How Accurate is Monty Python's Anarcho-Syndicalist Peasant Scene? 

"You can't expect to wield supreme power just 'cause some watery tart threw a sword at you!"

"Come and see the violence inherent on the system. Help, help, I'm being repressed" might be the greatest line in movie history.

Here what I see is often missed in this scene. The two peasants are muckrakers. They are gathering manure to sell as fertilizer. This is called muckraking. However, in modern times muckraking has anew meaning. Journalists who dig up dirt on politicians, expose corruption, etc, are also called muckrakers. So, the two peasants are literally muckrakers, in the older definition of the word. However, they are also muckrakers in the modern definition of the word, in they are exposing the violence inherent in the system.

I think it still stands that my all time favorite movie line is , “Listen, strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government”

"What I object to is that you automatically treat me as an inferior."

I still remember an occasion back in the eighties when I was able to ask the late Arthurian Historian Geoffrey Ashe what he thought was the most accurate Arthurian movie ever made? Without hesitation, he answered "Monty Python and the Holy Grail."

If I went around saying I was Emperor just 'cause some moistened bint lobbed a scimitar at me, they'd put me away!

I think Dennis is quite sane and logical actually

"Suddenly, strange women, lying in ponds, distributing swords, seems like an increasingly viable basis, as a form of government"

Damn, every anarchist I know loves the scene as comedy gold.

The king attacking Dennis is not crazy at all. Quite realistic of how governments react to those that don't follow the line.

At least one major theoretician of anarchism, Petr Kropotkin, used medieval cities and guilds as models of autonomous or semi-autonomous rule. Runaway serfs typically fled to cities, regarding them as free places. See his "Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution," published 1902.

This video is sooooo important because Monty Python was making a historical drama.

Those fearsome knights are actually saying "NEIT" which the Netherlanders would exclaim if their shrubberies were being trampled.

The sleights "Your mother was a hamster" and "Your father smells of Elderberries" could have been accurate too. Apparently the insult that 'she breeds like a hamster' was common. Also peasants, who could not but wine from grapes, used to make bramble and elderberry wines. Smelling like elderberries was indicative of the peasant trade.

A reminder everyone. 'Dennis the anarcho-syndicalist" is now Sir Michael Edward Palin. I guess he got tired of all that lovely filth

Seeing that most of the troupe were Cambridge educated why is this surprising? To say Terry Jone had studied up on Medieval history is a bit of an understatement, as he was one of the foremost experts on Chaucer and Her Royal Majesty's Expert on ancient documents.

Royalty is just code for gangster family.

Gotta love a scholarly dissection of the funniest scene in cinema.

Be quiet. I order you to be quiet.

6:25 Imagine being a history channel and mistaking the Holy Roman Empire for the Roman Empire

"Wahr di Garr, de Bur kumt!" It's interesting, that you brought up Dithmarschen, because they were indeed the prime example of it I thought about as well. about 20 years ago I held a presentation about in our history lessons, using Age of Empires II screenshots to illustrate everything. There is much more to this peasant republic than you could do in your short video. How they fought for they land against King Johann I. in the battle of Hemmingstedt in the year 1500. They warned the peasants to obey the king, but as they refused, the king attacked with a massive army, including the infamous "Black Guard" mercenary force. "Wahr di Bur, de Garr kumt!" - "Beware peasant, the guard is coming!" But the military expedition failed miserably, and the black guard wasn't equipped to fight in the swamps, and of about 2000 guard fighters, 800 died and drowned within three hours in heavy armor. It ended in chaos and slaughter and the army of the King crumbled to nothing as the survivors fled in panic. The leaders of the "Black Guard" were killed and the organization was dissolved. The aristocratic cavalry forces tried to win the battle by them selves, but the farmers attacked the horses in the marshy lands and the noble knights died and drowned in large numbers as well, including many members of higher nobility of that region. The king had to withdraw, and the peasants flipped their battle slogan around: "Wahr di Garr, de Bur kumt!" - "Beware guard, the peasant is coming!" The Danish kingdom was so weakened, that as a consequence, the Swedish Kingdom could gain independence afterwards.

Wait that actually happened? A lord saying ''This shit is too much for me'' and abandoning his lands and titles to go live in a larger town as a commoner, or would he still be considered a landless noble?

5:18 - "The peasants are revolting!" "You said it! They stink on ice!" - Mel Brooks, "History of the World Part I"

Dennis is the sane one , the king is living in fantasy land ... I want a sword now .

Came here for Monty Python trivia, learned about some history of my own region. 😮 I'm from Hamburg and my grandparents lived in Hennstedt and later in Sankt Michaelisdonn which are both in Dithmarschen. 😅

"I mean, if I went 'round, saying I was an emperor, just because some moistened bint had lobbed a scimitar at me, they'd put me away!"

One of my college professors played us this scene and we discussed it for the exact reasons mentioned in this video.

The intelligence of pythons humor is often overlooked !

2:11 well, i didn't vote for you.(love the scene)

How do you know he's a king? He's the only one not covered in shit.

Dennis was just ahead of his time , and unafraid of articulating his principles .

Very interesting. But one thing: The name, Dithmarschen, of a region near Hamburg, is not pronounced with the "th" sound but with a simple "t". And to this day, the Dithmarschen people are renowned for their stubbornness and their independent spirit.

Why wouldnt it be accurate? Or informed enough to be satire? Terry Jones and Michael Palin both had history degrees from Oxford.

This is just a fancy excuse to go watch the movie again. Which I shall.

Reminds me of the autonomous villages in medieval Japan, despite living in the realm of a Shugo Daimyo, they are almost entirely self-governing with a number of headmen deciding everyday affairs, the lords were only in charge when there was a border dispute, such as villages competing for streams or farmlands, which the lord would be responsible for declaring war to resolve the dispute, and these autonomous villages would provide footmen and supplies in exchange.

1:35 "Monty Python is set in AD 932, in England" - Proceeds to cut to B-roll of Mont-Saint-Michel, the Frenchiest castle ever.

Dithmarsh lasted longer than America has existed so far. Imagine the culture of Dithmarsh, even as a smaller society, imagine if it simply grew bigger.

You also have the republics in northern Italy as an example. And they were very prosperous. They also beat emperor Barbarossa at the battle of Legnano and forced him to recognize their autonomy.

0:24 Is that the aptly named Sir Not-Appearing-in-this-Film?!

Dude, you're incredibly underrated. Keep up the great work!

So Dithmarschen was also the inspiration for swamp castle. All the other lords thought I was daft building a castle in a swamp and it sank into the swamp so I built another and it sank into the swamp so I built a third and it burned down then sank into the swamp, but the fourth, the fourth one stood!

One thing that everyone misses is that Dennis knows what Excalibur is.

One line about the “king” is undoubtably true. The comment “I didn’t vote for you” is true for any king

I remember reading an article in the New Yorker about how, in the British Isles, the people living in and around bogs were the most independent and unruly. While bogs aren't great for agriculture, they are great for hunting and gathering, and hunting and gathering give people a lot of freedom compared to agriculture. I then interpreted the work that Dennis and his companion were doing as similar to peat harvesting--it's a pretty damp location, and it sure doesn't look like they are farming. I have discussed this with some people and they laughed at me--surely the Monty Python gang didn't have any serious history in mind when they wrote the scene! But I always thought there was more to this scene--it is nice to see that some others are considering the more serious background of this scene.

as an anarchist i absolutely adore this scene

Here's a little Easter egg most will miss. Here's the line: "If I went around saying I was Emperor just 'cause some moistened bint lobbed a scimitar at me, they'd put me away!" Even as a teenager in the theatre back then I thought that was an odd but clever line. In Grail lore, out of place. And how does Denis even know what an emperor is, let alone know what a scimitar is? Back then emperors were from the exotic East. Big fighting blades were swords. Denis would know royalty as monarchs and kings. The movie gives a nod to origins of the myth of Arthur's magical sword. Even though Excalibur is not a scimitar, that is where the word comes from. Years ago I heard a lecture on ancient Arab metallurgy where the lecturer made an astonishing observation. The Arabic word qalib (or calibre) means "a mold for casting." And as I recall, the hilts of scimitars were cast separately from the blade and then the near finished blade was inserted into the hilt mold while the metal was still liquid, thus fusing the two items together. (or the blade was already in the mold when poured...it was a long time ago). The important part of the process came when the mold was broken open and the whole sword revealed. And that revealing in the Persian was called "Exqalib" or in the French, ex-calibre - in English, Excalibur !!! This is another part of the Arthurian legend. The important sword encased in stone that must be successfully removed. Thus, Arthur's sword is special because it was of a technology that Europeans and the British could not duplicate. The blade, if it existed, would have been razor sharp ultra thin Damascus steel, and the hilt custom formed and perfectly attached. A sword so well balanced it could be wielded faster and more accurately in battle than any other, and so sharp it would cut armour like butter. To the backwater Brittons of the 900's, Excalibur was a technological marvel. And today a Monty Python and the Holy Grail Easter egg.

