Below is a membrane of a court roll of 1278, in which one Richard Coleshill accused a gang of thieves of taking his goods and chattels from the manor of Swannington in Leicestershire.
The gang was led by Roger Godberd, one of the most remarkable gangsters or mob bosses of the thirteenth century. Roger was a prominent Montfortian outlaw during the 1260s and led a gang of robbers in the forests of Charnwood and Sherwood. Finally, after several years of plaguing the Midlands, he was hunted down and captured by Reynold Grey, High Sheriff of Nottingham.
Unsurprisingly, Roger the Dodger has been suggested as the inspiration for the later Robin Hood ballads. He appears as a supporting player in my new novella, Longsword (IV) The Hooded Men, and I will post more on him in the near future.
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