2
50
166
-
https://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/execution-ballads/files/original/33f877105d8547e8bf04f53f867ca3dd.jpg
4a9c7d1060fe7aa790c1798550304cac
https://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/execution-ballads/files/original/fd2c74fc37103f75ebdcad1cc9f96afd.jpg
7e312527411d6d0158d2633edfdd9cd8
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
French Execution Ballads
Execution Ballad
Set to tune of...
Melody to which ballad is set.
Pauvre Jacques
Transcription
Transcription of ballad lyrics
O mon peuple que vous ai-je donc fait ?
J'aimais la vertu, la justice ;
Votre bonheur fut mon unique objet
Et vous me traînez au supplice (bis)
Français, Français, nest-ce pas parmi vous
Que Louis reçut la naissance ?
Le même ciel nous a vu naître tous
J'étais enfant dans votre enfance (bis)
O mon peuple ! ai-je donc mérité
Tant de tourments et tant de peines ?
Quand je vous ai donné la liberté
Pourquoi me chargez vous de chaînes ? (bis)
Tout jeune encore les Français en moi
Voyaient leur appui tutélaire ;
je n'étais pas encore votre roi
Et déjà j'étais votre père. (bis)
Quand je montai sur ce trône éclatant
Que me destina ma naissance,
Mon premier pas dans ce poste brillant
Fut un édit de bienfaisance. (bis)
Le bon Henri longtemps cher à vos coeurs
Eut cependant quelques faiblesses :
Mais Louis seize, ami des bonnes moeurs,
N'eut ni favoris, ni maîtresses. (bis)
Nommez les donc, nommez moi les sujets
Dont ma main signa la sentence
Un seul jour vit périr plus de Français
Que les vingt ans de ma puissance. (bis)
Si ma mort peut faire votre bonheur
Prenez mes jours, je vous les donne ;
Votre bon roi, déplorant votre erreur,
Meurt innocent et vous pardonne. (bis)
O mon peuple ! recevez mes adieux,
Soyez heureux, je meurs sans peine
Puisse mon sang en coulant sous vos yeux
Dans vos coeurs éteindre la haine (bis
Language
Language ballad is printed in
French
Date
Date of ballad
1793
Synopsis
Account of events that are the subject of the ballad
Louis XVI sings to his people before being executed
Notes
Additional information related to the ballad pamphlet or related events
This song is parodied in
Parodie sur la complainte de Louis Capet
chanson des rues dédiée aux vrais républicains, choisie et chantées par les citoyens Bellerose et Bien Aimé, son cousin, chanteurs sur le Pont au Change, seuls renommés pour les belles ariettes.
Method of Punishment
Method of punishment described in the ballad.
guillotine
Crime(s)
Crime or crimes for which the person in the ballad is convicted.
treason
Gender
Gender of the person being executed.
Male
URL
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZfrLaZTrxE
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Complainte de Louis XVI aux français
French
guillotine
Male
treason
-
https://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/execution-ballads/files/original/6a26f93a4242d3474fb906846a7bc4d7.jpg
fdc5514f4bfb3c58d077589b979605cc
https://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/execution-ballads/files/original/9ef2315c0576c5d347b308aca2aba2ac.jpg
588129286fbfb8bc24d6527491a1169f
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
French Execution Ballads
Execution Ballad
Set to tune of...
Melody to which ballad is set.
Sur l'air Marin
Transcription
Transcription of ballad lyrics
Venez brave bourgeois
d'Estaire & de Merville
pour la derniere fois
Venez femmes & filles
voir Pierre Antoine mourir
S'en vont ses jours finir
Pour n'avoir su bien vivre
Entre vous paysans
Qui demeurez au champs
Gardez bien de le suivre.
Il estoit bon Censier
Prés de la Ville d'Estaire
Connus dans ces quartier
Faisant bien ses affaires
Il pouvoit dans ce lieu
vivre en homme heureux
S'il eust esté sage
Il ne serois point ainsi
En peine & en soucis
Par son mechant courage
Par ma vie debordée
& mon libertinage
je me mis à voler
Pres d'un petit Bocage
Depouillant les passans
En prenant leur argent
Du soir à la brunette
Enfin nuls estrangers
N'osoient plus la passer
En craignant leur defaite
Un jour l'esprit malin
Luy mit dedans la teste
de prendre un sac de grain
A un Batelier honneste
Et hors de son Batteau
Qui estoit dessus l'eau
Il luy cria arrette
Mais l'entendant crier
A tué ce Battelier
Comme une pauvre Bette
Language
Language ballad is printed in
French
Date
Date of ballad
1705?
Synopsis
Account of events that are the subject of the ballad
Pierre Antoine Hugues is a robber who preys on people near a hedged farmland. When trying to steal a sack of grain from a boatman he kills the boatman.
only first sheet
Method of Punishment
Method of punishment described in the ballad.
breaking on the wheel
Crime(s)
Crime or crimes for which the person in the ballad is convicted.
robbery, murder
Gender
Gender of the person being executed.
Male
Execution Location
Location the condemned was executed.
? Estaire
Subtitle
un peu devant sa mort le deuxième jour de Decembre de l'année 1705. Sur l'air Marin.
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Chanson nouvelle sur la complainte que fit Pierre Antoine Hugues
breaking on the wheel
French
Male
murder
robbery
-
https://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/execution-ballads/files/original/dea48983a36da8d8caa79b00efa8916f.jpg
a47de49b7965d687f853bfb955142bf8
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
French Execution Ballads
Execution Ballad
Set to tune of...
Melody to which ballad is set.
Billets doux
Transcription
Transcription of ballad lyrics
1er Couplet
O! vous Messieurs de la Cour,
Aprs bien des jours,
O jÍai souffert comme un damné,
Je suis condamné!...
QuÍavait-on ö me reprocher?
DÍtre recherchéƒ
Aimé par les femmÍs. Est-ce un péché?
1er Refrain
Amours fous, Amours fous qui enflamment,
Qui consument jusquÍau fond de lÍäme!!!
LÍon nÍest plus Rien. Ainsi comme un Envoi
Vers les Cieux lÍon quitte le Sol,
Amours fous, Amours fous qui vous brélent
O la Femme en fumées minuscules
DisparaÓt dans les Cieux,
Dans les langues de feu!
Amours de Gambais,
NÍoublient jamais!
2e Couplet
Vous dites, ces Anges, Landru,
Sont tous disparusƒ
Allons, quÍen avez-vous donc fait,
Lö-bas, ö Gambais,
Car, vous seul, devez le savoir,
Oui! mais, mon Devoir
Est dÍme tairÍ, jÍen suis au désespoir!
2e Refrain
LÍAmour fou, lÍAmour fou qui mÍdomine,
De parler me retient, on lÍdevineƒ
Ne vous fiez donc pas ö mon Carnet,
Mon coeur seul détient le Secret,
Amours fous, amours fous qui consument,
Aprs moi, vous ferez un volume,
O, en pages de feu,
Le brélant amoureux,
Sera désormais,
LÍSaint de Gambais.
3e Couplet
Enfin, cÍest bien fini de moi!...
Mais cÍest sans émoi,
Oui, que jÍécoute votre arrt,
Depuis longtemps prt.
A la guillotine je mÍen vais,
Bien loin de Gambais,
Regretté des femmes, ö jamais!
Dernier Refrain dÍAdieux
Adieux donc, Amours fous, petitÍs femmes,
Mais de loin, vos beaux yeux pleins de flammes,
Réchaufferont ce pauvre vieux martyr,
Que les hommes traitent de Satyr,
Maintenant en malheurs on mÍabreuve,
Adieu Trottins, et vous, pauvres Veuves
A! qui donc maintenant
Sera lÍAmant brélant
Qui vous enflammait,
Villa Gambais?
Language
Language ballad is printed in
French
Date
Date of ballad
1922<
Synopsis
Account of events that are the subject of the ballad
Landru jokingly sings of the 'burning' loves he has had (he burned all his victims)
Notes
Additional information related to the ballad pamphlet or related events
https://complaintes.criminocorpus.org/complainte/les-adieux-de-landru-avant-de-monter-a-la-guilloti/
Method of Punishment
Method of punishment described in the ballad.
beheading [guillotine]
Crime(s)
Crime or crimes for which the person in the ballad is convicted.
murder
Gender
Gender of the person being executed.
Male
Age
Age of the person condemned in the ballad.
52
Execution Location
Location the condemned was executed.
Versailles
Composer of Ballad
Maurice Yvain
Date Tune First Appeared
1921
URL
https://complaintes.criminocorpus.org/media/img/2017/10/26/CC0625.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HenriéD%C3%A9sir%C3%A9éLandru
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Les adieux de Landru avant de monter à la Guillotine
beheading
French
guillotine
Male
murder
-
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
French Execution Ballads
Execution Ballad
Set to tune of...
Melody to which ballad is set.
[works to 'Mademoiselle voulex-vous danser?]
Transcription
Transcription of ballad lyrics
Voulez vous ouyr chansonnette
De ce huguenot maudict:
C’est du Baillif de Pontoyse
Qui a perdu son credit.
C’est du Baillif de Pontoyse
Qui a perdu son credit,
Par sa malheureuse vie
A bien gaigné à mourir.
Par sa malheureuse vie
A bien gaigné à mourir,
Car il estoit heretique
Ennemy de Iesus Christ.
Car il estoit heretique
Ennemy de Iesus Christ,
De la ville de Pontoyse,
A Paris s’en vont mourir.
De la ville de Pontoyse,
A Paris s’en vont mourir,
Dedans la place de Greve,
Son dernier testament fit.
Dedans la place de Greve,
Son dernier testament fit,
Sathan fut son secretaire,
Qui l’a bouté en escrit.
Sathan fut son secretaire,
Qui l’a bouté en escrit:
Et il a laisse sa teste,
Pour porter en son pays.
Et il a laisse sa teste,
Pour porter en son pays,
Et son ame à tous les diables
Qu’ils la facent bien nourrir.
Et son ame à tous les diables
Qu’ils la facent bien nourrir,
Et son corps à la voirie
Avec ses bons amis.
Et son corps à la voirie
Avec ses bons amis
Ses executeurs il laisse
Les bons enfans de Paris.
Ses executeurs il laisse
Les bons enfans de Paris,
Point n’y fallut de Notaire
Pour le bouter en escrit.
Point n’y fallut de Notaire
Pour le bouter en escrit,
N’eurent pas plustost la charge
Qu’ils l’ont esté accomplit.
N’eurent pas plustost la charge
Qu’ils l’ont esté accomplit,
Quand il fut à la potence
Bien tost en bas il fut mis.
Quand il fut à la potence
Bien tost en bas il fut mis,
On le traine à la voirie
Comme il avoit desservy.
On le traine à la voirie
Comme il avoit desservy
Par les ruisseaux de la ville,
Apres qu’on leur faict mourir.
Par les ruisseaux de la ville,
Apres qu’on leur faict mourir,
En fort belle compagnie
Et de grands & de petits.
En fort belle compagnie
Et de grands & de petits,
Qui ont chanté son service,
Comme au nez d’argent on fit.
Qui ont chanté son service,
Comme au nez d’argent on fit,
Baillif Baillif de Pontoyse
T’as bien perdu ton credit.
Baillif Baillif de Pontoyse
Tu as bien perdu ton credit,
Tu soulois vivre en liesse,
Maintenant tu es brovy.
Tu soulois vivre en liesse,
Maintenant tu es brovy,
On te traine à la voirie
Avec tes bons amis.
On te traine à la voirie
Avec tes bons amis,
Par les enfans de la ville
Qui en sont bien resiouys.
Par les enfans de la ville
Qui en sont bien resiouys,
Qui fit ceste chansonnette
Fut un enfant de Paris.
Qui fit ceste chansonnette
Fut un enfant de Paris,
Qui voudroit bien voir deffaire
Tous ces huguenots maudicts.
La potence fut trainée,
Par tous ces enfans petits,
Jusques à son cymetiere
Pour faire honneur au Baillif.
X. de Bordeaux.
Language
Language ballad is printed in
French
Date
Date of ballad
1562<
Synopsis
Account of events that are the subject of the ballad
Song mocks the desecration of the corpse of the baillif, executed for encouraging Protestant worship
Notes
Additional information related to the ballad pamphlet or related events
Google Books: E. William Monter, Judging the French Reformation: Heresy Trials by Sixteenth-century Parlements, p. 219:
When they [Parlement of Paris] hanged the lieutenant of Pontoise in July 1562 for actively promoting public worship by Protestants, a Parisian parish priest noted that he was ‘the first person executed at Paris as a Huguenot since Francis II’s pardon of Amboise’.
Denis Crouzet, Les Guerriers de Dieu: p 90 ‘Le temps du ‘triomphe de la guerre’:
Signes que se répètent pour ceux qui risqueraient d’en oublier la valeur d’avertissement: le 23 juillet 1562, fut mis à mort en Grève le lieutenant du bailli de Pontoise, convaincu d’avoir voulu livrer la ville de Pontoise au parti huguenot; ‘le bourreau ne l’eust pas presque executé que les enfans luy prindrent entre les mains le corps mort, et le trainèrent parmy la boue, le dechirèrent en beaucoup de pièces, et puis le jectèrent à la revyere’. L’ultime composante du parcours rituel est un retour à son point de départ, vers la potence que les enfants brisent et brûlent, langage imagé, mystérieux, qui est une sorte de visualisation du Logos prophétique, du verdict de condamnation annoncé par Jérémie 5, ‘Je vais faire un feu et de ce peuple, des fagots, le feu les dévorera’.
Composer of Tune
Composer of tune to which the ballad is set
Christophe Bordeaux
Printing Location
Location the ballad pamphlet was printed.
Paris: Nicolas Bonfons, 1575Basle/Bäle
Method of Punishment
Method of punishment described in the ballad.
hanging [desecration by mob]
Crime(s)
Crime or crimes for which the person in the ballad is convicted.
heresy
Gender
Gender of the person being executed.
male
Execution Location
Location the condemned was executed.
Paris
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Chanson du baillif de Pontoyse, sur le vieil chant.
desecration by mob
French
hanging
heresy
Male
-
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
French Execution Ballads
Execution Ballad
Transcription
Transcription of ballad lyrics
Ah quelle étrange tyrannie
Bien pire qu'une rage d'enfer
M'a mis dedans la phantaisie
De mon camarade tuer
Par un trespas le plus odieux
Que fust jamais dessous les cieux!
Satan malheureux detestable
De le tuer me vint tenter,
Et mot encore plus misérable
D'adherer à ses volontez:
Ne sui-je pas bien malheureux
De faire un coup si odieux.
A que j'ai regret dans mon ame
D'avoir trahy mon bon amy,
Et voir dessous la froide lame
Celuy la que j'ay tant chery
Je meure avec grand regret,
pardonnémoi mon cher Geoffroi.
Le trouvant d'une humeur afable
Je l'ay convié à diné
Et lorsqu'il seroit à ma table
J'ay resolu de le tuer,
Des sur les dix heures du matin
Le gardant jusqu'au lendemain.
Le voyant mort dedans ma chambre
Je le foulois sans contredit,
Je pris tous ses billets de change
Et l'argent qu'il avoit sur luy,
Je le fit porter du matin
Dans la rue des vieux Augustins.
Messi' du guet faisant leur ronde
Rencontrent en leur chemin
un corps mi hors la vie du monde
Dans la ruö‚ des vieux Augustins
Sur une échelle sans tarder
Au grand Chastelet l'ont porté.
Aussitost l'on fit la recherche
Et puis les informations,
L'on a observé mes demarches
Pour en connoitre la raison,
Se doutant de mon action
L'on me vint prendre à ma maison.
Me voyant surpris de la sorte
Dabord je nie mon forfait,
Je fut conduit avec escorte
Dans les prisons du Chastelet.
Où le Juge avec raison
A recognu ma trahison.
J'avoue mon forfait execrable
Mon crime & ma meschanceté
L'auguste Conseil honorable
Du grand Chastelet ma jugé,
Que je serois rompu tout vif,
Pour le forfait par moy commis.
Ne suis-je pas bien miserable
Sortant d'une bonne Maison,
Ayant des employs honorables,
Et faire une telle action.
Helas que diront mes parens,
ils seront tous bien mécontens.
Du Grand Chastelet j'en appelle
Devant Messieurs du Parlement.
Connoissés que mon crime est telle,
On confirme mon jugement,
Aujourd'huy il me faut souffrit
D'est rompu & brisé vif.
A mon Dieu mon Seigneur j'avoue
Que la mort j'ay bien merité,
Et que si je suis sur la roÙe,
C'est pour ma grande temerité,
Mais je vous prie de tout mon coeur
Pardonnez à ce deux pécheurs.
Language
Language ballad is printed in
French
Date
Date of ballad
1697
Synopsis
Account of events that are the subject of the ballad
Moreau kills his friend. Gueullette gives date on pamphlet as 26 October [?] 1697
Method of Punishment
Method of punishment described in the ballad.
breaking on the wheel
Crime(s)
Crime or crimes for which the person in the ballad is convicted.
murder
Gender
Gender of the person being executed.
Male
Subtitle
CHANSON NOUVELLE, Sur l'air: Ah quelle étrange tyrannye!
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
RECIT VERITABLE Du cruelle Assassin commis par le nommé Moreau à l'endroit du nommé Geoffroit son bon amy.
breaking on the wheel
French
Male
murder
-
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https://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/execution-ballads/files/original/4acc0a7c95870591c2381dfd304f80e5.pdf
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https://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/execution-ballads/files/original/a0fa605729a02087212d9fcbdeb6d5b9.pdf
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
French Execution Ballads
Execution Ballad
Set to tune of...
Melody to which ballad is set.
En r'venant d' la R'vue
Transcription
Transcription of ballad lyrics
I.
C'en est fait, l'humaine justice,
A fait son oeuvre : il est cramsé.
C'est ainsi que fallait qu'finisse
L'existence de ce déclassé.
Vous pouvez respirer, mesdames,
Il n'est plus ce tueur de femmes,
C'est un bel homm' de moins, c'est vrai,
Mais laquell' de vous le r'grett'rait?
Il était fait au tour,
Il faisait bien la cour
Il avait l'air trs comm' il faut,
Mais il avait un grand défaut :
C'était, pour leur argent,
Que l'gueux faisait semblant
D'aimer l'sexe charmant
Qui le désirait pour amant.
REFRAIN:
On y a coupé
La tte sans pitié,
Il ne l'a pas volé,
Pas vrai, mesdames?
C'est fait, a y est,
Entre nous, c'est bien fait,
Mon vieux voilà c'que c'est
Qu' d'occir des femmes!
II.
D'puis Troppmann de triste mémoire
On n'avait pas vu crim' pareil.
Non, vraiment, c'est à ne pas croire
Qu'y ait d' si grands bandits sous l' soleil.
C'est horrible quand on y pense,
Et dir' qu'il parlait d'innocence!
Et qu' puisqu'i' n'y avait pas d'témoins,
L'acquitter on n' pouvait fair' moins.
Ah! quell' blagu'! depuis quand
A-t-on vu des brigands,
A leur crim' convier les passants?
C'est trop risible assurément.
Et quel drôl' d'alibi:
<<Je partageais le lit
D'une dame qu'ici
Je n' veux pas nommer>> -- brav' Henri!
REFRAIN
III.
Aux jug's il avait promis d'faire
De graves révélations,
Avant de quitter cette terre
- Il avait ses intentions -
Ce n'était peut-tre pas bte,
Mais a ne sauva pas sa tte.
Puisqu'il la perdit, l' pauvr' garon,
Et qu'elle est séparé d' son trone.
öˆa pourra lui servir
De l'on pour l'avenir,
C'est un bon moyen de guérir
La rag' de tuer, faut s'en servir,
Jusqu'à c' qu'on ait trouvé
Le moyen d' corriger
Les gens sans les tuer
C' qui s'rait moins vif il faut l'avouer.
REFRAIN
Language
Language ballad is printed in
French
Date
Date of ballad
1887
Synopsis
Account of events that are the subject of the ballad
Henri Pranzini is beheaded for the murder of three women. see NY Times clipping
Notes
Additional information related to the ballad pamphlet or related events
See NY Times clipping below for synopsis of case:
En r'venant d' la R'vue:
1886 - Paroles de Lucien Delormel et Léon Garnier, musique de Louis-César Désormes.
Le grand succs des années quatre-vingt, c'est celui-là, créé par Paulus, en mai 1886 à La Scala, Paulus qui avait entamé difficilement une carrire d'interprte dix ans auparavant mais qui, un jour, découvrit qu'il pouvait soulever l'enthousiasme du public en se promenant d'un bout à l'autre de la scne, dansant, gesticulant, suant, tout en chantant "Les pompiers de Nanterre" [*]. - Sans le savoir, il venait de créer un genre nouveau, celui du gambilleur (de gambille, mot picard signifiant jambe et, par extension, danse), particulirement adapté pour chanter "En revenant de la Revue".
Il n'a pas été filmé - voir la note [**] ci-dessous - et sa voix n'a jamais été enregistrée (voir la note [***]) mais les descriptions que l'ont faites de ses prestations ses contemporains, les disques publiés sous son nom, les affiches et les photos qu'ils nous a laissées nous donnent une assez bonne idée de ce que devait tre un tour de chant à la Paulus. - Plus tard, d'autres artistes viendront et gambilleront sur scne : Mayol dont toutes les chansons furent tout au long de sa arrire accompagnées de gestes et de pas de danse, Georgius, aussi, qui essoufflait son public mais qui, lui, n'était jamais essoufflé ou encore Georges Milton qui, lui, a eu le bonheur (pour nous) d'tre filmé (voir en sa page, l'extrait de "La fille du Bédouin"). - Plus prs de nous, on n'a qu'à songer à un Yves Montand interprétant "La fte à Loulou". - Personne cependant ne semble avoir pris la relve de ce Paulus dont les refrains résonnent encore dans notre inconscient collectif.
La chanson à l'origine de ce grand succs doit son existence à un ballet écrit par Louis César Désormes. - Le ballet dont on ignore jusqu'au nom a été vite oublié, mais l'air entraînant de ce passage plut immédiatement à Paulus qu'il confia à ses paroliers favoris et la chanson qu'ils en tirrent devint immédiatement un grand succs. - Puis, un soir, en l'honneur du Général Boulanger, Paulus changea le dernier vers du deuxime couplet ;
"Moi, j'faisais qu'admirer
Tout nos braves petits troupiers."
devint
"Moi, j'faisais qu'admirer
Notr' brav' général Boulanger."
Ce fut le délire.
"Je n'ai jamais fait de politique, mais j'ai toujours guetté l'actualité" affirma-t-il dans ses mémoires [****]
Et comment ! Jusqu'à la toute fin de sa carrire, Paulus dut conserver cette chanson à son répertoire, Général Boulanger ou pas. - Lors de l'exposition de 1898, on était obligé de fermer les portes de l'Alcazar à huit heures du soir, tant était grande la foule qui voulait voir et entendre celui qui, au dernier refrain, hissait son haut de forme au bout de sa canne et entamait son "Gais et contents..." en chevauchant un cheval imaginaire.
Est-ce à cause des paroles plus ou moins grivoises ou à cause du tempo - trs militaire, soit dit en passant (voir au numéro 2) - de la gaieté qui se dégage de son refrain que l'on se souvient encore de cette chanson ? - Elle a plus de cent ans et voyez, en cliquant sur le lecteur ou la note ci-dessous, si, parmi vos récents ou plus anciens souvenirs, elle ne fait pas partie de celles que vous croyiez avoir oubliées.
Printing Location
Location the ballad pamphlet was printed.
Paris. L. Gabillaud, auteur-éditeur, 228, rue Saint-Denis, 228.
Method of Punishment
Method of punishment described in the ballad.
decapitation (guillotine)
Crime(s)
Crime or crimes for which the person in the ballad is convicted.
murder
Gender
Gender of the person being executed.
Male
Execution Location
Location the condemned was executed.
Paris
Date Tune First Appeared
1886
Image / Audio Credit
Pamphlet location: Bibliothque historique de la Ville de Paris, Actualités 152 grand format. Recorded in Thomas Cragin, <em>Murder in Parisian Streets</em>, p. 119.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
On y a coupé la tête!
decapitation
French
guillotine
Male
murder
-
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
French Execution Ballads
Execution Ballad
Transcription
Transcription of ballad lyrics
La complainte de Pierre de La Broce
Heu! heu! michi! las chétif, domine,
Cri-je merci à Dieu com chétif aminé;
Certes bien le doi estres, car pieà ne finé,
De porchacier la honte dont je suis afiné.
Job fu riches et povres, ce nous dist l'escripture;
De sa richèce fu bons vers Dieu par mesure
Et de sa povreté fist-il bien sa droiture;
Anemis ne le pot ains prendre à desmesure.
De ce ne puis-je pas faire au pueple lonc conte:
Ne porquant s'ai éu assez d'avoir au monde,
Dont péusse avoir fet que fusse de mal monde.
Convoitise m'amort qui maint preudhomme afonde.
Por ce vueil ma légende ainz que je muire fère;
D'acompaingnier à Job me déusse bien tère.
Il soufri quanqu'il ot el non de Dieu le père;
Ne sai gré de la moie à Dieu ne à sa mère.
Ne porquant j'ai trop bien ma dolor deservie,
Quar ne cuit pas au monde homme qui soit en vie
Ait éu plus de moi grâce ne seignorie
Qui sitost l'ait perdue. Las! ce m'a fet envie.
Envie que j'avoie d'avoir trop covoitier,
Las! chétis, j'en avoie plus qu n'éstoit mestier.
Or m'a si convoitise gété en un sentier
Dont je ne puis issir tant i sache aguétier.
Las! que valoie gie? j'ai éu mal corage.
Avoirs me catoilloit dont j'avoie à outrage.
J'ai resamblé le chien qui passe son rivage,
Qui por l'ombre de l'eve laisse cheoir son fromage.
Tout ainsi ai-je fet par male convoitise
Où j'ai éu mon cuer et m'entencion mise.
Convoitise resamble cil qui le feu atise
Qui l'alume si grant qu'il covient qu'il se cuise.
J'ai fet en tel manière dont j'ai la char dolente.
Si vous dépri por Dieu nus ni mete s'entente.
Ne porquant nous savons que li douz fruis de l'ente
Eve et Adam deçut; chartre en avons présente.
En ceste guise m'a avoirs trop décéu
De ce que maint preudomme estoient esméu
De doner, de promettre; aucun l'ont bien véu,
De moi ont fet Adan: novèle en ai éu.
Il m'ont esté serpent. Tant m'i ont aguétié
Si me donoient-il par leur grant amistié.
Or m'ont par convoitise hors d'entour aus chacié
Aussi comme Adam fu de paradis vuidié.
Hélas! ma pénitance est trop grief et vilaine.
Ds onques puis que Diez ot prise char humaine
Homme si haut monté ne fu mès en tel paine;
Or se gart bien chascuns comment il se demaine.
Je me sui, ce me samble, demenez folement;
Ne pourquant si estoie de bel contenement:
M`wa la fole penssé de mon entendement
Que j'avoie m'a mis à désavancement.
De moi ont fet adroit selonc cèle droiture;
Car j'avoie le cuer trop plein de desmesure.
Ne porquant je fesoie selonc ma reverture,
Car vilains cuers si doit reperier à nature.
Mon père fu vilains et si fu chevaliers,
Et de garir les plaies fu ses premiers mestiers.
Et je restoie uns mestres qui amassoit deniers;
Je cuidoie estre en haut: or sui des darreniers.
Las! dolent qu'ai-je fet? - la clef de France avoie;
N'estoit ne dus ne conte se l'encontraisse en voie,
Se je le saluaisse, qui n'en éust grand joie.
Or ai-je d'aus joué à la boute en corroie.
Las! il est trop liez qui doner me pooit!
Abé, prélat, évesque, chascuns à moi donoit.
Or puis-je bien bouter ma main en vuit booit;
L'oue est et morte et vive qui les gros oes pouoit.
L'oue a non le roiaume, que l'en apele France,
Où il a tant de bien et de vraie sustance.
Las! chétis, j'en avoie plus que ma soustenance;
Or en sui forsgetez par fole outrecuidance.
Las! j'ai éu le cuer plain de forsenerie;
Viles, chastiaus avoie et toute seignorie,
Et avoie souz moi chevaliers de mesnie.
C'estoit bien contre droit: ce ma tolu la vie.
Aucun ne sevent pas por quoi condampnez sui.
Aussi nel' sauront-il que puisse par moi hui;
Ms je vous di bien tant que grant piea m'esmui
A fre la dolour dont je sueffre l'anui.
A tous faz savoir qu'il i a plus d'un cas:
Ils puéent bien savoir que ce n'est mie à gas.
J'ai servi l'anemi qui m'a mis en ses las:
Por Dieu proiez por moi aussi comme d'un las.
Ahi! gentil baron, por Dieu et por Saint Père,
Hé! gentiz rois de France qui estes mon compère,
Bien sai que sui livrez par teus à mort amère!
De mes enfanz aiez pité et de la mère.
De moi sui corouciez, ce vous puis-je bien dire:
Bien me doit toz li mons et gaber et despire.
Cels qu'avancié avoie a convenu eslire
Et les a l'en fors mis du roiaume en l'empire.
Ahi! gentil serjant qui estes demoré,
Quar penssez de bien fère, mon duel ert tost ploré;
Je sui près de la mort: auques m'a açoré.
Tout ce m'a fet envie qui m'a déshonoré.
Je voloie mal fère cels qui m'ont fet aidance
Par male convoitise qui m'a mis en balance;
Mès Diex qui autrefoiz le règne a fet aidance
Contre lui n'ira nus qui n'en ait destorbance.
Por qoi c'est li plus dignes de la crestienté
Et cil qui en est rois il est de Dieu renté.
Bien m'avoit l'anemi de son fort vent venté
Quant voloie du monde destruire la plenté.
Ahi! gentiz roïne, preux et vaillant et sage,
J'aportai-je de vous une fois faus message
De ce c'onques n'éustes en cuer ne en corage:
Or en estes vengie voiant vostre barnage.
Hé! enfés Loeys, de toi ne me puis tère;
En paradis soit t'âme devant Dieu nostre père.
Por ta mort diffamai la dame debonère:
Si est mult bien resons la mençonge compère.
C'est la riens en cest mont qui plus grevé m'i a;
Or m'aperçoif-je bien que cil qui envie a,
Qu'il est de la mesnie qu'on dit: "trop en i a."
Bien pert que le déable près de moi se lia.
Péchiez avoit trop mis mon cuer à desmesure;
J'avoie parchemin séelé sans droiture
Ou j'éusse enz escrit tant de male aventure
Qu'il en éust pesé mainte bele figure.
Seignor, plus i a cas que je ne vous diroie:
Com plus en conteroie et plus de honte auroie.
J'ai déservie honte bien est drois que je l'aie;
J'estoie en droit sentier: or sui hors de la voie.
En droit sentier estoie, ce set bien tout le monde;
Honorés et amés et de duc et de conte.
Or vous puis-je bien dire, por voir le vous aconte,
Que cil qui plua m'amoient plus m'i feront de honte.
Seignor, au douz cors Dieu commant-je toute France,
Et mon seignor le roi que Diex gart de pesance!
Il pert bien que Diex l'aime, fet en a démonstrance:
Penssez tuit de bien fère, Diex vous en doinst puissance!
Language
Language ballad is printed in
French
Date
Date of ballad
1278?
Synopsis
Account of events that are the subject of the ballad
La Broce, favourite of the king falsely accuses Marie of Brabant the queen of poisoning the king's son by a previous marriage. Philippe calls fortune tellers for their opinion, eventually presses no charges. Two years later comes across a letter addressed to La Broce; the contents remain unknown but La Broce was quickly arrested and executed.
Notes
Additional information related to the ballad pamphlet or related events
in 13C dialect?
editor Achille Jubinal says they're from MS du roi 7218, f. 244 and f. 138
Le Theatre Comique en France (http://books.google.com.au/books) says:
La complainte se trouve dans le ms. 837, ff. 244-246
Au début: 'de pierre de la broce'
A la fin: 'Explicit de pierre de la broche'
Elle est reproduite dans le ms. 2765 de la Bib. de l'Arsenal, ff. 221-224
Method of Punishment
Method of punishment described in the ballad.
hanging
Crime(s)
Crime or crimes for which the person in the ballad is convicted.
treason?
Gender
Gender of the person being executed.
Male
URL
https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=BKgTAAAAQAAJ&printsec=frontcover&output=reader&authuser=0&hl=en&pg=GBS.PA23
http://archive.org/stream/lacomplainteetl00unkngoog#page/n9/mode/1up
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
La complainte et le jeu de Pierre de La Broce, chambellan de Philippe-le-Hardi, qui fut pendu le 30 juin 1278
hanging
Male
treason
-
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
French Execution Ballads
Execution Ballad
Set to tune of...
Melody to which ballad is set.
Il était un berger
Transcription
Transcription of ballad lyrics
Enfin Cartouche est pris
Avecque sa maîtresse
On dit qu'il s'est enfui
Par un tour de souplesse
Un chien l'a fait r'pincer
Dès le matin !
On l'a mis au cachot
Avec un fort bon drille,
Sans couteau ni ciseau
Ni marteau ni faucille
Leurs mains ont fait un trou
Chez le voisin !
Il dit à la question
"- Je ne suis pas Cartouche"
Je suis Jean Bourguignon
Je ne crains point vos douches
Je suis Lorrain de nation
Je suis Lorrain"
On le mena Jeudi
En place de Grève
Tout était si rempli
Que tout le monde y crève.
Puis on l'a fait sortir
De sa prison
En montant l'escalier
De l'Hôtel de Ville
Il dit au gonfalier
"- Ami je suis débile
Donne moi un verre de vin
Mon cher ami"
On dit qu'il accusa
Grand nombre de personnes
Des pays étrangers
Des femmes, aussi des hommes
Il fut exécuté
Le vendredi.
Language
Language ballad is printed in
French
Date
Date of ballad
1721?
Synopsis
Account of events that are the subject of the ballad
Cartouche was a celebrity outlaw, arrested 14 October 1721 after denunciation. He nearly escaped but a dog's barking gave him away.
Louis Dominique Garthausen, also known as Cartouche (1693, Paris - November 28, 1721, Paris; age 27-28), who usually went by the name of Louis Bourguignon or Louis Lamarre when he wanted to hide his identity, was a highwayman who terrorized the roads around Paris during the Régence until the authorities had him broken on the wheel.
Cartouche's exploits were described in ballads and popular prints and have been vividly revived in bodice-rippers and the swashbuckling romance with slapstick comedy of the film Cartouche (1962) by Philippe de Broca, starring Jean Paul Belmondo and the twenty-three-year-old Claudia Cardinale.
Notes
Additional information related to the ballad pamphlet or related events
Louis Dominique Garthausen dit Cartouche (mais aussi Bourguignon ou Lamarre), né en 1693 et mort le 28 novembre 1721, était un brigand puis un chef de bande (une de ces bandes de la Cour des miracles, leur repaire, qui sévissaient à Paris au début du XVIIIe siècle, sous la Régence).
Intelligent, acrobate et spirituel, Cartouche, qui redistribue une partie du bénéfice de ses crimes aux petites gens,
gagne vite une certaine estime parmi une population exaspérée par les corruptions de l'époque.
Trahi par Gruthus, son complice qui sauve ainsi sa peau (et peut-être aussi dénoncé par une femme),
il est arrêté au petit matin dans le cabaret Au Pistolet, à la Basse-Courtille, le 14 octobre 1721.
La légende dit que réveillé à temps, il manque réussir son évasion, mais est trahi par un chien qui se met à hurler.
Mené pieds nus au Châtelet, il y est retenu enchaîné dans une cage afin de prévenir toute évasion. Il fait alors l'objet de la curiosité du Paris mondain : des comédiens du Théâtre-Français l'examinent pour mieux le jouer et des dames de première distinction, dont la maréchale de Boufflers, ainsi que le Régent lui-même, lui rendent visite. Le 21 octobre, il est écroué à la Conciergerie sur décision du Parlement qui veut stopper l'intérêt du public. Il subit la procédure judiciaire dirigée par le conseiller Arnaud de Boux, maître des requêtes dont le père avait été assassiné sur la route de Bordeaux. Cartouche nie tout, y compris son état-civil, refuse de reconnaître sa mère, et affirme ne savoir ni lire, ni écrire. Le 26 novembre, il est soumis à la question extraordinaire et subit la "torture des brodequins". Malgré son silence, il est condamné à mort.
Le lendemain, jour pluvieux du supplice, entouré de 200 archers et ne voyant pas arriver ses compagnons qui avaient pourtant fait le serment de le libérer, Cartouche, sans doute par dépit ou par fureur, déclare vouloir faire des aveux. Ramené devant ses juges, il révèle beaucoup de choses et livre ses complices durant dix-huit heures. Des procès suivront ses déclarations jusqu'en 1723 : plus de 350 personnes seront arrêtées pour leurs liens avec ce chef de bande, dont du personnel de la suite de mademoiselle Louise-élisabeth, fille du Régent. Mais Cartouche n'est pas sauvé pour autant :l est roué* vif en place de Grève, à Paris, le 28 novembre 1721.
