The two men crucified alongside Jesus were not just petty thieves but dangerous bandits and possible revolutionaries.
Dimas and Gestas: Bandits Crucified with Christ
‘By god that dyed on a tree’: Crux Simplex in “A Lytell Geste of Robyn Hode” (c.1450)?
In the 16th century there was an understanding among some thinkers that Christ may have died on a simple wooden stake or tree, rather than a two beam cross, and similarly the Geste of Robyn Hode makes reference to “Cryst that dyed on a tree”.