0:00:07 > 0:00:10Somewhere out there in the 1420s,
0:00:10 > 0:00:15a ship laden with war booty made its way slowly to the shore.
0:00:18 > 0:00:21The great chests were unloaded carefully
0:00:21 > 0:00:24and taken by cartload to London under heavy guard.
0:00:26 > 0:00:30But these were no ordinary spoils of war.
0:00:30 > 0:00:35This wasn't silver or gold, or even prisoners for ransom.
0:00:35 > 0:00:40This was the physical theft of a nation's culture and history.
0:00:45 > 0:00:49What was being landed was a cargo of manuscripts -
0:00:49 > 0:00:52the greatest literary treasures of the French royal family
0:00:52 > 0:00:55were now on their way to the English court.
0:00:55 > 0:00:59After 80 years of war, England was victorious
0:00:59 > 0:01:02and at the very heart of Europe.
0:01:04 > 0:01:07We still have these captured manuscripts.
0:01:07 > 0:01:10They are some of the most wonderful creations
0:01:10 > 0:01:12of the late medieval period,
0:01:12 > 0:01:15and they show England's ascendancy in Europe
0:01:15 > 0:01:17during the Hundred Years War.
0:01:18 > 0:01:23They also show a period of crisis from the 1320s to the 1450s,
0:01:23 > 0:01:27when English kings had to triumph over rebellion and plague
0:01:27 > 0:01:30to become worthy of the name "king".
0:01:33 > 0:01:37For this series, I've been given unrivalled access
0:01:37 > 0:01:39to the crown jewels of illumination -
0:01:39 > 0:01:44the Royal Manuscript Collection at the British Library.
0:01:46 > 0:01:50These books are miraculous survivors,
0:01:50 > 0:01:53which few people have ever seen - apart from monarchs.
0:01:53 > 0:01:57They were custom-made for kings, they're about kings,
0:01:57 > 0:01:59and they were read by kings.
0:02:01 > 0:02:05I'll be exploring the world which created these manuscripts.
0:02:08 > 0:02:11I'll be going to the places where they were made.
0:02:13 > 0:02:18And discovering what they reveal about the centuries of conflict
0:02:18 > 0:02:20when England was forged.
0:02:20 > 0:02:25It's the story of monarchy which spans six centuries,
0:02:25 > 0:02:28from the Anglo-Saxons to the Tudors.
0:02:29 > 0:02:33In this episode, I'm going to reveal how manuscripts were used
0:02:33 > 0:02:37to create a model of kingship that was boldly English
0:02:37 > 0:02:41and epitomised by the soldier king, Henry V.
0:03:03 > 0:03:06I'm seeing where these captured French manuscripts ended up.
0:03:06 > 0:03:09It's the first time I have seen the spoils
0:03:09 > 0:03:13of the French royal library and I can't wait to set eyes on them.
0:03:15 > 0:03:19Many of the French books became the personal property
0:03:19 > 0:03:23of the English monarchy and have stayed locked away for centuries
0:03:23 > 0:03:26in the Royal Manuscript Collection.
0:03:26 > 0:03:30George II gave the collection to the nation in 1757
0:03:30 > 0:03:34and now they are housed deep in the vaults of the British Library.
0:03:34 > 0:03:39- Wow, it's a massive manuscript. - Yes, it's quite heavy.- Yes.
0:03:39 > 0:03:41There's one in particular,
0:03:41 > 0:03:44with an incredible history, that I've been dying to see.
0:03:56 > 0:04:00This is the Grandes Chroniques de France -
0:04:00 > 0:04:05the history of the French nation, a stupendous manuscript
0:04:05 > 0:04:08written in the 1330s with over 400 images
0:04:08 > 0:04:12detailing the great deeds of the French kings.
0:04:14 > 0:04:17There are pictures of everything a king should be -
0:04:17 > 0:04:20supreme military commander, law-maker,
0:04:20 > 0:04:24dynast, and arbiter of the nation's taste.
0:04:25 > 0:04:28It's a work that deliberately tells us
0:04:28 > 0:04:31that only French kings are fit to rule.
0:04:33 > 0:04:36In contrast, these shelves also contain
0:04:36 > 0:04:38the history of the kings of England
0:04:38 > 0:04:41by the chronicler Peter of Langtoft,
0:04:41 > 0:04:44written just a few years earlier,
0:04:44 > 0:04:46at the end of the reign of Edward II.
0:04:46 > 0:04:50Like the Grandes Chroniques, albeit in its own small way,
0:04:50 > 0:04:55it also tries to show everything a king should be.
0:04:57 > 0:05:00Here we see real depictions of strong kings.
0:05:00 > 0:05:03We have, at the front, King Arthur.
0:05:03 > 0:05:05He's wearing a golden crown,
0:05:05 > 0:05:08he has his shield emblazoned with an image of the Virgin,
0:05:08 > 0:05:13and at his side, the famous sword Excalibur.
0:05:13 > 0:05:15We can also see, beneath his feet,
0:05:15 > 0:05:18crowns representing the kingdoms that he was the king of.
0:05:18 > 0:05:24And as we go on, another strong English king,
0:05:24 > 0:05:29Richard the Lionheart, also holding a sword - Excalibur again, in fact.
0:05:29 > 0:05:35And as we go on, we find Edward I - hammer of the Scots and the Welsh.
0:05:38 > 0:05:40But the last entry tells us something more
0:05:40 > 0:05:43about the state of the English monarchy.
0:05:44 > 0:05:46Something's happened to the manuscript -
0:05:46 > 0:05:49it's where the official bit of praise would have been,
0:05:49 > 0:05:52honouring the king, this has been scrubbed out,
0:05:52 > 0:05:56it's damaged the manuscript quite badly, and in its place
0:05:56 > 0:06:00we have some of the most abject words ascribed to an English king -
0:06:00 > 0:06:08"Home m'appele roys abatu, e tout le secle me va gabaunt."
0:06:08 > 0:06:12I'm going to discover what this extraordinary footnote is about
0:06:12 > 0:06:15and what it meant for the English crown.
0:06:22 > 0:06:28It's 1322 and the English monarchy has been defeated,
0:06:28 > 0:06:30first in Scotland and then on the Welsh border.
0:06:30 > 0:06:35Even worse is the loss of English lands in France.
0:06:35 > 0:06:38But the most shocking event, at the heart of it all,
0:06:38 > 0:06:42is that the English King, Edward II, has been deposed
0:06:42 > 0:06:46and locked up here at Berkeley Castle in Gloucestershire
0:06:46 > 0:06:48where he fears he will be murdered.
0:06:51 > 0:06:54Never before has a divinely anointed reigning king
0:06:54 > 0:06:57been knocked from power in this way.
0:06:57 > 0:07:00These are dangerous times for the English monarchy.
0:07:09 > 0:07:14This is the very cell where Edward II was incarcerated.
0:07:14 > 0:07:17I can just imagine him in here, penning the poignant lines
0:07:17 > 0:07:20we find at the end of Peter of Langtoft's chronicles
0:07:20 > 0:07:22of the great deeds of the English kings.
0:07:22 > 0:07:26They provide a unique window into his soul.
0:07:27 > 0:07:32"Home m'appele roys abatu, e tout le secle me va gabaunt."
0:07:32 > 0:07:37"I am called the tumbledown king, and all the world mocks me."
0:07:44 > 0:07:46Whether Edward II wrote those lines himself
0:07:46 > 0:07:50or whether they were added by his enemies for propaganda purposes,
0:07:50 > 0:07:54it's clear that the governance of England is broken
0:07:54 > 0:07:57and the country is racked with crisis.
