Lyr Add: Brave Lord Willoughby

Subject: Lyr Add: BRAVE LORD WILLOUGHBY
From: wildlone
Date: 16 Jan 00 - 09:47 AM

BRAVE LORD WILLOUGHBY.
(1586)

The fifteenth day of July,
With glistering spear and shield,
A famous light in Flanders
Was foughten in the field;
The most courageous officers
Were English captains three,
But the bravest man in battle
Was brave Lord Willoughby

The next was Captain Norris',
A valiant man was he;
The other, Captain Turner,
From field would never flee.
With fifteen hundred fighting men
Alas, there were no more,-
They fought with fourteen thousand men
Upon the bloody shore.

"Stand to it, noble pikemen,
And look you round. about!
And shoot you straight, you bowmen,
And we will keep them out!
You musquet and caliver men,
Do you prove true to me;
I'll be the foremost, man in fight!"
Says brave Lord Willoughby.

And then the bloody enemy
They fiercely did assail;
And fought it out most furiously,
Not doubting to prevail.
The wounded men on both sides fell,
Most piteous for to see,
Yet nothing could the courage quell
Of brave Lord Willoughby.

For seven hours, to all men's view,
The flight endured sore;
Until our men so feeble grew
That they could fight no more.
And then upon dead horses
Full savourly they ate,
And drank the puddle water-
They could no better get.

When they had fed so freely,
They kneeled on the ground,
And praised God devoutly
For the favour they had found;
And beating up their colours,
The fight they did renew,
And turning tow'rds the Spaniard,
A thousand more they slew.

The sharp steel-pointed arrows
And bullets thick did fly;
Then did our valiant soldiers
Charge on most furiously;
Which made the Spaniards waver,
They thought it best to flee;
They feared the stout behaviour
Of brave Lord Willoughby.

And then the fearful enemy
Was quickly put to flight;
Our men pursued courageously
And caught their forces quite.
But at last they gave a shout
Which echoed through the sky;
"God and Saint George for England!"
The conquerors did cry.

This news was brought to England,
With all the speed might be,
And soon our gracious Queen was told
Of this same victory.
"O this is brave Lord Willoughby,
My love that ever won;
Of all the Lords of honour
'Tis he great deeds hath done."

To the soldiers that were maimed
And wounded in the fray,
The Queen allowed a pension
Of fifteenpence a day:
And from all costs and charges
She quit and set them free;
And this she did all for the sake
Of brave Lord Willoughby.

Then, courage! noble Englishmen,
And never be dismayed:
If that we be but one to ten
We will not be afraid
To fight with foreign enemies,
And set our nation free;
And thus I end the bloody bout
Of brave Lord Willoughby.

Anon.


This could be about the battle of Zutphen, in which Sir Philip Sidney lost his life.

Sir John Norris and Willoughby were fighting in the low countries as was Turner.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Brave Lord Willoughby
From: Bruce O.
Date: 16 Jan 00 - 12:19 PM

Two versions of the tune for it are given as B293 and B294 among the broadside ballad tunes on my website. Simpson, 'The British Broadside Ballad and Its Music', thought that the tune was first known as "Oh Neighbor Robert" from the opening of the Jig "Rowland". The tune was used for the song (not broadside) version of "The Carman's Whistle" which is in Scarce Songs 1 on my website". See the recent thread "A Maid going to Comber" for some relatives of the latter song.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Brave Lord Willoughby
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 23 Sep 14 - 08:41 AM

refresh in re thread "Ballads Not in Child"

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Brave Lord Willoughby
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 23 Sep 14 - 12:38 PM

Why would Child have included it? I can find no evidence of oral tradition. It started out on 17thc broadsides and then was frequently anthologised. All of the versions I have appear to stem from the broadsides.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Brave Lord Willoughby
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 23 Sep 14 - 12:48 PM

But Child wasn't particularly interested in oral tradition, was he Steve? He was an academic anthologist, not any sort of collector. Publication in print in something like Douce or Percy was his criterion -- look again at his headnotes. Ld Willoughby was in Percy, which was usually good enough for Child.

