141-674: Locksley may refer to: Locksley, Nottinghamshire, fictional home of English folk hero Robin Hood Locksley (band) , an American rock band Locksley, New South Wales , Australia Locksley, Victoria , Australia Locksley railway station, Victoria , a closed station in Locksley, Victoria, Australia Locksley station (Pennsylvania) , a railroad station in Thornbury Township, Pennsylvania, USA Locksley Christian School,
282-553: A diplomatic mission to be recognized Duchess of Normandy and replace Stephen. Geoffrey followed at the head of his army and quickly captured several fortresses in southern Normandy. It was then that a noble in Anjou, Robert II of Sablé , rebelled, forcing Geoffrey to withdraw and prevent an attack on his rear. When Geoffrey returned to Normandy in September 1136, the region had become plagued with internal, baronial infighting. Stephen
423-584: A gode felawe. 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 ballad, 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,
564-680: 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. Angevin Empire The term Angevin Empire ( / ˈ æ n dʒ ɪ v ɪ n / ; French : Empire Plantagenêt ) describes
705-537: A lost Robin Hood play for Henry VIII's court, and that this play may have been one of Munday's sources. Henry VIII himself with eleven of his nobles had impersonated "Robyn Hodes men" as part of his "Maying" in 1510. Robin Hood is known to have appeared in a number of other lost and extant Elizabethan plays . In 1599, the play George a Green, the Pinner of Wakefield places Robin Hood in the reign of Edward IV . Edward I ,
846-487: A number of unreliable sources, such as the Robin Hood plays of Anthony Munday and the Sloane Manuscript. Nevertheless, Dobson and Taylor credit Ritson with having 'an incalculable effect in promoting the still continuing quest for the man behind the myth', and note that his work remains an 'indispensable handbook to the outlaw legend even now'. Ritson's friend Walter Scott used Ritson's anthology collection as
987-464: A play by George Peele first performed in 1590–91, incorporates a Robin Hood game played by the characters. Llywelyn the Great , the last independent Prince of Wales , is presented playing Robin Hood. Fixing the Robin Hood story to the 1190s had been first proposed by John Major in his Historia Majoris Britanniæ (1521), (and he also may have been influenced in so doing by the story of Warin); this
1128-541: A revolt in Anjou while Stephen attacked Angevin loyalists in England. Several Anglo-Norman nobles switched allegiance, sensing an impending disaster. Henry was about to sail for England to pursue his claim when his lands were attacked. He first reached Anjou and compelled Geoffrey to surrender. He then took the decision to sail for England in January 1153 to meet Stephen. Luckily enough, Louis fell ill and had to retire from
1269-482: A separate line there. As far as historians know, there was no contemporary term for the region under Angevin control; however, descriptions such as "our kingdom and everything subject to our rule whatever it may be" were used. The term Angevin Empire was coined by Kate Norgate in her 1887 publication England under the Angevin Kings . In France, the term espace Plantagenet (French for "Plantagenet area")
1410-408: A son, Conan , from her previous marriage to the late Alan de Bretagne . Conan had been too young to succeed his grandfather in 1148, but he became Henry II's perfect candidate to become Duke of Brittany on Bertha's death, as his English holdings as Earl of Richmond meant he would be easier to control. In Nantes, possibly due to Hoël's recognition of his sister and brother-in-law's suzerainty over
1551-611: A source for his picture of Robin Hood in Ivanhoe , written in 1818, which did much to shape the modern legend . In the decades following the publication of Ritson's book, other ballad collections would occasionally publish stray Robin Hood ballads Ritson had missed. In 1806, Robert Jamieson published the earliest known Robin Hood ballad, Robin Hood and the Monk in Volume II of his Popular Ballads and Songs From Tradition . In 1846,
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#17327836674371692-488: A trail of filth behind them". Stephen finally arrived in Normandy in 1137 and restored order but had lost much credibility in the eyes of his main supporter, Robert of Gloucester and so Robert changed sides and supported Geoffrey and his half-sister Matilda instead. Geoffrey took Caen and Argentan without resistance, but now had to defend Robert's possessions in England against Stephen. In 1139, Robert and Matilda crossed
1833-526: A variety of sources, including apparently "A Gest of Robin Hood", and were influential in fixing the story of Robin Hood to the period of Richard I . Stephen Thomas Knight has suggested that Munday drew heavily on Fulk Fitz Warin , a historical 12th century outlawed nobleman and enemy of King John , in creating his Robin Hood. The play identifies Robin Hood as Robert, Earl of Huntingdon , following in Richard Grafton's association of Robin Hood with
1974-776: A vassal of Louis. She left Beaugency for Poitiers , narrowly escaping an ambush by Henry's brother Geoffrey on route, and there, eight weeks later, she married Henry. Thus Henry became duke of Aquitaine and Gascony and count of Poitou. Louis responded with a furious attack on Normandy. In Anjou, Henry had refused to give the county to his brother, and thus a coalition of Henry's enemies was formed by Louis VII: Stephen of England and his son Eustace IV of Boulogne (married to Louis' sister ); Henry I, Count of Champagne (betrothed to Louis' daughter ), Robert of Dreux (Louis' brother) and Henry's brother, Geoffrey. In July 1152, Capetian troops attacked Aquitaine while Louis, Eustace, Henry of Champagne, and Robert attacked Normandy. Geoffrey raised
2115-522: A year whilst Richard was abroad. Between 1194 and 1198, revenue averaged £25,000. Under Richard's successor John , income fluctuated between £22,000 and £25,000 from 1199 to 1203. In order to fund for the reconquest of France, English income increased to £50,000 in 1210 but then rose to over £83,000 in 1211 before falling back down to £50,000 in 1212. Revenue then fell down to below £26,000 in 1214, and then further to £18,500 in 1215. The first three years of Henry III 's reign brought in £8,000 on average due to
2256-602: Is Robin Hood and Little John telling the famous story of the quarter-staff fight between the two outlaws. Dobson and Taylor wrote, 'More generally the Robin of the broadsides is a much less tragic, less heroic and in the last resort less mature figure than his medieval predecessor'. In most of the broadside ballads Robin Hood remains a plebeian figure, a notable exception being Martin Parker 's attempt at an overall life of Robin Hood, A True Tale of Robin Hood , which also emphasises
2397-576: Is a legendary heroic outlaw originally depicted in English folklore and subsequently featured in literature, theatre, and cinema. He stole from the rich and gave to the poor . According to legend, he was a highly skilled archer and swordsman . In some versions of the legend, he is depicted as being of noble birth, and in modern retellings he is sometimes depicted as having fought in the Crusades before returning to England to find his lands taken by
