Medieval Lives

- Season 1

(2004)

An examination of the medieval fighting social class and how its concept of chivalry was be far more flexible and less noble than is popularly supposed.

The history of the monastic orders and how they became corrupted when their praying became a commercial enterprise.

There were three medieval King Richards of England or so history textbooks tell us. Richard the Lionheart spent most of his life fighting battles with scant time actually in England. Richard II was murdered to prevent an uprising against those who overthrew him. As for "child murderer" Richard III, his disfigurements were probably inventions. We may not have a true record of the medieval kings.

The facts about the role of women in Medieval Times is explored.

Since the age of science and reason, the Middle Ages has been dismissed as a period shrouded in ignorance and superstition. But the reputation of medieval scientists, known then as philosophers, has been unfairly blackened. They understood far more than we give them credit for, and had a more ethical approach that we could learn from today.

The role of the entertainers of the time and the changing fashions in the arts that affected them.

Unlike the altruistic Robin Hood of legend, outlaws were often members of society who robbed the poor to give to the rich. Remarkably, however, these outlaws gained a place of respect in society. They had lawyers, were more litigious than Americans, and paid their bills in butter and cheese. Tripping over a crack in the cart track could be a profitable business even hundreds of years ago.

The stereotypical medieval peasant is a toothless, filthy, ignorant wretch, a slave to his feudal lord. Terry discovers a very different reality. They had more holidays than us, their houses were bigger, they frequently ate better and had more influence in the corridors of power. The average peasant knew the law, as he was often left to manage his own land and community affairs.