0:00:05 > 0:00:07Look at this.
0:00:07 > 0:00:09It is one of the most iconic buildings in the world
0:00:09 > 0:00:11and, for my money, best seen from the river.
0:00:11 > 0:00:14Started in 1446 by King Henry VI,
0:00:14 > 0:00:18King's College Chapel took over a century to build.
0:00:18 > 0:00:20This Gothic masterpiece in Cambridge
0:00:20 > 0:00:25is a spectacular display of public, show off extravagance.
0:00:25 > 0:00:30It highlights the prestige of its four royal patrons.
0:00:30 > 0:00:34But it was also a private, personal luxury.
0:00:34 > 0:00:38King's Chapel was built so that priests could pray for the soul
0:00:38 > 0:00:43of one man, King Henry VI, to secure his place in Heaven.
0:00:43 > 0:00:47For me, King's College Chapel sums up perfectly the interconnection
0:00:47 > 0:00:51between luxury, religion and power in the medieval world.
0:00:51 > 0:00:55But luxury isn't always just a question of the expensive
0:00:55 > 0:00:58and the beautiful for the rich and the powerful.
0:00:58 > 0:01:03It's always been much more, and much more important than that.
0:01:03 > 0:01:06This story of luxury is about an idea
0:01:06 > 0:01:11that touches on kingship and pacifism, on social harmony
0:01:11 > 0:01:16and market freedom, and, especially, the divine.
0:01:16 > 0:01:18In the ancient world of the Greeks and Romans
0:01:18 > 0:01:22luxury had been a kind of barometer of social status and virtue.
0:01:22 > 0:01:27But in the Middle Ages those ideas were to be completely transformed
0:01:27 > 0:01:31in a way that still affects how we think about luxury today.
0:01:31 > 0:01:33It's an amazing story.
0:01:33 > 0:01:38The Latin term 'luxuria', which had meant excess and extravagance,
0:01:38 > 0:01:44now comes to mean lasciviousness and sinful, lustful self indulgence.
0:01:44 > 0:01:47Luxury could damage your very soul.
0:01:47 > 0:01:50It was becoming a deadly sin.
0:02:04 > 0:02:09Our story starts not with prayer or gold, but violence.
0:02:09 > 0:02:12The violence which ruled the Barbarian world
0:02:12 > 0:02:14outside the Roman Empire.
0:02:14 > 0:02:17The world of the Goths, the Vandals, the Angles and Saxons
0:02:17 > 0:02:21who helped to bring it down in the fifth century AD.
0:02:22 > 0:02:25This is a pattern welded sword,
0:02:25 > 0:02:30the ultimate luxury of the barbarian world.
0:02:30 > 0:02:31These swords were so charismatic
0:02:31 > 0:02:34that they were often given their own names.
0:02:34 > 0:02:37In the famous English poem, the epic Beowulf,
0:02:37 > 0:02:40which conjures up the world of the barbarian victors,
0:02:40 > 0:02:44Beowulf himself has his own sword called Hrunting, or Thruster.
0:02:44 > 0:02:46He himself says that it was,
0:02:46 > 0:02:48"A hilted weapon.
0:02:48 > 0:02:51"A rare and ancient sword.
0:02:51 > 0:02:57"It's iron blade with its ill boding patterns had been tempered in blood.
0:02:57 > 0:02:59"It had never failed."
0:02:59 > 0:03:03But these swords were more than just machines of death,
0:03:03 > 0:03:05they were social objects, too.
0:03:05 > 0:03:07Kings would give gave them to their supporters.
0:03:07 > 0:03:10They would be handed down in wills.
0:03:10 > 0:03:14They were markers of social rank.
0:03:14 > 0:03:19Luxury swords like this sum up a culture in which the warrior ruled.
0:03:19 > 0:03:23Might wasn't just right, it was beautiful, too.
0:03:23 > 0:03:28It was celebrated on the luxuriantly decorated helmets,
0:03:28 > 0:03:30golden belt buckles and jewellery
0:03:30 > 0:03:33worn by the leaders of the barbarian world
0:03:33 > 0:03:35as the Roman Empire disintegrated.
0:03:37 > 0:03:40What made these items sought after
0:03:40 > 0:03:42was the craftsmanship that went into them making them.
0:03:42 > 0:03:46A pattern welded sword means hammering several bars of iron
0:03:46 > 0:03:50and then folding, hammering, welding them
0:03:50 > 0:03:53and twisting them again and again.
0:03:53 > 0:03:58How long a process would you say that would take?
0:03:58 > 0:04:01You've got to bear in mind the skill level they're working at
0:04:01 > 0:04:04is considerably greater than I can claim.
0:04:04 > 0:04:06But I think, even then,
0:04:06 > 0:04:08bearing in mind also, they're not working alone,
0:04:08 > 0:04:12even so, I would have said,
0:04:12 > 0:04:15ooh, two to three months, I would have thought.
0:04:15 > 0:04:19The process strengthens the blade,
0:04:19 > 0:04:23but it also gives it a magical snakeskin pattern.
0:04:23 > 0:04:27Unsurprisingly, these swords sent forceful messages
0:04:27 > 0:04:30about authority, ancestry and power.
0:04:35 > 0:04:38If you are a powerful chieftain,
0:04:38 > 0:04:40the ability to command a technology,
0:04:40 > 0:04:44to have the most intricate jewellery made on the most small scale,
0:04:44 > 0:04:48or a sword where you require all these levels of manufacture,
0:04:48 > 0:04:49these are symbolic of power, in a way,
0:04:49 > 0:04:53they demonstrate what you can command as a patron.
0:04:53 > 0:04:57You can tie your own destiny in with your own sword.
0:04:57 > 0:04:59You have to be very powerful
0:04:59 > 0:05:03to be able to take a sword like that and really use it.
0:05:03 > 0:05:05But I think it's also important that people,
0:05:05 > 0:05:06in terms of inheriting things,
0:05:06 > 0:05:09people were often very conscious of whose sword they inherited.
0:05:09 > 0:05:12That's quite important, I think, because people
0:05:12 > 0:05:15can link themselves then to somebody important
0:05:15 > 0:05:19from the past, and see their own destiny as carrying into the future.
0:05:19 > 0:05:23- The sword chooses you, perhaps, in a way.- Living up to the reputation of its previous owners, in a sense.
0:05:23 > 0:05:25And there are less felicitous contexts, of course,
0:05:25 > 0:05:26because it can be booty
0:05:26 > 0:05:29and then it truly is a representation of victory, isn't it?
0:05:29 > 0:05:32Smashing someone else for your own ascendancy.
0:05:34 > 0:05:38It was in places like this, Bamburgh Castle in Northumbria,
0:05:38 > 0:05:41that pattern welded swords were used and treasured.
0:05:41 > 0:05:43The kings who ruled here
0:05:43 > 0:05:47were among the most powerful in the early English world.
0:05:47 > 0:05:52Now, beneath the more recent castle, archaeologists have discovered
0:05:52 > 0:05:55the remains of the hall these kings built.
0:05:55 > 0:05:58And they lived here in some style.
0:05:58 > 0:06:01The excavations have turned up
0:06:01 > 0:06:04one of the finest pattern welded swords yet found.
0:06:04 > 0:06:07This was definitely a weapon fit for a king.
0:06:07 > 0:06:1292 pieces of iron were blended into six separate cores,
0:06:12 > 0:06:16which were then pattern welded into one magnificent blade.
0:06:18 > 0:06:20There's gold, too.
0:06:20 > 0:06:25The 'Beast of Bamburgh', originally perhaps a gold plaque or brooch.
0:06:25 > 0:06:29It's a classic example of barbarian animal interlace style,
0:06:29 > 0:06:31and it's a precious relic of the wealth
0:06:31 > 0:06:34which Bamburgh once commanded.
0:06:36 > 0:06:38The objects surviving here today are only a small part
0:06:38 > 0:06:41of the grandeur of this place in the Anglo Saxon period.
0:06:41 > 0:06:44You have to imagine a king in a tall timber hall feasting with
0:06:44 > 0:06:48his nobles and companions, dispensing gold and weaponry.
0:06:48 > 0:06:50From finds here and elsewhere in this period,
0:06:50 > 0:06:54we know that they were probably dining off Roman silverware,
0:06:54 > 0:06:57drinking Rhineland wine out of German glasses
0:06:57 > 0:06:59or mead out of silver mounted horns.
0:06:59 > 0:07:02This was warrior luxury.
0:07:02 > 0:07:05And in a world where most of the luxuries
0:07:05 > 0:07:07had disappeared with the Roman empire,
0:07:07 > 0:07:10what the ability to dispense this kind of luxury
0:07:10 > 0:07:14did for the King was to bind his followers to him
0:07:14 > 0:07:18and enhance his power over the landscape.
0:07:18 > 0:07:22The kind of warrior luxury had developed in the pagan world
0:07:22 > 0:07:24outside the Roman empire.
0:07:24 > 0:07:27In the uncertain early mediaeval world
0:07:27 > 0:07:30violent luxury like this had a broad appeal.
0:07:30 > 0:07:34But it was not unchallenged.
