The Testament of Cresseid

The Testament of Cresseid is a narrative poem of 616 lines in Middle Scots, written by the 15th-century Scottish makar Robert Henryson. It is his best known poem.^[1] It imagines a tragic fate for Cressida in the medieval story of Troilus and Criseyde which was left untold in Geoffrey Chaucer's version. Having been banished from the company of Diomedes, the Achaean hero to whom she had transferred her affections after being separated from Troilus, Cresseid is left destitute. After wandering for a while amongst the Greek soldiers, seeking their company, she returns to the home of her father Calchas, a keeper of the temple of Venus. Though Calchas welcomes her heartily, Cresseid desires to hide away from the world and encloses herself in a private oratory, where she weeps and rages against the cruelty of Venus and Cupid in, as she sees it, leading her on. The gods take offence at this blasphemy, and assemble to pass judgement on her, and the poem features graphically-realised portraits of the planetary pantheon of gods in the dream vision at its heart. They remove her youth and good looks, leaving her ill and ugly. Her symptoms being similar to those of leprosy, she is thus considered a social outcast, and decides she must join a leper colony. There she laments her fate until a fellow leper woman encourages her not to sigh over things which cannot be changed, but instead to take her cup and clapper and seek help from any kind passers-by. In time, however, cold and hunger wears her down and she is forced to beg for a living. One day, whilst she is begging, Troilus and the garrison of Troy pass by. Recognising Cresseid, Troilus is greatly moved, and he gives up a great deal of wealth to the lepers before riding off, almost fainting for grief when he reaches Troy. Upon finding out her benefactor's identity, Cresseid is also overcome with emotion and her health takes a turn for the worse. She berates herself for her treatment of him, before sitting down to write her will, dying soon after. However, despite Cresseid's ultimate disgrace and tragic end, Henryson is not without pity for her misfortune, as seen in the lines:
            Yit nevertheless, quhat ever men deme or say
            In scornefull langage of thy brukkilnes,
            I sall excuse als far furth as I may
            Thy womanheid, thy wisdome and fairnes,
            The quhilk fortoun hes put to sic distres
            As hir pleisit, and nathing throw the gilt
            Of the, throw wickit langage to be spilt!
Henryson's cogent psychological drama makes the poem one of the great works of northern renaissance literature.
A modern English translation by Seamus Heaney, which also included seven of his fables from The Morall Fabillis, was published in 2009.

Characters

• Cresseid, daughter of Calchas, who is punished for breaking her vow of love to Troilus
• Troilus, one of the sons of Trojan king Priam, and former lover of Cresseid
• Calchas, Cresseid's loving father. In the Testament, he is a priest of Venus and Cupid.
• The gods Cupid, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Phoebus, Venus, Mercury, and Cynthia.

Structure

• Throughout the poem, Henryson makes use of the rhyme royal, a rhyme scheme introduced and popularised by Geoffrey Chaucer, and set out as follows- ABABBCC. The stanzas are generally seven lines each in length, and in iambic pentameter. However, in the section in which Cresseid laments her fate from the leper colony (a Complaint), the stanzas are nine lines in length, and with the rhyme scheme AABAABAAB

References

Modern edition

• The Poems of Robert Henryson. Ed. Robert L. Kindrick. Kalamazoo, Michigan: Medieval Institute Publications, 1997. Electronic Access.
• The Testament of Cresseid and Seven Fables. Robert Henryson. Translated by Seamus Heaney. Bloomsbury House, London: Faber and Faber Ltd, 2009

Further reading

• Gray, Douglas. Robert Henryson. English Writers of the Late Middle Ages, no. 9. Brookfield, Vermont: Variorum, 1996.
• Kindrick, Robert L. "Monarchs and Monarchy in the Poetry of Henryson and Dunbar." In Actes du 2e Colloque de Langue et de Littérature Ecossaisses. Eds. Jean-Jacques Blanchot and Claude Graf. Strasbourg: Université de Strasbourg, 1979. pp. 307–25.
• McDiarmid, Matthew P. "Robert Henryson in his Poems." In Bards and Makars. Eds. Adam J. Aitken, Matthew P. McDiarmid, and Derick S. Thompson. Glasgow: University of Glasgow, 1977. pp. 27–40.
• Patterson, Lee W. "Christian and Pagan in The Testament of Cresseid." Philological Quarterly 52 (1973), 696-714.
• Ridley, Florence. "A Plea for Middle Scots." In The Learned and the Lewed. Ed. Larry D. Benson. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1974. pp. 175–96.
• Rowland, Beryl. "The 'seiknes incurabill' in Henryson's Testament of Cresseid." English Language Notes 1 (1964), 175-77.
• Spearing, A. C. "The Testament of Cresseid and the High Concise Style." In Criticism and Medieval Poetry. London: E. Arnold, 1964. pp. 118–44.
• Stephenson, William. "The Acrostic “Fictio” in Robert Henryson’s The Testament of Cresseid (Lines 58–63)," Chaucer Review, 92.2 (1994), 163–75.
• Utz, Richard. "Writing Alternative Worlds: Rituals of Authorship and Authority in Late Medieval Theological and Literary Discourse." In Creations: Medieval Rituals, the Arts, and the Concept of Creation. Eds. Nils Holger Petersen, et al. Turnhout: Brepols, 2007. pp. 121–38.
• Whiting, B. J. "A Probable Allusion to Henryson's 'Testament of Cresseid.' " Modern Language Review 40 (1945), 46-47.

