English legends about Robin Hood have come down to our time in the form of ballads, poems, songs, which were performed to music and dances. They originated in the 13th century, when the Normans conquered England and oppressed the local population. It is believed that Robin Hood had a prototype - the owner of the land, whose property was taken away. He was forced to go to the forests, where many robbers were hiding in those days. Robin was distinguished from everyone by his ability to shoot accurately from a bow and nobility, he defended the weak and the oppressed. It is no coincidence that he was more often called not a robber, but a people's avenger.

In medieval England, there were harsh laws that gave the king the right to single-handedly dispose of all his lands, lands and subjects. All living creatures in the forests belonged to the king. No one had the right to hunt in the royal lands. Seen in the hunt threatened with the death penalty, which was often carried out on the spot. Sometimes the so-called poachers were brought into towns and executed publicly in the marketplace.

Robin Hood and his Free Riflemen hid in the famous Sherwood Woods. They robbed on the roads and hunted. They were hunted down by armed foresters, the royal guards were chasing, but they could not catch the lucky Robin. Most often, the guards turned out to be fooled, which gave the people a reason to compose mocking jokes, poems, songs.

One day, the foresters caught two sons of a widow in the forest, who shot a deer. They were brought to Nottingham. The sheriff ordered them both to be hanged in the market square with a crowd of people. This was reported to Robin Hood. He decided to save the young men, disguised himself as a beggar and came to the market square. But as soon as the sheriff and his wards brought the brothers to the gallows, Robin Hood pulled out his horn and blew. Immediately, his arrows, dressed in green cloaks, who were waiting for this signal, galloped to the square. They freed the guys and laughed at the sheriff.

All failures were reported to the king, who was eager to catch the hated Robin Hood. The king advised the sheriff, who arrived from Nottingham, to lure the robber out of the forest by cunning, seize him and bring him to be executed.

The sheriff announced a tournament-competition of archers. The winner was rewarded with a golden arrow. He expected that the free shooters would want to take part in the competition and arrive, as always, in green cloaks. But one of Robin Hood's associates, nicknamed Little John, advised changing green raincoats to colorful ones. Dressing succeeded. The sheriff and his wards did not recognize free shooters in the crowd. Robin Hood became the winner of the tournament, he received a golden arrow and, together with his comrades, returned safely to the forest.

From there, they sent a scathing letter to the sheriff, in which they named the winner of the tournament. This letter they attached to the arrow. Robin Hood fired, the arrow flew through the woods and hit the sheriff's open window.

More than once, Robin Hood made fun of the sheriff: he robbed him, and deceived him, and always taught - do not oppress the poor.

Once Robin Hood was resting under a tree. A cheerful guy walked past him, singing a song. After a while, the guy was returning the same way and was very sad. Robin Hood asked him why he was so sad, and he said that he was going to marry, but the lord forcibly took his bride from the village and wants to make her his wife. Robin Hood immediately called his free shooters, they jumped on horses and rushed to the village. They were in time - the lord and the girl were already in the church. Robin Hood drove the old lord away, and the guy and his bride immediately got engaged.

Soon Robin Hood decided to marry himself. He chose a noble girl for himself, introduced himself as a count. The girl fell in love with him, but he had to return to his Sherwood Forest. The saddened girl changed clothes and went to look for him. Robin Hood also changed clothes and went out onto the road. He met a richly dressed girl and mistook her for a merchant. The girl didn't recognize him either. They took up arms, but the mistake was soon found out. They got engaged in the forest.

Years passed, and Robin Hood felt that his hand was weakened, the arrow flew past the target. He knew that his hour had come. He was sent to convalesce in a convent. But there they let him bleed, and he weakened even more. In the end, he was brought back to the forest. There he fired his arrow for the last time and ordered his comrades to bury him in the place where the arrow fell.

Briefly about the article: It is probably not easy to find a person who has never heard of Robin Hood, the legendary noble robber who robbed the greedy rich and distributed money to the poor. His name has long become a household name, they composed songs about him, wrote books, made films. In his image and likeness, the characters of numerous fantasy heroes are constructed, possessing a bow, a quiver, a brave heart and a good soul.

Arrows of Robin Hood

"Noble robber": reality or myth?

It's about a brave guy.

His name was Robin Hood.

No wonder the memory of a daredevil

The people are protected.

"Ballads of Robin Hood" (Translated by I. Ivanovsky)

It is probably not easy to find a person who has never heard of Robin Hood, the legendary noble robber who robbed the greedy rich and distributed money to the poor. His name has long become a household name, they composed songs about him, wrote books, made films. In his image and likeness, the characters of numerous fantasy heroes are constructed, possessing a bow, a quiver, a brave heart and a good soul.

But who is this hero? And did he really exist?

I. Legend: Nice Guy Robin Hood

The story of Robin Hood has come down to us in the form of medieval folk ballads, and his image was not tied to any particular era. Sometimes he is called a contemporary of Richard the Lionheart (1189-1199), sometimes - Kings Edward II or Edward III (1307-1377).

Not far from the city of Nottingham, there is a huge Sherwood Forest, through which the Great North Road, laid by the Romans, passes - one of the main transport arteries of Northern England. It was Sherwood that became the main home of the valiant Robin Hood and his gang.

"A nice guy walks through the forest country - Robin Hood!"

The origin of Robin is unclear - he is considered the adopted son of a miller, or a villan (dependent peasant), or a yeoman (free farmer). When the enemies burned down his house, an excellent archer Robin gathered a "brigade" and went to the robbers.

What kind of enemies ravaged the village of Robin? Some researchers believe that the memory of the conquest of England by the Normans in the 11th century was reflected in the ballads. The conquerors brutally oppressed the local population - the Anglo-Saxons, treating them with frank contempt. Suffice it to say that for more than a century, none of the English kings of the Norman and Angevin dynasties knew a word from the language of the people they ruled (the first was Richard the Lionheart).

It happened that the Anglo-Saxons, who did not want to submit to the conquerors, went into the forests and created something like partisan detachments - perhaps Robin Hood was the leader of just such a squad.

"In the past, servants and serfs, now - free shooters"

Under the command of the dashing ataman there was a whole hundred of young men dressed in green cloaks. The detachment included quite colorful figures. For example, Robin's deputy, a hefty thug Baby John (well, these guys had a poor sense of humor!), Whom the ataman defeated in the famous stick fight at the river ford. Or fat monk Tuk, not a fool to drink, eat and fight. There were also Will Stutley-Scarlett, the minstrel Alan-o-Dale and other very curious characters.

