Hughie Grame [Child 191]

DESCRIPTION: Hugh the Graeme is taken for horse thieving. Many pray for his life, but the Bishop (of Carlisle) is bitterly opposed and has his way. (Hugh is executed.) The reason is that the Bishop has seduced Hugh's wife, and the horse stealing was in retaliation
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1697 (broadside, Bodleian Douce Ballads 2(204b))
KEYWORDS: execution revenge adultery robbery
FOUND IN: Britain(England(North),Scotland(Aber,High))
REFERENCES (15 citations):
Child 191, "Hughie Grame" (9 texts)
Bronson 191, "Hughie Grame" (7 versions)
Bronson-SingingTraditionOfChildsPopularBallads 191, "Hughie Grame" (5 versions: #1, #2, #3, #4, $5)
Chambers-ScottishBallads, pp. 292-293, "Highie Graham" (1 text)
Dixon-ScottishTraditionalVersionsOfAncientBallads XV, pp. 73-76, "Sir Hugh, the Graeme" (1 text)
Lyle/McAlpine/McLucas-SongRepertoireOfAmeliaAndJaneHarris, pp. 124-125, "Hughie Graham/Hughie Grame" (2 texts)
Greig/Duncan2 271, "Sir Hugh the Graeme" (2 texts, 1 tune) {Bronson's #4}
Stokoe/Reay-SongsAndBalladsOfNorthernEngland, pp. 98-99, "Hughie the Graeme" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #5}
Whitelaw-BookOfScottishBallads, pp. 410-411, "Hughie the Grame"; pp. 411-412, "Hughie Graham" (2 texts)
Sedley/Carthy-WhoKilledCockRobin, pp. 129-132, "Hugh the Graeme" (1 text, 1 tune)
Quiller-Couch-OxfordBookOfBallads 143, "Hughie the Graeme" (1 text)
Olson-BroadsideBalladIndex, ZN287, "As it befel upon one time"; ZN1008, "Good Lord John is a hunting gone"
DT 191, HUGRAME* HUGRAME2*
ADDITIONAL: J Woodfall Ebsworth, The Roxburghe Ballads (Hertford: The Ballad Society, 1888 ("Digitized by Microsoft")), Vol. VI, Part 3 (Part 18), pp. 595-597, "The Life and Death of Sir Hugh of the Grime" ("As it befell upon one time about Mid-summer of the year")[1672-92]; pp. 598-599, "Sir Hugh in the Grimes Downfall" or "A New Song Made on Sir Hugh in the Grime, Who Was Hang'd for Stealing the Bishop's Mare" ("Good Lord John is a hunting gone Over the hills and dales so far")[c1770?] (2 texts)
James Kinsley, editor, Burns: Complete Poems and Songs (shorter edition, Oxford, 1969) #342, pp. 474-476, "Hughie Graham" (1 text, 1 tune, from 1792)
Roud #84
RECORDINGS:
Ewan MacColl, "Hughie the Graeme" (on ESFB1, ESFB2) {Bronson's #6}; Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger, "Hughie Grame" (on SCMacCollSeeger01) {for tune cf. Bronson's #4}
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Don. b.13(51), "The Life and Death of Sir Hugh of the Grime" ("As it befel upon one time"), P. Brooksby (London), 1672-1696-1844; also 4o Rawl. 566(9), Douce Ballads 2(204b), "The Life and Death of Sir Hugh of the Grime"
EngBdsdBA 20766, Pepys 2.148, "The Life and Death of Sir Hugh of the Grime" ("As it befell upon one time about Midsummer of the year"), P. Brooksby (London) , 1672-1696?, accessed 05 Dec 2013.
EngBdsdBA 31062, BritLib Roxburghe 3.344-345, "The Life and Death of Sir Hugh-in-the-Grime" ("As it fell out upon one time about Midsummer of the year"), unknown, 1720?, accessed 05 Dec 2013.
EngBdsdBA 30748, BritLib Roxburghe 2.294, "The Life and Death of Sir Hugh of the Grime" ("As it befell upon one time about Midsummer of the year"), P. Brooksby (London), 1672-1696?, accessed 05 Dec 2013.Grime" ("As it fell out upon one time about Midsummer of the year"), unknown, 1720?, accessed 05 Dec 2013.
