ROBIN HOODS GRAVE - KIRKLEES A HISTORY AS HOT AS HELL

This will be the bitterest , most damning story I will ever write . How certain
individuals at KMC stole my house & my life
I hope this knowledge can prevent the same thing happenning to others .
It starts 6 years ago , right about the time of 9/11 the event that is beyond reason.
Following the harrowing death of my blind mother JUNE ROSE KELLY , the house where
I had lived all my life , was left to me .
It took more than 3 years to wind up the red tape .
At some point I began receiving unknown bills from KMC for several thousand pounds .
I was heavily depressed on strong medication & simply was in no state to handle
officialdom . My depression was further exaserpated with my use of drugs , which
eventually landed me in jail . That was 2003 . While I was in jail , representatives
of HELLIWELL LLANDAU visited me & told me my house had been sold . My entire life ,
all my possessions , the product of over 30 yrs of my life . Valuable goods ,
computers , my beloved musical equipment & priceless recordings , every detail of
myself , my life & my family were dumped in a skip (which they even billed me for).
They brought with them a folder of figures , indicating that after all the deductions
the sale of 2 Delph lane , had 37 grand left from the 53 000 raised from the sale of
my house . They never contacted me again . following my release straightened out for
2 years , every day I waited for news which they had told me could take a very long time .
eventually I did contact sarah sabine , who politely brushed me off by email .
Saying the matter was closed . wait a minute wheres my money ?
they passed the buck to some administrator (I dont know his exact position) john paul bateman , anyway I was bancrupt that was to last 6 years ...
MORE SOON
THE COUNCIL CHEIF WHO MADE A PROFIT BY STEALING MY HOUSE

leader of the council abuses his authority for personal gain & of course gets away with it
It gets worse the house (a 3 bed semi-detatched) was bought at auction for 53 grand
For years now I have laid awake at night pondering how to try & deal with this .
Now I have the platform & dominion to act .
If anyone out there is familiar with the corrupt backhanders at Kirklees , dont hesitate to comment . I will publish ...why should I care my life is over cos of it

Earlier this year Roger Roberts one of two councillors representing the town of Heckmondwike in West Yorkshire was hauled over the coals for allegedly sending five two pence faxes costing a grand total of ten pence at council expense and using a Council supplied fax machine. He was sent a warning letter and a demand for him to pay back the ten pence in a council envelope with a twenty four pence stamp on the front!
Councillor Mehboob Khan

Councillor Roberts described the demand as absolute nonsense, bearing in mind the faxes sent were concerning Council business and were sent on a Council provided fax machine and eventually it was decided there was no case to answer.

Now imagine the uproar if a Councillor was caught making in excess of £2000 worth of personal calls on a council telephone?

International calls
Councillor Mehboob Khan who represents the Greenhead ward in Huddersfield and is leader of the Labour group on Kirklees Council ran up a £2000+ telephone bill ringing a ‘female friend’ in Uzbekistan. However he conveniently forgot to mention it to the Council and an investigation into the matterwas carried out by the Council’s Head of Democratic Services and a man called Dave Harris who is the director of Corporate Services. They quizzed Khan who finally came clean about the secret calls and agreed to repay the bill from his £17,000 a year council allowance, an allowance that last year was topped up by a £3,000 claim for expenses - the highest of any of the councillors on Kirklees Council and £3,000 more than claimed by Councillor Exley!
Council guidelines clearly state that; ‘No Councillor or employee may use council telephones for personal calls except in the case of an emergency’. And in the rare case of a genuine emergency the Councillor concerned should inform the Council immediately and pay back the price of the call.
In this case the calls were neither an emergency nor did Councillor Khan inform the Council that he had made them. And it was only when he was caught red handed following an investigation by Mike Butler the Head of Democratic services and Dave Harris the Director of Corporate Services that he agreed to pay back the cost of the calls.
Given that the sum involved runs into the thousands one would assume that Councillor Khan would be at least be reported to the Councils standards committee or the National Standards Board or at worst reported to the Police for what appears a quite obvious case of theft.

But when Councillor Exley contacted Rob Vincent the chief executive of Kirklees Council he backed the decision made by Dave Harris, a former Labour Councillor and refused out of hand to report Councillor Khan to the Councils or the national standard’s board as he didn’t think there was a case to answer!
No cover up there then!!

Register of Interests for Councillor Mehboob Khan

Financial Interests (sidelines)

Nature of Employment or Business - Consultant (home thief nice little earner)

Employer / company in which I am a partner or remunerated director - Excol Consulting Ltd, Standards Board for England, Kirklees PCT,
West Yorkshire Probation Service
Corporate body with property / land within West Yorkshire in which I have shares exceeding £25,000 or 100th of total share capital of that body -
Address / description of land in which I have a beneficial interest and which is in the area of the Authority - 18 Queen's Road, Edgerton, Huddersfield, HD2 2AE - 9 Dudley Avenue, Marsh, Huddersfield.
athorities' Regional Managemet board
Public Authority or body exercising functions of a public nature - Kirklees MC, Kirklees Strategic Partnership, Kirklees PCT, West Yorkshire Probation Board, LGA, Greenhead College, Standards
etc
A FAT FINGER IN EVERY PIE

The Book of Days: A Miscellany of Popular Antiquities in Connection with the ... By Robert Chambers

2007-11-22T05:03:00.000Z

hmmm embedding text , great idea ...needs some fine tuning Google...

href="http://books.google.com/books?id=K0UJAAAAIAAJ&dq=%22robin+hood%27s+grave%22&as_brr=1&pg=RA3-PA607&ci=79,103,840,1308&source=bookclip">"

the archive continues to grow

2007-11-22T00:46:00.000Z

LEGEND OF YORKSHIRE

2007-11-21T19:39:00.000Z

ROBIN HOOD.

THE reign of king Richard the First was very
different from the times we now live in. The
roads were very bad, and were beset with rob-
bers; and there were a great number of large
forests and parks in the country well stocked
with deer. At that time lived the famous Robin
Hood ; he was born in the village of Locksley,
in Nottinghamshire, and his father was very-
skilful in the use of the cross-bow. His mother
had a brother named Gamewell, of Great Game
well-hall, near Maxwell, in the same county, but
at the distance of twenty miles from the house
of Robin Hood's father.

When Robin Hood was about thirteen years
old, his mother said one day to his. father, "Let
Robin and me ride this morning to Gamewell- hall,
A

3- Itobin Hood.

to taste my brother's good cheer." Her husband
answered, "Do so, my dear; let Robin Hood
take my grey horse, and the best bridle and sad-
dle; the sun is rising, so pray make haste, for
to-morrow will be Christmas- day/* The good
wife then made no moie ado, but put on her
holiday petticoat and gown, which were green.
Robin got his basket-hilt sword and dagger, and
his new suit of clothes; and so rode with his
mother behind him till he carne to Gamewell-
hall.

Squire Gamewell made them welcome twenty
times, and the next day six tables were set out
in the hall for dinner; and when the company
was come, the squire said to them, "You are
ail welcome, but not a man here shall taste my
ale till he has sung a Christmas carol." They
now all clapped their hands, and shouted and
sang till the hall and the parlour rung again.
-\!>er dinner the chaplain said grace, and the

Rolin Hood. ;>

squire once again bid his friends be merry. "If
snows and it blows out of doors (said he) but
we are snug here; let us have more ale, and lay
some logs upon the fire/' He then called for
Little John, " for said he Little John is a fine
lad at gambols, and all sorts of tricks, and it \viil
do your hearts good to see him." When Little
John came, he was indeed as clever as the squiro
had said ; but Robin Hood got up, and played
all the very same tricks, and better still. Tho
squire was quite glad to see this, and he said,
"Cousin Robin, you shall go no more home,
but shall stay and li\e with me; you shall have my
estate when I die, and till then you shall be the
comfort of my age." Robin Hood agreed to
this, if his uncle would but give him Little John
to be his servant.

One time when Robin Hood was gone to
spend a week with his father and mother, squire
Gamewell was taken ill. In those days the pco-

4 Eolin Hood.

pie of this country were of the Roman Catholic
religion : there was a convent of priests near
Gamewell-hall, called Fountain-Abbey ; and the
squire sent for one of the priests or monks to
come and read prayers by his bed-side. Foun-
tain-Abbey was a very fine building; it had a
large mansion in the centre, and a capital wing
^i the right side; but there was no wing on
the left, so that the building was not complete.
Now the monk who came to Gamewell-hall was
very sorry about this, and wished very much to
have a left wing to his abbey : so he made the
squire believe that he could not die like a good
man, unless he gave the whole of his estate to
Fountain-Abbey. The squire was very ill, and
hardly knew what he did ; he forgot Robin Hood,
and all that he had said he would do for him ;
and signed a paper that the monk brought him,
to give away his estate. As soon as Robin Hood
heard that his uncle wa$ very ill, he made haste

Rolin Hood. 5

borne; but the squire was dead a quarter of an
hour before Robin came. The monks now
turned Robin Hood out of the hall; and as his
father was poor, Robin was thus sent out into
the world to seek his fortune.

Robin Hood did not know'what to do; he
had been used to live like a rich man, and did
not know how to work, for he had learned no
trade. He now got together a number of young
men, who had been brought up like himself, and
were just as poor; and they- went to live what
they called a merry life, in Sherwood Forest,
near Nottingham. Here there was plenty cf
deer, and Robin Hood and his company were
very excellent marksmen at shooting them with
the cross-bow; but they wanted something be-
sides meat to eat, so they at once turned robbers.
After this no man could travel alone through
Sherwood Forest without being stripped of his
money. Robin Hood and his -company too did

$ Rolin Hood.

not confine themselves to Sherwood Forest, but
sometimes went to plunder other parts of Eng-
land. His gang soon grew to above a hundred in
number, and they were sme of ihe tallest, finest,
and boldest men in the kingdom. Robin Hood
dressed them in an uniform; he himself always
\vore scarlet; and each of his men had a green
coat, a pair of breeches, and cap.

Though Robin Hood was a robber, which, to
be sure, is a very bad thing, yet he behaved in
such a manner as to have the good word and
good wishes of almost all the poor people in
those parts. He never loved to rob any body but
people that were very rich, and that had not the
spirit to make good use of their riches. As he
had lost his estate by the cunning of a popish
priest, he had a great dislike to the whole set;
and the popish priests at that time behaved in
uich a manner that hardly any body liked them;
so that Robin Hood was not thought the worse

Robin Hood. 3

of for his usage of them. When he met with
poor men in his rambles, instead of taking any
thing from them, he gave them money of his
own. He never let any woman be either rob-
bed or hurt, and in cases of hardship, he always
took the part of the weak and the injured
against the strong; so that it was truely said,
" that of all thieves he was the gentlest and most

o

generous thief."

Robin Hood was f^ncf of doing odd nnd
strange things, and he loved a joke quite as well
as he loved a good booty. One day as he strol-
led in the Forest by himself, he saw a jolly
butcher riding upon a fine mare with panniers
on each side filled with meat. "Good morrow,
good fellow," said Robin; "whither are you
going so early ?" Said the other, "1 am a but-
cher, and am going to Nottingham market to
sell my meat." "I never learned any trade,"
said Robin, <( l think I should like to be a but-

S Rolin Hood.

cher. What shall I give you for your mare and
your panniers, and all that is in them ? " " They
are not dear at four marks/' said the butcher,
"and I will not sell them for less." Robin made
no words, but counted out the money; and
then made the butcher give him his blue linen
coat and his apron, in exchange for Robin
Hood's fine uniform of scarlet.

When Robin Hood had dressed himself in this
manner, he rode straight to Nottingham. The
sheriffof Nottingham, was master of the market,
and Robin Hood hired a stall there. But we may
very well suppose that he did not know much a-
bout his trade, and indeed as long as he had any
meat to sell, no other butcher could sell a single
joint; for Robin Hood sold more meat for a
penny than the others could do for five. " To
be sure/" said they, " this is some young fellow
that has sold his father's land." The butchers then
?ent up to Robin Hood : " Come, brother/' said

Robin Hood bitt'gaiiiine; ^vvith. the !Notting-
Jiain Butcher.

see fiujc o

Rolirt Hood. 9

one of them, " we are all of one trade, will you
go and dine with us?" ' I should be a shabby
fellow," said Robin, "if I was ashamed of my
calling ; so I will go with you." The sheriff was
the tavern-keeper, and sat at the head of the
table; and after dinner Hobin Hood would in-
sist upon paying the bill. The sheriff was a cun-
ning old miser, and when he saw how madly Robin
Hood behaved, he thought he would not miss such
a chance of turning a penny. " Good fellow,"
said the sheriff, ha^t thou anv horned beasts to
sell to me ?" ' Thar I have, good master sheriff/'
said Robin Hood il I have a hundred or two, if
you will please to then saddled his good palfrey, and took three
hundred pounds in gold, and away he went with
Robin Hood.

The road they took led through the forest of
Sherwood ; and as they rode along, the sheriff
cried out, " God preserve us this day from a man
B

10 Robin Hood:

they call Robin Hood !" But when they came a
little further,, there chanced to come out of the
thicket a hundred good fat deer, skipping very
near them. " How do you like my horned beasts,
master sheriff?" said Robin Hood. "These are
the cattle I told you of." "To tell you the truth,"
replied the sheriff, "I wish I were away, for I do
not like your company." Then Robin Hood put
his bugle horn to his mouth, and blowed three
times; when suddenly there came out of the
wood, Little John and Robin Hood's hundred
men, clothed in green, and running all in a row.
"What is your will, master?" then said little
John. "I have brought hither the sheriff of
Nottingham,*' said Robin Hood, "this day to dine
with me." "He is welcome," siid Little John,
" I hope he will pay us well for his dinner."
Robin Hood now made the sheriffsit down under
'a tree; and after they had all eaten artd drunk
;h, he peaed the sheriff's bag, and told

Robin Hood telling out the Sheriffs nionev.

Robin Hood. il

tiut his three hundred pounds. He then seated
the sheriff on his paifrev again, and led him out
of the forest. " Remember me kindly to \our
wife," said Robin Hood, and so went laughing
away

As Robin Hood was walking one day in the
Forest, he took notice of a hnnd>ome young man,
dressed in very fine clothes, frisking over the
plain, and singing When Robin Hood passed
the same spot the next morning, he saw this same
young man come drooping along : his fine dress
was laid aside, his hair was loose about his should-
ers, and at c\ery step he sighed deeply, saying,
" Alas! and well-a-day !" Robin Hood sent one
of his company to bring the \oung man to him.
" What, is the distress," said Robin Hood, "that
hangs so heavy on your heart ? Why were you
so merry yesterday, and why are you so syd to-
day ?" The young man now pulled out his purse,
ff Look at this ring," said he, "I bo.ught it ycs-
teixlay; I v.'as to have married a young tnaiciea

Hood.

whom I have courted for seven long years, and
this morning she is gone fo church to be mar-
ried to another." " Do you think she loves you ?"
said Robin Hood ? * She has. told me so " said
AlIen-a-Daie. fo that what his name, "a hundred
times." * Then she is not worth caring about,"
said Robin Hood, "for changing in her love."
"She does not love him," replied Alien-a-Dale.
"Why do you think so?" aid Robin Flood.
"He is a poor, crippled, old fellow," said AJ Jen-
a-Dale, " and quite unfit for such a young and
lovely lass." "Then why does she marry him?'*
said Robin Hood. "Because the o'd knight is
rich," replied \llen ; "and her father and mother
insist upon it, and have scolded and stormed at
her till she is as gentle as a lamb." "Where is
the wedding to take place?" said Robin Hood,
"Ar our parish," replied Allen, " only five miles
from this place; and the bishop of Hereford, who
is the knight's brother, is to read the service "
Robin Hood said no more, but put off his

RoUn Hood. ...If

icarlet suit, and dressed himself like a harper,
with a harp in his hand. He told twenty-four
of his company to follow at a little distance;
and then went alone into the church, and found
the bishop putting on his robes. "What do
you want here ?" said the bishop "I am a har-
per," said Robin Hood ; " the best in four coun-
ties round ; I heard there was to be a wedding,
and I am come to offer my service." " Y.ou are
welcome," said the bishop; "I shall be glad to
hear your music." Soon after this the bride and
bridegroom came in. The old knight hobbled
along, and was hardly able to walk up to the
altar ; and after him came a maiden as fair as the
day, and blushing Jike the summer s morning.
" This is not a fit match, "said Robin Hood, "and
I cannot agree to its taking place; but since we
are come to the church, the bride shall choose
for herself/' Then Robin Hood put his horn to
bi mouth, and blew into it; when straight four-

H Rolin Hood.

and-twenty archers were seen leaping along the
church- yard path, and came in at the porch. The
first man was Allen-a-Dale, to give Robin Hood
his bow.

Robin Hood now turned to the fair maiden,
and said, " Now, my love, you are free; tell me
whom you will have for your husband. Will you
have this feeble and gouty old knight, or will
you haVe one of the bold young fellows you see
now before you ?" " Alas !" said the young maid,
and dropped her eyes on the ground as she
spoke, ''young Allen-a-Dale has courted me for
seven long years, and he is the man I would
choose " " Then," said Robin Hood, "you and
Allen bhall be married before we leave thi* place."
"That shall not be/' said the bishop; "the law
of the land requires that they should be three
times a^Ved in the church, and a marriage cannot
be huddled up in this way." " That we will try,"
said Robin Hood; and he then pulled off the

Robin Hood. 15

bishop's gown 'and put it upon Little John. "In-
deed," said Robin Hood, "you make a grave
parson." When Little John took the book into
his hand the people began to laugh ; and he
asked them se\ T eft times in the church, lest three
times should not be enough. Robin Hood gave
away the maiden: the bishop slunk out of the
church ; and his brother, the old knight, hobbled*
after as well as he could. The whole company
had a dinner upon two fat bucks in Sherwood
Forest, and from this day Allen-a-Dale was a
friend to Robin Hood as long as he lived.

In the time of Robin Hood, the bishops were
under the orders of the pope of Rome; and they
were great officers and even soldiers. Robin
Hood lived in the see of the bishop of Hereford.
Now Robin had a great dislike to the popish
cleroy because one of them had cheated him of
his uncle's estate; and the bishop of Hereford'
had quite as much dislike to Robin, because of

16 Robin Hood.

the trick Robin had played him in the marriage
of Allen-a-Dale, and because he did not think it
right that such a robber should live in his see.
The bishop therefore made several journeys into
the Forest of Sherwood, to take Robin prisoner,
and bring him to the gallows.

One time, when Robin was walking alone in
the Forest of Sherwood, he heard the trampling
of horses; and looking round, he saw his old
enemy the bishop of Hereford, with six servants.
The bishop was very near Robin Hood, before
JSobin looked round and saw him ; and he had
iwthing to trust to but the swiftness of his heels,
tp save him from danger.

As Robin ran along, he chanced to come up
to a cottage where an old woman lived ail by
herself; so he rushed in, and begged her to save
his life " Who are you?" said the old woman,
"and what can I do for you ?" 6i I am an out-
law," replied hje ? u aiui rny name is Robin Hood j

liobin Hood ilymii; for shelter from the
Bishop of Hereford.

Robin Hood making: the Bishop of Here
ford dance.

Robin Hood. IT

nd yonder is the bishop of Hereford, with all
bis men, who wants to bring me to the gallows."
" If thou be Robin Hood," said the old woman,
"as I think thou art, I would as soon lose my
own life, as not do all in my power to save thee.
Many a time have Little John and thou done me
a kindness, and brought me venison ; and no
longer ago than last Saturday night thou gave
me a pair of new shoes, and this green kirtle."
"Then, "said Robin Hood, "give me thv green
kirtle, and thv close-eared cap, and pur into my
hands thy distaff and spindle, and do thou take
my scarlet mantle and my quiver and bow."

As soon as they had made this change, Robin
Hood, left the house, and went to the place
where all his company were to be found. He
looked behind him a hundred times for the bi-
shop, who had no thoughtsof finding him in this
disguise One of the robbers, who was a spiteful
fellow, as Robin Hood came near them 3 cried

IS itobin Hood.

out, c; A witch, a witch, I will let fly an arrow
at her." " Hold thy hand," said Robin Hood,
** and j-hootnotthy arrows so keen, for lam Robin
Hood, thy master." Then he went up to Little
John, and said, "Come kilj a good fat deer, for
the bishop of Hereford is to dine wilh me to-
day "

While this was going on, the bishop came to
the old woman's house ; and seeing a man, as he
thought, with a mantle of scarlet, and a quiver
and a bow in his hand, he shook his head, and
said, "I am afraid you are one of Robin Hood's
gang. If you have not a mind to be hanged
yourself, show me where that traitor is, and set
him before" me." The old woman agreed to
this. " Go with me/' said she to the bishop,
"and I think I can bring you to the man you
want" 1 The bishop then mounted her upon a
milk white steed, and him>el! rode upon a dap-
ple grey; and for joy that lie should get Robin

Robin Hood. It-

Hood, he went laughing all the way. But as
as they were riding along the forest, the bishop
saw a hundred brave bowmen, drawn up toge-
ther under a tree. "Oh ! who is yonder/' said
the bishop, "ranging within the wood?" '-Why,
said the old woman* "I think it is a man they
call Robin Hood." "Why, who art thou ?" said
the bishop ; "for to tell thee the truth,! thought
thou hadst been Robin Hood himself." "Oh!
my lord, "said she, "I am only an old woman.*
By this time Robin Hood and his company
came up to the bishop; and Robin Hood, ta-
king him by his hand, said, "My lord, you must
dine with me to-day, under mv bower in merry
Barnsdale. I cannot feast you like a bishop, but
I can give you venison, ale, and wine, and I
hope -you will be content,'* After dinner Robin
Hood made the music to strike up, and would
insist upon the bishop's dancing a hornpipe in
his boots, and the bishop was forced to submit,

fO Robin Hood.

The day was now far spent, and the bishop beg*
ged leave to go away. "You have treated me
very nobly," said he to Robin Kood, "and I
suppose I must pay for it Tell me how much."
"Lend me your purse, master," said Little John,
rt and I will settle it for you." He then spread
the bishop's cloak upon the ground and open-
ing his bag he counted five hundred pounds
out of it ** Now/' said Robin Hood, *' we thank
you for your romp inv ; and to show you that we
know how ro be polite, we will see you part of
the way home " They then led the bishop and
his servants quite through the wood, till they
brought him to the high road : then Robin
Hood s gang gave three cheers; and told him to
remember, that though he had come meaning
to hang them all. they had done him no harm.

One day in summer time, when the leaves grew
reen, and the flowers were fresh and gay, Robin
Hood and his merry men were all in a humour

Robin Hood. #1

t play. Some would Ifap, some would run,
some shot at a mark, and some wrestled with
each other on the green. Robin Hood was
haughty and proud, and said, " Now, my good
fellows, do \ou think there is a man in the world
that could wrestle or p'av the quarter-srufTwith
me, or kill a doe or buck so sure as me ?"

While Robin Hood was boasting in this man-
ner, Will Scarlet stepped out from the rrst Will
Scarlet was a little of kin to Robin Flood, and
thought he had a> good a right himself to be
captain of the gang. Besides he was rather
spitt-fu': he was just going to shoot an arrow at
R< bin Hood, when he saw him dressed like an
eld woman, "H you wish to meet with your
match." sakl Scarlet, '*! can tell you where you
can find him. There is a friar in Fountain
Abbev " Now Fountain Abbey was the con-
vent thut rnd been built with the money that
Robin Hood's uncle Gameweir* estate had beea

2 EnUn Hood.

sold for, and perhaps Will Scarlft chose to
throw it in tiobin's teeth (or that reason. "I had
as soon von had talked of the gallows," said
Bobin Hood. "No. matter for that," said Will
Scarlet ; 'there is a Iriar in Fountain Abbey,
,that can draw a strong bow against any man in
the wor!d ; he can handle a quarter-staff too ; and
will beat you and all your yeomen, set them in
a row."

. Robin Hood was a man of a bold spirit, and
eould not rest till he had seen this friar; so he
slung his bow across his shoulder, and took his
quarter-staff in his hand, and away he went to
Fountain Dale He had not gone far, before he
saw a tall brawny friar walking by the water side;
and Robin Hood thought thismubt be the man,
the moment he saw him.

Robin Hood got off his horse, and tied him
to a thorn. " Carry me over this water, thou
brawny friar," said he, " or thou hast sot an hour

Robin Hood asking the fair maiden whom
she Avill nave for a husband.

Robin Hood. 23

longer to live " The friar did not grumble ; bu$
stooped, and took Kobin upon his back. The
water was deep, and the passage was long and
not easy; and neirher of these rivals spoke a
single word, till they came to the. oiher side.
Jiobin fhen leaped lightly off the friar's back,
and seemed soing away. ' Stop, "said the friar,
"carry me over this water thou fine fellow, or it
will breed thee pain" kobin took the friar
upon his back; and neither of the two spoke
a single word, til! they came to the other side.
The , friar then leaped ligruly off hobin's back,
while Robin said tp him again: "Carry me over
the water, thou brawny friar, or it shall breed
thee pain " .The friar once more took Robin
upon his back;, but this time he did not carry
him over, for as soon as he had got to the mid-
dle stream, he threw him into the water. "And
now choose, my fine fallow," said he, "whether
thou wilt sink or swim." Robin swam to the

f * Robin Hood.

hor* ; and when the friar was come to thesamt
p'ace, Hobin said to him, "I see by this trial
that thou art wonhy to be my match." *obin
challenged him in wrestling, in .^hooting, and
at the quarter staff; but Robin couid not beat
the friar, nor the friar beat Robin in any of
the*e. '! wi>h from my soul," said Robin,
"you would quit this lazy life, and come and
be one of us ; we range the forest merry and free,
and are as happy a>. the day is long." "I with
from my soul," said the friar, "thou wouldst
leave thy rambling and wicked life, and come
aid live in our convent. Thy thefts will bring
thee to a bad end, but ! shall live out my days
quiet and respected.' fcnbin couid not per-
suade the friar, and the friar cou^d not persuade
Robin; so they shook hand, and parted.

Kobin Hood knew \ery well that his way of
Ufe was against the laws; and that if he were
once caught, it \vauld go very haid with him.

The Friar throwing- Robin into the River.

Robin Hood. S5

He had now been in this way, for several years;
and began to wish that he could change his
way cf living for a quiet dwelling in the vil-
lage where he was born. While he had thoughts
of this sort, one time when he took many rich
prizes he resolved to make a present to the
queen. The name oFthe queen was Eleanor;
she was the mother of King Richard the First,
who had great power in .her son's reign.

Queen Eleanor was very much pleased ^vith
Robin Hood's present, and said to herself; "If I
live one year to an end, I will be a friend to thee,
and all thy men/*

Soon after this King Richard made a grand
match in his court, of Vjl the bow-men of his
guards and his army. Queen Eleanor thought
this a good time to do what she had in her mind;
so she called her favourite page, whose name

1 O '

was Richard Partington, and gave him his errand.
The page set out straight to Sherwood Forest;

^G RoUn Hood.

and when he came to Robin Hood, he saicl:
* f Queen Eleanor greets you well; she bids you
post to London, where there is to be a match at
the cross-bow, and she has chosen you and your
men to be her champions."

On the day of this great match, the king's
bowmen, who were thought the best archers in
all England, were ranged on one side. After a
time, the queen's champions came in, and were
ranged on the other side; they were all strangers,
and no man in the court knew any of them.
King Richard then declared what the prize was
that should be bestowed upon the conquerors,
and the lords of the court began to make bets
upon the venture. The bets were three to one
in favour of the king's men "Is there no knight
of the privy council/' said Queen Eleanor, "who
will venture his money on my side? Come
hither to me. Sir Robert Lee, thou art a knight
f high descent/' Sir Robert Lee begged the

Rolin Hood 27

queen to excuse him from such a trial. " Come
hither to me, thou Bishop of Hereford," said
Queen Eleanor, " for thou art a noble priest."
Now this bishop was Robin Hood's old foe "By
my silver mitre," said the bishop, "I will not
beta penny/' "If thou wilt not bet on the
queen's side," said Robin Hood, " what wilt thou
bet on the king's?" "On the king's side/' said
4he bishop, "I will venture all the money in my
purse." " Throw thy purse on the ground, "said
Kobin Hood, ''and let us see what it contains/'
It was an hundred pounds. Robin Hood took a
bag of the same value from his side, and threw
it upon the green.

When the match was just going to begin.
Queen Eleanor fell upon her knees to the king
her son. "A boon, a boon/' said she. "I must
ask a boon of thee before the trial begins."
" What is it ? " said King Richard. " Why," re-
plied the queen, "That you will not be angry

28 Robin Hood.

vith any of those that are of my party ; and
that they shall be free to stay in our court all
the days of the match, and shall then have forty
days to retire when they like." The king agreed
to this. When the keepers of the course were
marking out the distance from which they should
shoot at the butt, their captain cried out, like a
bold boaster as he was, " Measure no mark for
us, we will shoot at the sun and the moon."
But he was mistaken ; for Robin Hood and his
party cleft with their arrows every wand and
stick that was set up, and won all the money.
Says the Bishop of Hereford, " I know very well
now who these fellows are; they are Robin Hood
and his gang." The king replied, "If 1 had
known that, I would not have granted them leave
to depart; but I cannot break my word. ' Say-
ing this, King Richard ordered a noble feast for
Robin Hood and his yeomanry; and then
them away with honour.

Robin Hood. 29

King Richard often thought upon what he had
seen of Robin Hood and his fellows. He was
very fond of archery; he had heard many
generous actions that were told about them,
and he admired their gallant spirit and manners.
Thought he, ;< If I could but make these men
my faithful subjects, what a pride they would be
to my court ! " The king at last fixed upon a
plan by which he might see Robin Hood once
more.

He called twelve lords of his court, and told
his plan to them ; and then he and his lords all
dressed themselves like so many monks, and
away they rode to Sherwood Forest. Robin
Hood saw them at a distance, as they were com-
ing; and resolved to rob them. The king was
taller than the rest, and Robin Hood judged that
he was the abbot ; so he took the king's horse by
the bridle, and said, "Abbot, I bid you stand : it
- was a priest that first worked my ruin, and I have

3t) Robin Hood.

sworn to spare none of his fellows." "But we
are going on a messuage from the king," said
Richard. Robin Hood then let go the bridle ;
and said, "God save the king ! and confound ail
his foes !" "Thoucursest thyself," said Richard,
"for thou art a robber, an outlaw, and a traitor."
"If you were not his servant," said the other,
"I should say, You lye; for I never yet hurt
man that was honest and true, but only those
who give their minds to live upon other peo-
ple's earnings. I never hurt the farmer who
tills the ground; I protect women and children,
and the poor for twenty miles round are the
belter for me/'

Robin Hood then asked the strangers to dine
with him. " You would not be used so," said
he, "if you were not the king's servants: yet,
for King Richard's sake, if you had as much
money as ever I told, I would not deprive you
of a penny." Then Robin Hood put his horn

Robin Hood. 3\

to his mouth, and blew a shrill blast, when a
hundred and ten of his company came marching
all in a row. The king thought, this is a fine
sight; these men of Robin Hood's obey their
captain letter than his people did him.

