Young Earl of Essex's Victory over the Emperor of Germany, The [Child 288]

DESCRIPTION: The Queen appoints Essex to command the fleet against Germany. The Emperor, learning who opposes him, would avoid battle, but his son begs for the command. Essex is victorious, and the German prince must be exhibited in London before he is sent home
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1764 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 2(5))
KEYWORDS: royalty sea navy battle prisoner patriotic
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (6 citations):
Child 288, "The Young Earl of Essex's Victory over the Emperor of Germany" (2 texts)
Bronson 288, "The Young Earl of Essex's Victory over the Emperor of Germany" (2 versions)
Bronson-SingingTraditionOfChildsPopularBallads 288, "The Young Earl of Essex's Victory over the Emperor of Germany" (2 tunes: #1, #2)
Buchan/Moreira-TheGlenbuchatBallads, pp. 131-132, "Young Essex" (1 text)
Greig/Duncan1 36, "Young Essex" (1 fragment, 1 tune) {Bronson's #2}
Stone-SeaSongsAndBallads LI, pp. 84-87, "Queen Elizabeth's Champion, or Great Britain's Glory" (1 text)
Roud #123
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 2(5), "Queen Elizabeth's Champion" or "A Famous Sea-Fight Between the Emperor of Germany, and the Earl of Essex" ("Come sound up your trumpets, and beat up your drums"), W. and C. Dicey (London), 1736-1763; also Douce Ballads 3(80b), "Queen Elizabeth's Champion" or "Great-Britain's Glory"
NOTES [293 words]: Bodleian note to Harding B 2(5) and Douce Ballads 3(80b): "Subject: Naval battles; Essex, Robert Devereux, Earl of, 1566-1601" - BS
Needless to say, there is no history in this song. By the time Britain developed a respectable Navy, the "emperorship" of Germany (i.e. the Holy Roman Empire) was little more than a token office. As the Habsburg Empire, it would rise again (until destroyed by Napoleon), but by then, an Earldom wasn't enough to give a man a military command.
The broadside copy (Child's A) may be from the publishing house of John White, meaning that it was likely issued in the years before White's death in 1769. It is reasonable to assume that the Hannoverian Succession of 1714 had made the British more aware of Germany, and some anonymous (Jacobite?) balladeer decided to grant the English a victory over them.
Internal evidence, to be sure, points to the reign of Queen Elizabeth, who of course was the first great Queen of England, and who was friendly with an Earl of Essex. Many of the broadside titles name her explicitly. Her reign also saw the voyage of the Spanish Armada, resulting in the first real battle of seagoing gunships. But the Germany of Elizabeth's time was in no sense a country; feuds between Catholics and Protestants were constant, and Protestants at that time generally did not go to war with Protestants.
This song should not be confused with the broadside "The Earl of Essex," printed e.g. by Logan. There is also a manuscript poem, possibly intended to be sung, called "A Prayer of the Earle of Essex Deathe." It is in a number of manuscripts and Tudor-era books; for a recent edition, see Peter J. Seng, Tudor Songs and Ballads from MS Cotton Vespasian A-25, Harvard University Press, 1978, #25, p. 49. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.2
File: C288

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