In the footsteps of Robin Hood
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Walking tour
The Robin Hood Way
This is a waymarked footpath that links many of the Nottinghamshire
sites associated with the legendary hero. Starting from the Castle Gate
House in the city, it weaves through the countryside to reach its destination
in Sherwood Forest. Over 100 miles long, the route can be broken into
easy stages. A comprehensive guide is available from Nottinghamshire County
Council's Rights of Way section on tel: 0115 977 2166.
Websites
The Robin Hood Project: Text, images, bibliographies and basic information
www.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/rh/rhhome.htm
The project is designed to make available in electronic format a database
of texts, images, bibliographies and basic information about the Robin
Hood stories and other outlaw tales. It is sponsored by the University
of Rochester in the US.
Robert Hood of Wakefield, Yorkshire
www.geocities.com/Heartland/Lane/8771/
wakerobin.html
Part of Tim Midgley's website investigating his surname. The information on Robin is a bit confusing – and some of the links in his ‘Index for Robin Hood pages’ don’t work – but there is an enormous amount here. Well worth ploughing through.
Robin Hood and His Historical Context
www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/middle_ages/
robin_01.shtml
An excellent article by Dr Mike Ibeji from BBC History.
Robin Hood: Bold outlaw of Barnsdale and Sherwood
www.boldoutlaw.com
Site created by a Canadian enthusiast. Offers an enormous amount of
historical and legendary information on the adventures of Robin Hood and
his Merry Men.
World Wide Robin Hood Society
www.robinhood.info
Basically a marketing site for Robin Hood-related goods - fancy a
Robin Hood fleece? However, there is some good information on the fact
and fiction of the Robin Hood legend. Based in Nottingham, this site is
very biased towards the Sherwood Forest Robin.
Go Britannia! Travel Guide
www.britannia.com/tours/
Travel company with two relevant tours: Robin Hood's Nottinghamshire
and Robin Hood's Yorkshire. Its web pages on these have lots of good information
on some fairly obscure sites.
The Adventures of Robin Hood
www.filmsite.org/adve.html
Relive the experience of the 1938 film with this extensive synopsis,
illustrated by a good selection of film posters.
Robin Hood – The Legend of Sherwood
www.robinhood-game.com
Robin Hood – Defender of the Crown
www.cinemaware.com/robinhood_main.asp
Two computer games starring the outlaw. In 'Legend', Robin attacks not only
Nottingham Castle, but also fortresses in Derby and Leicester. In 'Defender',
you can 'conquer England's 38 territories as you command troops on the
battlefield and manage Robin's growing armies'!
Books
In Search of British Heroes by Tony Robinson (Channel 4 Books,
2003) £18.99
Tony Robinson journeys into history to trace the true stories of some
of the greatest Britons – Boudicca, Macbeth, King Harold, William
Wallace (Braveheart) and Robin Hood – seeking to discover the real
people behind the myths and how these myths have been woven into the nation's
character and its perception of itself.
Robin Hood by J C Holt (Thames & Hudson, 1982). Out of print;
may be available from second-hand bookshops.
Comprehensive survey of the Robin Hood of ballad, history, legend and
fiction, by an emeritus professor of medieval history at Cambridge University.
Holt places the evolution of Robin in a social context through the centuries.
The book is also available as an audio-cassette, released by Sussex Publications,
price £12.95.
Robin Hood: A mythic biography by Stephen Thomas Knight (Cornell
University Press, 2003). US edition only; may be available from online
bookshops.
The best way to get at the essence of the Robin Hood myth, Knight believes,
is in terms not of chronological and generic progression but through the
purposes served by heroes. Each of the book's four central chapters identifies
a particular model of the hero, mythic or biographic, which dominated
in certain periods and in certain genres, and explores their interrelations,
their implications and their historical and socio-political contexts.
Robin Hood: The man behind the myth by Graham Phillips and Martin
Keatman (Michael O'Mara Ltd, 1995). Out of print; may be available from
second-hand bookshops.
Retraces the life of the historical Robin Hood, establishing him as Robert
Hode of Wakefield, supporter of Thomas, earl of Lancaster, against Edward
II.
Robin Hood: On the outlaw trail by Richard Rutherford-Moore (Capall
Bann Publishing, 2002) £8.95
A guide to the sites linked with Robin Hood in Nottinghamshire, giving
detailed historical background. The author, who appeared in the Channel
4 programme, works as a tour guide with the Nottinghamshire Tourist Board.
The Outlaws of Medieval Legend by Maurice Keen (Routledge, 2000)
£13.99
This book explores not only famous Robin Hood and William Wallace, but
also now-forgotten rogues such as Gamelyn and Fulk Fitz Warin. Apart from
Wallace, the heroes of the outlaw legends did not play leading roles on
the historical stage, but they were remembered in tradition for generations.
Keen explains the popularity of these figures and looks at how the stories
appealed to the common people of the Middle Ages.
