THE ENGLISH VERSIONS OF THE FRIDAY LEGEND: THREE AND TWELVE

Abstract

The short texts dealing with the veneration of Friday were extremely popular from their first appearance (which, according to the manuscript evidence, may be dated to the eleventh century at the latest).1 Due to their popularity, they are attested in such a great variety of forms that even the determining of recensions is not an easy task. Moreover, these texts occur in almost every European language, so every attempt to categorize and describe them is faced with questions of intercultural and interlanguage interaction.The aim of this article is twofold: on the one hand, we will focus on the English vernacular tradition until the sixteenth century, and will try to present all the available material, including unedited texts; on the other hand, the English evidence needs to be fitted into the general pattern, which requires providing parallels from other traditions.The study of the Legend began in the late nineteenth century, when it drew the attention of such scholars as Alexander Veselovsky and Giovanni Mercad; their research was continued by Paul Fournier and, most notably, Walther Suchier, who has done much to collect and edit various versions of the text.2 Then, scholarly interest faded, to rise again towards the end of the twentieth century, when considerable progress was achieved with the publication of texts newly found by Detlev Jasper, Britta Olrik Frederiksen, and Tomas Martinez Romero.3 Since some English versions of the Legend were edited long ago and thereafter surprisingly dropped out of sight, it is our goal to bring their discussion up to date in the light of recent achievements. The edition of several texts not previously published should also add to the general picture.The English material falls into two text groups which can be roughly described as 'a list of Fridays' and 'a list of events'. The main and obligatory feature of the first type is a reference to several Fridays on which there should be strict fasting. The two sub-types within this group can be labelled Three Fridays and Twelve Fridays texts respectively. The Three Fridays texts are usually very short, containing only the enumeration of these Fridays and the promise that anyone who observes them will avoid the fire of hell. The Twelve Fridays Legend has many versions, but in its most popular form it contains an introduction in which it is stated that fasting on the prescribed Twelve Fridays of the year was revealed by Christ to St Peter, who then taught it to his pupil St Clement of Rome. Then follows the list of the Twelve Fridays, and the text concludes with some rewards that fall to the faithful for the observance of these twelve fasts.The second type, 'a list of events', concentrates on the prominence of Friday as the day of the week on which there occurred (or will occur) certain important events of biblical history. This type will not concern us here, and we refer the reader to the important study by Clare A. Lees.4Three FridaysThere are five English texts:1. London, British Library, Cotton MS Caligula A xv (Christ Church, Canterbury, s. xi2, xi2-xi/xii), fol. 131'' (in part A, s. xi2);2. London, British Library, Cotton MS Tiberius A. iii (Christ Church, Canterbury, s. ximcd), fob 44r;3. London, British Library, Royal MS 2 B. V (the Regius Psalter, probably Winchester, s. xmcd-, xi; provenance Christ Church, Canterbury), fob 196' (written by a later hand of s. xi1, perhaps, at Christ Church);4. Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 422, part B (Red Book of Darley, probably Winchester, s. xmcd, ximed-; provenance Sherborne), fob 47 (in part B of the MS, written in s. ximcd);55. London, British Library, Harley MS 1025 (s. xv1; provenance parish church of Hitchin, Herfordshire), fob 186bThree of these texts, namely Caligula A. xv, Tiberius A. iii, and Royal 2 B. V, were identified as variants of the same text by Max Forster,6 and the fourth was added by Heinrich Henel, who took into account all the previous studies; but the last, Harley 1023, has not, to our knowledge, been considered as part of the group. …