Characters
A
Adam Bell
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Adam Bell was a legendary English outlaw.
He and his companions William of Cloudsley and Clym of the Clough lived in Inglewood Forest near Carlisle and were figures similar to Robin Hood. In the prologue of The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood (1883) by Howard Pyle, Little John upon first meeting Robin compared his skill at archery to that of Adam Bell.
They are described in the Child Ballad Adam Bell, Clym of the Cloughe and Wyllyam of Cloudeslee. At one point William of Cloudsley shoots an arrow through an apple on his son's head, a feat also ascribed to William Tell and other heroes. The oldest printed copy of this ballad dates from 1505 and was printed by Wynkyn de Worde. There are notable parallels between this ballad and that of Robin Hood and the Monk, but whether either legend was the source for the other cannot be established.
Adam Bell is presumably the "Adam" mentioned by Shakespeare in Much Ado About Nothing, I,i,257-9:
...hang me in a bottle
like a cat, and shoot at me, and he that hits me, let him be clapp'd on
the shoulder, and call'd Adam.
Adam Bell was played by Bryan Marshall in the Robin of Sherwood episode Adam Bell.
Adam the Leper
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Adam the Leper was the leader of a fourteenth-century robber band, operating in the south west of England in the 1330s and 1340s. Like the north Midlands bandits Eustace Folville and James Cotterel, he and his gang specialised in theft and kidnap. Unlike these contemporaries, he seems to have concentrated mainly on urban centres. His men would apparently enter a town while a fair was in progress and the place would be conveniently filled with 'strangers'. They would commit widespread robbery and abduction before setting fire to houses, and retreating as townsfolk battled the flames. Adam is also distinguished by his particularly brutal treatment of prisoners. His hostages invariably suffered 'horrible mutilation' whether their ransoms were paid or not.
Adam's most audacious crime was staged in 1347, when he and his men seized the port of Bristol, then the third largest town in England. As Carolly Erickson writes, Adam installed himself as the 'robber king' of the town, and made this 'kingdom' into a playground for his men, 'commandeering ships and issuing proclamations while pillaging and murdering with impunity'. This burlesque of royal power was accompanied by a direct attack on the king. Among the ships Adam ransacked were several commissioned by Edward III. One even contained jewellery belonging to Queen Philippa. Edward despatched a group of officers to impose order, headed by Lord Thomas Berkeley. After a protracted battle, Adam was eventually captured. He was tried at Winchester court, but owing to intimidation by his gang, it was ultimately decided that 'the authorities prefer not to pursue the matter'.
Adam appears to have died in the early 1360s.
Angelica
Ruggiero Rescuing Angelica, an illustration for Orlando Furioso by Gustave Doré.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Angelica is a character in the epic poem Orlando innamorato by Matteo Maria Boiardo. She reappears in the saga's continuation, Orlando furioso by Ludovico Ariosto, and in various later works based on the two original Orlando pieces. The narratives are part of the Matter of France, a cycle of legendary history stories based on the adventures of Charlemagne and his paladins.
In Orlando Innamorato, Angelica is introduced as the daughter of the king of Cathay, or India (though Cathay in the Medieval mind was more often China). She comes to Charlemagne's court with her brother Argalia. All the knights are smitten with her, especially the cousins Orlando (Roland) and Rinaldo (Renaud), but the protective Argalia will only allow her to marry a man who can best him in a joust. When Argalia eventually falls to the Saracen knight Ferrau, Orlando and Rinaldo threaten to destroy each other over her. As the Saracens lay siege to Duke Naimon's estate, Charlemagne promises Angelica's hand to whichever cousin fights best for him. The battle is lost, however, and the characters go on to further adventure: Rinaldo and Angelica drink from magic fountains twice, each time leaving one madly in love and the other indifferent, while Orlando loses his wits to his passion.
Boiardo left his epic unfinished, but the action was taken up in Orlando furioso. Angelica is continually sought throughout the world by Orlando, Rinaldo, and the best knights from various countries. She eventually finds herself naked and chained to a rock in the sea, offered as a sacrifice to the monstrous Orc (a situation identical to the perils of Andromeda). She is rescued by the African knight Ruggiero, who gives her a ring of invisibility. Later, pursued by the maddened Orlando, she uses the ring and vanishes. She ultimately falls in love with the African prince Medoro and returns with him to Cathay; the lovesick Orlando requires the aid of his cousin Astolpho to recover his senses.
Astolfo
Gustave Doré’s illustration of Ludovico Ariosto’s “Orlando Furioso”.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Astolfo (also Astolpho) is a fictional character of the Matter of France where he is one of Charlemagne's paladins. He is the son of Otto, the King of England (possibly referring to Charles' contemporary Offa of Mercia), and is a cousin to Orlando and Rinaldo. While Asolfo's name appeared in Old French chansons de geste, his first major appearance was in the anonymous early fourteenth-century Franco-Venetian epic poem La Prise de Pampelune He was subsequently a major character (typically humorous) in Italian Renaissance romance epics, such as Morgante by Luigi Pulci, Orlando Innamorato by Matteo Maria Boiardo and Orlando Furioso by Ludovico Ariosto.
Astolfo in Orlando Furioso
He has a magic lance which can knock his opponents from their horses with the slightest touch. He also has a magic book that contains spells capable of breaking any enchantment and a magic horn whose blast is so loud that it causes all enemies to flee in terror. His horse is named Rabicano. This magical horse is made of hurricane and flame, it feeds on air and it treads so lightly that it doesn't leave footprints in the sand, but when it runs at full speed it can run faster than an arrow.
Astolfo uses his magic horn to capture the giant Caligorante, and then parades the giant from town to town, forcing him to act as his beast of burden. He also defeats Orillo, a robber who could not be killed because he was enchanted to regenerate from any wounds he received. Even severed limbs would reattach themselves. Astolfo loans his golden lance and Rabicano to Bradamante for a short time while he rides the Hippogriff in search of Orlando's lost wits.
