Scarborough Fair - the historical background

This poem is not included in Section 2 of the Edexcel Anthology, however it still fits in well with the other ballads and there are also some useful notes in this interesting rendition of this old ballad although it would be wise to question some points. In most versions it is the male who sets a series of impossible tasks as tests of love to be passed on by a third party to a female. In this version the female gives her list of impossible tasks in her tests of love. Both versions represent the medieval obsession with faithfulness in love and fear of cuckholdry. It was their equivalent of "the battle of the sexes".