Dr Julian Luxford from the University's [of St. Andrews] School of Art History found the reference to the legendary figure in an inscription from around 1460 which appears in an English manuscript owned by Eton College.
Dr Luxford, an expert in medieval manuscript studies, explained, "The new find contains a uniquely negative assessment of the outlaw, and provides rare evidence for monastic attitudes towards him."
The pre-Reformation article is the only English chronicle entry to have been discovered which mentions Robin Hood. To date, just three Scottish medieval authors are thought to have set Robin in a chronological context...
A translation of the short inscription, which contains only 23 words in Latin, reads,
"Around this time, according to popular opinion, a certain outlaw named Robin Hood, with his accomplices, infested Sherwood and other law-abiding areas of England with continuous robberies.""By mentioning Sherwood it buttresses the hitherto rather thin evidence for a medieval connection between Robin and the Nottinghamshire forest with which he has become so closely associated."
The discovery has been written up as an article which will be published later this month in the Journal of Medieval History.
(full credit for text and image to PhysOrg.com)
You might be interested in an interview we just posted with Julian Luxford, where he gives more details about his discovery. You can read it at http://www.medievalists.net/2009/03/25/interview-with-julian-luxford/
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