Robin of Wood

Robin of Wood is a prototype of the folk hero of the Moyen-âge. Its English name Robin Hood literally means “Robin the Hood”, and not “Robin of Wood”, as the homophony of “hood” with “Wood” often let it think, according to the Anglo-Saxon version . Robin of Wood is also perhaps an older character of insular Brittany: hood = ch' oad as Breton old man (pronounce hoad), means “wood indeed” and it is one of oldest European family names (Walt, Silva, Coat, Dubois…). The famous hood would be thus an element added a posteriori by the Anglo-Saxon legend to explain “Robin Hood”.

According to the legend, such as it is perceived today, Robin of Wood was an outlaw in the large heart which lived hidden in the forest of Sherwood and of Barnsdale. Skilful poacher, but also defender of the poor and of oppressed, it détroussait the privileged people (noble, civils servant - for example, the Sheriff of Nottingham and especially the prince Jean Without Ground) who used the police force (State) illegitimately to monopolize the richnesses produced by the citizens. With his many companions, it redistributed then the spoils with the victims of clicks official.

History and legend

The first handwritten mention of Robin of Wood is in Pierre the Plowman ( Piers Plowman ) of William Langland (1377), where Sloth, a lazy priest, declares: “I know rhymes of Robin of Wood. ” Three years later, the Scottish chronicler John Fordun writes that the character of Robin of Wood in the ballades “likes better than all the others. ”

Many printed versions of these ballades appear at the beginning of the 16th century at the time when printing works makes its first great strides in England. Robin is described there as Gentleman , which at that time means tradesman or independent farmer. It is only at the end of the century that it acquires a title of nobility and takes the name of “Robin of Loxley”, or of “Robert Fitz Ooth, Count de Huntington”.

Its association romantic with Marianne (or “Marion”, sometimes called “Mathilde”) date of this late period. The name of “Marion” comes from a lyric Pastourelle of the French poet Adam of the Market, the Jeu of Robin and Marion (towards 1283). Separately the names, nothing however makes it possible to establish a correspondence between the two characters.

At the end of the 16th century, the history of Robin of Wood moves back in time to be about the years 1190 at the time when the king Richard Lion-hearted share for the Third crusade. In the 17th century, Robin of Wood appears in The Sad Shepherd ( the Sad Shepherd , 1641) of Ben Jonson. Then, at the 19th century, Robin of Wood becomes one of the heroes of the novel Ivanhoe (1819) of Walter Scott. The idea that Robin is a Saxon rebel combatant the lords Normands date of this time.

Around the character of Robin, many inconsistencies were introduced with the wire of time. It is known as that Robin the Lord of Loxley (place chief of the county of Hallamshire) was dispossessed of his grounds by the Shérif of Nottingham and was declared Hors-la-loi. The sheriff appears indeed in the first ballades, where Robin ends up decapitating it, but it is not question of its grounds there. Its other enemies are an bargain hunter of the name of Guy de Gisbourne, as well as rich person Abbé S, which are also killed by Robin. But if the old ballades mention loan granted by Robin to a knight unlucky person, they do not say anything a redistribution of the Rapine S to the poor. It is known as still that Robin resides in the green forest of Sherwood, in the county of Nottingham, whereas the ballades make it evolve/move in Barnsdale, in the county of York, that is to say with nearly 80 kilometers in north.

the Middle Ages at our days, songs and ballades, plays and musical comedies, films and series of television worked a Mythe in resonance with their time, subjected to the passage to many ideological handling, as show it for example the character of Marianne, which plays sometimes the part of warlike, sometimes that of a passive young girl, or that of Robin of the Wood itself, presented sometimes like a vulgar gangster, sometimes as resistant who fights for a right cause. To note the remake of Robin of Wood in Charleroi where the role of Unsavoury individual was taken again by Leon Casaert and Claude de Spiegeleir and that of Robin by Olivier Chastel.

Chronology

  • About 1283: First mention of Marion. Adam of the Market: Play of Robin and Marion .
  • About 1377: First mention of Robin ( Robyn hood ). William Langford: Piers Plowman .
  • About 1450: First known ballades and first parts.
  • About 1495: The printer Wynken De Worde publishes has off Gest Robyn Hode , chanson de geste made up according to several old ballades.
  • 1795 : The first important compilation of old ballades. Joseph Ritson: Robin Hood: With Collection off all the Ancient Poems, Songs and Ballads, now extant, relative to that celebrated Outlaw .
  • 1819 : First large historical novel. Walter Scott: Ivanhoe .
  • 1838 : First great journalistic serial. Pierce Egan the Younger : Robin Hood and Little John: however, The Merry Men off Sherwood Forest . Alexandre Dumas will draw the matter from it from two novels: the Prince of the robbers (1872) and Robin Hood the Outlaw (1873).
  • 1883 : First great classic of children's literature. Howard Pyle: The Merry Adventures off Robin Hood off Great Renown in Nottinghamshire .
  • 1891 : First operetta with success in the United States. Reginald DeKoven (music) and Harry B. Smith (booklet): Robin Hood .
  • 1908 : First film. British silent film carried out by Percy Stow: Robin Hood and His Merry Men .
  • 1936 : First cartoon. Appeared in Canada in The Toronto Telegram. Ted McCall (scenario) and Charles Snelgrove (drawings): Robin Hood and Company .

Companions of Robin of Wood

  • Brother Tuck, a monk. ( Friar Tuck )
  • Marianne, been engaged of Robin. ( Marian , Mathild Marion )
  • Small Jean, one of the most famous companions of Robin. ( Little John )
  • Will Scarlett, the nephew of Robin.

Posterity of the myth

  • Robin Opera of Wood: to see Freischütz

Films and televised series

Among very many interpretations of the myth of Robin, here some works which knew a French diffusion:

Other inspirations

  • Its name Robin was taken again by the first partner of Batman.
  • the main character of the comic " Green Arrow" must much in Robin of Wood.
  • Video games: Defender off the crown; Robin Hood - the legend of Sherwood
  • the 94e episode of Star Trek: The new generation (Qpidon) realized by Cliff Bole plunges the team of the Enterprise in a reconstitution of Robin of Wood .
  • In an old version of Warhammer, Bretonnie had the possibility of including characters strongly inspired of Robin of Wood: Bertrand the brigand, chief of the archers of Bergerac, Hugo the Small one (who were imposing) and Guy the large one (Tuck brother).

Related articles

Simple: Robin Hood

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