Sheriff of Nottingham

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For the official position, see Sheriff of Nottingham (position).
The Sheriff of Nottingham
Sheriff of Nottingham, as depicted by Disney.

The Sheriff of Nottingham is the main villain in the legend of Robin Hood. The historical sheriff upon which the stories are based may have been William de Wendenal, Roger de Laci, or William Brewer.[citation needed]


The holder of the office of Nottingham's Sheriff, it is his task to capture outlaws such as Robin Hood, either to ensure the safety of trade routes through Sherwood Forest, or to keep them from poaching the King's deer. In some stories, the Sheriff of Nottingham is portrayed as having a lecherous desire for Robin Hood's lady, Maid Marian. He is widely considered to be the principal villain of the Robin Hood stories, appearing frequently alongside such enemies of Robin Hood as Sir Guy of Gisbourne or Prince John (though rarely both).


In some versions, the Sheriff is more a cowardly schemer while his assistant, Sir Guy of Gisbourne, is a more competent and determined physical threat to Robin. In other versions, the Sheriff answers to Prince John.


  • In Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, in which he is the main antagonist (Prince John is completely omitted from this adaptation), he is played by Alan Rickman. His given name is said to be George. More ambitious than most depictions, the Sheriff's agenda is apparently to supplant Richard the Lionheart by marrying into royalty, eventually becoming king, or at least ensuring his future descendants would assume the throne.
  • In the Disney version of Robin Hood, the Sheriff is a large anthropomorphic grey wolf with a thick Southern United States dialect, voiced by Alabama-born comedian Pat Buttram. He serves as Prince John's chief enforcer, collecting unlimited taxes from the people of Nottingham and hunting Robin Hood and Little John. This version is depicted as being far less smart than he realises, claiming he can see through Robin Hood's disguises when he fails to see through two of them. In the film's climax, he briefly battles Robin inside Prince John's burning tower and is left trapped behind some curtains, but the film's final scene makes it clear that he survived. He is last seen breaking rocks down in the Royal Rock Pile, having been sentenced to do so along with Prince John and Sir Hiss by King Richard. During story development, the animators considered experimenting with a different animal concept for the villain by making him a goat. However, they were over-ruled by the director who wanted to keep to traditional animal stereotypes and ordered the Sheriff be a wolf.[1]
  • The Richard Kluger novel The Sheriff of Nottingham gives a positive portrayal of the real-life 13th century sheriff Philip Mark as a good man doing a thankless task. (The same sheriff appeared as a ruthless despot in an episode of the Robin of Sherwood TV series.)
  • The Sheriff is more sympathetically portrayed by Robert Shaw in the 1976 film Robin and Marian. He is also shown is this film to not only equal Robin physically, but also be superior to him, as he dominates Robin in a one-on-one sword-fight towards the end of the movie, almost killing Robin.


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