Coventry Carol

It would be difficult to find a hymn with roots that run deeper than "Coventry Carol." The melody and lyrics are said to have originated in the songs that Bethlehem women would sing as they held their firstborn sons during King Herod's reign of terror (when he ordered the murder of all infant sons in order to ensure the death of the newborn "King of the Jews").

The melody later reemerged in Christmas pageants that were performed by the sheep shearers and tailors of Coventry, England, on the steps of the city's cathedral between 1534 and 1584. Today, "Coventry Carol" not only commemorates its sixteenth-century English roots, but also memorializes the innocent children who died due to King Herod's jealous proclamation.

This is one of many songs which relate to the Holy Innocents, whose feast day is December 28.

This tune and text are based closely on ones found in a 16th century source. The carol possibly goes back still further to the 15th century - making it one of the oldest extant ones in the English language. It used to be sung towards the end of the Pageant of the Shearman and the Tailors, part of the cycle of mystery plays performed in the streets of Coventry on the feast of Corpus Christi. In the play the mothers of Bethlehem try to send their children to sleep lest their crying alert Herod's soldiers to their presence. Their lullaby is, however, in vain and Herod's men charge in upon the children.