Page "Folk music of England" Paragraph 3

In the strictest sense, English folk music has existed since the arrival of the English people in Britain after 400 CE.

The Venerable Bede's story of the cattleman and later ecclesiastical musician Caedmon indicates that in the early medieval period it was normal at feasts to pass around the harp and sing ' vain and idle songs '.

Since this type of music was rarely notated, we have little knowledge of its form or content.

Some later tunes, like those used for Morris dance, may have their origins in this period, but it is impossible to be certain of these relationships.

We know from a reference in William Langland's Piers Plowman, that ballads about Robin Hood were being sung from at least by the late 14th century and the oldest detailed material we have is Wynkyn de Worde's collection of Robin Hood ballads printed about 1495.