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Origins: Mattie Groves - What year?

DigiTrad:
FATTY GROVES
LORD BANNER
MATTIE GROVES


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Maryrrf 17 Aug 05 - 01:13 PM
McGrath of Harlow 17 Aug 05 - 01:33 PM
Maryrrf 17 Aug 05 - 01:35 PM
Bunnahabhain 17 Aug 05 - 02:25 PM
Maryrrf 17 Aug 05 - 03:02 PM
Le Scaramouche 17 Aug 05 - 03:31 PM
Maryrrf 17 Aug 05 - 05:14 PM
Bunnahabhain 17 Aug 05 - 05:57 PM
McGrath of Harlow 17 Aug 05 - 08:17 PM
Malcolm Douglas 17 Aug 05 - 10:16 PM
Q (Frank Staplin) 18 Aug 05 - 12:13 AM
Q (Frank Staplin) 18 Aug 05 - 12:15 AM
Paul Burke 18 Aug 05 - 04:05 AM
GUEST,Santa 18 Aug 05 - 07:50 AM
Maryrrf 18 Aug 05 - 08:07 AM
GUEST,Steve Parkes 18 Aug 05 - 08:15 AM
GUEST,DB 18 Aug 05 - 09:15 AM
Les from Hull 18 Aug 05 - 10:13 AM
GUEST,DB 18 Aug 05 - 11:36 AM
Dave the Gnome 18 Aug 05 - 11:37 AM
Le Scaramouche 18 Aug 05 - 11:47 AM
Paul Burke 18 Aug 05 - 11:53 AM
Le Scaramouche 18 Aug 05 - 12:10 PM
Maryrrf 18 Aug 05 - 12:19 PM
Les from Hull 18 Aug 05 - 12:25 PM
DannyC 18 Aug 05 - 01:20 PM
McGrath of Harlow 18 Aug 05 - 04:15 PM
Le Scaramouche 18 Aug 05 - 04:21 PM
Snuffy 19 Aug 05 - 09:02 AM
GUEST,maryrrf 19 Aug 05 - 07:26 PM
Q (Frank Staplin) 19 Aug 05 - 10:16 PM
GUEST,wife of punkfolkrocker 19 Aug 05 - 10:59 PM
Le Scaramouche 20 Aug 05 - 10:03 AM
GUEST,DB 20 Aug 05 - 03:08 PM
GUEST,Big Vern 08 Apr 08 - 12:33 PM
GUEST, Sminky 08 Apr 08 - 12:43 PM
GUEST,Steve Gardham 08 Apr 08 - 08:16 PM
GUEST,Steve Gardham 08 Apr 08 - 08:19 PM
GUEST 08 Apr 08 - 08:43 PM
dulcimerjohn 08 Apr 08 - 10:19 PM
Malcolm Douglas 08 Apr 08 - 11:12 PM
GUEST,Chicken Charlie 09 Apr 08 - 01:07 AM
Nerd 09 Apr 08 - 01:22 AM
GUEST,Neovo 09 Apr 08 - 03:26 AM
pavane 09 Apr 08 - 05:35 AM
Maryrrf 09 Apr 08 - 10:05 AM
GUEST,Margaret 10 Apr 08 - 09:42 AM
GUEST,Steve Gardham 10 Apr 08 - 01:16 PM
Malcolm Douglas 10 Apr 08 - 08:51 PM
pavane 11 Apr 08 - 05:18 AM
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Subject: Mattie Groves - What year?
From: Maryrrf
Date: 17 Aug 05 - 01:13 PM

I've looked over previous threads on "Mattie Groves" and haven't found the answer, nor have searches on the net yielded it. The "first known date" for the appearance of the song is 1611, I think. However there is a line in the song that says "Lord Arlen's gone to consecrate King Henry at Whitehall" which made me think it must have occurred during the reign of Henry VIII, around 70 years previous to that.   I've been checking through some history books trying to figure out if Henry VIII was ever "concecrated" at Whitehall, or it might be this consecration ritual was a yearly event of some kind? I'd always thought the meeting between Mattie Groves and Lord Arlen's wife took place on New Year's Day because in some versions it says "the first day of the year". Then again, sometimes it's "best day of the year". Well, does anybody want to venture a guess as to what might be the exact year, if we could deduce such a thing?


