Taxman

"Taxman" Timeline.

The truth about "Taxman":

The best part about this episode, what makes it unique from most time travel fiction, is showing the effects of time travel on a person's physiology. Time-travel-lag is a serious condition that affects all of us. Especially around the beginning and end of daylight savings time.


Another theme is the mini-paradoxes that start cropping up everywhere. Hailey hears Simon and Garfunkel's "Scarborough Fair" then she travels back in time and teaches it to some minstrels in 1215, then they pass the song down through the generations until Simon and Garfunkel hear it in the 1960s and record their own version, which Hailey hears in the 1990s, and so on. That, as well as Dennis being awoken by himself are examples of how time travel works in Chronodyssey. The next episode has a good one too. You should read it.

What went wrong:

King John

King John probably mostly spoke a French dialect, as his father was a Norman and his mother was from Anjou, both regions of what would become France. The peasants would have spoken old English which would have resembled German or maybe Frisian. Hang on one more episode and I'll clear up some of this language nonsense/ability only to visit people in history who spoke (or might possibly have spoken) English.


As for the Robin Hood mystery. It is impossible to know if he was a real guy. There are probably as many theories about the origin of the Robin Hood legend as there are portrayals of it – literally hundreds. It does seem to be true that at least by the late 13th Century people began taking on the name Robin Hood, Robehod, or some variation to distinguish themselves as outlaws.


Some possible real life contributors to the myth are, as mentioned, William Wallace, as well as Fulk FitzWarin, a Marcher Lord who rebelled against King John, and Eustace the Monk, who was a vicious pirate around the same time.

A depiction of Hood and Guy of Gisborne

The balladeers definitely had a hand in Robin Hoods fame. The song that the minstrels sang is called "Robin Hood's Death and Burial" and can been read in full here. 


The Sheriff of Nottingham is another elusive figure. One possible contestant is a William de Wendenhal who was sheriff in 1194. 


Sources:

Cawthorne, Nigel. A Brief History of Robin Hood. London: Robinson, 2010.

Hilton, R.H. "The Origins of Robin Hood." in Past & Present no. 14 (November 1958): 30-44. JSTOR.

Holt, J. C.. “Hood, Robin.” In Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, edited by H. C. G. Matthew and Brian Harrison. Oxford: OUP, 2004. Online ed., edited by Lawrence Goldman, January 2007. 

Simeone, William E.. "The Historic Robin Hood." in The Jornal of American Folklore 66, no. 262 (Oct. - Dec., 1953): 303-308.

Toothman, Jessika. "Was There a Real Robin Hood?" How Stuff Works.

This story's soundtrack: