11. Up he lope, and a glass window broke, He had thirty foot for to fall; Lord Bodwell kept a privy watch Underneath his castle wall. 'Who have we here?' said Lord Bodwell; 'Answer me, now I do call.'
12. 'King Henry the Eighth my uncle was; Some pity show for his sweet sake! Ah, Lord Bodwell, I know thee well; Some pity on me I pray thee take!'
13. 'I'll pity thee as much,' he said, 'And as much favour I'll show to thee, As thou had on the queen's chamberlain That day thou deemedst him to die.'
14. Through halls and towers this king they led, Through castles and towers that were high, Through an arbour into an orchard, And there hanged him in a pear tree.
15. When the governor of Scotland he heard tell That the worthy king he was slain, He hath banished the queen so bitterly That in Scotland she dare not remain.
16. But she is fled into merry England, And Scotland too aside hath lain, And through the Queen of England's good grace Now in England she doth remain.
[Annotations: 1.2: 'sleight,' trick. 3.3,4: A popular proverb; see _The Lord of Learne_, 39.3,4 (Second Series, p. 190). 10.1: 'made him boun,' prepared himself.]
+The Text+ is another of the lively battle-pieces from the Percy Folio, put into modern spelling, and no other version is known or needed. The battle of Durham, which the minstrel says (27.1, 64.2) was fought on a morning of May, and (64.3,4) within a month of Creçy and Poictiers,[1] actually took place on October 17, 1346. Stanza 18 makes the king say to Lord Hamilton that they are of 'kin full nigh'; and this provides an upper limit for the date of the ballad, as James Hamilton was married to Princess Mary, sister of James III., in 1474.
[Footnote 1: Creçy was fought on August 26, 1346; Poictiers on September 19, 1356.]
+The Story.+--We have as authorities for the history of the battle both Scottish and English chronicles, but the ballad, as might be expected, follows neither very closely. Indeed it is not easy to reconcile the Scottish account with the English. David Bruce, the young king of Scotland, seized the opportunity afforded by Edward III.'s absence in France at the siege of Calais to invade England with a large army. They were met at Durham by an English force in three divisions, led (according to the English chronicle) by (i) the Earl of Angus, Henry Percy, Ralph Neville, and Henry Scrope, (ii) the Archbishop of York, and (iii) Mowbray, Rokeby, and John of Copland. The Scots were also in three divisions, which were led (says the Scottish version) by King David, the Earl of Murray and William Douglas, and the Steward of Scotland and the Earl of March respectively. The English chronicle puts John of Douglas with the Earl of Murray, and the Earl of Buchan with King David.