“I Wyll Be Thy True Servaunte / and Trewely Serve Thee”

“I wyll be thy true servaunte / And trewely serve thee”

Guildhall Minstrelsy in the Gest of Robyn Hode

Dean A. Hoﬀman

I Although the Gest of Robyn Hode has long been recognized as the earliest- known extended verse of the medieval English outlaw, the details of its prove- nance have consistently eluded scholars throughout almost a century of fairly intense scrutiny. And while most literary historians have assumed some form of minstrel transmission for the earliest Robin Hood poems, none has ventured any coherent description of actual performance style for this important but enigmatic work. In the ﬁrst major historical study to posit a th-century basis for the legend, J.C. Holt argued at some length for the dissemination of the Gest and the shorter surviving narratives through minstrelsy from the halls of the aristocracy to the marketplace and tavern, but oﬀered no detailed conjecture about the manner of these performances (Holt  []:–, –, , –). Not- ing the equivocal references to the spread of the legend in such th-century sources as Dives and Pauper, Bower’s Scotichronicon, and How the Ploughman Lerned His Pater Noster, David C. Fowler supported the tentative conclusions of E.K. Chambers—which included Erasmus’s curious description of English minstrels “who recitant but studio vitant cantum”—maintaining that these early Robin Hood tales were most likely recited or chanted rather than sung to a rounded melody like the familiar popular ballad, a view supported by the succession of such terms in the Gest as “tel,” “speke,” “say,” and “songe” (Fowler :–; see also Chambers :). In contrast, Douglas Gray has largely dismissed the notion of historical reconstruction of the Robin Hood tales, owing less to these internal ambiguities than to the inherently ephemeral nature of the performance act itself (Gray :–, n). Yet if Thomas H. Ohlgren is correct that the Gest of Robyn Hode was in fact commissioned in  as a semi-dramatic minstrel “talking” staged at an annual awards banquet by the Drapers Company of London—a radical reassessment of the poem based upon its extensive subtext of references apparently drawn from mercantile culture—this recognition of a likely “premiere performance” of the Gest not only sheds light on its plausible histrionic style, but also reveals banquet



Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/1054204053971135 by guest on 30 September 2021  Dean A. Hoffman entertainment to be an extended satirical metaphor that reinforces the need for viewing the legend in essentially mimetic terms (Ohlgren a:–). The Gest’s numerous examples of minstrel phraseology clearly suggest its ori- gins as a performed poem. Fyttes I, III, V, and VI open with the familiar “lyth and lystyn” formula, while a transitional aside occurs in fytte IV—“Now lete we that monke be styll, / And speke we of that knyght” (–;in Knight and Ohlgren :–)—and conventional benedictions conclude fyttes IV and VIII. Furthermore, the preponderance of dialogue in the poem would seem to demand some form of dramatic realization (cf. Ohlgren a:). But more al- lusive references to the declamation of verse can be found. Sir Richard atte Lee appears twice “full mery syngynge” () or traveling “with a lyght songe” (); King Edward and his retinue, disguised as monks to ensnare the outlaws and the knight, are described as riding “syngynge to grene wode” (); and the mock progress afterward by the king and the outlaws to Nottingham ends with the whole liveried company celebrating “with notes hye” (), perhaps like the very band of minstrels performing the poem itself. Elsewhere, Little John’s deception of the Sheriff of Nottingham in fytte III is designated as “goode myrth” () or humorous minstrelsy. Sent out a second time to the Sayles, where he initially met the knight and presently will accost the monks, Little John is urged to look out for “a man that myrthes can” (). In the midst of the discomfiture of the monks, Robin even speaks to John like a minstrel as he orders him to search their bags:“Come now forth, Lytell Johan, / And harken to my tale” (–). We are told of Robin’s recounting of the episode to Sir Richard with an appropriately histrionic flourish: “Whan Robyn had tolde his tale, / He leugh and had good chere” (–). And finally, the recurrent minstrel term contained in these verses, first mentioned in a cryptic aside during the knight’s journey from the Abbey to his home in Werysdale— “He wente hym forth full mery syngynge, / As men have tolde in tale” (– )—is echoed during the disguised king’s manhunt for the outlaws:“Whan they had tolde hym the case / Our kyng understode ther tale” (–). Probably the most revealing instance of lingua franca by the unknown compiler of the poem occurs in the ambush following the archery contest, as the betrayed Robin ac- cuses his enemy: “And wo be thou! thou proude sheryf, / Thus gladdynge thy gest” (–; see Dobson and Taylor :n). Finally, scattered references in the Gest reveal its inherently dramatic ethos. Robin Hood’s scheme for the discharge of Sir Richard’s debt is described as “gode game” (), a term that recurs twice afterward in the lengthy description of the newly restored knight’s defense of a disadvantaged yeoman at the wrestling match en route to his lavish repayment of Robin Hood () and much later in the archery contest of fytte V ()—scenes which are also designated by the suggestive term “play” (, ), as is Robin Hood’s death at the hands of the prioress of Kirkesly and Sir Roger of Doncaster ().

