History Literature / Timeline

* TrappedInThePast: Happens to several charcters, for varying levels of "trapped." [[spoiler:Deckard]] has insinuated himself into the court of one of the warring nobles after being left behind, becoming [[spoiler:de Kere]]. [[spoiler:Marek]] ultimately chooses to stay behind voluntarily. Finally, [[spoiler: Doniger]] receives this treatment as a sort of temporal ThrownOutTheAirlock, being sent back to the midst of the Black Death epidemic.

* AdaptationalHeroism: Arnaud is changed from a cruel, ruthless warlord into a noble warrior who fights for justice.

* AdaptationalAttractiveness: In the film, he's portrayed by the suave Martin Sheen. In the book, however...

* MenAreTheExpendableGender: Averted, the first character to be killed is female, and also an [[BlackDudeDiesFirst ethnic minority]].

* CunningLinguist: De Kere is dismissed as being their rival time traveler despite being everyone's first guess because he speaks the language far too well for the short time he'd have been there. It turns out he's just learns languages quickly.

* DungAges: {{Subverted}} and mocked. The protagonist walks around, expecting horribly disgusting conditions, but is surprised to learn everyone is reasonably well kept. In the afterward, Crichton notes this was mostly an invention of the Renaissance, during which many scholars romanticized the Classical period above their own era. Personal hygiene declined significantly only once the Black Plague became epidemic (which started around the time the book is set), when the public baths that were common in most Medieval towns and cities became disease vectors. This made frequent bathing a hazard, and it was denounced as sinful. Unfortunately, because of this, the post-Black Death cultural attitude towards bathing went too far in the other direction, with people throwing refuse right onto the streets and monarchs like Isabella I of Spain boasting of only bathing a few times in their ''entire lives''. A servant insists that Chris is not clean enough after he washes himself, to his surprise, and scrubs him quite thoroughly.

* DungAges: {{Subverted}} and mocked. The protagonist walks around, expecting horribly disgusting conditions, but is surprised to learn everyone is reasonably well kept. In the afterward, Crichton notes this was mostly an invention of the Renaissance, during which many scholars romanticized the Classical period above their own era. Personal hygiene declined significantly only once the Black Plague became epidemic (which started around the time the book is set), when the public baths that were common in most Medieval towns and cities became disease vectors. This made frequent bathing a hazard, and it was denounced as sinful. Sanitation in most of Europe was already poor, though-people threw refuse right onto the streets. Unfortunately, because of this, the post-Black Death cultural attitude towards bathing went too far in the other direction, with people monarchs like Isabella I of Spain boasting of only bathing a few times in their ''entire lives''. A servant insists that Chris is not clean enough after he washes himself, to his surprise, and scrubs him quite thoroughly.

* DungAges: {{Subverted}} and mocked. The protagonist walks around, expecting horribly disgusting conditions, but is surprised to learn everyone is reasonably well kept. In the afterward, Crichton notes this was mostly an invention of the Renaissance, during which many scholars romanticized the Classical period above their own era. Personal hygiene declined significantly only once the Black Plague became epidemic (which started around the time the book is set), when the public baths that were common in most Medieval towns and cities became disease vectors. This made frequent bathing a hazard, and it was denounced as sinful. Unfortunately, because of this, the post-Black Death cultural attitude towards bathing went too far in the other direction, with people throwing human waste onto the streets and monarchs like Isabella I of Spain boasting of only bathing a few times in their ''entire lives''. A servant insists that Chris is not clean enough after he washes himself, to his surprise, and scrubs him quite thoroughly.

* ArmiesAreEvil: This is one of many works that presents a negative view of medieval warfare. One of the team even goes so far as to claim that when castles finally fell after sieges, ''everyone'' inside them was killed, and talks of pregnant women being disemboweled (naturally, some historians believe that this was TruthInTelevision, judging from the chronicles of the time, while others suspect that the chroniclers themselves were exaggerating the atrocities, making the RapePillageAndBurn trope essentially the medieval equivalent to the modern EveryCarIsAPinto trope). It was considered acceptable to kill people if cities resisted once their walls were breached, but usually not ''all'' citizens would be killed. In fact, more often than not, it was just the garrison who tried to protect the city that got the brunt of the slaughter. Regardless, cities would be given a chance to surrender once the siege started, which spared them. If the city surrendered after the walls were breached, they would be subject to a milder sacking.

* ArmiesAreEvil: This is one of many works that presents a negative view of medieval warfare. One of the team even goes so far as to claim that when castles finally fell after sieges, ''everyone'' inside them was killed, and talks of pregnant women being disemboweled (naturally, some historians believe that this was TruthInTelevision, judging from the chronicles of the time, while others suspect that the chroniclers themselves were exaggerating the atrocities, making the RapePillageAndBurn trope essentially the medieval equivalent to the modern EveryCarIsAPinto trope). It was considered acceptable to do this if cities resisted once their walls were breached, but usually not ''all'' citizens would be killed. Regardless, cities would be given a chance to surrender once the siege started, which spared them. If the city surrendered after the walls were breached, they would be subject to a milder sacking.

* ArmiesAreEvil: This is one of many works that presents a negative view of medieval warfare. One of the team even goes so far as to claim that when castles finally fell after sieges, ''everyone'' inside them was killed, and talks of pregnant women being disemboweled (Naturally, some historians believe that this was TruthInTelevision, judging from the chronicles of the time, while others suspect that the chroniclers themselves were exaggerating the atrocities, making the RapePillageAndBurn trope essentially the medieval equivalent to the modern EveryCarIsAPinto trope).

* DungAges: {{Subverted}} and mocked. The protagonist walks around, expecting horribly disgusting conditions, but is surprised to learn everyone is reasonably well kept. In the afterward, Crichton notes this was mostly an invention of the Renaissance, during which many scholars romanticized the Classical period above their own era. Personal hygiene declined significantly only once the Black Plague became epidemic (which started around the time the book is set), when the public baths that were common in most Medieval towns and cities became disease vectors. This made frequent bathing a hazard, and it was denounced as sinful. Unfortunately, because of this, the cultural attitude went too far in the other direction, and monarchs after this like Isabella I of Spain boasted of only bathing a few times in their ''entire lives''. A servant insists that Chris is not clean enough after he washes himself, to his surprise, and scrubs him quite thoroughly.

* DungAges: {{Subverted}} and mocked. The protagonist walks around, expecting horribly disgusting conditions, but is surprised to learn everyone is reasonably well kept. In the afterward, Crichton notes this was mostly an invention of the Renaissance, during which many scholars romanticized the Classical period above their own era. Personal hygiene declined significantly only once the Black Plague became epidemic (which started around the time the book is set), when the public baths that were common in most Medieval towns and cities became disease vectors. This made frequent bathing a hazard, and it was denounced as sinful, which became part of the culture. Sanitation in most of Europe was already poor, though-people threw refuse right onto the streets. Unfortunately the cultural attitude went too far in the other direction, culture and monarchs after this like Isabella I of Spain boasted of only bathing a few times in their ''entire lives''. A servant insists that Chris is not clean enough after he washes himself, to his surprise, and scrubs him quite thoroughly.

* ArmiesAreEvil: This is one of many works that presents a negative view of medieval warfare. One of the team even goes so far as to claim that when castles finally fell after sieges, ''everyone'' inside them was killed, and talks of pregnant women being disemboweled (Naturally, some historians believe that this was TruthInTelevision, judging from the chronicles of the time, while others suspect that the chroniclers themselves were exaggerating the atrocities, making the KillEmAll trope essentially the medieval equivalent to the modern EveryCarIsAPinto trope).

* KillEmAll: It's claimed that armies kill ''everyone'' when an enemy castle falls-even if it means [[TraumaticCSection tearing babies out of their mothers' wombs]]. As much as the team would like to save them all, stopping a massacre would have far-reaching consequences in the future.