Well done Robin lived in Sherwood not only by robbery, but also by hunting, which in itself was a criminal act. The fact is that according to the law, forest game, especially deer, belonged to the king, and specially appointed foresters guarded the game from the encroachments of the "arrogant mob". The poacher was punished depending on the category of game - for every little thing they could cut off his hand, for a deer - hang. It is not for nothing that in many ballads it is the royal foresters who act as opponents of Robin Hood.

But Robin's main enemy is the Sheriff of Nottingham. A sheriff in medieval England is akin to a governor. This official, personally appointed by the king, exercised all administrative, police, judicial and military power in the county. He also collected taxes, which opened wide scope for abuse. Sometimes people sent from the "center" became sheriffs, sometimes - local feudal lords (as a rule, not too big and noble). In general, the sheriff of the county is a natural opponent for both peasants and aristocracy. But "good Robin" bullied the hated sheriff in full.

So, once the sheriff ordered the three sons of an old widow to be hanged because they shot a deer in the royal forest. Robin Hood disguised himself as a beggar and hurried to Nottingham. When the poor poachers were about to be pulled up, Robin, who obviously had a weakness for theatrical effects, blew his horn - his guys immediately rushed out of the forest and recaptured the condemned.

In the ballad "Robin Hood and the Golden Arrow," the sheriff complains to the king that he cannot catch the damned robber. The king advises to resort to cunning, and the sheriff, having played with his chicken brains, announces an archery contest, the winner of which will get an arrow of solid gold. The robbers, having bought into this simple bait, go together to Nottingham, however, on the advice of Little John, they change their green cloaks to colorful ones. Naturally, the sheriff does not recognize them (the poor fellow probably suffered from night blindness ...). In the end, Robin Hood won the contest, received the golden arrow, and returned safely to the forest.

"I love you," exclaimed Robin Hood,

Tough things!

That's just bad that sheriff

Doesn't know where the arrow is."

And, having written a message telling the sheriff who won the prize, he shoots an arrow with a letter right into the officer's window.

The sheriff was in a terrible rage

From a cheeky letter

And then he wondered

That didn't go crazy.

With great gusto, the ballads narrate how Robin shakes out the purse of fat abbots and monks (considering that the church was then the largest landowner and tore three skins from the peasants, such popular love for the "Christ's bride" is easy to explain).

For example, one ballad explains why the huge oak in Sherwood is called Bishop's. One day, a certain bishop came across Robin and his friends in the woods, who were roasting venison. Through thoughtlessness, the prelate mistook them for ordinary serfs and ordered his guards to seize the poachers. The robbers began to pretend to beg for mercy, but the bishop was inexorable. Finally, Robin got tired of the game, he gave a signal, and the rest of the gang arrived from the forest. The bishop was taken hostage and demanded a large ransom, and the fun-loving Robin Hood made the bishop dance a jig around a large oak tree.

Literature could not pass by such fertile material. The legends of Robin Hood were collected and published as early as 1485.

In the future, famous writers like Walter Scott and Alexandre Dumas addressed the personality of the noble robber. Howard Pyle's collection The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood is considered canonical, first published in 1883. Pyle collected and literary processed all the classic ballads and legends about Robin and his fellows (though, yielding to the requirements of Victorian morality, he threw out any mention of maiden Marion). Pyle envisioned Sherwood Forest as a charmingly utopian world where it's always summer, the fun is overflowing, and dashing brawls are replaced by no less cool parties, on which good old ale flows like a river. Despite the rather archaic language, Howard Pyle's book is still considered the main English language. artwork about Robin Hood, on which almost all contemporary writers and filmmakers.

A modernized version of Pyle's stories was presented by Roger Lancelyn Green, a famous popularizer of old legends, in The Adventures of Robin Hood (1956). Green, leaving all the main storylines and Pyle's characters, introduced into the book the line of Robin's lover, the brave Marion (well, times have changed a lot in a century).

In general, there are countless historical adventure, love or children's novels about Robin. Moreover, stories about him are twisted this way and that.

So, for example, Michael Cadnam in "Forbidden Forest" (2002) made Little John the main character, and in "In a Dark Wood" (1997) he generally showed events from the point of view of Geoffrey, Sheriff of Nottingham. Gary Blackwood in "The Lion and the Unicorn" talks about Alan-o-Dale taking poor Robin's girlfriend. Teresa Tomlinson in the trilogy "The Forestwife" tells a feminist story about Lady Marion, without whose beneficial influence Robin and his lads would have remained uncouth gangsters. famous master fantasy Jennifer Roberson wrote a romantic dilogy about the love and adventures of two noble hearts - Sir Robert Loxley and Lady Marianne: "Lady of the Forest" (1992) and "Lady of Sherwood" (1999). Another "star" of fantasy Park Godwin in the dilogy "Sherwood" transfers the confrontation between Robin and the sheriff during the time of William the Red, the second of the Norman kings. Nancy Springer in the children's cycle "Rowan Hood" tells the story of the young daughter of a robber.

Jane Yolen's collection "Sherwood" includes 9 stories - from Yolen's own story about the magical circumstances of Robin's birth to Adam Stempl's story, in which the spirit of Robin Hood takes possession of a computer and redistributes the world's wealth via the Internet.

13 stories "The Fantastic Adventures of Robin Hood", compiled by Martin Greenberg, are written in the fantasy genre. You can also recall some works where Robin Hood is an episodic, but very entertaining character: "Silver Whirl" by John Myers Myers, "The Last Unicorn" by Peter Beagle or "Sword and Rainbow" by Elena Khaetskaya.

"Here the one who loses everything will be protected and saved"

Although the nobility got a lot from Robin, sometimes the robber also helped the nobles who were in trouble.

So, one knight had to mortgage his estate to the local abbot. When the time came to pay the debt, the knight went to the abbey to ask for a reprieve. While driving through Sherwood, he collided with Robin Hood. Seeing that the knight had nothing and after listening to his sad story, Robin gave him money to buy back the lands, and the rest of the free shooters showered the noble hick with gifts.

On another occasion, Robin helped a poor squire whose young bride they wanted to pass off as an old and rich lord.

One of the ballads tells about the marriage of Robin Hood himself. He fell in love with the noble girl Marion and, posing as an earl, achieved her location. Then he returned to Sherwood, and the saddened Marion, dressed in a man's dress, went to look for him. They met on a forest road, but Robin mistook the girl for a rich traveler and decided to rob. Marion also did not recognize her betrothed in the robber and a fight broke out between them (just some kind of Indian movie!). The lively girl defended herself so famously that the admiring Robin Hood offered her to make peace and be good comrades. Soon the misunderstanding was cleared up, and Robin and Marion lived happily in the green forest.

