Sergey Lvov
He spent his life in the forest. Barons, bishops and abbots feared him. He was loved by peasants and artisans, widows and the poor. (From old chronicles.)
This is what is said about his death. One day, a glorious archer felt: there was not enough strength in his hands to pull the bowstring, and it was difficult for his legs to follow the usual forest path. And then he realized: old age approached ...
He went to the monastery, the abbess of which was known as a skilled healer, and asked to be treated. The nun pretended to be delighted with his arrival, kindly escorted the stranger to a distant cell, carefully laid him on the bed, and with a sharp knife opened a vein on a powerful arm (bloodletting was then considered a good remedy for many ailments). And, saying that she would return immediately, she left.
Time passed slowly. The blood flowed faster. But the nun did not return. Night has come. Dawn followed the night, and then the shooter realized that he had become a victim of betrayal. Above the head of his bed was a window into the forest. But the bleeding man already lacked the strength to reach the window. There was barely enough breath in his chest to blast his curved hunting horn for the last time. Weak, trembling sound, horns sounded over the forest. A faithful friend heard the call signal. Anxious, he rushed to help.
Late! No one could have saved the shooter. So the enemies, who for many years did not know how to defeat Robin Gul either in a hot battle or in a stubborn duel, plagued him with black betrayal.
An ancient historian names the year and day when this happened: November 18, 1247.
Several centuries have passed. Wars have begun and ended. The shortest lasted a few days, the longest - a hundred years. Devastating epidemics swept through the cities and villages of England. Revolts broke out. Kings changed on the throne. People were born and died, generations succeeded generations.
However, a turbulent series of events, as they liked to say in old books, could not erase the name of Robin Hood from the memory of the British.
One day, it was about two hundred and fifty years ago, a heavy carriage drove slowly into a small town near London. The carriage was smart, magnificent: only the most important people of the kingdom rode around in such. Indeed, an important gentleman was sitting in the carriage: the Bishop of London himself! He came to the town to read a sermon to the townspeople. While the carriage was driving from the city gates to the church square, the bishop managed to notice that the town seemed to have died out. The bishop was not surprised by this. This means that the rumor of his arrival preceded the carriage, and the townspeople hurried to the church: they do not often see and hear his Eminence. And he habitually imagined how he would get out of the carriage, how he would slowly climb the steps of the church through the respectfully parting crowd... But the church square was empty. There was a heavy padlock on the church doors. 
For a long time the bishop stood in the empty square, turning purple with anger and trying to maintain a dignified appearance befitting his rank and solemn robes, which was not at all easy before the locked door.
Finally, a passer-by, hurrying by no means to the church, threw out to the bishop on the way:
- Sir, you are waiting in vain, we are celebrating Robin Hood today, the whole city is in the forest, and there will be no one in the church.
What happens next is told in different ways. Some say that the bishop got into the carriage and returned to London, uttering in his mind such words as bishops usually do not utter. Others claim that he went to the city meadow, where the townspeople, dressed in green caftans, depicted scenes from the life of Robin Hood, and joined the audience.
What was this life? Why is her memory preserved for centuries? Why could a whole city remember Robin Hood for many hours in a row and think only about him?
What do you know about Robin Hood, except for those pages of Walter Scott's novel "Ivanhoe", where he is bred under the name of the brave yeoman, the free peasant Loxley? 
Robin Hood has two biographies. One is very short. Scientists have collected it bit by bit in ancient chronicles. From this biography, we can learn that Robin Hood was ruined by wealthy enemies and fled from them into Sherwood Forest, a deaf and thick bowl that stretched for many tens of miles. He was joined by fugitives like him. He united them under his command into a formidable detachment of "forest brothers" and soon became the real ruler of Sherwood Forest. Robin Hood and his shooters, numbering more than a hundred, hunted forbidden royal game, feuded with rich monasteries, robbed passing Norman knights, and helped the persecuted and the poor.
For the capture of Robin Hood, the authorities announced a reward many times. But not a single peasant, whose hut he entered, not a single one of the "forest brothers" was tempted by these promises.
Here is everything or almost everything that is known to historians about Robin Hood.
The second biography of Robin Hood is much more detailed. From it you can find out how he first encountered the royal foresters and how this meeting ended; how he met a fugitive monk - Brother Took - and Little John, who became his assistants, and how Robin Hood won archery competitions, how he was at enmity with the sheriff of Nottingham, who oppressed the peasants, how he refused to serve King Richard the Lionheart.
Where is all this and much more about Robin Hood recorded? Not in historical works, but in folk songs - ballads, as literary historians call them.
They were composed throughout England for many centuries. The author of these songs was the people, and the performers were wandering singers. The songs about Robin Hood were overgrown with various details, several small songs merged into one, or one big one fell apart into several small ones ... The singers who sang these ballads, if they knew how to write, wrote down the words of the song and gave them to those who wished to write them off for a fee. And when the first printing houses appeared in England, songs about Robin Hood began to be printed. At first, these were separate sheets with prints of songs. They were eagerly bought up by residents of cities and villages, who once a year, in the summer, celebrated Robin Hood Day.
