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39-478: The Scotichronicon is a 15th-century chronicle by the Scottish historian Walter Bower . It is a continuation of historian-priest John of Fordun 's earlier work Chronica Gentis Scotorum beginning with the founding of Ireland and thereby Scotland by Scota with Goídel Glas . The chronicle consists of 16 books. The book's composition started in 1440. It was completed in 1447. The last event covered in

78-466: A Robin Hood story similar in theme in the 1440s. A stray leaf of some of the later stanzas has been found as well; the textual variations between the leaf and Ff.5.48 are minor and unimportant. The work was obscure in the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries, and not printed among the "garlands" (collections) of Robin Hood ballads of that era. The story was first printed and given its title as "Robyn Hode and

117-650: A book written by a chronicler in the Middle Ages describing historical events in a country, or the lives of a nobleman or a clergyman, although it is also applied to a record of public events. The earliest medieval chronicle to combine both retrospective ( dead ) and contemporary ( live ) entries, is the Chronicle of Ireland , which spans the years 431 to 911. Chronicles are the predecessors of modern " time lines " rather than analytical histories. They represent accounts, in prose or verse, of local or distant events over

156-437: A chronicle with information not available to the original chronicler. Determining the reliability of particular chronicles is important to historians . Many newspapers and other periodical literature have adopted "chronicle" as part of their name. "It is well known that history, in the form of Chronicles, was a favourite portion of the literature of the middle ages. The annals of a country were usually kept according to

195-401: A considerable period of time, both the lifetime of the individual chronicler and often those of several subsequent continuators . If the chronicles deal with events year by year, they are often called annals . Unlike the modern historian, most chroniclers tended to take their information as they found it, and made little attempt to separate fact from legend. The point of view of most chroniclers

234-406: A form of journalism or non-professional historical documentation. Before the development of modern journalism and the systematization of chronicles as a journalistic genre, cronista were tasked with narrating chronological events considered worthy of remembrance that were recorded year by year. Unlike writers who created epic poems regarding living figures, cronista recorded historical events in

273-533: A gret-hedid munke, I pray to God woo he be! Fful sone he knew gode Robyn, As sone as hym se. -- (with modern spelling) Beside him stood a great-headed monk, I pray to God woe he be! For soon he knew good Robin, As soon as him see. Robin Hood and the Monk , Stanza 19 Little John talks of the May morning, but Robin Hood is still unhappy because he cannot go to Mass or matins . He decides to go to

312-608: A service in Nottingham, inspired by his devotion to the Virgin Mary . "Moche, the mylner sun" ( Much the Miller's Son ) advises him to take at least twelve men; he refuses and goes with only Little John. On the way, he makes a bet with Little John, loses, and refuses to pay when they cannot agree on the payout. Little John leaves him. Robin goes to St. Mary's in Nottingham and prays. A monk whom he had robbed sees him and tells

351-456: A window into the world view of medieval commentators. In contrast to the 1283 entry for Robin Hood by Andrew of Wyntoun in his Orygynale Cronykil of Scotland , Bower placed Robert (Robin) Hood in 1266. By changing the date of Wyntoun's entry, Bower removed Wyntoun's association of the outlaw with the national heroes, William Wallace and Robert the Bruce , and substituted an association with

390-548: Is a term for a historical chronicler, a role that held historical significance in the European Middle Ages . Until the European Enlightenment , the occupation was largely equivalent to that of a historian, describing events chronologically that were of note in a given country or region. As such, it was often an official governmental position rather than an independent practice. The appointment of

429-612: Is ever a crowned kyng, Bryng us all to his blisse. However, this is uncertain, since the word "talking" could also mean a written narrative in Middle English . There are notable parallels between this ballad and that of Adam Bell , Clym of the Cloughe and Wyllyam of Cloudeslee . Historian James Holt thought that the tale was potentially influenced by Adam Bell and thus less "authentic" than certain other early Robin Hood legends that lacked obvious surviving analogs. It

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468-587: Is highly localised, to the extent that many anonymous chroniclers can be sited in individual abbeys . It is impossible to say how many chronicles exist, as the many ambiguities in the definition of the genre make it impossible to draw clear distinctions of what should or should not be included. However, the Encyclopedia of the Medieval Chronicle lists some 2,500 items written between 300 and 1500 AD. Entries in chronicles are often cited using

507-637: Is impossible to know for sure how popular the ballad was in the 15th century: whether it was rare and the copy survived via luck, or common. However, many of the themes seen in later ballads are in this ballad as well, such as Robin Hood's devotion to the Virgin Mary and his turbulent relationship with Little John. This lends support to the suggestion that either it or a similar source was likely in circulation among late 15th century listeners, and influenced these later ballads. Despite this apparent influence, it does not appear to have been particularly common in

