I found 5 other English outlaws that maybe part of the Robin Hood legend... Robin Hood is almost like a composite of serval historical figures, like king Author... First 3...
LINK:
https://historycollection.co/real-robin-hoods-5-outlaw-gangs-medieval-england/
Hereward the Wake
Hereward the Wake or ‘the watchful one’ as his nickname translates, was an eleventh-century Saxon/Danish thane and freedom fighter that led a fenland revolt against William the conqueror.
Hereward was the son of a Lincolnshire squire. The facts of his early life are sketchy. Edward the Confessor was said to have declared Hereward an outlaw prior to the Norman Conquest and sent him into exile on the continent. At the time of the Norman Conquest, he was working as a mercenary. By the time he returned, the Normans had appropriated his lands.
What is certain however is that Hereward led a revolt against the Normans. He objected to the appointment of a Norman abbot at Peterborough- especially as his Uncle had been the previous incumbent.
In 1070, a Danish fleet appeared in the fenland waters around the Isle of Ely in Cambridgeshire. Many of the local people were of Danish descent so they were heartened by the appearance of the Danes, who they hoped would help them throw off the yoke of their Norman masters.
Hereward and a band of outlaws joined with the Danish forces to loot and sack the monastery at Peterborough. However, once the abbey’s treasure was secure, the Danes quickly made a deal with King William and sailed away. After all, they were in it for the profit, not the principle.
Hereward and his men were left alone to face the King’s men and were driven to the Isle of Ely, where they made their last stand. In 1071, William attached the causeway to the island with his ships. The island was surrendered to the king’s forces when the monks revealed a secret entrance to the King’s forces. Hereward was forced to flee, disappearing into the fens and so into legend. Like Robin Hood, he became a figurehead of resistance to the tyranny of the elite.
Roger Godberd
Born in the village of Swannington, northwest Leicestershire sometime around 1260, Roger Godberd was a thirteenth-century outlaw whose life and career bore an uncanny resemblance to Robin Hood- even down to the area of his activity.
Godberd became an outlaw after serving with Simon de Montfort, the ill-fated Earl of Leicester, who led a revolt against his brother in law, Henry III. After De Montfort lost the Battle of Evesham in 1265, Godberd was outlawed for fighting against the king-as was Robin Hood according to the fifteenth-century writer Waler Bower.
So Godberd fled to Sherwood Forest where he lived for four years. His anti-establishment credentials and military experience made him a natural focal point for the displaced and he managed to build up a band of a hundred men around him.
Godberd was eventually captured in the grounds of Rufford Abbey and taken to Nottingham Castle with some of his gang. But like Robin Hood, he managed to escape- and was protected by Sir Richard Foliot, who hid the gang from the sheriff of Nottingham-until the King’s forces arrived.
Godberd was eventually permanently captured in 1275. For three years, he was held captive in three different prisons awaiting trial. Here the story varies. Some sources say that he was tried at the Tower of London but pardoned by Edward I on his return from the 8th crusade. Godberd then returned to his farm where he lived until his death. But other sources claim Godberd never reached trial, dying in Newgate prison in 1276.
Adam the Leper
The 14th century was a bonanza time for outlaw gangs in England. Plague, famine, and depopulation led to widespread social unrest, with the peasant revolt and the rise of the heretic Lollards just two of the signs of the upheaval. Desperate times also produce desperate men and Adam the leper and his gang were amongst the most ruthless and daring of the fourteenth-century gangs.
All that is known of Adam are his crimes. His gang was active in the south east of England sometime in 1330s and 1340s. T
he gang did not bother hiding in the forest to waylaying passing travelers. Instead, they were an urban gang who took bolder measures
One of the gang’s favorite methods was to wait for towns to have fairs-then they would descend. While householders were at the fair, the gang plundered their unguarded homes, setting them on fire afterward. The distraught householders were generally too busy trying to save their houses and remaining possessions to give chase.
Like Robin Hood and his merry men, Adam and his gang would also hold the wealthy to ransom.
However, unlike Robin, who did not harm his victims, he was not a particularly gentle ‘host’. “men and women were captured” said Luke Owen Pike in his “History of Crime in England”. “Ransom was extracted on the pain of death and even those who paid it might think themselves fortunate if they escaped some horrible mutilation.”
But like Robin Hood, Adam’s gang was bold-so bold that they were audacious enough to target royalty. In 1347, the gang descended upon Bristol and robbed several ships in the harbor belonging to King Edward III. But their greatest coupe was in London. Here, the gang targeted a jeweler who held some pieces belonging to Queen Philippa. Adam and his men laid siege to his house, demanding the jewels. When the jeweler refused, they set the building on fire and seized the jewels by force. But this time, the victims gave chase, when the King sending Thomas, Lord Berkley after the gang.
Adam was caught and brought to justice in Winchester. But his outlaws staked out the courtroom, attacking everyone who came out. They caused such trouble that the authorities had to let the outlaw leader go., free to continue his life or crime.
But, some still like to toot their own favorite horns.
