Who really was Robin Hood?

A romantic hero who robbed the rich to help the poor, or a bloodthirsty bandit who was idealized by subsequent generations? What is the true face of the daring daredevil named Robin Hood?

In the historical chronicles of six hundred years ago, it is possible to find only a brief mention of the rascal of the same name, who hunted in the forests of Central England.

However, it is unlikely that the petty villain would have received the attention of chroniclers if his actions did not stand out in any way from other events of those troubled times. And yet, when wars, plague and famine were commonplace, the historiography of that time devotes several lines to it. Popular rumor took care of the rest.

Through the depths of time, numerous legends about the romantic robber have reached our days, whose name is now, oddly enough, more widely known than during his lifetime. This name is Robin Hood.

Truth and fiction

March 1988 - Nottingham City Council, in east-central Britain, releases a report on the city's most famous citizen. Because over the years the council has received thousands of inquiries about Robin Hood and his gallant squad, the council decided to make a definite statement on this matter.

Despite the fact that the legends about Robin Hood have a long history, members of the city council took it upon themselves to question the authenticity of the legend about the elusive Robin and find out who Robin Hood was.

After a thorough study of Nottingham's distant past, researchers came to the conclusion that the brave hero, who robbed the rich to help the poor, did not even know Maid Marian - according to legend, Robin Hood's lover. Monk Tuk, as they believe, is a completely fictitious person. Little John was an angry and grumpy man, who had nothing in common with the carefree character from folklore. This is the interpretation of the research results.

Having debunked the legend, the council members hoped to gain fame as pioneers. However, they were only the latest in a long line of skeptics. Because when studying the story of Robin Hood, it is almost impossible to separate fact from fiction. And before them, many undertook to explore this exciting story, but this did not dim the image of Robin at all.

So, who is Robin Hood, where is the truth and where is the fiction about a man whose exploits still excite readers, cinema and television viewers to this day? Some are inclined to accept on faith what serious researchers have revealed: Robin robbed people on the Great North Road near Barnsdale in South Yorkshire and was engaged in looting with his gang of criminals in Sherwood Forest, 30 miles from Nottingham. Others are more attracted by the romantic version of the legend that this handsome hero actually robbed, but only the rich, in order to give the stolen goods to the poor.

Facts in history

The first reports that Robin Hood ruled the forests and heaths of England date back to 1261. However, he was first mentioned in written sources only a hundred years later. This was done by the Scottish historian Fordun, who died in 1386.

The following information about Robin Hood in the chronicles dates back to the 16th century.

According to the chronicler John Stow, he was a robber during the reign of Richard I. He was the leader of a gang that included hundreds of brave outcasts. They were all excellent archers. Although they traded in robbery, Robin Hood “did not allow oppression or other violence against women. He did not touch the poor, giving them everything that he took from the saints and noble rich people.”

We will look at this story from the most benevolent positions. Let's start with the fact that the fact of the existence of Robin Hood has documentary evidence. He lived in Wakefield, Yorkshire, in the 13th and 14th centuries.

The documents record that the legendary robber was born in 1290 and was named Robert Hood. Old registers give three spellings of the surname: God, Goad and Goode. But no one disputes the origin of Robin: he was the servant of Earl Warren.

How did a peasant son end up on the path of a robber?

1322 - Robin went into the service of a new master, Sir Thomas, Earl of Lancaster. When the count led a rebellion against King Edward II, Robin, like the count's other servants, had no choice but to obey his master and take up arms. However, the uprising was crushed, Lancaster was captured and beheaded for treason. His possessions were confiscated by the king, and the count's people who took part in the rebellion were declared outlaws.

Robin found the perfect refuge in the deep Sherwood Forest, in Yorkshire.

Sherwood Forest covered an area of ​​25 square miles and was adjacent to Yorkshire. The Great Northern Road, built by the Romans, passed through Sherwood and Barnsdale Woods and was a busy road. This attracted the attention of outcast robbers.

This is how the legend of Robin Hood, a man in green clothes, the color of the forest, appeared.

New stories

The legends about Robin are replete with many funny stories about his daring adventures and antics. One of them tells how the arrogant and narrow-minded Bishop of Hertsford, on his way to York, met Robin and his people, who were roasting venison obtained from the royal hunting forests.

Mistaking Robin's men for simple peasants, the bishop ordered the capture of those who killed the deer. The robbers calmly refused: the deer could no longer be resurrected, and everyone was terribly hungry. Then, at a sign from the bishop, those around the fire were surrounded by his servants. The robbers, laughing, began to beg to spare them, but the bishop was adamant. Robin eventually got tired of the bickering. He gave the signal, and the rest of the gang arrived from the forest. The stunned bishop was taken prisoner and began to demand a ransom.

Wanting to teach his hapless hostage a lesson, Robin forced him to dance a jig around a huge oak tree. To this day, that place in the forest is called “the bishop’s oak.”

They also say that once Robin, accompanied by his best friend Little John, paid a visit to the Whitby monastery. The abbot asked them to show off their vaunted skill in archery. It was necessary to shoot from the monastery roof. Robin and Little John gladly granted his request. They did not disgrace their glory.

Passed from mouth to mouth, one of the most beloved stories about how Robin met Edward II has been preserved in people's memory. According to legend: the king, concerned that the number of his deer was melting before his eyes, disappearing into the insatiable wombs of the robber people, wanted to clear his forest of poachers once and for all.

The king and his knights, dressed as monks, headed to Sherwood Forest, knowing that Robin Hood and his gang were lying in wait for unlucky travelers there. And they were right. The robbers stopped them and demanded money.

The disguised king declared that he had only 40 pounds (a rather insignificant amount for that time). Robin took 20 pounds for his men and returned the rest to the king.

Then Edward told the leader that he was being summoned to Nottingham to meet with the king. Robin and his men fell to their knees and swore their love and devotion to Edward, then invited the "monks" to dine with them - to taste the king's own venison!

In the end, Edward realized that Robin was simply mocking him. Then he revealed himself to the robbers and forgave them on the condition that they all come to the court for service as soon as he calls them.

This story, of course, seems implausible, created by the imagination of Robin Hood admirers. But, after all, maybe not everything in it is fiction.

The fact is that this incident is described in “The Little Feat of Robin Hood,” published in 1459. It is known for certain that the king visited Nottingham in 1332. We also know that a few months after this, the name Robin Hood was mentioned in reports of Edward's yard.

However, he soon suddenly disappeared from the royal court, only to reappear in the forest and in popular rumor.

So, let's continue the story about the brave adventures of Robin Hood. He appeared at St. Mary's Church in Nottingham, where a monk recognized the robber and informed the sheriff. Robin was captured only after he single-handedly killed 12 soldiers with his sword. Even while in captivity, the fearless leader had no doubt that his loyal friends would not leave him. Shortly before Robin was due to stand trial, Little John launched a daring attack and returned the bandit brethren to their leader. For complete justice, the robbers tracked down and killed the monk who betrayed Robin.

Forest Brotherhood

It is impossible to talk about Robin Hood without paying tribute to his merry band and his legendary friend Maid Marian.

Robin's closest assistant was Little John, supposedly not a cheerful fellow at all, but a sullen and very vulnerable guy. Most likely, he was called the Kid as a joke, since he was quite tall. This was discovered when his grave in Heathersage was opened in 1784 and the bones of a rather tall man were found.

As for Brother Tuck, opinions differ about him. Some believe that this legendary character combines the features of two fat monks, others believe that he really was such a cheerful person who loved to have fun and dance in the company of forest brothers. Perhaps it was Robert Stafford, a priest from Sussex (early 15th century), who sometimes, under the pseudonym of Brother Tuck, participated in the adventures of a merry gang.

Maid Marian as a character also fits well with the theory that the image of Robin originated from folk tales about traditional May holiday festivities and games. Marian could simply be a girl chosen for her beauty as “Queen of the May.”

Contradictory image

The legendary adventures of Robin Hood in Sherwood Forest supposedly ended in 1346. It is believed that he died in Kirkless Monastery after a serious illness. The abbess treated Robin with copious amounts of bloodletting, as a result of which, weakened and bleeding, he never recovered from his illness.

This is the romantic image of Robin Hood, a daredevil and benefactor. But the Anglo-Saxons have a strange tendency to denigrate their idols, and Robin suffered more than anyone else from this.

Director of the Nottanham Lore of Robin Hood exhibition, Graham Black, said: “We are close to knowing the true identity of Robin Hood.”

According to Black, the real story of Robin dates back to 1261, when William, son of Robert Smith, was outlawed in Berkshire. The law clerk who wrote the decree named him William Robinhood.

Other court documents survive that mention people named Robinhood, most of them criminals. Therefore, researchers believe that if Robin Hood really existed, then he most likely acted before that time.

The most likely candidate for this dubious role, according to Graham Black, is Robert God, a resident of the archbishopric of York, who escaped justice in 1225. Two years later he is mentioned in written documents as Hobhod.

Where does the romantic version of the legend come from?

According to some versions, Robin was a nobleman. But this is a clear invention of the playwright, who in 1597 wanted to attract the nobility to his theater. Previously, Robin was considered a vassal of the lord.

The fame of Robin Hood as the greatest archer comes from wandering storytellers who passed on from mouth to mouth ballads about the legendary robber, recorded in the second half of the 15th century.

As for Maid Marian, they believe that she was a beauty under the care of the treacherous Prince John. She first met Robin when she was ambushed by his men. However, scientists do not agree with this version, claiming that Marian appeared in a French poem of the 13th century as a shepherdess with her shepherd Robin. Only 200 years after the appearance of this poem did it finally become part of the legend of Robin Hood. And Marian gained her reputation as an immaculate virgin much later under the influence of chaste Victorian morality.

According to legend, Brother Tuk was a merry glutton who amused the robbers with his funny antics and jokes. The monk was unsurpassed in stick fights. In fact, it turns out that Brother Tuck also existed. This name was given to the priest of the Lindfield parish from Sussex, in reality a murderer and robber, when in 1417 a royal decree was issued for his arrest, the priest went on the run.

James Holt, professor of medieval history at Cambridge University and author of Robin Hood, wrote: “Written evidence suggests that Brother Took organized his band of bandits two hundred miles from Sherwood Forest, centuries after Robin Hood. In fact, Brother Tuck was quite far from harmless gaiety, for he ravaged and burned the hearths of his enemies.”

Little John, Robin's right-hand man, was capable of brutal murder. It was he who killed the monk suspected of betraying Robin, then beheaded the monk’s young servant, a witness to the murder.

But Little John did a lot of brave things. One of them, which has already been mentioned, is the rescue of Robin Hood from a well-fortified prison guarded by the guards of the notorious Sheriff of Nottingham.

Regarding Robin Hood, Professor Holt wrote: “He was absolutely not what he was described as. He wore a cap like a monk's hood. There is absolutely no evidence that he robbed the rich in order to give money to the poor. The legend acquired these fabrications 200 or more years after his death. And during his lifetime he was known as a notorious looter.”

And yet, following the legends of hoary antiquity, we prefer to see in Robin Hood a defender of the oppressed and powerless, a brave and cheerful chieftain, every now and then wiping the nose of those in power.

And we want to believe that, finishing a life journey full of various exploits, our hero, on the verge of death, blew the horn with his last strength, as if sending news about himself to the future, and we still hear the echoes of this signal in our hearts.

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

Ballads about this hero were composed back in the 14th century. Based on them, many books have already been written about Robin Hood, and many films have been made. The hero appears either as a nobleman-avenger, or as a cheerful reveler, or as a hero-lover.

In fact, there are few real facts about this character. It is entirely 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 fictitious. The career of the archetypal hero was formed from numerous popular wishes and disappointments of the common people of that era. Robin (or Robert) Hood (or Hod or Hude) was a nickname given to petty criminals until the mid-13th century. It seems no coincidence that the name Robin is consonant with the word "robbing" (robbery). It was already modern writers who formed the image of the noble robber as real. There were people like Robin Hood. They flouted unpopular government laws regarding forests. Those rules kept vast areas semi-wild, especially for hunting by the king and his court. Such fugitives always fascinated 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 or lived with it.

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). The ballad that Robin Hood was a supporter of Simon de Montfort, who was killed at Evesham in 1265, seems much more plausible. It is safe to say that Robin Lackland had become a popular character in folk mythology by the time William Langland wrote his Vision of Peter the Ploughman in 1377. This historical document directly mentions the name of Robin Hood. It is unclear how this character was related to Ranulf de Blondville, Earl of Chester, whose name immediately follows the mention of the robber's name. It is likely that they came into the phrase from different sources.

Robin Hood was a noble man who robbed the rich and gave money to the poor. This myth was invented by Scottish historian John Major. He wrote in 1521 that Robin did not cause any harm to women, did not withhold goods from the poor, and generously shared with them what he took from the rich. But earlier ballads covered the character’s activities more skeptically. The longest, and probably the oldest, Robin Hood story is Robin Hood's Little Glorious Adventure. It is believed to have been recorded between 1492 and 1510, but it is likely that it was written down much earlier, in the 1400s. In this text there is a comment that Robin did a lot of good for the poor. But at the same time, he helps a knight who is experiencing 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 or the redistribution of benefits between social strata. On the contrary, the stories contain a story about how a robber crippled an already defeated enemy and even killed a child. This makes you look at the personality of the legendary character differently.

Robin Hood was an impoverished nobleman, the Earl of Huntington. Again, there is no real basis for such a myth. Robin Hood, already in the first stories, is always a commoner, communicating with people of his class. Where did such a legend even come from? John Leland wrote in 1530 that Robin Hood was a noble robber. Most likely, it was about his actions, but the image was now supplemented by a corresponding origin. And in 1569, the historian Richard Grafton claimed that in an old engraving he found evidence of Robin Hood's earldom. This explained his chivalry and masculinity. This idea was later popularized by Anthony Munday in his plays The Fall of Robert, Earl of Huntington and The Death of Robert, Earl of Huntington, written in 1598. In this work, Count Robert, impoverished due to the machinations 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 clearly states that the famous outlaw, Earl Robert of Huntington, popularly called 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 granted to William de Clinton.

Robin married Maid Marian. Maid Marian became 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 other robbers from the earliest legends had neither wives nor families. The image of a woman appears only in Robin Hood's devotion to the Virgin Mary. Perhaps the storytellers considered such veneration inappropriate in the years following the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century. It is likely that Marian appeared in the Robin Hood legends around this time to provide an alternative female focus. And since there are positive characters, a man and a woman, then they should definitely get married.

Maid Marian was of noble blood. The identity of this girl raises many questions. Some historians are inclined to think that she was a beauty under the care of Prince John. And she met Robin Hood only after being ambushed by him 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 the French one. That was the name of the shepherdess, the friend of the shepherd Robin. Only two hundred years later the girl moved into the legend of the brave robber. And Marian was not initially highly moral; she acquired such a reputation much later, under the influence of the chaste morality of the Victorian era.

Robin Hood was buried in Yorkshire, at Kirklees Monastery. His grave remains there to this day. According to legend, Robin Hood went to Kirklees Monastery for treatment. The hero realized that his hand had weakened, and the arrows were beginning 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, either accidentally or deliberately, let Robin Hood lose too much blood. Dying, he fired the last arrow, bequeathing to bury himself in the place where it fell. But Tudor writer Richard Grafton had a different version. He believed that the prioress buried Robin Hood on the side of the road. The book states that the hero rests where he robbed those passing by. The abbess of the monastery placed a large stone on his grave. The names of Robin Hood and several other people were inscribed on it. Perhaps a certain William Goldborough and Thomas were the robber's accomplices. And this was done so that travelers, seeing the grave of the famous robber, could safely travel further without fear of robbery. In 1665, local historian Nathaniel Johnson sketched the grave. It appears in the form of a slab 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 may indeed have been buried with other people, but if the monument was erected immediately after his death, then it is strange that no one mentioned this before 1540. The monastery itself came into the possession of the Armitage family in the 16th century, after church reform. In the 18th century, Sir Samuel Armitage decided to excavate the ground to a depth of a meter under the stone. The main fear was that robbers had already visited the grave. However, it turned out that there was nothing to be afraid of - there were no bodies of the robbers under the stone. It seems that the stone was moved here from another place where the legendary Robin Hood was buried. Now the tombstone is regularly attacked by souvenir hunters trying to break off a piece from it. And many believe that parts of the stone help get rid of toothache. Armitage subsequently encased the stone in a small brick fence surrounded by iron railings. Their remains 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 - 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 to Robin Hood himself. It was said that Little John was elusive, 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. The stones and railings are modern, but part of the early memorial has the weathered initials "L" and "I" (which looks like a "J") still visible. James Shuttleworth, who owned the estate, conducted excavations here 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 villages, Little Haggas Croft in Loxley, Yorkshire and the village of Hathersedge in Peak County, Derbyshire, claim the right to be called the birthplace of Robin Hood and the place where Little John spent his last years. An alternative approach to the story of Robin Hood is an attempt to place his opponents into historical context. However, the ballads directly name only the Sheriff of Nottingham, the Abbot of St. Mary's and York. Other characters are mentioned only by title. No specific names are given that could be linked to specific dates in history. This lack of accurate information is disappointing, but we must always remember that we are dealing with folk epics and not documents stating facts.

