Robin Hood and the Bishop

Robin Hood and the Bishop is number 143 in

Child ballad

collection, which is one of the most comprehensive collections of traditional English ballads.

Synopsis

One sunny day, Robin Hood is walking through the forest in search of diversion when he notices a proud bishop with his company. Away from his men, Robin is frightened that the Bishop will hang him if he sees and catches him. He looks about and sees an old woman's house; he approaches and appeals to her for aid. Because he has previously given her a gift of both shoes and socks, she willingly agrees to help him hide from the Bishop and his men by exchanging her grey coat, spindle, and twine for his green mantle and arrows. Then Robin sets out to find his men; Little John sees him from a distance, thinks he is a witch, and is about to let fly an arrow at him, but Robin quickly reveals his identity. Meanwhile, the Bishop has gone to the old woman's house, and catches her there, believing her to be Robin; they ride away through the forest on horseback. But up ahead they sight a hundred bow-men gathered under a great green-wood tree, and, to the Bishop's shock and dismay, the old woman identifies them as Robin Hood and his men and herself as an old woman. Before the Bishop can flee, Robin calls him to stay, grabs his horse by the reins, and ties it to a tree. He then empties the Bishop's five hundred pounds into his mantle and is about to let him go when Little John demands that the Bishop say Mass for them. Robin and his men tie the Bishop to a tree, force him to say Mass, and then set him back on his horse with the sarcastic command that he pray for Robin.^[1]

Historical and cultural significance

This ballad is part of a group of ballads about

J. C. Holt has argued that the tales developed among the gentry, that he is a yeoman rather than a peasant, and that the tales do not mention peasants' complaints, such as oppressive taxes.^[8] Moreover, he does not seem to rebel against societal standards but to uphold them by being munificent, devout, and affable.^[9] Other scholars have seen the literature around Robin Hood as reflecting the interests of the common people against feudalism.^[10]

The latter interpretation supports Selden's view that popular ballads provide a valuable window onto the thoughts and feelings of the common people on topical matters: for the peasantry, Robin Hood may have been a redemptive figure.

Library/archival holdings

The English Broadside Ballad Archive at the University of California, Santa Barbara holds four seventeenth-century broadside ballad versions of this tale: one in the Euing collection at the Glasgow University Library (303), two in the Pepys collection at Magdalene College at the University of Cambridge (2.109 and 2.122), and one in the Roxburghe ballad collection at the British Library (1.362-363).^[11]

References

^ This synopsis refers to a text transcription of a seventeenth-century broadside ballad version of this tale in the Pepys collection held at Magdalene College of the University of Cambridge.
^ Watt (1993), pp. 39–40
^ Watt (1993), pp. 39–40, quoting Edward Dering, A brief and necessary instruction (1572), sig.A2v.
^ Child (2003), p. 42
^ Brown (2010), p. 67; Brown's italics
^ ^a ^b Brown (2010), p. 69
^ ^a ^b Fumerton & Guerrini (2010), p. 1
^ Holt (1989), pp. 37–38
^ Holt (1989), p. 10
^ Singman (1998), p. 46, and first chapter as a whole
^ "Ballad Archive Search - UCSB English Broadside Ballad Archive".

Bibliography

Brown, Mary Ellen (2010). "Child's ballads and the broadside conundrum". In Patricia Fumerton; Anita Guerrini; Kris McAbee (eds.). Ballads and Broadsides in Britain, 1500–1800. Burlington, VT: Ashgate Publishing Company. pp. 57–72.
ISBN 978-0-7546-6248-8
.

Child, Francis James, ed. (2003) [1888–1889]. The English and Scottish Popular Ballads. Vol. 3. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications.
Fumerton, Patricia; Guerrini, Anita (2010). "Introduction: straws in the wind". In Patricia Fumerton; Anita Guerrini; Kris McAbee (eds.). Ballads and Broadsides in Britain, 1500–1800. Burlington, VT: Ashgate Publishing Company. pp. 1–9.
ISBN 978-0-7546-6248-8
.

ISBN 0-500-27541-6
.

Singman, Jeffrey L. (1998). Robin Hood: The Shaping of the Legend. Greenwood Publishing Group.
ISBN 0-313-30101-8
.

Watt, Tessa (1993). Cheap Print and Popular Piety, 1550–1640. Cambridge Studies in Early Modern British History.
ISBN 9780521458276
.

External links

Robin Hood and the Bishop
Link to a facsimile sheet of an early modern version of this ballad at the English Broadside Ballad Archive at the University of California, Santa Barbara: [1]
Link to an audio recording of this ballad: [2]
Link to the website of The Robin Hood Project, a collection of webpages chronicling the development of Robin Hood from his medieval origins to modern depictions, at the Robbins Library at the University of Rochester: [3]
Link to a fairly comprehensive website on all things Robin Hood, including historical background on the real Robin Hood and other characters of the legend, texts and recordings of Robin Hood stories, resources for teachers and students, information about adaptations, and more: [4]

[1] This synopsis refers to a text transcription of a seventeenth-century broadside ballad version of this tale in the Pepys collection held at Magdalene College of the University of Cambridge.

[2] Watt (1993), pp. 39–40

[3] Watt (1993), pp. 39–40, quoting Edward Dering, A brief and necessary instruction (1572), sig.A2v.

[4] Child (2003), p. 42

[5] Brown (2010), p. 67; Brown's italics

[Brown_69-6] Brown (2010), p. 69

[Fumerton_1-7] Fumerton & Guerrini (2010), p. 1

[8] Holt (1989), pp. 37–38

[9] Holt (1989), p. 10

[10] Singman (1998), p. 46, and first chapter as a whole

[11] "Ballad Archive Search - UCSB English Broadside Ballad Archive".

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