0:00:06 > 0:00:08In the days of absolute monarchy,
0:00:08 > 0:00:13the royal court was where you went to get ahead.
0:00:13 > 0:00:17It was the nation's heart of power, influence and money.
0:00:17 > 0:00:21But life at court was a game of high stakes.
0:00:21 > 0:00:24It could make you, or it could break you.
0:00:25 > 0:00:28Even kings and queens could lose a crown
0:00:28 > 0:00:30by misjudging the mood at court.
0:00:30 > 0:00:33Fortunes rose and fell.
0:00:33 > 0:00:36Richard II was the first English king
0:00:36 > 0:00:41to use art and rhetoric to build a sophisticated court.
0:00:41 > 0:00:45It gave his reign a new aura.
0:00:45 > 0:00:48Richard wanted to the take monarchy to a whole new level.
0:00:48 > 0:00:52Until his day, the king was first among equals -
0:00:52 > 0:00:57leader of the gang, sure, but still one of the chaps.
0:00:57 > 0:01:01Instead, Richard craved absolute power, veneration,
0:01:01 > 0:01:04the aura of divinity, even.
0:01:04 > 0:01:09He was the first monarch who insisted on being addressed as
0:01:09 > 0:01:15"Your Highness", "Your Majesty", even "Your High Royal Presence".
0:01:17 > 0:01:22Richard still needed fearless warriors, like kings before him.
0:01:23 > 0:01:27The art of chivalry was as important as ever.
0:01:27 > 0:01:32Now there were new ways to flatter and indulge a king.
0:01:32 > 0:01:35It's pretty hot in the old kitchens of Richard II.
0:01:35 > 0:01:39'Dress to impress.
0:01:39 > 0:01:40'Tell stories.'
0:01:40 > 0:01:42Geoffrey Chaucer, the first
0:01:42 > 0:01:45great superstar of English letters.
0:01:45 > 0:01:48But Richard was a tricky customer.
0:01:48 > 0:01:52Everything about his life was different and odd and other.
0:01:52 > 0:01:57Being close to him brought many a courtier to a sticky end.
0:02:01 > 0:02:05He could be spiky, thin-skinned, peevish,
0:02:05 > 0:02:08over-sensitive, effete.
0:02:10 > 0:02:12He could be the best of friends and company,
0:02:12 > 0:02:17the next minute turn wrathful and difficult, he was unpredictable.
0:02:18 > 0:02:24He liked the finer things in life, like clothes, food, architecture.
0:02:24 > 0:02:27He had an artistic sensibility
0:02:27 > 0:02:30at a time when nobody had heard of such a thing.
0:02:30 > 0:02:32He was married twice
0:02:32 > 0:02:37but had close male friends about whom rumours circulated.
0:02:37 > 0:02:41Richard was altogether too complicated,
0:02:41 > 0:02:46too modern for his time, and he would pay the price for that.
0:03:28 > 0:03:31Richard's reign began in July, 1377
0:03:31 > 0:03:35with the most splendid coronation England had ever seen.
0:03:35 > 0:03:38A cavalcade of 3,000 courtiers paraded
0:03:38 > 0:03:42through the streets of London to Westminster.
0:03:42 > 0:03:48A red carpet marked the route into the abbey and up to the high altar.
0:03:48 > 0:03:49As one chronicler wrote,
0:03:49 > 0:03:54"It was a day of joyful gladness and of the braying of trumpets."
0:03:56 > 0:04:01At the heart of all this fanfare and flummery was a ten-year-old child.
0:04:01 > 0:04:05Richard was the youngest king ever crowned here at the abbey.
0:04:05 > 0:04:08The oppressive grandeur of the occasion,
0:04:08 > 0:04:11the sheer immensity of this old place,
0:04:11 > 0:04:15even now one feels the weight of the fabric, the stone,
0:04:15 > 0:04:17the history upon you, pressing down -
0:04:17 > 0:04:20how much more of a burden, then,
0:04:20 > 0:04:25upon the frail shoulders of a child barely out of short trousers.
0:04:26 > 0:04:30Richard wasn't the only one quaking at the knees.
0:04:30 > 0:04:33For most courtiers, this was their first chance to get close
0:04:33 > 0:04:38to their new king - and first impressions mattered.
0:04:39 > 0:04:43The burden of the great occasion weighed heavily on everyone present.
0:04:43 > 0:04:47Every courtier, every guest, every bishop and servant,
0:04:47 > 0:04:51each knew that they had to fulfil their role perfectly
0:04:51 > 0:04:54because the merest misstep or hiccup,
0:04:54 > 0:04:58to the superstitious medieval mind, was a portent of doom,
0:04:58 > 0:05:02overshadowing Richard's reign before it had even begun.
0:05:03 > 0:05:06Pre-eminent amongst the grand array of courtiers
0:05:06 > 0:05:08was the King's Champion.
0:05:08 > 0:05:12He rode a magnificent charger and wore a full suit of armour
0:05:12 > 0:05:19while offering mortal combat to anyone who opposed Richard's rule.
0:05:21 > 0:05:24No courtier was more important than the King's Champion.
0:05:24 > 0:05:27And it was his role to proclaim aloud,
0:05:27 > 0:05:31"If there be any man of high degree or low,
0:05:31 > 0:05:34"that will say that this, our sovereign liege, Lord Richard,
0:05:34 > 0:05:37"ought not of right to be King of England crowned,
0:05:37 > 0:05:41"I am ready now till the last hour of my breath,
0:05:41 > 0:05:46"with my body to beat him like a false man or a traitor."
0:05:53 > 0:05:57This magnificent picture - the king seen against a backdrop
0:05:57 > 0:06:02of gold gesso - is known to this day as The Coronation Portrait,
0:06:02 > 0:06:04as if there could be no other.
0:06:04 > 0:06:06And certainly there'd been nothing like this before.
0:06:06 > 0:06:10It's the work of that distinguished artist, Anonymous.
0:06:10 > 0:06:14Sadly, we don't know the identity of the gifted hand
0:06:14 > 0:06:16responsible for this work.
0:06:16 > 0:06:21But we do know that it's a milestone in art history and monarchy.
0:06:21 > 0:06:26Before Richard, no king had been rendered on this scale,
0:06:26 > 0:06:28bigger than life.
0:06:28 > 0:06:32Until now, religious sensibilities meant that the sitter,
0:06:32 > 0:06:35however elevated, would be seen in profile.
0:06:36 > 0:06:39But Richard presumed to address the viewer directly,
0:06:39 > 0:06:42looking straight into his eyes.
0:06:44 > 0:06:48What this is saying is, "Here's a young man who believes,
0:06:48 > 0:06:52"who understands in his bones, that his calling is from on high,
0:06:52 > 0:06:54"from God himself."
0:06:54 > 0:06:59This is the beginning of an aura of divinity around kingship
0:06:59 > 0:07:02and if you look into Richard's eyes, even now, you can't doubt
0:07:02 > 0:07:07he believes his calling is from the highest authority.
0:07:18 > 0:07:22If you wanted to get ahead in Richard's court,
0:07:22 > 0:07:26you had to be ahead of the latest fashions.
0:07:26 > 0:07:29The king himself was certainly a dapper dresser.
0:07:29 > 0:07:33He couldn't get enough fur, velvet and cloth of gold.
0:07:33 > 0:07:38He was said to have spent £20,000 on a single outfit,
0:07:38 > 0:07:40an unbelievable fortune.
0:07:40 > 0:07:45Courtiers had to be well turned out, from head to toe.
0:07:48 > 0:07:50We think we're the first people
0:07:50 > 0:07:52to worry about the size of our footprint,
0:07:52 > 0:07:56but in the 1300s, courtiers were falling over each other,
0:07:56 > 0:08:01sometimes themselves, to put their best foot forward.
0:08:03 > 0:08:08This is the Medieval cloth town of Lavenham in Suffolk,
0:08:08 > 0:08:13where Paul Wragg is making pointed Medieval shoes, known as poulaines.
0:08:15 > 0:08:20- Hello, Paul, I'm Stephen. How are you?- Fine, thank you.