Robin Hood was an excellent archer. Robin Hood was distinguished by the ability to shoot accurately from a bow. In some productions, he even won competitions, hitting not even an apple, but an arrowhead. In fact, at the time of the legend of Robin Hood, classic English longbows were just beginning to appear; they were very rare. Historical documents indicate that robbers mastered this weapon in the middle of the 13th century. Then they started holding competitions. If we believe that Robin Hood lived at the end of the 12th century, then he could not have had a bow.

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

Robin Hood operated in Sherwood Forest in Nottinghamshire. This statement usually does not raise objections. However, 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, it’s just that before the fact simply eluded the narrator. But in the collection of ballads about Robin Hood, published in 1489, his activities are associated with a completely different county, with Yorkshire. It is not 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 acted, really had a bad reputation due to numerous robberies of travelers.

Robin Hood is the real name of the robber. Correctly said - Robin Hood. In English spelling, the surname is written as Hood, not Good. The literal correct translation of the hero's name is Robin the Hood, not Robin the Good. There are also doubts about the name of the robber. The phrase "Rob in Hood" literally means "robber in a 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.

Robin Hood's companions wore green clothes. The robbers' green clothes are often mentioned in legends. One of the early tales 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 out in anger. This, by the way, speaks eloquently about how people “loved” Robin Hood. If he really fought for justice and was popular, then why did the people in green hastily run away from the townspeople? This is how the legend of the green robes of robbers came to life.

The Sheriff of Nottingham was a notorious villain. From legends, novels and films it is known that the main enemy of Robin Hood is the Sheriff of Nottingham. This servant of the law led the foresters, guards, and was friends with the church and the nobility. The unscrupulous sheriff had unlimited power in these parts. But he couldn’t do anything about Robin Hood - he had ingenuity, accuracy and the common people on his side. It is worth understanding that in medieval England, a sheriff was an official who fought criminals. This position appeared in the 10th-11th 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, the names of William de Bruer, Roger de Lacy and William de Wendenal are mentioned. The Sheriff of Nottingham existed, but it is unclear who he was during the years of Robin Hood. In early legends, the sheriff was simply an enemy of the “forest lads” due to the nature of his service, fighting all robbers. But later this character acquired details, becoming a real negative hero. He oppresses the poor, appropriates other people's lands, introduces new taxes and generally abuses his position. And in some stories, the sheriff even harasses Lady Marian and, through intrigue, tries to become the king of England. True, the ballads make fun of the sheriff. He is portrayed as a cowardly fool who is trying to do the job of capturing Robin Hood with the wrong hands.

Sir Guy of Gisborne was a real-life noble character and enemy of Robin Hood. Sir Guy of Gisborne's behavior is completely different from that of the sheriff. The knight in legends appears as a brave and courageous warrior, skilled with a sword and bow. One of the legends tells how Guy of Gisborne volunteered to kill 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 who easily breaks the law to achieve his goals. In some ballads, Guy of Gisborne harasses Maid Marian, and in some places he even appears as her groom. The hero’s appearance is also unusual - he wears not an ordinary cloak, but the skin of a horse. But such a historical 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 heroic lover. Among the brave robber's friends, only one female name is named - Maid Marian. And Stephen Knight, a professor of English literature at Cardiff University, actually put forward an original idea. He believes that Robin Hood and his friends were a bunch of gays! In confirmation of this bold thought, the scientist cites very unambiguous parts of the ballads. And in the original stories nothing was said at all about Robin Hood’s girlfriend, 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 calling for the story of Robin Hood to be told to children in school. In any case, the robber’s reputation as a hero-lover is far from ambiguous.

Sergey Lvov

He spent his life in the forest. Barons, bishops and abbots feared him. He was loved by peasants and artisans, widows and the poor. (From ancient chronicles.)

This is how they talk about his death. One day, a glorious archer felt that his hands did not have enough strength to pull the bowstring, and his legs were having difficulty walking along the usual forest path. And then he realized: old age was approaching...
He went to the monastery, whose abbess was known as a skilled healer, and asked to treat him. The nun pretended to be delighted by his arrival, cordially escorted the stranger to a distant cell, carefully laid him on the bed, and with a sharp knife opened a vein in his powerful arm (bloodletting was then considered a good remedy for many ailments). And, saying that she would return immediately, she left.
Time passed slowly. The blood flowed faster. But the nun still did not return. Night has come. Dawn came after the night, and then the shooter realized that he had become a victim of betrayal. Above the head of his bed was a window into the forest. But the bleeding man no longer had enough strength to reach the window. There was barely enough breath in his chest to blow the curved hunting horn for the last time. A faint, trembling sound of horns sounded across the forest. A faithful friend heard the calling signal. In alarm, he hurried to help.
Late! No one could have saved the shooter. So the enemies, who for many years could not defeat Robin Ghul either in a hot battle or in a stubborn duel, tormented him with black betrayal.
The ancient historian names the year and day when this happened: November 18, 1247.
Several centuries have passed. Wars began and ended. The shortest lasted several days, the longest - a hundred years. Devastating epidemics swept through the cities and villages of England. Uprisings broke out. Kings came and went on the throne. People were born and died, generations replaced generations.
However, a stormy series of events, as they liked to say in ancient books, could not erase the name of Robin Hood from the memory of the English.
One day, it was about two hundred and fifty years ago, a heavy carriage slowly drove into a small town near London. The carriage was elegant and luxurious: only the most important people of the kingdom traveled in such. Indeed, an important gentleman was sitting in the carriage: the Bishop of London himself! He came to the town to read a sermon to the townspeople. While the carriage was traveling from the city gates to the church square, the bishop managed to notice that the town seemed to have died out. The bishop was not surprised by this. This means that the rumor of his arrival preceded the carriage, and the townspeople hurried to the church: they do not often see and hear his Eminence. And he habitually imagined how he would get out of the carriage, how he would slowly ascend the steps of the temple through the respectfully parting crowd... But the church square was empty. There was a heavy lock on the church doors.
The bishop stood for a long time in the empty square, turning purple with anger and trying to maintain a dignified appearance befitting his rank and solemn vestments, which was not at all easy in front of a locked door.
Finally, a passerby, hurrying not to go to church, said to the bishop as he walked:
“Sir, you are waiting in vain, we are celebrating Robin Hood’s day today, the whole city is in the forest, and there will be no one in the church.”
There are different stories about what happens next. Some say that the bishop got into the carriage and returned to London, uttering in his mind words that bishops do not usually utter. Others claim that he went to the city meadow, where the townspeople, dressed in green caftans, depicted scenes from the life of Robin Hood, and joined the spectators.
What kind of life was this? Why is the memory of her preserved for centuries? Why could an entire city remember Robin Hood for many hours in a row and think only about him?
What do you know about Robin Hood, except those pages of Walter Scott's novel "Ivanhoe", where he is depicted under the name of the brave yeoman, free peasant Loxley?
Robin Hood has two biographies. One is very short. Scientists have collected it bit by bit in ancient chronicles. From this biography you can learn that Robin Hood was ruined by rich enemies and fled from them to Sherwood Forest, a dense and dense bowl that stretched for many tens of miles. Fugitives like him joined him. He united them under his command into a formidable detachment of “forest brothers” and soon became the real ruler of Sherwood Forest. Robin Hood and his archers, numbering more than a hundred, hunted forbidden royal game, feuded with rich monasteries, robbed passing Norman knights, helped the persecuted and the poor.
The authorities announced a reward for the capture of Robin Hood many times. But not a single peasant into whose hut he entered, not a single “forest brother” was seduced by these promises.
That's all, or almost all, that historians know about Robin Hood.
The second biography of Robin Hood is much more detailed. From it you can learn how he first encountered the royal foresters and how this meeting ended; how he met the fugitive monk - Brother Tuck - and Little John, who became his assistants, and how Robin Hood won archery competitions, how he was at enmity with the Sheriff of Nottingham, who oppressed the peasants, how he refused to serve King Richard the Lionheart.
Where is all this and more about Robin Hood recorded? Not in historical works, but in folk songs - ballads, as literary historians call them.
They were composed throughout England over many centuries. The author of these songs was the people, and the performers were traveling singers. Songs about Robin Hood were overgrown with various details, several small songs merged into one or one large one broke up into several small ones... The singers who sang these ballads, if they knew how to write, wrote down the words of the song and, for a fee, gave them to those who wished to copy them. And when the first printing houses appeared in England, songs about Robin Hood began to be printed. At first these were separate sheets with prints of songs. They were eagerly bought up by residents of cities and villages, who celebrated Robin Hood Day once a year in the summer.
It was in these songs that the second biography of Robin Hood gradually took shape. In it he is the way the people imagined him. If the ancient Latin chronicle claims that Robin Hood was a nobleman, then the folk song decisively calls him the son of a peasant. The ordinary people of England began to consider the legendary biography of Robin Hood as his real biography. For many decades and even centuries, everything that was told about Robin Hood in songs was believed by the British as an immutable historical fact.
There is interesting evidence for this. One of the oldest ballads tells how Robin Hood, as a fifteen-year-old youth, went to the city of Nottingham for an archery competition. Halfway there, the royal foresters stopped him and began to mock him. “Will this boy, who can barely bend his own bow, dare to appear in front of the king in a competition!” - they exclaimed. Robin Hood made a bet with them that he would hit the target within a hundred feet, and won the bet. But the royal foresters not only did not pay him for his winnings, but also threatened to beat him if he dared to show up at the competition.
Then Robin Hood, as the ballad enthusiastically reports, shot all the mockers with his bow. The people did not like the royal foresters, who did not allow the poor man to collect brushwood in the forest, much less hunt forest game or fish in forest streams and rivers. Not liking the royal foresters, folk singers sang this ballad with delight.
And so in April 1796, that is, five centuries after Robin Hood lived, a message appeared in one of the English magazines. Here it is: “When workmen were digging in a garden at Coxlane, near Nottingham, a few days ago, they came across six human skeletons lying close together in a neat row. They are believed to be part of the fifteen gamekeepers he killed in his time for Robin Hood."
One can imagine how the magazine publisher asked the author of the note: “Are you sure that these are the same skeletons?” And the author answered, as journalists of all times answer: “Well, let’s write in the word “supposed” for caution.” But neither the author nor the publisher thought of doubting that Robin Hood really fought with the royal foresters on the road to the glorious city of Nottingham : after all, this is what is sung about in ballads!
Why did Robin Hood become a favorite hero of folk songs? To answer this question, we may have to remind you of what you learned in history lessons: in 1066, England was captured by the Normans led by William the Conqueror. They took away land, houses and property from the indigenous population of England - the Saxons - and imposed their laws on them with fire and sword. An ancient historian names Robin Hood as one of those who were robbed of their land.
Enmity between the old and new rulers continued two centuries later. Do you remember what place the enmity between Saxon and Norman nobles occupies in Walter Scott's book "Ivanhoe"? However, the Saxon nobles soon made peace with the conquerors. But the songs about Robin Hood were not forgotten. They were sung by the detachments of peasants who rebelled under the leadership of Watt Tyler. The people felt in their hearts: the struggle of Robin Hood, glorified in songs, is not only the struggle of the Saxons against the Normans, but in general the struggle of the people against the oppressors.
I'm leafing through an old book that contains ballads about Robin Hood one after another. Here is a ballad about how Robin Hood fought with his other worst enemy - the knight Guy Guysbourne, and how, having defeated him and dressed in his clothes - and you need to know that Guy Guysbourne always wore a tanned horse skin over his armor - he again outwitted Sheriff of Nottingham. Here is the ballad "Robin Hood and the Bishop", which tells how Robin Hood took out his anger against the church on the bishop. Here is a ballad about how Robin Hood saved the three sons of a poor widow - and in each of these ballads he is always the same: brave in battle, faithful in friendship, a joker, a merry fellow, a mocker, an ageless folk hero.
I told you about Robin Hood, as he was portrayed in folk ballads, and now you yourself can see how Walter Scott changed this image when he brought him to Ivanhoe.
In Walter Scott, Yeoman Locksley, the name under which Robin God is written in the novel, becomes Richard's faithful assistant. Robin Hood, as his people praised him, refused to serve King Richard the Lionheart.
People remember Robin Hood exactly as he was sung in ancient folk songs. And this is the immortality of Robin Hood.

