Historical anomalies in Blackadder

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The British sitcom, Blackadder, takes place in several historical eras. Although many historical figures are seen or mentioned in the series, this is not necessarily done in a strictly historically accurate manner. Since the show is a comedy, though, such anachronisms should not be taken to be mistakes.

Contents

[edit] The Black Adder

  • The entire series is a secret history in which it is suggested that Henry Tudor was defeated at the Battle of Bosworth Field, and that after the death of Richard III at that time his nephew, Richard, Duke of York, one of the Princes in the Tower, succeeded him as Richard IV and reigned for thirteen years. In actual fact, of course, Henry won this battle and began his reign in 1485. This is very important to consider when exploring historical inaccuracies in the series, since the entire premise is built upon Henry Tudor lying about the previous royal family and re-writing history as he sees fit.
  • In the first episode Black Adder is offered “10 thousand sovereigns” if he will help an injured soldier. The British sovereign coin was not minted until 1489; after Henry VII had become king in 1485. Even taking account of the historical black hole which the series is set in there is no way that on the 22nd of August 1485 at the Battle of Bosworth anyone would have known what a “sovereign” was. However, the soldier in question is, in fact, Henry Tudor incognito. He may have already planned to institute the sovereign as a coin, and thus offered them to Edmund pre-emptively (although he had already announced "Lost, all is lost! Flee!" suggesting that he had by then given up hope of winning the battle and becoming king).
  • It is claimed that Harry was born in 1460 and Edmund the following year. In reality, their 'father' King Richard (also known as Richard of Shrewsbury, 1st Duke of York) was not born until 1473. This also means Richard would have been 12 when the Battle of Bosworth Field took place.
  • It is believed that Richard, and his elder brother Edward may have been murdered in 1483.
  • The series is rather unclear as to the manner of Richard III's taking the throne. If he did not depose his nephew Edward V, Edward would have remained king, and Richard would never have taken the throne. If he did, in fact, depose and disinherit his nephews, it is unclear why the younger Richard would be his heir at the time of Bosworth Field. (In actual fact, Richard's heir at the end of his reign was another nephew, John de la Pole, Earl of Lincoln.)
  • Lord Percy Percy is the Duke of Northumberland. The Percys were at the time Earls of Northumberland. The first Percy to be a Duke was Hugh Percy, 1st Duke of Northumberland, granted the title in 1766.
  • Reference is made to a famously homosexual Earl of Doncaster, a title which did not exist until 1663. A dying Duke of Winchester also makes an appearance, but the Peers of Winchester were at the time Earls and have never been Dukes.
  • The Duke of Edinburgh is one of Edmund's titles. However the title was not created until after the union of Scotland and England. In the credits to the episode "Born to Be King," however, it is suggested that Richard IV is also King of Scotland, which would explain his ability to grant Scottish fiefs to McAngus. (In actual history, the Kings of Scotland for the period of Richard IV's reign would be James III and James IV). It is also possible that the title was given to the character of Edmund as a pun at his expense, since the title (due to Scotland's independence at the time) is a useless one.
  • In the episode "The Queen of Spain's Beard," various princesses who are betrothed to Prince Henry are listed. Many of them are princesses of countries which did not exist in the late 15th century, or as in the case of Queen Beowulfa of Iceland, of a country that has never had its own monarchy. Beowulfa is also not an Icelandic name.
  • Richard IV is depicted as capturing Constantinople from the Turks with a fruit-knife. In fact, the Turks have never lost control of that city, which is now the Turkish city of Istanbul.
  • In the episode "Witchsmeller Pursuivant", someone is said to have recently seen Geoffrey Chaucer acting like a cow. In fact Chaucer had died in 1400, 95 years before this episode is set. The sighting is cited as an example of supernatural phenomena in England. Therefore it is not unreasonable that just as Chaucer is acting out of character, he also exists out of time. This does, however, raise the question of how he could be recognised as Geoffrey Chaucer.
  • In the episode "Born To Be King", the 'Jumping Jews Of Jerusalem' are featured as one of the St. Leonard's Day entertainments. However, all Jews were expelled from England in 1290 by a decree of Edward I and were not effectively (although still not legally) readmitted until 1653, during which time the British Jewish community practiced their faith only in secret: they certainly would not have openly displayed it in, of all places, the Royal court. However, given their name, it is reasonable to suppose that The Jumping Jews Of Jerusalem were not English residents, although the one line spoken by the lead Jew (played by Angus Deayton) is in perfectly unaccented English.
  • Prodigious references are also made to things which are plainly ridiculous and hence presumably recognised by the writers to be apocryphal, if they themselves did not fabricate them for reasons of humour. Examples include a steadily increasing number of Popes ("The Archbishop" - although genuine antipopes are fairly common throughout history), the festival 'Garethstide' ("Witchsmeller Pursuivant") and St. Leonard's Day, another festival including, for some reason, bearded women and eunuchs and under Edmund's stewardship The Jumping Jews Of Jerusalem, Bernard The Rabbit-Baiter and the ancient Egyptian play 'The Death Of The Pharaoh' ("Born To Be King"), warring between European states whose allegiances change on practically a daily basis ("The Queen Of Spain's Beard") and the 'baby-eating Bishop of Bath & Wells' ("The Black Seal", although not seen on screen until Blackadder II's "Money", presumably a different, later Bishop of Bath & Wells).

[edit] Blackadder II

  • In Bells, Nursie describes Sir Thomas More as having been present at Elizabeth's birth. In fact, More had already been imprisoned some months before Elizabeth's birth on 7 September 1533, and given his antipathy to Elizabeth's mother Anne Boleyn, it is rather unlikely he would have been there even if he had been at liberty to do so.
  • Also in Bells, Melchett says, "I have heard on the underground grapevine, Ma'am..." The phrase, "I heard on/through the grapevine" originated only in the late 1800s.
  • Among those whom Blackadder is to execute in Head are Sir Francis Drake and Lord Effingham, the historical victors against the Spanish Armada. Neither of these men were executed during Elizabeth's reign, and Lord Howard of Effingham, indeed, lived well into the reign of her successor.
  • Also in Head, Nursie refers to Elizabeth I's "sister Mary" having been beheaded. Elizabeth's sister Mary I of England died of influenza. She is often confused with her contemporary cousin Mary Queen of Scots who was beheaded, but one would expect Nursie to know the difference between the death that brought her mistress to the throne and one that Elizabeth ordered. On the other hand Nursie is senile, and Elizabeth and Mary Stuart sometimes addressed each other (in letters) with very insincere, friendly words as "sister" or "dear cousin".
  • Blackadder says 'I've been on this paltry, boring planet for thirty years...'. Few Elizabethans believed the theory that the Earth is a planet (and Nicolaus Copernicus was condemned as a great liar in the introduction to The Foretelling). Of course Blackadder could be one of those believers.
  • In Potato, Sir Walter Raleigh refers to an expedition begun in 1552. The historical Raleigh was born in 1554.
  • Also in Potato, Raleigh states that nobody has ever gone around the Cape of Good Hope. In fact, it had been done by Bartolomeu Dias in 1488.
  • Blackadder says that Sir Walter Raleigh brought the potato with him. In truth, the potato was brought to England from Colombia by Sir Thomas Herriot, 1586.
  • The Earl of Essex is several times mentioned as having been already executed by the Queen. However, Essex was not executed until 1601, nearly the end of the Queen's reign, while the Queen is depicted as a young woman throughout the series.
  • The same argument could be made concerning the numerous references to William Shakespeare in the series, since Shakespeare did not start writing his plays until 1588, when Elizabeth was already 55 years old.
  • In Money, Blackadder introduces Percy to the baby-eating Bishop of Bath and Wells as 'Lord Percy Percy, heir to the Duchy of Northumberland'. The house of Percy were at the time Earls of Northumberland and did not become Dukes until 1766 (see The Black Adder, above).
  • In Beer, *Blackadder threatens to call the police if Percy says 'hey nonny nonny'. Actually, the British police force was not established until 1821, by Sir Robert Peel.
  • Also in Beer, the drunken revellers who burst into Edmund's house sing Happy Birthday to You. In fact, it was not written until 1883.
  • Edmund says that the ideal guest for his drinking party should be "an aggressive drunken lout with the intelligence of a four year old, and the sexual sophistication of a donkey" and Percy suggests, "Cardinal Wolsey?" In reality, Thomas Cardinal Wolsey died in 1530, 28 years before Elizabeth I became Queen and, indeed, three years before she was born. Nonetheless, it is a very funny joke, playing off of Wolsey's contemporary reputation for being more concerned about his physical well-being than his godly office.
  • In several different episodes, most notably Chains, Blackadder and others use the derogatory slur dago to refer to Spanish characters. The word dago - at least as an offensive term, as it was not always considered to be such by the British, at least - did not come into usage until the mid-1850's.
  • In Chains, the captured Blackadder demands to see "the British ambassador". There was no Britain at the time, only the Kingdoms of England and Scotland and so Blackadder (being an English subject) should have demanded to see the "English ambassador". England's first permanent ambassador was maintained in Tunis from 1580; perhaps Blackadder is merely assuming that there is an English envoy present in the (unidentified) country where he is being held.

