Gabriel of High Degree

DESCRIPTION: "Gabriel of high degree, He came down from the Trinity, From Nazareth to Galilee, ut nova." "He met a maiden in a place"; "he said, 'Hail, Mary, full of grace.'" She will bear a child. In six months, her cousin Elizabeth will bear.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1537 (Richard Hill MS., Balliol Coll. Oxf. 354, folio 165b)
KEYWORDS: religious childbirth MiddleEnglish
FOUND IN: Britain(England)
REFERENCES (10 citations):
Greene-TheEarlyEnglishCarols, #238, pp. 170-171, "(Gabriell of hygh degre)" (2 texts)
Rickert-AncientEnglishChristmasCarols, pp. 30-33, "Nova, nova: Ave fit ex Eva" (1 text)
Brown/Robbins-IndexOfMiddleEnglishVerse, #889
DigitalIndexOfMiddleEnglishVerse #1485
ADDITIONAL: Roman Dyboski, _Songs, Carols, and Other Miscellaneous Poems from the Balliol Ms. 354, Richard Hill's Commonplace Book_, Kegan Paul, 1907 (there are now multiple print-on-demand reprints), #9, pp. 5-6, "Nova, nova: Aue fitt ex Eva" (1 text)
Rossell Hope Robbins, editor, _Early English Christmas Carols_, Columbia University Press, 1961, #22, pp. 64-65, "Nova, Nova" (1 text, 1 tune)
Noah Greenberg, ed., An Anthology of English Medieval and Renaissance Vocal Music, pp. 66-67, "Nova, Nova" (1 text, 1 tune with harmonization)
MANUSCRIPT: {MSRichardHill}, The Richard Hill Manuscript, Oxford, Balliol College MS. 354, folio 222
MANUSCRIPT: {MSEngPoetE1}, Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Eng. Poet. e.1 (Bodley 29734), folio 60
MANUSCRIPT: Glasgow, University Library MS Hunterian 83 (T.3.21), folio iv
ST Ricke030 (Partial)
Roud #815
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Angel Gabriel" (subject)
cf. "Now we shuld syng & say newell, Quia missus est angelus Gabriell" (lyric on Gabriel and the annunciation, from Richard Hill's manuscript); see Roman Dyboski, _Songs, Carols, and Other Miscellaneous Poems from the Balliol Ms. 354, Richard Hill's Commonplace Book_, #8, pp. 4-5 (subject)
cf. "Newell, newell, newell, newell, This ys the salutacion of Gabryell" (lyric on Gabriel and the annunciation, from Richard Hill's manuscript); see Roman Dyboski, _Songs, Carols, and Other Miscellaneous Poems from the Balliol Ms. 354, Richard Hill's Commonplace Book_, #49, pp. 39-40, with a text from Wrigt on p. 177 (subject)
cf. "Gabriell that angelll bryght, Bryghtter than the son lyght"" (lyric on Gabriel and the annunciation, from Richard Hill's manuscript); see Roman Dyboski, _Songs, Carols, and Other Miscellaneous Poems from the Balliol Ms. 354, Richard Hill's Commonplace Book_, #17, p. 10; also in Bodleian MS. Eng. Poet. e.1 (Bodleian 29734),
NOTES [174 words]: This is based on the account in Luke 1:26-2:20 -- although the line "Hail, Mary, full of grace" is not actually in the Biblical text (Gabriel greets Mary in Luke 1:28, but without mentioning her name).
There is no proof that this piece is traditional, but there is good evidence that it was at least somewhat popular. The first point is its inclusion in the Hill manuscript, which includes some folk pieces., and in Bodleian MS. Eng. poet e.1, which is thought to date from the fifteenth century and includes many popular pieces. And there is a third copy, in Hunterian 83. These differ in length; the Hill MS. has eight stanza, Bodleian has seven, Hunterian six. So that's at least a hint of oral tradition.
E. K. Chambers, English Literature at the Close of the Middle Ages, Oxford, 1945, 1947, p. 87, suggests that the "Nova, Nova" is a derivative of "Nowell/Noël" (as opposed to Latin "nova," "new").
For more about the famous anthology Bodleian MS. Eng. Poet. e.1 (Bodleian 29734), see the notes to "The Golden Carol (The Three Kings)." - RBW
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File: Ricke030

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