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Robin Hood
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Louvre
|
WIKIMAG n. 8 - Luglio 2013
Robin
Hood
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Robin
Hood (spelled Robyn Hode in older manuscripts) is a
heroic
outlaw in
English folklore, a highly skilled
archer and
swordsman. Although not part of his original character,
since the beginning of the 19th century [1]
he has become known for "robbing from the rich and giving to the
poor", [2]
assisted by a group of fellow outlaws known as his " Merry
Men". [3]
Traditionally, Robin Hood and his men are depicted wearing
Lincoln green clothes. [4]
The origin of the legend is claimed by some to have stemmed from
actual outlaws, or from ballads or tales of outlaws. [5]
Robin Hood became a popular folk figure in the
medieval period continuing through to modern literature,
films and television. In the earliest sources, Robin Hood is a
yeoman, but he was often later portrayed as an
aristocrat wrongfully dispossessed of his lands and made
into an outlaw by an unscrupulous sheriff.[6]
History
In popular culture, Robin Hood and his band of "merry men"
are usually portrayed as living in
Sherwood Forest, in
Nottinghamshire, where much of the action in the early
ballads takes place.[7]
So does the very first recorded Robin Hood rhyme, four lines
from the early 15th century, beginning: "Robyn hode in
scherewode stod."[8]
However, the overall picture from the surviving early ballads
and other early references[8]
suggest that Robin Hood may have been based in the
Barnsdale area of what is now
South Yorkshire (which borders Nottinghamshire).
Other people point to a variety of locations as Robin's
"true" home both inside
Yorkshire and elsewhere, with the abundance of places named
for Robin causing further confusion.[9][10]
A tradition dating back at least to the end of the 16th century
gives his birthplace as
Loxley,
Sheffield in South Yorkshire, while the site of
Robin Hood's Well in Skellow, South Yorkshire, has been
associated with Robin Hood since at least 1422. Records show a
man named Robin Hood lived in
Wakefield, Yorkshire, in the 13th and 14th centuries.[11]
His grave has been claimed to be at
Kirklees Priory near
Mirfield in
West Yorkshire, as implied by the 18th-century version of
Robin Hood's Death, and there is a headstone of dubious
authenticity.[12]
The first clear reference to "rhymes of Robin Hood" is from
Line 5396 of the late-14th-century poem
Piers Plowman, but the earliest surviving copies of the
narrative ballads that tell his story date to the 15th century,
or the first decade of the 16th century. In these early
accounts, Robin Hood's partisanship of the lower classes, his
Marianism and associated special regard for women, his
outstanding skill as an
archer, his anti-clericalism, and his particular animosity
towards the
Sheriff of Nottingham are already clear.[13]
Little John,
Much the Miller's Son and
Will Scarlet (as Will "Scarlok" or "Scathelocke") all
appear, although not yet
Maid Marian or
Friar Tuck. It is not certain what should be made of these
latter two absences as it is known that Friar Tuck, for one, has
been part of the legend since at least the later 15th century.[14]
In popular culture, Robin Hood is typically seen as a
contemporary and supporter of the late-12th-century king
Richard the Lionheart, Robin being driven to outlaw during
the misrule of Richard's brother
John while Richard was away at the
Third Crusade. This view first gained currency in the 16th
century.[15]
It is not supported by the earliest ballads. The early
compilation,
A Gest of Robyn Hode, names the king as "Edward", and
while it does show Robin Hood as accepting the King's pardon he
later repudiates it and returns to the greenwood.
The oldest surviving ballad,
Robin Hood and the Monk, gives even less support to the
picture of Robin Hood as a partisan of the true king. The
setting of the early ballads is usually attributed by scholars
to either the 13th century or the 14th, although it is
recognized they are not necessarily historically consistent.[16]
The early ballads are also quite clear on Robin Hood's social
status: he is a
yeoman. While the precise meaning of this term changed over
time, including free retainers of an aristocrat and small
landholders, it always referred to commoners. The essence of it
in the present context was "neither a knight nor a peasant or
'husbonde' but something in between".[17]
We know that artisans (such as millers) were among those
regarded as "yeomen" in the 14th century.[18]
From the 16th century on, there were attempts to elevate Robin
Hood to the nobility and in two extremely influential plays
Anthony Munday presented him at the very end of the 16th
century as the
Earl of Huntingdon, as he is still commonly presented in
modern times.[19]
As well as ballads, the legend was also transmitted by "Robin
Hood games" or plays that were an important part of the late
medieval and early modern
May Day festivities. The first record of a Robin Hood game
was in 1426 in
Exeter, but the reference does not indicate how old or
widespread this custom was at the time. The Robin Hood games are
known to have flourished in the later 15th and 16th centuries.[20]
It is commonly stated as fact that Maid Marian and a jolly friar
(at least partly identifiable with Friar Tuck) entered the
legend through the May Games.[21]
The early ballads link Robin Hood to identifiable real places
and many are convinced that he was a real person, more or less
accurately portrayed. A number of theories as to the identity of
"the real Robin Hood" have their supporters. Some of these
theories posit that "Robin Hood" or "Robert Hood" or the like
was his actual name; others suggest that this may have been
merely a nickname disguising a medieval bandit perhaps known to
history under another name.[22]
One historian claims Robin Hood was a pseudonym by which the
ancient
Lords of
Wellow, Nottinghamshire, were once known.[23]
It is interesting that the village has such a strong connection
with
maypole celebrations, considering Robin Hood's links with
the same thing.
At the same time it is possible that Robin Hood has always
been a
fictional character; the
folklorist
Francis James Child declared "Robin Hood is absolutely a
creation of the ballad-muse" and this view has been neither
proven or disproven.[24]
Another view is that Robin Hood's origins must be sought in
folklore or
mythology;[25]
Despite the frequent
Christian references in the early ballads, Robin Hood has
been claimed for the
pagan
witch-cult supposed by
Margaret Murray to have existed in medieval Europe.[26]
Early
references
The oldest references to Robin Hood are not historical
records, or even ballads recounting his exploits, but hints and
allusions found in various works. From 1228 onward, the names
'Robinhood', 'Robehod' or 'Robbehod' occur in the rolls of
several English Justices. The majority of these references date
from the late 13th century. Between 1261 and 1300, there are at
least eight references to 'Rabunhod' in various regions across
England, from
Berkshire in the south to
York
in the north.[27]
In a petition presented to
Parliament in 1439, the name is used to describe an
itinerant
felon. The petition cites one Piers Venables of
Aston, Derbyshire, "who having no liflode, ne sufficeante of
goodes, gadered and assembled unto him many misdoers, beynge of
his clothynge, and, in manere of insurrection, wente into the
wodes in that countrie, like as it hadde be Robyn Hude and his
meyne."[28]
The name was still used to describe sedition and treachery in
1605, when
Guy Fawkes and his associates were branded "Robin Hoods" by
Robert Cecil.
The first allusion to a literary tradition of Robin Hood
tales occurs in
William Langland's
Piers Plowman (c. 1362–c. 1386) in which Sloth, the lazy
priest, confesses: "I kan [know] not parfitly
[perfectly] my Paternoster as the preest it singeth,/ But I
kan rymes of Robyn Hood and Randolf Erl of Chestre."[29]
The first mention of a quasi-historical Robin Hood is given
in
Andrew of Wyntoun's Orygynale Chronicle, written in
about 1420. The following lines occur with little
contextualisation under the year 1283:
- Lytil Jhon and Robyne Hude
- Wayth-men ware commendyd gude
- In
Yngil-wode and Barnysdale
- Thai oysyd all this tyme thare trawale.
