BTW, to correct my own post, I should have said that three of the seven "earliest ballads" involved death by malice. Typing too fast again....

Jack Campin wrote: I have a ballad on the death of Thomas Becket on my website.

Since you don't give a link, I can't know which Becket piece that is, but the several "ballads" on Becket from sources like Percy and Ritson don't give much evidence of being traditional. There is, without question, folklore about Becket, but traditional songs are another matter. This is the problem with most of the things I cited as "earliest ballads." They're earliest written narratives. But traditional as songs? Dubious....

There is folklore that "Young Beichan"/"Lord Bateman" is about Gilbert Becket, the father of Thomas, but I don't think anyone takes that seriously.