That Devil-hood

Ten years ago I wrote a series of short novels on Robin Hood, since republished by Sharpe Books.

I wanted to do something different to the usual Richard I/Prince John blah-blah, and set the tale in the year 1225, the early reign of Henry III.

I got this idea from some brief court records of a real-life Robin Hood who fled the York assizes in summer 1225. His name is spelled variously as Robert Hood, Robert Hod or (most intriguingly) Hobbehod.

The exciting interpretation is that 'Hobbe' was northern slang for the Devil, so 'devil-hood', implying a wicked or notorious character. The dull and more likely interpretation is that Hobbe was simply an old north country version of Robert.

Either way, this man had fled justice for some reason. Unfortunately the plea roll for the 1225 York assize has not survived, so we don't know the nature of his offence. There were a lot of disturbances in Yorkshire at this time, provoked by a crackdown on forest offences by royal justices. It is quite probable that 'Hobbehod' got involved in all this, and was forced to flee.

We do know the Sheriff of Yorkshire, Eustace of Lowdham, seized Hobbehod's worldly goods to the value of 32 shillings and 6 pence. This would make him of the middling or 'yeoman' class rather than a peasant: coincidentally (or not) the precise status of Robin Hood in the early medieval ballads.

Was Hobbehod the original Robin Hood though? No idea, sadly, and the question is unlikely to be resolved. Very fertile ground for fiction, though...