Drawings by P. Bunin.

Since childhood, Robin Hood has been and remains a hero for many (eng. Robin Hood (and not “good” - “good”; “hood” - “hood”, it means “to hide (cover with a hood)”), “robin" can be translated as “robin”) - the noble leader of forest bandits 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 about the noble robber has lived for more than six centuries, but the identity of the prototype of these ballads and legends has not been established.
In William Langland's edition of Plowman Pierce (1377), there is a reference to "poems about Robin Hood". Langland's contemporary Geoffrey Chaucer in Troilus and Criseyde mentions "the hazel thicket where merry Robin walked." Moreover, Gamelin's Tale, which was included by Chaucer in The Canterbury Tales, also features a robber hero.

Several real historical figures have been identified, which could serve as a prototype for the legendary Robin. In the census registers for 1228 and 1230 the name of Robert Hood, nicknamed Brownie, is listed as a fugitive from justice. Around the same time, a popular movement arose under the leadership of Sir Robert Thwing - the rebels raided 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. Some reference books even list these years as the dates of Robin Hood's life, although written sources from the time contain no mention of a rebellious aristocrat named Robert Fitzug.

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

A document from 1322 mentions "Robin Hood's 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 the original Robin Hood in the 1320s usually suggest Robert Hood, a tenant from Wakefield who took part in the rebellion led by the Earl of Lancaster in 1322, for the role of the noble brigand. In support of the hypothesis, information is provided that 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 robber hero 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 occurred in the last decade of the 12th century - it is this version, as depicted by Walter Scott, that is currently most popular. Since Walter Scott used Robin Hood as the basis for one of the characters in Ivanhoe in 1819, the noble robber has remained a popular character in children's books, films and television.

One of the most complete collections of English ballads, published by Francis Child in the 19th century, contains 40 works about Robin Hood, while in the 14th century there were only four:

In the first novella Robin lends money and his faithful squire Little John to an impoverished knight to take revenge on the greedy abbot.

In the second- by cunning he forces the hated sheriff from Nottingham to dine with him on venison, which the robbers obtained in the patrimony of the law enforcement officer - Sherwood Forest.

In the third— Robin recognizes the disguised King Edward, who comes to Nottingham incognito 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 Kirkley Abbey, who brings him to death with 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 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 present in the band of robbers already in the original versions of the legend,

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

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

And Brother Tak (a wandering monk, a cheerful fat man) appears in a much later version. And Robin himself, from a yeoman (a free peasant), eventually turned into a noble exile.

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

There is also a known association of Robin Hood with Robin Goodfellow, or Puck, 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 a folk muse.” And, according to M. Gorky, “...the poetic feeling of the people made a hero out of a simple, perhaps robber, 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

THE BALLAD OF ROBIN HOOD
(translated by I. Ivanovsky)

We will talk about a brave guy,
His name was Robin Hood.
No wonder the memory of a daredevil
People take care of it.

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

He still didn't shave his beard,
And there was already a shooter,
And the heaviest bearded man
I couldn't compete with him.

But his house was burned by his enemies,
And Robin Hood disappeared -
With a band of valiant shooters
Went to Sherwood Forest.

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

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

Anyone shot without missing a beat,
Jokingly wielded a sword;
Two to attack six
They didn't care.

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

There was a blacksmith, Little John -
Big guy of big guys,
Three healthy guys
He carried it on himself!

“He hadn’t yet shaved his beard, but he was already a shooter...”

Once upon a time, in good old England, in the green Sherwood Forest, there lived a noble robber named Robin Hood... This, or something like this, begins each of the stories about Robin Hood. And every year these stories become more and more numerous, they are invented and told by everyone who is not too lazy. The English bards with their simple ballads were replaced first by novelists led by Walter Scott and Alexandre Dumas, and then, with the development of technology, by screenwriters of films, television series and cartoons. And what is characteristic: each of these storytellers invariably came up with their own Robin Hood, who cannot be confused with the others. As a result of such collective creativity, the legend of Robin acquired new details and became incredibly complex and confusing, even contradictory.

Historians could not help but be interested in the personality of Robin Hood. With the words “now we will definitely find out who this Robin Hood was,” they put forward several mutually exclusive versions about the true Robin. The Sherwood Bandit has finally become a character about whom everyone can think whatever they want. And here the creators of computer games also made their contribution. Moreover, they thought not so much about following the letter of the legend (in one version or another), but about game balance, fun and other things that had nothing to do with Robin Hood himself. As a result, several more new Robins were born.

