History Buffs: Outlaw King

I worked on Outlaw King for 5 months. Armour was slowly added to our costumes after each battle, suggesting it was looted. There is a 4 hour cut including the spider in the cave scene. There were talks of making a mini series but sadly, I don't think we'll ever see it. Great video

As a Scot and a Fifer I can fully empathise with the horse that would rather throw itself off a cliff than go to Kinghorn

So love Aaron Taylor-Johnson's depiction of James Douglas in this film. Such an underrated actor

I would watch a 5-10 hour Robert The Bruce historically accurate series starring Chris Pine and Florence Pugh. No question.

Just a quick note for History Buffs! The popular yellow dye for clothes at that time didn’t come from horse pee, but from weld, an extremely common weed. Stale urine was a common mordant (dye fixative) but it DID NOT color the fabric! Between weld (yellow), woad (another common weed that produced vivid blue and even certain shades of green with copper added) and madder (also a weed, whose roots produce bright reds and pinks), medieval Scotland was extremely brightly colored 🌈 Sincerely, A historical dye nerd 😅

My favourite thing as a Scotsman is they used actual scottish castles and scottish Highlands which help with the magic and beauty of the landscape

The accuracy of material culture in this film is unreal, look at the armor, the swords, the weaponry, the finer Celtic/Gaelic details are so great

Fun note that the film leaves out that I just remembered: Robert's younger brother, Edward (called Ewan in the film), later attempted to claim the title of High King of Ireland at his brother's behest and he held the title for a bit before he was killed in battle by Anglo-Irish forces. That makes him the last person to hold the title of Irish high king.

I love when History Buffs comes back with a new episode, at the right time.

When Monty Python is more historically accurate than many 'historical' movies. "He must be a king." "Why?" "He hasn't got shit all over him"

Outlaw king was a massive improvement on braveheart. Indeed it had some errors, but overall it was a decent film. I really hope to see Das Boot reviewed someday.

I loved this movie. At the end when Robert The Bruce was giving his pep talk. The part where he says I don't care who you fight for as long as you FIGHT!!! Cold chills

As a reenactor of an early 14th century Bohemian noble, I can tell you, the armour they have is extremely well done. The english are sometimes wearing wierd things on top of their chainmail, like Edwards golden plates which I have never seen anywhere, but the scots with their early bascinets, mail, aventails and early coat of plate are extremely spot on. Its not as well tailored as it should be, but I guess when creating a movie, you need to have the chainmail loose so you can use it on many people in different scenes, as its quite expensive to make even today. It might be the best depiction of armour I have seen in a movie since Arn the Knight Templar. I would expect a lot more greathelms... but I understand that acting in a greathelm is absolutely impossible as you cannot see the actor or out of the god damn thing :D

I enjoyed this movie honestly. I wish Netflix would do more movies like this and “The King”. There’s so much potential for good stories in this time period.

The spider is also on our £20 bank notes alongside Robert the bruce, so even though the spider story isn't historically accurate it is still an important part of the mythology.

I always appreciate that you analyze these films as both a representation of history and a form of entertainment. It is so difficult to take real world events and put them neatly in a dramatic and engaging movie script without making alterations or jumbling events to help make a cohesive narrative. You do a great job pointing out historical inconsistencies while explaining why this might have been done. Its a nice balance. Looking forward to your next one.

Robert The Bruce’s life was a great example of a man who was mentally tough and overcame tremendous adversity. He was also an exceptional military commander. A fascinating figure.

Dude, I’m SO HAPPY you got to this one! I reviewed it (in written form) when it came out and honestly the only inaccurate thing that made me as furious as all of Braveheart was putting Elizabeth in a cage. In reality, if the English had done that, her extremely powerful father and all his forces probably would have defected to the Scottish side. In reality it was Bruce’s female relatives suspended in cages (one of them dying as a result), apart from Marjorie because of her age. She and Elizabeth still underwent solitary confinement, which is equally horrible, but I guess it wasn’t as ✨DRAMATIC✨

One slight correction: you called Isabella MacDuff "Isabella Fife". Though the MacDuffs were the hereditary Earls of Fife since the time of Malcolm III Canmore (the one who deposed Macbeth of "Macbeth" fame) so I can understand the mix-up. One detail that I love from the coronation scene is that the MacDuff who crowned the King of Scotland would list the new king's lineage. In the film, she only goes through the Bruce line, then the Earls of Huntingdon back to King David I. In reality, the MacDuff would continue to recite every Scottish king back to Kenneth MacAlpin, the first king of Scotland (or Alba as it was referred to in the records from the period). However it doesn't end there. They would continue to recite the Kings of Dál Riada back to Fergus Mór, then keep going through the kings in Ireland from whom Fergus Mór and all subsequent Scottish kings claimed descent. In fact, until the 11th Century, Ireland was referred to as Scotia Maior (greater Scotland) and Scotland was Scotia Minor (lesser Scotland). As such, the Scottish kings still saw themselves as having a historic bond with Ireland which superseded any English claim to the island. This may seem like just a fun history fact, but it had very real political significance. When Robert Bruce's brother Edward (whose name is changed to Euan in the film for some reason) invaded Ireland in 1315, it was partly to drive the English out and deprive them of Ireland's taxes and resources, but it was also a statement that if any non-Irishman had a right to be High King of Ireland, it was a Bruce, not a Plantagenet.

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