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Tom Colton's Infoboxes and Other Graphics

Ivinghoe, or 'Tis been 200 Years Since

I never got round to finishing my infobox series about Ivanhoe, so I thought I might as well do it here! :D

Protagonists
Antagonists
  • The Templar
    • Brian de Bois-Guilbert
  • The Usurper of Ivinghoe
    • Reinald de Boeuf
  • The Freelancer
    • Maurice de Bracy
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Wilfred of Ivinghoe, Earl of Northumbria

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Wilfred fitz Cedric, Earl of Northumbria, Baron of Ivinghoe (d. after 1199), most commonly known as Ivinghoe after the manor in Buckinghamshire granted to him by Richard I of England, his perennial patron, was a knight who rose to prominence during the Angevin Dynasty of the Kingdom of England, particularly during the rule of Richard I. He is notable for being pivotal to the events surrounding Richard I's return from the Holy Land following the Third Crusade and the restoration of the prodigal monarch to the kingship of England after the usurpation of the crown and its authority by his brother John of England, along with John's cronies amongst the Order of the Knights Templar, led by the infamous Brian de Bois-Guilbert.

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Early life and background

Wilfred was born to Eadric fitz Edgar, better known as "Cedric the Saxon", and Amice de Senlis, daughter of Simon II de Senlis, Earl of Huntingdon-Northampton. His father was a descendant of the Anglo-Celtic Gospatrics, formerly Earls of Northumbria who took great pride in his "Anglo-Saxon" lineage, styling himself after the pseudo-legendary Cerdic of Wessex, albeit with a typographical error resulting in the coining of the name "Cedric", which has remained popular since. The de Senlis family, through Simon I de Senlis's marriage to Matilda of Northumbria, was also descended from Earls of Northumbria, specifically Waltheof, Earl of Northumbria, the last Anglo-Saxon earl to retain power after the Norman conquest of England.

Cedric the Saxon was able to amass a great fortune and control of numerous lands in the North of England through his marriage to Amice de Senlis, and his subsequent marriage to Isabelle de Tosny, whose family was also descended from Waltheof, this time through his other daughter Adelisa of Huntingdon. Despite owing his wealth to the Anglo-Norman nobility, Cedric brimmed with an obsolete nativism, which reached a peak when he was granted guardianship of Roana, the illegitimate daughter of Henry II of England and his mistress Rosamund Clifford, who was a member of the de Tosny family. Roana thus was a half-siter to Richard and John and their other legitimate siblings through Henry II and his queen, Eleanor of Aquitaine.

A plan was soon hatched by Cedric and family friend Æthelstane Adelin, grandson of Edgar Atheling, the last native Anglo-Saxon monarch of England, to marry Æthelstane to Roana and press his claim to king during the next period of mass revolt. This was not incredibly far-fetched given that Cedric had in his lifetime witnessed The Anarchy between Stephen of Blois and the Empress Matilda ended with the accession of Henry II to the throne, along with the 1173-1174 revolts of Henry II's sons against himself not just twenty years later.

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Service to Richard and Crusade

Wilfred, never having been an adherent to his father's nativist principles, angered Cedric firstly through his enthusiastic support of Richard in his campaigns to pacify Anglouême (for which he was knighted and later granted the manor of Ivinghoe), and secondly through his courtship of Roana, Cerdic's ward and his third cousin; any union between them would undermine Cerdic's usurpation plot.

The final straw came when, following Richard's accession to the throne in 1189 and Wilfred's promotion to Baron Ivinghoe, Wilfred announced his taking up the cross to liberate the Holy Land, in what would become the Third Crusade. In Wilfred's absence, Cedric publicly denounced his son and nullified his inheritance of the lands of the de Senlises, which Cedric had held jure uxoris and would have passed naturally to Wilfred. Following a series of inconclusive campaigns in Acre and Jaffa and the signing of an accord between Richard I and the Saracren commander Saladin, Wilfred headed for home at the same time as Richard.

However, during their absence, Prince John and the King of France, Phillip II Augustus, had conspired against Richard to usurp his throne during his imprisonment by Leopold V, Duke of Austria, and the authority of his regent William de Longchamp, and replace Richard's vassals with John's, cementing the younger brother's control of the country. As Phillip and John had been forewarned of Richard's release - the missive famously reading "LOOK TO YOURSELF - THE DEVIL IS LOOSE", Wilfred recognised the danger at hand, a premonition which had been confirmed by the seizure of Conisburgh Castle from loyalist Hamelin de Warenne, Earl of Surrey, and its grant to John's crony, Reinald de Boeuf, a move which placed Cedric's holdings in Rotherwood at severe risk.

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The Revolt of 1194

Wilfred thus disguised himself first as a palmer, where he rescued Isaac of York, a Jewish merchant fleeing from John's machinations in Conisburgh, from another of John's henchmen, the Templar Brian de Bois-Guilbert, then as the anonymous "Disinherited Knight" during the tournament at Ashby-de-la-Zouch, where he secretly made his return known to Roana; however, the second day of the tourney saw him beset by overwhelming numbers set upon him by Prince John and his henchmen, as punishment for his apparent disrespect in refusing to reveal his identity upon winning the meleé on the first day. He was ultimately rescued by another anonymous knight, identifiable only by the device of a fetterlock on his shield.

Despite avoiding instant death, Wilfred may well have perished had Isaac's daughter Rebecca not tended to his wounds following the tournament and the perilous journey from Ashby to York. Wilfred and Roana reunited on the road, along with Cedric, who still retained his animosity to his son, and their servants Wamba and Gurth. Their happiness was to be short-lived, however, when a group of mercenaries led by yet another of John's associates, the knight-errant Maurice de Bracy, captured their entire lot along with Æthelstane and brought them to Reinald de Boeuf in Conisburgh Castle.

The Knight of the Fetterlock, gathering allies amongst the disenfranchised foresters of Barnsdale and Sherwood led by Robert of Lockesley, proceeded to besiege Conisburgh Castle to rescue the Saxon's cohort and displace the usurper Reinald de Boeuf. The outlaws stormed the castle as it blazed alight from a fire set by a disgruntled scullery maid, who had treated so miserably by Reinald that she would accept nothing less than his life as recompense, and Maurice de Bracy immediately surrendered when the Knight of the Fetterlock revealed himself as nobody less than Richard the Lionheart, true King of England.

Brian de Bois-Guilbert, however, had in the brief period as her captor, become utterly obsessed with Rebecca, and had escaped from the burning castle with her to the Templar stronghold at Temple Cowton. In his manic obsession, he declared that since she refused his advances yet held sway over his affections, she must have employed witchcraft, and convinced his Grand Master Lucas de Beaumanoir to try her as such. Despite his debilitating injuries, Wilfred challenged Bois-Guilbert to trial by combat for Rebecca's life, even as she was held at the gallows. Although he was not only injured but also utterly fatigued by his journey from Conisburgh to Temple Cowton, Wilfred prevailed when Brian fatally collapsed in his saddle after the first clash, apparently "a victim to the violence of his contending passions".

