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Robin Hood may also refer to Robin Hood Airport Doncaster Sheffield.
Robin Hood is the archetypal English folk hero; a courteous, pious and swashbuckling outlaw of the medieval era who, in modern versions of the legend, is famous for his robbing the rich to feed the poor and fighting against injustice and tyranny. He operates with his "seven score" (140 strong) group of fellow outlawed yeomen – named the Merry Men, meaning "companion or follower of outlaw",[http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=merry&searchmode=none Merry. Online Etymological Dictionary. URL accessed June 6 2006. who were based in hideouts in Sherwood Forest and Barnsdale Forest near the city of Nottingham. The chief nemesis of the Merry Men, in many of the stories surrounding the band, is the villainous Sheriff of Nottingham who is overtaxing the people into poverty, and in some tales the villain is Prince John, based on John of England. In some versions Robin Hood is said to have been a nobleman, the lord of Loxley, or Locksley (then the seat of Hallamshire, now in South Yorkshire) in the early medieval period who was deprived of his lands by corrupt churchmen and greedy law officials. Sometimes he is returning from the crusades to find the land pillaged by the sheriff. Historical records suggest Robin Hood was in fact born in Wakefield Yorkshire.

The people of present day Nottinghamshire have a great affinity with Robin Hood as their folklore hero; he is a symbol of the county. For example, major road signs entering the county show Robin Hood sporting his bow and arrow, welcoming people to 'Robin Hood County.' BBC Radio Nottingham also uses the phrase 'Robin Hood County' on its regular programmes. In many tales, Robin Hood was said to have been Anglo Saxon and his enemies in authority were often said to be Norman; it is a historical fact that bitterness and conflict was still common amongst these communities over a century after the Norman Conquest (the former having been settled in England for far longer). Locksley is indeed an Anglo-Saxon surname Click here for family crest.

Today, Robin Hood is sometimes presented as the champion of people against taxers, sometimes as an egalitarian. In the stories Robin Hood also pursues other types of social justice. However, as mentioned below, Robin Hood was not quite so generous in the original medieval ballads, in which he is often seen as an arrogant and headstrong rebel who isn't adverse to blood-letting, and was more than a little fearsome an opponent for his enemies. Furthermore, even within the band, equality was not even looked for; Robin's men, in ballads, kneel before him, and in A Gest of Robyn Hode, the king observed, "His men are more at his byddynge/Then my men be at myn." In the end, since most events in the various Robin Hood stories are folklore, arguments over the "real" or "true" Robin Hood are unlikely to reach any conclusion. Even if a historical Robin Hood or a similar person did indeed exist, finding concrete evidence about his life is highly improbable.

Evolution of the Robin Hood legend

The stories relating to Robin Hood are apocryphal, verging on the mythical. The modern image widely held today contrasts in many ways with the medieval legend, the latter being far grittier and bloodier than most modern audiences would recognise. The modern Robin Hood was created by 16th and 17th century dramatists and writers, while the early medieval Robin Hood of Wakefield, was more realistic, yet elaborated on in the creation of wandering minstrels, and is a more elusive yet realistic figure.

Historical references

Outlaws, thieves and bandits were often referred to as "Robin Hoods" as early as the 1200s.

The first appearance of the "bold outlaw" himself in a surviving manuscript is in William Langland's Piers Plowman (1377) in which Sloth, the lazy priest, boasts "I ken * 'rimes of Robin Hood." The next notice is in Wyntown's Scottish Chronicle, written about 1420, where the following lines occur – without any connection, and in the form of an entry – under the year 1283:

''Lytil Jhon and Robyne Hude Wayth-men ware commendyd gude: In Yngil-wode and Barnysdale Thai oysyd all this tyme thare trawale.

In 1439, a petition was presented to Parliament against one Piers Venables of Aston, in Derbyshire, "who having no liflode, ne sufficeante of goodes, gadered and assembled unto him many misdoers, beynge of his clothynge, and, in manere of insurrection, wente into the wodes in that countrie, like as it hadde be Robyn Hude and his meyne."—Rot. Parl. v. 16. This is the first portrayal of Robin Hood as an antihero, which would stick with him to the 17th century, when Guy Fawkes and his associates were described as "Robin Hoods" by Robert Cecil.

The first mention of a historical Robin Hood is in a passage of the "Scotichronicon," written partly by John Fordun between 1377 and 1384, and partly by his pupil Walter Bower, in about 1450, who largely interpolated the work of his master. Among his interpolations is a passage translated as follows. It is inserted immediately after Fordun's account of the defeat of Simon de Montfort and the punishments inflicted on his adherents:

At this time, 1266, from the number of those who had been deprived of their estates arose the celebrated bandit Robert Hood, (with Little John and their accomplices,) whose achievements the foolish vulgar delight to celebrate in comedies and tragedies, while the ballads upon his adventures sung by the jesters and minstrels are preferred to all others.