What a clever video. It manages to be informative and funny at the same time. Well worth 10 minutes of my life. 👍

“I am your king!” “Well I didn’t vote for you.” One of my favorite lines. 😂

I think given the poor communications and travel that existed centuries ago. It would have been far from impossible for isolated communities to live for decades as subjects of governments they have no idea even existed!

The mark of a good king is not how many obey him, but how many love him.

Dennis isnt nuts! Arthur is!

"Bloody peasant!"

Christ imagine going to this film for the first time with the narrator

I like that you refuse to call the Roman Empire "Holy".

I want to know who told Dennis that Excalibur was a sword..?

Bring on the revolution, eat the rich.

Peasants working collectively free lands in Middle-Age France were called 'communeux' ou 'communards'. The term 'communism' is likely to come from them.

My late brother Anthony, lived with Chumbawumba before they sold out. It was an anarcho-syndicate by design and they all worked hard for each other and were happy hippies.

The edited word in Dennis' retort was "aquatic". Don't know why anyone would edit "farcical aquatic ceremony", but there you go.

My God! They're Soveriegn Citizens!

One day, students will have this to watch and to learn how several layers of the comedy goes together in the same time.

Honestly, as I've gotten older, Dennis more and more has seemed like the reasonable one in the situation. Imagine you're just out there doing your digging and some dude comes up to you and starts acting like he's in charge of you. Then he attacks you when you refuse to acknowledge the frankly absurd claim to authority he says he has over you.

Great fun to consider this! The best humor has more than a kernel of truth

Did the autonomous peasants have huge tracts of land?

I always wondered about this. I'm so glad I found this. Very cool! Thank you.

If you live in the US, and you look around. You can't be blamed for wanting to give "strange women lying in ponds distributing swords" a shot.

Leave it tto Monty Python to get into a political rant in a movie about King Arthur.

What an absolutely,, wonderfully absurdist conception! Just remembering the first time viewing it with hysterical laughter.

[6:06] "Send him to Dithmarschen. There, he will march to his death in the death marshes." - me - today - here

Dennis is not crazy. He's saner than most of us. He is, in fact, one of my heroes! Long live Monty Python!!

I have just a few problems with this video. It seems the maker confuses the Holy Roman Empire with the actual Roman Empire. He has added footage of ancient first century Romans and ancient first century Germanic tribes. This is not at all what people looked like in the 13th century. The maker would have done better by adding footage of proper Medieval reenactment groups.

ever lobbed a scimitar? flung a falchion? hucked a bastard?

As one of the most humorous scenes in the movie, it had me laughing out loud in my seat at the movie theatre. All of us in our group laughed throughout the whole movie, beginning with the opening credits. I saw The Holy Grail in high school at age 16. "Bravely ran Sir Robin! ..."

935 was the time of Aethelstan. Anglo-Saxon kingship was regulated by the Witan, a proto parliament. Arthurian legend is later Norman aristocracy's propaganda, claiming origins for their feudalism in Pre Saxon Britain.

I can't really take this serious after you showed footage of the Romans of old XD

Sounds like a modern-day Body Corporate, you have a seven-person Committee to represent the owners for smaller day-to-day matters, and once every year for major votes you need a minimum amount of owners to vote (quorum), and finally, a new committee is voted in.

Oh but if I went 'round sayin' I was Emperor, just because some moistened bint lobbed a scimitar at me, they'd put me away.

Paying "protection", for liberty...

My ex-girlfriend's family was from Dithmarschen. She certainly was very argumentative, no doubt.

6:21 "Holy Roman Empire" isn't the ancient Romans from Italy.

You can't become king because some moistened bint tossed you a scimitar.😄

Warning: Do NOT ask about the rabbit.

Local government was common in Scandinavia. However they paid taxes so you can not say they were autonomous.

I agree in your general direction, sir!

The fact is, there is as lot of truth in great comedy.

Little did I realise this back in the day, as I howled in laughter as a teenager. Still, we live and learn 😊.

If Dennis is “nuts” then you’re part of the problem ;-) Dennis is just angry , we should all be Dennis

Looks like Ditmarschen (sic) is where Swamp Castle is.

I *knew* those Monty Python films were in fact historically accurate documentaries.... ...especially Life Of Brian.

Funnily enough, I clicked on this expecting an argument as to the accuracy of the scene to anarcho-syndicalism. I still learned something!

"how accurate is monty python" ? Very, very, all the way to being accurately silly 😜😂 every single time!

I remember the thread on r/AskHistorians. Brilliant video!

OMG! I feel old! Next year the film will be 50 years old...

This scene might be my favorite scene in not just any comedy movie but any movie period. Having read the People's History Of The United States by Howard Zinn it got me thinking that if America has so much lost history that most people have no idea about doesn't it stand to reason that there is a HUGE amount of lost world history too? The ideas that brought about an end to feudalism can not possibly have come from the ruling class within feudalism. Yes I know about the Enlightenment era & Locke etc BUT I can't help but shake the feeling that even that has tons of lost history too. So yeah I absolutely believe that there were MANY different versions of Dennis not just in England but everywhere at many points in history.

There are some mistakes in this video… for one, there wasn’t the typical „tax collector” in medieval times. Taxes were largely payed in the form of natural goods (at least before the 15th century) directly to the lord. Thus your statement suggesting that “they would be left alone without a lord as long as they paid their taxes” is illogical. Also, those peasants that “had a disdain for the monarchy” largely had a disdain FOR THE INDIVIDUAL MONARCH, not the title or concept of a king in and of itself.

AD932? Oh Dear. Terry Jones would be turning in his grave. Try 532 -would be closer to the mark.

I have always understood this scene to be factual documentary. I find no error in the politics or the logic. 🏴

please note that my posts in all mediums are under constant vandalism by a state actor that is attempting to degrade the quality of my writing to make me appear less intelligent, under an apparent fear of my influence on the internet. somebody wants to make me look stupid and i can only deduce that it is because they are afraid of me. this post was vandalized to include pothead lingo like "sort of" and "the thing is" that is language that is not a part of my vocabulary (i don't do drugs.) and that i would never place in my actual posts because it is neither how i speak nor how i write. as of january, 2023, i have removed this language from this post. this a constant struggle as the vandalism is exceedingly widespread. --- the kind of government that you're describing is actually the indigenous form of government of the germanic peoples and was the normal governing structure during the period under what was in truth merely a facade of papal feudalism, often enforced by locals, but ultimately run from rome, as an extension of the never-really-gone-away empire. it existed across europe during this period. when the normans landed in italy, they baffled the local italians by insisting on governing themselves by erecting a legislature (called a thing), which was something that the decadent italians only vaguely remembered from their distant past. the existing system of english common law derives from the local systems of germanic democracy that the franco-normans (which were just papal romans of part norse ancestry) could never fully stamp out. the fact is that you could have thrown a dart at the map of northwestern europe and found an indigenous democratic governing body that was outside of the control of the feudal system; it's not just the case that democracy was possible during this era, it is the case that democracy was the indigenous form of government of the germanic peoples, and that it was under severe external threat by romans and christians, who were trying to simultaneously stamp out germanic culture and democracy and assert what is called "oriental despotism" in the form of catholic rule in it's place. that's the actual point of the skit. europeans have lost touch with their democratic and communist traditions, which go back to the mists of time.

The US has a Oligarchy that asks for approval of names selected by the Wealthy to represent the needs of the Population. If we declared ourselves independent of that system and the money that appears to make the government ask citizens to fight to maintain their wealth were questioned, would such a Government become a possibility? Ni!