0:08:20 > 0:08:23Proper little elves' workshop you've got going on. Can I sit down?
0:08:23 > 0:08:26- Yeah, please do. - So what are you doing?
0:08:26 > 0:08:28Making a pair of shoes, a pair of poulaines.
0:08:28 > 0:08:30Like nothing I've ever seen before.
0:08:30 > 0:08:34How on earth would you even go about making a pair like that?
0:08:34 > 0:08:38First of all, I would make a pattern of your feet,
0:08:38 > 0:08:40take a drawing around your feet.
0:08:40 > 0:08:42And then measurements across and around.
0:08:42 > 0:08:46And then I'd transpose that onto a piece of leather and sew them
0:08:46 > 0:08:51inside out along this, what we call the lasting seam.
0:08:51 > 0:08:57And when the shoe is ready for turning, it's soaked in water
0:08:57 > 0:08:59and then turned.
0:08:59 > 0:09:01Were there any rules that you're aware of
0:09:01 > 0:09:03determining who could wear what?
0:09:03 > 0:09:09The length of the shoe was commensurate with your status in society.
0:09:09 > 0:09:11So if you were of a lowly status,
0:09:11 > 0:09:14you would only be allowed a very short poulaine.
0:09:14 > 0:09:18If you were of a royal, kingly status,
0:09:18 > 0:09:21- these could be as long as you like. - The sky is the limit.
0:09:21 > 0:09:25Now, I know you've kindly been making a pair of poulaines for me.
0:09:25 > 0:09:28- Are these them?- No, yours... - They're finished!
0:09:28 > 0:09:32..are here, in fashionable red.
0:09:32 > 0:09:34Wow, get a load of those.
0:09:34 > 0:09:37I was hoping for a long pair, but these will do.
0:09:37 > 0:09:39- Love to try them.- Please do.
0:09:41 > 0:09:43'And to complete the look...'
0:09:43 > 0:09:45- What's that?- Hat as well.
0:09:45 > 0:09:47- Seriously?- Yeah.
0:09:47 > 0:09:51Is there somewhere where I can slip into something less comfortable?
0:09:51 > 0:09:53- Through there.- Thank you.
0:09:53 > 0:09:55Have fun.
0:10:17 > 0:10:21Well, Paul, nice piece of work.
0:10:21 > 0:10:24- Thank you.- The only trouble is that I don't have a bag to go with them.
0:10:24 > 0:10:27- What's the size of that? - Even bigger.
0:10:27 > 0:10:31Fill this room. To be honest with you, and I don't want to hurt your feelings,
0:10:31 > 0:10:34- they're not for every day. - No.- Are they?- No.
0:10:34 > 0:10:38I mean, cycling's out... the allotment..
0:10:38 > 0:10:42I think this is the finest cobblers I've ever been involved with, Paul.
0:10:42 > 0:10:45- Thank you very much. God bless you. - Thank you.
0:10:59 > 0:11:04Richard's childhood was overshadowed by his father, the Black Prince.
0:11:04 > 0:11:08He was a warrior down to his gore-flecked bootstraps
0:11:08 > 0:11:11and was forever waging war.
0:11:11 > 0:11:14His own chance of becoming king was snatched away
0:11:14 > 0:11:18by his untimely death, leaving Richard to take the throne.
0:11:18 > 0:11:20But who'd be there to guide him?
0:11:20 > 0:11:24What Richard needed was a role model, as we say now,
0:11:24 > 0:11:28a father figure, and there was no shortage of suitable candidates.
0:11:28 > 0:11:30There was his own uncle, John of Gaunt.
0:11:30 > 0:11:34His trusted tutors, Simon Burley and Guichard D'Angle.
0:11:34 > 0:11:38There was even the Chamberlain of his household,
0:11:38 > 0:11:40a man called Aubrey de Vere.
0:11:40 > 0:11:43But nobody was better suited to the job than
0:11:43 > 0:11:45the Archbishop of Canterbury,
0:11:45 > 0:11:48the man who'd placed the crown on Richard's head at his coronation.
0:11:48 > 0:11:52He was the pious Simon Sudbury.
0:11:55 > 0:11:58Sudbury was always there for Richard.
0:11:58 > 0:12:01After the Black Prince's death, he praised him as
0:12:01 > 0:12:05"a fair son and the very image of his father'.
0:12:05 > 0:12:09Richard made him one of his closest advisors.
0:12:09 > 0:12:13But in 1381, the year of the Peasant's Revolt,
0:12:13 > 0:12:18Sudbury's position at the king's right hand put him in danger.
0:12:25 > 0:12:28The ugly truth was that when things turned nasty,
0:12:28 > 0:12:31there was nothing the mob liked better
0:12:31 > 0:12:35than exacting revenge against the king by killing someone he loved.
0:12:35 > 0:12:41And that dire fate befell the king's father figure, Simon Sudbury.
0:12:41 > 0:12:45Tragically for Richard, and for Simon, too, of course.
0:12:45 > 0:12:48Here at St Gregory's Church in Sudbury,
0:12:48 > 0:12:51there's a grizzly reminder of his end.
0:12:53 > 0:12:55BELL TOLLS
0:13:00 > 0:13:02Good afternoon, Vicar, how are you?
0:13:02 > 0:13:04Good afternoon, Stephen. Welcome to St Gregory's.
0:13:04 > 0:13:09Thank you very much. I believe you have a fascinating relic of Simon Sudbury.
0:13:09 > 0:13:11Yes, you could call it a relic. Yes, we have.
0:13:13 > 0:13:14Come this way, Stephen.
0:13:18 > 0:13:20- The head's behind here.- The head?
0:13:20 > 0:13:22- It's a head?- It's a head.
0:13:24 > 0:13:28- My goodness.- There we are, that's the head of Simon of Sudbury.
0:13:28 > 0:13:32And it's a head, not a skull because there's little bits of flesh
0:13:32 > 0:13:35and skin and cartilage.
0:13:35 > 0:13:39How did they achieve that, that mummification process?
0:13:39 > 0:13:42The story is that he was beheaded in the White Tower
0:13:42 > 0:13:44as part of the Peasants' Revolt
0:13:44 > 0:13:48and the head was put on a spike on London Bridge.
0:13:48 > 0:13:51And apparently it was a very hot time of year, in the summer,
0:13:51 > 0:13:55and it sort of mummified, I suppose, over that period of time.
0:13:55 > 0:13:59And then the good folk of Sudbury took pity on the head
0:13:59 > 0:14:01and felt it should come back here
0:14:01 > 0:14:04to his home town of Sudbury, so brought back,
0:14:04 > 0:14:09and it's been in the town ever since, so well over 600 years.
0:14:09 > 0:14:11Can we take him out and have a look at him?
0:14:11 > 0:14:15We can't touch him, I'm afraid, but I can tell you a bit more about him,
0:14:15 > 0:14:18if you like, having seen it myself on another occasion.
0:14:18 > 0:14:23On the back of the head, you can actually see marks
0:14:23 > 0:14:26where the attempted beheading took place.
0:14:26 > 0:14:31And the story goes that it took seven blows to take that head off,
0:14:31 > 0:14:33which must have been horrific.
0:14:43 > 0:14:47It's tough at the top but it's lonely, too.
0:14:47 > 0:14:51And throughout history, leaders, monarchs have surrounded themselves
0:14:51 > 0:14:56with their special people, intimates, familiars, favourites.
0:14:56 > 0:14:59Those with whom they could talk in an unguarded way
0:14:59 > 0:15:02removed from the strictures of court life.
0:15:02 > 0:15:06But it's a slippery business being a favourite.
0:15:06 > 0:15:12It tends to breed suspicion, enmity, bitter hatred, controversy.
0:15:12 > 0:15:16And that was never truer than in the case of Richard.
0:15:20 > 0:15:24One favourite caused more controversy than any other.
0:15:24 > 0:15:29His name was Robert de Vere, tenth Earl of Oxford.
0:15:29 > 0:15:31This was Robert de Vere's home.
0:15:31 > 0:15:35His relationship with Richard was so close, it provoked resentment,
0:15:35 > 0:15:39even scandal. Perhaps those two things were connected.
