US & Canada Versions: 221. Katharine Jaffray
[There are 19 versions from North America in my collection and one is a 1923 reprint in Kentucky (Pine Mountain Settlement School Songbook) of a version collected by Sharp in Somerset in 1906. Versions of this ballad that name the maid, Katherine Jaffray (or an approximation thereof) and resemble the Scotch variants given by Child are rare in the US. Only two versions collected in the South (Brown- NC; Moore- AL/OK) and "A Scotch Ditty" from the Northeast (Canada) that Barry claims resembles Child B, even though he includes it as a secondary ballad, seem to qualify as descendants of Scotch tradition. The other versions, which are included by most collectors as variants of Katharine Jaffray, are closer to a British (Irish) broadside ballad titled, The Squire Of Edinburgh. These variants are found predominantly in the US northeast and Canada and have been sometimes titled (Karpeles), The Green Wedding. One printing of the broadside (see below) was by H. Such (London) sometime between 1849 and 1862, and archived at the Bodleian Library Broadside Ballads, shelfmark: Harding B 11(2364). Two other printings dated 1860 and 1870 can be viewed at the National Library of Scotland. This variant was mention in Child's Narrative (see also below), "a copy from the recitation of a young Irishwoman living in Taunton, Massachusetts (learned from print, I suppose and in parts imperfectly remembered), puts the scene of the story at Edenborough town. . . ."
Phillips Barry found the Such broadside of "The Squire" (ref. 1910 JOAFL) in the Providence Public Library which was exactly like his A version in his British Ballads from Maine, 1929 (ref. Flanders).
All the US and Canadian versions except the Brown Collection's "Katherine Jeffrys," Moore's "Kath'rine Jaffrey" and "A Scotch Ditty" (both versions) are related to the broadside, The Squire Of Edinburgh, and according Flanders, the broadside versions are "another remodeling" of Child 221.
The ballad is sometimes called "The Green Wedding" in Newfoundland and maritime Canada. Sharp collected a version he titled, "The Green Wedding," in Somerset in 1906. Here are his notes:
No. 16. The Green Wedding --
The words of this ballad were sung to me to a very poor tune. I have, therefore, taken the liberty of mating them to a fine air which was sung to me to some very boisterous, unprintable words, called "The Boatsman and the Tailor." The occasional substitution of a minor for the major third in a Mixolydian tune is quite a common habit with English folksingers, and several examples of this may be seen in this volume (see Nos. 46, 47, and 53 [second version]); but for the major interval to follow the minor almost immediately is both curious and unusual. Miss Gilchrist has pointed out the close connection between "The Green Wedding" and the Scottish ballad "Katherine Janfarie," or "Jaffray," upon which Scott founded his ballad of "Lochinvar" in Marmion (see Child's English and Scottish Ballads; Motherwell's Minstrelsy; Sidgwick's Popular Ballads of the Olden 'Time; and Scott's Minstrelsy, 1st and 3d editions).
In the Scottish ballad, Katherine is wooed first by the Laird of Lauderdale, who wins her consent, and secondly by Lord Lochinvar "out frae the English border," who, however, omitted to avow his love to Katherine "till on her wedding e'en." The rivals meet at the "wedding house" and, in the fight that ensues, Katherine is carried off by her Scottish lover.
Whether our ballad is a corrupt and incomplete version of the Scottish one, it is difficult to say. Although the two have several lines in common, there is something in the plot of "The Green Wedding" which, despite its obscurity, seems to indicate a motive which is absent from "Katherine Janfarie." The scheme of our story seems to turn upon the dressing in green of both hero and heroine at the wedding feast, but the purpose of their device is not clear. This, however, presented no difficulty to my singer, who, when I asked him why the hero dressed in green, said, "Because, you see, he had told his true-love to dress in green also;" and when I further inquired why he told her to do this, he said, "Because, of course, he was going to put on a green dress himself" — and there was clearly nothing more to be said!
It is just possible, as Miss Gilchrist observes, that the reference to the green dress may be a reminiscence of "Robin Hood and Allan-a-Dale;" or perhaps it has been suggested by the following stanza which occurs in "Katherine Janfarie:"
He's ta'en her by the milk-white hand,
And by the grass-green sleeve;
He's mounted her hie behind himself,
At her kinsmen speir'd na leave. (Sharp's notes end)
Only one of the four versions Karpeles collected in Newfoundland (1929-1930) was published in her 1934 book. The other three versions may be found in her MS-- two are a single stanza with music and one is music only (William Malloy's).
