The legend of the noble robber Robin Hood has been known for seven centuries, and scientists still have not established whether this person really existed.
They sang songs about him
The first literary recordings of oral songs and ballads about Robin Hood, made by an unknown author, appeared in the middle of the 14th century. A total of four ballads were recorded. In each of them, the reader meets with the brave leader of the forest detachment of "merry robbers" who attacked the rich and helped the poor. In the first ballad, Robin lends money and his faithful squire Little John to an impoverished knight to take revenge on the greedy abbot. In the second, he tricks the hated Sheriff from Nottingham to dine with him with venison. Moreover, Robin got the meat in the possession of the sheriff, in the Sherwood forest. In the third, Robin recognizes the disguised King Edward, who comes incognito to Nottingham to investigate violations of the law by local rulers, and enters his service.
In the fourth ballad, which was released a little later, in 1395, Robin returns to the robbery and dies from the method of treatment that was widespread at that time, which consisted of copious bloodletting.
These first recorded Robin Hood ballads were based on folk tales that had been sung and retold with new details for at least the previous one and a half years. This is evidenced, in particular, by the "Robin Hood stone" in Yorkshire mentioned in one document of 1310, as well as by William Langland's allegorical poem "Visions of Peter the Plowman" of 1362. In this poem, Sloth boasts that although she is not very firm in church prayers, she knows "songs about Robin Hood and Randolph, Earl of Chester."
Langland's contemporary, Geoffrey Chaucer, in Troilus and Chryseis, mentions "the hazel thickets where the jolly Robin walked." And in the "Story about Heimlin". included by Chaucer in The Canterbury Tales, depicts the hero-robber, the prototype of which, it is established, served as the legendary Robin Hood.
In the next two centuries, new ballads appeared. The most complete collection, published by Francis Child in the 19th century, contains 40 works about the famous robber.
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Survivor of half a dozen kings
At the time when the first ballads were being formed, Robin Hood was perceived by listeners and readers as a real person - their contemporary or a person who lived very recently. Obviously, for this reason, the authors of some historical chronicles mention Robin Hood. His name is called The Scottish Chronicles of Andrew Wintone (circa 1420). And in the middle of the 15th century, Walter Bower. making additions to the chronicle of Canon Fordun, under the date “1266” he writes down the news that “among the people deprived of property, the robber Robin Hood was famous, whom the people like to present as the hero of their games and theatrical performances and whose history, sung by itinerant singers, occupies the English more than other stories."
John Meyer, in his "History of Great Britain", written in 1521 in Latin, dates the life of Robin Hood to the time of the reign of King Richard the Lionheart (1157-1199) and claims that the robber was at the head of a hundred "free shooters", to cope with which were powerless government troops. Robin Hood, according to Meyer, robbed only the rich, spared and rewarded the poor, did no harm to women; the deeds and adventures of this man "all Britain sings in their songs."
However, all these entries in the chronicles are late and, as established by the researchers. do not agree well with specific historical realities and details mentioned in the ballads. In general, the content of the ballads is such that it is difficult to establish even the dating of the events taking place in them, since various English monarchs are mentioned in the ballads and their known versions. They include kings: Edward II, Henry II and III, Richard, and in one of the ballads even “Queen Catherine” acts, who can only be identified with Catherine of Aragon (1485-1536).
One of the first "biographers" of Robin Hood, Sir Walter Bower. who dealt with this problem at the beginning of the 19th century, believed that the famous robber was a participant in the 1265 uprising against King Henry III, which was led by a relative of the monarch Simon de Montfort. After de Montfort's defeat, many of the rebels did not disarm and continued to live like the hero of the ballads, Robin Hood. "During this time," wrote Bower, "the famous robber Robin Hood … began to enjoy great influence among those who were disinherited and outlawed for participating in the uprising." There are many inconsistencies in Bower's hypothesis, and the main one is that the longbow mentioned in the ballads about Robin Hood had not yet been invented by the time of de Montfort's rebellion.
From dirt to Kings
Some historians suggest a certain Robert Hood, a tenant from Wakefield, who participated in the revolt led by the Earl of Lancaster in 1322, for the role of a noble robber. In support of this hypothesis, they cite information that the following year, King Edward II visited Nottingham and took Robert Hood into his service as a valet. paying him a salary for the next 12 months. All these facts are in good agreement with the events outlined in the third ballad. However, according to other versions - and they are also confirmed in the texts of ballads - the hero-robber appears on the historical stage as a brave warrior of King Richard I, whose reign fell on the last decade of the 12th century.
All these inconsistencies and inconsistencies are caused by a large historical period during which ballads were created. The first, apparently, arose in the XII century and then existed for a long time in oral form. And since their listeners, obviously, wanted to know about the events of their day (this, by the way, assumes the very narrative manner of ballads), the storytellers had to constantly "make corrections", replenishing their works with new details. The same thing happened later when the ballads were already recorded. So, in the early ballads there is no mention of the girl Marianne, Robin Hood's lover. It first appears in later versions that arose at the end of the 15th century. The giant, nicknamed Little John, is already present in the band of robbers in the initial versions. and brother Tuck appears in a later version. First, Robin is a yeoman, i.e.free artisan or peasant, but over time he turns into an unjustly dispossessed nobleman.
After failing to find the real Robin Hood, historians began looking for a possible prototype. In the census registers for 1228 and 1230, Robert Good, nicknamed the Brownie, was found, about whom it is said that he was fled from justice. Around the same time, a popular movement arose under the leadership of Sir Robert Twing - rebels raided monasteries and distributed the looted grain to the poor. However, the name Robert Goode was quite common. And many scholars are inclined to believe that the prototype of Robin Hood was the rebellious aristocrat Robert Fitzug, who claimed the title of Earl of Hundington. Fitzug was born around 1160 and died in 1247. In some reference books, these years even appear as the dates of the life of Robin Hood, although the written sources of that time do not contain any mention of such a person.
Folk hero
Now, most researchers agree that Robin Hood simply symbolizes a certain type of robber hero who was glorified in legends passed down from generation to generation as a public defender. His nickname - Hood - translated from English means "hood", indicating the traditional element of clothing of all then robbers. The word hood, by the way, denotes several different hats: hood, hood, cap, cowl, helmet (human or horse). The main thing is that it covers (protects) the entire head. And also this word, according to the Oxford Dictionary. there is also a figurative meaning: “hide” (cover with a hood). It can also be an abbreviation for the words hoodlum - "thug", "bully" (honest people do not cover their faces with a hood) and hoodwink - "to deceive" (literally - "to blind by pulling the hood"). The nickname took into account all these meanings: Robin Hood wears a hood, is secretive, he is a thug and deceived everyone.
It is possible that the name itself - Robin Hood - may be the result of a rethinking of the expression Rob in hood - "thief in the hood" (Rob means not only the name Robin. Robert, but also "thief"). This is what Marianne named Robin when he won the archery tournament and proclaimed her the queen of the tournament.
Proud and independent, Robin Hood confronted those who, using their position and wealth, deceived and oppressed the common people, while at the same time he remained loyal to the king and did not reject religion. Robin Hood, in the words of one scientist, is "the pure creation of the folk muse, the creation of an unknown author who wanted to glorify the common man who fought for justice." This explains the attractiveness of the noble robber, succinctly expressed in the closing words of the cycle: "Lord, have mercy on his soul, for he was a good robber and always helped the poor."
Magazine: Secrets of the 20th century №25. Author: Igor Voloznev
