Was king Richard in Robin Hood evil?

Answer 1

The real King Richard was King Richard the Lionheart I. He was the monarch before the Magna Carta. He knew very little English and was mainly on crusades. To do this, he had to charge heavy taxes. At first the people, especially the barons, applauded their king's bravery- hence "lionheart"-but the taxes circled down the social ladder, the bishops and the barons taxes the free men more, who consequentially made the serfs work more. He had Absolute Power, meaning he had power to punish anyone without trial, without evidence. Th barons became displeased and demanded change from Prince John, on condition that he was made monarch, the King John took over and did not fulfill their hopes so they wrote the Magna Carta. I don't think he was evil - especially in the sense of the story, in which Robin and his henchmen applauded his decisions- more ignorant and misguided.

Answer 2

Unlike king Richard I, there is no evidence for the existence of Robin Hood. Even if he did exist, or someone like him existed, it did not have to be during the reign of that king - he could have been earlier or later.

The Robin Hood stories are probably an amalgam (mixture) of many different outlaw stories from many different parts of Britain, in different time periods - this explains why he is claimed to have lived in Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire, Scotland and Wales; it also explains why there is a friar (Tuck) apparently living in England at the time of Richard I - friars did not exist in England until the time of Henry III.

So it is unlikely that king Richard I knew anything about a Robin Hood, either real or imaginary - so he was unable to like or dislike him.