Robin Hood the Merchant
Nottingham Market
Nottingham had the biggest and best market in the king’s northern kingdom, so if anyone wanted to earn a decent living, that was the place to be. Traders entering Nottingham had to wait until the afternoon before setting up their stalls. In “Robin and the Potter,” Robin fed the horse water, oats, and hay before selling the potter’s clay pots. The last five vessels went to the sheriff’s wife, and taking a liking to Robin, she invited him to dine with her and her husband. The ballad continues with Robin having fun at the sheriff’s expense and his wife laughing at her husband when he recounts his story.
To avoid being classified as outlaws, tradespeople needed to join a guild. So, King Edward III, while he was in the north of England, completed his father’s work and established the Northern Guilds in York and Wakefield. Now, tradespeople in the north had the same rights and obligations as their southern counterparts. Across the street from the market is Saint Mary’s Church, where knights, carpenters, and clothiers established a private chapel. Business owners negotiated deals, while clerks oversaw the bookkeeping and wrote letters (Robin and the Monk). Despite the commercialization, we see the sincerity of Robin’s faith when we read in the ballad Robin Hood and the Monk: “This one thing is grieving me; it causes my heart tremendous woe; I know not the solemn day when I shall never attend mass again.”
The wool sold in Nottingham Market came primarily from Rievaulx and Fountains Abbeys in Yorkshire and Rufford Abbey in Nottingham. In King John’s time, the market in Nottingham set the price of raw wool throughout England. Creating elegant garments from fleece required countless hours of painstaking work. Spinning the fleece, weaving, dyeing the cloth, and tailoring required specific skills. Radulfus de Waddesley, a tailor and perhaps a childhood friend of Robin, gained the freedom of York on the same day as Robin, as did Sir Guy of Good Gisborne the bounty hunter (York Archives). Gilbert dyed the cloth with plant extracts that turned his hands white. Then, when leaves were large and long, they sold their wares in markets across Greenwood.
Little John described Robin as the wealthiest merchant in England, making him a prime target for robbers. The deep foliage in Sherwood Forest, known as “Thieves’ Wood,” was perfect for concealing robbers and vagabonds. Many of these were members of the upper classes. They were cash-poor while possessing extensive land and property. War horses and armour were expensive, but for these war-hardened soldiers, the solution was obvious. Taking the spoils of war from the dead was customary, so, with their brutal weapons in their hands, they massacred many. “No one was safe.”
NOTES:
Before chemical dyes, they made Lincoln Green cloth by combining the yellow dye arbutin with blue woad. Arbutin is a product of cranberry, mulberry, or blueberry shrubs, and as it lightens the skin, this would account for Gilbert’s white hand.
The Geste tells of Robin’s mercantile period. This is when he plied his trade between Nottingham, Barnsdale, York, and Wakefield in the company of his merry (famous) men. The Germanic word for wool is “will,” suggesting Will Scarlet traded in wool and scarlet cloth. Much, the miller’s son, described Little John as the devil’s draper, to which John replied, “Watch and learn from the best master merchant in the entire kingdom.” He then described Robin as England’s most affluent merchant. The impoverished knight left his friend’s company wearing expensive clothing in scarlet and green. Robin gave him a horse fit for a knight, a grey courser, a new saddle, a good saddle horse, a pair of boots, and golden spurs, the symbols of honour granted only to knights. Later, Robin provided King Edward with green cloth.
In recent times, Nottingham became famous for its lace, and the author’s family suffered when the bottom dropped out of the market. A similar thing happened in the wool trade when the French captured the wool market and England turned to meat production.
Copyright © 2020, Graham Kirkby All rights reserved NEXT PAGE
Nottingham had the biggest and best market in the king’s northern kingdom, so if anyone wanted to earn a decent living, that was the place to be. Traders entering Nottingham had to wait until the afternoon before setting up their stalls. In “Robin and the Potter,” Robin fed the horse water, oats, and hay before selling the potter’s clay pots. The last five vessels went to the sheriff’s wife, and taking a liking to Robin, she invited him to dine with her and her husband. The ballad continues with Robin having fun at the sheriff’s expense and his wife laughing at her husband when he recounts his story.
To avoid being classified as outlaws, tradespeople needed to join a guild. So, King Edward III, while he was in the north of England, completed his father’s work and established the Northern Guilds in York and Wakefield. Now, tradespeople in the north had the same rights and obligations as their southern counterparts. Across the street from the market is Saint Mary’s Church, where knights, carpenters, and clothiers established a private chapel. Business owners negotiated deals, while clerks oversaw the bookkeeping and wrote letters (Robin and the Monk). Despite the commercialization, we see the sincerity of Robin’s faith when we read in the ballad Robin Hood and the Monk: “This one thing is grieving me; it causes my heart tremendous woe; I know not the solemn day when I shall never attend mass again.”
The wool sold in Nottingham Market came primarily from Rievaulx and Fountains Abbeys in Yorkshire and Rufford Abbey in Nottingham. In King John’s time, the market in Nottingham set the price of raw wool throughout England. Creating elegant garments from fleece required countless hours of painstaking work. Spinning the fleece, weaving, dyeing the cloth, and tailoring required specific skills. Radulfus de Waddesley, a tailor and perhaps a childhood friend of Robin, gained the freedom of York on the same day as Robin, as did Sir Guy of Good Gisborne the bounty hunter (York Archives). Gilbert dyed the cloth with plant extracts that turned his hands white. Then, when leaves were large and long, they sold their wares in markets across Greenwood.
Little John described Robin as the wealthiest merchant in England, making him a prime target for robbers. The deep foliage in Sherwood Forest, known as “Thieves’ Wood,” was perfect for concealing robbers and vagabonds. Many of these were members of the upper classes. They were cash-poor while possessing extensive land and property. War horses and armour were expensive, but for these war-hardened soldiers, the solution was obvious. Taking the spoils of war from the dead was customary, so, with their brutal weapons in their hands, they massacred many. “No one was safe.”
NOTES:
Before chemical dyes, they made Lincoln Green cloth by combining the yellow dye arbutin with blue woad. Arbutin is a product of cranberry, mulberry, or blueberry shrubs, and as it lightens the skin, this would account for Gilbert’s white hand.
The Geste tells of Robin’s mercantile period. This is when he plied his trade between Nottingham, Barnsdale, York, and Wakefield in the company of his merry (famous) men. The Germanic word for wool is “will,” suggesting Will Scarlet traded in wool and scarlet cloth. Much, the miller’s son, described Little John as the devil’s draper, to which John replied, “Watch and learn from the best master merchant in the entire kingdom.” He then described Robin as England’s most affluent merchant. The impoverished knight left his friend’s company wearing expensive clothing in scarlet and green. Robin gave him a horse fit for a knight, a grey courser, a new saddle, a good saddle horse, a pair of boots, and golden spurs, the symbols of honour granted only to knights. Later, Robin provided King Edward with green cloth.
In recent times, Nottingham became famous for its lace, and the author’s family suffered when the bottom dropped out of the market. A similar thing happened in the wool trade when the French captured the wool market and England turned to meat production.
Copyright © 2020, Graham Kirkby All rights reserved NEXT PAGE