Upon learning that Richard had returned to the shores of England and pacified the conspiracy led by Prince John and his lackeys in the North, the rest of the country soon fell into line, heartily welcoming the king. Although Æthelstane had been thought dead during the siege, he emerged to submit to Richard, and urged Roana to marry Wilfred as their affection was obvious to all parties, even Cedric, who wholeheartedly embraced his prodigal son. As the most senior living relative of Roana, Richard gave her hand in marriage to Wilfred, and for saving his throne, granted him the lapsed Earldom of Northumbria based on their descent from Gospatric and Waltheof alike.

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Later life and death

Little is known about Wilfred of Ivinghoe's career after the events of 1194, although it may be presumed that Conisburgh Castle was restored to the ownership of Hamelin de Warenne, and with the eventual passing of Cedric the estates of Rotherwood were also added to Wilfred's holdings in Buckinghamshire and Northumbria. Wilfred almost certainly went on to participate in Richard's campaigns on the Continent, but his career may have ended shortly afterwards due to John's known animosity to Wilfred from the events of 1194. Although Roana's name appears in a pipe roll in 1212, Wilfred's is not to be found; he may have hence predeceased her. As the Earldom of Northumbria also lapsed afterwards, it may also be presumed that their marriage was without issue.

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Earl of Northumbria
1194 - after 1199

Preceded by: Hugh de Puiset, Bishop of Durham
1189 - 1191

Succeeded by: Alexander II of Scotland
(First Barons' War, surrendered to Henry III of England)
1215 - 1217

===
Italicised names and places are fictional, bolded ones are real.
 
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Roana of Rotherwood, Countess of Northumbria

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Roana of Rotherwood, Countess of Northumbria (before 1176 - d. after 1212), illegitimate daughter of Henry II of England and his most famous mistress Rosamund Clifford, also known as "Rowena" in the Wardour Manuscript relating the Revolt of 1194 surrounding the events of Richard I of England's incognito return to Britain after the Third Crusade and his subsequent imprisonment by Leopold V, Duke of Austria. During this time, her lover Wilfred of Ivinghoe, a loyalist to Richard, had also returned to England, and both of them would prove instrumental to the success of Richard's campaign to restore his rule after the usurpation of his brother John.

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Early life and background

Roana FitzRoy was born to Henry II and his mistress Rosamund Clifford, most probably in Clifford Castle in Herefordshite. Her maternal grandfather was the marcher lord Walter de Clifford and her maternal grandmother Margaret was most probably the daughter of Raoul IV de Tosny, a prominent early Anglo-Norman noble, and Adelisa of Huntingdon, a daughter of Waltheof of Northumbria, the last major Anglo-Saxon Earl to retain authority after the Norman conquest of England.

After the death of her mother in 1176, she was given to the care of her extended family amongst the de Tosnys, eventually becoming the ward of Eadric fitz Edgar, husband of Isabella de Tosny after the passing of his first wife. Eadric styled himself as Cedric the Saxon due to his great pride in his "Anglo-Saxon" lineage stemming from the Anglo-Celtic Gospatrics, naming himself (albeit slightly erroneously) after the pseudo-legendary Cerdic of Wessex. It must have been about this time that she met her third cousin, Cedric's son Wilfred, who himself was descended from Waltheof through his mother Amice de Senlis, who was the granddaughter of his other daughter Matilda of Northumbria.

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Consort to the Pretender

Learning of Roana's true parentage, Cedric soon contrived a plot to marry her to his family friend Æthelstane Adelin, grandson of Edgar Atheling, the last native Anglo-Saxon monarch of England, and declare Æthelstane king during the next mass revolt against Angevin rule, not unlike the periods of turmoil such as The Anarchy, where the kingship of England was contested between Henry II's mother, the Empress Matilda and her nephew Stephen of Blois, or the Revolts of 1173-1174 where Richard I and his brothers, John excluded, had rebelled against Henry II himself.

These plans, however, began to unwind when she and Wilfred became affectionate with each other after his service to Richard, then still Prince, in Anglouême. Cedric, already offended, broke matters off with his own son when he took up the cross after Richard's coronation as king and followed him to the Holy Land in the Third Crusade. Although Wilfred held the manor in Ivinghoe in his own right, Cedric disinherited him of the holdings of the de Senlises and de Tosnys jure uxoris, declaring that they would instead go to his prospective son-in-law Æthelstane.

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The Revolt of 1194

During their absence Prince John and the King of France, Phillip II Augustus, had conspired against Richard to usurp his throne during his imprisonment by the Duke of Austria, and the authority of his regent William de Longchamp, and replace Richard's vassals with John's, cementing the younger brother's control of the country. One such move was the seizure of Conisburgh Castle from loyalist Hamelin de Warenne, Earl of Surrey, and its grant to John's crony, Reinald de Boeuf, a move which placed Cedric's holdings in Rotherwood at severe risk.

Wilfred thus only returned as the anonymous "Disinherited Knight" during the tournament at Ashby-de-la-Zouch, where he secretly made his return known to Roana; however, the second day of the tourney saw him beset by overwhelming numbers set upon him by Prince John and his henchmen, as punishment for his apparent disrespect in refusing to reveal his identity upon winning the meleé on the first day. He was ultimately rescued by another anonymous knight, identifiable only by the device of a fetterlock on his shield.

His injuries after the tourney, however, were severe, and he was saved only by Rebecca, the daughter of an old Jewish merchant, Isaac of York, whom he himself had saved previously from Templars led by Brian de Bois-Guilbert. It was on the road between Ashby and Rotherwood that Isaac and Rebecca met Roana, along with Æthelstane and Cedric, who still retained his animosity to his son, and their servants Wamba and Gurth. Their happiness was to be short-lived, however, when a group of mercenaries led by yet another of John's associates, the knight-errant Maurice de Bracy, captured their entourage and brought them to Reinald de Boeuf in Conisburgh Castle.

Their captivity, including an unsuccessful courtship by de Bracy, was ended when the so-called "Knight of the Fetterlock", actually Richard I in disguise, gathered an army from Hamelin's disenfranchised foresters, led by Robert of Locksley, and stormed the castle. Norman de Bracy, realising who the leader of their besiegers was, immediately surrendered to the rightful king. His submission would soon be followed by the defenders of Nottingham Castle, who also owed their position only to John's machinations.

Although Æthelstane had been thought slain during the siege, he too emerged to submit to Richard, and urged Roana to marry Wilfred as their affection was obvious to all parties, even Cedric, who wholeheartedly embraced his prodigal son and restored his inheritance. As the most senior living relative of Roana, Richard gave her hand in marriage to Wilfred, and for saving his throne, granted him the lapsed Earldom of Northumbria based on their descent from Gospatric and Waltheof alike, and so she became the Countess of Northumbria as his wife.

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Later life and death

Little is known about her life after the events of 1194, although it may be presumed that Conisburgh Castle was restored to the ownership of Hamelin de Warenne, and with the eventual passing of Cedric the estates of Rotherwood were also added to Wilfred's holdings in Buckinghamshire and Northumbria. Wilfred almost certainly went on to participate in Richard's campaigns on the Continent, but his career may have ended shortly afterwards due to John's known animosity to Wilfred from the events of 1194. Although Roana's name appears in a pipe roll in 1212, Wilfred's is not to be found; he may have hence predeceased her. As the Earldom of Northumbria also lapsed afterwards, it may also be presumed that their marriage was without issue.
 
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Cedric the Saxon

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Eadric fitz Edgar, better known as "Cedric the Saxon"[1] (d. after 1194) was a notable Anglo-Celtic magnate of the House of Gospatric who was most active in the North of England during the reign of the Angevin kings Henry II and Richard I. The father of Wilfred of Ivinghoe, Earl of Northumbria and guardian of Wilfred's wife Roana of Rotherwood, Cedric found himself directly involved in the Revolt of 1194, where loyalists to Richard I fought to take England back from the supporters of his brother John, King of England, who had usurped Richard's regents and allies.

Cedric himself was the mastermind of a plot to overthrow Richard I, but not as part of John's usurpation. Having come into contact with Æthelstane Adelin, the grandson of the last Anglo-Saxon king of England, Edgar Atheling, Cedric plotted to use his connections in the North to take advantage of the fragile political situation and marry Æthelstane to Roana, who was the illegitimate daughter of Henry II and his mistress Rosamund Clifford. This plan came to naught when he and his household were captured by Maurice de Bracy, John's henchman, and were rescued by none other than Richard himself, who had returned incognito to England, with events ending with Æthelstane's submission to Richard and Wilfred's marriage to Roana.

Although Cedric had previously disinherited Wilfred for his loyalty to Richard, he could not deny the plain facts before him, and embraced his errant son, restoring his inheritances which Cedric had held jure uxoris, such that when he eventually passed away, Wilfred added his father's considerable holdings in Yorkshire to his properties in Northumbria and Buckinghamshire.

[1] It appears that Eadric took such great pride in his "Anglo-Saxon" heritage that he styled himself after the ancient King, Cerdic of Wessex, making a typographical error in simply adding "C" to the beginning of his name in his documents.
 
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Rebecca of York

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Rebecca, daughter of the moneylender Isaac of York, was a central figure during the Revolt of 1194, saving Sir Wilfred of Ivinghoe, Earl of Northumbria, from his injuries sustained during the tourney at Ashby-de-la-Zouch and in turn being rescued by him from the Knight Templar Brian de Bois-Guilbert on trumped-up charges of witchcraft. This final duel is generally considered, along with the preceding sieges of Conisburgh and Nottingham Castle by Richard I of England's forces, to be the concluding events of the revolt.

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Early life

Rebecca's father, Isaac of York, was a Jewish moneylender who had risen to prominence following the Massacre of 1189-1190 at the beginning of Richard's reign; her mother was slain by a vengeful mob, giving her life to deliver her and her father to safety in Conisburgh Castle in Doncaster. Following these riots, Isaac expanded his fortunes by acting as Richard's creditor for the monies which he needed to raise to embark upon the Third Crusade, not unlike Abraham of Lincoln before him, whose wealth had exceeded even that of Richard's father Henry II. For many years, Isaac harboured deep animosity for the Gentiles of England given the events of 1189-1190, although Rebecca remained relatively idealistic.

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Revolt of 1194

During Richard's absence from England, his brother Prince John and the King of France, Phillip II Augustus, sought to undermine the rule of Richard's regent, William de Longchamp, and his other loyal vassals, including Hamelin de Warenne, Earl of Surrey, the commander of Conisburgh Castle. Among John's henchmen in this task was the Knight Templar Sir Brian de Bois-Guilbert, who was aware of Isaac's vast fortune and sought to claim it, simultaneously out of his own greed and the desire to deprive Richard of funds.

Although he was successful in abducting Isaac, the moneylender slipped out of his grasp when Wilfred of Ivinghoe, a loyal knight and follower of King Richard to the Holy Land, rescued Isaac in the guise of an itinerant palmer; he had returned incognito to England due to his disenfranchisement by his own father, Cedric the Saxon, and the deprivation of his own estates by Prince John, who had rewarded another of his lackeys, Sir Reinald de Boeuf, with the estates held in Wilfred's name in Buckinghamshire along with Conisburgh Castle itself.

Realising that his rescuer was no common priest, Isaac rewarded him with funds and some armour which had been given unto him as collateral, but failed to recognise him when he competed in the grand tourney in Ashby-de-la-Zouch shortly afterwards. However, Rebecca put the pieces together, and applied her skills in medicine to save his life when Wilfred was ambushed unfairly during the meleé on the second day of the tournament and was only held from instant death by a mysterious knight identifiable only by the device of fetterlock on his shield.

However, Wilfred, Rebecca, her father, and Wilfred's beloved Roana of Rotherwood, along with the latter's entire retinue, including her servants and the would-be usurper Æthelstane Adelin, were captured on the way back to York by yet another of John's henchmen, the mercenary Norman de Bracy, and held in Conisburgh Castle. During this time, Brian de Bois-Guilbert, having earlier witnessed the tenderness of Rebecca's care for Wilfred, grew obsessed with Rebecca, approaching her in her captivity with lascivious intent, even suggesting that they elope to the Holy Land. Rebecca bravely denied each and every one of his affections, and he left in frustration.

Thankfully for her, this state of affairs was abruptly ended when the "Knight of the Fetterlock", learning of Wilfred's fate, assaulted Conisburgh Castle with an army raised from the disenfranchised foresters loyal to Hamelin de Warenne, commanded by the yeoman Robert of Locksley. The castle fell when a maidservant within saw the opportunity for vengeance against Reinald by setting the kitchens on fire, killing Reinald, whereupon the foresters took advantage of the chaos to storm the keep. Norman de Bracy immediately surrendered when the mysterious knight revealed himself to be none other than King Richard, returned to England to claim his throne.

Confusing Rebecca for Roana, Æthelstane had braved the fire to rescue her, seemingly succumbing to his fatigue. However, still mired in his obsessions, Brian de Bois-Guilbert had abducted her, bringing her to the nearby Templar stronghold at Temple Cowton Preceptory, submitting the case to his superior Lucas de Beaumanoir that she had utilised sorcery to bewitch her, in a gambit to act as her protector and blackmail her into following his mad schemes. These were undone when Lucas instead appointed him as the enforcer of her sentence, stating that if nobody challenged him that she would be hanged for witchcraft.

Learning of her predicament, Wilfred rode night and day to Temple Cowton to challenge Brian. The duel was decidedly one-sided as Wilfred had yet to fully recover from his injuries, but even as Brian unhorsed him after the first clash, Brian himself fell dead from his own saddle, apparently a "a victim to the violence of his contending passions". Wilfred had won Rebecca's freedom, and despite some apparent lingering sentiment between the two, she gladly gave Roana a box of rich jewels to act as her dowry when Cedric relented and reaccepted Wilfred as his son; Æthelstane had actually survived the fire, but also submitted to Richard, accepting him as his rightful king.

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Later life

Little is known of Isaac or Rebecca's fate after the events of 1194; the Wardour Manuscript describing them states that she declared her intention to "devote [her] thoughts to Heaven, and [her] actions to works of kindness to men, tending the sick, feeding the hungry, and relieving the distressed." Unfortunately, with the passing of Richard shortly afterwards in 1199 and the ascendancy of his brother John to the throne, the situation appears to have improved little for the Jewish population of England, eventually culminating in the Edict of Expulsion by his grandson Edward I.
 
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Robert of Locksley

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Sir Robert of Locksley (c.1160 - 1247[see below; disputed]), often anachronistically referred to as "Robin of Locksley", was a yeoman and forester of the early Angevin/Plantagenet period who was knighted by Richard I of England for aiding him during the Siege of Conisburgh Castle, the climax of the Revolt of 1194 fought between royalists loyal to Richard and those of Richard's brother Prince John, forming the genesis of the Robin Hood legend. Among Prince John's cronies was the baron Reinald de Boeuf, who had disenfranchised Richard's regent and Robert's employer Hamelin de Warenne, Earl of Surrey, deprived him of Conisburgh Castle and declared Robert and his foresters outlaws.

Receiving no protection from the law and refusing to recognise John's rule, Robert gathered his fellow ex-foresters and proceeded to terrorise Reinald by turning to banditry, robbing his tax-collectors and redistributing their wealth to other dispossessed yeomen and even hunting the king's deer with impunity by extension of the logic that John's rule was already illegitimate. This state of affairs degenerated to the extent that Robert's men were considered a law unto themselves; the epithet "King of the Forest" was added by later writers such as Walter of Waverleigh, alleged author of the Wardour Manuscript describing the Revolt of 1194.

This continued until the emergence of the Revolt itself, preceded by reconnaissance conducted by Robert himself at Ashby-de-la-Zouch to witness the dealings of Prince John and his underlings. Unbeknownst to him, King Richard himself was participating at the grand tourney as the "Knight of the Fetterlock", rescuing his loyal vassal Wilfred of Ivinghoe when the latter knight was beset by unfair numbers as revenge by Prince John for his apparent disrespect in failing to identify himself to the prince. Robert himself excelled in the subsequent archery tournament, flaunting his skill in front of an unsuspecting Reinald de Boeuf and his colleagues, the Templar Brian de Bois-Guilbert and the mercenary Maurice de Bracy.

This triumvirate was responsible for kidnapping Wilfred, along with members of his father's retinue, namely Cedric the Saxon, Lady Roana of Rotherwood, Æthelstane Adelin, their servants and their guests Isaac of York and Rebecca. Their captivity, however, was swiftly ended when King Richard came into contact with the "Clerk of Copmanthorpe", an itinerant monk who brought him to Robert, and the dispossessed foresters rallied to their king and besieged Conisburgh Castle, breaking through when a much-abused prisoner of Reinald's set fire to the kitchens. It is likely that the news of the swift capture of Conisburgh was decisive in the later Siege of Nottingham Castle, which surrendered once Richard made his presence known.

For his service to the King, Robert and his men were pardoned for any crimes against the Crown committed during their outlawry, and reinstated as Hamelin de Warenne's foresters; Robert himself was knighted by Richard himself and given lands and responsibility in his home-town of Locksley; it is generally assumed that the later outlaw Robert, 1st Earl of Huntingdon was descended from his line. There stands a grave-stone in Kirklees Priory, legendary site of Robin Hood's death memorialising "robert earl of Huntingtun" in 1247; this date is unlikely for Robert of Locksley, but outright impossible for Robert, Earl of Huntingdon (see below).

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Contribution to the Robin Hood legend

The historicity of the legendary outlaw and bandit Robin Hood has been debated for centuries; with the publishing of the Wardour Manuscript, it has come to be acknowledged that while the majority of deeds ascribed to Robin Hood, and associations with characters such as Little John and the Merry Men are those of Robert of Locksley's probable descendant Robert, 1st Earl of Huntingdon, the aspects of the legend such as his loyalty to Richard I against the usurpation of his brother Prince John, previously thought to be fanciful additions by Anthony Munday, and early association with Barnsdale Forest may very well derive from the events of the Revolt of 1194.

Much of this evidence is circumstantial, namely that as early as 1262, the term "Robin Hood" was apparently already a stock alias for an outlaw (if not strictly a bandit), and that the references to "Robin Hood", "Hod" and "Hobbehod" in the Yorkshire pipe rolls from 1226 to 1234 are not necessarily of the same man constantly falling afoul of the law, but are of numerous people all referencing the actions of Robert of Locksley, given that Robin was a popular diminutive for the extremely common name Robert, and the "Hood" was exactly what it sounded like, namely the hood of a tunic used to cover one's head, either to ward off the elements - or to conceal one's identity.

Considerably more concrete evidence of a Robin Hood being an infamous outlaw derives from pipe-rolls and other records, where "Robert Hod" and other variants was a frequent perpetrator of banditry following the Battle of Evesham during the Second Barons' War in 1265. The most explicit identification of "Robin Hood" with these references comes from the Scottish chronicler Walter Bower's 1440 revision of the 14th-century Scotichronicon; his interpolations are contemporary with the earliest printed tales of Robin Hood such as A Gest of Robyn Hode.

Then[, after the Battle of Evesham] arose the famous murderer, Robert Hood, as well as Little John, together with their accomplices from among the disinherited, whom the foolish populace are so inordinately fond of celebrating both in tragedies and comedies, and about whom they are delighted to hear the jesters and minstrels sing above all other ballads.

This is substantiated by an anonymous monk's account in the Polychronicon, scribbled into the margins:

Around this time [i.e. the reign of Edward I], 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.

It must hence be conceded that the popular image of Robin Hood, ringleader of the dispossessed, is much more likely to be based on the 13th-century Robert, granted the lapsed Earldom of Huntingdon by Simon de Montfort, the leader of the rebellious barons (who styled himself the Earl of Chester, which had also lapsed) responsible for the Second Barons' War fought between them and Henry III, along with his son Prince Edward, later Edward I. Nevertheless, for the name "Robin Hood" to have already had such a strong aura of heroic banditry, along with all the associated notions of fairness for those of lower rank, we very well may, as Robert the Earl of Huntingdon might have had, turn to his ancestor, the yeoman, outlaw, bandit and knight Robert of Locksley.
 
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Æthelstane Adelin

This article is about the grandson of Edgar Atheling. For the son of Æthelred the Unready, see Æthelstan Ætheling. For other persons of that name, see Æthelstan (name).

