Mary Hamilton
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"Mary Hamilton", or "The Fower Maries" ("The Four Marys"), is a common name for a well-known sixteenth-century
ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of Great Britain and Ireland from the Late Middle Ages until the 19th century. They were widely used across Eur ...
from
Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...
based on an apparently fictional incident about a
lady-in-waiting A lady-in-waiting (alternatively written lady in waiting) or court lady is a female personal assistant at a Royal court, court, attending on a royal woman or a high-ranking nobility, noblewoman. Historically, in Europe, a lady-in-waiting was o ...
to a Queen of Scotland. It is
Child Ballad The Child Ballads are List of the Child Ballads, 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 ...
173 and
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. Roud's Index is a combination of the Broadsid ...
79. In all versions of the song, Mary Hamilton is a personal attendant to the Queen of Scots, but precisely which queen is not specified. She becomes pregnant by the Queen's husband, the King of Scots, which results in the birth of a baby. Mary kills the infant – in some versions by casting it out to sea or
drowning Drowning is a type of Asphyxia, suffocation induced by the submersion of the mouth and nose in a liquid. Submersion injury refers to both drowning and near-miss incidents. Most instances of fatal drowning occur alone or in situations where othe ...
, and in others by exposure. The crime is seen and she is convicted. The ballad recounts Mary's thoughts about her life and her impending death in a
first-person narrative A first-person narrative (also known as a first-person perspective, voice, point of view, etc.) is a mode of storytelling in which a storyteller recounts events from that storyteller's own personal point of view, using first-person grammar su ...
. Versions of the ballad have been recorded by a number of artists, including
Joan Baez Joan Chandos Baez (, ; born January 9, 1941) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and activist. Her contemporary folk music often includes songs of protest and social justice. Baez has performed publicly for over 60 years, releasing mo ...
,
The Corries The Corries were a Scottish folk group that emerged from the Scottish folk revival of the early 1960s. The group was a trio from their formation until 1966 when founder Bill Smith left the band but Roy Williamson and Ronnie Browne contin ...
, and
Angelo Branduardi Angelo Branduardi (born 12 February 1950) is an Italian folk music, folk/folk rock singer-songwriter and composer who scored relative success in Italy and European countries such as France, Germany, Belgium, Netherlands and Greece. Early and ...
.


Sources of the ballad

Most versions of the song are set in
Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...
(Scotland's traditional capital), but Joan Baez set her version, possibly the best known, in
Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...
, ending with these words: :: Last night there were four Maries; :: Tonight there'll be but three: :: There was Mary Beaton and Mary Seton :: And Mary Carmichael and me. This verse suggests Mary Hamilton was one of the famous ''Four Maries'', four girls named Mary who were chosen by the queen mother and regent
Mary of Guise Mary of Guise (; 22 November 1515 – 11 June 1560), also called Mary of Lorraine, was List of Scottish royal consorts, Queen of Scotland from 1538 until 1542, as the second wife of King James V. She was a French people, French noblewoman of the ...
to be companion ladies-in-waiting to her daughter, the child monarch
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 List of Scottish monarchs, Queen of Scotland from 14 December 1542 until her forced abdication in 1567. The only surviving legit ...
. However their names were
Mary Seton Mary Seton (1542–1615) was a Scottish courtier and later a nun. She was one of the four attendants of Mary, Queen of Scots, known as the Four Marys. She was a sister at the Convent of Saint Pierre les Dames in Reims at the time of her death. S ...
,
Mary Beaton Mary Beaton (about 1543–1597), or Bethune as she wrote her family name, was a Scottish courtier. She is remembered in history as one of the four girls who were companions of Mary, Queen of Scots from childhood, known as The Queen's Maries or ...
,
Mary Fleming Mary Fleming (; also spelled ''Marie Flemyng''; 1542–fl. 1584) was a Scottish noblewoman and childhood companion and cousin of Mary, Queen of Scots. She and three other ladies-in-waiting ( Mary Livingston, Mary Beaton and Mary Seton) were ...
and
Mary Livingston Mary Livingston (c. 1541–1589) was a Scottish noblewoman and childhood companion of Mary, Queen of Scots, one of the famous "Four Marys". Life Mary Livingston was born around 1541, the daughter of Alexander Livingston, 5th Lord Livingston (c ...
. Mary Stuart could not be a real life source for the ballad in any of its current forms as these are in conflict with the historical record. She and the Four Maries lived in France from 1547 to 1560, where Mary was dauphine and then queen as the wife of King Francis II. Mary later returned home to Scotland (keeping the French spelling of her surname, Stuart). She married her second husband,
Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley (1546 – 10 February 1567) was King of Scotland as the second husband of Mary, Queen of Scots, from 29 July 1565 until his murder in 1567. Lord Darnley had one child with Mary, the future James VI of Scotland and I ...
in July 1565, and he was murdered 20 months later, when he was king of Scots and joint ruler with Mary. So there was not much time for Darnley to have got one of the four Maries (or any other mistress) pregnant, and there is no record of him having done so. Also the song refers to "the highest Stuart of all" – which between 1542 and 1567 was a ''woman'' not a man. The ballad could contain echoes of
James IV James IV (17 March 1473 – 9 September 1513) was King of Scotland from 11 June 1488 until his death at the Battle of Flodden in 1513. He inherited the throne at the age of fifteen on the death of his father, James III, at the Battle of Sauch ...
or
James V James V (10 April 1512 – 14 December 1542) was List of Scottish monarchs, King of Scotland from 9 September 1513 until his death in 1542. He was crowned on 21 September 1513 at the age of seventeen months. James was the son of King James IV a ...
, who both had several illegitimate children, but none of their mistresses were executed or tried to dispose of a baby. In many versions of the song, the queen is called "the auld Queen". This would normally indicate a Queen Dowager or Queen Mother, but in ''this'' context suggests a queen consort who was an older woman, and married to a king of comparable age. If the reference is limited to Queens named Mary, another candidate would be
Mary of Guelders Mary of Guelders (; c. 1434/1435 – 1 December 1463) was Queen of Scots by marriage to King James II. She ruled as regent of Scotland from 1460 to 1463. Background She was the daughter of Arnold, Duke of Guelders, and Catherine of Clev ...
(1434–1463), queen to James II, King of Scots.


Mary Hamilton in Russia

The story may have been transferred from a wholly different context. It has been noted that it most closely matches, rather than any event in Scotland, the legend of Maria Danilova Gamentova, daughter of an expatriate branch of the
Clan Hamilton The Clan Hamilton, or House of Hamilton, is a Scottish clan of the Scottish Lowlands.Way, George and Squire, Romily. ''Collins Scottish Clan & Family Encyclopedia''. (Foreword by The Rt Hon. The Earl of Elgin KT, Convenor, The Standing Council ...
established in Russia by Thomas Hamilton during the reign of
Tsar Ivan IV Ivan IV Vasilyevich (; – ), commonly known as Ivan the Terrible,; ; monastic name: Jonah. was Grand Prince of Moscow and all Russia from 1533 to 1547, and the first Tsar and Grand Prince of all Russia from 1547 until his death in 1584. I ...
(1547–1584). A lady in waiting to Tsarina Catherine, second wife of Tsar Peter I "The Great" (who later succeeded him as
Catherine I Catherine I Alekseyevna Mikhailova (born Marta Samuilovna Skavronskaya; – ) was the second wife and Empress consort of Peter the Great, whom she succeeded as Emperor of all the Russias, Empress of Russia, ruling from 1725 until her death in 1 ...
), Mary Hamilton was also the Tsar's mistress. She bore a child in 1717, who may have been fathered by the Tsar but whom she admitted drowning shortly after its birth. She also stole trinkets from the Tsarina to present them to her lover Ivan Orlov. For the murder of her child, she was beheaded in 1719. Mary's head was preserved and displayed in the
Kunstkamera The Kunstkamera (, derived from German ''Kunstkammer'' lit. "art chamber") formally organized as the Russian Academy of Science's Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (, ''Muzey antropologii i etnografii imeni Petra Velikogo R ...
, a palace holding natural and scientific "curiosities". At that time, Charles Wogan was in Russia on a mission for
James Francis Edward Stuart James Francis Edward Stuart (10 June 16881 January 1766), nicknamed the Old Pretender by Whigs (British political party), Whigs or the King over the Water by Jacobitism, Jacobites, was the House of Stuart claimant to the thrones of Ki ...
, and through him news of the incident might have reached Scotland.


