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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.
Use the SECTIONS links to navigate. Please please please
e-mail me if you have any
problems finding your way around -- I'm trying to make this site as
intuitive as possible.
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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.
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INTRODUCTION
People have asked me for my views regarding the theory that provides new
evidence that Robin may have been homosexual. The man who contributed
this theory (I forget his name now) is a distinguished Robin Hood
researcher, so who am I to say? Personally, it makes no difference
to me who Robin was interested in. I guess my most pressing question is,
"Did Marian get any of that action?"
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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.
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