No. 159: Durham Field
[There are no known US or Canadian versions of this ballad.]
CONTENTS:
1. Child's Narrative
2. Footnotes (Found at the end of Child's Narrative)
3. Brief (Kittredge)
4. Child's Ballad Texts A
5. Endnotes
6. "Additions and Corrections"
ATTACHED PAGES (see left hand column):
1. Recordings & Info: 159. Durham Field
A. Roud No. 3998: Durham Field (2 Listings)
2. Sheet Music: 159. Durham Field (Bronson's gives no music examples)
3. English and Other Versions (Including Child versions A with additional notes)]
Child's Narrative: Durham Field
A. 'Durham ffeilde,' Percy Manuscript, p. 245; Hales and Furnivall, II, 190.
While Edward Third was absent in France, and for the time engaged with the siege of Calais, David Bruce, the young king of Scotland, at the instance of Philip of Valois, but also because he "yearned to see fighting," invaded England with a large army. Having taken by storm the Border castle of Liddel, he was advised by William of Douglas to turn back, which, it was represented by Douglas, he could do with credit after this success. Other lords said that Douglas had filled his bags, but theirs were toom, and that the way lay open to London, for there were no men left in England but souters, skinners, and traders.[1] The Scots moved on to Durham, and encamped in a park not far from the town, in a bad position. In the mean while a powerful force had been collected by the northern nobility and the English churchmen, without the knowledge of the Scots. William of Douglas, going out to forage, rode straight to the ground where his foes lay, and in the attempt to retreat lost five hundred of his men. King David drew up his army in three divisions: one under his own command, another under the Earl of Murray and William Douglas, the third under the Steward of Scotland and the Earl of March. The operations of the Scots were impeded by the ditches and fences that traversed the ground on which they stood, and their situation made them an almost helpless mark for the ten thousand archers of the English army. Murray's men were completely routed by a charge of cavalry, and their leader killed. The English then fell upon the King's division, which, after a desperate fight, was "vanquished utterly." David, who had received two wounds from arrows, was taken prisoner by John Copland, "by force, not yolden," after knocking out two of the Englishman's teeth with a knife. Wyntoun's Chronykil, ed. Laing, II, 470 ff; Scotichronicon, ed. Goodall, II, 339 ff. The battle was fought on the 17th of October, 1346.
According to the English chronicle of Lanercost, John of Douglas, 'germanus domini Willelmi,' fought with the Earl of Murray in the first Scottish division, and the Earl of Buchan was associated with King David in the command of the second. The English were also in three bodies. The leaders of the first were the Earl of Angus, 'inter omnes Angliæ nobilis persona,' Henry Percy, Ralph Neville, and Henry Scrope; the Archbishop of York led the second; Mowbray, Rokeby, and John of Copland were in the third. Ed. Stevenson, pp. 349-51.
David, in the ballad, proposes to himself nothing less than the conquest of England and the distribution of the territory among his chief men. He is not a youth of twenty-two; William Douglas has served him four and thirty years. Still he will brook no advice, and kills his own squire for warning him of the danger of his enterprise. The Earl of Angus is to lead the van; but Angus, as we have seen, was engaged on the other side. The title of Angus might have deceived the minstrel, but it was hardly to be expected that Neville should be turned into a Scot as he is in st. 17. Angus, and also 'Vaughan,' that is Baughan, or Buchan,[2] are to be in the king's coat-armor, sts 11, 13, imitating Blunt and the rest at Shrewsbury, and the five false Richmonds at Bosworth. James[3] Douglas offers to lead the van, 14; so does William Douglas in 21. An Englishman who does not know a Neville would surely not be very precise about a Douglas, and it must be conceded that the Douglases have not always been kept perfectly distinct by historians. James Douglas, whoever he may be supposed to be, "went before;" that is, he plays the part which belongs historically to the Knight of Liddesdale, loses all his men, and returns, with an arrow in his thigh, to report that one Englishman is worth five Scots: 26-33.[4] But the Scots, even at that rate, have the advantage, for a herald, sent out to reconnoitre, tells their king that they are ten to one.