After dinner, the king said to Robin, ''What
would you give, my brave fellow, if I could get
your pardon from your king ? Would you set
your mind firmly in every thing to be a true
and useful subject ? "

This was the very thing that Robin wanted;
it was the wish that had haunted his thoughts

o

night and day ; it was with the hope of this, that
he made the rich present to Queen Eleanor.

"My friend," said Robin, "I am tired of the
lawless life that I lead; I never loved it. Other
men may praise my bold adventures and gener-
ous actions; but I hate my way of living, and
every thing that belongs to it. King Richard is
a noble prince, and a gallant soldier; and if he
would take me into his favour, he should never

32 RoUn Hood.

have reason to repent it, but should find me the

most faithful and loving of all his subjects."

"I am King Richard," said the stranger; and
when he had said this, Robin and all his com-
pany fell upon their knees before him.

"Stand up, my brave fellows," said the king;
"you have been robbers, and you ought not to
have been such. The greatest miser in my
kingdom ought not to be treated with force, but
to be persuaded to dispose of his money pro-
perly. But you are brave fellows; you say that
you are well inclined, and you have power and
skill to do me service. I freely grant to every
one of you my pardon. Not one of you shall
be called to account for any thing that is past ;
only take care that you behave yourselves in
such a manner in future^ -that I never may have
reason to repent the kindness that I now treat
yon with.

THE END.

rabbit hood

2007-11-19T20:24:00.000Z

VAMPIRES & THE GRAVE OF ROBIN HOOD

2007-11-19T17:12:00.000Z

ho ho ho Robin Hood videos of yore

2007-11-17T21:15:00.000Z

& theres more

much (no pun)

& .........

the prioress' of kirklees

2007-11-17T16:24:00.000Z

THE PRIORESSES OF KIRKLEES

POBJOY

Lecia

Sybil or Sigill 1240

Margaret de Clayworth 1306

Alice de Screvyn 1307-1328

Margaret de Seyvill 1350--1361

Elizabeth de Staynton?

Alice de Mountenay1403

Cecelia Hyk 14762

Joan Stansfield 1491

Margaret Tarleton 1499

Margaret Fletcher 1505

Cecelia Topcliffe 1527

Joan Kyppes or Keppax 1539

****************************************************************************************

DUGDALE’S MONASTICUM

Margaret de Clayworth 1306

Alicia de Screvyn 1307

Cecelia Hill

Joanna Stansfield 1491

Margaret Tarlton 1499

Margaret Fletcher 1505

Cecelia Topcliffe 1527

Joan Kyppax

******************************************************************

HOPKIRK

Elizabeth de Stainton--no date

Mary de Hopwood 1187

Maud Clayton 1211

Marion Pinkerley 1225

Elizabeth de Scervin 1252

Mary de Inchcliffe 1270

Judith de Startinly 1289

Margaret de Clayworth 1306

Alicia Screvin 1307

Elizabeth Jepson 1329

Mary Startin 1344

Elizabeth Rhodes 1361

Alicia Bradley 1393

Margaret Allen 1417

Elizabeth Kitcheman 1453

Cecelia Hill 1476

Joanna Stansfield 1491

Margaret de Tarleton 1499

Margaret Fletcher 1505

Cecelia Topcliffe 1527

Joan Kepasset or Keps 1532

********************************************************************************************

These lists can be slotted together ,without discrepancy,with presumed years of office, as follows:

Lecia 1190-1211

Maud Clayton 1211--25

Marion Pinkerly 1225-40

Sybil 1240-48

Joanne de Staynton1248-52

Elizabeth de Scervin 1252--70

Mary de Inchcliffe 1270--89

Judith de Startinly--1289--1306

Margaret de Clayworth 1306--1307

Alice de Scriven---1307--1328??31

Elizabeth Jepson--1329--44

Mary Startin--1344-1350( Died of plague--(-ref Eileen Powers)

Margaret Deseyvill--1350--61

Elizabeth Rhodes--1361--73

???Elizabeth de Stainton??

Alicia Bradley--1393--1403

Alice de Mountenay--1403--1417

Margaret Allen---1417--53

Elizabeth Kitchinman 1453--76

Cecelia Hyk---1476--91

Joan Stansfield--1491--99

Margaret Tarleton--1499-1505

Margaret Fletcher--1505---27

Cecelia Topcliffe--1527--32

Joan Keppax--1532--39

my thanks again to Barbara Green

why did the prioress murder Robin Hood ?

2007-11-17T14:22:00.000Z

I am endebted to Barbara Green & YRHS for providing much of the content on this site

The assumption that Matilda became Robin’s wife and Elizabeth’s sister in law, does not explain why Elizabeth went on to murder him in later years . If this hypotheses is correct,however,we might consider a lethal love triangle here , Robin falling in love with Matilda while Elizabeth was packed off to the nunnery suffering from a medieval "fatal attraction"--exacting her revenge for her thwarted passion , in later years! ("hell hath no fury......"). However, as we have seen, the dates do not fit -- this scenario is thirty years too early. Another mysterious clue lies in a document quoted by Wakefield historian J.W.Walker. This is also mentioned by Pobjoy,who reports a dispute over eighteen acres of land between " the Prioress of Kirklees and Esmon , son of the noble Richard of England and Earl of Kent in 1373." The Latin text reads: "1373, Orate pro Elizabetha de Staynton quondon prioressa Kirklees quo intempere illus du carta fust adquista" and translates: "Pray for Elizabeth de Staynton formerly prioress of Kirklees at which time the document was aquired. " This seems to suggest that Elizabeth was prioress prior to 1373, but it can be read either way . JW Walker also quotes another document which he states that the prioress of Kirklees(he infers Elizabeth) signed a legal document in 1348,but the British Library have been unable to verify the entry which was not under the reference quoted (Harleian 4360 Folio 517)so the riddle still remains. Finally, why did the prioress kill Robin ? Venesection,or "bleeding" was common medical practise in the Middle Ages. Many people must have died as a result, but it was an ignominous end for the swashbuscking Robin ,whether by accident or design. The ballads state that the prioress, and her lover "Red Roger of Doncaster" murdered Robin in revenge for his opposition to the corruption in the Church. If it was murder--for whatever reason-- it was a particularly treacherous and gruesome act,and it has even been suggested that there could be links with pagan sacrifice or vampirism ! There is a fascinating mystery here,still waiting to be solved, but until all the evidence is uncovered,this part of Robin’s legend will remain shrouded in darkness,Yorkshire’s buried treasure,or even Blair Witch 11 !

SHE LAID THE BLOOD IRONS ON ROBIN HOOD’S VAINE

ALACKE,THE MORE PITYE!

AND PERCT THE VAINE,AND LET OUT THE BLOODE,

THAT FULL RED WAS TO SEE.

AT FIRST IT BLED,THE THICKE,THICKE BLOODE,

AND AFTERWARDS THE THINNE,

AND WELL THEN WIST GOOD ROBIN HOODE,

TREASON THERE WAS WITHIN.

Death of Robin Hood v 16-17

BARBARA GREEN

2)RIDDLE OF THE PRIORESS

Have they,one wonders, solved the riddle of the prioress ? Have they been shown hitherto unseen documents , undiscovered by previous researchers ? The only prioress’s grave still in evidence at Kirklees is that of Elizabeth de Stainton (or Staynton) but there is no date on her tombstone. The Reverend Harold Pobjoy, the Hartshead vicar and historian who wrote A HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT PARISH OF HARTSHEAD CUM CLIFTON in the nineteen thirties,gives a list taken from Dugdale’s Monasticum. He also quotes from Hopkirk’s HUDDERSFIELD IT’S HISTORY AND NATURAL HISTORY 1846, which has a similar list, but unfortunately Hopkirk does not name his sources. The two lists can be slotted together without causing any discrepancy,although there are gaps. The problem of the prioress’s identity is further compounded by the fact that no one knows for certain the date of Robin’s death, but research suggests that it may have been 1347. The reasons for this are discussed in Barbara Green’s THE OUTLAW ROBIN HOOD HIS YORKSHIRE LEGEND. If the date of Robin’s death is 1347 then Dame Mary Startin was the prioress in office at the time, not Elizabeth de Stainton. According to Eileen Power in her book MEDIEVAL ENGLISH NUNNERIES (Cambridge University Press) Dame Mary died of the Black Death in 1350,although in some ballads the prioress is said to have committed suicide after murdering Robin).

Elizabeth de Stainton,on the other hand ,could not have been prioress in 1347.She was one of four daughters of John de Stainton of Woolley,near Wakefield. Following her father’s death, Elizabeth’s mother married Hugh de Toothill and Elizabeth and her sister were sent to be nuns at Kirklees for reasons of family economy. William de Notton,her uncle and their guardian,took provision to ensure than the girls had not been forced into the religious life, and a document was signed at Monk Bretton Priory in 1347 protecting the interests of Elizabeth and her sister (from a deed at Woolley Hall,in the possession of Lieut Commander Wentworth). Graham Collins and Martin Keatman in their book ROBIN HOOD THE MAN BEHIND THE MYTH (1995) have a theory about Elizabeth which connects her with Robert and Matilda Hood of Wakefield. They suggest that when Elizabeth’s mother married Hugh de Toothill, his daughter by his first wife, called Matilda,married Robin. There is mention of a woman called Matilda in the Wakefield Court Rolls of 1314,being arrested for stealing the lord’s firewood.

Alexander the Great ,Greece & Scotland

2007-11-17T08:09:00.001Z

PLEASE NOTE:
This site is now quite large , I will be moving it to private hosting
as soon as I can , in the meantime as it is an ongoing project
please click around , if theres anything you feel is missing ,
or would like linking , theres a shout box to make any (tasteful)
comments or suggestions ,

diversifying a bit further afield , heres some excellent documentaries
about Alexander the great , the Spartans , & braveheart himself
total playing time 3 hours...

a Yorkshire Robin Hood ??

2007-11-16T22:41:00.000Z

this is the "nuns grave" Elizabeth de Stantain is known to be buried here . (she is most often , though probably erroneously linked with the murder of Robin Hood)
The other occupant is unknown , although it is possibly the prioress Mary Stavin ,
research by Barbara Green seems to suggest much of the Robin Hood story is flawed &
that historical blunders abound .
To the fullest extent of my research I can neither confirm or deny the exact timeline .
Other pages on this site have plausible identities & court records dating to the 13th
century . However this could be wrong , an amount of work exists that Robin Hood was alive in the 14th century
Whether or not we shall ever know with certainty is the "great work" of this site
as I sift through archives & local records . One thing we are confident of is where
Robin Hood was from , he was a Yorkshire man . Despite the fancifull claims of Nottinghamshire , Robin was born , lived & died a Yorkshireman . Before the deforestation of englands woodland to build ships Sherwood Forest extended to the Peninnes & some say even as far North as Scotland . The fame of the encounters with
the Sherrif of Nottingham are out of all proportion with the life of Robin Hood , who
I suspect lived into his fifties . Work on this fascinating subject is ongoing ,
I can offer any students of Robin Hood a juicy titbit , Bottomley is the surname thought by many to be the surname of his living descendants .

GHOSTLY VIDEOS

2007-11-16T21:56:00.000Z

In order to prepare for ghosthunting , I decided to collect a few videos ,
please make up your own mind about these....

kirklees priory gatehouse

2007-11-15T14:37:00.001Z

Many sources (in fact all I have read) cite the gatehouse as the place where Robin Hood
was murdered . It is 650 yards from the grave . A number of individuals claim it is too far to fire an arrow , so if the building hasn't moved perhaps the grave has....tbc

the robin hood videos

2007-11-14T15:11:00.000Z

bbc fanciful robin hood news stories

2007-11-14T11:58:00.000Z

this is for google (deep linking)
I dont take the view of this author , but by copying verbatim , & adding metadata
it may help to ascend search engine rankings , thats the theory

A reconstruction of Robin Hood's last arrow by Richard Rutherford-Moore
The author has served as a historical interpreter for Notts County Council’s “Robin Hood Country” and in several articles about Robin Hood on the BBC Nottingham website, serving as a historical adviser and contributor to television programs such as The True Story of Robin Hood (The History Channel) and Robin Hood : Fact or Fiction ? (Channel 4). This article is based on research for the chapter ‘Kirklees - A Grave Mistake ?’ in the author’s final book On The Outlaw Trail Again in his Robin Hood trilogy in which the subject of “Robin Hood’s Grave” is discussed in detail. The book is scheduled to be published in late 2003.

“When you have eliminated every other possibility, what remains - however improbable - must be the truth.”
Mr Sherlock Holmes to Dr John Watson : London, December 1892

“Bury me where my arrow falls …” are traditionally Robin Hood’s last words to Little John ; or at very least something close to his traditional last words to his best friend before dying in one of the rooms of the Gatehouse of Kirklees Priory. The famous outlaw traditionally went to the Priory as he had a kinswoman there serving as the Prioress who was skilled at medicine, and he hoped for a cure for his ailments or at best some form of tonic. Although the Prioress and her associate, Red Roger or Roger of Donkesley in the story have come down to us today as being the definite ‘baddies’ in the tale, they weren’t actually at fault under medieval law ; outlaws were really ‘outside the law’ by order of the authorities and as they officially didn’t exist anyone could legally take them dead or alive to claim an official reward. The Prioress could be judged at fault allowing a known outlaw aid as giving shelter, food or any assistance to known outlaws was strictly forbidden and would be punished if discovered.

Kirklees Priory - as all similar religious houses - did put up travellers or the sick in their Guest House or hospital and provide them with food and drink in return for a ‘donation’ ; this is where Robin Hood should have been staying but as he was related to the Prioress there he was convieniently lodged in an upstairs room of the Priory Gate House instead. The Guest House was a quarter of a mile away from the actual Priory but the Gate House was part of the main Priory complex itself. The gatehouse offered far more privacy than the public rooms - especially if you were intending to bump somebody off whilst in there. It doesn’t say so in the old ballad, but Little John probably stayed in the public Guest House, ten minutes walk away and may have been somewhere in the vicinity of that place when he heard Robin Hood’s bugle-horn signal for help.

A study of stories and tales between the 15th - 18th Century offer various accounts of the death of the famous outlaw and the shooting of a ‘last arrow’ ; in the earlier stories, it isn’t mentioned at all and in later ones we sometimes have two ‘last arrows’ with the first shot by Robin dropping into running water. The present monument to the south-east bearing the name “Robin Hood’s Grave” where the outlaw is traditionally held to be resting in peace lies six hundred and fifty metres from where it is traditionally held the last arrow was shot by Robin Hood - between two and three times the maximum distance held by reconstructed modern medieval archers that an actual medieval archer within the time-slot above could have shot over with an arrow. It was noted by the author that the distance at Kirklees between the present Robin Hood’s Grave from where the arrow was traditionally shot was exactly double the length of the famous shot mentioned in the old ballad Robin Hood and Guy of Gisborne.

NOTE : A reconstructed shot to define the power and distance using a bow made to the design of the very powerful longbows from Henry VIII’s flagship The Mary Rose (mid-16th Century) sent the arrow 227 yards. Other reconstructions from recreated medieval archers have reached ranges between 250 and 300 yards. Feats of archery in the old Robin Hood ballads are always exaggerated ; for example, splitting a tree branch with an arrow at a distance of 330 yards - but of course in medieval times accurate tape-measures were not common at all and the distance of any such shot would have probably been measured in ‘paces’. The longbow claimed to have once been owned by Little John weighed twenty pounds, measured six feet seven inches long, six inches in circumference at the grip, fitted with horn nocks and had a reported pull of over a hundred and fifty pounds. This sort of power might be useful in hunting wild elephants but could drive an arrow right though a deer at the kind of range you’d probably hunt over in a medieval forest. One arrow shot during a medieval siege at a Welsh castle still has the arrowhead embedded three inches deep in a stout oak door there.

What would Robin Hood or Little John have seen looking out of the upper east-facing windows of the old Kirklees Priory Gatehouse when preparing to loose a final arrow ? The answer - of course - is Kirklees Priory. The religious house here was founded in 1155 (the beginning of the reign of Henry II) by Reynor de Fleming, the lord of the manor of nearby Clifton under the Cistercian Order. The Priory later held the daughters of the local gentry for safe-keeping ; these weren’t under holy orders and caused fun and games into which a few of the nuns were said to have joined in ; in October 1315 the Archbishop of York censured the place after hearing ‘ … scandalous reports of the nuns of Kirklees … that they admit both clergy and laymen too often into the secret places of the monastery and having private talks with them from which there is a suspicion of sin and great scandal arises …’ The good archbishop went on to ‘ … command the Prioress to admonish the nuns and especially those above named that they are to admit no-one whether religious or secular unless in a public place and in the presence of the Prioress under penalty of Greater Excommunication’. Excommunication by a religious court to the medieval clergy was what outlawry from a common law court was to a medieval commoner.

Kirklees Priory lasted until the period of The Dissolution of the Monasteries by Henry VIII ; the place was closed in 1539 and the royal commissioners arrived the following year to take it over as Crown property. The occupants became redundant but having nowhere to go some are said to have stayed in the area in ever-dwindling numbers with one of the nuns at the time after allegedly being made pregnant by a royal commissioner later drowning herself in the nearby Nun Brook. The Priory grounds became a privately owned estate in 1565.

Looking out of the upper storey windows of the Priory Gatehouse last year I tried to imagine the Priory in front of me using a survey drawn up after modern excavations, pictures, photographs and period illustrations of what religious houses such as Kirklees Priory looked like.

NOTE : A survey followed excavations of Kirklees Priory in the early part of the 19th Century, with the chief concern apparently being other buildings perhaps not discovered including a possible missing dormitory and frater (dining-room). The Priory Gatehouse was rebuilt and ‘modernised’ in the last half of the 16th Century and no-one knows what the actual differences are between the present building and the original gatehouse (save the inclusion of chimneys, which weren’t invented when the original was built) but an artists impression in the possession of a Yorkshire archaeologist has the original building having an archway and perhaps twice the size. This was another factor to consider when fixing the elevation of the arrow, but the ground plan and foundations of the present gatehouse are generally held to be very similar to the original building. The upstairs floor of the original building could have been a little lower than it is today.

It wasn’t a large place compared to some contemporary religious houses - Rufford Abbey and St Mary’s Priory in Sherwood Forest for example, founded around the same time - but as part of the endowment obviously had a good bit of land to use as the Priory Guest House was built about a quarter of a mile away to the south-east. Later, a large barn was added and taking advantage of the Nun Brook flowing past the Priory, fish-ponds were excavated to provide the occupants with food for the days when meat was forbidden to be eaten by them for religious reasons. None of the Priory buildings save the Gatehouse are there today as they were pulled down and the materials from them went into building the nearby old hall ; the Gatehouse itself was maintained as a ‘hunting lodge’ and interior decorations added to oak beams in the form of inlaid carvings of deer, foliage and trees. As it was a convent, the wall enclosing these buildings would have been high enough to prevent anyone jumping up to peer over the top ; perhaps as much as twelve feet high. No windows faced outwards except in the Priory Gatehouse. The tallest building there before 1540 would have been the Priory church and bell-tower, the roof level of the cloister adjoining the church to the south and some small buildings to the south of the cloister dropping to between nine and twelve feet, as according to the archaeological survey being mainly ground-floor buildings only with perhaps an exception in one adjoining building on the far eastern edge. These buildings would have been the ones that the two outlaws would have seen in front of them looking east out of the upper storey windows of the Priory Gatehouse at any time in the two-hundred year long time-span between the year 1200 and 1450 which forms the historical time-slot in which the ‘last arrow of Robin Hood’ is traditionally supposed to have been shot there by historians and researchers.

I recalled what the famous consulting detective Sherlock Holmes advised when faced with an awkward three-pipe problem and facts that offered no solution to it. Could a simulation or a reproduction of ‘Robin Hood’s last arrow’ be possible ? On my last visit to the Gatehouse I borrowed a short plant-stick from the nearby barn about the length of an arrow and rather like a magician’s wand used it to note a few measurements for a proposed future experiment.

Back at home in Sherwood Forest to make the practical experiment a little easier, I sliced off the first and last fifty years of the two hundred year-long time-span ; the longbow intended to be used is of the kind used from about the end of the 12th century, and the most popular date for Robin Hood’s death at Kirklees is 1247 - the 13th Century - and most of the supporting evidence for the outlaw’s existence dates from the 14th Century. Not a war-bow with a pull of over a hundred pounds, but the sort of bow an outlaw chap might carry on a day-to-day basis to put meat on the table ; about sixty to eighty pounds draw-weight at around five and a half feet in length. An ash bow would be longer for the same power ratio so a yew bow was selected for the experiment. Similarly, the arrows intended to be used were of the sort suitable for hunting an animal such as fallow deer and not military heavyweight armour-piercing bodkin points. Hunting arrows are lighter and intended to be loosed at a flat trajectory into the correct place in the intended ‘live’ target ; although clout-shooting is known to have been practised, in a hunting sense it is inapplicable. Dropping arrows on a target from above is a military tactic, performed at long-range against a body of advancing enemy soldiers and these projectiles would be made far heavier. But - before any reconstructed arrow can be shot - a look must also be taken at the many factors influencing power, flight length and direction.

How did Robin Hood shoot his final arrow ; was he in a vertical position, a horizontal one - or something in between ? At the time, most tales relate he was feeling pretty ill, but in one story he managed despite the great loss of blood to blow a horn-signal loud enough to be heard at a distance outside the building and just after that use a sword to knock out an assassin - by mortally wounding him - despite being wounded himself by the assassin during the fight. It is this wounding that is said to have been the final straw that did for Robin Hood. The National Blood Transfusion Service suggest a few minutes rest and give donors a cup of tea and a biscuit after taking a pint of blood - taking two or more by this method is said to be very dangerous as it is going far faster than the body can replace it would cause rapid and increasing dehydration. Outside of a Hollywood feature film, a man suffering from a combination of rapid blood loss, nervous tension, physical exertion and shock one would at least have him at least sitting down - before he fell down - for more than a few minutes in order to recover. For an experienced hard-bitten medieval English archer with one foot through death’s door and about to die even aided by a well-built friend, drawing to the chest, judging both elevation and direction and shooting an arrow out of a narrow window from a upwards-facing horizontal position to send it over six hundred yards would be quite impossible.

NOTE : I selected the illustration of Robin Hood’s last arrow with this article as Little John is seen mostly supporting Robin Hood’s body as in other illustrations John is actually helping Robin to draw the bow. But - if you are an archer or have a bow and wish to try this for yourselves, try the latter position with a friend and see how difficult it is - but for safety reasons please don’t nock any arrows to the bowstring indoors.

Assuming the archer is within two feet of the window, the nearer the floor - or lying on his back on a bed - the arrow was loosed the higher the possible height, passing as close as possible to the top edge of the window. Shooting straight through the window from a sitting position, you can get a far better distance but achieve less height ; from a standing position you can judge the optimum height to gain the furthest distance particularly by bending the right knee and drawing the arrow to the chest.

The arrow was shot from an upstairs window ; allowance must be made for a starting height of between twelve and fifteen feet. This may seem petty, but it is an important factor to consider in terms of a possible trajectory as in front of us we have buildings and we don’t want to hit any. The highest part of the biggest building extending over thirty degrees to our left is 50 feet away , 80 feet long and 21 feet wide with the highest part somewhere between thirty and forty feet high measured from the ground, and is on the left-hand side of the buildings. The further right we aim, the less the height of the buildings - between nine and twelve feet - in front of the arrow. Beyond the far edge of these buildings - 150 feet away - or across the brook to our right we have a clear area (but a few trees). The window restricts aiming left to right. The closer we are to it, the more angle we gain. But ; for a right-handed person using a longbow the forearm must extend up to two feet from our body to gain the power ; a necessary position but an awkward restriction on where we can aim left to right. The farther the archer is away from the window, the more severe the angle of flight for the arrow left or right.

We are after maximum power to gain a maximum range. We are assuming the archer has enough strength left for at least one good shot from his bow, with a bit of help from a friend. We are assuming that this friend can move him to face in the best direction so he doesn’t have to get up off the bed or chair he is lying on or sitting in. Using the imagination - or your bedroom and few props to get a better understanding perhaps - the reader should now have arrived at a point where they have a rough idea of how and where the arrow could have been shot.

I had to repeat my calculations in the Priory Gatehouse twice ; because of the right-hand edge of the window there is only a twenty-degree wide slot ten degrees to the right out of the window to the right of the highest building from in which to be able in the body-position proposed to actually shoot the arrow through the window to suit the requirements for reaching the optimum height to gain a maximum distance and stay very clear of the water in the brook. You have the power to clear the brook by aiming well to the right but anywhere to the right beyond the specified degree the left arm, the window edge and the gatehouse wall severely restrict an aiming point to be able to do so.

We now have an elevation ; we don’t require any particular target to shoot at but we do require to calculate the available power. We can ‘cheat’ a little here - by drawing the bowstring back towards the chest and loosing a number of arrows when a mark on the base of a thumb of the right hand is between twelve and zero inches from the chest, we can get a variation in power and an average ‘fall of shot’. Let’s say we loose an arrow every two inches out from the body until we reach two inches back from fist-mele ; the problem with that is the far edge of the buildings is 150 feet away from us. We must have the power to clear not only the height of the buildings but also the length ; all 150 feet. We now have the estimated minimum power as we must clear that distance at the optimum height. Maximum power is pure guesswork but the bow can be shot at full-draw, which is the maximum possible power.

NOTE : Fist-mele is the historic measurement used by archers stringing longbows to define the correct tension of the bow before shooting. It is where the thumbs-up sign to signal ‘affirmative’ originates. The modern workplace terms ‘knocking-on’ and ‘knocking-off’ have the same origin.

Despite the obvious temptations, shooting an arrow out of the actual window of the Priory Gatehouse was never considered. The place is a historic building and there is a modern road, other buildings and people and pets that live there - gardens, hedges and trees make visibility into many areas quite impossible. One needs to take precautions when indulging in live archery ; I had very good teachers who impressed this factor on me continuously but I am also lucky in that there are some pretty wide open areas in Sherwood Forest where I live. Standing with a companion at the end of a long grassy field, having checked for hazards and keeping an eye open for any developing hazards, I could measure the height to identify the area in terms of elevation and windage my arrow must pass through in a simulation of the restrictions in space to shoot an arrow out of the window of the Priory Gatehouse. I had twenty arrows, all the same weight and design. Obviously the additional power supplied by a friend helping you shoot has a lower and an upper limit - the upper limit is not far from actually shooting the arrow himself with the restriction that he actually has his arms around you to reach this level of power. The practical experiment here introduced another hitherto unconsidered problem - what to do with the bottom end of the longbow ; we can’t saw it off as it is a necessary requirement ! Aiming to the right or left brings the lower end into contact with the no-go area of the bed or chair. Lying on a bed or sitting in a chair the bow can only be drawn by an archer and a friend helping him by having the upper part of the bow tilted to the left at least thirty degrees from vertical or by increasing the elevation which reduces the distance. This affected both the distance and direction of the loosing of the arrows.

One last bit of evidence to read, from an old hand-written document known as The Sloane MS, now in the British Museum : Robin Hood left for the Priory because he felt ‘… distempered with cold and with great pain in his limbs, his blood being corrupted …’ ; so the poor chap was already feeling pretty awful even before he arrived at the Priory and in addition to his weakness having then walked all the way from Barnsdale or Sherwood Forest, a distance of between 25 and 50 miles. Add to this loss of blood followed by a deadly sword-fight, a wound from an edged weapon, ensuing shock and a high fever … maybe I had all this on my mind as if guided by the hand of Providence - or someone related to them - the first arrow shot went too far to the right and dropped short into where the running water of the Priory brook would have been if shooting from the upstairs Priory Gatehouse window. The rest of my arrows that did achieve the necessary height and clear the ‘no-go’ area within 50 metres of where I was standing - simulating the buildings of the Priory - on average fell at a distance of between sixty and eighty metres away roughly within five metres of each other.

So; what have I proved ? The reader is perhaps thinking by now I’ve gone to a lot of trouble and an awful long way around to prove what was already well known before I started ; an English medieval arrow cannot be shot from an English medieval bow over a range of over six hundred metres.

Many travellers and visitors took time to go and see the grave of Robin Hood in the 16th Century and between the years 1600 and 1632 there was a great increase in the popularity of the English archer-outlaw which lasted until Victorian times when it leapt up in popularity once again. At least two visitors from the late 16th - early 17th Century described their visits and the actual grave in books and are the oldest recorded references to the gravesite outside the ballads. One of these visitors, a noted collector and archivist of historic, antiquarian and archaeological information who travelled extensively published a large book with maps containing his travel notes. His reference is rather obscure but if his description of the gravesite and a plan of where my arrows would have dropped if shot from the upper windows of the Priory Gatehouse using the criteria in this article are overlaid the arrows would fall in and around the area he described as the location of the grave of Robin Hood. No outlaw’s grave can be seen on this spot today but a grave from antiquity - described by the above antiquarian in the same account - is present.

The Death of Robin Hood

2007-11-14T10:55:00.000Z

Deep in the heart of an ancient woodland in West Yorkshire, hidden beneath a formidable barrier of fierce thorns and dense undergrowth, there is a hidden grave. Here rest the mortal remains of Robin Hood, the Prince of Robbers. England's outlaw hero, bloodily slain by the prioress of Kirklees Nunnery 600 years ago, and cast into an unhallowed grave.

Today, Robin lies forgotten and unmourned in his lonely and desolate sepulchre for few people know of the grave's existence or its whereabouts...
Silhouette of Robin Hood statue
Robin Hood is more usually associated with Nottingham

The circumstances of Robin Hood's death are fairly well known. Realising he is dying, Robin decides to be bled by his kinswoman, the prioress of Kirklees, a woman "skilled in physic." Will Scarlet is against this, but Robin sets out on the journey accompanied by his faithful comrade in arms, Little John. On the way to the priory, they meet an old hag by a stream who curses Robin...

On arrival at the nunnery, the prioress takes Robin into the gatehouse and sends Little John away. She then proceeds to bleed Robin accompanied by her lover, the convent priest Red Roger of Doncaster.

When he realises that he is dying Robin summons Little John to his assistance by blowing three blasts on his hunting horn. When Little John arrives it is too late to save Robin, but he helps his beloved leader fire his last arrow from the gatehouse window, promising Robin that he will bury him where it falls. Little John vows to raze the nunnery to the ground and put all the nuns to the sword in revenge for the princess's vile deed, but Robin forbids him, reminding his distraught friend that it was their code never to hurt women.

