King John and the Bishop
Encyclopedia
King John and the Bishop is an English folk-song dating back at least to the 16th century. It is catalogued in Child Ballads
as number 45 and Roud Folk Song Index
302.
The song recounts the poor relationship between King John
and the archbishop of Canterbury, but is also an example of a riddle
-song. Francis James Child
makes the comment that the roots of this ballad may be much older - perhaps going back to the sixth century, when riddling was a much stronger tradition in English poetry.
It is sufficiently old and widespread to have its own entry in the Aarne-Thompson classification system
of fokltale classicifications, where it is classed as "AT 922". It is theoretically possible that it began as mythic folk tale, and was superimposed onto a story from history and then written as a song.
is firstly described as a man who does great harm and little good. He has heard that the bishop (or abbot) of Canterbury
is running a very efficient household. On visiting Canterbury, he demands an answer to three questions:
The bishop of Canterbury
replies that these are hard questions. It will take him three days to find some replies. If he fails to arrive at the rights answers, King John will then execute the bishop. On his travels, the bishop meets a shepherd (or his own brother), and explains his dilemma. The shepherd says, "Lend me your clothes, I will deliver the correct answers for you". The disguised shepherd then meets King John. His answers are:
As a result of this clever response, King John allows the bishop to live.
-song. Francis James Child
makes the comment that the roots of this ballad may be much older - perhaps going back to the sixth century, when riddling was a much stronger tradition in English poetry. (see Exeter Book
and Anglo-Saxon literature
).
The "Derry down" chorus belongs very much to the sixteenth century, similar to the song "The Keeper". A website dedicated to the printed books of William Chappel ("Popular music of Olden Time") suggests that milkmaids frequently sang as they went milking. The explanation of the "Derry down, down hey, derry down" might be the milkmaids pulling the cow teats down. (see Olden Times). However no other site endorses this theory.
In the "New York Folklore Quarterly", 1973 W. F. H. Nicolaisen went so far as to suggest that the song "originated before 850 A.D. in a Jewish parish in the Near East." Short of reading the magazine, it is hard to see how this theory can stand up.
An unusual version of the title is "The old Allot and King Olfrey" (Douce Collection
, fol. 169). Olfrey is supposed to be a corruption of Alfred.
, indirectly made a martyr out of Thomas a Beckett
. Like his father, John had conflict with the Catholic Church, and refused to ratify the Pope's choice for the post of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Stephen Langton. The Pope responded with bureaucratic constraints, and in retaliation John removed several bishops from office.
The song has been found in England, The USA and Canada. The historical aspects of the song are for most people a mere backdrop to the real appeal of the song, as a riddle.
ballads have the same characteristics, except that the sherrif is in place of the king. King John is closely associated with Robin Hood, so perhaps this is not a coinidence.
There is also the suggestion that the educated bishop (or abbot) is not as wise as the uneducated brother (or shepherd) - implying there is a "native wit" that is more valuable than school-book wisdom.
as number 45 and Roud Folk Song Index
as 302.
It is sufficiently old and widespread to have its own entry in the Aarne-Thompson classification system
of fokltale classicifications, where it is classed as "AT 922". It is theoretically possible that it began as mythic folk tale, and was superimposed onto a story from history and then written as a song.
In 1923 Walter Anderson wrote a monograph called "Kaiser und Abt", mentioning 640 versions of the story. One of the Till Eulenspiegel
stories has the King of Poland pitted against Till Eulenspiegel in a similar battle of riddles.
Percy Grainger collected a version in 1906. Helen Hartness Flanders
made a field recording on wax cylinder some time between 1930 and 1958.
It is included in D'Urfey
's "Wit and Mirth or Pills to Purge Melancholy
" (1719–1720). Another printing occurred a couple of years later in Collection of Old Ballads
(1723)
The versions from the USA, and versions collected in the twentieth century are less likely to depict King John as a villain in the opening verse.
(Child ballad 46). Riddles Wisely Expounded
(Child 1) has a similar character.
"More English Fairy Tales" by Joseph Jacobs (1894) contains a version adapted from the song. In his scholarly notes he says that there is a version by Vincent of Beauvais
.