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Subject: RE: Mattie Groves - What year?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 17 Aug 05 - 01:33 PM

"First day of the year" needn't be assumed to mean January 1st. Up until 1752 in England the year was seen as beginning on March 25th, the feast day of the Annunciation, nine months before Christmas Day.


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Subject: RE: Mattie Groves - What year?
From: Maryrrf
Date: 17 Aug 05 - 01:35 PM

Oh I didn't know that! I'm so glad I posted this question - it sheds new light on the subject. Thank you!


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Subject: RE: Mattie Groves - What year?
From: Bunnahabhain
Date: 17 Aug 05 - 02:25 PM

Also, why assume Henry VIII? Henry I reigned in the 12th C, whitehall has been a centre of goverment since about then.

There is no record of a Lord (or earl etc) Arlen in Burkes Peerage, and the 1901 UK cencus has no Arlens at all. The name, has therefore suffered from the folk process.

Going to obvious mishearings does not help, as there are too many options. The nearest is probably the earls of Arden, who have held titles from Saxon times. Not a lot of good....

So neither the King nor the Lord can pin it down. We tried to pin the place down a while back, and that didn't get to a proper answer either. Can't find that thread now. How ironic...


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Subject: RE: Mattie Groves - What year?
From: Maryrrf
Date: 17 Aug 05 - 03:02 PM

Oh I know we can't ever be completely sure, but it's fun to try. What about this hypotheses - (as you know, Mattie Groves is also referred to as Little Musgrave)- that it took place in Cumbria? Check out the link http://musgravemanor.homestead.com/Cumbria.html


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Subject: RE: Mattie Groves - What year?
From: Le Scaramouche
Date: 17 Aug 05 - 03:31 PM

Musgraves are an old Cumbrian family and isn't the lord in the original song lord Barnard?
Don't think we need go back as far as Henry I, the ballad is certainly not that old.


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Subject: RE: Mattie Groves - What year?
From: Maryrrf
Date: 17 Aug 05 - 05:14 PM

Yes, I usually sing the "Mattie Groves/Lord Arlen" version but the Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard version may be even more prevalent.


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Subject: RE: Mattie Groves - What year?
From: Bunnahabhain
Date: 17 Aug 05 - 05:57 PM

I know it's not that old, but I was making the point it King Henry doesn't help much on it's own. Could well be Henry VII.

I've not heard the King Henry verse, and it's not in the DT. How's it go?


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Subject: RE: Mattie Groves - What year?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 17 Aug 05 - 08:17 PM

The episode referred to might be a lot older than the ballad we've got. Or, another way of putting it, the story could be a lot older than any historical characters it may have got itself attached to. The original Lord Arlen would have been some Alpha Male Homo Erectus...


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Subject: RE: Mattie Groves - What year?
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 17 Aug 05 - 10:16 PM

The earliest reference is c.1611 (Beaumont and Fletcher, Knight of the Burning Pestle, one verse quoted). The ballad was probably quite new at that time. Barnet or Barnard to begin with; the "Arlen" form is much later.

So far as I recall, King Henry doesn't appear in the song until early 20th century sets found in America. Not something to be used in any attempt at dating it wihout a lot more detail. What was your source for that line?


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Subject: RE: Mattie Groves - What year?
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 18 Aug 05 - 12:13 AM

The version found in Canada, "Lord Banner" ("and young Magrue from Scotland too") is more interesting. In that song, Lord Banner has gone to fair England "to take King Henry's throne. Now an attempt to take the throne was certainly newsworthy, and would be meat for Wackipedia.

A version collected by Sharp (Lady Banner and little MacGroves involved here) has Lord Banner "Redemption gone, he's on Queen Anne's throne." That shifts the date a bit.


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Subject: RE: Mattie Groves - What year?
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 18 Aug 05 - 12:15 AM

Those two are in Bronson's "Singing Tradition."