The Testament of Cresseid

Introduction

1Less than a century after Geoffrey Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde and two centuries before William Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida, the Scottish poet Robert Henryson (c.1425-c.1500) crafted a daring "sequel" to Chaucer's work detailing the ending of Criseyde, and a sad ending it is. The Testament of Cresseid is problematic to date, though Henryson's life places it firmly in the fifteenth century. The specifics of Henryson's life are basically unknown to history, and what evidence we do have is largely anecdotal. William Dunbar, Henryson's contemporary and a fellow poet, provides scholars with the only known "obituary" for Henryson in his Lament for the Makars: "In Dunfermelyne he hes done roune / With Maister Robert Henrisoun." The "he" Dunbar refers to is Death, so Henryson likely died close to Laments' publication around 1505. Douglas Grey's contribution to the Medieval and Renaissance Authors series mentions an additional biographical gleaning from Dunbar's text, positing Henryson's title of "Maister" likely means he graduated from University. Using that title as evidence Dunbar concludes, "the later tradition that [Henryson] was a schoolmaster [in Dumfermline] is quite likely to be correct" (2). Apart from that, little is known with certainty.
2Though not a sequel in the modern sense of the word, Henryson's Testament does carry on the story Chaucer began, but it does not necessarily follow Chaucer's original. Chaucer's work ends with Troilus' death, but in Testament Troilus is very much alive. The action of Testament therefore occurs in the same fictional time as Chaucer's Book V between the last time Troilus sees Criseyde and his death. Where Chaucer focuses on Troilus' end, Henryson offers closure to the character of Criseyde, whom Chaucer largely ignores after her betrayal. Testament begins as the narrator describes a cold evening "in the Middle of Lent." Wishing to speed along the dreary evening and coming night, the narrator takes a copy of Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde. Finishing that, he takes down "a second book where I found the fate of Cresseid, who ended wretchedly." The remainder of the poem is the content of that book. The text includes several staples of medieval literature: references to Fortune, the influence of the planets on human fate, and the storytelling device of the dream vision. By the poem's conclusion its tone changes from the telling of a story to something akin to a medieval morality play. In the final lines the poet addresses the reader directly, whom he assumes to be young women, admonishing them to avoid mixing "love with deception." On the surface the narrative is relatively straightforward, but do not dismiss the poem as simplistic. Filled with detailed descriptions of the ancient gods, questions concerning the "crime" behind Cresseid's punishment, and the maturation of Cresseid as the poem progresses, Testament is a remarkable example of Henryson's skill as a poet and is often considered his masterpiece.

The Testament of Cresseid by Master Robert Henryson

3A doleful season warrants a sad poem, and it was such a season when I began to write this tragedy. It was the middle of Lent and the weather ran so cold it seemed to burn the skin. The sun was in Aries and brought showers of hail down from the north. I could hardly escape the bitter cold. I stood nevertheless in my study as Titan set, covering his bright beams, and Venus, fair beauty of the night, raised her beautiful golden face opposite him in the sky. Outside her fair light was so bright I could see all around me; the strong north wind shed the misty clouds from the sky. The cold air grew colder and the bitterly whistling arctic wind blew so loud it forced me unwillingly from the window. I trusted that Venus, love's queen to whom I sometimes vowed obedience, would soon renew my fading heart of love and with humble reverence I thought to pray to her. But I was hindered by the cold in my study, and I passed instead into my chamber to the fire. Though love is hot it's less so in an old man than a young one, in whom blood flows in a rage. In the old a wood fire best remedies that dull and dead heat. I know what medicine mends where nature has failed because I have experienced both. I mended the fire, warmed myself, and took a drink to comfort my spirit and arm myself against the cold.
4To make the cold night pass swiftly I took a book down. The glorious Chaucer wrote it, and it told of fair Cresseid and worthy Troilus. I read that after Diomede had taken that surpassingly lovely lady, Troilus nearly went mad with grief, turned pale, and wept sorely. His tears only renewed his grief and though he had hope, he lived both in joy and pain. He took great comfort at her behest and trusted that she would return to Troy, which he desired more than anything on Earth because she was his only lover. But when the day and hour passed when she was to return, sorrow oppressed his heavy heart. I need not repeat all his distress; Chaucer's book in good and ivory verse describes Troilus' sorrows to whomever will read it.
5To put off sleep I took down a second book where I found the fatal destiny of Cresseid, who ended wretchedly. Who knows if what Chaucer wrote was true? I do not know if this current story possesses any authority or is newly imagined by some poet who, through his own intuition, reports the lamentation, woeful end, distress, and death of lusty Cresseid.
6When Diomede had filled all his appetite – and more – with Cresseid, he set his delight on another woman and sent Cresseid a letter of dismissal, excluding her from his company. Desolate, she wandered aimlessly and, some men say, she became a court whore.
7O fair Cresseid! Flower and paragon of Troy and Greece! How were you fortuned to change into filth all your femininity and be marked by fleshly lust, going early and late among the Greeks so like a whore taking your foul pleasure? I pity you that you fell into such misfortune. Nevertheless no matter what men think or say scornfully of your brokenness, I will excuse everything I can – your womanhood, your wisdom and fairness – which fortune, as she pleases, has put to such distress and ruin through no fault of your own. You were ruined by wicked words!
8This fair lady – destitute of comfort and consolation, alone, and disguised – secretly passed far outside of town about a mile or two to a beautifully built mansion where her father Calchas dwelt with the Greeks. When he saw her he asked why she had come.
9She said with a great sigh, "After Diomede had gotten his desire he grew tired of me and wanted nothing of me."
10Calchas replied, "Do not cry, daughter. Perhaps this is best. Welcome home."
11Old Calchas, according to custom, was a keeper and priest of the temple where Venus and Cupid were honored. Calchas' chamber was nearby where Cresseid with sorrow in her breast used to pass by and say her prayers.
12One solemn day when it was customary before midday for local people to present their devout sacrifices, Cresseid adamantly refused to present herself in the temple to avoid giving people any knowledge of her expulsion from Diomede's company. She went instead into a secret orature where she might weep for her woeful destiny. Closing the door behind her, she hastily fell down on her knees.
13Angrily she cried out to Cupid and Venus saying, "Alas that ever I sacrificed to you! You once gave me a divine promise that I would be the flower of love in Troy. Now I am made an unworthy outcast, and my joy has been translated into misery. Who will guide me? Who will care for me since from both Diomede and noble Troilus I am excluded like an odious outcast? O false Cupid there is no one to blame but you and your mother, the blind goddess of love! You led me to believe and trust that the seed of love was sown in my face, and I grew green through your supply and grace. But now, alas, that seed is slain with frost and from all lovers I am utterly lost."
14This said she collapsed into a stupor and her entranced spirit fell into a dream where she seemed to hear Cupid ring a silver bell, which men could hear from Heaven to Hell. At that bell's sound the seven planets descended from their spheres before Cupid.
15These spheres rule all living things, having power over weather, wind, and the variable courses of destiny. First Saturn, who gave Cupid little reverence, came ill naturedly acting like a noisy churl with an austere cheer. His face was wrinkled; his complexion like lead; his teeth chattered and his chin shivered; his eyes drooped and were sunken in his head while out of his nose mucus ran down his lean, thin cheeks and blue-grey lips. The icicles that hanged down from his hairs were a great wonder to see and were as long as spears. Over his belt his grey-streaked locks lay, matted hideously and covered over with hoarfrost. His withered garment was solid gray and warded him from the wind. A great bow he bore in his hand, and under his cloak you could glimpse cruel arrows feathered with ice and headed with hailstones.
16Then appeared fair and friendly Jupiter, god of the stars in the firmament and nurse to all living things. He was far different from his father Saturn, having a bright burly face with high bright brows. On his head was a beautifully made garland of fair flowers like you see in May. His voice was clear and his eyes were like crystals; his hair glittered like golden wire, and his cloak was completely green, edged with golden triangles. A great sword he bore about his waist and in his right hand he carried a sharp spear that he used to defend mankind from his father's wrath.
17After him came Mars – god of ire, strife, debate, and dissention, to chide and fight as fiercely as any fire – dressed in a hard harness, helmet, and habergeon, and wearing on his haunch a bloody, fell falchion. In his hand he had a blood-rusted sword, and his face writhed with many angry words. He came before Cupid shaking that sword, red-faced with grisly glowering eyes and a bit of spittle in the corner of his mouth like a boar whetting its tusks. He was a warrior, but in control of his anger, and he blew a horn of war which he has used many times to make the world tremble.
18Then fair Phoebus arrived – the lantern and lamp of the world, man, and beast, the nurse of fruit and flourishing, and the banisher of night. In the world his moving influences and drives life in all earthly things and without his comfort everything would die without exception. Like a royal king he rode in his chariot that Phaëton once guided unsuccessfully. No one could behold the brightness of his face and live. Yoked to this fiery bright chariot were four different colored steeds that, without pause or tiring, drew it through the spheres. The first horse was sorrel, with a rose-red mane, and was called Eous in the Orient. The second was called Ethios, white and pale, who was more powerful. Peros was the third, hot tempered and fervent. The forth was black, called Philologie, who rolls Phoebus down into the sea.
19Venus, the beautiful goddess, was also there to both defend her son's quarrel and to make her own complaint. She was dressed in a wanton array half green, half sable black, and her golden hair hung behind her. In her face was great variance, sometimes showing perfect truth and sometimes inconstancy. Behind her smile she could be false and provocative with amorous glances and then suddenly change, becoming angry as any venomous serpent, and speak with stinging, odious words. Take care whoever listens! She was ever changing – laughing with one eye while weeping with the other. Like fleshly love, which Venus controls and governs, she is sometimes sweet, sometimes bitter and sour, unstable and variable, mixed with sorrowful joy and false pleasure – now hot, now cold, now blithe, now full of woe, now green as a leaf, now withered and past.
20Next came Mercury with a book in his hand, and pen and ink to report what happened there. He was eloquently spoken, using polite and delightful terms, and he wrote songs that he merrily sang. A red hood fashioned after that of the old poets covered his head. He bore many medicines: sugared syrups for digestion, spices like the apothecaries have, and other sweet treats. Like a doctor of physik his gown was scarlet red and well lined with fur, as it should be. He was honest, good, and incapable of lying.
21Cynthia came last of all, the swiftest in her sphere, wearing black and looking like she had two horns. She prefers to appear at night, wan as lead, but without a clear color because she borrows her light from her brother Titan; she has none of her own. Her clothing was grey with black spots, and on her chest was painted a churl bearing a bunch of thorns on his back that he had stolen, which prevented him from climbing nearer to heaven.
22With the seven gods thus assembled they unanimously chose Mercury to be their speaker in this parliament. Anyone who was there and heard Mercury speak could learn much of rhetoric from his eloquent tongue, even how to give a brief sermon in a single pregnant sentence. Pushing back his hood a little, Mercury asked Cupid the cause of their gathering and to declare his accusations.
23"Lo," said Cupid, "whosoever blasphemes the name of his own god, by word or deed, dishonors and shames all the gods and deserves bitter pain as a reward. I lay this charge on yon wretched Cresseid, whom I once made the flower of love. Both my mother and me she reprimanded, slandered and injuriously defamed, blaming me for her great misfortune and calling my mother Venus a blind goddess. Her filth and lechery she dares to blame on my mother when I granted her my grace above everyone. Since we all here are gods, sharing divine wisdom, this great injury she did to all of our estate and therefore I believe we should reward her with pain. Never before have the gods been done such violence, so for your own sakes as well as mine I pray you will help avenge me!"
24Answering Cupid Mercury replied, "Bright king, I council you defer judgment to Saturn, the highest planet here, suing to him for a sentence of pain for Cresseid, and have Cynthia assist him in judgment."
25"I am satisfied with those two," responded Cupid.
26Saturn and Cynthia discussed the matter thoroughly and for Cresseid's dishonor of Cupid and her open and manifest dishonor of Venus, they decided that all Cresseid's life should be oppressed with pain, torment, and incurable sickness. She would be an abomination to all lovers forevermore.
27Saturn took this dismal sentence down to where Cresseid lay and laid his frosty staff on her saying, "Thy great fairness, all your beauty, your wanton blood, and even your golden hair I remove from you forever. I change your mirth to melancholy, the mother of all thoughtfulness; your moist and hot personality I make cold and dry; your insolence and wanton play are now changed to great disease. I change your pomp and riches to suffering mortal need and poverty. You will die as a beggar."
28O cruel Saturn, froward and angry, your judgment is hard and malicious! Why do you have no mercy for fair Cresseid who was so sweet, gentile, and loving? Withdraw your sentence and be gracious as you never were before. Your actions pass a wrathful sentence on fair Cresseid!
29Saturn withdrew and Cynthia descended from her chair and read also a doom on Cresseid: "I deprive you of bodily warmth and your sickness will have no cure. In great sorrow you will now live. Your crystal eyes I make bloodshot and your clear voice unpleasing, rough, and hoarse. Your lusty face will be spread over with black spots and pale lumps. Wherever you go, men will flee. You will go begging from house to house with only a cup and clapper like a beggar."
30Cresseid then awoke from this sad dream and this ugly vision ended; all that heavenly court vanished. Rising up she took a mirror so she could look at her reflection. When she saw her face so deformed only God knows if she suffered enough in her heart.
31Weeping hard she said, "Lo, see how froward language provokes bad tempered gods! My blaspheming has cost me dearly; all earthly joy is behind me. Alas this day! Alas the day when I chided my gods!"
32At that moment a child came into the hall to tell Cresseid dinner was ready.
33First the child knocked, then called, "Madam, your father bids you come quickly. He marvels that you lay so long in grief, and he says your prayers are too long. The gods already know your intent."
34Cresseid replied, "Fair child, go to my dear father and ask him to come speak with me now."
35Calchas came and said, "Daughter, what do you need?"
36"Alas," she cried, "father my joy is gone!"
37"How so?" he asked, and she began to explain everything I have already told you, of Cupid's wrath and vengeance for her trespass. He looked on her ugly leper's face that before was lily white. He rued that he lived to see that terrible hour and often wrung his hands. He knew well that nothing would ease her pain and that knowledge doubled his own. There was more than enough sorrow between the two of them.
38After mourning together for a long time Cresseid said, "Father, I do not wish to be seen like this. Therefore let me go secretly to the hospital at the end of town and there send me food to live on as a charity, for all mirth on this earth is gone from me, such is my wicked fate!"
39In complete secrecy he led his daughter to a secret exit so no one would see her, covered in a mantle and a beaver hat with only a cup and a clapper. Taking her to a small village half a mile away, he delivered her to the leper's house where he daily sent her a part of his alms. Some there knew her, while others had no idea who she was because of her deformity – black boils covered her face, and her fair color was both faded and altered. They assumed her to be of noble kin because of her great mourning and regret, so they with good will took her in. The day passed and Phoebus went to rest; black clouds covered the sky. God knew Cresseid was a sorrowful guest, seeing that wretched food and lodging! She always ate and drank alone in a corner, and weeping she made her complaint.
40

