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. Sir Richard Vernon died 1376.
When Sir Richard met Robin Hood at the Saylis, he intended going on pilgrimage to the Holy Land. History confirms he had a license from King Edward III to go abroad in 1364 the same year he was hunting with the king’s party at Bestwood. 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 at Castleton are both in Derbyshire. 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
Before the Norman Conquest, the district around Loxley and Wadsley belonged to Waltheof the Earl of Huntingdon. The earldom passed to David, King of Scots and later Agnes/Matilda De Stapleton became an heiress to the earldom through her grandfather, John II de Balliol, King of Scots. Sir Thomas de Sheffield born in Wadsley, the third husband of Agness, died there in 1348, reportedly killed by Robin while they were ploughing. Tilling the soil started early in the year in readiness for sowing seed in the spring. After the death of Robin’s stepfather, Dodsworth tells us Robin fled into the woods where his mother sustained him. Bower Wood backed onto the cottage where he was born. Left on her own Agnes went to Bedale, her hometown, where she died the same year as her husband on the 3rd of November age 50. If Agnes was Robin’s mother and Sir Thomas de Sheffield his step-father, then Robin’s claim to the earldom may have been valid. The only problem was, the honour of Huntingdon belonged to William de Clinton, a boyhood companion of Edward III. (John II de Balliol, King of Scots and the grandfather of Agnes featured in Mel Gibson’s Oscar-winning 1995 film Braveheart.)
Powerful Local Families Living the same time as Robin Hood.
The Sheffield Mounteney family married into the powerful Furnival family when Arnold de Mounteney married Matilda Furnival. In 1379, Joan Mounteney married Thomas Lord Furnival who became 1st Lord Neville of Halumshire. He voted in parliament for Richard II’s clandestine incarceration in the Tower of London. Alice de Mounteney was the Prioress of Kirklees where Robin died two or three years after Richard II’s death. It looks like a plot.
And their powerful neighbours
After the eldest son of John O’Gaunt, Henry IV ascended the throne, another son of John O’Gaunt, Thomas Beaufort, became a Knight of the Garter. Later he became the Chancellor of England and later still Earl of Dorset. His mother was Katherine Swynford, the third wife of John of Gaunt. Thomas Swynford was the constable of Pontefract castle where Richard II died. Joan Beaufort, the daughter of John of Gaunt and Katherine Swynford, married Ralph Neville in 1396 and Richard II made Joan a Member of the Order of the Garter.
The Hastings family trace their roots back to Sheffield’s Hallam through the Talbot and Furnival families. Anne Hastings, Countess of Shrewsbury, lies in Sheffield Cathedral. Her mother was Katherine Neville. Sir Ralph Hastings was the Sheriff of Yorkshire during the Peasants Revolt involving Robin Hood. The two men, Robin and Sir Ralph Hastings, the sheriff must surely have known each other.
When George Hastings, who was a member of the Drapers Company, received the honour of Huntingdon from Henry VIII in 1529, he started the family tradition of naming their children Robin Hood as in the Honourable Aubrey Craven Theophilus Robin Hood Hastings. The current Earl of Huntingdon is William Edward Robin Hood Hastings-Bass, 17th Earl of Huntingdon (b. 1948). Adopting the name “Robin Hood” suggests the two families were social equals. Both Richard Grafton, King Henry’s chief antiquarian and John Leland confirm Robin’s noble birth.
Piers Plowman
Langland’s Piers Plowman B text published in 1377 is a contemporary reflection on the morality of the nation during the reign of King Edward III. In his prestigious poem, Langland included Robin Hood, Sloth the drunken priest, Lady Meed, and Ranulf, Earl of Chester. Friar Tuck might have been Sloth, the drunken priest he had no interest in church affairs. Lady Meed was Alice Perrers, the king’s mistress, and the Earl of Chester was the Black Prince the eldest son of the king,
Ranulph de Blundeville, the Earl of Chester, founded Dieulacres Abbey in 1214. Later, the Black Prince born in 1330 became its patron. His Cheshire archers operated out of the abbey on the orders of the abbot William Lichfield. The abbot had absolute authority over those notorious bands of armed men. He erected gallows in the market street of Leek which he controlled and could legally hang anyone provided he gave the person concerned two days notice! A royal commission in 1379 noted the abbot used his armed men to harm all those living in the county of Stafford. They hounded people from place to place, ambushed them, looted, assaulted, maimed, and killed many. The authorities arrested and imprisoned the abbot after the monks beheaded John De Wharton. Suspiciously, they soon pardoned and released him. There were numerous other lawsuits, and the abbot was criticised for always defending his marauding monks.
Broadsheets, the newspapers of the day cost a penny each while chapbooks included popular ballads. People knew only too well the ruthless reputation of the Earls of Chester, the Black Prince and the Cheshire archers. The violence, theft and disrespect for others would provide balladeers with material for years to come. Langland only needed to say “Chester” to make his point about lawless England.
Robin Hood's Era
Barbara A. Buxton writes, "The legal and royal records for the reigns 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."
Professor Holt confirms the above, saying Robin was active in the later medieval period. He writes, “the “Geste of Robin Hood” was written circa 1450 and all the literature, the setting and the dates are in this later medieval period. “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.”
This accords with Professor Thomas Ohlgren who 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 twelve 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." 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”
(John Major wrote his piece while living in France and possibly meant King John of France, Richard II and Henry IV of England which is correct. The Sloane MS written in a 'crabbed' hand is difficult to decipher leaving the Roman numerals of the date open to misinterpretation.)
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. Sir Richard Vernon died 1376.
