0:00:08 > 0:00:12So far, on this artistic journey through the Dark Ages
0:00:12 > 0:00:16we have been hugging the Mediterranean and following the sun.
0:00:18 > 0:00:22But the Dark Ages wouldn't be as significant as they were
0:00:22 > 0:00:25in the story of art if they had stayed in the south.
0:00:27 > 0:00:33To be properly influential, they needed also to venture north.
0:00:36 > 0:00:41This is Lindisfarne, high up on the north coast of Britain.
0:00:41 > 0:00:43Holy Island they call it.
0:00:45 > 0:00:49And this monastery you see there was founded
0:00:49 > 0:00:54early in the seventh century by an Irish monk called Aidan.
0:00:58 > 0:01:00What a place to build a monastery, eh?
0:01:02 > 0:01:05Cut off from the mainland, beaten up by the sea.
0:01:07 > 0:01:10It's so out of the way and impractical
0:01:10 > 0:01:13and that's precisely why it was chosen.
0:01:18 > 0:01:21The Irish monks who founded Lindisfarne weren't
0:01:21 > 0:01:27looking for an easy life, they were looking for difficulties to conquer.
0:01:27 > 0:01:31These were hard-core northern Christians who had isolated
0:01:31 > 0:01:35themselves up here on purpose, who worked their fingers to
0:01:35 > 0:01:39the bone and created something out of nothing.
0:01:42 > 0:01:47As they saw it, Jesus had sacrificed his life for them
0:01:47 > 0:01:50so the least they could do was sacrifice their comfort.
0:01:55 > 0:02:00The hard-core determination of the Lindisfarne monks shows not
0:02:00 > 0:02:04only in the miraculous building of their great monastery
0:02:04 > 0:02:08but also in the stunning book art they made up here.
0:02:10 > 0:02:14So intricate, so detailed, so difficult.
0:02:16 > 0:02:19And that's the thing about the north's contribution to
0:02:19 > 0:02:21the art of the Dark Ages.
0:02:21 > 0:02:25What it achieved, it achieved by going the extra mile,
0:02:25 > 0:02:31working the extra hour, adding the extra detail.
0:02:31 > 0:02:34Nothing was given to it on a plate.
0:03:20 > 0:03:24In this film, we are going to be looking at the Carolingians,
0:03:24 > 0:03:30Dark Age expansionists from France, whose huge empire gobbled up most
0:03:30 > 0:03:37of modern Europe but who made art of exquisite finesse and richness.
0:03:40 > 0:03:45Also the Vikings, who, despite their terrible reputation for raping
0:03:45 > 0:03:51and pillaging, were actually exceptionally inventive craftsman.
0:03:51 > 0:03:55The extreme delicacy of Dark Age Viking art
0:03:55 > 0:03:59is an unexpected pleasure.
0:03:59 > 0:04:02Then up here in the north of England,
0:04:02 > 0:04:05we'll be celebrating the Dark Age nation
0:04:05 > 0:04:10whose artistic handiwork was admired across the whole of Europe.
0:04:11 > 0:04:16I'm thinking, of course, of the Anglo-Saxons -
0:04:16 > 0:04:20so skilled, so hard-working, so ingenious.
0:04:22 > 0:04:24Speaking of hard work,
0:04:24 > 0:04:28one of the things we are going to be doing in this film is following
0:04:28 > 0:04:34the creation of an Anglo-Saxon jewel from start to finish.
0:04:38 > 0:04:44Later on, I'll introduce you properly to Shaun Greenhalgh here.
0:04:44 > 0:04:47For now, all that really matters is that he's going to be making
0:04:47 > 0:04:55something exquisite - a silver disc brooch in the Anglo-Saxon manner.
0:04:59 > 0:05:02Shaun Greenhalgh's Anglo-Saxon brooch
0:05:02 > 0:05:05is a pleasure we are saving for later.
0:05:06 > 0:05:12First, we need to confront the north's most notorious barbarians.
0:05:13 > 0:05:17We've tackled some terrifying warrior nations in this series -
0:05:17 > 0:05:24the Huns, the Vandals, the Goths - but when it comes to
0:05:24 > 0:05:32bellicosity, no-one has quite as fearsome reputation as the Vikings.
0:05:36 > 0:05:40You know, people get so much wrong about the Vikings.
0:05:40 > 0:05:43They didn't wear these ridiculous helmets, for a start.
0:05:43 > 0:05:48These were invented in the 19th century by a stage designer
0:05:48 > 0:05:50working on a Wagner opera.
0:05:50 > 0:05:55He had to make one of the singing Vikings look particularly evil
0:05:55 > 0:05:58so he stuck the devil's horns on a helmet
0:05:58 > 0:06:02and the Vikings have been lumbered with these helmets ever since.
0:06:04 > 0:06:07This is what their helmets really looked like.
0:06:09 > 0:06:15The only surviving Viking helmet in the National Museum in Oslo.
0:06:17 > 0:06:21The Vikings were particularly interesting because, while all the
0:06:21 > 0:06:23other Germanic tribes headed south
0:06:23 > 0:06:29and became thoroughly Italianate, the Vikings stayed in the harsh
0:06:29 > 0:06:33and windy north where they clung to the old ways.
0:06:33 > 0:06:38So, they were a barbarian nation of a pure and exciting type.
0:06:41 > 0:06:46The Vikings were a living link to an older and deeper European past.
0:06:47 > 0:06:52There were forces at work in them that civilisation hadn't dimmed.
0:06:53 > 0:06:55And that's what's so exciting about them.
0:06:59 > 0:07:03In fact, most of the time they were simple farmers,
0:07:03 > 0:07:08tending the land, keeping livestock, growing what they could.
0:07:08 > 0:07:12But in the lands of the Vikings, you can't go very far without
0:07:12 > 0:07:14encountering water.
0:07:14 > 0:07:17And this constant presence of the sea had turned them
0:07:17 > 0:07:19into superb sailors.
0:07:22 > 0:07:26Exactly where they reached is still fiercely debated
0:07:26 > 0:07:30but they certainly got to Greenland and then to Newfoundland.
0:07:30 > 0:07:35The Vikings discovered America a long, long time before Columbus.
0:07:37 > 0:07:40So, boatmanship was one of their great achievements
0:07:40 > 0:07:44and another of their great achievements was art.
0:07:46 > 0:07:49In the great years of Viking expansion,
0:07:49 > 0:07:55roughly 800 AD to roughly 1100 AD,
0:07:55 > 0:07:58the Vikings put almost as much energy
0:07:58 > 0:08:03into making their own art as they did into stealing other people's.
0:08:05 > 0:08:09This trefoil Viking brooch was modelled on the buckles
0:08:09 > 0:08:14used by Roman soldiers on their sword belts.
0:08:14 > 0:08:19The Vikings adapted it and turned it into a brooch for ladies.
0:08:22 > 0:08:26Much of what they made is so intricate and fine,
0:08:26 > 0:08:27it's difficult to see.
