Walter Scott the origin of "Habeas corpus" underlies Scott's next novel, "Ivanhoe", set during the era of the creation of the Magna Carta, which political conservatives like Walter Scott and Edmund Burke regarded as rooted in immemorial British custom and precedent. "Ivanhoe" (1819), set in 12th-century England, marked a move away from Scott's focus on the local history of Scotland. Based partly on Hume's "History of England" and the ballad cycle of Robin Hood, "Ivanhoe" was quickly translated into many languages and inspired countless imitations and theatrical adaptations. "Ivanhoe" depicts the cruel tyranny of the Norman overlords (Norman Yoke) over the impoverished
Robin Hood therefore unsurprising that medieval records mention a number of people called 'Robert Hood' or 'Robin Hood', some of whom are known to have fallen foul of the law. Another view on the origin on the name is expressed in the 1911 "Encyclopædia Britannica" which remarks that 'hood' was a common dialectical form of 'wood'; and that the outlaw's name has been given as 'Robin Wood'. There are a number of references to Robin Hood as Robin Wood, or Whood, or Whod, from the 16th and 17th centuries. The earliest recorded example, in connection with May games in Somerset, dates from