12th century

• A rhymed prayer to Mary written by St. Godric has survived in a manuscript.
• The singing of secular songs is first mentioned in Giraldus Cambrensis, though we do not have any records.

13th century

• The bulk of poems is religious, mostly poems on feasts of the Church Year and songs and prayers for Mass.
• Amorous and political poems are recorded, especially in a manuscript called Harley 2253. The earliest known song is "Sumer is icumen in" (with music).

14th century

• Franciscan friars produce and use a great number of religious poems, preserved in their commonplace books.
• Authors of secular lyrics are known, e.g. Chaucer, who introduces rhyme royal.

15th century

• The number of poems on death and on the contempt of the world increases; more and more rhymed personal prayers are written.
• Even more than in the preceding centuries  carols on any subject are produced, but at the end of the century, "carol" starts to be a synonym for a Christmas-song.

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