Who Was Friar Tuck

Posted by Robert Fortunaso, 17/9/26

The original Friar Tuck was Robert Stafford, a chaplain of Linfield, Sussex. In the fifteenth century he used the alias of ‘Frere Tuk’. He undoubtedly found his way into the The Dramatic Fragment of c. 1475.

Subsequent Records of Friar Tuck up to 1593:

 

1513-14 The poet Alexander Barclay, is the first person known to mention Robin Hood and Marian together, but he suggests the two stories are still separate. See, The Eclogues of Alexander Barclay.

1515-16 Kingston-upon-Thames, Surry: Churchwarden’s accounts list ‘Chooses for Mores Davnsars and Roben Hod and hes Compenye: . . . . . Item for Roben Hod a peyer of chone 8d. . . . . Item to Roben Hode for hes labor 12d. Item to Leytell Jhon for hes labor 10d. Item to Freer tuk 8d. Item in mony amongest Roben Hodes men at nythe 8d. [Finny, ‘Mediaeval Games,’ 115].

c. 1516 John Skelton (c. 1460-1529), Tudor poet and satirist, was possibly born in Diss, Norfolk. He wrote the first secular morality play in English, Magnyfycence (his only surviving play), a political satire, in which the character named ‘Fancy’ mentions Friar Tuck (line 373).

1529 Thomas More (1478 – 1535), English lawyer, scholar, writer, member of parliament, councillor to Henry VIII, and lord chancellor, refers to Robin Hood ‘frère tuk’ and ‘mad Maryon’ in A Dialogue Concerning Heresies

1532-33 Thomas More refers to Robin Hood ‘frère tukke’ and ‘madde Maryon’ for the second time in The Confutation of Tyndale’s Answer,

c. 1536-39 Sir Richard Morison (c.1513-1556), an English scholar, diplomat, theologian and politician, complains about plays of Robin Hood, Maid Marian, and Friar Tuck in ‘A Discourse Touching the Reformation of the Lawes of England’ (MS. London, British Library, Cotton Faustina C 2, fols. 5-22).

1537 Robin John, little hode, and frier tucke mentioned in the play Thersites.

c.1550? Possible date for the ballad ‘Robin Hood and the Curtal Friar’, the main elements of which were probably well known by the beginning of the reign of Elizabeth I; the play concerning Friar Tuck was appended to William Copland’s edition of the Gest c. 1560. Of all Robin Hood’s many adventures, his famous battle with the curtal friar has been among the most popular. Ballads concerning this contest were already circulating quite widely by the middle of the seventeenth century, and Robin Hood and the Curtal Friar holds a prominent place in all the Robin Hood Garlands from the 1660s onwards. The first printed version appears to be a broadside (Pepys collection I, 78, no. 37, printed by H. Gosson around 1607-41). The friar’s association with Fountains Abbey (which can only be a post-Reformation fabrication) is seen in both ballads: Robine Hood and Ffryer Tucke and Robin Hood and the Curtal Friar. The name ‘Friar Tuck’ does not appear in either of these ballads, and although Child points out that the curtal friar should not be too readily identified with Friar Tuck, both may have sprung from the same common tradition. The curtal friar plays little or no part in the traditional Robin Hood saga outside his own ballad and was probably a legendary figure in his own right, before being absorbed into the world of Robin Hood. Child believed that Friar Tuck owed his association with Robin Hood to the May Games and the Morris Dance, ‘and not in the least to popular ballads’ (Child, III, p. 122). In any case the name of ‘Frere Tuk’ was used as an alias by a notorious robber in the early fifteenth century, and ‘Ffrere Tuke’ appears as a member of Robin’s company in The Dramatic Fragment. Also the play of 1537 called Thersites (see no. 171 above), refers to someone being ‘as tall a man as Frier Tucke’. Robine Hood and Ffryer Tucke (Percy Folio version) consists of the following source: British Library, Additional MS. 27, 879, fos. 4v-6r; printed in Bishop Percy’s Folio Manuscript, Hales and Furnivall, I, 26-31. Editions include:  Francis James Child, The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, 1888, vol. III, pp. 123-4; R. B. Dobson and J. Taylor, Rymes of Robyn Hood, London, 1976, pp. 159-61; Stephen Knight and Thomas H. Ohlgren, Robin Hood and Other Outlaw Tales, Michigan, 1997. The famous Battle between Robin Hood and the Curtall Fryer. To a New Northern Tune (Broadside version) consists of the following source: Bodleian Library, Oxford, Wood MS. 401, leaves 15v 16r (a broadside printed for F. Coles, T. Vere and W. Gilbertson, c. 1660). Other sources are: Pepys collection I, 78, no. 37, a broadside printed by H. Gosson around 1607-41; Garland of 1663, No. 11; Garland of 1670; Pepys collection, II, 99, No. 86; Douce collection, II, 184; Roxburghe collection, III, 16. Editions include: Thomas Evans, Old Ballads, 1777, vol. 1 pp. 136-143; Joseph Ritson Robin Hood, 1795, part II, pp. 58-65; John Mathew Gutch, A Lytell Geste of Robin Hode with other Ancient & Modern Ballads, 1847, vol. II, pp. 190-6; Francis James Child, The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, 1888, vol. III, pp. 124-6; A. Quiller-Couch, The Oxford Book of Ballads, 1910, pp. 600-7; Mac Edward Leach, The Ballad Book, 1955, pp. 361-5; R. B. Dobson and J. Taylor, Rymes of Robyn Hood, London, 1976, pp. 161-64; Stephen Knight and Thomas H. Ohlgren, Robin Hood and Other Outlaw Tales, Michigan, 1997.

1559 A procession in London which included Robin Hood, Little John, Maid Marian and Friar Tuck, recorded in the diary of Henry Machyn (1498?–1563).

c. 1560 William Copland’s edition of the Gest with the title ‘A mery geste of Robyn Hoode and of hys lyfe, wyth a newe playe for to be played in Maye games very plesaunte and full of pastyme.’ Copland’s edition was reproduced in facsimile in Old English Drama (Students Facsimile Edition) (1914). This ‘newe playe’ is actually two distinct works (see ‘The Play of Robin Hood and the Friar’ (which actually mentions ‘Fryer Tucke’) and ‘The Play of Robin Hood and the Potter’.

1573 Robin Hood, little Iohn, Frier Lucke (Tucke) and mayde Marian mentioned in The Supremacie of Christian Princes, ouer all persons throughout their dominions, by John Bridges (1535/6-1618). There is a copy in the British Library.

1588 Robin Hood, Little John, Frier Tuck and Maid Marian mentioned in A discoursiue probleme concerning Prophesies by John Harvey. There is a copy in the British Library, and another in the Huntington Library.

1589 Robin Hood, Little John, Friar Tuck and Marian mentioned in the second (and subsequent editions) of Albion’s England by William Warner (1558?–1609). Robin is referred to as a ‘mal-content’ and a ‘County’, and is associated with Richard I. There is also a mention of Sherwood and the Morris (dance) and the May Games. The first edition (with no reference to the Robin Hood legend) is very rare, and appeared in 1586. The second edition of 1589, is followed by those of 1592, 1596, and 1602.

c. 1590 ‘A merry Iest of Robin Hood, and of his life, With a newe play for to be plaied in May-games. Very pleasant and full of pastime.’ A reprinting of William Copland’s earlier edition of the Gest (see no. 237 above) by Edward White (Bodleian Library, Oxford, Z. 3. Art. Seld.), to which is appended The Play of Robin Hood and the Friar (which actually mentions ‘Fryer Tucke’) and The Play of Robin Hood and the Potter (see also, Printed Sources for the Tales of Robin Hood).

1593 George Peele’s popular play Edward the first (printed in 1593) may have been acted two or three years earlier; Friar Tuck is mentioned. It incorporates a Robin Hood game and borrows heavily from the ballad of the outlaw’s contest with the potter. Its full title is: The Famous Chronicle of King Edward the first, sirnamed Edward Longshankes, with his returne from the holy land. Also the life of Lleuellen, rebell in Wales. Lastly, the sinking of Queen Elinor, who suncke at Charingcrosse, and rose again at Pottershith, now named Queenehith.

1593 Friar Tuck and Maid Marian referred to in Pierce’s Supererogation by Gabriel Harvey (c.1552/3–1631).

Records of the ‘Friar’ (probably an illusion to Friar Tuck):

 

 1508-9 Kingston-upon-Thames, Surrey: Expenses for the King-Game and Robin Hood include money for a kilderkin (18 gallons) of strong beer and a kilderkin of single beer, 7 bushels of wheat, 2½ bushels of rye, 3 sheep, a lamb, 2 calves, 6 pigs, 3 bushels of coals and wages for the cooks; also 16d. for making a coat for Robin Hood, 18d. for food and drink for Robin Hood and his men, 4d. for the Friar’s coat, 8s. for Little John’s coat, and 7d. for 5 broad arrows; the income from the King-Game and Robin Hood’s gathering is 4 marks (£2 13s. 8d.) [W. E. St. L. Finny, ‘Medieval Games and Gaderyings at Kingston-upon-Thames,’ Surrey Archaeological Collections 44 (1936), 122-23; Lysons, Environs of London, 169].

1509-10 Kingston-upon-Thames, Surrey: Maid Marian named for the first time. Churchwarden’s Accounts list the following ‘Costes of ye Kyngham and Robyn Hode’:

‘First paid for a pece of Kendall for Roben Hode and litell Johns cote 12s. 10d.

‘Item paid for III yerdes of white for the freres cote 3s.

‘Item paid for III yerds of Kendall for mayde marion is huke 2s. 4d.

‘Item paid for saten of sypers for ye same huke 5d.

‘Item paid to mayde marion for her labor for II yere 2s. . . . .

‘Item paid for II payre of glovys for Robyn Hode and Mayde maryon 4½d.

‘Item for VI brode arovys 6d.

‘Item paid for mete and drynke for Robyn Hode and his compeny 2s. 2d.

‘Item paid to Alis Toth for mete and drynke for Robyn Hode and his company 5d.

‘Item paid for II Kylderkenys of III halpeny bere for Robyn Hode and his compeny 2s. 8d. . . . .

‘The Recettes of ye Same Yere’.

‘Item receuid for gadering of ye King and Whitsontyde 19s.

‘Item rec. at ye Kyngham and for ye gaderyng of Roben Hode 4 marks 20d.’ [Finny, ‘Medieval Games,’ 123-25].

1509-10 Kingston-upon-Thames, Surrey: 7s. 6d. paid ‘for half Robyn Hodes cote’; also 3s. paid for the friar’s coat, 8s. 3d. for Little John’s coat, and 15d. for Kendal for Robin Hood’s coat [Finny, ‘Medieval Games,’ 105].

1510-11 Kingston-upon-Thames, Surrey: 4 marks received from Robin Hood’s gathering; also 25s. 6d. paid ‘for Robyn Hodes cote and for litell Jhons cote and for ye frères cote’ [Finny, ‘Medieval Games,’ 121].

1519-20 Kingston-upon-Thames, Surrey: Churchwarden’s accounts include: ‘Item Reseuyd of Jhon gaddysbe for Robyn Hode ye yere before past, 3s. 2d. [Finny, ‘Mediaeval Games,’ 104]. ‘Item Resayued of the Maye game and Robyn Hode £3 12s. 4d.

The Expenses

‘For ye Maye game and Robartte Hode:

‘Furst payet for VII yerdys satane . . . . at 2s. ye yerd 14s.

‘Item payett for canves to lyne ye same cottes 16d.

‘Item payett for ye makyn of ye same cottes 2s.

‘Item payett for III brode yerdes of rosett to make ye freers cott 3s.

‘Item payett for XIIII candall cottes, beside ye gyfthe of Masters of the towne, and for ye makyng of ye same cottes 12s.

‘Item payett for VIII payers of schewes for ye morris daunsers, ye freer and made maryen at VIIId ye payer 5s. 4d.’ [Finny, ‘Mediaeval Games,’ 117-18].

1536-37 Kingston-upon-Thames, Surrey: ‘Charges for Robyn Hodde’ include costumes for a friar, fool, morris dancers, and Maid Marian, 6 pair of single-soled shoes and 6 pair of double-soled shoes, and 1300 livery badges [Finny, ‘Mediaeval Games,’ 126].

1592-95 A mention of ‘the bare scalpe of Robin Hoods fat Fryer,’ by the ‘Outlaw’ in The Two Gentlemen of Verona (First Folio), the work of the poet, player and playwright, William Shakespeare.

This page contains information found in my Robin Hood Timeline.