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King Richard is killed in battle while laying seige to the castle Chalus-Chabrol, leaving Prince John to become the King of England.
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King John immediately resumes the war with France and is unsuccessful.
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In just seven years, King John had lost most of the French territory, once held by England. In order to get the territory and his reputation back, he needed money. He and his government raised taxes and exploited the rights of his citizens.
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The Magna Carta was a "civil rights" document that the Barons of England wrote and demanded that King John sign in the hopes of regaining some of their rights in England.
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Most researchers believe that this is the time when many stories of an outlaw robbing from the rich and giving to the poor began to emerge, through oral story telling. There are many istances of "outlaws" or "fugitives" being named some variation of "Robin Hood" in taxation legers, dating back to this time, but nothing else was written about the legendary Hood.
Ex. Robert Hode, Robert of Wetherby, Robert Hod, Hobbehod, Robyn Hood -
The Vision of Piers Plowman written by William Langland refers to knowing the "rhymes of Robin Hood". This is the oldest written reference to Robin Hood known today. This proves that long before stories were written about Robin Hood, people were telling stories of Robin Hood and passing them along orally.
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Earliest known document that references paying actors in a Robin Hood play.
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The Ballads of Robin Hood were spoken poems created with rhyming couplets. This was done to help people remember the stories easily. The oldest known written version of one of the ballads is dated to 1450, near the same time as the plays about Robin Hood.
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Over the next 100 years, Robin Hood went from a hooligan who was noble, doing the right things, to actually being a Nobleman of England in many of the ballads and plays performed.
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During this century, the stories of Robin Hood changed quite often. *Robin social status improved, from Peasant to Yeoman to Nobleman.
*He converted from Catholicism to Protestant as the religion of his countrymen began to shift.
*He became a star of the theater, as well. -
According to an anonymous manuscript written 1600, Robin Hood was from Loxley. There is evidence that a knight named Robert Fitz Odo lived in Loxely up until 1203, but there is no evidence that he was ever an outlaw.
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During this time, Robin Hood stories began being printed on single sheets called "broadsides" and the stories were compiled into "garlands" or booklets of Robin Hood stories. New stories were also being written about the Merry Men and how the group of outlaws came together.
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As the Robin Hood Legend continued to evolve, so did his popularity. In 1840, Robin Hood and Little John: or, The Merry Men of Sherwood Forest by Pierce Egan the Younger was published as a book and became a Victorian best seller.
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Even today, the legend of Robin Hood continues to thrive after it's orgin 800 years ago. References of him are still made in our culture in movies, documentaries, politics etc.
