Medieval Lives

How to Get Ahead - At Renaissance Court

How to Get Ahead – At Renaissance Court

How to Get Ahead – At Renaissance Court: Writer, broadcaster and Newsnight arts correspondent Stephen Smith explores Renaissance Florence under the reign of Grand Duke Cosimo Medici. Cosimo’s fledgling court prized the finer things in life and some of the greatest painters, sculptors and craftsmen in world history came to serve the Grand Duke. But successful courtiers had to have […]

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How to Get Ahead - At Medieval Court

How to Get Ahead – At Medieval Court

How to Get Ahead – At Medieval Court: Writer, broadcaster and Newsnight arts correspondent Stephen Smith looks back at the Medieval Age to find out what it took to get ahead at the court of Richard II. Richard presided over the first truly sophisticated and artistic court in England. Painters, sculptors, poets, tailors, weavers and builders flocked to court to

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The Private Lives of Medieval Kings episode 3

The Private Lives of Medieval Kings episode 3

The Private Lives of Medieval Kings episode 3: The story of the British Library’s Royal Manuscripts collection reaches its end with the last great flowering of illumination, in the courts of the Tudors.     Dr Janina Ramirez unlocks the secrets of illuminated manuscripts that were custom-made for kings, and explores the medieval world they reveal. In this episode, the

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The Private Lives of Medieval Kings episode 2

The Private Lives of Medieval Kings episode 2

The Private Lives of Medieval Kings episode 2: Dr Janina Ramirez shows how medieval illuminated manuscripts gave power to the king and united the kingdom in an age of plague, warfare and rebellion.     Dr Janina Ramirez unlocks the secrets of medieval illuminated manuscripts and shows how they gave power to the king and united the kingdom in an

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The Private Lives of Medieval Kings episode 1

The Private Lives of Medieval Kings episode 1

The Private Lives of Medieval Kings episode 1 : Dr Janina Ramirez unlocks the secrets of illuminated manuscripts that were custom-made for kings and explores the medieval world they reveal. She begins her journey with the first Anglo-Saxon rulers to create a united England, encountering books in the British Library’s Royal manuscripts collection which are over a thousand years old

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Medieval Lives - Birth, Marriage, Death episode 3 - A Good Death

Medieval Lives – Birth, Marriage, Death episode 3 – A Good Death

Medieval Lives – Birth, Marriage, Death episode 3 – A Good Death: Most of the time we try not to think about death, but the people of the Middle Ages didn’t have that luxury. Death was always close at hand, for young and old, rich and poor – even before the horrors of the Black Death, which killed millions in

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Medieval Lives - Birth, Marriage, Death episode 2 - A Good Marriage

Medieval Lives – Birth, Marriage, Death episode 2 – A Good Marriage

Medieval Lives – Birth, Marriage, Death episode 2 – A Good Marriage: Unlike birth and death, which are inescapable facts of life, marriage is rite of passage made by choice and in the Middle Ages it wasn’t just a choice made by bride and groom – they were often the last pieces in a puzzle, put together by their parents,

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Medieval Lives - Birth, Marriage, Death episode 1 - A Good Birth

Medieval Lives – Birth, Marriage, Death episode 1 – A Good Birth

Medieval Lives – Birth, Marriage, Death episode 1 – A Good Birth: For a medieval woman approaching the moment of labour and birth, there were no antiseptics to ward off infection or anaesthetics to deal with pain.     Historian Helen Castor reveals how this was one of the most dangerous moments a medieval woman would ever encounter, with some

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