The next notice is a statement in the
Scotichronicon, composed by
John of Fordun between 1377 and 1384, and revised by
Walter Bower in about 1440. Among Bower's many
interpolations is a passage that directly refers to Robin. It is
inserted after Fordun's account of the defeat of
Simon de Montfort and the punishment of his adherents. Robin
is represented as a fighter for de Montfort's cause.[30]
This was in fact true of the historical outlaw of Sherwood
Forest
Roger Godberd, whose points of similarity to the Robin Hood
of the ballads have often been noted.[31][32]
Bower writes:
- Then [c. 1266] arose the famous murderer, Robert Hood,
as well as Little John, together with their accomplices from
among the disinherited, whom the foolish populace are so
inordinately fond of celebrating both in tragedies and
comedies, and about whom they are delighted to hear the
jesters and minstrels sing above all other ballads.
The word translated here as "murderer" is the Latin
siccarius, from the Latin for "knife". Bower goes on to tell
a story about Robin Hood in which he refuses to flee from his
enemies while hearing
Mass in the greenwood, and then gains a surprise victory
over them, apparently as a reward for his piety.[33]
Another reference, discovered by Julian Luxford in 2009,
appears in the margin of the "Polychronicon"
in the
Eton College library. Written around the year 1460 by a monk
in Latin, it says:
- Around this time, according to popular opinion, a
certain outlaw named Robin Hood, with his accomplices,
infested Sherwood and other law-abiding areas of England
with continuous robberies.[34]
William Shakespeare makes reference to Robin Hood in his
late-16th-century play
The Two Gentlemen of Verona, one of his earliest. In it,
the character Valentine is banished from
Milan
and driven out through the forest where he is approached by
outlaws who, upon meeting him, desire him as their leader. They
comment, "By the bare scalp of Robin Hood's fat friar, This
fellow were a king for our wild faction!"[35]
Robin Hood is also mentioned in
As You Like It. When asked about the exiled Duke Senior,
the character of Charles says that he is "already in the forest
of Arden, and a many merry men with him; and there they live
like the old Robin Hood of England."
References to Robin as Earl of Huntington
Another reference is provided by
Thomas Gale,
Dean of York (c. 1635–1702),[36]
but this comes nearly four hundred years after the events it
describes:
- [Robin Hood's] death is stated by Ritson to have
taken place on the 18th of November, 1247, about the 87th
year of his age; but according to the following inscription
found among the papers of the Dean of York...the death
occurred a month later. In this inscription, which bears
evidence of high antiquity, Robin Hood is described as
Earl of Huntington – his claim to which title has been
as hotly contested as any disputed peerage upon record.
-
- Hear undernead dis laitl stean
- Lais Robert Earl of Huntingun
- Near arcir der as hie sa geud
- An pipl kauld im Robin Heud
- Sic utlaws as hi an is men
- Vil England nivr si agen.
- Obiit 24 Kal Dekembris 1247
- In Modern English:
- Here underneath this little stone
- Lies Robert Earl of Huntington
- Never archer there as he so good
- And people called him Robin Hood
- Such outlaws as him and his men
- Will England never see again
This inscription also appears on a grave in the grounds of
Kirklees Priory near
Kirklees Hall (see below).
Robert is largely fictional by this time. The Gale note is
inaccurate. The medieval texts do not refer to him directly, but
mediate their allusions through a body of accounts and reports:
for Langland, Robin exists principally in "rimes", for Bower,
"comedies and tragedies", while for Wyntoun he is "commendyd
gude". Even in a legal context, where one would expect to find
verifiable references to Robert, he is primarily a symbol, a
generalized outlaw-figure rather than an individual.
Consequently, in the medieval period itself, Robin Hood already
belongs more to literature than to history. In fact, in an
anonymous song called Woman of c. 1412, he is treated in
precisely this manner – as a joke, a figure that the audience
will instantly recognize as imaginary:
- He that made this songe full good,
- Came of the northe and the sothern blode,
- And somewhat kyne to Robert Hoad.[37][38]
Sources
There is at present little scholarly support for the view
that tales of Robin Hood have stemmed from mythology or
folklore, from
fairies or other mythological origins, any such associations
being regarded as later development.[39]
The mythological theory does go back to at least to 1584, when
Reginald Scot identified Robin Hood with the Germanic goblin
"Hudgin" or
Hodekin and associated him with
Robin Goodfellow.[40]
Maurice Keen[41]
provides a brief summary and useful critique of the once-popular
view that Robin Hood had mythological origins, while (unlike
some)[42]
refraining from utterly and finally dismissing it.[43]
While Robin Hood and his men often show great skill in archery,
swordplay and disguise, they are no more exaggerated than those
characters in other ballads, such as
Kinmont Willie, which were based on historical events.[44]
Robin Hood's role in the traditional
May Day games could suggest pagan connections, but that role
has not been traced earlier than the early 15th century.
However, it is uncontroversial that a Robin and Marion figured
in 13th-century French "pastourelles"
(of which
Jeu de Robin et Marion c. 1280 is a literary version)
and presided over the French May festivities, "this Robin and
Marion tended to preside, in the intervals of the attempted
seduction of the latter by a series of knights, over a variety
of rustic pastimes."[45]
In the Jeu de Robin and Marion, Robin and his
companions have to rescue Marion from the clutches of a "lustful
knight".[46]
Dobson and Taylor in their survey of the legend, in which they
reject the mythological theory, nevertheless regard it as
"highly probable" that this French Robin's name and functions
travelled to the English May Games where they fused with the
Robin Hood legend.[45]
The origin of the legend is claimed by some to have stemmed
from actual outlaws, or from tales of outlaws, such as
Hereward the Wake,
Eustace the Monk,
Fulk FitzWarin[5]
and
William Wallace.[47]
Hereward appears in a ballad much like
Robin Hood and the Potter, and as the Hereward ballad is
older, it appears to be the source. The ballad
Adam Bell, Clym of the Cloughe and Wyllyam of Cloudeslee
runs parallel to Robin Hood and the Monk, but it is not
clear whether either one is the source for the other, or whether
they merely show that such tales were told of outlaws.[48]
Some early Robin Hood stories appear to be unique, such as
the story wherein Robin gives a knight, generally called
Richard at the Lee, money to pay off his mortgage to an
abbot,
but this may merely indicate that no parallels have survived.[49]
There are a number of theories that attempt to identify a
historical Robin Hood. A difficulty with any such historical
search is that "Robert" was in
medieval England a very common
given name, and "Robin" (or Robyn), especially in the 13th
century, was its very common
diminutive.[50]
The surname "Hood" (or Hude or Hode etc.), referring ultimately
to the head-covering, was also fairly common. Unsurprisingly,
therefore, there are a number of people called "Robert Hood" or
"Robin Hood" to be found in medieval records. Some of them are
on record for having fallen afoul of the law, but this is not
necessarily significant to the legend.[51]
The early ballads give a number of possible historical clues:
notably, the Gest names the reigning king as "Edward", but the
ballads cannot be assumed to be reliable in such details.[52]
For whatever it may be worth, however, King
Edward I took the throne in 1272, and an Edward remained on
the throne until the death of
Edward III in 1377.
On the other hand, what appears to be the first known example
of "Robin Hood" as stock name for an outlaw dates to 1262 in
Berkshire, where the surname "Robehod" was applied to a man
apparently because he had been outlawed.[53]
This could suggest two main possibilities: either that an early
form of the Robin Hood legend was already well established in
the mid-13th century; or alternatively that the name "Robin
Hood" preceded the outlaw hero that we know; so that the "Robin
Hood" of legend was so called because that was seen as an
appropriate name for an outlaw.
