AHC/WI: Robin Hood as a Jesus/Muhammad like prophet figure of a new religion?

whitecrow

Banned
I recently read an article discussing the theory the Prophet Muhammad’s life was greatly fictionalized in the Koran and/or that Prophet Muhammad never existed in the first place but was a fictional composite of several real people/local legends. Of course, similar hypothesis exist about Jesus Christ.

And that is when a strange though stuck me: similar controversy surrounds the figure of Robin Hood. It could also be argued that Robin Hood had certain “messiah” characteristics. So regardless of whether Jesus and Muhammad existed or not, could Robin Hood become a central figure of a religion? Could legends arise about Robin Hood spreading God’s message across England and the world, telling people to live justly and fairly while punishing the greedy and wicked? Could the “steal from the rich and give to the poor” aphorism become the foundation of a new religious movement?
 
Mohammed definitely existed, Jesus likely existed (Let's hope this thread doesn't devolve into that one again...)

Robin Hood is more iffy than both of them, when it comes to his existence.
 
Robin Hood I believed in the early years was cast in more racial tones as Robin Hood the good Anglo-Saxon was stealing from the dastardly Normans and giving to his fellow Anglo-Saxons. Might throw a monkey wrench into the whole equation if true.
 

JoeMulk

Banned
Robin Hood I believed in the early years was cast in more racial tones as Robin Hood the good Anglo-Saxon was stealing from the dastardly Normans and giving to his fellow Anglo-Saxons. Might throw a monkey wrench into the whole equation if true.

maybe Robin Hood becomes the prophet of a distinctly Anglo brand of christianity then prior to Henry VIII or perhaps a new national religion altogether?
 

whitecrow

Banned
Mohammed definitely existed, Jesus likely existed (Let's hope this thread doesn't devolve into that one again...)

Robin Hood is more iffy than both of them, when it comes to his existence.
Irrelevant. Taking Jesus as an example, wheter he existed or not Christianity and the Christian Bible came into being after his time. Although Christ is the focal point of the religion many other figures contributed to the formation of the religion and it's Holy Book. And Christ never authored any books of the Bibile - IIRC they were all written by his Apostils as "Jesus said...". Likewise Koran was written years after Mohammids death by people who were saying "I recall Mohammid saying on such-&-such date that..."

Could something similar occur with Robin Hood and his legend? Could a Monk or some other literate individual, claiming to have been a member of Robin Hood's band of Marry Men, write a book of Robin Hood's moral teachings "as they were given to him by God"? Could such a book become the bases of a new religious movement?
 
An interesting, albeit extremely unlikely leaning towards completely ASB, situation would be for Robin Hood to lead a (most probably localized and momentary) revival of the old pagan religion and claim to be Herne's son...

Meanwhile, back in the real world, I can't see him or anyone else getting a great deal of broad social support; the 'rob from the rich' is too antagonistic and is begging to be crushed.
 
At most, it gets incorporated into ranting about corrupt churchmen, but Robin as a religious figure himself would take some doing.
 
Actually.. there is scholars speculating there was 'humanisation' of ancient mythical figures there at works, like how Abraham and some bible characters may had been gods originally, made humans in the Bible.

Robin Hood may have been a feyish entity of the celtic or saxon paganistic past, and Gui de Guisborne may have been a donkey (or horse) skin wearing god or such mythical figure of the Anglo-saxons too. Not sure if there is facts behind this, but it intrigated me.

In myths, some men had been divinised - like Imhotep, but the reverse may have happened too.
 
At most I would have thought you'd end up with an English Catharism - a radically reformist and egalitarian brand of Christianity focussed on escaping the evils of the material world. Sadly too it would probably also swiftly be denounced as heretical and stamped out. As already noted, the anti-wealth and anti-establishment aspects of such a credo would just be begging for a crusade.
 
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