Les jours suivants, son cadavre est exposé dans une baraque et les curieux paient pour voir sa dépouille. Balagny le suit sur l'échafaud, puis son frère Louison, âgé de 15 ans, et d'autres complices encore. Ses acolytes les plus chanceux finissent aux galères, comme son deuxième frère Francis Antoine.
Le régime respire : c'est que certains noms proches de Cartouche sont des habitués des allées du pouvoir. Pourtant, assez rapidement à l'annonce de son arrestation puis de sa disparition, la légende de Cartouche commence. Sa mort à 28 ans en fait un héros martyr du pouvoir royal et des riches. Son histoire est reproduite sous diverses formes : poèmes, chansons populaires (La Complainte de Cartouche) et même pièces de théâtre de la Comédie-Française (Cartouche ou les voleurs de Legrand, en octobre 1721) et de la Comédie-Italienne (Arlequin Cartouche de Riccoboni père dit Lélio). En 1723, Nicolas Grandval publie un poème intitulé Cartouche ou le Vice puni. Par la suite, sa biographie, souvent romancée, sera souvent rééditée tout au long du XIXe siècle ; elle sera même complétée par des images d'épinal. Son masque mortuaire est aujourd'hui conservé au musée municipal de Saint-Germain-en-Laye.
*Utilisé en Europe à partir du XVIe siècle, ce supplice est réservé aux criminels à partir de 1535 environ en France ;
auparavant, ils étaient exécutés sur le bùcher qui, à partir de cette époque, fut réservé aux hérétiques.
La roue fut le supplice réservé aux brigands, dont un exemple peut être Louis Mandrin en 1755.
(http://fr.wikipedia.org/)
Method of Punishment
Method of punishment described in the ballad.
breaking on the wheel
Crime(s)
Crime or crimes for which the person in the ballad is convicted.
highway robbery
Gender
Gender of the person being executed.
Male
Execution Location
Location the condemned was executed.
Paris, Place de Greve
URL
http://www.chansons-net.com/Tine/E560.html
https://youtu.be/6HaAGL2perA
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
La complainte de Cartouche
breaking on the wheel
highway robbery
Male
-
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
French Execution Ballads
Execution Ballad
Transcription
Transcription of ballad lyrics
Les flammes d'Etna sur ses laves antiques
Ne cessent de verser des flots plus dévorants.
Des monstres couronnés, les fureurs despotiques.
Ne cessent d'ajouter aux forfaits des tyrans.
S'il en est qui veulent un maître,
De rois en rois dans l'univers
Qu'ils aillent mendier des fers,
Ces français indignes de l'être,
Ces français indignes de l'être!
Etna's flames of ancient lava
Ceaselessly flow, ever more devouring.
Crowned monsters, despotic furies.
Ceaselessly add to tyrants' hideous crimes.
If some want a master,
In a world from King to king
Let them beg for shackles
Unworthy to be called Frenchmen,
Unworthy to be called Frenchmen!
Language
Language ballad is printed in
French
Date
Date of ballad
1793
Synopsis
Account of events that are the subject of the ballad
Louis XVI execution
Method of Punishment
Method of punishment described in the ballad.
beheading
Gender
Gender of the person being executed.
Male
Composer of Ballad
words: LeBrun music: Jadin
URL
http://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution/d/616/
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Hymne du 21 janvier.
beheading
Male
-
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
French Execution Ballads
Execution Ballad
Set to tune of...
Melody to which ballad is set.
Maréchal de Saxe / <a href="https://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/execution-ballads/items/show/1160">Fualdès</a>
Transcription
Transcription of ballad lyrics
O vous dont l'ame sensible
Au récit d'un grand malheur;
Se pénètre de douleur,
Venez ouïr un crime horrible,
Frémissez en l'écoutant
C'est le forfait le plus grand.
Fils indigne d'un bon père,
Même à la fleur de ses ans,
N'écoutant que ses penchans,
Un jeune homme témeraire
Cède au genie infernal
Qui l'entraînait dans le mal.
Reçu dans une boutique
Comme un garçon boulanger,
On était loin de songer
Au projet diabolique
Que dans l'ombre méditait
L'auteur du plus noir forfait.
Jour malheureux et funeste,
Le treizième prairial,
De son dessein infernal,
Un barbare qu'on déteste,
Hâta l'execution:
O! comble de trahison!
Dans la rage qui le guide,
Se levant de grand matin,
Il s'empare d'un merlin,
Qu'il consacre à l'homicide;
Et son maître qui dormait
Est assommé; quel forfait!
Sa fureur non assouvie,
Dans la chambre au même instant
Il monte et se saisissant
De la maîtresse endormie,
Par le crime le plus noir,
Il l'étrangla d'un mouchoir.
Sans être ému par ses crimes,
A l'instant ce malheureux,
Tout plein d'un délire affreux,
Veut rassembler les victimes,
Dont, par un cruel transport,
Il vient de causer la mort.
Le maître de cet infâme
Par les cheveux est saisi,
Dans la ruelle du lit
Est traîné près de sa femme,
Qui gissait au rang des morts,
Etant étranglée alors.
Mais la sévère justice,
Vengeresse des forfaits,
A d'aussi cruels excès
Réserve un juste supplice:
Et malheur aux assassins
Dont les coeurs sont inhumains.
Language
Language ballad is printed in
French
Date
Date of ballad
1790
Synopsis
Account of events that are the subject of the ballad
Servant to a baker kills master and mistress, tries to hide master's body next to bed.
Takes place 'le treizieme prairial' during time of Revolution (roughly end of May?)
Song does not describe execution.
Prose account comes first
Printing Location
Location the ballad pamphlet was printed.
Se trouve chez GAUTHIER, rue Jacques-la-Boucherie, No. 6.
Crime(s)
Crime or crimes for which the person in the ballad is convicted.
murder
Gender
Gender of the person being executed.
Male
Age
Age of the person condemned in the ballad.
19
Execution Location
Location the condemned was executed.
Paris
Subtitle
Commis Faubourg Antoine, rue de Montreuil, No. 62, par le nommé Giraud, garçon boulanger, âgé de dix-neuf ans, qui a massacré son maître dans le fournil à coups de merlin, et a de suit étranglé la femme dans son lit avec une cracatte; puis a traîné, après son crime, le citoyen Langlois dans la ruelle du lit, pour cacher son attentat. - Complainte à ce sujet
Image / Audio Credit
BHVP, livre imprimé Cote: 602119
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
HORRIBLE ASSASSINAT
Male
murder
-
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
French Execution Ballads
Execution Ballad
Set to tune of...
Melody to which ballad is set.
Approchez-vous, honorable assistance, &c.
Transcription
Transcription of ballad lyrics
Approchez-vous, hommes, filles & femmes
De tous états, & vous aussi garçons;
Venez frémir des exécrables trames
D'un noir complot forgé par les démons;
De cette histoire,
Qu'on ne peut croire,
Le châtiment
Fait preuve assurément.
Le criminel, de qui la Providence
A découvert les tours de son métier,
Reut d'abord à Chartres sa naissance,
Puis dans Paris, un tems, fut Epicier;
Fit banqueroute,
C'est-la la route
De bien des gens
Pour se rendre opulens.
De longue main, entr'antes entreprises
Qu'il méditoit en son maudit cerveau,
Ayant tiré ses bonnes marchandises,
Il en soutrait le meilleur, le plus beau,
Rit en son âme,
Et met la flâme
Au magasin,
C'est-à dire au fretin.
Grande rumeur, il fuit, il se désole,
Tape du pied, s'arrache les cheveux,
Tous les voisins n'ont que cette parole,
Ah! le pauvre homme! ah! qu'il est malheureux!
Par cette ruse,
Le traître abuse
Maint créancier
Pour ne le pas payer.
Qui n'iroit pas jusqu'à rouler carrosse
Par des chemins qui ne sont pas plus francs?
Le revenu de cet escroc atroce
Montoit, sans faute, à quinze mille francs.
O moeurs peu sages!
Tous les hommages
Vont aux grands trains,
De ces brillans coquins.
Et nonobstant des actions si vilaines,
Il affectoit Catholique maintien,
Communiant de deux à trois semaines,
Pour déguiser comme il étoit vaurien:
Ce monstre insigne
Qui vous indigne,
Sous le Soleil
N'eut jamais son pareil.
Oui, monstre étoit, d'homme il n'eut que le masque;
Impossible est de détailler ses coups:
Or passons vîte à sa derniere frasque,
Dans leurs fureurs les tygres sont plus doux;
Quand on y pense,
Quelle impudence!
Vouloir pour rien
S'approprier un bien.
Ayant appris qu'une terre est à vendre,
Cupidité se réveille en son sein;
Voyez comment ce lâche va s'y prendre,
Pour l'acquérir, moyennant un larcin:
Il se fatigue,
Rève, s'intrigue,
Se dit en fond,
Ecrit, on lui répond.
En place & lieu du possesseur malade,
Bref, vient l'épouse ayant tout ce qu'il faut;
Au devant d'elle, avec douce acolade,
En patelin il accourt auusi tôt:
Venez, Madame,
Près de ma femme,
Vous conviendrez
Que bien mieux vous serez.
Foible brébis, te voilà sous la patte
D'un loup cruel, qui ne le paroît pas,
Il te prévient, te caresse, te flatte;
Tant d'amitié n'est que pour ton trépas,
Ancien Droguiste,
Il fait la liste
De tout venin
Fatal au corps humain.
[A]h! le moyen d'éviter un tel piége!
Le poison donne une invisible mort:
La Dame avoit un sien fils au Collége,
Qu'il fut chercher pour un semblable sort.
Ses funérailles
Sont à Versailles,
Il fit semblant
Que c'étoit son parent.
Ah! quelle horreur! on ne sçauroit s'en taire,
Chacun eùt fait l'office du bourreau.
Où cacha-t'il la malheureuse mere?
Dans une cave il creusa son tombeau.
Cordes & toile
Servant de voile,
Ballot de vin
Présentoient pour certain.
Un Acte faux à Lyon il fabrique
Qui de la somme atteste le reçu;
Mais Dieu voit tout, & confond la rubrique
De l'Imposteau, dont l'esprit est déçu;
On l'emprisonne,
On le questionne,
Il est subtil,
On ne tient pas le fil.
L'Epous guéri retombe dans la peine.
Il part, arrive, & s'informe par tout.
Nouvelle aucune, & sa recherche est vaine,
Il croit sa femme en fuite... Il est à bout.
Mais le coupable,
Chose admirable!
Notez ce point,
Aux Loix n'échape point.
Impunément jamais on ne se souille
Du sang humain, ce fait est démontré.
En plusieurs lieux on fouille & l'on refouille,
Tant qu'à la fin ce corps est déterré:
Lors on transporte,
Avec escorte,
Le scélérat
Auteur de l'attentat.
Sa mine étoit on ne peut pas plus have:
Le repentir produit toujours cela;
On l'observoit descendre dans la cave,
Fixer les yeux, l'âme se montre-là.
Quoiqu'on s'exerce,
Vérité perce:
Juste à l'endroit
Ses yeux vont donner droit.
On instruit donc soudain la procédure,
Son aveu fait, témoins réconfrontés,
Il est rompu tout vif, c'est la torture,
Ensuite au feu ses membres sont jettés:
Et c'est justice
Qu'un tel supplice.
A ce pervers,
Dieu! sauvez les Enfers.
Vaut mieux un gain petit, mais légitime,
N'est-il pas vrai, que tout l'or des méchans?
Sans nul remord, du vice on passe au crime,
Lorsqu'on ne suit que ses mauvais penchans.
Qu'on est à plaindre
De voir s'éteindre
Dedans son coeur
La crainte du Seigneur.
Language
Language ballad is printed in
French
Synopsis
Account of events that are the subject of the ballad
Antoine Franois Desrues (1744-1777) was a French poisoner.
He was born at Chartres, of humble parents. He went to Paris to seek his fortune, and started in business as a grocer. He was known as a man of great piety and devotion, and his business was reputed to be a flourishing one, but when, in 1773, he gave up his shop, his finances, owing to personal extravagance, were in a deplorable condition.
Nevertheless he entered into negotiations with a Madame de la Motte for the purchase from her of a country estate, and, when the time came for the payment of the purchase money, invited her to stay with him in Paris pending the transfer. While she was still his guest, he poisoned first her and then her son, a youth of sixteen. Then, having forged a receipt for the purchase money and taken on the aristocratic name "Desrues de Bury," he endeavoured to obtain possession of the property.
But by this time the disappearance of Madame de la Motte and her son had aroused suspicion. Desrues was arrested, the bodies of his victims were discovered, and the crime was brought home to him. He was originally sentenced to life in prison, but was retried and condemned to be torn asunder alive and burned. He was condemned to death and executed in Paris in 1777, Desrues repeating protestations of his innocence to the last. An extended debate ensued after his death, which was seen as a touchstone for understanding both the last years of the Ancien Régime and the early revolutionary period, with Balzac, Hugo, and Dumas among the participants. As late as 1828 a dramatic version of it was performed in Paris.
French wikipedia: Antoine-Franois Desrues, né en 1744 à Chartres et roué en 1777 à Paris, est un empoisonneur franais.
Marchand épicier à Paris, Desrues s'enrichit par des escroqueries et des crimes et sut, par son hypocrisie, se faire une telle réputation de vertu que pendant longtemps on ne put le souponner. Ayant acheté à M. de La Motte, écuyer du roi, la terre de Buisson-Soö‚f, qu'il devait payer 130 000 livres, il résolut de faire mourir toute la famille de son créancier afin de s'emparer du bien sans rien débourser : il avait déjà empoisonné la femme et le fils, lorsque son crime fut découvert. Il fut roué vif en 1777 en place de Grve à Paris, son corps fut brulé et cendres dispersées.
Ce fut Charles-Henri Sanson, futur bourreau du roi Louis XVI, qui procéda au supplice.
Soutenu par le petit peuple qui voyait en lui un simple martyr, victime de l'arbitraire royal ne lui ayant mme pas épargné le bùcher, ce fils de petit boutiquier eut ses cendres filtrées par une foule étant allée jusqu'à se battre pour en récupérer le moindre bout d'os, reliques auxquelles elle attribuait des vertus magiques (enrichissement) et qui furent ensuite l'objet d'un commerce.
Sa femme, enfermée à la Salptrire, fut assassinée par les émeutiers lors des massacres de Septembre, en 1792.
Notes
Additional information related to the ballad pamphlet or related events
From Pascal Bastien, L'execution publique a Paris au XVIIIe siecle:
BnF, MS Fr 6682, p. 357: 'Tous les colporteurs avoient pris son arrt chez le sieur Simon, imprimeur du Parlement, et ils les vendoient en quantité comme à toute sorte de prix. Quelques jours aprs sa mort, on vendoit non seulement ses os et cendres, mais encore son portrait gravé, seul en bonnet de nuit et en robe de chambre, comme aussi sur une trs grande planche représentative des diverses circonstances de son crime et des cruelles épreuves que ce crime l'avoit mis dans le cas de subir.'
Method of Punishment
Method of punishment described in the ballad.
breaking on the wheel, burning
Crime(s)
Crime or crimes for which the person in the ballad is convicted.
murder
Gender
Gender of the person being executed.
Male
Age
Age of the person condemned in the ballad.
33
Execution Location
Location the condemned was executed.
Paris, Place de Greve
URL
<a href="http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoine-Fran%C3%A7ois%C3%A9Desrues" target="_blank">Wikipedia entry</a>
Subtitle
D'un ci-devant Epicier-Droguiste, Faussaire & Empoisonneur.
Sur l'Air: Approchez-vous, honorable assistance, &c.
Tune Data
<p>Approchez-vous, honorable assistance, &c.</p>
<p>CANTIQUE DE L'INNOCENCE-RECONNUE DE STE. GENEVIÈVE<br />Sur l'air :Que devant vous tout s'abaisse. [from Lully, 'Atys' 1676]<br /><br /><a href="http://sitelully.free.fr/livretatys.htm" target="_blank">Lyrics to Atys</a><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6h9uaERvrg" target="_blank">Performance</a><br /><br />Words to cantique:</p>
<p>Approchez-vous honorable assistance.<br />Pour entendre reciter en ce lieu,<br />L'innocence reconnue, la patience<br />De Genevive trs-aimée de Dieu,<br />Etant Comtesse de grande Noblesse,<br />Née de Brabant étoit assurément.<br />Genevive fut nommée au Baptme,<br />Ses pre & mre l'aimoient tendrement,<br />La solitude prenoit d'elle-mme,<br />Donnant son coeur au sauveur tout puissant,<br />Son grand mérite, fit qu'à la fuite,<br />Ds dix-huit ans fut mariée richement.<br /> En peu de tems s'élvent de grandes guerres,<br />Son mari, Seigneur du Palatinat,<br />Fut obligé pour son honneur & gloire,<br />De quitter la Comtesse en cet état,<br />Etant enceinte d'un mois sans feinte,<br />Fit ses adieux ayant les larmes aux yeux.<br /> Il a laissé son aimable Comtesse,<br />Entre les mains d'un méchant intendant,<br />Qui vouloit la séduire par finesse,<br />Et l'honneur lui ravir semblablement ;<br />Mais cette Dame, pleine de charmes,<br />N'y voulut pas consentir nullement.<br /> Ce malheureux accusa sa maîtresse,<br />D'avoir péché avec son écuyer,<br />Les serviteurs il gagna par caresse,<br />Et la Comtesse il fit emprisonner,<br />Chose assurée est accouchée,<br />Dans la prison d'un beau petit garon.<br /> Le tems fini de toute cette guerre,<br />Ce Seigneur s'en revint dans son pays,<br />Golo s'en fut au-devant de son maître,<br />Jusqu'à Strasbourg accomplir son désir,<br />Ce téméraire lui fit accroire<br />Que sa femme adultre avoit commis.<br /> Etant troublé de chagrin dans son ame,<br />Il enchargea à Golo ce tyran,<br />D'aller au plutôt tuer sa Dame,<br />Et massacrer son petit innocent :<br />Ce méchant traître quitte son maître,<br />Va d'un grand coeur exercer sa fureur.<br /> Ce bourreau à Genevive si tendre,<br />La dépouilla de ses habillemens,<br />De vieux haillons la fit vtir & prendre,<br />Par deux valets fort rudes & trs-puissans,<br />Ils l'ont menée, bien désolée,<br />Dans la fort avec son cher enfant.<br /> Genevive approchant du supplice,<br />Dit à ses deux valets, tout en pleurant,<br />Si vous voulez bien me rendre service,<br />Faites-moi mourir avant mon cher enfant,<br />Et sans remise, je suis soumise,<br />A votre volonté présentement.<br /> La regardant, un dit, qu'allons-nous faire ?<br />Quoi, un massacre, je n'en ferai rien,<br />Faire mourir notre bonne maîtresse,<br />Peut-tre un jour elle nous fera du bien ?<br />Sauvez-vous Dame, pleine de charmes,<br />Dans ces forts qu'on ne vous voye jamais.<br /> Au fonds d'un bois dedans une carrire,<br />Genevive demeura pauvrement,<br />Etant sans pain, sans feu, ni sans lumire,<br />Ni compagnie que son trs-cher enfant ;<br />Mais l'assistance qui la substente,<br />C'est le bon Dieu qui la garde en ce lieu.<br /> Elle fut visitée d'une pauvre biche,<br />Qui tous les jours allaitoit son enfant,<br />Les oiseaux chantent & la réjouissent,<br />L'accoutumant à leur aimable chant.<br />Les btes farouches prs d'elle se couchent,<br />La divertissent elle & son cher enfant.<br /> Voici son mari dans de grandes peines,<br />Dans son château consolé par Golo,<br />Ce n'est que jeux que festins qu'on y mne,<br />Mais ces plaisirs sont bien mal à propos,<br />Car dans son ame, sa chre Dame,<br />Pleure sans fin avec un grand chagrin.<br /> Jesus-Christ découvre l'innocence<br />De Genevive par sa grande bonté,<br />Chassant dans la fort en diligence,<br />Le Comte, des chasseurs s'est écarté,<br />Aprs la biche qui est la nourrice<br />De son enfant qu'elle allaitoit souvent.<br /> La pauvre biche s'enfuit au plus vite,<br />Dans une grotte, auprs de l'innocent,<br />Le Comte aussi-tôt fait la poursuite,<br />Pour la tirer de ce lieu promptement,<br />Vit la figure d'une créature,<br />Qui étoit auprs de son cher enfant.<br /> Appercevant dans sa demeure obscure,<br />Cette femme couverte de ses cheveux,<br />Lui demanda, qui tes-vous, créature,<br />Que faites-vous dans ce lieu ténébreux ?<br />Ma chre amie, je vous en prie,<br />Dites-moi donc, s'il vous plaît votre nom.<br /> Genevive, c'est mon nom d'assurance,<br />Née en Brabant, où sont tous mes parens,<br />Un grad Seigneur m'épousa sans doutance<br />Dans son pays m'emmena promptement ;<br />Je suis Comtesse de grande noblesse,<br />Mais mon mari fait de moi grand mépris.<br /> Il m'a laissée étant d'un mois enceinte,<br />Entre les mains d'un méchant intendant,<br />Qui voulut me séduire par contrainte,<br />Et me faire mourir semblablement :<br />De rage felonne dit à deux hommes,<br />De me tuer moi & mon cher enfant.<br /> Le Comte ému, reconnoissant sa femme,<br />Dedans ce lieu la regarde en pleurant,<br />Quoi, est-ce vous, Genevive, chre Dame ?<br />Que je pleure il y a si long-tems ?<br />Mon Dieu, quelle grace, dans cette place,<br />D'y rencontrer ma trs-chre moitié.<br /> Ah ! que de joie au son de la trompette,<br />Voici venir la chasse & les chasseurs,<br />Qui rencontre le Comte, je proteste,<br />A ses côtés sa femme & son coeur,<br />L'enfant, la biche, les chiens chérissent,<br />Les serviteurs rendent grace au Seigneur.<br /> Ce grand Seigneur, pour punir l'insolence,<br />Et perfidie du traître Golo,<br />Le fit juger par sentence,<br />D'tre écorché vif par les bourreaux,<br />A la voierie, je certifie,<br />Que son corps fut jetté par morceaux.</p>
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
HISTOIRE TRAGIQUE ET MORALE,
breaking on the wheel
burning
Male
murder
-
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
French Execution Ballads
Execution Ballad
Transcription
Transcription of ballad lyrics
Messieurs de l'Eglise Romaine
Escoutez l'infame forfait,
Contre la Majesté Divine,
Dans nostre-Dame que j'ay fait,
Poussé du Demon infernal
Certes, il en est l'original.
Mais moy pire que le Demù méme
J'ay commis ce qu'il n'oseroit
Faite, ceque j'ay fait moy mesme
Devant la Vierge, il ne pourroit
Comme moy j'ay fait le chemin
Plus criminel qu'inhumain.
Voicy le sujet de ma vie.
De ma lignée mesmement
Aussi de maudite envie
Que vous sçaurez presentement
Ma qualité & mon renom
Mon lieu, ma naissance & mon nom.
J'estoit de Caën en Normandie
Fils d'un Marchand de ce lieu
Voicy toute ma tragedie,
Que j'ay fiat là trop hodieux.
Mon nom c'est François Sarazin,
Aprenez mon traistre dessein.
J'estois de fort bonne naissance,
Mais je me suis bien trompé,
Et puis j'ay commis l'impudence
De la vray Loy abandonné
En esperant qu'en peu de temps
L'on verroit bien du changement.
Croyant la place de mon pere
De posseder m'appartenant
Mais nos anciens pour me distraire
Ont dit que j'estois inconstans
Que je n'estois ferme à leur Loy,
Qu'il falloit un autre que moy.
Me voyant refuser de mesme
Pour avoir renoncé ma Loy
Je leur dit de collere extréme
Vous entendrez parler de moy,
Apres je m'en vins à Paris
Faire à Dieu un triste mespris.
Satan qui possedoit mon ame
Ma tanté de faire ce mal-heur
Que j'ay fait dedans Nostre Dame,
Par ma rage & ma fureur
Sans reconnoistre l'Eternel
J'ay tué un Prestre à l'Autel.
Devant l'image de la Vierge
Levant le corps de Jesus-Christ
L'Advocat & la Concierge
De tous les bons divins esprits,
J'ay mis l'épée en main d'abord
Deux coups luy ay percé le corps.
Chacun épris de se vacarme,
Les balustres j'ay sauté,
Je sorty hors de Nostre Dame;
Mais un Cocher m'a arresté,
Ou je fut conduit en prison
Pour ma trop grande trahison.
Entre les mains de la Justice
Je fus pris & interrogé
De mon nom & de tout mon vice
Puis en peu de temps fus jugé,
De souffrir la plus rude mort
Mon Dieu soyez mon reconfort.
Il me faut amande honorable
Faire pour ma punition,
Dedans l'Eglise Cathedralle,
Où j'ay fait la noire action,
Et puis le point couppé aussi
Ensuitte mes jours accourcy.
Pour punission de mon offence,
Il me faut équitablement
Mourir en douleur & souffrance,
D'estre bruslé cruellement
Vif, & pour mon chastiment,
Et mes cendres jetter au vent.
A petit feu faut que j'endure,
Finir mes jours sensiblement,
O! mal hureuse [sic] avanture,
Je le merite uniquement,
Ainsi je vais finir mes ans,
Adieu, adieu cher assistans.
Language
Language ballad is printed in
French
Date
Date of ballad
1670
Synopsis
Account of events that are the subject of the ballad
Sarazin murders priest with sword on altar of Notre Dame 3 August 1670, then knocks over and tramples the host and wine. He is sentenced to amende honorable, have his finger/hand cut off, and burned alive with ashes scattered.
Notes
Additional information related to the ballad pamphlet or related events
Accoompanying arrest and mandement in Gueullettte
Method of Punishment
Method of punishment described in the ballad.
burning
Crime(s)
Crime or crimes for which the person in the ballad is convicted.
murder
Gender
Gender of the person being executed.
Male
Execution Location
Location the condemned was executed.
Paris
Subtitle
natif de la Ville de Caën, lequel à assassiné M. Berne, Abbé de Rennes en Bretagne, dans l'Eglise Nostre-Dame de Paris, en élevant le Corps & sang de Jesus-Christ.
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Execution remarquable d'un nommé François Sarazin,
burning
Male
murder
-
https://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/execution-ballads/files/original/50e75ecf83299afc580ac7e235f98516.jpg
c347086bfd0d0fb0dbf4bf98f08c53b8
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Title
A name given to the resource
Edmond de la Pommerais
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Public Domain: This work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 70 years or less.
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
French Execution Ballads
Execution Ballad
Set to tune of...
Melody to which ballad is set.
<a href="https://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/execution-ballads/items/show/1160">Fualdès</a>
Transcription
Transcription of ballad lyrics
Français! écoutez l'histoire
Du lamentable forfait
Que je chante en ces couplets
Pour en tracer la mémoire;
Qui m'eut dit qu'un médecin
Ce serait un assassin?
Autrefois, par la Morphine
Des victimes de Castaing
Les derniers jours sont éteints,
Mais c'est la Digitaline,
Un poison qui disparait,
Qui plait à LA POMMERAIS.
Ce scélérat détestable,
Etant de la Faculté,
Usait de la faculté
D'empoisonner son semblable;
Il choisissait pour clients
Ses amis et ses parents.
Le drôle était très chimiste,
Il connaissait les poisons,
Il en avait à foison
Ainsi qu' des ch'mis' de batiste,
Et l'on dit que son tailleur
Etait aussi des meilleurs.
Comme il était fort habile,
Un jour, il prit l'omnibus
Pour y chercher du quibus
En épousant un' jeun' fille!
Comment fit-il le surplus?
Cela devient un rébus.
A Madam' DUBEZY mre
La Pommerais a déplus,
A sa fille il a plus plu;
Mme il a tant su lui plaire
Que d'son coeur il fut l'élu
Et qu'leur hymen fut conclu.
Dans sa perfidie amère
Pour tromper en même temps
Par un faux apport d'argent
Son épouse et le notaire,
Il empruntait des actions;
C'est une mauvaise action!
Par contrat de mariage
Etant séparé de biens
Il n'avait pas les moyens
De faire son gaspillage;
Sa bell' mer' le gênait fort.
Alors qu'arriva sa mort!
De la pauvre belle--mêre
Vous jugez l'étonnement,
Elle a des vomissements,
Couty dit: que c'est des glaires;
Puis, quand le docteur viendra
Il dira - C'est l' choléra!
Quel événement horrible
Au milieu d'un gai repas;
Comme on ne s'en doutait pas,
La secousse fut terrible!
Car du diner que l'on sert
Cette mort fut le dessert!
Il s'enfuit dans le mystère;
Par cette mort héritant
De cinquante mille francs,
Il ne fait pas d'inventaire;
On dit qu'en voyant l' cercueil
Il n'eut pas la larme à l'oeil!
Comme il était joli homme,
Bien cravaté, bien frisé,
Et tous les matins rasé,
Il en abusait en somme,
Pour mieux troubler le repos
De madam' veuve de Pauw.
Madam' de Pauw étant peintre,
Il lui conta des couleurs,
Et, pour calmer ses douleurs,
Il employait l'art de feindre,
Car il connaissait cet art
Aussi bien que Dumollard.
Un jour, il se rend chez elle,
Et lui dit: de s'assurer;
Puis, pour mieux le rassurer
Et pour stimuler son zèle:
'De l'argent nous toucherons,
Et nous le partagerons!'
'Tu te diras très-malade,
Les assureurs trembleront,
Ta mort ils redouteront,
Et paieront d'un air maussade
Pour dédit, argent comptant,
Au moins cent vingt mille francs.'
Ell' se rend à l'évidence,
Et, de là, chez l'assureur,
Pour consommer son malheur
Et commander l'assurance.
Elle aurait pu à la fois
Lui commander son convoi.
Elle en avait peu l'envie,
Hélas, car ell' lisait là,
En tête de son contrat:
Assurance sur la vie.
- C'était bien plutôt encor
Son assurance de mort.
LA POMMERAIS, dans sa ruse,
Se fait passer le contrat
Dont lui seul héritera,
Et voyez comme il abuse;
Il tue Madame de Pauw!
Il avait tous les defauts.
Mais alors tout se découvre,
Et l'on voit la main de Dieu
Lorsque le docteur Tardieu,
Dans la victime qu'il ouvre,
Trouv' le poison, et l' moyen
D' tuer un lapin et un chien.
C'est en vain que la défense
D'un illustre défenseur
Veut excuser ce farceur,
V'là l' châtiment qui commence!
L'assasin d' madame de Pauw
N'est pas blanchi par Lachaud.
MORALITé
C'était presque un rien qui vaille;
Aussi ce LA POMMERAIS,
Le jury l'a condamné;
Tant mieux! fallait pas qu'y aille!
Où son crime l'a mené,
Voilà c'que c'est! c'est bien fait!
SECONDE PARTIE
Le châtiment dut attendre,
La Cour d' cassation jugea;
LA POMMERAIS n'y trouva,
Pour sùr, pas m'sieur DUPIN tendre:
Un avocat général
N'est pas tendre en général!
Language
Language ballad is printed in
French
Date
Date of ballad
1864
Synopsis
Account of events that are the subject of the ballad
This complainte seems to be written after the judgement but before the execution.
Pommerais, a French physician, murdered his mother-in-law and his former mistress in the 1860s. He persuaded the latter to fake an illness in order to collect an insurance settlement, and to write a letter describing her phony problems; after which he poisoned her with digitalis.
From Executed Today:
At dawn this morning before the walls of La Roquette, a homeopath convicted of poisoning his mistress was beheaded for one of Paris's most sensational crime dramas of the 1860äóés.
The ill-fated Madame de Pauw had fallen suddenly ill and expired in the doctor's care; means and opportunity were obvious, and motive readily adduced from the handsome life insurance policies of the expired woman.
La Pommerais was convicted on this basis of killing his paramour in the midst of a farcical insurance scam, with noted forensic scientist Ambroise Tardieu establishing to the court's satisfaction the presence of the poison digitalin.
(One can read a detailed 1865 critique of Tardieu's conclusions and testimony, a reminder that the criminal justice system's struggles with the uses and limitations of forensic science are a longstanding concern. This (if one takes it as such) murder, which reads in retrospection like a classic in the genre of comedic criminality, might have been the perfect crime absent an obvious pecuniary design: the death was put down to a routine cause and only scrutinized when an anonymous tip and/or the suspicious insurance adjusters led the authorities to exhume the body 13 days after burial.)
American newsman George Alfred Townsend chanced to be abroad in Paris on this occasion, and recorded the scene as äóìthousands of Parisians bent their steps the night before the executionäó in Campaigns of a Non-combatant äóî
Notes
Additional information related to the ballad pamphlet or related events
From Townsend's description of crowds at Pommerais execution:
Venders of galeaux, muscles, and fruit were out in force. The äóìSavage of Paris,äó clothed in his war plumes, paint, greaves, armlets, and moccasins, was selling razors by gaslight; here and there ballad-mongers were singing the latest songs, and boys, with chairs to let, elbowed into the intricacies of the crowd, which amused itself all the night long by smoking, drinking, and hallooing. At last, the mass became formidable in numbers, covering every inch of ground within sight of the prison, and many soldiers and sergeants de ville, mounted and on foot, pushed through the dense mass to restore order.
[later] They threw a cloth upon the carcass and carried away the pannier; the guillotine disappeared beneath the surrounding heads; loud exclamations and acclaims burst from the multitude; the venders of trash and edibles resumed their cheerful cries, and a hearse dashed through the mass, carrying the warm body of the guillotined to the cemetery of Mt. Parnasse. In thirty minutes, newsboys were hawking the scene of the execution upon all the quays and bridges. In every cafe of Paris some witness was telling the incidents of the show to breathless listeners, and the crowds which stopped to see the funeral procession of the great Marshal Pelissier divided their attention between the warrior and the poisoner, äóî the latter obtaining the preponderance of fame.
Rashomon-like, not all observers concurred as to the event's quiet solemnity. The New York Times reported that
[t]he language of those non-official persons who assembled to witness this expiation of a great crime was brutal to the last decree. They hissed and hooted as the convict was about to mount the ladder, and were loudest in their brutal demonstrations when the crucifix was pressed to his lips. The blade had scarcely severed his head from his body, when a rush was made to do violence to the trunk. The troops were obliged to interfere, and had some difficulty in repelling the crowd, which was excited by the sight of a äóÖgentleman criminal' to a pitch of savage ferocity äóé The Pays, in noticing this expiation of a great crime, states that the crowd retired in silence. But I am in a position to affirm that the contrary was the case.
Printing Location
Location the ballad pamphlet was printed.
Paris Dépot Central
chez M. Ch. Egrot, Libraire
on reverse: Paris - imp. Dubois et Edouard Vert, rue Notre-Dame-de-Nazareth, 29.
Method of Punishment
Method of punishment described in the ballad.
guillotine
Crime(s)
Crime or crimes for which the person in the ballad is convicted.
murder
Gender
Gender of the person being executed.
Male
Age
Age of the person condemned in the ballad.
27
Execution Location
Location the condemned was executed.
Paris, la Roquette
URL
<a href="http://murderpedia.org/male.P/p/pommerais-edmond.htm" target="_blank">Murderpedia record<br /></a><a href="http://www.executedtoday.com/2009/06/09/1864-doctor-edmond-desire-couty-de-la-pommerais-poisoner/" target="_blank">Executed Today article</a><br /><br />
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Title
A name given to the resource
Double complainte du Sieur Edmond Couty de la Pommerais
sur l'air de Fualdès
guillotine
Male
murder
-
https://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/execution-ballads/files/original/128f367d22fa72f696664053d58d7d2b.jpg
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Title
A name given to the resource
French Execution Ballads
Execution Ballad
Set to tune of...
Melody to which ballad is set.
Charmante Gabrielle.
no. 95 in Cle du Caveau
http://www.peter-sheppard-skaerved.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/page584-600px-AéDictionaryéoféMusicéandéMusiciansévolé1.djvué.jpg
GABRIELLE, CHARMANTE, that is, Gabrielle d'Estrées, mistress of Henri IV. The reign of Louis XVIII. revived an artless little romance, which, like the song äóÖVive Henri IV.' äóÖCharmante Gabrielle' was not only sung far and wide at that loyal epoch, but the authorship of both words and music was attributed to the gallant king, and the mistake is still often repeated. True Henri suggested the song to one of the poets of his court, but we have his own authority for the fact that he did not himself write the stanzas. The letter in which the king sent the song to Gabrielle is in the äóÖRecueil des Lettres missives' of Berger de Xivrey (iv. 998, 9), and contains these words:äóî äóÖCes vers vous représenteront mieulx ma condition et plus agréablement que ne feroit la prose. Je les ay dictez, non arrangez.' The only date on the letter is May 21, but it was written in 1597 from Paris, where Henri was collecting money for his expedition to Amiens, and making preparations to leave Gabrielle for the campaign against the Spaniards. It was probably Bertaut, Bishop of Séez, who, at the king's äóÖdictation,' composed the four couplets of the romance, of which we give the first, with the music in its revived form:
Charmante Gabrielle,
Percé de mille dards,
Quand la gloire m'appelle
Dans les sentiers de mars.