II Because in Ohlgren’s reading virtually everything of consequence in the Gest, from Robin Hood’s surname to his climactic encounter with King Edward, has some precedent in the Drapers’ systems of livery, apprenticeship, and ceremonial that would be easily recognized with a measure of bemusement by banqueters who belonged to the cloth-manufacturing guild, the actual recitation of the poem need not have been particularly heavy-handed. In his inﬂuential Poetria Nova (c. ), Geoﬀrey of Vinsauf advocates restraint and control in the intonation of verse, using an appropriately gustatory image:

Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/1054204053971135 by guest on 30 September 2021 Robyn Hode  So tame your voice that it is not at odds with the subject, nor let it be in- clined down a path other than that which the subject matter intends; let both go together: some particular tone of voice will be the perfect reflec- tion of the subject matter [...]. This is a disciplined charm; this technique of oral recitation is appealing and this food is flavorful to the ear. A voice decently moderated, and one seasoned with twin flavors of face and manner, should therefore be so conveyed to the ears that it may feed the hearing. (in Murphy :–)

Furthermore, in his expansion of this discussion in the Documentum de Modo et Arte Dictandi et Versificandi, Geoffrey emphasizes the importance of preserving the accentual quality of performed verse, urging “respect for the accent of the syl- lable, not for the length” (Geoffrey [c. ] :). This principle could easily be utilized by the minstrel delivering the Gest’s insipid jog-trot scansion and pedestrian rhyme scheme with an intentionally parodic edge, not as four-beat quatrains but instead as eight-beat couplets (closer in spirit to the “eight and eight” meter preferred by Shakespeare’s Bottom), with a fairly rapid, matter-of-fact pace that would have been facilitated in spoken English during this period by the gradual disappearance of the unstressed “e” vowel pronounced in Chaucer’s earlier poetry, resulting in fewer voiced syllables for each line of verse (see Barber :). But a more explicit proscription of spoken delivery can be found in the so- called Rhetorica ad Herennium (c. – bce), one of Geoffrey’s major antecedents and an eminent source in its own right for the adaptation of Ciceronian rhetoric to medieval literary theory (Murphy :–, –;see also Enders :– ). Here, a qualitative middle ground between two unaffected modes of speaking seems best suited to the present context of performance for the Gest of Robyn Hode, one that is distinguished by moderation and economy in the voice rather than an attempt at full realization of character and mise-en-scène:

The Tone of Conversation is relaxed, and is closer to daily speech. [...] The Facetious can on the basis of some circumstance elicit a laugh which is modest and reﬁned. [...W]ith a gentle quiver in the voice, and a slight suggestion of a smile, but without any trace of immoderate laughter, one ought to shift one’s utterance smoothly from the Serious Conversational Tone to the tone of gentlemanly jest. (Geoﬀrey [c. – bce] : , )

It is worth noting that this approach to recitation would be particularly eﬀective when set against the demonstrative gestures of mime, a paradigm that has been denoted as a common form of medieval staging (Tydeman :). This dy- namic does not go unrecognized by the author of this treatise, who is careful to discern between the absence of gesture by the actual speaker in the Tone of Conversation and the “conspicuous elegance or grossness” in that of the actor (Geoﬀrey [c. – ] :–). Hence, an incantatory, lyrical cadence marked by a wry irony—an accessible yet mannered style later castigated by Marlowe as the “jigging vein of rhyming Mother-wits”—may have been the modus operandi for the performance of the Gest of Robyn Hode (Marlowe [] :). It is one that could have been well-suited to the accompaniment of a small troupe of costumed or masked ac- tors, referred to as disguisers, whose improvisations among the guild members in the hall would have created a kind of theatrical running commentary on the

Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/1054204053971135 by guest on 30 September 2021  Dean A. Hoffman evening’s ceremonies, particularly if the episodes of this lengthy poem were staged between the actual courses of the banquet in the manner of a great hall play or interlude. Beﬁtting its increasingly powerful reputation as a royally chartered broker of the vital wool trade of England during this period, the Drapers guild possessed a London hall of considerable size, encompassing a standard arrangement of high table and dais ﬂanked by side tables and augmented by middle and lower tables for bachelors of the guild, amounting to seating for up to  members and guests. A “reredos” or grand screen faced the high table at the hall’s opposite end, dividing it from the entrances to the kitchen, buttery, and larder, possibly serving as a minstrels’ gallery and complementing other temporary stage structures. These would have provided considerable theatrical possibilities for a diverse range of instrumentalists accompanying small ensembles of players in short plays and oc- casional pieces (Herbert [, ] :, , ). The nature of the players’ participation may be indicated by the dramaturgy of John Lydgate’s civic entertainments involving various combinations of recitation and dumb show—such as the Mumming at Hertford or the Disguising at London— which are represented by his anachronistic depiction in the Troy Book (c. – ) of the ancient theatre, featuring a prelector and masquers playing in the midst of spectators:

In the theatre ther was a smal auter Amyddes set, that was half circuler, Whiche in-to the Est of custom was directe; Up-on the whiche a pulpet was erecte, And ther-in stod an aw(n)cien poete, For to reherse by rethorikes swete The noble dedis, that wer historial, Of kynges, princes for a memorial, [...] And whil that he in the pulpit stood, With dedly face al devoide of blood, Singinge his dites, with muses al to-rent, Amydde the theatre schrowdid in a tent, Ther cam out men gastful of her cheris, Disﬁgurid her facis with viseris, Pleying by signes in the peples sight, That the poete songen hath on hight [...]. (in Wickham , I:–)

Similarly, in a  disguising at Westminster by the players of Henry VII, William Cornish recited while costumed players served a banquet to the king and his retinue as part of the Twelfth Night festivities, and in a well-documented royal May festival in , a troupe in the character of Robin Hood and his men served venison to Venetian ambassadors in an elaborate artiﬁcial bower (see West- fall :–; Anglo :;cf. Dobson and Taylor :– and Gray :). The narrative ambience of the Gest, one built upon the announcement and subsequent service of successive courses of food, most clearly suggests just such a dramatized performance involving both disguisers and guests, recalling the perennial denotation of “minstrel” as “little servant” (see Southworth :, , –, –).

III With the conclusion of the ceremonies involving the election of the guild’s master, wardens, and other oﬃcials and the receipt by its new members of the

Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/1054204053971135 by guest on 30 September 2021 Robyn Hode  company’s cloth regalia or livery, the presenter or gestour—either moving freely within the central acting space or possibly speaking downward to the banqueters from the gallery alongside the musicians—begins with the conventional “lythe and listin” invocation, ﬂattering the guild with his reference to “gentilmen of fre- bore blode” (–). The entrance of four costumed players is cued by their enu- meration in a tableau-like manner:

Robyn stode in Bernesdale, And lenyd hym to a tre, And bi hym stode Litell Johnn, A gode yeman was he. And alsoo dyd gode Scarlok, And Much, the millers son: There was none ynch of his bodi But it was worth a grome. (–)

Immediately, anticipation of the banquet begins, undercut by appeals to guild procedure and sometimes teasing references to the guests’ hungry impatience. Little John’s ﬁrst words to Robin Hood are, “Maister, and ye wolde dyne be- tyme / It wolde doo you moche gode” (–), to which Robin replies in the negative (), and the narrative pauses to describe the outlaw’s practice of hearing three masses before dining (–), perhaps an allusion to an obligatory prayer service preceding the banquet. After this brief digression, Little John again recalls the upcoming meal while ostensibly providing further exposition of character in an exchange that oﬀers immense comic potential for the newly liveried guild members, as it portrays the prattling apprentice being curtly admonished by his master:

“Maistar,” than sayde Lytil Johnn, “And we our borde shal sprede, Tell us wheder that we shal go, And what life that we shall lede. “Where we shall take, where we shall leve, Where we shall abide behynde; Where we shall robbe, where we shal reve, Where we shall bete and bynde.” “Thereof no force,” than sayde Robyn, “We shall do well inowe.” (–)

Once Robin designates the outlaws’ enemies, Little John speaks for the mount- ing hunger of the assembled guests: “It is fer dayes, God sende us a gest, / That we were at oure dynere!” (–). Robin orders Little John and Much to seek out a suitable guest—“Bringhe hym to lodge to me; / His dyner shall be dight” (–)—a possible allusion to the interior of the hall and its facility for the entrance of players or the demarcation of playing space that is reinforced by a later reference to the “lodge door” (). Upon meeting the impoverished knight Sir Richard atte Lee, presumably played by another disguiser who enters the hall, Little John anticipates the upcoming meal by a possible allusion to the length of the just concluded ceremonies:“My maister hath abiden you fastinge, / Syr, al these oures thre” (–), a statement that is echoed verbatim by Robin soon afterward, to which the knight makes a passing reference to his intention to dine “At Blith or Dancastere” ().

Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/1054204053971135 by guest on 30 September 2021  Dean A. Hoffman

1. Frontispiece from Robyn Hode’s Gest.Wynkyn de Worde woodcut printing from the earliest surviving complete printed edition, London c. 1515. (Courtesy of Cambridge University Library Ms Sel. 5. 18)

Robin Hood and the knight are introduced, and the meal begins in earnest, with the players providing successive items from the ﬁrst course, a likely quotation of the same bill of fare typically enjoyed by the Drapers’ guild (see Ohlgren a:):

They wasshed togeder and wyped bothe, And sette to theyr dynere; Brede and wyne they had right ynoughe, And noumbles of the dere. Swannes and fessauntes they had full gode, And foules of the ryvere; There fayled none so litell a birde That ever was bred on bryre. “Do gladly, sir knight,” sayde Robyn; “Gramarcy, sir,” sayde he, “Such a dinere had I nat Of all these wekys thre.” (–)

Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/1054204053971135 by guest on 30 September 2021 Robyn Hode  The logistics of serving such a repast would likely necessitate a pause in the narrative action as the reciter speaks these lines, and continuity during the initial stage of the course may have been provided by instrumental accompaniment from the minstrels above the hall. At any rate, the knight’s following words— “As gode a dyner I shall the make / As that thou haest made to me” (–)— suggest that suﬃcient time has passed to conclude the ﬁrst course of the meal. Furthermore, the underlying comedy of this scene is indicated by Robin’s sly reference to the guild’s system of payment for the banquet, which could be delivered by the speaker in a provocative manner by emphasizing its sanctimonious, proverbial reiteration:

“Gramarcy, knyght” sayde Robyn, “My dyner whan that I it have; I was never so greedy, bi dere worthy God, My dyner for to crave.” “But pay or ye wende,” sayde Robyn; “Me thynketh it is gode ryght; It was never the maner, by dere worthi God, A yoman to pay for a knyght.” (–)

The balance of this first fytte consists mostly of lengthy dialogue detailing the knight’s impoverishment, suggesting a leisurely passage of time between courses marked by two separate calls by Robin for wine (, ), the second perhaps ironically alluding to the size of the first service as “symple chere” (). But most important at this juncture, the episode ends with the first of what may have been several brief, masque-like scenes that constitute a celebratory emblem of the guild: Sir Richard is bedecked with the company’s livery, allowing the players to pay homage to those members presently invested by displaying the trademark cloth, completing the gesture with punning references to proper measurement practice and the name of the guild itself (see Ohlgren a:, –), perhaps arousing laughter through a combination of understated spoken delivery and broad physical hijinks:

“Master,” than sayde Lityll John, “His clothinge is full thynne; Ye must gyve the knight a lyveray, To lappe his body therein. “For ye have scarlet and grene, mayster, And many a riche aray; Ther is no marchaunt in mery Englond So ryche, I dare well say.” “Take hym thre yerdes of every colour, And loke well mete that it be.” Lytell Johnn toke none other mesure But his bowe-tree, And at every handfull that he met He leped footes three. “What devylles drapar,” sayid litell Muche, “Thynkest thou for to be?” Scarlok stode full stil and loughe, And sayd, “By God Almyght,

Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/1054204053971135 by guest on 30 September 2021  Dean A. Hoffman Johnn may gyve hym gode mesure, For it costeth hym but lyght.” (–)

Fytte II, detailing the visit of the knight and Little John to St. Mary’s Abbey, appears to mark a transitional stage between the ﬁrst two courses of the banquet. A passing reference is made by the prior to the disinherited knight’s “honger” (), perhaps aimed at the audience, who is told soon afterward that the abbot and his guests, like the guild members, are at table:“Lordes were to mete isette / In that abbotes hall” (–). In this scene, Sir Richard’s disingenuous plea for an extension of his term could be rendered quite amusingly for the former bachelors of the fraternity if directed by the disguisers toward three respective guild oﬃcials who sit upon the dais, especially in the repetition of a signal phrase whose sequence of short vowels linked by voiced consonants might be elided in an in- sinuatingly slow delivery by the speaker and accompanied by servile gestures of bowing and scraping, creating a momentarily daring and resonant mockery of authority:

“Thy daye is broke,” sayd the justyce, “Londe getest thou none.” “Now, good syr justyce, be my frende, And fende me of my fone!” “I am holde with the abbot,” sayd the justyce, “Both with cloth and fee.” “Now, good syr sheryf, be my frende!” “Nay, for God,” sayd he. “Now, good syr abbot, be my frende, For thy curteyse, And holde my londes in thy honde Tyll I have made the gree!” (–)

The knight’s discomfiture of the abbot could be dramatically effected by the players’ utilization of the makeshift sideboards erected for the presentation of the various dishes as props, such as the dresser or the trencher board, which may be described moments later, as the knight “stert hym to a borde anone, / Tyll a table rounde” to reveal the four hundred pounds loaned by Robin Hood (–; see Cosman :). As the episode concludes, the anonymous poet whets the appetites of his lis- teners. The astonished abbot, we are told, “sat styll, and ete no more, / For all his ryall fare” (–), possibly confirming the end of the first course, while at- tention is deflected from the next service through the enactment of a wrestling scene marked by references to “a pype of wyne” as prize for the winner of the match, which is described as refreshment for multiple diners between courses, perhaps a large table fountain:“There it lay on the molde, / And bad it shulde be set a broche, / Drynke who so wolde” (–;see Cosman :–, ). And the final stanza of this fytte seems to acknowledge both the concluded metadrama and the growing anticipation of the banqueters in a reminder of Robin Hood’s presence in the narrative:“Thus longe taried this gentyll knyght, / Tyll that play was done; / So longe abode Robyn fastinge, / Thre houres after the none” (–). Fytte III, wherein Little John and the Sheriff ’s servants are depicted brawling, feasting, drinking, and finally betraying their master, is consistently comic and brutish, and could represent a more thorough exploitation of the guildhall as a demarcated playing space. Here, Little John is discovered at archery practice by

Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/1054204053971135 by guest on 30 September 2021 Robyn Hode  the Sheriﬀ and inveigles his way into his service under the assumed name of Reynold Grenelefe. After boorishly oversleeping, the outlaw accosts his new master’s staﬀ members in a scene rife with potential for slapstick encounters between the guild players and their fellow servants involving the large doors leading to the kitchens and back rooms, all of it in mocking reference to the audience’s appetite and alleviated by another service of wine, this time by the player who portrays Little John:

Therfore he was fastinge Til it was past the none. “God sir stuarde, I pray to the, Gyve me my dynere,” saide Litell John. “It is longe for Grenelefe Fastinge thus for to be; Therfor I pray the, sir stuarde, Mi dyner gif thou me.” “Shalt thou never ete ne drynke,” saide the stuarde, “Tyll my lorde be come to towne.” “I make myn avowe to God,” saide Litell John, “I had lever to crake thy crowne.” The boteler was full uncurteys, There he stode on ﬂore; He start to the botery And shet fast the dore. Lytell Johnn gave the boteler suche a tap His backe were nere in two; Though he lived an hundred ier, The wors shuld he go. He sporned the dore with his fote, It went open wel and fyne, And there he made large lyveray, Bothe of ale and of wyne. “Sith ye wol nat dyne,” sayde Litell John, “I shall gyve you to drinke, And though ye lyve an hundred wynter, On Lytel Johnn ye shall thinke.” (–)

The sudden entrance at this point of the “stoute and bolde” cook—whose un- expected presence among the assembled guests might in itself be a source of laughter—oﬀers an even more explicit satire of the banqueters, followed by yet more physical comedy:

“I make myn avowe to God,” saide the coke, “Thou arte a shrewde hynde In ani hous for to dwel, For to aske thus to dyne.” And there he lent Litell John God strokis thre; “I make myn avowe to God,” sayde Lytell John, “These strokis lyked well me.” (–)

Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/1054204053971135 by guest on 30 September 2021  Dean A. Hoffman After the two characters engage in another mock combat within the central playing space, supposedly lasting “the mountnaunce of an owre” (), the adver- saries reconcile, and the player-cook presents the second course of the banquet:

“Put up thy swerde,” saide the coke, “And felowes woll we be.” Thanne he fet to Lytell Johnn, The nowmbles of a do, Gode brede, and full gode wyne; They ete and drank theretoo. (–)

A suitable interval follows—“And when they had dronkyn well, / Theyre trouthes todeder they plight” (–)—and the comic momentum resumes, with the two players distributing tableware in anticipation of the next course by “plunder- ing” the Sheriﬀ ’s stock, possibly through miming theft of the guild’s plate from the back rooms with vigorous entrances and exits through the hall doors:

They dyd them to the tresoure hows, As fast as they myght gone; The lokkes, that were of full gode stele, They brake hem everichone. They toke away the silver vessell, And all that thei might get; Pecis, masars, ne sponis, Wolde thei not forget. (–)

The Sheriff is eventually lured to the forest, where Robin Hood exacts a promise of noninterference, and the pattern of service references begins again. Little John alludes to the Sheriff ’s tardiness—“I was mysserved of my dynere / Whan I was with you at home” (–)—and the presence of his flatware is re- peatedly emphasized in this scene, perhaps as a literal foreshadowing of the third course: “And whan the sherif sawe his vessell, / For sorowe he myght nat ete” (–). Most importantly, the humiliating stripping and reclothing of the Sheriff in the conclusion of the episode again reaffirms the purpose of the occasion for the celebrants, alluding to their now-concluded “twelve-monthes” apprenticeship period capped by the Sheriff ’s receipt of the guild’s “grene mantel” as a livery, perhaps represented through costume changes as in the earlier scene with the knight (Ohlgren a:). As has been recognized, fytte IV recapitulates the poem’s first episode with the ironic twist of the corrupt monks of St. Mary’s Abbey taking the place of the honest knight as the outlaws’ dinner guests (Fowler :ff.; see also Bessinger :–). Here again, references to the audience’s desire for the upcoming service are ingeniously woven into the verse. A blunt exchange between Robin Hood and Little John opens the segment—“‘Go we to dyner,’ sayde Littell Johnn; / Robyn Hode sayde, ‘Nay’” (–)—which might explain Little John’s exit “Half in tray and tene” soon afterward ()—and a similar frustration is suggested by Little John’s words to Much and Scarlok as they observe the monks in the distance:“But we brynge them to dyner, / Our mayster dare we not se” (– ). Little John soon afterward accosts the “formost monke” with reference to Robin’s anger over “fastynge so longe” (), pronouncing, “To dyne he hath bode the” (). Although no menu is specified here, the description of the second meal in the forest which follows again suggests a fairly elaborate service by the players themselves:“They made the monke to wasshe and wype, / And syt at

Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/1054204053971135 by guest on 30 September 2021 Robyn Hode  his denere, / Robyn Hode and Lytell Johan / They served him both in fere” (–). The scene detailing the defrauding of the monk continues as the guests dine, accentuated by three calls for wine (, , ). The completion of the course is suggested by the monk’s rueful repetition, this time in the past tense, of the knight’s earlier words: “For better chepe I myght have dyned / In Blythe or in Dankestere” (–). The remark is answered sarcastically by Robin, who asks that St. Mary’s prior send him “such a monke / To dyner every day” (– ). With the return of the knight and the exchange of gifts with Robin Hood, the fytte ends with what may be a punning reference to the finished third course of the meal: “God, that syt in heven hye, / Graunte us well to fare!” (–). Fyttes V and VI encompass an intensified period of narrative development in the Gest that renders the presentation of dining scenes clearly impracticable. However, dramatic enactments would seem to be in order in the Sheriff ’s archery contest and its aftermath. In actions that could be stylishly mimed by the disguisers, Robin and his men could be shown shooting in turn, and with the ambush by the Sheriff, a wild improvised scene of make-believe archery could ensue throughout the hall, which may be denoted by the passing reference, “Many an arowe there was shot / Amonge that company” (–). Further rough-and- tumble by the players may have occurred in Robin’s rescue of Little John:“Up he toke hym on his backe, / And bare hym well a myle; / Many a tyme he layd hym downe, / And shot another whyle” (–). And when the outlaws receive temporary sanctuary in the castle of Sir Richard at the end of fytte V, the action suddenly slows as yet another course arrives, this time with the explicitness of a stage direction:

“For one thynge, Robyn, I the behote; I swere by Saynt Quyntyne, These forty dayes thou wonnest with me, To soupe, ete, and dyne.” Bordes were layde, and clothes were spredde, Redely and anone; Robyn Hode and his mery men To mete can they gone. (–)

The possible length of this particular service as suggested by the knight’s words deserves some consideration. Beginning with an invocation by the minstrel suggestive of a resumption of the story after a pause (“Lythe and lysten, gentylmen, / And herkyn to your songe” [–]), fytte VI contains much sketchy narrative of incidents that would be difficult to mime. For example, the Sheriff ’s unsuc- cessful siege of Sir Richard’s castle, his journey to London to summon the king, Robin Hood’s repeated eluding of the Sheriff, and the arrest of Sir Richard, all may have been presented in summary by the gestour without action in prepara- tion for the highly dramatic rescue of the knight and the killing of the Sheriff and his men, thus affording the players another opportunity for flamboyant mock violence: “His men drewe out theyr bryght swerdes, / That were so sharpe and kene, / And layde on the sheryves men, / And dryved them downe bydene” (–). Robin’s command to Sir Richard as they depart for the forest—“Leve thy hors the behynde, / And lerne for to renne” (–)—might signal the hasty exit of the players as the seventh fytte begins, for the poem telescopes the half-year search for the outlaw by the king into roughly a dozen stanzas of description and functional dialogue leading to their meeting, a resolution marked by the final ser-

Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/1054204053971135 by guest on 30 September 2021  Dean A. Hoffman vice of the banquet in fytte VII. The lavishness of the banquet is initially fore- shadowed by a reference to “mete and mele” (), soon followed by Robin’s in- vitation to the disguised king to dine with him, as we are told, “Many a dere there was slayne, / And full fast dyghtande” (–). The elaborate presentation that follows again suggests service by the disguisers representing Robin Hood’s men, a gesture underscored by the narrator’s ironic aside, placed in the mouth of the king:

Robyn toke a full grete horne, And loude he gan blowe; Seven score of wyght yonge men Came redy on a rowe. All they kneled on theyr kne, Full fayre before Robyn; The kynge sayd hym selfe untyll, And swore by Saynt Austyn, “Here is a wonder semely syght; Me thynketh, by Goddes pyne, His men are more at his byddynge Then my men be at myn.” Full hastly was theyr dyner idyght, And therto gan they gone; They served our kynge with al theyr myght, Both Robyn and Lytell Johan. Anone before our kynge was set The fatte venyson, The good whyte brede, the good rede wyne, And thereto the fyne ale and browne. (–)

The shooting contest of “pluck-buffet” soon afterward that leads to the revela- tion of the king offers another scene of archery and clowning between the players, with Robin making a final call for “ale or wyne” () before failing the contest and receiving a blow from the king. The ceremonial actions that conclude this narrative episode teem with dramatic resonance. The Drapers’ livery is displayed for the third time in an exchange between Robin and the king that is consistent with the guild’s policy of purchase: “‘Haste thou ony grene cloth,’ sayd our kynge, / ‘That thou wylte sell nowe to me?’ / ‘Ye, for God,’ sayd Robyn, / ‘Thyrty yerdes and thre’” (–; Ohlgren a:–). The disguisers, representing both Robin and his men and the king and his retinue, all now uniformly “clothed in Lyncolne grene” (), mime the action of arriving in Nottingham, a juncture marked by a cul- minating self-reference for the performers and newly liveried audience members: “All the people of Notyngham / They stode and behelde; / They sawe nothynge but mantels of grene / That covered all the felde” (–). These lines, possibly delivered by the reciter with a sweeping gesture toward all of the assembly, would denote a living emblem of the Drapers’ guild that is at once satirical and tri- umphant. In the final stanzas of the Gest of Robyn Hode, both the literal and fictional cel- ebrations come to an end. There is a final reference to feasting between the king and outlaws; a comic grotesque Bruegel-like moment as aged cripples flee before the disguised king; and the combined pardon and promotion of the outlaws and

Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/1054204053971135 by guest on 30 September 2021 Robyn Hode  the restoration of Sir Richard’s lands, references that may parallel the election ceremonies that occasion the poem’s performance. After briefly summarizing Robin Hood’s year at the royal court—an interim wherein the players may have been absent from the hall—the poem shows Robin returning to the greenwood, his forest haunt, on pilgrimage (containing a reference to fasting that might be seen as a final confirmation that the banquet is officially ended), and the outlaws are reassembled in a tableau reminiscent of that in the Gest’s introductory stanzas. Here, the players perhaps reenter the hall in a stylized posture, a final “bow”:

Robyn slewe a full grete hart, His horne than gan he blow, That all the outlawes of that forest That horne coud they knowe, And gadred them todyder, In a lytell throwe; Seven score of wyght yonge men Came redy on a rowe. And fayre dyde of theyr hodes, And set them on theyr kne: “Welcome,” they sayd, “our mayster, Under this grene wode tre.” (–)

The perfunctory episode detailing Robin Hood’s death is hastily summarized, suggesting the recitation of a familiar ending to the legend, capped by a bene- diction, as the players retreat from the hall, perhaps to the sound of a closing cadence from the musicians.

