To Thee Now, Christ's Dear Darling

For St. John the Evangelist

Words: English Traditional, Before 1529, from Balliol Ms. 354

Source: Edith Rickert, Ancient English Christmas Carols: 1400-1700 (London: Chatto & Windus, 1914), p. 126.

Compare: To the now, Crystys der derlyng - Thomas Wright

Pray for us to the Prince of peace,
Amice Christi, Johannes¹

1. To thee now, Christ's dear darling,
That wert maiden² both old and ying,
My heart is set a song to sing,
    Amice Christi, Johannes.

2. For thou wert so clean a maid,
The secrets of heaven were to thee said
When on Christ's breast thou wert laid,
    Amice Christi, Johannes.

3. When Christ before Pilate was brought,
Thou, clean of heart, forsook Him nought,
To die with Him was all thy thought,
    Amice Christi, Johannes.

4. Christ's mother thou tookest home with thee
Maiden, a maiden's friend to be,
Thou be our help, we pray to thee,
    Amice Christi, Johannes.

Notes from Rickert:

1. In another version the third person is used throughout. Return

2. Bachelor. Return

Editor's Note: The feast day of St. John, Apostle and Evangelist, occurs on December 27, within the traditional 12 days of Christmas. For more information, see Hymns To St. John The Evangelist.

J. A. Fuller Maitland, English Carols of the Fifteenth Century. London: The Leadenhall Press, E.C., ca. 1891, XII.

Carol in Original Form From a 15th Century Manuscript

Carol in Modern Form

This remarkable carol occurs in at least six manuscripts, among the largest number of manuscripts that any carol is represented in. This version, of course, is from the Richard Hill Common-place Book, Balliol Ms. 354. The full list of manuscripts, according to DIMEV, To thee now Christs dear darling, plus versions found on this website, is:

1. Oxford, Bodleian Library Eng. poet. e.1 (SC 29734), f. 40

• Wright, Thomas, ed. Songs and Carols from a manuscript…of the Fifteenth Century. Percy Society 23. (London: Richards, 1847), To the now, Crystys der derlyng, p. 60.

2. Oxford, Balliol College Ms. 354

• Ewald Flügel, “Liedersammlungen des XVI Jahrhunderts, Besonders Aus Der Zeit Heinrichs VIII. III. 6. Die lieder des Balliol Ms. 354,” in Eugen Einenkel, ed., Anglia - Zeitschrift für englische Philologie enthaltend Beitrage zur Geschlicht der englischen Sprache und Literatur. Band XXVI. (Halle: Max Niemeyer, 1903), To Ye Now Crystes Own Derlyng, p. 237.

• Mary Gertrude Segar, ed., A Mediaeval Anthology. (London, NY: Longmans, Green, 1915), To Christ's Own Darling, p. 103.

• Edith Rickert, ed., Ancient English Christmas Carols. (London: Chatto & Windus, 1910), To Thee Now, Christ's Dear Darling, p. 126.

• Jessie L. Weston, ed., Old English Carols from the Hill MS., Balliol College MS. 354. Translated by Jessie L. Weston. (London: David Nutt, 1911), Carol # XXIII, To Thee Who Wast Christ's Own Darling, p. 42.

3. Cambridge UK, Trinity College O.3.58 (1230)

• Fuller-Maitland, John Alexander, and William Smyth Rockstro. English Carols of the Fifteenth Century. (London: Leadenhall Press; New York: Scribner’s, 1891), To The Now Cristis Dere Derlyng, pp. 24-25, and To Thee Now, Christës Dear Darling, pp. 52-53.

4. London, British Library Addit. 5665, ff. 37v-38

• Bernhard Fehr, “Die Lieder der Hs. Add. 5665 (Ritson’s Folio-MS).” Archiv für das Studium der neueren Sprachen und Literaturen 106 (1901), To The Now Cristes Derlyng, p. 273. Also found in Roman Dyboski, ed. Songs, Carols and Other Miscellaneous Poems from the Balliol MS. 354, Richard Hill’s Commonplace Book. Early English Text Society Extra Series No. CI (London: Published for the Early English Text Society by Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co., Ltd., 1907, issued in 1908), p. 172.

5. London, British Library Addit. 5665, ff. 48v-49

• Bernhard Fehr, “Die Lieder der Hs. Add. 5665 (Ritson’s Folio-MS).” Archiv für das Studium der neueren Sprachen und Literaturen 106 (1901), To The Now Cristes Derlyng, p. 273, note. Also found in Roman Dyboski, ed. Songs, Carols and Other Miscellaneous Poems from the Balliol MS. 354, Richard Hill’s Commonplace Book. Early English Text Society Extra Series No. CI (London: Published for the Early English Text Society by Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co., Ltd., 1907, issued in 1908), p. 172.

6. London, British Library Harley 4294, f. 81v1

• Greene, Richard Leighton. The Early English Carols. (Oxford: Clarendon, 1935; 2nd ed., rev., Oxford: Clarendon, 1977), pp. 66-7; 1977, 56, with five stanzas, together with versions from other manuscripts.

There are additional versions from these manuscripts in volumes that are under copyright.

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