1.
"At one stage we see a herd of Friesian cattle, which were not introduced into the UK until after the events shown in the film."
How can the cattle be friesian, in the middle of summer?
2.
"Marshall offers up a prayer for the soul of John Lowes. This is an unlikely thing for a Parliamentarian soldier to have done- the Puritans regarded prayers for the souls of the dead as being a wicked Catholic superstition."
Seriously, he's in a Catholic church, his bride is a Catholic (he 'marries' her in the church). He prays for the soul of a Catholic priest to honour him. He's non-sectarian, and he's in love with the man's niece, who was very close to her favourite uncle! Presumably Marshall fights with Cromwell because he believes in parliamentary democracy, not religious oppression nor for that matter a Lord Protector replacement for a king. The real Matthew Hopkins and John Stearne really did torture and condemn to death John Lowes, Catholic priest of Brandeston.
Incidentally, watch Trooper [Robert] Swallow as he asks God for forgiveness of them all after his shooting of Hopkins and Marshall's 3x
"You took him from me!" furious reply - what's he doing with his finger across his chest...
3.
"All Hopkins's victims were hanged (the normal punishment for witches in England), not burned alive."
Yeah, but it looks good in the film. Actually neither Hopkins nor Stearne did the actual hanging themselves. And Hopkins never gave the order to
"TAKE THEM TO THE TREE."4.
"The Battle of Naseby was fought on June 14th 1645- not, as the film suggests, in the Autumn of that year."
I've never thought of that - were dates mentioned? Were the trees showing signs of Satan
I mean deciduousness? What battle - in the film?
Matthew Hopkins was certainly
not hacked to death by anyone called Marshall, or Sheriff; or anyone else. Some say he was forced to submit to his own punishment by townsfolk who finally got wise, and - unfortunately for him - he floated. John Stearne later claimed though that he had in fact died - in bed - of consumption...
"Oh look - a lovely spider!
'' ,, And it's eating a butterfly!"
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JamesHitchcock
17 years ago
To reply to the above:-
2. The real John Lowes was the Anglican vicar of Brandeston. There were no Catholic parish priests in England at this period, and the film never tries to suggest that Lowes is a Catholic. If Marshall had been a Catholic himself, he would certainly not have fought for Cromwell who was a sworn enemy of that religion.
4. The whole film was shot in Autumn when the leaves were starting to turn brown. At one point Marshall leaves East Anglia to march to Naseby (in Northamptonshire) where he takes part in the battle. The battle is not actually shown in the film, but it is referred to. After the battle he returns to Suffolk to pursue his revenge against Hopkins.
As regards Hopkins's death, most historians agree that he died of natural causes, probably consumption. The story that he was himself put to death as a witch appears to be a myth.
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a_heathen_conceivably
17 years ago
Sorry I thought that the real John Lowes was a Catholic Priest (were Anglican vicars ever referred to as 'priests' - I don't know?)
In the film, the fictional one surely is? Sarah tells Richard that she and her uncle have been called "papists and idolators" by villagers; when the vigilantes are giving their... em... 'evidence' to Hopkins they tell him that John Lowes has been making the "signs of Satan" (which I've always understood to imply e.g. the "cross across the chest" gesture - as demonstrated by Robert Swallow during his closing line - something a puritanical bigot of the time might have regarded as blasphemous); and when John Lowes is first questioned in the manse and he is a being 'run' round the table, one of the shameless villagers enlisted by Stearne calls him "papist b*****d"...
"Oh look - a lovely spider! And it's eating a butterfly!"
'' ,,
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