OFH Throwback - Episode #50 - Was There a Real Robin Hood? (Part II)

Hello and welcome to this throwback episode of Our Fake History.

This week I am throwing you back to season 3 and episode 50, Was There a Real Robin Hood Part 2?

Now I have really enjoyed revisiting these episodes because they've been a nice reminder reminder of how our fake history should flow.

What do I mean by that?

Well, I think when the podcast is at its best, I've got a good balance between storytelling and historical detective work.

In this series, I think I managed to indulge in some really fun Robin Hood stories while also keeping my eye on the prize, as it were.

The hunt for the historical Robin Hood can be a twisty, turny affair, and I felt really proud that I was able to describe some complex historical arguments while not getting lost in the weeds.

One of the unintended side effects of having more time to work on the podcast is that I find that I indulge in more historical context and am more open to following historical tangents where they might take me.

Now, I know those of you out there who are real deep history heads like that kind of stuff, but this series reminded me that the show works best when it is brisk and I'm keeping my eye on the prize.

So that's been nice to reconnect with.

Now in this particular episode, I was reminded that this was one of the few times where I really had to set my personal feelings and biases aside.

When I came into this particular topic, I was really hoping that I would find a historical Robin Hood.

But as you shall hear, the research took me in a slightly different direction.

And as such, I had to set aside my wants and desires and had to follow the research.

The other time I can think of this happening on the podcast was when I explored the question of whether or not there were real Amazon warriors.

And I looked at the research done by the prominent folklorist Adrian Mayer.

Now, in that particular series, I really wanted to believe that the Amazons were based on real people, and Adrian Mayer's research suggested that they may very well have been.

But then I came across work done by other scholars that was deeply critical of Mayer's conclusions.

In that series, I think I may have given a little extra weight to those critical voices because I personally did not want to be perceived as being biased.

Perhaps I should have stood up for Adrian Mayer a little bit more in that case.

This is one of the difficult things about making a show like this.

I want to be as reasonable and as thoughtful in my conclusions as possible.

I always try to show my work to you folks, but I'm not perfect.

Sometimes I overcorrect.

So when I was listening back to this series on Robinhood, I was like, hmm, did I do that in this case?

Should have I given more credence to those theories that suggested that there was a historical Robinhood.

So I'm going to let you decide while you are listening back how well I handled this particular topic.

Personally, I stand by all of my conclusions, but I just wanted you to know that this is something that I'm always wrestling with.

This is why I appreciate listener feedback and do my best to incorporate it into the show.

All right, let's get into it.

But before we do, I just want to remind you that next week, we are dropping the first episode of season 11.

So a brand new episode of Our Fig History is going to be hitting your feeds next week.

I can't wait to talk to you then.

All right.

In the meantime, please enjoy episode number 50.

Was there a Real Robin Hood?

Part 2.

There's a story that on one beautiful summer's day, Robin Hood and his men went out for a hunt in the forest.

It was an amazing success.

Robin, Little John, and Will Scadlock, aka Will Scarlet, each managed to shoot a deer.

The biggest of these animals was brought down by none other than Little John.

Robin was impressed by his friend's prowess with the bow and declared that surely no other man in England was stronger, tougher, and a better hunter than Little John.

Not so fast, said Will.

You see, there's this friar from the Fountains Abbey, who may be even more impressive than our man Little John.

Intrigued, Robin Hood Hood set out to find this friar to see for himself if he truly was the fine specimen that Will Scadlock had described.

So Robin Hood traveled to the Fountain's Abbey where he found the friar standing by a river.

The bridge over this river had been washed away in a recent flood, so the friar was standing there helping travelers make their way across.

When Robin Hood showed up, he said to the friar, Rumor has it that you're exceptionally strong and exceptionally charitable.

The friar replied, Yes, certain things like that have been said of me.

Well then prove it, said Robin Hood.

How about you take me across this river on your back?

Very well, said the friar.

And so with that Robin Hood jumped up on his back.

So now the friar was giving a piggyback ride to Robin Hood as he made his way through the rushing stream.

But when the friar got right to the middle middle of the river, he threw Robin off his back and let the rushing waters sweep him away.

I don't have to prove anything to you, said the friar.

Now we'll see if you sink or swim.

Robin Hood struggled against the current, but eventually he managed to grab hold of a bush and steadied himself.

As soon as he was back on his feet, he started shooting arrows at the cheeky friar.

But the friar had a small shield called a buckler and was able to deflect every arrow that Robin shot at him.

So the men then drew their swords and started swinging at each other with deadly force.

They battled it out in the middle of the river for quite some time before Robin Hood took a step back and said, Friar, I know that we're right in the middle of a fight to the death, but can I ask you a favor?

I would really love to blow this horn three times.

Is that like cool with you?

