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Established 15,000 B.C.
Volume 16, circa August 1350.
Legend Of Robin Hood
Is Born
There is an awful lot of differing opinions as to who Robin Hood was, when he was born, when he died, how he died, and where he lived and died and so on and so on.

One theory is that, the Robin Hood of modern folk-mythology is a creature built up, generation by generation, to meet the needs and desires of the audience. It is said that the earliest Robin Hood was a yeoman, not a wronged nobleman, who haunted Barnsdale Forest, not Sherwood; he didn't become a Saxon or mere Englishman fighting the Norman oppressor until Sir Walter Scott dressed him up for his walk-on in Ivanhoe.

Another account says, "A Robin Hood is mentioned by name in the official documents (pipe roll) for Yorkshire of 1230 (1225 by some counts), where he is described as "Robertus Hood, fugitivis," who has failed to appear in court. He is mentioned also as an historical figure in Wyntoun's Chronicle of Scotland c.1420. A book published in Scotland in 1521 places his life in the time of Richard I."

There is also the issue of the undoubted existence of people, places and events referred to in the stories: e.g. Sherwood, Nottingham, the Sheriff, John, Richard, Eleanor, the corrupt Church, and the association of Robin with the historical figure, the Earl of Huntingdon 1160-1247.

King Richard on his return from captivity besieged Nottingham Castle, which surrendered on 28 March 1194. The following day, Richard holidayed in Sherwood Forest.

There is also a reference to Robin Hood in William Langland's Piers Ploughman, a story written in c.1370. However, it should also be noted that Langland's mention of Robin is vague, gives no dates, and links Robin's adventures with another character altogether, Randolph, Earl of Chester. It is unlikely that Langland, the author, would have remembered events from 180 years before.

The official documents place Hood 100 years later and hundreds of miles further north. These documents make no claim that Hood was an outlaw. There is no proof that he was in Lancaster's army, or that he was a doughty fighter, and there is no mention of any of his associates.

In a biography on Robin Hood on A&E, it showed the resting place for a 'Robin Heud', 'enemy of the Sheriff of Nottingham'. This grave remains today just outside of a small town called Kirlees in England. The date of his death was the 25th of Dec, 1247."

Whoever Robin Hood was, the tales of his adventures provided the template for all costumed comic book superheroes of the 20th century and all their incarnations either live action or animated, from Batman to Zorro as well as the many adaptations of himself.
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