{"collection":"Northern European Mythology","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/neu/eng/boeb/boeb24.htm","path":"neu/eng/boeb/boeb24.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/neu/eng/boeb/boeb24.htm","text":"IT fell about the Lammas tide,\n \u00a0\u00a0When husbands winn their hay,\n The doughty Douglas bound him to ride\n \u00a0\u00a0Into England to take a prey.\nThe Earl of Fife, withouten strife,\n \u00a0\u00a0He bound him over Solway;\n The great would ever together ride\n \u00a0\u00a0That race they may rue for aye.\nOver Ottercap hill they came in,\n \u00a0\u00a0And so down by Rotheley crag,\n Upon Green Leighton they lighted down,\n \u00a0\u00a0Styrande many a stag;\nAnd boldly brente Northumberland,\n \u00a0\u00a0And harried many a town;\n They did our Englishmen great wrong\n \u00a0\u00a0To battle that were not bown.\nThen spake a berne upon the bent,\n \u00a0\u00a0Of comfort that was not cold,\n And said, \"We have brente Northumberland,\n \u00a0\u00a0We have all wealth in holde.\n\"Now we have harried all Bamborough shire\n \u00a0\u00a0All the wealth in the world have we;\n I rede we ride to Newcastle,\n \u00a0\u00a0So still and stalworthlye.\"\nUpon the morrow, when it was day,\n \u00a0\u00a0The standards shone full bright;\n To the Newcastle they took the way,\n \u00a0\u00a0And thither they came full right.\nSir Henry Percy lay at the Newcastle,\n \u00a0\u00a0I tell you, withouten dread;\n He has been a March-man all his days,\n \u00a0\u00a0And kept Berwick upon Tweed.\nTo the Newcastle when they came,\n \u00a0\u00a0The Scots they cried on hyght:\n \"Sir Harry Percy, an thou bist within,\n \u00a0\u00a0Come to the field and fight:\n\"For we have brente Northumberland,\n \u00a0\u00a0Thy heritage good and right;\n And syne my lodging I have take,\n \u00a0\u00a0With my brand dubbed many a knight.\"\nSir Harry Percy came to the walls,\n \u00a0\u00a0The Scottish host for to see:\n \"And thou hast brente Northumberland,\n \u00a0\u00a0Full sore it rueth me.\n\"If thou hast harried all Bamborough shire,\n \u00a0\u00a0Thou hast done me great envy;\n For the tresp\u00e0ss thou hast me done,\n \u00a0\u00a0The one of us shall die.\"\n\"Where shall I bide thee?\" said the Douglas;\n \u00a0\u00a0\"Or where wilt thou come to me?\n \"At Otterburn in the high way,\n \u00a0\u00a0There mayst thou well lodged be.\nThe roe full reckless there she runs,\n \u00a0\u00a0To make thee game and glee;\n The falcon and the pheasant both,\n \u00a0\u00a0Among the holtes on hee.\n\"There mayst thou have thy wealth at will,\n \u00a0\u00a0Well lodged there mayst thou be;\n It shall not be long ere I come thee till,\"\n \u00a0\u00a0Said Sir Harry Percy\u00e8.\nThere shall I bide thee,\" said the Douglas,\n \u00a0\u00a0\"By the faith of my bod\u1ef3.\"\n \"Thither shall I come,\" said Sir Harry Perc\u1ef3,\n \u00a0\u00a0\"My troth I plight to thee.\"\nA pipe of wine he gave them over the walls,\n \u00a0\u00a0For sooth, as I you say;\n There he made the Douglas drink,\n \u00a0\u00a0And all his host that day.\nThe Douglas turned him homeward again,\n \u00a0\u00a0For sooth withouten nay;\n He took his lodging at Otterburn\n \u00a0\u00a0Upon a Wedn\u00e8sday;\nAnd there he pyght his standard down.\n \u00a0\u00a0His getting more and less;\n And syne he warned his men to go\n \u00a0\u00a0And get their geldings gress.\nA Scottish knight hoved upon the bent,\n \u00a0\u00a0A watch I dare well say;\n So was he ware on the noble Perc\u1ef3\n \u00a0\u00a0In the dawning of the day.\nHe pricked to his pavilion door,\n \u00a0\u00a0As fast as he might ronne;\n \"Awaken, Douglas!\" cried the knight,\n \u00a0\u00a0\"For His love that sits in throne.\n\"Awaken, Douglas!\" cried the knight,\n \u00a0\u00a0\"For thou mayst waken with wynne;\n Yonder have I spied the proud Perc\u1ef3,\n \u00a0\u00a0And seven stand\u00e0rds with him.