ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the politics of the 'Princely Song' through a range of print media and performance contexts. It addresses this neglect and establishes the trajectory of the book, which moves from the 'Old Whig' political identity of the editor of the Collection to the mobilization of radical political songs following the French Revolution. The anonymous editor of the Collection provided historical commentaries for the 'old ballads' as a framing device for his elite readership, while maintaining a mocking attitude to any literary or antiquarian pretensions. Richard the Lionheart has been completely neglected in ballad studies, with much more attention being devoted to Robin Hood, the outlaw King figure who also emerged during Richard the Lionheart's reign. This chapter has traced the transmission of the 'Princely Song' across the eighteenth century through a number of different print media as a case study of the politics of song.
