0:00:05 > 0:00:10From the dawn of time, men and women have felt the need to worship.
0:00:11 > 0:00:14To make sense of life and what lies beyond.
0:00:15 > 0:00:20To find a purpose and to bring a shape to human existence.
0:00:21 > 0:00:25Women have always been at the heart of our relationship with the divine.
0:00:25 > 0:00:29But this part of our history is often hidden.
0:00:32 > 0:00:34If you leave out Jesus and the Apostle Paul,
0:00:34 > 0:00:38it's perfectly possible to tell the story of early Christianity
0:00:38 > 0:00:41without ever mentioning a man.
0:00:41 > 0:00:44We know that she was critical to Muhammad.
0:00:44 > 0:00:47She became his first convert. She was the first Muslim.
0:00:49 > 0:00:52For thousands of years, all over the world,
0:00:52 > 0:00:56religion has shaped the lives of billions.
0:00:57 > 0:01:02This is why I want to go back, to uncover the remarkable
0:01:02 > 0:01:05and neglected stories of women and religion.
0:01:05 > 0:01:09Their stories can unlock a secret history of the world.
0:01:09 > 0:01:14It's not the male God who created this universe. It's the female.
0:01:15 > 0:01:21Across cultures, I've uncovered the story of goddesses and earthly women who spoke directly with the gods.
0:01:23 > 0:01:26Divine women were evicted from the heavens
0:01:26 > 0:01:27and driven from temples,
0:01:27 > 0:01:31but then, halfway between the ancient and modern worlds,
0:01:31 > 0:01:33came a unique moment for humanity.
0:01:34 > 0:01:36Branded "The Dark Ages",
0:01:36 > 0:01:40this was in fact a golden age for remarkable woman
0:01:40 > 0:01:44who used the power of belief in the word to rule in a man's world.
0:01:44 > 0:01:50Their incredible achievements still shape our lives today.
0:01:50 > 0:01:52A prostitute who became an empress and,
0:01:52 > 0:01:57inspired by the Mother of God, pioneered modern justice.
0:01:57 > 0:02:00This is the idea that you're innocent until proved guilty,
0:02:00 > 0:02:03which is the foundation stone of every legal system in the world.
0:02:04 > 0:02:07The wife of a prophet whose words are still read
0:02:07 > 0:02:10by over two billion men and women today.
0:02:10 > 0:02:14There's a saying that you can get half your religion just from Aisha.
0:02:14 > 0:02:17And a woman who ruled as an emperor
0:02:17 > 0:02:21and made her country's religion in her own likeness.
0:02:21 > 0:02:25I'm going in search of the extraordinary women across the globe
0:02:25 > 0:02:29who used their courage, charisma and sheer brain power
0:02:29 > 0:02:32to put the female of the species back at the heart of religion.
0:02:48 > 0:02:52My journey begins just 500 years after the birth of Christ.
0:02:52 > 0:02:56Christianity has become the official religion of the Roman Empire
0:02:56 > 0:03:00and the age is dominated by one of the most controversial
0:03:00 > 0:03:02and reviled women in history.
0:03:03 > 0:03:06Even her official biographer, Procopius,
0:03:06 > 0:03:10wrote a vicious secret history of this woman, describing her as,
0:03:10 > 0:03:14"a prostitute who tore up the roots of the Roman Empire".
0:03:14 > 0:03:18The Catholic Church was even more damning in its assessment.
0:03:18 > 0:03:20"This degenerate woman, Theodora,
0:03:20 > 0:03:23"was another Eve who heeded the serpents.
0:03:23 > 0:03:28"She was a denizen of the abyss and a mistress of demons.
0:03:28 > 0:03:33"It was she who, driven by satanic spirit and roused by diabolic rage,
0:03:33 > 0:03:38"spitefully overthrew a peace redeemed by the blood of martyrs."
0:03:40 > 0:03:43But in the East, they tell a different story.
0:03:44 > 0:03:47I've been granted an audience with His All Holiness,
0:03:47 > 0:03:50the Supreme Head of the Orthodox Church,
0:03:50 > 0:03:53in St Mark's in Istanbul,
0:03:53 > 0:03:58once the capital of the mighty Christian empire, Byzantium.
0:03:58 > 0:04:02"Perhaps one of the most powerful
0:04:02 > 0:04:09"and influential women in Byzantium is St Theodora, the Empress.
0:04:09 > 0:04:16"After a troubled childhood and a personal spiritual journey,
0:04:16 > 0:04:21"she was married to the renowned Emperor, Justinian.
0:04:21 > 0:04:26"St Theodora elevated the status of women
0:04:26 > 0:04:29"by fighting for the rights of women."
0:04:29 > 0:04:32So what is the real story of this extraordinary woman,
0:04:32 > 0:04:35who's regarded as a saint in the East
0:04:35 > 0:04:38and a mistress of demons in the West?
0:04:39 > 0:04:42Theodora was born in the 6th century AD
0:04:42 > 0:04:46in the great city of Constantinople, modern-day Istanbul.
0:04:46 > 0:04:49The Roman Empire had divided into two separate territories.
0:04:50 > 0:04:55Rome was the capital in the West and Constantinople in the East.
0:04:55 > 0:04:59The Western capital was overrun by barbarians,
0:04:59 > 0:05:02but in the East, Constantinople proclaimed itself,
0:05:02 > 0:05:06"The heart of God's empire on earth",
0:05:06 > 0:05:10and became the most powerful city in the Christian world.
0:05:10 > 0:05:15So you could say Rome never fell, it just moved 850 miles east.
0:05:20 > 0:05:24The new Rome modelled itself full square on the old capital.
0:05:24 > 0:05:27There was a Senate, people spoke Latin
0:05:27 > 0:05:30and there was a very Roman passion for chariot racing,
0:05:30 > 0:05:33which took place right here in the ancient hippodrome.
0:05:37 > 0:05:40The hippodrome was the beating political heart of Byzantium,
0:05:40 > 0:05:43but it was also home to actors, dancers
0:05:43 > 0:05:48and circus acts who kept the crowds entertained between the races.
0:05:48 > 0:05:49Around 500 AD,
0:05:49 > 0:05:55the wife of a bear-keeper here gave birth to a girl called Theodora.
0:06:00 > 0:06:03Theodora didn't just start life at the bottom of the social ladder.
0:06:03 > 0:06:06She was pretty much off the register.
0:06:06 > 0:06:08Her mother was described as an actress and a dancer,
0:06:08 > 0:06:11which was a polite way of saying a prostitute.
0:06:15 > 0:06:17To try to get a sense of her world,
0:06:17 > 0:06:21I'm meeting historian Haluk Cetinkaya.
0:06:22 > 0:06:27- So she inhabits an underworld here? - Definitely, because that was the place where the beggars,
0:06:27 > 0:06:30the prostitutes, dancers, actors, thieves, everything was there.
0:06:30 > 0:06:33All the bottom social strata was there.
0:06:33 > 0:06:35So it's a really tumultuous time, this,
0:06:35 > 0:06:37because you've got pagans here and Christians.
0:06:37 > 0:06:41Exactly. This is the transition period, but what's impressive by then
0:06:41 > 0:06:43is the processions.
0:06:43 > 0:06:45For the first time in the history of the city,
0:06:45 > 0:06:47they had the processions of the icons,
0:06:47 > 0:06:48in particular, the icon of Mary.
0:06:50 > 0:06:53The cult of the Virgin Mary, the Mother of God,
0:06:53 > 0:06:56was one of the most radical developments in Christianity.
0:06:56 > 0:06:58A short while before Theodora was born,
0:06:58 > 0:07:00it had swept through Constantinople.
0:07:00 > 0:07:04As a child, she'd have seen worshippers
0:07:04 > 0:07:07carrying Mary's sacred image around the city.
0:07:07 > 0:07:09These enormous icons were thought
0:07:09 > 0:07:11to radiate a kind of Christian force field
0:07:11 > 0:07:14and to protect the city from harm.
0:07:14 > 0:07:18It was a huge mosaic icon carried with great difficulty by four men.
0:07:18 > 0:07:20Four men? That's a massive thing.
0:07:20 > 0:07:24- That's an impressive role model to have, as a woman?- Definitely.
0:07:24 > 0:07:30As a teenager, Theodora became the mistress of a wealthy politician.
0:07:30 > 0:07:34They hit the road together but, after a few years, he dumped her.
