Dating Redwall
Nov 29, 2022 17:22:49 GMT -5
Post by Celebes on Nov 29, 2022 17:22:49 GMT -5
Alright ladies, put your paws together for our final contestant...! He's as big as a house, he has sides of stone, he's got eyes like stained glass, heeeeeeeeere's REDWALLLLLLLLL!
Okay, sorry, not that kind of dating. But a recent post by Baron got me thinking:
If we assign a date to when Redwall is taking place, what would it be? I know this discussion is inherently silly, and I doubt that the author wrote what technological and cultural concepts that existed concurrent with when they came about historically, but if we just take a look at the various inventions and concepts that are in the books, I think we could at least narrow down what century the Abbey would be in.
I'll just start that when I first read the books, I placed them solidly in the middle ages, since that is the usual time for fantasy stories. They got swords and big places made of stone, seemed to fit. So that would be around 1000 AD. I later read something that stuck with me that the books were supposed to take place in the Iron Age, which has a wide date frame but on its latter end correlates to Roman times. So lets say around 100 AD. Those are quite a few centuries apart, so I guess the next step would be to look at some things actually referenced in Redwall.
I think the first book Redwall itself is more helpful than the rest of the series, because this is the only book I know of where humanity is passingly referenced in terms of Cluny's escapades harassing farms and villages with his gang. The first definitive clue is that Cluny is a Portuguese Water Rat. Portugal was first founded as the Duchy of Portugal in 868 AD, so that seems like a good starting point. To give a rough ending point, as far as I know, gunpowder or something equivalent to it is never used in Redwall, so that could be the other end of our range. Gunpowder in Europe gradually started being employed throughout the 14th century according to Wikipedia. So let's just say 1400 AD.
So there's a basic range that Redwall could take place in, 868 - 1400 AD. As for Stanwick's sunglasses, Baron Chall Wattson , I'm willing to guess those are just black stained glass . Anyone else have any thoughts or dates of inventions to chip in?
Okay, sorry, not that kind of dating. But a recent post by Baron got me thinking:
Baron Chall Wattson: I wonder what year Redwall is in, because sunglasses were invented in 1752..
If we assign a date to when Redwall is taking place, what would it be? I know this discussion is inherently silly, and I doubt that the author wrote what technological and cultural concepts that existed concurrent with when they came about historically, but if we just take a look at the various inventions and concepts that are in the books, I think we could at least narrow down what century the Abbey would be in.
I'll just start that when I first read the books, I placed them solidly in the middle ages, since that is the usual time for fantasy stories. They got swords and big places made of stone, seemed to fit. So that would be around 1000 AD. I later read something that stuck with me that the books were supposed to take place in the Iron Age, which has a wide date frame but on its latter end correlates to Roman times. So lets say around 100 AD. Those are quite a few centuries apart, so I guess the next step would be to look at some things actually referenced in Redwall.
I think the first book Redwall itself is more helpful than the rest of the series, because this is the only book I know of where humanity is passingly referenced in terms of Cluny's escapades harassing farms and villages with his gang. The first definitive clue is that Cluny is a Portuguese Water Rat. Portugal was first founded as the Duchy of Portugal in 868 AD, so that seems like a good starting point. To give a rough ending point, as far as I know, gunpowder or something equivalent to it is never used in Redwall, so that could be the other end of our range. Gunpowder in Europe gradually started being employed throughout the 14th century according to Wikipedia. So let's just say 1400 AD.
So there's a basic range that Redwall could take place in, 868 - 1400 AD. As for Stanwick's sunglasses, Baron Chall Wattson , I'm willing to guess those are just black stained glass . Anyone else have any thoughts or dates of inventions to chip in?