0:00:02 > 0:00:03BELLS PEAL
0:00:03 > 0:00:07The peal of church bells rang out across medieval Britain.
0:00:07 > 0:00:10You got up, prayed and worked to their sound.
0:00:10 > 0:00:16The Christian Church influenced almost every waking hour.
0:00:16 > 0:00:19From cradle to grave, it gave rhythm to your days,
0:00:19 > 0:00:22to your weeks, and to your year.
0:00:22 > 0:00:25And so medieval churches are bustling with life,
0:00:25 > 0:00:28often in ways that you would not expect.
0:00:31 > 0:00:37By the Middle Ages, the Church had come to embrace every aspect of life.
0:00:38 > 0:00:40I'm Richard Taylor.
0:00:40 > 0:00:44I write books about the meaning of Britain's churches.
0:00:44 > 0:00:48I believe we've forgotten how to read the language of these buildings.
0:00:48 > 0:00:52But, if we care to look, we can connect directly
0:00:52 > 0:00:55with our ancestors' deepest hopes and fears.
0:00:56 > 0:01:01I'll be looking at medieval wall paintings, carvings,
0:01:01 > 0:01:03angels and demons,
0:01:03 > 0:01:08to discover just how the Church came to permeate everyday life so completely.
0:01:19 > 0:01:21Churches originally served
0:01:21 > 0:01:23to shelter the altar, the focal point
0:01:23 > 0:01:26for the most important Christian ceremony - the Eucharist.
0:01:27 > 0:01:31The early churches were often simple and crudely built.
0:01:33 > 0:01:37But the medieval period was a golden age of church construction.
0:01:37 > 0:01:41Building techniques and artistry soared to new levels.
0:01:42 > 0:01:46From the 13th to 15th centuries,
0:01:46 > 0:01:50impressively decorated churches like this rose up all over Britain.
0:01:52 > 0:01:56The interiors were recreating Heaven on Earth,
0:01:56 > 0:02:01and what better way to evoke that heavenly world than with angels?
0:02:02 > 0:02:07Many churches have angels in them, but none are quite like Blythburgh.
0:02:20 > 0:02:24The angels here are hovering over the heads of the congregation.
0:02:24 > 0:02:27Every one is as different as the people underneath them -
0:02:27 > 0:02:31their faces, their hands, their hairstyles.
0:02:31 > 0:02:34Originally, these would have been painted in green and black
0:02:34 > 0:02:37and covered in gold leaf.
0:02:37 > 0:02:40And the impact, especially for people who didn't see
0:02:40 > 0:02:43highly decorated images in their day-to-day lives,
0:02:43 > 0:02:46must have been overwhelming.
0:02:47 > 0:02:52I love the way their wings are thrown apart.
0:02:52 > 0:02:57And on every one there's a crown, a golden crown.
0:02:57 > 0:03:00I wonder if people would have picked their favourite angel back then
0:03:00 > 0:03:03and felt that they were watching over them.
0:03:09 > 0:03:12This glimpse of Heaven inside the church
0:03:12 > 0:03:16contrasted with the difficult and devilish world outside.
0:03:16 > 0:03:19Life was seen as a battleground between good and evil.
0:03:19 > 0:03:22Malign forces were constantly at work
0:03:22 > 0:03:25to cause mankind suffering and destruction.
0:03:27 > 0:03:31Life in the Middle Ages was lived on a cosmic scale.
0:03:31 > 0:03:34"Invisible devils surrounded you," said one writer,
0:03:34 > 0:03:37"as numerous as the motes of dust on a sunbeam."
0:03:37 > 0:03:40Bad harvests were the work of the devil,
0:03:40 > 0:03:43so was illness, so was violent storm.
0:03:43 > 0:03:47But the forces of darkness trembled before the forces of good,
0:03:47 > 0:03:50and it was through the Church and its teaching
0:03:50 > 0:03:54that you could obtain protection and sanctuary.
0:03:55 > 0:03:57The Church offered this protection
0:03:57 > 0:04:00from cradle to grave, and it started
0:04:00 > 0:04:03with a key rite of passage - baptism.
0:04:06 > 0:04:09The font is the focus of this ceremony -
0:04:09 > 0:04:12so important that you'll find one in pretty much every church.