The Complaint of Cresseid

41
42"O sorrowful sop, sunken in dismay. O wretched Cresseid, now and forever is your joy and happiness gone on earth. Of gladness you are destitute. There is no salve to heal you of your hurt! Evil is your fortune; wicked is your fate; your bliss is banished and only building is your balefulness! God, if only I were dead and buried so none of Greece or Troy might hear of my fate!"
43"Where is your beautifully furnished chamber with its great bed and embroidered fineries? Where are the spices and wine for a light refreshment? The cups gold and silver? The sweet meats served on clean plates with good seasoned saffron sauce? What of your beautiful garments and gowns? Your lovely linens pinned with a golden broach? Where are they? All is lost, all of your royal renown!"
44"Where is your garden of beautiful plants and fresh flowers that the goddess Flora had painted so pleasantly in every bed, and where you were accustomed to walk happily in May to see the new dew of the day, and hear the many blackbirds and thrushes sing, and sing with other fair ladies, and saw the royal ranks wearing clothes gaily garnished?"
45"Your great fame and high honor – when you were called the flower of earthly creatures – is decayed. Your fate is so withered. Your high estate is changed into a harsh darkness. Take this leper's lodge for your bower, and for thy bed take now a bunch of straw, and for choice meat and wine take moldy bread, pear juice, and sour cider. Everything is gone except for a cup and a clapper."
46"My clear singing voice used to please ladies in court. It's now raw as a rook's cry – hideous, hoarse, and rough. My pleasant appearance and loveliness surpassed all others. Now my face is so deformed no one wants to look at it. Soaked with grief, utter sorrow, and living with lepers! Alas!"
47"Fair ladies of Troy and Greece see my misery, my frivol fortune and my infelicity, which no one can comprehend or cure. Beware as your time comes to an end and remember me. As I am now so you might be too, or perhaps even worse, regardless of your efforts. Your beauty is nothing but a fading flower. Your praise and honor is but wind in men's ears. Your rosy complexion will fade into rot. Remember me as an example and a witness to these things. All wealth on Earth passes like a brief breeze. Therefore beware that approaching hour. Fortune is fickle when she begins to stir."
48Weeping and struggling with her dreary destiny, Cresseid lay awake the entire night crying in vain, though crying could not remedy her sorrow or end her mourning.
49A leper woman rose and went to her saying, "Why do you kick the wall and abuse yourself? It fixes nothing. Since weeping only doubles your woe I say make a virtue of a need. Learn to clap your clapper and live in the manner of the lepers."
50There was no other choice, so Cresseid went with the lepers from place to place until the cold and her hunger compelled her to survive as a common beggar.
51At the same time Troy's garrison, captained by worthy Troilus, had slain many Greek knights and was returning to Troy in triumph when they rode past where Cresseid and the lepers waited.
52Seeing that garrison the lepers shook their cups and cried in one accord, "Worthy lords, for God's love, give us lepers a part of your alms!"
53Troilus took heed of their cries and pitying them passed near where Cresseid sat, not knowing she was there. She cast up her eyes to him and suddenly he thought he had seen her face before, but her condition was so changed that he did not recognize her. Yet her look recalled to his mind the sweet looks and glances of fair Cresseid who was once his darling. (It is no wonder that he had her image so quickly called to mind – in some cases a fantasy can take over the mind and delude the senses, making it seem real.) A spark of love kindled in his heart and his body felt like it was on fire. A trembling fever and sweat overcame him and he nearly collapsed. His shield grew a heavy burden to carry, and he unconsciously paled and blushed several times. Nevertheless neither he nor Cresseid knew the other. Because of knightly piety and the memory of Cresseid, he took his belt, a purse of gold, and many beautiful jewels and tossed them in Cresseid's dress. Then he rode away to Troy without a word, deep in thought, and his sorrow nearly unhorsed him several times.
54The lepers drew near to Cresseid to divide the alms equally, but seeing all the gold they whispered to each other, "For some reason that lord has great affection for this beggar, more than he has for us. We know what he usually gives."
55Cresseid spoke up, "Do you know who that generous lord was?"
56One leper replied, "Yes. I know him well. That was Sir Troilus, gentle and free."
57When Cresseid learned it was he she stiffened like steel and doubled over, collapsed with a bitter pang in her heart.
58When she recovered, she sighed sadly, "Now my breast is a storm of pain. I am a wretch wrapped in woe and deprived of hope!"
59Unable to stop herself she fainted several times, and each time she cried, "O false Cresseid and true knight Troilus! Your love, loyalty, and gentleness I counted too little in my prosperity because I was so elevated by my own wantonness and so high on the Wheel of Fate. The love and faithfulness I promised to you was fickle and frivolous. O false Cresseid, and true knight Troilus! Your love for me kept you honest and chaste. You were the protector of all women's reputations. My own mind inclined to fleshly lust and lechery. Fie, false Cresseid; O true knight Troilus!"
60"Lovers take heed of who you love and for whom you suffer pain. I can tell you there are few men out there whom you can trust for true love. You can try to test love, but you will not succeed. Therefore take them as you can find them, for men are constant as weathercocks in the wind."
61"Because I knew the great variableness, the glass-like frailty in myself, I trusted that other women were as unfaithful, as unconstant, and as untrue in faith. I thought some were true, though I knew they were few. Any man who finds truth let him his lady extol; none but myself will I fault for my fate."
62Having said this Cresseid took some paper and sat down to make her testament: "Here I bequeath my corpse and carrion to be torn by the worms and toads. My cup and clapper, my jewelry, and all my gold I give to the lepers so that when I am dead they might bury me in a grave. This royal ring set with a red ruby, which Troilus gave me as a love-token, I return to him so that my sorrowful death might be made known. I conclude this now and leave my spirit to Diana to walk with her in the woods and marshes. O Diomede, you already have the broach and belt Troilus gave me as tokens of his true love."
63With that last word she died. A leper took the ring and buried her quickly, bearing the ring to Troilus to declare Cresseid's death. When Troilus heard of her infirmity, her will and lamentation, and how she died in poverty, his heart was ready to break and he fainted from the woe and sorrow he felt.
64Sadly sighing he said, "I can do nothing; she was unfaithful, and woe is me because of it."
65Some said he made a grey marble tomb for her and placed it over her grave, writing both her name and an epitaph in golden letters saying:
66"Lo fair ladies, here is Cresseid of Troy. Once called the flower of womanhood, now under this stone, a former leper lies dead."
67Worthy women in this short ballad made for your praise and instruction, for charity's sake, I admonish and exhort you not to mix your love with deception. Remember the end of fair Cresseid. Since she is dead I will say nothing more of her.

