Robin Hood lived in Sherwood Forest, near Nottingham in the centre of England. In those 12th century days a vast region of open tracts, woodland glades and great oaks used to stretch for many miles from the city northwards. This region was called Sherwood Forest.
Until the time of the Normans the forest was used for hunting by the people of that region, or shire, and thereby acquired its earlier name of shire wood .The common people’s right to hunt ceased when the Norman kings took over the forest for their own use. Strict laws were passed and special courts were set up to preserve them.
Whether Robin hood and his merry band of followers, which included little john , friar tuck , will scarlet and maid Marian, ever existed is difficult to establish. Certainly by the end of the 12th century, with control of royal Sherwood in the hands of feudal barons, the common people deeply resented the harsh and oppressive rule under which they lived. The time was ripe for stories about a man who robbed the rich to feed the poor.
The character of Robin Hood represented the ideals of the common people of the late middle ages. Ballads about his exploits have been preserved and may data from the14th and 15th centuries .in 1795 Joseph Ritson first published collection of these in book form.
Over the years stories of the carefree folk –hero and band of happy followers, living an idyllic life in the woodland glades of the Plantagenet kings, have become the subject of many books.
