The Conversion of Sibilla in the History of the Holy Rood Tree

Abstract

The Conversion of Sibilla in the History of the Holy Rood Tree Thomas D. Hill One interesting and little explored aspect of the various medieval literatures is the genre of Christian "apocryphal" romance, elaborate fictions that seem to have had little claim to historical truth. These texts, however, seem to have been enjoyed both as a kind of literature of the fantastic and the exotic and as texts that conveyed moral and doctrinal truths either directly or symbolically. 1 One such cycle of legends that was specifically recognized as "apocryphal" (that is, a text that cannot be ascribed to a known author and hence is of dubious historical authority) was the legendary history of the Holy Cross. 2 One of the earliest and most interesting versions of this history was translated into Old English late in the Old English period and then rewritten in the transitional English of the twelfth century, a century or so later. Partly because this text exists "between" Old and Early Middle English and partly because of modern discomfort with texts such as these (with medieval apocryphal literature that seems very strange and alien to a modern sensibility), the History of the Holy Rood Tree has not [End Page 123] attracted very much critical attention. 3 In this article I would like to address one specific, although important, episode in this legendary text, but this discussion may be of broader interest in that this article may illustrate some ways in which modern critics can understand and perhaps even to some degree appreciate the genre of medieval Christian "apocryphal" texts. The late Old English, or if one prefers, early Middle English History of the Holy Rood Tree is the earliest extant vernacular version of the legend of the Cross in Western European literature and is a twelfth-century redaction of a text that was first translated into Old English at least a century earlier. 4 The legend, which is in prose, relates the history of the Cross from the time that Moses crossed the desert until the passion and from the passion until the invention of the Cross by Helena. The episode with which I am specifically concerned here, the conversion of Sibilla, occurs at approximately the midpoint of this history. However, in order to give some sense of the kind of narrative with which I am dealing, I would like to summarize and to comment briefly on the introductory episodes of this history. It begins when Moses is in the desert with the people of Israel. As he lies sleeping one night, three shoots appear by his head and both hands, forming a triadic, cruciform pattern. Moses awakes, sees the shoots, and is struck by the marvel. Fearing to profane the area, he moves his camp about a mile away. But the next morning the shoots stand about him in the same pattern; and Moses, inspired by the Holy Spirit, prophesies and defines these shoots as tokens of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Then, at noon, Moses digs them up and goes on his way. The next evening, Moses and the children of Israel come upon [End Page 124] bitter waters, and, faced with the suffering and the consequent hostility of his people, Moses goes apart to pray. It then occurs to him to sweeten the bitter water with the shoots that are to become the wood of the Cross. He does so—the water is sweetened—and then Moses, with the shoots carefully packed and moistened, proceeds on the journey through the desert. This episode is an interesting one, since in its very bareness and simplicity it serves to illustrate one aspect of the technique of the author of the History of the Holy Rood Tree . The basis of the narrative is of course biblical. In the course of the journey of the Israelites through the desert, Moses did sweeten bitter waters. To quote the relevant verses: Et murmuravit populus contra Moyses, dicens:Quid bibemus?At ille clamavit ad Dominum,qui ostendit ei lignum: quod cum missessetin aquas, in dulcedinem versae sunt:ibi constituit ei praecepta, atque iudicia, etibi tentavit eum. (Exodus 15:24–25) 5 [And the people murmured against Moses...