Robin Hood Biography / Pictures

This redistributionalist form of philosophy in action anticipates the work of writers such as Proudhon and Karl Marx by many hundreds of years. Although most noted for this material egalitarianism, in his stories he also pursues other types of equality and justice. But as mentioned below, Robin Hood originally was not so generous.

The stories relating to Robin Hood are apocryphal, verging on the mythological. His first appearance in a manuscript is in William Langland's Piers Plowman (1377) in which Sloth, the lazy priest boasts "I can (i.e. 'ken') 'rimes of Robin Hood.' Three years later the Scottish chronicler John Fordun writes that, in ballads, "Robin Hood delights above all others."

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, means 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") (originally known as Mathilda) 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.

The late 16th century is also the period when the Robin Hood story is moved back in time to the 1190s, when King Richard is away at the crusadess. 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, most notably in the part Robin Hood plays in Sir Walter Scott's Ivanhoe.

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. Robin's other enemies include the rich abbots of the Catholic Church and a bounty hunter named Guy of Gisbourne. Robin kills and beheads him as well. In the early ballads there is nothing about giving to the poor although Robin does make a large loan to an unfortunate knight.

Robin Hood is said to have taken up residence in the verdant Sherwood Forest. This is a matter of some considerable contention. The original ballads speak of his being in Barnsdale, some fifty miles north of Sherwood. Others argue that if this were true he would have nothing to do with the Sheriff of Nottingham who operated two days ride to the south.

In the ballads, original "Merry Men" (though not called that) included: Friar Tuck, Will Scarlet or Scathlock, Much the Miller's Son, and Little John who was called "little" because he wasn't. Alan-a-Dale is a later invention in Robin Hood plays.

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 a bandit with an occasional element of generosity in the original tales, to the contemporary reading, where he is depicted more as a medieval Che Guevara leading a small rebel force fighting a guerrilla war against Prince John and the Sheriff on behalf of the oppressed and King Richard I.

Historical 'Merry Men'

Medieval legal documents record at least fifty different criminals named Robin Hood in the two centuries between 1200-1400 (or Robert Hod or similar, medieval spelling was hugely variable). Whilst this is not surprising, seeing as 'Robin Hood' was a synonym or nickname for outlaws in general by the 1200's, it is possible that any of these may have been the historical basis for the Robin Hood legend.

The following is a list of some of the most notable:

1209-1221: Robert Hod, servant of the Abbot of Cirencester. Murdered a cleric named Ralf of Cirencester and fled with two accomplices. All three were formally outlawed in 1221.

1225-1234: Robert Hod, fugitive listed in the York Pipe Rolls. Crimes unknown.

1243: Robert Hode, accused of manslaughter in Somerset. Fled along with others and was outlawed.

1262-1268: Robert Hod, vassal of the Constable family in Holderness, East Yorkshire. Committed robberies and trespasses at the towns of Hedon, Ottringham and Burstwick.

1354: Robert Hod accused of committing forest offences in Rockingham Forest, Northamptonshire, held in prison and seeking bail

1377: Robert Hode of Ilveston, Leicestershire. Pardoned of outlawry for unknown offences.

1382: Robert Hode of Waddesley, West Yorkshire. Pardoned of outlawry for his role in the York riots of 1380.

It has been thought that the historical 'Robin Hood' may have been an obscure man with only the faintest resemblance to the legendary figure, but if that is so then locating him is next to impossible. Stripping away the content of the ballads until left with nothing but a name is a meaningless and arbitrary form of research, and can lead to no reliable conclusions. Few of the real-life Robert Hods/Hodes etc have tangible links to the traditional locations or events of the ballads, and most surely have to be dismissed as mere coincidence. However, from the great number of Robert Hoods that have been found in the records at least three are worth discussing.

The Robert Hod, fugitive of the 1225-35 York Pipe Rolls has been suggested as a Robin Hood candidate by academics such as Sir James Holt and Michael Wood since his discovery by Professor LVD Owen in the 1930s. Very little is known about this outlaw ('outlaw' and 'fugitive' were interchangeable legal terms). He fled from the law at some point between the York Assizes of 1219 and 1225 and as a consequence his worldly goods were seized by the Sheriff and sold off to the value of 32 shillings and 6 pence. The amount was supposed to be paid into the Exchequer but remained outstanding in the Pipe Rolls until 1234 when it appears to have been claimed by the Liberty of St Peters in York. His name appears once in the records spelled as 'Hobbehod', but the plea rolls that would have contained details of his crimes have not survived.

Dr David Crook has suggested that Hobbehod could be identified with one Robert of Wetherby, an evidently notorious Yorkshire 'outlaw and evildoer' who was caught and hanged in chains in 1225. However the identification rests on a coincidence of timing and the fact that both men shared the same very common first name. There is no evidence that Robert of Wetherby had the surname Hod and the connection must remain a somewhat remote possibility.

Another possible identification can be made with a Robert Hod who lived at Linton in the West Riding (coincidentally only 2 miles from Wetherby) This man held land at Sicklinghall near the river Wharfe and his name appears on a 1257-8 Eyre roll of men in debt to Jewish moneylenders. Previous Eyres (court sessions) for this period took place in Yorkshire in 1219, 1230-1 and 1240-1.

Land charters show that Robert Hod of Linton was still a lawful member of society in 1223, and his name does not occur on the 1230-1 Eyre. This suggests he was either absent or dead: he was definitely still alive to be recorded in 1240/1 so he must have been absent in 1231. Either his case originates from that date or he can be identified with the outlaw Hobbehod. Hobbehod's repeated entries c.1225-1234 cover the period - though admittedly they are just repetition and offer no clue to Hobbehod's status after 1225. The timing of the records is consistent here but again there is no conclusive evidence that this Robert Hod and the outlaw Hobbehod were one and the same person.

It has been noted that the Sheriff of Yorkshire who seized Hobbehod's chattels, one Eustace of Lowdham, also served as deputy and then High Sheriff of Nottingham. In addition the value of Hobbehod's chattels could place him in the middling or 'yeoman' social status that Robin Hood has always been identified with. This is all true enough as far as it goes, but the vague identification of a Sheriff and the value of a man's possessions are hardly vital factors in locating a historical Robin Hood.

There are various scenarios that this outlaw could be fitted into. Yorkshire in the early 13th century was a turbulent place and a great many disturbances took place that Hobbehod could have participated in.

Between 1221-25 various 'robberies, fires and murders' were committed in Yorkshire. This was the aftermath of a civil conflict between the Crown and the Earl of Albermarle. Albemarle's defeat and disgrace destabilized Yorkshire and throughout the early 1220s many of his followers and men-at-arms were outlawed and took to living as robbers. It is conceivable that Hobbehod was one of these men.

Another possibility comes from Easter 1225 when Brian de Lisle, another former Sheriff of Nottingham, was dispatched to inspect the royal forests in Yorkshire and decide which areas should be deforested. According to the chronicler Roger of Wendover there was a great deal of opposition to this process, and the protesters reacted by illegally hunting game and committing other forest offences. Knaresborough Forest near Linton was a royal forest and the coincidence of timing with Hobbehod's flight from the law could suggest that he was involved.

The area around Knaresborough including Linton and Wetherby was particularly lawless in the early 13th century. In 1223 the Archbishop of York, Walter Grey, attempted to seize the manor of Biccehill in Knaresborough, causing violent protests from the traders in the trading area of Bondend. It is possible that Robert Hod of Linton was one of the protesters and was outlawed as a result: his surname 'Hod' could indicate that he was some kind of tradesman, possibly a clothworker or hoodmaker. See here for some suggested origins of the surname Hod (Hood):

The region of Linton, Wetherby etc was owned by the powerful Percy family, later Earls of Northumberland. In 1224 a dispute between Richard Percy and his cousin William spilled over into violence at Hornington (south of York) Here many of Richard Percy's tenants, most of them from the Linton/Wetherby area, smashed William Percy's mills and assaulted his servants. One of the men accused of this crime was a Robert of Linton, and this could be an abbreviation of Robert Hod of Linton. Irritatingly there is no way of confirming or denying this.

However these are all just possibilities and 'could have' is of no use. Without further evidence of Hobbehod's criminal career, he will forever remain a mystery. It is just conceivable that the legend of Robin Hood could have been sparked by such an obscure figure, but without more data the case is at best circumstantial.

A few decades later there are records of another interesting Robert Hod, this time a tenant of the Constable family that owned Holderness and much of the East Riding of Yorkshire. Between 1261-2 Robert Hod of Halsham (a small village in Holderness) took part in a series of robberies at the towns of Hedon and Ottringham, close to Hull. The ringleader during these incidents was the Sheriff of Holderness, who at the time was heading a rebellion against royal authority. In about 1260 Prince Edward, eldest son of Henry III, summoned the knights and tenants of Holderness to escort him while he visited his sister in Scotland. The men of Holderness refused and in response a royal army was dispatched to seize their goods. The Sheriff of Holderness barred the royal army's path by smashing the bridge across the river Hull, and then there was a great assembly of the knights, freemen and serfs of Holderness at an unspecified 'chapel in the wood'

Peace between the rebels and the royal troops was soon restored thanks to the efforts of the subprior of Meaux Abbey, who acted as mediator. This rebellion was a localized and short-lived affair mentioned only in the Chronicle of Meaux Abbey, possibly because the success of the subprior in ending it reflected well upon the abbey. Robert Hod's role in the rebellion was unremarkable judging from the record, but as with Hobbehod it is just possible that some local tale of an obscure criminal could have sparked the legend. Such a process cannot (yet) be proved and must remain speculation.

The third Robert Hood of interest is one Robert Hode of Wadsley, also known as Robert Dore. This man was a tradesman or 'litser' of York who was briefly outlawed in 1380-1 for taking part in riots in York that were directed against an unpopular Mayor, John of Gisburne. Apart from his enemy's name, 'Gisburne', which has parallels with Guy of Gisburne in the Robin Hood ballads, this Robert Hode is interesting because he originated from Wadsley in West Yorkshire, right next to Loxley in Sheffield.

The Sheffield Loxley has been Robin Hood's traditional birthplace since c.1600, when it was described as such in some brief notes in the Sloane Manuscript collection and a short article written by the antiquarian Roger Dodsworth. However, Loxley is absent from the early Robin Hood tales. Perhaps Robert Hode of Wadsley was a later influence on the story and inspired the inclusion of Loxley: he was active several decades after the earliest evidence of the legend's existence. But there is a long time gap between 1380 and 1600 and again this must remain a mere possibility. There is another Loxley connection (this time Loxley in Staffordshire) detailed later on this site.

It is equally difficult to identify most of Robin Hood's followers as real people. There were a great number of criminals named Little John (or John Little, Jean Petit and variants) including a Jean Petit who broke out of jail in Exeter in 1266 and a John Little who was accused of various larcenies in 1318. Again none of these men have any tangible connections to the story other than hopeful speculation. They are simply criminals bearing a common name.

Robin Hood's lover, Maid Marion, appears to have been inspired by the fictional character Marion who appears in various French pastorals from the 1280s onwards and then made her way into the May Games in England. In the 16th century the playwright and government agent Anthony Munday was the first to connect her to Robin Hood, calling her 'Matilda Fitzwalter' in his plays 'The Downfall of Robert Earl of Huntingdon' and 'The Death of Robert Earl of Huntingdon'. For more information on Munday's work, go here:

Names such as Will Scarlet and Much the Miller's Son have no known origin and the most likely explanation is that they are literary inventions. Perhaps surprisingly, one of the few 'Merry Men' who can be firmly claimed to have been a real person is the most whimsical, Friar Tuck.

In the early 15th century Suss-- was terrorized by an outlawed friar named Robert Stafford and his gang. The clerks who drafted writs for his arrest made reference to the fact that Robert used an alias - 'Frere Tuk'. The clerks appear to have had no previous knowledge of the name as they recorded that Robert had 'assumed the name of Frere Tuk newly so in common parlance' and that he had 'taken the unusual name, in common parlance, of Frere Tuk'. Friar Tuck did not make his first appearance in the Robin Hood tales until 1475 and it seems that some minstrel decided that Robert Stafford deserved to live on as a member of Robin's band.

The Robin Hood legend became massively more popular and enduring than any other medieval outlaw tale. However he is not mentioned by contemporary medieval chroniclers until the 15th century, while those historical figures who inspired other tales are. The 13th century chronicler Matthew Paris included a drawing of Eustace the Monk being beheaded in his Chronicle, and Roger of Wendover also mentions Eustace. At the same time Walter de Hemingford (of Guisborough Priory in Yorkshire) mentioned Eustace and `Le Romans de Wistasse li Moin`,- The Romance of Eustace the Monk. Pierre de Langetoft (also in Yorkshire) mentioned Fulk fitz Warin. Why did none of these writers mention Robin Hood?

If there was a historical Robert/Robin Hood responsible for the legend, then Walter of Hemingbrough and Pierre Langetoft at least must have known, they were writing at the end of the 13th century and lived in Yorkshire, one of Robin Hood's traditional haunts. Why are real-life heroes such as Fulk and Eustace mentioned by these chroniclers and yet not a word about Robin Hood? If he existed then the failure to mention him doesn`t seem logical.

However there is a historical sheriff, William de Wendenal, who we know little of due to most records being lost. He served as the High Sheriff of Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire in King Richard the Lionheart's absence (during the 1190s), and some who believe in a historical Robin Hood have claimed him to be an obscure nemesis of this historical sheriff.

Robin Hood eventually turned up in New York City in the year 2006 to spread Good Will and Money to the people.