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I came across this whilst casually surfing the Net"William Edward, or to give him his full name, William Edward Robin Hood Hastings-Bass is the current and 17th Earl of Huntingdon. The 'Robin Hood' arises in his name as a result of the legend that the original Robin of Sherwood was in someway the 'true heir' to the earldom of Huntingdon, although the Earl is keen to point out that "there is no historical evidence that he really was linked to my family." William Edward who took the name of Hastings-Bass in 1976, is a former racehorse trainer to HM Queen Elizabeth II between 1989 and 1998, before he gave up the business as the result of financial losses. Although he is married he has no sons, and the heir apparent to the title is currently his younger brother Simon Aubrey Hastings-Bass."Which poses the question-If the mythical Robin Hood was an Earl (as Legend would have it) then surely he would have been senior in Rank to his mortal enemy, The Sheriff of Nottingham.An Earl, in Medieval Hierarchy, being personnally appointed by the King (and would thus be a Noble), whilst a Medieval Sheriff was a 'Local' Man (eg a Civil servant in todays terms).
Actually, this might make sense. I looked up where you got the story about the Earl of Huntingdon at http://everything.blockstackers.com/index.pl?node_id=1767219 .There was a link to the story of Robin Hood at http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node=Robin%20Hood . The article includes the story of the legend, which centered around Norman and Saxon relations; the Normans had arrived a century or so before the time of Robin and the good Norman king, Arthur, was away on a Crusade while his brother, John, was the present ruler who acted harshly toward the Saxons. Robin was turned into an outlaw after getting caught hunting deer which only the king could hunt. His small noble title was taken from him. The story is resolved when Richard finally makes his return to England:
Robin's adventures come to an end when Richard finally returns from the Crusades. Many versions have Richard disguising himself and adventuring at Robin's side before he finally reveals himself, gets rid of Prince John, and restores peace and wellbeing to the Saxons. Robin gets his noble status restored and gets to marry Marian at last...
So the mixing of fact and fiction could very well be at work in the story, and it is at least possible that the Sheriff would be fighting a noble who became an outlaw.
It's such an interesting tale, It makes you wish you knew which version was the true one. (which goes without saying ,but I said it anyway :-D)
What we should bare in mind is that 'The Tales of Robin Hood' first appear in c.1450, which is some 350 years after the events that they perport to portray. This is at the start of the Wars of the Roses, and so we should assume that (whoever) conceived the legend may well have been relating the current grievances between lords but placing it in an earlier era.
What we should bare in mind is that 'The Tales of Robin Hood' first appear in c.1450, which is some 350 years after the events that they perport to portray. This is at the start of the Wars of the Roses, and so we should assume that (whoever) conceived the legend may well have been relating the current grievances between lords but placing it in an earlier era.
I could see how this could be true. I think that historical revisionism/shaping is done within our own day for political gain, and I am sure that it has been done in some respect throughout all of history.