* ObligatoryWarCrimeScene: This is one of many works that presents a negative view of medieval warfare. One of the team even goes so far as to claim that when castles finally fell after sieges, ''everyone'' inside them was killed, and talks of pregnant women being disemboweled (Naturally, some historians believe that this was TruthInTelevision, judging from the chronicles of the time, while others suspect that the chroniclers themselves were exaggerating the atrocities, making this trope essentially the medieval equivalent to the modern EveryCarIsAPinto trope).

* BornInTheWrongCentury: André. [[spoiler: He later effectively rectifies the situation by choosing to stay behind.]]
** [[spoiler: Robert Deckard too, arguably.]]
* ChekhovsArmoury: Each researcher is introduced to us in certain scenes that make sense later. Also has elements of PlotTailoredToTheParty.
** {{Justified}}: the reason the protagonists are sent to the past is that they are experts on exactly that time period.

* CutLexLuthorACheck / ReedRichardsIsUseless: A lot of the technologies that had to be developed to make this time travel system work, like quantum computers that ran millions of calculations in parallel and down-to-the-atom body scanners, would have probably made more money than the actual plan ever could if they had just sold those.
** Justified in that Doniger didn't ''care'' about the money (he's already a billionaire), but rather the applications of the technology.
* DisguisedInDrag: [[spoiler:Kate]] and [[spoiler: no-one else]] because guards were looking for three foreigners; two males and one female. Guess what they did to fool them?
** Lady Claire also cross-dresses around the countryside.

* DungAges: {{Subverted}} and mocked. The protagonist walks around, expecting horribly disgusting conditions, but is surprised to learn everyone is reasonably well kept. In the afterward, Crichton notes this was mostly an invention of the Renaissance, during which many scholars romanticized the Classical period above their own era. Personal hygiene declined significantly only once the Black Plague became epidemic (which started around the time the book is set), when the public baths that were common in most Medieval towns and cities became disease vectors. This made frequent bathing a hazard, and it was denounced as sinful, which became part of the culture, and monarchs after this like Isabella I of Spain boasted of only bathing a few times in their ''entire lives''. A servant insists that Chris is not clean enough after he washes himself, to his surprise, and scrubs him quite thoroughly.

* ForTheEvulz: Robert de Kere.

* UnreliableExpositor: The explanation for how time travel works (it's an alternate universe functionally identical to that time, not earlier in the same timeline) turns out to be simply wrong. [[spoiler:It is, in fact, time travel-just... odd.]]
** Justified in that the expositors in question, when pressed on several issues, admit that they ''don't really understand'' how the technology works... just that it does. [[TruthInTelevision This is not uncommon in quantum mechanics]]. One theory they seriously consider is that they're piggybacking on an ''alternate version'' of their project that ''does'' know how the technology works.

* DungAges: {{Subverted}} and mocked. The protagonist walks around, expecting horribly disgusting conditions, but is surprised to learn everyone is reasonably well kept. In the afterward, Crichton notes this was mostly an invention of the Renaissance, during which many scholars romanticized the Classical period above their own era. Personal hygiene declined significantly only once the Black Plague became epidemic (which started around the time the book is set), when the public baths that were common in most Medieval towns and cities became disease vectors. This made frequent bathing a hazard, and it was denounced as sinful, which became part of the culture. Sanitation in most of Europe was already poor, though-people threw refuse right onto the streets. Unfortunately the cultural attitude went too far in the other direction, and monarchs after this like Isabella I of Spain boasted of only bathing a few times in their ''entire lives''. A servant insists that Chris is not clean enough after he washes himself, to his surprise, and scrubs him quite thoroughly.

* ForTheEvulz: Robert de Kere. It's also stated that both French and English soldiers, when storming a castle, will massacre every civilian inside for kicks-and, as much as the team would like to save them all, stopping a massacre would have far-reaching consequences in the future.

* KillEmAll: It's claimed that armies kill ''everyone'' when an enemy castle falls-even if it means [[TraumaticCSection tearing babies out of their mothers' wombs]].

* ObligatoryWarCrimeScene: This is one of many works that presents a negative view of medieval warfare. One of the team even goes so far as to claim that when castles finally fell after sieges, ''everyone'' inside them was killed, and talks of pregnant women being disemboweled (Naturally, some historians believe that this was TruthInTelevision, judging from the chronicles of the time, while others suspect that the chroniclers themselves were exaggerating the atrocities, deeming this trope as the medieval equivalent to the modern EveryCarIsAPinto trope).

