The Historical Setting
Sir Richard at the Lee
The Geste of Robin Hood tells us the impoverished knight, Sir Richard at the Lee came from a long line of noble knights. The castle he inherited, surrounded by woods at the Lee in Verysdale had a drawbridge and fortified, castellated walls dating back to Richard I. This describes Haddon Hall at the Lee in Wyedale on the left of the map. Sir Richard Vernon died in 1376. (‘W’ was a late addition to the alphabet.)
When Sir Richard met Robin at the Saylis, he planned to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land after first going to Saint Mary’s Abbey in York. History confirms he had a licence from King Edward III to go abroad in 1364, the same year he accompanied the king and his huntsmen to the north of England. Later we read in the Geste that Sir Richard gave Robin sanctuary when the Sheriff of Nottingham came looking for him after Robin won an archery contest. Sir Richard’s home and the jousting field in Castleton are both in Derbyshire not far from each other and came under the jurisdiction of Nottingham’s Sheriff. The Geste confirms Robin, Sir Richard, and King Edward III were contemporaries when we read, “Robin beheld our comely King wistly in the face as did Sir Richard at the Lea and knelt in that place.”
Earl of Huntingdon
The heiress to the Earldom of Huntingdon Agnes De Stapleton, also known as Matilda settled in Loxley with her third husband, Sir Thomas de Sheffield. Her grandfather was John II de Balliol, King of Scots. After her husband died in 1348, Agnes returned to her home town of Bedale where she died the same year on the 3rd of November aged 50. Her first husband, Sir Gilbert Stapleton, knight of Bedale and a childhood companion of the future King Edward accompanied him to Nottingham Castle where they captured Piers Gaveston. Gilbert’s eldest son, Sir Miles Stapleton of Bedale was a knight founder of the Order of the Garter. He lived the same time as Robin but died, according to family history in 1364 age 46 of severe wounds received in the battle of Auray. (Agnes’s grandfather featured in Mel Gibson’s Oscar-winning 1995 film Braveheart.)
Years later, the Hasting’s family identified with Robin Hood by naming their children after him. The custom continues to the present day with “William Edward Robin Hood Hastings-Bass, 17th Earl of Huntingdon (b. 1948).” Their family tree goes back by marriage to Robin, through his cousin the prioress. She was a Mounteney, and they married into the Furnival family. Bridging the generation gap is Anne Hastings (c. 1471 – 1520). Anne was Countess of Shrewsbury and Baroness Furnival, her husband George Talbot was 9th Baron Furnivall. The tomb of Anne Hastings is in Sheffield Cathedral.
Piers Plowman
William Langland published his prestigious poem Piers Plowman B text the year King Edward died. Robin Hood, Sloth the drunken priest, Lady Meed, and the Earl of Chester all got a mention. Friar Tuck the lazy priest might have been Sloth, he did not know the Psalter but could recite the rhymes of Robin Hood. Lady Meed was Alice Perrers, the king’s mistress and King Edward’s son, the Black Prince was the Earl of Chester. His Cheshire Archers operated from Dieulacres Abbey, of which he was the patron. They hounded people, ambushed them, looted, assaulted, maimed, and killed many. Broadsheets, the newspapers of the day cost a penny each while chapbooks included popular ballads. Their activities would give the balladeers and players enough material to keep them in work for years to come.
Their mischief continued into the reign of King Richard II, the son of Edward the Black Prince. He maintained 300 Cheshire archers as his bodyguard and during the last two years of his reign, they continued doing in London as they had at Dieulacres Abbey. They robbed, raped, flogged, and killed, but never got punished. Langland expressed concern for the moral state of the nation in his poem, but being afraid of his life if he named the Earl of Chester, Prince of Wales and King of England under whose rule it was happening, he identified the abbey by naming its founder, the 4th Earl of Chester Ranulph de Blundeville.
Robin Hood's Era
Professor Holt wrote, “the Geste is circa 1450 and 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 part of the legend. Neither is this view supported by the earliest ballads, they name the reigning monarch as Edward.” (John Major wrote his history while living in France and may have intended King John of France and King Richard of Bordeaux and England. King Henry in the Sloane Manuscript would have been King Henry IV of England. His claim to the Kingdom of France failed. Problems in the Sloan MS were ‘crabbed’ handwriting and badly written Roman numerals.)
Professor Thomas Ohlgren wrote, “the Geste was commissioned by one of the fifteenth-century guilds-possibly the Dyers Guild in the light of the many 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 Great Livery Companies.” He adds, “the giving of liveries indicates a time of social change when the lower classes and criminal gangs were imitating the aristocracy in the 14th and 15th century.”
Barbara A. Buxton writes, “The legal and royal records for the reign of Richard I and King John are quite adequate to detail Robin’s offences, but they do not. The sheriff is never named even though records go back to 1135. Friars first came to England in 1221 after King Richard died in 1189 and King John in 1216.” Ronald Hutton tells us the 14th and 15th centuries were known as “Merrie England” and Keen writes, “The giving of liveries indicates a time when liveries and personal badges were in everyday use.”
