Welcome to the History of English Podcast, a podcast about the history of the English language.

This is Episode 101, the birth of English song.

In this episode, we're going to look at the oldest surviving songs composed in the English

language.

These songs first appeared in the early to mid-1200s around the current point in our overall

story of English.

Even though the Anglo-Saxons composed songs in Old English, we don't have any of the surviving

music from that period.

We just have lyrics.

But now, in the early 1200s, we have an early form of sheet music to accompany the lyrics.

So we finally get the melody that goes along with some of those old songs.

And that allows us to sing those songs today in much the same way as they were performed

800 years ago.

So this time, we'll explore the birth of the English song.

But before we begin, let me remind you that the website for the podcast is historyofenglishpodcast.com.

And you can sign up to support the podcast at patreon.com slash historyofenglish.

As always, you can reach me by email at kevinathistoryofenglishpodcast.com.

Now this time, I want to explore the earliest surviving examples of songs composed in the

English language.

And I want to begin this story in the north of England, in Yorkshire, on July 25th of

the year 1225.

Now that may seem like a very specific time and place to begin a story about such a broad

...