The origin of the earliest Robin Hood ballads and the roots of the tradition from the perspective of Eric Hobsbawm’s conception of the ‘noble robber’

In this article, the topos of ‘The Noble Robber’, created by Eric Hobsbawm, the British historian, is employed to analyse the earliest narrative tradition of Robin Hood, dated to the 14th and 15th centuries – a cycle of ballads which were printed at the turn of the 15th and 16th centuries. The main aim of analysis is to see whether the image of Robin Hood that can be extracted from these ballads has the features of social construct as invented by Hobsbawm. The results are surprising – the image of Robin Hood has a number of features typical of Hobsbawm’s ‘Noble Robber’. Although, there is a garish lack of attributes which can be described as unattractive for the wealthiest groups of mediaeval society, like robbing the rich to give to the poor. This conclusion can be proof of the plebeian roots of Robin Hood, while the ballads, created especially for nobles, were devoid of elements attractive to peasants. The answer to the question of whether there was a real Robin Hood in the past is probably out of reach of researchers, because of gaps in the historical sources. But most important was the influence and impact of stories about him on English society of mediaeval times