0:08:28 > 0:08:33So, to make it absolutely clear what adventurous creatives
0:08:33 > 0:08:37they were, I've brought you to Oslo,
0:08:37 > 0:08:41to one of the great Viking museums where
0:08:41 > 0:08:46I wanted to show you this whopping great nautical masterpiece.
0:08:48 > 0:08:51On 8th August 1903,
0:08:51 > 0:08:56a Norwegian farmer called Knut Rom knocked on the door of
0:08:56 > 0:09:02Professor Gabriel Gustafson of the Museum of Antiquities here in Oslo.
0:09:02 > 0:09:05While digging on his farm, said Knut Rom,
0:09:05 > 0:09:11he had come across a buried ship and he thought it might be Viking.
0:09:11 > 0:09:15Two days later, Professor Gustafson arrived at the farm
0:09:15 > 0:09:20and confirmed the discovery of this thing - the Oseberg ship.
0:09:25 > 0:09:26Will you look at that, eh?
0:09:27 > 0:09:30It's made entirely of oak.
0:09:30 > 0:09:35Over 60 feet long, 15 feet wide
0:09:35 > 0:09:42and decorated at both ends with these boisterous Viking carvings.
0:09:44 > 0:09:48Inside the ship were two dead bodies -
0:09:48 > 0:09:50an older woman who may have been a queen
0:09:50 > 0:09:56and a younger woman, probably her slave who was buried with her.
0:09:56 > 0:10:01There were also 14 horses, three dogs and an ox,
0:10:01 > 0:10:06all sacrificed together and buried with their master.
0:10:08 > 0:10:12In the stern of the boat was a four-wheeled cart,
0:10:12 > 0:10:16the first such Viking cart ever discovered.
0:10:18 > 0:10:21But no-one seemed to sure what the weather was going to
0:10:21 > 0:10:25be like in heaven because there were also four sledges.
0:10:28 > 0:10:32But it's the carving of these boats and carts
0:10:32 > 0:10:36and sledges that makes this particular Viking find so exciting.
0:10:36 > 0:10:40Look at the elegant line of this ship,
0:10:40 > 0:10:45how it ends so gracefully up there with the curved head of the snake.
0:10:47 > 0:10:51At either end, above the waterline where they can be seen,
0:10:51 > 0:10:57are these busy expanses of carving, so active and lively.
0:10:57 > 0:11:02Scores of twisting bodies, clutching hands, staring eyes,
0:11:02 > 0:11:08sniffing snouts, all jumbled together excitedly.
0:11:08 > 0:11:14A gymnasium of animal acrobats tying themselves into knots.
0:11:14 > 0:11:17You have to get your eye in with Viking carvings otherwise
0:11:17 > 0:11:22they can frighten you with all this amazing complication.
0:11:22 > 0:11:28It's all based on animal shapes all interwoven and overlapping.
0:11:28 > 0:11:31So, that, for example, is one animal.
0:11:31 > 0:11:33There is the head and there is the tail.
0:11:33 > 0:11:38And this figure eight shape here, that's the whole of its body.
0:11:38 > 0:11:42And that's biting the tail of this animal here.
0:11:42 > 0:11:47And that animal is biting the tail of the animal and so on.
0:11:47 > 0:11:53So, imagine the 3-D vision you need to carve this,
0:11:53 > 0:11:56the steady hand, the computer brain.
0:11:59 > 0:12:04So, if anyone ever says to you, "The Vikings were barbarous,"
0:12:04 > 0:12:09grab them by the ear and tug them here to Oslo.
0:12:14 > 0:12:16Runes.
0:12:19 > 0:12:21More runes.
0:12:24 > 0:12:27And still more runes.
0:12:30 > 0:12:33All over Scandinavia, Norway, Denmark
0:12:33 > 0:12:36and particularly here in Sweden,
0:12:36 > 0:12:41you find these magnificent standing stones, left
0:12:41 > 0:12:46behind by the Vikings, covered in wobbly carvings
0:12:46 > 0:12:49and all these runes.
0:12:52 > 0:12:57Runes are the bits of writing on the twisty snakes.
0:12:57 > 0:13:02You usually find them on Viking gravestones.
0:13:02 > 0:13:04These ones here say,
0:13:04 > 0:13:10"Gidiyor loved her husband and remembers him with her tears."
0:13:12 > 0:13:16Because they're carved on these mighty stones
0:13:16 > 0:13:20and not written down on handy bits of parchment or vellum,
0:13:20 > 0:13:23there is a tendency to mythologise them,
0:13:23 > 0:13:26to see great truths in the runes.
0:13:29 > 0:13:34According to Norse mythology, the runes were found by Odin,
0:13:34 > 0:13:37the supreme god of the Norsemen,
0:13:37 > 0:13:43while he was hanging in the tree of life, the famous Yggdrasil.
0:13:47 > 0:13:51For nine days and nights, Odin stayed in the great tree,
0:13:51 > 0:13:57waiting, hoping, until eventually the runes fell into his hands
0:13:57 > 0:14:01and revealed themselves to him.
0:14:01 > 0:14:03Odin passed them to us.
0:14:04 > 0:14:09Thus, from the start, the runes were associated with magic
0:14:09 > 0:14:12and the mysteries of the cosmos.
0:14:16 > 0:14:20This splendid story about Odin up in the trees
0:14:20 > 0:14:24and the origin of the runes is another example
0:14:24 > 0:14:29of the extraordinary power that words had in these fateful years.
0:14:29 > 0:14:36Words, letters, symbols seem to mean so much in the Dark Ages.
0:14:36 > 0:14:39They were so loaded, they had such resonance.
0:15:01 > 0:15:05It's actually quite a simple alphabet.
0:15:05 > 0:15:12So, this shape here that is a V sound, that's an A, L and so on.
0:15:12 > 0:15:17So that says, "Waldemar." And in fact this whole message is,
0:15:17 > 0:15:21"Here stands Waldemar in Viking land."
0:15:29 > 0:15:33The runic alphabet, or Futhark as it is called,
0:15:33 > 0:15:36had 24 letters in it originally.
0:15:37 > 0:15:41Later on, when the Vikings attacked Britain,
0:15:41 > 0:15:47they took the runes with them and the Futhark grew to 33 letters.
0:15:51 > 0:15:56The new letters were needed to describe new sounds.
0:15:56 > 0:15:59Every time the Vikings conquered a new territory
0:15:59 > 0:16:02and new words entered their language,
0:16:02 > 0:16:05they needed new letters to describe them.
0:16:05 > 0:16:09So, for example, originally there was no W
0:16:09 > 0:16:13and I had to use a V sound for my name, Waldemar.
0:16:13 > 0:16:18So, the runes were never some cobweb-covered dead language
0:16:18 > 0:16:22fit only for the museum, they were always alive,
0:16:22 > 0:16:25vibrant and constantly changing.
0:16:31 > 0:16:38What a good-looking alphabet it is, too. So energetic and upright.
0:16:38 > 0:16:42It is based on vertical lines because verticals are easier
0:16:42 > 0:16:48to carve, particularly in wood but also in stone.
