In the footsteps of Robin Hood
Other candidates
The earliest ballads about Robin Hood have given us a picture of a historical suspect, Robert Hood of Wakefield, who (as Robyn Hod) may have ended up working for Edward II after the Lancastrian revolt of 1322. However, as in all the best detective stories, the neatest of solutions can be upset by a single clue. Suddenly evidence turned up that pointed to an even earlier Robin.
Aliases
An historian discovered the existence of a man who had lived in Maxfield
in East Sussex in 1291 who was called Gilbert Robynhood. This was an extremely
rare surname and seemed to imply that the name was already known as some
sort of nickname.
Then more and more people called Robynhood, Robinhood or Robinhud started to pop up. But these weren't just random individuals. A very high proportion of them had at some time in their lives committed criminal acts. There's even one case where a clerk of the court changed a man's surname from 'Le Fevre' to 'Robinhood' because he was an outlaw. Later Robin Hood became a common criminal alias. This doesn't mean that any of these men are candidates for the real Robin. It just proves that people knew about him some years before Robert Hood was living and working in Wakefield.
So, where does that leave our prime suspect? Well, it is still likely that he's the Robin of the ballads, but the ballads aren't about the original Robin.
Historians then went scurrying off and came up with another Robert Hood active in 1225 – an outlaw who had been fined 32s 6d at the York assizes. But there's no record of him doing anything like the Robin of the stories. Randomly picking out Robin Hood-type names from the records didn't seem to be leading anywhere.
However, there were medieval figures whose lives did match the famous stories. They just weren't called Robin Hood.
Fulk Fitz Warine
The best example is a story that starts in the reign of Richard Lionheart
with a dispute over the ownership of Whittington Castle in Shropshire.
Born in 1170, Fulk Fitz Warine (also spelled 'Warin' and 'Waryn') was
brought up as a companion to the royal children, including Henry II's
son John. There was bad blood between Fulk and John, and as they grew
older, they became enemies.
In 1197, the 27-year-old Fulk inherited Whittington Castle from his father. However, Sir Morys Fitz Roger coveted Whittington, and he turned to the king for help. John – who ascended the throne in 1199 – gave the castle and its lands to Morys. Fulk protested and his brother John struck Sir Morys between the eyes. Trumped-up charges of treason were made and Fitz Warine and his companions were outlawed. For three years, they operated a guerrilla campaign in the forests along the Welsh border.
The stories that grew up about him are eerily similar to those we associate with Robin Hood. Not only does Fitz Warine have a right-hand man called John, he also extracts money from people by inviting them to supper and then getting them to pay. He takes shelter with a local knight and kills his sworn enemy in the forest. And when the king comes to the forest in disguise, Fitz Warine is pardoned.
Sound familiar? Could this man from Shropshire be a new prime suspect whose name became changed throughout the course of history? He may not be as famous as Robin Hood, but he was certainly significant: the real Fulk Fitz Warine was to become a leading figure among the barons who forced King John to sign the Magna Carta in 1215.
A mishmash
Perhaps there never was an historical Robin Hood. Perhaps the stories
are just a mishmash of old legends. But if that's the case, why bother
inventing Robin Hood at all? Why not just stick with Fulk Fitz Warine
and have all the stories about him? Or maybe there actually was a man
such as Robyn Hod, the king's porter, or Robert Hood of Wakefield to whom
a lot of stories were tacked on.
But there is a third possibility. Suppose both the Fulk Fitz Warine stories and the Robin Hood ballads are based on an even earlier figure?
Robert Fitz Odo
The modern story is set in the reign of Richard Lionheart (1189-99),
when Robin is also called 'Robin of Loxley'. Because of the northern connections
in the ballads, historians always assumed this meant the Yorkshire
Loxley. But there is another Loxley – in Warwickshire, near
Stratford-upon-Avon. And here the trail leads us to the ancestor of one
of the Norman invaders who came over with William the Conqueror.
In 1193, the lord of Loxley manor was Robert Fitz Odo (also known as Fitzooth), a descendent of Bishop Odo of Bayeux, the half-brother of William and the man who commissioned the Bayeux Tapestry. Because 'Fitz' indicated an illegitimate descendant, it was sometimes dropped, which would leave 'Robert Odo' – effectively another Robert Hood.
