Digital Tradition Mirror

Death of Queen Jane

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Pennywhistle notation and Dulcimer tab for this song is also available

Death of Queen Jane

Queen Jane lay in labor full nine days or more
'Til the women were so tired, they could stay no longer there (2x)

"Good women, good women, good women as ye be
Do open my right side and find my baby"

"Oh no," said the women, "That never can be
We will send for King Henry, and hear what he say."

King Henry was sent for, King Henry did come
"What do ail you, my lady, your eyes look so dim?"

"King Henry, King Henry, will you do one thing for me?
That's to open my right side and find my baby"

"Oh no," said King Henry, "That's a thing I'll never do
If I lose the Flower of England, I shall lose the branch too"

King Henry went mourning and so did his men
And so did the dear baby, for Queen Jane did die then

And how deep was the mourning, how black were the bands
How yellow, yellow were the flamboys they carried in their hands

There was fiddling, aye, and dancing on the day the babe was born
But poor Queen Jane beloved lay cold as a stone.

Child #170
King Henry VIII had six wives and three children.  Queen Jane Seymour,
the third wife bore the third child, the only son.  She died twelve
days after the birth, which was not a Caesarean.  The child, King
Edward VI, was a sickly child and reigned only a few years as a
teenager.
Recorded by Cynthia Gooding, Joan Baez and by the Bothy Band
SOF

Thanks to Mudcat for the Digital Tradition!