Historical Basis
Several individuals have been proposed as the model for the Vicar of Bray.
- Thomas Fuller and the English dramatist Richard Brome argue that the model for the song was the 16th century cleric and vicar of Bray, Berkshire, Simon Aleyn (1540–1588), who lived in the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary, and Elizabeth.
- The most frequently sung words refer to 17th century monarchs. Therefore, a later proposed model is Simon Simonds, who was an Independent in the Protectorate, a Church of England cleric under Charles II, a Roman Catholic under James II, and a moderate Anglican under William and Mary.
- Francis Carswell, who is buried in the church of Bray, was Vicar of Bray for 42 years, dying in 1709, and so lived through the period relevant to the song.
- Other candidates include Thomas Barlow (1607–1691), bishop of Lincoln; Timothy Bray (1480–1539), abbot of Heath, Derbyshire; and Edmund Waller (1606–1687), poet and politician.
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