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The magic of Robin Hood

By RACHEL DALBY

There are just a few legends that have gathered enough momentum to spill over their county boundaries and sweep through a nation.

There are even fewer that have held enough magic to fascinate a global audience for decades.

The tale of Robin Hood is one of them and it is probably Nottinghamshire's biggest tourist attraction. Millions of visitors make the pilgrimage to the county every year.

They want to see the den where Robin hid from the evil Sheriff of Nottingham, the larder where Robin stored his loot and the church where Robin married his fair Maid Marian.

But who is the figure behind the Robin Hood fever that has led to many cinema and television productions and an international thirst to walk in the footprints of a bandit?

Robin Hood is popularly believed to have lived in Sherwood Forest in Nottinghamshire about 700 years ago. We do not know exactly when he lived, but some stories link him to King Edward, although this could have been any of three kings.

Between them the three Edwards reigned for 105 years from 1272 until 1377. Some of the first stories to be written about Robin Hood were produced in the early 1500s and claimed that he was born at Locksley.

It is possible that his name as we know it evolved from the title The Robbing Hood, given to him by those who suffered as a result of his passion to take from the rich and allegedly give to the poor.

There are vague references in historical documents to a Robyn Hode and a Robert Hode but both names were common in the 13th and 14th Centuries.

Tales constantly refer to Robin's attempts to dodge the Sheriff of Nottingham, the king's representative who looked after the Royal forest and supervised the collection of taxes.

In Robin Hood's time, the sheriff would have been in charge of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire. Nottinghamshire did not have its own sheriff until 1449.

We believe that Robin wore green and brown clothes, as any sensible bandit working in a forest would and that he was a skilled archer.

It seems that his gang were merry men who liked hearty food and a good tipple. A tall man known as Little John was depicted in early ballads as Robin's right-hand man.

The grave of a man believed to be Sherwood Forest's Little John may be viewed in Hathersage in Derbyshire.

Images of another of Robin's good friends, Friar Tuck, are of a well-rounded, holy man who left his church because he was fed up with the sheriff's tax collectors emptying the poor-box.

Some say that the friar turned in to a scoundrel and emptied the poor-box himself.

Will Scarlet, also referred to as Will Scarlock, is described as Robin's trusty henchman.

Robin Hood and his band of merry men would trek through the forest in search of wealthy people passing through with bulging purses, quality cloth and weighty jewels.

It is unlikely that Robin Hood was the clean-looking handsome people's hero portrayed by American film directors but he evidently had some kind of popularity.

According to legend, the Major Oak in Sherwood Forest was one of the merry men's meeting places and the hole in the trunk was allegedly used as a store cupboard.

Some say it was where Robin kept his loot and hid from the sheriff's men.

Others say it was where venison, berries and wine were stored for his merry men's sumptuous feasts. Experts believe that it is unlikely that the Major Oak would have been large enough to provide room for the storage of any treasures in Robin Hood's time, although this does not interfere with the tree's popularity with visitors.

Maid Marian was first mentioned as part of the Robin Hood legend in the 1500s so it is unlikely that assuming Robin lived, the pair ever met.

However Robin is reputed to have welcomed her into his gang and taken her hand in marriage at St Mary's Church in Edwinstowe in the forest.

There are several versions of the tale of Robin Hood's death. One is that Robin was wounded during a fight near Barnsdale with Roger of Doncaster.

Although Robin was weakened by his injury, he struck Roger with his sword, cutting off his head. Robin summoned Little John and asked him to dig a grave and place him in it with his sword at his head, his bow at his side and his arrows at his feet.

Another version of the tale is that Robin fired an arrow from a window close to his death bed and asked to be buried wherever it landed.

Regardless of how he died, the spirit of the Robbing Hood lives on in the magical tales passed down through many generations.

 

The gay outlaw

By DANIEL TAYLOR

Fans of folk hero Robin Hood reacted angrily to claims that he may have been closer to his merry men than he ever was to Maid Marian.

Stephen Knight, Professor of English Literature at Cardiff University, has claimed that the famous outlaw was gay. Professor Knight based his claim on research into Chaucerian English ballads of the 13th and 14th centuries.

But Edwinstowe resident Mrs Pam Bird, whose grand-daughter Rachel Bird posed as Maid Marian for a sculpture of Robin and Marian in the village, dismissed the claims.

She pointed to the age-old legend about the wedding of Robin Hood and Maid Marian in St Mary's Church, Edwinstowe, as proof of his sexual persuasion.

Mrs Bird, who lives on Abbey Road, said: "How dare he? I don't care how clever he is, he doesn't know his history. "He will upset a great many people. I am just dumbstruck. I have heard a great many Hood tales over the years but never one so incredible.

Robin and Marian were married in Edwinstowe church." The village, in Sherwood Forest, has strong ties with the Robin Hood legend.

The road signs welcoming visitors bear the inscription: "Edwinstowe - Robin Hood's village". Mrs Bird said: "I am no scholar but I refute his claims. If he wants to write a dissertation then it is up to him, but it is up to others whether or not they believe it.

I hope they will greet it with scorn. "Any song can be interpreted by anyone in any way. It's like Shakespeare, as the language was so different then. It can be read in any manner."

In 1995 Professor Knight claimed the outlaw was the Earl of Huntingdon from Barnsdale, Rutland. But two years later, he had a different theory, that Robin was Scotsman Rabbie Hoods and the English borrowed the legend.

This time he claims his studies of the texts reveal that Robin and his merry men were gay outlaws ostracised by a straight society.

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