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Holt dissects the RH source material, discusses its geographical and historical context, goes very much into the evolution of the myth and, most especially, the audience for these stories, the main impetus for its change over the centuries. The only thing that matters here, since a definitive answer will probably never be found, is the journey towards ambiguity. So, maybe there was a historical basis for Robin Hood? Maybe there were many Robin Hoods? That's the more interesting take-away, that the title was simply an archetype for a particular brand of yeoman bandito.

There may never be a true "last word" since there simply isn't enough evidence, but Holt does his damndest and it's hard to argue with his conclusions, not matter how wishy-washy they must be by necessity. I'm not ruining anything by saying that Holt is cautiously inconclusive, as any investigation into things like this must be.

It's pretty definitive and straightforward and it probably infuriated the whole Robin-Hood-was-a-real-guy crowd. I love any book that is said to be "the last word" in anything and I love books guaranteed to piss off people who have no better way to spend their time than arguing about fictional characters and how they're really not fictional at all. He has also published other works on the same period, such as The Northerners: A Study in the Reign of King John, and Robin Hood. The book has since been fully revised, and is still considered authoritative within its field. In this work he treated the charter in the context of the political framework of its time. Holt made his fame with the book Magna Carta, which came out in its original edition in 1965. Holt became a Fellow of the British Academy in 1978 and was its Vice President from 1987 - 1989, president of the Royal Historical Society (1981–1985), and was knighted for his work as an historian. From 1981 until 1988 he served as the Master of Fitzwilliam College. He held the positions of Professor of Medieval History at the University of Nottingham (1962 - 1965), Professor of History at the University of Reading (1965 - 1978) and Professor of Medieval History at the University of Cambridge from 1978 until his retirement in 1988. Professor Sir James Clarke Holt FBA (born 26 April 1922) is an English medieval historian and was the third Master of Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge University.Įducated at Bradford Grammar School, Holt graduated, and subsequently took his DPhil, at the University of Oxford.