''Robyn Hod and the Shryff off Notyngham'' is the manuscript fragment of a late medieval play about

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 ...

, the earliest known Robin Hood playscript and the only surviving medieval script of a Robin Hood play. The manuscript dates from c1475, that is it is approximately as old as the earliest copies of the ballads. In addition to being incomplete the script has no scene or stage directions, and does not identify speakers, so it offers uncertainties of interpretation. However it has been interpreted as telling essentially the same story as

Robin Hood and Guy of Gisborne Robin Hood and Guy of Gisborne is Child Ballad 118, part of the Percy collection. It introduces and disposes of Guy of Gisborne who remains next to the Sheriff of Nottingham the chief villain of the Robin Hood Robin Hood is a legendary he ...

. If correct this would confirm the medieval origin of the Gisbourne story. The play is also important for containing the earliest reference to

Friar Tuck Friar Tuck is one of the legendary Merry Men, the band of heroic outlaws in the folklore of Robin Hood. History The figure of the jovial friar was common in the May Games festivals of England and Scotland during the 15th through 17th centur ...

,"ffrere Tuke", as a member of Robin Hood's band. The manuscript is preserved in the library of

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge or Oxford. ...

. A number of scholars agree that it was probably originally part of the papers associated with the

Paston Letters The ''Paston Letters'' is a collection of correspondence between members of the Paston family of Norfolk gentry and others connected with them in England between the years 1422 and 1509. The collection also includes state papers and other impor ...

and is the Robin Hood play referred to in a 1473 letter by Sir John Paston, "presumably acted before the Paston household in the 1470s" Dobson and Taylor, Rhymes of Robyn Hood, pages 203-4

References

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External links

''Robin Hood and the Sheriff''
audio adaptation at Beyond Shakespeare Robin Hood

References

Further reading

External links