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Robin Hood Festival Days
"Honour to the old bow-string!
Honour to the bugle-horn!
Honour to the woods unshorn!
Honour to the Lincoln green!
Honour to the archer keen!
Honour to tight little John,
And the horse he rode upon!
Honour to bold Robin Hood,
Sleeping in the underwood!
Honour to maid Marian,
And to all the Sherwood-clan!
Though their days have hurried by
Let us two a burden try."
~ Ode to Robin Hood, John Keats, 1818
Welcome to Sherwood! High summer is alive with festivals of every kind, and among them are those that celebrate the legendary folk hero Robin Hood—the famous “noble robber” whose tales of daring and defiance have been told and retold since the 15th century. Today, the most famous gathering still takes place in Sherwood Forest, Nottinghamshire, but across the Atlantic, Sherwood, Oregon hosts its own sister celebration! There, visitors can step into a medieval world of merriment, rub shoulders with Robin, Maid Marian, and the Merry Men, and spot their unmistakable Lincoln green attire.
Though often cast in ballads as an Anglo-Saxon nobleman, some scholars argue for Scottish roots in his story! In fact, Scottish chronicles give us the earliest preserved written idea of Robin Hood as both a real historical person and a moral outlaw hero.
This is why some scholars argue Scotland played a decisive role in shaping the legend, even though its cultural “home” is usually thought of as English.
Either way, Robin Hood has unofficially assigned a tartan of his own—better known as the “Rob Roy Hunting” tartan. Though generally woven with a dark green and black colour, Robin Hood's favoured colours are the eponymous Lincoln green!
This colour sprang from the skilled dyers of Lincoln, a thriving cloth town of the High Middle Ages. Their process layered a base of deep blue from woad with a golden over-dye from Dyer’s Broom (also called woad waxen), yielding a distinctive olive or dark lime green. Lincoln’s fame rested not only on the brilliance of its dyes but also on their unmatched consistency. The same workshops also produced a coveted scarlet wool, destined for the wealthy and fashionable.
Ballads of the 18th century describe Robin in his forest haunts clad in Lincoln green, while at court he appeared in the rich Lincoln scarlet, a nod to his aristocratic identity as the Earl of Huntingdon, or the Early of Locksley. In this way, colour itself became a costume of dual identity: green for the outlaw of the woods, scarlet for the nobleman beneath. 💚 🖤 💚 🏹 🎯
The origins of Robin Hood have long been debated, and separating fact from legend has never been straightforward. English records show that by the mid-13th century “Robehod” or “Rabunhod” was already being used as a nickname for criminals, likely applied to various outlaws rather than to one particular figure. By 1377, the name appears in William Langland’s Piers Plowman, the earliest surviving literary reference to Robin Hood.
The first ballads, preserved from the 1460s, expand the picture: Robin and his band are portrayed as expert archers, swordsmen, and even horsemen, though without the later embellishments of Richard the Lionheart or noble birth that were added centuries afterward. Modern scholarship tends to strip away these later inventions, turning instead to these early ballads and oral traditions as a possible echo of a real outlaw remembered in local lore.
What is striking, however, is that some of the earliest chronicle attempts to place Robin Hood in historical time come not from England, but from Scotland. Scottish chroniclers of the 15th and early 16th centuries treated Robin and his men as real figures within their histories, and in doing so decisively shaped the legend we recognize today.
Andrew of Wyntoun, Orygynale Cronykil of Scotland (c. 1420): In Book VIII, chapter 22, Wyntoun places “Lytill Johne and Robyne Hude” during the reign of Edward I (1272–1307). He notes that they were already well-known through ballads and songs, making this one of the earliest chronicle references to Robin Hood by name anywhere in Britain.
Walter Bower, Scotichronicon (c. 1446): In Book IX, chapter 29, Bower situates Robin and Little John in the year 1266. He describes them as “famous robbers” beloved by the common people, noting that they harmed only the rich and aided the poor. Crucially, this is the first chronicle source to articulate the now-iconic “steal from the rich, give to the poor” motif—introduced in a Scottish context.
John Mair, Historia Majoris Britanniae (1521): Writing in Latin, Mair gives one of the fullest early accounts. He places Robin in the reign of Richard I (c. 1190) and describes a band of about 100 followers. He stresses Robin’s honor code—he spared women, killed only when provoked, and consistently supported the poor. Mair also notes the widespread popularity of Robin Hood games and plays in both England and Scotland, evidence of how deeply the figure had entered popular culture.
These Scottish chronicles are unique because they do more than echo English outlaw tales: they are among the earliest historical works to anchor Robin Hood to specific dates and reigns. Wyntoun first fixes him in Edward I’s time, Bower links him directly to the year 1266 and introduces his social-justice ethic, and Mair emphasizes his chivalric character and popular afterlife. Together, they not only confirm that Robin Hood was widely known across Britain by the early 15th century, but also suggest that Scotland played a decisive role in shaping the legendary outlaw’s enduring identity as a champion of the poor.
Click the book cover illustration by Milo Winter (1888-1956) for more information on the more recent of the Robin Hood theories.