One of my favorite carols comes from the time of the last "Good" King Henry of England, Henry VII:
There Is No Rose Of Such Virtue
English Traditional, c. 1420
1. There is no rose of such virtue,
As is the rose that bare Jesu;
Alleluia.
2. For in this rose contained was
Heaven and earth in little space;
Res miranda.
3. By that rose we may well see,
That he is God in persons three,
Pari forma.
4. The angels sungen the shepherds to:
Gloria in excelsis deo:
Gaudeamus.
5. Leave we all this worldly mirth,
And follow we this joyful birth;
Transeamus.
6. Alleluia, res miranda,
Pares forma, gaudeamus,
Transeamus.
4 comments:
Oh that is beautiful! Thanks for posting it, Kit.
Yes, the last "good" Henry indeed!
AR xx
It is beautiful, but on the strength of my admittedly limited knowledge of Henry VII, I beg to differ about his having been "good". Better than VIII, maybe, but emphatically not "good". Sources I've read suggest that he, not his ill-fated predecessor Richard III, actually murdered the princes in the Tower; and that the subsequent besmirchment of Richard's name was essentially Tudor propaganda designed to hide the fact that Henry had usurped the throne.
But I have yet to read the ORIGINAL sources myself...and it's still a beautiful carol. :-)
Precisely why he got the dreaded "BUNNY EARS" my friend!
;-)
(I was just placing the carol in its proper Catholic time-period, because later, post H-VIII English carols ain't exactly Catlick)
Gotcha...don't mind me, I only just found out about poor Richard III and have the neophyte chip on my shoulder to defend his honor... ;-)
Of course, re: post-H8 carols that might be Catlick, if the legend about the origins of the "Twelve Days of Christmas" is true, then there's one, anyway...
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