0:07:34 > 0:07:36Rejected and homeless,
0:07:36 > 0:07:40she was befriended by a group of Christians who gave her shelter.
0:07:40 > 0:07:44Now she had faith, but little else.
0:07:51 > 0:07:53She was in a very bad place.
0:07:53 > 0:07:56She'd pretty much run out of money.
0:07:56 > 0:07:59She had very few connections and now, as a discarded mistress,
0:07:59 > 0:08:02she was one rung lower on the social ladder.
0:08:04 > 0:08:09The young Christian had to fall back on the only skills she had.
0:08:09 > 0:08:13Then her luck changed when she came across a woman called Macedonia.
0:08:15 > 0:08:19Macedonia was a dancing girl by day but, by night,
0:08:19 > 0:08:22she was a spy for Justinian, the heir to the Emperor.
0:08:22 > 0:08:24Spotting Theodora's potential,
0:08:24 > 0:08:29she recruited her to what was now a burgeoning secret service.
0:08:32 > 0:08:35Justinian, the nephew of the old Emperor,
0:08:35 > 0:08:38was tipped to succeed his uncle.
0:08:38 > 0:08:40To build a power base and secure the throne,
0:08:40 > 0:08:45he used a network of spies to keep track of potential rivals.
0:08:45 > 0:08:47Why do you think she was asked to be a spy?
0:08:47 > 0:08:50Because of her skills, because of her charm,
0:08:50 > 0:08:52because she was very much connected with every walk of life.
0:08:52 > 0:08:57Is she accused of being a prostitute at this point in her life?
0:08:57 > 0:08:58Most probably she was.
0:08:58 > 0:09:00And the information she grabbed from bed hopping,
0:09:00 > 0:09:02from one to the other,
0:09:02 > 0:09:04she was able to divert into the administration itself.
0:09:04 > 0:09:07I wonder if that's why she ends up meeting Justinian,
0:09:07 > 0:09:09because there's rumour of this extraordinary woman.
0:09:09 > 0:09:11She's beautiful, she's smart,
0:09:11 > 0:09:13and she obviously achieves results as an informer.
0:09:13 > 0:09:16Oh, definitely. Well, she played her cards quite well.
0:09:16 > 0:09:18She realised a rising star is Justinian.
0:09:18 > 0:09:20So, she definitely aimed at him.
0:09:20 > 0:09:23So, one way or the other, she had access to him,
0:09:23 > 0:09:25and she was able to prove herself to be worthy.
0:09:25 > 0:09:27She had her eye on a big prize.
0:09:27 > 0:09:29Oh, definitely, definitely.
0:09:30 > 0:09:33'When Justinian, the heir to the throne, met his spy, Theodora,
0:09:33 > 0:09:37'he quickly fell under her spell.
0:09:37 > 0:09:41'Within a year, she'd moved into the palace.
0:09:41 > 0:09:45'Shortly afterwards, Justinian persuaded his uncle, the Emperor,
0:09:45 > 0:09:48'to change the law to allow him to marry an actress.'
0:09:50 > 0:09:52On April 1st, 527 AD,
0:09:52 > 0:09:58the failing Justin named Justinian and Theodora as his successors.
0:09:58 > 0:10:00Three days later, on Easter Sunday,
0:10:00 > 0:10:04their coronation was held here in Hagia Sophia.
0:10:04 > 0:10:07Theodora, the girl who'd started life in the gutter,
0:10:07 > 0:10:10was now in command of a vast empire.
0:10:10 > 0:10:15And she was the most powerful woman in the whole of Christendom.
0:10:20 > 0:10:23'As the Empress of the first empire ruled by one god,
0:10:23 > 0:10:29'Theodora was now allied to the most powerful woman in heaven,
0:10:29 > 0:10:32'Mary, the Mother of God Himself.'
0:10:42 > 0:10:45When you think of Theodora
0:10:45 > 0:10:47and her relationship to the Virgin Mary,
0:10:47 > 0:10:52it's really important to mind-shift back to the 6th century AD,
0:10:52 > 0:10:55because it had only been relatively recently
0:10:55 > 0:10:58that a young girl from Nazareth
0:10:58 > 0:11:00had been turned into something quite extraordinary.
0:11:05 > 0:11:10'At the ancient of Ephesus, in southern Turkey, in 431 AD,
0:11:10 > 0:11:12'leaders arrived from across Christendom
0:11:12 > 0:11:16'to settle fundamental issues of the Christian faith.
0:11:16 > 0:11:20'I'm meeting historian Kate Cooper to find out how decisions taken here
0:11:20 > 0:11:23'would shape Theodora's world.'
0:11:23 > 0:11:26This is THE question.
0:11:26 > 0:11:29It's the nature of Jesus.
0:11:29 > 0:11:31Is he human? Is he a god?
0:11:31 > 0:11:33Or is he some combination of the two?
0:11:33 > 0:11:38And, of course, it's really whether or not his mother gave birth
0:11:38 > 0:11:42to a god or a human that it all boils down to.
0:11:42 > 0:11:46Whether or not she was "Theotokos", is the Greek for it. "God-bearer".
0:11:46 > 0:11:50That was the hottest topic of debate you can imagine.
0:11:52 > 0:11:54'The location of the council was no coincidence.
0:11:54 > 0:11:57'For thousands of years, Ephesus had been home
0:11:57 > 0:12:01'to the pagan goddess Artemis, the virgin goddess of childbirth.
0:12:03 > 0:12:06'Those early Christians who wanted to elevate Mary to the Mother of God
0:12:06 > 0:12:10'were connecting her to the power of the great goddesses
0:12:10 > 0:12:13'who'd once held sway across the world.
0:12:13 > 0:12:16'And this movement had some influential supporters.
0:12:16 > 0:12:21'Imperial women who wanted to put a girl next to God.'
0:12:22 > 0:12:24If you think from the perspective of women,
0:12:24 > 0:12:28it's the women of the imperial household who really want
0:12:28 > 0:12:32the cult of the Virgin, which, in a sense, is their cult,
0:12:32 > 0:12:36to gain the honour that it deserves in the official church,
0:12:36 > 0:12:38as well as in the imperial family.
0:12:38 > 0:12:40For the imperial women,
0:12:40 > 0:12:44there is a sort of wonderful hall-of-mirrors effect
0:12:44 > 0:12:48that they are venerating the Virgin,
0:12:48 > 0:12:52but they're also having that kind of glory reflected back on them,
0:12:52 > 0:12:54that they are themselves powerful.
0:12:54 > 0:12:57Do they almost morph into the Virgin at any point?
0:12:57 > 0:13:00Is there a sense that, in some ways, they incarnate her?
0:13:00 > 0:13:02I certainly think that's something
0:13:02 > 0:13:07that is always at the edge of everyone's mind,
0:13:07 > 0:13:10this idea that the Virgin Mary,
0:13:10 > 0:13:12the Mother of God, the queen of heaven,
0:13:12 > 0:13:17is the direct counterpart of the Empress here on earth.
0:13:19 > 0:13:22With the support of the women of the imperial household,
0:13:22 > 0:13:24the Council of Ephesus decreed
0:13:24 > 0:13:27that Mary was not just the Mother of Christ,
0:13:27 > 0:13:29but "Theotokos",
0:13:29 > 0:13:32the Mother of God.
0:13:35 > 0:13:38This mosaic from a church in Ravenna
0:13:38 > 0:13:40Is the only contemporary image of Theodora,
0:13:40 > 0:13:43and it drives home this divine connection to the Virgin Mary.
0:13:44 > 0:13:48On one side of the church is the Emperor Justinian,
0:13:48 > 0:13:50flanked, like Jesus, by 12 Apostles.
0:13:53 > 0:13:56On the opposite wall is Theodora,
0:13:56 > 0:13:58portrayed as the Mother of God,
0:13:58 > 0:14:00with a halo round her head.
0:14:00 > 0:14:03And embroidered on the hem of her robe are the Three Kings,
0:14:03 > 0:14:06who came to pay court to Mary and the baby Jesus.
0:14:09 > 0:14:13Justinian and Theodora presided over the imperial court
0:14:13 > 0:14:16as if it was the court of judgment in heaven.
0:14:16 > 0:14:20He was God and she was the Virgin Mary.
0:14:20 > 0:14:23Those who were allowed access had to prostrate themselves
0:14:23 > 0:14:26and press their foreheads into the ground.
0:14:26 > 0:14:28And the senators were allowed
0:14:28 > 0:14:32to brush the imperial feet with their lips.
0:14:32 > 0:14:35I bet Theodora loved every minute of it!
0:14:37 > 0:14:41Justinian and Theodora made their mark throughout their sacred empire.
0:14:41 > 0:14:44In Constantinople, they built the great church of Hagia Sophia.
0:14:46 > 0:14:49In Egypt, their names were carved in the beams of the church
0:14:49 > 0:14:52of the Mother of God on Mount Sinai.
0:14:52 > 0:14:54And in Greece, the Parthenon, on the Acropolis,
0:14:54 > 0:14:58was now home to Mary, the Mother of God.
0:14:58 > 0:15:02But Theodora remains an elusive figure.
0:15:02 > 0:15:06The accounts we have of Theodora are so highly coloured,
0:15:06 > 0:15:08it can sometimes feel hard to get close
0:15:08 > 0:15:11to the physical reality of her life.
0:15:11 > 0:15:14But after being buried for 1,500 years,
0:15:14 > 0:15:18this extraordinary new excavation is bringing us closer
0:15:18 > 0:15:21to the great city that she lived in.
0:15:23 > 0:15:27As foundations are laid for a new metro line,
0:15:27 > 0:15:29the ships being uncovered here tell us
0:15:29 > 0:15:33how closely connected Constantinople was to a vast empire.
0:15:35 > 0:15:36At this point in history,
0:15:36 > 0:15:39Theodora ruled over a territory that spanned three continents -
0:15:39 > 0:15:41Europe, Asia and Africa.
0:15:43 > 0:15:45Evidence of her influence can be found,
0:15:45 > 0:15:46not just in the earth,
0:15:46 > 0:15:49but in words on a page.
0:15:49 > 0:15:51Together with Justinian, she introduced
0:15:51 > 0:15:54a radical series of reforms,
0:15:54 > 0:15:57building safe houses for homeless women,
0:15:57 > 0:16:02banning prostitution and outlawing infanticide.
0:16:02 > 0:16:05'Peter Frankopan has studied Justinian and Theodora's legacy'
0:16:05 > 0:16:09'in Byzantium and beyond.'
0:16:09 > 0:16:12How far do you think the laws at this time
0:16:12 > 0:16:14were inspired by a kind of Christian morality?
0:16:14 > 0:16:18This is primarily a Christian empire and one which distributes justice
0:16:18 > 0:16:20from the top to the bottom of society.
0:16:20 > 0:16:23The slaves and the children and the women and the dispossessed
0:16:23 > 0:16:25were given rights in Byzantium.
0:16:25 > 0:16:28These laws that were passed under Theodora and Justinian's watch
0:16:28 > 0:16:30were obviously immensely impactful in their own day,
0:16:30 > 0:16:33but what about their legacy?
0:16:33 > 0:16:35Well, one of the most important parts of the laws, I think,
0:16:35 > 0:16:38is the idea that you're innocent until proved guilty,
0:16:38 > 0:16:39which is the foundation stone
0:16:39 > 0:16:41of every legal system in the world, pretty much.
0:16:41 > 0:16:44I remember travelling round Eastern Europe
0:16:44 > 0:16:45after the Berlin Wall came down.
0:16:45 > 0:16:47There was a lot of discussion about
0:16:47 > 0:16:50what kind of legal systems would emerge in Communist Europe,
0:16:50 > 0:16:52and I was very surprised in 1990,
0:16:52 > 0:16:54looking back from Moscow and from Berlin,
0:16:54 > 0:16:57that the place they looked for their reference point,
0:16:57 > 0:17:00was to Constantinople in the 530s, which, as a historian,
0:17:00 > 0:17:03I found lovely, but also a bit of a surprise.
0:17:04 > 0:17:08Theodora's Christian ideals have clearly shaped the world
0:17:08 > 0:17:12we live in today, but how did her own society react?
0:17:14 > 0:17:16These legal reforms and the social reforms
0:17:16 > 0:17:19really stuck in the throat of the rich and the powerful.
0:17:19 > 0:17:21Within the first three or four years,
0:17:21 > 0:17:22they faced a real showdown
0:17:22 > 0:17:26about whether they'd actually manage to hang on to the throne.
0:17:28 > 0:17:31THEY CHANT
0:17:36 > 0:17:38SIREN SOUNDS
0:17:38 > 0:17:41In 532 AD, the clash between rulers and ruled
0:17:41 > 0:17:44came to a head where Theodora had grown up,
0:17:44 > 0:17:46the great Hippodrome.
0:17:46 > 0:17:49Thousands started to crowd into the Hippodrome
0:17:49 > 0:17:52and began to make their complaints to the Emperor.
0:17:52 > 0:17:56Accused of blasphemy by the imperial guards,
0:17:56 > 0:17:58the protestors stormed out.
0:18:00 > 0:18:03Within days, violence broke out in pockets right across the city
0:18:03 > 0:18:06and Justinian decided to act.
0:18:06 > 0:18:10He ordered the deaths of the ringleaders.
0:18:10 > 0:18:13That night, the mob went on the rampage,
0:18:13 > 0:18:16setting fire to the city and butchering innocents.
0:18:16 > 0:18:20The next day, they were calling for a new Emperor.
0:18:20 > 0:18:23As chaos engulfed the streets of Constantinople,
0:18:23 > 0:18:26Justinian and Theodora sheltered in their palace.
0:18:26 > 0:18:31Soon, it looked as though they were going to attack the palace itself.
0:18:33 > 0:18:35Justinian ordered a ship to be loaded with gold
0:18:35 > 0:18:37in preparation for their flight.
0:18:38 > 0:18:41But Theodora was made from sterner stuff.
0:18:41 > 0:18:43It was at this moment of absolute crisis
0:18:43 > 0:18:47that Theodora showed her true mettle.
0:18:47 > 0:18:49Summoning Justinian's generals and advisers to her
0:18:49 > 0:18:51in the palace right here below,
0:18:51 > 0:18:53she spoke out to them.
0:18:53 > 0:18:57"No man who has ever been born can escape death,
0:18:57 > 0:19:03"but for an Emperor to slink away in the night is unbearable.
0:19:03 > 0:19:07"I hope that I will never be stripped of the imperial purple
0:19:07 > 0:19:10"and that I will not live to see the day
0:19:10 > 0:19:13"when men fail to call me Empress."
0:19:16 > 0:19:19Inspired by her leadership, loyal soldiers led an assault on the mob.
0:19:21 > 0:19:2435,000 rebels were slaughtered
0:19:24 > 0:19:27and the ringleaders captured and executed.
0:19:28 > 0:19:31Thanks to Theodora, the rebellion had been crushed.
0:19:32 > 0:19:33Until she died,
0:19:33 > 0:19:36Theodora continued to shape religious and political policy
0:19:36 > 0:19:40in the world's first true Christian empire.
0:19:40 > 0:19:44By drawing on the power of both the old goddesses and a new faith,
0:19:44 > 0:19:46she made a difference.
0:19:46 > 0:19:51Theodora might have started out in life rejected by Christendom,
0:19:51 > 0:19:54but she ended up as one of the greatest champions
0:19:54 > 0:19:57of the Eastern Church.
0:19:57 > 0:20:00Empowered by Mary, the Mother of God,
0:20:00 > 0:20:05she introduced a series of laws that transformed people's lives
0:20:05 > 0:20:07and that we all benefit from today.
0:20:12 > 0:20:15Just as Christian ideas were transforming
0:20:15 > 0:20:17the great Byzantine Empire,
0:20:17 > 0:20:21another religious revolution was brewing on its southern borders.
0:20:25 > 0:20:29It began in a city called Mecca and, with the help of two women,
0:20:29 > 0:20:34it would sweep through the East and shape the world we live in today.
0:20:37 > 0:20:41The word of God, according to all Muslims,
0:20:41 > 0:20:45was revealed in a desert cave high above the city of Mecca.
0:20:45 > 0:20:51Here, one man had a vision of the Archangel Gabriel.
0:20:52 > 0:20:56"In the name of your lord and cherisher who created everything.
0:20:56 > 0:21:02"He created man of a mere clot of congealed blood. Proclaim!
0:21:02 > 0:21:06"And your lord is the most bountiful who taught the use of the pen,
0:21:06 > 0:21:11"who taught man that which he knew not."
