1 00:00:27,341 --> 00:00:28,774 (Horse whinnies ) 2 00:00:28,809 --> 00:00:30,902 There was once a knight in shining armor. 3 00:00:30,944 --> 00:00:33,913 Handsome, noble and strong. 4 00:00:36,983 --> 00:00:40,646 He dedicated himself to God and love. 5 00:00:41,655 --> 00:00:43,145 St. George! 6 00:00:43,190 --> 00:00:45,681 And the Lady Joan! 7 00:00:50,364 --> 00:00:54,232 Wherever he went, he brought justice and mercy. 8 00:00:54,768 --> 00:00:56,497 (Whimpers ) 9 00:01:01,308 --> 00:01:04,402 Many a time he rescued a damsel in distress 10 00:01:04,444 --> 00:01:08,904 and jousted to win his lady's favor. 11 00:01:08,949 --> 00:01:12,407 Were there really knights like this in the Middle Ages? 12 00:01:21,461 --> 00:01:23,759 or were the knights they remember here, 13 00:01:23,797 --> 00:01:25,924 in the Italian town of Cesena, 14 00:01:25,966 --> 00:01:27,695 more typical? 15 00:01:27,734 --> 00:01:32,364 one day, in 1377, a troop of knights and armed men 16 00:01:32,406 --> 00:01:34,636 rode into the town, closed the gates 17 00:01:34,674 --> 00:01:38,770 and set about killing every man, woman and child. 18 00:01:42,449 --> 00:01:46,476 one report claimed that 5,000 unarmed civilians 19 00:01:46,520 --> 00:01:48,112 were slaughtered in one day. 20 00:01:50,023 --> 00:01:52,992 The knight in charge of this massacre 21 00:01:53,026 --> 00:01:54,789 was an Englishman. 22 00:01:54,828 --> 00:01:57,524 His name was Sir John Hawkwood. 23 00:01:58,498 --> 00:02:02,559 What on earth had happened to the golden age of chivalry? 24 00:02:05,872 --> 00:02:09,399 our story of the knight begins in 1066... 25 00:02:10,911 --> 00:02:13,311 when William the Bastard conquered England. 26 00:02:13,346 --> 00:02:16,406 The Anglo-Saxons called his followers ''cnihts'' 27 00:02:16,450 --> 00:02:18,213 which became knights. 28 00:02:18,251 --> 00:02:20,651 William, who now understandably changed his name 29 00:02:20,687 --> 00:02:22,518 to William the Conqueror 30 00:02:22,556 --> 00:02:25,753 rewarded his knights with land and property. 31 00:02:25,792 --> 00:02:27,350 But they didn't pay rent. 32 00:02:27,394 --> 00:02:30,591 Instead, they had to provide military service for the king. 33 00:02:30,630 --> 00:02:33,861 The whole system was designed as a war machine. 34 00:02:33,900 --> 00:02:36,198 And the sort of knight who did well in it 35 00:02:36,236 --> 00:02:38,670 was not the quiet, retiring type. 36 00:02:38,705 --> 00:02:42,471 The ability to beat another man to a bloody pulp 37 00:02:42,509 --> 00:02:44,238 or cut him to pieces 38 00:02:44,277 --> 00:02:46,643 was not merely a requirement of knighthood. 39 00:02:46,680 --> 00:02:49,274 It was one of its ideals. 40 00:02:49,316 --> 00:02:51,341 Richard the Lionheart, for example, 41 00:02:51,384 --> 00:02:54,319 was celebrated amongst the knightly classes 42 00:02:54,354 --> 00:02:57,323 for his habit chopping his victims' skulls 43 00:02:57,357 --> 00:02:58,722 down to the teeth. 44 00:03:00,594 --> 00:03:03,688 But to anyone who wasn't a knight, this was a problem. 45 00:03:03,730 --> 00:03:06,858 How could you control these men? 46 00:03:06,900 --> 00:03:09,994 How could you channel their testosterone culture 47 00:03:10,036 --> 00:03:13,369 into something that was less destructive in society? 48 00:03:16,042 --> 00:03:18,476 The idea society came up with 49 00:03:18,512 --> 00:03:21,640 was to try and invent a code of behavior 50 00:03:21,681 --> 00:03:25,378 by which the knightly class must learn to govern themselves. 51 00:03:25,418 --> 00:03:28,649 Well, it certainly seemed like a good idea. 52 00:03:33,627 --> 00:03:35,652 What made the Norman knights different 53 00:03:35,695 --> 00:03:38,220 was the fact they fought on horseback. 54 00:03:38,265 --> 00:03:40,893 And since the French for horse was ''cheval'', 55 00:03:40,934 --> 00:03:44,097 a mounted warrior was known as a chevalier. 56 00:03:44,137 --> 00:03:46,605 And so the code of conduct for knights, 57 00:03:46,640 --> 00:03:49,541 indeed their whole culture, 58 00:03:49,576 --> 00:03:51,407 became known as chivalry. 59 00:03:55,315 --> 00:03:57,875 But what exactly was chivalry? 60 00:03:57,918 --> 00:04:00,352 Well, it depended who you were. 61 00:04:00,387 --> 00:04:04,380 The knights themselves had no doubt what chivalry meant to them. 62 00:04:04,424 --> 00:04:07,393 It meant learning how to kill people, making money 63 00:04:07,427 --> 00:04:09,019 and getting famous. 64 00:04:10,363 --> 00:04:11,955 And in the 12th century, 65 00:04:11,998 --> 00:04:15,365 the man who best embodied what knights thought chivalry was 66 00:04:15,402 --> 00:04:17,427 was Sir William Marshal. 