The Knight and the Shepherd's Daughter explained

"The Knight and the Shepherd’s Daughter" is an English ballad, collected by Francis James Child as Child Ballad 110[1] and listed as number 67 in the Roud Folk Song Index.

Synopsis

A knight persuades a shepherd's daughter to give him her virginity. Afterward she chases after him to the royal court, on foot while he is on horseback, and demands marriage. He attempts to bribe her, but she insists he must marry her or be executed. After the marriage it is revealed, either by the woman herself or by Billy Blin, that she is in fact the daughter of royalty or high nobility; it may also be revealed that the man is a noble instead of a mere knight.

Motifs

Her pursuit of the knight on foot while he is on horseback also appears in Child Ballad 63, "Child Waters", where it fits a very different plot.[2] The motif is very similar to that of the loathly lady, particularly the variant found in Geoffrey Chaucer's "The Wife of Bath's Tale".[3]

Lise et Mainfroi, a 1740 French imitation of this ballad, has an actual shepherdess as the heroine; she announces at the altar that she is satisfied without the wedding, and the king and his court must persuade her to agree.[4]

See also

Collected Versions

A version of the tune and lyrics were included by William Chappell in his 1859 book Popular Music of the Olden Time.[5] Sabine Baring-Gould collected a version written in 1785,[6] and notated another version he personally found in Lewdown, Devon in 1887,[7] whilst Frank Kidson collected a version sung by a Benjamin Holgate of Leeds, West Yorkshire in 1891.[8] The famous composer and folklorist Percy Grainger collected and notated a version in 1906 performed by William Roberts of Burringham, Lincolnshire,[9] and another by Joseph Leaning of Brigg, Lincolnshire in 1908.[10]

The song reached North America, where a handful of traditional versions were found to exist.[11] [12] [13] [14]

The folklorist Alan Lomax recorded John Strachan of Fyvie, Aberdeenshire singing a version in 1957,[15] which is publicly available online.[16] Many Scottish versions had previously been recorded by James Madison Carpenter in the 1930s.[17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] A later version was performed by Lizzie Higgins of Aberdeenshire in the 1970s, and is now available on the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library website.[23]

Desmond and Shelagh Herring recorded Emily Sparkes of Rattlesden, Suffolk singing a version of the song in 1958,[24] and another sung by Charlie Carver of nearby Tostock, both of which can be heard online via the British Library Sound Archive.[25] [26]

Commercial Recordings

Steeleye Span recorded a version as "Royal Forester" on their 1972 album Below the Salt, based on the aforementioned recording of John Strachan by Alan Lomax.

There are various versions in the Argo Records series of ballads by Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger, The Long Harvest record 4.

Other recorded versions are by The Young Tradition on the album So Cheerfully Round (entitled "Knight William") and by Dave Burland on the album Dave Burland (entitled "Earl Richard").

Notes and References

  1. The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, ed. by Francis James Child, 5 vols (Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, [1882–98]), II 457-77 (no. 110), https://archive.org/stream/englishandscotti02chiluoft; also digitised at http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/eng/child/ch110.htm.
  2. Francis James Child, The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, v 2, p 458, Dover Publications, New York 1965
  3. Francis James Child, The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, v 2, p 458, Dover Publications, New York 1965
  4. Francis James Child, The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, v 2, p 459, Dover Publications, New York 1965
  5. Web site: The Shepherd's Daughter (Roud Folksong Index S430329). 2020-10-14. The Vaughan Williams Memorial Library. en-gb.
  6. Web site: The Shepherd's Daughter [B] (Sabine Baring-Gould Manuscript Collection SBG/3/1/582)]. 2020-10-14. The Vaughan Williams Memorial Library. en-gb.
  7. Web site: The Shepherd's Daughter (Sabine Baring-Gould Manuscript Collection SBG/3/13/7C). 2020-10-14. The Vaughan Williams Memorial Library. en-gb.
  8. Web site: The Knight and Shepherd's Daughter (Roud Folksong Index S274061). 2020-10-14. The Vaughan Williams Memorial Library. en-gb.
  9. Web site: Shepherd's Daughter (Percy Grainger Manuscript Collection PG/6/18). 2020-10-14. The Vaughan Williams Memorial Library. en-gb.
  10. Web site: Knight and the Shepherd's Daughter (Percy Grainger Manuscript Collection PG/10/19). 2020-10-14. The Vaughan Williams Memorial Library. en-gb.
  11. Web site: The Knight and the Shepherd's Daughter (Roud Folksong Index S211807). 2020-10-14. The Vaughan Williams Memorial Library. en-gb.
  12. Web site: Sweet Willie (Roud Folksong Index S222803). 2020-10-14. The Vaughan Williams Memorial Library. en-gb.
  13. Web site: The Knight and the Shepherd's Daughter (Roud Folksong Index S211811). 2020-10-14. The Vaughan Williams Memorial Library. en-gb.
  14. Web site: The Knight and the Shepherd's Daughter (Roud Folksong Index S181202). 2020-10-14. The Vaughan Williams Memorial Library. en-gb.
  15. Web site: The Knight and the Shepherd's Daughter (Roud Folksong Index S241669). 2020-10-14. The Vaughan Williams Memorial Library. en-gb.
  16. Web site: Alan Lomax Archive. 2020-10-14. research.culturalequity.org.
  17. Web site: Earl Richard (VWML Song Index SN15818). 2020-10-14. The Vaughan Williams Memorial Library. en-gb.
  18. Web site: Earl Richard (VWML Song Index SN15869). 2020-10-14. The Vaughan Williams Memorial Library. en-gb.
  19. Web site: Earl Richard (VWML Song Index SN15879). 2020-10-14. The Vaughan Williams Memorial Library. en-gb.
  20. Web site: Earl Richard[?] (VWML Song Index SN16167)]. 2020-10-14. The Vaughan Williams Memorial Library. en-gb.
  21. Web site: Shepherd's Dawtie (VWML Song Index SN16890). 2020-10-14. The Vaughan Williams Memorial Library. en-gb.
  22. Web site: Earl Richard (VWML Song Index SN17800). 2020-10-14. The Vaughan Williams Memorial Library. en-gb.
  23. Web site: The Forester (Roud Folksong Index S304839). 2020-10-14. The Vaughan Williams Memorial Library. en-gb.
  24. Web site: Sweet William (Roud Folksong Index S323465). 2020-10-14. The Vaughan Williams Memorial Library. en-gb.
  25. Web site: Sweet William, continued after pause - Desmond and Shelagh Herring English Folk Music Collection - World and traditional music British Library - Sounds. 2020-10-14. sounds.bl.uk.
  26. Web site: The knight and the shepherd's daughter - Desmond and Shelagh Herring English Folk Music Collection - World and traditional music British Library - Sounds. 2020-10-14. sounds.bl.uk.

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