Guy of Gisbourne

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"Robin Shoots with Sir Guy" by Louis Rhead. Illustration to Bold Robin Hood and His Outlaw Band: Their Famous Exploits in Sherwood Forest

Sir Guy of Gisbourne (also spelled Gisburne, Gysborne or Gisborn) is a villain in the Robin Hood legends. In The Ballad of Robin Hood and Guy of Gisborne (Child Ballad 118) in which Robin kills him and cuts off his head, he is described so:

There were they ware of a wight yemàn, [wight = sturdy]

His body lean’d to a tree.

A sword and a dagger he wore by his side,

Of manye a man the bane;

And he was clad in his capull-hyde [capull-hyde = horse-hide]

Topp and tayll and mayne

[...]

‘I dwell by dale and downe,’ quoth hee,

‘And Robin to take I’me sworne;

And when I am callèd by my right name

I am Guy of good Gisborne.’

There is some evidence that he originally had an independent legendary tradition which became absorbed in the Robin Hood tradition.

Although he has made many appearances in variants of the Robin Hood legends, his only constant is appearing as a villain. In Howard Pyle's Merry Adventures of Robin Hood, he is a rude, coarse outlaw, known for his cruelty and murders; in The Adventures of Robin Hood, he is a suave nobleman, Prince John's chief supporter, and indeed, Prince John proposes him to Maid Marian, a royal ward in this variant, as a husband. In this version he is a much more prominent adversary than the Sheriff of Nottingham, who is a bumbling fool.

The role of Guy of Gisburne has been played by such actors as Basil Rathbone (The Adventures of Robin Hood, 1938), Tom Baker (The Zany Adventures of Robin Hood, 1984), Robert Addie (in the British television series Robin of Sherwood, 1984-6) and Michael Wincott (in the movie Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves). In the British television series Maid Marian and her Merry Men he was portrayed as an overgrown spoilt child by Ramsay Gilderdale. In the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Q-Pid" he was portrayed by Clive Revill. In the 2006 production of Robin Hood he is played by Richard Armitage. He does not appear in the 1973 version of Robin Hood for some reason, although the snake Sir Hiss is similar. In the 1991 TV movie, Juergen Prochnow plays "Sir Miles Folcanet," a character with much in common with modern versions of Guy of Gisbourne.