ROBIN HOOD

The humanization of the mythic archetype progresses. Robin Hood probably has no roots in myth or folklore despite being Almost-Super-Human. He seems to have appeared around 1227 as a name indicating any fugitive or outlaw, and then gradually transformed, through an early 13th century local hero or heroes, perhaps. There is also speculation that he was the outlawed Robert Fitzooth, the Earl of Huntingdon. Visio Willelmi de Petro Ploughman (Piers Plowman), 1360-1399, is a Middle English allegory attributed to William Langland, which contains what may be the earliest literary mention of Robin Hood. He is mentioned by 14th century Scottish historian Fordun. The earliest known text is Robin Hood and the Monk written around 1450, and is housed in Cambridge University. He appears in two novels by Sir Walter Scott, Ivanhoe (1819), and The Talisman (1825).

Robin and Sir Guy illustrated by Louis Rhead, from the 1912 Blue Ribbon Books edition of Bold Robin Hood and His Outlaw Band: Their Famous Exploits in Sherwood Forest.