The adventures of an amateur in search of a picture, of a foundling in
search of his father, and even of a dog in search of his master, have
been severally recorded by skilful pens for the amusement of the
public. But, however entertaining or romantic these narratives may be
considered, they can hardly surpass in interest the curious history
which has just been disclosed of the adventures of an antiquary in
search of a ballad-hero. We owe our knowledge of the facts to one of a
series of _Critical and Historical Tracts_, by the Rev. Joseph Hunter,
now in course of publication. Mr Hunter is an assistant-keeper of the
public records, and is well known, by his other publications, as one
of the most laborious and most judicious elucidators of mysterious
passages in our national history. But the evidences of industry, of
minute knowledge, and of logical acuteness, contained in his little
treatise concerning 'the ballad-hero, Robin Hood,' are really
surprising. The story of an obscure outlaw, who chased deer and took
purses in a northern forest five hundred years ago, has been
investigated with the painstaking sagacity of a Niebuhr; and a strong
light has been unexpectedly thrown on the state of public sentiment
and manners existing at that period. Mr Hunter, it is proper to say,
dwells in his treatise chiefly upon results, and says little, and that
very modestly, of the labours by which they were obtained. He even
seems to fear that his subject may be considered trivial, and that he
may possibly receive 'the censure of being one who busies himself with
the mere playthings of antiquity.' Dr Percy, when he compiled his
invaluable Reliques, had similar apprehensions, which were then not
altogether groundless; but it may reasonably be hoped, that the race
of pedants, who wondered how a man of learning could be interested in
a bundle of old ballads, is now extinct.
Departing a little from the method and order observed by Mr Hunter in
his tract, we will endeavour not only to state in a condensed form the
remarkable conclusions at which he has arrived, but also to follow, as
accurately as his references will enable us to do so, the ingenious
processes of investigation which led to these results. The object of
the inquiry was to determine, in the first place, whether such a
person as Robin Hood ever existed; and, in the second place, to
ascertain who and what he was, and to what extent the ballads of which
he was the hero were based upon actual occurrences. What a vast amount
of uncertainty there was to clear up, may be inferred from the wide
differences of opinion among writers of the highest credit who
preceded Mr Hunter in this inquiry. The celebrated historian of the
Norman Conquest, M. Thierry, supposes Robin Hood to have been the
chief of a small body of Saxons, who, in their forest strongholds,
held out for a time against the domination of the Norman conquerors.
On this point, as confessedly on others, the French historian seems to
have derived his opinions from the suggestive scenes in Scott's
splendid romance of _Ivanhoe_. Another writer conjectures, that the
outlaws of whom Robin was the leader, may have been some of the
adherents of Simon de Montfort, whose partisans were pursued to
extremity after the fatal battle of Evesham, in the year 1264. Others,
still, have denied altogether the existence, at any period, of such a
person as Robin Hood. They make him either a mere hero of romance--the
'creation of some poetical mind;' or else, led by a similarity of
names, they discover in him merely one of the embodiments of popular
superstitions--a sylvan sprite, a Robin Goodfellow, or a Hudkin. Only
two years ago, a historical writer of no small acumen, Mr Thomas
Wright, published his opinion, that Robin Hood, in his original
character, was simply 'one amongst the personages of the early
mythology of the Teutonic people.'
But Mr Hunter could not concur in these views, or be satisfied with
the mode of reasoning by which they were maintained. In his opinion,
Robin Hood was neither a Saxon malcontent nor the hero of a poet's
romance; nor yet was he 'a goblin or a myth.' He was, in all
probability, exactly such a person as the popular songs described
him--an English yeoman, an outlaw living in the woods, and noted for
his skill in archery. Previous researches had proved, that many of our
old ballads are merely rhyming records of historical events. Mr Hunter
had already rescued one ballad-hero, Adam Bell, from the 'danger of
being reduced to an abstraction or a myth;' and it now remained for
him to undertake the same good office for a more renowned freebooter.