Of course, said the friar.

I wouldn't be much of a holy man if I didn't let the dude I was trying to kill blow his horn.

Go ahead, fill your boots.

With that, Robin Hood blew his horn, and in no time the merry men appeared, ready to defend their leader.

Seeing that he was now outnumbered, the friar asked Robinhood, Hey, uh, can I ask you a favor?

Do you mind if I whistle?

Well, I suppose fair is fair, said Robin Hood.

And with that, the friar whistled, and a pack of angry dogs suddenly appeared.

It turns out the friar was a dog summoner.

Robin Hood and the merry men fought the friar and his dogs until eventually both sides were exhausted.

Robin Hood turned to the friar and said, I would sooner have you as an ally than an enemy.

What do you say?

Will you join our merry band and bring the word of God to these outlaws?

Thoroughly impressed by Robin Hood's prowess as a fighter, fighter, the friar agreed.

He returned with Robin to the Greenwood, and from that day forth he was one of the merry men.

The end.

So there's a weird little story for you.

That was a retelling of the ballad Robin Hood and the Curtel Friar.

Of course, with my own little embellishments thrown in.

Now, believe it or not, that one's considered a bit of a classic in Robin Hood lore.

Eventually, it would become the canonical origin story for one of the most well-known Robinhood accomplices, Friar Tuck.

But like many of the early Robinhood ballads, it walks that weird line between being super fun

and so illogical that it barely makes sense.

So, as you can imagine, using ballads like this to try and reconstruct anything resembling real history can be a pretty dodgy proposition.

This is why theories about the identity of the real Robinhood can be so treacherous for the amateur investigator.

Trying to evaluate the merits of a Robinhood theory is kind of like trying to decide if it's safe to accept a piggyback from an unknown friar.

At first blush, the theory can seem reasonable, even inviting, so you hop on its back and you take it for a ride.

But the next thing you know, you've been thrown into the rushing river of inconsistencies, anachronisms, and straight-up fake history.

You knew you never should have trusted that bald stinker.

But despite these dangers, the hunt for the historical Robin Hood has been going on for centuries.

In many ways, the search for the real Robin Hood has been around for almost as long as the stories about the legendary outlaw.

Over the years, dozens, maybe even hundreds of amateur and professional historians have dedicated themselves to the quest of finding the man behind the myth.

Have any of these researchers been able to strike gold and find compelling evidence that there was, in fact, a real Robin Hood?

Let's find out today on our fake history.

Episode number 50, Was There a Real Robin Hood?

Part 2.

Hello, and welcome to Our Fake History.

My name is Sebastian Major and this is the podcast where we look at historical myths and try and figure out what's fact, what's fiction, and what is such a good story that it simply must be told.

This week we are continuing our exploration of England's best-loved outlaw, the one, the only, Robin Hood.

Now this is part two of a two-part series on the legendary robber, so if you haven't listened to part one, then you may want to go back and check that out now.

In that last episode, I introduced the controversy that surrounds Robin Hood's origins, and I gave you the Sebastian Major version of the two earliest known Robin Hood ballads.

Now, I didn't just pick those ballads randomly.

Those scholars who have set themselves to finding the real Robin Hood will often use those ballads as a sort of treasure map.

The idea is is that they may contain clues about the true identity of Robin Hood.

So, as you might expect, today I'm going to be making references to many of the specific details in those ballads.

So if you haven't heard them yet, then you may want to go back now and take a listen.

In that last episode, I also brought up the point that Robin Hood is a very old figure in English folklore.

So old, in fact, that no one is exactly sure when Robin Hood first started to appear in English balladry.

By all accounts, his stories existed as oral traditions for decades and maybe even centuries before they were written down.

In fact, the first time a reference to Robin Hood appears in the historical record, the author suggests that stories about the outlaw had been around for quite some time.

This reference appears in the medieval social satire called Pierce Plowman from the year 1370.

In In it, the author William Langland attacks the sin of sloth by putting these words in the mouth of a lazy priest.

Quote, I know not perfectly my paternoster as the priest in strength, but I know rhymes of Robin Hood and Randolph Earl of Chester.

End quote.

Now I know the language in that quote was a little hard to understand, so allow me to translate.

Basically, the author was making fun of lazy priests by saying that they knew Robin Hood rhymes better than they knew the Holy Scripture.

Now, this little offhand remark doesn't seem to tell us much, but we can deduce from it that by 1370, rhymes and songs about Robin Hood were so well known that even a lazy priest would have known them off by heart.

When it comes to finding the quote-unquote real Robin Hood, this first reference is notable because Robin Hood is described as a character in a rhyme and not as a real-life historical figure.

In other words, his mythical identity is noted before his historical identity.

Those who think that the search for a historical Robin Hood is a lost cause like to point this out.

They hold up the Piers Plowman reference as if to say, see,

everyone always knew he was a fictional character.

Even in the 1300s, he was just a character in a rhyme.

But of course, the debate doesn't simply end there, especially considering that some of the other early references to Robin Hood do assume he was a real person.

In a Scottish chronicle from 1420, called simply the original chronicle, the author Andrew of Winton claimed that Little John and Robin Hood were well-loved outlaws who operated in the Inglewood and the Barnesdale around the year 1283.

Twenty years later, another Scottish historian, Walter Bower, would mention Robin Hood in his Chronicle of Scotland.

He would claim that the outlaw lived in 1266 and fought alongside disinherited noblemen against the English King Henry III.

But he would also point out that stories about Robin Hood were also very popular, writing, quote, The foolish people are so inordinately fond of celebrating him in tragedies and comedies, end quote.

This source would seem to affirm both of Robin Hood's identities.

He was a popular character in dramas and plays, and also a real guy.

So if you're hunting for a historical Robin Hood, these chronicles might seem like historical pay dirt.

The fact that these early sources not only took Robin Hood's existence for granted, but also placed him in a very specific time and place seems like pretty strong evidence of a real Robin Hood.

Well,

not so fast.

Before we get too excited about these ideas, I should point out that there doesn't seem to be any strong evidence that supports the idea that an outlaw named Robin Hood was living and robbing in the Barnesdale in the years 1266 or 1283.

And of course, the chroniclers in no way cite their sources.

Now, the other thing about medieval chronicles is that they're notorious for weaving in hearsay, legend, and straight-up fiction into their historical narratives.

Finally, the years that they give for the historical Robin Hood don't really fit with any part of the Robin Hood legend.

In short, these sources, like all medieval chronicles, need to be handled with care.

And if they're the only things that we have that point to a real-life Robinhood, well, that's simply not enough.

But of course, the story doesn't end there.

You see, one of the notable things about the Robin Hood stories is that they have a way of historically orienting their audience by naming the King of England.

Now, I'm sure there were a few of you out there listening last episode who are surprised and confused confused by the fact that the king in the early ballads wasn't King Richard the Lionheart.

I mean, I'll speak for myself.

I was totally surprised.

I had always taken for granted that the Robin Hood story took place in the years after the Third Crusade.

The Robin Hood that I grew up loving was the outlaw who stayed loyal to the good King Richard and defied his evil brother Prince John.

But if Richard isn't the king in the earliest known ballads, then we have to ask: when did he get added to the story?

How did one of medieval Europe's most famous crusader kings become so intertwined with the legend of the forest thief?

Well, let's take a closer look.

Shopify's point-of-sale system helps you sell at every stage of your business.

Need a fast and secure way to take payments in person?

We've got you covered.

How about card readers you can rely on anywhere you sell?

Thanks.

Have a good one.

Yep, that too.

What one place to manage all your online and in-person sales?

That's kind of our thing.

Wherever you sell, businesses that grow grow with Shopify.

Sign up for your $1 a month trial at shopify.com/slash listen.

Shopify.com/slash listen.

In the 1500s, the character of Robin Hood went through an important transformation.

In the early ballads, Robin Hood is a peasant or a yeoman who boldly takes what he wants from whoever he wants.

Conflict in the ballads usually stems from quarrels he's having with his friends.

One thing that stood out to me was how often Robin Hood and Little John are at odds, usually over something petty.

But despite this, Robin Hood is always shown as being clever, and the audience is expected to take some delight in his repeated humiliations of the Sheriff of Nottingham.

The sheriff is presented as a haughty spoil sport who totally deserves what he gets.

Now, as a few of you listeners pointed out to me on Twitter, in these early ballads, Robin Hood is a bit of a jerk.

He's certainly not the paragon of virtue and justice that he would eventually become.

However, in the early 1500s, people started to change the way that they spoke about Robinhood.

Perhaps the most important example of this is the writing of the historian John Major.

In the early 1500s, John Major made a number of entries about Robin Hood in his massive history of Britain.

Now, Major seems to have taken the reality of Robin Hood for granted.

His Robin Hood was a real person who actually lived.

However, Major also seemed to be on a mission to elevate the moral standing of the outlaw.

He wrote of Robin Hood, quote, he would allow no woman to suffer injustice, nor would he spoil the poor, but rather enriched them from the plunder taken from abbots.

The robberies of this man I condemn, but of all the robbers, he was the humanist and the chief, end quote.

Now this quote is significant because it's the first time that we ever hear of Robin Hood stealing from the rich and giving to the poor.

Now I don't think I need to tell you that that little detail would go on to be the cornerstone of Robin Hood's character for the next four centuries.

Major was adamant that Robin Hood's crimes had a moral dimension.

Now, it's hard to know if this reflected a larger shift in the oral tradition or if this was just Major's own personal spin on the story.

But what is certain is that this view of Robin Hood, him being a kind and gentle thief, was about to catch on in a big way.

If Robin Hood was a gentleman, then it follows that he needed to be something more than a rough and tumble commoner.

He needed to be an aristocrat.

Major's history also added a new dimension to the Robin Hood legend, and that was a new date for his existence.

According to the historian, Robin Hood started being active as an outlaw in the year 1189.

Now, this is notable for two reasons.

Firstly, it's almost 100 years earlier than all previous dates given for the historical Robin Hood.

The Robin Hood legend had just been transplanted back in time.

Secondly, 1189 was a famous year in in English history because it was the year that Richard I,

the lionheart, was crowned king.

Now, it's completely unclear how John Major decided on this date.

By all accounts, he just guessed at it.

Even his contemporaries, like the chronicler Richard Grafton, were highly skeptical of the 1189 date because it seems so obvious that he just pulled it out of thin air.

Some have speculated that Major just liked the symmetry of Robin Hood living at the same time as one of England's most legendary medieval kings.

Now, in the 1500s, John Major was about as respected as you got if you were a historian.

So, other historians started repeating the 1189 date for Robin Hood and cited Major as their source.

Before long, that date would make its way into popular culture.

In the 1590s, this new version of Robin Hood started appearing on the London stage.

Now, as many of you know, the 1590s is kind of an important time for English theater.

This was the heyday of Shakespeare, after all.

To give you some context, in 1592, Richard III debuted.

In 1594, Romeo and Juliet hit the stage for the first time.

In 1595, it was A Midsummer Night's Dream.

In 1599, you get Twelfth Night, As You Like It, and Julius Caesar.

To say that it was an important time for English drama would be a bit of an understatement.

Now, while this is all going on, there were also as many as seven different plays about Robin Hood being performed on the stages of London.

It's in these plays that we first start seeing Robin Hood being portrayed as a nobleman.

Now, by far, the most popular and influential of these plays were written by the playwright Anthony Monday.

The plays were The Downfall of Robert, Earl of Huntingdon, and The Death of Robert, Earl of Huntingdon.

These plays gave us an origin story for the character of Robin Hood, something that was conspicuously absent from the early ballads.

In Monday's plays, Robin Hood was originally known as Robert Fitzooth, the Earl of Huntingdon.

The plot is basically a love story between Robert and Matilda, who changes her name to Marian by the end of the play.

The evil Prince John lusts after Matilda and is actively trying to usurp the throne from his brother Richard, who is away fighting in the Crusades.

Robert Fitzooth stands in the way of both of John's goals.

Through a series of convoluted events, Robert is betrayed by the prior of York, Lord Doncaster, and a treacherous steward named Warman, who then becomes the Sheriff of Nottingham.

Robert is forced into exile in Sherwood Forest, where he changes his name to Robin Hood and sets about righting the wrongs that were done to him.

Now, both of these plays barely make sense.

It's funny because most modern scholars love to point out how hard to follow they are.

There's also obvious continuity errors in the writing that makes them even more confusing.

Stephen Knight describes them as feeling, quote, unfinished, which sounds like a polite way of saying that they sucked.

Nonetheless, the influence of these plays on the Robin Hood mythos is undeniable.

After Monday's plays, almost every subsequent Robin Hood story portrayed him as a wronged nobleman.

He was loyal to King Richard and defied Prince John and his henchmen.

The play also popularized the Maid Marian character.

From here on in, Robin Hood's adventures would become much more like the chivalric adventures of medieval knights.

He wasn't just out to get a good laugh by making the sheriff eat his own stolen food.

Now he was actively defending the honor of his lady love.

As you can see, after the Anthony Monday plays, the fictional Robin Hood would never be the same.

But perhaps even more interesting for us, Monday's plays would also affect the search for the historical Robin Hood.

Scholars now started actively hunting for hard historical proof that the Earl of Huntingdon in the late 12th century was someone named Robert Fitzooth.

Now when these researchers came up empty-handed, well then they started indulging in some very fake history.

In 1746, one researcher named William Stucley even went so far as to create a fake family tree for Robert Fitzooth.

This phony genealogy traced Robin Hood's origins back to the Normans who came over with William the Conqueror in 1066.

Stucley, of course, didn't cite his sources for any of this information.

He also seemed to play pretty fast and loose with his names and dates.

His family tree is built around some real historical figures, but then he happily fills in the blanks with completely fictional ancestors until we get to Robert Fitzooth.

Now, despite the fact that most serious Robin Hood scholars now consider this family tree to be completely unconvincing, it continues to act as a red herring for those searching for the real Robin Hood.

It's a fake clue that can give hope to researchers who might have a sentimental tie to the idea that that Robin Hood and Richard the Lionheart were contemporaries.

Now, part of the reason that many have such an emotional connection to this idea is thanks to the writer Joseph Ritson.

In 1795, Ritson published one of the most famous collections of Robin Hood stories ever assembled.

It was called Robin Hood, a collection of all the ancient poems and songs now extant, relating to the celebrated outlaw.

It's in this collection that the Robin Hood that we might recognize today really took shape.

For his part, Ritzen seems to have believed that Robin Hood was a real person who lived at the time of King Richard the Lionheart.

In his introduction to the work, Ritson made reference to a manuscript written around the year 1600, simply called The Life of Robin Hood.

This manuscript that had been preserved in the British Library's Sloan collection claimed that Robin Hood was a disinherited noble who lived at the time of King Richard.

According to Ritson, this manuscript also offered a new tidbit, and that was the true place of Robin's birth, Loxley, England.

So here we have the origin of Robin Hood as Robin of Loxley.

Ritson's Robin Hood collection was extremely popular.

It contained all the Robin Hood stories that would continue to pop up in the literature and the movies from then on in.

Robin Hood fighting Little John on a bridge over a river, you better believe that's in Ritson.

After the Ritson collection, Robin Hood was always Robin of Loxley.

This collection hugely influenced Sir Walter Scott, who put Robin of Loxley in his super famous novel, Ivanhoe.

Sir Walter Scott's Robin Hood would eventually serve as the template for the Robin Hood of the entire Victorian era.

and Victorian Robin Hood would then form the template for all the movie Robin Hoods of the 20th century.

So, long story short, Ritson's collection would basically influence two centuries' worth of Robin Hoods.

As a result, you get two centuries' worth of people who are connected to the idea that Richard the Lionheart and Robin of Loxley were pals.

But here's the thing: it's actually pretty easy to debunk this whole idea.

First and foremost, there was no Robert Fitzooth, Earl of Huntington.

He just does not exist in the historical record.

Aside from William Stuckeley's obviously fabricated family tree, there's simply no mention of him in any records from the reign of Richard I.

When you go back and check who the real Earl of Huntington was in the late 1100s, you discover that it's actually a guy named David of Scotland.

David of Scotland was actually a pretty important dude back in the late 12th century.

At one point, he was heir to the Scottish throne.

He was so famous, in fact, that Sir Walter Scott would later create a fictionalized version of David in his novel The Talisman.

Now, there are some people out there that think this David of Scotland may have actually been the historical Robin Hood.

After all, he did serve on crusade with King Richard I,

and he also once took part in a siege on Nottingham Castle, where the Sheriff of Nottinghamshire was being held captive.

So, I mean, there's some overlap here, but beyond that, he's not really the best fit for Robin Hood.

But of course, the biggest knock against the 1189 theory is that it's completely incompatible with the early ballads.

As we all learned in the last episode, the king in the earliest Robin Hood stories isn't named Richard.

He's called Edward.

And Robin Hood is clearly identified as a yeoman or a free peasant, not a lord.

Now, those early ballads might be weird and complicated, but they are very clear about those two things.

Robin Hood was a commoner, and he did not live during the reign of King Richard the Lionheart.

So, what clues do those ballads offer us?

Well, let's dive back into those stories and see if we can answer that question now.

If we're going to use the early ballads as a treasure map to find the historical Robin Hood, then we have to answer two key questions.

The first is, where are these ballads supposed to take place?

And the second is, when are these ballads supposed to take place?

Let's start with the question of where.

Now, if you were to ask most casual Robin Hood fans where Robin and his buddies like to hang out, they would probably tell you Sherwood Forest.

Now, Sherwood Forest is a real place that still exists in Nottinghamshire, just northeast of the city of Nottingham.

And in many ways, it's a perfectly logical place to set the Robinhood stories, as it's the nearest wooded area to the city.

As we've seen, even in the earliest ballads, Nottingham is always a key setting, and its sheriff is always the central antagonist.

However, one of the more surprising things about the early ballads is that Sherwood is rarely named as Robin Hood's base of operations.

In fact, in only one of the early ballads is Sherwood ever mentioned.

In all of the rest of the Robin Hood stories, his men camp out in a wooded area known as the Barnesdale.

So, where the heck is the Barnesdale?

Well, turns out the Barnesdale is yet another wooded area in what is today South Yorkshire.

This puts it closer to the English city of Sheffield than it does to Nottingham.

Now, the Barnesdale is significant, even though it would be later supplanted by Sherwood Forest in Robinhood lore.

Local landmarks in the area, including Robin Hood's Stone and Robin Hood's Well, date back to at least the 1400s.

Now, all that means is that people were celebrating the Barnesdale as the home of Robin Hood for hundreds of years before Sherwood Forest started to enter the conversation.

To put it in perspective, Sherwood Forest's first Robin Hood-themed landmark only turned up around the 1700s.

This helps make the case that the Barnesdale, and therefore Yorkshire, is the traditional home of Robin Hood.

Now to be fair, the geography in those early ballads is absolutely bonkers bananas.

The characters are bouncing between Nottingham, the Barnesdale, York, and London like they're all somehow in walking distance.

And for those of you who aren't familiar with your English geography, let me assure you, they are not.

Nevertheless, for Robinhood hunters, the early association with the Barnesdale is important because it narrows the chase.

If the earliest Robin Hood stories place him in Yorkshire, then Yorkshire is where they need to focus their gaze.

And I know there are people listening in Nottingham right now screaming at the sacrilege of all of this, but hear me out.

And remember, this is just one theory.

Okay, so if the where is Yorkshire, then how about the question of when?

Well, this is a much trickier proposition.

As I mentioned earlier, historians and chroniclers from the past had dated Robinhood's existence from as early as 1189 to as late as 1283.

But these days, most serious researchers think that the early 1300s, and in particular, the 1320s, should be considered the appropriate timeline for the historical Robinhood.

Okay, so the theory I'm about to give you was cobbled together by researchers Graham Phillips and Martin Keating in their book, Robin Hood, the Man Behind the Myth.

Now these two writers drew on the research of dozens of historians who had come before them.

Their goal was to pull all of this work together into one clear picture of a historical Robinhood.

So here's what they came up with.

Alright.

So in the ballad The Guest of Robin Hood, that was the second story that I told you last week.

And yes, I was told by some of you that I should have called it The Jest of Robin Hood, but I did some research.

It turns out both pronunciations are used, so we're all right.

Anyway, in that ballad, the king is clearly named Edward.

Now, unfortunately, we aren't told which Edward it is.

If this ballad was actually referring to a real king of England, and even that's debatable, then this could be either Edward I, Edward II, or Edward III.

So if we accept that the guest of Robin Hood is naming a real king, then it follows that perhaps some of the plot points in the ballad were based on real events.

Now if you remember from the last episode, in that ballad, the king eventually makes his way to Nottingham after the sheriff requests his presence.

We're told that the king disguises himself, meets Robin Hood in the woods, beats him in archery, and then punches the outlaw so hard that he ends up blowing his cover.

So, the question the researchers then ask is: Did any of those three Edwards ever make a royal excursion to Nottingham or Yorkshire during their reign?

And amazingly, the answer is yes.

Edward II made a royal progress to Yorkshire in the year 1323.

Now, the reason he made this royal progress is even more interesting.

You see, in the year previous, Edward's cousin, the Earl of Lancaster, had mounted a rebellion against the king.

The Earl had been upset that the king had reneged on a promise to adopt a number of reforms that would have helped the Earl's starving tenant farmers.

Upset by the king's waffling and knowing that Edward II was weak, the Earl mounted a rebellion.

So, we have a rebellion that was partially about getting food to the poor, at least partially.

To make a long story short, the Earl of Lancaster's forces were utterly destroyed by the king's troops, and the rebellion quickly lost steam.

However, in the time after that decisive battle, the men who had supported Lancaster were forced to go into hiding and live as outlaws.

So the Lancastrian rebellion created a situation where you now have all these former fighting men living on the lamb, unable to return to their families and completely afraid of running afoul of the royal authorities.

This is all starting to sound a little familiar.

In 1323, when King Edward made his quote royal progress up to Yorkshire, where the rebellion had just taken place, one of his main goals was to pardon as many rebels as he could and bring them back into the fold.

You see, Edward was now facing threats from a number of other powerful barons, and civil war seemed more than likely.

So he needed as much support as he could get, and that included former rebels from Yorkshire.

So the king's mission in 1323 was explicitly about pardoning outlaws.

Now this is some obvious echoes in the story of the guest.

Remember, Robin Hood is pardoned by the king for killing the sheriff and is then invited into Edward's service.

So far, we've got a pretty good match here.

If there was a real Robin Hood, then perhaps he was a Lancastrian rebel leader.

It makes some sense that a Lancastrian rebel would become a folk hero, especially when you consider that the Earl of Lancaster himself was venerated as a martyr by many in Yorkshire.

Okay,

now this is where the theory really starts to get juicy.

So in the guest, we're also told that Robin Hood travels with the king back to court where he serves him.

So we have to ask, are Are there any records of someone named Robin Hood or Robert Hood working for the King of England starting sometime after the fall of 1323?

And amazingly, the answer is yes.

So, this crazy discovery was made by an antiquarian named Joseph Hunter in the mid-19th century.

