Paul Gillett
Dallace Unger
HIS101
Robin Hood prince of lies
Few historical dramas stand out as being as good or entertaining as Robin hood Prince of thieves. Most people will watch this film and see a slightly comedic adventure about one man leading his friends against a tyrannical local government. Most people would assume that the events depicted are fairly accurate. What I see is a wildly inaccurate historical roller coaster with over used Clichés and historical and geographical inaccuracies. This film is entertaining however; I wouldn’t call it a factual account of anything that happened in 1194AD.
Let’s start off with the opening sequence. Our man character Robin of Loxley is chained up in a Turkish prison next to a Moor (Muslim) named…show more content… The first crusade happened in 1096 and lasted until 1099 and, mostly consisted of French and German peasants. Robin referred to himself as a crusader in route to Jerusalem Keep in mind, the term Crusade was used until the 17th century in France. If Robin was a noble as stated in the film, he would have been in the siege of Jerusalem with King Richard (who was the only king to take up the cross). He would have been in no position to be captured by the enemy. The story may have confused Robin’s capture with that of King Richard I who would be captured and pardoned by Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor. The king was pardoned for 100,000 lbs of silver; the king was set free to return to England . At the very end of the film, we see the return of King Richard I as actor Sean Connery; who appears to be in his 60’s when Richard actually died at age…show more content… These structures as seen in the film are obviously Hollywood trying to add spectacle to screen. These structures would be very difficult to build, simple rope with a weigh and counter weight system would prove this to be a very arduous task. One would need a tree considerably taller than the area you are working at with a branch close enough to be useful for such an operation. We see these magnificent structures build to house outlaws and hide from the local government. How are these hovels defended? We see one guard on the ground shouting to others when danger is near. At this time in history, common people were not allowed to own a bow and arrow or know how to use one. To have a proper defense you would need to have a professionally trained archer (like Robin) or defend from the ground using sticks, farm tools or, whatever you could find. If it was so easy to escape the government and build these structures, why didn’t everyone live in one?
One scene in the movie that most people wouldn’t stop to think about is when the Sherriff states that Robin has stolen over £4Million worth of plunder. A land survey levied in 1086 England was written down in what is called the “doomsday book”. As stated on the webpage for the UK national Archives “The nickname ‘Doomsday’ may refer to the Biblical Day of Judgment, or ‘doomsday’, when Christ will return to judge the
