The Agincourt Carol (Deo gratias Anglia)
Anonymous (English)
Recording
Gothic Voices, Christopher Page
- Album
- The Service of Venus and Mars: Music for the Knights of the Garter, 1340-1440
- Year
- 1986
- Length
- Period
- Renaissance polyphony
- Listen
Painting
Jacques Callot
S. Crespin et S. Crespinien (St. Crispin and St. Crispinian), October 25th, from "Les Images De Tous Les Saincts et Saintes de L'Année" (Images of All of the Saints and Religious Events of the Year), 1636
The piece
An anonymous English carol of the early fifteenth century giving thanks for Henry V's victory at Agincourt, fought on 25 October 1415. It survives in the Trinity Carol Roll and the Selden Carol Book, with English verses set between the Latin burden “Deo gratias, Anglia, redde pro victoria.”
The recording
Gothic Voices under Christopher Page recorded it in October 1986 for Hyperion, on a program of music connected with the Order of the Garter from 1340 to 1440. The album won a Gramophone Award for early music.
Other recordings
The Binchois Consort and Andrew Kirkman recorded it on Music for the 100 Years' War (Hyperion, 2017), and Alamire and David Skinner on Deo gracias Anglia! (Obsidian, 2012).