Welcū ȝole In Good Array
For Christmas
Words: Attributed to John Audelay
Douce MS. 302, 15th Century
William Sandys, Christmas-tide, Its History, Festivities and Carols, With Their Music (London: John Russell Smith, 1852), pp. 218-9.
This carol requires the installation of the "Junicode" font for best display. You can obtain a copy of this font from Old English at the University of Virginia, or right click here, and then select "Save File As" to save a copy of the zipped file to your computer. See notes in F A Q.
Welcū ȝole in good array,
In worship of þe holiday,
Welcū be þu heue kyng,
Welcū þu born i on mornyng,
Welcū to þe now wil we syng,
Welcū ȝole for eur and ay,
Welcū be þu mare myld,
Welcū be þu and þi child,
Welcū fro þe fynd þu as schilde,
Welcū ȝole for eur and ay,
Welcū be ȝe steuë and ione,
Welcū childrn eūechone,
Welcū thomas, martyr, all on,
Welcū ȝole for eur and aye,
Welcū be þu good newyere,
Welcū þe xij days efere,
Welcū be ye all þt bene here,
Welcū ȝole for ewr and aye,
Welcū be ȝe lord and lady,
Welcū be ȝe all þis cūpane,
Ffore ȝolis love makis mere,
Welcū ȝole fore ewr and aye.
Copies of this carol on this web site:
Wolcum Be Thu, Hevene Kyng (Ritson, Ancient Songs, 1790)
Wolcu zol thu mery ma (Wolcū be þu heuene kyng; William Sandys, 1833)
Wolcum be thu, hevene kyng; Thomas Wright, 1841)
Welcū Yole In Good Array (Welcū be þu heue kyng; William Sandys, 1852) (this page)
Wolcum, Yole, Thou Mery Man (Wolcum be thou, hevene king; Chambers & Sidgwick, 1907)
Welcome Yule (Welcome be thou, Heaven-King; Edith Rickert, 1910)
Welcome Yule (Welcome be thou, heaven-king; Charles L. Hutchins, 1916)
Welcum, Yole, In Glod Aray (Welcum be thou, Heven Kyng; Richard Greene, 1962)
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