Terry Jones in the Middle Ages

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Television broadcast
German title Terry Jones in the Middle Ages
Original title Terry Jones' Medieval Lives
Country of production Great Britain
original language English
Production
company		 BBC (in collaboration with the History Channel )
length about 30 minutes
Episodes 8 in 1 season
genre Documentary series
music David Mitcham
Moderation Terry Jones
First broadcast January 3-24, 2004 on BBC Two
German-language
first broadcast		 January 20, 2008 on Discovery History
occupation

Terry Jones

Terry Jones in the Middle Ages (Original title: Terry Jones' Medieval Lives ) is an eight-part documentary series by the BBC (in collaboration with the History Channel ) from 2004.

Terry Jones , who wrote the script and moderated the series, illuminates historical figures and professions of the Middle Ages in half-hour episodes and explains to the viewer what is myth and what is reality. In doing so, he does away with clichés , historical inaccuracies, misrepresentations as well as subsequent romanticizations and transfigurations of the modern age . Although Jones moderates the series humorously, the historical correctness is not neglected.

Self-description

“Ex-Monty Python Terry Jones has something against the Renaissance. Because the humanists cemented the image of the Middle Ages as a dark, superstitious age in which people had to suffer.

And with that Terry Jones finally wants to clean up. For nothing could be further from the truth. True to this motto and in the tried and tested style, he embarks on a mission through England to unearth the reality behind the myths and official history of the Middle Ages. Based on common clichés such as the farmer, the monk, the knight and the damsel, he brings the Middle Ages to life with wonderful human stories. Were the peasants really uneducated slaves whose short lives consisted only of work? Did women really have to wait behind thick walls for their knight in shining armor? What was the life of the monks like? "

- BBC Germany

Alternative look at history

Examples:

  • In the episode ... as king is Richard the Lionheart shown in contrast to history as a bad English king, as he the Kingdom of England , which he hated, merely it used squeeze to his campaigns and his demanded in Austrian captivity exorbitant ransom and To finance Château Gaillard , while Richard III. in the history books and William Shakespeare's drama Richard III. was branded a bad king, although he did a lot of good for the English people and campaigned for peace both internally and externally.
  • Also in the episode ... as King , the role of the French prince and later King Louis VIII during the First Barons' War as the English king is highlighted, although this is not listed in any history books or English monarch lists. For almost a year he ruled much of England and was previously confirmed by the majority of the English barons as well as the Scottish King Alexander II in St Paul's Cathedral , but without having been crowned. Accordingly, he would have been Ludwig I of England.

Episodes

Terry Jones in the Middle Ages

  • ... as a farmer ( The Peasant )
  • ... as a monk ( The Monk )
  • ... as a damsel ( The Damsel )
  • ... as a minstrel ( The Minstrel )
  • ... as a knight ( The Knight )
  • ... as a philosopher ( The Philosopher )
  • ... as an outlaw ( The Outlaw )
  • ... as King ( The King )

Trivia

  • The episode ... als Bauer ( The Peasant ) was nominated for an Emmy in 2004 in the category “ Outstanding Writing for Nonfiction Programming ” .
  • Dr. Faye Getz and other historians hired as consultants.
  • Terry Jones worked on a BBC medieval documentary series back in 1995; The Crusades , a four-part series.

literature

  • Terry Jones, Alan Ereira: Terry Jones' Medieval Lives. BBC Books, London 2004, ISBN 0-563-52275-5 . (English).

Web links