Robin Hood: Difference between revisions

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Robin Hood is a legendary English outlaw, known principally from ballads.  The earliest of these ballads place him in Barnesdale, an area north of [[Doncaster]], but later ones in Sherwood forest in Nottinghamshire, with which he is mostly associated in modern folklore. If he ever existed, it may have been in the reigns of [[Edward I]], [[Edward II]] or [[Edward III]], but [[Walter Scott]] in his novel ''Ivanhoe'' placed him in the time of Richard I.<ref>Drabble, M. ed.  Oxford Companion to English Literature.  Oxford University Press. 1995</ref> The appearance of surnames like Robinhood in late 13th-century sources suggests this may be about right.<ref>''Dictionary of National Biography'', new edition</ref>
Robin Hood is a legendary English outlaw, known principally from ballads.   
 
The historical origins of the story are uncertain. Official records dated 1225-7 refer to a fugitive from justice in the York area named Robert Hod or Hobbehod. From 1261 onwards, examples are found in various records around the country of people surnamed Robinhood or similar. At this place and time surnames were not hereditary, so they were rather in the nature of nicknames. These occurrences suggest there was already a well-known character after whom they were named.  
 


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Revision as of 11:27, 19 November 2012

Robin Hood is a legendary English outlaw, known principally from ballads.

The historical origins of the story are uncertain. Official records dated 1225-7 refer to a fugitive from justice in the York area named Robert Hod or Hobbehod. From 1261 onwards, examples are found in various records around the country of people surnamed Robinhood or similar. At this place and time surnames were not hereditary, so they were rather in the nature of nicknames. These occurrences suggest there was already a well-known character after whom they were named.


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