David of Doncaster is a member of Robin Hood’s Merry Men in English folklore. Doncaster is a town near Barnsdale, where early ballads placed Robin Hood. He appears in one ballad, Robin Hood and the Golden Arrow. The sheriff is giving an archery contest, and David, “a brave young man”, warns Robin against going, because it is a trap. He reappears in later adaptations. In Howard Pyle’s The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood, he appears as one of the youngest in the band, and a wrestler. In A Gest of Robyn Hode, Sir Richard at the Lee saves an anonymous yeoman wrestler, who had won in a bout but was nearly murdered because he was a stranger, and apologized for the delay, with Robin saying that helping any yeomen pleases him. In Pyle’s account, the wrestler is David of Doncaster, and Robin is deeply grateful. He also appears in various other adventures as a minor character.
Appearance List Ballads: A Gest of Robyn Hode, Robin Hood and the Monk, Robin Hood and the Curtal Friar, Robin Hood and Allin a Dalem, Robin Hood and Queen Catherin, Robin Hood and the Golden Arrow, Robin Hood and the Tanner of Blyth. Literature: The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle (1883, PG), Robin Hood by Paul Creswick (PG), Robin Hood by Anonymous (PG), Bold Robin Hood-And His Outlaw Band by Louis Rhead (1912, Internet Archive), Robin Hood and the Men of the Greenwood (1920) [Internet Archive], Robin Hood: His Deeds and Adventures as Recounted in the Old English Ballads (1923) [Internet Archive].
Sample Read The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood [PG]
Description David of Doncaster is a member of Robin Hood’s Merry Men in English folklore. Doncaster is a town near Barnsdale, where early ballads placed Robin Hood. He appears in one ballad, Robin Hood and the Golden Arrow. The sheriff is giving an archery contest, and David, “a brave young man”, warns Robin against going, because it is a trap. He reappears in later adaptations. In Howard Pyle’s The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood, he appears as one of the youngest in the band, and a wrestler. In A Gest of Robyn Hode, Sir Richard at the Lee saves an anonymous yeoman wrestler, who had won in a bout but was nearly murdered because he was a stranger, and apologized for the delay, with Robin saying that helping any yeomen pleases him. In Pyle’s account, the wrestler is David of Doncaster, and Robin is deeply grateful. He also appears in various other adventures as a minor character.
