Welcome to Outlaw Month

Hello again and welcome to OUTLAW month here at Suite101! What am I talking about? Well…

A few months ago I was working up a list of possible topics to cover in my coming British History Articles when I realized that my list included a number of individuals who were classically described as outlaws. I asked the head of my department if it was okay to devote a full month to talking about these individuals, and she was so taken with the idea that she suggested I propose it to the other history writers here on Suite101. Although some of the writers already had July mapped out, and a few don't have topics that are exactly appropriate, many of the writers decided it would be a fun idea. So, after you take a look at my article, you might want to take a look around the history section and see what other famous personages are being discussed.

All of this has got me wondering, what is our fascination with these law-breakers? Normally we hate our criminals and law-breakers, but somehow, if one manages to get the term outlaw tacked onto their name, they gain a certain level of romance. If you'll notice, most of the world's famous outlaws exist half in history half in legend. Certainly this is true of the medieval outlaws such as Robin Hood, but it even extends to more recent people like the American Jesse James. It is true of everyone I intend to write about over the coming weeks.

I also noticed that in almost every case, these individuals have become associated with a portion of the population that was in someway oppressed by the government. Therefore, to be condemned by that government, indirectly made one a sort of freedom fighter, Robin Hood fought against the Norman oppressors, Jesse James fought against the Yankees after the American Civil War. One might point out that these outlaws tended to rob from the government supporters because they were rich and the only ones worth robbing, but that is really just nit-picking.

So to start off the month, I'm going to talk about one of my favorite outlaws, Hereward the Wake. He is perhaps the quintessential British outlaw in that he managed to get outlawed by two successive governments. I hope you find him as fascinating a character as I do.