Robin Hood's Chase is Child ballad 146 and a sequel to Child ballad 145, "

Robin Hood and Queen Katherine "Robin Hood and Queen Katherine" is Child ballad 145. " Robin Hood's Chase", Child ballad 146, takes up after it. Synopsis Robin befriends Queen Katherine. When King Henry offers a large wager that his archers cannot be excelled, she summons Robi ...

". This song has survived as, among other forms, a late seventeenth-century English broadside

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or ''ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...

. It is one of several ballads about the medieval folk hero that form part of the

Child Ballads The Child Ballads are 305 traditional ballads from England and Scotland, and their American variants, anthologized by Francis James Child during the second half of the 19th century. Their lyrics and Child's studies of them were published as '' ...

, a comprehensive collection of traditional English and Scottish ballads.

Synopsis

The tale opens with a recount of the archery contest in "Robin Hood and Queen Katherine", for which Queen Katherine has wagered "three hundred

Tun TUN or tun may refer to: Biology * Tun shells, large sea snails of the family ''Tonnidae'' * Tun, a tardigrade in its cryptobiotic state * Tun or Toon, common name for trees of the genus '' Toona'' Places * Tun, Sweden, a locality in Västra G ...

of good red wine / and three hundred Tun of Beer" (2.4-5).The parenthetical citations in this synopsis refer to the stanzas and lines of
text transcription
of a 17th-century

broadside ballad A broadside (also known as a broadsheet) is a single sheet of inexpensive paper printed on one side, often with a ballad, rhyme, news and sometimes with woodcut illustrations. They were one of the most common forms of printed material between th ...

version of this tale held in the Pepys collection at Magdalene College, Cambridge. She summons Robin Hood to tell him of the match and Robin agrees to it, with the proviso that if he misses the mark, whether it be light or dark, he will be hanged. Robin wins the match against the Queen's archers, but King Henry (possibly intended as

Henry VIII of England Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...

) is angry that he has won and pursues Robin in a very long chase through many towns, including

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

, Berwick, and many others. At first, Robin is protected by the Queen, but he must flee the court before the King returns. The first village the King visits in pursuit of Robin Hood is Nottingham, where Robin is hiding in

Sherwood Forest Sherwood Forest is a royal forest in Nottinghamshire, England, famous because of its historic association with the legend of Robin Hood. The area has been wooded since the end of the Last Glacial Period (as attested by pollen sampling cor ...

. But the King hears Robin and knows he is there, and so

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, al ...

suggests they flee to

; from there, Robin Hood and his men pass through the fore-mentioned towns and others besides. Finally, Robin decides they should go to

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

; perhaps the King is chasing them because the Queen wishes to see Robin. When he meets the Queen in London, he tells her he is there to see the King and the Queen tells him of the King's pursuit to Sherwood. Robin tells her he will then go back to Sherwood to speak to Henry. The King returns after Robin has left the court, and when he hears that Robin has been there he says "Dame fortune" has been "unkind" and calls Robin a "cunning knave" (21.5, 23.4). Hearing this, the Queen begs Henry to pardon Robin Hood's life and so the chase comes to an end.

Notes

References

Bibliography

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External links

* * Link to a facsimile sheet of an early modern version of this ballad at th
English Broadside Ballad Archive
at th
University of California, Santa Barbara
* Link to an audio recording of this ballad

* Link to the website of The Robin Hood Project, a collection of webpages chronicling the development of

Robin Hood Robin Hood is a legendary heroic outlaw originally depicted in English folklore and subsequently featured in literature and film. According to legend, he was a highly skilled archer and swordsman. In some versions of the legend, he is dep ...

from his medieval origins to modern depictions, at th
Robbins Library
at the

University of Rochester The University of Rochester (U of R, UR, or U of Rochester) is a private university, private research university in Rochester, New York. The university grants Undergraduate education, undergraduate and graduate degrees, including Doctorate, do ...

* Link to a fairly comprehensive website on all things Robin Hood, including historical background on the real Robin Hood and other characters of the legend, texts and recordings of Robin Hood stories, resources for teachers and students, information about adaptations, and more

{{Francis James Child Child Ballads Robin Hood ballads

Synopsis

See also

Notes

References

Bibliography

External links