Astolfo travels to Ethiopia where he met Senapo (Prester John), the emperor of that land. In a situation obviously inspired by the story of Phineas from Greek mythology, Senapo is blind and plagued by harpies who attack him whenever he tries to eat a meal, spilling the glasses and befouling the food. Astolfo blows his horn and chases the harpies through the entrance to Hell, and seals them inside. He flies the hippogriff to the summit the mountain of Terrestrial Paradise, where he meets Saint John the Apostle, who explains how he could return Orlando to his senses. He flies in Elijah's flaming chariot to the moon, where all things lost upon the earth end up, and locates Orlando's wits in a bottle. He returns to earth and gains Senapo's aid in the defense of Paris from the Saracen invaders.
Atlantes
Enchanted knights see the illusions of their loves in Atlantes's castle; an illustration by Gustave Dore to Orlando furioso
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Atlantes was a powerful sorcerer featured in the chansons de geste. The sorcerer built a castle of iron in the Pyrenees to keep knights and ladies he had captured as a diversion for his nephew Ruggiero, a pagan knight. Atlantes feared that his nephew would convert to Christianity and aid Charlemagne against the Saracens as he had foreseen through the use of the Book of Fates. In Orlando furioso, Atlantes constructs a magical castle filled with illusions, in order to divert Ruggiero from what he has foretold as certain doom.
B
Bevis of Hampton
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bevis of Hampton is a legendary English hero and the subject of an English metrical romance that bears his name.
Bevis is the son of Guy, count of Hampton (Southampton) and his young wife, a daughter of the king of Scotland. The countess asks a former suitor, Doon or Devoun, emperor of Almaine (Germany), to send an army to murder Guy in the forest. The plot is successful, and she marries Doon. When threatened with future vengeance by her ten-year-old son, she determines to make away with him also, but he is saved from death by a faithful tutor, is sold to heathen pirates, and reaches the court of King Hermin, whose realm is variously placed in Egypt and Armenia (Armorica). The exploits of Bevis, his defeat of Ascapart, his love for the king's daughter Josiane, his mission to King Bradmond of Damascus with a sealed letter demanding his own death, his imprisonment, his final vengeance on his stepfather are related in detail. After succeeding to his inheritance he is, however, driven into exile and separated from Josiane, to whom he is reunited only after each of them has contracted, in form only, a second union. The story also relates the hero's death and the fortunes of his two sons.
The oldest extant version appears to be Boeve de Haumlone, an Anglo-Norman text which dates from the first half of the 13th century. The English metrical romance, Sir Boues of Hamtoun, is founded on some French original varying slightly from those which have been preserved. The oldest manuscript dates from the beginning of the 14th century. The French chanson de geste, Beuve d'Hanstone, was followed by numerous prose versions. The printed editions of the story were most numerous in Italy, where Bovo or Buovo d'Antona was the subject of more than one poem, and the tale was interpolated in the Reali di Francia, the Italian compilation of Carolingian legend. From Italian, it passed into Yiddish, where the Bovo-Bukh became the most popular and most critically honored Yiddish-language chivalric romance.
In Russia, the romance attained an unparalleled popularity and became a part of Russian folklore. The Russian rendition of the romance appeared in mid-XVI century, translated from a Polish or Byelorussian version, which were, in turn, translated from a Serbocroatian rendition of the Italian romance, made in Ragusa. The resulting narrative, called (Povest' o Bove-koroleviche, lit. The Story of Bova the Prince), gradually merged with Russian folktales, and the principal character attained many features of a Russian folk hero (bogatyr). Since the 1700s until 1918, various versions of the Povest' had been widely circulated (particularly among the lower classes) as a lubok. Such writers as Derzhavin and Pushkin praised Bova's literary value; the latter used some elements of the Povest' in his fairy tales and attempted to write a fantasy poem based on the romance.
Although the English version that we possess is based on a French original, it seems probable that the legend took shape on English soil in the 10th century, and that it originated with the Danish invaders. Doon may be identified with the emperor Otto the Great, who was the contemporary of Edgar Atheling, the English king Edgar of the story. R. Zenker (Boeve-Amlethus, Berlin and Leipzig, 1904) establishes a close parallel between Bevis and the Hamlet legend as related by Saxo Grammaticus in the Historia Danica.
Among the more obvious coincidences which point to a common source are the vengeance taken on a stepfather for a father's death, the letter bearing his own death-warrant which is entrusted to the hero, and his double marriage. The motive of the feigned madness is, however, lacking in Bevis. The princess who is Josiane's rival is less ferocious than the Hermuthruda of the Hamlet legend, but she threatens Bevis with death if he refuses her. Both seem to be modelled on the type of Thyrdo of the Beowulf legend. The 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica characterizes the mooted etymology connecting Bevis (Boeve) with Bowa (Beowulf), on the ground that both were dragon slayers, as "fanciful" and "inadmissible".
Bradamante
Bradamante learns of the future descendants of herself and Ruggiero, from the sorceress Melissa: Gustave Dore's illustration to Orlando Furioso.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bradamante (also spelled Bradamant) is the sister of Rinaldo, and one of the heroines of Orlando Furioso, Ludovico Ariosto's handling of the Charlemagne legends, also called the Matter of France.
Bradamante is depicted as one of the greatest female knights in literature. She is an expert fighter, and wields a magical lance that unhorses every one it touches. She later falls in love and marries the Moorish prince Ruggiero following his conversion to Christianity. Bradamante is also one of the main characters in Italo Calvino's surrealistic, highly ironic novel Il Cavaliere inesistente.
Robert Garnier, French dramatist of the 16th century, wrote the tragicomedy named Baramante that further develops the love story between the heroine and Roger (Ruggiero).
