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Robin Hood Was A Yorkshireman |
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Links Eric Houlder(Hunting out the Remains...) |
I came across this article some time ago, which I think gives some definitive evidence on the origins of Robin Hood. The words are all Mr. Houlder's, I have just added the photos and cross references. My only contribution is the page on Little John's Well, which is mentioned in other sources. THE TRUTH ABOUT ROBIN HOOD Eric Houlder The recent controversy about the naming of Doncaster's new airport has again brought the origins of Robin Hood into the spotlight. Let me say to begin with, that naming the airport after the area's most famous former inhabitant is totally logical, if rather silly, for it will surely be shortened on destination boards to simply 'Doncaster.' In this brief article I intend to merely outline the evidence, which places the outlaw in the area. 'Outline, indeed, for my illustrated talk on this takes one and a half hours, and this itself only skims the surface of a fascinating study. Firstly, let us dismiss the wholly fictitious and later Nottingham connection. This originates because the Sheriff of Nottingham was a character in the earliest ballad about the outlaw, namely 'A Geste of Robyn Hode '. Nowhere in the ballad is the city of that name mentioned, and it was only later minstrels, writers, and Hollywood scriptwriters who connected the city with the Sheriff. Just as today we visit Haworth to visit the location of Wuthering Heights, and actually find a ruin associated with the story, post-medieval travellers visited Nottingham seeking Robin Hood, and actually found sites associated with him. The fact that these were deliberately created to tie-in with the legend (rather than the other way around) did not bother them any more than most visitors to Stratford are bothered by the likes of The World of Shakespeare. Researchers seeking the true locations have only to visit the villages of Wentbridge, Skelbrooke, and Campsall, just off the A 1 north of Doncaster, to find the real sites with the earliest provenance. A recent Channel Four documentary fronted by Tony Robinson did exactly that, and was able to dismiss a number a falsities that have arisen since the fourteenth century, and go to the heart of the legend. During the medieval period, Wentbridge was often called Barnsdale, as it was the chief settlement of the Forest of Barnsdale which extended from south of Darrington to the outskirts of Doncaster. A forest was an area where Forest Law applied; it could consist of woodland, moorland, scrubland or indeed cultivated land, or a mixture of them all, but must not be confused with the modern meaning which implies exclusively trees. Barnsdale, originally Beorn 's (a Norse settler) dale, consisted of the valleys of the Went and the Skell, both tributaries of the Don. The medieval Great North Road entered Barnsdale near Red House (an ancient name implying a Roman Posting station, or services, as we would term it) and left it just south of Darrington. Brockadale Woods were and still are, the only real woodlands in the forest. In the earliest of the ballads, A Geste of Robyn Hode, the outlaw often refers to himself as 'Robyn Hode of Barnsdale ', whilst in one slightly later ballad we have, "I met him but At Wentbridge", Said Lytell John. Robin Hood & The Potter, Fytte (verse) 6 A significant place name mentioned frequently in the 'Geste' is The Sayles. Investigators will search in vain for the name on recent maps, but reference to nineteenth century maps will show 'Sayles Plantation ' behind the 'Bluebell ' (nice food, but service a bit slow at peak times!) in Wentbridge and slightly further east along the valley side, between the modern bridge (leading to Kirk Smeaton) over the motorway, and the old road where it drops down towards Wentbridge. “And walk up under the Sayles, And to Watling Street, And wait after some uncouth youth (unsuspecting) guest, Up chance you may them meet.” A Geste of Robyn Hode, Fytte 209 It is clear that the outlaws used the Sayles as a look-outpoint: But as they looked in Barnsdale, By the high way Then were they aware of two black monks, Each on a good palfrey.” A Geste of Robyn Hode, Fytte 213 In the 'Geste, ' there are frequent mentions of Barnsdale meaning Wentbridge, and the Great North Road, which the ballads call Watling Street. The only other place named (indirectly), is surprisingly, Campsall. Robin says, "I made a chapel in Barnsdale, That seemly is to see, It is of Mary Magdalene, And there to would I be." The 'Geste,' Fytte 440 Campsall church is the only dedication to St Mary Magdalene in Barnsdale, and a local legend still extant in the nineteenth century firmly locates Robin's marriage to Marion (herself a later, fictitious, addition) there. As he was already married (to Matilda) when he was outlawed in 1322, this is clearly the combination of an original folk memory with a much later received version of the story. When Robin met Little John for the first time, it was apparently on a bridge over the river Shell. Non-Yorkshire scriptwriters and others immediately think of the Shell which flows past Fountains Abbey (or even Aysgarth Falls if you are from Hollywood and don't comprehend the distances or the absurdity), but the smaller Shell which runs into the Don is probably the true location of this fight. Little John was apparently from Beverley, so one route to Barnsdale, avoiding the main roads but keeping parallel to them, would bring him into this tiny hamlet as he was already a fugitive. Robin's opponent in the 'Geste' is the Sheriff of Nottingham, which enables us to pin down the date pretty accurately, for the Sheriff of Nottingham only had jurisdiction over this part of Yorkshire for a short time after 1322, when the King was Edward II. Those people, including Hollywood scriptwriters, who try to place our outlaw in the reigns of Richard I and John, are being anachronistic. These kings reigned long before the longbow was introduced into England, and one of the defining features of Robin Hood is his skill with the longbow. When Channel Four Television's production team visited the area two years ago, they asked me to point out the Sayles and Robin's view of 'Watling Street. ' Unfortunately, the A1(M) and the bridge over it now alters the topography here, but I was able to take them to a location which gives a similar view, looking down over the back of the 'Bluebell, ' to see a curve of the road just below where the 'Swiss Cottage ' Restaurant (burnt-out and demolished recently) used to be. Standing in a modern gate at this viewpoint it is still possible for those with empathy to visualise the two black monks riding down the hill into the medieval village. A later ballad describes Robin's death at Kirklees Priory, near Brighouse. Though later, the fact that this is within a morning's walk of Barnsdale gives the ballad a degree of veracity that it would not have if Nottingham and Sherwood were the true locations. As for robbing the rich to give to the poor, this story arose from the much later May Day games, in which characters dressed as Robin & his men collected donations for deserving causes. No real Yorkshire thief would give it away! Finally, the Earldom of Huntington/Loxley (choose either) was another construct of the medieval minstrels who propagated the stories. These latter were expecting the landowning classes to pay to hear ballads about someone who robbed the same classes. Making the outlaw a dispossessed earl changed the whole complexion of the tales, and earned more into the bargain!
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