The Ballad of Chevy Chase
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"The Ballad of Chevy Chase" is an English
ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or ''ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...
, catalogued as
Child Ballad The Child Ballads are 305 traditional ballads from England and Scotland, and their American variants, anthologized by Francis James Child during the second half of the 19th century. Their lyrics and Child's studies of them were published as '' ...
162 (
Roud The Roud Folk Song Index is a database of around 250,000 references to nearly 25,000 songs collected from oral tradition in the English language from all over the world. It is compiled by Steve Roud (born 1949), a former librarian in the London ...
223Se
here
/ref>). There are two extant ballads under this title, both of which narrate the same story. As ballads existed within oral tradition before being written down, other versions of this once-popular song also may have existed. Its tune has been used by other, unconnected songs.


Synopsis

The ballads tell the story of a large hunting party upon a parcel of hunting land (or ''
chase Chase or CHASE may refer to: Businesses * Chase Bank, a national bank based in New York City, New York * Chase Aircraft (1943–1954), a defunct American aircraft manufacturing company * Chase Coaches, a defunct bus operator in England * Chase Co ...
'') in the
Cheviot Hills The Cheviot Hills (), or sometimes The Cheviots, are a range of uplands straddling the Anglo-Scottish border between Northumberland and the Scottish Borders. The English section is within the Northumberland National Park. The range includes T ...
, a range of rolling hills straddling the
Anglo-Scottish border The Anglo-Scottish border () is a border separating Scotland and England which runs for 96 miles (154 km) between Marshall Meadows Bay on the east coast and the Solway Firth in the west. The surrounding area is sometimes referred to ...
between
Northumberland Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey. It is bordered by land on ...
and the
Scottish Borders The Scottish Borders ( sco, the Mairches, 'the Marches'; gd, Crìochan na h-Alba) is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders the City of Edinburgh, Dumfries and Galloway, East Lothian, Midlothian, South Lanarkshire, West Lothi ...
—hence, Chevy Chase. The hunt is led by Percy, the English
Earl of Northumberland The title of Earl of Northumberland has been created several times in the Peerage of England and of Great Britain, succeeding the title Earl of Northumbria. Its most famous holders are the House of Percy (''alias'' Perci), who were the most po ...
, against the wishes of the Scottish
Earl Douglas This page is concerned with the holders of the forfeit title Earl of Douglas and the preceding feudal barons of Douglas, South Lanarkshire. The title was created in the Peerage of Scotland in 1358 for William Douglas, 1st Earl of Douglas, so ...
, who had forbidden it. Douglas interprets the party's arrival as an invasion of Scotland and attacks. Only 110 people survive the bloody battle that follows.


Historical basis

Percy and scholar Francis J. Child noted similarities with the older " The Battle of Otterburn", about the 1388
Battle of Otterburn The Battle of Otterburn took place according to Scottish sources on 5 August 1388, or 19 August according to English sources, as part of the continuing border skirmishes between the Scots and English. The best remaining record of the bat ...
. Neither set of lyrics is completely historically accurate. Versions of either ballad often contain parallel biographical and historical information; nonetheless, the differences led Child to believe that they did not originally refer to the same occurrence. Simpson suggests that the music of ''Chevy Chase'' was identical to the tune of ''Flying Flame'', in which the former superseded the latter by the beginning of the seventeenth century. Both ballads were collected in Thomas Percy's '' Reliques.'' The first of the ballads is in
Francis James Child Francis James Child (February 1, 1825 – September 11, 1896) was an American scholar, educator, and folklorist, best known today for his collection of English and Scottish ballads now known as the Child Ballads. Child was Boylston professor of r ...
's '' English and Scottish Popular Ballads''. Different versions were collected in England, Scotland, and the United States. Versions of "The Ballad of Chevy Chase" exist in several ballad collections, including the
Roxburghe Ballads In 1847 John Payne Collier (1789–1883) printed ''A Book of Roxburghe Ballads''. It consisted of 1,341 broadside ballads from the seventeenth century, mostly English, originally collected by Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford and Mortimer (16 ...
, the
Pepys Library The Pepys Library of Magdalene College, Cambridge, is the personal library collected by Samuel Pepys which he bequeathed to the college following his death in 1703. Background Samuel Pepys was a lifelong bibliophile and carefully nurtured his ...
, the
Huntington Library The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens, known as The Huntington, is a collections-based educational and research institution established by Henry E. Huntington (1850–1927) and Arabella Huntington (c.1851–1924) in San Mar ...
Miscellaneous, the
Glasgow University Library Glasgow University Library in Scotland is one of the oldest and largest university libraries in Europe. At the turn of the 21st century, the main library building itself held 1,347,000 catalogued print books, and 53,300 journals. In total, the ...
, and the Crawford Collection at the
National Library of Scotland The National Library of Scotland (NLS) ( gd, Leabharlann Nàiseanta na h-Alba, sco, Naitional Leebrar o Scotland) is the legal deposit library of Scotland and is one of the country's National Collections. As one of the largest libraries in the ...
. The ballads in these collections were printed with variations between 1623 and 1760. Online facsimiles of the ballad are also available for public consumption at the
English Broadside Ballad Archive The English Broadside Ballad Archive (EBBA) is a digital library of 17th-century English Broadside Ballads, a project of the English Department of the University of California, Santa Barbara. The project archives ballads in multiple accessible digi ...
and other online repositories.


First ballad

The first of the two ballads of Chevy Chase may have been written as early as the 1430s, but the earliest record we have of it is in ''
The Complaynt of Scotland ''The Complaynt of Scotland'' is a Scottish book printed in 1549 as propaganda during the war of the Rough Wooing against the Kingdom of England, and is an important work of the Scots language. Context and authorship The book was part of the wa ...
'', printed around 1549. One of the first printed books in
Middle Scots Middle Scots was the Anglic language of Lowland Scotland in the period from 1450 to 1700. By the end of the 15th century, its phonology, orthography, accidence, syntax and vocabulary had diverged markedly from Early Scots, which was virtually ...
, the book calls the ballad ''The Hunting of Cheviot.'' The first manuscript version of the ballad was written around 1550 ( MS Ashmole 48,
Bodleian Library The Bodleian Library () is the main research library of the University of Oxford, and is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. It derives its name from its founder, Sir Thomas Bodley. With over 13 million printed items, it is the second- ...
). In the seventeenth century, the tune was licensed in 1624 and again in 1675.


Second ballad

In 1711,
Joseph Addison Joseph Addison (1 May 1672 – 17 June 1719) was an English essayist, poet, playwright and politician. He was the eldest son of The Reverend Lancelot Addison. His name is usually remembered alongside that of his long-standing friend Richard S ...
wrote in ''
The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British magazine on politics, culture, and current affairs. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving weekly magazine in the world. It is owned by Frederick Barclay, who also owns ''The ...
'':
The old song of "Chevy-Chase" is the favourite ballad of the common people of England, and
Ben Jonson Benjamin "Ben" Jonson (c. 11 June 1572 – c. 16 August 1637) was an English playwright and poet. Jonson's artistry exerted a lasting influence upon English poetry and stage comedy. He popularised the comedy of humours; he is best known for t ...
used to say he had rather have been the author of it than of all his works. Sir
Philip Sidney Philip, also Phillip, is a male given name, derived from the Greek language, Greek (''Philippos'', lit. "horse-loving" or "fond of horses"), from a compound of (''philos'', "dear", "loved", "loving") and (''hippos'', "horse"). Prominent Philip ...
, in his discourse of Poetry 'The_Defence_of_Poesie''.html" ;"title="The_Defence_of_Poesie.html" ;"title="'The Defence of Poesie">'The Defence of Poesie''">The_Defence_of_Poesie.html" ;"title="'The Defence of Poesie">'The Defence of Poesie'' speaks of it in the following words: "I never heard the old song of Percy and Douglas that I found not my heart more moved than with a trumpet; and yet it is sung by some blind crowder with no rougher voice than rude style, which being so evil apparelled in the dust and cobweb of that uncivil age, what would it work trimmed in the gorgeous eloquence of Pindar?" For my own part, I am so professed an admirer of this antiquated song, that I shall give my reader a critique upon it without any further apology for so doing.''The Works of Joseph Addison: Complete in Three Volumes: Embracing the Whole of the "Spectator," &c'', Harper & Brothers, 1837, p.117
Apparently, Addison was unaware that the ballad, which he proceeded to analyze in detail, was not the same work praised by Sidney and Jonson. The second of the ballads appears to have been written in modernized English shortly after Sidney's comments, perhaps around 1620, and to have become the better-known version.


Cultural references

William Hutton, in ''A Journey from Birmingham to London'' (1785), mentions "the old song of Chevy Chace" and its tale about "the animosity between England and Scotland". In Sir Walter Scott's '' Rob Roy'' (1817), the main character, Frank, upon seeing the trophies on the walls of Osbaldistone hall, imagines them being from the Chevy Chase. An early and popular painting of 1825–6 by
Edwin Landseer Sir Edwin Henry Landseer (7 March 1802 – 1 October 1873) was an English painter and sculptor, well known for his paintings of animals – particularly horses, dogs, and stags. However, his best-known works are the lion sculptures at the bas ...
was titled ''The Hunting of Chevy Chase''. In
Emily Brontë Emily Jane Brontë (, commonly ; 30 July 1818 – 19 December 1848) was an English novelist and poet who is best known for her only novel, ''Wuthering Heights'', now considered a classic of English literature. She also published a book of poet ...
's ''
Wuthering Heights ''Wuthering Heights'' is an 1847 novel by Emily Brontë, initially published under her pen name Ellis Bell. It concerns two families of the landed gentry living on the West Yorkshire moorland, moors, the Earnshaws and the Lintons, and their tur ...
'' (1847), Catherine Heathcliff (''
née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...
''
Catherine Linton Catherine Linton (also known as "Young Catherine" or Cathy Linton and later as Catherine Heathcliff then as Catherine Earnshaw) is a character in Emily Brontë's 1847 novel ''Wuthering Heights''. She is the daughter of Edgar Linton and Catheri ...
) scorns
Hareton Earnshaw Hareton Earnshaw is a character in Emily Brontë's 1847 novel ''Wuthering Heights''. He is the son of Hindley Earnshaw and Hindley's wife, Frances. At the end of the novel, he makes plans to wed Catherine Linton, with whom he falls in love. S ...
's primitive attempts at reading, saying, "I wish you would repeat Chevy Chase as you did yesterday; it was extremely funny!" In
Elizabeth Gaskell Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell (''née'' Stevenson; 29 September 1810 – 12 November 1865), often referred to as Mrs Gaskell, was an English novelist, biographer and short story writer. Her novels offer a detailed portrait of the lives of many st ...
's ''
North and South North and South may refer to: Literature * ''North and South'' (Gaskell novel), an 1854 novel by Elizabeth Gaskell * ''North and South'' (trilogy), a series of novels by John Jakes (1982–1987) ** ''North and South'' (Jakes novel), first novel ...
'' (1855), on hearing the conversation between Mr. Thornton and her father,
Margaret Hale Margaret Hale is the heroine of Elizabeth Gaskell's 1855 novel ''North and South''. Initially, Gaskell wanted the title of the novel to be ''Margaret Hale'', but Charles Dickens, the editor of '' Household Words'', the magazine in which the novel ...
wonders, “How in the world had they got from cog-wheels to Chevy Chace?” In
F. Anstey Thomas Anstey Guthrie (8 August 1856 – 10 March 1934) was an English author (writing as F. Anstey), most noted for his comic novel ''Vice Versa'' about a boarding-school boy and his father exchanging identities. His reputation was confirmed b ...
's ''
Vice Versa References Additional references * * {{Latin phrases V ca:Locució llatina#V da:Latinske ord og vendinger#V fr:Liste de locutions latines#V id:Daftar frasa Latin#V it:Locuzioni latine#V nl:Lijst van Latijnse spreekwoorden en ui ...
'' (1882), the boys at Dr. Grimstone's boarding school are required to play a game called "chevy" (a version of "prisoners' base" or "
darebase Darebase or dare base, also known as prisoners' base or Chevy Chace, and originally as bars, base or prisoners' bars, is a tag game between two or more teams on an open field that places a premium on speed and agility. Darebase holds some simila ...
"), "so called from the engagement famed in ballad and history".


Legacy

A tract of land in
British America British America comprised the colonial territories of the English Empire, which became the British Empire after the 1707 union of the Kingdom of England with the Kingdom of Scotland to form the Kingdom of Great Britain, in the Americas from 16 ...
was named "Cheivy Chace" by 1725, and was in the 1890s and early 1900s developed into the affluent areas of
Chevy Chase, Maryland Chevy Chase () is the name of both a town and an unincorporated census-designated place (Chevy Chase (CDP), Maryland) that straddle the northwest border of Washington, D.C. and Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. Several settlements in th ...
, and
Chevy Chase, Washington, D.C. Chevy Chase () is a neighborhood in northwest Washington, D.C. It borders Chevy Chase, Maryland, a collection of similarly affluent neighborhoods. Geography The neighborhood is generally agreed to be bounded by Rock Creek Park on the east, Wester ...
A golf club in the Maryland Chevy Chase inspired the name of
Chevy Chase Cornelius Crane "Chevy" Chase (; born October 8, 1943) is an American comedian, actor and writer. He became a key cast member in the first season of ''Saturday Night Live'', where his recurring ''Weekend Update'' segment became a staple of the ...
,
Lexington, Kentucky Lexington is a city in Kentucky, United States that is the county seat of Fayette County, Kentucky, Fayette County. By population, it is the List of cities in Kentucky, second-largest city in Kentucky and List of United States cities by popul ...
. A shopping mall in the
Eldon Square Shopping Centre Eldon Square (stylised as EldonSq.) is a shopping centre in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It opened in 1976 and was built on the site of Old Eldon Square, a famous part of Georgian Newcastle designed by John Dobson in about 1824. This redevelo ...
in
Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...
is named "Chevy Chase" in allusion to the ballad. The ballad inspired the childhood nickname and adult stage name of the American comedian and actor
Chevy Chase Cornelius Crane "Chevy" Chase (; born October 8, 1943) is an American comedian, actor and writer. He became a key cast member in the first season of ''Saturday Night Live'', where his recurring ''Weekend Update'' segment became a staple of the ...
(born Cornelius Crane Chase, 1943). The ballad has given the English language the verb ''to chivvy'', meaning to pester or encourage someone to perform a task.


Further reading

* * *


Notes


External links


Straight Dope Staff Report: Who or what is Chevy Chase?



Copies of Chevy Chase Ballads
at th
English Broadside Ballad Archive
of the
University of California, Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduate ...
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ballad of Chevy Chase, The Child Ballads Cheviot Hills Border ballads