Although Robin Hood belongs in legend no more exclusively to any
definite district than his noble fore-runner King Arthur, yet, like King
Arthur, he has become associated particularly with one or two haunts;
and it is no easier--nor in the end more profitable--to reconcile
Lyonnesse with Carlisle and Inglewood[10] than to disentangle Robin Hood
of Barnsdale from Robin Hood of Sherwood Forest.
The simplest way to begin is to eliminate from our consideration the
numerous Robin Hood's Hills, Wells, Stones, Oaks, or Butts, some of
which may be found as far distant as Gloucestershire and Somerset;
for many of these probably bear his name in much the same way as other
natural freaks bear the Devil's name. A large number can be found in
what may be called Robin Hood's home-counties, Yorkshire and those which
touch Yorkshire--Lancashire, Derby, Nottingham and Lincoln shires.
Undoubtedly the evidence of the best ballads goes to show that at one
time there must have been at least two cycles of Robin Hood ballads,
one placing him in Barnsdale, the other allotting him headquarters in
Sherwood; but it appears that even the ballads of the fifteenth century
make little effort to discriminate between the two. _Robin Hood and the
Monk_ (MS. of _c._ 1450) introduces us, in its first five lovely
stanzas, to Sherwood; in _Robin Hood and the Potter_ (MS. of _c._ 1500),
the scene is Nottingham, in the Sherwood district. Little John refers to
Wentbridge, which lies in the heart of Barnsdale, yet knows every path
in merry Sherwood.
In the _Gest_, compiled as it is from ballads of both cycles, no attempt
was made to reconcile their various topographies; but it can be seen
that the general geography of the first division of the _Gest_ (Fyttes
I. II. and IV.) is that of Barnsdale, while the second division (Fyttes
III. V. and VI.), dealing with the Sheriff of Nottingham, mainly centres
round Sherwood. In the seventh Fytte, the King goes, presumably from
London (322.3), to Nottingham _via_ Lancashire; and the eighth jumps
from Nottingham to Kirksley.[11]
In _Robin Hood and Guy of Gisborne_ (certainly an early ballad, although
the Percy Folio, which supplies the only text, is _c._ 1650), the scene
is specified as Barnsdale; yet at the end the Sheriff of Nottingham
flees to his house as if it were hard by, whereas he had a fifty-mile
run before him. The later ballads forget Barnsdale altogether.
[Footnote 10: It should be remembered that Wyntoun says that Robin
Hood plied his trade in Inglewood and Barnsdale (see ante,
p. xiv.).]
[Footnote 11: Child, in saying that 'Robin Hood has made a vow to
go from London to Barnsdale' (v. 51) seems to assume that the
'king's court' (_Gest_, 433) implies London, which, however,
is not specified.]