Robin Hood’s Lancelot?

Like Sir Lancelot of the Arthurian legends, who is widely known as King Arthur’s mightiest knight, Little John, the largest and strongest of Robin Hood’s Merry Men, may also have been of French origins.

The legends of Robin Hood, though they take place at least two centuries later than those of King Arthur, are nevertheless just as obscure and difficult to verify (or dispute) historically. However, many tales place Robin Hood’s adventures in the late twelfth century, when King Richard the Lionhearted was being held for ransom by the Holy Roman Emperor after his infamous capture in Vienna while trying to return home from the Crusades in disguise.

There was deep-seated resentment across Europe to the holding of a national sovereign for money by the Church. Many felt (though few dared to say so openly) that the Church had overstepped her bounds, and that their own states were vulnerable to the same tactics if they were tolerated.

Jean Petit of Paris was one vocal opponent of the imprisonment of King Richard, until his own King Philip started to openly support the Church’s position. Kings Richard and Philip were known to have deep differences, even while allied in the Crusades. Philip is widely held to have believed Richard was to blame for their failure.

Whatever the cause of Philip’s stance, Jean Petit was forced from then on to keep silence, and work in secret. It’s at this point that his designs fell into obscurity, and little is known about his life after this time. Described in literature as a man “of uncommon size and strength,” he also displayed “surprising eloquence, and education of the highest quality.” Yet neither his eloquence nor his physical presence allowed him to work openly anymore.

One persistent rumor was that Jean Petit, having given up on changing the opinions of the crowned heads of Europe (much less of the Holy Roman Empire), decided to work for Richard’s release, and so at least reduce (or cut short) the humiliation of a European king. There was no better place to do this than in England, where heavy taxes were being levied to collect the ransom money.

This is but one rumor of many, yet it is easy to conjecture that, if he found a lot of corruption in the tax collection methods of the English feudal system, he might have sought alternate means to collect the money. Many of the tales of Robin Hood say that, in addition to “giving to the poor”, the Band of Merry Men “took from the rich” to make certain that funds intended for the release of King Richard actually went toward that goal. Some even suggest that Robin Hood made the final payment to the Church in Rome that secured Richard’s release.

What better organization could there have been for Jean Petit, a disenfranchised Frenchman with many of the same goals in mind, to join? It’s easy to recreate the famous tale of Robin Hood meeting this large man named “Petit”, who probably did twirl a mean quarterstaff, and laughing at the name — as easily as if his name had been “John Little”, as the English tales recount. It’s certainly possible that Jean Petit translated the name himself before meeting Robin Hood, to hide his identity.

We will probably never be able to make any more of this speculation, already shrouded in centuries of obscurity, but it’s fun to think about. Have the English always needed a Frenchman to do their toughest fighting?