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Minstrelsy Of The Scottish Border
''Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border'' is an anthology of Border ballads, together with some from north-east Scotland and a few modern literary ballads, edited by Walter Scott. It was first published in 1802, but was expanded in several later editions, reaching its final state in 1830, two years before Scott's death. It includes many of the most famous Scottish ballads, such as '' Sir Patrick Spens'', '' The Young Tamlane'', ''The Twa Corbies'', '' The Douglas Tragedy'', '' Clerk Saunders'', '' Kempion'', ''The Wife of Usher's Well'', '' The Cruel Sister'', '' The Dæmon Lover'', and ''Thomas the Rhymer''. Scott enlisted the help of several collaborators, notably John Leyden, and found his ballads both by field research of his own and by consulting the manuscript collections of others. Controversially, in the editing of his texts he preferred literary quality over scholarly rigour, but ''Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border'' nevertheless attracted high praise from the first. I ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Lay Of The Last Minstrel
''The Lay of the Last Minstrel'' (1805) is a narrative poem in six cantos with copious antiquarian notes by Walter Scott. Set in the Scottish Borders in the mid-16th century, it is represented within the work as being sung by a minstrel late in the 1600s. Background Towards the end of 1802 Scott planned to include a long original poem of his own in the second edition of his edited collection ''Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border'': it would be 'a sort of Romance of Border Chivalry & inchantment'. He owed the distinctive irregular accentual four-beat metre to Coleridge's '' Christabel'', which he had heard recited by John Stoddart (it was not to be published until 1816). Scott tells how he showed the opening stanzas to his friends William Erskine and George Cranstoun, and believing that they had not approved, destroyed the manuscript. Some time later one of the friends indicated that they had been puzzled rather than disapproving and Scott proceeded, introducing the figure of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Battle Of Otterburn (ballad)
"The Battle of Otterburn" (or "Otterbourne") is a Scottish ballad, catalogued as Child Ballad 161, Roud 3293.Sehere It is an account of the Scottish victory at the Battle of Otterburn in 1388. This battle also inspired "The Ballad of Chevy Chase", an English version, but the Scottish version is more historically accurate. The lead verse of the ballad is: ''It fell about the Lammas tide,'' ''When the muir-men win their hay,'' ''The doughty Earl of Douglas rode'' ''Into England, to catch a prey.'' James, 2nd Earl of Douglas, who led the raid, was mortally wounded in this battle, and the ballad represents "My wound is deep, I fain would sleep" as his dying words. Versions Child's version A is represented by two manuscript recensions in the British Library. The Aa (MS Cotton Cleopatra C. iv, around 1550) was first printed in Thomas Percy's fourth edition of ''Reliques of Ancient English Poetry'', vol. I (1794), while the Ab (MS Harley 29) appeared in the first edition of ''Relique ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Broomfield Hill
"The Broomfield Hill", "The Broomfield Wager" "The Merry Broomfield", "The Green Broomfield", "A Wager, a Wager", or "The West Country Wager" (Child 43, Roudbr>34 is a traditional English folk ballad. (The Roud Index lists a number of other titles.) Synopsis In most versions a gentleman, in some versions called Lord John, challenges a maiden to a wager, usually at very high odds: "A wager, a wager with you, pretty maid, My one hundred pound to your ten" That a maid you shall go into yonder green broom But a maid you shall never return" or she makes a tryst and realizes she can either stay and be foresworn, or go and lose her virginity. After, in some versions advice from a witch-wife, or after persuading him to drink "a glass of something so strong" in one version, she goes to the broom field and finds him in a deep sleep. She leaves tokens to show she has been there, and in many versions carries out what seems to be a ritual: "Then three times she went from the crown of his h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lord William
Lord William, Sweet William or Lord Lundy (Child # 254, Roud # 106) is a traditional Scottish folk ballad telling how a pair of lovers, William and Janet, outwit her father, her bethrothed (by arrangement) and the priest in order to marry one other.Francis James Child Francis James Child (February 1, 1825 – September 11, 1896) was an American scholar, educator, and folklorist, best known today for his collection of English and Scottish ballads now known as the Child Ballads. Child was Boylston professor of r ..., ''English and Scottish Popular Ballads''"Lord William", or "Lord Lundy"/ref> Synopsis Lord William has a love affair with Janet, the only daughter of Lord Lundy, a Scottish nobleman. While William is away on a voyage of discovery, her father finds out about the romance and declares that she must marry another man, who, in some versions, is the heir to the English crown. Janet says that she will obey her father's orders but adds that she would rather die. In another v ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Erlinton
''Erlinton'' (Roud 24) is #8 of the Child Ballads, the collection of 305 ballads from England and Scotland, and their American variants, collected by Francis James Child in the late nineteenth century. The collection was published as ''The English and Scottish Popular Ballads'' between 1882 and 1898 by Houghton Mifflin in ten volumes and later reissued in a five volume edition. One variant features Robin Hood, but this variant forces the folk hero into a ballad structure where he does not fit naturally. Synopsis Erlinton imprisons his daughter in her bower, to keep her from sinning. She persuades her sister to go to the woods with her, and escapes her with her lover Willie. They are attacked, by knights or outlaws, but he fights and kills them all, and they escape. In the Robin Hood variant, Robin sees a woman walking in the woods and persuades her to run away with him; unlike the other variants, they are not already lovers and she does not need to escape her father. Her bro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Lads Of Wamphray