There is a legend about the meeting of the great robber with the king. True, it is not clear which of the kings is meant. It is sometimes claimed that the free shooters met with Richard the Lionheart, who was returning incognito from the Crusade (have you all read the Ivanhoe novel?). Some are of the opinion that the king whom Robin met was Edward II, disguised as a monk and personally coming to Sherwood to look at the reason for the sharply reduced amount of game in the royal lands. And although the king had a hard time from the shooters who love a simple joke, he, fascinated by Robin, forgives the forest "brotherhood" all sins and even accepts them into his service.

Death of Robin Hood

Every adventure comes to an end. Once Robin Hood felt that his hands were weakened and the arrows were flying past the target. He decides that he is ill, and goes to the Kirklei Monastery, whose inhabitants were famous for the art of "opening blood", which in the Middle Ages was considered the best remedy for all diseases.

The nuns, either by oversight or by malicious intent, released so much blood from Robin's veins that he was near death. With the last of his strength, Robin blew his horn, and Little John rushed to the call. With the help of his lieutenant, Robin returns to the forest, says goodbye to his comrades, draws his faithful bow for the last time and shoots an arrow, bequeathing to bury himself where it falls. Thus ended the life of Robin Hood.

This is how Robin Hood died.

II. Story: "The truth is out there"?

The name of Robin Hood has already become a household name in the Middle Ages. Thus, the Parliamentary Report for 1437 contains a petition for the arrest of a certain Piers Vanables of Derbyshire, who is engaged in robbery, hiding in the forest, "like Robin Hood and his gang." But the debate about the true identity of Robin has not subsided so far, because in stories about him it is extremely difficult to separate truth from fiction.

"The firemen are looking for, the police are looking for..."

The director of the museum in Nottingham, Graham Black, believes that the written history of Robin Hood began in 1261, when William, son of Robert Smith, was outlawed in Berkshire, and the clerk who wrote the decree named him William Robinhood. Therefore, if Robin Hood really existed, then he most likely acted before that time. The most likely candidate for this role, according to G. Black, is Robert Goad, a resident of York, who was a fugitive from justice in 1225-1227.

There is a mention of Robin Hood (Robyne Hude) and Little John (litill Iohne) in the "Scottish Chronicles" by Andrew de Winton in 1420. The historian relates their deeds to 1283-1285. Another chronicler, John Major, who published the "History of Great Britain" in 1521, tied the activities of Robin Hood to 1193-1194.

In the 16th century, the historian John Stowe also wrote about Robin Hood as a robber during the reign of Richard I. He allegedly led a gang that included a hundred brave outcasts. Although they traded in robbery, yet Robin Hood "did not allow harassment or other violence against women. He did not touch the poor, giving them everything that he took away from saints and noble gentlemen."

A modern scientist, a professor at Cambridge University, James Holt, writes about Robin like this: “He was completely different from what he is described ... There is absolutely no evidence that he robbed the rich in order to give money to the poor. These fabrications have grown into a legend after two hundred or more years after his death, and during his lifetime he was known as a notorious scoundrel."

As for the maiden Marion, it was originally believed that she was a certain Marianne Fitz-Walter, a wealthy orphan. She supposedly first met Robin when she was ambushed by his gang. But most scholars believe that Marion fell into the legends of the robber ... from the 14th century French pastoral poem about the shepherdess Marianne and the shepherd Robin. And the reputation of the immaculate virgin Marion earned much later under the influence of chaste English morality.

In 1784, the alleged grave of Little John was opened at Hathersage, where they found the bones of a very tall man. It is stated that the real John was supposedly a brutal killer. It was he who once killed the monk who betrayed Robin, at the same time slaughtering the young novice, an accidental witness to the atrocity. But John did a lot bold deeds like rescuing Robin Hood from a heavily fortified prison in Nottingham.

Regarding the personality of the merry monk Tuk, the opinions of scientists again sharply diverge. Some say that this image combines two people, others are sure of the reality of a cheerful reveler. It is believed that Robert Stafford, a priest of the Lindfield parish in Sussex, who lived in the 15th century and was suspected of robberies and murders, was his prototype. When the order for his arrest was issued, he fled and, under the name of Took, organized a gang operating two hundred miles from Sherwood. Professor Holt claims that the real Brother Took, a notorious thug, was far from harmless gaiety.

"Gay boy, gay boy..."

However, there are worse versions. Not so long ago, Professor English Literature Cardiff University's Stephen Knight discovered that Robin Hood was actually... gay. According to Knight, the few surviving manuscripts from the 14th century provide direct evidence of Robin's real tastes.

After all, no maiden Marion, the beloved hero, existed, but quite often Little John and Will Scarlett, too "close" friends of the noble robber, are mentioned. In those days, gays were persecuted, so the authors of the manuscripts, they say, could not lay it all out.

Nevertheless, according to Knight, the references to the "green forest", "arrows and swords", symbolizing puberty, clearly allude to the essence laid between the lines of the ballads. As for the tales of the "exploits" of Robin Hood, then all this is an invention of the authors of the 16th century, who worked for the needs of the heterosexual public, the professor claims. And Robin Hood gained fame not by waving a stupid sword, but by neglecting conventions, for which he was outlawed by the church and the authorities.

Well, who has what hurts ... It remains to wait for the next study to appear, which will state that Robin Hood is a one-legged black woman who suffered from Parkinson's disease and fought in Sherwood Forest for equal rights for sexual minorities. Indeed, in our politically correct age, idiocy has long been a sign of good taste.

"Mask, I Know You"

Like many heroes of folk tales, Robin Hood has not only historical, but also mythological roots. Sometimes the nickname of the robber is associated with the character of British folklore Robin Goodfellow (i.e. Robin Good fellow). That was the name of the mischievous forest spirit, the leader of either elves or leprechauns, who wore green clothes.

In England, for a long time there was a May holiday dedicated to Robin Hood, when the peasants went to the forest to collect fresh green branches. This custom testifies that in the popular mind Robin Hood united with the pagan forest deity.

In addition, Hood means "hood" in English, and Robin was often said to have worn a large monk's hood. Maybe the famous hero is a collective image? And the hood is a kind of symbol of depersonalization, because anyone can hide under it just like Zorro under a mask.

III. Versions: "Gulchatay, open your face"

There are so many versions about the origin of Robin Hood that their head is spinning. Let's try to evaluate the main ones.

Version one. Loxley - villain or bastard?

Loxley's name often appears in the Robin Hood legends. Some researchers claim that he was the villain of the Earl of Warren. Others believe that Robin is the illegitimate son of a certain knight, the owner of the village of Loxley, given to the miller's family for education.

But what village in question? There are three of them in England - Loxley in Warwickshire and Yorkshire, as well as Locksley near Sheffield. And all three claim to be the "birthplace of Robin Hood"! The main thing - there is no confirmation historical existence of Robin of Loxley. All written references to him date back to the late Middle Ages and are borrowed from ballads and legends.

