robin hood did he exist?

Answer 1

Robert of Loxley... Existed... However Robin in the Hood is one of folklore...

Robert of Loxley rose against the sheriff of Nottingham in protest against land and crop taxes. His tenants did benefit but not in the way the tales would have us to believe.

Robin in the Hood I believe came about from early minstrels songs to cheer the peasants at that time (although maybe not the land owners so much)

Answer 2

Oh by the gods... far too many people leap to the "it's all fiction" thing just because it's a legend. All legends have a basis in truth. The hard part is finding out whats true and what isn't.

Yes, Robin Hood existed. But he's believed to have actually been several men turned into the traditional Robin Hood we see today. The name Robin Hood was used at that time to denote anyone that was a fugitive from the law.

Think about it...

Robin (a bird that flies) of the Hood (which has never had a good connotation in any part of history).

Maid Marion is a very recent addition to the story.

Answer 3

It is a legend.

In fact, the Robin Hood stories have been different in every period of their history. Robin himself is continually reshaped and redrawn, made to fit whatever values are pushed on to him. This fact makes any notion of a "real" or "true" Robin Hood largely redundant. Even if a historical Robin Hood could be identified, he could account for only the bare minimum of the rich legend surrounding his name. The figure is less a personage and more of an amalgam of the various ideas his "life" has been made to support.

Answer 4

Yes. History shows that there were Robin Hood like characters that lived in old England. If he “robbed from the rich and gave to the poor” is highly unlikely but the fictional story was based on a real person or persons.

Answer 5

Actually, there really was a Robin of Locksley and his role in the resistance against the Sheriff of Nottingham (another real person) was that of a rebel who championed the people. Since it was the time of King Richard off on the Crusades and most of the country's money was going toward funding the Crusades, Richard's brother John had to raise the taxes in order to be able to keep up the import/export, and other economical musts - it was the Sheriff of Nottingham, however, whose methods of collecting taxes was brutal and cruel. It was Robin of Locksley's charitable and humanitarianism ways that grew and grew as the story was passed along from generation to generation by word of mouth into the ultimate legend we all know Robin Hood as today.

Answer 6

No. The Robin Hood stories have been around a long time, and are different in every period of their history. Robin himself is continually reshaped and redrawn, made to fit whatever values are pushed on to him. This fact makes any notion of a "real" or "true" Robin Hood largely redundant. Even if a historical Robin Hood could be identified, he could account for only the bare minimum of the rich legend surrounding his name. The figure is less a personage and more of an amalgam of the various ideas his "life" has been made to support.

Answer 7

Robin Hood was probably an amalgamation of a number of contemporary mythical real-life people. The Sherriff certainly existed, and the office still exists today, but she doesn't run people through with a sword anymore (even though she's got one, and yes - the current Sherriff is a woman).

A lot of our heroes are real, some are allegorical - this in no way diminishes their value to us.

Answer 8

The most recent stories of Robin Hood are apparently based on the story of Jesse James, a Cowboy whom "Stole from the Rich and Gave to the Poor". Though very inaccurate you will remember the character from the movie American Outlaws

Answer 9

Yes Robin of Locksley really existed !

Answer 10

Probably. There are all sorts of stories of someone who did what he was reputed to do, that is robbing the rich to help the poor. He is probably a composite character made up from various people who rebelled against the unjust taxes imposed on the common people in about the early 13th century.