In 1852 Joseph Hunter issued, as No. 4 of his 'Critical and Historical
Tracts,' _The Great Hero of the ancient Minstrelsy of England, Robin
Hood_. Amongst other discoveries, he found, in an Exchequer document of
expenses in the royal household of Edward II., the name of 'Robyn Hode'
occurring several times as a 'vadlet' or 'porteur de la chambre,' at the
salary of threepence per diem, between March and November of 1324.
Various other researchers have succeeded in tracing half a dozen people,
all named Robin or Robert Hood, within a period of some forty years of
the fourteenth century; but few have pressed identification with Robin
Hood the outlaw so far as Hunter, 'who,' says Professor Child, 'could
have identified Pigrogromitus and Quinapalus, if he had given his mind
to it.' Working on the above datum, Hunter shows how probable it is that
Robin Hood the outlaw entered the service of Edward II. at Nottingham,
where the king was from November 9-23 in 1323. But the Robin whose
fortunes Hunter raked up was a very bad servant, and within a year from
the alleged date was ignominiously dismissed from the king's service,
with a present of 5s., 'because he was no longer able to work'! Was this
the invincible champion of English yeomen? Was this the hand that
launched a thousand shafts?
The only point to which attention need be called is the obvious fact
that 'Robert Hood' was not an uncommon combination of names, at least in
fourteenth-century England.