Q 01/05

Robin Hood traditionally wears which green cloth, named after the English city that dyed it?

A) York green

B) Norwich green

C) Nottingham green

D) Lincoln green

Answer · why

D) Lincoln green

Lincoln green is worn in the legend as early as the Gest, though one later ballad clothes his men in it and Robin himself in scarlet red.

Q 02/05

In the legend, what prize does the Sheriff of Nottingham offer at the archery contest meant to trap Robin Hood?

A) A golden arrow

B) A silver bugle

C) A jewelled dagger

D) A purse of gold

Answer · why

A) A golden arrow

A golden arrow: in the ballad named after it, Robin wins in disguise and slips away unrecognised, then Little John shoots a letter into Nottingham to ...

Q 03/05

Films make Robin Hood a nobleman, but what is his rank in the oldest ballads?

A) A squire

B) A peasant

C) A serf

D) A yeoman

Answer · why

D) A yeoman

A yeoman, a free commoner between knight and peasant. The first earl version, in a 1569 chronicle, even suggested he was low-born and won the title 'f...

Q 04/05

In the 1370s poem Piers Plowman, which deadly sin confesses to knowing rhymes of Robin Hood better than his prayers?

A) Sloth

B) Gluttony

C) Pride

D) Envy

Answer · why

A) Sloth

Sloth cannot say his Paternoster properly but knows his rhymes of Robin Hood. It is the outlaw's oldest literary mention, proof the tales were popular...

Q 05/05

In the oldest surviving Robin Hood ballad, who spots the outlaw at Mass in Nottingham and has him arrested?

A) A bishop

B) A monk

C) A minstrel

D) A miller

Answer · why

B) A monk

A monk spots Robin at prayer and raises the alarm. Little John, who had just walked out on Robin over an unpaid bet, still kills the monk and breaks h...