Matter of the Greenwood: Will Scarlet
A look at the most shadowy Merry Man. Image: Patric Knowles as Will in The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938). Perhaps the least well...
Matter of the Greenwood: Guy of Gisburne
Content note: violence including mutilation. Image: Paul Dickey as Sir Guy in the 1922 film Robin Hood. In modern times, Guy of Gisborne...
Hamlet's voyage
Content note: familial murder and attempted murder; bigamy. "Thus set it down," decrees Claudius of his wayward nephew in Hamlet: "he...
Hail Éarendel!
In which I examine the connections of one of Tolkien's most famous characters to Shakespeare, Norse myth, and a local legend from...
Some Scottish Red Weddings
The theme of sacrosanct hospitality being murderously abused looms large in Scottish history and legend. Content note: murder; spousal...
Matter of the Greenwood: Little John: Origins
From the very beginnings of the legend, one name is more inseparable from Robin Hood's than any other: Little John. But was there a real...
The Legend of Canonbie Dick
The Canonbie Dick story is one of Scotland's best known folk tales. In its usual form, it goes like this: a horse-trader, from Canonbie...
Reviews: Lilith's Love and Arthur's Bosom, by Tyler R. Tichelaar
We left Tyler Tichelaar's Arthur's Children series on a cliffhanger in 1995, at the end of Ogier's Prayer. (Here I must apologise for...
Old Tales Retold: Here Be Dragons
The second volume of Old Tales Retold is out! As with Sprites and Goblins, I didn't feel the book itself was the place for notes on the...
Matter of the Greenwood: The Sheriff of Nottingham - Evolution
We’ve looked at the possible historical origins of Robin Hood’s archenemy. What about his evolution in fiction? N.B. this post has been...