* HumansAreBastards: The horrible reality of medieval warfare is painted in full. One of the team plainly states that when castles finally fell after sieges, ''everyone'' inside them was massacred, and talks of pregnant women being disemboweled (TruthInTelevision, unfortunately).

* WouldHurtAChild: It's explained that knights and soldiers kill ''everyone'' when a castle falls-even if it means tearing babies out of their mothers' wombs.

* DeliberateValuesDissonance: Despite its poor reception, the film has one of the most accurate depictions of medieval values in modern fiction.

* TooDumbToLive: The book version of Chris is pretty stupid, mostly not listening to André regarding anything for the first half. After which they're separated and he becomes marginally more intelligent.

* ArtisticLicenseHistory: The film has the English treat a Frenchman as suspicious just for being French, and kill him as a spy. At the time however, most of the English nobles were themselves Norman-French, spoke French, and had French allies. The French and English did not wear red or blue uniforms at the time either. In that era there were no standard uniforms at all. If any, each lord's men wore his colors/emblem, not a national one. Of course, the scene overall establishes them as utterly loathsome assholes, [[spoiler:so killing Francois ForTheEvulz is still applicable.]]

* ArtisticLicenseHistory: The film has the English treat a Frenchman as suspicious just for being French, and kill him as a spy. At the time however, most of the English nobles were themselves Norman-French, spoke French, and had French allies. The French and English did not wear red or blue uniforms at the time either. In that era there were no standard uniforms at all. If any, each lord's men wore his colors/emblem, not a national one.

* AwesomeButImpractical: Due to Doniger's marketing plan, which is using the time travel technology just to create [[spoiler: historically-accurate historical restorations]], instead of, you know, obtaining stock prices from the future. [[spoiler: It turns out this was a lie, and he planned to steal future technology.

* AwesomeButImpractical: Due to Doniger's marketing plan, which is using the time travel technology just to create [[spoiler: historically-accurate historical restorations]], instead of, you know, obtaining stock prices from the future.
** In the book this was a lie, and he planned to steal future technology.

* ArtisticLicenseHistory: The film has the English treat a Frenchman as suspicious just for being French, and kill him as a spy. At the time however, most of the English nobles were themselves Norman-French, spoke French, and had French allies. The French and English did not wear red or blue uniforms at the time either. In that era there were no standards uniforms at all. If any, each lord's men wore his colors/emblem, not a national one.

* CompositeCharacter: Steve Kramer combines the roles of the book's Diane Kramer and John Gordon, who are both high ranking corporate officers in ITC who later [[spoiler:turn on Doniger]]. William [=DeKere=]'s role also includes elements from another of Oliver's lieutenants in the book, Guy de Malegant.

** It's rather well summed up in the scene where the main party is escaping and the Scotsman standing a few feet from the guard, with an arrow pointed at his chest says something to the effect of "Stay quiet if you value your life." The guard picks up his sword and yells "Traitors!" running at him. Before promptly being shot in the chest.

** François himself as well. [[spoiler: He translates the phrase as "I am a spy". Not, say, "You've asked me to translate 'I am a spy' M'lord." or "The phrase you said means you are referring to yourself as a spy, M'lord" or basically any other phrase that would work as a verbal loophole rather than a confession. Not that it would likely have helped him...]]

A film adaptation was released in 2003 directed by Creator/RichardDonner and starring Creator/PaulWalker, Creator/GerardButler, Frances O'Connor, Creator/BillyConnolly, Creator/MartonCsokas, Creator/AnnaFriel and David Thewlis, among others.

* ArtisticLicenseHistory: The film has the English treat a Frenchman as suspicious just for being French, and kill him as a spy. At the time however, most of the English nobles were themselves Norman-French, spoke French, and had French allies. The French and English did not wear red or blue uniforms at the time either. At the time there were no standards uniforms at all. If any, each lord's men wore his colors/emblem, not a national one.