Austin,
When I mentioned the RH ballads I was referring to the ones that have come down to us. 'rymes of RH' could be interpreted as almost anything. The fact is we know most of them were written in the 17th century and nearly as many in the 18th. The 3 or 4 from mss of earlier centuries have no oral evidence. No doubt from the 13th century onwards they existed as stories. Many of them tell pretty much the same story and some of the stories predate the RH legend itself, having come from earlier legends.
Those found in oral tradition in the 19thc and later can be traced back to 19thc broadsides, copied from the earlier printings.

As you say, whether they were ever oral or not in earlier centuries will ever remain a mystery. If the evidence isn't there I'd say the likeliHood is NOT. From prior to the 16thc only a handful of mss remain that tell us anything about the popular ballad.