The Carol Manuscripts

The words

Chambers and Sidgwick, Early English Lyrics (opens a new tab)

1. Agincourt

   The battle celebrated by a song in the Selden and Trinity manuscripts.

2. Audelay

   John Audelay, blind chaplain whose book of about 1426 holds twenty-six carols.

   Greene, The Early English Carols (opens a new tab) · Chambers and Sidgwick, Early English Lyrics (opens a new tab)

3. Balliol

   The Oxford college that keeps Richard Hill’s commonplace book.

4. Bodleian

   The Oxford library that keeps Douce 302 and Selden B. 26.

   Greene, The Early English Carols (opens a new tab) · Chambers and Sidgwick, Early English Lyrics (opens a new tab)

5. Chaplain

   John Audelay’s calling at Haughmond.

6. Haughmond

   The Shropshire abbey where John Audelay served as chaplain.

7. James Ryman

   Franciscan friar who compiled a large carol collection about 1494.

8. John Dunstable

   Composer of a tune in the Selden carol book.

9. Minstrel

   A professional singer; Sloane 2593 may be a minstrel’s song-book.

10. Parchment Roll

    The Trinity College roll of carols, over six feet long.

11. Richard Hill

    London tradesman who copied carols into his commonplace book about 1524.

12. Selden

    Selden B. 26, a Bodleian carol book with music of about 1450.

13. Shropshire

    The county where Audelay wrote his carols.

14. Sloane

    Sloane MS 2593, a British Museum book of seventy-four songs and carols.

15. Thomas Wright

    The editor who printed the Sloane carol manuscript in 1856.