Monthly Archives: June 2019

Rime of King William

For those of you interested in making music out of our long-past heritage, consider this!:

He had castles built
and poor men terribly oppressed.
The king was severe
and he took many marks of gold and
hundreds of pounds of silver from his underlings.
All this he took from the people,
and with great injustice
from his subjects,
out of trivial desire.
He had fallen into avarice
and he loved greediness above everything else
He established many deer preserves
and he set up many laws concerning them
such that whoever killed a hart or a hind
should be blinded.
He forbade (hunting of) harts
and also of boars.
He loved the wild deer
as if he were their father.
And he also decreed that the hares
should be allowed to run free.
His great men complained of it,
and his poor men lamented it;
but he was so severe
that he ignored all their needs.
But they had to follow above all else
the king’s will,
if they wanted to live
or hold on to land,
land or property (or esteem)
or have his good favour.
Woe, that any man
should be so proud
as to raise himself up
and reckon himself above all men.
May almighty God show mercy on his soul
and forgive him his sins.