How Robin the outlaw may have had another string to his bow

ROBIN Hood, the legendary outlaw of Sherwood Forest , is a figure who has captured the popular imagination but baffled historians for hundreds of years.

With the first references to him occurring in early ballads and chronicles, it has long been assumed that he and his Merry Men belong squarely in the realm of the folk tale.

Robin's enduring allure in our culture is partly due to the many versions of the story of the man who robbed from the rich and gave to the poor as presented in children's books and on film and television.

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We like to believe that such a character existed, but no-one has ever pinned him down as one solid entity. The latest film presentation of our hero is Russell Crowe's in the new film directed by Ridley Scott, a blood-spattered and macho rendition with Cate Blanchett as Maid Marian bringing out Robin's soft and sensitive side.

Writer John Paul Davis has a new theory about Robin, detailed in his book Robin Hood – Unknown Templar. While researching another work, on the Knights Templar, the most famous of the Western military orders, which existed for two centuries in the Middle Ages, he says he uncovered persuasive evidence that Robin was a real person with close ties to that order.

Officially endorsed by the Catholic Church around 1129, the Order of Knights Templar became a favoured charity throughout Christendom, growing rapidly in membership and power. In their distinctive white mantles with the red cross of St George, these knights were among the most skilled fighting units of the Crusades

Non-combatant members of the Order managed a large economic infrastructure throughout Christendom, innovating financial techniques that were an early form of banking, and building many fortifications across Europe and the Holy Land.

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"Although my own studies were in economics, not history, I have always been interested in Robin Hood and read about him widely going back to my childhood," says Davis.

"When you look at the way he is represented, not just in modern films and on TV, but even in early stories, he is the 'good outlaw' who championed the poor, was the guardian of the downtrodden and general upholder of high moral values in a tyrannical, oppressive society – a figure we all want to believe in.

"While I was researching the Templars I found myself distracted and diverted back to Robin Hood because so many of the values and activities of the Knights ticked the same boxes as he did."

Davis points to Robin Hood having been, not a mythical superman that centuries of folklore have embellished in one way or another, but a courteous, religious man who became an outlaw at the time when the Knights Templar fell from grace and were marginalised and then banished because the aristocracy was too much in their debt and the Pope had turned against them.

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The writer meticulously lists references from literature and history which he says add up to

a convincing argument that not only was Robin Hood a real

person but that he was indeed a Templar and that he was based in Yorkshire, where there were 10 Templar houses.

"You can make a checklist of everything that the Templars stood for and it exactly matches and explains the story of Robin Hood. This includes the vow of celibacy; his unusual mix of military discipline yet utter devotion to the Christian faith; the honouring and protection of women and obligation to clothe and help the poor from your own pocket.

"And, importantly, his knowledge of banking which was clearly at that time the preserve of the Templars alone. In one of the ballads, Robin lends a nobleman 400 to be repaid over a year – hardly the act of a lone outlaw of that time. There are numerous smaller hints, too, for example Little John accompanies Robin to hold his sword – and we know that the Grand Templar was always accompanied by a lance bearer."

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John Paul Davis says the evidence is clear that Robin, if not a Knight Templar, must have been part of an order of some sort with a strict code rather than a lone operator.

In some fictitious versions, Robin Hood is not a yeoman but an aristocrat wrongfully dispossessed of his lands and made into an outlaw by the unscrupulous Sherriff of Nottingham. According to Davis, the "real" Templar incarnation of Robin would have actually given away any land or other worldly wealth to the Order.

The order became a wealthy landowner in its own right – with some aristocrats who could not replay loans from the Templars making payment in pieces of their estate. Over time this became a great source of resentment.

Templars were devoted to the high ideals embodied by the Virgin Mary. If Maid Marian existed at all, says Davis, the relationship with Robin would have been chaste.

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While Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire both have strong claims to Robin Hood, Davis believes Yorkshire has the greater case because of the strong Templar presence in the county.

Academics have generally discounted Robin Hood as a historical rather than mythical figure. "I'm prepared for them to be critical, but would at least

like them to look at my work and think again."

n Robin Hood – The Unknown Templar by John Paul Davis is published by Peter Owen, 14.99. To order from the Yorkshire Post Bookshop call 0800 0153232 or go to www.yorkshirepostbookshop

.co.uk Postage costs 2.95.

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