0:15:39 > 0:15:43Thomas Walsingham, a leading chronicler of the day, a man
0:15:43 > 0:15:46who could give any modern tabloid journalist a run for his money,
0:15:46 > 0:15:51wrote of the king's relationship like this, "According to rumour,
0:15:51 > 0:15:56"his closeness to Lord Robert and his deep love and affection for him
0:15:56 > 0:16:00"was not without some taint of an obscene relationship."
0:16:00 > 0:16:04Or, as Walsingham put it in Latin, the king was guilty of
0:16:04 > 0:16:07"familiaritatis obsoenae".
0:16:09 > 0:16:14Next door to the castle, de Vere's descendant, Demetra Lindsay,
0:16:14 > 0:16:17still lives in the family home.
0:16:23 > 0:16:28- Demetra, hello.- Stephen.- How are you?- Very nice to see you.
0:16:28 > 0:16:29- Come in!- Thank you.
0:16:29 > 0:16:31Smashing place.
0:16:35 > 0:16:40Can we talk about your ancestor
0:16:40 > 0:16:44and his friendship with the king?
0:16:44 > 0:16:47What did the two of them have in common,
0:16:47 > 0:16:51what was the bond that brought them together?
0:16:51 > 0:16:54I think there was a rather nice relationship between them
0:16:54 > 0:16:58because the Earl of Oxford, Robert, was five years older than Richard
0:16:58 > 0:17:02and I think there was a certain amount of adoration going on.
0:17:02 > 0:17:05- It was a sort of hero worship, in a way?- I think so.
0:17:05 > 0:17:08And from Robert's point of view, it was no bad thing
0:17:08 > 0:17:10to be that close to Richard, of course.
0:17:10 > 0:17:12I think it was certainly good for Robert.
0:17:12 > 0:17:16Of course, Richard created the title of Marquess,
0:17:16 > 0:17:20- for the very first time, for Robert. - Just plucked it out of the air?
0:17:20 > 0:17:23And then all these earls are sitting there
0:17:23 > 0:17:27and suddenly there's a new title that they couldn't even aspire to.
0:17:27 > 0:17:31There was Robert being showered with all these benisons,
0:17:31 > 0:17:33all these titles and estates.
0:17:33 > 0:17:37That wouldn't have been popular with everybody, I suppose.
0:17:37 > 0:17:40I think it caused sincere jealousy at court.
0:17:40 > 0:17:44So you wouldn't give any house room to these suggestions
0:17:44 > 0:17:48that their relationship was more than platonic and friendly?
0:17:48 > 0:17:51I'm sure you've heard the suggestions.
0:17:51 > 0:17:56Absolutely, I...I see the whole of their relationship in the context
0:17:56 > 0:17:59of this extraordinary place here
0:17:59 > 0:18:02and that it was two boys growing up
0:18:02 > 0:18:07in rather a fun and war-free time in England
0:18:07 > 0:18:10and that it was just all about fun
0:18:10 > 0:18:13and, you know, country pursuits.
0:18:18 > 0:18:23But de Vere and Richard's other favourites were heading for a fall.
0:18:23 > 0:18:26In 1387, a group of leading nobles
0:18:26 > 0:18:29took control of the government by force
0:18:29 > 0:18:33and executed or exiled Richard's closest friends.
0:18:35 > 0:18:40De Vere was banished to France where he died in poverty two years later.
0:18:44 > 0:18:48Richard arranged for his casket to be returned to England
0:18:48 > 0:18:51and there's this touching, contemporary account of the funeral.
0:18:53 > 0:18:57"Richard took care to open the cypress wood coffin,
0:18:57 > 0:19:00"in which the body lay after being embalmed.
0:19:00 > 0:19:04"He looked long at the face and touched it with his finger,
0:19:04 > 0:19:07"publicly showing to Robert, when dead,
0:19:07 > 0:19:10"the affection which he'd shown him previously when alive."
0:19:21 > 0:19:24Freud would have had a field day with Richard,
0:19:24 > 0:19:26but Shakespeare got there first.
0:19:26 > 0:19:28His play, Richard II,
0:19:28 > 0:19:32delves into the dark corners of the King's psyche.
0:19:33 > 0:19:36David Tennant has played the King to great acclaim
0:19:36 > 0:19:38for the Royal Shakespeare Company.
0:19:40 > 0:19:43Not all the water in the rough rude sea
0:19:43 > 0:19:46can wash the balm off from an anointed king.
0:19:48 > 0:19:52So you're immersing yourself in Richard II.
0:19:52 > 0:19:55Is it fun to be him up there every night?
0:19:55 > 0:19:57Um, it's...
0:19:57 > 0:20:00There's something peculiarly exciting about entering
0:20:00 > 0:20:03to trumpet fanfares every time you walk on stage.
0:20:03 > 0:20:05What does that do to you?
0:20:05 > 0:20:10It certainly swells the breast and you can imagine that it would
0:20:10 > 0:20:13distort the ego as well, were that happening to you every day in life.
0:20:13 > 0:20:17You can see why Richard would assume the airs that he did.
0:20:17 > 0:20:19The modern equivalent was Michael Jackson -
0:20:19 > 0:20:23just someone who'd lived in this kind of extraordinary...
0:20:23 > 0:20:26From a very, very young age, they'd been other and different
0:20:26 > 0:20:30and treated differently and then, possibly because of that,
0:20:30 > 0:20:33you develop a psychology that's quite alien
0:20:33 > 0:20:37and difficult to understand to the outside world
0:20:37 > 0:20:40because you are not as other men, really.
0:20:40 > 0:20:46God for his Richard hath in heavenly pay a glorious angel.
0:20:48 > 0:20:51Then, if angels fight...
0:20:51 > 0:20:53weak men must fall.
0:20:55 > 0:20:57And can I just ask about the hair?
0:20:57 > 0:21:00Is that based on intense research?
0:21:00 > 0:21:02Quite the opposite! No.
0:21:02 > 0:21:07Richard had a sort of mop of red hair
0:21:07 > 0:21:09from the paintings that we have.
0:21:09 > 0:21:12But there's a certain androgyny to him, so we were looking
0:21:12 > 0:21:16for something that found that sort of androgynousness,
0:21:16 > 0:21:20something that would set him apart from the world of his court.
0:21:20 > 0:21:23And what about if you'd been a courtier
0:21:23 > 0:21:25because that's something we're looking at?
0:21:25 > 0:21:28What would it have been like to be a courtier?
0:21:28 > 0:21:30I think it must have been a daily struggle
0:21:30 > 0:21:33to be at the court of one of these people
0:21:33 > 0:21:35because any kind of autocrat, of course,
0:21:35 > 0:21:37you're having to dance around their whims.
0:21:37 > 0:21:39You know, you can be a favourite one day
0:21:39 > 0:21:41and you can have your head chopped off the next.
0:21:41 > 0:21:45So that must have been an incredible stress and strain,
0:21:45 > 0:21:47to try and, you know, keep your status up,
0:21:47 > 0:21:51to every day be trying to please the King, particularly
0:21:51 > 0:21:54if that king was capricious and difficult and...
0:21:54 > 0:21:57potentially, if you read some commentators,
0:21:57 > 0:21:59by the end of his life, a little bit mad.
0:22:11 > 0:22:14In the Middle Ages, it wasn't enough for the King to rule.
0:22:14 > 0:22:17He had to be seen to be ruling.
0:22:17 > 0:22:21And the best way to guard against fear and intrigue and rumour
0:22:21 > 0:22:26and plotting was for the King himself to appear in your town
0:22:26 > 0:22:29or village or hamlet. Then you knew who was in charge.
0:22:30 > 0:22:35'Richard was always on the road, making circuits of his kingdom.
0:22:35 > 0:22:37'They were known as gyrations.
0:22:38 > 0:22:42'In one four-month period, he set off from Kings Langley
0:22:42 > 0:22:49'then went to Thame, Woodstock, Northleach, Gloucester, Worcester,
0:22:49 > 0:22:52'before heading north and then returning via
0:22:52 > 0:22:58'Northampton, Newport Pagnell and Dunstable to Kings Langley.
