Debating the Real Robin Hood

You know the main goal of Robin Hood, right? The sprightly hero in green tights and a feather in his cap was believed to steal from the rich and give to the poor. But it turns out the real Robin Hood — if there really was one — probably wasn't quite so benevolent, or so say the scholars who participated in the seventh biennial meeting of the International Association for Robin Hood Studies at the University of Rochester.

"Americans like the redistribution myth, but it isn't a medieval part of the story," said Stephen Knight of Cardiff University in Wales, arguably the leading Robin Hood scholar, told The New York Times. "He isn't a revolutionary. He's not interested in regime change."

But not to worry, this wasn't a crap-on-Robin-Hood meeting. On the contrary, participants aimed to celebrate the character that has been part of international culture for the past 700 years. The conference theme was "Robin Hood: Media Creature." Events included a screening of the long-lost 1912 silent film, possibly the oldest of the 80-odd English-language Robin Hood films ever created. (The newest will come out next year and stars Russell Crowe and Cate Blanchett.) Saturday featured the premiere of the first tinted print of the 35-millimeter 1922 film starring Douglas Fairbanks, the first movie ever with a million-dollar budget (Ahh, how quaint.)

Scholars being scholars, the participants also critically discussed the Robin Hood myth, and revealed that much like an elaborate game of telephone, the legend of the man from Sherwood Forest has changed drastically over the years. For example, they say the real Robin Hood, or at the least the first composite to emerge, was less interested in helping the downtrodden and more focused on kicking the butts of folks who did not promote the king's will. His lady love, Maid Marion, had barely a bit part in the early days, but is now treated as the main woman behind the tights.

Overall, scholars say the Robin Hood legend has endured because so little is known about the real dude (if there really was a real dude), so it's hard to ably dispute the myths that surround him — even though most agree that he wasn't so into helping the poor. Even so, we'll stick with our fantasies about this long-standing hero, thank you very much.

Photo courtesy of soylentgreen23 via Wikimedia Commons.