Misplaced Pages

#134865

158-511: 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 is sometimes depicted as having fought in

316-620: A Knight Templar, Richard sailed from Corfu with four attendants, but his ship was wrecked near Aquileia , forcing Richard and his party into taking a dangerous land route through central Europe. On his way to the territory of his brother-in-law Henry the Lion , Richard was captured shortly before Christmas 1192 near Vienna by Leopold of Austria, who accused Richard of arranging the murder of his cousin Conrad of Montferrat. Moreover, Richard had personally offended Leopold by casting down his standard from

474-530: A Latin prose narrative of the Third Crusade , states that: "He was tall, of elegant build; the colour of his hair was between red and gold; his limbs were supple and straight. He had long arms suited to wielding a sword. His long legs matched the rest of his body". Marriage alliances were common among medieval royalty: they led to political alliances and peace treaties and allowed families to stake claims of succession on each other's lands. In March 1159, it

632-582: 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,

790-577: 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. Noble outlaw Hubert Babinski, in a review of a study of the 18th-century Italian bandit-outlaw Angelo Duca defines it as follows:

948-484: 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 ,

1106-491: A major revolt there in 1179. Hoping to dethrone Richard, the rebels sought the help of his brothers Henry and Geoffrey. The turning point came in the Charente Valley in the spring of 1179. The well-defended fortress of Taillebourg seemed impregnable. The castle was surrounded by a cliff on three sides and a town on the fourth side with a three-layer wall. Richard first destroyed and looted the farms and lands surrounding

1264-486: 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

1422-462: 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

1580-657: A rebellion in Suffolk. The alliance with Louis was initially successful, and by July 1173 the rebels were besieging Aumale , Neuf-Marché , and Verneuil , and Hugh de Kevelioc had captured Dol in Brittany. Richard went to Poitou and raised the barons who were loyal to himself and his mother in rebellion against his father. Eleanor was captured, so Richard was left to lead his campaign against Henry II's supporters in Aquitaine on his own. He marched to take La Rochelle but

1738-407: A relieving force, led to the decision to retreat back to the coast. Richard attempted to negotiate with Saladin, but this was unsuccessful. In the first half of 1192, he and his troops refortified Ascalon . An election forced Richard to accept Conrad of Montferrat as King of Jerusalem, and he sold Cyprus to his defeated protégé, Guy. Only days later, on 28 April 1192, Conrad was stabbed to death by

SECTION 10

#1732764944135

1896-516: A revolt over the succession to the county of Angoulême . His opponents turned to Philip II of France for support, and the fighting spread through the Limousin and Périgord . The excessive cruelty of Richard's punitive campaigns aroused even more hostility. After Richard had subdued his rebellious barons he again challenged his father. From 1180 to 1183 the tension between Henry and Richard grew, as King Henry commanded Richard to pay homage to Henry

2054-404: A semi-legendary figure is Ishikawa Goemon . In 1910 Maud Isabel Ebbutt characterized the eponymous characters of The Tale of Gamelyn and William of Cloudslee as noble outlaws, who are always historical in tales, and who "stand in the mind of the populace for justice and true liberty against the oppressive tyranny of subordinate officials [...] and are always taken into favour by the king,

2212-476: A settlement on 2 September 1192. The terms provided for the destruction of Ascalon's fortifications, allowed Christian pilgrims and merchants access to Jerusalem, and initiated a three-year truce. Richard, being ill with arnaldia , left for England on 9 October 1192. Bad weather forced Richard's ship to put in at Corfu , in the lands of Byzantine Emperor Isaac II Angelos , who objected to Richard's annexation of Cyprus, formerly Byzantine territory. Disguised as

2370-570: A simple soldier; he refused to lead the army. Without a united command the army had little choice but to retreat back to the coast. A period of minor skirmishes with Saladin's forces commenced, punctuated by another defeat in the field for the Ayyubid army at the Battle of Jaffa . Baha' al-Din, a contemporary Muslim soldier and biographer of Saladin, recorded a tribute to Richard's martial prowess at this battle: "I have been assured ... that on that day

2528-610: 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,

2686-537: A symbol of unity between the two countries, the kings of England and France had slept overnight in the same bed. Gillingham has characterized this as "an accepted political act, nothing sexual about it;... a bit like a modern-day photo opportunity". With news arriving of the Battle of Hattin , he took the cross at Tours in the company of other French nobles. In exchange for Philip's help against his father, Richard paid homage to Philip in November 1188. On 4 July 1189,

2844-556: A tournament held in her native Navarre . The wedding was held in Lemesos on 12 May 1191 at the Chapel of St George and was attended by Richard's sister Joan, whom he had brought from Sicily. The marriage was celebrated with great pomp and splendour, many feasts and entertainments, and public parades and celebrations followed, commemorating the event. When Richard married Berengaria he was still officially betrothed to Alys, and he pushed for

3002-417: A truce on 8 September 1174, its terms specifically excluded Richard. Abandoned by Louis and wary of facing his father's army in battle, Richard went to Henry II's court at Poitiers on 23 September and begged for forgiveness, weeping and falling at the feet of Henry, who gave Richard the kiss of peace . Several days later, Richard's brothers joined him in seeking reconciliation with their father. The terms

3160-525: 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

3318-466: A while, but this resulted in increasing tensions between them and their men, with Philip plotting with Tancred against Richard. The two kings eventually met to clear the air and reached an agreement, including the end of Richard's betrothal to Philip's sister Alys. In 1190 King Richard, before leaving for the Holy Land for the crusade, met Joachim of Fiore , who spoke to him of a prophecy contained in

SECTION 20

#1732764944135

3476-601: 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

3634-675: 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

3792-399: 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

3950-626: Is an enduring iconic figure both in England and in France. Richard was born on 8 September 1157, probably at Beaumont Palace , in Oxford , England , son of King Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine . He was the younger brother of William , Henry the Young King , and Matilda ; William died before Richard's birth. As a younger son of King Henry II, Richard was not expected to ascend

4108-557: Is first recorded in Ambroise 's L'Estoire de la Guerre Sainte in the context of the Accon campaign of 1191. Henry seemed unwilling to entrust any of his sons with resources that could be used against him. It was suspected that the King had appropriated Alys of France, Richard's betrothed, as his mistress . This made a marriage between Richard and Alys technically impossible in the eyes of

4266-591: 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

4424-452: 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

4582-460: 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

4740-684: 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

4898-620: 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

Robin Hood - Misplaced Pages Continue

5056-416: 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

5214-471: 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

5372-429: 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

5530-459: 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,

5688-473: The Anglo-Saxon kings of England and Alfred the Great , and from there legend linked them to Noah and Woden . According to Angevin family tradition, there was even 'infernal blood' in their ancestry, with a claimed descent from the fairy, or female demon, Melusine . While his father visited his lands from Scotland to France, Richard probably spent his childhood in England. His first recorded visit to

5846-628: The Assassins before he could be crowned. Eight days later Richard's own nephew Henry II of Champagne was married to the widowed Isabella, although she was carrying Conrad's child. The murder was never conclusively solved, and Richard's contemporaries widely suspected his involvement. The crusader army made another advance on Jerusalem, and, in June 1192, it came within sight of the city before being forced to retreat once again, this time because of dissension amongst its leaders. In particular, Richard and

6004-453: The Book of Revelation . In April 1191, Richard left Messina for Acre with an army of 17,000 men, but a storm dispersed his large fleet. After some searching, it was discovered that the ship carrying his sister Joan and his new fiancée, Berengaria of Navarre , was anchored on the south coast of Cyprus , along with the wrecks of several other vessels, including the treasure ship. Survivors of

6162-490: The Church , but Henry prevaricated: he regarded Alys's dowry , Vexin in the Île-de-France , as valuable. Richard was discouraged from renouncing Alys because she was the sister of King Philip II of France , a close ally. After his failure to overthrow his father, Richard concentrated on putting down internal revolts by the nobles of Aquitaine, especially in the territory of Gascony . The increasing cruelty of his rule led to

6320-567: 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,

6478-589: The Duchy of Aquitaine , in the southwest of France. Following his accession, he spent very little time, perhaps as little as six months, in England. Most of his reign was spent on Crusade, in captivity, or actively defending the French portions of the Angevin Empire . Though regarded as a model king during the four centuries after his death, and seen as a pious hero by his subjects, from the 17th century onward he

Robin Hood - Misplaced Pages Continue

6636-512: 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

6794-583: The Hospitallers broke ranks to charge the right wing of Saladin's forces. Richard then ordered a general counterattack, which won the battle. Arsuf was an important victory. The Muslim army was not destroyed, despite the considerable casualties it suffered, but it did rout ; this was considered shameful by the Muslims and boosted the morale of the Crusaders. In November 1191, following the fall of Jaffa,

6952-629: 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

7110-644: 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

7268-471: The Saladin tithe ), raised taxes, and even agreed to free King William I of Scotland from his oath of subservience to Richard in exchange for 10,000 marks (£6,500). To raise still more revenue he sold the right to hold official positions, lands, and other privileges to those interested in them. Those already appointed were forced to pay huge sums to retain their posts. William Longchamp , Bishop of Ely and