Copyright © 2014, Graham Kirkby All rights reserved NEXT PAGE
The Geste of Robin Hood tells us the impoverished knight, Sir Richard at the Lee came from a long line of noble knights. The castle he inherited, surrounded by woods at the Lee in Verysdale had a drawbridge and fortified, castellated walls dating back to Richard I. This describes Haddon Hall at the Lee in Wyedale on the left of the map. Sir Richard Vernon died in 1376. (‘W’ was a late addition to the alphabet.)
When Sir Richard met Robin at the Saylis, he planned to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land after first going to Saint Mary’s Abbey in York. History confirms he had a licence from King Edward III to go abroad in 1364, the same year he accompanied the king and his huntsmen to the north of England. Later we read in the Geste that Sir Richard gave Robin sanctuary when the Sheriff of Nottingham came looking for him after Robin won an archery contest. Sir Richard’s home and the jousting field in Castleton are both in Derbyshire not far from each other and came under the jurisdiction of Nottingham’s Sheriff. The Geste confirms Robin, Sir Richard, and King Edward III were contemporaries when we read, “Robin beheld our comely King wistly in the face as did Sir Richard at the Lea and knelt in that place.”
Earl of Huntingdon
The heiress to the Earldom of Huntingdon Agnes De Stapleton, also known as Matilda settled in Loxley with her third husband, Sir Thomas de Sheffield. Her grandfather was John II de Balliol, King of Scots. After her husband died in 1348, Agnes returned to her home town of Bedale where she died the same year on the 3rd of November aged 50. Her first husband, Sir Gilbert Stapleton, knight of Bedale and a childhood companion of the future King Edward accompanied him to Nottingham Castle where they captured Piers Gaveston. Gilbert’s eldest son, Sir Miles Stapleton of Bedale was a knight founder of the Order of the Garter. He lived the same time as Robin but died, according to family history in 1364 age 46 of severe wounds received in the battle of Auray. (Agnes’s grandfather featured in Mel Gibson’s Oscar-winning 1995 film Braveheart.)
Years later, the Hasting’s family identified with Robin Hood by naming their children after him. The custom continues to the present day with “William Edward Robin Hood Hastings-Bass, 17th Earl of Huntingdon (b. 1948).” Their family tree goes back by marriage to Robin, through his cousin the prioress. She was a Mounteney, and they married into the Furnival family. Bridging the generation gap is Anne Hastings (c. 1471 – 1520). Anne was Countess of Shrewsbury and Baroness Furnival, her husband George Talbot was 9th Baron Furnivall. The tomb of Anne Hastings is in Sheffield Cathedral.
Piers Plowman
William Langland published his prestigious poem Piers Plowman B text the year King Edward died. Robin Hood, Sloth the drunken priest, Lady Meed, and the Earl of Chester all got a mention. Friar Tuck the lazy priest might have been Sloth, he did not know the Psalter but could recite the rhymes of Robin Hood. Lady Meed was Alice Perrers, the king’s mistress and King Edward’s son, the Black Prince was the Earl of Chester. His Cheshire Archers operated from Dieulacres Abbey, of which he was the patron. They hounded people, ambushed them, looted, assaulted, maimed, and killed many. Broadsheets, the newspapers of the day cost a penny each while chapbooks included popular ballads. Their activities would give the balladeers and players enough material to keep them in work for years to come.
Their mischief continued into the reign of King Richard II, the son of Edward the Black Prince. He maintained 300 Cheshire archers as his bodyguard and during the last two years of his reign, they continued doing in London as they had at Dieulacres Abbey. They robbed, raped, flogged, and killed, but never got punished. Langland expressed concern for the moral state of the nation in his poem, but being afraid of his life if he named the Earl of Chester, Prince of Wales and King of England under whose rule it was happening, he identified the abbey by naming its founder, the 4th Earl of Chester Ranulph de Blundeville.
Robin Hood's Era
Professor Holt wrote, “the Geste is circa 1450 and 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 part of the legend. Neither is this view supported by the earliest ballads, they name the reigning monarch as Edward.” (John Major wrote his history while living in France and may have intended King John of France and King Richard of Bordeaux and England. King Henry in the Sloane Manuscript would have been King Henry IV of England. His claim to the Kingdom of France failed. Problems in the Sloan MS were ‘crabbed’ handwriting and badly written Roman numerals.)
Professor Thomas Ohlgren wrote, “the Geste was commissioned by one of the fifteenth-century guilds-possibly the Dyers Guild in the light of the many 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 Great Livery Companies.” He adds, “the giving of liveries indicates a time of social change when the lower classes and criminal gangs were imitating the aristocracy in the 14th and 15th century.”
Barbara A. Buxton writes, “The legal and royal records for the reign of Richard I and King John are quite adequate to detail Robin’s offences, but they do not. The sheriff is never named even though records go back to 1135. Friars first came to England in 1221 after King Richard died in 1189 and King John in 1216.” Ronald Hutton tells us the 14th and 15th centuries were known as “Merrie England” and Keen writes, “The giving of liveries indicates a time when liveries and personal badges were in everyday use.”
Copyright © 2014, Graham Kirkby All rights reserved NEXT PAGE
