Quote:Two sisters go down by a body of water, sometimes a river and sometimes the sea. The older one pushes the younger in and refuses to pull her out again; generally the lyrics explicitly state her intent to drown her younger sister. Her motive, when included in the lyrics, is sexual jealousy – in some variants, the sisters are being two-timed by a suitor; in others, the elder sister's affections are not encouraged by the young man. In a few versions, a third sister is mentioned, but plays no significant role in events. In most versions, the older sister is described as dark, while the younger sister is fair.

When the murdered girl's body floats ashore, someone makes a musical instrument out of it, generally a harp or a fiddle, with a frame of bone and the girl's "long yellow hair" (or "golden hair") for strings. The instrument then plays itself and sings about the murder. In some versions, this occurs after the musician has taken it to the family's household, so that the elder sister is publicly revealed (sometimes at her wedding to the murdered girl's suitor) as the murderess.

The variant titled "The Two Sisters" typically omits the haunted instrument entirely, ending instead with an unrelated person (often a miller) robbing the murdered girl's corpse, sometimes being executed for it, and the elder sister sometimes going unpunished, or sometimes boiled in lead.

Quote:In one of Medb’s many possible histories, she was known as Medb of Cruachan. In this tale, her first husband was Conchobar Mac Nessa, king of the Ulaid. Her father Eochiad Fedlimid had given her to Conchobar as the prize for killing his father, Fachach Fatnach, former king of Tara. She went on to bear him one son, Glaisne.

However, she did not love Conchobar, and after she left him, they became lifelong enemies. Eochaid then offered Conchobar to Medb’s sister Eithene, to replace his other daughter who had abandoned him. Eithene also fell pregnant, but before she was able to give birth, she was assassinated by Medb. Miraculously, the child survived as it was delivered prematurely through a cesarean birth as Eithene lay dying.

Quote:One of the most persistent parts of the tale, at least locally, is Medb’s act of sororcide regarding Ethne.  In an act of userpation, Medb  drowns her sister in the river Inny, (named for Ethne). I have wondered if this part of the story might have survived owing to its similarity to the popular ballad, ‘The Twa (Two) Sisters’.

‘Twa Sister’s’ first appears on a broadside in 1656 as ‘The Miller and the King’s Daughter’. Variants and alternate titles include: ‘The Cruel Sister’, ‘The Bonnie Milldams of Binnorie’, ‘The Bonny Bows o’ London’, ‘Binnorie’.  ‘Sister, Dear Sister’ , ‘The Wind and the Rain’ among others. Its popularity has transferred the setting to a wide variety of river side locations, from Edinburgh to London, from the Thames to the Tweed.

Quote:Binnorie England

Once upon a time there were two king's daughters who lived in a bower near the bonny mill dams of Binnorie. And Sir William came wooing the eldest and won her love, and plighted troth with glove and with ring. But after a time he looked upon the youngest, with her cherry cheeks and golden hair, and his love went out to her until he cared no longer for the eldest one. So she hated her sister for taking away Sir William's love, and day by day her hate grew and grew and she plotted and she planned how to get rid of her.

So one fine morning, fair and clear, she said to her sister, "Let us go and see our father's boats come in at the bonny mill stream of Binnorie."
So they went there hand in hand. And when they came to the river's bank the youngest got upon a stone to watch for the beaching of the boats. And her sister, coming behind her, caught her round the waist and dashed her into the rushing mill stream of Binnorie.
"Oh sister, sister, reach me your hand!" she cried, as she floated away, "and you shall have half of all I've got or shall get."
"No, sister, I'll reach you no hand of mine, for I am the heir to all your land. Shame on me if I touch her hand that has come 'twixt me and my own heart's love."
"Oh sister, oh sister, then reach me your glove!" she cried, as she floated further away, "and you shall have your William again."
"Sink on," cried the cruel princess, "no hand or glove of mine you'll touch. Sweet William will be all mine when you are sunk beneath the bonny mill stream of Binnorie." And she turned and went home to the king's castle.
And the princess floated down the mill stream, sometimes swimming and sometimes sinking, until she came near the mill. Now the miller's daughter was cooking that day, and needed water for her cooking. And as she went to draw it from the stream, she saw something floating towards the mill dam, and she called out, "Father! father! draw your dam. There's something white -- a merrymaid or a milk white swan -- coming down the stream." So the miller hastened to the dam and stopped the heavy cruel mill wheels. And then they took out the princess and laid her on the bank.
Fair and beautiful she looked as she lay there. In her golden hair were pearls and precious stones; you could not see her waist for her golden girdle, and the golden fringe of her white dress came down over her lily feet. But she was drowned, drowned!
And as she lay there in her beauty a famous harper passed by the mill dam of Binnorie, and saw her sweet pale face. And though he traveled on far away he never forgot that face, and after many days he came back to the bonny mill stream of Binnorie. But then all he could find of her where they had put her to rest were her bones and her golden hair. So he made a harp out of her breast bone and her hair, and traveled on up the hill from the mill dam of Binnorie, until he came to the castle of the king her father.
That night they were all gathered in the castle hall to hear the great harper: king and queen, their daughter and son, Sir William, and all their court. And first the harper sang to his old harp, making them joy and be glad, or sorrow and weep just as he liked. But while he sang he put the harp he had made that day on a stone in the hall. And presently it began to sing by itself, low and clear, and the harper stopped and all were hushed.
And this was what the harp sung:

Quote:Oh yonder sits my father, the king,
Binnorie, oh Binnorie;
And yonder sits my mother, the queen;
By the bony mill dams o' Binnorie.
And yonder stands my brother Hugh,
Binnorie, oh Binnorie;
And by him, my William, false and true;
By the bonny mill dams o' Binnorie.

Then they all wondered, and the harper told them how he had seen the princess lying drowned on the bank near the bonny mill dams o' Binnorie, and how he had afterwards made this harp out of her hair and breast bone. Just then the harp began singing again, and this was what it sang out loud and clear:

Quote:And there sits my sister who drownèd me
By the bonny mill dams o' Binnorie.

And the harp snapped and broke, and never sang more.

Quote:A tide mill is a water mill driven by tidal rise and fall. A dam with a sluice is created across a suitable tidal inlet, or a section of river estuary is made into a reservoir. As the tide comes in, it enters the mill pond through a one-way gate, and this gate closes automatically when the tide begins to fall. When the tide is low enough, the stored water can be released to turn a water wheel.

Tide mills are usually situated in river estuaries, away from the effects of waves but close enough to the sea to have a reasonable tidal range. Cultures that built such mills have existed since the Middle Ages, and some may date back to the Roman period.

Quote:The dissolution of the monasteries, occasionally referred to as the suppression of the monasteries, was the set of administrative and legal processes between 1536 and 1541 by which Henry VIII disbanded monasteries, priories, convents, and friaries in England, Wales, and Ireland, expropriated their income, disposed of their assets, and provided for their former personnel and functions

Quote:Troubadours & Minstrels Replace Bards

Since medieval bards were regulated and subjected to various laws, they were eventually replaced by Troubadours and Minstrels who became famous during the middle ages. Minstrels were mostly servants whose services were obtained primarily as traveling musicians.

Medieval Minstrel
Minstrel Minstrels performed songs that told stories about distant places, historical events, and imaginary events. Most minstrels created their own stories and tales, and they often memorized and embellished the works of other musicians or poets.