Robin's grave, 600 yards from the (Kirklees) gatehouse - thought to be an improbable arrow shot for a dying man - is, today, neglected and overgrown and enclosed in rusted, twisted iron railings, erected in Victorian times. The inscription in pseudo-gothic reads:
Here underneath dis laitl stean
Laz Robert Earl of Huntingtun
Ne'er arcir ver as hie sa geud
An pipl kauld im Robin Heud
Sick utlawz as him as iz men
Vil England nivr si agen

Kirklees Priory

Kirklees Priory was founded in the 12th century by Reinor de Fleming, manor lord of Clifton, near Brighouse. The Rule was Cistercian and at first very strict but, as time passed, the White Ladies (so called because of their woollen habits) became less dedicated to the religious ideal. Many of them were the unwanted daughters of the gentry with no real vocation to the cloistered life. The sisters were often admonished by visiting bishops for indulging in worldly ways, keeping dogs..., going out dancing and for inviting men onto holy premises!

... In 1315 there were scandalous reports in circulation about the nuns of Kirklees. It was reported that one "Alice de Raggid, deceived by the allurements of frail fresh, in great levity of mind, hath gone forth from her house and had wandered, in great peril, having long ago put off her religious habit."

Later two more nuns, Elizabeth de Hopton and Joan de Heton, along with the rebellious Alice were accused of admitting both clergy and laymen to the "secret places of the monastery... from which there is suspicion of sin and great scandal arises." No wonder Robin came to a sticky end among such flighty creatures!

The nunnery was finally dissolved, along with other Yorkshire monasteries by Henry VIII in 1539, after which Kirklees Hall was built on the nearby hillside using the stones of the fallen priory. Only the gatehouse, where Robin died, was left standing. Today, like the grave, it is in danger of being lost to our heritage as it slowly crumbles away, unchecked and unhindered by any official attempts to prevent the deterioration.

The Riddle of the Prioress

Finally, why did the prioress kill Robin? Venesection, or "bleeding" was common medical practice in the Middle Ages. Many people must have died as a result, but it was an ignominous end for the swashbuckling Robin, whether by accident or design. The ballads state that the prioress and her lover, 'Red Roger of Doncaster,' murdered Robin in revenge for his opposition to the corruption in the Church.
robin Hood
Actor Patrick Troughton as Robin Hood in 1953

If it was murder, for whatever reason, it was a particular treacherous and gruesome act. It has even been suggested that, in the symbolic spilling of his blood, Robin's death could have been linked with pagan sacrifice, vampirism or Christ's death on the cross.

There is a fascinating mystery here, still waiting to be solved but until all the evidence is uncovered this part of Robin's legend will remain shrouded in darkness - Yorkshire's buried treasure in more ways than one.

You can find out more about Robin Hood and Kirklees Priory at Barbara's website

huddersfield ghosts

2007-11-13T19:51:00.000Z

there are many famous ghosts associated with this northern textile town arguably
"BLACK DICK" the most notorious , he is said to have a number of haunts one being BAY HALL at Birkby another is BLACK DICKS TEMPLE between Mirfield & kirkheaton . SIR RICHARD BEAUMONT was a first cousin of Elizabeth the first ,Along with the ramsdens these were the two wealthiest & most influential families in Huddersfield . "Black Dick" was a gambler , bad debter , highwayman who indulged in popular piracy to pay off his debts . It has been speculated he murdered a servant girl in his employ after discovering she was pregnant with his child . He is thought to have been killed at the entrance to one of the tunnels beneath Almondbury in a duel over money . To this day people report seeing the spectre of Black dick most commonly on july 5th , the day on which he died

regional disalect as spake by Robin Hood

2007-11-13T19:29:00.002Z

Addle To earn
Agate At work, occupied with
Akkle To dress or tidy up
Avverbreead Haverbread made from oatmeal when wheat flour was expensive

Baht Without
Balk A large beam or beam of scales for weighing
Bat Stroke; 'He's not struck a bat' - he's not done a stroke
Betty A guard placed in front of the fire to keep the ashes in
Billy A machine for slubbing cardings
Botch To do a job carelessly
Brass Money
Brokken Broken
Brussen Burst (applied to sacks); lucky (applied to a person)
Buffet A small stool
Bunt A bundle (of cloth)
Burl Pick small pieces of hair etc. from cloth
Buzzer Mill whistle or siren

Caird A card or comb for dressing wool
Cal Gossip
Capt Suprised
Causey A pavement, footpath
Chunter Grumble
Clammed Cold; hungry, kept short of food
Clicks Hooks for moving packs of wool
Cop Yarn spun on a spindle
Cropper Cloth dresser
Crozzil Hard cinder found in furnaces
Cut Canal

Din Noise
Do A commotion, a lively time
Dollypawed Left-handed
Donned up Dressed in ones best clothes
Druft A drying wind

Fadge Bundles of cloth or wool in a pack sheet skewered with wooden pack pricks
Fast Puzzled
Fearnaught A wool mixing machine
Fent A fag end of cloth, three-quarters of a yard beyond the length of a piece. Weavers used to claim this to clothe their children
Fettle To clean or set something in order
Fettler A machine cleaner
Flit Move
Fold A collection of houses standing in a yard
Frame To set about a task effectively
Fruzzins Hairs coming off the cloth when finished or from yarn when wound. Loose fluff, often under a bed

Gainest Nearest
Gers Grass
Gig A kind of knife used to remove knots from the cloth
Goit Channel cut to carry water to the mill
Ginnil A narrow passage between buildings

Hank Thread wound on a large cylinder. A hank of wool or cotton is 840 yards; 560 yards in worsted

Jacks Part of a loom
Jerry A finishing machine that removed rough surface of cloth
Jip Pain, punishment
Joss The master

Knock on To get on with a job
Koil Oil Coal place
Kop Catch

Lake To be idle
Leck or weet To wet as in wetting the cloth with stale urine to bring out the grease
Leet To meet with
Lig Lie down
Lithairse Dye house; lister=dyer
Lumb Chimney
Lurry A wagon

Maister Master
Middlin Moderate
Miln A mill
Milner Originally the one who put the cloth in the milling stocks
Mongi Idle
Mule Spinning machine
Mullock Mess or muddle
Muff Make a small noise
Mungo Old rags and woollen material, shredded to be rewoven

Nogs L-shaped pieces of iron placed on the beam to hold the warp
Noils Short fibres of wool removed by the combing machine
Noit Business
Nope To hit, especially on the head

Okker To hesitate
Olis Always
Oss To stir; move, to begin
Owt Anything

Paand Pound (£1)
Perch To examine cloth by putting it over a rod, pole or perch, in order to remove burls or motes
Pick To throw the shuttle
Piggin A lading can or small vessel
Poise Kick
Porty woof Forty threads
Pund Pound (lb) weight

Rordin A Riding; a third part
Rovin In wool spinning where the filaments are drawn out to a greater length
Rush A festival

Saig Saw
Saigins Sawdust
Sam To pick up or gather
Scribble To give the first rough carding to wool or cotton
Shauve Slice (of bread)
Shiftless Helpless
Shivvins Small bits of wood in the wool or bits off the yarn (shavings)
Shoddy Waste material thrown off by machines, used for low priced cloth
Skep or skip A willow basket
Skitter To hurry one's work
Sliver A long carding of wool
Slub To draw out cardings into greater length
Sluffed Disappointed, distressed
Stamperds The four posts supporting a loom
Stocks Part of milling machinery
Strinkle To scatter or sprinkle
Sumpoil Place to which surplus liquids flow

Taew To strive
Tail goit Channel from the mill
Tenter Frame for stretching cloth to dry on tenter hooks
Thoil To bear; endure; not begrudge; spare
Throng Busy
Thrum The ends 0f the warp cut off from a piece of cloth
Thump Local name for a feast or fair
Tig To touch (as in childrens games)
Toit To keep in toil; to keep in good order
Tuner One who tunes or sets the looms for weaving

Ummer Local word for Hell

Wanty A girth for a pack horse
Wappy Quick; a short cut
Wassock Daft
Wind To wind bobbins
Wim wam An impulse or fancy
Winteredge Winter hedge; clothes horse
Wit Commonsense
Worsit Worsted
Wom Home

Yark To jerk; pull or snatch

Castle Hill Earthworks

2007-11-13T19:15:00.000Z

Castle Hill Earthworks
Kirklees Park
Wakefield Road
Brighouse
West Yorkshire

DESCRIPTION OF SITE

Site visit: 13/JUN/1935

This small camp stands on an eminence overlooking a ford over the River Calder. The western side has disappeared, probably when the turnpike road was made. The rampart has also been levelled on its northern side. This camp, though small (about 70yds square), was evidently of some strategic importance.

Site visit: 10/SEP/1986

The enclosure known as Kirklees Park Camp is situated in a good defensive position on a hilltop with a steep descent on the S side. This appears to be a univallate hillfort roughly rectangular in shape with a rampart about 3ft-4ft high. In places stones show through the bank, mainly sandstone cobbles. These appear to be arranged in an orderly row in some places and not just randomly heaped. The internal area is more or less level but now so overgrown that it is not possible to distinguish any features. In the centre is a C19th ivy-clad tower bearing the date MCM. The hilltop to the E of the enclosure is a small plateau which could have been useful for grazing animals in prehistoric times. There are other interesting features close by: for example there is a possible tumulus about 200yds NE of the site. In the wood about 200yds the the E is a small rectangular enclosure, 12ft by 8ft with a low wall topped by railings and four fluted pillars at the corners. Within this enclosure is a large fragment of a stone slab with a faint carving on it which looks like part of a cross shaft. This is reputed to be Robin Hood's grave. Local legend has it that he died at Kirklees Priory, the ruins of which lie about 250yds N of the camp. Robin Hood is said to have fired his last shot through the priory window declaring that where it fell he wished to be buried. The story is certainly in typical Robin Hood style but whether there is any authenticity about the grave (??). The priory site is not yet scheduled. Little remains except what appears to be the gatehouse, the foundations of the church and possibly a barn

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION

2007-11-13T17:39:00.000Z

make a FREEDOM OF INFORMATION request to the BBC

templars conspiracy

2007-11-13T12:54:00.001Z

slow moves

Do you believe in a GRAND CONSPIRACY ? Do you believe that government is corrupt ? If so, then to what DEGREE ? That may depend on how willing you are to open your eyes and mind to SEE. Why is it that the more things change, the more they stay the same ? Why doesn't society ever seem to grow up ? Most people grow up thinking that the world is very big and we believe the world exists the way it does today because this is the direction humanity has taken and chosen.

The road that we are taking as a nation in America and as a human race on the planet Earth is being paved for us in advance and sold to us for a profit.

Many people talk about conspiracies such as WATERGATE, IRAN-CONTRA, THE S & L (Savings and Loan) SCANDAL, THE FEDERAL RESERVE, OCTOBER SURPRISE, KENNEDY, THE FREEMASONS, THE COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS and THE TRILATERAL COMMISSION, and even GREY ALIENS, but very few people know the real facts enough to explain them because they are not researched themselves. As information comes down the pipeline it becomes distorted and confused because most of the people passing along the information do not know the entire story, they have not researched much information themselves, and they tend to be biased as well. (They tend to have an angle in the information they put out, usually because they have an ulterior motive. ) I can only state from research of seven years, WHAT I BELIEVE to be the TRUTH based on mostly HARD FACTS.

For AT LEAST five- to ten thousand years, mankind has been aware of MORE scientific and spiritual facts than we are currently aware of today as a great society and nation. The libraries of Alexandria, which held the collection of the world's greatest knowledge, existed in Egypt thousands of years ago. The Essenes were just one secret sect of Gnostics (Knowledge Holders) that existed around two thousand years ago. Since the earliest times of Pagan groups and Nature religions, the SUN has been considered a SYMBOL for LIFE. The Ancients believed that when the SUN gave off it's energy, it was giving IT'S life for US. They believed that the SUN of GOD, the LIGHT of the WORLD is ALL SALVATION because He has RISEN. He is therefore our ETERNAL SAVIOR. There has always been a struggle between LIGHT and DARK forces in the world. When the SUN goes down and it becomes DARK, we cannot SEE. We naturally fear what we do not know and since we cannot SEE in the DARK, we do not know what's there and we fear. When the SUN would SET (Satan), it would get DARK. But when the SUN was on the HORIZON (Horus, translates to Jesus), it would be called THE SAVIOR. This formed the basis for early Christianity.

is this where you live ?

The Essenes, as well as other secret societies around the times were PRIESTHOODS, so the early CHURCH was an established KNOWLEDGE CENTER with IDEAS ENCODED SYMBOLICALLY into religious text. After time, symbols lose their meaning except to those whom are INITIATED. Essentially, they held knowledge of ARCHETYPAL ENERGIES that bond or link Spirit to matter. These energies are expressed in mathematics and Greek Gematria called SACRED GEOMETRY. The word OCCULT means HIDDEN. They took the knowledge, hid it, and made it appear to be EVIL, so that they would know it, we wouldn't, and they could then control us a lot easier. This allowed an early guild of bricklayers, or MASONS, to be established, making it possible to build great pyramids, etc. Now, if everybody knew how to build a pyramid, then not only would the Pharaoh's tomb be no greater than Joe neighbor's cottage, but the Masons would also lose a lot of money building great castles and churches throughout Europe. This was the basis for early CAPITALISM, but we will discuss this later.

SACRED MUSHROOM ingesting and CANNABIS-smoking shamans are tribe spirit leaders in a sense and they practice inducing a state of consciousness in warrior tribesmen to temporarily replace their consciousness with animal consciousness to perform certain tasks or learn spiritual lessons or principles. There were special groups of assassin cults that were trained in earlier times using substances like hashish and they were called "Hashishans" or "Assassins". Although these two practices are not identical, they are similar and related. While the first example may be considered early natural mind control in the sense of learning to control your own mind, the second example could be considered manipulative mind control in the sense that the participants were trained under hallucinogens to kill for God or "Allah".

The Assassins, as well as a society called The Order of Lady of Sion appeared at the same time around 1090 AD. Out of The Order of Lady of Sion came Notre Dame de Sion and five out of nine of the founders of the KNIGHTS TEMPLAR came from this order. The Templars and Assassins had interlocking affairs and philosophies. They also had ongoing fights as well as commercial dealings. The Templars pronounced vows to poverty and in the meantime amassed great fortunes for the church (really themselves), and were responsible for financing the Crusades and other bloody religious wars. They were also some of the first to set up banks in Jerusalem. These were Temple Banks which occasionally were raided for their gold. This forced the Templars to develop branch banking, or, putting your money in several places so it doesn't all get taken at once. This is where the idea of a central bank and it's local branches comes from, which became the model for banking in Europe and America. The Knights Templar became more popular when they were exposed in the fourteenth century and banished by the king. Jacques de Moley was burned at the stake for being a homosexual and a heretic. A portion of the Templar's wealth was seized by the king and handed over to their sister society, called the Knights Hospitalers, who were a branch of the Templars responsible for medical facilities in the kingdom. There is evidence to suggest that the Templars may have carried themselves on as the Rosicrucians for the next couple of centuries. This really doesn't matter too much, though, because all of these orders or secret societies are offshoots of other ones. They are all Masonic in nature because of the nature of the information which they possess.

the youtube factor on google robin hoods grave

2007-11-13T12:30:00.000Z

robin hoods grave external links
the videos

recent Robin Hood conspiracies aka naughty nuns & bossy bishops

2007-11-13T12:07:00.000Z

On Friday Colin H***r phoned me from his home in Exeter to say he was coming to Brighouse on Saturday arriving at 6 pm in Brighouse Bus Station. He did not say why he was coming but as he had contacted me in the past, via the Internet, about Robin Hood's Grave at Kirklees I assumed he wanted to see this grave two miles outside Brighouse. I thought it was very short notice however to arrange this and come all the way from Exeter.. He said he would get a b and b to stay on arrival. He also phoned my friend Catherine Fearnley and intimated he hoped to stay at my house! Naturally this was out of the question and I was annoyed at his assumption.

C stayed at my house until 10 pm Saturday as we were both a bit uneasy about the situation. We thought he had changed his mind as he did not phone to say he had arrived so I took C home to Batley. At around 12 midnight I heard someone knock on my door and assumed it was Mr H***r. I did not answer. Then my back security light went on. The next day a found a note in my letter box from Mr H***r saying he had called. I was very annoyed at this as I considered it inappropriate and threatening. Also, on checking the next day , I realised that Mr H***r would have to have been standing right under my bedroom window to activate the security light.

On Sunday I went to visit a friend. C phoned me to say Mr H***r had turned up at her house at 7. 30 am and given her some bondage things which she had thrown away. He then said he was going back to Brighouse for breakfast and was going to mass at Brighouse Catholic Church. C agreed to meet him at the Black Bull, where he was staying, that afternoon for one hour. Her father took her and she said Mr H***r had behaved oddly and burst into tears on one occasion. He said he was a defrocked priest, had been in prison and had 12 children. When I got back from my friends I felt uneasy that he might come up to my house again so I went to bed and put out all the lights. Around 11.30 pm I heard noises outside my front door but nothing more, though again I was awake most of the night. The next day , Monday ,I found a tin of sweets on my bird table and a note saying from Colin I went to work and when I returned home found a letter through my letter box saying he had enjoyed seeing my car and house and hoped I enjoyed the sweets. As I did not want another anxious night I rang the Black Bull to see whether he had gone back to Exeter but the manageress refused to discuss my concerns and said her guests were all highly confidential information. I said that I did not want Mr H***r creeping round my house again and I would ring the police if he did .Also, it might be helpful for her to know if she had someone a bit strange staying under her roof. She was obstructive and rude so I rang the police as I did not want another night with Mr H***r lurking around my house. The police said they said they would visit, but they did not as they were too busy . However, Mr H***r did not pay me a visit on Monday night to my relief. On Tuesday Catherine phoned me to say Mr H***r had phoned her at 6. 30 am and talked about blowing Robin Hoods Grave up and murder (?) and he also said that he had been playing croquet on the lawn with Lady A . C phoned David Hepworth, Lady Armytage's unofficial bodyguard to inform him. He said Lady Armytage had told him that Mr H***r had visited her for an hour on Sunday with two nuns.

I am aware that Mr H***r suffers from manic depressive psychosis which may explain some of his bizarre actions . I did not want a fuss or to cause him any problems if his actions were basically harmless thoughtlessness . C and I only know him from his website and due to his interest in Robin Hood's Grave which he had e mailed us about in the past on a few occasions. It is not unusual for people to travel to Brighouse to meet us, with arrangements made before hand to meet up in a public place. This sudden visitation seems bizarre and sinister and neither of us can understand why he
came all this way at such short notice, with no guarantee of being allowed to see the grave. We would be interested to know why Lady Armytage allowed him to stay on her property with these nuns and who they were, as she usually sends uninvited visitors packing. In view of the talk of explosions, murder and the stalking of myself and Catherine, I would appreciate an investigation into the matter as neither of us want him on our doorsteps again and we feel that there is something very funny going on.

the Yorkshire Robin Hood Society

2007-11-11T01:16:00.001Z

Barbara Green
is one of the leading researchers/authors on Robin Hood
I highly recomend visiting her website

nobody does more to raise awareness of Robin Hoods YORKSHIRE roots
I would also like to thank Barbara for taking the time to contact me ,
its quite an honour ,
Elizabeth de Stanton is not the murderess .
She is however remembered with an ornate celtic cross ,
currently in Lady A. garden .
the discourse tabled above is a lively thread on Robin Hood .

100 years of difference

2007-11-10T20:29:00.000Z

there is a 100 year difference between the two strongest candidates for title
of real ROBIN HOOD . Personally I favour the 13th century Robin . No matter
archiving the opinions of a broad selection seems a fair way to compare the details .

from theheartoftherose

The popular story of Robin Hood immortalized by Hollywood myth is based on a play written by Shakespeare’s contemporary Anthony Munday in 1598. It tells the tale of a disinherited nobleman who leads a band of outlaws in their fight against the ruthless Sheriff of Nottingham from the depths of Sherwood Forest. The story is set in the 1190s when King Richard I is away fighting in the crusades and his brother Prince John is left to rule England in his place. Most historians who had previously searched for evidence of historical truth behind the story examined records from the reign of Richard I. As nothing conclusive was found, many believe that Robin Hood was nothing more than a myth. However, in his historical research, renowned historical writer Graham Phillips uncovered conclusive evidence of an historical Robin Hood from an entirely different period.

The reason others had failed to discover this elusive documentation is that, based on mistakes made by Anthony Munday, they had been researching the wrong dates. In the vaults of the British Library in London, there survives a tale of Robin Hood written 200 years before Anthony Munday’s time. It is an anonymous work that first appeared in the mid-to-late 1300s called The Gest of Robin Hood. The word Gest was a medieval word meaning a story or tale so, for convenience, the work is referred to as the Gest. Literary scholars had long known of the Gest’s, existence, but many historians overlooked its importance as evidence for an historical Robin Hood. Significantly, it places the story in a different time to Munday’s play. It is set in the early fourteenth century and not the late twelfth, and the king is not Richard I but Edward II. Neither is Robin a nobleman, but a soldier – a knight in the army of Thomas, the Earl of Lancaster. The action takes place in 1322 when Robin is forced to become an outlaw after the Earl of Lancaster leads a failed rebellion against the king.

Lancaster’s rebellion was an historical event and the records show that many of his defeated followers did flee into Sherwood Forest to continue a guerrilla campaign. The Earl of Lancaster had been the lord of both Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire, and had led a popular uprising against unfair taxes imposed by the king, following a crippling famine. Unfortunately, Lancaster was betrayed when his plans were revealed to the king by his trusted deputy, Henry de Facombery. When the rebel army was defeated at the battle of Boroughbridge in Yorkshire on 15 March 1322, Lancaster was killed and the king rewarded Facombery by appointing him sheriff of Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire. He was charged with rounding up the rebels who had fled south into Sherwood Forest. Henry de Facombery, it seems, became the fabled Sheriff of Nottingham.

Following the work of an obscure mid-nineteenth-century Yorkshire historian named Joseph Hunter, Graham discovered a record of the leader of the rebels who had escaped following Lancaster defeat. In the archives of Wakefield Manor on the northern edge of Barnsdale Forest, just to the north of Sherwood, his name is recorded as "Robert Hode". As Robin was a nickname for Robert and Hode was a medieval spelling of Hood, it seemed that the historical Robin Hood had at last been found. In fact, in one particular document he is actually referred to as ‘Robin Hode’

The possibility that Robert Hode was indeed the historical Robin Hood was supported by the names of other outlaws recorded as being in his band. For example, a man who went by the name of Little John is recorded as being buried in nearby Hathersage churchyard, where his grave can still be seen, and a Friar Tuck is recorded as Lancaster’s chaplain who took part in the revolt. Robert’s wife was even a perfect candidate for Maid Marian. Remarkably for the time, Robert’s wife actually joined him in the forest and played an active part in the struggle. Both this and her name provided further confirmation that Robert Hode was the historical Robin Hood. Robert was a relatively wealthy knight who lived in modest manor on the edge of Barnsdale Forest in the village of Bichill, a few miles south of Wakefield. In 1321 he married a girl from the nearby village of Woolley named Matilda. In Anthony Munday’s play Matilda had been Maid Marian’s real name, the name Marian being an alias she adopted once she had fled into Sherwood Forest. Just as in legend, Matilda Hode joined her husband in the forest and, remarkably for the time, had actually played an active part in the struggle. All this provided astonishing confirmation that Robert Hode was indeed the historical Robin Hood.

BAYTOWN (ROBIN HOODS BAY)

2007-11-10T19:42:00.001Z

I have been to Robin Hoods Bay many times it is a mystical nay enchanting place
as you travel from the North York moors (Huntington) the appearance of the vastness of the North sea is quite breathtaking . The pub at the harbours edge is one very haunted building , no doubt the spirits of the brave lifeboatmen who heroically perished trying to help others pop in for a tot .

It is said that Bay town had a boat on standby for Robin Hood at all times in order
for him to flee adversaries . Situated only a gallop away from Huntington a journey
described as taking under 2 hours . (Horses un impeded by traffic). The notable
connections besides the name are these , Baytown has for centuries had a reputation for smuggling , we know Robin Hood lived outside of the law , & had travelled overseas during the crusades . It is not illogical then that organised criminal smuggling may have been practiced by the merry men , who by all standards , if they
had put to sea would surely have been pirates . The boat always on standby bears uncanny similarity with the lifeboat tradition of Baytown .

Robin Hood’s Bay lies in the ancient parish of Fylingdales. The name itself is believed to be derived from the Old English word ‘Fygela’ which meant ‘marshy ground’. The first evidence of man in the area was 3000 years ago when Bronze Age burial grounds were dug on the high moorland a mile or so south of the village. These are known as Robin Hood’s Butts. Some 1500 years later, Roman soldiers had a stone signal tower built at Ravenscar about the 4 th century AD. The first regular settlers, however, were probably Saxon peasants, followed by the Norsemen. The main colonists of this coast were Norwegians who were probably attracted by the rich glacial soil and ample fish, and this is how they survived by a mixture of farming and fishing. The likely original settlement of the Norsemen was at Raw, a hamlet slightly inland, which helped to avoid detection by other pirates.

After the Norman Conquest, the Manor of Fyling was given as the spoils of war to one of William the Conqueror’s relatives, Hugh of Chester. Eventually, it passed to the Percy family who gave the land to Whitby Abbey.

The first recorded reference to Robin Hood’s Bay was in 1536 by King Henry VIII’s topographer, Leland, who described ‘a fischer townelet of 20 bootes with Dok or Bosom of a mile yn length’. By now the cliff settlement had grown larger than the inland settlement, probably because they felt more secure from piracy and because it would be more convenient to walk from the boats. By 1540, the village was said to have fifty cottages by the shore (a large settlement at that time) so we can speculate that the present village originated somewhere in the 15 th century. In 1540, the chief tenant was Matthew Storm and his descendants still live in the area. At the dissolution of the monasteries in 1539, the land passed to the King who sold it to the Earl of Warwick. The Cholmleys and then the Stricklands became the final ‘Lords of the Manor’

It appears that in the 16th century, Robin Hood’s Bay was far more important than Whitby. In a series of Dutch sea charts published in 1586, Robin Hood’s Bay is indicated while Whitby is not even mentioned.

The actual origin of the name remains a mystery. There is not a scrap of evidence to suggest that Robin Hood of Sherwood Forest folklore visited the Bay. The name is more likely to have grown from legends with local origin and probably from more than one legend. Robin Hood was the name of an ancient forest spirit similar to Robin Goodfellow and the use of the name for such an elf or spirit was widespread in the country. Many natural features were named after these local folk of legend and, in time, stories crossed over from one legend to another. The traditional anecdotes probably go way back in time but as to their origin - who knows?

What we are more certain of is that in the 18 th century, Robin Hood’s Bay was reportedly the busiest smuggling community on the Yorkshire coast. Its natural isolation, protected by marshy moorland on three sides, offered a natural aid to this well-organised business which, despite its dangers, must have paid better than fishing.

Smuggling at sea was backed up by many on land who were willing to finance and transport contraband. Fisherfolk, farmers clergy and gentry alike were all involved. Fierce battles ensued between smugglers and excise men, both at sea and on land, and Bay wives were known to pour boiling water over excise men from bedroom windows in the narrow alleyways. Hiding places, bolt holes and secret passages abounded. It is said that a bale of silk could pass from the bottom of the village to the top without leaving the houses.

The threat of the excise men was not the only danger to Bayfolk. In the late 18 th century and early 19 th century, the Press Gangs were feared and hated. Sailors and fishermen were supposed to be exempt but, in reality, rarely were. Once ‘pressed’, their chances of returning to their homes were not high. Village women would beat a drum to warn the men folk that the Press Gangs had arrived and it was not unusual for the Press Gang to be attacked and beaten off.

The fishing industry reached its zenith in the mid 19 th century and a thriving community existed in Bay. The townsfolk liked to amuse themselves in the winter and there were dances almost every evening.

VERY PLAUSABLE ID

2007-11-10T03:07:00.000Z

Father Henry 1st Earl of Huntington and Northumberland2
b. circa 1114, d. 12 June 1152

Mother Ada Adelaide de Warren
b. circa 1125,d. circa 1178

David Huntington 2nd Earl of Huntingdon

David was born between 1144 and 1152 at Huntington, Scotland.
1185 Became the Earl of Huntington
He was also Earl of Northumberland,
Earl of Lennox,
Earl of Carlise,
Earl of Doncaster,
Earl of Garioch and
Earl of Cambridge,

See Europäisch Stammtafeln Bund II tafel 68.5

Marriage* 26 August 1190
David Huntington 2nd Earl of Huntingdon married
Maud Matilda Keveliock, daughter of Hugh Keveliock ,
3rd Earl of Chester & Bertrade D'Evreux,

They may have had as many as 11 children.

Child 1: , Robert (HERE WE HAVE A REAL CANDIDATE FOR ROBIN HOOD)
Child 2: , Margaret
Child 3: Scot, Isobella le, b. 1206
Child 4: Scot, John of Chester le, Earl of Chester, b. 1207
Child 5: , Maud
Child 6: , Ada
Child 7: , Henry
Child 8: , Henry of Stirling
Child 9: , Henry of Brechin
Child 10: ,Ada
Child 11: ,David
The last four are thought to have died young.6,7,8

SITE REDESIGN CANDIDATES

2007-11-07T23:55:00.000Z

CLICK TO VIEW NEW EXPERIMENTAL SITE LAYOUTS

Prefer the old design ? never fear , the joys of choice....Im working hard to integrate
semantic technologies , for now this has precedence over fine tuning content so anyone interested in collaborative efforts & links please feel free to comment

my insight into a legend

2007-11-07T17:03:00.001Z

welcome to my attempt at collecting data & historical research aimed towards a comprehensive & arguably accurate Robin Hood site . Information is from so many
sources & some parts maybe contradict others . History is "his story"
there are many "he's" & as many "stories" . I have made personal journeys in
Robins bold footsteps & enough documentation exists to satisfy me that there
was such a man , that he was also a yorkshireman & may have even been a
descendant of king william (the conquerer).
Any information I present here is of course mostly unsubstantiated & it is for
your imagination to consider , of course unless we use necromancy , its just
plain old research . Please enjoy this site . Its constantly evolving so check
back often . If theres any aspect of Robin Hood that I am not covering yet or
that you disagree with please comment

CATHERINE

2007-11-07T00:31:00.000Z

Robin Hood and Queen Katherine [Child 145]

DESCRIPTION: The king proposes a wager with Queen Katherine, his archers against any she may choose. She sends for Robin and his men, giving them false names. They win and are revealed but the king has promised not to be angry with any in the queen's party.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1656 (Stationer's Register)
KEYWORDS: Robinhood contest trick royalty
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Child 145, "Robin Hood and Queen Katherine" (3 texts)
Bronson 145, (extensive) comments only
Leach, pp. 413-417, "Robin Hood and Queen Katherine" (1 text)
BBI, RZN10, "Gold tane from the Kings harbengers"
Roud #72
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Robin Hood's Chase [Child 146]"
Notes: There is no historical "Queen Katherine"; the wife of King Stephen (1135-1154) was Matilda; the wife of Henry II (1154-1189, the first king usually associated with Robin Hood) was Eleanor of Aquitaine; Richard I (1189-1199) married Berengeria of Navarre; John (1199-1216) has as his primary wife Isabella of Angouleme; Henry III (1216-1272) married Eleanor of Provence; Edward I (1272-1307) married first Eleanor of Castile and then Margaret. By this time the longbow was established, and Robin Hood's exploits with the bow would no longer have been noteworthy. Leach speculates that one of Henry VIII's wives (either Catherine of Aragon or Catherine Howard) is meant!
The sequel to this story is told in Child 146, "Robin Hood's Chase."
For background on the Robin Hood legend, see the notes on "A Gest of Robyn Hode" [Child 117]. - RBW

Child 145A: Robin Hood and Queen Katherine

145A.1 NOW list you, lithe you, gentlemen,
A while for a litle space,
And I shall tell you how Queene Katterine
Gott Robin Hood his grace.
145A.2 Gold taken from the kings harbengers
Seldome times hath beene seene,
. . . .
. . . .
* * * * *
145A.3 . . . .
‘Queene Katherine, I say to thee;’
‘That’s a princly wager,’ quoth Queene Katherine,
‘Betweene your grace and me.
145A.4 ‘Where must I haue mine archers?’ says Queene Katherine;
‘You haue the flower of archery:’
‘Now take your choice, dame,’ he sayes,
‘Thorow out all England free.
145A.5 ‘Yea from North Wales to Westchester,
And also to Couentry;
And when you haue chosen the best you can,
The wager must goe with mee.’
145A.6 ‘If that prooue,’ says Queene Katherine,
‘Soone that wilbe tride and knowne;
Many a man counts of another mans pursse,
And after looseth his owne.’
145A.7 The queene is to her palace gone,
To her page thus shee can say:
Come hither to me, Dicke Patrinton,
Trusty and trew this day.
145A.8 Thou must bring me the names of my archers all,
All strangers must they bee,
Yea from North Wales to West Chester,
And alsoe to Couentrie.
145A.9 Commend me to Robin Hood, says Queene Katherine,
And alsoe to Litle John,
And specially to Will Scarlett,
Ffryar Tucke and Maid Marryan.
145A.10 Robin Hood we must call Loxly,
And Little John the Millers sonne;
Thus wee then must change their names,
They must be strangers euery one.
145A.11 Commend mee to Robin Hood, sayes Queene Katherine,
And marke, page, what I say;
In London they must be with me
[Vpon St Georges day.]
* * * * *
145A.12 . . . .
‘These words hath sent by me;
Att London you must be with her
Vpon St Georg[e]s day.
145A.13 ‘Vpon St Georg[e]s day att noone
Att London needs must you bee;
Shee wold not misse your companie
For all the gold in Cristinty.
145A.14 ‘Shee hath tane a shooting for your sake,
The greatest in Christentie,
And her part you must needs take
Against her prince, Henery.
145A.15 ‘Shee sends you heere her gay gold ring
A trew token for to bee;
And, as you are [a] banisht man,
Shee trusts to sett you free.’
145A.16 ‘And I loose that wager,’ says bold Robin Hoode,
‘I’le bring mony to pay for me;
And wether that I win or loose,
On my queenes part I will be.’
145A.17 In sommer time when leaues grow greene,
And flowers are fresh and gay,
Then Robin Hood he deckt his men
Eche one in braue array.
145A.18 He deckt his men in Lincolne greene,
Himselfe in scarlett red;
Fayre of theire brest then was it seene
When his siluer armes were spread.
145A.19 With hattis white and fethers blacke,
And bowes and arrowes keene,
And thus he ietted towards louly London,
To present Queene Katherine.
145A.20 But when they cam to louly London,
They kneeled vpon their knee;
Sayes, God you saue, Queene Katherine,
And all your dignitie!
* * * * *
145A.21 . . . . . . of my guard,’
Thus can King Henry say,
‘And those that wilbe of Queene Katerines side,
They are welcome to me this day.’
145A.22 ‘Then come hither to me, Sir Richard Lee,
Thou art a knight full good;
Well it is knowen from thy pedygree
Thou came from Gawiins blood.
145A.23 ‘Come hither, Bishopp of Hereford,’ quoth Queene Katherine-+--+-
A good preacher I watt was hee-+--+-
‘And stand thou heere vpon a odd side,
On my side for to bee.’
145A.24 ‘I like not that,’ sayes the bishopp then,
‘By faikine of my body,
For if I might haue my owne will,
On the kings I wold bee.’
145A.25 ‘What will thou be[t] against vs,’ says Loxly then,
‘And stake it on the ground?’
‘That will I doe, fine fellow,’ he says,
‘And it drawes to fiue hundreth pound.’
145A.26 ‘There is a bett,’ says Loxly then;
‘Wee’le stake it merrily;’
But Loxly knew full well in his mind
And whose that gold shold bee.
145A.27 Then the queenes archers they shot about
Till it was three and three;
Then the lady’s gaue a merry shout,
Sayes, Woodcocke, beware thine eye!
145A.28 ‘Well, gam and gam,’ then quoth our king,
‘The third three payes for all;’
Then Robine rounded with our queene,
Says, The kings part shall be small.
145A.29 Loxly puld forth a broad arrowe,
He shott it vnder hand,
. . s vnto .
. . .
* * * * *
145A.30 . . . .
‘For once he vndidd mee;
If I thought it had beene bold Robin Hoode,
I wold not haue betted one peny.
145A.31 ‘Is this Robin Hood?’ says the bishopp againe;
‘Once I knew him to soone;
He made me say a masse against my will,
Att two a clocke in the afternoone.
145A.32 ‘He bound me fast vnto a tree,
Soe did he my merry men;
He borrowed ten pound against my will,
But he neuer paid me againe.’
145A.33 ‘What and if I did?’ says bold Robin Hood,
‘Of that masse I was full faine;
In recompence, befor king and queene
Take halfe of thy gold againe.’
145A.34 ‘I thanke thee for nothing,’ says the bishopp,
‘Thy large gift to well is knowne,
That will borrow a mans mony against his will,
And pay him againe with his owne.’
145A.35 ‘What if he did soe?’ says King Henery,
‘For that I loue him neuer the worsse;
Take vp thy gold againe, bold Robin Hood,
And put [it] in thy pursse.
145A.36 ‘If thou woldest leaue thy bold outlawes,
And come and dwell with me,
Then I wold say thou art welcome, bold Robin Hood,
The flower of archery.’
145A.37 ‘I will not leaue my bold outlawes
For all the gold in Christentie;
In merry Sherwood I’le take my end,
Vnder my trusty tree.
145A.38 ‘And gett your shooters, my leeig[e], where you will,
For in faith you shall haue none of me;
And when Queene Katherine puts up her f[inger]
Att her Graces commandement I’le bee.’

Child 145B: Robin Hood and Queen Katherine

145B.1 GOLD tane from the kings harbengers,
Down a down a down
As seldome hath been seen,
Down a down a down
And carried by bold Robin Hood
For a present to the queen.
Down a down a down
145B.2 ‘If that I live a year to an end,’
Thus gan Queen Katherin say,
‘Bold Robin Hood, I will be thy friend,
And all thy yeomen gay.’
145B.3 The queen is to her chamber gone,
As fast as she can wen;
She cals unto her lovely page,
His name was Richard Patringten.
145B.4 ‘Come hither to mee, thou lovely page,
Come thou hither to mee;
For thou must post to Notingham,
As fast as thou canst dree.
145B.5 ‘And as thou goest to Notingham,
Search all those English wood;
Enquire of one good yeoman or another
That can tell thee of Robin Hood.’
145B.6 Sometimes he went, sometimes hee ran,
As fast as he could win;
And when hee came to Notingham,
There he took up his inne.
145B.7 And when he came to Notingham,
And had took up his inne,
He calls for a pottle of Renish wine,
And drank a health to his queen.
145B.8 There sat a yeoman by his side;
‘Tell mee, sweet page,’ said hee,
‘What is thy business or the cause,
So far in the North Country?’
145B.9 ‘This is my business and the cause,
Sir, I’le tell it you for good,
To inquire of one good yeoman or another
To tell mee of Robin Hood.’
145B.10 ‘I’le get my horse betime in the morn,
By it be break of day,
And I will shew thee bold Robin Hood,
And all his yeomen gay.’
145B.11 When that he came at Robin Hoods place,
Hee fell down on his knee:
‘Queen Katherine she doth greet you well,
She greets you well by mee.
145B.12 ‘She bids you post to fair London court,
Not fearing any thing;
For there shall be a little sport,
And she hath sent you her ring.’
145B.13 Robin took his mantle from his back-+--+-
It was of the Lincoln green-+--+-
And sent it by this lovely page,
For a present unto the queen.
145B.14 In summer time, when leaves grow green,
It is a seemly sight to see
How Robin Hood himself had drest,
And all his yeomandry.
145B.15 He cloathed his men in Lincoln green,
And himself in scarlet red,
Black hats, white feathers, all alike;
Now bold Robin Hood is rid.
145B.16 And when he came at Londons court,
Hee fell downe on his knee:
‘Thou art welcome, Locksly,’ said the queen,
‘And all thy good yeomendree.’
145B.17 The king is into Finsbury field,
Marching in battel ray,
And after follows bold Robin Hood,
And all his yeomen gay.
145B.18 ‘Come hither, Tepus,’ said the king,
‘Bow-bearer after mee,
Come measure mee out with this line
How long our mark shall be.’
145B.19 ‘What is the wager?’ said the queen,
‘That must I now know here:’
‘Three hundred tun of Renish wine,
Three hundred tun of beer.
145B.20 ‘Three hundred of the fattest harts
That run on Dallom lee;
That’s a princely wager,’ said the king,
‘That needs must I tell thee.’
145B.21 With that bespake one Clifton then,
Full quickly and full soon;
‘Measure no mark for us, most soveraign leige,
Wee’l shoot at sun and moon.’
145B.22 ‘Ful fifteen score your mark shall be,
Ful fifteen score shall stand;’
‘I’le lay my bow,’ said Clifton then,
‘I’le cleave the willow wand.’
145B.23 With that the kings archers led about,
While it was three and none;
With that the ladies began to shout,
Madam, your game is gone!
145B.24 ‘A boon, a boon,’ Queen Katherine cries,
‘I crave on my bare knee;
Is there any knight of your privy counsel
Of Queen Katherines part will be?
145B.25 ‘Come hither to mee, Sir Richard Lee,
Thou art a knight full good;
For I do know by thy pedigree
Thou springst from Goweres blood.
145B.26 ‘Come hither to me, thou Bishop of Herefordshire’-+--+-
For a noble priest was he-+--+-
‘By my silver miter,’ said the bishop then,
‘I’le not bet one peny.
145B.27 ‘The king has archers of his own,
Full ready and full light,
And these be strangers every one,
No man knows what they height.’
145B.28 ‘What wilt thou bet,’ said Robin Hood,
‘Thou seest our game the worse?’
‘By my silver miter,’ said the bishop then,
‘All the mony within my purse.’
145B.29 ‘What is in thy purse?’ said Robin Hood,
‘Throw it down on the ground;’
‘Fifteen score nobles,’ said the bishop then,
‘It’s neer an hundred pound.’
145B.30 Robin Hood took his bagge from his side,
And threw it down on the green;
William Scadlocke went smiling away,
‘I know who this mony must win.’
145B.31 With that the queens archers led about,
While it was three and three;
With that the ladies gave a shout,
‘Woodcock, beware thyn ee!’
145B.32 ‘It is three and three, now,’ said the king,
‘The next three pays for all;’
Robin Hood went and whispered to the queen,
‘The kings part shall be but small.’
145B.33 Robin Hood he led about,
He shot it under hand,
And Clifton, with a bearing arrow,
He clave the willow wand.
145B.34 And little Midge, the Miller’s son,
Hee shot not much the worse;
He shot within a finger of the prick;
‘Now, bishop, beware thy purse!’
145B.35 ‘A boon, a boon,’ Queen Katherine cries,
‘I crave on my bare knee,-+--+-
That you will angry be with none
That is of my party.’
145B.36 ‘They shall have forty days to come,
And forty days to go,
And three times forty to sport and play;
Then welcome friend or fo.’
145B.37 ‘Then thou art welcome, Robin Hood,’ said the queen,
‘And so is Little John,
So is Midge, the Miller’s son;
Thrice welcome every one.’
145B.38 ‘Is this Robin Hood?’ the king now said;
‘For it was told to mee
That he was slain in the pallace-gate,
So far in the North Country.’
145B.39 ‘Is this Robin Hood,’ said the bishop then,
‘As I see well to be?
Had I knowne that had been that bold outlaw,
I would not have bet one peny.
145B.40 ‘Hee took me late one Saturday at night,
And bound mee fast to a tree,
And made mee sing a mass, God wot,
To him and his yeomendree.’
145B.41 ‘What and if I did?’ says Robin Hood,
‘Of that mass I was full fain;
For recompense to thee,’ he says,
‘Here’s half thy gold again.’
145B.42 ‘Now nay, now nay,’ saies Little John,
‘Master, that shall not be;
We must give gifts to the kings officers;
That gold will serve thee and mee.’

Child 145C: Robin Hood and Queen Katherine

145C.1 STOUT Robin Hood, a most lusty out-law,
As ever yet lived in this land,
As ever yet lived in this land.
His equal I’m sure you never yet saw,
So valiant was he of his hand,
So valiant was he of his hand.
145C.2 No archers could ever compare with these three,
Although from us they are gone;
The like was never, nor never will be,
To Robin Hood, Scarlet and John.
145C.3 Many stout robberies by these men were done,
Within this our kingdom so wide;
Vpon the highway much treasure they have won,
No one that his purse ere deny’d.
145C.4 Great store of money they from the kings men
Couragiously did take away;
Vnto fair Queen Katherine they gave it again,
Who to them these words did say.
145C.5 If that I live but another fair year,
Kind Robin Hood, said the fair queen,
The love for this courtesie that I thee bear,
Assure thy self it shall be seen.
145C.6 Brave Robin Hood courteously thanked her Grace,
And so took leave of the queen;
He with his bold archers then hied him apace,
In summer time, to the woods green.
145C.7 ‘Now wend we together, my merry men all,
To the green wood to take up our stand:’
These archers were ready at Robin Hoods call,
With their bent bows all in their hand.
145C.8 ‘Come, merrily let us now valiantly go
With speed unto the green wood,
And there let us kill a stout buck or a do,
For our master, Robin Hood.’
145C.9 At London must now be a game of shooting,
Where archers should try their best skill;
It was so commanded by their gracious king;
The queen then thought to have her will.
145C.10 Her little foot-page she sent with all speed,
To find out stout Robin Hood,
Who in the North bravely did live, as we read,
With his bow-men in the green wood.
145C.11 When as this young page unto the North came,
He staid under a hill at his inn;
Within the fair town of sweet Nottingham,
He there to enquire did begin.
145C.12 The page then having enquired aright
The way unto Robin Hoods place,
As soon as the page had obtained of him sight,
He told him strange news from her Grace.
145C.13 ‘Her Majestie praies you to haste to the court,’
And therewithall shewd him her ring;
We must not delay his swift haste to this sport,
Which then was proclaimd by the king.
145C.14 Then Robin Hood hies him with all speed he may,
With his fair men attired in green,
And towards fair London he then takes his way;
His safety lay all on the queen.
145C.15 Now Robin Hood welcome was then to the court,
Queen Katharine so did allow;
Now listen, my friends, and my song shal report
How the queen performed her vow.
145C.16 The king then went marching in state with his peers
To Finsbury field most gay,
Where Robin Hood follows him, void of all fears,
With his lusty brave shooters that day.
145C.17 The king did command that the way should be
Straight mete with a line that was good;
The answer was made to him presently,
By lusty bold Robin Hood.
145C.18 ‘Let there be no mark measured,’ then said he soon;
‘I,’ so said Scarlet and John,
‘For we will shoot to the sun or the moon;
We scorn to be outreacht with none.’
145C.19 ‘What shall the wager be?’ then said the queen,
‘Pray tell me before you begin:’
‘Three hundred tuns of good wine shall be seen,
And as much of strong bear for to win.
145C.20 ‘Three hundred of lusty fat bucks, sweet, beside,
Shall now be our royal lay:’
Quoth Robin Hood, What ere does betide,
I’le bear this brave purchase away.
145C.21 ‘Full fifteenscore,’ saith the king, ’it shall be;’
Then straight did the bow-men begin,
And Robin Hoods side gave them leave certainly
A while some credit to win.
145C.22 The royal queen Katharine aloud cried she,
Is here no lord, nor yet knight,
That will take my part in this bold enmity?
Sir Robert Lee, pray do me right.
145C.23 Then to the bold Bishop of Herefordshire
Most mildly spoke our good queen;
But he straight refused to lay any more,
Such ods on their parties were seen.
145C.24 ‘What wilt thou bet, seeing our game is the worse?’
Unto him then said Robin Hood:
‘Why then,’ quoth the bishop, a+ell that’s in my purse;’
Quoth Scarlet, That bargain is good.
145C.25 ‘A hundred good pounds there is in the same,’
The bishop unto him did say;
Then said Robin Hood, Now here’s for the game,
And to bear this your money away.
145C.26 Then did the kings archer his arrows command
Most bravely and with great might,
But brave jolly Robin shot under his hand,
And then did hit the mark right.
145C.27 And Clifton he then, with his arrow so good,
The willow-wood cleaved in two;
The Miller’s young son came not short, by the rood,
His skill he most bravely did show.
145C.28 Thus Robin Hood and his crew won the rich prize,
From all archers that there could be;
Then loudly unto the king Queen Katherine cries,
Forgive all my company!
145C.29 The king then did say, that for forty daies,
Free leave then to come or go,
For any man there, though he got the praise,
‘Be he friend,’ quoth he, ’or be he foe.’
145C.30 Then quoth the queen, Welcome thou art, Robin Hood,
And welcome, brave bow-men all three;
Then straight quoth the king, I did hear, by the rood,
That slain he was in the countrey.
145C.31 ‘Is this Robin Hood?’ the bishop did say,
‘Is this Robin Hood certainly?
He made me to say him mass last Saturday,
To him and his bold yeomendry.’
145C.32 ‘Well,’ quoth Robin Hood, ’in requital thereof,
Half thy gold I give unto thee;’
‘Nay, nay,’ then said Little John in a scoff,
‘’Twill serue us ith’ North Countrey.’
145C.33 Then Robin Hood pardon had straight of the king,
And so had they every one;
The fame of these days most loudly does ring,
Of Robin Hood, Scarlet and John.
145C.34 Great honours to Robin Hood after were done,
As stories for certain do say;
The king made him Earl of fair Huntington,
Whose fame will never decay.
145C.35 Thus have you heard the fame of these men,
Good archers they were every one;
We never shal see the like shooters again
As Robin Hood, Scarlet and John.

