Who Was Maid Marian

Posted by Robert Fortunaso, 28/9/26

Maid Marian’s literary beginnings remain controversial, but it is likely that by origin, she was the shepherdess Marion of the medieval French pastourelles and motets, in which she is partnered by the shepherd Robin. See also, Encyclopedie Theologique by J.P. Migne. Adam de la Halle’s Le Jeu de Robin et de Marion of c. 1283, possibly written for the Neapolitan court, is a dramatized version of such pastourelles; it is said to have been performed by the school-boys of Angiers, according to annual custom, in the year 1392.(1) In the French fetes du mai (May festivities) Robin and Marion appear in a variety of rustic pastimes, and in between, there is the attempted seduction (of Marion) by a series of knights: it is likely that their names and functions were later passed on to the English May Games. In his Mirour de l’ omme of 1376-9, the Englishman John Gower mentions Robin and Marion as rustic figures; he condemned the revelry of monks with the comment that they obeyed the rule of Robin, rather than that of St Augustine (see, Robin in Music and Literature). This suggests that Robin and Marion were associated with popular festivities from an early date, around the same time as Langland’s first reference to Robin Hood. In view of this, there is no mention of Marian in the earliest surviving tales of Robin Hood, which leads to the conclusion that two separate traditions developed side by side and independent of each other until they became entwined. Professor Holt states that ‘they had come together through Robin Hood and the Robin of the games being made one and the same. Marian was queen of May. Robin became her King. Together they presided over the May Games in the sixteenth century’.(2) Surprisingly, Maid Marian had little impact on the later popular tradition of Robin Hood broadsides and garlands, apart from the ballad Robin Hood and Maid Marian. However, there is reference to Maid Marian in two broadsides; Robin Hood and Queen Katherine and Robin Hood’s Golden Prize.

1. The boys were deguisiez (disguised) says an old French record: and they had among them un Fillette desguisee (a little girl in costume). It seems to have been an early fashion in France for school-boys to present these shews or plays. In an ancient manuscript, under the year 1477, there is mentioned ‘Certaine Moralite, ou Farce, que les escolliers de Pontoise avoit fait, ainsi qu’il est de coustume’. (A certain morality play, or farce, which the students of Pontoise had performed, as is the custom). The Mystery of the old and the new Testament is said to have been presented in 1424, by the boys of Paris placed like statues against a wall, without speech or motion, at the entry of the duke of Bedford, regent of France.

2. Robin Hood, Holt, p. 160.

 

Maid Marion named for the very first time, in the May Games, along with the ‘frere’ (probably an allusion to Friar Tuck):

 

1509-10 Kingston-upon-Thames, Surrey: 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].

.

Subsequent reference to Maid Marion/Marian etc., up to 1597-98:

 

1513-14 Alexander Barclay mentions Robin Hood for the fourth time (and also the first literary mention of ‘mayde Marion’) in his Fourth Eclogue or Egloge (pastoral poem) undertaken at the monastery of Ely, where he was now a Benedictine monk. Barclay’s first three Eclogues were largely borrowed from the ‘Miseriae Curialium’ of Pope Pius II, and the last two, a free rendering of the Eclogues of Baptista Mantuanus or Mantuan (1447-1516) an Italian Carmelite reformer, humanist, and poet. Barclay’s Eclogues form, with the exception of Henryson’s Robin and Makyn, the earliest examples of the English pastoral. First published in collected form by the English printer John Cawood in 1570, the Eclogues were appended to his edition of The Ship of Fools.

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].

1529 Thomas More (1478 – 1535), English lawyer, scholar, writer, member of parliament, councillor to Henry VIII, and lord chancellor, refers to ‘Robyn hode’ ‘frere tuk’ and ‘mad Maryon’ in A Dialogue Concerning Heresies, a major link in the chain of books that comprise the More-Tyndale controversy. It attacks Tyndale’s 1525-26 New Testament translation as being a Lutheran book, as well as criticism of  subsequent Tyndale publications of the late twenties (see no. 141 above), and for the earlier mention of Robin by More’s brother-in-law John Rastell (see no. 122 above). More was close to the radical Catholic theologian Erasmus,but opposed the Protestant Reformation (which is evident in his writings) and in particular, the theology of Martin Luther and William Tyndale (see no. 141 above and no. 153 below). More also opposed the king’s separation from the Catholic Church, refusing to acknowledge Henry as Supreme Head of the Church of England and the annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon. After refusing to take the Oath of Supremacy, he was convicted of treason and beheaded. In 1935 Pope Pius XI canonised More as a martyr. The Dialogue was published for the first time by More’s brother-in-law John Rastell (see no. 122 above) in 1529, and a second edition was published in 1531 by John Rastell’s son, William Rastell. William Rastell supervised its publication again as part of his 1557 Folio Edition of More’s English Works. The first modern edition, edited by W. E. Campbell and A. W. Reed, was published in 1927, and was reissued in 1931 as Volume II of The English Works of Sir Thomas More. The first real critical edition of Dialogue was published in 1981 as Volume 6 of The Yale Edition of the Complete Works of St. Thomas More. More’s many works include: A Rueful Lamentation (1503), A Merry Jest (1516), The Life of Pico della Mirandola (trans., 1510), The History of King Richard the Third (c.1513-1518), and probably his most important work, Utopia (1516).

1531 Cleeve Prior, Worcestershire: Prior William More, while at Crowle the week of July 23-29, pays 6s. 8d. ‘in reewardes to the tenantes of clyve pleying with Robyn Whot Mayde Marion and other’ [REED: Worcester, 513; 338n. 77; William More, Journal of Prior William More, ed. Ethel S. Fegan (London: Worcester Historical Society, 1913-14), 332].

1532-33 Thomas More refers to ‘frere tukke’ ‘madde Maryon’ and ‘Robben hod’ for the second time in The Confutation of Tyndale’s Answer, a two volume reply to Tyndale’s Answer Unto More’s Dialogue. The Confutation, More’s longest work, contains an imaginary dialogue between More and Tyndale, with More addressing each of Tyndale’s criticisms of Catholic rites and doctrines, the final exchange of the More-Tyndale controversy. More’s nephew, William Rastell, published volume one of Confutation in 1532 (see also More, Sir Thomas, Saint, The Confutation of Tyndale’s Answer, part 1. in The Complete Works of Saint Thomas More, Vol. 8.: I (New Haven, Yale University Press); More, Sir Thomas, Saint, The Confutation of Tyndale’s Answer, part 2. in The Complete Works of Saint Thomas More, Vol 8.: II (New Haven, Yale University Press); Schuster, Louis, ‘Thomas More’s Polemical Career, 1523-1533’ in The Complete Works of Saint Thomas More, Vol. 8.: III (New Haven, Yale University Press); Marius, Richard ‘Thomas More’s View of the Chuch’ in ibid.

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].

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).

1559 A procession in London which included ’Robyn Hode’ ‘lytyll John’ ‘M[aid Marian]’ and ‘frere Tuke’ recorded in the diary of Henry Machyn (1498?–1563).

1565 ’Robin Hood’ and ‘Maid Marian’ mentioned in the Jest-Book with the title Merie tales of the made men of Gotam gathered to gether by A.B. of phisike doctour (Imprinted at London in Fletstret, beneath the Conduit, at the signe of S. John euangelist, by Thomas Colwell). Attributed to Andrew Boorde (1490?-1549), this is apparently a copy of a now lost chapbook collection of twenty tales about ‘the mad men of Gotham’ published in about 1540. See, All about the Merry Tales of Gotham.

1573 ’Robin Hood’ ‘little john’ ‘Frier 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.

1575 ’Mawdmarion’ mentioned by Robert Laneham or Langham (fl. 1575), in his letter on the Kenilworth festivities of 1575. 

c. 1577 A reference to ‘Robin hoods playes’ ‘the Morrice and the foole, the May poll, & the Drum’ and ‘Marian, about the poll to daunce’ in The practise of the Diuell by the minor poet Laurence Ramsay or Ramsey (fl. 1550–1588). 

c. 1577 ‘robin hoode’ and ‘mayde marion’ appear in the dialogue of the play Misogonus, which was announced as a ‘MS. of recent discovery’ by John Payne Collier in 1831 (The History of English Dramatic Poetry to the Time of Shakespeare, Vol. 2, p. 464). Collier summarized the action of the play and wrote briefly on the questions of authorship and date. The MS. was in the Duke of Devonshire’s collection, but is now in the Huntington Library, San Marino (MS. HM 452).

1582 A reference to the ‘maygaymes’ and ‘maymarrions’ (i.e., Maid Marion) in A Dialogue agaynst light, lewde, and lasciuious dauncing by the author, translator, and editor, Christopher Fetherston or Fetherstone.

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 (October) ‘Mayd-marian’ mentioned in The Returne of the renowned Caualiero Pasquill of England.

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.

1590 ‘Maid Marian’ and ‘the Morris about a May pole’ mentioned in Plaine Percevall the Peacemaker. Signed on A4r: P.P.P., i.e. Plain Percevall Peace-maker, i.e. Richard Harvey, sometimes attributed to Thomas Nashe. The imprint is fictitious; printed in London in 1590 at Eliot’s Court Press for G. Seton (STC). There is a copy in the Huntington Library, San Marino, California. An edition by EEBO Editions, ProQuest, appeared in 2010.

1592 ‘Maidmarian’ and ‘May-game or Moris-daunce’ mentioned by Robert Greene in A Quip for an Upstart Courtier. At least six editions were printed in 1592, and there are copies in the Westminster Abbey Library, the Harvard University Library, the Huntington Library, the Folger Shakespeare Library, and the collection of Dr. A. S. Rosenbach. The ‘Quip’ was reprinted in 1606, 1615, 1620, 1625, and 1635. A Dutch translation was published at the Hague in 1601, and later editions appeared; the pamphlet was also translated into French. This was the latest work issued in Greene’s lifetime.

1593 ’Friar Tuck’ and ‘maid Marian’ referred to in Pierce’s Supererogation by Gabriel Harvey (c.1552/3–1631), scholar and writer born at Saffron Walden, Essex. 

c. 1595-96 John a Kent and John a Cumber by Anthony Munday, refers to ‘that monstrous murrian’ and ‘mayde Marian.’ The manuscript of the play was in the possession of E. M. L. Mostyn, Esq., M.P., and it came to the notice of Sir Frederick Madden (Keeper of the manuscripts in the British Museum). It was printed by the Shakespeare Society in 1851. John S. Farmer published a facsimile of the manuscript in 1912, and he wrote that the present Lord Mostyn ‘believes the MS. to have come into the possession of his family in 1690, and that it belonged to the Hobart Collection’. A reprint for the Malone Society (by Frederick Hall M.A.) appeared in 1923, taken from the manuscript which was now in the possession of Messrs. Quaritch.

1597 A mention of ‘Maide Marian’ (actually referring to the wife of an Inn-keeper) in Wits Trenchmour, by Nicholas Breton. There is a copy in the Huntington Library.

1597-98 ’Maid-marian’ is referred to, and ‘Robin-hood, Scarlet, and john’ (a line from the ballad The Jolly Pinder of Wakefield) is sung by Master Silence in Henry IV (First Folio) by William Shakespeare. See also, Robin Hood and the Pindar of Wakefield.

This page contains information found in Plays and the May Festivities 3, and Robin Hood Timeline.