It was in these songs that the second biography of Robin Hood gradually developed. In him, he is what the people imagined him to be. If the old Latin chronicle claims that Robin Hood was a nobleman, then the folk song decisively calls him the son of a peasant. The ordinary people of England began to consider the legendary biography of Robin Hood to be his real biography. For many decades and even centuries, everything that was told about Robin Hood in songs was believed by the British as an indisputable historical fact.
There is interesting evidence for this. One of the oldest ballads tells how Robin Hood, at the age of fifteen, went to the city of Nottingham to compete in archery. Halfway through, he was stopped by the royal foresters and began to mock him. "Does this boy, who can barely bend his own bow, dare to appear before the king in a contest!" they exclaimed. Robin Hood made a bet with them that he would hit the target a hundred feet, and he won the bet. But the royal foresters not only did not pay him the winnings, but threatened that they would beat him if he dared to appear at the competitions.
Then Robin Hood, as the ballad reports with delight, shot all the scoffers with his bow. The people did not like the royal foresters, who did not allow the poor to either collect brushwood in the forest, let alone hunt forest game or fish in forest streams and rivers. Not loving the royal foresters, folk singers sang this ballad with delight.
And in April 1796, that is, five centuries after Robin Hood lived, a message appeared in one of the English magazines. Here it is: "While a few days ago, workers were digging in a garden in the town of Coxlein, near Nottingham, they came across six human skeletons that lay close to each other, neatly side by side. It is believed that this is part of the fifteen foresters whom he killed in his time for Robin Hood.
One can imagine how the publisher of the magazine asked the author of the note: "Are you sure that these are the same skeletons?". And the author replied, as journalists of all times answer: "Well, let's put in for caution the word" suggest ". But it never occurred to either the author or the publisher to doubt that Robin Hood really fought with the royal foresters on the way to the glorious city of Nottingham : after all, this is sung in ballads!
Why did Robin Hood become a favorite hero of folk songs? To answer this question, you will probably have to remind you of what you learned in history lessons: in 1066, England was captured by the Normans, led by William the Conqueror. From the indigenous population of England - the Saxons - they took away land, houses and property, imposed their laws on them with fire and sword. An ancient historian calls Robin Hood one of those who were deprived of the land. 
The enmity between the old and new rulers persisted two centuries later. Do you remember what place the feud between the Saxon and Norman nobles occupies in Walter Scott's Ivanhoe? However, the Saxon nobles soon reconciled with the conquerors. But the songs about Robin Hood were not forgotten. They were sung in detachments of peasants who rebelled under the leadership of Watt Tyler. The people felt in their hearts: the struggle of Robin Hood, glorified in songs, is not only the struggle of the Saxons against the Normans, but in general the struggle of the people against the oppressors.
I leaf through an old book that contains one after the other ballads about Robin Hood. Here is a ballad about how Robin Hood fought his other worst enemy - the knight Guy Guysbourne, and how, having defeated him and dressed in his attire - and you need to know that Guy Guysbourne always wore dressed horseskin over armor - he again outwitted Sheriff of Nottingham. Here is the ballad "Robin Hood and the Bishop", which tells how Robin Hood took out his anger against the church on the bishop. Here is a ballad about how Robin Hood saved the three sons of a poor widow - and in each of these ballads he is always the same: brave in battle, loyal in friendship, a joker, a merry fellow, a mocker, a folk hero who does not grow old.
I have told you about Robin Hood, how he was portrayed in folk ballads, and now you can see for yourself how Walter Scott changed this image when he brought him to Ivanhoe.
Walter Scott's yeoman Loxley, the name under which Robin God is bred in the novel, becomes Richard's faithful assistant. Robin Hood, as his people sang, refused to serve King Richard the Lionheart.
The people remember Robin Hood exactly as he is sung in old folk songs. And this is the immortality of Robin Hood.
Drawings by P. Bunin.
For almost 700 years, there has been a legend about a noble robber. He robbed the rich and gave what he had taken from them to the poor. This man led a gang of "knife and ax workers" numbering over a hundred people. Desperate people lived in Sherwood Forest (Nottinghamshire) and brought a lot of trouble to dishonest, greedy and greedy citizens.
Robin Hood - that was the name of the legendary hero who cares about the welfare of ordinary and honest people. So many laudatory ballads have been written about him that you involuntarily begin to believe in the reality of this person. But did the noble robber really live, or are the legends about him a beautiful myth that has nothing to do with real life?
In the second half of the 15th century, an unknown author wrote 4 ballads dedicated to the brave leader of the forest robbers. In the first ballad tells of how Robin helps a poor knight ruined by a greedy abbot. The poor fellow is borrowed a large amount of money, and the faithful squire of the noble leader of the robbers, Little Joe, is given to help. It was a huge kid, endowed with immeasurable strength. Naturally, the knight takes revenge on the greedy abbot, and good triumphs.
Second ballad is dedicated to the conflict between the sheriff from Nottingham and the noble robber. "Romantics from the high road" staged a deer hunt in the lands of the sheriff, and then, with the help of cunning, they invited the most formidable law enforcement officer to the feast.
Third ballad tells of Robin's meeting with King Edward. He secretly comes to Nottingham to incognito investigate violations of the law by local authorities. The defender of the poor and the storm of the rich enters the service of the king and swears allegiance to him.
Fourth ballad the saddest. It tells about the death of a noble robber. He again begins to engage in dangerous fishing, but catches a cold and goes to Kirklayskoe Abbey to undergo a course of treatment. However, the insidious abbess treats him with leeches. Those suck blood, the noble robber is weakening day by day and, in the end, dies.
This, in brief, is the essence of the legends about a courageous man who faithfully served the common people. A great many such ballads were written. Robin is presented as a proud and independent person who opposes the rich who oppress the people. At the same time, the noble robber was loyal to the king and revered the church. Near him all the time was a cheerful and kind monk named Tak.
As for the origin of the glorious hero, some consider him a free peasant, others believe that he was a petty nobleman. The wife's name was Marian, however, she could not have been a wife, but simply a fighting girlfriend.
Experts studied the census registries of England in the period from 1228 to 1230. In these lists was found a man named Robin Hood, who was on the wanted list for crimes. This time is notable for popular unrest. They were headed by a certain Robert Twing. Under his leadership, the rebels plundered monasteries, and the seized grain was distributed to poor peasants.
Some historians are inclined to believe that the legendary robber was Robert Fitzug. He was born around 1170 and died around 1246. This man was the now wealthy Earl of Huntington. In fact, he was a rebellious aristocrat, but for some reason did not oppose the king, but only opposed noble nobles.
This is how Robin Hood is portrayed in Hollywood
Who sat on the royal throne during the activities of the noble robber? If you rely on ballads and legends, you can find the names of several crowned persons. In particular, this is Henry III (1207-1272). During his reign, civil war broke out in 1261. The rebels were led by Count Simon de Montfort (1208-1265).
At first, the rebels were victorious with the establishment of the dictatorship of the rebellious count, but then Henry III managed to regain power in 1265. However, some of the rebels did not bow their heads before the king. The nobles went into the forests and became robbers. Among them was our glorious hero. The king took everything from him, but he could not take the noble heart. Some researchers believe that that courageous nobleman from the 13th century became the hero of ballads and legends.
Robin Hood is also associated with Count Thomas Plantagenet Lancaster (1278-1322). He opposed King Edward II (1284-1327) and led the baronial opposition. The reason for the hostility was that the count was not appointed chief adviser at the court. In 1322 there was a rebellion. He was brutally suppressed, and Lancaster himself was beheaded.
Some of the rebels were pardoned by the king. One of them was a man with a legendary name. He was taken into service at court and given the rank of valet. During the year, this gentleman was carefully paid a salary. Then the newly-made valet disappeared, and what happened to him next is unknown. It is possible that for a number of reasons he became a noble robber.
If we consider Edward II as the main royal figure, then we can assume that "the romantic and unmercenary from the high road" did good deeds in the period from 1320 to 1330. However, the famous writer and historian Walter Scott (1771-1832) portrayed the image of a noble robber in his novel Richard the Lionheart. This English king lived from 1157 to 1199. And this indicates an earlier period for the existence of Robin Hood, or rather, at the end of the 12th century.
Nowadays, many researchers believe that a bright and mysterious personality is a composite image. That is, there was no specific person, but there was only a people's dream of a just and honest hero-robber. This is a purely folk creation, born among ordinary people. Since the image was unusually interesting and romantic, it became popular among poets and novelists. Creative nature turned it into a kind of symbol of the eternal struggle between good and evil. That is why it remains not only popular, but also relevant for several centuries..
Robin Hood owes his name not to the English word "good", that is, "good", as Russian readers usually think. The most common opinion is that he got his nickname from "hood", that is, a hood or other headdress. Robin Hood - Hooded Robin.
Character of English folklore, a skilled archer and warrior from Sherwood Forest (Sherwood Forest), who robs the rich and distributes his booty to the poor. Curiously, this trait was not part of the original ballad character and only appeared in the 19th century. It is not known whether the legend of the noble robber had a real prototype or only medieval ballads and legends served as the basis for it, but over the past centuries Robin Hood has become one of the most popular elements of English culture, and the story about him feels great in the age of cinema and television.
Robin Hood owes his name not to the English word "good", that is, "good", as Russian readers usually think. The most common opinion is that he got his nickname from "hood", that is, a hood or other headdress. Robin Hood - Hooded Robin. Attempts to connect this name with a really existing person have led nowhere, in particular because Robert (Robert) has been one of the most popular names in England over the past ten centuries, and Robin is perhaps the most popular diminutive version of it. . It is not surprising that there were many people named Robert or Robin Hood in medieval records, and some of them were indeed criminals - but not so famous and significant as to contribute to the birth of a legend.
Robin Hood is accompanied by a detachment of faithful companions, all together they live in Sherwood Forest in Nottinghamshire (Nottinghamshire), where the action of the first ballads about Robin and modern films and television films mainly takes place. In the earliest sources, he was a yeoman who had gone into the woods, a free peasant, but later he was often portrayed as an exiled aristocrat, unjustly deprived of his possessions due to the machinations of an unscrupulous sheriff. The wood archer is often referred to as Robin of Loxley - believed to have been born in this village near Sheffield - but this version dates from the late 16th century, while there are earlier versions of his birthplace, such as the village of Skelow in South Yorkshire (Skellow, South Yorkshire), which has been associated with the name of Robin Hood since 1422.
