History ArtisticLicenseHistory / RobinHoodPrinceOfThieves

* Azeem makes gunpowder, or 'black powder', to help out the Merry Men in their fight against the Sherriff's men, and for the climactic battle in Nottingham Castle -- which is pretty impressive, considering the Islamic world didn't gain knowledge of gunpowder until fifty to eighty years ''after'' the Third Crusade. Even if Azeem had somehow known how to make it, he wouldn't have had the ingredients for it to hand in a country that likewise hadn't yet learned about it.

* Azeem makes gunpowder, or 'black powder', to help out the Merry Men in their fight against the Sherriff's men, and for the climactic battle -- which is pretty impressive, considering the Islamic world didn't gain knowledge of gunpowder until fifty to eighty years ''after'' the Third Crusade. Even if Azeem had somehow known how to make it, he wouldn't have had the ingredients for it to hand in a country that likewise hadn't yet learned about it.

** The film also seems to imply that Richard is the standard image of "the good king", making jokes and behaving in a kind and gentle manner, and like most adaptations of this legend, seems to imply that now that he's back in England, everything can return to normal and Richard will make all things well. The reality was that Richard was soon off to war again, and didn't really care much what was happening in England while he was away. Richard saw England as a wet, miserable province, and preferred to think of himself as the Duke of his beloved Aquitaine. He spent a cumulative ''six months'' in England during his reign and due to the Angevin Empire's court being held in either Angers or Chinon he would not have been in England that often even most of his reign had not consisted of military activity, with his wife, Queen Berengaria, never even setting foot there during her time as his queen with only some evidence that she visited after she was widowed.

** The Movie suggests that The Sheriff became so because he inherited the position through his "family," but being a Sheriff in England has never been an inherited position - you had to be appointed by the King himself, who chose the person for the position from a shortlist of three names that had been given to him by a Tribunal, who had whittled it down from a longer list of suitable candidates, though that was probably open to abuse and bribery. The Sheriff then had to the pay the Crown a yearly allowance to keep the position.

** The film also seems to imply that Richard is the standard image of "the good king", making jokes and behaving in a kind and gentle manner, and like most adaptations of this legend, seems to imply that now that he's back in England, everything can return to normal and Richard will make all things well. The reality was that Richard was soon off to war again, and didn't really care much what was happening in England while he was away. Richard saw England as a wet, miserable province, and preferred to think of himself as the Duke of his beloved Aquitaine. He spent a cumulative ''six months'' in England during his reign, and his wife, Queen Berengaria, never even set foot there during her time as his queen with only some evidence that she visited after she was widowed.

* Lord Locksley is shown writing a letter to one of his son's compatriots [[EternalEnglish in modern English]]. This ignores the fact that due to LanguageDrift modern English is almost an entirely separate language than what was considered English in the late 12th century. Additionally, as Locksley is shown to be a noble family Lord Locksley probably would not have written to his son's comrade in English, but instead either in French or Latin given how even over a century after William the Conqueror invaded England the first language for most nobility was French and some didn't even bother to learn English.

* Azeem makes gunpowder, or 'black powder', to help out the Merry Men in their fight against the Sherriff's men, and for the climactic battle -- which is pretty impressive, considering the Islamic world didn't gain knowledge of gunpowder until fifty to eighty years ''after'' the Third Crusade. Even if Azeem had known how to make it, he probably wouldn't have had the ingredients for it to hand in a country that likewise hadn't yet learned about it.

* Azeem has a hand-held telescope 400 years before its first recorded use. ''Anywhere'', so this isn't one of the times the Islamic kingdoms held onto information while Europe was turmoil.

** Over the centuries a few different men have been cited as the historical basis for the Bishop of Hereford in various Robin Hood works. These include the very corrupt Peter of Aigueblanche - who served from 1240 to 1268, and Adam Orleton - who served as the Bishop of Winchester from 1833 to 1845.

** Richard also spoke very little English -most adaptations leave out the fact that the Norman royal family and nobility spoke French as a first language and often didn't learn English at all.

** Those heavy taxes the people complained about? Richard imposed them to pay for his Crusading.

* Azeem makes gunpowder, or 'black powder', to help out the Merry Men in their fight against the Sherriff's men, and for the climactic battle -- which is pretty impressive, considering the Islamic world didn't gain knowledge of gunpowder until fifty to eighty years ''after'' the Third Crusade. Even if Azeem had known how to make it, he likely wouldn't have had the ingredients for it to hand in a country that likewise hadn't yet learned about it.

* Azeem makes gunpowder to help out the Merry Men in their fight against the Sherriff's men, and for the climactic battle -- which is pretty impressive, considering the Islamic world didn't gain knowledge of gunpowder until fifty to eighty years ''after'' the Third Crusade. Even if Azeem had known how to make it, he likely wouldn't have had the ingredients for it to hand in a country that likewise hadn't yet learned about it.

* Azeem makes gunpowder to help out the Merry Men in their fight against the Sherriff's men, and for the climactic battle -- which is pretty impressive, considering the Islamic world didn't gain knowledge of gunpowder until fifty to eighty years ''after'' the Third Crusade. Even if Azeem had known how to make it, he likely wouldn't have had the ingredients for it at hand in a country that likewise hadn't yet learned about it.

* Mainstream Christian doctrine in the early Middle Ages actually denied the existence of witches and witchcraft, condemning such things as pagan superstition; the Sheriff and the Bishop would probably have gotten in trouble with the Church for ''accusing'' anyone of being a witch, let alone killing them in the middle of the night without a trial and taking their lands.

