Alexis Dave

According to the Middle English Dictionary, a medieval forest was actually defined as, "a wooded tract belonging to a ruler, set apart for hunting" (3: 742), much like the situation presented in Robin Hood's tales. Interestingly, the depiction of Robin Hood's Sherwood Forest as a hunting ground for the most elite aristocrats does not stray too far from the truth.

Although the medieval forest often existed as a wooded enclosure in order to prevent illegal hunting and tree cutting, the medieval Sherwood Forest lay immediately outside the walls of Nottingham. So, Robin Hood's outlaws as well as actual citizens of England encountered the temptation of the forest along with the wrath of the medieval forest laws. As a matter of fact, only a license from the king permitted one to hunt, fell wood, fish, or use the land as a pasture for animals. The punishment for disobedience ranged from simple imprisonment to such bodily harms as blindness or the loss of a limb. As a result, the peasants, like Robin Hood's men, retreated farther into the royal lands because the fruits of the forest greatly surpassed any offered within the city walls. In other words, the peasants began what Thompson calls "forest colonization" (758). Therefore, the promise of the forest often dimmed any of the nobles' threats to the peasants themselves.

In conclusion, the nobles saw the medieval forest as a sanctuary and hunting ground for wildlife and peasants alike.

"Forest." Middle English Dictionary. Ed. Hans Kurath. Ann Arbor: U of Michigan P, 1963.

Jones, Julia. "Sherwood Forest". Newark Advertiser News: 5 Jan. 1999. http://www.newarkadvertiser.co.uk/notts/nottshtm/sherwood.htm.

Thompson, James Westfall. An Economic and Social History of the Middle Ages. New York: The Century Co., 1928.