Robin Hood Found

Robin of Loxley (Robin Hood)

Robin Hood’s pardon after his involvement in the Peasants Revolt at York reads: - “Robert Dore of Wadsley otherwise known as Robert Hode (Hood) given the King’s pardon on 22nd May 1382.” (Roll of King’s Pardons 4-5 Richard II 1382) (Discovered by David Pilling and Rob Lynley.)

From this we learn he was born Robert Dore, he became known as Robert Hode (Hood), he took part in the Peasant’s Revolt at York and he came from the manor of Wadsley where Loxley was a sub vill.

After killing his stepfather he fled from Loxley and went to Kirklees Priory where he met with Little John. (Roger Dodsworth) He joined with Adam Hode at York and Robin had among his Merry Men the son of a miller. His father Johannes Hode was a miller. (Freedom Rolls)

York

Robin Hood became a freeman of York in 1364 and it was the same for Adam Hode the miller’s son two years later in 1366. This simply means they were free to trade as merchants, which is what people had been doing for many years in opposition to the great Livery Companies. They operated from unlicensed workshops and they touted their wares around the markets which up until the granting of their charters by Edward III tradesmen had been doing illegally (outlaws) but now these clandestine workers who belonged to the new merchant class were becoming increasingly rich and in terms of wealth they were followed by (1) by the clergy, (2) the small businessmen, (3) artisans, (4) men-at-arms, (5) menials and servants and lastly there were (6) the peasants who worked the nearby fields.

According to the Gest, Robin dealt in green and red cloth and Will Scarlet’s name suggests he also dealt in scarlet cloth. In York were the Merchant Adventurers who traded around England, Holland, Belgium, France, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Iceland and the Baltic and if Robin was a Merchant Adventurer then this would account for him being in different parts of the country. The Merchant Adventurers helped the poor, sick and orphans, which would undoubtedly enhance Robin’s reputation with the populace and might even explain his reputation for taking from the rich and giving to the poor. In support of this, there is a record of a ship named “Robin Hood.”

The ballads have Robin supplying the king with green and grey livery for his men and King Edward III was often in York, he got married there and set up parliament in York and any guildsman who could boast of such a notable client as the king of England would find themselves enjoying the respect of their contemporaries, perhaps even being made the hero in the Corpus Christi plays as well as the later pageantry of the elaborate street performances that were a speciality of Anthony Munday.

Thomas H. Ohlgren wrote, “Robin’s “guild” or “fellowship” are derived from the policies and practices of the urban guilds, including the master guilds or Great Livery Companies.... The parallels between guild policies and practices and specific scenes in the Gest are compelling, offering convincing evidence that the poem (the Gest) was composed for an audience who would not only recognize the mercantile allusions but also appreciate the yeoman hero proving himself superior to a member of the knightly class.” (The merchant's superiority over the knightly class was due to their disposable income compared to the nobility whose wealth was tied up in land and castles. GK)

Peasants Revolt

After many years of unrest, the people of York, when they heard what was happening in London, took to the streets in anger only four years after the death of King Edward. Gisbourne who was the Lord Mayor and chief Burgomaster had always been a trouble maker. He controlled the local trade guilds by imposing fines and penalties which he probably pocketed for himself, he was always surrounded by scandal, he was a notorious patron of robbers, he tampered with the Royal Mint at York and issued false money and two of his right hand men Robert de Harom and Richard de Kendale were accused of murder.

The merchants had their own issues and the citizens of York had theirs, they were taxed over and above the norm to pay for such things as the ships that were used by the Merchant Adventurers without receiving any of the profits themselves and the unrest must have reached a point where virtually the whole population of York rose up against Gisbourne. His livery that consisted of 1,500 red and white hoods plus a badge served two purposes, it identified the men in his service and according to company charter it enabled him to prevent others from pursuing the same trades as himself and as he traded in wool, cloth, wine and lead and Robin dealt in cloth he would have seen Robin as operating illegally or as an outlaw.

