Robin Hood, the noble archer?

    I always wondered why Robin of Locksley, the son of a nobleman, would be so good with a longbow.  Ranged combat was disdained by the European knight.  He certainly didn't pick up the knack while fighting in the Crusades...  Where, then, did the character learn to wield a bow with such ability?  It is this quality, above all others, that is the centerpiece to his persona.  He may have been a fine swordsman, but it's his skill with a bow that set him apart.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/eoskins/6682273899/

    My familiarity with the Robin Hood story originates in the more kiddie friendly forms of his tales.  In the earliest references, Robin Hood is quite clearly portrayed as a yeoman.  The term "yeoman" was used to describe a variety of professions (farmers who owned their land, attendants to nobles, non-noble professional soldiers), but all of them were commoners.  One early tale names the King of Robin's time as Edward, not Richard (as is now common).  The earliest known reference to Robin is in the poem "Piers Plowman" (1377), where a character boasts familiarity with Robin's tales.  Yeah, there have been a couple of changes to the character over time.
    The early rise of the Robin stories coincides with the narrowing of the financial gap between the lesser nobility and the commoners in England during the Hundred Years War.  Various plagues, famines, and military conflicts had put a serious dent in the workforce, increasing the demand (and value) of labor.  The nobles, whose vassals had died off, couldn't very well collect taxes from them were then doubly feeling the pinch.  Nobles were also being regularly called upon to go to war on behalf of their king, which was not an inexpensive exercise (and they pass the taxes on to you, the commoners).  When economic hierarchies break down, social change is in the wind.
    Robin's portrayal as an archer is one of the few constants in all of his stories.  Even if he can be bested with a sword or quarterstaff (and he was), he had no peer with the longbow.  While archers had previously played a part on many battlefields around the world, the longbow did not come into full flower on the European battlefield until Falkirk (1298).  It became the greatest weapon the English had in their wars against the French (and English laws did as much as possible to promote archery practice among the commoners, outlawing many games that interfered with valuable practice time).  English archers were trained professionals on the battlefield, not impressed levies.  The longbow overturned traditional hierarchies on the battlefield, by dropping those big expensive armored targets (and also slaughtering pikemen) at range. Defeating a knight on horseback took either another noble knight, a rank of pikemen, or a single skilled archer.

http://blog.histouries.co.uk/2010/10/12/
a-short-history-of-the-english-longbow/

    Where the longbow came from is a bit of a mystery.  Some suggest that its design (length and materials) was adapted from the Welsh.  The longbow's greatest advantage over it's more widely used cousin, the shortbow, is in range (read: power).  Its advantage over the crossbow (or arbalest) is in rate of fire.  While its ancestry may be somewhat clouded, its effectiveness on the battlefield is unquestioned.  The English Yeomanry (in this usage, professional soldiers), employing the longbow, made a bloody mess of the opposing French Chivalry on many notable occasions.
    Utilizing the longbow as the central image for a commoner who opposes the aristocracy seems pretty damn perfect.  Long before the six-shooter became the image of the American western outlaw, the longbow was evening the odds in Sherwood Forest.  The common people were becoming educated enough to recognize that they were being taken advantage of and began to dream of ways of fighting back.  These feelings manifested in peasant revolts in both England and France on multiple occasions before the end of the Hundred Years War.  Robin's longbow most certainly played a part.


References
general - http://www.boldoutlaw.com/robages/
robin hood wiki - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_Hood
history channel - http://www.history.com/topics/british-history/robin-hood
yeoman wiki- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yeoman
The Art of War in the Middle Ages Oman, C.W.C. (1885)
Longbow - http://blog.histouries.co.uk/2010/10/12/a-short-history-of-the-english-longbow/

Chivalry

I must admit that I didn't expect to be considering the finer points of chivalry while reading The Hundred Years War: A People's History, but it is probably a good point of entry (no, I haven't finished reading it yet. It was a Christmas present.  Do you know how many books I have on my "to read" list?).  Like many young people, I grew up on tales of chivalry, full of knights in armor and imperiled maidens.  We all know that period tales, and similar courtly romances, were hardly factual, but they did help to shape the image of a warrior class both to itself and those it ruled over.  Quite naturally, I'm led to wonder how historic warrior codes can be adapted and utilized in a fantasy setting.
    Chivalry is a set of ideals (though exactly which ideals were most important was largely up for interpretation by the individual).  Generally held as the highest virtue was military prowess.  If you couldn't defend your holdings, you weren't good for much.  Honor and loyalty usually came second, in terms of importance, though courtliness and piety got stuck in there as well.  
Apart from the basic level of knighthood, various orders were organized with specific goals in mind.  We all know about the Knights Templar, who started by protecting pilgrims on their way to the Holy Land.  The Knights of the Garter were formed as kind of an honor society for the knights of England, in an attempt to redefine the perception of English chivalry and tie powerful knights to the King with direct oaths of loyalty.  Knights also served as bodyguards, representatives, and advisers for their lords.

First thing first.  Why have a warrior code?

Traditional warrior codes seem to have a few basic goals.  First, they separate the warriors from the "common" people.  They aren't just farmers toting weapons.  Second, they provide a system of rules to guide soldiering as a profession, which makes its practitioners more manageable and predictable (ensuring longer lives for everyone involved, well, except for those people they kill).  It gives warriors a sense of camaraderie, which may make it easier for them to work together.

Why separate warriors from common people?

By making "warrior" a job title, and not just an as needed occupation, it increases the efficiency of these workmen (more time to hone their craft if they don't have to till the fields).

In Japan, it made the warriors solely reliant upon their respective masters for financial support, since they wouldn't deign to perform manual labor to earn money (and I seem to remember that they couldn't own land, unless elevated to lordship).  

If you want to calcify a social structure, there are few better ways than to require indoctrination to a level by a member of that level.  Every lord wants to keep their laborers laboring.  You just can't have every Joe with a knife wandering the countryside killing people (or rising up in revolt).  

Rules?  

By touting honor as one of the great virtues, you make these violence machines much less likely to hack off the hand that feeds them, or change sides for a cash incentive.

Ransoms became a convenient way for knights to turn an enemy into cash, instead of just a corpse (maybe that is what all those video games are trying to show us), plus it was a certain level of life insurance for someone whose business is death.

You reduce a fair number of variables in combat, for a commander.  "Honorable death" becomes a thing. Otherwise, you'd get a whole lot more "they ain't paying me enough for this shit," kind of response in the middle of a battle.  By tying martial prowess to social strictures, and in some cases to religion, you create not only that desired separation between classes, but also role-models to which the commoners may aspire.

Other Thoughts

Try to remember that though these men (and some women) followed a basic code, even the ones who adhered pretty strictly to it were apt to stray when a good opportunity presented itself.  They were generally not above paying off a garrison or using sneaky tricks on the battlefield.  Generally (as in baseball), it's okay to cheat, as long as you didn't get caught.  Anyway, this code was mostly used to protect members of the warrior class from other members of the same class.  Slaughtering the commoners and burning their belongings was a pretty common tactic among these "noble warriors" to goad their enemies into a fight.  


I can't say that this really brings me to any real conclusion, but it's the seed of many things.  After all, this blog isn't about giving you all the answers, but about where my head is at the moment.  See?  It's in a shambles.  Back to work.

Games - Shrovetide Football

Sorry I've been out of it of late.  Lots going on in life.  Just happened to notice that today is Carnival and that I had a half-finished post of exemplary relevance sitting about, waiting to be polished up.  Hope you enjoy the madness.

The Fight Between Carnival and Lent (1559) Pieter Breughel the Elder

     Shrovetide football is another local game which has been enjoyed for quite some time (Wiki says 12thC).  These historical references mention a ball game being played during Carnival, on the outskirts of London, by schoolboys and apprentices alike.  The older generation would come out and cheer on their efforts.  The rules of these specific contests don't seem to be well documented, but appear to have been going on for quite some time. Many different localized ball games have developed as regional preferences, such as enjoying more or less mayhem, shaped the games.  Some consider Shrovetide Football to be the ancestor of all modern ball games.
     The Royal Shrovetide Football Match occurs annually in Ashbourne, England (first records around 1667).  Taking place on Shrove Tuesday (in cultured places, it's Fat Tuesday) and Ash Wednesday, the "rules" seem to be mostly, stay out of the churchyard and try not to get anyone killed.  The aim is to move the cork-filled leather ball to your side's goalpost (one of two widely spaced millstones now in the middle of the river Henmore, to increase the difficulty of scoring).   Play starts each day at 2PM, and if a goal is scored before 5PM another ball is released.  Otherwise play is over for the day.  There is no limit on the numbers of players and you may use any part of the body to propel the ball.  It is played in the village, across roads, and through fields (train tunnels are also apparently fair game). These days, they board up the downtown ahead of time to avoid excessive property damage.
    It really is amazing what level of madness was permitted to occur annually as generations of Christians missed the whole point of Lent.  Just as folks glut themselves on food after a fast, any religious deprivations tend to be closely followed (or in this case, preceded) by celebrations.  Games of various sorts are a natural part of these celebration (the text mentioning the earliest ball games also mentions cock fighting), and don't forget the special sweet or savory consumables that might be available to celebrants.  Festivals often mark Saints' Days and historically important rememberances.  
    For the writer, the rollicking madness of Shrovetide Football could serve as a thoroughly entertaining backdrop for whatever your characters may be up to, whether they be new in town or just looking to settle an old score amid the madness and good-natured destruction.  Just because the setting is Medieval, doesn't mean everyone has to be glum.  Let your villagers have a little rough entertainment.

The Fight Between 
Carnival  and Lent (1559), Pieter Breughel the Elder - See more at: http://www.danceshistoricalmiscellany.com/2013/11/this-murdering-play-violent-origins-of.html#sthash.N6HcVGmV.dpuf

Ashbourne 2015 - http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-derbyshire-31487823
Alnwick 2015 - http://www.northumberlandgazette.co.uk/news/local-news/alnwick-shrovetide-football-match-to-honour-a-local-hero-1-7110025
"Royal"- http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/derby/hi/people_and_places/history/newsid_8494000/8494339.stm
FIFA - http://www.fifa.com/classicfootball/history/the-game/Britain-home-of-football.html
Violence during - http://www.danceshistoricalmiscellany.com/2013/11/this-murdering-play-violent-origins-of.html