The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #59852 Message #962007
Posted By: Nerd
30-May-03 - 01:16 PM
Thread Name: Folklore: Oak Trees in Folklore
Subject: RE: Folklore: Oak Trees in Folklore
I just checked out daylia's link, and they give absolutely no evidence, or even a citation of any scholar's work, to back their claim about "Robin Hood's Bowers." It is, as I said, a false claim, for every historian who has written a book about Robin Hood (and even the re-enactors) find the name first cropping up in the thirteenth century.
It's very telling that the website in question begins with the statement that the search for the mythic Robin Hood has been abandoned by serious scholars. They then go on to say that they themselves consider the mythic Robin Hood more interesting than the historical approach. Then they move to "If we are to assume that the legend of Robin Hood derives in any part from memories of ancient pagan deities, we should examine the mythology of the pagan cultures that once inhabited the British Isles..." and this is the justification for the rest of the site.
This is a classic case of circular logic, either inadverdently inept or intentionally deceitful. It assumes from the outset what it ostensibly attempts to demonstrate, that Robin Hood derives from pagan deities. But it makes that assumption before analysing the evidence, not after.