minstrel: Songs about Halloween

[Karen A. Allen/JP Andrews]

At 10:28 AM 11/3/96, Greg Lindahl wrote:
>> You may consider consulting any book of traditional ballads, many of which
>> have spooky qualitite, and can be documented in period.
>
>Can you actually document any ballads fore 1600 which are "spooky"?
>Most books of traditional ballads contain relatively few pre-1600
>pieces. You gave the words to "The Unquite Grave" but didn't mention
>the documentation behind it.
>
>Gregory Blount

Well let me see.

According to the Heritage Book of Ballads  "The earliest poem in English in
ballad form is a narrative poem in a thirteenth-century manuscript entitled
"Judas". "Judas" was certanily not in folk tradation of ever sung, but it
does establish the fact that the ballad form of poetry existed as early as
the thirteenth century.  The text of "Chevy Chase" is about 1550, but the
story it tells happened in 1388.  The ballad may have ben composed near the
time of the event and have traveled in oral tradition to the sixteenth
century, when someone recorded it."

The Viking Book of Folk Ballads of the English Speeking World opens with
two texts of "Riddles Wisely Expounded", which is dialogue between the
devil and a maiden.  The first text is from a fifteenth-century manuscript
at Oxford, and is the oldest verson of this particular dialouge.  Though
the piece it's self may not be considered scary by a lot of people I still
think that any conversation between the Devil and a maiden is "spooky".

As for The Unquite Grave, every book of Ballads I have contains a slightly
different copy, though none, to my dismay carried any documentation for
this particular piece.  However, when I get back from Queen's Champion
Tourney latter today I'll have a go at some more indepth research.  I'm
sure The Unquite Grave is period, I'll just have to set about proving it.

Thomas

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Karen A. Allen and JP Andrews
Mistress Angelina Nicollette de Beaumont, O.L. and Lord Thomas Bordeaux
e-mail for either to: Ngelina at earthlink.net
Check out the Gyldenholt Circle of Bards web site at
http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/3145/index.html
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