We didn’t do this in the Lincoln Cycle of Mystery Plays way back when I was a student, but I have arranged it as though we did! (Only I would have played the guitar parts in a combined solo version most likely, and we would have used more recorders!)I wanted the feel of recorder and lute….

The "Coventry Carol" dates from the 16th Century. It was performed in Coventry as part of a mystery play called The Pageant of the Shearmen and Tailors. The play depicts the Christmas story from the Gospel of Matthew. In which Herod orders all male infants in Bethlehem killed. The lyrics of this haunting carol represent a mother’s lament for her doomed child. It is notable as a well-known example of a Tierce de Picardie. The author is unknown; the oldest known text was written down by Robert Croo in 1534, and the oldest known printing of the melody dates from 1591.