Sir Guy's diary
Disclaimer, so no one calls the police: this is the fictional diary of Sir Guy of Gisborne from the Robin Hood BBC TV series. This season he basically has two settings: homicidal or suicidal, so please also consider this a trigger warning.
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11th October, in this the year of our Lord 1194
Dear Diary,
The King is returning, and Isabella is stealing peasants. She is sending them to Prince John, to be made into soldiers in his rebellion against Richard. Already Clun and Nettlestone are emptied. She tried to take a hundred men from Locksley, but we arrived in time to stop it.
Now they have come with us to Sherwood. I do not know what we are supposed to do with them. Tuck wants to train them as soldiers - to fight for the King and against John and Isabella. I do not know if that is possible: they are just peasants, and it looks as though the crisis will soon be upon us. Besides, we cannot feed an army upon acorns!
I remember when John and Richard rebelled against their father, twenty years ago. I was a boy when the rebels burned Nottingham - I remember the sorrow in my mother's face as she helped to treat the survivors. King Henry forgave the princes - God rot them - but the country has not forgotten that terrible time. If there is to be war, it must be ended quickly. If we can weaken John, Richard will triumph all the more easily.
Isabella has chosen the opposing side. She must believe that John is the stronger candidate, and in truth, I can understand her point of view, even if I do not share her trust that the country would be quiescent beneath his tyranny. But John is strong-willed, ambitious, and not afraid to put his schemes into action - and he at least is in England! Perhaps when his brother rebels, the King will finally realise that he needs to stay and produce an heir. We are all at the mercy of these infernal Plantagenets.
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11th October, in this the year of our Lord 1194
Dear Diary,
The King is returning, and Isabella is stealing peasants. She is sending them to Prince John, to be made into soldiers in his rebellion against Richard. Already Clun and Nettlestone are emptied. She tried to take a hundred men from Locksley, but we arrived in time to stop it.
Now they have come with us to Sherwood. I do not know what we are supposed to do with them. Tuck wants to train them as soldiers - to fight for the King and against John and Isabella. I do not know if that is possible: they are just peasants, and it looks as though the crisis will soon be upon us. Besides, we cannot feed an army upon acorns!
I remember when John and Richard rebelled against their father, twenty years ago. I was a boy when the rebels burned Nottingham - I remember the sorrow in my mother's face as she helped to treat the survivors. King Henry forgave the princes - God rot them - but the country has not forgotten that terrible time. If there is to be war, it must be ended quickly. If we can weaken John, Richard will triumph all the more easily.
Isabella has chosen the opposing side. She must believe that John is the stronger candidate, and in truth, I can understand her point of view, even if I do not share her trust that the country would be quiescent beneath his tyranny. But John is strong-willed, ambitious, and not afraid to put his schemes into action - and he at least is in England! Perhaps when his brother rebels, the King will finally realise that he needs to stay and produce an heir. We are all at the mercy of these infernal Plantagenets.