Works Cited

Gray, Douglas. Robert Henryson. Edited by John Norton-Smith and Douglas Gray. Medieval and Renaissance Authors. Leiden: Brill, 1979.

Fox, Denton ed. The Testament of Cresseid. London: Thomas Nelson, 1968.

Kindrick, Robert ed. The Poems of Robert Henryson. Kalamazoo: Medieval Institute Publications, 1997.

The testament of Cresseid

this section includes a number of resources to assist with the study of the Testament of Cresseid, including :

• Summary – a synopsis of the poem
• Notes – Explanatory notes
• The Testament of Cresseid - the full text of the poem, with supporting glossary and explanatory notes

A. A Summary Of Robert Henryson’s Testament Of Cresseid

Lines 1-70: The poem begins with an unconventional use of a Spring/ Lenten opening, with the traditional depiction of the land reawakening and blossoming after winter replaced by gloomy weather suited to the sorrowful tale that is to follow, as the narrator remarks. The narrator, who intended to pray to Venus from his window, is forced to withdraw to his fireside to escape the bitter cold. To pass the time, he reads Chaucer’s Troilus and Criseyde, and describes Troilus’ fate after Criseyde’s departure from Troy. However, he stops short of describing Troilus’ death, claiming that he need not repeat what Chaucer has already told. He now takes up another book, which tells ‘the fatall destenie | Of fair Cresseid, that ended wretchitlie’. Questioning the truth of what Chaucer wrote, the narrator reminds us that this narrative may be fiction rather than an authoritative record of the fate of Cresseid.

Lines 71-133: The narrative begins with Diomeid’s rejection of Cresseid by a bill of divorce, after which Cresseid wanders, and is said to have become promiscuous or a prostitute. The narrator interjects to express his pity for the ‘fair’ Cresseid and, claiming to disbelieve the rumours he reports, says that he will excuse her as far as he may. In disguise, Cresseid leaves the town for her father’s home amongst the Greeks. Her father welcomes her, but, still sorrowful, she will not attend the public service at the temple where he is priest of Venus and Cupid. In a private chapel, she accuses the gods of love of having broken faith and abandoned her.

Lines 134-343: After her complaint, Cresseid falls into a trance and dreams that Cupid summons the moon and the seven planets to descend and try her for blasphemy. After descriptions of each of the gods, Cupid prosecutes his case, claiming that Cresseid’s offence against himself and his mother, Venus, harms all the gods. Mercury advises him to entrust Cresseid’s punishment to the highest and lowest of the planets, and so Saturn and Cynthia are chosen to judge her. They punish her with leprosy, which destroys her looks and condemns her to penury, and the narrator interjects to complain against the harshness of this punishment.

Lines 344-406: On waking, Cresseid reproaches herself for her outburst against the gods, seeing her punishment as the result of their ill temper. Her father consoles her, and after they have mourned, she tells him that she will go to the hospital at the edge of the town in secret, asking him to send her some food there. In disguise and carrying the cup and rattle of a leper, she leaves for the leper hospital. Some of the lepers recognise her, others do not, but they accept her more willingly because her way of lamenting reveals her noble origins. Night comes, and without food she lies down to weep in a dark corner, making her complaint.

Lines 407-469: The Complaint of Cresseid.
Cresseid laments her misfortune, describing the luxurious life that she has lost, and her faded beauty, in a long, formal complaint, which ends with a plea to the ladies of Troy and Greece to remember her fate as a warning.

Lines 470-539: As she lies there, a leper woman approaches and advises her to learn to make virtue of a necessity and live as other lepers do, rather than struggling against her fate. She begins to travel with the leper community, and her company encounters Troilus, returning from a victory against the Greeks. Troilus responds to the leper’s calls for alms, and, although neither recognises the other, Cresseid looks up at Troilus in a way that reminds him of his old love. In remembrance, he drops a belt, gold and jewels into her lap, and rides away. On being told that her unknown benefactor was Troilus, Cresseid faints.

Lines 540-616. Recovering, Cresseid laments her infidelity, comparing herself to the faithful Troilus, and makes her will. She commits her body to the corruption of worms and toads, her goods to the lepers, and a ring, which was a love token from Troilus, is to be returned to him. She bequeaths her spirit to Diana, and lamenting that Diomeid still has the broach and belt that Troilus gave to her, she dies. On receiving the ring, Troilus faints with sorrow and laments Cresseid’s unfaithfulness. The narrator reports that some say Troilus made her a marble tomb with an inscription in golden letters. The poem ends with a warning to women, asking them to heed a poem made for their instruction and avoid mingling their love with false deception.

B. Notes 

 1-2Henryson offers this unusual use of the spring setting, which was conventionally associated with love poetry in the Middle Ages, as an example of pathetic fallacy. The gloomy weather is intended less as a realistic depiction of a Scottish spring than as a divine reflection of the blight which will affect Cresseid’s youth and beauty, and follows a medieval tradition by which the stages of a man’s life were associated with the seasons of the year.

