Christmas Carols and Their Stories
Puzzle 28 · Collectors and the Carol Revival · Page 46 in print
Good King Wenceslas
Three years after Wenceslas was killed, his brother Boleslaw, having repented, had his remains moved to the Church of St. Vitus in Prague. His feast is kept on September 28.
Jump to a word
The words
Bohemia
The land the historical Wenceslas ruled as duke and patron saint.
Boleslaw
Wenceslas’s brother, who had him murdered in 935.
Duke
Wenceslas’s actual rank as ruler of Bohemia.
Footsteps
The king’s footprints in which the page treads.
Internet Archive: The Oxford Book of Carols (opens a new tab)
Ludmilla
Wenceslas’s grandmother, who gave him a Christian education.
Martyr
The title the Church gives Wenceslas after his murder.
Monarch
The carol’s word for the king as he sets out with his page.
Internet Archive: The Oxford Book of Carols (opens a new tab)
Page
The king’s young servant who walks with him in the carol.
Internet Archive: The Oxford Book of Carols (opens a new tab)
Pine Logs
The fuel the king and page carry to the poor man.
Internet Archive: The Oxford Book of Carols (opens a new tab)
Prague
The city whose Church of St Vitus received Wenceslas’s remains.
Spring Carol
The original character of the tune, a song for spring.
Internet Archive: The Oxford Book of Carols (opens a new tab)
St Stephen
The saint of 26 December, the feast on which the carol is set.
Internet Archive: The Oxford Book of Carols (opens a new tab)
St Vitus
The Prague church to which Wenceslas’s remains were moved.
Tempus Adest
Tempus adest floridum, the spring carol tune Neale used.
Internet Archive: The Oxford Book of Carols (opens a new tab)
Winter Fuel
What the poor man is gathering in the carol’s first verse.
Hymnary.org: Good King Wenceslas Looked Out (opens a new tab)
Sources
- The Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 15 (1912), ‘St. Wenceslaus’ by F. Mershman; New Advent transcriptionNew Advent
- The Oxford Book of Carols : Percy Dearmer, R. Vaughan Williams, Martin ShawThe Oxford Book of Carols, ed. Dearmer, Vaughan Williams and Shaw (Oxford University Press, 1928); Internet Archive scan (preface and notes)
- Good King Wenceslas Looked Out (text)Hymnary.org text record ‘Good King Wenceslas’