Date: 21 Mar 22 - 03:59 PM

I am assuming from this that you are not part of the school that thinks many of the Scottish ballads were redacted by (if not written by) sophisticated hands in the 18th century and early 19th. What evidence we have shows that some of them definitely were. We have here a spectrum of thought that ranges from only a few were (Scott/Buchan/Jamieson) to many more were and all of the antiquarians and friends were dabbling. I tend to be of the latter school, but the fact is we will never know the whole truth.

Last time I did a study of the Scottish versions of Cruel Mother I came to the conclusion that those with the appended penance stanzas all stem from one single redaction, and that all of the versions spread abroad from this to Ireland/N America etc. But this study was some years ago and I'm not familiar with McCabe's study, not being an academic also. Is the McCabe study online?

As for 'late Middle Ages' in English ballad form...highly unlikely in my opinion. The Percy text need not be any older than c1600. The story, yes, but not in this form.