‘Adam lay ybounden’: A Marian Felix Culpa

Frank G Bosman

doi:10.14712/23363398.2020.62

Abstract

The 15th-century poem ‘Adam lay ybounden’ presents a ‘folk version’ of the paradoxical theology of the notion of felix culpa, Adam’s ‘happy fault’ by which the Incarnation of God in Jesus of Nazareth was unintentionally provoked. The poem is simple in its vocabulary, but elaborate in its invocation of theological notions such as the descensus Christi as inferos, the felix culpa and the necessarium Adae peccatum, both from the Easter prayer of the ‘Exsultet,’ focussing on the role of Mary within the economy of salvation rather than on Christ’s. While having been researched only fragmentarily in the past, in this article, the theological content of this poem is analysed integrally for the first time.

Highlights

The 15th-century poem ‘Adam lay ybounden’ presents a ‘folk version’ of the paradoxical theology of the notion of felix culpa, Adam’s ‘happy fault’ by which the Incarnation of God in Jesus of Nazareth was unintentionally provoked
The poem is simple in its vocabulary, but elaborate in its invocation of theological notions such as the descensus Christi as inferos, the felix culpa and the necessarium Adae peccatum, both from the Easter prayer of the ‘Exsultet’, focussing on the role of Mary within the economy of salvation rather than on Christ’s
The size of one’s penis and songs posing a riddle to its listeners, ‘Adam lay ybounden’ succeeds in simultaneously being plain and simple in its vocabulary, while invoking complex theological notions and themes ranging from the descensus Christi ad inferos to felix culpa

Summary

The song ‘Adam lay ybounden’

The poem ‘Adam lay ybounden’ is found in Sloane Manuscript 2593 (folio 11), held by the British Library. The manuscript seems to be an amalgam of reverent religious songs, like ‘I syng of a mayden’ and ‘Lullay, mone liking’, both in honour of Mary, and more vulgar songs like ‘I have a gentil cock’. ‘Adam lay ybounden’ is preceded by ‘Omen gentes plaudit’, which initially seems to refer to Psalm 47, but is a drinking song, and is succeeded by ‘I have a young sister’, an erotic riddle disguised in the form of a nursery rhyme.[7] The poem was written at the beginning of the 15th century, and is probably native to the region of East Anglia, more

Blyssid be þe tyme þat appil take was þerfor’ we mown syngyn deo gracia10

Strophe I

The Marian ‘Felix Culpa’