text:
Zelda franchise strategy guide/Dungeons

Dungeons are a locations where much of the action in The Legend of Zelda games occur; they are generally underground labyrinths that contain various types of enemies and puzzles, usually with a boss enemy at the end.

Other video games have featured areas referred to as dungeons, but these references are usually generally descriptive of any interior area that contains enemies, traps, puzzles, and bosses.

Since the release of The Legend of Zelda in 1986, Nintendo has produced fourteen canon titles in the series to date. During that time, the series has also become one of Nintendo's flagship video game franchises, ranking high with the likes of Mario and Donkey Kong. A major reason for this is the complexity, challenge, and evolution of the many dungeons that have come and gone over more than 20 years.

Dungeons have been an essential component of the Zelda series beginning with The Legend of Zelda, the first game in the franchise. These dungeons were rather complex for their time, as they challenged the adventurer with puzzles, traps, and enemies, the likes of which had not previously been seen in video games. Enemies occasionally re-spawn to attack adventurers, and a room may be "reset" (in the sense that everything returns to its starting point) when Link exits and reenters a room.

The Legend of Zelda
In The Legend of Zelda, the dungeons retained the same format as the rest of the game: the player, as Link, maneuvers each area from a top-down perspective, facing everything from dead ends to invincible and annoying enemies to complex traps, puzzles, and maze-like passages. The first installment in the Zelda series is one of but a few in the franchise to feature a special second quest after the challenges of the first one are overcome, or by the player entering "ZELDA" as the file name. In either case, the second quest proves more challenging, offering nine dungeons similar to those in the original quest. However, not only are some of the dungeons' locations mixed up in the second quest, but they are generally more difficult, with a different layout and the items hidden more carefully and stronger enemies and bosses introduced sooner. The general layout of Hyrule remains the same, but the locations of items scattered across the overworld are also hidden in different places.

The Adventure of Link
The Adventure of Link saw a major change in the original Zelda concept, in that, though the top-down perspective remains, it only does so when Link is wandering Hyrule Field. Most of the action takes place in a side-scrolling format, adding other platforming elements (i.e. this is the only Zelda title to date in which the player can press one button to make Link "jump" without the aid of items or special moves). The side-scrolling element adds difficulty to the overall game (and the dungeons especially), in that certain enemies are much more difficult to defeat than they were in the strictly top-down perspective offered in The Legend of Zelda. On the other hand, the addition of certain abilities—most notably the downthrust technique, which is one that allows Link to jump up in the air and come down sword first—make effective tools in Link's fighting repertoire.

A Link to the Past and Link's Awakening
A Link to the Past returned to the fully top-down perspective, going back to the series' roots, thus removing the platform and side-scrolling elements that featured heavily in The Adventure of Link. Link's Awakening also retains the same format.

Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask
After a five-year absence on the market, the Zelda series returned with its fifth installment, titled Ocarina of Time. Its series-new 3D graphics allow the game's dungeons to be far more individual, and more unusual settings are used, such as the humongous insides of both a tree and a giant fish. The game also introduces another first in the series: an optional dungeon, the Gerudo Training Ground, in which, if he completes the challenges therein, Link will obtain the Ice Arrows; however, the Ice Arrows are not necessary for completion of his quest. Though not included in the original release of the game for the Nintendo 64, the GameCube release of Ocarina of Time is carries a "Master Quest", which is a similar revisiting of the game to that of the "second quest" from The Legend of Zelda. One major difference of note between the "second quest" and the "Master Quest" (from Zelda and Ocarina of Time, respectively) is that, in the second quest from The Legend of Zelda, both the overworld and dungeons undergo radical changes, but in Ocarina of Time Master Quest, only the dungeons change, offering new puzzles and traps, as well as different locations for the items within and stronger enemies introduced sooner. Majora's Mask employs the same game engine used for Ocarina of Time, but so far has not offered a second quest.

Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages
Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages retain the top-down perspective from the original.

Four Swords and Four Swords Adventures
Four Swords and Four Swords Adventures brought back the top-down perspective, but introduced into the gameplay another first in the series: the first and so far only multi-player Zelda adventures, making for more varied and interesting puzzles and gameplay.

The Wind Waker
The series' next installment, The Wind Waker, saw more breakthroughs in graphics and changes to the way the game is played through the dungeons. While most people were neither pleased nor impressed at first with series' creator Shigeru Miyamoto's more "child-friendly" approach—Miyamoto's idea was actually to appeal to all ages with the advent of cel shading, not necessarily just a younger audience —the game retains in spades the same basic puzzle and unique elements that have made the Zelda franchise so popular. The dungeon idea got another renovation: as new items are introduced in the game, The Wind Waker proves once again that a new spin on an old idea can work. With every item Link obtains throughout the dungeons, new abilities become available, but the puzzles change more than ever to conform to the usability of the items, and so the series continued more this way. This game also introduces the ability to manipulate other crucial characters and inanimate objects (such as statues), adding another layer to the gameplay and challenging puzzle elements that are staples in the series.

The Minish Cap
The Minish Cap once again uses the top-down perspective of many of its predecessors, and the overall plot is to tell the backstory to Four Swords and Four Swords Adventures. Although Link once again gains the ability to split himself into up to four Links (as in the other two games), this game does not feature a multi-player mode, but the complexity of the dungeons once again takes a turn and keeps the player on his/her toes. Adding a new layer of puzzle challenge to the game is the Minish Cap, which allows Link to shrink to the tiny size of the Picori who inhabit most of Hyrule. This item and ability combination grants Link access to places he could never have gone before, such as inside certain enemies and into the homes of the Picori, who live in everything from mouse holes to shoes to tree stumps. However, this newfound freedom to go where he wants is replete with new dangers, too, from cats to giant ChuChus, which become deadly enemies when Link is only the size of the Picori. Most of the dungeons Link visits in this game require him to be this size—or require that he shrink at certain places while he traverses the dungeons—to either enter the dungeons or access otherwise inaccessible areas.

Twilight Princess
The Legend of Zelda series is well known for its innovations in gameplay and advances in computer graphics technology, always stretching the limits of all that is currently known. Twilight Princess returns the player to the 3D perspective, but adds a new element of puzzle and gameplay: the ability Link gains to turn himself into a wolf. Certain puzzles can only be solved and obstacles overcome by Link when he is in wolf or human form. The items play a heavy role in puzzle specifications once again. Statue manipulation also returns to stretch the player's abilities and test his/her puzzle-solving skills.

Phantom Hourglass
This sequel to The Wind Waker once again uses cel-shading and similar puzzle elements. According to a review by kaboodle.com, " [ Phantom Hourglass will feature] an overhead camera perspective primarily, but incorporat[e] different views based on context". A new addition to the series with this game is the almost-exclusive use of the stylus. This game hardly makes use of the D-pad or the buttons of the Nintendo DS; the stylus is therefore used for everything: movement, swordplay, using items, picking stuff up, etc. For instance, the player can now use the stylus to control the movement of Link's Boomerang, to plot his path through dungeons, and highlight dungeon items, etc. Traditional Zelda elements remain, but are significantly altered by the extensive use of the stylus, adding challenging features that are another first in the series.

Phantom Hourglass also contains a "Master Dungeon". The Master Dungeon is one large dungeon which Link must visit between regular dungeons to acquire sea charts; he then uses the sea charts to guide him to previously unexplored areas. The Master Dungeon is filled with fog, which limits the amount of time which Link can spend in the dungeon to the amount of sand remaining in the titular Phantom Hourglass. The Master Dungeon itself contains Phantoms, which are enemies that Link cannot defeat until he acquires the Phantom Sword. Both the time limit and the Phantoms are nullified by the various "Safe Zones" throughout the dungeon.

title: Zelda franchise strategy guide/Dungeons


text: File:Dkl2 us boxart.jpg

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: File:Dkl2 us boxart.jpg


text:
Donkey Kong Land 2

Donkey Kong Land 2 (ドンキーコングランド) is a sequel to the Game Boy title, Donkey Kong Land and the prequel to Donkey Kong Land III. The game was developed by Rare and published by Nintendo. Like the other Donkey Kong Land games (and later Pokémon Yellow), Donkey Kong Land 2 was contained within a yellow-colored Game Boy cartridge. Being a later Game Boy release, Donkey Kong Land 2 received special enhancements for the Super Game Boy, meaning that different, yet appropriate, colors would show up at different parts of gameplay. The Super Game Boy border itself consists of several bananas.

In 2014, Donkey Kong Land 2 was ported to the Nintendo 3DS's Virtual Console.

title: Donkey Kong Land 2


text: Category:Book:Donkey Kong Land 2

title: Category:Book:Donkey Kong Land 2


text:
Saint Michael: Early Anglo-Saxon Tradition/The Saint Michael Text in Corpus 41

In laudem Sancti Michaelis

[1] Men ða leofestan, us is to ƿorðianne ⁊ to mærsianne seo ȝemind þæs halȝan heahenȝles Sancte Michaeles, se ƿæs ƿundorlic  ærendraca   ðæs   ælmihtiȝan

5 	dryhtenes. Eac sƿilce nu todæȝe þam ȝetriƿum folce he ƿæs inlihted ⁊ ȝebirhted. Forðon ðonne, men ða leofestan, blission ƿe ⁊ ȝefeon in pisne simbelnisse dæȝ þæs halȝan  heahenȝles

10	Sancte Michaeles, se is on hefenum ȝecƿeden sƿa sƿa Ȝod sylfa. A ȝehyron ƿe for þon sinderlice drihtnes ...

[2] He is efenrixiende; he is sƿiðe mihtiȝ mid þam heahenȝlum  þa  standað  dæȝes  ⁊

15	nihtes beforan þrymsetle dryhtnes; se is eallra haliȝra fultum, ⁊ he is reccend eallra haliȝra saula, ⁊ he is nerȝende Ȝodes folces, ⁊ he is stronȝ on ȝefeohte ƿið ðane miclan dracan, sƿa hit saȝað her

20	on Pocalipsis  þære  bec. Blission ƿe on heofonas ⁊ on ða þe on heofnum sint, forðon ðe Sanctus Michael he is stronȝ feohtend ƿið þone miclan dracan, þæt is ðonne, ƿið ðam  aƿyrȝedum  ȝæstum. On

25	þisne heahenȝel ƿe sculon ȝelyfan ⁊ biddan us on fultom on æȝhƿilcere frecennesse þam Cristenum folce.

In praise of St Michael

[1] Most belovèd brethren, it behoves us to honour and to celebrate the memory of the holy archangel St Michael, who was the wonderful messenger of the almighty lord. Moreover, it was on this very day that he was illuminated and made bright to the faithful. Therefore, most belovèd brethren, let us exult and rejoice upon this feast day of the holy archangel St Michael, who is called in heaven like unto God himself. Let us ever give ear because of the lord's special ...

[2] He is a fellow ruler; he is very mighty among the archangels who stand day and night by the throne of the lord; he is the helper of all holy men, he is the governor of all holy souls, he is the saviour of God's people, and he is strong in battle against the great serpent, as it says here in the book of the Apocalypse. Let us rejoice in heaven and in those who are in heaven, for St Michael is a strong fighter against the great serpent, that is, further, against the accursèd spirits. We must trust in this archangel and pray to him for succour in every danger to Christian people.

