Nowel syng we bothe al and som
For Innocent's Day
Words and music from the Selden B. 26, folio 7r, 15th Century.
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Nowel syng we bothe al and som
Now Rex Pacificus ys y come.
1. Exorcum est in love and lysse
Now Cryst hys grace he gan us gysse
And with hys body us bought to blysse
Bothe alle & sume.
2. De fructu ventris of Mary bryƺt
Bothe God and man in here a lyƺt
Owte of dysese he dyde us dyƺt
Bothe alle & sume.
3. Puer natus to us was sent
To blysse us bouƺt, fro bale us blent
And ellys to wo we hadde y went
Bothe alle & sume.
4. Lux fulgebit with love and lyƺt
In Mary mylde hys pynon pyƺt
In here toke kynde with manly myƺt
Bothe alle & sume.
5. Gloria tibi ay and blysse
God unto hys grace he us wysse
The rent of heven that we not mysse
Bothe alle & sume.
Notes:
Text from Selden B. 26, folio 7r, compared to and corrected from The New Oxford Book of Carols (Oxford University press, 1992), #34, pp. 98-99. The editors noted that the Latin tags are from liturgies on Christmas Day. The thumbnail below is a link to the full-sized image of folio 7r, Selden B 26, at the Bodleian Library. The Bodleian prohibits reproduction of folio images on web pages such as these. Both links open in a new window at an external site.
http://image.ox.ac.uk/images/bodleian/msarchseldenb26/7r.jpg
This carol is said to be reproduced in Sir John Stainer, ed., Early Bodleian Music. Sacred and Secular Songs together with other MS. Compositions in the Bodleian Library, Oxford : ranging from about a.d. 1185 to about a.d. 1505. With an Introduction by E. W. B. Nicholson, and Transcriptions into Modern Musical Notation by J. F. R. Stainer and C. Stainer. Volume Two of Two volumes (vol. 1, facsimiles, vol. 2, transcriptions), 1901, p. 104 (facsimile, i. plate XLV).
Editor's Note:
The popularity of this carol can be seen by its appearance in an unusually large number of 15th century manuscripts including
Trinity College Library, O. 3. 58. (James, No. 1230)
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Nowel Sing We Now All And Sum (Chambers & Sidgwick)
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In Bethl'em In That Fair City (Fuller Maitland, pp. 12-13 and 40-41)
Balliol 354, Richard Hill's Common-place Book, Balliol College, Oxford
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In Bethlehem, In That Fair City (Rickert, pp. 183-4)
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To blis God bryng us all and sum (Flugel in Anglia XXVI)
Eng. Poet. e. 1., Bodleian Library, Oxford
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In Bedlem, That Fayer Cyte (Wright)
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In Bethlehem, That Fair City (Rickert, p. 50)
MS. Ee. 1. 12., f. 1.r., Cambridge University Library
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In Bethlehem, That Fayre Cite-ee.1.12 (Greene, The Early English Carols, #21D)
Selden B. 26, Bodleian Library, Oxford
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