The Song of the Western Men
Cornwall, the most westerly of English counties and ancestral home of the Cornick family, is one of my favourite places. Like the other
wild Celtic parts of the British Isles it is blessed with stunning scenery and vivid legends. Cornwall also has its own "national anthem." "The Song of the Western Men" was written in 1824 byRobert Steven Hawker who was a poet, antiquarian and clergyman. It was thought to have been based on an earlier song written about a Cornish rebellion of 1497 or on another song of 1807 written at the height of the threat of Napoleonic invasion when the men of Cornwall swore to protect their native land.
"The Song of the Western Men" tells of events that took place in 1688 when Bishop Jonathan Trelawny was imprisoned in the Tower of London by King James II. Trelawny had been born at Pelynt, the son of the 2nd Baronet of Trelawne, an old Cornish family that had supported th Royalist side during the English Civil War. Jonathan Trelawny and six other bishops petitioned against James II's Declaration of Indulgence granting religious toleration to Catholics and as a result he was imprisoned for seditious libel. Trelawny was held for three weeks before trial, then tried and acquitted. This led to great celebrations, with bells being rung in his home parish of Pelynt. The march on London that is described in the song only reached as far as Bristol before Trelawny was acquitted. He became Bishop of Exeter and later Bishop of Winchester.
The Song of the Western Men
A good sword and a trusty hand!
A merry heart and true!
King James's men shall understand
What Cornish lads can do!
And have they fixed the where and when?
And shall Trelawny die?
Here's twenty thousand Cornish men
Will know the reason why!
Chorus:
And shall Trelawny live?
And shall Trelawny die?
Here's twenty thousand Cornish men
Will know the reason why!
Out spake their Captain brave and bold:
A merry wight was he:
'If London Tower were Michael's hold,
We'd set Trelawny free!
'We'll cross the Tamar, land to land:
The Severn is no stay:
With "one and all," and hand in hand;
And who shall bid us nay?
Chorus:
And shall Trelawny live? , etc.
'And when we come to London Wall,
A pleasant sight to view,
Come forth! come forth! ye cowards all:
Here's men as good as you.
'Trelawny he's in keep and hold;
Trelawny he may die:
But twenty thousand Cornish bold
Will know the reason why!'
Chorus:
And shall Trelawny live? , etc.
There is a link here to a rousing version of the song!
©2011 Nicola Cornick. All Rights Reserved.
.