2538-678: 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." In the Jeu de Robin and Marion , Robin and his companions have to rescue Marion from the clutches of a "lustful knight". This play is distinct from the English legends, although Dobson and Taylor regard it as 'highly probable' that this French Robin's name and functions travelled to
2679-403: Is also mentioned in a famous Lollard tract dated to the first half of the fifteenth century (thus also possibly predating his other earliest historical mentions) alongside several other folk heroes such as Guy of Warwick , Bevis of Hampton , and Sir Lybeaus . However, the earliest surviving copies of the narrative ballads that tell his story date to the second half of the 15th century, or
2820-511: Is because England and Normandy were home to more officials to collect taxes and, unlike Aquitaine, local lords were unable to mint their own coins, allowing the Angevin kings to control the economy from their administrative base of Chinon . Chinon's importance was shown by Richard's seizure of Chinon first when he rebelled against his father in 1187, and then when John immediately rushed to Chinon after his brother's death. Money raised in England
2961-512: Is from the alliterative poem Piers Plowman , thought to have been composed in the 1370s, followed shortly afterwards by a quotation of a later common proverb, "many men speak of Robin Hood and never shot his bow", in Friar Daw's Reply ( c. 1402) and a complaint in Dives and Pauper (1405–1410) that people would rather listen to "tales and songs of Robin Hood" than attend Mass. Robin Hood
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#17327836674373102-594: Is generally regarded as in substance a genuine late medieval ballad. In 1795, Joseph Ritson published an enormously influential edition of the Robin Hood ballads Robin Hood: A collection of all the Ancient Poems Songs and Ballads now extant, relative to that celebrated Outlaw . 'By providing English poets and novelists with a convenient source book, Ritson gave them the opportunity to recreate Robin Hood in their own imagination,' Ritson's collection included
3243-452: 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
3384-460: Is no broadside version of Robin Hood and Guy of Gisborne or of Robin Hood and the Monk , which did not appear in print until the 18th and 19th centuries respectively. However, the Gest was reprinted from time to time throughout the 16th and 17th centuries. No surviving broadside ballad can be dated with certainty before the 17th century, but during that century, the commercial broadside ballad became
3525-848: Is no evidence that the Duke of Brittany, Eudes II , had recognised the Norman overlordship. Two vital frontier castles, Moulins-la-Marche and Bonmoulins , had never been taken back by Geoffrey Plantagenet and were in the hands of Robert of Dreux . Count Thierry of Flanders had joined the alliance formed by Louis VII in 1153. Further south, the Count of Blois acquired Amboise . From Henry II's perspective, these territorial issues needed solving. King Henry II showed himself to be an audacious and daring king as well as being active and mobile; Roger of Howden stated that Henry travelled across his dominions so fast that Louis VII once exclaimed that "The king of England
3666-686: Is not poor, but it seems in context that Robin Hood is stating a general policy. The first explicit statement to the effect that Robin Hood habitually robbed from the rich to give the poor can be found in John Stow 's Annales of England (1592), about a century after the publication of the Gest. But 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
3807-623: Is not that children did not read Robin Hood stories before, but this is the first appearance of a Robin Hood literature specifically aimed at them. A very influential example of these children's novels was Pierce Egan the Younger 's Robin Hood and Little John (1840). This was adapted into French by Alexandre Dumas in Le Prince des Voleurs (1872) and Robin Hood Le Proscrit (1873). Egan made Robin Hood of noble birth but raised by
3948-578: Is now in Ireland, now in England, now in Normandy, he seems rather to fly than to go by horse or ship." Henry was often more present in France than in England; Ralph de Diceto , Dean of St Paul's , said with irony: There is nothing left to send to bring the king back to England but the Tower of London . Henry II bought Vernon and Neuf-Marché back from Louis VII in 1154. This new strategy now regulated
4089-645: Is often depicted as assisting Prince John in usurping the rightful but absent King Richard , to whom Robin Hood remains loyal. He became a popular folk figure in the Late Middle Ages , and his partisanship of the common people and opposition to the Sheriff are some of the earliest-recorded features of the legend, whereas his political interests and setting during the Angevin era developed in later centuries. The earliest known ballads featuring him are from
4230-418: 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 17th-century Robin Hood and Little John . The political and social assumptions underlying the early Robin Hood ballads have long been controversial. J. C. Holt influentially argued that the Robin Hood legend
4371-594: Is sometimes used to describe the fiefdoms the Plantagenets had acquired. The adoption of the Angevin Empire label marked a re-evaluation of the times, considering that both English and French influence spread throughout the dominion in the half-century during which the union lasted. The term Angevin itself is the demonym for the residents of Anjou and its historic capital, Angers ; the Plantagenets were descended from Geoffrey I, Count of Anjou , hence
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4512-472: Is still commonly presented in modern times. 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
4653-430: 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. The story of Robin's aid to the 'poor knight' that takes up much of
4794-707: The Angevin kings of England brought them into conflict with the kings of France of the House of Capet , to whom they also owed feudal homage for their French possessions, bringing in a period of rivalry between the dynasties . Despite the extent of Angevin rule, Henry's son John was defeated in the Anglo-French War (1213–1214) by Philip II of France following the Battle of Bouvines . John lost control of most of his continental possessions , apart from Guyenne and Gascony in southern Aquitaine . This defeat set
4935-547: The County of Berry but these were not completely fulfilled, and the county was lost completely by the time of the accession of John in 1199. The frontiers of the empire were sometimes well known and therefore easy to mark, such as the dykes constructed between the royal demesne of the king of France and the Duchy of Normandy. In other places these borders were not so clear, particularly the eastern border of Aquitaine, where there
5076-513: 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. No extant early ballad actually shows Robin Hood "giving to
5217-616: The Kingdom of England , the Lordship of Ireland which was considered illegitimate since Henry II broke the treaty of Windsor , the duchies of Normandy (which included the Channel Islands ), Gascony and Aquitaine , as well as of the counties of Anjou , Poitou, Maine , Touraine, Saintonge , La Marche , Périgord , Limousin , Nantes and Quercy . While the duchies and counties were held with various levels of vassalage to
5358-649: The Normans , had conquered England in the 11th century. Meanwhile, in the rest of France, the Poitevin Ramnulfids had become Dukes of Aquitaine and of Gascony , and the Count of Blois , Stephen , the father of the next king of England, Stephen , became the Count of Champagne . France was being split between only a few noble families. In 1106, Henry I of England had defeated his brother Robert Curthose and angered Robert's son, William Clito , who
5499-644: The Percy Society included The Bold Pedlar and Robin Hood in its collection, Ancient Poems, Ballads, and Songs of the Peasantry of England . In 1850, John Mathew Gutch published his own collection of Robin Hood ballads, Robin Hood Garlands and Ballads, with the tale of the lytell Geste , that in addition to all of Ritson's collection, also included Robin Hood and the Pedlars and Robin Hood and
5640-578: The Sheriff . In the oldest known versions, he is instead a member of the yeoman class. He is traditionally depicted dressed in Lincoln green . Through retellings, additions, and variations, a body of familiar characters associated with Robin Hood has been created. These include his lover, Maid Marian ; his band of outlaws, the Merry Men ; and his chief opponent, the Sheriff of Nottingham . The Sheriff
5781-605: The king of France , the Plantagenets held various levels of control over the Duchies of Brittany and Cornwall , the Welsh princedoms , the county of Toulouse , and the Kingdom of Scotland , although those regions were not formal parts of the empire. Auvergne was also in the empire for part of the reigns of Henry II and Richard I , in their capacity as dukes of Aquitaine. Henry II and Richard I pushed further claims over
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5922-415: The seneschal of Anjou , and other seneschals governed. They were based at Tours , Chinon , Baugé , Beaufort , Brissac , Angers , Saumur , Loudun , Loches , Langeais and Montbazon . However, the constituent counties, such as Maine , were often administered by the officials of the local lords, rather than their Angevin suzerains. Maine was at first largely self-ruling and lacked administration until
6063-555: The throne of England . There had been only one occurrence of a medieval European queen regnant before, Urraca of León and Castile , and it was not an encouraging precedent; nevertheless, in January 1127 the Anglo-Normans barons and prelates recognized Matilda as heiress to the throne in an oath. On 17 June 1128, the wedding between Matilda and Geoffrey was celebrated in Le Mans . In order to secure Matilda's succession to
6204-412: The 15th century. There have been numerous variations and adaptations of the story over the subsequent years, and the story continues to be widely represented in literature, film, and television media today. Robin Hood is considered one of the best-known tales of English folklore . In popular culture, the term "Robin Hood" is often used to describe a heroic outlaw or rebel against tyranny. The origins of
6345-467: The 16th century. 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 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
6486-403: The 305 ballads in his collection as Child Ballads Nos 117–154, which is how they're often referenced in scholarly works. In the 19th century, the Robin Hood legend was first specifically adapted for children. Children's editions of the garlands were produced and in 1820, a children's edition of Ritson's Robin Hood collection was published. Children's novels began to appear shortly thereafter. It
6627-683: The Angevin kings made efforts to improve administration by installing new officials, such as the seneschal of Le Mans. These reforms came too late for the Angevins however, and only the Capetians saw the beneficial effects of this reform after they annexed the area. Aquitaine differed in the level of administration in its different constituent regions. Gascony was a very loosely administered region. Officials were stationed mostly in Entre-Deux-Mers , Bayonne , Dax , but some were found on
6768-521: The Angevins during John's rule as he attempted to consolidate his power. Officials could be stationed in Poitou , however, due to a large concentration of castles compared to the rest of Aquitaine. Normandy was the most consistently administered state within the continental Angevin Empire. Under Angevin rule , ducal government was regularised and strengthened, with the Seneschal of Normandy becoming
6909-665: 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. Pyle's Robin Hood is a yeoman and not an aristocrat. 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,
7050-531: The English May Games, where they fused with the Robin Hood legend. 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. Marian did not immediately gain
7191-717: The Forresters, it was published in 1998 as Robin Hood: The Forresters Manuscript . It appears to have been written in the 1670s. While all the ballads in the Manuscript had already been known and published during the 17th and 18th centuries (although most of the ballads in the Manuscript have different titles then ones they have listed under the Child Ballads), 13 of the ballads in Forresters are noticeably different from how they appeared in
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#17327836674377332-644: The Gest and put the Robin Hood and the Potter ballad in print for the first time. The only significant omission was Robin Hood and the Monk which would eventually be printed in 1806. In all, Ritson printed 33 Robin Hood ballads (and a 34th, now commonly known as Robin Hood and the Prince of Aragon that he included as the second part of Robin Hood Newly Revived which he had retitled "Robin Hood and
7473-471: The Merry Men to his aid. When his enemies do not fall for this ruse, he persuades them to drink with him instead (see Robin Hood's Delight ). In the 18th and 19th centuries, the Robin Hood ballads were mostly sold in "Garlands" of 16 to 24 Robin Hood ballads; these were crudely printed chap books aimed at the poor. The garlands added nothing to the substance of the legend but ensured that it continued after
7614-600: The Plantagenet-Capetian relationship. Louis VII had been unsuccessful in his attempt to break Henry II down. Because of the Angevin control of England in 1154, it was pointless to object to the superiority of the overall Angevin forces over the Capetian ones. However, Henry II refused to back down despite Louis' apparent change of policy until the Norman Vexin was entirely recovered. Thomas Becket , then
7755-453: The Plantagenets never claimed any sort of imperial title as implied by the term Angevin Empire . However, even if the Plantagenets themselves did not claim an imperial title, some chroniclers, often working for Henry II himself, did use the term empire to describe this assemblage of lands. The highest title was "king of England"; the other titles of dukes and counts of different areas held in France were completely and totally independent from
7896-602: The Robin Hood ballads, published in 1888, Child removed the ballads from his earlier work that weren't traditional Robin Hood stories, gave the ballad Ritson titled Robin Hood and the Stranger back its original published title Robin Hood Newly Revived , and separated what Ritson had printed as the second part of Robin Hood and the Stranger as its own separate ballad, Robin Hood and the Prince of Aragon . He also included alternate versions of ballads that had distinct, alternate versions. He numbered these 38 Robin Hood ballads among
8037-568: The Scotchman . In 1858, Francis James Child published his English and Scottish Ballads which included a volume grouping all the Robin Hood ballads in one volume, including all the ballads published by Ritson, the four stray ballads published since then, as well as some ballads that either mentioned Robin Hood by name or featured characters named Robin Hood but weren't traditional Robin Hood stories. For his more scholarly work, The English and Scottish Popular Ballads , in his volume dedicated to
8178-509: 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
8319-406: The Stranger"). Ritson's interpretation of Robin Hood was also influential, having influenced the modern concept of stealing from the rich and giving to the poor as it exists today. Himself a supporter of the principles of the French Revolution and admirer of Thomas Paine , Ritson held that Robin Hood was a genuinely historical, and genuinely heroic, character who had stood up against tyranny in
8460-415: 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. It is from the association with the May Games that Robin's romantic attachment to Maid Marian (or Marion) apparently stems. A "Robin and Marion" figured in 13th-century French ' pastourelles ' (of which Jeu de Robin et Marion c. 1280
8601-474: The annual income of England was £10,500, or around half what the revenue had been under Henry I . This was due in part to The Anarchy and King Stephen 's loose rule resulting in the reduction of royal authority. As time went on, royal authority improved and the revenue consequently went up to an average of £22,000 a year. Due to the preparation for the Third Crusade , revenue then increased to over £31,000 in 1190 under Richard . The number fell again to £11,000
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#17327836674378742-408: The bare scalp of Robin Hood's fat friar, This fellow were a king for our wild faction!" 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". Justice Silence sings a line from an unnamed Robin Hood ballad,
8883-450: The bawdy Maid Marian of the May Games. She does not appear in extant versions of the ballad. James VI of Scotland was entertained by a Robin Hood play at Dirleton Castle produced by his favourite the Earl of Arran in May 1585, while there was plague in Edinburgh. 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). These plays drew on
9024-456: The broadsides and garlands. 9 of these ballads are significantly longer and more elaborate than the versions of the same ballads found in the broadsides and garlands. For four of these ballads, the Forresters Manuscript versions are the earliest known versions. 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
9165-434: The channel and arrived in England while Geoffrey kept the pressure on Normandy. Stephen was captured in February 1141 at the Battle of Lincoln , which prompted the collapse of his authority in both England and Normandy. Geoffrey now controlled almost all of Normandy, but no longer had the support of Aquitaine now that William X had been succeeded by his daughter, Eleanor , who had married Louis VII of France in 1137. Louis
9306-588: The conflict while Henry's defences held against his enemies. After seven months of battles and politics, Henry failed to get rid of Stephen but then Stephen's son, Eustace, died in dubious circumstances, "struck by the wrath of god." Stephen gave up the struggle by ratifying the Treaty of Winchester , making Henry his heir on condition that the landed possessions of his family were guaranteed in England and France—the same terms Matilda had previously refused after her victory at Lincoln. Henry became King Henry II of England upon Stephen's death on 25 October 1154. Subsequently,
9447-399: The construction of the castles of Chinon , Loches and Loudun exemplify. Fulk IV married his son and namesake, called " Fulk the Younger " (who would later become King of Jerusalem ), to Ermengarde , heiress of the province of Maine, thus unifying it with Anjou through personal union . While the dynasty of the Angevins was successfully consolidating their power in France, their rivals,
9588-401: The continental domains that the Angevin kings ruled were governed by a seneschal at the top of the hierarchical system, with lesser government officials such as baillis , vicomtes , and prévôts . However, all counties and duchies would differ to an extent. Greater Anjou is a modern term to describe the area consisting of Anjou , Maine, Touraine, Vendôme , and Saintonge . Here, prévôts,
9729-442: The county, the citizens rose up against Hoël in 1156 and installed Henry II's brother Geoffrey in Hoël's place as count, at Henry II's suggestion. In September, this was followed up with a successful invasion of the duchy by Conan against his stepfather, Eudo, ending in Conan's accession as Duke of Brittany, albeit with Nantes remaining under direct Angevin control. However by 1158, Geoffrey had died and Conan seized Nantes. Nantes
9870-400: The current Chancellor of England, was sent as ambassador to Paris in the summer of 1158 to lead negotiations. He displayed all the wealth the Angevins could provide and, according to William Fitzstephen , a clerk and companion of Becket, a Frenchman exclaimed "If the Chancellor of England travels in such splendor, what must the king be?" Louis VII's daughter, Margaret , who was still a baby,
10011-403: The day of the coronation of Charles II in 1661. This short play adapts the story of the king's pardon of Robin Hood to refer to the Restoration. However, Robin Hood appeared on the 18th-century stage in various farces and comic operas. Alfred, Lord Tennyson would write a four-act Robin Hood play at the end of the 19th century, "The Forrestors". It is fundamentally based on the Gest but follows
10152-417: The decline of the single broadside ballad. In the 18th century also, Robin Hood frequently appeared in criminal biographies and histories of highwaymen compendia. In 1765, Thomas Percy (bishop of Dromore) published Reliques of Ancient English Poetry , including ballads from the 17th-century Percy Folio manuscript which had not previously been printed, most notably Robin Hood and Guy of Gisborne which
10293-468: The earlier tale is "a thriller" the latter is more comic, its plot involving trickery and cunning rather than straightforward force. Other early texts are dramatic pieces, the earliest being the fragmentary Robyn Hod and the Shryff off Notyngham ( c. 1475). These are particularly noteworthy as they show Robin's integration into May Day rituals towards the end of the Middle Ages; Robyn Hod and
10434-611: The earlier years of his reign, Henry II claimed further lands and worked on the creation of a ring of vassal states as buffers, especially around England and Normandy. The most obvious areas to expand, where large claims were held, were Scotland , Wales , Brittany, and, as an ally rather than a new dominion, Flanders . King David I of Scotland had taken advantage of The Anarchy to seize Cumberland , Westmorland and Northumberland . In Wales, important leaders like Rhys of Deheubarth and Owain Gwynedd had emerged. In Brittany, there
10575-435: The early ballads is usually attributed by scholars to either the 13th century or the 14th, although it is recognised they are not necessarily historically consistent. 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
10716-468: The end of the 16th century. Near the end of the 16th century an unpublished prose life of Robin Hood was written, and included in the Sloane Manuscript . Largely a paraphrase of the Gest, it also contains material revealing that the author was familiar with early versions of a number of the Robin Hood broadside ballads. Not all of the medieval legend was preserved in the broadside ballads, there
10857-634: The establishment of Norman customs and institutions that would last until the French Revolution . Stephen continued to claim Normandy , believing an alliance with Louis was possible. Louis VII had recognised Henry as duke of Normandy in August 1151 in exchange for concessions in the Norman Vexin , but remained angered by Henry and Geoffrey's treatment of Giraud II of Montreuil-Berlay following Giraud's failed rebellion against Angevin rule
10998-577: The first decade of the 16th century. In these early accounts, Robin Hood's partisanship of the lower classes, his devotion to the Virgin Mary 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. 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 . The friar has been part of
11139-423: The forestor Gilbert Hood. Another very popular version for children was Howard Pyle 's The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood , which influenced accounts of Robin Hood through the 20th century. Pyle's version 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
11280-496: The former name of Regents Academy based in Lincolnshire, England Locksley Hall , an Alfred Lord Tennyson poem Mike Locksley (born 1969), American football coach See also [ edit ] Loxley (disambiguation) Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Locksley . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change
11421-410: The fragility the civil war had brought to England. In Ireland, the revenue was fairly low at £2,000 for 1212; however, all other records did not survive. For Normandy, there were many fluctuations relative to the politics of the Duchy. The Norman revenues were only £6,750 in 1180, then they reached £25,000 a year in 1198, higher than in England. What was more impressive was that the Norman population
11562-449: The gentry, and identifies Maid Marian with "one of the semi-mythical Matildas persecuted by King John ". The plays are complex in plot and form, the story of Robin Hood appearing as a play-within-a-play presented at the court of Henry VIII and written by the poet, priest and courtier John Skelton . Skelton himself is presented in the play as acting the part of Friar Tuck. Some scholars have conjectured that Skelton may have indeed written
11703-477: The household of Sir John Paston . This fragment appears to tell the story of Robin Hood and Guy of Gisborne . There is also an early playtext appended to a 1560 printed edition of the Gest. This includes a dramatic version of the story of Robin Hood and the Curtal Friar and a version of the first part of the story of Robin Hood and the Potter . (Neither of these ballads is known to have existed in print at
11844-429: The interests of the common people. J. C. Holt has been quick to point out, however, that Ritson "began as a Jacobite and ended as a Jacobin," and "certainly reconstructed him [Robin] in the image of a radical." In his preface to the collection, Ritson assembled an account of Robin Hood's life from the various sources available to him, and concluded that Robin Hood was born in around 1160, and thus had been active in
11985-494: The king and defend all of their lands at once. The power of the English earls had grown during the Anarchy between Matilda and Stephen, as she and he vied for support by granting earldoms to various barons, but this reversed beginning with Henry II, whose reign saw the number of earls halve from twenty-four to twelve. England instead saw a reliance on the exchequer to provide both financial and administrative control on behalf of
12126-519: The king of France again. Flanders would provide Henry II with knights in exchange of an annual tribute in money, known as a "money-fief". In 1148, Conan III, Duke of Brittany , died, leaving behind two children. Although his son Hoël was the natural choice to succeed to the ducal throne, evidence suggests that Hoël was illegitimate and instead he was only recognised as Count of Nantes . Hoël's sister Bertha became Duchess of Brittany, ruling alongside her husband, Eudo of Porhoët . However Bertha had
12267-561: The later 15th and 16th centuries. 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. The earliest surviving text of a Robin Hood ballad is the 15th-century " Robin Hood and the Monk ". This is preserved in Cambridge University manuscript Ff.5.48. Written after 1450, it contains many of the elements still associated with
12408-564: The latter of which the term Angevin is derived). Henry married Eleanor of Aquitaine in 1152, acquiring the Duchy of Aquitaine , and inherited his mother Empress Matilda 's claim to the English throne , succeeding his rival Stephen in 1154. Although their title of highest rank came from the Kingdom of England , the Plantagenets held court primarily on the continent at Angers in Anjou, and at Chinon in Touraine. The influence and power of
12549-496: The legend as well as the historical context have been debated for centuries. There are numerous references to historical figures with similar names that have been proposed as possible evidence of his existence, some dating back to the late 13th century. At least eight plausible origins to the story have been mooted by historians and folklorists, including suggestions that "Robin Hood" was a stock alias used by or in reference to bandits. The first clear reference to "rhymes of Robin Hood"
12690-467: The legend since at least the later 15th century, when he is mentioned in a Robin Hood play script. In modern 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 outlawry during the misrule of Richard's brother John while Richard was away at the Third Crusade . This view first gained currency in
12831-492: 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. 1500), a collection of separate stories that attempts to unite the episodes into a single continuous narrative. After this comes " Robin Hood and the Potter ", contained in a manuscript of c. 1503. "The Potter" is markedly different in tone from "The Monk": whereas
12972-506: The line is "Robin Hood, Scarlet, and John" in Act 5 scene 3 of Henry IV, part 2 . In Henry IV part 1 Act 3 scene 3, Falstaff refers to Maid Marian , implying she is a by-word for unwomanly or unchaste behaviour. Ben Jonson produced the incomplete masque The Sad Shepherd, or a Tale of Robin Hood in part as a satire on Puritanism . It is about half finished and his death in 1637 may have interrupted writing. Jonson's only pastoral drama, it
13113-528: The link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Locksley&oldid=1068127409 " Categories : Disambiguation pages Place name disambiguation pages Disambiguation pages with surname-holder lists Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Robin Hood Robin Hood
13254-453: The main vehicle for the popular Robin Hood legend. These broadside ballads were in some cases newly fabricated but were mostly adaptations of the older verse narratives. The broadside ballads were fitted to a small repertoire of pre-existing tunes resulting in an increase of "stock formulaic phrases" making them "repetitive and verbose", they commonly feature Robin Hood's contests with artisans: tinkers, tanners, and butchers. Among these ballads
13395-552: The modern Robin Hood—'King of Outlaws and prince of good fellows!' as Richard the Lionheart calls him—makes his debut. In 1993, a previously unknown manuscript of 21 Robin Hood ballads (including two versions of " The Jolly Pinder of Wakefield ") turned up in an auction house and eventually wound up in the British Library . Called The Forresters Manuscript , after the first and last ballads, which are both titled Robin Hood and
13536-630: The nobles previously loyal to Henry I against Matilda. In November, Henry was dying; Matilda was with her husband in Maine and Anjou while Stephen , brother of the Count of Blois and Champagne , who was Matilda's cousin and another contender for the English and Norman thrones, was in Boulogne . Stephen rushed to England upon the news of Henry's death and was crowned King of England in December 1135. Geoffrey first sent his wife Matilda alone to Normandy in
13677-428: The pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela and also on the river Garonne up to Agen . The rest of Gascony was not administered, despite being such a large area compared to other smaller, well-administered provinces. This difficulty when it came to administering the region wasn't new – it had been just as difficult for the previous Poitevin dukes to cement their authority over this area. A similar state of affairs
13818-401: The poor", although in "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; 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. As it happens the next traveller
13959-492: The possessions held by the House of Plantagenet during the 12th and 13th centuries, when they ruled over an area covering roughly all of present-day England , half of France , and parts of Ireland and Wales , and had further influence over much of the remaining British Isles . It may be described as an early example of a composite monarchy . The empire was established by Henry II of England , who succeeded his father Geoffrey as Duke of Normandy and Count of Anjou (from
14100-416: The pre-eminent figure in Norman government. The seneschals' administrative and judicial power peaked with William FitzRalph . Below them were the baillis, who held both executive, judicial and financial powers. These officials were introduced under Geoffrey of Anjou , replacing the weaker prévôts and vicomtes, in response to the unrest that followed Henry I 's death and Geoffrey's invasion. Ducal authority
14241-505: The present context was "neither a knight nor a peasant or 'husbonde' but something in between". Artisans (such as millers) were among those regarded as 'yeomen' in the 14th century. From the 16th century on, there were attempts to elevate Robin Hood to the nobility, such as in Richard Grafton's Chronicle at Large ; Anthony Munday presented him at the very end of the century as the Earl of Huntingdon in two extremely influential plays, as he
14382-610: The question was again raised of Henry's oath to cede Anjou to his brother Geoffrey. Henry received a dispensation from Pope Adrian IV under the pretext the oath had been forced upon him, and he proposed compensations to Geoffrey at Rouen in 1156. Geoffrey refused and returned to Anjou to rebel against his brother. Geoffrey may have had a strong claim, but his position was weak. Louis would not interfere since Henry paid homage to him for his continental possessions. Henry crushed Geoffrey's revolt, and Geoffrey had to be satisfied with an annual pension. The Angevin Empire had now been formed. In
14523-486: The reign of Henry VIII , was briefly popular at court . 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, sometimes performed at church ales , a means by which churches raised funds. 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;
14664-530: The reign of Richard I. He thought that Robin was of aristocratic extraction, with at least 'some pretension' to the title of Earl of Huntingdon, that he was born in an unlocated Nottinghamshire village of Locksley and that his original name was Robert Fitzooth . Ritson gave the date of Robin Hood's death as 18 November 1247, when he would have been around 87 years old. In copious and informative notes Ritson defends every point of his version of Robin Hood's life. In reaching his conclusion Ritson relied or gave weight to
14805-574: The royal principality of the king of France generated alone more incomes than all the Angevin Empire combined. The Counts of Anjou had been vying for power in northwestern France since the 10th century. The counts were recurrent enemies of the dukes of Normandy and of Brittany and often the French king . Fulk IV, Count of Anjou , claimed rule over Touraine, Maine and Nantes ; however, of these only Touraine proved to be effectively ruled, as
14946-574: The royal principality was more centralized under Louis VII and Philip II than it had been under Hugh Capet or Robert the Pious . The wealth of the Plantagenet kings was definitely regarded as bigger; Gerald of Wales commented on this wealth with these words: One may therefore ask how King Henry II and his sons, in spite of their many wars, possessed so much treasure. The reason is that as their fixed returns yielded less they took care to make up
15087-459: The royal throne, she and her new husband needed castles and supporters in both England and Normandy, but if they succeeded, there would be two authorities in England: the king and Matilda. Henry prevented the conflict by refusing to hand over any castles to Matilda as well as confiscating the lands of the nobles he suspected of supporting her. By 1135, major disputes between Henry I and Matilda drove
15228-409: The royal title, and not subject to any English royal law. Because of this, some historians, such as W. L. Warren , prefer the term commonwealth to empire , emphasising that the Angevin Empire was more of an assemblage of seven fully independent, sovereign states loosely bound to each other, only united in the person of the king of England. At its largest extent, the Angevin Empire consisted of
15369-437: The ruling monarch, saw power delegated to specially appointed subjects in different areas. Supported by what W. L. Warren called a "self-regulating administrative machine", these subjects had varied political and military powers. England was under the firmest control of all the lands in the Angevin Empire, due to the age of many of the offices that governed the country and the traditions and customs that were in place. England
15510-522: The ruling monarch. Wales obtained good terms provided it paid homage to the Plantagenets and recognised them as lords. However, it remained almost self-ruling. It supplied the Plantagenets with infantry and longbowmen . Ireland was ruled by the Lord of Ireland , who at first had great difficulty imposing his rule. Dublin and Leinster were Angevin strongholds, while Cork , Limerick and parts of eastern Ulster were taken by Anglo-Norman nobles. All
15651-603: The scene for further conflicts between England and France, leading up to the Hundred Years' War (1337-1453), in which the Plantagenet, for a time, would re-establish dominion over much of western, central and northern France, before losing their possessions again, this time permanently. The term Angevin Empire is a neologism defining the lands of the House of Plantagenet: Henry II and his sons Richard I and John . Another son, Geoffrey , ruled Brittany and established
15792-401: The story about Will Scarlet . 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 tradesmen including a tanner , a tinker , and a ranger . In fact, the only character who does not get the better of Hood is the luckless Sheriff. Yet even in these ballads Robin
15933-433: The subversive aspects of the legend, and see in the medieval Robin Hood ballads a plebeian literature hostile to the feudal order. 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
16074-511: The term Empire . Some historians argue that the term should be reserved solely for the Holy Roman Empire , the only Western European political structure actually named an empire at that time, although Alfonso VII of León and Castile had taken the title "Emperor of all Spain" in 1135. Other historians argue that Henry II 's empire was neither powerful, centralised , nor large enough to be seriously called an empire. Furthermore,
16215-511: The term. The demonym, according to the Oxford English Dictionary , has been in use since 1511. The use of the term Empire has engendered controversy among some historians over whether the term is accurate for the actual state of affairs at the time. The area was a collection of the lands inherited and acquired by Henry, and so it is unclear whether these dominions shared any common identity and so should be labelled with
16356-466: The theme of Robin Hood's generosity to the poor more than the broadsheet ballads do in general. 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. The prose life of Robin Hood in Sloane Manuscript contains the substance of the Alan-a-Dale ballad but tells
16497-481: The time of his accession, but much of Flanders' prosperity relied on English trade and England traded much of its wool via the Flemish port of Boulogne. Henry, therefore, was able to re-establish friendly relations to the extent that Thierry appointed Henry guardian of his eldest son and regent, Philip , when Thierry undertook his pilgrimage to Jerusalem in 1157. When William of Blois died without an heir in 1159,
16638-455: The time, and there is no earlier record known of the "Curtal Friar" story.) The publisher describes the text as a ' playe of Robyn Hood, verye proper to be played in Maye games ', but does not seem to be aware that the text actually contains two separate plays. An especial point of interest in the "Friar" play is the appearance of a ribald woman who is unnamed but apparently to be identified with
16779-400: The titles of Count of Boulogne and Count of Mortain fell vacant. Henry II absorbed Mortain into his Duchy of Normandy, but granted Boulogne and William's sister, Mary , to Thierry's second son, Matthew . Through this marriage, and the 1163 renewal of a previous treaty between Henry I of England , and Robert II of Flanders , Henry II was assured of Flemish neutrality if war broke out with
16920-405: The total by extraordinary levies, relying more and more on these than on the ordinary sources of revenue. Petit Dutailli had commented that: "Richard maintained a superiority in resources which would have given him the opportunity, had he lived, to crush his rival." There is another interpretation, not widely followed and proven wrong, that the king of France could have raised a stronger income, that
17061-439: The traditions of placing Robin Hood as the Earl of Huntingdon in the time of Richard I and making the Sheriff of Nottingham and Prince John rivals with Robin Hood for Maid Marian's hand. The return of King Richard brings a happy ending. With the advent of printing came the Robin Hood broadside ballads . Exactly when they displaced the oral tradition of Robin Hood ballads is unknown but the process seems to have been completed by
17202-595: The unquestioned role; in Robin Hood's Birth, Breeding, Valor, and Marriage , his sweetheart is "Clorinda the Queen of the Shepherdesses". Clorinda survives in some later stories as an alias of Marian. The earliest preserved script of a Robin Hood play is the fragmentary Robyn Hod and the Shryff off Notyngham This apparently dates to the 1470s and circumstantial evidence suggests it was probably performed at
17343-586: The western world to such an extent that historians consider it to be one of the most fortunate and flourishing of the provinces of Gaul . Its fields are fertile, its vineyards productive and its forests teem with wild life. From the Pyrenees northwards the whole countryside is irrigated by the River Garonne and other streams, indeed it is from these life-giving waters that the province takes its name. The Capetian kings did not record such incomes, although
17484-502: The year before. This situation quickly began to shift when, in September, Geoffrey died and Henry inherited his position as Count of Anjou, with rule also over Touraine and Maine. Geoffrey had planned to leave Anjou to his younger son, Geoffrey , but this would have hampered Henry's ability to succeed in conquering England. Geoffrey instead asked his vassals to swear that his body would be left unburied until Henry promised to abide by his wishes. W. L. Warren suggested that this story
17625-624: Was Count of Flanders from 1127. Henry used his paternal inheritance to take the Duchy of Normandy and the Kingdom of England and then tried to establish an alliance with Anjou by marrying his only legitimate son, William , to Fulk the Younger's daughter, Matilda . However, William died in the White Ship disaster in 1120. As a result, Henry then married his own daughter Matilda to Geoffrey "Plantagenet" , Fulk's son and successor; however, Henry's subjects had to accept Matilda's inheritance to
17766-670: Was betrothed to Henry's heir, his eldest son, Henry the Young King with a dowry of the Norman Vexin. Henry II was given back the castles of Moulins-la-Marche and Bonmoulins. Theobald V, Count of Blois handed Amboise and Fréteval back to him. The counts of Flanders had long been powerful but capricious allies of the kings of France. Count Thierry had taken part in Louis VII's early assaults against Henry II, and Henry had expelled all Flemish mercenaries in England at
17907-522: Was considerably smaller than England's, an estimated 1.5 million as opposed to England's 3.5 million. This period has become known as the 'Norman Fiscal Revolution' due to this increase in revenue. For Aquitaine and Anjou, no records remain. However, it is not because these regions were poor; there were large vineyards , important cities and iron mines. For example, this is what English chronicler Ralph of Diceto wrote about Aquitaine: Aquitaine overflows with riches of many kinds, excelling other parts of
18048-462: 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. 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. Other scholars have by contrast stressed
18189-601: Was divided in shires with sheriffs in each enforcing the common law . A justiciar was appointed by the king to stand in his absence when he was on the continent. As the kings of England were more often in France than England they used writs more frequently than the Anglo-Saxon kings, which actually proved beneficial to England. Under William I's rule, Anglo-Saxon nobles had been largely replaced by Anglo-Norman settlers whose lands were split between England and France. This made it much harder for them to revolt against
18330-562: Was especially important to Henry II as it sat at the mouth of the Loire , and threatened trade from Angers and Tours . Henry II responded to this seizure by mustering an army in Avranches , as well as threatening Conan's English estates. Conan submitted, ceding Nantes back to Henry II and in return was recognised as Duke. During Conan's rule, Henry II continued to intervene—he arranged Conan's marriage to Margaret of Scotland and appointed
18471-519: Was formally recognised by Louis VII. However, Geoffrey still didn't assist Matilda even as she was on the verge of defeat. Further rebellion occurred in Anjou, including Geoffrey's younger brother, Helie , demanding Maine. It was during this period of Angevin unrest that Geoffrey dropped the title of duke of Normandy and formally invested his son Henry as duke in 1150, though both Geoffrey and Matilda would continue to dominate Norman affairs. The following six decades of Angevin rule over Normandy would see
18612-431: Was found in the eastern provinces of Périgord and Limousin , where there was not much of a royal administrative system and practically no officials were stationed. Indeed, there were lords that ruled these regions as if they were "sovereign princes" and they had extra powers, such as the ability to mint their own coins, something English lords had been unable to do for decades. The Lusignans , for example, became rivals to
18753-411: Was not able to travel to Normandy and so the situation remained. Geoffrey had found new allies with the Count of Vendôme and, most importantly, William X, Duke of Aquitaine . At the head of a new army and ready for conquest, Geoffrey was wounded and was forced to return to Anjou again. Furthermore, an outbreak of dysentery plagued his army. Orderic Vitalis stated "the invaders had to run for home leaving
18894-559: Was not concerned with the events in Normandy and England. While Geoffrey consolidated his Norman power, Matilda suffered defeats in England. At Winchester , Robert of Gloucester was captured while covering Matilda's retreat so Matilda freed Stephen in exchange for Robert. In 1142, Geoffrey was asked by Matilda for assistance but refused; he had become more interested in Normandy. Following the capture of Avranches , Mortain and Cherbourg , Rouen surrendered to him in 1144 and he anointed himself duke of Normandy. In exchange for Gisors , he
19035-566: Was often a difference between the frontier Henry II, and later Richard I, claimed, and the frontier where their effective power ended. Scotland was an independent kingdom, but after a disastrous campaign led by William the Lion , English garrisons were established in the castles of Edinburgh , Roxburgh , Jedburgh and Berwick in southern Scotland as defined in the Treaty of Falaise . The Angevin Empire, rather than being administered directly by
19176-419: Was spread purely to justify the younger Geoffrey's later rebellion against Henry, and that the Angevin nobles supported the story as it gave them an opportunity to reclaim their lost autonomy. In March 1152, Louis VII and Eleanor of Aquitaine had their marriage annulled under the pretext of consanguinity at the council of Beaugency . The terms of the annulment left Eleanor as duchess of Aquitaine but still
19317-411: Was the period in which King Richard was absent from the country, fighting in the Third Crusade . William Shakespeare makes reference to Robin Hood in his late-16th-century play The Two Gentlemen of Verona . 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
19458-538: Was the strongest on the frontier near the Capetian royal demesne . Toulouse was held through weak vassalage by the Count of Toulouse but it was rare for him to comply with Angevin rule. Only Quercy was directly administered by the Angevins after Henry II's conquest in 1159, but it did remain a contested area. Brittany , a region where nobles were traditionally very independent, was under Angevin control during Henry II and Richard I's reigns. The county of Nantes
19599-502: Was under the firmest control. The Angevins often involved themselves in Breton affairs, such as when Henry II arranged Conan of Brittany 's marriage and installed the archbishop of Dol . The economy of the Angevin Empire was quite complicated due to the varying political structure of the different fiefdoms. England and Normandy were well administered and therefore would be able to generate larger revenues than areas such as Aquitaine. This
19740-536: Was used mostly for continental issues, although John Gillingham argues that although areas like Normandy, Anjou, and Aquitaine are recorded to have brought in less revenue compared to England, much of this is due to poor financial accounts for these continental possessions. Gillingham further argues that by the end of Richard's reign, Normandy may have been bringing in even more revenue to the royal treasury than England. The English revenues themselves varied from year to year. When financial records begin in 1155 to 1156,
19881-653: Was written in sophisticated verse and included supernatural action and characters. It has had little impact on the Robin Hood tradition but earns mention as the work of a major dramatist. The 1642 London theatre closure by the Puritans interrupted the portrayal of Robin Hood on the stage. The theatres would reopen with the Restoration in 1660. Robin Hood did not appear on the Restoration stage, except for "Robin Hood and his Crew of Souldiers" acted in Nottingham on
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