Dying Knight's Farewell

DESCRIPTION: "I'm dying, brother, dying in this dungeon dark and cold," and wishes to leave a dying message. He blesses his family. He "blesses the haughty lady who sent me to my doom." He wishes he had not been born. Warriors should take warning from his death
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1911 (collected from "Jiilson Setters"=James W. Day by Thomas)
KEYWORDS: death mother father love rejection prison warning
FOUND IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Thomas/Leeder-SinginGatherin, pp. 22-23, "The Dying Knight's Farewell" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #8089
NOTES [115 words]: Thomas claims that "Queen Elizabeth [I] forbade the singing of this ballad as it is claimed to have been written about her." The language makes it self-evident that this is not an Elizabethan song. Nor does Thomas indicate a song it might be descended from, and neither I nor Steve Roud recognize any relative.
If this is supposed to be about Elizabeth and someone, the obvious candidate is Robert Devereux, Second Earl of Essex (1566-1601), who was (more or less) Elizabeth's last romantic interest, who rebelled against her and was eventually executed. I don't buy it, though. I think Thomas got taken in by folklore, perhaps made up by James W. Day ("Jilson Setters") to trick her. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.7
File: TSG022

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