“Of Robyn-hood and of His Traine": Competition, Combat, and Experimentation in Early Modern Robin Hood Drama

This article asks what cultural work is done by different types of Robin Hood performance in early modern England, examining how specific instances of Robin Hood plays and games differ from each other in form, function, and meaning. It examines dramatic and festal activities during the late medieval and early modern period, focusing approximately on the years 1500-1625. A varied corpus of evidence exists illustrating the volume and diversity of Robin Hood activities, ranging from largely unscripted contests and processional activities undertaken at a parish level; to brief, semi-improvisational dramas probably acted by amateur participants; to civic pageants and shows; to the flourishing of Robin Hood plays on the commercial stage in the last decade of the sixteenth century. Given the frequency with which Robin Hood activities are attested and discussed in this period, this article asks precisely what early moderns found useful or appealing about the legend, and what this reveals about how customary performance functioned more generally. It starts by investigating the recurring evidence of combat and improvisation in extant records of parochial Robin Hood activities, before setting these alongside Robert Greene’s George a Greene, Pinner of Wakefield (c. 1587-1593), arguing that this play deliberately adapts and engages with the festive tradition as much as with the Robin Hood stories circulating ballad form. Finally, the article turns to Star Chamber records for occasions where Robin Hood games became entangled with local conflicts, asking what these incidents reveal about the customs more broadly. Throughout the article, Robin Hood games are approached, not as monolithic or static in meaning, but as multistranded and adaptable, shaped by and selected for the contexts in which they appear.