Brunello
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Brunello is a character in the Italian romantic epics Orlando innamorato by Matteo Maria Boiardo and Orlando furioso by Ludovico Ariosto. Brunello is a dwarf and a cunning thief who works for the Saracen army of King Agramante. He first appears in the second book of Orlando innamorato where Agramante intends to invade Europe and defeat the Emperor Charlemagne. He has been told he has no chance of success unless he has the young warrior Ruggiero on his side, but Ruggiero has been hidden in a secret garden by the wizard Atlante and the only way to reach him is by using the magic ring belonging to Princess Angelica. Brunello undertakes to steal it and sets off for the fortress of Albracca where not only does he manage to snatch the ring but also robs King Sacripante of his horse (from right underneath him) and the female warrior Marfisa of her sword. Marfisa sets off in pusuit but Brunello evades her and gives the ring to Agramante, who rewards him with a kingdom. The Saracens find Ruggiero at Mount Carena where they see him behind a wall of glass. However, the wall is too steep and slippy to climb, so Brunello suggests they trick Ruggiero out. He gets them to play war games in the plain beneath the mountain. Ruggiero, with his inherent love of combat, cannot resist and in spite of Atalante's pleas he leaves the garden and begs Brunello for his horse and armour. Brunello only agrees if he will join their expedition against France, to which Ruggiero happily consents.
In Orlando furioso Brunello is entrusted with the ring by Agramante. The female warrior Bradamante is in love with Ruggiero who has been taken captive. She consults Merlin who tells her she must kill Brunello and take the ring if she wants to free her beloved. She seizes the ring from Brunello but does not kill him and leaves him tied to a fir tree. Brunello is freed only to be caught by Marfisa, who wants her sword back. She hands him over to Agramante who has Brunello hanged.
Ariosto describes him thus:
La sua statura, acciò
tu lo conosca,
non è sei palmi, ed ha il capo ricciuto;
le chiome ha nere, ed ha la pelle fosca;
pallido il viso, oltre il dover barbuto;
gli occhi gonfiati e guardatura losca;
schiacciato il naso, e ne le ciglia irsuto:
l'abito, acciò ch'io lo dipinga intero,
è stretto e corto, e sembra di corriero.
(Orlando furioso, III.72)
That thou may'st recognise
the man, in height
Less than six palms, observe one at this inn
Of black and curly hair, the dwarfish wight!
Beard overgrown about the cheek and chin;
With shaggy brow, swoln eyes, and cloudy sight,
A nose close flattened, and a sallow skin;
To this, that I may make my sketch complete,
Succinctly clad, like courier, goes the cheat.
(Rose's translation)
Sources
* Boiardo: Orlando innamorato
ed. Giuseppe Anceschi (Garzanti,1978)
* Ariosto:Orlando Furioso, verse translation by Barbara Reynolds in two volumes
(Penguin Classics, 1975). Part one (cantos 1-23) ISBN 0-14-044311-8; part two
(cantos 24-46) ISBN 0-14-044310-X
* Ariosto: Orlando Furioso ed. Marcello Turchi (Garzanti, 1974)
C
Charlemagne
Charlemagne painting by Dürer, 1511-1513
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Charlemagne Carolus Magnus or Karolus Magnus, meaning Charles the Great) (2 April 742 – 28 January 814) was King of the Franks from 768 to his death. He expanded the Frankish kingdoms into a Frankish Empire that incorporated much of Western and Central Europe. During his reign, he conquered Italy and was crowned Imperator Augustus by Pope Leo III on 25 December 800 as a rival of the Byzantine Emperor in Constantinople. His rule is also associated with the Carolingian Renaissance, a revival of art, religion, and culture through the medium of the Catholic Church. Through his foreign conquests and internal reforms, Charlemagne helped define both Western Europe and the Middle Ages. He is numbered as Charles I in the regnal lists of France, Germany, and the Holy Roman Empire.
The son of King Pippin the Short and Bertrada of Laon, he succeeded his father and co-ruled with his brother Carloman I. The latter got on badly with Charlemagne, but war was prevented by the sudden death of Carloman in 771. Charlemagne continued the policy of his father towards the papacy and became its protector, removing the Lombards from power in Italy, and waging war on the Saracens, who menaced his realm from Spain. It was during one of these campaigns that Charlemagne experienced the worst defeat of his life, at the Battle of Roncesvalles (778) memorialised in the Song of Roland. He also campaigned against the peoples to his east, especially the Saxons, and after a protracted war subjected them to his rule. By forcibly converting them to Christianity, he integrated them into his realm and thus paved the way for the later Ottonian dynasty.
Today he is regarded not only as the founding father of both French and German monarchies, but also as the father of Europe: his empire united most of Western Europe for the first time since the Romans, and the Carolingian renaissance encouraged the formation of a common European identity.
D
E
Eustace Folville
The Folville Cross, said to mark the site of Sir Roger Bellere's
murder in 1326. Photographed by Bob Trubshaw
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Eustace Folville (d.1346)
was the leader of a robber band active in Leicestershire and Derbyshire in the
first half of the fourteenth century. With four of his younger brothers, he
was responsible for two of the most notorious crimes of early fourteenth-century
England: no mean achievement, considering the same period saw Richard Puddlicott
ransack the royal treasury, and Adam the Leper seize the port of Bristol.
The Folville Family
Eustace's family had its seat at Ashby Folville, Leicestershire. They were landholders of some prominence. The family name, ultimately derived from Folleville in the French region of Picardy, is attached to several other sites in Leicestershire, such as the deserted village of Newbolt Folville. They seem to have gained most their estate at the beginning of the twelfth century. Several of their possessions, such as Ashby and the manor at Teigh, were in the hands of other parties at the time of the Domesday survey, but had passed to the Folvilles by the reign of Stephen (1135-1154). The family were certainly well-established in Leicestershire by the mid thirteenth century. In 1240 a member of the family donated a large sum to the church at Cranoe.