IV For the former apprentices of the Drapers Company, the prandial enactment of the Gest of Robyn Hode in this manner can thus be seen to represent a celebration in food of the successful completion of labor that is exempliﬁed by the cycli- cal eradication of the distinction between master and apprentice, a phenomenon Bakhtin has delineated as the “last victorious stage of work”:

The image of food often symbolized the entire labor process. There were no sharp dividing lines; labor and food represented the two sides of a unique phenomenon, the struggle of man against the world, ending in his victory. It must be stressed that both labor and food were collective; the whole of society took part in them. Collective food as the conclusion of labor’s collective process was not a biological, animal act but a social event. (:)

Of no less importance in this commemoration, however, is the function of a performance art that reveals both healthy self-parody and the recognition of the new members’ place in the ongoing prosperity of the guild:

We must point out another important element: the link with the future of the words pronounced at the banquet, as well as with the praise-mockery complex. This element has survived in toasts and festive speeches. [... T]he festive voice of time speaks ﬁrst of all about the future. The festive occasion inevitably suggests looking into better days to come. (:)

Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/1054204053971135 by guest on 30 September 2021  Dean A. Hoffman Perhaps the key to understanding this delimitation of the Gest’s inherent car- nivalism can be found in J.C. Holt’s observation that hearing the Robin Hood tales in this period may have been a self-dramatic substitute for crime shared by many young men who, “in their cups or in their dreams, always killed the Sheriff stone dead, but never dared to let an arrow fly in anger” (Holt [] :). The temporary and disingenuous playing out of a recusant fantasy through this poem by the Drapers’ initiates and their mentors can thus be seen to solidify and reinstate the group identity of a fundamentally law-abiding audience, one whose participation in the cycle of work and entertainment promotes an essentially conservative agenda of respectable and materially prosperous middle-class citizenship. As Um- berto Eco has averred, “comedy and carnival are not instances of real transgres- sions: on the contrary, they represent paramount examples of law reinforcement” (:). Perhaps it is no coincidence that when he composed his own Robin Hood pageant for a Drapers ceremony in , Anthony Munday—himself a second-generation member of the guild and author of two previous Robin Hood plays featuring a gentrified outlaw hero—was moved to show the men of Sher- wood diligently affirming in song, “our best service is daily spent for our Master Robin Hood” (Munday [] :;cf. Knight and Ohlgren :). Hence, in what amounts to a pervasive internal signature, the guildhall minstrel and his troupe of players skillfully stylize the narrative of the Gest of Robyn Hode, creating an almost Brechtian mode of presentation that constitutes a ceremonial adaptation of a popular legend for an emerging elite audience, reminding them that they are engaged in what is ultimately a dramatic celebration of con- fraternity. But if the anonymous figure behind this poem has indeed demon- strated a bourgeois appropriation of what Bakhtin has codified as the subversive but regenerative laughter that reveals its subject “in its droll aspect, in its gay rel- ativity” (:–), he has just as evidently bequeathed to posterity the indispensable quality of apostrophe, a trope that has been described, again with an apt metaphor, by Geoffrey of Vinsauf:“You may give pleasure with this device;without it your meal may be abundant enough, but with it your mere dishes become excellent courses” (in Murphey :). The legacy of this complex, frustrat- ing, and finally compelling miniature verse epic of Robin Hood may thus be not so much its relevance to the centuries-long tradition that it helped to inspire, but rather its complete realization through minstrel performance of the ubiquitous late medieval term that gives the work its designation of “gest”: an exercise in satirical entertainment, perhaps; but most importantly, a dramatically told narrative of deeds.

Notes . See R.B. Dobson and J. Taylor’s comprehensive overview of the scholarship in their revised foreword and introduction to Rymes of Robyn Hood: An Introduction to the English Outlaw (:xiii–xxxvi, –). Portions of this article are derived from presentations at the rd International Congress on Medieval Studies at Kalamazoo () and the Second International Conference of Robin Hood Studies () hosted by the University of Nottingham. . All further citations are from this edition. Like Dobson and Taylor, Knight and Ohlgren present a composite of the poem that relies heavily upon Wynkyn de Worde’s complete edition (c. –) and the fragmentary Lettersnijder edition of Antwerp printer Jan van Doesborch (c. ). The relatively early date of performance for the Gest suggested here by Ohlgren indicates a lost manuscript version that predates these printings, one that may have held some relevance for merchants who fondly remembered the military and political tri- umphs of Edward III (see Ohlgren b:–). . See Grantley’s indispensable compilation of over  late medieval noncycle plays, which ar- guably ﬁt this generic classiﬁcation, particularly with regard to dramaturgy and stage setting.

Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/1054204053971135 by guest on 30 September 2021 Robyn Hode 

.Lydgate’s scenario is closely matched by the contemporaneous Terence de Ducs illustrations found in the Arsenal Library and Bibliotheque Nationale (see Nicoll :–). These images, even allowing for a margin of visual stylization, suggest a combination of restrained delivery and broad histrionic action as a current practice during this period. See also Tyde- man (:–) and Mann (:–). . Ohlgren notes the signiﬁcance of this particular guild policy for the audience, whose payment of fees and ﬁnes for non-attendance subsidized the banquet’s cost (a:).

References Anglo, Sydney  Spectacle, Pageantry,and Early Tudor Policy. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Bakhtin, Mikhail  Rabelais and His World. Translated by Helene Iswolsky. Bloomington:Indiana Uni- versity Press. Barber, Charles  Early Modern English. Edinburgh: University Press. Bessinger, Jr., J.B.  “The Gest of Robin Hood Revisited.” In Robin Hood: An Anthology of Scholarship and Criticism, edited by Stephen Knight, –. Cambridge: D.S. Brewer. Chambers, E.K.  English Literature at the Close of the Middle Ages. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Cosman, Madeleine Pelner  Fabulous Feasts: Medieval Cookery and Ceremony. New York:George Braziller. Dobson, R.B., and J. Taylor  Rymes of Robyn Hood:An Introduction to the English Outlaw. Phoenix Mill: Sutton Publishing. Eco, Umberto  “The Frames of Comic ‘Freedom.’” In Carnival!, edited by Thomas A. Sebeok, –. Berlin: Mouton Publishers. Enders, Jody  “Of Miming and Signing: The Dramatic Rhetoric of Gesture.”In Gesture in Me- dieval Drama and Art,edited by Clifford Davidson, –. Kalamazoo:Medieval In- stitute Publications. Fowler, David C.  “Rymes of Robyn Hood.” In Robin Hood:An Anthology of Scholarship and Criti- cism, edited by Stephen Knight, –. Cambridge: D.S. Brewer. Geoffrey of Vinsauf  [c. ] Documentum de Modo et Arte Dictandi et Versificandi. Translated by Roger P. Parr. Milwaukee: Marquette University Press. Grantley, Darryll  English Dramatic Interludes, 1300–1580. Cambridge: University Press. Gray, Douglas  “The Robin Hood Poems.” In Robin Hood:An Anthology of Scholarship and Criti- cism, edited by Stephen Knight, –. Cambridge: D.S. Brewer. Herbert, William  [, The History of the Twelve Great Livery Companies of London,  vols. New York:Au- ] gustus M. Kelley. First published in London: William Herbert. Holt, J.C.  [] Robin Hood. London: Thames and Hudson.

Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/1054204053971135 by guest on 30 September 2021  Dean A. Hoffman

Knight, Stephen, and Thomas Ohlgren, ed.  Robin Hood and Other Outlaw Tales. Kalamazoo: Medieval Institute Publications. Mann, David  “The Roman Mime and Medieval Theatre.” Theatre Notebook XLVI, :–. Marlowe, Christopher  [] Tamburlaine the Great. Edited by J.S. Cunningham. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. Munday, Anthony  [] “Metropolis Coronata.” In Pageants and Entertainments of Anthony Munday, edited by David M. Bergeron, –. New York:Garland. Murphy, James J., ed.  Three Medieval Rhetorical Arts. Translated by Jane Baltzell Kopp. Berkeley: Uni- versity of California Press.  Rhetoric in the Middle Ages:A History of Rhetorical Theory from Saint Augustine to the Renaissance. Berkeley: University of California Press. Nicoll, Allardyce  [] Masks,Mimes and Miracles:Studies in the Popular Theatre.New York:Cooper Square Publishers. Ohlgren, Thomas H. a “The ‘Marchaunt’ of Sherwood: Mercantile Ideology in A Gest of Robyn Hode.”In Robin Hood in Popular Culture:Violence,Transgression, and Justice, edited by Thomas Hahn, –. Cambridge: D.S. Brewer. b “Edwardus redivivus in A Gest of Robyn Hode.” Journal of English and Germanic Philology , :–. Rhetorica ad Herennium  [c. –Edited and translated by Harry Caplan. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.  ] Southworth, John  The English Medieval Minstrel. Woodbridge: Boydell Press. Tydeman, William  The Theatre in the Middle Ages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Westfall, Suzanne R.  Patrons and Performance: Early Tudor Household Revels. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Wickham, Glynne  Early English Stages 1300 to 1600. London: Routledge.

Dean A. Hoffman teaches English and theatre at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte, and is a member of the International Association for Robin Hood Studies. He was a Leverhulme Trust Commonwealth/USA postdoctoral fellow at Dundee Univer- sity,Scotland,in 1989/90,and his articles have appeared in Shakespeare Bulletin, Com- parative Drama, Neuphilologische Mitteilungen, and Studia Neophilologica.

Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/1054204053971135 by guest on 30 September 2021