0:07:34 > 0:07:39And that challenge would be a challenge to luxury of all kinds,
0:07:39 > 0:07:40in the name of salvation.
0:07:42 > 0:07:45For nearly 300 years under the Romans
0:07:45 > 0:07:50this villa at Lullingstone in Kent was a luxury home.
0:07:50 > 0:07:53Most of what you see here dates from the last decades of the empire.
0:07:56 > 0:07:58In the 4th century AD there was little to suggest
0:07:58 > 0:08:01that the classical world was on the slide.
0:08:01 > 0:08:03They were renovating here,
0:08:03 > 0:08:06redecorating, and yet in the 5th century AD,
0:08:06 > 0:08:09just a few decades after this place was finished,
0:08:09 > 0:08:12Lullingstone villa burnt to the ground.
0:08:12 > 0:08:16It became what it is today, a ruin.
0:08:18 > 0:08:20We can't say for sure
0:08:20 > 0:08:24that it was the barbarian invaders from overseas that did it,
0:08:24 > 0:08:25but it seems fairly likely.
0:08:25 > 0:08:27And the destruction here
0:08:27 > 0:08:29coincides with a much wider social catastrophe,
0:08:29 > 0:08:33the Roman empire disappearing, and with it all its luxuries.
0:08:33 > 0:08:36Not just central heating and the baths, but the use of writing,
0:08:36 > 0:08:40money, and even sophisticated wheel made pottery.
0:08:40 > 0:08:45But one thing did survive,
0:08:45 > 0:08:48and some of the earliest evidence for its existence
0:08:48 > 0:08:50is right over here.
0:08:53 > 0:08:56Down here the excavators found something unusual,
0:08:56 > 0:09:00a room with access to it not just from the house, but from outside.
0:09:00 > 0:09:06It was semi-public, semi private and it contained a fabulous treasure.
0:09:06 > 0:09:09When the archaeologists excavated here
0:09:09 > 0:09:12they found hundreds of fragments of painted plaster
0:09:12 > 0:09:14that had fallen onto the basement floor
0:09:14 > 0:09:16from the back wall of the room above.
0:09:16 > 0:09:19After huge amounts of painstaking work,
0:09:19 > 0:09:23the archaeologists managed to put all these fragments back together
0:09:23 > 0:09:25and what they found surprised everyone.
0:09:29 > 0:09:32On the west wall of the upper room the reconstruction
0:09:32 > 0:09:37revealed a line of people praying in a classical arcade.
0:09:37 > 0:09:40And on the east wall was the unmistakeable symbol
0:09:40 > 0:09:42of the God they prayed to, Christ,
0:09:42 > 0:09:46made of the first two letters of his name in Greek, Chi and Rho.
0:09:48 > 0:09:50This was a Christian chapel.
0:09:52 > 0:09:54These paintings are a miraculous survival
0:09:54 > 0:09:56from the late 4th century.
0:09:56 > 0:09:58They're one of the few examples
0:09:58 > 0:10:01which show the emergence of Christianity in Britain
0:10:01 > 0:10:03from the shadows of the pagan world.
0:10:05 > 0:10:06The rise of Christianity
0:10:06 > 0:10:09is important for our understanding of luxury
0:10:09 > 0:10:12because Christianity brought with it a set of values
0:10:12 > 0:10:15very different to those of the classical world.
0:10:15 > 0:10:19For Christians, your soul was constantly in balance
0:10:19 > 0:10:21between Hell and salvation,
0:10:21 > 0:10:26and a luxury very definitely tipped the balance towards Hell.
0:10:28 > 0:10:32Despite the fall of the Roman world, Christianity survived,
0:10:32 > 0:10:35and during the seventh century came to dominate Britain.
0:10:35 > 0:10:39And battle was joined over luxury.
0:10:39 > 0:10:42For Christians, luxury was a dangerous roadblock
0:10:42 > 0:10:44on the path to Heaven.
0:10:44 > 0:10:47Christians were told to forgive their enemies,
0:10:47 > 0:10:50to abandon worldly pleasures, to scorn material wealth.
0:10:50 > 0:10:54That was the opposite of the pugnacious outlook
0:10:54 > 0:10:57of the early mediaeval world.
0:10:57 > 0:11:00From 670 the warrior king at Bamburgh was called Ecgfrith,
0:11:00 > 0:11:03but he was a Christian, too,
0:11:03 > 0:11:06and every time he looked out from his hall he would have been reminded
0:11:06 > 0:11:09of his Christian duty
0:11:09 > 0:11:11because out there in the North Sea,
0:11:11 > 0:11:15fulminating against luxury and all the immorality that went with it,
0:11:15 > 0:11:18lived one of early England's greatest heroes,
0:11:18 > 0:11:20not a warrior, but a monk,
0:11:20 > 0:11:22St Cuthbert.
0:11:27 > 0:11:29Cuthbert had been a monk at Lindisfarne
0:11:29 > 0:11:33and his fame was such that Ecgfrith had him consecrated bishop.
0:11:33 > 0:11:37But no sooner had he done so than Cuthbert retreated to a cell
0:11:37 > 0:11:41on the deserted island of Inner Farne, just off Bamburgh,
0:11:41 > 0:11:43to live as a hermit.
0:11:43 > 0:11:48It was a regime of no luxury at all, instead abstinence.
0:11:48 > 0:11:50No sex, little food,
0:11:50 > 0:11:54physical privation and permanent religious devotion.
0:11:56 > 0:12:01But his privations brought him something else, respect,
0:12:01 > 0:12:03enormous spiritual authority.
0:12:03 > 0:12:09With it he could combat the luxury warrior ethos across the water.
0:12:09 > 0:12:11I've come with Michelle Brown,
0:12:11 > 0:12:15a leading expert on Cuthbert, to the site of his cell.
0:12:15 > 0:12:18So St Cuthbert, having worked on Lindisfarne,
0:12:18 > 0:12:21decides to retreat here to Inner Farne as a hermit.
0:12:21 > 0:12:24What provokes that? How do we understand that?
0:12:24 > 0:12:26Well, this is the place of renewal.
0:12:26 > 0:12:28We're used to thinking of hermits
0:12:28 > 0:12:30actually bricking themselves up behind walls
0:12:30 > 0:12:32like Julian of Norwich,
0:12:32 > 0:12:35This is actually where you come, as powerhouse,
0:12:35 > 0:12:37to draw energy to recommit to the world.
0:12:37 > 0:12:41Cuthbert said, "If only I could build a cell with walls so high
0:12:41 > 0:12:43"that all I could see was the sky,
0:12:43 > 0:12:45"I'd still be afraid that love of money
0:12:45 > 0:12:47"and the cares of the world would snatch me away."
0:12:47 > 0:12:51So when the King makes him bishop, part of his responsibility
0:12:51 > 0:12:56is that he has to keep the secular authorities on a moral path.
0:12:56 > 0:12:58Almost immediately, he says,
0:12:58 > 0:13:02"I am going to go on to the Farne Islands as a hermit."
0:13:02 > 0:13:04He doesn't choose the most remote island,
0:13:04 > 0:13:07he chooses the one outside the king's bedroom window.
0:13:07 > 0:13:10You're withdrawing, but making yourself even more in the spotlight.
0:13:10 > 0:13:14Yeah, yeah. So every time Ecgfrith, intent on warfare, genocide,
0:13:14 > 0:13:17ostentatious consumption of wealth
0:13:17 > 0:13:19at a time when his people are dying in droves,
0:13:19 > 0:13:24he's got the symbol of that little cell and he knows that inside it,
0:13:24 > 0:13:26and everybody knows that inside it,
0:13:26 > 0:13:31is this vulnerable, emaciated, ascetic, Ghandi like figure.
0:13:31 > 0:13:34All of that rolled up together, a positive signal of the fact
0:13:34 > 0:13:39that there are responsibilities that come with wealth and power.
0:13:41 > 0:13:43Cuthbert's life was the opposite of luxury.
0:13:43 > 0:13:46His actions were a deliberate provocation to the King
0:13:46 > 0:13:48and his followers.
0:13:48 > 0:13:51Too much luxury, he said, would bring them to damnation.
0:13:51 > 0:13:54But that didn't mean the Church
0:13:54 > 0:13:56couldn't have its own kind of luxury.
0:13:56 > 0:13:59After all, bishops were important people
0:13:59 > 0:14:01and churches were rich places.
0:14:01 > 0:14:05So luxury was OK if it was in the service of God.
0:14:05 > 0:14:08From the very beginning Christians had spared no expense.
0:14:08 > 0:14:09Across the Mediterranean
0:14:09 > 0:14:12their churches gleamed with gold and mosaics.
0:14:12 > 0:14:15Here in the North they glowed with paint and stained glass.
0:14:15 > 0:14:18Many of those beautiful things from that time,
0:14:18 > 0:14:21not just architecture put objects as well, have not survived,
0:14:21 > 0:14:24destroyed by war or decay, but some have,
0:14:24 > 0:14:26and they allow us to glimpse
0:14:26 > 0:14:30just how glittery this supposed Dark Age actually was.
