Fortified Castles episode 2 – To solidify their dominion, King Philippe Auguste and his successors embarked on an ambitious endeavor of spreading fortified castles across the land. However, as the 13th century drew to a close, the relentless onslaught of destructive siege techniques compelled these fortresses to adapt their architectural designs. The primary purpose of these fortified castles […]
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Fortified Castles episode 1 – Sprinkled across the picturesque European landscapes even to this day, fortified castles continue to captivate our collective imagination, standing as timeless symbols of the Middle Ages. Curiosity beckons us to delve deeper into the mysteries surrounding their design, construction, and inner workings. Behind those mighty walls, an intricate tapestry of daily life unfolds, interweaving the
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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: 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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Europe in the Middle Ages episode 4 – Cities and Cathedrals: Historians considered for a long time the picturesque maze of alleyways in medieval towns to be construction planning gone haywire. New research reveals the surprising fact that many mediaeval towns were conceived on the drawing board by urban planners who were well versed in geometry, for the towns grew
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Europe in the Middle Ages episode 3 – Peasants and Nobles: Most of the population in the Middle Ages lived on the land – a silent, suffering majority, who as serfs had to do soccage service and pay taxes to the ruling noblemen and were repeatedly exposed to famine and violent conflicts. Fear of bears, wolves and demons
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Europe in the Middle Ages episode 2 – Monks and Heretics: As centres of missionary activity and science, monasteries made an important contribution to progress. Here, not only theology was taught and studied, but medicine, mathematics, astronomy, law and philosophy as well. With the translation of the ancient scripts into Latin, this knowledge was introduced to the western
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Europe in the Middle Ages episode 1 – Knights and Tournaments : Picturesque castles, noble knights, minnesingers and troubadours – these romantic images fire our imagination in the generally accepted conception of the Middle Ages. On the darker side of this world, there are gloomy castle dungeons, torture chambers and bloody raids and power struggles. The courtly culture
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In The Crusades – Victory and Defeat episode 3, Dr Thomas Asbridge reveals that the outcome of these epic holy wars was decided not on the hallowed ground of Jerusalem, but in Egypt. As trade blossomed between Christians and Muslims and the Mongol hordes arrived from Asia, a saintly French king – afire with crusading zeal – and the most
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The Glorious Story of Castles: carriers of myths and legends, castles strongly mark our imaginations, appearing most often as the pivot of a dark and barbaric period. Reality is different. They are full of mystery and grandeur, emblematic abstractions of the Middle Ages, they testify to medieval civilization. The Glorious Story of Castles A castle is a type
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In Andrew Marr’s History of the World part 4, Andrew Marr reaches the Middle Ages. After the collapse of the Roman Empire, Europe was little more than a muddy backwater. Vikings explored and pillaged from Northern Europe to North America. But they also laid the foundations of powerful new trading states – including Russia. This was also the Golden Age
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