The commanders on the English side are the Bishop of Durham, Earl Percy, the Archbishop of York, the Bishop of Carlisle, and "Lord Fluwilliams."[5] The Bishop of Durham orders that no man shall fight before he has 'served his God,' and five hundred priests say mass in the field who afterwards take part in the fray. (The monks of Durham, Knyghton tells us, had made terms with the Scots, and were to pay a thousand pounds for ransom-money the next day; and so, when they saw the Scots yielding, they raised their voices in a Te Deum, which sounded to the clouds and quickened the courage of the English.) The king of Scots is wounded by an arrow through his nose, and, stepping aside to bleed, is taken prisoner by John of Copland, whom he first smites angrily. Copland sets the king on a palfrey and leads him to London. King Edward, newly arrived from France, asks him how he likes the shepherds, millers, and priests. There 's not a yeoman in England, says David, but he is worth a Scottish knight. Aye, says King Edward, laughing, that is because you were fighting against the right. Shortly after this the Black Prince brings the king of France captive from the field of Poitiers. Says David to John, Welcome, brother, but I would I had gone to Rome! And I, would I had gone to Jerusalem! replies John. Thus ends the battle of Durham, fought, says the minstrel, on a morning of May, sts 27, 64, and within the same month as the battles of Crécy and Poitiers.[6] Though Poitiers was fought ten years after Durham, the king of Scots and the king of France no doubt met in London, for John was taken thither in April, 1357, and David was not released from his captivity until the following November.
Stanza 18 affords us an upper limit for a date. Lord Hambleton is said to be of the king's kin full nigh. James Hamilton, the first lord, married the princess Mary, sister of James III, in 1474, and his descendants were the next heirs to the throne after the Stewarts, whose line was for a time but barely kept up.
Footnotes:
1. Presbyteri, fratres et clerici, sutores et mechanici, Bower; agricolae ac pastores, et capellani imbecilles et decrepiti, Knyghton; miseri monachi, improbi presbyteri, porcorum pastores, sutores et pelliparii, Chronicon de Lanercost; clericos et pastores, Walsingham, Hist. Angl.
2. It is very doubtful whether there was an Earl of Buchan in 1346. Henry de Beaumont, according to the peerages, died in 1341. He was an Englishman, had fought against the Scots at Duplin, 1332, and was after that in the service of Edward III.
3. 'Famous,' the Manuscript reading in 141, may probably be an error for James, which occurs so often in 28-33. William Douglas, the Knight of Liddesdale, had a brother James, but this James had been killed in 1335. He had also a brother John, Scotichronicon and Chronicon de Lanercoste, and the latter, as has been mentioned, puts John in Murray's division. Knyghton, col. 2590, gives as among the prisoners dominus Willielmus Duglas et frater ejusdem Willielmi.
4. When William Douglas, in the Chronicle of Lanercost, tells the king that the English are at hand, and David replies, there is nothing in England but monks, priests, swine-herds, etc., Douglas says, 'aliter invenietis; aunt varii validi viri.'
5. Froissart says that the English force was in four battalions: the first commanded by the Bishop of Durham and Lord Percy; the second by the Archbishop of York and Lord Neville; the third by the Bishop of Lincoln and Lord Mowbray; the fourth by Edward Balliol and the Archbishop of Canterbury.
