First, I will have you hurt no woman, nor any company in which a woman is found. I remember the sweet Virgin, and will ever pray for her favour and protection, and I will, therefore, that you shield all women. Look to it, also, that ye do not any harm to any honest peasant who tilleth his soil in peace, nor to any good yeoman wherever you meet them. Knights, also, and squires who are not proud, but who are good fellows, you shall treat with all kindness. But I tell thee this and bear it well in mind – abbots and bishops, priors and canons, and monks – ye may do all your will upon them. When ye rob them of their gold or their rich stuffs, ye are only taking only that which they have squeezed and reived from the poor. Therefore, take your fill of their wealth and spare not your staves on their backs. They speak the teaching of the blessed Jesus with their mouths. But their fat bodies and their black hearts deny Him every hour.
Henry Gilbert, “Robin Hood”, 1912
