Richard is first introduced by name in
fytte five of
A Gest of Robyn Hode, and is presently revealed to be the unnamed knight mentioned in fytte one, who is connected with Wryesdale in fytte two. Richard came from a long line of
knights and was a courteous man indeed. He had inherited a great
castle at the wooded village of Lee in
Verysdale in which he resided; a castle with thick fortified walls, surrounded by two ditches and with a
drawbridge at the entrance.
JC Holt considered the Manor of Wryesdale (comprising the villages of
Over Wyresdale and
Nether Wyresdale) as the likeliest candidate for Verysdale; if that is so, the likeliest candidate for "the Lee" in Holt's opinion is the hamlet of Lee in Wrysedale, at the spot where the road from Lancaster through the
Trough of Bowland crosses the
River Wyre. A family named Legh or de la Legh from Lancashire were involved in the management of
Bowland Forest, although none are recorded as being named Richard. A Gilbert de la Legh was stock manager of the park of
Ightenhill, and was kidnapped and held for a
ransom of £20 at
Holbeck, near
Leeds; the
stud farm was raided and stock worth £200 was driven away under the leadership of Nicholas Mauleverer,
Constable of
Skipton Castle. Other significant disorders occurred in
Sherwood Forest to the south, and could have been "woven in" to the developing Robin Hood tales by mixing in Lancashire-Yorkshire folk memories of disruptions of the
king's peace, according to Holt. Holt considers that the career of
Roger Godberd could have supplied many of the detail's of Robin's exploits in Sherwood, while the actions of Goodberd's protector Richard Foliot, a knight and former sheriff of Nottingham could have supplied some of the material, and the
Christian name for Sir Richard at the Lee. When Foliot was accused of sheltering Goodberd and other accused felons, he had to surrender both his castle and his son to the sheriff of
Yorkshire, who also seized Foliot's lands. Foliot's holdings comprised
Fenwick, South Yorkshire,
Walden Stubbs and
Norton, Doncaster, which is six miles from
Wentbridge. Holt points out that
Guy of Gisborne, a character in another early Robin Hood ballad (Robin Hood and Guy of Gisborne, Child Ballad 118) takes his name from a village, (
Gisburn), ten miles from Wryesdale east of the Bowland forest, in his opinion further bolstering the case for Lancashire and Yorkshire, especially the
West Riding of Yorkshire supplying many of the personages and places mentioned in the
A Gest of Robyn Hode. In the first fytte, Robin and his men encounter an impoverished knight later to be revealed as Sir Richard. The knight claims that he has been in impoverished state for nearly two years. The knight relates that he lives in this castle with a small group of loyal servants, his lady fair, and a son whom he loves dearly. This son, aged twenty at the time, killed a knight and
squire of
Lancaster in a fair
joust. In order to save his son, the knight was forced to
mortgage all his goods and landholdings to raise the sum of four hundred
pounds from the abbot of Saint Mary's Abbey. Robin asks the knight what will happen to him if he cannot recover his land; the knight replies that he will become a sailor, and visit the
Holy Land as a
pilgrim. When asked why his friends do not help him, the knight replies that they have abandoned him. Robin and his men are moved by the knight's tale, and they offer him wine, the needed sum,
tack and full
livery befitting his station. Meanwhile, in
Barnsdale Forest, Robin Hood commanded some of his merry men to prepare a feast fit for a king, and to the others he commanded them to bring him a wealthy knight or nobleman to join him in his meal. The merry men were commanded by Robin to "walk up to the Saylis" and lie in wait there. (In 1852, this was identified by Joseph Hunter as a plantation that is today on the eastern side of the A1 fly-over, adjoining the village of Wentbridge. Now known as Sayles, it was once a small tenancy in the parish of Kirk Smeaton. Evidence on the ground shows that the author of the ballad knew this place well and realised that it was the perfect look-out point.) After finding nobody there, Little John, Will Scarlet and Much the miller's son lay in wait for the knight next to "Watlinge Strete". (This is actually a misnomer: the road in question was not the Romans'
Watling Street (which ran from Kent to north Wales), but their
Ermine Street, which stretched from Kent to York. It later became the Great North Road, and today is the A1. There passed a poor-looking knight with a sad expression, and they brought him to Robin Hood's camp. He was treated with utmost respect and enjoyed a fine banquet of deer, fowls, swans, pheasants, bread, and fine wine. After the meal Robin Hood asked the knight to pay for his meal. However, the knight told Robin that he was poor and had no more than ten
shillings in his trunk. Robin Hood tested the knight's honesty. If there were no more than ten shillings in the trunk, as the knight said, then Robin would not touch a penny and indeed would assist the knight financially. However, if the knight had lied then Robin would take everything the knight had. The merry men opened up the trunk and indeed found it nearly empty with only ten shillings (half a pound) inside. So, after finding the knight true, Robin listened to his entire story. This knight was Sir Richard of Verysdale; Robin felt sorry for him and, Richard having also seen nobility and honesty in Robin, the two men formed a close bond of friendship. As Sir Richard was travelling to York to see the abbot of Saint Mary's that very day, Robin lent Richard the four hundred pounds needed to pay back the abbot and told Richard that there was no obligation to pay it back in a hurry. And so Richard repaid his loan to the abbot, and kept his lands, courtesy of Robin Hood. A variation of the tale is that Robin took the money back from the Sheriff of Nottingham and gave it to Richard at the Lee. ==Later adaptations==