A 12th-century charter exists in which Robert Fitz Odo granted lands to the priory of Kenilworth. The Register of Arms of 1196 states that Fitz Odo was no longer a knight – but he wasn't dead. There's a record of a Robert Fitz Odo alive in nearby Harbury seven years later, in 1203, although he seems to have been stripped of his title. He became an outlaw, robbing people and generally causing trouble in the surrounding woodlands. He was finally given back his lands when Richard Lionheart returned from the Crusades. So to quite a degree he does match the Robin Hood of the modern legend.
Pagan spirit
There's another angle to the Robin Hood story. For that, we have to
return to Sherwood Forest and to Southwell Minster.
When the medieval stonemasons finished the cathedral, they decided to leave an exhibition piece in the octagonal chapter house. The highest form of the stonemason's art was to carve leaves in stone that had the lightness and delicacy of nature. And interwoven into the fabric of this Christian meeting house is the ancient pagan spirit of the greenwood, the so-called 'Green Man'.
Another name for the spirit of the greenwood was Robin Goodfellow. Could this Robin be the inspiration behind the mythic hero of Sherwood Forest? Perhaps this pagan version of Robin appeals most to us in the 21st century.
Robin Hood was inextricably connected with May Day celebrations. The earliest record of a 'Robin' associated with such festivities is in the rustic plays performed at Whitsuntide in France in the 13th century. The hero was called Robin des Bois (Robin of the Woods). An old English spelling of 'wood' is whode, which could easily have become 'hode' or 'hood'. By the 15th century, May Day celebrations in England were called 'Robin Hood's festival'. Robin Hood was king of the May and Maid Marian was his queen.
'Robin Hood-type stories,' says medieval survival expert Richard Rutherford-Moore, 'have been with us since probably the end of the last ice age, about 35,000 years ago, but they have been added to and taken away from since then. The Robin Hood that we know now is not the Robin Hood that we would have known if he were standing here in the 10th, 11th or 12th century. He's now cast as a preservationist, a conservationist, to look after the greenwood.'
What you can see now
Whittington Castle, Shropshire
Dating mainly from 1221, the remains that stand today are only part
of the original castle, representing the outer bailey and gatehouse. In
fact, the gatehouse was reconstructed less than 200 years ago, and the
rest of the (crumbling) remains are in very poor condition.
On the A495, 3 miles north-east of Oswestry. OS ref: SJ3231.
Alberbury, Shropshire
It is said that, in 1256, Fulk Fitz Warine was buried at the 'White
Abbey' here, which he had had built as the final resting place of a holy
relic. His wife is also supposed to be interred here. The 'abbey' might
be Alberbury Priory, the remains of which – which include a striking
saddleback tower – are incorporated a mile north-east of the village.
Off the B4393, 8 miles west of Shrewsbury. OS ref: SJ3514.
Loxley,
Warwickshire
St Nicholas's church – which is next to what was Loxley manor
– may be part Saxon. Its tower is certainly 13th century. The grave
slab in the churchyard (see picture) may mark the final resting
place of Robert Fitz Odo.
On a lane between Charlecote and Stratford-upon-Avon, about 1 mile
west of the A429, 4 miles south-east of Stratford. The church is normally
closed to the public. OS ref: 2552.
Southwell Minster, Nottinghamshire
The great cathedral of St Mary the Virgin is the most perfect survival
of a great Norman church in England. The imposing twin towers of the west
front were erected in 1108, and their simple architecture continues throughout
the nave, porch, transepts and tower. The original eastern end was rebuilt
in 1234. The chapter house, added 60 years later, is famous for its superb
foliate carvings. In the minster's library is the so-called 'Robin Hood's
drinking flask', a leather pocket flask of a type popular in the 16th
century.
On the A612, 6 miles west of Newark-on-Trent. OS ref: SK702537.
Find out more
Websites
The History of Fulk Fitz Warine
http://books.google.com/books?id=M-QsAAAAMAAJ
&pg=PA1&lpg=PA1&dq=history+of+fulk+
%22fitz+warine%22&source=web&ots=G8IHkaCH3J
&sig=HnoSRQhlOhv_kL1ioX-GDMtVrzw#PPP11,M1
Google-digitised version of a book about this outlaw hero of the Welsh Marches, published in 1855.
Robin Hood's Castle?
www.bbc.co.uk/shropshire/history/
2003/08/restoration_4.shtml
Interesting article from BBCi on the history of Whittington Castle,
including the recent restoration work carried out by the Whittington
Castle Preservation Trust.
