Ballads of Robin Hood and other Outlaws

t by Bishop Percy, the editor of the Reliques, in Piers Plowman, the poem

s of Robyn hood, and R

llads, and that he is coupled with another popular hero, one of th

hon and R

ware comm

ode and B

l this tyme t

d means that Robin and his man Little John were known as good hunters (cf. 'wight yeomen,' consta

it is stated that, having no other livelihood, he 'gadered and assembled unto him many misdo

ted robber,' was one of the dispossessed and banished followers of Simon de Montfort. He proceeds, however, to couple with him 'Litill Johanne' and their associates, 'of whom the foolish vul

, and Major, are all Scottish. John Major (or Mair) was born about 1450, and his Historia Maioris Britann

or offered resistance in defence of his property. Robert supported by his plundering a 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 song all over Britain. He would allow

the last thing that happens to a ballad of the folk, the language in which they are written is unmistakably Middle English-that is to say, the Gest of Robyn Hode (at least) may be dated nearer 14