ON

THE ERA AND CHARACTER OF ROBIN HOOD.

BY J. O. HALLIWELL, ESQ., F.R.S., F.S.A.

THE recent publication by Mr. Hunter on the subject of Robin Hood, in which he attempts to prove from records that the ballad-hero was a veritable historical personage, has drawn much attention to this interesting question. Without pretending to the discovery of any fresh evidence, I still, however, cannot but think a new and intelligible resumé of the arguments on Robin Hood's true character may not be without its use: carefully avoiding the essaycharacter of my predecessors, and placing before my hearers in the plainest manner, and in due order, all the facts of any importance in determining the question, I hope to enable each of you to be in the possession of sufficient information to draw your own conclusions. It would be easy to invest the subject with much detail, historical investigation, and generalization; but it is the chief use of papers, on occasions like the present, to yield information, and at the same time so to arrange the materials, that they may be made to possess some novelty in the deductions to which they lead, and perhaps to assist in the discovery of truth.

Robin Hood is not mentioned by any writer previous to the latter part of the fourteenth century. The only early authentic notice of him as an historical character, is met with in the pages of Fordun, who travelled and wrote in the latter part of that century, and who introduces a notice of the hero, after relating the final defeat, in the latter part of Henry III's reign, of the great national party of England under Simon de Montfort, and the vast number of confiscations that ensued upon the triumph of the king and the foreign courtiers. Fordun's notice is as follows:

"Then from among the dispossessed and the banished arose that most famous cut-throat, Robin Hood and Little John, with their accomplices; whom the foolish multitude are so extravagantly fond of celebrating in

tragedy and comedy; and the ballads concerning whom, sung by the jesters and minstrels, delight them beyond all others; of whom, however, some praiseworthy facts are narrated, as appears in this: Once upon a time, in Barnsdale, where he was avoiding the wrath of the king, and the rage of the prince, while engaged in very devoutly hearing mass, as he was wont to do,-nor would he interrupt the service for any occasion, -one day, I say, while so at mass, it happened that a certain viscount and other officers of the king, who had often before molested him, were seeking after him in that most retired woodland spot wherein he was thus occupied. Those of his men who first discovered this pursuit, came and entreated him to fly with all speed; but this, from reverence for the consecrated host, which he was then most devoutly adoring, he absolutely refused to do. While the rest of his people were trembling for fear of death, Robert alone, confiding in Him whom he fearlessly worshipped, with the very few whom he then had beside him, encountered his enemies, overcame them with ease, was enriched by their spoils and ransom, and was thus induced to hold ministers of the Church and masses in greater veneration than ever, as mindful of the common saying:

"Hunc Deus exaudit, qui missam sæpius audit'."

Now, apart from the circumstance that this account only appears in a late manuscript of Fordun, preserved in the Harleian collection, which appears to be of little authority, even supposing it to be Fordun's genuine production, I would ask any intelligent reader this question, —if we accept it as truth, and take it for granted Robin Hood was a famous person under the circumstances above mentioned, is it to be believed that no notice of him whatever should occur in contemporary history? There is no want of historians who treat of the period, and had so notorious a person existed in the latter part of the thirteenth century, he must unquestionably have been noticed by Matthew Paris, Benedictus Abbas, or other writers. In the stead of this, we merely find him mentioned as a subject of popular ballads, in a work composed a century after his death.

The pith of all real information respecting Robin Hood, may be truly said to be contained in the above extract. The collections of Ritson, and the more elegant and elaborate volumes edited by Mr. Gutch, will be found, on examination, to contain the evidence of a period after the fourteenth century. The early ballads on the subject are most numerous, but it seems scarcely credible-were there

not so many evidences of antiquaries forgetting the relative values of testimonies on a favourite question-that these romantic compositions should be treated as evidence. Once admit the principle,-which is quite independent of the specious argument produced by Mr. Hunter, in the circumstance of some few early poetical pieces being formed on real occurrences, we may at once write a life of Richard Cœur de Lion from the almost interminable poem on the lion-hearted king, which was so popular in the fourteenth century. There is no limit to the absurdities this kind of reasoning would sanction.

Mr. Hunter and Mr. Wright reject the passage in Fordun as interpolated; but the former having discovered, in the Exchequer records, a mention of two persons of the name of Simon and Robert Hod, as porters of the royal chamber, near the end of the reign of Edward II, concludes that this Robert or Robin Hod was "the great hero of the ancient minstrelsy of England". Mr. Hunter supports this view by quotations from the ballads; but the coincidences are forced and unlikely, and the name of Hood was then, as now, so very common in this country, the mere occurrence of it in a record, unaccompanied by any notice or allusion to the outlaw's supposed character, is surely a very unsafe testimony on which to found an argument.

All other early notices of Robin Hood allude evidently to him merely as a subject of romance or ballads. These, if collected, would prove that from the latter part of the fourteenth century, the public were extremely fond of all poems on the subject. How much earlier than this they were current, it is now impossible to determine; for while we can confidently rely on the certainty of all great characters and events being mentioned by one or other of the middle-age historians, it is only by accident they notice any of the popular stories or traditions.

There is, fortunately, preserved a Robin Hood balladpoem of the fourteenth century; one, no doubt, of those mentioned by Fordun or his interpolator. It is written, as Mr. Wright observes, in a southern and correct dialect, and is much superior in poetical execution to any that follow. The opening is simple and beautiful, and with a few alterations, I accept Mr. Wright's analysis. As the

earliest known fragment on the subject, it is highly important, as showing the character of the Robin Hood tales current at that early period:

"In summer, when the shaws be sheen,1

And leaves be large and long,

It is full merry in fair forest

To hear the fowls' song.

To see the dear draw to the dale,

And leave the hills hee,

And shadow them in the leaves green,
Under the greenwood tree."

One May morning, in Whitsuntide, when the sun shone bright, and the birds sung, Robin Hood determined to go to Nottingham to hear mass. Little John, who was his only companion, proposed "to shoot a penny" as they passed through the wood; and he, having gained five shillings from his master, a strife arose, which ended in their mutually parting from each other. It It may be just worth while to observe, en passant, a penny in those days was a small silver coin, not the huge piece of copper which now passes under that name. Little John returned to the forest of Sherwood, and Robin Hood proceeded to Nottingham, where he entered St. Mary's church, and knelt down before the rood. A monk, whom he had robbed of a hundred pounds, recognized him, and carried information to the sheriff, who caused the gates of the town to be closed, surrounded the church with his company, and secured the outlaw, who broke his sword on the sheriff's head in defending himself. The monk was despatched with tidings to the king at London, and Little John and Much, who had learned the disaster which had happened to their master, determined to waylay him:

"Forth then went these yeomen two,

Little John and Much in fere,

And looked on Much eme's house,

The highway full near.

Little John stood at a window in the morning,

And looked forth at a stage,

He was ware when the monk came riding,

And with him a little page.

1 That is, when the woods are bright.

By my faith, said Little John to Much,
I can thee tell tidings good;

I see where the monk comes riding,

I know him by his wide hood."

Little John and Much went to the monk, learnt from his own mouth the tidings he carried, slew him and his page, and themselves carried the letters of the sheriff to the king, telling him, that the monk who should have brought them was dead by the way. He was much rejoiced by the contents of the sheriff's letters, rewarded well the bearers, made them both yeomen of the crown, and gave them letters to the sheriff of Nottingham, commanding that Robin Hood should be sent to the king. On their arrival at Nottingham, they found the gates fastened, and they were not admitted until they had shown the king's seal. When the sheriff saw the letters, he inquired, naturally enough, after the monk, and was informed by Little John, that the king was so gratified by the intelligence, of which he had been the bearer, that he had made him abbot of Westminster. At night, Little

John and Much went to the jail:

"Little John called up the gaoler,

And bade him arise anon;

He said Robin Hood had broken prison,

And out of it was gone.

The porter arose anon, certain,

As soon as he heard John call.
Little John was ready with a sword,
And bare him to the wall.

Now will I be porter, said Little John,

And take the keys in hond;

He took the way to Robin Hood,
And soon he him unbound.

He gave him a good sword in his hand,
His head with for to keep;

And there as the walls were lowest,

Anon down can they leap."

When they reached the forest, Robin and Little John were immediately reconciled, and the escape of the outlaw was celebrated by festivity amongst his followers:

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