0:21:13 > 0:21:15And the first person to hear news of this
0:21:15 > 0:21:19revelation of the word of God was a woman.
0:21:20 > 0:21:25Islamic sources tell us that Khadija bint Khuwaylid was the daughter
0:21:25 > 0:21:30of a merchant who built the family business into a commercial empire.
0:21:30 > 0:21:33Her caravans travelled thousands of miles
0:21:33 > 0:21:35to the great cities in the Middle East.
0:21:35 > 0:21:39From all accounts, Khadija was a powerful
0:21:39 > 0:21:41and independent-minded woman.
0:21:41 > 0:21:45Once she was widowed, she vowed she would never marry again.
0:21:45 > 0:21:49She was clearly accustomed to making her own way in the world.
0:21:49 > 0:21:53In fact, it was her business acumen that would set her on a path
0:21:53 > 0:21:57that would eventually change the history of the world.
0:21:58 > 0:22:00To find out more about Khadija,
0:22:00 > 0:22:04I'm meeting Professor Leila Ahmed from Harvard University,
0:22:04 > 0:22:06a world authority on the history of women in Islam.
0:22:06 > 0:22:09She was a powerful woman, a merchant, with a lot of money
0:22:09 > 0:22:13and she hired Muhammad because he had a reputation for honesty
0:22:13 > 0:22:14and she admired him.
0:22:14 > 0:22:17She was very impressed and actually proposed marriage to him.
0:22:17 > 0:22:20He was a 25-year-old. She was 40.
0:22:20 > 0:22:21That does seem to be key though,
0:22:21 > 0:22:23the fact that she is choosing this young man.
0:22:23 > 0:22:25You know, she spots him,
0:22:25 > 0:22:29she thinks he's got potential and then she decides to make him hers.
0:22:29 > 0:22:30That's right.
0:22:30 > 0:22:34What in Khadija's back-story gave her the confidence to propose
0:22:34 > 0:22:36to Muhammad like this?
0:22:36 > 0:22:39Was she typical of her society?
0:22:39 > 0:22:42We know it was a tribal society and I think probably different tribes
0:22:42 > 0:22:45had somewhat different customs.
0:22:45 > 0:22:48For instance, when women married they might stay with their own tribe
0:22:48 > 0:22:50and the husband would come and visit.
0:22:50 > 0:22:53We know that in some situations women had the right to divorce
0:22:53 > 0:22:56and we also know that there were prophetesses and priestesses.
0:22:57 > 0:23:01So Khadija, it seems, had reason to be confident in Muhammad's company.
0:23:01 > 0:23:05From all accounts, their early years were a partnership,
0:23:05 > 0:23:08both emotionally and in business.
0:23:08 > 0:23:10But gradually Muhammad withdrew,
0:23:11 > 0:23:14growing more interested in spirituality,
0:23:14 > 0:23:18leaving his home to seek solitude in the hills above Mecca.
0:23:18 > 0:23:23It was the beginning of his transformation from man to prophet.
0:23:23 > 0:23:28We know that when he first began to experience Quranic revelations
0:23:28 > 0:23:31he even doubted himself
0:23:31 > 0:23:36but it was Khadija who affirmed the reality of his prophethood.
0:23:36 > 0:23:39So we know that she was critical to Muhammad.
0:23:39 > 0:23:41She became his first convert. She was the first Muslim.
0:23:41 > 0:23:44Fascinating it was a woman who was the first convert to Islam.
0:23:44 > 0:23:46That's right.
0:23:46 > 0:23:49The fact that she was a major figure in society meant the tribe
0:23:49 > 0:23:51respected him, even if they didn't like his message.
0:23:51 > 0:23:54Her support was extraordinarily important to him.
0:23:56 > 0:23:59For the next ten years, Khadija used her family connections
0:23:59 > 0:24:03and all her wealth to support her husband
0:24:03 > 0:24:05and fund the fledgling faith,
0:24:05 > 0:24:09a religion built on the controversial principle of one god
0:24:09 > 0:24:12in a society that believed in many.
0:24:12 > 0:24:14Now Muhammad decided it was time for action.
0:24:14 > 0:24:20In defiance of the tribal elders, he was going to publicly preach his new faith.
0:24:20 > 0:24:23"There is one god, Allah," he said.
0:24:23 > 0:24:27"To worship all others is blasphemy."
0:24:27 > 0:24:31The tribal elders in Mecca responded by issuing an ultimatum.
0:24:31 > 0:24:36"Muhammad's followers must abandon him or be ostracised."
0:24:36 > 0:24:39Throughout this period of persecution,
0:24:39 > 0:24:42Khadija did everything possible to help her husband and Islam
0:24:42 > 0:24:46but, in 619, she fell ill with fever and died.
0:24:56 > 0:24:59Muhammad was heartbroken.
0:24:59 > 0:25:04For 25 years, Khadija had been his best friend and his closest ally.
0:25:04 > 0:25:10Muslims still remember the year of her death as the Year of Sorrow.
0:25:10 > 0:25:15Muhammad campaigned to forge Arabia into a single nation,
0:25:15 > 0:25:21united by one god, one religion and one word, Islam.
0:25:21 > 0:25:24As was the tradition, he took other wives,
0:25:24 > 0:25:29but we're told his favourite was called Aisha.
0:25:29 > 0:25:31Controversies surround Aisha,
0:25:31 > 0:25:35not least rumours of her tender age when she married.
0:25:35 > 0:25:39I'm meeting academic Myriam Franois-Cerrah to find out
0:25:39 > 0:25:43why this young woman became so central to Islam.
0:25:43 > 0:25:47She understood the religion. She understood the context.
0:25:47 > 0:25:49She's scholarly, she's smart. She's eloquent.
0:25:49 > 0:25:52She wants to be part of the public sphere and very much is.
0:25:52 > 0:25:55This was not a shy and cowering woman.
0:25:55 > 0:25:57She really took to the front and if she had something to say,
0:25:57 > 0:25:59she said it.
0:25:59 > 0:26:01After many years in exile,
0:26:01 > 0:26:07Muhammad eventually defeated his enemies and took control of Mecca.
0:26:07 > 0:26:11But a few months later, he was dead.
0:26:11 > 0:26:15And the person instrumental in maintaining his legacy
0:26:15 > 0:26:17was his wife, Aisha.
0:26:19 > 0:26:20In its early years,
0:26:20 > 0:26:24Islam depended on word of mouth to record its core beliefs.
0:26:24 > 0:26:27Called "Hadith", which literally means "sayings",
0:26:27 > 0:26:31these accounts of the words and deeds of Muhammad
0:26:31 > 0:26:35were eventually written down to help believers to understand the Quran.
0:26:35 > 0:26:38We're told Aisha's intimate knowledge of the Prophet
0:26:38 > 0:26:41made her central to this development.
0:26:41 > 0:26:45She was known for having memorised thousands of Hadith,
0:26:45 > 0:26:47or the sayings of the Prophet,
0:26:47 > 0:26:49peace be upon him, throughout her lifetime.
0:26:49 > 0:26:51Scores of men learnt from her.
0:26:51 > 0:26:54There's a saying that you can get half of your religion
0:26:54 > 0:26:56just from Aisha.
0:26:56 > 0:26:59Aisha's role in early Islam wasn't a one-off either.
0:26:59 > 0:27:02Mohammad Akram Nadwi is a research fellow
0:27:02 > 0:27:04at the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies,
0:27:04 > 0:27:09who's just completed a groundbreaking 53-volume history
0:27:09 > 0:27:11of female Muslim scholars.
0:27:36 > 0:27:40Where is that happening? Where are they holding these lessons?
0:27:59 > 0:28:03So your opinion, from having studied this for over 35 years,
0:28:03 > 0:28:07is actually if you look back to the roots of Islam, the Prophet Muhammad
0:28:07 > 0:28:12wanted women to have an active role in the teaching of Islam,
0:28:12 > 0:28:16the promotion of it, and the understanding of what the faith was?
0:28:39 > 0:28:42It seems that women were incredibly influential
0:28:42 > 0:28:44in the early years of Islam.
0:28:44 > 0:28:47So why did this change?
0:28:48 > 0:28:51Within just a dozen years of the Prophet's death,
0:28:51 > 0:28:54the fledgling faith had conquered Persia
0:28:54 > 0:28:56and two-thirds of the Byzantine Empire,
0:28:56 > 0:29:00transforming Islam into a super power.