According to The Annotated Edition of the English Poets - Early ballads (London, 1856, p.70):

His death is stated by Ritson to have taken place on the 18th of November, 1247, about the eighty-seventh year of his age; but according to the following inscription found among the papers of the Dean of York, and quoted from the Appendix to Thoresby's Ducatus Leodiensis, by Mr. Gutch... the death occurred a month later. In this inscription, which bears evidence of high antiquity, Robin Hood is described as Earl of Huntington—his claim to which title has been as hotly contested as any disputed peerage upon record.

''Hear undernead dis laitl stean
''Lais Robert Earl of Huntingtun
''Near arcir der as hie sa geud
''An pipl kauld im Robin Heud
''Sic utlaws as hi an is men
''Vil England nivr si agen.
''Obiit 24 Kal Dekembris 1247

This inscription also appears on a grave in the grounds of Kirklees Priory near Kirklees Hall (ironically in Calderdale) and close to Brighouse, West Yorkshire. Not surprisingly this is regarded as Robin Hood's grave (see below). The language of this inscription is questionable, though: it has the semblance of faked antiquity, and is easily readable as phonetic modern English. The first recorded mention of the Huntington title in association with Robin Hood appears to be the 1598 play The Downfall of Robert, Earl of Huntington by Anthony Munday.

Ballads and tales

Printed versions of Robin Hood ballads appear in the early 16th century, shortly after the advent of printing in England. In these ballads, Robin Hood is a yeoman which, by that time, meant an independent tradesman or farmer. It is only in the late 16th century that he becomes a nobleman, the Earl of Huntington, Robert of Locksley, or later still, Robert Fitz Ooth.

His romantic attachment to Maid Marian (or "Marion", later confused with a woman named Matilda) is also a product of this later period and probably has something to do with the French pastoral play of about 1280, the Jeu de Robin et Marion. Aside from the names, there is no recognizable Robin Hood connection to the play. However, they were both associated with May festivities, as Friar Tuck was; although at one time they were two distinct possibilities — Alexander Barclay, about 1500, wrote of "some merry fytte of Maid Marian or else of Robin Hood" — they were soon joined in one play. She did not gain the undisputed role of Robin's sweetheart for some time; in Robin Hood's Birth, Breeding, Valor and Marriage, his love is Clorinda the Queen of the Shepherdesses, but Clorinda has vanished, except as a sometimes disguise of Marian.

The late 16th century is also the period when the Robin Hood story is moved back in time to the 1190s, when King Richard was absent from his throne, fighting in the crusades. (See Mair, Historia Majoris Britanniae). One of the original Robin Hood ballads refers to King Edward (Edward I, II, and III ruled England from 1272 to 1377). The idea of Robin Hood as a high-minded Saxon fighting Norman Lords originates in the 19th century, (see e.g. Thierry, Histoire de la Conquête de l'Angleterre par les Normands, livr. xi) most notably in the part Robin Hood plays in Sir Walter Scott's Ivanhoe (1819), chapters 40 - 41, where the familiar modern Robin Hood — "King of Outlaws and prince of good fellows!" as Richard the Lionheart calls him — makes his debut.

The folkloric Robin Hood was deprived of his lands by the villainous Sheriff of Nottingham and became an outlaw. The Sheriff does indeed appear in the early ballads (Robin kills and beheads him), but there is nothing as specific as this allegation (n.b. one historical contender for this villain may be William de Wendenal). Indeed, other ballads recount other reasons; in Robin Hood's Progress to Nottingham, Robin kills royal foresters who mocked him and so becomes an outlaw. Robin's other enemies include the rich abbots and a bounty hunter named Guy of Gisbourne, whom Robin kills and beheads as well. The early ballads contain nothing about giving to the poor, although Robin does make a large loan to an unfortunate knight.

In the ballads, the original "Merry Men" (though not called that) included:Will Scarlet (or Scathlock), Much the Miller's Son, and Little John — who was called "little" as a joke, as he was quite the opposite. Even though the band is regularly described as being over a hundred men, usually only three or four are named. Some appear only once or twice in a ballad: Will Stutly in Robin Hood Rescuing Will Stutly and Robin Hood and Little John; David of Doncaster in Robin Hood and the Golden Arrow; and Arthur a Bland in Robin Hood and the Tanner. Many later adapters developed these characters. Maid Marian and Friar Tuck joined from May festivities in the sixteenth century or so. Still later, the minstrel Alan-a-Dale, who narrates Robin's adventures in song, first appeared in a seventeenth century broadside ballad, and unlike many of the characters thus associated, managed to adhere to the legend.

The ballads of the 1700's include many stories about Robin being severely "drubbed" by many English craftsmen, including a potter, a tanner, a tinker, and a ranger. This makes one wonder why the Sheriff is having such a rough time catching Hood! Many of these tales made it into Howard Pyle's famous version. On the other hand, the ballads often showed him acting with great shrewdness. The tinker only managed to fight with Robin after Robin had stolen his money and a warrant (for Robin) that he carried. The potter sells him his wares, and Robin uses them to rob the sheriff of a large sum. In Robin Hood's Golden Prize, Robin disguises himself as a friar and tricks two priests out of money. Even when he is defeated, he usually tricks his foe into letting him sound his horn; his merry men put an end to the fight. When his foes are too cunning for that, he persuades them to drink with him instead.

Literary references to Robin Hood continued – in As You Like It, the exiled duke and his men "live like the old Robin Hood of England" – and he began to appear in literary works. Ben Jonson began a play, The Sad Shepheard, or a Tale of Robin Hood a satire of Puritanism; John Keats wrote Robin Hood. To A Friend Walter Scott put Robin Hood in Ivanhoe; and Alfred Lord Tennyson wrote a play The Foresters, or Robin Hood and Maid Marian [http://www.lib.rochester.edu/CAMELOT/rh/forest.htm" target="_blank" >*. In a spirit of merry anachronism, T. H. White featured Robin and his band in The Sword in the Stone, a tale of King Arthur's childhood.

Many versions of Robin Hood are presented in the Victorian era, often cut for children, as in Howard Pyle's Merry Adventures of Robin Hood. These set a firm stamp on his role as a man who takes from the rich to give to the poor, but the adventures are still local in scope. While Richard's going to the Crusades is mentioned, Robin plays no role against Prince John, and no part in raising the ransom to free him. These development ensued in the twentieth century.

The Robin Hood legend evolved steadily over time from humble beginnings as an ordinary rogue to a national hero of epic proportions, who not only supported the poor by taking from the rich, but still heroically defended the King of England when his own brother (the scheming Prince John) plotted to usurp the throne from his exile in France during Richard's absence from England when Richard was attending the Crusades.

Connections to existing locations

In modern versions of the legend, Robin Hood is said to have taken up residence in the verdant Sherwood Forest in the county of Nottinghamshire. This is a matter of some considerable contention. The original ballads speak of his being in Barnsdale (the area between Pontefract and Doncaster), some fifty miles north of Sherwood in the county of Yorkshire. This is reinforced for some by the similarity of Locksley to the area of Loxley in Sheffield, where in nearby Tideswell, which was the “Kings Larder” in the Royal Forest of the Peak, a record of Robert de Lockesly in court is found, perhaps in his retirement years in 1245. Although it cannot be proved this is the man himself, it is believed he had a brother called Thomas, which gives credence to the following reference:

“(24) No. 389, f0- 78. Ascension Day, 29 H. III., Nic Meverill, with John Kantia, on the one part, and Henry de Leke. Henry released to Nicolas and John 5 m. rent, which he received from Nicolas and John and Robert de Lockesly for his life from the lands of Gellery, in consideration of receiving from each of them 2 M. only, the said Henry to live at table with one of them and to receive 2 m. annually from the other. T., Sampson de Leke, Magister Peter Meverill, Roger de Lockesly, John de Leke, Robert fil Umfred, Rico de Newland, Richard Meverill. (25) No. 402, p. 80 b. Thomas de Lockesly bound himself that lie would not sell his lands at Leke, which Nicolas Meveril had rendered to him, under a penalty of L40. (40 marks)”

In Barnsdale Forest there is at least one Robin Hood's Well (by the side of the Great North Road), one Little John's Well (near Hampole) and a Robin Hood's stream (in Highfields Wood at Woodlands).

There is something of a modern movement amongst Yorkshire residents to re-confirm the legend of Robin Hood, to the extent that South Yorkshire's new airport, on the site of the redeveloped RAF Finningley airbase near Doncaster, has been given the name Robin Hood Airport Doncaster Sheffield.

There has long been a pub in the village of Hatfield Woodhouse, quite close to the airport, which is known as The Robin Hood and Little John. Centuries ago, a variant of 'as plain as the nose on your face' was 'Robin in Barnesdale stood.'

This debate is hardly surprising, given the considerable value that the Robin Hood legend has for local tourism. One of Nottinghamshire's biggest tourist attractions is the Major Oak, a tree that local folklore claims was the home of the legendary outlaw. There is debate as to whether the tree is old enough: some think its age has been exaggerated, especially as it may be two or more trees fused together, which may have been caused by coppicing. The Sheriff of Nottingham also had jurisdiction in Derbyshire that was known as the “Shire of the Deer,” and this is where the Royal Forest of the Peak is found, which roughly corresponds to today's Peak District National Park. The Royal Forest included Bakewell, Tideswell, Castleton, Ladybower and the Derwent Valley near Loxley. The Sheriff of Nottingham possessed property near Loxley, including Hazlebadge Hall, Peveril Castle and Haddon Hall. Mercia, to which Nottingham belonged, came to within three miles of Sheffield City Centre. The supposed grave of Little John can be found in Hathersage, also in the Peak District.

Robin Hood himself is reputed to be buried in the grounds of Kirklees Priory near Brighouse in West Yorkshire. There is an elaborate grave there with the inscription referred to above. The story is that the Prioress was a relative of Robin's. Robin was ill and staying at the Priory where the Prioress was supposedly caring for him. However, she betrayed him, his health worsened, and he eventually died there.

Before he died, he told Little John (or possibly another of his Merry Men) where to bury him. He fired an arrow from his bow from the Priory window, and where the arrow landed was to be the site of his grave. The actual grave is within sight of the ruins of the Priory, and this lends credence to this version of Robin's life story.

The grave can be visited on occasional organised walks, organised by Calderdale Council Tourist Information office.

Further indications of the legend's connection with West Yorkshire (and particularly Calderdale) are noted in the fact that there are pubs called the Robin Hood in both nearby Brighouse and at Cragg Vale; higher up in the Pennines beyond Halifax, West Yorkshire. There is at least one village in West Yorkshire called Robin Hood, on the A61 between Leeds and Wakefield and close to Rothwell. With all these references to Robin Hood, it is not surprising that the people of both South Yorkshire and West Yorkshire lay some claim to Robin Hood, who, if he existed, could easily have roamed between Nottingham, Lincoln, Doncaster, and right into West Yorkshire. In those days, Sherwood Forest and Barnsdale Forest were probably all one vast forest affording plenty of cover for a band of outlaws.

Modern interpretations

Songs, plays, games, and, later, novels, musicals, films, and TV series have developed Robin Hood and company according to the needs of their times, and the mythos has been subject to extensive ideological manipulation. Maid Marian, for instance, something of a warrior maiden in early Victorian novels, was reduced in demeanour to passivity during the period of the women's suffrage movement. As the media power of the modern feminist movement gathered momentum, Marian reacquired an altogether more active role.

Robin Hood himself has been transformed from an "outlaw for venyson" with an occasional element of generosity with no particularly notable skill in archery – and no suggestion of political animosity – in the original tales, to a medieval Che Guevara, a deadly accurate master archer fighting a guerrilla war against Prince John, the Sheriff of Nottingham, and his vicious second, Guy of Gisbourne, on behalf of the oppressed and King Richard.

Libertarians and Classic Liberals have interpreted Robin Hood as a liberty seeking anti-government independent. In this phrasing, the power structure of the Sheriff and Prince John are representative of the government, while Robin Hood and the Merry Men are the rebellious everymen, with Friar Tuck as an ambivalent Church. Robin Hood returns taxes, confiscated goods and private property to their rightful owners, the common individual citizen in this reading.

An alternative interpretation can be found in Objectivism, which criticizes the conventional interpretation as it glorifies stealing from the rich to give to the poor – an act it considers morally reprehensible.

Robin Hood has become shorthand for a good-hearted bandit who steals from the rich to give to the poor. It is also a proverbial expression for somebody who takes other people's giveaways and gives them to people he or she knows who could use them. This can be called, "Robin Hood giving." Many countries and situations boast their own Robin Hood characters; the Category:Robin Hood page tracks them.

An airport in South Yorkshire has been opened and named "The Doncaster Sheffield Robin Hood Airport".

Other trivia

Ballads

Ballads are the oldest existing form of the Robin Hood legends, although none of them are recorded at the time of the first allusions to him, and many are much later.

Books

  • Robin Hood by Paul Creswick, 1917. Particularly noted for its illustrator, N.C. Wyeth.
  • The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle. An outlaw chief, Captain Cully of Greenwood Forest, is an aspiring Robin Hood, who even writes ballads celebrating himself. After taking another character for Mr. Child, he tries to get them collected, and to be reassured that they are real ballads, even if he wrote them himself. The magician Schmendrick conjures up the legendary band in order to escape Cully, and Cully's band of outlaws dissolve, chasing after the fantastic outlaws before them.
  • The Outlaws of Sherwood by Robin McKinley, 1988, a retelling in which Robin Hood is, in fact, the worst archer in his band, but whose shrewdness leads them through their dangers
  • Sherwood by Parke Godwin, 1992, and Robin and the King, 1993
  • The Sherwood Game by Esther Friesner, 1995, features Robin Hood and his merry man as computer programs, who do not let their lack of flesh and blood interfere with their ways.
  • DC Comics published a Robin Hood comic book in the 1950s. The character of Robin, Batman's sidekick, was partly modelled on Robin Hood, as is explicitly stated in the prologue to the first appearence of the character in Detective Comics #38.

Movies and TV series

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Robin Hood".

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