Version two. Is Robert Goad the victim of a political misunderstanding?

The Edward II version of Robin Hode, whose story is told in the poem "A Gest of Robyn Hode" (published circa 1510), has quite a few supporters.

A certain Robert Goad, also known as Hood or Hod, was born about 1290. Robert Hod and his wife Matilda are mentioned in the court records of Wakefield (Yorkshire) for 1316 and 1317. In 1322, Robert became the servant of Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, who soon rebelled against the king. The uprising was crushed, Lancaster was executed, his possessions were confiscated, and all participants in the rebellion were outlawed. And Robin allegedly took refuge in the dense Sherwood Forest.

Interestingly, there is a document that says that a man named Robert Goad from March 24 to November 22, 1324, served as a valet or doorman at the court of Edward II. The fact is that the king visited Nottingham in 1323, where the repentant Robin could well, having received an amnesty, enter the royal service (it is not for nothing that legends are so persistently broadcasting about this). It is believed that this Robin fell seriously ill and died in the Kirkley monastery around 1346.

All this, of course, is good, but ... There is no evidence contemporary to Robert Goud, the servant of the Earl of Lancaster, which would connect him and the famous robber Robin Hood. For the first time they were united only after a century and a half.

Version three. Robert Goad - bandit and robber?

There is a court document in the London Public Archives dated 1226. It says that a man named Robert Hod of Weatherby fled from the king's justice. The document also states that the Sheriff of York took possession of the fugitive's movable property worth 32 shillings 6d, but the money never made it to the treasury. A little later, the sheriff of York took the same position in Nottingham and in 1227 put Robert of Witherby on the wanted list, calling him "a criminal and villain of our land." As a result, Robert Goad was captured and hanged.

Who was Robert of Witherby? Robbed by a greedy poor sheriff who was forced to become a bandit in order not to die of hunger? Or a vile robber and murderer? Although little is known about this Robin, he seemed to be the most serious contender for the role of Robin Hood, but ... There is another character whose existence upsets all calculations.

Kevin Reynolds' 90s blockbuster "Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves" is actually a remake of Curtitz's film. Yes, and the popular comedy Mel Brooks "Robin Hood: Men in Tights" parodies primarily the tape with Flynn. In total, more than 20 films were shot, including the Disney animation of 1973, and the Soviet film "Robin Hood's Arrows" with an excellent soundtrack by Vladimir Vysotsky.

Version four. Robert Huntington - a dissolute lord or a rebel?

Most serious modern researchers believe that the person who can be called Robin Hood with a significant degree of probability lived during the time of Richard I, John I and Henry III (late XII - mid-XIII centuries). He was outside the law for a long time and became so famous that his name became a household name and was used in relation to other famous robbers, whose deeds were then summed up.

Robin Hood's grave?

In all legends, the death of Robin Hood is associated with a specific place - Kirklees Priory in Yorkshire. The most interesting thing is that Robin's grave has survived to this day...

The monastery cemetery is grave stone with a half-erased epitaph in Old English. The first drawing of the grave was made in 1665 and published in 1786, with the date of death recorded between 1224-1247.

Since the full text of the epitaph has not survived to this day, one has to be content with the decoding made by the Dean of York, Thomas Gale, around 1702: “Here, under this small stone, lies Robert, the true Earl of Huntington. There was no archer more skillful than him. And people called him Robin Hood. For thirty years, and even more, he fought with criminals in the northern lands, although he himself, along with his people, was outlaws. Such as he, England will never see again.

So, has the mystery of Robin Hood been revealed? Not everything is so simple, because the inscription can be interpreted in two ways. Was the late Robin Hood himself or was he simply compared to the famous robber?

The "Huntington" version has many opponents, but none of them deny the authenticity of the stone and the inscription on it. They dispute either the interpretation of the epitaph, or its adequacy to real events. Be that as it may, the epitaph on the Kirkley tombstone - the only real evidence from time immemorial, directly identifying a very specific person with a legendary folk hero. On the side of the rest of the "applicants" - only guesses and circumstantial evidence, often frankly far-fetched.

But who is this "true Earl of Huntington"?

royal kinsmen

Of course, computer games are also dedicated to Robin.

Let's make a reservation right away - the modern Earls of Huntington have nothing to do with Robin Hood, although they claim some kind of relationship. The fact is that titles changed hands so often that there were practically no blood descendants of the so-called historical nobility in England. In general, there were several Huntingtons among aristocratic families - from Yorkshire, Staffordshire, Cambridgeshire and Worcestershire. "Our" Huntingtons are most likely Yorkshire.

Their ancestor was the Norman Gilbert de Gaunt, who arrived in England with William the Conqueror and later received the title of Earl of Lindsay. His great granddaughter Adeline married Henry Canmore, Earl of Northumberland and Huntington, grandson of King David I of Scotland. Their fifth child, David, Earl of Lennox, became the second Earl of Huntington, marking the beginning of the "Scottish" branch of this family. He married Matilda, the daughter of one of the largest Welsh feudal lords, the Earl of Chester. And this noble couple had seven children, the eldest of whom was named Robert ...

"His Name Was Robert"

There is very little reliable information about his life. Full name- Robert Fitz-Uth (Robert Fitzooth / Filii Ooth, which could transform into "Robin Hood"), was born no earlier than 1180 and no later than 1207. Although he was the eldest son, after the death of his father in 1219, his younger brother John became the next earl. This fact, according to the supporters of the "Huntington" version, is an indirect proof of their correctness. Indeed, in order to deprive the rightful heir of the rights to the title, very good reasons were needed - simple desire the family was small, a special decree of the king was required. Maybe the reason is that Robert became the chieftain of the robbers?

It is curious that a number of folk legends claim that Robin Hood received the title of 1st Earl of Huntington from the king for some merit. And although this is not true, the appearance of such rumors certainly had some basis.

The "Scottish" branch of the Yorkshire Huntingtons died out at the end of the 13th century. And the basic information about Robert is taken from the Scottish royal archive, because the Huntingtons are closely related to the Scots. For example, Robert's younger sisters married prominent members of the Scottish aristocracy: Margaret married John Balliol, and Isabella married Robert the Bruce. About a century passed, and the descendants of both sisters took the royal throne. Is Scotland's national hero Robert the Bruce a distant relative of Robin Hood?

Where did Loxley, for example, come from? It may very well be that the bards who composed ballads about the "good Robin" adjusted to the tastes of their main audience - ordinary people who were more interested in listening to stories about the exploits of a hero "socially close" to them than some kind of count's son.

Hero for all time

In 1988, the authorities of Nottingham decided to conduct their own study of the personality of the great countryman. A number of scientists involved in this project came to the conclusion that the brave hero was nowhere near as romantic as in the legends. That no maiden Marion existed. That Friar Took, Will Scarlett, and Alan-o-Dale were fictitious individuals, and Little John was an evil degenerate and bloody murderer.

Well, maybe it is so ... But many peoples have heroes whom those in power declared criminals - Klaus Stertebeker, Fra Diavolo, Kartush, Janoshik, Stepan Razin ... And although in reality they were thugs, swindlers, adventurers , people composed legends about them, sang songs, wrote books. And their memory lives on to this day.

The name of the desperate guy from "good old England" Robin Hood is in our hearts. And it doesn't matter who he really was and whether he was at all - for us he is one of the "eternal" heroes of mankind, the protector of the oppressed and disenfranchised, the brave leader of the cheerful daredevils who do not give way to the powerful of this world.

All who are driven, restless,

They run into this free forest,

Because the owner is here -

Good boy Robin Hood!

(V. Vysotsky)

Rescuing Lady Marion Liford from him, Robin gathers a gang of outcasts - former soldier Will Scarlett, the healthy shepherd Little John, the cheerful monk Took, the simple-hearted son of the miller Much, and the former servant of Balem, the Saracen Nazir. Thus begins the adventures of the "Magnificent Seven" from Sherwood Forest. In two dozen episodes, they will face numerous battles for justice under the auspices of the pagan forest spirit Ern.

Their constant opponents are the greedy Sheriff of Nottingham Robert de Reno and his right hand, cruel Sir Guy of Gisburne. The series is a curious mixture of pseudo-realistic details of the life of 13th century England and various magic. This "collective hodgepodge" is accompanied by a bewitching, stylized medieval music of the Irish band Clanned. At the end of the second block, Robin Hood dies saving his friends from the sheriff's soldiers.

In the third block, Ern again calls on a person who must resist Evil. It turns out to be the Earl's son Robert Huntington (Jason Connery). True, in this part of the series, magic is episodic, and the plot loses its mystical halo, becoming purely adventure and acquiring the features of a "soap opera" (for example, the new Robin Hood and Guy of Gisborne turn out to be half-brothers!).

Character of English folklore, a skilled archer and warrior from Sherwood Forest (Sherwood Forest), who robs the rich and distributes his booty to the poor. Curiously, this trait was not part of the original ballad character and only appeared in the 19th century. It is not known whether the legend of the noble robber had a real prototype or only medieval ballads and legends served as the basis for it, but over the past centuries Robin Hood has become one of the most popular elements of English culture, and the story about him feels great in the age of cinema and television.

Robin Hood owes his name not to the English word "good", that is, "good", as Russian readers usually think. The most common opinion is that he got his nickname from "hood", that is, a hood or other headdress. Robin Hood - Hooded Robin. Attempts to connect this name with a really existing person have led nowhere, in particular because Robert (Robert) has been one of the most popular names in England over the past ten centuries, and Robin is perhaps the most popular diminutive version of it. . It is not surprising that there were many people named Robert or Robin Hood in medieval records, and some of them were indeed criminals - but not so famous and significant as to contribute to the birth of a legend.

Robin Hood is accompanied by a detachment of faithful companions, all together they live in Sherwood Forest in Nottinghamshire (Nottinghamshire), where the action of the first ballads about Robin and modern films and television films mainly takes place. In the earliest sources, he was a yeoman who had gone into the woods, a free peasant, but later he was often portrayed as an exiled aristocrat, unjustly deprived of his possessions due to the machinations of an unscrupulous sheriff. The wood archer is often referred to as Robin of Loxley - believed to have been born in this village near Sheffield - but this version dates from the late 16th century, while there are earlier versions of his birthplace, such as the village of Skelow in South Yorkshire (Skellow, South Yorkshire), which has been associated with the name of Robin Hood since 1422.

The first reference to poems about Robin Hood dates back to the end of the 14th century, but the ballads themselves were recorded only in the 15th and 16th centuries, and already in them Robin Hood has all his main features - he comes from commoners, worships the Virgin, enjoys increased attention from women, he is a skilled archer, hates churchmen and is at enmity with the Sheriff of Nottingham. Little John (Little John), Will Scarlet (Will Scarlet) and Much the Miller's Son have already appeared in Robin's squad, but there is still no mention of the Maid Marian (Maid Marian) and the cheerful monk brother Tuka (Friar Tuck) - they will appear a little later. In popular culture, Robin Hood is considered a contemporary and supporter of King Richard the Lionheart (Richard the Lionheart), that is, he lives in England (England) of the 12th century.

It is interesting that the first ballads give readers a few details to determine the time of the action, such as King Edward, for example, but the ballads, of course, cannot be considered reliable in such matters. historical source. Moreover, there were several kings with that name - King Edward I came to the throne in 1272, and Edward III died in 1377. From the 16th century, Robin Hood "becomes" a nobleman, usually considered the Earl of Huntingdon (Earl of Huntingdon), and this version is still very popular.

In any case, Robin Hood is a model for any noble robber. He collects tribute from rich merchants, knights or high-ranking churchmen who were not lucky enough to meet him in Sherwood Forest, offering them to dine on succulent venison, obtained, of course, by poaching. True, the payment for such a dinner is usually the purse of the "guest". There are exceptions to the rule - in one of the ballads, Robin Hood invites a knight to dinner, intending to rob him to the skin, but after learning that the knight is about to lose his land, which the greedy abbot has his eye on, he gives him enough money to pay debt to the abbot.

Robin Hood is young, tall, handsome and very clever, despite his simple origin. He and his men are usually dressed in green, which helps them to hide in dense forest thickets. He has a sharp tongue, loves to joke, and can be short-tempered and quick to kill. It is very interesting that in the ballads Robin keeps his people in strict obedience, and, recognizing his supremacy, they kneel before him as before their lord - in medieval tales there is not even a hint of modern ideals of equality and brotherhood. Historians argue that the legend of Robin Hood was cultivated mainly among the gentry, the petty nobility, and it would be a mistake to see him as the embodiment of a peasant uprising. He does not so much rebel against the social standards of the Middle Ages as he embodies them - generous, moderately pious and courtly, despising greedy, pampered and impolite enemies. Although there are more than a hundred people in his detachment of "merry men" ("Merry Men"), only four or five of them are regularly described in ballads, Robin's closest friends and associates.

At the latest by the beginning of the 15th century, Robin Hood became associated with the May holidays, and around the same time, Robin Hood's romantic attachment to the maiden Marian (or Marion), who eventually becomes his life mate, appeared in the sources. Marian is also portrayed either as a commoner, or as an heiress of a noble family, and in contemporary culture it is believed that, eventually, Robin and Marian marry and leave the forest, returning to a rich and civilized life.

