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) very unpopular during the reign of Edward III. He was a well-known figure at the time the earliest Robin Hood ballads likely developed in the 14th century. Another suggestion is the famously corrupt Peter of Aigueblanche, Bishop of Hereford from 1240 to 1268. However, he would have been much less well known in the 14th century. As the ballad identifies the sitting king as Richard, the contemporary bishop William de Vere has also been suggested, but Knight regards this as unlikely. The Bishop of Hereford appears in Howard Pyle's influential children's book "The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood" (1883), based