What was Robin Hood & Marian's real love story?

Probably the most requested wedding first dance song in the last 30 years is “(Everything I do) I do it for you” by Bryan Adams.

It still holds the UK record for the longest uninterrupted period at No1 in the charts (16 weeks). It was released to accompany the film Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves in 1991.

The love story between Robin Hood & Maid Marion is a medieval classic retold through the ages as ballads, village plays, books & of course many times on TV & in movies.

Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves is not, to my mind the best (Kevin Coster’s accent is the worst) although Alan Rickman is priceless as the deliciously wicked Sheriff of Nottingham.

Nottinghamshire proudly claims the mysterious Robin Hood as their own, whereas there is much evidence he was actually a South Yorkshireman.

His actual name was thought to be Robert of Loxley (in west Sheffield), and Robin Hood’s cave in Stanage Edge on the boundary of Sheffield & Derbyshire looks towards Hathersage just 15 minutes away where Little John is reportedly buried.

Many of the earliest records base Robin in Barnsdale Forest, north of Doncaster. In the Victorian best-seller, Ivanhoe by Walter Scott, Robin operates around Conisbrough Castle, also near Doncaster.

So why Nottingham? It is likely to be down to that ambitious Sheriff who had jurisdiction to prevent illegal hunting in Sherwood Forest which, back then, covered most of Nottinghamshire County & extended into South Yorkshire. As Robert of Loxley/Robin Hood got more & more bold hunting in the Royal Forest & stealing from rich travellers on the London to York Road (A1) he would have caught the attention of the Sheriff of Nottingham.

So what about Maid Marian? She doesn’t appear in the earliest ballads about Robin, but appears in stories from 1500. She was originally described as a shepherdess but in later tales she becomes a woman of “rank” who falls in love with the outlaw & exhiles herself with him.

Robin & Marian have an inspiring love story. Bryan Adams’ ballad is now also a classic to add to this enduring story.

📸 @rita.boulanger