0:04:16 > 0:04:19I'm on my way to a very special example.
0:04:19 > 0:04:25The beauty of this one is that it's going to illustrate
0:04:25 > 0:04:28everything that a font is for,
0:04:28 > 0:04:33and the story that lies behind the ceremony of baptism.
0:04:38 > 0:04:40This is a very simple little church.
0:04:45 > 0:04:47Oh, gosh!
0:04:47 > 0:04:50Well, it meets you as soon as you walk through the door.
0:04:58 > 0:05:01Oh, golly.
0:05:01 > 0:05:02I've seen pictures of you,
0:05:02 > 0:05:08but this font is bearing down and crushing
0:05:08 > 0:05:11the bodies of three figures,
0:05:11 > 0:05:16although this is the only one that's still entire.
0:05:16 > 0:05:20The idea is that the very act of baptism
0:05:20 > 0:05:25is crushing the evil spirits. Whether this is an evil spirit,
0:05:25 > 0:05:31or whether this is a man who's locked in the chains of sin.
0:05:31 > 0:05:35He's actually got a bit of a look of resignation on his face.
0:05:35 > 0:05:36HE CHUCKLES
0:05:36 > 0:05:40The font would have been filled almost to the brim.
0:05:40 > 0:05:43The priest would have taken the infant
0:05:43 > 0:05:46and plunged them into the water,
0:05:46 > 0:05:49the idea being that you wanted to cover
0:05:49 > 0:05:51every inch of the child's skin,
0:05:51 > 0:05:53so that there was no way in for the devil.
0:05:56 > 0:06:00You can see the signs that this font once had a lid, with a lock.
0:06:00 > 0:06:04The holy water was thought to have mystical powers.
0:06:04 > 0:06:09Font covers were used to prevent people from making off with it,
0:06:09 > 0:06:14for magical rituals, lucky charms, or to sprinkle on their crops.
0:06:18 > 0:06:21The covers became works of art in their own right.
0:06:29 > 0:06:32This is the baptism of Christ.
0:06:32 > 0:06:35What you've got going on here
0:06:35 > 0:06:38is the figure of John the Baptist here,
0:06:38 > 0:06:44the figure of Christ in the middle being baptised in the River Jordan.
0:06:44 > 0:06:46He's slightly bandy legged, actually.
0:06:46 > 0:06:50And the hand of God
0:06:50 > 0:06:53descending from on high,
0:06:53 > 0:06:56and the spirit of God descending on Jesus.
0:06:57 > 0:07:03This is an image of the beginning of it all, where it all began.
0:07:04 > 0:07:07Although this is a very early medieval font
0:07:07 > 0:07:10and a very early image of the baptism of Christ,
0:07:10 > 0:07:14it's an image that you'll find on fonts everywhere.
0:07:14 > 0:07:18The fact that you can drive through the Herefordshire countryside,
0:07:18 > 0:07:23open the door and find something like this
0:07:23 > 0:07:27standing in front of you is just extraordinary.
0:07:33 > 0:07:35It wasn't only newborn children
0:07:35 > 0:07:37who were taken under the wing of the Church.
0:07:37 > 0:07:41There was also a special ceremony called churching,
0:07:41 > 0:07:44for mothers who had survived the ordeal of childbirth.
0:07:51 > 0:07:53The medieval ceremony is long gone,
0:07:53 > 0:07:55but remarkably, here in Ranworth
0:07:55 > 0:07:59in Norfolk, evidence of it survives.
0:08:03 > 0:08:06"Sorry, the church is closed this morning."
0:08:06 > 0:08:08Oh, no.
0:08:08 > 0:08:10Ah! Open.
0:08:11 > 0:08:12Fantastic.
0:08:16 > 0:08:19St Helen's is famous for its saints.
0:08:19 > 0:08:23It was believed that the saints had suffered on Earth
0:08:23 > 0:08:26and were therefore sympathetic to human pain.
0:08:29 > 0:08:34In one area of the church, they are exclusively female,
0:08:34 > 0:08:37and this is where the ceremony of churching took place.
0:08:39 > 0:08:43So the women of the parish would have come here,
0:08:43 > 0:08:47perhaps, as a kind of special area for themselves.
0:08:47 > 0:08:48Yes. They would.