The father of Eustace was most likely Sir John Folville, by all accounts a respectable member of the gentry. Under Edward I, John represented Leicestershire at six Parliaments, and in 1301 he was summoned 'to attend the royal standard, with horse and arms well fitted, at Berwick-upon-Tweed, on the nativity of St. John the Baptist, in the prosecution of the Scottish wars'.He may also have held the office, ironically enough, of Deliverer of Warwick Gaol in 1277 and 1287. With his wife Alice he produced seven sons. The oldest, also named John, inherited his father's estates in 1310, and passed them in turn to his second son, Jeffrey. John is the only one of the seven Folville brothers who was not implicated in large-scale theft, kidnap, extortion and murder.
The Folville Gang
Eustace, named for his grandfather, was the second oldest of the Folville brothers. His criminal career apparently began in 1326 when, on 19 January, he led an ambush against Sir Roger Bellere, in which the victim was cruelly murdered. Bellere was attacked in a 'small valley' near Rearsby, Leicestershire, apparently with a retinue of fifty men. With Eustace were his brothers Roger and Walter, and fellow local landowners Roger la Zouche and Robert Halewell. While la Zouche may have inflicted the death-blow, the blame was squarely laid with Eustace: the chronicler Henry Knighton, a native of Leicestershire himself, refers to him as Eustachius de Fuluyle qui Robertum Bellere interfecerat ('Eustace de Folville who assassinated Roger Bellere'). Even by contemporary standards the crime was one of extreme audacity, made all the more shocking by the standing of the victim. Bellere was not only a local nobleman of some repute, the possessor of some nine manors and the founder of the chantry chapel at Kirby, he was also a baron of the exchequer, and at one stage its chief treasurer. The so-called Folville Cross, a 1m-high fragment of an ancient crucifix, is supposed to mark the site of the murder.
The Folvilles were immediately summoned to stand trial for Bellere's death. However, like many other medieval felons, they could not be traced by the authorities: they may have fled to Wales or France. They were declared outlaws in their absence. This new status seems to have suited them, as within a few years petitions were issued to the Sheriff of Nottingham, 'complaining that two of the Folville brothers were roaming abroad again at the head of a band, waylaying persons whom they spoiled and held to ransom'. In the period of 1327-1330, Eustace was either directly accused of, or mentioned in connection with, three robberies, four murders, and a rape. This last charge, it should be noted, may not necessarily imply sexual violation. The medieval term raptus is notoriously slippery, and contained a range of meanings, from bodily violence to abduction. The Folvilles also seem to have allied themselves with the infamous Cotterel gang. The Cotterels certainly gave the Folvilles shelter in their territory, the Peak District, Derbyshire. They were at one stage pursued here by officers of the crown, but managed to evade capture after a local informer warned them of the danger.
Various indictments from the period portray Eustace and his brothers as freelance mercenaries, hired 'by the ostensibly law-abiding...to commit acts of violence on their behalf'. Members of Sempringham Priory and Haverholm Abbey, both in Lincolnshire, seem to have made use of their services, and at one stage they were under the patronage of Sir Robert Tuchet, a major lord of Derbyshire and Cheshire. In 1332 the Folvilles launched what may be seen as a sequel to the murder of Roger Bellere, and attacked another agent of the crown, the justice Sir Richard Willoughby. This time the victim was ransomed for the sum of 1300 marks, close to £900. Willoughby was easily able to raise this substantial amount, and was freed within twenty-four hours.
Rehabilitation
A year after the kidnap of Willoughby, Eustace was serving in the armies of Edward III against the Scottish. He may well have fought at the Halidon Hill. Perhaps most surprisingly, in recognition of this military service, Eustace received a full pardon for his crimes. He was in combat again in 1337 and 1338, at Scotland and Flanders respectively. He finally died in 1346, a member of the council of the abbot of Crowland, having stood trial for exactly none of the charges lodged against him. He is buried at St Mary's church, Ashby Folville. His monument has been badly damaged: a Victorian description states that 'the fragments of his helmet form the only part of his funeral achievement now remaining'.
F
G
Gilbert Whitehand
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Gilbert Whitehand (also Gilbert with the White Hand ) is in English folklore a less prominent member of Robin Hood's merry men.
He was present in A Gest of Robyn Hode, an early Robin Hood ballad from the late medieval period, although he has been widely forgotten by modern audiences.
It is unknown why he was referred to as having 'white hands'. Some have suggested it was because he had a withered hand, amongst other reasons. However this is speculation and it is not stated specifically why. Gilbert clealy had no physical hindrance - it is stated that he is Robin's equal in archery, and together they were the best archers in all England.
In Howard Pyle's Merry Adventures of Robin Hood, Gilbert of the White Hand appears not as one of Robin's band, but as an archer of the king's. In an archery contest, he was the one set against Robin Hood, and although at their first shooting, Robin was slightly better, a second shot was required to give Robin a clear victory.
In one later telling, Gilbert was much older than Robin, an old soldier and veteran of the crusades; and it was Gilbert who taught Robin Hood how to use the bow and arrow.
H
I
L
Little John
Rhead, Louis. "Bold Robin Hood and His Outlaw Band: Their
Famous Exploits in Sherwood Forest". New York: Blue Ribbon Books, 1912.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Little John is a presumably fictional character in the legend of Robin Hood. Usually, John is depicted as Robin's chief lieutenant and second-in-command of the Merry Men.
Folklore
He appears in the earliest recorded Robin Hood ballads and stories. (He also appears in the earliest chronicle references to Robin Hood, by Walter Bower and John Fordun, neither of whom refers to any other of the Merry Men, suggesting that Little John was particularly associated with him.)[citation needed] In the early tales, Little John is shown to be intelligent and highly capable. In A Gest of Robyn Hode, he captures the sorrowful knight and, when Robin Hood decides to pay the knight's mortgage for him, accompanies him as a servant. In Robin Hood's Death, he is the only one of the Merry Men that Robin takes with him. He is also known to have disagreements with Robin Hood. In the 15th-century ballad most commonly called "Robin Hood and the Monk", after being ill-treated by Robin, Little John leaves in anger. When Robin Hood is captured, it is Little John who plans his leader's rescue. In thanks, Robin offers Little John leadership of the band, but John refuses. Later depictions of Little John portray him as somewhat less cunning than his medieval incarnation.
