- Religion in the Pre-Reformation Robin Hood Ballads
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Abstract:
- In the last six decades, the pre-Reformation Robin Hood ballads have generated a huge number of historical and literary responses. From commentaries on the texts themselves to biographies of the titular character, the corpus of secondary material surrounding the ballads is extensive. It is therefore surprising that, despite piety being one of Robin’s defining characteristics, most studies of the outlaw only mention his devotion in passing. The present paper aims to rectify this omission by focusing on the religious symbolism that pervades the ballads in an effort to determine the role the outlaw’s piety performed for fifteenth- and sixteenth-century observers. It is argued that Robin’s devotion had a vital function: it was used as a medium through which to convey aspects of his character. Indeed, religious language and symbolism are utilised throughout the early ballads to emphasise Robin’s lack of origin, liminal place in society, orthodoxy and chivalry. The outlaw’s votive masses betray his perpetual and immutable state, his interactions with the consecrated host reflect his liminal place in society, his reverence for the elements of the eucharist dissociate him from Lollardy and his devotion to the Virgin Mary contributes to the overall effort to present him as an Arthurian figure. Having cast Robin’s piety as the prism via which his other character traits are refracted, the paper continues with a discussion of the importance of the pre-Reformation ballads as a hitherto neglected corpus of primary evidence concerning the condition of the late medieval English Church. It is concluded that, while the popularity of a hero who operates within the traditional framework of Catholic devotion suggests that English people on the eve of the Reformation remained attached to the old religion, Robin’s adversarial relationship with the monastic establishment provides evidence that the regular clergy were widely unpopular.
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