The Nottingham venue is completely understandable. Walter Scott, in Ivanhoe, gives us the version of Robin Hood with which we are familiar, and upon which the Hollywood claptrap is based. When Richard Coeur de Lion (Lionheart) was King of England (1189-1199), his brother John was the Regent for most of that time--Richard buggered off to the Holy Land to slaughter as many Muslims as possible (he had only two interests in life: hacking people into little bits with a two-handed broadsword, and buggering adolescent boys). After some truely ludicrous misadventures resulting from Richard's mental stature (slightly less than that of a hitching post), he finally returned to England, scooped up all the cash he could milk from a resentful commons, and hurried off to fight for his land claims in Normandy, Brittany and Acquitaine (his Mom was Eleanor of Acquitaine--he was definitely a Momma's Boy, even though his mother publicly ragged him about being homosexual).
While Richard was gone, his brother John, acting as Regent, set up his own little de facto principality, based on Nottingham. Despite the legends (thanks to Walter Scott), John was actually quite popular there, as his hand lay lightly on the local populace, and he taxed the south of England outrageously to meet his brother's constant demands for cash to finance his military adventures. That is why, after Richard died and John took the throne, the Peers and Barons of the south rose in revolt, with their headquarters in London. John marched south, but got his clock cleaned, so he retired to the castle at Windsor. Runnymeade, where circumstance forced him to grant Magna Carta to the baronage, lies roughly half-way between Windsor and London. Ironically, in the ensuing civil war, the Baronage of the South denied the charter rights of Magna Carta in order to keep control of the south of the country, and John freely granted those rights in the areas of the country he controlled, to draw adherents to his cause. The rebellious Peers and Barons brought in a French mercenary army, and their supplies had to come from Dover to London. The area between Dover and London was then still heavily forested, and "Williken of the Wold" was a local English man at arms who laid ambushes for the French supply trains in the dark forests.
John died within a year of Runnymeade, and William Marshall, although over 70 years of age, was appointed Lord Protector of England, as John's son, Henry III, was only nine years of age. William Marshall succeeded in lifting the seige of Lincoln castle, and defeated Phillip II of France in open battle, ending the invasion and the rebellion. Marshall was intelligent enough to re-publish the Great Charter (Magna Carta), and assure that its terms were applied to those among the Baronage who had been in revolt. This assured the (temporary) peace and stability of the Kingdom, and when Marshall finally died in 1219, age 75, Henry III was assured of a stable kingdom in which to grow to maturity. Henry would later face rebellion, invasion and civil war, but William Marshall had given him a good start and a fighting chance.
When Walter Scott thought to write Robin Hood into Ivanhoe, he needed a villain, and John looked like a good candidate. One of the last of the Anglo-Saxon chroniclers, Matthew Paris, wrote: John was a tyrant. He was a wicked ruler who did not behave like a king. He was greedy and took as much money as he could from his people. Hell is too good for a horrible person like him. (Rough, bad translation, but it was the best i could find--i haven't "done" Anglo-Saxon for more than thirty years.) Although John was actually well-liked in the north, and in Nottingham in particular (having the regent in town meant good business for the locals), Walter Scott created him a villian, and made the Sheriff of Nottingham his arch-villainous henchman. He then took the Robin Hood legend, and burnished it with the exploits of Williken of the Wold--and pointedly ignoring Richard Coeur de Lion's homosexuality, and murderous brutality, made him out to be a beloved monarch, for whose return the downtrodden yearned.
The English historian William Stubbs wrote in 1873: The picture of a monster, put forward by Roger of Wendover and Matthew Paris must be rejected forever. John had the administrative ability of a great ruler but, from the moment he began to rule, rivals and traitors tried to cheat him out of his inheritance. As he wrestled with one problem, more enemies sprang upon his back.
I agree with Stubbs, based on everything i've read.
As for Robin Hood, he could not have had a better publicist than Walter Scott.
Here, since this is in the history forum, i'll bore you some more.
After William the Bastard of Normandy defeated Harold at Hastings, he instituted a survey of the country, known as The Domesday Book. It took twenty years to complete, and as the King's agents, the Reeves of the Shires (Shirereeve become Sheriff) toted up all the booty, the Anglo-Saxon lords of England became increasingly resentful. Less than three years after Hasting, in 1069, the Anglo-Saxon and Scandanavian lords of the north of England rose in revolt. In 1069-70, William lead a protracted military expedition to put the rebels out of business, and he put the lands of any rebels to the sword and fire--the event is memorialized in English history as "the Harrying of the North." Deep resentments smoldered among the Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Scandanavian aristocracy and commons; additionally, William's invasion was primarily a capitalist "hostile takeover": although many of the Normans, Poitevans and Angevins who followed William's banner made out well, as is always the case, many others felt slighted or cheated, and their resentments were wedded to those of the indiginous baronage and Peers.
William died in 1087, the year after the completion of The Domesday Book (a marvleous "window" into 11th century England). His son, William Rufus (William "the Red") took the throne, and was the object of a good deal of contempt and plotting by various French-speaking members of the aristocracy, nevermind the Anglo-Saxons. William Rufus was murdered in 1100, and a visiting French man at arms was framed for the crime (modern English criminologists have demonstrated from the testimony given that this man could not only not have shot--i.e., with a bow--William Rufus, but could not even have seen him from where he was standing). One of William's younger sons, Henry, who had been in Palestine for the inauguration festivities of the Crusades, was back in England within a month (fast time from Palestine to England, especially in view of the assumption that a message would have had to arrive with news of Pappy's death--strong suspicion of complicity in his father's murder hangs about Henry), and he claimed the throne, passing out honors and land to those who supported his claim.
Henry I's son died in a shipwreck, the wreck of The White Ship, about which some historians also entertain suspicions, as most of the crew and passengers got safely on shore in Normandy, and the wreck took place within sight of the shore. When Henry died, Stephen of Blois claimed the throne. In his 19 years on the throne, he was fight civil wars for at least thirteen years. Although his wife Matilda claimed the throne upon his death, she never made good her claim. The most serious opponent was Maud the Empress, so called because she had once been married to the Holy Roman Emperor (enough money and some friends in Rome could get anybody a divorce in those days, as you shall see). She fought on behalf of her son, Henry, saying that Henry I had not had a legitimate claim, and that her son's claim was better established.
Henry II became King upon Stephen's death, despite Matilda's claim. Stephen liked to fight more than he liked to rule, and he was made prisoner more than once in a lost battle. The final capture of Stephen resulted in his agreeing to a settlement which would put Henry on the throne after Stephen's death. Henry was the first of the Angevin Kinds of the Plantagenet dynasty, so called for the broom plant which figured in the coat of arms. When he was 19, he was married to Eleanor of Acquitaine, who, in her own right, owned almost half of France (the western half). She was 30, and had been married to the King of France, Louis VII, but got one of those convenient divorces. Eleanor's father, the Duke of Acquitaine had been a powerful and rich lord, with more important and wealthier holdings than the King of France, Louis VI, aka Louis the Fat. When the Duke of Acquitaine died, Louis the Fat made sure his daughter was made his ward--too much was at stake to let a 15 year old girl control so much and so valuable real estate.
When Eleanor got her divorce and married Henry, Henry now claimed the western half of France. He claimed Anjou, Poitu and Normandy as of right, and Brittany, Acquitaine, Gascony and Tourraine based on his marriage to Eleanor. Eleanor supported him in that, as she always considered that her property had never passed out of her hands. Obviously, the King of France and his powerful supporters did not agree. This set the Kings of England and France up as rivals for centuries to come.
Henry was an intelligent and forceful man who made profound and important changes in the governance of England and the administration of the law--but that is not the point of what i am writing here. One son became the Duke of Brittany--setting up more future intrigues. The oldest boy, the murderous Richard, succeeded him. Richard was no kind of king. His only passion in life (apart from buggering boys) was warfare, and he bankrupted England for several years to support his military adventurism in Palestine, and in the French holdings. He was only king for ten years, but spent less than two years of that time in England. His brother John ruled in his absence. Although many homosexuals have been European monarchs, and have managed to overcome their repugnance for heterosexual union long enough to beget an heir, Richard was not one of them. Upon his death, John became King, and the Anglo-Normans were off to the races once more.
Richard had overawed the Anglo-Normans enough that, combined with John's intelligent and efficient administration, there had been no rebellion in Richard's reign--although the south seethed under heavy taxation. After Richard's death, the baronage and peerage of the south, mostly Anglo-Normans, rose against John. I've told how they brought in the French, of Magna Carta and of the Protectorate of William Marshall. Marshall started life as a man at arms. In those days, men at arms were the international sprots stars. Many claim that there is documentary evidence that William defeated more than 500 knights in tournaments. That was how men at arms advertised, and William took service with Eleanor of Acquitaine. However many knights William actually defeated, there is no doubt that he was an intelligent and perceptive administrator and military leader. Over the age of 70, he defeated the commander of the French and rebel army at Lincoln in single combat. Upon his death, he was inducted into the Knights Templar, because those boys were always on the lookout to burnish their image.
John's son Henry III was only a mediocre ruler, and he was no kind of military man. Soon, the Angevin and Poitevan aristocracy were eager to rebel against him, and they found leaders in the capable and ambitious Monfort clan. The Monforts allied themselves to Llewellyn the Great, who made himself Prince of Wales. Henry had thought to make his son Edward the Prince of Wales, but the Monforts and the Welsh defeated his army, and made prisoners of the King and his son. Edward escaped, raised an army of loyal aristocrats and granted privileges to cities who would support him. London, which had rebelled against his grandfather John, gave him loyal support, which probably eventually lead to London becoming the capital, in addition to some other very sound reasons (Henry tended to hold court in Winchester). Edward defeated the Monforts in the absence of the Welsh, and freed his father. The Monfort castle was beseiged, but they held out for more than two years. Eventually, through the good offices of Llewellyn, the Monforts and Henry came to terms. Llewellyn was recognized by Henry as Prince of Wales (and his son Edward, a hard and cruel man who carried grudges with a will, resented the Welsh ever after), and Llewellyn's son Griffith, and his grandsons Llewellyn and David became hostages for good faith, and were put in the Tower at London. Griffith died in a fall from a tower window attempting to escape, and his sons eventually returned to Wales.
Edward went off to Palestine (all the fashionable nobility went off to slaughter a few Muslims), and Henry went back to his favorite passtime, religious studies. When Henry died in 1272, Edward returned, and set out to settle old scores. He invaded Wales, and Llewellyn ap Griffith only managed to hold his own--many of the Welsh lords who had resented his grandfather, Llewellyn the Great, rebelled and joined Edward--including, notably, the longbowmen of Powys in South Wales. Llewellyn was killed in a freak encounter in the fog on a battlefield in which he had fought the English to a draw. Edward captured his brother David (his childhood companion and friend) and had him publicly tortured and executed at Chester. In 1285, he invaded Scotland, relying heavily upon the longbowmen of Powys. He also passed an ordinance requiring all English commoners to practice with the longbow, forbiding other sports, including football. Many people might recognize Edward as Edward Longshanks from the potboiler Braveheart, the historical abortion which made so much money for Mel Gibson. During the Monfort rebellion, a Parliament had been called. Edward revived the institution, and used it as a means to get revenues out of the Commons, by placing the right to raise revenues in their hands. They were largely a rubber-stamp, and were overawed by being allowed to attend upon the court. His creation of the House of Lords was a canny political move which co-opted the political power of the "overmighty lords." He created the jury system to reinforce and cement the King's Courts which his greatgrandfather Henry II had created to undercut the authority of the aristocracy and the church. Edward was one smart cookie.
Edward married a daughter of the King of France to his son, Edward II, who was about the worst candidate to succeed him that anyone could have imagined. He managed to piss off just about everyone by playing favorites, and spawned more than one rebellion. Eventually, Isabella of France, his wife, took one Mortimer as a lover, and set herself up to rule the country with her lover. Edward was deposed, and eventually murdered (i believe he was strangled in his cell). Isabella was deposed, Mortimer was executed, Edward II's old cronies were executed, and his son, Edward III was proclaimed King.
Meanwhile, in France, the Capetian line had run its course. Without going into the complicated details, Phillip VI of Valois became King, because the French claimed that the throne could not pass to a woman, or through a woman. The English thought otherwise (conveniently), and Edward III claimed to be more closely related to Louis X (a son who lived five days was succeeded by his brother, who lasted six years, leaving only a daughter, and succeeded by yet another brother who lasted six years, leaving only a daughter), which was no inaccurate--it just wasn't anything the French were prepared to acknowledge. So, in 1336, Edward started the Hundred Years War.
The Hundred Years War was probably never a serious attempt to get the throne of France, but it was a good opportunity to solidify English claims to the western portions of France, which had been a battleground for English Kings since the days of Henry II. But in 1356, the English, lead by the Black Prince, Edward's son Edward Prince of Wales, defeated the French at Poitiers, and made Jean II and his son prisoner. The war dragged on, eating up most English revenues, and turning much of France into a desert. Edward Prince of Wales died before his father, which broke the (now) old man's heart, and when he died a few years later, he was succeeded by his grandson, Richard II. Richard's government was run by his uncle, John of Gaunt, as he was still a boy. Wat Tyler's rebellion, a peasant rebellion, took place in 1381, and was ruthlessly suppressed. John of Gaunt was efficient, and, therefore, widely hated. Gaunt had a Spanish wife, and an English mistress, and he had several children with the latter, whom he married when his wife died, and their children were "legitimized" by Parliament, although barred from the throne.
Henry Bolingbroke, Earl of Lancaster, lead yet another uprising, and Richard was deposed. Henry IV was capable and intelligent, and he saw to it that his son, Henry, was well educated. But Henry did not dare leave England, always in turmoil, and the war effort in France languished. However, by associating his son with his reign, and carefully handing out land and honors, he assured his sons peaceful succession. Henry V entered France, was almost destroyed, but whipped the French badly at Agincourt in 1417. Charles le Bon was the mad kind of France. Jean sans Peur (John the Fearless), Duke of Burgundy, had murdered his brother, and his son as Duke of Burgundy, allied himself to Henry. The English, with Burgundian aid, overran France, and Charles was forced to recognize Henry V as King of England and France. The deal was sealed when the King's daughter Catherine was married to Henry in 1420. Charles was really as mad as a hatter, and France was screwed. Henry and Catherine produced a son lickity-split, and less two years later, Henry was dead, and his nine-month-old son became King Henry VI of England and France.
Things started to go downhill for the English in France, and Henry VI was no kind of King. Thanks to the effective military administration which his father had left behind, the English managed to hold on in France, but the most powerful person in England was the Queen, and she had a talent for making enemies like Isabella of France had done. Jeanne d'Arc and Dunois the Bastard began to defeat the English, and John of York rebelled in England. John of York's rebellion failed, but the stage was set. In 1450, the English were finally driven out of France. Two years later, the House of York rebelled again, and the Wars of the Roses began. Edward IV eventually defeated Henry VI (defeated his wife, actually), and Henry was soon murdered in his cell. Edward was briefly run out of England, but returned and made his position solid. His sons, Edward V and the Duke of York disappeared shortly after Edward IV died--two skeletons of small boys were found under a stair in the tower of London when it was renovated in 1670. Their uncle, Richard III made himself King. He was actually rather capable, and a handsome and charming man, despite Shakespeare's slanders.
Remember back there when i told you about John of Gaunt, and his bastard children who were "legitimized?" Well, one of his Beaufort descendants was Marget de Beaufort, then living in France. After Henry V died, the English put Catherine of France in a convent, but she wasn't having any of it, and ran off with a Welshman named Owen Tudor. They had a son, Jaspar Tudor, and he married Margaret de Beaufort. Despite the fact that the Beaufort bastards had been barred from the throne, their son, Henry Tudor, now Earl of Richmond, raised an army, landed in Wales, and raised the Lancastrian banner. At Bosworth, he defeated Richard III, who was killed on the battlefield (the last English King who actually duked it out on the battlefield). Henry VII then married Elizabeth of York to heal the wounds between Lancaster and York. Ever after, the oldest son of the King or Queen has been the Prince of Wales, and the second son the Duke of York.
Henry had three children, one important for dying, and the other two for living and gettin it on. Arthur, the Prince of Wales, was married to Catharine of Aragon, and promptly died. This made the son Henry the heir apparent, and to make good on the deal with Spain, he was married to his brother's widow. His daughter Margaret was sent off to marry the King of Scotland, James IV. Henry became King, but his "bride," Catherine, much older than he, wasn't putting out sons. So Henry asked the Pope for a divorce. After all, hadn't the Popes always been accomodating? Well, this one wasn't. He was a Spaniard, and so was his Boss, Carlos, who also happened to be the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V. Charles was busy slaughtering Germans because of Martin Luther. Henry VIII, originally named Defensor Fidelis (Defender of the Faith) because of his attack on Martin Luther, got a bad case of the ass, broke with Rome and founded the Church of England. His favorite minister, Thomas More, was unhappy, and wouldn't back Henry's play, so Henry had him executed, by his Minister of State, and chief ambitious toady, Henry Cromwell (distantly related to Oliver Cromwell, grandson of his sister, who married a Welshman smart enough to change his name to Cromwell). Henry got busy slaughtering Catholics and sweeping up Church property.
Henry had no better luck with later wives, of whom he amassed quite a collection. Edward VI was weak and ineffective, and was physically weak, lasting a scant six years. When he died, he was succeeded by his sister Mary, Bloody Mary, who got busy slaughtering Protestants and trying to make England Catholic again. She didn't last long, either, and was succeeded by her half sister, considered a bastard by Catholics, Elizabeth. I'm sure you all know about the strained relations between Spain and England in Elizabeth's day.
When she died, she was succeeded by James VI of Scotland, who became James I of England (remember her Aunt Margaret, who was sent off to marry the King of Scotland?). James was the flaming homosexual with a religious obsession who had a new translation of the bible done. He was "man enough" to get a son, and Charles I was a disaster as a King. Without going into details, he sparked civil wars, and was finally executed. Oliver Cromwell became the second Lord Protector of England, and upon his death, his son Richard, "Tumbledown Dick," proved unequal to the task of successor. George Monck, leading the Parliamentary Guard from Coldstream in Scotland, marched south to London, and agreed to a restoration of the Stuart monarchs. Charles II became King. A firm believer in "descent in the right line," because he had no legitimate children (he had a quiver-full of bastards), his hard-nosed, pig-headed brother James, a Catholic, became James II. Firts, Charles bastard son Monmouth landed in the west of England in a failed attempt to take the throne. After three years, James had to get out of Dodge, and his sister's son, William of Orange, brought over a Dutch army, and his wife Mary (daughter of James II--they were a close-knit family), and William and Mary became the monarchs of England. Mary died, and then William, and they were succeeded by Mary's sister, Anne. Parliament had negotiated a settlement, by which the Elector of Hanover (who was also descended from Margaret Tudor and the Stuarts of Scotland) became King George I in 1714.
From 1066 to 1714, England never knew stability and certainty in the throne. Lest anyone here ever be inclined to wax poetic over the glory of "this sceptered isle," i suggest reading in detail the wonderful soap opera that is English royal history.
Whenever I hear the name of Robin Hood, I always think of the Tower of London, and smile.
We joined in a guided tour of the Tower once, and our guide was a tall, thin Beefeater Sargeant who had ginger hair and a long, twiddly ginger moustache. The tourists loved him, as he was very funny during the tour.
When we arrived at the Traitors gate, he stopped and gathered us round.
"Are there any Americans among us?" he enquired, knowing full well that our group of thirty or so had at least twenty of the blighters.
Big chorus of "Yes, Siree", or something similar.
"I've always wondered" said the Beefeater, twiddling his moustache "What you folks have for breakfast over there?"
Mumbled chorus of various things, including eggs, pancakes etc....
Then someone shouts "Why?"
Beefeater "Because this is the Traitors Gate, an oak and metal structure weighing over eleven tons. When your Errol Flynn was being filmed here playing the part of Robin Hood, he managed to hold it up with one hand, whilst fighting Normans with the other"
It was quiet for a few seconds, as he strolled off smirking and twiddling.
Somewhere in the distance a dog barked.
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