Recordings

Dozens of traditional versions of the ballad have been recorded.
James Madison Carpenter James Madison Carpenter, born in 1888 in Blacklands, Mississippi, near Booneville, in Prentiss County, was a Methodist minister and scholar of American and British folklore. He received his Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees from the ...
recorded several versions in
Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...
in the early 1930s, which can be heard online via the
Vaughan Williams Memorial Library The Vaughan Williams Memorial Library (VWML) is the library and archive of the English Folk Dance and Song Society (EFDSS), located in the society's London headquarters, Cecil Sharp House. It is a multi-media library comprising books, periodi ...
. Peter Kennedy recorded two
Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...
versions in the mid-1950s, sung by
Jeannie Robertson Regina Christina Robertson (21 October 1908 – 13 March 1975) was a Scottish folk singer. She is known for her version of the traditional song " I'm a Man You Don't Meet Every Day", otherwise known as "Jock Stewart", which was covered by ...
of
Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...
and Ethel Findlater of
Dounby Dounby () is a village on Mainland in Orkney, in the north of Scotland. Dounby village is situated at the crossroads of what are now the A986 and B9057, and has grown close to the meeting point of the three parishes of Sandwick, Birsay and Harr ...
,
Orkney Orkney (), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago off the north coast of mainland Scotland. The plural name the Orkneys is also sometimes used, but locals now consider it outdated. Part of the Northern Isles along with Shetland, ...
, and another version sung by Mary Taylor of Saxby-All-Saints,
Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...
,
England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
. Fred Hamer recorded Fred Jordan of
Ludlow Ludlow ( ) is a market town and civil parish in Shropshire (district), Shropshire, England. It is located south of Shrewsbury and north of Hereford, on the A49 road (Great Britain), A49 road which bypasses the town. The town is near the conf ...
,
Shropshire Shropshire (; abbreviated SalopAlso used officially as the name of the county from 1974–1980. The demonym for inhabitants of the county "Salopian" derives from this name.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West M ...
singing 'The Four Marys' in 1966. The song made its way to the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
, where
Alan Lomax Alan Lomax (; January 31, 1915 – July 19, 2002) was an American ethnomusicologist, best known for his numerous field recordings of folk music during the 20th century. He was a musician, folklorist, archivist, writer, scholar, political activ ...
recorded
Texas Gladden Texas Anna Gladden (' Smith, March 14, 1895 – May 23, 1966)Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...
singing a version in 1941, and traditional singer
Almeda Riddle Almeda Riddle (November 21, 1898 – June 30, 1986) was an American folk singer. Born and raised in Cleburne County, Arkansas, she learned music from her father, a fiddler and a teacher of shape note singing. She collected and sang tradition ...
of
Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...
performed a version in 1972.
Jean Ritchie Jean Ruth Ritchie (December 8, 1922 – June 1, 2015) was an American folk singer, songwriter, and Appalachian dulcimer player, called by some the "Mother of Folk". In her youth she learned hundreds of folk songs in the traditional way (orally, ...
and her sister Edna were filmed in their hometown of
Viper, Kentucky Viper is an unincorporated community in Perry County, Kentucky, United States. The community was so named on account of viper snakes near the original town site. Today Viper is served by Kentucky Route 7, south-southeast of Hazard. Viper h ...
performing a rendition passed down through their family. Many versions have also been found in Canada, including several recorded by
Helen Creighton Mary Helen Creighton, CM (September 5, 1899 – December 12, 1989) was a prominent Canadian folklorist. She collected over 4,000 traditional songs, stories, and beliefs in a career that spanned several decades, and she published many books and a ...
in
Nova Scotia Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...
,
New Brunswick New Brunswick is a Provinces and Territories of Canada, province of Canada, bordering Quebec to the north, Nova Scotia to the east, the Gulf of Saint Lawrence to the northeast, the Bay of Fundy to the southeast, and the U.S. state of Maine to ...
and
Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...
.


Influence


"Mary Hamilton" in ''A Room of One's Own''