Now the legend of Robin Hood is a legend without a hero. That is, everyone, of course, knows who Robin Hood is, but everyone has at least a little bit of their own Robin. This, perhaps, is what makes his image so attractive, because the absence of a clear canon opens up enormous possibilities for the imagination. The legend of Robin is never boring because it changes all the time.

But behind the beautiful legend, most likely, there was a very real person. Researchers have not yet come to a final conclusion about whether the legendary robber actually existed. But there is a lot of indirect evidence confirming that there is a fair amount of truth in the legend of Robin Hood.

Place and time of action

This is what the legendary Bishop's Oak looks like now.

All versions of the legend agree on one thing: the gang Robin Hood acted in Sherwood forest, located on the county border Nottinghamshire And Yorkshire. Yorkshiremen, by the way, still consider Robin Hood their fellow countryman and are offended by the residents Nottingham who appropriated the great robber to themselves.

The name Sherwood comes from "shire wood", which means "county forest". In the Middle Ages, Sherwood Forest covered an area of ​​about 25 square miles and was a nature reserve in which only the king could hunt. Of course, local residents did not give a damn about the prohibitions and regularly supplemented their meager diet with fresh venison from Sherwood. The authorities, in turn, brutally punished the caught poachers.

Through Sherwood and its neighboring Barnsdale passed through the forest Great Northern Highway, laid by the Romans and connecting the capital of northern England York with the southern counties. This was one of the most important roads in the country, and traffic along it was always very busy. It is not surprising that the road was literally swarming with robbers. In general, highway robbery was one of the calling cards of England in the Middle Ages; the authorities were able to finally deal with it only by the beginning of the 19th century.

Sherwood Forest still exists today. It is a small nature reserve, measuring just 4 square kilometres, in the northern part of the sprawling city of Nottingham. Every summer it hosts the Robin Hood Festival. The main attraction of modern Sherwood is an ancient oak tree, around which the bishop caught by Robin is believed to have danced a jig. That's what the oak is called - Episcopal.

Monument to Robin Hood in Nottingham.

This is interesting: The Bishop Oak may be up to a thousand years old. Its branches are so large and heavy that even in the 19th century. I had to install special supports for them. A project is currently underway to grow Bishop Oak clones in major cities around the world.

To what time can the events described in the legend be attributed? There is no clear answer to this question. The first written mention of the legend of Robin dates back to the end of the 14th century. Thus, there was no way he could live beyond that time.

Robin Hood is mentioned in folk ballads archery competition, which began to be carried out in England only in the 13th century. In addition, in one of the ballads there is a king named Edward. Three kings of this name reigned in England from 1272 to 1377. So, if we rely on the text of the ballads, Robin Hood lived at the end of the 13th - beginning of the 14th centuries.

However, evidence has survived that dates the activities of Robin Hood to an earlier period. In 1261, a certain William Smith was outlawed. In the text of the corresponding decree, Smith was named Robinhood. That is, even then the name Robin Hood was a household name. Historians of the XV-XVI centuries. claimed that Robin lived either in the 13th century, or even earlier, at the end of the 12th century, during the time of the king Richard I the Lionheart. With the light hand of Walter Scott, the version according to which Robin was a contemporary of Richard I and his younger brother John became the most popular.

Hero Candidates

What's in a name?

It will die like a sad noise

Waves splashing onto the distant shore,

Like the sound of the night in a deep forest.

It's on the memorial sheet

Will leave a dead trail like

Tombstone inscription pattern

In an unknown language.

A. Pushkin

You can tell a lot about Robin Hood: he robbed the rich, helped the poor, mocked the priests and the sheriff, shot with a bow without missing... But there is only one clue that allows you to find the real Robin among many "outlaw"(outlawed robbers) who hunted in Sherwood Forest in the 12th - 14th centuries. This clue is his name.

"Robin Hood: Defender of the Crown". Robin Hood shoots money from people passing through Sherwood.

By the way, it leads to certain suspicions. It has long been noticed that the name Robin Hood (Robin the Hood) strongly resembles Robin Goodfellow(Robin the Good Guy, aka Puck). This was the name of the mischievous forest spirit from pagan legends, the leader of a gang of fairy-tale creatures. This is not the only circumstance that connects the legend of the Sherwood robber with pre-Christian tradition. For example, in one of the ballads about Robin it is stated that there are not twelve months in a year (as in the church calendar), but thirteen months. The holiday dedicated to Robin Hood, which was celebrated by English peasants for a long time, also had a clearly pagan character. So the legend of Robin Hood may well be a later version of a pagan legend, and one of the candidates for the legendary robbers is not a real person, but an ancient forest deity.

However, this version is not particularly popular; fortunately, in ancient documents there were plenty of references to robbers whose name was Robin or even Robin Hood. Among the many versions, three seem the most plausible.

According to the first of them, Robert Goad, aka Hood or Hod, was born in 1290 in Yorkshire. He was a servant of the Earl of Warren and lived with his wife Matilda in the village of Wakefield. In 1322 Robert entered the service of Sir Thomas, Earl of Lancaster. Soon the count led a revolt against the king Edward II, was defeated and executed, and all participants in the mutiny, including, possibly, Robert Goad, were declared outlaws.

No documents have survived indicating that the former servant of the Earl of Lancaster was engaged in robbery in Sherwood Forest. However, it is known that in 1323 Edward II visited Nottingham, and the following year a man named Robert Goad appeared among his servants, perhaps the same one who had recently participated in the rebellion. This fact goes very well with one of the ballads. It tells how King Edward visited the bandit camp at Sherwood, was warmly received by them, granted amnesty to Robin and his friends, and then accepted them into his service. This Robin Hood died in 1346.

Second candidate for Sherwood legend, Robin God of Witherby, nicknamed Brownie, lived at the beginning of the 13th century. In 1226, he fled from justice, and all his property, worth a total of 32 shillings and 6 pence, was seized by the sheriff of York. Soon this sheriff moved to the neighboring city of Nottingham. There he announced a reward for the "outlaw and villain" Robin of Witherby. As a result of “operational search activities,” Robin was caught and hanged.

However, the third version is the most popular. According to her, the true Robin Hood was someone Robert Fitz-Wuth, Earl of Huntington. He was born somewhere around 1160 and died on November 18, 1247. This Robin Hood could not see King Edward, but he speaks in his favor the only direct evidence. The point is that next to Kirklei Monastery in Yorkshire, which in all legends is called the place of death of the legendary robber, has been preserved Robin Hood's grave. A barely visible epitaph remains on the tombstone. Here is its text, recorded in 1702 by Thomas Gale: “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. England will never see exiles like him and his people again.".

Robin Hood dies surrounded by his closest friends. The noble robber bequeathed to bury himself where the last arrow he fired would fall.

This is interesting: The current owner of the estate, on the territory of which Robert Fitz-Ut is buried, cannot stand the legend of the Sherwood robber and is constantly fighting with admirers of Robin Hood. Every time someone tries to look at the Earl of Huntington's grave, the owner of the estate calls the police. Local kids call him nothing more than “Sheriff of Nottingham” and regularly shoot at his house with homemade bows.

However, there are great doubts that under this stone really lies the same Robin Hood. Now the text of the epitaph can no longer be read in full, and Thomas Gale could well have made a mistake when he rewrote it. Author of two books about Robin Hood Richard Rutherford-Moore, although he believes in the authenticity of the robber’s grave, claims that he was reburied, and his old grave was located in a completely different place.

Robert Fitz-Ut was deprived of his inheritance, and in 1219 his younger brother John became the next Earl of Huntington. Perhaps this was a consequence of Count Robert's dissolute character. The modern Earls of Huntington claim to be related to Robin Hood, although in reality they have nothing to do with Robert Fitz-Wuth. The line of Yorkshire Huntingtons died out long ago, and since then the title has changed hands several times.

It is also possible that all three were the prototypes of Robin Hood from folk ballads, and different plots of the legends go back to the activities of different robbers.

Attention is a myth: Robin Hood is often called Robin of Loxley or simply Loxley. Three villages with this name lay claim to being the birthplace of the legendary robber. However, none of the possible prototypes of Robin Hood had anything to do with any of these villages.

Merry fellows from the green forest

Let there be no stake and no yard,

But they don't pay taxes to the king

Knife and ax workers -

Romantics from the high road.

Yu. Entin, “Romantics from the High Road”

Robin's first meeting with Little John almost ended in self-harm.

“Don’t have a hundred rubles, but have a hundred friends,” says a Russian folk proverb. Robin Hood, according to legend, had well over a hundred friends. His gang alone included 140 outlawed yeomen. These people were called Merry Men, which is usually translated into Russian as "funny boys" or "funny men". But the word merry also has another meaning: “a follower and associate of a person declared outlaw.”