\"\nNay, by my troth,\" the Douglas said,\n \u00a0\u00a0\"It is but a feign\u00e8d tale;\n He durst not look on my broad bann\u00e8r,\n \u00a0\u00a0For all Engl\u00e0nd so hayle\n\"Was I not yesterday at the Newcastle,\n \u00a0\u00a0That stands so fair on Tyne?\n For all the men the Percy had,\n \u00a0\u00a0He could not garre me once to dyne.\"\nHe stepped out at his pavilion door,\n \u00a0\u00a0To look, and it were less;\n \"Array you, lordyngs, one and all,\n \u00a0\u00a0For here begins no peace.\n\"The Earl of Menteith, thou art my eme,\n \u00a0\u00a0The forward I give to thee;\n The Earl of Huntley cawte and keen,\n \u00a0\u00a0He shall with thee be.\n\"The Lord of Buchan, in armour bright,\n \u00a0\u00a0On the other hand he shall be;\n Lord Johnstone, and Lord Maxwell,\n \u00a0\u00a0They two shall be with me.\n\"Swynton fair field upon your pride\n \u00a0\u00a0To battle make you bowen;\n Sir Davy Scot, Sir Walter Steward,\n \u00a0\u00a0Sir John of Agerstone.\"\nThe Percy came before his host,\n \u00a0\u00a0Which ever was a gentle knight,\n Upon the Douglas loud did he cry,\n \u00a0\u00a0\"I will hold that I have hight;\n\"For thou hast brente Northumberland,\n \u00a0\u00a0And done me great env\u1ef3;\n For this tresp\u00e0ss thou hast me done\n \u00a0\u00a0The one of us shall die.\"\nThe Douglas answered him again,\n \u00a0\u00a0With great words up on hee,\n And said, \"I have twenty against thy one,\n \u00a0\u00a0Behold, and thou mayst see.\"\nWith that the Percy was griev\u00e8d sore,\n \u00a0\u00a0For sooth as I you say;\n He lighted down upon his foot,\n \u00a0\u00a0And shot his horse clean away\nEvery man saw that he did so,\n \u00a0\u00a0That ryall was ever in rout;\n Every man shot his horse him fro,\n \u00a0\u00a0And light him round about.\nThus Sir Harry Percy took the field,\n \u00a0\u00a0For sooth as I you say,\n Jesu Christ in heaven on high,\n \u00a0\u00a0Did help him well that day.\nBut nine thousand, there was no more,\n \u00a0\u00a0If chronicle will not layne;\n Forty thousand Scots and four\n \u00a0\u00a0That day fought them again,\nBut when the battle began to join,\n \u00a0\u00a0In haste there came a knight,\n Then letters fair forth hath he ta'en,\n \u00a0\u00a0And thus he said full right:\n\"My lord, your father he greets you well,\n \u00a0\u00a0With many a noble knight;\n He desires you to bide,\n \u00a0\u00a0That he may see this fight.\n\"The baron of Grastock is come out of the west,\n \u00a0\u00a0With him a noble company;\n All they lodge at your father's this night,\n \u00a0\u00a0And the battle fain would they see.\"\nFor Jesu's love,\" said Sir Harry Perc\u1ef3,\n \u00a0\u00a0\"That died for you and me,\n Wend to my lord, my father, again,\n \u00a0\u00a0And say thou saw me not with ee;\n\"My troth is plight to yon Scottish knight,\n \u00a0\u00a0It needs me not to layne,\n That I should bide him upon this bent,\n \u00a0\u00a0And I have his troth again;\n\"And if that I wend off this ground,\n \u00a0\u00a0For sooth unfoughten away,\n He would me call but a coward knight,\n \u00a0\u00a0In his land another day.\n\"Yet had I lever to be rynde and rent,\n \u00a0\u00a0By Mary that mykel may,\n Than ever my manhood should be reproved\n \u00a0\u00a0With a Scot another day.\n\"Wherefore shoot, archers, for my sake,\n \u00a0\u00a0And let sharp arrows flee;\n Minstrels, play up for your warison,\n \u00a0\u00a0And well quit it shall be.\n\"Every man think on his true love,\n \u00a0\u00a0And mark him to the Trinit\u1ef3;\n For to God I make mine a-vow\n \u00a0\u00a0This day will I not flee.\"\nThe bloody heart in the Douglas' arms,\n \u00a0\u00a0His standard stood on high,\n That every man might full well know;\n \u00a0\u00a0Beside stood starr\u00e8s three.\nThe white Li\u00f2n on the English part,\n \u00a0\u00a0For sooth as I you sayne,\n The luces and the crescents both\n \u00a0\u00a0The Scots fought them again.\nUpon Saint Andrew loud did they cry,\n \u00a0\u00a0And thrice they shout on hyght,\n And syne marked them on our Englishmen,\n \u00a0\u00a0As I have told you right.\nSaint George the bright, our Lady's knight,\n \u00a0\u00a0To name they were full fain,\n Our Englishmen they cried on hyght,\n \u00a0\u00a0And thrice they shout again.\nWith that sharp arrows began to flee,\n \u00a0\u00a0I tell you in certain;\n Men of arms began to join;\n \u00a0\u00a0Many a doughty man was there slain.\nThe Percy and the Douglas met,\n \u00a0\u00a0That either of them was fain;\n They schapped together, while that they sweat,\n \u00a0\u00a0With swords of fine Collayne;\nTill the blood from their basenets ran\n \u00a0\u00a0As the roke doth in the rain.\n \"Yield thee to me,\" said the Douglas,\n \u00a0\u00a0\"Or else thou shalt be slain;\n\"For I see by thy bright basenet,\n \u00a0\u00a0Thou art some man of might;\n And so I do by thy burnished brand,\n \u00a0\u00a0Thou art an earl, or else a knight.\"\n\"By my good faith,\" said the noble Perc\u1ef3,\n \u00a0\u00a0\"Now hast thou rede full right;\n Yet will I never yield me to thee,\n \u00a0\u00a0While I may stand and fight.\"\nThey swapped together, while that they sweat,\n \u00a0\u00a0With sword\u00e8s sharp and long;\n Each on other so fast they beat,\n \u00a0\u00a0Till their helms came in pieces down.\nThe Percy was a man of strength,\n \u00a0\u00a0I tell you in this stound\n He smote the Douglas at the sword's length,\n \u00a0\u00a0That he felled him to the ground.\nThe sword was sharp, and sore did byte,\n \u00a0\u00a0I tell you in cert\u00e0in;\n To the heart he did him smite,\n \u00a0\u00a0Thus was the Douglas slain.\nThe standards stood still on each side;\n \u00a0\u00a0With many a grievous groan,\n There they fought the day, and all the night,\n \u00a0\u00a0And many a doughty man was slone.\nThere was no freyke that there would fly,\n \u00a0\u00a0But stiffly in stour did stand,\n Echone hewing on other while they might dry,\n \u00a0\u00a0With many a baleful brand.\nThere was slain upon the Scottes side,\n \u00a0\u00a0For sooth and certainl\u1ef3,\n Sir James of Douglas there was slain,\n \u00a0\u00a0That day that he did die.\nThe Earl of Menteith he was slain.\n \u00a0\u00a0Grysely groaned upon the ground;\n Sir Davy Scot, Sir Walter Steward,\n \u00a0\u00a0Sir John of Agerstone.\nSir Charles Murray in that place,\n \u00a0\u00a0That never a foot would fly;\n Sir Hugh Maxw\u00e8ll, a lord he was,\n \u00a0\u00a0With the Douglas did he die.\nThere was slain upon the Scottes side,\n \u00a0\u00a0For sooth as I you say,\n Of four and forty thousand Scots,\n \u00a0\u00a0Went but eighteen away.\nThere was slain upon the English side,\n \u00a0\u00a0For sooth and certainl\u1ef3,\n A gentle knight, Sir John Fitzhugh,\n \u00a0\u00a0It was the more pit\u1ef3.\nSir James Harebotell there was slain,\n \u00a0\u00a0For him their hearts were sore\n The gentle Lovel there was slain,\n \u00a0\u00a0That the Percy's standard bore.\nThere was slain upon the English side,\n \u00a0\u00a0For sooth as I you say,\n Of nine thousand Englishmen,\n \u00a0\u00a0Five hundred came away;\nThe others were slayn\u00e8 in the field,\n \u00a0\u00a0Christ keep their souls from woe,\n Seeing there were so few friends\n \u00a0\u00a0Against so many a foe!\nThen on the morn they made them biers\n \u00a0\u00a0Of birch and hazel gray;\n Many a widow with weeping tears\n \u00a0\u00a0Their makes they fetch away.\nThis fray began at Otterburn,\n \u00a0\u00a0Between the night and the day;\n There the Douglas lost his life,\n \u00a0\u00a0And the Percy was led away.\nThen was there a Scottish prisoner ta'en,\n \u00a0\u00a0Sir Hugh Montgomery was his name,\n For sooth as I you say,\n \u00a0\u00a0He borrowed the Percy home again.\nNow let us all for the Percy pray,\n \u00a0\u00a0To Jesu most of might,\n To bring his soul to the bliss of heaven,\n \u00a0\u00a0For he was a gentle knight.","title":"A Book of Old English Ballads: The Battle of Otterburn","type":"page"}