The Medieval Baebes are the first name on the lips of all music lovers who appreciate an exuberant and intoxicating medieval atmosphere. They have featured prominently on the soundtrack of almost every party I’ve ever thrown. I’m a fierce fan of medieval music, and most of my friends can tell you how I’ve cornered them after a few drinks to tell them the true origins of this or that medieval Baebes song. So I decided it was time to dedicate some of this geeky enthusiasm to the page, get it out of my system, and save my friends from my rantings and rantings.

This series of articles explores the discography of the medieval Baebes, briefly discussing the origins and history of the music they have used to create their classic recordings. This one will focus on your album. Blysse Worldsreleased in 1998.

First of all, it is worth mentioning that Blysse Worlds it actually consists mostly of original music. Of the 16 tracks, 11 of them (Kindly, it all goes back to yesterday, Love Me Broughte, Beatrice, Waylaway, When Thy Turuf Is Thy Tour, Erthe Upon Erthe, passing like this alone, Pearl, Swete Sone, Y how death comes) are original scenes of the poetry of the time. Of the remaining 5, 2 have been aggressively modified. This is hardly a medieval album, therefore.

I haven’t been able to trace the origins of all the medieval poetry used in these compositions, so I’ll skip those clues I don’t have anything interesting to say about. Readers, as always, if you know something I don’t, please leave a comment.

3. Love me brought

The source for these lyrics is the 1372 Middle English book of poetry entitled John Grimstone’s Book of Common Places. It is a love song of Christ to humanity.

4. Beatrix

This is an original scene from an excerpt from Dante’s hells. The language is Tuscan.

5. Ecci Mundi Gaudium

This is a 13th century Anglo-Norman Christmas song and, interestingly enough, its source is the same manuscript that is the source of the Baebes song. save us (the title track of their first album).

7. Dawn

This song is called correctly. kings glories, and was written by the troubadour Guiraut de Bornelh (1138-1215). It is one of the most beautiful of troubadour melodies. The troubadours were the poet-musicians of the south of France, who wrote and sang in Occitan (now a dead language), and are the ancestors of the entire Western tradition of love songs and poetry. I have a great love for this song in particular, and am actually working on a recording of it. So please keep all that in mind when I say I can’t stand what the medieval Baebes did to him. They artificially imposed a 3/4 beat on it, which undermines the beauty of the melody and the syntax of poetry. His pronunciation is bad and his delivery completely emotionless. I encourage you to see other recordings of this beautiful song. You can find many of them on YouTube, although many are instrumental. The Estampie band gives a beautiful interpretation, although very untraditional.

8. When your Turuf is your tour

This is Blake’s original setting of a Middle English poem, designated #232 in Luria and Hoffman’s Middle English Verse Index. The theme is mortality, decay, and the irrelevance of earthly pleasures after death.

9. Erthe on Erthe

This is a very beautiful recording. The lyrics are a Middle English poem that has survived in 24 widely differing manuscripts, the oldest of which dates from the 14th century. This recording represents a version of the poem from around 1440.

10. Passing alone like this

This is a macabre fragment of an English ballad, An excellent ballad of the courtship of a prince of England to the king of Frances’s daughter, and how the prince was disastrously murdered (sic); and how the aforementioned princess later married a Forrester. It tells of the historical events surrounding the courtship of King Ethelwulph of England to Charles the Bald’s daughter, Judith. The ballad was meant to be sung to the Crimson Velvet tune, but this recording features another original setting.

11. The Volta

The Volta is a form of Renaissance dance. If I’m not mistaken, this piece is from a 16th century Italian manuscript.

12 pearl

This text consists of lines 121-156 of the 1,213-line Middle English poem of the same name. The poet is anonymous, but he is generally thought to be the same poet who composed Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and other famous English works. The scene resembles undrentide from the later Baebes album, which I’ll talk about in the next article.

13. Sweet Son

This is a Middle English poem, one of many religious poems of the time dealing with the Virgin Mary in the crucifixion scene. Its source is John Grimstone’s Book of Common Places, 1372, which, as you may recall, is also the source of love me brought.

14. So Spricht Das Leben (Thus Says Life)

This is an amazing 16th century German song where life and death argue over who owns the world. For whatever reason, the Baebes have chosen not to sing most of it, but instead recite it in English translation while traditional music plays in the background. I recommend checking out some other interpretations of this song that are closer to the German original. I love it so much that I may have to create my own version.

15. It’s the end

This is a beautiful late 13th century virelai from the seeker Guillaume d’Amiens. The Baebes have stayed fairly true to the medieval original on this recording.