The first thing to be done was, of course, to examine carefully the
ballads themselves, and to ascertain the amount and value of the
evidence they afforded, as to the epoch and the real story of their
hero. It appeared, then, that 'three single ballads are found in
manuscript, which cannot be later than the fourteenth century.' There
is also a poem of considerable length, entitled _The Lytel Geste of
Robyn Hood_, which was printed by Winkyn de Worde, in or about the
year 1495. It is 'a kind of life' of the outlaw, and is composed of
several ballads, strung together by means of a few intermediate
stanzas, which give continuity to the story. The language of these
ballads is that of the preceding century--being, in fact, the same as
that of the ballads in manuscript. Thus the date of the songs
themselves is carried back as far as the fourteenth century. It is,
moreover, in the middle of this century that the first allusion to
Robin Hood occurs in any work of undoubted authority. In Longland's
poem, entitled _The Vision of Pierce Ploughman_, the date of which is
between 1355 and 1365, mention is made of 'rymes of Robyn Hood and
Randolph Earl of Chester,' the outlaw and the earl being apparently
both regarded as historical personages, about whom songs had been
written. It may be observed, that if the Robin Hood ballads were much
older than this date, it must be considered surprising that no earlier
allusion to them should be found, since in the subsequent century they
were referred to by many writers.
According to the story contained in the Lytel Geste, Robin Hood was at
the head of a band of outlaws, who made their head-quarters in
Bernysdale, or Barnesdale--once 'a woody and famous forest,' on the
southern confines of Yorkshire, in the neighbourhood of Doncaster,
Wakefield, and Pontefract; and who infested the woodlands and the
highways from thence as far as Sherwood and Nottingham, near which
ancient town some of their boldest exploits were performed. They slew
the king's deer, and plundered rich travellers, but spared the humble,
relieved the distressed, and were courteous to all who did not offend
them.
Robyn was a proude outlaw
Whyles he walked on ground;
So curtyse an outlaw as he was one,
Was never none yfound.
All the ballads agree in ascribing to the outlaw chief a manly bearing
and a generous disposition, such as might be expected to distinguish a
respectable yeoman of a class somewhat above the ordinary, whom the
fortune of war had driven from his home to a lawless life in the
forest. That this was Robin Hood's condition, may be inferred from the
general language of the ballads; but the important question is,
whether any other testimony can be found to confirm this conjecture,
and to give us any definite and authentic information about the fact.
This is the question which Mr Hunter has undertaken to answer. The
clue which first catches his experienced eye, is _the name of an
English king_. One of the most remarkable adventures which the ballads
record of Robin Hood, is his meeting with the king, who induced him,
for a time, to take service in his household. The king, according to
this authority, was exasperated with Robin and his men chiefly on
account of the destruction which they had made of his deer. Finding
that it was impossible to capture the outlaw by force, the king
consented to practise a stratagem, suggested by a forester who was
well acquainted with the outlaw's habits. He disguised himself as an
abbot, and with five knights habited as monks, and a man leading
sumpter-horses, rode into the greenwood. A wealthy abbot's baggage,
and his ransom, would be just the bait most tempting to Robin and his
men. The king, as he had expected, was seized by them, and led away to
their lodge in the forest. The outlaws, however, behave courteously as
usual; and when the abbot announces that he comes from the king at
Nottingham, and brings a letter from his majesty, inviting Robin to
come to that town, the latter receives the information joyously, and
declares that 'he loves no man in all the world so well as he does his
king.' Presently the monarch discovers himself, and the outlaw chief
and his men kneel, and profess their loyalty--Robin at the same time
asking for mercy for him and his. The king grants it on condition that
Robin will leave the greenwood, and will come to court and enter his
service. We quote the following after Mr Hunter, merely modernising
the orthography:--
'Yes, fore God!' then said our king,
'Thy petition I grant thee,
With that thou leave the greenwood,
And all thy company;
'And come home, sir, to my court,
And there dwell with me.'
'I make mine avow to God,' said Robin,
'And right so shall it be:
'I will come to your court
Your service for to see.'
Accordingly, Robin left the greenwood and his company, entered the
king's household, went with him to the court at London, and remained
in his service for a year and three months. Having by that time become
weary of this uncongenial mode of life, he obtained permission from
the king to pay a visit to his old residence at Barnesdale. Here he
resumes once more his former way of life 'under the greenwood-tree,'
and becomes again chief of the outlaws of Barnesdale and Sherwood.
