e 1250.
I give an extract.

The kinges hem wenten and hi seghen the sterre thet yede bifore hem,
alwat hi kam over tho huse war ure loverd was; and alswo hi hedden
i-fonden ure loverd, swo hin an-urede, and him offrede hire
offrendes, gold, and stor, and mirre. Tho nicht efter thet aperede
an ongel of hevene in here slepe ine metinge, and hem seide and het,
thet hi ne solde ayen wende be herodes, ac be an other weye wende
into hire londes.

That is:

The kings went (them), and they saw the star that went before them
until it came over the house where our Lord was; and as-soon-as they
had found our Lord, so (they) honoured him, and offered him their
offerings, gold, and frankincense, and myrrh. The night after that
(there) appeared an angel from heaven in their sleep, in a dream,
and said to-them and commanded, that they should not wend again
near Herod, but by another way wend to their lands.

In the days of Edward II (1307-27) flourished William of Shoreham,
named from Shoreham (Kent), near Otford and Sevenoaks, who was
appointed vicar of Chart-Sutton in 1320. He translated the Psalter
into English prose, and wrote some religious poems, chiefly relating
to church-services, which were edited by T. Wright for the Percy
Society in 1849. His poem "On Baptism" is printed in _Specimens of
Early English_, Part II. I give an extract:

In water ich wel the cristny her{1}
As Gode him-self hyt dight{e}{2};
For mide to wessch{e}{3} nis{4} nothynge
That man cometh to so light{e}{5}
In lond{e}{6};
Nis non that habben hit ne may{7}
That habbe hit wil{e} found{e}{8}.

This bethe{9} the word{e}s of cristning
By thyse Engl{'i}ssch{e} cost{e}s{10}--
"Ich{11} cristni the{12} ine the Vader{13} name
And Sone and Holy Gostes"--
And more,
"Amen!" wane hit{14} is ised{15} thertoe,
Confermeth thet ther-to-fore{16}.

{Footnotes:
1: _I desire thee to christen here_
2: _ordaine it_
3: _to wash with_
4: _is not_
5: _easily_
6: _in (the) land_
7: _there is noe that may not have it_
8: _that will try to have it_
9: _these are_
10: _coasts, regions_
11: _I_
12: _thee_
13: _Father's_
14: _when it_
15: _said_
16: _that which precedes_ }

In the year 1340, Dan Michel of Northgate (Kent) translated into
English a French treatise on Vices and Virtues, under the title _The
Ayenbite of Inwyt_,