0:16:49 > 0:16:55This vertical emphasis gives the runes a spiky presence and a
0:16:55 > 0:16:59mysterious relationship with time,
0:16:59 > 0:17:05as if every mark is somehow counting down the days.
0:17:09 > 0:17:14The Vikings were the last of the great barbarian nations to
0:17:14 > 0:17:16convert to Christianity.
0:17:16 > 0:17:20It wasn't until the 10th century, 1,000 years after
0:17:20 > 0:17:26the birth of Christ, that paganism's hold on the frozen north was broken.
0:17:26 > 0:17:30So, around here, the paganism was stubborn.
0:17:30 > 0:17:35And in Viking art, it's often difficult to tell where the
0:17:35 > 0:17:39paganism ends and the Christianity begins.
0:17:43 > 0:17:48This is the biggest and most famous of all Scandinavian rune stones -
0:17:48 > 0:17:51the Jelling stone.
0:17:51 > 0:17:55It weighs over 10 tonnes.
0:17:55 > 0:18:00It is two and a half metres tall and, as you can see,
0:18:00 > 0:18:04the entire stone seems to writhe with energy.
0:18:07 > 0:18:09What a fabulous thing.
0:18:10 > 0:18:13This inscription here, which goes all the way round,
0:18:13 > 0:18:20tells us that the Jelling stone was put here by Harald Bluetooth,
0:18:20 > 0:18:25the energetic Viking ruler who is usually credited with
0:18:25 > 0:18:28converting the Danes to Christianity.
0:18:28 > 0:18:31"I am Harald," it says here,
0:18:31 > 0:18:36"Son of Gorm and I made the Danes Christians."
0:18:37 > 0:18:41It is carved on all three sides and on this side is
0:18:41 > 0:18:46an image of a giant snake attacking a stylised lion.
0:18:46 > 0:18:50Now, obviously there are no lions in Scandinavia,
0:18:50 > 0:18:54it's an image they found abroad, but the Vikings identified with
0:18:54 > 0:18:58the lion's fighting spirit so it pops up a lot in their art.
0:18:58 > 0:19:01It is an image they made theirs.
0:19:03 > 0:19:06Now, I know what you're thinking.
0:19:06 > 0:19:10You're thinking, "What lion and what snake?"
0:19:10 > 0:19:12Well, inside the visitors centre at Jelling,
0:19:12 > 0:19:17there is a coloured replica of the great stone which shows
0:19:17 > 0:19:20you how the lion and the snake would originally have
0:19:20 > 0:19:24looked before all their paint fell off.
0:19:26 > 0:19:30But the most surprising sight is here on the biggest side.
0:19:30 > 0:19:37It is the culmination of the entire stone but you can't see it yet.
0:19:37 > 0:19:39The light has to be exactly right.
0:19:49 > 0:19:53What you have to do is wait
0:19:53 > 0:19:56until the twilight begins to work its magic.
0:20:00 > 0:20:01Can you see it?
0:20:02 > 0:20:07It is a splendid Viking crucifixion with this stern Christ
0:20:07 > 0:20:14in the centre surrounded by all these writhing Viking knots.
0:20:14 > 0:20:17It's as if the whole stone can't keep still.
0:20:18 > 0:20:23I like the way Christ hasn't actually got a cross,
0:20:23 > 0:20:28he's just standing there with his arms outstretched.
0:20:28 > 0:20:30So it is obviously another image that has been
0:20:30 > 0:20:36imported from abroad and is now being misunderstood so confidently.
0:20:48 > 0:20:54When the Vikings began behaving like Vikings and invaded Britain,
0:20:54 > 0:21:00they encountered the most exciting jewellers of the Dark Ages -
0:21:00 > 0:21:03the Anglo-Saxons.
0:21:03 > 0:21:06How do we know they were exciting?
0:21:06 > 0:21:09Because they have left behind this -
0:21:09 > 0:21:11the Sutton Hoo treasure.
0:21:17 > 0:21:21This is the finest hoard of Anglo-Saxon gold ever dug up
0:21:21 > 0:21:25in Britain, one of the great treasures of the British Museum.
0:21:25 > 0:21:27Just look at it.
0:21:28 > 0:21:31My legs go weak every time I see it
0:21:31 > 0:21:35because it is in such excellent condition.
0:21:38 > 0:21:42Much of the art that survives from the Dark Ages has been
0:21:42 > 0:21:49battered by time but not the Sutton Hoo treasure.
0:21:49 > 0:21:53In the finest pieces here and there is hardly a gram of gold bent
0:21:53 > 0:21:57out of place or a garnet missing.
0:22:00 > 0:22:02The Sutton Hoo treasure was dug up out of the ground
0:22:02 > 0:22:04in East Anglia just a few
0:22:04 > 0:22:09weeks before the start of the Second World War in 1939, so it
0:22:09 > 0:22:13couldn't be investigated properly until after the war was over,
0:22:13 > 0:22:18and what a torture that must have been for the waiting archaeologists.
0:22:22 > 0:22:26The treasure dates from around 620 AD
0:22:26 > 0:22:30and comes from the grave of an important East Anglian king.
0:22:31 > 0:22:38The king was buried in a ship, his transport to the next world.
0:22:38 > 0:22:43And all this was buried with him to serve him in the afterlife.
0:22:46 > 0:22:48These bits of sword, here,
0:22:48 > 0:22:51and the helmets mark him out as a mighty warrior.
0:22:51 > 0:22:55You wouldn't want to get on the wrong side of this man, never.
0:22:59 > 0:23:02They found a lyre in his grave as well
0:23:02 > 0:23:06so the king could listen to his favourite music in the afterlife.
0:23:06 > 0:23:07That's a recreation of it.
0:23:10 > 0:23:11He had to eat well
0:23:11 > 0:23:15so this fabulous cooking cauldron was buried with him.
0:23:15 > 0:23:20Look at all the intricate Celtic decoration around it.
0:23:23 > 0:23:25Most important of all,
0:23:25 > 0:23:29the people who buried the King made sure that he would look good in
0:23:29 > 0:23:36the next world by burying him with his best Anglo-Saxon ruler bling,
0:23:36 > 0:23:41which is where this gold comes in and those magnificent garnets.
0:23:45 > 0:23:49If you have ever seen finer jewellery than this,
0:23:49 > 0:23:52let me know where because I want to go there.
0:23:54 > 0:23:59How did they do it, these Anglo-Saxon wizards?
0:24:02 > 0:24:07To penetrate their secrets, I have tracked down a man who knows.
0:24:09 > 0:24:14In his youth, Shaun Greenhalgh was a skilled forger
0:24:14 > 0:24:21and some of the world's greatest museums have admired his output.
0:24:23 > 0:24:26Shaun was finally caught and sent to prison
0:24:26 > 0:24:31so he has served his time and these days puts all this expertise
0:24:31 > 0:24:35to much better use as an independent craftsmen.
