# Malbrough s'en va-t-en guerre

"Malbrough s'en va-t-en guerre" (Marlborough is going off to war), also known as "Mort et convoi de l'invincible Malbrough" (The death and burial of the invincible Marlborough), is a folk song in French.

## History

The burlesque lament on the death of John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough (1650–1722) was written on a false rumour of that event after the Battle of Malplaquet in 1709, the bloodiest battle of the War of the Spanish Succession. It tells how Marlborough's wife, awaiting his return from battle, is given the news of her husband's death. It also tells that he was buried and that a nightingale sang over his grave.
For years it was only known traditionally, and does not appear among the many anecdotic songs printed in France during the middle of the 18th century. Pierre Beaumarchais used the tune in his 1778 play The Marriage of Figaro for a despairing love song for Cherubino. In 1780 it became very popular. For instance, the tune concludes a sonata (in D-major) for viola d'amore and viola composed by Carl Stamitz in 1780 while in Paris. And it happened that when Prince Louis-Charles was born in 1785 (son of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette and heir to the French throne) he was wet-nursed by a peasant named Geneviève Poitrine. The nurse, whilst rocking the royal cradle, sang "Marlborough s'en va-t-en guerre". The name, the simplicity of the words, and the melodiousness of the tune, interested the queen, and she frequently sang it. Everybody repeated it after her, including the king. The song was sung in the state apartments of Versailles, in the kitchens and in the stables – it became immensely popular.
From the court it was adopted by the tradespeople of Paris, and it passed from town to town, and country to country. It became as popular in England as in France. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe came to hate Marlborough simply on account of the prevalence of the tune he encountered during travels in France. It also became popular in Spain due to the Bourbon dynasty's influence on Spanish nobility. There the name Marlborough was modified to an easier to pronounce Mambrú. It was sung by children while playing Rayuela (Hopscotch). Jacinto Valledor's tonadilla La cantada vida y muerte del general Malbrú concludes with the tune, and the Spanish guitarist and composer Fernando Sor (1778–1839) created a series of variations for guitar on the theme. It then spread to Latin America.
The rage endured for many years, slowly fading after the French Revolution, although, it is said that Napoleon liked to hum the tune, for instance when crossing the Memel (June 1812) at the beginning of his fatal Russian campaign. The melody also became widely popular in the United Kingdom. By the mid-19th century it was being sung with the words "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow", often at all-male social gatherings. By 1862, these lyrics were already familiar in America. From this version, the melody also became the tune for a popular American campfire tune The Bear Went Over the Mountain.
The song has been translated into several languages, including an English version published by the American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in the 19th century.

## Verses

Malbrough s'en va-t-en guerre, mironton, mironton, mirontaine, Malbrough s'en va-t-en guerre, Ne sait quand reviendra.  
Il reviendra-z-à Pâques, mironton, mironton, mirontaine, Il reviendra-z-à Pâques, ou à la Trinité.  
La Trinité se passe, mironton, mironton, mirontaine, la Trinité se passe, Malbrough ne revient pas.
Madame à sa tour monte, mironton, mironton, mirontaine, Madame à sa tour monte si haut qu'elle peut monter.
Elle voit venir son page, mironton, mironton, mirontaine, elle voit venir son page, tout de noir habillé.
Beau page, mon beau page, mironton, mironton, mirontaine, beau page, mon beau page, quelles nouvelles apportez?
Aux nouvelles que j'apporte, mironton, mironton, mirontaine, aux nouvelles que j'apporte, vos beaux yeux vont pleurer!
Quittez vos habits roses, mironton, mironton, mirontaine, quittez vos habits roses, et vos satins brodés!
Monsieur Malbrough est mort. mironton, mironton, mirontaine, Monsieur Malbrough est mort. Est mort et enterré.
Je l'ai vu porter en terre, mironton, mironton, mirontaine, Je l'ai vu porter en terre,
par quatre-z-officiers.
L'un portait sa cuirasse mironton, mironton, mirontaine, l'un portait sa cuirasse l'autre son bouclier.
L'autre portait son grand sabre, mironton, mironton, mirontaine, L'autre portait son grand sabre, et l'autre ne portait rien.
On planta sur sa tombe mironton, mironton, mirontaine, on planta sur sa tombe un beau rosier fleuri.
La cérémonie faite, mironton, mironton,c mirontaine, la cérémonie faite chacun s'en fut coucher.
Alors autour de sa tombe Mironton, mironton, mirontaine Alors autour de sa tombe Romarins l'on planta.
Sur la plus haute branche Un rossignol chanta On vit voler son âme, Au travers des lauriers.
Chacun mit ventre à terre, Mironton, mironton, mirontaine Chacun mit ventre à terre, Et puis se releva.
Marlborough the Prince of Commanders Is gone to war in Flanders, His fame is like Alexander's, But when will he ever come home? Mironton, mironton, mirontaine.
Perhaps at Trinity Feast, or Perhaps he may come at Easter, Egad! he had better make haste or We fear he may never come home. Mironton etc.
For Trinity Feast is over,
And has brought no news from Dover, And Easter is pass'd moreover, And Marlborough still delays.
Milady in her watch-tower Spends many a pensive hour, Not knowing why or how her Dear lord from England stays.
While sitting quite forlorn in That tower, she spies returning A page clad in deep mourning, With fainting steps and slow.
"O page, prithee come faster! What news do you bring of your master? I fear there is some disaster, Your looks are so full of woe."
"The news I bring fair lady," With sorrowful accent said he, "Is one you are not ready So soon, alas! to hear.
"But since to speak I'm hurried," Added this page, quite flurried, "Marlborough is dead and buried!" And here he shed a tear.
"He's dead! He's dead as a herring! For I beheld his berring, And four officers transferring His corpse away from the field.
"One officer carried his sabre, And he carried it not without labour, Much envying his next neighbour, Who only bore a shield.
"The third was helmet bearer – That helmet which in its wearer Fill'd all who saw it with terror, And cover'd a hero's brains.
"Now, having got so far, I Find that – by the Lord Harry! The fourth is left nothing to carry. So there the thing remains." Mironton, mironton, mirontaine.