≈M≈

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Brave Lord Willoughby
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 23 Sep 14 - 03:48 PM

You seem to be talking about another person called Child. He was an academic anthologist strictly speaking, but he was well aware about the difference between print and oral tradition. He though those from print were vastly inferior and strove to only include those ballads that were professed by their collectors to be from oral tradition. He didn't publish Percy's Reliques ballads as doctored by Percy, he went to great lengths to gain access to Percy's manuscripts, as he did with the ballads from all of the collections. You do him a great disservice. He only latterly included versions from the likes of Douce to ballads he already had as oral versions. In ESPB he avoided items from the Reliques like the plague. Are you looking at his earlier anthology from the 1860s by any chance?

The Robin Hood Ballads are an exception. He included all of these, even the literary ones only available from broadsides, for the sake of completeness and the fact that they were written in traditional style and contained many of the attributes of the true ballads.

Subject: Lyr Add: LORD WILLOUGHBY
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 25 Sep 14 - 12:41 PM

This broadside can be found in the Bodleian collection, Wood 401(67). A transcription can be found in The Roxburghe Ballads, 2nd Series, Vol. 4 edited by J. Woodfall Ebsworth (Hertford: The Ballad Society, 1883), page 8.

[Roxburghe Collection, II. 93; and III. 62, 63.]

Lord WILLOUGHBY;
OR,
A true relation of a famous and bloody battel fought in Flanders, by the noble & valiant Lord Willoughby, with 1500 English, against forty thousand Spaniards, where the English obtained a notable victory, for the glory and renown of our Nation.      The the tune of, Lord Willoughby.

The fifteenth day of July,
    with glistering speare and shield,
A famous fight in Flanders,
    was foughten in the field.
The most couragious Officers
    was English Captains three,
But the bravest man in Battel
    was brave Lord Willoughby.

The next was Captain Norris;
    a valiant man was he.
The other Captain Turner,
    that from field would never flee.
With fifteen hundred fighting men—
    alas! there was no more—
They fought with forty thousand then,
    upon the bloody shore.

"Stand to it, noble Pike-men,
    and look you round about;
And shoot you right, you Bow-men,
    and we will keep them out.
You Musquet and Calliver men,
    do you prove true to me,
I'le be the foremost man in fight,"
    says brave Lord Willoughby.

And then the bloody enemy
    they fiercely did assail,
And fought it out most valiantly,
    not doubting to prevail.
The wounded men on both sides fell,
    most pitious for to see,
Yet nothing could the courage quell
    of brave Lord Willoughby.

For seven hours to all men's view
    this fight endured sore,
Until our men so feeble grew,
    that they could fight no more;
And then upon dead Horses
    full savourly they eat,*
And drank the puddle water,
    for no better they could get.

When they had fed so freely,
    they kneeled on the ground,
And praised God devoutly,
    for the favour they had found;
And bearing up their Colours,
    the fight they did renew,
And turning toward the Spaniard,
    five thousand more they slew.

The Sharp steel-pointed Arrows,
    and Bullets thick did flye.
Then did our Valiant Souldiers
    charge on most furiously,
Which made the Spaniards waver;
    they thought it best to flee,
They fear'd the stout behaviour
    of brave Lord Willoughby.

Then quoth the Spanish General:
    "Come, let us march away.
I fear we shall be spoiled all,
    if that we longer stay;
For yonder comes Lord Willoughby,
    With courage fierce and fell.
He will not give one inch of ground
    for all the Devils in Hell."

And then the fearful enemy
    was quickly put to flight.
Our men pursued courageously,
    and rout their forces quite;
And at last they gave a shout,
    which ecchoed through the sky:
"God and St. George for England!"
    the conquerors did cry.

This news was brought to England,
    with all the speed might be,
And told unto our gracious Queen,
    of this same Victory.
"O this is brave Lord Willoughby,
    my love hath ever won.
Of all the Lords of honour,
    'tis he great deeds hath done."

For Souldiers that were maimed,
    and wounded in the fray,
The Queen allowed a Pension
    of eighteen pence a day;
Besides, all costs and charges
    she quit and set them free,
And this she did all for the sake
    of brave Lord Willoughby.

Then courage, noble English-men,
    and never be dismaid.
If that we be but one to ten,
    we will not be afraid
To fight with forraign Enemies,
    and set our Country free,
And thus I end this bloody bout
    of brave Lord Willoughby.

London, Printed for F. Coles, in Vine-street, near Hatton-garden.

[In Black-letter. Earliest extant copies apparently printed about 1640.]

[* "Eat" is here past tense, and pronounced "et."—JD]