Her cousin Stephen swore an oath to recognize her as rightful heir to Henry's throne, but he broke the oath as soon as Henry died. Queen Matilda was the daughter of Henry I.However a patriotic Englishman in the time of Elizabeth would not necessarily distinguish between “the barons” and “the people.” Please don't write to tell me that it wasn't “the people” who rose up against John, it was a coalition of barons interested in maintaining their own privileges.That in this land no one shall rule by force of might alone. If you would be a tyrant know before you take our throne We sent his ships and sailors to their doom at Neptune's feet,Īnd thus the same to all who would his foolish task repeat. When Philip sent his mighty fleet our island to oppressĪnd take from us the freedoms given by our dear queen Bess,

So up they rose against the King and forced his laws aside. The Men of Kent would not allow their rights to be denied, Said Mary Tudor I'll suppress dissent by Holy Fire,īut we survived her wretched reign and proved she was a liar. We proved her wrong and cast her down among the Wessex farms Said Queen Matilda I will win respect by force of arms, To rule us well first earn respect as befits your nobility No king or queen can take from us our ancient liberty The people one and all rose up to fight off the tyrant's hands When Mary the Queen of Scots tried to bring traitors to these lands, When Israelites were trodden down by Bab'lon's painted whore, When bad king John ruled all the land, oppressed his people sore, Here's a hint: it's not Russia, China, or India. No prize if you can name the most powerful country in the world that has never had a female ruler. Misogynarchy (if that's the appropriate word for disliking female rulers) became unpopular when Elizabeth came to the throne and proved a ruler more capable than even her father. His actual target was Queen Mary of Scotland, who was not only a woman, but was Catholic, while Knox was one of the leading figures in the Scottish Reformation. John Knox even wrote a treatise declaring that no woman should ever have a throne. It was commonly believed in England that women could not and should not rule (the reign of Queen Matilda was much disliked). You'll note that (except for John and Philip and the king against whom the men of Kent revolted) all those named are women. 1600, at the end of Elizabeth's long reign. This one is written by my SCA alter ego, an Elizabethan living ca. If you wanted to be safe, you wrote about foreign kings (though this is dangerous, since you might find yourself writing about your own future king), and even better, dead ones (Herod and the Pharaoh were favorite targets). More often the diatribes are directed against the king's policies (usually blamed on his advisors). No doubt many of those in power took Nero's advise: Let them hate, so long as they fear. The big difference the bill of rights makes is that you know what you can get away with without it, you have to depend on the restraint of the individual. Medieval criticism of the government or those in power is a lot more common (at least in English culture) than you might expect, given the non-existence of the bill of rights there are even diatribes against reigning kings (though they are understandably rare). (Words help, of course.but words alone can do little) I'd like to think that songs like these will help stop abuses of power.but I'm a realist: it will take more than words to do that. Here's another one inspired by blatant abuses of power, and another fast filk (it took me about a day to rough it out, and another day to polish). A Warning to Tyrants Copyright 2005 by Jeff Suzuki

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