Lord Bateman- (NY) 1859 Uncle Frank's Series; [The Loving Ballad of Lord Bateman] Flanders K
[From Flanders; Ancient Ballads, 1966. Notes by Coffin follow. This was titled, Lord Bateman and published in Uncle Frank's Series of children's books by McLoughlin Bros., inc. and illustrated by Edward P. Cogger; New York, 1859.
This is not the broadside version (Coverly/Forget-Me Not Songster) that starts out: "In India. . ." This is another popular version -- Child L, The Loving Ballad of Lord Bateman by Charles Dickens and William Makepeace Thackeray published in 1839 with eleven illustrations by George Cruikshank. "This affecting legend is given ... precisely as I have frequently heard it sung on Saturday nights, outside a house of general refreshment (familiarly termed a wine-vaults) at Battle-bridge. The singer is a young gentleman [Tripe Skewer] who can scarcely have numbered nineteen summers. ... I have taken down the words from his own mouth at different periods, and have been careful to preserve his pronunciation." Thackeray and Dickens both had a hand in it as well.
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]
K. Lord Bateman. Mrs. W. L. Bryant of Springfield, Vermont, loaned the an old booklet Uncle Franks' Series published by McLoughlin Bros., 24 Beehman, [New York, 1859] containing "Lord Bateman." H. H. F., Collector 1930's
Lord Bateman
Lord Bateman he was a noble lord,
A noble lord of high degree,
He shipped himself on board a ship,
Some foreign country he would go see.
He sailed East, and he sailed west,
Until he came to proud Turkey,
Where he was taken and put to prison,
Until his life was almost weary.
And in this prison there grew a tree,
It grew so stout and strong,
Where he was chained by the middle,
Until his life was almost gone.
This Turk he had one only daughter,
The fairest creature my eyes did see,
She stole the keys of her father's prison,
And said Lord Bateman she would set free.
Have you got houses have you got lands,
Or does Northumberland belong to thee,
What would you give to the fair young lady
That out of prison would set you free.
I have got houses, I have got lands,
And half Northumberland belongs to me,
I'll give it all to the fair young lady,
That out of prison would set me free.
O then she took him to her father's hall,
And gave to him the best of wine,
And every health she drank unto him,
I wish Lord Bateman that you were mine.
Now in seven years I'll make a vow,
And seven years I'll keep it strong,
If you'll wed with no other woman,
I will wed with no other man.
O then she took him to her father's harbour
And gave to him a ship of fame,
Farewell farewell to you Lord Bareman,
I'm afraid I ne'er shall see you again.
Now seven long years are gone and past,
And fourteen days well known to thee,
She packed up all her gay clothing,
And said Lord Bateman she would go see.
But when she came to Lord Bateman's castle
So boldly she rang the bell,
Who's there, who's there cry'd the proud porter
Who's there come tell unto me.
O is this Lord Bateman's castle,
Or is his Lordship here within,
O yes, O yes, cried the young porter
He's just now taken his new bride in.
O tell him to send me a slice of bread,
And a bottle of the best of wine,
And not forgetting the fair young lady,
Who did release him when close confin'd.
Away away went this young proud porter,
Away away, and away went he,
Until he came to Lord Bateman's chamber,
Down on his bended knees fell he.
What news, what news, my proud young porter
What news hast thou brought unto me,
There is the fairest of all young creatures,
That e'er my two eyes did see.
She has got rings on every finger,
And round one of them she has got three,
And as much gay clothing round her middle
As would buy all Northumberland.
She bids you send her a slice of bread,
And a bottle of the best of wine,
And not forgetting the fair young lady,
Who did release you when close confin'd.
Lord Bateman he then in a passion flew,
And broke his sword in splinters three,
Saying I will give all my father's riches,
That if Sophia has crossed the sea.
Then up spoke the young bride's mother,
Who never was heard to speak so free.
You'll not forget my only daughter,
That if Sophia has crossed the sea.
I own I made a bride of Your daughter,
She's neither the better nor worse for me
She came to me with her horse and saddle,
She may go back in her coach and three.
Lord Bateman prepared another marriage,
With both their hearts so full of glee,
I'll range no more in foreign countries,
Now since Sophia has crossed the sea.