Folk Figure. Traditionally, the leader of a band of legendary English outlaws. Modern scholarship generally agrees that the origin of the Robin Hood legend lies somewhere in the eleventh or twelfth century probably in Yorkshire. Several contemporary works seem to refer to such tales without recording them. The first literary reference to Robin Hood was apparently 1377. One of the oldest surviving ballads is ‘A Gest of Robyn Hode', which was not published until the late 1400s. In all of the earliest stories Robin is depicted as a yeoman, he doesn't achieve a noble birth until much later, perhaps as late as the sixteenth century stories when he also acquires a love interest in the form of Marian. The links between the legend and historical figures are difficult to trace, there was a Robert Hod, recorded in the Yorkshire assize for 1225 as a fugitive, a Robyn Hood who served as a porter to the king's court in 1324, a Robert Hood, who was a tenant of Wakefield, Yorkshire found in a 1316 record, or even David, Earl of Huntingdon among countless other candidates. Over the centuries, Robin evolved from a bandit king with complete sovereignty over his Merry Men to a quasi-democratic leader of an egalitarian substrata of society. Most modern tellings of the legend end on a happy note, but the traditional ballads end in the death of the hero. There are variations to the story of Robin's death. The oldest and longest enduring traditions agree that he was in the care of a Prioress while ill or perhaps simply old. In some cases she is described as a relative of his. In some versions, the Prioress, bleeds Robin, an accepted healing technique of the age, but she deliberately bleeds out too much, causing his death by blood loss. Another version has the weakened Robin stabbed by the Prioress's lover. The dying outlaw then was supposed to have fired an arrow from the window – its landing place was to be his grave. His wishes were traditionally carried out by the faithful Little John. The traditional resting place of Robin Hood is on the site of the old Kirklees priory in Yorkshire. The gravesite is on private property, but can be visited on the occasional walking tour organized by the local Tourist Information office.