ýýesi. s ayoS THE GALLOWS AND THE STAKE: A CONSIDERATION OF FACT AND FICTION IN THE SCOTTISH BALLADS FOR MY PARENTS AND IN MEMORY OF NAN ANDERSON, WHO ALMOST SAW THIS COMPLETED iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Before embarking on the subject of hanging and burning, I would like to linger for a moment on a much more pleasant topic and to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has helped me in the course of my research. Primarily, thanks goes to all my supervisors, most especially to Emily Lyle of the School of Scottish Studies and to Douglas Mack of Stirling, for their support, their willingness to read through what must have seemed like an interminable catalogue of death and destruction, and most of all for their patience. I also extend thanks to Donald Low and Valerie Allen, who supervised the early stages of this study. Three other people whom I would like to take this opportunity to thank are John Morris, Brian Moffat and Stuart Allan. John Morris provided invaluable insight into Scottish printed balladry and I thank him for showing the Roseberry Collection to me, especially'The Last Words of James Mackpherson Murderer'. Brian Moffat, armourer and ordnancer, was a fount of knowledge on Border raiding tactics and historical matters of the Scottish Middle and West Marches and was happy to explain the smallest points of geographic location - for which I am grateful: anyone who has been on the Border moors in less than clement weather will understand. Stuart Allan of the Historic Search Room, General Register House, also deserves thanks for locating various documents and papers for me and for bringing others to my attention: in being 'one step ahead', he reduced my workload as well as his own. Lastly, thanks go to Juliet Middleton, for advice, suggestionsand numerous mugs of coffee, without which none of this would have been possible! UNIVERSITY OF STIRLING KAYE MCALPINE DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH ABSTRACT OF THESIS ENTITLED 'THE GALLOWS AND THE STAKE: A CONSIDERATION OF FACT AND FICTION IN THE SCOTTISH BALLADS' SUBMITTED FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY 15 March 1995 V ABSTRACT As the title of this study suggests, the following pages are concerned with ballads which refer to death by hanging or burning. This subject brings an aesthetic world into the realms of the real and presents an artistic conceptualisation of both the 'real' - historic facts - and the 'abstract' - human emotions. In terms of the 'real', ballads which refer to actual events can be compared to historic documentation in order to ascertain the extent of interaction between the ballad world and historic fact. In terms of the 'abstract', execution and death are emotive subjects, so how emotional potential is controlled within the tradition is important, for even those reports which claim to be impersonal accounts of executions can be disturbing, even though centuries may separate a reader from the event. Formalising the language is one method of control and this study will discuss formulas and structures related to execution scenes. The formulas also provide points of connection between ballads which otherwise would seem to be unrelated, such as Mary Hamilton and Hobie Noble. The ballads discussedcome from different repertoires,regions and centuries.Thus, those scenes which have been retained are more than a personal or regional variant of that scene; it has become a cultural interpretation and it may prove rewarding to consider what precedents exist for such interpretations and whether these are historic, national - specifically Scottish - or part of a wider aesthetic interpretation of death and justice. The printed ballad trade which existed in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Scotland has also been referred to, in order to provide alternative interpretations of the spectacle of execution and the popular presentation of the condemned. It may be that one vi tradition relies more closely on reality than the other, or it may be that two conflicting fictions exist. TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements iii Abstract iv List of Illustrations viii Notes and Abbreviations xi Chapter One Introduction 1 Chapter Two Part One: Life and Literature - The Laird of Warriston 27 Chapter Three Introduction to Part Two: Ballads of Family Opposition 51 Chapter Four TheMaid Freedfrom the Gallows 53 Chapter Five LadyMaisry 81 Chapter Six The Two Sisters 124 Chapter Seven Introduction to Part Three: Ballads Concerning 144 Lovers and Servants Chapter Eight Mary Hamilton 148 Chapter Nine Young Hunting and Lord Randal 173 Chapter Ten Lamkin 204 Chapter Eleven Introduction to Part Four: Outlaws and Reivers 229 Chapter Twelve Johnie Armstrong 236 Chapter Thirteen HobieNoble 256 Chapter Fourteen Adam Bell, Clim of the Clough and William of Cloudesly 269 Chapter Fifteen The GypsyLaddie 283 Chapter Sixteen Geordie 315 Chapter Seventeen Conclusion 350 