Offers a comprehensive thematic introduction to a wide range of medieval writings about the outlaw-hero from a series of different historical perspectives. By the fifteenth century, churchmen were complaining that laypeople preferred to hear stories about Robin Hood rather than to listen to the word of God. But what was the attraction of this outlaw for contemporary audiences? The essays collected here seek to examine the outlaw's legend in relation to late medieval society, politics and piety. They set out the different types of evidence which give us access to representations of Robin and his men in the pre-Reformation period, ask whether stories about the outlaw had any basis in reality and explore the many different purposes for which his legend was adapted. The volume is divided into six parts: the sources for the medieval legend of Robin Hood and its origins; social structure; social conflict; kingship, law and warfare; piety and the church; and the outlaw's legend in Wales and Scotland. Key issues addressed by its essays include the dating of the surviving tales, attitudes to social hierarchy, representations of gender and masculinity, the extent to which the tales drew upon or shaped contemporary attitudes towards law and justice, the development of Robin Hood plays and games, and whether the legend emerged from or appealed to particular social groups. It not only sheds new light on a character who, whether "real" or not, is one of the most important and memorable figures in the history of medieval England but also explores the extent to which the outlaw became popular in Scotland and Wales.

About the Author
STEPHEN H. RIGBY is Emeritus Professor of Medieval Social and Economic History at the University of Manchester, UK. ALEX T. BROWN is Associate Professor of Medieval History at Durham University. DAVID CROOK, now retired, spent his working life in The National Archives, where he became immersed in the extensive surviving early records of the English royal administration and common law. From those sources have emerged important findings which may identify a real criminal as the original of the legendary English outlaw Robin Hood. Anne Curry is Emeritus Professor of Medieval History at the University of Southampton, and author of many works on the Hundred Years War, particularly on the battle of Agincourt. She also edited the 1422-53 section of the Parliament Rolls of Medieval England. LOUISA FOROUGHI is Assistant Professor of History at Lafayette College. Helen Fulton is Chair of Medieval Literature at the University of Bristol. MARTIN HEALE is Reader in Medieval History at the University of Liverpool. KATHERINE J. LEWIS is a Senior Lecturer in History at the University of Huddersfield. JOHN MARSHALL is a Senior Research Fellow in Theatre at the University of Bristol. Shannon McSheffrey is Professor of History at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada. She has written five books and numerous articles and chapters on aspects of English society, culture, and politics between 1400 and 1550. She is currently at work on the Evil May Day anti-immigrant riot in London in 1517. ANTHONY MUSSON is Head of Research at Historic Royal Palaces. STEPHEN H. RIGBY is Emeritus Professor of Medieval Social and Economic History at the University of Manchester, UK. Andrew M. Spencer is a Senior Tutor of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge and Associate Lecturer of the University of Cambridge. He is a historian of politics and the constitution of England in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries and has written extensively on the constitutional, political, military and social role of the nobility in particular.


Book Information
ISBN 9781843846697
Author Stephen H Rigby
Format Hardback
Page Count 498
Imprint D.S. Brewer
Publisher Boydell & Brewer Ltd