0:07:57 > 0:08:02The running of the country has been hijacked by Sir Roger Mortimer,
0:08:02 > 0:08:06the queen's lover, and his supporters.
0:08:06 > 0:08:07And with the king incarcerated,
0:08:07 > 0:08:12the young prince, who will become Edward III, faces a fearful future.
0:08:14 > 0:08:16His task will be to rebuild the power
0:08:16 > 0:08:20and reputation of the English monarchy, if he possibly can.
0:08:22 > 0:08:23But how?
0:08:28 > 0:08:32Long before Machiavelli, there were manuals for princes.
0:08:32 > 0:08:34One survives in the British Library
0:08:34 > 0:08:38that was given to the young Edward by a noble, Walter Milmete.
0:08:39 > 0:08:42I'm looking here at a wonderful manuscript
0:08:42 > 0:08:47made around 1327 for the king-to-be, Edward III.
0:08:47 > 0:08:50It's called the Secretum Secretorum, a mirror for princes.
0:08:52 > 0:08:55This work was thought in medieval times
0:08:55 > 0:08:59to have been originally written for Alexander the Great by his tutor,
0:08:59 > 0:09:01the philosopher Aristotle.
0:09:02 > 0:09:05It contains everything that a prince would need to know
0:09:05 > 0:09:08in order to be a good ruler and follow in the example
0:09:08 > 0:09:11of someone as magnificent as Alexander the Great.
0:09:11 > 0:09:15Everything from statecraft to history, medicine to astrology.
0:09:15 > 0:09:19It emphasises things like Christian virtue,
0:09:19 > 0:09:22chivalric or knightly values.
0:09:22 > 0:09:25And there's also images instructing the young king
0:09:25 > 0:09:27on how he should best govern,
0:09:27 > 0:09:32so here we have an enthroned king receiving the advice of his peers -
0:09:32 > 0:09:36we've got knights and clergymen bringing him advice.
0:09:36 > 0:09:41For me, one of the most exciting things about seeing a book like this
0:09:41 > 0:09:45is the thought that it's imparting knowledge to a king,
0:09:45 > 0:09:49it's telling him information about things he needs to know about.
0:09:49 > 0:09:53To think that the young Edward III, only a boy of 14,
0:09:53 > 0:09:56might have turned these very pages.
0:09:57 > 0:10:02It reveals an awful lot about the moment at which Edward III
0:10:02 > 0:10:04is going to be taking on the throne.
0:10:04 > 0:10:07If we look at this image here, we can see the messenger
0:10:07 > 0:10:11that's holding the book can be identified as Edward III,
0:10:11 > 0:10:14he's wearing his coat-of-arms on his buckle.
0:10:14 > 0:10:19He's there in this position, between philosopher and great ruler,
0:10:19 > 0:10:23absorbing the knowledge that's contained within this work.
0:10:23 > 0:10:25It really feels like a living document,
0:10:25 > 0:10:28we can see these pages remain unfinished,
0:10:28 > 0:10:30they're still being painted in,
0:10:30 > 0:10:35and there's images of warcraft, weaponry,
0:10:35 > 0:10:40and over the page, we have this very early image of a cannon.
0:10:41 > 0:10:46This was added some time after the book was originally written.
0:10:46 > 0:10:50It's an important clue to the young king's future mindset.
0:10:50 > 0:10:55As are the next pages, which feature archers.
0:10:55 > 0:10:57Incomplete, but significant.
0:10:59 > 0:11:03But there's definitely a darker side to this manuscript.
0:11:03 > 0:11:06As much as it's clearly intended for the young king
0:11:06 > 0:11:08and it shows his coat-of-arms throughout,
0:11:08 > 0:11:11there are other coats-of-arms also depicted alongside.
0:11:11 > 0:11:16Here, those of his uncles, and over the page,
0:11:16 > 0:11:19that of his mother, Queen Isabella,
0:11:19 > 0:11:24who, along with her lover, Roger Mortimer and these uncles,
0:11:24 > 0:11:28were responsible for removing his father, Edward II, from the throne.
0:11:28 > 0:11:32What this says to me is, it's a warning, really.
0:11:32 > 0:11:34It's saying to the young Edward III,
0:11:34 > 0:11:38"Be careful, these same people can depose you too."
0:11:50 > 0:11:53I've come to meet Ian Mortimer,
0:11:53 > 0:11:57who's a biographer of Edward III and other late medieval kings.
0:11:59 > 0:12:01So what's the situation
0:12:01 > 0:12:05that Edward III finds himself in at the beginning of his reign?
0:12:05 > 0:12:09If you want an image of him, picture a 14-year-old boy on a throne
0:12:09 > 0:12:12clad in all the clothes of state,
0:12:12 > 0:12:14the crown, the sceptre, the orb,
0:12:14 > 0:12:16really quite terrified about all the people around him.
0:12:16 > 0:12:19The court is populated by his enemies,
0:12:19 > 0:12:21he can't stop them elevating their friends.
0:12:21 > 0:12:24He can't stop Roger Mortimer, for example, in 1328,
0:12:24 > 0:12:28giving up Scotland in the shameful Treaty of Northampton.
0:12:28 > 0:12:31And he wants to do something about that.
0:12:31 > 0:12:34He wants to re-impose regal authority and dignity.
0:12:34 > 0:12:36He wants to create a new vision of kingship.
0:12:36 > 0:12:40How difficult is it to be a successful medieval king?
0:12:40 > 0:12:43Being a medieval king is enormously difficult.
0:12:43 > 0:12:46Your basic job spec, if you want to use that term,
0:12:46 > 0:12:48is to be a good law-giver.
0:12:48 > 0:12:53To be fair to all your leading men, all your lords, all your bishops.
0:12:53 > 0:12:55You have to be strong militarily
0:12:55 > 0:12:59and that is not just strong against the French or against the Scots,
0:12:59 > 0:13:02you've got to be strong in keeping all the rebels under control.
0:13:02 > 0:13:07But everything's going to fail if you aren't strong militarily.
0:13:07 > 0:13:11If you allow the rebels to fight and if you're defeated by the French,
0:13:11 > 0:13:14you are going to fail as a monarch.
0:13:17 > 0:13:21But it seems Edward already had a plan.
0:13:21 > 0:13:25He gathered together a band of young, loyal knights -
0:13:25 > 0:13:30a band of brothers, if you like - men he felt he could trust.
0:13:30 > 0:13:33They captured Mortimer and he was brought to London,
0:13:33 > 0:13:35tried, and executed.
0:13:42 > 0:13:48The truth was, Edward already had his own model of kingship in mind.
0:13:59 > 0:14:03I've come to the ancient city of Winchester to see the artefact
0:14:03 > 0:14:05that gives witness to Edward's plan.
0:14:07 > 0:14:09This is the symbol of kingship
0:14:09 > 0:14:13that the young Edward III could most relate to -
0:14:13 > 0:14:16King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table.
0:14:16 > 0:14:19This is a 13th-century table
0:14:19 > 0:14:23made of English oak by his grandfather Edward I.
0:14:23 > 0:14:26And it's the perfect model for the relationship
0:14:26 > 0:14:28between the king and his noblemen.
0:14:28 > 0:14:30King Arthur's depicted at the top
0:14:30 > 0:14:32and there are 24 place settings around the edge,
0:14:32 > 0:14:34and the fact it's a circle
0:14:34 > 0:14:37means that there's no precedence. Every nobleman is equal.
0:14:37 > 0:14:40This was certainly a model of kingship
0:14:40 > 0:14:44that appealed to the noblemen at the time.
