8 November: Robin Hood

In 1247, the possible date of the death of Robin Hood. The inscription on his alleged grave at Kirklees reads “Obiit 24 kal: Dekemris 1247” which in the Roman calendar would mean “23 days before the beginning of December” – which would be November 8. Truth is, nobody has been able to prove he even existed, let alone the exact date he died.

1. Most of what we know about Robin Hood comes from a handful of early texts and ballads. The first time he is ever mentioned is in a text called Piers Plowman, dated to about 1377 and written by William Langland, a contemporary of Geoffrey Chaucer. The earliest surviving ballad about him is Robin Hood and the Monk, written in the 15^th century. It's from this one that we get the association with Nottingham and its sheriff.
2. However, there is a fair bit of evidence associating him much more closely with Yorkshire than Nottinghamshire. Another 15^th century collection of stories called A Gest of Robyn Hode has him living in Barnsdale rather than Sherwood Forest. Indeed, most of what is left of Sherwood Forest today is actually in Yorkshire. There are manuscripts in the British Museum which state that he he was born around 1160 in Lockersley, which is probably modern day Loxley, a suburb of Sheffield. Yet another account says he was a native of Wakefield. So Sheffield and Doncaster are perfectly justified in naming their airport after him. Robin Hood’s Close and Little John’s Close in Whitby were so named because, allegedly, the two men had an archery contest, shooting arrows from the roof of the monastery there, and the closes are where the arrows landed.
3. That doesn't mean to say none of the story happened in Nottingham – there are places there, too, mentioned in the legends, like Robin Hood's Well, near Newstead Abbey and the Church of St. Mary in Edwinstowe. Also in Nottinghamshire is The Major Oak, an 800 year old tree which is said to have been used by Robin and his Merry men to hide in. However, while it might be possible to hide a few people in the huge tree now, in Robin Hood's time it would have been little more than a sapling.
4. The idea of Robin being an outlawed nobleman called Robin of Locksley was Sir Walter Scott’s interpretation of the legend. The early ballads say he was a “yeoman” which means he wasn't a mere peasant, but he was slightly below the status of a knight. He may have been a landowner or an artisan, but he wasn't a noble.
5. Another departure from the original stories is that Robin's king was Richard I, when according to the ballads, the king he served was Edward II.
6. The Gest of Robyn Hode introduces several of the Merry Men, including Little John, Will Scarlet and Much the Miller’s Son, but not Maid Marian. She is a 16^th century addition, when representations of Robin Hood in May Day festivals demanded he should have a love interest. In fact, one early story, Robin Hood's Birth, Breeding, Valor, and Marriage, he has a different girlfriend - Clorinda the Queen of the Shepherdesses. Some later accounts get around this by claiming Clorinda was an alias used by Maid Marian.
7. Friar Tuck wasn't mentioned until the 15^th century, either. He is first mentioned in the play Robin Hood and the Sheriff from 1475. He may have been based on a real person called Robert Stafford, chaplain of Lindfield in Sussex who used the name Frere Tuk when he committed robberies in around 1417. Even in modern times, characters are being added to the Merry Men. Since the 1980s it has been common to include a Saracen, or Muslim, character among Robin Hood's followers. This character has variously been known as Nasir, Azeem and Djaq.
8. Talking of aliases – Robin Hood may not have been the folk hero's real name. "Robin Hood" may have been a stock alias used by thieves and outlaws. In those times, Robin was a diminutive form of Robert, a common name. The surname Hood was fairly common, too, and could be applied to people who made hoods, or people who wore them. So there would have been any number of men with the name Robin or Robert Hood, and some of them were bound to break the law at some stage. Legal records from the York Assizes dating back to 1226 mention a Robert Hod, a real person who owed money to St Peter's in York, and his worldly goods, amounting to 32 shillings and 6 pence (less than £2) were confiscated, thus making him an outlaw.
9. It's not even certain that Robin Hood wore “Lincoln Green” as a 19^th century poem has him dressed in scarlet, while the Merry Men, presumably including Will Scarlet, are in green. Nor do any of the early poems make any mention of Robin Hood stealing from the rich to give to the poor.
10. He is said to have died at Kirklees priory, and was taken there when he became and ill, because his aunt was the prioress there and it was presumed she'd take care of him. However, she wasn't on his side at all – she was willing to kill her own nephew at the request of Sir Roger de Doncaster. She slowly bled Robin to death. When Robin realised what she was doing, he used the last of his strength he blew his horn and Little John came to his aid, but it was too late to save Robin Hood. Robin asked Little John to put a bow in his hand and carry him to a window, from which she shot one last arrow. He told Little John to bury him where the arrow landed.

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