| Watch online Robin Hood 2010 visit | | | | and returns to the greenwood. |
| In popular culture, Robin Hood and his band of merry | | | | The oldest surviving ballad, Robin Hood and the Monk |
| men are usually portrayed as living in Sherwood | | | | gives even less support to the picture of Robin Hood |
| Forest, in Nottinghamshire. Much of the action in the | | | | as a partisan of the true king. The setting of the |
| early ballads takes place in Nottinghamshire, and the | | | | early ballads is usually attributed by scholars to either |
| earliest known ballad shows the outlaws fighting in | | | | the 13th century or the 14th, although it is recognised |
| Sherwood Forest.[4] So does the very first | | | | they are not necessarily historically consistent.[13] |
| recorded Robin Hood rhyme, four lines from the early | | | | The early ballads are also quite clear on Robin Hood's |
| 15th century, beginning: "Robyn hode in scherewode | | | | social status: he is a yeoman. While the precise |
| stod."[5] However, the overall picture from the | | | | meaning of this term changed over time, including |
| surviving early ballads and other early references[5] | | | | free retainers of an aristocrat and small landholders, it |
| suggest that Robin Hood may have been based in | | | | always referred to commoners. The essence of it in |
| the Barnsdale area of what is now South Yorkshire | | | | the present context was "neither a knight nor a |
| (which borders Nottinghamshire). | | | | peasant or 'husbonde' but something in between."[14] |
| Other traditions point to a variety of locations as | | | | We know that artisans (such as millers) were among |
| Robin's "true" home both inside Yorkshire and | | | | those regarded as "yeomen" in the 14th century.[15] |
| elsewhere, with the abundance of places named for | | | | From the 16th century on there were attempts to |
| Robin causing further confusion.[6][7] A tradition | | | | elevate Robin Hood to the nobility and in two |
| dating back at least to the end of the 16th century | | | | extremely influential plays Anthony Munday presented |
| gives his birthplace as Loxley, Sheffield in South | | | | him at the very end of the 16th century as the Earl |
| Yorkshire, while the site of Robin Hood's Well in | | | | of Huntingdon, as he is still commonly presented in |
| Yorkshire has been associated with Robin Hood at | | | | modern times.[16] |
| least since 1422.[8] His grave has been claimed to be | | | | As well as ballads, the legend was also transmitted |
| at Kirklees Priory, Mirfield in West Yorkshire, as | | | | by "Robin Hood games" or plays that were an |
| implied by the 18th-century version of Robin Hood's | | | | important part of the late medieval and early modern |
| Death, and there is a headstone there of dubious | | | | May Day festivities. The first record of a Robin Hood |
| authenticity.[9] | | | | game was in 1426 in Exeter, but the reference does |
| The first clear reference to "rhymes of Robin Hood" | | | | not indicate how old or widespread this custom was |
| is from the late 14th-century poem Piers Plowman, | | | | at the time. The Robin Hood games are known to |
| but the earliest surviving copies of the narrative | | | | have flourished in the later 15th and 16th |
| ballads which tell his story have been dated to the | | | | centuries.[17] It is commonly stated as fact that Maid |
| 15th century or the first decade of the 16th century. | | | | Marian and a jolly friar (at least partly identifiable with |
| In these early accounts Robin Hood's partisanship of | | | | Friar Tuck) entered the legend through the May |
| the lower classes, his Marianism and associated special | | | | Games.[18] |
| regard for women, his outstanding skill as an archer, | | | | The early ballads link Robin Hood to identifiable real |
| his anti-clericalism, and his particular animus towards | | | | places and many are convinced that he was a real |
| the Sheriff of Nottingham a corrupt official who | | | | person, more or less accurately portrayed. A number |
| persecuted the poor, are already clear.[10] Little John, | | | | of theories as to the identity of "the real Robin |
| Much the Miller's Son and Will Scarlet (as Will "Scarlok" | | | | Hood" have their supporters. Some of these theories |
| or "Scathelocke") all appear, although not yet Maid | | | | posit that "Robin Hood" or "Robert Hood" or the like |
| Marian or Friar Tuck. It is not certain what should be | | | | was his actual name; others suggest that this may |
| made of these latter two absences as it is known | | | | have been merely a nick-name disguising a medieval |
| that Friar Tuck, for one, has been part of the legend | | | | bandit perhaps known to history under another |
| since at least the later 15th century.[11] | | | | name.[19] |
| In popular culture Robin Hood is typically seen as a | | | | At the same time it is possible that Robin Hood has |
| contemporary and supporter of the late 12th-century | | | | always been a fictional character; the folklorist Francis |
| king Richard the Lionheart, Robin being driven to | | | | James Child declared "Robin Hood is absolutely a |
| outlawry during the misrule of Richard's evil brother | | | | creation of the ballad-muse" and this view has not |
| John while Richard was away at the Third Crusade. | | | | been disproved.[20] Another view is that Robin |
| This view first gained currency in the 16th century, | | | | Hood's origins must be sought in folklore or |
| but it has very little scholarly support.[12] It is | | | | mythology;[21] Despite the frequent Christian |
| certainly not supported by the earliest ballads. The | | | | references in the early ballads, Robin Hood has been |
| early compilation A Gest of Robyn Hode names the | | | | claimed for the pagan witch-religion supposed by |
| king as "Edward," and while it does show Robin Hood | | | | Margaret Murray to have existed in medieval Europe. |
| as accepting the King's pardon he later repudiates it | | | | |