Episode 44: Unmasking Robin Hood, A Deep Dive into Legend and Medieval Cuisine
Dec 11, 2023Episode 44
Marty Smarticus
Have you ever wondered about the truth behind the legendary figure Robin Hood? Well, buckle up because this week on Smarticus Tales History, we're about to give you a first-row seat to the past as we debunk the myths and shed light on the reality behind this famed outlaw. I'm your host, Smarticus, joined by my co-host, Phoenix as we dig into the Robin Hood legend, serving up fascinating insights, trivia, and stories wrapped up in our unique humor and camaraderie.
Now, we wouldn't be Smarticus Tales if we didn't mix in a bit of culinary adventure to our history lessons, right? On today's menu, we've got a hearty beef and potato stew, inspired by the peasant food of Robin Hood's era. And guess what? There's a twist. We ran out of red wine so we used sake instead, and it turned out fantastic! It's no Julia Childs' beef stew, but it's as close as we could get to a medieval English stew. As we cook, there's a hearty discussion on the role of stews in the diets of medieval peasants and how simplicity and utility defined the food of the era. So, pull up a chair, grab a drink, and join us for a rollicking journey through history, served up Smarticus style!
Research Sites: https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/history/2019/02/who-was-the-real-robin-hood https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/England_in_the_Middle_Ages
Links:
Support our show on paypal or from our host: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=SC5G5XFCX8MYW
https://www.buzzsprout.com/547567/support
Visit us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SmarticusTellsHistory
Start your podcast on Buzzsprout: https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=486316
Have you ever wondered about the truth behind the legendary figure Robin Hood? Well, buckle up because this week on Smarticus Tales History, we're about to give you a first-row seat to the past as we debunk the myths and shed light on the reality behind this famed outlaw. I'm your host, Smarticus, joined by my co-host, Phoenix as we dig into the Robin Hood legend, serving up fascinating insights, trivia, and stories wrapped up in our unique humor and camaraderie.
Now, we wouldn't be Smarticus Tales if we didn't mix in a bit of culinary adventure to our history lessons, right? On today's menu, we've got a hearty beef and potato stew, inspired by the peasant food of Robin Hood's era. And guess what? There's a twist. We ran out of red wine so we used sake instead, and it turned out fantastic! It's no Julia Childs' beef stew, but it's as close as we could get to a medieval English stew. As we cook, there's a hearty discussion on the role of stews in the diets of medieval peasants and how simplicity and utility defined the food of the era. So, pull up a chair, grab a drink, and join us for a rollicking journey through history, served up Smarticus style!
Research Sites: https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/history/2019/02/who-was-the-real-robin-hood https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/England_in_the_Middle_Ages
Links:
Support our show on paypal or from our host: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=SC5G5XFCX8MYW
https://www.buzzsprout.com/547567/support
Visit us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SmarticusTellsHistory
Start your podcast on Buzzsprout: https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=486316
Welcome to Smart, smart and Health Tales History. Alright, enough with the echo and fanfare. You're here for history, right, and not that boring crack you learned in high school. This stuff's actually interesting, like things you've never heard about the Civil War, cleopatra, automobiles, monopoly, the Black Plague and more Fascinating stories, interesting topics and some downright weird facts from the past. It's a new twist on some stories you may know and an interesting look at some things you may have never heard. So grab a beer, kick back and enjoy. Here's your host, smarticus.
Speaker 3:
Hello and welcome to this week's episode of Smarticus Tales History. I'm your host, smarticus, accompanied by my co-host Phoenix.
Speaker 2:
Hello.
Speaker 3:
Today we're delving into the story of a legendary figure whose name has been immortalized in books, movies and folklore Robin Hood. But who was Robin Hood and what was the reality behind the legend?
Speaker 2:
Well, first let's talk about the food. How's that Smarticus? Does that sound good?
Speaker 3:
Sounds great to me.
Speaker 2:
We're doing, or we did, a beef and potato stew Yep, which is really quite lovely. This version was as close as I could get to an English stew. It's not exactly like the Julia Childs beef stew from France, but starting your close, it has spooze in it.
Speaker 3:
Pretty good though, yeah. So funny story. Yeah, I thought I had red wine. I did not. I thought, for sure I had a bottle of red wine in there. I did not. Well, I had a bottle of Moscato, but I didn't have a non, because it said specifically a not sweet, and I had the Moscato in there and that was all I had. So, but I did have a bottle of sake. No, so I put the bottle of sake in there instead.
Speaker 2:
Oh my gosh, how's the taste.
Speaker 3:
It is actually really good. So I didn't put the whole thing in there, I just put because it called out for a lot. It called out for like four cups, I think, of red wine.
Speaker 2:
No, no, it's two cups of red wine, that's right.
Speaker 3:
It was a four cups of the beef broth.
Speaker 2:
Y'all, it's the boosiest.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, my bad.
Speaker 2:
You've ever had your life.
Speaker 3:
Two cups, yeah, two cups, but still that's a lot it really is. And but so I put I didn't even put two cups in, I put maybe one cup of sake in it because I wasn't sure I was going to taste. I guess I didn't want to put too much. I understand, but it's still really good. And I put way more potatoes in it than I probably should have. I did that too, but I like potatoes.
Speaker 1:
So do I.
Speaker 3:
And garlic. There's that garlic in it.
Speaker 2:
You should always measure garlic with your heart, not with what the recipe tells you.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, anyways, it's a beef stew, beef and potato stew excuse me, yep and it's very delicious.
Speaker 2:
It's very.
Speaker 3:
it's exactly what you would picture peasants from the, the medieval period eating aside from you know some booze, yeah, and then so I always think that that's kind of what they're probably eating when they because it's not all that different from you know porridge, what we saw, right, no, potage, potage, potage. I'm sorry, potage, not porridge. Yeah, potage, it is very similar, and then that's kind of what I imagined they'd you know in shows and stuff. You see, you know them cooking over the fire. You know that's kind of what I imagined they would be cooking in there.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, I did some research a while back about stews and how the reason why you always see it in the movies and stuff like that is because in reality that was what they had, because it was easy to extend over a long period, like, for instance, a whole day. You could just keep adding stuff to it throughout the day and it fed everybody.
Speaker 3:
Yep, and it was usually, I think a lot of times it was made out of rabbit and rabbit meat and chicken meat, because those were mostly what they had on hand, because rabbits, well, they're everywhere, and chickens you know what they say, about rabbits.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, they should be along in fertility clinics. And so I was watching Bozburgers of the Night and there was an episode where they're at their dentist and the dentist is Dr Yapp. He's talking about his new receptionist. His new receptionist says, yeah, but I kind of wish I was still at my other clinic because she had rabbits in there. And he's like, why does she have rabbits? Like that doesn't even make sense. And he's like he said they should be at a fertility clinic. And then Gene's like why would that make sense? He's like, well, because rabbits have a lot of. And then his mom's like, ok, that's enough. No, no, that's funny yeah.
Speaker 2:
Well, not that we talked about our lovely food. You should definitely have some more stew. Anyone who's listening there happens to have some, and we'll continue on with our story. Yep, so to begin with, it's worth noting that Robin Hood was not a historical figure, but a character from English folklore whose legend has been passed down through generations. The first written reference to Robin Hood dates back to the late 14th century and a collection of ballads called Robin Hood and the Monk. From there, the story of Robin Hood has evolved and grown from century to century and sometimes decade to decade.
Speaker 3:
However, while there may not have been a real pinpointed that's the guy who stole my ring, robin Hood there was certainly real people who inspired the legend. Naturally, you, like us, are wondering who were these people and what did they do that made them the stuff of legend.
Speaker 2:
Well, in order to answer that, we need to look back to medieval England, a time of great upheaval and social inequality. The 12th and 13th centuries saw the rise of what is more modernly called the Age of Futilism in Europe, more specifically, england. It was a system of land ownership in which lords held vast estates and peasants worked land in return for protection and share of the crops.
Speaker 3:
Of course, we now commonly call this time the Middle Ages. While feudalism provided some measure of stability against the Vikings and their attack against the common folk, it also led to deep disparities of wealth and power. The lords lived in luxury while the peasants struggled to eke out a living, and those who fell afoul of the law were punished harshly, sometimes with death. It was in this context that Robin Hood emerged as a hero of the people, a man who stood up to the corrupt authorities and fought for the rights of the downtrodden. But the question must still be asked who inspired the legends, as they all start with a grain of truth?
Speaker 2:
Thanks to historian and archivist Joseph Hunter, we know that one such man was found in a Yorkshire court register from 1226. The fugitive was written down by the name Robin Hood. In 1262, there was a similar man written down in a Berkshire register by the name William Robod and a William son of Robert Lefevre, member of a band of outlaws, who was believed to be the same person in another year. Regardless, what historians have found are many records attached to the name Robin Hood that most scholars agree are probably not the same person or even a single person. So it would seem that the moniker was a rather common alias used by bandits and outlaws in various periods and locations throughout England.
Speaker 3:
It's worth noting that historical research was not important in regards to Robin Hood until after the publication of Sir Walter Scott's Ivanhoe in 1820. It was set in 1194, during the English Crusades, with one of the featured characters having the same name of Loxley. Loxley was later revealed to be Robin Hood, king of outlaws and Prince of Good Fellows. It was this portrayal of a good and honorable man loyal to the absent King Richard that has inspired the modern stories we have enjoyed throughout cinematic history.
Speaker 2:
I'm a huge fan of Kevin Costner's version. Alan Rickman was a phenomenal sheriff of Nottingham. But Alan Rickman was a phenomenal everything he was yeah.
Speaker 3:
Alright. So did you know that the first recorded rebellion of Robin Hood was during a 15th century ballad called Robin Hood and the Monk, as we mentioned earlier? But there is no mention of everyone's favorite corrupt sheriff of Nottingham. Uh really, uh, yes, way. And though it is the first recorded version of the setting being in Sherwood Forest near Nottingham and featuring Little John, there is no sheriff. Instead, the antagonist is a monk who breaks the confessional rules. When he sees Robin Hood at mass praying to the Virgin Mary, he does tell a sheriff, but that is not Alan Rickman. Shortly after, the monk sets out on the road to tell the king about the capture of the notorious outlaw, but he doesn't make it because Little John and Robin's men murder the monk and his page. Then they turn around, pose as the monk and page and get pardons from the king in titles before returning to Sherwood Forest absolved.
Speaker 2:
That's pretty dark when compared to some of our more lighthearted versions in the last couple decades.
Speaker 3:
I know right, men and tights wasn't really looking to kill Catholic clergy.
Speaker 2:
But while the oral stories were on the lips of the lowest of the low, you have to ask who were the Ruffians that paled around with the notorious outlaw? I mean, one of the most enduring aspects of the Robin Hood legend is his band of merry men, a group of the supposed worst dregs of society on the run and cast out, who joined forces with Robin Hood to fight against oppression and injustice. Who were these men and what did they bring to the story?
Speaker 3:
That is an excellent question, thank you. The earliest ballads about Robin Hood mention a few of his companions, such as Little John, william Scarlett and Fryer Tuck. Over time, more characters were added to the mix, including Alan Adele, much the Smiller's Son and Maid, marion. Little John is often depicted as Robin Hood's second in command, a skilled fighter who is fiercely loyal to his leader. William Scarlet is usually portrayed as a hot-headed young man who is always ready for a fight. Prior Tuck, on the other hand, is a man of the cloth who becomes an unlikely ally of Robin Hood.
Speaker 2:
Alan Adele is a minstrel that joins Robin Hood's band and helps to keep up their spirits with his music, kind of like. Yasker Much, the Smiller's Son is another of Robin Hood's loyal followers, who is known for his strength and ability to carry heavy loads. Maid Marion is often portrayed as the love interest for Robin Hood, a strong and independent woman who shares his passion for justice. While the exact makeup of Robin Hood's band of Merry Men varies depending on the version of the story, they all share a common bond of loyalty, courage and a desire to right the wrongs of the world.
Speaker 3:
A true tale as old as time. Of course, one of the most iconic aspects of the Robin Hood legend is his skill with a bow and arrow. Robin Hood is often portrayed as the greatest archer in England, capable of shooting his arrows with deadly accuracy and taking down his enemies from a distance. But how accurate is his portrayal Dead? People really use bows and arrows in medieval England, and could anyone really be as skilled as Robin Hood?
Speaker 2:
The short answer is oh yeah. The long answer is archery was a hugely important skill in medieval England, particularly for the everyday man, as snares were not nearly as accurate a form of catching game as the bow. Then there was the nobility Kings and lords were expected to be able to shoot a bow with great accuracy, and archery contests were held throughout the country to test people's skill. You all remember that scene in Disney's Robin Hood. Right, Sometimes they can be relatively accurate.
Speaker 3:
While it's unlikely that anyone could have been as skilled as Robin Hood is portrayed, it's certainly possible that there were people who were superb with a bow. In fact, the longbow is one of the most fearsome weapons of its time, capable of piercing, armor and taking down enemies from a distance, not to mention what it did to the bone structure of the archers using them. Archaeology of Yeoman during that time has found that their arm bones grew stronger and denser the longer they used the longbows.
Speaker 2:
Of course, robin Hood's archery skills are just one aspect of his legend. Perhaps the most important aspect is his unwavering commitment to justice and his willingness to fight against oppression and tyranny. Throughout the centuries, robin Hood has been seen as a symbol of resistance and rebellion, someone who stands up to authority and fights for the little guy. He has been depicted as a defender of the poor, a champion of freedom and a hero for all time. And in a world where inequality and oppression still exists, perhaps we need heroes like Robin Hood now more than ever.
Speaker 3:
We hope you've enjoyed learning about this fascinating aspect of history. Thank you for joining us for this episode of Smarticus Tales History. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave us a review. We'll be back with more stories from the past. Until then, keep exploring.