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Subject: RE: Mattie Groves - What year?
From: Paul Burke
Date: 18 Aug 05 - 04:05 AM

Do I detect a little naievity here? Most of the 'big ballads' are timeless STORIES. Even if there was an incident that inspired a particular reworking of the theme, it's almost always heavily vested in a mythological coating.

Just as an instance: since Lord Whatever killed both Matty/ Musgrave and the lady, who recorded the conversation between them about hearing the horn of Mattygrave's pal: "away, Musgrave, away"?

It's a timeless tragedy, a work of art, not a historical record.


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Subject: RE: Mattie Groves - What year?
From: GUEST,Santa
Date: 18 Aug 05 - 07:50 AM

There's always some spoilsport out to ruin the fun!

Yes, of course it is a work of art etc. That doesn't mean that it was a total invention. The song may have had some historic grounding, and some people find it interesting to try to tease out any such factual basis from thin textual references and any other research. Whether it did or it didn't, often we can learn something from the gleanings they find or the path they take. (Or even, it must be admitted, sometimes gain a mild amusement from errors.)

Good for the diggers. Full speed ahead and damn the philistines.


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Subject: RE: Mattie Groves - What year?
From: Maryrrf
Date: 18 Aug 05 - 08:07 AM

Well I got the line about "King Henry at Whitehall" from the singing of Joan Baez, which I'm pretty sure was taken from an Appalachian version. (Some of the Appalachian variants have Lord Donald/Arnold/Arlen/ or whatever blasting Mattie Groves with a shotgun, so I know they can't be regarded as reliable sources). Oh I'm sure it's a story that's been repeated many, many times (husband walks in on unfaithful wife and her boyfriend and kills both of them - nothing new!) but in the back of my mind I think the song might be based on an incident that really happened and probably at some time during the reign of Henry VIII. I think it was one of those scandals like Joey Buttafuoco and Amy Fisher that would have caught people's imagination enough for them to still be singing it in 1611. I really enjoy the song - always have and while I'm singing it or listening to it I picture the characters and the scene in my mind. I just wanted to "glean" (as Santa so aptly put it) other peoples opinions to see if there was the faintest chance that the actual incident may have been recorded or pinpointed.


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Subject: RE: Mattie Groves - What year?
From: GUEST,Steve Parkes
Date: 18 Aug 05 - 08:15 AM

Sarah Gray's version has the usual swordfight, but Lord Darnall shoots Lady Darnell with his "special" (surely not a gentleman's weapon)?! Andthe name of the page is Robert Ford!

Steve


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Subject: RE: Mattie Groves - What year?
From: GUEST,DB
Date: 18 Aug 05 - 09:15 AM

Child no. 81 is 'Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard' and Child gives the earliest written citation as 1611 - as given above. It's not unreasonable to suppose that if the ballad is based on historical events then those events could have taken place a century or more earlier - or not, as the case may be.
Interestingly, some versions of Child no. 83, 'Child Maurice' ('Gil Morice', 'Bob Norice', etc., etc.) also feature a homicidal 'Lord Barnard'who, this time, mistakes Lady B's illegitimate son (Child M.) for her lover and chops his head off. This seems to be a much later ballad (printed versions from mid-18th century)but perhaps at some time in the 15th/16th centuries there was a Lord Barnard, in the North of England, who was known to fly off the handle when he thought that his missus was 'playing away' and his savagery stuck in the folk memory and generated (at least) two ballads.


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Subject: RE: Mattie Groves - What year?
From: Les from Hull
Date: 18 Aug 05 - 10:13 AM

The first Lord Barnard (Sir Christopher Vane) was created in 1698.


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Subject: RE: Mattie Groves - What year?
From: GUEST,DB
Date: 18 Aug 05 - 11:36 AM

Thanks Les from Hull. Hmm, that does rather blow my theories out of the window, doesn't it? Nevertheless, if Lord B. wasn't 'created' until 1698 how did he get into a ballad cited in 1611 and probably created even earlier?
I suppose the moral is never enquire too deeply into the historical backgrounds of ballads - it can drive you crazy - gibber, gibber, drool, drool!!


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Subject: RE: Mattie Groves - What year?
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 18 Aug 05 - 11:37 AM

1927 - A bloke in the pub told me.

:D


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Subject: RE: Mattie Groves - What year?
From: Le Scaramouche
Date: 18 Aug 05 - 11:47 AM

I think Barnard Castle in Teesdale might be a candidate. Varnet was created Earl Barnard because his family took the place. A quick google should give you the family details.


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Subject: RE: Mattie Groves - What year?
From: Paul Burke
Date: 18 Aug 05 - 11:53 AM

Barnard could have been his first name:

"The ballade of ane right noble victorius [and] myghty lord Barnard Stewart lord of Aubigny erle of Beaumont Roger and bonaffre consaloure and cham[ber]lane ordinare to the maist hee maist excelle[n]t [and] maist crystyn prince Loys king of France knyght of his ordoure capitane of the kepyng of his body co[n]queror of Naplis and vmquhile co[n]stable general of the same." - by William Dunbar, Walter Chepman and Androw Myllar, 1508.

Which would be a disaster for dating the song, as you'd have to look up everyone called Barnard, Bernard, Bernhardt etc.


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Subject: RE: Mattie Groves - What year?
From: Le Scaramouche
Date: 18 Aug 05 - 12:10 PM

How true.


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Subject: RE: Mattie Groves - What year?
From: Maryrrf
Date: 18 Aug 05 - 12:19 PM

Oh well it's fun to speculate, isn't it!


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Subject: RE: Mattie Groves - What year?
From: Les from Hull
Date: 18 Aug 05 - 12:25 PM

Actually the current Lord Barnard lives in Raby Castle. Anybody fancy popping over and asking him?


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Subject: RE: Mattie Groves - What year?
From: DannyC
Date: 18 Aug 05 - 01:20 PM

I fall with Mr. Burke here. When the lady "cast her eye on the little Musgrave as bright as the summer sun" I caught a divine glimmer from a nearby tangled hedge. A Graves he said - a Graves he said to place these lovers in.


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Subject: RE: Mattie Groves - What year?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 18 Aug 05 - 04:15 PM

The thing is there's nothing particularly unusual about the story as such. Stuff like this happens pretty regularly in real life. (For example see this rather horrible storythat I came across today when looking for soemthing quite different, about a man who went out and killed his former lover and her family; he also beat a dog to death with a shovel. Typical ballad material, except he wasn't a lord. Unlike the equally unsavoury Lord Lucan, who could also have well featured in a ballad.)

I'd have thiught it pretty likely that the text we have does in fact relate to some actual episode, though it'd likely enough have incorporated stuff from some pre-existing account of the same kind of thing.


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Subject: RE: Mattie Groves - What year?
From: Le Scaramouche
Date: 18 Aug 05 - 04:21 PM

Wouldn't have surpised your average Englishman much 400 years ago.


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Subject: RE: Mattie Groves - What year?
From: Snuffy
Date: 19 Aug 05 - 09:02 AM

Speaking of real life throwing up modern instances like the stories of old songs, this one put me in mind of Polly Vaughan/Molly Ban, etc


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Subject: RE: Mattie Groves - What year?
From: GUEST,maryrrf
Date: 19 Aug 05 - 07:26 PM

Some interesting speculation - I tend to agree that the incident must have happened but then was elaborated on and confused with other incidents...people have always been fascinated with scandal, haven't they - and "Mattie Groves" has it all - sex, violence, involvement of rich prominent citizens, must have been quite a sensation in the surrounding area when it happened!


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Subject: RE: Mattie Groves - What year?
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 19 Aug 05 - 10:16 PM

As posted by Pavanne in another thread, in the 17th c. versions of Child 81, and the one in Pepys Ballads I, the characters are Little Mousgrave (Musgrave, Musgrove) and Lady Barnet. The lord was feasting with friends; no kings, queens or Whitehall are mentioned.

Child, the English and Scottish Popular ballads, quotes Percy: "This ballad is ancient, and has been popular; we find it quoted in many old plays." He mentioned one of about 1611.
It is likely that the song originated in the theatre; the characters entirely fictional.


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Subject: RE: Mattie Groves - What year?
From: GUEST,wife of punkfolkrocker
Date: 19 Aug 05 - 10:59 PM

Mattie Groves..


folk rock at its best !!!

a really good song to drink and dance to..

so does anyone actually ever bother listening to the lyrics..!!????