0:29:00 > 0:29:02So where did that leave the women?
0:29:03 > 0:29:07The critical thing was how quickly it expanded militarily.
0:29:07 > 0:29:10The Arabs became very, very wealthy.
0:29:10 > 0:29:12The conquest brought with it a lot of slavery,
0:29:12 > 0:29:15so that a lot of very negative views of women
0:29:15 > 0:29:20were taken from the neighbouring cultures which they had conquered.
0:29:20 > 0:29:23So compare the conditions of women in Iraq, in Baghdad,
0:29:23 > 0:29:26100 years after the Muhammad's death to the women of early Arabia,
0:29:26 > 0:29:31like Khadija or Aisha, the contrast is dramatic and appalling.
0:29:31 > 0:29:33I mean, women were really in terrible conditions.
0:29:33 > 0:29:36The number of wives that rulers had were in the hundreds.
0:29:36 > 0:29:40The number of female slaves that they had was also vast.
0:29:40 > 0:29:43The seclusion of women became unimaginable.
0:29:43 > 0:29:47Women were thought of as so inferior and they need to be silent
0:29:47 > 0:29:49and they shouldn't have any kind of rights whatever.
0:29:49 > 0:29:54Today, the position of women in Islam is one of the most hotly debated topics
0:29:54 > 0:29:56from Baghdad to Bradford.
0:29:56 > 0:30:00Many see Muslim women as oppressed.
0:30:00 > 0:30:03If you think of these great role models, Khadija and Aisha,
0:30:03 > 0:30:05what do you think they would think of Islam
0:30:05 > 0:30:08as it's developed in the 21st century?
0:30:08 > 0:30:10I'm not entirely sure that they would recognise
0:30:10 > 0:30:12the practices that we have today.
0:30:12 > 0:30:15I'm certainly not sure that Aisha would take very well to being told
0:30:15 > 0:30:18to move to the back of the room and not speak up.
0:30:18 > 0:30:21You know, she was very much used to teaching men, educating men.
0:30:21 > 0:30:23If she had something to say, she would say it.
0:30:23 > 0:30:27And the idea that Khadija, again a very powerful figure,
0:30:27 > 0:30:30would somehow be curtailed in her voice, in her rights,
0:30:30 > 0:30:32I'm not sure that this would be anything
0:30:32 > 0:30:34that they would be willing to accept or recognise.
0:30:36 > 0:30:37It's easy to see how Aisha
0:30:37 > 0:30:40and Khadija can be role models for Muslim women.
0:30:40 > 0:30:42They were key to the early days of Islam
0:30:42 > 0:30:44and challenged many people's perceptions
0:30:44 > 0:30:47of women's role in the faith.
0:30:47 > 0:30:49Shocking really that, outside Islam,
0:30:49 > 0:30:52so few of us have even heard their names
0:30:52 > 0:30:57and that the part played by female Muslim scholars has been ignored.
0:31:00 > 0:31:02Away from the Abrahamic faiths,
0:31:02 > 0:31:06this golden age for women was shaping another belief system,
0:31:06 > 0:31:12driving one nation to become the greatest civilisation on earth.
0:31:15 > 0:31:18And thanks to religion and the written word,
0:31:18 > 0:31:22one woman would secure her place as its supreme ruler.
0:31:24 > 0:31:29I've come here to trace the story of what has to be one of the most
0:31:29 > 0:31:33extraordinary characters in the whole of human history.
0:31:33 > 0:31:37She ruled China from Inner Mongolia to the south of Korea
0:31:37 > 0:31:43and she demanded to be called, not Empress, but Emperor.
0:31:43 > 0:31:45Her name was Wu Zetian
0:31:45 > 0:31:48and she's buried somewhere deep in this holy mountain.
0:31:50 > 0:31:55Like Theodora and Aisha, her legacy is deeply controversial.
0:31:55 > 0:31:59The stone army that guards Wu's burial site has been vandalised
0:31:59 > 0:32:02and contemporary writers were even more brutal.
0:32:04 > 0:32:07"With the heart of a serpent and the nature of a wolf,
0:32:07 > 0:32:11"she slew her sister, butchered her brothers, killed her prince
0:32:11 > 0:32:13"and poisoned her mother.
0:32:13 > 0:32:17"She is hated by men and gods alike."
0:32:17 > 0:32:20Even her memorial stone was left unmarked.
0:32:20 > 0:32:23This is really a unique case, actually.
0:32:23 > 0:32:25Her memorial stone remained blank
0:32:25 > 0:32:28because her successors found her too controversial.
0:32:30 > 0:32:32I'm meeting historian Liu Yang to try to uncover
0:32:32 > 0:32:36the story of this remarkable, elusive woman,
0:32:36 > 0:32:39who is huge in China, but barely known in the West.
0:32:41 > 0:32:47Wu Zetian was born into a noble family in 624 AD.
0:32:47 > 0:32:51Her society was dominated by an ancient religion called Taoism
0:32:51 > 0:32:56that believed in many gods and the ideas of the philosopher Confucius.
0:32:59 > 0:33:03In terms of a religious and spiritual aspect,
0:33:03 > 0:33:05this is really a very dynamic and diverse period.
0:33:05 > 0:33:08There are many traditions around
0:33:08 > 0:33:10and people can adapt them to their own need
0:33:10 > 0:33:13and sometimes they simply mix them together.
0:33:13 > 0:33:14For example, Confucianism,
0:33:14 > 0:33:18which emphasises everyone has its proper place in society
0:33:18 > 0:33:22and there's very little chance for them to change their status.
0:33:22 > 0:33:26And women, in particular, are very much restricted by those aspects.
0:33:26 > 0:33:30But there was an alternative, in the form of Buddhism,
0:33:30 > 0:33:33a philosophy gaining ground in China.
0:33:34 > 0:33:39She was brought up in a family heavily influenced by Buddhism.
0:33:39 > 0:33:43That has a lot to do with her later choices in life.
0:33:43 > 0:33:46It gave her, probably, inspirations as well.
0:33:47 > 0:33:49During Wu's childhood,
0:33:49 > 0:33:53the emperors had begun to build great Buddhist pagodas,
0:33:53 > 0:33:56like this in the capital, Xi'an.
0:34:08 > 0:34:13When Wu arrived here, aged 13, this was the biggest city in the world,
0:34:13 > 0:34:17dominated by the royal palace, which would become her new home.
0:34:17 > 0:34:21Recently, archaeologists have uncovered new evidence
0:34:21 > 0:34:23of the palace's sheer scale.
0:34:23 > 0:34:25So what exactly are we looking at here?
0:34:25 > 0:34:27We're looking at the foundation of the southern gate.
0:34:27 > 0:34:32The so-called Vermilion Bird Gate overlooked the city in the past.
0:34:32 > 0:34:34How big would the gate originally have been?
0:34:34 > 0:34:38Oh, this entire building is built to match the original
0:34:38 > 0:34:40dimensions of the gate.
0:34:40 > 0:34:43- It's huge!- It is huge.
0:34:43 > 0:34:47But still, this is just one of a dozen gates of the palace.
0:34:51 > 0:34:52Wow!
0:34:52 > 0:34:55And there's more rich evidence of the palace culture
0:34:55 > 0:34:57underground in the tomb of an Emperor's daughter.
0:34:57 > 0:35:01Look at these majestic-looking guardsmen.
0:35:01 > 0:35:04- Gosh, they're everywhere, aren't they?- Yeah.
0:35:08 > 0:35:12Here, you get a snapshot of some of the 30,000 courtiers,
0:35:12 > 0:35:16like Wu, who once lived in the vast palace complex.
0:35:16 > 0:35:18Look at this!
0:35:18 > 0:35:22Yeah, these are among the most beautiful murals ever discovered.
0:35:22 > 0:35:24Oh, they're fantastic!
0:35:26 > 0:35:28These are female attendants.
0:35:28 > 0:35:31They come from very distinguished families.
0:35:31 > 0:35:36They served under the princess and other distinguished ladies.
0:35:36 > 0:35:40It's great to see. Because it can be hard to imagine Wu at this point
0:35:40 > 0:35:44in her life, but it's almost as if she's there in front of us.
0:35:44 > 0:35:46Exactly, yeah. She can be one of those women.
0:35:46 > 0:35:50Do we know exactly what kind of day-to-day tasks she'd have been responsible for?
