The Legend of Robin Hood

Ok so I have a bit of an obsession with the legend of Robin Hood. And that means that I’ve also spent a lot of time looking up the original legends in my spare time. So here is a timeline sort of thing that I have put together on how the legend of Robin Hood and his Merry Men formed and evolved. (This is mostly from Wikipedia…)

So the first recorded reference of Robin Hood is in Piers Plowman in the 14^th century. The first narrative ballad of Robin Hood is from the late 15^th to early 16^th century. By then, characters like the Sheriff of Nottingham, Little John, Much the Miller’s Son, and Will Scarlett had appeared. They were also identified with Sherwood Forest. By the end of the 16^th century, he was also identified with Loxley. The early legends are also clear that he is a yeoman, or a commoner, and not a noble as he is commonly shown now. And once stories started calling him a nobleman, he was often the Earl of Huntingdon.

Today he is often portrayed as a supporter of King Richard the Lion Heart while he was away on the Third Crusade and his brother John was in charge. This only started in the 16^th century, earlier than that the king is supposedly Edward. And tales earlier than that keep Robin’s efforts on a local scale only.

Along with the ballads, he was also a prominent figure in the May Day celebrations (which are most famous for their pole dancing). The earliest was in 1426, but they gained popularity through the 15^th and 16^th centuries. It’s thought that Maid Marian and Friar Tuck joined the legend through the May Day party. Robin was sometimes called the “May King” and presided over it, but there were also plays featuring him and his men.

Marian was part of a different May Day thing, but the two stories were eventually brought together. Robin’s original sweetheart was called Clorinda, which is sometimes still used as a name Marian adopts.

Allan a Dale was not introduced in the 17^th century, and managed to stick. This was also the time where his motto of stealing from the rich and giving to the poor became popular. It also quite recently (as in 1980s) has become popular to include a Muslim in with the men.

There is also Robin’s supposed “grave” outside of Kirklee’s abbey. The story is that he was dying after his cousin, a nun, poisoned him and he shot an arrow through his window to mark where he would be buried. Historians however have proved that the grave isn’t old enough to be his.

Having looked at all of the changes that the legend went through, I think it’s highly unlikely that there was a real Robin Hood (although there are several theories out there) and even if there was, he would be very different from how we would expect him to be. Which is unfortunate, but that’s just how these things go.