Bibliography viii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS List of Figures [1: 1] 'Clerk Saunders' by Edward Burne-Jones, 1861.2 The Tate Gallery, London. [1: 2] 'A Sad and True Relation of the Apprehension, Tryal 4 Confession, Condemnation and Execution of the two barbarous bloody Murtherers hanged in Fleet and ... Street, neer White-Fryers, 22 of Octo. 1675 by W. P.', printed by John Hose, Pepys Ballad Catalogue of the Pepys Library at Magdalene College, Cambridge, edited by W. G. Day, 5 vols (Cambridge: Catalogue of the Pepys Library, 1987), u, p. 196. [1: 3] 'A Warning to Wives by the example of Katherine Francis, 4 alias Stoke', printed for FG on Snow Hill, 1629, Pepys Ballad Catalogue, 1, p. 119. [1: 4] 'A Public Hanging' by Theodore Gericault, 1820.5 Musee des Beaux Arts, Rouen. [1: 5] 'Save a Thief from the Gallows', printed for JW, JC, WT and TP, 7 PepysBallad Catalogue, n, p. 197 and 'Warning to Murderers; or, [the] Lamentable Relation for Gower the Condemnation of Iohn ... who was this 23rd day of May executed', printed for J. Wright, J. Clark, W. Thackery and T. Passenger, Pepys Ballad Catalogue,v, app. ii, p. 50. [1: 6] Photograph of executed murderers in Albania from The Times Higher 8 Educational Supplement, 23 September 1994, p. 17. [2: 1] Recto - verso opening of trial records. General Register House, 31 The Trial Records of Robert Weir, JC 2/3A-D (B and Q. [5: 1] 'A Warning for all Desperate Women', Pepys Ballad Catalogue, 1, p. 120. 98 [5: 2] Figure Showing Dialogue and Narrative Action and Reaction. 122 [12: 1] Photograph of the Johnnie Armstrong Monument, Carlanrig Chapel 246 (author's own). [12: 2] Photograph of Site of Johnnie Armstrong's Execution, According to 246 The Armstrong Society (author's own). [12: 3] Letter Bestowing Johnnie Armstrong's Belongings on Maxwell, 249 Edinburgh, General Register House, PS1 /8 fol. 195 r. ix [12: 4] Frontispiece of 'The Pleasant and Delightful History of Johnny 251 Armstrong', printed by C. Randall, Stirling, 1803. [12: 5] Final page of [12: 41. 251 [12: 6] NLS, Anderson's MS, Adv. Lib. 35.5.3., 3 vols, I, FOL. 154.255 [15: 1] Act in Favour of the Burgh of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, General Register 304 House, PS 1/ 30 folios 170 v& 171 r. [15: 2] Act Against Some Gypsies in Carrick, Edinburgh, General Register 308 House, PS 2/ 12 fol. 50 r. [16: 1] Court Room, from 'A Wonderful Example of God's Justice', Pepys 319 Ballad Catalogue, II, p. 167. [16: 2] 'The Life and Death of George of Oxford', printed for P. 333 Brooksby, [1671 - 1692], Pepys Ballad Catalogue, II, p. 150. [17: 1] Frontispiece of 'Interesting Particulars of the Last Moments and 357 Execution of Moses M'Donald', printed in Greenock, 1812). NLS, LC 2853 (25). [17: 2] Frontispiece of 'Some Account and reflections of Moses Macdonald, 359 who was Executed at Greenock, on the 5th of June 1812',printed in Edinburgh, 1812. NLS, R 287 C. [17: 3] Report of Moses Macdonald' execution, the Glasgow Herald, 361 8 June 1812. [17: 4] 'The Pirat's Doom, or Captain Kidd's Fatall Farewell', printed 367 in Edinburgh, 1701. From the Mavor Collection, University of Stirling. [17: 51 'The Last Words of James Mackpherson Murderer'. 370 NLS, Ry III a. 10 (29). List of Maps [2: 1] Detail from Ainslie's map of Old and New Edinburgh and Leith, 1804 28 Inset: Detail from John and Cornelius Blaeu, Lothian, 1580s - 1590s. [4: 1] European Distribution of The Maid Freedfrom the Gallows 55 variants, the author, 1994. [8: 1] Detail from Gordon of Rothiemay's map of Edinburgh, 1647.158 [8: 2] Detail from Gordon of Rothiemay's map of Edinburgh, 1647.159 X [10: 11 Detail of J. Bartholemew's map of Edinburgh and the Forth, 1981.206 234 [11: 1] Detail from Saxton's map of Westmoreland, 1674 Inset: Author, 1994. 259 [13: 1] Detail from map of Cumberland, 1771 [no surveyor's name, no commissioner's name]. [15: 1] Detail from map of Ayrshire, engraved 1859 310 Inset: Author, 1994. List of Tables 137 [6: 1] Showing Predominance of 'Dam - Swan' Rhymes in 'Benevolent Miller' Versions of The Two Sisters in Child. [6: 2] Showing '-ook' Rhymes in 'Malevolent Miller' Versions of 138 The Two Sisters in Child. [8: 1] Showing Predominance of Edinburgh Locations Within Child's 151 Versions of Mary Hamilton. [9: 1] Showing Type of Accomplice in Child Versions of YoungHunting. 183 187 [9: 2] Showing the Patterning of Parent & Bird Responses to the Lady's Statement in Child Versions of Young Hunting. [10: 1] Showing the Names of the Antagonist in Child's Versions of Lamkin. 207 207 [10: 2] Showing Occupations in Child's Versions of Lamkin. 335 [16: 1] Showing Use of Formulas and Structures in Child's Versions of Geordie. xi NOTES AND ABBREVIATIONS Italics have been used to identify traditional-ballad titles throughout this study instead of the more familiar inverted commas to ensure easy identification of the traditional ballads from the many songs, poems, chapbooks and broadsheet ballads which are referred to.