Tag: Film & TV

‘The Time Traveller’s Guide to Elizabethan England’ Part 3 ‘Brave New World’

~ Helene Harrison ~ 1 Comment

First Broadcast 14.06.2013

Ian Mortimer
Ian Mortimer

Ian Mortimer

Craftsmen, architects, writers, explorers, etc

Middle-classes who will radically alter our nation

Provinces – Stratford-upon-Avon = small-town merchants where money is king

Towns are driving social change

1570s buzz in the air, traders on the high street 6 days a week = wool merchants, butchers, bakers, tailors, etc

Modernisation

Great names of the age emerge from these towns – leave a lasting impact on society

William Shakespeare = upwardly mobile family, father a glover, tanyard at the back of the house

Unpleasant smells, chimneys come into vogue – can now heat every room in the home, can rise above one floor and keep them heated, cheap bricks Continue reading “‘The Time Traveller’s Guide to Elizabethan England’ Part 3 ‘Brave New World’” →

The Time Traveller’s Guide to Elizabethan England Part 2 ‘The Rich’

~ Helene Harrison ~ Leave a comment

First Broadcast 07.06.2013

Ian Mortimer
Ian Mortimer

Ian Mortimer

Elite of society

Paintings from the period focus on the rich – dancing, feasts, furs, silks

Confidence, privilege, wealth, power – doubt, uncertainty, fear

Those who have the most also have the most to lose

Hampton Court Palace = keeping up appearances, Elizabeth I inherited 20 palaces and gave 7 away, packed with the possessions of Henry VIII

Need a letter of introduction – need money

Strict hierarchy – status denoted by clothes, changed by the years, eclectic mix of styles from all over the continent

Queen encourages a feminine look, oversized codpieces gone, allowed to reveal cleavage, but not bare arms or legs = become more lavish as Elizabeth’s reign progresses Continue reading “The Time Traveller’s Guide to Elizabethan England Part 2 ‘The Rich’” →

The Time Traveller’s Guide to Elizabethan England Part 1 ‘The Common People’

~ Helene Harrison ~ Leave a comment

First Broadcast 31.05.2013

Ian Mortimer
Ian Mortimer

Ian Mortimer.

“Continual struggle to survive.”

Quarter of England was wild heaths, moors and forests – no roads, only paths. Dangerous.

Cottages were dark – no light, very basic. Earth floor, one fire always lit, very smoky, holes in walls.

Candles were expensive – most only had a few possessions, pots and pan, a bench, a basket, a straw mattress.

Hierarchical society = rigid class system ordained by God.

Yeoman employs workers and owns land. Husbander rents land. Labourers work on other people’s land.

Most people work on the land dawn until sunset.

Pay for a full day = 1 groat. Also equals 4p=4d. Chicken costs 4p a day to keep. Buys a small amount of ale a day, meat and fish for a week. Not enough to raise a family. Continue reading “The Time Traveller’s Guide to Elizabethan England Part 1 ‘The Common People’” →

Documentary Notes – ‘Henry VIII: Patron or Plunderer’ Part 2

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Henry VIII c.1542.
Henry VIII c.1542.

String of failed marriages and a religious revolution

Imagery and reputation

1533 Henry VIII anxious about the Tudor dynasty – no son to succeed him so ditched key advisors, split from Rome, divorced his wife and married Anne Boleyn

Powerful and controlling monarch, successful dynasty

Tapestry, art and palaces designed but plundered religious houses

New image had to be forged quickly as his future depended on it

Wrath of the pope and catholic European nations and English people – Rome refused to sanction divorce so Henry left it behind

Supreme Head of the Church of England

Henry vulnerable so built sea forts and the basis of the royal navy

Army of painters, builders and designers through palaces and paintings

Henry VIII interested in art by story – everything he commissioned told the story of his own self importance

Learn things about Henry from the art he commissioned Continue reading “Documentary Notes – ‘Henry VIII: Patron or Plunderer’ Part 2” →

Documentary Notes – ‘William Tyndale: the Most Dangerous Man in Tudor England’

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William Tyndale
William Tyndale

William Tyndale – executed 1536 by burning

Immeasurable, translation of the Bible fuelled a protestant reformation

One of the co-creators of the modern English language (with Shakespeare)

Written out of history = savage truths about people who dominated Tudor England like Henry VIII (hypocrite, bully, tyrant)

One of the greatest men in English history

Courageous pioneer who wanted to see the word of God accessible to everyone – seen as an act of revolution to rip apart the status quo

Burning of heretics and sympathisers

Hounded out of his own country and spent most of his adult life on the run

1494 Gloucestershire Tyndale born Continue reading “Documentary Notes – ‘William Tyndale: the Most Dangerous Man in Tudor England’” →

‘Britain’s Bloodiest Dynasty’ Part 3 – Edward II – 11/12/2014

~ Helene Harrison ~ Leave a comment

 

Edward II
Edward II

Edward II = king most famous for story of his death
Life even more extraordinary – revenge, savagery, passion, bloodlust
1307 Edward I dies on campaign, leaves a country in debt and beset by enemies
First thing he does is order recall of Piers Gaveston from France – old king banished him to France because of influence over the king, hated by every noble
Gaveston has mean names for the nobles
Gaveston is trouble but Edward can’t see it at all, can only see one step ahead, doesn’t see that all his actions have consequences, mostly bad ones
Disaster right from the start
Edward marries Isabella, 12 year old daughter of the Queen of France
Coronation feast – less like a coronation and more like a party for Edward & Gaveston
Gaveston wears purple, king only talks to him, and arms of Gaveston and the king entwined
Thomas of Lancaster, king’s cousin, incensed
French nobles walk out of the feast – destroys French goodwill
April 1308 first parliament, Lancaster and nobles turn up armed = Gaveston must go, accuses nobles of treachery
Edward refuses to budge, even threatened to lose his throne Continue reading “‘Britain’s Bloodiest Dynasty’ Part 3 – Edward II – 11/12/2014” →