Vicar of Bray (term)
An early textual source for the legend of a long-standing, resilient and pliable incumbent of the parish of Bray was provided by Thomas Fuller (d. 1661) in his Worthies of England.It seems that Bray's Tudor clerics set a precedent, and the commonest version of the song today[citation needed] is based on events in the Stuart period.Over this period, he embraced whichever form of liturgy, Protestant or Catholic, was favoured by the monarch of the day in order to retain his position as vicar of Bray.[4] In the film, the vicar (of Bray, County Wicklow, in Ireland) is given a more positive character and events are placed at a slightly earlier period, during the English Civil War.He successfully protects his parishioners by adopting a diplomatic approach during the turbulent events and secures forgiveness for moderate rebels from the restored Charles II.