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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   Environment - Buildings   Beinecke Library, Yale University  

Showing 1 to 6 of 6

4 A lamentable Dittie composed upon the death of/ Robert Lord Devereux late Earle of Essex, who was beheaded in the/ Tower of London, upon Ashwednesday in the morning [Huntington Britwell 18290]
25 A most notable example of an ungracious Son, who/ in the pride of his heart denyed his own Father [Roxburghe 1.226-27]
35 The Judgement of God shewed upon one John Faustus/ Doctor in Divinity [Euing 145]
52 England New Bell-man:/ Ringing into all peoples ears Gods dreadful/ Judgements against this Land and Kingdom [Bodleian Wood 401 (159v-160r)]
57 The Shepherd and the King, and of Gillian the Shepherds Wife, with her churlish Answer [Euing 332]
63 A most godly and comfortable Ballad of the glorious/ Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ [Roxburghe 1.258-59]

Top Fives

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Authors

  • Anonymous  (6)

Publishers

  • Clark, John  (6)
  •   Coles (aka Coules), Fra...  (6)
  • Milbourn, Alexander  (6)
  • Vere, Thomas  (6)
  • Wright, Cuthbert  (6)

Topics

  •   Environment - buildings  (6)
  • Religion - Christ/God  (4)
  • Emotions - sorrow  (3)
  • Environment - animals  (3)
  • Environment - wonders  (3)

Instruments

  • Cittern  (2)
  • Drum  (2)
  • Curtal  (1)
  • Dulcimer (improvised)  (1)
  • Fiddle  (1)

Performers

  • Lewin, Giles  (3)
  • Couper, Victoria  (2)
  • Kirkpatrick, John  (2)
  • Vitale, Steno  (2)
  • Watts, Andy  (2)
  • Banks, Steve  (1)
  • Davis, Jub  (1)
  • Mizrake, Raph  (1)
  • Prior, Maddy  (1)
  • Underwood, Giles  (1)

Tunes

  • Chevy Chase  (2)
  • Fortune my foe  (1)
  • O man in desperation  (1)
  • Rogero  (1)
  • Welladay  (1)

Woodcuts

  • Bellman with lamp  (1)
  • Christ in glory  (1)
  • Christ's Resurrection  (1)
  • Courtly garden  (1)
  • Courtroom with hat on f...  (1)

Holding Libraries

  •   Beinecke Library, Yale...  (6)
  • British Library  (6)
  • National Library of Sco...  (6)
  • No known copy  (6)
  • Pepys Library, Magdalen...  (6)

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