______________________________________ 5	todæȝe] to dȝe

8	þisne] corrected from earlier þisse

11	A] ae; ȝehyron] corrected from earlier ȝehyren; compare blission and ȝefeon in line 6

12	drihtnes] followed by a blank space sufficient for 8 or 9 letters

13-14	mid þam] þam

18	is] ‘is’

20	bec] béc

22	ðe] with e on erasure of two letters; originally ðon?

23	dracan] drácan

26	fultom] fultō with ō from earlier ū and followed by erasure of m; æȝhƿilcere] æȝehƿilcere

[3] Ðis is se halȝa heahenȝel Sanctus Michael  se ƿæs  andfenȝo  Abeles  saule

30	þæs ærestan martires ðone his broðor Cain for æfstum ofsloh.

[4] Ðis is se halȝa heahenȝel Sanctus Michael se is hæleða healdend; ⁊ dryhtne fultumendum hira feorh he ȝenerede, þæt

35	ƿæs þonne, Noe ⁊ his suna þry ⁊ hira feoƿer ƿif in þam micelan flode.

[5] Ðis is se halȝa heahenȝel Sancte Michael þæs ȝemynd ƿe nu todæȝe ƿorðiaþ, se ƿæs  Abrahames    onlysend   þæs  heah-

40	fæderes ofer Caldea þeode, cumende drihtne fultumendum, ⁊ he ƿæs latteoƿ þam ðrym heahfæderum Abrahame ⁊ Isace ⁊ Iacobe þurh ða ælðydiȝan land ⁊ ða uncuðan   ƿeȝas;  he ƿæs  him  simle

45	onƿeard fultum on æȝhƿilcere frecydnesse.

[6] Þis is se halȝa heahenȝel Sancte Michael se ƿæs ferende on Eastron þurh Israela hus ⁊  Eȝypta; ⁊  Eȝypta  frumbearn  he

50	ofsloh, ⁊ Israela bearn he ȝefryðode.

[3] This is the holy archangel St Michael who was the receiver of the soul of Abel the first martyr whom his brother Cain slew out of envy.

[4] This is the holy archangel St Michael who is guardian of men; and with the help of the lord he saved the lives of Noah, his three sons, and their four wives in the great flood.

[5] This is the holy archangel St Michael whose memory we honour today, who was the deliverer of Abraham, patriarch over the people of the Chaldees, coming with the lord's help, and he acted as guide to the three patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob through foreign lands and unknown ways; he was always a present help to them in every danger.

[6] This is the holy archangel St Michael who went at Easter through the houses of the Israelites and of the Egyptians; he slew the firstborn of the Egyptians, but passed over the children of Israel.

______________________________________ 33	hæleða] hæleda

34	fultumendum]  fultūmendum

35	þonne]  þōn

37	is] ís

38	todæȝe ƿorðiaþ] todæȝe

39	onlysend] ónlysend

40	þeode]  þéode

40-41	cumende drihtne] cumende

43	Isace] isáce; Iacobe] iacóbe

49	⁊ Eȝypta; ⁊ Eȝypta] ⁊ eȝypta once only

[7] Þis is se halȝa heahenȝel Sancte Michael se ðe drihtne fultumendum þæt Cristene folc mid his ȝescyldnisse in þam ƿestene feoƿerti ƿintra he hit ferede ⁊ fedde.

[8] 55	Ðis is se halȝa heahenȝel Sancte Michael se ȝesiȝefæsted stod beforan Cananisca cinne, ⁊ þurh Iosues handa þæt Israelica folc he ȝelædde to þam ȝehatlande þæt is floƿende hunie ⁊ meolce.

[9] 60	Þis is se halȝa heahenȝel Sancte Michael ⁊ se æþela forestihtend in þæra cræftena handa þe Salamones templ timbredon.

[10] Þis is se halȝa heahenȝel Sancte Michael se ƿæs   stronȝ   scyldend   þam   þrym

65	cnihtum þa ƿæron sende in ofen birnendes fires. ⁊ he þa him bistod se enȝel ⁊ snitera ȝast he dihtode in hira muð þæt ƿæs þonne se halȝa “Benedicete.”

[7] This is the holy archangel St Michael who with the lord's help guided and nourished the Christian people with his protection in the wilderness for forty years.

[8] This is the holy archangel St Michael who stood triumphant before the people of Canaan, and led the people of Israel at the hands of Joshua to the promised land which is flowing with milk and honey.

[9] This is the holy archangel St Michael and the noble director of the hands of the craftsmen who built Solomon's temple.

[10] This is the holy archangel St Michael who was the powerful protector of the three youths who were cast into the furnace of burning fire. And then the angel stood by them, and he, the wise spirit, composed in their mouth what was then the holy “Benedicite.”

______________________________________ 52	fultumendum] fultūmendū

53	ȝescyldnisse] ȝesylnisse

56	Cananisca] canonica

57	Iosues] iobes

61	þæra] from earlier þære

62	timbredon] with i and first part of m on erasure

66	fires] fíres

[11] 70	Þis is se halȝa heahenȝel Sancte Michael ⁊ se æþela scyldend ƿið deofles sƿipor-nesse. Sƿa se ƿiteȝa sæȝde, þæt þæt deofol þohte þæt he sceolde ȝelæran þæt folc þæt hi ƿorðodon  Moyses  lichaman

75	for Ȝod for his fæȝernesse. Ða cƿæð him to se halȝa enȝel, “Ic ðe beode, mid mines drihtnes ƿorde, þæt ðu þæȝe þristnesse ne ȝedo þæt ðu his folc ne ȝescildiȝe.”

[12] 80	Þis is se halȝa heahenȝel Sancte Michael 	se ðe   a   onƿeard    fultum    þurhƿunode drihtnes ƿitiȝan mid him in æȝhƿilcere stoƿe.

[13] Þis is se halȝa heahenȝel Sancte Michael

85	þam dryhten befæste Sancta Marian saule æfter hire forðfore, ⁊ he hi him bebead.

[14] Þis is se halȝa heahenȝel Sancte Michael se ðe anra ȝehƿilces soðfæstes mannes saule ȝelædeð þurh þa ȝatu þæs ecan lifes

90	to hefena rice.

[15] Þis is se halȝa heahenȝel Sancte Michael se ðe anra ȝehƿilces haliȝes mannes bene ȝelæteð in dryhtnes ȝesyðe, ⁊ he his hiredes ȝeƿyrht  mid  frofre  he  him  eft

95	toforlæteð.

[11] This is the holy archangel St Michael and the noble protector against the cunning of the devil. According to the prophet, the devil thought that he should instruct the people to glorify the body of Moses instead of God because of its beauty. Then the holy angel said to the devil, “I command thee, with the authority of my lord, not to carry out this act of presumption nor make his people guilty.” [12] This is the holy archangel St Michael, who ever remained as a present help for the lord's prophets and [remained] with them in every place.

[13] This is the holy archangel St Michael to whom the lord entrusted St Mary's soul after her death when he committed her to him.

[14] This is the holy archangel St Michael who leads the soul of each and every true man through the gates of eternal life into the kingdom of heaven.

[15] This is the holy archangel St Michael who places the prayers of each and every holy man in the company of the lord, and afterwards with words of comfort forgives him the transgressions of his household.

______________________________________ 75	Ȝod] Ȝód

81	a] á

82	drihtnes] ⁊ drihtnes

88	soðfæstes] soð‘fæstes’

89	ecan] écan

90	rice] ríce

[16] Þis is se halȝa heahenȝel Sanctus Michael ⁊ se snotora dihtend ðære cynelecra husa; ⁊ he is se ȝetreoƿa hierde ðære halȝan heofonlican ceastre.

[17] 100	Þis is se halȝa heahenȝel Sanctus Michæl ⁊ se ȝleaƿa londbiȝenȝa ðæs  cynelican ƿinȝerðes se ðe ðisne ȝetreoƿne ȝedeð; ⁊ þa berian he ȝesamnað, ⁊ ða ƿirrestan he ut  aƿirpð, ⁊   ðane ƿæstm   þæs   ȝodan

105	ƿinȝerdes he aȝifeð his hlaforde. Hƿæt sindon þa berian ðe he þær samnað? Þæt sindon haliȝra manna ⁊ soðfæstra saula.

[18] Þis is se halȝa heahenȝel Sanctus Michæl se ȝoda  hirde  ðæs  dryhtenlican  eoƿdes,

110	se ðe  ne  læteð  ƿulf  ne ðeof  naneƿuht ȝeƿirdan on his hlafordes heorde.

[19] Þis is se halȝa heahenȝel Sanctus Michæl ⁊ se ȝesundfulla saƿend Cristes æcera, ⁊ se ƿæstmberenda  riftere   ðæra   hƿitra

115	ðeodlanda se his hlafordes bernas ȝefelleð mid þy clænestan hƿæte, ⁊ ða eȝelan ⁊ ða fulnesse ut aƿorpeð, nymðe ðæt sindon ða soðfæstan ðe he ascadæt fram ðam sinfullum saulum.

[16] This is the holy archangel St Michael and the wise ruler of royal houses; and he is the trusty guardian of the holy heavenly city.

[17] This is the holy archangel St Michael and the skillful cultivator of the royal vineyard who keeps it in order; he gathers the grapes, throws away the corrupt ones and gives the fruit of the good vineyard to his lord. What are the grapes which he gathers there? They are the souls of holy and faithful men.

[18] This is the holy archangel St Michael the good shepherd of the lord's flock, who permits neither wolf nor thief to do any injury to his lord's herd.

[19] This is the holy archangel St Michael and the prosperous sower of Christ's fields, the fruitful reaper of the bright regions who fills his lord's barns with the purest wheat and throws out the awns and the impurities, save that those are the true souls that he separates from the sinful ones.

_______________________________________ 98	ȝetreoƿa] ȝetr‘e’oƿa

101	londbiȝenȝa] lodbiȝena

103	berian] beorȝasƿirrestan] ƿilestran

113	ȝesundfulla] ȝesun‘d’fulla

114	ƿæstmberenda] ƿæsmtberenda

115	bernas] berna‘s’

[20] 120	Þis is se halȝa heahenȝel Sanctus Michæl ⁊ se ȝetreoƿa  þeoƿ þane  dryhten  ȝesette

ofer ealne hiƿscipe, þæt he him mete sealde on ða rihtan tid. Hƿæt is se mete nymðe ðæt he sceal on Domesdæȝe anra

125	ȝehƿelcum men his dæda edlean forȝildan?

[21] Þis is se halȝa heahenȝel Sanctus Michæl ⁊ þæt  beorhte  tunȝel  þæt  bið ascinende dæȝes ⁊ nihtes on hefonum betƿexh ðam

130	ȝæstelicum tunȝlum beforan ðam ȝod-cundan cyninȝe.

