Runaways, Jews, near-Vikings, cooks, idiots, whores, witches, petty thieves and peasants wishing a more exciting life - all have come at one time or another to the secret Greenwood at the heart of Sherwood Forest.

Robin Hood doesn't take every volunteer. Some he turns away with a kind word and a coin, others he has chased off, some he urges to reapply later. He can pick and choose, and does. Above all, though it's never stated, Robin needs dedicated people he can count on in emergencies AND in everyday life to take orders without a grudge.

As Little John quietly tells every new recruit, "There ain't but one rule you have to learn to live in Sherwood: Robin's word is law." Since the outlaws live from crisis to crisis, always on a razor's edge, one mistep or misinterpreted order can plunge the whole band into deadly danger.

Here, in no particular order, are some of the Merry Men, and a few Merry Women, who follow the Fox of Sherwood.  And some more.  And still more.

You can also meet Robin Hood's friends and foes.

And bear in mind these are MY interpretations.  Your mileage may vary.

Arthur A'Bland is Little John's cousin.  He's tall and strong, but not nearly as capable or bright as his famous cousin.  Arthur was a King's Forester loyal to the Crown.

When he met Robin Hood, and then Little John (after many years apart), he switched allegiances without a thought (key phrase) and joined the Merry Men.  As Robin pointed out, "Arthur might be one of the foresters who cut off David's ears."

Arthur A'Bland was introduced in the ballad "Robin and the Forester". 

Art by John Green in Life in a Medieval Castle and Village Coloring Book.

Mary is wife to Arthur A'Bland.  She follows orders well, helping Clara cook.  Just don't ask her to make any decisions.  In a crisis she tends to panic and say/shout anything.

Mary was created by Clayton Emery.

Image from medieval times.

Ben Barrel was an uninspired merchant until he met Robin Hood along Sherwood's green roads.Ben is lazy as they make 'em, and only works when prodded by his wife Clara. 

Ben goes along with whatever scheme is easiest.  Sensing this, Robin actually had no interest in recruiting Ben - until, after one particularly excruciating meal, he learned Clara could cook. 

Ben's one spot of ambition is he plays the bagpipes.  Robin christened him "Barrel" for his girth and fondness of beer.  Ben and Clara had five children: an older son and daughter who live in York, and three in the Greenwood.

Ben Barrel was created by Clayton Emery.

Artist unknown from Robin Hood: A Wishing Well Adventure Classic.

Clara is Ben Barrel's wife.  Hardheaded and practical, she runs the Sherwood kitchen with an iron spoon.

Which is good, because Marian steadfastly refuses to cook. 

Clara offered that Ben join the Merry Men, guessing it a better occupation than Ben's lackluster merchanting. 

Clara was created by Clayton Emery.  Clara was my grandmother's name.

Image origin uncertain.

Tub (real name unknown) is son to Ben Barrel: a tub is a small barrel.

Tub is a friend and rival to Tam Gamwell. 

Clara apprenticed him to Black Bart.  The grouchy Bart scares the stuffing out of Tub, but he is learning to be an excellent blacksmith - until he succumbs to plague in London.

Clara and Ben have two smaller children.  Glenyth, a cute toddler, and a babe in arms who never does earn a name.  Both die in the London plague.

The children were created by Clayton Emery.

Art from Robin Hood by Eugene Pawczuk.

Shonet the Sower was a prioress.  Met during some adventure, she left the church to marry David of Doncaster, who built and furnished a hut for her in the Greenwood.

Their happiness was cut short when Shonet died of a crab (cancer) in BEASTS.  Shonet, and the devout Sherwooders, couldn't help but wonder if her agonizing death weren't a punishment for quitting the cloister to marry.

Shonet is a creation of Clayton Emery.  She's a counterpoint to the evil prioress of later legend who bleeds Robin to death.

David of Doncaster was always quiet and moody, subject to depression and plagued by bad luck.

He poached a king's deer for his large and hungry family, but was caught by King's Foresters.  They cut off his ears, so he wears his black hair long.

Though gloomy, David is a handsome man, but dresses carelessly.  In summer his shirt is ragged and sleeveless, and his black hat has the brim pushed up out of the way. 

David of Doncaster appears in many early ballads.  Jim Lees thought his only description was he was a young boy.

Artist unknown from Robin of Sherwood Annual 1986.

Black Bart is the band's blacksmith.  He's a wonderful smith, probably as good as the legendary Wayland, whom Bart met and trained under - and was ultimately betrayed by.

Bart knows "smith magic" and is unphased by, say, salamanders crawling out of his forge or ghosts swirling in the smoke.  Phelgmatic about everything, Bart pays homage to the gods of the underground, making people whisper he's a devil worshipper.

In fact, Bart doesn't worship, or fear, anything.  To judge by a story he once told while drunk, "The Man Who Was Always Afraid", Bart was a coward as a youth and banished from his village.  He was seized by trolls(?), dragged underground, and enslaved and apprenticed to an ancient crippled wonder-smith, probably Wayland.

Black Bart was created by Clayton Emery. 

Art by Victor G Ambrus from Robin Hood, His Life and Legend by Bernard Miles.

Bold Jane Downey is Sherwood's tomboy grown up.

Robin named her "Bold" Jane because she was painfully shy.  With Marian as her role model, and having fled an arranged marriage, her goal is to excel as a Merry MAN.

After Little John saved Jane's life - on the fly during an escape - she fell in love with the big lug.

Bold Jane handles all her weapons well, and can swing nimbly on a rope.  Because she's small, she wears her longsword down her back (to gentle joshing), and has problems controling war horses.

In London, using her own initiative, she adopted a disguise (just like Robin Hood) to infiltrate a castle where John was imprisoned. 

Bold Jane Downey was created by Clayton Emery.  See my custom action figure of Jane.

Art by Larry Elmore from Robin Hood and the Beasts of Sherwood.

Grace is a tall ungainly redhead who fled her marriage bed and ran to Sherwood - after breaking a chamberpot over her elderly husband's head.

Fleeing was her entire plan, so it's lucky the Merry Men found her.

Robin nicknamed the clumsy woman "Grace" as a jest.

Grace was created by Clayton Emery.

Art by Piero Cattaneo from The Legend of Robin Hood.

Simon left his plow for the exciting life of an outlaw.  He was killed within a year.

He appears in
Robin Hood's Treasure.

Simon was created by Clayton Emery.

Stained glass art by Unknown.

Art by Benvenuit from The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Pyle.

Friar Tuck is the old man of the gang.  Over 40, he finds it hard to live in the forest, sleep on damp ground, and go stomping through wet woods to ambush people.  As such, Tuck takes his luxuries as he can find them.

And he's fairly tough to begin with from all that walking: friars usually traveled from village to hamlet on a regular circuit, giving open-air sermons and collecting coins in places too small to have a permanent priest.

Friar Tuck appears in the earliest Robin Hood ballads.  And may have had ballads of his own.  And may have been based on a real historical person.

The only place I've ever read Tuck's real name is in Alexandre Dumas's Robin Hood: Prince of Outlaws.  Tuck says his real name is Giles Sherbowne, and he comes from "a good family of countryfolk".  The Dumas books are supposedly swiped-translated from Pierce Egan's the Younger's Robin Hood and Little John; or, the Merry Men of Sherwood Forest, so maybe Egan named him.

Art by Victor G Ambrus from Robin Hood, His Life and Legend by Bernard Miles.

See my custom action figure of Friar Tuck (scroll down).