Now if, among the adventures ascribed to Robin by the old ballads,
there is one far more improbable than all the rest, and one which an
ordinary commentator would set down at once as a pure fiction of the
poet, it is certainly that which has just been related. Mr Hunter,
however, is not an ordinary commentator. If the story is a strange
one, he doubtless reflected, 'truth is stranger than fiction;' and if
it is intrinsically and evidently improbable, that is the very reason
why a poet would not have invented it. Mr Hunter, therefore, did what
no other inquirer had before thought of doing--he examined the
historical and documentary evidence which might throw light upon the
subject. The ballad, fortunately, gives the name of the king who was
concerned in this singular adventure. He is repeatedly spoken of as
'Edward, our comely king'--a phrase, by the way, which clearly implies
that the ballad was composed while the monarch was still living. This
circumstance is not noticed by Mr Hunter, but it is one of some
importance, inasmuch as a poet would hardly have ventured to introduce
the name of the reigning monarch into a purely fictitious narrative.
But there are three Edwards--the first, second, and third of the name,
among whom it is necessary to distinguish the one to whom the poet
referred. Now, according to the ballad, this 'comely king,' before he
fell in with Robin, had journeyed through the county of Lancaster:
All the pass of Lancashire,
He went both far and near,
Till he came to Plumpton Park,
He failed [missed] many of his deer.
The question then arises, which of the three Edwards did travel in
that county? To this question, Mr Hunter's researches fortunately
enable him to return a decisive answer. King Edward I. never was in
Lancashire after he became king. King Edward III. was not in
Lancashire in the early years of his reign, and probably never at all.
But King Edward II. did make a 'progress' in Lancashire, and only one.
The time was in the autumn of 1323, the seventeenth year of his reign,
and the fortieth of his age. By the dates of the royal writs, and by
other documents, Mr Hunter is enabled to trace the king's route and
his various removes on this occasion with great minuteness. He follows
him, for example, from York to Holderness; thence to Pickering, to
Wherlton Castle, to Richmond and Jervaulx Abbey, and to Haywra Park,
in the forest of Knaresborough. In this forest is situated Plumpton
Park, which is mentioned in the ballad as having been visited by the
king, who here became aware of Robin's depredations. King Edward
proceeded thence by way of Skipton, and several other towns, to
Liverpool, and, continuing his progress, arrived on the 9th of
November at Nottingham, where he remained till the 23d of that month;
and it was from Nottingham, it will be remembered, that the king set
out in disguise to look for Robin Hood.
But if the 'proud outlaw' on this occasion actually took service in
the king's household, his name would be likely to appear among those
of the royal attendants, if any list of these is preserved. This
consideration occurred to Mr Hunter. The result of his search must be
told in his own words. 'It will scarcely be believed,' he observes,
'but it is, nevertheless, the plain and simple truth, that in
documents preserved in the Exchequer, containing accounts of expenses
in the king's household, we find the name of "Robyn Hode," not once,
but several times occurring, receiving, with about eight-and-twenty
others, the pay of 3d. a day, as one of the "_valets, porteurs de la
chambre_" of the king. Whether this was some other person who chanced
to bear the same name, or that the ballad-maker has in this related
what was mere matter of fact, it will become no one to affirm in a
tone of authority. I, for my part, believe it is the same person.'
Mr Hunter then quotes the words of the original record, which
is in Norman-French. It recites the names of the twenty-four
'_portours_'--as the word is here spelled--who received pay from the
24th of March to the 21st of April 1324; and among these are the names
of 'Robyn Hod' and 'Simon Hod.' These names do not occur in any
previous document. The date of the record, it will be observed, is in
the spring of the year following that in which the king made his
progress through Lancashire, and stayed for some time at Nottingham on
his return southward.
The office of valet, or _porteur de la chambre_, in those days, was
probably similar to that of the present groom of the chamber, and if
so, was a highly respectable and confidential post. In the ballad,
Robin Hood is represented, while at court, as spending his money
freely with knights and squires. His profusion, indeed, soon exhausted
his purse, which the daily pay of 3d., however munificent it may have
been at that period, could not replenish. Robin became, observes Mr
Hunter, moody and melancholy:
'Alas!' then said good Robin,
'Alas, and well-a-day I
If I dwell longer with the king,
Sorrow will me slay.'