The earliest ballads do not feature an origin story for this character, but one was soon to follow. According to a 17th-century ballad, he was a giant of a man (at least seven feet tall) who was named John Little. Robin Hood first encountered him when he tried to prevent Robin from crossing a narrow bridge. The two men then fought with quarterstaves, and Robin was knocked into the river. Despite having won the duel, John agreed to join his band and fight alongside him. He was baptised by the Merry Men and then called Little John, as he most certainly was not Little. In some modern film versions, Little John loses the duel to Robin. This scene is almost always re-enacted in movie and television versions of the story.
Starting from the ballad tradition, Little John is commonly shown to be the only Merry Man present at Robin Hood's death.
Despite a lack of historical evidence for his existence, Little John is reputed to be buried in a churchyard in the village of Hathersage, Derbyshire. A modern tombstone marks the supposed location of his grave, which lies under an old yew tree. This grave was owned by the Nailor/Naylor family, and sometimes some variation of "Nailer" is given as being John's surname.
Little John was also a figure in the Robin Hood plays or games during the 15th to 17th centuries, particularly those held in Scotland.
There are many historical figures named Little John and John Little, but it is debatable which -- if any -- are the inspiration for the legendary character.
M
Maid Marian
From Wikipedia, the free
encyclopedia
Robin Hood and Maid Marian (poster, ca. 1880)
Maid Marian is the female companion to the legendary figure Robin Hood. Although stemming from another, older tradition, she became associated with Robin Hood only in the sixteenth century.
History
The earliest Medieval Robin Hood stories gave him no female companion. The Robin Hood character at this time was a rather brutish woodsman and a female companion would have been out of place.
Maid Marian was originally a character in May Games festivities (held during May and early June, most commonly around Whitsun) and is sometimes associated with the Queen or Lady of May of May Day. She became associated with Robin Hood in this context, as Robin Hood became a central figure in May Day, associated as it was with the forest and archery. Both Robin and Marian were certainly associated with May Day festivities in England (as was Friar Tuck); these were originally two distinct types of performance — Alexander Barclay, writing in c.1500, refers to "some merry fytte of Maid Marian or else of Robin Hood" — but the characters were brought together.
Marian is likely derived from the French tradition of a shepherdess named Marion and her shepherd lover Robin (not Robin Hood). The best known example of this tradition is Adam de la Halle's Le Jeu de Robin et Marion, circa 1283.
Marion, indeed, remained associated with such celebrations long after the fashion of Robin Hood faded again.
Many early Robin Hood tales deal with Robin's devotion to the Virgin Mary (such as in Robin Hood and the Monk), but this aspect of the character vanishes as Maid Marian makes her way into the tales. This, combined with Marian's initial status as a virginal maid, suggests another possible origin for the character.
Marian did not immediately gain the unquestioned role as Robin's love; in Robin Hood's Birth, Breeding, Valor and Marriage, his sweetheart is 'Clorinda the Queen of the Shepherdesses'. Clorinda survives in some later stories as an alias of Marian.
Character
In narrative terms, Maid Marian was first attached to Robin Hood in the late sixteenth century as Robin was gentrified and given a virginal maid to pine after. Her biography and character have been highly variable over the centuries, being sometimes portrayed as a pagan or Saxon and other times as a high born Norman. (Marian's role was not entirely virginal in the early days. In 1592, Thomas Nashe described the Marian of the later May Games as being played by a male actor named Martin, and there are hints in the play of Robin Hood and the Friar that the female character in these plays had become a lewd parody.)
In an Elizabethan play, Alexander Munday made her a pseudonym of Matilda Fitzwalter, the historical daughter of Robert Fitzwalter, who had to flee England because an attempt to assassinate King John. This was legendarily attributed to King John's attempts to seduce Matilda.
In the Victorian Era she reverted to her previous role as the dainty maid. This highborn woman appears in many movies, under various characters: in The Adventures of Robin Hood, she is a courageous and loyal woman, whose initial antagonism to Robin springs not from aristocratic disdain but out of dislike of robbery; in The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men, she, though a lady-in-waiting to Eleanor of Aquitaine during the Crusades, is a mischievous tomboy capable of escaping over the countryside disguised as a boy. With the rise of modern feminism in the 20th century, the character has often been depicted as an adventurer again, sometimes as a crack archer herself. In modern times, a common ending for Robin Hood stories became that he married Maid Marian and left the woods for a civilized, aristocratic life.
In yet another incarnation, Marian is depicted as an albino, who is part of an enclave of outcasts consisting of 'freaks' that have been thrown out of the city by the Sherriff, and provide Robin with the first few Merry Men.
Marian's actual connection to the Plantagenet royals tends to vary. Generally she is depicted as a high-ranking lady of the court. In the famous Errol Flynn film, she is a ward of the court, an orphaned noblewoman under the protection of King Richard. In the Kevin Costner epic Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, she is a maternal cousin to the sovereign.
Marfisa
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Marfisa is a character in the Italian romantic epics Orlando innamorato by Matteo Maria Boiardo and Orlando furioso by Ludovico Ariosto. She is the sister of Ruggiero but was separated from him in early childhood. She becomes queen of India and fights as a warrior for the Saracens, taking part in the siege of the fortress Albracca until her sword is stolen by Brunello. She falls in love with Ruggiero, unaware who he is until Atlante reveals their background. Learning that her parents were Christian, she converts to the faith and joins the Emperor Charlemagne's army against the Saracens.
