King Henry's Murder

DESCRIPTION: "To Edinburgh about vi houris at morne," the singer hears "ane bonny boy" moaning about the death of "ane king." The boy says that "Bloody Bothwell hath brought our King to beir," to flatter "Dalilay" (i.e. Queen Mary), who is like Clytemnestra
AUTHOR: Robert Lekprevick? (source: Bingham)
EARLIEST DATE: 1567 (published, according to Bingham)
KEYWORDS: royalty death homicide
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (2 citations):
ADDITIONAL: James Maidment, _Scottish Ballads and Songs, Historical and Traditionary_ Volume 2, W, Patterson, 1868, pp. 12-15, "King Henry's Murder" (1 text)
Caroline Bingham, _Darnley: A Life of Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, Consort of Mary Queen of Scots_, 1995; I use the 1997 Phoenix paperback, pp. 203-207, "Ane ballat declaring the nobill and gude inclinatioun of our king" (extensive excerpts with translation)
Roud #V35703
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Mary Hamilton [Child 173]" (subject of Mary Stewart)
NOTES [181 words]: I include this piece not because it's traditional -- it clearly isn't -- but because it was printed by Maidment, but with much unacknowledged modernization. This doesn't affect the meaning, but it gives a very false presentation of the text. So this entry is mostly to point you to a more correct text.
Maidment cites the source as State Papers Scotland, volume 13, #47, or Calendar volume 1 p. 248. However, Bingham cites it as Public Records Office SP/52/13 #47.
I should add that the poem is basically false. First off, it is universally agreed that Darnley, although a good courtier and a very handsome man before syphilis ruined his looks (the reason he was at Kirk o Field to be assassinated was because he was recovering from the disease), was scum. Second, while Earl Bothwell was surely a major player in his murder, it has not been established that Queen Mary had anything to do with it. This is probably propaganda by the anti-Mary side. For more details, see the notes to "Mary Hamilton" [Child 173].
Note that this oh-so-learned-sounding song mis-spells Clytemnestra. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.7
File: BdKiHeMu

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