Robin Hood: A collection of all the ancient poems, songs, and ballads, now extant, relative to that celebrated English outlaw. To which are prefixed historical anecdotes of his life.
General
Robin Hood: A collection of all the ancient poems, songs, and ballads, now extant, relative to that celebrated English outlaw. To which are prefixed historical anecdotes of his life.
Ballads, English -- England -- Texts; Outlaws -- Poetry; Robin Hood (Legendary character) -- Poetry; Songs, English -- England -- Texts
[9] _Alias_ R. G., the scurrilous and malignant editor of that
degraded publication.
[10] The authority cited by Grafton in 1569 as then “olde and
auncient” must have been at least of equal antiquity with the most
ancient poems that Dr. P. is acquainted with.
[11] Stukeley’s Palæographia Britannica, No. II. p. 115. In an
interleaved copy of Robin Hood’s Garland formerly belonging to Dr.
Stukeley, and now in the possession of Francis Douce, esquire,
opposite the second page of the first song, is the following note
in his own hand:
“Guy earl of Warwick.
George Gamwell Joanna =
of Gamwell hall _magna_ │ Fitz Odoth
esq. │
│
+─────────────────────+
│
Robin Fitz Odoth
Gamwell the king’s forester in Yorkshire,
mentioned in Camden.
See my answer, No. II. of Lady Roisia,
where is Robin Hood’s true pedigree.”
The Doctor seems, by this pedigree, to have founded our hero’s
pretensions on his descent from Roisia, sister of Robert
Fitzgilbert, husband of Alice, youngest daughter of Judith,
Countess of Huntingdon, which, whatever it might do in those times,
would scarcely be thought sufficient to support such a claim at
present. Beside, though John the Scot died without issue, he left
three sisters, all married to powerful barons, either in Scotland
or in England, none of whom, however, assumed the title. It is,
therefore, probable, after all, that Robin Hood derived his earldom
by some other channel.
Dr. Stukeley, whose learned labours are sufficiently known and
esteemed, was a professed antiquary, and a beneficed clergyman
of the Church of England. He has not, it is true, thought it
necessary to cite any ancient or other authority in support of
the above representations; nor is it in the editor’s power to
supply the deficiency. Perhaps, indeed, the Doctor might think
himself entitled to expect that his own authority would be deemed
sufficient: upon that, however, they must be content to rest. _Sit
fides penes auctorem!_ Mr. Parkin, who published “A reply to the
peevish, weak, and malevolent objections brought by Dr. Stukeley in
his Origines Roystonianæ, No. 2” (Norwich, 1748, 4to), terms “his
pedigree of Robin Hood, quite jocose, an original indeed!” (See pp.
27, 32.)
Otho and Fitz-Otho, it must be confessed, were common names among
the Anglo-Normans,* but no such name as Othes, Ooth, Fitz-Othes,
or Fitz-Ooth, has been elsewhere met with. Philip de Kime, also,
was certainly a considerable landholder in the county of Lincoln in
the time of King Henry II., but it nowhere appears, except from Dr.
Stukeley, that his surname was Fitz-Ooth.
The Doctor likewise informs us that the arms of Ralph Fitz-Ooth,
and consequently of our hero, were “g. two bendlets engrailed, o.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account