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Æthelstane Adelin, also styling himself Æthelstane of Conisburgh (b. between 1159 and 1164 - d. after 1194), was the only known grandchild of the last Anglo-Saxon King of England, Edgar Atheling, and was part of the final serious attempt at usurping Angevin rule of England after the kingdom's conquest in the Battle of Hastings and the eradication of its indigenous nobility during the Harrying of the North. The chief plotter was Cedric the Saxon, a descendant of these displaced nobles (specifically the Gospatrics of Northumbria), who intended to establish Æthelstane's claim in the North, using Conisburgh Castle as a stronghold, while Richard I of England fought his brother Prince John.

These schemes were undone when Prince John's henchmen also sought to usurp Hamelin de Warenne, Earl of Surrey, Æthelstane's stepfather, and the baron Reinald de Boeuf took control of Conisburgh, turning an avaricious eye towards Cedric's estates in Rotherwood. True enough, his cronies Maurice de Bracy and the Templar Brian de Bois-Guilbert abducted Cedric and Æthelstane, along with their entourage, with the intent of depriving them of their inheritances. Their captivity, however, was ended when Richard I stormed Conisburgh Castle; although Æthelstane was thought to have perished in the fighting, he had in fact survived the battle, and submitted to Richard, forsaking his claim to kingship.

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Early life and background

Æthelstane's parentage, although not explicitly described in any source (not even the Wardour Manuscript describing the events of the Revolt of 1194 name them as such), can be inferred through his relationships with Edgar Atheling and the Earl of Surrey. The claim pressed by Cedric of Saxon was contingent on his descent from Edgar; the only known relation of the would-be king is an "Edgar Adelin" mentioned in two 12th-century Norman pipe rolls, and this is generally assumed to be Edgar Atheling's son as the dates would suggest unrealistic longevity for Edgar the elder.

With regards to his mother, given that his claim to Conisburgh Castle derives from his being a stepson of Hamelin de Warenne, this can only mean that his mother was Hamelin's wife Isabel de Warenne. Isabelle's marriages were first to William of Blois, son of the ousted King Stephen of Blois, which produced no issue and ended with William's death in 1159, and then to Hamelin in 1164. As Æthelstane is never described as being an illegitimate child or the result of an extramarital affair, it is also traditional to assign his birth date to some time between these two marriages

Evidently his status as Hamelin's stepson was enough to grant him a high position within his household, as he invoked the authority of Conisburgh Castle as either its chamberlain or seneschal, and it is most likely through his responsibilities in managing the castle and the associated holdings that he came into contact with Cedric. His noble ancestry, along with Cedric's sense of pride at his own "Anglo-Saxon" heritage and his guardianship of Roana of Rotherwood, the daughter of Henry II of England and his mistress Rosamund Clifford, led to the stirrings of a plot against the Angevin Kings.

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Revolt of 1194

Cedric, having lived through The Anarchy and the Revolt of 1173-1174 saw an opportunity during the absence of Henry II's son and heir, Richard I of England, to usurp the Norman kings and restore the House of Wessex to the throne through Æthelstane; his claim would only be strengthened through his union with Roana. Æthelstane's and Roana's feelings toward each other were tepid at best, with her affections being directed far more towards Cedric's own son, Wilfred of Ivinghoe, a state of affairs that saw Cedric disparage Wilfred, outright disinheriting him from his estates held jure uxoris, with a public declaration that they would go to Æthelstane instead after Wilfred left on the Third Crusade.

However planned, Cedric's plot fell into disarray when Richard's brother, Prince John, acted first and displaced Hamelin de Warenne, granting Conisburgh Castle to his ally Reinald de Boeuf and seizing its estates; Æthelstane took refuge with Cedric in Rotherwood, but was captured by Reinald's colleague Maurice de Bracy after their attending the grand tournament at Ashby-de-la-Zouch, where Wilfred had participated incognito as "The Disinherited Knight", along with Richard I himself in disguise as "The Knight of the Fetterlock". He, Cedric, Roana, Wilfred and the latter man's caretaker Rebecca of York (as well as her father Isaac, who had earlier fallen prey John's cronies) were all held in Conisburgh Castle.

Their captivity was ended by Richard I, who upon learning of Wilfred's plight, gathered Hamelin's foresters, who had been displaced by Reinald and organised into a band of outlaws by their boss Robert of Locksley, and assaulted Conisburgh Castle, breaking through when a disgruntled scullery maid sought revenge by burning the kitchens, killing Reinald. Upon realising the king had returned, Maurice surrendered immediately; his other colleague, the Knight Templar Brian de Bois-Guilbert, who was obsessed with Rebecca, had fled with her in tow. Confusing her for Roana, Æthelstane attempted to intercept him but was dealt a crushing blow from Brian for his trouble and thought dead in the chaos.

His lifeless body was taken by a gang of monks of loose morals, who threw him into an open grave after disrobing him and robbing him of his material possessions; upon regaining consciousness he managed to escape, only being able to make his survival known after Wilfred's duel with Brian to save Rebecca from accusations of witchcraft at the Templar headquarters at Temple Cowton Preceptory; although Wilfred was still severely injured, Brian had collapsed in his saddle after unhorsing Wilfred, an apparent "victim to the violence of his [own] contending passions".

Realising that any hope of revolt was gone, and with Wilfred and Roana's affection for each other being so obvious, Æthelstane urged Cedric to embrace his son, and submitted to Richard, swearing unto him as the rightful King of England. Little is known about Æthelstane's fate thereafter, although the Wardour Manuscript relating the revolt describes his intent to revenge himself upon the monks who had treated him so callously, and it is most probable that with Hamelin de Warenne being restored to the stewardship of Conisburgh Castle that he used his old position to carry out his personal justice.
 
More Robin Hood, because why not!

In the series Robin of Sherwood it's proposed that "Robin Hood" is a title passed from person to person, reconciling the yeoman origins of Robin of Loxley with the dispossessed noble origin of Robert of Huntingdon, which vaguely parallels the theory that "Robin hood" or "Robehod" or "Hobbehod", etc., etc. became established as a stock alias for ne'er-do-wells and outlaws by the 1260s, which is when the first mentions of that name start bounding about. Ergo, anyone driven to outlawry presumably could choose to model themselves on some guy also known as Robin Hood.

Taking the placement of Robin Hood in the period of Richard I's absence from the continent as fact (see above), sixty-ish years (1199-1261) is as good a timeframe as any for such a transformation from fact to fiction, not unlike the appropriation of fellow archer William Tell in the name of Swiss revolutionary nationalism, or his Korean counterpart Hong Gildong.

Within the context of Ivinghoe, this Robin Hood is the grandson of the outlawed forester that helps Richard, disguised as the Knight of the Fetterlock, to storm Conisburgh Castle and rescue Walter and Roana, whose own activities relate much more to Prince John's own grandson, Edward Longshanks.

Anyway, on with the story!

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Robert II of Locksley

This article is about the historical figure, the outlawed grandson of Robert of Locksley. For their depictions in popular culture, see Robin Hood.

