Talk:The Laidly Worm of Spindleston Heugh

http://books.google.ca/books?id=dhsvAAAAMAAJ&pg=RA1-PA163&lpg=RA1-PA163&dq=a+view+of+northumberland+randal+laidley+worm&source=bl&ots=bbOzAIHKta&sig=S5KP3Bu6IMaE-FkDGMUUZa-FiAw&hl=en&ei=74WyS8K4KsL48AaL2LHbAQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CAgQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=&f=false

Is the link to Hutchinson/Randal 1778 book "A View of Northumbria..." that later scholars refer to as " History of Northumberland"

I'd guess that Hutchinson and Lambe placed the ballad at this place in the book to suggest the historical origins of the ballad were the troubles of mid 12th century Bamburg —Preceding unsigned comment added by 208.72.122.130 (talk) 23:30, 30 March 2010 (UTC)

And a little more research for "Origins"

Earlier this year I was reading a book from the public library titled "The Life and Times of George III" The book had a Oison tale that had been printed in some 1760's era paper in Britain.According to the book the Oisin poem was actually alluding to current (~1766) political events rather then some long past Golden Age. Now in Percy's papers two of the earliest fragments of the Laidley Worm ballad were dated approx. October 1767 and Janurary 1768. Britain had two crop failures in 1764 and 1765 and by 1766 the government was working up a corn tax.Which might be referred to in the ballad as "not a blade of corn or grass grew   so venomous was her mouth"

I also looked for signs of weak leadership in the 1760's period in Britain.According to the book William Pitt the Elder was known as The Great Commoner.London had been planning celebrations on his behalf when those plans were abruptly cancelled. It seems that George III had "bribed" William Pitt into taking a peerage.He'd sold out to the enemy,so to speak.During this period George III was trying to recover the royal powers Georges I/II had given up.Getting Pitt on his side would advance George III's interests.Apparently around 1767/68 Pitt was incapacitated at his house,too sick to do any governing. So my notion is that the ballads weak isolated King is a reference to the GeorgeIII/William Pitt crisis.

It seems that around April 1768 John Wilkes,who'd fired a literary shot at the government with his "45" ,returned from exile and ended up at the head of a London mob demanding representation voting/democracy.The British troops fired on the mob and several protestors were slain.The next day the mood was ugly and a man dressed as a executioner drove a hearse covered in posters dealing with the previous days massacre rode pase the house where George III was staying.

Though theres no ballad fragment in the Percy papers dating close to the massacre,I'd suggest when Lambe "discovered " the fragments the "Spirit of the Land" he had in mind was that ugly mood of the common non-voting folk.

The theory was posted to the BritArch mailing list several months ago,.Though the british archaeologists thought it was a plausible theory,they also noted thered have to be more matches made between events in the ballad and 1760's events.