7426-485: The Third Crusade , leading the campaign after the departure of Philip II of France and achieving several victories against his Muslim counterpart, Saladin , although he finalised a peace treaty and ended the campaign without retaking Jerusalem . Richard probably spoke both French and Occitan . He was born in England , where he spent his childhood; before becoming king, however, he lived most of his adult life in

7584-413: 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

7742-533: The 1960s, described the noble outlaw as a development of a prior archetype, the gothic villain, that in its turn lead to the Byronic hero. Both noble outlaw and gothic villain are rebels, against society and even against God or gods, but the gothic villain is not a hero, whereas noble outlaws "are invariably solitaries, and are fundamentally and heroically rebellious" against injustices, be they divine or of their fellow humans. He related these developments to shifts in

7900-403: 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

8058-549: The Crusader army advanced inland towards Jerusalem. The army then marched to Beit Nuba , only 12 miles (19 km) from Jerusalem. Muslim morale in Jerusalem was so low that the arrival of the Crusaders would probably have caused the city to fall quickly. However, the weather was appallingly bad, cold with heavy rain and hailstorms; this, combined with the fear that the Crusader army, if it besieged Jerusalem, might be trapped by

SECTION 50

#1732764944135

8216-665: 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,

8374-590: The Emperor and declared to him, " I am born of a rank which recognises no superior but God ". The King was at first shown a certain measure of respect, but later, at the prompting of Philip of Dreux , Bishop of Beauvais and Philip of France's cousin, the conditions of Richard's captivity worsened, and he was kept in chains, "so heavy," Richard declared, "that a horse or ass would have struggled to move under them." The Emperor demanded that 150,000 marks (100,000 pounds of silver) be delivered to him before he would release

8532-529: 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

8690-687: The European continent was in May 1165, when his mother took him to Normandy. His wet nurse was Hodierna of St Albans , whom he gave a generous pension after he became king. Little is known about Richard's education. Although he was born in Oxford and brought up in England up to his eighth year, it is not known to what extent he used or understood English; he was an educated man who composed poetry and wrote in Limousin ( lenga d'òc ) and also in French. During his captivity, English prejudice against foreigners

8848-716: 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

9006-566: The French court that they would not make terms with Henry II without the consent of Louis VII and the French barons. With the support of Louis, Henry the Young King attracted many barons to his cause through promises of land and money; one such baron was Philip I, Count of Flanders , who was promised £1,000 and several castles. The brothers also had supporters ready to rise up in England. Robert de Beaumont, 3rd Earl of Leicester , joined forces with Hugh Bigod, 1st Earl of Norfolk , Hugh de Kevelioc, 5th Earl of Chester , and William I of Scotland for

9164-643: 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

9322-632: The King's chancellor, made a show of bidding £3,000 to remain as Chancellor. He was apparently outbid by a certain Reginald the Italian, but that bid was refused. Richard made some final arrangements on the continent. He reconfirmed his father's appointment of William Fitz Ralph to the important post of seneschal of Normandy. In Anjou, Stephen of Tours was replaced as seneschal and temporarily imprisoned for fiscal mismanagement. Payn de Rochefort, an Angevin knight, became seneschal of Anjou . In Poitou

9480-538: The King, the same amount raised by the Saladin tithe only a few years earlier, and two to three times the annual income of the English Crown under Richard. Meanwhile, Eleanor worked tirelessly to raise the ransom for her son's release. Leopold also requested Eleanor, Fair Maid of Brittany , niece of Richard, marry his heir Frederick . Both clergy and laymen were taxed for a quarter of the value of their property,

9638-471: 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

SECTION 60

#1732764944135

9796-602: 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

9954-568: 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

10112-509: 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

10270-468: 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

10428-439: The Young King abandoned his father and left for the French court, seeking the protection of Louis VII; his brothers Richard and Geoffrey soon followed him, while the five-year-old John remained in England. Louis gave his support to the three brothers and even knighted Richard, tying them together through vassalage. Jordan Fantosme , a contemporary poet, described the rebellion as a "war without love". The brothers made an oath at

10586-406: The Young King, but Richard refused. Finally, in 1183 Henry the Young King and Geoffrey, Duke of Brittany, invaded Aquitaine in an attempt to subdue Richard. Richard's barons joined in the fray and turned against their duke. However, Richard and his army succeeded in holding back the invading armies, and they executed any prisoners. The conflict paused briefly in June 1183 when the Young King died. With

10744-471: 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

10902-559: The advice of Louis the offer was refused. Henry II's forces took Saintes by surprise and captured much of its garrison, although Richard was able to escape with a small group of soldiers. He took refuge in Château de Taillebourg for the rest of the war. Henry the Young King and the Count of Flanders planned to land in England to assist the rebellion led by the Earl of Leicester. Anticipating this, Henry II returned to England with 500 soldiers and his prisoners (including Eleanor and his sons' wives and fiancées), but on his arrival found out that

11060-407: 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,

11218-448: 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

11376-529: 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

11534-481: The castle was "notoriously strong", Richard's siege engines battered the defenders into submission. On this campaign, Richard acquired the name "the Lion" or "the Lionheart" due to his noble, brave and fierce leadership. He is referred to as "this our lion" ( hic leo noster ) as early as 1187 in the Topographia Hibernica of Giraldus Cambrensis , while the byname "lionheart" ( le quor de lion )

11692-464: The ceremony where Richard's betrothal was confirmed, he paid homage to the king of France for Aquitaine, thus securing ties of vassalage between the two. After Henry II fell seriously ill in 1170, he enacted his plan to divide his territories, although he would retain overall authority over his sons and their territories. His son Henry was crowned as heir apparent in June 1170, and in 1171 Richard left for Aquitaine with his mother, and Henry II gave him

11850-412: The chronicle, most of the castles belonging to rebels were to be returned to the state they were in 15 days before the outbreak of war, while others were to be razed. Given that by this time it was common for castles to be built in stone, and that many barons had expanded or refortified their castles, this was not an easy task. Roger of Howden records the two-month siege of Castillon-sur-Agen ; while

12008-435: The conclusion of the war, the process of pacifying the provinces that had rebelled against Henry II began. The King travelled to Anjou for this purpose, and Geoffrey dealt with Brittany. In January 1175 Richard was dispatched to Aquitaine to punish the barons who had fought for him. The historian John Gillingham notes that the chronicle of Roger of Howden is the main source for Richard's activities in this period. According to

12166-429: The crusade, and offering his daughter in marriage to the person named by Richard. Isaac changed his mind, however, and tried to escape. Richard's troops, led by Guy de Lusignan, conquered the whole island by 1 June. Isaac surrendered and was confined with silver chains because Richard had promised that he would not place him in irons. Richard named Richard de Camville and Robert of Thornham as governors. He later sold

12324-461: 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

12482-589: The death of Henry the Young King, Richard became the eldest surviving son and therefore heir to the English crown. King Henry demanded that Richard give up Aquitaine (which he planned to give to his youngest son John as his inheritance). Richard refused, and conflict continued between them. This refusal is what finally made Henry II bring Queen Eleanor out of prison. He sent her to Aquitaine and demanded that Richard give up his lands to his mother, who would once again rule over those lands. In 1187, to strengthen his position, Richard allied himself with 22-year-old Philip II,

12640-415: 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

12798-546: The duchy of Aquitaine at the request of Eleanor. Richard and his mother embarked on a tour of Aquitaine in 1171 in an attempt to pacify the locals. Together, they laid the foundation stone of St Augustine's Monastery in Limoges . In June 1172, at age 14, Richard was formally recognised as duke of Aquitaine and count of Poitou when he was granted the lance and banner emblems of his office; the ceremony took place in Poitiers and

12956-466: 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

13114-434: 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

13272-467: 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

13430-572: The ex-provost of Benon, Peter Bertin, was made seneschal, and finally, the household official Helie de La Celle was picked for the seneschalship in Gascony. After repositioning the part of his army he left behind to guard his French possessions, Richard finally set out on the crusade in summer 1190. (His delay was criticised by troubadours such as Bertran de Born .) He appointed as regents Hugh de Puiset , Bishop of Durham , and William de Mandeville, 3rd Earl of Essex  – who soon died and

13588-556: The execution of those responsible for the most heinous murders and persecutions, including rioters who had accidentally burned down Christian homes. He distributed a royal writ demanding that the Jews be left alone. The edict was only loosely enforced, however, and the following March further violence occurred, including a massacre at York . Richard had already taken the cross as Count of Poitou in 1187. His father and Philip II had done so at Gisors on 21 January 1188 after receiving news of

13746-484: The fall of Jerusalem to Saladin . After Richard became king, he and Philip agreed to go on the Third Crusade, since each feared that during his absence the other might usurp his territories. Richard swore an oath to renounce his past wickedness in order to show himself worthy to take the cross. He started to raise and equip a new crusader army. He spent most of his father's treasury (filled with money raised by

13904-576: 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

14062-511: The forces of Richard and Philip defeated Henry's army at Ballans . Henry agreed to name Richard his heir apparent. Two days later Henry died in Chinon, and Richard succeeded him as King of England, Duke of Normandy, and Count of Anjou. Roger of Howden claimed that Henry's corpse bled from the nose in Richard's presence, which was assumed to be a sign that Richard had caused his death. Richard I

14220-422: 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

14378-427: The fortress, leaving its defenders no reinforcements or lines of retreat. The garrison sallied out of the castle and attacked Richard; he was able to subdue the army and then followed the defenders inside the open gates, where he easily took over the castle in two days. Richard's victory at Taillebourg deterred many barons from thinking of rebelling and forced them to declare their loyalty to him. In 1181–82, Richard faced

14536-551: The fount of true justice". Richard the Lionheart Richard I (8 September 1157 – 6 April 1199), known as Richard Cœur de Lion ( Old Norman French : Quor de Lion ) or Richard the Lionheart because of his reputation as a great military leader and warrior, was King of England from 1189 until his death in 1199. He also ruled as Duke of Normandy , Aquitaine , and Gascony ; Lord of Cyprus ; Count of Poitiers , Anjou , Maine , and Nantes ; and

14694-447: 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

14852-404: The gold and silver treasures of the churches were confiscated, and money was raised from the scutage and the carucage taxes. At the same time, Richard's brother John and King Philip of France offered 80,000 marks for Henry VI to hold Richard prisoner until Michaelmas 1194. Henry turned down the offer. The money to release the King was transferred to Germany by the Emperor's ambassadors, but "at

15010-476: 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

15168-521: The intercession of Pope Alexander III was necessary to secure a truce between them. Henry II had conquered Brittany and taken control of Gisors and the Vexin , which had been part of Margaret's dowry. Early in the 1160s there had been suggestions Richard should marry Alys, Countess of the Vexin , fourth daughter of Louis VII; because of the rivalry between the kings of England and France, Louis obstructed

15326-427: 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

15484-458: The island to the master of Knights Templar , Robert de Sablé , and it was subsequently acquired, in 1192, by Guy of Lusignan and became a stable feudal kingdom. The rapid conquest of the island by Richard was of strategic importance. The island occupies a key strategic position on the maritime lanes to the Holy Land, whose occupation by the Christians could not continue without support from

15642-493: The king of England, lance in hand, rode along the whole length of our army from right to left, and not one of our soldiers left the ranks to attack him. The Sultan was wroth thereat and left the battlefield in anger...". Both sides realised that their respective positions were growing untenable. Richard knew that both Philip and his own brother John were starting to plot against him, and the morale of Saladin's army had been badly eroded by repeated defeats. However, Saladin insisted on

15800-500: 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

15958-554: The legal heir was William's aunt Constance , wife of Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor . Tancred had imprisoned William's widow, Queen Joan, who was Richard's sister, and did not give her the money she had inherited in William's will. When Richard arrived he demanded that his sister be released and given her inheritance; she was freed on 28 September, but without the inheritance. The presence of foreign troops also caused unrest: in October,

16116-404: 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

16274-490: 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

16432-505: 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

16590-451: 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

16748-465: The majority of the army council wanted to force Saladin to relinquish Jerusalem by attacking the basis of his power through an invasion of Egypt . The leader of the French contingent, Hugh III, Duke of Burgundy , however, was adamant that a direct attack on Jerusalem should be made. This split the Crusader army into two factions, and neither was strong enough to achieve its objective. Richard stated that he would accompany any attack on Jerusalem but only as

16906-515: The marriage. A peace treaty was secured in January 1169 and Richard's betrothal to Alys was confirmed. Henry II planned to divide his and Eleanor's territories among their three eldest surviving sons: Henry would become King of England and have control of Anjou, Maine, and Normandy; Richard would inherit Aquitaine and Poitiers from his mother; and Geoffrey would become Duke of Brittany through marriage with Constance , heir presumptive of Conan IV . At

17064-614: The match in order to obtain the Kingdom of Navarre as a fief, as Aquitaine had been for his father. Further, Eleanor championed the match, as Navarre bordered Aquitaine, thereby securing the southern border of her ancestral lands. Richard took his new wife on crusade with him briefly, though they returned separately. Berengaria had almost as much difficulty in making the journey home as her husband did, and she did not see England until after his death. After his release from German captivity, Richard showed some regret for his earlier conduct, but he

17222-551: 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

17380-441: The noble outlaw is "a basically good person who had been wronged early in his life by some superior in the social hierarchy. On the basis of that experience the young man decides that such a wrong can only be redressed if the society changes, but such changes can not come from within the social system, only in defiance of it." Peter L. Thorslev, Jr. (later Emeritus professor of English at UCLA ), in his book on The Byronic Hero in

17538-813: The past, as they rebelled in part against the rise of bureaucratic nation states and harked back to the more feudalistic times of "personal loyalties; personal justice; and personal heroism". He characterized the noble outlaw as "certainly the single most popular hero of the Romantic Movement". In medieval European literature, a well-known example is Robin Hood . Others are found in the Decameron , Two Gentlemen of Verona , Don Quixote ( Roque Guinart ), and The Beggar's Opera . These are named in Paul Angiolillo's study of Angelo Duca; Babinski notes that Angiolillo's relies for his analysis on

17696-484: The people and avenging injustices done against them. Karl Moor, aforementioned, was emblematic of this, and The Robbers had lasting appeal in the South. Walter Scott himself was to describe his historical novels as full of "the dubious characters of Borderers, buccaneers, Highland robbers, and all others of a Robin Hood description". In Chinese culture, the archetype is called hsia , or wuxia . In Japanese literature,

17854-502: The people of Messina revolted, demanding that the foreigners leave. Richard attacked Messina, capturing it on 4 October 1190. After looting and burning the city Richard established his base there, but this created tension between Richard and Philip. He remained there until Tancred finally agreed to sign a treaty on 4 March 1191. The treaty was signed by Richard, Philip, and Tancred. Its main terms were: The two kings stayed in Sicily for

18012-507: The people of London attacked the Jewish population. Many Jewish homes were destroyed by arsonists , and several Jews were forcibly converted . Some sought sanctuary in the Tower of London , and others managed to escape. Among those killed was Jacob of Orléans , a respected Jewish scholar. Roger of Howden, in his Gesta Regis Ricardi , claimed that the jealous and bigoted citizens started

18170-517: The person who had the custody thereof, carried off the greater part of his father's treasures, and fortified his castles in Poitou with the same, refusing to go to his father. Overall, Howden is chiefly concerned with the politics of the relationship between Richard and Philip. Gillingham has addressed theories suggesting that this political relationship was also sexually intimate, which he posits probably stemmed from an official record announcing that, as

18328-399: 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

18486-502: 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

18644-430: The razing of Ascalon's fortifications, which Richard's men had rebuilt, and a few other points. Richard made one last attempt to strengthen his bargaining position by attempting to invade Egypt – Saladin's chief supply-base – but failed. In the end, time ran out for Richard. He realised that his return could be postponed no longer, since both Philip and John were taking advantage of his absence. He and Saladin finally came to

18802-521: The rebellion had already collapsed. William I of Scotland and Hugh Bigod were captured on 13 and 25 July respectively. Henry II returned to France and raised the siege of Rouen , where Louis VII had been joined by Henry the Young King after abandoning his plan to invade England. Louis was defeated and a peace treaty was signed in September 1174, the Treaty of Montlouis. When Henry II and Louis VII made

18960-483: 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;

19118-529: 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

19276-411: The rioting, and that Richard punished the perpetrators, allowing a forcibly converted Jew to return to his native religion. Baldwin of Forde , Archbishop of Canterbury , reacted by remarking, "If the King is not God's man, he had better be the devil 's". Offended that he was not being obeyed, and aware that the attacks could destabilise his realm on the eve of his departure on crusade, Richard ordered

19434-513: The sea. Cyprus remained a Christian stronghold until the Ottoman invasion in 1570. Richard's exploit was well publicised and contributed to his reputation, and he also derived significant financial gains from the conquest of the island. Richard left Cyprus for Acre on 5 June with his allies. Before leaving Cyprus on crusade, Richard married Berengaria, the first-born daughter of King Sancho VI of Navarre . Richard had first grown close to her at

19592-441: The son of Eleanor's ex-husband Louis VII by Adela of Champagne . Roger of Howden wrote: The King of England was struck with great astonishment, and wondered what [this alliance] could mean, and, taking precautions for the future, frequently sent messengers into France for the purpose of recalling his son Richard; who, pretending that he was peaceably inclined and ready to come to his father, made his way to Chinon , and, in spite of

19750-467: The song, in French and Occitan versions, to express his feelings of abandonment by his people and his sister. The detention of a crusader was contrary to public law, and on these grounds Pope Celestine III excommunicated Leopold. On 28 March 1193, Richard was brought to Speyer and handed over to Holy Roman Emperor Henry VI, who imprisoned him in Trifels Castle . The Emperor was aggrieved by

19908-400: 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

20066-432: 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

20224-514: The support the Plantagenets had given to the family of Henry the Lion and by Richard's recognition of Tancred in Sicily. Henry VI needed money to raise an army and assert his rights over southern Italy and continued to hold Richard for ransom. Nevertheless, to Richard's irritation, Pope Celestine hesitated to excommunicate Henry VI, as he had Duke Leopold, for the continued wrongful imprisonment of Richard. He famously refused to show deference to

20382-408: The surrender negotiations with Saladin's forces inside Acre and raised the banners of the kings in the city. Richard quarrelled with Leopold over the deposition of Isaac Komnenos (related to Leopold's Byzantine mother) and his position within the crusade. Leopold's banner had been raised alongside the English and French standards. This was interpreted as arrogance by both Richard and Philip, as Leopold

20540-495: 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"

20698-698: The terms of the surrender of the lands around Acre. Philip, before leaving, had entrusted his prisoners to Conrad, but Richard forced him to hand them over to him. Richard feared his forces being bottled up in Acre as he believed his campaign could not advance with the prisoners in train. He, therefore, ordered all the prisoners executed . He then moved south, defeating Saladin's forces at the Battle of Arsuf 30 miles (50 km) north of Jaffa on 7 September 1191. Saladin attempted to harass Richard's army into breaking its formation in order to defeat it in detail. Richard maintained his army's defensive formation, however, until

20856-465: 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

21014-553: The three brothers accepted were less generous than those they had been offered earlier in the conflict (when Richard was offered four castles in Aquitaine and half of the income from the duchy): Richard was given control of two castles in Poitou and half the income of Aquitaine; Henry the Young King was given two castles in Normandy; and Geoffrey was permitted half of Brittany . Eleanor remained Henry II's prisoner until his death, partly as insurance for Richard's good behaviour. After

21172-544: The throne. Four more children were born to King Henry and Queen Eleanor: Geoffrey , Eleanor , Joan , and John . Richard also had two half-sisters from his mother's first marriage to Louis VII of France : Marie and Alix . Richard is often depicted as having been the favourite son of his mother. His father was Angevin-Norman and great-grandson of William the Conqueror . Contemporary historian Ralph de Diceto traced his family's lineage through Matilda of Scotland to

21330-454: 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

21488-438: 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

21646-592: 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

21804-408: The values of Romantic authors and readers "from conformism in large social patterns of conduct or thought, to radical individualism; from humble right reason, common sense, and the proper study of mankind, to a thirst to know and experience all things, to encompass infinities; from acquiescence before God and the social order, to heroism and hubris". However, noble outlaws retained nostalgic vestiges of

21962-484: The walls of Acre. Leopold kept Richard prisoner at Dürnstein Castle under the care of Leopold's ministerialis Hadmar of Kuenring. This mishap was soon known in England, but the regents were for some weeks uncertain of his whereabouts. While in prison, Richard wrote the musical piece Ja nus hons pris or Ja nuls om pres ("No man who is imprisoned"), which is addressed to his half-sister Marie. He wrote

22120-615: The work of Eric Hobsbawm . Examples from the Romantic period in Europe include Goethe 's Götz , Friedrich Schiller 's Karl Moor , and Walter Scott 's Lord Marmion and Byron's Conrad . A 20th-century American example is Arthur Miller 's John Proctor . The noble outlaw as highwayman was a widespread and popular character in the literature of the 18th century (colonial era) Southern United States and thenceforwards. Highwaymen were portrayed almost as social reformers, championing

22278-584: The wrecks had been taken prisoner by the island's ruler, Isaac Komnenos . On 1 May 1191, Richard's fleet arrived in the port of Lemesos on Cyprus. He ordered Isaac to release the prisoners and treasure. Isaac refused, so Richard landed his troops and took Lemesos. Various princes of the Holy Land arrived in Lemesos at the same time, in particular Guy of Lusignan . All declared their support for Richard provided that he support Guy against his rival, Conrad of Montferrat . The local magnates abandoned Isaac, who considered making peace with Richard, joining him on

22436-475: Was overlord of Brittany at various times during the same period. He was the third of five sons of Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine and was therefore not expected to become king, but his two elder brothers predeceased their father. By the age of 16, Richard had taken command of his own army, putting down rebellions in Poitou against his father. Richard was an important Christian commander during

22594-616: 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

22752-610: Was a vassal of the Holy Roman Emperor (although he was the highest-ranking surviving leader of the imperial forces). Richard's men tore the flag down and threw it in the moat of Acre. Leopold left the crusade immediately. Philip also left soon afterwards, in poor health and after further disputes with Richard over the status of Cyprus (Philip demanded half the island) and the kingship of Jerusalem. Richard, suddenly, found himself without allies. Richard had kept 2,700 Muslim prisoners as hostages against Saladin fulfilling all

22910-548: Was arranged that Richard would marry one of the daughters of Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Barcelona ; however, these arrangements failed, and the marriage never took place. Henry the Young King was married to Margaret , daughter of Louis VII of France, on 2 November 1160. Despite this alliance between the Plantagenets and the Capetians , the dynasty on the French throne, the two houses were sometimes in conflict. In 1168,

23068-478: Was challenged by Conrad of Montferrat, second husband of Sibylla's half-sister, Isabella : Conrad, whose defence of Tyre had saved the kingdom in 1187, was supported by Philip of France, son of his first cousin Louis VII of France, and by another cousin, Leopold V, Duke of Austria . Richard also allied with Humphrey IV of Toron , Isabella's first husband, from whom she had been forcibly divorced in 1190. Humphrey

23226-460: 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

23384-468: Was gradually perceived by historians as a ruler who preferred to use his kingdom merely as a source of revenue to support his armies, rather than regarding England as a responsibility requiring his presence as ruler. This "Little England" view of Richard has come under increasing scrutiny by modern historians, who view it as anachronistic. Richard I remains one of the few kings of England remembered more commonly by his epithet than his regnal number , and

23542-427: Was loyal to Guy and spoke Arabic fluently, so Richard used him as a translator and negotiator. Richard and his forces aided in the capture of Acre, despite Richard's serious illness. At one point, while sick from arnaldia , a disease similar to scurvy , he picked off guards on the walls with a crossbow , while being carried on a stretcher covered "in a great silken quilt". Eventually, Conrad of Montferrat concluded

23700-576: Was not reunited with his wife. The marriage remained childless. Richard landed at Acre on 8 June 1191. He gave his support to his Poitevin vassal Guy of Lusignan, who had brought troops to help him in Cyprus. Guy was the widower of his father's cousin Sibylla of Jerusalem and was trying to retain the kingship of Jerusalem, despite his wife's death during the Siege of Acre the previous year. Guy's claim

23858-499: Was officially invested as Duke of Normandy on 20 July 1189 and crowned king in Westminster Abbey on 3 September 1189. Tradition barred all Jews and women from the investiture, but some Jewish leaders arrived to present gifts for the new king. According to Ralph of Diceto, Richard's courtiers stripped and flogged the Jews, then flung them out of court. When a rumour spread that Richard had ordered all Jews to be killed,

24016-427: Was rejected by the inhabitants; he withdrew to the city of Saintes , which he established as a base of operations. In the meantime, Henry II had raised a very expensive army of more than 20,000 mercenaries with which to face the rebellion. He marched on Verneuil, and Louis retreated from his forces. The army proceeded to recapture Dol and subdued Brittany. At this point Henry II made an offer of peace to his sons; on

24174-548: Was repeated in Limoges, where he wore the ring of St Valerie , who was the personification of Aquitaine. According to Ralph of Coggeshall , Henry the Young King instigated rebellion against Henry II; he wanted to reign independently over at least part of the territory his father had promised him, and to break away from his dependence on Henry II, who controlled the purse strings. There were rumors that Eleanor might have encouraged her sons to revolt against their father. Henry

24332-542: Was replaced by William Longchamp. Richard's brother John was not satisfied by this decision and started scheming against William Longchamp. When Richard was raising funds for his crusade, he was said to have declared, "I would have sold London if I could find a buyer". In September 1190 Richard and Philip arrived in Sicily . After the death of King William II of Sicily in 1189 his cousin Tancred had seized power, although

24490-439: Was said to be very attractive; his hair was between red and blond, and he was light-eyed with a pale complexion. According to Clifford Brewer, he was 6 feet 5 inches (1.96 m), although that is unverifiable since his remains have been lost since at least the French Revolution . John, his youngest brother, was known to be 5 feet 5 inches (1.65 m). The Itinerarium peregrinorum et gesta regis Ricardi ,

24648-410: 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

24806-408: Was used in a calculated way by his brother John to help destroy the authority of Richard's chancellor, William Longchamp , who was a Norman . One of the specific charges laid against Longchamp, by John's supporter Hugh Nonant , was that he could not speak English. This indicates that by the late 12th century a knowledge of English was expected of those in positions of authority in England. Richard

24964-592: 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

#134865