''Little Jock Elliot'' is

Border ballad Border ballads are a group of songs in the long tradition of balladry collected from the Anglo-Scottish border. Like all traditional ballads, they were traditionally sung unaccompanied. There may be a repeating motif, but there is no "chorus" as ...

of indeterminate age. It is sometimes referred to as the "lost ballad" since the only certain remaining of it is the famous verse "Wha daur meddle wi me ?". A version of it was written by James Smail (1828–1905) under the pseudonym of Matthew Gotterson in The Scotsman, in 1872. He gave it a second part in 1892.

Synopsis

John Elliot of Park was a famous Scottish

border reiver Border reivers were raiders along the Anglo-Scottish border from the late 13th century to the beginning of the 17th century. They included both Scottish and English people, and they raided the entire border country without regard to their v ...

and infamous plunderer and cattle 'lifter' from the powerful Elliot family along the lawless Scottish border with England in the mid 16th Century. He is also the subject of a well-known

called "Little Jock Elliot". The ballad asserts Elliot's prowess in battle and contains the famous refrain "My name is Little Jock Elliot, and wha daur meddle wi' me!," which has traditionally been offered as one possible source for the origins of the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...

motto of the Order of the Thistle, "

Nemo me impune lacessit ''Nemo me impune lacessit'' (''No one provokes me with impunity'') () was the Latin language, Latin motto of the Royal House of Stuart, Stuart dynasty of Scotland from at least the reign of James VI of Scotland, James VI when it appeared on the ...

". The ballad ends by referencing Little Jock Elliot's wounding of

James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell James Hepburn, 1st Duke of Orkney and 4th Earl of Bothwell ( – 14 April 1578), better known simply as Lord Bothwell, was a prominent Scottish nobleman. He was known for his marriage to Mary, Queen of Scots, as her third and final husband. ...

in the summer of 1566 when the latter attempted to arrest Elliot, apparently for crimes committed as a reiver. Another ballad called "Bothwell","Bothwell"
/ref> attributed to the early Scottish poet Robert Aytoun, presents the story from the point of view of Bothwell. The ballad 'Bothwell' states that the earl, though suffering from life-threatening wounds inflicted by Elliot, yet managed to kill him, thus reversing the heroic role assigned to Little Jock Elliot in the

eponymous An eponym is a person, a place, or a thing after whom or which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. The adjectives which are derived from the word eponym include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Usage of the word The term ''epon ...

ballad and also its implicit message that Elliot survived the encounter.

History

The events occurred in fact, evidently with both Elliot and Bothwell at least wounding each other. The various accounts agree that Bothwell wounded Elliot first, who notwithstanding his wounds, managed to wound Bothwell in return to such a degree that he was near death and unable to continue the fight. This wounding of Bothwell apparently also led to

Mary, Queen of Scots Mary, Queen of Scots (8 December 1542 – 8 February 1587), also known as Mary Stuart or Mary I of Scotland, was Queen of Scotland from 14 December 1542 until her forced abdication in 1567. The only surviving legitimate child of James V of S ...

life being endangered. On her way to see Bothwell, she almost perished in a mire, and subsequent to her strenuous ride (fifty miles in a single day), she became extremely ill, apparently with

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severi ...

References

External links

Little "Jock" Elliott

Elliot Elliot (also spelled Eliot, Elliotte, Elliott, Eliott and Elyot) is a personal name which can serve as either a surname or a given name. Although the given name has historically been given to males, females have increasingly been given the nam ...

Scottish Borders Song forms Scottish folk songs Northumbrian folklore English folk songs Songs about fictional male characters Traditional ballads {{Folk-song-stub

Synopsis

History

See also

References

External links