In this story and film, Robin Hood has the ‘real’ name Robin Fitzooth and is the son of Hugh Fitzooth, gamekeeper of the Earl of Huntingdon. It was the doctor and parson, William Stukeley (1678-1765), who first provided Robin Hood with a family tree of this name in 1746.
Stukeley used William Dugdale’s ‘Baronage’ of 1675 and set about creating Robin Hood’s genealogy amongst the early Norman landowners. One branch of the family he used, included an invented Maud, who married a ficticious knight called Ralph fitz Ooth. From this branch of the family we eventually get a Robert Fitz Ooth, commonly called Robin Hood. This pedigree has since been described as a complete fabrication by most modern day scholars.
© Clement of the Glen 2006-2007
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