View Single Post
  #244  
Old Posted Dec 11, 2016, 3:35 PM
Bedhead's Avatar
Bedhead Bedhead is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Wiltshire, England
Posts: 1,938
L – Robin Hood


So, from Wapping we travel up the Thames to Richmond, where the river meanders into the western edge of London, creating an expanse of pleasant river banks dotted about with country houses, botanic gardens and luscious parks.

It is here that we find the famous Robin Hood, the only fictional character to appear in our band of outcasts. Given that Robin spent his time robbing from the rich and giving to the poor, it is surprising to find him memorialised in Richmond, a well-heeled borough whose residents would be far more likely to find themselves on the wrong side of his modus operandi.

Even more surprisingly, one of Robin's biggest fans was Henry VIII, a man hardly known for his sense of social justice. But, just as modern-day tyrants like Vladimir Putin are fond of stripping down to the waist and pretending to wrestle bears, Henry loved to pull on his green tights and play the part of a super hero. On one occasion Henry and his mates burst into Catherine of Aragon's bed chamber, wearing:

'short coats of Kentish kendal with hoods on their heads and hose of the same. Everyone of them, his bow and arrows, and a sword and buckler ...[like] Robin Hood's men. Whereof the queen, the ladies and all others there were abashed ...for the strange sight [and] also their sudden coming. After certain dances and pastime made, they departed.'

One can only think that in this context, 'abashed' is a sixteenth century euphemism for 'super pissed off'.

During Henry's reign, he patronised the May Games in Richmond Park, and these festivities gave him another chance to dress up in green. In memory of the May Games, a path through the park was named 'Robynhoode Walke'. Robin Hood Lane, a residential street that runs along the south side of the park, continues this tradition.


Reply With Quote