ABSTRACT
She occasionally calls for ‘balants’ (ballads) to be made celebrating her victory. The English and Am erican forms, in which the hero is nearly always hanged, are thought to be based on the death o f G eorge Stoole, who was executed in 16 10 in N orthum berland, convicted o f theft. Other theories involve a broadside entitled ‘The Life and Death o f G eorge o f O xford ’ (c. 1691). Kidson writes: ‘The whole series o f “ G eordie” ballads sprang, I think from one original now lost. The notes by the early commentators fixing the identity o f the particular G eordie are valueless. . . He declares that the English and Scots versions are ‘ totally distinct, yet h^reand there having a verse in com m on’ .
