Robin Hood: Legend or Leader? Advanced English 9

The Middle Ages: The Myth Modern assumptions include of knights in shining armor, lavish banquets, wandering minstrels, kings, queens, bishops, monks, pilgrims, and glorious pageantry. In film and in literature, medieval life seems heroic, entertaining, and romantic.

The Middle Ages: The Reality In reality, life in the Middle Ages, a period that extended from approximately the 5th century to the 15th century in Western Europe, could also be harsh, uncertain, and dangerous.

The Peasants At the lowest level of society were the peasants, also called serfs. The lord offered his peasants protection in exchange for living and working on his land.

Hard Work & High Taxes Peasants worked hard to cultivate the land and produce the goods that the lord and his manor needed. They were heavily taxed and were required to relinquish much of what they harvested.

Women: Household Chores Whether they were nobles or peasants, women held a difficult position in society. They were largely confined to household tasks such as cooking, baking bread, sewing, weaving, and spinning. Traditional (patriarchal) gender roles

Four Humors The body was viewed as a part of the universe, a concept derived from the Greeks and Romans. Four humors, or body fluids, were directly related to the four elements. Fire: yellow bile or choler Water: phlegm Earth: black bile Air: blood. These four humors had to be balanced. Too much of one was thought to cause a change in personality--for example, too much black bile could create melancholy.

What is a legend? 1. “An unverified story handed down from earlier times, especially one popularly believed to be historical.” Very similar to myth 2. ‘An extremely famous or notorious person.’

Medieval Literary record First mentioned in the 1370’s by aristocrat William Langland Merry Men do not appear until 14th century versions of the tale Friar Tuck and Maid Marian do not appear in this version (not until late 15th century

Literary record continued Price John is not consistently the villain of the Robin Hood narratives Robin Hood’s depiction as a talented swordsman and archer not included in early versions; not until 17th century “Rob the rich to give to the poor” not added to the legend until the 19th century

Dominant theories 1. Robin Hood embodies a combination of medieval outlaws (William Wallace, Herewald the Wake) - local folkloric competition 2. Robin Hood represents a “ballad-muse” or folkloric stock character - narratives that encourage alliance with criminals often act as anti-government propaganda - resistance to unpopular monarchs & authority

Dominant theories 3. Robin Hood as a common alias used by medieval thieves - roving bands of outlaws were common - way for outlaws to communicate on social fringes 4. Robin Hood was a real, aristocratic (or servile) figure who was either from Yorkshire or Nottinghamshire who most likely supported Richard 1 (Lionheart) but was driven to outlawry during the Third Crusade - Richard 1 (1189-1190) - Rule of Prince John notoriously misguided (heavy taxes) (1199-1216)