Nottingham

From International Robin Hood Bibliography
Locality
Coordinate 52.954783, -1.158109
Adm. div. Nottinghamshire
Vicinity In Nottinghamshire
Type Settlement
Interest Literary locale
Status Extant
First Record c. 1450
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Nottingham.

By Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2013-08-07. Revised by Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2021-01-07.

Nottingham, the hometown of the sheriff, is the (or a) locale in the vast majority of Robin Hood ballads, beginning with Robin Hood and the Monk (c. 1450). First recorded as "Snotengaham" in A.D. 895, the accepted etymology of "Nottingham" is "[t]he ham [homestead] of the people of Snot",[1] the latter being a man's name.

Allusions

1638 - Braithwaite, Richard - Barnabee's Journal (1)

[Latin text:]
Veni Nottingam, tyrones
Sherwoodenses sunt Latrones,
Instar Robin Hood & Servi
Scarlet, & Johannes Parvi;
Passim, sparsim peculantur,
Cellis, Sylvis deprædantur.

[English text:]
Thence to Nottingam, where rovers
High-way riders, Sherwood drovers,
Like old Robin-Hood, and Scarlet,
Or like Little John his varlet;
Here and there they shew them doughty,
Cells and Woods to get their booty.[2]

Nottingham in the ballads

Date Source Nottingham Sheriff of Nottingham
c. 1500 Gest of Robyn Hode Sts. 178:3, 205:1. 289:1, 325:1, 332:3, 337:3, 344:1, 354:1, 365:2, 369:3, 370:3, 380:1, 384:3, 422:3, 423:3, 427:1. Sts. 15:3, 146:3, 282:3, 313:3, 317:3, 329:3.

Gazetteers

Sources

Maps

Also see

Notes