The Lads of Wamphray is Child ballad 184, existing in fragmentary form. According to Walter Scott and others, the ballad concerns a 16th-century feud between reiving families from Wamphray in the Scottish Borders. Synopsis The ballad opens with a description of the robberies of the Galiard and Galiard's men before the text breaks off. When the ballad resumes, the Galiard has taken a horse, but it proves not fast enough; he is captured, and his captors hang him. His nephew sees, raises men, and avenges his death. They return home safely. Adaptations Percy Grainger took inspiration from this for his 1905 work ''The Lads Of Wamphray March'', his first composition for wind band. See also *List of the Child Ballads The Child Ballads is the colloquial name given to a collection of 305 ballads collected in the 19th century by Francis James Child Francis James Child (February 1, 1825 – September 11, 1896) was an American scholar, educator, and folklorist, ... SourcesWalte ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lord Maxwell's Last Goodnight
Lord Maxwell’s Last Goodnight is Child ballad 195. It is based on the actions of John Maxwell, 9th Lord Maxwell, who killed Sir James Johnstone in 1608 as the culmination of a family feud. He fled to France and was sentenced to death in his absence, returning in secret five years later. He was apprehended and beheaded at Edinburgh on 21 May 1613. Synopsis Lady Maxwell asks her husband to come with her into her father's garden. He tells her that he killed the laird Johnstone, who killed his father, and must flee. He bids a tender farewell to her, the rest of his family, and Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ..., and is escorted off to his ship by a great company. References Further reading *Kinsley, James, ed. (1969) ''The Oxford Book of Ballads''. Oxford ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Archie O Cawfield
Archie o Cawfield, also known as "The Bold Archer", "The Bold Prisoner", or "The Escape of Old John Webb"", is an Anglo-Scottish border ballad ,''The English and Scottish Popular Ballads''; Vol. 3; by Francis James Child. Courier Dover Publications, 2003, , ; p. 484 number 188 of the Child ballads. Synopsis Two brothers lament that their third brother is to be hanged. A proposal of force is met by the more cunning brother with the suggestion that they bring only a handful of men. They get horses, have them shod, and set out. Once they sneak into the prison, the captive brother says he is carrying too heavy a load of chain to escape. They carry him off anyway and cross a river that their pursuers can not. The former captor asks for the chains back. The captive says that he will use them to shoe horses. Irish rock band, U2, closed several pub concerts with this ballad during early U.S. tours in the early 1980s. Bono was quoted in ''Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hobie Noble
Hobie Noble is Child ballad 189 and a border ballad Border ballads are a group of songs in the long tradition of balladry collected from the Anglo-Scottish border. Like all traditional ballads, they were traditionally sung unaccompanied. There may be a repeating motif, but there is no "chorus" as .... Synopsis Hobie Noble, an Englishman, was outlawed and fled to Scotland. A traitor tried persuade him to come to England. The traitor failed, but learned where Hobie was going, and sent word. Hobie dreamed that he was attacked and woke. He and his men tried to escape, but his attackers found and defeated them. Hobie was taken prisoner and carried off, to many comments that he had freed Jock o the Side. He refused to confess to any crimes, and said he would rather be a prisoner than a traitor. External links''Hobie Noble'' Child Ballads Border ballads Northumbrian folklore English outlaws Songwriter unknown Year of song unknown {{Folk-song-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jock O' The Side
Jock of the Side or Jock O' the Side is a Child Ballad known as Child Balad 187, a border ballad, existing in several variants. It is part of the series of 305 traditional child ballads in England and Scotland. The rescue it depicts is recorded solely in popular tradition, although Jock of the Side himself appears to have existed. Synopsis A failed raid results in the capture of Jock of the Side. Hobie Noble—in some variants his illegitimate half-brother, and in some an outlawed Englishman—set out with few men to rescue him. They sneak into the castle, over the hall or by murdering the porter, and find and rescue him. They must carry him off in his chains, but they get him away. In some variant, once they have escaped by crossing a river, the former captor asks for the chains back, but the prisoner says he will use them to shoe horses. See also *Archie o Cawfield External links''Jock o the Side'' [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dick O The Cow
Dick o the Cow is Child ballad 185 and a border ballad. The ballad tells the story of a man who regains his stolen cows. Synopsis John Armstrang raids England, but finds only six sheep, which would humiliate him to steal. He asks his companion, Billie, about a man they met; Billie says that he's a simpleton, named Dick o the Cow. They steal his three cows. Dick gets permission from his lord to go to Liddesdaile for revenge. There, they taunt him. He steals two horses. John chases after him, on horseback, and they fight. Dick fells him and now has three horses. He sells one horse for money and a good milk cow. With his lord's leave, he moves to avoid the Armstrongs. See also * List of the Child Ballads * Scottish mythology * English folklore English folklore consists of the myths and legends of England, including the English region's mythical creatures, traditional recipes, urban legends, proverbs, superstitions, and folktales. Its cultural history is rooted in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kinmont Willie Armstrong
William Armstrong of Kinmont or Kinmont Willie was a Scottish border reiver and outlaw active in the Anglo- Scottish Border country in the last decades of the 16th century. He lived at the Tower of Sark, close to the border between Scotland and England, north of the centre of the border line. The tower was built for his father Sandy Armstrong, and although now demolished the site is marked by a monument unveiled in 1996. The Raid on Carlisle and the Ballad Perhaps the best known of the Border reivers (outlaw raiders or rustlers), William Armstrong of Kinmont's first recorded raid was against the Milburns of Tynedale in August 1583, when Armstrong was probably in his forties. In 1585 he accompanied the Earl of Angus`s campaign against the Earl of Arran and pillaged Stirling. Eight years later he was in Tynedale again with 1,000 men, carrying off over 2,000 beasts and £300 in spoils. Armstrong was captured in violation of a border truce day in 1596. At a Truce Day all who at ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