It has long been suggested, notably by
John Maddicott, that "Robin Hood" was a stock alias used by
thieves.[54]
The
1911 Encyclopædia Britannica remarks that 'hood' was
a common dialectical form of 'wood'; and that the outlaw's name
has been given as "Robin Wood".[25]
There are indeed a number of references to Robin Hood as Robin
Wood, or Whood, or Whod, from the 16th and 17th centuries. The
earliest recorded example, in connection with May games in
Somerset, dates from 1518.[55]
One well-known theory of origin was proposed by
Joseph Hunter in 1852. Hunter identified the outlaw with a
"Robyn Hode" recorded as employed by
Edward II in 1323 during the king's progress through
Lancashire. This Robyn Hode was identified with (one or more
people called) Robert Hood living in
Wakefield before and after that time. Comparing the
available records with especially the Gest and also other
ballads, Hunter developed a fairly detailed theory according to
which Robin Hood was an adherent of the rebel
Earl of Lancaster, defeated at the
Battle of Boroughbridge in 1322.
According to this theory, Robin Hood was pardoned and
employed by the king in 1323. (The Gest does relate that Robin
Hood was pardoned by "King Edward" and taken into his service.)
The theory supplies Robin Hood with a wife, Matilda, thought to
be the origin of Maid Marian, and Hunter also conjectured that
the author of the Gest may have been the religious poet
Richard Rolle (1290–1349), who lived in the village of
Hampole in Barnsdale.[56]
This theory has long been recognised to have serious
problems, one of the most serious being that "Robin Hood" and
similar names were already used as nicknames for outlaws in the
13th century. Another is that there is no direct evidence that
Hunter's Hood had ever been an outlaw or any kind of criminal or
rebel at all; the theory is built on conjecture and coincidence
of detail.[57]
Finally, recent research has shown that Hunter's Robyn Hood had
been employed by the king at an earlier stage, thus casting
doubt on this Robyn Hood's supposed earlier career as outlaw and
rebel.[58]
Another theory identifies him with the historical outlaw
Roger Godberd, who was a die-hard supporter of
Simon de Montfort, which would place Robin Hood around the
1260s.[22]
There are certainly parallels between Godberd's career and that
of Robin Hood as he appears in the Gest.
John Maddicott has called Godberd "that prototype Robin
Hood".[59]
Some problems with this theory are that there is no evidence
that Godberd was ever known as Robin Hood and no sign in the
early Robin Hood ballads of the specific concerns of de
Montfort's revolt.[57]
Another well-known theory, first proposed by the historian L.
V. D. Owen in 1936 and more recently floated by
J.C. Holt and others, is that the original Robin Hood might
be identified with an outlawed Robert Hood, or Hod, or Hobbehod,
all apparently the same man, referred to in nine successive
Yorkshire
Pipe Rolls between 1226 and 1234.[60][61]
There is no evidence however that this Robert Hood, although an
outlaw, was also a bandit.[62]
Ballads and
tales
Ballads
The earliest surviving text of a Robin Hood ballad is "Robin
Hood and the Monk".[63]
This is preserved in
Cambridge University manuscript Ff.5.48. It was written
shortly after 1450.[64]
It contains many of the elements still associated with the
legend, from the Nottingham setting to the bitter enmity between
Robin and the local sheriff.
The first printed version is
A Gest of Robyn Hode (c. 1475), a collection of separate
stories which attempts to unite the episodes into a single
continuous narrative.[65]
After this comes "Robin
Hood and the Potter",[66]
contained in a manuscript of c. 1503. "The Potter" is markedly
different in tone from "The Monk": whereas the earlier tale is
"a thriller"[27]
the latter is more comic, its plot involving trickery and
cunning rather than straightforward force. The difference
between the two texts recalls Bower's claim that Robin-tales may
be both 'comedies and tragedies'.
Other early texts are dramatic pieces such as the fragmentary
Robyn Hod and the Shryff off Notyngham[67]
(c. 1472). These are particularly noteworthy as they show
Robin's integration into May Day rituals towards the end of the
Middle Ages; Robyn Hod and the Shryff off Notyngham,
among other points of interest, contains the earliest reference
to Friar Tuck.
The plots of neither "the Monk" nor "the Potter" are included
in the Gest; and neither is the plot of "Robin
Hood and Guy of Gisborne" which is probably at least as old
as those two ballads although preserved in a more recent copy.
Each of these three ballads survived in a single copy, so it is
unclear how much of the medieval legend has survived, and what
has survived may not be typical of the medieval legend. It has
been argued that the fact that the surviving ballads were
preserved in written form in itself makes it unlikely they were
typical; in particular stories with an interest for the gentry
were by this view more likely to be preserved.[68]
The story of Robin's aid to the "poor knight" that takes up much
of the Gest may be an example.
The character of Robin in these first texts is rougher edged
than in his later incarnations. In "Robin Hood and the Monk",
for example, he is shown as quick tempered and violent,
assaulting Little John for defeating him in an archery contest;
in the same ballad Much the Miller's Son casually kills a
"little
page" in the course of rescuing Robin Hood from prison.[7]
No extant ballad actually shows Robin Hood "giving to the poor",
although in a "A Gest of Robyn Hode" Robin does make a large
loan
to an unfortunate
knight which he does not in the end require to be repaid;[69]
and later in the same ballad Robin Hood states his intention of
giving money to the next traveller to come down the road if he
happens to be poor.
- Of my good he shall haue some,
- Yf he be a por man.[70]
As it happens the next traveller is not poor, but it seems in
context that Robin Hood is stating a general policy. From the
beginning Robin Hood is on the side of the poor; the Gest quotes
Robin Hood as instructing his men that when they rob:
- loke ye do no husbonde harme
- That tilleth with his ploughe.
- No more ye shall no gode yeman
- That walketh by gren-wode shawe;
- Ne no knyght ne no squyer
- That wol be a gode felawe.[71]
And in its final lines the Gest sums up:
- he was a good outlawe,
- And dyde pore men moch god.
Within Robin Hood's band medieval forms of courtesy rather
than modern ideals of equality are generally in evidence. In the
early ballads Robin's men usually kneel before him in strict
obedience: in A Gest of Robyn Hode the king even observes
that "His men are more at his byddynge/Then my men be at myn."
Their social status, as yeomen, is shown by their weapons; they
use
swords rather than
quarterstaffs. The only character to use a quarterstaff in
the early ballads is the potter, and Robin Hood does not take to
a staff until the 18th century
Robin Hood and Little John.[72]
The political and social assumptions underlying the early
Robin Hood ballads have long been controversial. It has been
influentially argued by J. C. Holt that the Robin Hood legend
was cultivated in the households of the gentry, and that it
would be mistaken to see in him a figure of
peasant revolt. He is not a peasant but a yeoman, and his
tales make no mention of the complaints of the peasants, such as
oppressive taxes.[73]
He appears not so much as a revolt against societal standards as
an embodiment of them, being generous, pious, and courteous,
opposed to stingy, worldly, and churlish foes.[74]
Other scholars have by contrast stressed the subversive aspects
of the legend, and see in the medieval Robin Hood ballads a
plebeian literature hostile to the
feudal order.[75]
Although the term "Merry Men" belongs to a later period, the
ballads do name several of Robin's companions.[76]
These include
Will Scarlet (or Scathlock),
Much the Miller's Son, and
Little John – who was called "little" as a joke, as he was
quite the opposite.[77]
Even though the band is regularly described as being over a
hundred men, usually only three or four are specified. Some
appear only once or twice in a ballad:
Will Stutely in
Robin Hood Rescuing Will Stutly and Robin Hood and
Little John;
David of Doncaster in
Robin Hood and the Golden Arrow;
Gilbert with the White Hand in A Gest of Robyn Hode;
and
Arthur a Bland in
Robin Hood and the Tanner.[77]
Printed versions of the Robin Hood ballads, generally based
on the Gest, appear in the early 16th century, shortly
after the introduction of
printing in England. Later that century Robin is promoted to
the level of
nobleman: he is styled Earl of Huntingdon, Robert of
Locksley, or
Robert Fitz Ooth. In the early ballads, by contrast, he was
a member of the yeoman classes, which included common
freeholders possessing a small
landed estate.[78]
May Day and
fairs
By the early 15th century at the latest, Robin Hood had
become associated with May Day celebrations, with revellers
dressing as Robin or as members of his band for the festivities.