0:14:44 > 0:14:47Coming out of the chaos of his father's reign,
0:14:47 > 0:14:50this offered a sense of stability to everyone.
0:14:53 > 0:14:57The symbolism of the table, with the wise king at the head
0:14:57 > 0:15:01and all the nobles seated around him, without order of precedence,
0:15:01 > 0:15:06was born of a collective wish that things genuinely could be this way.
0:15:07 > 0:15:11The Arthurian model crops up continuously in this period,
0:15:11 > 0:15:13and that's why we saw Arthur
0:15:13 > 0:15:16at the head of Edwards II's lineage of kings.
0:15:17 > 0:15:21Although nowadays we see him as a semi-mythological figure,
0:15:21 > 0:15:25in medieval times, Arthur was thought to have been a real king
0:15:25 > 0:15:28and the architect of the perfect polity,
0:15:28 > 0:15:30in which wisdom is shared
0:15:30 > 0:15:35and each of the participants are aware of their own responsibilities
0:15:35 > 0:15:39to each other in chivalric, or knightly, virtue.
0:15:40 > 0:15:43But for Edward III, this wasn't just a symbol of kingship,
0:15:43 > 0:15:45he made it a reality.
0:15:47 > 0:15:52He spent lavish amounts on feasting, jousting, and tournaments.
0:15:52 > 0:15:55All of this was designed to bring the noblemen around him
0:15:55 > 0:15:58and create a training ground for them.
0:15:58 > 0:16:00But the underlying reason for this
0:16:00 > 0:16:03was to avoid the errors of his father's reign
0:16:03 > 0:16:07and keep potentially rebellious factions close to hand.
0:16:13 > 0:16:19A really brutal victory over the Scots at Halidon Hill in 1333
0:16:19 > 0:16:21and the consolidation of peace at home
0:16:21 > 0:16:24shows that Edward's new discipline is working.
0:16:25 > 0:16:28He is proving a tough and wise young king.
0:16:30 > 0:16:32On the other side of the English Channel,
0:16:32 > 0:16:35the French also have cause for concern.
0:16:36 > 0:16:40Their own king has died childless and the new Valois line
0:16:40 > 0:16:42that has taken the French throne
0:16:42 > 0:16:45is aware that Edward III has a rival claim
0:16:45 > 0:16:48through his mother, Isabella of France.
0:16:50 > 0:16:52The battle for dominance in Europe
0:16:52 > 0:16:55between those ancient rivals, England and France,
0:16:55 > 0:16:59was now to be fought not only on the battlefields of France,
0:16:59 > 0:17:03but also in the pages of heavily illuminated manuscripts.
0:17:06 > 0:17:09That's why I'm returning to the Grandes Chroniques,
0:17:09 > 0:17:12one of the captured French manuscripts.
0:17:14 > 0:17:16It was made in the 1330s
0:17:16 > 0:17:21and commissioned by the heir to the French throne, John de Valois.
0:17:22 > 0:17:25It has one single-minded purpose -
0:17:25 > 0:17:29to establish the new Valois dynasty as rightful kings of France
0:17:29 > 0:17:32over the competing claims of Edward III.
0:17:34 > 0:17:37If we look at the frontispiece,
0:17:37 > 0:17:40here we see a gallery of monarchs
0:17:40 > 0:17:42whose succession is determined not by blood,
0:17:42 > 0:17:47but by the right to occupy the pedestal of kingship.
0:17:50 > 0:17:53It's one of the most heavily illustrated
0:17:53 > 0:17:57of all 14th-century manuscripts, and it also tells me
0:17:57 > 0:18:01that the French, too, are recreating the chivalric ideal.
0:18:05 > 0:18:09The book is festooned with images of French knights
0:18:09 > 0:18:11following their king in battle -
0:18:11 > 0:18:15enough to overpower any English pretensions to greatness.
0:18:17 > 0:18:21To me, this whole work is a powerful piece of PR.
0:18:21 > 0:18:23It can be used as a propaganda tool
0:18:23 > 0:18:29and I can imagine it being brought out to impress visiting dignitaries.
0:18:29 > 0:18:32It's possible that Edward himself was aware of this manuscript
0:18:32 > 0:18:37and would have been very impressed by its magnificence.
0:18:38 > 0:18:42Let's not forget, Edward sees his claim to the French throne as valid,
0:18:42 > 0:18:45and this heritage should be his
0:18:45 > 0:18:48by dynastic and legal right.
0:18:50 > 0:18:53We think of England as very separate from France,
0:18:53 > 0:18:55it wasn't for a very long time,
0:18:55 > 0:18:59and in fact many kings of England had more affinity with France
0:18:59 > 0:19:03and their domains in France than they had in England.
0:19:03 > 0:19:08So this is very natural, looking to the continent.
0:19:08 > 0:19:11The Channel is not...
0:19:11 > 0:19:15that sort of blockade, it's not a barrier.
0:19:15 > 0:19:18It's very much a conduit between the two countries.
0:19:18 > 0:19:21So, is there a French equivalent
0:19:21 > 0:19:23of the Arthurian myth across the Channel?
0:19:23 > 0:19:27Well, the Arthurian myth has a huge appeal on both sides,
0:19:27 > 0:19:31partly because of the subject matter -
0:19:31 > 0:19:34it appeals to the nobility on both sides,
0:19:34 > 0:19:36and this idea of the Round Table
0:19:36 > 0:19:41and this sort of brotherhood that support the king
0:19:41 > 0:19:48is very critical both to Edward and to his French counterparts.
0:19:48 > 0:19:54So there's a domestic agenda in how it applies to the own country,
0:19:54 > 0:20:00but there's also a competition as well between them
0:20:00 > 0:20:03as to which, in a sense, is the real Arthur.
0:20:03 > 0:20:08- Absolutely. - You know, who is the equivalent.
0:20:12 > 0:20:16The war of words over Edward's claim to the throne of France
0:20:16 > 0:20:18simmers for years.
0:20:18 > 0:20:22In the back of his mind, he knows that as king, he has the moral duty
0:20:22 > 0:20:28in front of all his subjects to assert his dynastic rights.
0:20:28 > 0:20:30He will never fully consolidate his power
0:20:30 > 0:20:32over the nobles until he does so.
0:20:32 > 0:20:38In 1337, a long-standing land dispute in Gascony
0:20:38 > 0:20:41gives Edward his opportunity,
0:20:41 > 0:20:44and a series of campaigns in France begins.
0:20:46 > 0:20:51But it's nine years before Edward delivers his knockout blow.
0:20:52 > 0:20:55It was from here, Portchester Castle,
0:20:55 > 0:21:00that Edward III sailed with 15,000 men in 1346.
0:21:00 > 0:21:04But it wasn't Gascony he sailed for, it was Normandy.
0:21:04 > 0:21:07He was going to challenge the French king head on.
0:21:07 > 0:21:12Relations between the two nations would never be the same again,
0:21:12 > 0:21:15and the Channel would act as a line of division rather than a conduit.
0:21:23 > 0:21:26The English armies begin a trail of destruction and pillage
0:21:26 > 0:21:29across northern France.
0:21:29 > 0:21:33And when Edward meets the French king at the Battle of Crecy,
0:21:33 > 0:21:35there's a legendary victory
0:21:35 > 0:21:39ensured by the longbows of the English archers.
0:21:42 > 0:21:46He has a smaller army and he has this very calculated thing.
0:21:46 > 0:21:48With archers, with projectile weaponry,
0:21:48 > 0:21:52and with a few cannon, he takes on this massive army
0:21:52 > 0:21:55and wins in a very calculated fashion,
0:21:55 > 0:21:58and shock waves run throughout Europe
0:21:58 > 0:22:01and Europe's really never been the same since.
0:22:01 > 0:22:04In the margins of the Secretum Secretorum, there's cannons.
0:22:04 > 0:22:07This is technology that Edward's employing in the battle?
0:22:07 > 0:22:09That is the earliest representation of a cannon,
0:22:09 > 0:22:11which then shot bolts in those days,
0:22:11 > 0:22:14but Edward is the person who changes what cannon are.
0:22:14 > 0:22:17He has this vision, that a small, well-equipped,
0:22:17 > 0:22:21well-financed army can take on a much larger one
0:22:21 > 0:22:23and win through projectile warfare.
0:22:23 > 0:22:25You don't attack people hand-to-hand,
0:22:25 > 0:22:29you shoot them before they get to you. It's very simple, really.
0:22:29 > 0:22:33One single order in 1341 is for three million arrows,
0:22:33 > 0:22:36so it's down to him that this technology exists.
0:22:38 > 0:22:42It took five years to make those three million arrows.
0:22:42 > 0:22:46This is why Edward delayed so long.
0:22:46 > 0:22:48After all the insecurity of his youth,
0:22:48 > 0:22:52he needed to make sure there was no chance of defeat.
0:22:52 > 0:22:57So he's really reached the height of his game at this point?
0:22:57 > 0:22:59The height of all games!
0:22:59 > 0:23:03He has created a new example of the heights that kingship can reach.
0:23:03 > 0:23:06Even 300 years later, people were writing about Edward
0:23:06 > 0:23:09as perhaps the greatest king there had ever been.
0:23:17 > 0:23:19With such success,
0:23:19 > 0:23:23you would have thought that Edward's use of the Arthurian myth
0:23:23 > 0:23:28had finally solved the problem of controlling his barons.
0:23:28 > 0:23:31Indeed, throughout his long reign,
0:23:31 > 0:23:34his nobles emulated him by acquiring manuscripts
0:23:34 > 0:23:37detailing the exploits of Arthur's knights.
0:23:40 > 0:23:43But they also added their own pages.
0:23:43 > 0:23:47Men like Humphrey de Bohun liked their king powerful
0:23:47 > 0:23:48but not TOO powerful.
0:23:52 > 0:23:55Wow, gosh! Look at that amazing illumination.
0:23:55 > 0:23:58This is a copy of Lancelot du Lac,
0:23:58 > 0:24:01it's a French manuscript made around 1320
0:24:01 > 0:24:05and it's later acquired by Humphrey de Bohun,
0:24:05 > 0:24:07who's one of the king's greatest earls,
0:24:07 > 0:24:10and here, on this frontispiece that he's had added,
0:24:10 > 0:24:13you can see the two coats-of-arms -
0:24:13 > 0:24:17Edward III alongside the de Bohun's coat-of-arms,
0:24:17 > 0:24:19showing their closeness at this stage.
0:24:19 > 0:24:22And there's a wonderful scene depicted here,
0:24:22 > 0:24:26of King Arthur and Guinevere surrounded by their noblemen,
0:24:26 > 0:24:30feasting, holding these golden chalices
0:24:30 > 0:24:32and having a really great time.
0:24:32 > 0:24:34There there's this very intriguing little scene -
0:24:34 > 0:24:37Arthur is obviously dealing with some matters of state.
0:24:37 > 0:24:41He's interacting with two characters.
0:24:41 > 0:24:44But behind him, Guinevere and Lancelot are in a secret exchange,
0:24:44 > 0:24:47they're whispering to one another,
0:24:47 > 0:24:49and this is intriguing.
0:24:49 > 0:24:53In Arthurian legend, Lancelot's a really important figure,
0:24:53 > 0:24:56he's one of the most trusted by King Arthur,
0:24:56 > 0:25:01and he's probably most famous for seducing the king's wife, Guinevere.
0:25:01 > 0:25:04This eventually brings about the collapse of the Round Table
0:25:04 > 0:25:06and the demise of King Arthur.
0:25:06 > 0:25:11So, in this character, Lancelot, we see the power struggle
0:25:11 > 0:25:16that's constantly taking place between the nobility and the king.
0:25:16 > 0:25:19It's interesting that texts like this were so popular
0:25:19 > 0:25:22with noble patrons and noble readers,
0:25:22 > 0:25:26because it shows how, in texts, the power of the king could be tempered.
0:25:30 > 0:25:34But Edward would have a reply to these noble detractors.
0:25:34 > 0:25:38One they would not be able to undermine so easily.
0:25:42 > 0:25:46In 1348, the homecoming from Edward's triumphant French campaigns
0:25:46 > 0:25:51was marked by the usual great feasting and tournaments.
0:25:52 > 0:25:57But a far greater menace than war is beginning to sweep Europe -
0:25:57 > 0:25:59the Black Death.
0:26:02 > 0:26:05By the next year, it's raging in London
0:26:05 > 0:26:07and claiming one life in three.
0:26:08 > 0:26:12The chronicles tell of licentious behaviour at court
0:26:12 > 0:26:14and, through them, we can guess
0:26:14 > 0:26:17an apocalyptic and deeply frightened mood.
0:26:19 > 0:26:22People think they are going to die.
0:26:23 > 0:26:25The Day of Judgment has arrived.
0:26:29 > 0:26:32What's notable is that despite this great terror,
0:26:32 > 0:26:34there are no references to the plague
0:26:34 > 0:26:37in the Royal manuscripts at the time.
0:26:37 > 0:26:40It seems that the court would only see what it wants to see
0:26:40 > 0:26:42and what it wants to be seen.
0:26:42 > 0:26:45What we do know is that in April 1349,
0:26:45 > 0:26:48here in the grounds of Windsor Castle,
0:26:48 > 0:26:52Edward III organised a great tournament,
0:26:52 > 0:26:54while, just ten miles away over there,
0:26:54 > 0:26:58London was a charnel house overflowing with the dead.
0:26:58 > 0:27:01And over there, in St George's Chapel,
0:27:01 > 0:27:04on April 23rd, St George's Day,
0:27:04 > 0:27:09he formulates a new chivalric order, the Order of the Garter.
0:27:22 > 0:27:24Wow.
0:27:29 > 0:27:32Following the example of the Round Table,
0:27:32 > 0:27:34there are 25 members in addition to the king.
0:27:36 > 0:27:40They are nearly all knights that Edward fought with at Crecy.
0:27:40 > 0:27:41What's going on here?
0:27:45 > 0:27:49To get a clue, here's Edward III in William Bruges' Garter Book,
0:27:49 > 0:27:51written some 90 years later.
0:27:51 > 0:27:56Over these pages are all his knights - his brothers-in-arms.
0:27:56 > 0:27:59But there's something new here too.
0:28:01 > 0:28:05Here is a king invested with almost religious authority.
0:28:05 > 0:28:08His favourite saint, the warrior saint, St George,
0:28:08 > 0:28:14has been appropriated into the majesty of monarchy.
0:28:14 > 0:28:18The king is crowned, standing resplendent, dressed in a tunic
0:28:18 > 0:28:22composed of the Arms of England quartered with France.
0:28:22 > 0:28:27He wears a cloak emblazoned with the cross of St George,
0:28:27 > 0:28:29within the new Garter symbol and motto.
0:28:31 > 0:28:35At a single stroke, the monarchy has been sanctified,
0:28:35 > 0:28:37purified and strengthened.
0:28:37 > 0:28:40It's an incredibly powerful piece of propaganda.