EngBdsdBA 31128, BritLib Roxburghe 3.456-457, "Sir Hugh in the Grimes Downfall" or "A New Somg Made on Sir Hugh in the Grime, Who Was Hang'd for Stealing the Bishop's Mare" ("Good Lord John is a hunting gone Over the hills and dales so far"), L. How (London), 1741-1762?, accessed 05 Dec 2013.
EngBdsdBA 32803, NLS Crawford 121, "The Life and Death of Sir Hugh of the Grime" ("As it befell upon one time about Midsummer of the year"), P. Brooksby (London), 1672-1696?, accessed 05 Dec 2013.
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Gallant Grahams" (lyrics)
cf. "Druimionn Dubh" (tune, according to Burns)
cf. "Young Johnson" (theme of ransoming condemned prisoner)
NOTES [575 words]: Broadsides Don. b.13(51), EngBdsdBA 32803 and EngBdsdBA 30748 appear to be the same edition as Ebsworth pp. 595-597.
Broadside EngBdsdBA 31128 is the same edition as Ebsworth pp. 598-599. - BS
Stenhouse, in the Scots Musical Museum, claimed that this referred to an event of 1560 (a date which was not possible, since the bishop he claimed was involved, Robert Aldridge of Carlisle, died in 1555), but Child suspected that this tale derived from the ballad, and I have heard of no additional evidence since Child's time to support Stenhouse's hypothesis.
Nonetheless a sixteenth century date seems likely, simply because of the border raiding and the name Graham. This was a time when control of the great lords had broken down along the borders (especially after 1569 when the Nevilles and the Percies had been eliminated on the English side; for this, see "The Rising in the North" [Child 175] and its sequels). In this situation, families like the Grahams came to the fore. Richard Lomas, County of Conflict: Northumberland from Conquest to Civil War, Tuckwell Press, 1996, p. 86, reports:
"Tynedale and Redesdale had become almost uncontrollable districts where lawlessness was endemic and on a grand scale. As elsewhere there was an upper level of gentry families, but beneath this layer the tenantry had formed tightly knit family groups known as 'surnames' with subdivisions called 'graynes.' This society was very similar in nature and operation to the clans and septs of the Highlands, and, as in that region, was the consequence of the failure of government to impose its authority. In Tyndale the main 'surnames' were Charlton, Dodd, Milburn, and Robson, while in Redesdale the leading groups were Dunn, Hall, Hedley, Potts, and Reed. Across the border in Teviotdale and Liddesdale an identical and parallel development had taken place which had given rise to 'surnames' such as Armstrong, Elliot, Graham, and Nixon."
Lomas goes on to explain, "Socially, the unit above the family was the 'grayne,' each with its own chosen headman who represented his group in its dealings with the landlord and, when required, with the law courts; and was their leader in illegal activities. These were of three main sorts: blackmail (extorting protection money), reiving (stealing animals), and kidnapping (for ransom)."
I've always wondered if this song has become disordered. In the version sung by Ewan MacColl, for instance, Hughie makes a great jump *before* his trial. It would make more sense if he made the Big Leap afterward in an escape attempt.
Such a thing is attested. After the Battle of Sedgmore (for which see "The Monmouth Rebel"), an man named Jan Swayn or John Swain was arrested. "The story goes that Jan Swayn asked his escorts to allow him to demonstrate his prowess as a long-jumper to his family just one more time, and surprisingly they agreed. The young man, however, proceeded to make three gigantic jumps, not one, and disappeared into the woodland. To this day in Lodley Wood beside the main road are to be seen three stone markers, separated by distances of 13 ft. 8 in., 13 ft. 3 in., and 14 ft. respectively at the reputed site of this achievement" (see David Chandler, Sedgemoor 1685: From Monmouth's Invasion to the Bloody Assizes (Spellmount, 1985, 1999), p. 83. There was a John Swayne who was considered one of Monmouth's rebels and eventually pardoned, although proof of the great jumps seems to be lacking). - RBW
Last updated in version 6.8
File: C191

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