4In the Middle Ages, tragedy was commonly understood as a movement from a prosperous or calm beginning to a disastrous ending. See, for example, Dante’s definition in ‘The Letter to Can Grande’, The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism, gen. ed. Vincent B. Leitch (New York: Norton, 2001) 252.

5The reference to Lent sets the opening of the poem in the first month of spring, the season of love and resurrection, and the Christian associations of Lent with fasting and penance are appropriate to the poet’s theme.

9-14The opposition of Venus to the sun is an astrological impossibility. Astrology interpreted planets in opposition as a sign of misfortune: here, the impossibility of the conjunction works as a terrible omen of disaster.

23-28The personality of the narrator is usually treated as a separate creation of Henryson’s making, rather than a faithful depiction of the poet himself. However, critical opinion is divided as to whether the reader is intended to share the narrator’s sympathy for Cresseid, or whether his attempts to excuse her are calculated to make the reader more aware of her guilt. As a worshipper of Venus, who desires a renewal of love’s favour, the narrator resembles Cresseid, and this resemblance suggests that the fate of Cresseid is intended not only as a warning to women, as the narrator argues, but is relevant to humanity as a whole.

40-42Troilus and Criseyde is Chaucer’s retelling of a popular story based on classical legend. Many different versions of this tale circulated in the Middle Ages, in which Cressida typically appears as a lesson in woman’s fickle nature for the male reading public. However, Chaucer’s poem is at least superficially more sympathetic to Criseyde than other works in the tradition, suggesting psychological motives for her behaviour and presenting her through the eyes of a sympathetic narrator who resembles that of the Testament. Henryson’s praise for Chaucer reflects the poet’s standing, a century after his death c.1400.

43-60Henryson describes only part of the fifth and final book of Troilus and Criseyde, ignoring the lover’s courtship and affair, which occupies most of Chaucer’s poem. He focuses on the section of the poem where Criseyde disappears from view after leaving Troy, as Chaucer abandons her character, a major presence in the poem up to that point, to describe Troilus’ sorrow. Henryson’s summary stops short of Troilus’ discovery that Criseyde has been unfaithful, brought about by the sight of a brooch he gave to her on a coat of armour belonging to Diomede. Nor does Henryson describe Troilus’ subsequent death in battle at the hands of Achilles, or his spirit’s ascent to a pagan heaven which suggests, but does not confirm, that Troilus may have achieved Christian salvation. As the verses following the summary imply, Henryson’s Testament is not a simple sequel to Troilus and Criseyde, but a complex response to Chaucer’s poem and the ‘Cressida’ tradition from which it derives.

60-63The possibility that Henryson is describing another source cannot be dismissed entirely, but it is more probable that the ‘uther quair’ is an invention, especially since Chaucer himself had made a point of claiming a fictitious ancient source for Troilus and Criseyde, a Latin author called Lollius, rather than admitting his debt to the contemporary Italian poet Giovanni Boccaccio. To a medieval audience, the use of old and respected source material made a work more valuable than if it were wholly original, so that highlighting the use of such material added to the authority of a work, rather than diminishing it as the modern understanding of plagiarism might suggest.

64-70The initial rhetorical question signals Henryson’s subtle engagement with the question of truth in literature. In the Middle Ages, the line between fiction and history was less clearly defined than it is now, and works based on the Trojan legends tended to be read as histories rather than stories. However, rather than presenting Chaucer and the ‘uther quair’ as reliable sources in order to validate his own work, Henryson raises the possibility that they may be recent fictions, without authority. Poets who chose to write imaginative works were traditionally subject to accusations of lying, and the ambiguous status of fiction is an issue Henryson also raises in his prologue to the Moral Fables, where he presents the customary defence that fictional narratives could make readers aware of moral truths. A further reference to this issue may be implied in an acrostic in lines 58-63, as the initial letters of each line spell ‘fictio’.

67This is the first recorded use in Scots of ‘inventioun’ in the sense of original, imaginative composition, placing an emphasis on this aspect of the writing process.

74The term ‘lybell of repudie’ means ‘bill of divorce’ where it appears in the Vulgate Bible, but, as there is no indication that Cresseid was married, here it seems to suggest a written declaration that Diomeid has cast her off.

77Henryson’s narrator veils the suggestion that Cresseid became either promiscuous or a prostitute as hearsay.

78The phrase ‘A per se’ (paragon) may be a reference to Chaucer’s description of Criseyde: ‘Right as oure firste lettre is now an A, | In beaute first so stood she, makeles’ (I. 171-72). Criseyde’s beauty is supreme, just as the letter A stands at the head of the alphabet.

81Henryson’s use of the word ‘maculait’ here hints at Cresseid’s fate, as it could also mean ‘spotted’, and was often used in descriptions of lepers. In the Middle Ages, leprosy was thought to be a sexually transmitted disease, so Henryson may be suggesting an earthly cause for her illness here.

106-109Traditionally, Calchas was a Trojan priest who worshipped Apollo and had the gift of prophecy. Foreseeing that the Trojans would lose the war, he joined the Greeks and later asked for his daughter to be sent to him. However, Henryson’s Calchas is far more affectionate than in Chaucer’s version of the story and has, significantly, become a priest of Venus and Cupid.

135Cupid was often portrayed as being blind in western art and, very occasionally, so was Venus. However, some critics read Cresseid’s description of these gods, who are not sightless in the Testament, as a sign that she is guilty of confusing love with blind lust. See Robert Henryson, Testament of Cresseid, ed. Denton Fox (London: Nelson, 1968) 95.

147According to Ptolemaic astronomy, there were seven planets that orbited the earth, which was thought to be the stationary centre of the universe. The most distant planet, with the widest orbit, was Saturn, followed by Jupiter, Mars, the sun, Venus Mercury and the moon. Henryson’s catalogue of the pagan gods follows this order.

148-150The planets were thought to exert an influence over all created things beneath the moon.

151-169The details of Henryson’s portraits of the gods are traditional. Saturn was the Roman god of agriculture and was often portrayed as a peasant, a convention reflected in his comparison to a ‘churle’, and in his ragged clothing. Saturn was also associated with age and time, and the planet was thought to bring misfortune. Particularly relevant to the Testament is Saturn’s reputation for causing pestilence, including leprosy, which was believed to be the result of cold and dryness. Saturn’s wrinkled, leaden complexion and sunken eyes also suggest the appearance of a leper.

168Saturn’s arrowheads connect him with the hailstorm at the opening of the poem.

182Jupiter was king of the Roman gods. The hostility between Jupiter and Saturn derives from a legend that Jupiter rebelled against his father and overthrew him. However, Jupiter was sometimes equated with Christ in medieval tradition, and Henryson’s description of the god as interceding with Saturn on behalf of mankind might hint at this Christian interpretation. According to Christian belief, Christ’s incarnation on earth redeemed mankind, who had been condemned to hell through Adam’s original sin.

183-196Mars was the Roman god of war.

187A falchion is a sword with a curved blade.

187-188The meaning of ‘roustie’ here is unclear, although critics have made various attempts to discover it. The word evokes iron and the colour red, both associated with the planet Mars in medieval tradition. For a contemporary audience, it might have suggested blood, both through its colour and a medieval custom whereby the blood of an enemy was left to dry on the sword blade, as a mark of its bearer’s skill. In either case, it contrasts with the bright armour of Jupiter and adds to Mars’ hostile appearance.

205-217According to legend, the sun was a chariot with four horses, guided by the god Apollo. Although the names of the horses sometimes vary, the first is linked with the early morning and is red, the colour of the rising sun. The second is usually white, to reflect the brightness of the morning sun; the third is hot, representing midday; and the last is black, linked with sunset and night. Phaeton was Apollo’s son, who, refusing to listen to his father’s advice, persuaded the god to let him drive the chariot for a day. Unable to control the horses, he died as a result. In the Middle Ages, Phaeton is often used as a symbol of pride.

218-238The goddess of love’s inconsistent appearance here has much in common with the medieval iconography of the goddess Fortune. Love and Fortune were considered as examples of the changeable life experienced by men, in a world where things grow and die, and both goods and affections can pass from one person to another. In Christian belief, the instability of fortune and human love were traditionally contrasted with the eternity of God and heavenly things. The green colour of Venus’ dress had a particular association with infidelity in love.

231Laughing with one eye and weeping with the other is a feature common to portraits of Venus and Fortune. However, in earlier versions of the Cressida story, it is a characteristic attributed to women as a sign of their fickleness, of which Cressida’s behaviour is a key example. See, for example, Benoît de Sainte-Maure’s Le Roman de Troie (ll. 13442), and the footnotes to Fox’s edition of the Testament (1968), p. 106.

239-252Mercury was the messenger of the gods, and god of rhetoric and eloquence, making him the natural choice as chairman of the group. His association with medicine was traditional.

253-263The moon was often represented as Cynthia, a woman with a crescent moon on her head, fixed to resemble a hairstyle in which the hair was dressed (‘buskit’) into horns. Described as ‘spottis blak’, the craters on the moon hint at Cresseid’s future disease, as does the moon’s traditional association with cold and darkness. The peasant painted on her chest refers to the medieval legend of the man in the moon as a thief carrying a bundle of thorns. The man in the moon was sometimes associated with Judas or Cain, adding to the sinister overtones of this portrait. Usually, the moon was considered to be a neutral influence on mankind, but just as she borrows her light from the sun, Cynthia takes on the qualities of the company she keeps. Her pairing with Saturn is therefore unfortunate for Cresseid.

299-302‘modifie’ (assess, determine) and ‘proceidit’ (acted judiciously) are Scots legal terms, indicating Henryson’s knowledge of contemporary law.

300According to some medieval astrologers, Saturn and the moon in conjunction caused leprosy. Astrological factors were amongst the three possible kinds of cause for disease according to medieval medical theory. The second category included physical causes, such as diet or an infection from another sufferer. The third category was disease sent by God as a punishment for sin.

311Saturn’s ‘frostie wand’ has been linked with the white staff carried by the officer of a court of justice in Henryson’s time.

314-343The physical effects of Cresseid’s punishment correspond to the symptoms of leprosy, which included discolouration of the hair and hair loss.

342-343Lepers were obliged to carry ‘cop and clapper’. The cup was for charitable donations, and the rattle to warn people of a leper’s approach. The separation of lepers from other members of the community was an ancient tradition, and took place for religious rather than medical reasons. Lepers described in the Bible were treated as being ritually unclean rather than sick. However, while leprosy was often interpreted as being the result of sin, the leper’s status was not unambiguous. The term ‘lazarous’ associated the leper with Lazarus, a biblical leper who appears in the parable of Dives and Lazarus (Luke 16.19-31). Lazarus begs for food at the house of Dives, a rich man. After death, Lazarus goes to heaven, while Dives suffers in hell, and Lazarus’ happy fate is seen as his reward for suffering on earth. This Lazarus was often confused with another man of the same name, whom Jesus raised from the dead (John 11-12). As a result, leprosy was associated with the idea of resurrection to eternal life. The leper was thought to be especially favoured because he had been chosen by God to atone for his sins before death. Rites like those given to the dead sometimes accompanied the expulsion of a leper from the community, and similar rites were sometimes used to prepare monks and nuns for entering religious orders, as they died to the sinful material world.

348-349The mirror was a medieval symbol for vanity and sensuality, associated with Venus.

372-378It may be significant that one of the duties of a medieval parish priest in Scotland was to inspect and report lepers.

376-377Leprosy was thought to be incurable, unless God chose to heal the leper.

382-383Leper houses were situated outside the limits of towns and cities, and the charitable act of sending food was also intended to discourage lepers from coming to town to beg.

386Beaver hats were expensive and usually worn by men. Cresseid is probably wearing one in order to go unrecognised.

 406The phrase ‘scho maid hir mone’ introduces a formal complaint, a poetic form also indicated by the shift to nine-line stanzas.

407A ‘sop’ was a piece of bread soaked in liquid, and was sometimes used to denote something of little value. ‘Sop’ could also mean ‘embodiment’.

 416Cresseid’s complaint adopts a common medieval theme, known as ubi sunt (Latin, meaning ‘where are they?’). In lamenting the transitory nature of worldly pleasures, the ubi sunt theme seeks to bring an audience to consciousness of the value of heavenly things, which cannot decay. Cresseid’s catalogue is a standard list of luxuries suggesting the decadence of her former life. Such laments were often written as speeches made by corpses, a tradition reflected in Henryson’s poem through the equation of leprosy and death. Cresseid’s complaint is also unusual in that she is still capable of learning from her own words.

426Flora was the Roman goddess of flowers and springtime.

429According to popular superstition, if a young woman washed her face with dew she would become more beautiful.

437The turning Cresseid refers to is that of the wheel of fortune, a common image for the changing circumstances which can bring the rich and important low, and raise others to positions of power unexpectedly.

