1419 - Walsingham, John - Reply of Friar Daw Topias

By Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2013-08-07. Revised by Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2020-05-17.

Allusion

On old Englis it is seid "unkissid is unknowun,"
And many men speken of Robyn Hood and shotte nevere in his bowe.

IRHB comments

This is an early occurrence of the well-known proverb. The Reply of Friar Daw Topias, wriiten in 1419-1420, is usually attributed to John Walsingham.

Notes

Editions

• Anonymous. Bodleian MS Digby 41 (c.1450).
• Wright, Thomas, ed. Political Poems and Songs relating to English History, composed during the Period from the Accession of Edw. III. to that of Ric. III (London, 1859-61), vol. II. Allusion p. 59.
• Walsingham, John; Heyworth, Peter Lorrimer, ed. Jack Upland, Friar Daw's Reply, and Upland's Rejoinder (London, 1968). Allusion p. 80.
• Dean, James M., ed. Six Ecclesiastical Satires (TEAMS Middle English Texts Series) (Kalamazoo, Mich., 1991).
• James, ed. Six Ecclesiastical Satires: Friar Daw's Reply (TEAMS Texts) (online source).

Lists

• Not included in: Dobson, R. B., ed.; Taylor, J., ed. Rymes of Robyn Hood: an Introduction to the English Outlaw (London, 1976).
• Sussex, Lucy, compil. 'References to Robin Hood up to 1600', in: Knight, Stephen. Robin Hood: A Complete Study of the English Outlaw (Oxford, UK; Cambridge, Massachusetts: Blackwell, 1994), pp. 262-88, see p. 264.

Brief mention

• Dobson, R. B., ed.; Taylor, J., ed. Rymes of Robyn Hood: an Introduction to the English Outlaw (London, 1976), p. 2 & n. 4. Cites the allusion as the "most perfect expression" of the proverb, dating the source 1419-20.
• Hilton, R.H. 'Introduction', in: Hilton, R.H., ed. Peasants, Knights and Heretics: Studies in Medieval English Social History (Cambridge, London, New York, Melbourne, 1976), pp. 1-9, see p. 7.
• Holt, J.C. 'The Origins and Audience of the Ballads of Robin Hood', Past & Present, No. 18 (1960), pp. 89-110, see pp. 98, 109 n. 2. Cites the allusion as an occurrence of the proverb to which Chaucer alludes in Troilus and Criseyde.
• Holt, J.C. 'The Origins and Audience of the Ballads of Robin Hood', in: Hilton, R.H., ed. Peasants, Knights and Heretics: Studies in Medieval English Social History (Cambridge, London, New York, Melbourne, 1976), pp. 236-57, p. 247 & n. 42.
• Holt, J. C. 'The Origins and Audience of the Ballads of Robin Hood', in: Knight, Stephen, ed. Robin Hood: Anthology of Scholarship and Criticism (Cambridge, 1999), pp. 211-32, p. 222 & n. 42.