At last, he petitions the king for permission to pay a visit to his
chapel at Barnesdale; declaring, that for seven nights he has not been
able to sleep, nor for seven days to eat or drink, so sore is his
longing to see Barnesdale again. The king consents, but only for a
se'nnight; 'in which,' says Mr Hunter, 'I suspect a corruption, for
there was no Great Northern in those days.' Probably the leave of
absence was for seven weeks instead of days.
Now, it is remarkable, that in the Exchequer pay-lists, the new
porteur's name continues to appear (once under the form of Robert
Hood) until the 22d of November 1324. Under this date appears an
entry, which Mr Hunter has given in the original Norman-French, but
which we prefer to translate: 'Robyn Hod, heretofore one of the
porteurs, because he could no longer work, received as a gift, by
command, 5s.' After this, we are told, his name does not again appear.
The 22d of November 1324, was just a year from the time when the king
was at Nottingham, where he arrived on the 9th of November 1323. Robin
Hood, if he then took service, would have been in the royal household
about a twelvemonth. The ballad, however, makes his service last for a
year and three months. The discrepancy is not great; and it may,
perhaps, be explained by the circumstance, that when Robin left the
court, it was at first merely on leave of absence; and he would,
consequently, still regard himself as in the king's service until he
had finally determined to renounce it, which would probably not be
until at least his term of leave had expired. The remarkable
expression in the record, 'because he could no longer work,' seems, as
Mr Hunter remarks, to correspond with Robin's declarations in the
ballad, that he could neither eat, drink, nor sleep; and if he
remained longer at court, sorrow would kill him. This apparent
coincidence, the author adds, 'may be but imagination; but it looks
like a reality.' It must be admitted, that if the Robyn Hod, or Robert
Hood, of the Exchequer records be not Robin Hood the outlaw, then all
these singular agreements of names, of dates, and of circumstances,
will make together a far greater marvel than any that is to be found
in the ballad-story itself, which some sceptics would require us to
disbelieve.
This, however, is only the commencement of Mr Hunter's researches,
which we cannot here follow in the same detail. The ballads relate
that Robin Hood, after continuing twenty-two years in the greenwood,
died--through some foul play--at the convent of Kirklees, the prioress
of which was nearly related to him. On this hint, Mr Hunter seeks to
discover, through this relationship, the original social position and
family connections of the outlaw. He finds reason for believing, that
the prioress of Kirklees at that period was a certain Elizabeth de
Staynton, a member of a family of some note, established near
Barnesdale. The Stayntons were tenants in chief of both the 'honours'
of Tickhill and Pontefract. One of them was prior of Monk Bretton, and
two were incumbents of churches in that vicinity. If Robin Hood was
nearly related to this family, the connection would raise him somewhat
above the rank of an ordinary yeoman; it might, as the author
observes, 'give him that kind of generous air in which he is invested,
and qualify him for his station among the valets of the crown.'
But if Robin Hood was a person of good condition, his name might
perhaps be found in the law-records of the local courts; and, in fact,
Mr Hunter has found, in the court-rolls of the manor of Wakefield, the
name of 'Robertus Hood,' as that of the defendant in a suit relative
to a small piece of land, in the ninth year of Edward II. He again
appears in a subsequent year, when he is described as being of
Wakefield; and the name of his wife, Matilda, is mentioned. Here is
another curious coincidence. Mr Hunter says: 'The ballad testimony
is--not the Lytel Geste, but other ballads of uncertain
antiquity--that the outlaw's wife was named Matilda, which name she
changed for Marian when she joined him in the greenwood.'
