The origins of the Robin Hood story are a bit nebulous and don't give us a definitive picture of whether or not he was an actual historical figure, a story made up to provide the people with a hero, or an amalgamation of the stories of various outlaws of the time. According to the BBC, the first literary mention of Robin Hood is from the work Piers Plowman, written by William Langland in 1377.

In the following century or two (during and around the reign of King John), numerous works sprouted up that mention Robin Hood (using variations on the name such as Robyn Hode and Robin Hoode). These stories began to form the basis of the modern fairy tale of Robin Hood that we know today.

What complicates matters even more is that a number of outlaws and bandits of the time apparently took on the name of Robin Hood when committing their crimes, making it hard to discern which acts where made by the True Robin Hood and which were done by imposters.
Source(s):
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/middle_ages/robin_02.shtml


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