This was not common throughout England, but in some regions the
custom lasted until
Elizabethan times, and during the reign of
Henry VIII, was briefly popular at
court.[79]
Robin was often allocated the role of a
May King, presiding over games and processions, but plays
were also performed with the characters in the roles,[80]
sometimes performed at
church ales, a means by which churches raised funds.[81]
A complaint of 1492, brought to the
Star Chamber, accuses men of acting riotously by coming to a
fair as Robin Hood and his men; the accused defended themselves
on the grounds that the practice was a long-standing custom to
raise money for churches, and they had not acted riotously but
peaceably.[82]
It is from the association with the May Games that Robin's
romantic attachment to
Maid Marian (or Marion) apparently stems. The naming of
Marian may have come from the French pastoral play of c. 1280,
the
Jeu de Robin et Marion, although this play is distinct
from the English legends.[79]
Both Robin and Marian were certainly associated with May Day
festivities in England (as was
Friar Tuck), but these may have been originally two distinct
types of performance –
Alexander Barclay in his Ship of Fools, writing in
c. 1500, refers to "some merry fytte of Maid Marian or else
of Robin Hood" – but the characters were brought together.[76]
Marian did not immediately gain the unquestioned role; in
Robin Hood's Birth, Breeding, Valor, and Marriage, his
sweetheart is 'Clorinda the Queen of the Shepherdesses'.[83]
Clorinda survives in some later stories as an alias of Marian.[77]
Robin Hood and King Richard the Lionheart
In the 16th century, Robin Hood is given a specific
historical setting. Up until this point there was little
interest in exactly when Robin's adventures took place. The
original ballads refer at various points to "King Edward",
without stipulating whether this is
Edward I,
Edward II, or
Edward III.[84]
Hood may thus have been active at any point between 1272 and
1377. However, during the 16th century the stories become fixed
to the 1190s, the period in which
King Richard was absent from the country, fighting in the
crusades.[85]
This date is first proposed by
John Mair in his Historia Majoris Britanniæ (1521),
and gains popular acceptance by the end of the century.
Giving Robin an aristocratic title and female love interest (Maid
Marian), and placing him in the historical context of the
true king's absence, all represent moves to domesticate his
legend and reconcile it to ruling powers. In this, his legend is
similar to that of
King Arthur, which morphed from a dangerous male-centred
story to a more comfortable, chivalrous romance under the
troubadours serving
Eleanor of Aquitaine. From the 16th century on, the legend
of Robin Hood is often used to promote the hereditary
ruling class,
romance, and religious
piety.
The "criminal" element is retained to provide dramatic colour,
rather than as a real challenge to convention.[86]
Robin Hood, the high-minded Saxon yeoman
The idea of Robin Hood as a high-minded
Saxon fighting
Norman lords also originates in the 19th century. The most
notable contributions to this idea of Robin are
Jacques Nicolas Augustin Thierry's
Histoire de la
Conquête de l'Angleterre par les Normands (1825)
and Sir
Walter Scott's
Ivanhoe (1819).
Robin
Hood in Ivanhoe
Robin Hood, initially under the name of Locksley,
is a character along with his "merry men" in
Ivanhoe, a historical novel by
Sir Walter Scott published in 1820, and set in
12th-century England. The character that Scott gave to Robin
Hood in Ivanhoe helped shape the modern notion of this figure as
a cheery noble outlaw. In the novel he is a follower of
King Richard the Lionheart and helps him and Wilfred Ivanhoe
to fight against the Templars. It is in this work, the modern
Robin Hood – "King of Outlaws and prince of good fellows!" as
Richard the Lionheart calls him – makes his debut.[87]
New characters and new attributes for Robin
In 1598,
Anthony Munday wrote a pair of plays on the Robin Hood
legend,
The Downfall and The Death of Robert Earl of Huntington
(published 1601). The 17th century introduced the
minstrel
Alan-a-Dale. He first appeared in a 17th-century
broadside ballad, and unlike many of the characters thus
associated, managed to adhere to the legend.[83]
This is also the era in which the character of Robin became
fixed as stealing from the rich to give to the poor.[88]
New concepts from the 18th century onwards
In the 18th century, the stories began to develop a slightly
more
farcical vein. From this period there are a number of
ballads in which Robin is severely "drubbed" by a succession of
professionals including
a tanner,
a tinker and
a ranger.[85]
In fact, the only character who does not get the better of Hood
is the luckless Sheriff. Yet even in these ballads Robin is more
than a mere simpleton: on the contrary, he often acts with great
shrewdness. The tinker, setting out to capture Robin, only
manages to fight with him after he has been cheated out of his
money and the
arrest warrant he is carrying. In
Robin Hood's Golden Prize, Robin disguises himself as a
friar
and cheats two priests out of their cash. Even when Robin is
defeated, he usually tricks his foe into letting him sound his
horn, summoning the Merry Men to his aid.
When his enemies do not fall for this ruse, he persuades
them to drink with him instead.
Other literary references
The continued popularity of the Robin Hood tales is attested
by a number of literary references. In
As You Like It, the exiled duke and his men "live like
the old Robin Hood of England", while
Ben Jonson produced the (incomplete)
masque The Sad Shepherd, or a Tale of Robin Hood[89]
as a satire on
Puritanism. Somewhat later, the
Romantic poet
John Keats composed Robin Hood. To A Friend[90]
and
Alfred Lord Tennyson wrote a play
The Foresters, or Robin Hood and Maid Marian,[91]
which was presented with
incidental music by Sir
Arthur Sullivan in 1892. Later still,
T. H. White featured Robin and his band in
The Sword in the Stone –
anachronistically, since the novel's chief theme is the
childhood of King Arthur.[92]
The title page of
Howard Pyle's 1883 novel, The Merry
Adventures of Robin Hood
The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood
The
Victorian era[93]
generated its own distinct versions of Robin Hood. The
traditional tales were often adapted for children, most notably
in
Howard Pyle's
The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood, which influenced
accounts of Robin Hood through the 20th century.[2]
These versions firmly stamp Robin as a staunch philanthropist, a
man who takes from the rich to give to the poor. Nevertheless,
the adventures are still more local than national in scope:
while King Richard's participation in the Crusades is mentioned
in passing, Robin takes no stand against Prince John, and plays
no part in raising the ransom to free Richard. These
developments are part of the 20th century Robin Hood myth.
