Lord Bateman- Coville (NH) c.1939; Flanders O
[My date From Flanders; Ancient Ballads, 1966. Notes by Coffin follow. This is patterned mainly after the print versions of Child L, (The Loving Ballad of Lord Bateman, 1839) published in the New England area. The ending has the 1810 Coverly broadside ending with Suzanna Fair.
R. Matteson 2014]
Young Beichan
(Child 53)
This ballad has an extensive Anglo-American tradition and still is well known on both sides of the Atlantic. The American songs all trace back to early broadsides[1] and song books and quite generally refer to the hero as Lord Bateman or Bakeman. These texts vary somewhat in minor detail, but follow the Child L pattern as to plot outline, significant facts, and length. Nevertheless, a good many scholars have devoted a good bit of time to the minor variations of the American versions and more particularly to identifying the printed sources of the ballad in the New World. George L. Kittredge JAF, XXX, 295-97) used "the hole bored in the hero's shoulder" as a means of distinguishing texts closely akin to Child L from those related to the Coverly broadside in the Isaiah Thomas Collection, Worcester, Massachusetts, and Phillips Barry, British Ballads from Maine, 106 f., continues the probings and points out the "hole in the shoulder" stanza is characteristic of the South. There is also a good bit of information along similar lines in Jane Zielonko's Master's thesis, "Some American Variants of Child Ballads" (Columbia University, 1945), 83 f.
The Flanders versions below have been divided according to the findings of these researchers. Texts A-J seem to be similar to the Coverly broadside or to the version printed in the J. S. Locke of Boston Forget-Me-Not Songster (See A particularly) that goes back to an earlier broadside Coverly may have used. K-S are close to the text printed by Lucy E. Broadwood and J. A. F. Maitland in English Country Songs (London, 1893) and cited by Barry, op. cit., 116. This is a form of the song still known in Britain that evidently found its way into print in New England. In this series (see K-O) the hero's shoulder is not bored through as in many Child texts, but Bateman is tied to a tree[2]. T, it will be noted, contains further modifications and a compression
of the narrative. But, all in all, the Flanders texts are pretty typical of the northern findings for this ballad. Child, I,455 f., discusses the affinities of this song and the legend associated with Gilbert a Becket in the Middle Ages. However, analogous stories are known about Henry of Brunswick, Alexander von Metz, and a host of other heroes in Scandinavian and southern European balladry. A start on a bibliography can be had in Coffin, 63-65 (American); Dean-Smith, 5 (English) ; Greig and Keith, 40-43 (Scottish) ; and the notes in Child. Kittredge's JAF article contains a number of references, not easily available elsewhere, to printed American texts of "Lord Bateman" and its relative "The Turkish Lady." The latter, listed by Laws as O 26 and possibly derived from "Lord Bateman," is also immensely popular in America. Laws, AEBB,238, and Coffin, 65, give a
good many references for it.
The eight tunes for Child 53 are all related, and all correspond to tune group A in BC1. Two subfamilies appear: 1) the Davis, Kennison, Pierce, and Burke tunes, characterized by a triad at the beginning, this group corresponds to BCI group Aa. The other tunes together fit in with BCI group Ab, the Morton tune being relatively divergent from the others, however.
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1. In my opinion, this statement is simply inaccurate, "the American songs all trace back to early broadsides." Consider, for example, the Hick/Harmon version (Susan Price/Young Behan) which was collected from three different family members which they brought from Virginia (circa late 1600s) to the Carolina mountains probably around 1770 and has been passed strictly through oral tradition since then. [R. Matteson 2014]
2. It's likely that the "tied to a tree" reference is, in fact, derived from the "hole in the shoulder" texts, via faulty oral transmission. After all, there aren't many prisoners tied to a tree in a jail cell. [R. Matteson 2014]
O. Lord Bateman. As sung by Mrs. Grant Coville of Pittsburg, New Hampshire (retake by M. Olney). Mrs. Coville gave H. H. F. the words to this ballad at an earlier date, possibly 1939. Retake, M. Olney; September 5, 1941. Structure: A B1 B2 C (2,2,2,2); Rhythm E; Contour: arch. Scale: major or Mixolydian; t.c. D. C and C-sharp seem here to be two distinct tones
Note also the sequence like treatment. For mel. rel. see BES, 119; Bruno Nettl , in Acta Musicologica (1955), 83, first song.
Lord Bateman
Lord Bateman was a noble lord.
A noble lord of high degree;
He shipped himself on board a vessel,
Some foreign countries for to see.
He sail-ed east, he sail-ed west,
Until he came to India's shore
Where he was taken and bound in irons,
Until his life was quite weary.
And in this prison there grew a tree,
And there it grew so strong and stout.
They took and chained him 'round his middle
Until his life was nearly gone.
Now this Turk had an only daughter,
As fair as any two eyes did see;
She stole the keys of her father's prison
And swore Lord Bateman she would go and see.
"Lord Bateman, have you got houses and land,
Or does Northumberlee belong to thee?
What would you give to any fair young lady
Who out of prison could set you free?"
"Oh, I have houses, I have lands,
And half of Northumberlee belongs to me;
I'd give it all to any fair young lady,
Who out of prison would set me free."
Then she took him to her father's cellar
And gave to him the best of wine;
And every health she drank unto him,
"I wish, Lord Bateman, that you were mine!,'
Then they made a vow for seven long years,
That seven long years they would. keep strong,
That he would marry no other woman
And she would marry no other man.
Then she took him to her father's harbour
And fit him our on a ship of fame;
"Fare you well, fare you well, fare you well, Lord Bateman,
I fear I ne'er shall see you again."
When seven long years had gone and past
And seven more most speedily,
She pick-ed up all her gay gold clothing
And swore Lord Bateman she would go and see.
She sail-ed east, she sail-ed west
Until she came to Lord Bateman's castle;
So promptly then she rang the bell,
. . . .
"Who's here, who's here?" cried the young proud porter,
"Who's here, who's here? Unto me now tell."
. . . .
. . . .
"Is this Lord Bateman's castle
Or is His Lordship within?"
"Oh yes, oh ys," cries the young proud
"But he's just now taken a young bride
"Go tell him to send me a slice of bread
And a bottle of his best of wine,
And to not forget that fair young lady
Who did release him from close confine."
"Here yonder stands the finest lady
That ever your two eyes did see;
She has got rings on every finger
And one of them she has got three.
She has as much gay gold about her clothing
As purchased half of Northumberlee.
"She wants you to send her a slice of bread
And a bottle of your best of wine,
And to not forget that fair young lady
Who did release you from close confine."
Lord Bateman in a passion flew,
He broke his sword in splinters three,
Saying, "I'll care no more, no more for riches
Since this bright youth has crossed the sea."
Then up spoke his young bride's mother,
Which never was known for to speak so free:
"You've made a bride all of my daughter,
What need you further with she?"
"If I've made a bride all of your daughter,
She's none the better nor worse for her
She came to me with a horse and saddle,
She may go back with a coach and three."
Then he took his lady by the lily-white hand
And led her through from room to room
And changed her name from Susanna Fair
To be the wife of Lord Bateman Esquire.