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Greatest 12 Characters Between 1400-1599

Who is on this list, what this list is about and how they got on the list!

Who is Robin Hood?
Who is Robin Hood?

Synopsis

This is one of a set of lists I made showing a progression of the greatest characters in a heroic style throughout time. Focusing for the most part on one decade at a time. The heroes that we know and love today were inspired by heroes before them. Some are even real people who moved into folklore. Before comics there were pulp magazines. Before that there was dime novels and before that was the penny dreadfuls. There were many others as well like Gothic novels, story papers and yes even a real novel.  

The List 

 This is a list of the greatest characters who first appeared in print between 1400-1599.  These would be characters who will go on to be the biggest influences in comics either directly or indirectly.  In other words these will become great inspirations to future comic characters and stories. Right now they are in order of year.  

 I am everywhere!
 I am everywhere!

New Stuff

Well here we are with another list.  This time instead of making it a decade long list.  I made it a two century long list.  You may have noticed that I have more than 12 that is because I may break this up into two lists at a later date if I get enough diverse characters of note.  If you have any suggestions let me know.

Here is the past list 

Greatest 12 Characters Between 1200-1399 

Here is the next list   

Greatest 12 Characters Between 1600-1799

List items

  • Robin Hood may have been a real person but his stories came to us from ballads of his adventures. The fist solid date of a Robin Hood story was written in 1475 and was called A Gest of Robyn Hode.

  • Little John was Robin Hoods equal in the early appearances of him. He even bests Robin Hood in a fight at their first encounter. Just like Robin he first appeared in 1475 in A Gest of Robyn Hode.

  • Little John was Robin Hood's right hand man. Will Scarlet was the left hand. Just like Robin and Little John he first appeared in 1475 in A Gest of Robyn Hode.

  • Fiar Tuck would not even have existed in Robin Hood's time as there were no Friars. That said he is part of the original mythos being written about in the same year. He did not appear in A Gest of Robyn Hode but he briefly appeared in Robin Hood and the Sheriff of Nottingham in 1475.

  • The Sheriff of Nottingham has had many names but it is his position and enemy that make him important as the main villain to Robin Hood. He is first seen in A Gest of Robyn Hode in 1475.

  • Sir Gaheris is one of King Artur's Knights of the Round Table. He was squire to his brother Gawain before he was knighted. He is first seen in Le Morte Darthur in 1485.

  • Sir Gareth just like his brother Gatheris was one of King Arthur's Knights of the Round Table. He is first seen in Le Morte Darthur in 1485.

  • Believe it or not the great Shakespeare did not create Romeo and Juliet. They first appear in a poem called The Tragicall History of Romeus and Juliet in 1562 by Arthur Brooke. He is reported to have translated it from an Italian novella by Matteo Bandello. Amazing.

  • Believe it or not the great Shakespeare did not create Romeo and Juliet. They first appear in a poem called The Tragicall History of Romeus and Juliet in 1562 by Arthur Brooke. He is reported to have translated it from an Italian novella by Matteo Bandello. Amazing.

  • Maid Marian's history is very complicated. Her character may have even been merged or taken from an entirely different story. She wasn't even the original love interest of Robin. She became part of the lore in the late sixteenth century.

  • Faust is the first literary character to actually sell his own soul to the devil for worldly gains. Originally a character in German folklore he was first written about in Historia von Johann Fausten in 1587.

  • Da Vinci has been in all kind of fictional literature the earliest accounts are in the sixteenth century. However no specific date is known. He still fits well in this list being in everything from Star Trek to an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.

  • The Black Knight from Arthian Legend is wrapped in mystery. He is reavealed to be King Arthur's Grandson in some adventures He is first seen in The Faerie Queene. The first half of the book was printed in 1590 the second half was printed in 1596

  • Gloriana was the Queen of the fairies who falls in love with King Artur's illegitimate son, Tom a Lincoln. Her first appearance in Arthurian Legend is in the Romance Novel Tom a Lincoln. It was published in two parts the first was in 1599 and the second in 1607.

  • Hamlet depressed over his father's death finds himself on a path of destruction. Hamlet first appeared in the play The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, by none other than the great William Shakespeare. The book was belived to have been written between 1599 and 1601
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