• Nagarjuna [he/him]
    ·
    3 years ago

    Robinhood existed in nascent capitalism. A few social changes started in the 13th century that paved the way for capitalism: plunder of the arab world, inclosure, and mass criminalization of the populace.

    At multiple points Robinhood saves his comrades from the gallows or vice versa, and he's portrayed as living in a deer park. Deer parks were inclosed peasant commons reserved for the aristocracy to hunt on. This means that two of the institutions robinhood opposed (inclosure and mass criminalization) were nascent capitalist institutions.

    Robinhood was an anti capitalist.

    Well, except for the part where he fought in the crusades. That wasn't great, but at least he used that military service to kill the sherif of Nottingham.

    • zifnab25 [he/him, any]
      ·
      edit-2
      3 years ago

      Well, except for the part where he fought in the crusades.

      One could argue that defending your turf from colonization by an outside force is also anti-capitalist.

      • Nagarjuna [he/him]
        ·
        3 years ago

        The 13th century crusades were an attemp by Catholics from Europe to conquer Jerusalem for the church. The Roman, viking and norman invasions of England had already happened.

        • zifnab25 [he/him, any]
          ·
          3 years ago

          The 13th century crusades were an attemp by Catholics from Europe to conquer Jerusalem for the church.

          As part of a broader turf war between "Christian" kingdoms of Europe and the "Moorish" kingdoms of the Middle East for land in and around the Mediterranean. The fixation on Jerusalem was ideological, but since you needed to occupy the Mediterranean coastline to manage it, the fight had a great deal of material economic consequence. The English crusading down south just so happened to also have a vested interest in sailing past the Iberian Peninsula without getting picked off by Barbary Pirates.

      • Nagarjuna [he/him]
        ·
        3 years ago

        At what point was England under threat in the crusades?

        • zifnab25 [he/him, any]
          ·
          edit-2
          3 years ago

          Barbary Pirates - aligned with the various Muslim occupiers of southern Europe - were harassing and enslaving English sailors as early as the 1500s. Raids through the Iberian peninsula were happening as far back as the 710s.

          • Nagarjuna [he/him]
            ·
            3 years ago

            Huh, didn't know that, that would have been cooler than him fighting as a cavelryman in the middle east.