Andrew Barton had letters of reprisal from the king of Scotland against the Portuguese in consequence of the seizure of a ship commanded by his father. There is some reason to believe that he abused this privilege, and in 1511 Sir Thomas and Sir Edward Howard, with the consent of Henry VIII, set out with two ships against him. There was a hard fight. Barton was killed, and his ship, The Lion, was captured. The king of Scotland demanded redress, which was refused on the ground that Barton was a pirate.
A version of this ballad from a sixteenthcentury manuscript in York Minster Library is much like A. Some of the more interesting variations are given in the Notes. B is a broadside version, and is here omitted.
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