BBC4 Medieval Season
Apr. 17th, 2008 09:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pandopSo, I have now watched 2 of the programmes in the BBC4 medieval season (well almost) and want to get 2 more in before bed.
Stephen Fry and the Gutenberg Press was fascinating. Fry's enthusiasm for the printing press that was being built, and for the things he saw in his travels was both endearding and infectious. The library geek in me was also pleased to see that he had (most of) the proper protection/equipment when handling one of the originals. I was not reduced to shouting 'gloves' at the television ;) It was a shame that Gutenberg wasn't able to make money out of his invention, and I suppose it is small consolation that he at least got to stick his name on it.
'and then Gutenberg invented the printing press' is such an accepted part of medieval history, that I had never really thought about it much before, and therefore I found it fascinating to see just how hard that 'and then' proved to be.
The Saint and the Hanged Man is a documentary about the way a medieval court tried to prove, or in the case of the Vatican lawyers, disprove, the miracles of an excommunicated bishop, and decide if he was a saint, or not.
Herin lies the almost, I found it rather frustrating that iPlayer decided to cut out 10 mins before the end of this, as I was rather enjoying the 'story', and it is now rather disjointed.
I found the mix of manuscript-illumination-style animation, and modern day film to be very effective, and I was delighted to recognise bits of Swansea after all this time. It was also rather nice that one of my former lecturers was on of the talking heads. I have very fond memories of the medieval castle module I took with Ifor Rowlands. I also liked how colourful it was, as that is sometimes lost from modern interpretations of the middle ages - or taken too far.
The concept of 'proving' that a miracle happened, and there being 'accepted supernatural evidence' seems bizarre now, but there you go. It was also interesting to learn that Saints didn't do things for nothing, you apparently had to work quite hard for them before they would peform a miracle! If you hadn't done your bit, then it didn't count.
Inside the Medieval Mind is my current viewing, and Robert Bartlett (who was also the main talking head in Hanged Man) is looking at how medieval people thought, and how that changed in the later medieval world, moving from superstition to rationality. (We have just had a 'gloves' moment). Having just watched the Hanged Man, and the supernatural evidence, this follows on very well. It is also reminding me how much more visual the medieval world was, images meant as much as words do to us now. It really is a very different way of seeing things.
If I manage to stay up tonight I will watch The Crusades as I rather like Terry Jones' medieval history programmes. I doubt I will be awake enough to write about it though. I don't think I will have time to watch In Search of Medieval Britain before I jet off though. I am hoping to catch up with the rest when I get back though.
Stephen Fry and the Gutenberg Press was fascinating. Fry's enthusiasm for the printing press that was being built, and for the things he saw in his travels was both endearding and infectious. The library geek in me was also pleased to see that he had (most of) the proper protection/equipment when handling one of the originals. I was not reduced to shouting 'gloves' at the television ;) It was a shame that Gutenberg wasn't able to make money out of his invention, and I suppose it is small consolation that he at least got to stick his name on it.
'and then Gutenberg invented the printing press' is such an accepted part of medieval history, that I had never really thought about it much before, and therefore I found it fascinating to see just how hard that 'and then' proved to be.
The Saint and the Hanged Man is a documentary about the way a medieval court tried to prove, or in the case of the Vatican lawyers, disprove, the miracles of an excommunicated bishop, and decide if he was a saint, or not.
Herin lies the almost, I found it rather frustrating that iPlayer decided to cut out 10 mins before the end of this, as I was rather enjoying the 'story', and it is now rather disjointed.
I found the mix of manuscript-illumination-style animation, and modern day film to be very effective, and I was delighted to recognise bits of Swansea after all this time. It was also rather nice that one of my former lecturers was on of the talking heads. I have very fond memories of the medieval castle module I took with Ifor Rowlands. I also liked how colourful it was, as that is sometimes lost from modern interpretations of the middle ages - or taken too far.
The concept of 'proving' that a miracle happened, and there being 'accepted supernatural evidence' seems bizarre now, but there you go. It was also interesting to learn that Saints didn't do things for nothing, you apparently had to work quite hard for them before they would peform a miracle! If you hadn't done your bit, then it didn't count.
Inside the Medieval Mind is my current viewing, and Robert Bartlett (who was also the main talking head in Hanged Man) is looking at how medieval people thought, and how that changed in the later medieval world, moving from superstition to rationality. (We have just had a 'gloves' moment). Having just watched the Hanged Man, and the supernatural evidence, this follows on very well. It is also reminding me how much more visual the medieval world was, images meant as much as words do to us now. It really is a very different way of seeing things.
If I manage to stay up tonight I will watch The Crusades as I rather like Terry Jones' medieval history programmes. I doubt I will be awake enough to write about it though. I don't think I will have time to watch In Search of Medieval Britain before I jet off though. I am hoping to catch up with the rest when I get back though.
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no subject
Date: 2008-04-17 09:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-04-18 06:22 am (UTC)ETA: You can catch most of it on the iPlayer at least
no subject
Date: 2008-04-18 08:44 am (UTC)a. the presenter dude's white trousers. WHY? The BBC desperately need a style makeover for all the peeps on camera.
b. WTF was with the make up and trying to make ppl look like mosaics? Most of it looked like a kindergarten project gone wrong.Although actually, what annoyed me most about it was that all it achieved was to make people in the past look different... the whole otherness thing is just irritating.
I enjoyed the rest though and I'll be checking out the medieval mind on iPlayer. I love a good documentary:-)
no subject
Date: 2008-04-18 04:17 pm (UTC)