Cruelle départie!
Malheureux jour!
Que ne suis-je sans vie,
Ou sans amour!
The refrain is not original; it is to be found word for word in the äóÖThesaurus harmonicus' of Besard (1603), and in the äóÖCabinet ou Trésor des nouvelles chansons' (1602); and as at that time it took more than five or six years for an air to travel from the court to the people, we may safely conclude that it was no novelty. (A.D. 1450-1889), George Grove 1900.
http://books.google.com.au/books?id=OCPfcrZoH3kC&pg=PA109&lpg=PA109&dq=charmante+gabrielle&source=bl&ots=9QDékKJYA8&sig=cHrQoZX2r6R9d3rpiLjkMwG9ijE&hl=en&sa=X&ei=nBKGUOOANqijiAfR7YDIDA&ved=0CDMQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=charmante%20gabrielle&f=false
Transcription
Transcription of ballad lyrics
O toi que je regrette,
J'ai troublé le bonheur!
Trop malheureuse Annette
T'éprouvais ma fureur!
L'affreuse jalousie
Arma mon bras;
Cette hideuse furie
Fit ton trépas.
Oui, le remords accable
Ton amant malheureux;
Il se juge coupable
D'un forfait odieux:
Voilà la récompense
De tes bienfaits;
Bien ingrat, je le pense,
Monstre parfait.
Hélas! je fus parjure
A la voix de l'honneur,
L'âme féroce et dure
Causa mon déshonneur.
Victime d'une rage,
Vois ton bourreau
Qui n'a plus pour partage
Que l'échafaud.
Peuple qui m'environne
Daigne pleindre mon sort;
Oui, mon crime t'étonne,
Je mérite la mort.
Et toi, pauvre jeunesse,
Pense à Léon;
Sois avec la sagesse
En union.
FIN.
Language
Language ballad is printed in
French
Date
Date of ballad
1816<
Printing Location
Location the ballad pamphlet was printed.
CRs. Baudouin, Imprimeur.
[sold at?] Paris, Chez Chassaignon, Libraire, rue du Marché Neuf, no. 3
Method of Punishment
Method of punishment described in the ballad.
guillotine
Crime(s)
Crime or crimes for which the person in the ballad is convicted.
murder
Gender
Gender of the person being executed.
Male
Date Tune First Appeared
1590?
Subtitle
Et exécuté à Paris le 4 Mars 1816, Convaincu d'avoir assassiné sa Maîtresse. ... Complainte qu'il a composé dans sa prison, adressée aux mânes de la malheureuse victime de sa fureur. [Complainte's title: AUX MANES D'ANNETTE.]
Tune Data
<p>Charmante Gabrielle.</p>
<p>no. 95 in Cle du Caveau</p>
<p>GABRIELLE, CHARMANTE, that is, Gabrielle d'Estrées, mistress of Henri IV. The reign of Louis XVIII. revived an artless little romance, which, like the song äóÖVive Henri IV.' äóÖCharmante Gabrielle' was not only sung far and wide at that loyal epoch, but the authorship of both words and music was attributed to the gallant king, and the mistake is still often repeated. True Henri suggested the song to one of the poets of his court, but we have his own authority for the fact that he did not himself write the stanzas. The letter in which the king sent the song to Gabrielle is in the äóÖRecueil des Lettres missives' of Berger de Xivrey (iv. 998, 9), and contains these words:äóî äóÖCes vers vous représenteront mieulx ma condition et plus agréablement que ne feroit la prose. Je les ay dictez, non arrangez.' The only date on the letter is May 21, but it was written in 1597 from Paris, where Henri was collecting money for his expedition to Amiens, and making preparations to leave Gabrielle for the campaign against the Spaniards. It was probably Bertaut, Bishop of Séez, who, at the king's äóÖdictation,' composed the four couplets of the romance, of which we give the first, with the music in its revived form:</p>
<p>Charmante Gabrielle,<br />Percé de mille dards,<br />Quand la gloire m'appelle<br />Dans les sentiers de mars. <br />Cruelle départie!<br />Malheureux jour!<br />Que ne suis-je sans vie,<br />Ou sans amour!</p>
<p>The refrain is not original; it is to be found word for word in the äóÖThesaurus harmonicus' of Besard (1603), and in the äóÖCabinet ou Trésor des nouvelles chansons' (1602); and as at that time it took more than five or six years for an air to travel from the court to the people, we may safely conclude that it was no novelty. (A.D. 1450-1889), George Grove 1900.</p>
<p><a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?id=OCPfcrZoH3kC&pg=PA109&lpg=PA109&dq=charmante+gabrielle&source=bl&ots=9QD%C3%A9kKJYA8&sig=cHrQoZX2r6R9d3rpiLjkMwG9ijE&hl=en&sa=X&ei=nBKGUOOANqijiAfR7YDIDA&ved=0CDMQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=charmante%20gabrielle&f=false" target="_blank">Recorded in Katherine Anne Porter's Poetry</a></p>
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Derniers adieux de Louis Léon, condamné a mort,
guillotine
Male
murder
-
https://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/execution-ballads/files/original/01917ed629c4390fcd01085a8a189e4b.jpg
0940a9cbe480c3ce153f51c5d8212ae0
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
French Execution Ballads
Execution Ballad
Set to tune of...
Melody to which ballad is set.
Madame la Dauphine
Transcription
Transcription of ballad lyrics
APPROCHEZ, je vous prie,
Pour contempler le récit,
L'horrible action,
Et la noire trahison
Commise depuis peu
Par un malheureux,
Qui vouloit sans effroi
Poignarder notre bon Roy;
On ne pourroit sans horreur
Raconter ce malheur.
Le Roy sans penser
Qu'il couroit un tel danger,
Résolut d'aller
A Trianon pour souper;
Mais François Damien,
Comme un inhumain,
S'aprocha de lui
A la faveur de la nuit;
Il lui donna pour certain
D'un couteau dans le sein.
Indigne pécheur,
Hélas! n'as-tu pas horreur,
Voyant ton forfait,
Le plus grand qui fut jamais?
Crains d'un Dieu jaloux
Les terribles coups
Qu'il va faire sentir
A ton corps pour le punir;
AvoÙe donc la vérité,
Afin d'être sauvé.
Le Roy humble & doux
Sentant lui porter le coup,
S'écrie à l'instant:
Ah! je suis blessé à sang;
Les Princes & Seigneurs
Saisis de frayeur,
Voyant l'attentat
Commis par ce scélerat;
D'abord il fut arrêté
Pour être éxaminé.
Dedans la prison,
Pour punir son action,
Il fut enchaîné,
Et bien surement gardé;
Pour sçavoir son nom
Et sa Profession,
Des Juges éclairés
D'abord lui ont demandé,
S'il avoit quelques consorts
Dans ce malheureux sort.
La Reine attristée
Etoit enfin désolée;
Le Dauphin aussi
Avoit le coeur tout saisi;
Enfin à la Cour
Chacun en ce jour
Etoit consterné,
Considérant ce danger,
Aussi bien qu'en tout Pays
Où l'on sçait le récit.
Il vient tous les jours
Des Juges bien humbles & doux,
Pour être assuré
De sçavoir la vérité;
Son coeur endurci,
Sans être contrit,
N'a de son esprit
Aucune parole sottie;
Voyant son endurcissement,
On fait son Jugement.
Si-tôt le Parlement,
Etant éclairé vrayment
De son noir forfait,
L'a condamné sur le fait,
En punition de son action
Et de sa trahison,
Sur un Echafaut,
Afin de punir son corps;
Il sera tenaillé,
Et ensuite écartelé.
Quel rude tourment,
Pour punir son châtiment,
Sçauroit-on inventer,
Pour sa noire témérité?
Pour punir son action,
On lui a mis du plomb,
Du souffre fondu,
Sçauroit-on faire de plus?
Et mis dans un feu ardent,
Et jetté ses cendres au vent. FIN.
Language
Language ballad is printed in
French
Date
Date of ballad
1757
Printing Location
Location the ballad pamphlet was printed.
By Berrier, Paris, 29 march 1757.
Method of Punishment
Method of punishment described in the ballad.
drawing, hanging and quartering
Crime(s)
Crime or crimes for which the person in the ballad is convicted.
regicide
Gender
Gender of the person being executed.
Male
Execution Location
Location the condemned was executed.
Paris
Subtitle
Des Tourmens que l'on a fait souffrir à Robert-François Damiens, de la Ville d'Arras en Artois, pour l'attentat qu'il a fait envers la Sacrée Personne du Roy le 5. Janvier 1757. & jugé par Arrêt du Parlement de Paris le 26. Mars de ladite année: Sur l'Air de madame la Dauphine.
Image / Audio Credit
Bibliothque Nationale et Universitaire de Strasbourg
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
COMPLAINTE REMARQUABLE
drawing
hanging
Male
quartering
regicide
-
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The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
French Execution Ballads
Execution Ballad
Set to tune of...
Melody to which ballad is set.
Camarade, il nous faut chanter.
Transcription
Transcription of ballad lyrics
APprochez, fidéles Sujets,
Pour entendre l'Histoire
D'un des plus horribles forfaits
Qu'on ait sçu de mémoire;
Car les coeurs les plus endurcis
Doivent frémir à ces récits.
Ce Marchand des mieux établis
Faisoit un gros commerce
Dedans la Ville de Paris,
Vendant de toute espece;
Mais, hélas! son ambition
A causé sa perdition.
Depuis longtems ce malheureux
Avoit fait banqueroute;
Devenant plus audacieux,
S'imagina, sans doute,
Que pour s'enrichir promptement,
Il feroit tout impunément.
Il faisoit aussi des billets
Pour de la marchandise,
Lorsqu'on lui confioit ses effets
Avec grande franchise,
Il les déchiroit promptement,
Et gagnoit ainsi cet argent.
Sçavoit-il quelqu'un retiré
Et vivant à son aise,
Sitôt d'un air de vérité
Et sans qu'il y paroisse,
Pour le volet, dans sa boisson
Lui faisoit prendre du poison.
Mais ses plus noires trahisons
C'est envers une Dame,
Qui venoit de lui vendre un fonds;
Car, hélas! cet infâme
A souper lui ayant donné,
En mangeant l'a empoisonné.
Tout aussitôt ce scélérat,
Pour cacher le cadavre,
Et pour éviter tout éclat,
S'en fut louer une cave,
Secrettement l'y conduisit
Et l'enterra pendant la nuit.
Non content de cette action,
D'un coeur très-sanguinaire
S'en fut aussi à la pension
Du fils de cette mere,
Et par le plus noir sentiment
Lui donna un poison plus lent.
L'ayant bu, dans le même instant
Il l'emmene à Versailles;
En chemin ce pauvre innocent
Sentoit dans ses entrailles
Du poison le funeste effet
Qui au tombeau le conduisoit.
De-là il s'en fut à Lyon,
Et s'y déguise en femme,
En y prenant aussi le nom
De cette bonne Dame;
Montrant par ce déguisement
Qu'elle partoit avec l'argent.
Mais Dieu irrité à la fin
De toutes ces victimes,
Permit que de cet inhumain
On découvrit les crimes,
Il fut bientôt emprisonné
Et très-justement condamné.
Pour punir ses méchancetés,
Il fut avec justice
Jugé d'être rompu, brùlé,
Méritant ce supplice:
C'est bien la peine des méchans
D'expirer dedans ces tourmens.
Prions pour tous les malheureux
Péris par cet infâme;
Que Dieu veuille avoir pitié d'eux,
Pour le Fils & la Dame,
Et que nous soyons préservés
Du sort de ces infortunés.
FIN.
Language
Language ballad is printed in
French
Date
Date of ballad
1777?
Notes
Additional information related to the ballad pamphlet or related events
<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoine_Fran%C3%A7ois_Desrues" target="_blank">Wikipedia:</a> Desrues was born at Chartres, of humble parents. He went to Paris to seek his fortune, and started in business as a grocer. He was known as a man of great piety and devotion, and his business was reputed to be a flourishing one, but when, in 1773, he gave up his shop, his finances, owing to personal extravagance, were in a deplorable condition.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, Desrues entered into negotiations with a Madame de la Motte for the purchase from her of a country estate, and, when the time came for the payment of the purchase money, invited her to stay with him in Paris pending the transfer. While she was still his guest, he poisoned first her and then her son, a youth of sixteen. Then, having forged a receipt for the purchase money and taken on the aristocratic name "Desrues de Bury," he endeavoured to obtain possession of the property.<sup class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoine_Fran%C3%A7ois_Desrues#cite_note-EB1911-1"><br /></a></sup></p>
<p>But by this time the disappearance of Madame de la Motte and her son had aroused suspicion. Desrues was arrested, the bodies of his victims were discovered, and the crime was brought home to him. He was originally sentenced to life in prison, but was retried and condemned to be torn asunder alive and burned. He was condemned to death and executed in Paris in 1777, Desrues repeating protestations of his innocence to the last. An extended debate ensued after his death, which was seen as a touchstone for understanding both the last years of the Ancien Régime and the early revolutionary period, with Balzac, Hugo, and Dumas among the participants. As late as 1828 a dramatic version of it was performed in Paris.</p>
<p><br />//<br /><br />Antoine-Franois Desrues, né en 1744 à Chartres et roué en 1777 à Paris, est un empoisonneur franais.</p>
<p>Marchand épicier à Paris, Desrues s'enrichit par des escroqueries et des crimes et sut, par son hypocrisie, se faire une telle réputation de vertu que pendant longtemps on ne put le souponner. Ayant acheté à M. de La Motte, écuyer du roi, la terre de Buisson-Soö‚f, qu'il devait payer 130 000 livres, il résolut de faire mourir toute la famille de son créancier afin de s'emparer du bien sans rien débourser : il avait déjà empoisonné la femme et le fils, lorsque son crime fut découvert. Il fut roué vif en 1777 en place de Grve à Paris, son corps fut brulé et cendres dispersées.</p>
<p>Ce fut Charles-Henri Sanson, futur bourreau du roi Louis XVI, qui procéda au supplice.</p>
<p>Soutenu par le petit peuple qui voyait en lui un simple martyr, victime de l'arbitraire royal ne lui ayant mme pas épargné le bùcher, ce fils de petit boutiquier eut ses cendres filtrées par une foule étant allée jusqu'à se battre pour en récupérer le moindre bout d'os, reliques auxquelles elle attribuait des vertus magiques (enrichissement) et qui furent ensuite l'objet d'un commerce.</p>
<p>Sa femme, enfermée à la Salptrire, fut assassinée par les émeutiers lors des massacres de Septembre, en 1792.</p>
Method of Punishment
Method of punishment described in the ballad.
breaking on the wheel, burning
Crime(s)
Crime or crimes for which the person in the ballad is convicted.
murder
Gender
Gender of the person being executed.
Male
Age
Age of the person condemned in the ballad.
33
Execution Location
Location the condemned was executed.
Paris, place de Greve
Subtitle
Sur les cruautés commises par le nommé Derues, Epicier-Droguiste a Paris. Air: Camarade, il nous faut chanter.
Image / Audio Credit
BHVP
URL
<a href="https://murderpedia.org/male.D/d/desrues-antoine.htm" target="_blank">Murderpedia record</a>
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
COMPLAINTE HISTORIQUE ET CIRCONSTANCIéE
breaking on the wheel
burning
Male
murder
-
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
French Execution Ballads
Execution Ballad
Transcription
Transcription of ballad lyrics
CEdres hauts eslevés, au milieu des Campagnes,
Et Rochers tres-puissants, ainsi que des Montagnes,
Las! trembles tous à ce coup; tout saisis de frayeur!
Voyant que la cognée, met à bas la Grandeur.
Arrestes vous Ruisseaux, & prestes vos oreilles,
Entendes en un mot, des estranges merveilles
Perpetré depuis peu, parmy un Peuple Anglois,
Escoutes, ô Chrestiens, un pitoyable cas!
Une guerre Civile, s'estant esmeu entr'eux,
Que te contraignit ô Roy, à te retirer d'eux,
Pour te défendre mieux, & te garder d'embusches,
Et n'estre pas surpris, de leurs fausses astuces.
On le poursuit, le bat, contraint à la retraitte,
Tous remplis de fureur, le nomment ROY sans TESTE,
Apres plusieurs combats, il fuit dans une Ville,
Où il est assiegé, de ces Gens incivile,
En la fin, force luy est, d'en sortir finement,
Assisté de quelqu'homme, pris dans un Regiment,
Sortis il s'en alla, vers l'Armée Escossoise,
Croyant le General, avoir l'ame courtoise.
Mais l'inique perfide, pour tirer de l'argent,
Le livre entre les mains, de ceux de Parlement,
Qui sans riens respecter, Sa Majesté Royale,
L'ont logé en Prison, d'un faon brutale,
Là où ils l'ont tenu, par diverses années,
Et traittant avec luy, par des fausses menées,
En fin l'ont dégradé, de toute Seigneurie,
Tesmoignant en cela, leur mal-heureuse envie,
Cependant on meurtrit, on coupe, execute,
Ceux qui tiennent pour luy, on tue, on persecute:
Ayant force en main, on taille, la commune,
On y change les Loys, sans en espargner Une.
Des Sectes infinies, s'y font journellement,
N'ayant en l'Evangile, aucun bon fondement,
Le Parlement permet, tous mauvais sectataires,
Moyennant de l'argent, pour eux, en pour la Guerre.
Las! le peuple gemît, de telle tirannie,
Mais si quelqu'un s'oppose, on luy oste la vie:
Fairfax fait le fendant, avecque son Armé,
Qu'il transmet & tracasse, par toute la Contrée,
Ainsi le pauvre peuple, est par tout ravagé,
Et jusqu'au dernier bout, de ces gens affligé;
Chacun lamante, ayant l'Ame abatuö‚,
Priant Dieu de leur rendre leur liberté perduö‚:
On transmet le Roy, allant de place en place,
Par des gens de Fairfax, ne parlans qu'en menace:
Enfin ce pauvre Roy, supplie qu'on s'accorde,
Rendant à la Patrie, la paix & la concorde.
Dont ceux du Parlement, quelques-uns deputerent
Et avant que partir, ensemble s'accorderent:
Car le Roy lors ceda, à toutes leurs demandes,
Sans nulles refuser, ou petites ou grandes.
Mais! de rien ne te sert, ô Roy, ta liberalité,
A des gens sanguinaire, remplis de cruauté,
Tu prie qu'à ton peuple, la paix on vueille rendre
Tes ennemis felons; de voir ton sang épandre,
Car ce monstre de Fairfax, que l'Enfer enfanta,
Armé d'une fureur, que le Diable alluma,
Poursuit tout effrené, & tout bousti de rage,
Le des-astre, la fin, de ce divin ouvrage,
D'autre part, ce perfide, ce Demon de Cromwel,
Ainsi que l'autre armé, d'un courage cruel,
Ne cesse de crier, Qu'on oste, & crucifie
Son souverain Seigneur, plein d'honneur & de vie:
Moy tout plein de douleur, & de compassion,
De voir un Roy Chrestien, & de la Nation,
Traitté de ses sujets, de faon si cruelle;
Je crie à des puants, paricides, rebelle:
Les Cieux ont ils produits, des ames si étrange,
Ou! le Diable a-il? produisant son mélange,
La nature changé aux ventres de vos Mere,
Estes-vous bien le fils, d'un si énorme Pere?
Auries-vous bien le cour, si plein de perfidie,
Que de vouloir oster, à vostre Roy la vie?
Un Roy d'ancienne Race, qui ne vous a méfait,
Si n'est que la douceur, estimies un forfait.
Ha! vous le menaces, helas! quel arrogance,
Est cela le respect, l'honneur, la reverence,
Laquelle vous devez, rendre à sa Majesté?
Qui vous donne l'audace, & telle liberté?
C'est le Diable tout seul, dont estes les genies,
Car Dieu n'est autheur, de telles felonies:
Dieu est plein de pitié, & de compassion,
Et le Diable cruel, déloyal, & felon.
Dieu commande aux Sujets, d'obeö¿r à son Roy,
Le Diable au contraire, de luy faire la Loy.
Ha! je voy qu'on s'avance, quoy! que veut-on faire,
Veut-on sacrifier, un des Dieux de la Terre?
Quoy donc, c'est tout de bon, que le voules produire
Dessus un Eschaffaut, pour servir de martyre?
C'est doncques à ce coup, ô Brebis innocente,
Que tu dois asouffir, ces ames tant méchante:
Helas! quelle douleur, possede lors mon ame,
Quand je t'entens monter, un degré tant infame;
Quand sur un Eschaffaut, bien éloigné d'un Thrône,
Je voy' qu'on veut oster, la Vie, & la Couronne.
Helas! quel changement, de voir Sa Majesté,
Au lieu des grands Seigneurs, d'un Bourreau assisté.
Abandonné des tiens, & delaissé en proye
Aux Demons de la terre, qui en ryent de joye.
Quel changement helas! quand au lieu de ta Table,
Couverte richement, de Tous, met delectable,
Tu n'as qu'un Eschaffaut, tendu par tout du Noir,
Signe esvident du mal, que tu dois recevoir.
Pour Vaisselle un Bloc, avec peu d'artifice,
Ta Majesté l'Agneau, pour un tel sacrifice,
Ton Eschanson un Bouc, vilaine creature,
Un Bourreau en effet, un Tigre de nature.
Ha! cruel tu y vas, d'une rude démarche,
Comment aurois-tu bien, en ton coeur tell'audace?
Quoy! ton coeurs est-il confit, en incompassion?
Et ton ame abruties, desnué de raison?
Aurois-tu bien le coeur, que de ton Roy occire?
Sauroyent bien tes yeux, regarder ce martyre?
Sans perdre leur clarté, d'un sens évanouö¿s?
Ou passer à l'instant, d'une frayeur saisis?
Ha! tu prens la Cognée, regarde que veux faire,
Dieu tient son oeil fiché, icy bas en la terre:
Il voit ce qu'on veut faire, & tout ne souffrira,
S'il l'endure à la fin, un jour s'en vengera.
Ha! garde-toy indigne, du tout desnaturé,
Ne touche pas ne touche, à ce Corps tout sacré,
Que ton coeur putrefect, & que ta main impure,
N'offense nullement, sa Royale Stature.
O! la mal-heureux coup, ô! coup tres-mal-heureux!
Je vois le Corps du Roy, dont il separe en deux:
Ne touche ô! cruel, son Chef que je lamente,
Mon mal est assés grand, je te prie ne l'augmente.
O peuple furibont! nation sanguinaire:
Vous avez bien osé, un Oinct de Dieu défaire.
Vous avez comme Tigre, cruels & furieux,
Osté la Vie au Roy, à vous donné dés Cieux,
D'un si grand mal, quelle est vostre esperance?
Qu'attendez-vous du Ciel, d'une si grand' offense?
Vostre mal sans égal, vos injustes sentences,
Et la mort d'un grand Roy, crient au Ciel vengeances!
Quoy! vous ne pleures pas, helas! est-il possible,
Qu'ayez en vos pechés, le coeur tant invincible?
Quoy! vous ne pleures pas, & des Roches entieres,
Comblées de douleurs, distillent des Rivieres.
Les Bestes les plus farouches, gemisent par les champs;
Et les Oyseaux de l'air, ont delaissé leurs chants.
Quoy! vous estez insensible, & si n'avez au coeur
Aucune repentance, ny aucune douleur.
Je voy tout l'Univers, se lamenter & plaindre,
Et vous ne craignans Dieu, vous ne voulez rien craindre.
Les Poissons de la Mer, voyant un tel n'auffrage,
Se cachent sous les Eaux, loin de vostre rivage.
Et les Monts immobiles, ne cessent de trembler,
Au bruit d'un si grand Coup, indigne de nommer.
Bref; on ne voit en l'air, sur la terre, ou l'onde,
Rien qui ne soit touché, de douleurs tres-profonde,
Sinon [TO BE CONTINUED!!!]
Language
Language ballad is printed in
French
Date
Date of ballad
1649
Synopsis
Account of events that are the subject of the ballad
French protest at execution of Charles I of England
Printing Location
Location the ballad pamphlet was printed.
Imprimé en l'An mil six cens quarante-&-neuf.
Method of Punishment
Method of punishment described in the ballad.
beheading
Crime(s)
Crime or crimes for which the person in the ballad is convicted.
treason
Gender
Gender of the person being executed.
Male
Execution Location
Location the condemned was executed.
London
Subtitle
Executé en public dans la Ville de Londres le 30. Ianvier 1649.
Image / Audio Credit
BL
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Complainte et lamentations, faite sur la cruelle, & lamentable Mort, de Charle Stuart Roy d'Angleterre, d'Escosse, & d'Yrlande.
beheading
Male
treason
-
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
French Execution Ballads
Execution Ballad
Set to tune of...
Melody to which ballad is set.
<em>Te bien aimer ô ma chère Zélie</em>
Transcription
Transcription of ballad lyrics
C'en est donc fait, j'entre dans ton abîme,
Trépas fatal! Tu déchires mon coeur!
Hélas, grand Dieu! je suis un traître indigne,
Car j'ai trahi la patrie et l'honneur.
Cruels remords! Mon supplice s'avance;
Fatal argent, tu fus mon séducteur;
Tu me fis croire, en trahissant la France,
Que j'allais voir l'aurore du bonheur.
Faut-il, hélas! qu'un intérêt sordide
M'ait engagé à vendre les Français!
Braves soldats, d'un pas ferme et rapide
Je vais chercher le prix de mes forfaits.
La trahison est le plus grand des crimes,
Lorsqu'on trahit sa nation, son pays:
Combien, grand Dieu! je faisais de victimes
En fournissant nos plans à l'ennemi!
J'avais juré d'être toujours fidèle
A nos héros, ainsi qu'à l'Empereur;
Mais je devins parjure et criminel;
Peuple Français, ah! plaignez mon erreur.
L'heure a sonné; l'instant fatal avance:
Adieu parens, adieu le monde entier.
Fais, Dieu puissant! qu'un instant de souffrance
Par mes remords puisse tout expier!
Par Collinger.
FIN.
Language
Language ballad is printed in
French
Date
Date of ballad
1812
Synopsis
Account of events that are the subject of the ballad
Michel Michel, convicted of treason during (?) Napoleonic wars. He worked in the offices of the War Ministry and was convicted of passing secrets to the Russians.
Method of Punishment
Method of punishment described in the ballad.
guillotine
Crime(s)
Crime or crimes for which the person in the ballad is convicted.
treason
Gender
Gender of the person being executed.
Male
Age
Age of the person condemned in the ballad.
36
Execution Location
Location the condemned was executed.
Paris
Composer of Ballad
Par Collinger.
URL
<a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?id=MtoJAAAAIAAJ&dq=michel+michel+trahison+cour+d%27assises&source=gbs_navlinks_s" target="_blank">Proces instruit par la Cour d'assises de Paris contre Michel Michel, Louis Saget, Louis-Francois-Alexandre Salmon</a>
Subtitle
Agé de 36 ans, né à Puttelange, département de la Moselle, demeurant à Paris, rue de la Planche, no 14, condamné à la peine de mort par la Cour d'Assises du département de la Seine, pour avoir trahi l'Etat.
Tune Data
No. 10. Te bien aimer o ma chere Zélie!
As the title notes, this set of variations is based on a romance by Plantade - that is, Charles Henri Plantade, 1764-1839. The article of the first edition of the Grove Dictionary considers Plantade to have been the most successful of the composers in this genre, and this song in particular to have been his best . It was so well-known that many satirical songs were constructed using it as a basis, and is supposed to have sold 20,000 copies when it appeared in 1791.
note below: L'air était si fameux au XIXe sicle que plusieurs versions, satiriques, politiques, poétiques, furent construites sur cette base musicale.
Text: Te bien aimer, ô ma chre Zélie!
Est pour toujours le charme de mon céur,
Et désormais tout m'attache à la vie,
Si mon amour suffit à ton bonheur.
Pour apaiser le feu qui me dévore;
Ce feu d'amour qui va me consumer;
O ma Zélie! à l'amant qui t'adore,
Donne un regard, un soupir. un baiser
Va, ne crains pas d'abandonner ton âme
Au sentiment que je veux t'inspirer;
Rien ne plaît tant qu'une amoureuse flamme,
Rien n'est plus doux que le plaisir d'aimer.
//
To love you well, o my dear Zélie!
Is forever what charms my heart.
And henceforth everything binds me to life,
If my love is sufficient for your happiness.
To sooth the fire which devores me,
That fire of love which will consume me,
O my Zélie, to the lover who adores you
Give a look, a sigh, a kiss;
Come, do not fear to abandon your soul
To the feeling which I wish to inspire;
Nothing is as pleasing as the flames of love,
Nothing is as sweet as the pleasure of love.
Image / Audio Credit
BnF Franois Mittérand, Recueil de chansons Ye 56375, 161-240
Notes
Additional information related to the ballad pamphlet or related events
<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_French_Empire" target="_blank">Wikipedia, First French Empire:</a><br />The subsequent series of wars known collectively as the Napoleonic Wars extended French influence over much of Western Europe and into Poland. At its height in 1812, the French Empire had 130 départements, ruled over 44 million subjects, maintained an extensive military presence in Germany, Italy, Spain, and the Duchy of Warsaw, and could count Prussia and Austria as nominal allies. Early French victories exported many ideological features of the French Revolution throughout Europe. Seigneurial dues and seigneurial justice were abolished, aristocratic privileges were eliminated in all places except Poland, and the introduction of the Napoleonic Code throughout the continent increased legal equality, established jury systems, and legalized divorce. However Napoleon also placed relatives on the thrones of several European countries and granted many noble titles, most of which were not recognized after the empire fell.</p>
<p>Historians have estimated the death toll from the Napoleonic Wars to be 6.5 million people, or 15% of the French Empire's subjects. In particular, French losses in the Peninsular War in Iberia severely weakened the Empire; after victory over the Austrian Empire in the War of the Fifth Coalition (1809) Napoleon deployed over 600,000 troops to attack Russia, in a catastrophic French invasion of the empire in 1812. The War of the Sixth Coalition saw the expulsion of French forces from Germany in 1813.</p>
<p>Napoleon abdicated in 11 April 1814. The Empire was briefly restored during the Hundred Days period in 1815 until Napoleon's defeat at the Battle of Waterloo. It was followed by the restored monarchy of the House of Bourbon.</p>
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Complainte du nommé Michel Michel,
guillotine
Male
treason
-
https://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/execution-ballads/files/original/f1dc1b5ac44fd74b553349821fc68c5d.jpg
b9eb82291fa6612e26c343207621756e
https://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/execution-ballads/files/original/ac92a7e98514f6028b68d1e535ec494f.jpg
f1645c5cabedd0029229a4d4d2c0936f
https://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/execution-ballads/files/original/5dac42bf29b9e716c7e67919dfa8388c.jpg
3fba7eafd635811898bd9c6a086d1691
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
French Execution Ballads
Execution Ballad
Set to tune of...
Melody to which ballad is set.
air des Pendus
Transcription
Transcription of ballad lyrics
OR, écoutez, jeunes & vieux,
L'histoire d'un homme fameux,
Qui fait tant parler de sa vie,
Et qui par sa grande industrie
De paysan devint un Monsieur,
C'est ce qui lui porta malheur.
Il naquit donc en Dauphiné,
Mandrin qu'on a déja roué,
Pays si fertile en grands hommes.
Avouons-le tant que nous sommes;
Que tous les gens qui y sont nés
Y voient bien plus loin que leur nez.
Qui fut sa mere? on le sçait bien;
son pere en lui fit un Vaurien:
Mais enfin, quel qu'il dùt être,
On lui donna de très-bons maîtres,
Qui le firent en peu de mois
Un vrai madré des plus adroits.
Il n'avoit pas encore huit ans,
Qu'il montroit déja des talens
Beaucoup au-dessus de son âge:
Tous les enfans de son Village,
Ils l'appelloient le fin Renard.
Mais il courut de grands hazards.
Hélas! nous le sçavons bien tous
Que le mérite a des Jaloux:
A Grenoble ainsi qu'à Valence;
Mandrin en fit l'expérience;
Je m'en vais vous dire comment:
Ecoutez attentivement.
L'an mil sept cent cinquante-deux
Antoine le cadet des deux,
De Louis il étoit le frere,
Pour certaine fâcheuse affaire,
Fut pendu très-réellement
Par ordre exprès du Parlement.
Le même jour Louis, hélas!
Fut roué, mais il n'y étoit pas;
Car il le fut en effigie,
Et si pour conserver sa vie,
Il n'eùt pris la fuite bien fort,
Il auroit été mis à mort.
Elu Chef de Contrebandiers,
A tous nos Seigneurs les Fermiers
Il se mit à faire la guerre,
Et sur les eaux & sur la terre.
Dieu préserve ses serviteurs
De la potence & des voleurs.
On l'a vu dedans Montbrison
A Bourg, à Clugny près Mâcon,
Qui sont des pays de Cocagne,
Et bien meilleurs que l'Allemagne,
Enfiler avec grand fracas
Les Commis & les Chapon gras.
Il massacroit de tout côté,
De personne il n'avoit pitié,
Et les Dames toutes tremblantes
S'enfuyoient avec leurs Servantes.
Il ne craignoit Dieu ni le Roi,
Le méchant n'avoit point de foi.
Allant aux Bureaux de Tabac,
Il en grapilloit plus d'un sac
Qu'il vendoit à cent sols la livre,
Il pilloit or, argent & cuivre;
Aux Fermiers donnoit ses billets,
Qui les trouvoient assez mauvais.
Tôt ou tard le Dieu Souverain
Punit un homme libertin.
Il permit qu'aux portes de France,
Mandrin, dormant sans défiance,
Fut pris miraculeusement.
Dieu lui pardonne au Jugement.
Par des Gardes il fut enlevé,
Qui le tinrent très-resserré.
On le conduisit à Valence,
Lieu remarquable dans la France.
Quand il y fut emprisonné,
Il parut un peu étonné.
La Justice avec grand raison
Le fit présenter à question,
Pour lui faire avouer ses crimes,
Au Puy, Beaune, Autun, ses victimes;
Mais l'impoli fit un gros pet
Pour dernier coup de pistolet.
Le Juge pardonna le coup;
Pour de sa bouche sçavoir tout,
Mandrin avoua ses offenses.
Mon ami, fais en pénitene:
Si tu meurs aussi criminel,
Tu feras un péché mortel.
Or donc Monsieur le Juge en pleurs,
Parloit comme un Prédicateur:
Mais Mandrin s'amusoit à boire,
Au lieu de changer & de croire
Une troupe de gens pieux
Qui venoient lui parler de Dieu.
Une Dame de grand renom,
Qui les visitoit en prison,
L'exhortoit à sauver son ame;
Mais l'Impie lui dit: Madame:
Allant d'ici en Paradis,
Combien compte-t'on de Logis?
Le Malheureux ne vouloit point
Se confesser en bon Chrétien;
Il blasphémoit comme un Corsaire,
Il envoyoit faire lanlaire
Petits collets, grands capuchons,
Sans y mettre trop de façons.
Alors on dit que Monseigneur,
Qui se connoit en Directeur,
Lui en choisit un fort habile,
Depuis peu venu à la Ville.
Mon Pere, lui dit-il, je veux
Que vous meniez Mandrin aux Cieux.
Le Saint homme obéit d'abord.
Il dit à Mandrin qu'il a tort.
Mon enfant, ta cause est jugée;
Tu vois ta fortune changée;
Tu pourrois bien être roué,
Et même perdre la santé.
Je n'oserai jamais te voir
Dans la peine & le désespoir.
Tu seras en grandes détresses,
Il faut donc que tu te confesses;
Sinon, je t'assures aussitôt
Que tu mourras en huguenot.
Par la grace du Saint Esprit,
Alors Mandrin se convertit;
Il se confessa tout de suite:
Son Confesseur plein de mérite,
Sur l'Acte de Contrition,
Lui donna l'Absolution.
Il embrassa de tout son coeur
Le Bourreau son Exécuteur.
En passant devant une Eglise,
Quoiqu'il n'eùt rien que sa chemise,
Il fit la génuflexion,
Tant il avoit de dévotion.
Il fut conduit à l'échafaut,
Que l'on avoit dressé bien haut;
Sur la croix soudain on le couche:
Le Bourreau n'ouvroit pas la bouche,
Mais le Per lui dit, mon fils,
Tu souperas en Paradis.
Enfin le Bourreau lui cassa
Les os des jambes & des bras,
Avec ceux des reins & des cuisses.
Et Mandrin pendant ses supplices,
Prioit bien fort l'Agneau Paschal,
Et disoit qu'on lui faisoit mal.
Quand il eut les membres rompus,
Sur la roue il fut étendu.
A la fin par miséricorde,
On lia son cou d'une corde,
Par ordre de Monsieur Levet,
Pour qu'on lui coupât le sifflet.
Or prions tous dévotement
Dieu & ses Saints semblablement,
Qu'ils nous préservent de mal faire,
Tant que nous serons sur la terre,
De peur de tomber en Enfer
Avec Judas & Lucifer.
Peuple Chrétien, qui m'écoutez:
De cet exemple profitez.
Ne faites plus la Contrebande,
Pleurez vos fautes qui sont grandes,
Et vous pourrez comme Mandrin
Faire une glorieuse fin.
FIN.
Language
Language ballad is printed in
French
Date
Date of ballad
1755
Method of Punishment
Method of punishment described in the ballad.
breaking on the wheel
Crime(s)
Crime or crimes for which the person in the ballad is convicted.
smuggling, murder
Gender
Gender of the person being executed.
Male
Age
Age of the person condemned in the ballad.
30
Execution Location
Location the condemned was executed.
Valence
URL
<p class="booktitle"><a href="https://books.google.fr/books?id=C24GAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA307&lpg=PA307&dq=air+des+pendus&source=bl&ots=N7alkc1qEq&hl=fr&sa=X&ct=result#v=onepage&q&f=false" target="_blank"><span class="fn"><span>Recueil de romances historiques, tendres et burlesques, tant anciennes que modernes, avec les airs notés</span></span></a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KoikeXcrdW4%20" target="_blank">Youtube video</a></p>
Subtitle
augmentée de sa Mort. Sur l'air des Pendus.
Notes
Additional information related to the ballad pamphlet or related events
<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis%C3%A9Mandrin" target="_blank">Wikipedia</a>: Louis Mandrin ( February 11, 1725 - May 26, 1755) was a French brigand (highwayman) from Dauphiné.<br /><br />Mandrin has been called the Robin Hood of France. He became famous for his rebellion against the Ferme générale, the tax collecting agency of the French ancien régime (royal government). In his time, government taxes were levied on salt ( the gabelle), tobacco, and farming. The tax collectors, called fermiers, or (tax) farmers, were in charge of collecting all taxes for the king, but the total amount of the tax to be paid by the population was not specified; the tax collectors needed to pay only the pre-agreed amount to the king, but could exact unspecified sums themselves. Many of them were greedy and became wealthy and powerful through their exactions from the poor. The tax collectors were therefore hated by the people.</p>
<p>Louis Mandrin was born at Saint-étienne-de-Saint-Geoirs, Dauphiné, a border province, in 1725. His family was well established in the region, but was no longer as prosperous as in the past. Louis's father, a horse merchant, died when Louis was 17, leaving nine children. Louis, the eldest, hecame head of the family.</p>
<p>Mandrin's first run-in with the fermiers was in 1748. He was under contract to supply to French army in Italy with "100 mules minus three." Unfortunately, crossing the Alps was difficult and most of the animals died on the way to their destination, Saint-étienne-de-Saint-Geoirs. Mandrin had only 17 mules left when he arrived, and they were in such a sorry state that the tax collectors refused to pay him.</p>
<p>Five years later, on July 27, 1753, Mandrin and his friend Benoît Brissaud were involved in a brawl and their opponents were killed. Brissaud was sentenced to death and Mandrin to the galleys. Mandrin managed to flee but Brissaud was caught and hanged in Breuil square (now Place Grenette) in Grenoble. On the same day, Mandrin's brother Pierre was hanged for counterfeiting. Mandrin declared a personal war against the tax collectors.</p>
<p>Mandrin joined a gang of smugglers operating in the Cantons of Switzerland, France, and Savoy, which was then a sovereign state. They trafficked mainly in tobacco. Mandrin soon became head of this gang - a small army of some 300 men which he led and organised like a military regiment. They had warehouses for weapons and stolen goods in Savoy, and Mandrin believed himself out of the reach from the French authorities. During 1754 he organised six military-style campaigns. He and his men targeted only the most unpopular tax collectors, which gained them huge support from the local population. Mandrin bought goods (cloth, hides, tobacco, canvas and spices) in Switzerland, which he then resold in French towns without paying the Ferme Générale any of the tax due. The population was delighted with such bargains. Soon the French government passed laws forbidding the population to buy these smuggled goods. Mandrin reacted to the ban by going to Rodez and forcing Ferme Générale employees to buy his goods at gunpoint.</p>
<p>The Ferme générale, exasperated by Mandrin's growing popularity, obtained help from the Royal Army, but Mandrin took refuge in Savoy, near Pont-de-Beauvoisin. The tax collectors then decided to enter the Duchy illegally, disguising their 500 men as peasants. Mandrin was betrayed by of two of his men, and the tax collectors seized him at a fortified farm in Rochefort-en-Novalaise. When the King of Savoy, Charles Emmanuel III of Sardinia, learned of the French intrusion into his territory, he immediately wrote to the French King Louis XV demanding that the prisoner be turned over to him, and the French King agreed. However, the tax collectors were so eager to be rid of Mandrin that they had hurried through his trial and execution before the king's message reached them.</p>
<p>Mandrin was tried on May 24, 1755, and sentenced to be broken on the wheel, a penalty reserved for serious offenders, in Valence, Drôme on May 26. He was executed on May 26, 1755, in front of 6,000 onlookers, many of them sympathetic. His arms, legs and stomach were hit and broken with an iron bar and he was then hoisted on a wheel with his arms and legs under him. Mandrin endured the torture without a cry. After eight minutes, he was strangled to put an end to his suffering. His broken body was put on display. Many angry and sympathetic notes were left near the body. It was the beginning of the legend.</p>
<p>Mandrin's struggle against the injustice of the Ancien Régime was discussed across Europe and the cause taken up by Voltaire (who compared him with the king of Prussia)[3][4] and Turgot. A popular ballad arose, the Complainte de Mandrin, that was sung throughout France and is still known today. Its author remains unknown.</p>
<p>Extremely popular during his life, Mandrin remains famous to this day, in his native Dauphiné, in the Savoie and to a lesser degree, in the rest of France. A major film was made about him in 2011.</p>
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
CHANSON sur la vie de LOUIS MANDRIN;
breaking on the wheel
Male
murder
smuggling
-
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
French Execution Ballads
Execution Ballad
Set to tune of...
Melody to which ballad is set.
Montgommery
Transcription
Transcription of ballad lyrics
Combien pernicieux,
Que laisse le service,
Du puissant Roy des cieux,
Pour dans le précipice:
De Sathan, malheureux,
Et aux absides creux,
Y faire sa demeure,
Ce Lyon furieux,
Nous a aillé les yeux,
C'est une chose seure.
Comme Loups ravissants,
Nous courons la campagne
Pour nuire aux innocents,
Le mal nous accompagne:
Des dents plus que du fer:
Pour plaire à Lucifer,
Nous faisons grand carnage,
Tant aux villes qu'aux champs,
Comme bourreaux meschans,
Les enfans en bas aage.
Quelque temps sans cesser,
Dura nostre malie:
Mais il faut confesser:
Que tout c'est artifice:
Car nos petits enfants:
Qui n'en estoyent contens:
Le dirent à leurs mres,
Desireux de vanger:
Le meurtre & le danger:
Des innocens leurs frres.
Les frres n'osant pas:
Dire la boucherie:
Ny le cruel repas
Que faisait la furie
De ces deux malheureux
Par trop impetueux:
Encontre l'innocence,
Le sang messe d'iceux
Monta jusques aux cieux
Elle demanda vengeance.
Les enfans de rechef
Commencerent à voix haute
De chanter le meschef
De leur pre & la faute,
Disant nos peres loups,
Se jetteront sur nous:
Aussi leur fiers rage,
Grand Dieu soyez nous doux
Et que vostre courroux
Leur soit pour héritage.
La Justice entendit
De ces enfans la plainte,
Qui bien les deffendit
De senrir nos attaintes
Nous confessons pour gray
Que des innocents c'ay
Quatre cents & quarante
Et plus avons mangez
En cruels loups changés
Chacun s'en mescontente.
Nous sommes condamnés,
Pour aller au supplice:
Et au feu destinez,
Pour si grande malice
De Dieu le jugement
Perpetuellement:
Juste et équitable:
Ne laissent tels forfaits
N'y tels bourreaux infects
Jamais impunissables.
Messieurs ne souffrez pas
Aller votre jeunesse
Pour gouster les appas
Des Sorciers qui sans cesse
Blasphement en tout lieux
Encontre le gray Dieu
Et de leur maléfice
Se vengent contre tous
Car le Diable est jaloux
De son divine service.
Language
Language ballad is printed in
French
Date
Date of ballad
1606
Notes
Additional information related to the ballad pamphlet or related events
Lyrics to chant de Montgommery (1559):
Combien est oublieux
Qui se ¥åe à fortune!
Encor' plus malheureux
Qui par trop l'importune.
En sont souvente fois
Les princes et les roys
En grand meschef et honte :
Moy trs bien le cognois
Que nagures j'estois
De Mont-GommeryäóÖ comte.
Printing Location
Location the ballad pamphlet was printed.
Lyon: Simon Rigaud, 1606
'La Fleur du Rozier des Chansons Nouvelles'
Method of Punishment
Method of punishment described in the ballad.
burning
Crime(s)
Crime or crimes for which the person in the ballad is convicted.
murder, werewolves
Gender
Gender of the person being executed.
Male
Execution Location
Location the condemned was executed.
Lige
URL
<a href="https://play.google.com/books/reader?printsec=frontcover&output=reader&id=Zgr3Hd4UuUcC&pg=GBS.PA214" target="_blank"><span>Recueil de chants historiques francais depuis le 12. jusqu'au 18. siecle, 2: Deuxieme serie</span></a><br /><br /><a href="https://play.google.com/books/reader?printsec=frontcover&output=reader&id=zdg5AAAAcAAJ&pg=GBS.PA11" target="_blank"><span>La fleur du Rozier des chansons</span></a>
Subtitle
Sur le chant de Montgommery.
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Chanson nouvelle de deux hommes qui ont mangé quatre cens quarante neuf enfàs en forme de Loups, lesquels ont esté bruslés dans la ville de Liege,
burning
Male
murder
werewolves
-
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
French Execution Ballads
Execution Ballad
Set to tune of...
Melody to which ballad is set.
L'enfant prodigue
Transcription
Transcription of ballad lyrics
Maudict soit le faux miserable
Qui a tué vilainement
Ce bon prince tant amiable
Qui nous gardoit soigneusement.
La justice en a esté faicte
Dedans la ville de paris,
Treséquitablement parfaicte
En despit de tous ses amis.
Car quand il fut a la justice
Devant messieurs de parlement,
Fut ordonné que pour son vice
Devoit mourir cruellement.
Quand la sentence fut donnee,
L'executeur on feit venir,
Pour justement ceste journee
Le mener vistement mourir.
Comme il passoit dedans la ville
Chacun crioit de tout son coeur,
Dessus, dessus ce meschant traistre
Qui a tué ce bon seigneur.
Devant la maison de la ville
Fut le lieu d'execution
Pour de ce meschant inutile
Faire bonne punition.
En quatre parties de ces membres
Il fut tenaillé de fers chauds.
En jugement sans long attendre
Bien lié dessus l'eschafaux.
Il ne luy failloit point de phifre.
Pareillement de tabourin:
Pour faire bien danser ce traistre
Meschant & malheureux villain.
Puis fut guindé sans descendre,
Tout estendu sur l'eschaffaux,
Aux quatre parties de ses membres,
Pour tirer à quatre chevaux.
Viena, dit un bon capitaine,
N'as tu point grand mal en ton coeur:
De te mettre en devoir & peine
Pour tuer ce noble seigneur.
Nenny dist ce faux miserable,
S'il nestoit faict je le ferois:
N'estoit-il pas conduit du diable
D'ainsi parler a ceste fois.
Quand respondit en ceste sorte,
Soudainnement fut depesché:
Ces quatres quartiers hors les portes,
Sa teste en un poteau fisché,
Jeunes enfans prenez exemple,
Et mettez en Dieu vostre appuy:
Et que chascun de vous contemple,
De ne faire pas comme luy.
Language
Language ballad is printed in
French
Date
Date of ballad
1563<
Printing Location
Location the ballad pamphlet was printed.
Le Recueil des chansons des batailles & guerres advenues au Royaume de France, durant les troubles. Par Christofle de Bordeaux, & autres. Augmentées de plusieurs chansons nouvelles. (Paris: Nicolas Bonfons, rue neuve nostre Dame, à l'enseigne sainct Nicolas, 1575)
Method of Punishment
Method of punishment described in the ballad.
drawing, hanging and quartering
Crime(s)
Crime or crimes for which the person in the ballad is convicted.
murder
Gender
Gender of the person being executed.
Male
Synopsis
Account of events that are the subject of the ballad
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_de_Poltrot" target="_blank">Wikipedia:</a> Jean de Poltrot (c. 1537 - 1563), sieur de Méré or Mérey, was a nobleman of Angoumois, who murdered Francis, Duke of Guise.<br /><br />He had lived some time in Spain, and his knowledge of Spanish, together with his swarthy complexion, which earned him the nickname of the Espagnolet, procured him employment as a spy in the wars against Spain. Having been converted to the Huguenot cause, he determined to kill Francis, Duke of Guise. Pretending to be a deserter, he gained admission to the camp of the Catholic army that was besieging Orléans. In the evening of 18 February 1563, he hid by the side of a road along which he knew the Duke would pass, fired a pistol at him, and fled. He was captured the next day, and following torture and a trial, he was sentenced to be drawn and quartered. The punishment, carried out on 18 March 1563, was botched; the horses having failed to rend his limbs, swords were used to finish the job.<br /><br />During his torture, he had made several contradictory statements, some of which implicated Admiral Coligny. Coligny protested emphatically against the accusation, but nevertheless the assassination led to a vendetta between Coligny and Francis's sons, Henry I, Duke of Guise and Louis II, Cardinal of Guise. This vendetta not only prolonged the Wars of Religion but contributed to the attempted assassination of Coligny during the celebrations of the marriage of Henri of Navarre with Margaret of Valois, and therefore to the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Chanson de la justice exécutée dedans Paris de celui qui tua monsieur de Guyse, sur le chant de l'enfant prodigue.
drawing
hanging
Male
murder
quartering
-
https://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/execution-ballads/files/original/4fb5f71ce6142baf417aa734f60a9fe7.jpg
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c6957255aa71345cfd0a718de34ee855
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
French Execution Ballads
Execution Ballad
Set to tune of...
Melody to which ballad is set.
J'entends autour de ma prison.
Transcription
Transcription of ballad lyrics
VEnez entendre les noirceurs
Qui sont aujourd'hui mes malheurs;
J'en ai grand regret dans mon âme;
Car une vie aussi infâme
M'attire avec juste raison
La plus rude punition.
Ayant méprisé de tout tems
Les bons avis de mes parens,
Me fortifiant dans le vice,
Creusant ainsi mon précipice:
Les forfaits les plus odieux
Me sembloient aisés à mes yeux.
Je ne faisois point de façon
D'employer dans tout le poison;
Et dans la plus noire malice,
Je n'épargnois point l'artifice;
Je ne craignois nul châtiment
Pourvu que j'aye de l'argent.
Voulant encore pousser plus loin,
Pour acquérir un plus gros bien,
Feignanat mon commerce en déroute,
Je faisois souvent banqueroute:
Mettant le comble à ces forfaits,
J'escroquois aussi mes billets.
Ma plus grande méchanceté
Et ma plus noire cruauté,
C'est envers une bonne Dame,
Et son fils d'une bien belle ame;
Sans avoir en pitié d'eux,
Je les empoisonnai tous deux.
Pour que ce forfait inoui
En secret fùt enseveli,
Je fus vîte louer une cave
Où je mis le corps de la Dame;
Et puis je fus trouver le fils,
Et l'emmenai dans mon logis.
Je lui fis prendre du poison,
Et puis sortant de ma maison
Je le conduisis à Versailles,
Où je lui fis ses funérailles.
Il me disoit sur le chemin
Qu'il ne pouvoit aller plus loin.
Mais hélas! ce pauvre innocent
Me demandoit soulagement;
Il me disoit avec confiance,
Hélas! donnez-moi assistance,
Ses pauvres yeux tout baignés d'eau,
A moi qui étois son bourreau.
Après il tombe évanoui,
Je feignis de pleurer aussi;
Son visage devint tout blême,
Enfin il mourut à l'heure même;
Vite je le fis enterrer,
Croyant mieux par-là me cacher.
Puis en femme étant déguisé,
A Lyon je m'en fus allé:
Dans l'artifice de mon ame,
Je pris le nom de cette Dame;
C'etoit pour faire croire aussi,
Qu'avec l'argent elle avoit fui.
Mais hélas! tant de cruautés
Ne furent pas long tems cachées;
Dieu permit que d'un si grand crime
Je devins enfin la victime:
La Justice m'a arrêté,
Et en prison on m'a jetté.
Mis dans le plus noir des cachots,
Je pousse à présent des sanglots:
Hélas! je ne dois pas me plaindre,
Quoique les tourmens soient à craindre,
Voilà les terribles regrets
Que me causent tous mes forfaits.
Vous tous qui voyez mon malheur,
Priez donc pour nous le Seigneur,
Qu'il me donne la patience,
D'endurer si grande souffrance;
Et que cette punition
Puisse m'obtenir mon pardon.
FIN.
Language
Language ballad is printed in
French
Date
Date of ballad
1777
Printing Location
Location the ballad pamphlet was printed.
Vu l'Approbation, permis d'imprimer, ce 7 Mai 1777. LE NOIR.
Method of Punishment
Method of punishment described in the ballad.
breaking on the wheel, burning
Crime(s)
Crime or crimes for which the person in the ballad is convicted.
murder
Gender
Gender of the person being executed.
Male
Age
Age of the person condemned in the ballad.
33
Execution Location
Location the condemned was executed.
Paris, place de Greve
Subtitle
Air: J'entends autour de ma prison.
Synopsis
Account of events that are the subject of the ballad
<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoine_Fran%C3%A7ois_Desrues" target="_blank">Wikipedia:</a> Antoine Franois Desrues (1744-1777) was a French poisoner.</p>
<p>He was born at Chartres, of humble parents. He went to Paris to seek his fortune, and started in business as a grocer. He was known as a man of great piety and devotion, and his business was reputed to be a flourishing one, but when, in 1773, he gave up his shop, his finances, owing to personal extravagance, were in a deplorable condition.</p>
<p>Nevertheless he entered into negotiations with a Madame de la Motte for the purchase from her of a country estate, and, when the time came for the payment of the purchase money, invited her to stay with him in Paris pending the transfer. While she was still his guest, he poisoned first her and then her son, a youth of sixteen. Then, having forged a receipt for the purchase money and taken on the aristocratic name "Desrues de Bury," he endeavoured to obtain possession of the property.</p>
<p>But by this time the disappearance of Madame de la Motte and her son had aroused suspicion. Desrues was arrested, the bodies of his victims were discovered, and the crime was brought home to him. He was originally sentenced to life in prison, but was retried and condemned to be torn asunder alive and burned. He was condemned to death and executed in Paris in 1777, Desrues repeating protestations of his innocence to the last. An extended debate ensued after his death, which was seen as a touchstone for understanding both the last years of the Ancien Régime and the early revolutionary period, with Balzac, Hugo, and Dumas among the participants. As late as 1828 a dramatic version of it was performed in Paris.</p>
<p><br /><a href="https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoine-Fran%C3%A7ois_Desrues">French Wikipedia:</a> Antoine-Franois Desrues, né en 1744 à Chartres et roué en 1777 à Paris, est un empoisonneur franais.</p>
<p>Marchand épicier à Paris, Desrues s'enrichit par des escroqueries et des crimes et sut, par son hypocrisie, se faire une telle réputation de vertu que pendant longtemps on ne put le souponner. Ayant acheté à M. de La Motte, écuyer du roi, la terre de Buisson-Soö‚f, qu'il devait payer 130 000 livres, il résolut de faire mourir toute la famille de son créancier afin de s'emparer du bien sans rien débourser : il avait déjà empoisonné la femme et le fils, lorsque son crime fut découvert. Il fut roué vif en 1777 en place de Grve à Paris, son corps fut brulé et cendres dispersées.</p>
<p>Ce fut Charles-Henri Sanson, futur bourreau du roi Louis XVI, qui procéda au supplice.</p>
<p>Soutenu par le petit peuple qui voyait en lui un simple martyr, victime de l'arbitraire royal ne lui ayant mme pas épargné le bùcher, ce fils de petit boutiquier eut ses cendres filtrées par une foule étant allée jusqu'à se battre pour en récupérer le moindre bout d'os, reliques auxquelles elle attribuait des vertus magiques (enrichissement) et qui furent ensuite l'objet d'un commerce.</p>
<p>Sa femme, enfermée à la Salptrire, fut assassinée par les émeutiers lors des massacres de Septembre, en 1792.</p>
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Title
A name given to the resource
AUTRE Sur le même Sujet.
breaking on the wheel
burning
Male
murder
-
https://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/execution-ballads/files/original/ee72375b8a64c71f8a091e10b3dd9892.tif
c8738ed379b5455c5f40a794d4534d59
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
English Execution Ballads
Execution Ballad
Transcription
Transcription of ballad lyrics
NOw Katherine de Medicis hes maid sic a Gyis
To tary in Paris the Papistes ar tykit
At Bastianes brydell howbeit scho denyis
Giue Mary slew Hary, it was not vnlykit
Yit a man is nane respectand this number
I'dar not say wemen hes wyte of this cummer.
Yone Mask the Quene mother hes maid thame in France
Was maikles and saikles, and schamfully slane
Bot Mary conuoyit and come with ane dance
Quhill Princes in Sences was fyrit with ane trane
Baith tressonabill murtheris, the ane and the vther
I go not in Masking mair with the Quene Mother.
Italianes ar Tyranis, and tressonabill Tratoris:
For gysours deuysours, the Guysianis ar gude
Bot Frenche men ar trew men, and not of thair natouris
Than Charlie I farlie thow drank thy awin blude
I wyte bot thy Mother wit, wemen ar vane
In greis neir to Ganyelon nor grit Charlie Mane.
Thy style was Treschristien maist Cristen King
Baith hiest and friest, and neist the Impyre
Bot now Prouest Marschell in playing this spring
And ressoun for tressoun prouokis God to Ire
Beleuis thow this trumprie sall stablische thy style?
Our God is not deid yit, be doand ane quhyle.
Suppois that the Papistes deuysit this at Trent
To ding vs and bring vs with mony lowd lauchter
With sic cruell Murther is Christ sa content
To take the and make the ane Sanct for our slauchter
Albeit he correct vs, and scurge vs in Ire
Be war with the wand syne he wapis in the fyre.
For better is pure men nor Princes periurit
Baith schameles and fameles, we find thame sa fals
With sangis lyke the Seryne our lyfis thow allurit
Ouirsylit vs begylit vs with baitis in our hals
Or as the fals Fowler his fang for to get,
Deuoiris the pure volatill he wylis to the net.
In Ilis nor in Orknay, in Ireland Oneill
Thay dar not, thay gar not, thair liegis be stickit
Solyman, Tamerlan, nor yit the mekle Deill
Proud Pharao, nor Nero, was neuer sa wickit
Nouther Turk nor Infidell vsis sic thing
As be their awin burreo, being ane King.
Baith auld men and wemen, with babis on thair breist
Not luking nor huking, to hurll thame in Sane
All beand murdreist downe, quhat do ye neist
Processioun, Confession, and vp Mes agane
Proud King Antiochus was sum tyme als haly
And yit our God guschit out the guttis of his belly
Thy Syster thou maryit, thy Saces was sour
Sic cuikrie for luikrie was euill Interprisit
Ye maid vs the Reid Freiris, and rais in an hour
Abhorring na gorring that micht be deuisit
Thou playit the fals Hypocreit fenyeing the fray
But inwart ane rageing wolf waitand thy pray.
That France was confidderat with Scotland I grant,
Baith actit, contractit, and keipit in deid
The kyndnes of Cutthrottis, we cure not to want
Denyis thame, defyis thame, and all thair fals seid
It was bot with honest men we maid the band
And thou hes left leifand bot few in that land.
Our faith is not warldly we feir not thy braulis
Thocht hangmen ouirgang men, for gaddaring our geir
Ye kill bot the Carcase, ye get not our Saulis
Not douting our shouting is hard in Goddis eir
The same God from Pharo defendit his pepill
And not yone round Robene that standis in your stepill.
Now wyse Quene Elizabeth luik to your self
Dispite them, and wryte thame, ane bill of defyance
The papistis and Spanyards, hes partit your pelf
As newly and trewly was tald me thir tythance
Beleue thay to land heir, and get vs fornocht
Will ye do as we do, it salbe deir bocht.
Giue pleis God we gre sa, and hald vs togidder
Baith surely and sturely, and stoutly gainstand thame
They culd not weill conqueis vs, culd ye considder
For our men are dour men, and likis weill to land thame
Quhen Cesar him self was chaist, haue ye foryet
And baith the Realmes be aggreit, tak that thay get.
For better it is to fecht it, defendant our lyfis
With speir men and weir men, and ventour our sellis
Nor for to se frenche men deflorand our wyfis
Displace vs, and chace vs, as thay haue done ellis
I meane quhen the Inglismen helpit at Leith
And gart thame gang hame agane spyte of thair teith.
I cannot trow firmely that Frenchmen ar cummen
Persayfand thame haifand, thame selfis into parrell
The Lord saue Elizabeth, thair ane gude woman
That cauldly and bauldly, debait will our quarrell
With men and with money, baith Armour and graith
As scho hes befoir tyme defendit this Faith.
Thocht France for thair falset be drownit in dangeris
For causis and pausis thay plait into Pareis
Yit [...]e ar in war estait waitand on strangeris
No[...] gyding deuyding, our awin men from Mareis
Go weid the calf from the corn, calk me thair dures
And slay or ye be slane, gif sic thing occures.
Bot how can ye traist thame, that trumpit yow ellis
Decoir thame, do for thame, or foster thair seid
And thay may anis se thair time, tent to your sellis
Baith haitfull, dissaitfull, ye deill with in deid
Anis wod and ay the war, with quhat ye do
And mak thame fast in the ruit gif thay cum to.
God blis yow my brether, and biddis yow gudnicht
Obey God, go say God, with prayer and fasting
Christ keip thie pure Ile of ouris in the auld rihct
Defend vs and send vs, the life Euerlasting
The Lord send vs quyetnes, and keip our young king
The Quene of Inglands Maiestie, & lang mot yai Ring.
Quod Simpell.
FINIS.
Language
Language ballad is printed in
Scots English
Date
Date of ballad
1572
Printing Location
Location the ballad pamphlet was printed.
Imprentit at Sanctandrois be Robert Lekpreuik
[Printed at St André by Robert Lekprevik]
Composer of Ballad
Robert Simpell, 1530? - 1595
Crime(s)
Crime or crimes for which the person in the ballad is convicted.
murder
Gender
Gender of the person being executed.
male
Digital Object
<iframe src="https://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/execution-ballads/files/fullsize/ee72375b8a64c71f8a091e10b3dd9892.jpg" frameborder="0" scrolling="yes" width="500" height="600"></iframe>
Image / Audio Credit
Reproduction of original in the British Library, STC / 22203, Huth 50 [11]; <a href="http://gateway.proquest.com.ezp.lib.unimelb.edu.au/openurl?ctx_ver=Z39.88-2003&res_id=xri:eebo&rft_id=xri:eebo:image:182327" target="_blank">EEBO Record</a> (institutional login required).
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
ane new ballet set out be ane Fugitiue Scottisman that fled out of Paris at this lait Murther.
English
Male
murder
-
https://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/execution-ballads/files/original/2ac8c70350f91a83c87197be9448c5f9.jpg
f518530ca48e4b90a3b9435f82e17184
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
English Execution Ballads
Execution Ballad
Set to tune of...
Melody to which ballad is set.
<em>Gilderoy</em>
Transcription
Transcription of ballad lyrics
GIlderoy was a bonny Boy, had roses tull his shun,
His stockins made of the finest silk, his garters hanging duwn:
It was a comely sight to see, he were so trim a Boy;
He was my Joy and Heart's Delight, my handsom Gilderoy.
Oh, sick a charming eyen he had, a breath as sweet as rose,
He never wore a Highland-plad, but costly silken cloaths:
He gain'd the love of Ladies gay, there's none to him was coy;
Ah, way's me, Ise mourn this day for my dear Gilderoy.
My Gilderoy and I was born both in one Town together,
Not passing seven years ago, since one did love each other:
Our Daddies and our Mammies both, were cloath'd with mickle joy,
To think upon the bridal-day, betwixt I and my Gilderoy.
For Gilderoy, that Love of mine, geud faith Ise freely bought
A wedding-sark of Holland fine, with silk in flowers wrought;
And he gave me a wedding-ring, which I receiv'd with joy;
No Lads or Lasses e'er could sing, like my sweet Gilderoy.
In mickle joy we spent our time, till we was both fifteen,
Then gently he did lay me down, amongst the leaves so green;
When he had done what he could do, he rose and gang'd his woy,
But ever since I lov'd the Man, my handsom Gilderoy.
While we did both together play, he kiss'd me o're and o're;
Geud faith it was as blith a day,
as e'er I saw before;
He fill'd my heart in e'ry vein, with love and mickle joy;
But when shall I behold again, mine own sweet Gilderoy?
'Tis pity Men should e'er be hang'd, that takes up Womens geer,
Or for their pelfering sheep or calves,
or stealing cow or mare;
Had not our laws been made so strict, I'd never lost my Joy,
Who was my Love and Heart's Delight, my handsom Gilderoy.
'Cause Gilderoy had done amiss, must he be punish'd then?
What kind of cruelty is this,
to hang such handsom Men?
The Flower of the Scotish Land, a sweet and lively Boy,
He likewise had a Lady's hand, my handsom Gilderoy.
At Leith they took my Gilderoy, and there, God wot, they bang'd him,
Carry'd him to fair Edenburgh,
and there, God wot, they hang'd him,
They hang'd him up above the rest, he was so trim a Boy,
My only Love and Heart's Delight, my handsom Gilderoy.
Thus having yielded up his breath, in cyprus he was laid;
Then for my Dearest, after death, a funeral I made;
Over his grave a marble-stone I fixed for my Joy;
Now I am left to weep alone, for my dear Gilderoy.
Language
Language ballad is printed in
English, Scots
Date
Date of ballad
1683-1703 ?
Synopsis
Account of events that are the subject of the ballad
Woman laments execution of her lover Gilderoy
Printing Location
Location the ballad pamphlet was printed.
LONDON: Printed for C. Bates, at the Sun and Bible, in Pye-corner.
Method of Punishment
Method of punishment described in the ballad.
hanging
Crime(s)
Crime or crimes for which the person in the ballad is convicted.
poaching
Gender
Gender of the person being executed.
Male
Execution Location
Location the condemned was executed.
Edinburgh
Tune Data
<em>Gilderoy</em> (Simpson 1966, pp. 252-54)
Digital Object
<iframe src="https://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/execution-ballads/files/fullsize/2ac8c70350f91a83c87197be9448c5f9.jpg" frameborder="0" scrolling="yes" width="600" height="600"></iframe>
Image / Audio Credit
<span>Magdalene College - Pepys Library, Pepys Ballads 5.354; <a href="https://ebba.english.ucsb.edu/ballad/22181/image" target="_blank">EBBA 22181</a></span>
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Title
A name given to the resource
The Scotch Lover's Lamentation: OR, GILDEROY's Last FAREWEL.
English
hanging
Male
poaching
-
https://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/execution-ballads/files/original/54b80ed2ffe34c3df7f261efbe6cb976.jpg
8b0e8c8f72ccf6c09d5ce8fe2d2f4c82
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8a5d7166858e3c3a5787c23437c7cb45
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
English Execution Ballads
Execution Ballad
Set to tune of...
Melody to which ballad is set.
<a href="https://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/execution-ballads/items/show/1173"><em>The Rich Merchant Man</em></a>
Transcription
Transcription of ballad lyrics
O Stay, and lend an Ear,
you Loyal Subjects all,
And by this Story you shall hear,
behold a Traytors fall:
Who was by due desert,
found guilty of a crime;
The like where of hath not been known,
in any Age or Time.
This William Staley, he
by Trade a Gold-smith was,
And near to Coven-Garden liv'd,
as now it came to pass:
Who being void of grace,
and blinded with false zeal,
Of late spoke Treason at a place,
which he could not conceal.
A Papist he was bred,
one of the Popish Crew,
And was by Jesuits Mifled,
which he too late did rue:
Such Principles he learnt,
beyond the Ocean Main,
As brought him to a shameful End,
with Torture and with Pain.
Great Malice in his mind,
this wicked wretch did bear,
And likewise was to blood inclin'd,
as doth too plain appear:
Where I shall now relate,
how he to Tryal came:
Where thousands flocked to the place
to hear and see the same.
UNto the Kings-Bench-Bar,
the Prisoner was brought in,
Where he Indicted was, for words
of Treason, 'gainst our King:
Which was by Evidence
of witnesses, made clear,
By Gentlemen of worth and note,
who did the Treason hear.
O wicked Bloody wretch,
to think of such a thing,
He said himself, with his own hands,
would kill our Soveraign King:
To which he for himself
could answer very small,
Which did unto the purpose tend,
in presence of them all.
A learned Jury there
impannel'd was that time,
Who quickly did consider of
the Traytors hamous crime:
Which did appear so plain,
that in a little space,
They quickly gave their verdict in,
not moving from the place.
Where he was Guilty found
of Treason, which he spoke,
with Malice and with bloody thoughts
when none did him provoke:
The judge then Sentence gave,
that he should for the same
Be Hang'd, and drawn, and quartered
being so much to blame.
Then was he carried back
in Prison to remain,
Until the doleful, dismal day
of Execution came:
Where he had time and space,
his faults for to bewail,
Unless he was so void of grace,
no comfort could prevail.
And now the fatal day
being come, which was so nigh,
Great store of People flocked there
to see the Prisoner dye:
Who was brought to the place,
to undergo his Doom,
Which was a great and vile disgrace
to all the sons of Rome.
His Quarters are to be
disposed on each Gate,
That every one who see the same,
may all such Treason hate:
And that the Popish crew
may see what they deserve,
For seeking to destroy a King,
whom God will long preserve.
For all such Bloody men
shall have a fall, no doubt,
And all their Treasons and their Plots
in time shall be brought out:
That they and all their Friends,
their just desert may have,
For striving to be high and great,
and others to enslave.
Language
Language ballad is printed in
English
Date
Date of ballad
1678
Printing Location
Location the ballad pamphlet was printed.
[London] : Printed for F. Coles, T. Vere, J. Wright, and I. Clarke, [1674-1679]
Method of Punishment
Method of punishment described in the ballad.
hanging, drawing and quartering
Crime(s)
Crime or crimes for which the person in the ballad is convicted.
treason
Gender
Gender of the person being executed.
Male
Execution Location
Location the condemned was executed.
Tyburn
Digital Object
<iframe src="https://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/execution-ballads/files/fullsize/54b80ed2ffe34c3df7f261efbe6cb976.jpg" frameborder="0" scrolling="yes" width="600" height="400"></iframe>
Image / Audio Credit
Houghton Library, Harvard University, Shelfmark EBB65; <a href="https://ebba.english.ucsb.edu/ballad/35048/image" target="_blank">EBBA 35048</a>
Subtitle
or, A full relation of the condemnation and execution of Mr. William Staley who was found guilty of high treason, at the Kings-bench-barr at Westminster, on Thursday the 21st. of Nov. 1678. For speaking dangerous, and treasonable words against his most Sacred Majesty the King. For which he was sentenced to be drawn, hang'd, and quartered. And was accordingly executed upon Tuesday the 26th. of this instant Nov. 1678. at Tyburn. Tune of, The rich merchant-man &c. VVith allowance.
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Treason justly punished:
drawing and quartering
English
hanging
Male
treason
-
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https://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/execution-ballads/files/original/4dfe0f68a8f483087faedfe8dc645155.mp3
3ca2d6ea20cfbb9b369864758d5fccea
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
English Execution Ballads
Execution Ballad
Set to tune of...
Melody to which ballad is set.
<a href="https://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/execution-ballads/items/show/1174"><em>Packington's Pound</em></a>
Transcription
Transcription of ballad lyrics
Good people come hither and listen a while,
Ile tell you a story shall make you to smile
For such a bold project there never was heard,
As now in this Ballad shall soon be declard;
The Brick-makers they
This project did play,
The Elventh of August as people do say:
Let this be a warning that others take heed;
Their court of in-justice will smart for the deed.
In Rainy wet weather it was I suppose,
When each bonny Brick-maker steeled his nose,
They drink their cups round, & do merrily prate
Each Brick-maker seemed a Lord in conceit;
Whilst thus they Carrouse,
And call on the House,
One of them his bread and his cheese he did lose
And one in the company there he did atackt,
As guilty of Fellony for this bold act.
They calld him Dick Lambart whom he did accuse,
Who, he said, such activity often did use;
And there for his life he would have him be tryd
A Judge and a Jury this deed should deside;
A Court there was calld,
The Cryer he bawld
And there with his flounder-mouth loudly he yauld.
And then on the bench for a judge there set down
One in a red wastecoat which servd for a gown.
A Judge and a Jury, and Clarks did appear,
A Sheriff and also a Hangman was there,
The Judge being set and prisoner brought forth
The plaintiff be there on a brickbat took oath,
that to his great cost
Too lately he lost,
Some bread & some cheese which he savd for a toast,
And that Richard Lambart had taken his peck,
Who for it deservd to be noosd by the neck.
For this he had sentance by which he was forst
To be burnt in the hand with an apple hot roast
And afterwards he on that apple must feed,
This Sentance he had for his Fellonious deed;
But now comes the worst
More bad then the first,
Poor Richard his fortune it was so accurst;
A Witness held forth, and he there did declare,
That Richard spoke Treason and he did it hear.
He said the Kings drums they did make a great sound
But in the midst of them no guts to be found,
And that the Kings horses with Iron were shod,
And often on dirt and on stones they have trod;
That they so were fed
With butter and bread,
They lost all the Rases what ever was laid:
And that the Kings Goshauks had got no more foul
Then is in the night-bird thats called an Owl.
This was the Indictment on which he was tryd,
The Jury was sworn on a Brickbat beside,
The Evidence there did make it out plain
And Lambart away from the Bar he was tane;
Their Jury went out,
And brought it about,
That Lambart was guilty of Treason no doubt;
And then by the Judge he was sentencd, that he,
Should hang by the neck on the Tiborn Tree.
A Clay cart they got, and a horse int beside,
And put Lambart in it, and him fast down tyd,
And then unto th Gallows they do him convey,
With a Guard of their Officers all on the way,
A Brickbat to read,
As they did proceed,
And then on the Gallows they hangd him indeed:
Thus have you heard of the Brick-makers Court,
who hang men in earnest, and count it their sport.
A Groom of the Kings stables came riding that way,
Seeing this rebel rout to them did say,
I see youve condemned this man in the Town,
But heres a reprieve and he must be cut down:
This being done,
Away then did run,
This Court of In-justice each mothers Son.
The Judge and the Hangman was tane in the act
And two of the Jury-men since for that fact.
This court of In-justice appeared in time
At Seshions house there for to answer their crime
A hundred pound is laid on each head,
Or else due imprisonment till it be paid:
In New-gate they are,
Remaining in care,
Of farther punishment they are in fear:
And thus you have heard of the Brick-makers Court
Who hang men in earnest & count it their sport.
Language
Language ballad is printed in
English
Date
Date of ballad
1672-1696 ?
Synopsis
Account of events that are the subject of the ballad
A group of bricklayers, after drinking, hold a mock trial (a common enough practice for guild members) for one of their number accused of stealing bread and cheese from another member. He is burned in the hand by a hot apple and then has to eat it. Then someone accuses him of treason and he is taken to be hanged. A groom of the king's stables tells them he is to be cut down and several of the group are arrested and imprisoned at Newgate for their actions.
Printing Location
Location the ballad pamphlet was printed.
London, Printed for Phillip Brooksby next door to the Ball in West Smithfield.
Method of Punishment
Method of punishment described in the ballad.
hanging
Crime(s)
Crime or crimes for which the person in the ballad is convicted.
treason (false accusation)
Gender
Gender of the person being executed.
Male
Execution Location
Location the condemned was executed.
Tyburn
Digital Object
<iframe src="https://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/execution-ballads/files/fullsize/8d6865da6d6b54d04b43bc1007109b7d.jpg" frameborder="0" scrolling="yes" width="600" height="400"></iframe> <br /><iframe src="https://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/execution-ballads/files/original/4dfe0f68a8f483087faedfe8dc645155.mp3" frameborder="0" scrolling="yes" width="300" height="50"></iframe>
Image / Audio Credit
<span>British Library - Roxburghe, C.f.20.8.40; <a href="https://ebba.english.ucsb.edu/ballad/30185/image" target="_blank">EBBA 30185</a>. Audio recording by Molly McKew.<br /><br /></span>
Tune Data
<em>Packington's Pound</em> is often cited as <em>Digby's Farewell,</em> <em>Packingtons Pound</em> or <em>Amintas' Farewell.</em> The tune first appeared in 1671 and was popular for execution ballads (Simpson 1966, pp. 181-187, 564-570).
Subtitle
OR, A true Report of the Indicting, Arraignment, Tryal, and Convicting of four of the Brick-makers Court of In-justice: for the Notorious Riot committed on the Body of one Richard Lambart, Brick-maker of Fullum, who they Arraigned Indicted, and had almost Executed, for some pretended idle words. Their Examination, and Tryal, and Sentence they are to undergoe, exprest as followeth.
Image notice
Full size images of all ballad sheets available at the bottom of this page.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
The Brick-makers Lamentation from New-gate:
Audio recording
English
hanging
Male
treason (false accusation)
-
https://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/execution-ballads/files/original/3ed0d4bc889b5138e7f54c2d90e36798.jpg
59144c9a3f1f54e01cf76cfc764c46c4
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d0be62589839253654b585fb01414347
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
English Execution Ballads
Execution Ballad
Transcription
Transcription of ballad lyrics
1.
Oh, see the fleet-foot hosts of men who speed with faces wan,
From farmstead and from thresher's cot along the banks of Ban.
They come with vengeance in their eyes; too late, too late are they,
For young Roddy McCorley goes to die on the bridge of Toome today.
2.
Oh Ireland, Mother Ireland, you love them still the best,
The fearless brave who fighting fall upon your hapless breast.
But never a one of all your dead more bravely fell in fray,
Than he who marches to his fate on the bridge of Toome today.
3.
Up the narrow street he stepped, so smiling, proud and young,
About the hemp-rope on his neck, the golden ringlets clung;
There's ne'er a tear in his blue eyes, fearless and brave are they,
As young Roddy McCorley goes to die on the bridge of Toome today.
4.
When last this narrow street he trod, his shining pike in hand,
Behind him marched, in grim array, a earnest stalwart band.
To Antrim town! To Antrim town, he led them to the fray,
But young Roddy McCorley goes to die on the bridge of Toome today.
5.
The grey coat and its sash of green were brave and stainless then,
A banner flashed beneath the sun over the marching men;
The coat hath many a rent this noon, the sash is torn away,
And Roddy McCorley goes to die on the bridge of Toome today.
6.
Oh, how his pike flashed in the sun! Then found a foeman's heart,
Through furious fight, and heavy odds he bore a true man's part.
And many a red-coat bit the dust before his keen pike-play,
But Roddy McCorley goes to die on the bridge of Toome today.
7.
There's never a one of all your dead more bravely died in fray
Than he who marches to his fate in Toomebridge town today;
True to the last! True to the last, he treads the upwards way,
And young Roddy McCorley goes to die on the bridge of Toome today.
Language
Language ballad is printed in
English
Date
Date of ballad
1898
Synopsis
Account of events that are the subject of the ballad
Irish ballad about United Irishman and outlaw Roddy McCorley, written for the 100th anniversary of the United Irishmen rebellion in Ireland, by Ethna Carbery
Execution Location
Location the condemned was executed.
Toome Bridge
Composer of Ballad
Ethna Carbery
Notes
Additional information related to the ballad pamphlet or related events
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roddy_McCorley" target="_blank">Wikipedia:</a> Roddy McCorley (died 28 February 1800) was an Irish nationalist from the civil parish of Duneane, County Antrim, modern day Northern Ireland. Following the publication of the Ethna Carbery poem bearing his name in 1902, where he is associated with events around the Battle of Antrim, he is alleged to have been a member of the United Irishmen and claimed as a participant in their rebellion of 1798. <br /><br />Roddy McCorley was the son of a miller and was born near Toome in the parish of Duneane, County Antrim. A few years before the 1798 rebellion McCorley's father is believed to have been executed for stealing sheep. These charges may have been politically motivated in an attempt to remove a troublesome agitator at a time of great social unrest. Following his father's execution, his family were evicted from their home. <br /><br />There is uncertainty as to whether McCorley was actually actively involved with the predominantly Presbyterian United Irishmen or the predominantly Catholic Defenders. McCorley's role in the 1798 rebellion itself is unrecorded. In a poem written 100 years after the rebellion by Ethna Carbery, he is claimed to have been one of the leaders of the United Irishmen at the Battle of Antrim, however there is no contemporary documentary evidence to support this claim or prove that he was even active in the rebellion. <br /><br />After the rebellion, McCorley joined a notorious outlaw gang known as Archer's Gang, made up of former rebels and led by Thomas Archer.Some of these men had been British soldiers (members of the Irish militia) who changed sides in the conflict, and as such were guilty of treason and thus exempt from the terms of amnesty offered to the rank and file of the United Irishmen.This meant that they were always on the run in an attempt to evade capture. This "quasi-rebel" group were claimed to have attacked loyalists and participated in common crime. It is believed that McCorley was caught whilst in hiding, having been betrayed by an informer. <br /><br />After McCorley was arrested he was tried by court martial in Ballymena on 20 February 1800 and sentenced to be hanged "near the Bridge of Toome", in the parish of Duneane. His execution occurred on 28 February 1800. This bridge had been partially destroyed by rebels in 1798 to prevent the arrival of loyalist reinforcements from west of the River Bann. <br /><br />His body was then dismembered and buried under the gallows, on the main Antrim to Derry road. A letter published in the Belfast Newsletter a few days after McCorley's execution gave an account of the execution and how McCorley was viewed by some. In it he is called Roger McCorley, which may be his proper Christian name. <br /><br />“Upon Friday last, a most awful procession took place here, namely the execution of Roger McCorley who was lately convicted at a court-martial, to the place of execution, Toome Bridge, the unfortunate man having been born in that neighbourhood. <br />As a warning to others, it is proper to observe that the whole of his life was devoted to disorderly proceedings of every kind, for many years past, scarcely a Quarter-sessions occurred but what the name of Roger McCorley appeared in a variety of criminal cases. <br />His body was given up to dissection and afterwards buried under the gallows…thus of late we have got rid of six of those nefarious wretches who have kept this neighbourhood in the greatest misery for some time past, namely, Stewart, Dunn, Ryan, McCorley, Caskey and the notorious Dr. Linn. The noted Archer will soon be in our Guard-room.” <br /><br />In 1852, McCorley's alleged nephew Hugh McCorley was appointed foreman of construction of a new bridge across the River Bann at Toome. Hugh made plans to recover his uncle's body and on 29 June 1852, buried him in an unmarked grave at Duneane parish graveyard. <br /><br />His great-grandson, Roger McCorley, was an officer in the Irish Republican Army in the Irish War of Independence (1919–1921).
Set to tune of...
Melody to which ballad is set.
The melody for Roddy McCorley was later used in the song, Sean South from Garryowen, which tells the story of a failed IRA attack on a Royal Ulster Constabulary Barracks in County Fermanagh in 1957.
Digital Object
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
The Ballad of Roddy McCorley
English
hanging
Male
treason
-
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c6a2e1c336e5f76ed42502ac5665bc47
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
English Execution Ballads
Execution Ballad
Transcription
Transcription of ballad lyrics
YOU Parents all that now these Lines do hear,
Observe them well, Im sure youll shed a Tear,
The like of this scarce ever yet was known,
The World it is so very wicked grown.
In Wiltshire, there a wealthy Man did dwell,
He had one only Son, tis known full well:
His Parents they did greatly him adore,
And he indeed was Heir to all their Store.
His tender Father, as we understand,
Was snatchd away by Deaths most cruel Hand;
Before his Son arrivd to sixteen Years,
Leaving his Loving Wife in Floods of Tears.
She very tender was of her Son dear,
The best that could be bought this Son must wear,
And all he desird, she neer it denyd,
At length he grew to such a Height of Pride:
At Cards and Dice her Substance hed confound,
Nothing but Vice did in this Youth abound;
He oft would curse his Mother to her Face,
When she did tell him of his wickd Race.
At last unto a charming Maiden fair,
He married was, as I to you declare,
Six hundred Pounds he had with her tis known,
But her dear Parents they were dead and gone.
He seemed for to love her as his Life,
But now observe what caused all the Strife;
He on a Woman Harlot cast an Eye,
And often would frequent her Company.
The richest of Attire he woud her buy,
He spard no Cost, but let his Money fly,
For to maintain his Harlot in her Pride,
Nothing that she did ask must be denyd.
At last his Wife she of the same did hear,
And oft would say to him my dearest Dear,
These wicked Courses that you do take, in Time,
To Poverty they will bring me and mine.
Two lovely Children by his Wife he had,
Which might have made a Fathers Heart full glad,
But he was barbarous. cruel and severe,
To his Wife, his Mother, and his Children dear.
At last his Substance very short did grow,
Yet to his wicked Harlot would he go;
And when his Money it grew very scant.
His Miss grew cold, and seemed discontent.
Saying, this Trade will never do with me,
Then to his Wife and Children would he flee,
Their Rings and Cloaths, and all that he could find,
Hed bring to her, their cries he did not mind.
At last this Course he could no longer run,
His Wife, poor Soul, her Substance it was gone:
His aged Mother had but little left,
And almost of her Senses was bereft.
One Day as Miss and him together were,
She in a Passion said, I do declare,
If you some Money do not get for me,
I will no longer keep your Company.
He in a Fury to his Wife went Home,
And found her with her Babes making sad Moan,
Some Money I will have, to her did say,
Or else Ill Murder you this very Day.
My Dear, said she, I have none to give you,
With that he in a Passion straightway flew,
And barring up the Door, to her did come,
And threw her on the Floor there along.
He gaggd her Mouth and bound her evry Limb,
At last one of the Children said to him,
Father, do not my Morher kill, I pray,
For a Bit of Bread we have not touchd To-day.
He turnd about, and on the Child did gaze,
The Devil did his Reason so amaze.
He with a Knife that was so keen and sharp,
Did stab this tender Babe unto the Heart.
His loving Wife she saw the Deed hed done,
While Tears did from her Eyes like Fountains run
What! dost thou weep to see thy Darling die?
I will dispatch thee likewise instantly.
Then with the Knife that killd her infant dear,
Her Throat he straight did cut from Ear to Ear:
The other Infant straight aloud did cry,
To see his Mother there a bleeding lie.
He straightway went and took her by the Hand,
While the poor Babe did there a trembling stand:
Thy Life I fain would save, to it did say,
But I do fear that you would me betray.
But three Years old, this Infant was no more,
He also laid it wallowing in its Gore:
And then to search the House he did begin,
But no Money he could find therein.
So then straightway out of the House he went,
The Doors did fasten, being discontent;
Unto his aged Mother he did go,
Whose tender Heart was over-whelmd with Woe
His Mother straightway rose her Son to meet,
And presently fetchd him some food to eat:
Saying, youre melancholy, my dear Son,
Im sorry, he replyd, for what Ive done.
For Joy his aged Mother wept amain,
And will my Son his wickedness refrain,
That I may Comfort have in thee, my Son
But little did she think what he had done.
At length this cruel Wretch, so void of Grace,
He with his Hand did strike her on the Face,
And gaggd her Mouth in dismal Sort also,
And by the Hair, he draggd her to and fro.
Unto the Orchard he did drag her there,
And on a Tree hangd her up by the Hair;
Tying her aged Arms likewise behind,
Saying, Now thy Money Ill go find.
When he had taken all that he could find,
Unto his Harlot straightway he did hie,
And told her all the Things that he had done,
And how his Mother on a Tree hed hung.
She answerd, why did you not kill her too?
Come instantly, to London let us go,
He replyd, my Dear, it shall be so,
But God above the Matter all doth know.
Next Day one of his Neghbours did espy,
His Mother hanging on a Tree so high
The same did raise the Town, the Sight to see
Who took her breathless Corpse from off the Tree.
And running straightway for to call her Son,
As soon as eer unto the House they came,
They found it fastened, no Answer made,
Which put their Hearts in further Fear and Dread.
The Doors they then broke open with all Speed,
A Sight would make a Heart of Stone to bleed,
To see the Mother and her Infants dear,
Lie in their Gore, Lord! what a sight was there.
Murder, O Lord, is hateful to thy Sight,
Thy divine Providence brings it to Light,
The Murderer was taken on the Road,
And unto Justice brought with one Accord.
He was condemnd to suffer for the the same,
And after Death for to be hung in Chains:
As soon as he came to the fatal Tree,
He wept and wrung his hands most bitterly.
Saying Christians all, pray for my sinful Soul,
My Sins indeed are very gross and foul,
My Wife, my Mother, and my Children dear,
For Murdering them I now must suffer here.
My Infants Blood for Vengeance now doth cry,
My virtuous Wife she stands before my Eyes,
My aged Mother too, methinks I see:
You graceless Children all be ruld by me.
Besure you shun lewd Harlots Company,
You with a virtuous Wife may happy be;
But I, cruel Wretch! her Blood most dear did spill,
That never did nor thought me any Ill.
How can I cast my Eyes to Heaven high?
O blessed Saviour do not me deny:
I hope good Christians for my Soul youll pray,
When this he spoke, the Cart i[t] drew away.
You Parents, and likewise you Children pray,
Observe what I do say to you this Day;
You Children mind your Parents, serve the Lord,
A Crown of Glory will be your Reward.
Language
Language ballad is printed in
English
Method of Punishment
Method of punishment described in the ballad.
hanging in chains
Crime(s)
Crime or crimes for which the person in the ballad is convicted.
murder
Gender
Gender of the person being executed.
Male
Image / Audio Credit
British Library - Roxburghe, C.20.f.9.788; <a href="https://ebba.english.ucsb.edu/ballad/31485/image" target="_blank">EBBA 31485</a>
Digital Object
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Subtitle
BEING A full and true ACCOUNT of one Mr John Jones, a Gentleman's Son in Wiltshire, whose Father left him an Estate of twelve hundred Pounds a Year, and married a Lady of a great Fortune in the same Place, but being reduced to Poverty and Want with riotous Living, he killed his wife and Children, and afterwards hanged his Mother on a tree in the Orchard. With the last dying Words of this Wretch, who was hanged before his Mother's Door, July 30 last. PROVERBS, Chap. XXX. 17. The Eye that mocketh his Father, and despiseth to obey the Voice of his Mother the Ravens of the Valley shall pick it out, and the young Eagles shall eat it.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
THE DISOBEDIENT SON AND CRUEL HUSBAND.
English
hanging in chains
Male
murder
-
https://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/execution-ballads/files/original/cb47a60663cb151f6d9f7cdcca0a5987.jpg
3a19620cf61c3c5d33c2a0df7c9bd405
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
English Execution Ballads
Execution Ballad
Set to tune of...
Melody to which ballad is set.
<em>Banstead Downs</em>
Transcription
Transcription of ballad lyrics
Good People, do but lend an Ear,
And a sad Story you shall hear,
A sadder you never heard,
Of due Desert and base Reward,
Which will English Subjects fright
For our New Government to fight.
Our Seamen are the onely Men
That o'er the French did Vict'ry gain,
They kept the Foe from landing here,
Which would have cost the Court full dear;
And when they for their Pay did hope,
They were rewarded with a Rope.
The roaring Canon they ne'er fear'd,
Their Lives and Bloud they never spar'd;
Through Fire and Flame their Courage flew,
No Bullets could their Hearts subdue.
Had they in Fight but flincht at all.
King James had now been in Whitehall.
Thus England, and our New King too,
Their Safety to their Valour owe;
Nay, some did 'gainst their Conscience fight,
To do some Great Ones too much Right;
And now, oh barbarous Tyranny!
Like Men they fought, like Dogs they dye.
Thousands of them their Lives did lose
In fighting stoutly with their Foes,
And thousands wero so maim'd in Fight,
That 'twas a sad and piteous sight;
And when they hop'd their Pay to gain
They have their Labour for their Pain.
Their starving Families at home
Expected their slow Pay would come;
But our proud Court meant no such thing,
Not one Groat must they have till Spring;
To starve all Summer would not do;
They must still starve all Winter too.
It might a little ease their Grief,
And give their Mis'ry some relief,
Might they in Trade Ships outward go,
But that poor Boon's denied them too;
Which is as much as plain to say,
You shall earn nothing, nor have Pay.
Their poor Wives with Care languished,
Their Children cried for want of Bread,
Their Debts encreast, and none would more
Lend them, or let them run oth' score.
In such a case what could they doe
But ask those who did Money owe?
Therefore some bolder than the rest
The Officers for their Own request,
They call'd 'em Rogues, and said, Nothing
Was due to them untill the Spring:
The King had none for them they said,
Their Betters they must first be paid.
The honest Seamen then replied
They could no longer Want abide,
And that Nine hundred thousand Pound
Was giv'n last year to pay them round,
Their Money they had earnt full dear,
And could not stay another half Year.
A Council then they streight did call
Of Pick-thanks made to please Whitehall,
And there they were adjudg'd to dye;
But no Man knows wherefore, nor why.
What times are these! Was't ever known
Twas Death for Men to ask their own?
Yet some seem'd milder than the rest,
And told them, that their Fault confest,
And Pardon askt, and humbly crav'd,
Their Lives perhaps might then be sav'd:
But they their Cause scorn'd to betray,
Or own't a Crime to ask their Pay.
Thus they the Seamens Martyrs dyed,
And would not yield to unjust Pride,
Their Lives they rather would lay down
Than yield it sin to ask their own.
Thus they for Justice spent their Blood,
To do all future Seamen good.
Wherefore let Seamen all and some,
Keep the days of their Martyrdom,
And bear in mind these dismal times,
When true Men suffer for false Crimes;
England ne'er knew the like till now,
Nor e'er again the like will know.
But now suppose they had done ill,
In asking Pay too roughly, still
When 'twas their due, and Need so prest,
They might have Pardon found at least;
The King and Queen some mercifull call,
But Seamen find it not at all.
To Robbers, Thieves, and Felons, they
Freely grant Pardons ev'ry day;
Only poor Seamen, who alone
Do keep them in their Fathers Throne,
Must have at all no Mercy shown:
Nay, tho there wants fault, they'l find one.
Where is the Subjects Liberty?
And eke where is their Property?
We're forc'd to fight for nought, like Slaves,
And though we do, we're hang'd like Knaves.
This is not like Old Englands ways,
New Lords, new Laws, the Proverb says.
Besides the Seamans Pay, that's spent,
The King for Stores, Ships, and what's lent,
Does owe Seven Millions at the least,
And ev'ry year his Debt's encreast;
So that we may despair that we
One quarter of our Pay shall see.
Foreigners and Confederates
Get poor Men's Pay, rich Men's Estates;
Brave England does to ruine run,
And Englishmen must be undone.
If this Trade last but one half Year,
Our Wealth and Strength is spent, I fear.
God bless our noble Parliament,
And give them the whole Government,
That they may see we're worse than ever,
And us from lawless Rule deliver;
For England's sinking, unless they
Do take the Helm, and better sway.
Language
Language ballad is printed in
English
Date
Date of ballad
1691
Synopsis
Account of events that are the subject of the ballad
Singer decries punishment of sailors who have been deprived of pay, claiming they are martyrs, hanged for speaking up.
Method of Punishment
Method of punishment described in the ballad.
hanging
Gender
Gender of the person being executed.
Male
Tune Data
<em>Banstead Downs</em> (Simpson 1966, p. 122), is also known as <em>Come Live With Me and Be my Love</em> (Simpson 1966, p. 119-122).
Digital Object
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Image / Audio Credit
Magdalene College - Pepys Library, Pepys Ballads 5.375r-v; <a href="https://ebba.english.ucsb.edu/ballad/22198/image" target="_blank">EBBA 22198</a>
Subtitle
OR, The Seamen's sad Lamentation for their Faithful Service, Bad Pay, and Cruel Usage. Being a woeful Relation how some of them were unmercifully put to Death for pressing for their Pay, when their Families were like to starve. Thus our New Government does Subjects serve, And leaves them this sad choice to hang or starve. To the Tune of Banstead Downs.
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
The SEA-Martyrs;
English
hanging
Male
-
https://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/execution-ballads/files/original/4d887be589eae30482b76523e1568a6a.jpg
6ea2636cd14cbec999269fa17026ffdd
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
English Execution Ballads
Execution Ballad
Set to tune of...
Melody to which ballad is set.
<a href="https://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/execution-ballads/items/show/1134"><em>Fortune my Foe</em></a>
Transcription
Transcription of ballad lyrics
AY me, vile wretch, that ever I was borne,
Making my selfe unto the world a scorne:
And to my friends and kindred all a shame,
Blotting their blood by my unhappy name.
Unto a Gentleman of wealth and fame,
(One Master Arden, he was calld by name)
I wedded was with joy and great content,
Living at Feversham in famous Kent.
In love we livd, and great tranquility,
Untill I came in Mosb[i]es company,
Whose sugred tongue, good shape, and lovely looke,
Soone won my heart, and Ardens love forsooke.
And living thus in foule adultery,
Bred in my husband cause of jealousie,
And lest the world our actions should bewray,
Wee did consent to take his life away.
To London faire my Husband was to ride,
But ere he went I poyson did provide,
Got of a Painter which I promised
That Mosbies sister Susan he should wed.
Into his Broth I then did put the same,
He likt it not when to the boord it came,
Saying, Theres something in it is not so[un]d,
At which inragd, I flung it on the ground.
Yet ere he went, his man I did conjure,
Ere they came home, to make his Master sure,
And murder him, and for his faith and paine,
Susan, and store of gold that he should gaine.
Yet I misdoubting Michaels constancy,
Knowing a Neighbour that was dwelling by,
Which, to my husband bore no great good will,
Sought to incense him his deare blood to spill.
His name was Greene; O Master Green (quoth I)
My husband to you hath done injury,
For which I sorry am with all my heart,
And how he wrongeth me I will impart.
He keepes abroad most wicked company,
With whores and queanes, and bad society;
When he comes home, he beats me sides and head,
That I doe wish that one of us were dead.
And now to London he is rid to roare,
I would that I might never see him more:
Greene then incenst, did vow to be my friend,
And of his life he soone would make an end.
O Master Greene, said I, the dangers great,
You must be circumspect to doe this feat;
To act the deed your selfe there is no need,
But hire some villaines, they will doe the deed.
Ten pounds Ile give them to attempt this thing,
And twenty more when certaine newes they bring,
That he is dead, besides Ile be your friend,
In honest courtesie till life doth end.
Greene vowd to doe it; then away he went,
And met two Villaines, that did use in Kent
To rob and murder upon Shooters hill,
The one calld Shakebag, tother namd Black Will.
Two such like Villaines Hell did never hatch,
For twenty Angels they made up the match,
And forty more when they had done the deed,
Which made them sweare, theyd do it with al speed
Then up to London presently they hye,
Where Master Arden in Pauls Church they spy,
And waiting for his comming forth that night,
By a strange chance of him they then lost sight.
For where these Villaines stood & made their stop
A Prentice he was shutting up his shop,
The window falling, light on Blacke-Wills head,
And broke it soundly, that apace it bled.
Where straight he made a brabble and a coyle,
And my sweet Arden he past by the while;
They missing him, another plot did lay,
And meeting Michael, thus to him they say:
Thou knowst that we must packe thy Master hence
Therefore consent and further our pretence,
At night when as your Master goes to bed,
Leave ope the doores, he shall be murthered.
And so he did, yet Arden could not sleepe,
Strange dreames and visions in his senses creepe,
He dreamt the doores were ope, & Villaines came,
To murder him, and twas the very same.
The second part. To the same tune.
HE rose and shut the doore, his man he blames,
which cunningly he strait this answer frames;
I was so sleepy, that I did forget
To locke the doores, I pray you pardon it.
Next day these Ruffians met this man againe,
Who the whole story to them did explaine,
My master will in towne no longer stay,
To morrow you may meete him on the way.
Next day his businesse being finished,
He did take horse, and homeward then he rid,
And as he rid, it was his hap as then,
To overtake Lord Cheiney and his men.
With salutations they each other greet,
I am full glad your Honour for to meet,
Arden did say; then did the Lord reply,
Sir, I am glad of your good company.
And being that we homeward are to ride,
I have a suite that must not be denide,
That at my house youle sup, and lodge also,
To Feversham this night you must not goe.
Then Arden answered with this courteous speech,
Your Honours pardon now I doe beseech,
I made a vow, if God did give me life,
To sup and lodge with Alice my loving wife.
Well, said my Lord, your oath hath got the day,
To morrow come and dine with me, I pray.
Ile wait upon your Honour then (said he)
And safe he went amongst this company.
On Raymon-Downe, as they did passe this way,
Black-will, and Shakebag they in ambush lay,
But durst not touch him, cause of the great traine
That my Lord had: thus were they crost againe.
With horrid oathes these Ruffians gan to sweare,
They stampe and curst, and tore their locks of haire
Saying, some Angell surely him did keepe.
Yet vowd to murther him ere they did sleepe.
Now all this while my husband was away,
Mosby and I did revell night and day;
And Susan, which my waiting maiden was,
My Loves owne sister, knew how all did passe.
But when I saw my Arden was not dead,
I welcomd him, but with a heavy head:
To bed he went, and slept secure from harmes,
But I did wish my Mosby in my armes.
Yet ere he slept, he told me he must goe
To dinner to my Lords, heed have it so;
And that same night Blacke-will did send me word,
What lucke bad fortune did to them offord.
I sent him word, that he next day would dine
At the Lord Cheinies, and would rise betime,
And on the way their purpose might fulfill,
Well, Ile reward you, when that you him kill.
Next morne betimes, before the breake of day,
To take him napping then they tooke their way;
But such a mist and fog there did arise,
They could not see although they had foure eyes.
Thus Arden scapd these villaines where [?]
And yet they heard his horse goe by that way,
I thinke (said Will) some Spirit is his friend,
Come life or death, I vow to see his end.
Then to my house they strait did take their way,
Telling me how they missed of their pray;
Then presently, we did together gree,
At night at home that he should murdered be.
Mosby and I, and all, our plot thus lay,
That he at Tables should with Arden play,
Black-will, and Sakebag they themselves should hide
Untill that Mosby he a watchword cride.
The word was this whereon we did agree,
Now (Master Arden) I have taken ye:
Woe to that word, and woe unto us all,
Which bred confusion and our sudden fall.
When he came home, most welcome him I made,
And Judas like I kist whom I betraide,
Mosby and he together went to play,
For I on purpose did the tables lay.
And as they plaid, the word was straightway spoke,
Blacke-Will and Sakebag out the corner broke,
And with a Towell backwards puld him downe,
which made me think they now my joyes did crowne
With swords and knives they stabd him to the heart
Mosby and I did likewise act our part,
And then his body straight we did convey
Behind the Abbey in the field he lay.
And then by Justice we were straight condemnd,
Each of us came unto a shamelesse end,
For God our secret dealings soone did spy,
And brought to light our shamefull villany.
Thus have you heard of Ardens tragedy,
It rests to shew you how the rest did die:
His wife at Canterbury she was burnt,
And all her flesh and bones to ashes turnd.
Mosby and his faire Sister, they were brought
To London for the trespasse they had wrought,
In Smithfield on a gibbet they did die.
A just reward for all their villanie,
Michael and Bradshaw, which a Goldsmith was,
That knew of letters which from them did passe,
At Feversham were hanged both in chaines,
And well rewarded for their faithfull paines.
The painter fled none knowes how he did speed,
Sakebag in Southwarke he to death did bleed,
For as he thought to scape and ran away,
He suddenly was murdered in a fray.
In Kent at Osbridge, Greene did suffer death,
Hangd on a gibbet he did lose his breath:
Blacke-Will at Flushing on a stage did burne,
Thus each one came unto his end by turne.
And thus my story I conclude and end,
Praying the Lord that he his grace will send
Upon us all, and keepe us all from ill,
Amen say all, ift be thy blessed will.
Language
Language ballad is printed in
English
Date
Date of ballad
1610-1638 ?
Notes
Additional information related to the ballad pamphlet or related events
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Arden" target="_blank">Wikipedia: </a> Thomas Arden, or Arderne, was a successful businessman in the early Tudor period. Born in 1508, probably in Norwich, Arden took advantage of the tumult of the Reformation to make his fortune, trading in the former monastic properties dissolved by Henry VIII in 1538. In fact, the house in which he was murdered (which is still standing in Faversham) was a former guest house of Faversham Abbey, the Benedictine abbey near the town. His wife Alice had taken a lover, a man of low status named Mosby; together, they plotted to murder her husband. After several bungled attempts on his life, two ex-soldiers from the former English dominion of Calais known as Black Will and Loosebag (called Shakebag in the play) were hired and continued to make botched attempts. Arden was finally killed in his own home on 14 February 1551, and his body was left out in a field during a snowstorm, hoping that the blame would fall on someone who had come to Faversham for the St Valentine's Day fair. The snowfall stopped, however, before the killers' tracks were covered, and the tracks were followed back to the house. Bloodstained swabs and rushes were found, and the killers quickly confessed. Alice and Mosby were put on trial and convicted of the crime; he was hanged and she burnt at the stake in 1551. Black Will may also have been burnt at the stake after he had fled to Flanders: the English records state he was executed in Flanders, while the Flemish records state he was extradited to England. Loosebag escaped and was never heard of again. Other conspirators were hanged in chains. One - George Bradshaw, who was convicted by an obscure passage in a sealed letter he had delivered - was wrongly convicted and posthumously acquitted.
Printing Location
Location the ballad pamphlet was printed.
Printed at London for C.W.
Method of Punishment
Method of punishment described in the ballad.
burning, hanging, hanging in chains,
Crime(s)
Crime or crimes for which the person in the ballad is convicted.
murder
Gender
Gender of the person being executed.
Multiple
Execution Location
Location the condemned was executed.
Various: Canterbury (burning), Smithfield (hanging), Feversham (hanging in chains), Osbridge in Kent (hanging)
Digital Object
<iframe src="https://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/execution-ballads/files/fullsize/4d887be589eae30482b76523e1568a6a.jpg" frameborder="0" scrolling="yes" width="600" height="500"></iframe>
Image / Audio Credit
British Library - Roxburghe, C.20.f.9.156-157; <a href="https://ebba.english.ucsb.edu/ballad/30458/image" target="_blank">EBBA 30458</a>
Subtitle
who for the loue of one Mosbie, hired certaine Ruffians and Villaines most cruelly to murder her Husband; with the fatall end of her and her Associats.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
The complaint and lamentation of Mistresse Arden of Feversham in Kent,
burning
English
Female
hanging
hanging in chains
Male
murder
-
https://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/execution-ballads/files/original/de5ede78388b4b523581775b7a583796.jpg
505c0537673c1981f8062f6237fe8cae
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
English Execution Ballads
Execution Ballad
Transcription
Transcription of ballad lyrics
I AM a blade that hath no trade, Most people do adore me,
And I can hector, swagger, and lie, And drive a town before me.
I have a wife of wanton strife, She drives me to trapan, Sir,
I nothing say, but hike my way, There goes the Swaggering Man, Sir.
With my silk hose, and square toed shoes, I hector, swear, and swagger;
And every coxcomb that I meet, I push him with my dagger.
At cards and dice I am the man, I am the noted gamester;
I love my health, and cock my felt, There goes the Swaggering Man, Sir.
O then I go to the Royal Exchange, Where merchants they are walking;
All this seems something odd to me, They idly are talking;
But if a purse, or a gold watch, Come by the slight of hand, Sir,
I nothing say, but hike my way, There goes the swaggering Man, Sir.
From thence I to the tavern go, Where a waiter does attend me,
I call for liquor of the best, The ladies do commend me.
Behind the door there stands my score, The shot they do demand, Sir,
I nothing say, but hike my way, There goes the Swaggering Man, Sir.
From thence I go to Pater-noster-row, Where they deal in silk and sattin;
I pay for one and hike off three, All this is no false latin;
But if I am catchd, O then Im snatchd, And obliged to give an answer,
Im guilty found, and must come down, From being a Swaggering Man, Sir.
But now I have spent, all my means, Among those rakish fellows;
And am at last condemnd and cast, To hang upon yon gallows:
I sail to Tyburn in a cart, My body to advance, Sir,
The ladies cry as I pass by, Dont hang the Swaggering Man, Sir.
Language
Language ballad is printed in
English
Method of Punishment
Method of punishment described in the ballad.
hanging
Crime(s)
Crime or crimes for which the person in the ballad is convicted.
robbery, theft
Gender
Gender of the person being executed.
Male
Execution Location
Location the condemned was executed.
Tyburn
Digital Object
<iframe src="https://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/execution-ballads/files/fullsize/de5ede78388b4b523581775b7a583796.jpg" frameborder="0" scrolling="yes" width="400" height="600"></iframe>
Image / Audio Credit
British Library - Roxburghe, C.20.f.9.484; <a href="https://ebba.english.ucsb.edu/ballad/31180/image" target="_blank">EBBA 31180</a>
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
THE Swaggering Man.
English
hanging
Male
robbery
theft
-
https://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/execution-ballads/files/original/d134768fcc513ba4022e4dfe8f544ad4.jpg
d5c9a3cdef0c6fc6dbaa895e3e968846
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
English Execution Ballads
Execution Ballad
Transcription
Transcription of ballad lyrics
GOOD Lord John is a hunting gone,
Over the Hills and Dales so far,
For to take Sir Hugh in the Grime.
For stealing of the Bishops mare
He derry derry down
Hugh in the Grime was taken then,
And Carried to Carlisle town;
the merry Women came out amain,
Saying the name of Grime shall never go down
He derry derry dow
O then a Jury of Women was brought,
Of the best that could be found
Eleven of them spoke all at once,
Saying the name of Grime shall never go down
he derry derry down
And then a Jury of men was brought,
More the pity for to be;
Eleven of them spoke all at once,
Saying Hugh in the Grime you are guilty etc
Hugh in the Grime was Cast to be hangd,
Many of his Friends did for him leet,
For 15 foot in the Prisin he did Jump,
With his hands tyed fast behind his back etc.
then bespoke our good lady Ward,
As she set on the Bench so high,
A peck of white pennys ill give to my lord
If hell grant Hugh Grime to me, he etc.
And if it be not full enough,
Ill stroke it up with my Silver Fan,
And if it be not full enough,
Ill heap it up with my own hand, etc.
Hold your tongue now lady Ward,
And of Your talkitive let it be
there is never a Grime came in this Court
That at thy biding shall saved be,
then bespoke our good lady Moor,
As she sat on the Bench so high
A Yoke of Fat Oxen ill give to my lord
If hell grant Hugh Grime to me, etc.
Hold Your tongue now good lady Moor,
and of Your talkitive let it be,
there is never a Grime came to this Court,
that at thy biding shall saved be, etc.
Sir Hugh in the Grime lookd out of the door
With his hand out of the Bar,
there he spyd his Father dear
tearing of his Golden Hair. he derry, etc
Hold your Tongue good Father dear,
And of your weeping let it be
For if they hereave me of my life;
they cannot bereave me of the Heavens so high
Sir Hugh in the Grime lookd out at the door
Oh! what a sorry heart had he
There spyd his Mother dear,
Weeping and wailing Oh! woe is me, etc.
Hold Your tongue now Mother dear
And of Your weeping let it be;
For if they bereave me of my life,
they cannot bereave me of Heavens Fee, etc.
Ill leave my Sword to Johnny Armstrong
That is made of Mettal so fine:
That when he comes to the Border side;
he may think of Hugh in the Grime. he derry etc
Language
Language ballad is printed in
English
Date
Date of ballad
1741-1762 ?
Synopsis
Account of events that are the subject of the ballad
Sir Hugh in the Grime (Hughie Graeme or Graham) stole a mare from the Bishop of Carlisle, by way of retaliation for the Bishop's seduction of his wife. He was pursued by Lord Scroop, taken, and conveyed to Carlisle and hanged.
Scott suggested that Hugh Graham may have been one of four hundred Borderers accused to the Bishop of Carlisle of various murders and thefts about 1548.
Notes
Additional information related to the ballad pamphlet or related events
<strong>From <a href="http://mysongbook.de/msb/songs/h/hughtheg.html" target="_blank">Henry's Songbook:</a></strong><br /><br /><em>Hugh the Graeme</em><br /><ul><li>(Trad)
<p>Our lords hae to the hunting gane<br />A-hunting o' the fallow dear<br />And they hae gripped Hughie Graham<br />For stealing o' the bishop's mare</p>
<p>Well lowse my right hand free, he said<br />And put my brand intae the same<br />He's ne'er in Carlisle toon the day<br />Daur tell the tale tae Hughie Graham</p>
<p>They've ta'en him tae the gallows hill<br />And he looke`d up at the gallows tree<br />Yet ne'er did colour leave his cheek<br />Nor did he even blink his ee</p>
<p>And ye may gie my brother James<br />My sword that's bent in the middle clear<br />And bid him come at twelve o'clock<br />To see me pay the bishop's mare</p>
<p>And ye may gie to my brother John<br />My sword that's bent in the middle broon<br />And bid him come at two o'clock<br />To see his brother Hugh cut down</p>
<p>And ye may tell my kith and kin<br />I never did disgrace their blood<br />And if they meet the bishop's cloak<br />To mak' it shorter by the hood</p>
</li>
</ul>
[1880:] There are two editions of [this song], one of which was supplied by Burns to The Scots Musical Museum. It was obtained by Burns from oral tradition in Ayrshire, but the poet touched up some of the stanzas, and added the third and the eighth [nos. 2 and 3 above]. The other copy was obtained by Scott from his friend Laidlaw, and was published in the Minstrelsy. There is a ballad entitled The Life and Death of Sir Hugh of the Grime in D'Urfey's Pills to Purge Melancholy, which contains practically the same story. The story upon which the ballad is supposed to be founded is a traditional one, and is to the effect that Aldridge, the Bishop of Carlisle, about 1560 seduced the wife of Hugh Graham, one of the chiefs of the Border, and Graham, unable to bring the prelate to justice, made a raid, and with other spoil carried off a fine mare belonging to Aldridge. He was pursued by Sir John Scroope, captured and brought back to Carlisle, where he was hanged for felony. All attempts to save his life failed, and popular tradition attributes the stubbornness of the Bishop to his desire to get rid of the chief obstacle of his guilty passion. The Bishop was no favourite, and hence probably the animus against him in the ballad; for, as a rule, the old ballad mongers were not very hard upon lawless lovers. <br /><br />[In Burns' version,] Stirling, and not Carlisle, is made the scene of the execution [...]. It was for the Bishop's 'honour' that Hughie must die, the word honour perhaps suggesting that the Bishop's 'mare' had a meaning which may be easily conjectured. [The] ballad ends with the fierce dying words of Hughie <br /><br />Remember me to Maggy my wife <br />The niest time ye gang o'er the moor <br />Tell her she staw the Bishop's mare <br />Tell her she was the Bishop's whore <br />And ye may tell my kith and kin <br />I never did disgrace their blood <br />And when they meet the Bishop's cloak <br />To mak' it shorter by the hood <br /><br />Tradition does not say whether these dying injunctions were fulfilled, but if they were not it may certainly be assumed that it was not out of want of disposition on the part of the Grahams to revenge the death of Hughie upon the Bishop. (Ord, Glasgow Weekly Herald, July 10) <br /><br />[1964:] We do not know if Hugh Graeme, the border raider, is a figure of history or fiction. Several versions of the ballad set the scene of his plundering activities in the neighbourhood of Carlisle, and we are reminded that in 1548, complaints were laid to the Lord Bishop of Carlisle against more than four hundred freebooters and outlaws, of whom Hugh may have been one. The present version places the action further north, in the neighbourhood of 'Strievelin toun' (Stirling), but as with the Border versions, the sympathies are all with the bad-man and all against the authorities. Hugh was perhaps unusually well-favoured in having the Earl of Home's wife to speak up for him, though her intervention was fruitless. <br /><br />The earliest printed form of the ballad appears - a little surprisingly, perhaps - in the compilation of mainly saucy songs known as Durfey's 'Pills to Purge Melancholy' (1720), but it was already quite an old song then. Once common, the ballad seems to have become very rare in tradition. Only one version is reported in the twentieth century, obtained by the diligent Scottish collector Gavin Greig from Mrs. Lyall of Skene, near Aberdeen. Mrs. Lyall's excellent Dorian tune is the one used here by Ewan MacColl. (Notes Ewan MacColl & A. L. Lloyd, 'English and Scottish Folk Ballads') <br /><br />- Susanne Kalweit and Henry Kochlin
Printing Location
Location the ballad pamphlet was printed.
London: Printed and sold by L. How.
Crime(s)
Crime or crimes for which the person in the ballad is convicted.
poaching
Gender
Gender of the person being executed.
Male
Method of Punishment
Method of punishment described in the ballad.
hanging
Execution Location
Location the condemned was executed.
Carlisle
Digital Object
<iframe src="https://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/execution-ballads/files/fullsize/d134768fcc513ba4022e4dfe8f544ad4.jpg" frameborder="0" scrolling="yes" width="800" height="400"></iframe>
Image / Audio Credit
British Library - Roxburghe, C.20.f.9.456-457; <a href="https://ebba.english.ucsb.edu/ballad/31128/image" target="_blank">EBBA 31129</a>
Subtitle
OR A New Song made on Sir Hugh in the Grime, who was Hang'd for stealing the Bishops Mare.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Sir Hugh in the Grimes Downfall.
English
Male
poaching
-
https://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/execution-ballads/files/original/17f921c8806b86a2659518f34df304f4.jpg
e4ccdde8a3a4248b6ef0f7dbab987f94
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
English Execution Ballads
Execution Ballad
Set to tune of...
Melody to which ballad is set.
<em><a href="https://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/execution-ballads/items/show/1173">The Rich Merchant Man</a></em>
Transcription
Transcription of ballad lyrics
ALL youths of fair England, that dwell both far and neer,
Regard my story that I tell,
and to my song give ear:
A London Lad I was, a Merchants Prentice bound,
My name George Barnwel who did spend my master many a pound.
Take heed of Harlots then, and their inticing trains,
For by that means I have been brought, to hang alive in chains.
As I upon a day
was walking through the street,
About my masters business, I did a wanton meet:
A dainty gallant Dame, and sumptuous in attire,
With smiling looks she greeted me
and did my name require.
Which when I had declard, she gave me then a kiss,
And said, if I would come to her, I should have more then this.
In faith my boy, quoth she, such news I can thee tell,
As shall rejoyce thy very heart, then come where I do dwell.
Fair Mistris, then said I, if I the place may know,
This evening I will be with you, for I abroad must go,
To gather money in, that is my masters due,
And ere that I do home return, ile come and visit you.
Good Barnwel then, quoth she, do thou to Shoreditch come,
And ask for Mrs. Milwood there, next door unto the Gun.
And trust me on my truth, if thou keep troth with me,
For thy friends sake, as my own heart, thou shalt right welcome be.
Thus parted we in peace, and home I passed right,
Then went abroad and gathered in by five a clock at night:
A hundred pound and one, with bag under mine arm,
I went to Mrs. Milwoods house and thought on little harm:
And knocking at the door, straightway her self came down,
Ruffling in most brave attire, her Hoods and silken gown:
Who through her beauty bright, so gloriously did shine,
That she amazd my dazling eyes, she seemed so divine.
She took me by the hand, and with a modest grace,
Welcome sweet Barnwel than, quod she, unto this homely place:
Welcome ten th[o]usand times, more welcome then my brother,
And better welcome I protest, then any one or other:
And seeing I have thee found as good as thy word to be,
A homely supper er thou part, thou shalt here take with me.
O pardon me, quoth I, fair Mistris I you pray,
For why out of my Masters house, so long I dare not stay.
Alas, good sir, she said. art thou so strictly tyd,
You may not with your dearest friend
one hour or two abide?
Fath then the case is hard if it be so, quoth she,
I would I were a Prentice bound to live in house with thee.
Therefore my sweetest George, list well what I do say,
And do not blame a woman much, her fancy to bewray:
Let not affections force
be counted lewd desire,
Nor think it not immodesty, I would thy love require.
With that she turnd aside,
and with a blushing red,
A mournful motion she bewrayd, by holding down her head.
A Handkerchief she had,
all wrought with silk and gold,
which she to stop her trickling tears against her eyes did hold.
This thing unto my sight, was wondrous rare and strange;
& in my mind and inward thoughts it wrought a sudden change:
That I so hardy was,
to take her by the hand,
Saying, sweet Mistris, why do you so sad and heavy stand?
Call me not Mistris now, but Sara thy true friend,
Thy servant Sara honouring thee, until her life doth end.
If thou wouldst here alledge thou art in years a Boy,
So was Adonis, yet was he, fair Venus love and joy.
Thus I that ner before,
of Woman found such grace,
And seeing now so fair a Dame,
give me a kind imbrace:
I supt with her that night, with joys that did abound,
And for the same paid presently, in Money twice three pound.
A hundred Kisses then for my farewel she gave,
Saying, sweet Barnwel, when shall I again thy company have?
O stay not too long my dear, sweet George have me in mind,
her words bewitcht my childishness she uttered them so kind,
So that I made a vow, next Sunday without fail,
With my sweet Sara once again, to tell some pleasant tale.
When she heard me say I, the tears fell from her eyes,
O George, quoth she, if thou dost fail thy Sara sure will dye:
Though long, yet loe at last, the pointed time was come,
That I must with my Sara meet, having a mighty sum
Of money in my hand, unto her house went I.
Whereas my love, upon her bed, in saddest sort did lye.
What ails my hearts delight, my Sara dear, quoth he,
Let not my love lament and grieve nor sighing pain and dye.
But tell to me my dearest friend, what may thy woes amend,
& thou shalt lack no means of help, though forty pounds I spend:
With that she turnd her head, and sickly thus did say,
O my sweet George my grief is great, ten pounds I have to pay,
Unto a cruel wretch, and God he knows, quoth she,
I have it not, tush, rise, quoth I, and take it here of me:
Ten pounds, nor ten times ten, shall make my love decay,
Then from his bag into her lap, he cast ten pounds straight way.
All blith and pleasant then,
to banqueting they go,
She proffered him to lye with her, and said it should be so:
And after that same time, I gave her store of Coyn,
Yea, sometimes fifty pound at once, all which I did purloyn:
And thus I did pass on, until my master then,
Did call to have his reckoning in, cast up amongst his men.
The which when as I heard, I knew not what to say,
For well I knew that I was out, two hundred pound that day:
Then from my master streight, I run in secret sort,
And unto Sara Milwood then my state I did report:
But how she usd this Youth, in this his extream need,
The which did her necessity, so oft with money feed:
The second part behold shall tell it forth at large;
And shall a Strumpets willy ways
with all her tricks discharge.
The Second Part, to the same Tune.
HEre comes young Barnwel unto,
sweet Sara his delight,
I am undone, except thou stand my faithful friend this night:
Our Master to command accounts, hath just occasion found,
And I am come behind the hand, almost two hundred pound:
And therefore knowing not at all what answer for to make,
And his displeasure to escape, my way to thee I take:
Hoping in this extreamity thou wilt my succour be,
That for a time I may remain in secret here with thee.
with that she knit & bent her brows and looking all aquoy,
Quoth she, what should I have to do with any Prentice-boy?
And seeing you have purloynd and got your Masters goods away,
The case is bad, and therefore here,
I mean thou shalt not stay.
why sweetheart thou knowst, I said, that all which I did get;
I gave it, and did spend it all, upon thee every whit.
Thou knowst I loved thee so well, thou couldst not ask the thing,
But that I did incontinent the same unto thee bring.
Quod she, thou art a paultry Jack, to charge me in this sort,
Being a Woman of credit good, and known of good report;
And therefore this I tell thee flat, be packing with good speed,
I do defie thee from my heart, and scorn thy filthy deed.
Is this the love & friendship which thou didst to me protest?
Is this the great affection which you seemed to express?
Now fie on all deceitful shews, the best is I may speed,
To get a lodging any where, for money in my need:
Therefore false woman now fare-well while twenty pound doth last
My anchor in some other Haven I will with wisdom cast.
When she perceived by his words that he had money store,
That she had gauld him in such sort it grievd her heart full sore:
Therefore to call him back again she did suppose it best,
Stay George, quod she, thou art too quick why man I do but jest.
thinkst thou for all my passed speech that I would let thee go?
Faith no, quoth she, my love to thee
I wis is more then so:
you will not deal with prentice boys I heard you even now swear,
Therefore I will not trouble you my George herk in thine ear,
Thou shalt not go this night quod she what chance so er befall,
But man wel have a bed for thee, or else the Devil take all.
Thus I that was with Wiles be-witchd & snard with fancy still,
Had not the power to put away, or to withstand her will.
Then wine and wine I called in,
and cheer upon good cheer,
And nothing in the world I thought for Sarahs love too dear:
Whilst I was in her company, in joy and merriment,
And all too little I did think, that I upon her spent,
A fig for care or careful thought when all my gold is gone,
In faith my girl we will have more, whoever it light upon:
My fathers rich, why then, quoth I should I want any gold?
With a father indeed (quoth she) a Son may well be bold:
I have a Sister richly wed, that ile rob ere ile want;
Why then quod Sara they may well consider of your scant:
nay more then this an Uncle I have at Ludlow he doth dwell,
He is a Grasier, which in wealth, doth all the rest excell.
Ere I will live in lack (quoth he) and have no coyn for thee,
Ile rob the churl and murder him, why should you not (quoth she.)
Ere I would want were I a man, or live in poor estate,
On father, friends, and all my kin, I would my talents grate.
For without mony, George, (quod she) a man is but a beast,
And bringing money thou shalt be always my chiefest guest:
For say thou shouldst pursued be with twenty hues and cries,
And with a Warrant searched for with Argos hundred eyes:
Yet in my house thou shalt be safe, such privy ways there be,
That if they sought an 100 years, they could not find out thee.
And so carousing in their cups, their pleasure to content,
George Barnwel had in little space his money wholly spent.
Which being done to Ludlow then, he did provide to go,
To rob his wealthy Uncle then,
his Minion would it so:
and once or twice he thought to take his father by the way,
but that he thought his Master there took order for his stay.
Directly to his Uncle then, he rode with might and main,
where with good welcome, and good cheer he did him entertain:
A Sennets space he stayed there, until it chanced so,
His Uncle with fat Cattel did unto a Market go.
His Kinsman needs must ride with him and when he saw right plain
Great store of Money he had took, in coming home again,
Most suddenly within a Wood, he struck his Uncle down,
And beat his brains out of his head, so sore he crackt his crown:
And fourscore pound in ready coyn, out of his Purse he took,
And comming unto London strait, the Country quite forsook.
To Sara Milwood then he came, shewing his store of gold,
And how he had his Uncle slain, to her he plainly told.
Tush, tis no matter George, quod she so we the money have,
To have good cheer in jolly sort, and deck us fine and brave.
And thus they livd in filthy sort, till all his store was gone,
And means to get them any more, I wis poor George had none.
And therefore now in railing sort she thrust him out of door,
Which is the just reward they get that spend upon a Whore.
O do me not this vile disgrace, in this my need (quoth he)
She calld him thief and murderer with all the spight might be.
And to the Constable she went, to have him apprehended,
And shewd in each degree how far, he had the law offended.
When Barnwel saw her drift, to sea he got straightway,
Where fear and dread, & conscience sting, upon him still doth stay.
Unto the Mayor of London then, he did a Letter write,
Wherein his own and Saras faults he did at large recite.
Whereby she apprehended was,
and then to Ludlow sent,
Where she was judgd, condemnd & hangd for murder incontinent,
and there this gallant quean did die this was her greatest gains,
For murder in Polonia
was Barnwel hangd in chains.
Lo heres the end of wilful youth, that after Harlots haunt,
Who in the spoyl of other men, about the streets do flaunt.
Language
Language ballad is printed in
English
Date
Date of ballad
1674-1679
Notes
Additional information related to the ballad pamphlet or related events
see also: (1780-1812) http://bodley24.bodley.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/acwwweng/ballads/image.pl?ref=Harding+B+1%2818%29&id=00019.gif&seq=1&size=0 <br /><br />and: http://bodley24.bodley.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/acwwweng/ballads/image.pl?ref=Firth+c.17%2872%29&id=18762.gif&seq=1&size=1 <br /><br /><a href="http://www.mustrad.org.uk/articles/bbals_20.htm" target="_blank">Cf. The Unfaithful Servant: </a>17. For George Barnwell as black-letter ballad see Coles, F, Vere, T and Gilbertson, W in Bodleian Allegro archive as Wood 401(77); for other printings, same source, Aldermary Church Yard as Harding B 1(17), from c.Brown in London as Douce Ballads 3(40a), J. Evans in London (41 Long Lane), same source, as Harding B. 1(18) and Keys in Devonport, same source, as Firth b. 25(503).
Printing Location
Location the ballad pamphlet was printed.
Printed for F. Coles, T. Vere J. Wright, and J. Clarke
Method of Punishment
Method of punishment described in the ballad.
hanging, hanging in chains
Crime(s)
Crime or crimes for which the person in the ballad is convicted.
robbery, murder
Gender
Gender of the person being executed.
Multiple
Execution Location
Location the condemned was executed.
Ludlow and Polonia
Image / Audio Credit
British Library - Roxburghe, C.20.f.9.26-27; <a href="https://ebba.english.ucsb.edu/ballad/30382/image" target="_blank">EBBA 30382</a>; Also in <a href="http://bodley24.bodley.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/acwwweng/ballads/image.pl?ref=Douce+Ballads+3%2840a%29&id=15627.gif&seq=1&size=0" target="_blank">Bodleian</a>
Digital Object
<iframe src="https://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/execution-ballads/files/fullsize/17f921c8806b86a2659518f34df304f4.jpg" frameborder="0" width="500" height="420"></iframe>
Subtitle
an Apprentice of London, who was undone by a Strumpet, who having thrice robbed his Master, and murdered his Uncle in Ludlow, was hanged in Chains in Polonia, and by the means of a Letter sent from his own hand to the Mayor of London, she was hang'd at Ludlow.
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Title
A name given to the resource
An Excellent Ballad of George Barnwel,
English
Female
hanging
hanging in chains
Male
murder
robbery
-
https://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/execution-ballads/files/original/d81897b4f751d0cc92ab569f3ef42e4f.jpg
1a08b44ae258094211b1ac8b1c4d6913
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
English Execution Ballads
Execution Ballad
Set to tune of...
Melody to which ballad is set.
<em>Fond</em><em> Boy</em>
Transcription
Transcription of ballad lyrics
N Ow, now loving People be pleas'd to draw near,
For a dismal Relation at large you shall hear,
How the innocent Blood of a Damsel was shed,
A Youth mortally wounded, the Murtherers fled;
Yet at length being seiz'd, they to Justice was brought,
At a time when all danger was past, as they thought.
The manner how they did this Murther commit,
And the time they escap'd, to the World I have writ,
That it may be a warning to others this day,
Therefore listen a while to this Ditty I pray,
In the Town of fair Slatburn a Widow did dwell,
Who had an [?] only Daughter she loved right well.
She had but that Daughter, not any Child more;
Now for her she had gather'd up Riches great store,
In broad pieces of Gold, nay, and Silver likewise;
Now the Thieves being told of this wonderful Prize,
They were never at rest, but did constantly wait
For a fit oppertunity, early and late.
While these cruel Ruffins in close ambush lay,
Like the Fox, or fierce Lyon that wait for their Prey;
The good Woman went forth, leaving no one within
But a Youth and her Daughter; the Thieves did begin
For to enter the House, and was desperate too,
And a sad bloody Slaughter did straightways ensue.
The poor frighted Damsel did trembling stand,
One of them did come to her with Pistol in hand,
And discharged the same through the midst of her head,
Blood and brains both did follow, she fell down for dead;
Yet they pinn'd he likewise with a Sword to the ground,
And the Youth that was with her receiv'd his death's wound.
Now while the young Damsel lay bath'd in her blood,
Which did flow from her Veins like a deluge or flood;
Oh! these murderous Thieves they were pleas'd to make bold
With the best of Apparel, nay, Silver and Gold,
For they rifl'd the House to replenish their store,
And was never discover'd for two Years and more.
This was to the Mother a dreadful surprize,
For to see the young Youth and her Daughter likewise,
In that bloody condition, both wreaking in gore,
Then she bitterly screak'd when she enter'd the door,
For her Daughter she found with the Sword in her side,
I am ruin'd, I'm ruin'd, her Mother she cry'd.
A young Man that had been in league with his Maid,
For the space of two Years he did lay by his Trade,
Ever searching for them, and by Fortune at last
They were taken and try'd, their head Ring-leader cast,
A ruff Villain, bold Henry Grigson by name,
He confessed the Murther, and dy'd for the same.
At length being brought to the place of his Death,
Where he was to surrender and yield up his breath,
He besought all the People that stood round him there,
For to joyn with him then in the Duty of Prayer,
That the Lord would be pleased his Sins to forgive,
So his Soul may in Heaven eternally live.
Then mounting the Ladder he bitterly wept,
Fare you well the bad Company which I have kept,
You have ruined me, for my Life's at an end;
Loving Father of Heaven on thee I depend,
For thy Mercies are many I needs must confess;
Let my Sins be forgiven tho' I did transgress.
Language
Language ballad is printed in
English
Date
Date of ballad
1685
Printing Location
Location the ballad pamphlet was printed.
London: Printed for I Blare, on London-bridge.
Method of Punishment
Method of punishment described in the ballad.
hanging
Crime(s)
Crime or crimes for which the person in the ballad is convicted.
murder
Gender
Gender of the person being executed.
Male
Execution Location
Location the condemned was executed.
York
Digital Object
<iframe src="https://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/execution-ballads/files/fullsize/d81897b4f751d0cc92ab569f3ef42e4f.jpg" frameborder="0" scrolling="yes" width="600" height="400"></iframe>
Image / Audio Credit
Magdalene College - Pepys Library, Pepys Ballads 2.182; <a href="https://ebba.english.ucsb.edu/ballad/20798/image" target="_blank">EBBA 20798</a>
Subtitle
GIVING An Account of a Barbarous Murther Committed on the Bodies of a young Man and Maid, by Thieves, who made their escape, and was not found in two Years after; and then being apprehended, they were Arraigned, and their Ring-leader found Guilty; for which he received the due Sentence of Death, and was accordingly Executed at York late Sizes.
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Title
A name given to the resource
The York-shire Tragedy:
English
hanging
Male
murder
-
https://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/execution-ballads/files/original/dcc96f154638154d242452c4403fc2c1.jpg
c61d61963180b3c2ad9cca9b584e0910
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
English Execution Ballads
Execution Ballad
Set to tune of...
Melody to which ballad is set.
<em>The little Fishes in the Deep, knows no such Liberty</em>
Transcription
Transcription of ballad lyrics
DELL 's Mistris dear, with Carret hair, her Love his Wisdom drown'd;
But he was Hanged at Tyburn strong, caused sorrows to abound.
My sorrow is great for his sad fate, for loss of my dear Friend;
I wish I had him by my side, sorrows would have an end.
Be gone, be gone, fond thoughts be gone, and give your sorrows o're;
My Friend that I expected down will never come no more.
Which makes my heart within me burn,
to think how I am down;
For once I was belov'd I thought, by the Wisest of the Town.
My Neighbours make a scoff at me, and Laugh at my own Door;
Because he's Hang'd that was my Friend, and will never come no more.
If my dear Friend was here again, that stands in Chirargions Hall,
My Neighbours durst not scoff at me, for he'd a plagu'd them all.
He plagu'd poor men to maintain me, and thus he led his Life,
And all was for the Love of she, that is the Taylors Wife.
He put his Father Ball to Nurse, to Deans that was his Friend:
But for the Riches that he had, he come by his sad end.
Dell Murthered his Father dear, his Brother, and his Wife:
For since they come to Edger Town, 'twas I that caus'd the strife.
His Company was as sweet to me, as Roses are in June ,
I thought he was the wisest Man, that was in Edger Town.
The Spirit of his Murthered Wife,
appears to each Man's sight,
No comfort in the World she had, as he did lead his Life
This Song is made of Dell my friend, that Kill'd his Brother Ball ,
And I which am the Taylors wife, I was the cause of all.
Since that I can't Revenged be,
of those that seek my fall,
I wish I were with my dear Friend, that stands in Surgeons Hall.
Language
Language ballad is printed in
English
Date
Date of ballad
1674-1679
Notes
Additional information related to the ballad pamphlet or related events
After half an hour or so, the now lifeless bodies were cut down and claimed by friends and relatives or sent for dissection at Surgeons' Hall. Fights often broke out between the rival parties over possession of the bodies. (Prior to the Murder Act of 1752, surgeons were allowed 10 bodies per year, after that they got the bodies of all murderers as well). Wealthier criminals provided coffins for themselves, the poorer ones often could not afford these. It was not unusual for their friends and relatives to sell the bodies to dissectionists.
Printing Location
Location the ballad pamphlet was printed.
London , Printed for F. Coles, T. Vere, J. W[right ] and J. Clarke.
Method of Punishment
Method of punishment described in the ballad.
hanging
Crime(s)
Crime or crimes for which the person in the ballad is convicted.
murder
Gender
Gender of the person being executed.
Male
Execution Location
Location the condemned was executed.
Tyburn
Tune Data
Recording is <em>When Love With Unconfined Wings</em> (Simpson 1966, pp. 761-62)
Digital Object
<iframe src="https://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/execution-ballads/files/fullsize/dcc96f154638154d242452c4403fc2c1.jpg" frameborder="0" scrolling="yes" width="600" height="400"></iframe>
Image / Audio Credit
Magdalene College - Pepys Library, Pepys Ballads 3.333; <a href="https://ebba.english.ucsb.edu/ballad/21348/image" target="_blank">EBBA 21348</a>
Subtitle
To a New Tune, called; The little Fishes in the Deep, knows no such Liberty.
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Title
A name given to the resource
The LAMENTATION OF Dell's Mistris For the Loss of her Gallant.
English
hanging
Male
murder
-
https://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/execution-ballads/files/original/9d3a734bc1b84b2775f8b3e429bfc868.jpg
6c703c25bf37172e5abc809cd0a4fab3
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Title
A name given to the resource
English Execution Ballads
Execution Ballad
Set to tune of...
Melody to which ballad is set.
<a href="https://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/execution-ballads/items/show/1170"><em>Russell's Farewell</em></a>
Transcription
Transcription of ballad lyrics
THis is a black and gloomy Day, dark Clouds of Grief appear;
And all my Joys are fled away,
my Soul is wrack'd with Fear:
Death with a gastful Countenance, does make me sore afraid,
For now I see I soon shall be a just Example made.
Alas my kind and loving Wife, whom I sometimes enjoy'd,
In cruel sort her dearest Life, my guilty Hands destroy'd:
Which Deed has brought me into thrall, the World may me degrade:
I am this day before you all a sad Example made.
A guilty Conscience now does fly here in this Face of mine;
Her Blood does for loud Vengeance cry to God enthron'd on high:
Therefore this World I bid adieu, since I her Life betray'd,
I am this Day in open view, a just Example made.
When I had done this bloody Deed, I was with Grief opprest;
My very Heart began to bleed,
I could not be at rest,
But was tormented still in mind, since I her Life betray'd,
And I shall be this day, I find a sad Example made.
My lawful Wife, and bosome Friend, whom I had cause to love,
I brought to an untimely end: my Crime is far above
The greatest Villain in the Land: her Life I have betray'd;
For which I shall be out of hand, a just Example made.
It is my trying Sins I know, and likewise want of Grace,
Which proves my fatal Overthrow, and brought me to this place:
My Conscience being stain'd with guilt, to dye I am afraid;
I shall be for the Blood I spilt, a just Example made.
I did destroy, as well as she, the Infant in her Womb,
If God should be severe with me, Eternal Death's my Doom,
But gracious Lord be not severe, as I have often pray'd;
Let this suffice that I am here a just example made.
Who leads a discontented Life, take Warning by my Ill,
And live in love like Man and Wife, curbing your Passions still;
For fear it proves your Overthrow, as I have often said:
In sorrow from this World I go,
a just example made.
O that my dear beloved Mate, I could recall again;
But that Repentance comes too late, my Tears are all in vain:
She now lies sleeping in the Dust, whose Life I have betray'd;
For which by justice now I must be an example made.
This very day the World I leave, therefore some pity take,
Good Lord! and here my Soul receive even for thy Mercies sake;
And cleanse me from the guilt of Sin for which I oft have pray'd;
Let it suffice that I have been a just example made.
Language
Language ballad is printed in
English
Date
Date of ballad
1690
Printing Location
Location the ballad pamphlet was printed.
Printed for I. Bissel, at the Hospital Gate in West=smithfield.
Crime(s)
Crime or crimes for which the person in the ballad is convicted.
murder
Gender
Gender of the person being executed.
Male
Digital Object
<iframe src="https://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/execution-ballads/files/fullsize/9d3a734bc1b84b2775f8b3e429bfc868.jpg" frameborder="0" scrolling="yes" width="600" height="400"></iframe>
Image / Audio Credit
Magdalene College - Pepys Library, Pepys Ballads 2.194; <a href="https://ebba.english.ucsb.edu/ballad/20809/image" target="_blank">EBBA 20809</a>
Subtitle
OR, The Unfortunate Wife: Giving a True Account of one WILLIAM TERRY of Derbyshire, within Two Miles of Ashbourn, who murder'd his Wife Jane: For which he receiv'd due Sentance of Death, according to the Cruelty of his Crime.
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Title
A name given to the resource
The Bloody=minded Husband;
English
Male
murder
-
https://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/execution-ballads/files/original/fed8acb706ae473f0b45b3bbef140b48.jpg
4ba728e166bbbe3ef5a78821c2546b1c
https://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/execution-ballads/files/original/33132ea7218557d53d619f67fe44fac3.jpg
6e4126b4934d9f94e61dbeeaa75427e7
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Title
A name given to the resource
English Execution Ballads
Execution Ballad
Set to tune of...
Melody to which ballad is set.
<a href="https://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/execution-ballads/items/show/1170"><em>Russell's Farewell</em></a>
Transcription
Transcription of ballad lyrics
GOod People all I pray attend,
and listen now to me,
A sad Relation here I send
of Biss in Shaftsbury:
A noted Highway-man he was who on the Road did ride,
And at the length it came to pass, he was condenm'd and dy'd.
When he was to his Tryal brought, and at the Bar did stand,
He for no kind of favour sought, but there held up his Hand,
Declaring to the antient Judge, who was to try him then,
He should not bear him any grudge, he wan't the worst of Men.
He said, The Scriptures I fulfill'd, though I this Life did lead,
For when the Naked I beheld, I clothed them with speed;
Sometimes in Cloth and Winter-frize, sometimes in Russet-gray;
The Poor I fed, the Rich likewise I empty sent away.
What say you now my honour'd Lord, what harm was there in this?
Rich wealthy Misers was abhorr'd by brave free-hearted Biss.
I never robb'd nor wrong'd the Poor, as well it doth appear;
Be pleas'd to favour me therefore, and be not too severe.
Upon the Road a Man I met, was posting to a Jayl,
Because he could not pay his Debt, nor give sufficient Bayl:
A kind and loving Friend he found, that very day of me,
Who paid the Miser forty Pound, and set the Prisoner free.
Tho' he had got the Guinneys bright, and put them in his Purse,
I followed him that very night, I could not leave him thus;
Mounting my prancing Steed again, I crost a point of land,
Meeting the Miser in a lane, where soon I bid him stand:
You borrow'd forty Pounds, you know, of me this very day,
I cannot trust, before you go, I must have present pay:
With that I seiz'd & search'd him round, and rifl'd all his store,
Where straight I got my forty Pound, with twenty Guinneys more.
The Judge he made him this reply, Your Joaks are all in vain,
By Law you are condemn'd to Dye, you will no Pardon gain,
Therefore, Repent, repent with speed, for what is gone and past,
Tho' you the Poor did clothe and feed, you suffer must at last.
That word was like a fatal sword, it pierc'd him to the heart;
The Lord for Mercy he implor'd, as knowing he must part
With all his Friends and Pleasures too, to be as I have said,
At Salsbury to People's view, a sad Example made.
His melting Eyes did over-flow with penitential Tears,
To see his dismal Overthrow, just in his strenght of Years.
O kind and loving Friends, he cry'd, take warning now by me,
Who must the pains of Death abide, this day in Salsbury.
In grief and sorrow now I pass out of the World this day,
The latter minute's in the glass, therefore good People pray,
That as this painful Life I leave,
the Lord may pity take,
And in his arms my Soul receive, even for his Mercies sake.
Language
Language ballad is printed in
English
Date
Date of ballad
1695
Printing Location
Location the ballad pamphlet was printed.
LONDON: / Printed for P. Brooksby, at the Golden-ball, / in Pye corner, near West-smithfield.
Crime(s)
Crime or crimes for which the person in the ballad is convicted.
highway robbery
Gender
Gender of the person being executed.
Male
Execution Location
Location the condemned was executed.
Salisbury
Digital Object
<iframe src="https://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/execution-ballads/files/fullsize/fed8acb706ae473f0b45b3bbef140b48.jpg" frameborder="0" scrolling="yes" width="600" height="400"></iframe>
Image / Audio Credit
Magdalene College - Pepys Library, Pepys Ballads 2.195; <a href="https://ebba.english.ucsb.edu/ballad/20810/image" target="_blank">EBBA 20810</a>
Subtitle
OR, The Last Farewel of Mr. Biss, Who was Born at Shaftsbury, in Wiltshire, and was arrain'd and found guilty, and accordingly received Sentence of Death, and was Executed at Salisbury, on the 12th of March, 1695.
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Title
A name given to the resource
THE Penitent Highway-man:
English
highway robbery
Male
-
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Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
The Murtherer's Lamentation - Pamphlet Image
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
English Execution Ballads
Execution Ballad
Set to tune of...
Melody to which ballad is set.
<a href="https://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/execution-ballads/items/show/1170"><em>Russell's farewell</em></a>
Transcription
Transcription of ballad lyrics
O Most unhappy men we are, this sad and dismal day,
Wrapt us in sorrow, grief, and care, alas, what shall we say?
The dying hearts within us bleed, for mercy, Lord, we cry,
Tho' for a most unchristian deed, we are condemn'd to dye .
Pale death this morning we behold,
with hearts as cold as stone;
Why did we covet cursed gold, which never was our own?
It has our sad destruction wrought, and for this villany,
Alas, we are to justice brought, in open shame to dye.
My name is Jewster , I confess, that first the plot did lay,
Yet did I not the least express, they shou'd her life betray;
But Butler enter'd first the room, to act that villany:
And now we both receive our doom, in open shame we dye .
I to my shame have done amiss, be'ng a relation near;
Of such a horrid crime at this,
the worst shall seldom hear;
That I with ruffins should combine to act that villany,
For which I must my breath resine, in open shame we dye .
First Satan tempted us to steal; we did contract that guilt,
And that we might the same conceal, her aged blood we spilt;
Thus we from sin to sin did go, in highth of villany,
And this has wrought our overthrow, in open shame we dye .
Alas, let me do what I can, declare the truth I must,
I Butler was the very man, that stopt her breath at first;
By violence I seiz'd her throat, oh horrid villany;
My soul on seas of grief does float, as being brought to dye .
Her lodger we did then surprise with the same violence,
Stopping her mouth with rags likewise,
depriving her of sence;
Yet she her reason soon obtain'd the truth to testifie,
When at the bar we was arrain'd and eke condemn'd to dye .
One being dead, the other bound,
we rifl'd then the store,
For strait in ready cash we found, nine hundred pounds and more;
We fill'd our pockets with the same, this done, we strait did fly,
Yet we was took and brought to shame, being condemn'd to dye .
Since in the blood of innocent
our hands we did imbrew;
Altho' in heart we do lament, this death is but our due;
Let others a fair warning take, by this our distany,
Who must in shame the world forsake, as being brought to dye .
Good Lord, in pity us behold, thy love we do implore,
For tho' our sins are manifold, thy mercies Lord are more;
Tho' we on earth thy laws did break, yet as this life we leave,
O save us for thy mercies sake, our sinful souls receive.
Language
Language ballad is printed in
English
Date
Date of ballad
1694
Printing Location
Location the ballad pamphlet was printed.
Printed for J. Deacon, at the Angel in Guiltspur-street .
Crime(s)
Crime or crimes for which the person in the ballad is convicted.
murder
Gender
Gender of the person being executed.
Male
Execution Location
Location the condemned was executed.
Spitalfields
Digital Object
<iframe src="https://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/execution-ballads/files/fullsize/17febd39cb88decdc4d6b98641a3a2b6.jpg" frameborder="0" scrolling="yes" width="600" height="400"></iframe>
Image / Audio Credit
Magdalene College - Pepys Library, Pepys Ballads 2.179; <a href="https://ebba.english.ucsb.edu/ballad/20796/image" target="_blank">EBBA 20796</a>
Subtitle
BEING An Account of John Jewster and William Butler, who where arraign'd and found guilty of the Robbery and Murther of Mrs. Jane Le-grand; for which they received due Sentence of Death, and was accordingly Executed on the 19th day of this Instant July, in Spittle-fields.
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Title
A name given to the resource
THE Murtherers Lamentation:
English
Male
murder
-
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256e2cf0c2c011428bf87927aa4153b9
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b0d4890b69f805098504697aa29479cc
https://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/execution-ballads/files/original/11c8bbc3c93bb75e565c5484e18bd2cf.mp3
24b77eb95b249d5ccfe0597e656b7fc8
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
English Execution Ballads
Execution Ballad
Set to tune of...
Melody to which ballad is set.
<a href="https://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/execution-ballads/items/show/1173"><em>The Rich Merchant Man</em></a>
Transcription
Transcription of ballad lyrics
Unto you all this day,
my faults I do declare,
Alas! I have not long to stay,
I must for Death prepare;
A most notorious Wretch,
I many years have been,
For which I now at length must stretch,
a just Reward for Sin:
No Tongue, nor Pen can tell
what Sorrows I conceive;
Your Golden Farmer's last Farewell,
unto the World I leave
I having run my Race,
I now at last do see,
That in much shame and sad disgrace,
my Life will ended be:
I took Delight to rob,
and rifle rich and poor,
But now at last, my Friend Old Mob,
I ne'er shall see thee more:
No Tongue nor Pen can tell;
what Sorrows I conceive;
Your Golden Farmer's last Farewell,
unto the World I leave.
A Gang of Robbers then
myself did entertain;
Notorious hardy Highway-men.
who did like Ruffians reign:
We'd rob, we'd laugh, and joke,
and revel night and day;
But now the knot of us is broke,
'tis I that leads the way:
No Tongue nor Pen can tell
what Sorrows I conceive,
Your Golden Farmer's last Farewell
unto the World I leave.
We Houses did beset,
and robb'd them night and day,
Making all Fish that came to Net,
for still we cleared the way;
Five Hundred Pounds and more,
in Money, Gold, and Plate,
From the right Owner we have bore,
but now my wretched State,
No Tongue nor Pen can tell, etc.
We always gagg'd and bound
most of the Family,
That we might search untill we found
their hidden Treasury;
Which if we could not find,
a Pistol cock'd streightway,
Presented at their Breast, to make
them shew us where it lay:
No Tongue nor Pen can tell, etc.
The Bloud which I have spilt,
now on my Conscience lies,
The heavy dreadfull thought of Guilt
my Senses do's surprize;
The thoughts of Death I fear,
although a just Reward,
As knowing that I must appear,
before the living Lord,
No Tongue nor Pen can tell, etc.
I solemnly declare,
who am to Justice brought,
All kind of wicked Sins that are,
I eagerly have wrought;
No Villains are more rife,
than those which I have bred;
And thus a most perfidious Life
I in this world have led:
No Tongue nor Pen can tell, etc.
Long have I liv'd you see,
by this unlawful Trade,
And at the length am brought to be
a just Example made:
Good God my Sins forgive,
whose Laws I did offend,
For here I may no longer live,
my Life is at an end:
No Tongue nor Pen can tell
what Sorrows I conceive;
Your Golden Farmer's last Farewell,
unto the World I leave.
Language
Language ballad is printed in
English
Date
Date of ballad
1690
Printing Location
Location the ballad pamphlet was printed.
Printed for P. Brooksby, J. Deacon, J. Blare, and J. Back.
Method of Punishment
Method of punishment described in the ballad.
hanging
Crime(s)
Crime or crimes for which the person in the ballad is convicted.
murder, robbery
Gender
Gender of the person being executed.
Male
Execution Location
Location the condemned was executed.
Fleet Street
Notes
Additional information related to the ballad pamphlet or related events
<strong>From David Nash Ford's <a href="http://www.berkshirehistory.com/bios/wdavies.html" target="_blank"><em>Royal Berkshire History</em></a></strong> <br /><br /> William Davies (1627-1690) Born: 1627 in Wrexham, Denbighshire Highwayman Died: 22nd December 1690 at Westminster, Middlesex William Davies was a famous highwayman, known as the 'Golden Farmer,' from his habitually paying with gold coin to avoid identification of his plunder. It is said he often left his victims keep their jewels and other valuables. <br /><br />He was born at Wrexham in Denbighshire in 1627, but removed in early life to Sudbury in Gloucestershire, where he married the daughter of a wealthy innkeeper and had, by her, eighteen children. He moved his family to Bagshot on the Surrey-Berkshire border where he became a successful farmer until the last month of his life, but used this trade as a mere cloak. For he had early taken to the road and robbed persons returning from cattle fairs or travelling to pay rent, mainly on Bagshot Heath but also as far afield as Salisbury Plain. He was dexterous in gaining information and his character was above suspicion. <br /><br />Initially operating alone, Davies became a master of disguise and, at one time, robbed his own landlord of the annual rent money just collected from him. He later became the captain and leader of a large gang, among whom was Thomas Sympson, alias 'Old Mobb,' born at Romsey in Hampshire, who robbed for forty-five years with no other companion than the 'Golden Farmer.' Davies robbed the Duchess of Albemarle in her coach on Salisbury Plain, after a single-handed victory over her postilion, coachman and two footmen. He took three diamond rings and a gold watch, besides reproaching her for painting her face and being niggardly. Between Gloucester and Worcester, he robbed Sir Thomas Day of £60, after enticing him into a declaration that the county would make good any money lost on the highway if "betwixt sun and sun". <br /><br />Davies had begun this career as an experiment, after the King's death in 1649, when twenty-two years old. He gained something of a Robin-Hood reputation over the years, with some of his haul finding its way under the doors of local poor families. However, his wife never had any suspicion of his illegal activities and, in all the ordinary relations of life, he was eminently respectable. His charming manners enabled him to secure the fidelity of accomplices and attract the confidence of his victims. <br /><br />The ‘Golden Farmer’ retired from his profession for a few years, but was tempted back to the highway, in hope of making up a large sum for the purchase of land adjacent to his property. He had fallen out of practice and was recognised. Soon afterwards, he was discovered in Salisbury Court in Fleet Street (Westminster) which was, at that time, a kind of sanctuary. He had a narrow escape and shot a pursuing butcher. Being apprehended, he was committed to Newgate Prison, tried for the murder at the Old Bailey Sessions of 11th-17th December 1690 and his previous crimes became known. He was condemned to be hanged at the end of Salisbury Court (instead of Tyburn, as usual), where he had shot the butcher. He died on 22nd December 1690, in the sixty-fourth year of his age, and was afterwards hung in chains on Bagshot Heath. Some say this was adjoining the old pub in Easthampstead that he used to frequent, now the site of a modern replacement known as the ‘Golden Farmer’. He had left affectionate messages for 'Old Mobb,' who was suspected of having betrayed him. Mobb was hanged at Tyburn on Friday 30th May 1691. <br /><br />According to George Daniel of Canonbury, the 'Golden Farmer' had been a corn-chandler in Thames Street, selling by day and despoiling the farmers at night. The contemporary ballad, his 'Last Farewell,' admits his close connection with 'a gang of robbers, notorious hardy highwaymen who did like ruffians reign;' also with housebreakers and burglars, clearing £500. one time, in money and plate.<br /><p>Edited from Leslie Stephen's '<em>Dictionary of National Biography'</em> (1888)<em><span style="font-family:'Book Antiqua';font-size:xx-small;"><br /></span></em></p>
Synopsis
Account of events that are the subject of the ballad
William Davies aka 'The Golden Farmer', a notorious highwayman is finally executed after 45 years of robbery, and is hanged in chains on Bagshot Heath, where he had committed many of his crimes.
Digital Object
<iframe src="https://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/execution-ballads/files/fullsize/c3a90345ba6a3a3a9902b54797147bb8.jpg" frameborder="0" scrolling="yes" width="600" height="400"></iframe> <br /><iframe src="https://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/execution-ballads/files/original/11c8bbc3c93bb75e565c5484e18bd2cf.mp3" frameborder="0" scrolling="yes" width="400" height="50"></iframe>
Image / Audio Credit
Magdalene College - Pepys Library, Pepys Ballads 2.187; <a href="https://ebba.english.ucsb.edu/ballad/20802/image" target="_blank">EBBA 20802</a>
Subtitle
who was arraigned and found Guilty of wilfull Murther, and likewise many notorious Robberies; for which he received a due Sentance of Death, and was accordingly Executed on the 22d. of December, 1690 in Fleetstreet. To the Tune of The Rich Merchant-man. Licensed according to Order.
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Title
A name given to the resource
The Golden Farmer's Last Fareweel
Audio recording
English
hanging
Male
murder
robbery
-
https://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/execution-ballads/files/original/211c180a5d66e252c8cfe010da0e1457.jpg
7fc5b0379f436bd957e9002a28f227e2
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
English Execution Ballads
Execution Ballad
Set to tune of...
Melody to which ballad is set.
<a href="https://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/execution-ballads/items/show/1170"><em>Russell's Farewell</em></a>
Transcription
Transcription of ballad lyrics
G Od prosper long the Just and Good, our lives and safetys all,
A woful Frollick once there did
in Alisbury befall.
All in the Land of Buckingham
a set of Robbers dwell,
As they that on the Forrest-sides
of Whittledown can tell.
For neither Sheep, nor Cows, nor Colts,
nor Deer, nor Pigs, nor Fowl,
Can e're escape their filtching hands, but some of all are stole.
Nay, Butchers that to Market go, with honest minds, to sell
Their Goods, cannot with safety thence return Home where they dwell.
For Rogues, all night, the narrow Lanes beset, and block the Gates,
And when Men stop to open them, they strike them in their Pates.
Knock'd down a Butcher fell from Horse, all stun'd in dirt and gore,
And then they rob'd his pockets clear of what he had in Store.
Some bloody Rogues (full bad as these) took worser things in hand,
To Kill and Murther all they Robb'd, although they yield to stand.
With such was fill'd the Alisbury Goal, this Sizes Ninety Three,
A Knot of such Notorious Rogues you well can never see.
A Nd that their number might be full of Rogues of every size,
A Pick-pocket in face of Court, of a Juror made a prize.
With him seven more were then condemn'd, all Rogues as bad as he,
To take their leaves of all the World upon the Gallows Tree.
But mark my friends what now I say, and hark to this sad Ditty,
These Villains after Sentence past, had on themselves no pitty.
For, being sent from Bar to Goal, some fell to Drink and Swear,
When one would think that at that time, they should have fell to Prayer.
But they who serve the Devil long in vile and wicked ways,
To Goalers and the Hang-man too are great and certain Preys.
And when they're under locks and keys, and chains and fetters sure,
Them to repent the Devil stops, for that he can't endure.
But puts them off to rant and drink, damn and curse, and swagger,
To play at Cards and Dices too and all things that are badder.
And when they mony want, they sell their lives and bodys too,
A Story like was never read in Books both old and new.
For when that Summers in the Goal, there could not sell his Soul,
For none would bid him mony for't, it was so black and foul.
He then stood up and put to Sale his body all alive,
For to be had, when it was hang'd, for shillings three and five.
A Surgeon then to encrease his skill, in bodies to Disect,
In Goal did come and there did buy his body all compleat.
The price he paid were Shillings eight, for more it was not worth,
Unless it better prov'd when that to Hanging it came forth.
No sooner was the money paid, and put in Summers hands,
But straight he drank it out in wine, until he could not stand.
O fye on such that thus purpose their souls and bodys too!
Who first live bad and then dye worse, when they bid all adieu.
Such souls must to the Devil go, but bodies not to grave,
Who sell their bodys, that for wine some money they may have.
May all bad people warning take, from this ungodly wretch,
For lost their soul and bodes are, if they like him shall stretch.
And now the Saying is fullfill'd, which in most mouths is rife,
He sold himself, and spent it all before he lost his life.
Tho' Heraclitus Ridens is unknown, and hardly seen with eyes,
Yet wise men say, it must be he that laughs until he crys.
Language
Language ballad is printed in
English
Date
Date of ballad
1694
Synopsis
Account of events that are the subject of the ballad
While in jail, a highway robber sells his body to a surgeon for dissection after his execution, and then spends the money on wine.
Printing Location
Location the ballad pamphlet was printed.
Printed for J. Deacon at the Angel in Guilt-spur-street, without Newgate.
Method of Punishment
Method of punishment described in the ballad.
hanging
Crime(s)
Crime or crimes for which the person in the ballad is convicted.
highway robbery
Gender
Gender of the person being executed.
Male
Execution Location
Location the condemned was executed.
Alisbury, Buckinghamshire
Digital Object
<iframe src="https://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/execution-ballads/files/fullsize/211c180a5d66e252c8cfe010da0e1457.jpg" frameborder="0" scrolling="yes" width="600" height="400"></iframe>
Image / Audio Credit
Magdalene College - Pepys Library, Pepys Ballads 2.198; <a href="https://ebba.english.ucsb.edu/ballad/20812/image" target="_blank">EBBA 20812</a>
Subtitle
Shewing, How he was Condemned (this last Lent Assizes, 1693 / 4. at Alisbury) for a Highway-Man. And how he sold his body, in Goal, for eight shillings to a Surgeon, to be made an Anatomy of after it was hang'd, and how he drank the money all out in Wine before he went to be Executed.
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Title
A name given to the resource
Summers his Frolick.
English
hanging
highway robbery
Male
-
https://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/execution-ballads/files/original/87c65a607b4e730cec7bbfa2796bea54.jpg
2ac24613c9f2c91ff9cef4f2ab6d8241
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
English Execution Ballads
Execution Ballad
Set to tune of...
Melody to which ballad is set.
<a href="https://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/execution-ballads/items/show/1134"><em>Fortune my foe</em></a>
Transcription
Transcription of ballad lyrics
YOu disobedient Children mark my fall,
And by my timeless end take warning all,
Against my own dear Father have I done,
A deed the like did never graceless Son.
In blooming years I was intic'd to sin,
E're I perceiv'd what danger lay therein:
And so from day to day, until this hour,
To leave the same, as yet I have no power.
My Mother dead, my Father cockered me,
As men will do when Motherless we be:
And nothing for me then he thought too dear,
Which brought me thus into a graceless fear.
And when as I to elder years did grow,
By wicked courses got I timely woe;
Each vain delight belonging to Young-men,
Deceived me, and wrought my ruine then.
The deadly sins that are in number seaven,
without more grace have lost my joys in heaven:
From first to last of these most cursed crimes,
Have made me now a wonder of these times.
For wanting means to nourish my delight,
I went the wrong, and left the ways of right;
Which to maintain, my Father growing poor,
Forgetting God, I daily rob'd for more.
Three times he sav'd me from the Gallow-tree,
Three times he cast himself in debt for me:
Three times he set me up in good estate,
In hope to keep me from untimely fate.
By me the Proverb is fulfilled here,
Who saves a Thief from Gallow, finds it dear
For saving me, I sought his dear life's woe,
My gentle Fathers timeless overthrow.
For wanting means still to relieve my need,
Put me in mind to do a woful deed:
And seek his blood, the high-way unto sin,
Who wanting grace, I soon grew perfect in.
My Father's Brother of good living known,
Being dead, as next of Kin they were mine own
[On]e which I wrought with these accursed hands
To be the heir of all my Uncles Lands.
With mind prepar'd for Murder thus I went,
Unto the Field where he did much frequent,
where meeting him, with mine own fathers knife
Which I had stoln, I took away his life.
And laid it down all bloody by his side,
That all might see my Uncle therewith dy'd:
And challeng'd it my Fathers knife to be,
When people came the Murdered Corps to see.
O homicide! O cursed viprous brood,
Like Cain, to seek my fathers dearest blood;
My own dear father being thus betray'd,
I his own child the evidence was made.
So judg'd to death for that he never did,
The Lord in mercy did the same forbid:
For as he was to Execution led,
A World of torments in my bosom bred.
To see him stand upon the Gallow-tree,
From which before poor man he saved me:
I could not chuse but tell what I had done,
And so confess my self a wicked son.
The Confession and Repentance of George Saunders, Gentleman late of Sugh,
in the County of Hertford, who killed his own Uncle, and accused his own Father for the Mur-
der, but by Gods providence being discovered, dyed for the same whereas he wrote this Song
with his own hand.
GOds judgements now are rightly seen said I,
Dear Father I have slain him, let me dye,
O let me dye and set my Father free,
Or else like Judas damned shall I be.
Whereat the people in that very place,
They praised God that gave me so much grace,
To quit my Father from that crying sin,
Which I with blood-red streams am drowned in.
My Father sav'd and I to Prison sent,
Where I remain'd with many a sad lament,
Which when you see, you cannot chuse but say,
Repentance comes before my Dying day.
His Repentance in Prison,
To the same Tune.
MOngst Lyons fell in Daniels den am I,
In lowest Prison cast with Jeremy:
[F]ed with Elias by the Ravens fell,
And plac'd with Judas in the Maw of Hell
Naked with Esau fearful do I walk,
Dumb with old Zahary silent do I talk,
Afflictions bread with Micha is my food,
And with the Prophet drink I sorrows flood.
As poor as Job, even now so poor am I,
Despis'd with Lazarus in great misery,
Banished with David from my native land,
Cast up with Jonas on the Nenivites sand.
Made blind with Toby, by the Swallows dung,
And with poor Joseph cast in Prison strong,
I weep with Mary who had lost her Master,
And run with Peter who should run the faster.
I sinned have, for sin God curst the ground,
I sinned have, for sin the world was drown'd,
I sinned have, sin Sodom set on fire,
Also for sin did AEgypt fell Gods ire,
I sinned have, for sin did Adam dye,
I sinned have, sin caused David, cry,
I sinned have, and for sin Satan fell
From an high Angel, to a Devil in Hell.
Did David weep, and shall not I then cry,
Did Mary weep, and shall mine eyes be dry?
Did Esau weep, and shall not I weep more,
Did Peter weep, such tears let me have store.
Did Mary weep, for loss of master dear,
Did Marthe weep, with sorrow touch her near.
Spring Eyes with tears to wash his sacred feet,
That for my sin did shed his blood so sweet.
Lark like I flye into the living spring,
Desiring pardon of my Heavenly King,
Past worldly hope, now like the Thief on tree,
I onely fix my faith and hope in thee,
Look back on me, as thou did'st unto Peter,
Speak to my soul, as to the theif most sweeter,
O spye me out with Zache on the tree,
And with sweet Bartholomew call me lord to thee.
O let me now with holy Abraham spy,
A saving Ram that Isaac may not dye:
O let me live for to sound forth thy praise,
That I may shew thy mercy in my days.
Make me a swallow in thy house, O King,
That Swallow like I may sit there and sing,
O let me in thy Temple keep a door,
That I may praise thy name for evermore,
Language
Language ballad is printed in
English
Date
Date of ballad
1684-1686
Synopsis
Account of events that are the subject of the ballad
Son kills uncle for his inheritance and allows father to take the blame until he sees him at the gallows, and then confesses to the crime.
Printing Location
Location the ballad pamphlet was printed.
Printed for J. C. W. T. and T. P.
Method of Punishment
Method of punishment described in the ballad.
hanging
Crime(s)
Crime or crimes for which the person in the ballad is convicted.
murder
Gender
Gender of the person being executed.
Male
Execution Location
Location the condemned was executed.
Sugh, Hertford
Digital Object
<iframe src="https://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/execution-ballads/files/fullsize/87c65a607b4e730cec7bbfa2796bea54.jpg" frameborder="0" scrolling="yes" width="600" height="500"></iframe>
Image / Audio Credit
Magdalene College - Pepys Library, Pepys Ballads 2.196-197 (cf. Roxburghe 3.28, EBBA 32059; Euing 1.320, EBBA 31969); <a href="https://ebba.english.ucsb.edu/ballad/20811/image" target="_blank">EBBA 20811</a>
Subtitle
Or, The Merciful Father, and the merciless Son. To the Tune of, Fortune my Foe. The Confession and Repentance of George Saunders, Gentleman late of Sugh, in the County of Hertford, who killed his own Uncle, and accused his own Father for the Murder, but by Gods providence being discovered, dyed for the same whereas he wrote this Song with his own hand. His Repentance in Prison, To the same Tune.
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Save a thief from the Gallows, and he'l Hang thee if he can,
English
hanging
Male
murder
-
https://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/execution-ballads/files/original/47216cd1041ff160903c509e573c18e9.jpg
3061b13cb608119b65a26c0051389ff9
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
English Execution Ballads
Execution Ballad
Set to tune of...
Melody to which ballad is set.
<em>No Ignoramus Juries now</em>
Transcription
Transcription of ballad lyrics
ALL you that standeth near me,
Pray listen now, and hear me,
Tho's false I Swore, I ne'r will more,
My Friends, you need not fear me.
No daring, nor baring
With any false declaring: The Pillory's my destiny, [For my unlawful Swearing.]
Good Fortune now refuse me,
If I think they abuse me;
I did confess, cou'd I do less?
My Conscience did accuse me.
No daring, nor baring With any false declaring; The Pillory's my destiny, [For my unlawful Swearing.]
I'de have you now believe me,
There's something still does grieve [me]
I need not tell, you know full well,
My Touch-Stone did deceive me:
No daring, nor bearing With any false declaring; The Pillory's my Destiny, For my unlawful Swearing.
When Lords lay in the Tower,
Then to my utmost power,
The Loyali'st men; I swore agen,
That I might them devour:
No daring, etc.
Of this I now am weary,
For why I can't be merry,
The Thoughts of Hill, torments me still,
And so does Green and Berry,
No daring, etc.
My peace I have confounded,
And am in grief surrounded,
Their Blood I spilt, and now with guilt
My Conscience I have wounded:
No daring, etc.
This being discontented,
I bitterly lamented,
That hanious crime, but in due time,
In heart I have repented:
No daring, etc.
I send my mournful ditty,
Through e'ry Town and City,
Let me not fail, but now prevail,
To gain the Nations pitty:
No daring, etc.
My Conscience waxing tender,
My self I did surrender,
And did not spare for to declare,
I was a foul offender,
no daring, etc.
I'le be no ill retainer,
For why I am no gainer,
From Perjury I will live free,
And e'ry Misdemeanour:
No daring, nor bearing With any false declaring; The Pillory's my destiny,
for my unlawful Swearing.
Language
Language ballad is printed in
English
Date
Date of ballad
1686
Notes
Additional information related to the ballad pamphlet or related events
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miles_Prance" target="_blank">Wikipedia:</a> Miles Prance (fl. 1678) was an English Roman Catholic who was caught up in and perjured himself during the Popish Plot and the anti-Catholicism of London during the reign of Charles II. He was born on the Isle of Ely, the son of a Roman Catholic, and he rose quickly from humble origins as an apprentice goldsmith to servant-in-ordinary to Catherine of Braganza, Charles II's queen. He was married and with a family, living in Covent Garden at the time of his arrest. <br /><br />Sir Edmund Berry Godfrey died in October of 1678. Godfrey had been militating against Jesuits around the time of the Popish Plot. Prance was known to be Roman Catholic and suspicion fell upon him for the death, which appeared to be suicide. William Bedloe, later a Popish Plot accuser, investigated Prance and interrogated one John Wren, Prance's lodger who owed rent. Wren stated that Prance had been out of the house on the night of the murder. Prance was arrested and confined to Newgate Prison. <br /><br />In prison, Prance confessed and then recanted. He then confessed to a different version and recanted that. Finally, after being visited by William Boys, Gilbert Burnet, and William Lloyd, he confessed and said that two Irish priests, a "Fitz-gerald" and a "Kelly", told him of a plot to kill Godfrey. He said that Henry Berry, Robert Green, Thomas Godden and Godden's servant, Lawrence Hill, followed and strangled Godfrey while Prance kept watch. They then hid Godfrey's body in the palace and waited before placing it in a ditch and running it through with Godfrey's own sword, to look like the discrediting death by suicide. <br /><br /> Berry, Green, and Hill were arrested, and Godden fled to Europe. Prance perjured himself in the trial, and all three men were executed. He then split the reward for finding the killers with Bedloe. Bedloe and Titus Oates used Prance to inform on several Roman Catholics during the Popish Plot. He offered evidence against Harcourt and Fenwick, two Jesuit priests, in June of 1679 and received a £50 pension from the King in January of 1680. He also helped Oates attack Roger L'Estrange and wrote pamphlets defending himself against charges of multiple contradictions. After the breaking of the Plot, he assumed a lower public profile. <br /><br />However, when James II came to the throne, Prance was tried. He was found guilty of perjury in 1686 and was fined £100, ordered to stand in the pillory, and to be whipped. Catherine interceded on his behalf to prevent the last of these punishments, arguing that he had returned to the Roman Catholic faith and was repentant. He said that only fear for his life had compelled him to lie and inform and that his mistreatment in prison had coerced his testimony. In 1688, he tried to flee to France. He was captured, questioned before the House of Lords, and then permitted to leave England.
Printing Location
Location the ballad pamphlet was printed.
Printed for J. Deacon, at the Angel, in / Guilt-Spur-Street.
Method of Punishment
Method of punishment described in the ballad.
pillory
Crime(s)
Crime or crimes for which the person in the ballad is convicted.
perjury
Gender
Gender of the person being executed.
Male
Tune Data
Recording is <em>Lay By Your Pleading</em>
Digital Object
<iframe src="https://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/execution-ballads/files/fullsize/47216cd1041ff160903c509e573c18e9.jpg" frameborder="0" scrolling="yes" width="600" height="450"></iframe>
Image / Audio Credit
Magdalene College - Pepys Library, Pepys Ballads 2.236; <a href="https://ebba.english.ucsb.edu/ballad/20850/image" target="_blank">EBBA 20850</a>
Subtitle
OR, MILES PRANCE His Sorrowful Lamentation for his foul Offences. In heart I grieve, you may believe, was it to do again; I'd ne'r agree, to Perjury, nor any such like thing.
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Title
A name given to the resource
Perjury Punish'd with equal Justice;
English
Male
perjury
pillory
-
https://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/execution-ballads/files/original/36a21786266a037c565a658cbca95e0a.jpg
bfe279fd5287bb5b1a04377a31d17323
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
English Execution Ballads
Execution Ballad
Set to tune of...
Melody to which ballad is set.
<a href="https://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/execution-ballads/items/show/1170"><em>Russell's Farewell</em></a>
Transcription
Transcription of ballad lyrics
BEhold these sorrows now this day,
you that are standers by,
All former joys are fleed away, now I am brought to die:
My heart is fill'd with fear and dread, for here is no relief,
Since I a sinful life have led,
I nothing see but Grief.
I spent my days with roaring boys, and little thought of death,
But where are all those fading joys, now I must loose my breath:
Now they are clearly fleed from me, and there is no relief,
Alas! alas! I nothing see, but bitter clouds of Grief.
Alas! the follies of my youth comes fresh into my mind;
Had I been guided by the truth, then had I left behind
A better name then now I shall, alas! here's no relief;
I by the hand of justice fall,
and nothing see but Grief.
Bold Francis Winter is my name, who seem'd to bear the sway,
But now, alas! in open shame I do appear this day:
My former joys have taken flight, for here is no relief;
Grim Death appears this day in sight,
which fills my soul with Grief.
I must acknowledge this is true, that when in arms we rose,
I was the captain of that crew which did the sheriff oppose:
'Tis said a man was slain by me, therefore here's no relief,
For I must executed be, and nothing see but Grief.
Whether I kill'd the man or no,
I cannot justly [say]
But since in arms we [ ] we seem'd to disobey
The city's lawful magistrate; therefore here's no relief.
And I must here submit to fate, I nothing see but Grief.
It was against the wholesome laws of this my native land,
To rise in arms, and be the cause of that rebellious band,
Who broke through law and justice too,
of which I was the chief,
For which I bid the world adieu; I nothing see but Grief.
Let my misfortunes teach the rest obedience to the laws;
Let them not magistrates molest, for that has been the cause
Of shedding blood, for which I die, I being there the chief;
The very minute's drawing night, I nothing see but Grief.
I ofrentimes have wish'd, in vain, that I had not been there;
Nay, were it to be done again, I shou'd that deed forbear,
And not myself with such inthral, tho' then I was the chief;
But what is past, I can't recal, I nothing see but Grief.
The thousands that are standing by, alas! you little know
My inward grief and misery, and what I undergo:
O let me have your prayers this day,
my sorrows here condole:
I now have nothing more to say, but, Lord receive my soul.
Language
Language ballad is printed in
English
Date
Date of ballad
1693
Notes
Additional information related to the ballad pamphlet or related events
From <strong><em><a href="https://www.oldbaileyonline.org/browse.jsp?id=t16930426-45&div=t16930426-45&terms=francis_winter#highlight" target="_blank">The Proceedings of the Old Bailey: London's Central Criminal Court, 1674 to 1913</a> </em></strong><br /><br />Francis Winter, otherwise called Captain Winter, who lived lately in White-Fryars , was arraigned and tried upon an Indictment of Murther, for killing one John Chandlor , with a Leaden Bullet shot out of a Blunderbus, value 10s. giving him a mortal Wound upon the Calf of his Right Leg, of the breadth of one Inch, and of the depth of three Inches; upon the 4th of July 1691, of which Wound so given by the said Francis Winter, he the said Chandlor died the 7th day of the same Month, in the Ward of St. Andrews Wardrobe ; the matter of Fact was after this manner; there being a Riot and a Mutiny raised in White-Fryars , by reason the Gentlemen of the Inner-Temple were offended at a Passage that leads from the Fryars into the Temple Walks, so would stop it up, which White-Fryars men opposing, the Gentlemen sent to acquaint the High Sheriffs of London (viz.) Sir Francis Child , and Sir Edward Clarke , who came by vertue of their Authority to appease the Rout; but they would not be persuaded to peace, but made a hot Resistance; and there were gathered together to the number of about fourscore, the Prisoner being at the head of them, as their Captain and Leader, presenting a Blunderbus against the Sheriffs Officers, shooting it against them; and the deceased Chandlor being unfortunately in the Croud to assist the High-Sheriffs, he was shot by the said Winter into the Calf of his Leg, as aforesaid; and he declared before his Wife, and others who were his Friends, that it was Captain Winter that shot him, for he knew him very well, and described him by his Garb, he having on a White Wastcoat, and a Cap button'd up on one side, in which Equipage the said Winter was in at the same time; all was very clearly and particularly proved against the Captain: And he had very little to urge in his own defence, only denied that he shot the said Chandlor, and that others shot beside him; but then the Court directed the Jury, as to point of Law in the matter; telling them, That where any Lawful Authority shall be opposed by any Riot, or Riotous Assembly, this implied Malice in Law, in the Persons so offending, and they were all equally guilty; and consequently, if the Prisoner did not shoot Chandlor, yet he was guilty of Murther, because he did abet, promote, stir up, and maintain such a Rebellious and Unlawful Assembly; So the Jury having well considered of their Verdict, they brought the Prisoner in guilty of Murther.<br /><br />Tim Hitchcock, Robert Shoemaker, Clive Emsley, Sharon Howard and Jamie McLaughlin, <em>et al.</em>, <em>The Old Bailey Proceedings Online, 1674-1913</em> (www.oldbaileyonline.org, version 7.0, 15 January 2019).<br /><br />
Printing Location
Location the ballad pamphlet was printed.
Printed for J. Deacon, at the Sign of the Angel in Guiltspur-street.
Gender
Gender of the person being executed.
Male
Execution Location
Location the condemned was executed.
Whitefriars
Digital Object
<iframe src="https://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/execution-ballads/files/fullsize/36a21786266a037c565a658cbca95e0a.jpg" frameborder="0" scrolling="yes" width="600" height="400"></iframe>
Image / Audio Credit
Magdalene College - Pepys Library, Pepys Ballads 2.188; <a href="https://ebba.english.ucsb.edu/ballad/20803/image" target="_blank">EBBA 20803</a>
Subtitle
OR, THE White-Fryers Captain's Confession and Lamentation, Just before his Execution at the Gate of White-Fryers, on the 17th of this instant May, 1693.
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Francis Winter's last Farewel:
English
Male
-
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9b7754c80fa1ed85c93f6fe780539528
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
English Execution Ballads
Execution Ballad
Set to tune of...
Melody to which ballad is set.
<em>Troy Town</em>
Transcription
Transcription of ballad lyrics
[...]y strange I shall relate,
[...] like before was rarely known,
[...]est in the Book of Fate,
[...] of late by Fate been done:
[...] cruel Wretch that wed,
[...] to him most kind and true,
[...] he did frequent her Bed,
[...]er evil ways he knew.
[...] wicked woman he,
[...]npted to a Second wife,
[...] the Law can never be,
[...] the first, retaining life.
When to make way to such a deed, he was resolv'd his wife should dye,
Offering to those that would proceed, in such a Monstrous villany.
Five pounds, but none so wicked were, to undertake the hellish act,
Which made himself not to forbear, to do the bloody Hellish fact:
When under a pretence of Love, he sent for the poor wretch whose fate,
Soon did to her destruction prove, how deep she was in his curst hate.
She lovingly misdoubting not, what was decreed against her life,
Nor in the least did doubt the plot, but like a good obedient wife,
Came to the man whom she loved most, who seem'd as kind as heretofore,
Took her a Lodging, and did boast, he would each day increase loves store.
She well believes and is content, to yield to him in every thing,
Not thinking that her death was meant, and that a Bee, so kind would sting.
One morning towards Hamstead she, Together with her Husband went,
Who was by Hells confedracy, on her most sad destruction bent.
