Way back in days of old
There was a legend told
About a hero known as Aaaa-lyson!

Syr sheryffe for thy sake, Ally Upshot wull y take?
I wyll for to have golde and fee. This be best for Lampo and me.

Ally Upshot ffayre and free, in this lynde shote we.
the shote y wyll. Alle thy lustes to full fyll.
Have at the pryke.

From the blurb on a particularly cheap Penguin edition

It is clear from the ballads that Allie adored Katrina and that the affection was mutual: notably Katrina's husband, Hector Mallory, later to be Holy Roman Emperor, gets some mentions but not many - the bulk of the surviving texts refer to the adventures the pair enjoyed in Allie's home lands of Nottingham, where she defeated one evil and one morally dubious Sheriff of Nottingham. The narrative then shifts to Katrina's home of Palermo, where we see the pair battle assassin James Tilley, then the action moves to the Baltic States, where they are searching for the Grail.

From this we can deduce that 'Allie the Upshot' was probably a stock character, a little like Harlequin or Columbine, who appeared in any story being told around this time. 'Allie' was probably an everywoman, a folk hero - she adventures with the Firebird and Aelindis, wields Excalibur, and is ultimately defeated by almost the entire Collegium. It would be particularly interesting to ask the historical personages still around today how they feel about their part in the 'Allie' legends, and for information regarding the many women the 'Allie' character was based upon.

Despite the probability that she never existed, Allie's reciprocal love for the very real Queen Katrina of Sicily is generally considered the archetypal romance, although the several film versions which exist have never done the legend justice - the 1920s silent film is considered the most moving, while the 1980s extravaganza starring Debra Winger and Theresa Russell is perhaps the most lavish. The recent James Cameron epic Allie and Katrina is unfortunately famous for containing the worst sex scene in the history of cinema and the funniest death scene when Allie, floating on the lake in the middle of the Collegium on a broken raft, pushes Katrina off in order to save her from Stanley's fireball spell.