Baron o Leys, The [Child 241]

DESCRIPTION: The Baron of Leys leaves his home for another country, where he gets a girl pregnant. She confronts him, demanding that he marry her, pay her a fee, or lose his head. Since he is married, he perforce pays her what she asks (ten thousand pounds?)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1803 (Skene ms.)
KEYWORDS: sex pregnancy punishment
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Child 241, "The Baron o Leys" (3 texts)
Bronson 241, "The Baron o Leys" (2 versions)
Bronson-SingingTraditionOfChildsPopularBallads 241, "The Baron o Leys" (1version: #1)
Greig/Duncan7 1491, "The Baron o' Leys" (6 texts including three verses for one version and one verse for another on p. 537, 1 tune) {Bronson's #2}
Kinloch-TheBalladBook XXIII, pp. 74-76, "Laird o' Leys" (1 text)
Roud #343
NOTES [74 words]: Versions of this may begin with lines such as "The Baron o Leys to France has gane, The fashion and the tongue to learn." This was not rare for successful Scots; for instance, according to J. L. Laynesmith, The Last Medieval Queens: English Queenship 1445-1503, Oxford, 2004 (I use the 2005 paperback edition), p. 41 n. 67, "James I of Scotland's daughter Margaret was sent to France... in order to learn 'les estaz et manieres de france.'" - RBW
Last updated in version 4.1
File: C241

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