The Gest of Robyn Hode

2007-11-07T00:09:00.000Z

117A: The Gest of Robyn Hode

117A.1 LYTHE and listin, gentilmen,
That be of frebore blode;
I shall you tel of a gode yeman,
His name was Robyn Hode.
117A.2 Robyn was a prude outlaw,
[Whyles he walked on grounde;
So curteyse an outlawe] as he was one
Was never non founde.
117A.3 Robyn stode in Bernesdale,
And lenyd hym to a tre;
And bi hym stode Litell Johnn,
A gode yeman was he.
117A.4 And alsoo dyd gode Scarlok,
And Much, the miller’s son;
There was none ynch of his bodi
But it was worth a grome.
117A.5 Than bespake Lytell Johnn
All vntoo Robyn Hode:
Maister, and ye wolde dyne betyme
It wolde doo you moche gode.
117A.6 Than bespake hym gode Robyn:
To dyne haue I noo lust,
Till that I haue som bolde baron,
Or som vnkouth gest.
117A.7 . . . . . . .
That may pay for the best,
Or som knyght or [som] squyer,
That dwelleth here bi west.
117A.8 A gode maner than had Robyn;
In londe where that he were,
Euery day or he wold dyne
Thre messis wolde he here.
117A.9 The one in the worship of the Fader,
And another of the Holy Gost,
The thirde of Our der Lady,
That he loued allther moste.
117A.10 Robyn loued Oure der Lady;
For dout of dydly synne,
Wolde he neuer do compani harme
That any woman was in.
117A.11 ‘Maistar,’ than sayde Lytil Johnn,
‘And we our borde shal sprede,
Tell vs wheder that we shal go,
And what life that we shall lede.
117A.12 ‘Where we shall take, where we shall leue,
Where we shall abide behynde;
Where we shall robbe, where we shal reue,
Where we shal bete and bynde.’
117A.13 ‘Therof no force,’ than sayde Robyn;
‘We shall do well inowe;
But loke ye do no husbonde harme,
That tilleth with his ploughe.
117A.14 ‘No more ye shall no gode yeman
That walketh by gren -wode shawe;
Ne no knyght ne no squyer
That wol be a gode felawe.
117A.15 ‘These bisshoppes and these archebishoppes,
Ye shall them bete and bynde;
The hy sherif of Notyingham,
Hym holde ye in your mynde.’
117A.16 ‘This worde shalbe holde,’ sayde Lytell Johnn,
‘And this lesson we shall lere;
It is fer dayes ; God sende vs a gest,
That we were at oure dynere!’
117A.17 ‘Take thy gode bowe in thy honde,’ sayde Rob[yn];
‘Late Much wende with the;
And so shal Willyam Scarlo[k],
And no man abyde with me.
117A.18 ‘And walke vp to the Saylis,
And so to Watlingr Stret[e],
And wayte after some vnkuth gest,
Vp chaunce ye may them mete.
117A.19 ‘Be he erle, or ani baron,
Abbot, or ani knyght,
Bringhe hym to lodge to me;
His dyner shall be dight.’
117A.20 They wente vp to the Saylis,
These yeman all thre;
They loked est, they loke[d] weest;
They myght no man see.
117A.21 But as they loked in to Bernysdale,
Bi a dern strete,
Than came a knyght ridinghe;
Full sone they gan hym mete.
117A.22 All dreri was his semblaunce,
And lytell was his pryde;
His one fote in the styrop stode,
That othere wauyd beside.
117A.23 His hode hanged in his iyn two;
He rode in symple aray;
A soriar man than he was one
Rode neuer in somer day.
117A.24 Litell Johnn was full curteyes,
And sette hym on his kne:
‘Welcom be ye, gentyll knyght,
Welcom ar ye to me.
117A.25 ‘Welcom be thou to gren wode,
Hend knyght and fre;
My maister hath abiden you fastinge,
Syr, al these our s thre.’
117A.26 ‘Who is thy maister?’ sayde the knyght;
Johnn sayde, Robyn Hode;
‘He is [a] gode yoman,’ sayde the knyght,
‘Of hym haue I herde moche gode.
117A.27 ‘I graunte,’ he sayde, ’with you to wende,
My bretherne, all in fere;
My purpos was to haue dyned to day
At Blith or Dancastere.’
117A.28 Furth than went this gentyl knight,
With a carefull chere;
The teris oute of his iyen ran,
And fell downe by his lere.
117A.29 They brought hym to the lodg -dore;
Whan Robyn hym gan see,
Full curtesly dyd of his hode
And sette hym on his knee.
117A.30 ‘Welcome, sir knight,’ than sayde Robyn,
‘Welcome art thou to me;
I haue abyden you fastinge, sir,
All these ouris thre.’
117A.31 Than answered the gentyll knight,
With word s fayre and fre;
God the saue, goode Robyn,
And all thy fayre meyn .
117A.32 They wasshed togeder and wyped bothe,
And sette to theyr dynere;
Brede and wyne they had right ynoughe,
And noumbles of the dere.
117A.33 Swannes and fessauntes they had full gode,
And foules of the ryuere;
There fayled none so litell a birde
That euer was bred on bryre.
117A.34 ‘Do gladly, sir knight,’ sayde Robyn;
‘Gramarcy, sir,’ sayde he;
‘Suche a dinere had I nat
Of all these wekys thre.
117A.35 ‘If I come ageyne, Robyn,
Here by thys contr ,
As gode a dyner I shall the make
As that thou haest made to me.’
117A.36 ‘Gramarcy, knyght,’ sayde Robyn;
‘My dyner whan that I it haue,
I was neuer so gredy, bi dere worthy God,
My dyner for to craue.
117A.37 ‘But pay or ye wende,’ sayde Robyn;
‘Me thynketh it is gode ryght;
It was neuer the maner, by dere worthi God,
A yoman to pay for a knyhht.’
117A.38 ‘I haue nought in my coffers,’ saide the knyght,
‘That I may profer for shame:’
‘Litell Johnn, go loke,’ sayde Robyn,
‘Ne let nat for no blame.
117A.39 ‘Tel me truth,’ than saide Robyn,
‘So God haue parte of the:’
‘I haue no more but ten shelynges,’ sayde the knyght,
‘So God haue parte of me.’
117A.40 If thou hast no more,’ sayde Robyn,
‘I woll nat one peny;
And yf thou haue nede of any more,
More shall I lend the.
117A.41 ‘Go nowe furth, Littell Johnn,
The truth tell thou me;
If there be no more but ten shelinges,
No peny that I se.’
117A.42 Lyttell Johnn sprede downe hys mantell
Full fayre vpon the grounde,
And there he fonde in the knyght s cofer
But euen halfe [a] pounde.
117A.43 Littell Johnn let it lye full styll,
And went to hys maysteer [full] lowe;
‘What tidyng s, Johnn?’ sayde Robyn;
‘Sir, the knyght is true inowe.’
117A.44 ‘Fyll of the best wine,’ sayde Robyn,
‘The knyght shall begynne;
Moche wonder thinketh me
Thy clot[h]ynge is so thin[n]e.
117A.45 ‘Tell me [one] worde,’ sayde Robyn,
‘And counsel shal it be;
I trowe thou warte made a knyght of force,
Or ellys of yemanry.
117A.46 ‘Or ellys thou hast bene a sori husbande,
And lyued in stroke and stryfe;
An okerer, or ellis a lechoure,’ sayde Robyn,
‘Wyth wronge hast led thy lyfe.’
117A.47 ‘I am none of those,’ sayde the knyght,
‘By God that mad me;
An hundred wynter here before
Myn auncetres knyghtes haue be.
117A.48 ‘But oft it hath befal, Robyn,
A man hath be disgrate;
But God that sitteth in heuen aboue
May amende his state.
117A.49 ‘Withyn this two yere, Robyne,’ he sayde,
‘My neghbours well it knowe,
Foure hundred pounde of gode money
Ful well than myght I spende.
117A.50 ‘Nowe haue I no gode,’ saide the knyght,
‘God hath shaped such an ende,
But my chyldren and my wyfe,
Tyll God yt may amende.’
117A.51 ‘In what maner,’ than sayde Robyn,
‘Hast thou lorne thy rychesse?’
‘For my great foly,’ he sayde,
‘And for my kynd[ ]nesse.
117A.52 ‘I hade a sone, forsoth, Robyn,
That shulde hau[e] ben myn ayre,
Whanne he was twenty wynter olde,
In felde wolde iust full fayre.
117A.53 ‘He slewe a knyght of Lancaster,
And a squyer bolde;
For to saue hym in his ryght
My godes both sette and solde.
117A.54 ‘My londes both sette to wedde, Robyn,
Vntyll a certayn day,
To a ryche abbot here besyde
Of Seynt Mari Abbey.’
117A.55 ‘What is the som?’ sayde Robyn;
‘Trouth than tell thou me;’
‘Sir,’ he sayde, ’Foure hundred pounde;
The abbot told it to me.’
117A.56 ‘Nowe and thou lese thy lond,’ sayde Robyn,
‘What woll fall of the?’
‘Hastely I wol me buske,’ sayd the knyght,
‘Ouer the salt see,
117A.57 ‘And se w[h]ere Criste was quyke and dede,
On the mount of Caluer ;
Fare wel, frende, and haue gode day;
It may no better be.’
117A.58 Teris fell out of hys iyen two;
He wolde haue gone hys way:
‘Farewel, frende, and haue gode day;
I ne haue no more to pay.’
117A.59 ‘Where be thy frend s?’ sayde Robyn:
‘Syr, neuer one wol me knowe;
While I was ryche ynowe at home
Great boste than wolde they blowe.
117A.60 ‘And nowe they renne away fro me,
As bestis on a rowe;
They take no more hede of me
Thanne they had me neuer sawe.’
117A.61 For ruthe thanne wept Litell Johnn,
Scarlok and Muche in fere;
‘Fyl of the best wyne,’ sayde Robyn,
‘For here is a symple chere.
117A.62 ‘Hast thou any frende,’ sayde Robyn,
‘Thy borowe that wold be?’
‘I haue none,’ than sayde the knyght,
‘But God that dyed on tree.’
117A.63 ‘Do away thy iapis,’ than sayde Robyn,
‘Thereof wol I right none;
Wenest thou I wolde haue God to borowe,
Peter, Poule, or Johnn?
117A.64 ‘Nay, by hym that me made,
And shope both sonne and mone,
Fynde me a better borowe,’ sayde Robyn,
‘Or money getest thou none.’
117A.65 ‘I haue none other,’ sayde the knyght,
‘The sothe for to say,
But yf yt be Our der Lady;
She fayled me neuer or thys day.’
117A.66 ‘By dere worthy God,’ sayde Robyn,
‘To seche all Englonde thorowe,
Yet fonde I neuer to my pay
A moche better borowe.
117A.67 ‘Come nowe furth, Litell Johnn,
And go to my tresour ,
And bringe me foure hundered pound,
And loke well tolde it be.’
117A.68 Furth than went Litell Johnn,
And Scarlok went before;
He tolde oute foure hundred pounde
By eight and twenty score.
117A.69 ‘Is thys well tolde?’ sayde [litell] Much;
Johnn sayde, ‘What gre[ue]th the?
It is almus to helpe a gentyll knyght,
That is fal in pouert .
117A.70 ‘Master,’ than sayde Lityll John,
‘His clothinge is full thynne;
Ye must gyue the knight a lyueray,
To lappe his body therin.
117A.71 ‘For ye haue scarlet and grene, mayster,
And man[y] a riche aray;
Ther is no marchaunt in mery Englond
So ryche, I dare well say.’
117A.72 ‘Take hym thre yerdes of euery colour,
And loke well mete that it be;’
Lytell Johnn toke none other mesure
But his bow -tree.
117A.73 And at euery handfull that he met
He lep d foot s three;
‘What deuyll s drapar,’ sayid litell Muche,
‘Thynkest thou for to be?’
117A.74 Scarlok stode full stil and loughe,
And sayd, By God Almyght,
Johnn may gyue hym gode mesure,
For it costeth hym but lyght.
117A.75 ‘Mayster,’ than said Litell Johnn
To gentill Robyn Hode,
‘Ye must giue the knig[h]t a hors,
To lede home this gode.’
117A.76 ‘Take hym a gray coursar,’ sayde Robyn,
‘And a saydle newe;
He is Oure Ladye’s messangere;
God graunt that he be true.’
117A.77 ‘And a gode palfray,’ sayde lytell Much,
‘To mayntene hym in his right;’
‘And a peyre of bot s,’ sayde Scarlock,
‘For he is a gentyll knight.’
117A.78 ‘What shalt thou gyue hym, Litell John?’ said Robyn;
‘Sir, a peyre of gilt sporis clene,
To pray for all this company;
God bringe hym out of tene.’
117A.79 ‘Whan shal mi day be,’ said the knight,
‘Sir, and your wyll be?’
‘This day twelue moneth,’ saide Robyn,
‘Vnder this gren -wode tre.
117A.80 ‘It were greate sham ,’ sayde Robyn,
‘A knight alone to ryde,
Without squyre, yoman, or page,
To walk by his syde.
117A.81 ‘I shall the lende Litell John, my man,
For he shalbe thy knaue;
In a yema[n]’s stede he may the stande,
If thou greate ned haue.’
117A.82 Now is the knight gone on his way;
This game hym thought full gode;
Whanne he loked on Bernesdale
He blessyd Robyn Hode.
117A.83 And whanne he thought on Bernysdale,
On Scarlok, Much, and Johnn,
He blyssyd them for the best company
That euer he in come.
117A.84 Then spake that gentyll knyght,
To Lytel Johan gan he saye,
To-morrowe I must to Yorke toune,
To Saynt Mary abbay.
117A.85 And to the abbot of that place
Foure hondred pounde I must pay;
And but I be there vpon this nyght
My londe is lost for ay.
117A.86 The abbot sayd to his couent,
There he stode on grounde,
This day twelfe moneth came there a knyght
And borowed foure hondred pounde.
117A.87 [He borowed foure hondred pounde,]
Upon all his lond fre;
But he come this ylk day
Dysheryte shall he be.
117A.88 ‘It is full erely,’ sayd the pryoure,
‘The day is not yet ferre gone;
I had leuer to pay an hondred pounde,
And lay downe anone.
117A.89 ‘The knyght is ferre beyonde the see,
In Englonde is his ryght,
And suffreth honger and colde,
And many a sory nyght.
117A.90 ‘It were grete pyt ,’ said the pryoure,
‘So to haue his londe;
And ye be so lyght of your consyence,
Ye do to hym moch wronge.’
117A.91 ‘Thou arte euer in my berde,’ sayd the abbot,
‘By God and Saynt Rycharde;’
With that cam in a fat-heded monke,
The heygh selerer.
117A.92 ‘He is dede or hanged,’ sayd the monke,
‘By God that bought me dere,
And we shall haue to spende in this place
Foure hondred pounde by yere.’
117A.93 The abbot and the hy selerer
Stert forthe full bolde,
The [hye] iustyce of Englonde
The abbot there dyde holde.
117A.94 The hy iustyce and many mo
Had take in to they[r] honde
Holy all the knyght s det,
To put that knyght to wronge.
117A.95 They demed the knyght wonder sore,
The abbot and his meyn :
‘But he come this ylk day
Dysheryte shall he be.’
117A.96 ‘He wyll not come yet,’ sayd the iustyce,
‘Idare well vndertake;’
But in sorowe tym for them all
The knyght came to the gate.
117A.97 Than bespake that gentyll knyght
Untyll his meyn :
Now put on your symple wedes
That ye brought fro the see.
117A.98 [They put on their symple wedes,]
They came to the gates anone;
The porter was redy hymselfe,
And welcomed them euerychone.
117A.99 ‘Welcome, syr knyght,’ sayd the porter;
‘My lorde to mete is he,
And so is many a gentyll man,
For the loue of the.’
117A.100 The porter swore a full grete othe,
RR’Brry God that mad me,
Here be the best coresed hors
That euer yet sawe I me.
117A.101 ‘Lede them in to the stable,’ he sayd,
‘That eased myght they be;’
‘They shall not come therin,’ sayd the knyght,
‘By God that dyed on a tre.’
117A.102 Lord s were to mete isette
In that abbotes hall;
The knyght went forth and kneled downe,
And salued them grete and small.
117A.103 ‘Do gladly, syr abbot,’ sayd the knyght,
‘I am come to holde my day:’
The fyrst word the abbot spake,
‘Hast thou brought my pay?’
117A.104 ‘Not one peny,’ sayd the knyght,
‘By God that maked me;’
‘Thou art a shrewed dettour,’ sayd the abbot;
‘Syr iustyce, drynke to me.
117A.105 ‘What doost thou here,’ sayd the abbot,
‘But thou haddest brought thy pay?’
‘For God,’ than sayd the knyght,
‘To pray of a lenger daye.’
117A.106 ‘Thy daye is broke,’ sayd the iustyce,
‘Londe getest thou none:’
‘Now, good syr iustyce, be my frende,
And fende me of my fone!’
117A.107 ‘I am holde with the abbot,’ sayd the iustyce,
‘Both with cloth and fee :’
‘Now, good syr sheryf, be my frende!’
‘Nay, for God,’ sayd he.
117A.108 ‘Now, good syr abbot, be my frende,
For thy curteys ,
And holde my lond s in thy honde
Tyll I haue made the gree!
117A.109 ‘And I wyll be thy true seruaunte,
And trewely seru the,
Tyl ye haue foure hondred pounde
Of money good and free.’
117A.110 The abbot sware a full grete othe,
‘By God that dyed on a tree,
Get the londe where thou may,
For thou getest none of me.’
117A.111 ‘By dere worthy God,’ then sayd the knyght,
‘That all this world wrought,
But I haue my londe agayne,
Full dere it shall be bought.
117A.112 ‘God, that was of a mayden borne,
Leue vs well to spede!
For it is good to assay a frende
Or that a man haue nede.’
117A.113 The abbot lothely on hym gan loke,
And vylaynesly hym gan call;
‘Out,’ he sayd, ’Thou fals knyght,
Spede the out of my hall!’
117A.114 ‘Thou lyest,’ then sayd the gentyll knyght,
‘Abbot, in thy hal;
False knyght was I neuer,
By God that made vs all.’
117A.115 Vp then stode that gentyll knyght,
To the abbot sayd he,
To suffre a knyght to knele so longe,
Thou canst no curteysye.
117A.116 In ioust s and in tournement
Full ferre than haue I be,
And put my selfe as ferre in prees
As ony that euer I se.
117A.117 ‘What wyll ye gyue more,’ sayd the iustice,
‘And the knyght shall make a releyse?
And elles dare I safly swere
Ye holde neuer your londe in pees.’
117A.118 ‘An hondred pounde,’ sayd the abbot;
The justice sayd, Gyue hym two;
‘Nay, be God,’ sayd the knyght,
‘Yit gete ye it not so.
117A.119 ‘Though ye wolde gyue a thousand more,
Yet were ye neuer the nere;
Shall there neuer be myn heyre
Abbot, iustice, ne frere.’
117A.120 He stert hym to a borde anone,
Tyll a table rounde,
And there he shoke oute of a bagge
Euen four hundred pound.
117A.121 ‘Haue here thi golde, sir abbot,’ saide the knight,
‘Which that thou lentest me;
Had thou ben curtes at my comynge,
Rewarded shuldest thou haue be.’
117A.122 The abbot sat styll, and ete no more,
For all his ryall fare;
He cast his hede on his shulder,
And fast began to stare.
117A.123 ‘Take me my golde agayne,’ saide the abbot,
‘Sir iustice, that I toke the:’
‘Not a peni,’ said the iustice,
‘Bi Go[d, that dy]ed on tree.’
117A.124 ‘Sir [abbot, and ye me]n of lawe,
Now haue I holde my daye;
Now shall I haue my londe agayne,
For ought that you can saye.’
117A.125 The knyght stert out of the dore,
Awaye was all his care,
And on he put his good clothynge,
The other he lefte there.
117A.126 He wente hym forth full mery syngynge,
As men haue tolde in tale;
His lady met hym at the gate,
At home in Verysdale.
117A.127 ‘Welcome, my lorde,’ sayd his lady;
‘Syr, lost is all your good?’
‘Be mery, dame,’ sayd the knyght,
‘And pray for Robyn Hode,
117A.128 ‘That euer his soul be in blysse:
He holpe me out of tene;
Ne had be his kynd nesse,
Beggers had we bene.
117A.129 ‘The abbot and I accorded ben,
He is serued of his pay;
The god yoman lent it me,
As I cam by the way.’
117A.130 This knight than dwelled fayre at home,
The sothe for to saye,
Tyll he had gete four hundred pound,
Al redy for to pay.
117A.131 He purueyed him an hundred bowes,
The stryng s well ydyght,
An hundred shefe of arow s gode,
The hedys burneshed full bryght;
117A.132 And euery arowe an ell longe,
With pecok wel idyght,
Inocked all with whyte siluer;
It was a semely syght.
117A.133 He purueyed hym an [hondreth men],
Well harness[ed in that stede],
And hym selfe in that same sete,
And clothed in whyte and rede.
117A.134 He bare a launsgay in his honde,
And a man ledde his male,
And reden with a lyght songe
Vnto Bernysdale.
117A.135 But as he went at a brydge ther was a wrastelyng,
And there taryed was he,
And there was all the best yemen
Of all the west countree.
117A.136 A full fayre game there was vp set,
A whyte bulle vp i-pyght,
A grete courser, with sadle and brydil,
With golde burnyssht full bryght.
117A.137 A payre of gloues, a rede golde rynge,
A pype of wyne, in fay;
What man that bereth hym best i-wys
The pryce shall bere away.
117A.138 There was a yoman in that place,
And best worthy was he,
And for he was ferre and frembde bested,
Slayne he shulde haue be.
117A.139 The knight had ruthe of this yoman,
In plac where he stode;
He sayde that yoman shulde haue no harme,
For loue of Robyn Hode.
117A.140 The knyght presed in to the place,
An hundreth folowed hym [free],
With bow s bent and arow s sharpe,
For to shende that companye.
117A.141 They shulderd all and made hym rome,
To wete what he wolde say;
He toke the yeman bi the hande,
And gaue hym al the play .
117A.142 He gaue hym fyue marke for his wyne,
There it lay on the molde,
And bad it shulde be set a broche,
Drynk who so wolde.
117A.143 Thus longe taried this gentyll knyght,
Tyll that play was done;
So longe abode Robyn fastinge,
Thre hour s after the none.
117A.144 Lyth and lystyn, gentilmen,
All that nowe be here;
Of Litell Johnn, that was the knight s man,
Goode myrth ye shall here.
117A.145 It was vpon a mery day
That yonge men wolde go shete;
Lytell Johnn fet his bowe anone,
And sayde he wolde them mete.
117A.146 Thre tymes Litell Johnn shet aboute,
And alway he slet the wande;
The proud sherif of Notingham
By the mark s can stande.
117A.147 The sherif swore a full greate othe:
‘By hym that dyede on a tre,
This man is the best arsch re
That euer yet sawe I [me.]
117A.148 ‘Say me nowe, wight yonge man,
What is nowe thy name?
In what countre were thou borne,
And where is thy wonynge wane?’
117A.149 ‘In Holdernes, sir, I was borne,
I-wys al of my dame;
Men cal me Reynolde Gren lef
Whan I am at home.’
117A.150 ‘Sey me, Reyno[l]de Gren lefe,
Wolde thou dwell with me?
And euery yere I woll the gyue
Twenty marke to thy fee.’
117A.151 ‘I haue a maister,’ sayde Litell Johnn,
‘A curteys knight is he;
May ye leu gete of hym,
The better may it be.’
117A.152 The sherif gate Litell John
Twelue moneth s of the knight;
Therfore he gaue him right anone
A gode hors and a wight.
117A.153 Nowe is Litell John the sherif s man,
God lende vs well to spede!
But alwey thought Lytell John
To quyte hym wele his mede.
117A.154 ‘Nowe so God me help ,’ sayde Litell John,
‘And by my true leutye,
I shall be the worst seruaunt to hym
That euer yet had he.’
117A.155 fell vpon a Wednesday
The sherif on huntynge was gone,
And Litel Iohn lay in his bed,
And was foriete at home.
117A.156 Therfore he was fastinge
Til it was past the none;
‘Gode sir stuarde, I pray to the,
Gyue me my dynere,’ saide Litell John.
117A.157 ‘It is longe for Gren lefe
Fastinge thus for to be;
Therfor I pray the, sir stuarde,
Mi dyner gif me.’
117A.158 ‘Shalt thou neuer ete ne drynke,’ saide the stuarde,
‘Tyll my lorde be come to towne:’
‘I make myn auowe to God,’ saide Litell John,
‘I had leuer to crake thy crowne.’
117A.159 The boteler was full vncurteys,
There he stode on flore;
He start to the botery
And shet fast the dore.
117A.160 Lytell Johnn gaue the boteler suche a tap
His backe went nere in two;
Though he liued an hundred ier,
The wors shuld he go.
117A.161 He sporned the dore with his fote;
It went open wel and fyne;
And there he made large lyueray,
Bothe of ale and of wyne.
117A.162 ‘Sith ye wol nat dyne,’ sayde Litell John,
‘I shall gyue you to drinke;
And though ye lyue an hundred wynter,
On Lytel Johnn ye shall thinke.’
117A.163 Litell John ete, and Litel John drank,
The whil that he wolde;
The sherife had in his kechyn a coke,
A stoute man and a bolde.
117A.164 ‘I make myn auowe to God,’ saide the coke,
‘Thou arte a shrewde hynde
In ani hous for to dwel,
For to ask thus to dyne.’
117A.165 And there he lent Litell John
God[ ] strokis thre;
‘I make myn auowe to God,’ sayde Lytell John,
‘These strokis lyked well me.
117A.166 ‘Thou arte a bolde man and hardy,
And so thinketh me;
And or I pas fro this place
Assayed better shalt thou be.’
117A.167 Lytell Johnn drew a ful gode sworde,
The coke toke another in hande;
They thought no thynge for to fle,
But stifly for to stande.
117A.168 There they faught sore togedere
Two myl way and well more;
Myght neyther other harme done,
The mountnaunce of an owre.
117A.169 ‘I make myn auowe to God,’ sayde Litell Johnn,
And by my true lewt ,
Thou art one of the best sworde-men
That euer yit sawe I [me.]
117A.170 ‘Cowdest thou shote as well in a bowe,
To gren wode thou shuldest with me,
And two times in the yere thy clothinge
Chaunged shuld be;
117A.171 ‘And euery yere of Robyn Hode
Twenty merke to thy fe:’
‘Put vp thy swerde,’ saide the coke,
‘And felow s woll we be.’
117A.172 Thanne he fet to Lytell Johnn
The nowmbles of a do,
Gode brede, and full gode wyne;
They ete and drank theretoo.
117A.173 And when they had dronkyn well,
Theyre trouth s togeder they plight
That they wo[l]de be with Robyn
That ylk sam nyght.
117A.174 They dyd them to the tresoure-hows,
As fast as they myght gone;
The lokk s, that were of full gode stele,
They brake them euerichone.
117A.175 They toke away the siluer vessell,
And all that they mig[h]t get;
Pecis, masars, ne sponis,
Wolde thei not forget.
117A.176 Also [they] toke the god pens,
Thre hundred pounde and more,
And did them st[r]eyte to Robyn Hode,
Under the gren wode hore.
117A.177 ‘God the saue, my der mayster,
And Criste the saue and se!’
And thanne sayde Robyn to Litell Johnn,
Welcome myght thou be.
117A.178 ‘Also be that fayre yeman
Thou bryngest there with the;
What tydyng s fro Noty[n]gham?
Lytill Johnn, tell thou me.’
117A.179 ‘Well the gretith the proud sheryf,
And sende[th] the here by me
His coke and his siluer vessell,
And thre hundred pounde and thre.’
117A.180 ‘I make myne avowe to God,’ sayde Robyn,
‘And to the Trenyt ,
It was neuer by his gode wyll
This gode is come to me.’
117A.181 Lytyll Johnn there hym bethought
On a shrewde wyle;
Fyue myle in the forest he ran,
Hym happed all his wyll.
117A.182 Than he met the proud sheref,
Huntynge with houndes and horne;
Lytell Johnn coude of curtesye,
And knelyd hym beforne.
117A.183 ‘God the saue, my der mayster,
And Criste the saue and se!’
‘Reynolde Gren lefe,’ sayde the shryef,
‘Where hast thou nowe be?’
117A.184 ‘I haue be in this forest;
A fayre syght can I se;
It was one of the fayrest syghtes
That euer yet sawe I me.
117A.185 ‘Yonder I sawe a ryght fayre harte,
His coloure is of grene;
Seuen score of dere vpon a herde
Be with hym all bydene.
117A.186 ‘Their tynd s are so sharpe, maister,
Of sexty, and well mo,
That I durst not shote for drede,
Lest they wolde me slo.’
117A.187 ‘I make myn auowe to God,’ sayde the shyref,
‘That syght wolde I fayne se:’
‘Buske you thyderwarde, mi der mayster,
Anone, and wende with me.’
117A.188 The sherif rode, and Litell Johnn
Of fote he was smerte,
And whane they came before Robyn,
‘Lo, sir, here is the mayster-herte.’
117A.189 Still stode the proud sherief,
A sory man was he;
‘Wo the worthe, Raynolde Gren lefe,
Thou hast betrayed nowe me.’
117A.190 ‘I make myn auowe to God,’ sayde Litell Johnn,
‘Mayster, ye be to blame;
I was mysserued of my dynere
Whan I was with you at home.’
117A.191 Sone he was to souper sette,
And serued well with siluer white,
And whan the sherif sawe his vessell,
For sorowe he myght nat ete.
117A.192 ‘Make glad chere,’ sayde Robyn Hode,
‘Sherif, for charit ,
And for the loue of Litill Johnn
Thy lufe I graunt to the.’
117A.193 Whan they had souped well,
The day was al gone;
Robyn commaunde[d] Litell Johnn
To drawe of his hosen and his shone;
117A.194 His kirtell, and his cote of pie,
That was fured well and fine,
And to[ke] hym a grene mantel,
To lap his body therin.
117A.195 Robyn commaundyd his wight yonge men,
Vnder the gren -wode tree,
They shulde lye in that same sute,
That the sherif myght them see.
117A.196 All nyght lay the proud sherif
In his breche and in his [s]chert;
No wonder it was, in gren wode,
Though his syd s gan to smerte.
117A.197 ‘Make glade chere,’ sayde Robyn Hode,
‘Sheref, for charit ;
For this is our ordre i-wys,
Vnder the gren -wode tree.’
117A.198 ‘This is harder order,’ sayde the sherief,
‘Than any ankir or frere;
For all the golde in mery Englonde
I wolde nat longe dwell her.’
117A.199 ‘All this twelue monthes,’ sayde Robin,
‘Thou shalt dwell with me;
I shall the tech , proud sherif,
An outlaw for to be.’
117A.200 ‘Or I be here another nyght,’ sayde the sherif,
‘Robyn, nowe pray I the,
Smyte of mijn hede rather to-morowe,
And I forgyue it the.
117A.201 ‘Lat me go,’ than sayde the sherif,
‘For saynt charit ,
And I woll be the best[ ] frende
That euer yet had ye.’
117A.202 ‘Thou shalt swere me an othe,’ sayde Robyn,
‘On my bright bronde;
Shalt thou neuer awayte me scathe,
By water ne by lande.
117A.203 ‘And if thou fynde any of my men,
By nyght or [by] day,
Vpon thyn oth thou shalt swere
To helpe them tha[t] thou may.’
117A.204 Nowe hathe the sherif sworne his othe,
And home he began to gone;
He was as full of gren wode
As euer was hepe of stone.
117A.205 The sherif dwelled in Notingham;
He was fayne he was agone;
And Robyn and his mery men
Went to wode anone.
117A.206 ‘Go we to dyner,’ sayde Littell Johnn;
Robyn Hode sayde, Nay;
For I drede Our Lady be wroth with me,
Foe she sent me nat my pay.
117A.207 ‘Haue no doute, maister,’ sayde Litell Johnn;
‘Yet is nat the sonne at rest;
For I dare say, and sauely swere,
The knight is true and truste.’
117A.208 ‘Take thy bowe in thy hande,’ sayde Robyn,
‘Late Much wende with the,
And so shal Wyllyam Scarlok,
And no man abyde with me.
117A.209 ‘And walke vp vnder the Sayles,
And to Watlynge-strete,
And wayte after some vnketh gest;
Vp-chaunce ye may them mete.
117A.210 ‘Whether he be messengere,
Or a man that myrth s can,
Of my good he shall haue some,
Yf he be a por man.’
117A.211 Forth then stert Lytel Johan,
Half in tray and tene,
And gyrde hym with a full good swerde,
Under a mantel of grene.
117A.212 They went vp to the Sayles,
These yemen all thre;
They loked est, they loked west,
They myght no man se.
117A.213 But as [t]he[y] loked in Bernysdale,
By the hy waye,
Than were they ware of two blacke monkes,
Eche on a good palferay.
117A.214 Then bespake Lytell Johan,
To Much he gan say,
I dare lay my lyfe to wedde,
That [these] monkes haue brought our pay.
117A.215 ‘Make glad chere,’ sayd Lytell Johan,
‘And frese your bowes of ewe,
And loke your hert s be seker and sad,
Your stryng s trusty and trewe.
117A.216 ‘The monke hath two and fifty [men,]
And seuen somers full stronge;
There rydeth no bysshop in this londe
So ryally, I vnderstond.
117A.217 ‘Brethern,’ sayd Lytell Johan,
‘Here are no more but we thre;
But we bryng them to dyner,
Our mayster dare we not se.
117A.218 ‘Bende your bowes,’ sayd Lytell Johan,
‘Make all yon prese to stonde;
The formost monke, his lyfe and his deth
Is closed in my honde.
117A.219 ‘Abyde, chorle monke,’ sayd Lytell Johan,
‘No ferther that thou gone;
Yf thou doost, by dere worthy God,
Thy deth is in my honde.
117A.220 ‘And euyll thryfte on thy hede,’ sayd Lytell Johan,
‘Ryght vnder thy hatt s bonde;
For thou hast made our mayster wroth,
He is fastynge so longe.’
117A.221 ‘Who is your mayster?’ sayd the monke;
Lytell Johan sayd, Robyn Hode;
‘He is a stronge thefe,’ sayd the monke,
‘Of hym herd I neuer good.’
117A.222 ‘Thou lyest,’ than sayd Lytell Johan,
‘And that shall rew the;
He is a yeman of the forest,
To dyne he hath bod the.’
117A.223 Much was redy with a bolte,
Redly and anone,
He set the monke to-fore the brest,
To the grounde that he can gone.
117A.224 Of two and fyfty wyght yonge yemen
