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{{short description|Archaic term for a mounted robber who steals from travelers}}{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2014}}{{other uses}}
{{Redirect|Highway robbery|other uses|Highway Robbery (disambiguation){{!}}Highway Robbery|the general term|Robbery}}

[[File:Asalto al coche.jpg|thumb|''Asalto al coche'' (Attack on a Coach), by [[Francisco de Goya]].]]
[[Image:James Hind.jpg|right|thumb|English highwayman [[James Hind]] depicted in an engraving now in the National Portrait Gallery.]]
A '''highwayman''' was a [[robbery|robber]] who stole from travellers. This type of [[theft|thief]] usually travelled and robbed by [[horse]] as compared to a [[footpad]] who travelled and robbed on foot; mounted highwaymen were widely considered to be socially superior to footpads.<ref name=":0">[[Samuel Rid|Rid, Samuel]]. "Martin Markall, Beadle of Bridewell," in ''The Elizabethan Underworld'', A. V. Judges, ed. pp. 415–416. George Routledge, 1930. [http://www.OutlawsAndHighwaymen.com/rid.htm Online quotation].</ref><ref name=Spraggs0>Spraggs, pp. 107, 169, 190–191.</ref> Such [[crime|criminals]] operated until the mid- or late 19th century. '''Highwaywomen''', such as [[Katherine Ferrers]], were said to also exist, often dressing as men, especially in fiction.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2017-03-09 |title=Stand and Deliver, Your Money or Your Life: Female Highwaymen of the Seventeenth Century |url=https://justhistoryposts.com/2017/03/09/stand-and-deliver-your-money-or-your-life-female-highwaymen-of-the-seventeenth-century/ |access-date=2025-04-23 |website=Just History Posts |language=en}}</ref>

The first attestation of the word ''highwayman'' is from 1617.<ref>Fennor, William. "The Counter's Commonwealth," in ''The Elizabethan Underworld'', p. 446.</ref> [[Euphemism]]s such as "knights of the road" and "gentlemen of the road" were sometimes used by people interested in romanticizing (with a [[Robin Hood]]–esque slant) what was often an especially violent form of stealing. In the 19th-century American West, highwaymen were sometimes known as '''road agents'''.<ref>Brewer, E. Cobham. ''Dictionary of Phrase and Fable'', 1898, defines road-agent as "A highwayman in the mountain districts of North America," citing the generation earlier, [[W. Hepworth Dixon]], ''New America'', p. 14: "Road-agent is the name applied in the mountains to a ruffian who has given up honest work in the store, in the mine, in the ranch, for the perils and profits of the highway."</ref> In Australia, they were known as [[bushranger]]s.

==Robbing==
The great age of highwaymen was the period from the [[Restoration (England)|Restoration]] in 1660 to the death of [[Anne, Queen of Great Britain|Queen Anne]] in 1714. Some are known to have been disbanded soldiers, and even officers, of the [[English Civil War]] and French wars. What favoured them most was the lack of governance and absence of a police force: parish constables were almost entirely ineffective, while detection and arrest were very difficult. Most of the highwaymen held up travellers and took their money. Some had channels by which they could dispose of bills of exchange. Others had a 'racket' on the road transport of an extensive district; carriers regularly paid them a ransom to go unmolested.<ref>{{cite book |last=Clark |first=Sir George |date=1956 |title=The Later Stuarts, 1660–1714 |location=Oxford History of England |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=259 |isbn=0-19-821702-1}}</ref>

They often attacked [[Coach (carriage)|coaches]] for their lack of protection, including public [[stagecoach|stagecoaches]]; the [[mail carrier|postboys]] who carried the mail were also frequently held up.<ref>Beattie, J. M.: ''Crime and the Courts in England, 1660–1800'', pp. 149–158. Clarendon Press, 1986; [http://www.outlawsandhighwaymen.com/wilson2.htm Extracts from Wilson, Ralph: ''A Full and Impartial Account of all the Robberies Committed by John Hawkins, George Sympson (lately Executed for Robbing the Bristol Mails) and their Companions''. 3rd edition, J. Peele, 1722.]</ref> The demand to "[[wiktionary:stand and deliver|Stand and deliver]]!" (sometimes in forms such as "Stand and deliver your purse!"  "Stand and deliver your money!") was in use from the 17th century to the 19th century:

{{blockquote|A fellow of a good Name, but poor Condition, and worse Quality, was Convicted for laying an [[Embargo]] on a man whom he met on the Road, by bidding him Stand and Deliver, but to little purpose; for the Traveller had no more Money than a [[Order of Friars Minor Capuchin|Capuchin]], but told him, all the treasure he had was a pound of Tobacco, which he civilly surrendered.|''The Proceedings of the Old Bailey'', 25 April 1677|<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.oldbaileyonline.org/record/t16770425-1|title=Browse – Central Criminal Court|website=www.oldbaileyonline.org}}</ref>}}

The phrase "Your money or your life!" is mentioned in trial reports from the mid-18th century:

{{blockquote|Evidence of John Mawson: "As I was coming home, in company with Mr. Andrews, within two fields of the new road that is by the [[gate-house]] of [[Baron Baltimore|Lord Baltimore]], we were met by two men; they attacked us both: the man who attacked me I have never seen since. He clapped a [[bayonet]] to my breast, and said, with an oath, Your money, or your life! He had on a soldier's [[waistcoat]] and [[breeches]]. I put the bayonet aside, and gave him my silver, about three or four [[shilling|shillings]]."|''The Proceedings of the Old Bailey'', 12 September 1781|<ref>{{Old Bailey|id=t17810912-37|defendant= John Buckley, Thomas Shenton |trialdate=12 September 1781}}</ref>}}

Victims of highwaymen included the Prime Minister [[Lord North]], who wrote in 1774: "I was robbed last night as I expected, our loss was not great, but as the [[postilion]] did not stop immediately one of the two highwaymen fired at him (They had guns at the time) – It was at the end of [[Gunnersbury]] Lane." [[Horace Walpole]], who was shot at in Hyde Park, wrote that "One is forced to travel, even at noon, as if one was going to battle." During this period, crime was rife and encounters with highwaymen or women could be bloody if the victim attempted to resist. The historian [[Roy Porter]] described the use of direct, physical action as a hallmark of public and political life: "From the rough-house of the crowd to the dragoons' musket volley, violence was as English as plum pudding. Force was used not just criminally, but as a matter of routine to achieve social and political goals, smudging hard-and-fast distinctions between the worlds of criminality and politics... Highwaymen were romanticized, with a hidden irony, as 'gentlemen of the road.'"<ref>{{cite book |last=Porter |first=Roy |date=1982 |title=English Society in the Eighteenth Century |location=Pelican Social History of Britain |publisher=Pelican Books |pages=31, 114–115|isbn=0-14-022099-2}}</ref>

==Robbers as heroes==
There is a long history of treating highway robbers as heroes. They were admired by many as bold men who confronted their victims [[face-to-face (philosophy)|face to face]] and were ready to fight for what they wanted.<ref name=Spraggs1>Spraggs, pp. 2–3, 7–8, 255.</ref> [[Middle Ages|Medieval]] outlaw [[Robin Hood]] is regarded as an English [[folk hero]]. Later robber heroes included the [[Cavalier]] highwayman [[James Hind]]; the [[France|French]]-born gentleman highwayman [[Claude Duval|Claude Du Vall]]; [[John Nevison]]; [[Dick Turpin]]; [[John Rann|Sixteen String Jack]]; [[William Plunkett (highwayman)|William Plunkett]] and his partner, the "Gentleman Highwayman" [[James MacLaine]]; the Slovak [[Juraj Jánošík]]; and Indians including [[Kayamkulam Kochunni]], [[Veerappan]], and [[Phoolan Devi]]. In the same way, the [[Puerto Ricans|Puerto Rican]] pirate [[Roberto Cofresí]] also came to be venerated as a hero.

In [[Kingdom of Ireland|early modern Ireland]], acts of robbery were often part of a tradition of Irish Catholic resistance to the [[Dublin Castle administration]] and [[Protestant Ascendancy]]. From the mid-17th century onwards, Catholic highwaymen who harassed [[the Crown]] and their supporters were known as 'tories' (from Irish ''[[tóraidhe]]'', raider; ''tóraí'' in [[Irish orthography|modern spelling]]). By the end of the century, they were also known as [[rapparee]]s. Notable Irish highwaymen of the period included [[James Freney]], [[Redmond O'Hanlon (outlaw)|Redmond O'Hanlon]], [[Willy Brennan]] and Jeremiah Grant.<ref>Dunford, Stephen. ''The Irish Highwaymen''. Merlin Publishing, 2000</ref><ref name=Seal1>Seal, pp. 69–78.</ref>

==Dangerous places==
English highwaymen often laid in wait on the main roads radiating from London. They usually chose lonely areas of [[Heath (habitat)|heathland]] or [[woodland]]. [[Hounslow Heath]] was a favourite haunt: it was crossed by the roads to [[Bath, Somerset|Bath]] and [[Exeter]].<ref>Maxwell, Gordon S. : ''Highwayman's Heath: Story in Fact and Fiction of Hounslow Heath in Middlesex ''. Heritage Publications, Hounslow Leisure Services, 1994.</ref> [[Bagshot Heath]] in [[Surrey]] was another dangerous place on the road to Exeter. One of the most notorious places in England was [[Shooter's Hill]] on the [[Great Dover Road]]. [[Finchley Common]], on the [[Great North Road (Great Britain)|Great North Road]], was nearly as bad.<ref>Beattie, J. M.: ''Crime and the Courts in England, 1660–1800'', pp. 155–156. Clarendon Press, 1986; Spraggs, Gillian: ''Outlaws and Highwaymen: the Cult of the Robber in England from the Middle Ages to the Nineteenth Century'', p. 93. Pimlico, 2001. Harper, Charles George: ''Half-hours with the Highwaymen: picturesque biographies and traditions of the "knights of the road"'', pp. 245–255. Chapman &amp; Hall, 1908; [https://archive.org/details/halfhourswithhig01harpiala Online edition of ''Half-hours with the Highwaymen'']. via [[Internet Archive]].</ref>

To the south of London, highwaymen sought to attack wealthy travellers on the roads leading to and from the [[English Channel|Channel]] ports and aristocratic arenas like [[Epsom]], which became a fashionable spa town in 1620, and [[Banstead Downs]] where horse races and sporting events became popular with the elite from 1625. Later in the 18th century, the road from London to [[Reigate]] and [[Brighton]] through [[Sutton, London|Sutton]] attracted highwaymen. Commons and heaths considered to be dangerous included [[Blackheath, London|Blackheath]], [[Wimbledon Common|Putney Heath]], [[Streatham Common]], [[Mitcham Common]], [[Thornton Heath]] – also the site of a gallows known as "Hangman's Acre" or "Gallows Green" – [[Sutton Common]], Banstead Downs and [[Reigate Heath]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.timeandleisure.co.uk/articles/local/742-stand-and-deliver.html |title=Stand and Deliver! |last=Walford |first=Leslie |date=7 March 2011 |website=Time & Leisure |access-date=27 December 2016 |archive-date=7 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180707091343/https://www.timeandleisure.co.uk/articles/local/742-stand-and-deliver.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

During the late 17th and early 18th centuries, highwaymen in [[Hyde Park, London|Hyde Park]] were sufficiently common for [[William III of England|King William III]] to have the route between [[St James's Palace]] and [[Kensington Palace]] ([[Rotten Row]]) lit at night with oil lamps as a precaution against them. This made it the first [[street light|artificially lit]] highway in Britain.<ref>{{cite book | title=The London Encyclopaedia | publisher=Pan Macmillan|author1=Hibbert, Cristopher |author2=Weinreb, Ben |author3=Keay, John |author4=Keay, Julia | year=2011 |pages=424| isbn=978-0230738782}}</ref>

==Executions==
[[File:Cartoucheroué.JPG|thumb|The execution of the French highwayman [[Louis Dominique Bourguignon|Cartouche]], 1721]]
The penalty for robbery with violence was [[hanging]], and most notorious English highwaymen ended on the [[gallows]]. The chief place of execution for London and [[Middlesex]] was [[Tyburn, London|Tyburn Tree]]. Highwaymen whose lives ended there include [[Claude Duval|Claude Du Vall]], [[James MacLaine]], and [[John Rann|Sixteen-string Jack]]. Highwaymen who went to the gallows laughing and joking, or at least showing no fear, are said to have been admired by many of the people who came to watch.<ref name=Spraggs2>Spraggs, pp. 212–233.</ref>

==Decline==
During the 18th century, French rural roads were generally safer from highwaymen than those of England, an advantage credited by the historian [[Alexis de Tocqueville]] to the existence of a uniformed and disciplined mounted [[constabulary]] known as the [[Maréchaussée]]. In England this force was often confused with the regular army and as such cited as an instrument of royal tyranny not to be imitated.<ref>Alexis de Tocqueville ''L'Ancien Régime et la Révolution''</ref>
  
In England, the causes of the decline are more controversial. After about 1815, mounted robbers are recorded only rarely, the last recorded robbery by a mounted highwayman having occurred in 1831.<ref>McLynn, Frank: ''Crime and punishment in eighteenth-century England'', p. 81. Routledge, 1989.</ref> The decline in highwayman activity also occurred during the period in which repeating handguns, notably the [[pepper-box]] and the [[percussion cap|percussion]] revolver, became increasingly available and affordable to the average citizen. The development of the [[Rail transport|railways]] is sometimes cited as a factor, but highwaymen were already obsolete before the railway network was built. The expansion of the system of [[Toll road|turnpikes]], manned and gated [[Toll road|toll-roads]], made it all but impossible for a highwayman to escape notice while making his getaway, but he could easily avoid such systems and use other roads, almost all of which outside the cities were flanked by open country.

Cities such as London were becoming much better policed: in 1805 a body of mounted police began to patrol the districts around the city at night. London was growing rapidly, and some of the most dangerous open spaces near the city, such as [[Finchley Common]], were being covered with buildings. However, this only moved the robbers' operating area further out, to the new exterior of an expanded city, and does not therefore explain decline. A greater use of [[banknote]]s, more traceable than gold coins, also made life more difficult for robbers,<ref name=Spraggs3>Spraggs, p. 234.</ref> but the [[Inclosure Act 1773]]<ref>'The Enclosure Acts and the Industrial Revolution', [[Wendy McElroy]], 2012</ref> was followed by a sharp decline in highway robberies; stone walls falling over the open range like a net, confined the escaping highwaymen to the roads themselves, which now had walls on both sides and were better patrolled.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.pearsonschoolsandfecolleges.co.uk/FEAndVocational/Humanities/History/EdexcelGCSESHPHistory2013/Samples/Crime(1B)andProtest(3B)/HistoryB1BHighwaymenpreview.pdf|title=SHP History B – Crime and Punishment 1750–1900, 3.3 Highwaymen.|access-date=31 March 2016|archive-date=13 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160413081945/https://www.pearsonschoolsandfecolleges.co.uk/FEAndVocational/Humanities/History/EdexcelGCSESHPHistory2013/Samples/Crime(1B)andProtest(3B)/HistoryB1BHighwaymenpreview.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>
The dramatic population increase which began with the [[Industrial Revolution]] also meant, quite simply, that there were more eyes around, and the concept of remote place became a thing of the past in England.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ecology.com/2011/09/18/ecological-impact-industrial-revolution/|title=Impact of the Industrial Revolution|date=18 September 2011|website=Ecology Global Network|access-date=31 March 2016|archive-date=8 January 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200108095613/http://www.ecology.com/2011/09/18/ecological-impact-industrial-revolution/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Outside Anglophone countries==
===Greece===
The bandits in [[Greece]] under Ottoman rule were the [[Klephts]] (κλέφτες), Greeks who had taken refuge in the inaccessible mountains. The klephts, who acted as a guerilla force, were instrumental in the [[Greek War of Independence]].

===Kingdom of Hungary===
The highwaymen of the 17th- to 19-century [[Kingdom of Hungary]] were the ''betyárs'' ([[Slovak language|Slovak]]: ''zbojník''). Until the 1830s, they were mainly simply regarded as criminals but an increasing public appetite for betyar songs, ballads and stories gradually gave a romantic image to these armed and usually mounted robbers. Several of the [[Betyár|betyárs]] have become legendary figures who in the public mind fought for social justice. Hungarian betyárs included [[Jóska Sobri]], Márton Vidróczki, András Juhász, Bandi Angyal, Pista Sisa, Jóska Savanyú. [[Juraj Jánošík]] ({{langx|hu|Jánosik György }}), who was born and operated in Upper Hungary (now [[Slovakia]]), is still regarded as the Slovak version, and [[Sándor Rózsa]] the [[Hungarian language|Hungarian]] version of [[Robin Hood]] in their regions. 

The [[Hajduk]] ([[Hungarian language|Hungarian]]: Hajdú) also originated in Hungary. They were formed from large numbers of Hungarians forced out of Syrmia and the Banates (Banate of Srebrenik, Banate of Nándorfehérvár, Banat of Macsó), moving upwards to central Hungary because of the Turkish attacks (they are replaced by the [[Serbs]], [[Bosnians]] and [[Croats]] settling in the region). By the end of the 16th century, they had developed into a significant military force. They developed their own military organisation, separate from the ranks established in the country – they chose their own commanders, captains, lieutenants and corporals. Their rights were later taken away by the Austrians after the defeat of the [[Rákóczi's War of Independence]], fearing their military power, they forced them into serfdom, so this was the end of the Hajduk golden age.<ref>{{Cite web |title=hajdúk {{!}} Magyar néprajzi lexikon {{!}} Kézikönyvtár |url=https://www.arcanum.com/hu/online-kiadvanyok/Lexikonok-magyar-neprajzi-lexikon-71DCC/h-7297A/hajduk-7299D/#:~:text=A%20hajd%C3%BA%20sz%C3%B3%20a%2016.%20sz. |access-date=2024-10-02 |website=www.arcanum.com |language=hu}}</ref>

===India===
The Indian Subcontinent has had a long and documented history of organised robbery for millennia.  These included the [[Thuggees]], a quasi-religious group that robbed travellers on Indian roads until the cult was systematically eradicated in the mid-1800s by British colonial administrators.  Thugees would befriend large road caravans and gain their confidence, before strangling them to death and robbing their valuables. According to some estimates the Thuggees murdered a million people between 1740 and 1840.<ref>{{Cite book
  | last = Rubinstein
  | first = W. D.
  | author-link1=William Rubinstein
  | title = Genocide: A History
  | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=nMMAk4VwLLwC
  | publisher = Pearson Education
  | year = 2004
  | pages = 82–83
  | isbn = 0-582-50601-8 }}
</ref> More generally, armed bands known colloquially as "[[dacoits]]" have long wreaked havoc on many parts of the country.  In recent times this has often served as a way to fund various regional and political insurgencies that includes the Maoist [[Naxalite]] movement. [[Kayamkulam Kochunni]] was also a famed highwayman who was active in [[Central Travancore]] in the early 19th century. Along with his close friend Ithikkarappkki from the nearby Ithikkara village, he is said to have stolen from the rich and given to the poor. With the help of an [[Ezhava]] warrior called [[Arattupuzha Velayudha Panicker]], Kochunni was arrested and sent to Poojappura Central Jail. Legends of his works are compiled in [[folklore]] and are still read and heard today.

===The Balkans and eastern Europe===
The bandits in Serbia, Bosnia, Croatia and Bulgaria under Ottoman rule, and in Hungary were the [[Hajduks]] (Hajduci, Хајдуци, Хайдути) – rebels who opposed Ottoman rule and acted as a guerilla force, also instrumental in the many wars against the Ottomans, especially the [[Serbian revolution]]. Serbian and Croatian refugees in Austro-Hungarian (and Habsburg) lands were also part of the [[Uskoci]]. Notable freedom fighters include [[Starina Novak]], a notable [[outlaw]] was [[Jovo Stanisavljević Čaruga]].
In medieval [[Wallachia]], [[Moldavia]], [[Transylvania]] and Ukraine, the Haiduks (Romanian – Haiduci, Ukrainian – Гайдуки, ''Haiduky'') were bandits and deserters who lived in forests and robbed local [[Boyar]]s or other travelers along roads. Sometimes they would help the poor peasants. In the 1800s, [[betyár]]s became common in Hungary.

==Literature and popular culture==
[[File:Dickturpin.jpg|thumb|260px|left|[[Dick Turpin]] riding [[Black Bess]], from a [[Victorian era|Victorian]] [[toy theater|toy theatre]].]]
In [[Shakespeare]]'s ''[[Henry IV, Part 1]]'' [[Falstaff]] is a highwayman, and part of the action of the play concerns a robbery committed by him and his companions. Another highwayman in [[English drama]] is [[Captain Macheath]], hero of [[John Gay]]'s 18th-century [[ballad opera]] ''[[The Beggar's Opera]]''. The legend of [[Dick Turpin]] was significantly boosted by ''[[Rookwood (novel)|Rookwood]]'' (1834), in which a heavily fictionalised Turpin is one of the main characters.<ref>Sharpe, James: ''Dick Turpin: the Myth of the English Highwayman'', Chapter 5: 'The Man from Manchester'. Profile Books, 2004</ref><ref name=Spraggs4>Spraggs, pp. 237–240.</ref> [[Alfred Noyes]]'s [[narrative poem]] "[[The Highwayman (poem)|The Highwayman]]" has been immensely popular ever since its publication in 1906.

A number of traditional [[folk song]]s about highwaymen exist, both positive and negative, such as "[[Young Morgan]]", "[[Whiskey in the Jar]]", and "[[The Wild Colonial Boy]]".<ref name="Seals 1996">{{cite book | first=Graham | last=Seal | chapter=Positive Highwayman Ballads | title=The Outlaw Legend | year=1996 | publisher=Cambridge University Press | pages=31–37, 209 | chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/outlawlegendcult0000seal/page/31 }}</ref>

From the early 18th century, collections of short stories of highwaymen and other notorious criminals became very popular. The earliest of these is Captain Alexander Smith's ''Complete History of the Lives and Robberies of the Most Notorious Highwaymen'' (1714). Some later collections of this type had the words [[The Newgate Calendar]] in their titles and this has become a general name for this kind of publication.<ref>[http://www.exclassics.com/newgate/ngbibl.htm The Newgate Calendar – Bibliographical Note<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>

In the later 19th century, highwaymen such as Dick Turpin were the heroes of a number of [[penny dreadful]]s, stories for boys published in serial form. In the 20th century the handsome highwayman became a [[stock character]] in historical love romances, including books by [[Emma Orczy|Baroness Orczy]] and [[Georgette Heyer]].

Sir [[Walter Scott]]'s romance ''[[The Heart of Midlothian]]'' (1818) recounts the heroine waylaid by highwaymen while travelling from Scotland to London.

''[[Ronia, the Robber's Daughter]]'' (1981) is a children's [[fantasy]] book by [[Astrid Lindgren]], which portrays the adventures of Ronia, the daughter of the leader of a gang of highwaymen.

===Comics===
The Belgian comics series ''{{interlanguage link multi|Robin Dubois|de|Robin Ausdemwald|fr||nl|Robin Hoed}}'' by [[Turk (comics)|Turk]] and [[De Groot]] is a [[gag-a-day]] series about [[Robin Hood]]'s attempts at robbing travellers in the forest.

The Dutch comics series ''[[Gilles de Geus]]'' by [[Hanco Kolk]] and [[Peter de Wit]] was originally a gag-a-day about a failed highwayman called Gilles, but the character later evolved into a resistance fighter with the [[Geuzen]] against the Spanish army.

''Ithikkara Pakki'', a graphic children's story book about the Indian highwayman [[Ithikkara Pakki]], was published in April 2010 in [[Malayalam]].<ref>{{cite news|title='ഇത്തിക്കര പക്കി'യുടെ കഥ കടം കൊണ്ടു, കടപ്പാടുപോലുമില്ല|trans-title=Ithikkara Pakki's story adapted, without courtesy|url=https://janayugomonline.com/ethikkara-pakki-story-in-kayamkulam-kochubbi-film/|accessdate=2 July 2019|work=[[Janayugom]]|date=9 October 2018|language=ml}}{{cbignore}}</ref> The life of the Indian highwayman [[Kayamkulam Kochunni]] was adapted as a comic by Radha M. Nair in the [[List of Amar Chitra Katha comics|794th issue]] of the Indian comic book series, [[Amar Chitra Katha]].<ref>{{cite book|author1=Radha M. Nair|title=Kochunni|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cIyvDgAAQBAJ|date= 1971|publisher=Amar Chitra Katha Pvt Ltd|isbn=9788184824940}}</ref>

===Music===
There were many broadsheet [[ballad]]s about highwaymen; these were often written to be sold on the occasion of a famous robber's execution. A number of highwaymen ballads have remained current in [[oral tradition]] in England and Ireland.<ref name=Seal2>Seal, pp. 47–78.</ref>

The traditional Irish song "[[Whiskey in the Jar]]" tells the story of an Irish highwayman who robs an army captain and includes the lines "I first produced me pistol, then I drew me rapier. Said 'Stand and deliver, for you are a bold deceiver'."  The hit single version recorded in 1973 by Irish rock band [[Thin Lizzy]] renders this last line "I said 'Stand-oh and deliver, or the devil he may take ya'."

The traditional Irish song "[[The Newry Highwayman]]" recounts the deeds and death of a highwayman who robbed "the lords and ladies bright". The traditional Irish song "Brennan on the Moor" describes an escapade of the "bold, undaunted robber". [[Adam and the Ants]] had a number one song for five weeks in 1981 in the UK with "[[Stand and Deliver (Adam and the Ants song)|Stand and Deliver]]". The video featured Adam Ant as an English highwayman.

The contemporary folk song "On the Road to Fairfax County" by [[David Massengill]], recorded by [[The Roches]] and by [[Joan Baez]], recounts a romantic encounter between a highwayman and his female victim.  In the end, the highwayman is hanged over the objections of his victim.

Musician [[Jimmy Webb]] penned and recorded a song entitled "[[Highwayman (song)|Highwayman]]" in 1977 about a soul with incarnations in four different places in time and history, a highwayman, a [[sailor]], a construction worker on the [[Hoover Dam]], and finally as a [[Astronaut|star ship captain]].  [[Glen Campbell]] recorded a version of the song in 1978, but the most popular incarnation of the song was recorded by [[Willie Nelson]], [[Kris Kristofferson]], [[Waylon Jennings]] and [[Johnny Cash]] in 1984, who as a group called themselves [[The Highwaymen (country supergroup)|The Highwaymen]].

The Canadian singer [[Loreena McKennitt|Loreena McKennit]] adapted the narrative poem, "[[The Highwayman (poem)|The Highwayman]]" written by [[Alfred Noyes]], as a song by the same title in her 1997 album [[The Book of Secrets (album)|The Book of Secrets]].

===Cinema and television===
The [[Carry On films]] included a highwayman spoof in ''[[Carry On Dick]]'' (1974). [[Monty Python]] sent up the highwayman legends in the Dennis Moore sketch in Episode 37 of ''[[Monty Python's Flying Circus]]'', in which [[John Cleese]] played the titular criminal who stole only [[lupins]].<ref>[http://www.ibras.dk/montypython/episode37.htm#2 Monty Python's Flying Circus Script – Episode 37]</ref> In a linking sketch in an episode of ''[[Not the Nine O'Clock News]]'' a highwayman holds up a stagecoach with pistols – in order to wash the coach in exchange for small monies in the manner of a modern-day unsolicited car window washer in traffic. In ''[[Blackadder the Third]]'', [[Mr. E. Blackadder]] turns highwayman in the episode "[[Amy and Amiability]]". In the British children's television series ''[[Dick Turpin (TV series)|Dick Turpin]]'', starring [[Richard O'Sullivan (actor)|Richard O'Sullivan]], the highwayman was depicted as an 18th-century Robin Hood figure.  Additionally the actor [[Mathew Baynton]] played Dick Turpin in ''[[Horrible Histories (2009 TV series)|Horrible Histories]]''. A singing highwayman appears in the fourth episode of the animated mini-series, ''[[Over the Garden Wall (miniseries)|Over the Garden Wall]]'', ''Songs of the Dark Lantern''.

The highwayman known as [[Juraj Jánošík]] (1688–1713) became a hero of many folk legends in the [[Slovak people|Slovak]], Czech, and Polish cultures by the 19th century<ref>Votruba, Martin: "Hang Him High: The Elevation of Jánošík to an Ethnic Icon." ''Slavic Review,'' 65#1, pp. 24–44, 2006. [http://www.slavicreview.uiuc.edu/indexes/vol65/abstracts1.html#votruba Abstract.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080705140022/http://www.slavicreview.uiuc.edu/indexes/vol65/abstracts1.html#votruba |date=5 July 2008 }}</ref> and hundreds of [[Juraj Jánošík#Jánošík in literature|literary works about him]] have since been published.<ref>Few in English, e.g.: Moore Coleman, Marion (1972). ''A brigand, two queens, and a prankster; stories of Janosik, Queen Bona, Queen Kinga and the Sowizdrzal.'' Cherry Hill Books. {{ISBN|978-0-910366-13-7}}</ref> The first [[Cinema of Slovakia|Slovak feature film]] was ''[[Jánošík (1921 film)|Jánošík]]'', made in 1921, followed by seven more Slovak and Polish [[Juraj Jánošík#Jánošík in film|films about him]].

''[[Curro Jiménez]]'', a Spanish TV series which aired from 1976 to 1979, starred a group of 19th-century highwaymen or ''bandoleros'' in the mountains of [[Ronda]] in the south of Spain.

''[[Ronia, the Robber's Daughter (film)|Ronia, the Robber's Daughter]]'' (aka ''Ronja Robbersdaughter'' in the US) is a 1984 Swedish [[fantasy film]], based on the 1981 [[Ronia the Robber's Daughter|novel of the same title]] by [[Astrid Lindgren]], and narrating the adventures of Ronia, the daughter of the leader of a gang of highwaymen.

''[[Ronja, the Robber's Daughter (2014 TV series)|Ronja, the Robber's Daughter]]'' ([[Japanese language|Japanese]]: 山賊の娘ローニャ, [[Hepburn romanization|Hepburn]]: ''Sanzoku no Musume Rōnya'') is a Japanese animated television series, also based on Lindgren's novel ''[[Ronia, the Robber's Daughter]],'' and directed and storyboarded by [[Gorō Miyazaki]].

The lives of numerous Indian highwaymen including [[Arattupuzha Velayudha Panicker]], [[Ithikkara Pakki]], [[Jambulingam Nadar]], [[Kayamkulam Kochunni]] and [[Papadu]] have been adapted for cinema and television multiple times.

Season two, episode 20, of [[Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated]], the main villain (voiced by [[James Marsters]]) disguises himself as a highwayman.

The animated series ''[[Over the Garden Wall]]'' features [[Jerron "Blind Boy" Paxton|Jerron Paxton]] as a highwayman, including a short original song he composed in conjunction with [[The Blasting Company]].<ref>{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3718778/characters/nm5277706 |title=Over the Garden Wall (TV Mini Series 2014) - Jerron Paxton as Additional Voices, The Highway Man - IMDb |language=en-US |access-date=2025-03-12 |via=www.imdb.com}}</ref>

====Films====
{{div col}}
*''[[The Mark of Zorro (1920 film)|The Mark of Zorro]]'' (1920)
*''[[Dick Turpin (1925 film)|Dick Turpin]]'' (1925)
*''[[Dick Turpin (1933 film)|Dick Turpin]]'' (1933)
*''[[The Adventures of Robin Hood]]'' (1938)
*''[[The Night Riders (1939 film)|The Night Riders]]'' (1939)
*''[[Frontier Marshal (1939 film)|Frontier Marshal]]'' (1939)
*''[[My Little Chickadee]]'' (1940)
*''[[Virginia City (film)|Virginia City]]'' (1940)
*''[[The Mark of Zorro (1940 film)|The Mark of Zorro]]'' (1940)
*''[[The Wicked Lady]]'' (1945)
*''[[The Loves of Carmen (1948 film)|The Loves of Carmen]]'' (1948)
*''[[The Lady and the Bandit]]'' (1951)
*''[[Bend of the River]]'' (1952)
*''[[Son of Paleface]]'' (1952)
*''[[The King's Thief]]'' (1955)
*''[[The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders]]'' (1965)
*''[[Kayamkulam Kochunni (1966 film)|Kayamkulam Kochunni]]'' (1966)
*''[[Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid]]'' (1969)
*''[[Robin Hood (1973 film)|Robin Hood]]'' (1973)
*''[[Carry On Dick]]'' (1974)
*''[[The Mark of Zorro (1974 film)|The Mark of Zorro]]'' (1974)
*''[[Barry Lyndon]]'' (1975)
*''[[Kaayamkulam Kochunniyude Makan]]'' (1976)
*''[[Joseph Andrews (film)|Joseph Andrews]]'' (1977)
*''[[Vellayani Paramu]]'' (1979)
*''[[Ronia, the Robber's Daughter (film)|Ronia, the Robber's Daughter]]'' (1981)
*''[[Jambulingam]]'' (1982)
*''[[The Wicked Lady (1983 film)|The Wicked Lady]]'' (1983)
*''[[The Deceivers (film)|The Deceivers]]'' (1988)
*''[[The Lady and the Highwayman]]'' (1989)
*''[[Plunkett & Macleane]]'' (1999)
*''[[Kayamkulam Kochunni (2018 film)|Kayamkulam Kochunni]]'' (2018)
*''[[The Highwaymen (film)|The Highwaymen]]'' (2019)
{{div col end}}

===Video games===
In ''[[Fable II]]'', Highwaymen appear as an elite type of enemy which works alongside bandits and makes use of speed and agility over brute strength. It is also possible for players to dress as Highwaymen. There is an enemy type in ''[[The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim]]'' called the "bandit highwayman" that acts as one of the higher-level bandit enemies. In ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' one can encounter the Defias Highwaymen, the strongest members of the Defias Brotherhood. In ''[[Darkest Dungeon]]'' the Highwayman is a class of hero who wields a dirk and flintlock to fight. In ''[[Runescape]]'', highwaymen attack lower-leveled players on a route between two cities. In ''[[Bushido Blade 2]]'' there is a playable character named Highwayman who is dressed in Victorian clothing and represents the hero archetype. In ''[[Bloodborne]]'' many articles of clothing obtained by "The Hunter" are inspired by Highwaymen attire.

==See also==
{{div col}}
*[[List of highwaymen]]
*[[Brigandage]]
*[[Bushranger]]
*[[Dacoity]]
*[[Hajduk]]
*[[Mail robbery]]
*[[Marauder (disambiguation)]]
*[[Piracy]]
*[[Renegade Nell]]
*[[Road agent (disambiguation)]]
*[[Social bandits]]
*[[Thuggees]]
{{div col end}}

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

===Sources / further reading===
* [[Russell Ash|Ash, Russell]] (1970). ''Highwaymen'', Shire Publications, {{ISBN|978-0-85263-101-0}}; revised edition (1994) {{ISBN|978-0-7478-0260-0}}
* Billett, Michael (1997). ''Highwaymen and Outlaws'', Weidenfeld Military, {{ISBN|978-1-85409-318-9}}
* Brandon, David (2004). ''Stand and Deliver! A History of Highway Robbery'', Sutton Publishing, {{ISBN|978-0-7509-3528-9}}
* Dunford, Stephen (2000). ''The Irish Highwaymen'', Merlin Publishing, {{ISBN|1-903582-02-4}}
* Evans, Hilary & Mary (1997). ''Hero on a Stolen Horse: Highwayman and His Brothers-in-arms – The Bandit and the Bushranger'', Muller, {{ISBN|978-0-584-10340-3}}
* Haining, Peter (1991). ''The English Highwayman: A Legend Unmasked'',  Robert Hale, {{ISBN|978-0-7090-4426-0}}
* [[Charles George Harper|Harper, Charles George]] (1908). ''Half-hours with the Highwaymen: picturesque biographies and traditions of the "knights of the road"'', Chapman & Hall. [https://archive.org/details/halfhourswithhig01harpiala Online edition], via [[Internet Archive]].
* [[Eric Hobsbawm|Hobsbawm, Eric]] (1969). ''Bandits,'' Delacorte Press; Revised edition (2000). {{ISBN|978-1-56584-619-7}}
* Koliopoulos, John S (1987). ''Brigands with a Cause, Brigandage and Irredentism in Modern Greece 1821–1912.'' Clarendon Press. {{ISBN|978-0-19-822863-9}}
* Liapi, Lena (2019). "Roguery in Print: Crime and Culture in Early Modern London" Boydell & Brewer. {{ISBN|9781783274406}} 
* Maxwell, Gordon S (1994). ''Highwayman's Heath: Story in Fact and Fiction of Hounslow Heath in Middlesex '', Heritage Publications, Hounslow Leisure Services, {{ISBN|978-1-899144-00-6}}
* Newark, Peter (1988). ''Crimson Book of Highwaymen'', Olympic Marketing Corp, {{ISBN|9789997354792}}
* Pringle, Patrick (1951). ''Stand and Deliver: The Story of the Highwaymen'', Museum Press, ASIN B0000CHVTK
* Seal, Graham (1996). ''The Outlaw Legend: a cultural tradition in Britain, America and Australia'', Cambridge University Press, {{ISBN|0-521-55317-2}} (hbk), {{ISBN|0-521-55740-2}} (pbk)
* Sharpe, James (2005). ''Dick Turpin: The Myth of the English Highwayman'', Profile Books, {{ISBN|978-1-86197-418-1}}
* Spraggs, Gillian (2001). ''Outlaws and Highwaymen: The Cult of the Robber in England from the Middle Ages to the Nineteenth Century'', Pimlico, {{ISBN|978-0-7126-6479-0}}
* Sugden, John and Philip (2015).  ''The Thief of Hearts: Claude Duval and the Gentleman Highwayman in Fact and Fiction'', Forty Steps, {{ISBN|978-0-9934183-0-3}}

==External links==
{{wikisource|The Highwayman}}
{{commons category-inline|Highwaymen}}
* [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2386/is_2_111/ai_69202442/pg_1 The Heroic Outlaw in Irish Folklore and Popular Literature]
* Primary source book from 1674 on aspects of Highwaymen, their customs and their crimes - [https://books.google.com/books?id=fif-MgEACAAJ Jackson's Recantation; or, the Life and Death of the Notorious Highwayman]

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[[Category:Highwaymen| ]]