Hidden History: Lost Civilizations, Secret Knowledge, and Ancient Mysteries (41 page)

Photograph by M. Rees.

Statue of Robin Hood, Nottingham.

In the popular imagination, Robin
Hood is the archetypal English folk
hero. His legend, so familiar to people
all over the world, has remained relevant through hundreds of years of history, so that even Robin's band of
outlaws (Friar Tuck, Little John, Will
Scarlet, Allan a Dale, and Maid Marion)

have become household names. The
enduring appeal of the gallant
medievel outlaw, who steals from the
rich to give to the poor and fights
against the injustice and tyranny of authority figures such as Prince John and
the evil sheriff of Nottingham, shows
no signs of waning. But where does the story originate? Was there a real Robin
Hood hiding in the forests of medieval
England ready to defend the rights of
the poor and the oppressed?

Our earliest written refererence to
the outlaw, though it amounts to a
mere scrap, is in William Langland's
Piers Plowman written in 1377, where
one of the characters states "I know
the rhymes of Robin Hood." The next
notice, and the first where Robin is
classed as an outlaw, is in Andrew de
Wyntoun's Original Chronicle of Scotland, written around 1420. Under an
entry for the year 1283, the chronicle
describes Robin Hood and Little John
as well-known forest outlaws in
Barnsdale, Yorkshire, in the north of
England. Almost 20 years later, in the
Scotichronicon, Walter Bower mentions Robin Hood, "the famous cutthroat" and Little John, in an entry
under the year 1266. Bower puts the
outlaws in the context of Simon de
Montfort's rebellion against Henry III,
and again places them in Barnsdale
Forest, north of their traditional home
in Sherwood Forest, Nottinghamshire.
However, at this time the forests of
England covered a much wider area
than they do today, and as Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire are adjacent
counties, it is possible that Robin
Hood's adventures spread over both
forests.

The remaining early references to
Robin Hood are from ballads and
songs, designed to be recited or sung
by wandering minstrels. The most significant early account in ballad form
is A Gest of Robin Hood, (gest probably meaning deeds), of which there
were a number of editions printed after 1500, following the development
of the printing press in England by

William Caxton. The story in the Gest,
again set in the forest of Barnsdale,
was once thought by some to date back
much earlier than the printed editions, perhaps as early as 1360 or 1400,
but nowadays a date of around 1450 is
more widely accepted. By the time of
these ballads, some of the elements of
the Robin Hood story as we know it
today were in place. Robin is accompanied not only by Little John, but Will
Scarlet, and Much the Miller's Son. His
enemies include the rich abbots of the
Catholic Church (whom he robs), and
the sheriff of Nottingham, and it is at
this time that we first see the appearance of the archery contest set up by
the sheriff to trap the outlaw. Robin
sees off his enemies, he beheads both
the sheriff of Nottingham and the
bounty hunter Guy of Gisborne. For the
murder of the sheriff, he is hunted down
in Sherwood Forest by King Edward
himself, but pledges his allegiance and
is pardoned. Robin subsequently finds
service at the court of the king, but becomes bored and restless with his position and returns to the forest where
he again lives as an outlaw. Many years
later he falls ill and journeys to visits
his cousin, the prioress of Kirklees Abbey, for medical treatment. But unbeknownst to him, she is the lover of
Robin's enemy Sir Roger of Doncaster,
and lets him bleed to death. Before he
dies, Robin shoots his last arrow out
of the window and tells Little John to
bury him where the arrow falls.

At this stage, however, there are
still some popular aspects of the tale
missing. The Normans are not yet portrayed as the villains, and there is no
fight against an evil Prince John, or
friendship with his benevolent
brother, King Richard the Lionheart. It was not until Sir Walter Scott's
Ivanhoe in 1819 that Robin Hood as the
Englishman fighting the Norman oppressor was established. Scott's novel
also made the character of Friar Tuck
a much more important part of the
story. In contrast to later plays and
stories where he is cast as a nobleman,
in the early ballads Robin is seen as a
yeoman (a tradesman or farmer), and
there is no mention of him giving to
the poor. It was not until 1598, in a
play intended for an aristocratic audience, that Robin's status was elevated
to become Robert, the Earl of
Huntingdon. It is also in the late 16th
century that the romance with Maid
Marion is first established, possibly in
plays written for the May Games,
spring celebrations which took place
in early May. But Maid Marion did not
become a main character until the publication of Thomas Love Peacock's
novel, Maid Marian, in 1822. She had,
however, been connected with the tale
since around 1500.

The Major Oak, an 800- to 1,000-year-old oak tree in Sherwood Forest,
Nottinghamshire, reputedly a hideout of Robin Hood.

Whether there is an historical figure behind these ballads, stories, and
plays, is another matter, though there
are certainly many candidates for the
historical Robin Hood. Unfortunately,
13th and 14th century English records
contain many references to people
with the surname Hood, and as Robert and its alternative form of Robin
was also a fairly common Christian
name at the time, finding the Robin
Hood of legend is extremely difficult.
There are, however, a few possibilities.
At the York assizes (county court) of
1226, a Yorkshireman named Robert
Hod is recorded as a fugitive, and in
1227 he appears again under the nickname Hobbehod, the meaning of which
is unclear. Unfortunately nothing more
is known of this Robert Hod. Another
possibility is Robert Hood, son of Adam
Hood, a forester who worked for John
De Warenne, the Earl of Surrey. He was
born in 1280 and lived in Wakefield,
Yorkshire, as a tenant, with his wife
Matilda. Wakefield is only 10 miles from Barnsdale, the setting of Robin's
escapades in the ballads, and in some
tales Robin Hood's father was said to
be a forester called Adam. The name
Matilda was also Maid Marian's real
name in two Elizabethan plays. In
1317, Robert Hode disappeared after
failing to report for military service.
Although there are certainly some
similarities between this Robin of
Wakefield and the Robin Hood of legend, the fact that stories surrounding
the Robin Hood name were already in
circulation during his lifetime would
suggest he is a little too late to qualify.
In fact, by this time court records show
that Robinhood had become an epithet
for an outlaw, and before 1300, there
were at least eight people who either
assumed the name or were given it.

This point is illustrated by the case
of William de Fevre, of Enborne in
Berkshire, who in 1261 is shown as an
outlaw in court records from Reading.
A year later at Easter, 1262, a royal
document renamed him William
Robehood. If this is not a clerical error,
then it is significant in that at the early
date of 1262, the Robin Hood legend
appears to have been well known
enough for other outlaws to be named
after him. If this is the case, it would
mean that any real Robin Hood cannot
be dated later than 1261 or 1262. Alternatively, it might also be evidence that
it was the Robin Hood nickname given
to outlaws at the time that inspired the
legend, so it cannot be taken as definite proof of such an early date for the
existence of Robin Hood.

A fascinating theory was put forward by Tony Molyneux-Smith in a
1998 book, entitled Robin Hood and the
Lords of Wellow, which suggests that

Robin Hood was not one single man,
but a pseudonym taken by descendants
of Sir Robert Foliot, who held the
Lordship of Wellow, close to Sherwood
Forest, up until the late 14th century.
This is intriguing, but further research
into this family and their origins is
clearly needed to positively identify
the Foliot family as the origin of the
famous outlaw tale.

Of course, Robin Hood was not the
first or the only medieval outlaw tale.
The daring escapes, rescues, and disguises of his legend have almost certainly been influenced by actual and
mythical exploits of real-life outlaws.
One example is the mercenary and pirate Eustace the Monk (c. 1170-1217).
His deeds are related in a 13th century romance and also by contemporary historian Matthew Paris, in the
Chronica Majora (Main Chronicle).
Another historical model for the Robin
Hood legend is Hereward (the Wake).
This 11th century outlaw leader led
the English resistance against William
the Conquerer and held the Isle of Ely,
in the swampy fenland of south
Lincolnshire, against the invading
Normans. Hereward became a folk
hero only a short time after his death,
and within 100 years his exploits were
being celebrated in song in taverns.
The legendary Hereward was already
established by the time of the Estorie
des Engles of Geoffrey Gaimar written
around 1140, and Gesta Herewardii
Saxonis (Deeds of Hereward the
Saxon) from the same period. Many
aspects of the outlaw hero later associated with Robin Hood are found
in the tales of Hereward. He was courageous, courteous, quick-witted, an
expert at disguise, and always alert, as can be understood from his name,
the Wake, meaning the watchful.

Another hero of the era was Fulk
FitzWarin. A tale belonging to the
start of the 12th century tells how
Fulk, as a young nobleman, is sent to
King John of England. Eventually, the
king becomes his enemy and confiscates his family's land, so Fulk takes
to the woods and lives as an outlaw.
Included in the story are incidents
particularly reminiscent of episodes in
the Robin Hood legend. For example,
Fulk tests the honesty of rich travelers he waylays, and tricks King John
into the forest to be captured by his
outlaw gang. There is, however, a
strong element of myth (giants, dragons, epic journeys) in the tale of Fulk
FitzWarin (and in all the early heroic
tales from England), which we do not
find in the Robin Hood legend.

A completely different interpretation of Robin Hood that has been put
forward is based on his role in English
folklore. Pagan themes such as the
Green Man (or Robin Goodfellow) and
the Wild Man of the Woods may have
influenced the growth of the Robin
Hood legend, and his character and
story was certainly incorporated into
the May Games, a celebration of nature

and the coming of spring, by the 16th
century. But the idea that Robin Hood
is only a legend that originated from
these celebrations is unlikely, especially as his story appears to have been
well-known prior to any association
with the May Games.

If Robin Hood existed at all, the
most convincing evidence places him
somewhere in the 13th century,
though it is more likely that he represents a typical outlaw hero, composed
in part from historical characters, but
not possessing an individual historical identity. The Robin Hood tale has
been built up gradually for more than
700 years, usually to meet the needs
and desires of his audience. In fact, it
is still developing today, as is evident
from the newest myths added to the
story, presented in the 1991 film Robin
Hood: Prince of Thieves, starring
Kevin Costner. Here, not only is Robin
placed at the end of the 12th Century
as a returning Crusader, but he is also
depicted fighting fierce painted Celtic
warriors in the forests, more than
1,000 years after they existed in reality. Without doubt, the tale will continue to develop and change in the
future as it has done in the past; this
is part of myth-history that is Robin
Hood.