There abode not one,
Saf a lytell page and a grome,
To lede the somers with Lytel Johan.
117A.225 They brought the monke to the lodg -dore,
Whether he were loth or lefe,
For to speke with Robyn Hode,
Maugre in theyr tethe.
117A.226 Robyn dyde adowne his hode,
The monke whan that he se;
The monke was not so curt yse,
His hode then let he be.
117A.227 ‘He is a chorle, mayster, by dere worthy God,’
Than sayd Lytell Johan:
‘Thereof no force,’ sayd Robyn,
‘For curteysy can he none.
117A.228 ‘How many men,’ sayd Robyn,
‘Had this monke, Johan?’
‘Fyfty and two whan that we met,
But many of them be gone.’
117A.229 ‘Let blowe a horne,’ sayd Robyn,
‘That felaushyp may vs knowe;’
Seuen score of wyght yemen
Came pryckynge on a rowe.
117A.230 And euerych of them a good mantell
Of scarlet and of raye;
All they came to good Robyn,
To wyte what he wolde say.
117A.231 They made the monke to wasshe and wype,
And syt at his denere,
Robyn Hode and Lytell Johan
They serued him both in-fere.
117A.232 ‘Do gladly, monke,’ sayd Robyn.
‘Gramercy, syr,’ sayd he.
‘Where is your abbay, whan ye are at home,
And who is your avow ?’
117A.233 ‘Saynt Mary abbay,’ sayd the monke,
‘Though I be symple here.’
‘In what offyce?’ sayd Robyn:
‘Syr, the hy selerer.’
117A.234 ‘Ye be the more welcome,’ sayd Robyn,
‘So euer mote I the;
Fyll of the best wyne,’ sayd Robyn,
’This monke shall drynke to me.
117A.235 ‘But I haue grete meruayle,’ sayd Robyn,
‘Of all this long day;
I drede Our Lady be wroth with me,
She sent me not my pay.’
117A.236 ‘Haue no doute, mayster,’ sayd Lytell Johan,
‘Ye haue no nede, I saye;
This monke it hath brought, I dare well swere,
For he is of her abbay.’
117A.237 ‘And she was a borowe,’ sayd Robyn,
‘Betwene a knyght and me,
Of a lytell money that I hym lent,
Under the g’Rene-wode tree.
117A.238 ‘And yf thou hast that syluer ibrought,
I pray the let me se;
And I shall help the eftsones,
Yf thou haue nede to me.’
117A.239 The monke swore a full grete othe,
With a sory chere,
‘Of the borowehode thou spekest to me,
Herde I neuer ere.’
117A.240 ‘I make myn avowe to God,’ sayd Robyn,
‘Monke, thou art to blame;
For God is holde a ryghtwys man,
And so is his dame.
117A.241 ‘Thou toldest with thyn own tonge,
Thou may not say nay,
How thou arte her seruaunt,
And seruest her euery day.
117A.242 ‘And thou art made her messengere,
My money for to pay;
Therfore I cun the mor thanke
Thou arte come at thy day.
117A.243 ‘What is in your cofers?’ sayd Robyn,
‘Trewe than tell thou me:’
‘Syr,’ he sayd, ’Twenty marke,
Al so mote I the.’
117A.244 ‘Yf there be no more,’ sayd Robyn,
‘I wyll not one peny;
Yf thou hast myster of ony more,
Syr, more I shall lende to the.
117A.245 ‘And yf I fynd [more,’ sayd] Robyn,
‘I-wys thou shalte it for gone;
For of thy spendynge-syluer, monke,
Thereof wyll I ryght none.
117A.246 ‘Go nowe forthe, Lytell Johan,
And the trouth tell thou me;
If there be no more but twenty marke,
No peny that I se.’
117A.247 Lytell Johan spred his mantell downe,
As he had done before,
And he tolde out of the monk s male
Eyght [hondred] pounde and more.
117A.248 Lytell Johan let it lye full styll,
And went to his mayster in hast;
‘Syr,’ he sayd, ’The monke is trewe ynowe,
Our Lady hath doubled your cast.’
117A.249 ‘I make myn avowe to God,’ sayd Robyn-+--+-
‘Monke, what tolde I the?-+--+-
Our Lady is the trewest woman
That euer yet founde I me.
117A.250 ‘By dere worthy God,’ sayd Robyn,
‘To seche all Englond thorowe,
Yet founde I neuer to my pay
A moche better borowe.
117A.251 ‘Fyll of the best wyne, and do hym drynke,’ sayd Robyn,
‘And grete well thy lady hende,
And yf she haue nede to Robyn Hode,
A frende she shall hym fynde.
117A.252 ‘And yf she nedeth ony more syluer,
Come thou agayne to me,
And, by this token she hath me sent,
She shall haue such thre.’
117A.253 The monke was goynge to London ward,
There to holde grete mote,
The knyght that rode so hye on hors,
To brynge hym vnder fote.
117A.254 ‘Whether be ye away?’ sayd Robyn:
‘Syr, to maners in this londe,
Too reken with our reues,
That haue done moch wronge.’
117A.255 ‘Come now forth, Lytell Johan,
And harken to my tale;
A better yemen I knowe none,
To seke a monk s male.’
117A.256 ‘How moch is in yonder other corser?’ sayd Robyn,
‘The soth must we see:’
‘By Our Lady,’ than sayd the monke,
‘That were no curteysye,
117A.257 ‘To bydde a man to dyner,
And syth hym bete and bynde.’
‘It is our old maner,’ sayd Robyn,
‘To leue but lytell behynde.’
117A.258 The monke toke the hors with spore,
No lenger wolde he abyde:
‘Ask to drynk ,’ than sayd Robyn,
‘Or that ye forther ryde.’
117A.259 ‘Nay, for God,’ than sayd the monke,
‘Me reweth I cam so nere;
For better chepe I myght haue dyned
In Blythe or in Dankestere.’
117A.260 ‘Grete well your abbot,’ sayd Robyn,
‘And your pryour, I you pray,
And byd hym send me such a monke
To dyner euery day.’
117A.261 Now lete we that monke be styll,
And speke we of that knyght:
Yet he came to holde his day,
Whyle that it was lyght.
117A.262 He dyde him streyt to Bernysdale,
Under the gren -wode tre,
And he founde there Robyn Hode,
And all his mery meyn .
117A.263 The knyght lyght doune of his good palfray;
Robyn whan he gan see,
So curteysly he dyde adoune his hode,
And set hym on his knee.
117A.264 ‘God the sau , Robyn Hode,
And all this company:’
‘Welcome be thou, gentyll knyght,
And ryght welcome to me.’
117A.265 Than bespake hym Robyn Hode,
To that knyght so fre:
What ned dryueth the to gren wode?
I praye the, syr knyght, tell me.
117A.266 ‘And welcome be thou, ge[n]tyll knyght,
Why hast thou be so longe?’
‘For the abbot and the hy iustyce
Wolde haue had my londe.’
117A.267 ‘Hast thou thy londe [a]gayne?’ sayd Robyn;
‘Treuth than tell thou me:’
‘Ye, for God,’ sayd the knyght,
‘And that thanke I God and the.
117A.268 ‘But take not a grefe,’ sayd the knyght, ’That I haue be so longe;
I came by a wrastelynge,
And there I holpe a por yeman,
With wronge was put behynde.’
117A.269 ‘Nay, for God,’ sayd Robyn,
‘Syr knyght, that thanke I the;
What man that helpeth a good yeman,
His frende than wyll I be.’
117A.270 ‘Haue here foure hondred pounde,’ than sayd the knyght,
‘The whiche ye lent to me;
And here is also twenty marke
For your curteysy.’
117A.271 ‘Nay, for God,’ than sayd Robyn,
‘Thou broke it well for ay;
For Our Lady, by her [hy ] selerer,
Hath sent to me my pay.
117A.272 ‘And yf I toke it i-twyse,
A shame it were to me;
But trewely, gentyll knyght,
Welcom arte thou to me.’
117A.273 Whan Robyn had tolde his tale,
He leugh and had good chere:
‘By my trouthe,’ then sayd the knyght,
‘Your money is redy here.’
117A.274 ‘Broke it well,’ sayd Robyn,
‘Thou gentyll knyght so fre;
And welcome be thou, ge[n]tyll knyght,
Under my trystell-tre.
117A.275 ‘But what shall these bow s do?’ sayd Robyn,
‘And these arow s ifedred fre?’
‘By God,’ than sayd the knyght,
‘A por present to the.’
117A.276 ‘Come now forth, Lytell Johan,
And go to my treasur ,
And brynge me there foure hondred pounde;
The monke ouer-tolde it me.
117A.277 ‘Haue here foure hondred pounde,
Thou gentyll knyght and trewe,
And bye hors and harnes good,
And gylte thy spores all newe.
117A.278 ‘And yf thou fayle ony spendynge,
Com to Robyn Hode,
And by my trouth thou shalt none fayle,
The whyles I haue any good.
117A.279 ‘And broke well thy foure hondred pound,
Whiche I lent to the,
And make thy selfe no more so bare,
By the counsell of me.’
117A.280 Thus than holpe hym good Robyn,
The knyght all of his care:
God, that syt in heuen hye,
Graunte vs well to fare!
117A.281 Now hath the knyght his leue i-take,
And wente hym on his way;
Robyn Hode and his mery men
Dwelled styll full many a day.
117A.282 Lyth and lysten, gentil men,
And herken what I shall say,
How the proud[ ] sheryfe of Notyngham
Dyde crye a full fayre play;
117A.283 That all the best archers of the north
Sholde come vpon a day,
And [he] that shoteth allther best
The game shall bere a way.
117A.284 He that shoteth allther best,
Furthest fayre and lowe,
At a payre of fynly buttes,
Under the gren -wode shawe,
117A.285 A ryght good arowe he shall haue,
The shaft of syluer whyte,
The hede and the feders of ryche red golde,
In Englond is none lyke.
117A.286 This than herde good Robyn,
Under his trystell-tre:
‘Make you redy, ye wyght yonge men;
That shotynge wyll I se.
117A.287 ‘Buske you, my mery yonge men,
Ye shall go with me;
And I wyll wete the shryu s fayth,
Trewe and yf he be.’
117A.288 Whan they had theyr bowes i-bent,
Theyr takles fedred fre,
Seuen score of wyght yonge men
Stode by Robyns kne.
117A.289 Whan they cam to Notyngham,
The buttes were fayre and longe;
Many was the bolde archere
That shoted with bow s stronge.
117A.290 ‘There shall but syx shote with me;
The other shal kepe my he[ue]de,
And stand with good bow s bent,
That I be not desceyued.’
117A.291 The fourth outlawe his bowe gan bende,
And that was Robyn Hode,
And that behelde the proud[ ] sheryfe,
All by the but [as] he stode.
117A.292 Thry s Robyn shot about,
And alway he slist the wand,
And so dyde good Gylberte
Wyth the whyt hande.
117A.293 Lytell Johan and good Scatheloke
Were archers good and fre;
Lytell Much and good Reynolde,
The worste wolde they not be.
117A.294 Whan they had shot aboute,
These archours fayre and good,
Euermore was the best,
For soth, Robyn Hode.
117A.295 Hym was delyuered the good arowe,
For best worthy was he;
He toke the yeft so curteysly,
To gren wode wolde he.
117A.296 They cryed out on Robyn Hode,
And grete horn s gan they blowe:
‘Wo worth the, treason!’ sayd Robyn,
‘Full euyl thou art to knowe.
117A.297 ‘And wo be thou! thou proud sheryf,
Thus gladdynge thy gest;
Other wyse thou behot me
In yonder wylde forest.
117A.298 ‘But had I the in gren wode,
Under my trystell-tre,
Thou sholdest leue me a better wedde
Than thy trewe lewt .’
117A.299 Full many a bow there was bent,
And arow s let they glyde;
Many a kyrtell there was rent,
And hurt many a syde.
117A.300 The outlawes shot was so stronge
That no man myght them dryue,
And the proud[ ] sheryf s men,
They fled away full blyue.
117A.301 Robyn sawe the busshement to-broke,
In gren wode he wolde haue be;
Many an arowe there was shot
Amonge that company.
117A.302 Lytell Johan was hurte full sore,
With an arowe in his kne,
That he myght neyther go nor ryde;
It was full grete pyt .
117A.303 ‘Mayster,’ then sayd Lytell Johan,
‘If euer thou loue[d]st me,
And for that ylk lord s loue
That dyed vpon a tre,
117A.304 ‘And for the medes of my seruyce,
That I haue serued the,
Lete neuer the proud sheryf
Alyue now fynd me.
117A.305 ‘But take out thy brown swerde,
And smyte all of my hede,
And gyue me wound s depe and wyde;
No lyfe on me be lefte.’
117A.306 ‘I wolde not that,’ sayd Robyn,
‘Johan, that thou were slawe,
For all the golde in mery Englonde,
Though it lay now on a rawe.’
117A.307 ‘God forbede,’ sayd Lytell Much,
‘That dyed on a tre,
That thou sholdest, Lytell Johan,
Parte our company.’
117A.308 Up he toke hym on his backe,
And bare hym well a myle;
Many a tyme he layd hym downe,
And shot another whyle.
117A.309 n was there a fayre castell,
A lytell within the wode;
Double-dyched it was about,
And walled, by the rode.
117A.310 And there dwelled that gentyll knyght,
Syr Rychard at the Lee,
That Robyn had lent his good,
Under the gren -wode tree.
117A.311 In he toke good Robyn,
And all his company:
‘Welcome be thou, Robyn Hode,
Welcome arte thou to me;
117A.312 ‘And moche [I] thanke the of thy confort,
And of thy curteysye,
And of thy gret kynd nesse,
Under the gren -wode tre.
117A.313 ‘I loue no man in all this worlde
So much as I do the;
For all the proud[ ] sheryf of Notyngham,
Ryght here shalt thou be.
117A.314 ‘Shyt the gates, and drawe the brydge,
And let no man come in,
And arme you well, and make you redy,
And to the walles ye wynne.
117A.315 ‘For one thynge, Robyn, I the behote;
Iswere by Saynt Quyntyne,
These forty dayes thou wonnest with me,
To soupe, ete, and dyne.’
117A.316 Bordes were layde, and clothes were spredde,
Redely and anone;
Robyn Hode and his mery men
To met can they gone.
117A.317 Lythe and lysten, gentylmen,
And herkyn to your songe;
Howe the proud shyref of Notyngham,
And men of armys stronge,
117A.318 Full fast cam to the hy shyref,
The contr vp to route,
And they besette the knyght s castell,
The wall s all aboute.
117A.319 The proud shyref loude gan crye,
And sayde, Thou traytour knight,
Thou kepest here the kynges enemys,
Agaynst the lawe and right.
117A.320 ‘Syr, I wyll auowe that I haue done,
The dedys that here be dyght,
Vpon all the land s that I haue,
As I am a trew knyght.
117A.321 ‘Wende furth, sirs, on your way,
And do no more to me
Tyll ye wyt oure kyng s wille,
What he wyll say to the.’
117A.322 The shyref thus had his answere,
Without any lesynge;
[Fu]rth he yede to London towne,
All for to tel our kinge.
117A.323 Ther he telde him of that knight,
And eke of Robyn Hode,
And also of the bolde archars,
That were soo noble and gode.
117A.324 ‘He wyll auowe that he hath done,
To mayntene the outlawes stronge;
He wyll be lorde, and set you at nought,
In all the northe londe.’
117A.325 ‘I wil be at Notyngham,’ saide our kynge,
‘Within this fourteenyght,
And take I wyll Robyn Hode,
And so I wyll that knight.
117A.326 ‘Go nowe home, shyref,’ sayde our kynge,
‘And do as I byd the;
And ordeyn gode archers ynowe,
Of all the wyd contr .’
117A.327 The shyref had his leue i-take,
And went hym on his way,
And Robyn Hode to gren wode,
Vpon a certen day.
117A.328 And Lytel John was hole of the arowe
That shot was in his kne,
And dyd hym streyght to Robyn Hode,
Vnder the grene-wod tree.
117A.329 Robyn Hode walked in the forest,
Vnder the leuys grene;
The proud shyref of Notyngham
Thereof he had grete tene.
117A.330 The shyref there fayled of Robyn Hode,
He myght not haue his pray;
Than he awayted this gentyll knyght,
Bothe by nyght and day.
117A.331 Euer he wayted the gentyll knyght,
Syr Richarde at the Lee,
As he went on haukynge by the ryuer-syde,
And let [his] hauk s flee.
117A.332 Toke he there this gentyll knight,
With men of armys stronge,
And led hym to Notyngham warde,
Bounde bothe fote and hande.
117A.333 The sheref sware a full grete othe,
Bi hym that dyed on rode,
He had leuer than an hundred pound
That he had Robyn Hode.
117A.334 This harde the knyght s wyfe,
A fayr lady and a free;
She set hir on a gode palfrey,
To gre’Ne wode anone rode she.
117A.335 Whanne she cam in the forest,
Vnder the gren -wode tree,
Fonde she there Robyn Hode,
And al his fayre men .
117A.336 ‘God the sau , god Robyn,
And all thy company;
For Our der Ladyes sake,
A bon graunte thou me.
117A.337 ‘Late neuer my wedded lorde
Shamefully slayne be;
He is fast bowne to Notingham warde,
For the loue of the.’
117A.338 Anone than saide goode Robyn
To that lady so fre,
What man hath your lorde [i-]take?
. . . . . .
117A.339 . . . . . .
‘For soth as I the say;
He is nat yet thre myl s
Passed on his way.’
117A.340 Vp than sterte gode Robyn,
As man that had ben wode:
‘Buske you, my mery men,
For hym that dyed on rode.
117A.341 ‘And he that this sorowe forsaketh,
By hym that dyed on tre,
Shall he neuer in gren wode
No lenger dwel with me.’
117A.342 Sone there were gode bow s bent,
Mo than seuen score;
Hedge ne dyche spared they none
That was them before.
117A.343 ‘I make myn auowe to God,’ sayde Robyn,
‘The sherif wolde I fayne see;
And if I may hym take,
I-quyte shall it be.’
117A.344 And whan they came to Notingham,
They walked in the strete;
And with the proud sherif i-wys
Son can they mete.
117A.345 ‘Abyde, thou proud sherif,’ he sayde,
‘Abyde, and speke with me;
Of some tidinges of oure kinge
I wolde fayne here of the.
117A.346 ‘This seuen yere, by dere worthy God,
Ne yede I this fast on fote;
I make myn auowe to God, thou proud sherif,
It is nat for thy gode.’
117A.347 Robyn bent a full goode bowe,
An arrowe he drowe at wyll;
He hit so the proud sherife
Vpon the grounde he lay full still.
117A.348 And or he myght vp aryse,
On his fete to stonde,
He smote of the sherifs hede
With his bright[ ] bronde.
117A.349 ‘Lye thou there, thou proud sherife,
Euyll mote thou cheue!
There myght no man to the truste
The whyles thou were a lyue.’
117A.350 His men drewe out theyr bryght swerdes,
That were so sharpe and kene,
And layde on the sheryues men,
And dryued them downe bydene.
117A.351 Robyn stert to that knyght,
And cut a two his bonde,
And toke hym in his hand a bowe,
And bad hym by hym stonde.
117A.352 ‘Leue thy hors the behynde,
And lerne for to renne;
Thou shalt with me to gren wode,
Through myr , mosse, and fenne.
117A.353 ‘Thou shalt with me to gren wode,
Without ony leasynge,
Tyll that I haue gete vs grace
Of Edwarde, our comly kynge.’
117A.354 The kynge came to Notynghame,
With knyght s in grete araye,
For to take that gentyll knyght
And Robyn Hode, and yf he may.
117A.355 He asked men of that countr
After Robyn Hode,
And after that gentyll knyght,
That was so bolde and stout.
117A.356 Whan they had tolde hym the case
Our kynge vnderstode ther tale,
And seased in his honde
The knyght s lond s all.
117A.357 All the passe of Lancasshyre
He went both ferre and nere,
Tyll he came to Plomton Parke;
He faylyd many of his dere.
117A.358 There our kynge was wont to se
Herd s many one,
He coud vnneth fynde one dere,
That bare ony good horne.
117A.359 The kynge was wonder wroth withall,
And swore by the Trynyt ,
‘I wolde I had Robyn Hode,
With eyen I myght hym se.
117A.360 ‘And he that wolde smyte of the knyght s hede,
And brynge it to me,
He shall haue the knyght s londes,
Syr Rycharde at the Le.
117A.361 ‘I gyue it hym with my charter,
And sele it [with] my honde,
To haue and holde for euer more,
In all mery Englonde.’
117A.362 Than bespake a fayre olde knyght,
That was treue in his fay:
A, my leeg lorde the kynge,
One worde I shall you say.
117A.363 There is no man in this countr
May haue the knyght s londes,
Whyle Robyn Hode may ryde of gone,
And bere a bowe in his hondes,
117A.364 That he ne shall lese his hede,
That is the best ball in his hode:
Giue it no man, my lorde the kynge,
That ye wyll any good.
117A.365 Half a yere dwelled our comly kynge
In Notyngham, and well more;
Coude he not here of Robyn Hode,
In what countr that he were.
117A.366 But alway went good Robyn
By halke and eke by hyll,
And alway slewe the kyng s dere,
And welt them at his wyll.
117A.367 Than bespake a proude fostere,
That stode by our kyng s kne;
Yf ye wyll se good Robyn,
Ye must do after me.
117A.368 Take fyue of the best knyght s
That be in your lede,
And walke downe by yon abbay,
And gete you monk s wede.
117A.369 And I wyll be your led s-man,
And lede you the way,
And or ye come to Notyngham,
Myn hede then dare I lay,
117A.370 That ye shall mete with good Robyn,
On lyue yf that he be;
Or ye come to Notyngham,
With eyen ye shall hym se.
117A.371 Full hast[ ]ly our kynge was dyght,
So were his knyght s fyue,
Euerych of them in monk s wede,
And hasted them thyder blyve.
117A.372 Our kynge was grete aboue his cole,
A brode hat on his crowne,
Ryght as he were abbot-lyke,
They rode up in-to the towne.
117A.373 Styf bot s our kynge had on,
Forsoth as I you say;
He rode syngynge to gren wode,
The couent was clothed in graye.
117A.374 His male-hors and his gret somers
Folowed our kynge behynde,
Tyll they came to gren wode,
A myle vnder the lynde.
117A.375 There they met with good Robyn,
Stondynge on the waye,
And so dyde many a bolde archere,
For soth as I you say.
117A.376 Robyn toke the kyng s hors,
Hast ly in that stede,
And sayd, Syr abbot, by your leue,
A whyle ye must abyde.
117A.377 ‘We be yemen of this foreste,
Vnder the gren -wode tre;
We lyue by our kyng s dere,
[Other shyft haue not wee.]
117A.378 ‘And ye haue chyrches and rent s both,
And gold full grete plent ;
Gyue vs some of your spendynge,
For saynt[ ] charyt .’
117A.379 Than bespake our cumly kynge,
Anone than sayd he;
I brought no more to gren wode
But forty pounde with me.
117A.380 I haue layne at Notyngham
This fourtynyght with our kynge,
And spent I haue full moche good,
On many a grete lordynge.
117A.381 And I haue but forty pounde,
No more than haue I me;
But yf I had an hondred pounde,
I wolde vouch it safe on the.
117A.382 Robyn toke the forty pounde,
And departed it in two partye;
Halfendell he gaue his mery men,
And bad them mery to be.
117A.383 Full curteysly Robyn gan say;
Syr, haue this for your spendyng;
We shall mete another day;
‘Gramercy,’ than sayd our kynge.
117A.384 ‘But well the greteth Edwarde, our kynge,
And sent to the his seale,
And byddeth the com to Notyngham,
Both to mete and mele’
117A.385 He toke out the brod targe,
And sone he lete hym se;
Robyn coud his courteysy,
And set hym on his kne.
117A.386 ‘I loue no man in all the worlde
So well as I do my kynge;
Welcome is my lord s seale;
And, monke, for thy tydynge,
117A.387 ‘Syr abbot, for thy tydynges,
To day thou shalt dyne with me,
For the loue of my kynge,
Under my trystell-tre.’
117A.388 Forth he lad our comly kynge,
Full fayre by the honde;
Many a dere there was slayne,
And full fast dyghtande.
117A.389 Robyn toke a full grete horne,
And loude he gan blowe;
Seuen score of wyght yonge men
Came redy on a rowe.
117A.390 All they kneled on theyr kne,
Full fayre before Robyn:
The kynge sayd hym selfe vntyll,
And swore by Saynt Austyn,
117A.391 ‘Here is a wonder semely syght;
Me thynketh, by Godd s pyne,
His men are more at his byddynge
Then my men be at myn.’
117A.392 Full hast[ ]ly was theyr dyner idyght,
And therto gan they gone;
They serued our kynge with al theyr myght,
Both Robyn and Lytell Johan.
117A.393 Anone before our kynge was set
The fatt venyson,
The good whyte brede, the good rede wyne,
And therto the fyne ale and browne.
117A.394 ‘Make good chere,’ said Robyn,
‘Abbot, for charyt ;
And for this ylk tydynge,
Blyssed mote thou be.
117A.395 ‘Now shalte thou se what lyfe we lede,
Or thou hens wende;
Than thou may enfourme our kynge,
Whan ye togyder lende.’
117A.396 Up they stert all in hast,
Theyr bow s were smartly bent;
Our kynge was neuer so sore agast,
He wende to haue be shente.
117A.397 Two yerd s there were vp set,
Thereto gan they gange;
By fyfty pase, our kynge sayd,
The merk s were to longe.
117A.398 On euery syde a rose-garlonde,
They shot vnder the lyne:
‘Who so fayleth of the rose-garlonde,’ sayd Robyn,
‘His takyll he shall tyne,
117A.399 ‘And yelde it to his mayster,
Be it neuer so fyne;
For no man wyll I spare,
So drynke I ale or wyne:
117A.400 ‘And bere a buffet on his hede,
I-wys ryght all bare:’
And all that fell in Robyns lote,
He smote them wonder sare.
117A.401 Twyse Robyn shot aboute,
And euer he cleued the wande,
And so dyde good Gylberte
With the Whyt Hande.
117A.402 Lytell Johan and good Scathelocke,
For nothynge wolde they spare;
When they fayled of the garlonde,
Robyn smote them full sore.
117A.403 At the last shot that Robyn shot,
For all his frend s fare,
Yet he fayled of the garlonde
Thre fyngers and mare.
117A.404 Than bespake good Gylberte,
And thus he gan say;
‘Mayster,’ he sayd, ’your takyll is lost,
Stande forth and take your pay.’
117A.405 ‘If it be so,’ sayd Robyn,
‘That may no better be,
Syr abbot, I delyuer the myn arowe,
I pray the, syr, serue thou me.’
117A.406 ‘It falleth not for myn ordre,’ sayd our kynge,
‘Robyn, by thy leue,
For to smyte no good yeman,
For doute I sholde hym greue.’
117A.407 ‘Smyte on boldely,’ sayd Robyn,
‘I giue the larg leue:’
Anone our kynge, with that worde,
He folde vp his sleue,
117A.408 And sych a buffet he gaue Robyn,
To grounde he yede full nere:
‘I make myn avowe to God,’ sayd Robyn,
‘Thou arte a stalworthe frere.
117A.409 ‘There is pith in thyn arme,’ sayd Robyn,
‘I trowe thou canst well shete:’
Thus our kynge and Robyn Hode
Togeder gan they mete.
117A.410 Robyn beheld our comly kynge
Wystly in the face,
So dyde Syr Rycharde at the Le,
And kneled downe in that place.
117A.411 And so dyde all the wylde outlawes,
Whan they se them knele:
‘My lorde the kynge of Englonde,
Now I knowe you well.
117A.412 ‘Mercy then, Robyn,’ sayd our kynge,
‘Vnder your trystyll-tre,
Of thy goodnesse and thy grace,
For my men and me!’
117A.413 ‘Yes, for God,’ sayd Robyn,
‘And also God me saue,
I ask mersy, my lorde the kynge,
And for my men I craue.’
117A.414 ‘Yes, for God,’ than sayd our kynge,
‘And therto sent I me,
With that thou leue the gren wode,
And all thy company;
117A.415 ‘And come home, syr, to my courte,
And there dwell with me.’
‘I make myn avowe to God,’ sayd Robyn,
‘And ryght so shall it be.
117A.416 ‘I wyll come to your courte,
Your seruyse for to se,
And brynge with me of my men
Seuen score and thre.
117A.417 ‘But me lyk well your seruyse,
I [wyll] come agayne full soone,
And shote at the donn dere,
As I am wonte to done.’
117A.418 ‘Haste thou ony gren cloth,’ sayd our kynge,
‘That thou wylte sell nowe to me?’
‘Ye, for God,’ sayd Robyn,
‘Thyrty yerd s and thre.’
117A.419 ‘Robyn,’ sayd our kynge,
‘Now pray I the,
Sell me some of that cloth,
To me and my meyn .’
117A.420 ‘Yes, for God,’ then sayd Robyn,
‘Or elles I were a fole;
Another day ye wyll me clothe,
I trowe, ayenst the Yole.’
117A.421 The kynge kest of his col then,
A grene garment he dyde on,
And euery knyght also, i-wys,
Another had full sone.
117A.422 Whan they were clothed in Lyncolne grene,
They keste away theyr graye;
‘Now we shall to Notyngham,’
All thus our kynge gan say.
117A.423 They bente theyr bowes, and forth they went,
Shotynge all in-fere,
Towarde the towne of Notyngham,
Outlawes as they were.
117A.424 Our kynge and Robyn rode togyder,
For soth as I you say,
And they shote plucke-buffet,
As they went by the way.
117A.425 And many a buffet our kynge wan
Of Robyn Hode that day,
And nothynge spared good Robyn
Our kynge in his pay.
117A.426 ‘So God me help ,’ sayd our kynge,
‘Thy game is nought to lere;
I sholde not get a shote of the,
Though I shote all this yere.’
117A.427 All the people of Notyngham
They stode and behelde;
They sawe nothynge but mantels of grene
That couered all the felde.
117A.428 Than euery man to other gan say,
I drede our kynge be slone;
Com Robyn Hode to the towne, i-wys
On lyue he lefte neuer one.’
117A.429 Full hast[ ]ly they began to fle,
Both yemen and knaues,
And olde wyues that myght euyll goo,
They hypped on theyr staues.
117A.430 The kynge l[o]ughe full fast,
And commaunded them agayne;
When they se our comly kynge,
I-wys they were full fayne.
117A.431 They ete and dranke, and made them glad,
And sange with not s hye;
Than bespake our comly kynge
To Syr Rycharde at the Lee.
117A.432 He gaue hym there his londe agayne,
A good man he bad hym be;
Robyn thanked our comly kynge,
And set hym on his kne.
117A.433 Had robyn dwelled in the kyng s courte
But twelue monethes and thre,
That [he had] spent an hondred pounde,
And all his mennes fe.
117A.434 In euery place where Robyn came
Euer more he layde downe,
Both for knyght s and for squyres,
To gete hym grete renowne.
117A.435 By than the yere was all agone
He had no man but twayne,
Lytell Johan and good Scathlocke,
With hym all for to gone.
117A.436 Robyn sawe yonge men shote
Full fayre vpon a day;
‘Alas!’ than sayd good Robyn,
‘My welthe is went away.
117A.437 ‘Somtyme I was an archere good,
A styffe and eke a stronge;
I was compted the best archere
That was in mery Englonde.
117A.438 ‘Alas!’ then sayd good Robyn,
‘Alas and well a woo!
Yf I dwele lenger with the kynge,
Sorowe wyll me sloo.’
117A.439 Forth than went Robyn Hode
Tyll he came to our kynge:
‘My lorde the kynge of Englonde,
Graunte me myn askynge.
117A.440 ‘I made a chapell in Bernysdale,
That semely is to se,
It is of Mary Magdaleyne,
And thereto wolde I be.
117A.441 ‘I myght neuer in this seuen nyght
No tyme to slepe ne wynke,
Nother all these seuen dayes
Nother ete ne drynke.
117A.442 ‘Me longeth sore to Bernysdale,
I may not be therfro;
Barefote and wolwarde I haue hyght
Thyder for to go.’
117A.443 ‘Yf it be so,’ than sayd our kynge,
‘It may no better be,
Seuen nyght I gyue the leue,
No lengre, to dwell fro me.’
117A.444 ‘Gramercy, lorde,’ then sayd Robyn,
And set hym on his kne;
He toke his leu full courteysly.
To gren wode then went he.
117A.445 Whan he came to gren wode,
In a mery mornynge,
There he herde the not s small
Of byrd s mery syngynge.
117A.446 ‘It is ferre gone,’ sayd Robyn,
‘That I was last here;
Me lyste a lytell for to shote
At the donn dere.’
117A.447 Robyn slewe a full grete harte;
His horne than gan he blow,
That all the outlawes of that forest
That horne coud they knowe,
117A.448 And gadred them togyder,
In a lytell throwe.
Seuen score of wyght yonge men
Came redy on a rowe,
117A.449 And fayre dyde of theyr hodes,
And set them on theyr kne:
‘Welcome,’ they sayd, ’our [der ] mayster,
Under this gren -wode tre.
117A.450 Robyn dwelled in gren wode
Twenty yere and two;
For all drede of Edwarde our kynge,
Agayne wolde he not goo.
117A.451 Yet he was begyled, i-wys,
Through a wycked woman,
The pryoresse of Kyrk sly,
That nye was of hys kynne:
117A.452 For the loue of a knyght,
Syr Roger of Donkesly,
That was her own speciall;
Full euyll mot they the!
117A.453 They toke togyder theyr counsell
Robyn Hode for to sle,
And how they myght best do that dede,
His banis for to be.
117A.454 Than bespake good Robyn,
In place where as he stode,
‘To morow I muste to Kyrke[s]ly,
Craftely to be leten blode.’
117A.455 Syr Roger of Donkestere,
By the pryoresse he lay,
And there they betrayed good Robyn Hode,
Through theyr fals playe.
117A.456 Cryst haue mercy on his soule,
That dyed on the rode!
For he was a good outlawe,
And dyde pore men moch god.

MAN OF MANY GUISES

2007-11-07T00:06:00.000Z

119A: Robin Hood and the Monk

119A.1 IN somer, when the shawes be sheyne,
And leves be large and long,
Hit is full mery in feyre foreste
To here the foulys song:
119A.2 To se the dere draw to the dale,
And leve the hilles hee,
And shadow hem in the lev s grene,
Vnder the grene-wode tre.
119A.3 Hit befel on Whitsontide,
Erly in a May mornyng,
The son vp feyre can shyne,
And the briddis mery can syng.
119A.4 ‘This is a mery mornyng,’ seid Litull John,
‘Be hym that dyed on tre;
A more mery man then I am one
Lyves not in Cristiant .
119A.5 ‘Pluk vp thi hert, my dere mayster,’
Litull John can sey,
‘And thynk hit is a full fayre tyme
In a mornyng of May.’
119A.6 ‘Y+Oe, on thyng greves me,’ seid Robyn,
‘And does my hert mych woo;
RRthat I may not no solem day
To mas nor matyns goo.
119A.7 ‘Hit is a fourtnet and more,’ seid he,
‘Syn I my sauyour see;
To day wil I to Notyngham,’ seid Robyn,
‘With the myght of mylde Marye.’
119A.8 Than spake Moche, the mylner sun,
Euer more wel hym betyde!
‘Take twelue of thi wyght y+oemen,
Well weppynd, be thi side.
Such on wolde thi selfe slon,
RRthat twelue dar not abyde.’
119A.9 ‘Of all my mery men,’ seid Robyn,
‘Be my feith I wil non haue,
But Litull John shall beyre my bow,
Til that me list to drawe.’
119A.10 ‘RRthou shall beyre thin own,’ seid Litull Jon,
‘Maister, and I wyl beyre myne,
And we well shete a peny,’ seid Litull Jon,
‘Vnder the grene-wode lyne.’
119A.11 ‘I wil not shete a peny,’ seyd Robyn Hode,
‘In feith, Litull John, with the,
But euer for on as thou shetis,’ seide Robyn,
‘In feith I holde the thre.’
119A.12 Thus shet thei forth, these y+oemen too,
Bothe at buske and brome,
Til Litull John wan of his maister
Fiue shillings to hose and shone.
119A.13 A ferly strife fel them betwene,
As they went bi the wey;
Litull John seid he had won fiue shillings,
And Robyn Hode seid schortly nay.
119A.14 With that Robyn Hode lyed Litul Jon,
And smote hym with his hande;
Litul Jon waxed wroth therwith,
And pulled out his bright bronde.
119A.15 ‘Were thou not my maister,’ seid Litull John,
‘RRthou shuldis by hit ful sore;
Get the a man wher thou w[ilt],
For thou getis me no more.’
119A.16 THen Robyn goes to Notyngham,
Hym selfe mornyng allone,
And Litull John to mery Scherwode,
The pathes he knew ilkone.
119A.17 Whan Robyn came to Notyngham,
Sertenly withouten layn,
He prayed to God and myld Mary
To bryng hym out saue agayn.
119A.18 He gos in to Seynt Mary chirch,
And kneled down before the rode;
Alle that euer were the church within
Beheld wel Robyn Hode.
119A.19 Beside hym stod a gret-hedid munke,
I pray to God woo he be!
Fful sone he knew gode Robyn,
As sone as he hym se.
119A.20 Out at the durre he ran,
Fful sone and anon;
Alle the y+oatis of Notyngham
He made to be sparred euerychon.
119A.21 ‘Rise vp,’ he seid, ’thou prowde schereff,
Buske the and make the bowne;
I haue spyed the kynggis felon,
Ffor sothe he is in this town.
119A.22 ‘I haue spyed the false felon,
As he stondis at his masse;
Hit is long of the,’ seide the munke,
‘And euer he fro vs passe.
119A.23 ‘RRthis traytur name is Robyn Hode,
Vnder the grene-wode lynde;
He robbyt me onys of a hundred pound,
Hit shalle neuer out of my mynde.’
119A.24 Vp then rose this prowde shereff,
And radly made hym y+oare;
Many was the moder son
To the kyrk with hym can fare.
119A.25 In at the durres thei throly thrast,
With staves ful gode wone;
‘Alas, alas!’ seid Robyn Hode,
‘Now mysse I Litull John.’
119A.26 But Robyn toke out a too-hond sworde,
RRthat hangit down be his kne;
RRther as the schereff and his men stode thyckust,
Thedurwarde wolde he.
119A.27 Thryes thorowout them he ran then,
For sothe as I yow sey,
And woundyt mony a moder son,
And twelue he slew that day.
119A.28 His sworde vpon the schireff hed
Sertanly he brake in too;
‘THe smyth that the made,’ seid Robyn,
‘I pray to God wyrke hym woo!
119A.29 ‘Ffor now am I weppynlesse,’ seid Robyn,
‘Alasse! agayn my wylle;
But if I may fle these traytors fro,
I wot thei wil me kyll.’
119A.30 Robyn in to the church ran,
Throout hem euerilkon,
* * * * *
119A.31 Sum fel in swonyng as thei were dede,
And lay stil as any stone;
Non of theym were in her mynde
But only Litull Jon9
119A.32 ‘Let be your rule,’ seid Litull Jon,
‘Ffor his luf that dyed on tre,
Y+Oe that shulde be duy+oty men;
Het is gret shame to se.
119A.33 ‘Oure maister has bene hard bystode
And y+oet scapyd away;
Pluk vp your hertis, and leve this mone,
And harkyn what I shal say.
119A.34 ‘He has seruyd Oure Lady many a day,
And y+oet wil, securly;
RRtherfor I trust in hir specialy
No wyckud deth shal he dye.
119A.35 ‘RRtherfor be glad,’ seid Litul John,
‘And let this mournyng be;
And I shal be the munkis gyde,
With the myght of mylde Mary.
119A.36 . . . .
‘We will go but we too;
And I mete hym,’ seid Litul John,
. . .
119A.37 ‘Loke that y+oe kepe wel owre tristil-tre,
Vnder the levys smale,
And spare non of this venyson,
RRthat gose in thys vale.’
119A.38 Fforthe then went these y+oemen too,
Litul John and Moche on fere,
And lokid on Moch emys hows,
THe hye way lay full nere.
119A.39 Litul John stode at a wyndow in the mornyng,
And lokid forth at a stage;
He was war wher the munke came ridyng,
And with hym a litul page.
119A.40 ‘Be my feith,’ seid Litul John to Moch,
‘I can the tel tithyngus gode;
I se wher the munke cumys rydyng,
I know hym be his wyde hode.’
119A.41 They went in to the way, these y+oemen bothe,
As curtes men and hende;
THei spyrred tithyngus at the munke,
As they hade bene his frende.
119A.42 ‘Ffro whens come y+oe?’ seid Litull Jon,
‘Tel vs tithyngus, I yow pray,
Off a false owtlay, [callid Robyn Hode,]
Was takyn y+oisterday.
119A.43 ‘He robbyt me and my felowes bothe
Of twenti marke in serten;
If that false owtlay be takyn,
Ffor sothe we wolde be fayn.’
119A.44 ‘So did he me,’ seid the munke,
‘Of a hundred pound and more;
I layde furst hande hym apon,
Y+Oe may thonke me therfore.’
119A.45 ‘I pray God thanke you,’ seid Litull John,
‘And we wil when we may;
We wil go with you, with your leve,
And bryng yow on your way.
119A.46 ‘Ffor Robyn Hode hase many a wilde felow,
I tell you in certen;
If thei wist y+oe rode this way,
In feith y+oe shulde be slayn.’
119A.47 As thei went talking be the way,
The munke and Litull John,
John toke the munkis horse be the hede,
Fful sone and anon.
119A.48 Johne toke the munkis horse be the hed,
Ffor sothe as I yow say;
So did Much the litull page,
Ffor he shulde not scape away.
119A.49 Be the golett of the hode
John pulled the munke down;
John was nothyng of hym agast,
He lete hym falle on his crown.
119A.50 Litull John was so[re] agrevyd,
And drew owt his swerde in hye;
This munke saw he shulde be ded,
Lowd mercy can he crye.
119A.51 ‘He was my maister,’ seid Litull John,
‘RRthat thou hase browy+ot in bale;
Shalle thou neuer cum at our kyng,
Ffor to telle hym tale.’
119A.52 John smote of the munkis hed,
No longer wolde he dwell;
So did Moch the litull page,
Ffor ferd lest he wolde tell.
119A.53 RRther thei beryed hem bothe,
In nouther mosse nor lyng,
And Litull John and Much infere
Bare the letturs to oure kyng.
119A.54 . . . .
He knelid down vpon his kne:
‘God y+oow saue, my lege lorde,
Ihesus yow saue and se!
119A.55 ‘God yow saue, my lege kyng!’
To speke John was full bolde;
He gaf hym the letturs in his hond,
The kyng did hit vnfold.
119A.56 THe kyng red the letturs anon,
And seid, So mot I the,
RRther was neuer y+ooman in mery Inglond
I longut so sore to se.
119A.57 ‘Wher is the munke that these shuld haue brouy+ot?’
Oure kyng can say:
‘Be my trouth,’ seid Litull John,
‘He dyed after the way.’
119A.58 THe kyng gaf Moch and Litul Jon
Twenti pound in sertan,
And made theim y+oemen of the crown,
And bade theim go agayn.
119A.59 He gaf John the seel in hand,
The sheref for to bere,
To bryng Robyn hym to,
And no man do hym dere.
119A.60 n toke his leve at oure kyng,
THe sothe as I yow say;
THe next way to Notyngham
To take, he y+oede the way.
119A.61 Whan John came to Notyngham
The y+oatis were sparred ychon;
John callid vp the porter,
He answerid sone anon.
119A.62 ‘What is the cause,’ seid Litul Jon,
‘RRthou sparris the y+oates so fast?’
‘Because of Robyn Hode,’ seid [the] porter,
‘In depe prison is cast.
119A.63 ‘John and Moch and Wyll Scathlok,
Ffor sothe as I yow say,
THei slew oure men vpon our wallis,
And sawten vs euery day.’
119A.64 Litull John spyrred after the schereff,
And sone he hym fonde;
He oppyned the kyngus priue seell,
And gaf hym in his honde.
119A.65 Whan the scheref saw the kyngus seell,
He did of his hode anon:
‘Wher is the munke that bare the letturs?’
He seid to Litull John.
119A.66 ‘He is so fayn of hym,’ seid Litul John,
‘Ffor sothe as I yow say,
He has made hym abot of Westmynster,
A lorde of that abbay.’
119A.67 The scheref made John gode chere,
And gaf hym wyne of the best;
At nyy+ot thei went to her bedde,
And euery man to his rest.
119A.68 When the scheref was on slepe,
Dronken of wyne and ale,
Litul John and Moch for sothe
Toke the way vnto the jale.
119A.69 Litul John callid vp the jayler,
And bade hym rise anon;
He seyd Robyn Hode had brokyn prison,
And out of hit was gon.
119A.70 The porter rose anon sertan,
As sone as he herd John calle;
Litul John was redy with a swerd,
And bare hym to the walle.
119A.71 ‘Now wil I be porter,’ seid Litul John,
‘And take the keyes in honde:’
He toke the way to Robyn Hode,
And sone he hym vnbonde.
119A.72 He gaf hym a gode swerd in his hond,
His hed [ther]with for to kepe,
And ther as the walle was lowyst
Anon down can thei lepe.
119A.73 Be that the cok began to crow,
The day began to spryng;
The scheref fond the jaylier ded,
The comyn bell made he ryng.
119A.74 He made a crye thoroout al the tow[n],
Wheder he be y+ooman or knave,
RRthat cowthe bryng hym Robyn Hode,
His warison he shuld haue.
119A.75 ‘Ffor I dar neuer,’ said the scheref,
‘Cum before oure kyng;
Ffor if I do, I wot serten
Ffor sothe he wil me heng.’
119A.76 The scheref made to seke Notyngham,
Bothe be strete and stye,
And Robyn was in mery Scherwode,
As liy+ot as lef on lynde.
119A.77 Then bespake gode Litull John,
To Robyn Hode can he say,
I haue done the a gode turne for an euyll,
Quyte the whan thou may.
119A.78 ‘I haue done the a gode turne,’ seid Litull John,
‘Ffor sothe as I yow say;
I haue brouy+ot the vnder grene-wode lyne;
Ffare wel, and haue gode day.’
119A.79 ‘Nay, be my trouth,’ seid Robyn Hode,
‘So shall hit neuer be;
I make the maister,’ seid Robyn Hode,
‘Off alle my men and me.’
119A.80 ‘Nay, be my trouth,’ seid Litull John,
‘So shalle hit neuer be;
But lat me be a felow,’ seid Litull John,
‘No noder kepe I be.’
119A.81 Thus John gate Robyn Hod out of prison,
Sertan withoutyn layn;
Whan his men saw hym hol and sounde,
Ffor sothe they were full fayne.
119A.82 They filled in wyne, and made hem glad,
Vnder the levys smale,
And y+oete pastes of venyson,
THat gode was with ale.
119A.83 Than worde came to oure kyng
How Robyn Hode was gon,
And how the scheref of Notyngham
Durst neuer loke hym vpon.
119A.84 Then bespake oure cumly kyng,
In an angur hye:
Litull John hase begyled the schereff,
In faith so hase he me.
119A.85 Litul John has begyled vs bothe,
And that full wel I se;
Or ellis the schereff of Notyngham
Hye hongut shulde he be.
119A.86 ‘I made hem y+oemen of the crowne,
And gaf hem fee with my hond;
I gaf hem grith,’ seid oure kyng,
‘Thorowout all mery Inglond.
119A.87 ‘I gaf theym grith,’ then seid oure kyng;
‘I say, so mot I the,
Ffor sothe soch a y+oeman as he is on
In all Inglond ar not thre.
119A.88 ‘He is trew to his maister,’ seid our kyng;
‘I sey, be swete Seynt John,
He louys better Robyn Hode
Then he dose vs ychon.
119A.89 ‘Robyn Hode is euer bond to hym,
Bothe in strete and stalle;
Speke no more of the mater,’ seid oure kyng,
‘But John has begyled vs alle.’
119A.90 Thus endys the talkyng of the munke
And Robyn Hode i-wysse;
God, that is euer a crowned kyng,
Bryng vs all to his blisse!

guy de gisbourne (revisited)

2007-11-07T00:03:00.000Z

118A: Robin Hood and Guy of Gisborne

118A.1 WHEN shawes beene sheene, and shradds full fayre,
And leeues both large and longe,
Itt is merrry, walking in the fayre forrest,
To heare the small birds songe.
118A.2 The woodweele sang, and wold not cease,
Amongst the leaues a lyne:
And it is by two wight yeomen,
By deare God, that I meane.
* * * * *
118A.3 ‘Me thought they did mee beate and binde,
And tooke my bow mee froe;
If I bee Robin a-liue in this lande,
I’le be wrocken on both them towe.’
118A.4 ‘Sweauens are swift, master,’ quoth Iohn,
‘As the wind that blowes ore a hill;
Ffor if itt be neuer soe lowde this night,
To-morrow it may be still.’
118A.5 ‘Buske yee, bowne yee, my merry men all,
Ffor Iohn shall goe with mee;
For I’le goe seeke yond wight yeomen
In greenwood where the bee.’
118A.6 Th cast on their gowne of greene,
A shooting gone are they,
Vntill they came to the merry greenwood,
Where they had gladdest bee;
There were the ware of [a] wight yeoman,
His body leaned to a tree.
118A.7 A sword and a dagger he wore by his side,
Had beene many a mans bane,
And he was cladd in his capull-hyde,
Topp, and tayle, and mayne.
118A.8 ‘Stand you still, master,’ quoth Litle Iohn,
‘Vnder this trusty tree,
And I will goe to yond wight yeoman,
To know his meaning trulye.’
118A.9 ‘A Iohn, by me thou setts noe store,
And that’s a farley thinge;
How offt send I my men beffore,
And tarry my-selfe behinde?
118A.10 ‘It is noe cunning a knaue to ken,
And a man but heare him speake;
And itt were not for bursting of my bowe,
Iohn, I wolde thy head breake.’
118A.11 But often words they breeden bale,
That parted Robin and Iohn;
Iohn is gone to Barn[e]sdale,
The gates he knowes eche one.
118A.12 And when hee came to Barnesdale,
Great heauinesse there hee hadd;
He found two of his fellowes
Were slaine both in a slade,
118A.13 And Scarlett a foote flyinge was,
Ouer stockes and stone,
For the sheriffe with seuen score men
Fast after him is gone.
118A.14 ‘Yett one shoote I’le shoote,’ sayes Litle Iohn,
‘With Crist his might and mayne;
I’le make yond fellow that flyes so fast
To be both glad and faine.
118A.15 Iohn bent vp a good veiwe bow,
And fetteled him to shoote;
The bow was made of a tender boughe,
And fell downe to his foote.
118A.16 ‘Woe worth thee, wicked wood,’ sayd Litle Iohn,
‘That ere thou grew on a tree!
Ffor this day thou art my bale,
My boote when thou shold bee!’
118A.17 This shoote it was but loosely shott,
The arrowe flew in vaine,
And it mett one of tne sheriffes men;
Good William a Trent was slaine.
118A.18 It had beene better for William a Trent
To hange vpon a gallowe
Then for to lye in the greenwoode,
There slaine with an arrowe.
118A.19 And it is sayd, when men be mett,
Six can doe more then three:
And they haue tane Litle Iohn,
And bound him fast to a tree.
118A.20 ‘Thou shalt be drawen by dale and downe,’ quoth the sheriffe,
‘And hanged hye on a hill:’
‘But thou may fayle,’ quoth Litle Iohn,
‘If itt be Christs owne will.’
118A.21 Let vs leaue talking of Litle Iohn,
For hee is bound fast to a tree,
And talke of Guy and Robin Hood,
In the green woode where they bee.
118A.22 How these two yeomen together they mett,
Vnder the leaues of lyne,
To see what marchandise they made
Euen at that same time.
118A.23 ‘Good morrow, good fellow,’ quoth Sir Guy;
‘Good morrow, good fellow,’ quoth hee;
‘Methinkes by this bow thou beares in thy hand,
A good archer thou seems to bee.’
118A.24 ‘I am wilfull of my way,’ quoth Sir Guye,
‘And of my morning tyde:’
‘I’le lead thee through the wood,’ quoth Robin,
‘Good fellow, I’le be thy guide.’
118A.25 ‘I seeke an outlaw,’ quoth Sir Guye,
‘Men call him Robin Hood;
I had rather meet with him vpon a day
Then forty pound of golde.’
118A.26 ‘If you tow mett, itt wold be seene whether were better
Afore yee did part awaye;
Let vs some other pastime find,
Good fellow, I thee pray.
118A.27 Let vs some other masteryes make,
And wee will walke in the woods euen;
Wee may chance mee[t] with Robin Hoode
Att some vnsett steven.’
118A.28 They cutt them downe the summer shroggs
Which grew both vnder a bryar,
And sett them three score rood on twinn,
To shoote the prickes full neare.
118A.29 ‘Leade on, good fellow,’ sayd Sir Guye,
‘Lead on, I doe bidd thee:’
‘Nay, by my faith,’ quoth Robin Hood,
‘The leader thou shalt bee.’
118A.30 The first good shoot that Robin ledd
Did not shoote an inch the pricke froe;
Guy was an archer good enoughe,
But he cold neere shoote soe.
118A.31 The second shoote Sir Guy shott,
He shott within the garlande;
But Robin Hoode shott it better then hee,
For he cloue the good pricke-wande.
118A.32 ‘Gods blessing on thy heart!’ sayes Guye,
‘Goode fellow, thy shooting is goode;
For an thy hart be as good as thy hands,
Thou were better then Robin Hood.
118A.33 ‘Tell me thy name, good fellow,’ quoth Guy,
RR’rrvnder the leaues of lyne:’
‘Nay, by my faith,’ quoth good Robin,
‘Till thou haue told me thine.’
118A.34 ‘I dwell by dale and downe,’ quoth Guye,
‘And I haue done many a curst turne;
And he that calles me by my right name
Calles me Guye of good Gysborne.’
118A.35 ‘My dwelling is in the wood,’ sayes Robin;
‘By thee I set right nought;
My name is Robin Hood of Barnesdale,
A fellow thou has long sought.’
118A.36 He that had neither beene a kithe nor kin
Might haue seene a full fayre sight,
To see how together these yeomen went,
With blades both browne and bright.
118A.37 To haue seene how these yeomen together foug[ht],
Two howers of a summers day;
Itt was neither Guy nor Robin Hood
That fettled them to flye away.
118A.38 Robin was reacheles on a roote,
And stumbled at that tyde,
And Guy was quicke and nimble with-all,
And hitt him ore the left side.
118A.39 ‘Ah, deere Lady!’ sayd Robin Hoode,
‘Thou art both mother and may!
I thinke it was neuer mans destinye
To dye before his day.’
118A.40 Robin thought on Our Lady deere,
And soone leapt vp againe,
And thus he came with an awkwarde stroke;
Good Sir Guy hee has slayne.
118A.41 He tooke Sir Guys head by the hayre,
And sticked itt on his bowes end;
‘Thou hast beene traytor all thy liffe,
Which thing must haue an ende.’
118A.42 Robin pulled forth an Irish kniffe,
And nicked Sir Guy in the face,
That hee was neuer on a woman borne
Cold tell who Sir Guy was.
118A.43 Saies, Lye there, lye there, good Sir Guye,
And with me be not wrothe;
If thou haue had the worse stroakes at my hand,
Thou shalt haue the better cloathe.
118A.44 Robin did off his gowne of greene,
Sir Guye hee did it throwe;
And hee put on that capull-hyde,
That cladd him topp to toe.
118A.45 ‘The bowe, the arrowes, and litle horne,
And with me now I’le beare;
Ffor now I will goe to Barn[e]sdale,
To see how my men doe fare.’
118A.46 Robin sett Guyes horne to his mouth,
A lowd blast in it he did blow;
That beheard the sheriffe of Nottingham,
As he leaned vnder a lowe.
118A.47 ‘Hearken! hearken!’ sayd the sheriffe,
‘I heard noe tydings but good;
For yonder I heare Sir Guyes horne blowe,
For he hath slaine Robin Hoode.
118A.48 ‘For yonder I heare Sir Guyes horne blow,
Itt blowes soe well in tyde,
For yonder comes that wighty yeoman,
Cladd in his capull-hyde.
118A.49 ‘Come hither, thou good Sir Guy,
Aske of mee what thou wilt haue:’
‘I’le none of thy gold,’ sayes Robin Hood,
‘Nor I’le none of itt haue.
118A.50 ‘But now I haue slaine the master,’ he sayd,
‘Let me goe strike the knaue;
This is all the reward I aske,
Nor noe other will I haue.’
118A.51 ‘Thou art a madman,’ said the shiriffe,
‘Thou sholdest haue had a knights fee;
Seeing thy asking [hath] beene soe badd,
Well granted it shall be.’
118A.52 But Litle Iohn heard his master speake,
Well he knew that was his steuen;
‘Now shall I be loset,’ quoth Litle Iohn,
‘With Christs might in heauen.’
118A.53 Robin hee hyed him towards Litle Iohn,
Hee thought hee wold loose him beliue;
The sheriffe and all his companye
Fast after him did driue.
118A.54 ‘Stand abacke! stand abacke!’ sayd Robin;
‘Why draw you mee soe neere?
Itt was neuer the vse in our countrye
One’s shrift another shold heere.’
118A.55 But Robin pulled forth an Irysh kniffe,
And losed Iohn hand and foote,
And gaue him Sir Guyes bow in his hand,
And bade it be his boote.
118A.56 But Iohn tooke Guyes bow in his hand-+--+-
His arrowes were rawstye by the roote-+--+-;
The sherriffe saw Litle Iohn draw a bow
And fettle him to shoote.
118A.57 Towards his house in Nottingam
He fled full fast away,
And soe did all his companye,
Not one behind did stay.
118A.58 But he cold neither soe fast goe,
Nor away soe fast runn,
But Litle Iohn, with an arrow broade,
Did cleaue his heart in twinn.

the death of bold Robin

2007-11-06T23:47:00.000Z

sacred texts

120A.1 ‘I WILL neuer eate oor drinke,’ Robin Hood said,
‘Nor meate will doo me noe good,
Till I haue beene at merry Churchlees,
My vaines for to let blood.’
120A.2 ‘That I reade not,’ said Will Scarllett,
‘Master, by the assente of me,
Without halfe a hundred of your best bowmen
You take to goe with yee.
120A.3 ‘For there a good yeoman doth abide
Will be sure to quarrell with thee,
And if thou haue need of vs, master,
In faith we will not flee.’
120A.4 ‘And thou be feard, thou William Scarlett,
Att home I read thee bee:’
‘And you be wrothe, my deare master,
You shall neuer heare more of mee.’
* * * * *
120A.5 ‘For there shall noe man with me goe,
Nor man with mee ryde,
And Litle Iohn shall be my man,
And beare my benbow by my side.’
120A.6 ‘You’st beare your bowe, master, your selfe,
And shoote for a peny with mee:’
‘To that I doe assent,’ Robin Hood sayd,
‘And soe, Iohn, lett it bee.’
120A.7 They two bolde children shotten together,
All day theire selfe in ranke,
Vntill they came to blacke water,
And over it laid a planke.
120A.8 Vpon it there kneeled an old woman,
Was banning Robin Hoode;
‘Why dost thou bann Robin Hoode?’ said Robin,
. . . .
* * * * *
120A.9 . . . .
‘To giue to Robin Hoode;
Wee weepen for his deare body,
That this day must be lett bloode.’
120A.10 ‘The dame prior is my aunts daughter,
And nie vnto my kinne;
I know shee wold me noe harme this day,
For all the world to winne.’
120A.11 Forth then shotten these children two,
And they did neuer lin,
Vntill they came to merry Churchlees,
To merry Churchlee[s] with-in.
120A.12 And when they came to merry Churchlees,
They knoced vpon a pin;
Vpp then rose dame prioresse,
And lett good Robin in.
120A.13 Then Robin gaue to dame prioresse
Twenty pound in gold,
And bad her spend while that wold last,
And shee shold haue more when shee wold.
120A.14 And downe then came dame prioresse,
Downe she came in that ilke,
With a pair off blood-irons in her hands,
Were wrapped all in silke.
120A.15 ‘Sett a chaffing-dish to the fyer,’ said dame prioresse,
‘And stripp thou vp thy sleeue:’
I hold him but an vnwise man
That will noe warning leeve.
120A.16 Shee laid the blood-irons to Robin Hoods vaine,
Alacke, the more pitye!
And pearct the vaine, and let out the bloode,
That full red was to see.
120A.17 And first it bled, the thicke, thicke bloode,
And afterwards the thinne,
And well then wist good Robin Hoode
Treason there was within.
120A.18 ‘What cheere my master?’ said Litle Iohn;
‘In faith, Iohn, litle goode;’
. . . .
. . . .
* * * * *
120A.19 ‘I haue upon a gowne of greene,
Is cut short by my knee,
And in my hand a bright browne brand
That will well bite of thee.’
120A.20 But forth then of a shot-windowe
Good Robin Hood he could glide;
Red Roger, with a grounden glaue,
Thrust him through the milke-white side.
120A.21 But Robin was light and nimble of foote,
And thought to abate his pride,
Ffor betwixt his head and his shoulders
He made a wound full wide.
120A.22 Says, Ly there, ly there, Red Roger,
The doggs they must thee eate;
‘For I may haue my houzle,’ he said,
‘For I may both goe and speake.
120A.23 ‘Now giue me mood,’ Robin said to Litle Iohn,
‘Giue me mood with thy hand;
I trust to God in heauen soe hye
My houzle will me bestand.’
120A.24 ‘Now giue me leaue, giue me leaue, master,’ he said,
‘For Christs loue giue leaue to me,
To set a fier within this hall,
And to burne vp all Churchlee.’
120A.25 ‘That I reade not,’ said Robin Hoode then,
‘Litle Iohn, for it may not be;
If I shold doe any widow hurt, at my latter end,
God,’ he said, ’wold blame me;
120A.26 ‘But take me vpon thy backe, Litle Iohn,
And beare me to yonder streete,
And there make me a full fayre graue,
Of grauell and of greete.
120A.27 ‘And sett my bright sword at my head,
Mine arrowes at my feete,
And lay my vew-bow by my side,
My met-yard wi . .

120B: Robin Hood’s Death

120B.1 WHEN Robin Hood and Little John
Down a down a down a down
Went oer yon bank of broom,
Said Robin Hood bold to Little John,
We have shot for many a pound.
Hey, etc.
120B.2 But I am not able to shoot one shot more,
My broad arrows will not flee;
But I have a cousin lives down below,
Please God, she will bleed me.
120B.3 Now Robin he is to fair Kirkly gone,
As fast as he can win;
But before he came there, as we do hear,
He was taken very ill.
120B.4 And when he came to fair Kirkly-hall,
He knockd all at the ring,
But none was so ready as his cousin herself
For to let bold Robin in.
120B.5 ‘Will you please to sit down, cousin Robin,’ she said,
‘And drink some beer with me?’
‘No, I will neither eat nor drink,
Till I am blooded by thee.’
120B.6 ‘Well, I have a room, cousin Robin,’ she said,
‘Which you did never see,
And if you please to walk therein,
You blooded by me shall be.’
120B.7 She took him by the lily-white hand,
And led him to a private room,
And there she blooded bold Robin Hood,
While one drop of blood would run down.
120B.8 She blooded him in a vein of the arm,
And locked him up in the room;
Then did he bleed all the live-long day,
Until the next day at noon.
120B.9 He then bethought him of a casement there,
Thinking for to get down;
But was so weak he could not leap,
He could not get him down.
120B.10 He then bethought him of his bugle-horn,
Which hung low down to his knee;
He set his horn unto his mouth,
And blew out weak blasts three.
120B.11 Then Little John, when hearing him,
As he sat under a tree,
‘I fear my master is now near dead,
He blows so wearily.’
120B.12 Then Little John to fair Kirkly is gone,
As fast as he can dree;
But when he came to Kirkly-hall,
He broke locks two or three:
120B.13 Until he came bold Robin to see,
Then he fell on his knee;
‘A boon, a boon,’ cries Little John,
‘Master, I beg of thee.’
120B.14 ‘What is that boon,’ said Robin Hood,
‘Little John, [thou] begs of me?’
‘It is to burn fair Kirkly-hall,
And all their nonnery.’
120B.15 ‘Now nay, now nay,’ quoth Robin Hood,
‘That boon I’ll not grant thee;
I never hurt woman in all my life,
Nor men in woman’s company.
120B.16 ‘I never hurt fair maid in all my time,
Nor at mine end shall it be;
But give me my bent bow in my hand,
And a broad arrow I’ll let flee;
And where this arrow is taken up,
There shall my grave digged be.
120B.17 ‘Lay me a green sod under my head,
And another at my feet;
And lay my bent bow by my side,
Which was my music sweet;
And make my grave of gravel and green,
Which is most right and meet.
120B.18 ‘Let me have length and breadth enough,
With a green sod under my head;
That they may say, when I am dead
Here lies bold Robin Hood.’
120B.19 These words they readily granted him,
Which did bold Robin please:
And there they buried bold Robin Hood,
Within the fair Kirkleys.

robin hood spiney tube

2007-11-05T21:55:00.000Z

as you can see this site is evolving rapidly , I dont expect it stop growing in the forseeable future , as new resources become available daily this site will gather them
Im working hard on the inner workings , so Im leaving the layout as is until its officially launched on a domain . So please click around besides my ongoing Robin Hood
research theres links to almost anything abounding the place , They may appear random
but they arent .
so much going on around this blog already that its becoming like work .
some of the SEO tools I use are down the page & easy for you to use also
save a lot of time ...

2007-11-05T21:44:00.002Z

everything connects

2007-11-05T21:44:00.001Z

Click to read the latest news

THE PEDIGREE OF BIRTH of ROBERT EARL OF HUNTINGTON

2007-11-04T22:40:00.000Z

This document , may hold some detail to the hard core Robin Hood crew
IT MAY BE FAKE !
is ROBERT (FIXTOOTH) ? HIS BIRTHNAME , is he of NORMAN blood ?
were descendant of a dentist ? so many questions

MURDER MOST FOUL

2007-11-04T22:22:00.000Z

as with all history , its HIS STORY so when was Robin born?

Drawing my own conclusions from the overwhelming experience of large doses
of hallucigenics , & dark necromancy ....
Robins ill fated last journey is written into the geste , we are told
an evil witch curses him (others say it was a portent from a seuthsayer)
history can also suggest , the priory itself was a kind of exclusive brothel ,
where guests may reside , sometimes for months , protected from the
outside world under the power of the church .
Red Roger of Doncaster is in part behind a conspiracy to murder the injured
hero , by most accounts he was at least 45 years old & others say 72
This is as difficult as anything to prove

paranormal activity , apparitions on film

2007-11-04T04:47:00.000Z

I have fresh fuel for the fire , my recent photography has revealed far more than the human eye , played at quater speed all manner of figures can be seen , this would appear most strongly in the area facing NORTH EAST from the grave , certain features regularly reoccur , now you need to remember Im particularly looking for something I cant actually see . Some are really remarkable , others need to be pointed out & a
little imagination . The most profound it scares me to mention , but the footage is
not available for general scrutiny . There are a number of lesser blurry videos which
are feelers for any experienced camera ghosts to start to inspect , rather than to
reveal something inappropriately . Like giving liveleak the first upload of Robin hoods grave video first , then the comments were worse than youtube , much worse
from ignorami doubting everything , but even with clear links to research that mentality chooses to criticize unjustly .

heres a suggestion of what Im getting at...

www.robinhoodsites.....

2007-11-03T01:39:00.000Z

" Robin Hood is a man who, in a barbarous age, and under a complicated tyranny, displayed a spirit of freedom and independence which has endeared him to the common people, whose cause he maintained (for all opposition to tyranny is the cause of the people), and, in spite of the malicious endeavours of pitiful monks, by whom history was consecrated to the crimes and follies of titled ruffians and sainted idiots, to suppress all record of his patriotic exertions and virtuous acts, will render his name immortal."

-Joseph Ritson

माय objectives

2007-10-30T18:52:00.000Z

Before attempting to build the site, I trawled as much Robin Hood online as possible From the literally millions of websites on our hero , only a handful had complete concise & up to date content . Some of the best sites have very poor google optimisation (harder to find) So knowing a little about SEO I figured that it should be reasonably straight forward to build a popular & arguably accurate site . No original content other than text & pictures, made me exploit a very large gap . My Robin Hoods grave videos were born , I expect that by early 2008 this blog will work its way into the first page of google "ROBIN HOOD"
sooner maybe if I can spare the time .
Theres a few absolutely brilliant websites (more of those in the links) that it would be inappropriate for me to try to overtake in popularity & accuracy so I have decided to actively promote all these sites as well .