0:24:35 > 0:24:38The methods he uses aren't exactly the same as the methods
0:24:38 > 0:24:42of the Dark Ages - the modern world has changed too much for that -
0:24:42 > 0:24:45but they are about as close as you can get.
0:24:45 > 0:24:49And what Shaun's work gives us is an insider's view of how
0:24:49 > 0:24:54Anglo-Saxon jewellers actually made their pieces.
0:24:54 > 0:24:57So, Shaun, can you tell us what it is you're going to be making?
0:24:57 > 0:25:03It's an Anglo-Saxon disc brooch, silver, with some enamel gilding...
0:25:03 > 0:25:07covering most of the aspects that Anglo-Saxon jewellers would use.
0:25:07 > 0:25:10They obviously had lots of different techniques in the way
0:25:10 > 0:25:13they made their jewellery, so which ones are you picking up here?
0:25:13 > 0:25:17This is probably the 10th century, it's like a late Saxon disc brooch,
0:25:17 > 0:25:20the earlier ones with the golden garnet, mostly,
0:25:20 > 0:25:23but these are the ones with religious symbolism on them.
0:25:23 > 0:25:26Is this based on an existing brooch?
0:25:26 > 0:25:30No, it's my own design, but it kind of encompasses elements of other
0:25:30 > 0:25:34things going off, so it's an original design in itself.
0:25:36 > 0:25:39The centre part will be done in gold ribbon,
0:25:39 > 0:25:42plus all the different coloured enamels.
0:25:42 > 0:25:44And that's a picture of an Anglo Saxon king?
0:25:44 > 0:25:47Yes, with just a generic long-tache beard with
0:25:47 > 0:25:49a sword in his right hand,
0:25:49 > 0:25:52and the element I haven't actually put in is the hand
0:25:52 > 0:25:56of God over his shoulder, that will be done in white and gold enamel.
0:25:57 > 0:25:59Wonderful, let's get going.
0:25:59 > 0:26:01OK, let's get on with it.
0:26:05 > 0:26:07MONASTIC CHANTING
0:26:07 > 0:26:10The delights of Shaun's Anglo-Saxon
0:26:10 > 0:26:12disc brooch will have to wait.
0:26:14 > 0:26:19First, we need to cross the Channel and search out those powerful
0:26:19 > 0:26:21Dark Age creatives,
0:26:21 > 0:26:24the Carolingians -
0:26:24 > 0:26:27rulers of the Franks.
0:26:29 > 0:26:32The Franks were the ancestors of the modern French.
0:26:32 > 0:26:35Originally, they were Germans,
0:26:35 > 0:26:37just like the Anglo-Saxons,
0:26:37 > 0:26:41but they arrived in Gaul on one of those expansionist,
0:26:41 > 0:26:45barbarian waves that we saw in film two.
0:26:45 > 0:26:47And early in their story,
0:26:47 > 0:26:50the Franks converted to Christianity,
0:26:50 > 0:26:55and they became particularly fierce defenders of the faith.
0:26:59 > 0:27:05Plenty of Dark Age societies liked their art to sparkle.
0:27:05 > 0:27:07A taste for gold
0:27:07 > 0:27:10is one of the Dark Ages' defining characteristics.
0:27:11 > 0:27:14But when it comes to religious bling,
0:27:15 > 0:27:20the Frankish Christians were top of the charts.
0:27:23 > 0:27:26If you have ever wondered why the French sometimes conduct
0:27:26 > 0:27:30themselves as if they were the chosen people, it's
0:27:30 > 0:27:34because that's exactly what they thought they were.
0:27:34 > 0:27:36In 732 AD,
0:27:36 > 0:27:40the Franks, led by the heroic Charles Martel,
0:27:40 > 0:27:42Charles the Hammer,
0:27:42 > 0:27:45defeated an invading Muslim army,
0:27:45 > 0:27:49which had come up from Spain, hoping to conquer Europe.
0:27:52 > 0:27:55The Franks believed that God had chosen them
0:27:55 > 0:27:58to save Europe from Islam.
0:27:58 > 0:28:01They were his chosen people.
0:28:02 > 0:28:07And their art seems particularly aware of this special
0:28:07 > 0:28:10position in God's good books.
0:28:14 > 0:28:17The mightiest of the Frankish kings,
0:28:17 > 0:28:20Charles the Great, or Charlemagne
0:28:20 > 0:28:21as he's usually called,
0:28:21 > 0:28:25came from a dynasty called the Carolingians.
0:28:28 > 0:28:32He was crowned in 768,
0:28:32 > 0:28:36and with typical Frankish modesty,
0:28:36 > 0:28:40pushed himself right to the front of Dark Age politics.
0:28:46 > 0:28:50Charlemagne was determined to expand the Frankish empire.
0:28:51 > 0:28:56After all, it was God's chosen empire,
0:28:56 > 0:29:01and the Carolingians were God's chosen leaders.
0:29:02 > 0:29:07This expansion of Charlemagne's Christian Empire,
0:29:07 > 0:29:10was achieved with deep brutality.
0:29:12 > 0:29:15In Germany, the Saxons, who were still pagans,
0:29:15 > 0:29:19were given a very simple choice -
0:29:19 > 0:29:21convert to Christianity, or die.
0:29:22 > 0:29:26If they didn't become Christians, they were killed.
0:29:26 > 0:29:28That was Charlemagne's choice.
0:29:32 > 0:29:34In 800 AD,
0:29:34 > 0:29:37in Rome, on Christmas Day itself,
0:29:37 > 0:29:41the Pope rewarded Charlemagne for his efforts on behalf
0:29:41 > 0:29:43of Christianity
0:29:43 > 0:29:47by crowning him as the Holy Roman Emperor.
0:29:49 > 0:29:54Charlemagne was now the leader of the largest empire Europe had
0:29:54 > 0:29:57seen since the fall of the Romans.
0:30:00 > 0:30:03The centre of gravity of Europe had shifted,
0:30:03 > 0:30:06and it had shifted to the north.
0:30:06 > 0:30:10This is the chapel that Charlemagne built, here in Aachen
0:30:10 > 0:30:12on the Belgian borders.
0:30:12 > 0:30:17And from here, he ruled his new Christian Empire.
0:30:17 > 0:30:23This is actually the marble throne on which he sat.
0:30:27 > 0:30:31There's a spooky simplicity to Charlemagne's throne...
0:30:32 > 0:30:34..four slabs of ancient marble,
0:30:34 > 0:30:37a few metal clamps.
0:30:37 > 0:30:40Six marble steps and that's it.
0:30:42 > 0:30:44A gold-loving Emperor
0:30:44 > 0:30:47is pretending to be a simple man.
0:30:52 > 0:30:58Charlemagne began building this chapel in 786 AD.
0:30:58 > 0:31:01And at exactly the same time, in Spain,
0:31:01 > 0:31:06the Muslims were building the Great Mosque, in Cordoba,
0:31:06 > 0:31:09which I hope you remember from the last film.
0:31:09 > 0:31:13Such inventive, and dramatic architecture,
0:31:13 > 0:31:17with those nimble, double arches,
0:31:17 > 0:31:21and that gorgeous forest of columns.