“Merry guys” usually act in stories about Robin as a kind of extras, but some of them are not only named, but also have the same coloring as the leader.

Little John was the right hand of Robin Hood. He is mentioned already in the earliest ballads, where he is portrayed as a very intelligent and talented person. Later ballads say that John was a real giant, and received the nickname Baby from his friends as a joke. He joined the gang of “merry guys” after defeating Robin Hood in a stick fight. Later, Little John saved Robin more than once and was the only person present at his death. John was a rather cruel man: he once personally killed the monk who betrayed Robin to the sheriff. Another story tells how John entered the sheriff's service, calling himself Reynold Greenleaf (and setting up a trap for the sheriff).

As with Robin Hood, there is some evidence that suggests Little John actually existed. His grave can still be seen in the village of Heathersage in Derbyshire. When this burial was opened in 1784, the skeleton of a very tall man was indeed found in it. Because this grave belonged to the Naylor family, Little John is also sometimes called John Naylor.

Along with Little John, the earliest ballads also mention Will Scarlet, or Scatlock, And Mach, the miller's son.

Little John's grave.

Will Scarlet is one of the youngest members of Robin Hood's gang. He was quick-tempered, hot-tempered, and loved to show off in beautiful clothes. He received the nickname Scarlet (i.e. “dressed in red”) because he often wore clothes made of red silk. Will fought with swords better than all the other “fun guys.” One of the ballads states that Scarlet's real name was Gamwell and that he was the nephew of Robin Hood. Robin accepted Will into his squad after he killed a man and fled from justice in the forest. Scarlet is believed to have been buried in the churchyard at Blidworth, near Nottingham.

Much, the miller's son, is usually depicted as almost a boy, although in early ballads this name is borne by an adult and experienced person. Forest robbers saved him from hanging, to which he was sentenced for poaching. In most stories, Much turns out to be something like a “son of the regiment” with “cheerful guys”. Sometimes he is called not Mach, but Mage.

Will Stutley appears in two later ballads. He is sometimes confused with Will Scarlet. When Little John joined the "Merry Boys", it was Stutley who acted as his "godfather" and named him "Little". One day, Stutley spied on the sheriff and was caught by the guards. But the “funny guys” did not abandon their friend in trouble and rescued him from the sheriff’s dungeons.

Monk Tuk was a kind of chaplain in a detachment of forest robbers. However, he became famous not for his piety, but for his drunkenness, gluttony and ability to fight with sticks. He was expelled from the monastery for disobedience and lack of respect for his superiors. Usually Tuk is portrayed as a bald and fat jovial fellow, although sometimes he demonstrates remarkable physical strength.

Robin crosses the river, sitting on Friar Tuck's back.

Tuka is usually called friar, that is, a member of a mendicant monastic order. Such orders appeared in England after the death of Richard the Lionheart. So, if Robin Hood lived during Richard's time, there could not have been a Friar in his squad.

The prototype of Monk Thuc is usually called a certain Robert Stafford, who lived at the beginning of the 15th century. This Sussex monk was indeed known as Tuck. He was the leader of a gang of forest bandits operating 200 miles from Sherwood, and later stories about his adventures became part of the legend of Robin Hood. According to another version, Monk Tuck is a collective image that combines the features of several monks who lived in Sherwood Forest.

Alan-a-Dale was a traveling minstrel. His beloved was to be given in marriage to an old knight. But the “cheerful guys” disrupted this wedding, after which one of the forest robbers, either Little John or Friar Tuck, disguised himself as a bishop and married Alan to his beloved. Alan-a-Dale appeared quite late in the Robin legend, but became a very popular character. It was Alan-a-Dale who inspired the authors of the role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons to create the Bard class. The village of Dale Abbey, halfway between Nottingham and Derby, lays claim to being Alan's birthplace.

Arthur Bland, like Little John, joined the gang after defeating Robin Hood in a duel. He is sometimes called Little John's cousin.

This young man in red is the wandering minstrel Alan-a-Dale.

ABOUT David from Doncaster very little is known. This “brave young man” persistently advised Robin Hood not to go to the archery competition organized by the sheriff. David felt it was a trap, and in the end he was right.

The “cheerful guys” had many friends and protectors. For example, in some versions of the legend, the king himself is on their side. The poor people adored Robin because he protected them from the arbitrariness of the authorities and helped them in difficult times. Knight Richard Lee once saved the “cheerful guys” from the sheriff, hiding them in his castle. Shortly before this, Robin helped Sir Richard pay off his debt to the abbot and regain his lands.

A special place in the stories about Robin Hood is occupied by his beloved, Maid Marian. Her character varies greatly from story to story. Sometimes she is portrayed as a commoner, sometimes as a noble lady, even a princess. In one version of the legend, Robin and Marian, after a long separation, do not recognize each other and begin to fight with swords.

In fact none of the Robin Hood ballads contain a character named Marian. They also say nothing about whether Robin had a lover. However, the character named Marian has as long a history as Robin Hood himself.

Initially, Maid Marian was one of the central figures at the traditional May games. Sometimes she was also called May Queen. Since these games have always been closely associated with the forest and archery, they soon began to be called Happy Robin Hood. And Marian turned into the bride of the Sherwood robber. According to another version, the name Marian came into legend from a French pastoral play. Robin and Marian first connected in the 16th century. and since then they have walked hand in hand across the pages of books and cinema screens.

Task Force from Nottingham

Our role is honorable and enviable.

The king cannot live without guards.

When we walk, the earth trembles all around.

We are always close, next to the king.

Yu. Entin, “Royal Guard”

Since the good guys in the legends of Robin Hood are all robbers, poachers and their accomplices, the guardians of law and order inevitably find themselves in the role of villains.

Robin Hood's greatest enemy is Sheriff of Nottingham. He commands all sorts of guards and foresters, and is supported by the church and the feudal nobility. He has the law and chests full of gold on his side. But he can’t do anything about the brave Robin, who has not only the ability to shoot accurately with a bow, but also an extraordinary mind and the support of the broad masses...

"Robin Hood: The Legend of Sherwood". The final showdown between Robin and the sheriff.

Sheriff in medieval England he was an official responsible for fighting crime, in fact, the head of the criminal police. This position appeared before the Norman conquest of 1066. However, it was only under the Normans that England was divided into districts, each of which had its own sheriff. These districts did not always coincide with counties. For example, the Sheriff of Nottinghamshire also had jurisdiction over the neighboring county of Derbyshire.

The sheriff is the protagonist of all the ballads about Robin Hood, but in none of them is he named. Its possible prototypes usually include William de Wendenal, Roger de Lacy And William de Bruer. In any case, there is no doubt about the reality of the existence of the Nottingham Sheriff.

In the early ballads, the sheriff was the enemy of the "merry fellows" simply because he was the sheriff and was obliged to fight bandits and poachers. However, in later legends he turns into an inveterate scoundrel. He mercilessly oppresses the poor, illegally seizes other people's lands, imposes exorbitant taxes, and generally abuses his official position in every possible way. In some stories, he also harasses Lady Marian and tries to take the throne of England.

This is interesting: Several years ago, Nottingham City Council decided to remove Robin Hood from the city coat of arms. The only one who voted against this decision was Derek Cresswell, who at that time held the post of Sheriff of Nottingham. Mr. Cresswell, explaining his position, said that rumors of his feud with Robin Hood were greatly exaggerated.

In most stories, the sheriff is not particularly brave. He usually sits in his castle and thinks over new plans to capture Robin Hood. His subordinates usually do all the dirty work for him.

Another enemy of Robin behaves completely differently - Sir Guy Gisborne. This is a skilled and brave warrior, excellent at sword fighting and good archery. One of the ballads tells how Gisborne went into the forest to kill Robin and receive a reward from the sheriff for this. As a result, Sir Guy himself fell at the hands of Robin Hood. Gisborne is usually called a noble knight, although in some stories he turns out to be a cruel and bloodthirsty killer, an outlaw. Sometimes he also becomes the suitor or even the groom of Maid Marian. His appearance is quite unusual - instead of a cloak, he wears horse skin. Gisborne is a fictional character. Perhaps he was once the hero of a separate legend, which later merged with the legend of Robin.

Forest bandits greet King Richard the Lionheart.

Prince John, the future King John the Landless, fell into the legend of Robin Hood through the efforts of Walter Scott. In the novel Ivanhoe, Robin Hood helps King Richard, who returned to England after the crusade and captivity, to regain his throne, usurped by his younger brother John. Later, this plot was repeated many times (with minor variations) in numerous books, films and computer games.

