Lord Bateman- Doten (VT) Broadside c.1875; Flanders N
[My date, a guesstimate. Ella E Doten (b. 1861) of Calais, Washington, Vermont, was the original owner of this broadside. From Flanders; Ancient Ballads, 1966. Notes by Coffin follow. This is patterned after Child L, (The Loving Ballad of Lord Bateman, 1839) and was likely published in the New England area.
R. Matteson 2014]
Young Beichan
(Child 53)
This ballad has an extensive Anglo-American tradition and still is well known on both sides of the Atlantic. The American songs all trace back to early broadsides[1] and song books and quite generally refer to the hero as Lord Bateman or Bakeman. These texts vary somewhat in minor detail, but follow the Child L pattern as to plot outline, significant facts, and length. Nevertheless, a good many scholars have devoted a good bit of time to the minor variations of the American versions and more particularly to identifying the printed sources of the ballad in the New World. George L. Kittredge JAF, XXX, 295-97) used "the hole bored in the hero's shoulder" as a means of distinguishing texts closely akin to Child L from those related to the Coverly broadside in the Isaiah Thomas Collection, Worcester, Massachusetts, and Phillips Barry, British Ballads from Maine, 106 f., continues the probings and points out the "hole in the shoulder" stanza is characteristic of the South. There is also a good bit of information along similar lines in Jane Zielonko's Master's thesis, "Some American Variants of Child Ballads" (Columbia University, 1945), 83 f.
The Flanders versions below have been divided according to the findings of these researchers. Texts A-J seem to be similar to the Coverly broadside or to the version printed in the J. S. Locke of Boston Forget-Me-Not Songster (See A particularly) that goes back to an earlier broadside Coverly may have used. K-S are close to the text printed by Lucy E. Broadwood and J. A. F. Maitland in English Country Songs (London, 1893) and cited by Barry, op. cit., 116. This is a form of the song still known in Britain that evidently found its way into print in New England. In this series (see K-O) the hero's shoulder is not bored through as in many Child texts, but Bateman is tied to a tree[2]. T, it will be noted, contains further modifications and a compression
of the narrative. But, all in all, the Flanders texts are pretty typical of the northern findings for this ballad. Child, I,455 f., discusses the affinities of this song and the legend associated with Gilbert a Becket in the Middle Ages. However, analogous stories are known about Henry of Brunswick, Alexander von Metz, and a host of other heroes in Scandinavian and southern European balladry. A start on a bibliography can be had in Coffin, 63-65 (American); Dean-Smith, 5 (English) ; Greig and Keith, 40-43 (Scottish) ; and the notes in Child. Kittredge's JAF article contains a number of references, not easily available elsewhere, to printed American texts of "Lord Bateman" and its relative "The Turkish Lady." The latter, listed by Laws as O 26 and possibly derived from "Lord Bateman," is also immensely popular in America. Laws, AEBB,238, and Coffin, 65, give a
good many references for it.
The eight tunes for Child 53 are all related, and all correspond to tune group A in BC1. Two subfamilies appear: 1) the Davis, Kennison, Pierce, and Burke tunes, characterized by a triad at the beginning, this group corresponds to BCI group Aa. The other tunes together fit in with BCI group Ab, the Morton tune being relatively divergent from the others, however.
---------
1. In my opinion, this statement is simply inaccurate, "the American songs all trace back to early broadsides." Consider, for example, the Hick/Harmon version (Susan Price/Young Behan) which was collected from three different family members which they brought from Virginia (circa late 1600s) to the Carolina mountains probably around 1770 and has been passed strictly through oral tradition since then. [R. Matteson 2014]
2. It's likely that the "tied to a tree" reference is, in fact, derived from the "hole in the shoulder" texts, via faulty oral transmission. After all, there aren't many prisoners tied to a tree in a jail cell. [R. Matteson 2014]
N. Lord Bateman, copied from a printed copy in a scrapbook of broadsides originally belonging to the late Ella Doten of North Calais, Vermont. Mrs. Lucia Hashins, her daughter, had no knowledge of its origin or whether this version was euer sung by
her mother. It is not like the version which Mrs. Doten formerly had sung for Mrs. Flanders. (See B above.) M. Olney, Collector
July 23, 1941
Lord Bateman
Lord Bateman was a noble lord,
A noble lord of high degree;
He shipped on board a ship,
Some foreign countries he would see.
He sail-ed east, he sail-ed west
Until he came to Turkey,
Where he was taken and put in prison
Until his life was quite weary.
In this prison there grew a tree,
It grew so very stout and strong;
And he was chained by the middle,
Until his life was almost gone.
The Turk, he had one only daughter,
The fairest creature eye e're did see;
She stole the keys of her father's prison,
And said she'd set Lord Bateman free.
"Have you got houses, have you got lands,
Or does Northumberland belong to thee?
And what would you give to the fair young lady,
Who out of prison would set you free?"
"Oh, I've got houses, and I've got lands,
And half Northumberland belongs to me:
And I'd give it all to the fair young lady
That out of prison would set me free.
"For seven long years I'll make a vow,
And seven long years I'll keep it strong;
If you will wed no other woman,
I will wed no other man."
Then she took him to her father's harbour
And gave him a ship of fame;
"Farewell, farewell to you Lord Bateman,
I fear I shall never see you again."
When seven long years were gone and past,
And fourteen days, well known to me;
She packed up her gay gold and clothing,
And said Lord Bateman she would see.
When she came to Lord Bateman's castle,
So boldly there she rang the bell;
"Who's there, who's there?" cried the young proud porter,
"Who's there, who's there? unto me tell."
"O is this Lord Bateman's castle?
And is his lordship here within?"
"O yes, O yes" cried the proud young Porter;
"He has just now taken his young bride in."
"Tell him to send me a slice of cake
And a bottle of the best wine,
And not to forget the fair young lady
That did release him when close confined."
Away, away went this proud young porter,
Away, away, away went he,
Until he came unto Lord Bateman,
When on his bended knee fell he.
"What news, what news, my proud young porter,
What news, what news have you brought unto me?"
"O, there is the fairest of young ladies
That ever my two eyes did see."
"She has got rings on every finger
And on one of them she has got three,
And she has got as much gold around her middle
As would buy Northumberland of thee."
"She tells you to send her a slice of cake
And a bottle of the best wine,
And not to forget the fair young lady
That did release you when close confined."
Lord Bateman in a passion flew,
He broke his sword in splinters three;
"I'll give all my father's wealth and riches
Now, if Sophia has crossed the sea."
Then up spoke his young bride's mother,
Who never was heard to speak so free;
"Don't you forget my only daughter,
Although Sophia has crossed the sea."
"I own I made a bride of your daughter,
She's none the better or worse by me;
She came to me on a horse and saddle
And she may go back in a coach and three."
Then another marriage was prepared
With both their hearts so full of glee;
"I'll range no more to foreign countries
Since Sophia has crossed the sea'"