Knights And Merchants II - The Peasants Rebellion ##TOP##

Others, especially J. C. Holt, (e.g. in Robin Hood (1982)), have argued that Robin, despite his outlawry and deer-poaching forest life, was reckoned a member of the class of yeomen, who were then not the prosperous farmers to whom the term was applied from the 15th century. Rather, since they served in the households, and sometimes the forests, of the aristocracy, they were attached to the dominant orders. It is claimed that Robin does not challenge the social hierarchy: his adversaries are not lords or knights, but evil officials, such as sheriffs, and wealthy monks, and (like the peasants in 1381) he respects the king. A recent discussion, A. J. Pollard, Imagining Robin Hood (2004), esp. chapter 7, takes a mediating position, noting that the poor might enjoy stories that showed their social superiors being attacked and humiliated, even when the protagonist came from a different social level.

Knights And Merchants II - The Peasants Rebellion