Of course not. The Sheriff is as much a Dem icon as any - a corrupt tax collector.
Robin Hood did not "steal from the rich and give to the poor" as the Dems publicly proclaim - he was one of them.
Robin Hood took money from the Sheriff of Nottingham - the tax collector - and gave it back to the over-taxed. The corrupt Sheriff lived off his cut of the taxes and then delivered the rest to the rich/government.
...The sheriff was, for most of this period, an unpaid position. In fact, the sheriffs had to pay the king a yearly sum to keep their offices. This sum was called the "farm" of the county. The sheriffs usually made far more from their various duties administering the shires (like collecting taxes) than the crown asked for. In 1204, King John said the sheriffs weren't expected to keep any of the county's revenue. That didn't matter because the sheriffs didn't report all of their income, especially from such sources as being bribed to look the other way, arranging false arrests and so on....
...But much like the search for a real Robin Hood, some historians who search for the sheriff behind the legend like to go further back in time to the 13th century.
James Holt proposed Philip Mark, sheriff of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire from 1209 to 1224. In the television series Robin of Sherwood, Philip Mark appeared in one episode, replaced the series' fictional sheriff, and was killed at the end. The real Mark was much more of a survivor. In 1213, King John had some sheriffs dismissed and arrested. Mark stayed. In the Charter (what would be called Magna Carta), there was a provision demanding the removal of aliens. Although Mark was not an English native, he kept his job. Much to the regret of many in Nottinghamshire.
Philip's conduct of his shrievalty included robbery, false arrest, unjust disseisin, and persistent attacks on local landed interests, both secular and ecclesiastical...
He was as zealous, thrustful, and dangerous under Henry [III, John's son] as he was under John. For 15 years on to 1224, when he finally lost his shrievalty, he envenomed the local politics of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire.
-- J.C. Holt, The Northerners, p. 230.
Among other things, Mark demanded 5 pounds a year from the local burgesses. He clashed with Maud (or Matilda) de Caux, a wealthy widow who controlled much of Sherwood. ....
geocities.com
Robin Hood is a GOP icon and a Dem villain. Dems are the Party of the Sheriff of Nottingham. |
