How did the story of Robin Hood pass from oral literature to written?

Question

Robin Hood is a famous figure of English folklore, whose existence or fictionality is still a subject of debate. The stories about him started off as folk tales transmitted orally (ballads), but by now of course there are many written stories about him. I'm curious about the history of the transition of Robin Hood tales from oral to written form, and I've phrased my title a little vaguely because I think there are several interconnected subquestions here:- Roughly when were Robin Hood stories first written down?- What is the oldest *surviving* written Robin Hood story?- Is there one particularly important early written text which influenced many of the later/modern versions of the story? (Cf. [Malory's *Morte d'Arthur*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Morte_d%27Arthur) for Arthurian legend.)

Answer 1

If I recall, the earliest references to Robin Hood are from the fourteenth century. They mention Robin Hood in passing as if he was a character that readers could be expected to be familiar with much as I am confident that people today would understand what I meant if I called someone a Hermoine Granger. This indicates the existence of an oral tradition.

We are used to placing Robin Hood during the 1190s, during the reign of Richard I. This would force you to eliminate things like tights and Friar Tuck.