1392: At the height of the Middle Ages the once great king of France was on his knees and struggling for life. A king went mad. A queen betrayed her people. A rampaging enemy went roaring across the land. The only hope was a peasant girl who said she was touched by God. The hundred years’ war was tearing France apart. Dan Jones, Britain’s War of Thrones: The Hundred Years War II
Henry (V) advanced towards Paris with no more than 8,000 troops. ibid.
John the Fearless had to stop Henry’s progress. ibid.
Charles trusted Joan and gave her a mission to fulfil. ibid.
Charles II was determined to kick the English out of France once and for all. ibid.
In the 15th century Europe was a vipers’ nest of faction and intrigue. England was torn apart by the Wars of the Roses. On the continent, alliances constantly shifted as ambitious rulers plotted and backstabbed one another. Dan Jones, Britain’s War of Thrones: The Hundred Years’ War III
More than 2,000 on each side had lost their lives … Louis XI returned to Paris but his enemies refused to give up … With the death of Henry, King Louis had lost a key ally, and more tragedy was to strike France. Once again, the Black Death returned. ibid.
The lands of the Duchy of Burgundy combined with those of the Holy Roman Empire were now richer and more powerful than ever before. And now they were a direct threat to the kingdom of France. ibid.
For three weeks Henry [VIII] and Francis [I] were inseparable … The Field of the Cloth of Gold was ultimately a waste of time. Dan Jones, Britain’s War of Thrones: The Hundred Years War IV
Richard, Duke of Gloucester, plans to become Protector of England and take control of the young King, Edward V. He claimed he wanted to work with the King’s guardian, Earl Rivers. Instead, Richards arrests Rivers for treason. Dan Jones, Britain’s Bloody Crown III: The Princes Must Die, Channel 5 2017
With his main opponents dead or neutralised the throne is Richard’s for the taking. ibid.
Henry VI is back on the throne of England. It’s not going well. In March 1471 Edward IV lands in Yorkshire claiming that he only wants his Dukedom returned. ibid.
Henry died … Edward has had him killed. ibid.
Nearly six hundred years ago England was torn apart by a series of bloody battles for the throne. In just thirty years the crown changed hands seven times, tens of thousands were slaughtered. It was one of the most turbulent and violent times in British history. It’s known as the Wars of the Roses. The most infamous story in the entire blood-soaked era happens twenty years after the Wars of the Roses begin: the slaying of two innocent young boys – the Princes in the Tower. Dan Jones, Who Killed the Princes in the Tower? Channel 5 2019
The man responsible was almost certainly the Princes’ uncle – Richard III. ibid.
By early Autumn the princes have simply vanished. There’s no reliable record of their death. No bodies are found and no-one is put on trial. But by September almost nobody believes they are still alive. ibid.
On the eastern frontier of the Christian world: faith, worship and blood, a new kind of conflict setting Muslim against Christian. A Holy Land, a Holy War. The Knights of Jerusalem’s temple. A new kind of soldier. Warriors for Christ. They were masters of the battlefields of the Middle East. Their very appearance made them icons of the Crusades. The Crusaders s1e1: The Knights Templar, History 2020
From the end of the 11th to the 15th century the Crusades rage across Europe and the Middle East. Perhaps 200,000 people answered the call of the Christian Pope and left their homes behind. ibid.
For the next two centuries the Crusader kingdom thrived and survived. ibid.
The Knights Templar are amongst the most famous warriors of the Middle Ages. In the early 12th century the Knights had become the symbol of the lower nobility. ibid.
Pretty soon the Knights were indispensable: they patrolled the frontiers and kept the pilgrim routes open. The Templars made virtue of simplicity, poverty and brotherhood. ibid.
The most important posting for a Templar fighter is the Holy Land. ibid.
They and the other military orders were vital to the security of the Christian homeland. Their forces were highly respected by contemporary observers, even their Muslim enemies. ibid.
A land of mists and of mystery where the Cross had yet to reach. Beyond the pagan frontier of medieval Europe where the old gods confronted the new. Christian crusades but far from the deserts of Palestine. A wilderness of forests, ice and snow. The northern crusades: lost castles, last stands, no quarter asked nor given. A war nearly two centuries long fought by one of the most powerful military orders. A savage war and an inhuman trade. For God and for the Empire they bore the Cross of Christ, the brothers of the German hospital of St Mary who became the Order of the Teutonic Knights. The Crusaders s1e2: The Teutonic Knights
The Templars and Hospitallers recruited from numerous nations across Europe … but the Teutonic Order was different: the German Order rose to eventually become one of the most powerful of the Middle Ages. ibid.
As with all the military orders knights, the main armoured soldiers who comprised the Teutonic Order’s core battlefield troops, were relatively few in number. Yet in the northern crusades the armoured knight on horseback could never dominate in the terrain of the Baltic – they needed infantry. ibid.
The Order pushed north and east from Prussia. Historians and archaeologists can now trace the routes they took. ibid.
In the Holy Land a new kingdom built by Crusaders. Devout servants of the Holy State. A life of prayer lived by a solemn rule: the white cross, the black and the red, new orders of the Cross and also the Sword. Feared by their enemies, guardians of the poor and the sick. Dark times ahead for all the military orders. New frontiers for the soldiers of Christ. From the Middle to the Aegean and beyond: The Order of the Knights Hospitaller. The Crusaders s1e3: The Hospitaller Knights
‘There were warriors of God … One of the best known, most identifiable of the military orders.’ ibid. David Nicolle, medieval historian
Full-scale battles were scarce. It was frontier work, often far from the major towns. Vitally important to both sides were outposts: the military orders operated many castles in the Holy Land, including some of the most important border strongholds. ibid.
The Black Death wiped out between a third and two-thirds of the entire population of Europe. In England alone, more than two million people are thought to have died of it. Man on Earth with Tony Robinson IV: The Modern World
The Staffordshire hoard’s intricate and beautiful artefacts display the skills of Anglo-Saxon goldsmiths at their very best. Time Team: Secrets of the Anglo-Saxon Gold, Channel 4 2012
The Treasury Valuation Committee later priced the hoard at over £3,000,000. ibid.
Sutton Hoo: an undisturbed magnificent royal ship burial and a whole series of spectacular artefacts. ibid.
Garnets weren’t mined in England so where on earth did the Anglo-Saxons get their gem stones? ibid.
By the beginning of the 5th century A.D. the Roman Empire was showing its weakness, and it began to crumble territory by territory. Bettany Hughes, Seven Ages of Britain 410 A.D.–1066 A.D., Channel 4 2003
The fourth age of Britain – a time when England would become wealthy and independent. ibid.
It was only a matter of time before the Saxons were back on English soil ... The Anglo-Saxons were pagan. ibid.
By the end of the 6th century A.D. what we now call England had been transformed by a wave of Anglo-Saxon immigrants. ibid.
Christian missionaries were streaming into the country. ibid.
For better or worse the institution of marriage had arrived. ibid.
Young Bede – he was to become the best known author of his age. One of the forefathers of British writing. ibid.
The world described by Bede was about to come under attack. ibid.
It was the beginning of a prominent Viking presence in British life. But it wouldn’t all be rape and pillage. ibid.
A prime British target – the town of York. ibid.
William and a handful of barons then imposed one of the most brutal governments this country has ever seen. Bettany Hughes, Seven Ages of Britain 1066 A.D.–1350 A.D.
A mania for building massive stone structures. ibid.
Feudalism was the key to Norman success. ibid.
Peasants in England were standing up for themselves. ibid.
The Black Death had arrived and within three years it would wipe out half of the population. ibid.
When the Plague arrived in Britain one chronicler described it as, ‘Death coming into our midst like a black smoke. A rootless phantom of no mercy.’ Bettany Hughes, Seven Ages of Britain: The Sixth Age: 1350 A.D.–1530 A.D.
The poll tax of 1380: everyone rich or poor over the age of fifteen had to pay twelve pence – a massive sum. ibid.
The freedom fighters soon paid for the revolt with their lives. ibid.
The legal profession was booming in medieval Britain. ibid.
The ravages of the black death had almost halved the male labour force. ibid.
Women flourish as apprentices to trade. ibid.