his (not so) ill-gotten gains for himself. But in feudal England acts of solidarity, support and kindness – offering shelter, protection, food and clothing – could mean the difference between life and death. The modern Robin Hood story fails to convey the full insurrectionary nature of the original ballads. This was a tale of land, liberty and mutual aid, not bravado, honour and tights. Or, as historian Stephen Knight puts it, “The semi-mythical sense of resistance and opposition to the ‘statutory’ forces of state, church and emergent mercantilism seems deeply embedded in these tales and references ... The Gest, after all, advocates massive theft from the church, civic insurrection against and murder of a properly appointed Sheriff, breach of legitimate agreement with a King ... [It is] a story with much potency among
people who experience institutionalised oppression and therefore require the relief of fictional forms of dissent.” Like it or not, Robin was more than a little bit gangsta, albeit a pretty revolutionary one. His story remains popular because most of us understand that the law is not always morally right and that those who step outside it are not automatically ‘bad’ people. Boyos often get themselves a reputation for being ‘wrong uns’, but of all the boyos I’ve ever known very few of them are nasty or malicious. Like any of us, they’re just doing what they can when times are hard. I’m not going to romanticise boyos as potential Robin Hoods, but I am going to argue that the original Robin Hood was definitely a boyo. And although we can’t go as far as to say that Robin was a Donny lad, we can see
Art: ‘I didn’t Know It Was Loaded Sorry’ by Robert Sample - 73 x91cm (29” x 36”) Oil on Canvas ©2010
from the original Gest that the writer knew our region well. Likewise the people of Doncaster have been known to stand up for what they believe in on many an occasion over the years. So while the sanctuary of the Wildwood may be long gone, the rebellious spirit of freedom and justice definitely lives on in the good ol’ Boyos of Barnsdale. End
Some of this text first appeared in issue 43 of The Idler magazine as part of a longer essay entitled ‘Common People’. Simon Heywood’s South Yorkshire Folktales will be available in 2015 from the History Press.
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