[Britu]

В журнале Britain 07-08 2017 напечатана статья о Робин Гуде, в которой упоминается Гай Гизборн. Мне понравилось то, что автор, перечисляя приспешников принца Джона, трусливым и подлым обозвал только шерифа.



Под спойлером текст статьи, который легко переводится с помощью Гугл-переводчика.

Every generation has its Robin Hood. Errol Flynn, Kevin Costner and Russell Crowe are just a few to immortalise the folklore hero on screen, and ballads, songs, plays, pantomimes and books have also made Britain’s favourite outlaw world-famous.

The tales are simple enough: of an age-old fight against injustice. The usurper, wicked King John, a hated, real-life monarch, suppresses his subjects while King Richard is away fighting the Crusades. John’s henchmen, Guy of Gisborne and the dastardly Sheriff of Nottingham, are taxing the poor to extinction with only the guerrilla campaign of crack–archer Robin and his Merry Men to stop them.

Robin Hood’s first mention by name is a throwaway reference in the Middle English poem Piers Plowman, written around 1377, which implies the tales were already well known. From the fragmentsbthat survive, they were very varied; Robin only morphed later to the resistance fighter we know today. Particularly associated with May Day, early stories depict our hero as a jolly rogue more involved in stealing from the rich than giving to the poor. The outlaw was so popular in Tudor times that King Henry VIII and his courtiers dressed up as the gang. Shakespeare mentions him three times.

Several historical outlaws have been suggested as the ‘real’ Robin Hood, including William Le Fevre, AKA William ‘Robehod’. The British Library holds the earliest prose version of the tale, dating from the late 16th century, which suggests Robin was from Locksley (perhaps Loxley in Yorkshire). Other early modern sources suggest he was an aristocrat, though many folklorists believe he is just a variation of Robin of the Wood, a legendary archetype. Maid Marian, originally a shepherdess with her own tales, traded star billing for love and a noble background.

Both Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire have claimed Robin, with ballads and tourist sites on both sides. Hood’s traditional seat of resistance is Sherwood Forest, a double insult as forests belonged to the monarch. The Major Oak, heavily associated with the tales, is said to be between 800 and 1,000 years old and attracts thousands of visitors every year.

One legend holds Robin is buried in the grounds of Kirklees Priory, West Yorkshire. Local tradition says the outlaw loosed one final arrow, telling Little John to bury him where it fell. Derbyshire folk point out John’s own grave in the churchyard at Hathersage.

There are places named for Robin Hood from Berkshire to Yorkshire. Towers, bowers, forests, stones, hills, wells, inns, caves, even a seaside village bear his name. It seems we all yearn for a little romance personified by the man in Lincoln green.