Much the Miller's Son
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Much the Miller's Son was, in the tales of Robin Hood, one of his Merry Men. He appears in some of the oldest ballads, A Gest of Robyn Hode and Robin Hood and the Monk, as one of the company. In A Gest of Robyn Hode, he helps capture Richard at the Lee and when Robin lends that knight money to pay off his debts, he is one of the Merry Men who insists on giving him a horse and clothing appropriate to his station. In Robin Hood and the Monk, he is one of the rescuers of the captive Robin; in this brutal ballad, he kills a page boy merely so that the boy can not bear word that the outlaws killed the monk of the title.
In other tales, he was also known as Midge the Miller's son. This is the name used by Howard Pyle in his Merry Adventures of Robin Hood.
Often it is said he was forced to go into hiding with the outlaws as he had been caught poaching deer on the sheriff's land, an offence which would get the youth hanged. The outlaws rescued the boy from the sheriff's men and later look after him in their hideout in the forest (in the 1991 movie Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, a character resembling Much in many respects is the young boy named Wulf; another character named "Much the Miller's Son" does appear in the movie, but he has extremely little screen time).
In the earlier tales, however, Much is slightly older and takes a much more physical role; indeed he is a formidable fighter. Much is present from the very earliest Robin Hood ballads, in which he often accompanies Little John on physical journeys and even gets involved in brawls.
In some modern tellings, Much is a female character, initially disguised as (or mistaken for) a boy.
Appearances in other media
Much has a notable role in the television series Robin of Sherwood (1984–86), where he is Robin's adopted brother (a role given to Will Scarlet in some versions). In the series he is portrayed as somewhat mentally lacking, needing Robin to look after him. It was his killing a deer without thinking of the consequences that led to them becoming outlaws.
Much is also a major character in the BBC television series Robin Hood (2006–), but he is no longer a Miller's son — in the second episode, he claims to have no family at all. Instead, he is Robin's former manservant and comrade-in-arms from the Third Crusade, who has been given his freedom as a result of his services there but finds himself outlawed with Robin upon their return home.
P
The Pied Piper of Hamelin
The oldest picture
of Pied Piper copied from the glass window of Marktkirche in Goslar (1592)
A man came to Hamelin claiming to be a rat-catcher. The people of Hamelin promised him payment for killing the rats. So the man took a pipe, attracted the rats by his music and made them follow him to the Weser river, where they all drowned. Despite this success the people reneged on their promise and did not pay the rat-catcher.
He left the town, but returned several weeks later. While the inhabitants were in the church, he played his pipe again, this time attracting the children of Hamelin. One hundred thirty boys and girls followed him out of the town, where they were lured into a cave and sealed inside at most two children survived
R
Richard at the Lee
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Richard at the Lee (also referred to as Rychard at the Lea and Sir Richard of Verysdale) was a major character in the early medieval ballads of Robin Hood, especially the lengthy ballad A Gest of Robyn Hode, and has reappeared in Robin Hood tales throughout the centuries.
Sir Richard is said to
have been a nobleman, the lord of Verysdale. In many versions, Sir Richard appears
as a sorrowful knight whose lands will be forfeited because he pledged them
to an abbot to get a loan he can not repay; Robin assists him with the money.
This is his first appearance in the Gest, although he is not named at that point.
Later in the Gest, he reappears, now named, and gives Robin Hood and the Merry
Men sanctuary from the Sheriff of Nottingham by hiding them in his castle, after
they have nearly been caught in an archery tournament; this part of the tale
features in fewer later versions.
In A Gest of Robyn Hode
Richard came from a long line of noble knights (see line 188 of the ballad) and was a courteous man indeed. He had inherited a great castle at the wooded village of Lee in Verysdale in which he resided; a castle fit for knights with thick fortified walls, surrounded by two ditches and with a drawbridge at the entrance.
Richard resided in this castle with a small group of loyal servants and he had a beautiful fair wife and a son whom, although a he was a wild spirit, Richard loved dearly. His son entered into a jousting contest and accidentally killed an opponent, a knight of Lancaster. The unfortunate heir to Verysdale was then immediately arrested by the High Sheriff. However, the Sheriff was open to bribes, and Richard was able to bail his son out of jail for the princely sum of four hundred pounds (a massive amount in the early medieval era) before his son was executed.
Richard was down on his luck. Although he was a nobleman with his own lands, he had very little money at all. So in order to pay the sheriff's bail and save his son's life he went to Saint Mary's Abbey in York and loaned the money off the abbot. However what he didn't realise was that the abbot was corrupt and in league with the sheriff. Richard had only a few short days to repay the loan, otherwise the sheriff and the abbot would claim his land and divide it up between themselves. These were the abbot's terms and Richard had no choice but to accept them. In Robin Hood's day, religious communities were often notorious for their greed, sleaze, lax morals and hypocritical lifestyles. Conversely, Robin Hood is portrayed as fair and truly religious. He may be a criminal, but his rough justice restores true Christian values.
Meanwhile, in Barnsdale Forest, Robin Hood commands some of his merry men to prepare a feast fit for a king, and to the others he commands them to bring him a wealthy knight or noblemen to join him in his meal. The merry men are commanded by Robin to 'walk up to the Saylis' and lie in wait there.
There passes a poor-looking knight with a sad expression, and they bring him to Robin Hood's camp. He is treated with utmost respect and enjoys a fine banquet of deer, fowls of the river (fish), swans, pheasants, bread, and fine wine. After the meal Robin Hood asks the knight to pay for his meal. However the knight tells Robin that he is poor and has no more than ten shillings in his trunk.
Robin Hood tests the knight's honesty. If there is no more than ten shillings in the trunk, as the knight says, then Robin will not touch a penny and indeed will financially assist the knight. However if the knight has lied then Robin will take everything the knight has. The merry men open up the trunk and indeed find it nearly empty with only half a pound inside.