0:22:58 > 0:23:02'A few months later, he fetched up here - Leeds Castle.'
0:23:05 > 0:23:08The Bishop of Ely confided despairingly
0:23:08 > 0:23:11to his household ledger in the 1380s
0:23:11 > 0:23:15that he'd been visited by a "multitudine copiosa" -
0:23:15 > 0:23:17a copious multitude -
0:23:17 > 0:23:21or, in layman's terms, the place was rammed.
0:23:22 > 0:23:26To attend to his needs on the road, Richard somehow got by with
0:23:26 > 0:23:29no more than 1,000 courtiers.
0:23:29 > 0:23:32There were court officials, men-at-arms,
0:23:32 > 0:23:35household servants, camp followers.
0:23:35 > 0:23:37And after he married Anne of Bohemia,
0:23:37 > 0:23:40she and her household of 120 retainers,
0:23:40 > 0:23:43well, they went everywhere as well.
0:23:43 > 0:23:45'As the chronicler Walsingham put it,
0:23:45 > 0:23:49'Richard was guilty of "non offerre sed aufferre"
0:23:49 > 0:23:54'which, as we all know, means taking and not giving.'
0:23:54 > 0:23:58In theory, a visit from the King would be a signal honour.
0:23:58 > 0:24:02In practice, only those with the fullest coffers
0:24:02 > 0:24:03could afford to withstand it.
0:24:03 > 0:24:06It was actually something to be dreaded.
0:24:06 > 0:24:08Richard and his ever hungry crew
0:24:08 > 0:24:12could eat and carouse their way through your fortune.
0:24:12 > 0:24:14He was the house guest from hell.
0:24:14 > 0:24:16Thanks, Gavin.
0:24:31 > 0:24:35In the Middle Ages, court was a place for the chaps.
0:24:35 > 0:24:37Going to war, defending the realm,
0:24:37 > 0:24:40that was the stuff that the boys got up to.
0:24:40 > 0:24:43And a powerful woman around the place tended to mean
0:24:43 > 0:24:48instability, even civil war, so nobody liked to see that.
0:24:48 > 0:24:52But that all changed with Richard's mother, the - how to put it -
0:24:52 > 0:24:56colourful, perhaps scarlet, Joan of Kent.
0:24:56 > 0:24:59She was the sex bomb of the Middle Ages.
0:24:59 > 0:25:02She loved her rocks and she loved her frocks,
0:25:02 > 0:25:05the tighter and more plunging, the better.
0:25:05 > 0:25:10Scandalously, she was married to two different men at the same time
0:25:10 > 0:25:12and neither of them was Richard's father.
0:25:14 > 0:25:19Joan put her charms to good use by patching up Richard's quarrels.
0:25:19 > 0:25:23During one blazing row between Richard and his uncle,
0:25:23 > 0:25:25an onlooker noted that, "At length,
0:25:25 > 0:25:29"by the praiseworthy mediation of the Lady Joan,
0:25:29 > 0:25:31"the discord was put to sleep."
0:25:33 > 0:25:37'Joan was a trailblazer. Where she led, other women followed.
0:25:39 > 0:25:42'Here at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London,
0:25:42 > 0:25:46'there's an extraordinary picture of women at court.
0:25:46 > 0:25:49'The Devonshire Hunting Tapestries, as they're known,
0:25:49 > 0:25:53'run for 133 feet and, for me,
0:25:53 > 0:25:57'they're the greatest depiction of courtly life in the Middle Ages.'
0:25:58 > 0:26:04This party are actually out hunting. It's an exercise in falconry
0:26:04 > 0:26:06but it looks more like a garden party, doesn't it?
0:26:08 > 0:26:11The striking thing about it is how many women there are in the scene.
0:26:16 > 0:26:18It's like a beautiful fashion plate.
0:26:20 > 0:26:27As far as you look, the eye is caught by pearls, headdresses,
0:26:27 > 0:26:32lovely, rich, flowing robes with long trains.
0:26:39 > 0:26:42Richard was very comfortable with women at court.
0:26:42 > 0:26:45He was essentially peace-loving
0:26:45 > 0:26:49and, under him, court was a place where other virtues flourished,
0:26:49 > 0:26:52a place of civilisation, if you like,
0:26:52 > 0:26:57of learning and scholarship, not of the more macho disciplines
0:26:57 > 0:27:01associated with his father or earlier Medieval monarchs.
0:27:03 > 0:27:08But, as ever, ladies climbing up the ladder put noses out of joint.
0:27:08 > 0:27:11The chronicler Walsingham complained
0:27:11 > 0:27:16that Richard's courtiers were knights of Venus, not Mars,
0:27:16 > 0:27:20better suited to manoeuvres in the bedroom than on the field of battle.
0:27:24 > 0:27:27And what of that terrific harpy, Joan of Kent -
0:27:27 > 0:27:30the King's mother and the forerunner,
0:27:30 > 0:27:33the role model, of all those thrusting ladies at court?
0:27:33 > 0:27:37Well, her end couldn't have been more blackly ironic.
0:27:37 > 0:27:39If Richard was anything, he was a mummy's boy
0:27:39 > 0:27:43and yet, he was responsible for his mother's own death
0:27:43 > 0:27:46in the most tragic and horrible of circumstances.
0:27:47 > 0:27:51The King believed he'd been betrayed by his half-brother
0:27:51 > 0:27:53and sentenced him to death
0:27:53 > 0:27:56but Joan pleaded for the life of her other son.
0:27:56 > 0:28:00For four days, she begged the King to change his mind
0:28:00 > 0:28:03but Richard was implacable, unmovable.
0:28:03 > 0:28:08On the fifth day, Joan died, of a broken heart, they said.
0:28:09 > 0:28:12Capricious and contrary to the last,
0:28:12 > 0:28:15Richard then spared the life of his half-brother.
0:28:15 > 0:28:16Rather late for Joan.
0:28:30 > 0:28:33Phew! Getting pretty funky in here!
0:28:33 > 0:28:38Can you imagine the assault on the senses that was a Medieval court?
0:28:38 > 0:28:40All those nobles, their staff
0:28:40 > 0:28:45and servants huddled close together, with the aroma on them
0:28:45 > 0:28:50of their livestock, their beasts and the last few meals they ate.
0:28:50 > 0:28:52If you wanted to get ahead at court,
0:28:52 > 0:28:56you had to pinch your nose and dive right in.
0:29:00 > 0:29:02Now, Richard was a fastidious fellow.
0:29:02 > 0:29:06He insisted on cleanliness and demanded it of those around him,
0:29:06 > 0:29:11as this top-level reconstruction may help us to imagine.
0:29:11 > 0:29:15For the first time, really, since Roman England, the bath began
0:29:15 > 0:29:19to make a bit of a comeback, and that was largely thanks to the King.
0:29:19 > 0:29:22At a palace in London - alas, sadly now lost -
0:29:22 > 0:29:27Richard established a kind of grand privy for himself, actually,
0:29:27 > 0:29:31something like a Turkish bath on a little isle or island
0:29:31 > 0:29:35in the middle of the Thames, and there he would luxuriate,
0:29:35 > 0:29:38surrounded by 2,000 hand-painted tiles,
0:29:38 > 0:29:43while hot and cold running water - can you imagine the novelty? -
0:29:43 > 0:29:46gushed from taps into his bath.
0:29:47 > 0:29:49Nor were his courtiers deprived.
0:29:49 > 0:29:50Bear in mind, this is a time
0:29:50 > 0:29:52when it wasn't only the great unwashed
0:29:52 > 0:29:54who tended to go around unwashed.
0:29:54 > 0:29:57Richard had thought of their comfort and ease
0:29:57 > 0:30:01and in the palace proper, they had latrines which they could use.
0:30:01 > 0:30:04Now, historians have been looking for conclusive proof
0:30:04 > 0:30:05of these latrines
0:30:05 > 0:30:07but so far, they have nothing to go on.
0:30:16 > 0:30:20'This is the College of Arms - England's home of heraldry.
0:30:20 > 0:30:24'People come here to this day to have their coats of arms made.
0:30:24 > 0:30:27'But alongside the distinctive shields of heraldry
0:30:27 > 0:30:29'are the lesser known badges.
0:30:31 > 0:30:34'Courtiers wearing the King's badge proclaimed their allegiance -
0:30:34 > 0:30:36'their true colours.
0:30:38 > 0:30:41'York Herald Peter O'Donoghue is here to show me
0:30:41 > 0:30:43'some of the oldest treasures in this collection.'
0:30:50 > 0:30:54Richard was the first king to really make widespread use
0:30:54 > 0:30:58of badges as opposed to coats of arms as a symbol of himself,
0:30:58 > 0:31:03of his personal identity, whereas the coat of arms is
0:31:03 > 0:31:06specific to the King and it's about kingship and lineage.
0:31:06 > 0:31:09The badge can be used much more widely.
0:31:09 > 0:31:13It was a way of recruiting what we might call an affinity -
0:31:13 > 0:31:16a bunch of men around the country, all of whom were
0:31:16 > 0:31:20bound personally to him by their acceptance of the badge.
0:31:20 > 0:31:22And this manuscript here gives us
0:31:22 > 0:31:26a nice illustration of the badges that he used.
0:31:26 > 0:31:29The Broom Coat, of course, the Plantagenet symbol.
0:31:31 > 0:31:34The Sun Badge, the White Hart.
0:31:34 > 0:31:38That's the device most commonly associated with Richard.
0:31:38 > 0:31:42Yeah. It's a badge with strong associations
0:31:42 > 0:31:46with Christ-like qualities of humility and sacrifice.
0:31:46 > 0:31:50And Richard strongly associated himself with those characteristics.
0:31:50 > 0:31:54All right. You had the King's badge, the King's colour.
0:31:54 > 0:31:57Was that a sort of signifier that you would, one day,
0:31:57 > 0:31:59receive money from him?
0:31:59 > 0:32:03Not necessarily money. Influence and connections.
0:32:03 > 0:32:05And that's really how a lot of justice
0:32:05 > 0:32:07seemed to be carried out in that time.
0:32:07 > 0:32:09So if you wore the King's badge, you might find
0:32:09 > 0:32:12you didn't get as much trouble from the local justices.
0:32:12 > 0:32:16You might find that you're recruited to put pressure on people.
0:32:16 > 0:32:19Gentry families that are on the wrong side of a question
0:32:19 > 0:32:23might find gangs of ruffians wearing a badge outside their gates,
0:32:23 > 0:32:27making trouble...smashing things up.
0:32:27 > 0:32:31You mentioned gangs. It does sound a bit like gang warfare,
0:32:31 > 0:32:34it sounds like LA - the Bloods and the Crips.
0:32:34 > 0:32:35Whose colours do you wear?
0:32:35 > 0:32:38There is an element of that, absolutely right. Yeah.
0:32:38 > 0:32:40And that was very much how it was perceived at the time.
0:32:40 > 0:32:42It was known to be a problem.
0:32:42 > 0:32:49So Richard was very partial to a badge, found them extremely useful.
0:32:49 > 0:32:54In the long run, was he wise to rely on them quite as much as he did?
0:32:54 > 0:32:57I don't think he was, you know, because I think that he was behaving
0:32:57 > 0:33:01more like a warlord, more like a magnate and not as a king.
0:33:01 > 0:33:04Kings shouldn't behave like they're trying to recruit private armies.
0:33:04 > 0:33:06They are the state. They're a reflection of,
0:33:06 > 0:33:10and embodiment of, the state, so for Richard to be actively
0:33:10 > 0:33:13seeking to recruit retainers in that private way,
0:33:13 > 0:33:16which was exactly the same thing that all the other noblemen did,
0:33:16 > 0:33:18was controversial, to say the least.
0:33:30 > 0:33:33In the Middle Ages, the best way to the King's heart
0:33:33 > 0:33:35was straight through his rib cage with a cleaver
0:33:35 > 0:33:39and Richard lived in fear of that. But you could get to him
0:33:39 > 0:33:42by the more traditional route - through the stomach.
0:33:42 > 0:33:44He liked his food.
0:33:44 > 0:33:47He wasn't one of those gnaw on a chicken bone
0:33:47 > 0:33:50and toss it to the mastiffs kind of rulers. No!
0:33:50 > 0:33:54He would have been very partial to the nouvelle cuisine of today
0:33:54 > 0:33:58and the first cookbook in these islands was written for him -
0:33:58 > 0:34:03196 recipes, everything from Blancmange to porpoise soup.
0:34:05 > 0:34:10That's soup made out of rare dolphin, by the way, not paupers.
0:34:12 > 0:34:15Richard's cookbook, the Forme of Cury,
0:34:15 > 0:34:18or, as we'd say now, Ways of Cooking,
0:34:18 > 0:34:20was compiled by his master cooks -
0:34:20 > 0:34:24some of the most important people in the royal household.
0:34:24 > 0:34:27They were in charge of over 300 kitchen staff -
0:34:27 > 0:34:31scullions, spit-turners, spicers.
0:34:31 > 0:34:35'One cook who knows how to serve up a Medieval dish is
0:34:35 > 0:34:37'Clarissa Dickson Wright.'
0:34:37 > 0:34:40- Clarissa!- Hello!- How are you?
0:34:40 > 0:34:42- I'm all right, thanks.- Very nice to see you.- Good to see you, too.
0:34:42 > 0:34:44Welcome to my humble kitchen.
0:34:44 > 0:34:45Yes. Nice place you have.
0:34:45 > 0:34:47- Yeah, it's great. - Anything for supper?
0:34:47 > 0:34:50Well, we're going to have Eggradouce of Rabbit.
0:34:50 > 0:34:54My favourite! Can't beat an Eggradouce! What on earth is that?
0:34:54 > 0:34:57- Sweet and sour.- Ah! Heard of that. - You know, your Chinese restaurant,
0:34:57 > 0:35:00you could have Eggradouce pork balls or something.
0:35:00 > 0:35:02And did you say rabbit?
0:35:02 > 0:35:05Oh, rabbit was the luxury food of the day.
0:35:05 > 0:35:06Get away!
0:35:06 > 0:35:10Incredibly expensive. They were all farmed in warrens.
0:35:10 > 0:35:12And great lords would fight for the privilege
0:35:12 > 0:35:15of having the licence to keep a warren.
0:35:15 > 0:35:19So what I'm going to do, first of all, is just mix the sauce.
0:35:19 > 0:35:23And that's just some chopped onions. That goes in there.
0:35:23 > 0:35:26And in goes black pepper from India,
0:35:26 > 0:35:29ginger and cinnamon from the Spice Islands.
0:35:31 > 0:35:32And currants from the Levant.
0:35:34 > 0:35:36So this is quite ostentatious in its way?
0:35:36 > 0:35:40Oh, incredible! I mean, you know, you go to one of your top chefs nowadays,
0:35:40 > 0:35:43- you wouldn't get anything quite as lavish as this.- Really?
0:35:43 > 0:35:45Not in terms of price, anyway.
0:35:45 > 0:35:50That's just a bit of vinegar to add the sour to the sweet.
0:35:50 > 0:35:52So, now, would you like to be my scullion?
0:35:52 > 0:35:56- I'd be honoured.- Ah, excellent! - Right, what do I need to do?
0:35:56 > 0:35:58- In with the rabbit?- In with the rabbit.- The whole lot or...
0:35:58 > 0:36:02- Yes, all the pieces.- It's making a good noise. There we go.- Well done.
0:36:05 > 0:36:07- It's pretty hot here.- Yeah.
0:36:07 > 0:36:09I'm so glad I've got my suit on for it. Perfect!
0:36:09 > 0:36:12- Why do you think I'm letting you do it?- Yeah!
0:36:12 > 0:36:15It's pretty hot in the old kitchens of Richard II.
0:36:17 > 0:36:20- Smells like Christmas.- That's the cinnamon, isn't it?- Yeah.
0:36:23 > 0:36:27- How's that doing, would you say? - That's perfect. Absolutely perfect.
