Words to historical war chants

[KeithFarrell]

I am posting this message on behalf of one of the other instructors in my group who does not have an account here. Does anyone know of historical war chants (from any period of history), specifically does anyone know the words for these chants?

[ForTheMarshal]

Maggie, Maggie, Maggie!
Out! Out! Out!

Maggie, Maggie, Maggie!
Out! Out! Out!

Maggie!
Out!

Maggie!
Out!

Maggie, Maggie, Maggie!
Out! Out! Out!

But in seriousness, just posting to get emails when your thread is answered,as am interested in knowing too.

[Hobbitstomper]

A Keltic one, passed down through time by word of mouth. Channelling the force of the wyld wood and woad:

I don’t know but it’s been said
Roman skirts are gurly red
Stuck in barracks they’ve got time
To polish helmets ‘till they’re blind

Romans go home, Romans GO HOME!



A traditional English one, chanted by a bunch of losers on a hill:

Oout
Oout
Oout
.... (Repeat untill the Normans kill your king)

[Brian la Zouche]

i have heard this a few times, shouted by what i assume to be barbarian hordes

''cum an hav a good if ya fink ya hard enuff''

interspaced with

''whoes the b*****d in the black''

[Marcus Woodhouse]

"A Clarence! A Wawick!"
Allegedly spoken before "Run, run, away!"

[acecat999]

engerlund engulund engerlund

engurland engurland engurland



repeats

[samozain]

Thanks for you dis.

[behanner]

http://books.google.com/books?id=LFxBAA ... #v=onepage

[Marcus Woodhouse]

WHAT??? You expect people to try and find stuff out for themselves!!!

[behanner]

No that link goes directly to it, the only way I could have been more explicit would have been to copy and paste it.
If I hadn't been surprised that no one had ever mentioned that book when I found it then I probably wouldn't have bothered but it has lots of info in it.

[KeithFarrell]

Thanks behanner, that has been the most helpful response so far

[Mad Monk of Mitcham]

Not exactly a battle chant, but I think it could be a marching song:

Deo gracias, Anglia,
Redde pro victoria.

Oure king went forth to Normandy,
With grace and might of chivalry,
There God for him wrought mervelusly:
Wherefore Englonde may call and cry.
“Deo gracias”.

He set a sege, the sothe to say,
To Harflu towne with ryal array:
That towne he wan and made affray
That France shall riwe till Domesday.
“Deo gracias”.

Than went oure kinge with alle his host
Thorwe Fraunce, for all the Frenshe boste:
He spared, no drede, of lest ne moste,
Till he came to Agincourt coste.
“Deo gracias”.

Than, forsoth, that knight comely
In Agincourt feld he manly.
Thorw grace of God most mighty
He had bothe the felde and the victory.
“Deo gracias”.

There dukis and erlis, lorde and barone,
Were take and slain, and that well sone,
And summe were ladde into Lundone
And joye and merthe and grete renone.
“Deo gracias”.

Now gracious God he save our kinge,
His peple and alle his well-willinge:
Yef him gode life and gode ending,
That we with merth mowe safely singe,
“Deo gracias”.

Bodl. MS. Arch. Selden B.26 (3340), f 17b
Taken from "Medieval English Lyrics" by R. T. Davies
*Edited to add - from the early 15th C

[Marcus Woodhouse]

The Agincort Carol. Not really a war chant but a hymn of praise and thanksgiving.

[Mad Monk of Mitcham]

The Agincort Carol. Not really a war chant but a hymn of praise and thanksgiving.

I agree that it was a hymn of praise and thanksgiving. However, such songs have been used for centuries to give moral to troops especially whilst marching.

[Mark Griffin]

'You're going home in a tumbrel belonging to the Knights of St John!'

[matlot]

"YOU'RE GOING HOME IN A HORSE DRAWN AMBULANCE"

[guthrie]

Surely "You're not going home at all, the ravens will eat your eyeballs and dogs will scatter your bones far and wide!"


Or is that a little long?

[Jack Campin]

One that you might think ought to be but isn't is the early 19th century haka "Ka mate" by Te Rauparaha, the one the All Blacks do.

It was composed during a war, by a general, and first performed by warriors, but not as a rally or challenge to battle. War hakas (peruperu) were performed while brandishing weapons, which "Ka mate" is not. I don't know of any peruperu whose text has been preserved, but there might be one.

[Ayliffe's Steve]

In GCoT one of the less well known things we do is chant a bit.

However, the actual Hussites did a lot of singing. The book of translations from the Crusader sources has some of their songs in it (translated into English) - I think it is the one my Professor Fudge.