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Subject: RE: Mattie Groves - What year?
From: Le Scaramouche
Date: 20 Aug 05 - 10:03 AM

The lyrics are the whole point.
Who says the incident had to happen?


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Subject: RE: Mattie Groves - What year?
From: GUEST,DB
Date: 20 Aug 05 - 03:08 PM

So, 'Wife of punkfolkrocker'

"a really good song to drink and dance to..

so does anyone actually ever bother listening to the lyrics..!!????"

Words failed me for a moment - and I managed to bite back some rude ones!

Thing is, some authorities believe that ballads were originally danced to - but I think that at the stage of ballad evolution reached by the 'Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard' / 'Matty Groves' ballad, the words are important - at least they're important to me!

I wonder, have you ever tried listening to this ballad without a heavy rock accompaniment? Try, for example, Jimmy Hutchinson's rendition on his CD 'Corachree'- Living Tradition 'Tradition Bearers Series' LTCD 1002, 2000. Mr Hutchinson's version is, of course, based on Jeannie Robertson's - I'm sure I've got a reference for that, somewhere, but can't find it at the moment.


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Subject: RE: Mattie Groves - What year?
From: GUEST,Big Vern
Date: 08 Apr 08 - 12:33 PM

The first (1658) version mentions 'our lady's (i.e. Virgin Mary) grace' in the opening preaching scene. Late 16th and 17th century England and Scotland being Calvinist countries did not do sermons on the Virgin Mary's grace. This rather suggest a pre- or early reformation origin (i.e 1550s or before).


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Subject: RE: Mattie Groves - What year?
From: GUEST, Sminky
Date: 08 Apr 08 - 12:43 PM

The following quote is from Fletcher's play 'Knight of the Burning Pestle' (first performed 1607, published 1613):

"OLD MERRYTHOUGHT
(sings)
And some they whistled, and some they sung,
Hey, down, down!
And some did loudly say,
Ever as the Lord Barnet's horn blew,
Away, Musgrave, away!"


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Subject: RE: Mattie Groves - What year?
From: GUEST,Steve Gardham
Date: 08 Apr 08 - 08:16 PM

The names Musgrave and Barnard and their derivatives occur in place names all over northern England and southern Scotland which isn't surprising as through intermarriage the nobility acquired castles, towns etc all over the place. The Percys of Northumberland for instance had all sorts of land in various parts of England and probably Scotland too after the Union. Ballads of this sort had their heyday in the 16th century but as has been stated the stories they tell could date back to much earlier times.

As for conjecturing dates of origin from internal evidence, yes this is great fun, and marvellous if you can turn up something new and concrete. Try working on 'The Cruel Mother' and 'John of Hazelgreen'

Cheers,
SteveG


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Subject: RE: Mattie Groves - What year?
From: GUEST,Steve Gardham
Date: 08 Apr 08 - 08:19 PM

I should add, even if you get a definite fix on a surname and a Christian name, try ploughing through the online family trees of the nobility, bred like rabbits they did!!


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Subject: RE: Mattie Groves - What year?
From: GUEST
Date: 08 Apr 08 - 08:43 PM

Bunnahabhain-- No one answered your question in as many words, so:

The lead-in is when Groves & Lady Whosis first meet in the church and she invites him home.

He:
"I cannot go, I dare not go; I fear 'twould cost my life,
For I see by the little ring you wear, you are Lord Arlen's [?] wife;
You're the great Lord Arlen's wife."

She:
"This may be false, this may be true; I can't deny it all,
But Arlen's gone to consecrate ... King Henry at Whitehall,
King Henry at Whitehall."

FWIW, at the U. of Oregon c.1968 I went to a session in the Anthro Dept., I think, with a folklorist named Barry Tolkein. He insisted that Baez had pirated a bunch of ballad lyrics from him, I think including this one. Which is neither here nor there and doesn't help pin down the song.

My guess would be that if a real event were meant, it would refer to the coronation of either Henry VII in 1485 or Henry VIII in 1509. I have no idea if either event took place at Whitehall.

Chicken Charlie


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Subject: RE: Mattie Groves - What year?
From: dulcimerjohn
Date: 08 Apr 08 - 10:19 PM

most significant version..1969..'liege and lief' classic fairport lineup.


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Subject: RE: Mattie Groves - What year?
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 08 Apr 08 - 11:12 PM

Certainly very influential on the modern revival, but 'most significant'? Over a span of nearly 400 years, I very much doubt it. It's largely irrelevant to this particular discussion in any case; as a modern collation it can tell us nothing about the history of the song.

To answer a few points made a little earlier in this recently revived thread:

Charlie:

Let's give that folklorist his proper name: Barre Toelken. It's a matter of record that Baez was, shall we say, rather less than frank about where she got some of her early material. Anything of hers should only be considered authentic, and useful for the purposes of discussion, if it can be traced to a traditional source. That particular text isn't in Bronson, but plenty of oral examples have turned up since than. It would be interesting to know more about the provenance of this one. It wouldn't be at all surprising to find that she got it from Toelken and 'forgot' (see Sandy Paton's comments in earlier discussions here on songs that she learned from him and later pretended to have had from 'little old men in Ireland' or some such).

'Big Vern':

England has never been a 'Calvinist' country. The 1658 printing (Child 81A) has:

Little Musgrave came to the church-dore
The preist was at private masse
But he had more minde of the faire women
Then he had of our lady['s] grace.

1658 was the year Cromwell died. Although Catholicism was widely frowned upon (in much the same way that Communism, for example, has been in America in more recent times) a reference to 'our lady' clearly was not considered odd or inappropriate at that time. In fact, the ballad sheet issued by Henry Gosson (Child 81C) was around 20 years earlier, perhaps more, and makes no reference to 'our lady' at all. There is probably no future in trying to guess the age of the song by that means.

Similarly, King Henry appears only in late (collected in the 20th century) American versions; so there is no help to be had there, as was pointed out when this discussion was originally started in 2005.

We can say only that the song was known around 1611; as I said a few years back in this very thread, it was probably quite new at that time.


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Subject: RE: Mattie Groves - What year?
From: GUEST,Chicken Charlie
Date: 09 Apr 08 - 01:07 AM

Malcolm--

Thanks for clarification. My only excuse is I never saw the name in print, just heard it, and that forty years back. Good to have it right.

CC


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Subject: RE: Mattie Groves - What year?
From: Nerd
Date: 09 Apr 08 - 01:22 AM

Just to amplify on the observations above by Steve Parkes, Sara Grey's version of this ballad, with the "special" (pistol), and "little Robert Ford" as the footpage places it as likely a Madison County, North Carolina version. Cas Wallin sang it that way, as did his relative Dillard Chandler. Both have versions available on CDs, Cas's on one of Mike Yates's releases though Musical Traditions, and Chandler's on the Folkways album "Old Love Songs and Ballads," recently reissued as "Dark Holler: Old Love Songs and Ballads."

The joke, of course, is that "Little Robert Ford" is also the betrayer of Jesse James. When Wallin sang the song, he paused after the verse mentioning Ford, chuckled, and said, "he busied hisself, didn't he?" This showed, I think, that he was in on the joke!

In general, it's well and good to speculate, but unless an earlier version turns up in some manuscript (which does sometimes happen), it isn't likely that any version will push the date back to before 1611. It's always more likely that the details which pin it to an earlier date were added in modern times than that they survived in oral tradition undetected until today.


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Subject: RE: Mattie Groves - What year?
From: GUEST,Neovo
Date: 09 Apr 08 - 03:26 AM

The version of Mattie Groves I sing has Lord Donald as the cuckolded husband. Maybe mis-remembered but would that make any historical sense?


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Subject: RE: Mattie Groves - What year?
From: pavane
Date: 09 Apr 08 - 05:35 AM

Just a note:
If you go to Google Books, and search on Musgrave and Barnard, you can view a lot of books containing different versions, including a full view of Percy's Reliques, and partial views of Child and other well known collections.

Nothing in the way of new information found there yet, though, buit I was surprised to find one interpretation that the man who blew the horn was in fact a rival of Musgrave, who fancied his OWN chances with the Lady Barnard, and therefore didn't want her killed.