67 00:04:18,438 --> 00:04:20,929 William was already hardened to the perils of battle 68 00:04:20,974 --> 00:04:23,704 by the ripe old age of five. 69 00:04:25,011 --> 00:04:29,607 In 11s2, William's father, John the Marshal, 70 00:04:29,649 --> 00:04:31,480 rebelled against King Stephen 71 00:04:31,518 --> 00:04:34,180 and the king laid siege to John's castle. 72 00:04:34,220 --> 00:04:35,585 oop! 73 00:04:37,290 --> 00:04:41,590 During the siege, his father handed William over as a hostage 74 00:04:41,628 --> 00:04:45,064 and at one point the king put the boy into a catapult 75 00:04:45,098 --> 00:04:49,296 and threatened to shoot him back over the castle walls! 76 00:04:49,336 --> 00:04:51,031 William's father shouted back 77 00:04:51,071 --> 00:04:52,971 that he didn't care about the child 78 00:04:53,006 --> 00:04:57,909 since he had the hammer and the anvils to make more and better sons. 79 00:05:04,684 --> 00:05:09,951 William clearly knew what it was to have a caring, loving father. 80 00:05:09,990 --> 00:05:12,686 And just to make sure he got the point, 81 00:05:12,726 --> 00:05:16,457 when his father died, he didn't leave his son a penny. 82 00:05:16,496 --> 00:05:19,829 William was faced with two alternatives. 83 00:05:19,866 --> 00:05:22,801 Join the church or become a knight. 84 00:05:27,741 --> 00:05:29,732 So William went to Normandy, 85 00:05:29,776 --> 00:05:32,745 where his cousin ran a sort of military academy. 86 00:05:35,148 --> 00:05:37,912 Exactly what William might have learned there 87 00:05:37,951 --> 00:05:40,283 was demonstrated to me by Steve Mallett, 88 00:05:40,320 --> 00:05:42,686 a specialist in medieval horsemanship 89 00:05:42,722 --> 00:05:45,316 and historian Tobias Capwell. 90 00:05:45,358 --> 00:05:48,657 - It looks frightening! - I think that's the idea. 91 00:05:48,695 --> 00:05:50,890 - They train them to rear? - Absolutely, yes. 92 00:05:50,930 --> 00:05:52,295 There's manuscript evidence 93 00:05:52,332 --> 00:05:55,028 that actually shows horses being trained to kick, 94 00:05:55,068 --> 00:05:57,366 to strike out at a shield that's held by an attendant. 95 00:05:57,404 --> 00:05:59,065 So the horse is a weapon? 96 00:05:59,105 --> 00:06:02,097 The horse is the most powerful weapon that a knight has. 97 00:06:02,142 --> 00:06:05,908 And what's the most crucial part of that training for the horse? 98 00:06:05,945 --> 00:06:07,845 Well, the horse is a flight animal. 99 00:06:07,881 --> 00:06:10,975 And its natural reaction, which is perfectly sensible, 100 00:06:11,017 --> 00:06:13,110 is there is a threat so you run away. 101 00:06:13,153 --> 00:06:16,088 But what Steve's doing here is teaching a horse 102 00:06:16,122 --> 00:06:18,181 to override its natural instinct. 103 00:06:18,224 --> 00:06:20,124 The training should bring the horse to a point 104 00:06:20,160 --> 00:06:22,355 where it's really an extension of the rider. 105 00:06:22,395 --> 00:06:26,491 The horse's legs are moving as if they're the rider's own legs. 106 00:06:26,533 --> 00:06:30,367 And then when the rider asks for something it happens instantly. 107 00:06:31,871 --> 00:06:35,034 I bet there were times when William felt he wasn't getting anywhere. 108 00:06:35,075 --> 00:06:39,307 He was still broke, but at least he was learning to join the ruling class. 109 00:06:39,345 --> 00:06:43,145 (Tobias ) Right now he's working to move the horse sideways. 110 00:06:43,183 --> 00:06:47,483 The ability to subtly change your line against an opponent 111 00:06:47,520 --> 00:06:48,953 is extremely important. 112 00:06:48,988 --> 00:06:51,479 This is really about power steering. 113 00:06:55,161 --> 00:06:57,288 - He just stops just like that. - Absolutely. 114 00:06:57,330 --> 00:06:59,821 Absolutely. Power brakes as well. very important. 115 00:07:00,633 --> 00:07:02,191 At the end of it all, 116 00:07:02,235 --> 00:07:05,295 William was dubbed a knight by the Earl of Tancarville. 117 00:07:09,042 --> 00:07:13,138 Now at last he was equipped to earn a bit of ready cash. 118 00:07:13,179 --> 00:07:15,409 And he didn't even need to go to war. 119 00:07:15,448 --> 00:07:18,747 There was plenty to be made on the tournament circuit. 120 00:07:20,086 --> 00:07:23,681 In the early days, a tournament was a miniature war, 121 00:07:23,723 --> 00:07:25,452 played for sport. 122 00:07:25,492 --> 00:07:28,427 The tournament field stretched over miles 123 00:07:28,461 --> 00:07:30,520 and could include villages and towns. 124 00:07:30,563 --> 00:07:33,691 It was a bit like the Isle of Man Grand Prix, 125 00:07:33,733 --> 00:07:36,566 only with knights chasing each other on horseback, 126 00:07:36,603 --> 00:07:38,798 and hacking at everyone with swords. 127 00:07:39,873 --> 00:07:41,807 It was terribly popular. 128 00:07:46,112 --> 00:07:49,809 The money-making came when you captured another knight 129 00:07:49,849 --> 00:07:51,316 and held him for ransom. 130 00:07:51,351 --> 00:07:54,115 William hit the jackpot with his first tournament. 131 00:07:54,154 --> 00:07:55,644 His biographer tells us, 132 00:07:55,688 --> 00:07:58,213 ''only that morning Marshal had been a poor man 133 00:07:58,258 --> 00:08:00,226 ''as regards possessions and horses 134 00:08:00,260 --> 00:08:03,229 ''but now he had four and a half fine mounts.'' 135 00:08:03,263 --> 00:08:05,697 I'm not quite sure what he did with the half a horse. 136 00:08:05,732 --> 00:08:07,461 - Maybe he ate it. - (Whinnies ) 137 00:08:08,868 --> 00:08:10,460 (clears throat) 138 00:08:13,773 --> 00:08:16,333 Sir William didn't just get rich. 139 00:08:16,376 --> 00:08:19,402 He achieved that other aim of chivalry. 140 00:08:19,445 --> 00:08:21,470 Fame. 141 00:08:21,514 --> 00:08:23,209 While he was still in training, 142 00:08:23,249 --> 00:08:25,615 he caught the eye of Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine. 143 00:08:25,652 --> 00:08:27,415 Well, a lot of young knights did. 144 00:08:27,453 --> 00:08:32,516 But then he served her husband Henry II with great success. 145 00:08:32,559 --> 00:08:34,652 In return for his loyal service, 146 00:08:34,694 --> 00:08:38,858 Henry rewarded William with the hand of the most eligible heiress on the market. 147 00:08:38,898 --> 00:08:42,925 She came complete with oodles of land and her own castle. 148 00:08:42,969 --> 00:08:45,130 And this is it. Chepstow. 149 00:08:49,642 --> 00:08:51,371 Well, the landless William 150 00:08:51,411 --> 00:08:53,641 had finally become a man of property. 151 00:08:53,680 --> 00:08:56,410 It was every knight's dream come true. 152 00:08:56,449 --> 00:09:00,977 He was famous as a warrior and one of the richest men in England. 153 00:09:02,822 --> 00:09:05,882 ( # Gregorian chanting) 154 00:09:05,925 --> 00:09:09,759 When he was buried at Temple church in London in 1219, 155 00:09:09,796 --> 00:09:12,890 the Archbishop of Canterbury called William Marshal 156 00:09:12,932 --> 00:09:16,197 ''the best knight in the world''. 157 00:09:16,236 --> 00:09:19,569 Fame, wealth and God's approval. 158 00:09:20,073 --> 00:09:22,507 It's what chivalry was all about. 159 00:09:22,542 --> 00:09:24,066 If you were a knight. 160 00:09:30,283 --> 00:09:31,773 oh, and sex. 161 00:09:31,818 --> 00:09:33,285 Knights used chivalry 162 00:09:33,319 --> 00:09:36,846 to legitimize doing the things they liked doing. 163 00:09:36,890 --> 00:09:40,792 violence was intrinsic to the cult of chivalry. 164 00:09:40,827 --> 00:09:44,354 Even, you may be surprised to learn, violence to women. 165 00:09:44,397 --> 00:09:48,663 According to the great chivalric writer chretien De Trois 166 00:09:48,701 --> 00:09:50,999 ''If a knight found a damsel alone, 167 00:09:51,037 --> 00:09:53,198 ''he would sooner think of cutting his own throat 168 00:09:53,239 --> 00:09:55,070 ''than of offering her dishonor. 169 00:09:55,108 --> 00:09:57,235 ''But on the other hand, 170 00:09:57,277 --> 00:09:59,768 ''if the damsel were accompanied by another knight, 171 00:09:59,812 --> 00:10:03,441 ''and if it pleased him to give combat to that knight and win the lady by arms 172 00:10:03,483 --> 00:10:06,509 ''then he might do his will with her just as he pleased 173 00:10:06,552 --> 00:10:10,852 ''and no shame or blame whatsoever would attach to him.'' 174 00:10:10,890 --> 00:10:15,122 Well, isn't chivalry just full of little surprises? 175 00:10:16,462 --> 00:10:18,555 ( # Discordant fanfare ) 176 00:10:19,732 --> 00:10:24,328 So for the knights, chivalry meant fighting, fame and fortune. 177 00:10:30,410 --> 00:10:32,537 But there were others who wanted to harness 178 00:10:32,578 --> 00:10:36,070 the power of chivalry in their own interests. 179 00:10:36,115 --> 00:10:40,814 The church, which was itself often the victim of the knights' violence, 180 00:10:40,853 --> 00:10:44,550 had the bright idea of diverting their energies. 181 00:10:44,590 --> 00:10:46,182 (Shouting) 182 00:10:46,225 --> 00:10:51,492 In 1o95, pope urban II reversed centuries of Christian doctrine 183 00:10:51,531 --> 00:10:55,524 by announcing that it was now fine for violent young men 184 00:10:55,568 --> 00:10:59,470 to butcher people, so long as the victims weren't Christian. 185 00:11:01,007 --> 00:11:04,204 From all over Europe, knights flocked to the cause. 