Robin Hood: The Man Behind the Myth

by Graham Phillips, Martin Keatman

The authors begin by telling the old romantic story, then the quest begins for the real Robin—a fascinating detective story with many dead ends, but at last sensational finds, in the archives of York Minster. The true face of Robin Hood is gradually revealed—a man who lived two centuries later than the Robin Hood of legend and led a peasants' revolt.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

185 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 1995

About the author

Graham Phillips is a British author.
Phillips has a background working as a reporter for BBC radio and as a magazine editor.

Wikipedia - Graham Phillips

Reviews

[Janet Roger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Robin Hood. Well we all know the story. Or at least we thought we did. Now, with this astute piece of detective work from Phillips and Keatman, we have a better idea where, when and how the Robin Hood myth became part of English legend.

First, imagine all those tales of derring do happening not in Nottingham’s Sherwood Forest but in Yorkshire’s Barnsdale Forest. Next, come to terms with the evidence that Good King Richard Lionheart never did meet Robin and forgive his banditry because the stories are more likely set in the reign of Our Comley King Edward II a half-century later. Then get a copy of this book because that’s not even the half of what these two authors have up their sleeves.

Beware though. There are some—not too many—pieces of medieval poetry that come with no translation. This certainly helps convey the rhythm and poetry of the verses as the authors intend, but if you’re not a Middle English scholar and want to make sense of them (and I do) best have Google handy.

But don’t be put off. The book is well researched, cleverly re-imagined, usefully juxtaposes Robin Hood myth with the Arthurian legend, and the facts and arguments are clearly and convincingly presented.

It made for an excellent afternoon read. And I feel happily informed. What more’s to say?

[Blair Hodgkinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book revisits and develops some of the theories about the possible origins of the Robin Hood legend, asking who he was, where he came from, what he did and when did he do it. Some of the theories are a bit stretched, but for the most part it is a decent bit of historical detective work. I found some minor errors in the text a bit annoying, but overall I would recommend it.

[Roberto · Rating 3 out of 5]

En investigación histórica nunca se puede decir que se ha escrito la última palabra. La Historia es un relato y, como tal, la Historia es una historia. Cuando se tienen numerosos testigos, ya textuales o arqueológicos, cada historiador se ve impelido a reescribir la Historia desde su criterio y época. Por otro lado, cuando los testimonios son escasos o conforman una leyenda, buena parte del trabajo histórico es especulativo. Sin embargo la crítica textual, la historia comparada y el cotejo de relatos dispares con hechos suficientemente confirmados pueden aportar luz a episodios de los que poco se sabe con certeza, y lo poco que se conoce puede resultar contradictorio. Éste ha sido el trabajo de Graham Philips y Martin Keatman en torno a la leyenda de Robin Hood, uno de los mitos medievales más conocidos y recurrentes hasta nuestros días. A salvo de algún nuevo documento que pudiera aparecer, posible pero poco probable, los autores desmenuzan los datos de la Gesta, la relacionan con otras leyendas, exponen convincentemente sobre la posible historicidad de algunos personajes y apuntan a las tres figuras que pudieron ser la base histórica para la leyenda de Robin más allá del arquetipo mítico que pueda representar.
Los tres apéndices que completan el volumen son realmente flojos siendo uno de ellos una simple guía turística.
Seguro que los autores no han escrito la última palabra sobre Robin Hood, ejemplo de ello es la película de Ridley Scott del año 2010 donde el realizador juega con la idea del suplantador ofreciendo una arista más a la poliédrica figura del personaje y al desarrollo del mito, pero desde la historiografía han aportado una sólida argumentación que habrá de servir de base a posibles futuras investigaciones.

[Christopher Percy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoroughly researched as usual. Plausible conclusions, enjoy reading his works.