"When did Robin Hood meet Richard the Lionheart?"

by Richard Rutherford-Moore

Robin Hood meeting King Richard the Lion-Heart in Sherwood Forest has been often described in story, television and feature film - but did it ever really happen ? In this article, a popular "Robin Hood Country" author and tour guide tries to bring the two men together in a fresh acquaintance.

The Black Knight delivers a 'buffet' to Friar Tuck whilst Robin Hood looks on

(Authors Collection)

Geoffrey had also sworn not to travel to England in Richard's absence, and Longchamp seeing Geoffrey as a threat to the throne tried to arrest him on a charge of treason. The farce resulting in Geoffrey after a stake-out of four days being dragged out of 'Holy Sanctuary' by Longchamps' impatient soldiers led to every person involved in the unlawful capture of Geoffrey being excommunicated by the Bishop of Lincoln with Longchamp being first denounced and then excommunicated and deposed by the ruling council. Longchamp locked himself in the Tower of London, but was forced to surrender to Prince John after a few days. Longchamp was tried ; his defence was he had not been disloyal or a traitor to Richard but in his zeal he may have been tactless and overbearing. He was deposed and imprisoned. On the last day of October, Longchamp was permitted to leave England - he had tried to escape earlier dressed as a woman but an amorous and rather impudent seaman 'felt' rather than saw through Longchamps' disguise.

Prince John was begged by the barons to get rid of the despotic Longchamp - not the other way around, as depicted in the 1938 feature film. John also had the support of all the English freemen and burgesses, without which the struggle between him and Longchamp would have probably degenerated into a similar civil war such as between Stephen and Matilda between 1135 and 1155, resulting in wholesale anarchy.

In February 1192, Queen Eleanor returned to England after hearing of her son John plotting with the King of France, Philip Augustus, to get hold of Richard's lands and castles in France. Philip's sister Princess Alice was bethrothed to Richard I but he had jilted her in favour of marrying Princess Berengaria of Navarre. Because of this, a rather disillusioned Philip had left command of the joint Crusade to Richard I who remained in the Holy Land. Hearing of the recent troubles in England, Philip decided to revenge himself on Richard I and made approaches to Prince John to marry his sister Alice instead and get hold of Richard's lands in France. The fact that John was already married was not seen as a problem by either Philip or John. Queen Eleanor narrowly managed to get John barred from leaving England by the ruling council in order to clinch the deal with Philip.

At the same time, Longchamp returned to England demanding a re-trial and through a go-between offering John a bribe to enable Longchamp to get his old job back : Queen Eleanor then used Longchamp to forestall John's deal with Philip. The ruling council was left in a quandary as they didn't like what they were hearing about John or Longchamp. Leaving the ruling council to fret and worry for a time, Prince John then made it known he really needed the money Longchamp was offering him and would be forced to accept the bribe through necessity - but - if the ruling council matched Longchamps' offer to him John would cheerfully accept it from them instead, which would then solve everyone's problem. As a result, the ruling council paid Prince John the money but out of King Richard's treasury and re-asserted their oaths to him to succeed Richard. Longchamp was forced to return to France to await the fury of King Richard when he returned from the Holy Land.

John had broken the independence of the ruling council and destroyed Longchamp - all John had to do was be patient for the throne to drop into his lap. Nine months later, the devastating news arrived in February 1193 that King Richard had been arrested at Vienna in December 1192 and was at that time in prison in Germany, held to ransom for the immense sum of a hundred thousand marks or £66,000 : at the time a quarter of England's wealth. The news was followed shortly afterwards by a rumour that Richard was in fact, already dead.

Prince John could not be prevented from sailing over to France to meet Philip 'to find out the truth'. It is often implied but never proven that the rumour of Richard's death was circulated by John and Philip in order for John to be crowned and Richard's lands shared out between John and Philip. John's offer to Normandy to defend it from the threat of a French invasion in return for their allegiance was rejected : John returned to England to recruit an army to crush any opposition to him being crowned and Philip planned an invasion of Normandy and England.

The temptation at this time to the ruling council to give into Prince John - the man they had all sworn would succeed Richard anyway - was terrific as it would keep the Peace and avoid a almost certain French invasion supported by John's troops in England. Seeing the council wavering, Queen Eleanor pointed out that Richard's death was only a rumour and the ransom demand still stood, and reminded the council of their outstanding oaths of loyalty to King Richard. The Lionheart's past reputation and his recent exploits in the Holy Land were widely known and when Eleanor and the council put the problem to the people the response from them was both immediate and overwhelming in support of a tremendously popular King Richard. Prince John was faced down by the council as a result and troops raised by them to both counter John's threats and guard against a French invasion. The ransom demand would be paid if proof of Richard being alive was given.

Prince John was forestalled but two problems remained - the first, Richard's release due to the political situation in Europe was uncertain - if Richard was already dead or killed later, the council would have to crown the man they were threatening ; and secondly, Prince John controlled large parts of England's income and his help in collecting the ransom money was absolutely necessary. The collection of the ransom money was arranged by the Bishop of Salisbury, Hubert Walter, under an agreement that any castles not controlled by Prince John at that time would be turned over to Queen Eleanor's caretaker-ship for a specific period on the understanding that if Richard wasn't released by the end of that time the castles would then transfer to Prince John - an agreement tantamount to offering John complete control of England and hence the throne.

Things in Germany weren't as bad as thought ; Richard had worked his charm on his jailer, Emperor Henry VI. Duke Leopold of Austria had arrested Richard I under circumstances that were contrary to the code of chivalry and crusading : Richard had offended Leopold in the Holy Land on a military matter and revenge was the main motive for Richard's detention. Richard had been transferred to Henry VI of Germany for safe-keeping and a half-share in the ransom but since that time Henry and Leopold had fallen out to the extent that Henry VI had used the French threat of buying Richard and holding him to ransom in exchange for all his lands in France to raise the ransom demand by fifty thousand marks but planned to give Leopold only twenty thousand marks as his share. Richard had secretly agreed a portion of his French lands would go to Philip upon his release along with twenty thousand marks if Philip kept quiet and caused no further upsets ; Henry VI then showed Richard private letters from both John and Philip offering him money to continue keeping Richard a prisoner.

On 4th February 1194 - twelve months and six weeks after his arrest and a substantial portion of the ransom demand having been paid -Richard I was released into the arms of his mother, Queen Eleanor. On 7th March he landed at Dover after an absence from England of four years. His welcome 'home' was outstanding and widespread. By comparison, Philip in France and John in Normandy were quiet : Philip had heard the news of Richard's release first and sent a warning to Prince John that is traditionally said to read simply "Look Out ! The Devil is Loosed !"

Though London threw open its doors to give Richard a hero's welcome, the gates of most of the castles controlled by Prince John remained firmly shut. Nottingham was the last castle to hold out, though invested and surrounded by troops loyal to King Richard. King Richard himself had to batter his way into the castle gatehouse to then burn it down - it was made of wood at this time - hang the survivors and make several blood-curdling threats of what he would do to the defenders when he got into the castle itself before Prince John's two constables finally saw wisdom and surrendered, throwing themselves on Richard's mercy and blaming Prince John for everything. Richard issued a command to John from the Great Hall on the Middle Bailey of Nottingham Castle that John appear before him within forty days to answer the charges against him or "suffer the loss of all his lands and any claim to the throne". John sensibly ignored the summons and remained in Normandy with his mother until Richard's anger cooled. Most of the other supporters of Prince John who had incurred Richard's displeasure and knowing of Richard's plans to raise an army and immediately attack Philip of France in Normandy to get his lost castles back, paid over hefty sums to keep their positions through attaining "the Kings' Pardon".

Richard was desperate for money, and began auctioning off many official posts to the highest bidder. Three sheriffs who had opposed Longchamp - including his former 'northern' Justice and poor old Gerard Camville at Lincoln - were sacked and their posts put up for sale. Richard is said to have remarked that "he would have sold London had anyone been wealthy enough to afford to buy it." Richard's callous and ruthless quest for cash to raise an army was privately remarked upon in turn as a "return of Longchamps' tyrannical and overbearing methods." The Lionheart left Hubert Walter in charge of England and sailed for France on May 12th 1194, never to return. He and his younger brother met in Normandy in the presence of their mother and Richard quickly forgave John "for being a child led astray by evil advisers."

Sherwood Forest, 1189 - 1220

In 1138, the Scots had taken advantage of the civil war between the factions of King Stephen and the Empress Maud to cross the northern border and raid into English territory. Archbishop Thurstan of York appealed to the 'Men of Sherwood' to come and help an improvised army beat the Scots off - this they duly did, and at Northallerton the Scots retired after being peppered by deadly arrows from the bows in the hands of these enigmatic 'Men of Sherwood'. In the subsequent battle of Lincoln in 1141, though both opposing factions appealed to the same 'Men of Sherwood', it appears that not many of these turned out in support of either during the civil war. Fighting a foreign enemy for your country's sake obviously had a different appeal to these Men, though the civil war dragged on for almost twenty years and saw almost complete anarchy take over - including Nottingham Town being destroyed twice, burned by the Earl of Gloucester in 1140 and burned again by the future Henry II in 1153.

In 1140, a new bridge over the River Trent at Newark offered a safer passage north-south. Much of the traffic heading north to York formerly using the road known as The Kings' Great Way from the bridge over the Trent at Nottingham kept to the Great North Road and crossed the river at Newark : it avoided the expensive Nottingham bridge tolls, offered an alternative to the road in the form of seats on passage boats up-river - and avoided passing through the southern end of Sherwood Forest under the threat of robbers and outlaws. By 1190, the Forest road had seen a drop in merchant and trading traffic but a rise in travelers having a religious connection.

In 1172, yet another monastery had been founded in Sherwood Forest and endowed by the King himself with the village, mill and church of Papplewick as a sort-of gift regarding the penance placed on Henry II by the Church resulting from the murder of Thomas a Becket. The new St Mary's Priory was situated in the Leen Valley roughly ten miles north of Nottingham and already in the area of Sherwood Forest lying to the north and south, east and west off The Kings' Great Way were the monasteries of : Blyth (founded 1088) Lenton (1109) Worksop (1123) Thurgarton (1140) Rufford (1146) Shelford (1154) and Felley (1156) to be followed by the founding of Welbeck Abbey (1189). The wealth of these great monasteries lay in their involvement in the wool trade ; each had outlying granges where one or two brothers or lay-monks looked after a small flock of sheep and the production of fleeces brought in a good source of revenue for the monastery concerned. From 1140, complaints were made to the Sheriff of Nottingham concerning robberies perpetrated against the monks 'by outlaws' ; by 1194 the complaints from local priors and abbots had grown something had to be done about the pestiferous outlaws.

The Leen Valley was dominated by a range of hills lying on the western border. To the east, the ground rose - but not as prominently - before the rising and falling undulating contours of the dales here were lost in the densest part of Royal Sherwood Forest. The Kings Great Way ran north from Nottingham around the western edge of Bestwood Deer Park, through Papplewick and past St Mary's Priory on the eastern edge of the Leen Valley, disappearing into the leafy glades of the old 'keeping' of Lyndhurst with Blidworth hill to the east and continuing towards Mansfield, onto Worksop and Blyth. Richard I attacked and captured the last of his younger brothers' castles - Nottingham - in March 1194 then relaxed by hunting in this part of Sherwood Forest, resting for a time at St Mary's Priory (later renamed Newstead Abbey by the Byron family) before meeting and entertaining his friend, King William of Scotland. If Richard heard any of the complaints about robberies from the religious houses, he would have ordered the Sheriff of Nottingham to sort the problem out as it was his responsibility to do so - as Richard needed money badly, and was looking to the Church to provide a good proportion of this though they'd already contributed to a major part of his ransom. Richard I wanted the church to stay firmly in support of his reign.