John indeed took the throne of England during his brother’s absence and was in no hurry to ransom Richard from captivity. He even sent a letter to the Holy Roman Emperor Henry VI, who was holding Richard captive, in which he asked to keep the legitimate English king away from England. Some historians argue that John tried to protect his country from the not very wise reign of Richard. However, he himself did not shine with talents at all. His own reign, which began after Richard's death in 1199, was one complete disaster. John miserably lost the war with France and was forced to cede Normandy to her. Having quarreled with the Pope, he brought excommunication on England. As a result, he brought his country to complete ruin and forced his subjects to take up arms. The rebels gained the upper hand and forced John to sign the famous Magna Carta which underlies modern English democracy.

As for the simple henchmen of the sheriff and other enemies of Robin Hood, they are for the most part nameless. Sometimes, however, in the text of ballads there are names of individual guards and foresters, inserted there, presumably, for greater persuasiveness.

The Dark Side of Robin Hood

I'm the terrible Robin Bad.

I hurt people.

I hate poor people

Widows, orphans and old people.

O. Arch, "Robin Bad"

Recently, several attempts have been made in England to debunk the beautiful legend of Robin Hood.

Nottingham City Council, which had long been very concerned that their dynamic city was associated throughout the world exclusively with the highwayman, contributed to this endeavor. In 1988, the city issued an official statement declaring Marian, Friar Took, Alan-a-Dale and Will Scarlet to be fictional characters. Little John was recognized as a historical figure, but from a noble robber he turned into an evil grumbler and a bloodthirsty killer. Robin Hood received less from the current authorities of Nottingham than his associates, but the integrity of his reputation was also subject to great doubt.

The “Jolly Fellows” treat themselves to ale after a successful operation to rob the rich of excess cash.

A book by a Cambridge University professor caused a lot of noise James Holt"Legends of Robin Hood. Between truth and error." Holt writes about Robin: “He was completely different from the way he was portrayed in folk songs, tales, and later in books and films. There is absolutely no evidence that he robbed the rich to give money to the poor. The legend acquired these fabrications two hundred years or more after his death. And during his lifetime he was known as a notorious looter, a sadistic killer, who abused defenseless victims and a molester. In a word, if he lived now, Robin Hood would not have avoided life imprisonment in prison...” The historian did not feel sorry for the monk Tuk, who, in his words, “was very far from harmless gaiety, since he plundered and burned the houses of his enemies... robbed passers-by to the last, and, unable to tame his greed, caught up with those who had already been robbed and brutally killed them... personally raped women and children, and then chopped them with axes like cattle...".

However, a professor of English literature from Cardiff University outdid everyone Steven Knight. This pundit bluntly stated that both Robin Hood and his “Merry Men” were in fact... gay. To prove his point, Knight refers to passages from ballads that seem ambiguous to him. He also points out that the original ballads say nothing about Robin's lover, but all too often mention his close friends like Little John or Will Scarlet. Knight's point of view is shared by a professor at Cambridge University Barry Dobson, who believes that "the relationship between Robin Hood and Little John was very controversial." This opinion is also shared by all kinds of fighters for the rights of sexual minorities. One of them, someone Peter Tatchell, demands that the version of the Sherwood robber's unconventional sexual orientation be taught in school.

The desire to deprive Robin Hood of his romantic aura and turn him into a banal robber and murderer is so great that there are already calls to demolish the statue of the noble robber in Nottingham and erect a monument in honor of the Sheriff of Nottingham in its place.

However, for a huge number of people around the world, Robin Hood remains a favorite hero and role model. After all, the Sherwood robber personifies such positive qualities as the desire for justice, devotion to friends and the desire to help those in trouble.

Robin Hood in fiction

Hair stuck to our sweaty foreheads,

And it sucked sweetly in the pit of my stomach from the phrases,

And the smell of struggle turned our heads,

Flying towards us from yellowed pages.

V. Vysotsky, “Ballad of Struggle.”

"Robin Hood: The Legend of Sherwood". Robin, Marian, Little John, Stutley, Scarlet and Took with trophies in the background.

Many English writers, for example, poets, addressed the theme of the adventures of Robin Hood Robert Keats And Alfred Tennyson. Tennyson wrote the play “The Foresters, or Robin Hood and Maid Marian.” In 1819 the famous novel was published Walter Scott"Ivanhoe." In this novel, Robin Hood is the leader of a detachment of Saxons fighting against the Norman knights who oppress them. We can say that the modern image of Robin Hood owes its appearance to Walter Scott. He did not ignore the noble robber and Alexandr Duma, who wrote the adventure novels "Robin Hood - King of Robbers" and "Robin Hood in Exile."

During the Victorian era, the legend of Robin Hood was adapted for children. In 1883, a collection considered to be a classic was published Howard Pyle"The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood." It collected and literary processed all the stories about Robin Hood that existed at that time, with the exception of those that mentioned Marian (after all, the collection was intended mainly for children, and the requirements of Victorian morality were extremely strict). Pyle idealized medieval England. In Sherwood Forest from his book there is never winter, and there is no end to the fun. Pyle's Robin Hood appears as a kind of ideal philanthropist and altruist. Pyle's collection was revised in 1956. Roger Green. His book differs from Pyle's work only in that Lady Marian is present in it.

"Robin Hood: The Legend of Sherwood". A mountain of corpses in the central square of Nottingham.

The twentieth century gave the world a huge number of new, sometimes completely original stories about Robin. Terence White made Robin the hero of his book The Sword in the Stone, which tells the story of the childhood of King Arthur. Michael Cadnam wrote two novels based on the legends of Robin Hood: “The Forbidden Forest” and “In the Dark Wood.” The main character of the first book is Little John, and the second is none other than the Sheriff of Nottingham himself. In the novel Teresa Tomlinson Lady Marian comes to the fore, turning uncouth highwaymen into legendary fighters for justice. In the novel Gary Blackwood"The Lion and the Unicorn" tells the story of how the treacherous Alan-a-Dale takes Robin's lover away from him. In the duology Godwin Park"Sherwood" takes place during the time of King William the Red, and in the trilogy Stephen Lawhead- in Wales. In the novel Robina McKinley"Outlaw from Sherwood" Robin Hood does not know how to shoot a bow at all, but he more than compensates for this deficiency due to his intelligence. From the pen Jennifer Roberson a love-adventure duology about Robin and Marienne was released. In the book Clayton Emery The story is told from the perspective of the animals and fairy-tale creatures that inhabit Sherwood Forest. Among the huge number of books for children, one can highlight the cycle Nancy Springer, dedicated to the adventures of Robin Hood's young daughter. American writer Esther Friesner made Robin the hero of the science fiction novel Sherwood's Game. In this book, talented programmer Carl Sherwood creates a virtual world for a game about Robin Hood. Suddenly, this world escapes the control of its creator, and Robin Hood and other characters in the game begin to live an independent life. In the story Adam Stemple the action also takes place in virtual reality: the spirit of Robin Hood, who has taken possession of the computer, is engaged in the redistribution of the world's wealth through the Internet.

"Robin Hood: Defender of the Crown". Sherwood Forest from a bird's eye view.

Russian writers did not stand aside either. The ballads about Robin were translated into Russian Nikolay Gumilyov And Marina Tsvetaeva. Moreover, Tsvetaeva’s translation came out very freely. Robin Hood, according to the poetess, did not live in the vicinity of Nottingham, but somewhere in Scotland. Mikhail Gershenzon made a classic Russian-language retelling of the legends of Robin. If in Soviet times Robin Hood was the hero of mainly children's books, then recently domestic science fiction writers have taken him seriously. In "The Sword and the Rainbow" Elena Khaetskaya Robin Hood is a minor but very colorful character. Anna Ovchinnikova offered a very unusual version of the adventures of the Sherwood Outlaws. The main character of her book “Robin Hood's Friend and Lieutenant” is our contemporary and compatriot Ivan Menshov, who moved through time and space and became Little John. Robin's gang, according to Ovchinnikova, numbered only ten people, Monk Tuck was a vagrant, and one of the negative characters in the book bears the last name Huntington.

Many writers, although they did not write directly about Robin Hood, put some of his traits into their characters. For example, the forest robber John Vengeance for All from Black Arrow is very reminiscent of Robin Hood. Robert Louis Stevenson.

The Screen Life of Robin Hood

A character like Robin Hood simply could not help but end up on the silver screen. The legend about him has everything you need to create a spectacular film, doomed to box office success: medieval romance, beautiful forest landscapes, a love story, the struggle between good and evil, humor, brawls using all types of bladed weapons...

