Historical topics

By Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2013-07-12. Revised by Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2022-05-17.

Archery

• Bradbury, Jim. The Medieval Archer (Woodbridge, Suffolk, 1985). Important study of the medieval English (military) archer, includes chapter on Robin Hood (ch. 5, pp. 58-70)
• Davies, Jonathan. 'Painful Pastime versus Present Pleasure: Tudor Archery and the Law', Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research, vol. 85 (2007), pp. 224-36
• Harris, P. Valentine. Myth and Mystery in Archery History (Reading, ©1985)
• Hardy, Robert; Blyth, P.H., contrib.; Pratt, P.L., contrib.; Jones, Peter, contrib. Longbow: a Social and Military History (Cambridge, 1976)
• Harris, P. Valentine. 'The Influence of the Story of Robin Hood on Archery', Journal of the Society of Archer-Antiquaries, vol. 15 (1972), pp. 10-15
• Harris, P. Valentine. 'Early Archery from the Minstrels', Journal of the Society of Archer-Antiquaries, vol. 26 (1983), pp. 39-41
• Johnes, Martin. 'Archery, Romance and Elite Culture in England and Wales, c.1780–1840', History, vol. 89 (2004), pp. 193-208
• K., A. J. 'On Archery in England', Gentleman's Magazine, vol. CII (1832), pp. 113-16
• K., A. J. 'Archery in Finsbury Fields', Gentleman's Magazine, vol. CII (1832), pp. 209-13
• K., A. J. 'Archery in Finsbury Fields', Gentleman's Magazine, vol. CII (1832), pp. 299-302
• Meyrick, Sam R. 'Archery', Gentleman's Magazine, vol. CII (1832), p. 303
• Meyrick, S. R. 'Archery', Gentleman's Magazine, vol. CII (1832), pp. 599-602
• Moseley, Walter Michael. An Essay on Archery, describing the Practice of that Art in all Ages and Nations (Worcester; London, 1792)
  • Moseley, Walter Michael. An Essay on Archery (Wakefield, 1974)
• Moseley, [Walter Michael]. 'History of the English Long-Bow', Universal Magazine, vol. XC (1792), pp. 242-47; except from the 1792 monograph.
• N., J. G. 'Archery', Gentleman's Magazine, vol. CII (1832), pp. 594-99
• Rogers, Clifford J. 'The Development of the Longbow in Late Medieval England and "Technological Determinism"', Journal of Medieval History, vol. 37 (2011), pp. 321-41
• Woodcock, Matthew. 'Shooting for England: Configuring the Book and the Bow in Roger Ascham's "Toxophilus"', The Sixteenth Century Journal, vol. 41 (2010), pp. 1017-1038.

Audience of early tales

• Holt, J.C. 'The Origins and Audience of the Ballads of Robin Hood', Past & Present, No. 18 (1960), pp. 89-110 (reprinted 1976, 1981 and 1999)
• Tardiff, Richard. 'The "Mistery" of Robin Hood: A New Social Context for the Texts', in: Knight, Stephen, ed.; Mukherjee, S. N., ed. Words and Worlds: Studies in the Social Role of Verbal Culture (Sydney Studies in Society and Culture, No. 1) (Sydney, 1983), pp. 130-45

Crime, criminals, outlaws and outlawry

• Appleby, John C., ed.; Dalton, Paul, ed. Outlaws in Medieval and Early Modern England: Crime, Government and Society C. 1066–c. 1600 (Farnham, Surrey, 2009)
• Baildon, W. Paley. 'The Elland Feud', Yorkshire Archæological and Topographical Journal, vol. XI, part XLI (1890), pp. 128-30
• Bellamy, John G. Crime and Public Order in England in the Later Middle Ages (Studies in Social History) (London; Toronto, 1973); includes chapters on 'Crime and Medieval society', 'Misdeeds and misdoers', 'The criminal bands', 'Enforcing the law', 'Accusation and trial', 'Prison, punishment, and pardon'.
  • Bellamy, John G. Crime and Public Order in England in the Later Middle Ages. Reprint (Studies in Social History) (Ann Arbor, Mich., 1990)
  • Bellamy, John G. Crime and Public Order in England in the Later Middle Ages. Reprint (Studies in Social History) (Ann Arbor, Mich., 1993)
  • Bellamy, John G. Crime and Public Order in England in the Later Middle Ages. Reprint (Studies in Social History) (Ann Arbor, Mich., 1996)
• Brewer, Jennifer. 'Let Her Be Waived: Outlawing Women in Yorkshire, 1293-1294', in: Kaufman, Alexander L., ed. British Outlaws of Literature and History (Jefferson, NC, 2011), pp. 28-44
• Coss, Peter R. 'Aspects of Cultural Diffusion in Medieval England: the Early Romances, Local Society and Robin Hood', Past & Present, No. 108 (1985), pp. 35-79
  • Coss, Peter R. 'Aspects of Cultural Diffusion in Medieval England: the Early Romances, Local Society and Robin Hood', in: Knight, Stephen, ed. Robin Hood: Anthology of Scholarship and Criticism (Cambridge, 1999), pp. 329-43
• Curtis, J. Lewelyn. 'Robes and Fees in the Days of Robin Hood', Notes & Queries, Series 1, vol. VI (1852), pp. 479-80
• Gorski, Richard. 'Justices and Injustice? England's Local Officials in Later Middle Ages', in: Appleby, John C., ed.; Dalton, Paul, ed. Outlaws in Medieval and Early Modern England: Crime, Government and Society C. 1066–c. 1600 (Farnham, Surrey, 2009), pp. 55-74
• Gregory-Abbott, Candace. 'Sacred Outlaws: Outlawry and the Medieval Church', in: Appleby, John C., ed.; Dalton, Paul, ed. Outlaws in Medieval and Early Modern England: Crime, Government and Society C. 1066–c. 1600 (Farnham, Surrey, 2009), pp. 75-89
• Hanawalt, Barbara A., ed. Chaucer's England: Literature in Historical Context (Medieval Studies at Minnesota, vol. 4) (Minneapolis, 1992)
  • Hanawalt, Barbara A. 'Ballads and Bandits: Fourteenth Century Outlaws and the Robin Hood Poems', in: Knight, Stephen, ed. Robin Hood: Anthology of Scholarship and Criticism (Cambridge, 1999), 263-84
• Harlan-Haughey, Sarah. 'Forest Law Through the Looking Glass: Distortions of the Forest Charter in the Outlaw Fiction of Late Medieval England', William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal. vol. 25 (2016), pp. 549-89
• Hobsbawm, Eric. 'The Criminal as Hero and Myth', The Times Literary Supplement (23 Jun. 1961), 'Crime, Detection and Society' section, p. vi
• Hunter, Joseph. 'Notes Respecting Travelling and the Transmission of Treasure chiefly in the Northern Parts of the Kingdom, in the Reigns of Edward I., II., and III., or the Former Half of the Fourteenth Century', in: Anonymous, ed. Memoirs Illustrative of the History and Antiquities of the County and City of York, communicated to the Annual Meeting of the Archæological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, held at York, July, 1846, with a General Report of the Proceedings of the Meeting, and Catalogue of the Museum formed on that Occasion (London and Oxford, 1847), pp. 21-24, discusses the need for guarding money and goods against criminals during transportation in medieval England; in relation to Robin Hood ballads, p. 22
• I'Anson, William M. 'Kilton Castle', Yorkshire Archæological Journal, vol. XXII, part 1 (1912), pp. 55-125; p. 77: 'There is no evidence of any value that Robin Hood was ever more than a mere creation of the popular imagination, and it was probably the actions of such a man as the youthful lord of Kilton which led to the creation of this mythical personage'. See pp. 75-77 for an account of a most Robin Hood-like criminal career – gathering a band of supporters, robbing and stealing from (foreign) clergy (including an archbishop of York), giving part of the proceeds to the poor and needy, having a wife named Matilda (like Robin Hood in Renaissance dramas), being viewed with sympathy by the king, having the right Christian name – of Yorkshireman Sir Robert de Thweng (c. 1205 – c. 1268), 10th lord of Kilton Castle.
• Kaye, J. M. 'The Eland Murders, 1350–1: a Study of the Legend of the Eland Feud', Yorkshire Archaeological Journal, vol. 51 (1979), pp. 61-79
• Kleineke, Hannes. 'Poachers and Gamekeepers: Four Fifteenth-Century West Country Criminals', in: Appleby, John C., ed.; Dalton, Paul, ed. Outlaws in Medieval and Early Modern England: Crime, Government and Society C. 1066–c. 1600 (Farnham, Surrey, 2009), pp. 129-148
• Mackay, Charles. 'Popular Admiration for Great Thieves', Bentley's Miscellany. American Version, vol. 8 (Jul.–Dec. 1841), pp. 406-11. Discusses famous European thieves. For Robin Hood see pp. 407, 408
• MacKenzie, Hugh. 'The Anti-Foreign Movement in England, 1231-1232', in: Monte, John L. La, ed.; Taylor, Charles Holt, ed. Anniversary Essays in Mediaeval History (Boston and New York, 1929), pp. 183-203.
  • MacKenzie, Hugh. 'The Anti-Foreign Movement in England, 1231-1232', in: Monte, John L. La, ed.; Taylor, Charles Holt, ed. Anniversary Essays in Mediaeval History. Reprint (Freeport, New York, [1967]), pp. 183-203. On Sir Robert de Thweng and the movement against foreign clergy
• McCall, Andrew. The Medieval Underworld (New York, ©1979); includes chapters on 'Church, State and Sin', 'Crime and Punishment', 'Bandits, Freebooters and Outlaws', 'Richman, Poorman, Beggarman, Thieves' etc.
• Pringle, Patrick. Stand and Deliver: the Story of the Highwaymen (London, 1951). Superficial. For significant criticism, see: [Freeman, Gwendolen], review. 'Lives of Crime', The Times Literary Supplement (13 Apr. 1951), p. 225
  • Pringle, Patrick. Stand and Deliver: the Story of the Highwaymen (New York, [1951])
  • Pringle, Patrick. Stand and Deliver (New York, 1991)
  • Pringle, Patrick. Stand and Deliver: the Story of the Highwaymen (San Francisco, ©2016)
• Richmond, Colin. 'An Outlaw and Some Peasants: The Possible Significance of Robin Hood', Nottingham Medieval Studies, vol. XXXVII (1993), pp. 90-101
  • Richmond, Colin. 'An Outlaw and Some Peasants: The Possible Significance of Robin Hood', in: Knight, Stephen, ed. Robin Hood: Anthology of Scholarship and Criticism (Cambridge, 1999), 363-76
• Shaw, Brent D. 'Bandits in the Roman Empire', Past and Present, No. 105 (1984), pp. 3-52
• Stewart, Susan. 'Outlawry as an Instrument of Justice in the Thirteenth Century', in: Appleby, John C., ed.; Dalton, Paul, ed. Outlaws in Medieval and Early Modern England: Crime, Government and Society C. 1066–c. 1600 (Farnham, Surrey, 2009), pp. 37-54
• Tardiff, Richard. 'The "Mistery" of Robin Hood: A New Social Context for the Texts', in: Knight, Stephen, ed.; Mukherjee, S. N., ed. Words and Worlds: Studies in the Social Role of Verbal Culture (Sydney Studies in Society and Culture, No. 1) (Sydney, 1983), pp. 130-45
  • Tardif, Richard. 'The "Mistery" of Robin Hood: A New Social Context for the Texts', in: Knight, Stephen, ed. Robin Hood: Anthology of Scholarship and Criticism (Cambridge, 1999), pp. 345-61
• Wikipedia: Sir Robert de Thweng
• Wright, Sharon Hubbs; Cichon, Michael. 'Fiction after Felony: Innovation and Transformation in the Eland Outlaw Narratives', Leeds Studies in English, New Series, vol. 45 (2014), pp. 71-86
• Wright, Sharon Hubbs. '"The Death of Sir John Ealand of Ealand and his sonne in olde rymthe": Four New Eland Manuscripts and the Transmission of a West Yorkshrie Legend', Leeds Studies in English, New Series, vol. 45 (2014), pp. 87-129.

Sheriffs

• Holt, J. C. 'Philip Mark and the Shrievalty of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire in the Early Thirteenth Century', Transactions of the Thoroton Society, vol. LVI (1952), pp. 8-24
• IRHB: Sheriffs of Nottingham.

Social bandits

• Hobsbawm, E. J. Primitive Rebels: Studies in Archaic Forms of Social Movement in the 19th and 20th Centuries (Manchester, [1959])
  • Hobsbawm, E. J. Social Bandits and Primitive Rebels: Studies in Archaic Forms of Social Movement in the 19th and 20th Centuries (Glencoe, Ill., 1960)
  • Hobsbawm, E. J. Primitive Rebels: Studies in Archaic Forms of Social Movement in the 19th and 20th Centuries (Manchester, 1963)
  • Hobsbawm, E. J. Primitive Rebels: Studies in Archaic Forms of Social Movement in the 19th and 20th Centuries (New York, 1963)
  • Hobsbawm, E. J. Primitive Rebels: Studies in Archaic Forms of Social Movement in the 19th and 20th Centuries (New York, [1965])
  • Hobsbawm, E. J.; Maura, Joaquín Romero, transl. Rebeldes Primitivos: Estudio sobre las Formas Arcaicas de los Mivimientos Sociales en los Siglos XIX y XX (Barcelona, 1967)
  • Hobsbawm, E. J.; Maura, Joaquín Romero, transl. Rebeldes Primitivos: Estudio sobre las Formas Arcaicas de los Mivimientos Sociales en los Siglos XIX y XX (Barcelona, 1968)
  • Hobsbawm, E. J. Primitive Rebels: Studies in Archaic Forms of Social Movement in the 19th and 20th Centuries (Manchester, 1971)
  • Hobsbawm, E. J. Primitive Rebels: Studies in Archaic Forms of Social Movement in the 19th and 20th Centuries (Manchester, 1974)
  • Hobsbawm, E. J.; Maura, Joaquín Romero, transl. Rebeldes Primitivos: Estudio sobre las Formas Arcaicas de los Mivimientos Sociales en los Siglos XIX y XX (Barcelona, 1974)
  • Hobsbawm, E. J. Primitive Rebels: Studies in Archaic Forms of Social Movement in the 19th and 20th Centuries (Manchester, 1978)
  • Hobsbawm, E. J.; Maura, Joaquín Romero, transl. Rebeldes Primitivos: Estudio sobre las Formas Arcaicas de los Mivimientos Sociales en los Siglos XIX y XX (Barcelona, 1983)
  • Hobsbawm, E. J.; Yang, Derui, transl. 原始的叛亂: 十九至二十世紀社會運動的古樸形式 (Li Shi Xuan Shu, vol. 35) (麥田出版, 1999)
  • Hobsbawm, E. J.; Maura, Joaquín Romero, transl. Rebeldes Primitivos: Estudio sobre las Formas Arcaicas de los Mivimientos Sociales en los Siglos XIX y XX (Barcelona, 2001)
  • Hobsbawm, E. J.; Maura, Joaquín Romero, transl. Rebeldes Primitivos: Estudio sobre las Formas Arcaicas de los Mivimientos Sociales en los Siglos XIX y XX (Barcelona, 2003)
  • Hobsbawm, E. J. Primitive Rebels: Studies in Archaic Forms of Social Movement in the 19th and 20th Centuries (New York, [2010?])
  • Hobsbawm, E. J.; Maura, Joaquín Romero, transl. Rebeldes Primitivos: Estudio sobre las Formas Arcaicas de los Mivimientos Sociales en los Siglos XIX y XX (Barcelona, 2010)
  • Hobsbawm, E. J.; Maura, Joaquín Romero, transl. Rebeldes Primitivos: Estudio sobre las Formas Arcaicas de los Mivimientos Sociales en los Siglos XIX y XX (Barcelona, 2013)
  • Hobsbawm, E. J.; Jones, Owen, introd. Primitive Rebels: Studies in Archaic Forms of Social Movement in the 19th and 20th Centuries (London, 2017)
• Hobsbawm, E. J. Bandits (London, ©1969).

Yeomen and yeomanry

• Almond, Richard; Pollard, A. J. 'The Yeomanry of Robin Hood and Social Terminology in Fifteenth-Century England', Past & Present, No. 170 (2001), pp. 52-77.

Historiography