Quoting from 'The Geste Of Robin Hood' we read:-
"Robyn stood in Barnsdale,
And leaned against a tree,
At his side stood Little John,
A good yeoman was he.
"Further along it says:"
I made a chapel in Barnsdale,
That's beautiful to see,
It is of Mary Magdalene,
It's where I'd like to be."
Barnsdale is where the early medieval Rhymes of Robin Hood are set and it is to where Robin Hood returned after his encounters with the Sheriff of Nottingham. It was in Barnsdale where Robin robbed the Bishop of Hereford of his gold, it is in Barnsdale where Robin Hood helped the poor knight on his way to York, it is in Barnsdale at Campsall where Robin Hood built the early wooden church of St. Mary Magdalene near the River Skell and according to tradition it is where Robin Hood and Little John first met and had their famous fight over the same River Skell at Wentbridge in Barnsdale.
'Hood' is derived from the Saxon word "Houdt" meaning "the wood" i.e. 'Robber in the Wood' where thieves, vagabonds and fugitives sought refuge from the courts, the ‘name’ becoming the generic representation of those outlaws who had evaded capture, meaning the myriad of later ‘robinhood’ candidates are less likely to be the original man.
For those who doubt Robin Hood was a real person here is an extract from John Fordun's account of the defeat of Simon-de-Montfort in the Scotch Chronicles: AD1265"In that year also the disinherited English barons and those loyal to the king clashed fiercely; amongst them Roger de Mortimer occupied the Welsh Marches and John-de-Eyville occupied the Isle of Ely; Robert Hood was an outlaw amongst the woodland briar's and thorns. Between them they inflicted a vast amount of slaughter on the common and ordinary folk, cities and merchants. King Henry, however, along with his son Prince Edward and a huge army also besieged the very well fortified castle of Kenilworth, where almost [May] all the nobles who were rebelling against the king had taken refuge. There the remnant of Simon-de-Montfort's following, seeing that the castle with its towers and protecting walls was impregnable, defended themselves steadily with all their might. At length, worn out by lack of food and starvation, they handed over the castle on [Dec] the condition that they keep life and limb."
A little later John's pupil Walter Bower inserted a note about Robin Hood that read
AD1266
"Then arose the famous murderer, Robert Hood, as well as Little John, together with their accomplices from among the disinherited, whom the foolish populace are so inordinately fond of celebrating both in tragedies and comedies, and about whom they are delighted to hear the jesters and minstrels sing above all other ballads."
Adding more substance to the ghostly figure of Robin Hood was another historian Andrew-of-Wyntoun, prior of Loch Leven who was writing his rhyming chronicle called 'Orygynale Chronicle' about the same time as John Fordun although the two chroniclers seem to have been unaware of the other's undertaking. However Andrew-de-Wynton firmly places Robin Hood and Little John in Inglewood and Barnsdale:
"Lytil Jhon and Robyne Hude Wayth-men ware commendyd gude In Ingle-wode and Barnysdale Thai oysyd all this tyme thare trawale."
AD1367
Then a hundred years after the death of Simon de Montfort came the first literary reference to Robin Hood when William Langland in 'Piers Plowman' confirmed Robin Hood's popularity with the people when the lazy priest called Sloth admitted "I know not perfectly my Paternoster as the priest singeth it but I know the rhymes of Robyn Hood".
Thus the accounts of John Fordun, Walter Bower, Andrew-of-Wyntoun and the 'Geste of Robin Hood,' are all in harmonious agreement telling of the period in which he lived, his location in Barnsdale, and his activities at Ely.
