The Fair Flower of Northumberland is #9 in the Child cannon.
Although Child doesn't have this exact variant, #9A is extremely close
(Child (1882-1898)CPB vol I,
pp113-114). Indeed, the two seem to have a common source. Bruce
and Stokoe state that the [English] version of this ballad is by "T.
D.", or Thomas Deloney. Child states that his version is from "a. Deloney's Pleasant History of
John Winchcomb, 9th ed., London 1633, reprinted by Halliwell, p. 61. b. Ritson's Ancient Song's, 1790, P.
169".
As Bruce and Stokoe point out, there are also Scottish versions of
this ballad.
Bruce and Stokoe don't give a source for the air.