R. Matteson 2013, 2016]
CONTENTS: (See individual versions attached to this page on the left-hand column and click to open or, click on the highlighted blue title below)
1) Squire of Edenborough Town- (MA) pre1892 Child
2) Squire of Edinburg Town- Welsh (ME) 1907 Barry
3) Katherine Jeffrys- Farthing (NC) c.1920 Brown
4) The Green Wedding- (KY) 1923 Pine Mountain Settlement School
5) Squire in Edinboro Town- Morse (ME) 1927 Barry A
6) A Scotch Ditty- Nesbitt (NB) 1927 Barry B
7) The Green Wedding- Corbett (NL) 1929 Karpeles
8) The Green Wedding- Sutton (NL) 1930 Karpeles MS
9) The Green Wedding- Taylor (NL) 1930 Karpeles MS
Squire of Edinboro Town- Sullivan(VT)1932 Flanders
Katharine Jaffray- Henneberry (NS) 1932 Creighton
A Scotch Ditty- Finnemore (ME) 1941 Flanders C
Katherine Jaffray- Osborne (NS) 1950 Creighton A
Katherine Jaffray- Bray (NS) 1950 Creighton B
Katharine Jaffray- Hudson (NS) pre1950 Creighton C
Hembrick Town- Bennett (NL) 1958 Peacock
The Squire of Edinburgh- Spencer (ON) 1962 Fowke
Kath'rine Jaffrey- Bassett (AL/OK) 1964 Moore
There Was a Lord in Edinburgh- Clark (ON) pre1965
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British (Irish) Broadside text:
THE SQUIRE OF EDINBURGH.
There was a squire in Edinburgh, and a squire of high degree,
And he courted a country girl, and a country girl was she,
But when her parents came to hear it, they unto her did say,
Still begging of their daughter dear to keep out of his way.
There was a farmer lived in the north, he had an only son,
And he courted this girl till he thought he had her won,
He got consent from her friends, her father and mother likewise,
But still she cried I am undone, and the tears fell from her eyes.
She wrote a letter to the squire, and sealed it with her hand,
That the was going for to he wed unto a farmer's son,
The very first line he looked on, he smiled and this did say,
I might deprive him of his bride all on the wedding day.
He wrote her back an answer that was both sharp and Leen,
Come dress yourself in green, and I'll dress in the same,
Come dress yourself in green, and I the same will wear,
And I will wed with you my dear in spite of all that's there.
He looked east, he looked west, he looked all o'er his land,
Until he picked out eight score all of the Scottish clan,
He mounted them on milk white steeds most beautiful to see,
And they're away to the wedding house, and a single man was he
When he came to the wedding house the company welcomed him there,
Saying have you seen the gentleman that rode along this way,
He laughed at them, he scoffed at them, and unto them did say,
They must have been some fairy troop that rode along this way.
They handed him a glass of wine, he drank to the company round,
Saying happy is the man, the man they call the groom,
But happier is the man he said, the man that will enjoy the bride,
Another might like her as well as him, and take her from his side.
Out bespoke the groom himself, and an angry man was he,
If it be for to fight you came, I am the man for thee,
It is not for to fight I came, but company for to show,
ive me one kiss from your lovely bride, and away from you I'll go
He took her by the middle so small, and by the grass green sleeve
He brought her out of the wedding house, of the company be asked no leave,
The drums did beat the trumpets sounded most glorious to be seen
And she's away to Edinburgh town, with the company dressed in green.
