Nottinghamshire, 1264.

England is on the brink of civil war. The barons are in revolt against King Henry III. Such times suit Roger Godberd, sergeant in the garrison at Nottingham Castle. After throwing in their lot with the barons who embark on a bloody campaign for control of England, Roger and his companions are betrayed and seek refuge in Sherwood Forest. There they begin their new lives as outlaws evading their old enemy, the High Sheriff of Nottinghamshire.

Yorkshire, 1320.

Wrongfully accused of murder, young Robert Hood of Wakefield finds himself outlawed with only his bitter enemy Will Shacklock for company. Taking to the woods of Barnsdale, Robert and Will agree on an uneasy truce and begin recruiting a band of robbers fleeing the chaos of the Earl of Lancaster’s rebellion against King Edward II. Eventually drawing the attention of the king himself, Robert and his band are given a choice; be hanged as common criminals or enter the king’s service as agents of the crown…

Blending real history with medieval ballads this is the entwined saga of two men, separated by a generation, united by legend, who inspired the tales of England’s famous hooded outlaw.

Excerpt

Simon de Montfort arrived in London at the end of the week further convincing us that war was but a matter of days away. He was carried in a specially designed carriage as he had broken his leg when his horse had slipped on ice that winter. Despite not being able to see him in person, all London spilled out into the streets to witness the arrival of a man who was on the verge of being deified by the commoners.

“Can’t understand it,” said Roger as we watched the pandemonium from the rooftops on Tower Street. “Look at those fools. Bakers, tanners, night soil men. They act as if de Montfort were sainted before death but nothing will change for them. The barons may win and get a say in how the country is run or the king may crush us all but for those fools life will go on; hard and toilsome as it ever was.”

“He represents change,” I said. “Gone are the days when a king’s ruling was as good as the word of God. The Runnymede Charter and the Oxford Provisions changed all that. De Montfort is fighting for a future of reason, of cause that amounts to more than the whim of a fickle monarch.”

“And yet the common man still won’t get a say in anything.”

“And he does not expect to. All he can expect from all of this is that his superiors can speak for him and protect his rights against a king who sees him as little more than chattel. That is the most the common man can hope for and that is what de Montfort represents.”

Roger looked at me, a smile touching his lips. “You’re a young lad,” he said, “and have the right to a little naivety not to mention principles. You’ll lose both soon enough.”

I ignored Roger’s cynicism and felt secretly justified when de Montfort ruled against de Ferrers in a case brought before him by John de Giffard. The country was not officially at war and looting was strictly forbidden not to mention frowned upon by de Montfort. De Giffard had the gall to portray himself as a protector of the people and claimed that de Ferrers had ruthlessly despoiled a poor draper’s widow in Gloucester.

We were all called before de Montfort who held council in the Tower. We were escorted to an upper chamber where several barons sat in discussion. As soon as I entered I noticed how young they all were. Few were over the age of thirty and I was struck by the notion that this was a young man’s rebellion; generation pitted against generation in a bid to change the status quo upheld by the king and his friends.

De Montfort was a comely, slim man with dark wavy hair that had just started to grey in parts. He had the appearance of an active man and, were it not for his leg which was bound between two splints, I had no doubt that he would be pacing the room in irritation. Opposite him sat de Ferrers, his own swollen leg bound in bandages. Both men had crutches to hand and I was alarmed by the symbolism. This rebellion may be a youthful one but it was an injured one; outnumbered and disabled.

As the charges were read out, de Ferrers raged and called de Giffard all manner of obscenities but the gist of his argument was one that we all agreed with. De Giffard had been attempting to rob the place himself and we had simply got there first. That’s all there was to it.

De Montfort was not impressed. “These are our own people, de Ferrers!” he said, slamming his fist down on a side table and making his wine cup spill. “We are not waging war in foreign parts nor are we suppressing rebels. These are honest citizens who have no power in this game of barons and kings. And this is not the first time I’ve had to warn you against looting!”

“Simon, you must not believe de Giffard’s lies!” de Ferrers said. “He would have you believe that he was a defender of lonely widows when really he lusted after that woman’s valuables even more than I did!”

“Irrelevant!” de Montfort snapped. “Whether or not what you say is true, the fact remains that de Giffard’s men did not plunder that poor woman into ruin! Yours did!”

We stared at the ground and I felt no little shame at being raged at by a man whom all of London revered. Only Roger kept his head held high in support of his lord and I knew then why de Ferrers remembered the name of Roger Godberd and why he prized him above most of his followers.

In the end de Montfort demanded that de Ferrers make amends to the widow in Gloucester. De Ferrers seethed in silence and I knew how he would rage that night at having to fork over money to a mere widow, knocked down another rung in his constant battle to climb out of the depths of debt. I also caught a faint smile on the face of John de Giffard as the verdict was read. It was clear that de Giffard had never hoped to get anything out of this other than seeing a blow delivered to our lord. De Ferrers had plenty of enemies on both sides of this conflict.

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About the Author

Chris Thorndycroft is a British writer of historical fiction, horror and fantasy. His early short stories appeared in magazines and anthologies such as Dark Moon Digest and American Nightmare. His first novel under his own name was A Brother’s Oath; the first book in the Hengest and Horsa Trilogy. He also writes under the pseudonym P. J. Thorndyke.

For more information, please visit Chris Thorndycroft’s website. You can also find him on Twitter and Goodreads.