Welcome to benturner.com's Robin Hood site. This site is maintained by Ben Turner, a regular joe who became engrossed in Robin Hood's history after choosing the name as an online nick around 10 years ago.

I have had this section open for over a decade now, and I believe it was actually the first Robin Hood site on the Web. Although the content has gradually evolved, little of it has been contributed by me.

The initial information on this site was all mine, but most all information after that point has been contributed by you, the readers. You are the people who make this site informational and worth reading, because you each contribute tidbits of information that you've picked up. It all adds up. This site is about sharing the wealth, so to speak, and it is our outlaw who reminds us that any contribution makes great advances towards the cause.

TRADING INFO

Note: This site has fallen into disrepair. It is by no means the best resource for Robin Hood information since I no longer maintain it. Your best source for the most info is at Wikipedia on the Robin Hood page. Please please please use Wikipedia!

Please do not e-mail me asking for more information or images or sounds or whatever. If I have it, it's on this site. I can't really help with school papers, references, resources, etc.

Sorry to be stingy -- I'll try to help as best I can. One last time -- this site is about you as much as it's about Robin Hood. People who come here come here because they grew up with the stories of the Bandit in their heads. We're kindred.

INTRODUCTION

The legends of Robin Hood will never die. Don't believe me? Do you know anyone who hasn't heard of Robin Hood? Didn't think so. Robin Hood has survived through many centuries through tongue only, in the oral story-telling tradition -- now that we're in the Information Age, when even the most banal and inane words of Internet junkies are forever recorded on peoples' hard drives, Robin's life will be immortalized in our minds, in our writing, and in our art. The hard task of just surviving has been completed.

"There is a need in this country [Britain] for a social conscience. And if Robin Hood is not the personification of social conscience, I don't know what is."

-Sheriff Roy Greensmith

Let us then discuss not of his death, but of his eternal life in the minds and hearts of those who have been inspired by him. Robin Hood's staying power rivals that of Aeneas, Odysseus, Beowulf, and other characters passed along in the oral tradition. Perhaps he is even more ubiquitous because of his appeal towards the common man, and through his embracing by Disney. (remember the fox?) Robin Hood is not just a man; he also stands for our ideals and how we must strive for justice even if there's little hope of succeeding. Truth and justice prevail over ignorance and tyranny.

We live in an age where the heavy hand of hostile takeovers and monopoly looms over governments and businesses. For Robin, it was the same, although what he experienced was the actual restriction of human rights to live. Whether or not Robin Hood was an actual man, or merely dozens of different men, does not matter. He is an embodiment of the vigilance of freedom, and even though we may identify certain groups of leaders as being unruly, if we remember Robin Hood and his philosophy, it will help us better put our own situations in context.

Hail Robin, for he reminds us what an exhilaration it should be to live, and live freely. Is it any surprise that William Wallace (Braveheart) is compared so closely with Robin Hood? Yes, there are theories that they are the same person, and there is some information regarding that theory on-site.

If you're interested in learning more about Robin Hood, I strongly suggest that you read Robin Hood, a very thorough and pleasant book by J.C. Holt. Because it delves into every cranny of the legend of Robin Hood and gives the reader a better sense of the greatness of Robin Hood, it made an excellent research tool for my page. It skimps out on the basics, but there are plenty of other resources to get those -- this one concentrates on more specific issues. I have collected a good deal of information on this site from Mr. Holt's book.

"[Robin Hood is] a man who, in a barbarous age, and under a complicated tyranny, displayed a spirit of freedom and independence which has endeared him to the common people, whose cause he maintained (for all opposition to tyranny is the cause of the people), and, in spite of the malicious endeavours of pitiful monks, by whom history was consecrated to the crimes and follies of titled ruffians and sainted idiots, to suppress all record of his patriotic exertions and virtuous acts, will render his name immortal."

-Joseph Ritson

Enjoy your visit here. It's all for you.