The Writing Post

Fiction can create compelling stories and can insert action and suspense where otherwise there was very little. In Robin Hood by J.C. Holt, we see that action and adventure still existed in the real world. In this post, we are analyzing Robin Hood by Holt. This novel takes a historical look at the lore surrounding Robin Hood and attempts to separate fact from fiction.

Summary

Robin Hood by Holt takes a historical look at the swashbuckling rogue from Sherwood Forest. In this way, Robin Hood is an English folk hero. As such, the author analyzes his origins, development, and his role in history. Holt examines early ballads, and traces them from the past to modern times. Similarly, he examines Robin Hood’s beginnings and gives insight into how the character has changed over time.

Book Blurb

From Amazon: “The legend of Robin Hood began more than 600 years ago. The man, if he existed at all, lived even earlier. In this definitive work, Professor Sir James Holt, one of Britain’s premier historians and author of the standard work on the Magna Carta, unravels pure invention from real possibility and offers the results of some thirty years of research.

Holt assesses the evidence for the historical Robin Hood and finds that the tale originated with the yeomen and hangers-on of the households of noblemen and gentry in the later Middle Ages. Parts of the story that we now take for granted―the usual conventions―played little or no part in the original tales. Many of the conventions grew with the legends as centuries past.

The legend of Robin Hood has enthralled people from the first ballads to contemporary movies. Holt reconstructs the historical basis of the stories but never loses sight of the human imagination that sustained them. This edition includes new illustrations and The Gest of Robyn Hood, one of the oldest surviving tales. 16 color and 9 black-and-white illustrations.”

Reviews

On Amazon, Robin Hood has 4.5 out of 5 stars with 39 ratings. Seventy-five percent of reviews are five star, while it carries with it no 1-star reviews. Five-star reviews highlight the historical importance of discussing Robin Hood’s transformation from an “anti-obscene-taxes crusader” to a “champion of wealth redistribution.” In addition to that, other reviewers state that the novel is a “careful examination” of the Robin Hood story. Others write that the story has a “ring of authenticity about it.”

On Goodreads, the novel has 3.71 stars out of 5 stars with 285 ratings. Sixty five of those ratings give it 5 stars while 6 ratings give it one star. Five-star reviews state that it is both “solid” and “readable” and is an “academic examination of the outlaw tradition.” Likewise, other five-star reviewers state that it is “still the classic work on the subject of Robin Hood ….” Meanwhile, one-star reviewers state that it is “dull” so they “didn’t finish it.”

Impressions

I love the idea that Robin Hood by Holt deconstructs folklore. Shedding light on the reality of a particular story or hero helps the reader build a broader context for the world around them. Namely, if we know Robin Hood was against taxation, and we know that many people shared the story of Robin Hood, we can then deduce that his popularity was probably due to how society feels about unjust taxation.

What’s more, world history shapes these types of readings. This is especially true because the happenings of the era created these stories. For instance, Robin Hood was a product of taxation and corruption in a feudal society. In a similar manner, the wealth redistribution mythos appeared later, which no doubt was in response to feelings about wealth redistribution at that time. “Steal from the rich and give to the needy” is a response to social issues, therefore it must have been in the cultural zeitgeist in order to illicit such a reaction.

Works Cited

Holt, J.C. Robin Hood. Thames and Hudson, 1989.