Fulk FitzWarin

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Fulk FitzWarin (also called Fulke or Fouke FitzWaryn or FitzWarren) was a medieval landed gentleman turned outlaw, from Whittington Castle in the English county of Shropshire. The traditional story of his life survives in a French prose "ancestral romance", extant in a miscellaneous manuscript containing English, French and Latin texts, which is based on a lost verse romance. A 16th century summary of a Middle English version has also been preserved.

According to the tale, as a young boy, Fulk was sent to the court of King Henry II, where he grew up with the future King John. John became his enemy after a childhood quarrel. As an adult, Fulk was stripped of his family's holdings, and took to the woods as an outlaw. The story may combine aspects of the lives of two Fulk FitzWarins, father and son, who lived in the late 12th and early 13th centuries. The tale of Fulk FitzWarin has been noted for its parallels to the Robin Hood legend. (See the Introduction to Fouke le Fitz Waryn, edited by Stephen Knight and Thomas H. Ohlgren, originally published in Robin Hood and Other Outlaw Tales, Kalamazoo, Michigan: Medieval Institute Publications, 1997.) It is also similar to that of other medieval outlaws such as Eustace the Monk and Hereward the Wake.

A modern fictional re-telling of Fitzwarin's story can be found in Elizabeth Chadwick's Lords of the White Castle. The book Shadows and Strongholds tells of the loss of the familial holding of Whittington to the Welsh family of Powys and of the relationship between Brunin Fitzwarin (later, Fulke Le Brun, father of Fulke Fitzwarin) and Hawise de Dinan (later Hawise Fitzwarin, mother to Fulke Fitzwarin). Fulk Fitzwarin II is included in the stained glass window at St Laurences Church Ludlow.

[edit] References

Fouke le Fitz Waryn, edited by Stephen Knight and Thomas H. Ohlgren, originally published in Robin Hood and Other Outlaw Tales, Kalamazoo, Michigan: Medieval Institute Publications, 1997.
DeGidio, Wanda Ware. Ware Family History Descendants from Ancient, Medieval, and Modern Kings and Queens, and Presidents of the United States. [Philadelphia, Pa.]: Xlibris Corp, 2003. googlebooks Accessed December 8, 2007.