| Author | Comment | ||
|---|---|---|---|
Clement of the Glen |
Constructing an Outlaw |
Lead | |
|
This will probably seem rather negative, considering all the research going on into finding a real person that might have inspired the medieval entertainers.
But just for a moment I wonder if we good look 'outside the box.'
Do we know how many medieval ballad hero's were 'created' by medieval minstrels?
|
|||
nybor edoh |
|||
|
Yeah, only one, the Yorkshire Robin Hood.
|
|||
Sanctus de Alba |
|||
|
i thought robin came from nottingham
|
|||
1981Marcus |
|||
|
No, we don't know. Some are known to have been historical and some aren't, but proving particular heroes to be invented is another matter entirely, and
usually impossible.
It is worth noting that the major outlaw romances fall into two classes: A) early date, prose, deal with known historical figures but often contain incredible episodes; B) late date (post-Black Death), verse, deal with people who can't be proven to have existed but are generally very plausible. The tales of Hereward, Fouke FitzWaryn and Eustace the Monk fall into the first category, those of Robin Hood, Gamelyn and Adam Bell into the second. However, the doubtful ones tend to appear only in one ballad, or only in one *original* ballad plus others clearly derived from it. The Robin Hood ballad cycle is different, having no clear common literary origin: I'm not aware of any comparable cycle about a character who was or might have been invented in the High or Late Middle Ages. On the other hand, we don't know how many ballads have been lost: there appears to have been a cycle about George a-Green, of which his encounter with Robin in "The Jolly Pinner of Wakefield" is the only surviving part, and there's no evidence that George existed. (Robert Greene set his play about George, complete with Robin, in the reign of Edward IV: did he have any specific reason for this? Later versions of the story push it back to the reign of Richard I.) |
|||
Graham P Kirkby |
|||
Sanctus de Alba wrote: The early Rhymes of Robin Hood are set in Yorkshire. Robin is generally opposed by the Sheriff of Nottingham, hence the confusion. Robin is often spoken of as Robin of Lockesley and although their are several Lockesleys they are too far away from York and Barnsdale to be the real Lockesly other than the Yorkshire Lockesley where there is a strong Robin Hood tradition.
"Truth will always be truth, regardless of lack of understanding, disbelief or ignorance."
W. Clement Stone
Last Edited By: Graham P Kirkby
01/29/08 06:44:43.
Edited 1 times.
|
|||
Robhen |
|||
|
'Robin Hood and the Potter,' reckoned to be the second oldest extant Robin Hood ballad (circa 1500) places Robin Hood adjacent to Nottingham. And of course, 'The Little Geste of Robin Hood and his men and the proud sheriff of Nottingham,' (circa 1500) to give the ballad its full title, places Robin Hood and his men in a greenwood dale close to Nottingham town. Where is the confusion? Robin Hood's chief adversary is the sheriff of Nottingham, no other sheriff is mentioned. Surely if it was a Yorkshire legend, then the Sheriff of Yorkshire would be mentioned. The only time a Yorkshire sheriff is mentioned is as one of the 'bad guys' opposing the gentle knight at St Mary's. |
|||
1981Marcus |
|||
|
The Gest plainly places Robin *principally* in Yorkshire, as do several other early sources. (None of the rationalisations intended to make
"Barnsdale" mean Bassetlaw will hold water.) What I don't see is why there needs to be a conflict, given that medieval outlaws were frequently
very mobile. We are, after all, talking about adjacent counties.
This, however, is something we've debated on several other threads. Could we get back to Clement's question? |
|||