Sleeve Notes

A Medieval Christmas
A celebration in songs and dances

To us in the twenty-first century winter holds no fear, we may have to service the central heating or buy a new coat but otherwise life remains much as it is through the rest of the year. However, for our medieval ancestors the privations of winter presented a real threat to survival. With the onset of winter the next growing season seemed a very long way off. This long, cold, dark time needed to be defeated. Little wonder then that a great winter festival should have flourished to banish the hardships of the season. These winter celebrations far pre-date any Christian festival. The gods that brought the cold and darkness needed to be appeased, to assure the return of fertility to the land. A major element in this ancient pagan ritual was to bring light out of darkness and see off the old year whilst celebrating the coming of the new. Track 10 Quand Je Voi, Track 18 Anni Novi Novitas.

By the fourth century AD The Church had imposed a Christian festival onto this winter pagan feast and a date, that of December 25th, was fixed on. Though The Church wanted to celebrate the birth of Christ it was ambiguous about the method of that celebration. Early Christians were warned against "feasting to excess, dancing and crowning the doors with evergreens”. As today, it seems that The Church had difficulty in getting the message of the nativity across to the people. During a time of general illiteracy this message was best conveyed through music, art and theatre. Musical plays such as The Play Of Herod dramatised The Christmas Story in such a way that at least the reasonably educated could understand. The play reaches its climax with the lament of Rachel over the slain children. Track 1 Lament Of Rachel, Track 15 Beata Progenies.

The general populous also enjoyed their own form of theatre this time performed in the vernacular. Mummers plays dramatised the simpler themes of the triumph of good over evil or light over darkness and usually featured characters such as St George, the Turkish Knight, Robin Hood and the Green Man. Closely associated with the mummers was the custom of wassailing - where a wassail bowl, filled with a warmed mixture of ale, cider, spices, sugar, raisins and apples, would be passed around by village singers as they journeyed from door to door in search of alms. The ritual culminated in the pouring of the bowl’s contents over the roots of the apple trees to ensure a good harvest in the year to come. Track 19 Wassailing, Track 22 Remember O Thou Man.

Whilst the general populous was celebrating with mumming and wassailing, medieval royalty used the Christmas season as a display of their great wealth. A feast hosted by King John in 1213 surpassed the most sumptuous of banquets. Whist his son Henry III, in 1252, entertained 1,000 knights and peers at York. The feast was so expensive that the Archbishop of York gave 600 fat oxen and a donation of £2,700. A century and a half later Richard II provided 2,000 oxen and 200 barrels of wine for the 10,000 people who dined at his expense. This was more than generosity; it was good politics, enhancing the reputation of the host at this otherwise bleak time of year. However, a much more frugal time was reported by Margaret Paston of Norfolk on Christmas Eve 1459. In a letter, she writes, "There was no disguising [acting], nor harping, luting or singing, nor any lewd sports, but just playing at the tables and chess and cards”. Track 16 The Waits, Track 26 Of All The Birds.

A custom that may seem somewhat eccentric to us, was that of electing a "Boy Bishop” in cathedrals during the thirteenth Century. The selected boy would be appointed as bishop for the Christmas period and performed pseudo-episcopal duties which included everything except the delivering of the mass. This custom was finally abolished in 1559. A similar custom was that of the "Lord of Misrule”. His job was to direct and arrange all Christmas entertainments; masques, processions and feasts. This tradition was particularly prevalent at the Inns of Court and the universities of Cambridge and Oxford. Track 14 Ronde, Track 28 Greensleeves.