0:14:33 > 0:14:35Protected by a tidal causeway,
0:14:35 > 0:14:40the monastery at Lindisfarne was the religious capital of Northumbria.
0:14:40 > 0:14:41When Cuthbert died in 687
0:14:41 > 0:14:46the monks created an astonishing monument to his memory.
0:14:48 > 0:14:51It's called the Lindisfarne Gospel.
0:14:51 > 0:14:55It is, perhaps, the most spectacular treasure of early Northumbria.
0:14:57 > 0:15:00The manuscript was created to sit on the high altar
0:15:00 > 0:15:03of the monastery church where Cuthbert was buried.
0:15:03 > 0:15:07And it is an object of astonishing luxury.
0:15:07 > 0:15:09It is made of the highest quality vellum,
0:15:09 > 0:15:14from calfskins which had been soaked, stretched and scraped clean.
0:15:14 > 0:15:18The binding, now lost, was probably made of gold,
0:15:18 > 0:15:20silver and jewels, a kind of reliquary.
0:15:21 > 0:15:26But all this luxury was not a statement of personal power and wealth,
0:15:26 > 0:15:29it was a work of spiritual devotion.
0:15:29 > 0:15:34Starting from the point of view of the materials, it's a vellum page.
0:15:34 > 0:15:38How many animals have gone into producing that,
0:15:38 > 0:15:40or providing that amount of material?
0:15:40 > 0:15:44The vellum is undoubtedly the most important and expensive part.
0:15:44 > 0:15:48There are at least 300 skins of yearling cattle
0:15:48 > 0:15:50that would've been used here.
0:15:50 > 0:15:53Most books in the Middle Ages on prepared animal skin
0:15:53 > 0:15:56have holes and blemishes in the vellum.
0:15:56 > 0:15:59If you're in the field as a cow, something bites you,
0:15:59 > 0:16:02when you stretch the skin, it's going to open up as a hole.
0:16:02 > 0:16:04Here there are only three tiny holes
0:16:04 > 0:16:06and they're right down in the gutter.
0:16:06 > 0:16:09It's important that it looks perfect in the eyes of the Lord.
0:16:09 > 0:16:13They must have had many more skins to choose from.
0:16:13 > 0:16:18What's then so amazing, where as library books undecorated
0:16:18 > 0:16:20might have six or seven scribes
0:16:20 > 0:16:23all taking their turn at doing the writing,
0:16:23 > 0:16:28this, the most complex is the work of one person.
0:16:28 > 0:16:31They do all the script, all of the decoration.
0:16:31 > 0:16:32It's a Leonardo moment.
0:16:32 > 0:16:36That person is the one who's conceived the vision
0:16:36 > 0:16:40and who's actually living the work of prayer and dedication.
0:16:49 > 0:16:53The person who made it was one of Cuthbert's successors
0:16:53 > 0:16:56as Bishop of Lindisfarne, Bishop Eadfrith.
0:16:56 > 0:16:59Not only is he a consummate theologian
0:16:59 > 0:17:04and a consummate artist and scribe, he's a practical chemist.
0:17:04 > 0:17:09I led a laser pigment process project based at the British Library
0:17:09 > 0:17:11to study the actual composition
0:17:11 > 0:17:13and we found that this incredible array of pigments,
0:17:13 > 0:17:16about 90 of them it seems,
0:17:16 > 0:17:18even the Mediterranean with all its traders would
0:17:18 > 0:17:21struggle to compete with.
0:17:21 > 0:17:24Photoshop has trouble colour balancing it all.
0:17:24 > 0:17:28They're all made from six locally available plants and rocks.
0:17:28 > 0:17:32This person is so attune with his natural environment,
0:17:32 > 0:17:34he knows that if you boil up Ochil,
0:17:34 > 0:17:36which is a lichen that grows on the rocks,
0:17:36 > 0:17:39that you can get 40 shades of purple from red to blue
0:17:39 > 0:17:42by varying the acidity or alkalinity.
0:17:42 > 0:17:46It gives you a really nice rich ruby red. Natural substances.
0:17:49 > 0:17:52To produce the book, Bishop Eadfrith made a retreat each Lent
0:17:52 > 0:17:55to a cell on another island close to Lindisfarne.
0:17:57 > 0:18:00The work was itself an act of Christian devotion.
0:18:02 > 0:18:05The first time you write with a quill,
0:18:05 > 0:18:07with iron gall ink on vellum,
0:18:07 > 0:18:10it's an almost religious experience.
0:18:10 > 0:18:15Your heart stops, everything, you feel it's right.
0:18:17 > 0:18:21When you're looking at something like Lindisfarne gospels,
0:18:21 > 0:18:24whoever was preparing it must have been truly exceptional.
0:18:24 > 0:18:26It's a huge undertaking.
0:18:26 > 0:18:28Just the planning to get the skins alone
0:18:28 > 0:18:29is an undertaking in itself.
0:18:32 > 0:18:35As you started to prepare them, depending on when you prepared them,
0:18:35 > 0:18:38if it was humid, the skin would start to come alive.
0:18:38 > 0:18:42That's the great thing about working with materials that are organic,
0:18:42 > 0:18:46they still behave organic, so the skin still behaves alive.
0:18:46 > 0:18:49If you leave it alone, it will roll up because it's humid.
0:18:52 > 0:18:54Doing calligraphy when it's quiet,
0:18:54 > 0:18:59it's so meditative, it really feeds you.
0:18:59 > 0:19:01If you think of the rhythm of the writing,
0:19:01 > 0:19:03the period they're writing in,
0:19:03 > 0:19:06What time of day are they writing?
0:19:06 > 0:19:10The day was split up into nine specific hours of prayer.
0:19:10 > 0:19:11Was there chanting,
0:19:11 > 0:19:14was there singing happening while they were writing?
0:19:14 > 0:19:17The singing will affect the rhythm of the script.
0:19:17 > 0:19:19Immediately, you go into this trance,
0:19:19 > 0:19:23so it's quite a fascinating experience
0:19:23 > 0:19:28that unfortunately a lot of people just won't get!
0:19:30 > 0:19:33All this effort and expense was legitimate
0:19:33 > 0:19:36because it served God's purpose.
0:19:36 > 0:19:38The book's very luxury was itself
0:19:38 > 0:19:41a means to make God's purpose a reality.
0:19:43 > 0:19:47So we've got a product which is being produced by a local community,
0:19:47 > 0:19:51using resources from that local community,
0:19:51 > 0:19:54particularly in the colours as well as the actual vellum.
0:19:54 > 0:19:57Being produced as an act of devotion by one individual.
0:19:57 > 0:19:58An extraordinary event.
0:19:58 > 0:20:02And, I mean, the letters and images themselves
0:20:02 > 0:20:06are doing a similar job, amalgamating worlds together.
0:20:06 > 0:20:09If you imagine, you have queued as a pilgrim,
0:20:09 > 0:20:12dragged your granny 250 miles for that miracle of healing,
0:20:12 > 0:20:15and you get your moment in front of the Gospels,
0:20:15 > 0:20:17you won't necessarily understand the words,
0:20:17 > 0:20:20but you'll see things that, visually, mean things to you.
0:20:20 > 0:20:24So for example, I as somebody of Irish ancestry would be drawn
0:20:24 > 0:20:27immediately by the Celtic La Tene spiral work here,
0:20:27 > 0:20:31which reminds me of the brooch I inherited from my Irish grandmother.
0:20:31 > 0:20:36Whilst you might be drawn by this garnet cloisonne work here,
0:20:36 > 0:20:40which reminds you of the belt buckle that your Germanic father had
0:20:40 > 0:20:43when he was a federal auxiliary in the Roman army.
0:20:43 > 0:20:45And so, in the lettering forms...
0:20:45 > 0:20:47Because I'm being attracted by the Greek alphas as well!
0:20:47 > 0:20:49You've got Greek letter forms, you've got Latin capitals
0:20:49 > 0:20:53of the sort that you would see on monumental Roman inscriptions,
0:20:53 > 0:20:57things that look stylistically like Irish and Celtic.
0:20:57 > 0:21:03And so, all this, really, is saying that everything comes together
0:21:03 > 0:21:06and that the ultimate thing that underpins all of that is Logos,
0:21:06 > 0:21:12the idea of the word, the thought, being the prime mover.
0:21:14 > 0:21:18What we've seen here is a sophisticated, ornate,
0:21:18 > 0:21:21and yet understated luxury
0:21:21 > 0:21:23borne out of many man hours of devotion
0:21:23 > 0:21:27that delivered the Church's message of peace, friendship and unity
0:21:27 > 0:21:31in an otherwise very dangerous and insecure world.
0:21:31 > 0:21:34Indeed, it's a miracle that the Lindisfarne gospel books
0:21:34 > 0:21:36survived that world, for, in 793,
0:21:36 > 0:21:39less than 100 years after they were created,
0:21:39 > 0:21:41the Vikings invaded this very island
0:21:41 > 0:21:44in a raid that echoed across Europe.
0:21:46 > 0:21:50It seemed as if Christian luxury had lost the struggle with the warriors.
0:21:50 > 0:21:52But the churchmen never gave up
0:21:52 > 0:21:56their efforts to tame the violence of the age.
