22. Robin Hood Was Real – Kinda
There was no real-life character who performed all the noble deeds of derring-do ascribed to Robin Hood. However, there were plenty of outlaws, nearly all commoners, who gained a measure of popularity with the lower classes for thumbing their noses at the upper-class oppressors. Some of those outlaws had names quite close to Robin Hood.
In medieval England, “Robinhood” or “Rabunhod” or “Robehod” were common nicknames for criminals, appearing frequently in twelfth-century court records. However, those Robin Hoods were not driven by any high-brow noble motives. They robbed and stole for the mundane reasons that led most people into crime back then, and that still put people on the path of criminality today.