In her highly influential text ''
A Room of One's Own ''A Room of One's Own'' is an extended essay, divided into six chapters, by Virginia Woolf, first published in 1929. The work is based on two lectures Woolf delivered in October 1928 at Newnham College, Cambridge, Newnham College and Girton Co ...
'', author
Virginia Woolf Adeline Virginia Woolf (; ; 25 January 1882 28 March 1941) was an English writer and one of the most influential 20th-century modernist authors. She helped to pioneer the use of stream of consciousness narration as a literary device. Vir ...
alludes to the characters in the ballad. She refers by name to Mary Beton, Mary Seton, and Mary Carmichael as recurrent personae, leaving only Mary Hamilton, the narrator of the ballad, unmentioned. Mary Beton plays the prominent role in Woolf's extended essay, as she serves as the speaker. According to her narrator in ''A Room of One's Own'', "'I' is only a convenient term for somebody who has no real being." A few sentences later, the narrator returns to the concept of identity and subjectivity and invokes the subjects of the ballad for the first time: "Here then was I (call me Mary Beton, Mary Seton, Mary Carmichael or by any name you please – it is not a matter of importance)..." Mary Beton serves as the narrator throughout ''A Room of One's Own''. The six chapters of the essay follow Mary Beton's walks through Oxbridge grounds and
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
streets, and her mental explorations of the history of women and fiction. The name reappears in the character of the narrator's aunt, who serves as both the namesake and benefactor of Mary Beton. Woolf is able to detach herself from the narrative voice of the essay through the use of Beton. Mary Seton is a friend of Mary Beton at the fictitious Fernham College (modelled after Cambridge's Newnham and
Girton College Girton College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was established in 1869 by Emily Davies and Barbara Bodichon as the first women's college at Cambridge. In 1948, it was granted full college status by the univ ...
s). It is partially through her conversations with Seton that Beton raises questions about the relationship between financial wealth and the opportunities for female education. Speaking of Mary Seton's mother, the narrator states, "If she had left two or three hundred thousand pounds to Fernham, we could have been sitting at our ease tonight and the subject of our talk might have been archaeology, botany, anthropology, physics, the nature of the atom, mathematics, astronomy, relativity, geography." Mary Carmichael plays the role of a fictitious author referenced by the narrator in ''A Room of One's Own''. Her fabricated novel, ''Life's Adventure'', allows Woolf to introduce the theme of female relationships. Mary Carmichael may also evoke the idea of the real author and birth-control activist Marie Carmichael (pseudonym for
Marie Stopes Marie Charlotte Carmichael Stopes (15 October 1880 – 2 October 1958) was a British author, palaeobotanist and campaigner for Eugenic feminism, eugenics and women's rights. She made significant contributions to plant palaeontology and co ...
) and her novel ''Love's Creation''.


Bob Dylan

American singer-songwriter
Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan; born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Described as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his nearly 70-year ...
adapted the melody from "Mary Hamilton" for his 1963 song "
The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll "The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll" is a topical song written by the United States, American musician Bob Dylan. Recorded on October 23, 1963, the song was released on Dylan's 1964 album ''The Times They Are a-Changin' (album), The Times They A ...
". The song recounts the story of black woman who died after being struck with a cane by William Zantzinger, a young white man who came from a wealthy family and who was ultimately sentenced to six months in prison for his crime. Writer
Mike Marqusee Mike Marqusee (; 27 January 1953 – 13 January 2015) was an American writer, journalist, and political activist in London. Life and career Marqusee's first published work was the essay "Turn Left at Scarsdale", written when he was a sixteen-y ...
compared the two songs as being about women "whose ives aredestroyed by the whims of the powerful".


Lyrics

:Mary Hamilton (The Fowerfower – four Maries) Yest're'enyest're'en – yestereven(ing) (i.e. last night) the Queen had fower Maries
The nicht she'll hae but three
There was Mary Seton and Mary Beaton,
And Mary Car-Michael and me. Oh little did my mother think
The day she cradled me
The lands I was to travel in
The death I was tae diepronounced Oh tie a napkin roonroon – around my eyeneyene – eyes
No let me seen to die
And sent me a'waa'wa – away tae my dear mother
Who's far away o'er the sea But I wish I could lie in our ainain – own kirkyardkirkyard – churchyard (cemetery)
Beneath yon old oak tree
Where we pulled the rowans and strung the gowansgowans – daisies
My brothers and sisters and me Yest're'en the Queen had fower Maries
The nicht she'll hae but three
There was Mary Seton and Mary Beaton,
And Mary Car-Michael and me. But why should I fear a nameless grave
When I've hopes for eternity
And I'll pray that the faith o' a dying thief.The
penitent thief The Penitent Thief, also known as the Good Thief, Wise Thief, Grateful Thief, or Thief on the Cross, is one of two unnamed thieves in Luke's account of the crucifixion of Jesus in the New Testament. The Gospel of Luke describes him asking Jesu ...
.

Be given through grace tae me Yest're'en the Queen had fower Maries
The nicht she'll hae but three
There was Mary Seton and Mary Beaton,
And Mary Car-Michael and me. There was Mary Seton and Mary Beaton,
And Mary Car-Michael and me. —————————— Notes to the lyrics:


References


External links


''Mary Hamilton''
in several variants {{Authority control 16th-century songs Child Ballads Fiction about adultery Joan Baez songs Mary, Queen of Scots Murder ballads Infanticide