Our village church is made of very soft stone and, over the centuries, inscriptions - graffiti - have been carved there. One or two of these are quite important. Two are plague inscriptions from the mid 14th century and one has been identified as a drawing of Old St Paul's Cathedral before it was destroyed in the fire of 1666. The one which has always intrigued me, though, is one (probably 14th or 15th Century) which says, in Latin:

"Barbara is what Barbara Says"

(the name Barbara means "Barbarian"). The original Barbara Ellen??

By the way, I think the "Traditional Ballad Index" is out of line in describing the young man as a knight. I have never seen a version which suggests this.

Cheers!
Ian