The Lost Diary of Robin Hood’s Money Man

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The Lost Diary of Robin Hood’s Money Man
Steve Barlow

Steve Skidmore

The tenth Lost Diary – a real milestone! Robin Hood has always been an enormously popular figure, but was he real? The mad middle-ages will feature in this real account of his life.It’s Sherwood Forest and one man is looking after the nation’s money. No, not Robin Hood, but his money man – Leonard du Somoney While Robin robs the rich, someone has to control it before it’s doled out to the poor. Friar Tuck, Maid Marian and that evil Sheriff of Nottingham will naturally make guest appearance as well as Richard the Lionheart and the Crusades, knights, castles, dungeons . Plenty of information about the measly middle ages as well as the odd joke or two about robin’ banks!The Sherwood Forest Visitors’ Centre is the second most visited tourist attraction outside London, after Alton Towers. There is an enormous amount of interest in Robin Hood worldwide, but particularly amongst children in England.

Copyright (#ulink_cc87637b-d89b-5af3-9641-0af60570c927)

First published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsChildren's Books in 1999

HarperCollinsChildren's Books An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd,

77-85 Fulham Palace Road,

Hammersmith, London W6 8JB

www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)

Text copyright © Steve Barlow and Steve Skidmore 1999

Illustrations copyright © George Hollingworth 1999

Cover illustration copyright © Martin Chatterton 1999

Steve Barlow and Steve Skidmore and illustrator assert the moral right to be identified as the authors and illustrator of the work.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

HarperCollinsPublishers has made every reasonable effort to ensure that any picture content and written content in this ebook has been included or removed in accordance with the contractual and technological constraints in operation at the time of publication.

Source ISBN: 9780006945918

Ebook Edition: © MARCH 2014 ISBN: 9780007571567

Version: 2014-11-11

Contents

Cover (#ue73a4804-339f-5898-9386-9c6521286de3)

Title Page (#u2515cc9d-3d28-57f1-b1aa-affb5afba506)

Copyright (#ulink_45fe25d5-f7a5-585e-94ed-d6cb1ccd10af)

Message to Readers (#ulink_883caa63-ba5c-5dd3-83d3-7cffe600b8e4)

10th March 1189 (#ulink_883caa63-ba5c-5dd3-83d3-7cffe600b8e4)

17th March 1189 (#ulink_496b2a88-b76c-57d8-b8f9-01e33f090ab3)

3rd August 1189

10th August 1189

19th August 1189

21st August 1189

4th September 1189

9th October 1189

11th December 1189

14th February 1190

4th July 1190

10th July 1190

29th July 1190

27th September 1190

30th September 1190

17th October 1190

3rd April 1191

11th April 1191

2nd May 1191

6th June 1191

10th June 1191

13th July 1191

11th August 1191

21st August 1191

23rd August 1191

15th December 1191

Boxing Day 1191

Easter Day 1192

11th April 1192

23rd May 1192

2nd July 1192

24th September 1192

30th October 1192

27th November 1192

30th December 1192

10th July 1193

12th August 1193

25th September 1193

27th October 1193

3rd November 1193

20th March 1194

26th March 1194

8th April 1194

17th April 1194

11th May 1194

18th August 1194

Editors’ Note

6th April 1199

7th April 1199

28th June 1199

19th August 1199

26th August 1199

27th August 1199

4th September 1199

Keep Reading (#u28193d60-59a4-5e0e-9373-aeaedba5c7bf)

Historical Note (#ulink_38d4a900-a3e8-53b0-b66c-5662601df8b1)

About the Publisher (#ulink_6ec20f10-69b7-509f-bf85-054239d1f9f9)

MESSAGE TO READERS (#ulink_1612139f-ce60-5d53-8593-50a8a0f004d6)

Many people believe that the famous English outlaw, Robin Hood, is merely a legendary figure. They argue that he only ever existed as a character in stories, plays and songs.

However, this recently discovered Lost Diary proves beyond doubt that Robin Hood did exist.

The diary is written by Leonard du Somoney, Robin Hood’s financial advisor in Sherwood Forest (presumably his branch manager). It details how Robin Hood became an outlaw. It also provides records of the Third Crusade and inside views of Richard the Lionheart and his brother John.

This diary (like so many other Lost Diaries) was found by Barlow and Skidmore. They were truffle

hunting in Sherwood Forest with their pet pig, Percy, when the pig was drawn towards a giant oak tree. Instead of finding truffles, Percy dug up a pink pottery piggy bank. Breaking open the pig (the pottery one), Barlow and Skidmore discovered the following Lost Diary. There were also hundreds of pages of accounts, but the publishers thought these accounts were far too boring to put in this book (although the company accountant thought they were jolly interesting and made a riveting good read).

Instead, the editors chose the most interesting diary entries for publication. For the first time ever, we have a unique day-to-day record of life in Sherwood Forest, where Robin Hood and his band of outlaws robbed from the rich and gave to the poor. At last, we can see the Merry Man behind the legend.

A truffle is an expensive fungus, not to be confused with trifle which is not found in forests except after very messy picnics.

10th March 1189 (#ulink_933ed014-5516-5e5d-8e74-e8db925a0d0e)

I’m starting a new job tomorrow. As a Norman gentleman, and the son of a knight, I shouldn’t have to work at all – but I’m the youngest son, so I don’t get to inherit any money even if there was any, which there isn’t because my dad has spent it all. So when I saw that Earl David of Huntingdon was looking for a Steward, I sent him my reference.

Earl David said he was looking for a crooked, underhand smart-alec to manage the Huntingdon estates. He said I was just the sort of chap he needed (I think he meant that as a compliment). My new boss has got a red face and gout and he does a lot of shouting, but he’s not a bad old buffer.