Dance tune by and performed on the harp by Vanessa Wood-Davies arr. Peacock's Tale. Vocal Maz. Percussion and dance calls Gaz. Lyric by Peacock's Tale. We tell the story of the Great Fire of Lynn and what the visionary Margery Kempe did there and also what she said and did when a heresy court threatened her with death by fire and on a late voyage when confronted with death by water.

St Margaret's is burning but Jesus tells me
Here in my mind that all shall be well.
"Shall I carry the Sacrament towards the fire?"
Asks our priest. - Sir, yes. And to hell.

St Margaret's is burning; I'm urging the Lord
Here in my mind, let the high heavens snow
To quench this fire and ease my heart's woe.
"A Miracle!" cries Lynn, till my heart's tears flow.

Out of my gender, out of my class and out of my mind,
Out of my body and leaving the age I was born to behind,
Where priests hurry Mass, to get back to their lusts, pies, slanders and beer:
Fruit gorged by a bear and discharged from its rear.

Now I'm old and wounded, the Lord God tells me
Here in my mind, You must go to Danzig.
I excuse you, escort you and lead you, for I
Am above your confessor, although he bans it.

Who shall be against you, the Lord God tells me
Here in my mind, then a friar says it too.
In storm and war, through slander and curse
Who shall be against, if I am with you?

Out of my gender, out of my class and out of my mind,
Out of my time and leaving the life I was born to behind,
Where priests hurry Mass, to get back to their lusts, pies, slanders and beer
And my woman's words must be wasted in tears.

Originally composed with Vanessa for the Songs from Skirting Heresy album (and the soundtrack for the play of that name performed in Sept 2018 at Margery's church, Lynn Minster) and performed by we three as part of the Penland Phezants.

From the Book of Margery Kempe:

After this she went homewards again, until she came to West Lynn. When she was there, she sent into Bishop's Lynn for her husband, for Master Robert (Springolde) her confessor, and for Master Aleyn, a doctor of divinity, and told them in part of her tribulations. And afterwards she told them that she wold not come home to ~Bishop's Lynn until such time as she had been to the Archbishop of Canterbury for his letter and his seal.
"For when I was before the Archbishop of York," she said, he wold give no credence to my words, inasmuch as I didn't have my Lord of Canterbury's letter and seal. And so I promised him that I would not come to Bishop's Lynn until I had my Lord of Canterbury's letter and seal."
And so she took her leave of the said clerks, asking their blessing, and went on with her husband to London. When she got there, she was soon successful over her letter from the Achbishop of Canterbury. And so she stayed in the City of London a long time, and was very well received by many worthy men.
Afterwards, she was going towards Ely on her way home to Lynn, and she was three miles from Ely, when a man came riding after them at great speed, and crested her husband and her also, intending to take them both to prison. He cruelly rebuked them and utterly reviled them, repeating many reporting word. And at last she asked her husband to show him my Lord of Canterbury's letter. When the man had read the letter he spoke handsomely and kindly to them, saying, "Why didn't you show me your letter before?"
And so they parted from him, and then came to Ely, and from there home to Lynn, where she suffered much humiliation, much reproof, many a scorn, many a slander and many a curse.
And on one occasion a reckless man, caring little for his own shame, deliberately and on purpose threw a bowlful of water on her head as she was coming along the street. She, not at all disturbed bu it, said, "God make you a good man", highly thanking God for it, as she did if many other things at different times.

From Book 1. Chapter 55.

St Margaret's Is Burning (with Vanessa Wood-Davies)

https://youtu.be/ajVfKAQeLWg (second half)

A comedy song with a howl at its heart ("we're anchorless and quite alone") and some scholarly research into an obscure period, 14C Hanseatic Lynn. 

(spoken at start) I send ambassadors to scold
The Grand Teutonic Chief
And stops all England trading till
Lynn funds that royal brief:

It’s trade that makes the world go round:
Their timber for our wool;
War by another name, not love,
Who dreams it's love's a fool.

He’s 5 times Mayor, the Merchant Prince,
Twice MP of his town;
He’ll rope you in, he'll haul you up,
Make waves where others drown.

He represents His Majesty
Against the Prussian threat;
Their ships attack ours over there,
We make theirs pay the debt.

We're anchorless and quite alone,
Is all he says to me;
I say we're washed in Jesu's love,
He says we're all at sea.

I hear the angels’ soaring song
In whipped sails and Wash gulls;
Their wings in trade winds fair and foul,
The bumping of the hulls.

The privateers and pirates steal
Where merchants wheel and deal;
Our Hanseatic treaties keep 
A kind of even keel.

We're anchorless and quite alone,
Is all he says to me;
I say we're washed in Jesu's love,
He says we're all at sea.

The biggest fish in Lynn's great pool,
Lynn's news, its Public Face;
It all comes out, or in, his Wash,
His Tuesday Market Place.

“It’s trade that makes the world go round:
Their fish and pitch; our salt;
War by another name, not love,
Who dreams it's love's a dolt.”

We're anchorless and quite alone,
Is all he says to me;
I say we're washed in Jesu's love,
He says we're all at sea.

“You can't wed Jesus, daughter dear,
Unless you are a nun,
There's plenty more fish in the sea
With a house and shop to run.

“It’s trade that makes the world go round:
Their furs; our cloth and grain;
War by another name, not love,
Who dreams it's love's insane.”

Margery is usually portrayed as proud of her merchant prince father, Richard III's royal agent in the then premier league Hanseatic port of Lynn and - by contrast - highly critical of her less high-ranking burgess husband There is certainly no explicit antagonism in the Book towards her father and plenty towards the husband who got her pregnant 14 plus times in 20 years. If in  "The Book of Margery Kempe" Book 1 Chapter 46, she sounds proud of her husband, it is surely only because she is emphasising the respectability of her kindred under threat of prison.
So if we can perhaps question the father pride too. True, she doesn't disparage him elsewhere in the text as she does John and the common people of Lynn; but she doesn't show much interest in him either. Except when she drops his name in a tight spot, the autobiography is silent about the father who, under Richard III, was the prime mover and shaker in one of the biggest ports of the Hanseatic world. Margery's two efforts at business - brewing and a horse mill- both failed dismally and seem amateur. She doesn't seem to have been prepared for anything except marriage and endless childbearing.
Tune by Andy wall. This track imagines her dreamy-teen thoughts about her very worldly father. Pic is Maz at Brandon Creek, source of Lynn's prosperity.

The Ballad of John Brunham

A marriage (and we are actually married, 45 years so far) of melody and rhythm. We do folk, indie, Americana, Norfolk noir, beat poems &  ghazals. Traditional tunes with contemporary beats. Music videos  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCb8wV0-DNiFs1R5G2VSytBQ
Maz lead & harmony vocals, acoustic guitar. Gaz vocals, voice, bass, drums & percussion, harmonium, recorders, lyre harp, field recordings.

New tracks tagged #14C