Though plans to outwit the robbers were laid in 1194, the demands on money and soldiers made by Richard I and after his death by King John meant that these plans were postponed for over ten years. That the plans were not shelved or abandoned completely is an indication of their importance. Between 1205 and 1209, work began on an extension of Nottingham Castle : a new fortress actually in Sherwood Forest, and placed on the western borders of the Leen Valley, built on a commanding height overlooking the St Mary's Priory. Built by the Deputy-Constable and garrisoned by soldiers, these men would patrol the area to prevent and hopefully catch the robbers - and if the robbers and outlaws weren't willing to submit, to exterminate them. The isolated fortress was not wanted by locals - obviously the robbers weren't bothering them, or they'd have welcomed the protection - but their complaints were ignored though a large part of common land was legally 'aforested' and became the property of the Crown. The position of the new fort was very isolated and rather unsupported and instead of catching the robbers, the hidden robbers turned their attention to the fort and probably made life miserable for the garrison. By 1220 the new fort had been seen as a failure and abandoned with the garrison disbanded or re-deployed elsewhere or simply returned to duty at Nottingham.

'Robin of Locksley' alias Robin Hood supports King Richard I in the attack on Nottingham Castle, March 1194. No such siege engines as shown here were actually used in the attack - and the Castle Gatehouse at the time was made of wood, not stone.

(Authors collection)

Robin Hood gets a royal pardon from an incognito King Richard I in Sherwood Forest

(Authors Collection)

In the oldest stories of the meeting between the Outlaw and the King, Robin Hood meets the King in Sherwood Forest ; but the featured King is in disguise when they meet. Robin Hood recognises the King through his physical strength when blows are exchanged during a contest. Though the King reveals his true identity later the Kings' actual name is never given in this story (in other stories the king is named Henry or Edward rather than Richard). The pair become 'friends' and set off for Nottingham where Robin Hood is diplomatically seen with the King in public and a Royal Pardon is assumed to have been granted to all and sundry of his band of fellow outlaws. It isn't likely that The Sheriff of Nottingham - if he ever met Robin Hood - would regard the outlaw with any feelings of friendship at all as previously in the Legend in one account had murdered a previous Sheriff, embarrassed the legal authorities several times and been a real nuisance in many other ways.

But - no records of a real person named Robin Hood living in the vicinity of Sherwood Forest exist before the year 1220. That such a person could have lived there many years previously isn't impossible as only felons are named in the records used in evidence during a trial. If 'Robin Hood' didn't come to trial or was noted under that name he couldn't have been outlawed under that name. Similar names do exist, with the earliest said to be dated to 1213. The first mention outside local tradition of Robin Hood meeting Richard I is in a history book of 1521. No source of original reference is given, but the statement struck a chord and was developed by a popular play in 1598 and another poem and play in 1632. These set the precedent for Robin Hood existing as a Saxon outlaw of noble birth persecuted by Norman overlords. When the King is named in slightly later Robin Hood stories, the name Henry or Edward is given - not Richard. King Edward II did visit Nottingham in 1323 after crushing the Lancaster rebellion but is not recorded as having any ex-outlaws in tow.

"Keep your friends close by you ; but keep your enemies even closer."

(An old Third Crusade proverb)

After the assault and capture of Nottingham Castle in March 1194, King Richard is recorded as hunting for relaxation in Sherwood Forest and probably made a few 'house calls' on important personages to renew an acquaintance and receive a renewed vow of loyalty in order to tap them for cash. Word this would have swept through the glades by the strange ethereal means of communication that existed at the time following the account that would have circulated in Sherwood about Richard's exploits at Nottingham Castle. The King stayed or rested at St Mary's Priory as is recorded. If Robin Hood had been working for Richard in the years of his absence, then if the opportunity did arise for Richard and Robin to meet, with regard to their individual characters both men would have seized it as both men had a lot to gain from each other.

The famous painting Robin Hood entertaining King Richard the Lionheart in Sherwood Forest by Daniel Maclise currently hanging in Nottingham Castle Art Gallery (The Long Gallery) depicts the meeting between Richard I and Robin Hood in Sherwood Forest. In the picture, the initial formalities have obviously having been dealt with and both men are seen amidst scenes of drinking and feasting under broadleaf trees surrounded by woodland folk, all paying great attention to Robin Hood and King Richard though one of the audience in particular in the foreground looks decidely dodgy. 'Little John' looks Herculean in style and carries a deer over his shoulder ; Marian sits demurely at the base of nearby tree crowned with woodland flowers. Robin himself - looking a little worse for drink - postures in front of the king whilst Richard sits in mail armour covered by a white surcoat attended by a Moorish page with his armoured guards standing in the background (one of whom appears to be taking the opportunity of secretly knocking back a pint of ale). Very much the 19th century Victorian-period 'romantic ideal' of the relaxed proceedings after the initial meeting between the two men.

Courtesy of Nottingham Castle Museum & Galleries

A meeting between Richard and Robin could have been arranged by a go-between prompted from either side. Large numbers of itinerants in Sherwood Forest - not all of them robbers or outlaws - had existed for years and would be a valuable source of trained military manpower if tapped (Edward I later recruited skilled longbow-men from Sherwood Forest for his Welsh and Scots wars in the latter half of the 13th Century). That both the leading parties were past experts in charismatic stage-management has already been established, but any arranged meeting would be conducted with great care on both sides - trust had to be earned - and at a site approved by both parties with a fixed number of attendants from both sides. Whatever was said, an oath of loyalty from Robin Hood to Richard with in exchange for a royal pardon from Richard to Robin for his past crimes would have occurred for them to go forward from the first meeting as both men still had many enemies lurking in the shadows and it would be in the interest of both men to advertise the new entente cordiale.

Richard left Sherwood in 1194 to greet his friend King William of Scotland for a parley. By mid-April that year the King was in the south of England and by the end of May crossed the Channel into France. If Robin Hood went with him from Sherwood, it isn't recorded anywhere but in the Legend, Robin Hood gets a bit homesick after a year serving the King and obtains a leave of absence to go on a visit 'home' - in part of the Legend this leave is granted on Crusade in the Holy Land - but after doing so he never returns to court. Four years later, King Richard is dead and the Legend picks up again as King John comes to the throne and a new and more ruthless Sheriff of Nottingham - Philip Marc - takes over.

It's not recorded anywhere outside the Legend that Robin Hood was present at the storming of Nottingham Castle in March 1194 or at Runnymede for the signing of Magna Carta and The Charter of the Forests in 1215. Robin Hood - if you add up the evidence in years within the Legend - supposedly lived on in the greenwoods for over forty years until 1247, making him a real veteran when he died at an age between eighty and ninety years old when despite several premonitions and warnings, Robin Hood left the safety of Sherwood and at Church Lees, Kirkesley, Kirkby, or Kirklees - different names are given in the oldest stories - passed into legend in a final blaze of glory (for details see the authors article Bury Me Where the Arrow falls : The Death of Robin Hood - or was it … ?)

The author has written three books especially for Robin Hood fans, with maps, photos and illustrations :
The Legend of Robin Hood
On the Outlaw Trail in Nottingham and Sherwood Forest
On the Outlaw Trail Again in North Notts, Derbyshire and Yorkshire
All available from Capall Bann Publishing or by purchasing online through the Robin Hood Shop on this website at: www.robinhoodshop.co.uk

The author has contributed to over 15 television documentaries about Robin Hood since 1998 for the BBC, The History Channel, The Discovery Channel and many other international broadcasts.

Also see The Virtual Guide of Nottinghamshire's Robin Hood Country written and presented by Richard as 'Blacke Dickon' available on the website www.bbc.co.uk/nottingham

The painting by Daniel MacLise is well worth a visit by any Robin Hood fan and can be viewed in The Long Gallery at Nottingham Castle Museum & Art Gallery