Infobox Robin Hood.png

Robert II of Locksley, also known as Robert of Huntingdon, was an outlaw and bandit active during the reigns of Henry III of England and his son and heir, Edward I of England. Presumably the son and heir to rebel baron Richard of Locksley, 1st Earl of Huntingdon, Robert was disenfranchised and deprived of his inheritance after the disastrous Battle of Evesham during the Second Barons' War. Facing charges of treason, Robert appears to have modelled himself, deliberately or otherwise, after his Angevin-era ancestor Sir Robert of Locksley, and lived as an outlaw in Sherwood Forest, Barnsdale, and wider Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire.

It is in this phase of his life that he adopted the alias "Robin Hood"; his biography and exploits, along with those of his ancestor and his fellow outlawed rebel Roger Godberd, have since come to form the basis of the legend of Robin Hood. Given the attribution of his activities to the reign of "King Edward", it is most plausible that his floruit extended to at least 1272 (the beginning of Edward I's de jure reign) or 1274 (Edward's return from the Holy Land during the Eighth Crusade.) His fate afterwards is unknown; Robin Hood receiving the king's pardon appears to be a detail lifted not from Robert's own biography, but that of Roger Godberd's.

Robert's life, along with his ancestor Sir Robert Locksley and Roger Godberd, hence forms the nucleus of the Robin Hood of popular legend.

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Early life and background

Given that Robert's fortunes arose from being heir presumptive to Richard of Locksley, 1st Earl of Huntingdon, the simplest explanation is that Robert was the son of Richard; likewise, as Robert specifically identified with Sir Robert of Locksley, an outlawed forester of Loxley Chase knighted by Richard I of England for his aid during the Revolt of 1194, and based much of his career upon his biography, the most parsimonious conclusion is that Robert II of Locksley was Sir Robert's grandson, and Richard was Robert I's son.

Robert II's presumed birthdate is extrapolated from the theory that "1247" on the Kirklees headstone purporting to inter Robin Hood refers not to "Robin Hood"'s death, but his birth; backing for a birthdate of this time-frame is circumstantially supported by the validity of his resulting age during the Second Barons' War. Apart from this speculation, little is known about Robert's background beyond his connection to South Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire.

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Second Barons' War

Robert's father, Richard of Locksley, appears to have sided with Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester during the numerous disputes between their fellow barons and Henry III of England, presumably some time after the "Mad Parliament" of 1258 which attempted to pass the Provisions of Oxford, which were confirmed by the Provisions of Westminster the following year, but revoked via Papal Bull as there is no special mention of Richard of Locksley in any of the rolls relating to these Provisions.

Nevertheless, Richard's support of Simon either during or immediately after his self-imposed exile in the aftermath of the papal bull appears to have endeared Richard to Simon sufficiently for de Montfort to promote him to the Earldom of Huntingdon, perhaps on the grounds of a plausible claim jure uxoris through his wife Gunnor, daughter of a previous holder Simon III de Senlis. This title itself had lapsed in 1237 with the death of John of Scotland along with the Earldom of Chester, which Simon granted to himself in 1264.

If Richard's conversion to the Barons' cause was during this time-frame, it may have represented the northernmost extent of the overthrow of the king's support base, following the violent "debt cancellations" amounting to pogroms aimed at Jewish moneylenders in London, Winchester, Canterbury, Cambridge, Lincoln and Northampton.

Whichever the case, it was as Earl of Huntingdon, and his son Robert, knighted by Simon de Montfort himself, as heir presumptive, that Richard participated at the Battle of Evesham, where Henry III and his son Edward Longshanks sought to wrest control of the country back from the rebellious barons. The battle was a disaster for the barons and their forces were massacred, with Simon de Montfort and Richard of Locksley slain alongside fellow rebel leaders Peter de Montfort and Hugh le Despencer, amongst others.

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Outlaw and bandit

Robert had survived, and escaped to press his claim on the Earldom of Huntingdon; however, as the war wound down it was clear that Simon de Montfort's endowments were considered null and void, and Robert was dispossessed of his knighthood and earldom, and further declared as an fugitive from justice when he refused to sign the Dictum of Kenilworth, and joined the faction of the "Disinherited" with John Deyville on the Isle of Ely; Deyville and his brother Robert had taken command of the northern rebels upon the death of Richard. His misfortune appeared to be on the brink of reversal when Gilbert de Clare, 7th Earl of Gloucester (who had previously turned against the barons at Evesham) attacked London seeking more favourable terms for himself and his fellow dispossessed lords.

The precise timing of Robert's turn to banditry and adoption of the "Robin Hood" alias is unknown; however, if he is to be identified with the "Robertus Hod" at the final rebel stronghold at Ely, this marks 1267 as his terminus post quem. It appears that Robert fell out with John Deyville over the latter's violent methods, and refused to accept the king's peace, being similarly disgusted with Gilbert de Clare. A "Robertus Hod" is next reported as defaulting on a court hearing in 1268 based on crimes committed several years prior alongside a certain Simon de Constable in East Yorkshire; although Simon de Constable was pardoned by the king, there is no mention of Robert Hood or the other criminals' fate.

The extent of Robert's activities as "Robert Hood" may be inferred through comparison with his fellow rebel and outlaw Roger Godberd, who served under Simon de Montfort during the Barons' War. Many aspects of the Robin Hood legend, such as his association with Sherwood Forest, command of a hundred followers, relationship with the Sheriff of Nottingham, special protection by a knight named Richard, and pardon by the King, in fact derive from Roger Godberd's biography; minus aspects unique to Roger Godberd's life, Robert Hood's career appears to be defined by his activities in Barnsdale Forest and related locations such as Wentbridge, and his association with Little John and Friar Tuck.

The chief sources to the historicity of Robert Hood's career, besides the ballads and plays concerning Robin Hood, are mentions by Scottish chroniclers:
Litil Iohun [Little John] and Robert Hude [Robert Hood]
Waythmen [Forest outlaws] war commendit gud [praised well];
In Ingilwode [Inglewood] and Bernnysdaile [Barnsdale]
Thai oyssit [practiced] al this tyme thar trawale [labour]. (Andrew of Wyntoun's Orygynale Chronicle, c. 1420)​
Then arose the famous murderer, Robert Hood, as well as Little John, together with their accomplices from among the disinherited, whom the foolish populace are so inordinately fond of celebrating both in tragedies and comedies, and about whom they are delighted to hear the jesters and minstrels sing above all other ballads.
About whom also certain praiseworthy things are told, as appears in this -- that when once in Barnsdale, avoiding the anger of the king and the threats of the prince, he was according to his custom most devoutly hearing Mass and had no wish on any account to interrupt the service -- on a certain day, when he was hearing Mass, having been discovered in that very secluded place in the woods when the Mass was taking place by a certain sheriff (viscount) and servant of the king, who had very often lain in wait for him previously, there came to him those who had found this out from their men to suggest that he should make every effort to flee.
This, on account of his reverence for the sacrament in which he was then devoutly involved, he completely refused to do. But, the rest of his men trembling through fear of death, Robert, trusting in the one so great whom he worshipped, with the few who then bravely remained with him, confronted his enemies and easily overcame them, and enriched by the spoils he took from them and their ransom, ever afterward singled out the servants of the church and the Masses to be held in greater respect, bearing in mind what is commonly said: "God harkens to him who hears Mass frequently." (Walter Bower's Continuation of John Fordun's Scotichronicon, c. 1440)​

Robin Hood's association with Maid Marian is complex, and relates to the history of both characters with May Day festivities, along with the Le Jeu de Robin et de Marion relating the story of a shepherdess named Marion who fights off the advances of an amorous knight with the help of her lover Robin. The syncretising of Robin Hood, Maid Marian, and this play may be related to Robin's relationship with Matilda de Montfort, niece of rebel leader Peter de Montfort and an heiress of his trust in Ringwood. So long as Matilda lived, she came under threat from Nicholas of Ely, who had already displaced her cousing William in the diocese of Winchester.

