robinsociety | A few thoughts on Robin the Crusader

Most of this is pure conjecture, and almost none of it's based on solid research, lol-- just brief internet searches. But for awhile, I've been relying on a couple of sources to give me an idea of the routes Robin and Much might have taken to and from the Holy Land, which I've now revised. And, I think I have a rough date for the assassination attempt on the king and Guy stabbing Robin.

Robin and Much return to Nottingham in April of 1192; having been gone five years (I reckon it's close to six, since Robin says they've spent five years in battle, and travel there and back would have taken awhile), they left in late 1186 or early 1187. (Return date from the timeline compiled by

rochvelleth.)

This info has been a large part of where I've figured Robin and Much went (from here-- typos are not mine; this was c/p'ed):

During the Crusading Era (1099-1291), there were generally two main routes that were followed by outgoing knights and pilgrims. The first route was only used prior to 1200. Before 1200, knights leaving western Europe would travel throught the Rhineland in Germany, then head south through the Kingdom of Hungary. Then they would enter the Balkans, and finally Greece. Once in Greece, the crusaders would proceed to the Bosphorus Strait, at Byzantium. There they would be ferried across the Strait by the Byzantines into Asia Minor. Then it was along the coast of Anatolia and into Armenian Cilicia, or, prior to 1143, the County of Edessa. At that juncture, the crusaders took a sharp south and were at Antioch. If they were going to Jerusalem, they proceeded south along the coast.

This over-land route remained popular at first because sea travel was seen as difficult. It was easier to transport large numbers of men and materials by means of horse than it was to gather enough ships and brave the Mediterranean. However, that all changed during the Third Crusade. A tragedy occured that would make the over-land route very unpopular, and it was never used again. In 1189, the Holy Roman Emperour Frederick Barbarossa I embarked as the first leader of the Third Crusade to recover Jerusalem, which had been lost in 1187 to the Sultan Salah al Din Yosuf al Ayyubi, or Saladin. One day in 1189, just as Frederick and his army arrived in Armenian Cilicia, having crossed Asia Minor, he decided to take a swim in a local stream and drowned. This catastrophe made the overland route forever unpopular, and Barbarossa was the last man ever to lead his army across the Bosphorus.

The new route taken to the Holy Land was the over-sea one. Richard I of England and Philip Augustus of France, both of whom followed Frederick on the Third Crusade, travled by means of the Mediterranean Sea. Richard departed at the port of Marsaillse in France, and Philip traveled from Genoa in Italy. Both fleets stoped at the port city of Messina in Italy, which would become a hub of crusader maritime traffic. From Messina, Richard and Philip proceeded to sail to Acre in Palestine, and there they retook the city from Saladin and began the third crusade again, forever chaning the way be which crusaders would travel to the Holy Land.

This map has helped visualize that(from here):

Again, I haven't verified any of this or researched it further. But, this was just to get an idea of possible routes; and considering the historical quirks we ran into with the show, I think that's fair enough. lol.

Anyway, following that information, they probably would have taken the land route on their way to the Holy Land and come back by sea, based on the years they were traveling. But-- there is a hitch with the land route theory, since Much says to Robin in episode 2x02 that, "We've never been to Germany," and Robin confirms that. So, here's what I've come up with:

green line indicates trip to the Holy Land; purple line indicates route back
(Also, the map's in German; it was the best one I could find at this size {I found it here}, though there are several options if you Google Image "12th century Europe".)

If they went south through France instead of east (maybe they wanted to see Paris? ;)), they could have bypassed Germany. From France, they would have gone through Italy, Hungary, to Constantinople, to Asia Minor, and then down to Acre.

The assassination attempt on King Richard, in which Robin is wounded, canonically puts him at Acre, which would be the Siege of Acre. Historically, Richard left Acre on August 22, 1191 after having his army behead 2,700 prisoners two days earlier. So, a question now is: was the assassination attempt before the massacre on August 20th, or was it after?-- and did Robin and Much take part in it?

I'm inclined to say it happened before, although likely only by a few days (meaning they would not have participated in the massacre). Robin says his stitches became infected and he took a fever, and when the fever passed, the army (and the king) had moved on. From that, I gather that Richard was still in Acre when Robin took ill, which would not have happened instantaneously after he was wounded. Again, I don't have solid research as to how long it can take for stitches in a severe wound to become infected, but even assuming it set upon him quickly, that would still be at least a day or two. So, even if Richard left Acre the day Robin's fever took over his mind enough that he didn't know what was going on, that's still putting Robin's injury at around the 20th, and very probably earlier. Likely mid-August, at any rate, because if the infection and fever had held onto Robin for too long in that era, his chances of a recovery at all-- much less a full one-- would be slim.

As for the return trip, they would have taken the sea route; and it would make sense for Robin to travel by ship as much as possible on the way back, to give him time to rest and recuperate. So, I've mapped him and Much pretty much following King Richard's return route (based on the first map above) to the south of France, at which point they would have headed north and back to England.

The one problem that I can potentially foresee is whether England and France were on good terms when they would have been traveling through France in this scenario. I believe that's when Richard and Philip were allies, but I could be mistaken.

Anyway, there's another attempt to figure some stuff out, and try to make show canon jive with history. ;)