Lully, Lulla (Coventry Carol)
Lully, Lulla (The Coventry Carol) (NOBC 40) We are lucky still to have this carol, which was probably composed in the 16th century but then disappeared for over two centuries before its publication by an antiquarian in 1825. It never underwent any folk transmission and only appeared in carol books in 1878 in the Bramley & Stainer Christmas Carols New and Old (Third Series).1 It is certainly enjoyed today by folk artists, but it should be considered a composed carol (if belatedly).
It is one of only two songs that survive from the medieval mystery play cycle at Coventry; they were both in the Pageant of the Shearmen and Tailors.2 Mystery Plays were performed across medieval Europe from the 11th century onwards (from the early 14th century in England), presenting stories from the Bible to inform the largely illiterate people. The plays were organised by craft guilds, the actors using local dialects and sometimes earthy humour. They were performed either on fixed stages or on pageant wagons, particularly (after 1264) as part of the Corpus Christi festival3 sixty days after Easter.
Fortunately, the play’s script was copied in 1534 by Robert Croo4 and then the music of the Lully, lulla song (in three-part harmony) was added by Thomas Mawdycke5 in 1591. It is considered doubtful that Mawdycke actually composed the song himself. Robert Croo’s manuscript was unfortunately destroyed in a fire at Birmingham Free Library in 1879, but a copy had been made earlier by antiquarian Thomas Sharp,6 who published Croo’s script and Mawdycke’s music in his snappily titled book Dissertations on the Pageants or Dramatic Mysteries Anciently Performed at Coventry (Coventry: Merridew & Son 1825). This is online on the Internet Archive platform and the ‘Coventry Carol’ (as it came to be called) is viewable there (pp113-117).
The song (a lullaby) is sung in the play by the mothers of Bethlehem7 to quieten their children lest the soldiers of King Herod discover them and slaughter them (the Massacre of the Innocents: Matthew 2:16-18).8 It is entirely appropriate to sing this song at Christmas time, as the Feast of the Holy Innocents is on 28 December.
1Bramley & Stainer: Carol 61 p148, a rather stilted arrangement in strict 3/4 time with added Alto track but lacking the lilt (dotted notes) and time signature shifts of the original score.
2The other survivor is As I rode out this enderes night (NOBC 41). The Shearmen (cloth-cutters) and Tailors were the craft guild who sponsored the play.
3The catholic doctrine of transubstantiation (the real presence of Christ’s body and blood in the bread and wine of the Eucharist) was formulated in 1215 AD and fostered festivals and processions at the Feast of Corpus Christi 60 days after Easter (i.e in summertime). The doctrine was rejected by Protestant Reformers in England in 1563 and the mystery plays at Coventry, York and Chester all ceased within fifteen years.
4Robert Croo was from Coventry and was a manager of the pageants and plays there.
5Mawdycke was an archivist and a transcriber; the manuscript he edited is in the British Library.
6Thomas Sharp (1770-1841) was a scholar and a businessman living in Coventry.
7Women were often portrayed by men on the medieval stage and the song is scored for a treble, a tenor and a bass, so we can’t be sure how this dramatic scene was actually delivered.
8Herod the Great ruled Judaea from 37BC to 4 BC. Jealous at the thought of a rival ‘King’ having been born in Bethlehem, he ordered all male infants under the age of 2 to be slain there.