Robin et Marion

The association between Robin Hood and Maid Marian, is believed by most scholars, to have arisen through the many rustic spring and summer festivals. One remarkably early link between these two names is in the French pastourelle play, Le Jeu de Robin et Marion, created at the Court of Naples for Charles of Anjou about 1283 by Adam de la Halle (1235?-1288?) one of the last French trouveres.

The trouveres were troubadours from northern France, between the 11th to the 14th century, whose beautiful poetry and songs celebrating love or ‘fine amour’ were composed in the northern dialects of France. The first trouveres appeared in the court of Marie de Champagne, sister of Richard the Lionheart, in about 1170. Some 2130 poems and songs have survived by these entertainers, including work by King Richard’s faithful legendry trouvere, Blondel de Nesle (c.1155-1202).

De la Halle, Adam of the Market, Adam the Uneven One, or Hunchback of Arras as he was also known, was a trouvere poet and musician from Arras, in the centre of the Artois region of France. He is credited with over sixty musical combinations and is often described as the innovator of the earliest French secular theatre. His combination of music and drama led to the beginning of Opera Comique.

The exact date of his birth is not known but it is considered to have been sometime between 1235-1240. Adam is believed to have been the son of a ‘Master Henry the Uneven One who is employed in Arras’. He studied grammar, theology and music at the Cistercian Abbey of Vaucelles near Cambric and went on to the Notre Dame School in Paris. He later married Marie who is often the subject of many of his chansons.

As a member of the Brotherhood of Jugglers and the Middle Class men of Arras, Adam de la Halle moved in courtly circles, and in 1271 he became one of the train of Robert II Count of Artois (1250-1302). His use of the name Robin, may be a droll reference to his patron.

The date of de la Halle’s death is controversial, but it is generally agreed to have been in Naples, about 1288.

Robin et Marion survives in various manuscript sources and is probably the first play with music, on a secular subject by a single composer. The play, based on a popular widespread refrain, Robins m’aime, Robins m’a: Robins m’a demandee : si m’ara , became popular all over Europe. A performance was recorded in a letter of remission for the first time at Angers in the Loire Valley in 1392:

Jehan le Begue and five or six other students, his companions, went round the town of Angers, masked, to perform a play called ‘Of Robin and Marion’ as in customarily done each year during the Whitsuntide fair by local people, whether students, burghers’ sons or other groups.

It must be stressed that Robin, the country boy- the lover of Marian the shepherdess- is not an outlaw. But this theatrical adaption of the pastourrelle, the story of Marion’s near seduction by a knight had a very large influence on the English May Games. The English poet, John Gower (c.1330– 1408) in his Speculum Mediantis (Mirroir de l’Omme), a work of 30,000 lines written between 1376-78 describes Robin and Marion’s role in the village festivals and goes on to condemn monks that revel and follow the rule of Robin, rather than Saint Augustine.

De la Halle’s play was originally accompanied by lively dancing, singing and folk music, including instruments such as cornets, bagpipes and a drum. His compositions can still be seen today.

Below are translated excerpts from the first scene of his play :

Marion:
Robin loves me, Robin is mine,
Robin wants me, he shall have me.
Robin has bought for me a fine scarlet dress, a petticoat and belt,
A leur i va !
Robin loves me, Robin is mine,
Robin wants me, he shall have me.

Knight:
I am returning from tournament
And I find Marion alone
The girl with the gorgeous body.

Marion:
Oh! Robin, if you love me,
Save me, for love’s sake!

Knight:
God give you good day,
Shepherdess !

Marion:
God keep you, sir!
————————————————————————————
Marion:
Robin’s not like his sort,
He’s much more merry:
He stirs up our whole town
When he plays his bagpipes.

Knight:
Now tell me, sweet shepherdess,
Could you love a nobleman ?


Marion:
Back off, fine sir.
I don't know any nobleman;
Of all the men in the world,
I only love Robin.
It’s his custom to seek me out here
Every day, evening and morning;
To bring me some of his cheese.
(I’ve got some of it left in my bodice
As well as a big hunk of bread)
Which he brought me at dinner time.

Knight:
Well now, tell me pretty shepherdess,
How would you like to come with me
On this lovely palfrey
And play games
Down by that thicket
In the valley ?

Marion:
Oh dear! Sir, back off your horse
It nearly kicked me,
Robin’s horse doesn’t lash out
When I walk behind the plough.

Knight:
Shepherdess, be my love
Please grant my request.

Marion:
Sir, keep away from me:
It’s not seemly for you to be here.
I was very nearly kicked by your horse
What is your name?

Knight:
Aubert.


Marion:
You are wasting your time, Sir
Aubert,
I shall never love anyone except Robin.



© Clement of the Glen 2006-2007

A Gest Of Robyn Hode

Regular readers of this blog, will have come across the mention of the poem ‘A Gest of Robyn Hode.’ This is probably the most important of all the surviving literature about the outlaw hero, and is an attempt by an anonymous author in the early fifteenth century, to string together in an epic poem of 456 four-line stanzas, possibly four, far older ballads. The language is of antique quality and by internal evidence it appears that part of the story might date from about c.1400-1450.

‘Gest’ is taken from the Latin res gestae, things done ‘A Story Of Robin Hood’. But some believe, in this case, it could also mean a ‘guest’ of Robin Hood. No single manuscript copy of this saga exists, but proof of its popularity can be found by the existence of various early printed fragments from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, providing us with our earliest sources for the text.

One of the substantial fragments, which only supplies half the text, discovered in Ayrshire in 1785, is now in the National Library of Scotland. Formally known as the Lettersnijder Edition of A Gest of Robyn Hode, it has been attributed to the printing press of Jan van Doesbroch in Antwerp about 1510.

A complete version is preserved in the library of Cambridge University titled, A Lyttel Geste of Robyn Hode Explycit, Kynge Edwarde and Robyn hode and Lytell Johan. Enprented at London in flete strete at the sygne of the sone by Wynken de Worde. This was the work of William Caxton’s apprentice Jan Van Wynken or Wynken de Worde who inherited Caxton’s press on his death in 1491. De Worde did not move his business into Fleet Street until 1500, so by dating his other work of the period it is possible to put his production of the Lyttel Geste to around 1515.

Amongst many various other surviving editions are fragments from early printers such as William Copland, Richard Pynson and Edward White. These printed versions were all derived, directly or indirectly from a single written source, who wrote it is unknown.

The tone of the Gest is elevated, though Robin is described as a ‘yeoman’, his chivalry seems to mock that of King Arthur. He sends his men out on a ‘quest’, he washes and wipes his hands before eating and his courtesy and regard for the Virgin Mary is always stressed.

The first ‘fytte,’ or division opens;

Lythe and Lysten, gentylmen
That be of frebore blode;
I shall you tell of a good yeman,
His name was Robyn Hode.

Robyn was a proude outlawe,
Whyles he walked on grounde;
So curteys an outlawe as he was one
Was never none yfounde.

The setting is in Barnsdale and Robin says he will not dine until he has a guest; some bold baron, bishop, abbot, knight or squire who can pay for the best. Little John, Will Scarlock, Much the millers son and the rest are told:

Thereof no force, than sayde Robyn;
We shall do well inowe;
But loke ye do no husbonde harme
That tylleth with his ploughe.

No more ye shall no gode yeman
That walketh by grene wode shawe;
Ne no knight ne no squyer
That wol be a gode felawe.

These bisshoppes and these archebishoppes,
Ye shall them bête and bynde;
The hye sheriff of Notyingham,
Hym holde ye in your mynde.

Little John, Much and Will set off to ‘walke up to the Saylis and so to Watlinge Strete’ to find a guest to dine with their master. They return with a downcast knight who accepts their invitation to dine. He is courteously received by Robin and after a good dinner, he is asked to pay, as was the outlaws custom. But he confesses he has only ten shillings (50p). Little John checks the knight’s bags and finds he is telling the truth.

The knight then tells them his son had killed a ‘knight of Lancashire’ and to buy his pardon, the knight’s lands had been pledged for the sum of £400 to the Abbot of St. Mary’s Abbey in York. He explains that he has no friends, he could only pledge his own word, by the honour of Our Dear Lady.

As the knight had no money, he cannot repay the loan, so Robin lends him the £400, new clothes, a horse, boots, spurs and Little John to be his squire.

In the second fytte the Abbot of St. Mary’s awaits the knight’s return, with a sheriff, high cellarer (Treasurer) and a ‘crooked’ justice. They eagerly await this day as his lands are to become forfeit. Only the prior warned them that it was wrong to despoil a knight wrongfully of his lands.

The knight turns up deliberately poorly dressed and when he asks the justice to support him, he replies:

I am holde with the abbot, sayd the justice,
Both by cloth and fee.

For a while the knight lets them believe they have triumphed and there is a lot of play on the abbot’s lack of charity. Then the knight disdainfully counts out £400 and returns home .

His lady met hym at the gate,
At home in Verysdale.

The knight then starts raising the money he owes Robin. A year later, clothed all in ‘whyte and rede’, he sets off, with a hundred bowman in his retinue, with a present of a hundred sheaves of arrows, a hundred bows together with the loan of £400. But on his way to find Robin in Barnsdale;

As he went at a bridge ther was a wraste-lyng,
And there taryed was he,
And there was all the best yemen
Of all the west countree.

The knight and his retainers save a yeoman from murder ‘for love of Robyn Hode’ over an unfair contest.

We now reach the third fytte, which switches back to Little John ‘that was the knightes man,’ who is involved in an archery contest with the sheriff’s men. Calling himself Reynolde Grenelef of Holderness, he wins and the sheriff, amazed at his kill takes him into his service for a year..

Later a quarrel with the cook ensues and the two of them end up robbing the sheriff of his silver and £300, which they take to Robin Hood. Meanwhile the sheriff is out hunting and Little John finds him and says:

Yonder I sawe a right fayre harte,
His coloure is of grene,
Seven score of dere upon a herde
Be with hym all bydene.

The sheriff is betrayed by his man and led to the outlaws camp.

Sone he was to souper sette,
An served well with silver white,
And whan the sheriff sawe his vessel,
For sorowe he might nat ete.

The sheriff is then forced to eat poached venison, served on his own looted silver plate. After their guests dinner, they remove the sheriff’s furred mantle and rich coat and give him a cloak of Lincoln Green to sleep on, with the outlaws ‘under the grene wode tree.’ After a very uncomfortable night he says:

Lat me go, than sayd the sheriff,
For saynte charite!
And I woll be thy best frende
That ever yet had ye.

Robin Hood extracts an oath from the sheriff on his sword, that he will never harm him.

Shalt thou never awayte me scathe,
By water ne by lande.

So the Sheriff is released and allowed to return home.

Fytte four returns to the story of the knight, where once again Robin sends Little John, Much and Scathelok up to the Sayles and Watling Street to look for a ‘guest.’ They see two ‘blacke monkes’ riding by Barnsdale, with a retinue of fifty two men. Little John with an arrow ready, bids them stand, but the monks’ retinue fled.

With only his page and groom left, one of the monks is led to the outlaw’s lodge. Robin courteously removed his hood, but the monk churlishly leaves his head covered. Robin asks him how much money he has, twenty marks, the monk replies. But after searching his bags they find £800. All the money, declared the outlaws, for which ‘Our Lady’ had stood pledge and the monk, they discovered, was the high cellarer of St. Mary’s Abbey, York.

Robin is relieved, as he thought Our Lady was angry with him, because she had not sent his pay.

Have no doute, mayster, sayd Lytell Johan,
Ye have no need, I saye
This monke it hath brought, I dare well swere,
For he is of her abbay.


And she was a borowe, sayd Robyn,
Betwene a knight and me,
Of a lytell money that I hym lent,
Under the grene wode tree.

Robin took all he had and bid the cellarer farewell.

Grete well your abbot, sayd Robyn,
And your pryour, I you pray,
And byd hym send me such a monke
To dyner every day.

The knight arrived later to find that his debt is already paid. But Robin gave him an extra £400 interest that St. Mary had sent him.

Fytte five describes an archery contest held by the sheriff of Nottingham for the best archers of the north. The prize was an arrow of silver and gold. Robin Hood and his men take part.

Thryes Robyn shot about,
And alway he slist the wand,
And so dyde good Gylberte
Wyth the whyte hande.

Lytell Johan and good Scatheloke
Were archers good and fre;
Lytell Much and good Reynolde,
The worste wolde they not be.

Robin Hood wins the prize, but is recognised and his men are ambushed. Little John is shot in the knee and he begs Robin to kill him rather than let him fall into the sheriff’s hands. But Robin carries him to the castle (double ditched and walled) of the knight they had lent the money to. Who for the first time is given a name-‘Syr Rychard at the Lee.’

The sixth fytte begins with Sir Richard’s castle under siege. The sheriff demands the knight hands over Robin Hood. But he refuses until he knows the king’s will. So the sheriff rides off to London to put the matter to the king.

I wil be at Notyngham, saide our kynge,
Within this fouteenyght,
And take I wyll Robyn Hode,
And so I wyll that knight.

The Sheriff returns to Sir Richard’s ‘double dyched’ castle to find that Robin and his men have eluded him. So, while the knight is out hawking, the sheriff ambushes him.

Toke he there this gentyll knight,
With men of armys stronge,
And led hym to Notyngham warde,
Bounde bothe fote and hande.

Sir Richard’s wife then sets off ‘on a gode palfrey’ to the green wood to inform Robin, who gathers his men together. They find the ‘proude’ sheriff in a Nottingham street.

Robin bent a full goode bowe,
An arrowe he drowe at wyll;
He hit so the proude sherife,
Upon the grounde he lay full still.

And or he might up aryse,
On his fete to stonde,
He smote of the sheriffs hede,
With his bright bronde.

Robin releases the knight, who returns to the greenwood with them.

In the seventh fytte, the king comes to Nottingham and seizes the knights lands.

The kynge came to Notynghame,
With knyghtes in grete araye,
For to take that gentyll knyght
And Robin Hode, and yf he may.

He asked men of that countre
After Robyn Hode,
And after that gentyll knight,
That was so bolde and stout.

The king finds not only the sheriff dead, but the deer in his forests killed. He declares that ‘Syr Rycharde at the Le’s’ lands are forfeit and that he will pass them over to anyone who will cut off his head. But after six months in Nottingham the king is no nearer finding Robin Hood either, until a forester suggests a way in which to do it.

The king is to dress as an abbot and take only five knights with him similarly dressed to lure out the outlaws.

The forester led the disguised king a mile into the forest and soon they were waylaid by Robin and his men.

Robyn toke the kynges hors,
Hastely in that stede,
And sayd, Syr abbot, by your leve,
A whyle ye must abyde.

We be yeman of this foreste,
Under the grene wode tre;
We lyve by our kynges dere,
Other shyft have not we,

And ye have chyrches and rentes both,
And gold full grete plente,
Gyve us some of your spendynge,
For saynt charyte.

The ‘abbot’ explains that he has been at the royal court for a fortnight and it has been an expensive business, leaving him with only £40. Robin divides the money up, with half to his men and the rest given back to the ‘abbot’, who tells him that King Edward bids him to come to Nottingham. After seeing the royal seal, Robin declares:

I love no man in all the worlde
So well as I do my kynge;
Welcome is my lords seale;
And, monke, for thy tydynge.

With a blow on his horn, Robin Hood’s men appear and kneel before their leader, which amazes the disguised king, who declares that the outlaws men are more obedient than his own!

After a feast, they hold an archery contest at which Robin excels. But later he misses the target and has to receive a punch from an opponent. The ‘abbot’ is chosen and reluctantly delivers such a blow that it knocks Robin to the ground.

Robin Hood and Sir Richard suddenly realise who he is.

There is pith in thyn arme, sayd Robyn
I trowe thou canst well shete.
Thus our kynge and Robyn Hode
Togeder gan they met.

Robyn beheld our comly kynge
Wystly in the face,
So dyde Syr Rycharde at the Le,
And kneled downe in that place.

And so dyde all the wylde outlawes,
Whan they se them knele:
My lorde the kynge of Englonde,
Now I knowe you well.

Robin asks the king for mercy for his men and himself. The king pardons them on condition that they leave the forest and come to court, ‘and there dwell with me.’

The king and the outlaws return to Nottingham dressed in Lincoln Green liveries. The townspeople panic, believing that the king has been slain.

Than every man to other gan say,
I drede our kynge be slone;
Come Robyn Hode to the towne, i wys,
On lyve he lefte never one.

Full hastly they began to fle,
Both yeman and knaves,
And olde wyves that might evyll goo,
They hypped on theyr staves.

Order is restored when they see the king. After a merry feast Sir Richard at the Lee is summoned by the king and his lands are restored to him.

After little more than a year at court, Robin has spent all his money, ‘to gete hym grete renowne,’ and only two of his men, Little John and Scathelok have deserted him. One day he sees young men out shooting and laments.

Somtyme I was an archere good,
A styffe and eke a stronge;
I was compted the best archere
That was in mery Englonde.

Alas! Then sayd good Robyn,
Alas and well a woo.
Yf I dwele lenger with the kynge,
Sorowe wyll me sloo.

Robin then went to the king and begs leave to go on a pilgrimage, barefoot and wearing a flannel shirt, to a chapel he has built in Barnsdale of ‘Mary Magdaleyne.’
The king gives him leave to be away for one week. But once in Barnsdale, he returns to his old ways.

Robyn slewe a full grete harte;
His horne than gan he blow,
That all the outlawes of that forest
That horne could they knowe.

‘Seven score of wyght yonge men,' flock to him and there in Barnsdale he stayed for twenty two years.

Robyn dwelled in grene wode
Twenty yere and two;
For all drede of Edwarde our kynge,
Agayne wolde he not goo.

The author then briefly tells of Robin Hood’s death, how he was beguiled by the ‘pryoresse of Kyrkesly, that nye was of hys kynne.’

For the love of a knyght,
Syr Roger of Donkesly,
That was her owne speciall:
Full evyll mote they the!

Feeling ill, Robin Hood visits Kirklees to be let blood by his relative, the Prioress of Kirklees.

Syr Roger of Donkestere,
By the pryoresse he lay,
And there they betrayed good Robyn Hode,
Through theyr false playe.

Cryst have mercy on his soule,
That dyed on the rode !
For he was a good outlawe,
And dyde pore men moch god.

This glimpse of Robin Hood, in one of the earliest surviving ballads, throws up more questions than answers. There is no Maid Marian or Friar Tuck. Barnsdale Forest in Yorkshire, seems to be the home of the outlaws and places like the Sayles, St Mary’s Abbey and Doncaster are clearly defined.

Although Nottingham is mentioned, the name of Sherwood Forest, Robin’s traditional home does not appear in the text. When Little John, Much and Scathelok are sent up to the Saylis to watch Watling Street and look into Barnsdale– clearly placing the activity in Yorkshire –they are told by Robin to ‘hold the High Sheriff of Nottingham’ in their mind, - this is a strong indication of how different ballads have been meshed together by the author to form the ‘Geste.’. The Sheriff of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire had no jurisdiction over Yorkshire. Another examples of this can be seen by the knight, who up until the fifth fytte is known only as ‘gentyll’, then suddenly he acquires the name ‘Syr Rychard at the Lee.’

Robin Hood is described as a proud, courteous, ‘yeoman,’ (a rank below knights and squires) who will not dine until he has a new guest, which seems to be a humorous imitation of the knightly tales of King Arthur and his Round Table.

The king mentioned in the 'Geste' is not Richard the Lionheart the monarch of modern day productions, but 'Edwarde, our kynge' and Robin’s devotion to ‘Oure Dere Lady’ (the Virgin Mary) is emphasised throughout this epic saga. Her ‘miracle’ is a major element of the story and this theme, a feature of the Roman Catholic Church, known as ‘the Marian Cult’, reached its peak in Western Europe during the eleventh and twelfth centuries.

Apart from four other surviving ballads and a couple of fragmentary plays, ( that we shall look at later) this epic poem is about as close as we can possibly get to the ‘original’ medieval legend of Robin Hood. His ancestry, and why he was outlawed are not explained, but his popularity would jettison him in various forms, right into the twenty-first century.


© Clement of the Glen 2006-2007

Little John

‘Robyn stode in Bernesdale
And lenyed hym to a tre,
And bi hym stode Litell Johnn,
A gode yeman was he.’

This is from the opening stanza of the ‘Gest of Robyn Hode (c.1400) and Little John appears as Robin’s right-hand man and faithful companion in all the very earliest surviving ballads. A play called ‘Robin Hood and Little John’, was registered in 1594 but sadly has not survived. Very little else is known about him. In the later tradition he is portrayed as a giant of a man, (in the broadside ballad of about 1650 he is described as being ‘seven foot high’) but there are no clues in the stories to his true identity. It is not even sure if the name ‘Little John’ was an alias.

During the 1620’s the Antiquarian Roger Dodsworth (1585-1624) mentioned the local tradition that a Little John was buried in the Peak District, at Hathersage in Derbyshire.

The modern gravestones replace what Elias Ashmole (1617-1692) had seen when writing in the late seventeenth century:

“The famous Little John lyes buried in Hathersage Church yard within 3 miles fro Castleton, in High Peake, with one Stone set up at his head, and another at his Feete, but a large distance betweene them. They say a part of his bow hangs in the said Church. Neere Grindleford Bridge are Robin Hood 2 pricks."

The bow was recorded as being made of spliced yew, 79in long (about 2 meters), tipped with horn, weighing 21lb and requiring a pull of 160ilbs to draw it. The bow and a cuirass of chainmail both said to have belonged to Little John were hung in Hathersage church chancel for many years, until they were removed by a William Spencer in 1729 and taken to Canon Hall near Barnsley in Yorkshire for better security. The cuirass was later lost!

In about 1950 a Mr. H. C. Haldane was photographed holding ‘Little John’s Bow’ outside Canon Hall in Barnsley. By this time the horn tips were missing and the ends were broken off. Engraved on the bow grip is the name of a Colonel Naylor, who shot an arrow from it at Cannon Hall in 1715.

Originally 'Little Johm’s Grave’ had been marked by a head and foot stone, both marked with the initials ‘I.L.’ as described by E. Hargrave in his ‘Anecdotes of Archery’ in 1792.

The grave was excavated by a Captain James Shuttleworth (d.1826) in 1784 and it is reported that he discovered a thigh bone of ‘twenty eight and a half inches long’ (71.25cm). This would make the person in the grave originally about eight feet tall!

A local story says: ‘James Shuttleworth took the bone to Cannon Hall to show his cousin. The two men then exhibited to an old huntsman who shook his head and told them that, ‘no good will come to either of ye, so long as ye keep dead men’s bones above ground.’ The huntsman was called Hinchcliffe who measured the bone and said the exact length was 28 1/2 inches.

James Shuttleworth took the bone back to Hathersage and hung it above his bed. After a series of accidents a nurse told him the same as the old huntsman, that he would never have luck as long as he kept dead men's bones out of their graves. So James sent the bone back to the Sexton with an order to put it back into the grave. But instead he displayed it in his window and charged sixpence for viewing. But one day a William Strickland, passing through Hathersage carried off the bone, on the pre-text of showing a friend, much to the dismay of the Sexton. He returned it to Canon Hall and buried it under a tree, it was lost forever.’

In 1847 the antiquary, Dr Spencer Hall, visited the last occupant of ‘Little John’s Cottage’ at Hathersage, Jenny Shard. She could recall the enormous thigh bone being brought into the cottage and being measured on her fathers tailoring board. Her father, she said, told her that Little John had died in that cottage and that he could trace it back as being Little John’s for ‘two hundred years’. Although Elias Ashmole only records a grave and a bow belonging to Little John at Hathersage. But the tradition remained prevalent and in 1876 a Dr Charles Cox , in his churches of Derbyshire wrote:

‘On the whole the evidence warrants us in assuming that a portion of the weapons and accoutrements peculiar to a forester were hung up in a church, that the said forester (both from the bow and the grave) was of exceptional stature, that both weapons and grave were popularly assigned to Little John more than 200 years ago, and that the said weapons must have belonged to a man of extraordinary fame or they would not have found such a resting place. This being the case, the opponents of the accuracy of the tradition seem to have far more difficulties with which to contend than those who accept it.’

In 1929 the ‘Ancient Order of Foresters’ repaired Little John’s traditional grave at Hathersage with two new stones, one at the head the other at the foot, 13 ft. 4ins apart. On the headstone it reads:
‘Here lies Little John the friend and lieutenant of Robin Hood.’

Scotland and Ireland also have traditions connected to Little John’s final days. In ‘Life in Old Dublin’ by James Collins, printed in 1913 we have : ‘poor Little John’s great practical skill in archery could not save him from an ignominious fate; as it appears from the records of the Southwell family he was publicly executed for robbery on Arbour Hill.'

Earlier in 1908 Reverend Cosgrave wrote:

‘To the west of this very old road lies Arbour Hill, famous for its memories of Robin Hood’s gigantic lieutenant humoursly called Little John’.

But Richard Stanyhurst (1547-1618) relates in ‘Holinshed’s Chronicle’ (1577) that Little John stayed a few days in Dublin after Robin Hood’s death then fled to Scotland. The chronicler Hector Boece concurs with:

'In Murray land,' says Hector Boece, 'is the Kirke of Pette, quhare the bones of Litell Johne remainis in gret admiration of pepill. He hes bene fourtene feet of hicht, with squaire membres effering thairto. Six yeirs afore the coming of this work to licht (1520) we saw his henche bane, as meikle as the haill banes of ane manne; for we schot our arme into the mouthe thairof; be quhilk appeirs how strang and squaire pepill greu in oure regeoun afore thay were effeminat with lust and intemperance of mouthe.'

The information gleaned from all these accounts seem mercurial.

In one of the earliest Robin Hood ballads, ‘A Geste of Robyn Hode’ (c.1400) the Sheriff, impressed with Little John’s archery, asks him his name and where he was born, Little John replies

‘In Holderness, sir I was borne,
I wys al of my dame;
Men cal me Reynolde Grenelef
Whan I am at home.’


Holderness is an area around Beverley near Hull. Between 1318 and 1330 Sir Henry de Faucumberg like many of the Sheriff’s of the time, had been very unpopular and had many complaints of extortion and false imprisonment levied against him. Faucumberg was born in Holderness and is one of only two men to have been both Sheriff of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire, and Sheriff of Yorkshire between 1250-1350.

In May 1323 the Archbishop of York, William de Melton describes a gang, including a ‘Little John’, that had stolen deer from his park in Beverley. Five years earlier a house owned by a Simon of Wakefield was broken into by ‘John le Litel’ and £138 was stolen. Could these two ‘Little John’s’ be one and the same person and be the original Little John?

Or could the legend have started around the life of John Petit (Little), King’s Mariner recorded between 1322-1325, who eventually found himself locked up in the Tower Of London?


© Clement of the Glen 2006-2007

Quarter- Staff

In the Disney live-action film and many other versions of the legend, Robin Hood engages with Little John in a quarter-staff fight on a narrow bridge (or a log) over a river. It is doubtful whether the tale about this duel is of medieval origin as the earliest evidence suggests the story was composed by a professional ballad writer and entered in the Stationers’ Registers as ‘Robin Hood and Little John’ on 29 June 1624.
In stanza 12 and 13 from the ballad we have:

Then Robin Hood stept to a thicket of trees,
And chose him a staff of ground oak;
Now this being done, away he did run
To the stranger, and merrily spoke:

Lo! See my staff is lusty and tough,
Now here on this bridge we will play;
Whoever falls in, the other shall win
The battle, and so we’ll away.

The popular old English quarter staff can trace its history right back to the very early martial arts of Asia and many other ancient cultures around the world. Simple to manufacture, the stout pole was usually between five and eight feet in length (sometimes with weighted tips, metal spikes or caps on the ends) and proved to be a popular weapon in the combat sports and summer games held during the early Middle Ages and again in Tudor times. It was an effective weapon due to its ease of use and long reach.

Dr Johnson (1709-1784) described the quarter staff thus: “A staff of defence, so called, I believe, from the manner of using it; one hand being placed in the middle, and the other equally between the end and the middle.”

The sport was a favourite in country districts and was also taught in the schools of defence which existed in many towns. Made from various woods, including Oak, Ash, Hawthorn, Maple and later Bamboo, the art of wielding them needed a good deal of strength, dexterity and skill and also good coordination between eye, body and hand. When attacking, the latter hand shifted from one quarter of the staff to the other, giving the weapon a rapid circular motion, which brought the ends to bear on the adversary at unexpected points. Sometimes it was thrust like a spear or used in the form of a club.

In stanzas 17 and 18 from the ballad ‘Robin Hood and Little John’ we have:

The stranger gave Robin a crack on the crown,
Which caused the blood to appear;
Then Robin, enrag’d, more fiercely engag’d,
And follow’d his blows more severe.

So thick and so fast did he lay it on him,
With a passionate fury and ire,
At every stroke, he made him to smoke,
As if he had been all on fire.


Because of its use as a ‘less than lethal weapon’ in sporting pastimes, may have given rise to the common term, ‘giving quarter’.


© Clement of the Glen

Robin Hood History: The Sloane Manuscript

We recently looked at Piers Plowman, by William Langland, the first reference to Robin Hood in English literature in about 1377.

The earliest surviving attempt to record the career of Robin Hood, exists on five and half pages within a volume of documents in the British Library dating from about 1600 known as The Sloane Manuscript or The Sloane Life (fos.46-48v). Sadly for those searching for clues to the existence of an historical Robin Hood it is a disappointment. Written in a small, crude hand, this ‘Life’ sadly is nothing more than a compilation of ingredients taken from popular ballads, folk plays and tradition about the outlaw, showing that material even by this time was limited. It also appears to be a copy of an older document, constructed before Robin’s gentrification by the later Elizabethan playwrights.


The text below of the Sloane Manuscript is taken from A Lytell Geste of Robin Hode with other Ancient & Modern Songs relating to this Celebrated Yeoman edited by John Mathew Gutch (1847):


"Robin Hood was borne at Lockesley, in Yorkeshire, or after others, in Notinghamshire, in the days of Henry the second, about the yeare 1160; but lyued tyll the latter end of Richard the Fyrst. He was of wo[ ? ] parentage, but was so riotous, that he lost or sould his patrimony, and for debt became an outlawe; then ioyning to him many stout fellows of like disposicioun, amongst whome one called Little John was principal, or next to him. They hainted about Barnsdale forrest, Clomptoun parke, and other such places. They vsed most of al shooting, wherin they all excelled all the men of the land, though, as occation required, they had al so other weapons.

One of his first exploits was the goyng abrode into a forrest, and bearing with him a bowe of exceeding great strength. He fell into company with certayne rangers, or woodmen, who fell to quarrel with him, as making showe to vse such a bowe as no man was able to shoote with all; whereto Robin replyed, that he had two better then that at lockesley, only he bare thot with him nowe as a byrding bowe. At length the contentioun grewe so hote, that there was a wager layd about the kylling of a deer a great distance of; for performance whereof, Robin offered to lay his head to a certayne soume of money. Of the advantage of which rash speech, the others presently tooke. So the marke being found out, one of them, they were both to make his hart faint, and hand vnsteady, as he was about to shoote, urged him with the losse of his head if he myst the marke. Notwithstanding, Robin kyld the deare, and gaue every man his money agayne saue to him which at the point of shooting so vpbrayed him with danger to loose his head. For that money, he sayd, they would drinke together, and herevpon the other stomached the matter; and from quarrelling they grewe to fighting with him.

But Robin, getting him somewhat off with shooting, dispact them, and so fled away; and then betaking him selfe to lieu in the woods by such booty as he could get, his company encreast to an hundred and a halfe; and in those dayes, whether they were favord, or how so ever, they were counted invincible. Wheresoever he hard of any that were of vnvsual strength and hardynes, he would disgyse him selfe, and rather than fayle go lyke a beggar, to become acqueynted with them; and after he had tried them with fighting, never giue them over tyl he had vsed means to drawe them to lyve after his fashion.

After such manner he procured the pynder of Wakefeyld to become one of his company, and a freyer, called Muchel, though some say he was an other kind of religious man, for that the order of fryers was not yet sprung up; Scarlock, he induced, upon this occacion: one day meting him, as he walked solitary, and lyke to a man forlorne, because a mayd to whom he was affianced was taken from by the violence of her friends, and giuen to another that was auld and welthy. Whervpon Robin, vnderstanding when the maryage-day should be, came to the church, as a beggar, and having his company not far of, which came in so sone as they hard the sound of his horne, he toking, the bride perforce from him that was in hand to have maryed her, and caused the preist to wed her and Scarlocke together.

Amongst other that greatly freinded him, was Sir Richard Lee, a knight of Lancashire, lord of [..rso.. castle]; and that first vpon this occation, it was the manner of Robin and his retinue to lyue by thieving and robbing, though yet he were somewhat religiously affected, and not without superstition. But of al seynts, he most honored the Virgin Mary; so that if any, for her sake, asked ought of him, he wold perform it, if possibly hecould; neither would he suffer any that belonged vnto him to violate women, poremen, or any of husbandry. Al theyr attempts were chiefly against fat prelates and religious persons, and howses fryers; and he is commended of John Major for the prince of al theyuse and robbers, &c.

Nowe, once it happened him to send little John Scarlocke and Muchel to the sayles vpon Watling streets, to meete with some booty they wanted, when any prey came to theyr hands to leade them into the wood to their habitacion, as if they would vse some hospitality; but after they had eate, would make them pay deerely for theyr cates, by stripping them of such things as they had. So they dealt with Sir Richard Lee, leading to their manor, who made him the best cheare they had; and when Sir Richard would have departed only with giving the thanks, Robin tould him it was not his manner to dyne any where but he payd for such things as he tooke, and so should others do to him ere they
parted, and it were, as he sayd, no good manners to refuse such doing. The knight tould him he had but Xs., which he ment should have borne his charges at Blyth, or Doncaster; and if he had none, it fared ful yl with him at the tyme to parte from it, onely he promised, as he should be able, to requite his curtesy with the lyke. But Robin, not so contented, caused him to be searcht, and found no more but what the knight had told him of; wherevpon he commended his true dealing, and enquired further touching the cause of his sadness and bareness. The knight tould him then of his state and his ancestry, and how his sonne and Hayre, falling at varinge with a knight in Lancashire, slewe him in the feild, for which, and some other such lyke exployts, being in danger to loose his lyfe, the knight, to procure his deliverance, had been at great charges, and even lastly dryven to pawn his castle and lyving to the abbot of St. Maryes, at Yorke, for 400lj; and the cheife justice so dealt with the abbot for his state, or interest therein, that being lyke to forfeyt his lyving for lacke of money to redeeme it at the day appointed, he despaired now of al recovery.

Robin then, pittying his case, gave him 400lj, which was parte of such bootyes as they had gorged, and surety for payment againe within a tweluemont was our Lady. They also furnysht him with apparel, out of which he was worne quyte, and therefore, for very shamement, shortly to have past over the seas, and to spend the rest of his lyfe, as a mournful pylgrime, in going to Jerusalem, &c.; but being now enlightned, he despaired iust as his day appointed to ye abbot, which where the cheife in the shire conversed, accounting al knights lands saued to themselues; and the knight, to try theyr charity, made shewe as if he wanted money to pay the debt, and when he found no token of compassion, left them the money and recovered his land, for which that payment were made he offred to ferme (farm) the abbot thereby.

Now, ere the twelvemonth was expired, Sir Richard provided the 400lj, and a hundred shefe of good arrows, which he ment to bestowe on Robin Hood; and encountering on the way certayne people that were wrestling for a great wager, he stood still to see the event of the matter. So there was a yeman that prevailed, but the other people enuying it, and the rather because he was but pore and alone, accorded among them…to oppress him with wrongs; that the knight took his parte, and rescued him, and at parting gaue him 5 marks.

Nowe it befell, that neere to Nottingham al the cheifest archers had apoynted a day of shooting for some great wager, the Sherife him selfe being appointed to see the game. Nowe that Sheriffe was a fel adversary to Robin and his company, and he againe of them so lesse maligned; therefore, to see into al matters, Little John was sent, in disguysed manner, to go shoote amongst them, where he sped him so wel, that the Shyryfe iudged him to be the best archer; and so importuned him to be his man, that Little John went home with him, under the name of Raynold Greenlefe, and telling him he was bornen Holdernesse.

So Little John watched al advantages to do his master some myscheufe; and, understanding where he used to go hunting, by some means procured his master Robin Hood, and his retinue, to be in redynes ther about. So one day, the Shyryfe and al his people bin gone hunting, Little John, of purpose, kept behinde, and lay a bed as somewhat sicke; but was no sooner gat vp enquired for his dynner of the steward, which, with curse words, denyed him vituals tyl his master were come home; wherevpon Little John beate him downe, and entred the buttry. The cook being a very stout fellowe, fought with him a long tyme, and at length accorded to goe with him to the forrest. So they two ryfled the howse, tooke away al the Shyryfe’s treasure and best thinges, and conveyed it to Robin Hood; and then Little John repaired to the Shyryfe, who, in his hunting, doubted no such matter, but toke him for one of his company; wherevpon Little John tould him he had seen the goodlyest heard of deere that was in the forrest, not far of seven score in a company, which he could bring him to. The Sheryfe, glad to heare of so strange a matter, went with him, tyl he came where the danger of Robin Hood and his company, who led him to their habitacion, …….and there serued him with his own plate, and other thinges, that Little John and the cook had brought away. So that night they made him ly on the ground, after theyr owne manner, wrapt in a green mantel, and the next day sent him away, after they had taken an oath of him never to pursve them, but the best he could to serue them; but the Shyrfte afterward made no more account of the othe then was meete yt.

After this, Little John, Scarlocke, and others, were sent forth to meet with some company, if they were pore to helpe them with some such thinges as they had; if rytch, to handle them as they sawe occasion. So, vppon the way near Barensdale, they met with 2 Blacke monkes, wel horsed, and accompanied with 50 persons. Nowe, because Robin, their master, had our Lady in great reverence
when any booty came to theyr hand, they would say our Lady sent them theyr; wherefore, when Little John sawe that company, hevsed such proverbe to his fellows, encouraging them to encounter; and coming to the monkes, he tould them, that though they were but 3, they durst never see theyr master agayne, but if they brought them to dinner with him; and whom the monke keape of, little John begged to speake reproachfully for making his master stay dinner so long; whervpon, when the monkes enquired for his master’s name, and Little John tould him it was Robin Hood, the monke angerly replyde, he was an arrant thief, of whom he never hard good; Little John replyde as contumeliously, saying, he was a yeoman of the forrest, and bad him to dynner; so the grewe from wordes to strokes, tyl they had kyled al but one or two, which they led, perforce, to theyr master, who saluted them lowely; but the monke, being stout-hearted, did not the lyke to his. Then Robin blewe his horn, and his retinue came in; they al went to dynner, and after that, Robin asked him of what abbey he was, who tould hime he was of St. Mary.

Now it was to the same to whose abbat the knight ought the 400lj which Robin lent him to redeeme his landes with, al which Robin perceiving, begone t iest, that he marvayled our Lady had not sent him yet his pay which she was surety for betwixt a knight and him. Have no care, master, sayd Little John; you need not to say this monk hath brought it, I dare wel swere, for he is of her abbey. So Robin called for wyne, and drank to him, and prayed him to let him see if he had brought him the money. The monke swore he had never hard speech of such covenant before. But Robin bare him downe: he desembled, seing he knewe both Christ and his mother were so iust, and confessing him selfe to be theyr every dayes servant and messenger, must needs have it, and therefore thanked him for coming so at his day. The monke stil denying, Robin asked howe much money he had about him; but twenty marks, sayd the monke. Then sayd Robin, if we fynd more, we will take it as of our Ladyes sending, but wil not of that which is thy owne spending money.

So Little John was sent to serch his bagges, and found about 800lj, which he related to his master, telling him with al, that our Lady had dobled his payment. Yea, I tould thee, monke, sayd Robin, what a trusty woman she is; so he called for wyne, and dranke to the monke, bidding him commend him to our Lady, and if she had need of Robin Hood, she would fynd him thankeful for so lib’ral dealing. Then they searcht the lode of another horse, wherefore the monke tould him that was curtesy to bid a man to dynner, and beate and bynd him; and it is our manner sayd Robin, to leave but a little behind, so the monke made hast to be gone, and sayd he might have dyned as good cheape at Blyth, or Doncastre. And Robin called to him as he was going, and bad him greete wel his abbot, and the rest of their convent, and wysh them to sende hym suche a monke ech day to dynner. Then shortly came the knight to keepe his day; and after salutacions, was about to pay him his money, beside xx marks for his curtesy; but Robin gave it him agayne, telling him howe our Lady had sent him, that, and more, by the abbey’s cellarer, and it were to him a shame to be twyse payd; but the bowes and arrows he accepted, for which he gave him at parting other 400lj.

Nowe the Shyriffe of Nottingham, to drawe out Robin Hood, made to be proclaimed a day of shooting for the silver arrowe, wherto Robin boldely, with al his trayne, repaired, appointing but 6 of his company to shooting with him, al the rest to stand apoynted to f.f.g…d (safeguard?) him; so Little John, Mychel, Scarlock, Gylbert, and Reynold, shot; but Robin won the prise from al, whervpon the Shyryfe and his company began to quarrel, and after, they came to fighting so long tyl Robin and his complices had destroyed the Sheryfe’s trayne, for the most parte, in the conflict. Little John was sore wounded with an arrow in the knee, and being not able to goe, requested his master to slay him, and not suffer him to come into the Shyrftefe’s handes. Robin avoucht he would not lose him for al England, wherefore Mychel was appointed to beare him away on his back; and with much labor, and oft resting, he brought him to Sir Richard Lees castle, whether also, after the broyle, repaired Robin himself, and the rest of his company, where they were gladly received and defended against the Sheryffe, who presently raysed the country, and besieged the castle, who vtterly refused to yield any there tyl he knew the kyng mynd.

Then the Sheriffe went to London, and informed the kyng of al the matter, who dispatched the Shyryffe backe to levy a power of men in that country, telling him, that within a fortnight after, he him selfe would be at Nottingham to determine of that matter. In the mean whyle, Little John being cured of his hurt, they al got them to the forest agayne. When the Sheriffe hard therof he was much agreyed, and sought by al means to app’hend Sir Richard Lee for defynding them, and watching his tyme at vnwares, he surprised him, with a power of men, as he was at hawking, and went to put him in ward at Nottingham, and hang him, wherefore the knightes lady rode in al hast, to Robin, and
him intelligence of her lordes distress, who, in al Haste, pursued by the Sheryfe, and overtaking him at Nottingham, with an arrowe slewe him, and …….if his head, enquiring what message he brought from the kyng, objecting that breach of promise he had made to them in the forest. Once after that they overthrewe the Sheryfe, returned and loosed the knyghte out of his bondes, and furnishing him with weapons, tooke him with them to the forest, entending to vse what means they could to procure the kynge’s pardon, who presently, herevpon, came to Nottingham with a great retinue, and vnderstanding of the matter, seysed the knyghte lyving into his hande; and surweying al the forrestes in Lancashire, he came to Ploutu parke, and fynding al the deare destroyed , he was marvaylous wroth, seeking about Robin Hood, and making proclamation, that who so could bring him Sir Richard Lees head, should have all his land.

So the kyng stayed about Nottingham halfe a yeare, and could not heare of Robin, tyl being advised what a hard hand he bare against religious persons, he got him into a monke’s weed, and with a small company, went as a traveler on the way wher he thought Robin made abode, who espying them with their male horse, take hold of the kynge’s horse, making showe as he toke him for an abbot, and began to enquire after some spending; but the kyng excused the matter, telling him howe he had lyen at Nottingham, at great charges a fortnight, and had left him but 40lj. So Robin toke that, and having devyded it amongst his men, gave the kyng parte againe, who semed to take it in good parte, and then puld out the fyng’s brode seale, and tould him howe the kyng did greet him wel, and charged him to come to Nottingham; whervpon Robin kneeled downe and thanked the abbot, for he pretended to think him none other, for bringing such a message from him that he loved most dearly of al men, and tould him, that for his labor he should go dyne with him;so being brought to the place of theyr abode, Robin blewe his horne, and al his company came, al a hoste obedient to their master. The kyng marvayled, which Robin perceyvine dyd him selfe, with his best men, serue the kyng at meete, of welcoming him for the kyng’s sake, as he sayd.

Then he showed him the course of theyr lyues, and skyl in shooting, that he might enforme the kyng therof, and in shooting proposed this penalty to him that shot one of the garland, that the abbot should give hym a good buffet, and for the nonce made himselfe to forfayt; and when the abbot refused to stryke him, saying, it fel not for his order, but Robin would not cease tyl he made him smyte him soundly that he fel to the ground, for which Robin commended him; but Robin him selfe stroke his men as they fayled afterward. Robin discovered howe he perceived it was the kyng, and to geyther with Sir Richard and his men, kneeled downe and asked forgiueness, which the kyng graunted upon condicion he would be fore him at the court.

So Robin arrayed the kyng and his company with mantels of Lyncolne greene, and went with them to Nottingham, the kyng seeming also to be one of the outlawes, and the th…d the kyng for shooting together for buffits. Robin oft boxt the king, and people suspecting they should be destroyed by Robin and his company ran away, tyl the kyng discovered him selfe, and comforted them, and then ech one was fayne. Then was a great feast for al people; and Sir Richard and his lady restored, for which Robin gave the kyng humble thanks. Then Robin dwelt in the court a yeare, tyl with lavish spending, he had nothing left to mayntayn him selfe and his men, and thereof. All were departed from him but Little John and Scarlocke; and, on a tyme, seeing youngsters shooting, it come to his mynd howe he was alienated from that exercise, for which he was very greyued, and cast in his mynd howe to get away; wherefore he devised to tell the kyng howe he had erected a chapel, in Barnsdale, of Mary Magdalen, and bene sore troubled in dreaming about it, and therefore craved liberty to go a pilgrimage thither barefoot. So the kyng gaue him a week respite for goying and coming; but Robin being come thither, assembled his awld trayne, and never returned backe to the court.

After which tyme he continued that course of lyfe about XX years, tyl, distempered with could and age, he had great payne in his lymes, his bloud being corrupted; therefore, to be eased of his payne, by letting blud, he repaired to the priores of Kyrkesley, which some say was his aunt, a woman very skylful in physique and surgery; who, perceiving him to be Robin Hood, and way’ing howe fel an enemy he was to religious persons, toke reveng of him for her owne howse, and al others, by letting him bleed to death; and she buryed him vnder a greate stone, by the hy way’es side. It is also sayd, that one Sir Roger of Dancastre, bearing grudge to Robin for some injury, incited the prioress, with whom he was very familiar, in such manner to dispatch him, and then al his company was soone dispersed. The place of Little John’s burial is to this the celebro. For yielding of excellent whetstones.

FINIS."

© Clement of the Glen 2006-2007

Roll Of High Sheriff's of Nottinghamshire And Derbyshire

Nottinghamshire ran under the same Shrievalty with Derbyshire until the 10th year of the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. Below is a tentative list of those early Sheriff’s compiled from existing medieval documents.



1157: Sir Robert Fitz Ranulph

1170: William Fitz Ranulph

1189: Ralph Murdoc

1195: William Brewer

1204-8: Robert de Vieuxpont

1208-9: Gerard De Athee

1209: Philip Marc

1224: Ralph Fitz Nicholas

1233: (April) Eustace of Lowdham

1233: (October) Simon De Hedon

1235: Robert De Vavasour

1236: Hugh Fitz Ralph

1240: Robert De Vavasour

1255: Sir Walter De Eastwood

1255: (May) Roger De Lovetot

1258: Simon De Hedon

1260: Simon De Asselacton (Aslockton)

1264: John De Grey

1265: Reginald De Grey

1266: Hugh De Stapleford

1267: Simon De Hedon

1267: (Michaelmas) Gerard De Hedon/Hugh De Stapleford

1268: Hugh De Stapelford

1270: Walter Archbishop of York

1271: Hugh De Babinton (Under Sheriff to Walter, Archbishop of York)

1271: (Michaelmass) Walter Archbishop of York

1274: Walter De Stirkelegh

1278: Reginald De Grey

1278: (Michaelmass) Gervasse De Willesford

1285: John De Anesle

1290: Gervase De Clifton

1290: (Michaelmas) William De Chaddewich

1318: Henry De Faucumberg

1319: John Darcy

1323: Henry De Faucumberg

1327: Robert De Ingram

1329: Henry Faucumberg/ Edmund De Cressy

1330: John Bret

© Clement of the Glen 2006-2007

Sherwood the Royal Forest

Robyn hod in scherewod stod, hodud and hathud and hosut and schod
Four and thuynti arowus he bar in hits hondus.


This rhyme is scribbled in a manuscript from Lincoln Cathedral dated about 1410 and it is Sherwood Forest that is the backdrop to nearly all modern day productions of the Robin Hood legend. On a summer weekend approximately 40,000 tourists visit the remnants of what is now left of the most famous forest in the world, where, once amongst those beautiful woodland glades, its hard not to believe Robin Hood existed. But what was the medieval Sherwood Forest like?

In 1218 Henry III instructed a jury of knights and free men to set out and define the boundaries of Sherwood Forest. Its northern boundary was marked by the River Meden, twenty miles from Nottingham. From east to west it varied between seven and nine miles wide. From the River Trent between Gunthorpe and Wilford in the South, to Worksop and the River Meden in the North; from the Leen valley in the west to the Dover Beck in the East. The forest was roughly triangular in shape and occasionally there were slight changes to its boundaries, but during the thirteenth century it covered about 19,000 acres, (7,800 hectares) approximately a fifth of Nottinghamshire. Imagine the bird song! The name suggests ‘wood belonging to the shire’ and from ancient times Sciryuda, as it originally was called, had been divided; one part known as Thorneywood the other High Forest. The bounds of the Royal Forest of Sherwood were regularly perambulated.

Sherwood’s soil was sandy and infertile, consequently the trees, mainly of Birch and Oak grew to girth rather then height. It was this infertility that accounted for its survival as woodland. It did consist of areas of deep forest, but there were also large areas of pastureland and heath like Ashdown Forest in Sussex. But because of its red deer and its strategic position in the North Midlands, Sherwood was immediately afforested soon after the Norman Conquest and William I enforced the Laws of the Forest ruthlessly with savage penalties:


“Whoever shall kill a stag, a wild boar, or even
A hare, shall have his eyes torn out.”*


*Henry of Huntingdon (1137-1147)

Sherwood was a Royal Forest (Royal Forest covered one fifth of the land area of England at this time) and like many others it had its own laws, not based upon common law, ‘but solely on the kings will’. Richard Fitz Nigel in the Dialogus describes these laws, not based upon the common law of the realm,

“…..but upon the arbitrary decree of the king; so that what is done in
accordance with the forest law may be termed not ‘absolutely’ just but
‘just according to the law of the forest’.
The forest also are the sanctuaries of kings and their chief delight.
Thither they repair to hunt, their cares laid aside, in order to refresh
themselves for a short while.
There, renouncing the arduous, but natural turmoil of the
court, they breath the pure air of freedom for a little space; and that is why
those who transgress the laws of the forest are subject solely to
the royal jurisdiction.”

The term forest that we use today, did not necessarily mean an area of densely wooded land during the medieval period. Royal Forests usually included large segregated areas of wetland, heath or grassland, anywhere that was a safe refuge for the royal game, such as stags, harts and boars. In 1184, Henry I’s Assize of Woodstock was the first official act of legislation relating wholly to the Royal Forest. Forest offences would henceforth be punished not just by fines but by full justice as exacted by Henry I. No person shall have a bow, arrows or dogs within the Royal Forests. Dogs living near the forest had to be clipped, to prevent them from hunting. In each county with a Royal Forest there shall be chosen twelve knights to keep the venison and the vert. The twelfth chapter recommended the death penalty only for the third offence. There were two seasons for the royal hunting of the deer, November to February and June to September. But Summer was the best season when the deer was fat (or in grease).



It was the chief forester who had the responsibility of preserving the laws of the royal forest and in the twelfth and early thirteenth centuries members of the distrusted and disliked Neville family held this post. The chief forester travelled the country holding forest eyres, or courts, in the different counties. From 1239 his job was divided and two justices were appointed, one for the forests north of the River Trent, one for those south. Sherwood’s forest courts during the early medieval period, were originally held at Mansfield where, between 1263-87 the average cases for trespass of venison were about eight a year. Illegal hunting was either quite small or, probably the efficiency of the foresters and verderers was poor!

At the king’s command, the chief forester protected the beasts of the forest, the red and fallow deer, the roe and wild boar. He earned a shilling a day and was permitted to have a bow bearer. Although the early Robin Hood ballads are deficient of any references to medieval forest law and its wardens, there does seem to be two allusions to this practice.

In stanza 9 of Robin Hood and the Monk, Robin Hood says:

But Litull John shall beyre my bow,
Til that me list* to drawe.

*that me list=it pleases me

And stanza 5 of Robin Hoode his Death:

And Litle John shall be my man,
And beare my benbow by my side.

Below the chief forester came the wardens, then the verderers. But maintenance of the forest and its game was the task of the ordinary, riding and walking foresters.


On Palm Sunday 1194, Richard I , whilst staying in Nottingham rode off into Sherwood Forest to enjoy two days at the royal hunting lodge at Clipstone.

On the 3rd March, Richard King of England set out to see Clipstone and the forest of Sherwood, which he had never seen before and it pleased him much and he returned to Nottingham.

John Manwood (?-1610) a gamekeeper, forest justice and writer during the reign of Elizabeth I, is said to have found, in a tower of Nottingham Castle, an aunciente recorde which he included in his Forest Laws in 1598:

In anno domini King Richard being a hunting in the forest of Sherwood did chase a hart out of the forest of Sherwood into Barnsdale, in Yorkshire, and because he could there recover him, he made proclamation at Tickill and diverse other places that no other person should kill, hurt or chase the said hart, but that he might safely return into the forest again, which hart was afterwards called a hart-royal proclaimed.



Clipstone became the principal royal hunting lodge in Sherwood Forest and was later known as King John’s Palace. It was probably built in 1160 and eventually spread over an area of at least two acres. In the first year of his reign, King John took up residence here and by the fourteenth century it had been extended to include a number of chambers, Kitchen, King’s Kitchen, Great Hall, Queen’s Hall, Great Chamber, Great Gateway, Long Stable etc. Part of it still stands today. During this time all the English kings hunted there, Henry II at least twice, Richard I once, John six times and Henry III made three visits. Between the reigns of the three Edwards, the royal hunting in Sherwood reached its peak. With five visits from Edward I, his son Edward II came six times and Edward III was the most frequent visitor with nine visits. But alas, no document survives of any of these kings meeting Robin Hood in the royal forest!

After Richard’s coronation, Prince John received Clipstone and Sherwood Forest, which was formerly part of the old estates of William Peveril. At the time of the Norman Conquest, Peveril had been granted extensive properties in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire, including the High Peak and Sherwood Forest. But in 1155 the possessions of this family were forfeited to the crown and were administered on behalf of the monarch, by the High Sheriff of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire.

Between 1212 and 1217 the notorious Philip Marc, High Sheriff of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire, had custody of Sherwood Forest. Marc came from Touraine, just south of Loire and together with Gerard De Athee, Brian De Lisle, Robert De Vieuxpont and others, became part of King John’s hated newly imported foreign agents. He was later condemned like others in Magna Carta, but was never removed from his position as High Sheriff of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire and Constable of Nottingham Castle. The protection racket passed down from Philip Marc and the successive Sheriff’s of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire was not stopped until 1265.

One of the well documented criminal bands that terrorised Nottinghamshire and hid out in Sherwood Forest from 1328-1332 were the Coterel gang. Their leader James Coterel was said to have recruited twenty members of his outlaw band from Sherwood Forest and the Peak District. It was said, he and his brothers rode armed, publicly and secretly, in manner of war, by day and night and committed acts of murder, rape and extortion. But la compagnie sauvage, as the gang members were referred to, also served in Edward III’s wars against the French and Scots and some even later served in the government!

In 1328 John, James and Nicholas Coterel with their gang, robbed Bakewell Church of ten shillings. Sixty inhabitants of Bakewell were accused of aiding and abetting them. Two years later it is recorded that Sir William Knyveton and John Matkynson were murdered by the Coterel brothers who, by that time had links with another equally murderous and violent outlaw band, the Folville brothers of Leicestershire.

Members of the Coterel brother’s gang included an Oxford don, bailiffs, chaplains, vicars a knight, a soldier, and a counterfeiter. An ally of this infamous band of outlaws, was none other than Sir Robert Ingram, High Sheriff of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire.

Sherwood Forest

The Sheriff of Nottingham

Who can tell truly,
How cruel Sheriff’s are?
Of their hardness to poor people,
No tale can go too far.
If a man cannot pay,
They drag him here and there.
They put him on assizes,
The jurors oath to swear.
He dares not breath a murmur,
Or has to pay again.
And the saltness of the sea,
Is less bitter than his pain.

In Walt Disney’s Story of Robin Hood, the Sheriff of Nottingham was played by Peter Finch who, as part of a long line of famous actors in that role, brought a snide threat, to the villainous character. But what was the real Sheriff of Nottingham like?

In fact the first Sheriff of Nottingham was not appointed until 1449, well after Robin Hood is supposed to have existed. It was Henry VI who in 1448 gave Nottingham a Royal Charter that gave it County Status and from 1449 the Mayor and Burgesses had the power to elect every year, two prominent Burgesses of the two old boroughs, to be Sheriff’s. (For a short time in 1682 it even had four).

These two Sheriff’s of Nottingham were intended to replace the High Sheriff who had since the Norman Conquest been the representative of the king’s government in sole charge of Crown Law. From 1155 this High Sheriff inherited the old Peveril estates and was until Elizabethan times the kings officer and representative of both Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire. As the shire-reeve, the sheriff and his officials were responsible for dispensing justice in the county court as the highest law in the county, administering the king’s estates and collecting the income from the shire to pay into the exchequer. He also had to maintain a military force for the king. This power was very often exploited by many for their own financial gain. So it is this High Sheriff of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire who is linked with Robin Hood:

These bisshoppes and these archebishoppes,
Ye shall them bete and bynde;
The hye sherif of Notyingham,
Hym holde ye in your mynde.

(A Gest of Robyn Hode)


Twice a year the High Sheriff made a tour of his county, where amongst many things he heard presentments of criminal activities. The sheriff and his bailiffs had to find and arrest suspects, which was not an easy task. If an accused failed to appear in court after four consecutive sessions to answer the charges he was outlawed, which up until the fourteenth century, meant he could be killed on sight.

When Henry II returned to England in 1170 after four years on the continent he commissioned an inquiry into the behaviour of his royal officials, known as The Inquest of Sheriffs. Almost all the sheriffs were removed along with their bailiffs after complaints against their conduct and accused of exploiting their power and maltreating the men of his realm. In Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire, Robert son of Ralph was removed, William son of Ralph came in. Some of these sheriff’s returned back to power eventually and their political power continued to trouble later monarchs. During the reign of Richard I (1189-1199) Ralph Murdoc was High Sheriff of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire.

After the loss of Normandy, King John (1199-1216) removed many of the old sheriffs and began to appoint new foreign agents, in his attempt to regain his families lands and repay the debts inherited from his brother Richard. These new sheriff’s’ were mercenary captains that became more like royal officials with an expense account.

Few of these foreign interlopers were more hated than the family of Gerard d’Athee, Sheriff of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire between 1209-9 with his notorious distant cousin Philip Marc as his understudy. Philip Marc was castellan of Nottingham 1209, had custody of Sherwood Forest and held the office as Sheriff of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire between 1209-1224. His conduct included robbery, false arrest, unjust invasion of property and persistent attacks on local landed interests, both secular and ecclesiastical. As late as 1263 it was discovered that Marc had accepted an annual fee of £5 from the burgesses of Nottingham in return for his good will and the maintenance of their liberties.


By February 1213, feelings were running very high and King John summoned the sheriff’s to his side at Nottingham. Letters had been sent out stating that the king had heard many complaints, which have moved us not a little, of the extortion of the sheriff’s and their men.

The animosity felt for these foreign mercenaries later found its way into Magna Carta in 1215 and in article 50 of the charter it states:

We will remove completely from their offices the kinsmen of Gerard d’Athee………….Philip Marc and his brothers and his nephew, Geoffrey together with all their adherents, so that henceforth they shall have no office in England.

But King John defiantly re-appointed Marc as Sheriff of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire in 1216.

Well over a century later, the corruptibility of local sheriffs had not gone away and in 1330 many were removed along with their subordinates for their habit of empanelling the jurors and summoning jurors of their choice, procuring wrongful indictments and making false returns. Four years later John de Oxenford, himself a Sheriff of Nottingham, was outlawed for not appearing to answer charges of taking bribes and making unlawful levies.

The early medieval ballads of Robin Hood do not give a name to the High Sheriff of Nottingham, but we do not have to look far to see the candidates that provided the centuries of deep seated hatred and loathing and prompted the minstrels to create the stories about his arch enemy.


Lye thou there, thou proude sherife,
Evyll mote thou cheve:*
There might no man to the truste
The whyles thou were a lyve.

*Evyll mote thou cheve:evilly must you end

(A Gest of Robyn Hode)

© Clement of the Glen 2006-2007

Nottingham

The medieval town of Nottingham is beautifully reconstructed in Walt Disney’s Story of Robin Hood and the film also has one unique historical detail not included in other movies about the hero. The Sheriff has his own house in the town.

This is reflected in the fifteenth century ballad Robin Hood and the Potter, where Robin Hood dressed as a potter rides to Nottingham and sells five penny potts for the price of 3d:

Yn the medys of the towne,

There he schowed hes ware;

‘Pottys! pottys!’ He gan crey foll sone,

‘Haffe hansell ffor the mare!’*

Ffoll effen agenest the screffeys gate

Schowed he hes chaffare;#

Weyffes and wedowes abowt hem drow,

And chepyd ffast of hes ware.

*you will have a present the more you buy

# chaffare: merchandise

The screffeys gate (the sheriff’s gate) suggests the sheriff’s house, known in Nottingham as the Red Hall, near Angel Row, a manor house in the Norman borough of the town where Bromley House now stands.

Robin Hood’s links with Nottingham and its sheriff, go back to the very earliest surviving ballads. Robin Hood and the Monk, preserved at Cambridge University, is one of the most distinguished and oldest and has about 2,700 words. In the tale, Robin Hood regrets not having been to hear Mass for a fortnight, so he decides to go to Nottingham, only accompanied by Little John.

Whan Robyn came to Notyngham,

Sertenly withouten layn,

He prayed to God and myld Mary

To bring hym out save again.

He gos in to Seynt Mary chirch,

And kneled down before the rode;

Alle that ever were the church within

Beheld wel Robyn Hode.

Rising 126 feet, in the heart of the old Lace market, St Mary’s Church is the finest medieval building in Nottingham. It is mentioned in the Domesday Book, although a religious building was on the site well before the Conquest.

The original settlers around what is now known as Nottingham seemed to have occupied an outcrop of sandstone to the east. The earliest recorded name for what is now Nottingham is the Celtic, Tuigobacu, which means Cave Dwellers. (the caves were still being occupied during the medieval period). The modern name first appears in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle of 868 A.D: a Danish Army spent the winter in Snotta ing ham ‘a village belonging to Snotta’. The hame (home) of the ing (people) of Snot (The Wise). This original village seems to have been at the first point where the River Trent could be crossed safely.

Towards the end of the ninth century, Snotingehame was fortified with a ditch around the settlement, a rampart and a wooden palisade. In about 920 King Alfred The Great’s son, Edward the Elder built a fort at West Bridgford and a bridge over the River Trent. So the Tenth Century saw Nottingham become one of England’s new trading town’s its population grew to several hundred and the town’s western limit reached as far as Bridlesmith Gate.

After the Norman Conquest, King William ordered a castle to be built on the huge rocky red sandstone, on the site of the original Danish tower, to the south-west of the settlement. Sparing the local Saxons of the loss of their homes and property rights. It was originally made of wood and later re-built in stone in the twelfth century. Nottingham Castle remained outside the towns boundaries until the nineteenth century.

So a Norman settlement grew up around the shelter of the new wooden castle, leaving the Saxons largely undisturbed in their area around St. Mary’s Hill. For administrative purposes, two boroughs were set up, one French and one English, each had its own language and customs with a boundary wall running through the market place. To this day two maces are borne before the Sheriff of Nottingham, representing these two boroughs. The church of St. Peter was founded alongside St. Nicholas, both were in the French borough, whilst the pre-conquest church of St. Mary’s , visited by Robin Hood, was in the English.

Under this Norman protection in 1086 the two boroughs had between 600-800 people. The first of the Plantagenet king’s, Henry II commenced to re-build the castle and its fortifications around the town in stone. He also gave Nottingham its first Royal Charter in 1154 allowing the Burgesses (leading citizens) to try thieves, levy tolls on visiting traders and hold markets on Fridays and Saturdays. This charter also gave them the monopoly in the working of dyed cloth within a radius of ten miles.

The Market Square (the largest in England) quickly became a focal point of the town, it also had an annual fair and from 1284 Edward I permitted extra fair days and one of these days became what we now know as Goose Fair, when people from as far away as Yorkshire would come for the two day event.

During the medieval period, Nottingham’s main industry was wool manufacture. But there were many craftsman in the town and some of those occupations can be identified by the remains of its old street names, such as Wheelwright Street, Pilcher Gate, Boot Lane, Bridlesmith Gate, Blow Bladder Street, Gridlesmith Gate, and Fletcher Gate.

Because of its royal castle, Nottingham now gained importance. Almost all the medieval kings were visitors at one time or another. The importance of the castle is no better illustrated than by the continuous disputes over its ownership during the reign of Richard the Lionheart and his brother John. It was also under King John that the castle witnessed one of its most ghastly chapters, when in about 1212 he allegedly hung twenty eight young sons, of Welsh noble families, from the castle ramparts. Today, the area is still said to be haunted by the cries of the young boys.

As the power base of the midlands and the north, the monarch mobilized armies there, kept court, summoned councils and parliaments, or simply rode forth to enjoy the hunting in the vast woodland of Sherwood Forest that came to the edge of the common fields bordering the town.

The harsh laws of the forest were often a cause of tension and no more so, than in August 1175, when Henry rode into Nottingham in a rage accusing local people of breaking those laws. His son Richard I later set the cruel penalty for killing the king’s deer as mutilation by removal of the offenders eyes and testicles. The only authority in the town during this period was that of the king, via his chosen nobleman, the High Sheriff of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire.

© Clement of the Glen 2006-2007