Which variety of apple did William Tell shoot off his son's head?
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M$2 Answers
So I looked up the William Tell story and found that the event apparently took place on the 18th of November 1307.
Then I looked up which apples grow in Switzerland and are harvested near November.
I found the Arlet apple, also known as the Swiss Gourmet. This apple is harvested between September and December.
http://www.allaboutapples.com/varieties/var_s6.htm
Apparently the Swiss love there cider and I found other resources for this type of apple.
I think there is just too much myth in this story. Maybe if you looked at a historical piece of literature you might find some mention of the specific species.
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M$
http://www.fourseasonscabinrental.com/antiqueandunusual.html
Lists one from the 1200's in France called Couer de Beouf which translates into beef heart
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M$
Great source for old apple varieties! Maybe it was a Glockenapfel, which is Swiss and of "great antiquity"?
I think this is one of those questions we will never know the answer to. Unfortunately, its just so long ago and the myth has been reshaped through generations.
Good try, that's the kind of research help I was hoping for. However, it turns out to be wrong because I checked on it a bit and found:
"Arlet (Swiss Gourmet) – Golden Delicious x Idared, Federal Research Station
Wadenswil, Wadenswil, Switzerland, introduced, 1984" from http://www.homeorchardsociety.org/ebooks/samples/Apple_Pedigrees_Sample_10_07.pdf
So that one is a modern breed. Probably no apple variety has survived since 1308; but, there might be some classic Swiss apple variety that can claim to be a descendant.
But we might be able to find out what Swiss variety of apple is most traditional and closest to those grown in the Middle Ages.
I agree, but for example it may never have been an apple. The years may have twisted the story into something completely different, so in reality William Tell shot a grapefruit off his sons head... you know what I mean.
While the details may be debatable, the earliest versions of the story do say apple. And it couldn't have been a grapefruit"
"the grapefruit (C. paradisi Macfad.), mandarin (C. reticulata Blanco) and sweet orange (C. x aurantium L.) arrived to the West between the fifteenth and nineteenth centuries as a result of the trade with the British and Portuguese colonies."
http://www.springerlink.com/content/b5rh566jwn03431p/