0:35:50 > 0:35:54Most historical records seem to give us the impression
0:35:54 > 0:35:58that she started with a very low rank, almost like a chambermaid.
0:35:58 > 0:36:01So prepared the beds for the Emperor Taizong
0:36:01 > 0:36:03and even served in the toilet.
0:36:05 > 0:36:09One day, the Emperor's health began to fail.
0:36:09 > 0:36:12His son and heir, Gaozong, came to his father's sickbed
0:36:12 > 0:36:15and it was now, according to some accounts,
0:36:15 > 0:36:18that Wu began a passionate affair with the Crown Prince.
0:36:21 > 0:36:24Wu was using the oldest trick in the book
0:36:24 > 0:36:26to turn the situation to her advantage,
0:36:26 > 0:36:29but her meteoric rise came to an abrupt end
0:36:29 > 0:36:32when the old Emperor succumbed.
0:36:34 > 0:36:38The old Emperor was dead, but Wu was still considered his property
0:36:38 > 0:36:43and, as a childless concubine, she no longer had a place at court.
0:36:43 > 0:36:46So, instead, she was sent to live out her life as a nun
0:36:46 > 0:36:48in a Buddhist nunnery.
0:36:55 > 0:37:00CHANTING
0:37:02 > 0:37:06It's hard to imagine what it would have been like for Wu Zetian
0:37:06 > 0:37:07in a place like this.
0:37:07 > 0:37:11It could not have been more different to the edgy splendour
0:37:11 > 0:37:13of the palace that she was used to.
0:37:13 > 0:37:17And here her days would have been dominated by prayers and chanting.
0:37:17 > 0:37:19She might well have had her head shaved
0:37:19 > 0:37:24and she would have vowed to deny all the pleasures of the flesh.
0:37:24 > 0:37:28She was just 22, so this would have been like a life sentence.
0:37:36 > 0:37:41After just a year in the nunnery, Wu got an unexpected reprieve.
0:37:42 > 0:37:46The new Empress Wang summoned her to the palace.
0:37:46 > 0:37:49The Empress, certainly at this time, feels a bit insecure,
0:37:49 > 0:37:53because she hasn't really produced an heir for the emperor
0:37:53 > 0:37:55and she's facing a new rival,
0:37:55 > 0:37:57who is a favourite consort of the new Emperor.
0:37:57 > 0:37:59But how is it going to help to have Wu here?
0:37:59 > 0:38:03I think she thinks that she can bring Wu in as a tool
0:38:03 > 0:38:04to distract the Emperor,
0:38:04 > 0:38:08to get attention away from that favourite concubine.
0:38:08 > 0:38:10- It's quite a risky strategy, isn't it?- It is, it is!
0:38:10 > 0:38:14And she never really thought that Wu would ever really rival her
0:38:14 > 0:38:15in the palace.
0:38:15 > 0:38:18And she certainly underestimated Wu's ability.
0:38:20 > 0:38:24Wu was back in the palace with her eye on the main chance,
0:38:24 > 0:38:29but now she wasn't satisfied just to hold her place in the Emperor's bed,
0:38:29 > 0:38:32she wanted to share his throne.
0:38:35 > 0:38:38Wu quickly produced an heir for the Emperor
0:38:38 > 0:38:41and staked her claim to the old Empress's throne.
0:38:41 > 0:38:46It wasn't long before she made it clear that she was in charge.
0:38:46 > 0:38:49The Empress Wang was locked away in a filthy room
0:38:49 > 0:38:54at the very edge of the palace and left to die a painful, lonely death.
0:38:55 > 0:38:58Wu was now the most powerful woman in China
0:38:58 > 0:39:01and she made religion her greatest weapon.
0:39:02 > 0:39:04She showed her true colours
0:39:04 > 0:39:06at an ancient festival in China's Holy Mountains.
0:39:06 > 0:39:10Traditionally, this was a man-only affair,
0:39:10 > 0:39:12but Wu was having none of it.
0:39:12 > 0:39:16Wu argued that the deity in charge of the Holy Mountain
0:39:16 > 0:39:20was a goddess and that the earth herself was female
0:39:20 > 0:39:21and so, naturally,
0:39:21 > 0:39:23she should have a presence.
0:39:23 > 0:39:28She must have been very persuasive, because she won her case.
0:39:28 > 0:39:31The Emperor led the ceremony to the gods of the sky
0:39:31 > 0:39:33from the top of the mountain
0:39:33 > 0:39:37and she officiated on behalf of the earth goddesses at the bottom.
0:39:37 > 0:39:40It was the first time in Chinese history
0:39:40 > 0:39:45that a woman was present at this most sacred of ceremonies.
0:39:46 > 0:39:49Wu had used religion to promote herself,
0:39:49 > 0:39:54but the old gods only offered so much for a woman in medieval China.
0:39:54 > 0:39:58So when the Emperor died, she looked to the beliefs of her childhood,
0:39:58 > 0:40:02to help her reach the pinnacle of power.
0:40:02 > 0:40:07She embarked on a massive propaganda campaign right through her empire
0:40:07 > 0:40:10that had Buddhism at its heart.
0:40:13 > 0:40:16The previous Tang rulers had been generous patrons of Buddhism,
0:40:16 > 0:40:19but Wu took this to a whole new level.
0:40:19 > 0:40:23Now, you don't get a statement much bigger than this.
0:40:23 > 0:40:26We know that Wu Zetian used her own money,
0:40:26 > 0:40:2920,000 strings of silver coin,
0:40:29 > 0:40:33to have this enormous image carved out of the rock face.
0:40:34 > 0:40:37Originally, the Buddha had carved on one shoulder the sun
0:40:37 > 0:40:39and on the other the moon.
0:40:39 > 0:40:43And these are symbols of the Buddha as a universal leader.
0:40:43 > 0:40:46But they're also images that Wu Zetian used
0:40:46 > 0:40:50to create a new Chinese character to write her own name,
0:40:50 > 0:40:55implying that she was the sun and the moon combined.
0:40:55 > 0:40:59The illumination of all the world.
0:40:59 > 0:41:03Once this was built, rumours also started to circulate
0:41:03 > 0:41:08that this Buddha's face was actually modelled on Wu Zetian's own.
0:41:15 > 0:41:16It's clear that Wu saw Buddhism
0:41:16 > 0:41:20as a means to consolidate her grip on power,
0:41:20 > 0:41:22but why was it such a useful tool?
0:41:26 > 0:41:29Professor Valerie Hansen from Princeton
0:41:29 > 0:41:32is an expert on religion in the Tang Dynasty.
0:41:34 > 0:41:38Buddhism is much more flexible in the options it offers
0:41:38 > 0:41:42and there's a specific Buddhist idea called the "Wheel-turning King",
0:41:42 > 0:41:45who contributes money or land
0:41:45 > 0:41:48or food to Buddhist monasteries.
0:41:48 > 0:41:52And that idea was so flexible that there was a place for a woman.
0:41:52 > 0:41:57Empress Wu takes that "Wheel-turning King" name
0:41:57 > 0:41:59for herself in 693.
0:41:59 > 0:42:03Just the first step in Wu's master plan to harness Buddhism
0:42:03 > 0:42:05and the power of the word.
0:42:05 > 0:42:09She sent monks to India to scour the country for sacred texts,
0:42:09 > 0:42:13called sutras, until they found what she needed
0:42:13 > 0:42:16to cement her position as ruler in heaven and on earth.
0:42:17 > 0:42:23The Great Cloud sutra tells of a prophesy that a woman ruler
0:42:23 > 0:42:29will govern in a small Indian, not a Chinese, a small Indian kingdom.
0:42:29 > 0:42:30She attains nirvana.
0:42:30 > 0:42:34She has the option to become a man and she rejects that option
0:42:34 > 0:42:36so she can stay on earth and be a woman ruler.
0:42:36 > 0:42:41And when she was the ruler of the kingdom, the kingdom flourished.
0:42:41 > 0:42:43So it was the perfect text
0:42:43 > 0:42:48for a woman who saw herself as a wheel-turning patron of Buddhism.
0:42:52 > 0:42:55Buttressed by texts like the Great Cloud sutra,
0:42:55 > 0:43:00Wu declared herself Emperor of China,
0:43:00 > 0:43:05founding a new dynasty in her family's name.
