Robert Croo

Robert Croo (also spelled Crow or Crowo) was a 16th-century English editor, scribe, and theater manager based in Coventry, England. While very little is known about his personal life, his name is permanently etched into music and theater history.

Croo is the man responsible for preserving and finalizing the text of the Coventry Corpus Christi Pageants—the ancient medieval mystery plays from which we get one of the world's most hauntingly beautiful Christmas melodies: The Coventry Carol.

Scribe of the Guilds

In medieval and Renaissance England, "mystery plays" were massive theatrical productions put on by local trade guilds. They dramatized the entire story of the Bible, from Creation to Judgment Day, performed on wheeled wagons moving through city streets. Coventry hosted some of the most famous pageants in the country, drawing royal audiences including King Henry VII.

By the mid-1500s, the original scripts used by the guilds were becoming worn, damaged, or lost. In 1534, the Guild of Shearmen and Tailors hired Robert Croo to compile, edit, and copy their official script. Croo signed his name to the manuscript:

"Annes Domini MCCCCCXXXIIIIm [1534]... This book yis Newle translate be Robert Croo."

When Croo wrote "translate," he meant he updated the archaic Middle English spelling into modern Tudor English so the local actors could read and memorize their lines more easily. Because he took the time to meticulously copy the text into a master manuscript, the lyrics survived the destruction of the Reformation.

The Unintended Masterpiece: "Lullay, Thou Little Tiny Child"

The Shearmen and Tailors' pageant dramatized two major biblical events: the Nativity of Jesus and the subsequent Flight into Egypt. Right before the escape, King Herod orders the execution of all male infants in Bethlehem—the tragic event known as the Massacre of the Innocents.

In Croo's script, just before Herod's soldiers arrive, the mothers of Bethlehem step onto the stage to sing a final, devastating lullaby to their doomed babies. This text is known today as The Coventry Carol:

"Lullay, thou little tiny child,

Bye, bye, lully, lullay.

Lullay, thou little tiny child,

Bye, bye, lully, lullay.

Herod, the king, in his raging,

Charged he hath this day

His men of might, in his own sight,

All young children to slay."

By juxtaposing a tender, rhythmic mother's lullaby ("lully, lullay") with the terrifying reality of state-sanctioned violence, the text creates an incredibly powerful emotional contrast.

Surviving the Fire of History

The original 1534 manuscript meticulously penned by Robert Croo survived for centuries. In the early 19th century, a scholar named Thomas Sharp fortunately transcribed and published Croo’s text verbatim, including the musical notes for the three-part vocal harmony.

This transcription turned out to be a miracle. In 1879, a catastrophic fire broke out at the Birmingham Free Library, and Croo's original 1534 handwritten manuscript was completely destroyed, reduced to ashes. Had Sharp not copied Croo's work, the text and music would have been permanently lost to history.

Today, because of Robert Croo's editorial work in 1534, choir stalls and vocal ensembles around the globe continue to perform this striking piece of Tudor drama every Advent season.