ML200 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Fulk Fitzwarin, Piers Plowman, Political Freedom
ML200
Medieval Icons and Modern Film
The Evolution of Robin Hood
• Attracted pseudo-historians trying to prove who the real Robin Hood was
• Not a historical Robin Hood as far as we can tell, but there are certain influences that are
medieval an medievalist
• Piers Plowman (1370s) quotes of him
• Ballads (late 15th & early 16th cen.)
• Legend of Robin being an outlaw comes from a 16th cen. Biography
• Would have been inspired (at least in part) by earlier medieval characters
o Hereward the Rake (11th cen.) – harrower picked up by Walter Scott in Ivanhoe
o Fulk Fitzwarin (13th cen.) outlaw baron who helped force John sign the Magna Carta
• Post-medieval embroidery of Robin Hood
• There are people named Robin Hood in court records, likely named after someone from oral
legend which could be a term
• 13th vs. 14th cen. Context
o 13th- corrupt sheriffs, forest laws preventing hunting, the church taking land
o 14th- fous o arher skills (hudred ears’ ar – longbow), good for class conflict due
to the Black Death
• Robin as a syncretic character – put together from many pieces from several periods
• Robin as a dispenser of social justice
o Class struggle makes it interesting
Robin on Film
• The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) – the definitive Robin picture that all are set to follow
o Based primarily on 17th cen. Material
o Consultant a specialist
o Fous of “ao resistae ut ould hae orked i Haroard’s stor
o Thematic elements from Ivanhoe
o Political freedom fighter
o Very well-researched film
o Robin as being a witty trickster
o Sets the standard – we see echos of this
o Mixed political message
• Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991)
o Myth of Richard the Lionheart – ou do’t at to ess ith hi
o Focus on historical context
o Ex-POW
o Longbow – cheap and can be used by peasantry to easily kill
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