0:31:26 > 0:31:29Charlemagne's chapel, this chapel,
0:31:29 > 0:31:34was intended to be a deliberate riposte to the Muslims.
0:31:34 > 0:31:37A Christian answer to the Cordoba mosque.
0:31:38 > 0:31:41Look up there, at the arches,
0:31:41 > 0:31:44and see how they have these alternating
0:31:44 > 0:31:45bands of colour,
0:31:45 > 0:31:49just like the arches in the Cordoba mosque.
0:31:51 > 0:31:55But in Aachen, the stripy arches don't float or soar...
0:31:58 > 0:31:59..nothing does.
0:32:00 > 0:32:05This is architecture drawn with the biceps, not the wrist...
0:32:06 > 0:32:09..effortful, and ponderous.
0:32:12 > 0:32:13I don't like this building,
0:32:13 > 0:32:16it feels brutal, clunky.
0:32:17 > 0:32:19This round shape,
0:32:19 > 0:32:24was based originally on a Roman mausoleum, and you can still
0:32:24 > 0:32:29sense the doomy and cold atmospheres of the mausoleum in here.
0:32:34 > 0:32:35Gloomy,
0:32:35 > 0:32:37expensive,
0:32:37 > 0:32:39intense.
0:32:39 > 0:32:42Frankish Christianity bulldozes the senses.
0:32:45 > 0:32:49But it doesn't really pleasure them, at least I don't think so.
0:32:51 > 0:32:55In the battle of the northern Christians,
0:32:55 > 0:32:59give me Anglo-Saxon art, any day.
0:33:21 > 0:33:26Christianity arrived in Britain from three directions at once,
0:33:26 > 0:33:29in a three-pronged religious assault.
0:33:30 > 0:33:32In the south, in ancient Kent,
0:33:32 > 0:33:35a team of monks led by St Augustine
0:33:35 > 0:33:38were sent here by the Pope in Rome.
0:33:38 > 0:33:44They brought with them the official Roman version of Christianity.
0:33:45 > 0:33:49Up here, in the north of Britain, it was Irish
0:33:49 > 0:33:53monks from across the sea, who came over to convert the pagans,
0:33:53 > 0:33:58and they brought with them, a harsher, more basic,
0:33:58 > 0:34:00more penitential form of Christianity.
0:34:06 > 0:34:12locations, and where they produced glorious art with an ecstatic
0:34:12 > 0:34:18and insistent tone to it, like the chanting of a great monks' choir,
0:34:21 > 0:34:25The third type of Christians found in Anglo-Saxon Britain,
0:34:25 > 0:34:28were the ones who were already here.
0:34:29 > 0:34:34Remember, in film one, how the Romans converted to Christianity,
0:34:34 > 0:34:39under Constantine, and how one of the earliest known Christian
0:34:39 > 0:34:44house churches was found in Roman Britain, in Lullingstone, in Kent.
0:34:46 > 0:34:50We don't know much about these existing Christians,
0:34:50 > 0:34:53they were a modest Christian presence.
0:34:54 > 0:34:59But perhaps, tiny droplets of this modesty were
0:34:59 > 0:35:01thrown into the melting pot, as well.
0:35:06 > 0:35:10So, the Anglo-Saxons would have had wood-heated kilns?
0:35:10 > 0:35:12Charcoal brazier, I should imagine.
0:35:14 > 0:35:18This is the stuff I'm going to make the brooch out of.
0:35:18 > 0:35:21It's basically about 82% silver, a bit of copper,
0:35:21 > 0:35:22quite a lot of lead,
0:35:22 > 0:35:26which designates as Anglo-Saxon or Viking, a few other bits
0:35:26 > 0:35:28and parts of it, all the trace elements
0:35:28 > 0:35:29you don't get in modern silver.
0:35:32 > 0:35:37Shaun melts down the Anglo-Saxon silver and, to turn it into
0:35:37 > 0:35:43something useful, pours it into some moulds made from cuttlefish bones.
0:35:45 > 0:35:47So tell me about this cuttlefish,
0:35:47 > 0:35:52is this what was used in ancient times to make moulds?
0:35:52 > 0:35:54It's been used for centuries,
0:35:54 > 0:35:56I should imagine it's a Roman tradition, actually.
0:35:57 > 0:36:02I take them out the mould, they should be relatively cool now.
0:36:02 > 0:36:05Right, that's actual ingot there, that's for the pin,
0:36:05 > 0:36:08and the pin mount, so I'll quench that first of all.
0:36:12 > 0:36:14So that basically cools it down...
0:36:14 > 0:36:17It cleans all that other stuff off.
0:36:21 > 0:36:22Right...
0:36:24 > 0:36:26..the next thing to do is to reduce this piece of silver
0:36:26 > 0:36:28for the main body down to about one and a half millimetres,
0:36:28 > 0:36:31to replicate Anglo-Saxon disc brooches
0:36:31 > 0:36:34that have been in existence.
0:36:34 > 0:36:38So, first of all, you have to beat from the centre to the outside.
0:36:40 > 0:36:44You always go outside to inside, inside to out, reversing every time.
0:36:46 > 0:36:49- So you're making it thinner? - Yeah, basically, yeah.
0:36:49 > 0:36:52On the other side, you start at the centre and work to the middle.
0:36:52 > 0:36:56That's keeping a uniform thickness, because it tends to bowl,
0:36:56 > 0:36:58to an actual bowl shape cos it starts to split
0:36:58 > 0:37:00once you start to spread it out even further.
0:37:03 > 0:37:05You hear the dull thud of it now,
0:37:05 > 0:37:08because we're hammering it, it gets higher and higher, the pitch.
0:37:08 > 0:37:10With the ear, you can tell when it's hard enough,
0:37:10 > 0:37:12so you don't crack it.
0:37:15 > 0:37:18That has more or less brought it, to the next stage,
0:37:18 > 0:37:21so it's just a matter of us now repeating the process,
0:37:21 > 0:37:25and as we reduce it, the area will get larger.
0:37:25 > 0:37:27And once we've made a big enough piece,
0:37:27 > 0:37:29and reduced it to one and a half millimetres,
0:37:29 > 0:37:33or thereabouts, we'll have a large enough piece to cut the disc out of,
0:37:33 > 0:37:36so this is one and a half millimetres, as you can see.
0:37:36 > 0:37:38That is just the same as this, it is just the same silver,
0:37:38 > 0:37:41but I've worked on it, it's taken about two days' work,
0:37:41 > 0:37:43a lot of hammer-work, and a lot of earbashing.
0:37:43 > 0:37:46Fallen out with your neighbours, and what have yous
0:37:46 > 0:37:49to get it to that, so we'll start on with this now.
0:37:49 > 0:37:51But that is the basic shape of the brooch?
0:37:51 > 0:37:53That is the basic shape of the brooch.