After 16 years of reading/research , my feelings have become firm on the RH story ,
more than enough evidence exists , to prove to me he definitely lived (& was born lived & died in Yorkshire)
The site of the grave , I fear no longer has the bones of our hero & maybe never did,
(the field 300 yards away perhaps) but it retains the essence of the legend . (I am reasonably sure he was reburied at Hartshead church 1500-1600)
Nevertheless Kirklees park is a truly inspiring place , & when viewed from Google Earth it can clearly be seen as a bow & arrow . The site is thought to have been excavated on 2 or 3 occasions . The history of the site has so many stories its hard to know where to begin , 2000 years ago there was a Roman fort (the remains can still bee seen)its very fair to assume such an encampment would be a target for the native Brigants , Celts & Picts . I dare say that blood was spilled here (around about the time of Jesus Christ?) , or thereabouts .
The Priory enjoyed 600 years of protection from Rome & it was only the dissolution of the church that brought about its destruction , and subsequent rebuilding as Kirklees Hall . There are thought to be thousands of nuns buried broadly accross the area , a number of symbolic markings (runes ?**) bare visible from google earth . & the odd celtic cross (in somebodys back garden)
So thats something else I need to research . Thanks for reading , you will find all manner of historic & hearsay opinion here some borrowed from other sources but much of my own interpretation of said opinion .

So it is possible that some scholars of 13th century history , may disagree with
some of the content herin , that said historians need to be critically selective .
I trust my own intuition on this subject , I hope others may put forward any ideas
& / or criticisms .. but only if you have walked in Robins bold footsteps .

more history

2007-10-24T12:22:00.000+01:00

19th century

some very early prints of Robin Hoods grave

England remembers

2007-10-22T15:27:00.000+01:00

THIRST FOR BLOOD
In the 13th century , life was cheap , murder was a part of life (lol)
in researching a little of the history of our legend , it is apparent
that much blood was shed wherever Robin Hood is mentioned .
For example legend has it that after Robin cuts off the head of
Guy de Gisbourne , he takes his scottish knife & slashes the eyes &
face in some macabre post death punishment . Theres many beheadings
credited to Robin & especially Little John , who as liutenant of
the merry men performed many executions .

PLACE NAMES

LITTLE JOHN'S FARM One mile N.W. of Reading

ROBIN HOOD'S ARBOUR A square prehistoric earthwork near Maidenhead Thicket, already called 'Robin Hood's Bower' in the late seventeenth century; this led Thomas Hearne to suggest that the outlaw frequented the Chiltern Hills.

BUCKINGHAMSHIRE
THE ROBIN HOOD An inn two miles N.W. of Buckingham

CHESHIRE

ROBIN HOOD FIELD Five miles S.W. of Runcorn

A field-name within the parish of Helsby.

CUMBERLAND

ROBIN HOOD BUTTES Farlam, two miles S.E. of Brampton

A field-name near Eskdale Wood, Farnlam. The mention of 'Robin Hood buttes' occurs as early as 1598.

ROBIN HOOD'S CHAIR Ennerdale Water

DERBYSHIRE

LITTLE JOHN'S GRAVE Hathersage churchyard

The supposed grave of Little John, nearly 14 feet long with a relatively modern headstone, lies opposite Hathersage parish church. According to local tradition, Captain John Shuttleworth had the grave opened in 1798 and a thigh-bone of 32 inches in length was discovered. A cottage to the east of the church, now vanished, was believed to be the place where Little John died. These legends appear to have originated by the 1650s.

LITTLE JOHN'S WELL Two and a half miles S.E. of Hathersage

A well near Longshaw Lodge, associated with a Robin Hood's Well (see below) less than half a mile away.

ROBIN HOOD Six miles W. of Chesterfield

A small hamlet immediately N.E. of Chatswood Park. It possibly derives its name from a Robin Hood Inn, which is marked on the 1840 Ordnance Survey Map of the area.

ROBIN HOOD'S CAVE One and a half miles N. of Hathersage

ROBIN HOOD'S CHAIR Hope Dale

'a rude natural rock in Hope Dale is his chair', mentioned by F.J. Child, III, 47.

ROBIN HOOD'S CROFT Four miles N.W. of Hathersage

ROBIN HOOD CROSS Three miles W. of Hathersage

A medieval wayside cross on the moors on mile E. of Bradwell in Hazlebadge parish. The base of the cross still survives; it occurs as 'Robin Crosse' in 1319, and 'The Robin Crosse' in 1640.

ROBIN HOOD INN Six miles S.E. of Hathersage

An inn in Holmesfield parish, possibly derived from the 'Robin Hood' mentioned in an 1820 Enclosure Award.

ROBIN HOOD'S LEAP Chatsworth

A chasm on the Chatworth Estate, mentioned by F.J. Child, III, 47.

ROBIN HOOD'S MOSS Eleven miles N.W. of Sheffield

Moorland overlooking the Derwent Dams in the High Peak.

ROBIN HOOD'S PICKING RODS Two and an half miles S.W. of Glossop

Two stone pillars in a stone socket on Ludworth Moor: in the 1842 Ordnance Survey Map.

ROBIN HOOD'S STOOP One and a half miles S.W. of Hathersage

An old boundary stone on Offerton Moor. Supposedly the place from which Robin Hood shot an arrow into Hathersage churchyard, over 2,000 yards away.

ROBIN HOOD'S STRIDE Three miles S. of Bakewell.

A group of broken gritstone rocks on Hartle Moor; the distance between two of the rocks was supposedly the length of Robin Hood's stride or step. The name appears in an 1819 Enclosure Award.

ROBIN HOOD'S TABLE Six miles N.W. of Chesterfield

Two slabs of gritstone among the moors north of Chatsworth.

ROBIN HOOD'S WELL Two and a half miles S.E. of Hathersage

A well near Longshaw Lodge, not far from Little John's well (see above). The name occurs as early as 1809.

ESSEX

ROBINHOOD END Two miles N.E. of Finchingfield

A small hamlet in the parish of Finchingfield, N. Essex. It appears in an unpublished deed as "Robyne Hoods End' as early as 1699.

ROBIN HOOD END FARM Two and a half miles N.E. of Finchingfield

Half a mile north of Robinhood End, in the parish of Stambourne. It appears as 'Robinhood Farm' in a 1777 map of Essex.

ROBIN HOOD INN One mile W. of Loughton

An inn at a crossroad in Epping Forest.

GLOUCESTERSHIRE

ROBIN'S WOOD HILL One mile S.E. of Gloucester

A hill with a beacon in the parish of Matson, overlooking Gloucester. It appears as 'Robinhoodes Hill' in 1624, 'Robins-wood' in 1777, and Robin-Hood's hill' in 1779. The name may have originally had some connection to the family of Robins, tenants of the manor in the sixteenth century, but later changed to Robin Hood by popular etymology.

HAMPSHIRE

ROBIN HOOD'S BARROW Bournemouth

A tumulus in Talbot Woods to the north of Meyrick Park.

HEREFORDSHIRE

ROBIN HOOD'S BUTTS Three miles E. of Weobley

Two round-topped natural hills.

HERTFORDSHIRE

ROBIN HOOD HOUSE Three miles N. of Berkhamsted

Formerly the village inn, the 'Robin Hood', of Little Gaddesden.

KENT

THE ROBIN HOOD or ROBIN HOOD AND LITTLE JOHN Three miles S. of Rochester

An inn on the edge of Buckmore Park, not far from the Rochester-Maidstone road.

LANCASHIRE

ROBIN HOOD Five miles N.W. of Wigan

A hamlet at a crossroads one mile S. of Wrightington.

ROBIN HOOD'S BED Five miles N.E. of Rochdale

A name applied to whole or part of the prominent ridge of Blackstone Edge in the Pennines.

ROBIN HOOD'S CROSS Seven miles N.W. of Wigan

A cross near the village of Mawdesley, possibly associated with the hamlet of Robin Hood less than two miles away.

ROBIN HOOD'S HOUSE Five miles E. of Burnley

A ruined farm on the edge of Widdop Moor.

LEICESTERSHIRE

LITTLE JOHN Six miles N.W. of Leicester

A small hill in the southern part of Charnwood Forest.

LITTLE JOHN'S STONE Leicester

' Near the Abbey, Leicester, stands an upright ponderous forest stone, which goes by the name of Little John's Stone; but for what reason none can tell' (Thoroton's History of Nottinghamshire, ed. J. Throsby, 1797, II, 170).

LONDON

Only two of the oldest names in Bartholomew's Reference Atlas of Greater London (13th edition, 1968) are recorded here:

ROBIN HOOD LANE London

A street name in Poplar, which appears as 'Robin Hood's Lane' in J. Gascoyne's 1703 Map of the Parish of Stepney.

ROBIN HOOD YARD London

A small lane off Leather Lane immediately N. of Holborn.

ROBIN HOOD NAMES IN THE CITY OF LONDON THAT ARE NOW LOST, listed in H.A. Harben, A Dictionary of London (1918), p 505:

ROBIN HOOD COURT Cordwainer Ward

A court running west out of Bow Lane, but destroyed during the construction of Queen Victoria Street. Recorded as early as 1677, and known as 'Robin Wood's Court' in 1746.

ROBIN HOOD COURT Cripplegate Ward Without

One of two small courts running west out of Milton Street in 1677, it was converted into Haberdashers Square shortly before 1720.

ROBIN HOOD COURT Cheap Ward and Cripplegate Ward Within

A court running east out of Milk Street, and first known by that name in 1810, but earlier recorded as 'Robinson's Court' (1677) and 'Robinhood Alley' (1720-99).

ROBIN HOOD COURT Farringdon Ward Within

A court running west out of Shoe Lane, first recorded in 1677, known as 'Robin-wood's Court' in 1746.

ROBIN HOOD COURT Queenhithe Ward

A court running south of Thames Street, recorded from 1677 to 1799, later destroyed to make Trig Wharf.

NORFOLK

ROBIN FRIEND One mile N. of Sheringham

Flat rocks off the Norfolk coast which may have been associated with the Robin Hood legend.

NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

ROBIN HOOD AND LITTLE JOHN Three miles W. of Peterborough

The names of two stones in Castor Field near Gunwade Ferry, now covered with thorn-bushes. According to Morton, The Natural History of Northamptonshire (1712), p. 551, 'Erroneous tradition has given them out to be Two Draughts of Arrows from Alwalton Church-Yard thither, the one of Robin Hood, and the other of Little John'.

NORTHUMBERLAND

ROBIN HOOD'S BOG One mile E. of Chillingham

A bog in the woods on the eastern edge of Chillingham Park.

ROBIN HOOD'S ROCK Three and a half miles N.of Dunstanburgh

A small rock formed by a whin point five hundred yards off the Northumberland coast. Usually called Robin Wood's Rock, 'Wood' is a common seventeenth or eighteenth-century alternative for 'Hood': J. A. Steers, The Coastline of England and Wales (Cambridge, 1946), p. 454.

NOTTINGHAM

The town most closely associated with Robin Hood from the fifteenth century onwards, with many memorials to him, such as: the modern Maid Marian Way, the frescoes in the cupola of the Council House (1927-9) and the statues on Castle Green sculpted by James Woodford and unveiled in 1949. Of the many Robin Hood place-names in Nottingham, the oldest (all now disused) appear to be:

ROBIN HOOD'S ACRE

Mentioned in 1624-5: Records of the Borough of Nottingham, ed. W. H. Stevenson (5 vols., Nottingham, 1882-1900), IV, 441.

ROBIN HOOD'S CLOSE

A pasture described as 'Robynhode Closse' occurs in the Nottingham civic Chamberlains accounts for 1485,1486 and 1500 (Records of Nottingham, III, 64, 230, 254; cf. P.N.S. Nottinghamshire, p. 294).

ROBIN HOOD'S WELL, alias ST. ANNE'S WELL

A 'Robynhode Well' near Nottingham is mentioned in a presentment at the civic sessions of 20 July 1500, and is presumably identical with the 'Robyn Wood's Well' recorded in 1548 (First Report of Royal Commission on Historical Monuments, 1874, p.105; Records of Nottingham, III, 74; IV, 441). This well was also known as St Anne's Well as early as the sixteenth century, as there are references to a 'Seynt Anne Well' in 1551, and a 'Robyn Hood Well alias Saynt Anne Well' in 1596 (P.N.S. Nottinghamshire, p. 20). Situated at the foot of a hill two miles N.E. of the centre of the town, this well was to become one of the most famous of all places associated with the Robin Hood legend; it was visited by a great number of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century travellers who were shown the outlaw's supposed chair, bow, arrows, cap and slipper: references in Ritson, 1846, p. 32; Gutch, I, 66; and Thoroton's History of Nottinghamshire, ed. J. Throsby (1797), II, 170 (with illustrations).

NOTTINGHAMSHIRE

The following names all appear to be in relatively modern maps and documents:

CLIPSTONE, ARCHWAY LODGE Four miles N.E. of Mansfield

Built in 1842-4 by the fourth Duke of Portland to imitate the gateway of Worksop Priory. It is decorated with statuary of Robin Hood, Little John, Friar Tuck, Maid Marian, Allen a Dale and Richard I (illustrated in Mitchell, Haunts of Robin Hood, p.39; cf. N. Pevsner, The Buildings of England, Nottinghamshire (1951), p. 52).

FOUNTAIN DALE Three miles S.E. of Mansfield

Since the early nineteenth century this wooded area, one of the few areas of Sherwood Forest to survive, has come to be identified with the 'Fountains Dale' which the Curtal Friar of the ballad kept 'Seven long years or more'; however the ballad of Robin Hood and the Curtal Friar seems to confuses the site with that of Fountains Abbey in Yorkshire; in any case, Fountain Dale is apparently not recorded as a place-name until C. and J. Greenwood's 1826 Map of the County of Nottingham (P.N.S. Nottinghamshire, p. 116).

FRIAR TUCK'S WELL Three miles S.E. of Mansfield

A well situated on the east of Fountain Dale.

(PAPPLEWICK) Seven miles N. of Nottingham

Supposedly the church in which Allen a Dale was married with the assistance of Robin Hood. There can be little doubt, that this tradition originates from the appearance of the witch of Papplewick in Ben Jonson's The Sad Shepherd (1641).

ROBIN HOOD'S CAVE Two miles N.of Ollerton

A cave near the river Maun in Walesby parish. The name appears in an Ordnance Survey Map of c.1825 (P.N.S. Nottinghamshire, p. 64).

ROBIN HOOD'S CAVE Four miles S.W. of Mansfield
A cave at the foot of Robin Hood's Hills in Sherwood Forest (see below).

ROBIN HOOD FARM Six miles N. of Nottingham

A farm towards the southern boundary of old Sherwood Forest. It appears as 'Robin Hood's Farm' in C. and J. Greenwood's 1826 Map of the County of Nottingham, and was apparently associated with a 'Robin Hood Bank' of a c. 1840 Tithe Award (P.N.S. Nottinghamshire, p. 78).

ROBIN HOOD'S GRAVE Seven miles N. of Mansfield

Appears to be a cave in Holbeck parish. Appears as 'Robins Grave' in a Tithe Award of c.1840 (P.N.S. Nottinghamshire, p. 84).

ROBIN HOOD HILL Four miles W. of Southwell

A tumulus one mile N. of the village of Oxton. Apparently the 'Robin Hood Pit' which appears in an Ordnance Survey Map of c.1825 (P.N.S. Nottinghamshire, p. 173).

ROBIN HOOD'S HILLS Four miles S.W. of Mansfield

A group of small hills forming a natural amphitheatre in Sherwood Forest, closely associated with a neighbouring Robin Hood's Chair and Cave (see above). The name is recorded in Chapman and Andre's 1775 Map of Nottinghamshire (P.N.S. Nottinghamshire, p. 122).

ROBIN HOOD'S LARDER Three miles W. of Ollerton

A large tree, in a part of Sherwood Forest called Birklands, where Robin Hood was supposed to have hung venison on wooden hooks. This gave the tree its alternative name of 'The Shambles'. Robin Hood's Larder collapsed in the late 1950s. An more famous tree, the Major Oak, lies a mile to the east and has also been associated with the outlaw legend (Mitchell, Haunts of Robin Hood, p. 35).

ROBIN HOOD'S MEADOW Two miles N. of Ollerton

A field-name in the vicinity of Perlethorpe, mentioned in Field, English Field-Names, p. 183.

ROBIN HOOD'S STABLE Seven miles N. of Nottingham

A cave cut into sandstone one mile N. of Papplewick.

ROBIN HOOD'S WELL Seven miles N.W. of Nottingham

A well in High Park Wood to the immediate north of Beauvale Priory and in Greasley parish.

(SHERWOOD FOREST) N. of Nottingham

The most famous of all medieval English forests, extending due north of Nottingham towards Worksop. The name (as Sciryuda) appears as early as 958 (Early Yorkshire Charters, ed. W. Farrer, I, 1914, p.11).

(THORESBY) Three miles N.W. of Ollerton

The mansion was rebuilt in 1864-75, it has a statue of Robin Hood in the forecourt, and also an elaborate wooden fireplace with Victorian carvings of Robin Hood and Little John in the Library.

SHROPSHIRE

ROBIN HOOD'S BUTTS Two miles N.W. of Church Stretton

A group of tumuli on the edge of the Long Mynd.

SOMERSET

ROBIN HOOD'S BUTTS Six miles S. of Taunton

Three long barrows near Otterford and close to the Chard and Wellington road.

ROBIN HOOD'S BUTTS Seven miles S. of Taunton

Another group of five long barrows on Brown Down, a mile S. of those listed above.

SURREY

ROBIN HOOD'S BUTTS Three miles N. of Godalming

Two hills, now known as Budburrow and Rowbury Hills, to the N.E. of the village of Compton. They were called 'Robin Hood's Butts' by Aubrey in 1673 and Coxe c. 1726.

NAMES IN AND NEAR

RICHMOND PARK

The Robin Hood legend's association with Richmond Park may date from the patronage of the outlaw's role by Henry VIII in the early sixteenth-century May Games there. The following selection of names is in probable chronological order.

ROBINHOOD WALK Inside Richmond Park

Occurs as 'Robynhood Walke' in the reign of Henry VIII, and as 'Robyn-hodes walke' in 1548.

ROBINHOOD GATE Into Richmond Park

The S.E. gate into Richmond Park, at the northern end of Kingston Vale. In John Cary, A New Map of Surrey (1785).

ROBINHOOD FARM appears in the vicinity.

ROBIN HOOD Two miles N.E. of Kingston-on-Thames

An ecclesiastical district outside Richmond Park in the parishes of Coombe and North Ham.

ROBIN HOOD WAY Two miles N.E. of Kingston-on-Thames

The name given to the section of the Kingston Bypass immediately W. of Wimbledon Common.

WARWICKSHIRE

ROBINHOODS FARM Ten miles S. of Birmingham

A Farm near Tanworth in the hundred of Kineton (1830 Ordnance Survey Map).

(LOXLEY) Three miles S.E. of Stratford-on-Avon

A village claimed to be the birth-place of Robin Hood by J. R. Planche, A Ramble With Robin Hood. Planche expanded on Stukeley's attempt to make Robin Hood a descendant of the Fitzooths; and associated Robin Hood with Robert Fitzodo, lord of the manor of Loxley in the late twelfth century. There is a Loxley in W. Yorkshire (see below).

WESTMORLAND

ROBIN HOOD Six miles S.W.of Shap

A hill on the Shap Fells, which appears on the 1865 Ordnance Survey Map. It appears as 'Robin Hood's Wood' in the 1859 Ordnance survey Map.

ROBIN HOOD'S GRAVE Two and a half miles S. of Crosby Ravensworth

A cairn on Crosby Ravensworth Fell, in the 1859 Ordnance Survey Map.

ROBIN HOOD ISLAND Three miles S.W. of Kendal

Occurs in a rental of 1836.

ROBIN HOOD'S WOOD Three miles S.W. of Kendal

Occurs, within Helsington chapelry, on the 1857 Ordnance Survey Map.

WILTSHIRE

ROBIN HOOD BALL Twelve miles S. of Marlborough

A Neolithic tumulus at Netheravon in Elstub Hundred, possibly used as a boundary mark. Appears as 'Robin Wood Ball' (sic) in J. Andrews and A. Dury, A Topographical Map of Wiltshire of 1773.

ROBIN HOOD'S BOWER Two miles S. of Warminster

A circular earthwork in Southleigh Wood just S. of Warminster

YORK

ROBIN HOOD TOWER York City Walls

The northern angle tower of the city wall, recorded in 1622 and 1629. The tower was called Bawing Tower in 1370 and Frost Tower in 1485.

YORKSHIRE, NORTH RIDING

ROBIN HOOD One mile N. of Catterick Bridge

A small hamlet along the course of the old Great North Road or Roman Dere Street.

ROBIN HOOD'S BAY Twelve miles N. of Scarborough

A fishing village on the north side of the bay of the same name. One of the oldest and most intriguing of all Robin Hood place-names, in use by at least the early sixteenth century: see 'Robyn Hoodis Baye' in 1544, Letters and Papers of Henry VIII, XIX, i, p. 224; G. Young, History of Whitby, 1817, II, 647. The suggestion that the name was taken from a tumulus called 'Robbed Howe' near the neighbouring village of Sneaton is probably unlikely (V.C.H. Yorkshire, North Riding, II, 534). A place-name associated, but probably long after its formation, with the Robin Hood ballad of The Noble Fisherman. This place was named 'Robin Oed's Bay' in letters of correspondence between the Count of Flanders and King Edward from the years 1324 to 1346. The origins of the name are unknown. (see notes at the top)

ROBIN HOOD'S BUTTS Two miles N. of Danby

Three tumuli on Danby Low Moor and others further north of Gerrick Moor towards Skelton.

ROBIN HOOD'S BUTTS Six miles W. of Barnard Castle

ROBIN HOOD'S BUTTS Two miles S. of Robin Hood's Bay

Three tumuli, about a mile from the sea and 775 feet above sea-level, south of a beacon at Stoupe Brow. They probably derive their name from Robin Hood's Bay which they overlook. See Teesdale's 1828 Map of Yorkshire; Young, History of Whitby, II, 647.

ROBIN HOOD'S HOWL One mile W. of Kirkbymoorside.

Appears to be a hole or hollow on the southern escarpment of the North Yorkshire Moors: Ekwall, Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-Names, 1960 edn., p. 254.

ROBIN HOOD AND LITTLE JOHN INN Castleton

Now probably the most famous of all inns named after Robin Hood. The building itself can be dated to 1671 on the evidence of the inscription on the lintel over the door; but no precise date can be given for the origins of the myth (still prevalent in Castleton) that Robin Hood and Little John met here for the last time.

ROBIN HOOD'S TOWER Richmond Castle

An eleventh-century tower projecting from the curtain wall of Richmond Castle; probably named only after the fifteenth century.

ROBIN HOOD'S WELL Three miles S.W. of Wensley

A well at the source of a hill stream on Melmerby Moor south of Wensleydale.

WHITBY: ROBIN HOOD'S CLOSE AND LITTLE JOHN'S CLOSE

Two adjacent fields immediately W. of Whitby Laithes, recorded as such in a land conveyance of 1713 (Young, History of Whitby, II, 647). They owed their names to two monoliths, one 4' and the other 2½' high, which stood at the side of the two fields, to the north of the lane that leads from Whitby Laithes to Stainsacre. These stones (a 'Robin Hood's Stone' occurs as early as 1540: Cartularium Abbathiae de Whiteby, II, 727) traditionally mark the points at which arrows shot by Robin Hood and Little John from the top of Whitby Abbey reached the ground : see L. Charlton, History of Whitby and Whitby Abbey (York, 1779), pp. 146-7; C. Platt, The Monastic Grange in Medieval England, 1969, p. 244; V.C.H. Yorkshire, North Riding, II, 506.

YORKSHIRE, WEST RIDING

BARNSDALE North of Doncaster (see Barnsdale and Sherwood p. 2)

'the wooddi and famose forest of Barnesdale, wher they say Robyn Hudde lyvid like an owtlaw' (Leland's Itinerary, ed. Toulmin Smith, IV, 13). An area of approximately four to five miles from both north to south and east to west between the river Went and the villages of Skelbrooke and Hampole, six miles north of Doncaster. Places in Barnsdale closely associated with the Robin Hood legend are :

(a)BARNSDALE BAR

The place where the Great North Road forked into two branches, one leading through Pontefract and Wetherby to the extreme north, the other through Sherburn-in-Elmet to York.

(b)BISHOP'S TREE

The site of the tree by the side of the Great North Road where Robin Hood, according to tradition, intercepted the Bishop of Hereford (Child 144).

(c)ROBIN HOOD'S WELL see below

(d)SAYLES PLANTATION
The site of 'the Saylis', S.E. of the modern Wentbridge Viaduct, to which Little John is commanded to 'walke up' by Robin Hood at the beginning of the Gest.

(e) WENTBRIDGE

The village at the bridge over the river Went mentioned in Robin Hood and the Potter.

LITTLE JOHN'S WELL One mile N.W. of Hampole

A stone well beside the Doncaster-Wakefield Road to the west of Barnsdale. It appears as 'Little John's Cave and Well' in an 1838 Tithe Award, and as 'Little John's Well' on the 1840 Ordnance Survey Map (P.N.S. West Yorkshire, II, 44). It is incised with Little John's name (see photograph in Mitchell, Haunts of Robin Hood, p. 4).

LOXLEY Three miles N.W. of Sheffield

This Loxley is mentioned by Joseph Hunter: 'the fairest pretensions to be the Locksley of our ballads, where was born the redoubtable Robin Hood. The remains of a house in which it was pretended he was born were formerly pointed out in a small wood (Bar Wood) . . . and a well near called Robin Hood's Well' ( Hallamshire, London, 1819, p. 3).

ROBIN HOOD Four miles S.E. of Leeds

This village is now skirted by the northern section of the m.i Motorway. It appears on the 1841 Ordnance Survey Map.

ROBIN HOOD'S BOWER AND MOSS Four miles N. of Sheffield

This place-name appears as 'Robin Hood's Bower, Bower Wood' near Ecclesfield in 1637, the exact location appears to be unknown.

ROBIN HOOD'S GRAVE, KIRKLEES Four miles N.E. of Huddersfield (see Barnsdale and Sherwood p. 2).

The most enigmatic of all the places associated with Robin Hood. His supposed grave lies in a secluded part of the Kirklees Estate, 650 yards S.W. of the ruins of the Cistercian nunnery, where according to legend, the outlaw is supposed to have met his death (see Robin Hood's Grave).

ROBIN HOOD'S COTTAGE In the vicinity of above

ROBIN HOOD HILL AND HOUSE One and a half miles S. of Huddersfield

A hill and house at Berry Brow near Almondbury, S. of Huddersfield. The local railway tunnel is called 'Robin Hood Tunnel'.

ROBIN HOOD HILL Two miles N. of Wakefield

A hill immediately W. of the village of Outwood. It appears as 'Robinhoodstreteclose' in an unpublished Wakefield Court Roll of 1650 and as 'Robbin Hood hill' in 1657: Robin Hood House and Robin Hood Bridge are in the vicinity.

ROBIN HOOD'S PARK Four miles S.W. of Ripon

A name presumably applied to part of an estate near Fountains Abbey.

ROBIN HOOD'S PENNY STONE Five miles N.W. of Halifax

A rocking-stone on Midgley Moor in the Pennines, immediately N.W. of Midgley. It appears in J. Watson's History and Antiquities of the parish of Halifax (London, 1775), p. 27.

ROBIN HOOD'S PENNY STONE Two miles W. of Halifax

ROBIN HOOD'S STONE Four miles S.E. of Skipton

A stone near Silsden, S.E. of Skipton. It appears in an 1846 Tithe Award.

ROBIN HOOD'S WELL Six miles N. of Doncaster

On the eastern side of the Great North Road, this well is in the middle of Barnsdale, and historically is probably the most significant of all the Robin Hood place-names. It appears to be on or near the site of a 'stone of Robin Hood' which was recorded in a Monkbretton charter of 1422. It is mentioned as 'Robbinhood-well' by Roger Dodsworth. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, it was one of the most famous halting-places on the Great North Road. The well-house, in the shape of a 'rustic dome' was designed by Vanbrough for the Earl of Carlisle in the early eighteenth century, it survives within a few yards of its original location.(see Dobson and Taylor, pp. 18-19; also Mitchell, Haunts of Robin Hood, pp. 25-6).

ROBIN HOOD'S WELL One and a half miles N. of Threshfield

A well near the road between Threshfield and Kilnsey in Wharfedale.

ROBIN HOOD'S WELL One and half miles N. of Halton Gill

A well high on the Yorkshire Pennines north of Pen-y-ghent.

ROBIN HOOD'S WELL (AND WOOD) Fountains Abbey

This well is associated with Friar Tuck's battle with, and ducking of, Robin Hood (see the ballad of Robin Hood and the Curtal Friar). It appears as 'Robin Hood Wood' in a Vyner land deed of 1734.

ROBIN HOOD WELL Five miles N.W. of Sheffield

A well in Low Hall Wood, N.W. of Ecclesfield. It appears as 'Robin Hood's Well' in 1773.

ROBIN HOOD WELL Two miles W. of Haworth

Near the village of Stanbury in the Pennines.

LEGEND

Will Scarlets grave & other videos

2007-10-17T21:48:00.000+01:00

COINCIDENCES @ YOUTUBE...

heres a peculiar observation , objective , may not find favour with
everybody , after all I walked into land , patrolled by the Armitage estate gamekeepers (who are known to be trigger happy anywhere near the grave)
lol
WHENEVER MY CAMERA POINTS IN THE DIRECTION OF THE GATEHOUSE ,WHEN WITHIN A FEW YARDS
OF THE GRAVE ANYONE IN THE SHOT BECOMES A BLUR ,(but that blur contains more ghostly imagery than I can say , its really intense when video is slowed to a quater speed its really quite odd! after very careful scrutinization of the footage I have ,seen something but I darent say yet .
Its not just me though...professionals from Yorkshire Life had not dissimilar camera abnormalities .

I will ellaborate more very soon , in the meantime ...

robin hoods grave WORLD EXCLUSIVE

Robin Hood Season One on DVD!

haunted ?

2007-10-17T07:03:00.000+01:00

A number of reports cite all manner of paranormal activity around the grave .
I challenge anyone to spend the night alone on Robins grave , without question
there is a magick surrounding this place , many centuries before , the Romans occupied
the immediate vaccinity . The lesser known but remarkable earthworks are some 2000 yrs
old . Given that historic background its understandable that many souls proliferate .

is this Robin Hoods only grave ?

ROBIN HOODS GRAVE VIDEO

2007-10-17T06:28:00.000+01:00

A YOUTUBE NO1!!!!!!!

2007-10-14T13:12:00.000+01:00