The giving of liveries indicates a time “when liveries and personal badges were in everyday use” (Keen) “thus indicating a time of social change when the lower classes and criminal gangs were imitating the aristocracy” (Ohlgren) in the 14th and 15th century and is known as “Merrie England” (Ronald Hutton).

Nottingham

At the time of the Peasants Revolt the sheriff of Nottingham, Robert Morton was the steward of Conisbrough Castle in Barnsdale, right there on Robin’s home ground. His father Thomas Morton was secretary to King Edward III of England so it’s no wonder Robin said beware of the Sheriff of Nottingham.

http://www.hrionline.ac.uk/conisbrough/browse/roll_1380-81_3.html

Just across the road from each other is Nottingham market and St. Mary’s Church where Robin went to hear Mass. In the church itself is a chapel set aside for the guildsmen paid for by themselves. The “Gyld of St Mary in her own church, Nottingham, on the Feast of St Michael, 1371 (dating evidence) features the names of 167 members of the Guild, listing prominent local residents including knights, clerks, carpenters, drapers and priests.”

The medieval markets in Yorkshire cover the same area associated with Robin Hood and if their wives and children stayed home while Robin and his men travelled the highways and byways for days or weeks at a time, then that would explain why there were no women in the early ballads. The Saylis that appears in some of the ballads was a natural overnight stop and is just up the road from the old Roman Fort and Robin Hood's well that was frequented by robbers and it is his travels between York and Nottingham through the Saylis that provides the backdrop for the ballads. (There is another Saylis near Wentbridge.)

Markets were at:- Barnsley, Bawtry, Bedale, Beverley, Boroughbridge, Bradford, Bridlington, Brough, Campsall, Conisbrough, Cottingham, Doncaster, Elland, Emley, Filey, Gisburn, Great Driffield, Guisborough, Harthill, Hedon, Hessle, Hornsea, Ilkley, Kingston On Hull, Knaresborough, Pickering, Pontefract, Rotherham, Scarborough, Selby, Sheffield, Stamford Bridge, Thirsk, Tickhill, Wadsley, Wakefield, Wath Upon Dearne, Wetherby, Whitby, Withernsea, Wortley, York.

Robin the Forest Outlaw

From the ballads we read that as Robin became older he lived in the king’s court for 15 months by which time he “had spent his money and all his men’s fee on both knights and squires, to get him great renown. By the time the year was over, he only had two men — Little John and good Scarlett all the rest had gone.” (From the Gest translated into modern English by Robert Landis Frank.)

Robin’s strength as an archer was failing and feeling he would die of sorrow if he remained in the king’s court any longer he asked the king’s permission to return to Barnsdale where he had previously built a chapel, which is something only a person of high standing could afford to do.

Once there Robin was happy to stay in his beloved Barnsdale as a fugitive, not going back for “fear of the king” who was not the king he had known and loved, spending his last remaining 22 years in lawless Barnsdale where Richard II was murdered in Pontefract Castle. The Merry Men lived like outlaws as described in the ballads that tell of Robin's glory days under Edward III as a merchant and possibly archer to King Edward III.

Hathersage

Loxley is in Yorkshire and just over the county border in Derbyshire is Hathersage situated on the edge of Royal Forest. It was administered by the Sheriff of Nottingham, and this caused a problem for the people of Hathersage who were not allowed to hunt for food in the nearby Royal Forest of the Peak. Their only option, which was the lesser of two evils, was to cross the county border onto land belonging to the people of Loxley.

This resulted in a dispute between the two villages that rumbled on for many years. Eventually a commission was set-up and a ditch dug across Hallam Moors to mark the official boundary between the two villages, that was also the county boundary and although the argument was about hunting rights it had the effect of confirming Robin’s status as a Yorkshireman and explains why the Sloane Manuscript says; “Robin Hood was born in Locksley, Yorkshire which some say was in Nottinghamshire.”

According to Roger Dodsworth, the ballad, the Sloane Manuscript and Elias Ashmole, after Little John had buried his comrade, Robin Hood at Kirklees Priory he made his way sadly back to Hathersage where he spent his last remaining days. He dug his own grave under the old yew tree in the graveyard, near the old preaching cross and directed that his cap, bow, and arrows should be hung in the church. In 1625 Ashmole wrote, “Little John lyes buried in Hathersage Churchyard within three miles from Castleton, near High Peake, with one stone set up at his head and another at his feete, but a large distance between them”. (Ashmole MS 1137:fol.147) The ballad adds:

“His bow was in the chancel hung
His last good bolt they drave
Down to the rocks, its measured length,
Westward fro’ the grave.

And root and bud this shaft put forth,
When spring returned anon,
It grew a tree, and threw a shade,
Where slept staunch Little John”.

Kirklees

At Kirklees the prioress between 1350-60 was Margaret Savile the sister of Sir John Saville who was the sheriff of Yorkshire when Robin was pardoned. She was living at the right time to have been the prioress when Robin fled from Loxley.

Fifty plus years later between 1402 and 1416 the prioress was Alice de Mounteney and living at nearby Mirfield was a branch of the Neville family who are noted for their red hair which was a feature of the prioress lover who was nicknamed Red Roger.

The prioress who murdered Robin Hood is said to have been related to him, and this may have been through the Furnival family who were in Sheffield and related to both the Neville and Mounteney families. Sir Thomas Neville married Joan de Furnival of Sheffield; Matilda the daughter of Gerard de Furnival also of Sheffield married Arnold de Mounteney and Thomas Lord Furnival married Joan Mounteney in 1366.

Working out the dates we find that if Robin was born c. 1337 and fled Loxley c. 1350 age 13 then the prioress at Kirklees was Margaret Savile; Edward III died 1377 and the ballad stops here. The Peasant’s Revolt was 1381; king Richard II was personally involved at York and then we read Robin was living in the king’s court, effectively under house arrest and spending his money to curry favour (on both knights and squires, to get him great renown). Robin left the king’s court never to return 15 months later c. 1385; he lived 22 years in Barnsdale and died c. 1407 when Alice de Mounteney was prioress.

Earl of Huntington or not?

The High Sheriff of Yorkshire at the time of the Peasants Revolt in which Robin Hood was involved was Sir Ralph Hastings who lived in York Castle. Bootham Gate, the scene of the rioting leads into the Royal Forest of Galtres where there is the village of Huntington (not Huntingdon) which is the same spelling used by Munday and others when writing about Robin Hood the earl of Huntington.

George Hastings was a member of the Drapers company the same as Robin had been, and when George was created the earl of Huntingdon by King Henry VIII, the family began the tradition of naming their children Robin Hood as in the, “Honourable Aubrey Craven Theophilus Robin Hood Hastings.” In summary, Robin was outlawed by a member of the Hastings family, Robin and George Hastings were both in the lucrative wool and cloth trade, they were members of the same guild, but at different times and they might both have hunted in the Royal Forest of Galtres.

John Major led many people astray by incorrectly placing Robin Hood in the reign of King John and other mischief makers were Anthony Munday who elevated Robin Hood to the non-existent earldom of Huntington and William Stukeley whose writings resulted in the grave-slab at Kirklees being placed there in the 19th century by the owner of the estate, even though the final resting places of the nobility are commonly known. Credit must be given though to the fabricators for calling Robin Hood the “Pretended” Earl of Huntington throughout their writings for although Robin may have been an earl in fiction, he was not an earl in real life.

The Complete Peerage Volume 6 speaking about Nottingham’s candidate says, “Robin Hood (for whose existence no contemporary evidence has been found) was first called Robert fitz Ooth in a fictitious pedigree concocted by the 18th century antiquary William Stukeley.”
Since this was written, contemporary evidence has been found that confirms Robin Hood was both a real person and that he was from Hallamshires Wadsley where the village of Loxley is situated.

Timeline

For dating evidence we have Robin and his men wearing Lincoln Green which became the colour of the kings livery in the reign of Edward II, Nottingham city walls were not completed until 1337, the two handed longsword we read about in Robin Hood and the Monk can be dated to 1350-1550, pavage tax that we read about in Robin Hood and the Potter was introduced in Wentbridge in 1319 and friars did not enter England until after the death of king John in 1221.

