common to Grail Rites, Mysteries, and Liturgy There are few elements common to the Grail rites and to the mysteries that do not occur also in the liturgy or in early Christian legend. Mr. ISTitze, in defining the purpose of the mysteries, states that "they induce through a sacrificial feast the fructification of nature," and they "initiate the human soul into the secret of life by bring- ing it, as it were, into relationship with the life deity." 90 The second of these purposes is fundamental in all primi- tive rites. Brinton calls attention to the similarity of these to the Christian eucharist. "Traces of human sac- rifice are discovered in the early history of even the noblest religions, and the rite extended so widely that scarce a cult can be named in which it did not exist. . . . The idea of atonement in the piacular sacrifice is in reality that of being one with the god, that of enter- ing into union or communion with him. This, indeed, lies largely at the base of all the forms of ritualistic wor- ship." 96 Though in the Christian liturgy there is little left to remind one of the first of the purposes mentioned by Mr. Nitze — "the fructification of nature" — the date of the celebration of Easter coincides with that of the Mediter- ranean nature rites. 97 Moreover, the idea of the death of vegetation as a result of the death of the Lord, does occur in Christian legend and must ultimately be trace- able to the vegetation myth. I refer to the ancient and 95 Op. cit., p. 384. 96 Religions of Primitive Peoples, 1899, p. 189. 97 Cf. Frazer, Adonis, Attis and Osiris, p. 198, for discussion of this coincidence. 14 204 THE LEGEND OF LONGINUS well-known legend of the Dry Tree, for which one may turn conveniently to the account given by Mandeville in his description of the valley of Mambre: a And there is a Tree of Oke, that the Sarazines clepen Dirpe, that is of Abrahames tyme, the whiche Men clepen the drye Tree — and they seye that it hathe ben there sithe the beginnynge of the World; and was sumtyme grene, and bare Leves, unto the tyme that oure Lord dyede on the Cros ; and thanne it dryede ; and so dyden alle the Trees, that weren thanne in the World. And summe seyn be here Prophecyen, that a Lord, a Prynce of the West syde of the World shall wynnen the Lond of Promyssioun, that is the Holy Lond, withe helpe of Cristene Men; and he schalle do synge a Masse undir that drye Tree, and than the Tree schalle wexen grene and bere bothe Pruyt and Leves." 98 This last sentence suggests that the mass under the tree replaced an old vegetation ceremony under the tree, where the victim or his symbol was sacri- ficed." When we remember that in the Oriental mass the wafer was treated in all respects like a sacrifice, stabbed with a lance, the suggestion becomes more sig- nificant. The fish, which Professor Nitze notes was the symbol of Adonis, and represented the life principle, early be- came associated with Christ. Dr. Eisler seeks "to recon- cile the fact that although the Eucharist was primarily a vegetable sacrifice intended to supersede the animal sacrifice of scriptural Judaism, there yet occurred in the Eucharistic tradition constant allusions to (1) the fish and (2) the lamb." He explains the fish "on the ground 98 The Voiage and Travaile of Sir John Maundeville, London, 1866, pp. 68, 69. 99 Cf. Frazer, Adonis, Attis and Osiris, p. 186. THE LANCE OF LONGINUS AND THE GRAIL 205 that Christ found at Bethsaida ... a local pagan cult of the widely spread fish-god, availed himself of it, and spiritualized it by means of an etymological coincidence between lehem, bread, lulnm, fish, and luhm, breath or spirit." 100 "The sacred procession," Mr. Nitze tells us, "also brought the initiate into relationship with the deity — but through the avenue of sight. This was the act where- by the hierophant revealed to him the sacred objects. Apparently they were taken out of the /Aeyapov, into which the hierophant alone could enter, and, their cov- ers being removed, they appeared to the mystae in bril- liant illumination. What they were is not known, yet it seems probable that among them were legendary relics, 'such,' says Farnell, 'as would cause a religious tremor in the spectator.' " 101 The sacred procession is of course paralleled in the liturgy. Since we do not know what relics were carried in the Eleusinian mysteries, the connection in this in- stance seems much more tangible between the Grail rites and those of the Church. Of the sacred objects borne in the Grail procession of the talismans, the Grail lance, plates, cross, all are found in the introitus. The "Holy Box" of the mysteries finds its counterpart as a receptacle containing the divine food in the chalice or paten of the mass. And the lance, which Professor Nitze makes an instrument of sacrifice which "impairs life only in order to sustain it elsewhere," is clearly not different from the crucifixion relic, which, as has been pointed out, possesses exactly these characteristics. 