town charter

charter for privileges
a hundred years old

once a village
now a town

once mere serfs
dependent upon
the lord bishop
mere peasants in a field

yet at a crossroad
good for trade
near a river
good for boats

suddenly peasants
became rich men
getting strange ideas
from foreign men

impossible now
to please
they waited for
a chance

the bishop wanted
money for a crusade
rich serfs bought their
charter and became townsmen

they held their
heads high
with pride

unhappy were
the nobles
who once were
their masters
especially the bishop

these serfs
what do they know
thinks the bishop

he revokes
the charter
but too late
men in the streets
shouting
commune commune

the mob that
sacks the
episcopal palace
finds the bishop
in a cask
at the bottom
of the cellar
his fate
a hatchet in the head.

the king sends
in the soldiers
the charter revoked
but not for long
the tides of trade
hard to hold back
soon again
serfs no more.

[Loosely based on a passage in Life on a Mediaeval Barony by W. S. Davis.]