In his “Notes and Illustrations,” Joseph Ritson makes reference to Harleian MS 367, which dates from the time of Henry VIII’s Reformation, in which the name of Robin Hood is used to satirise the Catholic Church and the Reformers. It was probably written by someone who was sick of the theological spats back and forth between the two factions.[1] I found this especially interesting given my fascination with political appropriations of Robin Hood’s name in texts such as “Robin Hood and the Duke of Lancaster” and “Little John’s Answer to Robin Hood and the Duke of Lancaster” (a publication of mine which was surprising covered the Sun newspaper…) as well as parodies in the Victorian era’s Punch magazine such as “The Railway Robin Hood.”
The piece is written, as so many “morality pieces” were in the early modern period, in the format of a dialogue between two or several actors. The list of works appearing with the phrase “dialogue wise” in this period is countless. Very briefly put: If there was a social, theological, or political issue at stake, each character would take sides and the “correct” view (that of writer) was supposed to shine through.
In this tale, two characters named Watt and Jeffrey have a discussion about religion, and Watt decides to use the characters of Robin Hood, Little John, and Adam Bell (another famous outlaw of Robin Hood’s time) to represent certain levels of the Church.
The notes which accompany this tale are present on the manuscript itself. The notes which I have added appear enclosed within [square brackets]. The original spelling has been retained (particularly difficult ones are glossed by myself in the notes, although I think most educated readers will grasp the meaning in spite of the early modern spelling). The full title of the tale is as follows:
*
A Tale of Robin Hood, dialouge wise, between Watt and Jeffry. The morall is the overthrowe of the abbyes, the like being attented by the Puritane, which is the wolfe: and the Poletecian which is the ffox, agayst the bushops.
ROBIN HOOD: BUSHOP.
ADAM BELL: ABBOT.
LLITTLE JHON: COLLEANGE OR THE UNIVERSITY
JEFFRY. Watt boy, whether now so faste?
Why man, what needs all this haste?
Ffrolicke man, for I have seen
Both our flocks in yonder greene,
Hadst then come but heere away:
Thou hadste seene a pretty fraye.
JEFFRY. Two fatt rams for one leane ewe.
With sutch force each other battred
That their heads were bothe beemattred;
So all three were in one plighte,
Shee with leanesse, they with fight.
WATT. Rest they then if they bee weary
And make wee a little mery:
Tale wee, Jeffry, in this shade
Till the soonn begginn to glade;
Thy loves storye of thy Cyss
Wowlde deleghte mee more then this.
JEFFRY. Watt stay there; for love I ceare not,
Leave out love, and speake, and spare not.
Talke of Bevis,[4] fighter peerlesse,
Or of Ascleparte the fearlesse;
Talke of lyons and wonders,
Lightnings flashe, or raores of thonders;
Fyre and hayle, and stormes of blood:
Or tell a tale of Robinhoode.
WATT. Pitty twere hee that showlde ease thee,
Shoudle relate things cannot please thee;
Thy loves eager sawce I feare
Wowlde wax sharper than with this geare.
Jeffry, and I durst not venter
Put thy sorowes on the tenter:
Of Robin Hoode I can thee tell
With little John and Adam Bell.[5]
JEFFRY. Than tell me of those iolly markmen
Whiles our flocks go feeding.
WATT. Hark then:
Robin Hoode, as thou dost know,
Was[6] the firste that drewe the bowe.
Adam Bell rose up anon:
Last of all came little John.
Robin in the greate heate,
Gott his levinge by his sweate;
Hee did encounter monsters fell
In forest wide and did them quell.
Him ne’re Chimaira could affrighte,
Nor monster men with giants hight;
The flying dragon scap’te him not
So strong hee drewe, so righte hee shot,
Even that Leviathan remorceless
Shott down to hell did feele his forces.
With bowe and arrowes by his side,
Hee walkt the woodes and forests wide.
When the worlde for helpe did cry,
And good archers were sett by,
He taught Adam to deliver,
Hee the first that gave him quiver;
Gave him bowe and arrowes sure,
Gave him goodly furniture.
Hee tooke Adam by ye hande;
Hee lead Adam throug the lande;
He plas’te Adam in the playne
By the rivers christall veyne.
When the worlde was calme at laste,
And all danger now was paste.
Little John, who doth not see
What good Robin did for thee?
On two mounteyenes[7] he the planted
Fful of springs which never standed:
Whence large rivers rann amayne
Into Adam’s fruitfull playne
Two fayre mounteynes thou doste holde,
Full of pretious stones and goold;
Which the worlde so mucth sets by
As the body doth the eye.
Adam Bell was ware and wise
When hee firste beegann to rise,
Till with fatness of his fare
Hee grew iolly past all care.
As the bee in sommers prime
Sucks the marigoolde and thyme,
Sucks the rose and daffodill,
Leavinge takinge what hee will;
And from flowre to flowre doth glyde
Sweetly by the rivers side,
Where christall streames delightfull ronninges
Ar ever sweetned with his hummings.
Sucth was Adam in his prime,
In the flower of his tyme.
So hee tasted every sweete,
Till with fat thee fell a sleepe.
As he slombred on the dale
Spread vpon the gentle vale,
Chann’ste a lyon[8] came that way,
Hongry, pantinge for his pray.
In his grasping pawes hee hente him,
And in pieces all to rente him;
Then his quiver by his side,
As a spoile hee did divide,
And his bowe and arrowes sure,
And his goodly furniture;
Yeat his cabin doth remayne
Beaten with wynde and rayne,
Spoyled of all the passers by,
Whose huge frame doth testify
Of that wondrous monyment,
All the world’s astonishment.
When the wolves and foxes sawe,
Adam in the lyons pawe,
Ours is Robin, streight they cry’de,
And sett him round on every side.
[1]The piece was first reprinted in John Mathew Gutch’s Lytell Geste of Robin Hode (London, 2 vols, 1847), II, 39–44.
[2] [Thee]
[3] [show]
[4] [Bevis of Hampton, a hero of old ballads and songs]
[5] [Adam Bell, another famous outlaw reputedly of the time of Robin Hood]
[6] Byshops were firste in the primitive churche, in the heate of persecution, then succeeded monastreyes, in calmer tymes; and last of all colleages: of either which bushops were principall and firste founders.
[7] Univers. Ox., Cam.
[8] King Henry
Categories: 16th Century, Robin Hood