0:38:03 > 0:38:06While Shaun Greenhalgh bangs away in his lair,
0:38:06 > 0:38:09back at the front line of the Dark Ages,
0:38:09 > 0:38:14the Anglo-Saxon custom of burying the dead with things that would be
0:38:14 > 0:38:20useful to them in the afterlife, was, of course, a pagan custom.
0:38:22 > 0:38:24And, unfortunately,
0:38:24 > 0:38:28when the Anglo-Saxons were converted to Christianity,
0:38:28 > 0:38:30that custom was stopped.
0:38:36 > 0:38:40For a Christian burial, you buried the body and that was it,
0:38:40 > 0:38:44so nothing as sumptuous as the Sutton Hoo treasure
0:38:44 > 0:38:47has survived from the Christian era.
0:38:47 > 0:38:52Instead, we get another kind of Anglo-Saxon treasure.
0:38:55 > 0:38:59It's a treasure made of granite and limestone...
0:39:00 > 0:39:01..the resilient,
0:39:01 > 0:39:08spiritual treasure that is the Anglo-Saxon funeral cross.
0:39:11 > 0:39:16Earlier on, we saw how the Vikings commemorated their dead,
0:39:16 > 0:39:20with these mighty standing stones covered in runes.
0:39:20 > 0:39:25This idea, that stone is somehow eternal,
0:39:25 > 0:39:28and lasts much longer than you,
0:39:28 > 0:39:33is something that was shared by all the voyaging tribes of the north.
0:39:36 > 0:39:41There's something splendidly basic about these Anglo-Saxon crosses.
0:39:41 > 0:39:46They're supposed to be Christian, but somehow, their Christianity
0:39:46 > 0:39:51feels superficial and confined to the surface.
0:39:51 > 0:39:57Underneath, you can still sense the atmospheres of Stonehenge -
0:39:57 > 0:40:00a connection with the faraway past,
0:40:00 > 0:40:05and the central mysteries of Creation.
0:40:07 > 0:40:12See all this decoration here? It's called interlacing, it's
0:40:12 > 0:40:18Celtic in origin, you get it on the Anglo-Saxon crosses, but also the
0:40:18 > 0:40:22great manuscripts written later in the monasteries like Lindisfarne.
0:40:25 > 0:40:29A lot of people have written a lot of books on the subject
0:40:29 > 0:40:31of Celtic interlacing -
0:40:31 > 0:40:33what it means, why it was used.
0:40:35 > 0:40:41It's so beautiful to look at, but also, so intrinsically mysterious.
0:40:44 > 0:40:48They say that its origins lie in basket weaving and plaiting,
0:40:48 > 0:40:50and we'll never know for sure,
0:40:50 > 0:40:56but my guess is that this is also an attempt by the Dark Age mind
0:40:56 > 0:41:04to grasp and mimic the rhythms of Creation, to convey the sense
0:41:04 > 0:41:08that the cosmos goes on and on,
0:41:08 > 0:41:12and that everything in it is interrelated.
0:41:15 > 0:41:21This is a rather wonky specimen, which is why I like it so much.
0:41:21 > 0:41:26It's not quite right, so you just want to hug it.
0:41:26 > 0:41:30but because it's so wonky, the interlacing on the Lonan cross
0:41:30 > 0:41:34in the Isle of Man, is particularly clear.
0:41:38 > 0:41:41We're going to be seeing a lot of this Celtic interlacing
0:41:41 > 0:41:45in the marvellous manuscripts that are coming up,
0:41:45 > 0:41:48so I just wanted to show you quickly how it was done.
0:41:49 > 0:41:55It looks immensely confident, but it's actually relatively simple.
0:42:09 > 0:42:12So first, you need to mark out a grid.
0:42:13 > 0:42:18Say we want to do a decorative border on a Gospel book,
0:42:18 > 0:42:22so, if here's the border, and we know from unfinished
0:42:22 > 0:42:26bits of manuscript the monks have left behind that the way
0:42:26 > 0:42:32he did it was to make this grid with dots to guide them.
0:42:33 > 0:42:37So, three dots, two dots, three dots, three dots, two dots,
0:42:37 > 0:42:39two dots.
0:42:39 > 0:42:45They're like the dots on a dice. Three, two, three, two.
0:42:45 > 0:42:48Then you start filling in the spaces in-between.
0:42:48 > 0:42:56Now the big rule in interlacing is that one line goes over...
0:42:57 > 0:43:01..and the other line goes under.
0:43:01 > 0:43:06Over, under, over, under, over, under - all the way along.
0:43:06 > 0:43:12And when you're about to get to the edge, you stop,
0:43:12 > 0:43:15because you need to work out how you're going to do the edges.
0:43:15 > 0:43:17Now I'm just going to square them off,
0:43:17 > 0:43:19that's the simplest way of doing it.
0:43:21 > 0:43:23But they also did all these elaborate things,
0:43:23 > 0:43:28they'd leave out bits of the pattern and create this
0:43:28 > 0:43:30kind of asymmetrical symmetry.
0:43:30 > 0:43:33That's too complicated for me, I'm afraid.
0:43:35 > 0:43:40And once you got your over, under, over, under -
0:43:40 > 0:43:43then you start to fill in the bits of the background.
0:43:45 > 0:43:46Red and black.
0:44:00 > 0:44:03There you are. A bit of Celtic interlacing.
0:44:08 > 0:44:10So I've done this very big,
0:44:10 > 0:44:14because I've got insensitive and stubby fingers.
0:44:14 > 0:44:16But if you're a Dark Age monk,
0:44:16 > 0:44:23poring over a precious manuscript, then the borders you made were tiny.
0:44:23 > 0:44:28I mean, these people must have had extraordinary eyesight.
0:44:28 > 0:44:33Of course, if you're a sculptor on the other hand,
0:44:33 > 0:44:37once you've designed your interlacing,
0:44:37 > 0:44:40you need to carve it into stone.
0:44:40 > 0:44:43And it is mightily difficult, too.
0:44:43 > 0:44:47And with this cross, the Lonan cross,
0:44:47 > 0:44:53you can see that the interlacing, it's OK when it begins up here,
0:44:53 > 0:45:00but as it comes down, it gets wonkier and wonkier and wonkier.
0:45:00 > 0:45:02HAMMERING
0:45:07 > 0:45:12Back in Bolton, Shaun Greenhalgh has engraved the symbols
0:45:12 > 0:45:17of the Four Evangelists round the edges of his silver brooch.
0:45:19 > 0:45:24And he's now ready for the really difficult bit in the middle,
0:45:24 > 0:45:30the Anglo-Saxon king, created so carefully, with cloisonne enamels.
0:45:32 > 0:45:36The cloisonne enamel technique is a very old technique,
0:45:36 > 0:45:39practised by the Romans, and the Celts even, before them.
0:45:39 > 0:45:42It's just powdered glass, ground up,
0:45:42 > 0:45:45and mixed in with water and just fired in the kiln.
