Maid Marian
Encyclopedia
Outlaw
In historical legal systems, an outlaw is declared as outside the protection of the law. In pre-modern societies, this takes the burden of active prosecution of a criminal from the authorities. Instead, the criminal is withdrawn all legal protection, so that anyone is legally empowered to persecute...
Robin Hood
Robin Hood
Robin Hood was a heroic outlaw in English folklore. A highly skilled archer and swordsman, he is known for "robbing from the rich and giving to the poor", assisted by a group of fellow outlaws known as his "Merry Men". Traditionally, Robin Hood and his men are depicted wearing Lincoln green clothes....
. Stemming from another, older tradition, she became associated with Robin Hood only in the 16th century.
History
The earliest medieval Robin Hood stories gave him no female companion. Maid Marian was originally a character in May Games festivities (held during May and early June, most commonly around WhitsunWhitsun
Whitsun is the name used in the UK for the Christian festival of Pentecost, the seventh Sunday after Easter, which commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon Christ's disciples...
) and is sometimes associated with the Queen or Lady of May of May Day
May Day
May Day on May 1 is an ancient northern hemisphere spring festival and usually a public holiday; it is also a traditional spring holiday in many cultures....
. Indeed, Marian remained associated with such celebrations long after the fashion of Robin Hood had faded again. She became associated with Robin Hood in this context, as Robin Hood became a central figure in May Day, associated as he was with the forest
Forest
A forest, also referred to as a wood or the woods, is an area with a high density of trees. As with cities, depending where you are in the world, what is considered a forest may vary significantly in size and have various classification according to how and what of the forest is composed...
and archery
Archery
Archery is the art, practice, or skill of propelling arrows with the use of a bow, from Latin arcus. Archery has historically been used for hunting and combat; in modern times, however, its main use is that of a recreational activity...
. Both Robin and Marian were certainly associated with May Day festivities in England (as was Friar Tuck
Friar Tuck
Friar Tuck is a companion to Robin Hood in the legends about that character. He is a common character in modern Robin Hood stories, which depict him as a jovial friar and one of Robin's Merry Men. The figure of Tuck was common in the May Games festivals of England and Scotland during the 15th...
); these were originally two distinct types of performance — Alexander Barclay, writing in c.1500, refers to "some merry fytte of Maid Marian or else of Robin Hood" — but the characters were brought together.
The Marian of the May Games is likely derived from the French tradition of a shepherdess named Marion and her shepherd lover Robin (not Robin Hood). The best known example of this tradition is Adam de la Halle
Adam de la Halle
Adam de la Halle, also known as Adam le Bossu was a French-born trouvère, poet and musician, whose literary and musical works include chansons and jeux-partis in the style of the trouveres, polyphonic rondel and motets in the style of early liturgical polyphony, and a musical play, "The Play of...
's Le Jeu de Robin et Marion
Jeu de Robin et Marion
The Jeu de Robin et Marion is reputedly the earliest French secular play with music, and is the most famous work of Adam de la Halle.The story is a dramatization of a traditional genre of medieval French song, the pastourelle. This genre typically tells of an encounter between a knight and a...
, circa 1283.
Marian did not immediately gain the unquestioned role as Robin's love; in "Robin Hood's Birth, Breeding, Valor, and Marriage
Robin Hood's Birth, Breeding, Valor, and Marriage
"Robin Hood's Birth, Breeding, Valor, and Marriage" is Child ballad 149. It recounts his adventures hunting and a romance with Clorinda, the queen of the shepherdess, a heroine who did not prove able to displace Maid Marian as his sweet heart....
", his sweetheart is "Clorinda the Queen of the Shepherdesses". Clorinda survives in some later stories as an alias of Marian.
Character
In narrative terms, Maid Marian was first attached to Robin hood in the late sixteenth century as Robin was gentrified and given a virginal maid to pine after. Her biography and character have been highly variable over the centuries. Marian's role was not entirely virginal in the early days; in 1592, Thomas Nashe described the Marian of the later May Games as being played by a male actor named Martin, and there are hints in the play of Robin Hood and the Friar that the female character in these plays had become a lewd parody.In some versions, she is a pagan or Saxon and in other versions, she is Norman, but generally, she is depicted as a high-ranking lady of the court. Marian's actual connection to the Plantagenet royals tends to vary.
In the famous Errol Flynn
Errol Flynn
Errol Leslie Flynn was an Australian-born actor. He was known for his romantic swashbuckler roles in Hollywood films, being a legend and his flamboyant lifestyle.-Early life:...
film, she is a ward of the court, an orphaned noblewoman under the protection of King Richard. In the Kevin Costner epic Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves is a 1991 American adventure film directed by Kevin Reynolds. Kevin Costner heads the cast list as Robin Hood...
, she is a maternal cousin to the sovereign, while in the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
TV Show adaption of 2006, she is the daughter of the former Sheriff and was betrothed to Robin prior to him leaving for the Holy Land
Holy Land
The Holy Land is a term which in Judaism refers to the Kingdom of Israel as defined in the Tanakh. For Jews, the Land's identifiction of being Holy is defined in Judaism by its differentiation from other lands by virtue of the practice of Judaism often possible only in the Land of Israel...
. Elsa Watson
Elsa Watson
Elsa Watson is an American author. Her first novel, Maid Marian, details a history of Marian, the female companion to Robin Hood in most stories about the famous outlaw told after the late sixteenth century...
's and Theresa Tomlinson
Theresa Tomlinson
-Biography:As a child, she lived in Cleveland and North Yorkshire where her father was a vicar, but had little interest in writing stories. It was only as she began to tell stories to her three children that she began to enjoy writing. She especially likes writing historical fiction...
's novels, which are told from Marian's point of view, portray Marian as a highborn Norman girl escaping entrapment in an arranged marriage. With the aid of her nurse, she runs away to Sherwood Forest, where she becomes acquainted with Robin Hood and his men.
In an Elizabethan play, Anthony Munday
Anthony Munday
Anthony Munday was an English dramatist and miscellaneous writer. The chief interest in Munday for the modern reader lies in his collaboration with Shakespeare and others on the play Sir Thomas More and his writings on Robin Hood.-Biography:He was once thought to have been born in 1553, because...
made her a pseudonym of Matilda Fitzwalter, the historical daughter of Robert Fitzwalter
Robert Fitzwalter
Lord Robert FitzwalterAlso spelled FitzWalter, fitzWalter, etc. was the leader of the baronial opposition against King John of England, and one of the twenty-five sureties of the Magna Carta...
, who had to flee England because of an attempt to assassinate King John
John of England
John , also known as John Lackland , was King of England from 6 April 1199 until his death...
.
This was legendarily attributed to King John's attempts to seduce Matilda. The ballad of Robin Hood and Maid Marian
Robin Hood and Maid Marian
"Robin Hood and Maid Marian" is an English folk ballad, collected as Child Ballad 150. The ballad depicts Maid Marian as a skillful fighter. This contrasts with the common perception that portrayals of Marian as a rugged and capable woman are solely a modern feminist development...
which dates at least to the 17th century presents a more active Marion who disguises herself as a page and (unrecognised) holds her own against Robin himself in a sword fight.
In the Victorian era
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
she reverted to her previous role as the dainty maid. This highborn woman appears in many movies, under various characters: in 1938's The Adventures of Robin Hood
The Adventures of Robin Hood (film)
The Adventures of Robin Hood is a 1938 American swashbuckler film directed by Michael Curtiz and William Keighley. Filmed in Technicolor, the picture stars Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Basil Rathbone, and Claude Rains.-Plot:...
, she is a courageous and loyal woman (played by Olivia de Havilland
Olivia de Havilland
Olivia Mary de Havilland is a British American film and stage actress. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1946 and 1949. She is the elder sister of actress Joan Fontaine. The sisters are among the last surviving leading ladies from Hollywood of the 1930s.-Early life:Olivia de Havilland...
). Although always ladylike, her initial antagonism to Robin springs not from aristocratic disdain but out of an aversion to robbery; however, in The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men
The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men
The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men is a 1952 live action Disney version of the Robin Hood story in Technicolor which was filmed in Buckinghamshire, England...
(1952), she, despite being a lady-in-waiting to Eleanor of Aquitaine
Eleanor of Aquitaine
Eleanor of Aquitaine was one of the wealthiest and most powerful women in Western Europe during the High Middle Ages. As well as being Duchess of Aquitaine in her own right, she was queen consort of France and of England...
during the Crusades
Crusades
The Crusades were a series of religious wars, blessed by the Pope and the Catholic Church with the main goal of restoring Christian access to the holy places in and near Jerusalem...
, is in reality a mischievous tomboy capable of fleeing boldly to the countryside disguised as a boy. With the rise of modern feminism
Feminism
Feminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Its concepts overlap with those of women's rights...
in the 20th century, the character has often been depicted as an adventurer again, sometimes as a crack archer
Archery
Archery is the art, practice, or skill of propelling arrows with the use of a bow, from Latin arcus. Archery has historically been used for hunting and combat; in modern times, however, its main use is that of a recreational activity...
herself. In modern times, a common ending for Robin Hood stories became that he married Maid Marian and left the woods for a civilised, aristocratic life.
Literature
- Maid Marian — 1822 novel by Thomas Love PeacockThomas Love PeacockThomas Love Peacock was an English satirist and author.Peacock was a close friend of Percy Bysshe Shelley and they influenced each other's work...
- Maid Marian — 2004 novel by Elsa WatsonElsa WatsonElsa Watson is an American author. Her first novel, Maid Marian, details a history of Marian, the female companion to Robin Hood in most stories about the famous outlaw told after the late sixteenth century...
- Lady of the Forest; novel by Jennifer RobersonJennifer RobersonJennifer Mitchell Roberson is an author of fantasy and historical literature.Roberson has lived in Arizona since 1957. She grew up in Phoenix, but in 1999 relocated to Flagstaff. She obtained a Bachelor of Science in journalism from Northern Arizona University in 1982 as an adult student...
- Lady of Sherwood; novel by Jennifer RobersonJennifer RobersonJennifer Mitchell Roberson is an author of fantasy and historical literature.Roberson has lived in Arizona since 1957. She grew up in Phoenix, but in 1999 relocated to Flagstaff. She obtained a Bachelor of Science in journalism from Northern Arizona University in 1982 as an adult student...
- The Forestwife (and its sequels, although she's only the main character in the first); young adult novel by Theresa TomlinsonTheresa Tomlinson-Biography:As a child, she lived in Cleveland and North Yorkshire where her father was a vicar, but had little interest in writing stories. It was only as she began to tell stories to her three children that she began to enjoy writing. She especially likes writing historical fiction...
. - The Outlaws of SherwoodThe Outlaws of SherwoodThe Outlaws of Sherwood is a retelling of the legend of Robin Hood by Robin McKinley. In McKinley's Afterword, the history of the tales of Robin Hood is described as "the retellings through the centuries have echoed concurrent preoccupations."...
, novel by Robin McKinleyRobin McKinleyRobin McKinley is a distinguished author of fantasy and children's books who has written sixteen books to date. Her latest book Pegasus was published in 2010...
(depicts Marian as a crack-shot archer) - Maid Marian appears in a chapter of T.H. White's The Sword in the StoneThe Sword in the StoneThe Sword in the Stone is a novel by T. H. White, published in 1939, initially a stand-alone work but now the first part of a tetralogy The Once and Future King. A fantasy of the boyhood of King Arthur, it is a sui generis work which combines elements of legend, history, fantasy and comedy...
, the first book in The Once and Future KingThe Once and Future KingThe Once and Future King is an Arthurian fantasy novel written by T. H. White. It was first published in 1958 and is mostly a composite of earlier works written in a period between 1938 and 1941....
. Wart (the young King Arthur) and his step brother Kay meet her and Robin when they go into the forest for an adventure and set out with the outlaws to rescue people Morgan le Fey kidnapped. When they meet her, it is quickly made apparent that Marian is strong and capable in battle and the narrator mentions that she could walk or even wiggle on her stomach like a snake faster than the boys could follow. - The "Robin & Marian Mysteries" by Clayton Emery, appearing in Ellery Queen's Mystery MagazineEllery Queen's Mystery MagazineEllery Queen's Mystery Magazine is an American monthly digest size fiction magazine specializing in crime fiction, particularly detective fiction...
and elsewhere, feature the outlaw husband-wife team as amateur detectives solving bizarre murders. - Hawksmaid: The untold story of Robin Hood and Maid Marian by Kathryn Lastry
Television
- Maid Marian was the lead character in Tony RobinsonTony RobinsonTony Robinson is an English actor, comedian, author, broadcaster and political campaigner. He is best known for playing Baldrick in the BBC television series Blackadder, and for hosting Channel 4 programmes such as Time Team and The Worst Jobs in History. Robinson is a member of the Labour Party...
's BBC children's comedy Maid Marian and her Merry MenMaid Marian and her Merry MenMaid Marian and her Merry Men is a British children's sitcom created and written by Tony Robinson and directed by David Bell. It began in 1989 on BBC One and ran for four series, with the last episode shown in 1994...
. In the show, Marian was portrayed as the real leader of the Merry MenMerry MenThe Merry Men are the group of outlaws who followed Robin Hood, according to English folklore. An early use of the phrase "merry men" occurs in the oldest known Robin Hood ballad, "Robin Hood and the Monk", which survives in a manuscript completed around 1450. The word "merry" in this and other...
, whilst Robin was a vain coward who was mistakenly believed to be the leader by King John and the Sheriff of NottinghamSheriff of NottinghamThe Sheriff of Nottingham was historically the office responsible for enforcing law and order in Nottingham and bringing criminals to justice. For years the post has been directly appointed by the Lord Mayor of Nottingham and in modern times, with the existence of the police force, the position is...
. - Maid Marian was played first by Bernadette O'Farrell, and then by Patricia DriscollPatricia DriscollPatricia Driscoll is an Irish actress, who has appeared on both television and in films. She was born in Cork, Ireland....
in the 1950s series The Adventures of Robin HoodThe Adventures of Robin Hood (TV series)The Adventures of Robin Hood is a popular British television series comprising 143 half-hour, black and white episodes. It starred Richard Greene as the outlaw Robin Hood and Alan Wheatley as his nemesis, the Sheriff of Nottingham. The show aired weekly between 1955 and 1959 on ITV in London in the...
. - in the 1980s HTVHTVHTV, now legally known as ITV Wales & West, is the ITV contractor for Wales and the West of England, which operated from studios in Cardiff and Bristol. The company provided commercial television for the dual-region 'Wales and West' franchise, which it won from TWW in 1968...
show Robin of SherwoodRobin of SherwoodRobin of Sherwood , was a British television series, based on the legend of Robin Hood. Created by Richard Carpenter, it was produced by HTV in association with Goldcrest, and ran from 1984 to 1986 on the ITV network. In America it was retitled Robin Hood and shown on the premium cable TV channel...
, Marian was played by Judi TrottJudi TrottJudi Trott is an English actress, best known for her portrayal of the Lady Marion of Leaford in the popular 1980s series Robin of Sherwood....
, and after meeting and falling in love with Robin, lived with him and the other outlaws in Sherwood Forest. - In Blackadder: Back & ForthBlackadder: Back & ForthBlackadder: Back & Forth is a 1999 short film based on the BBC mock-historical comedy series Blackadder that marks the end of the Blackadder saga...
, Maid Marian is portrayed by supermodelSupermodelThe term supermodel refers to a highly-paid fashion model who usually has a worldwide reputation and often a background in haute couture and commercial modeling. The term became prominent in the popular culture of the 1980s. Supermodels usually work for top fashion designers and labels...
Kate MossKate MossKate Moss is an English model. Moss is known for her waifish figure and popularising the heroin chic look in the 1990s. She is also known for her controversial private life, high profile relationships, party lifestyle, and drug use. Moss changed the look of modelling and started a global debate on...
. - In the late 1990s TV show The New Adventures of Robin HoodThe New Adventures of Robin HoodThe New Adventures of Robin Hood is a 1997-1998 live action TV series on Turner Network Television. It was filmed in Vilnius, Lithuania and produced and distributed by Dune Productions, M6, and Warner Bros. International. The tone of the series resembled its contemporaries Hercules: The Legendary...
, she was played by Anna GalvinAnna GalvinAnna Galvin is an Australian actress who appeared as Lex Luthor's assistant, Gina, in Smallville, and as Lavender Eyes in Tin Man. She also played Lady Marion Fitzwalter in the first season of the TV series The New Adventures of Robin Hood in 1997.-Filmography:-External links:...
, and then by Barbara Griffin. She lives with Robin, Little John and Friar Tuck in the Sherwood forest. - In the 1991 TV movie Robin Hood she is played by Uma ThurmanUma ThurmanUma Karuna Thurman is an American actress and model. She has performed in leading roles in a variety of films, ranging from romantic comedies and dramas to science fiction and action movies. Among her best-known roles are those in the Quentin Tarantino films Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill...
. - Maid Marian was featured in the late-1960s animated series Rocket Robin HoodRocket Robin HoodRocket Robin Hood is a Canadian animated television series, placing the characters and conflicts of the classic Robin Hood legend in a futuristic, outer space setting, produced by Krantz Films, Inc...
, a science fiction version of the Robin Hood story. - In the BBC's 2006 version Robin Hood, Lucy Griffiths plays the role of Lady Marian, as opposed to Maid Marian. In this version of the tale, she is daughter of a previous Sheriff of Nottingham and the love interest of Robin. Beautiful and quick of mind, Marian is headstrong and feisty. She is involved in a love triangle, with Sir Guy of Gisbourne and Robin as her suitors.
Movies
- In the celebrated 1938 movie The Adventures of Robin HoodThe Adventures of Robin Hood (film)The Adventures of Robin Hood is a 1938 American swashbuckler film directed by Michael Curtiz and William Keighley. Filmed in Technicolor, the picture stars Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Basil Rathbone, and Claude Rains.-Plot:...
, Maid Marian, as already noted, was portrayed by Olivia de HavillandOlivia de HavillandOlivia Mary de Havilland is a British American film and stage actress. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1946 and 1949. She is the elder sister of actress Joan Fontaine. The sisters are among the last surviving leading ladies from Hollywood of the 1930s.-Early life:Olivia de Havilland...
. - In the 1952 movie The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie MenThe Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie MenThe Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men is a 1952 live action Disney version of the Robin Hood story in Technicolor which was filmed in Buckinghamshire, England...
, Maid Marian is played by Joan RiceJoan RiceJoan Rice was a British film actress.Rice is best known for her role as Dalabo in the film His Majesty O'Keefe which co-started Burt Lancaster...
. - In the 1973 Disney's animated version of Robin HoodRobin Hood (1973 film)Robin Hood is an 1973 American animated film produced by the Walt Disney Productions, first released in the United States on November 8, 1973...
, Maid Marian is an anthropomorphic vixenVixenA vixen is a female fox.Vixen may also refer to:-In the military:*HMS Vixen, various British Royal Navy ships*USS Vixen, various ships in the US Navy*Vickers Vixen, a biplane produced in small numbers in the 1920s...
voiced by Monica EvansMonica EvansMonica Evans is an English actress best known for her portrayal of Cecily Pigeon in Neil Simon's The Odd Couple. She was in the original Broadway cast for its entire run, then appeared in the film version in 1968, and finally appeared in some episodes of the television series based on the play...
. - In the 1976 movie, Robin and MarianRobin and MarianRobin and Marian is a 1976 British/American co-produced romantic adventure period film filmed in Pamplona, Spain starring Sean Connery as Robin Hood, Audrey Hepburn as Lady Marian, Nicol Williamson as Little John, Robert Shaw as the Sheriff of Nottingham and Richard Harris as King Richard. It also...
, Lady Marian is played by Audrey HepburnAudrey HepburnAudrey Hepburn was a British actress and humanitarian. Although modest about her acting ability, Hepburn remains one of the world's most famous actresses of all time, remembered as a film and fashion icon of the twentieth century...
. - In the 1991 movie, Robin Hood: Prince of ThievesRobin Hood: Prince of ThievesRobin Hood: Prince of Thieves is a 1991 American adventure film directed by Kevin Reynolds. Kevin Costner heads the cast list as Robin Hood...
, Maid Marian is played by Mary Elizabeth MastrantonioMary Elizabeth MastrantonioMary Elizabeth Mastrantonio is an American actress and singer known for her role as Carmen in The Color of Money, as well as for her roles as Lindsey Brigman in The Abyss, Gina Montana in Scarface, and Maid Marian in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.-Personal life:Mastrantonio was born in Lombard,...
. In this version, her surname is given as Dubois, a reference to the French name of Robin Hood, Robin des Bois. - In the 1993 movie Robin Hood: Men in TightsRobin Hood: Men in TightsRobin Hood: Men in Tights is a 1993 French-American adventure comedy film and a parody of the Robin Hood story. Produced and directed by Mel Brooks, the film stars Cary Elwes, Richard Lewis, and Dave Chappelle in his film debut...
, Maid Marian is played by Amy YasbeckAmy YasbeckAmy Marie Yasbeck is an American film and television actress. She is best known for her role as Casey Chapel Davenport on the sitcom Wings from 1994-1997.-Early life:...
. - In the 2001 DisneyWalt Disney PicturesWalt Disney Pictures is an American film studio owned by The Walt Disney Company. Walt Disney Pictures and Television, a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Studios and the main production company for live-action feature films within the Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group, based at the Walt Disney...
movie Princess of ThievesPrincess of ThievesPrincess of Thieves is a romantic action-adventure TV movie starring Keira Knightley, produced by Granada Productions in 2001 and first broadcast on The Wonderful World of Disney on ABC in the United States that same year...
, Robin Hood and Maid Marian are the parents of a daughter, the eponymous 'princess' played by Keira KnightleyKeira KnightleyKeira Christina Knightley born 26 March 1985) is an English actress and model. She began acting as a child and came to international notice in 2002 after co-starring in the film Bend It Like Beckham...
. - In the 2010 Ridley ScottRidley ScottSir Ridley Scott is an English film director and producer. His most famous films include The Duellists , Alien , Blade Runner , Legend , Thelma & Louise , G. I...
movie Robin HoodRobin Hood (2010 film)Robin Hood is a 2010 British/American adventure film based on the Robin Hood legend, directed by Ridley Scott and starring Russell Crowe and Cate Blanchett...
, Lady Marian is a widow played by Cate BlanchettCate BlanchettCatherine Élise "Cate" Blanchett is an Australian actress. She came to international attention for her role as Elizabeth I of England in the 1998 biopic film Elizabeth, for which she won British Academy of Film and Television Arts and Golden Globe Awards, and earned her first Academy Award...
. In this version, her surname is given as Loxley. - In the latest german 3D-movie from 2011 Robin Hood - Ghosts of Sherwood, Maid Marian is played by Carolina Grigorov.
Music
- Squeeze's song, "Pulling Mussels (From The Shell)Pulling Mussels (From The Shell)"Pulling Mussels " is a new wave song by the band Squeeze. First released on the 1980 album Argybargy, it received positive critical reviews, peaked at #44 on the UK Singles Chart, and became one of Squeeze's most popular songs...
", contains the line; "Maid Marian on her, tip toed feet...".
- Folk artist Will StrattonWill Stratton-Early life:Will was born in northern California, but raised primarily in New Jersey. He began taking piano lessons at the age of 4. He spent one year at University of Puget Sound studying philosophy, before finishing college at Bennington College, where he switched his studies to music composition...
's song "Robin and Marian" on his album No Wonder offers a modern-day political interpretation of the story of Robin Hood and Maid Marian.