Robin Hood is an archetypal figure in English folklore, whose story originates from medieval times, but who remains significant in popular culture where he is known for "stealing from the rich and giving to the poor" and fighting against injustice and tyranny. His band includes a "three score" group of fellow outlawed yeomen – called his "Merry Men". He has been the subject of numerous films, television series, books, comics and plays.

In the earliest sources, Robin Hood is a commoner, but he would often later be portrayed as the dispossessed Earl of Huntingdon. In popular culture, Robin Hood and his band of merry men are usually portrayed as living in Sherwood Forest, in Nottinghamshire. Much of the action of the early ballads does take place in Nottinghamshire, and the very earliest known ballad does show the outlaws fighting in Sherwood Forest.

So does the very first recorded Robin Hood rhyme, four lines from the beginning of the 15th Century beginning, "Robyn hode in scherewode stod." However, the overall picture from the surviving early ballads and other early references shows Robin Hood based in the Barnsdale area of what is now South Yorkshire (which borders Nottinghamshire), and other traditions also point to Yorkshire. A tradition dating back at least to the end of the 16th century gives his birthplace as Loxley, Sheffield in South Yorkshire, while the site of Robin Hood's Well in Yorkshire has been associated with Robin Hood at least since 1422. His grave has been claimed to be at Kirklees Priory, Mirfield in West Yorkshire, as implied by the 18th-century version of Robin Hood's Death, and there is a headstone there of dubious authenticity.

The first clear reference to "rhymes of Robin Hood" is from the late-14th-century poem Piers Plowman, but the earliest surviving copies of the narrative ballads which tell his story have been dated to the 15th century or the first decade of the 16th century. In these early accounts Robin Hood's partisanship of the lower classes, his Marianism and associated special regard for women, his outstanding skill as an archer, his anti-clericalism and his particular animus towards the Sheriff of Nottingham are already clear. Little John, Much the Miller's Son and Will Scarlet (as Will "Scarlok" or "Scathelocke") all appear, although not yet Maid Marian or Friar Tuck.

It is not certain what should be made of these latter two absences as it is known that Friar Tuck for one was part of the legend since at least the later 15th century. In popular culture Robin Hood is typically seen as a contemporary and supporter of the late-12th century king Richard the Lionheart, Robin being driven to outlawry during the misrule of Richard's evil brother John while Richard was away at the Third Crusade. This view first gained currency in the 16th century and has very little scholarly support.

It is certainly not supported by the earliest ballads. The early compilation A Gest of Robyn Hode names the king as "Edward", and while it does show Robin Hood as accepting the king's pardon he later repudiates it and returns to the greenwood. The oldest surviving ballad, Robin Hood and the Monk gives even less support to the picture of Robin Hood as a partisan of the true king.

The setting of the early ballads is usually attributed by scholars to either the 13th century or the 14th, although it is recognised they are not necessarily historically consistent.

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