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I do not care if Otto Bathurst Robin Hood played so fast and loose with the story, it exists in an alternate universe. On the contrary, it's one of the things I liked most. The movie was great when it was fun, instead of trying too hard to make us take it seriously. But the historical inaccuracy, without being a factor of disagreement, remains to be discussed. And make fun of.
Robin Hood has been out for a week and is not doing really well at the box office, reporting only $ 30 million so far against a budget of $ 138 million. This may prove to be a failure (depending on what is happening on foreign markets), but I have developed a strange fascination for this film. Mainly: How is a movie wrong about its own story?
Before you release your forks from the space age, this movie is still a period piece. The film shows that this is happening during the Third Crusade, which took place between 1189 and 1192. One could say that it is an "alternative vision" of our world, but considering that all this that exists in the film is only versions now, it is unlikely that the film was speculative. He just wanted to watch cool.
To shed light on the strangest things I've seen in the film and how they fit terribly (or terribly well) into today's medieval history, I turned to an expert. Specifically, Josephine Livingstone, Cultural Writer of New Republic, holds a Ph.D. in English and gave a course in medieval literature at NYU. I sent him a list of anachronistic things that I noticed in Robin Hood and asked him to tell me if they really existed in the Middle Ages. Here is what she said:
Rough notice
In the film, Robin Hood (Taron Egerton) is enlisted in the Third Crusade, published by the sheriff of Nottingham (Ben Mendelsohn).
Josephine Livingstone: Nope. The soldiers were not enlisted in the crusades. They could be strongly encouraged to go, as evidenced by the preaching tours of Crusader sermons that abounded at the time. The soldiers would get a free pass to paradise, if that meant bribery. Most of the time, they seemed to want to take Jerusalem back. You may have to go if you committed a crime, but most people do not.
Fast shooting crossbows
A soldier rides a human-sized crossbow and fires several arrows at Robin Hood's troops.
Livingstone: They had crossbows. They are used at the Battle of Hastings in 1066, for example. Proof of safeguarding: In this illustration of a Catalan manuscript of the four horsemen of the apocalypse, made in the 1080s, they hold crossbows.
[Elderkin: I asked Livingstone to clarify whether it could do rapid-fire shots, and she said probably not, since crossbows at the time loaded slowly.]
Questionable mode
Robin Hood's combat clothing shows him in short sleeves and we see Marian in a variety of modern clothing, including a belly top at one point.
Livingstone: Ha, this one is funny. You can see a man's lap from time to time, but as far as I know, poor women usually cover their whole body and hair.
Military terms
During the film, we hear people using modern military terms such as "soldier", "troop movement" and "veteran".
Livingstone: Well, they would have spoken a different language than modern English at that time. But there is an average English word "soudeour" for soldier, although I expect that they say "knight" (pronounced with a hard k) for "knight". Troop of knights would be "knight wered." "Veteran" is an interesting case! It does not appear in English until the 1500s. So, it's completely wrong.
Coal mine
Most of the lower classes in Nottingham work at the Coal Mine, a large industrial-style complex with intricate wood / metal structures, mining trolleys, and large fire explosions.
Livingstone: It's actually a time of great innovation in the mining department in England! Surprisingly, it's exactly the period when people started extracting coal, specifically at the end of the 12th century. They had advanced technology, such as pumps to purge water and provide air underground. But these mines tended to be private affairs on a smaller scale. They would quickly cool the previously heated rocks to break them. I do not know if it would cause a big explosion. But the wooden pulleys seem quite normal. They probably have to increase the proportions of the screen.
Parliamentary democracy
The Sheriff of Nottingham advances a bill to finance the war by raising taxes. He proposes it to the Lords for a vote after having debated his merits before the people.
Livingstone: Wars were largely financed by taxes. There were courts and a centralized justice system. This does not mean that England at the end of the twelfth century was a democracy, far from it; it was a feudal system. At this time in history, especially in 1188, there was a specific tax called tithe Saladin. It aimed to finance the war and took 10% of all property and income in circulation in the country at the time. I will be honest and say that I do not know if these taxes were the subject of an official debate, but there certainly was no parliament as we know it today. This was established in 1215.
Gambling casino
AT Canto Bightcasino style, we see characters bet on games like craps and roulette.
Livingstone: Medieval people loved the dice! The dice are old. We have surviving dice from around 3000 BC. They also had card games – which, like dice, would be played at a banquet or on the road as knights. But they did not have a casino.
Roulette was invented in France in the 17th century.
Glasses
Friar Tuck sports a pair of round-rimmed wire glasses in the second half of the film.
Livingstone: Nope! The glasses are later. I wrote about them here. An alternative would have been to … not show people wearing glasses.
[[[[Elder: the glasses are roughly traced at the end of the 13th century in Italy.]Track
Robin Hood uses an extraction trolley installed on iron or steel rails.
Livingstone: Hmmmm, again, I'm not an expert, but that does not seem right at all. I would have shown donkeys carrying everything that they extract.
[Elderkin:Selonunarticlede[Elderkin:Accordingtoanarticlefrom[Elderkin:Selonunarticlede[Elderkin:Accordingtoanarticlefrom Penn State University, people of the Middle Ages have made a lot of progress in the iron and steel forge that influenced future generations. But the first major examples of metal railroads did not appear in England until the 17th century.]
Flammable liquid
During the final battle, Will Scarlet (Jamie Dornan) drops what appears to be gasoline to the ground and then ignites by throwing a ball-shaped Molotov cocktail at it.
Livingstone: Interesting. Fire was an important strategic tool in the Third Crusade. But there was one thing called "Greek Fire" that was used by the opposition during the Crusades. Greek fire was a generic term that Westerners used for any firearm, although there is a patented formula that the Byzantine state had kept a great secret. It was special because it was even burning on the water. Nobody knows exactly how it was made. Apparently, the Byzantine forces made flamethrowers by spraying a Greek fire during battles. I do not think it was used in the Third Crusade, and certainly not on the English side.
Mass rebellion
Ordinary citizens rose up against the sheriff of Nottingham and his soldiers, who used a riot shield to repel their protests.
Livingstone: There were many rebellions in medieval England. Most were led by nobles or members of royalty, as in "Anarchy" of the 12th century, which was a conflict between Stephen and Matilda. But ordinary people have also revolted. About a hundred years after that [film] The peasant revolt shook England in response to a sharp tax hike, involving tailors, Scots, butchers – everyone. It was suppressed by the armed forces of the nobles and by mass executions.
[Elderkin:Larévoltedespaysanss'estterminéeunpeuplussombreque[Elderkin:ThePeasants'Revoltendedabitdarkerthan[Elderkin:Larévoltedespaysanss’estterminéeunpeuplussombreque[Elderkin:ThePeasants’Revoltendedabitdarkerthan Robin Hood.]
Robin Hood currently plays in theaters. For some reasons.
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