186 00:11:06,512 --> 00:11:09,106 At the capture of Jerusalem in 1o99, 187 00:11:09,148 --> 00:11:13,482 they boasted of wading in infidel blood up to their knees. 188 00:11:13,519 --> 00:11:16,317 Hitherto, knights would have had to do penance for killing. 189 00:11:16,356 --> 00:11:19,917 But now the killing was the penance. 190 00:11:24,864 --> 00:11:30,234 In 1276, the Catalan knight-turned-hermit Ramon Lull 191 00:11:30,269 --> 00:11:34,103 thought he'd better lay down some ethical guidelines. 192 00:11:34,140 --> 00:11:37,871 Lull said the proper chivalric knight's first duty 193 00:11:37,910 --> 00:11:40,140 was to defend the christian faith. 194 00:11:40,179 --> 00:11:44,809 Then his lord and then women, widows, and orphans. 195 00:11:44,851 --> 00:11:50,881 For Lull, even the knights' equipment was full of religious significance. 196 00:11:51,424 --> 00:11:53,221 The mail coat 197 00:11:53,259 --> 00:11:55,921 protected him like a castle against vice. 198 00:11:55,962 --> 00:11:59,921 The helmet was a symbol of the knight's fear of shame. 199 00:11:59,966 --> 00:12:03,458 The sword reminded him of Christ on the cross. 200 00:12:03,503 --> 00:12:07,269 The shield signified how he should defend his lord 201 00:12:07,306 --> 00:12:10,867 and the spear stood for truth and strength. 202 00:12:13,146 --> 00:12:15,341 There was a third power in the land 203 00:12:15,381 --> 00:12:18,350 with an interest in controlling the violence of the knights. 204 00:12:18,384 --> 00:12:21,376 This was their earthly lord, the king. 205 00:12:21,421 --> 00:12:22,820 ( # Bagpipes ) 206 00:12:24,290 --> 00:12:26,087 To keep knights on side, 207 00:12:26,125 --> 00:12:29,026 the king was happy to offer glamor, pageantry 208 00:12:29,062 --> 00:12:31,292 and all the fun of dressing up. 209 00:12:31,330 --> 00:12:33,525 What's more, in royal employment, 210 00:12:33,566 --> 00:12:36,330 knights could become part of the fantasy worlds 211 00:12:36,369 --> 00:12:38,462 they enjoyed in their stories. 212 00:12:39,405 --> 00:12:40,997 Edward III for example 213 00:12:41,040 --> 00:12:47,240 revived the glorious, though entirely fictitious, traditions of King Arthur. 214 00:12:47,280 --> 00:12:50,113 Windsor castle was to be his new camelot 215 00:12:50,149 --> 00:12:54,950 and he planned to set up a round table of no less than 3oo knights. 216 00:12:54,987 --> 00:12:58,753 He must have realized he was heading for a catering disaster 217 00:12:58,791 --> 00:13:01,191 with 3oo knights round one table. 218 00:13:01,227 --> 00:13:03,991 So he went for something more exclusive. 219 00:13:04,030 --> 00:13:06,794 He created two tournament teams, 220 00:13:06,833 --> 00:13:09,734 each of 13 star knights. 221 00:13:09,769 --> 00:13:14,331 These were to be the 26 members of the order of the Garter. 222 00:13:14,373 --> 00:13:18,400 And this is the order's home, St. George's chapel, Windsor. 223 00:13:28,754 --> 00:13:31,484 Even today, to be a Knight of the Garter 224 00:13:31,524 --> 00:13:34,015 is about as exclusive as it gets. 225 00:13:34,060 --> 00:13:39,828 As a perk, you get free storage for your crest and banner here in the chapel. 226 00:13:39,866 --> 00:13:42,767 These are today's Garter knights. 227 00:13:42,802 --> 00:13:46,602 You can still see them arranged on either side of the chapel in two teams, 228 00:13:46,639 --> 00:13:49,472 just as they would have been in Edward's day. 229 00:13:49,509 --> 00:13:53,240 Up there there's Sir Edmund Hillary, the conqueror of Everest 230 00:13:53,279 --> 00:13:55,713 with a kiwi and an ice pick. 231 00:13:55,748 --> 00:14:00,242 And that banner is Sir Edward Heath, with a morning cloud. 232 00:14:00,286 --> 00:14:01,913 That was the name of his yacht. 233 00:14:01,954 --> 00:14:04,889 And over at the end there is the Baroness Thatcher. 234 00:14:04,924 --> 00:14:06,915 She's the only one without a sword. 235 00:14:06,959 --> 00:14:09,427 Probably going to give her a battleax. 236 00:14:14,000 --> 00:14:16,662 But why did medieval knights feel 237 00:14:16,702 --> 00:14:20,331 they needed to stick swans and trees on their helmets? 238 00:14:20,373 --> 00:14:22,170 Why indeed have banners? 239 00:14:22,208 --> 00:14:25,700 The thing is nowadays we recognize famous people 240 00:14:25,745 --> 00:14:28,236 by their faces because we've seen photos of them 241 00:14:28,281 --> 00:14:30,408 countless times in the newspapers. 242 00:14:30,449 --> 00:14:32,246 But back in the Middle Ages, 243 00:14:32,285 --> 00:14:34,845 you'd have no idea what anyone looked like 244 00:14:34,887 --> 00:14:37,185 unless you'd actually met them face to face. 245 00:14:37,223 --> 00:14:40,056 And that's why people had coats of arms. 246 00:14:45,298 --> 00:14:48,426 So, David, if I were to be granted a coat of arms, 247 00:14:48,467 --> 00:14:50,162 to tell people who I am, 248 00:14:50,203 --> 00:14:51,693 what might it look like? 249 00:14:51,737 --> 00:14:57,471 Well, we have prepared an approval sketch which shows what you might be granted. 250 00:14:57,510 --> 00:15:00,035 So you see here the main charge on the shield 251 00:15:00,079 --> 00:15:03,207 is very bold and simple. It's a great, big, yellow snake. 252 00:15:03,249 --> 00:15:06,707 It's a gold python, which is a reference to Monty Python. 253 00:15:06,752 --> 00:15:10,119 For the crest, animals make the best crests, 254 00:15:10,156 --> 00:15:14,718 and we heard that you were rather dominated by your bossy cat at home, 255 00:15:14,760 --> 00:15:18,355 so we've given you your cat and it's holding a quill pen 256 00:15:18,397 --> 00:15:19,762 to represent your writing career. 257 00:15:19,799 --> 00:15:22,734 I would like to point out that the cat does not do my writing for me. 258 00:15:22,768 --> 00:15:25,362 Ah! I see there's a motto here. 259 00:15:25,404 --> 00:15:27,167 ''Messias non est.'' 260 00:15:27,206 --> 00:15:30,266 - You know what that means. - Ah. ''He's not the Messiah.'' 261 00:15:30,309 --> 00:15:31,435 Hm. 262 00:15:34,280 --> 00:15:35,508 (Miaow ) 263 00:15:35,548 --> 00:15:38,779 So if I charged into battle with a cat on my head 264 00:15:38,818 --> 00:15:39,876 you'd know who it was. 265 00:15:39,919 --> 00:15:43,355 You'd also know who it was running away as soon as the fighting started. 266 00:15:43,389 --> 00:15:48,224 It was a kind of dare to ride into battle with your name plastered all over you. 267 00:15:48,261 --> 00:15:50,388 on the other hand, heraldry could also act 268 00:15:50,429 --> 00:15:53,091 as a sort of life insurance policy. 269 00:15:54,734 --> 00:15:57,100 one knight, Sir Robert Knolles, 270 00:15:57,136 --> 00:15:59,263 used to ride into battle with an inscription on his helmet 271 00:15:59,305 --> 00:16:02,570 which read, ''Whoever captures Sir Robert Knolles 272 00:16:02,608 --> 00:16:05,236 ''will gain 1oo,ooo gold coins. '' 273 00:16:05,278 --> 00:16:09,305 Well, you're not going to kill a golden goose like thatI 274 00:16:09,348 --> 00:16:12,317 Chivalry was so crucial to the conduct of knights 275 00:16:12,351 --> 00:16:15,081 that Edward III set up a court of chivalry 276 00:16:15,121 --> 00:16:17,885 and believe it or not, one still exists. 277 00:16:19,625 --> 00:16:21,092 And this is it. 278 00:16:21,127 --> 00:16:24,528 The Earl Marshal's court in the college of Arms. 279 00:16:24,563 --> 00:16:29,865 At the moment, it's an exhibition space for these rather surreal heraldic devices. 280 00:16:29,902 --> 00:16:33,702 So what sort of cases did the court of chivalry deal with? 281 00:16:33,739 --> 00:16:37,368 Knights on trial for failing to open the drawbridge for a damsel 282 00:16:37,410 --> 00:16:39,901 or running away from the dragon? 283 00:16:39,945 --> 00:16:43,972 Uh-uh. The major preoccupation of the courts of chivalry 284 00:16:44,016 --> 00:16:45,278 was money. 285 00:16:46,686 --> 00:16:50,281 There were always squabbles to be settled about who owned the rights to which prisoner 286 00:16:50,323 --> 00:16:52,086 or how the booty was to be split. 287 00:16:53,893 --> 00:16:56,657 The other major concern of the court of chivalry 288 00:16:56,696 --> 00:17:01,929 was settling disputes over the rights to a particular coat of arms or crest. 289 00:17:01,967 --> 00:17:05,334 Sometimes the cases went on for years. 290 00:17:06,405 --> 00:17:11,274 So, did chivalry reduce the horror of war in any way? 291 00:17:11,310 --> 00:17:13,369 Well, yes, it could do. 292 00:17:13,412 --> 00:17:15,403 So long as you happened to be a knight. 293 00:17:17,216 --> 00:17:19,650 Edward III's son, the Black prince, 294 00:17:19,685 --> 00:17:21,482 was, according to his biographer, 295 00:17:21,520 --> 00:17:24,683 the perfect root of all honor and nobleness, 296 00:17:24,724 --> 00:17:27,557 of wisdom, valor and largesse. 297 00:17:27,593 --> 00:17:30,221 Here's how he put chivalry into practice. 298 00:17:30,262 --> 00:17:35,063 In 137o, the people of Limoges rebelled against the rule of the Black Prince. 299 00:17:37,036 --> 00:17:39,095 The prince hastened to crush the rebellion 300 00:17:39,138 --> 00:17:41,606 and during the fighting three French knights 301 00:17:41,640 --> 00:17:43,267 were cornered by the Duke of Lancaster. 302 00:17:43,309 --> 00:17:45,971 Eventually they had no choice but to surrender. 303 00:17:46,011 --> 00:17:48,104 My lords, we are yours! 304 00:17:48,147 --> 00:17:49,876 You have vanquished us. 305 00:17:49,915 --> 00:17:52,907 Therefore act according to the law of arms. 306 00:17:52,952 --> 00:17:55,420 ''My God!'' replied the Duke of Lancaster. 307 00:17:55,454 --> 00:17:57,183 ''We do not intend otherwise 308 00:17:57,223 --> 00:18:00,090 ''and we accept you for our prisoner.'' 309 00:18:01,527 --> 00:18:04,724 The Duke of Lancaster would make a tidy sum from the ransoms 310 00:18:04,764 --> 00:18:08,200 and the French knights would live to fight another day. 311 00:18:09,034 --> 00:18:10,899 So, fine if you were a knight, 312 00:18:10,936 --> 00:18:13,200 but the townspeople were not knights 313 00:18:13,239 --> 00:18:17,403 and the Black prince's chivalry didn't extend quite that far. 314 00:18:17,443 --> 00:18:19,934 ''All ranks, ages and sexes 315 00:18:19,979 --> 00:18:22,413 ''cast themselves on their knees before the prince, 316 00:18:22,448 --> 00:18:23,574 ''begging for mercy. 317 00:18:24,383 --> 00:18:26,283 ''All were put to the sword. 318 00:18:26,318 --> 00:18:28,548 ''Upwards of 3,ooo men, women and children 319 00:18:28,587 --> 00:18:31,021 ''were put to death that day.'' 320 00:18:31,457 --> 00:18:34,449 The whole point is, these chivalric laws of war 321 00:18:34,493 --> 00:18:38,122 had absolutely nothing to do with the Geneva Convention. 322 00:18:39,064 --> 00:18:41,259 Nowhere in the order of the Garter 323 00:18:41,300 --> 00:18:44,463 was there anything about protecting civilians 324 00:18:44,503 --> 00:18:48,439 or the proper treatment of ordinary prisoners of war. 325 00:18:48,474 --> 00:18:52,137 chivalry was strictly for the toffs. 326 00:18:53,712 --> 00:18:55,339 The irony was, 327 00:18:55,381 --> 00:19:00,011 while Edward III was busy glamorizing the code of chivalry, 328 00:19:00,052 --> 00:19:04,648 at the same time, he had no intention of fighting the French by it. 329 00:19:11,330 --> 00:19:14,458 The army he took across the Channel in 1339 330 00:19:14,500 --> 00:19:16,900 was fundamentally different in its make-up 331 00:19:16,936 --> 00:19:18,301 from previous armies. 332 00:19:18,337 --> 00:19:22,865 y ou see, the nature of warfare was changing, thanks largely to economics. 333 00:19:27,780 --> 00:19:31,807 In the 14th century, there was an arms race going on just the same as today 334 00:19:31,851 --> 00:19:34,319 and knights were finding it increasingly expensive 335 00:19:34,353 --> 00:19:36,480 to get themselves onto the battlefield. 336 00:19:36,522 --> 00:19:40,891 Since Roman times, the standard bit of kit had been the mail coat. 337 00:19:40,926 --> 00:19:43,690 But developments in missile technology 338 00:19:43,729 --> 00:19:48,359 had brought a new kind of arrow that could go straight through mail. 339 00:19:55,341 --> 00:19:57,673 And a new kind of crossbow was developed 340 00:19:57,710 --> 00:20:00,110 with even greater penetrating power. 341 00:20:04,383 --> 00:20:07,910 So knights started looking for extra protection. 342 00:20:15,194 --> 00:20:17,822 of course, weapons evolved to be more effective 343 00:20:17,863 --> 00:20:20,889 against plate armor. 344 00:20:20,933 --> 00:20:25,097 There's an old French song that describes a knight so terrified 345 00:20:25,137 --> 00:20:27,071 that he soiled his saddle blanket. 346 00:20:29,975 --> 00:20:31,636 I'm not surprised. 347 00:20:35,714 --> 00:20:38,342 As the expense soared, many of the landed gentry 348 00:20:38,384 --> 00:20:40,784 tried to avoid military service. 349 00:20:41,520 --> 00:20:43,044 So when Edward landed in France 350 00:20:43,088 --> 00:20:45,648 at the beginning of what was to be the Hundred y ears War, 351 00:20:45,691 --> 00:20:48,421 the bulk of his army were paid soldiery, 352 00:20:48,460 --> 00:20:51,190 mostly from the lower ranks of society. 353 00:20:52,598 --> 00:20:55,226 This army also contained another element 354 00:20:55,267 --> 00:20:58,532 that was enough to make any noble knight soil his saddle blanket. 355 00:20:58,571 --> 00:21:00,869 For all his chivalrous talk, 356 00:21:00,906 --> 00:21:02,464 Edward was preparing 357 00:21:02,508 --> 00:21:05,375 a distinctly down-to-earth surprise for the French. 358 00:21:05,411 --> 00:21:09,745 He had thousands and thousands of well-trained peasant archers 359 00:21:09,782 --> 00:21:12,273 all armed with longbows. 360 00:21:12,318 --> 00:21:15,412 Never mind the chivalry - kill the horses. 361 00:21:17,389 --> 00:21:20,381 At the Battle of crecy in 1346, 362 00:21:20,426 --> 00:21:24,487 thousands of French noblemen charged in full pageantry. 363 00:21:24,530 --> 00:21:28,125 But the English were playing by a different rule book. 364 00:21:30,669 --> 00:21:32,364 In five minutes of battle, 365 00:21:32,404 --> 00:21:36,306 the English loosed more than 3oo,ooo arrows. 366 00:21:36,342 --> 00:21:41,678 The flower of French chivalry was cut down by archers on threepence a day. 367 00:21:42,314 --> 00:21:46,751 In all, the French lost over 5,ooo men to a few hundred English. 368 00:21:47,753 --> 00:21:50,779 In 136o, both sides had had enough. 369 00:21:50,823 --> 00:21:52,586 A peace treaty was signed 370 00:21:52,625 --> 00:21:55,355 and that was when the world changed. 371 00:21:55,394 --> 00:21:59,888 Edward said, ''Right, my lot home. Stop fighting. Home, everybody!'' 372 00:22:00,699 --> 00:22:02,428 Nobody took any notice. 373 00:22:02,468 --> 00:22:04,493 They were having far too good a time. 374 00:22:04,536 --> 00:22:08,472 You see, a lot of Edward's army didn't have any homes to go to. 375 00:22:08,507 --> 00:22:11,271 They may have been fighting in France for 2o years. 376 00:22:11,310 --> 00:22:14,973 They may have captured a castle and there they were, living like lords. 377 00:22:15,014 --> 00:22:16,572 Why should they go home? 378 00:22:19,184 --> 00:22:22,881 And so a new kind of military captain emerged. 379 00:22:22,921 --> 00:22:24,479 Many styled themselves knights 380 00:22:24,523 --> 00:22:27,117 whether they'd been actually knighted or not. 381 00:22:27,159 --> 00:22:30,788 And they formed themselves into what they called Free Companies 382 00:22:30,829 --> 00:22:32,888 fighting neither for lord nor God 383 00:22:32,931 --> 00:22:34,330 but for themselves. 384 00:22:34,366 --> 00:22:38,029 They were bands of robbers on a nightmare scale. 385 00:22:38,070 --> 00:22:42,666 one company was reported to be 16,ooo strong. 386 00:22:42,708 --> 00:22:45,939 The Free companies swept down through France 387 00:22:45,978 --> 00:22:47,878 causing havoc and destruction. 388 00:22:47,913 --> 00:22:50,711 And eventually they descended on Avignon here 389 00:22:50,749 --> 00:22:53,513 which in those days happened to be the residence of the Pope. 390 00:22:53,552 --> 00:22:56,180 They burnt the surrounding countryside 391 00:22:56,221 --> 00:22:59,918 and threatened to attack God's representative on earth 392 00:22:59,958 --> 00:23:04,361 unless he handed over a spiritually uplifting sum of money. 393 00:23:07,933 --> 00:23:12,063 Eventually, the pope coughed up around 1oo,ooo florins, 394 00:23:12,104 --> 00:23:14,629 enough to pay a 14th-century construction worker 395 00:23:14,673 --> 00:23:17,107 for about, oh, 3,ooo years. 396 00:23:20,446 --> 00:23:25,509 God's representative on earth was a realist and he knew they couldn't be bought off easily. 397 00:23:25,551 --> 00:23:27,849 So he said to the brigands, ''Look, boys. 398 00:23:27,886 --> 00:23:29,285 ''I'll throw in free pardons 399 00:23:29,321 --> 00:23:31,516 ''for all the sins you may have committed up to now. 400 00:23:31,557 --> 00:23:35,687 ''And I'll even have a word with a man I know who can find you some work in Italy. 401 00:23:35,728 --> 00:23:37,821 ''can't say fairer than that, can I?'' 402 00:23:38,764 --> 00:23:41,255 Now, it wasn't a stupid suggestion. 403 00:23:41,300 --> 00:23:46,397 Italy was full of career opportunities for mercenary soldiers with nowhere to go. 404 00:23:47,973 --> 00:23:51,136 of course Italy didn't actually exist in those days. 405 00:23:51,176 --> 00:23:54,577 It consisted of a lot of city states like Pisa, Rome, 406 00:23:54,613 --> 00:23:56,604 Florence, Milan, Mantua and so on. 407 00:23:56,648 --> 00:24:00,277 And they'd been at each other's throats for centuries. 408 00:24:00,319 --> 00:24:04,517 But the citizens weren't exactly interested in fighting. 409 00:24:04,556 --> 00:24:08,185 So they'd got into the habit of employing mercenary companies 410 00:24:08,227 --> 00:24:10,058 to do their fighting for them. 411 00:24:12,131 --> 00:24:15,464 Which bring us back to this chap, Sir John Hawkwood, 412 00:24:15,501 --> 00:24:18,993 perhaps the most famous English knight of his day. 413 00:24:19,037 --> 00:24:20,504 He was not a nobleman, 414 00:24:20,539 --> 00:24:21,836 but the son of a tanner, 415 00:24:21,874 --> 00:24:24,308 who'd made his way up through the ranks. 416 00:24:24,343 --> 00:24:27,835 Hawkwood soon established his own mercenary company 417 00:24:27,880 --> 00:24:30,940 and made such a good living fighting for whoever would pay him 418 00:24:30,983 --> 00:24:35,249 that he was able to buy several castles, like this one in Tuscany. 419 00:24:35,287 --> 00:24:38,347 Not bad for a poor lad from Essex. 420 00:24:38,390 --> 00:24:40,950 Sir John was not a chivalric knight. 421 00:24:40,993 --> 00:24:45,657 He had no pretence to lofty ideals and he didn't fight for glory or honor. 422 00:24:45,697 --> 00:24:49,428 He was simply a businessman whose business happened to be war. 423 00:24:55,274 --> 00:24:58,141 In 1377, Hawkwood was under contract 424 00:24:58,177 --> 00:25:01,078 to a certain cardinal by the name of Roberto. 425 00:25:01,113 --> 00:25:02,944 Now, Roberto had a quarrel 426 00:25:02,981 --> 00:25:05,609 with the citizens of this town, Cesena. 427 00:25:05,651 --> 00:25:08,279 They'd murdered some of his soldiers. 428 00:25:08,320 --> 00:25:12,051 However, Roberto magnanimously offered them an amnesty 429 00:25:12,090 --> 00:25:15,150 if they'd surrender their arms. 430 00:25:15,194 --> 00:25:18,459 Foolishly, the citizens of cesena 431 00:25:18,497 --> 00:25:20,294 thought they could trust the word 432 00:25:20,332 --> 00:25:24,496 of a cardinal priest of the order of the Holy Apostles. 433 00:25:29,241 --> 00:25:30,868 As soon as they were disarmed, 434 00:25:30,909 --> 00:25:34,106 cardinal Roberto summoned Hawkwood from nearby Faenza 435 00:25:34,146 --> 00:25:37,638 where he'd been busy coordinating the rape of all the female inhabitants. 436 00:25:37,683 --> 00:25:39,776 The cardinal said he wanted justice. 437 00:25:39,818 --> 00:25:43,515 By justice he meant blood and more blood. 438 00:25:43,555 --> 00:25:46,820 The resulting massacre shocked Europe. 439 00:25:48,393 --> 00:25:52,591 According to one chronicler, they burned and slaughtered all the town. 440 00:25:52,631 --> 00:25:54,599 The river was colored with blood 441 00:25:54,633 --> 00:25:56,726 and among the smoking ruins, 442 00:25:56,768 --> 00:25:59,965 the rapes, the killings, was a pitiful episode. 443 00:26:00,005 --> 00:26:04,374 24 friars were killed in front of the main altar, 444 00:26:04,409 --> 00:26:06,343 along with the congregation. 445 00:26:06,378 --> 00:26:09,404 one account claimed that 8,ooo had died 446 00:26:09,448 --> 00:26:11,279 and 16,ooo fled. 447 00:26:11,316 --> 00:26:13,807 Every building was destroyed. 448 00:26:20,759 --> 00:26:22,727 However, this wasn't the sort of thing 449 00:26:22,761 --> 00:26:24,922 that harmed a military man's reputation. 450 00:26:25,797 --> 00:26:28,789 Far from it. And for the last 15 years of his life, 451 00:26:28,834 --> 00:26:31,302 Hawkwood was under more or less permanent contract 452 00:26:31,336 --> 00:26:33,236 to the city of Florence. 453 00:26:46,785 --> 00:26:48,309 When Hawkwood died, 454 00:26:48,353 --> 00:26:51,516 the city laid on a funeral of epic proportions 455 00:26:51,556 --> 00:26:54,684 and celebrated him as a hero. 456 00:27:00,365 --> 00:27:03,630 The Florentines never lost their sense of business. 457 00:27:03,669 --> 00:27:07,070 You see, they promised Hawkwood a magnificent marble tomb 458 00:27:07,105 --> 00:27:09,972 right here in the great cathedral of Florence. 459 00:27:10,008 --> 00:27:11,805 However, when Richard II 460 00:27:11,843 --> 00:27:14,311 requested Hawkwood's body be returned to England, 461 00:27:14,346 --> 00:27:17,179 the Florentines decided to cut their losses 462 00:27:17,215 --> 00:27:20,651 and instead they put up this magnificent painting 463 00:27:20,686 --> 00:27:24,087 of what the magnificent marble tomb would have looked like 464 00:27:24,122 --> 00:27:25,612 if they'd built it. 465 00:27:28,727 --> 00:27:33,790 Nonetheless, the tanner's son from Essex had become virtually a nobleman 466 00:27:33,832 --> 00:27:37,029 by turning warfare into a business. 467 00:27:38,370 --> 00:27:42,329 The mercenary and the knight had become one and the same. 468 00:27:45,544 --> 00:27:48,308 But was there ever really a difference? 469 00:27:48,347 --> 00:27:51,783 The knight of fantasy never really did exist. 470 00:27:51,817 --> 00:27:54,786 All that rescuing damsels and helping the weak 471 00:27:54,820 --> 00:27:56,913 was just wishful thinking. 472 00:27:56,955 --> 00:28:02,052 Even in the Middle Ages, chivalry could mean what you wanted it to mean. 473 00:28:03,595 --> 00:28:06,393 Maybe we are better off without chivalry. 474 00:28:06,431 --> 00:28:10,663 Its fine ideals were all too often used to perpetuate warfare 475 00:28:10,702 --> 00:28:14,035 which is what those who live by war want. 476 00:28:14,072 --> 00:28:16,870 one of Hawkwood's contemporaries said of him 477 00:28:16,908 --> 00:28:22,369 he managed his affairs so well there was little peace in Italy in his time. 478 00:28:22,414 --> 00:28:25,872 And I guess it's still true that those who promote war 479 00:28:25,917 --> 00:28:28,647 are usually those who are going to profit from it, 480 00:28:28,687 --> 00:28:31,622 whether they're arms manufacturers, politicians 481 00:28:31,656 --> 00:28:34,420 or knights in shining armor.