En glish literary theory; Daemonologie (1597) covers the
occult; Basilikon Doron (1599) and The True Law of Free
Monarchies (1598) articulate his theories of kingship.
Involvement in contemporary theological culture and
political debates was a hallmark of James’s intellectual
acuity throughout his tenure as monarch.
See also “SONNET ON TICHO BRAHE, A.”
FURTHER READING
Croft, Pauline. King James. New York: Palgrave, 2003.
Stewart, Alan. The Cradle King: The Life of James VI & I, the
First Monarch of a United Great Britain. New York: St.
Martin’s, 2003.
Willson, David Harris. King James VI and I. London: Jona-
than Cape, 1956.
Mardy Philippian, Jr.
“JESUS, MY SWEET LOVER” ANONYMOUS
(14th century) Though short, the lyric “Jesus, My
Sweet Lover” is powerful. Through its devotion to Jesus
and his “woundes two and three” (l. 4), the poem reads
much like a prayer, and its religious signifi cance is
clear: The poem is directed to Jesus in order to have his
love “fi xed” in the narrator’s “herte.” Christ’s death (ll.
2/8) is mentioned twice, once in the beginning and
once at the end, creating a frame, and the fi ve wounds
that Christ suffered are mentioned within the body of
the poem, as they were infl icted upon his body. These
wounds evoke violent images of Christ’s crucifi ed body
on the “Rode Tree” which are then linked to the
beseeched (l. 3) (though gentle and loving) piercing of
the narrator’s own heart, where love is to be held fast.
Simple on its surface level, the poem has intriguing
secular undertones. MIDDLE ENGLISH LYRICS AND BALLADS
frequently explored the parallelism between sacred
and secular, erotic love, a tradition based on the vocab-
ulary of love found in the Song of Songs (Song of Solo-
mon in the Bible). In particular, the symptoms of
LOVESICKNESS described in the biblical song became a
prime source of material for COURTLY LOVE as well as
mystical love. Moreover, medieval theology interpreted
the Bride in the Song of Songs as an ALLEGORY of the
soul’s desire for God, who was the absent beloved.
Situated in this context, this title “Jesus, My Sweet
Lover” manifests the language of both sacred and secu-
lar love. Like many of the secular lyrics whose narra-
tors address their lady, this piece is a direct address to
“Iesu.” Unlike the beloved in other lyrics, Christ is not
a cruel lover who allows the lovesick to wither away
and die from unfulfi lled love. Jesus is the narrator’s
sweet lover, who has already proved his devotion
through the fi ve wounds suffered on the cross.
Although a tender invocation to Jesus and a desire
for love, this poem is also mixed with violent images of
Christ’s death, which are portrayed in language similar
to descriptions of courtly love. Courtly love was
thought to pierce the eyes through Cupid’s arrow and
then enter the heart. Here, however, love pierces not
the lover’s eyes but rather his heart, directly. The nar-
rator emphasizes the sacred using the language of the
secular: Pierce my heart with love, as your “herte” was
pierced at the crucifi xion. The effect is to link the nar-
rator, now a lover, so fi rmly with Christ, that Jesus can
be called a “lemmon swete” “sweet beloved” (l. 1), who
is clearly unlike the unmoved beloved women in secu-
lar lyrics such as “ALISOUN” and “Spring.”
FURTHER READING
Brook, G. L. The Harley Lyrics: Old and Middle English MS.- 4th ed. Manchester, U.K.: Manchester University
Press, 1968.
Gray, Douglas. Themes and Images in the Medieval English
Religious Lyric. London: Routledge, 1972.
James M. Palmer
“JOLLY JANKYN” ANONYMOUS (ca. 1450)
Recounting the tale of a clerical seduction, this anony-
mous medieval CAROL is written in a woman’s voice and
is remarkably light in tone, despite its rather serious
conclusion—an unwanted pregnancy. The cleric—
probably a priest—is named Jankyn, and the unfortu-
nate, seduced woman is presumably called Alisoun. The
poem recounts how Alisoun fi rst notices Jankyn at
Christmas mass, and although the details of her seduc-
tion are sparse, the poem follows the course of the
mass, during which Alisoun becomes more and more
attracted to Jankyn. The cleric has an especially fi ne
voice, which he displays when marching in procession,
reading the epistle, and singing a particularly elaborate
melody for the Sanctus, a key part of the mass. The
only direct indication in the poem that Jankyn notices
Alisoun is that in the second-to-last STANZA, he winks“JOLLY JANKYN” 231