Robin Hood's Death is the 120th ballad 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 '' ...

collection published by

Houghton Mifflin The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , ''asteriskos'', "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often voc ...

. The fragmentary

Percy Folio The Percy Folio is a folio book of English ballads used by Thomas Percy to compile his '' Reliques of Ancient Poetry''. Although the manuscript itself was compiled in the 17th century, some of its material goes back well into the 12th century. It ...

version of it appears to be one of the oldest existing tales 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 ...

; there is a synopsis of the story in the fifteenth century A Gest of Robyn Hode. The name of Roger of

Doncaster Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated in ...

refers to a town near Barnsdale, where early ballads placed Robin Hood.

Synopsis

In the fragmentary

version, dating from the 17th century, Robin Hood goes to get himself bled (a common medieval medical practice) by his cousin, a prioress. He refuses a bodyguard that

Will Scarlet Scarlet (also Scarlett, Scarlock, Scadlock, Scatheloke, Scathelocke and Shacklock) is a prominent member of Robin Hood's Merry Men. He is present in the earliest ballads along with Little John and Much the Miller's Son. The confusion of surn ...

offers and takes only

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 ...

with him. The prioress treacherously lets out too much blood, killing him, or her lover Sir Roger of Doncaster stabs him while he's weak, in revenge for Robin's family having inherited his land and title. Robin Hood claims some consolation, though, in that he mortally wounds Roger prior to his own demise. Little John wishes to avenge him, but Robin forbids it, because he has never harmed a woman. An old woman appears early on the journey, "banning" Robin Hood. The manuscript breaks off for half a page, with outlaws asking why she is doing so. "Banning" is usually taken as "cursing" him, but may mean "lamenting"—predicting his death and weeping in advance. In the next surviving fragment, Robin Hood appears to be reassuring someone who has warned him he is going to his death. The later broadside version of this ballad, first recorded in 1786, omits the mysterious people (or person) Robin Hood meets on his way, and Sir Roger of Doncaster, but adds the detail that Robin Hood shoots one final arrow and asks to be buried where it falls. The broadside is first recorded around the time that the Percy Folio version was first published, in the mid-eighteenth century. This is now the most common account of Robin Hood's death. See

Robin Hood and the Valiant Knight ''Robin Hood and the Valiant Knight'' is an 18th century ballad of the death of Robin Hood. The song, written in Modern English, was included in the popular "garlands" (collections) of Robin Hood stories and songs published in the 18th and early 1 ...

for a different version that commonly appeared in the Robin Hood "garlands" or collections, and also in A True Tale of Robin Hood. This version inspired the film ''

Robin and Marian ''Robin and Marian'' is a 1976 British-American romantic adventure film from Columbia Pictures, shot in Panavision and Technicolor, that was directed by Richard Lester and written by James Goldman after the legend of Robin Hood. The film stars Sea ...

'', in which it is Robin's lover, Maid Marian, now a nun, who is his downfall, poisoning Robin and then herself when he suffers serious wounds in his final battle with the Sheriff of Nottingham, Marian wanting to spare him the personal anguish of living while incapable of being what he once was.

References

External links

''Robin Hood's Death''
{{Robin Hood Child Ballads Robin Hood ballads Houghton Mifflin books