[22] Þis is se halȝa heahenȝel Sanctus Michæl ⁊ se æðela noƿend ⁊ se ȝleaƿa frumlida ⁊ se  þancƿirðesta  stiȝend,  se  ðe  his  scip

135	ȝefelleð ⁊ mid heofonlicum ƿælum hit ȝefylleð, þæt is ðonne, mid þam  halȝum

saulum; ⁊ mid ðy ƿryȝelse ðære ȝod-cundan ȝefillnesse ofer þæs sæs yðe he hit  ȝelædeð,  þæt  is  ðanne,  ofer  ðisses

140	middanȝeardes frecennesse, ⁊ þa haleȝan

saula ȝelædeð to  þære  yðe ðæs  heofon- cundan lifes.

[20] This is the holy archangel St Michael and the faithful servant whom the lord appointed above all his household so that he might give them food at the due season. What is the food, save that he is destined on the Day of Judgment to grant every man the recompense he has merited?

[21] This is the holy archangel St Michael and the bright star which shines forth by day and night in heaven among the spiritual stars in the presence of the divine king.

[22] This is the holy archangel St Michael the glorious ship-master, the skillful pilot and the most renowned sailor, who fills his ship and fills it with heavenly dead, that is, with holy souls; and under the veil of divine fulfilment he guides it over the waves of the ocean, that is, through the dangers of this earthly world, and leads the holy souls to the sea of the heavenly life.

______________________________________ 123	sceal] s‘c’eal

125	edlean] edl‘e’an

129	betƿexh ðam] betƿexh ða

130	ȝodcundan] ȝodcund‘a’n with final n from o by erasure; another letter erased above the n

135	ȝefelleð] ȝefylleð with f partly altered to s by erasure

138	ȝefillnesse] ȝefill‘n’esse

[23] Þis is se halȝa heahenȝel Sanctus Michæl se ðe com on  fultum þam Crystenan, sƿa

145	hit sæȝð in Actum Apostolorum, þæt on  sumere ceastere ðære nama ƿæs Træleȝ ⁊ æȝhƿelce ȝeare hæðen here  ayddon  ða  ceasterƿare. Ða ȝecƿædon ða ceasterƿare him betƿeonum ðreora daȝa fæsten, ⁊ þa

150	þæt fæsten ȝeendod ƿæs, ða  com  him  to  Sanctus Michael, ⁊ he ƿæs to ȝefeohte ȝearu. Ða stod he  ofer  ðæs  ceasteres  buruȝate, ⁊ hæfde him liȝen sƿeord on handa, ⁊  he aflimde ða  elðeodiȝan sona

155	þæt hi fluȝon on oðer   ðeodland  ⁊  hi  næfre  ma  ðær oðeoƿdon. [24] Þis is se halȝa heahenȝel Sanctus Michæl ⁊ se mycila mundbora se nu todæȝ his stoƿe ætyƿde on eorðan þæt men sceolden

160	hi ðær dæȝhƿamlice dryhten ƿeorðian.

[23] This is the holy archangel St Michael who came to the assistance of the Christians, as it says in the Acts of the Apostles, in a certain town whose name was Træleg and whose townspeople a heathen army oppressed every year. Then the inhabitants of the town agreed among themselves on a fast of three days, and, when the fast was ended, St Michael came to them, ready for battle. Then he stood over the town's main gate, holding a flaming sword in his hand, and he straightway put the strangers to flight so that they fled to another country and nevermore appeared there.

[24] This is the holy archangel St Michael and the great protector who on this very day showed his place on earth so that men should daily glorify the lord there.

_______________________________________ 144	com] cóm; Crystenan] with erasure of one letter above the a

148	ceasterƿare] with erasure of one letter after the first r

149	betƿeonum] betƿ‘e’onū

160	ðær] ðære

[25] Þis is se halȝa heahenȝel Sanctus Michæl se ðe ær ðisse ƿorulde ende ofslihð þone ealdan feond þæt is se micla draca se ðe æt  frymðe  middanȝardes ȝesceapen ƿæs

165	to ðam beorhtestan enȝle; ac he selfa hit forƿorhte mid ði he cƿæð, “Ic hebbe min heahsetl to norðdæle, ⁊ ic beo ȝelic þam heahstan cyninȝe.” ⁊ þa ȝefeol he, ⁊ ȝehreas mid  his ƿerode  on  niƿulnesse

170	ȝrund, efene se illca Antacrist se ær ðisse ƿorlde ende cymeð on ðisne middanȝeard to ðam þæt he sceal ȝesamnian ða ðe his sindon. Þanne cymeð  Sanctus  Michael ⁊  hine  ofslihð,  forðon  ðe  he  hit  æfre

175	ȝeðohte þæt  he scolde  ȝelic beon ðan heahstan cyninȝe.

[26] Þis is se halȝa heahenȝel Sanctus Michæl se ðe on þam neahstan dæȝe ƿorulde ende ⁊ æt  þam  eȝesfullan dome he  ðonne ða

180	deadan  aƿeceð   mid   dryhtenes   hæse; beoruhtere stefene  he clipað ⁊ þus cƿið, “Surȝite! Surȝite! Arisað! Arisað!” ⁊ þonne arisað ealle ða deadan ðe eorðe forsƿealȝ, oððe  sæ   bescente,  oððe  fir

185	forbærnde,  oððe  ƿildeor   abiton,  oððe fuȝlas on lande tobæren, oððe ƿirmas on eorðan fræten.

[25] This is the holy archangel St Michael who before the end of the world will slay the ancient enemy that is the great serpent who at the creation of the earth was created brightest of the angels; but he himself forfeited this when he said, “I will lift up my throne to the north, and I shall be like unto the highest king.” And then he fell, and he landed with his troop in the depth of the abyss, the very same Antichrist who before the end of the world will come to the earth in order to assemble those who are his. Then St Michael will come and slay him, because he has ever thought that he ought to be equal to the highest king.

[26] This is the holy archangel St Michael who on the latter day at the end of the world and at the fearful judgment will then awaken the dead at the lord's command; in an exceeding glorious voice he will call out and will thus speak, “Surgite! Surgite! Arise! Arise!” And then will arise all the dead whom the earth swallowed up, or the sea drowned, or fire consumed, or wild animals devoured, or birds carried off on land, or worms gnawed in the earth.

_______________________________________ 166	ði] with i on erasure of e

168	heahstan] heahsta

170	ȝrund] ȝ‘ru’nd with a space for three letters below -ru- and erasure of one letter before n

172	þæt he sceal] þæt sceal

177	is] followed by erasure of one letter; Sanctus] Ss with from correction of ē; Michael] mihael

178	ƿorulde] ƿoru‘l’de

182	Arisað! Arisað!] áŕisað áŕisað

185	abiton] ab‘i’ton preceded by erasure of two letters (ab)

[27] Þis is se halȝa heahenȝel Sanctus Michæl se ðe ða ȝodan to life ȝelaðað ⁊ ȝelædeð,

190	⁊ þa yfelan on deað  bescenceð; ⁊  þonne ða halȝan saula to heofona rice he ȝelædeð, ⁊ þa ȝeomriendan he blisað, ⁊ þa ƿanhalan he ȝelacnað, ⁊ þa elðeodeȝan he afrefreð, ⁊  þam  ƿinnendum  he  ræste

195	forȝifð, lærnerum  ȝefean  he  ontyneð ⁊ þam lærrendum onȝit he ȝerumlæteð.

[28] Uton þonne nu, men ða leofestan, biddan we þone halȝan heahenȝel Sanctus Michael þæt  ura  saula  sie  anfenȝe ⁊ hi

200	ȝelæde  on   heofoncund   rice   to   þam dryhtene ðe lifað ⁊ rixað mid Fæder ⁊ mid Suna ⁊ mid þam Halȝan ƿaste in ealra ƿorlda ƿorld abutan ende, AMEN.

[27] This is the holy archangel St Michael who will summon and bring forth the good to life, and will give over the evil to be drowned in death; and then he will lead the holy souls into the kingdom of heaven, and he will gladden them that mourn, and he will heal them that are sick, and he will comfort the homeless, and he will grant rest to them that labour, he will discover joy to them that study, and he will extend understanding to them that teach.

[28] Therefore, most belovèd brethren, let us pray the holy archangel St Michael that he be a recipient of our souls and lead them into the heavenly kingdom to the lord, St Michael who lives and rules with the Father and with the Son and with the Holy Ghost for ever and ever, world without end, AMEN.

_______________________________________ 188	Michael] mihael

193	ȝelacnað] ‘ȝe’lacnað

194	afrefreð] with first r from earlier f

196	ȝerumlæteð] ȝerū læteð

199	Michael] mihael

203	ƿorlda] ƿorla; abutan ende] abutan is one word in the MS but a butan ende is also a possible reading

Notes on the text
[1]	The earliest apparition of St Michael, on Mount Garganus, is variously given as AD 492, 494, or c. 530-540, although he made later appearances on other mountain tops. The Mount Garganus apparition became identified with both 8 May and 29 September. The legend may be found in Sabine Baring-Gould, Lives of the Saints V, p. 115. In Old English it may be found in Blickling Homily 17 and in Ælfric's homily 1.34 (36).

3, 6.	The preterites refer presumably to Michael's apparition on Mount Garganus.

5, 8-9.	The feast day likely refers to Michaelmas, 29 September.

11.	swa swa ȝod sylfa; Michael's name in Hebrew means ‘Who is like God?’ MS ae is likely a = ‘ever’ with -ȝe simply an anticipation of the ȝe- of ȝehyron, but aȝen = ‘again’ would also be possible.

12.	The space after drihtnes might perhaps be completed simply: for þon sinderlice drihtnes [lufan þisses heahenȝles].

[2]	This stanza virtually summarizes the functions of St Michael as set out above. Biblical sources are Daniel 10.13, 21; 12.1-3. Daniel 12.1-3 anticipates Matthew 24.21, Mark 13.19, and especially the passage referred to in the Old English, Apocalypse 12.7 ff. Thus the age of Antiochus merges specifically with that of the Antichrist, and this device of cross-reference links [2] with [25]-[28].

13. efenrixiende is a unique word. Translate ‘fellow-ruler’ to avoid the heresy of ‘equally powerful.’ The idea is that Michael replaced God as guardian of Israel and the Christian church in the final battle with Satan. Perhaps a preposition is wanting after mihtiȝ, perhaps ofer or mid; the text supplies mid = ‘among.’ The manuscript as it stands might mean vaguely ‘as regards the archangels.’

[3]	Some Apocryphal texts associate Michael with the story of Cain and Abel, e.g., the Vita Adae et Evae 21.2, where Michael announces the conception of Cain (Charles, p. 138), and the Apocalypsis Mosis 3.2 and Revelation of Moses where Michael announces the conception of Seth in Abel's stead (Charles, p. 139; and ANF 8, p. 565). The most direct reference is in the Revelation of Moses (ANF 8, p. 570):

And the Lord said: Let also the body of Abel be brought. And having brought other cloths, they (i.e., Michael, Gabriel, Uriel, and Raphael) prepared it also for burial, since it had not been prepared for burial since the day on which his brother Cain slew him. For the wicked Cain, having taken great pains to hide it, had not been able; for the earth did not receive it.

[4] Compare the Book of Enoch 67.1-13, where Michael is implicated in God's promise to Noah (Charles, p. 231-2).

[5]	Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are associated with angels in Genesis at 16.7-14, 18.2 ff. (announcements of conception of sons of Abraham), 22.11-18 (Abraham's hand is stayed as he prepares to slay Isaac), 28.12 (Jacob's dream), and 31.11-13, 32.2 (Jacob meets with advising angels). Compare also the First Appendix to the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs (Charles, p. 363):

But when Michael said unto Abraham our father, ‘Abram, whom doest thou choose, and whom wilt thou worship?’ Abram answered, ‘I choose and select only Him who said, and the world was created; Who formed me in the womb of my mother, body within body; Who placed in me spirit and soul; Him I choose, and to Him I will cleave, I and my seed, all the days of the world.’ (9.5)

Then the Most High dispersed the nations, and apportioned and allotted to every nation its share and lot. And from that time all the nations of the earth separated themselves from the Lord, blessed be He; only the house of Abraham remained with his Creator to worship Him; and after him Isaac and Jacob. (10.1-2)

40-1. cumende fultumendum: this is odd; supply drihtne before fultumendum, as in line 38, translating ‘coming with the lord's help.’ As it stands, the dative fultumendum is inexplicable.

[6]	Compare Exodus 11.1-8 and 12.29-30. There are no apocryphal sources for the attribution of the deed to Michael.

[7]	Accounts of the wanderings of the Children of Israel are given in Exodus 14-40; Leviticus; Numbers; Joshua 1-11.

[8]	Compare Joshua 5.14—‘As captain of the host of the Lord am I now come.’ The apparition of an angel called ‘captain of the host of the Lord’ guarantees divine aid in the attack on Jericho, and it is natural to suppose there is reference to Michael here. The story of Joshua and the promised land is contained in Joshua 10 and 11.

56.	While MS canonica is a legitimate OE word, it gives poor sense here, and there may be corruption of some word with the sense ‘of Canaan,’ such as Cananeisc (BT, p.144, from Genesis 9.18) or Cananisca (BT Supplement, p. 116, s.v. Cananeisc, from the Rushworth MS of Mark 3.18).

[9]	The biblical account of the building of Solomon's temple is to be found in I Kings 6.1-38, 7.1-51 and II Chronicles 2.1-5.1. There is no biblical or apocryphal attribution to Michael; indeed, according to the Greek Testament of Solomon of the third or fourth century, Solomon built his temple with the help of demons whom he had subdued. See Menner, op. cit., p. 23.

[10]	The biblical story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego is found in Daniel 3.19 ff. Compare Daniel 3.25: ‘Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.’ It is not surprising that the fourth person was assumed to be Michael. Daniel 3.25 is followed in the Vulgate by the hymn of Azarias in the furnace (lines not found in the Authorised Version), Daniel 3.26-90. This is the famous ‘Benedicite,’ so called from the opening of every alternate line in verses 57-87.

It is interesting to note the description of the seal of the city of Aberdeen offered in Arthur Charles Fox-Davies, The Book of Public Arms (Edinburgh, 1894), p. 13: ‘And upon the reverse of ye Seall of ye said Burgh is insculped In a field azur a Temple argent St. Michaell standing in ye porch mytred & Vested proper with his dexter hand lifted up to heaven praying over three Children in a boiyling caldron of the first and holding in ye sinister a Crosier Or.’ The patron saint of Aberdeen is St Nicholas, not St Michael, who is also confused elsewhere with St George.

[11]	Tradition links Michael with many incidents in the life of Moses (based on Exodus) and the burial of Moses becomes an issue between Michael and Satan. The account of the burial of Moses in Deuteronomy 34.6 makes no mention of Satan or Michael, but compare Jude 9:

‘Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.’

Jude makes no mention of the worshipping of Moses, however, showing that both Jude and the OE text must be traced further back to a common source. According to Clement of Alexandria, Adumbrationes in Epistolam Judae and Origen, De Principiis III. 2.1, St Jude is quoting the apocryphal Assumptio Mosis 14. The story is no longer to be found in the fragment of the Assumption of Moses which has come down to us, but apparently Satan claimed the body of Moses because he slew the Egyptian (Exodus 2.12) and Michael resisted Satan's attempt to have the people venerate Moses as a god; Michael passed no hasty judgment on Satan but left his condemnation in God's hands.

MR James, The Lost Apocrypha of the Old Testament, (SPCK, London,1920), pp. 42-51, offers a collection of references to this work. On p. 43, James cites a reference to the text in the Spurious Acts of the Council of Nicea by Gelasius Cyzicenus, then quotes Origen: ‘The serpent in Genesis is represented as deceiving Eve, à propos of which, in the Ascension of Moses, a book mentioned by the Apostle Jude in his epistle, Michael the Archangel, disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, says that the serpent, inspired by the devil, was the cause of the transgression of Adam and Eve.’ James then cites Clement of Alexandria, Origen on Joshua 2.1 and Evodius, writing to St Augustine, all of whom deal with a belief that Moses had one body which was committed to earth and another which was accompanied by angels.

Severus, Patriarch of Alexandria (542) is quoted in the Catena of Nicephorus on Deuteronomy 34 as saying:

God...ordained that at the burial of Moses there should appear before their eyes at the time of the dressing of the body and its due depositing in the earth the evil demon as it were resisting and opposing; and that Michael, a good angel, should encounter and repel him, and should not rebuke him on his own authority, but retire from giving judgment against him in favour of the Lord of all, saying ‘the Lord rebuke thee’...further, that when this heavenly image had come before their eyes, there came a cloud of light about the place which dazzled the eyes of the onlookers, and walled his grave off, so that they might not see it.

James quotes two other passages from Severus and points out (p. 46) that there are many references along the same lines in Catenae and marginal scholia in manuscripts. More interesting is a reference given by James (p. 47) to actual worship of Moses in a Greek source of Byzantine times, Palæa, ed. A Vassiliev, Anecdota Graeco-Byzantina (Imperial University, Moscow, 1893), p. 247:

Of the death of Moses. And Moses said unto Jesus (i.e., Joshua) the son of Naue, ‘Let us go up into the mountain.’ And when they were gone up, Moses saw the land of promise and said to Jesus, ‘Go down unto the people and tell them, “Moses is dead.”’ And Jesus went down unto the people, but Moses came to the end of his life. And Samael tried to bring down his body (tabernacle) unto the people, that they might make him a god. But Michael, the Chief Captain, by the command of God came to take him and bury him, and Samael resisted him, and they contended. So the Chief Captain was wroth and rebuked him, saying, ‘The Lord rebuke thee, devil.’ And so the adversary was vanquished and took to flight, but the Archangel Michael buried the body of Moses where he was bidden by Christ our God (and no man saw the burial of Moses).

Attention should be drawn to the verbal similarities with Zechariah 3.1-2: ‘And he shewed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him. And the Lord said unto Satan, “The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan; even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee; is not this a brand plucked out of the fire?”’ Note how Michael's threefold battle with Satan is spread throughout the OE text as a basic framework—[2], [11], [25].

75.	him refers to the devil.

77. þæȝe is a Late West Saxon borrowing from Old Norse þeir and is acc. sing. fem.; see A Campbell, Old English Grammar (Oxford: Clarendon Press,1959), p. 292, § 713.

[12] No specific source comes to mind.

81-3. This passage seems corrupt. As it stands, fultum must be a noun = ‘help(er)’; onweard can mean ‘active,’ and drihtnes witiȝan is dat. pl. (of advantage). But the ⁊ seems misplaced, and one would like another verb; ‘who ever remained as a present help for the lord's prophets and [remained] with them in every place.’ The MS makes weaker sense as it stands: ‘...who ever remained as a present help—and the lord's prophets with him (i.e., together with the lord's prophets)—in every place.’

[13] 	See Homily I in Corpus 41 (Grant, Three Homilies, pp. 33 and 41, lines 88 and 179):

Þa ætfæste se hælend þære haliȝan Marian saule Michaele þam heahenȝle, se is Neorxnaƿonȝes hyrde, ealdormon, Ebrea ðeoden... Bebead hi þa Michaele þam heahenȝle.

See also the two accounts of the Assumption in James, which refer to Christ bidding Michael have care of Mary's soul and bring her body into the clouds (pp. 224-5), and to Michael's rolling the stone from the sepulchre and bringing forth the soul of the Virgin (p. 216).

[14] See the references given above to Michael's care of the bodies and souls of the Virgin, Adam, Abel, Eve. Compare also the Vision of Paul 14, 25, 49 (ANF 9, 154, 158, 165), especially 25:

This is the way of the prophets, every one who shall have afflicted his soul and not done his own will because of God, when he shall have gone out of the world and have been led to the Lord God and adored him, then by the command of God he is handed over to Michael, and he leads him into the city to this place of the prophets, and they salute him as their friend and neighbour because he did the will of God.

[15] See the references given above to Michael interceding for mankind and receiving men's prayers. The most specific reference to his receiving the prayers of men and taking them before God is in III Baruch, 11.1-17.4 (Charles, pp. 539-41), especially 11.4: ‘Even now Michael, the commander of the angels, comes down to receive the prayers of men.’ Compare also III Baruch 14.2: ‘Michael is even now presenting the merits of men to God.’

93. ȝelæteð: this is taken to be lætan in BT's sense III (p. 613).

[16] The reference to Michael as ruler of royal houses is obscure, unless one assumes it is merely a reference to his guardianship of Israel and the house of David (Daniel 10.13, 21; 12.1-3). That the heavenly champion and the Lord's archistratege should be regarded as guardian of the heavenly city is not surprising. In III Baruch 11.1 f., Michael holds the keys of heaven: ‘We cannot enter until Michael comes, who holds the keys of the kingdom of heaven; but wait and thou shalt see the glory of God’ (Charles, p. 539). Compare also Apocalypse 9.1, Genesis 3.24.

There is a similar description of Michael as guardian of Sabaoth, one of the gates of heaven, in Corpus 41, p. 292, the homily on Doomsday: ‘Sanctus Michael se heahenȝelƿealdeð þære dura, ⁊ tƿa fæmnan hi healdað mid him, ða sindon nemde Eqitas, Estimatio; ða habbað byrnende ȝyrde on hira handum.’

[17] Compare Matthew 7.15-20 (especially 19-20) and John 15.1-2. While these Biblical passages appear to be the inspiration for this section, it should perhaps be pointed out that Michael is specifically associated with the Tree of Life in the Book of Enoch 24 and 25 (Charles, p. 204).

101.	MS ȝleawa lodbiȝena is emended here to ȝleawa londbiȝenȝa, but an alternative emendation would be ȝleawmod biȝenȝa.

103. ƿwilestran is taken here to be an error for ƿwirrestan as a contrast with ȝodan is implied, but ƿwinestran might have been intended in the sense ‘bad’ or ‘second best.’ BT, p. 1233, s.v. winestra records only ‘left’ or ‘left-hand,’ but BT, p. 1239, s.v. wirs records an instance of ‘left’ with the sense of ‘second best’: He bið on ðæt wynstre weorud wyrs gesceaden ðonne he on ða swiþran hond swican mote, ‘he will be assigned to the host on the left hand by a sentence too stern to allow him to pass to the right hand.’

[18] Compare Luke 12.32, 15.3-7, John 10.1-11, and Isaiah 40.11.

[19] Compare Matthew 13.3-43, especially 38-39:

The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one; the enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world;  ‘and the reapers are the angels.’

The association of Michael with this image may be based on III Baruch 12.1-8 in which Michael fills a vessel with baskets of flowers, which represent the merits of the righteous (Charles, p. 539).

The image of God as a conscientious landowner sending his only servant off to ‘do work that was the hardest and most exhausting possible’ is repeated by the mediaeval English mystic Julian of Norwich (c. 1342-c. 1416) in the fourteenth of her ‘shewings’ of 1373 as described in chapter 51 of her Sixteen Revelations of Divine Love of c. 1393. The servant was to be a gardener, digging and banking, toiling and sweating, turning and trenching the ground, watering the plants the while. And by keeping at this work he would make sweet streams to flow, fine abundant fruits to grow.... But its worth to him depended on the servant's careful preparation of it, and his setting it before him, personally. All around the master was nothing but wilderness.

Text from Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love, trans. Clifton Wolters (Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin Books, 1982) as quoted by Ronald Blythe, Divine Landscapes (Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Viking, 1986), p. 207. Blythe points out (p. 234) that ‘To the dying thief, [Christ] did not say, “Today you will be with me in the City of God,” but in “Paradise,” or God's safe garden.’

117. eȝelan is acc. pl. of eȝle, ‘awn,’ which is better attested in Middle than in Old English.

[20] Compare Matthew 24.45: ‘Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?’ (Also in Luke 13.42). On Michael as judge, see above, especially III Baruch 11-15 (Charles, pp. 540-1).

122. he, him, line 124 he—all pronouns with ambiguous antecedents, but obviously referring to Michael.

[21] On Michael in the presence, see above. No reference is known to be the direct source for [21], but the image of God and the angels as light or stars is a common one; compare, for example, Judges 5.20 and especially Isaiah 14.12-13: ‘How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God.’

128. ascinende might be intended as a scinende, ‘ever shining.’

[22] Compare Matthew 13.47-50:

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind: which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away. So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.

As is pointed out in the introduction, Michael has control of the waters, gathers the merits of men in vessels to present them to God, and consigns the wicked to the fiery furnace.

134. stiȝend is rare in this sense.

135.	ȝefelleð: the scribe seems to have begun to alter f_to s_by erasure, but the erasure has not been fully carried out. ȝeselleð could make sense with the meaning ‘furnish,’ ‘supply’; one would then have to suppose that the scribe's eye fell to the following ȝefylleð in line 136 and copied ȝefelleð into line 135 in error.

wælum is taken to be fromƿwæl = ‘the slain,’ ‘the dead,’ but this noun is collective and therefore regularly singular; however, BT, 1152, has several examples of wæl meaning ‘one dead person,’ ‘a corpse.’ One might alternatively read ƿwelum = ‘riches.’

[23] It is strange that the writer should cite the Acts of the Apostles when referring to an incident and a place not mentioned in the biblical book or in any of the apocryphal Acts. It seems more likely that this is a reference to some lost Acta Sanctorum or Martyrology. Corpus 41 or its exemplar had access to a martyrology (25-31 December appears pp. 122-32) and Herzfeld, An Old English Martyrology, p. 182, provides an entry for 29 September, ‘Consecration of St Michael's Church,’ which reads:

On þone niȝon ond tƿenteȝðan daeȝ þæs monðes bið sancte Michahelis cirican ȝehalȝunȝ in Tracla þære ceastre. In Eraclæ þære mæȝðe feonda meniȝo com to þære. ceastre ond hy ymbsæton. Þa ceasterƿare þurh þreora daȝa fæsten anmodlice bædon ȝod fultumes ond bædon þæt he him þone ætyƿde þurh sancte Michahel. Þa þy þriddan dæȝe stod sanctus Michahel ofer þære ceastre ȝete ond hæfde fyren sƿeord in his honda. Þaƿæron þa fynd abreȝede mid þy eȝesan, ond hy ȝeƿiton onƿeȝ. Ond þa ceasterƿaraƿunedon ðesunde. Ond þærƿæs ȝetimbred sancte Michaheles cirice, ond seoƿæs ȝehalȝod on þone dæȝ þeƿe mærsiað sancte Michaheles ȝemynd.

This is very obviously the same story, and attention is drawn to the words ‘''in Tracla þære ceastre. In Eraclæ þære mæȝðe''.’ Corpus 196 reads ‘on traia’ and omits ‘in Eraclæ.’ On p. 236, Herzfeld offers a note on the name ‘Tracla,’ quoting pseudo-Jerome and Usuard who mention both Thrace (‘Tracia,’ ‘Thracia’) and Heraclea (‘Eracla,’ ‘Eraclia,’ ‘Heracleæ’) in the same clause. Compare also the Acta Sanctorum for 29 September which lists, along with Michael, ‘MM. in Tracia...S. Plautus, et forte S. Heraclea’ (Acta SS., Septemb. Tom. Oct., 1); a careless scribe could have run Tracia and Heraclea together to produce Tracla or Trala, the source of [23]'s Træleȝ. [It is purely coincidental that close to Skellig Michael is the town of Tralee.]

There is no verbal identity between the passages in Corpus 41 and the Old English Martyrology, but the similarity of the stories and the confusion of place-names suggest that both could well be different renderings of the same source in some Latin martyrology.

The town rescued by Michael in this wise was not Heraclea but Sipontum, protected against the Greek Neapolitans on 8 May, 663. This feast became confused with Michael's appearance on Mount Garganus, as shown above. But a further confusion attends the story told in Corpus 41 and the Old English Martyrology, for the motif of the flaming sword comes from yet a third legend, related in Francis Bond, Dedications and Patron Saints of English Churches (London, Humphrey Milford, 1914), p. 38:

In the next (sixth) century there was a great plague in Rome, and St Gregory, afterwards pope, for three days headed a procession through the streets, singing what were afterwards known as the Great Litanies. On the third day, when opposite the Mole or Mausoleum of Hadrian, Gregory beheld the archangel alight upon the Mole, sheathing a bloody sword, and the plague was stayed. In the ninth century a chapel dedicated to St Michael was built on the Mole.

The writer of Blickling Homily 17 (Richard Morris, ed. and trans., The Blickling Homilies of the Tenth Century, EETS, OS, nos. 58, 63, and 73, Oxford, 1874-80, pp. 201, 203), has Michael rescue the people of Sipontum after they observe a three days' fast, but there is no mention of the flaming sword, only of lightning: ‘Hƿilum se ilca ȝod sendeþ his enȝla ȝastas to ærendƿrecum, hƿilum he sendeþ þurh fyres leȝ.’

146. ⁊ is a relative here—see BT Supplement, p. 38, s.v. 'and' III.

147.	ayddon is taken to be from a-ieðan = ‘to lay waste, ravage, oppress.’

[24] There is no obvious source, but the preterite ætywde indicates that the reference is probably to Michael's appearance on Mount Garganus.

[25] Compare Apocalypse 12.7-8. Michael, protector of Israel (Daniel 10.13, 21; 12.1 ff.) and opposed to the Adversary, Accuser of Israel, is here the protector of the New Israel. Note that the Enthroned and the Child remain immobile; it is Michael who wages war on the dragon. See further the introduction and also Apocalypse 20.1-3, 7-8 in which the angel (Michael) binds and looses Satan. On the presumption, fall, and dwelling of Satan, see Isaiah 14.12-15. Further, in the Vita Adae et Evae 12-17 (Charles, p. 137), the devil tells Adam he refused to worship him and incurred the wrath of God and Michael by saying: ‘I will set my seat above the stars of heaven and will be like the Highest.’ Compare also the Secrets of Enoch 29.4 (Charles, p. 447), where God says: ‘And one from out the order of angels, having turned away with the order that was under him, conceived an impossible thought, to place his throne higher than the clouds above the earth, that he might become equal in rank to my power.’ It is at this point in the Old English homily that the meaning of Michael's name becomes vital; when Satan seeks to be like unto God, he must be combatted by him whose name means ‘Who is like unto God?’

166. Take hebbe as from hebban; some form of habban, while not impossible, is most unlikely.

170. Antacrist—sic MS. The commoner form (BT, p. 46) is Antecrist.

[26] That it is Michael's task to awaken the dead upon the Day of Judgment is made clear in two apocryphal texts. In the Acts of Andrew and Paul, the dead rise at the crucifixion of Peter: ‘The city shook, and the dead rose, but the Child bade them go back till Michael should raise them’ (James, p. 474).

And in the Revelation of John we read: ‘Then will I send forth mine angels, and they shall take the ram's horns that lie upon the cloud; and Michael and Gabriel shall go forth out of the heaven and sound with those horns, as the prophet Daniel foretold, with the voice of a trumpet of horn’ (ANF 8, p. 583).

The list of people who have died in various ways is based on Apocalypse 20.13: ‘And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.’ Compare the Ethiopic Apocalypse of Peter: ‘And the wild beasts and the fowls shall he command to restore all the flesh that they have devoured, because he willeth that men should appear; for nothing perisheth before God, and nothing is impossible with him, because all things are his’ (James, p. 512).

Compare also the Second Book of the Sibylline Oracles:

Then shall the great angel Uriel break the monstrous bars framed of unyielding and unbroken adamant, of the brazen gates of Hades, and cast them down straightway, and bring forth to judgment all the sorrowful forms, yea, of the ghosts of the ancient Titans, and of the giants, and all whom the flood overtook. And all whom the wave of the sea hath destroyed in the waters, and all whom beasts and creeping things and fowls have feasted on: all these shall he bring to the judgment seat; and again those whom flesh-devouring fire hath consumed in the flames, them also shall he gather and set before God's seat. (James, p. 522)

This is a late second- or third-century text which James considers is based on the Apocalypse of Peter, but it is quoted here as well as its exemplar because this later text shows that the Corpus 41 homily may have transferred to Michael a passage originally associated with Uriel.

This enumeration of possible deaths is interesting, for it permits one to add another text to the list of such passages offered by James E Cross, ‘On The Wanderer lines 80-84,’ Vetenskaps-Societetens i Lund, Arsbok (1958-59), pp. 85 ff. Cross offers a long list of parallel passages in an effort to explain the sum figure in lines 80-84 of the poem, and his list includes extracts from Old English homilies. The most interesting parallel for the Corpus 41 text is a passage from Blickling Homily 7 for Easter Day [Morris, The Blickling Homilies, pp. 82-97, and WF Bolton, An Old English Anthology, (London, 1963, 1965), pp. 102-107]. This passage associates Michael specifically with the list of ways of death:

Þonne æfter þeossum þinȝum biþ neh þæm seofoþan dæȝe, ond þonne hateþ Sanctus Michahel se heahenȝl blaƿan þa feoƿer beman æt þissum feoƿer endum middanȝeardes, ond aƿecceaþ ealle þa lichoman of deaþe, þeah þe hie ær eorþe beƿriȝen hæfde, oþþe on ƿætere adruncan, oþþe ƿildeor abiton, oþþe fuȝlas tobæron, oþþe fixas toslitan, oþþe on æniȝe ƿisan of þisse ƿorlde ȝeƿiton (Bolton, p. 106).

184. bescente; compare the Pseudo-Wulfstan text: ‘sƿa eorðe ær forsƿealh oððe fyr forbærnde and sæ besencte andƿilde deor fræton and fuȝelas tobæron’ (Arthur S Napier, Wulfstan, Berlin, 1883, 1967, p. 183).

[27] The final message of the New Testament is that judgment will be tempered with mercy, as Michael tells Enoch in the Book of Enoch 60.4-5 (Charles, p. 224). Here Michael appears in two roles, judge and merciful interceder for mankind, roles illustrated elsewhere in Corpus 41, in the homilies based on the Apocalypse of Thomas and the Gospel of Nicodemus:

Siððan hi bioð læded to þam heofone ⁊ to þam heahsetle þære halȝan Ðrinnisse, ⁊ hi bið þær demed. Þær Sanctus Michael aȝifeð þa saƿla þæra soðfæstra ⁊ þæra sinfulra. Þæt is þæt seƿealdend cƿið, ‘Syllað þa synfullan saƿla þam ȝrimman enȝ1e to cƿillenne ⁊ to bescecanne in helle’ (Corpus 41, p. 294).

Þonne arist Sanctus Michael, ⁊ he ȝæð forð, ⁊ he nihð to ussum hælende, ⁊ he bid þæt he him forȝife þone þriddan dæl þæs forƿyrhtanƿeredes. ⁊ he alifeð him ⁊ he ȝæð þonne ⁊ scætð þane þriddan dæl þæra saula; ȝeset ȝode on sƿiðran hand (Corpus 41, p. 300).

192-96. These lines are difficult to place. Their sentiments are those of the Beatitudes from the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5.1-20) but there are no verbal similarities; one would prefer to compare Apocalypse 21.1-5, for after the judgment of Apocalypse 20, what would be more fitting than the mercy of Apocalypse 21? Compare especially Apocalypse 21.4:

And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.

196. MS he ȝerū læteð: either supply on- before -ȝerum and translate ‘he will let understanding be at large among them that teach’ or postulate a verb ȝerumlætan meaning ‘to widen,’ ‘to extend.’

[28] The final section is possibly based on the Offertory for the Mass of the Dead, which contains the words sed signifer sanctus Michael repraesentet eas in lucem sanctam; Quam olim Abrahæ promisisti, et semini ejus.

201. ðe is ambiguous; no doubt it refers to Michael rather than the Lord, since the Lord is mentioned in line 201 also—mid fæder, etc.

Other Works Consulted
Blythe, Ronald. Divine Landscapes. (Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Viking, 1986).

Bolton, WF, ed. An Old English Anthology. (London: Edward Arnold, 1963, 1965).

Bond, Francis. ''Dedications and Patron Saints of English Churches. (''London: Humphrey Milford, 1914).

Campbell, Alistair. ''Old English Grammar. ''(Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1959, corrected reprint 1962).

Cross, James E. ‘On The Wanderer lines 80-84.’ Vetenskaps-Societetens i Lund, Arsbok (1958-59), pp. 85 ff.

Fox-Davies, Arthur Charles. The Book of Public Arms. (Edinburgh: TC & EC Jack, 1894, 2nd ed. London: TC & EC Jack, 1915).

Herzfeld, Georg(e), ed. Old English Martyrology, op. cit.

James, Montague Rhodes, ed. The Lost Apocrypha of the Old Testament: Their Titles and Fragments Collected, Translated and Discussed. (London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1920).

Julian of Norwich. Sixteen Revelations of Divine Love. (c. 1393).

Kelley, Richard, ed. The Blickling Homilies. (New York: Continuum, 2003).

Menner, Robert J, ed. Poetical Dialogues, op. cit.

Morris, Richard, ed. & trans. The Blickling Homilies of the Tenth Century. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1874-80, reprinted 1967. EETS, OS, nos. 58, 63, and 73. Trans. reprinted Cambridge, Ontario: In parentheses Publications, Old English Series, 2000). See also Kelley, op. cit.

Napier, Arthur S, ed. Wulfstan: Sammlung der Ihm Zugeschreibenen Homilien Nebst Untersuchungen über Ihre Echtheit, Erste Abteilung: Text und Varianten. Sammlung Englischer Denkmäler in Kritischen Ausgaben 4. (Berlin, Weidmann: Max Niemeyer Verlag, 1883; reprinted 1967).

Palæa, A Vassiliev, ed. Anecdota Graeco-Byzantina. (Moscow: Universitatis Caesareae [Imperial University], 1893). The Greek Palaea was a popular Bible-history of Byzantine times, and Vassiliev prints the text about the death of Moses on p. 247.

Wolters, Clifton, trans. ''Julian of Norwich: Revelations of Divine Love. (''Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin Books, 1982).


text:
Free Knowledge Culture Calendar/December 23

Today in 1998 was the official start of the OpenSSL project as fork of SSLeay when its original authors silently ditched the project for a job at RSA Inc.


text:
Free Knowledge Culture Calendar/September 26

Today is National Public Lands Day in the U.S.


text: Programming HP Calculators/Printable version


text: TI-Basic 89 Programming/Printable version


text: Wireless Mesh Networks/Printable version


text: Building the Root 2 CNC Multitool Router/Printable version


text:
Saint Michael: Early Anglo-Saxon Tradition/Saint Michael in Judaeo-Christian and Anglo-Saxon Tradition

Michael's pre-eminence among the archangels is due to a peculiar set of circumstances. Jewish doctrine views God in his relationship to Israel and to the other nations in a logical way. The Israelites accepted God's law, therefore becoming his ‘peculiar people’ (Deuteronomy 14.2, 26.8; Psalm 135.4), but God deputed the care of other nations to guardian angels so that it might be said (e.g., in the Targum of Pseudo-Jonathan to Genesis 11.7-8) that every nation has its own guardian angel to plead the cause of that nation before God. In later times, God's personal guardianship of Israel was given to Michael (Daniel 10.13, 21). In Hagigah 12b Michael is described as ‘Advocate of the Jews’ and in the Yalkut Shimeoni, Bereshith 132 he is specifically regarded as prince over all the angels because he is the guardian angel of Israel. In the New Testament, Israel stands for all mankind; the vision of the Christian world to come is that of a new Israel with a new Jerusalem, and Michael must now be viewed as the defender and advocate of all men. He is viewed in this way in the Roman liturgy for 8 May and 29 September, the hymn of the Mozarabic Breviary elevates him above the Twenty-four Elders, and the Greek liturgy gives him the title ἀρχιστράτηγος, archistratégos, ‘highest general.’

Michael is mentioned by name four times in the Scriptures, once in the Koran, and very frequently in apocryphal writings. The four scriptural references (Daniel 10.13 ff., 12.1; Jude 9; Apocalypse 12.7) lead most authorities on Christian tradition to ascribe to Michael four functions—to fight against Satan, to rescue the souls of dying men from the devil, to be the champion of God's people, and to take men from earth to judgment. Such a view of Michael is inadequate for the study of the Old English eulogy in Corpus 41, however, for the source of the Old English text draws on the apocryphal references to Michael and on those many passages in the Scriptures that refer to him by implication. All these references have been identified by the church fathers and assembled in later writings, of which one may lie behind the Corpus eulogy. It is therefore necessary to take a fuller view of Michael than usual in an attempt to place in context the apparently effusive and extravagant praise of him found in this Old English encomium. The list that follows is original, since it has not been possible to find one sufficiently detailed elsewhere.

Michael takes part in the act of creation, has care of the tree of life, and controls chaos, especially water
In the Gospel of Bartholomew 53, Michael takes part in the creation: ‘God said unto Michael: Bring me a clod from the four corners of the earth, and water out of the four rivers of paradise’ (James, p. 178). In the Book of Enoch, Michael is set over chaos in 20.5 (Charles, p. 201), has charge of the tree of life in 24 and 25 (Charles, p. 204), and holds Akâe, the secret oath for creation, in 69.14 ff. (Charles, p. 234). In the Vita Adae et Evae 22.2, God sends Michael to Adam with seeds (Charles, p. 138).

In III Baruch 11.1 f., Michael holds the keys of heaven (Charles, p. 539); the implication is that there is reference to Michael in Apocalypse 9.1. It may further be assumed that the angel among the myrtle trees in Zechariah 1.8 ff. is Michael, and the Fathers state that in Genesis 3.24 it is Michael who stands at the gate of paradise with ‘a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.’

Michael may be seen in control of the waters in, for example, the Apocalypse of Paul 43, where he prays for dew and rain so that the earth may bear fruit (James, pp. 547-8); in the Vita Adae et Evae 28 and 29, where he casts Adam from paradise, freezing the waters for him to walk upon (Charles, p. 140); in the Book of Enoch 67.12, where God promises Noah that Michael, in command of the waters, is to judge the evil angels and kings (Charles, p. 232); and in the Slavonic Acts of Andrew and Paul, where Michael is the captain of a ship which is to take the Child to Rome (James, p. 474).

Michael is the messenger of God
Michael frequently appears in this role, and a few examples should suffice. In the Revelation of Moses, Michael is sent to Adam after the death of Abel to announce the conception of Seth (ANF 8, p. 565) and is sent to talk with Seth about the death of Adam (ANF 8, p. 566); in the Secrets of Enoch 22.6-9, Michael is sent to fetch Enoch before God (Charles, p. 443); and in the First Appendix to the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs 9.1-5, Michael conveys God's message to the seventy nations (Charles, p. 363). In the light of such references as these, the Fathers read Michael whenever an angel messenger appears in the Bible: for example, Genesis 16.7-14, 18.2 ff., 31.11-13; Exodus 11.1-8, and so forth.

Michael is the heavenly scribe
Michael is connected with writing in, for example, the Secrets of Enoch 33.10 (Charles, p. 452) and the First Appendix to the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs 8.4-6, where Michael and seventy angels teach languages to mankind (Charles, p. 363). Michael is therefore supposed to be the angel mentioned as carrying out this function in Apocalypse 1.1-2; 5; 10. The logical extension of this belief is that Michael was regarded as the law-giver; for example, in the Apocalypse of Paul 44, the Son of God refers to ‘Michael the archangel of my covenant’ (James, p. 548), and in the Revelation of Moses Michael instructs Moses in the tables of the law (ANF 8, p. 565). Michael was therefore supposed to be the angel of the presence who gives Moses the laws on Mount Sinai in Jubilees 1.27, 2.1; Acts 7.38, 52-3. The next step in the argument was to have Michael act as judge; for example, in Malachi 3.1, the Book of Enoch 60.4, 5 (Charles, p. 224) or III Baruch where, in 11.9 and 12.1-8, Michael holds a vessel for the merits of the just and fills it with the flowers that represent their merits and where, in 14.1-2 and 15.1-4, Michael presents the merits of men to God and rewards the virtuous (Charles, pp. 540-1).

Michael escorts the bodies and souls of the departed into heaven
In the Revelation of Moses, the Lord delivers Adam to Michael, and Michael cares also for the bodies of Abel and Eve (ANF 8, pp. 569-70); in the Gospel of Nicodemus II, 9, the Lord delivers Adam and the just to Michael (ANF 8, p. 437 Greek, p. 452 Latin); in the Assumption of the Virgin (Pseudo-Melito) 17, Michael rolls the stone from the sepulchre, bringing forth the soul of the Virgin (James, p. 216)—compare the homily on the subject in Corpus 41. In the Vision of Paul 14, 25, 49, Michael has charge of the souls of men (ANF 9, pp. 154, 158, 165), and in the Acts of Andrew and Paul the dead rise at the crucifixion of Peter but the Child bids them go back till Michael raise them (James, p. 474).

Michael thus takes charge of the bodies and souls of Adam and Eve, the Virgin Mary, and all men, becoming a general psychopompus. He is mentioned in this role in the offertory of the Mass for the Dead: ‘sed signifer sanctus Michael repraesentet eas in lucem sanctam.’

Michael is the champion of God's people, the Jews in the Old Law, the Christians (the Church) in the New Testament
In Sirach 17.17 (Charles I, p. 376—see note 1 supra) we read: ‘For every nation he appointed a ruler, But Israel is the Lord's portion.’ In Daniel 10.13, 21, in a vision on the banks of the Euphrates, Daniel is told by Gabriel of a quarrel between the tutelary angel of the Jews and the tutelary angel of the Persians settled after three weeks by Michael in favour of the Jews. In the forthcoming struggle with the angel of Greece, Michael will again intervene on behalf of Israel. Indeed, Michael assumes complete tutelage of Israel, as we are told in Daniel 12.1-3, and at the end of time Michael, not the Enthroned, will wage war on the dragon in Apocalypse 12.7 ff. As a result, Michael is commonly regarded as the chief warrior of heaven; in Daniel 8.11 he is the prince of the host, in the Assumption of Moses 10.2 he is Israel's champion, in the Secrets of Enoch 22.6 and 33.10 he is ἀρχιστράτηγος, archistratégos, ‘highest general’ (Charles, pp. 443, 452), and throughout the Apocalypse of the Holy Mother he is referred to as the ‘commander-in-chief’ (ANF 9, p. 169 ff.).

It is not difficult to see why the Fathers consider there is reference to Michael in the account of the angel host leaving the temple before the destruction of Jerusalem, as related by Josephus, or in the protection of the Israelites in Exodus 33.2-3; indeed, a clue is provided in Exodus 23.21—‘my name is in him.’ Michael's guardianship of Israel is extended to his guardianship of all mankind, reminding us of the Book of Enoch 20.5 and his first function and leading logically to the final two functions—to pray for all mankind and to do battle on behalf of mankind with Satan.

Michael intercedes on behalf of men in the presence of God
Angels in the presence constantly adore God (Apocalypse 4.8, 5.12; Isaiah 6.3, etc.) and Michael leads the prayers in, for example, the Testament of Abraham 4: ‘At sunset all the angels worship God and Michael himself is the first of the angels’ (ANF 9, p. 187). Other similar references include the Book of Enoch 40.9 (Charles, p. 211), the Gospel of Nicodemus 3 (ANF 8, p. 449), the Testament of Levi 5.6-7 (Charles, p. 307), the Testament of Daniel 6.2 (Charles, p. 335), III Baruch 11.1-9, 14.1-2 (Charles, pp. 539-40), and the Vision of Paul 43, 48 (ANF 9, pp. 162, 163, 165 and James, pp. 547-8).

Michael does battle with Satan in a three-fold struggle
At the beginning of time: in the Gospel of Bartholomew 54-5, Michael instructs Satan to worship the newly-created Adam, but Satan refuses to do so and God casts him from heaven (James, p. 178); in the Vita Adae et Evae 13.2-15.3, Satan tells Adam of the incident that led to his being thrown from heaven by Michael for his refusal to worship Adam (Charles, p. 137). In the Book of Enoch 54.6, Michael and the three other archangels are sent to push the devil's followers into the fiery furnace (Charles, p. 220), and in 68.2-5, Michael and Raphael discuss the severity of the judgment upon the Satans (Charles, pp. 232-3).

At the present time: Michael battles the devil for the soul of each man as he dies, and this idea is based on two passages of Scripture, Jude 9 and Zechariah 3.1-2.

At the end of time: in Daniel 12.1 ff., the angel telling of the end of the world says, ‘And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people.’ The final battle is described in Apocalypse. Apocalypse 9 describes the fifth angel opening the bottomless pit and the sixth loosing the four angels bound in the river Euphrates. According to the apocryphal Revelation of John, Michael and Gabriel sound the last trump (ANF 8, p. 583), after which ensues the final battle with Satan described in Apocalypse 12.7-9. It is significant that Michael fights the dragon and thrusts aside the figure of the Messiah so completely. This part of Michael's function has found a prominent place in the Liturgy, e.g.:

 * Sancte Michael Archangele, defende nos in praelio, ut non pereamus in tremendo judicio. Alleluia.

 * Concussum est mare, et contremuit terra, ubi Archangelus Michael descendit de caelo. Alleluia.

The Veneration of St Michael
Granted the meaning of Michael's name, the attributes and functions of the archangel as enumerated above seem to follow logically enough, culminating in Michael's replacing God as guardian of the church and defender of mankind against Satan. The memory of such a prominent archangel was naturally celebrated very frequently in the Christian world, and the veneration of St Michael is most extensive. A full description of the veneration and a list of feast-days observed may be found in the Catholic Encyclopedia and The Lives of the Saints. It is sufficient to note here that Michael is celebrated as warrior and healer, in connection with water (the Springs of Colossae, the Nile) and mountain-tops (Colossae, Mount Garganus, Moles Hadriani, Le Puys, Mont-Saint-Michel, St Michael's Mount, Tumba).

In the West, confusion attends the celebration of St Michael. The modern practice of the breviary and missal is clear, 8 May being set aside for the apparition of Michael on Mount Garganus in Apulia, Italy (variously given as AD 492, 494, or 520-30) and 29 September being the main Michaelmas celebration, used to celebrate Michael and all faithful angels on the anniversary of the dedication of a church to Michael in Rome (variously given as one near the Flaminian Circus, one on the outskirts of the city, or one in the Via Salaria). The feast on 8 May was instituted by Pius V in commemoration of the victory of the Lombards of Sipontum over the Greek Neapolitans on 8 May, 663; the attribution of the Mount Garganus apparition to this date was therefore erroneous.

Most early calendars and martyrologies do not celebrate 8 May, only 29 September under various heads; most say simply ‘dedicatio ecclesiae sancti angeli Michaelis’ (sic Bede) or some equivalent, some specifically mention Mount Garganus (Pseudo-Jerome, Usuard, Notker), and some mention both Mount Garganus and one of the Roman churches (Lesser Roman Martyrology, followed by Ado.)

In Old English times, St Michael appears to have been celebrated only on 29 September. The Bede and Sarum calendars mention Michael only on 29 September, and indeed no calendar in Wormald has the feast of 8 May. The only exception that can be found is the Old English Martyrology, which records the Garganus story under 8 May as well as the main festival of St Michael under 29 September. Blickling Homily 17, ‘To Sae Michaheles Mæssan,’ is a Mount Garganus homily appearing in sequence between homilies about SS Peter and Paul (29 June) and St Martin (11 November) and therefore presumably delivered on 29 September, as was Ælfric's homily 1.34 (‘Dedicatio ecclesiae si Michaelis archangeli’). One may assume that the text in Corpus 41 was intended for 29 September.

As far as dedications are concerned, St Michael seems to have been popular in early England. By the time of the Reformation, 687 dedications had been made to St Michael or St Michael and All Angels, a number exceeded only by those to the Virgin (2,335), All Saints (1,255), and St Peter (1,140). Very few are known from the early period, however, for Levison can list only four to the beginning of the ninth century—at Clive (Gloucestershire), Hexham, Malmesbury, and Stanmer (Sussex)—to which may be added the monastery at Halstock (Dorset). In Devonshire, St Michael had 37 dedications by the Reformation, exceeded only by those to the Virgin (113) and St Peter (50), and the reason is that St Michael ‘is to be regarded as largely a saint, if only by adoption, of the Celtic Church.’

St Michael is mentioned fairly frequently in Old English sources, but not perhaps as often as one might expect. Ælfric does not refer to Michael except in the homily for his day and in one later piece, because Ælfric avoids much of the apocryphal literature (definitely objecting to some of it) and never produces any of those dramatic Last Judgment scenes that one finds in the Vercelli Codex and the Pseudo-Wulfstan homilies; Wulfstan also avoids using material of this kind. With the two most prolific writers of late Old English prose avoiding this type of thing, it is natural that the number of references to St Michael is disproportionate to the number of surviving homilies from Old English times. But it must be remembered that Ælfric and Wulfstan represent the intelligentsia, and the more dramatic Vercelli type of homily probably had great popular appeal.

Apart from probable mention of Michael in various litanies and unprinted Last Judgment homilies, the references to St Michael that one can trace follow. Michael is mentioned in the Old English Bede, but only incidentally, in a reference to an oratory and church of St Michael near Hexham. In Corpus 41, this stray reference occurs on page 372 and the encomium is not found until pages 402-17, so there is no connection between the two. Michael plays a part in Eddi's Life of Wilfrid. In chapter lvi he appears to the sick Wilfrid in a vision, and in chapter lxvi bands of angels come with Michael to take Wilfrid's soul to paradise. Blickling Homily 13 for the Assumption has Michael take charge of the soul of the Virgin. Then there are two homilies for St Michael's day, Blickling 17, and Ælfric I. 34 (‘Dedicatio ecclesiae si Michaelis archangeli’). This latter homily has been printed by Thorpe and by Warner. It is found in altogether nine manuscripts, which shows how widely known this text was. It is a sermon that ends in praise of St Michael, who has care of Christian men and who appeared on Mount Garganus. Blickling 7, for Easter Day, says that Michael will blow the four trumpets at the four corners of the earth to call the dead to judgment. Visions of Departing Souls, a passage written partly by Ælfric, shows Michael in his role of psychopompus; the passage has oriental antecedents, and an Old Irish parallel exists. In Pseudo-Wulfstan XXIX, a demon says to a departing soul, ‘Ƿēn ys, þæt Michael se heahencȝel cume mid enȝla þreatum and ƿyle þe ȝeniman of ūs.’ Other references in Pseudo-Wulfstan homilies occur in XLII, a translation of Adzo on Antichrist:

"...drihten hælend ofslihð hine mid his ƿorde; sƿa hƿeðer sƿa he bið ofslaȝen þurh miht ures drihtnes aȝenes bebodes oððe Michael ȝodes heahenȝel hine ofslea, þurh ðæs lifiȝendan ȝodes miht he bið ofslaȝen and nā þurh nanes enȝles mihte;"

in XLV:

"ures drihtnes ærendȝeƿrite be ðære halȝan þrynnesse, þe feoll of þam seofoðan heofone þurh þone halȝan heahenȝel Michael...and Machabium soðlice hit asende to þære stoƿe Ss Michael þæs heahenȝles; ...ic sæcȝe, þæt on þam monðe, þe hatte nouembris, þæt ȝe scoldan ealle forƿeorðan, nære þære halȝan Sa Marian ȝebed and þæs halȝan heahenȝles Michahel and þara haliȝra apostola Petrus and Paulus;"

and in XLVI, where the sins ask the wretched soul:

"hƿi noldest ðu, unȝesæliȝe, andettan þinum drihtne and biddan þone halȝan Michael, þæt he ƿære þe fultumiȝend, and ealle halȝan?"

There is also the reference in Corpus 41, homily 3, mentioned above. When Willard prints part of this homily, he also quotes from a homily in Faustina A ix and Corpus 302 a passage beginning ‘Sanctus Michael nimð þa soðfæstan saƿle ⁊ ȝelæt hi beforan ȝodes heahsetle.’

Then there is the important Last Judgment homily, Vercelli XV, in which in turn St Mary, St Michael, and St Peter plead for the sinful, and are each given a third of their number. Förster follows Vercelli XV in his edition with a homily from Hatton 116, which does not contain the passage just described but which has on page 120:

"7 sanctus Michael þone heahenȝel uton ƿe us on fultum ciȝen, se is hyrde neorxnaƿonȝes ⁊ Ebrea þeoda ⁊ æȝhƿilces ȝodes mannes sawle. He ȝeƿeald hæfð, ⁊ he nefre hy ne forlæt, ær he hi ȝebrinȝe beforan Drihtnes heahsettle. ⁊ þer he is ⁊ ƿeardaþ ealra haleȝra saƿla, ⁊ seo ece bliss unasecȝendlic on heofona rice..."

A source for the eulogy on St Michael in Corpus 41 cannot be found. The formula that introduces most of the stanzas, ‘þis is se halȝa heahenȝel Sanctus Michael,’ could be derived from the Roman liturgy's ‘Hic est Michael Archangelus.’ The text in Corpus 41 may be a homily of a particular type, however, for it resembles a mediaeval trope of sequence, a hymn form developed and extensively used in the liturgy from the ninth to the twelfth centuries. Reconstructions of the English cycles for the sequences suggest that on Michaelmas the melody ‘Mater sequentiarum’ accompanied the sequence whose incipit was ‘Summi regis’ in eleventh-century Winchester and Exeter. It may be that the homily in Corpus 41 was intended for this ceremony, but one should not go so far as to suggest that it was sung.

In some ways the rather extravagant praise of St Michael sounds oriental, and in this connection it is interesting to note that almost the same list of ascriptions to Michael of the divine interventions of the Old Testament is found in a Coptic sermon printed by Budge in 1894. The sermon in question is an encomium apparently by Theodosius, patriarch of Alexandria from 536-566, but dated by Budge as seventh-century since it is probably pseudonymous like most Coptic homilies. Information on the Ethiopian cult of St Michael may be found in the Acta Sanctorum, but it is sufficient to note here that the Ethiopian church commemorated St Michael on the 12th of every month and therefore spread his protection of Old Testament figures throughout the year. As the Coptic church was still partly Greek-speaking in the seventh and eighth centuries, it is possible that the ‘Theodosius’ text was known in Greek and attracted attention as the veneration of St Michael spread in the West. While the diffuse ‘Theodosius’ sermon is not the source of the Old English eulogy, it is interesting to study it beside the Old English text inasmuch as it shows the same practice of attributing to Michael all sorts of acts mentioned in the Old Testament and in various apocryphal sources and inasmuch as it sets exactly the same extravagant tone as the Old English eulogy, a tone apparently by no means uncommon; one of the other two encomia printed by Budge even claims that Christ came down to earth at the Incarnation at the request of St Michael, an extravagance that is fortunately absent from the Old English text!

Warning voices prevent the suggestion of a direct Greek, Syriac, or Coptic influence on Irish piety subsequently entering Anglo-Saxon. All one can say is that there seems to have been an Irish interest in oriental piety before 900 and an Irish influence on the compilation of the marginalia in Corpus 41. An extensive search in Celtic texts for a source for the Corpus eulogy meets with no success. Place-name evidence suggests that in ninth-century Wales there was a remarkable growth of dedications of ecclesiastical sites to St Michael on a scale quite unparalleled elsewhere in western Europe. If there ever was ecclesiastical literature in Wales at this time, it is now lost.

Unfortunately, too, material relating to St Michael in Irish is not extensive. There are two homilies to him (perhaps of the first quarter of the twelfth century) in An Leabhar Breac (‘The Speckled Book’), occasional references to him among the principal archangels, and mention of him in material concerning Antichrist and the end of the world, some of which depends on Gregory the Great. There is also an eleventh-century macaronic poem by Máel Ísua Ua Brolchán.

St Michael's name is closely associated with that of St Patrick in the Irish Liber Hymnorum, for in the Book of Mulling and the Second Vision of Adamnan in An Leabhar Breac a hymn to St Michael is linked with the hymn of St Sechnall on St Patrick found in part in Corpus 41 in the Latin portion of charm no. 4. The hymns are both part of a monastic office to invoke divine protection against the yellow plague. The hymn to St Michael was composed by Bishop Colman and his two brothers to free themselves from a tempest, a famine, and demons, and, while it bears not the slightest resemblance to the eulogy in Corpus 41, it serves to show Michael's association with Patrick in the Irish church. In Corpus 41 appears the most efficacious portion of St Patrick's Hymn, and it may have seemed to the compiler of the marginalia that a hymn to St Michael was also required, hence the presence of the eulogy. The Second Vision of Adamnan reads, ‘the three hostages that were taken on behalf of the Lord for warding off every disease from the Irish—are Peter the Apostle, and Mary the Virgin, and Michael the Archangel.’

The encomium on St Michael in Corpus 41 takes its place in Corpus 41 alongside the other rare apocryphal texts dealing with the Assumption, Doomsday, and Easter. It should be pointed out that Michael is mentioned in all three of these texts. In the homily on the Assumption, Michael rolls the stone from the Virgin's sepulchre and takes her soul to paradise; in the homily based on the Apocalypse of Thomas, Michael appears twice, as guardian of the gate Sabaoth and as the archangel carrying out God's judgment; in the homily based on the Gospel of Nicodemus, Michael, the Virgin, and Peter each pray for mercy for one third of mankind on Judgment Day.

The encomium on St Michael in Corpus 41 is thus a most unusual text, based on apocryphal sources under possibly oriental and Irish influence, which must be added to the list of Old English texts concerned with St Michael and the list of apocryphal texts known in Anglo-Saxon England.

Other Works Consulted
''Acta Sanctorum, op. cit. Septembris Tomus Octavus. Stiltingo, Suyskeno, Periero and Cleo, eds.'' (Paris and Rome, 1865).

Apel, Willi. Gregorian Chant. (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1958, 1990).

Atkinson, Robert, ed. The Passions and the Homilies from Leabhar Breac: text, translations and glossary. Royal Irish Academy Todd Lecture Series II. (Royal Irish Academy: Dublin, 1887).

Baring-Gould, Sabine. Lives of the Saints, V & X. (London: J Grant, 1897-98).

Bernard, JH and R Atkinson, eds. The Irish Liber Hymnorum. (London: Henry Bradshaw Society, 13 and 14, 1898).

Bond, Francis. Dedications and Patron Saints, op. cit.

Budge, E(rnest) A(lfred) Wallis, ed. ''Saint Michael the Archangel. Three Encomiums by Theodosius, Archbishop of Alexandria, Severus, Patriarch of Antioch, and Eustathius, Bishop of Trake''. (London, 1894).

Cabrol, Dom Fernand, ed. Missale Romanum. (New York, 1949).

Colgrave, Bertram, ed. The Life of Bishop Wilfrid by Eddius Stephanus. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1927, 1985).

Dumville, David N. ‘Biblical Apocrypha and the Early Irish: A Preliminary Investigation.’ Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 73 (1973), pp. 299-338.

Evans, P. ‘Some reflections on the origin of the trope.’ Journal of the American Musicological Society 14 (1961), pp. 119-30.

Finberg, HPR, ed. The Early Charters of Wessex. 7 vols. Vol. 3, Studies in Early English History. (Leicester: Leicester University Press, 1964).

Finberg, HPR. ‘The Archangel Michael in Britain.’ Millénaire Monastique du Mont Saint-Michel III (Paris, 1971), pp. 459-469.

Förster, Max. ‘Zu den Blickling Homilien.’ Archiv 91 (1893), pp. 193-200.

Förster, Max. ‘Der Vercelli-Codex CXVII nebst Abdruck einiger altenglischer Homilien der Handschrift.’ Studien zur englischen Philologie 50; Festschrift für Lorenz Morsbach. Eds. F Holthausen and H Spies (Halle, 1913), pp. 20-179.

Frere, Walter Howard. The Winchester Troper, from MSS of the Xth and Xith Centuries. (London: Henry Bradshaw Society 8, 1894). Facsimile ed. by Susan Rankin. Early English Church Music. Vol. 50. (London: Stainer & Bell, 2007).

Frere, Walter Howard. Bibliotheca Musico Liturgica: A Descriptive Handlist of the Musical and Latin-Liturgical Mss of the Middle Ages. (London, 1894-1932, reprinted Hildesheim, 1967).

Herbermann, CG, ed. The Catholic Encyclopedia X. (New York, 1911).

Herzfeld, George, ed. Old English Martyrology, op. cit.

Hughes, Dom Anselm. Anglo-French Sequelae. Burnham, Plainsong & Medieval Music Society. (London, 1934, facsimile reprint Farnborough: Gregg Press, 1966).

James, Montague Rhodes. Descriptive Catalogue, op. cit.

Leuken, W. Eine Darstellung und Vergleichung der jüdischen und der morgenländisch-christlichen Tradition vom Erzengel Michael. (Göttingen, 1898).

Levison, Wilhelm. England and the Continent in the Eighth Century. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1946, reprinted Sandpiper Books Ltd., 1998).

Miller, Thomas, ed. Old English Version of Bede, op. cit.

Morris, Richard, ed. and trans. Blickling Homilies, op. cit.

Napier, Arthur S, ed. Wulfstan, op. cit.

Plummer, Charles, ed. Irish Litanies. Henry Bradshaw Society 62. (London, 1925).

Pope, John C, ed. Homilies of Ælfric. EETS, O.S., 259, 260. (London: Oxford University Press, 1967-68).

Roe, HM. ‘Ireland and the Archangel Michael.’ Millénaire Monastique du Mont Saint-Michel III (Paris, 1971), pp. 481-487.

Rozdestenskaia, Olga Dobias (Olga Dobiache-Rojdestvensky). ''Kult sv. Michaila v latinskom Srednovekovi.'' (Petrograd, 1917). Abridged French version, Le Culte de saint Michel et le Moyen Age latin. (Paris, 1922).

Smith, W and S Cheetham, eds. Dictionary of Christian Antiquities. (Hartford, 1880, reprinted New York, 1968).

Thorpe, Benjamin, ed. and trans. Catholic Homilies, op. cit.

Warner, Ruby DN, ed. ''Early English Homilies from the Twelfth Century MS Vesp. D. XIV''. EETS, O.S. 152. (London: Oxford University Press, 1917).

Weakland, Rembert. ‘The beginnings of troping.’ The Musical Quarterly 44 (1958), pp. 477-88.

Willard, Rudolph. ‘Two Apocrypha,’ op. cit.

Wormald, Francis. English Kalendars before A.D. 1100. Henry Bradshaw Society LXXII. (London, 1934).