Although the characters of the film are somewhat embellished or encumbered with modernisms, they carefully include or mention contemporaries of the time such as Geoffrey Chaucer, Edward "The Black Prince", "John" Beaumont & the Earl of Warwick.
 

The Truth There was in fact a Sir Thomas Beaumont  of Yorkshire who was at the seige of Calais in 1346 and was taken prisoner in action at Grand Serre in Dauphiny. There was also another soldier at the seige of Calais by the same name. The Black Prince became one of the most feared warriors in Europe following the victory at Potiers in 1356. Sir Thomas' son, Adam Beaumont was probably killed in action whilst serving under the Black Prince in Spain in 1367.  It was here that the Black Prince contracted a severe lung infection from which he gradually died by 1376, predeceasing his father King Edward the III by one year. Chaucer who did pen the "Knightes Tale" was actually captured in France and as was common at the time, held to ransom. King Edward III was forced to pay the ransom along with others to safeguard Chaucer's return. Chaucer did write a poem to "The Duchess" [Blanche Duchess of Lancaster], which the film character briefly presses upon the nobility during a moment of self promotion. There is no evidence that Chaucer was a gambler as portrayed in the film, nor a forger of documents, however for the plot these false embellishments do not fit uncomfortably.

The armour, weaponry, costumes, workshops, ecclesiastical scenery, nuances as with the "two-fingered salute", the repartee between the English and French and of course the jousting scenes, are much as it could have been. This is a refreshing almost bawdy taste of non-Hollywoodian proportions, a result of the globalisation of the film industry, breaking the mould of actors' stereotypes which have become tiringly predictable. The scenes shot in and around Prague, Czechoslovakia, where costs are lower and the weather is not so prone to rapid changes, evoke a European ambience rather than that of California.

The scene of the hero's return to London, although done with computer imagery wonderfully reproduces some of the contemporary drawings of London Bridge built in the reign of King John and which stood for 600 years. Here the bridge is graphically portrayed with its many smoky dwellings clinging to its huge structure.

The tournament scenes with their 'corporate boxes' for the nobility, the shields charged with [probably fictitious] Arms and the ribald stalls for the peasantry is a fitting backdrop for the supposed eloquence of "Geoffrey Chaucer". This soliloquy vividly spotlights the feudal division in the class structure. We may wonder, have the modern corporations usurped the position of the nobles, down to their logos, trade marks and fictitious coats of arms, crests and acievements? The inverted blacksmith's trade mark, a not so subtle hint of global control over the new feudal society. Western Christendom replaced by mass consumerism and the references of our modern leaders to a "Crusade." Does the past tell us anything of the future?

The allusions to soccer crowd behaviour are a clever reflection of the medieval knight's supporters who have wagered their pay on the turn of a horse.
A re-viewing of the film, now on DVD will no doubt shed light upon more parallels of fiction and truth which no doubt the author of the script, Brian Helgeland, has researched.

This comment in the film has echoes of Quo Warranto ["I Hold"] in  real history.

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