The Woeful Lamentation of Jane Shore is an English broadside ballad from the 17th century. It tells the story of Jane Shore, a mistress of King Edward IV, and her downfall after the death of Edward. Copies of the broadside can be found at the British Library, the University of Glasgow Library, and Magdelene College.
Contents
Synopsis
The ballad is broken up into two parts. In the first part, Jane Shore laments her downfall after the death of King Edward IV. Jane tells us that her parents forced her to marry young against her will to a man named Matthew Shore. She had a "wanton mind" and spend her life "lewdly," living on Lombard Street, where she showed off her beauty. Eventually, her name made it to the royal court and she caught the eye of King Edward IV, who fell in love with her. Through lust and pride, and in part because of the encouragement of her friend and neighbor, Mrs. Blague, she "defiled her bed" with the King and became his concubine. She reaps the rewards of the courtly life, including a good living and the ability to command Edward at will, while her husband grieves and eventually leaves England to spend the rest of his life as a sailor.
When Edward dies, and after a very brief succession by his 12-year-old son, Edward V, his brother, Richard III, becomes king and turns against the friends of Edward, including Jane Shore. He forces her to do public penance in Lombard Street, where thousands of people see her dressed in a sheet. He takes all of her clothes and money and vows that nobody will be able to help her. She turns to Mrs. Blague for help, but Mrs. Blague refuses to give her back her diamonds, and throws her out. When a man she had helped out once offers her food, Richard sentences him to death. She becomes a beggar and dies naked in a ditch by the side of the road. She warns other maidens not to become like her.
The second part of the ballad is told from the standpoint of Matthew Shore, who tells Jane that she has brought him to disgrace. He cries every day for being cuckolded, and finally leaves for Flanders, France, Spain, and Turkey. He goes to a fortune teller and looks in a crystal ball, where he sees Jane embracing Edward, and then sees her dead, naked in the street. He finally goes back to England, where he is sentenced to death for "clipping gold."
Cultural and Historical Significance
Francis James Child says that this ballad "adheres to matter of fact with a fidelity very uncommon," citing the description of Jane Shore from Michael Drayton's notes following a letter from Shore to King Edward included in his England's Historical Epistles (1597). In these notes, Drayton describes Shore as follows: "Her stature was meane, her haire of a dark yellow, her face round and full, her eye gray, delicate harmony being betwixt each part's proportion, and each proportion's colour, her body fat, white, and smooth, her countenance cheerfull and like to her condition."
Richard Helgerson argues that the ballad drew on the version of the story as told by Thomas Heywood, where Jane's "tears have become nourishment for London audiences." According to Helgerson, Jane's story is popular with audiences because the everyday domestic world that they belong to is elevated to the status of tragedy.