This week has become a celebration of the City of Nottingham and of myths and legends. The week commenced with the decision to cancel a planned weekend stay the City in May because of the distance I would have to travel early morning on one of the days and therefore I switched to accommodation closer to my destination on that day.
Then I decided to catch up on the latest made for television series about the myth of Robin Hood and his not so merry men and women and then on Tuesday I watched again a loving documentary on the man who also achieved international fame for the city, Brian Clough. A genuine legend.
Just under fifty films and television series have been made about the mythological character who battled against injustice and the Sheriff of Nottingham, swearing allegiance to King Richard, the Lionheart, usually portrayed as good, Prince John, later King John, who is portrayed as the worst King, the Sheriff of Nottingham who is portrayed as corrupt, cunning, two faced and also a ruthless tyrant and his henchman Lord Guy Gisborne as his aristocratic fixer.
First the historical setting I have a copy of Dr Austin Lane Poole’s epic history Domesday Book to Magna Carta 1087 to 1216, The Oxford History of England at the Clarendon Press located down the street from Ruskin College. In the an early chapter Dr Poole explains that vast tracks of land were set aside as Hunting forests for the King and court and in this respect Sherwood was one the smaller. These were not forests in the sense we today have come to regard but areas which included villages and surrounded towns and where the law governing behaviour was different than elsewhere in order to protect the animals that could be hunted, the deer, the roe, the wild boar. Hunting minor creature was also granted only on Royal prerogative to official tenants such as the church. Ione exception were wolves regarded as a pest and King John would give five shillings for a head. A minor army of officials were employed to manage and protect the hunting grounds and it was these who caused the local inhabitants problems as they exercised a “petty tyranny” However Poole explains that while there was considerable oppression avarice and self indulgence on the part of these men many did not enforce the law and were tolerant of transgressions by their neighbours. It is in this context that the Sheriff of Yorkshire in 1230, that is after this period, took control of the chattels worth 32 shillings and 6 pence of one Robert (or Robin) Hood, Hud or Hobbehud who was described a sa fugitive and a bandit. Whether this was the force the subsequent legend or not is not know but the Yorkshire connection is furthered by his body allegedly buries at Kirklees Abbey in West Yorkshire.
All the ballads, stories, books and films however place Robin as living at an earlier time Robin during the rein of King Richard and his relative Prince John. Contrary to the usual representation King Richard was no friend of the English people where noble or peasant.
He spoke little Anglo Saxon and rarely visited England or Ireland where he was also the Lord, using the countries to raise taxes to fund his armies, plunders and subsequently the third Crusade. At the age of sixteen he already had his own army (1157-1199) and with his brothers was trying to gain power from the king, his father. By army these were comparatively small by those of subsequent decades.
Richard was the illegitimate child of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine. He was born in England at Beaumont Palace Oxford. (I went to Ruskin College which is located in Beaumont Street). In addition to his fighting and military prowess he is said to have been an educated man who wrote poetry. However he spent most of his time fighting, putting down revolts, opposing his father and building up his position. It is said that he developed a close relationship with the son of his mother’s ex husband by the man’s third wife. They are said to have shared and the food and bed. There is also the suggestion that he was responsible for the death of his brother who had become King of England.
He was passionately anti Semitic as well as anti Muslim and he was responsible for widespread anti Semitic violence especially in London where individuals were burned alive, their possessions taken and others forced to become Christians in order to survive. When he realised he was de-stabilising his country and tried to rein in the violence it was too late to prevent a massacre of Jews at York.
Richard appears to have made his name, myth and legend after Saladin had taken Jerusalem and he raised and equipped a new Crusade Army. However he did this by taking his father’s treasury, selling off official positions to the highest bidder, and raising new taxes. Such was the darkness of Catholicism at this time that he did all this in the name of Christ. On his travels he sized power in Sicily had had himself crowned the King and after visiting Rhodes he captured Cyprus in 1191, looting the island and massacring anyone who resisted him. He also married someone he had previously met once but they had no children. Later he sold the Cyprus and was suspected of being involved in the murder of the recently crowned King of Jerusalem after the city was taken back from Saladin. After reaching agreement with Saladin that Christians could visit and stay in Jerusalem he set off homeward but was taken prisoner for ransom by the Duke of Austria, Leopold who handed him over to Emperor Henry IV of the Holy Roman Empire who was then excommunicated by the Pope for his actions. This did not bother the Emperor who obtained a ransom said to be worth about three times the value of the English Crown. Collecting the ransom involved insisting that everyone gave a quarter of everything they possessed and the stealing from the churches their gold and silver. He was released in 1194 with the Emperor warning Prince John that he had released the devil.
