Hail Mary only achieved its present form in the 16^th century, after the period of Middle English. This prayer is therefore not found in full in the corpus of this language. However, it developed from earlier traditions of salutations to the Holy Virgin, which are on the other hand well attested in Middle English. This version of from the Gg. 4, 32 manuscript of the Library of the University of Cambridge. The manuscript can be dated to the 14^th century, but the poetry within was perhaps composed in the 13^th.

The translation is ours, naturally adapted from the first sentence of the English version of the current prayer.

The text’s transcription rather resembles the kind of blackletter writing known as textura prescissa or sine pedibus, typified by the lack of serifs on descenders. This style appeared at the end of the 13^th century and spread much in England in the Late Middle Ages. We made use of Robert Pfeffer’s typeface Pfeffer Simpelgotisch.