Recordings & Info 153. Robin Hood and the Valiant Knight
[There are no known US or Canadian traditional versions of this ballad. There are no known recordings.]
CONTENTS:
1) Alternative Titles
2) Traditional Ballad Index
3) Wiki
ATTACHED PAGES: (see left hand column)
1) Roud No. 3995: Robin Hood and the Valiant Knight (5 Listings)
Alternative Titles
Robin Hood and the Valiant Knight; together with an account of his Death and Burial, &c.
Traditional Ballad Index: Robin Hood and the Valiant Knight [Child 153]
NAME: Robin Hood and the Valiant Knight [Child 153]
DESCRIPTION: The king sends a knight with 100 to arrest Robin. The knight goes alone to Robin to request surrender. Robin refuses and battle ensues. The knight (retires/is killed) but Robin, wounded, sends for a monk whose bloodletting ends his life. The men scatter.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1741
KEYWORDS: Robinhood knight battle injury death clergy
FOUND_IN:
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Child 153, "Robin Hood and the Valiant Knight" (1 text)
Bronson 152, comments only
ADDITIONAL: R. B. Dobson and J. Taylor, _Rymes of Robyn Hood: An Introduction to the English Outlaw_, University of Pittsburg Press, 1976, pp. 184-186, "Robin Hood and the Valiant Knight" (1 text)
Roud #3995
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Robin Hood's Death" [Child 120] (subject)
NOTES: We've all heard of revisionist history, but whoever heard of revisionist mythology? Child comments, "Written, perhaps, because it was thought that authority should in the end be vindicated against outlaws, which may explain why this piece surpasses in platitude everything that goes before." Dobson and Taylor declare, "this song certainly has strong claims to be regarded as the least distinguished Robin Hood ballad ever composed." And, indeed, how many ballads include a rhymed version of a epitaph?
It will be noted that this contradicts the standard legend of Robin Hood's death, long since established by Child #117 and Child #120.
I also noted that the metre matches that of the "Yarn of the Nancy Bell." Suitable, for such a piece of accidental humor. I find it amazing that it was actually printed multiple times. Forget the story. It just plain sounds stupid.
For background on the Robin Hood legend, see the notes on "A Gest of Robyn Hode" [Child 117]. - RBW
Robin Hood and the Valiant Knight: From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Robin Hood and the Valiant Knight is Child ballad 153.
Synopsis
The king and nobles meet to consider Robin Hood. They send Sir William with a hundred men. Sir William presents him with a letter from the king ordering Robin to surrender. When Robin refuses, Sir William attempts to seize him on the spot. Both Sir William and Robin summon their men, and they fight. After the battle, Robin takes ill. A monk lets his blood (a common medical procedure at the time), and Robin dies. His men all flee.
Commentary
Bleeding was also the means of his death in the earlier Robin Hood's Death, but that, the more common version, had it done by an abbess, his cousin. This version also omits his usual reconciliation with the king.
Adaptations
Howard Pyle used this ballad's story for much of the conclusion of The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood, although he kept the older story of the abbess for the actual death.
External links
Robin Hood and the Valiant Knight