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Robin Hood Resources Online The legendary outlaw has delighted audiences for over years. This site offers original articles, exclusive interviews, ballads and stories, and in-depth reviews. We have information on everything from the original medieval legend to the newest books, movies and TV shows. Nearly all the articles are written by Allen W. Wright, an independent scholar from Toronto, Ontario, Canada. This site was established in and is constantly updated. An in-depth look at growth and development of the Robin Hood legend from the earliest ballads to the newest movies and TV shows. Was Robin Hood real? A look at the various historical figures that may be the basis for Robin Hood, his friends, and his foes. A collection of ballads and stories -- Robin Hood's greatest adventures. Learn how he became an outlaw and met Little John and Maid Marian. Articles and reviews about Robin Hood books, plays, ballads, TV shows and movies. Discover a new favourite. Exclusive interviews with authors, actors and Outlaw: The Legend of Robin Hood behind the Robin Hood Legend. Includes interviews with some real Sheriffs of Nottingham. A welcome message to the site and list of the most recent updates. A personal look at the webmaster's interest in Robin Hood. Includes tales of his trips to Robin Hood locations. Images of Robin Hood throughout the years, including many pictures of the real Sherwood Forest. Links to other sites about Robin Hood, other outlaw heroes, medieval history, and more. Named after Robin Hood's favourite tavern, this message board welcomes discussions about the legend. Answers to basic questions about Robin Hood. The starting point to learn more. Explore the legend Robin Hood Resources Online The legendary outlaw has delighted audiences for over years. Interviews in Sherwood Exclusive interviews with authors, actors and scholars behind the Robin Hood Legend. Legendary Links Links to other sites about Robin Hood, other outlaw heroes, medieval history, and more. The Blue Outlaw: The Legend of Robin Hood Inn Named after Robin Hood's favourite tavern, this message board welcomes discussions about the legend. Want to know even more facts about Robin Hood? Here are some articles that may appeal to you. Hear from Robin Hood scholars, writers and actors about the outlaw legend. Come join in the fun in April Outlaw: The Legend of Robin Hood May ! Help Outlaw: The Legend of Robin Hood the upkeep of my site and gain access to even more great articles. Contact Us. Robin Hood -- Bold Outlaw of Barnsdale and Sherwood

Robin Hood is a legendary heroic outlaw originally depicted in English folklore and subsequently featured in literature and film. According to legend, he was a highly skilled archer and swordsman. In some versions of the legend, he is depicted as being of noble birth, and in modern retellings he is sometimes depicted as having fought in the Crusades before returning to England to find his lands taken by the Sheriff. In the oldest known versions he is instead a member Outlaw: The Legend of Robin Hood the yeoman Outlaw: The Legend of Robin Hood. Traditionally depicted dressed in Lincoln greenhe is said to have robbed from the rich and given to the poor. Through retellings, additions, and variations, a body of familiar characters associated with Robin Hood has been created. These include his lover, Maid Marianhis band of outlaws, the Merry Menand his chief opponent, the Sheriff of Nottingham. The Sheriff is often depicted as assisting Prince John in usurping the rightful but absent King Richardto whom Robin Hood remains loyal. His partisanship of the common people and his hostility to the Sheriff of Nottingham are early recorded features of the legend, but his interest in the rightfulness of the king is not, and neither is his setting in the reign of Richard I. He became a popular folk figure in the Late Middle Agesand the earliest known ballads featuring him are from the 15th century s. There have been numerous variations and adaptations of the story over the subsequent years, and the story continues to be widely represented in literature, film, and television. Robin Hood is considered one of the best known tales of English folklore. The historicity of Robin Hood is not proven and has been debated for centuries. There are numerous references to historical figures with similar names that have been proposed as possible evidence of his existence, some dating back to the late 13th century. At least eight plausible origins to the story have been mooted Outlaw: The Legend of Robin Hood historians and folklorists, including suggestions that "Robin Hood" was a stock alias used by or in reference to bandits. The first clear reference to "rhymes of Robin Hood" is from the alliterative poem Piers Plowmanthought to have been composed in the s, followed shortly afterwards by a quotation of a later common proverb, [1] "many men speak of Robin Hood and never shot his bow", [2] in Friar Daw's Reply c. However, the earliest surviving copies of the narrative ballads that tell his story date to the second half of the 15th century, or the