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Missing or not-included versions:
[Music only] MK/1/4/5323 Song tune. ‘The Green Wedding’ (‘Katharine Jaffray’) (Child 221). William Malloy, St Shotts, Newfoundland, 3 August 1930
Katherine Jaffray from William Gilkie -- The Helen Creighton Collection
[Music only] SQUIRE OF EDINOROUGH TOWN John Sprague, Milltown New Brunswick: Source Bronson, Traditional Tunes of the Child Ballads 3 pp.352-358 (version 8)
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The English and Scottish Popular Ballads - Part 7 - Page 218
Francis James Child, George Lyman Kittredge - 1892
Child includes this US version in his narrative:
A copy from the recitation of a young Irishwoman living in Taunton, Massachusetts (learned from print, I suppose, and in parts imperfectly remembered), puts the scene of the story at Edenborough town. A squire of high degree had courted a comely country girl. When her father came to hear of this, he was an angry man, and "requested of his daughter dear to suit his company," or to match within her degree. The only son of a farmer in the east had courted this girl until he thought he had won her, and had got the consent of her father and mother. The girl writes the squire a letter to tell him that she is to be married to the farmer's son. He writes in answer that she must dress in green at her wedding (a color which no Scots girl would wear, for ill luck), and he will wear a suit of the same, and wed her 'in spite of all that's there.' He mounts eight squire-men on milk-white steeds, and rides 'to the wedding-house, with the company dressed in green.' (See the note to L.)
'O welcome you, fair welcome!
And where have you spent all day?
Or did you see those gentlemen
That rode along this way?'
He looked at her and scoffed at her,
He smiled and this did say,
'They might have been some fairy troops,
That rode along this way.'
She fills him a glass of new port wine, which he drinks to all the company, saying, Happy is the man that is called the groom, but another may love her as well as he and take her from his side.
Up spoke the intended groom,
And an angry man was he,
Saying, If it is to fight that you came here,
I am the man for thee.
'It is not to fight that I came here,
But friendship for to show;
So give me one kiss from your lovely bride,
And away from you I'll go.'
He took her by the waist so small,
And by the grass-green sleeve;
He took her out of the wedding-house,
Of the company asked no leave.
The drums did beat and the trumpets sound,
Most glorious to be seen,
And then away to Edenborough town,
With the company dressed in green.
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Coffin 1950: The British Traditional Ballad In North America
221. KATHERINE JAFFRAY
Texts: Katharine Jaffray: Brown Coll / Minish Mss. [Ref.: Maude Minish Sutton of Caldwell County, N.C., was a teacher, writer, and folklorist]
Squire of Edinborough: Barry, Brit Bids Me, 400 / Child, IV, 218 (headnote) / Creighton, Sgs Bids N Sc, 22 / Flanders, New Gn Mt Sg$tr, 141,
Local Titles: Katherine Jeffrys; A Scotch Ditty, Katherine Joffray, The Squire of Edinboroughtown-
Story Types: A: Lord Willie courts Katherine and gains the consent of her parents to the marriage. Although promised, the girl falls in love with a second, dashing suitor. Lord Robert from across the border. She says that she will marry him if there is any way. Robert thus attends the wedding as a guest, saying simply that he came because he wished to see Kate on her wedding day. Katherine toasts Robert with a glass of wine, and at that sign the lover takes the girl by her white hand and grass green sleeve, and they flee, galloping over the border. "Her kin did them no harm".
Examples : Minish Mss.
B: The Squire of Edinborough type: A girl, ready to marry a squire's lad, is forced to accept another gentleman. She writes her lover of her plight, and he sends lis answer with a ring, telling her to wear green at her nuptials. She answers that she will marry him in spite of all. On the wedding day, the lover brings a large group of men and attends the ceremony. He mock-toasts the groom, and, in response to the latter's challenge to a fight, asks for a kiss from the bride, after which he promises to leave. The request granted, he slips his arm about the girl and whisks her away to Edinborough.
Examples: Barry (A), Creighton, Flanders.
Discussion: The Type A text, a rare find in this country, follows the Child A version closely for ten stanzas, although it displays some contact with print. The battle at Cowden Banks is omitted, however, and the lovers merely escape in the North Carolina version. Also, the Scottish-English rivalry is no longer a feature of the song, even if the border locale is still discernable.
The Squire of Edinboroughtown is a later remodelling of Katherine Jaffray, probably from print. See Child, IV, 2178. This song (Type B) has survived in both Scottish and Irish versions in Northeastern United States and Canada.
Flanders, New Gn Mt Sgstr, 144 suggests that Katherine Jaffray was recomposed in Scotland as The Squire, but the wearing of green by the bride (see Child, IV, 218) surely points to Irish tradition for those texts that include it. No Scots girl would dare clothe herself in that "ill-starred" color.