133-586: Little John is a companion of Robin Hood who serves as his chief lieutenant and second-in-command of the Merry Men . He is one of only a handful of consistently named characters who relate to Robin Hood and one of the two oldest Merry Men, alongside Much the Miller's Son . His name is an ironic reference to his giant frame, as he is usually portrayed in legend as a huge warrior – a 7-foot-tall (2.1-metre) master of
266-447: A BAFTA award. A video game adaptation, Robin of Sherwood: The Touchstones of Rhiannon , was released in 1985. The series attained cult status worldwide. Richard Carpenter had previously worked with producer Paul Knight on two other dramas involving historical adventure, Dick Turpin (1979–1982) and Smuggler (1981). For their next project, Carpenter and Knight decided to have their production company Gatetarn do an adaptation of
399-461: A blind professional thief and they believe that Robin Hood is the thief. Much is taken as a prisoner and Robin and the merry men decides to take the emblem which is now in the custody of the Sheriff in exchange of Much. Young minstrel Alan a Dale, who is madly in love with Mildred, the 16 year old daughter of Baron de Bracy finds out that she is to be forcefully wedded to the Sheriff. Sheriff hates
532-440: A dispute with Robin. When Robin Hood is captured, it is Little John who plans his leader's rescue. In thanks, Robin offers Little John leadership of the band, but John refuses. Later depictions of Little John portray him as less cunning. The earliest ballads do not feature an origin story for this character. According to a 17th-century ballad, he was at least seven feet tall and introduced when he tried to prevent Robin from crossing
665-584: 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,
798-560: A haunting soundtrack by Clannad (later released as the album Legend ), it was the inspiration for a generation of British fantasy role-players [...] That Robin of Sherwood succeeded is a tribute to the skill of writer, cast and crew. Somehow, despite its fantasy elements, it produced something earthy and captivating. Not history, nor fantasy, but a kind of "mystic history". Reviewing Robin of Sherwood for SFX magazine, Jayne Nelson stated that "this incarnation of England's most famous outlaw will probably never be bettered". Nelson praised
931-528: 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. Robin of Sherwood Robin of Sherwood is a British television series, based on
1064-486: 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 ,
1197-410: A narrow bridge, whereupon they fought with quarterstaves , and Robin was overcome. Despite having won the duel, John agreed to join his band and fight alongside him. From then on he was called Little John in whimsical reference to his size. This scene is almost always re-enacted in film and television versions of the story. In some modern film versions, Little John loses the duel to Robin. Starting from
1330-487: 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
1463-464: 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
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#17327802945041596-586: A riot in which all Jews in Nottingham will be killed. Gisburne, however, having secretly fallen in love with de Talmont's daughter Sarah captures her. Meanwhile, Robin and Will have a major disagreement, resulting in Scarlet leaving the merry men, but later reunited to help the Jew and his family with the help of an ancient book. Sherwood and the neighbouring villages are celebrating annual forest tradition 'time of
1729-611: 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,
1862-609: A tragedy at the Ring of the Nine Maidens and for Robin, even victory may come with great loss. In repeats, episodes have frequently been broadcast out of order, and alternative orders have been suggested. The original running order creates a number of continuity errors, the most notable being Marian's father being referred to as being dead in "The Swords of Wayland" even though he was discovered to be alive in "The Prophecy" and appears in later episodes. The music for Robin of Sherwood
1995-526: 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
2128-420: A village which has no children and turns everyone who comes there bizarre. King John enraged over Nottingham's tax money constantly stolen by Robin Hood, orders Roger de Carnac to gather a group of impersonators to fake Robin and the merry men destroying villages to tarnish their reputation and turn the people against them. Much, trying to assist a sick relative in Nottingham, is caught by Gisburne. Meanwhile,
2261-602: 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
2394-678: 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
2527-403: 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
