US & Canada Versions: 167. Sir Andrew Barton [See: 250. Henry Martyn]
[In many cases (Roud Index, Phillips Barry etc), the ballads Sir Andrew Barton & Henry Martyn have been combined and are treated as one ballad. The US and Canadian versions are properly Henry Martyn versions of the Sir Andrew Barton ballad. Therefore I'm including them there under 250. Henry Martyn. According to Coffin:
Barry, Brit Bids Me, 253ff., argues that they are the same song. He bases his claim on the older American texts and points out that the Child Henry Martyn stories are all fragments of the Andrew Barton tale which leave the chase and the capture out. Any ballad that has a chase and capture is Sir Andrew Barton. The American Henry Martyn songs that have the hero die and fall overboard are the result of a crossing with a text of Sir Andrew Barton itself or of an accident of traditional change. His conclusion is that Sir Andrew Barton exists in two forms in America: the story in which Sir Andrew Barton is hung (Type A), and the story in which, through contact with Captain Ward and the Rainbow (Child 287), Sir Andrew Barton wins and escapes (Type B). There are also abbreviations of these types which do not contain the chase and the capture. Such songs should be properly considered as Henry Martyn versions of Sir Andrew Barton. Barry is probably right. See Eddy, Bids Sgs Ohio, 8 1 for further discussion.
The complete Coffin excerpt from The British Traditional Ballad in North America by Tristram Coffin 1950, from the section A Critical Biographical Study of the Traditional Ballads of North America is below.
No tune is known of the ballad Sir Andrew Barton. Bronson lists nine versions from North America which "preserve more elements of the earlier form." He adds "they are impossible to disentangle- if in fact we ought to try." These will also be given under Henry Martin, No. 250.
R. Matteson 2012, 2015]
CONTENTS:
[For individual texts, see 250. Henry Martin]
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Excerpt from The British Traditional Ballad in North America by Tristram Coffin 1950, from the section A Critical Biographical Study of the Traditional Ballads of North America
167. SIR ANDREW BARTON (including 250, HENRY MARTYN)
Texts: Adventure, n 30 '23 ; 1 120 '24 / Barry, Brit Bids Me, 248 / Belden, Mo F-S, 27 / Child, IV, 395 ; V, 302 / Cox, F-S Soutb, 150 / Davis, FS Fa / Eddy, Bids Sgs Ohio, 78 / Flanders, Cntry Sgs Vt, 8 / Focus, V, 280 / Qardner and Chickering, Bids Sgs So Mich, 211 / Gray, Sgs Bids Me Vjks, 80 / Haufrecht (ed.), Way\ariri Stranger, 20 / JAFL, XVTtll, 135, 302; XXV, 171; XXX, 327 / Karpeles, F-S Netofdld, 104. / Kolb, Treasry F-S, 19 / MacKenzie, Bids Sea Sgs N Sc, 61 / Randolph, Oz F-S, 1, 177; Reed Smith, SC Bids, 156; SFLQ, II, 205 / Thompson, Bdy Bts Brtcbs, 37.
Local Titles: Andrew Bardeen (Satan, Battan), Andrew Martine, Andy (Ander) Barden (Bratann), Bolender Martin, Elder Bardee, The Pirates, The Three Scotch Brothers, Three Brothers of (Merrie) Scotland.
Story Types; A: Three Scottish brothers cast lots to see which of them shall become a pirate to support the family. The lot falls to the youngest, Andy. He attacks and robs a rich English merchant. When the King learns of this crime, he sends Captain Stewart (Howard, in England) out to catch the robbers. Stewart locates and takes Andy, and brings him back to the gallows in England. Sometimes, however, Andy is sunk and drowned instead.
Examples: Barry (under 167) (B); Belden; SFLQ, II, 205.
B: The story is the same as that of Type A. However, Andy beats Stewart in the fight and continues on his way.
Examples: Barry (under 167) (A); Cox; Randolph.
C: The Barry (Brit Bids Me, 253 ff.) "Henry Martyn" type story ends with the capture of the merchant ship and the bad news* reaching England. In some versions the hero receives a death-wound and dies.
Examples: Eddy (A); Haufrecht; JAFL, XVIII, 135.
Discussion: This ballad and Henry Martyn (Child 250) are closely allied (see Child, IV, 393), and Barry, Brit Bids Me, 253ff., argues that they are the same song. He bases his claim on the older American texts and points out that the Child Henry Martyn stories are all fragments of the Andrew Barton tale which leave the chase and the capture out. Any ballad that has
a chase and capture is Sir Andrew Barton. The American Henry Martyn songs that have the hero die and fall overboard are the result of a crossing with a text of Sir Andrew Barton itself or of an accident of traditional change. His conclusion is that Sir Andrew Barton exists in two forms in America: the story in which Sir Andrew Barton is hung (Type A), and the story in which, through contact with Captain Ward and the Rainbow (Child 287), Sir Andrew Barton wins and escapes (Type B). There are also abbreviations of these types which do not contain the chase and the capture. Such songs should be properly considered as Henry Martyn versions of Sir Andrew Barton. Barry is probably right. See Eddy, Bids Sgs Ohio, 81 for further discussion.
Barry, ibid. 9 also poses an interesting and probably accurate hypothesis that the Charles Stewart (Stuart) who replaces Howard in the ballad is Captain Charles Stewart (17781869), U. S. N.
Henry Martyn was a popular stall ballad in the nineteenth century (see Kittredge's note in JAFL> XXX, 327), but there is no record of Sir Andrew Barton being printed in America.
Note also that the West Virginia version is almost identical to Child, V, 302 (South Carolina).