Lord Bateman- Larcombe (Somerset) 1906 Sharp
From: Folk songs from Somerset: Volume 3 - Page 76; Cecil James Sharp, Charles Latimer Marson - 1906
No. 65. LORD BATEMAN
Words and tune from Mr. Henry Larcombe, of Haselbury-Plucknett.
This ballad is very generally sung throughout Somerset, and it is rare to come across a folk-singer who does not know it. Few, however, can sing the ballad through from end to end, as Mr. Larcombe did. Mr. Larcombe, as is his habit, varied the several phrases of the air in the course of the song. I noted down as many of these variations as I could catch, and have embodied what I consider to be the best of them in the version here given. Mr. Larcombe's words were virtually the same as those on broadsides by Pitts, Jackson, etc.
For versions of this ballad, with tunes, see English County Songs, p. 62; Mr. Kidson's Traditional Tunes, p 32; Northumbrian Minstrelsy, p. 64; The Journal of the Folk-Song Society, Vol. I, p. 240; Sussex Songs, p. 43; Kinloch's Ancient Scottish Ballads, p. 260 and appendix; English Folk Songs for Schools, No. 11 ; and George Cruikshank's Loving Ballad of Lord Bateman.
For words only, see Jamieson's Popular Ballads, Vol. II, 17; Garret's Newcastle Garlands, Vol. I ; and the broadsides above mentioned. The ballad is exhaustively analysed in Child's English and Scottish Popular Ballads ("Lord Beichan," No. 53).
The story of Lord Bateman, Beichan, or Bekie, is very similar to the well-known and ancient legend about Gilbert Becket, father of S. Thomas the martyr. This has suggested to some the derivation of the ballad from the legend; but Child thinks that this is not so, although he admits that the ballad has not come down to us unaffected by the legend. He points out that there is a similar story in the Gesta Tomanorum (No. 5, Bohn ed.), of about the same age as the Becket legend; that there are beautiful repetitions of the story in the ballads of other nations; and that it has secondary affinities with "Hind Horn."
The hero's name, allowing for different spellings and corruptions, is always the same; but the name of the heroine varies. In ten of the twelve copies of the ballad that Child gives, she is Susan Pye; in two Isbel or Essels; and in the remaining two Sophia, as in Somerset.
Lord Bateman
1. Lord Bateman was a noble Lord,
A noble Lord of high degree;
He shipped himself all aboard on a great ship,
Some foreign country to go and see.
2. He sailed east and sailed west,
He sailed unto proud Turkey,
There he was taken and put in prison,
Until his life was quite weary.
3 And in this pris'n there grew a tree,
It grew so stout and grew so strong.
He was chained up hard all by the middle
Until his life was almost gone.
4. The Turk he had one daughter fair,
The fairest thing his eyes could see.
She stole the keys of her father's prison,
And swore Lord Bateman she would set free.
5. O, have you lands? and livings have you?
And does Northumb'rland belong to thee?
What can you give a fair young lady,
If out of prison she'll set you free?
6. Yes, I've got lands and livings also,
And all Northumb'rland belongs to me,
All, all, I'll give to a fair young lady,
If out of prison she'll set me free.
7 To her father's cellar then they stole.
She found for him the best of wine.
And every health that she drank beside him:
I wish Lord Bateman that you were mine.
8 For seven years we'll make a vow,
For seven years we will keep it strong,
If you will marry no other woman
I will not wed any other man.
9. Then to the harbour down they went.
She stole for him a ship of fame:
Farewell, farewell to you, Lord Bateman,
I fear that we shall not meet again.
10 The seven years are gone and past
And fourteen days, and then swore she:
I'll pack up all my gallant clothing
And then Lord Bateman I'll go and see.
11 Lord Bateman's castle can this be?
So boldly now she rings the bell.
Who's there? who's there? cried the young proud porter,
Who's there? who's there? I would have thee tell.
12 Lord Bateman's castle can this be?
And is his lordship here within?
O yes! O yes! cried the young proud porter,
He has just now taken his young bride in.
13. You bid him send a slice of bread,
A bottle of the best of wine.
And not forget that fair young lady,
That rescued him from his close confine.
14 Away this young proud porter ran,
Away, away, and away, ran he;
Until he came to Lord Bateman's chamber
And down he fell on his bended knee.
15 My young proud porter, news, what news?
What news? what news, hast thou brought to me?
Behold, the fairest of all young ladies,
That ever these eyes of mine did see.
16 On every finger she has rings:
On one of them she has got three.
She has gold enough all round her middle,
To buy Northumb'rland away from thee.
17 She bids you send a slice of bread,
A bottle of the best of wine.
And not forget that fair young lady.
That rescued you from your close confine.
18 Lord Bateman then in a passion flew;
He broke his sword in splinters three.
I would give up all my father's riches
If but Sophia have a-crossed the sea?
19 The young bride's mother up she spoke,
Was never heard to speak so free:
You have forgotten my only daughter,
If your Sophia has a-crossed the sea?
20 I have not yet made your daughter bride
So of her vows she may go free:
She came to me on a horse and saddle.
She may go back in a coach and three.
21 Lord Bateman made a great wedding
And both their hearts were full of glee.
I will range no more to a foreign country
Now my Sophia has a-crossed the sea.