[MR] Wikipedia: 14th C. Coterel Gang, Very Naughty English Bandits

[Garth Groff and Sally Sanford]

Noble Friends,

Today Wikipedia's "Featured Article" discusses the "Coterel Gang", outlaws
who terrorized England's North Midlands during the early to mid-1300s.

The Coterel Gang, and the associated Folville Gang, were specialists in
extortion and protection rackets, but occasionally engaged in robbery and
murder. The Coterel family themselves were minor gentry, but their gang
sometimes included down-on-their-luck knights and other lesser nobility.
Some of the same officers ordered to capture the Coterels were bribed into
becoming their supporters.

The Coterels operated with the protection of local lords, and also high
members of the church. They were supported by a network of spies, and
locals who provided them with food and safe houses. Although often charged
with various crimes, few gang members were ever captured, and most of those
went unconvicted by local juries, or were let off with minor punishment.
Thanks to Royal Service during Edward II's and Edward III's Scottish
campaigns and the early stages of the Hundred Years War, nearly all the
gang received pardons for their crimes, then went back to a life of
lawlessness.

The Coterels generally operated in the same area as the fictional Robin
Hood, and it has been suggested that some of the Robin Hood tales are based
on the real exploits of the Coterel gang.

The whole article about these bandits can be found at
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coterel_gang .

Yours Aye,

Mungo Napier, Laird of Mallard Lodge  🦆