In Medieval times, the church and the poor were two of the biggest aspects of life. Daily, the church would collect offerings from the poor. The poor would scavenge for food and whatever they could find. To make things worse for the poor, the church attempted to take whatever they had found. This whole concept of the wealthy church and the penniless poor plays a huge role in the story of Robin Hood. In fact, it is the centerpiece of what Robin is fighting for. There are a substantial amount of ways that that this idea plays into the movie and of medieval life in general.

The Catholic Church was dead set on two things. One of those things was to convert everyone to worship Jesus Christ. The second thing was earning money in any way possible. They did this by collecting tithes from everyone in the land including the people that did not have anything to give. These Catholic Churches kept their wealth stable because they were never taxed. The church owned ⅓ of all the lands in Europe, which made it easier to achieve their goal. In addition to this, the Church influenced kings in a way that was never seen before. Whenever the king at that time needed help with a certain situation, he would go right to the priests to ask their opinion. This shows up a great deal in the movie Robin Hood, because Robin of Locksley realizes that is time to stand up for the poor, and take what should be theirs back.

In the movie, Robin Hood, a new ruler assumes power after King Richard leaves to go fight in the crusades. The Sheriff of Nottingham takes control with the help and power of the Catholic Church. He despises the poor and thinks nothing of them. When Robin Hood escapes from a dungeon, he returns to find his father killed by the Sheriff. In an effort to beat the odds, Robin Hood is able to steal several of the church and king’s valuable by working side by side with the poor. Robin Hood believes that the Sheriff of Nottingham and the church are thieves and should be punished.

Later, the Sheriff of Nottingham requests to marry Marian which is Robin Hood’s love interest. This relates to the church because he needs the power of the priest to marry the two, so they can have a child. In the medieval ages kings were not permitted to have a child outside of wedlock, this custom ends up playing an enormous role in the plot. As Robin Hood continues to defeat convoys and steal the church’s wealth, the Sheriff strikes back hiring Celts to break the serenity. Ten of Robin Hood’s poor people are captured and sent to be hung. With the help of his friends Little John and Azeem, he is able to stop the hangings and save his people. However, the battle is not finished yet. The Harold Innocent is in the Sheriff’s tower trying to marry him to Marian. As Robin Hood does time and time again he breaks up the church’s power and the Sheriff of Nottingham’s plans. The Harold Innocent soon flees seeing that this situation is going bad. Little John finds the priest stuffing his pockets with gold coins. Once again, the idea of the church’s greed returns to the forefront. Little John loads him up with coins and pushes him out of the window. With the Harold Innocent dead, and the him no longer being able to marry the two, the Sheriff of Nottingham fights Robin Hood. In the end Robin Hood kills the Sheriff and King Richard returns. The corrupt combination of the church and the Sheriff are beaten and Robin Hood achieves his goal of returning the wealth back to the poor.

The church plays huge roles in the story of Robin Hood. The wickedness and greed is what they were all about. Robin Hood was on a mission to stop this and avenge his father. The concept that the Church had to marry two people before they had a child also was important in the plot. In the end Robin Hood sacrificed himself and taught the poor how to rebel against the wealthy church and take back what is rightfully theirs.