I also found that killing BOTH lovers was apparently the necessary way of doing it to make it legal, and in such a place and manner that their guilt was clear. Then you were off the hook, it was a crime of passion. No good waiting until later, because you had then no evidence of their adultery.


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Subject: RE: Mattie Groves - What year?
From: Maryrrf
Date: 09 Apr 08 - 10:05 AM

Well I'm glad this thread was revived. I don't suppose we'll ever know the true "origins" of the ballad - i.e. when, and if, it really happened, and who the unfortunate lovers were. Interesting to speculate though!


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Subject: RE: Mattie Groves - What year?
From: GUEST,Margaret
Date: 10 Apr 08 - 09:42 AM

It probably isn't helpful, but in the headnotes Bronson says there is a Scottish version older than any of the published ones. I've never seen anything else about this so it may be a mistake.


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Subject: RE: Mattie Groves - What year?
From: GUEST,Steve Gardham
Date: 10 Apr 08 - 01:16 PM

Some of these old boadside ballads are simply moral warnings to the well-to-do to persuade them to stick to the straight and narrow. In this case a simple message of avoiding adultery (or getting caught!) The Cruel Mother is simply a warning to young girls from noble backgrounds to avoid liaisons with servants.

SteveG


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Subject: RE: Mattie Groves - What year?
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 10 Apr 08 - 08:51 PM

Bronson wrote: 'There has also survived a Scottish text, earlier than any of these [ie earlier than any of the Child texts] in the Panmure MS, as yet unprinted.'

That was in 1962. The MS commonplace-book compiled by Robert Edward is, I think, now considered to date from the 1630s at the earliest; so it is likely pre-dated by the Gosson broadside and certainly by the Beaumont and Fletcher verse. It appears that the text, 'Litel Musgray', was printed in Marion Stewart and Helena Mennie Shires, King Orphius; Sir Colling; The brother's lament; Litel Musgray: Poems from Scottish Manuscripts of c.1586 and c.1630 lately discovered (Cambridge: Ninth of May, 1973). I should have a copy of this fairly soon, and will report back on anything material it may contain.

In another discussion here on this song, I listed all (or nearly all) of the many names given the cuckolded aristocrat in traditional versions of the ballad. If 'Neovo' has a look at that, he or she will see why 'the version [he or she] sing[s]' (unless learned directly from a 400-year-old source) is unlikely to tell us anything helpful.

Best to treat the song as fiction, as Steve suggests. Some of the old ballads have roots in real (and sometimes even identifiable) events; the majority don't.


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Subject: RE: Mattie Groves - What year?
From: pavane
Date: 11 Apr 08 - 05:18 AM

A search of Google Books on Litel Musgray turns up the following references, in case it helps. But nothing relevant can be viewed online:

Aberdeen University Review - Page 290
by University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen University Alumnus Association - World War, 1914-1918 - 1974
Litel Musgray in its new version has the wonderful simplicity of the best ballad art : as the horn-blast is distantly heard announcing the ...

Women Medievalists And The Academy - Page 744
by Jane Chance - Biography & Autobiography - 2005 - 1073 pages

... "Sir Colling, " "The Brothers Lament, " "Litel Musgray": Poems from Scottish Manuscripts of c. 1586 and c. 1630. Cambridge: The Ninth of May, 1963. ...


Annual Bibliography of Scottish Literature
by Library Association Scottish Group - Dialect literature, Scottish - 1969
Page 53 ... and Litel Musgray : poems from Scottish manuscripts of C.1586 and c.1630 lately discovered, transcribed and edited by M. Stewart and HM Shire. ...


Annual Report of the Council Under Statute D, III, 10 on the General and ...by King's College (University of Cambridge) - Universities and colleges

Page 8
Litel Musgray.' (Editor with Marian Stewart.) 'Information for Collective Action. A Microanalytic View of Plural Decision-Making.' 'Eastern Monarchs. ...

Medieval Studies for J.A.W. Bennett: Aetatis Suae LXX
by Jack Arthur Walter Bennett, P. L. Heyworth - Drama - 1981 - 438 pages
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