The Outlaw of Sherwood Forest

de bene esse: literally, of well-being, morally acceptable but subject to future validation or exception

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Was William Wallace the inspiration of legendary English folk hero Robin Hood? 

Remember William Wallace was the hot Scot played by Mel Gibson in Braveheart.  Even before the 15th century English revelers on May Day had plays and games that revolved around the figure of Robin Hood in near religious fervour. 

Historians have combed records in search of evidentiary proof of Robin Hood.  Could Robin Hood share equal  fame in pop-culture history as the Scottish Knight, Wallace who resisted English oppression until his execution in 1305? 

The novelist Jack Whyte in The Forest Laird suggests the hypothesis that Braveheart was Robin Hood.

The fun parallels ...

• the seal of William Wallace featured a long bow suggesting he was a skilled archer
• like Robin Hood and his merry men - Wallace hid in Scotland's Selkirk forest
• Wallace's wife Mirren (Scot for Marian) was kidnapped and murdered by the English sheriff of Lanark, William Heselrig, who Wallace later killed

Robin Hood scholar and professor, Thomas Hahn doubts Whyte's points on the basis of chronology.  The earliest poem on Wallace, 'Piers Plowman' from the 1370s implied Robin Hood's place in the hearts of English men but was far too early for an avowed enemy of England to morph into a beloved hero.