But what cause could have driven a respectable yeoman like Robin Hood,
along with so many others, apparently not much below him in rank, to
the fastnesses of the forest? It is evident that only a great civil
convulsion could have made, in one district, so large a number of
outlaws of this peculiar character. Now, the rising of the
discontented barons under the Earl of Lancaster, provoked by the
king's favouritism and misgovernment, took place in the early part of
the year 1322. By the battle of Boroughbridge, fought on the 16th of
March in that year, the insurrection was suppressed. It was punished
with great severity. The Earl of Lancaster and many of his adherents
were beheaded, and their property was confiscated. Some
offenders--probably persons who were not conspicuous in the
outbreak--escaped with heavy fines; and among these are mentioned two
members of the Staynton family, Robin Hood's supposed connections. We
may thence infer the part which he himself probably took in the
movement. From his skill with the bow, and from the personal esteem in
which he was held, it is likely that he would be a leader of the
archers in the rebel force, and would consequently be of importance
enough to become specially obnoxious to the king's party. Many
others--perhaps the whole company which followed him to the
battle--might be in the same plight. If so, it would account not only
for their outlawry, but for the goodwill with which they were regarded
by the people of their neighbourhood, who were generally favourable to
the cause of the Earl of Lancaster, and looked upon him as a martyr.
The battle of Boroughbridge, it should be observed, was fought in the
year preceding that in which the king made his progress through the
north, and rested for a fortnight at Nottingham.
Mr Hunter, in conclusion, sums up the results of his investigation in
what he cautiously styles his 'theory' concerning the career of the
famous ballad-hero. He considers that Robin Hood was one of the
'contrariantes,' or malcontents, of the reign of King Edward II., and
that he was still living in the early years of King Edward III.; but
that his birth must 'be carried back into the reign of King Edward I.,
and fixed in the decennary period, 1285 to 1295; that he was born in a
family of some station and respectability, seated at Wakefield or in
villages around; that he, like many others, partook of the popular
enthusiasm which supported the Earl of Lancaster, the great baron of
those parts, who, having attempted in vain various changes in the
government, at length broke out into open rebellion, with many
persons, great and small, following his standard; that when the earl
fell, and there was a dreadful proscription, a few persons who had
been in arms not only escaped the hazards of battle, but the arm of
the executioner; that he was one of these; and that he protected
himself against the authorities of the time, partly by secreting
himself in the depths of the woods of Barnesdale or of the forest of
Sherwood, and partly by intimidating the public officers by the
opinion which was abroad of his unerring bow, and his instant command
of assistance from numerous comrades as skilled in archery as himself;
that he supported himself by slaying the wild animals which were found
in the forests, and by levying a species of blackmail on passengers
along the great road which united London with Berwick, occasionally
replenishing his coffers by seizing upon treasure as it was being
transported on the road; that there was a self-abandonment and a
courtesy in the way in which he proceeded, which distinguishes him
from the ordinary highwayman; that he laid down the principle, that he
would take from none but those who could afford to lose, and that, if
he met with poor persons, he would bestow upon them some part of what
he had taken from the rich: in short, that in this respect he was the
supporter of the rights or supposed reasonable expectations of the
middle and lower ranks--a _leveller_ of the times; that he continued
this course for about twenty months--April 1322 to December
1323--meeting with various adventures, as such a person must needs do,
some of which are related in the ballads respecting him; that when, in
1323, the king was intent upon freeing his forests from such
marauders, he fell into the king's power; that this was at a time when
the bitter feeling with which the king and the Spencers had first
pursued those who had shewn themselves such formidable adversaries,
had passed away, and a more lenient policy had supervened--the king,
possibly for some secret and unknown reason, not only pardoned him all
his transgressions, but gave him the place of one of the _valets_,
_porteurs de la chambre_, in the royal household; which appointment he
held for about a year, when the love for the unconstrained life he had
led and for the charms of the country returned, and he left the court,
and betook himself again to the greenwood shade; that he continued
this mode of life we know not exactly how long; and that at last he
resorted to the prioress of Kirklees, his own relative, for surgical
assistance, and in that priory he died and was buried.'
These conclusions must of course be looked upon at present merely as a
series of probable suppositions. Mr Hunter does not pretend to have
placed them within the domain of authentic history. But it is by no
means unlikely, that future researches will produce evidence of the
indubitable truth of some of them. To Mr Hunter is due the credit of
having first pointed out the direction in which this evidence must be
sought, and of having, at the same time, indicated by his example the
true value of such researches in the light which they cast on the
politics and social life of the period to which they refer.