Good King Wenceslas

Versions of
Good King Wenceslas
by John Mason Neale

Neale wrote this carol in collaboration with Thomas Helmore for their collection Carols for Christmas-tide, 1853. This collection was a selection of (very loose) adaptations of carols from the 13th century Finnish collection Piae Cantiones. "Good King Wenceslas" is somewhat based on the springtime carol "Tempus adest floridum" from that collection; the melody is unmodified, but the lyrics are entirely original and unrelated.

The legend is based on the life of the historical Wenceslaus I.

Versions of Good King Wenceslas include:

"Good King Wenceslas" in Carols for Christmas-tide, 1853.
"Good King Wenceslas" with illustrations by Arthur Gaskin, 1904.
"Good King Wenceslas" (unsourced)

This work was published before January 1, 1928, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.

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