An earl was a nobleman who was entitled to an estate, making him much higher up the hierarchical ladder of the feudal system. The actual social standing of any real Robin Hood, if he existed at all, may have been that of a yeoman who had a rightful claim to an earldom. With the denial of that claim, he became an outlaw.
We will probably never know if Robin Hood was a particular historical figure. However, if he was, he probably looked more like the character seen in the earlier legends. He was perhaps a hot-tempered outlaw who liked to pick fights with people rather than the noble villain who fought for social justice by taking from the rich and giving to the poor.
Yorkshire borders Nottinghamshire, the site of Sherwood Forest and the domain of the Sheriff of Nottingham. There are some obscure references to locations – possibly because the early writers of the legends were not local to Nottinghamshire or Yorkshire – such as the city of Barnsdale, which is in Yorkshire. Later legends claim that he was born in Loxley, which is in Yorkshire.
Thirteenth-century documents, which coincide with the second “Robin Hood” era, indicate that the leaders of Barnsdale frequently sought protection because of the number of outlaws in the area. The presence of so many outlaws certainly makes the presence of Robin Hood and his Merry Men a possibility.
Nottingham is about 30 miles from Barnsdale, a distance that would have been quite arduous for someone in the Middle Ages. Rather than frequently traveling back and forth between Barnsdale and Nottingham, the real Robin Hood may have had bases in both places. That would enable him to be able to spend significant amounts of time in each location and give cause to both places being mentioned so frequently in the legends.
Hood was a common surname in Medieval England, and Robin, a variation of the name Robert or Rupert, was also very popular. As such, historians who have searched for any authenticity to the Robin Hood legends have identified several people who, based on the little that can be found about them, may fit the description of Robin Hood. The Robin Hoods in question range from yeomen to disgraced earls, but making an exact fit, for the time being, seems impossible.
With both “Robin” and “Hood” being such famous names, an outlaw may have taken the moniker as his nom de plume to avoid revealing his true identity, give him an air of anonymity, and therefore avoid being caught (or risking harm to his family). The idea is akin to a modern criminal going by the name John Smith to elude detection.
Consider people like Billy the Kid or Blackbeard. The names alone were enough to trigger fear in the hearts of anyone who lived during the times when they were at large. The fact that they had such compelling nicknames made them all the more terrifying. The real Robin Hood may have capitalized on this idea to make himself seem more frightening to those who might want to capture him.
Among local people, stories about an outlaw who lived life on his own terms and was unafraid to face down the Sheriff of Nottingham would have turned the persona into a hero, whether or not there actually was such a person. As such, they may have applied the term “Robin Hood” as a catch-all for any outlaw who had good intentions but was on the wrong side of the law.
With dozens or more figures identified as potential Robin Hoods, coupled with the possibilities that it was just a nickname or a general term for a particular breed of a bandit, there is no way to know where the stories originated. There may have been multiple Robin Hoods, whose stories merged to form the legends that we recognize today. An earlier one may have represented the former legends, while later ones became the stuff of the following stories.
Even if there was no noble outlaw named Robin Hood, there were sheriffs and other officials who were given authority by the king to exact taxes and oppress the people without any fear of punishment. The legends do not provide the name of the Sheriff of Nottingham that Robin Hood fought against, but there was almost certainly a sheriff of Nottingham who was cruel and overbearing.
In the legends, Robin Hood is undefeatable with a bow and arrow. In movies about him, he is depicted as being able to hit any target, sometimes even squarely pegging an arrow that he just shot onto the bullseye. Any real Robin Hood was probably an excellent marksman. Life on the other side of the law required skill with a bow and arrow as a means of survival, and if he did live in Sherwood Forest, he would have needed his bow and arrow to hunt.
Any historical Robin Hood was probably more of a bandit than a celebrated hero (at least until legends repainted him as a man of the people who took from the rich and gave to the poor). Bandits were notorious for attacking unsuspecting travelers, sometimes engaging them in a swordfight, which could easily prove deadly, and almost always stealing whatever they had.
A historical Robin Hood probably didn’t take the booty he stole and gave it to the poor. He probably kept it for himself, making him feared and dreaded among the local people while simultaneously becoming a subject of fascination. In fact, the people may have become so terrified of this bandit that they resorted to calling him Robin Hood, even if it wasn’t really his name.
So if Robin Hood probably didn’t steal from the rich to give to the poor, why did he become so popular, especially among the peasants and lower strata of Medieval society? Probably because of his resistance to the Sheriff of Nottingham. Everyone hated him, and anyone who was willing to face him would have indeed become a hero to anyone living under his oppression.
If there were a real Robin Hood, he probably would not have been an even-tempered knightly figure. Instead, he probably would have been someone who went around looking for trouble and always trying to start a fight. He probably fought as many innocent people as “bad guys.” Their level of personal virtue wouldn’t have mattered if they were crossing his turf. In other words, he was like a Medieval gang member.
For some, trying to find the historical Robin Hood is about identifying a particular person about whom the earliest legends tell stories. However, the bigger picture of looking for the real Robin Hood is about understanding the drudgery of Medieval life at the bottom of the hierarchical ladder, for people who were poor and oppressed by heavy taxation, and who needed a hero.
Along with the likes of King Arthur and the wizard Merlin, Robin Hood continues to be celebrated in England today. His celebrity is particularly prominent in Nottingham, which has a festival in his honor every year. In Sherwood Forest, the oak where he is believed to have called his Merry Men is protected as a historical site. There are even markers for his and Little John’s supposed graves.
Hollywood has taken the legends of Robin Hood and outfitted them for a contemporary audience. In all likelihood, the stories will continue to entertain children and adults for the foreseeable future. They may keep growing and evolving, so much so that 200 years from now, the stories scarcely recognize those that we know today.
Where Did We Find This Stuff? Here Are Our Sources:
“History’s Mysteries – The True Story of Robin Hood” (Documentary).