0:43:10 > 0:43:13She left inscriptions across the kingdom proclaiming her power
0:43:13 > 0:43:16and commemorating her ancestors.
0:43:20 > 0:43:24This carved stone, still protected by the fearsome Shaolin monks,
0:43:24 > 0:43:29as it was in Wu's own day, is a poem praising her dead mother.
0:43:29 > 0:43:32The majority of the poem is actually rather melancholic
0:43:32 > 0:43:36with very beautiful descriptions of the landscape round here.
0:43:36 > 0:43:39But then you find a couple of lines that really explain
0:43:39 > 0:43:41what it is that matters to Wu.
0:43:41 > 0:43:45"Truly, it falls to those of benevolent means
0:43:45 > 0:43:48"to aid the almighty to perfect the world."
0:43:48 > 0:43:52Basically, what she's saying is that Buddhism needs her
0:43:52 > 0:43:54as much as she needs it.
0:44:00 > 0:44:05Wu's pragmatic devotion to Buddhism had an unexpected consequence,
0:44:05 > 0:44:10a kind of side effect that would change the course of civilisation.
0:44:13 > 0:44:17At the height of her power, a new technology was emerging in China.
0:44:18 > 0:44:22700 years before the first Bible was printed in Europe,
0:44:22 > 0:44:27Wu realised the printed word could help her gain ever more religious
0:44:27 > 0:44:29and political influence.
0:44:29 > 0:44:31Timothy Barrett from the University of London
0:44:31 > 0:44:36is an expert on Wu and early printing.
0:44:36 > 0:44:39I'm right in thinking, aren't I, that this is the oldest extant
0:44:39 > 0:44:41printed book in the world?
0:44:41 > 0:44:43Yes. It's certainly complete.
0:44:43 > 0:44:46It's dated to 868,
0:44:46 > 0:44:49quite clearly at the end.
0:44:49 > 0:44:54This is the first real book where you can see the whole thing
0:44:54 > 0:44:57printed from end to end.
0:44:57 > 0:44:59This is a Buddhist text,
0:44:59 > 0:45:03as you can see from the Buddha being right up at the front there.
0:45:03 > 0:45:05And why does she need to print things?
0:45:05 > 0:45:08How is it part of being a good Buddhist to sponsor printing?
0:45:08 > 0:45:11OK. A Buddhist scripture, like this,
0:45:11 > 0:45:16a sutra, is taken as the word of the Buddha and, in a sense,
0:45:16 > 0:45:18it is the Buddha himself.
0:45:18 > 0:45:24It's part of him, so it has the power of the Buddha inhering in it.
0:45:24 > 0:45:26It's so fascinating, that, isn't it?
0:45:26 > 0:45:29That you've got this mechanical process of printing but,
0:45:29 > 0:45:32through printing, she's creating these sacred texts
0:45:32 > 0:45:35and it's a sacred act in a way to distribute the words.
0:45:35 > 0:45:37Yes. A sacred act but also a royal act.
0:45:37 > 0:45:44So it's using religion, but it's also having a good eye to politics.
0:45:47 > 0:45:50Wu Zetian's sponsorship of printing ushered in the modern world
0:45:50 > 0:45:55and her support for Buddhism gave it a solid base in the Far East,
0:45:55 > 0:45:58at a time when it was waning across the Indian sub-continent.
0:45:58 > 0:46:00She deserves to be a household name.
0:46:00 > 0:46:05How ironic that she's been consistently written out of history.
0:46:09 > 0:46:13But Buddhism never forgot Wu Zetian.
0:46:18 > 0:46:22Every morning at 5:00am for the last 1,300 years,
0:46:22 > 0:46:25monks of Famen Si monastery in Central China
0:46:25 > 0:46:27have gathered for prayers.
0:46:30 > 0:46:36and the opening words to their chants were written by Wu herself.
0:46:41 > 0:46:45Master Wisdom is a Buddhist monk, scholar and historian.
0:47:14 > 0:47:17Wu Zetian was determined to change the face of the country
0:47:17 > 0:47:24that she ruled over 1,300 years ago and, precisely because of that,
0:47:24 > 0:47:30after her death her name was slandered and her memory was damned.
0:47:30 > 0:47:33But her legacy does survive.
0:47:33 > 0:47:36Thanks to her promotion both of Buddhism
0:47:36 > 0:47:40and of the written word, her influence is now writ large
0:47:40 > 0:47:44in an ever-burgeoning 21st-century China.
0:47:49 > 0:47:52As Buddhism was revolutionising Chinese society,
0:47:52 > 0:47:54thanks to the power of faith in the word,
0:47:54 > 0:47:56a remote island in northern Europe
0:47:56 > 0:47:59was also on the brink of seismic change.
0:48:02 > 0:48:04Again, it would be a woman who'd play a critical role
0:48:04 > 0:48:06in this transformation.
0:48:10 > 0:48:14Her name was Hilda and she was the niece of an Anglo-Saxon king,
0:48:14 > 0:48:15Edwin of Northumbria.
0:48:23 > 0:48:26I've always been fascinated by this woman,
0:48:26 > 0:48:30who seemed to have one foot in a kind of mythical past.
0:48:30 > 0:48:33There are stories that she turned snakes to stone
0:48:33 > 0:48:36and was a pioneer who blazed the trail for women.
0:48:36 > 0:48:41Above all, she's revered as someone who championed learning
0:48:41 > 0:48:42for ordinary people.
0:48:44 > 0:48:46As one monk poetically put it,
0:48:46 > 0:48:50her life was an example of the works of light.
0:48:52 > 0:48:56In 627, when Islam was evolving into a religious super power,
0:48:56 > 0:49:00Hilda would help set her country on a course
0:49:00 > 0:49:04to become one of the greatest nations in the world.
0:49:04 > 0:49:08For the last 100 years of Roman rule, Britain was,
0:49:08 > 0:49:10nominally at least, Christian,
0:49:10 > 0:49:14but with the withdrawal of Roman troops from 410 AD,
0:49:14 > 0:49:19the Christian flame was all but extinguished.
0:49:19 > 0:49:23The next 200 years were a fractious, messy time.
0:49:23 > 0:49:27Germanic invaders brought back in pagan gods
0:49:27 > 0:49:32and took away Roman benefits, like unity and literacy.
0:49:36 > 0:49:42But in the 7th Century, when Hilda was a child, there was a revolution.
0:49:42 > 0:49:45Monks from Christian, literate Ireland led a bold mission
0:49:45 > 0:49:50to help re-establish their faith in barbarian Britain.
0:49:50 > 0:49:53Two of Ireland's visionaries, Columbanus and Aidan,
0:49:53 > 0:49:57established major monasteries at Iona and Lindisfarne.
0:49:58 > 0:50:02These missionaries didn't just bring religion.
0:50:02 > 0:50:03The monasteries they came from
0:50:03 > 0:50:06were great bastions of knowledge and learning,
0:50:06 > 0:50:08so when these monks came to convert, they brought books,
0:50:08 > 0:50:10reading and writing,
0:50:10 > 0:50:13helping to change the face of this country forever.
0:50:16 > 0:50:18Crucially, these Irish evangelists
0:50:18 > 0:50:21believed that knowledge should be for all,
0:50:21 > 0:50:23for men, women and children.
0:50:23 > 0:50:27I'm meeting Professor Sarah Foot from Oxford University
0:50:27 > 0:50:30to find out what this meant for Hilda and her people.
0:50:30 > 0:50:32It's bringing a whole series of things
0:50:32 > 0:50:35that the Anglo-Saxons haven't experienced before
0:50:35 > 0:50:36and it's going, fundamentally,
0:50:36 > 0:50:39to change the nature of their whole society and culture.
0:50:39 > 0:50:41It's going to bring this religion of the book
0:50:41 > 0:50:44and with it the technology of writing.
0:50:44 > 0:50:46It's going to bring artistic and cultural materials
0:50:46 > 0:50:50and artefacts from the Roman and Mediterranean worlds.
0:50:50 > 0:50:53It's going to introduce new ways for kings to run their realm
0:50:53 > 0:50:56using writing and literacy.
0:50:57 > 0:51:00For Hilda, the Irish missionaries' passion for education
0:51:00 > 0:51:05proved inspirational and life-changing and, at the age of 33,
0:51:05 > 0:51:07she joined their ranks.
0:51:07 > 0:51:11Under the tutelage of Irish bishop Aidan, Hilda devoted her life
0:51:11 > 0:51:13to education and study.
