Noels (Christmas carols)

Noels (Christmas carols)

This manuscript anthology on paper of forty-four Christmas Carols, or Noels, written principally in French and dating to the sixteenth century, are a combination of well-known songs and unique or unrecorded texts. One carol, “Il fault mourir à ce coup cy,” is attributed by an inscription to its author Olivier Maillard (ca. 1420–1502). The use of the regional Angevin terms “nau” and its diminutive “naulet” for Noël, as well as the notarial document reused as a wrapper mentioning Nantes, point to the Western Loire Valley as the region of production and use. The volume is notable for its twenty-five vividly drawn, watercolor-tinted sketches added to the blank marginal spaces surrounding the text. The manuscript can be dated to ca. 1520–30 on the basis of the script’s style and marginal images, whose pastoral character connects them to compositions found in tapestries of this period.

ca. 1520–30

Manuscript on paper, 61 fols.

The Free Library of Philadelphia, Lewis E 211

Western France (Nantes?)