546-427: Is one where the author assembles a list of events up to the time of their writing, but does not record further events as they occur. A live chronicle is where one or more authors add to a chronicle in a regular fashion, recording contemporary events shortly after they occur. Because of the immediacy of the information, historians tend to value live chronicles, such as annals , over dead ones. The term often refers to

585-629: Is preserved in the Advocates' library , Edinburgh (MS. 35. 1. 7). Other abridgments, not by Bower, were made about the same time, one about 1450 (perhaps by Patrick Russell, a Carthusian of Perth ) preserved in the Advocates' library (MS. 35. 6. 7) and another in 1461 by an unknown writer, also preserved in the same collection (MS. 35. 5. 2). Copies of the full text of the Scotichronicon , by different scribes , are extant. There are two in

624-654: The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle , started under the patronage of King Alfred in the 9th century and continued until the 12th century, and the Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland (1577–87) by Raphael Holinshed and other writers; the latter documents were important sources of materials for Elizabethan drama. Later 16th century Scottish chronicles, written after the Reformation , shape history according to Catholic or Protestant viewpoints. A cronista

663-621: The British Library , in The Black Book of Paisley , and in Harley MS 712; one in the Advocates' library, from which Walter Goodall printed his edition (Edinburgh, 1759), and one in the library of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge . The National Library of Scotland has called it "probably the most important medieval account of early Scottish history", noting that it provides both a strong expression of national identity and

702-462: The rebellion by Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester against Henry III of England . (Note the reference to Robert Hood being one of "the disinherited", the term applied to de Montfort's followers.) Bower calls Robert Hood a 'famosus siccarius' (Latin for famous cutthroat), who nevertherless donated his ill-gotten gains to the Church and held the servants of the Church in high regard. Then arose

741-425: The sheriff , who gathers a group of many men to arrest Robin. Robin fights them off with a two-handed sword, wounding many and killing twelve of the sheriff's men. His sword breaks while fighting the sheriff, and he runs into the church in an attempt to escape. The text breaks off at this point; there is a page missing that presumably described Robin's capture and the news reaching his men. The story continues with

780-481: The Monk Robin Hood and the Monk is a Middle English ballad and one of the oldest surviving ballads of Robin Hood . The earliest surviving document with the work is from around 1450, and it may have been composed even earlier in the 15th century . It is also one of the longest ballads at around 2,700 words. It is considered one of the best of the original ballads of Robin Hood. In Robin Hood and

819-441: The Monk are probably as close to the rhymes of Robin Hood described by Langland in 1377 as scholars can get. Bower has been described as a less competent chronicler than Fordun, with one commenter calling him "garrulous, irrelevant and inaccurate" and noting that he "makes every important occurrence an excuse for a long-winded moral discourse". Chronicle The information sources for chronicles vary. Some are written from

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858-466: The Monk , Robin goes to Nottingham for mass, but has a dispute with Little John on the way. In Nottingham, he is spotted by a monk and captured. Little John, Much the Miller's Son , and other Merry Men intercept the monk, kill him, and launch a successful plot to free Robin from prison. Robin and Little John are reconciled. The King and Sheriff are left frustrated at Robin's escape, although they are impressed at Little John's loyalty. Beside hym stode

897-399: The Monk", and Frederick Madden published his own version in 1833. Francis James Child included it in his Child Ballads as #119 in the late 1800s. The work may have been originally recited rather than sung, rendering it more an epic poem than a ballad; it refers to itself as a "talking" in its last verse: Thus endys the talkyng of the munke And Robyn Hode i-wysse ; God, that

936-530: The Munke" in 1806 by Robert Jamieson in his work Popular Ballads And Songs From Tradition . Jamieson's edition was criticized for having various errors as well as being very different from the original; Charles Henry Hartshorne published a version that was more loyal to the Cambridge manuscript in 1829, an updated version of Joseph Ritson 's Robin Hood in 1832 included the work under the title "Robin Hood and

975-498: The abbreviation s.a. , meaning sub anno (under the year), according to the year under which they are listed. For example, " ASC MS A, s.a. 855" means the entry for the year 855 in manuscript A of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle . The same event may be recorded under a different year in another manuscript of the chronicle, and may be cited for example as " ASC MS D, s.a. 857". The most important English chronicles are

1014-621: The anger of the king and the threats of the prince, he was according to his custom most devoutly hearing Mass and had no wish on any account to interrupt the service -- on a certain day, when he was hearing Mass, having been discovered in that very secluded place in the woods when the Mass was taking place by a certain sheriff (viscount) and servant of the king, who had very often lain in wait for him previously, there came to him those who had found this out from their men to suggest that he should make every effort to flee. This, on account of his reverence for

1053-544: The chronicle is the death of James I of Scotland in 1437. The chronicle depicts Robin Hood as a historical figure. He is depicted as one of the rebels in the Second Barons' War (1264-1267). Bower began the work in 1440 at the request of a neighbour, Sir David Stewart of Rosyth . The completed work, in its original form, consists of 16 books, of which the first five and a portion of the sixth (to 1163) are Fordun's, or mainly his, for Bower added to them at places. In

1092-433: The chronicler's direct knowledge, others from witnesses or participants in events, still others are accounts passed down from generation to generation by oral tradition . Some used written material, such as charters , letters , and earlier chronicles. Still others are tales of unknown origin that have mythical status. Copyists also changed chronicles in creative copying, making corrections or in updating or continuing

1131-477: The church and the Masses to be held in greater respect, bearing in mind what is commonly said: "God harkens to him who hears Mass frequently." Bower's tale is similar to the beginning of Robin Hood and the Monk (Child 119). One of the earliest-known tales of Robin Hood, the manuscript is dated to no earlier than 1450, and is housed at Cambridge University Library (MS Ff.5.48). This Latin summary and Robin Hood and

1170-488: The famous murderer, Robert Hood, as well as Little John , together with their accomplices from among the disinherited, whom the foolish populace are so inordinately fond of celebrating both in tragedies and comedies, and about whom they are delighted to hear the jesters and minstrels sing above all other ballads. About whom also certain praiseworthy things are told, as appears in this -- that when once in Barnsdale , avoiding

1209-477: The later books, down to the reign of Robert I (1371), he was aided by Fordun's Gesta Annalia , but from that point to the close, the work is original and of contemporary importance, especially for James I , with whose death it ends. The task was finished in 1447. Bower engaged in a reduction or " abridgment " of the Scotichronicon in the last two years of his life, which is known as the Book of Cupar , and which

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1248-408: The letters to the sheriff and tells him that the monk did not come because the king had made him an abbot. They get into the prison, kill the jailer, and escape with Robin. The sheriff does not dare face the king. Robin says that Little John has done him a good turn in return for the ill one he played, and offered to be his man; Little John still wants him to remain his master. The king is enraged that

1287-435: The lives of individuals in an ostensibly truthful and reality-oriented way. Even from the time of early Christian historiography, cronistas were clearly expected to place human history in the context of a linear progression, starting with the creation of man until the second coming of Christ , as prophesied in biblical texts . Rhymed or poetic chronicles, as opposed to prosaic chronicles, include: Robin Hood and

1326-593: The men managed to fool him, but admits that Little John is the most loyal man in England, and since they were all fooled, lets it go. The work was preserved in Cambridge University manuscript Ff.5.48, albeit heavily damaged by wear. That document dates to around or after 1450, but early versions of the story may have circulated earlier; William Langland's Piers Plowman makes reference to circulating tales of Robin Hood in 1377, and Walter Bower describes

1365-546: The men's shock, and Little John being the only one to keep his wits about him. He declares they must rescue him. They catch the monk riding with a little page; Little John kills the monk for his role in Robin's capture, and Much kills the page so that the page cannot spread word of the ambush. Little John and Much go to the (unnamed) king with the monk's letters and tell him the monk died on the way. The king gives them gifts and directions to bring Robin Hood to him. Little John brings

1404-438: The official chronicler often favored individuals who had distinguished themselves by their efforts to study, investigate and disseminate population -related issues. The position was granted on a local level based on the mutual agreements of a city council in plenary meetings. Often, the occupation was honorary, unpaid, and stationed for life. In modern usage, the term usually refers to a type of journalist who writes chronicles as

1443-418: The repertoire of sung ballads of the 16th and 17th century, as the sole nearly complete copy of the ballad found was obscure and old. Robin Hood and the Monk is generally considered one of the artistically best and most literarily well-crafted of the surviving tales of Robin Hood. Holt wrote that it was a "blood and thunder adventure" that was crisply told, although a "shallow" work as well whose only moral

1482-401: The sacrament in which he was then devoutly involved, he completely refused to do. But, the rest of his men trembling through fear of death, Robert, trusting in the one so great whom he worshipped, with the few who then bravely remained with him, confronted his enemies and easily overcame them, and enriched by the spoils he took from them and their ransom, ever afterward singled out the servants of

1521-574: The years of the sovereign's power, and not those of the Christian æra. The Chronicles compiled in large cities were arranged in like manner, with the years reckoned according to the annual succession of chief magistrates." – John Gough Nichols , critical edition foreword to Chronicle of the Grey Friars of London (1852) Scholars categorize the genre of chronicle into two subgroups: live chronicles, and dead chronicles. A dead chronicle

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