Duke of Gordon's Daughter, The [Child 237]

DESCRIPTION: Jean, the Duke's daughter, loves Captain Ogilvie. Gordon, to stop the match, convinces the King to demote Ogilvie. Jean marries Ogilvie. They go to Gordon in poverty; he is turned away. Ogilvie inherits Northumberland; he brings home his wife and children
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1794 (Ritson)
KEYWORDS: nobility rejection love courting soldier elopement children
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (9 citations):
Child 237, "The Duke of Gordon's Daughter" (1 text)
Bronson 237, "The Duke of Gordon's Daughter" (14 versions+1 in addenda)
Greig/Duncan6 1099, "The Duke o' Gordon's Three Daughters" (10 texts, 9 tunes)
Whitelaw-BookOfScottishBallads, pp. 565-567, "The Duke of Gordon's Three Daughters" (1 text)
Quiller-Couch-OxfordBookOfBallads 94, "The Duke of Gordon's Daughter" (1 text)
Buchan-ABookOfScottishBallads 56, "The Duke of Gordon's Daughter" (1 text)
DT 237, DUKGORD*
ADDITIONAL: James Johnson, The Scots Musical Museum (Edinburgh: Johnson & Co, 1796 ("Digitized by Internet Archive for NLS")), Vol. V, #419 pp. 431-432, "The Duke of Gordon Has Three Daughters") (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #1}
Joseph Ritson, Scotish Songs (London: J. Johnson, 1794 ("Digitized by Google")), Vol. II, 5th class #7, pp. 169-175, "The Duke of Gordon's Daughter" ("The Duke of Gordon has three daughters") (1 text, 1 tune) {cf. Bronson's #1}
Roud #342
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Tents o' Foundlan'
NOTES [107 words]: As history, this ballad has its problems. Although it was not rare for the children of the nobility to join the military (after all, the offices of knights and earls were originally largely military positions), there are no Ogilvie earls or dukes of Northumberland. The Northumberland title has been in the Percy family almost continuously since the reign of Richard II (deposed 1399), apart from a brief period in the Wars of the Roses and a temporary elevation of the Dudley family to the dukedom. Nor can I find any members of the House of Percy with first name "Ogilvie." Not that any of that really affects the story in the ballad. - RBW
Last updated in version 5.1
File: C237

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