Context: “Mirie it is while sumer ilast” (“Merry it is while summer lasts”) is one of the oldest English songs and one of few surviving examples of non-liturgical/secular music. The song, sung in early 13th century Middle English is about the joy of summer before the cold of winter arrives.

The song was re-discovered scribbled onto the back page of a manuscript, alongside two other French songs in the Bodleian Library.