The idea of Robin Hood as a high-minded
Saxon fighting
Norman lords also originates in the 19th century. The most
notable contributions to this idea of Robin are
Jacques Nicolas Augustin Thierry's
Histoire de la
Conquête de l'Angleterre par les Normands (1825)
and Sir
Walter Scott's
Ivanhoe (1819). In this last work in particular, the
modern Robin Hood – "King of Outlaws and prince of good
fellows!" as Richard the Lionheart calls him – makes his debut.[87]
20th
century onwards
The 20th century grafted still further details on to the
original legends. The 1938 film,
The Adventures of Robin Hood, starring
Errol Flynn and
Olivia de Havilland, portrayed Robin as a hero on a national
scale, leading the oppressed Saxons in revolt against their
Norman overlords while Richard the Lionheart fought in the
Crusades; this movie established itself so definitively that
many studios resorted to movies about his son (invented for that
purpose) rather than compete with the image of this one.[94]
Movies, animations, new concepts and other adaptations
Walt Disney's Robin Hood
In the 1973 animated
Disney film,
Robin Hood, the title character is portrayed as an
anthropomorphic
fox
voiced by
Brian Bedford. Years before Robin Hood had even
entered production, Disney had considered doing a project on
Reynard the Fox. However, due to concerns that Reynard was
unsuitable as a hero, animator
Ken Anderson lifted many elements from Reynard into Robin
Hood, thus making the titular character a fox.[citation
needed]
Robin and
Marian
The 1976 British-American film
Robin and Marian, starring
Sean Connery as Robin Hood and
Audrey Hepburn as Maid Marian, portrays the figures in later
years after Robin has returned from service with
Richard the Lionheart in a foreign crusade and Marian has
gone into seclusion in a nunnery. This is the first in popular
culture to portray King Richard as less than perfect.
A Muslim among the Merry Men
Since the 1980s, it has become commonplace to include a
Saracen (Muslim) among the Merry Men, a trend which began
with the character
Nasir in the 1984 ITV
Robin of Sherwood television series. Later versions of
the story have followed suit: the 1991 movie
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and 2006
BBC
TV series
Robin Hood each contain equivalents of Nasir, in the
figures of Azeem and
Djaq, respectively.[94]
The latest movie version, 2010's
Robin Hood, did not include a Saracen character.
Robin
Hood in France
Between 1963 and 1966,
French television broadcast a medievalist series entitled
Thierry La Fronde (Thierry the Sling). This
successful series, which was also shown in Canada, Poland (Thierry
Śmiałek), Australia (The King's Outlaw), and the
Netherlands (Thierry de Slingeraar), transposes the
English Robin Hood narrative into
late medieval France during the
Hundred Years' War.[95]
Evolution of concepts
The Robin Hood legend has thus been subject to numerous
shifts and mutations throughout its history. Robin himself has
evolved from a yeoman bandit to a national hero of epic
proportions, who not only supports the poor by taking from the
rich, but heroically defends the throne of England itself from
unworthy and venal claimants.
Connections to existing locations
In modern versions of the
legend, Robin Hood is said to have taken up residence in the
verdant
Sherwood Forest in the county of
Nottinghamshire. For this reason the people of present-day
Nottinghamshire have a special affinity with Robin Hood, often
claiming him as the symbol of their
county. For example, major road signs entering the
shire
depict Robin Hood with his
bow and
arrow,
welcoming people to 'Robin Hood County'.
BBC Radio Nottingham also uses the phrase 'Robin Hood
County' on its regular programmes. The
Robin Hood Way runs through Nottinghamshire and the county
is home to literally thousands of other places, roads, inns and
objects bearing Robin's name.[citation
needed]
Specific sites linked to Robin Hood include the
Major Oak tree, claimed to have been used by him as a
hideout,[96]
Robin Hood's Well, located near Newstead Abbey (within the
boundaries of Sherwood Forest), and the Church of St. Mary in
the village of Edwinstowe, where Robin and Maid Marian are
historically thought to have wed.[97]
To reinforce this belief, the
University of Nottingham in 2010 has begun the
Nottingham Caves Survey with the goal "to increase the
tourist potential of these sites". The project "will use a 3D
laser scanner to produce a three dimensional record of more than
450 sandstone caves around Nottingham".[98]
However, the Nottingham setting is a matter of some
contention. While the Sheriff of Nottingham and the town itself
appear in early ballads, and Sherwood is specifically mentioned
in the early ballad Robin Hood and the Monk, certain of
the original ballads (even those with Nottingham references)
locate Robin on occasion in
Barnsdale (the area between
Pontefract and
Doncaster), approximately fifty miles north of
Nottingham, in the county of
Yorkshire; furthermore, it has been suggested that the
ballads placed in this area are far more geographically specific
and accurate.[99]
This is reinforced for some by the alleged similarity of
Locksley to the area of
Loxley, South Yorkshire, in
Sheffield, where in nearby
Tideswell, which was the "Kings Larder" in the
Royal Forest of the Peak, a record of the appearance of a
"Robert de Lockesly" in court is found, dated 1245. As "Robert"
and its diminutives were amongst the most common of names at the
time, and also since it was usual for men to adopt the name of
their hometown ("De Lockesly" means simply, "Of [or from]
Lockesly"), the record could just as easily be referring to any
man from the area named Robert. Although it cannot be proven
whether or not this is the man himself, it is further believed
by some that Robin had a brother called Thomas – an assertion
with no documentary evidence whatsoever to support it in any of
the stories, tales or ballads. If the Robert mentioned above was
indeed Robin Hood, and if he did have a brother named Thomas,
then consideration of the following reference may lend this
theory a modicum of credence:
- 24) No. 389, f0- 78. Ascension Day, 29 H. III., Nic
Meverill, with John Kantia, on the one part, and Henry de
Leke. Henry released to Nicholas and John 5 m. rent, which
he received from Nicolas and John and Robert de Lockesly for
his life from the lands of Gellery, in consideration of
receiving from each of them 2M (2 marks). only, the said
Henry to live at table with one of them and to receive 2M.
annually from the other. T., Sampson de Leke, Magister Peter
Meverill, Roger de Lockesly, John de Leke, Robert fil
Umfred, Rico de Newland, Richard Meverill. (25) No. 402,
p. 80 b. Thomas de Lockesly bound himself that he would not
sell his lands at Leke, which Nicolas Meveril had rendered
to him, under a penalty of L40 (40 pounds).
A
pound was 240 silver
pence, and a
mark was 160 silver pence (i.e., 13
shillings and fourpence).
It is again, however, equally likely that Nicolas, John,
Robert and Thomas were simply members of a family which came
from the area.
In
Barnsdale Forest, Yorkshire, there is a well known as
Robin Hood's Well (by the side of the
Great North Road), a
Little John's Well (near
Hampole) and a Robin Hood's stream (in
Highfields Wood at
Woodlands). There is something of a modern movement amongst
Yorkshire residents to attempt to claim the legend of Robin
Hood, to the extent that
South Yorkshire's new airport, on the site of the
redeveloped
RAF Finningley airbase near
Doncaster, although ironically in the
historic county of Nottinghamshire, has been given the name
Robin Hood Airport Doncaster Sheffield.
In the city centre of Leeds, West Yorkshire, at 71 Vicar
Lane, is a retail clothing store operated by Hugo Boss. This was
the previous location of a pub/music venue known as The Duchess
of York which was previously known as the Robin Hood. During an
interior refurbishment, wallpaper was removed to reveal a wall
mural depicting Robin Hood and his Merry Men in the small snug
of the pub. The Landlord at the time, Robin Dover, was
photographed standing next to the mural which was published in
The Yorkshire Evening Post.
There have been further claims made that he is from
Swannington in
Leicestershire[100]
or
Loxley, Warwickshire.
This debate is hardly surprising of course, given the
considerable value that the Robin Hood legend has for local
tourism. The Sheriff of Nottingham also had jurisdiction in
Derbyshire that was known as the "Shire of the Deer", and this
is where the Royal Forest of the Peak is found, which roughly
corresponds to today's
Peak District National Park. The Royal Forest included
Bakewell,
Tideswell,
Castleton,
Ladybower and the
Derwent Valley near Loxley. The Sheriff of Nottingham
possessed property near Loxley, amongst other places both far
and wide including
Hazlebadge Hall,
Peveril Castle and
Haddon Hall.
Mercia, to which Nottingham belonged, came to within three
miles of
Sheffield City Centre. But before the Law of the Normans was
the Law of the Danes, The Danelaw had a similar boundary to that
of Mercia but had a population of Free Peasantry which
were known to have resisted the Norman occupation. Many outlaws
could have been created by the refusal to recognise Norman
Forest Law.[101]
The supposed grave of Little John can be found in
Hathersage, also in the Peak District.
Robin Hood himself was once thought to have been buried in
the grounds of
Kirklees Priory between
Brighouse and
Mirfield in
West Yorkshire, although for the reasons given above this
theory has now largely been abandoned. There is an elaborate
grave there with the inscription referred to above. The story
said that the Prioress was a relative of Robin's. Robin was ill
and staying at the Priory where the Prioress was supposedly
caring for him. However, she betrayed him, his health worsened,
and he eventually died there.
Before he died, he told Little John (or possibly another of
his Merry Men) where to bury him. He shot an arrow from the
Priory window, and where the arrow landed was to be the site of
his grave. The grave with the inscription is within sight of the
ruins of the Kirklees Priory, behind the Three Nuns pub in
Mirfield, West Yorkshire. The grave can be visited on occasional
organised walks, organised by
Calderdale Council Tourist Information office.
Further indications of the legend's connection with West
Yorkshire (and particularly Calderdale) are noted in the fact
that there are pubs called the Robin Hood in both nearby
Brighouse and at
Cragg Vale; higher up in the Pennines beyond
Halifax, where Robin Hood Rocks can also be found. Robin
Hood Hill is near
Outwood, West Yorkshire, not far from
Lofthouse. There is a village in West Yorkshire called
Robin Hood, on the
A61 between
Leeds
and
Wakefield and close to
Rothwell and Lofthouse. Considering these references to
Robin Hood, it is not surprising that the people of both South
and West Yorkshire lay some claim to Robin Hood, who, if he
existed, could easily have roamed between Nottingham,
Lincoln,
Doncaster and right into West Yorkshire.
There are also modern theories that Robin Hood was in fact
Welsh, and was called Rybyn Hod.[citation
needed] In fact, the Welsh city of
Swansea has in recent years been known as "Hodsville" in
reference to the mythical figure. Sites around Swansea that lend
credence to this theory include Rybyn Hod's Hatshop, Rybyn Hod's
Stoop, Rybyn Hod's Wad (a thicket of trees located off
Rifleman's Row) and Rybyn Hod's Fortress, which according to
local legend was on the site of the current
Morriston Tabernacle.
A
British Army
Territorial (reserves) battalion formed in Nottingham in
1859 was known as
The Robin Hood Battalion through various reorganisations
until the "Robin Hood" name finally disappeared in 1992. With
the 1881
Childers reforms that linked regular and reserve units into
regimental families, the Robin Hood Battalion became part of
The Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment).
A
Neolithic
causewayed enclosure on
Salisbury Plain has acquired the name
Robin Hood's Ball, although had Robin Hood existed it is
doubtful that he would have travelled so far south.
List of traditional ballads
Elizabethan song of Robin Hood
Ballads are the oldest existing form of the Robin Hood
legends, although none of them are recorded at the time of the
first allusions to him, and many are much later. They share many
common features, often opening with praise of the greenwood and
relying heavily on disguise as a
plot device, but include a wide variation in tone and plot.[102]
The ballads below are sorted into three groups, very roughly
according to date of first known free-standing copy. Ballads
whose first recorded version appears (usually incomplete) in the
Percy Folio may appear in later versions[103]
and may be much older than the mid-17th century when the Folio
was compiled. Any ballad may be older than the oldest copy which
happens to survive, or descended from a lost older ballad. For
example, the plot of
Robin Hood's Death, found in the Percy Folio, is summarised
in the 15th-century
A Gest of Robyn Hode, and it also appears in an 18th-century
version.[104]
Early ballads (i.e., surviving in 15th- or early-16th-century
copies)
Ballads appearing in 17th-century Percy Folio
NB. The first two ballads listed here (the "Death" and
"Gisborne"), although preserved in 17th century copies, are
generally agreed to preserve the substance of late medieval
ballads. The third (the "Curtal Friar") and the fourth (the
"Butcher"), also probably have late medieval origins.[105]
Other ballads
Some ballads, such as
Erlinton, feature Robin Hood in some variants, where the
folk hero appears to be added to a ballad pre-existing him
and in which he does not fit very well.[106]
He was added to one variant of
Rose Red and the White Lily, apparently on no more
connection than that one hero of the other variants is named
"Brown Robin."[107]
Francis James Child indeed retitled
Child ballad 102; though it was titled The Birth of Robin
Hood, its clear lack of connection with the Robin Hood cycle
(and connection with other, unrelated ballads) led him to title
it
Willie and Earl Richard's Daughter in his collection.[108]
Popular
culture
Main characters of the folklore
See also
References
-
^ J. C.
Holt, Robin Hood, Thames and Hudson, 1989,
pp. 184–185.
-
^
a
b
"Robin Hood: Development of a Popular Hero." From
The
Robin Hood Project at the
University of Rochester. Retrieved 22 November 2008.
-
^
"Merry-man" has referred to the follower of an outlaw
since at least the late 14th century. See
Online Etymology Dictionary
-
^
The Child Ballads 117 "A
Gest of Robyn Hode" (c 1450) "Whan they were clothed
in Lincoln Green "
-
^
a
b
Holt, p. 62.
-
^ Knight,
Robin Hood: a mythic biography pp. 142–143
-
^
a
b
Robin Hood and the Monk. Records also show that he
lived in Wakefield, Yorkshire, in the 13th and 14th
centuries. From Child's edition of the ballad, online at
Sacred Texts,
119A: Robin Hood and the Monk Stanza 16:
- Then Robyn goes to
Notyngham,
- Hym selfe mornyng
allone,
- And Litull John to
mery Scherwode,
- The pathes he knew
ilkone.
-
^
a
b
Dobson & Taylor, p. 18: "On
balance therefore these 15th-century references to the
Robin Hood legend seem to suggest that during the later
Middle Ages the outlaw hero was more closely related to
Barnsdale than Sherwood."
-
^
"Robin Hood – Evidence for Yorkshire". Icons.org.uk.
24 October 2007.
-
^
"Robin Hood – On the move?". BBC.co.uk. 24 October
2007.
-
^
"In the footsteps of Robin Hood". Channel4.com. 24
October 2007.
-
^
Knight, Stephen (2003).
Robin Hood: A Mythic Biography. Ithica, New
York: Cornell University Press. pp. 84–88.
ISBN 978-0-8014-3885-1.
-
^
A Gest of Robin Hood stanzas 10–15, stanza 292
(archery)
117A: The Gest of Robyn Hode. Retrieved 15 April
2008.
-
^ Dobson &
Taylor, p. 203. Friar Tuck is mentioned in the play
fragment Robyn Hod and the Shryff off Notyngham
dated to c. 1475.
-
^ Dobson &
Taylor, pp. 5, 16.
-
^ Dobson &
Taylor, pp. 14–16.
-
^ Dobson &
Taylor, p. 34.
-
^ Dobson &
Taylor, pp. 34–35.
-
^ Dobson &
Taylor, pp. 33, 44, 220–223.
-
^ Singmam,
1998, Robin Hood; The Shaping of the Legend
p. 62.
-
^ Dobson &
Taylor, p. 41. "It was here [the May Games] that he
encountered and assimilated into his own legend the
jolly friar and Maid Marian, almost invariably among the
performers in the 16th century morris dance." Dobson and
Taylor have suggested that theories on the origin of
Friar Tuck often founder on a failure to recognise that
"he was the product of the fusion between two very
different friars", a "bellicose outlaw", and the May
Games figure.
-
^
a
b
See BBC website, accessed
19 August 2008 on the Godberd theory.
The real Robin Hood.
-
^
Molyneux-Smith, Tony. 1998. Robin Hood and the Lords
of Wellow. Nottingham: Nottingham County Council
Leisure Services Department
-
^ Dobson &
Taylor, p. ix
-
^
a
b
A number of such theories
are mentioned at 1911 Britannica article on
"Robin Hood" at LoveToKnow
Robin Hood.
-
^ Robert
Graves English and Scottish Ballads. London:
William Heinemann, 1957; New York: Macmillan, 1957. See,
in particular, Graves' notes to his reconstruction of
Robin Hood's Death.
-
^
a
b
Holt
-
^ Rot.
Parl. v. 16.
-
^
"V.396 in Schmidt's ed". Hti.umich.edu.
Retrieved 2010-03-12.
-
^ Dobson &
Taylor, p. 5
-
^ J. R.
Maddicott, "Sir Edward the First and the Lessons of
Baronial Reform" in Coss and Loyd ed, Thirteenth
century England:1 Proceedings of the Newcastle Upon Tyne
Conference 1985, Boydell and Brewer, p. 2
-
^ Maurice
Hugh Keen The Outlaws of Medieval England, 1987,
Routledge
-
^ Passage
quoted and commented on in Stephen Knights, Robin
Hood; A Mythic Biography, Cornell University Press,
2003, p. 5
-
^
Luxford, Julian M.
(2009). "An English chronicle entry on Robin Hood".
Journal of Medieval History 35 (1):
70–76.
doi:10.1016/j.jmedhist.2009.01.002.
-
^ Act IV,
Scene 1, line 36–7
-
^ The
Annotated Edition of the English Poets – Early ballads
(London, 1856, p. 70)
-
^ Wright,
p. 104
-
^
Women from The Wright's Chaste Wife, by Adam
of Cobsam at
Project Gutenberg
-
^ Holt,
p. 55.
-
^ Reginald
Scot "Discourse upon divels and spirits" Chapter 21,
quoted in Charles P. G. Scott "The Devil and His Imps:
An Etymological Investigation" page 129 Transactions of
the American Philological Association (1869–1896) Vol.
26, (1895), pp. 79–146 Published by: The Johns Hopkins
University Press
jstor.org
-
^ The
Outlaws of Medieval England Appendix 1, 1987,
Routledge,
ISBN 0-7102-1203-8.
-
^ Dobson &
Taylor, p. 63, also quoting Francis Child to the same
effect
-
^ More
recently A. J. Pollard has also so refrained and
stressed the symbolical significance of the "perpetual
springtime" of the ballads. 2004, Imagining Robin
Hood: The Late-Medieval Stories in Historical Context,
Routledge
ISBN 0-415-22308-3.
-
^ Holt,
p. 57.
-
^
a
b
Dobson & Taylor, p. 42.
-
^ Maurice
Keen The Outlaws of Medieval England Appendix 1,
1987, Routledge,
ISBN 0-7102-1203-8.
-
^ Dobson &
Taylor, p. 33.
-
^ Holt,
p. 73.
-
^ Holt,
pp. 74–75.
-
^ Oxford
Dictionary of Christian Names, EG Withycombe, 1950.
-
^ Dobson &
Taylor, introduction pages 11–12.
-
^ Dobson &
Taylor, introduction page 13, criticising Joseph
Hunter's "quite remarkable belief in the historical
accuracy of the Gest."
-
^ D. Crook
English Historical Review XCIX (1984) pp. 530–34;
discussed in Dobson & Taylor, pp. xxi–xxii.
-
^ Dobson &
Taylor, pp. xxi–xxii.
-
^ Dobson &
Taylor, p. 12, 39n, and chapter on place-names.
-
^
Joseph Hunter, The Great Hero of the Ancient
Minstrelsy of England: Robin Hood, his period, real
character etc, Investigated and perhaps Ascertained,
JR Smith, 1852. Quoted in the Gentlemans Magazine
"The Discovery of the Veritable Robin Hood" 1854
p. 160f. Online at Google digitized books.
-
^
a
b
Dobson & Taylor,
introduction.
-
^ Holt,
pp. 75–76, summarised in Dobson & Taylor, p. xvii.
-
^ J. R.
Maddicott, "Edward the First and the Lessons of Baronial
Reform" in Coss and Loyd ed, Thirteenth century
England:1 Proceedings of the Newcastle Upon Tyne
Conference 1985, Boydell and Brewer, p. 2.
-
^ Crook,
David "The Sheriff of Nottingham and Robin Hood: The
Genesis of the Legend?" In Peter R. Coss, S. D. Lloyd,
ed Thirteenth Century England University of
Newcastle – 1999.
-
^
E372/70, rot. 1d, 12 lines from bottom.
-
^ Dobson &
Taylor, p. xvii.
-
^
"Robin Hood and the Monk". Lib.rochester.edu.
Retrieved 2010-03-12.
-
^
Introduction accompanying Knight and Ohlgren's 1997
ed.
-
^ Ohlgren,
Thomas, Robin Hood: The Early Poems, 1465–1560,
(Newark: University of Delaware Press, 2007), From
Script to Print: Robin Hood and the Early Printers,
pp. 97–134
-
^
"Robin Hood and the Potter". Lib.rochester.edu.
Retrieved 2010-03-12.
-
^
"Robyn Hod and the Shryff off Notyngham".
Lib.rochester.edu.
Retrieved 2010-03-12.
-
^ Singman,
Jeffrey L. Robin Hood: The Shaping of the Legend
Published 1998, Greenwood Publishing Group, p. 51
ISBN 0-313-30101-8
-
^ Holt,
p. 11
-
^
Child Ballads 117A:210, ie
A Gest of Robyn Hode stanza 210
-
^
117A: The Gest of Robyn Hode stanzas 13–14
A Gest of Robyn Hode
-
^ Holt,
p. 36
-
^ Holt,
pp. 37–38
-
^ Holt,
p. 10
-
^ Singman,
Jeffrey L Robin Hood: The Shaping of the Legend,
1998, Greenwood Publishing Group, p. 46, and first
chapter as a whole.
ISBN 0-313-30101-8
-
^
a
b
Jeffrey Richards,
Swordsmen of the Screen: From Douglas Fairbanks to
Michael York, p. 190, Routledge & Kegan Paul, Lond,
Henly and Boston, 1988
-
^
a
b
c
Allen W. Wright,
"A Beginner's Guide to Robin Hood"
-
^ Holt,
p. 159
-
^
a
b
Hutton, 1997, pp. 270–1
-
^ Hutton,
1996, p. 32
-
^ Hutton,
1996, p. 31
-
^ Holt,
pp. 148–9
-
^
a
b
Holt, p. 165
-
^ Holt,
p. 37
-
^
a
b
Holt, p. 170
-
^
The Times (London), July 11, 1999
-
^
a
b
Allen W. Wright, "Wolfshead
through the Ages Revolutions and Romanticism"
-
^ Holt,
p. 184
-
^
"Johnson's "The Sad Shepherd"". Lib.rochester.edu.
Retrieved 2010-03-12.
-
^
"Keats' "Robin Hood. To a friend"".
Lib.rochester.edu.
Retrieved 2010-03-12.
-
^
"Tennyson's "The Foresters"". Lib.rochester.edu.
Retrieved 2010-03-12.
-
^ W.R.
Irwin, The Game of the Impossible, p. 151,
University of Illinois Press, Urbana Chicago London,
1976
-
^ Egan,
Pierce the Younger (1846). Robin Hood and Little John
or The Merry Men of Sherwood Forest. Pub. George
Peirce. London.
-
^
a
b
Allen W. Wright, "Wolfshead
through the Ages Films and Fantasy"
-
^ See
Richard Utz, "Robin Hood, Frenched," in: Medieval
Afterlives in Popular Culture, ed. by Gail Ashton and
Daniel T. Kline (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012):
145-58.
-
^
Nottinghamshire County
Council.
"Major Oak".
Retrieved 2007-11-21.
-
^
Edwinstowe Parish Council.
"Edwinstowe".
Retrieved 2009-08-02.
-
^
"Laser to scan Robin Hood's prison under Nottingham
city". BBC News. 2010-04-20.
Retrieved 2012-03-23.
-
^ Holt,
p. 83
-
^
"Big It Up Bulletin-May issue". .le.ac.uk.
2007-04-29. Retrieved
2010-03-12.
-
^
"According to Ancient Custom: Research on the possible
Origins and Purpose of Thynghowe Sherwood Forest".
Issuu.com. 2012-03-09.
Retrieved 2012-03-23.
-
^ Holt,
pp. 34–35
-
^ Dobson and
Taylor, Appendix 1
-
^ Dobson and
Taylor, p. 133
-
^ Dobson &
Taylor, see introduction to each individual ballad.
-
^ Child,
v. 1, p. 178
-
^ Child,
v. 2, p. 416
-
^ Child,
v. 2, p. 412
Bibliography
- Baldwin, David (2010).
Robin Hood: The English Outlaw Unmasked. Amberley
Publishing.
ISBN 978-1-84868-378-5.
- Barry, Edward (1832).
Sur les vicissitudes et les transformations du cycle
populaire de Robin Hood. Rignoux.
- Blamires, David (1998).
Robin Hood: A Hero for All Times. J. Rylands
Univ. Lib. of Manchester.
ISBN 0-86373-136-8.
-
Child, Francis James (1997). The English and
Scottish Popular Ballads 1–5. Dover
Publications.
ISBN 978-0-486-43150-5.
- Coghlan, Ronan (2003).
The Robin Hood Companion. Xiphos Books.
ISBN 0-9544936-0-5.
- Deitweiler, Laurie,
Coleman, Diane (2004). Robin Hood Comprehension Guide.
Veritas Pr Inc.
ISBN 1-930710-77-1.
- Dixon-Kennedy, Mike
(2006). The Robin Hood Handbook. Sutton
Publishing.
ISBN 0-7509-3977-X.
- Dobson, R. B.; Taylor,
John (1977). The Rymes of Robin Hood: An Introduction
to the English Outlaw. Sutton Publishing.
ISBN 0-7509-1661-3.
- Doel, Fran, Doel, Geoff
(2000). Robin Hood: Outlaw and Greenwood Myth.
Tempus Publishing Ltd.
ISBN 0-7524-1479-8.
- Green, Barbara (2001).
Secrets of the Grave. Palmyra Press.
ISBN 0-9540164-0-8.
- Hahn, Thomas (2000).
Robin Hood in Popular Culture: Violence, Transgression
and Justice. D.S. Brewer.
ISBN 0-85991-564-6.
- Harris, P. V. (1978).
Truth About Robin Hood. Linney.
ISBN 0-900525-16-9.
- Hilton, R.H.,
The Origins of Robin Hood, Past and Present,
No. 14. (Nov., 1958), pp. 30–44. Available online at
JSTOR.
-
Holt, J. C. (1982). Robin Hood. Thames &
Hudson.
ISBN 0-500-27541-6.
-
Holt, J.C. (1989). "Robin Hood," Perspectives on
culture and society, vol. 2, 127-144
-
Hutton, Ronald (1997). The Stations of the Sun: A
History of the Ritual Year in Britain. Oxford
University Press.
ISBN 0-19-288045-4.
- Hutton, Ronald (1996).
The Rise and Fall of Merry England: The Ritual Year
1400–1700. Oxford University Press.
ISBN 0-19-285327-9.
- Knight, Stephen Thomas
(1994). Robin Hood: A Complete Study of the English
Outlaw. Blackwell Publishers.
ISBN 0-631-19486-X.
- Knight, Stephen Thomas
(2003). Robin Hood: A Mythic Biography. Cornell
University Press.
ISBN 0-8014-3885-3.
- Phillips, Helen (2005).
Robin Hood: Medieval and Post-medieval. Four
Courts Press.
ISBN 1-85182-931-8.
-
Pollard, A. J. (2004). Imagining Robin Hood: The
Late Medieval Stories in Historical Context.
Routledge, an imprint of Taylor & Francis Books Ltd.
ISBN 0-415-22308-3.
- Potter, Lewis (1998).
Playing Robin Hood: The Legend as Performance in Five
Centuries. University of Delaware Press.
ISBN 0-87413-663-6.
- Pringle, Patrick (1991).
Stand and Deliver: Highway Men from Robin Hood to
Dick Turpin. Dorset Press.
ISBN 0-88029-698-4.
-
Ritson, Joseph (1832). Robin Hood: A Collection
of All the Ancient Poems, Songs, and Ballads, Now Extant
Relative to That Celebrated English Outlaw: To Which are
Prefixed Historical Anecdotes of His Life. William
Pickering.
ISBN 1-4212-6209-6.
- Rutherford-Moore,
Richard (1999). The Legend of Robin Hood. Capall
Bann Publishing.
ISBN 1-86163-069-7.
- Rutherford-Moore,
Richard (2002). Robin Hood: On the Outlaw Trail.
Capall Bann Publishing.
ISBN 1-86163-177-4.
- Vahimagi, Tise (1994).
British Television: An Illustrated Guide. Oxford
University Press.
ISBN 0-19-818336-4.
-
Wright, Thomas (1847). Songs and Carols, now
first imprinted. Percy Society.
External links
-
Robin Hood the Facts and the Fiction, has a lot of
information on Robin Hood, ballads, medieval records, place
names, analysis on the legend etc.
-
BBC History: Robin Hood and his Historical Context
-
Home of the World Wide Robin Hood Society in Sherwood,
Nottingham, England
-
Archaeology and History of Medieval Sherwood Forest
-
Robin Hood, Friend of Liberty – Ludwig von Mises
Institute
-
Robin Hood: Bold Outlaw of Barnsdale and Sherwood,
contains ballads, information on the development of the
legend, and interviews with scholars and authors.
-
Ben Turner's Robin Hood site one of the first on the web
-
The Robin Hood Project at the University of Rochester –
Houses a large collection of Robin Hood text and art
-
"Robin Hood – the greatest of English myths" on
BBC Radio 4's
In Our Time featuring Stephen Knight, Thomas Hahn
and Dr Juliette Wood
-
Robin Hood – from
Internet Archive,
Project Gutenberg and
Google Books (scanned books original editions color
illustrated)
-
Nottingham Caves Survey
-
Chisholm,
Hugh, ed. (1911). "Robin
Hood".
Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge
University Press.
-
"Robin
Hood".
Collier's New Encyclopedia. 1921.
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