2660-545: Is bestowed with the mantle 'Hooded Man'. The Sheriff of Nottingham sets up an archery contest to lure Robin into a trap. Robin (who is disguised as an old man), Sheriff's man Walter Flambard, and Baron Simon de Belleme's man Nasir the Saracen all fight for the grand prix, the Silver Arrow. Baron Simon de Belleme who is a sorcerer prepares Lady Marion of Leaford for a sacrifice. Robin infiltrates castle de Belleme, kills
2793-594: 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
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#17327802945042926-491: Is given as John's surname. In other versions of the legends, his name is given as John Little, losing the irony of his nickname. According to local legend, Little John built himself a small cottage across the River Derwent from the family home. The site now has a 15th century Grade 2 listed ex-farmhouse and barn built on it, called Nether House at Offerton . In Dublin, a local legend suggests that Little John visited
3059-452: 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
3192-460: 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
3325-686: 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
3458-623: 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
3591-537: Is ordered by the King to put a stop to Robin once and for all, or else Robert de Rainault will lose all his power as sheriff. Using threats to set up an ambush at Wickham, and bloodhounds to follow the merry men who escape back into the Sherwood. Robin finds himself alone and surrounded by soldiers on an open field, realizing he must make the ultimate sacrifice in order to save Marion and the merry men and continue to protect
3724-436: Is rescued by Robin and his men from vagabonds. He pardons the outlaws, and publicly humiliates Gisburne. Robin is taken in by King Richard's forceful personality and his naive hope that the King will make all things right again. But this decision divides Robin's friends and King Richard is not as benevolent as he seems. Little John has been captured at Nottingham castle and he makes a friend with prisoner Mark who decides to join
3857-560: Is set in the year 1199 , when Prince John becomes King of England. In the Series Three episode "The Time of the Wolf", the Sheriff dictates a legal document dated for the year 1211 , and the plot of the episode involves King John raising an army to fight Llywelyn of Wales , an event which, in actual history, took place that same year. The village of Loxley is massacred by Norman soldiers. Twelve years later Robin of Loxley and Much
3990-418: 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
4123-609: Is sometimes depicted as having fought in the Crusades before returning to England to find his lands taken by 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,
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4256-472: 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
4389-557: Is the oldest of the outlaws and fights with a quarterstaff. He was portrayed by Jason Burkart in the TV series Once Upon a Time and its spin-off Once Upon a Time in Wonderland . Jamie Foxx portrayed John in the 2018 movie Robin Hood . In contrast to most versions of John, this version is officially known as 'Yahya'- which he says translates to 'John'- and is originally Muslim fighting against Robin when they meet in battle during
4522-430: 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
4655-530: The 1950s TV series , Nicol Williamson in Robin and Marian , James Robertson Justice in the 1952 Disney film The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men , Clive Mantle in the 1980s TV series Robin of Sherwood , Bin Shimada as the voice of Little John in the anime series Robin Hood no Daibōken , Terrence Scammell as the voice of Little John in the animated series Young Robin Hood , Phil Harris as
4788-459: The Angevin era developed in later centuries. The earliest known ballads featuring him are from 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,
4921-460: 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
5054-518: The Merry Men ; and his chief opponent, the Sheriff of Nottingham . The Sheriff 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
5187-644: 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
5320-533: The quarterstaff . In folklore, he fought Robin Hood on a tree bridge across a river on their first meeting. The first known reference in English verse to Robin Hood is found in The Vision of Piers Plowman , written by William Langland in the second part of the 14th century. Little John appears in the earliest recorded Robin Hood ballads and stories, and in one of the earliest references to Robin Hood by Andrew of Wyntoun in 1420 and by Walter Bower in 1440. In
5453-416: 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
Little John - Misplaced Pages Continue
5586-403: 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
5719-512: The Arrow, they head for Castle Belleme, where Lilith brings her dead master, Baron de Belleme, back to life. Gisburne, jealous of The Sheriff's new helper Ralph, also goes to Castle Belleme in order to search for the Baron's hidden jewels. The Hounds of Lucifer, a strange band of costumed horseman, are terrorizing a distant village called Uffcombe. Upon the request of Gareth of Uffcombe who travels all
5852-556: The Baron and rescues Marion. Friar Tuck and Nasir joins the merry men while Robin marries Marion in Sherwood forest. Jennet of Elsdon rejects the advances of Gisburne, and is then accused of witchcraft and imprisoned in the dungeons with her husband Thomas of Elsdon. The Sheriff makes a pact with her to poison Robin and the merry men in return for their lives. It doesn't workout as planned and Robin decides to rescue Thomas for Jennet. The merry men are terrorized by seven knights returning from Palestine. Their holy emblem has been stolen by
5985-665: 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,
6118-529: The Crusades, with this first encounter resulting in Yahya's left hand being cut off. However, when he sees Robin try to save his son from being executed by Sir Gisborne, he stows away on a ship taking Robin back to England with the goal of helping Robin take up an opposing role to the Crusades. Despite the loss of his left hand making it impossible for him to use a bow, he is still a skilled enough fighter to intercept Robin's arrows with only his staff and soon adapts to
6251-586: 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
6384-717: 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
6517-644: 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
6650-501: The Legend Extended 40th Anniversary edition includes eleven previously unreleased tracks taken from the classic TV series. It features eleven previously unreleased tracks. This hopefully completes all the missing tracks. </ref> A review at rpg.net, written in 2003, opines: Robin of Sherwood is, for many people, the definitive modern version of the Robin Hood legend. Moody, atmospheric, superbly written and acted, with
6783-471: 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
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#17327802945046916-550: The Miller's Son are imprisoned in Nottingham Castle by Robert de Rainault, Sheriff of Nottingham 's steward Sir Guy of Gisburne . They meet up with outcasts Will Scarlet , Tom and Dickon, and escapes to forms an outlaw band following the rescuing of Little John of Hathersage from Baron Simon de Belleme's bewitchment. Robin encounters the mysterious Herne the Hunter and learns of a Silver Arrow with special powers and
7049-602: 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
7182-478: The Robin Hood legend. With the aid of television producer Sidney Cole , Carpenter and Knight were able to create a production deal for the show. Goldcrest Films , the US network Showtime , HTV and Gatetarn agreed to fund the series. Carpenter drew on the 1950s TV series The Adventures of Robin Hood and the 1973 film Wolfshead: The Legend of Robin Hood as inspirations for Robin of Sherwood . Carpenter also used
7315-568: 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
7448-483: The Sheriff and hires a replacement, Butcher of Lincoln Philip Mark, who arrives with his masked henchman Sarak. After chasing Sheriff out of Nottingham Castle, new Sheriff announces Nottinghamshire villagers will be hanged every day until Robin Hood decides to give himself up. Much falls into a forester's trap and is badly wounded. Trying to find a village with a physician, the merry men get trapped in Cromm Cruac,
7581-463: The Sheriff's brother Abbot Hugo ( Philip Jackson ) (representing all the greedy abbots in the legends). In the opening story, Robin Hood and the Sorcerer , Robin and Much fall foul of the Sheriff's henchman, Sir Guy of Gisburne and are imprisoned in Nottingham Castle. They manage to escape: as a result of this action, Robin is declared a " wolfshead ", an outlaw, by the authorities. Robin retreats to
7714-509: 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
7847-473: 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
7980-516: The United States. There were three series, composed of a two-hour opening episode and 24 one-hour long episodes, although the pilot is sometimes screened as two one-hour episodes. The episodes comprising "The Swords of Wayland" were transmitted as one episode in the UK on their original screening, on a bank holiday weekend in 1985. The show was shot on film and almost entirely on location, mostly in
8113-472: 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
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#17327802945048246-503: The ballad tradition, Little John is commonly shown to be the only Merry Man present at Robin Hood's death. Despite a lack of historical evidence for his existence, Little John is reputed to be buried in a churchyard in the village of Hathersage , Derbyshire. A modern tombstone marks the supposed location of his grave, which lies under an old yew tree. This grave was owned by the Nailor (Naylor) family, and sometimes some variation of "Nailer"
8379-470: 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,
8512-606: 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
8645-466: The blessing'. Gisburne, left in charge while The Sheriff does his annual touring of the county, is alarmed by the increasing amount of poaching in the forest and thus invites his old war-friend Bertrand de Nivelle and his band of Flemish mercenaries to Nottingham in order to kill Robin. They desecrate Herne's sacred tree, and face its consequences. Robin is put under a spell by the witch Lilith, who makes him steal Herne's Silver Arrow for her. Together with
8778-466: The books Robin Hood by the historian J. C. Holt and The God of the Witches by the folklorist Margaret Murray as sources for the program. Robin of Sherwood was more expensive than Carpenter and Knight's previous series; each episode of Robin of Sherwood cost around £500,000 to film. Filming on Robin of Sherwood began in 1983. The show premiered in 1984, on ITV in the UK and on Showtime in
8911-529: 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
9044-560: The city in the 12th century and was hanged there. Alan Hale, Sr. played the role of Little John in three movies. He first played Little John as a young squire in 1922's Robin Hood starring Douglas Fairbanks . He reprised the role opposite Errol Flynn 's Robin in 1938's The Adventures of Robin Hood . And finally, he played an older Little John opposite John Derek , as Robin's son, in Rogues of Sherwood Forest from 1951. Other notable film and TV Little Johns include Archie Duncan in
9177-445: The classic film The Adventures of Robin Hood . It featured a realistic period setting and introduced the character of a Saracen outlaw. Carpenter also added fantasy elements to the story, which had not appeared in previous TV versions of the legend. These included Robin's supernatural mentor Herne the Hunter , Robin's magic sword Albion, and appearances by black magicians and demons. Michael Praed played Robin of Loxley in
9310-444: The daughter of his godfather, Lord Agrivaine, explaining that the two of them, alone, must go to him at once at Caerleon Castle to save a great inheritance from villains. Will and Much run into some lepers and assumes they are going to die. Rest of the merry men save an elderly woman named Margaret from robbers and accompany her to a local abbey, which houses a miraculous healing relic of the saint Ciricus. The King has had enough of
9443-463: 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
9576-448: The dead with a vengeance, suspecting that Marion might try to communicate with her old friends, the Sheriff sets a watch upon her home of Leaford Grange. Robert injures his foot and Marion is captured, and with the power of Albion rescues her, while keeping his secret identity as Robin Hood intact. Tuck saves a young woman from being attacked in the forest. In the middle of the night, the woman wakes Robert and identifies herself as Isadora,
9709-417: 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
9842-469: The depiction of Satanic villains in "The Swords of Wayland", and also criticised the apparent "resurrection" of Robin in "The Greatest Enemy" as being disrespectful to Christianity. Carpenter later met Whitehouse for a public debate, and introduced himself to her and the audience by saying "I'm Richard Carpenter, and I'm a professional writer. And you're a professional... what?" The Guinness Book of Classic British TV defended Robin of Sherwood , stating that
9975-468: 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
10108-435: 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
10241-432: The early tales, Little John is shown to be intelligent and highly capable. In " A Gest of Robyn Hode ", he captures the sorrowful knight and, when Robin Hood decides to pay the knight's mortgage for him, accompanies him as a servant. In " Robin Hood's Death ", he is the only one of the Merry Men that Robin takes with him. In the 15th-century ballad commonly called " Robin Hood and the Monk ", Little John leaves in anger after
10374-468: 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
10507-500: The film would not be an adaptation of the unmade fourth season, but "a story on its own". The appearance of two Robin Hood films in 1991 ( Robin Hood and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves ) meant that Carpenter and Knight could not interest potential producers in a third Robin Hood film. Coincidently, Jason Connery's father Sean Connery cameoed as King Richard in the second film. Robin of Sherwood takes place in England in
10640-577: 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
10773-510: The first six episodes, £1,944,000 in the next seven and £4,035,000 in the next twelve. Despite the huge popularity of the series, Goldcrest's financial difficulties due to its cinematic investments, prevented further production. During the course of the third series, the new Robin discovers that he is the half-brother of his nemesis Guy of Gisburne (an idea suggested to Carpenter by the fact that both actors had blond hair). Carpenter had planned to have Guy discover this. This particular story arc
10906-506: The first two series. His 'Merry Men' consisted of Will Scarlet ( Ray Winstone ), Little John ( Clive Mantle ), Friar Tuck ( Phil Rose ), Much ( Peter Llewellyn Williams ), the Saracen Nasir ( Mark Ryan ) and Lady Marian ( Judi Trott ). He is also assisted by Herne the Hunter ( John Abineri ). As in the legend, Robin is opposed by the Sheriff of Nottingham ( Nickolas Grace ) and Guy of Gisburne ( Robert Addie ), as well as
11039-423: 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
11172-449: 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
11305-605: The grain. In desperation, Sheriff blames the whole fiasco on Gisburne, who flees. But an old enemy schemes on taking over Grimstone Abbey and using it as a prison for the abducted women and children of Wickham. Gisburne has joined the Sons of Fenris and manages to capture Robin, merry men and the Sheriff. With Robin in his power, Gulnar completes a vicious creature using dark magic and sends it to bring about an age of famine and destruction. Safe in Halstead Abbey, Marion foresees
11438-477: 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
11571-429: 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
11704-463: The late 12th and early 13th centuries, during the reigns of the Angevin kings Richard I and John , the usual setting of Robin Hood stories. Robin Hood and the Sorcerer , which opens Series One, begins in 1180 , then flashes forward fifteen years . In the final episode of Series One, however, King Richard's return to England following his capture and ransom is depicted, which in actuality occurred in 1194 . The Series Two episode "The Prophecy"
11837-504: 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
11970-490: The legend of Robin Hood . Created by Richard Carpenter , it was produced by HTV in association with Goldcrest , and ran from 28 April 1984 to 28 June 1986 on the ITV network. In the United States it was shown on the premium cable TV channel Showtime and, later, on PBS . It was also syndicated in the early 1990s under the title Robin Hood . The show starred Michael Praed and Jason Connery as two different incarnations of
12103-467: 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
12236-433: 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
12369-473: The legendary outlaw Adam Bell returns to Nottingham, causing mayhem and kidnaps the Sheriff's young nephew Martin. Realizing there's only one man who can outwit Adam Bell, the Sheriff decides to make a deal with Robin Hood. Sheriff is bedridden after being bitten by his dog, leaving Gisburne free to interfere. Meanwhile, King John has outraged his former queen Hadwisa by taking a new 12-year-old bride Isabella of Angoulême while Arthur, an impostor tries to befriend
12502-506: 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
12635-453: 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
12768-509: The merry men. Little John decides to marry his girlfriend Meg and leave the merry men. Wedding plans are halted, however when Lord Edgar (Robert's uncle), reaches Sherwood with the news that Earl of Huntingdon has been accused of treason, Robert must get help from pig breeder Mad Mab and clear his father's name before it's too late. Sheriff is ordered by King to collect grain from Wickham, to supply his troops. Knowing they won't survive winter without their harvest, Robin and merry men steal back
12901-410: The merry men. Due to Prince John 's imminent arrival in Nottingham, Gisburne begins to repair the castle walls, and the prince brings with him a mysterious masked prisoner, who turns out to be a man returned from the dead. Robin and the merry men decides to rescue him. The Sheriff has borrowed money from Jew Joshua de Talmont. Reluctant to return the money when the time is due, he makes Gisburne arrange
13034-552: 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
13167-527: The northeast and southwest of England; HTV West in Bristol was the base of operations, and most of the filming was done in and around Bristol and its surrounding counties. Primary locations were the Blaise Castle Estate and Vassells Park. Some of the forest scenes were shot near Bradford-on-Avon . Robin of Sherwood is one of the most influential treatments of the core Robin Hood legend since
13300-530: The people of England. A year has passed since Robin of Loxley's death, and the merry men have gone their separate ways. A Norman nobleman and Earl's son, Robert of Huntingdon, has been chosen by Herne to continue Robin's work and lead the resistance in Sherwood. Marion is captured and drugged by Lord Owen of Clun to force her into marrying him. Robert assembles the scattered merry men, one by one earns their trust and sets to rescue Marion from Owen and Gulnar. With rumours spreading that Robin Hood has returned from
13433-401: 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
13566-553: The power hierarchy of the depicted society. Robin Hood Robin Hood 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
13699-455: 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
13832-486: 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;
13965-530: 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
14098-512: The rich to feed the poor can there be? ITV aired Robin of Sherwood during an early-evening television slot, and promoted the programme as being for a family audience. Mary Whitehouse and the National Viewers and Listeners' Association criticised Robin of Sherwood as being unsuitable for children (as the organisation previously did with Doctor Who ). Whitehouse claimed that the show depicted "extensive violence", objected to
14231-475: The sheriff attempts to interrogate the villagers of Loxley on Robin's whereabouts by cutting out their tongues, Robin surrenders just as they are threatening Alice, thus sparing her. While Robin is awaiting execution, John discreetly meets his son, who mentions how Robin helped him and his mother, and the rest of the village by feeding them all. This causes John to lead the others to Nottingham Castle to rescue Robin, after which John and Robin become good friends. John
14364-413: The show's "excellent writing, moody cinematography and haunting score". Nelson called "The Greatest Enemy" the best episode of the show, followed by "The Swords of Wayland" and "The Sheriff of Nottingham". Richard Marcus, writing on blogcritics.org, wrote in 2008: While the series is noteworthy for its historical accuracy and for the fact that it associates Robin with pre-Christian English mythology, it
14497-560: The show's "swordplay was strictly zero blood" and that the supernatural elements were the result of Carpenter's "love for the subject matter". A comic strip based on Robin of Sherwood ran in Look-in magazine from April 1984 (issue 18) to September 1986 (issue 39) It was written by Angus Allan , and illustrated mainly by Mike Noble , with some issues illustrated by Arthur Ranson and Phil Gascoine ; colours were by Arthur Ranson. The first 6 stories (32 issues) were in full colour, and
14630-547: The show's music is found on the Legend album, some additional pieces can be found on Clannad's albums Macalla (released in 1986) and Clannad: Live in Concert, 1996 (released in 2005). In November 2003, Clannad revealed on their official web site that "there were several other pieces of music recorded for the third series of Robin of Sherwood that were not included on the Legend album". On 25 October 2024 Clannad released
14763-403: The show. First, Knight attempted to gain funding from US producers for a fourth season, but was unsuccessful. Carpenter then wrote a script for a feature film adaptation of the series, and attempted to gather funding. Carpenter said in a 1990 interview that the film was intended to star the TV series' regular cast, with a new actor playing Robin if Connery was unavailable. Carpenter also said that
14896-401: 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
15029-433: 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
15162-495: The term "Robin Hood" is often used to describe a heroic outlaw or rebel against tyranny. The origins of 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"
15295-466: 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
15428-455: 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
15561-442: The title character. Unlike previous adaptations of the Robin Hood legend, Robin of Sherwood combined a gritty, authentic production design with elements of real-life history, 20th-century fiction, and pagan myth. Robin of Sherwood has been described by historian Stephen Knight as "the most innovative and influential version of the myth in recent times". The series is also notable for its musical score by Clannad , which won
15694-439: 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
15827-595: 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
15960-548: The use of his metal-clad stump as another weapon in combat. In the British television show Fact or Fiction , episode 4, hosted by Tony Robinson , it is postulated that "Little John" is in actuality Reynolde Greenleaf from near Beverley in the East Riding of Yorkshire . Little John has been argued to play a crucial role in illustrating the ties between the servant and the master, and his actions can be seen as challenging
16093-703: The voice of Little John the Bear in the 1973 Disney animated film Robin Hood , David Morrissey in Robin Hood and Nick Brimble in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves – both in 1991, and Eric Allan Kramer in 1993's Robin Hood: Men in Tights . Kevin Durand plays John in 2010's Robin Hood . In this incarnation, he is a Scottish foot soldier in the Crusades who fights Robin over a lost bet, claiming he
16226-540: The way to Sherwood, Robin and the merry men set out to go for their rescue. Robin, who was captured by Earl of Godwin's soldiers escape with the help of Marion but only to be captured by bewitched merry men who all were under a spell by Morgwyn of Ravenscar. Serving the Satan, she prepares a sacrifice using merry men and the Albion to resurrect Lucifer, and Robin single-handedly quests to rescue all his merry men. The Sheriff
16359-475: The whole idea, but couldn't turn down 10,000 silver marks for her dowry. While on his way to Nottingham to kill the Sheriff, Alan encounters Robin and the merry men in Sherwood forest who decides to help him win his love back with an elaborate plan to infiltrate Nottingham castle, while helping the villagers of Wickham from taxation. Richard the Lionheart, King of England , returning from imprisonment in Germany,
16492-431: The woods and gathers a team of fellow rebels to fight back against the Sheriff's authority. At the end of the second series, Robin of Loxley is killed. Robert of Huntingdon (played by Jason Connery ) replaces him as the new Robin Hood. The third series had the same episode count as the first two combined, so each incarnation of Robin featured in the same number of episodes. At the conclusion of Series Three, Goldcrest
16625-620: Was a stock alias used by or in reference to bandits. The first clear reference to "rhymes of Robin Hood" 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
16758-474: Was also one of the few series where they managed to kill off the main character one series and successfully continue for another year with a new actor and a new Robin Hood. ... ...There's also a noticeable drop-off in the quality of the scripts from the first two series to the third. Part of the problem is just how many variations on the theme of keeping out of the clutches of the Sheriff of Nottingham, embarrassing his lackey Sir Guy of Gisburne, and robbing from
16891-488: Was cheating, then joins Robin, Will, and Alan when the king is killed. In the BBC's Robin Hood , Little John was played by Gordon Kennedy . John meets Robin when his band of outlaws steals from Robin's band. John also has a wife, Alice, and a son, both of whom believe he is dead until late in the first series. He dislikes Robin immediately but has a change of heart after Robin makes a stand to protect John's wife and son. When
17024-462: Was composed and performed by Irish folk group Clannad . The show's original soundtrack, Legend , was released in 1984 and won the BAFTA award for Best Original Television Music. Three singles were released from the album: the theme-tune " Robin (The Hooded Man) ", " Now is Here " and " Scarlet Inside ". An EP contained a remix of " Robin (The Hooded Man) " from the third series. While not all of
17157-462: 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
17290-506: Was forced to pull out of the venture, due to a downturn in the fortunes of their film arm. Goldcrest had been responsible for critical and commercial hits such as Chariots of Fire (1981) and Gandhi (1982) earlier in the 1980s, but had hit a lean period with such films as Revolution (1985) and Absolute Beginners (1986). The series was expensive to produce; HTV could not afford to finance it alone, and so Robin of Sherwood came to an unexpected end. Goldcrest invested £1,289,000 in
17423-467: Was never resolved, as the show's intended fourth (and final) series was never made. Series 4 would have also featured the return of Baron de Belleme. The sudden cancellation also broke off Robin and Marion's intended marriage and left Marion at Halstead Abbey as a novice. Carpenter later said that, if he had known the third season would be last, he would have married Robin and Marion. After the series ended, Carpenter and Knight tried several times to revive
17556-411: 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
17689-593: 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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