In the Exchequer Rolls, he discovered that someone named Robin Hode, spelled R-O-B-Y-N-H-O-D-E,

began working as a valet for King Edward in June of 1323.

Even more interesting, this Robin Hode seems to have left the king's service some 15 months later.

Now, all of this seems to correlate perfectly with the ballad.

Remember, we're told that Robin Hood goes to court, stays for just over a year, gets homesick, and is relieved from service and allowed to return to the Barnesdale.

So, could this be the real Robin Hood?

Well, the similarities are pretty incredible, but not everyone is convinced.

For instance, historian J.C.

Holt notably threw some cold water on this theory when he pointed out that the Robin Hood in the Exchequer rolls started getting paid a few months before the king would have made it to either Nottingham or Yorkshire.

In his estimation, the timeline for that particular Robin Hood just didn't work.

Basically, it doesn't really make sense for the king to have met the real Robin Hood before he even visits Nottingham.

On top of that, I should point out that in this period, Robin Hood or Robert Hood was a surprisingly common name.

Historians who have examined the records from this era have found hundreds of people named either Robert or Robin Hood, spelt all sorts of ways.

I know that seems kind of crazy now.

I mean, when's the last time you met a Robin Hood?

But apparently in the 14th century, it was about as common a name as you could get.

So, it's not so crazy that a completely unrelated Robin Hood was working for the King of England around the time he made his journey north.

However, Hunter also discovered that there was a tenant farmer living in Yorkshire near the Earl of Lancaster's castle of Wakefield named, you guessed it, Robert Hood.

Even better, this particular Robert Hood had a wife, and she was named Matilda.

Now remember, in Anthony Monday's play, Matilda is the name that Maid Marion has before she changes it.

So we have a Robin and a Marion living in Yorkshire a few miles away from the Barnesdale.

In 1944, archaeologist J.W.

Walker helped this theory along by discovering that this particular Robert Hood also participated in the Lancaster Rebellion and fought under the command of the rebellious Earl.

So, this is a very tantalizing clue.

We've got a Robert Hood and a Matilda who are both Lancastrian rebels who might have become outlaws.

Oh boy, we're getting close here.

But sadly, Robert Hood's trail goes cold after that decisive battle that ended the rebellion.

Did he die in the battle?

Did he go into the woods?

Did he start leading a band of outlaws?

Did he eventually become the inspiration for one of the most beloved folk heroes in the world?

Sadly, we just don't know.

So let's take stock here.

We've got two historical events, the Lancastrian Revolt and Edward II's Royal Progress North, that seem to roughly align with the events that are depicted in the Guest of Robin Hood, which is widely accepted to be one of the earliest Robin Hood ballads.

We also have a couple of guys named Robin Hood or Robert Hood who seem to be in the right place at the right time to be the basis for the legendary figure.

One of those guys definitely fought in the Lancastrian Rebellion, and another one definitely worked as a valet for the king.

Now, were they the same guy?

We're not sure.

So taken together, does this mean that there was a real person who inspired the entire Robin Hood legend?

And honestly, guys, I am really torn on this one.

Here's the thing.

I have a hard time ignoring all the correlations between the Lancastrian Rebellion, Edward's royal progress, and the events that get depicted in The Guest of Robin Hood.

So, it seems entirely plausible to me that that particular ballad was inspired by real historical events.

It also makes sense to me that the Lancastrian Revolt may have inspired the medieval balladeers to set their Robin Hood stories in the region between Yorkshire and Nottingham.

After all, in the early 1300s, that would have been outlaw country.

But here's why I can't give a nice hard yes to the question of was there a real Robin Hood?

While I'm totally willing to accept that events like the Lancastrian Rebellion influenced the early ballads,

We still don't have any good evidence to suggest that any of those Robert Hoods living around Yorkshire inspired the character.

It's also worth pointing out that there's only really one early ballad that overlaps with these real historical events, and that's The Guest of Robin Hood.

The other early ballads like Robin Hood and the Monk or Robin Hood and the Potter don't really have any connection to real history.

My thinking on this is also deeply influenced by the so-called Robin Hood games and Robin Hood plays that were common in English villages from the 14th century onwards.

During these festivals, Robin Hood was celebrated as a pan-like figure, a sort of demigod of the woods.

Now, I know I kind of poo-pooed the theory that Robin Hood was originally a forest elf in the last episode, but we shouldn't completely write off Robin Hood's connection to pagan religion.

It's notable that these Robin Hood games were usually part of the May Day festival that celebrated fertility and a new growing season.

Robin was honored as the king of misrule at these festivals.

That was kind of a reverse king who used his authority to make everybody party.

All of this is to say that from the very beginning, Robin Hood seemed to represent something considerably more mythic than historical.

So, was there a real Robin Hood?

