Is Robin Hood Plausible?

[Expat]

Is there anything ASB about the basic Robin Hood legend? Leaving out specific depictions of it where certain elements (the tights, for example, or the fact that they're all anthropomorphic woodland creatures) are clearly Hollywood affectations, it seems pretty plausible to me.

Could you have a minor noble leading a brigand army in a shadow campaign of robbery to undermine John in favor of Richard and increased rights (or at least increased prosperity) for the peasantry?

 

[Typo]

It's possible, only that Robin Hood will primarily be after the money and helping the poor comes second

 

[kellineil]

Could you have a minor noble leading a brigand army in a shadow campaign of robbery to undermine John in favor of Richard and increased rights (or at least increased prosperity) for the peasantry?

There's no reason why this aspect of the legend would be considered unrealistic and it is indeed possible that this portion of the legend has some basis, however exaggerated and embellished, in fact.

But there is so much more to legend of Robin Hood. It is quite possible that the there were several people over quite a long period of time who contributed to the legend. It has even been claimed that the legend has it's origins in pre-Christian Celtic mythology and there are certain aspects of the character of Robin Hood that do seem to bear similarities to Cerunnos.

Equally the entire legend could be something of a medieval Harry Potter, ie a good story to tell the kids but not to be taken seriously

 

[kellineil]

Thinking further it seems unlikely that a minor noble would be fighting primarily with the longbow, this was the weapon of the yeoman and peasantry after all. However after doing some 'research', by which I mean googling Robin Hood it does appear that originally Robin Hood was portrayed as a Yeoman, not a minor noble and has since benefited from 'status inflation'

 

[Tyr]

Sure, its plausible, you got nice people back then just as today. Less of them but some.
It didn't happen but it could have.

 

[Sachyriel]

If you don't believe in Robin Hood I am going to come to your house with a group of teenage kids, rob your ass of all the books on English history and pass them out to schools that are underfunded.

 

[Expat]

If you don't believe in Robin Hood I am going to come to your house with a group of teenage kids, rob your ass of all the books on English history and pass them out to schools that are underfunded.

Ha!
I think this will be my first sig. As soon as I figure out how to do it...

 

[usertron2020]

Robin Hood Lives!

Sure, its plausible, you got nice people back then just as today. Less of them but some.
It didn't happen but it could have.

It DIDN'T happen? Remember, there was another seer and philosopher from history who insisted, and I quote: "There IS no Robin Hood!". Even when said Great Philosopher (Bugs Bunny) MET Robin Hood (Errol Flynn) he STILL denied the evidence of his eyes!
I suppose next you're going to tell me you don't believe in Bugs Bunny!

 

[Stephen]

It's possible, only that Robin Hood will primarily be after the money and helping the poor comes second

There are all sorts personality types around, compared to all the wierd ideologies and religions that have folowers who do everything from charity, celibacy, and mass suicide. A band of bandits who like the forest lifestyle and give most of the loot poor people is certainly posible. Athough targeting the most lucrative targets and paying off the locals is a also a strategy that might be done by someone who is less idealistic. I suspect that if there was an original Robin Hood most of the legend probably comes from those who reused the brand name later.

 

[Fenwick]

Let us break Robin Hood down.

A noble returning from war discovers his lands are no longer his. Using his military skill he takes to robbing the rulling power while hiding in the woods with fellow bandits. Over time another monarch takes over which shares the views of the noble.

Hell seems like most of Europe has this kind of issue at some point or another.

 

[Al-Buraq]

Is there anything ASB about the basic Robin Hood legend? Leaving out specific depictions of it where certain elements (the tights, for example, or the fact that they're all anthropomorphic woodland creatures) are clearly Hollywood affectations, it seems pretty plausible to me.

Don't confuse Robin Hood with Robin Goodfellow!
There are dozens of Robin Hoods, Robert Hoodes, Robyn Hods and other variations in documents all over England refering to outlaws, rebels, "dissidents" and ne'er-do-wells spanning nine hundred years.

The most promising of the early real Robin Hoods was discovered by L.V.D. Owen in 1936. The Yorkshire assize roles for 1225-1226 mention that "Robert Hod, fugitive" had chattels worth 32s. 6d. (s is for shilling, d is for pence -- ah, the joys of pre-decimal British currency.) The same outlaw turns up in entries for later years, once under the nickname Hobbehod.

 

[Andrew Hudson]

I can envisage Robin Hood as the Vietnam bank robber or the James gang. He may have been a Crusader who having learnt to loot and plunder in the Crusades found it difficult to adjust to peacetime and carried on possibly giving money to a few poor families as a public relations exercise

 

[MerryPrankster]

The "King Raven" novels make a good case for Robin Hood originally being a dispossessed Welsh nobleman robbing the Normans for food for similarly dispossessed or overtaxed countrymen.

(The author said that Sherwood Forest was too small at the time the stories were told to hide an outlaw band, but the Welsh Marches were a different matter.)

 

[Megas Dux ton Kypraion]

An alt-history Robin Hood...

Greetings and salutations, fair folk.

I have written an alternate history of the legend of Robin Hood for the "Isaac's Empire" thread:

https://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showpost.php?p=2750768&postcount=57

And this, too, which relates my story to goings-on in "Isaac's Empire" and my ongoing story of medieval 'Canada'...

https://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showpost.php?p=3088927&postcount=103

Hope you enjoy; and that it gives you guys some ideas...

 

[freodhoric]

Let us break Robin Hood down.

A noble returning from war discovers his lands are no longer his. Using his military skill he takes to robbing the rulling power while hiding in the woods with fellow bandits. Over time another monarch takes over which shares the views of the noble.

Hell seems like most of Europe has this kind of issue at some point or another.

Not the version of Robin Hood I know. My version is, roughly: "Young man travelling to archery tournament to impress his girl is cheated and insulted by a King's ranger who he then kills in anger, and spends the rest of his life hiding from the law. A group of fugitives from injustice gather around him, and they've got to live somehow. Hence, robbing those who drove them into the woods in the first place."

 

[MerryPrankster]

Not the version of Robin Hood I know. My version is, roughly: "Young man travelling to archery tournament to impress his girl is cheated and insulted by a King's ranger who he then kills in anger, and spends the rest of his life hiding from the law. A group of fugitives from injustice gather around him, and they've got to live somehow. Hence, robbing those who drove them into the woods in the first place."

Some versions of the story involve him coming back from the Crusades to find shenanigans in his absence.

Robin Hood: Men In Tights specifically shows the castle being taken away from him (since this is a comedy, it is literally being taken), while in the BBC version, Guy of Gisborne is administering Robin's lands while he's away and becomes Lord of Locksley when Robin is outlawed for causing trouble re: the Sheriff.

In Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, I'm not 100% sure what happens, but Robin's father was tortured and murdered and I don't think the castle is his anymore.

 

[Thande]

The original story was not about helping the poor, that was inserted later by minstrels to play to a peasant audience. The original Robin Hood (who was quite possibly a real historical character, Robin Hood being a nickname or corruption of the name Sir Robert Hoad) was a knight who'd been Attainted by King Edward I and gathered together other dispossessed noblemen to hide out in the forest (originally Barnsdale not Sherwood) to raid the countryside in protest. In the end Edward himself went there in disguise to check it out and fought a duel with Hoad, after which he revealed himself and decided to restore their knighthoods.

 

[Grimm Reaper]

MerryPrankster, Men In Tights? You're offering MEN IN TIGHTS as a useful example to a genuine quesiton about history?!?

You...you've changed, man.


Here are a few useful sites, with links.

http://www.boldoutlaw.com/

http://www.geocities.com/longo44au/index2.htm

http://bestoflegends.org/robinhood/index.html



I'ld also like to take a moment to give a hand to Sir Clisto Seversword for the dedication and effort involved in putting his site together for us all.

http://www.sirclisto.com/table.html



You can always search youtube and perhaps elsewhere for episodes from the various series.



Now, as to historical accuracy, note the persistant abuse heaped on poor Prince John over how the Saxons were treated but then remember why Robin Hood and so many of his men were in trouble with the law. For killing the king's deer. NOT Prince John's deer, King Richard's.

For all we know when Richard was again visiting and gouging England for more men and money to be squandered on his latest war of aggression John may have mentioned that times were tough and the deer overpopulation needed to be cut back, what with all the foresters being drafted overseas as archers, so couldn't they lift the ban temporarily?

 

[Thande]

Now, as to historical accuracy, note the persistant abuse heaped on poor Prince John over how the Saxons were treated but then remember why Robin Hood and so many of his men were in trouble with the law. For killing the king's deer. NOT Prince John's deer, King Richard's.

For all we know when Richard was again visiting and gouging England for more men and money to be squandered on his latest war of aggression John may have mentioned that times were tough and the deer overpopulation needed to be cut back, what with all the foresters being drafted overseas as archers, so couldn't they lift the ban temporarily?

Most historical sources originally set the Robin Hood stories in the reign of Edward I, as I said above. It was only later versions that moved it back a century to the reign of Richard Coeur de Lion, possibly because the characters of him and John Lackland were considered more 'cinematic' as unquestionably a good and a bad guy, whereas the original had Edward Longshanks as a more human figure who made a bad decision and then admitted his mistake.

 

[MerryPrankster]

Grimm,

I was citing "Men in Tights" as an example of Robin-gets-dispossessed-while-away versions of the tale.

"MiT" is a parody of "Prince of Thieves," which also has a dispossession plot, IIRC.