6. Crécy, 26 August, 1346; Durham, 17 October, 1346; Poitiers, 19 September, 1356.
Brief Description by George Lyman Kittredge
While Edward Third was absent in France, and for the time engaged with the siege of Calais, David Bruce, the young king of Scotland, at the instance of Philip of Valois, but also because he "yearned to see fighting," invaded England with a large army. Having taken by storm the Border castle of Liddel, he was advised by William of Douglas to turn back, which, it was represented by Douglas, he could do with credit after this success. Other lords said that Douglas had fdled his bags, but theirs were toom, and that the way lay open to London, for there were no men left in England but souters, skinners, and traders. The Scots moved on to Durham, and encamped in a park not far from the town, in a bad position. In the mean while a powerful force had been collected by the northern nobility and the English churchmen, without the knowledge of the Scots. William of Douglas, going out to forage, rode straight to the ground where his foes lay, and in the attempt to retreat lost five hundred of his men. King David drew up his army in three divisions: one under his own command, another under the Earl of Murray and William Douglas, the third under the Steward of Scotland and the Earl of March. The operations of the Scots were impeded by the ditches and fences that traversed the ground on which they stood, and their situation made them almost helpless, a mark for the ten thousand archers of the English army. Murray's men were completely routed by a charge of cavalry, and their leader killed. The English then fell upon the King's division, which, after a desperate fight, was "vanquished utterly." David, who had received two wounds from arrows, was taken prisoner by John Copland, "by force, not yolden," after knocking out two of the Englishman's teeth with a knife. Wyntoun's Cronykil, ed. Laing, II, 470 ff.; Scotichrouieon, ed. Goodall, II, 339 ff. The battle was fought on the 17th of October, 1346.
Child's Ballad Text
'Durham ffeilde'- Version A; Child 159 Durham Field
'Durham ffeilde,' Percy Manuscript, p. 245; Hales and Furnivall, II, 190.
1 Lordinges, listen, and hold you still;
Hearken to me a litle;
I shall you tell of the fairest battell
That euer in England beffell.
2 For as it befell in Edward the Thirds dayes,
In England, where he ware the crowne,
Then all the cheefe chiualry of England
They busked and made them bowne.
3 y chosen all the best archers
That in England might be found,
And all was to fight with the king of Ffrance,
Within a litle stounde.
4 And when our king was ouer the water,
And on the salt sea gone,
Then tydings into Scotland came
That all England was gone.
5 Bowes and arrowes they were all forth,
At home was not left a man
But shepards and millers both,
And priests with shauen crownes.
6 Then the king of Scotts in a study stood,
As he was a man of great might;
He sware he wold hold his parlament in leeue London,
If he cold ryde there right.
7 Then bespake a squier, of Scottland borne,
And sayd, My leege, apace,
Before you come to leeue London,
Full sore you'le rue that race.
8 Ther beene bold yeomen in merry England,
Husbandmen stiffe and strong;
Sharpe swords they done weare,
Bearen bowes and arrowes longe.
9 The King was angrye at that word;
A long sword out he drew,
And there befor his royall companye
His owne squier hee slew.
10 Hard hansell had the Scottes that day,
That wrought them woe enoughe,
For then durst not a Scott speake a word
Ffor hanging att a boughe.
11 'The Earle of Anguish, where art thou?
In my coate-armor thou shalt bee,
And thou shalt lead the forward
Thorrow the English countrye.
12 'Take thee Yorke,' then sayd the King,
'In stead wheras it doth stand;
I'le make thy eldest sonne after thee
Heyre of all Northumberland.
13 'The Earle of Vaughan, where be yee?
In my coate-armor thou shalt bee;
The high Peak and Darbyshire
I giue it thee to thy fee.'
14 Then came in famous Douglas,
Saies, What shall my meede bee?
And I'le lead the vawward, lord,
Thorow the English countrye.
15 'Take thee Worster,' sayd the King,
'Tuxburye, Killingworth, Burton vpon Trent;
Doe thou not say another day
But I haue giuen thee lands and rent.
16 'Sir Richard of Edenborrow, where are yee?
A wise man in this warr!
I'le giue thee Bristow and the shire
The time that wee come there.
17 'My lord Nevill, where beene yee?
You must in this warres bee;
I'le giue thee Shrewsburye,' saies the King,
'And Couentrye faire and free.
18 'My lord of Hambleton, where art thou?
Thou art of my kin full nye;
I'le giue thee Lincolne and Lincolneshire,
And that's enouge for thee.'
19 By then came in William Douglas,
As breeme as any bore;
He kneeled him downe vpon his knees,
In his hart he sighed sore.
20 Saies, I haue serued you, my louelye leege,
This thirty winters and four,
And in the Marches betweene England and Scottland
I haue beene wounded and beaten sore.
21 For all the good service that I haue done,
What shall my meed bee?
And I will lead the vanward
Thorrow the English countrye.
22 'Aske on, Douglas,' said the king,
'And granted it shall bee:'
'Why then, I aske litle London,' saies William Douglas,
'Gotten giff that it bee.'
23 The King was wrath, and rose away,
Saies, Nay, that cannot bee!
For that I will keepe for my cheefe chamber,
Gotten if it bee.
24 But take thee North Wales and Weschaster,
The cuntrye all round about,
And rewarded thou shalt bee,
Of that take thou noe doubt.
25 Fiue score knights he made on a day,
And dubbd them with his hands;
Rewarded them right worthilye
With the townes in merry England.
26 And when the fresh knights they were made,
To battell the buske them bowne;
Iames Douglas went before,
And he thought to haue wonnen him shoone.
27 But the were mett in a morning of May
With the comminaltye of litle England;
But there scaped neuer a man away,
Through the might of Christ s hand.
28 But all onely Iames Douglas;
In Durham in the feild
An arrow stroke him in the thye;
Fast flinge[s he] towards the King.
29 The King looked toward litle Durham,
Saies, All things is not well!
For Iames Dowglas beares an arrow in his thye,
The head of it is of steele.
30 'How now Iames?' then said the King,
'How now, how may this bee?
And where beene all thy merrymen
That thou tooke hence with thee?'
31 'But cease, my king,' saies Iames Douglas,
'Aliue is not left a man!'
'Now by my faith,' saies the king of Scottes,
'That gate was euill gone.
32 'But I'le reuenge thy quarrell well,
And of that thou may be faine;
For one Scott will beate fiue Englishmen,
If the meeten them on the plaine.'
33 'Now hold your tounge,' saies Iames Douglas,
'For in faith that is not soe;
For one English man is worth fiue Scotts,
When they meeten together thoe.
34 'For they are as egar men to fight
As a faulcon vpon a pray;
Alas! if euer the winne the vanward,
There scapes noe man away.'
35 'O peace thy talking,' said the King,
'They bee but English knaues,
But shepards and millers both,
And preists with their staues.'
36 The King sent forth one of his heralds of armes
To vew the Englishmen:
'Be of good cheere,' the herald said,
'For against one wee bee ten.'
37 'Who leades those ladds?' said the king of Scottes,
'Thou herald, tell thou mee:'
The herald said, The Bishopp of Durham
Is captaine of that companye.
38 'For the Bishopp hath spred the King's banner,
And to battell he buskes him bowne:'
'I sweare by St. Andrewes bones,' saies the King,
'I'le rapp that preist on the crowne.'
39 The King looked towards litle Durham,
And that hee well beheld,
That the Earle Percy was well armed,
With his battell-axe entred the feild.
40 The King looket againe towards litle Durham,
Four ancyents there see hee;
There were to standards, six in a valley,
He cold not see them with his eye.
41 My Lord of Yorke was one of them,
My Lord of Carlile was the other,
And my Lord Ffluwilliams,
The one came with the other.
42 The Bishopp of Durham commanded his men,
And shortlye he them bade,
That neuer a man shold goe to the feild to fight
Till he had serued his God.
43 Fiue hundred preists said masse that day
In Durham in the feild,
And afterwards, as I hard say,
They bare both speare and sheeld.
44 The Bishopp of Durham orders himselfe to fight,
With his battell-axe in his hand;
He said, This day now I will fight
As long as I can stand!
45 'And soe will I,' sayd my Lord of Carlile,
'In this faire morning gay;'
'And soe will I,' said my Lord Ffluwilliams,
'For Mary, that myld may.'
46 Our English archers bent their bowes
Shortlye and anon;
They shott ouer the Scottish oast
And scantlye toucht a man.
47 'Hold downe your hands,' sayd the Bishopp of Durham,
'My archers good and true:'
The second shoote that the shott,
Full sore the Scottes itt rue.
48 The Bishopp of Durham spoke on hye,
That both partyes might heare:
'Be of good cheere, my merrymen all,
The Scotts flyen, and changen there cheere.'
49 But as the saidden, soe the didden,
They fell on heap s hye;
Our Englishmen laid on with their bowes,
As fast as they might dree.
50 The king of Scotts in a studye stood
Amongst his companye;
An arrow stoke him thorrow the nose,
And thorrow his armorye.
51 The King went to a marsh-side
And light beside his steede;
He leaned him downe on his sword-hilts,
To let his nose bleede.
52 There followed him a yeaman of merry England,
His name was Iohn of Coplande:
'Yeeld thee, traytor!' saies Coplande then,
'Thy liffe lyes in my hand.'
53 'How shold I yeeld me,' sayes the King,
'And thou art noe gentleman?'
'Noe, by my troth,' sayes Copland there,
'I am but a poore yeaman.
54 'What art thou better then I, Sir King?
Tell me if that thou can!
What art thou better then I, Sir King,
Now we be but man to man?'
55 The King smote angerly at Copland then,
Angerly in that stonde;
And then Copland was a bold yeaman,
And bore the King to the ground.
56 He sett the King upon a palfrey,
Himselfe upon a steede;
He tooke him by the bridle-rayne,
Towards London he can him lead.
57 And when to London that he came,
The King from Ffrance was new come home,
And there unto the king of Scottes
He sayd these words anon.
58 'How like you my shepards and my millers?
My priests with shaven crownes?'
'By my fayth, they are the sorest fighting men
That ever I mett on the ground.
59 'There was never a yeaman in merry England
But he was worth a Scottish knight:'
'I, by my troth,' said King Edward, and laughe,
'For you fought all against the right.'
60 But now the prince of merry England,
Worthilye under his sheelde,
Hath taken the king of Ffrance,
At Poytiers in the feelde.
61 The prince did present his father with that food,
The louely king off Ffrance,
And forward of his iourney he is gone:
God send us all good chance!
62 'You are welcome, brother!' sayd the king of Scotts, to the king of Ffrance,
'For I am come hither to soone;
Christ leeve that I had taken my way
Unto the court of Roome!'
63 'And soe wold I,' said the king of Ffrance,
'When I came over the streame,
That I had taken my iourney
Unto Ierusalem!'
64 Thus ends the battell of faire Durham,
In one morning of May,
The battell of Cressey, and the battle of Potyers,
All within one month s day.
65 Then was welthe and welfare in mery England,
Solaces, game, and glee,
And every man loved other well,
And the King loved good yeomanrye.
66 But God that made the grasse to growe,
And leaves on greenwoode tree,
Now save and keepe our noble king,
And maintaine good yeomanry!
End-Notes
And for & throughout.
11. Perhaps lesten: yo.
12. a litie spell?
21. 3ds.
83. sharpes.
118. forward has a tag to the d. Furnivall.
121. thy for thee.
131. in Earle the l is made over an e. Furnivall.
152. Tuxburye doubtful in the Manuscript.
202. 30: 4.
25. 5 score.
311. Janes.
323, 333. 5.
After 39. 2d part.
402. 4.
403. 6.
431. 500.
441. Durban.
473. 2d.
621. brothers.
66. Pencil note in Percy's late hand.
This and 2 following leaves being unfortunately torn out, in sending the subsequent piece ['King Estmere'] to the press, the conclusion of the preceding ballad has been carefully transcribed; and indeed the fragments of the other leaves ought to have been so.
Additions and Corrections
P. 283 a. Knights wearing the king's armor in battle. This was naturally frequently done. So John at Poitiers had twenty in his "parements," Froissart (Buchon), III, 186, and Charles VIII a good number at Fornovo, Daniel, Histoire de France, VIII, 222