Robin Hood and Guy of Gisborne – an Analysis
A sword and a dagger he wore by his side,
Had beene many a mans bane,
And he was cladd in his capull-hyde,
Topp, and tayle, and mayne.
Read my other posts in this series here.
Continuing my series of blog posts on the five early ballads of Robin Hood, let’s take a look at the first appearance of a man who would become a nemesis for Robin Hood in later tradition, even eclipsing the villainy of the sheriff.
Robin Hood and Guy of Gisborne exists in the famous Percy Folio; a collection of ballads compiled sometime in the 17th century that formed the basis of Percy’s own Reliques of Ancient Poetry (1765) and part of Francis James Child’s The English and Scottish Popular Ballads (1882 – 1898). Despite the late hand of the Percy Folio, the ballad itself is considered to be one of the earliest of Robin Hood.
We’re back in the locality of Barnsdale this time and Robin tells Little John of a nightmare he just had of two men who wish him ill. John tries to comfort him by saying that dreams pass swiftly as wind over the hills which I think is nicely poetic. Robin isn’t deterred however and sets out to confront these two men, wherever and whoever they may be.
[image error]
Robin and Guy fighting by Walter Crane
They come across a yeoman dressed in a horse’s hide, complete with its head. He is heavily armed. Not trusting him one bit, John makes to approach him while Robin waits safely behind but Robin is having none of it. As in the Monk, Robin and John have another row and John leaves him in a huff (will he ever learn?).
John goes to Barnsdale and runs into the Sheriff of Nottingham (out of his jurisdiction again). The sheriff has slain two of John’s companions and his men are pursuing Scarlett (presumably Will, but no first name is given here). John shoots one of the soldiers (who is surprisingly given a name; William a Trent) but his bow breaks and he is set upon by the rest of the sheriff’s men.
Meanwhile Robin Hood and the stranger have struck up conversation and we learn who he is; Guy of Gysborne and according to his own boasts, he’s a nasty piece of work. He’s looking for Robin Hood and Robin, wisely, does not let on. The two have an archery contest and Robin eventually reveals himself. They fight and Robin slays Guy. In a rather shocking act, he decapitates Guy and disfigures his face with his ‘Irish knife’. Then he puts on the horse’s hide and sticks Guy’s bloody head on the end of his bow (can you see where this is going?)
Robin finds his way to the sheriff where Little John is bound fast to a tree. Thinking Robin is the bounty hunter he hired to kill Robin Hood, the sheriff lets Robin approach Little John assuming he means to finish the second outlaw off. Instead, Robin cuts John’s bonds and gives him his bow. The sheriff panics and flees towards Nottingham but is felled by an arrow from Little John that ‘did cleave his heart in twain’.
Guy of Gisborne’s portrayal here is a startling one considering the powerful knight and rival for Maid Marion’s hand we so often see in movies and on TV. Here he is a grubby bounty hunter and fellow yeoman dressed, inexplicably, in a whole horse’s hide. This has been the cause of much debate on the mythical origins of the legend as it seems a suspiciously pagan and ceremonial thing to wear but so far no reasonable explanation for Guy’s strange getup has been reached.
So where exactly was ‘Gysborne’ anyway? As with most Robin Hood locations, there is more than one candidate. Gisburn in Lancashire, once part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, seems likely but John C. Bellamy suggests Guisborough in the North Riding of Yorkshire which was known in the middle ages as ‘Giseburne’. (1)
This ballad is also the first appearance of another important character. Actually, that depends on how you look at it. The character ‘Scarlett’ in Gisborne is generally accepted to be the same character as ‘Willyam Scarlok’ in the Gest and ‘Wyll Scathlok’ in the Monk. It does seem likely as research into the etymology of the three names suggests a link.
If we employ the Old English pronunciation of ‘sc’ then ‘Scarlok’ and ‘Scathlok’ become ‘Sharlok’ and ‘Shathlok’. There are several theories on the meaning of these words ranging from the Old English sceððan + loc meaning ‘burst lock’ (2) (a good name for a robber) to sc(e)afan + locc meaning ‘shave lock’ (of hair, suggesting a shaven-headed outlaw) (3).
But John H. Munro offers a different theory (4). I discussed the original meaning of scarlet being a type of fine cloth and not the colour red in a previous post. The etymology of scarlet, according to Munro, could come from the Flemish or Low Germanic components schaeren (to shear) and laken (cloth) suggesting that it took its name from the process used in cutting it. Admittedly Munro does state that the process of cutting the expensive ‘scarlet’ cloth did not differ from the cutting of other cloths, but it is still possible that ‘Scarlok’ was the etymological ancestor of the word ‘scarlet’, just as Wyll Scarlok was the literary ancestor of Will Scarlet.
[image error]The end draws near and my next and final post in this series will look at the eventual fate of Robin Hood.
Read Robin Hood and Guy of Gisborne here.
Sources
The Robin Hood Project at the University of Rochester has been invaluable in my research and is well worth a look at here. http://d.lib.rochester.edu/robin-hood
Bellamy, John C. Robin Hood: An Historical Inquiry. London: Croom Helm, 1985.
Reaney, P. H. and R. M. Wilson. A Dictionary of English Surnames. Rev. 3rd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997.
Jönsjö, Jan. Studies on Middle English Nicknames: Volume 1: Compounds. Lund: CWK Gleerup, 1979.
Munro, John H. “The Medieval Scarlet and the Economics of Sartorial Splendour,” in Cloth and Clothing in Medieval Europe: Essays in Memory of Professor E. M. Carus-Wilson. 1983.
