Storyworlds of Robin Hood: The Origins of a Medieval Outlaw

A fresh and exciting reappraisal of folklore outlaw Robin Hood.

Robin Hood is one of the most enduring and well-known figures of English folklore. Yet who was he? In this intriguing book, Lesley Coote re-examines the early tales about Robin in light of the stories, both English and French, that surrounded them - stories with which they shared many elements of form and meaning. In the process, she returns to questions such as “Where did Robin come from?‘ and "What did these stories mean?’ The Robin who reveals himself is as spiritual as he is he is secular and as much an "insider’ as he is an outlaw. And in the context of current debates about national identity and Britain’s relationship with the wider world, Robin emerges to be as European as he is English - or perhaps, as the author suggests, that is precisely the quality which made him fundamentally English all along.