The Mallorys and Robin Hood

 

John and Mary Mallory with son, William, by Anthony van Dyck (1599-1641), Royal Collection Trust

William Mallory married Dionysia Tempest, and succeeded his father-in-law in 1444 to the “Place caullyed High Studley a little from Fontaines.”  There has been a residence at the site of the Hall since ancient times, and the first mention of Great Studley or Studley Royal was in the twelfth century, not long after the founding of Fountains Abbey in the nearby valley of Skell Dale.  The Abbey was established by Cistercian monks.  In the grounds of Studley, near the Abbey, is Robin Hood’s well. (Genealogy of the Mallorys of Virginia by Henry R. Mallory, pub. by the Connecticut Historical Society, Hartford, 1955, p. 58.)

“A short distance from the ruins [of the Abbey], by the side of the path, there is a recess arched with stone and fringed with foliage; it is known by the name of ROBIN HOOD’S WELL, and so designated from its proximity to the presumed arena where—on the traditional combat between the outlaw and one of the monks of Fountains took place, upon which both the legend and ballad of ‘ROBIN HOOD and the CURTAL FRIAR,’ have been founded.  Commenting upon this incident a former writer observes ‘if in imagination this roofless and tenantless pile of Fountains could be restored and peopled with grave Cistercians habited in coarse white robes and black hoods, some gayer personages in Lincoln green might intrude upon the scene and the foreground be enlivened with the aquatic adventures of bold ROBIN HOOD and the CURTAL FRIAR, and the encounter of the merry outlaws with the ban-dogs of the abbey.’  It is stated that friar CHRISTOPHER, the opponent of the bandit, was a very tall and strong man.” (Mallory quoting George Parker’s Studley Royal, Fountains Abbey, Fountains Hall, pp. 59-60.)
 

Studley Royal and Fountains Abbey are within a few miles of Ripon, Yorkshire.  The Mallorys held Studley Royal until 1666.  Above is believed to be a portrait of John and Mary (Moseley) Mallory and their only son, William, who died young. 

The estate then passed to their second daughter, Mary Mallory, and her husband, George Aislabie, who was killed in a duel in 1674 (Mallory, 10).

‘That curtal frier in Fountains Abby

Well can a strong bow draw;

He will beat you and your yeomen,

Set them all on a row.’

Robin Hood took a solemn oath,

It was by Mary free,

That he would neither eat nor drink

Till the frier he did see.

Robin Hood put on his harness good,

And on his head a cap of steel,

Broad sword and buckler by his side,

And they became him weel.

He took his bow into his hand,

It was made of a trusty tree,

With a sheaf of arrows at his belt,

To the Fountains Dale went he.

And comming unto Fountain[s] Dale,

No further would he ride;

There was he aware of a curtal frier,

Walking by the water-side.

-- from "Robin Hood and the Curtal Friar,"

 

 

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