0:45:45 > 0:45:47The Anglo-Saxons and other people in the Dark Ages,
0:45:47 > 0:45:51and into the Middle Ages, would use Roman glass tesseras,
0:45:51 > 0:45:53ground up, the kind of thing you see in wall mosaics
0:45:53 > 0:45:55in Ravenna and such places, Constantinople,
0:45:55 > 0:45:59and such like, because although they had the technology to make
0:45:59 > 0:46:02glass, they didn't have the oxides to get the various
0:46:02 > 0:46:05colours, as you can see, of the yellows and greens and blues.
0:46:07 > 0:46:12The first stage is to lay down the king's outlines in a delicate
0:46:12 > 0:46:17framework of itsy-bitsy bits of pure gold.
0:46:18 > 0:46:20So fiddly, these little bits, you know...
0:46:22 > 0:46:24..the eyes and the nose.
0:46:26 > 0:46:29'Then the really tough work begins.
0:46:29 > 0:46:36'Getting the powdered glass into this labyrinth of gold cells.'
0:46:38 > 0:46:41Just filling in the background now, the dark blue.
0:46:41 > 0:46:44It's always better to get the background in,
0:46:44 > 0:46:47the largest area, to fill the largest area,
0:46:47 > 0:46:49and it kind of holds most of the wires in position,
0:46:49 > 0:46:52so, you know... pushing everything about.
0:46:54 > 0:46:56Careful you don't drop any into the other cells,
0:46:56 > 0:46:59otherwise it all has to be washed off if you do that.
0:46:59 > 0:47:00Start again.
0:47:03 > 0:47:06Right, just got to work out the colour schemes now.
0:47:06 > 0:47:10I think the yellows can go in next, so I'll mix some yellow. Right.
0:47:10 > 0:47:11Here we go.
0:47:13 > 0:47:14Now.
0:47:17 > 0:47:21The difficult part, to fill the small pieces,
0:47:21 > 0:47:24cos just touching them, the surface tension tends to glue them
0:47:24 > 0:47:26to the damn brush.
0:47:26 > 0:47:28So...
0:47:28 > 0:47:29Slowly does it, I think.
0:47:35 > 0:47:39Then we'll put the tache in that. Long droop here.
0:47:39 > 0:47:42Edward the Confessor tache.
0:47:42 > 0:47:45That's the hair. Bit yellow.
0:47:46 > 0:47:48A General Custer hair-do.
0:47:48 > 0:47:52It's just slow, fiddly work, you know,
0:47:52 > 0:47:55always fighting the surface tension with it because...
0:47:57 > 0:48:00Now some pale green into the cloak itself
0:48:00 > 0:48:03and then we're ready for firing when we've dried it out.
0:48:06 > 0:48:08All right.
0:48:08 > 0:48:13'While Shaun prepares to pop his Anglo-Saxon king into the kiln,
0:48:13 > 0:48:18'I'm thinking that his brooch reminds me strongly of the most
0:48:18 > 0:48:25'famous of all Anglo-Saxon jewels - the so-called Alfred Jewel.
0:48:26 > 0:48:31'They say that originally it was the top of a reading implement,
0:48:31 > 0:48:35'sent out to the bishops by King Alfred himself.
0:48:35 > 0:48:39'It's now found in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford,
0:48:39 > 0:48:42'and what a beautiful thing it is.'
0:48:47 > 0:48:51So this style of brooch was obviously a late Anglo-Saxon...?
0:48:51 > 0:48:55Yeah, probably 10th century, I imagine, in the design.
0:48:55 > 0:48:58A lot of people always say that the Anglo-Saxon jewellery
0:48:58 > 0:49:02was at its peak earlier than that. They think of the Sutton Hoo horde.
0:49:02 > 0:49:04The garnet stuff and the garnet jewellery,
0:49:04 > 0:49:06the gold or what have you.
0:49:06 > 0:49:09Fashions change, I suppose. I prefer the later stuff.
0:49:09 > 0:49:11I think it's more elegant and there's far more to it.
0:49:11 > 0:49:15- Any way, that's the cloisonne finished.- Beautiful.
0:49:15 > 0:49:20So that's obviously an echo, if you like, of the Alfred Jewel, isn't it?
0:49:20 > 0:49:23Yeah. It's kind of like a mishmash of various things,
0:49:23 > 0:49:25but it's all of its time and period.
0:49:25 > 0:49:29- Can I have a look at that? - Yeah.- I see, yes.
0:49:30 > 0:49:34Beautiful. And who is this figure you've put on here?
0:49:34 > 0:49:35It's King Alfred, is it?
0:49:35 > 0:49:40No, just a generic...figure of a Saxon king, I suppose,
0:49:40 > 0:49:42with the long tache and the pointy beard
0:49:42 > 0:49:45and the blond hair and blue eyes,
0:49:45 > 0:49:48kind of how they liked to portray themselves, I imagine.
0:49:48 > 0:49:51- Anyway, we just have to get on now and assemble it.- Yes.
0:49:51 > 0:49:55- We'll do that next, shall we?- Yes.- Right.
0:49:55 > 0:49:58First thing to do is put the crystal into the silver gilt collar.
0:49:58 > 0:50:01Then that just drops into there.
0:50:02 > 0:50:06And then this piece will be riveted on the back
0:50:06 > 0:50:08with these little rivets.
0:50:08 > 0:50:12So I'll put them in now so we can have a bit of fiddle with this.
0:50:25 > 0:50:28- And there we have it.- That it?
0:50:28 > 0:50:32- I'm finished.- That's beautiful!
0:50:32 > 0:50:35- Thank you. - The Shaun Greenhalgh Jewel.
0:50:35 > 0:50:37Move it about in the light,
0:50:37 > 0:50:42you can get the edges of the actual gold cloisonne and it sparkles.
0:50:42 > 0:50:44Beautiful.
0:50:44 > 0:50:47I love cloisonne work. Love it.
0:50:49 > 0:50:51SEAGULLS CRY
0:50:52 > 0:50:54WATER SPLASHES
0:50:54 > 0:50:58Up in the harsher corners of the Anglo-Saxon world,
0:50:58 > 0:51:02the Irish monks who converted the north of Britain
0:51:02 > 0:51:07were deliberately cutting themselves off from life's little comforts.
0:51:07 > 0:51:11Exiles for Christ, they called themselves.
0:51:13 > 0:51:16Lindisfarne up there,
0:51:16 > 0:51:21where the monastery was founded by St Aidan in 635 AD,
0:51:21 > 0:51:26was deliberately out of the way, secluded.
0:51:26 > 0:51:32When the tide was out, the only way across was along this path here,
0:51:32 > 0:51:37The Pilgrim's Way, it was called, marked out with these wooden stakes.
0:51:37 > 0:51:40But if you were coming from the other side of the island,
0:51:40 > 0:51:45from the sea, then Lindisfarne wasn't cut off at all.
0:51:45 > 0:51:49In fact, it was very tempting.
0:51:50 > 0:51:52MEN SHOUT
0:51:52 > 0:51:56'The Viking raids on Britain, which did so much to tarnish
0:51:56 > 0:52:02'the reputations of the Norse men, began with a raid on Lindisfarne
0:52:02 > 0:52:07'in 793, and for the next century or so,
0:52:07 > 0:52:11'the Vikings kept coming back.'
0:52:13 > 0:52:16Monasteries were easy pickings.
0:52:16 > 0:52:21They were basically undefended, manned by peaceful monks,
0:52:21 > 0:52:25and they were packed with sumptuous religious treasures
0:52:25 > 0:52:29and excellently positioned for Viking raids.
0:52:32 > 0:52:38'The monasteries of the Dark Ages were Aladdin's caves of treasures.
0:52:38 > 0:52:42'Jewel-encrusted relic boxes...
0:52:42 > 0:52:48'golden crosses studded with rubies and pearls.'
0:52:51 > 0:52:55'We live in a world in which Louis Vuitton luggage
0:52:55 > 0:52:59'and Jimmy Choo shoes seem precious.
0:52:59 > 0:53:02'In the Dark Ages, they knew better.'
0:53:06 > 0:53:11For the Vikings, the main attraction of the monasteries
0:53:11 > 0:53:15was obviously all that fabulous Christian gold in them -
0:53:15 > 0:53:17the rubies, the pearls -
0:53:17 > 0:53:21but it's recently been suggested that there were other reasons
0:53:21 > 0:53:24why they targeted the monasteries.
0:53:24 > 0:53:26Religious reasons.
0:53:26 > 0:53:32Remember, in 793 AD when they raided Lindisfarne, the Vikings
0:53:32 > 0:53:35were still hardcore pagans,
0:53:35 > 0:53:39stubborn believers in Odin, Thor and Freya.
0:53:42 > 0:53:46'For these Pagan Vikings, the fierce missionary
0:53:46 > 0:53:50'enthusiasm of the Irish monks and the brutal conversion
0:53:50 > 0:53:56'tactics of Charlemagne constituted an assault on their religion.'
0:53:58 > 0:54:01The Vikings liked being pagans.
0:54:01 > 0:54:06They didn't like being told they were worshipping the wrong gods,
0:54:06 > 0:54:08so when they attacked the monasteries,
0:54:08 > 0:54:12it wasn't just to grab all this fabulous Christian loot,
0:54:12 > 0:54:17it was also a form of religious payback.
0:54:17 > 0:54:23"You think our religion's wrong, we think your religion's wrong."
0:54:27 > 0:54:32'The monks on Lindisfarne were also fighting a religious war.
0:54:32 > 0:54:38'Their monastery was a hive of busy missionary activity.
0:54:38 > 0:54:42'But unlike the Vikings the preferred weapon of the monks
0:54:42 > 0:54:46'wasn't the sword, but the word.'
0:54:50 > 0:54:54You must have noticed that all the way through this series,
0:54:54 > 0:54:59I've been harping on about the power of words in the Dark Ages.
0:54:59 > 0:55:02I'm like a stuck record on the subject.
0:55:04 > 0:55:11'Words, letters, inscriptions. They keep appearing in this story.
0:55:11 > 0:55:18'And wherever they appear, they seem to glow with Dark Age urgency.'
0:55:25 > 0:55:32If you controlled the word in the Dark Ages, you controlled the world.
0:55:32 > 0:55:37For me, the most captivating evidence of this immense power
0:55:37 > 0:55:41that words had was the great book created here
0:55:41 > 0:55:43by the monks of Lindisfarne...
0:55:45 > 0:55:47..the Lindisfarne Gospels.
0:55:53 > 0:55:59'This isn't just one of the great masterpieces of British art,
0:55:59 > 0:56:04'this is one of the great masterpieces of all art.
0:56:05 > 0:56:09'Written and decorated on Lindisfarne
0:56:09 > 0:56:11'by a monk called Eadfrith,
0:56:11 > 0:56:16'the Lindisfarne Gospel contains a calligraphic cosmos
0:56:16 > 0:56:19'of exceptional vitality.'
0:56:23 > 0:56:27It contains the four Gospels of the New Testament -
0:56:27 > 0:56:32the story of Christ as told by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John,
0:56:32 > 0:56:38and each of these evangelists gets a portrait to himself.
0:56:38 > 0:56:43So there's St Matthew writing his Gospel, and it says,
0:56:43 > 0:56:46"Matteus", Matthew, up here.
0:56:46 > 0:56:50All the portraits in here are rather traditional.
0:56:50 > 0:56:53They could easily be Italian or Byzantine.
0:56:54 > 0:56:57But then you turn the pages...
0:56:57 > 0:57:01and you come across this.
0:57:01 > 0:57:05This certainly isn't traditional or Italian.
0:57:05 > 0:57:10This is a uniquely British contribution
0:57:10 > 0:57:11to the art of the Dark Ages.
0:57:15 > 0:57:20Look at all this amazing Celtic inter-weaving that's filling
0:57:20 > 0:57:22all the letters,
0:57:22 > 0:57:28and all these cosmic swirls and twirls and spirals.
0:57:28 > 0:57:31It's like a magnificent garden of paradise
0:57:31 > 0:57:33that's erupted across the pages.
0:57:33 > 0:57:38And yet, it's got this pagan kick to it as well.
0:57:44 > 0:57:49This is St John, the writer of the fourth Gospel. That's his portrait.
0:57:49 > 0:57:51And there above his head, the eagle.
0:57:51 > 0:57:54That's his sign, just so we know who it is.
0:57:57 > 0:58:01And this is the actual beginning of John's Gospel,
0:58:01 > 0:58:06and look how astonishingly beautiful it is.
0:58:06 > 0:58:08Do you know what this says,
0:58:08 > 0:58:12what all this amazingly complicated interlacing
0:58:12 > 0:58:17and all this cosmic calligraphy, do you know what this says?
0:58:17 > 0:58:23It says, "In principio erat Verbum.
0:58:23 > 0:58:27"Et Verbum erat apud Deum."
0:58:27 > 0:58:31"In the beginning was the Word.
0:58:31 > 0:58:34"The Word was with God."
0:58:39 > 0:58:45In the Lindisfarne Gospel, Christian energy and Celtic inventiveness.
0:58:45 > 0:58:49Pictures and letters have come together
0:58:49 > 0:58:53in cosmic adulation of the word.
0:58:56 > 0:59:03So that's the story of the Dark Ages. They weren't dark at all.
0:59:03 > 0:59:07The Christians' struggle to imagine their god
0:59:07 > 0:59:12was one of the most exciting struggles in art.
0:59:12 > 0:59:18The barbarians were inventive peoples who made glorious bling.
0:59:18 > 0:59:23Islam spent these years reaching for the stars,
0:59:23 > 0:59:28while the Anglo-Saxons were magnificent goldsmiths
0:59:28 > 0:59:30and brilliant wordsmiths.
0:59:33 > 0:59:37When William the Conqueror invaded Britain in 1066
0:59:37 > 0:59:42and brought the Dark Ages to some sort of official end,
0:59:42 > 0:59:47he brought to an end one of the great ages of art.
1:00:04 > 1:00:05Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd