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Robert Earl of Huntington
The Death of Robert Earl of Huntington
The Downfall of Robert Earl of Huntington
and
The Death of Robert Earl of Huntington
are two closely related Elizabethan-era stage plays on the Robin Hood legend, that were written by Anthony Munday (possibly with help from Henry Chettle) in 1598 and published in 1601. They are among the relatively few surviving examples of the popular drama acted by the Admiral's Men during the Shakespearean era.
112 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1598
About the author
Anthony Munday
74 books8 followersAnthony Munday (or Monday) (baptized 13 October 156 – 10 August 1633) was an English playwright and miscellaneous writer. The chief interest in Munday for the modern reader lies in his work as one of the chief predecessors of Shakespeare in English dramatic composition, as well as his writings on Robin Hood.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
May 12, 2019
Davenport’s reboot is so much more exciting and fast paced lol
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 17, 2026
Just finished doing a live, online performance of this for Shakescene Shakespeare, and it is a riproarer, and works surprisingly well, even if scholars say it is a "foul-papers" (ie drafts) version, with bits missing.
Well, it was about three hours, and had some Wagnerian death scenes, but some surprisingly moving moments. The scene where the old Earl of Oxford is trying to persuade the Queen that her husband cheating on her isn't as bad as she thinks is lovely, where he is presenting himself as a sexual "Etna" in his youth, and the longer he tells the story, the more it becomes clear that he was nothing of the sort, just trapped in an unhappy marriage, is beautiful; the scenes where old Fitzwater is saying goodbye to Matilda is really moving; Matilda's death scene is powerful.
I mean, it isn't Shakespeare, but it's watchable and gripping (though probably could do with some cuts) (but then, so could Shakespeare).
***
Lots of people say this isn't as good as the first Robert Earl of Huntingdon play by Munday, and, to be fair, Robin Hood is dead by the end of Act One. The read of the play is to do with the sexually obsessed King John pursuing Maid Marion-Matilda, Robert's widow.
And if you're looking for something with the subtlety of Shakespeare, or Marlowe, Fletcher, Jonson, Middleton, or frankly a lot of Elizabethan and Jacobean dramatists, this ain't the play. Munday doesn't really do subtlety: people are good-saintly, or they're bad, or they start bad but they get reformed by the saintly behaviour of the good, or they want to do the right thing but are a bit dim. Chastity is the highest virtue, lust the lowest sin.
And poetry? wrong play. It's in iambic pentameter (mostly), and some of it rhymes. That's about it.
But the second half is really good fun. The (utterly irrelevant) scene where the Earl of Oxford relives his adulterous days to the young queen is actually very funny (if outrageously sexist); the behaviour of the abbess trying to persuade Matilda to have sex with the King to benefit the nunnery is creepily funny as well (if a bit pre-MeToo).
King John, though: what a wazzock.
Well, it was about three hours, and had some Wagnerian death scenes, but some surprisingly moving moments. The scene where the old Earl of Oxford is trying to persuade the Queen that her husband cheating on her isn't as bad as she thinks is lovely, where he is presenting himself as a sexual "Etna" in his youth, and the longer he tells the story, the more it becomes clear that he was nothing of the sort, just trapped in an unhappy marriage, is beautiful; the scenes where old Fitzwater is saying goodbye to Matilda is really moving; Matilda's death scene is powerful.
I mean, it isn't Shakespeare, but it's watchable and gripping (though probably could do with some cuts) (but then, so could Shakespeare).
***
Lots of people say this isn't as good as the first Robert Earl of Huntingdon play by Munday, and, to be fair, Robin Hood is dead by the end of Act One. The read of the play is to do with the sexually obsessed King John pursuing Maid Marion-Matilda, Robert's widow.
And if you're looking for something with the subtlety of Shakespeare, or Marlowe, Fletcher, Jonson, Middleton, or frankly a lot of Elizabethan and Jacobean dramatists, this ain't the play. Munday doesn't really do subtlety: people are good-saintly, or they're bad, or they start bad but they get reformed by the saintly behaviour of the good, or they want to do the right thing but are a bit dim. Chastity is the highest virtue, lust the lowest sin.
And poetry? wrong play. It's in iambic pentameter (mostly), and some of it rhymes. That's about it.
But the second half is really good fun. The (utterly irrelevant) scene where the Earl of Oxford relives his adulterous days to the young queen is actually very funny (if outrageously sexist); the behaviour of the abbess trying to persuade Matilda to have sex with the King to benefit the nunnery is creepily funny as well (if a bit pre-MeToo).
King John, though: what a wazzock.
September 10, 2023
OMG it goes on and on. Robin Hood, and virtually all the characters we care about are dead by the end of the first act, and the rest is a tedious tale of Bad King John attempting to seduce a virtuous woman. Tedious, and I was really losing the will to live!
November 8, 2021
Munday's other Robin Hood play rewards study. The title is a bit deceptive. This one belongs to the "good woman abused" genre.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews