Once I was a clever boy learning the arts of Oxford... is a quotation from the verses written by Bishop Richard Fleming (c.1385-1431) for his tomb in Lincoln Cathedral. Fleming, the founder of Lincoln College in Oxford, is the subject of my research for a D. Phil., and, like me, a son of the West Riding. I have remarked in the past that I have a deeply meaningful on-going relationship with a dead fifteenth century bishop... it was Fleming who, in effect, enabled me to come to Oxford and to learn its arts, and for that I am immensely grateful.


Saturday, 21 March 2026

Sumer is icumen in


The British Library has lent for exhibition until May to the Reading Museum the manuscript produced at the great Benedictine abbey which once dominated the town, and which contains the mid-thirteenth century musical round - or canon - Sumer is icumen in.

This appears to be the earliest English song with music to survive. It is also interesting in that the words are in English from a time when it is often claimed that French was the dominant language of culture and music.


Wikipedia has a lengthy and informative article about the piece at Sumer_is_icumen_in. It also includes some modern parodies which make for a little light relief.

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