* Azeem makes gunpowder to help out the Merry Men in their fight against the Sherriff's men, and for the climactic battle -- which is pretty impressive, considering the Islamic world didn't gain knowledge of gunpowder until fifty to eighty years ''after'' the Third Crusade. And even if Azeem ''had'' known how to make it, he likely wouldn't have had the ingredients for it at hand.

* Azeem makes gunpowder to help out the Merry Men in their fight against the Sherriff's men, and for the climactic battle -- which is pretty impressive, considering the Islamic world didn't gain knowledge of gunpowder until fifty to eighty years ''after'' the Third Crusade.

* The filmmakers also apparently forgot that Richard only spent about six months of his entire reign in England. He focused on regaining territory in UsefulNotes/{{France}}. Due to the Angevin Empire's court generally being held at Angers and Chinon, Richard would not have been in England that often even if most of his reign ''wasn't'' made up of military activity.

* The filmmakers also apparently forgot that Richard only spent about six months of his entire reign in England. He focused on regaining territory in UsefulNotes/{{France}}. Also, due to the Angevin Empire's court generally being held at Angers and Chinon, Richard would not have been in England that often even if most of his reign ''wasn't'' made up of military activity.
** That said, Richard did travel to Nottingham shortly after returning from the Crusades historically, to remove supporters of his brother John - including the sheriff - through force of arms. The coincidence of an outlaw in the Nottingham area fighting a corrupt sheriff and a historical king of England fighting a corrupt sheriff in the same area is likely how the Robin Hood tales got conflated with King Richard and the Third Crusade in the first place; if they both fought the same sheriff, then it turns the hero of the tales from a mere brigand to an unjustly outlawed supporter of the rightful king.

** The town did have a town Reeve prior to 1449, who would had have the some of the same responsibilities as the Sheriff did for the county, and may have been referred to as the Sheriff, just to confuse things further, even though he wasn't one officially, and he would have only been responsible for the town[[note]]Nottingham didn't become a city until 1897.[[/note]] itself - anything outside its walls would have been the Sheriff of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire's domain.

* Richard was only 42 when he died, much younger than Creator/SeanConnery was at the time of filming. He also spoke very little English (most adaptations leave out the fact that the Norman royal family and nobility spoke French as a first language and often didn't learn English at all). The film also seems to imply that Richard is the standard image of "the good king", making jokes and behaving in a kind and gentle manner, and like most adaptations of this legend, seems to imply that now that he's back in England, everything can return to normal and Richard will make all things well. The reality was that Richard was soon off to war again, and didn't really care much what was happening in England while he was away. Richard saw England as a wet, miserable province, and preferred to think of himself as the Duke of his beloved Aquitaine. He spent a cumulative ''six months'' in England during his reign, and his wife, Queen Berengaria, never even set foot there during her time as his queen with only some evidence that she visited after she was widowed. Those heavy taxes the people complained about? Richard imposed them to pay for his Crusading.
* The Movie suggests that The Sheriff became so because he inherited the position through his "family," but being a Sheriff in England has never been an inherited position - you had to be appointed by the King himself, who chose the person for the position from a shortlist of three names that had been given to him by a Tribunal, who had whittled it down from a longer list of suitable candidates, though that was probably open to abuse and bribery. The Sheriff then had to the pay the Crown a yearly allowance to keep the position. There was no ''actual'' Sheriff of Nottingham until 1449, when the town itself got its own separate one. Any Sheriff prior to that would have actually been the ''High Sheriff of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire,'' and had the power to administer justice throughout both counties, though the name would have been shortened down. The High Sheriff himself was more like a glorified pen pusher, the actual people doing the work would have been the ''Under or Deputy Sheriff,'' who would have also been referred to as The Sheriff. The town did however have a town Reeve prior to 1449, who would had have the some of the same responsibilities as the Sheriff did for the county, and may have been referred to as the Sheriff, just to confuse things further, even though he wasn't one officially, and he would have only been responsible for the town[[note]]Nottingham didn't become a city until 1897.[[/note]] itself - anything outside it’s walls would have been the Sheriff of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire domain. The corrupt Sheriff abusing his position however, is a TruthInTelevision, with way to many examples to list.

* The Movie suggests that The Sheriff became so because he inherited the position through his "family," but being a Sheriff in England has never been an inherited position - you had to be appointed by the King himself, who chose the person for the position from a shortlist of three names that had been given to him by a Tribunal, who had whittled it down from a longer list of suitable candidates, though this was probably open to abuse and bribery. The Sheriff then had to the pay the Crown a yearly allowance to keep the position. Also there was no ''actual'' Sheriff of Nottingham until 1449, when the town itself got it's own separate one. Any Sheriff prior to that would have actually been the ''High Sheriff of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire,'' and had the power to administer justice throughout both counties, though the name would have been shortened down. The High Sheriff himself was more like a glorified pen pusher, the actual people doing the work would have been the ''Under or Deputy Sheriff,'' who would have also been referred to as The Sheriff. The town did however have a town Reeve prior to 1449, who would had have the some of the same responsibilities as the Sheriff did for the county, and may have been referred to as the Sheriff, just to confuse things further, even though he wasn't one officially, and he would have only been responsible for the town[[note]]Nottingham didn't become a city until 1897.[[/note]] itself - anything outside it’s walls would have been the Sheriff of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire domain. The corrupt Sheriff abusing his position however, is a TruthInTelevision, with way to many examples to list.