So, finding the knight true, Robin listens to his entire story. This knight is Sir Richard of Verysdale; Robin feels sorry for him and Richard also seeing nobility and honesty in Robin the two men form a close bond of friendship. As Sir Richard is travelling to York to see the abbot of Saint Mary's that very day, Robin loans Richard the four hundred pounds needed to pay back the abbot and tells Richard that there is no obligation to pay it back in a hurry. And so Richard repays his loan to the abbot, and keeps his lands, courtesy of Robin Hood.
Later adaptations
In other tales, he also travels to the forests of Barnsdale and Sherwood occasionally, where the outlaws live, and dines with them. Due to this he is sometimes considered a Merry Man himself.
In some tales, such as Alfred Lord Tennyson's play The Foresters, or Robin Hood and Maid Marian, he is said to be the father of Maid Marian. He appears as such (as Sir Richard of Leaford) in the third season of Robin of Sherwood, played by George Baker.
Howard Pyle included the payment of mortgage in Merry Adventures of Robin Hood. He also used Richard as a character in other portions, such as his retelling of Robin's escape from the king, after an archery tournament before him, and when Richard the Lion-Hearted visited the forest, the disguise is revealed when Richard arrives to warn the outlaws.
Ruggiero
Ruggiero Rescuing Angelica by Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ruggiero (often translated Rogero in English) is a leading character in the Italian romantic epics Orlando innamorato by Matteo Maria Boiardo and Orlando furioso by Ludovico Ariosto. Ruggiero had originally appeared in the twelfth-century French epic, Aspremont, reworked by Andrea da Barberino as the chivalric romance Aspramonte. In Boiardo and Ariosto's works, he is supposed to be the ancestor of Boiardo and Ariosto's patrons, the Este family of Ferrara, and he plays a major role in the two poems.
He is the son of a Christian knight (Ruggiero II of Reggio Calabria, a descendant of Astyanax, son of Hector) and a Saracen lady (Galaciella, daughter of Agolant, king of Africa). When Ruggiero's father is betrayed, his mother is set adrift in a boat and dies giving birth. Ruggerio is nursed by a lioness then brought up by the wizard Atlante in Africa (in Ariosto, Marfisa is Ruggiero's twin sister). Atlante has heard a prophecy that Ruggiero is destined to die young through treachery, but he is unable to prevent Ruggiero from joining the Saracen army in its invasion of Europe. Ruggiero falls in love with the female Christian knight Bradamante (sister to Rinaldo), but he is held captive by the enchantress Alcina on her magic island, until he is freed by the good sorceress Melissa. He rescues the princess Angelica, who has been offered as a sacrifice to a water-dwelling orc. Finally, he is baptised into Christianity, and marries Bradamante. Rodomonte appears at the wedding feast and accuses Ruggiero of betraying the Saracen cause. The two knights duel, ending in Rodomonte's death.
S
Sheriff of Nottingham
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Sheriff of Nottingham was historically the office responsible for enforcing law and order in Nottingham and bringing criminals to justice. For years the post has been directly appointed by the Lord Mayor of Nottingham and in modern times with the existence of the police force, the position is entirely ceremonial and sustained to boost tourism due to the legendary connection to the tales of Robin Hood. However the historical position goes back to Anglo-Saxon times. The office is sometimes confused with that of the High Sheriff of Nottinghamshire. Before this, during 1068 until 1449 the position existed as High Sheriff of Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and the Royal Forests.
Historical
There is no record of an official with the specific duty of enforcing the law and keeping the peace in Anglo-Saxon England (although there undoubtedly was one). After the Norman Conquest, specific counties appointed sheriffs to enforce the law (such as Yorkshire for example), although sometimes the duties of these sheriffs would cross the border of their respective counties. Nottingham would have come under the "High Sheriff of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire" after the Norman Conquest.
In 1449, the city of Nottingham itself was appointed its own sheriff for the first time (although the post was held simultaneously between two men; William Sadler and Thomas Lyng). The sheriffs at that time may have been responsible for "the delivery of prisoners to the courts, the collection of rents and taxes and generally keeping the ‘King’s Peace’".
From 1450 until 1835, the office was shared between two people, one of whom may have been chosen by the Mayor, the other by the town council. The change to a single sheriff was explained by Lincoln city website merely as "Local Government changes". The article can be seen here (possibly the Municipal Corporations Act 1835).
The Robin Hood stories
In the legend of Robin Hood, the Sheriff of Nottingham is the chief official whose task it is to capture outlaws such as Robin Hood, either to ensure the safety of trade routes through Sherwood Forest, or to arrest outlaws for poaching the King's deer. In some stories, the Sheriff of Nottingham is portrayed as having a lecherous desire for Robin Hood's lady, Maid Marian. He is widely considered to be the main villain of the Robin Hood stories, appearing in all of them, alongside such enemies of Robin Hood as Sir Guy of Gisbourne or Prince John (though rarely both).
The legends are generally set far from Nottingham, one explanation being that a short-staffed King of England placed the Sheriff of Nottingham in charge of law enforcement for much of northern England. This is the case in the film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves in which the Sheriff's influence has grown so great he attempts to take control of the throne.
In some versions, the Sheriff is more a cowardly schemer while his assistant, Sir Guy of Gisbourne is a more competent and determined physical threat to Robin. In other versions the Sheriff answers to Prince John who is the main villain.
It has been suggested that the historical sheriff upon which the stories are based on was William de Wendenal, Roger de Laci, or William de Brewer.
Sleeping Beauty
Sleeping Beauty by Sir Edward Burne-Jones
At the christening of a long-wished-for princess, fairies invited as godmothers offered gifts of beauty, wit, grace, and musical talents. However, a wicked fairy who had been overlooked placed the princess under an enchantment as her gift, saying that, on reaching adulthood, she would prick her finger on a spindle and die.
A good fairy, though unable to reverse the spell, altered its effect so that the princess, instead of dying, would fall asleep for a hundred years, until awakened by the kiss of a prince's son.