0:51:13 > 0:51:18She founded an abbey at Whitby in Yorkshire and became its abbess,
0:51:18 > 0:51:23responsible for the welfare and education of a whole community.
0:51:23 > 0:51:25This must be a great job for a woman,
0:51:25 > 0:51:28because this is quite a warrior culture at this age.
0:51:28 > 0:51:31You know, it's a lot about brawn and muscle.
0:51:31 > 0:51:32But here she can use her brain.
0:51:32 > 0:51:35An abbess had probably more power than any other woman
0:51:35 > 0:51:36in Anglo-Saxon England.
0:51:36 > 0:51:41Hild had enormous political, economic and educational power.
0:51:41 > 0:51:45It's the best career opportunity for girls in 7th-Century England.
0:51:45 > 0:51:48We've got lots of evidence that she was directly
0:51:48 > 0:51:49involved in teaching here.
0:51:49 > 0:51:52There are five men educated in this monastery
0:51:52 > 0:51:54who go on to become bishops.
0:51:54 > 0:51:56No other single monastery produced that many figures,
0:51:56 > 0:51:59and all of them had been taught in this place by this woman.
0:52:02 > 0:52:03In medieval England,
0:52:03 > 0:52:06religion provided women with not only a rich education
0:52:06 > 0:52:09but the ability to shape and influence
0:52:09 > 0:52:10future leaders of the country.
0:52:10 > 0:52:13Hilda wasn't just a character in history.
0:52:13 > 0:52:17You could argue that she was instrumental in the foundation
0:52:17 > 0:52:23of English history itself, thanks to her influence on a man called Bede.
0:52:25 > 0:52:28The monk, Bede, was a brilliant scholar and intellectual,
0:52:28 > 0:52:32who wrote the very first history of England.
0:52:32 > 0:52:34I'm meeting historian Peter Darby
0:52:34 > 0:52:36to find out why Hilda was important
0:52:36 > 0:52:40to the man described as "the Father of English History".
0:52:40 > 0:52:43Bede absolutely saw the value of what Hilda was doing at Whitby and
0:52:43 > 0:52:46presents her as an ideal type and something to be emulated.
0:52:46 > 0:52:49And this shows as well that Bede really saw
0:52:49 > 0:52:51a role for women in the Church going forwards.
0:52:51 > 0:52:54And so Hild, I suppose, blazed the trail for the achievements
0:52:54 > 0:52:58of Bede and really showed that it was possible to establish
0:52:58 > 0:52:59a great centre of learning.
0:52:59 > 0:53:02There is a debt there to the actions of Hild at Whitby
0:53:02 > 0:53:06and the programme of learning that she introduced there.
0:53:06 > 0:53:09Bede's biography of Hilda records one of the most important
0:53:09 > 0:53:13events in the history of England.
0:53:13 > 0:53:18It took place in 664 and it's called the Synod of Whitby.
0:53:18 > 0:53:22Hilda's abbey hosted a great debate between Irish monks and Rome
0:53:22 > 0:53:28about the right date of the key Christian festival, Easter.
0:53:28 > 0:53:32Hilda's role in orchestrating this event was critical.
0:53:32 > 0:53:35This was something that mattered so much to these people,
0:53:35 > 0:53:38for whom Christianity was a new, exciting faith.
0:53:38 > 0:53:40Nobody wanted to think that they were doing it wrong.
0:53:40 > 0:53:43But it's a much bigger question than that,
0:53:43 > 0:53:46because deciding how to calculate the date of Easter meant deciding
0:53:46 > 0:53:51to line themselves behind the power of Rome and so make themselves
0:53:51 > 0:53:54part of a Central European, but also much wider, Church.
0:53:54 > 0:53:58Because the choice is between this rather remote West and the East,
0:53:58 > 0:54:01which is the powerhouse of Christianity at this time.
0:54:01 > 0:54:06Absolutely, so it's a decision to make England part of a global
0:54:06 > 0:54:11Christian Church and the opportunity to develop further artistically,
0:54:11 > 0:54:13intellectually, economically.
0:54:13 > 0:54:14So who wins?
0:54:14 > 0:54:17In the end, the Roman party win.
0:54:18 > 0:54:22Although Hilda owed her education and status to the Irish Church,
0:54:22 > 0:54:25she embraced the majority decision.
0:54:25 > 0:54:27England's future lay with Europe.
0:54:28 > 0:54:31Incredible to think that this place that she ran
0:54:31 > 0:54:35witnessed this extraordinarily important decision.
0:54:35 > 0:54:39Yes, it is and so extraordinary to think that this moment that
0:54:39 > 0:54:42really puts England on a Christian map,
0:54:42 > 0:54:45that one of the key people who made that happen was a woman.
0:54:45 > 0:54:50You could say that the decision at 664 in Whitby is a decision
0:54:50 > 0:54:53that really changes the future of English history.
0:54:57 > 0:54:58This is an age when religion
0:54:58 > 0:55:05and new ideas gave women like Hilda the power to make history.
0:55:05 > 0:55:08The 7th and 8th Centuries represent really a golden age
0:55:08 > 0:55:10for women in English Christianity.
0:55:10 > 0:55:13There's no other period where women are able to exercise
0:55:13 > 0:55:18such genuine power and influence in the Christian culture and, indeed,
0:55:18 > 0:55:20the wider political sphere than they are in this period.
0:55:20 > 0:55:22Hild's a major figure educationally,
0:55:22 > 0:55:26but she's also a major figure in the political life of the nation.
0:55:26 > 0:55:28Kings and bishops came to consult Hild
0:55:28 > 0:55:30about what they should be doing.
0:55:30 > 0:55:35Beyond the 9th Century, the idea that women would hold such positions
0:55:35 > 0:55:38of authority and influence is one that you just don't have any more.
0:55:38 > 0:55:42Women tended to be enclosed, cloistered, constrained,
0:55:42 > 0:55:46walled inside houses where there aren't any men.
0:55:51 > 0:55:54Eventually, the great abbeys were downgraded.
0:55:58 > 0:56:02Now all that's left is a haunting reminder of their former glory.
0:56:08 > 0:56:12With the establishment of universities in the 12th Century,
0:56:12 > 0:56:14at a stroke, the role of nunneries
0:56:14 > 0:56:20and monasteries as educators of the world was virtually eradicated.
0:56:22 > 0:56:26These places only admitted men.
0:56:26 > 0:56:30For the next 1,300 years, all women were barred
0:56:30 > 0:56:32and it wasn't until 1920
0:56:32 > 0:56:36that a woman could be legally awarded a university degree.
0:56:38 > 0:56:41I'm sure Hilda would have been horrified.
0:56:45 > 0:56:48The moment in our history inhabited by Hilda, Wu Zetian
0:56:48 > 0:56:56Khadijah, Aisha and Theodora should not be called the Dark Ages.
0:56:56 > 0:56:58This was a time of illumination,
0:56:58 > 0:57:00when women used the power of ancient traditions
0:57:00 > 0:57:07and embraced exciting new ideas to rewrite the story of our world.
0:57:11 > 0:57:14By searching through 12,000 years of human history,
0:57:14 > 0:57:18I've discovered compelling proof that the female of the species
0:57:18 > 0:57:23and religion have always been inseparable.
0:57:24 > 0:57:28Divine women have nurtured us with their fierce power.
0:57:28 > 0:57:30They've helped found religions
0:57:30 > 0:57:33and been at the heart of our greatest civilisations.
0:57:33 > 0:57:37During the Dark Ages, they brought light and leadership,
0:57:37 > 0:57:40showing us the way forward.
0:57:41 > 0:57:48Forget or ignore them, and we impoverish history and ourselves.
0:57:48 > 0:57:52We have to understand the connection between women and the divine
0:57:52 > 0:57:55because the product of that relationship
0:57:55 > 0:57:59over tens of thousands of years of human history
0:57:59 > 0:58:01has shaped the world that we live in
0:58:01 > 0:58:04and the lives that we all lead today.
0:58:07 > 0:58:10For a free Open University booklet
0:58:10 > 0:58:13covering the issues and themes featured in this programme,
0:58:13 > 0:58:14and to learn more about
0:58:14 > 0:58:16controversies surrounding women in religion, ring
0:58:21 > 0:58:28or go to bbc.co.uk/religion and follow the links to the OU.
0:58:50 > 0:58:54Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd