Adam Bell: Who Came First? By David Stein

Adam Bell: Who Came First? David Stein

We cannot have a conversation about “Robin Hood” without including a glance at Adam Bell.

I will preface this by saying that my father’s people going back were Bells and the family tree leads back to the real life Bell family of Inglewood Forest in the Carlyle area of northern England, very near the Scottish border, so Bell is a Nth-great cousin of mine. Bell was an actual person, but had a series of unsubstantiated myths spring up around him. These myths bear rather surprising similarities to the Tales of Robin Hood and His Merry Men. Robin Hood is first mentioned in literature in the mid-1300s and suggests his birth sometime in the late 1100s. Bell’s biographical data can be traced back to the late 1100s and the first mention suggesting he was an outlaw appear in the late 1300s. It should also be said that more “modern” version of both the stories of “Robin Hood” and of “Adam Bell” appear in a collection called the Child Ballads, a collection of over 300 translated tales and ballads and snatched of songs from English and Scottish history, edit by Francis James Child and first published in the mid1800s. Further expanded additions have been published over the years, the latest in the late 1960s The tales of Bell vary depending on who’s telling them and their relationship with the English Monarchy, also much like Robin Hood. The tales go that Bell turned to the life of the outlaw while fleeing conscription for failure to pay his taxes. His outlaw exploits were much less heroic than those of Robin Hood, being a very equal opportunity bandit. Those who saw Bell and his men as “Sticking it to the Man” claimed him as their own…bold, proud Englishmen. Those who saw him as horrid villain said he was actually Scottish who had tried to better himself living in England. The story of Bell and his gang are linked to the real life criminal activities of the Folville and Coterel gangs Robin was surrounded by his Merry Men, whose names became legend beside his…Little John, Much the Miller’s Son, Will Scarlett. Bell had his “Archers of the Englewood” and is always mentioned in connection with William of Cloudsley and Clym of the Clough. William of Cloudsley was historically named as one of the finest archer in all of English history. His first mention of note was when he famously shot an arrow into an apple resting on the head of his son, which was later was attributed to “William Tell,” who may just have been a mutation of the original Cloudsley tale. Cloudsley, famously, was married to a well-liked woman of the area name Alice and had two children with her. As part of the ballads, she was detained by the local authorities in an attempt to lure the outlaws out of hiding, but thanks to a devious plan devised by Clym, who always seems to be the “brains” of these tales, they were able to rescue Alice and the children and ran laughing back into the woods.

The literary history of Bell

Perhaps the first publication that connects Bell and Robin Hood was by William Dunbar in his poem “Of Sir Thomas Norray” (c.1500). Dunbar identifies Bell as “Allan” rather than “Adam” but scholars agree Adam is correct. Dunbar is a proponent of the idea that Bell was actually a Scotsman. The most complete early collection of the Bell tales was in 1505, printed by Wynkyn de Worde, the famous Dutch printer. A series of fragments about Bell’s adventures from 1500-1530 are mentioned in papers by J. Payne Collier. A fairly complete collection of Bell tales by Iohan (John) Bydell was published on 2 June 1536.

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Most likely inspired by the William Copeland writing, a piece gleaned from Copeland and Norray is included in “Robin Hood’s Birth, Breeding, Valour, and Marriage” in 1586. The 1432 census rolls for Wiltshire, England, given a wink of satire, lists Robin Hood, John Little, Much, Scathelock (Will Scarlet) and also lists Adam Bell, Clym O’Clough, and Willyam Cloudesley, going to show that characters from both tale were well known at the time and were joked about with. In 1600, Shakespeare is thought to be referring to Bell in Much Ado About Nothing: “…and he shoots me, and he hits me, let him be clapp’d on the shoulder and call’d Adam.” The biggest question is: who inspired whom? The simple answer is “No one knows for sure.” The parallels between the two tales are undeniable. Were the Robin Hood tales a daring-do retelling of the real life adventures of Bell? Or were the tales of Bell “enhanced” by attributing Robin Hood exploits to him and his followers? We don’t know. Scholars are going so far as to compare the writings in the original stories to try and determine which tales are older. All we can say is that we all benefit from such amazing stories regardless of their origins…or truth.