The king forbade spinning on distaff or spindle, or the possession of one, upon pain of death, throughout the kingdom, but all in vain. When the princess was sixteen she chanced to come upon an old woman in a tower of the castle, who was spinning. The Princess asked to try the unfamiliar task and the inevitable happened. The wicked fairy's curse was fulfilled. The good fairy returned and put everyone in the castle to sleep.
Eventually, a prince arrived, and, hearing the story of the enchantment, braved the wood, which parted at his approach, and entered the castle. He kissed the princess, everyone in the castle woke
Secretly wed by the reawakened Royal almoner, the Prince continued to visit the Princess, who bore him two children, L'Aurore and Le Jour, which he kept secret from the Queen his mother, who was of an Ogre lineage. Once he had acceded to the throne, he brought the Princess and the children to his capital, which he then left in the regency of the Queen Mother, while he went to make war on his neighbor the Emperor Contalabutte, ("Count of The Mount").
The Ogre Queen sent the Princess Queen and the children to a house secluded in the woods, and directed her cook there to prepare the boy for her dinner. The humane cook substituted a lamb, which satisfied the Ogre Queen, who demanded the girl, but was satisfied with a kid prepared in the same excellent sauce. When the Ogre Queen demanded that he serve up the Princess Queen, she offered her throat to be slit, so that she might join the children she imagined were dead. There was a tearful secret reunion in the cook's little house, while the Ogre Queen was satisfied with a hind prepared with. Soon she discovered the trick and prepared a tub in the courtyard filled with vipers and other noxious creatures. The King returned in the nick of time and the Ogress, being discovered, threw herself into the pit she had prepared and was consumed, and everyone else lived happily ever after
W
William
Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke~
Willam Tell
Statue of William Tell and his Son in Altdorf, Switzerland (Richard Kissling, 1895).
From Wikipedia,
the free encyclopedia
William Tell was a legendary
hero of disputed historical authenticity who is said to have lived in the Canton
of Uri in Switzerland in the early 14th century.
The legend
William Tell from Bürglen was known as an expert marksman with the crossbow. At the time, the Habsburg emperors were seeking to dominate Uri. Hermann Gessler, the newly appointed Austrian Vogt of Altdorf raised a pole in the village's central square with his hat on top and demanded that all the local townsfolk bow before it. As Tell passed by without bowing, he was arrested. He received the punishment of being forced to shoot an apple off the head of his son, Walter, or else both would be executed.
Tell had been promised freedom if he shot the apple. On November 18, 1307, Tell split the fruit with a single bolt from his crossbow, without mishap. When Gessler queried him about the purpose of the second bolt in his quiver, Tell answered that if he had ended up killing his son in that trial, he would have turned the crossbow on Gessler himself. Gessler became enraged at that comment, and had Tell bound and brought to his ship to be taken to his castle at Küssnacht. In a storm on Lake Lucerne, Tell managed to escape. On land, he went to Küssnacht, and when Gessler arrived, Tell shot him with the crossbow.
This defiance of the Austrian, Gessler, sparked a rebellion, leading to the formation of the Swiss Confederation.
Will Scarlet
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Will Scarlet (also Scarlett, Scarlock, Scadlock, Scatheloke and Scathelocke) was a prominent member of Robin Hood's Merry Men. He was present in the earliest ballads along with Little John and Much the Miller's Son .
The confusion of last names has led some authors to distinguish them as belonging to different characters. Howard Pyle included both a Will Scathelock and a Will Scarlet in his Merry Adventures of Robin Hood. Will Stutely may also exist as a separate character because of a mistaken last name.
Ballads
The first appearance of Will Scarlet was in one of the oldest surviving Robin Hood ballads, A Gest of Robyn Hode. He helps capture Richard at the Lee and when Robin lends that knight money to pay off his debts, he is one of the Merry Men who insists on giving him a horse and clothing appropriate to his station.
Another very early ballad featuring Will Scarlet is one variant of Robin Hood's Death, in which Will's only role is to urge a bodyguard, which Robin scorns.
A later ballad, Robin Hood and the Newly Revived, ascribes an origin story to him. Robin finds a finely dressed young man shooting deer in Sherwood, and offers to let him join the band; they quarrel and fight. Robin asks who he is; he says he is Young Gamwell, who killed his father's steward and fled his father's estate to seek out his uncle, Robin Hood. Robin makes him welcome and renames him Scarlett. This story, more or less, is the common origin story for Will Scarlet, although variations occur.
Francis Child indexed those tales: A Gest of Robyn Hode as Child Ballad 117, Robin Hood's Death as Child ballad 120, and Robin Hood Newly Revived as Child ballad 128. He also listed several other ballads featuring Will Scarlet, sometimes in a very minor role. In Robin Hood's Delight (Child Ballad 136), the common story in which Robin meets a stranger, cannot outfight him, and must outwit him is altered: Robin has Little John and Will with him, and they meet three foresters, resulting in the usual fight and outwitting. In Robin Hood and the Curtal Friar (Child Ballad 123), Will Scarlet tells Robin of the friar, resulting in their encounter. In Robin Hood and Guy of Gisbourne (Child Ballad 118), Little John is captured coming to Will's rescue after two of their band had been killed and Will was fleeing. In an unusual Robin Hood ballad Robin Hood and the Prince of Aragon (Child ballad 129), Robin, Little John, and Will Scarlet come to the king's rescue, fighting the prince of the title and two giants, and ending with Will marrying the princess; this ballad, unlike the other Child ballads, is seldom used in later adaptations.
Later versions
Traditionally, most of the outlaws are often depicted as being middle-aged, whereas he is often depicted as young or youthful, sometimes in his late teens. In the traditional tales, Scarlet is hot-headed and tempestous, but has a love of fine elegant clothes and is often seen wearing red silk. He is the most skilled swordsman of the merry men whilst Robin Hood is the most skilled with a bow and arrow and Little John with a quarterstaff. In some tales Scarlet uses two swords at the same time.
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