ABSTRACT
Line for line, the mutilated single folio manuscript of an early Robin Hood play carries more weight in the interpretation of medieval English theatre history than possibly any other text of its time. The inclusion of the sheriff in both the Paston play title and the Robin Hood manuscript, at a time when his presence in fund raising activities is otherwise, literally, unheard of, makes stronger the case for linking the two, and for challenging the assumption that the play is archetypal of the genre. The most contrived proposes a complete text by redistributing the conventional attribution of final speeches to enable Robin to lock the Sheriff inside his own prison. The play text ends with the imprisonment of the outlaws, in contrast to the ballad that concludes with the death of the Sheriff from an arrow shot by Little John who had been released by Robin Hood disguised as Sir Guy.
