outoftheshadows.myfreeforum.org

Now this is a subject I am not very familiar with. Which in hindsight is a bit embarrasing because I grew up in Nottingham! I know a few of the local legends, like the Golden Arrow, and how Robin chose his burial site, but nothing specific about the history. And my interest has been tweaked a bit lately, so here we go.
Unlike the King Arthur posts where I am just posting what I have already researched in the years previous, this is a totally new subject to me, so it is a work in progress and will probably take quite a while!

From what little I can recall, theres a general consensus among historians that the modern image of robin hood probably comes from an amalgamation of various historical figures

Also I think nottingham isnt the only place to claim itself as Robins playground, I think some places further north also claim robin hood originated there...  If the theory is right about the amalgamation of robins is right then he was probably from a bit of everywhere!! just like me! mwahaha!

On the mythical side of things, I like the idea of Robin Hood as a kind of Herne The Hunter incarnate, which I think is quite popular ( No not just coz of that dodgy 90's ITV series.....)



Will be interesting to see what you you can dig up!

well believe it or not, so far my research has led me to believe that he wasn't anyone at all. some historians have explored the avenues of real historical figures and *cough* i haven't gotten that far yet, but what i've seen is dubious. what i have found out is that 'Robin Hood' was a kind of slang adjective of a criminal around the 1100/1200s, and it went through a series of developments and relocations to become what we have today.

were he historical, yorkshire actually has the best claim to him, as loxley is in yorkshire as are 'robin hoods grave' and little johns grave and kirklees abbey where he shot the infamous arrow from too. i know scotland has tried to lay claim a few times, but its not something i've looked into yet.

I think I've heard a cornish robin hood claim too....

Certainly gets around!

oh yes he does!

yorkshire makes the most sense to me though. although at the time of the original sagas, sherwood forest is specifically mentioned and probably covered half of notts and yorkshire too, so its not really a stretch to imagine that if he did exist, his stomping ground was half the east midlands.

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