0:28:40 > 0:28:43In one of the worst catastrophes England's ever faced,
0:28:43 > 0:28:46Edward seems to be saying, "It's business as usual.
0:28:46 > 0:28:50"I'm in command and I'm not frightened."
0:28:54 > 0:28:58To this day, the coats-of-arms of the original 25 knights,
0:28:58 > 0:29:00and those of their successors,
0:29:00 > 0:29:03are pinned to the back wall of the chapel stalls.
0:29:14 > 0:29:18And the motto to the Order of the Garter's really enigmatic, too.
0:29:18 > 0:29:19"Honi soit qui mal y pense".
0:29:21 > 0:29:26I believe it relates to Edward's claim to the throne of France.
0:29:26 > 0:29:32"Honi soit qui mal y pense" - "Shame on him who thinks evil of it".
0:29:34 > 0:29:38The Garter itself is supposed to have been a small leather strap
0:29:38 > 0:29:41used to join armour by the knights at Crecy.
0:29:46 > 0:29:50Edward III would reserve membership only for those nobles
0:29:50 > 0:29:53with the highest records of loyalty and military prowess.
0:29:55 > 0:29:59Rather than the mythical figure of Arthur
0:29:59 > 0:30:02and his Knights of the Round Table, this represents so much more.
0:30:02 > 0:30:07It's like Edward's saying, "I represent religious integrity.
0:30:07 > 0:30:12"My kingship is all about down-the-line Christian orthodoxy."
0:30:13 > 0:30:17In a masterstroke of image-making,
0:30:17 > 0:30:20Edward has bolstered his position as sanctified monarch,
0:30:20 > 0:30:23secularised his own saint, and last but not least,
0:30:23 > 0:30:26consolidated his power over the nobles.
0:30:49 > 0:30:53The king's stamp of authority wasn't just seen in his own propaganda,
0:30:53 > 0:30:57but also in the work of his humbler subjects too.
0:31:16 > 0:31:19This is an encyclopaedia.
0:31:19 > 0:31:20It's not the first encyclopaedia,
0:31:20 > 0:31:24but it is the first that's arranged alphabetically.
0:31:24 > 0:31:28It was written by a clerk to King Edward III.
0:31:31 > 0:31:35It has the delightful name Omne Bonum - "All Good Things".
0:31:35 > 0:31:42It has over 1,350 entries and it's illuminated throughout
0:31:42 > 0:31:47with these images to illustrate the pieces that they accompany.
0:31:48 > 0:31:51It's the huge amount of effort required to order
0:31:51 > 0:31:54all these gobbets of good information
0:31:54 > 0:31:55that I find so interesting.
0:31:55 > 0:31:59So here we've got "Anetum", that's dill.
0:31:59 > 0:32:02And this figure is holding up an image of dill.
0:32:02 > 0:32:06And here, "Ancipiter", that's a bird of prey, so you can see
0:32:06 > 0:32:10this wonderful illumination of the character holding up the bird.
0:32:14 > 0:32:18And if we look at this entry for "Anglia", England,
0:32:18 > 0:32:23we haven't got a map of the country, instead we've got an image of a king
0:32:23 > 0:32:26in all his regalia.
0:32:27 > 0:32:32Like king and saint, king and country are now inseparable.
0:32:34 > 0:32:37Edward III has clearly done his job well.
0:32:41 > 0:32:43These images are really showing us
0:32:43 > 0:32:46that mankind is at the centre of everything,
0:32:46 > 0:32:48everything is made for his use,
0:32:48 > 0:32:52and he's at the very heart of God's creation.
0:33:16 > 0:33:19What is also happening with Omne Bonum
0:33:19 > 0:33:22is the secularisation of production.
0:33:22 > 0:33:24Manuscripts are now not just the preserve
0:33:24 > 0:33:27of royalty or religious houses.
0:33:27 > 0:33:31Neither of these can now control the thirst for new knowledge.
0:33:31 > 0:33:33Soon, the floodgates will be open.
0:33:42 > 0:33:44Knowing Edward's enquiring mind,
0:33:44 > 0:33:48there's every possibility that he saw Omne Bonum being written.
0:33:48 > 0:33:51But what would have interested him much more
0:33:51 > 0:33:54would have been the manuscript output from a noble family
0:33:54 > 0:33:57that were among the greatest at court.
0:33:59 > 0:34:03This great mound is all that now remains of one of the largest
0:34:03 > 0:34:07and most important castles in medieval England.
0:34:07 > 0:34:11Today, not a stone remains, but in the late 14th century
0:34:11 > 0:34:13it was the seat of the de Bohun family,
0:34:13 > 0:34:16one of the most powerful noble families in the land.
0:34:16 > 0:34:20But late on in Edward III's reign, their lands were broken up.
0:34:20 > 0:34:22I believe the Royal Manuscript Collection
0:34:22 > 0:34:24holds the key to the mystery of what happened.
0:34:26 > 0:34:28Within the walls of Pleshey Castle,
0:34:28 > 0:34:32the family had a brilliant little manuscript factory,
0:34:32 > 0:34:36employing scribes from the local monastery and so far as we know,
0:34:36 > 0:34:38secular artists.
0:34:39 > 0:34:43They would be continuously engaged in the painstaking task
0:34:43 > 0:34:47of creating at least a dozen stunning manuscripts,
0:34:47 > 0:34:49known to have come from Pleshey.
0:34:52 > 0:34:55The de Bohun artists could spend years and years
0:34:55 > 0:34:57on a single manuscript.
0:34:57 > 0:35:00But the length of time an illumination would take to complete
0:35:00 > 0:35:05was defined by the availability not just of the artists,
0:35:05 > 0:35:09but the supply of its crucial ingredient - gold.
0:35:13 > 0:35:15SHE BREATHES OUT HEAVILY
0:35:17 > 0:35:21Patricia Lovett is one of only a handful of illuminators
0:35:21 > 0:35:26who practise in a way virtually unchanged since medieval times.
0:35:26 > 0:35:29Patricia, can you tell me a bit more about the illumination process?
0:35:29 > 0:35:32First, the design has to be worked out very precisely.
0:35:32 > 0:35:37it's not like watercolour or oil painting,
0:35:37 > 0:35:40where you've got leeway and you can change things.
0:35:40 > 0:35:43It's a very, very carefully thought-out procedure,
0:35:43 > 0:35:46because you need to know exactly where the gold is going to go
0:35:46 > 0:35:50before you even start, there's no changing once you've started.
0:35:50 > 0:35:55And once the design has been transferred on to vellum,
0:35:55 > 0:35:57then this pink compound is laid,
0:35:57 > 0:36:02and this is gesso, a mixture of plaster of Paris and various glues.
0:36:02 > 0:36:07This is laid as a liquid, with a quill, and allowed to dry
0:36:07 > 0:36:09everywhere where there is going to be gold.
0:36:09 > 0:36:11I'm going to breathe on the gesso
0:36:11 > 0:36:13to reactivate the stickiness in the gesso.
0:36:16 > 0:36:19Then the gold leaf is applied
0:36:19 > 0:36:23and I have three seconds to get that gold to stick.
0:36:23 > 0:36:26And now I'm working my burnisher over the gold leaf.
0:36:26 > 0:36:28Gold was chosen for the most precious books
0:36:28 > 0:36:31because it doesn't tarnish, unlike silver.
0:36:31 > 0:36:34So there are all sorts of pluses for having gold in your book.
0:36:34 > 0:36:36Not least that it was evidence
0:36:36 > 0:36:38that you were a wealthy enough person to afford it.
0:36:40 > 0:36:42To me, the thing that really sets the illuminations apart
0:36:42 > 0:36:45from simple decoration is this application of gold.
0:36:45 > 0:36:48It's almost like alchemy, isn't it? The changing of states.
0:36:48 > 0:36:52Absolutely, you've got this pink powdery compound
0:36:52 > 0:36:56which suddenly becomes metallic and brilliant and shiny,
0:36:56 > 0:36:58and that's so attractive to us as humans.
0:36:58 > 0:37:01Then the painting takes place.
0:37:01 > 0:37:04If you can see this strip, these are the base colours.
0:37:04 > 0:37:08Then the tones and the shades are added,
0:37:08 > 0:37:12the white little highlights, very fine lines, and the black outlines.
0:37:12 > 0:37:13And that completes it.
0:37:13 > 0:37:17So how long would it take for a medieval scribe to execute
0:37:17 > 0:37:19something like this?
0:37:19 > 0:37:21This one took about a week.
0:37:21 > 0:37:23It's amazing, all the effort that's gone into these
0:37:23 > 0:37:28and so many of the artists, their names are lost. They're anonymous.
0:37:28 > 0:37:31It wasn't the practice at the time to record who did the writing
0:37:31 > 0:37:33and who did the painting.
0:37:33 > 0:37:35We do have some names,
0:37:35 > 0:37:39but there are some wonderful little notes at the backs of books
0:37:39 > 0:37:42where a scribe wrote that he had done it, when and for whom.
0:37:42 > 0:37:45And some of them are, "Thank goodness this is finished,
0:37:45 > 0:37:47"now get me a drink,
0:37:47 > 0:37:51"this was the most boring text I've ever had to write out in my life."
0:38:10 > 0:38:13Sometime in the 1370s, the busy manuscript factory
0:38:13 > 0:38:17at Pleshey Castle produced this Book of Hours.
0:38:21 > 0:38:25Books of hours were small, portable manuscripts
0:38:25 > 0:38:29designed to guide the individual through the prayers of the day.
0:38:29 > 0:38:32They often contained scenes of moral instruction
0:38:32 > 0:38:35derived from Biblical history.
0:38:35 > 0:38:39But the de Bohun Hours may tell a different story -
0:38:39 > 0:38:43about the demise of this most illustrious family.
0:38:44 > 0:38:46The de Bohun family have chosen a fidelity story
0:38:46 > 0:38:49from the First Book of Kings.
0:38:51 > 0:38:55In it, the future King David is a fugitive,
0:38:55 > 0:38:59but he proves his loyalty to a power-mad King Saul
0:38:59 > 0:39:01by not killing him when he had the chance.
0:39:01 > 0:39:06The first picture shows Saul entering the cave at Ein Gedi
0:39:06 > 0:39:08in pursuit of David.
0:39:08 > 0:39:13The second shows David cutting off the end of Saul's garment
0:39:13 > 0:39:15as he relieves himself.
0:39:15 > 0:39:18Then we see David showing the garment to Saul.
0:39:18 > 0:39:21And finally, swearing allegiance to him.
0:39:24 > 0:39:26This is an image of loyalty,
0:39:26 > 0:39:30in which the earl assumes the David persona in order to stress
0:39:30 > 0:39:34the faithfulness of the de Bohuns to the crown.
0:39:34 > 0:39:38But this Biblical account may mask a terrible end to the family.
0:39:40 > 0:39:44There's a story that Sir Humphrey, the last of the de Bohun earls,
0:39:44 > 0:39:49was suspected of poisoning fellow Garter knight the Earl of Warwick
0:39:49 > 0:39:52in one of Edward's French campaigns in 1371.
0:39:54 > 0:39:58From that time, he seems to have been out of favour with the king.
0:39:59 > 0:40:01One of the richest men in the land,
0:40:01 > 0:40:07Humphrey is now vulnerable and his estates, a target.
0:40:10 > 0:40:15Rumour has it that Edward III had Humphrey secretly hanged in 1373.
0:40:15 > 0:40:18It's no coincidence that both his lands and his books
0:40:18 > 0:40:23were then shared between the king's son and grandson
0:40:23 > 0:40:27on their respective weddings to Humphrey's two young daughters.
0:40:31 > 0:40:34The destruction of the de Bohun dynasty
0:40:34 > 0:40:37may show Edward's ruthlessness in disposing of a noble,
0:40:37 > 0:40:40however loyal, with such a prize at stake.
0:40:42 > 0:40:44But that's not the end of the story.
0:40:44 > 0:40:46Humphrey's younger daughter, Mary,
0:40:46 > 0:40:49who was dragged from a convent into marriage,
0:40:49 > 0:40:54was to be the mother of England's great warrior king, Henry V.
0:40:56 > 0:40:59What Henry would do would eclipse everything
0:40:59 > 0:41:02his great-grandfather Edward III had done,
0:41:02 > 0:41:05and HIS strategy is clear from the start.
0:41:08 > 0:41:12"High and noble prince excellent,
0:41:12 > 0:41:16"my lord, the prince, oh, lord gracious,
0:41:16 > 0:41:21"I humble servant and obedient unto your estate high and glorious."
0:41:21 > 0:41:24Gosh, this is one of the most obsequious introductions
0:41:24 > 0:41:25I've ever read to a manuscript.
0:41:25 > 0:41:29The year is 1410 and the young Prince of Wales,
0:41:29 > 0:41:30soon to be the great Henry V,
0:41:30 > 0:41:36is standing in for his father, Henry IV, who was ill.
0:41:36 > 0:41:41Thomas Hoccleve is a court clerk and a poet
0:41:41 > 0:41:43and has written this for the future king.
0:41:43 > 0:41:45It's called the Regement of Princes,
0:41:45 > 0:41:49and it's a manual of instruction for the king-in-waiting.
0:41:49 > 0:41:53Like the Secretum Secretorum before it,
0:41:53 > 0:41:57it urges the king to rule according to the cardinal virtues -
0:41:57 > 0:42:01justice, prudence, wisdom and mercy.
0:42:01 > 0:42:05But it's all written in English.
0:42:05 > 0:42:09Look here in the margins. There's an image here of Geoffrey Chaucer.
0:42:09 > 0:42:14Chaucer was Hoccleve's inspiration and he actually says in the text
0:42:14 > 0:42:18that Chaucer was "the first finder of our fair language".
0:42:22 > 0:42:25For me, this is another stage in the break with France
0:42:25 > 0:42:29and the forging of England's identity as a separate nation.
0:42:30 > 0:42:33It's the use of English that's absolutely key
0:42:33 > 0:42:36to understanding the significance of this manuscript.
0:42:36 > 0:42:38By using English,
0:42:38 > 0:42:42Hoccleve is stressing the Englishness of the Prince of Wales.
0:42:42 > 0:42:44For the first time in three-and-a-half centuries,
0:42:44 > 0:42:46we have a claimant to the throne
0:42:46 > 0:42:49who has all four English-born grandparents.
0:42:53 > 0:42:55Henry V will use his Englishness
0:42:55 > 0:42:59as a rallying cry in a violent and explosive assertion
0:42:59 > 0:43:03of England's long-standing claims to the French crown.
0:43:06 > 0:43:11In 1415, the great victory at the Battle of Agincourt
0:43:11 > 0:43:16paved the way for the English occupation of half of France.
0:43:16 > 0:43:21By 1420, Henry V's armies are at the gates of Paris,
0:43:21 > 0:43:26and he forces the French king to hand over the succession.
0:43:26 > 0:43:30But Henry delivers an even greater blow, when the French royal palace,
0:43:30 > 0:43:34the Louvre, and its treasures, including its library,
0:43:34 > 0:43:39falls into the hands of the king's brother, John, Duke of Bedford.
0:43:41 > 0:43:46So, in the 1420s, some of Europe's most valuable objects
0:43:46 > 0:43:50cross these waters into the hands of the upstart nation.
0:44:02 > 0:44:08This is a very good example of the high quality deluxe book
0:44:08 > 0:44:11that the English were getting access to
0:44:11 > 0:44:14by their being in charge in France.
0:44:14 > 0:44:18Every single page has these gold borders,
0:44:18 > 0:44:21and then it also has these magnificent illustrations
0:44:21 > 0:44:24which are by some of the best artists of the time.
0:44:24 > 0:44:27This is the top-end,
0:44:27 > 0:44:33this is as good as you will ever get in a book of this nature.
0:44:33 > 0:44:37There's as much gold on this page as you could possibly get on it.
0:44:45 > 0:44:49Here, we have one of the most magnificent images in the book...
0:44:49 > 0:44:54Oh, gosh, yeah, that's not an understatement! Look at the detail!
0:44:54 > 0:44:58A wonderful depiction of the Virgin and Child,
0:44:58 > 0:45:03with these beautiful angels, and then you've got the saint
0:45:03 > 0:45:06presenting this young prince to the Virgin,
0:45:06 > 0:45:08and then this banderol joining them,
0:45:08 > 0:45:13this is their conversation, their sacred conversation that's going on.
0:45:13 > 0:45:19God, it's heart-stopping, the background is absolutely exquisite.
0:45:19 > 0:45:23Yeah, so you have this frame of sparkling gold
0:45:23 > 0:45:26and imagine that with candlelight flickering
0:45:26 > 0:45:29and catching the gold in different ways.
0:45:29 > 0:45:34So it clearly looks royal. Who was it intended for?
0:45:34 > 0:45:37Well, this little figure here is a young prince,
0:45:37 > 0:45:42with the Arms of England and France ancient.
0:45:42 > 0:45:44So it looks like an English prince,
0:45:44 > 0:45:48but actually it started as a French prince.
0:45:48 > 0:45:50What has happened is
0:45:50 > 0:45:56that the artist has intruded over the repeated Fleur de Lys,
0:45:56 > 0:45:58the Arms of England.
0:45:58 > 0:46:03And so, this French prince has become an English prince.
0:46:04 > 0:46:08The young prince is actually an infant, the future Henry VI.
0:46:10 > 0:46:16Henry V has died in 1422, leaving his brother, John, Duke of Bedford,
0:46:16 > 0:46:20to safeguard the education of a boy who would role both kingdoms.
0:46:20 > 0:46:25The book was made for someone that's around eight, nine-years-old,
0:46:25 > 0:46:29and then it is transferred to someone around the same age as this.
0:46:29 > 0:46:33When we think that young aristocrats engaged with the psalms.
0:46:33 > 0:46:36And it's also very relevant as well that it's the psalms,
0:46:36 > 0:46:39because it's coming from King David,
0:46:39 > 0:46:43there's this kingly authority all the way through this text.
0:46:43 > 0:46:47Yes, well, if we turn to the beginning of the book, there he is.
0:46:47 > 0:46:52- There's the singer of the psalms, as a king.- As a king, yeah.
0:46:52 > 0:46:56But then, above, you've got a thing that might have been more attractive
0:46:56 > 0:46:58to an eight or nine-year-old,
0:46:58 > 0:47:02which is this fight that's going on up at the top,
0:47:02 > 0:47:08between David, who's really going to whack Goliath, who's facing him.
0:47:08 > 0:47:12- It would appeal to a boy! - I think so! I think it really would.
0:47:12 > 0:47:15In terms of the skill and the artistry of this,
0:47:15 > 0:47:18it seems far and away better than anything I've seen
0:47:18 > 0:47:20coming out of England at this point.
0:47:20 > 0:47:24It's unbeatable, it's just haute couture of its time, isn't it?
0:47:24 > 0:47:29The colours, the naturalism, just the sheer beauty of the page.
0:47:29 > 0:47:33France has the full ascendancy at this period and beyond.
0:47:33 > 0:47:38It's wonderful to think about these books as treasures as well.
0:47:38 > 0:47:40That they are the treasures of a realm.
0:47:40 > 0:47:43By John, Duke of Bedford taking the library books,
0:47:43 > 0:47:48- he's taking the treasure of that... - He's very much taking the treasures,
0:47:48 > 0:47:54and the one saving grace is that unlike the plate and the metalwork,
0:47:54 > 0:47:59which could be boiled down when you ran short of cash,
0:47:59 > 0:48:02the manuscripts couldn't, so they've come through as...
0:48:02 > 0:48:08They were the same level of treasure, but you couldn't melt them down.
0:48:13 > 0:48:15By the time he was nine,
0:48:15 > 0:48:18the young Prince Henry would be reading and absorbing
0:48:18 > 0:48:21one of the great masterpieces of medieval literature.
0:48:23 > 0:48:26Nothing reflects more England's expectations
0:48:26 > 0:48:29at the forthcoming coronation of Henry as King of France
0:48:29 > 0:48:31than the famous Bedford Hours.
0:48:38 > 0:48:41Oh, this is a moment for me!
0:48:41 > 0:48:42Wow!
0:48:46 > 0:48:52Oh gosh, right, I'm entering into the Bedford Hours.
0:49:06 > 0:49:08It was given to the young king
0:49:08 > 0:49:12by his aunt, Anne of Burgundy, and his uncle, John of Bedford,
0:49:12 > 0:49:16and he received it on Christmas Eve, 1430,
0:49:16 > 0:49:21this is just a year before his coronation as King of France.
0:49:21 > 0:49:25This is the culmination of 80 years of English foreign policy,
0:49:25 > 0:49:28and a hugely important event
0:49:28 > 0:49:31that's just preceded by the gift of this manuscript.
0:49:33 > 0:49:37The Duke of Bedford has again adapted a manuscript probably
0:49:37 > 0:49:39intended for a French prince.
0:49:40 > 0:49:44But the unknown artist has, from his Paris workshop,
0:49:44 > 0:49:49created some of the most outstanding images of the age.
0:49:49 > 0:49:53A remarkable sequence of full-page illuminations,
0:49:53 > 0:49:56depicting scenes from the Book of Genesis.
0:50:06 > 0:50:09They show the creation by an all-seeing God.
0:50:11 > 0:50:15The birth of Eve from Adam.
0:50:17 > 0:50:19Noah and the flood.
0:50:21 > 0:50:24This, for me, in terms of its artistry, its skill,
0:50:24 > 0:50:26it's a work of art.
0:50:35 > 0:50:39And here's the creation of languages in the Tower of Babel.
0:50:39 > 0:50:42These Biblical scenes are all scenarios
0:50:42 > 0:50:45that a young Christian prince should know.
0:50:46 > 0:50:51At great expense, the education of the young Henry continues.
0:50:56 > 0:51:00If you look here, we have a portrait of the Duke himself,
0:51:00 > 0:51:02kneeling before St George,
0:51:02 > 0:51:06complete with an English flag emblazoned on his chest.
0:51:06 > 0:51:07This is significant,
0:51:07 > 0:51:10at this point England has conquered France,
0:51:10 > 0:51:14so who better for John to be kneeling in front of
0:51:14 > 0:51:16than the warrior saint of England?
0:51:18 > 0:51:22The book also celebrates the marriage of Duke John
0:51:22 > 0:51:24to Anne of Burgundy in 1423,
0:51:24 > 0:51:28an alliance designed to protect the new dual monarchy.
0:51:28 > 0:51:32Really, for the first time,
0:51:32 > 0:51:36images of real people are becoming individual and recognisable.
0:51:36 > 0:51:41The medieval framework of symbolism is beginning to take a back seat.
0:51:42 > 0:51:46Whilst the treatment of the saint and the Duke inside the window
0:51:46 > 0:51:49of the picture is modern and realistic,
0:51:49 > 0:51:52the images of the sufferings of the saint
0:51:52 > 0:51:55in the margins are still symbolic and medieval.
0:51:57 > 0:52:00This is such a powerful present.
0:52:00 > 0:52:04The Bedford Hours is more than just a prayer book,
0:52:04 > 0:52:06it's bursting with status
0:52:06 > 0:52:11and encapsulates the aspirations of an entire nation.
0:52:13 > 0:52:16On his coming of age in 1437,
0:52:16 > 0:52:20England's nobility hoped King Henry VI would do everything possible
0:52:20 > 0:52:25to protect his dual inheritance on the battlefields of France
0:52:25 > 0:52:27against resurgent French armies.
0:52:29 > 0:52:32But Henry never goes to fight the war in France.
0:52:39 > 0:52:42I'm with the historian John Watts to find out why.
0:52:44 > 0:52:47So John, what do we know about Henry VI?
0:52:47 > 0:52:49Henry VI comes to the throne at nine-months-old.
0:52:49 > 0:52:51There's then a period of royal minority
0:52:51 > 0:52:53where the realm is governed by a council.
0:52:53 > 0:52:56The councillors wait eagerly for the king to take over,
0:52:56 > 0:52:58but he shows no initiative, and they find themselves
0:52:58 > 0:53:02having to hand authority to him, which he doesn't exercise.
0:53:02 > 0:53:05So it's hard to know exactly what kind of a person Henry is,
0:53:05 > 0:53:07whether he was a pious figure,
0:53:07 > 0:53:11as positive legend suggests, or whether he was simply an idiot,
0:53:11 > 0:53:16as a more negative views of his subjects tend to imply.
0:53:16 > 0:53:21The king has to be an active and effective individual,
0:53:21 > 0:53:25and what people don't realise is there's good blueprints for kingship
0:53:25 > 0:53:26available in this time.
0:53:26 > 0:53:30Advice-writers like Hoccleve, in his Regement of Princes,
0:53:30 > 0:53:33are telling kings how to govern,
0:53:33 > 0:53:35and central to Hoccleve's theory
0:53:35 > 0:53:37is an idea of the four cardinal virtues -
0:53:37 > 0:53:41so the king must be just, he must be prudent,
0:53:41 > 0:53:44he must be wise, and he must show mercy.
0:53:44 > 0:53:47And he must hear the advice of his councillors
0:53:47 > 0:53:51and then take a decision and authorise that decision fully.
0:53:51 > 0:53:55That's the blueprint for kingship, that's all a king needs to do.
0:53:55 > 0:53:56But Henry simply doesn't.
0:53:56 > 0:54:01He doesn't show the constancy that's involved in fortitude.
0:54:01 > 0:54:03He isn't determined to do justice.
0:54:03 > 0:54:07He won't fight to defend his rights or his realm.
0:54:07 > 0:54:08Because he won't go to France -
0:54:08 > 0:54:13and he's the only king in this period who doesn't fight in France -
0:54:13 > 0:54:18nobody is willing to go and the English conquest unravels.
0:54:20 > 0:54:24The medieval mind would understand the wheel of fortune.
0:54:24 > 0:54:28But in throwing it all away, Henry exceeded the expectations
0:54:28 > 0:54:31of even the most pessimistic of his nobles.
0:54:36 > 0:54:41The king turned out to be one of the worst kings England had ever had.
0:54:45 > 0:54:51In 1444, at a time his armies are losing in France,
0:54:51 > 0:54:54Henry's bride-to-be, Margaret of Anjou,
0:54:54 > 0:54:58was given an extraordinary wedding present.
0:54:58 > 0:55:02This magnificent manuscript is the Shrewsbury Book.
0:55:02 > 0:55:05It was made by the gentleman depicted here, Sir John Talbot,
0:55:05 > 0:55:11he's the commander of the English troops in France,
0:55:11 > 0:55:16and beside him is his symbol, the Talbot dog, that's now extinct.
0:55:16 > 0:55:20He's handing this book over to Margaret of Anjou,
0:55:20 > 0:55:24and this is designed as a wedding gift for her,
0:55:24 > 0:55:26because she's going to marry King Henry VI.
0:55:26 > 0:55:31But just opposite is what must be one of the most intricately
0:55:31 > 0:55:36and elaborately decorated pages of any book ever written.
0:55:38 > 0:55:40It's a powerful image that sets out
0:55:40 > 0:55:44all Henry's claims to the French throne.
0:55:44 > 0:55:48On the left-hand side is the long line of French monarchs.
0:55:53 > 0:55:57And on the right, there's the genealogy of the English kings.
0:55:57 > 0:56:01They join at the bottom, where Henry sits guarded by angels
0:56:01 > 0:56:04and the insignia of the Garter.
0:56:04 > 0:56:09And the whole edifice is propped up by Henry's guardians in chief -
0:56:09 > 0:56:14Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, and Richard, Duke of York.
0:56:17 > 0:56:22And both royal dynasties are given a common ancestor -
0:56:22 > 0:56:25St Louis, the 13th-century saint-king of France.
0:56:27 > 0:56:32If ever there was a solid vision of the right of succession, this is it.
0:56:32 > 0:56:37All the kings we've seen over the last 120 years are here -
0:56:37 > 0:56:42Henry V, the warrior king, the great Edward III,
0:56:42 > 0:56:48and even the tumbledown king, Edward II, has been restored to majesty.
0:56:50 > 0:56:55But never was one man's fortune more wasted.
0:56:55 > 0:56:59Behind this elaborate and somewhat optimistic fantasy
0:56:59 > 0:57:04was a stark reality, that there was not a strong English king.
0:57:04 > 0:57:08Even as the book was being written, the French,
0:57:08 > 0:57:12united under the inspiration of their own champion, Joan of Arc,
0:57:12 > 0:57:14were reclaiming English lands.
0:57:18 > 0:57:23One by one, the remaining English dominions begin to disappear.
0:57:23 > 0:57:29Normandy is lost by 1450, followed by Gascony three years later,
0:57:29 > 0:57:32when the English project in France dies for ever.
0:57:35 > 0:57:38I think that what all these manuscripts are telling us
0:57:38 > 0:57:41is that in an ever-expanding
0:57:41 > 0:57:44and ever more complex and literary world,
0:57:44 > 0:57:50the institution of medieval kingship must constantly reinvent itself.
0:57:50 > 0:57:54Power hinges on the strength and personality of the king,
0:57:54 > 0:57:59and his ability to manipulate his noblemen through propaganda.
0:57:59 > 0:58:02And the manuscripts themselves are changing.
0:58:02 > 0:58:06On the dawn of printing, as books are becoming more commonplace,
0:58:06 > 0:58:10manuscripts commissioned by and for the royalty are characterised
0:58:10 > 0:58:14by being all the more elaborate and exquisite.
0:58:14 > 0:58:19Royalty is now defined as much by its majesty as by its divinity.
0:58:23 > 0:58:27Next time - the final flowering of illuminated manuscripts,
0:58:27 > 0:58:33as the Tudors take over England and its church.
0:58:39 > 0:58:42Subtitles by Evelyn Morrish, Red Bee Media Ltd
0:58:42 > 0:58:45E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk