Robin Hood Robin Hood Robin Hood is a legendary heroic outlaw originally depicted in English folklore and subsequently featured in literature and film. According to legend, he was a highly skilled archer and swordsman. In some versions of the legend, he is depicted as being of noble birth, and having fought in the Crusades before returning to England to find his lands taken by the Sheriff. In other versions this is not the case and he is instead born into the yeoman class. Traditionally depicted dressed in Lincoln green, he is said to have robbed from the rich and given to the
Bishop of Hereford (Robin Hood) of the episode in the much older "Gest of Robyn Hode" in which Robin robs a monk. The Bishop of Hereford appears in the subsequent Child Ballad, "Robin Hood and Queen Katherine", in which he refers to the action in the previous work and refuses to bet on Robin in an archery contest. Scholar Stephen Knight notes that there are multiple historical Bishops of Hereford who have been suggested as a model for the character in the ballads. He may have been based on Adam Orleton, Bishop from 1317 to 1327, an antagonist of Edward II of England who became