0:08:48 > 0:08:52And it's probably here that they would be churched as well
0:08:52 > 0:08:53after giving birth
0:08:53 > 0:08:56because this is a very important ceremony in the Middle Ages
0:08:56 > 0:08:58which we don't think much about now.
0:08:58 > 0:09:03Women would come here to be cleansed and then go back into the church,
0:09:03 > 0:09:07and the church would be also, of course, receiving the child after baptism.
0:09:10 > 0:09:16These beautiful images of mothers and children radiate maternal love.
0:09:16 > 0:09:18But who are the women in these paintings?
0:09:18 > 0:09:21It's very female, all women.
0:09:22 > 0:09:26Here is St Mary Salome with her two children.
0:09:26 > 0:09:31Then we have the Virgin Mary with Christ
0:09:31 > 0:09:35and then Mary Cleophas with her brood of four.
0:09:35 > 0:09:39So it's a very fertile family, and they're all little boys,
0:09:39 > 0:09:42which of course would appeal very much in the Middle Ages.
0:09:42 > 0:09:46Then you have the patron saint of childbirth, St Margaret.
0:09:46 > 0:09:50She protects women throughout childbirth and at the time of delivery.
0:09:50 > 0:09:54During their term, would they have been conversing,
0:09:54 > 0:09:57if you like, with these saints?
0:09:57 > 0:10:00Yes, very much so. Because, you know, if you have a stillbirth, for example,
0:10:00 > 0:10:02your risk of death is very high.
0:10:02 > 0:10:05So you'd come here and you'd pray at this time -
0:10:05 > 0:10:08- "Please make the child healthy." - Yes.
0:10:08 > 0:10:11- You know, "Make the birth go well." - Yes.
0:10:11 > 0:10:14No blood transfusion, no epidurals, no gas and air.
0:10:14 > 0:10:18Nothing that, you know, we just assume.
0:10:18 > 0:10:22So it's a big risk and something that you need constant help with.
0:10:22 > 0:10:27As I understand what these were for, I find it incredibly moving
0:10:27 > 0:10:34just to be standing here, where so much took place,
0:10:34 > 0:10:39in terms of people's hopes and their fears, and then their celebrations.
0:10:39 > 0:10:44Yes. I mean, we are in the steps of generations of women
0:10:44 > 0:10:48who have come here with their hopes of survival,
0:10:48 > 0:10:52their hopes of dynasty, their hopes of happiness in the future,
0:10:52 > 0:10:54which is no different from our own today.
0:10:54 > 0:10:59I think it really brings to us very forcibly
0:10:59 > 0:11:02our connection with the historic past.
0:11:02 > 0:11:06- Yes.- They're people like us.- Yeah.
0:11:10 > 0:11:12As the medieval period progressed,
0:11:12 > 0:11:17people became more and more captivated by the saints.
0:11:17 > 0:11:19They filled churches with their images.
0:11:34 > 0:11:39There are hundreds of saints, each one uniquely distinctive.
0:11:39 > 0:11:44Here at St Helen's is one of the country's finest collections.
0:11:46 > 0:11:50Let's see if we can identify some of them.
0:11:52 > 0:11:58Oh, well, this is St George, the patron saint of England.
0:11:58 > 0:12:03You easily spot St George because he's got the dragon at his feet
0:12:03 > 0:12:07that he's just about to whack its head off with the sword.
0:12:08 > 0:12:11I'm going to take a pop, without really having looked at this,
0:12:11 > 0:12:15but you often get the 12 apostles if you have this number of...
0:12:15 > 0:12:19Yes, one, two, three, four, five, six... 12 of them.
0:12:19 > 0:12:24So these are going to be the 12 disciples who followed Jesus,
0:12:24 > 0:12:29and each of them has got their own emblem, their own attribute.
0:12:29 > 0:12:33St Andrew was martyred, so it's said,
0:12:33 > 0:12:35on an X-shaped cross,
0:12:35 > 0:12:39which is the basis of the flag of Scotland.
0:12:39 > 0:12:44The disciple with the spear is St Thomas - "Doubting Thomas".
0:12:44 > 0:12:50And the spear was the instrument that he was martyred with.
0:12:50 > 0:12:55One aspect of the saints is, sometimes attributes that they had
0:12:55 > 0:12:59lent themselves to become patron saints of particular professions.
