This electronic thesis or dissertation has been downloaded from Explore Bristol Research, http://research-information.bristol.ac.uk Author: Eustace, Frances Title: Insular Secular Carolling in the Late Middle Ages General rights Access to the thesis is subject to the Creative Commons Attribution - NonCommercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International Public License. A copy of this may be found at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode This license sets out your rights and the restrictions that apply to your access to the thesis so it is important you read this before proceeding. Take down policy Some pages of this thesis may have been removed for copyright restrictions prior to having it been deposited in Explore Bristol Research. However, if you have discovered material within the thesis that you consider to be unlawful e.g. breaches of copyright (either yours or that of a third party) or any other law, including but not limited to those relating to patent, trademark, confidentiality, data protection, obscenity, defamation, libel, then please contact [email protected] and include the following information in your message: •Your contact details •Bibliographic details for the item, including a URL •An outline nature of the complaint Your claim will be investigated and, where appropriate, the item in question will be removed from public view as soon as possible. Insular Secular Carolling in the Late Middle Ages Frances Mary Eustace A dissertation submitted to the University of Bristol in accordance with the requirements for award of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Arts, Department of Music. April 2018 Word count 69,935 i Abstract This study shows the importance of carolling in the celebrations and festivities of medieval Britain and demonstrates its longevity from the eleventh century to the sixteenth. It illustrates the flexibility of the English carole form for adaptation to include content in high and low registers and its suitability for use on all occasions and by different communal peer groups. It also shows that the carole was part of a developmental trajectory that was not totally subsumed by the dominance, from the sixteenth century onwards, of the religious, composed, polyphonic carol and the subsequent use of the name to denote a specifically Christian Christmas hymn. Although the vast majority of extant texts in carol form, from the late medieval period, are religious in subject content, secular carolling was far more prevalent than the textual record implies. The dance-song elements of the medieval carole were so strongly woven into the vernacular cultural fabric of the British Isles that their threads can be traced through the folk-songs and dances of subsequent centuries. This study contextualises the written evidence and re-integrates the various components of the activity in order to illuminate our understanding of the universally popular medieval, participatory, pastime of carolling. ii Acknowledgements I wish to thank Professor Pamela King, who encouraged me to start this study and supervised it at the beginning, Professor Emma Hornby who took over and saw me through, and Dr Leah Tether who injected much needed enthusiasm towards the end. I also thank Professor Christopher Page who generously gave me his research reference notes in a private email and assured me that he was happy for me to make use of them as his own studies had developed new fields of interest. I also thank my husband, Malcolm Shepherd, who, being a blacksmith, understands little of my work but, being a passionate artist, understands the dedication involved. iii Author’s Declaration I declare that the work in this dissertation was carried out in accordance with the requirements of the University’s Regulations and Code of Practice for Research Degree Programmes and that it has not been submitted for any other academic award. Except where indicated by specific reference in the text, the work is the candidate’s own work. Work done in collaboration with, or with the assistance of, others, is indicated as such. Any views expressed in the dissertation are those of the author. SIGNED: ………………………………………………… DATE: ……………… iv Table of Contents Introduction 1 Chapter One Carolling and dance-song in the context of a primarily oral culture Introduction 8 1:1 The existence of carolling prior to its appearance in romance literature in the late twelfth century 9 1:2. Stonehenge called the Giants’ Carole in Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia Regum Britanniae, Robert Wace’s Roman de Brut and Layamon’s Brut 14 1:3 The birth of romance literature and the inclusion of courtly scenes of carolling, both festive and magical, in the genre 20 1:4. From Ritual to Recreation 23 1:5 The co-existence of oral and written cultures 25 1:6 The missing music notation 28 Chapter Two Courtly Carolling: contexts and practices Introduction 30 2:1. Francophile courtly culture and literary romance 30 2:2. When and why did carolling take place within the courtly society of late medieval England? 33 2:2:1. Carolling for Love 34 2:2:2. Carolling at weddings and formal occasions for entertainment and not just for love 36 2:2:3. Carolling on Holydays and seasonal festivals 39 2:3. Accounts of spontaneous celebratory carolling 41 2:3:1. Carolling to pass the time, at any time 42 2:3:2. William Marshal at the tournament at Joigny in 1180. 43 2:3:3. Carolling as a weapon of war. 46 2:4. How was courtly carolling done? 48 2:4:1. The Music. 48 v 2:4:2. Information about the choreography 50 2:4:3. Caroles in sequence 54 2:4:4. Taking Hands 57 2:4:5. Footwork 59 2:4:6. Instrumental accompaniment 61 Chapter 3: The Church, carolling and the emergence of the English Franciscan carole writers of the 14th and 15th centuries. Introduction. 67 3:1. Opinions about carolling from the time of Bede (c.731) to the Fourth Lateran Council of 1215. 68 3:2. The Fourth Lateran Council and the foundation of the mendicant orders. 71 3:3. Conflicting responses to carolling by some University Dominican theologians: Peyraut OP, Albertus Magnus OP. 72 3:4. The Order of Friars Minor, also known as Franciscans. 75 3:5. The need for the education of members of the preaching orders and the establishment in England of Franciscan Schools. 77 3:6. The English response to Lateran IV. 78 3:7. The effects of the reforms on parish life: Churchyard enclosures, Sunday afternoon sermons, and the difficulties of sharing public space. 79 3:7:1. Churchyards. 80 3:7:2. Sunday afternoons 84 3:8. Insular Franciscans and the development of the vernacular Middle English religious carole in the 14th and 15th centuries. 85 3:9. Franciscan vernacular religious song. 87 3:10. Latin contrafacta and The Red Book of Ossory. 89 Chapter Four: Carole texts in Context: the manuscripts. Introduction 95 4:1. Cambridge, St John’s College, MS S.54. 98 4:2. Cambridge, Gonville and Caius Library, MS 383/603. 106 4:3. London, British Library, MS Sloane 2593. 116 4:4. Cambridge University Library MS Ee. 1. 12 122 vi Chapter Five: Carole texts as witnesses to carolling practice Introduction 125 5:1. The Boar’s Head Carol 127 5:2. Other festive caroles involving eating and drinking 135 5:3. Caroles about the natural world: Holly and Ivy 139 5:4. May or midsummer caroles or other natural world themes 146 5:5. Caroles about Women, love and marriage, or the bachelor life 147 5:6. Goliardic and bawdy carolling in an all-male environment 153 5:7. Political caroles 163 5: 8 Nonsense caroles 167 Chapter 6: ‘Survivances’ of carolling in folk culture. Introduction 172 6:1. Developments in courtly and clerical dance practice in the sixteenth century 175 6:1:1. The earliest notated ring-dances: Arbeau’s Branles 178 6:1:2 Various characteristics of Branles 182 6:2.1. Melodic and rhythmic style of monophonic carole tunes 184 6:2:2 Thomas Ravenscroft’s Country Humours 189 6:3 John Playford’s The English Dancing Master (1650/51): some background to its publication 195 6:3:1. Circle-dances in The English Dancing Master 196 6:4. Traces of carolling in two children’s circle game-songs 198 6:5.1. The English folk song and dance collectors at the turn of the20th century 201 6:5:2. Case studies of two folksongs that show possible carolling ancestry, recorded in the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library. 203 6:6. My pastiche setting of The Friar and the Nun 211 Conclusion 217 Appendices 1. Prendés i garde 219 vii 2. Rybbe ne rele 219 3. Ladd y the daunce 221 4. The fals fox 223 5. Three Ravens 225 6. Three Country Dances 227 Bibliography 229 Illustrations Fig.1:1. London, British Library, MS Royal 20 D IV f. 237v. 24 Fig. 2:1. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Douce 195, fol. 7r. 52 Fig. 2:2. London, British Library, MS Royal 20 A. XVII, fol. 9. 52 Fig. 2:3. London, British Library, MS Stowe 947, fol.7. 53 Fig. 2:4 London, British Library, MS Yates Thompson 21, fol.11. 59 Fig. 4:1. MS St John’s, S.54 Quadrifolium (fols. 5v, 6r, 9v & 10r). 100 Fig. 4:2. MS St John’s S.54 fol.2v. 101 Fig. 4:3. MS St John’s S.54, fol.2v. 103 Fig. 4:4. MS St John’s S.54, fol. 3v. 104 Fig. 4:5. G. & C., MS 383/603 p. 41. 109 Fig. 4:6.