0:36:27 > 0:36:32And then we leave that to cook for 35, 40 minutes, something like that.
0:36:33 > 0:36:37Feasts were gargantuan occasions.
0:36:37 > 0:36:412,000 guests at a time sat down at banqueting tables
0:36:41 > 0:36:43arranged over many rooms.
0:36:43 > 0:36:46They got through a staggering pile of food.
0:36:46 > 0:36:50This is a shopping list for one of Richard's feasts.
0:36:50 > 0:36:53And you've got all sorts of things. You've got curlew.
0:36:53 > 0:36:55120 curlew, mind you.
0:36:55 > 0:36:59Yup. Curlew, apparently, taste like very lean beef.
0:36:59 > 0:37:02- Do they?- I met an old gamekeeper who had it. You look at it.
0:37:02 > 0:37:04There's a lot of salt meat
0:37:04 > 0:37:06because they salted everything down in winter,
0:37:06 > 0:37:09but then they have fresh meat here alongside it.
0:37:09 > 0:37:11So you've got salt venison and fresh venison.
0:37:11 > 0:37:14- This isn't puffin, is it?- Oh, yeah.
0:37:14 > 0:37:17Apparently, it tastes just like fishy grouse.
0:37:17 > 0:37:1860 puffin.
0:37:18 > 0:37:20Where are you going to find 60 puffin?
0:37:20 > 0:37:22Well, I think there were
0:37:22 > 0:37:26rather more puffin around than there are now.
0:37:26 > 0:37:28Right, well, that should be done now.
0:37:28 > 0:37:31Oops! Well, that spoon's gone. Right.
0:37:31 > 0:37:33- There we are.- Well done.
0:37:38 > 0:37:40- Couple of bits.- Couple of bits.
0:37:42 > 0:37:45- How's that to be going on with? - Perfect.
0:37:45 > 0:37:47All I need now is a fork, of course.
0:37:47 > 0:37:49- No, no! You wouldn't have had a fork! - Really?
0:37:49 > 0:37:53Forks didn't come in. They were very eccentric, even in Tudor times.
0:37:53 > 0:37:57- Were they?- Yeah. Jacobeans, really, started using forks.
0:37:57 > 0:38:01- So what do we do? Bare knuckles? - Spoons.- Of course.
0:38:01 > 0:38:04He was a great one for you bringing your own spoon to the party.
0:38:04 > 0:38:06And the knife.
0:38:06 > 0:38:09- Shall we tuck in?- Why not? - After you.
0:38:11 > 0:38:14- Mm.- Good?- Mm. That's all right. See what you think.
0:38:16 > 0:38:19- Mm. That's nice.- Good, isn't it? Good flavour.
0:38:19 > 0:38:23- Lovely, crunchy onions and currants.- Mm.
0:38:23 > 0:38:25Oh, I think I'd come back here.
0:38:25 > 0:38:27To the Middle Ages.
0:38:41 > 0:38:44One of the greatest treasures of Richard's reign
0:38:44 > 0:38:47is to be found here, at the National Gallery.
0:38:47 > 0:38:50It's strangely overlooked and neglected
0:38:50 > 0:38:54and yet, in its own subtle way, it's every bit as enigmatic
0:38:54 > 0:38:58and mysterious as, say, the Mona Lisa in Paris.
0:38:58 > 0:39:01What it does tell us, unambiguously though,
0:39:01 > 0:39:04is that Richard was the first English monarch who really
0:39:04 > 0:39:09was passionate about art and understood what it could do for him.
0:39:11 > 0:39:14'Since Richard was a king perpetually on the move,
0:39:14 > 0:39:17'he needed portable trappings of power.
0:39:17 > 0:39:20'None was more important than his altarpiece -
0:39:20 > 0:39:24'the finest painting to survive from the Medieval Age in Britain.'
0:39:26 > 0:39:28This is the Wilton Diptych.
0:39:28 > 0:39:32It's a picture, of course, but also something of a holy relic.
0:39:32 > 0:39:37I think of it as a combination of Richard's portable chapel
0:39:37 > 0:39:39and vanity cabinet.
0:39:40 > 0:39:42At first sight, it strikes us
0:39:42 > 0:39:47as a conventional image of veneration and worship.
0:39:47 > 0:39:50Richard is kneeling, his hands, his fingers are splayed,
0:39:50 > 0:39:54his gaze upon the holy infant.
0:39:55 > 0:39:59But, actually, it's much more complicated and nuanced than that.
0:40:00 > 0:40:06The king is accompanied by a trinity of significant and telling figures.
0:40:06 > 0:40:10Two English monarchs who he venerated,
0:40:10 > 0:40:13Edward the Confessor, Edmond the Martyr,
0:40:13 > 0:40:16and, most importantly of all, St John the Baptist.
0:40:18 > 0:40:22The arm of St John the Baptist is most significant here.
0:40:22 > 0:40:27He paved the way for Christ in the Bible.
0:40:27 > 0:40:29And there's a sense of equivalence here.
0:40:29 > 0:40:33He is presenting, representing the king.
0:40:34 > 0:40:38Over on the right hand panel, if you study the heavenly host,
0:40:38 > 0:40:42not only are they wearing a striking, iridescent blue
0:40:42 > 0:40:44but if you look closely,
0:40:44 > 0:40:49they're bearing the insignia of Richard himself, the White Hart.
0:40:49 > 0:40:52This is the medieval equivalent of the modern
0:40:52 > 0:40:55football tradition of kissing the badge.
0:40:55 > 0:40:59This is Richard's team. They're looking out for him.
0:41:10 > 0:41:14In its own charming and understated way, at first,
0:41:14 > 0:41:19this piece represents overweening monarchical ambition.
0:41:19 > 0:41:24Richard and his artist are coming perilously close to
0:41:24 > 0:41:28the blasphemous idea that there's some sort of equivalence between
0:41:28 > 0:41:32the monarch - the flesh and blood man here on earth -
0:41:32 > 0:41:34and the Christ child.
0:41:35 > 0:41:38Any courtier privileged enough to be accompanying the king
0:41:38 > 0:41:42at the moment during his travels when the diptych was unpacked
0:41:42 > 0:41:46and the king fell to his knees presumably before it,
0:41:46 > 0:41:48he might have found himself wondering,
0:41:48 > 0:41:51"Exactly who is being worshipped here?"
0:41:51 > 0:41:55Is the king perhaps adoring himself?
0:41:55 > 0:41:58And there was a further provocative clue almost hidden away
0:41:58 > 0:42:00in the top of the right-hand panel.
0:42:00 > 0:42:06Above the standard that the angel is holding, the flag of St George,
0:42:06 > 0:42:11there's a miniature representation, a cameo of England,
0:42:11 > 0:42:13the sceptred isle.
0:42:14 > 0:42:19Is the artist, was Richard, presuming to suggest that
0:42:19 > 0:42:26England, his sovereign patch of land, was the new Jerusalem?
0:42:26 > 0:42:30And that the king himself had been sent here by God as the new Messiah?
0:42:45 > 0:42:47Now, we all lead busy lives,
0:42:47 > 0:42:50and, by now, you might be asking yourself
0:42:50 > 0:42:52"What did this Richard guy ever do for me?"
0:42:52 > 0:42:55Well, the next time you have a snuffly nose,
0:42:55 > 0:42:59you need to mop your brow, or put a knot in something as a memento,
0:42:59 > 0:43:03then thank Richard because, voila,
0:43:03 > 0:43:08he was the man who invented and popularised the humble handkerchief.
0:43:08 > 0:43:13When he came to the throne, people didn't even know what to call this.
0:43:13 > 0:43:14Sure, there may have been
0:43:14 > 0:43:19some bracingly pungent Anglo-Saxon version of "snot rag",
0:43:19 > 0:43:22but "handkerchief?" Nobody had heard of such a thing.
0:43:22 > 0:43:26Indeed, the king's own tailor referred to "small pieces of cloth
0:43:26 > 0:43:28"to give to the noble king...
0:43:28 > 0:43:31"for blowing and covering his nose."
