The earliest known reference to Robin Hood the outlaw was first pointed
out by Bishop Percy, the editor of the _Reliques_, in _Piers Plowman_,
the poem written by Langland about 1377, where Sloth says (B. text,
passus v. 401):--
'But I can [know] rymes of Robyn hood, and Randolf erle of Chestre.'
Observing that this first mention of Robin is as the subject of ballads,
and that he is coupled with another popular hero, one of the
twelfth-century Earls of Chester, we pass to the next reference.
'Lytill Ihon and Robyne Hude
Waythmen ware commendyd gude;
In Yngilwode and Barnysdale
Thai oysyd all this tyme thare trawale.'
This passage, from Wyntoun's _Chronicle of Scotland_ (about 1420), is
referred to the year 1283, and means that Robin and his man Little John
were known as good hunters (cf. 'wight yeomen,' constantly in the
ballads), and they carried on their business in Inglewood and Barnsdale
at this time.
In 1439 a petition was presented to Parliament concerning a certain
Piers Venables, of whom it is stated that, having no other livelihood,
he 'gadered and assembled unto him many misdoers' and 'wente into the
wodes in that contrë, like as it hadde be Robyn-hode and his meynë.'
About the same time (c. 1437), a longer description is given in Fordun's
_Scotichronicon_, which was revised and continued by Bower, where the
latter states that Robin Hood, 'that most celebrated robber,' was one
of the dispossessed and banished followers of Simon de Montfort.
He proceeds, however, to couple with him 'Litill Johanne' and their
associates, 'of whom the foolish vulgar in comedies and tragedies make
lewd entertainment, and are delighted to hear the jesters and minstrels
sing them above all other ballads,'[4] and to describe briefly one of
the 'tragedies.'
An extract from one more chronicler will suffice, and it should be noted
that these three, Wyntoun, Bower, and Major, are all Scottish. John
Major (or Mair) was born about 1450, and his _Historia Maioris
Britanniæ_ was published in 1521. In the part dealing with the reign of
Richard I. (lib. iv. cap. ii.), we find:--
'About this time it was, as I conceive, that there flourished those most
famous robbers Robert Hood, an Englishman, and Little John, who lay in
wait in the woods, but spoiled of their goods those only who were
wealthy. They took the life of no man, unless either he attacked them or
offered resistance in defence of his property. Robert supported by his
plundering a hundred bowmen, ready fighters every one, with whom four
hundred of the strongest would not dare to engage in combat. The feats
of this Robert are told in song all over Britain. He would allow no
woman to suffer injustice, nor would he spoil the poor, but rather
enriched them from the plunder taken from abbots. The robberies of this
man I condemn, but of all thieves he was the prince and the most gentle
thief.'[5] This is repeated almost verbatim in Stow's _Annales_ (1681).
These five references show that Robin Hood was popular in ballads for at
least a century before the date at which we find those ballads in print;
and apart from the fact that printing is usually the last thing that
happens to a ballad of the folk, the language in which they are written
is unmistakably Middle English--that is to say, the _Gest of Robyn Hode_
(at least) may be dated nearer 1400 than 1500. But Langland's evidence
is clear; 'rymes' of Robin Hood were widely known by 1377. Neither Bower
nor Major know anything of Robin except what they learnt from the
ballads about him.
[Footnote 4: So translated by Ritson. 'Comedies and tragedies' is
an ambiguous phrase in the fifteenth century, and may mean either
the dramatised May-games or ballads. Cf. Chambers, _Mediæval
Stage_, ii. 211.]
[Footnote 5: Translation (except the last phrase) by A. Constable,
Edinburgh, 1892.]