Well, I'm leaning no, but you are free to make up your own mind on this one.

I'm not ruling it out as a possibility, but I've yet to see a theory that both locates a likely candidate and explains how he was so quickly transformed into the multifaceted myth that is Robin Hood.

Now, what is certain is that Robin Hood remains deeply fascinating and endlessly entertaining.

His legend reminds us to stay true to our friends, to look out for the little guy, and to never be afraid to question the powers that be.

For Robin Hood, authority was only to be respected when the person who wielded it proved themselves to be worthy.

A title didn't automatically earn you respect or deference.

A leader who proved themselves to be just and fair could be followed.

A leader who proved to be vain and greedy, well,

he could expect an invite to dinner where he'd be forced to eat his own stolen meat.

Okay,

that's all for this week.

Thanks again for joining us.

Join us again in two weeks' time when we will take on another historical myth.

And guys, I've had my head so deep in Robin Hood, I couldn't help but get interested in Richard the Lionheart.

So in a rare little sneak peek, I'm going to let you know that the next episode is going to be all about King Richard the Lionhearted, because my God, what an interesting character.

A quick announcement before we go this week, on October 13th, that is Friday, October 13th, I am going to be a panelist at the Hot Docks Podcast Festival here in Toronto, Ontario.

So at 9 a.m., if you are going to the podcast festival, come and check out my panel.

And afterwards, you can meet me.

We can hang out.

We can have a coffee.

It's going to be early in the morning.

Who knows?

If you're really persuasive, maybe we can have a beer.

But coffee's for sure.

So that is Friday, October 13th, here in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

If you want tickets, you can go to hotdocks.ca and follow the links to the podcast festival.

Or you can go to my Facebook page at facebook.com/slash our fake history, and you will see the pinned link to my panel.

If you like what you hear and you want to support the show, then the best way to do it is to go to Patreon and become a patron.

So, if you go to patreon.com/slash our fake history, you can sign up to support the show at all sorts of different levels, and there's all sorts of lovely extras and prizes that come with the different levels of support.

Normally, I give a shout-out to all the people supporting at the $5 or more level at this point in the show, but this week I am so busy, I could not get to all your names.

So next week, two weeks from now, I promise you will all be getting your awesome shout-outs.

If Patreon isn't your bag, then you can go to ourfakehistory.com where you can make a one-time donation.

Or you can also buy the extra episodes through the website.

If you don't have money to spare, but you still want to support the show, then the best way to do it is just go to iTunes or Stitcher or any other app that you use and write us a nice review.

The reviews help.

Give us five stars and tell the world why you like the show.

It helps.

In the meantime, if you want to reach out to me, you can get me at ourfakehistory at gmail.com.

You can hit me up on Facebook at facebook.com/slash our fake history.

Or you can hit me up on Twitter at ourfakehistory.com.

The theme music for the show comes to us from Dirty Church.

You can check out dirtychurch at dirtychurch.bandcamp.com.

And all the other music you heard on the show today was written and recorded by me.

My name is Sebastian Major.

And remember, just because it didn't happen doesn't mean it isn't real.

Just when you thought summer couldn't get any hotter, Pluto TV is turning up the heat with thousands of free movies.

Presenting Summer of Cinema.

Stream your favorite blockbuster films like Gladiator.

I will have my venues.

Good Burger.

This is what I do, Fast Fit.

Beverly Hills Cop, The Girl with a Dragon Tattoo, and Julie and Julia.

Walnut the G.

All for free on your favorite devices.

Pluto TV.

Stream now.

Pay never.

When you need a break, skip the scrolling.

Visit myfrize.us.

The games are super exciting and you can actually win.

Myprize.us is the most fun, free-to-play social casino around.

Everyone deserves to win big.

All the slots and table games you love with incredible bonuses.

Sign up today for an incredible welcome package.

Myprize.us is a free-to-play social casino.

Users must be 18 or older to play.

Voidwear prohibited by law.

Visit myprize.us for more details.

When you need a break, make it memorable.

Visit myprize.us.

Real prizes, real winners, real easy.

You want your master's degree.

You know you can earn it, but life gets busy.

The packed schedule, the late nights, and then there's the unexpected.

American Public University was built for all of it.

With monthly starts and no set login times, APU's 40-plus flexible online master's programs are designed to move at the speed of life.

You bring the fire, we'll fuel the journey.

Get started today at apu.apus.edu.

You're juggling a lot.

Full-time job, side hustle, maybe a family.

And now you're thinking about grad school?

That's not crazy.

That's ambitious.

At American Public University, we respect the hustle and we're built for it.

Our flexible online master's programs are made for real life because big dreams deserve a real path.

Learn more about APU's 40-plus career-relevant master's degrees and certificates at apu.apus.edu.

APU built for the hustle.