Stitching things together

On 10 December 1276 Sir John Deyville paid 578 marks (roughly £400) to 'Peter Byset or to the abbot of St Mary's York', thus gaining the right to re-occupy his Yorkshire manor of Thornton-on-the-Hill on 20 September. This appears to have been the final redemption fine he owed to the queen, Eleanor of Provence, as the price for his rebellion in the previous decade.

This redemption fine is a quite striking parallel to an episode in the Geste of Robyn Hode, in which the outlaw entertains an impoverished military knight. Robyn takes pity on the knights and lends him the £400 he needs to redeem pledged lands from the abbot of St Mary's, York. Such a contract was unlikely after 1279, after which restrictions on lending were imposed on religious houses by the Statute of Mortmain.

In later versions of the legend the 'poor knyghte' acquires a name, Sir Richard Atte Lee or Sir Richard of the Lea. This was because two separate manuscripts, recording the deeds of Robin Hood, were literally stitched together to form a single narrative.