RE: [Mid] Re: Greensleeves

Hi Kitel,

What your father probably did was document the ballad "Lord of Lorne" and
the ballad tune "Greensleeves" and speculate that it was possible that they
were the same tune. However, people have been doing this since the early
1800s (Wm Chappell, et al...) and have never been able to substantiate the
claim.

The stationer's register was begun in 1557 and every legally printed English
broadside ballad is listed in it. Most probably the most convincing
evidence for the ballad's not existing before 1580: The fact that on
9/3/1580 the original was licensed, and on the same day an answer to the
original was licensed...which means that someone had foreknowledge that the
original would be published (it takes several days to go from license to
publication). On 9/15/1580 a morilization was published.

"The Lord of Lorne" which is most probably the ballad that you may be
referring to (as it MAY have been contemporary with Henry VIII) was licensed
10/6/1580 and specifically states, "To be sung to the tune of Greensleeves"

Frankly, I have found no reference to King Henry VIII and Greensleeves save
in Victorian parlour-books. I've checked all of my academic books and have
found no attribution to Henry.

Respectfully,

Constance Fairfax

> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-sca-middle@midrealm.org
> [mailto:owner-sca-middle@midrealm.org]On Behalf Of
> KitelYngvarsson@aol.com
> Sent: Sunday, November 28, 1999 6:19 PM
> To: sca-middle@midrealm.org
> Subject: [Mid] Re: Greensleeves
>
>
> In a message dated 11/28/99 1:19:13 PM Central Standard Time,
> fairfax@tir.com
> writes:
>
> > To my knowledge, there's no extant document which can place
> Greensleeves any
> > earlier.
>
> As I mentioned in an earlier post, one would have to check the tomes "The
> Letters and Papers of Henry VIII." It is an enormous,
> multi-volume, set of
> books containing copies (photos, transcriptions, etc.) of the papers from
> Henry's lifetime. It contains a large section on his poetry. I do
> not have
> the books available to me, or I would look up the references
> directly. I do
> not want to state for certain that a copy of "Greensleeves"
> (which, by the
> way was not what it was called contemporarily, if memory serves),
> because I
> cannot look and see for myself.
>
> However, I do recall a discussion on the subject with my father
> who was doing
> a paper on Henry, at the time (a copy of which now in the Drake
> library in
> Des Moines). According to him, it was documented. There were a number of
> other poems, too, that Henry wrote to other ladies (Anne's
> sister, for one).
> I will have to look them up and see what I can find.
>
> In service,
> Kitel
> From: KitelYngvarsson@aol.com
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From: "Kate/Constance" <fairfax@tir.com>
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Received on Sun Nov 28 18:54:00 1999