0:21:56 > 0:22:00And what's fascinating is that the barbarian warrior principle
0:22:00 > 0:22:03and Christian values did come together in the end,
0:22:03 > 0:22:07around one of the greatest luxuries of the mediaeval world.
0:22:07 > 0:22:09Warhorses.
0:22:09 > 0:22:12Mediaeval people liked to think of society as being divided,
0:22:12 > 0:22:16as King Alfred the Great once put it, into those who worked,
0:22:16 > 0:22:18those who prayed, and those who fought.
0:22:18 > 0:22:20Each was indispensable.
0:22:20 > 0:22:23But by the 11th Century, it was the man who fought on horseback,
0:22:23 > 0:22:26the knight, who was boss.
0:22:30 > 0:22:31CLATTERING OF HOOVES
0:22:31 > 0:22:37Horses were unmatched as instruments of power in medieval Europe.
0:22:37 > 0:22:41Expensive to buy and even more expensive to keep,
0:22:41 > 0:22:45they were indisputable symbols of status, nobility and wealth.
0:22:48 > 0:22:53Warhorses were specially bred for their strength and agility
0:22:53 > 0:22:57and like the modern-day battle tank, could be devastating in the field.
0:22:57 > 0:22:59In a society organized mainly for war,
0:22:59 > 0:23:02having fully-equipped soldiers living off the land
0:23:02 > 0:23:05and dominating politics was a recipe for trouble.
0:23:05 > 0:23:08And trouble there was. Fighting was endemic.
0:23:08 > 0:23:10In some parts of Europe, it was even legal
0:23:10 > 0:23:13to declare private war on your neighbour.
0:23:13 > 0:23:16Murder, rape, plunder, sin incarnate
0:23:16 > 0:23:20all made possible and worse by the luxurious warhorse.
0:23:22 > 0:23:26All this was anathema to the church, which inveighed against the violence
0:23:26 > 0:23:28and greed of the knightly class.
0:23:28 > 0:23:32But the church found a way to tame the knights
0:23:32 > 0:23:36with a new honour code. Today we call it chivalry.
0:23:37 > 0:23:41The word comes from the French word for horseman, chevalier.
0:23:41 > 0:23:45From now on, a knight was expected to be more than a soldier.
0:23:45 > 0:23:50He must school himself in virtue and avoid pride, idleness, and lechery.
0:23:52 > 0:23:54Now Christian values had colonised
0:23:54 > 0:24:00the most iconic of warrior luxuries - knighthood and the war horse.
0:24:00 > 0:24:04At the heart of chivalry is an ethical code constraining violence.
0:24:04 > 0:24:08The aristocratic tendency to mete out violence
0:24:08 > 0:24:11which is expressed symbolically in swords and shields and so on,
0:24:11 > 0:24:14is something that is controlled and contained.
0:24:14 > 0:24:18So it's a kind of, as it were, a Christian ethos of containing a force
0:24:18 > 0:24:21that is legitimate under some circumstances.
0:24:21 > 0:24:25Chivalry is positioned on the one hand between rough power,
0:24:25 > 0:24:28and the reality power is rough, and yet, on the other hand,
0:24:28 > 0:24:31there's a softening process whereby you can write it down,
0:24:31 > 0:24:32you can codify it.
0:24:32 > 0:24:36You can talk about gentility, you can talk about gentleness.
0:24:36 > 0:24:39"The very parfit gentle knight", and so on.
0:24:39 > 0:24:43ANNOUNCER: 'Now, before we begin, Sir Nigel will raise his rod.
0:24:43 > 0:24:46'As he does so, you may join in and acclaim.
0:24:46 > 0:24:49'Right, so they've got him...'
0:24:49 > 0:24:52Gentle-born they may have been,
0:24:52 > 0:24:55but knights still retained their appetite for violence,
0:24:55 > 0:25:01and from it developed a new chivalric luxury.
0:25:01 > 0:25:03The need to train,
0:25:03 > 0:25:06and the natural competitiveness of the knightly class,
0:25:06 > 0:25:09produced an even more sophisticated luxury - the tournament.
0:25:09 > 0:25:11Knights would gather in mock battles,
0:25:11 > 0:25:13sometimes lasting several days.
0:25:13 > 0:25:16Now, today, we think about a jousting tournament
0:25:16 > 0:25:18as two knights competing,
0:25:18 > 0:25:22but initially these things were more like good-natured free-for-alls,
0:25:22 > 0:25:25which eventually developed into a more official sport.
0:25:25 > 0:25:30Even so, kings kept a close eye on occasions such as this.
0:25:30 > 0:25:35Because plots could develop against them here, and even small wars.
0:25:35 > 0:25:38In fact, Kenilworth Castle, here, was one of the few places
0:25:38 > 0:25:41where such competitions were allowed to take place.
0:25:43 > 0:25:46Just as today, this was a popular spectacle.
0:25:46 > 0:25:49Mock war, it was thought, was better than real war.
0:25:49 > 0:25:54Scenes like this became the Formula 1 or Premier League of the Middle Ages.
0:25:54 > 0:25:58And they developed a similar community of rich sponsors,
0:25:58 > 0:26:01expert managers, captains and star players.
0:26:04 > 0:26:06Above all it was a great opportunity
0:26:06 > 0:26:08for the quality to show off.
0:26:08 > 0:26:11You needed armour, spare weapons, and the servants to look after them.
0:26:11 > 0:26:14And you needed the money to pay a ransom to another player if,
0:26:14 > 0:26:16by chance, you were captured.
0:26:16 > 0:26:21Most of all, you needed the free time to take part.
0:26:21 > 0:26:24All this was a huge expense.
0:26:24 > 0:26:27This was a leisure sport for the lucky few.
0:26:27 > 0:26:30These meetings were intensely glamorous.
0:26:30 > 0:26:33The leading nobles took to them like a duck to water.
0:26:33 > 0:26:36It gave them a chance to make a name for themselves,
0:26:36 > 0:26:40upstage their rivals and show off their chivalric prowess.
0:26:40 > 0:26:42Even if people weren't rich
0:26:42 > 0:26:45they could get the sponsorship of a local lord,
0:26:45 > 0:26:48like a polo player, champion jockey or racing driver today,
0:26:48 > 0:26:52make a name for themselves and get famous, and many did.
0:26:52 > 0:26:55Of course, the church took a dim view of it all.
0:26:55 > 0:26:59One man stands out amongst them all. St Bernard of Clairvaux.
0:26:59 > 0:27:03He said, "You cover your horses with silk,
0:27:03 > 0:27:07"and plume your armour with I know not what sort of rags.
0:27:07 > 0:27:10"Are these the trappings of a warrior, or are they not,
0:27:10 > 0:27:12"rather, the trinkets of a woman?"
0:27:12 > 0:27:14Instead, according to St Bernard,
0:27:14 > 0:27:18a knight should put himself and his luxury warhorse
0:27:18 > 0:27:21to the service of God and go on Crusade
0:27:21 > 0:27:23or even become a knightly monk,
0:27:23 > 0:27:25like the Knights Templar or the Knights of St John.
0:27:25 > 0:27:28Like chivalry, these Godly alternatives,
0:27:28 > 0:27:32channelled the enthusiasm of all the young bloods.
0:27:32 > 0:27:35There's another fundamental feature about chivalry,
0:27:35 > 0:27:38the extent to which this culture is a youth culture,
0:27:38 > 0:27:41it is a culture of young people going through transitions.
0:27:41 > 0:27:44So when you speak of the vigil, the quest, the test,
0:27:44 > 0:27:47they're all, as it were, processes which people go through
0:27:47 > 0:27:53which are to do with a young, erotic, often quite courtly audience,
0:27:53 > 0:27:57so the symbolism of heraldry, the trappings of heraldry,
0:27:57 > 0:28:00the shield, the sword.
0:28:00 > 0:28:03Just look at how heraldry becomes a feature of building, art,
0:28:03 > 0:28:08any kind of decorative, luxurious display.
0:28:08 > 0:28:11So that war becomes something that,
0:28:11 > 0:28:15if you look at any late Medieval English parish church
0:28:15 > 0:28:17or indeed if you look at an Oxford or Cambridge College
0:28:17 > 0:28:21they're covered in battlements and arrows that are totally useless.
0:28:21 > 0:28:24The key feature of late Medieval chivalric culture
0:28:24 > 0:28:28is that it is an effective, inward, romantic and arty thing.
0:28:28 > 0:28:32PIPER PLAYS JAUNTY MEDIEVAL TUNE
0:28:43 > 0:28:47In the sixth century AD, Pope Gregory the Great put pride
0:28:47 > 0:28:50at the top of the list of the seven deadly sins.
0:28:50 > 0:28:53In the 600 years since, the Church struggled constantly
0:28:53 > 0:28:55against the pride of the barbarian warrior.
0:28:55 > 0:28:59It's no surprise that the stock image of this sin
0:28:59 > 0:29:02was that of a knight falling off a horse.
0:29:02 > 0:29:06Now, finally it seems as if the church had managed to tame
0:29:06 > 0:29:08this violent and sinful luxury.