There is an illustrated children's book called "Riddle Me This! Riddles and Stories to Challenge Your Mind" (2003) by Hugh Lupton. It contains "The Riddle Song" and "King John and the Bishop of Canterbury". Jan Mark
wrote an illustrated children's book called "King John and the Abbot" (2006), based on the song.
The English poet John Gower wrote a story called "The Tale of the Three Questions" in "Confessio Amantis
". The King is guilty of envy, asks three difficult questions, and sets a similar time limit. A distant relative of inferior standing comes to the rescue. The only problem is that the riddles
are not the same as the ones in the ballad. It has been suggested that the ballad was re-written in the sixteenth or seventeenth century in order insert new riddles, and so generate extra sales.
James Balwin retold the story in prose in the collection "Fifty Famous Stories Retold".
Collected by Asbjornsen and Moe as "The Parson and The Sexton".
on the album Tempted and Tried
and by "The City Waites" on "Ghosts, Witches and Demons" (1995)
In Playford's dance manual (1650) this tune has the title "The Night Peece". Only with difficulty can the words of the Percy manuscript text, be made to fit this version of the tune. The tune also goes by the name "Derry Down". "The Night Peece" is the name of a dance in Playford's books.
's play "Tunbridge-Walks; or, The Yeoman of Kent" (1703) contains the ballad, but only the opening verses. This appearance may have been the inspiration for the tune being used on stage several times over the next 50 years, with different words.
In 1728 the ballad opera "Penelope" by Thomas Cooke and John Mottley
used the tune. The same is true for Charles Johnson with his ballad opera "The Village Opera". In Charles Coffey
's ballad opera "The Beggar's Wedding" (1729) there is a song ("When beggars do marry for better for worse"), set to the air "Abbot of Canterbury". He used the tune again in "The Devil To Pay" (1731), and yet again in "The Boarding School" (1733).
Thomas Cooke's ballad opera "Love and Revenge" (1729) uses the tune. In 1731 the ballad opera "The Jovial Crew" (by Matthew Concanen
and others) was published with one song, entitled "The Snipe". It carried the direction that it was to be sung to the tune "The Abbot of Canterbury". Henry Fielding
's play "Tumble-Down Dick" (1736) contains a song, "You Wonder Perhaps at the Tricks of the Stage", sung to the air "Abbot of Canterbury".
Abraham Langford
's play "The Lover His Own Rival" (1736) uses the tune. In 1737 Dr Johnson
published a collection of opinions on poems and songs. It includes this entry:
'The Gossipping: a ballad. To the tune of King John and the Abbot of Canterbury.' A mythological ditty of fourteen verses, each ending with a derry down.
It is not known where this song comes from.
In 1750 "The Gentleman" magazine published a song called "A Ballad of New Scotland", to be sung to the tune "King John and the Abbot of Canterbury". "New Scotland" is a reference to Halifax in Canada, founded 1749. A collection of songs called "The Button Hole Gallery" (c 1720 - 1750) contains a riddling song called "The Button Hole". It was sung to the air "The Abbot of conterbury". It reappeared as part of a collection of songs called "Merry Songs" (1897), edited by John S. Farmer.
The Gower issue is discussed here:
W. F. H. Nicolaisen's theory
Jan Mark's book:
The lyrics are given here:
The lyrics to "Shaking of the Sheets" are given here:
Prose version by Joseph Jacobs:
Aarne-Thompson Type 922:
Various Ballad operas mention the tune:
The text of Coffey's "The Beggars' Wedding" is given here:
The text of Fielding's "Tumble-Down Dick" is given here:
The songs from "The Jovial Crew" are listed here:
Quotations from Dr Johnson's "Poems on various occasions" are given here:
The song "The Button Hole" is given here:
A description of the dance "The Night Peece" is given here, together with printed music
Child Ballads
The Child Ballads are a collection of 305 ballads from England and Scotland, and their American variants, collected by Francis James Child in the late nineteenth century...
as number 45 and Roud Folk Song Index
Roud Folk Song Index
The Roud Folk Song Index is a database of 300,000 references to over 21,600 songs that have been collected from oral tradition in the English language from all over the world...
302.
The song recounts the poor relationship between King John
John of England
John , also known as John Lackland , was King of England from 6 April 1199 until his death...
and the archbishop of Canterbury, but is also an example of a riddle
Riddle
A riddle is a statement or question or phrase having a double or veiled meaning, put forth as a puzzle to be solved. Riddles are of two types: enigmas, which are problems generally expressed in metaphorical or allegorical language that require ingenuity and careful thinking for their solution, and...
-song. Francis James Child
Francis James Child
Francis James Child was an American scholar, educator, and folklorist, best known today for his collection of folk songs known as the Child Ballads. Child was Boylston professor of rhetoric and oratory at Harvard University, where he produced influential editions of English poetry...
makes the comment that the roots of this ballad may be much older - perhaps going back to the sixth century, when riddling was a much stronger tradition in English poetry.
It is sufficiently old and widespread to have its own entry in the Aarne-Thompson classification system
Aarne-Thompson classification system
The Aarne–Thompson classification system is a system for classifying folktales. First developed by Antti Aarne and published in 1910, it was translated and enlarged by Stith Thompson...
of fokltale classicifications, where it is classed as "AT 922". It is theoretically possible that it began as mythic folk tale, and was superimposed onto a story from history and then written as a song.
Synopsis
King JohnJohn of England
John , also known as John Lackland , was King of England from 6 April 1199 until his death...
is firstly described as a man who does great harm and little good. He has heard that the bishop (or abbot) of Canterbury
Canterbury
Canterbury is a historic English cathedral city, which lies at the heart of the City of Canterbury, a district of Kent in South East England. It lies on the River Stour....
is running a very efficient household. On visiting Canterbury, he demands an answer to three questions:
- - How long do I travel in a day?
- - How much money am I worth?
- - what am I thinking?
The bishop of Canterbury
Canterbury
Canterbury is a historic English cathedral city, which lies at the heart of the City of Canterbury, a district of Kent in South East England. It lies on the River Stour....
replies that these are hard questions. It will take him three days to find some replies. If he fails to arrive at the rights answers, King John will then execute the bishop. On his travels, the bishop meets a shepherd (or his own brother), and explains his dilemma. The shepherd says, "Lend me your clothes, I will deliver the correct answers for you". The disguised shepherd then meets King John. His answers are:
- - You rise in the morning with the sun. It travels all round in the sky till the following morning, when it is back where it started. That's how far you travel.
- - JudasJudas IscariotJudas Iscariot was, according to the New Testament, one of the twelve disciples of Jesus. He is best known for his betrayal of Jesus to the hands of the chief priests for 30 pieces of silver.-Etymology:...
sold ChristChristChrist is the English term for the Greek meaning "the anointed one". It is a translation of the Hebrew , usually transliterated into English as Messiah or Mashiach...
for thirty pieces of silverThirty pieces of silverThirty pieces of silver was the price for which Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus, according to the Gospel of Matthew 26:15 in the Christian New Testament. Before the Last Supper, Judas went to the chief priests and agreed to hand over Jesus in exchange for 30 silver coins...
. You are worth almost as much as Christ. You are worth 29 pieces of silver. - - You are thinking I am the bishop of Canterbury. In fact I am a shepherd in disguise.
As a result of this clever response, King John allows the bishop to live.
Commentary
On the one hand the song is an oblique reference to the poor relationship between King John and the archbishop of Canterbury. On the other hand it can be enjoyed as a clever riddleRiddle
A riddle is a statement or question or phrase having a double or veiled meaning, put forth as a puzzle to be solved. Riddles are of two types: enigmas, which are problems generally expressed in metaphorical or allegorical language that require ingenuity and careful thinking for their solution, and...
