Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard is one of British folk music’s great songs of adultery and murder, ending with two lovers caught together and a furious husband taking bloody revenge
Traditional British ballads contain plenty of warnings about having affairs, although few make the consequences quite as brutal as Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard.
The story concerns Little Musgrave, a young man who attracts the attention of Lady Barnard, the wife of a powerful nobleman.
She invites Musgrave to spend the night with her while her husband is away, which turns out to be a spectacularly bad decision.
The song is very old, with references to the story appearing by the early 17th century. One of the earliest surviving printed versions appeared in Wit Restor’d in 1658 under the title Little Musgrave and the Lady Barnet, although the ballad was almost certainly circulating before then.
Francis James Child later included it as Child Ballad No. 81 in The English and Scottish Popular Ballads. It is also Roud Folk Song Index No. 52, with versions collected throughout Britain, Ireland and North America.
The names vary considerably between versions. Musgrave becomes Matty Groves in some of the best-known performances, while Lord Barnard appears as Lord Barnet, Lord Arlen, Lord Arnold and several other variations.
Whatever their names, the resulting bloodbath remains much the same.
Musgrave meets Lady Barnard at church, where she makes her intentions perfectly clear. She invites him home, assuring him that her husband is safely away.
Unfortunately, one of Lord Barnard’s servants overhears the conversation.
The servant races off to warn his master, who gathers his men and heads home to catch the lovers together. Musgrave and Lady Barnard, meanwhile, have gone to bed without any idea that an extremely angry husband is approaching.
One traditional version has Musgrave wake and realise something is wrong:
Methinks I hear the morning cock,
Methinks I hear the jay;
Methinks I hear Lord Barnard’s horn,
I would I were away.
Lady Barnard tells him there is nothing to worry about.
There is.
Lord Barnard arrives and finds Musgrave in bed with his wife. Rather than simply murdering his unarmed rival, however, he allows Musgrave to dress and gives him a weapon.
The two men fight.
Musgrave manages to wound Lord Barnard, but the nobleman then strikes back and kills him.
Things could have ended there, but Lady Barnard makes the mistake of openly mourning her dead lover. In some versions, she tells her husband that she would rather have Musgrave’s dead body than Barnard and everything he owns.
Lord Barnard responds by killing her as well.
The ending sometimes gives the murderous husband a brief moment of regret, ordering the lovers buried together while his wife receives the better grave because of her noble birth.
Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard survived remarkably well into modern folk music, particularly through the version generally known as Matty Groves.
Fairport Convention recorded a magnificent electric version of Matty Groves for their 1969 album Liege & Lief, turning the centuries-old ballad into one of the defining recordings of British folk rock.
The song has also been performed by Martin Carthy, Christy Moore, Planxty and numerous other traditional and folk-rock artists, while Doc Watson helped popularise an American version.
Its continuing appeal isn’t difficult to understand.
There are secret lovers, an informer, a furious husband racing home, two people caught in bed, a sword fight and a double killing.
More than three centuries before Fairport Convention plugged in their guitars, Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard already had everything required for a cracking murder song.
