why did the prioress murder Robin Hood ?

I am endebted to Barbara Green & YRHS for providing much of the content on this site

The assumption that Matilda became Robin’s wife and Elizabeth’s sister in law, does not explain why Elizabeth went on to murder him in later years . If this hypotheses is correct,however,we might consider a lethal love triangle here , Robin falling in love with Matilda while Elizabeth was packed off to the nunnery suffering from a medieval "fatal attraction"--exacting her revenge for her thwarted passion , in later years! ("hell hath no fury......"). However, as we have seen, the dates do not fit -- this scenario is thirty years too early. Another mysterious clue lies in a document quoted by Wakefield historian J.W.Walker. This is also mentioned by Pobjoy,who reports a dispute over eighteen acres of land between " the Prioress of Kirklees and Esmon , son of the noble Richard of England and Earl of Kent in 1373." The Latin text reads: "1373, Orate pro Elizabetha de Staynton quondon prioressa Kirklees quo intempere illus du carta fust adquista" and translates: "Pray for Elizabeth de Staynton formerly prioress of Kirklees at which time the document was aquired. " This seems to suggest that Elizabeth was prioress prior to 1373, but it can be read either way . JW Walker also quotes another document which he states that the prioress of Kirklees(he infers Elizabeth) signed a legal document in 1348,but the British Library have been unable to verify the entry which was not under the reference quoted (Harleian 4360 Folio 517)so the riddle still remains. Finally, why did the prioress kill Robin ? Venesection,or "bleeding" was common medical practise in the Middle Ages. Many people must have died as a result, but it was an ignominous end for the swashbuscking Robin ,whether by accident or design. The ballads state that the prioress, and her lover "Red Roger of Doncaster" murdered Robin in revenge for his opposition to the corruption in the Church. If it was murder--for whatever reason-- it was a particularly treacherous and gruesome act,and it has even been suggested that there could be links with pagan sacrifice or vampirism ! There is a fascinating mystery here,still waiting to be solved, but until all the evidence is uncovered,this part of Robin’s legend will remain shrouded in darkness,Yorkshire’s buried treasure,or even Blair Witch 11 !

SHE LAID THE BLOOD IRONS ON ROBIN HOOD’S VAINE

ALACKE,THE MORE PITYE!

AND PERCT THE VAINE,AND LET OUT THE BLOODE,

THAT FULL RED WAS TO SEE.

AT FIRST IT BLED,THE THICKE,THICKE BLOODE,

AND AFTERWARDS THE THINNE,

AND WELL THEN WIST GOOD ROBIN HOODE,

TREASON THERE WAS WITHIN.

Death of Robin Hood v 16-17

BARBARA GREEN

2)RIDDLE OF THE PRIORESS

Have they,one wonders, solved the riddle of the prioress ? Have they been shown hitherto unseen documents , undiscovered by previous researchers ? The only prioress’s grave still in evidence at Kirklees is that of Elizabeth de Stainton (or Staynton) but there is no date on her tombstone. The Reverend Harold Pobjoy, the Hartshead vicar and historian who wrote A HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT PARISH OF HARTSHEAD CUM CLIFTON in the nineteen thirties,gives a list taken from Dugdale’s Monasticum. He also quotes from Hopkirk’s HUDDERSFIELD IT’S HISTORY AND NATURAL HISTORY 1846, which has a similar list, but unfortunately Hopkirk does not name his sources. The two lists can be slotted together without causing any discrepancy,although there are gaps. The problem of the prioress’s identity is further compounded by the fact that no one knows for certain the date of Robin’s death, but research suggests that it may have been 1347. The reasons for this are discussed in Barbara Green’s THE OUTLAW ROBIN HOOD HIS YORKSHIRE LEGEND. If the date of Robin’s death is 1347 then Dame Mary Startin was the prioress in office at the time, not Elizabeth de Stainton. According to Eileen Power in her book MEDIEVAL ENGLISH NUNNERIES (Cambridge University Press) Dame Mary died of the Black Death in 1350,although in some ballads the prioress is said to have committed suicide after murdering Robin).

Elizabeth de Stainton,on the other hand ,could not have been prioress in 1347.She was one of four daughters of John de Stainton of Woolley,near Wakefield. Following her father’s death, Elizabeth’s mother married Hugh de Toothill and Elizabeth and her sister were sent to be nuns at Kirklees for reasons of family economy. William de Notton,her uncle and their guardian,took provision to ensure than the girls had not been forced into the religious life, and a document was signed at Monk Bretton Priory in 1347 protecting the interests of Elizabeth and her sister (from a deed at Woolley Hall,in the possession of Lieut Commander Wentworth). Graham Collins and Martin Keatman in their book ROBIN HOOD THE MAN BEHIND THE MYTH (1995) have a theory about Elizabeth which connects her with Robert and Matilda Hood of Wakefield. They suggest that when Elizabeth’s mother married Hugh de Toothill, his daughter by his first wife, called Matilda,married Robin. There is mention of a woman called Matilda in the Wakefield Court Rolls of 1314,being arrested for stealing the lord’s firewood.