'''Friar Tuck''' is a companion to Robin Hood in the legends about that character. He is a common character in modern Robin Hood stories, which depict him as a jovial friar and one of Robin's Merry Men. The figure of Tuck was common in the May Games festivals of England and Scotland during the 15th through 17th centuries. He appears as a character in the fragment of a Robin Hood play from 1475, sometimes called Robin Hood and the Knight or Robin Hood and the Sheriff, and a play for the May games published in 1560 which tells a story similar to Robin Hood and the Curtal Friar (the oldest surviving copy of this ballad is from the 17th century). His appearance in Robin Hood and the Sheriff means that he was already part of the legend around the time when the earliest surviving copies of the Robin Hood ballads were being made.

A friar with Robin's band in the historical period of King Richard, The Lionheart would not have been impossible, because the period predates friars in England; however, the association of Robin Hood with Richard I was not made until the 16th century; the early ballad A Gest of Robin Hood names his king as "Edward".

What follows is a story which includes different versions of the legend. He was a former monk of Fountains Abbey (or in some cases, St Mary's Abbey in York, which is also the scene of some other Robin Hood tales) who was expelled by his order because of his lack of respect for authority. Because of this, and in spite of his taste for good food and wine, he becomes the chaplain of Robin's band. In Howard Pyle's The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood, he is specifically sought out as part of the tale of Alan-a-Dale: Robin has need of a priest who will marry Allan to his sweetheart in defiance of the Bishop of Hereford.

In many tales, his first encounter with Robin results in a battle of wits in which first one and then the other gains the upper hand and forces the other to carry him across a river. This ends in the Friar tossing Robin into the river.

In some tales, he is depicted as a physically fit man and a skilled swordsman and archer with a hot-headed temper. However, most commonly, Tuck is depicted as a fat, bald and jovial monk with a great love of ale, though the two are not mutually exclusive. Sometimes, the latter depiction of Tuck is the comic relief of the tale.

Two royal writs in 1417 refer to Robert Stafford, a Sussex chaplain who had assumed the alias of Frere Tuk. This "Friar Tuck" was still at large in 1429. These are the earliest surviving references to a character by that name.

Stage:
*Robin Hood and the Knight
*Robin Hood and the Sheriff
*Robin Hood and the Curtal Friar

Ballads:
*Robin Hood and the Curtal Friar (unnamed but, is believed to be him)
*A Gest of Robin Hood

Book:
*The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle

Film:
*Robin Hood (1912)
*Robin Hood Outlawed (1912)
*Ivanhoe (1913)
*Robin Hood (1913)
*In the Days of Robin Hood (1913)
*Robin Hood (1922)

*[http://www.comicvine.com/friar-tuck/4005-6079/ ComicVine]
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friar_Tuck Wikipedia]
*[http://robinhood.wikia.com/wiki/Friar_tuck Robin Hood Wiki]
*[http://disney.wikia.com/wiki/Friar_Tuck Disney Wiki]
*[http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0003916/?ref_=fn_al_ch_1 IMDB]
*[http://fables.wikia.com/wiki/Friar_Tuck Fables Wikia]
Category:British Characters
Category:Folklore Characters
Category:Non-Powered Characters
Category:Protagonists
Category:Unknown Creator
Category:Unknown Debuts
Category:Literary Characters
Category:Comic Book Characters
Category:Animated Characters
Category:Movie Characters
Category:Film Serial Characters
Category:Television Characters
Category:Video Game Characters
Category:Theme Park Characters
Category:Male Characters
Category:Elderly Characters
Category:Disney Characters
Category:Stafford Family Characters
Category:DC Characters
Category:Fables Franchise Characters
Category:Once Upon a Time Characters
Category:Once: Wonderland Characters
Category:Gilberton Characters
Category:Quality Characters
Category:Fawcett Characters
Category:Marvel Characters
Category:Dell Characters
Category:Vertigo Characters
Category:I.W. Publishing Character
Category:Charlton Characters
Category:Star Trek Characters
Category:Outlaw Hero Characters
Category:Academy Awards Characters
Category:Dreamworks Characters
Category:Shrek Characters
Category:ABC Characters
Category:Doctor Who Characters
Category:League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Characters
Category:Christian Characters
Category:Cracked Magazine Characters
Category:Mad Cave Characters
Category:Hammer Film Productions Characters
Category:Robot Chicken Characters
Category:Priest Characters
Category:Classics Illustrated Characters
Category:Tom and Jerry Characters
Category:Streaming Television Characters
Category:Lorcana Characters
Category:TCG Characters
Category:Toys
Category:Funko Characters
Category:Sonic the Hedgehog Characters
Category:Toon in with Me Characters
Category:Board Game Characters
Category:Live-Action Characters
Category:PBS Kids Characters
Category:Little Golden Books Characters
Category:King's Throne Characters
Category:Crazy Magazine Characters
Category:Mitos y Leyendas Characters
Category:Playing Card Characters
Category:Puzzle Characters
Category:Godzilla Characters