folklore Folklore is the body of expressive culture shared by a particular group of people, culture or subculture. This includes oral traditions such as Narrative, tales, myths, legends, proverbs, Poetry, poems, jokes, and other oral traditions. This also ...

, Jack o' Legs (also spelled Jack O'Legs) is a

giant In folklore, giants (from Ancient Greek: ''wiktionary:gigas, gigas'', cognate wiktionary:giga-, giga-) are beings of humanoid appearance, but are at times prodigious in size and strength or bear an otherwise notable appearance. The word ''gia ...

from

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. Jack is said to have been an

archer Archery is the sport, practice, or skill of using a bow to shoot arrows.Paterson ''Encyclopaedia of Archery'' p. 17 The word comes from the Latin ''arcus'', meaning bow. Historically, archery has been used for hunting and combat. In modern ...

who, like

Robin Hood Robin Hood is a legendary noble outlaw, heroic outlaw originally depicted in English folklore and subsequently featured in literature, theatre, and cinema. According to legend, he was a highly skilled archer and swordsman. In some versions o ...

, robbed the rich to give to the poor. His supposed grave is in the churchyard of

Holy Trinity Church, Weston Holy Trinity Church is the parish church for the village of Weston, Hertfordshire, Weston in Hertfordshire. The church building stands to the south-east of the village on high ground, and is built of flint and coursed ironstone rubble. It was Gra ...

Legend

According to local legend, Jack lived in a cave in a wood at

Weston Weston may refer to: Places Australia * Weston, Australian Capital Territory, a suburb of Canberra * Weston, New South Wales * Weston Creek, a residential district of Canberra * Weston Park, Canberra, a park Canada * Weston, Nova Scotia * W ...

near the mediaeval town of

Baldock Baldock ( ) is a historic market town in the North Hertfordshire district of Hertfordshire, England. The River Ivel rises from springs in the town. It lies north of London and north northwest of the county town of Hertford. Nearby towns inc ...

. When one year there was a poor harvest the Baldock bakers raised the price of flour, so Jack ambushed the bakers on the road to Graveley and gave the flour to his friends in Weston. In some versions of the story he also overturned the bakers' market stalls in Baldock. In revenge, the bakers caught and blinded him. They gave him a final wish before he was to be hanged. Jack asked to be pointed in the direction of Weston, so he could shoot an arrow with his bow. Where the arrow landed, he wished to be buried. The bakers gave him his huge bow which nobody else could pull. He shot his arrow three miles, into the churchyard of Holy Trinity Church, Weston, which is where he was buried.

Basis

Jack has many similarities to

Jack in the Green Jack in the Green, also known as Jack o' the Green, is an English folk custom associated with the celebration of May Day. It involves a pyramidal or conical wicker or wooden framework that is decorated with foliage being worn by a person as pa ...

or the

Green Man The Green Man, also known as a foliate head, is a motif in architecture and art, of a face made of, or completely surrounded by, foliage, which normally spreads out from the centre of the face. Apart from a purely decorative function, the Green ...

, a popular figure from English folklore derived from prechristian fertility cults. He preferred living in caves and woodland and had a disregard for authority. There are also similarities to the

woses The wild man, wild man of the woods, woodwose or wodewose is a mythical figure and motif that appears in the art and literature of medieval Europe, comparable to the satyr or faun type in classical mythology and to '' Silvanus'', the Roman god of ...

or wildmen carved inside many English churches, but unusually in this instance Jack is the hero rather than a sidekick similar to

Little John Little John is a companion of Robin Hood who serves as his chief lieutenant and second-in-command of the Merry Men. He is one of only a handful of consistently named characters who relate to Robin Hood and one of the two oldest Merry Men, alo ...

. The representation of the Bakers of Baldock may be a satire on the

Knights Templar The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, mainly known as the Knights Templar, was a Military order (religious society), military order of the Catholic Church, Catholic faith, and one of the most important military ord ...

who founded the town. This monastic order would have been able to dictate bread prices because they owned the banks, the surrounding farmland, the flour mills, and the marketplace. They also had the power to punish thieves and outlaws.

History

A polemical poem attacking

Cardinal Wolsey Thomas Wolsey ( ; – 29 November 1530) was an English statesman and Catholic cardinal. When Henry VIII became King of England in 1509, Wolsey became the king's almoner. Wolsey's affairs prospered and by 1514 he had become the controlling f ...

, ''Speak Parrot'', by John Skelton, written c. 1521, mentions that "The gibbett of Baldock was made for Jack Leg". Baldock was founded c. 1148, so the legend dates from after that time. The practice described in the legend of capturing and locally executing a person caught in the act of stealing, called

infangthief Infangthief and outfangthief were privileges granted to feudal lords (and various corporate bodies such as abbeys and cities) under Anglo-Saxon law by the kings of England. They permitted their bearers to execute summary justice (including capital ...

, is early mediaeval.

Nathanael Salmon Nathanael (or Nathaniel) Salmon (22 March 1675 – 2 April 1742) was an English antiquary who wrote books on Roman and other antiquities to be found in the south-east of England. He was not well respected as a scholar in his time or subsequently ...

recorded the legend in his 1728 ''History of Hertfordshire''.

Legacy

Two stones, supposed to be apart, mark the head and foot of Jack's grave. The field on the site of Jack's cave is called 'The Cave' and the neighbouring field is called 'Weston Wood'. A steep incline on the Great North Road near Graveley is called "

Jack’s Hill Stevenage ( ) is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, about north of London. Stevenage is east of junctions 7 and 8 of the A1(M), between Letchworth Garden City to the north and Welwyn Garden City to the south. In 1946, Stevenage was ...

". There is a Jack o' Legs storyboard sign on Weston village green. Jack is a popular namesake for strong ales produced in Hertfordshire. Tring Brewery and Six Hills Brewery brew an

ale Ale is a style of beer, brewed using a warm fermentation method. In medieval England, the term referred to a drink brewed without hops. As with most beers, ale typically has a bittering agent to balance the malt and act as a preservative. Ale ...

named after Jack o' Legs.Six Hills artwork
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References

External links

* ttp://www.mythsandlegends.com/mythsandlegends/story37-the-giant-jack-olegs.html The Giant Jack O'Legs (animated story) {{DEFAULTSORT:Jack Olegs Burials in Hertfordshire Legendary English people Hertfordshire folklore People from North Hertfordshire District Baldock English giants Robin Hood Medieval legends Wild men