Thus, Anthony Munday's plays, known collectively as The Downfall and the Death of Robert Earl of Huntingdon, which relates Robert's noble origins and relationship with the persecuted Matilda, who then adopts the identity of Maid Marian, may simply be committing the same error as the Scottish historian John Major in his Historia Majoris Britanniae. Major conflates Robert II of Locksley with his Angevin-era ancestor, Sir Robert of Locksley, and Munday carries this error forward whilst appropriating the alleged plight of Matilda FitzWalter at King John's hands for his play. By this time, Roger Godberd's exploits had already been thoroughly folded into this so-called "composite Robin Hood".

Although Roger Godberd's career is known to have ended following Henry III's death, when Edward I returned to England, Robert Hood's fortunes are less well-known. The Robin Hood of the ballads, although granted the king's pardon, ultimately repudiates it and returns to the greenwood. Robin Hood is mentioned in conjunction with Edward I in notes made on the manuscript of the Polychronicon dated to 1460:
Around this time [i.e. the reign of Edward I], 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.
However, as Sherwood Forest is explicitly mentioned, this may once again be a result of the conflation of his career with Roger Godberd's. Andrew of Wyntoun's entry is recorded under the date 1283, which would imply a career extending over nearly 18 years; if the date of 1247 is taken to be Robert Hood's year of birth, he would have been active from age of around 18 to 36, which is not implausible. Nevertheless, all of the above remains as mere speculation.

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Contribution to the Robin Hood legend

Main article: Robin Hood#Historicity

The Robin Hood of popular culture, as discussed above, appears to originate from fewer than three strands:
  • Robert of Locksley, yeoman and disenfranchised forester knighted by Richard I of England for his service during the Revolt of 1194; may have been the origin of "Robert Hood" as a stock alias for an outlaw
  • Robert II of Locksley, otherwise known as "Robert Hood", disenfranchised heir to the Earldom of Huntingdon active as a criminal during and after the Second Barons' War, associated with Barnsdale Forest and Little John
  • Roger Godberd, soldier in the service of Simon de Montfort who turned to banditry following the Battle of Evesham, arrested multiple times by Reginald de Grey, Sheriff of Nottingham, pardoned by Edward I
These personages emerge in history in the reverse order as they are presented here: Roger Godberd and Robert Hood are both mentioned by Walter Bower, but explicitly as separate individuals. No suggestion of Robert's noble lineage is made in either chronicles or ballads until Anthony Munday's plays at the end of the sixteenth century, by which time Roger Godberd had already mostly been forgotten and his exploits ascribed to the more popular figure of Robert Hood, now known widely as "Robin Hood". We may disregard the elaborate pedigree drawn up by William Stuckley as a genealogical fabrication for the Earldom of Huntingdon being held by the Locksleys during this era.

Robert of Locksley's existence must be inferred from the reconciliation of the fame of "Robin Hood" as a personage and as an alias by the time of the early-to-mid 13th century (such as the various "Robert Hod"s and "Hobbehod"s between 1228 and 1234 in pipe rolls) and the various attempts by chroniclers such as the anonymous author of the Sloane Manuscript and John Major in his Historia Majoris Britanniae to place Robert Hood's activities in the timeframe of Richard I's reign.

These are corroborated by the Wardour Manuscript detailing Sir Robert of Locksley's service in 1194. As for the lack of previous mention to the Earldom of Huntingdon with regards to Robert Hood's career, it is notable that by these exegeses, Robert II of Locksley never held the earldom in reality, only his father as a token of appreciation by Simon de Montfort. Robert I of Locksley being a yeoman prior to his involvement in the Revolt of 1194 and Robert II of Locksley being deprived of his inheritance due to the outcome of the Battle of Evesham handily reconcile these apparent contradictions.

It is notable that the early historical references (Andrew of Wyntoun and Walter Bower), along with the vast majority of the earlier ballads, all mention Robin Hood's association with Barnsdale Forest and Little John, with the exception of Robin Hood and the Monk, which mentions Sherwood Forest, although explicitly as a destination, and the margin interpolation in the Polychronicon. Evidently by the mid-to-late fifteenth century, Robert Hood's identification with Barnsdale had solidified, and his legend had slowly begun to absorb that of Roger Godberd.

By the end of the next century, as codified by the Historia Majoris Britanniae and The Downfall and Death of Robert Earl of Huntingdon, the "composite Robin" had solidified, with Robert I of Locksley's Angevin-era origins and career, Roger Godberd's association with Sherwood Forest and entanglements with the Sheriff of Nottingham, and Robert II of Locksley's history of nobility and disinheritance leading to a career of banditry, leaving a complex network of origins and literary traditions to be untangled by future generations.

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Massive props to http://www.robinhoodlegend.com/ , without which this would not have been possible in the least.

Everything in bold except for the Locksleys, the Ivinghoes, Matilda de Clare and the so-called "Wardour Manuscript" (actually the text of Ivanhoe) is historically attested.

Also, this took way too fucking long.
 

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The world's greatest detective story.
How America voted one man into its highest office and got two.


President Dent.png

"ALL THE PRESI-DENT'S MEN"
(synopsis)

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Republican Party Ticket, 1972

PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES
Harvey M. Dent (R-NG)

VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES
"Prez" Rick Rickard (R-IL)

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FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES
Gilda Dent (nee Grace, formerly Goldberg)

THE PRESIDENT'S DAUGHTER
Della Dent

WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF
Oswald Cobblepot

WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY
E. Nygma Nashton

CHIEF OF STAFF TO THE FIRST LADY
Kate Moldoff (formerly Ecaterina Moldovanu)

ASSISTANT TO THE DIRECTOR OF THE VISITOR'S OFFICE
Selina Kyle

THE PRESIDENT'S PSYCHIATRIST
Johnathan Crane

DIRECTOR OF THE SECRET SERVICE
Gillian Loeb

CHIEF OF THE PRESIDENTIAL SECURITY DETAIL
Bruce Wayne

DEPUTY CHIEF OF THE PRESIDENTIAL SECURITY DETAIL
Floyd Lawton
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THE BOSS
"Janus"

RINGLEADERS
"Thoth" and "Sphinx"

THE PUPPETEER
"Phobos"

ASSASSINS
"Ceres" and "Hercules"
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PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (FORMER)
Harold Thompson (D-TX)

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Democratic Party Ticket, 1972

CANDIDATE (PRESIDENT)
Harold Jordan (D-CA) m. Carol Ferris

CANDIDATE (VICE-PRESIDENT)
Oliver Queen (Mayor of Seattle) m. Dinah Laurel Lance

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HAROLD'S CAMPAIGN AIDE AND PARAMOUR
Alicia Barr

REPRESENTATIVE (NG-2)
Barbara Gordon II
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Tomorrow Party Ticket, 1972

CANDIDATE (PRESIDENT)
Alexander Luthor (I-NY)

CANDIDATE (VICE-PRESIDENT)
Peter Ross (I-KS)
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LEADER
"Joker" ("Jack Napier")

DISCIPLE
"Harlequin" (Queenie Miller)
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EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Vicki Vale

REPORTERS
Clark Kent
Lois Lane

PHOTOGRAPHER
James Olsen

INFORMANTS
"Kitty and Stud"
"Knight Watchman"
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POLICE COMMISSIONER
Stanley Merkel

POLICE COMMISSIONER (RETIRED)
James Gordon

BRUCE WAYNE'S FAMILY
Julia Madison (wife)
Richard Grayson (son)
Alfred B. Pennyworth (butler, retired in Bristol County Home)
 
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I liek

Does he become 2 Face while president then? Given he stops half way through his term.

I get what youre going for with Wayne doing the security detail but I dont see it happening. Are any of them their alter Egos too? Also Jordan/Queen is a very mixed ticket. I think they'd end up hating each other
 
I liek

Does he become 2 Face while president then? Given he stops half way through his term.

I get what youre going for with Wayne doing the security detail but I dont see it happening. Are any of them their alter Egos too? Also Jordan/Queen is a very mixed ticket. I think they'd end up hating each other
Let me quote my own story pitch:

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All the Presi-Dent's Men.png
(click to Caped Crusader-size)

America, the 1970s.
While on the campaign trail for President, rising star Harvey Dent, governor of New Gothia, is savagely attacked with acid by Queenie Miller, a brainwashed acolyte of the Killer Klown Kult, but manages to win the Republican nomination through an incredible front-porch campaign run out of his house as he recovers. Even as the physical scars heal, old wounds have been brought to light.
It’s a brand-new Harvey Dent inside and out who wins the nomination, then the race between himself, the Democrat ex-astronaut Hal Jordan, and the technocratic third-party challenger, Lex Luthor, in the bloodiest and dirtiest election in a generation. Bruce Wayne, Dent’s high school friend and Secret Service agent, is promoted to the President’s side as chief of his security detail.
Two years later, it all starts crumbling for the fresh-faced President. The Sixties, in their death-throes, continue to bleed into the new decade, with war breaking out again in the Middle East, the economy spiraling downwards, and outbreaks of civil unrest. All the while, Bruce Wayne finds Harvey slipping away from the world as he retreats into himself, and his own position increasingly sidelined.
As he tries to reach out to him, Bruce finds himself entangled in a web of deception as he stumbles into a conspiracy running into the deepest levels of the state apparatus, with the man he thought he once knew running a cabal seeking to tighten their control over the nation into absolute tyranny. With Dent victim and villain alike, and his own family hostages in the White House, it’s up to Bruce to save his old friend from the Shadow Cabinet...and himself.
But he’s just one man against the entire power of the Oval Office.
Or is he?

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Now to answer some specific enquiries:

The idea is the Batman 'verse as a 1970s political thriller AU, with the chief inspirations being All the President's Men (obvs), The Manchurian Candidate, and Executive Action, with Bruce Wayne not starting a career as Batman but instead going into law enforcement, rising to Detective under the tutelage of Commissioner James Gordon and eventually joining the Secret Service, which is how he gets involved in the plot.

Harold "Tex" Thompson here stands in as a third-term LBJ, who the country is finally sick of by 1972. Harvey, as mentioned above, is scarred early in the campaign trail by Harley Quinn on orders of the Charles Manson-like "Jack Napier", but through the political machineering of Cobblepot and Nashton, manages to secure the nomination essentially from his hospital bed. But although in this universe he's managed to keep his issues under control for much longer, the acid attack's enough to bring out his sadistic, power-hungry, alter ego.

Jordan, one of the first men in space and Senator for California, picks radical Oliver Queen, impoverished trust-fund baby turned socialist mayor of Seattle, as his running mate in an attempt to inject some fresh blood into the Democrats. In the meantime, technocrat Lex Luthor launches a third-party campaign, seeking to court the liberal wing of the Republicans and raise his profile. It's bloody, dirty campaign and Jordan's undone by the Dent campaign leaking his affair with a barely-legal campaign aide, Alicia Barr.

Once President, Dent becomes prisoner of this shadowy cabal, rubber-stamping their insidious agenda as his other persona and turning a blind eye to their subversion of justice. Bruce Wayne realises that he's becoming increasingly powerless to act, and as he desperately searches for a way to blow the lid off the conspiracy, he too is confronted with his own primal fears, and takes up a fearsome new identity to fight the Shadow Cabinet. In the meantime, two reporters from the Daily Planet, the straight-laced and serious Lois Lane and the flaky, detached, Clark Kent, have been receiving leaks from another source - someone, or someones, only referring to themselves as "Kitty and Stud".

Thus is the stage set for a titanic battle for the soul of Harvey Dent, and the future of America...

N.B. Gotham City is the state capital of New Gothia, which is a stand-in for New Jersey, not unlike the DCEU really
 
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Some thoughts on the "casting" process:
 
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Let's contextualise the orphaning of Bruce here, shall we?

FDR assassination attempt.png

An attempt on President-elect Franklin Delano Roosevelt's life was made on February 15, 1933. Giuseppe Chiellini [1], an Italian-American migrant worker who had been impoverished by the Great Depression opened fire into the grandstand with a .32 caliber pistol made by the US Revolver Company, a subsidiary of Iver Johnson Arms. Among those on the stand, Dr. Thomas Wayne, Mayor of Gotham City, and his wife Martha were fatally hit. Three others were injured whilst a bystander, Abigail Mathilda "Ma" Hunkel [2], wrestled Giuseppe to the ground as he continued firing wildly; Roosevelt himself escaped unscathed.

The deaths of the Waynes that day left their only child, Bruce Wayne, an orphan. Following the dissolution of the Wayne Foundation shortly afterwards, Bruce would enter a career in the Secret Service, ultimately helping expose the "Shadow Cabinet" conspiracy surrounding the brief presidency of Harvey Dent as the whistleblower known as "Knight Watchman". Giuseppe was sentenced to death and was executed after less than two weeks on death row, his last words being "I killed kings and presidents first, and next all capitalists. Push the button! Go ahead, push the button!"

[0] "New Venice" is the fictional district of Florida Aquaman hangs out around
[1] Joe Chill
[2] @Bolt451 'll know this one: the first Red Tornado
 
Democrats

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Running Mate

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