144: Robin Hood and the Bishop of Hereford

Child mentions a stall copy of this ballad in Robin Hood’s Garland of 1749, and a version of the stall ballad somewhat rewritten occurs in Elizabeth Cotton’s Manuscript Song Book which has been dated as c1730. It was printed in garlands in the mid eighteenth century and an upmarket broadside with large engraving was printed by Sheppard of London in 1791, no doubt intended for a more affluent market than the streets.

Bronson gives three tunes with texts, one a twenty-one stanza broadside text with tune printed by Daniel Wright on a broadside of the early eighteenth century, and another five stanza text with tune from a half-sheet engraved 1780 by Thomas Straight. The only oral version, of fourteen stanzas, was found in Wareham, Dorset by Hammond.

Texts posted by request.