The Battle of Otterburn
Chevy Chase talks of a hunt, or chase, in the Cheviot Hills on the border between England and Scotland which sparked battles between the forces of the two countries. The legend of the ballad is very similar to that behind ballads celebrating the battle of Otterburn. Since the ballads talk of the same forces, led by the same people, and for virtually the same causes, opinions differ as to whether the legends are in fact the same one. The battle of Otterburn was fought in 1388 when Scots forces under the Earl of Douglas were returning from a cross-border raid into England and a victorious battle with English forces under Hotspur, the son of the Earl of Northumberland, and then stopped to lay siege to the castle at Otterburn. Hotspur caught up. The battle was costly to both sides but was again a Scots victory.
