Robin Hood and the Monk

Ballad
Child	119
Title	Robin Hood and the Monk
Versions	1
Variants	2
Stanzas	90
Date	c. 1450

By Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2013-08-15. Revised by Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2022-05-27.

Plot

On their way to Nottingham to hear mass Robin Hood and Little John shoot for a wager. John wins, but Robin will not admit defeat. They quarrel, Robin hits John who returns to Sherwood in anger, while Robin proceeds alone to mass in Nottingham only to be recognized by a monk who summons the sheriff. After a valiant but hopeless struggle Robin is taken prisoner by the sheriff's posse. By some unknown means – there is a lacuna in the MS here – news of this is brought to the outlaws in Sherwood. Little John and Much intercept and kill the treacherous monk and his page who were on their way to the king in London bearing news from the sheriff of the capture of the outlaw. John and Much bring the letter to the king who gives them a reward and sends them back to the sheriff with notice that Robin is to be sent to him. Back in Nottingham, John and Much sleep over at the sheriff's after much dining and wining, but in the dead of night when the master of the household lies in a drunken sleep, they set Robin free after summarily dispatching the sheriff's porter. Once back in the forest Robin and John are soon reconciled. The king forgives the sheriff for letting Robin slip, for after all the king let himself be duped by Little John as much as the sheriff did.

Editions

Scholarly collections

• Child, Francis James, ed.; [Kittredge, G. L.], ed.; [Ireland, Catharine Innes], bibl. The English and Scottish Popular Ballads (Boston and New York; Cambridge, Massachusetts; London, ©1882-98), vol. III, pp. 94-101
• Cook, Albert Stanburrough, ed. A Literary Middle English Reader (Boston; New York; Chicago; London; Atlanta; Dallas; Columbus; San Francisco, ©1915), pp. 158-66; some stanzas omitted
• Gummere, Francis Barton, ed. Old English Ballads (Boston; New York; Chicago; London, ©1894), pp. 77-89; notes, pp. 321-22
  • Gummere, Francis Barton, ed. Old English Ballads (Boston; New York; Chicago; London, [1914]), pp. 77-89; notes, pp. 321-22
• Hodgart, Matthew, ed. The Faber Book of Ballads (London, © 1965), pp. 81-93, note pp. 252-53

Translations

German

• Grün, Anastasius, transl. Robin Hood. Ein Balladenkranz nach Altenglischen Volksliedern (Stuttgart, 1864), pp. 89-102: "Robin Hoods Kirchengang"; notes, pp. 212-14.
  • Grün, Anastasius, transl.; Frankl, Ludwig August, ed. Anastasius Grüns Gesammelte Werke (Berlin, 1877), pp. 236-47: "Robin Hoods Kirchengang".

Studies and criticism

• Ohlgren, Thomas; Matheson, Lister M. 'Robin Hood and the Monk and the Manuscript Context of Cambridge University Library MS Ff. 5.48, with Dialect Analysis of CUL MS Ff. 5.48 80-115', Nottingham Medieval Studies, vol. XLVIII (2004), pp. 80-115.
• Pearsall, Derek. 'Little John and the ballad of Robin Hood and the Monk', in: Phillips, Helen, ed. Robin Hood: Medieval and Post-Medieval (Dublin, 2005), pp. 42-50.

Translations

German

• Grün, Anastasius, transl. Robin Hood. Ein Balladenkranz nach Altenglischen Volksliedern (Stuttgart, 1864), pp. 89-102: "Robin Hoods Kirchengegang".
  • Grün, Anastasius, transl.; Frankl, Ludwig August, ed. Anastasius Grüns Gesammelte Werke (Berlin, 1877), pp. 236-47: "Robin Hoods Kirchengegang".

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