## In popular culture

The song is one of several contemporary tunes that are played by the musical box of the Negress head clock, made in Paris in 1784. Rita Dove references the song and the clock in her 2009 poem "Ode on a Negress Head Clock, with Eight Tunes".
Ludwig van Beethoven used the tune to represent the French in his musical work Wellington's Victory.

## Footnotes

* ↑ French Wikisource has original text related to this article: Le Mariage de Figaro/Acte II
* ↑ Carlson, Marvin (2003). The Haunted Stage: The Theatre as Memory Machine. University of Michigan Press. p. 116. ISBN 9780472089376.
* ↑ Le Petit-Trianon et Marie-Antoinette, Éditions Télémaque, by Élisabeth Reynaud, April 2010, p. 288, ISBN 978-2-7533-0105-4
* ↑ "Malbrough s'en va-t-en guerre, ou Mort et convoi de l'invincible Malbrough", antiwarsongs.org
* ↑ Wills, William Henry (1860). Poets' Wit and Humour. Ward, Lock and Tyler. p. 288.
* ↑ The Times (London, England), 28 March 1826, p. 2: "The Power of Music. A visiting foreigner, trying to recall the address of his lodgings in Marlborough Street, hums the tune to a London cabman: he immediately recognises it as 'Malbrook'."
* ↑ The song may have featured in an "extravaganza" given at the Princess theatre in London at Easter 1846, during which fairies hold a moonlight meeting: "...the meeting closes with a song of thanks to Robin Goodfellow (Miss Marshall), who had occupied the chair,...and who is assured that "he's a jolly good fellow." "Princess's." The Times [London, England] 14 April 1846: 5. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 1 October 2012.
* ↑ The Times reprinted an article from Punch describing a drunken speech given at a (fictional) public meeting. The speech ends: "Zshenl'men, here's all your vehgood healts! I beggapard'n – here's my honangal'n fren's shjolly goo' health! "For he's a jolly good fellow, &c (Chorus by the whole of the company, amid which the right hon. orator tumbled down.)" "The After Dinner Speech At The Improvement Club." The Times, [London, England] 23 March 1854: 10. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 1 October 2012.
* ↑ Review of a piano recital: "As a finale he performed for the first time, a burlesque on the French air, 'Marlbrook', better known to the American student of harmony as "He's a jolly good fellow". The New York Times, 4 October 1862
* ↑ Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth, ed. (1876–1879). "Miscellaneous – Marlbrook". Poems of Places. Vol. France (IX–X). Boston: James R. Osgood.
* ↑ Rita, Dove (2009). "Ode on a Negress Head Clock, with Eight Tunes". The Kenyon Review. 31 (2): 156–158. JSTOR 27653951. Retrieved 31 March 2021.