Some of Robin's Contemporaries
Bob Clarke and Nora, an Irish Wolfhound/Labrador, on the heights of Loxley Common.
John Gisburn, the Lord Mayor of York, born in 1336 in York, died in 1390, nine years after the Peasant Revolt. He left five shillings for the leper house in Wentbridge, on the road to York. Wentbridge also appears in the ballads. Ricardus de Gisbourne and Robin Hood traded in cloth and clothing, and the Lord Mayor did the same, but in addition, he traded in other goods.
Gisburn’s son-in-law, William Plumpton, was born in Plumpton in 1362, where Robin hunted and herded the deer while King Edward found nothing. William’s minstrel earned eight pence after performing at Fountains Abbey (Holt). Related to each other were Gisburn’s wife, Ellen, the two Morton brothers. Robert and John, the sheriffs of Nottingham and Yorkshire. Robert’s wife, Joan, was a personal attendant to King Richard’s wife, Queen Anne of Bohemia.
In the ballad of Robin Hood and Guy of Gisbourne, Robin identified himself as Robin of Barnesdale, while the merchant who sought to kill Robin identified himself as Guye of Good Gysbourne. He would have been Ricardus de Gysbourne; John Gisburn was born in York. They are both on the 1365 Freedom Roll. The ballad has them all together, in Barnsdale, with the sheriff of Nottingham and William De Trent, the sheriff’s man.
Friar Tuck, who was late joining Robin’s band of men, was at Fountains Abbey. His ferocious hunting dogs were illegal and banned from the Royal Forests (ban-dogs). Although Fountains Abbey was Cistercian, secular friars, or lay brothers of the Franciscan order (Friars Minor), undertook the manual labour. Walking over rough ground or riding a horse when wearing a habit or cassock was difficult, so friars pulled their gown between their legs and tucked it into their cincture (belt) at the back. Hence, the nickname "Friar Tuck." Two royal writs from 1417 tell us Friar Tuck was a Sussex chaplain named Robert Stafford. He was still on the run in 1429. (J. C. Holt)
Shakespeare’s play, Henry IV, Part 2, mentions Sir Robert Morton the Sheriff of Nottingham, and the impoverished knight Sir Richard Vernon. A group of old men were reminiscing about the good old days and singing songs, including one about Robin Hood, Scarlet, and John. The party broke up when they heard the news of Bolingbrook’s death, and young Prince Hal’s forthcoming coronation (Henry V) in 1413. If these old men were 60 years of age, which is not so incredibly old, they would have known the tales of Robin for 50 years as children. As Robin died only ten years earlier, they might have known him or even been among his Merry Men. In 1429, sixteen years later, Friar Tuck still evaded the law.
Shakespeare’s handwriting is on various pages of the Geste, and oral history was another of Shakespeare’s sources. A slab matching this description is at Hartshead Church, where residents of Kirklees worshipped. Labourers transferred it there after a road widening in 1607.
Copyright © 2020, Graham Kirkby All rights reserved. NEXT PAGE
John Gisburn, the Lord Mayor of York, born in 1336 in York, died in 1390, nine years after the Peasant Revolt. He left five shillings for the leper house in Wentbridge, on the road to York. Wentbridge also appears in the ballads. Ricardus de Gisbourne and Robin Hood traded in cloth and clothing, and the Lord Mayor did the same, but in addition, he traded in other goods.
Gisburn’s son-in-law, William Plumpton, was born in Plumpton in 1362, where Robin hunted and herded the deer while King Edward found nothing. William’s minstrel earned eight pence after performing at Fountains Abbey (Holt). Related to each other were Gisburn’s wife, Ellen, the two Morton brothers. Robert and John, the sheriffs of Nottingham and Yorkshire. Robert’s wife, Joan, was a personal attendant to King Richard’s wife, Queen Anne of Bohemia.
In the ballad of Robin Hood and Guy of Gisbourne, Robin identified himself as Robin of Barnesdale, while the merchant who sought to kill Robin identified himself as Guye of Good Gysbourne. He would have been Ricardus de Gysbourne; John Gisburn was born in York. They are both on the 1365 Freedom Roll. The ballad has them all together, in Barnsdale, with the sheriff of Nottingham and William De Trent, the sheriff’s man.
Friar Tuck, who was late joining Robin’s band of men, was at Fountains Abbey. His ferocious hunting dogs were illegal and banned from the Royal Forests (ban-dogs). Although Fountains Abbey was Cistercian, secular friars, or lay brothers of the Franciscan order (Friars Minor), undertook the manual labour. Walking over rough ground or riding a horse when wearing a habit or cassock was difficult, so friars pulled their gown between their legs and tucked it into their cincture (belt) at the back. Hence, the nickname "Friar Tuck." Two royal writs from 1417 tell us Friar Tuck was a Sussex chaplain named Robert Stafford. He was still on the run in 1429. (J. C. Holt)
Shakespeare’s play, Henry IV, Part 2, mentions Sir Robert Morton the Sheriff of Nottingham, and the impoverished knight Sir Richard Vernon. A group of old men were reminiscing about the good old days and singing songs, including one about Robin Hood, Scarlet, and John. The party broke up when they heard the news of Bolingbrook’s death, and young Prince Hal’s forthcoming coronation (Henry V) in 1413. If these old men were 60 years of age, which is not so incredibly old, they would have known the tales of Robin for 50 years as children. As Robin died only ten years earlier, they might have known him or even been among his Merry Men. In 1429, sixteen years later, Friar Tuck still evaded the law.
Shakespeare’s handwriting is on various pages of the Geste, and oral history was another of Shakespeare’s sources. A slab matching this description is at Hartshead Church, where residents of Kirklees worshipped. Labourers transferred it there after a road widening in 1607.
Copyright © 2020, Graham Kirkby All rights reserved. NEXT PAGE