The king is spoken of as Edward and it was Edward III who created the guilds, neither must we forget Gisbourn, the miller’s son, the two prioress or Ralph Hastings who was the Sheriff of Yorkshire when Robin was outlawed in the Peasants Revolt and whose descendants became the earls of Huntingdon which explains Robin’s gentrification by the playwright Anthony Munday. For the legend to be true all the participants would need to be living at the same time, as they were, which is when the popular contemporary hero who William Langland wrote about in 1377 was alive and well and making a name for himself.

Professor Holt is of the opinion the origin of the “Gest of Robin Hood” is circa 1450, which rules out an earlier hero of the ballads, he goes on to say Major’s conception about a 13th century Robin Hood “was not reinforced by argument, evidence or proof it was simply recycled through later versions of the tale and so became an integral part of the legend.” Neither is this view supported by the earliest ballads that name the reigning monarch as “Edward.” This accords with Professor Thomas Ohlgren who writes the Gest was “commissioned by one of the fifteenth-century guilds — possibly the Dyers Guild in the light of the numerous references to cloth and liveries — to commemorate Edward III not only as the protector of the English Channel but as the founder of seven of the 12 Great Livery Companies.”

The Ballads

Robin Hood and the Potter

So far we see a merchant called Robin Hood who is obviously wealthy and ruthless. He was used to getting his own way, he is afraid of nobody and he has men to back him up. An example of Robin’s no-nonsense approach can be seen in Robin Hood and the Potter who refused to pay pavage tax. First Robin confiscated his pots and then he disguised himself as the potter and sold them in Nottingham market for less that they were worth.

The result was that the potter was effectively fined when his pots were confiscated. The money Robin got from their sale would pay the pavage tax and presumably there would be some money left over for Robin in lieu of wages, well done Robin. It also guaranteed a quick sale and it got him to meet the sheriff’s wife through whom he was able to meet the sheriff himself and lure him into the forest where Robin’s men surrounded him.

It was thanks to the hospitality of the sheriff’s wife that Robin let the sheriff go free and in this way Robin punished the bad and honoured the good. All the time Robin had the upper hand, the potter’s debt was paid and Robin had the sheriff of Nottingham in his clutches. This is where Robin differs from the common brigand who would either have held the sheriff to ransom, killed him, or both. (As pavage tax was not introduced into Wentbridge until 1319 and Edward III came to the throne in 1327 then the events in the ballad would in all probability have taken place in the reign of Edward III.)

Robin Hood and the Monk

In “Robin Hood and the Monk” Robin is accused of robbery which may be well-founded because we read in the Gest that Robin took money from two thieving monks at the Saylis who could easily have been at St. Mary’s in Nottingham the same time as Robin.

Whether Robin robbed them or not is dependent on whether it is possible to rob two monks of money they do not have, which is what they told Robin. He put it down to the Blessed Virgin thus absolving himself from blame and putting it down to the will of God.

Then after a hair-raising adventure Robin was jailed and when Little John released him from prison they escaped into the forest by climbing over the city wall that was not completed until 1337 in the reign of Edward III. (More dating evidence.)

As it turned out the monks had embezzled £400 from the impoverished knight so they were right to say ‘they’ had no money because it did not belong to them. Whichever way you look at it, firstly they were lying when they said they had no money and secondly the money they had, was stolen from someone else, so they had no need to complain that they had been robbed.

Robin Hood and the Impoverished Knight

When Robin Hood was convinced the impoverished knight was telling the truth and that he had no money and was genuinely in trouble, then Robin gave the knight a grey packhorse, a palfrey, a saddle, a pair of boots, some new clothes and a pair of gilded spurs, which is something only a knight would have.

“Master,” then said Little John, His clothing is very thin. You must give the knight some good clothes, to wrap his body in. “For you have scarlet and green, master, and many a rich array. There is no merchant in merry England so rich, I dare well say.”

“Take him three yards of every colour, and see that you measure it true.” Little John took no other measure but his long bow of yew. And at every handful that he met, he counted it a yard. “What devils draper,” said little Much, Do you think you are?”

Scarlet stood still and laughed and said, “By God almighty, John may give him good measure for it costs him but lightly.” (From the Gest)

Robin then lent the knight £400 of his own money and this is when we learn that Robin was “the wealthiest merchant in all England with a rich array of scarlet and green cloth,” and the loan was to be paid back in 12 months time. With that the impoverished knight set off to St. Marys to pay his debt and have the matter settled legally.

Then through a combination of circumstances Robin came into possession of £800 from the two monks at the Saylis and when the knight returned 12 months later to pay back the £400 he owed Robin he is told about the £800 Robin got from the two monks. They all laugh and after the knight repaid his debt to Robin, Robin split the £800 and gave the knight £400 to buy a new horse, keeping £400 for himself so all in all the knight’s debt is paid and both men were £400 better off. The real losers are the two monks from St. Marys who were wrongfully attempting to rob the knight of all his possessions and justice had been done.

Professor Holt and Nottingham

Although Robin Hood was in Nottingham it is unlikely Nottingham’s candidate Robert-de-Kyme was Robin Hood and neither was he known as ‘Robin Hood.’ Professor Holt has this to say:-“Since Mr. J. Lees (The Quest for Robin Hood, Nottingham 1987), has tried to revive Stukeley’s pedigree in a revised form it may be useful to summarize a few of the salient errors.”

First, the critical figure for both Stukeley and Mr. Lees is William ‘FitzOoth,’ who (Stukeley) or whose heir (Lees) was transferred to the custody of Robert de Vere, earl of Oxford, in 1214. In reality the William son of Otho, whose heir or heirs were placed in the custody of Aubrey de Vere, carl of Oxford, in 1205 and transferred to Robert de Vere, earl of Oxford, in 1214, had nothing to do with the family of Kyme, or with the earls of Huntingdon, still less with Robin Hood. He is well known as an official of the Mint, holding his office in charge of the manufacture of the royal dies as a sergcanty. By 1219 he was succeeded by his son, Otho son of William, who still held office in 1242-3. It follows therefore that ‘Robert fitz Ooth’ is entirely fictitious; so is the alleged link between ‘FitzOoth’ and Kyme; and so are the grounds for seeking an original Robin Hood in the Kyme family.

Secondly, there is no evidence that any Robert of Kyme mentioned by Mr. Lees was outlawed. The instance on which he relies is a royal remission of wrath and indignation incurred by an appeal of rape against a Robert of Kyme at Wenlock in 1226; there is no mention of outlawry.

Thirdly, Mr. Lees’s ‘Robert of Kyme’ is compounded of at least two distinct individuals, none of them an outlaw and none of them a disinherited elder son; many of the relationships he proposes within the Kyme family are quite unsupported by any contemporary evidence.

The recent attempt by Mr. J. Lees (The Quest for Robin Hood, Nottingham 1987) to alter the accepted geography of the tales by placing Barnsdale in Sherwood is quite unacceptable. It involves an elementary misreading of the Gest: the knight was travelling south through Barnsdale, not north, as he insists, for he was intending to voyage to the Holy Land (56, 57); it is only later, after leaving Robin in Barnsdale, that he visits St Mary’s, York, to repay his debt (84).

It is also based on a tendentious and uncritical evaluation of the place-name evidence. ‘Brunnisdale’ in Basford, Notts., cannot be equated with Barnsdale. ‘Brunnis’ is most probably ‘brun,’ i.e., brown; ‘Barn’ comes from the personal name ‘Beorn’. Moreover, the evidence linking Wentbridge, Sayles, Barnsdale and Wading Street is very clear and certain.

The main facts concerning the use of Watling Street as a name for the Great North Road in the Barnsdale area, which Mr. Lees questions, are incontrovertibly presented in The Place Names of the West Riding of Yorkshire, vii, p. 145. (Professor Holt)

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