"There go as many tales upon this Hudgin, in some parts of Germany, as there did in England of Robin Goodfellow. But this Hudgin was so called, because he always wore a cap or a hood; and therefore I think it was Robin Hood."
-Reginald Scot
Jacob Grimm also noted the similarity between Robin Goodfellow and Robin Hood.
"From the beginning of scholarly investigation into the legends about the outlaw, it had been obvious that at the end of the Middle Ages he had been celebrated in plays as well as ballads. Two very different approaches to research into his legend were proposed in response. The first, by Joseph Ritson in 1795, assumed that Robin had been a real human being; the second, started by Thomas Wright in 1837, opined that he was originally a woodland god, honoured in the May revels. This latter argument gained more support in the early twentieth century. Douglas Kennedy and Lord Raglan suggested that he had been the dying and returning god of vegetation postulated by Sir James Frazer as a universal focus of devotion in ancient religion."
 |
| Richard Dadd |
Legend has it that when Jesus was dying on the cross, the robin, then simply brown in colour, flew to his side and sang into his ear in order to comfort him in his pain. The blood from his wounds stained the robin's breast, and thereafter all robins got the mark of Christ's blood upon them.
An alternative legend has it that its breast was scorched fetching water for souls in Purgatory.
An alternative legend has it that its breast was scorched fetching water for souls in Purgatory.
We may then summarize the results obtained in this chapter as follows:
ReplyDelete1. There is no evidence for Robin Hood as a historical character, or for any attempt to set him up as such within at least three centuries of his alleged lifetime.
2. There is abundant evidence, in many parts of England and Scotland, for Robin Hood as the name given to the principal actor in the May-day dramatic performances and revels.
3. The attempt to make Robin Hood a historical character not merely involves us in endless anachronisms and other absurdities, but renders the known facts of his cult completely inexplicable.
4. The alleged incidents of his career are analogous to those of many other heroes of tradition, especially William Tell, who is admittedly mythical.
-Lord Raglan