The Making of Robin Hood

Joseph Ritson, Walter Scott and the Robin Hood of Ivanhoe

Few characters have travelled through time quite like Robin Hood.

For centuries, his story has been told and retold, changing with every generation. But an important stage in that journey came with Joseph Ritson, an eighteenth-century antiquary whose work helped preserve the old Robin Hood traditions, and Walter Scott, who later brought the outlaw into his famous historical novel Ivanhoe.

Joseph Ritson — Preserving the Legend

Joseph Ritson (1752–1803) was an English antiquary, writer and collector of old songs, ballads and folklore.

He became fascinated by Robin Hood and, in 1795, published Robin Hood: A Collection of All the Ancient Poems, Songs, and Ballads, Now Extant, Relative to That Celebrated Outlaw.

Ritson gathered together surviving Robin Hood material and attempted to preserve the older traditions rather than simply accepting later additions. His work became an important source for writers who followed him.

Among them was Walter Scott.

Walter Scott — Bringing the Past to Life

Walter Scott (1771–1832) had a lifelong fascination with history, medieval literature and traditional stories.

In 1819, he published Ivanhoe, taking his readers back to England in 1194, during the reign of Richard the Lionheart.

The novel is filled with knights, castles, tournaments and the tensions between Saxons and Normans. At the centre is Wilfred of Ivanhoe, but Scott also introduced another familiar figure — Robin Hood.

Scott's Robin appears primarily as Locksley, a skilled archer and leader of the outlaws. He plays an important part in the attack on Torquilstone Castle and the rescue of the prisoners.

Scott drew upon a number of earlier sources when creating his medieval world, including Joseph Ritson's collection of Robin Hood poems, songs and ballads.

And this is where the story becomes fascinating.

Ritson collected and preserved the fragments of Robin Hood's past. Scott took some of those fragments and turned them into living history.

The Making of Robin Hood

The Robin Hood we recognise today is not simply the character of the medieval ballads. He is the result of centuries of storytelling, reinterpretation and reinvention.

The medieval ballads provided the foundations.

Joseph Ritson helped preserve those traditions for future generations.

Then Walter Scott brought Robin Hood into Ivanhoe, placing him within a dramatic vision of twelfth-century England and introducing him to a huge nineteenth-century readership.

From there, the legend would continue to evolve through books, theatre, illustration, film and television.

But perhaps the most remarkable thing is that Robin Hood has never really belonged to one particular century.

Ritson preserved him. Scott reinvented him. And generation after generation has continued to tell his story.

And so Robin Hood continues his journey through time.