0:12:59 > 0:13:03In St Thomas's case, he was "Doubting Thomas", so therefore had
0:13:03 > 0:13:07poor spiritual eyesight, and so he became
0:13:07 > 0:13:09the patron saint of opticians.
0:13:11 > 0:13:13Oh, this is St Peter.
0:13:13 > 0:13:16And St Peter is portrayed
0:13:16 > 0:13:19with a pair of keys in his hand.
0:13:19 > 0:13:21But they're not any old keys,
0:13:21 > 0:13:24these are the keys to the Gates of Heaven.
0:13:26 > 0:13:30The saints inside a church are there to comfort and reassure.
0:13:30 > 0:13:35But the decoration on the outside of the building
0:13:35 > 0:13:37almost seems designed to fill you with fear.
0:13:40 > 0:13:44Gargoyles may have been intended to contrast
0:13:44 > 0:13:48the wicked world outside the church, with the Kingdom of Heaven inside it.
0:13:48 > 0:13:52But they also tap into a long root of portraying monsters
0:13:52 > 0:13:54on the outside of buildings to scare off evil.
0:13:54 > 0:13:57A sort of scarecrow or scare-devil, if you like.
0:14:00 > 0:14:03Gargoyles were originally functional.
0:14:03 > 0:14:06As rainwater cascaded from the roof of the church,
0:14:06 > 0:14:08you wanted to throw it clear from the church
0:14:08 > 0:14:10so that it didn't soften the foundations,
0:14:10 > 0:14:14and so long spouts were built from the guttering.
0:14:14 > 0:14:17Masons had fun with this and carved them into long monsters,
0:14:17 > 0:14:23and soon these gargling monsters covered the whole church.
0:14:25 > 0:14:31These carvings are in part fanciful decoration, but they also tap into
0:14:31 > 0:14:36people's worst fears - the fear of the devil and of damnation.
0:14:36 > 0:14:39To the medieval mind, the image of Hell
0:14:39 > 0:14:42as a burning pit of fire was an absolute reality.
0:14:44 > 0:14:46Men and women were preoccupied
0:14:46 > 0:14:50with escaping Hell, by securing entry into Heaven.
0:14:51 > 0:14:55And to do that, how you lived was all-important.
0:14:55 > 0:14:59In the 13th century, the Church set out formal codes of behaviour
0:14:59 > 0:15:03which ordinary people should learn and live by,
0:15:03 > 0:15:07including the Ten Commandments and the Seven Deadly Sins.
0:15:11 > 0:15:13The medieval Christian was expected
0:15:13 > 0:15:16to know the Seven Deadly Sins by heart.
0:15:16 > 0:15:20And in an age when very few people could read,
0:15:20 > 0:15:25the Church had to find other ways to drum these lessons into people.
0:15:28 > 0:15:31I'm in Hessett, in Suffolk,
0:15:31 > 0:15:35to see a very rare surviving example of the kind of paintings
0:15:35 > 0:15:39that once would have covered Britain's medieval churches.
0:15:40 > 0:15:43This must be the wall painting.
0:15:43 > 0:15:45Here it is. Seven Deadly Sins.
0:15:45 > 0:15:49And it's a tree with the devils down at the bottom.
0:15:49 > 0:15:51- Yes. Can you see what they're doing? - I can't.
0:15:51 > 0:15:53They've got a two-handed saw
0:15:53 > 0:15:56and they're cutting through the trunk of the tree.
0:15:56 > 0:16:00- Oh, yes.- You can see the tree's growing out of the mouth of Hell.
0:16:00 > 0:16:02- So it is. - That's where it's going to end up.
0:16:02 > 0:16:04It's all about to go pear-shaped!
0:16:04 > 0:16:08So all of the people are heading for a fall, in other words.
0:16:08 > 0:16:11- They are, absolutely.- Pride...- Yeah.
0:16:11 > 0:16:15- ..is always the worst of the Seven Deadly Sins.- Yeah.
0:16:15 > 0:16:19So I'm going to go for Pride being the finely dressed man
0:16:19 > 0:16:21at the top of the tree.
0:16:21 > 0:16:25He's very trendy, and he's got that lovely feather in his cap,
0:16:25 > 0:16:27strutting his stuff at the top of the tree.
0:16:27 > 0:16:32And who's the man on the right with the raised stick?
0:16:32 > 0:16:35- He's Wrath or Anger.- Oh, yes.
0:16:35 > 0:16:39And he's got a weapon which he's brandishing
0:16:39 > 0:16:41and sort of raging and fuming.
0:16:41 > 0:16:42The next one down?
0:16:42 > 0:16:45The next one down was the one they had a lot of trouble
0:16:45 > 0:16:47with actually depicting, because it's Envy.
0:16:47 > 0:16:50I think he's just sort of clutching his belt and pointing.
0:16:50 > 0:16:52So I think he's just sort of
0:16:52 > 0:16:56looking at the Joneses over there and wishing he had what they'd got.
0:16:56 > 0:17:00I'm going to go for Lust at the top.
0:17:00 > 0:17:02Is that the pair...in embrace?
0:17:02 > 0:17:05Yes, they're having a bit of a kiss and a cuddle there, nose to nose.
0:17:05 > 0:17:06They're at the top.
0:17:06 > 0:17:09- Avarice. Love of money. - Old moneybags.
0:17:09 > 0:17:15What was the purpose of paintings like this, what's the purpose of the Seven Deadly Sins?
0:17:15 > 0:17:18They're not just about conveying information,
0:17:18 > 0:17:21they're about helping you to change your life.
0:17:21 > 0:17:24And because it's using humour, and using satire,
0:17:24 > 0:17:29and using a bit of threat, it's engaging with all your emotions.
0:17:29 > 0:17:31So it's going to lodge in your memory.
0:17:37 > 0:17:41I'm struck by how much warmth there is in them,
0:17:41 > 0:17:43how much humanity.
0:17:43 > 0:17:46But these weren't just a question of people going,
0:17:46 > 0:17:49"You shall not be proud," and, "You shall not be envious."
0:17:49 > 0:17:53People aren't idiots now and they weren't idiots then,
0:17:53 > 0:17:56and people aren't terrified into behaving well.
0:17:56 > 0:17:59But they can be persuaded,
0:17:59 > 0:18:05they can be cajoled and they can be laughed, if you like, into behaving.
0:18:09 > 0:18:13The unexpected humour and humanity of the wall paintings
0:18:13 > 0:18:19shows the real vitality that characterised the Church's teaching.
0:18:19 > 0:18:24And that love for life wasn't confined to wall paintings.
0:18:25 > 0:18:29You can find it in the most surprising places.
0:18:33 > 0:18:36I've come to the Church of St Laurence in Ludlow,
0:18:36 > 0:18:38trying to find something
0:18:38 > 0:18:41which sees medieval life sweeping into the church.
0:18:43 > 0:18:46What I'm looking for is hidden away,
0:18:46 > 0:18:49right in the church's most sacred area.
0:18:54 > 0:18:59Where we are, are in among the choir stalls.
0:18:59 > 0:19:04And these are what are known as "misericords".
0:19:04 > 0:19:09These misericords or "mercy seats", fold up to reveal a small wooden shelf
0:19:09 > 0:19:12that allowed the clergy to take the weight off their feet
0:19:12 > 0:19:17during a long service, while still giving the appearance of standing up.
0:19:17 > 0:19:21I've always understood, but I've never had the courage to try this.
0:19:21 > 0:19:26But if you were to start nodding... nodding off to sleep
0:19:26 > 0:19:29and your body were to start slumping forward...
0:19:29 > 0:19:31CLATTERING
0:19:31 > 0:19:33..then that would happen
0:19:33 > 0:19:38and, um...you'd be rather embarrassed.
0:19:40 > 0:19:45It's what is revealed underneath the seats which is truly remarkable.
0:19:45 > 0:19:49The carvings are wonderful in their exuberance and detail.
0:19:49 > 0:19:52But the biggest surprise is their subject matter.
0:19:58 > 0:20:00Oh, he's delightful.
0:20:00 > 0:20:03This is a man,
0:20:03 > 0:20:06sitting by the fireplace, in the middle of winter,
0:20:06 > 0:20:08with his cooking pot.
0:20:08 > 0:20:11On the other side, you've got these two hanging carcasses,
0:20:11 > 0:20:14which are his food to keep him going for the winter.