Although John had come close to taking the throne for himself while Richard was away, he reached an understanding and survived the next five years until in Richard 1199 he was killed from an arrow wound inflicted by a boy who it is said was seeking revenge for the death of his father and two brothers killed by Richard.
Among Richard’s other titles were Duke of Normandy, Aquitaine, and Gascony, Lord of Ireland and Cyprus, Count of Anjou and Nantes and overlord of Brittany. He was in effect a nasty bit of work and therefore it would be surprising that any real Robin Hood concerned with the suffering of the poor and the injustices caused by the aristocracy would give allegiance or be concerned about the welfare of the man.
The imprisonment of the King for ransom is the main back story to the film and television series of Ivanhoe based on the story Walter Scott. The 1952 film in which Elizabeth Taylor, Joan Fontaine, George Sanders and Finlay Curry starred with Robert Taylor as Ivanhoe also has Robin of Locksley assisting with his archery skills.
Robin Hood stories tend to concern the behaviour of Prince, and subsequently King, John of England, born in 1166 and who held the throne for 17 years, the younger brother of Richard who remained childless. Prince and King John had no inherited lands or wealth, and is now known for having lost France and yielding to the Barons in signing Magna Carta at Runnymede, a site which I have visited.. He is also said to have been hopeless as a warrior. He therefore seems to have had more going for him than Richard, indeed he was popular with Londoners who welcomed him after he offered to make the city a self governing commune if they accepted that he was the heir to throne if Richard did not come back. However Richard’s supporters believed John would not make a good King and raised the ransom for Richard.
During the early part of his reign he was in military dispute with various relatives in France, but is said to have been responsible for the development of the Navy, making Portsmouth its new home and creating the Admiralty. He was not adverse to the usual behaviour of English monarchs towards their relatives with stories that he personally killed his young nephew, Arthur of Brittany, or alternative castrated him from which he died. He is known to have attempted to kidnap his own grandmother, and to have imprisoned his niece, Eleanor, who remained a prisoner for the rest of her life long after his won death for some four decades. These activities established his reputation as a ruthless man. Nor was he adverse to establishing alliances to secure his position and further his interest marrying off an illegitimate daughter to a Welsh Prince and doing deals with South coast areas of modern France in his conflict with the French. He then battled with the Pope over the next Archbishop of Canterbury with the consequence that the Pope closed the churches until he realised this was being counter productive and then did a deal with John after ex communicating him and threatening worse and which led to the Pope to advise John to sign Magna Carta and then ignore its demands. The Barons who were upset because of the loss of land and revenues in France after John had raised new taxes to pay for his conflicts and disputes. They invited the French to get rid of the King, who became a refugee in his own land, especially when a mistake about the tides resulted in the loss of his baggage train which included the Crown Jewels. He contracted dysentery and died at Newark castle, in what is now Nottinghamshire. The barons then switched sides supporting the new nine year old King.
Despite his image there is evidence that John was not the disaster popular history has assigned him. He tried to gain some order in the way the Royal Courts of Justice were organised, keeping proper records and hearing cases where his judgements were considered fair and well informed. Winston Churchill concluded that despite his failings he did more for the future of the nation than many of those claimed to be good. What did Richard do for England except take?
Now to the Sheriff of Nottingham whose duties included capturing outlaws, ensuring the safety of trade routes and apprehending poachers. There is documentary evidence that William de Wendenal, a Norman Baron, was appointed Sheriff of Nottingham and Yorkshire before the period that the Kind was being held for ransom, but who was asked to help run the country during the period when he was held. Other than these brief facts nothing is known of him and how he did his work. There are others who are known to have held administrative positions during the period and who would have been required to raise the taxes required by the King and the Prince but more likely someone like Robin and his friends would have reacted to the local managers of the Forest because they in turn would have been answerable for the loss of game. It was also an offence to carry a bow and arrows in any of the forest lands. Guy of Gisborne was a fictional character along with all the other Robin Hood characters.
