English and Scottish Ballads, Volume VIII — John Shaqi
English and Scottish Ballads, Volume VIII
General
English and Scottish Ballads, Volume VIII
Ballads, English -- England -- Texts; Ballads, Scots -- Scotland -- Texts
An' he gaed up the Gallowgate port,
His hose aboon his shoon;
But lang ere he cam down again
Was convoyed by lords fifteen.
58. your wine.
THE WANDERING JEW.
In the year 1228, we are informed by Matthew Paris, an Armenian
archbishop visited England, with letters from the Pope, to make the tour
of the holy places. During a sojourn at the monastery of St. Albans, he
was asked by one of the brethren if he knew anything of the famous
Joseph, so much spoken of, who had been present at the crucifixion, and
was still living as a witness to the truth of the Christian faith. The
archbishop responded that the fact was indeed as reported, and one of
his retinue added, that his master had personally known this
extraordinary character, and had admitted him to his table only a short
time before setting out for the West; that he had been porter to Pontius
Pilate, and was named Cartaphilus; that when the Jews were dragging
Christ from the judgment-hall, he had struck him in the back with his
fist, saying, "Go faster, Jesus: why dost thou tarry?"--whereupon Christ
turned to him and said, "I go, but thou shalt tarry till my coming."
After the death of Jesus, Cartaphilus had been converted, and baptized
by Ananias, under the name of Joseph. Still the sentence pronounced upon
him by the Saviour was not revoked, and he remained in the world,
awaiting the Lord's second advent, living in Armenia, or some other
country of the East. Whenever he reached the age of a hundred, he fell
into a trance, and when he revived, found himself again about thirty
years old, as he had been at the epoch of Christ's suffering.
This story Matthew Paris heard at St. Albans, of which monastery he was
himself a brother, a few years after the memorable visit of the Armenian
prelate. His contemporary, Philippe Mouskes, Bishop of Tournay, has
incorporated the substance of his narrative into his rhymed chronicle,
edited by the Baron de Reiffenberg, v. 25524, et seq. We hear nothing
more of the Wandering Jew from this time until the middle of the 16th
century, when he presents himself at Hamburgh, (in 1547,) calling
himself Ahasuerus, who had been a shoemaker at Jerusalem. The ballad
which follows is founded upon some narrative of this event, many of
which were published. It will be noticed that in the second form of the
legend, the punishment of perpetual existence, which gives rise to the
old names, _Judæus non mortalis_, _Ewiger Jude_, is aggravated by a
condemnation to incessant change of place, which is indicated by a
corresponding name, _Wandering Jew_, _Juif Errant_, etc.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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