Misplaced Pages

Robin Hood

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by A ghost (talk | contribs) at 17:34, 18 January 2006 (→Modern interpretations: move anon's edit up to improve flow). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Revision as of 17:34, 18 January 2006 by A ghost (talk | contribs) (→Modern interpretations: move anon's edit up to improve flow)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff) This article is about the folk hero. For the Texas school funding system, see Robin Hood plan.

Robin Hood is the archetypal English folk hero, from Wakefield, West Yorkshire, an outlaw who, in modern versions of the legend, stole from the rich to give to the poor. Although most noted for his material egalitarianism, in the stories he also pursues other types of equality and justice. However, as mentioned below, Robin Hood was not quite so generous in the original medieval legends. In the end, since most events in the various Robin Hood stories are fictional, arguments over the "real" or "true" Robin Hood are unlikely to reach any conclusion. Even if Robin Hood or a similar person did indeed exist, finding concrete evidence about his life is highly improbable.

The Robin Hood legend

The stories relating to Robin Hood are apocryphal, verging on the mythological. The modern image widely held today contrasts in many ways with the medieval legend. The modern Robin Hood was created by 16th and 17th century dramatists and writers, while the medieval Robin Hood was probably the creation of wandering minstrels, and is a more elusive figure.

His first appearance in a 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 historical mention of 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, 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.

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") (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 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. Robin's other enemies include the rich abbots of the Catholic Church 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: Friar Tuck, 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. The minstrel Alan-a-Dale, who narrates Robin's adventures in song, is a later invention in Robin Hood plays.

Possible 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.

The "Robin Hood Tree"

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.

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 settlement in West Yorkshire called Robin Hood. 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 its 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 a shorthand for a good-hearted bandit who steals from the rich to give to the poor. Many countries and situations boast their own Robin Hood characters; the Category:Robin Hood page tracks them.

Other trivia

  • Dooh Nibor. Spelling "Robin Hood" backwards yields "Dooh Nibor"—a name that describes the reverse of Robin Hood—a government or politician who "stole from the poor to give to the rich."
  • Monty Python parodied Robin Hood in 1973 with Dennis Moore, a bumbling outlaw who distributed unwanted items stolen from the rich and given to the poor, particularly Lupins. He was soon persuaded to steal wealth from them, but overdoes it so badly that even the singers of his theme song mock him as stupid.
  • Rob O' The Hedge is a character from the Sonic the Hedgehog Archie Comics who combines the design of Sonic with Robin Hood's traits.

Movies and TV series

File:Flynn robin hood.jpg
Errol Flynn in The Adventures of Robin Hood
  • 1938: The Adventures of Robin Hood, starring Errol Flynn in the first talkie. Flynn is a smarter, more articulate Robin Hood—very aware of the proto-fascist regime he is fighting and the hard times of people around him in this darker story. Maid Marian accuses Robin: "You speak treason!" "Fluently," he replies. It is considered a classic of the adventure genre.
  • 1941: DC Comics introduces its own Robin Hood in the form of the comic book archer Green Arrow (alias Oliver Queen) who operates in the fictional Star City. He uses "trick" arrows, with modified or replaced arrowheads (such as a boxing glove arrow) to foil crime. Originally a minor superhero, his star rose in the late 1960s, when his personality was modified to become a strident champion of the underprivileged, much like his inspiration.
  • 1946: Bandit of Sherwood Forest
  • 1948: The Prince of Thieves
  • 1951: Tales of Robin Hood
  • 1967: A Challenge for Robin Hood, a Hammer version, with Barrie Ingham as Robin
  • 1967: Rocket Robin Hood, a space-age version of the Robin Hood legend, where he and his band of Merry Spacemen live in the year 3000 on Sherwood Asteroid and fight the evil Sheriff who rules the space territory of N.O.T.T. (Trillium / Steve Krantz Production)
File:Robin Hood1.png
Robin Hood in the 1973 Disney movie, the most famous animated version of the legend.
  • 1975: The Legend of Robin Hood, a BBC miniseries starring Martin Potter in the title role. The six-episode adaptation was aired on public television in the U.S. in the later 1970s.
  • 1984 - 1986: The 1980s British series Robin of Sherwood, aka Robin Hood, was a New Age fantasy starring Michael Praed as Robin, later replaced by Jason Connery (son of Sean Connery) as Robert, called Robin. In this version the two Robins actually get to wear hoods occasionally. The series set the template for most of the adaptions that followed, most notably the introduction of a Muslim outlaw.
  • 1989 - 1994: The British children's TV show Maid Marian and her Merry Men rewrote the legend somewhat, with Marian as the dynamic leader of the resistance against Prince John, Robin as her thick-headed, buffoonish figurehead, and Nottingham as John's put-upon, sarcastic enforcer.
  • 1990: Animated series Young Robin Hood, developed by Belgian studio Cinar, tells a version of the story in which Robin and his men, as well as Maid Marian, are teenagers. This version also incorporates several fantasy elements. For example, Robin is sometimes assisted by a forest-dwelling old woman who knows magic. This cartoon aired in America as part of a block of adventure themed Saturday morning cartoons, and until recently ran in reruns on Boomerang.
  • 1990: Animated series Robin Hood no Dai Boken - ロビンフッドの大冒険 (Japanese title), developed by Japanese studio Tatsunoko Productions, tells a version of the story in which Robin and his men (and women), as well as Maid Marian, are - in majority - kids. This version also incorporates several fantasy elements, mainly expressed in mystic powers of the nature and a powerul tresure protected by the forest Sherwood itself. The whole series contains strong environmental messages.
  • 1996: Robin of Locksley was a made for TV movie starring Devon Sawa as a modern teenage Robin attending a prep school with the snobbish John Prince.
  • 1997: Honey Kisaragi transforms into Robin Hood Honey in episode 13 in the series Cutey Honey.
  • 1999: The children's series Back To Sherwood featured a teenage descendent of Robin (Robyn Hood) who discovers she has the power to travel back in time, and joins with the children of her ancestor's band (Joan Little, Phil Scarlet, etc.)
  • 2001: Robin Hood and the Merry Men make a memorable cameo appearance as unwelcome rescuers in the movie version of William Steig's Shrek. Here, they speak with French accents, partake in Irish step-dancing, and are defeated by a girl.
  • 2001: Robin Hood's heroic daughter, Gwyn, Keira Knightley on horseback with bow in hand, takes over her father's role and comes to his rescue in the made for TV movie Princess of Thieves.
  • 2005: A Codename: Kids Next Door episode, Operation: L.U.N.C.H. features a villain named Robin Food, who is supposed to cook food in a senior citizen's home but steals kids' lunches instead. He wears Robin Hood-like clothes, but with a chicken drumstick in his hat instead of a feather.
  • 2006: A new thirteen-episode Robin Hood television series, produced by Tiger Aspect for BBC One, is due to air in the UK.

The character of Robin from the Batman series of comics is reported to have taken both his name and the style of his original costume from Robin Hood.

Appearance in other arts

Music

Composer Robert Steadman, who lived for some time in Nottingham, has written 2 musical compositions using the myths of Robin Hood:

Video games

  • Cinemaware's classic 1986 title Defender of the Crown featured Robin Hood as one of the player's allies in the struggle to re-conquer England.
  • In 2003, Defender of the Crown was re-mastered and re-released as Robin Hood: Defender of the Crown.
  • Robin Hood was also the protagonist in the 1993 Sierra Online adventure game, Conquests of the Longbow .
  • Other Robin Hood-themed video games are listed on MobyGames.
  • Code Masters 1985 action platformer by the Oliver twins, Super Robin Hood
  • The historically influenced video game "Gengis Khan II" by Koei featured Robin Hood as a character that would offer to enlist as a general in the player's service, provided that England is part of the player's kingdom.
  • An NES game based on the Kevin Costner film "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves" was released.
  • In 2002/2003 a strategy game entitled "Robin Hood: Legend of Sherwood" by Wanadoo, Strategy First and Spellbound Studios, was released. It featured many of the Merry Men listed above.
  • In Shrek SuperSlam, a fighting game released 2005, Robin Hood is a playable character.

See also

External links

References

Categories: