Selden Carol Book


The Selden Carol Book is a medieval carol manuscript held by the Bodleian Library in Oxford. Along with the Trinity Carol Roll, with which it shares five contemporaneous carols and texts, it is one of the main sources for 15th century English carols, and like the Trinity Roll contains the music as the well as the texts. The inclusion of Deo Gracias Anglia referencing Henry V's victory at Agincourt in 1415 gives an indication of the date of composition of the carols.

Origin

The manuscript was part of the extensive bequest of the English jurist, polymath and antiquarian John Selden. Prior to his ownership, it is recorded in the collection of Bishop John Alcock who was Bishop of Worcester and later Ely. B.26 contains five unrelated manuscripts which were bound together into a single volume about 1660; the musical section of the manuscript of 31 leaves known as the Selden Carol Book dates from the second quarter of the fifteenth century and contains songs and polyphony in Latin and Middle English, with some of the carols alternating between the two, a common form for carols of the period known as macaronic..
Dr Richard L Greene in The Early English Carols and Thomas Gibson Duncan in A Companion to the Middle English Lyric associate the book with the priory at Worcester, now Worcester Cathedral. Greene states that Worcester was "a house where there was much carolling" and accounts for Christmas entertainments suggest new songs and carols introduced by visitors were written down for future performance, with the prior employing a scribe to perform this task on Christmas Day. Census-Catalogue of Manuscript Sources of Polyphonic Music 1400-1550 also suggests Worcester, but adds that it may have been copied there for St. Mary Newarke College, a now-lost collegiate church in Leicester.

Description

The Census-Catalogue of Manuscript Sources of Polyphonic Music 1400-1550 estimates that the work was copied by two main scribes with additional material copied by eight to ten additional hands. Timothy Glover concludes that while it was created at a monastery, the two secular drinking songs at the end of the manuscript suggests it was unlikely to have been used in a liturgical setting. In addition, the elaborate Initials and line space decoration would suggest it was not used for performance purposes.
The carols are noted in mensural notation on staves. The beginning of each song is marked by decorative initials in blue ink with red adornments. The text is handwritten in the Cursiva Anglicana script of the period, a form of writing initially used for letters and legal documents which soon became the most commonly used script for copying English literary texts of the period, for example the manuscripts of Geoffrey Chaucer and William Langland. The 'burdens', a type of refrain performed at the beginning of the song and between verses, are the earliest example of a carol manuscript explicitly directing what it now known as a 'chorus'. The incorporation of Latin phrases from the liturgy of the Catholic Church feature in many of the burdens – as all church services were conducted in Latin, even non-speakers would have been familiar with their meaning.

Contents

There are thirty carols and songs with music in the manuscript, plus a few marginalia fragments.
NumberFirst lineBurdenNotes
1Holy Writ sayeth which no thing is sootherI pray yow all wyth o thowght / Amende me and peyre me nowght
2Exortum est in love and lissNowel syng we bothe al and som / Now Rex Pacificus ys ycomeChristmas carol
3Man have in mind how here beforeMan assay assay assay / and aske mercy quyls þat þu may
4Good day Sir Christmas our King / for every manGo day go day / My lord syre cristemasse go dayChristmas carol
5This rose is railed on a riseOff a rose synge we / Misterium mirabileMarian song
6Now well may me mirths makeLetabundus exultet fidelys chorus AlleluiaMacaronic Christmas carol
7Holy Maiden blessed Thou be / Gods son is born of TheeSynge we to this mery cumpane / Regina celi letareMarian song
8As I lay upon a nightNow syng we all in fere / Alma redemptoris materCarol of the Annunciation
9Worship be the birth of theeAve domina / Celi reginaMacaronic carol of the Nativity
10Out of your sleep arise and wakeNowel nowel nowel nowel nowel nowelChristmas carol
11A patre unigenitusMake we ioye nowe in this fest / In quo Cristus natus est / EyaMacaronic carol of the Nativity
12A babe is born of high nature / The Prince of peaceQwat tydynges bryngyst þu massager / Of cristys berthe þis ȝolys dayA New Year carol
13Our king went forth to NormandyDeo gracias Anglia / Redde pro victoriaThe Agincourt Carol
14As I lay upon a nightA song of the Virgin Mary and Joseph
15I-blessed be Christs sondeThe Merthe of alle þis londe / maketh þe gode husbonde / wiþ eringe of his plowePrayer for a good harvest
16Glad and blithe mote ye beA macaronic Nativity song
17A new work is come on handAlleluyaCarol of the Nativity
18The holy ghost is to thee sentHayl mary ful of grace / Moder in virginiteAnnunciation carol
19Hail blessed Lady which has born / God SonMarian hymn
20This is the song that ye shall hearAn heuenly songe y dare wel say / Is sunge in erthe to man this dayNativity carol
21Lo Moses bush shining unbrentHayl godys sone in trinite / Te secund in diuinite / Thy moder is a mayMarian hymn
22Fetys bel chere / Drink to thy fereMacaronic drinking song in Latin, English, and French
23Thou holy daughter of SionNouus sol de virgine / Reluxit nobis hodieCarol to the Virgin Mary
24Hail blessed Flower of virginityAve MariaCarol to the Virgin Mary
25In Bethlehem this bird of lifeNowel nowel nowel / To vs is born owr god emanuelChristmas carol
26A song to sing I have good rightLaus, honor, virtus, gloria / Et tibi decus MariaMacaronic Nativity carol
27That lord that lay in an ass stallIblessid be þat lord in mageste / Qui natus fuit hodieChristmas carol
28This world wondereth of all thingVeni redemptor gencium / veni redemptor genciumCarol of the Incarnation
29Abide I hope it be the bestAbyde Y hope hit be the beste / Sith hasty man lakked neuer wooMoral song
30Tapster fill another aleDrinking catch for three voices
31Welcome be ye when ye goSatirical verses about a woman "his mistress"
32If thou flee idlenessOuidius de remedio amoris