100 Transactions of the Third International Congress of Re- ligions, II. 352. ioi Op. cit., p. 388. 206 THE LEGEND OF EONGI]N T US Much that is apparently heathen in the Grail legend was, I do not doubt, Christian by adoption at the time the story took its rise. It is evident that much confusion exists between early Christian tradition and antecedent heathen custom and belief. 102 It has been shown that the holy lance, originally a Christian relic, enriched itself by accretions from many sources. Somewhat the same thing took place in symbolism connected with Jesus himself. The Fecamp story of the sacred blood, as Pro- fessor Nitze has pointed out, finds close parallel in the vegetation myth of Osiris. 103 It is to be noted that the sycamore which, as Professor Nitze says, was sacred to Osiris and from which the Egyptians carved his image, is also, in the Greek Physiologus, identified with Christ. After the spear thrust, blood and water flow from the side of Christ, just as, after it is cut with the knife, sap flows from the sycamore. The Crucified after three days rises ; the sycamore three days after it is cut becomes food for all. Here also is a transference of vegetation symbolism to the life of Christ, 104 III. The Grail Rite §1. The Grail Procession Up to this point the lance of the Grail Castle has been the center of interest. The lance, however, is of signifi- 102 it has been noted in this study (pp. 72 ff.) that heathen ancient charms and spells against evil spirits and disease were adopted by the Church and slightly Christianized. It is hardly worth citing what has been often remarked that in art Isis and the young Horus formed the model for the Virgin and Child, and that the wounded Attis and Venus were by easy transfer made the Christian Pieta. 103 Op. cit., pp. 402, 403. 104 Lauchert, GescMclite des Physiologus, pp. 37, 38. THE LAXCE OF LOSTGINTTS AHD THE GRAIL 207 cance only as one of the objects borne in the Grail pro- cession, and this procession again is of importance only as part of the rite. How much of the account of Perce- val's experience in the Grail Castle may be explained as Christian ? Crestien's description of the procession reads as follows : 4369 Uns varies d'une cambre vint, Qui une blance lance tint, Enpoignie par emmi leu; Si passa par entre le feu Et cil ki sor le lit seoient, Et tout cil ki laiens estoient Virent la lance est le fer blanc: S'en ist une goute de sane Del fer de la lance el somet, Et jusqu'a la main au varlet, Couloit cele goute vermelle 4391 Atant dui, varlet k lui vinrent, Qui candelers en lor mains tinrent De fin or ouvret a chisiel; Li varlet estoient moult biel Qui les candelers aportoient En cascun candelles ardoient X. candoiles a tout les mains. Un graal entre ses II. mains Une damoisiele tenoit, Qui avoec les varies venoit, Biele, gente et acesmee; Quant ele fu laiens entree Atout le graal qu'ele tint, Une si grans clartes i vint Que si pierdirent les candoiles Lor clarte, com font les estoiles Quant li solaus lieve ou la lime: Apries icou en revient une Qui tint le tailleoir d'argent; Igou vos di veraiment, De fin or esmeree estoit, Pieres pressieuses avoit El graal, de maintes manieres, 208 THE LEGEND OF LONGINUS Des plus rices et des plus ciSres Qui el mont u en tiere soient; Totes autres pieres pasoient Celes du greal, sans dotance. As lias been pointed out more than once, this Grail procession finds its close parallel in the Greek mass, 103 The candles, lance, chalice, paten, of the mass, all ap- pear in Crestien's description. The blood on the lance and the host on the grail also make evident the repro- duction here of the eucharistic rite. Compared with Crestien, Professor Nitze's Eleusinian parallel is not im- pressive. He says sacred objects, — of what sort he does not know, but probably legendary relics, — were appar- ently revealed by the hierophant to the initiate. The Christian explanation, on the other hand, is here ade- quate. Notwithstanding the similarity of the two processions, however, Professor Nitze finds "the only possibly Chris- tian elements in the procession are the 'plate/ and the host (oiste) which sustains the life of the Fisher-King's father." 106 Professor Brown makes not even this admis- sion: "Chretien could not have thought of connecting this procession with any part- of the ritual of the Mass. Had he done so he would not have put the Grail into the hands of a lovely young maiden but of a priest or acolyte." 107 ISTot even the host suggests the mass: "Chre- tien is certainly alluding here to some legend, . . . like that about Pachomius, of a saint who was miraculously sustained on a wafer a day, and not to the consecrated i05Burdach Literaturzeitung XXIV (1903), 2821 ff.; Golther Parzival und der Oral, in deutscher Sage des Mittelalters und der Neuzeit, Munich, 1908 (Walhalla, IV), p. 2. 106 Op. cit., pp. 414, 415. 107 Brown, op. cit., p. 8. THE LANCE OF EONGINUS AND THE GKAIE 209 wafer. The latter meaning for 'oiste' seems excluded; for to the twelfth century, Chretien would have been guilty of gross sacrilege if he had represented the con- secrated wafer as carried in procession in a secular hall by a beautiful maiden." 108 Similar is the position of Baist, 109 whom Professor Brown is apparently following in this part of his discussion. Golther, too, calls attention to the Grail maidens, but he thinks them justified on poetic grounds. Not even the maidens as participants in the adminis- tration of the sacrament, are, however, opposed to the usage of the early Church. An Oriental custom, con- nected with the presence of women as well as men ascetics in the church, it traveled from the East into Ireland, and was brought to Brittany by Irish missionaries. 110 Especially interesting is the existence of such a usage in these places, both so definitely, if also obscurely, asso- ciated with Grail origins. Fortunately, authentic evi- dence of this usage has been preserved in a letter written in the sixth century by three Gallican bishops, Licinius of Tours, Melaine of Rennes, and Eustochius of Angers, to the Irish priests Lovocatus and Catihernus in Brittany. This letter, condemning the practices of these Irish priests as abuses, sets forth these practices in detail, and thus affords convincing evidence of their existence. The letter reads as follows: Dominis Beatissimis et in Christo fratribus Lovocato et Cati- herno presbyteris, Licinius, Melanius et Eustochius, episcopi. Viri venerabilis Sparati presbyteri relatione cognovimus quod 108 ma., p. 9. 109 Parzival und der Oral, 1909, p. 41. no See for full discussion of the whole matter of the Agapetae, H. Achelis, Hastings' Encyc. of Religion and Ethics. Duchesne, Revue de Bretagne, 57 (1885), 5 ff. 210 THE LEGEND OF LONGIKUS gestantes quasdam tabulas per diversoruni civium vestrorum capanas circumferre non desinatis et missas, ibidem adhlbitis mulieribus in sacrificio divino, quas conhospitas nominastis, facere praesumatis, sic ut erogantibus vobis eucharistiam illae vobis positis calices teneant et sanguinem Christi populo administrare praesumant. Cujus rei novitas et inaudita super- stitio nos non leviter contristavit, ut tarn horrenda secta, quae intra Gallias numquam fuisse probatur, nostris temporibus vide- atur emergere, quam Patres Orientales Pepondianam vocant, pro eo quod Pepondius auctor hujus scismatis fuerit, et mulieres sibi in sacrificio consocias habere praesumpserit, praecipientes ut quicumque huic errori voluerit inbaerere, a communione ecclesi- astica reddatur extraneus. Qua de re Caritatem vestram in Christi amore pro ecclesiae unitate et fidei catholicae [societate] imprimis credidimus admonendam, obsecrantes ut cum ad vos nostra pervenerit pagina litterarum, repentina de praedictis rebus emendatio subsequatur; id est de antedictis tabulis, quas a pres- byteris non dubitamus, ut dictis, consecratas, et de mulieribus illis quas conhospitas dicitis, quae nuncupatio non sine quodam tremore dicitur animi vel auditur, quod clerum infamat et sancta in religione tarn detestandum nomen pudorem incutit et horro- rem. Idcirco, secundum statuta Patrum, caritati vestrae praeci- pimus ut non solum huiuscemodi mulierculae sacramenta divina pro inlicita administratione non polluant, sed etiam praeter matrem, aviam, sororem vel neptem intra tectum cullulae suae si quis ad cohabitandum habere voluerit, canonum sententia a sacrosanctae liminibus ecclesiae arceatur.m This rebuke, with the threat of excommunication, is to be noted on two scores, (1) These Irish priests