Kitt Hath Lost Her Key

DESCRIPTION: "Kit hath lost her key, her key...." "Kit she wept; I asked by so, That se made all thys moan... My key is lost and gone." She seeks it at St. Sithe. "In bower she was With some that were not kind." The singer says goodbye and will pray she finds her key
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1562 (London, British Library, MS. Royal App. 58; Stationer's Register [see NOTES])
KEYWORDS: sex virginity abandonment seduction MiddleEnglish
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Greene-TheEarlyEnglishCarols, #458, p. 310, "(Kytt she wept; I axyde why soo)" (1 text)
Brown/Robbins-IndexOfMiddleEnglishVerse, #1824.8
DigitalIndexOfMiddleEnglishVerse, #3005
MANUSCRIPT: London, British Library, MS. Royal App. 58, folio 6
NOTES [587 words]: Note that this is not the "Kitt Hath Lost Her Key" recorded by Ed McCurdy.
There is no hint of this song in modern tradition, our records of it consist of a single Middle English manuscript plus a probable Stationer's Register entry. And the one manuscript is not a carol manuscript -- although it does contain the famous "Westron Wind," and a copy of "This Endris Night," and a piece with a "Downbery down" refrain, and several other love poems. It is dated to the first quarter of the sixteenth century. Several scribes were involved.
There is music (tenor part only).
There is also a Stationer's Register entry, given by Rollins, #1388, p. 120, as "Kyt hath loste hyr keye," printed by Jno. Tisdale in 1561/1562.
So why include it in the Index? For starters, it is generally thought to be a carol (the DigitalIndexOfMiddleEnglishVerse calls it an "erotic carol"). It is in ballad meter at a time when that was relatively rare. And Greene, p. 449, reports that there is a sequel, although I have not seen it (it is said to be from after 1562 and to use a different verse form); this implies either widespread popularity or significant longevity.
Frankly, it just feels like a folk song to me. Am I sure? Of course not. But when in doubt, I index it.
Greene, p. 449, says that "St. Sithe/Sythe" is St. Zita of Lucca, who was the patron saint of serving maids, and that a key was one of her emblems.
OxfordSaints, pp. 557-558, gives Zita's dates as 1218-1272, and says she was a domestic servant of a single family from age 12 until her death. She suffered much persecution when young, but eventually gained respect for her devotion. Miracles were reported around her, such as angels baking loaves for her while she was in a trance.
Interestingly, although her cult arose not long after her death, she wasn't granted any official status until the fifteenth century and did not gain a place in the martyrology until 1748. Thus this song must have been written before she was formally a saint.
OxfordSaints adds that "Her popular cult had already spread to other countries in the later Middle Ages, testified by chapels in her honour as far afield as Palermo and Ely. In England, where merchants from Lucca had introduced her cult, she was known as Sitha and was invoked by housewives and domestic servants, especially when they lost their keys or were in danger from rivers or crossing bridges. She occurs in mural paintings... and on rood screens.... But her cult seems to have been usually unofficial. No churches were dedicated to her, although St. Benet Shorehog (London), which had a chapel of St. Zita, was commonly known as St. Sithes.... Her feast on April 27 is found in some calendars, mainly from Lincolnshire."
WatkinsSaints, pp. 254-255, differs on her dates, listing them as 1218-1278, but agrees she went into service at 12. Her family was evidently pious; a sister was a nun and an uncle a hermit. "She attended church daily and regarded her employment as her Christian vocation, though Zita upset her employers by giving away food from the household store to the poor and destitute. In time, her evident goodness persuaded them of the value of her presence in the household.
"Zita was allowed to arrange her housework around visits to the sick and those in prison. Her good deeds and heavenly visions became public knowledge and she was visited by both poor and rich."
Thus Kit *might* have lost her position, or even an actual key, but it seems much more likely that the key she lost was her virginity. - RBW
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