[edit] Blackadder: The Cavalier Years

  • Charles I of England is depicted as in hiding when the story begins, in 1648. In fact, Charles had been captured by Parliamentary forces two years earlier, in 1646.
  • At the end of the sketch, Blackadder has been given Charles's son to watch after. The son is depicted as an infant, but the historical Charles II was already 19 years old at the time of his father's death.
  • In the sketch, Oliver Cromwell refers to himself as "Lord Protector". In reality, he only took up this title and office in 1653, after the civil wars and the execution of Charles I. It is however possible that he had thought of the title years earlier, and used it casually, but not officially.
  • At one point, Blackadder says "One lousy civil war in the history of England, and I'm on the wrong bloody side". However, there have been other civil wars in English history (The Wars of the Roses for instance). On the other hand, that particular war (in the middle of the 17th century) is the only one referred to as The English Civil War.

[edit] Blackadder the Third

Blackadder the Third, perhaps more than any of the other three series of Blackadder, suffers from inaccurate historical references. Many originate from a lack of clarity as to exactly when it is set. The sleeve for a recent DVD release states that the period is "1760-1815" and the series embraces people and events right throughout this era and beyond, often with little regard for chronology or whether the individuals' lives overlapped. However, there are events contained within it that fall even outside this very broad timeframe. Some have assumed that the series is set during the Regency (1811-1820) but this is by no means clear. This was perhaps a result of a lack of clarity over the period which Prince George reigned as regent, and the period prior to this where he was the Prince of Wales, on the part of the writers Richard Curtis and Ben Elton or else a willingness to ignore precise historical accuracy. Actor Tony Robinson has commented on the popular degree of ignorance about Georgian Britain, compared to Elizabethan England, and the creators possibly felt unbound to follow strict historical accuracy. Although this is of little significance to the overall quality of the series, it is still, perhaps, interesting to note.

[edit] General notes

  • There are a number of references in many episodes to Prince George as the "Prince Regent". In reality George was only Prince Regent from 1811.
  • George's father, George III is referred to on several occasions as being mad. George III suffered his first attack of what is now believed to be porphyria in 1765, but it was not until 1788 that he suffered a more prominent attack. In 1810 he suffered a further attack and from the following year was declared permanently insane in 1811.
  • Prince George is portrayed as thin and young, when, if it is set during the Regency, by this point he was actually in his early fifties and very, very fat. Bizarrely, jokes are made about his weight which, while appropriate for the real Prince, seem out of place when describing Hugh Laurie.

[edit] Dish and Dishonesty

  • This episode features William Pitt the Younger becoming Prime Minister, portrayed as a teenage boy. However, Pitt became Prime Minister in 1783 and died in 1806, 5 years before George became Prince Regent. (It is also worth noting that he was 24 years old, not a teenage boy, when he first became Prime Minister, but that was clearly a joke, taken from the contemporary lines "a sight to make all nations stand and stare: a kingdom trusted to a schoolboy's care," and should probably go without saying.)
  • Upon becoming Prime Minister, Pitt declares his determination to go to war with France and Napoleon Bonaparte, however in reality war did not break out until 10 years into Pitt's premiership and before Bonaparte had risen to power. By this point the French Revolution had taken place - see below.
  • The start of the episode refers to a general election having just taken place, but Pitt did not become Prime Minister until three years into the Parliament, calling the 1784 general election after his appointment.
  • The episode shows Pitt taking over from his father, William Pitt the Elder as Prime Minister. However, in reality, their respective premierships were separated by fifteen years and Pitt the Elder died five years before his son's appointment. Mr Blackadder says that the Elder Pitt is an ineffective Prime Minister, which is at odds with many historical perceptions of him.
  • "Lord Nelson" is referred to in this episode, but Nelson was not ennobled until 1798, 15 years after the Younger Pitt first became Prime Minister.
  • Pitt refers to speaking to "Chancellor Metternich at the Congress of Strasbourg". However Metternich did not rise to power until 1809, three years after Pitt's death, and to the position of Foreign Minister, whilst Pitt did not travel abroad to conduct diplomacy.
  • Pitt has a younger brother active in politics (humorously referred to as "Pitt the Even Younger"). In real life James Pitt died in 1780, before Pitt first entered Parliament, although Pitt's older brother Lord Chatham was a notable politician of the period.
  • There are a number of references to Pitt's schooldays but in fact he was tutored at home by his father William Pitt the Elder and Reverend Edward Wilson.
  • Blackadder mentions looking up Sir Talbot Buxomly in Who's Who, which was only first published in 1849.

