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Why Did Robin Hood Become a Symbol of Medieval Resistance?
Robin Hood is well known today as an outlaw and a rebel who stole from the rich to give to the poor and stood up for the underdog. He has become a heroic figure, taking on the Sheriff of Nottingham and his soldiers before retreating into Sherwood Forest with his merry men. But when did the story of Robin Hood first appear, what was it based on, and how has his story changed over time as people needed an evolving symbol of resistance? This is the story behind the story of Robin Hood.
When Did the Story of Robin Hood First Appear?
“Here begynneth a gest of Robyn Hode,” engraving showing Robin Hood on horseback by an unknown artist, c. 1475. Source: National Library of Scotland
The earliest surviving reference to Robin Hood is in the “Vision of Piers Plowman,” a poem by William Langland written in the late 1370s. Langland refers to Robin Hood as if his audience should be familiar with him, stating that he was already the subject of “rhymes.” He appears again in two Scottish works in the first half of the 15th century. In the “Original Chronicle,” Andrew of Wyntoun praises him as a “good outlaw,” although the “Scotichronicon” decries him as a murderer foolishly celebrated by commoners.
The first full story of Robin Hood comes to us in “A Gest of Robin Hood,” a ballad from around 1450. It compiles earlier stories and includes all the familiar features: Nottingham and Sherwood Forest, outwitting the Sheriff of Nottingham, archery contests, hideouts, and giving money to the poor. Several other poems and ballads from the same period also survive, repeating the formulas and characters, including Little John. Maid Marion and Friar Tuck make their first appearances in the following century.
These surviving texts are clearly already drawing on an old and rich tradition, one widespread enough to be mentioned by writers in the West Midlands (Langland) and Scotland (Wyntoun). The stories were probably spread as rhymes by traveling workers, merchants, and minstrels.
Strife in Medieval England
John Ball and Wat Tyler during the Peasants’ Revolt, miniature in Froissart’s “Chronicles,” c. 1470. Source: British Library
Understanding how Robin Hood became popular and a symbol of resistance requires an understanding of the context in which the ballads and poems circulated. The stories are typically set during the reign of Richard I, the “Lionheart,” between 1189-1199. Although later revered as a warrior, his absence from the kingdom as he made his name in the Crusades left it in the hands of his brother John (later king). This is depicted as a time when a power vacuum and an inept regent allowed corruption to run rife, forcing Robin into his outlaw behavior.
It’s possible that the Robin Hood stories originated in this time, but it’s more likely that his story was invented or at least embellished around the time they started circulating in the 14th century, in response to contemporary grievances at a time when direct criticism of the crown was difficult. Piers Plowman was written just four years before the Peasants’ Revolt (1381), a time when the elderly Edward III was dying (or had died) and the young Richard II had become monarch. Again, a royal power vacuum had allowed, in the eyes of many, undeserving courtiers, clerics, and officials to abuse government power to their own ends.
Piers Plowman is just one example of popular protest literature appearing at the time. The apparent spike in Robin Hood literature production in the mid-15th century aligns with the end of the troubled reign of Henry VI and the Wars of the Roses, when again, there was a popular perception of government and church corruption and greed. Clearly, Robin Hood had already been identified as a symbol of defiance to government abuses of power.
Who Was Robin Hood Based On?
Record from the Patent Rolls discussing the capture of Roger Godberd, from Calendar of Patent Rolls, Henry III, 1216-1272, 1272. Source: Hathi Trust
Robin Hood stories may originate in times of political corruption and general resentment, but was he inspired by a real figure? There are many theories that try to associate him with a historic figure. One of the obvious candidates is a Robin “Hod,” executed in 1234 as a robber, although, aside from his name, there is little else that obviously links him with the legend. The story is similar to that of Robert Hood of Wakefield, who is mentioned in court records in the early 14th century for poaching deer, but again, there is no band of merry men nor Sherwood Forest. More promising is Roger Godberd, who, before his capture in 1272, was a skilled archer who led a band of outlaws in Sherwood Forest during the chaos of the Second Barons’ War in the 1260s.
Robin Hood may have been linked to a particular person, but more likely, he was symbolic of a wider tradition of outlawry in medieval England. During the weak rule of Edward II (1307-1327) and the early regency period of Edward III (1327-1377), there were a number of outlaw gangs operating around the East Midlands, including Nottinghamshire.
Depiction of murder in the Registrum Bevium, MS M.812, fol. 24r, c. 1280-1320. Source: Morgan Library
The Folvilles operated out of Leicestershire, while the Coterels were based in nearby Derbyshire. Like Robin Hood, these were not rebellious peasants, but often members of the gentry or lower nobility. Their crimes typically included robbery, kidnapping, extortion, and property destruction at the behest of whoever paid best. Also like Robin Hood, some were identified early on with attacks on the estates of despised courtiers and officials, most notably the Despensers during the reign of Edward II.
They used the landscape of the East Midlands to their advantage, hiding in woods, caves, and the rugged hills of the Peak District. As they made sure to distribute their money cleverly, locals often sheltered them from the commissions that the government occasionally sent after them, and even took them provisions. Like most members of the upper gentry and nobility, they were also trained in military arts, with some, such as three leading members of the Folvilles, escaping punishment by undertaking service with the king in Scotland and France.
Of course, both could be true. The ballads and poems may have originally been about a genuine figure, but over time, they fed and grew on the wider ecosystem of outlaws and gangs that proliferated at times of weak government. Robin Hood, then, became emblematic of a romanticized tradition of outlawry.
Robin Hood and Romance Narratives
A statue of Robin Hood in Sherwood Forest: Richard Croft via Geograph UK
Robin Hood is a romantic figure, largely due to the heavy influence of medieval romance literature on his ballads and poems. The popular French story of “Robert le Diable” (Robert the Devil) has many similarities with Robin Hood stories, even beyond the name. Robert is the fictional son of the Duke of Normandy. A rebellious youth, he takes to the wilds of northern France with a gang when his father tries to arrest him.
After committing numerous crimes, he discovers that his mother had promised him to the devil as a child. Determined to redeem himself, he becomes the hero of a (fictional) Saracen attack on Rome, marries the daughter of the Holy Roman Emperor, and becomes a ruler in his own right, although in some versions he returns to the woods with his wife. At one point, while playing a court fool, he is called “Robinet,” a lower-class diminutive.
The forest and the woods are a key feature of many of these romance narratives, including those starring King Arthur and his men. Although woods were in quick retreat in medieval northern Europe, they were still dangerous, dark places. In the romances, the woods represent the unknown, uncertainty, but also a place where humans could become closer to the spiritual and supernatural. In a more practical sense, many woods were part of royal reserves known as forests (the two terms became synonymous over time) under “forest law,” which restricted peasant hunting and foraging rights. The fact that Robin Hood uses the royal forest of Sherwood as his hiding place, defying official authority by foraging and poaching, is therefore not just a quirk of the genre, but a deliberate allusion to contemporary peasant resentments.
Spreading Through Popular Culture
“Robin Hood and Guy of Gisborne,” by Thomas Bewick, 1832. Source: State Library of New South Wales
Robin Hood was always more of a “popular” figure than one of Romantic “high” literature. His reference in Piers Plowman hints at widespread notoriety, while the Scotichronicon alludes to Robin Hood “comedies and tragedies” being watched by the common people.
Around the time that the earliest surviving written ballads and plays appear in the 15th century, we find more references in other texts to his popular presence. He appears in the famous Paston Letters, where Sir John Paston complains that his servant has deserted his duties to play Robin and the Sheriff. A record from a Somerset village in the 1470s testifies to people being paid for Robin in local performances. The borough of Wells in 1498 apparently put on a Robin Hood play alongside church ales and dancing girls for a local festival.
King Richard the Lionheart marrying Robin Hood and Maid Marian, a plaque outside Nottingham Castle. Source: Wikimedia Commons
At least some of the plays appear to have been written specifically for the “May Games,” a time of festivities to celebrate the coming of spring. It may be that Robin Hood was initially a “carnival” figure, a symbol of disorder and resistance. By the late 15th century, he had been successfully appropriated by church and secular authorities seeking to raise funds for local purposes. Even Henry VIII (1509-1547) supposedly enjoyed Robin Hood plays at his court.
The Anthony Munday plays of the Elizabethan period inflated his nobility, making him the Earl of Huntingdon. However, it was still hard to separate him from his fundamental nature as a rebel and a thief. Following the Guy Fawkes Plot, Robert Cecil, the King’s chief minister, described the conspirators as “Robin Hoods.” He also remained a potent symbol of resistance in Scotland, where his plays were banned from 1555 for causing riots. During the period of the British civil wars (1642-1651), he was used by both sides. Martin Parker’s “True Tale of Robin Hood” emphasized his robbing of the clergy, fitting with anti-clerical Puritan sympathies, while the post-Restoration “Robin Hood and his Crew of Soldiers” made him loyal to the crown.
Into Modern Times
The title page for the first edition of Sir Walter Scott’s Ivanhoe, 1820. Source: Wikimedia Commons
The character found his anti-establishment nature again with Joseph Ritson’s collection of Robin Hood’s ballads. Published in 1795 in the first throes of Britain’s long struggle with Napoleonic France, Ritson let his Jacobin revolutionary sympathies leak into his work. Although the idea that Robin Hood stole from the rich and gave to the poor was relatively uncommon until that point, Ritson popularized it and argued that it was fundamental to the character.
Popular culture in its modern sense began in the 19th century, when Robin Hood found a fresh revival. This is best encapsulated by “Ivanhoe,” Sir Walter Scott’s novel from 1819. Scott, a friend of Ritson, maintained the character’s rebellious nature, recasting him as a hero of Saxon resistance to Norman oppression. This fit with a developing interest in national history and what would become a Victorian romanticization of the Anglo-Saxons.
Pierce Egan’s “Robin Hood and Little John” (1838-1840) continued with the theme. Like Scott’s other famous character, Rob Roy, Robin Hood was a symbol of the traditional, natural, and heroic against the callous, dehumanizing spirit of the modern. Although Scott’s story ends with the Normans and Saxons molding into a new society, he ensured that Robin would now become associated with a romantic English past during the modern, industrial age. This is particularly evident with the plethora of children’s stories that emerged following the 1870 Education Act, in which Robin was an embodiment of chivalry and gentlemanly conduct.
“Robin Hood’s Progress to Nottingham,” by Thomas Bewick, 1792-5. Source: British Museum
His outlaw and subversive nature became more emphasized in the 20th century. Geoffrey Trease’s “Bows Against the Barons” from 1934 portrays Robin as a social revolutionary, with his band revolting against the feudal elite. Trease explicitly compares Robin Hood to a number of medieval rebel leaders, including Wat Tyler and Jack Cade, and compares the events of his novel to the 1381 Peasants’ Revolt. One illustration featuring Robin talking to a Nottingham crowd even includes hammer and sickle imagery. Although now seen as significant for pushing against the romantic image of the character that had dominated for the last few decades, and for subverting the themes of the “boy’s adventure” genre more generally, its immediate impact on the character’s depiction appears to have been limited.
Kevin Costner in “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves,” 1991. Source: Internet Movie Database (IMDb)
Although attempts have been made to argue that the 1938 film “The Adventures of Robin Hood” (1938), starring Errol Flynn, is a metaphor for resistance to fascism, this is hard to reconcile with the movie’s frothy, colorful nature. Nevertheless, the film and its multiple successors—including the popular “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves” (1991) starring Kevin Costner, “Robin Hood: Men in Tights” (1993), a comical twist on the story, and “Disney’s Robin Hood” (1973), with the outlaw portrayed as a fox—have continued to depict Robin as an outlaw, a rebel, and a symbol of resistance to greed and tyranny.
Select Bibliography
Calendar of the Patent Rolls, preserved in the Public Record Office: Henry III, 1216-1272 (Hereford, 1912)
The Vision of Piers Powman, by Willian Langland, 1370s (Electronic Archive).
Bellamy, J.G. (1964). “The Coterel Gang: An Anatomy of a Band of Fourteenth-Century Criminals,” The English Historical Review, 79.313: 698-717.
Coote, L. (2020). Storyworlds of Robin Hood: The Origins of a Medieval Outlaw (London).
Watson, V. (2001 The Cambridge Guide to Children’s Books in English (Cambridge).
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