In the _Vision of Piers Ploughman_ are two remarkable passages in which
mention is made of "Roberd the robber," and of "Roberdes knaves."
"Roberd the robbere,
On _Reddite_ loked,
And for ther was noght wherof
He wepte swithe soore."
Wright's ed., vol. i. p. 105.
"In glotonye, God woot,
Go thei to bedde,
And risen with ribaudie,
The Roberdes knaves."
Vol. i. p. 3.
In a note on the second passage, Mr. Wright quotes a statute of Edw. III.,
in which certain malefactors are classed together "qui sont appellez
_Roberdesmen_, Wastours, et Dragelatche:" and on the first he quotes two
curious instances in which the name is applied in a similar manner,--one
from a Latin song of the reign of Henry III.:
"Competenter per _Robert_, robbur designatur;
Robertus excoriat, extorquet, et minatur.
_Vir quicunque rabidus consors est Roberto_."
It seems not impossible that we have in these passages a trace of some
forgotten mythical personage. "Whitaker," says Mr. Wright, "supposes,
without any reason, the 'Roberde's knaves' to be 'Robin Hood's men.'" (Vol.
ii. p. 506.) It is singular enough, however, that as early as the time of
Henry III. we find the term 'consors Roberto' applied generally, as
designating any common thief or robber; and without asserting that there is
any direct allusion to "Robin Hood's men" in the expression "Roberdes
knaves," one is tempted to ask whence the hero of Sherwood got his own
name?
Grimm (_Deutsche Mythol._, p. 472.) has suggested that Robin Hood may be
connected with an equally famous namesake, Robin Goodfellow; and that he
may have been so called from the hood or hoodikin, which is a well-known
characteristic of the mischievous elves. I believe, however, it is now
generally admitted that "Robin Hood" is a corruption {322} of "Robin o' th'
Wood" equivalent to "silvaticus" or "wildman"--a term which, as we learn
from Ordericus, was generally given to those Saxons who fled to the woods
and morasses, and long held them against their Norman enemies.
It is not impossible that "Robin o' the Wood" may have been a general name
for any such outlaws as these and that Robin Hood, as well as "Roberd the
Robbere" may stand for some earlier and forgotten hero of Saxon tradition.
It may be remarked that "Robin" is the Norman diminutive of "Robert", and
that the latter is the name by which we should have expected to find the
doings of a Saxon hero commemorated. It is true that Norman and Saxon soon
came to have their feelings and traditions in common; but it is not the
less curious to find the old Saxon name still traditionally applied by the
people, as it seems to have been from the _Vision of Piers Ploughman_.
Whether Robin Goodfellow and his German brother "Knecht Ruprecht" are at
all connected with Robin Hood, seems very doubtful. The plants which, both
in England and in Germany, are thus named, appear to belong to the elf
rather than to the outlaw. The wild geranium, called "Herb Robert" in
Gerarde's time, is known in Germany as "Ruprecht's Kraut". "Poor Robin",
"Ragged Robin", and "Robin in the Hose", probably all commemorate the same
"merry wanderer of the night."