Yes,
I neglected to mention that one very plausible theory is that ballads were once accompaniment to dance, ring dances. I believe that in the Faeroes they still do accompany a simple ring dance.

Some Breton ballads and Scandinavian ballads refer to historical persons who were around in the 12th/13th centuries but like our Robin Hood ballads that doesn't mean that's when the ballads were written.
However Scandinavian ballads of the Child type appear to have been much more common in Denmark than in Britain in the 16th/17th centuries. There were collectors like Syv around at that time whereas we didn't start collecting ours seriously until the end of the 18th century.