IF CAROLE TEXTS represent only a part of what was primarily an oral tradition, equally there are caroles which replicate that tradition but were always and only ever part of a clerical written tradition. Conventional “categories” of secular caroles are deployed by anthologists and commentators which we can apply to consider what themes and styles might have been widespread in the oral or improvised repertoire. We will take Kathleen Palti’s work on London, British Library, MS Sloane 2593 and its concordances, as a departure point in exploring the relationship between the secular clerical caroles in this and other manuscripts and that elusive and largely unwritten, culture.

It is important to recognize from the outset that themes and topics should not be taken too literally. For example, a song about Maytime might be sung all year round if it expresses universally appropriate sentiments, but a carole addressing a specific feast, such as the well-known Boar’s Head Carol, would be appropriate only for the mid-winter season. Possibly caroles attached to specific occasions were more likely to be written down, lest they were forgotten over the intervening year. On the other hand, Richard Kele’s Christmas Carolles Newely Inprynted includes songs that are not particularly Christmasy: possibly Christmas was just a particularly fruitful season for the invention of entertaining songs of all sorts, especially among clerical fraternities, for singing in halls and households. The question then arises whether the proliferation of manuscript evidence for this type of song, well suited for sedentary indoor delivery, arose from the clerical timetable, so need not reflect the balance of overall participation in carolling and dance-songs across the year. The performance of a complex narrative text depends on a good acoustic for its reception and would be less successful if the participants were dancing. Thus, the spring and summer repertoire, involving dancing outdoors, possibly remained solely in the oral repertoire. In short, winter caroles and those with complex narratives, are more likely to turn up in the manuscript record than caroles that could be sung all year round.

We have seen that secular caroles are found in predominantly religious manuscript collections and compilations.