Music and carols

The earliest extant specifically Christmas hymns appear in 4th century Rome.Latin hymns such as Veni redemptor gentium, written by Ambrose, Archbishop of Milan, were austere statements of the theological doctrine of the Incarnation in opposition to Arianism.Corde natus ex Parentis (Of the Father love begotten) by the Spanish poet Prudentius (d.413) is still sung in some churches today.In the 9th and 10th centuries, the Christmas Sequence or Prose was introduced in North European monasteries, developing under Bernard of Clairvaux into a sequence of rhymed stanzas.In the 12th century the Parisian monk Adam of St.Victor began to derive music from popular songs, introducing something closer to the traditional Christmas carol.By the 13th century, in France, Germany, and particularly, Italy, under the influence of Francis of Asissi, a strong tradition of popular Christmas songs in the native language developed.Christmas carols in English first appear in a 1426 work of John Awdlay, a Shropshire chaplain, who lists twenty five caroles of Cristemas, probably sung by groups of wassailers, who went from house to house.