-song. Francis James Child
Francis James Child
Francis James Child was an American scholar, educator, and folklorist, best known today for his collection of folk songs known as the Child Ballads. Child was Boylston professor of rhetoric and oratory at Harvard University, where he produced influential editions of English poetry...
makes the comment that the roots of this ballad may be much older - perhaps going back to the sixth century, when riddling was a much stronger tradition in English poetry. (see Exeter Book
Exeter Book
The Exeter Book, Exeter Cathedral Library MS 3501, also known as the Codex Exoniensis, is a tenth-century book or codex which is an anthology of Anglo-Saxon poetry. It is one of the four major Anglo-Saxon literature codices. The book was donated to the library of Exeter Cathedral by Leofric, the...
and Anglo-Saxon literature
Anglo-Saxon literature
Old English literature encompasses literature written in Old English in Anglo-Saxon England, in the period from the 7th century to the Norman Conquest of 1066. These works include genres such as epic poetry, hagiography, sermons, Bible translations, legal works, chronicles, riddles, and others...
).
The "Derry down" chorus belongs very much to the sixteenth century, similar to the song "The Keeper". A website dedicated to the printed books of William Chappel ("Popular music of Olden Time") suggests that milkmaids frequently sang as they went milking. The explanation of the "Derry down, down hey, derry down" might be the milkmaids pulling the cow teats down. (see Olden Times). However no other site endorses this theory.
In the "New York Folklore Quarterly", 1973 W. F. H. Nicolaisen went so far as to suggest that the song "originated before 850 A.D. in a Jewish parish in the Near East." Short of reading the magazine, it is hard to see how this theory can stand up.
An unusual version of the title is "The old Allot and King Olfrey" (Douce Collection
Francis Douce
Francis Douce was an English antiquary.-Biography:Douce was born in London. His father was a clerk in Chancery. After completing his education he entered his father's office, but soon quit it to devote himself to the study of antiquities...
, fol. 169). Olfrey is supposed to be a corruption of Alfred.
Historical Background
King John's father, Henry IIHenry II of England
Henry II ruled as King of England , Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Count of Nantes, Lord of Ireland and, at various times, controlled parts of Wales, Scotland and western France. Henry, the great-grandson of William the Conqueror, was the...
, indirectly made a martyr out of Thomas a Beckett
Thomas Becket
Thomas Becket was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1162 until his murder in 1170. He is venerated as a saint and martyr by both the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion...
. Like his father, John had conflict with the Catholic Church, and refused to ratify the Pope's choice for the post of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Stephen Langton. The Pope responded with bureaucratic constraints, and in retaliation John removed several bishops from office.
The song has been found in England, The USA and Canada. The historical aspects of the song are for most people a mere backdrop to the real appeal of the song, as a riddle.
Cultural Relationships
The idea that a shepherd, or the lesser brother of a bishop, could out-wit a king, is quite subversive. Most of the Robin HoodRobin Hood
Robin Hood was a heroic outlaw in English folklore. A highly skilled archer and swordsman, he is known for "robbing from the rich and giving to the poor", assisted by a group of fellow outlaws known as his "Merry Men". Traditionally, Robin Hood and his men are depicted wearing Lincoln green clothes....
ballads have the same characteristics, except that the sherrif is in place of the king. King John is closely associated with Robin Hood, so perhaps this is not a coinidence.
There is also the suggestion that the educated bishop (or abbot) is not as wise as the uneducated brother (or shepherd) - implying there is a "native wit" that is more valuable than school-book wisdom.
Standard References
The song is catalogued in Child BalladsChild Ballads
The Child Ballads are a collection of 305 ballads from England and Scotland, and their American variants, collected by Francis James Child in the late nineteenth century...
as number 45 and Roud Folk Song Index
Roud Folk Song Index
The Roud Folk Song Index is a database of 300,000 references to over 21,600 songs that have been collected from oral tradition in the English language from all over the world...
as 302.
It is sufficiently old and widespread to have its own entry in the Aarne-Thompson classification system
Aarne-Thompson classification system
The Aarne–Thompson classification system is a system for classifying folktales. First developed by Antti Aarne and published in 1910, it was translated and enlarged by Stith Thompson...
of fokltale classicifications, where it is classed as "AT 922". It is theoretically possible that it began as mythic folk tale, and was superimposed onto a story from history and then written as a song.