When near to Hamstead they were come, and he espied the coast was clear,
He with a Pistol sign'd her doom, and left her dead as did appear:
For which being try'd and doom'd to dye he greatly did bewail his Fate,
And beg that God would now pass by, the dreadful Crime he thought but late
Did sore repent, wishing all men, by his Just fall would warning take
And not to rush on sins that when, committed brought their lives to slake:
And life not only, but that part,
the soul Immortal unless he,
Who dy'd for man did grace impart, out of abundant Clemency.
Desiring all to pray for him, That Christ would pardon his [sin]
And that he who did once redeem [...] the Thief. would now extend a[...]
His Holy arms, and purge the Gu[ilt] of blood most Innocent and Jus[t]
Which wicked he most vilely spe[ilt...] in violating so his trust.
Praying again that all would take example by his end and be,
More loving and never forsake, her whom his bosome friend mu[st be...]
But lovingly still still accord, in peace and kindness Unity,
And daily strive to fear the Lord['s...]
This said, he unto God commend[s]
His spirit though polute with sin
Hoping he might at his blest hand[s] Receive a pardon and ye[t] win
His favour to his wretched Soul, then was he turned off to grim [Death...]
In chains to hang without Contr[ol...] when he had lost his latest breath.
Language
Language ballad is printed in
English
Date
Date of ballad
1684-1686
Synopsis
Account of events that are the subject of the ballad
Man shoots wife
Printing Location
Location the ballad pamphlet was printed.
Printed for I. Wright, I. Clarke, W. Thackeray/ and T. Passinger
Method of Punishment
Method of punishment described in the ballad.
hanging in chains
Crime(s)
Crime or crimes for which the person in the ballad is convicted.
murder
Gender
Gender of the person being executed.
Male
Tune Data
<em>Troy Town</em>, is also known as <em>Queen Dido</em> (Simpson 1966, pp. 587-590).
Digital Object
<iframe src="https://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/execution-ballads/files/fullsize/f4d5c79a9099b3b7c9549a298c5c6fe9.jpg" frameborder="0" scrolling="yes" width="600" height="450"></iframe>
Image / Audio Credit
Magdalene College - Pepys Library, Pepys Ballads 3.358v; <a href="https://ebba.english.ucsb.edu/ballad/21374/image" target="_blank">EBBA 21374</a>
Subtitle
OR, [...] d and Lamentable Relation of the Condemnation, [...], and Excecution, of John Gower Coach-Maker, who was this 23d day of May, [...] executed for Murthering his Wife, by shooting her with a Pistol. Together with [...] er of his Behaviour and Penitent Expiration. Murther doth seldom scape, Hell cannot hide, The Wretch from Fate, Whose hands in Blood is dy'd.
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Title
A name given to the resource
A Warning to Murtherers:
English
hanging in chains
Male
murder
-
https://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/execution-ballads/files/original/ea72ee6d7e40932e323fce957a890370.jpg
82b5875e11c301a56275a2fc502c4fa1
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
English Execution Ballads
Execution Ballad
Set to tune of...
Melody to which ballad is set.
<a href="https://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/execution-ballads/items/show/1174"><em>Packington's Pound</em></a>
Transcription
Transcription of ballad lyrics
LEt all Loyal Subjects look well to their Hits,
For Popish Contrivers are out of their Wits;
They seek to destroy our Religion and King,
And all the three Nations to ruine to bring:
But God in his mercy, doth cross their Designs,
And all their Conspiracies still Countermines.
Then Plotters who Act for old Nick and the Pope,
You see at the last you may swing in a rope.
Here's Ireland, Pickering, and Grove to make three,
Who have been all Brothers in iniquity;
Are now come to answer for all their foul Crimes,
Which they have been plotting this juncture of times.
Their hidden designs they are all come to light,
And now to the World they must bid a Good-night.
Then Plotters who Act for old Nick and the Pope,
You see at the last you may swing in a rope.
This present December, the seventeenth day,
These three grand contrivers were brought all away;
Vnto the Old-Baily, where Iustice remain'd.
[...]
Such Evidence plainly against them appear'd,
As made them despair of all hopes to be clear'd.
Then Plotters who Act for old Nick and the Pope,
You see at the last you may swing in a rope.
'Twas prov'd they conspired to Murder our King,
And Popery into the Land for to bring;
To alter the Laws, and to make themselves great,
And to our Religion, to give the Defeat:
All this was attested by Evidence clear,
Which unto the Iury most plain did appear;
Then Plotters who Act for old Nick and the Pope,
You see at the last you may swing in a rope.
For which horrid Crimes they were guilty brought in,
And then to give Sentence the Iudge did begin,
that they should return to the place whence they came,
A place of great Note, which is Newgate by name;
From thence unto Tiburn be drawn on a Sled;
First hang'd, & then Quartered before they were dead:
Then Plotters who Act for old Nick and the Pope,
[...]
The second Part,
To the same Tune.
This Sentence of Horror upon them did fall,
Who would have brought ruine and woe to us all,
And now to prepare for their end they retire,
Who were so inclined to Blood and to Fire:
Some more of their Gang are put off for a time,
Who likewise concerned are, in the same Crime:
Then Plotter who Act for old Nick and the Pope,
You see at the last you may swing in a rope.
But now came the Day for to finish their Doom,
Where with a strong Guard they to Tiburn did come;
With hearts full of sorrow, though laden with guilt,
For that the foundation was fallen which they built:
As for their Confessions but little they said,
Their Crimes to their consciences closely were laid:
Then Plotters who Act for old Nick and the Pope
You see at the last you may swing in a rope.
Not all the Popes Masses these Traytors could save,
Nor Irelands Bull, that could Iustice out-brave;
Nor Grove, his Evasions avail'd not a whit,
For now unto Fate they are forc'd to submit:
They that did expect to see other men fall,
Are now by their King-leaders brought into thrall;
Then plotters who Act for old Nick and the Pope
You see at the last you may swing in a rope.
And thus our grand Foes, that for mischief do watch,
will all by degrees, come shake hands with Jack Ketch
Have patience, and time will bring all unto light,
That they are contriving, though dark as the night:
They strive but in vain against God that's on high,
Beholding their Plots with an All-seeing eye:
Then plotters who Act for old Nick and the Pope
You see at the last you may swing in a rope.
Then let all Romes Agents despair for to see,
Our Nation submit unto their Tyranny;
Their Priests and their Iesuits may pack away,
For here they will find it too hot for to stay:
God bless our good King, and his Counsel preserve,
That from true Religion they never may serve,
And let those who Act for old Nick and the pope,
At last come to Tiburn and swing in a rope.
FINIS.
Language
Language ballad is printed in
English
Date
Date of ballad
1678
Printing Location
Location the ballad pamphlet was printed.
London, printed for F. Coles, T. Vere, J. Wright, and J. Clarke
Method of Punishment
Method of punishment described in the ballad.
hanging, drawing and quartering
Crime(s)
Crime or crimes for which the person in the ballad is convicted.
treason
Gender
Gender of the person being executed.
Male
Execution Location
Location the condemned was executed.
Tyburn
Tune Data
<em>Packington's Pound</em> is often cited as <em>Digby's Farewell,</em><em>Packingtons Pound</em> or <em>Amintas' Farewell.</em> The tune first appeared in 1671 and was popular for execution ballads (Simpson 1966, pp. 181-187, 564-570).
Digital Object
<iframe src="https://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/execution-ballads/files/fullsize/ea72ee6d7e40932e323fce957a890370.jpg" frameborder="0" scrolling="yes" width="600" height="400"></iframe>
Image / Audio Credit
Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford, <a href="http://ballads.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/view/sheet/1025" target="_blank">Wood E 25(99)</a>
Subtitle
Or, The TRAITORS Downfal.
Being a full Account of the Conviction, and Condemnation of Ireland, Pickering, and Grove; Who were Tryed at the Sessions-House in the Old-Baily, upon the 17th. of December, 1678. And found Guilty of Contriveing the Death of our Soveraign Lord the King, and for Subverting the Protestant Religion, and the Government of the Three Nations; for which they received Sentence to be Drawn, Hang'd, and Quartered: And Two of them, viz. Ireland and Grove, were accordingly Executed at Tiburn the 24th. of January following; As a warning for all Trai|tors, to take Example by their fall. To the Tune of, Digby's Farewel.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Treason Rewarded at TIBURN:
drawing and quartering
hanging
Male
treason
-
https://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/execution-ballads/files/original/a462c0aa4ce5a929d307515e3cfdae80.jpg
a5e1594c5d4035d51e05d309ed9e6591
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
English Execution Ballads
Execution Ballad
Transcription
Transcription of ballad lyrics
LOvers, I beg lend an Ear to this Story, See an Example in this constant Pair;
How Love a Virgin did blast in her Glory, Beautiful Nancy of Yarmouth, we hear.
She was a Merchants charming Daughter, Heiress to fifteen hundred a Year.
A young Man courted her to be his Jewel, Son to a Gentleman who lived near.
Many Years he courted this Jewel; When Infants in Love they both agreed;
And when to Age this Couple arrived, Cupid an Arrow between them displayd.
Their tender Hearts were linked together; But when her Parents the same did hear,
They to their charming beautiful Daughter Acted a Part most base and severe.
Bidding her give over her Intentions, For if against their Consent she did wed,
Forevermore they resolvd to disown her, If she wed one that was so meanly bred.
Her Mother said, You are a great Fortune, Besides, you are young and handsome;
You are a Match, dear Child, that is fitting For ever a Lord in Christendom.
Then made answer this handsome Daughter, Riches and Honour I do defy;
If Im deprivd of my dearest Lover, Then farewel World, it is all Vanity.
Jemmys the Man whom I do admire, He is the Riches whom I adore;
To be a Great one I never desire, My Heart is fixed to have no more.
Then said her father, Tis my Resolution, Altho I have no more Daughters than thee,
If that with him you resolve to marry, Banishd for evermore thou shalt be.
For the young Man he sent in a Passion, And said, For evermore now take thy leave,
[I] have a Match more fit for my Daughter, Therefore it is in vain thus for to strive.
Honoured Father, thus said the Maiden, Promisd we are by the Powers above;
Then of all Pleasures do not bereave me, Our Love is fixed never to remove.
Then, said her Father, a Trip to the Ocean You shall go in a Ship of my own;
And I consent you shall have my Daughter, When to fair Yarmouth you do return.
Honoured Sir, then said the Lovers, Since tis your Will, we must obey;
Our constant Hearts shall never be parted, But our Desires no longer must stay.
Than Nancy said, dearest Jemmy, Here take this Ring the Pledge of my Vows,
With it my Heart keep safe in your Bosom, And bear it with you wherever you go.
Then close in his Arms he did enfold her, While Tears did d[own l]ike Fountains flow
Saying in return [?]y [I]ll give you, you shall be p[re]sent [w]herever [?] [g]o
When on the Ocean I am a sailing The Thoughts of you the Compass will steer,
Till tedious Absence the Time will devour And bring me safe to the Arms of my Dear.
Therefore be constant my dearest Jewel, For, by the Heavens, if thou art untrue,
My Ghost shall haunt you for ever: Dead or Alive I must have none but you.
Her Arms then round his Neck she twined, Saying, when thou art on the Sea,
If the Fates unto us should prove cruel, That we each other no more should see,
No one alive shall ever enjoy me. When the Tydings of thy Death I hear,
Then like a sad distracted Lover, Down to the Grave I will go with my Dear.
Then with a dismal Sigh he departed, The Wind it blew a pleasant Gale;
All being ready, the famd Mary Galley For the Island of Barbados did sail.
Many Lords of high Birth and Breeding Came a Courting to this bright Maid:
But their Presents and Favours she slighted, Constant Ill be to my Jemmy, she said.
Now for a Time lets leave this Maiden, And shew how Things with her Lover did go.
In fair Barbados the Ship was laden: But now observe his sad Overthrow.
Jemmy was handsome in each Feature, A Barbados Lady, whose Fortune was great,
Fixd her Eyes on him, saying, If I have not This handsome Sailor, I die for his sake.
She dressed herself in rich Attire, With rich Jewels she plaited her Hair;
An Hundred Slaves for to attend her. She sent for the young Sailor there.
Come noble Sailor, now can you love me? A Lady whose Honour and Riches are great,
An hundred Slaves there are to attend thee, with Musick to lull thee to thy silent Sleep.
In Robes of Gold then I will deck thee, Pearls and rich Jewels Ill lay at thy Feet;
In a Charriot of Gold you shall ride with Pleasure if you can love me answer me strait.
Amazd with Wonder, awhile he gazed, forbear, sweet Lady, then he cryd;
For in old England Ive vowd to a Lady at my Return to make her my Bride.
She is a charming beautiful Creature and has my Heart, I can have no more;
I bear in Mind her beauteous Features, no other Creature but her I adore.
Hearing this, she ravd in Distraction, crying, unfortunate Maid thus to love
One that doth slight me and my Glory, and of my Person does not approve.
Lords of Renown I have slighted now must I die for a Sailor bold.
I must not blame him for being so constant, true Love is better than Silver and Gold.
A curious Jewel then she gave him, within her Hand she held a Knife;
One fatal Stroke ere they could stop her, did put an End to her tender Life.
Great Lamentation was made for the Lady, Jemmy on board the Ship did steer,
And then to England he was a sailing with great Desire to meet his Dear.
But her Father found he was coming, a Letter he writ to the Boatswain his Friend;
Saying a handsome Reward I will give you if you the Life of young Jemmy will end.
Quite void of Grace, and for sake of Money, the Boatswain did the same compleat;
As they on the Deck were a walking, he tumbled him into the Deep.
All in the Night when he was sleeping,
his Ghost unto his Love did appear;
Crying, arise, sweet beautiful Susan. perform the Vow you made to your Dear.
You are my own, so tarry no longer, Seven long Years for thee I did stay:
Jove does wait to crown us with Pleasure, the Bride Guests are ready, so come away,
Cries she, whos there under my Window? surely it is the Voice of my Dear;
Lifting her Head from the downy Pillow, strait to the Casement she did repair.
O Jemmy, she said, if my Father hears it, we shall be ruind both I fear;
At the Sea-side there I will meet you, and with my Maids I will meet you there.
Her Gown was embroiderd with Gold,
carelesly round her Body she threw;
And with both her Maids to attend her to meet het Love she did instantly go.
Close in his Arms then he enfolds her, Jemmy, says she, you are colder than Clay,
You are not the Man whom I admire, paler than Death you appear to me.
Yes, fair Creature, I am your Lover, dead or alive you know you are mine;
I came for your Vow, and you must follow, my Body unto the silent Grave.
I for your Sake refusd Gold and Silver, Riches and Jewels I did despise;
A charming Lady did for me expire, thinking of thee I was deaf to her Cries.
Your cruel Parents have been my Undoing. ansl now I sleep in a watry Tomb;
Now for your Promise Dear I am suing, dead or alive you are my own.
The trembling Lady was much affrighted, amazd she stood at the brink of the Sea,
And with Eyes up-lifted said cruel Parents, you have been the Cause of my Misery.
Certain it is I promisd thee sweet Jewel, dead or alive for to be thy own;
Now to perform my Vows I am ready, to follow thee to the watery Tomb.
The Maidens heard her Lamentation, but the Apparition could not see;
Thinking their Lady was in Distraction, strove to persuade her contented to be.
But she cried dearest Im coming, and in thy Arms I soon shall be,
When she had spoke the unfortunate Lady plunged herself quite into the Sea.
But when her Father heard of the same, he said, O! what have I done?
My dearest Child, it was a cruel Father that provided thee a watery Tomb.
Two or three Days being expired, these two unfortunate Lovers were seen
In each others Arms in the Waves floating, by the Ships Side in the watery Main.
The cruel Boatswain struck with Horror, then did confess the Fact he had done,
Shewing the Letter he had from her Father, which was the Cause of these Lovers Doom.
On board of Ship he was tryd for Murder, at the Yard-Arm he was hangd for the same
Her Father broke his Heart for his Daughter. before the Ship to the Harbour came.
Thus cursed, Gold caused Distraction. why should the Rich thus covet Gain.
I hope this Story will be a Warning, that cruel Parents may not do the same.
Language
Language ballad is printed in
English
Date
Date of ballad
1728-1731 ?
Synopsis
Account of events that are the subject of the ballad
Two young lovers, Nancy and Jemmy, from Yarmouth, are not allowed to wed by her rich parents who seek a more fitting match. The father sends Jemmy on a ship to the Americas where a rich lady falls in love with him. When he spurns her because of his love for Nancy she kills herself. During his return to England, Nancy's father bribes the boatswain to murder him by drowning. His ghost appears to Nancy and asks her to join her in a watery grave; she agrees. The boatswain confesses to his part in the murder of Jemmy, and is hanged at the Yard-Arm.
Printing Location
Location the ballad pamphlet was printed.
Printed and Sold at the Printing-Office in Bow-Church-Yard, London.
Method of Punishment
Method of punishment described in the ballad.
hanging
Crime(s)
Crime or crimes for which the person in the ballad is convicted.
murder
Gender
Gender of the person being executed.
Male
Execution Location
Location the condemned was executed.
Yard-Arm (Yarmouth?)
Digital Object
<iframe src="https://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/execution-ballads/files/fullsize/a462c0aa4ce5a929d307515e3cfdae80.jpg" frameborder="0" scrolling="yes" width="600" height="400"></iframe>
Image / Audio Credit
British Library - Roxburghe, C.20.f.558-559; <a href="https://ebba.english.ucsb.edu/ballad/31259/image" target="_blank">EBBA 31259</a>
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
The YARMOUTH Tragedy; OR, The CONSTANT LOVERS.
hanging
Male
murder
-
https://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/execution-ballads/files/original/7cbda5be9c29cd247194ced36b13342f.jpg
d3c8a56a81f8b3615ba00cb1330c9aaa
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
English Execution Ballads
Execution Ballad
Set to tune of...
Melody to which ballad is set.
<em>Dainty come thou to me</em>
Transcription
Transcription of ballad lyrics
The wofull lamentation of Edward Smith , a poore penitent prisoner
in the Jayle of Bedford, which he wrote a short time before his
death. To the tune of, Dainty come thou to me.
I Am a Prisoner poore,
Opprest with misery:
O Lord doe thou restore
that faith which wants in me.
In woe I waile and weepe,
In griping griefe I cry,
In dungeon darke and deepe,
In fetters fast I lye,
Sighing I sit and moane,
My foule offences all,
My loathsome life is knowne, which makes me live in thrall.
Ned Smith I am, the wight
In prison that remaines,
Tormented day and night, with bands and iron chaines.
My joyes are turn'd to nought,
My hopes are worne away,
My wickednesse hath wrought my downe-fall and decay.
Those gifts that God gave me,
My wants for to supply,
Abused much I have,
To please my fantasie,
My [n]ame I did denie,
In B[ap]ti[s]me given me,
That Sacrament whereby Regenerate I should be.
No wit nor strength may serve
The Law to satisfie:
For death I doe deserve, In right and equity.
For I offended have
Nobles of high degree,
What favour can I crave For life or liberty?
But hope of life is past,
My acts so hainous be:
And liberty is lost, Till death doe set me free.
All men both old and young
Which are at liberty,
And heare my dolefull song, Example take by me.
Be true, and trust in God,
Fly theft, and vice eschew,
Lest Gods most heavy rod Correct your deeds untrue.
Would I had ne'er bin borne
To doe such wicked deeds,
Which makes me live in scorne And shame that sore exceeds.
But that which passed is,
I cannot now recall:
My sinnes and my amisse, O Lord forgive them all.
Woe worth ill company,
Fie on that filthy crue:
Accurst the day may be That ever I them knew.
If life and death were set
Before me for to chose,
Though I might pardon get, My life first would I lose,
Then runne that wicked race,
And doe as I have done,
Sweet Jesus give me grace, That life so lewd to shun.
Fare well my loving wife,
Who sought to turne my minde,
And make me mend my life, Thy words full true I finde.
Farewell my children all,
My tender Babes adue:
Let this your Fathers fall, Be warning good for you.
Deare wife, and Infants three,
Serve God, remember this,
That you true subjects be, Though I have done amisse.
Farewell my Musick sweet,
And Cittron silver sound,
Mourning for me is meet, My sinnes doe so abound.
O Lord, on bended knees,
And hands lift up on hie,
Cast on me gracious eyes, With grace my wants supply.
Lay not unto my charge,
The things that I have done,
Though I have runne at large, And plaid the unthrift sonne.
Yet now I doe repent,
And humbly come to thee,
My sinnes I doe lament, Sweet Jesus comfort me.
O Lord I doe lament,
And onely joy in thee,
To praise thee day and night, For thou redeemedst me.
Lord save our royall King
Whose prisoner poore am I,
Prolong his dayes on earth, With fame and victory.
Against his Majesty,
I have offended sore,
Committing Felony, And now I die therefore,
A dolefull death, God knowes,
Which once I did defie:
Thus must I end my woes Which I take patiently.
By thee O Saviour sweet,
In heaven I hope to rest,
In joy where I shall meet, Those soules whom thou hast blest,
Where we shall sing thy praise,
O God, with voyces high,
When I shall end my dayes, And live eternally.
Printed at London for C.W.
Language
Language ballad is printed in
English
Date
Date of ballad
1624
Printing Location
Location the ballad pamphlet was printed.
London, for C.W.
Crime(s)
Crime or crimes for which the person in the ballad is convicted.
felony, but not clear
Gender
Gender of the person being executed.
Male
Tune Data
<em>Dainty come thou to me</em> is often linked with <em>Phillida Flouts me </em>and first appeared in 1600.
Digital Object
<iframe src="https://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/execution-ballads/files/fullsize/7cbda5be9c29cd247194ced36b13342f.jpg" frameborder="0" scrolling="yes" width="400" height="600"></iframe>
Image / Audio Credit
Magdalene College - Pepys Library, Pepys Ballads 1.59 (see also Roxburghe 1.367, EBBA 30248); <a href="https://ebba.english.ucsb.edu/ballad/20038/image" target="_blank">EBBA 20038</a>
Subtitle
a poore penitent prisoner in the Jayle of Bedford, which he wrote a short time before his death. To the tune of, Dainty come thou to me.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
The wofull lamentation of Edward Smith,
felony
Male
-
https://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/execution-ballads/files/original/aa69613b100a7b52c8d1e5b419901eb4.jpg
4bb69ecd8d97350d77065a26aadbee30
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
English Execution Ballads
Execution Ballad
Set to tune of...
Melody to which ballad is set.
<em>Let Oliver now be forgotten</em>
Transcription
Transcription of ballad lyrics
Old Tony he led you to Ruin,
to kick against Power and State,
But now it has prov'd your undoing,
for all he'd a Politick Pate:
For now you may see they look sowre,
The Law has invincible Power,
And I do hope will all Traytors devour,
Now 'tis in vain for to babble and prate.
O Armstrong, you see your Condition,
you find what your Plotting hath done,
Your Pride and your haughty ambition,
did force you from England to run:
For the old course you were taken,
Loyal Allegience forsaken,
It doth appear such Laws you were making,
But now it will fill you with horror and fear.
Sure Armstrong was highly besotted,
to act in so horrid a thing,
For treacherously you have Plotted,
against a most Soveraign King:
And when you heard the Narration,
Of the Kings Proclamation,
The Sea you crost, forsaking the Nation,
But now all your hopes is drowned at last.
For hatching and Plotting of Treason,
O Armstrong you entred your hand,
Contrary to Law, Right, or Reason,
against the great King of the Land:
Every Wheel was in motion,
They did it in point of Devotion,
At last for fear you crossed the Ocean,
And now a fine halter doth fall to your share.
You aim'd at the very Foundation,
our gracious good King and the Heir,
The strength and the stay of the Nation,
but now you are catcht in the Snare:
For Armstrong you dy'd a Traytor,
Gray will be found little better,
When he comes here early or later,
And Ferguson too [??] come in for a share.
These were the Blades of Sedition,
maintainers of Tony's Old Cause,
That rail'd against Lawful Succession,
to tread down our National Laws:
Yea both the Prince and his power,
Dayly they sought to devour,
They would have sent Loyal hearts to the Tower
Without all dispute this was their intent.
Those Villains then in the conclusion,
had they but obtained their will,
The Land would have been in Confusion,
and innocent Blood for to spill:
Then let us pray for the King and respect him
The Heavens I hope will direct him,
With all his Train ever protect him,
And send him a long and prosperous Reign.
But Armstrong was never so daunted,
no, ne'r since he first drew his breath.
O then he with Horror was haunted,
when he receiv'd Sentence of Death:
He fain would have have [sic] come to a Tryal,
But yet there was a denial,
O Armstrong, you had better been Loyal,
Then to be found to be one of the Crew.
But let him have what he deserved,
and give to each Traytor his due,
Let Charles our good King be preserved,
from all the implacable Crew:
Let Drums and Trumpets sound it,
Hang up each treach'rous Round-head,
So let them swing, thus be confounded,
While we that are Loyal cry, God save the King.
FINIS.
Language
Language ballad is printed in
English
Date
Date of ballad
1684
Printing Location
Location the ballad pamphlet was printed.
[London] : Printed for I. Deacon at the Angel in Guilt spur-Street without Newgate
Method of Punishment
Method of punishment described in the ballad.
hanging, drawing and quartering
Crime(s)
Crime or crimes for which the person in the ballad is convicted.
treason
Gender
Gender of the person being executed.
Male
Execution Location
Location the condemned was executed.
Tyburn
Tune Data
<em>Let Oliver now be forgotten</em> is also known as <em>How Unhappy is Phillis in Love, </em>and first appeared in 1681 (Simpson 1966, pp. 320-22).
Digital Object
<iframe src="https://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/execution-ballads/files/fullsize/aa69613b100a7b52c8d1e5b419901eb4.jpg" frameborder="0" scrolling="yes" width="600" height="450"></iframe>
Image / Audio Credit
Houghton Library, EB75 P4128C no. 319; <a href="https://ebba.english.ucsb.edu/ballad/34455/image" target="_blank">EBBA 34455</a>
Subtitle
or, Treason miraculously discover'd Being a full and true account of one Sir Thomas Armstrong, who with other rebels, had conspired the death of our soveraign Lord the King, and subverting the government: and though he fled beyond the seas for refuge, yet there the hand of justice found him out; and was brought back to England, where he received the due sentence of death, which was accordingly executed on the 20th. of this instant June, 1684. To the tune of, Let Oliver now be forgotten.
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The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
The traytors last farewell:
drawing and quartering
hanging
Male
treason
-
https://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/execution-ballads/files/original/7b33d1e1b3165213c15e8bcd7d53517e.jpg
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
English Execution Ballads
Execution Ballad
Set to tune of...
Melody to which ballad is set.
<em>The Young-Mans Legacy</em>
Transcription
Transcription of ballad lyrics
WHile I in brief shall make appear, what sins are chiefest in this land,
Who can forbear to shed a tear, when they these Lines shall understand
Covetousness we see each day, to many other sins does lead,
And when we shall to that give way, sad murthers does from thence proceed
For money what will many do, to Satans service they'l engage,
And will their hands in blood imbrue; O! is this not a sinful age.
Tho' many for the same does stretch, yet some will eagerly run on,
And does not fear to make a breach, in all the Laws of God and Man.
Alas, we find the case is clear, offenders will no conscience make,
Although their lives do pay full dear, yet they will not their sins forsake.
And now in brief I will proceed, to tell what grieves my heart full sore,
The like of this sad bloody deed, was hardly ever heard before.
There was an honest Servant-Maid, that lived in the town of Lyn:
Who of her life was soon betray'd, By Murther that notorious sin.
It was the Mistriss and her Son, who prov'd this Maidens overthrow,
There was no Creature, no not one, when they their Cruelty did show.
To death they did this Damsel bring, she did their cruelty behold,
What tempted them to do this thing, these very Lines shall here unfold.
While she did in this place abide, a Servant with humility:
A Friend or a Relation dy'd, who left to her a Legacy.
This to her service then she brought, where wickedness was too too rife,
For this they her destruction wrought, and suddenly they sought her life.
One morning when she riss betimes, to do her work, and thought no ill,
O! then they did commit this crime, her Guiltless blood they then did spill.
They first agreed to knock her down, then presently her wicked Son,
He drove a spike into her head, to finish what they had begun.
When they had her destruction wrought. O! then the Son that wicked Elf,
Did hang her that it might be thought to all, that she had hang'd her self.
But Murther Heaven does forbid, the Blood does still for vengeance cry,
Likewise we know it can't be hid, from our great Gods all-seeing Eye.
She by their Cruelty did fall, alas! we may her grief condole,
They did not give her time to call to God, to pitty her poor Soul.
They to the Bar was brought at last, by this sad wicked Race they run,
And there by Law they both were cast,
first dy'd the Mother, then her Son.
The fruits of Murther here we see, would make a Christians heart to bleed
O that it may a warning be, to all that e're these lines shall read.
Language
Language ballad is printed in
English
Date
Date of ballad
1685-1688
Synopsis
Account of events that are the subject of the ballad
A maidservant comes into a legacy; out of greed she is murdered by her mistress and her son, who drive a spike into her head and then try to make it look like she hanged herself.
Crime(s)
Crime or crimes for which the person in the ballad is convicted.
murder
Gender
Gender of the person being executed.
Multiple
Execution Location
Location the condemned was executed.
Lyn
Tune Data
<em>The Young-Mans Legacy</em> is not in <em>The British Broadsie Ballad and its Music</em> (Simpson 1966).
Digital Object
<iframe src="https://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/execution-ballads/files/fullsize/7b33d1e1b3165213c15e8bcd7d53517e.jpg" frameborder="0" scrolling="yes" width="600" height="450"></iframe>
Image / Audio Credit
Magdalene College - Pepys Library, Pepys Ballads 2.168; <a href="https://ebba.english.ucsb.edu/ballad/20785/image#" target="_blank">EBBA 20785</a>
Subtitle
Being, a Relation of a Horrid Murther, commited upon a Maid Servant, in the Town of Lyn; by her Mistriss and her Son, for the Lucre of what she had: But they being apprehended for the same, was accordingly found Guilty, and was also Executed.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
The sad effects of Covetousness.
Female
hanging
Male
murder
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
English Execution Ballads
Execution Ballad
Set to tune of...
Melody to which ballad is set.
<em><a href="https://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/execution-ballads/items/show/1174">Packington's Pound</a></em>
Transcription
Transcription of ballad lyrics
Death being forc'd to come before his hour,
Brings with him TIME, by his strong Might and Power,
To warn all Papists, ne'r more to conspire,
For if they do, Iack Katch will pay their Hire;
When as he Catcheth them by'th Neck with Rope,
He needs no Butter, as they say, nor Sope.
Forbear your vile Ploting, all yo that design
To escape Gods Vengeance, Repent you in time,
Remember! that Princes his Vicegerents are,
Inroaled in Heaven, the chief of his care:
No Whisper in secret, but what are reveal'd,
From God there is nothing that can be conceal'd:
In vain are your Plots, when his Mercy says nay,
'tis yourselves you Insnare, you your selves are the prey.
'Tis of Coleman I sing, who once was of fame,
And good reputation, but now to his shame,
Foul Treason has sullied his Nobler parts,
And brought him to ruine, tho' just his deserts:
Twas Popish Infection to Ruine the State,
That wrought his Confusion, and hastned his Fate:
Such Desperate mallice his Prince to Betray,
But in vain are mens plotings, if heaven Gain-say
Her Highnesses Servant he lived some Years,
Till Romes Tripple Tyrant had Buzd in his Ear,
To Ruine a Kingdom, or Murder his King,
For which hed be Sainted: no sooner, this Sting
Had Poysond his Loyalty, but he begins
To start from Allegiance, and scruples no sins:
But let all beware how their King they Betray,
For Vengeance on Traytors redoubld will pay
The second Part, to the same Tune:
BY Letters from Rome, from France, and from Spain,
He suckd in the Treason, and vents it again;
To give them Intelligence how Affairs stood,
And when he Expected to Write to um In Blood:
Thus Bent on Distruction, ner Questiond to ave spead,
But Heaven Fore-shewd what hung over our Heads:
In mercy preserved us, therefore we may say,
In vain is their mallice, if he but say nay.
By Secular Powr, in the Midst of His Pride,
Hes taken, and safely to Newgate conveyd,
From whence to his Tryal in Westminster-hall,
That Great Seat of Justice, who when they did call,
Most Proudly Replyd, but his Jury brought In,
He GUILTY OF TREASON CONSPIRED had been:
Subversion and Murder intended, but stay,
In vain you Conspire, if Jehovah gain-say.
But time being spent, they the Sentance Deferr,
And He the Next morning was brought to the Barr,
Where the Judge did declare the Gracious Intent
Of a King made of Mercy, if he would Recant,
And make true Confession, a Pardon they tender,
Signed and Sealed by our Faiths Defender:
What monstrous Villain on mercy coud prey,
Or think to destroy it, when heaven said nay?
O wondrous goodness! sure Rome must confess
Her Elfs find more favour then she woud grant us:
But this grace made no impress ins obstinate breast,
He scornd at pure mercy, and tearmd it a jest:
But then the dread sentence pronouncd he should go
To the place whence he came, & from thence in full show
To all the Spectators, be Drawn on his way,
(A reward fit for Villains that Kingdoms betray.)
To the place of Destruction tencounter grim death,
And there by a Cord to resign half his breath:
His Bowels ripd out, in the flames to be cast,
His Members disseverd on Poles to be placd:
A sight full of horror, but yet its most just
That they shoud first bleed, that after blood thirst:
You merciless Jesuites who precepts convey,
To Kill, Burn and Ravish, beware the great day.
Short time after sentence strong guarded he came,
To receive the reward of his Treason and shame:
Where black guilt in his face no question did stare,
But with strong resolution he stiffled his fear:
But his conscience awakend, remorse did prevail,
And then to this purpose his sins did bewail:
Good people take warning, and do not delay,
When mercy is offerd, nor cast it away.
I might have had pardon, but now tis too late,
For then I was obstinate, scorning my fate:
But death nows too dreadful, my crimes to augment,
Whereof ive been guilty, of which I repent,
Intreating my Saviour in mercy to save,
And of those that ive wrongd, forgiveness I crave:
And for my good King I most heartily pray,
That God woud protect him the nations obey.
And let all Conspirers who seek to dethrone
A King from his right, and make Nations to groan:
With cruel destruction take warning by me,
And not seek their own ruines when they may live free,
Nor let the proud Prelate of Rome nor his Train,
Tlose Engines of mischief, whose Warrants are vain:
The fire-brands of hell, who draw Subjects away,
To plot against Princes when heaven says nay.
Language
Language ballad is printed in
English
Date
Date of ballad
1678
Notes
Additional information related to the ballad pamphlet or related events
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Colman" target="_blank">Wikipedia: </a> Edward Colman or Coleman (17 May 1636-1678) was an English Catholic courtier under Charles II of England. He was hanged, drawn and quartered on a treason charge, having been implicated by Titus Oates in his false accusations concerning a Popish Plot. He is a Catholic martyr, beatified by Pope Pius XI in 1929. <br /><br />There was no proof of connivance with a plot for assassination or rebellion except the testimony of Oates and Bedloe. The jury found Coleman guilty. Scroggs replied to his solemn declarations of innocence,'Mr. Coleman, your own papers are enough to condemn you.' Next morning sentence of death and confiscation of property was pronounced, and on Tuesday, 3 December, he was executed, avowing his faith and declaring his innocence.
Printing Location
Location the ballad pamphlet was printed.
London, Printed for P. Brooksby, at the Golden Ball, near the Hospital-gate, in West-smith-field
Method of Punishment
Method of punishment described in the ballad.
hanging, drawing and quartering
Crime(s)
Crime or crimes for which the person in the ballad is convicted.
treason
Gender
Gender of the person being executed.
Male
Execution Location
Location the condemned was executed.
Tyburn
Tune Data
<em>Packington's Pound</em> is often cited as <em>Digby's Farewell,</em><em>Packingtons Pound</em> or <em>Amintas' Farewell.</em> The tune first appeared in 1671 and was popular for execution ballads (Simpson 1966, pp. 181-187, 564-570).
Digital Object
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Image / Audio Credit
British Library - Roxburghe, C.20.f.9.32; <a href="https://ebba.english.ucsb.edu/ballad/30386/image" target="_blank">EBBA 30386</a>
Subtitle
or, The examination, tryal, condemnation, and execution, of Edward Coleman Esquire. Who was convicted of high treason, the 27th. day of November, at the King-Bench-Barr at VVest-minster, for plotting against the life of his most sacred Majesty, and for endeavouring to subvert the government, and the true Protestant religion establisht: he received sentence the 28th. day of November 1678. to be drawne hang'd, and quartered, and was executed at Tyburn the 3d. Of December: with his last speech and confession, made by him at the place of execution. To the tune of, Captain Digby, or, Packington's pound.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
The plotter executed:
Audio recording
drawing and quartering
hanging
Male
treason