• Ballads
  • Essays
    The ballad business Methodology Texts, tunes and pictures Audiences, performances and recordings The Musicians reflect Collectors and collections Broadside ballads and the origins of pop
  • Project
    The history of the project Project participants Funding and Partners Acknowledgements
  • Website
    A user’s guide to the website Conventions of presentation Licensing and citation Contact us
  • Search

Top pop from seventeenth-century England. Broadside ballads were single-sheet songs that sold for a penny a piece. This website concentrates on over 100 resoundingly successful examples that you can investigate through recordings, images and a wealth of other materials. Whether you are interested in music, art, love, gender, tragedy, politics, family life, crime, history, humour or death, you will find something to engage you here. See also User’s Guide.

Coles (Aka Coules), Francis   Emotions - Joy   University Of Glasgow   Chapin Library, Williams College  

Showing 1 to 9 of 9

6 A most sweet Song of an English Merchant,/ borne at Chichester [Roxburghe 1.104-05]
13 The rarest Ballad that ever was seen,/ Of the Blind beggers daughter of Bednall-green [Euing 293]
17 The Merchants Daughter of Bristow [Euing 210]
19 A Pleasant Ballad of Tobias, wherein is shewed/ what wonderful things chanced to him in his Youth [Euing 270]
30 The Delights of the Bottle;/ OR,/ The Town-Gallants Declaration for Women and Wine [Euing 71]
38 A worthy example of a vertuous wife, who fed her father with her own milk [Roxburghe 3.48-49]
49 A constant Wife, a kinde Wife,/ A loving Wife, and a fine Wife [Pepys 1.390-91]
57 The Shepherd and the King, and of Gillian the Shepherds Wife, with her churlish Answer [Euing 332]
82 The two Constant Lovers. Or,/ A patterne of true Love exprest in this loving Dialogue betweene Samuell and Sara [Euing 360]

Top Fives

Click any item to filter the ballad list.
Use the search function to find additional material.

Authors

  • Anonymous  (7)
  • Deloney, Thomas (d. in...  (1)
  • Shadwell, Thomas (c. 16...  (1)

Publishers

  • Clark, John  (9)
  •   Coles (aka Coules), Fra...  (9)
  • Vere, Thomas  (9)
  • Wright, John III  (9)
  • Gosson, Henry  (8)

Topics

  •   Emotions - joy  (9)
  • Gender - masculinity  (7)
  • Emotions - love  (6)
  • Gender - courtship  (6)
  • Gender - femininity  (6)

Instruments

  • Cittern  (3)
  • Fiddle  (3)
  • Bassoon  (1)
  • Dulcimer (improvised)  (1)
  • Guitar  (1)

Performers

  • Lewin, Giles  (6)
  • Vitale, Steno  (3)
  • Watts, Andy  (3)
  • Portman, Emily  (2)
  • Banks, Steve  (1)

Tunes

  • Chevy Chase  (2)
  • Lie lulling beyond thee  (1)
  • The blind beggar  (1)
  • The delights of the bot...  (1)
  • The maiden's joy  (1)

Woodcuts

  • Akimbo man with clouds  (1)
  • Alehouse scene with can...  (1)
  • Blind beggar with dog a...  (1)
  • Couple with leafy fan  (1)
  • Merchant's execution  (1)

Holding Libraries

  • No known copy  (9)
  •   University of Glasgow  (9)
  • Bodleian Library, Oxfor...  (8)
  • British Library  (8)
  • National Library of Sco...  (8)
  • Pepys Library, Magdalen...  (8)
  • Beinecke Library, Yale...  (4)
  • Houghton Library, Harva...  (4)
  • Central Library, Manche...  (3)
  • Christ Church Library,...  (2)
  •   Chapin Library, William...  (1)
  • Pierpont Morgan Library  (1)

About the Project | Funding and Partners | Licensing and citation

© The 100 Ballads Project 2023