 441Records suggest that rotten food may have been sent to lepers as a matter of custom.

482Lepers were allowed to beg within certain areas of towns, but were typically forbidden to enter churches, private homes and food markets.

505-511Aristotelian psychology held that an image could be so deeply imprinted in the memory that it could deceive the senses, which perceive the outside world. Troilus remembers Cresseid because he has spent so much time thinking about her, so that he recognises her without knowing it.

575-576This is the testament spoken of in the poem’s title. Many medieval authors experimented with testamentary writing as a way of exploring the issues associated with real last wills and testaments. Because the making of a last will was often associated with a person’s final confession, fictional works on this model came to deal with moral introspection. Although Cresseid’s testament itself is brief, it has been argued that the ideas associated with this kind of writing inform the poem as a whole. See Julia Boffey, ‘Lydgate, Henryson, and the Literary Testament’, Modern Language Quarterly 53.1 (1992): 41-56.

587Traditionally, the soul was left to God, but as Cresseid is a pagan, this is not an option for her. Instead, her soul is bequeathed to Diana, the Roman goddess of chastity and protector of women, indicating a break with her luxurious past. Diana was sometimes associated with the Virgin Mary, and critical opinion is divided as to whether or not Henryson is implying that Cresseid has achieved Christian salvation. Strictly speaking, as a pagan, Cresseid is damned, but medieval belief is sometimes less certain on this point than is often assumed. Radical thinking, like that of the nominalist theologians, suggested that virtuous pagans had some claim on salvation if they did the best they could. However, even more orthodox theorists such as Bradwardine were prepared to accept that, in very exceptional circumstances, a pagan might be saved by a belief in Christ’s future incarnation. Henryson’s depiction of Cresseid’s fate is necessarily mysterious, and bears comparison with the ambiguous destiny of Troilus in Chaucer’s poem.

C. The poem

S 1

		Ane doolie sessoun to ane cairfull dyte	gloomy season; woeful composition;  (n)
		Suld correspond, and be equiualent.	Should; be in harmony with
		Richt sa it wes quhen I began to wryte
		This tragedie, the wedder richt feruent	weather; severe/wintry  (n)
	5	Quhen Aries in middis of the Lent,	(n)
		Schouris of haill can fra the North discend	Caused showers of hail to descend from the north
		That scantlie fra the cauld I micht defend.	scarcely; protect myself

S 2 

		Zit neuertheles within myne oratur	study/oratory
		I stude, quhen Titan had his bemis bricht	stood; bright beams  (n)
	10	Withdrawin doun, and sylit vnder cure	concealed; under cover
		And fair Venus the bewtie of the nicht
		Vprais, and set vnto the West full richt	ascended
		Hir goldin face in oppositioun
		Of God Phoebus direct discending doun.

S 3  

	15	Throw out the glas hir bemis brast sa fair	vwindow; burst
		That I micht se on euerie syde me by
		The Northin wind had purifyit the Air
		And sched the mistie cloudis fra the sky,	dispersed
		The froist freisit the blastis bitterly	gales became icy
	20	Fra Pole Artick come quhisling loud and schill,	Pole Star; whistling; shrill
		And causit me remufe aganis my will.	stand back [from the window]

S 4  

		For i traistit that Venus luifis Quene	vtrusted; love's
		To quhome sum tyme I hecht obedience,	some time ago I vowed obedience  (n)
		My faidit hart of lufe scho wald mak grene,
	25	And therupon with humbill reuerence,	consequently
		I thocht to pray hir hie Magnificence,	decided; high
		Bot for greit cald as than I lattit was	great cold; as before; prevented
		And in my Chalmer to the fyre can pas	chamber; went

S 5 

		Thocht lufe be hait, zit in ane man of age	Though love be hot; old age
	30	It kendillis nocht sa sone as in zoutheid,	kindles/ignites; youth
		Of quhome the blude is flowing in ane rage,
		And in the auld the curage doif and deid:	old age; sexual desire; dull; dead
		Of quhilk the fyre outward is best remeid	which; remedy
		To help be Phisike quhair that nature faillit	by medicine; failed
	35	I am expert, for baith I haue assaillit.	tried

S 6 

		I mend the fyre and beikit me about	warmed myself up
		Than tuik ane drink my spreitis to comfort	spirits
		And armit me weill fra the cauld thairout	outside
		To cut the winter nicht and mak it schort.
	40	I tuik ane Quair and left all vther sport.	took a book; diversions  (n)
		Writtin be worthie chaucer glorious	by
		Of fair Creisseid, and worthie Troylus.

S 7 

		And thair I fand efter that Diomeid	found that once  (n)
		Ressauit had that Lady bricht of hew.	Received/welcomed; bright of complexion
	45	How Troilus neir out of wit abraid,	went nearly out of [his] mind
		And weipit soir with visage paill of hew,	wept sorely with a face pale of hue
		For quhilk wanhope his teiris can renew	despair
		Quhill Esperus reioisit him agane	Until hope gladdened
		Thus quhyle in Joy he leuit quhyle in pane.	now; lived; pain
		Louers be war and tak gude heid about

S 8 

	50	Of hir behest he had greit comforting	promise; comfort
		Traisting to Troy that scho suld mak retour,	Trusting; return
		Quhilk he desyrit maist of eirdly thing	earthly
		For quhy scho was his only Paramour,	Because; lover/mistress
		Bot quhen he saw passit baith day and hour
	55	Of hir ganecome, than sorrow can oppres	return
		His wofull hart in cair and heuines.	distress

S 9 

		Of his distres me neidis nocht reheirs,	I need not retell
		For worthie Chauceir in the samin buik	same/aforementioned book
		In gudelie termis, and in Ioly veirs	fine verse
	60	Compylit hes his cairis, quha will luik.	Compiled; for all who wish to read  (n)
		To brek my sleip ane vther quair I tuik,	put off; a second book
		In quhilk I fand the fatall destenie
		Of fair Cresseid, that endit wretchitlie.

S 10 

		Quha wait gif all that Chauceir wrait was trew	knows if  (n)
	65	Nor I wait nocht gif this narratioun	know; narrative
		Be authoreist or fenzeit of the new	authoritative; newly composed
		Be sum Poeit, throw his inuentioun	(n)
		Maid to report the Lamentatioun
		And wofull end of this lustie Creisseid,	luisty/beautiful
	70	And quhat distres scho thoillit, and quhat deid.	suffered/endure; what kind of death