The concept of singing carols to celebrate holidays developed during the 13th century in France, although what was to be known as carol music had been around from centuries earlier. It is believed that when troubadour Saint Francis of Assisi had made the first Greccio crib, he began to sing songs honoring the Nativity and the joy of celebration in religion, for this was a strict Puritanical era wherein communal singing, drama, and any type of festivity was looked down upon in the first place, and absolutely abhorred in religion.

The concept of singing these carols gained popularity throughout Europe towards the end of Puritan reign and the growth of the Mystery Play throughout the 14th and 15th centuries. The Mystery Plays were dramatic pieces celebrating the birth of Christ. The basic plainsong and antiphon of the time were lacking the drama required by these performances, and soon religious songs for these performances were being written in the vernacular for these plays. The still popular Englis

But not everyone gave up hope. A small book was published around 1839 by J. Guest, called A New Carol Book, containing invaluable reprints of carols such "Hark! the herald angels," "God rest you merry," and "The holly and the ivy." And in 1869 "The Leisure Hour," a British magazine, printed an article on the popularity of broadsheet music and reprinted a bunch of older carol music, including "God rest you merry."

The first half of the century saw many vain attempts at reviving the carol. William Sandys and Davies Gilbert were avid patrons of the carol and published Christmas Carols Ancient and Modern in 1833 and Collection of Christmas in 1823, yet public interest was not sparked. Sandys and Gilbert themselves expressed bleak outlooks on the future of carols in their publications, although they did not deter their efforts.

This period also threatened the loss of the carol's true meaning. Poor quality Christmas hymns, which were somber and distasteful songs written for church celebration of the Christmas season were being printed under the title of Christmas carols, and by the late 1840's the term "carol" merely meant any printed poem or piece of music associated with Christmas. Even the broadsheets began to decrease in quality as more and more solemn, didactic, and dull Christmas hymns were being printed and circulating in the place of the original carols. Both the wealthy and common class people had begun to forget and neglect the original concept of a carol.

In 1871Bramley and Stainer published Christmas Carols Old and New, which was to become the sole most popular and well-loved collection of carols throughout history and is still in use today. It became invaluable to the clergy, and inspired the publication of dozens of imitative collections, although none equaled it in fame.

Other important forms of the carol that developed during the 15th century were the carol par excellence and the macaronic carol. The carol par excellence flourished between 1430 and 1460, and was verse written in a lilting rhythm solely for the purpose of singing, rather than to tell a story or add to drama like most previous carols. It consisted of both a verse and a refrain. The macaronic carol took Latin text form well-known office hymns and interspersed catchy phrases in the vernacular such as "Make we joy" throughout the piece. The familiarity of the text appealed to anyone that attended church, which was al

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