0:29:08 > 0:29:13But new luxuries were springing up for the church to condemn.
0:29:13 > 0:29:16Just as there always are.
0:29:18 > 0:29:20In the first Crusade in 1099
0:29:20 > 0:29:24an army of knights from Western Europe had conquered Jerusalem.
0:29:24 > 0:29:29It was the signal for an explosion of trade with the exotic East.
0:29:29 > 0:29:32New luxuries arrived. A long boom began.
0:29:32 > 0:29:35And to pay for it all, there were new kinds of credit
0:29:35 > 0:29:38including the forerunners of modern banks.
0:29:38 > 0:29:40And everywhere, wealth began to be measured
0:29:40 > 0:29:45not just in terms of land or military power, but of money.
0:29:45 > 0:29:48I mean, there are those that fight and those that pray,
0:29:48 > 0:29:52there are those that work and finally, there are those that bank.
0:29:52 > 0:29:57And from the 13th Century the rise of the banking class,
0:29:57 > 0:30:00becomes a major feature on the world stage.
0:30:00 > 0:30:03Economic growth galvanized the luxury market
0:30:03 > 0:30:05as appetites became more sophisticated.
0:30:05 > 0:30:08And, of course, the church criticised.
0:30:08 > 0:30:10The change was so great that pride,
0:30:10 > 0:30:13the overwhelming concern of warriors and conquerors,
0:30:13 > 0:30:17got toppled from the top of the list of the seven deadly sins.
0:30:17 > 0:30:22From about 1000 AD, its place is taken by avarice or greed.
0:30:22 > 0:30:24The sin, par excellence, of a community
0:30:24 > 0:30:26increasingly involved with trade,
0:30:26 > 0:30:30where fortunes could be won or lost overnight.
0:30:30 > 0:30:34But the church could not stop the march of luxury.
0:30:36 > 0:30:38Just as today, bankers had a major part
0:30:38 > 0:30:41in the anxiety about money and luxury.
0:30:41 > 0:30:45For some, they were the epitome of avarice and luxurious sin.
0:30:45 > 0:30:48But they weren't the only sinners.
0:30:48 > 0:30:52By 1200 AD, the market here in Southwark was flourishing.
0:30:52 > 0:30:55And it was in places like this
0:30:55 > 0:30:58that the new battle between luxury and the church was to be fought.
0:30:58 > 0:31:00Then, as now, luxuries are on sale.
0:31:00 > 0:31:04Back then, they were importing vast quantities of wine from Bordeaux,
0:31:04 > 0:31:06then a possession of the English crown.
0:31:06 > 0:31:09But if you want to see what really attracted medieval buyers
0:31:09 > 0:31:11you have to go this way.
0:31:16 > 0:31:18Medieval buyers were after spices
0:31:18 > 0:31:21and sometimes they could be very expensive.
0:31:21 > 0:31:24Not least because they travelled from so far away
0:31:24 > 0:31:26but also because some involved a huge amount of labour.
0:31:26 > 0:31:28Back then, even pepper, to begin with,
0:31:28 > 0:31:31was an extraordinarily expensive spice.
0:31:40 > 0:31:45Excuse me, hi, what's the most expensive spice you have on sale?
0:31:45 > 0:31:48Saffron. One ounce of saffron.
0:31:48 > 0:31:50Whereabouts can we find it? Where is it?
0:31:50 > 0:31:51OK, over here.
0:31:51 > 0:31:55Usually, you get three countries in the world that produce saffron.
0:31:55 > 0:31:58There are many more, but three very known, I suppose.
0:31:58 > 0:31:59Spain is one of them.
0:32:00 > 0:32:05Iran is the other, and from India, in the region of Kashmir.
0:32:05 > 0:32:08But what I have here today is Spanish saffron.
0:32:08 > 0:32:11Saffron is actually more expensive than gold.
0:32:11 > 0:32:15So, it's very labour intensive and that's why it's so expensive.
0:32:15 > 0:32:18This trade was so lucrative that, in the medieval period,
0:32:18 > 0:32:22they'd try to fake these imported goods with something home-grown.
0:32:22 > 0:32:26So, radish seeds would be replaced for mustard seeds
0:32:26 > 0:32:28and saffron, they would try to grow in East Anglia.
0:32:28 > 0:32:30That's where we get the place, Saffron Walden.
0:32:30 > 0:32:38But nothing could replace the real thing.
0:32:40 > 0:32:45Authentic spices from the East brought a taste of the exotic
0:32:45 > 0:32:46to mediaeval meals.
0:32:46 > 0:32:51They joined other luxury imports like cheeses and fine wines
0:32:51 > 0:32:55on the tables of the aristocracy, and, increasingly, in humble homes.
0:32:55 > 0:32:59Trading ports like Southampton thrived
0:32:59 > 0:33:02as the new luxury goods poured in.
0:33:02 > 0:33:05Demand was such that people could make big money.
0:33:05 > 0:33:08One Southampton merchant, John Fortin,
0:33:08 > 0:33:09made his money in the Bordeaux wine trade
0:33:09 > 0:33:12and built this house on the proceeds.
0:33:12 > 0:33:13But for the church,
0:33:13 > 0:33:16the new luxuries provoked more than just avarice or gluttony.
0:33:16 > 0:33:23Just by themselves, these foodstuffs could hold moral dangers.
0:33:23 > 0:33:25I think all consumption comes with a moral charge.
0:33:25 > 0:33:28There are foods
0:33:28 > 0:33:31that it is good for you to eat and foods it is bad for you to eat.
0:33:32 > 0:33:36There are foods, particularly meats, which are a fleshy substance
0:33:36 > 0:33:40which encourage lasciviousness.
0:33:40 > 0:33:44In fact the word "luxuria" in medieval Latin
0:33:44 > 0:33:48quite literally means lechery, so these are definitely to be avoided.
0:33:48 > 0:33:54Equally, you may take on some of the qualities of the foodstuff itself.
0:33:54 > 0:33:58Medieval sensory perception - taste is a part of that -
0:33:58 > 0:34:03works in a very different way to our assessment of the senses.
0:34:03 > 0:34:07We have a very closed model of them.
0:34:07 > 0:34:09If, for example, I touch this table,
0:34:09 > 0:34:12all I do is I feel that table's presence, and I can push against it.
0:34:12 > 0:34:15If I were living 600 years ago,
0:34:15 > 0:34:18I would absorb the moral qualities that came from that table.
0:34:18 > 0:34:23So when I consume food, I also absorb the moral qualities of these things.
0:34:25 > 0:34:30This is one of the reasons why, particularly medieval women,
0:34:30 > 0:34:35there are some groups who try to consume the Eucharist a great deal,
0:34:35 > 0:34:38it's eating truth, it's tasting truth
0:34:38 > 0:34:40and this is one of the things that comes with it.
0:34:40 > 0:34:43Equally there are animals -
0:34:43 > 0:34:46all things are made up of different humors and characteristics
0:34:46 > 0:34:50and you absorb those when you consume them as well.
0:34:53 > 0:34:56The church leaders were determined to keep a lid
0:34:56 > 0:34:58on the moral dangers of this new cookery.
0:34:58 > 0:35:01That was why the church calendar was already strewn
0:35:01 > 0:35:03with days of abstinence,
0:35:03 > 0:35:08which banned the consumption of dangerous foods, like meat.
0:35:08 > 0:35:12But the new spices constituted a particular danger. Lechery.
0:35:13 > 0:35:17The church condemned the avarice of the trading classes
0:35:17 > 0:35:19as it condemned the luxuries they brought to market.
0:35:19 > 0:35:23Spices and food were part of a general moral crusade
0:35:23 > 0:35:25against sin and luxury.
0:35:25 > 0:35:28And of course, quick off the mark, as you might expect,
0:35:28 > 0:35:30was St Bernard of Clairvaux.
0:35:30 > 0:35:33Writing to a cousin, he complained about how
0:35:33 > 0:35:36spices and alterations of food tastes were a sin.
0:35:36 > 0:35:40"Ginger, cumin and a thousand seasonings of this sort
0:35:40 > 0:35:44"not only stimulate the appetite in an unseemly way
0:35:44 > 0:35:46"but increase sexual desire."
0:35:47 > 0:35:49It seems that one form of sin, gluttony,
0:35:49 > 0:35:52inevitably encouraged another, lust.
0:35:52 > 0:35:56And that connection was reinforced by the fact that spices
0:35:56 > 0:35:58were being used in aphrodisiac potions.
0:36:00 > 0:36:05So for St Bernard, spicy food led to spicy conduct.
0:36:05 > 0:36:09And here in Bankside, just a stone's throw from the market,
0:36:09 > 0:36:11was London's red light district.
0:36:11 > 0:36:14In 1161, King Henry II laid down regulations
0:36:14 > 0:36:18concerning the conduct of the women, venereal disease,
0:36:18 > 0:36:21and the prevention of disorder.
0:36:21 > 0:36:23They lasted 400 years.
0:36:23 > 0:36:25The brothels were known as stews.
0:36:25 > 0:36:28Even today, five centuries since the system was abolished,
0:36:28 > 0:36:32the street names reflect the district's murky past.