The first reference to poems about Robin Hood dates back to the end of the 14th century, but the ballads themselves were recorded only in the 15th and 16th centuries, and already in them Robin Hood has all his main features - he comes from commoners, worships the Virgin, enjoys increased attention from women, he is a skilled archer, hates churchmen and is at enmity with the Sheriff of Nottingham. Little John (Little John), Will Scarlet (Will Scarlet) and Much the Miller's Son have already appeared in Robin's squad, but there is still no mention of the Maid Marian (Maid Marian) and the cheerful monk brother Tuka (Friar Tuck) - they will appear a little later. In popular culture, Robin Hood is considered a contemporary and supporter of King Richard the Lionheart (Richard the Lionheart), that is, he lives in England (England) of the 12th century.
It is interesting that the first ballads give readers a few details to determine the time of the action, such as King Edward, for example, but the ballads cannot of course be considered a reliable historical source in such matters. Moreover, there were several kings with that name - King Edward I came to the throne in 1272, and Edward III died in 1377. From the 16th century, Robin Hood "becomes" a nobleman, usually considered the Earl of Huntingdon (Earl of Huntingdon), and this version is still very popular.
In any case, Robin Hood is a model for any noble robber. He collects tribute from rich merchants, knights or high-ranking churchmen who were not lucky enough to meet him in Sherwood Forest, offering them to dine on succulent venison, obtained, of course, by poaching. True, the payment for such a dinner is usually the purse of the "guest". There are exceptions to the rule - in one of the ballads, Robin Hood invites a knight to dinner, intending to rob him to the skin, but after learning that the knight is about to lose his land, which the greedy abbot has his eye on, he gives him enough money to pay debt to the abbot.
Robin Hood is young, tall, handsome and very clever, despite his simple origin. He and his men are usually dressed in green, which helps them to hide in dense forest thickets. He has a sharp tongue, loves to joke, and can be short-tempered and quick to kill. It is very interesting that in the ballads Robin keeps his people in strict obedience, and, recognizing his supremacy, they kneel before him as before their lord - in medieval tales there is not even a hint of modern ideals of equality and brotherhood. Historians argue that the legend of Robin Hood was cultivated mainly among the gentry, the petty nobility, and it would be a mistake to see him as the embodiment of a peasant uprising. He does not so much rebel against the social standards of the Middle Ages as he embodies them - generous, moderately pious and courtly, despising greedy, pampered and impolite enemies. Although there are more than a hundred people in his detachment of "merry men" ("Merry Men"), only four or five of them are regularly described in ballads, Robin's closest friends and associates.
At the latest by the beginning of the 15th century, Robin Hood became associated with the May holidays, and around the same time, Robin Hood's romantic attachment to the maiden Marian (or Marion), who eventually becomes his life mate, appeared in the sources. Marian is also portrayed as a commoner and heiress of a noble family, and in modern culture it is believed that, in the end, Robin and Marian marry and leave the forest, returning to a rich and civilized life.
The Victorian era created its own Robin Hood - it was during this period that he became a philanthropist who robs the rich to give to the poor - and the 20th century brought its own changes: from book to book, from film to film, Robin Hood turned from a cheerful robber into a national a hero of epic proportions, who not only takes care of the weak, but also bravely defends the English throne from unworthy and corrupt lords.
Robin Hood is a famous English hero of folk tales and ballads. The legends said that he, along with friends, robbed in Sherwood Forest, robbed the rich and gave money to the poor. Robin Hood was considered an unsurpassed archer, the authorities could not catch him in any way.
Ballads about this hero were composed as early as the 14th century. Based on them, many books about Robin Hood have already been written, many films have been shot. The hero appears either as an avenging nobleman, or as a cheerful reveler, or as a lover-hero.
In fact, there are few real facts about this character. It is all woven from myths. But some of them are still implausible. Even the legendary hero has his own historical truth. We will debunk the main misconceptions about Robin Hood.
Robin Hood was a real person. It is worth recognizing that this character is fictional. The archetypal hero's career evolved from the many popular wishes and disappointments of the common people of that era. Robin (or Robert) Hood (or Hod, or Hude) was a nickname awarded to petty criminals until the middle of the 13th century. It seems no coincidence that the name Robin is consonant with the word "robbing" (robbery). It is already modern writers who have formed the image of a noble robber as real. There were people like Robin Hood. They flouted unpopular state forest laws. Those rules kept vast areas semi-wild, especially for the hunting of the king and his court. Such fugitives have always delighted the oppressed peasants. But there was no such specific person who inspired his contemporaries to create poems about himself. No one was born with the name Robin Hood and did not live with him.
Robin Hood lived during the reign of Richard the Lionheart. Robin Hood is often called the enemy of the ambitious Prince John, who is trying to seize power during the absence of King Richard I the Lionheart (reigned 1189-1199), who was captured during the Crusade. But for the first time, the names of these three characters in the same context began to be mentioned by writers of the Tudor era in the 16th century. There is a mention (albeit not entirely convincing) of Robin Hood, as one of the participants in the court during the reign of Edward II (1307-1327). Much more plausible seems to be the ballad that Robin Hood was a supporter of Simon de Montfort, who was killed at Evesham in 1265. It is safe to say that Robin the Landless had become a popular figure in folk mythology by the time William Langland wrote his Vision of Peter the Plowman in 1377. This historical document directly mentions the name of Robin Hood. It is not clear how this character was related to Ranulf de Blondville, Earl of Chester, whose name immediately follows the brigand's name. It is likely that they got into the phrase from different sources.
Robin Hood was a noble man who robbed the rich and gave money to the poor. This myth was invented by the Scottish historian John Major. He wrote in 1521 that Robin did not cause any harm to women, did not delay the goods of the poor, generously shared with them what he took from the rich. But earlier ballads covered the character's activities more skeptically. The longest, and probably the oldest, Robin Hood story is Robin Hood's Glorious Little Adventure. Presumably it was written down in 1492-1510, but it is likely that much earlier, in the 1400s. There is a comment in this text that Robin did a lot of good for the poor. But at the same time, he helps a knight who is in financial difficulties with money. In this work, as in other early ballads, there is no mention of the money that was given to the peasants, the redistribution of wealth between social strata. On the contrary, in the stories there is a story about how a robber crippled an already defeated enemy and even killed a child. This makes us take a different look at the personality of the legendary character.
Robin Hood was an impoverished nobleman, the Earl of Huntington. Again, there is no real basis for the emergence of such a myth. Robin Hood is always a commoner in the first stories, communicating with people of his class. Where did such a legend come from? John Leland wrote in 1530 that Robin Hood was a noble robber. Most likely, it was about his actions, but the image has now been supplemented with the corresponding origin. And in 1569, the historian Richard Grafton claimed that in one old engraving he found evidence of the earl dignity of Robin Hood. This explained his chivalry and masculinity. This idea was subsequently popularized by Anthony Munday in his plays The Fall of Robert, Earl of Huntington and The Death of Robert, Earl of Huntington, both written in 1598. In this work, Count Robert, impoverished due to the intrigues of his uncle, began to fight for the truth in the guise of a robber, saving his bride Marian from the harassment of Prince John. And in 1632 Martin Parker's The True Tale of Robin Hood appeared. It states unequivocally that the notorious outlaw, Earl Robert of Huntington, colloquially known as Robin Hood, died in 1198. But the real Earl of Huntington during this period was David of Scotland, who died in 1219. After the death of his son John in 1237, this noble branch was interrupted. Only a century later, the title was bestowed on William de Clinton.
Robin married Maid Marian. Maid Marian has become an important part of the Robin Hood legend. However, few people know that she was originally the heroine of a separate series of ballads. Robin and the other thieves from the earliest stories had neither wives nor families. The image of a woman appears only in Robin Hood's devotion to the Virgin Mary. Perhaps the narrators considered such worship inappropriate in the years after the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century. It is likely that Marian therefore appeared in the legends of Robin Hood around this time to provide an alternative female focus. And since there are positive characters, a man and a woman, they must certainly get married.
Maid Marian was of noble blood. The identity of this girl raises many questions. Some historians are inclined to think that it was a beauty guarded by Prince John. And she met Robin Hood only after falling into his ambush in the forest. However, there is another opinion. Some scholars believe that for the first time Marian appears not even in the English epic, but in French. That was the name of the shepherdess, the girlfriend of the shepherd Robin. Only two hundred years later, the girl moved into the legend of the brave robber. And initially Marian was not highly moral, such a reputation appeared much later, under the influence of the chaste morality of the Victorian era.
Robin Hood was buried in Yorkshire, in the monastery of Kirklees. His grave is still there today. According to the legends, Robin Hood went to Kirklis Monastery for treatment. The hero realized that his hand was weakened, and the arrows began to fly past the target more and more often. The nuns were famous for their bloodletting skills. In those days it was considered the best medicine. But the abbess, whether by accident or on purpose, released too much blood to Robin Hood. Dying, he fired the last arrow, bequeathing to bury himself in the place of its fall. But Tudor writer Richard Grafton had a different version. He believed that the abbess buried Robin Hood on the side of the road. The book indicates that the hero rests where he robbed those passing by. On his grave, the abbess of the monastery set a large stone. The names of Robin Hood and several other people were inscribed on it. Perhaps a certain William Goldborough and Thomas were accomplices of the robber. And this was done so that travelers, seeing the grave of the famous robber, could safely move on without fear of robbery. In 1665, local historian Nathaniel Johnson sketched this grave. It appears in the form of a plate, decorated with a six-pointed Lorraine cross. It is often found on English tombstones of the 13th-14th centuries. The inscriptions were already barely legible. Robin Hood could indeed be buried with other people, but if the monument was erected immediately after his death, it is strange that no one mentioned this until 1540. The monastery itself passed into the possession of the Armitage family in the 16th century, after the church reform. In the 18th century, Sir Samuel Armitage decided to excavate the earth to a depth of a meter under the stone. The main fear was that the grave had already been visited by robbers. However, it turned out that there was nothing to be afraid of - there were no bodies of robbers under the stone. It seems that the stone was brought here from another place, where the legendary Robin Hood is buried. Now the tombstone is regularly attacked by souvenir hunters, seeking to chip away a piece from it. And many believe that parts of the stone help get rid of toothache. Armitage subsequently enclosed the stone in a small brick fence surrounded by iron railings. Their remnants are still visible today.
