The End of the Merry men

Robin Hood's long-term aim in all his adventures is to replace the rightful king Richard I on the throne which had been usurped by his brother John. Therefore, most Robin Hood collections end happily, with Richard returning from imprisonment in triumph and the Merry Men receiving a royal welcome and a full pardon.

Few stories go past this fairytale ending, but in at least one the fate of some of the individual characters is described until their (not always natural) deaths. (See Character section).

Robin´s hood Linage

ROBIN´S LINAGE

It is generally agreed that Robin was a Saxon noble. Variations, however, include that he had a Saxon father and a Norman mother (thereby making him unwelcome in either circle); that he was the son of one of the last Saxon thegns to maintain a fiefdom after the Norman invasion; and that he was a Crusading Knight who returned from the Holy Land to find his lands taken.

Is Robbin Hood a Fairy Tail?

Is Robbin Hood a Fairy Tail? 

No, but it is a classic. Robin Hood does involve some magic, but it is more in the practical medieval witchcraft sense then fairy like. Fairy Tale magic generally comes more in the form of talking animals, fairies, goblins, and the like.~Hitherepal.

Robin Hood and Maid Marian

Robin Hood and Maid Marian


There was a time when Robin Hood, the famous outlaw, was not an outlaw at all but a nobleman, Lord of Locksley. He lived near Sherwood Forest, and it was in that forest where, one day, Robin went out hunting and came up on a maiden wearing a dress as green as the springtime leaves.




There, he knew at once, was the woman he would always love.




Robin learned her name was Marian. She was the daughter of the Earl of Fitzwalter, who lived in a castle not far from Robin's home. Soon he introduced himself, and before long he and Marian went out hunting together and naturally they fell in love. When Marian agreed to marry Robin, he thought he must be the happiest man in the world.




But before they could marry, the sheriff of Nottingham cheated Robin out of his fortune, and with his change of luck, Robin was forced to run away into the forest. From that day on, the green wood was the place he would make his home.




Robin was now poor but he was wise and crafty. He swore to take revenge on all who stole and lied and cheated other folk, and he knew he could live happily in the forest, protecting those unable to protect themselves. Life would be fine, except for one thing.




So, his heart breaking, he wrote to Marian and broke their engagement.




Robin's life in the forest as an outlaw began. But Marian had never stopped thinking of Robin, and she decided she must find him. Traveling alone was unsafe for any woman, and so Marian disguised herself as a young knight. She tucked her hair beneath her helmet, which hid most of her face, and with a sword for protection, she set out into the forest, determined to find her beloved.




At the same time, Robin was in the forest, but he too wore a disguise. When Robin happened upon a young man in the forest, he disguised his voice, and called out, "Stop, you there! What is your mission here? What is your name, and where are you going?"




Now this young man, in truth, was Marian, but Robin did not recognize her, and she did not recognize him. In fact, his voice sounded so gruff, a shiver passed down her back, and fearing that he meant to harm her, she drew her sword.




When Robin saw that, he too drew his sword. "Since you do not answer, you must be up to evil, lad."




The two began to fight.




Robin was taller, and stronger too, but Marian was a master with her sword.




He was amazed at the grace with which his enemy moved, the speed and artistry the young knight employed. Under his breath, Robin whispered, "How I wish this man were part of my band of men."




The fight lasted for a half-hour, when finally Robin wounded Marian's arm, and Marian's sword found its way under the heavy hood Robin wore and scratched his cheek.




"Halt then," Robin called, for he had begun to feel sorry for the young knight. This time, he forgot to disguise his voice, and the moment Marian heard those words, she dropped her sword. "Robin," she gasped. "Can it be you?"




Now Robin too recognized the voice. This was Marian, the love of his life.


Robin threw back his hood, and Marian flung down her helmet, letting her hair fall loose. When they saw each other without their disguises, they laughed, and wept, and embraced. Marian swore she would never again let him leave her. She, too, would live in the green wood.

Robin Hood.... Fac or Fiction?

Robin Hood (spelled Robyn Hode in older sources) is a heroic outlaw in English folklore, and, according to legend, was also a highly skilled archer and swordsman. The outlaw has derived a reputation for performing humanitarian deeds, and in particular for "robbing from the rich and giving to the poor", assisted by a group of fellow outlaws known as his "Merry Men". Traditionally, Robin Hood and his men are depicted wearing Lincoln green clothes. According to some accounts, the legend has its roots in the activities of actual medieval outlaws, or the ballads or tales that circulated about them.



Robin Hood became a popular folk figure in the medieval period, and continues to be widely represented in modern literature, films and television. In the earliest sources Robin Hood is ayeo man, but later portrayals raise him to the level of an aristocrat wrongfully dispossessed of his lands and made into an outlaw by an unscrupulous sheriff.


FACT OR FICTION?


Many historians are convinced that Robin Hood was a real person, more or less accurately portrayed. Sir J.C. Holt (1989:55) argues for a "historical" Robin Hood placed in the 13th century. Alternatively, the origin of the legend is claimed by some historians to have stemmed from actual outlaws, or from tales of outlaws, such as Hereward the Wake, Eustace the Monk, Fulk FitzWarin and William Wallace.

The Church of Saint Mary Magdalene at Campsall

The Church of Saint Mary Magdalene at Campsall

The historian John Paul Davis wrote of Robin's connection to the Church of Saint Mary Magdalene at Campsall.] A Gest of Robyn Hode states that the outlaw built a chapel in Barnsdale that he dedicated to Mary Magdalene,


‘I made a chapel in Bernysdale, That seemly is to see, It is of Mary Magdaleyne, And thereto wolde I be’.


Davis indicates that there is only one church dedicated to Mary Magdalene within what one might reasonably consider to have been the medieval forest of Barnsdale, and that is the church at Campsall. The church was built in the late eleventh century by Robert de Lacy, the 2nd Baron of Pontefract. Local legend suggests that Robin Hood and Maid Marion were married at the church.

Saint Nicholas's hospital and All Saints Church Pontefract

A recent theory proposes that Robin Hood died at Kirkby, Pontefract. Drayton’s Poly-Olbion Song 28 (67-70) composed in 1622 speaks of Robin Hood’s death and clearly states that the outlaw died at ‘Kirkby’. Acknowledging that Robin Hood operated in the Went Valley, located three miles to the southeast of the town of Pontefract, historians today indicate that the outlaw is buried at what was once the Anglo-Scandinavian town of Kirkby. At the end of the eleventh century Kirkby was home to All Saints Church, which had a priory hospital, the hospital of Saint Nicholas, attached to it. The Tudor historian Richard Grafton stated that the prioress who murdered Robin Hood buried the outlaw beside the road,


‘Where he had used to rob and spoyle those that passed that way…and the cause why she buryed him there was, for that common strangers and travailers, knowing and seeing him there buryed, might more safely and without feare take their journeys that way, which they durst not do in the life of the sayd outlaes’


In a similar fashion, the Gest reads,


‘Cryst have mercy on his soule, That dyed on the rode! For he was a good outlawe, And dyde pore men moch god’.

Saint Nicholas's hospital, which was located approximately three miles from the site of Robin Hood’s robberies at the Saylis, accurately matches both Richard Grafton's and the Gest's description because a road ran directly from Wentbridge to the hospital at Kirkby.

History of the Legend

History of the Legend

The first clear reference to "rhymes of Robin Hood" is from Line 5396 of the late-14th-century poem Piers Plowman, but the earliest surviving copies of the narrative ballads that tell his story date to the 15th century, or the first decade of the 16th century. In these early accounts, Robin Hood's partisanship of the lower classes, his Marianism and associated special regard for women, his outstanding skill as an archer, his anti-clericalism, and his particular animosity towards the Sheriff of Nottingham are already clear. Little John, Much the Miller's Son and Will Scarlet (as Will "Scarlok" or "Scathelocke") all appear, although not yet Maid Marian or Friar Tuck. It is not certain what should be made of these latter two absences as it is known that Friar Tuck, for one, has been part of the legend since at least the later 15th century.


In popular culture, Robin Hood is typically seen as a contemporary and supporter of the late-12th-century king Richard the Lionheart, Robin being driven to outlawry during the misrule of Richard's brother John while Richard was away at the Third Crusade. This view first gained currency in the 16th century. It is not supported by the earliest ballads. The early compilation, A Gest of Robyn Hode, names the king as "Edward"; and while it does show Robin Hood accepting the King's pardon, he later repudiates it and returns to the greenwood.

History of Robin Hood

Historical Robin Hood 

There are a number of theories that attempt to identify a historical Robin Hood. A difficulty with any such historical search is that "Robert" was in medieval England a very common given name, and "Robin" (or Robyn), especially in the 13th century, was its very common . The surname "Hood" (or Hude or Hode etc.) was fairly common because it referred either to a Hooder, who was a maker of hoods; or alternatively to somebody who wore a hood as a head-covering. Unsurprisingly, therefore, reference is made to a number of people called "Robert Hood" or "Robin Hood" in medieval records. Some of these individuals are even known to have fallen afoul of the law.

Locations associated with Robbin Hood 

Sherwood Forest and Nottinghamshire

In popular culture, Robin Hood and his band of "merry men" are portrayed as living near Edwinstowe in Sherwood Forest, in the county of Nottinghamshire. Notably, the Lincoln Cathedral Manuscript, which is the first officially recorded Robin Hood song (dating from approximately 1420), makes an explicit reference to the outlaw which states that "Robyn hode in scherewode stod."] In a similar fashion, a monk of Witham Priory (1460) suggested that the archer had ‘infested shirwode’. His chronicle entry reads.