Magna Carta Revealed: People vs The Crown TV - Warrior Queen Boudica TV - Royal Bastards: Rise of the Tudors TV - Fred Dibnah TV - The Real War of Thrones TV - Rob Bell TV -
A piece of parchment written by a medieval scribe, an agreement written in a long dead language between two warring parties, it is a legendary documentary of near mystical significance with the power to change lives and shape human events. They call it simply Magna Carta. Magna Carta Revealed: People vs The Crown aka Secrets of the Magna Carta, Channel 5 2020
‘For generation after generation we have paid in blood for the freedoms that were first won in Magna Carta.’ ibid. historian
$19m: word for word this is the most expensive document in the world, the most valuable piece of paper in human history. ibid.
By the time of Robin Hood the English are fed up with the ruthless exploitation. But there’s worst to come when in 1199 Richard the Lionheart is succeeded by his brother King John. ibid.
The mighty legions of Rome: they had conquered Europe by aggression, they controlled Europe by force. Rome’s dominion was cruel. By in Britain, Roman brutality bred a terrible vengeance. And out of vengeance rose a passionate leader desperate to break the chains of oppression. Warrior Queen Boudica, History 2020
Across a vast plain in central Britain tens of thousands of Celtics prepare to go into battle. Their leader was Boudica, Queen of the Iceni. ibid.
‘Right was on their side but they were up against a professional seasoned army.’ ibid. historian
‘Suddenly having to find themselves having to pay for their own army of occupation.’ ibid.
Catus Decianus ordered his men to plunger the Iceni tribal estates immediately [death of king]. ibid.
She was utterly enraged, as a queen, as a mother and as a warrior. For Boudica and her people this was the final indignity after a mounting catalogue of abuse. ibid.
50,000 Celts hung on her every word. Boudica invoked the Celtic goddess of war. ibid.
Rome continued to rule Britain for a further 350 years … Boudica’s story continues to inspire all who hear it. ibid.
1453: England is bitterly divided between two royal factions: Yorkists and Lancastrians. And out of this conflict will rise one of hte most important women in British history, a woman whose story is rarely told. Her name is Margaret Beaufort, pregnant and widowed at thirteen. In her womb England’s first Tudor king. Royal Bastards: Rise of the Tudors, Sky Showcase 2021
So York becomes Protectors once more, and a shocked King once again vanishes into his illness … The Wars of the Roses have begun. ibid.
Duke of York murdered 30 December 1460. ibid.
York’s death is a Lancastrian triumph, but in cutting him down Margaret realises the Queen has unwittingly set the stage for a far greater enemy to rise. ibid.
How can Edward succeed where his father failed? ibid.
King Henry and the Queen flee to Scotland. Their reign is over. And thousands are dead. But of course the Yorkists blame it all on the Queen. That domineering aberration of a woman. ibid.
Believe it or not this is a cathedral – this is the Saxon cathedral of St Peter’s ... It’s the only Saxon cathedral in the country that survives intact. It isn’t very big, it is? Fred Dibnah’s Building of Britain e1: Mighty Cathedrals, BBC 2002
After the Conquest the Normans began to build on a scale that had never been seen before. ibid.
The Normans didn’t want to leave anyone doubt down here on Earth who was in charge. ibid.
The Normans build with semi-circular or round arches just like the Romans used to build ... It saved material; it also looked very attractive and it let lots of light flood in from the side. ibid.
The rib-vaulting was of course a new invention. And very strong. ibid.
The Normans improved their techniques and moved on from the round arch to the pointed Gothic version. ibid.
Of all the great feats of engineering that helped to shape Britain there’s nothing more dramatic than the great chain of medieval castles on the coast of north Wales. Built over 700 years by Edward I to stamp his authority on his newly conquered province. Among them are some of the finest castles in the country. One of the greatest feats of royal engineering in British history. Fred Dibnah’s Building of Britain s1e2: The Art of Castle Building
They kept very detailed records. ibid.
Caenarfon took nearly fifty years to build and at nearly £20,000 it was the most expensive of all of Edward’s Welsh castles. The total cost of them all was over £78,000. ibid.
This was the age of the carpenter. Changes that turned an Englishman’s castle into his home didn’t happen overnight. It was a very gradual process that started in the Middle Ages. Fred Dibnah’s Building of Britain e3: The Age of the Carpenter
It’s a building technique known as jettying [hanging over], and it was developed in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. ibid.
Master Carpenters began to develop specialised jointing techniques ... Timber was the main construction material. ibid.
The Mortise and Tenon joint in one form or another is the main joint in a half-timbered building. ibid.
The timber frame was still the main method of construction. ibid.
Harvington Hall contains the finest series of priest holes to be found anywhere in the country. ibid.
With this business of jettying, they actually protrude over the wall ... There’s nothing in between me and the moat, only these floorboards ... You can get a room maybe as much as eight or nine feet bigger than you would inside the actual stone walls. Fred Dibnah’s World of Steam, Steal and Stone s1e10: Great British Builders
The thing that distinguishes these great Norman cathedrals from the Saxon buildings they replaced is the sheer size and scale of them. ibid.
Three tiers of arches! And all quite slender really. ibid.
All for the glory of God. ibid.
The world we live in was shaped by war. For hundreds of years power-hungry families fought for the right to rule, and Europe transformed. These rivalries shifted borders, destroyed cities and brought populations to their knees. A war of thrones, a tale of murder, sex and betrayal. The Real War of Thrones s1e1: The True History of Europe: War is Declared 1328-1365, 2017
In the 14th century Philip VI, king of France, saw a great new rival emerge – the Plantagenet king of England, Edward III. He intended to seize the crown from his Valois cousin … It started the longest and bloodiest war in European history: this became known as the Hundred Years War.
Edward wanted revenge. Isabel was an accomplice to all her lover’s crimes. But Edward showed her mercy and let her live. Mortimer wasn’t so fortunate. ibid.
Edward declared himself the legitimate heir to the French throne. This was nothing short of a declaration of war. ibid.
Against all odds, Edward had destroyed Philip’s army. But the 100 Year War was far from over. ibid.
A far greater killer was on the horizon. In 1348 a plague known as the Black Death swept across France and a third of the population died. In August it jumped across the channel. ibid.
I’m in the west Midlands about 20 miles east of Birmingham on my way to the site of one of the bloodiest battles that ever occurred on English soil. Rob Bell, Britain’s Lost Battlefields s1e3: The Battle of Watling Street
Nealy 2,000 years ago: the might of the Roman army and our ancestors the Celts led by the warrior queen Boudica. ibid.
One of the bloodiest battles in our island’s history. ibid.
‘We have up to 230,000 native Britons.’ ibid. expert