As later storytellers adapted the ballads to suit different audiences and locations, Robin Hood began to soak up other traditions and legends. In 1280, the French poet and musician Adam de la Halle had written Li Gieues de Robin et de Marion (The Game of Robin and Marion). The love struck couple of Halle’s play, were infact pastoral sweethearts, who became a popular feature of the Whitsun games in France. But in England, this Robin appears to have been merged with Robin Hood the popular hero, and to have been absorbed into the May Day games at some stage in the sixteenth century. Marion, meanwhile, came to represent the Queen of the May and, as Maid Marian, became an inseparable part of the Robin Hood legend. Another popular feature of the May games was the character of a drunken and dissolute clergyman who, despite having numerous different personifications, found his way into Robin’s band of merry men as Friar Tuck.
As the age of the Tudor’s dawned, the upper classes began showing an interest in Robin Hood, and thus he evolved to suit the more refined tastes of this new audience. In 1598 playwright Anthony Munday (1560-1633) wrote The Downfall of Robert Earl of Huntingdon and The Death of Robert Earl of Huntingdon, in which Robin’s social standing was elevated to that of nobleman. Munday also established many of the traditions that are now an integral part of the Robin Hood legend. Firstly, he placed his fictitious earl as living in the reign of Richard 1st, but at a time when Richard was away on a crusade, and his brother John was ruling as Regent. Secondly, Maid Marian became Matilda, daughter of Robert Fitz Walter, whom the evil Prince John desires as his mistress. Thanks to John’s machinations, Robert is outlawed, and takes the name of Robin Hood. A series of complicated plots follow involving, amongst others, the Sheriff of Nottingham and Robert’s uncle, the prior of York, before Richard’s return from his crusade finally resolves everything.