first decade of the 16th century. In these early accounts, Robin Hood's partisanship of the lower classes, his devotion to the Virgin Mary and associated special regard for women, his outstanding skill as an archerhis anti-clericalismand his particular animosity towards the Sheriff of Nottingham are already clear. The latter has Outlaw: The Legend of Robin Hood part of the legend since at least the later 15th century, when he is mentioned in a Robin Hood play script. In modern popular culture, Robin Hood is typically seen as a contemporary and supporter of the lateth-century king Richard the LionheartRobin being driven to outlawry during the misrule of Richard's brother John while Richard was away at the Third Crusade. This view first gained Outlaw: The Legend of Robin Hood in the 16th century. The early compilation, A Gest of Robyn Hodenames 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. The setting of the early ballads is usually attributed by scholars to either the 13th century or the 14th, although it is recognised they are not necessarily historically consistent. The early ballads are also quite clear on Robin Hood's social status: he is a yeoman. While the precise meaning of this term changed over time, including free retainers of an aristocrat and small landholders, it always referred to commoners. The essence of it in the present context was "neither a knight nor a peasant or 'husbonde' but something in between". As well as ballads, the legend was also transmitted by 'Robin Hood games' or plays Outlaw: The Legend of Robin Hood were an important part of the late medieval and early modern May Day festivities. The first record of a Robin Hood game was in in Exeterbut the reference does not indicate how old or widespread this custom was at the time. The Robin Hood games are known to have flourished in the later Outlaw: The Legend of Robin Hood and 16th centuries. Written after[21] it contains many of the elements still associated with the legend, from the Nottingham setting to the bitter enmity between Robin and the local sheriff. The first printed version is A Gest of Robyn Hode c. Other early texts are dramatic pieces, Outlaw: The Legend of Robin Hood earliest being the fragmentary Robyn Hod and the Shryff off Notyngham [25] c. These are particularly noteworthy as they show Robin's integration into May Day rituals towards the end of the Middle Ages; Robyn Hod and the Shryff off Notynghamamong other points of interest, contains the earliest reference to Friar Tuck. The plots of neither "the Monk" nor "the Potter" are included in the Gest ; and neither is the plot of " Robin Hood and Guy of Gisborne ", which is probably at least as old as those two ballads although preserved in a more recent copy. Each of these three ballads survived in a single copy, so it is unclear how much of the medieval legend has survived, and what has survived may not be typical of the medieval legend. It has been argued that the fact that the surviving ballads were preserved in written form in itself makes it unlikely they were typical; in particular, stories with an interest for the gentry were by this view Outlaw: The Legend of Robin Hood likely to be preserved. The character of Robin in these first texts is rougher edged than in his later incarnations. In "Robin Hood and the Monk", for example, he is shown as quick tempered and violent, assaulting Little John for Outlaw: The Legend of Robin Hood him in an archery contest; in the same ballad Much the Miller's Son casually kills a 'little page ' in the course of rescuing Robin Hood from prison. As it happens the next traveller is not poor, but it seems in context that Robin Hood is stating a general policy. The first explicit statement to the effect that Robin Hood habitually robbed from the rich to give the poor can be found in John Stow 's Annales of Englandabout a century after the publication of the Gest. Within Robin Hood's band, medieval forms of courtesy rather than modern ideals of equality are generally in evidence. The only character to use a quarterstaff in the early ballads is the potter, and Robin Hood does not take to a staff until the 17th-century Robin Hood and Little John. The political and social assumptions underlying the early Robin Hood ballads have long been controversial. Holt influentially argued that the Robin Hood legend was cultivated in the households of the gentry, and that it would be mistaken to see in him a figure of peasant revolt. He is not a peasant but a yeoman, and his tales make no mention of the complaints of the peasants, such as oppressive taxes. By the early 15th century at the latest, Robin Hood had become associated with May Day celebrations, with revellers dressing as Robin or as members of his band for the festivities. This was not common throughout England, but in some regions the custom lasted until Elizabethan times, and during Outlaw: The Legend of Robin Hood reign of Henry VIIIwas briefly popular at court. A complaint ofbrought to the Star Chamberaccuses men of acting riotously by coming to a fair as Robin Hood and his men; the accused defended themselves on the grounds that the practice was a long-standing custom to raise money for churches, and they had not acted riotously but peaceably. It is from the association with the May Games that Robin's romantic attachment to Maid Marian or Marion apparently stems. The earliest preserved script of a Robin Hood play is the fragmentary Robyn Hod and the Shryff off Notyngham [25] This apparently dates to the s and circumstantial evidence suggests it was probably performed at the household of Sir John Paston. This fragment appears to tell the story of Robin Hood and Guy of Gisborne. This includes a dramatic version of the story of Robin Hood and the Curtal Friar and a version of the first part of the story of Robin Hood and the Potter. Neither of these ballads are known to have existed in print at the time, and there is no earlier record known of the "Curtal Friar" story. The publisher describes the text as a ' playe of Robyn Hood, verye proper to be played in Maye games ', but does not seem to be aware that Outlaw: The Legend of Robin Hood text actually contains two separate plays. These plays drew on a variety of sources, including apparently "A Gest of Robin Hood", and were influential in fixing the story of Robin Hood to the period of Richard I. Skelton himself is presented in the play as acting the part of Friar Tuck. Some scholars have conjectured that Skelton may have indeed written a lost Robin Hood play for Henry VIII's court, and that this play may have been one of Munday's sources. Robin Hood is known to have appeared in a number of other lost and extant Elizabethan plays. In it, the character Valentine is banished from Milan and driven out through the forest where he is approached by outlaws who, upon meeting Outlaw: The Legend of Robin Hood, desire him as their leader. They comment, "By the bare scalp of Robin Hood's fat friar, This fellow were a king for our wild faction! When asked about the exiled Duke Senior, the character of Charles says that he is "already in the forest of Arden, and a many merry men with him; and there they live like the old Robin Hood of England". It is about half finished and his death in may Outlaw: The Legend of Robin Hood interrupted writing. Jonson's only pastoral drama, it was written in sophisticated verse and included supernatural action and characters. The London theatre closure by the Puritans interrupted the portrayal of Robin Hood on the stage. The theatres would reopen with the Restoration in This short play Outlaw: The Legend of Robin Hood the story of the king's pardon of Robin Hood to refer to the Restoration. However, Robin Hood appeared on the 18th-century stage in various farces and comic operas. With the advent of printing came the Robin Hood broadside ballads. Exactly when they displaced the oral tradition of Robin Hood ballads is unknown but the process seems to have been completed by the end of the 16th century. Near the end of the 16th century an unpublished prose life of Robin Hood was written, and included in Outlaw: The Legend of Robin Hood Sloane Manuscript. Largely a paraphrase of the Gest, it also contains material revealing that the author was familiar with early versions of a number of the Robin Hood broadside ballads. However, the Gest was reprinted from time to time throughout the 16th and 17th centuries. No surviving broadside ballad can be dated with certainty before the 17th century, but during that century, the commercial broadside ballad became the main vehicle for the popular Robin Hood legend. The broadside ballads were fitted to a small repertoire of pre-existing tunes resulting in an increase of "stock formulaic phrases" making them "repetitive and verbose", [65] they commonly feature Robin Hood's contests with artisans: tinkers, tanners, and butchers. Among these ballads is Robin Hood and Little John telling the famous story of the quarter-staff fight between the two outlaws. Dobson and Taylor wrote, 'More generally the Robin of the broadsides is a much less tragic, less heroic and in the last resort less mature figure than his medieval predecessor'. The 17th century introduced the minstrel Alan-a-Dale. He first appeared in a 17th-century broadside balladand unlike many of Outlaw: The Legend of Robin Hood characters thus associated, managed to adhere to the legend. In the 18th century, the stories began to develop a slightly more farcical vein. From this period there are a number of ballads in which Robin is severely 'drubbed' by a succession of tradesmen including a tannera tinkerand a ranger. Yet even in these ballads Robin is more than a mere simpleton: on the contrary, he often acts with great shrewdness. The tinker, setting out to capture Robin, only manages to fight with him after he has been cheated out of his money and the arrest warrant he is carrying. In Robin Hood's Golden PrizeRobin disguises himself as a friar and cheats two priests out of their cash. Even when Robin is defeated, he usually tricks his foe into letting him sound his horn, summoning the Merry Men to his aid. When his enemies do not fall for this ruse, he persuades them to drink with him instead see Robin Hood's Delight. In the 18th and 19th centuries, the Robin Hood ballads were mostly sold in "Garlands" of 16 to 24 Robin Hood ballads; these were crudely printed Outlaw: The Legend of Robin Hood books aimed at the poor. The garlands added nothing to the substance of the legend but ensured Outlaw: The Legend of Robin Hood it continued after the decline of the single broadside ballad. InThomas Percy bishop of Dromore published Reliques of Ancient English Poetryincluding ballads from the 17th-century Percy Folio manuscript which had not previously been printed, most notably Robin Hood and Guy of Gisborne which is generally regarded as in substance a genuine late medieval ballad. The only significant omission was Robin Hood and the Monk which would eventually be printed in Ritson's interpretation of Robin Hood was also influential, having influenced the modern concept of stealing from the rich and giving to the poor as it exists today. In his preface to the collection, Ritson assembled an account of Robin Hood's life from the various sources available to him, and concluded that Robin Hood was born in aroundand thus had been active in the reign of Richard I. He thought that Robin was of aristocratic extraction, with at least 'some pretension' to the title of Earl of Huntingdon, that he was born in an unlocated Nottinghamshire village of Locksley and that his original name was Robert Fitzooth. Ritson gave the date of Robin Hood's death as 18 Novemberwhen he would have been around 87 years old. In copious and informative notes Ritson defends every point of his version of Robin Hood's life. Nevertheless, Dobson and Taylor credit Ritson with having 'an incalculable effect in promoting the still continuing quest for the man behind the myth', and note that his work remains an 'indispensable handbook to the outlaw legend even now'. Ritson's friend Walter Scott used Ritson's anthology collection as a source for his picture of Robin Hood in Ivanhoewritten inwhich did much to shape the modern legend. In the 19th century, the Robin Hood legend was first specifically adapted for children. Children's editions of the garlands were produced and ina children's edition of Ritson's Robin Hood collection was published. Children's novels began to appear shortly thereafter. Robin Hood | Legend & Ballads | Britannica

Robin Hoodlegendary outlaw hero of a series of English ballads, some of which date from at least as early as the 14th century. Outlaw: The Legend of Robin Hood Hood was a rebel, and many of the most striking episodes in the tales about him show him and his companions robbing and killing representatives of authority and giving the gains to the poor. Their most frequent enemy was the Sheriff of Nottingham, a local agent of the central government though internal evidence from the early ballads makes it clear that the action took Outlaw: The Legend of Robin Hood chiefly in south Yorkshirenot in Nottinghamshire. Other enemies included wealthy ecclesiastical landowners. Robin treated women, the poor, and people of humble status with courtesy. A good deal of the impetus for his revolt against authority stemmed from popular resentment over those laws of the forest that restricted hunting rights. The early ballads, especially, reveal the cruelty that was an inescapable part of medieval life. Numerous attempts have been made to prove that there was a historical Robin Hood, Outlaw: The Legend of Robin Hood references to the legend by medieval writers make it clear that the ballads themselves were the only evidence for his existence available to them. The theme of the free but persecuted outlaw enjoying the forbidden hunting of the forest and outwitting or killing the forces of law and order naturally appealed to the common people. Although many of the best-known Robin Hood ballads are postmedieval, there is a core that can be confidently attributed to the medieval period. During the 16th century and later, the essential character of the legend was distorted by a suggestion that Robin was a fallen nobleman, and playwrights, eagerly adopting this new element, increased the romantic appeal of the stories but deprived them of their social bite. Postmedieval ballads which gave Robin a companion, Maid Marian also lost most of their vitality and poetic value, doubtless as a result of losing the original social impulse that brought them into existence. Print Cite. Facebook Twitter. Give Feedback External Websites. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article requires login. External Websites. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree See Article History. Britannica Quiz. Composers and Songwriters. Get exclusive access to content from our First Edition with your subscription. Subscribe today. Learn More in these related Britannica articles:. He was probably the main author of Sir Thomas More c. Munday ceased to write plays after…. History at your fingertips. Sign up here to see what happened On This Day Outlaw: The Legend of Robin Hood, every day in your inbox! Email address. By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Notice. Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to Outlaw: The Legend of Robin Hood inbox.