And in 1569 historian Richard Grafton claimed to have found evidence in an вЂњold and ancient pamphletвЂќ that Robin had been вЂњadvanced to the dignity of an earlвЂќ on account of his вЂњmanhood and chivalryвЂќ an idea subsequently popularised by Anthony Munday in his plays The Downfall of Robert, Earl of Huntington, and The Death of Robert, Earl of Huntington, both written in 1598.ДЇurthermore, Martin ParkerвЂ™s A True Tale of Robin Hood, published in 1632, stated unequivocally that the вЂњrenowned outlaw, Robert Earl of Huntington, vulgarly called Robin Hood, lived and died in AD 1198вЂќ, but the real Earl of Huntingdon (the only possible interpretation of вЂHuntingtonвЂ™) at this date was David of Scotland, who died in 1219.

So from where did the idea originate? John Leland, writing in the 1530s, refers to Robin as a nobilis exlex вЂ“ a noble outlaw, meaning, in all probability, that he was high-minded.

Unfortunately, it is not clear if Robin was associated with Ranulf вЂde BlundevilleвЂ™, earl of Chester (d1232) in some way, or if the вЂrymesвЂ™ about them sprang from entirely separate traditions.Д¤ Robin was a dispossessed nobleman, the Earl of HuntingtonДЄgain, there is no real basis for this theory вЂ“ the Robin of the early ballads is always a yeoman, and his attitudes are those of his class. In it, Sloth the chaplain says: вЂњI kan nought parfitly my Paternoster as the preest it syngeth, But I kan rymes of Robyn Hood and Randolf, Erl of Chestre.вЂќ Robin Hood is often portrayed as the enemy of the ambitious Prince John and the ally of his brother, the imprisoned Richard the Lionheart (1189вЂ“99), but it was Tudor writers of the 16th century who first brought the three men together in this context.ДЄlternatively, Robin Hood has been identified (not very convincingly) with one of a number of Robin Hoods mentioned in the Wakefield Court Rolls during the reign of Edward II (1307вЂ“27), and, more probably, as a disinherited supporter of Simon de Montfort, who was slain at Evesham in 1265.ДЄll we can say with certainty is that Robin the Outlaw had entered popular mythology by the time William Langland wrote The Vision of Piers Plowman in 1377.

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