The Ballad History of the Reigns of the Later Tudors Author(s): C. H. Firth Source: Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, Vol. 3 (1909), pp. 51-124 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Royal Historical Society Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3678274 Accessed: 26-06-2016 20:16 UTC Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://about.jstor.org/terms JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Cambridge University Press, Royal Historical Society are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Transactions of the Royal Historical Society This content downloaded from 128.197.26.12 on Sun, 26 Jun 2016 20:16:39 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms THE BALLAD HISTORY OF THE REIGNS OF THE LATER TUDORS. By PROFESSOR C. H. FIRTH, LL.D., V.-P. Read May 20, 1909 BALLADS about events which happened during the reigns of the later Tudors are far more numerous than those which relate to the reigns of their predecessors.' They fall natu- rally into three classes. There are a few traditional ballads, probably handed down by word of mouth, committed to writing much later, and generally not printed till the eighteenth or nineteenth century. The authors of these are unknown; in the shape in which we possess them they may be the work of more than one hand ; in many cases it is certain that they have been pieced together and reshaped by modern editors. The second and largest class consists of ballads printed at the time of the events to which they relate. Sometimes they narrate a recent event with the prosaic matter-of-fact- ness of a newspaper, and sometimes they comment on an event with the freedom of a party pamphlet. The broad- sides on which these ballads are printed often bear the date of the year; in other cases the entry of the ballad in the Registers of the Stationers' Company enables us to deter- mine its date. The possibility of fixing the precise time at which they were published greatly increases their value as historical evidence, and makes it easy to appreciate their political significance. I See ' The Ballad History of the Reigns of Henry VII. and Henry VIII.' Transactions, Third Series, ii. 21. E2 This content downloaded from 128.197.26.12 on Sun, 26 Jun 2016 20:16:39 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 52 TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL HISTORICAL SOCIETY The third and least important class consists of the narra- tive ballads put together by later authors, such as Deloney and Johnson, who wished to familiarise the Elizabethan public with the facts of English history. Occasionally these are of interest from the estimate of persons and things which they contain, but as a rule they are of very little value and merely versify stories told by the Tudor chroniclers. We may put in the same class a certain number of ballads com- posed by later poets in order to celebrate events which occurred during the reigns of the later Tudors. As the Registers of the Stationers' Company do not begin till 1557, we are without their help for the whole of Edward's reign, and most of Mary's. This makes it impossible to date exactly some of the ballads which appear from internal evidence to have been written during Edward's reign. Edward himself naturally left little trace in ballad literature. His reign was a war of factions amid which the child king was the tool of parties, and exercised no influence over events. There are ballads on his accession and his death, illustrating the hopes which he inspired, and the great things which he seemed to loyal subjects to promise if he had lived to grow up. A ballad sung to King Edward in Cheapside as he passed through London to be crowned has fortunately been preserved. Its chorus runs :- Sing up, heart, sing up, heart, and sing no more downe, But joy in King Edward that weareth the crowne. It prophesies that King Edward shall be a king of such might that all the world shall fear him; already he hath gotten the goodly town of Boulogne, and when he comes to manhood he shall conquer Ireland and Scotland, and be king of four realms. Only let Englishmen not forget their archery. Yee children of England, for the honour of the same, Take bow and shaft in hand, learn shootage to frame, That you another day may so do your parts, To serve your king as wel with hands as with hearts.' I Strype, Memorials, II. ii. 329. This content downloaded from 128.197.26.12 on Sun, 26 Jun 2016 20:16:39 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms BALLAD HISTORY OF THE LATER TUDORS 53 As soon as Somerset became Protector he acted in the spirit of this ballad, and, as Mr. Froude puts it, resolved to distinguish his Protectorate by reviving the pretensions and renewing the policy of Edward I. Henry VIII died on January 28, 1547, and at the beginning of September an English army crossed the Border. The finest ballad of the reign is one which commemorates the invasion of Scotland and the battle of Pinkie, otherwise called the battle of Musselburgh (September o10, 1547). The fragment preserved in Percy's MS. has only seven verses, but, barring some inaccuracies as to the day and month, is true enough to historical facts. The Scots were confident of success. The contemporary account of the expedition to Scotland, written by William Patten, says that 'as for victorie the Scottish leader thought hymself no less sure than he was willynge to fight. He with hys hoste made themselves . so sure of the matter that in the night of this day they fell aforehand to playing at dyce for certeine of our noble men and captains of fame.' The ballad tells the same story Over night they carded for our English mens coates; They fished before their netts were spunn ; A white for sixpence, a redd for two groates; Now wisdome wold have stayed till they had been woone. For all their boasting, when it came to battle, they could not face the English artillery- But when they heard our great gunnes cracke, Then was their harts turned into their hose; They cast down their weapons, and turned their backes, They ran so fast that they fell on their nose.' It was easier for Somerset to ravage Scotland than to restore order and prosperity in England. Ecclesiastical and economic changes had shattered the framework of society; everywhere throughout the country there were complaints of oppression and suffering. The grievances of the people were ' Musselboorowe Ffeild,' Hales and Furnivall, i. 125; Child, iii. 378. This content downloaded from 128.197.26.12 on Sun, 26 Jun 2016 20:16:39 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 54 TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL HISTORICAL SOCIETY set forth in a poem called ' Vox Populi,' written early in Edward's reign.1 O most nobell kynge Consyder well this thynge is its constant refrain. The whole realm, it says, is impoverished. Lordships and lands are in the hands of a few. The labouring men and yeomen, who were of old times the strength of the realm, go to wrack. No poor man is able to have meat on his table. The upstart gentlemen devour the goods of the poor, and turn out farmers to make room for sheep. Religion has become a cloak for coveteousness and ambition. Goddes worde is well sett forth; hitt never was more preched, nor never so playnly techede. hitt never was so halloed, nor never soe lyttell fowloed ... We have banyschyd superstysyon, but styll we kepe ambysyon; We have showtt awaye all cloystrees, but styll we kepe extorsynares; we have taken there landes for ther abbwese, but we have convertyd theme to a worse use.2 Unless these things are amended there will be a revolu- tion, declares the poet- Yf yow doo not redresse betymes this covitisnes, My hede I wold to gage ther welbe grett owtrage, such rage as never was sene in any olde manes tyme.3 I' Vox Populi, Vox Dei,' Ballads from MSS., i. io8 (Ballad Society); Dyce's Skelton, ii. 4oo; Hazlitt's Early Popular Poetry, iii. 268. 2 Ballaas from MSS. i. I39. The ballad of ' Little John Nobody' printed in Percy's Reliques (p. 346, ed. Schroer) makes a similar complaint. 3 Ibid. i. 145 The economic and social evils from which England suffered are set forth at length in Dr. Furnivall's preface to this collection of ballads. See also Professor E. P. Cheyney's excellent little book Social Changes in Eng. land in the Sixteenth Century as reflected in Contemporary Literature. Boston, 1895 (Publications of the University of Pennsylvania). This content downloaded from 128.197.26.12 on Sun, 26 Jun 2016 20:16:39 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms BALLAD HISTORY OF THE LATER TUDORS 55 The prediction came true. In June 1549 Devonshire and Cornwall rose in arms, and the rising was not suppressed till the middle of August, and then only by the aid of Italian and German mercenaries.