In 1923 Walter Anderson wrote a monograph called "Kaiser und Abt", mentioning 640 versions of the story. One of the Till Eulenspiegel
Till Eulenspiegel
Till Eulenspiegel was an impudent trickster figure originating in Middle Low German folklore. His tales were disseminated in popular printed editions narrating a string of lightly connected episodes that outlined his picaresque career, primarily in Germany, the Low Countries and France...
stories has the King of Poland pitted against Till Eulenspiegel in a similar battle of riddles.
Percy Grainger collected a version in 1906. Helen Hartness Flanders
Helen Hartness Flanders
Helen Hartness Flanders , a native of the U.S. state of Vermont, was an internationally recognized ballad collector and an authority on the folk music found in New England and the British Isles...
made a field recording on wax cylinder some time between 1930 and 1958.
Broadsides
Over 10 ballad operas mention the tune by name. There are another 3 or 4 instances of broadside printings/Chapbook printings of it, for example by Dicey and Marshall of Northampton.It is included in D'Urfey
Thomas d'Urfey
Thomas D'Urfey was an English writer and wit. He composed plays, songs, and poetry, in addition to writing jokes. He was an important innovator and contributor in the evolution of the Ballad opera....
's "Wit and Mirth or Pills to Purge Melancholy
Wit and Mirth, or Pills to Purge Melancholy
Wit and Mirth: Or Pills to Purge Melancholy is the title of a large collection of songs by Thomas d'Urfey, published between 1698 and 1720, which in its final, six-volume edition held over 1,000 songs and poems. The collection started as a single book compiled and published by Henry Playford who...
" (1719–1720). Another printing occurred a couple of years later in Collection of Old Ballads
Collection of Old Ballads
A Collection of Old Ballads is an anonymous book published 1723 - 1725 in three volumes in London by Roberts and Leach. It was the second major collection of British folksongs to be published, following "Pills To Purge Melancholy" ....
(1723)
Textual Variants
The song exists under the titles:- "King John and the Abbot of Canterbury"
- "King and the Abbot"
- "The Bishop of Canterbury"
- "The Bishop of Old Canterbury"
- "King John"
- "King John and the Bishop"
- "The King's Three Questions"
- "A New Ballad of King John and the Abbot of Canterbury"
- "Derry Down"
- "The Old Abbot and King Olfrey"
- "The Bishop of Canterbury and King John"
The versions from the USA, and versions collected in the twentieth century are less likely to depict King John as a villain in the opening verse.
Motifs
The ballad is discussed in "Notes and Queries" number 48, 2001, by James A Bracher. Six riddling questions are asked in Captain Wedderburn's CourtshipCaptain Wedderburn's Courtship
"Captain Wedderburn's Courtship" is an old Scottish ballad dating from 1785 or earlier. It is Child Ballad #46. It is known by a number of titles, including "Lord Roslin's Daughter" and "The Laird of Rosslyn's Daughter".-Synopsis:...
(Child ballad 46). Riddles Wisely Expounded
Riddles Wisely Expounded
"Riddles Wisely Expounded" is a traditional English song, dating at least to 1450. It is Child Ballad 1 and Roud 161, and exists in several variants...
(Child 1) has a similar character.
Literature
The short stories (novelle) of Franco Sachetti (b 1335) contain a version of the story."More English Fairy Tales" by Joseph Jacobs (1894) contains a version adapted from the song. In his scholarly notes he says that there is a version by Vincent of Beauvais
Vincent of Beauvais
The Dominican friar Vincent of Beauvais wrote the Speculum Maius, the main encyclopedia that was used in the Middle Ages.-Early life:...
.
There is an illustrated children's book called "Riddle Me This! Riddles and Stories to Challenge Your Mind" (2003) by Hugh Lupton. It contains "The Riddle Song" and "King John and the Bishop of Canterbury". Jan Mark
Jan Mark
Jan Mark was a British author, best known as a writer for children. She was christened Janet Marjorie Brisland in Welwyn Garden City in 1943 and was raised and educated in Kent. She was a secondary school teacher between 1965 and 1971, and became a full-time writer in 1974. She wrote over fifty...
wrote an illustrated children's book called "King John and the Abbot" (2006), based on the song.
The English poet John Gower wrote a story called "The Tale of the Three Questions" in "Confessio Amantis
Confessio Amantis
Confessio Amantis is a 33,000-line Middle English poem by John Gower, which uses the confession made by an ageing lover to the chaplain of Venus as a frame story for a collection of shorter narrative poems. According to its prologue, it was composed at the request of Richard II...
". The King is guilty of envy, asks three difficult questions, and sets a similar time limit. A distant relative of inferior standing comes to the rescue. The only problem is that the riddles
are not the same as the ones in the ballad. It has been suggested that the ballad was re-written in the sixteenth or seventeenth century in order insert new riddles, and so generate extra sales.
James Balwin retold the story in prose in the collection "Fifty Famous Stories Retold".
Collected by Asbjornsen and Moe as "The Parson and The Sexton".
Music
The tune is also known as "Shaking of the Sheets". It was printed with this title in 1776 in Hawkins "History of Music". It also appears as "Shakinge of the Sheetes" in William Ballet's lute manuscript. A tune of this title appears in the Stationer's register of 1568/9. The title is also mentioned in a play of 1560. The words that accompany this tune are a witty comparison between the bedsheets (a dance of life) and the winding sheets (the dance of death). "Shaking of the sheets" is sung by Steeleye SpanSteeleye Span
Steeleye Span are an English folk-rock band, formed in 1969 and remaining active today. Along with Fairport Convention they are amongst the best known acts of the British folk revival, and were among the most commercially successful, thanks to their hit singles "Gaudete" and "All Around My Hat"....
on the album Tempted and Tried
Tempted and Tried
Tempted and Tried is the 13th studio album by the electric folk band Steeleye Span. The album was recorded after a three-year hiatus after the release of Back in Line. After releasing ten albums in fairly rapid succession during the 1970s, the band entered something of a creative dry spell, with...
and by "The City Waites" on "Ghosts, Witches and Demons" (1995)
In Playford's dance manual (1650) this tune has the title "The Night Peece". Only with difficulty can the words of the Percy manuscript text, be made to fit this version of the tune. The tune also goes by the name "Derry Down". "The Night Peece" is the name of a dance in Playford's books.
Recordings
| Album/Single | Performer | Year | Variant | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| "Burly Banks of Barbry O: Eight Traditional British-American Ballads" | Elmer George | 1953 | "King John and Bishop" | . |
| "Child Ballads Traditional in the United States, Vol. 1" | Warde H Ford | 1960 (recorded 1938) | "The Bishop of Canterbury" | . |
| "All Things in Common" | Chris Foster | 1979 | "King John and the Abbot of Canterbury" | . |
| "Contentment Or, the Compeat Nutmeg-state songster" | Jim Douglas | 1986 | "King John and the Bishop" | . |
| "D-Major Singers Vol 3" | D-Major singers | 1994 | "Bishop of Canterbury" | . |
| "Ballads Thrice Twisted" | Margaret MacArthur Margaret MacArthur Margaret MacArthur was an American singer and player of the Appalachian dulcimer.Margaret Crowl was born in Chicago. As a youngster, she moved around with her family - in California, Louisiana, and Arizona. She remembered that at the age of five she heard cowboys on the timber crew singing folk... |
1999 | "King John and the Bishop" | . |
Musical variants
In 1891 Charles Josph Frost wrote a cantata "King John and the Abbot of Canterbury" based on the ballad.Other songs with the same tune
Thomas BakerThomas Baker (attorney)
Thomas Baker was a British attorney writer. He was active as a playwright in London in the first decade of the eighteenth century, penning The Fine Lady's Airs and other plays, then moved to Bedfordshire and lived there as a schoolmaster and vicar until his death in 1749...
's play "Tunbridge-Walks; or, The Yeoman of Kent" (1703) contains the ballad, but only the opening verses. This appearance may have been the inspiration for the tune being used on stage several times over the next 50 years, with different words.
In 1728 the ballad opera "Penelope" by Thomas Cooke and John Mottley
John Mottley
John Mottley was an English writer, known as a dramatist, biographer, and compiler of jokes.-Life:He was the son of Colonel Thomas Mottley, a Jacobite adherent of James II in his exile, who entered the service of Louis XIV, and was killed at the battle of Turin in 1706; his mother was Dionisia,...
used the tune. The same is true for Charles Johnson with his ballad opera "The Village Opera". In Charles Coffey
Charles Coffey
Charles Coffey was an Irish playwright and composer.His best known opera is probably The Beggar’s Wedding , which capitalizes on the success of John Gay's The Beggar's Opera...
's ballad opera "The Beggar's Wedding" (1729) there is a song ("When beggars do marry for better for worse"), set to the air "Abbot of Canterbury". He used the tune again in "The Devil To Pay" (1731), and yet again in "The Boarding School" (1733).
Thomas Cooke's ballad opera "Love and Revenge" (1729) uses the tune. In 1731 the ballad opera "The Jovial Crew" (by Matthew Concanen
Matthew Concanen
-Life:He studied law in Ireland but travelled to London as a young man, and began writing political pamphlets in support of the Whig government. He also wrote for newspapers including the London Journal and The Speculatist. He published a volume of poems, some of which were original works and some...
and others) was published with one song, entitled "The Snipe". It carried the direction that it was to be sung to the tune "The Abbot of Canterbury". Henry Fielding
Henry Fielding
Henry Fielding was an English novelist and dramatist known for his rich earthy humour and satirical prowess, and as the author of the novel Tom Jones....
's play "Tumble-Down Dick" (1736) contains a song, "You Wonder Perhaps at the Tricks of the Stage", sung to the air "Abbot of Canterbury".
Abraham Langford
Abraham Langford
Abraham Langford was an English auctioneer and playwright.-Life:He was born in the parish of St Paul, Covent Garden. As a young man he wrote for the stage, and was responsible, according to the Biographia Dramatica, for an 'entertainment' called 'The Judgement of Paris,' which was produced in 1730...
's play "The Lover His Own Rival" (1736) uses the tune. In 1737 Dr Johnson
Samuel Johnson
Samuel Johnson , often referred to as Dr. Johnson, was an English author who made lasting contributions to English literature as a poet, essayist, moralist, literary critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer...
published a collection of opinions on poems and songs. It includes this entry:
'The Gossipping: a ballad. To the tune of King John and the Abbot of Canterbury.' A mythological ditty of fourteen verses, each ending with a derry down.
It is not known where this song comes from.
In 1750 "The Gentleman" magazine published a song called "A Ballad of New Scotland", to be sung to the tune "King John and the Abbot of Canterbury". "New Scotland" is a reference to Halifax in Canada, founded 1749. A collection of songs called "The Button Hole Gallery" (c 1720 - 1750) contains a riddling song called "The Button Hole". It was sung to the air "The Abbot of conterbury". It reappeared as part of a collection of songs called "Merry Songs" (1897), edited by John S. Farmer.
Further reading
- "English and Scottish Popular Ballads" (1904) by Helen Child Sargent and George Lyman KittredgeGeorge Lyman KittredgeGeorge Lyman Kittredge was a celebrated professor and scholar of English literature at Harvard University. His scholarly edition of the works of William Shakespeare' as well as his writings and lectures on Shakespeare and other literary figures made him one of the most influential American...
- "A Garland of Green Mountain Song" (1934) by Helen Hartness Flanders
- "The Ballad Book of John John Jacob Niles" (1961) by John Jacob Niles
External links
The ballad is discussed here:The Gower issue is discussed here:
W. F. H. Nicolaisen's theory
Jan Mark's book:
The lyrics are given here:
The lyrics to "Shaking of the Sheets" are given here:
Prose version by Joseph Jacobs:
Aarne-Thompson Type 922:
Various Ballad operas mention the tune:
The text of Coffey's "The Beggars' Wedding" is given here:
The text of Fielding's "Tumble-Down Dick" is given here:
The songs from "The Jovial Crew" are listed here:
Quotations from Dr Johnson's "Poems on various occasions" are given here:
The song "The Button Hole" is given here:
A description of the dance "The Night Peece" is given here, together with printed music