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Legend has it that Robin Hood famously robbed the rich to give to the poor and lived with his Merry Men and Maid Marion in Sherwood Forest, near Nottingham. But was he a real man or a myth?
Some say he was a real person who lived from 1160-1247, and that he is buried at Kirklees Priory in West Yorkshire. The story goes that Robin (or Robert) was made Earl of Huntingdon by Richard the Lionheart and that the inscription on the headstone at Kirklees is a copy of the genuine original.
But contemporary historians make no mention of Robin Hood, which is odd considering his popularity. This has led many to believe that he was in fact a mythical figure, symbolising the fight for freedom against the unjust laws of the barons of the Middle Ages.
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