My pirate strip was set somewhere between the 13th and 17th centuries, which was a pretty big window, but still didn't allow me to use modern references, which was limiting.
Therefore no matter how general the timescale, if you are doing a "historical" strip, you are always at a disadvantage. Making Beau Peep somewhat part of the "modern" era should be liberating, but I wonder how many BP strips actually feature Game Boys, Big Brother, MP3 players, Playstation 3 or glow-in-the-dark condoms?