Or maybe it’s all just a conglomerate of small factual things combined into a larger than life story.

Protecting her family name or own identity to pursue the loyalty of Richard in a hostile political setting.

So, many aristocracy fallen on hard times might have used the alias of Robin Hood, or Robert Hud, or other similar false identities to protect their families holdings. This latter David supported Richard I against Prince John, and he could have been the earl of Huntington characterized in Munday’s plays. David’s son Henry also held the title, as did his son David who married Maud of Chester in 1190. In reality, David I king of Scotland (1124 – 53) became earl of Huntingdon by his marriage to Maud of Huntingdon in 1113/14, and in 1127 did homage to Henry I of England in respect of this title. In his two plays written in 1598, Munday portrays Robin Hood as the fictitious Robert Earl of Huntington in the reign of Richard I, this influenced later writers. Some believe the name to be an alias or nom de plume, if this were the case, it would be virtually impossible to identify him. With this bewildering array of names, it is easy to understand why a Robin Hood outlaw has been difficult to find. Robert was a common Christian name in post-Conquest England, and in the thirteenth century its alternative form of Robin or Robyn was probably as usual as Robert itself. Marian is always there in thought, be she queen of May or not. You may have spent some time with bad boy Robin Hoodīut given time we’ll see the shepherdess back home in her own wood. Your ballad flows and we all know that stories grow and change and more Your love, your boy, your shepherd boy, now lord made rough outlaw.įrom play to film and back again, your shape a-shift and formless raw,ĭo you wander alleys now, and shop at big box stores?ĭo you worry mortgages, or giving to the poor? Once you stood alone, you know – you were not just a foil,Īnd then dependency came in, for propriety’s sake,įrench, then Saxon, poor and back to Norman blood, Oh Marian maid, queen of May, born a shepherd girl! Robin Hood & Maid Marian, poster from 1880

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