Some of Robin Hood's friends can be compared to celebrities of the era. Little John, Will Scarlett and Much the Miller's son accompany Robin Hood in the early ballads. Later, other heroes appeared in the company - the monk Tuk, Alan from the Valley, etc. The most famous of them is Little John. There are almost as many references to him in documents as there are about Robin Hood himself. Little John was said to be elusive, just like his friend. It is known that the grave of this robber is located in the county of Derbyshire in the cemetery in Hathersedge, which is not without interest. Its stones and railings are modern, but part of the early memorial has the weathered initials "L" and "I" (looking like "J") still visible. James Shuttleworth, who owned the estate, excavated the site in 1784. They found a very large femur 73 centimeters long. It turned out that someone 2.4 meters high was buried in the grave! Soon, strange misfortunes began to happen to the owners of the estate. Then the watchman reburied the bone in an unknown place. Two settlements, at Little Haggas Croft in Loxley, Yorkshire and the village of Hathersedge in Peak County, Derbyshire, claim to be the birthplace of Robin Hood and the place where Little John spent his later years. An alternative approach to the history of Robin Hood is based on an attempt to establish in the historical context of his opponents. However, the ballads directly name only the Sheriff of Nottingham, Abbot of St Mary and York. Other characters are mentioned only by title. There are no specific names that could be tied to specific dates in history. This lack of precise information is disappointing, but we must always remember that we are dealing with a folk epic, not a document of fact.
Robin Hood was an excellent archer. The ability to accurately shoot a bow distinguished Robin Hood. In some productions, he even won competitions, hitting not even an apple, but an arrowhead. In fact, at the time of the appearance of the legends of Robin Hood, classic English longbows were just beginning to appear, they were very rare. Historical documents indicate that the robbers mastered this weapon in the middle of the XIII century. Then the competition began. If we believe that Robin Hood lived at the end of the 12th century, then he could not have had a bow.
Monk Took was an accomplice of Robin Hood. This monk is considered one of the heroes of the Sherwood Fox. Written evidence says that Brother Tuk was indeed a robber. But he acted 200 miles from Sherwood Forest, moreover, 100 years after the estimated lifetime of Robin Hood. And this priest was not at all harmless and cheerful - he ruthlessly ruined and burned the hearths of his enemies. In subsequent legends, the names of famous robbers began to be mentioned together, they became accomplices.
Robin Hood operated in Sherwood Forest, Nottinghamshire. This statement is usually not objectionable. However, the mention of Sherwood did not appear in ballads immediately, at the earliest - in the middle of the 15th century. It seems that there is nothing wrong with this, just before the fact simply eluded the narrator. But in a collection of ballads about Robin Hood, published in 1489, his activities are associated with a completely different county, with Yorkshire. It is not located in the center of England, but in the north. It is worth mentioning that the Yorkshire Great North Road, on which, according to this version, Robin Hood operated, really had a bad reputation because of the numerous robberies of travelers.
Robin Hood is the real name of the robber. The correct word is Robin Hood. In English spelling, the surname is spelled Hood, not Good. The literal correct translation of the hero's name is Robin the Hood, not Robin the Good. There are doubts about the name of the robber. The phrase "Rob in Hood" literally means "robber in the hood." It is not clear whether the name Robin came from this phrase, or whether the word itself comes from the name of the robber.
Companions of Robin Hood wore green clothes. The green clothes of the robbers are often mentioned in legends. One of the earliest stories tells how the king specially dressed his people in green, ordering them to walk around Nottingham and pretend to be forest brothers. However, the townspeople not only did not welcome the "robbers", but drove them away in anger. This, by the way, eloquently speaks of how people "loved" Robin Hood. If he really fought for justice and was popular, then why did the people in green hurriedly run away from the townspeople? So the legend of the green clothes of the robbers found its life.
The Sheriff of Nottingham was a notorious villain. It is known from legends, novels and films that Robin Hood's main enemy is the Sheriff of Nottingham. This servant of the law led the foresters, guards, was friends with the church and the nobility. The unscrupulous sheriff had unlimited sweetness in these places. That's just with Robin Hood, he could not do anything - on the side of that was ingenuity, accuracy and ordinary people. It should be understood that in medieval England, the sheriff was an official who fought criminals. This position appeared in the X-XI centuries. Under the Normans, the country was divided into districts, each of which had its own sheriff. Interestingly, they did not always coincide with the counties. So the Sheriff of Nottingham also looked after the neighboring county of Derbyshire. In the tales of Robin Hood, his main enemy, the sheriff, is never called by name. Among the prototypes are the names of William de Brewer, Roger de Lacy and William de Vendenal. The Sheriff of Nottingham existed, but it is not clear who he was during the Robin Hood years. In the early tales, the sheriff was simply an enemy of the "forest lads" by the nature of his service, fighting all the robbers. But later this character was overgrown with details, becoming a real negative hero. He oppresses the poor, appropriates foreign lands, introduces new taxes, and generally abuses his position. And in some stories, the sheriff even harasses Lady Marian and, with the help of intrigues, tries to become the king of England. True, the ballads make fun of the sheriff. He is exposed as a cowardly fool who is trying to do the job of capturing Robin Hood by proxy.
Sir Guy of Gisborne was a real noble character and an enemy of Robin Hood. Sir Guy of Gisborne's behavior is quite different from that of the sheriff. The knight in the legends appears as a brave and courageous warrior, well wielding a sword and a bow. One of the legends tells how Guy of Gisborne volunteered to end Robin Hood for a reward, but in the end he himself fell at the hands of a noble robber. Not in all stories this knight appears as a noble character. In some places he is called a cruel bloodthirsty killer, easily transgressing the law in order to achieve his goals. In some ballads, Guy of Gisborne harasses the maiden Marian, and in some places he even acts as her fiancé. The appearance of the hero is also unusual - he wears not an ordinary cloak, but the skin of a horse. But such a character did not exist at all. It is believed that Sir Guy of Gisborne was once the hero of a separate legend, which later merged with the story of Robin Hood.
Robin Hood was a hero-lover. Among the friends of the brave robber, only one female name is called - the maiden Marian. And the professor of English literature at Cardiff University, Stephen Knight, generally put forward an original idea. He thinks that Robin Hood and his friends were a bunch of gays! In confirmation of this bold idea, the scientist cites very unambiguous parts of the ballads. And in the original stories about Robin Hood's girlfriend, nothing was said at all, but the names of close friends - Little John or Will Scarlett - were unnaturally often mentioned. And this point of view is shared by Cambridge professor Barry Dobson. He interprets the relationship between Robin Hood and Little John as very ambiguous. Fighters for the rights of sexual minorities immediately picked up this theory. There are even voices for ensuring that the story of Robin Hood's non-traditional sexual orientation is certainly told to children at school. In any case, with the reputation of the hero-lover, the robber is far from ambiguous.
Scientists still do not agree on whether the robber Robin Hood actually existed. There is a version that the legends about the noble robber are echoes of the ancient pagan cults of forest creatures. Supporters of this hypothesis cite as proof one of the nicknames of the Celtic god Pak, who always walked around with a retinue of not very good spirits. This Puck was called Robin Goodfellow (Robin Nice Guy). Today, however, Robin Hood's mythological origins are not taken seriously by most historians. Fifty legends and legends about the forest robber that have come down to us do not contain anything fantastic. The images of Robin Hood and his associates are extremely mundane, they are endowed with many features of real people.
There is almost no controversy about the period of the emergence of Robin Hood legends. The first mention of the fact that people sing ballads about the terrible robber Robin Hood is found in a poem by William Langland dated 1377. So there were ballads about Robin, apparently in the XIV century.
Strange as it may seem to the modern reader, neither the legendary Robin Hood nor his possible historical prototype could possibly meet with Richard the Lionheart and even be contemporaries of the famous crusader king. The acquaintance of a robber and a monarch was invented in the middle of the 18th century, and was popularized by Walter Scott. The Scottish novelist did not care much about the historical accuracy of his books, but the strength of his talent for 200 years has led readers to believe that Robin Hood lived in the 12th century. This opinion was "cemented" by numerous followers of Sir Scott, who forced Robin and Richard to meet on the pages of books, movie screens and computer monitors.
Robin Hood Gang
In fact, Robin Hood could live and rob only at least a century after the reign of Richard. Only in the 13th century did archery competitions appear in England - an invariable detail of the ballads about Robin Hood. An active member of the Sherwood gang, Brother Took is called a "friar" in legend, that is, a member of a mendicant monastic order. Such orders appeared in England only a few decades after the death of Richard the Lionheart.
It turns out that if the real Robin Hood existed, then he could live between the middle of the XIII and XIV centuries. Are there any contenders for the title of the prototype of the Sherwood robber who lived at that time? It turns out there is, and not just one.
Most often, a certain Robert Hoad is called as the "real" Robin Hood. Some Russian-speaking supporters of this version, violating the modern rules for transcribing English proper names, prefer to write the surname Hode as "Goud" or even "Good". But phonetic tricks as arguments in a historical dispute are hardly convincing. Nothing in the biography of Robert Howd indicates his passion for robbery.
Supposed grave of Robin Hood
He was born in 1290 in the family of the forester Adam Howe, who lived near the town of Wakefield in the north of England. In 1322, the Earl of Warren, master of Howd, joined the Duke of Lancaster's rebellion against King Edward. The rebellion was defeated, its leaders were executed, and ordinary participants were outlawed. The home of Robert Hoad, where his wife Matilda was already raising several children, was confiscated by the authorities. In 1323, Edward II paid a visit to Nottingham, and a few months later the name of Robert Howe appeared on the lists of royal servants for a couple of years. A statement dated November 22, 1324 states: "By order of His Majesty the King, to give Robert Howe, a former guardsman, 5 shillings in view of the fact that he no longer serves in the palace." Howd died in 1346. This biography is easily combined with one of the ballads in which Edward II, disguised as an abbot, visits Robin Hood in Sherwood Forest, forgives all the robbers and takes them into his service. However, this may all be nothing more than a coincidence.
Even less is known about another applicant for the title of prototype Robin Hood. The name of a certain Robin Hod occurs in 1226 in the court records of the city of York. It says that the property of this man, totaling 32 shillings and 6 pence, was confiscated, and he himself was outlawed. Further traces of Robin Hod are lost, and not necessarily in Sherwood Forest.
Finally, the third applicant is of noble origin. His name was Robert Fitzut Earl of Huntington. The only reason for appointing the offspring of an ancient family as the leader of a band of robbers is a gravestone near Kirklees Abbey, where, according to legend, Robin Hood died. The famous archer bequeathed to bury himself where the last arrow fired from his bow falls. And in the middle of the 18th century, a sensation struck: the grave of Robin Hood was found. A certain William Stukeley, a physician, freemason and amateur historian, in his book "Paleographica Britannica" wrote that the Sherwood robber belonged to the family of the Earls of Huntington. As evidence, he cited an inscription on a grave near Kirklees Abbey. It read: “Here, under this little stone, lies Robert, the true Earl of Huntington. There was no archer more skillful than him. And people called him Robin Hood. Such criminals as he and his people, England will never see again.
Robin Hood and Baby John
This stone can still be seen today, although it is located on the territory of private ownership. True, it is almost impossible to make out the inscription - it is almost completely erased. The authenticity of it, and of the grave itself, already in the 19th century raised serious doubts: the text was written not in Old English, but in the language of the 18th century, “aged” with the help of gross errors. Even more suspicious was the date of death at the end of the inscription: "24 kal: Dekembris, 1247." If you use the format of the Roman calendar adopted in 13th-century England, you get "23 days before December." No inscription with a similar spelling of the date is known. Modern scholars believe that both the inscription and the stone are forgeries of the 18th century.
By the way, the origin of Robin Hood from the village of Loxley, which became especially popular after the movie "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves", is not seriously considered by anyone. This name is not mentioned in the ballads about Robin Hood, nor in documents related to his possible prototypes. Loxley was first mentioned as the birthplace of the Earl of Huntington by Joseph Wriston in 1795, defending the theory of the noble origin of the archer. What he was guided by is not clear.
Sheriff of Nottingham
It is quite possible that Robin Hood does not have a specific prototype known to historians at all. Perhaps, in the XIII century, a cheerful and successful robber lived in Sherwood Forest, of which there were many in England at that time. He helped fellow peasants several times, and stories about this, acquiring more and more details and conjectures, turned into folk legends. At least a few of Robin Hood's friends and foes known from ballads have apparently legendary origins.
Of the entire Sherwood gang, only Little John left some material traces. The Derbyshire village of Hathersage proudly claims to be the home of Robin Hood's closest friend. At the local cemetery, they will readily show you his grave, however, already with a modern stone slab without indicating the date of death. When this burial was opened in 1784, they found the skeleton of a real giant. This convinced everyone that the grave was genuine: after all, John was nicknamed the Kid as a joke, according to legend, he was seven feet tall (213 centimeters). In the court documents of the XIV century, it was also possible to find a mention of a certain John Le Little, who robbed the people in the vicinity of Wakefield. But this can hardly be considered another proof of the reality of the existence of Little John, because the nickname given by growth is not uncommon.
Robin Hood and the Maiden Marian, 1866. Painting by Thomas Frank Hafey
Traces of other associates of Robin Hood can only be found in folklore. Some of his friends do not appear in the early versions of the legends, they became members of the gang already in the late Middle Ages. Around the same time, Robin Hood had a lover. The name Marian is not mentioned in folk ballads, but this character was traditionally present at the folk May holidays as the Queen of May. Somewhere in the 15th century, Robin Hood also became the hero of these walks, usually held at the edge of the forest. How was it not to make a wonderful couple? The rest is the work of writers and filmmakers.
The origin of the eternal opponents of Robin Hood is also rather vague. The Sheriff of Nottingham certainly existed, but none of the legends mention his name. So a dozen of royal officials who replaced this post for several centuries could immediately experience a sharp personal dislike for the Sherwood robber. The cruel knight Guy of Gisburne, who wore a horseskin instead of a cloak, is a legendary figure. At the beginning of the millennium, there were separate legends about him, and at the end of the 15th century, he surfaced in ballads about Robin Hood.
Bishop's Oak
Who the heroes and anti-heroes of Sherwood Forest really were, today only a huge oak tree, standing in a thicket at the crossroads of major roads, knows for sure. It is more than a thousand years old, back in the 19th century, special props had to be made for huge branches. According to legend, it was under this giant that Robin Hood forced the captured bishop to dance. Since then, the tree has been called so: Bishop's oak. Whether it actually happened or not is a mystery.
