{"id":843,"date":"2007-03-25T04:07:00","date_gmt":"2007-03-25T04:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=843"},"modified":"2007-03-25T04:07:00","modified_gmt":"2007-03-25T04:07:00","slug":"keeping-it-real-with-robin-i-the-hood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=843","title":{"rendered":"Keeping it real with Robin i’ the hood"},"content":{"rendered":"

A flashback to the 1980s: M. and I have been watching some episodes of Robin of Sherwood<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

This was the “Pagan” Robin Hood, thanks to the appearance therein of Herne the Hunter, not to mention bits of ceremonial magick.<\/p>\n

Back in 1983, the show was a cult favorite in several senses of the term.<\/p>\n

Now, it makes me think “Sir Walter Scott<\/a> (think Ivanhoe<\/em><\/a>) meets Dennis Wheatley<\/a>.” Or Hammer Studios<\/a> in the Greenwood.<\/p>\n

And then there is the issue of knitting. Dear reader, when you see characters wearing knitted “chain mail,” you know it’s a cheap production. <\/p>\n

If you see male characters wearing knit tights, you might surmise that the director made his girlfriend the costume manager, because knitting was not even known in 12th-century England<\/a>–not even by hand, let alone machine-knit.<\/p>\n

In fact, if 12th-century male characters are wearing short tunics and tights, then the historical research for the film probably consisted of watching the 1922 version of Robin Hood<\/em><\/a>, starring Douglas Fairbanks, Sr.<\/a>, which seems to have set the fashion for most subsequent adaptations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A flashback to the 1980s: M. and I have been watching some episodes of Robin of Sherwood. This was the “Pagan” Robin Hood, thanks to the appearance therein of Herne the Hunter, not to mention bits of ceremonial magick. Back in 1983, the show was a cult favorite in several senses of the term. Now, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[36,5],"class_list":["post-843","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tag-movies","tag-paganism"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6xQTg-dB","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5309,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=5309","url_meta":{"origin":843,"position":0},"title":"Robin of Kent (and His Merry Men)","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"March 9, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"A British historian argues that Robin Hood was based on a guerrilla bowman nicknamed Willikin of the Weald, although he might have passed through Sherwood Forest. (A snippet of the longer article from History Today) That puts him fighting for \"bad King John\" (a minus) but against the French (always\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"England\"","block_context":{"text":"England","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=england"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":14218,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=14218","url_meta":{"origin":843,"position":1},"title":"Upcoming Zoom with Robin Douglas, Sasha Chaitow","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"March 7, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Two leading scholars of contemporary Paganism will be live on Zoom this weekend: Robin Douglas has a book in press with the Equinox series on Pagan studies: The Pagan Revival A Documentary History of Modern Paganism, 1700-1950. Sasha Chaitow is also widely published, including in The Pomegranate: The International Journal\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Britain\"","block_context":{"text":"Britain","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=britain"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/robin-sasha.webp?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/robin-sasha.webp?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/robin-sasha.webp?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/robin-sasha.webp?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":368,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=368","url_meta":{"origin":843,"position":2},"title":"Banning the Runes? Robin Runesinger\u2026","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"January 28, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Banning the Runes? Robin Runesinger at \"Voice of the Valkyrie\" worries that the European Union might ban runic symbols as symbols of \"hate.\" I fear that it might well happen. Being nonsensical never stopped a bureaucrat.","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":384,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=384","url_meta":{"origin":843,"position":3},"title":"There are girls you marry,\u2026","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"February 19, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"There are girls you marry, and girls you . . . Robin Runesinger explains Wiccan women: They worship goddesses, and they want to dominate men sexually, you see. (And all the lonely \u00c1satr\u00fa boys take another swig from their drinking horns, each wrapped in a mist of sexual fantasy.)Reference is\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":247,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=247","url_meta":{"origin":843,"position":4},"title":"Another Pagan Classic","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"August 19, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"I have been re-reading Donna Tartt's The Secret History, the leading entry in the literary genre of \"when Classics majors go bad.\" It was first published in 1992, and I did my part for her royalty payments by sending at least three hardcover copies as Christmas presents in 1993. Sales\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Paganism\"","block_context":{"text":"Paganism","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=paganism"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6611,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=6611","url_meta":{"origin":843,"position":5},"title":"Beltania Festival Moves Closer to the Capitol","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"July 21, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"It was nice while it lasted, having a Pagan festival near enough that, if my schedule was too crowded, I could at least buy a day pass and hear the best concerts. Not any more. Beltania is pulling out of District 12* (where the coal miners once toiled) and moving\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Colorado\"","block_context":{"text":"Colorado","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=colorado"},"img":{"alt_text":"Maypole procession 2011 (Photo by Robin Vinehall).","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/maypole4-crystalize.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/maypole4-crystalize.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/maypole4-crystalize.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/843","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=843"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/843\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=843"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=843"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=843"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}