cele- brated the mass on portable altars carried from dwelling to dwelling, (2) They were assisted in the administration of the Eucharist by women. Both these points are of the highest interest to students of the Grail. These portable altars, Duchesne notes, were employed in the East and West, not only in missionary districts where there were no churches, but also in the great cities, in chapels, cemeteries and elsewhere. In Wolfram's in ma., 57, 6 ft. THE LAe Masse, printed by Wynkyn de Worde: "that daye a man deuoutly here masse, whyle he is present he shall not wexe olde."H8 An even more definite expression is found in "The Sacri- fice of the Mass" : Thyn age, at messe shall not encrease, nor sodeyn deth bat day shall not he spill."* 1 ** (3) Miss Weston takes the weeping women of the Grail story to indicate kinship with vegetation rites, where the death of the god was "mourned with solemn ritual in which women took prominent part." Perhaps these weeping women also may be explained by early Christian usage. The Christian festival of the saints, as Saintyves has pointed out, were the direct result of the demand made by the people to continue their custom 117 Ed. J. R. Lumby from MS. Camb. Univ. Kk. I. 5., EETS., 43, p. 114. H8 Quoted by Lumby, Ibid., 129. Cf. Lay. -Folks Mass-Book, EETS., 69, 56. Cf. N. Love, The Mirror of the Blessed Lyf of Jesu Christ, Ed. L. F. Powell, Oxford, 1908, p. 318. us Songs, Carols from the Balliol MS 354, EETS., 101, p. 70. 216 THE LEGEND OF LONGINUS of honoring the dead. The cult of the dead was com- mon throughout the country surrounding the Mediter- ranean. These funeral feasts were accompanied by lamentation and weeping. As Saintyves remarks in this connection: "La communion eucharistque en memoire de la morte du Seigneur est primitivement une sorte de banquet, inais inversement 1' agape funebre est une sorte de communion avec le mort." 120 Following this suggestion, the Grail ceremony would be more than the usual celebration of the mass. To all the ordinary mystic significance of communion with the dead Savior, there would be added the actual human presentment of the Kedeemer with whom communication would be possible. Significant in this connection is the question which awakes the dead and by which the living are aided. According to Professor Jastrow's suggestion, the inquiry "is of the nature of a religious oracle." If the Christian festival grew out of the Oriental death cult it would not be strange to have added to the ceremony the other rite of awaking the dead, the rite of inquiry." 121 120 Les Saints Successeurs des Bieux, 1907, p. 71, note 3. 121 Cf. above, pp. 227, 228. According to Jeremias, Holle und Paradies bei den Babyloniern (Eng. J. Hutchinson, p. 28), not much is known of this 'enquiring of the dead.' Among the various orders of priests, the 'enquirer of the dead' is included. The question asked by Isis 'whose words awake the dead' of Ra (sun- god, water or harvest-god, etc.) is perhaps worth noting. When Ra is 'weakening with years,' Isis desiring to learn his name in order that she might share his power went to him and said, "What aileth thee, what aileth thee, divine father?" («6teindorff, Relig. of Ancient Egyptians, 109; Budge, The God of the Egyp- tians, I. 380). Note the similarity of the question to that asked by Parzival in Wolfram "oeheim, waz wirret dir?" (Parzival, Lachmann, 1879, XVI, 1. 29, p. 374.) THE LANCE OF LONGINUS AND THE GRAIL 217 §3. The Fisher-King If the Grail procession is a reproduction of the pro- cession of the Eucharist, who is the wounded king? Golther believes there is some symbolical connection be- tween the wounded king, his father, and the young hero, on the one hand, and the mass taken in the mystic sense on the other. If the Fisher-King is taken as Christ, he remarks, then the three persons can be explained. The wounded king is the spear-wounded Christ, the old king is Christ in the grave, the young knight is the risen Christ. He thinks the threefold mystery of the sacrifice, death, and resurrection is represented symbolically by the three Grail keepers. In support of his view, he calls attention to the pour- ing of hot water into the wine in the Eastern church. This act is meant to represent symbolically the dead and yet living spear-wounded Savior. He is dead in one sense but the warm blood which flows from the wounded side would symbolically reproduce the reawakening at the same time to immortality. It will be recalled that Professor Nitze's and Miss Weston's explanations of the Fisher-King, though they take him to be the vegetation god, agree in part with Golther's. They both consider the wounded king the intermediary between two states of existence; they agree also in making the "double" the vital principle; about the third they differ, since Miss Weston attempts to find a third representing the merely physical (the king of the Chastel Morteil) to complete the trilogy, and Mr. Nitze takes the third to be the initiate. In this last de- tail I agree with Mr. Nitze. Golther's explanation would be more satisfactory if he combined the two representa- 218 THE LEGEND OF LONGINUS tives of Christ and made the dead Christ also the immortal, constantly sustained Redeemer, the source of all spritual life. In the case of the Fisher-King, then, as well as in the points already considered — the lance, the grail, the sacred procession — the Christian explanation satisfies the conditions imposed by the Grail story as well as the Celtic or the agrarian cult parallels hitherto offered. If we take it that the festival was possibly connected with some Eastern ritual feast of the dead such as we now know had been adopted by the Christian church in the case of saints and martyrs, it may be that the questions that awoke the dead and served both dead and living were also included in the service of some Christian cult. A curious old ballad appears to me to offer significant resemblance to Grail tradition. 122 It is clearly connected in some way with the Grail Castle : Lully, lulley, lully, lulley The faucon hath borne my make away He hare him up, he hare him down, He hare him into an orchard brown. In that orchard there was an halle That was hanged with purpill and pall. And in that hall there was a bede, It was hanged with gold so rede. And in that bede there lithe a knight His woundis bleding day and might By that bede side kneleth a may, And she wepeth both night and day And by that bede side there stondeth a stone Corpus Christi wreten there on.123 122 Dyboski (EETS., 101, p. xxvi) notes the resemblance to the Grail legend. 123 The editors, Chambers and Sidgwick, (Early English Lyrics, p. 148) say that no other early version is known but pub- THE LANCE OF LOXGINUS AND THE GRAIL 219 Parallels are here obvious — the Grail Castle vaguely located, the weeping maiden, the ever bleeding body on the bier, with the identity openly stated in the writing on the stone. The Corpus Christi with the accompany- ing suggestion of the ceaseless bleeding must inevitably strike one as an explicit reference to the Eucharist. 124 I offer the ballad, not of course as convincing testimony, but as a bit of evidence which may be taken into ac- lish in a note (p. 357) a traditional version found in the middle of the last century. Cf. EETS., e. s., 101, p. 103; Anglia, XXVI, 175; Flugel, Neuengl. Lesebuch, p. 142. 1. Over yonder's a park, which is newly begun, All tells in Paradise I heard them a-ring; Which is silver on the outside, and gold within. And I love sweet Jesus above all things. 2. And in that park there stands a hall, Which is covered all over with purple and pall. 3. And in that hall there stands a bed, Which is hung all round with silk curtains so red. 4. And in that bed there lies a knight, Whose wounds they do bleed by day and by night. 5. At that bed side there lies a stone, Which is our blessed virgin Mary then kneeling on 6. At that bed's foot there lies a hound, Which is licking the blood as it daily runs down. 7. At that bed's head there grows a thorn Which was never so blossomed since Christ was born. This reference to the thorn and its blossoming must recall the famous thorn of Glastonbury (see Skeat's note to Lyfe of Joseph of Arimathea, EETS., 42, 73, 74), and of course makes the Grail connection more probable. 124 The ballad in its present form is apparently, especially in the later version, a Marian lament. If it grew originally out of Grail tradition, the weeping maiden would naturally suggest the Virgin weeping for her Son. 15 220 THE LEGEND OF LONGINUS count in the consideration of Professor Golther's con- jecture that the figure on the bier in the Grail Castle symbolizes the wounded Christ, and that the whole Grail rite is meant to explain to the initiate the sacrificial, ex- piatory death of the Savior, and the mystery of eternal spiritual existence, Christ himself being the life-princi- ple, and his blood, in consequence, the living food of redeemed man. Many points in this discussion are of course tenta- tive. Too little is as yet known about the history of the early church, its rites and customs, to make positive as- sertion in all cases possible. But where there exist so many similarities between conceptions current among the early Christians and preceding non-Christian ideas and usages, it is clearly not safe to assume that such Chris- tian coloring as is now evident in the Grail legend, be- cause of its apparent confusion with what we are ac- customed to call non-Christian feeling, is therefore su- perficial and a late accretion. The heathen color is as- suredly there, but in all probability it entered with the early Christian conceptions which had embodied much of such tradition. The contention of the present study, then, is simply that though parallels undoubtedly exist between the bleeding lance of the Grail romances and hea- then magic weapons, and though reflections of agrarian rites can definitely be pointed out in the Grail ceremony, since the Christian spear had by the time of Crestien ac- quired many of these marvellous properties, and since the Christian liturgy had most certainly taken over — in more or less confused and modified form, it is true — many of the precedent Mediterranean ritual conceptions, it seems unnecessary to go back of Christian tradition for adequate explanation of Grail imagery. THE LANCE OF LONGLNUS AND THE GRAIL 221 It is to be noted, however, that what has already been pointed out in the case of the bleeding spear is also true of the whole Grail rite. Professor Brown's heathen parallels account for the spear of the Grail ceremony only in part. He considers its power to avenge and to destroy, but neglects its equally manifest ability to bring peace and life. The heathen corresponding rites in somewhat the same way — though here the parallel is less close because of the nobility of some of the precedent ideas — fail to account entirely for the high degree of spiritualization found in the Christian Grail ceremony. The Christian customs re- flected in the Grail legends are traceable as we have seen, in the sixth century, and perhaps are even earlier. The conclusion to which this evidence appears to lead is, that the part of the Perceval story that deals with the Grail probably took form long before Crestien, Wolfram, or even Bleheris made use of it in romance. VITA I, Rose Jeffries Peebles, daughter of Virginia Rooks and Jacob Cramer Peebles, was born in Natchez, Miss., August 31, 1870. My preparatory training was received at the Natchez Institute. In 1887 I entered the State College for Women, Columbus, Miss., from which I re- ceived the degree of A. B. in 1891. From 1896 to 1906 I was instructor and professor in English in the Missis- sippi State College for Women. I was a student at the University of Chicago during the summer quarters of 1897, 1898, 1905. Prom 1906-1909 I was a student at Bryn Mawr College, my major subject being English Phi- lology and my minor subjects English Literature and Old French Philology. In 1907-08 I was Fellow in English ; in 1908-09, graduate scholar and Fellow by Courtesy, and during the summer of 1909 I held a special travelling scholarship, which enabled me to collect material for the present study in the British Museum and the Bodleian Library. Since 1909 I have been instructor in English at Vassar College. While pursuing my graduate work, I prepared two articles for publication. The first, Notes on the Dialect of Richard de Caisters Metrical Prayer, was published in Norfolk and Norwich Archeological Society Publica- tions, Vol. XVII (1909) (supplementing the Kev. Dun- das Harford's study of the poem) ; the second, The Anglo- Saxon Physiologus, is shortly to appear in Modern Phi- lology. My work at Bryn Mawr College was carried on under Prof. Carleton Brown, Dr. Percy W. Long, Dr. O. L. Hatcher, Prof. C. C. Clark and Prof. R. T. Holbrook, to all of whom I am glad to take this opportunity to acknowl- edge my indebtedness. For a statement as to the presentation of this disserta- tion, as well as for acknowledgments of assistance received in its preparation, the reader is referred to the Preface. LBJL'12 The Legend of Longinus in Ecclesi- astical Tradition and in English Literature, and its connec- tion with the Grail a Dissertation PRESENTED TO THE FACULTY OF BRYN MAWR COLLEGE IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY OCTOBER. 1910 ROSE JEFFRIES PEEBLES BALTIMORE H. FURST COMPANY 191 1 * LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 022 041 597 1