David of Doncaster is a member of Robin Hood

Robin Hood

Robin Hood was a heroic outlaw in English folklore. A highly skilled archer and swordsman, he is known for "robbing from the rich and giving to the poor", assisted by a group of fellow outlaws known as his "Merry Men". Traditionally, Robin Hood and his men are depicted wearing Lincoln green clothes....

's Merry Men

Merry Men

The Merry Men are the group of outlaws who followed Robin Hood, according to English folklore. An early use of the phrase "merry men" occurs in the oldest known Robin Hood ballad, "Robin Hood and the Monk", which survives in a manuscript completed around 1450. The word "merry" in this and other...

 in English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 folklore

Folklore

Folklore consists of legends, music, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, fairy tales and customs that are the traditions of a culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which those expressive genres are shared. The study of folklore is sometimes called...

. Doncaster

Doncaster

Doncaster is a town in South Yorkshire, England, and the principal settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster. The town is about from Sheffield and is popularly referred to as "Donny"...

 is a town near Barnsdale

Barnsdale

Barnsdale, or Barnsdale Forest, is a relatively small area of South Yorkshire, England which has a rich history and the region is steeped in folklore. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire...

, where early ballads placed Robin Hood.

Ballads

He appears in one ballad

Ballad

A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of British and Irish popular poetry and song from the later medieval period until the 19th century and used extensively across Europe and later the Americas, Australia and North Africa. Many...

 in the Child collection

Child Ballads

The Child Ballads are a collection of 305 ballads from England and Scotland, and their American variants, collected by Francis James Child in the late nineteenth century...

, Robin Hood and the Golden Arrow

Robin Hood and the Golden Arrow

-Synopsis:The sheriff of Nottingham complains to King Richard of Robin Hood.-Portrayals:An altered version of the tale appears in the first episode of the Robin of Sherwood television series, in which the prize offered is a silver arrow belonging to Herne the Hunter as a means of luring Robin to...

. The sheriff is giving an archery contest, and David, "a brave young man," warns Robin against going, because it is a trap.

Later adaptations

He reappears in later adaptations, both books and movies. In Howard Pyle

Howard Pyle

Howard Pyle was an American illustrator and author, primarily of books for young people. A native of Wilmington, Delaware, he spent the last year of his life in Florence, Italy.__FORCETOC__...

's The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood

The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood

The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood of Great Renown in Nottinghamshire is an 1883 novel by the American illustrator and writer Howard Pyle. Consisting of a series of episodes in the story of the English outlaw Robin Hood and his band of Merry Men, the novel compiles traditional material into a...

, he appears as one of the youngest in the band, and a wrestler. In A Gest of Robyn Hode

A Gest of Robyn Hode

"A Gest of Robyn Hode" is Child Ballad 117; it is also called A Lyttell Geste of Robyn Hode in one of the two oldest books that contain it....

, Sir Richard at the Lee

Richard at the Lee

Richard at the Lee was a major character in the early medieval ballads of Robin Hood, especially the lengthy ballad A Gest of Robyn Hode, and has reappeared in Robin Hood tales throughout the centuries.Sir Richard is said to have been a nobleman, the lord of Verysdale...

 saves an anonymous yeoman wrestler, who had won in a bout but was nearly murdered because he was a stranger, and apologized for the delay, with Robin saying that helping any yeomen pleases him; in Pyle's account, the wrestler is David of Doncaster, and Robin is deeply grateful. He also appears in various other adventures as a minor character.

Daniel Peacock

Daniel Peacock

Daniel Peacock is an English actor, writer and director best known for his work with the team of The Comic Strip Presents.... He is also known as Danny Peacock.-Acting:...

 portrayed him in the 1991 film, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves

Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves

Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves is a 1991 American adventure film directed by Kevin Reynolds. Kevin Costner heads the cast list as Robin Hood...

, though his character went by the nickname "Bull".

In Clayton Emery's Tales of Robin Hood, David is a dependable Merry Man who wears his dark hair long since Royal Foresters cut off his ears.