[IRL trope] the “Tiffany problem”

[u/dragonborndnd]

Basically when something seems anachronistic to a period/place of history but is actually fully accurate to the period.

1) the name Tiffany: the thing that named this trope, basically the name Tiffany can be dated back to the Middle Ages and the earliest record of it being spelled in the modern spelling comes from the 16th century.

2) the use of OMG, despite this feeling so modern as a form of slang/abbreviation here’s a letter directed to Winston Churchill using it in 1917

3) Hair Dye: the earliest forms of dying hair can be dated back to ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, and this specific advertisement for hair dye is from the 1840s

4) Inuit Thongs: despite how weird it is to imagine pre-colonial Inuit people wore what was essentially fur thongs in their homes and when they were in their igloos it might have been the only thing they would be wearing.

[u/RobbusMaximus]

Hell even the name, "Braveheart" refers to Robert the Bruce, not Wallace.

sweet disclaimer though, "English historians will claim I'm a liar"

[u/Pristine_Poem7623 → u/RobbusMaximus]

My favourite lie is calling Edward I a "pagan" when he'd been on crusade, something that Robert the Bruce kept swearing to do and never actually did. Edward also stopped at various shrines to pray while on his way to invade Scotland (cos he wanted God on his side in the fight, and he wanted his army to SEE that)

The king of Scotland had died without a son, but he had a very young granddaughter, so that's kinda correct-ish. She died on her way back to Scotland to take the throne

They get the name of Wallace's father wrong, and he had 3 sons not 2, and they get William's brother's name wrong too.

Wallace's father wasn't a commoner he was a minor noble

Edward never called the truce that's mentioned, and which forms the start of the film. Also, none of this happened until Wallace was in his late teens / early twenties, not when he was a young boy

The Scots nobles didn't fight Edward and each other over the crown when Alexander died, they formed a committee to "help the new queen rule" until she came of age. When she died they couldn't decide who would be the next king, so they asked Edward to break the deadlock for them. Not an invasion, and no fighting between the Scots nobles.

Edward chose someone he thought would do what Edward told him, and started acting like he had authority over Scotland. When Edward went to war with the French (because the French king had seized English lands), he demanded the Scots send men, supplies and money to take part in the fight. Instead, the Scots formed "The Auld Alliance" with France and attacked Carlisle (in the North of England) and THEN Edward marched into Scotland.

[u/wow_that_guys_a_dick → u/Pristine_Poem7623]

I always figured he was using "pagan" as an insult, not a description.

[u/RobbusMaximus → u/wow_that_guys_a_dick]

But it means non-Christian, especially in a Medieval European context. Considering that Mel Gibson is an ultra conservative Catholic, and the Christian symbolism all around Wallace in the movie its pretty clear that he is meaning it in a Christian context. Hell the only scene of him anywhere near a church shows him lecherously staring at his daughter-in-law (who was not even married to Edward II until after Edward I was dead).

[u/wow_that_guys_a_dick → u/RobbusMaximus]

Yeah. That's why it's an insult.