0:20:14 > 0:20:19It's like a little snapshot of what life was really like
0:20:19 > 0:20:21in the Middle Ages.
0:20:21 > 0:20:23What have we got under here?
0:20:23 > 0:20:27Oh, hello. They're not holding back, you see, in these misericords,
0:20:27 > 0:20:30on a bit of nudity when they want to use it.
0:20:30 > 0:20:33This is a bare-breasted mermaid.
0:20:33 > 0:20:36As well as being bare breasted, she's a little bit plump.
0:20:36 > 0:20:40You can see a little muffin poking out around the top of her fish scales.
0:20:40 > 0:20:43There may be a warning here against
0:20:43 > 0:20:48beautiful women and their wiles, luring men onto the rocks of sin.
0:20:50 > 0:20:51What about here?
0:20:53 > 0:20:55What's going on here,
0:20:55 > 0:20:58is that you've got...
0:20:58 > 0:21:03an ale wife here, half naked.
0:21:03 > 0:21:06No, she's not even half naked, she's completely naked.
0:21:06 > 0:21:09And she's still got her ale jug clasped in her hand.
0:21:09 > 0:21:14You've got a demon with a long list of her sins,
0:21:14 > 0:21:20and she is being hauled off to Hell for giving short measures of ale.
0:21:20 > 0:21:22You can't really argue with that!
0:21:22 > 0:21:25And this is a drunk,
0:21:25 > 0:21:30bent over his barrel, lolling forward with the effort of it all.
0:21:31 > 0:21:35These were never intended for public consumption.
0:21:35 > 0:21:39Ordinary men and women simply wouldn't have seen them.
0:21:39 > 0:21:43These images were there as entertainment and instruction
0:21:43 > 0:21:44for the clergy.
0:21:44 > 0:21:49Clearly, they weren't quite so po-faced as we might imagine.
0:21:49 > 0:21:55You find morality, yes, but not dominating, not bullying.
0:21:55 > 0:21:56Sincere, heartfelt.
0:21:56 > 0:21:59You find fantastical creatures,
0:21:59 > 0:22:04you find lives, from the bawdy to the sacred.
0:22:04 > 0:22:09They really did fill their churches with life.
0:22:10 > 0:22:12In many medieval towns and villages,
0:22:12 > 0:22:15the church was their only public building.
0:22:15 > 0:22:18Things took place in the nave, the main body of the church,
0:22:18 > 0:22:22that you wouldn't expect in a consecrated space -
0:22:22 > 0:22:25plays, games and gossip.
0:22:26 > 0:22:29But it was another area of the church,
0:22:29 > 0:22:32which today we often overlook,
0:22:32 > 0:22:36that was an even greater focus for everyday life - the porch.
0:22:37 > 0:22:41Most churches have one, some grand, like this one at Eye.
0:22:41 > 0:22:45And some simple, like this one in Bradford-on-Avon.
0:22:47 > 0:22:51It's this impressive entrance at Walpole in Norfolk,
0:22:51 > 0:22:53that I've come to explore.
0:22:53 > 0:22:56This is a fabulous church porch.
0:22:58 > 0:23:01It was here that sacred met secular.
0:23:04 > 0:23:06In the church porch, contracts were sealed,
0:23:06 > 0:23:09wills signed and debts repaid.
0:23:09 > 0:23:14And sometimes, unidentified corpses were laid out to be claimed.
0:23:19 > 0:23:23This is a double-decker porch, meaning that it's got two floors,
0:23:23 > 0:23:28one over the other, because a lot of business was conducted upstairs.
0:23:38 > 0:23:41I think this is going to be the way.
0:23:41 > 0:23:42Let's see.
0:23:44 > 0:23:46Ah, yes.
0:23:46 > 0:23:48Quite narrow.
0:23:54 > 0:23:56Crikey!
0:23:56 > 0:24:00People in the Middle Ages were a lot smaller than I am.
0:24:02 > 0:24:04Ah! What a pretty little room.
0:24:06 > 0:24:11Now a Sunday school, this would once have housed the church court.
0:24:11 > 0:24:14I'm standing in the very space where generations of parishioners
0:24:14 > 0:24:18would have played out the drama of their lives -
0:24:18 > 0:24:21everything from the trying of petty offences,
0:24:21 > 0:24:23to the settling of disputes.
0:24:26 > 0:24:29The business of the church courts in a place like this
0:24:29 > 0:24:32were hugely important for the community.
0:24:32 > 0:24:35One thing that was regulated then,
0:24:35 > 0:24:38far more than now, in some ways,
0:24:38 > 0:24:41was slander, libel against your neighbour,
0:24:41 > 0:24:44because your reputation was everything.
0:24:44 > 0:24:46If someone impugned your honesty,
0:24:46 > 0:24:49well, perhaps you could never do business again.
0:24:49 > 0:24:53If someone accused you of drunkenness, that was very serious.
0:24:53 > 0:24:58And if someone accused you, particularly a woman, of inchastity,
0:24:58 > 0:25:03well, that had huge implications for you and your family.
0:25:03 > 0:25:06And so the courts spent huge amounts of time
0:25:06 > 0:25:10regulating these claims by one villager against another.
0:25:11 > 0:25:16So the inside of the medieval church bustled with life.
0:25:16 > 0:25:19But it was outside, in the churchyard,
0:25:19 > 0:25:22a space that today we associate with the dead,
0:25:22 > 0:25:25where people really let their hair down.
0:25:30 > 0:25:33After the mass on a Sunday,
0:25:33 > 0:25:36sports and games would be held here by the villagers.
0:25:36 > 0:25:40Archery contests, wrestling matches and fairs were held here too.
0:25:40 > 0:25:43And then there were the church ales,
0:25:43 > 0:25:45when great tubs of beer would be brewed up,
0:25:45 > 0:25:50and food and drink sold for the upkeep of the church.
0:25:50 > 0:25:51On these feast days,
0:25:51 > 0:25:55scenes of drunkenness and brawling were a regular occurrence.
0:25:56 > 0:26:00But there was increasing disquiet about the use of consecrated ground
0:26:00 > 0:26:02for these entertainments.
0:26:02 > 0:26:04And so in 1509, here at Fressingfield,
0:26:04 > 0:26:08a separate building was erected right on the edge of the churchyard,
0:26:08 > 0:26:11to allow the eating and the drinking and the fun to continue.
0:26:13 > 0:26:15These buildings were once commonplace.
0:26:15 > 0:26:19They were known as church houses.
0:26:20 > 0:26:24The bequest that left this building for the Church said it was doing so
0:26:24 > 0:26:29for the greater reverence of God, and it's now a pub.
0:26:29 > 0:26:31And so began a happy relationship
0:26:31 > 0:26:35between the village church and the village pub.
0:26:36 > 0:26:42And who knows, maybe your local pub was once a church house like this one,
0:26:42 > 0:26:44its origins deep-rooted in the church,
0:26:44 > 0:26:47which stood at the heart of every village.
0:26:51 > 0:26:54I've explored some beautiful churches,
0:26:54 > 0:26:56and I've looked beneath their surface
0:26:56 > 0:26:58to unpick the stories they tell.
0:27:01 > 0:27:03Our medieval ancestors filled their churches
0:27:03 > 0:27:06with a vivid sense, not just of
0:27:06 > 0:27:09the cosmic world of angels and demons,
0:27:09 > 0:27:11but of the world around them -
0:27:11 > 0:27:14humorous, warm and animated.
0:27:16 > 0:27:21The people who built and decorated these buildings may be long gone,
0:27:21 > 0:27:23but if you know how to read them,
0:27:23 > 0:27:26their churches are still brimming with life.
0:27:29 > 0:27:34But among all these images of life, there are also images
0:27:34 > 0:27:38of sorrow and of death. But not just of death.
0:27:38 > 0:27:42The bells that summoned you to church would also sound
0:27:42 > 0:27:45as your soul passed over into what was coming next.
0:27:45 > 0:27:50And it was on this that the greatest energy and imagination was spent -
0:27:50 > 0:27:54the life of the world to come.
0:27:57 > 0:28:02Next time, I'll discover how medieval churches began to reflect
0:28:02 > 0:28:05a growing preoccupation with death.
0:28:05 > 0:28:08I'll see how doom paintings, chantry chapels,
0:28:08 > 0:28:10and scenes of pain and anguish
0:28:10 > 0:28:16were all designed to prepare for a life beyond the grave.
0:28:35 > 0:28:37Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:28:37 > 0:28:40E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk