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Friday, February 29, 2008

Karma Chameleon of the Sixteenth Century


If the reverend Aleyn were a tree, determining his age would be a much simpler matter. I've tried questioning him about events that he remembers, but most of them were things that happened in the village where he grew up. It should be possible to refer to the records of the convent where he was educated, but since different people still spell things in their own unique ways, even that leaves room for doubt.

I thought the best way to explore his experience would be to visit him in old age, but now I wonder if I haven't come a little too late. The poor fellow's memory is clearly deteriorating, and his attention span is limited. Like so many very old people, he seems to have no concept of time, and is quite content to ramble at length, wandering into the highways and byways as his memory opens different gates.

As time goes on, and with the occasional reminder from his daughter, Alyson, we manage to establish that he was appointed to the preferment of the village of Bray in 1523, when Henry VIII was king. Twelve years later the Act of Supremacy was passed in Parliament, sundering the Church of England from the Church of Rome and establishing the English monarch as the head of the English church.

However uncomfortable his conscience might have been about the changes, the reverend Aleyn accepted them and continued in his incumbency. Of course, the king had demonstrated that opposition to his rule would not be tolerated in any case. In 1534 the Treasons Act had imposed the death penalty on anyone who defied the Act of Supremacy, continuing to recognize the Pope as supreme authority of the church in England.

With the death of Henry in 1547, his only son, Edward, ascended to the throne. Always a frail young man, Edward VI lasted six years, to be superseded briefly by Jane Grey who scarcely had time to sit down before Edward's older sister, Mary, entered London triumphantly, claiming the English throne with the support of the people although she had been excluded from the line of succession by the First Succession Act, as a bastard child of Catherine of Aragon.

Mary was a devout catholic, and no more tolerant than her father. One of her first acts on ascending to the throne was to repeal her father's Act of Supremacy, re-establishing papal authority over the church in England. By his own account, Simon Aleyn changed his allegiance to accord with that of the establishment, and succeeded in holding his preferment.

Presumably attempting to reconcile the schism between England and Rome, she married Philip of Spain, and catholicism was once more the religion of England. During her five year reign, Mary failed to produce an heir, and Philip began showing an interest in Mary's half-sister Elizabeth. When Mary died childless late in 1558, Elizabeth, who would be celebrated as Gloriana by her people, turned England away from catholicism once more. And once more, the reverend Aleyn mounted the pulpit to declare that monarchs are appointed by God, and should be obeyed as such.

Certainly, the song below wasn't written with Simon Aleyn in mind, but he could well have laid the foundations. Faced with a choice between losing his job and being burnt at the stake, what would any sensible person do?
X:66 % number
T:The Vicar of Bray % title
C:English traditional % composer
O:Songs and Dances of England % origin.
M:4/4 % meter
L:1/8 % length of shortest note
Q:90 % tempo
K:D % key
V:1 % voice 1
A | "D" dc/B/ AB | "A7" GA "D" FF/G/ | AD "G" GF "A7" E2 "D" DA |
w:In good Ki-ng Charles-'s gold-en time, when_ loy-al-ty no harm meant. A
w:When Roy-al_ James poss-ess'd the crown, and_ pope-ry came in fash-ion, the
w:When Wil-li-am was our King de-clared, to_ ease the na-tion's griev-ance, with
w:When Roy-al_ Anne be-came our Queen, the_ Church of Eng-land's Glo-ry, A-
w:When George in_ Pud-ding Time came o'er, and_ moder-ate men look'd big, Sir, my
w:The~il-lustr-ious_ House of Han-o-ver and_ Pro-tes-tant suc-ces-sion, to
%-----------------------------------------------------
dc/B/ AB "A7" GA "D" FF/G/ | AD "G" GF "A7" E "D" DA |
w:zeal-ous high church--man was I and_ so I gained pre-fer-ment. To
w:Re-nal_ Laws I hoot-ed down, and_ read the Dec-la-ra-tion. The
w:this new_ wind a-bout I steered and_ swore to him al-le-giance. Old
w:no-ther_ face of things was seen, and_ I be-came a Tor-y. Oc-
w:prin-ci--ples I changed once more, and_ so be-came a Whig, Sir. And
w:these I_ do al-le-giance swear, while_ they can keep pos-ses-sion. For
%--------------------------------------------------------------------
"Bm" dB "A" cA "Bm" dc/B/ "F#m" cA | "Bm" dc/d/ "A" ed/c/ "E7" B "A" A A |
w:teach my flock I nev-er_ miss'd, Kings are by_ God ap--point-ed, and
w:Church of Rome I found did_ fit full well my_ con-sti-tu-ti-on. And
w:prin-ci-ples I did re--voke, set con-science_ at a_ dis-tance, pas-
w:ca-sion-al con-form-ists_ base, I blamed their_ mod-er-a-ti-on, and
w:thus pre-fer-ment I pro--cured from our new_ faith's de--fen-der, and
w:in my faith and loy-al--ty I ne-ver_ more will_ fal-ter, and
%--------------------------------------------------------------------
"D" dc/B/ AB "A7" GA "D" FF/G/ | AD "G" GF "A7" !fermata! E "D" DA |
w:damned are_ those who dare re-sist, or_ touch the Lord's a-noint-ed. And
w:I had_ been a Jes-u-it but_ for the Re-vo-lu-tion. And
w:sive o--be-dience was a joke, a_ jest was non-re-sist-ance. And
w:thought the_ Church in dan-ger was by_ such pre-va-ri-ca-tion. And
w:al-most_ ever-y day ad-jured the_ Pope and the Pre-ten-der. And
w:George my_ law-ful King shall be... un--til the times do al-ter. And
%------------------------------------------------------
"Bm" dB "A" cA "Bm" dB "F#m" cA | "Bm" dc/d/ "A" ed/c/ "E7" B "A" AA |
w:this is law, that I'll main-tain, un-til my_ dy-ing_ day, sir, that
"D" dc/B/ AB "A7" GA "D" FG | AD/D/ "G" G/G/F "A7" E "D" !fermata! D ||
w:what-so--ev-er King may reign, still I'll be the Vi-car of Bray, Sir!

To convert the code above to sheet music, or listen to the tunes, copy the code for a single song, then paste it here and [submit].


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