"Robin Hood and Queen Katherine" (Roud 72, Child 145) is an English folk song about Robin Hood. The ballad "Robin Hood's Chase" functions as a sequel to it. [1] [2]
Robin befriends Queen Katherine. When King Henry offers a large wager that his archers cannot be excelled, she summons Robin and his men, who come to London under assumed names. Robin's bowmen prevail and reveal their identities. Having promised not to be angry with the queen's archers, the king asks Robin to leave his band of outlaws and join the court (in the main variant), but Robin declines. [1] [3]
The Queen Katherine of the title is not certainly identified, nor the spelling of the name certain. Up until as recently as the 18th century, people often spelled their own names differently at different times. So while the periods of time with which Robin Hood has normally been associated did not have any queens named Katherine, because the king is sometimes called Henry, she may be meant to be Catherine de Valois, the young French princess married to King Henry V of England, hero of Agincourt, or Katherine of Aragon, placing the story in the time of Henry VIII.
Howard Pyle included this tale in The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood but, to make the tale historically consistent, made it about Eleanor of Aquitaine making a bet with Henry II. Others have followed his lead in the substitution. [4]
Robin Hood is a legendary heroic outlaw originally depicted in English folklore and subsequently featured in literature, theatre, and cinema. He stole from the rich and gave to the poor. According to legend, he was a highly skilled archer and swordsman. In some versions of the legend, he is depicted as being of noble birth, and in modern retellings he is sometimes depicted as having fought in the Crusades before returning to England to find his lands taken by the Sheriff. In the oldest known versions, he is instead a member of the yeoman class. He is traditionally depicted dressed in Lincoln green.
Howard Pyle was an American illustrator, painter, and author, primarily of books for young people. He was a native of Wilmington, Delaware, and he spent the last year of his life in Florence, Italy.
Much, the Miller's Son is one of the Merry Men in the tales of Robin Hood. He appears in some of the oldest ballads, A Gest of Robyn Hode and Robin Hood and the Monk, as one of the company.
The Bishop of Hereford is a character in the Robin Hood legend. He is typically portrayed as a wealthy and greedy clergyman who is robbed by Robin and his Merry Men.
Alan-a-Dale is a figure in the Robin Hood legend. According to the stories, he was a wandering minstrel who became a member of Robin's band of outlaws, the "Merry Men".
Will Scarlet is a prominent member of Robin Hood's Merry Men. He is present in the earliest ballads along with Little John and Much the Miller's Son.
Adam Bell was a legendary English outlaw. He and his companions William of Cloudsley and Clym of the Clough lived in Inglewood Forest near Carlisle and were figures similar to Robin Hood. Their story is told in Child Ballad 116 entitled Adam Bell, Clym of the Cloughe and Wyllyam of Cloudeslee. The basis of the tale has historical roots in the criminal activities of the Folville and Coterel gangs. At one point William of Cloudsley, who is famed as an archer, shoots an arrow through an apple on his son's head at six score paces, a feat also ascribed to William Tell and other heroes. The oldest known copy of this ballad was printed by Wynkyn de Worde in 1505. There are notable parallels between this ballad and that of Robin Hood and the Monk, but whether either legend was the source for the other cannot be established.
The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood of Great Renown in Nottinghamshire is an 1883 novel by the American illustrator and writer Howard Pyle. Pyle compiled the traditional Robin Hood ballads as a series of episodes of a coherent narrative. For his characters' dialog, Pyle adapted the late Middle English of the ballads into a dialect suitable for children.
Gilbert Whitehand is a member of Robin Hood's Merry Men about whom next to nothing is known. It is possible that he is a character known from oral literature, with only allusions remaining in written literature.
"The Earl of Mar's Daughter" is an English-language folk song.
Robin Hood's Chase is an English folk song about Robin Hood, and a sequel to "Robin Hood and Queen Katherine". This song has survived as, among other forms, a late seventeenth-century English broadside ballad. It is one of several ballads about the medieval folk hero that form part of the Child Ballads.
"Robin Hood and the Curtal Friar" is an English-language folk song about Robin Hood.
Robin Hood Rescuing Will Stutly is a traditional English-language folk song about Robin Hood.
"Robin Hood's Progress to Nottingham" is an English-language folk song and part of the Robin Hood canon. This song has survived as, among other forms, a late 17th-century English broadside ballad, and is one of several ballads about the medieval folk hero that form part of the Child ballad collection, which is one of the most comprehensive collections of traditional English ballads.
"Robin Hood and the Golden Arrow" is an English folk song, part of the Robin Hood canon. It features an archery competition for a golden arrow that has long appeared in Robin Hood tales, but it is the oldest recorded one where Robin's disguise prevents his detection.
Robin Hood and the Valiant Knight is an 18th century ballad of the death of Robin Hood. The song, written in Modern English, was included in the popular "garlands" (collections) of Robin Hood stories and songs published in the 18th and early 19th centuries, generally at the end as a suitable close to the garland. It was later published by Francis James Child as Child ballad #153 in his influential collection of popular ballads.
Robin Hood's Golden Prize is an English folk song. It is a story in the Robin Hood canon, which has survived as, among other forms, a late seventeenth-century English broadside ballad, and is one of several ballads about the medieval folk hero that form part of the Child ballad collection.
Little John A Begging is an English folk song about Robin Hood. It exists in two variants, one fragmentary.
The Merry Men are the group of outlaws who follow Robin Hood in English literature and folklore. The group appears in the earliest ballads about Robin Hood and remains popular in modern adaptations.
Friar Tuck is one of the Merry Men, the band of heroic outlaws in the folklore of Robin Hood.
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