[edit] Ink and Incapability

  • The episode features Robbie Coltrane playing the great literary figure Samuel Johnson as he completes his dictionary. However, Johnson completed the work in 1755, before Prince George was even born, and died in 1784.
  • Johnson is referred to several times as "Dr Johnson", however the real Johnson did not receive his honorary doctorate until 1765, ten years after he finished his dictionary.
  • Also featured as friends of Johnson are the poets Shelley, Coleridge and Byron. However Coleridge was only 12 when Johnson died whilst the other two were not yet born. None of them, at any rate, much cared for Johnson.
  • Johnson states that his mother died and his wife had affairs whilst he worked on the dictionary. In reality his wife died early on during his work whilst his mother died four years after he completed the dictionary.
  • Blackadder refers to his pseudonymously-penned manuscript as a "huge roller coaster of a novel". Roller coasters were not invented until the late 19th century.
  • Blackadder mentions author Jane Austen in the episode, but Austen was only 9 years old when Dr Samuel Johnson died in 1784 and did not publish any works before 1811
  • Before Blackadder starts work on rewriting Johnson's dictionary, he asks Baldrick to make him a sandwich to which Baldrick replies "Like Gerald, Lord Sandwich had the other day?" In fact the Lord Sandwich for whom the sandwich is named was John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich.
  • Blackadder mentions Sir Thomas More as having burned at the stake, when in fact he was beheaded.

[edit] Nob and Nobility

  • The episode is set during the French Revolution, which took place between 1789 to about 1799, and apparently specifically during the Reign of Terror, which took place between 1793 and 1794. This would place the episode earlier historically than previous episodes in which Napoleon and Lord Nelson are mentioned.

[edit] Sense and Senility

  • Prince George refers to his "future queen" as though he is not yet married. Regardless of chronological order this implies the episode is set before 1795.
  • Blackadder looks at the Situations Vacant section of The Times, which he remarks "has really been going downhill." The Times was first published under that name in 1788, and his comment suggests the timeframe is at least a few years later. This comment, though, was a deliberately anachronistic joke on the part of the writers referring to Rupert Murdoch's News International purchasing The Times in 1981. Regardless, Blackadder reads out three positions, but all of them are from different periods:
    • "Mr. and Mrs. Pitt are looking for a baby-minder to take Pitt the Younger to Parliament." However the Younger Pitt's mother became Lady Chatham in 1761 when he was only two years old, and his father the Earl of Chatham in 1766 when his son was six. Additionally his father was dead before he first entered Parliament in 1781. (Again, the reference to baby-minders and Pitt's age is a joke.)
    • "A fellow called George Stephenson has invented a moving kettle" presumably a reference to Blücher, not invented until 1814 (after Pitt's death).
    • Napoleon Bonaparte is looking for someone to be King of Sardinia. Napoleon conquered the larger mainland (Piedmont) portion of the kingdom in 1798 and annexed it in 1802, but never the island itself, and Victor Emmanuel I of Sardinia was restored to his full dominions in 1814.