When Sir Richard met Robin Hood at the Saylis, he intended going on pilgrimage to the Holy Land. History confirms he had a license from King Edward III to go abroad in 1364 the same year he was hunting with the king’s party at Bestwood. 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 at Castleton are both in Derbyshire. 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
Before the Norman Conquest, the district around Loxley and Wadsley belonged to Waltheof the Earl of Huntingdon. The earldom passed to David, King of Scots and later Agnes/Matilda De Stapleton became an heiress to the earldom through her grandfather, John II de Balliol, King of Scots. Sir Thomas de Sheffield born in Wadsley, the third husband of Agness, died there in 1348, reportedly killed by Robin while they were ploughing. Tilling the soil started early in the year in readiness for sowing seed in the spring. After the death of Robin’s stepfather, Dodsworth tells us Robin fled into the woods where his mother sustained him. Bower Wood backed onto the cottage where he was born. Left on her own Agnes went to Bedale, her hometown, where she died the same year as her husband on the 3rd of November age 50. If Agnes was Robin’s mother and Sir Thomas de Sheffield his step-father, then Robin’s claim to the earldom may have been valid. The only problem was, the honour of Huntingdon belonged to William de Clinton, a boyhood companion of Edward III. (John II de Balliol, King of Scots and the grandfather of Agnes featured in Mel Gibson’s Oscar-winning 1995 film Braveheart.)
Powerful Local Families Living the same time as Robin Hood.
The Sheffield Mounteney family married into the powerful Furnival family when Arnold de Mounteney married Matilda Furnival. In 1379, Joan Mounteney married Thomas Lord Furnival who became 1st Lord Neville of Halumshire. He voted in parliament for Richard II’s clandestine incarceration in the Tower of London. Alice de Mounteney was the Prioress of Kirklees where Robin died two or three years after Richard II’s death. It looks like a plot.
And their powerful neighbours
After the eldest son of John O’Gaunt, Henry IV ascended the throne, another son of John O’Gaunt, Thomas Beaufort, became a Knight of the Garter. Later he became the Chancellor of England and later still Earl of Dorset. His mother was Katherine Swynford, the third wife of John of Gaunt. Thomas Swynford was the constable of Pontefract castle where Richard II died. Joan Beaufort, the daughter of John of Gaunt and Katherine Swynford, married Ralph Neville in 1396 and Richard II made Joan a Member of the Order of the Garter.
The Hastings family trace their roots back to Sheffield’s Hallam through the Talbot and Furnival families. Anne Hastings, Countess of Shrewsbury, lies in Sheffield Cathedral. Her mother was Katherine Neville. Sir Ralph Hastings was the Sheriff of Yorkshire during the Peasants Revolt involving Robin Hood. The two men, Robin and Sir Ralph Hastings, the sheriff must surely have known each other.
When George Hastings, who was a member of the Drapers Company, received the honour of Huntingdon from Henry VIII in 1529, he started the family tradition of naming their children Robin Hood as in the Honourable Aubrey Craven Theophilus Robin Hood Hastings. The current Earl of Huntingdon is William Edward Robin Hood Hastings-Bass, 17th Earl of Huntingdon (b. 1948). Adopting the name “Robin Hood” suggests the two families were social equals. Both Richard Grafton, King Henry’s chief antiquarian and John Leland confirm Robin’s noble birth.
Piers Plowman
Langland’s Piers Plowman B text published in 1377 is a contemporary reflection on the morality of the nation during the reign of King Edward III. In his prestigious poem, Langland included Robin Hood, Sloth the drunken priest, Lady Meed, and Ranulf, Earl of Chester. Friar Tuck might have been Sloth, the drunken priest he had no interest in church affairs. Lady Meed was Alice Perrers, the king’s mistress, and the Earl of Chester was the Black Prince the eldest son of the king,
Ranulph de Blundeville, the Earl of Chester, founded Dieulacres Abbey in 1214. Later, the Black Prince born in 1330 became its patron. His Cheshire archers operated out of the abbey on the orders of the abbot William Lichfield. The abbot had absolute authority over those notorious bands of armed men. He erected gallows in the market street of Leek which he controlled and could legally hang anyone provided he gave the person concerned two days notice! A royal commission in 1379 noted the abbot used his armed men to harm all those living in the county of Stafford. They hounded people from place to place, ambushed them, looted, assaulted, maimed, and killed many. The authorities arrested and imprisoned the abbot after the monks beheaded John De Wharton. Suspiciously, they soon pardoned and released him. There were numerous other lawsuits, and the abbot was criticised for always defending his marauding monks.
Broadsheets, the newspapers of the day cost a penny each while chapbooks included popular ballads. People knew only too well the ruthless reputation of the Earls of Chester, the Black Prince and the Cheshire archers. The violence, theft and disrespect for others would provide balladeers with material for years to come. Langland only needed to say “Chester” to make his point about lawless England.
Robin Hood's Era
Barbara A. Buxton writes, "The legal and royal records for the reigns 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."
Professor Holt confirms the above, saying Robin was active in the later medieval period. He writes, “the “Geste of Robin Hood” was written circa 1450 and all the literature, the setting and the dates are in this later medieval period. “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.”
This accords with Professor Thomas Ohlgren who 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 twelve 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." 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”
(John Major wrote his piece while living in France and possibly meant King John of France, Richard II and Henry IV of England which is correct. The Sloane MS written in a 'crabbed' hand is difficult to decipher leaving the Roman numerals of the date open to misinterpretation.)
Copyright © 2014, Graham Kirkby All rights reserved NEXT PAGE
