Earl of Errol, The [Child 231]

DESCRIPTION: The Earl of Errol weds Kate Carnegie, perhaps for the sake of her large dowry. Kate complains that "Errol is no' a man." Errol disproves the charge by having an illegitimate child. Kate wishes to abandon him; he will not give up her dowry
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1803 (Edinburgh Magazine)
KEYWORDS: marriage pregnancy infidelity
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1658 - Wedding of Gilbert Hay, tenth earl of Errol, to Catherine Carnegie. The marriage was childless, and apparently unhappy (there was some sort of hearing in 1659), but lasted, at least officially, until Errol's death in 1674
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (7 citations):
Child 231, "The Earl of Errol" (6 texts)
Bronson 231, "The Earl of Errol" (6 versions)
Bronson-SingingTraditionOfChildsPopularBallads 231, "The Earl of Errol" (3 tunes: #1, #4, #6)
Buchan/Moreira-TheGlenbuchatBallads, pp. 106-108, "Lord Errol" (1 text)
Greig/Duncan7 1366, "Errol on the Green" (5 texts, 2 tunes)
Buchan-ABookOfScottishBallads 38, "The Earl of Errol" (1 text)
Kinloch-TheBalladBook IX, pp. 31-36,"Earl of Errol" (1 text)
Roud #96
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Dundee, It's a Pretty Place" (floating lyrics)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Lady Errol
NOTES [71 words]: Child said of this piece, "Errol is an unpleasant ballad but decidedly of the popular kind. It could not be left out. The collection is not meant for family reading. I shall strain the case against certain indecent ballads and exclude them if I can give a reason besides indecency." (See Mary Ellen Brown, Child's Unfinished Masterpiece: The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, University of Illinois Press, 2011, p. 137.)
Last updated in version 4.1
File: C231

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