David Baldwin. Robin Hood. The English Outlaw unmasked.pdf

Everyone has heard of Robin Hood, the brilliant archer who 'robbed the rich to give to the poor' and who always triumphed over the forces of evil, but the man behind the legend is as mysterious as King Arthur. David Baldwin sets out to find the real Robin Hood, looking for clues in the earliest ballads and in official and legal documents of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. His search takes him to the troubled reign of King Henry III, and to Henry's difficult and deteriorating relationship with his brother-in-law Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester. Earl Simon became a popular hero, a man who, it was thought, might have changed everything for the better, and who was credited with miracles in the aftermath of his death at the battle of Evesham.
Supporters who continued to oppose the government inherited his mantle, and one of them, a man named Roger Godberd who retreated to the forest and defied the sheriff, won notoriety and respect in equal measure. Later generations added much to the story, but Godberd, Baldwin argues, is the original outlaw hero. The reason why the real Robin is inexplicably missing from contemporary records is that he was not called Robin Hood in his own day.

A solidly researched account, which, although it finds a candidate to justify its somewhat sensational title, also admits there are many sources for Robin Hood's legends. For years I have been content with the excellent study of Robin Hood by J C Holt, but this is an interesting addition, and has lots of nice photos and illustrations. The origins of Robin Hood are as likely to be unmasked as those of King Arthur or Jack the Ripper, but a good read and insight into medieval English history. Some lay reviewers have complained that a greater knowledge of the period was assumed than they had, but all seem to have enjoyed it nonetheless.