Introduction

This introduction to “The Ludic Outlaw: Medievalism, Games, Sport, and Play,” a special issue of The Bulletin of the Association for Robin Hood Studies, traces the origins and history of Robin Hood’s association with games and gaming. As a regular fixture at May games and Whitsun ales, the medieval Robin Hood figure facilitated competitive play and encouraged festivalgoers to donate money to communal causes. At times, Robin Hood merged with the May King figure, a lord of (mis)rule who could supervise both carnivalesque celebration and military exercises. In his modern iterations, the ludic Robin Hood more frequently appears as a champion specifically of the vulnerable. This is so common that when he does not the resulting dissonance with common connotations surrounding Robin Hood only serves to underscore the ludic outlaw’s subversive ethos in the cultural memory of audiences.