The Many Robin Hoods 11

Robert of Wetherby

David Crook has put forward another candidate. He mentions the record of a hunt to find Robert of Wetherby, who is described as an ‘outlaw and evildoer of our land’. The hunt cost forty shillings, and in the following year another twenty eight shillings was spent when trying to behead him. Then there’s the order of two shillings for a chain to hang Wetherby, who appears to have met his end at the hands of the sheriff. Eustace of Lowdham was the sheriff of Yorkshire from April 1225 to May 1226 then deputy-sheriff until September, he was also a forest justice north of Trent in 1226. Eustace was probably the person responsible for the capture of Robert of Wetherby, and for the sale of the chattels of Robert Hod fugitive, and he  became sheriff of Nottinghamshire in 1232-33.  Crook tried to link Robert of Wetherby with Robert Hod fugitive (Hobbehod) but admits ‘All that can be said for sure is that the two men shared the same very common first name, and fell foul of the law in the same very large county at about the same time’.*

* ’The Sheriff of Nottingham and Robin Hood: The Genesis of the Legend?’ in ‘Thirteenth Century England II, Proceedings of the Newcastle upon Tyne Conference 1987′ ed. P. R. Coss & S. D. LLoyd, 1988.