Medieval Influences and England role in Prog Rock

 

Again, I really enjoyed your research into this vague, almost unknown, but extremely perplexing song.

There is a possible reason why this song is 'almost unknown' and that relates back to the earlier post Dave made in response to Pedro's comment about England not being a catholic country. Had England remain catholic then it is possible that given the hymnal like phrasing of the song it would have preserved it as a hymn and not forgotten it as a folk song - however, it is equally possible that it wouldn't have existed at all for the same reason.

This is because the song deals with purgatory, which is a medieval catholic concept that is rejected by all protestant religions. Yet anglican protestants didn't completely deny the basic premise of purgatory and limbo. The anglican church of England officially rejected the idea of purgatory over the period between 1563 and 1571 for several reasons, (but not the same ones Luther gave for European protestants), where putting an end to the commercialisation of salvation by the monasteries was one of them and the excommunication of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I by the Pope being another. However belief in it didn't go away as it takes more than an official dictate to dispel a superstition (having once believed something it's quite difficult to then unbelieve it). 

The population continued to believe in restless spirits and still prayed for the dead even though officially such prayers had been removed from the book of common prayer in 1571. For example writing in 1600 Shakespeare places the ghost of Hamlet's father in purgatory and evidence of Lyke Wake Dirge existing in 1616 and 1686 further indicates that belief in purgatory continued in protestant England, albeit as a folk tradition rather than an officially condoned religious one. The removal of prayers for the dead from the book of common prayer could be why Lyke Wake Dirge existed at all and why no evidence of its existence can be found prior to 1571. Historians will note that the period between 1616 and 1686 (specifically 1643 to 1660) is not insignificant and marks a time of anti-catholic and anti-anglican puritanism in England that denounced the concept of purgatory completely, which could indicate a different, but not dissimilar, reason for its existence. That's not to say it didn't exist before then or that it wasn't based upon an earlier song but goes someway to explain why we have evidence for it from that particular post-medieval time. 

This also gives us a different perspective with which to view those two tricky 'silver and gold' verses and why two different versions of it exist - with them it's catholic and without them it's anglican. The structure of the song strongly suggests that the catholic-leaning version pre-dates the anglican-leaning version but it still does not make it medieval in origin. Regardless of whatever religion the songwriter practiced at the time of writing it, if it was written between 1571 and 1616 then it is highly probable that they would have been born catholic so would have included those rogue verses.

...food for thought. 

I'd say "found it's way onto an album by a Prog band" because while Basket of Light is The Pentangles most successful and most Jazz-Rock-Pop-Blues-Folk album, it's not really a Prog Rock album. Also Lyke Wake Dirge is the most traditional sounding (no-Jazz, no-Rock, no-Blues) track on the album albeit sounding more Elizabethan rather than Medieval (wherever the tune came from, it was probably much later than any written copy of the lyric).

However, that's all splitting hairs really - whether it's 1780, 1680, 1580 or 1080 make little odds, it's bloody old and was used by, (dammit I'm going to come right out and say it), the most influential Jazz-Rock-Pop-Blues-Folk band in Prog.

 

The origins of purgatory are far more interesting that the origins of heaven and hell, and point to the eternal possibility of regret, change and redemption. Something that human beings can actually aspire to in this life. And, obviously the "after walker" and it's remedy has survived through the ages in the in the eastern European vampire lore, which found it's way into Bram Stoker's Dracula.