[edit] Amy and Amiability

[edit] Duel and Duality

  • Baldrick says his cousin Bert Baldrick is currently dogsbody to Thomas Gainsborough's butler. Gainsborough died in 1788.
  • The Duke of Wellington and Blackadder discuss the movements of Horatio Nelson, Blackadder suggesting that Trafalgar would be a good place for a naval battle with Napoleon. It is mentioned that Wellington triumphed six months earlier, but Britain is at war with Napoleon at the time of the episode. This victory would most logically be the Battle of Vittoria (June 21, 1813) (although that was nearly two years before Napoleon's Hundred Days), but could refer to the Battle of Waterloo. At any rate, the episode must be set no earlier than 1814, when Wellesley became Duke. However, the Battle of Trafalgar, in which Nelson was killed, took place about a decade earlier in 1805.
  • Wellington claimed he would 'mention [Blackadder's plan] to Nelson'. In reality, the two only met once. The encounter, in Lord Castlereagh's waiting room, occurred the day before Nelson left for Trafalgar.
  • The book The Prince and the Pauper is mentioned. This novel was written by Mark Twain in 1881, more than 60 years after the series is set.
  • George III is portrayed with a very strong Germanic accent. In reality English was his first language and he never set foot in Germany, being the first English-born British monarch since Queen Anne.
  • At the end of the episode, Blackadder assumes the identity of Prince George while the real Prince dies. The opening credits show Blackadder as born in 1760 and dying in 1827. However, if George IV was really Blackadder, Blackadder must have lived to 1830. The 1827 date cannot refer to the real Prince's death in the guise of Blackadder either, as George III, who died in 1820, is still alive when this happens.
  • After the duel, Blackadder introduces Wellington to the King as 'This is the Iron Duke, Wellington, commander of all your armed forces', when Wellington didn't become Commander-in-Chief for the first time until 1827. Also the nickname 'The Iron Duke' (due to the iron shutters on his London home, Apsley House) wasn't coined until 1828.

[edit] Blackadder Goes Forth

  • In the second episode "Corporal Punishment", Captain Blackadder simulates radio interference by impersonating crosstalk, and this includes a song and then weather report from a commercial radio station but the first commercial radio station (KDKA) began in 1920.
  • In the same episode, Blackadder reads aloud a letter from George to his family which refers to his Great Uncle Rupert becoming Minister of War. However the position was a Secretary of State, not a Minister (titles such as "Minister of..." only began to be used to senior British ministers from midway during the First World War) and nobody called Rupert held this position during World War I.
  • In the episode "General Hospital", Blackadder is introduced to the finest spy in the British Army, a Brigadier Smith. However the rank of Brigadier did not exist until 1928. The rank at the time was Brigadier-General. Brigadier-Generals were often referred to as "Brigadiers", but would not have been referred to as "Brigadier Smith". Smith also wears the rank badges of a modern Brigadier, not the crossed sword and baton of a Brigadier-General.
  • In the same episode Blackadder mentions the universities of Oxford, Cambridge and Hull. However the University of Hull was not founded until 1927 (as University College Hull) and did not receive University status until 1954.
  • In the episode "Private Plane", Blackadder leaves a telephone message for "the head of the Flying Corps, Air Chief Marshal Sir Hugh Massingberd-Massingberd, VC, DFC and bar". (The name is probably inspired by that of the writer on aristocratic subjects Hugh Montgomery-Massingberd, whose great-uncle Field Marshal Sir Archibald Montgomery-Massingberd was head of the British Army in the 1930s.) The Royal Flying Corps was historically commanded during the Great War by Lieutenant-General Sir David Henderson and Major-General Sir Hugh Trenchard. Air Chief Marshal is a rank of the Royal Air Force, which was founded in 1918 and given its own ranking system in 1919, and no-one was appointed to this rank (parallel to General in the Army) until 1922. The Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) was only established in 1918.
  • In the same episode, the overtly dashing Squadron Commander Lord Flashheart (presumably a descendant of the character seen in Blackadder II) rescues Blackadder from a German dungeon and shoots and, it is assumed, kills his archnemesis, Manfred von Richthofen, also known as the Red Baron. The series ends in 1917, but historically Richthofen died when his trademark red Fokker triplane crashed after being shot down in 1918. Lord Flashheart is clearly in the Royal Flying Corps and wears the uniform, but Squadron Commander was a rank in the Royal Naval Air Service. The equivalent RFC rank would have been Major.
  • Blackadder mentions that, in 1914, he had been a soldier for fifteen years. From September 1915, onwards, all regular officers who had served for at least fifteen years were promoted to Major - therefore he should have been Major Blackadder. It is not impossible, however, that Blackadder was promoted to Major in 1915 and subsequently demoted.
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