Maybe Real, Maybe Not

Robin Hood

Did the charming storybook outlaw ROBIN HOOD really exist? Some think he was based on a real-life figure with an entirely different name. Among candidates listed by the Worldwide Robin Hood Society are Robert Fitzooth, the Earl of Huntingdon (1160-1247), Robert de Kyme (c. 1210-1285, who also had a claim on the earldom of Huntingdon) and a fugitive named Robert Hod. The group also cites a 1998 book by British author Tony Molyneux-Smith, Robin Hood and the Lords of Wellow, which suggests that Robin Hood was not one man but a pseudonym taken by several descendants of Sir Robert Foliot. A man named Robin Hood does appear on the ancient court rolls of Wakefield, although the name alone has not been enough to convince scholars that he is the "real" Robin Hood. It's also possible, of course, that the Robin Hood stories were made up out of whole cloth and that no true Robin Hood ever existed.