Now for Robin himself who is known to have been the subject of ballads about outlaws fighting in Sherwood of Forest but where there is record two to three hundred years after the fictitious events, “Robyn hode in Sherwode stod.” (The Term hude is said to mean wood) and subsequent reference put him at Loxley South Yorkshire. The number and extent of the ballads make into a stronger myth and legendary figure than King Arthur and also confirm the main parts of the story, that he was exceptionally skilled as an archer, and had a empathy with the peasants. He was referred to as a yeoman, in between a peasant and a nobleman and it was not until the 1500’s that he was referred to as the displaced Earl of Huntington, a large Forest area, some miles south of Sherwood. There was also reference to Little John, Much the Miller’s son and Will Scarlet. Again it was later that Friary Tuck was added and then Maid Marian, although he known to have respect as well being a friend, protector and lover of women.
The extent of the legend is that in addition to his stories he was brought into others, having mentioned the 1819 Sir Walter Scott novel he was also part of the Arthurian legend in the Sword and the Stone. In one early film it was Robin who led the Saxons against the Normans, while in the present BBC TV series, the second season involved Robin in adventures in the Holy land during which Maid Marian is killed.
I have seen many of the films and TV series during my lifetime including Douglas Fairbanks and Errol Flynn. The 1946 Bandit of Sherwood had Cornel Wild as his son. Patrick Troughton played the first TV role although he became better known for Dr Who. Richard Green was involved in the 5 year TV series from 1955 while Donald Pleasance played King John in 1956. In 1964 Frank Sinatra played in Robbo and the Seven Hoods set in Chicago. While 1967 there was a sci fi version Rocket Robin Hood. The Walt Disney 1973 version had Robin and Marian as foxes. Robin (Sean Connery) and Marian (Audrey Hepburn) performed in the 1976 version as two retired characters at the end of their days.
In 1981 Time Bandit had John Cleese as Robin and another spoof TV version occurred in 1984 the Zany Adventures while for five years from 1989 there was a children’s programme called Maid Marian and her merry men. The extension of the story backwards took place in 1990 with Young Robin Hood as a teenager. A year later Robin Hood Prince of Thieves starred Kevin Costner with Sean Connery appearing at the end as King Richard. Princess of Thieves concerned his daughter in a 2001 made for TV series while Ridley Scoot is turning to the Legend at present time with Russell Crowe as the Sheriff.
The TV series where I watched the first three episodes of its third year over the holiday commenced in 2006 with an off beat approach aimed at the contemporary younger audience. Robin returned from the Crusades in the first episode and discovers the oppression of the people by the new Sheriff. The titles indicate the style with Who Shot the Sheriff, the Taxman Cometh, Brothers in Arms, Dean Men Walking, the Return of the King all film titles or record numbers or play on words. The end of the series involved Marian being forced into a marriage with Guy of Gisborne.
In the second series Marian is rescued and becomes a outlaw with Robin in the Forest and one episode has the Sheriff testing chemical weapons in the streets of Nottingham! Titles in the series included Show me the Money, Get Carter, Walkabout and a Good Day to Die. The Sheriff and Gisborne capture Marian and set off to the Holy land to kill the King. However in order to help the King Robin is unable to save Marian who is killed by Gisborne. She dies in his arms and the series concluded.
This was therefore the end of series after 26 episodes until the decision was taken to create a new female character Kate, to replace Marian, a high spirit and independently minded villager from Locksley.
Robin returns a broken man from the Holy lands and the death of Marian and is set on one only thing, revenge on Gisborne. Friar Tuck comes in search of Robin and saves his life and devises a plan to persuade the grief stricken man to fight on behalf of the oppressed people(Total Eclipse). Kate is introduced in the second episode and gets Robin caught when attempting to rescue her young brother who is captured by the Sheriff sale to two Irish brothers trying to take the Irish throne and rising against the English. In the third (Lost in Translation), the Sheriff blackmails the local Abbot into denouncing Robin by capturing his first translation of the Bible into Anglo Saxon, a move banned by the Pope. Eventually the Abbot admits he has lied about the situation and prevents Robin and others being burnt alive and sees his work burnt instead but in a final shot he is seen working on a second edition somewhere in France. Toby Stephens is to appear as Prince John and while a fourth series is under consideration it is understood that Kate is departing so perhaps Marian will be resurrected or her twin sister be discovered!
American enthusiasm for the story is understandable along with the Russians as it provides a strong argument for republicanism and socialism, and for fundamental Christianity. Certainly it has resonance in the era of the robber bankers.
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