This movie poster features Errol Flynn as Robin Hood.

The first film about Robin was made back in 1908. However, the first truly successful film adaptation of the legend was made only fourteen years later. In the 1922 film, the role of Robin Hood was played by Douglas Fairbanks, one of the main stars of the silent film era. And in 1938 the film was released "The Adventures of Robin Hood", starring the inimitable Errol Flynn. This picture had a huge influence not only on all subsequent Hollywood films about the Sherwood robber, but also on all films of the same genre.

The classic legend, according to which Robin was killed by an insidious nun, received a completely unexpected interpretation in the film "Robin and Marian"(1976). Old and gray Robin Hood (Sean Connery) returns to Sherwood Forest after a very long absence. And he discovers that his beloved Marian (Audrey Hepburn) has long gone to the monastery and even managed to become abbess. Marian, forced to choose between her monastic vows and her love for Robin, ends up killing her lover and then committing suicide.

In 1991, Sean Connery again starred in the film about Robin Hood. But this time he plays not Robin, but King Richard. The role of Robin Locksley in the Hollywood blockbuster "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves" went to Kevin Costner. The filmmakers said a new word in “Robinhood studies” by introducing a black Saracen into the Robin Hood gang.

In 1993, a brilliant comedy appeared "Robin Hood: Men in Tights" parodying films with Eroll Flynn and Kevin Costner.

Soviet filmmakers went their own way. If in Western films the Robin Hoods are all knights and nobles, then our Soviet Robin Hood is a bearded peasant played by Boris Khmelnitsky. Films by Sergei Tarasov "Robin Hood's Arrows"(1975) and "The Ballad of the Valiant Knight Ivanhoe"(1983) were remembered by many thanks to the wonderful songs of Vladimir Vysotsky.

Of course, there was a place for Robin in cartoons. Who hasn't played the role of Robin Hood or his friends! And Bugs Bunny the rabbit, and Daffy the duck, and even the Pink Panther...

"Robin Hood: Defender of the Crown". Whack-Whack-Whack! Take away what's ready...

In 1967, during the period of enormous popularity of science fiction films and TV series, a multi-part cartoon was shot "Rocket Robin Hood". The action of this series takes place in 3000. Robin and his gang of “fun astronauts” live on the Sherwood asteroid and fight against the evil sheriff... In general, everything is the same as in the 13th century, only the surroundings have changed.

Finally, in 1973, the Walt Disney Company took up the matter. In their cartoon, all the characters are humanoid animals. Robin and Marian became foxes, Little John, naturally, became a bear, the sheriff became a wolf, Took became a badger, and Alan-a-Dale became a rooster. The cartoon couldn't do without Robin either. "Shrek" He is, however, an episodic hero and, moreover, not very positive.

Robin Hood has appeared on television more than once. The most famous of the Robin television series was called "Robin of Sherwood" and ran on British television from 1984 to 1986. Unlike the vast majority of books and films about Robin, this series was made in the fantasy genre. The main villain in Robin of Sherwood is the powerful sorcerer Baron de Balham. And there are two main positive heroes at once: after the death of the peasant Robin Loxley, his work is continued by Count Robert Huntington. By the way, both really wear hoods, and not green caps with a feather. The music for the series was written by the famous Irish band Clannad.

The creators of the science fiction series also paid tribute to the legend of Robin Hood "Star Trek: The Next Generation". In one of the episodes, the crew of the starship Enterprise has to temporarily transform into the characters of the legend and feel like real forest robbers.

Robin Hood in computer games

You can become Good, neighbor,

Or maybe I will be it,

That's why for hundreds of years

No death to Robin Hood!

Evgeniy Agranovich, “Brave Robin Hood”

"Robin Hood: Defender of the Crown". The Sheriff of Nottingham listens to the complaint of a merchant who was robbed by the "jolly fellows."

Computer games have opened up new opportunities for fans of the Robin Hood legend. If, when reading a book or watching a film, a person passively perceives ready-made information, then in a computer game he can actively influence the development of the plot. In other words, computer games allow the player to feel for some time in the shoes of a Sherwood outlaw.

The first Robin video game came out in 1985. It was an action movie called "Super Robin Hood". The same year the game appeared "Robin of the Wood". In the classic game "Defender of the Crown"(1986) Robin is one of the player's allies in the fight to unite civil war-torn England. However, you cannot play directly as Robin in this game.

In the wake of the popularity of the film "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves", several games were released at once. "The Adventures of Robin Hood"- role-playing game with action elements. The player controls the brave Robin, who performs all sorts of heroic deeds, thereby increasing his popularity among the local population. On a quest "Conquests of the Longbow: The Legend of Robin Hood" a lot depends on the size of Robin's gang and how well the player commands it. The plot of the game is non-linear. The matter could end in either a gallows or a wedding.

"Robin Hood: The Legend of Sherwood". Drummers made in Sherwood Forest.

In strategy "Age of Empires II" There are such heroes as Robin Hood, Took and the Sheriff of Nottingham. It also contains the Sherwood Forest and Heroes of Sherwood cards. In many role-playing games you can find characters that closely resemble Robin, although they go by a different name. IN "Medieval II: Total War" Robin is gone. But by playing as England and building a foresters guild, you can gain access to a fighter called the Sherwood Archer. You can play as Robin, although not right away, in the game Shrek SuperSlam.

In 2003, a remake of the game "Defender of the Crown" was made. In a new game called Robin Hood: Defender of the Crown, the player no longer controls one of the English barons, but Robin Hood himself. And he will have to fight against the Sheriff of Nottingham.

As in the original game, the action takes place on a map divided into several counties. Only this is not a map of England, but of the immediate surroundings of Nottingham or some other city. As a result, the “counties” have names that are quite strange for counties: Forest, Paths, Bridge, Mills, Tract. The player has many options. He can command armies in battle, storm castles, fight in tournaments, raid the sheriff's treasury and shoot enemies passing through Sherwood Forest with a bow. But it all looks quite monotonous and gets boring very quickly. It's much more fun to rescue beautiful ladies from captivity. By the end of the game, Robin has collected a whole collection of noble maidens. And where is Lady Marian looking? During a break between fights, you can chat with one of the “funny guys” or read stories about Robin’s exploits.

"Robin Hood: The Legend of Sherwood". Robin Hood and Little John came to visit Prince John.

A game "Robin Hood: The Legend of Sherwood"(2002) from Spellbound Studios was released in a series of tactical games, which also includes Desperados and Chicago 1930. The player controls the actions of Robin Hood and other “merry guys”. In order to win the game, you need to successfully complete several missions, the complexity of which is constantly increasing. In addition to the missions that are required to be completed, there are several missions that you can skip by bribing the enemy army or choosing another task.

From one to five characters are sent to each task. This could be Robin himself or his friends. Robin starts out alone, but is gradually joined by Will Stutley, Scarlet, Took, Little John and Lady Marian. In addition to these characters, whose death means the end of the game, there are many ordinary gang members who can be used as cannon fodder or free labor. A forest robber who has not gone on a mission can produce all sorts of useful things or improve his combat skills. Each character has unique skills. For example, Robin and John can knock out an enemy without killing him, Scarlet shoots accurately with a slingshot, Stutly pretends to be a beggar, and Took ties up prisoners and can solder guards.

"Robin Hood: Defender of the Crown". Robin Hood and Will Scarlet.

The plot of the game is quite simple: you need to put an end to the evil machinations of the sheriff and Prince John. There are two types of tasks: in the forest and in the city. Both here and there you can plunder the loot with all your might, replenishing your treasury. The amount of money, however, does not in any way affect the success of the game. The fact is that the gang is growing due to volunteers coming to Sherwood after each mission. Their number directly depends on the percentage spared enemies. So being too bloodthirsty in this game is not recommended. If you regularly complete missions without a single corpse, then at the end of the game there will be a crowd roaming Sherwood that far exceeds your manpower needs.

The undoubted success of the game developers is fencing with the mouse. All fights are very intense and exciting. True, sometimes it is more difficult to win a one-on-one battle than to cope with a squad of a dozen guards. The enemy behaves quite adequately: archers do not bother and shoot from cover, men-at-arms use shields to protect themselves from arrows, and mounted knights prefer to attack with acceleration. If the guards find themselves in the minority, they scatter in different directions and raise the alarm.

Not all game situations, however, look realistic. But that’s why it’s a game, to differ from reality.

The legend of Robin Hood was, without a doubt, excellent material for creating computer games. But its potential has not yet been fully realized. Let's hope that in the future we will see many new wonderful games about the noble robber from Sherwood Forest.