0:43:31 > 0:43:36Richard turned this into perhaps the first English accessory,
0:43:36 > 0:43:39the accoutrement one had to be seen with at court.
0:43:39 > 0:43:42It's even suggested that Richard was in the habit
0:43:42 > 0:43:47of distributing his favourite silks and linens to his courtiers
0:43:47 > 0:43:49so that if you had the king's hankie,
0:43:49 > 0:43:52you knew you were on the make.
0:44:03 > 0:44:07When we think about the Tower, we tend to conjure a brooding,
0:44:07 > 0:44:13forbidding place of repression, torture, even execution.
0:44:13 > 0:44:18But in Richard's time, the Tower was as much a palace as it was a prison.
0:44:18 > 0:44:22It was constantly being built on, developed, expanded,
0:44:22 > 0:44:25and the man who was in charge of those works was
0:44:25 > 0:44:27the father of English literature,
0:44:27 > 0:44:30the author of The Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer.
0:44:34 > 0:44:37Richard appreciated literature as much as painting.
0:44:37 > 0:44:40But it was still early days to make a living as a writer.
0:44:40 > 0:44:44Chaucer needed other means to prosper at court.
0:44:45 > 0:44:48Amongst his jobs he was Clerk of the King's Works,
0:44:48 > 0:44:52responsible for upkeep of the Tower, as well as soldier,
0:44:52 > 0:44:56diplomat, marriage broker, keeper of royal parks,
0:44:56 > 0:45:00customs controller, and a member of parliament.
0:45:02 > 0:45:03It would be 100 years
0:45:03 > 0:45:06before the appointment of an official royal poet,
0:45:06 > 0:45:11but Chaucer was a favourite of the king's and popular at court.
0:45:11 > 0:45:13Here at Corpus Christi College in Cambridge,
0:45:13 > 0:45:18is a rare illuminated manuscript of one of his poems.
0:45:21 > 0:45:24This is one of Geoffrey Chaucer's less well-known
0:45:24 > 0:45:26but much admired works,
0:45:26 > 0:45:30Troilus And Criseyde, or as we would say Troilus And Cressida.
0:45:30 > 0:45:35It's the story of a doomed, tragic love involving a warrior,
0:45:35 > 0:45:38who's reckless as to the affairs of his heart,
0:45:38 > 0:45:40and an unfaithful heroine.
0:45:40 > 0:45:44It spoke to Richard's time and to Richard's court
0:45:44 > 0:45:48with its themes of courtly love, of honour, of chivalry.
0:45:48 > 0:45:53But it's not just the text that's valuable and insightful here.
0:45:53 > 0:45:56It's also the beautiful artwork.
0:46:03 > 0:46:07It's a beautifully achieved, eye-catching scene
0:46:07 > 0:46:11of an apparently changeless, enchanted Albion.
0:46:13 > 0:46:18There's Richard, the most brightly dressed of all,
0:46:18 > 0:46:22clad from head to foot in gold, even a gold hat.
0:46:22 > 0:46:26But, strangely enough, he's not the centre of attention.
0:46:26 > 0:46:30That honour goes to, of all things, a writer,
0:46:30 > 0:46:35Geoffrey Chaucer himself, the first great superstar of English letters.
0:46:35 > 0:46:40Chaucer is declaiming his soon to be new bestseller.
0:46:40 > 0:46:42And, almost heretically,
0:46:42 > 0:46:48rather naughtily, he's not on a soap box or anything but in a pulpit.
0:46:48 > 0:46:52He has usurped the clergyman.
0:46:52 > 0:46:54The man of letters, it's suggested here,
0:46:54 > 0:47:00is on an equivalent footing with the man of the cloth, the man of God.
0:47:00 > 0:47:06All eyes are on the poet waiting to hear what he's come up with next.
0:47:06 > 0:47:09All, that is, except for Richard himself.
0:47:09 > 0:47:11He's standing at a little remove,
0:47:11 > 0:47:15and he's facing the rest of the crowd, the court, saying,
0:47:15 > 0:47:20"Are you not pleased?" He's revelling in his role as patron.
0:47:20 > 0:47:23He was an indirect patron of Chaucer himself,
0:47:23 > 0:47:26but, more generally, of a great flowering
0:47:26 > 0:47:28in the arts and culture in England.
0:47:28 > 0:47:32The first great era of English writing.
0:47:32 > 0:47:37If you could tell stories, if you could hold the king's attention,
0:47:37 > 0:47:39then you would prosper at court.
0:47:39 > 0:47:44For once, it really was true that the pen was mightier than the sword.
0:47:56 > 0:47:58Richard made enemies,
0:47:58 > 0:48:01and that made him perpetually worried about his own safety.
0:48:01 > 0:48:06His answer was to employ an elite corps of bodyguards
0:48:06 > 0:48:09to watch over him day and night.
0:48:10 > 0:48:13They were known as the Cheshire Archers,
0:48:13 > 0:48:16311 highly skilled bowmen...
0:48:18 > 0:48:19..all from Cheshire.
0:48:22 > 0:48:24The Knights of Middle England
0:48:24 > 0:48:27practise archery in the style of Richard's guards.
0:48:29 > 0:48:31Kevin Hicks is here to tell me all about them.
0:48:33 > 0:48:38So what would it have been like to be one of the elite guard?
0:48:38 > 0:48:39The Cheshire Bowmen?
0:48:39 > 0:48:41If you were one of the chosen ones,
0:48:41 > 0:48:43you're there, aren't you? The best clothing,
0:48:43 > 0:48:47favours from the king, the best wages, and best food.
0:48:47 > 0:48:50You're going to be the SAS of the medieval period.
0:48:50 > 0:48:53And they were arrogant with it.
0:48:53 > 0:48:56These guys were professional killers.
0:48:56 > 0:48:59So, they sound like guys you wouldn't necessarily want to meet
0:48:59 > 0:49:02in an alley round the back of the tavern one night.
0:49:02 > 0:49:06Well, the danger is they'll knock on your door and come through it.
0:49:06 > 0:49:09They'd batter your door down and they will arrest you violently.
0:49:09 > 0:49:11And people were scared of them.
0:49:11 > 0:49:13They regarded them as thugs.
0:49:13 > 0:49:16And they were a law unto themselves? If they wanted to do something,
0:49:16 > 0:49:18nobody was going to quibble about it?
0:49:18 > 0:49:19Only one man, the king.
0:49:19 > 0:49:22So, it wasn't just enough to be handy with a bow and arrow,
0:49:22 > 0:49:24you had to be from Cheshire?
0:49:24 > 0:49:27You had to have a presence and be quite threatening.
0:49:27 > 0:49:29A bit moody and tasty to fit in.
0:49:29 > 0:49:31You had to be one of the boys.
0:49:32 > 0:49:36- Right.- OK. I'll put the arrow on for you.- Yep.
0:49:37 > 0:49:40Take the arrow over a bit, feel the weight of it,
0:49:40 > 0:49:43- bring it back...- Push and pull? - Push and pull.
0:49:43 > 0:49:46- Swing it up a bit?- Yeah, yeah.
0:49:46 > 0:49:47Just give it a go, relax.
0:49:51 > 0:49:52HE GROANS
0:49:52 > 0:49:55- I'm probably over-thinking it. - Yeah, it's very simple.
0:49:55 > 0:49:57You've got the arrow on the wrong side of the bow.
0:49:57 > 0:49:59Yeah, not overthinking that bit.
0:49:59 > 0:50:02- So, that rests there, does it? - That's right, yeah.
0:50:02 > 0:50:05Feel like I want to grip it, but... that would be wrong.
0:50:05 > 0:50:08That's how people often shoot themselves in the finger.
0:50:08 > 0:50:11- Right, give it a go. - Stand well back.
0:50:16 > 0:50:20- Better height.- Yeah. - It felt like a layman shot, though.
0:50:20 > 0:50:23You missed by about, what, ten yards?
0:50:23 > 0:50:25- Relax, you're so tense.- I am tense.
0:50:25 > 0:50:28I'll put my hand there so you don't lean further back.
0:50:28 > 0:50:30- I'm leaning back, you're right. - Go on, push forward.
0:50:30 > 0:50:32Now shoot him.
0:50:33 > 0:50:38- Hooray!- In the target.- You hit him in the knee. Do you want another go?
0:50:38 > 0:50:40Well, he'll feel it. Yeah.
0:50:41 > 0:50:43Shoot.
0:50:45 > 0:50:49- There you go, another hit. Well done. - Thank you.- I knew you could do it.
0:50:49 > 0:50:52Deep down inside, maybe.
0:51:02 > 0:51:07By the 1390s, Richard's grip on power was getting shaky.
0:51:07 > 0:51:11Even his own extravagant coronation was a distant memory.
0:51:11 > 0:51:15So, what better than to set out the rules of monarchy?
0:51:15 > 0:51:18A how-to book for the kings of the future.
0:51:20 > 0:51:24Here in Westminster Abbey Library is the Liber Regalis,
0:51:24 > 0:51:26the Royal Book.
0:51:30 > 0:51:34This great manuscript is 600 years old, far too delicate
0:51:34 > 0:51:37and fragile for me to touch.
0:51:37 > 0:51:42But it's open on this lustrous, still very vivid illumination
0:51:42 > 0:51:44that tells us what's about to ensue.
0:51:44 > 0:51:48The monarch, seated upon a golden throne,
0:51:48 > 0:51:52with clerics attending to him, placing the crown upon his head.
0:51:54 > 0:51:58Over the page, which I daren't touch, the rubric,
0:51:58 > 0:52:03the ritual of a coronation, the rules of procedure.
0:52:04 > 0:52:08This states that a coronation should take place on a Sunday
0:52:08 > 0:52:10or holy day.
0:52:10 > 0:52:14That the king should proceed bare headed from the Tower of London,
0:52:14 > 0:52:17through the city, to Westminster.
0:52:17 > 0:52:19Then, when he arrives at the Abbey,
0:52:19 > 0:52:23he's to prostrate himself upon the stones.
0:52:23 > 0:52:27Fortunately for him, not on the cold marble itself.
0:52:27 > 0:52:30His ushers are allowed to spread cushions and carpets
0:52:30 > 0:52:33to keep him warm during the proceedings.
0:52:35 > 0:52:40And, as the climax, the king receives the arcane,
0:52:40 > 0:52:43the magisterial tools of the trade, if you like.
0:52:43 > 0:52:48The ring of kingly dignity. The rod of virtue and equity.
0:52:48 > 0:52:52The golden sceptre and the crown of glory.
0:52:52 > 0:52:56And, as a final, significant gesture,
0:52:56 > 0:53:00his nobles gathered around him stretch forth their arms
0:53:00 > 0:53:04towards the monarch in a sign of fealty, of loyalty.
0:53:05 > 0:53:10But, for Richard, loyalty, and time, were running out.
0:53:18 > 0:53:22In April 1395, two London coppersmiths,
0:53:22 > 0:53:24Nicholas Broker and Godfrey Prest,
0:53:24 > 0:53:26won a prestigious contract...
0:53:28 > 0:53:32..to create two gilt bronze effigies of Richard and his wife
0:53:32 > 0:53:34for a tomb in Westminster Abbey.
0:53:36 > 0:53:38Richard was 27 years old,
0:53:38 > 0:53:42but, in his time, death was ever close at hand.
0:53:42 > 0:53:47In the Middle Ages, it wasn't unknown for people of high birth
0:53:47 > 0:53:50to invest time and money in the afterlife -
0:53:50 > 0:53:54the design of their tombs and effigies.
0:53:54 > 0:53:58It was a way of ensuring one's legacy and also of creating
0:53:58 > 0:54:03a shrine, a place where one's loved ones and descendants could come
0:54:03 > 0:54:05and pray and intercede on your behalf,
0:54:05 > 0:54:09to ensure that your soul would spend as little time as possible
0:54:09 > 0:54:12in purgatory before ascending into heaven.
0:54:14 > 0:54:16But this was something different.
0:54:16 > 0:54:20This was one of the most expensive pieces of funerary architecture
0:54:20 > 0:54:23seen in medieval times.
0:54:23 > 0:54:27It was also unusual in that it's a double effigy.
0:54:27 > 0:54:32Richard reposes for all eternity alongside his first wife, Anne.
0:54:35 > 0:54:39The king approved a drawing of himself, now sadly lost,
0:54:39 > 0:54:43and Broker and Prest were expressly ordered to copy it.
0:54:43 > 0:54:48To strive for such a true likeness was highly unusual for the time.
0:54:49 > 0:54:53This is a supreme statement of medieval refinement,
0:54:53 > 0:54:56almost a contradiction in terms until Richard came along.
0:54:56 > 0:55:01And it throws forward to the sophistication of the Renaissance.
0:55:01 > 0:55:05If ever you were looking for proof that Richard had changed art,
0:55:05 > 0:55:09portraiture, then here it is in his eternal monument,
0:55:09 > 0:55:11cast for the ages.
0:55:15 > 0:55:18Richard can hardly have imagined the tomb would be
0:55:18 > 0:55:20completed in the nick of time.
0:55:21 > 0:55:24He'd become paranoid and tyrannical.
0:55:24 > 0:55:28Rashly seizing the lands of his cousin, Henry,
0:55:28 > 0:55:30proved his final undoing.
0:55:32 > 0:55:34Henry led an uprising against Richard,
0:55:34 > 0:55:37whom he imprisoned and forced to abdicate.
0:55:39 > 0:55:42A few months later, in February 1400,
0:55:42 > 0:55:45Richard was found starved to death.
0:55:52 > 0:55:57The inscription's in Latin but it translates like this -
0:55:57 > 0:56:00"Prudent and elegant, Richard, by oath, the second,
0:56:00 > 0:56:06"overtaken by fate, lies here portrayed and under marble.
0:56:06 > 0:56:08"He was true in speech
0:56:08 > 0:56:13"and full of reason. Noble in body, and judicious in mind like Homer.
0:56:15 > 0:56:19"He overthrew the proud and threw down whoever violated
0:56:19 > 0:56:20"the royal prerogative.
0:56:20 > 0:56:24"Oh, merciful Christ, to whom he was devoted,
0:56:24 > 0:56:30"oh, Baptist, whom he venerated, may you by your prayers save him."
0:56:52 > 0:56:56Richard came blasphemously close to believing that he was the chosen one
0:56:56 > 0:57:01with a divine mission, and that his England would be a new Jerusalem.
0:57:01 > 0:57:05Instead, it was something as exotic and almost as wonderful -
0:57:05 > 0:57:07a new Xanadu.
0:57:07 > 0:57:10Wherever his ever restless court went
0:57:10 > 0:57:13was a pleasure dome of all that was finest in life.
0:57:13 > 0:57:20The arts, sculpture, painting, writing, fine living,
0:57:20 > 0:57:23food, drink, fancy clothes.
0:57:23 > 0:57:25The trouble with Richard was,
0:57:25 > 0:57:29although he was a terrific patron of the arts, he was a lousy king,
0:57:29 > 0:57:33and his legacy, like the man himself, is conflicted and contrary.
0:57:33 > 0:57:35On the one hand, he ushered in
0:57:35 > 0:57:39the first golden age in the English arts, if you like.
0:57:39 > 0:57:43On the other hand, he bequeathed us the divine right of kings,
0:57:43 > 0:57:49a tyrant's charter to amass wealth illegally and slaughter willy-nilly.
0:57:49 > 0:57:54Richard's reign is also one of the great what-if moments in British history.
0:57:54 > 0:57:57What if he hadn't fallen out so badly with his cousin?
0:57:57 > 0:58:01What if he hadn't pampered and spoiled those pets,
0:58:01 > 0:58:03those favourites of his at court?
0:58:03 > 0:58:07Perhaps then it would have been these soggy, unlikely islands
0:58:07 > 0:58:10that would have witnessed the first flowering
0:58:10 > 0:58:12of the Renaissance in Western Europe.
0:58:12 > 0:58:15As it was, that privilege fell to Italy.
0:58:15 > 0:58:17But that's a story for next time.