Six Dukes Went a-Fishing
Encyclopedia
"Six Dukes Went a-Fishing" (Roud
# 78) is a traditional English folk ballad.
is among the first documented accounts of this ballad. It seems likely that the song depicts a real set of events. The best candidate for the body is that of William de la Pole
, the first Duke of Suffolk, who was murdered in 1450 by his enemies and thrown into the sea off Dover. De la Pole's untimely death is dramatised in Shakespeare's Henry VI, Part 2
.
As collected by Percy Grainger, in Lincolnshire (1906)
Six dukes went a-fishing,
Down by yon sea-side,
One of them spied a dead body,
Lain by the waterside.
The one said to the other,
These words I heard them say,
"It's the royal Duke of Grantham,
That the tide has washed away."
They took him up to Portsmouth,
To a place where was known,
From there up to London,
To the place where he was born.
They took out his bowels,
And stretched out his feet,
And they balmed his body,
With roses so sweet.
Six dukes stood before him,
Twelve raised him from the ground,
Nine lords followed after him,
In their black mourning gown.
Black was their mourning,
And white were the wands,
And so yellow were the flamboys,
That they carried in their hands.
Now he lies betwixt two towers,
He now lies in cold clay,
And the Royal Queen of Grantham,
Went weeping away.
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...
# 78) is a traditional English folk ballad.
Synopsis
Six dukes go to the coast on a fishing trip but find the body of another duke, that of Grantham, washed up on the shore. They take him away, embalm his remains with sweet-smelling ointments and bury him. His wife is, of course, not very happy with this turn of events.Commentary
A 1690 broadsideBroadside (music)
A broadside is a single sheet of cheap paper printed on one side, often with a ballad, rhyme, news and sometimes with woodcut illustrations...
is among the first documented accounts of this ballad. It seems likely that the song depicts a real set of events. The best candidate for the body is that of William de la Pole
William de la Pole, 1st Duke of Suffolk
William de la Pole, 1st Duke of Suffolk, KG , nicknamed Jack Napes , was an important English soldier and commander in the Hundred Years' War, and later Lord Chamberlain of England.He also appears prominently in William Shakespeare's Henry VI, part 1 and Henry VI, part 2 and other...
, the first Duke of Suffolk, who was murdered in 1450 by his enemies and thrown into the sea off Dover. De la Pole's untimely death is dramatised in Shakespeare's Henry VI, Part 2
Henry VI, part 2
Henry VI, Part 2 or The Second Part of Henry the Sixt is a history play by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1591, and set during the lifetime of King Henry VI of England...
.
Lyrics
Six Dukes Went a-FishingAs collected by Percy Grainger, in Lincolnshire (1906)
Six dukes went a-fishing,
Down by yon sea-side,
One of them spied a dead body,
Lain by the waterside.
The one said to the other,
These words I heard them say,
"It's the royal Duke of Grantham,
That the tide has washed away."
They took him up to Portsmouth,
To a place where was known,
From there up to London,
To the place where he was born.
They took out his bowels,
And stretched out his feet,
And they balmed his body,
With roses so sweet.
Six dukes stood before him,
Twelve raised him from the ground,
Nine lords followed after him,
In their black mourning gown.
Black was their mourning,
And white were the wands,
And so yellow were the flamboys,
That they carried in their hands.
Now he lies betwixt two towers,
He now lies in cold clay,
And the Royal Queen of Grantham,
Went weeping away.
Recordings
- A.L. Lloyd recorded it on the album Great British Ballads Not Included in the Child Collection (1956) and again on A Selection from the Penguin Book of English Folk Songs (1960), this latter re-issued in 2003 on England and Her Traditional Songs
- ShirleyShirley CollinsShirley Elizabeth Collins MBE is a British folksinger who was a significant contributor to the English Folk Revival of the 1960s and 1970s...
and Dolly CollinsDolly CollinsDorothy Ann Collins, known as Dolly Collins , was an English folk musician, arranger and composer. She was the older sister of Shirley Collins....
recorded the ballad as Six Dukes on their album Love, Death and the Lady (1970)