Thursday, April 14, 2011

History 111: A Brief History of Robin Hood

For the second book of the quarter, the class picked A Brief History of Robin Hood by Nigel Cawthorne. This looks like an excellent opportunity to explore the relationship between history and mythology as it relates to the historical method. In keeping with my focus on the historical method, my primary question for the class is how does one use the historical method to deal with a legend like Robin Hood and make valid historical claims? Granted that the Howard Pyle stories and its Errol Flynn film descendant (to say nothing of the dreadful Kevin Costner movie) are fiction. That being said the legend of Robin Hood can still prove useful in discussing late twelfth century England. And if that fails then we gain an even better tool for understanding the later English culture that down through the centuries crafted this legend.

1 comment:

ajs said...

"...the sort of culture that develops a Robin Hood myth, that tells you a lot about the time and place that story comes from..."

—Patrick Rothfuss

See http://www.bookotron.com/agony/news/2011/04-11-11-podcast.htm#podcast041211

Shabbat Shalom, Ariel