is a very old English ballad, and the author of it
is unknown. The title actually means the hunt or chase
among the Cheviot Hills which divide England and
Scotland. According to the story there had long been
keen rivalry between the families of Percy, Earl of
Northumberland in England, and of the Scotch Earl of
Douglas. Each made continual raids into the other's
territory. One day Earl Percy vowed that he would hunt
for three days in the Scotch border, or Cheviot Hills,
without asking leave of Douglas. He set out to do
this, but as soon as the hunt begins the ballad mixes
with it an account of the Battle of Otterburn, which
was fought by English and Scotch in 1388 in the county
of Northumberland, and which resulted in a Scotch
victory.
The poem describes both the hunt and the battle, but
many of the facts are incorrectly given. Earl Percy's
son, Henry, known as Hotspur, killed Earl Douglas at
Otterburn, although here Douglas is described as being
killed by the arrow of an English archer. The English
king is called Henry, and the Scotch James, but in 1388
Richard II was king of England, and Robert II king of
Scotland. In return for the English defeat at
Otterburn, they did, as the
poem states, win a great victory over the Scotch at
Humbledown in Northumberland in 1402.
Many of these old ballads contain curious mixtures of
several poems, made into one years after the events
described. This is a very good example of such a
combination, and one of the best of the old popular
narratives in rhyme.
Anonymous
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