ABSTRACT
No source of polyphony is known to derive from medieval Wales, but there is certainly evidence that polyphonic music on a modest scale was sung and played in some religious institutions. Two vernacular carol texts copied onto the dorse of a fragmentary legal text of 1471 may even suggest something of a Welsh seasonal repertory. The carols are associated with the Oxford-educated cleric 'Master Maurice', canon of St Davids and prebendary of Llangunllo near Knighton, who was collated to the rectory of Rudbaxton near Haverfordwest in 1474. One of the texts is the popular Nativity carol beginning 'Now well may we myrthys make', which survives with polyphony in two English sources. At Montgomery, located on the Welsh border south of Welshpool, the chantry return for 1549 indicates that the fraternity of St Nicholas, founded in the parish church, supported a small choral foundation and 'free school' funded by income from land rents and a stock of cattle.
