1521 - Major, John - Historia Maioris Britanniae
Allusion | |
---|---|
Date | 1521 |
Author | Major, John |
Title | Historia Maioris Britanniae, tam Angliae quam Scotiae (A History of Greater Britain as well England as Scotland) |
Mentions | Robin Hood; Little John |
By Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2017-05-12. Revised by Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2021-01-07. PDF from Robert Lynley.
Allusion
Circa hæc tempora vt auguror Robertus Hudus Anglus & paruus Ioannes latrones famatissimi in nemoribus latuerunt, solum opulentorum virorum bona diripientes. Nullum nisi eos inuadentem vel resistentem pro suarum rerum tuitione occiderunt. Centum sagittarios ad pugnam aptissimos Robertus latrociniis aluit, quos .400. viri fortissimi inuadere non audebant. Rebus huius Roberti gestis tota Britannia in cantibus vtitur. fæminam nullam opprimi permisit, nec pauperum bona surripuit, verum eos ex abbatum bonis ablatis opipare pauit, viri rapinam improbo, sed latronum omnium humanissimus & princeps erat.[1]
[Archibald Constable's translation:]
About this time it was, as I conceive, that there flourished those most famous robbers Robert Hood, an Englishman, and Little John, who lay in wait in the woods, but spoiled of their goods those only that were wealthy. They took the life of no man, unless either he attacked them or off'ered resistance in defence of his property. Robert supported by his plundering one hundred bowmen, ready fighters every one, with whom four hundred of the strongest would not dare to engage in combat. The feats of this Robert are told in sons: all over Britain. He would allow no woman to suffer injustice, nor would he spoil [p. 157:] the poor, but rather enriched them from the plunder taken from abbots. The robberies of this man I condemn, but of all robbers he was the humanest and the chief.1[2]
Source notes
IRHB's brackets.
Marginal note in the Latin text: "Latrones Angliæ, Robertus hudus, Ioannes paruus". Translated by Archibal Constable: "The English robbers, Robert Hood and Little John".[3]
Note 1 to Constable's translation: "Camden (Britannia, p. 642, ed. 1600) quotes Major as his authority for the story of Robin Hood. For another early Scottish reference to the
story, see Mr. Æ. J. G. Mackay's William Dunbar, Introd. pp. ccliv.-cclvi. Major calls Robin Hood 'Robertus Hudus'."[4]
IRHB comments
The passage comes at the end of a chapter on King Richard I, sandwiched in between the death of that monarch and the accession of King John.
Lists
- Dobson, R. B., ed.; Taylor, J., ed. Rymes of Robyn Hood: an Introduction to the English Outlaw (London, 1976), p. 315.
- 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, p. 271.
Editions
- Major, John. Historia Maioris Britanniae, tam Angliae quam Scotiae ([Paris:], [1521]), sig. g7v.
- Major, John; Constable, Archibald, transl. & ed.; Mackay, Æneas J.G., introd. A History of Greater Britain as well England as Scotland (Publications of the Scottish History Society, vol. 10) (Edinburgh, 1892), pp. 156-57.
Discussion
- TEAMS Middle English Texts Series: From John Major's Historia Majoris Brittaniae (1521)] (University of Rochester).
Citations
- TEAMS Middle English Texts Series: From John Major's Historia Majoris Brittaniae (1521)] (University of Rochester).
Also see
Notes
- ↑ Major, John. Historia Maioris Britanniae, tam Angliae quam Scotiae ([Paris:], [1521]), sig. g7v.
- ↑ Major, John; Constable, Archibald, transl. & ed.; Mackay, Æneas J.G., introd. A History of Greater Britain as well England as Scotland (Publications of the Scottish History Society, vol. 10) (Edinburgh, 1892), pp. 156-57.
- ↑ Major, John; Constable, Archibald, transl. & ed.; Mackay, Æneas J.G., introd. A History of Greater Britain as well England as Scotland (Publications of the Scottish History Society, vol. 10) (Edinburgh, 1892), p. 156.
- ↑ Major, John; Constable, Archibald, transl. & ed.; Mackay, Æneas J.G., introd. A History of Greater Britain as well England as Scotland (Publications of the Scottish History Society, vol. 10) (Edinburgh, 1892), p. 157 n. 1.