An interesting insight into the daily lives of Medieval people. Not a DVD for the Scholar, but rather for the average person who is interested in History.
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Parental Guidance
Parental guidance is recommended for younger viewers.
NOTE: Mild coarse language
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An interesting insight into the daily lives of Medieval people. Not a DVD for the Scholar, but rather for the average person who is interested in History.
Medieval Lives: Birth, Marriage And Death documentary TV series on DVD.
Historian and author Helen Castor, presenter of the popular series She-Wolves, explores how the people of the Middle Ages handled the most fundamental moments of transition in life: birth, marriage and death. In doing so she reveals how people in the medieval world thought and what they believed in. For the people of the Middle Ages the teachings of the Catholic Church shaped thoughts and beliefs across the whole of Western Europe. But by the end of the Middle Ages the Church would find itself in the grip of momentous change and the way of medieval birth, marriage and death would never be quite the same again.
Episode One: 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 but there
was God. The medieval world understood that the pains of labour were the penalty
for the original sin of humankind; so, to get through them, she needed the help
of the saints, and the blessing of God himself. As historian Helen Castor
reveals in this film this was one of the most dangerous moments a medieval woman
would ever encounter and some aristocratic and royal women gave birth as young
as 13. Birth took place in an all-female environment and male world of medicine
was little help to a woman in confinement. But by the end of the Middle Ages the
momentous changes to the religious life of England reached right into the heart
of this most domestic and secret of life’s rites and stripped away the
comfort that old Church had offered to laboring women.
Episode Two: 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, with help from their family and friends, according to rules laid
down by the Church. But as historian Helen Castor reveals in the Middle Ages
marriage was actually much easier to get into than today – you could get
married in a pub or even a hedgerow simply by exchanging words of consent –
but from the 12th century onwards the Catholic Church tried to control this
conjugal free for all. For the Church marriage was a way to contain the
troubling issue of sex but as this episode reveals, it was not easy to impose
rules on the most unpredictable human emotions of love and lust.
Episode Three: 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 a few short months. But for the people of the Middle Ages death
wasn’t an end but a doorway to everlasting life. The Church taught that an
eternity spent in heaven or hell was much more important than this
life’s fleeting achievements and there was much you could do to prepare for
the next life in this one. As historian Helen Castor reveals how to be
remembered – and remembering your loved ones – shaped not only the worship
of the people of the middle ages but the very buildings and funding of the
medieval Church itself.
Medieval Lives: Birth, Marriage And Death Documentary Reviews:
“… the excellent Helen Castor, who has the knack of appearing in shot without making you wish she would go away…” Clive James, The Telegraph
“Castor is an excellent, engaging storyteller.” The Guardian
“With some fascinating stories, Castor creates an illuminating picture” Sunday Telegraph UK
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