0:36:34 > 0:36:36One of the stews stood on this corner.
0:36:36 > 0:36:38It was called the Castle on the Hope.
0:36:38 > 0:36:43We're told that in 1506, its owner, John Sandes, was in court
0:36:43 > 0:36:47not for running a brothel, but for keeping it open on feast days.
0:36:47 > 0:36:50It's a long way from the glories of Lindisfarne
0:36:50 > 0:36:54and the extravagances of the tournament knights
0:36:54 > 0:36:56to a bawdy house like this.
0:36:56 > 0:36:59But then luxury in England has always had this kind of reputation.
0:36:59 > 0:37:02When modern English first emerged in the late Middle Ages
0:37:02 > 0:37:07luxury meant not excess or extravagance, but lust itself.
0:37:07 > 0:37:09As one contemporary put it,
0:37:09 > 0:37:11"Leude touchinge and handelyng
0:37:11 > 0:37:14"makithe folke falle into the horrible synne of luxurie."
0:37:16 > 0:37:22Luxury is about stimuli. It stimulates the senses.
0:37:22 > 0:37:24And again there are very ancient theories about
0:37:24 > 0:37:28how sense, body and mind operate
0:37:28 > 0:37:30so clearly, being around beautiful things,
0:37:30 > 0:37:33hearing beautiful things, touching, tasting and so on,
0:37:33 > 0:37:36all this has to do with your state of mind.
0:37:36 > 0:37:42So luxury and concupiscence and sexual wiles are all bound up
0:37:42 > 0:37:46very, very powerfully in the discourse about women
0:37:46 > 0:37:50and in poetry about women throughout the Middle Ages.
0:37:50 > 0:37:54So it's really interesting how early the preoccupation is,
0:37:54 > 0:38:00and how with luxury, sexuality, virginity and femininity.
0:38:00 > 0:38:02There was also a kind of belief,
0:38:02 > 0:38:05that real, uncontrollable sexual desire came from women.
0:38:05 > 0:38:10Well, definitely the understanding of the female body was such that
0:38:10 > 0:38:15you could explain a sort of unbridled sexuality much more easily, yes.
0:38:15 > 0:38:18Because women are held to be carnal in a way that men aren't.
0:38:18 > 0:38:22From Totalian onwards, that's the central doctrine, women are fleshly.
0:38:22 > 0:38:25You have whole treatises on virginity,
0:38:25 > 0:38:29how you're supposed to operate. In fact in the Anglo Saxon period
0:38:29 > 0:38:34Altham criticised nuns who are too quick to wear beautiful clothes
0:38:34 > 0:38:37or make-up, which he thinks is some diabolical invention.
0:38:37 > 0:38:41- It's the first step down the line. - It's the first step down that path.
0:38:43 > 0:38:47By 1300, the church had been struggling for centuries
0:38:47 > 0:38:52to direct the universal taste for luxury away from sin
0:38:52 > 0:38:54and towards the service of God.
0:38:54 > 0:38:57And it had done so with some success.
0:38:57 > 0:39:02It's time to call one of the age's great sinners into the witness box.
0:39:02 > 0:39:04His name was Henry of Grosmont,
0:39:04 > 0:39:07first Duke of Lancaster, Earl of Derby, Lincoln and Leicester,
0:39:07 > 0:39:12steward of England, and Lord of Bergerac and Beaufort in France.
0:39:13 > 0:39:15Henry was a cousin of King Edward III's.
0:39:15 > 0:39:17He was born in around 1310,
0:39:17 > 0:39:20and probably the richest man in England after the King.
0:39:20 > 0:39:23He owned 23 castles, including this one,
0:39:23 > 0:39:26and had land in 30 English counties.
0:39:26 > 0:39:28And he behaved accordingly.
0:39:28 > 0:39:31In four short decades, he managed to make a splash
0:39:31 > 0:39:34in pretty much every department of mediaeval luxury.
0:39:35 > 0:39:38He was an enthusiastic tournament man,
0:39:38 > 0:39:42captaining a team which held annual events at his castle at Lincoln.
0:39:42 > 0:39:45He tells us that he was good-looking in his youth,
0:39:45 > 0:39:49but that he "lingered in the mud of the vile sin of pride",
0:39:49 > 0:39:52taking excessive pleasure in his appearance.
0:39:52 > 0:39:54It wasn't just tournaments.
0:39:54 > 0:39:58He liked rich food, well-spiced and with strong sauces
0:39:58 > 0:40:01and he liked his wine, often over-indulging quite a lot.
0:40:01 > 0:40:03He was also one for the ladies,
0:40:03 > 0:40:07and not just the great ladies of society, but women from any class
0:40:07 > 0:40:12or station, whom he went after with "overwhelmingly lecherous pleasure".
0:40:12 > 0:40:17Amazingly, we know all this because he told us so himself.
0:40:17 > 0:40:19In his later years, like so many of us,
0:40:19 > 0:40:22he began to regret his youthful indiscretions.
0:40:22 > 0:40:25But more than that, he tried to make amends.
0:40:29 > 0:40:32I've come to Corpus Christi College here in Cambridge
0:40:32 > 0:40:36in search of a very rare manuscript.
0:40:36 > 0:40:39It's not a grand bible or a weighty chronicle.
0:40:39 > 0:40:42It's much more personal than that.
0:40:42 > 0:40:46It's a book written by Henry of Grosmont himself.
0:40:46 > 0:40:49And, astonishingly, it's a confessional.
0:40:49 > 0:40:50And this is it.
0:40:50 > 0:40:53Not the original written by Henry himself,
0:40:53 > 0:40:56but most probably a copy that he himself owned.
0:40:56 > 0:40:59And here in the back is a post-script.
0:40:59 > 0:41:03It says, "This book was begun and finished
0:41:03 > 0:41:06"in the year of Our Lord Jesus Christ 1354
0:41:06 > 0:41:11"by the poor and miserable sinner Henry, Duke of Lancaster.
0:41:11 > 0:41:13"May God pardon his sins."
0:41:13 > 0:41:19And the name is actually written backwards in a gesture of humility.
0:41:21 > 0:41:24It's called The Book of Holy Medicines.
0:41:24 > 0:41:28In it, Henry writes of himself as a sick body with seven wounds,
0:41:28 > 0:41:31one for each of the seven deadly sins,
0:41:31 > 0:41:33and explains how he fell foul
0:41:33 > 0:41:36of each of them during the course of his life.
0:41:39 > 0:41:42"Lord, I have often sinned in lechery by means of the wicked feet,
0:41:42 > 0:41:44"for I had gone to extreme trouble
0:41:44 > 0:41:47"to make myself elegant in shoes or boots,
0:41:47 > 0:41:51"and all of this has been with the aim of further inflaming
0:41:51 > 0:41:53"evil lechery in some flighty woman.
0:41:53 > 0:41:57"And that was why I would so stretch out my stirrups at jousts,
0:41:57 > 0:42:01"and elsewhere would dance nimbly with my feet, and everything was
0:42:01 > 0:42:04"done out of wickedness, whether in thought or in deed."
0:42:06 > 0:42:09Henry's intensity here is really quite something.
0:42:09 > 0:42:12Here's one of the greatest peers in the realm,
0:42:12 > 0:42:14a man used to luxury all his life.
0:42:14 > 0:42:18And yet here he is, racked with anxiety about it.
0:42:18 > 0:42:22This is so much more than a modern kiss and tell autobiography,
0:42:22 > 0:42:26this is about how to find your way back from that period of excess.
0:42:26 > 0:42:28And this book was meant to be read.
0:42:28 > 0:42:32It was copied and passed out amongst Henry's friends.
0:42:32 > 0:42:36But Henry little knew, he could not know, that he was writing
0:42:36 > 0:42:41at a time when attitudes to luxury were about to be transformed.
0:42:44 > 0:42:49In 1348, a horrific epidemic reached Britain - the Black Death.
0:42:49 > 0:42:52Its first impact was devastating -
0:42:52 > 0:42:56between a third and a half of the population died.
0:42:56 > 0:42:59But it also set in motion a train of events
0:42:59 > 0:43:04through which British attitudes to luxury would change forever.
0:43:06 > 0:43:08We can't say for sure, we just don't have the evidence,
0:43:08 > 0:43:13but it may be that the founding of this college and Henry's book
0:43:13 > 0:43:16were both reactions to the deadly impacts of the Black Death.
0:43:16 > 0:43:19The founding of this college by the townsmen of Cambridge,
0:43:19 > 0:43:22with Henry's help,
0:43:22 > 0:43:24happened just three years after the first impact of the disease.
0:43:24 > 0:43:28And Henry's book itself was finished just three years after that.
0:43:28 > 0:43:31So it is tempting to see both ventures
0:43:31 > 0:43:35as attempts to ward off further divine punishment.
0:43:35 > 0:43:40But, for our story, the impact of the Black Death goes further.
0:43:40 > 0:43:43And it's not about the people who died and their immortal souls,
0:43:43 > 0:43:48what's crucial is to think about those who survived.
0:43:48 > 0:43:51It's hard to believe that a disease which kills half the population
0:43:51 > 0:43:55can have an upside, but it did.
0:43:55 > 0:43:56And the reason is that,
0:43:56 > 0:43:59at all levels of society, those who survived
0:43:59 > 0:44:02found themselves much better off
0:44:02 > 0:44:05and able to aspire to luxuries of their own.
0:44:05 > 0:44:10The age of relative luxury had arrived.
0:44:10 > 0:44:13Because there are fewer people consuming, because the price
0:44:13 > 0:44:15of food goes down, ultimately,
0:44:15 > 0:44:17then those who have land and money to invest,
0:44:17 > 0:44:22invest it in a much wider way, they diversify their activities.
0:44:22 > 0:44:26So, in a way, the diet and what is purchasable in England
0:44:26 > 0:44:28becomes much more diverse
0:44:28 > 0:44:31and that trickles down quite low in the population.
0:44:31 > 0:44:34So if we can introduce the concept of relative luxury,
0:44:34 > 0:44:37we'll find people out there, working people,
0:44:37 > 0:44:40having relative luxuries they might not have had before -
0:44:40 > 0:44:42fish, meat, cheese and so on.
0:44:42 > 0:44:46You get Yeoman farmers who basically assemble the estates
0:44:46 > 0:44:48of the dead men around them.
0:44:48 > 0:44:50And they know that this is morally difficult,
0:44:50 > 0:44:54you know, the fact that, well, I grew rich, I can't take it with me
0:44:54 > 0:44:57but I grew rich at the expense of other people who didn't make it.
0:44:57 > 0:45:01So it's that survivor mentality that is clearly very important.
0:45:01 > 0:45:05But undoubtedly, if you are a skilled labourer,
0:45:05 > 0:45:09if you are particularly a mason or somebody who builds buildings,
0:45:09 > 0:45:11we know that wage rates go up
0:45:11 > 0:45:14and continue to rise throughout the late 14th Century.
0:45:14 > 0:45:16Some people are becoming pretty rich on the back of this,
0:45:16 > 0:45:18they're doing quite well.
0:45:23 > 0:45:28With the population almost halved, labour was in great demand.
0:45:28 > 0:45:32For once, The ordinary people of England were in the driving seat.
0:45:32 > 0:45:36They wanted more and were determined to get it.
0:45:36 > 0:45:37Eventually, in 1381,
0:45:37 > 0:45:40just over thirty years after the plague struck,
0:45:40 > 0:45:44the unrest exploded in what we call today the "Peasants' Revolt".
0:45:44 > 0:45:48A vast crowd of country people descended on London to protest
0:45:48 > 0:45:52about a swingeing poll tax and call for an end to serfdom.
0:45:52 > 0:45:54And some of them had it in for the gentry.
0:45:54 > 0:45:57"When Adam delved and Eve span," asked one of the leaders,
0:45:57 > 0:45:59"Who was then the gentleman?"
0:45:59 > 0:46:02The climactic events happened here
0:46:02 > 0:46:04at Smooth Field, on the edge of the City,
0:46:04 > 0:46:07where the protesters' leader, Wat Tyler,
0:46:07 > 0:46:10tried to stab King Richard II and was cut down
0:46:10 > 0:46:12by the Lord Mayor of London.
0:46:12 > 0:46:14In the short-term, the King's government prevailed,
0:46:14 > 0:46:19but in the long-term, it was serfdom that was pushed to extinction.
0:46:19 > 0:46:21And at the same time the social effects of the Black Death
0:46:21 > 0:46:23were rippling out across the country,
0:46:23 > 0:46:27causing great unease for the noble class.
0:46:27 > 0:46:32And it was access to luxury that was at the heart of it.
0:46:34 > 0:46:36Just as today, clothes and fashion
0:46:36 > 0:46:39were the barometers of social change.
0:46:39 > 0:46:42In the 1350s, elite fashions were transformed.
0:46:42 > 0:46:46Tunics got shorter and were fitted more tightly to the body,
0:46:46 > 0:46:52clothes were tailored in more complicated and fanciful shapes.
0:46:52 > 0:46:53The moralists complained
0:46:53 > 0:46:56that they were too revealing and ostentatious.
0:46:56 > 0:46:59And one trend in particular bore the brunt.
0:46:59 > 0:47:02Shoes are a great way into understanding the problem,
0:47:02 > 0:47:05and it's this is the kind of shoe that caused all the trouble.
0:47:05 > 0:47:08It's a poulaine, a type popular in the 14th and 15th centuries,
0:47:08 > 0:47:12with what they called a 'piked', or pointed, toe.
0:47:12 > 0:47:15And that is the moss that they used to stuff the toe with
0:47:15 > 0:47:17to keep it firm when it got wet.
0:47:17 > 0:47:22But the real problem was not that these clothes were too showy,
0:47:22 > 0:47:25but that the wrong kind of people were getting into them.
0:47:25 > 0:47:28Now that the lower classes were better off,
0:47:28 > 0:47:30they could start to copy the rich.
0:47:30 > 0:47:32What are we going to be looking at here?
0:47:32 > 0:47:34We're going to be looking at
0:47:34 > 0:47:36some medieval knife sheaths.
0:47:36 > 0:47:38And these are the leather covers
0:47:38 > 0:47:42that people would have worn attached to their belts
0:47:42 > 0:47:44with their knife in them.
0:47:44 > 0:47:49These date to the 14th century and they were the main eating implement.
0:47:49 > 0:47:52And this one shows the use of heraldic devices,
0:47:52 > 0:47:56which became very fashionable in the 14th century.
0:47:56 > 0:47:59The lines were made by soaking the leather in water
0:47:59 > 0:48:02and then impressing the lines into it,
0:48:02 > 0:48:06so it is quite a simple way to decorate it.
0:48:06 > 0:48:09Some of these undoubtedly would have belonged
0:48:09 > 0:48:12to members of royal or aristocratic households.
0:48:12 > 0:48:15So real heraldic display.
0:48:15 > 0:48:19Exactly. But as times go on and things become fashionable,
0:48:19 > 0:48:21everybody wants one.
0:48:21 > 0:48:23It's a bit like today wanting your Louis Vuitton
0:48:23 > 0:48:24or Yves St Laurent handbag.
0:48:24 > 0:48:26And having a knock-off instead!
0:48:26 > 0:48:28Absolutely, going to the market to get it.
0:48:28 > 0:48:31Social boundaries were being blurred.
0:48:31 > 0:48:34It was no longer possible to tell just by looking
0:48:34 > 0:48:36who was a gentleman and who wasn't.
0:48:36 > 0:48:40For the elites, this was intolerable.
0:48:40 > 0:48:42So the government stepped in.
0:48:42 > 0:48:47In 1363, an Act of Parliament, the Act of Apparel.
0:48:47 > 0:48:51It condemned "the outrageous excessive apparel of divers people,
0:48:51 > 0:48:54"against their estate and degree."
0:48:54 > 0:48:57It specified for every class of citizen what they could wear,
0:48:57 > 0:48:59from the Peer of the Realm to the ploughman,
0:48:59 > 0:49:01so, for ordinary working folk,
0:49:01 > 0:49:03"No clothes costing more than two marks,
0:49:03 > 0:49:06"nothing in gold, nor of silver embroidered,
0:49:06 > 0:49:07"nor of silk."
0:49:07 > 0:49:10And to make it clearer, it also forbade the common people
0:49:10 > 0:49:13from having more than two meals a day
0:49:13 > 0:49:15and eating meat or fish more than once a day.
0:49:15 > 0:49:17Did it work?
0:49:17 > 0:49:19No.
0:49:19 > 0:49:22Given that sumptuary legislation begins, I think, in the 1330s
0:49:22 > 0:49:24and ends in the 17th Century,
0:49:24 > 0:49:27one has to say there was an underlying problem,
0:49:27 > 0:49:30The wrong people wore fur, the sort of symbols of rough power,
0:49:30 > 0:49:33that you own land and therefore you have a lot of dead animals
0:49:33 > 0:49:36and fur becomes the way of displaying that.
0:49:36 > 0:49:37And that's what concerns them -
0:49:37 > 0:49:40whether squires are eating the right stuff,
0:49:40 > 0:49:41who can wear pointed shoes?
0:49:41 > 0:49:43It is a far reaching mode of social control,
0:49:43 > 0:49:45which does reflect an anxiety
0:49:45 > 0:49:50about the sort of solvent effect of money on the feudal order,
0:49:50 > 0:49:52which is wobbling.
0:49:56 > 0:49:59The social order was changing fast, and luxury,
0:49:59 > 0:50:03and the idea of relative luxury, played a key role.
0:50:03 > 0:50:07If you could pay for something, you could have it.
0:50:07 > 0:50:10So while kings and peers built spectacular churches
0:50:10 > 0:50:13and put fireplaces into their draughty castles,
0:50:13 > 0:50:17lesser people made for comfort too, and on a big scale,
0:50:17 > 0:50:20building solid houses, many of which still survive.
0:50:23 > 0:50:28Inside, the aspirational could enjoy items once monopolised
0:50:28 > 0:50:30by the aristocracy.
0:50:30 > 0:50:33And they could even do so with the church's approval.
0:50:33 > 0:50:35Books of Hours provided the texts
0:50:35 > 0:50:39for people to carry out their daily religious observance.
0:50:39 > 0:50:42But they were luxury items too.
0:50:42 > 0:50:44They were produced on the continent in huge numbers,
0:50:44 > 0:50:49and imported into this country, peaking in the years after 1400.
0:50:49 > 0:50:53Some of them are lavishly illustrated, with illuminations
0:50:53 > 0:50:57which sometimes rival the best masterpieces of the Renaissance.
0:50:57 > 0:51:03This is a book made in the 15th Century for an Italian aristocrat.
0:51:03 > 0:51:07We're over 700 years on from the Lindisfarne gospel,
0:51:07 > 0:51:10and still the church is using luxury in the service of devotion.
0:51:10 > 0:51:12But there is a difference.
0:51:12 > 0:51:17This is not an almost uniquely brilliant manuscript for public use.
0:51:17 > 0:51:22This is a private possession for display, but also for private use.
0:51:22 > 0:51:27This belonged to a devout Christian, who was comfortable in practising
0:51:27 > 0:51:31and displaying their faith in the most luxurious way
0:51:31 > 0:51:33their personal wealth would allow.
0:51:33 > 0:51:36Luxury and faith had become entwined
0:51:36 > 0:51:39at not just the public, but the personal level.
0:51:42 > 0:51:45But these books weren't just for people at the top.
0:51:45 > 0:51:48This contemporary French-made one isn't so lavish,
0:51:48 > 0:51:50but it's still very beautiful.
0:51:50 > 0:51:54It was made not for a duke, but for an ordinary monk.
0:51:54 > 0:51:58And these books had now penetrated even further down the social scale.
0:51:58 > 0:52:02This one is even more modest, a standard model if you like,
0:52:02 > 0:52:06with no extras, but it was still a bit of a luxury.
0:52:06 > 0:52:08All books were.
0:52:08 > 0:52:11With books, just as with food and clothing,
0:52:11 > 0:52:15you can see that products were created for every level of society,
0:52:15 > 0:52:18their luxurious quality equivalent to their cost.
0:52:18 > 0:52:21Books are particularly important because in the 15th Century
0:52:21 > 0:52:24you see a massive explosion in education and literacy.
0:52:24 > 0:52:29The invention of print after 1450 speeds that process even further.
0:52:29 > 0:52:32Books of all sorts, about all sorts of things,
0:52:32 > 0:52:34at all levels of affordability.
0:52:34 > 0:52:37It was a sign of things to come.
0:52:37 > 0:52:39Political and religious debates
0:52:39 > 0:52:41and disagreements about luxury would continue.
0:52:41 > 0:52:44But the integrated markets of Europe,
0:52:44 > 0:52:49were creating the forces of consumption that define our lives.
0:52:49 > 0:52:53This is the cusp of the modern world.
0:52:55 > 0:52:59Ever since the late middle ages, our luxury consumer economy
0:52:59 > 0:53:06has grown, whatever the church or the authorities had to say.
0:53:06 > 0:53:09Luxury after luxury has arrived from all over the world,
0:53:09 > 0:53:15had its place in the sun, and been supplanted by more exotic pleasures.
0:53:15 > 0:53:19Pepper was replaced by cloves and chillies, sugar by chocolate,
0:53:19 > 0:53:24then coffee or tea, fine woollen broadcloths gave way to silks,
0:53:24 > 0:53:29calicoes, horses by railways, private cars and planes.
0:53:29 > 0:53:32Now even the desire for things has been replaced
0:53:32 > 0:53:37by the desire for experiences, of open space, tranquility and calm.
0:53:37 > 0:53:40In the process, luxury has lost its connotation
0:53:40 > 0:53:42of sinful licentiousness.
0:53:42 > 0:53:46But never its power or attraction.
0:53:50 > 0:53:53Christianity no longer has the direct impact
0:53:53 > 0:53:56on ideas about luxury that it once did.
0:53:56 > 0:53:59Instead some people argue that the place of religion in our lives
0:53:59 > 0:54:02has been taken by the wants of consumers
0:54:02 > 0:54:05and, ultimately, luxury itself.
0:54:05 > 0:54:08Shops like this are a great example.
0:54:08 > 0:54:11It's a museum of luxuries past and present,
0:54:11 > 0:54:16a temple to modern day consumerism and a beacon of everything
0:54:16 > 0:54:19that is best and most expensive in our society.
0:54:19 > 0:54:23The luxuries on sale here are sometimes ungettable anywhere else,
0:54:23 > 0:54:26and sometimes they're just much more expensive versions
0:54:26 > 0:54:30of what we can now get anywhere, like tea and coffee.
0:54:30 > 0:54:34So if luxury, powerful and attractive as ever,
0:54:34 > 0:54:36now sits at the heart of our world,
0:54:36 > 0:54:41the question becomes, what purposes does it, can it,
0:54:41 > 0:54:44should it continue to serve today?
0:54:46 > 0:54:50One thing is sure. The centuries when the church
0:54:50 > 0:54:53attempted to control luxury have left their mark.
0:54:53 > 0:54:58We still talk of wicked temptations. We're still a little anxious.
0:54:58 > 0:55:04We still think luxury is divisive. And the debate still goes on.
0:55:04 > 0:55:07Today in London, Tim Richman-Gadoffre
0:55:07 > 0:55:09makes his living as a luxury consultant
0:55:09 > 0:55:12for a range of contemporary clients.
0:55:12 > 0:55:17There's an increasing amount of questioning about what luxury is.
0:55:17 > 0:55:20Is it defined by price?
0:55:20 > 0:55:22Is it defined by the preciousness
0:55:22 > 0:55:25of the raw materials used in the actual finished piece?
0:55:25 > 0:55:29Back in the '80s it was very much about
0:55:29 > 0:55:33how people wanted other people to see them.
0:55:33 > 0:55:36So it was about making impressions that don't last
0:55:36 > 0:55:40on people you don't care about - it was very outer directed.
0:55:40 > 0:55:42And what we're seeing now is, in the west,
0:55:42 > 0:55:46so in the sort of north Atlantic, western world,
0:55:46 > 0:55:49the traditional luxury markets,
0:55:49 > 0:55:53there has been a significant shift since 2008 and the market downturn.
0:55:53 > 0:55:59The sentiment against bankers with big bonuses,
0:55:59 > 0:56:05namely the people who actually do buy the majority of luxury goods,
0:56:05 > 0:56:08has had a massive impact on behaviour.
0:56:08 > 0:56:16So there's definitely a shift, an underlying groundswell of empathy.
0:56:16 > 0:56:21And that has had an effect on making ostentatious luxury unacceptable.
0:56:21 > 0:56:23I think that's a healthy thing.
0:56:25 > 0:56:30If people do become embarrassed by luxury, it won't be the first time.
0:56:30 > 0:56:33But the idea of luxury won't disappear either,
0:56:33 > 0:56:34of that we can be sure.
0:56:34 > 0:56:39It's too important to human society.
0:56:39 > 0:56:43Since the beginning of human history, luxury has had many faces.
0:56:43 > 0:56:49A simple luxury like meat could unite could unite a democracy.
0:56:49 > 0:56:54And yet a taste for fish could divide it.
0:56:54 > 0:56:58While the determined attempt to deny luxury completely
0:56:58 > 0:57:02brought a powerful state to its downfall.
0:57:02 > 0:57:05Absolute luxury could underpin
0:57:05 > 0:57:09the divinity of one of the greatest kings in the world,
0:57:09 > 0:57:13while 1000 years later a different kind of luxury
0:57:13 > 0:57:16could point instead to the Kingdom of God.
0:57:16 > 0:57:20And a few centuries after that, another kind of luxury,
0:57:20 > 0:57:25exotic spices, seemed to lead people to lust and sexuality,
0:57:25 > 0:57:29a connection which still lingers.
0:57:29 > 0:57:35The fact is that luxury has always been a cause of dispute,
0:57:35 > 0:57:38and always will be.
0:57:38 > 0:57:41But for me, the most surprising thing about luxury is this.
0:57:41 > 0:57:43We all know it when we see it,
0:57:43 > 0:57:46and yet it's almost impossible to define.
0:57:46 > 0:57:49Everyone has their own idea of what a luxury is
0:57:49 > 0:57:51and what it means to them.
0:57:51 > 0:57:56And that makes it, ultimately, an idea owned by everyone.
0:58:00 > 0:58:02So what's my luxury? Oh well, that's easy.
0:58:02 > 0:58:04As a classical historian,
0:58:04 > 0:58:07I always think of Odysseus in book nine of the Odyssey,
0:58:07 > 0:58:10the king, the man who had travelled the world,
0:58:10 > 0:58:11seen it all, done it all,
0:58:11 > 0:58:14had it all, lost it all, and found it all again.
0:58:14 > 0:58:17And what's his ultimate luxury?
0:58:17 > 0:58:22A good dinner with good friends, good food and good wine.
0:58:22 > 0:58:25And that sounds good to me.
0:58:30 > 0:58:33Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:58:33 > 0:58:36E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk