LIBERTY AGAINST THE LAW

Christopher Hill was an undisputed giant among scholars of the 17th century, and this 1996 book was his last published work. In it he investigates the lives of those who operated outside the law, including highwaymen, smugglers and pirates, and devoting a chapter to the phenomenon of Robin Hood. Starting with the 17th century drama A Jovial Crew, and comparing it with the better-known Beggar's Opera a century later, Hill examines the paradoxical claim that a beggar may be more free than a wealthy and landed person. The claim is disproved by all the evidence, but the political point is made that courtiers are parasites on their own society. Playwrights had to be careful in satirising kings and rulers, and in many Shakespeare plays the Fool is licensed to expose corruption under the guise of jesting. Vagabondage was a live issue in the era when the enclosure of common land meant that many ordinary people were left without means of supporting themselves. Vagabonds came to be regarded as anti-religion and anti-government and therefore a public threat, and an act of 1597 included itinerants such as jugglers, tinkers, pedlars and actors in the category of vagabond. Players like Shakespeare's company made a point of getting royal or aristocratic patronage in order to escape being apprehended as rogues. Although stories about Robin Hood started in the 15th century, there was an explosion of Robin Hood ballads in the early 17th century, and their provenance is so wide that the author to concludes they are unlikely to have been inspired by just one individual. The forest symbolises freedom and Robin's character as a benefactor emerged over time. The book examines the Ranters and Diggers of the English Revolution, together with later responses to similar issues, such as the poetry of John Clare. 354pp, footnotes, paperback.