And for ther was noght wherof
He wepte swithe soore."
Wright's ed., vol. i. p. 105.

"In glotonye, God woot,
Go thei to bedde,
And risen with ribaudie,
The Roberdes knaves."
Vol. i. p. 3.

In a note on the second passage, Mr. Wright quotes a statute of Edw. III.,
in which certain malefactors are classed together "qui sont appellez
_Roberdesmen_, Wastours, et Dragelatche:" and on the first he quotes two
curious instances in which the name is applied in a similar manner,--one
from a Latin song of the reign of Henry III.:

"Competenter per _Robert_, robbur designatur;
Robertus excoriat, extorquet, et minatur.
_Vir quicunque rabidus consors est Roberto_."

It seems not impossible that we have in these passages a trace of some
forgotten mythical personage. "Whitaker," says Mr. Wright, "supposes,
without any reason, the 'Roberde's knaves' to be 'Robin Hood's men.'" (Vol.
ii. p. 506.) It is singular enough, however, that as early as the time of
Henry III. we find the term 'consors Roberto' applied generally, as
designating any common thief or robber; and without asserting that there is
any direct allusion to "Robin Hood's men" in the expression "Roberdes
knaves," one is tempted to ask whence the hero of Sherwood got his own
name?