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Robin Hood Biography

Fictional Outlaw / Folk Hero

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Robin Hood is a legendary hero of English folklore. In the old tales, Robin Hood is an expert archer and good-hearted outlaw who lives in England's Sherwood Forest and "robs from the rich and gives to the poor." He loves Maid Marian, leads a band known as the Merry Men (which includes Friar Tuck and the oversized Little John) and torments the evil Sheriff of Nottingham. Robin appears in Sir Walter Scott's Ivanhoe and many other books, stories and movies. Most Robin Hood stories are set in the era of 1100 - 1300 A.D., and in many he is a defender of the real-life King Richard the Lion-Hearted and enemy of the usurper, King John. Much like King Arthur, Robin is a fictional figure who may have been loosely based on a real person or persons.

Extra credit: Robin Hood has been played in the movies by Errol Flynn (1938), Kevin Costner (1991) and Sean Connery (1976), among others; he was portrayed as a fox in the 1973 Disney animated version of the tale.

Robin Hood appears with the composer Mozart in our loop Possibly Poisoned, and with blind poet Homer in the loop Maybe Real, Maybe Not.