The Victorian era created its own Robin Hood - it was during this period that he became a philanthropist who robs the rich to give to the poor - and the 20th century brought its own changes: from book to book, from film to film, Robin Hood turned from a cheerful robber into a national a hero of epic proportions, who not only takes care of the weak, but also bravely defends the English throne from unworthy and corrupt lords.

Robin Hood is a famous English hero of folk tales and ballads. The legends said that he, along with friends, robbed in Sherwood Forest, robbed the rich and gave money to the poor. Robin Hood was considered an unsurpassed archer, the authorities could not catch him in any way.

Ballads about this hero were composed as early as the 14th century. Based on them, many books about Robin Hood have already been written, many films have been shot. The hero appears either as an avenging nobleman, or as a cheerful reveler, or as a lover-hero.

In fact, there are few real facts about this character. It is all woven from myths. But some of them are still implausible. Even the legendary hero has his own historical truth. We will debunk the main misconceptions about Robin Hood.

Robin Hood was a real person. It is worth recognizing that this character is fictional. The archetypal hero's career evolved from the many popular wishes and disappointments of the common people of that era. Robin (or Robert) Hood (or Hod, or Hude) was a nickname awarded to petty criminals until the middle of the 13th century. It seems no coincidence that the name Robin is consonant with the word "robbing" (robbery). It is already modern writers who have formed the image of a noble robber as real. There were people like Robin Hood. They flouted unpopular state forest laws. Those rules kept vast areas semi-wild, especially for the hunting of the king and his court. Such fugitives have always delighted the oppressed peasants. But there was no such specific person who inspired his contemporaries to create poems about himself. No one was born with the name Robin Hood and did not live with him.

Robin Hood lived during the reign of Richard the Lionheart. Robin Hood is often called the enemy of the ambitious Prince John, who is trying to seize power during the absence of King Richard I the Lionheart (reigned 1189-1199), who was captured during the Crusade. But for the first time, the names of these three characters in the same context began to be mentioned by writers of the Tudor era in the 16th century. There is a mention (albeit not entirely convincing) of Robin Hood, as one of the participants in the court during the reign of Edward II (1307-1327). Much more plausible seems the ballad that Robin Hood was a supporter of Simon de Montfort, who was killed at Evesham in 1265. It is safe to say that Robin the Landless had become a popular figure in folk mythology by the time William Langland wrote his Vision of Peter the Plowman in 1377. This historical document directly mentions the name of Robin Hood. It is not clear how this character was related to Ranulf de Blondville, Earl of Chester, whose name immediately follows the brigand's name. It is likely that they got into the phrase from different sources.

Robin Hood was noble man robbing the rich and giving money to the poor. This myth was invented by the Scottish historian John Major. He wrote in 1521 that Robin did not cause any harm to women, did not delay the goods of the poor, generously shared with them what he took from the rich. But earlier ballads covered the character's activities more skeptically. The longest, and probably old story about Robin Hood, it's "Robin Hood's Nice Little Adventure". Presumably it was written down in 1492-1510, but it is likely that much earlier, in the 1400s. There is a comment in this text that Robin did a lot of good for the poor. But at the same time, he helps a knight who is in financial difficulties with money. In this work, as in other early ballads, there is no mention of the money that was given to the peasants, the redistribution of wealth between social strata. On the contrary, in the stories there is a story about how a robber crippled an already defeated enemy and even killed a child. This makes us take a different look at the personality of the legendary character.

Robin Hood was an impoverished nobleman, the Earl of Huntington. Again, there is no real basis for the emergence of such a myth. Robin Hood is always a commoner in the first stories, communicating with people of his class. Where did such a legend come from? John Leland wrote in 1530 that Robin Hood was a noble robber. Most likely, it was about his actions, but the image has now been supplemented with the corresponding origin. And in 1569, the historian Richard Grafton claimed that in one old engraving he found evidence of the earl dignity of Robin Hood. This explained his chivalry and masculinity. This idea was subsequently popularized by Anthony Munday in his plays The Fall of Robert, Earl of Huntington and The Death of Robert, Earl of Huntington, both written in 1598. In this work, Count Robert, impoverished due to the intrigues of his uncle, began to fight for the truth in the guise of a robber, saving his bride Marian from the harassment of Prince John. And in 1632 Martin Parker's The True Tale of Robin Hood appeared. It states unequivocally that the notorious outlaw, Earl Robert of Huntington, colloquially known as Robin Hood, died in 1198. But the real Earl of Huntington during this period was David of Scotland, who died in 1219. After the death of his son John in 1237, this noble branch was interrupted. Only a century later, the title was bestowed on William de Clinton.

Robin married Maid Marian. Maid Marian has become an important part of the Robin Hood legend. However, few people know that she was originally the heroine of a separate series of ballads. Robin and the other thieves from the earliest stories had neither wives nor families. The image of a woman appears only in Robin Hood's devotion to the Virgin Mary. Perhaps the narrators considered such worship inappropriate in the years after the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century. It is likely that Marian therefore appeared in the legends of Robin Hood around this time to provide an alternative female focus. And since there are positive characters, a man and a woman, they must certainly get married.

Maid Marian was of noble blood. The identity of this girl raises many questions. Some historians are inclined to think that it was a beauty guarded by Prince John. And she met Robin Hood only after falling into his ambush in the forest. However, there is another opinion. Some scholars believe that for the first time Marian appears not even in the English epic, but in French. That was the name of the shepherdess, the girlfriend of the shepherd Robin. Only two hundred years later, the girl moved into the legend of the brave robber. And initially Marian was not highly moral, such a reputation appeared much later, under the influence of the chaste morality of the Victorian era.

Robin Hood was buried in Yorkshire, in the monastery of Kirklees. His grave is still there today. According to the legends, Robin Hood went to Kirklis Monastery for treatment. The hero realized that his hand was weakened, and the arrows began to fly past the target more and more often. The nuns were famous for their bloodletting skills. In those days it was considered the best medicine. But the abbess, whether by accident or on purpose, released too much blood to Robin Hood. Dying, he fired the last arrow, bequeathing to bury himself in the place of its fall. But Tudor writer Richard Grafton had a different version. He believed that the abbess buried Robin Hood on the side of the road. The book indicates that the hero rests where he robbed those passing by. On his grave, the abbess of the monastery set a large stone. The names of Robin Hood and several other people were inscribed on it. Perhaps a certain William Goldborough and Thomas were accomplices of the robber. And this was done so that travelers, seeing the grave of the famous robber, could safely move on without fear of robbery. In 1665, local historian Nathaniel Johnson sketched this grave. It appears in the form of a plate, decorated with a six-pointed Lorraine cross. It is often found on English tombstones of the 13th-14th centuries. The inscriptions were already barely legible. Robin Hood could indeed be buried with other people, but if the monument was erected immediately after his death, it is strange that no one mentioned this until 1540. The monastery itself passed into the possession of the Armitage family in the 16th century, after the church reform. In the 18th century, Sir Samuel Armitage decided to excavate the earth to a depth of a meter under the stone. The main fear was that the grave had already been visited by robbers. However, it turned out that there was nothing to be afraid of - there were no bodies of robbers under the stone. It seems that the stone was brought here from another place, where the legendary Robin Hood is buried. Now the tombstone is regularly attacked by souvenir hunters, seeking to chip away a piece from it. And many believe that parts of the stone help get rid of toothache. Armitage subsequently enclosed the stone in a small brick fence surrounded by iron railings. Their remnants are still visible today.

Some of Robin Hood's friends can be compared to celebrities of the era. Little John, Will Scarlett and Much the Miller's son accompany Robin Hood in the early ballads. Later, other heroes appeared in the company - the monk Tuk, Alan from the Valley, etc. The most famous of them is Little John. There are almost as many references to him in documents as there are about Robin Hood himself. Little John was said to be elusive, just like his friend. It is known that the grave of this robber is located in the county of Derbyshire in the cemetery in Hathersedge, which is not without interest. Its stones and railings are modern, but part of the early memorial has the weathered initials "L" and "I" (looking like "J") still visible. James Shuttleworth, who owned the estate, excavated the site in 1784. They found a very large femur 73 centimeters long. It turned out that someone 2.4 meters high was buried in the grave! Soon, strange misfortunes began to happen to the owners of the estate. Then the watchman reburied the bone in an unknown place. Two settlements, at Little Haggas Croft in Loxley, Yorkshire and the village of Hathersedge in Peak County, Derbyshire, claim to be the birthplace of Robin Hood and the place where Little John spent his last years. An alternative approach to the history of Robin Hood is based on an attempt to establish in the historical context of his opponents. However, the ballads directly name only the Sheriff of Nottingham, Abbot of St Mary and York. Other characters are mentioned only by title. There are no specific names that could be tied to specific dates in history. This lack of accurate information is disappointing, but we must always remember that we are dealing with folk epic and not with documents that state the facts.

Robin Hood was an excellent archer. The ability to accurately shoot a bow distinguished Robin Hood. In some productions, he even won competitions, hitting not even an apple, but an arrowhead. In fact, at the time of the appearance of the legends of Robin Hood, classic English longbows were just beginning to appear, they were very rare. Historical documents indicate that the robbers mastered this weapon in the middle of the XIII century. Then the competition began. If we believe that Robin Hood lived at the end of the 12th century, then he could not have had a bow.

Monk Took was an accomplice of Robin Hood. This monk is considered one of the heroes of the Sherwood Fox. Written evidence says that Brother Tuk was indeed a robber. But he acted 200 miles from Sherwood Forest, moreover, 100 years after the estimated lifetime of Robin Hood. And this priest was not at all harmless and cheerful - he ruthlessly ruined and burned the hearths of his enemies. In subsequent legends, the names of famous robbers began to be mentioned together, they became accomplices.

Robin Hood operated in Sherwood Forest, Nottinghamshire. This statement is usually not objectionable. However, the mention of Sherwood did not appear in ballads immediately, at the earliest - in the middle of the 15th century. It seems that there is nothing wrong with this, just before the fact simply eluded the narrator. But in a collection of ballads about Robin Hood, published in 1489, his activities are associated with a completely different county, with Yorkshire. It is not located in the center of England, but in the north. It is worth mentioning that the Yorkshire Great North Road, on which, according to this version, Robin Hood operated, really had a bad reputation because of the numerous robberies of travelers.

Robin Hood is the real name of the robber. The correct word is Robin Hood. In English spelling, the surname is spelled Hood, not Good. The literal correct translation of the hero's name is Robin the Hood, not Robin the Good. There are doubts about the name of the robber. The phrase "Rob in Hood" literally means "robber in the hood." It is not clear whether the name Robin came from this phrase, or whether the word itself comes from the name of the robber.

Companions of Robin Hood wore green clothes. The green clothes of the robbers are often mentioned in legends. One of the earliest stories tells how the king specially dressed his people in green, ordering them to walk around Nottingham and pretend to be forest brothers. However, the townspeople not only did not welcome the "robbers", but drove them away in anger. This, by the way, eloquently speaks of how people "loved" Robin Hood. If he really fought for justice and was popular, then why did the people in green hurriedly run away from the townspeople? So the legend of the green clothes of the robbers found its life.

The Sheriff of Nottingham was a notorious villain. It is known from legends, novels and films that Robin Hood's main enemy is the Sheriff of Nottingham. This servant of the law led the foresters, guards, was friends with the church and the nobility. The unscrupulous sheriff had unlimited sweetness in these places. That's just with Robin Hood, he could not do anything - on the side of that was ingenuity, accuracy and ordinary people. It should be understood that in medieval England, the sheriff was an official who fought criminals. This position appeared in the X-XI centuries. Under the Normans, the country was divided into districts, each of which had its own sheriff. Interestingly, they did not always coincide with the counties. So the Sheriff of Nottingham also looked after the neighboring county of Derbyshire. In the tales of Robin Hood, his main enemy, the sheriff, is never called by name. Among the prototypes are the names of William de Brewer, Roger de Lacy and William de Vendenal. The Sheriff of Nottingham existed, but it is not clear who he was during the Robin Hood years. In the early tales, the sheriff was simply an enemy of the "forest lads" by the nature of his service, fighting all the robbers. But later this character was overgrown with details, becoming a real one. villain. He oppresses the poor, appropriates foreign lands, introduces new taxes, and generally abuses his position. And in some stories, the sheriff even harasses Lady Marian and, with the help of intrigues, tries to become the king of England. True, the ballads make fun of the sheriff. He is exposed as a cowardly fool who is trying to do the job of capturing Robin Hood by proxy.

Sir Guy of Gisborne was a real noble character and an enemy of Robin Hood. Sir Guy of Gisborne's behavior is quite different from that of the sheriff. The knight in the legends appears as a brave and courageous warrior, well wielding a sword and a bow. One of the legends tells how Guy of Gisborne volunteered to end Robin Hood for a reward, but in the end he himself fell at the hands of a noble robber. Not in all stories this knight appears as a noble character. In some places he is called a cruel bloodthirsty killer, easily transgressing the law in order to achieve his goals. In some ballads, Guy of Gisborne harasses the maiden Marian, and in some places he even acts as her fiancé. Unusual and appearance hero - he wears not an ordinary cloak, but a horse's skin. But such a character did not exist at all. It is believed that Sir Guy of Gisborne was once the hero of a separate legend, which later merged with the story of Robin Hood.

Robin Hood was a hero-lover. Among the friends of the brave robber, only one is named female name- Maid Marian. And the professor of English literature at Cardiff University, Stephen Knight, generally put forward an original idea. He thinks that Robin Hood and his friends were a bunch of gays! In confirmation of this bold idea, the scientist cites very unambiguous parts of the ballads. And in the original stories about Robin Hood's girlfriend, nothing was said at all, but the names of close friends - Little John or Will Scarlett - were unnaturally often mentioned. And this point of view is shared by Cambridge professor Barry Dobson. He interprets the relationship between Robin Hood and Little John as very ambiguous. Fighters for the rights of sexual minorities immediately picked up this theory. There are even voices for ensuring that the story of Robin Hood's non-traditional sexual orientation is certainly told to children at school. In any case, with the reputation of the hero-lover, the robber is far from ambiguous.

Since childhood, Robin Hood has been and remains a hero for many (eng. Robin Hood (and not “good” - “good”; “hood” - “hood”, it makes sense to “hide (cover with a hood)”, “robin” can be translated as "robin") - the noble leader of the forest robbers from medieval English folk ballads, according to them, Robin Hood acted with his gang in Sherwood Forest near Nottingham - robbed the rich, giving the spoils to the poor.
The legend of the noble robber has been living for more than six centuries, and the identity of the prototype of these ballads and legends has not been established.
In the 1377 edition of William Langland's Plowman Pierce, there is a reference to "poems about Robin Hood". Langland's contemporary Geoffrey Chaucer, in Troilus and Crisade, mentions "a hazel thicket where the merry Robin walked." Moreover, the Gamlin's Tale, which was included by Chaucer in The Canterbury Tales, also features a robber hero.

Several real historical figures , which could serve as the prototype of the legendary Robin. In the census registers for 1228 and 1230, the name of Robert Hood, nicknamed Brownie, is mentioned, about which it is said that he was a fugitive from justice. Around the same time, a popular movement arose under the leadership of Sir Robert Twing - the rebels raided the monasteries, and the looted grain was distributed to the poor. However, the name Robert Hood was quite common, so scientists are more inclined to believe that the prototype of Robin Hood was a certain Robert Fitzug, a contender for the title of Earl of Huntingdon, who was born around 1160 and died in 1247. In some reference books, these years even appear as dates for the life of Robin Hood, although written sources of that time do not contain any mention of a rebellious aristocrat named Robert Fitzug.

Who was king in the days of Robin Hood? Dating historical events is further complicated by the fact that different versions of the legend mention different English monarchs. One of the first historians to deal with this problem, Sir Walter Bower, believed that Robin Hood was a participant in the 1265 uprising against King Henry III, which was led by a royal relative, Simon de Montfort. After the defeat of Montfort, many of the rebels did not disarm and continued to live like the hero of the ballads Robin Hood. “At this time,” Bower wrote, “the famous robber Robin Hood ... began to enjoy great influence among those who were disinherited and outlawed for participating in the uprising.” The main contradiction of Bower's hypothesis is that the longbow mentioned in the Robin Hood ballads had not yet been invented at the time of de Montfort's rebellion.

A 1322 document mentions a "Robin Hood stone" in Yorkshire. It follows from this that the ballads, and perhaps the owner of the legendary name himself, were already well known by this time. Those inclined to look for traces of a genuine Robin Hood in the 1320s usually suggest the role of the noble robber Robert Hood, a tenant from Wakefield who in 1322 participated in the rebellion led by the Earl of Lancaster. In support of the hypothesis, information is given that in the following year King Edward II visited Nottingham and took into his service as a valet a certain Robert Hood, who was paid a salary for the next 12 months.

If we take the mention of King Edward II as a starting point, it turns out that the hero-robber performed his exploits in the first quarter of the 14th century. However, according to other versions, he appears on the historical stage as a brave warrior of King Richard I the Lionheart, whose reign fell on the last decade of the 12th century - it is this version, in the artistic presentation of Walter Scott, that is currently most popular. Since Walter Scott used the image of Robin Hood as the prototype for one of the characters in the novel Ivanhoe in 1819, the noble robber has continued to be a popular hero in children's books, films and television.

In one of the most complete collections of English ballads published by Francis Child in the 19th century, there are 40 works about Robin Hood, and in the 14th century there were only four:

In the first novel Robin lends money and his trusty squire Little John to an impoverished knight in order to get revenge on the greedy abbot.

In the second- cunningly forces the hated sheriff from Nottingham to dine with him venison, which the robbers got in the patrimony of the law enforcement officer - Sherwood Forest.

In the third- Robin recognizes King Edward in disguise, who arrives incognito in Nottingham to investigate violations of the law by local rulers, and enters his service.

artist Daniel Content Published by Rand McNally & Co ~ 1928

artist Frank Godwin (1889 ~ 1959) Published by Garden City Publiching Co ~ 1932

In the fourth- the final part of the ballad, published in 1495, tells the story of Robin's return to robbery and the betrayal of the abbess of Kirklei abbey, who brings him to death by bloodletting when he comes to her monastery for treatment.

artist N. C. Wyeth Published by David McKay ~ 1917

In the early ballads, there is no mention of the maiden Marianne, Robin's lover. She first appears in the later versions of the legend, which arose at the end of the 15th century.

artist Frank Godwin (1889 ~ 1959) Published by Garden City Publiching Co ~ 1932:

artist Lucy Fitch Perkins Boston and New York, Houghton Mifflin Company ~ 1923

The giant, nicknamed Little John, is already present in the band of robbers in the original versions of the legend,

artist Lucy Fitch Perkins Boston and New York, Houghton Mifflin Company ~ 1923

And brother Tak (a wandering monk, a jolly fat man) appears in a much later version. Yes, and Robin himself from a yeoman (a free peasant) eventually reincarnated into a noble exile.

artist Lucy Fitch Perkins Boston and New York, Houghton Mifflin Company ~ 1923

The association of Robin Hood with Robin Goodfellow, or Puck, is also known - a forest spirit in the folklore of the Frisians, Saxons and Scandinavians.

artist Lucy Fitch Perkins Boston and New York, Houghton Mifflin Company ~ 1923

Now most researchers agree that Robin Hood is "a pure creation of the folk muse." And, according to M. Gorky, "... the poetic feeling of the people made a hero out of a simple, perhaps robber, a hero almost equal to a saint" (preface to the collection "The Ballads of Robin Hood", Pg. 1919, p. 12).

artist Frank Godwin (1889 ~ 1959) Published by Garden City Publiching Co ~ 1932