Simon Mattacks

speaker

2,981 appearances 17 recordings 3 series first heard Dec 2024 last heard 13 Sep

Simon Mattacks’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.

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Recordings per month over the last 12 months — 14 in all, peaking in Aug 2026 with 3.

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Sleepy History · Robin Hood · 2 Aug 2026 podcast

In that respect, he is one step closer to the Robin Hood we prefer today.

Now, at this point, as a modern listener, you may be thinking, wasn't Robin Hood always talking about King Richard and his dastardly brother, King John?

If you are, that would be completely understandable.

As the centuries went on, the setting of his story shifted as much as his character, creating a whole new version of Robin Hood that dominates film and literature today.

But let's push pause on that discussion because it's important to return to the first versions of Robin Hood to find out if all those early legends were actually based on a real person from the medieval period.

That's what scholars have long sought to discover.

And of course, as any researcher knows, when you're using source material that is 800 years old, you're going to be grasping at straws.

Here are some of the facts we have to work with.

First, the name Robin was a nickname for Robert in the medieval period.

So, when viewing the sparse written records of the time, researchers are looking for anyone named Robert.

And it was a pretty common name.

Second, spellings were very inconsistent.

So that widens the number of names of people who could be the real Robin Hood, but it also creates more uncertainty.

There are enthusiasts and academics who went very, very far down various rabbit holes investigating people who had names like Robin Hood.

There was a medieval Robert Hood who got in trouble with the law between 1213 and 1216, but there's no other evidence to suggest he's the man.

A Robert Hodd showed up in 1226, branded an outlaw, and going also by the names Robert Hood and Robert Hobberhodd.

He was in the right place too, but it was the wrong time.

1226 was long after the reign of Richard and John, and before the reign of even Edward I. There is a Robert Fitztooth and a Robert FitzOdo, but both of these people also have major inconsistencies with the early Robin Hood stories.

In short, there's really no clear winner.

Now, let's get back to the fact that the last ballad we mentioned was set during the time of a King Edward.

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