Christmas Tudor Monastery Farm


Christmas

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500 years ago, Christmas was celebrated every bit

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as enthusiastically as it is today.

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Mmm!

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If anything, it was bigger.

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Noise. Woo!

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All work stopped on Christmas Eve, for 12 days of revelry and feasting...

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Twelfth night cake, everyone!

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..culminating on the twelfth night with the biggest

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party of the year, when madness reigned.

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Our Lord of Misrule.

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Historian Ruth Goodman and archaeologists Tom Pinfold

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and Peter Ginn have spent the last six months turning the clock

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back to Tudor England, working as farmers under the watchful

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eye of the country's biggest landowners, the monasteries.

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Now they're returning to celebrate Christmas - Tudor style.

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They must revive lost skills to prepare feasts.

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Learn the art of falconry to catch game for a grand

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banquet at the monastery...

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Oh, very good. Oh! Well done.

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..while welcoming new life to their farm.

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Merry Christmas, little pigs.

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This is the untold story of how the farms of Tudor England

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celebrated the 12 days of Christmas.

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Celebrating the Winter Solstice is a tradition that goes back millennia.

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From this point on, the sun is getting higher in the sky

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and the days are getting longer.

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The Romans celebrated it with Saturnalia,

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the Norsemen had Yule, and by the Tudor era it had

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evolved into a Christian feast marking the birth of Christ.

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Oh, it has got that Christmas feel, don't you think?

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It does,

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but let's face it, Christmas for the Tudors was 12 days of feasting

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and fun. I know, I know, I know.

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Looking forward to that, but all the prep work we've got to do beforehand...

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You can really feel that nip in the air.

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Before the 12 days of Christmas came Advent,

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24 days of fasting while preparing food for the feasts to come.

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Advent's a long time, isn't it, Tom?

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It is, but this is our prep time for the 12 days of Christmas, isn't it?

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Well, are you looking forward to it?

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I am. You know, it's going to be a lot of celebration, more ale...

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Yeah. It'll be fun, but er, we've still got plenty to do beforehand.

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During Advent, no meat, eggs or cheese were to be eaten.

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This was not just a religious observance

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but also a chance to save food and money for the feasting ahead.

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Oh, don't say that, Ruth!

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Ruth will be slaving over a hot fire somewhere.

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Sheep, sheep, sheep, sheep.

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The teachings of the Church dictated that the farmer

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downed his tools for the 12 days of Christmas.

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So it was important the animals were well-stocked with fodder,

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Whoa, whoa!

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The thing is, farming...it is relentless, it is a way of life,

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it is continuous,

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and even though Christmas is coming up, the farm has to continue.

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Our pigs are due at any moment, and it's going to coincide with Christmas.

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So we've just got to keep our eye on them,

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keep feeding them and just make sure they're healthy.

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In the early 1500s, it became popular to rear pigs to

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sell on a commercial scale.

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You haven't started nesting yet.

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We'll keep our eyes on you, though. Keep your strength up.

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Pigs were the perfect animal for a Tudor farmer to breed.

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They not only ate pretty much anything,

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but provided many essential resources -

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bristles to make brushes, fat to lubricate machinery.

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And almost every part could be eaten.

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I'm going to give you my big sharp knife.

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Neal Careswell is helping Tom butcher a pig.

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Right, what you need to do is follow a nice smooth line all

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the way behind the ear.

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Turkey didn't become popular until the late 18th century.

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The centrepiece of the Tudor Christmas dinner was the pig's head.

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Shall we flip it over and do the other side? OK.

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It was a tradition that dated back to the Anglo-Saxons.

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Back then, it would have been the head of a wild boar.

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But they were hunted to extinction in the 13th century.

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Now, the bit that not many people like doing is

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you've literally just got to twist the head off.

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Are you serious? Yeah, serious. Do you want me to do it, Tom?

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I think it's probably best. OK. I'll watch that.

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He says.

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LAUGHTER

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And there we go.

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Remarkable. Christmas dinner! Christmas dinner.

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Tom's taking the pig's head to Ruth,

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who will prepare it for the Christmas dinner.

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Thank you... Quite a big pig's head for you.

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Oh, lovely!

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First, the skull is removed to create a cavity

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that will be stuffed with meat.

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As what I need to do is to keep all the flesh and the skin in one piece,

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because I'm going to re-form it into a pig's head without the skull.

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Christmas was such an important celebration

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that people went to extraordinary lengths for it.

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And you can see that this is not the sort of thing

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you'd want for an everyday dinner, it just takes ages.

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It might seem strange to us,

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that it was a boar's head that was the Christmas dish,

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but I think you have to think of it in its sort of cultural context.

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To hunt a wild boar is a really scary thing to do.

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They are really feisty beasts.

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An adult wild male boar is a big creature

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and it can easily kill a person.

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And if you've only got spears to hunt it with,

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and that's what they used, then it takes a real degree of courage.

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And as such, it had a very special place, you know, the boar's head,

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the trophy from such a hunt must have made a big impact.

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Phew! That's the skull and there's my pig's head.

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Next, the head must be pickled.

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So, I've got a blend of ale vinegars, Ale-Gar.

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And herbs, mostly bay leaf, and a little bit of mustard seed.

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And I just press it under the pickle and leave it.

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Until Christmas gets a little bit closer

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and I'm ready for the next stage.

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The Tudors cooked everything on wood fires.

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So, in preparation for the 12 days of feasting,

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Peter's stocking up on firewood.

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Anyone who's done any cooking on Christmas Day

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knows that some of the most stressful period of your life

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is the three hours you spend in the kitchen

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with saucepans here, mixing bowls there.

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Is the turkey defrosted?

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Will it fit in the oven?

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Ruth's got, like, 12 days of this.

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So, I've just got to make sure that this wood pile

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is stocked nicely and she's a happy lady.

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Otherwise I might find myself sleeping in the cow shed.

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The only way to adjust the heat on a Tudor stove

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was by burning different types of wood.

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So, the majority of your wood pile would be made up of beech and ash,

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because they are your, sort of, mid-range burners.

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However, if you want a slightly slower,

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longer heat, you need a denser wood, like oak.

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Whereas if you want a flash fry, go for hazel.

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And there he is.

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The pig's head has been pickled in vinegar, herbs and mustard.

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Now it's ready for the next stage, stuffing with chopped pork.

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So, I'm trying to make him look, in the finished thing,

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as lifelike as possible.

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Tough stuff, pig's skin.

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To contain the stuffing, Ruth's sewing up the head as she goes.

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So, I've made him into a sort of floppy bag,

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now I can carry on stuffing.

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A little bit more meat there.

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She's also adding in an ingredient

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that was a rare delicacy in Tudor England.

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Raisins.

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And I've made this raisin-y paste,

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and that's going to go right in the centre of the boar's head.

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Imported from the Mediterranean,

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they would have been very expensive and used sparingly.

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Once stuffed and sewn up, the entire head is wrapped in cloth

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to hold it together, ready for cooking.

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And when he comes out cooked, and he's going to boil for, er,

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about two to three hours, he'll still be very soft,

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he'll be cooked through, but the whole thing will be very soft.

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So, I'll be able to take all the bandages off.

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And sort of re-form him into a slightly more pig-like appearance.

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Midwinter was a dark, depressing and tough time that needed cheer.

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So, Peter's headed out onto the monastic estate

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with woodsman, John Roberts, to collect holly and ivy,

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which have been used since pre-Christian times

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to brighten up the home.

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Oh!

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Insert myself into the prickly nightmare that is this holly.

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In Pagan customs, holly was associated with the Sun God,

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whose birth was celebrated on the 25th of December,

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a date later adopted by Christians as the birthday of Christ.

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The holly is such a symbolic tree,

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I mean, I know that it's got the religious connotations

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of erm, I suppose the sort of, the crown of thorns and the... Yes.

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the drop of blood of the berries. Yes.

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But it's also got much, much older Pagan connotations,

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it's a very male plant, isn't it?

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Yes, yes, they always said in the, the sort of later Middle Ages

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that if you want to look at the decorations in the house

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and there was more ivy than holly,

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and ivy was considered female, that it was a,

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a house where the woman wore the britches.

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We're going to have a lot of ivy, I think!

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We can take these, these lower bits, yeah?

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Yeah, yeah. They're definitely wood rather than timber.

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When you say, wood rather than timber,

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you mean there's a difference? There is, yes, size matters.

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Anything over 24 inches in circumference was timber

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and that definitely belonged to the land owner.

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If you wanted that, you had to buy it off him.

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And below that size, it's wood.

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Which, as a tenant of the landlord, you were allowed to gather.

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How far up do we want to go?

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Well, I should think, to decorate the hall of the farmhouse,

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you're going to need a good ox-cart load.

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(Oh, no!)

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Do you think we need to climb? We might need to, yes.

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Cor! There we go, oh!

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That's fine, right. Oh! Oh-oh!

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Is there much folklore surrounding holly?

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Oh, yes, a great deal, a lot of people believed that

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it shouldn't be brought into the home unless it was Christmas time,

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or, in fact, you shouldn't cut it unless it was Christmas time.

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And locally, on the estate here, up until the 1960s, '70s,

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the woodsmen wouldn't fell holly trees.

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They would pollard them, they'd trim them, but they wouldn't fell them.

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I just think it's a good excuse for them not to get prickled. Yes.

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Oh, that's satisfying. Yep.

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And it's stayed together. Marvellous!

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Right, oh!

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While the pig's head cooks,

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Ruth makes a Tudor version of Christmas pudding.

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Ah! Right, I'm going to make some frumenty.

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Frumenty was a popular Tudor dish,

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made by boiling cracked wheat in milk.

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But at Christmas, there were special added ingredients.

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Now to put in the flavouring, and this really is

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the flavour of Christmas.

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Then, like now, the flavours of Christmas

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were dried fruit and spices.

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Now that's quite exotic,

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all those raisins coming in from the Mediterranean.

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But the spices, they're truly exotic.

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So, I've ground up a little cinnamon bark.

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Scraped half of a nutmeg and crushed a dried ginger root.

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These have travelled such a distance to get here,

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halfway round the world.

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Traded hand to hand by one merchant to the next,

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to the next and the next.

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But that's why people wanted them at Christmas,

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they're just that hint of the luxury of the aristocracy and the royalty.

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They're a taste reminder of the best,

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the most expensive experience, that you could have in Tudor Britain.

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Decorating the house at midwinter is a tradition

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that goes back millennia.

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So, Peter and Tom are making a 'Christmas Crown'

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to hang from the ceiling of their farmhouse.

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Oh, that's good, yeah, yeah, yeah. I like it.

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Oh!

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Although there are records of huge decorated crowns,

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there are no surviving instructions as to how they were made.

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Yeah, I was thinking arching, arching, arching, arching, weaving.

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So, the boys are experimenting. It's going to snap at any moment!

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Oh! I hate this crown. Already, I hate this crown.

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So, we've realised that to keep the tension in these vertical rods,

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we need to actually weight down the middle

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and that way it'll be easier to weave in and out.

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I refuse to be beaten.

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If you're going to be beaten, it'll not be by something like this.

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They're reinforcing the crown, by weaving hazel around the rim,

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using fence building skills that every Tudor farmer would have known.

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Yeah, this is just like wattle work or basketry,

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I suppose this is a giant basket.

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And as we build up, say six inches, we'll have a very solid structure.

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Although this seems over-engineered, if you think about

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a Tudor farmstead, you think about a Tudor cottage,

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it's a huge open space, because you've got a fire

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in the middle of the room.

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And in order to fill that with greenery,

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you need something on this scale, suspended

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and it'll be a fixture, a centrepiece.

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And there are records of people doing this.

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Not just, "Oh, some people did this,"

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this was a very, very common thing.

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The crown's structure built,

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the boys are decorating it with foraged holly and ivy.

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This greenery is so symbolic, it's got Christian connotations,

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it's got Pagan connotations, it puts you in the mood, doesn't it, Tom?

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You got something that looks festive, colourful and enjoyable.

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This is our Christmas Crown.

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It's a celebration of colour and Christmas, mate.

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Shall we get it inside?

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I think so.

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The Tudor equivalent of the mince pie was the shred pie.

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As well as containing the familiar dried fruit, cinnamon, ginger

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and nutmeg, there was originally another essential ingredient.

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Meat.

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It's funny, isn't it, that over 500 years, yeah,

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Christmas food has changed, but there's these little sort of threads

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of continuity, particularly that spice and raisin mix.

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Over time, naturally, the spice and the fruit, in particular,

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content rises and rises and rises.

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By 1600, 100 years later, you would have doubled the amount of raisins

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and spices in there at the same sort of cost.

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By 1900, there was next to no meat left at all.

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The Tudor cook didn't have pie tins.

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The technology to make them cheaply didn't come along until the 1800s.

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So, the pastry had to be robust enough

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to support itself in the oven. Oh, God!

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Coming! Hands out the way.

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That goes on top, yeah.

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The pies are then baked in the bread oven.

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I've lit my faggot.

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What a way to light your oven, eh?

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No boring pressing the button.

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It takes this oven about 40 minutes, 45 minutes,

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to get the heat just right and I gauge the temperature

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by watching the flames.

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If you look at the moment, they're very orangey yellow,

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and very vertical, it's really cold in there,

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but as this faggot starts to burn down

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and I start to put the other faggots in, the heat will start to build.

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Push the last bits in.

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You might notice that there's no chimney there.

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The waste gases, the smoke and any other heat

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has to come out the same hole that the wood goes in,

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and that's deliberate. If you put a chimney in, you've totally ruined it,

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it won't work as an oven.

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What I need to do is trap all the heat from the fire.

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It is the SPACE that I'm heating, not the food,

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there's no food anywhere near it at the fire at the moment.

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As these stones get hot, they become the oven.

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When it's hot enough, take the fire out,

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put the food in where the fire used to be

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and the hot stones do the cooking for me.

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In Tudor England, December the 21st was St Thomas's Day,

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when those who couldn't afford to celebrate Christmas

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appealed to the better off for charity.

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KNOCK AT DOOR

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Oh, that must the Thomas's. Hang on!

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It was known as Thomasing.

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I've got a bowl prepared for them already.

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Hi! Hello. Happy Christmas. I got a bowl for you already.

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Thank you very much. There you go. Enjoy it.

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Bye. Bye.

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It was the tradition for poorer members of the community

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to go all round their neighbours, banging on the door,

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begging, I suppose, but in a nice way,

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for some ingredients towards their Christmas dinner.

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And the traditional gift was a big bowl of flour.

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The oven is now up to temperature,

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so the fire is raked out and the pies put in.

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Christmas Eve was the last working day before the holidays began.

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So, final preparations were made for the celebrations ahead.

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The boys are moving their crown into the farmhouse.

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But it appears they've made a rather unfortunate miscalculation.

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What do we do? Look, just tilt it.

0:19:380:19:40

Yeah, OK. I'll go low. I'm humouring you.

0:19:400:19:44

It's not even going to fit in sideways, Tom!

0:19:440:19:47

In, get in.

0:19:470:19:50

Right, cut the strings?

0:19:500:19:54

No, you say no. Go for it, go for it.

0:19:540:19:56

I promise you, I promise you. Ruth said no strings.

0:19:560:19:59

There's obviously a reason why they didn't use string

0:19:590:20:01

in the construction of these things.

0:20:010:20:03

Yeah, we're losing some hazel down here. Oh, are we? Yeah.

0:20:070:20:11

HEAVE!

0:20:150:20:16

Finally, the Christmas Crown takes pride of place in the farmhouse.

0:20:160:20:20

That's good, that's good, that's good there, isn't it?

0:20:200:20:24

Look at that. It's up there.

0:20:240:20:27

I can smell the cooking, can't you? It's good, it's good.

0:20:270:20:32

In the kitchen, the finishing touches

0:20:360:20:39

are being applied to the Christmas Day feast.

0:20:390:20:41

Ruth's decorated the stuffed pig's head.

0:20:410:20:47

There's also pork and ham from the pig.

0:20:470:20:50

Frumenty.

0:20:500:20:52

Shred pies.

0:20:520:20:55

Pease pudding.

0:20:550:20:57

Pickled salads.

0:20:570:20:59

And a Tudor favourite, leach, made from milk set in gelatine.

0:20:590:21:04

Peter's even made some festive candles.

0:21:060:21:09

Apart from the fact I've waxed my fingers to the wick...

0:21:090:21:13

That's a splendid candle.

0:21:130:21:15

Christmas Day.

0:21:220:21:25

In 1500, this was the first of the 12 days of Christmas.

0:21:250:21:31

Celebrations started with Holy Mass in the village church.

0:21:310:21:35

Hoc est corpus meum qui pro vobis tradetum.

0:21:350:21:41

Then, after 24 days of fasting, it was time to begin feasting.

0:21:410:21:47

This is fantastic, you've made such a great job of it.

0:21:470:21:50

Did you make it in here?

0:21:500:21:52

Let's go back, that would have been a good idea to make it in here.

0:21:520:21:55

It's almost as good as the food, this is amazing!

0:21:550:21:59

I know, so stuff yourself stupid at Christmas.

0:21:590:22:01

Might be plain, but there's plenty of it.

0:22:010:22:03

Guests. Come on in, come on in!

0:22:030:22:05

Hiya. Hey, hey! Take a pew.

0:22:050:22:07

Do you want to take these seats cos they're nice and tall.

0:22:070:22:10

And we need that, Neal.

0:22:100:22:12

Thanks for coming. Well done!

0:22:120:22:14

As was the custom, Peter, Tom and Ruth

0:22:140:22:18

have invited those who have worked on the farm over the past year,

0:22:180:22:21

to their banquet.

0:22:210:22:24

Benedictus Benedicat per Jesum Christum Dominum Nostrum, amen.

0:22:240:22:31

Amen. ALL: Amen.

0:22:310:22:33

Meals this extravagant, with so much meat,

0:22:380:22:41

would have been a once a year treat for most ordinary people.

0:22:410:22:45

Hmmmm, good. Eat up.

0:22:450:22:48

According to the Tudor theory of food digestion,

0:22:480:22:51

the pork being the closest to the human body... Hmmm.

0:22:510:22:53

..is the thing that gives the most nutrient.

0:22:530:22:56

But unfortunately, it can sometimes overwhelm your system.

0:22:560:23:00

So, if you eat too much pig and pork, and your system isn't up to it,

0:23:000:23:04

it can all go horribly wrong and you can make yourself very ill. Yeah.

0:23:040:23:07

So, you line the base of your stomach with things particularly

0:23:070:23:11

like a pottage, and then you put the grosser meats on top. Hmm.

0:23:110:23:14

And then you close it all off with cheese.

0:23:140:23:17

You know, modern dinning techniques still follows that same

0:23:170:23:21

Medieval digestion, that we still have soup... Yeah, yeah.

0:23:210:23:24

..followed by red meat, followed by the sort of puddingy things. Yeah.

0:23:240:23:27

And then finish with cheese.

0:23:270:23:29

Professor Ronald Hutton, an expert in folklore,

0:23:340:23:38

believes there was a good reason why Romans, Vikings and Christians

0:23:380:23:42

all feasted in December.

0:23:420:23:44

All over ancient Europe, midwinter is a time for celebration.

0:23:440:23:49

It's the worst part of the year, the darkest certainly,

0:23:490:23:53

often the coldest and the muddiest.

0:23:530:23:55

So, you need to keep cheerful.

0:23:550:23:58

And there are always three components.

0:23:580:24:00

First is feasting, which is what we're doing.

0:24:000:24:03

You just bring out your best in order to make a party

0:24:030:24:06

at the worst of the year.

0:24:060:24:07

Second is lighting up your place,

0:24:070:24:10

we got the sunlight streaming pallidly through the windows now.

0:24:100:24:13

In the evening, we'll have logs in the grate,

0:24:130:24:15

we'd have candles blazing.

0:24:150:24:18

And the third thing is greenery,

0:24:180:24:20

which is what the holly and ivy is about.

0:24:200:24:22

It's bringing in whatever is still green in the woods

0:24:220:24:25

to remind us that out there life is still going on.

0:24:250:24:28

It's really good therapy.

0:24:280:24:30

Wassail! ALL: Wassail!

0:24:300:24:33

LAUGHTER AND CHATTER

0:24:330:24:38

Nowadays, Christmas Day is a culmination of the festive season.

0:24:430:24:47

But for the Tudors, there was still 11 days to go.

0:24:470:24:53

The second day of Christmas, now called Boxing Day,

0:24:580:25:01

was the feast of St Stephen.

0:25:010:25:04

For farmers, although no work was done in the fields,

0:25:060:25:09

there was still the animals to check on.

0:25:090:25:12

How many of you are there?

0:25:120:25:15

In the pig pen, there are some new arrivals.

0:25:150:25:17

We're doing minimal farming for the 12 days of Christmas.

0:25:170:25:21

But we're still checking on our animals

0:25:210:25:23

and sure enough, the rustling in the back of the sty

0:25:230:25:27

has turned into the greatest Christmas present ever!

0:25:270:25:30

We have piglets.

0:25:300:25:34

I mean, they're almost purebred Tamworth,

0:25:340:25:36

they have been crossed with another breed

0:25:360:25:38

which hopefully will make them quite hardy and...

0:25:380:25:41

I mean, not only are the piglets healthy and running around,

0:25:410:25:44

but also the mothers, they've come out the sty as well,

0:25:440:25:46

because if they take to their beds for too long

0:25:460:25:48

it could be an indicator of a much more serious illness,

0:25:480:25:51

maybe something like flu, which is a killer.

0:25:510:25:54

But no, they're good, which means the piglets are good.

0:25:540:25:57

Oh! Look what you've done with the place! You've made it all muddy!

0:26:000:26:05

The third day of Christmas was the feast of St John the Apostle.

0:26:110:26:15

The fourth day was the feast of the Holy Innocence.

0:26:150:26:18

Although lay folk didn't work over Christmas,

0:26:180:26:22

few could afford to feast every day.

0:26:220:26:25

For the monasteries however, all the main feast days of Christmas

0:26:250:26:28

were a time for communal celebration.

0:26:280:26:31

Whereas the lay folks' Christmas banquet meant red meat,

0:26:310:26:36

for the monks it was very different.

0:26:360:26:39

Christmas is a time of feasting for everyone in society.

0:26:440:26:49

You ate as much as you could afford to eat,

0:26:490:26:51

and that applied right across the board.

0:26:510:26:54

But in the monasteries, there were still just a,

0:26:540:26:56

a little hint of a nod towards the austerity of an ascetic life.

0:26:560:27:03

Too much red meat stimulated virility,

0:27:030:27:07

and for monks, and indeed, nuns, that was something of a problem.

0:27:070:27:11

So, the feasting that went on within the monasteries over Christmas

0:27:110:27:15

tended to be much more towards the poultry.

0:27:150:27:19

Swans were quite regularly part of people's poultry yards,

0:27:190:27:22

they were kept alongside the geese and the ducks.

0:27:220:27:27

If we are going to help the monks to have a really great Christmas,

0:27:270:27:30

we're going to need to be supplying them with a huge volume of poultry.

0:27:300:27:36

Today, swans are a protected species in England,

0:27:360:27:39

so cannot be killed for food.

0:27:390:27:41

But Tudor monasteries would have raised them

0:27:410:27:43

especially for the table. Along with geese, ducks and chicken.

0:27:430:27:49

These were complemented by wild game,

0:27:490:27:52

like pheasant, partridge and woodcock.

0:27:520:27:56

But catching game in an age without shotguns was not easy.

0:27:560:28:01

Falcons were deployed to intercept birds in the air

0:28:010:28:04

and bring them to the ground.

0:28:040:28:06

This is exactly the kind of bird that would have been used

0:28:060:28:09

for specialist fouling, yes.

0:28:090:28:11

Emma and Mike Rafael are teaching Ruth and Tom the art of falconry.

0:28:110:28:16

There were two types of falconer,

0:28:180:28:20

aristocratic amateurs, who practised it as a sport,

0:28:200:28:23

and professionals who captured game for the dinner table.

0:28:230:28:27

You are amazing.

0:28:270:28:29

And how on earth do you get a bird to do this for you?

0:28:290:28:32

You cannot train a bird of prey,

0:28:320:28:34

it's not got the mental aptitude to be trained.

0:28:340:28:36

So, when you go hunting, it's hunting actually for itself.

0:28:360:28:39

You're more witnessing what's going on,

0:28:390:28:42

and hopefully managing to do that in an enclosed area,

0:28:420:28:46

whereby when the bird has caught something

0:28:460:28:48

you can go in, swap it for what's it's caught,

0:28:480:28:50

what it's caught goes in your bag for your table,

0:28:500:28:53

and then you give it some different food on the glove

0:28:530:28:56

to get the bird up to the glove. She'll actually never know who I am

0:28:560:29:00

so she'll never actually come back to me...

0:29:000:29:02

Never be any bond between bird and man... No bond at all.

0:29:020:29:04

There might be between man and bird, but not from bird to man.

0:29:040:29:07

It's one of these things with females, that you love them to bits.

0:29:070:29:10

But you get nothing back whatsoever.

0:29:100:29:14

Not sure what he's trying to say there!

0:29:140:29:17

Although falcons cannot be trained,

0:29:170:29:19

they're hunting instincts can be controlled using a hood.

0:29:190:29:25

Ben Long makes leather hoods for falcons.

0:29:250:29:27

Which can be quickly removed when the bird is required to hunt.

0:29:270:29:32

It's not like sewing, it's more of an engineering project, really.

0:29:320:29:37

Covering a falcon's eyes effectively switches it off.

0:29:420:29:46

So, what did they do before they had the hoods for the falcons?

0:29:460:29:49

Ah, well, that's a strange one, they sewed their eye lids up.

0:29:490:29:54

Now, that sounds awful, but it was called sealing,

0:29:540:29:57

and it was four little silk stitches on the bottom eyelid,

0:29:570:30:01

pulled up, tied nice, nicely over the head.

0:30:010:30:04

Er, but before, as soon as the training commenced

0:30:040:30:06

that was taken away, but, in fact, although it sounds barbaric,

0:30:060:30:10

it, of course, was the nearest thing that they'd got to being humane.

0:30:100:30:15

Because these are birds that only react to things,

0:30:150:30:17

so when the hood is on, there's nothing to react to

0:30:170:30:20

and therefore you're sort of switched off.

0:30:200:30:23

And so if we can put the hood on and switch the bird off,

0:30:230:30:27

switch the bird on when we want the training,

0:30:270:30:29

and everything about the thing becomes easier.

0:30:290:30:33

With their eyes covered, falcons could be safely transported

0:30:330:30:37

to the hunt on a frame known as a cadge.

0:30:370:30:40

If you just lift up the two bars and stand up.

0:30:400:30:43

The cadge was carried by a boy or young man known as a cadger.

0:30:430:30:47

And how comfortable does that feel?

0:30:470:30:49

I've been more comfortable.

0:30:490:30:51

It's like being surrounded by four Samurai warriors.

0:30:510:30:54

When I start moving, if they go crazy... Yeah, yeah, yeah...

0:30:540:30:57

Obviously, I've got to work in my technique. I'm in attendance.

0:30:570:31:00

I'm just going to level you up a bit.

0:31:000:31:02

I feel like I'm in some kind of finishing school,

0:31:020:31:04

I should have a book on my head. Try and keep it steady as possible.

0:31:040:31:08

Although this was a menial job, it was an important one,

0:31:080:31:12

as the cadger was responsible for valuable cargo.

0:31:120:31:15

The punishment for damaging birds were quite severe, weren't they?

0:31:150:31:18

Well, yes, stealing or damaging. Er, very!

0:31:180:31:22

Chopping off hands and that kind of thing?

0:31:220:31:24

Well, there's even, there's even talk of er, you know, er,

0:31:240:31:27

things like carving meat off your chest

0:31:270:31:30

and feeding it to the bird that got injured or stolen.

0:31:300:31:34

Falcons must get accustomed to being handled by humans,

0:31:340:31:38

and learn to respond to food.

0:31:380:31:41

Then the hood comes off and then he should see the lure and let him go.

0:31:410:31:45

Your job is to shout, 'ho' which will get his attention.

0:31:450:31:49

Ho!

0:31:490:31:51

Young birds are encouraged to fly from one falconer to another,

0:31:510:31:54

lured by a piece of meat. Fantastic.

0:31:540:31:57

Next, they must practice flying free.

0:31:570:32:01

You only get one shot at this, right,

0:32:010:32:03

so it's got to be spot on.

0:32:030:32:05

A lure, meat on the end of a string,

0:32:050:32:08

is thrown up to get the falcon used to catching game.

0:32:080:32:12

When you think that they got the distance right,

0:32:120:32:15

the speed of the bird right,

0:32:150:32:17

and this is all going on inside your head.

0:32:170:32:19

You shout, "Ho", and then you throw it up in the air

0:32:190:32:21

and the bird takes it, like that. What could go wrong?

0:32:210:32:24

As simple as that. As easy as that.

0:32:240:32:27

Hey! Well done!

0:32:320:32:35

Success! That's it. And the hood is off.

0:32:350:32:39

Raise it up. And just let nature take its course.

0:32:390:32:42

This is going to be a real high one.

0:32:440:32:48

Shout, "Ho". Ho. And up now, now.

0:32:480:32:51

Oh, well done! That was precision throwing.

0:32:510:32:55

He takes no prisoners, this bird!

0:32:550:32:59

The game birds caught by falcons

0:33:030:33:05

were taken to the monastery's kitchen

0:33:050:33:07

to be prepared for the table.

0:33:070:33:10

Ruth and Tom are joining kitchen staff

0:33:100:33:12

who, unlike farmers, worked throughout Christmas.

0:33:120:33:18

When you're roasting as well, you want skin to stay whole,

0:33:180:33:21

so when you're plucking you don't want to tear it if you can avoid it.

0:33:210:33:23

Ah! Well. So, it's got to look as nice as it's going to taste?

0:33:230:33:27

It's got to look as nice as it's going to taste.

0:33:270:33:29

This is the expensive meat, the posh meat.

0:33:290:33:32

Rather than chicken, you know you think,

0:33:320:33:34

"It's all this work for these tiny little birds." Yeah.

0:33:340:33:37

But that's the point. People want to show off the whole bird,

0:33:370:33:40

and they want it to turn up on the table in a recognisable form,

0:33:400:33:44

so with the beak and heads. Oh, everything on?

0:33:440:33:47

As much on as possible. So that when it turns up to table...

0:33:470:33:50

Yeah. You know they're going to go, "Oh, yes, well you know, sir,

0:33:500:33:53

"my falcon brought down those wood pop cock!"

0:33:530:33:56

You know that, that's the point. Yeah.

0:33:560:33:58

And it symbolises something that the rest of us can only...

0:33:580:34:02

pluck for somebody else.

0:34:020:34:05

The fifth day of Christmas was also one of the most important,

0:34:110:34:15

the feast of St Thomas Beckett.

0:34:150:34:19

Beckett was the Archbishop of Canterbury

0:34:190:34:21

murdered during Christmas 1170,

0:34:210:34:24

after challenging the King's authority over the Church.

0:34:240:34:28

It was observed with a banquet and a Mass.

0:34:330:34:37

The choir is performing a Christmas antiphon,

0:34:410:34:44

the precursor to a modern hymn.

0:34:440:34:47

Professor James Clark explains its origins.

0:34:490:34:52

This has evolved over centuries of Medieval Christian worship.

0:34:520:34:57

And, in the reign of Henry VII, it's really reaching its high point.

0:34:570:35:02

This was a new style of singing that was being adopted

0:35:070:35:10

in the late 1400s.

0:35:100:35:12

To create that variety of vocal sound,

0:35:120:35:15

they've brought in professional adult singers and the boys.

0:35:150:35:19

And so they can have the richness of the different voice parts

0:35:190:35:23

coming together to create that wonderful, wonderful sound.

0:35:230:35:26

It's a real assault on the senses. You know, you've got the music,

0:35:330:35:36

you got the candles, a building like this. The smell.

0:35:360:35:39

You'd be overawed, wouldn't you? You would.

0:35:390:35:43

In fact we know at this time of year that they spend more on candles.

0:35:430:35:48

In parishes, they would rival each other to have the most

0:35:480:35:51

richly-illuminated church.

0:35:510:35:53

And the monks would hope that everybody witnessing

0:35:550:35:58

this sensory experience would be transported -

0:35:580:36:01

transported towards a sense of the divine and of course

0:36:010:36:05

that's what they're aiming for at this particular time of year.

0:36:050:36:08

Tudor monasteries were hierarchical and strictly organised.

0:36:220:36:27

Right, boys, it's the time of year when we have to choose a boy bishop.

0:36:270:36:30

But at Christmas, for one day only, rules were relaxed

0:36:300:36:33

and roles reversed.

0:36:330:36:36

These are the Boy Bishop Revels

0:36:360:36:39

and the boys who attend the grammar school that the monks have

0:36:390:36:43

set up, they're being allowed to let their hair down,

0:36:430:36:47

after all of their hard work, to subvert authority a little bit.

0:36:470:36:52

So this year's boy bishop is Josh.

0:36:520:36:55

And we'll get you dressed.

0:36:550:36:57

So they elect one of their favourite fellow school boys,

0:36:580:37:04

to become bishop for a few hours.

0:37:040:37:07

Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name.

0:37:070:37:12

It's letting off steam a little bit. It's a little safety valve,

0:37:120:37:15

in a society that's so very rigidly ordered.

0:37:150:37:18

Yes, that's right.

0:37:180:37:19

This is a society that not only has a strong sense of social

0:37:190:37:23

hierarchy but also understands that everybody has their allotted role.

0:37:230:37:27

And for these boys, they've lived under that authority

0:37:280:37:32

throughout the year and now they can turn the tables.

0:37:320:37:36

Role reversal at Christmas happened throughout Tudor society.

0:37:400:37:43

In schools, pupils took over by locking out staff for a day.

0:37:440:37:48

And even the aristocracy got in on the act,

0:37:490:37:53

allowing a peasant to take charge of the celebrations.

0:37:530:37:56

In the kitchens, final preparations are being made

0:38:000:38:03

for the monks' banquet.

0:38:030:38:04

Tom's been given a job at the very

0:38:100:38:12

bottom of the kitchen hierarchy - the spit boy.

0:38:120:38:15

A bit of garnish.

0:38:160:38:18

I'm just staying out the way. Ruth's probably angry with me over here.

0:38:180:38:21

I can't do anything wrong per se. I've got the fire going.

0:38:210:38:24

A spit boy rose at dawn to light the fire,

0:38:240:38:27

working all day in unbearable heat.

0:38:270:38:30

I think we might need to do a bit of a rearrange.

0:38:300:38:33

I've got 14 pigeons and I thought if we just

0:38:330:38:35

sit them in a nice little row...

0:38:350:38:36

This is so typical. I have everything under control -

0:38:360:38:39

nice fire, good food. Then you come along with your 14 pigeons!

0:38:390:38:42

Well, we've got to feed a lot of people!

0:38:420:38:45

So we've got all the pigeons to get through.

0:38:450:38:48

We've got partridge to get through, we've got geese to get through

0:38:480:38:51

and then we got all those ducks as well.

0:38:510:38:53

And there's a couple of pheasants. So you are...

0:38:530:38:55

Those monks are going to eat well, aren't they?

0:38:550:38:58

Yeah, it's Christmas, mate. Yeah.

0:38:580:38:59

In a refectory, the feast is served.

0:39:020:39:04

The centrepiece of the banquet was a magnificent swan pie.

0:39:060:39:10

Once the meat was removed and put in the pie,

0:39:120:39:14

the swan's feathers were stuffed and placed on top.

0:39:140:39:18

Swan was one of the most expensive and luxurious dishes,

0:39:190:39:22

so a show was made of its presentation.

0:39:220:39:24

The food just looks magnificent, doesn't it?

0:39:300:39:33

Those monks do very well.

0:39:330:39:34

Yeah, well, it is Christmas.

0:39:340:39:36

The seventh day of Christmas was New Year's Eve.

0:39:510:39:54

Christmas gave people some rare time for recreation

0:39:560:40:00

and the usual restrictions on the playing of games in public were lifted.

0:40:000:40:04

But there was an expectation that some of that holiday spirit

0:40:050:40:08

would be channelled into something useful, like archery.

0:40:080:40:12

I suppose both Henry VII and Henry VIII put in base legislation

0:40:130:40:16

to protect archery. I suppose it was being threatened by other sports.

0:40:160:40:20

Yeah, I mean, people were starting to spend their Sunday afternoons

0:40:200:40:23

playing things like football.

0:40:230:40:24

And what happened to that?!

0:40:240:40:26

Yeah, quite! So the government is all... The Kings will say,

0:40:260:40:29

"We need you out there practising your archery, chaps." You know?

0:40:290:40:33

Archer, Derek Hutchinson, is teaching the team the basics.

0:40:380:40:41

So at this short range you've got to put the point below the target.

0:40:420:40:46

One smooth motion, get there and just let go.

0:40:460:40:48

Smooth and controlled, go.

0:40:480:40:50

Look at that, woo!

0:40:510:40:53

So this is something that every boy and every man

0:40:550:40:58

up and down the country had to do every Sunday.

0:40:580:41:01

That's it and you wouldn't want to be at that end of it.

0:41:010:41:04

Men aged between 17 and 60 had to practise archery after church.

0:41:040:41:08

The entire British armed forces depended upon men like you.

0:41:080:41:12

And every boy in the land was expected to have a bow and arrows.

0:41:120:41:16

We get you so used to the idea that fighting is done by professional soldiers.

0:41:160:41:20

But it just wasn't. There were no such people at this date.

0:41:200:41:23

It is ordinary farming people who, if the call goes up,

0:41:230:41:27

you're supposed to turn out.

0:41:270:41:30

Archery practice would take place in open spaces where targets

0:41:300:41:33

known as butts were set up.

0:41:330:41:35

Derek has organised a competition for the team.

0:41:370:41:40

Closest arrow to the red flag wins.

0:41:400:41:43

Go, go, go. More, more, more, more, more, more, another inch, go.

0:41:430:41:46

There. Don't panic about it.

0:41:460:41:49

Tudor long bows had a draw weight of up to 170 lbs.

0:41:490:41:53

They're in line with the flag and they're beyond. To the right.

0:41:530:41:57

That's three times that of a modern bow.

0:41:570:41:59

So how far can one of these go then?

0:41:590:42:02

If something like this can get that far then a really good archer...

0:42:020:42:07

John's big one will go about 220 yards. 220 yards!

0:42:070:42:12

And the record for a longbow is over 300, easily.

0:42:120:42:15

That's a long way. That's with a proper heavy arrow.

0:42:150:42:19

It's time to see how the team have fared.

0:42:250:42:28

Oh, look at this one! No! What? No!

0:42:280:42:31

That is...

0:42:330:42:35

two and a bit metres.

0:42:350:42:38

You know the worst thing?

0:42:380:42:39

Everyone will think that we just put that arrow there for the sake of TV.

0:42:390:42:43

Genuinely close as well. You were genuinely close.

0:42:430:42:46

It's just, you two have won.

0:42:460:42:48

The eighth day of Christmas was New Year's Day,

0:42:560:42:58

another opportunity for revelry.

0:42:580:43:00

Unlike today, where seeing in the New Year marks

0:43:030:43:06

the end of the holidays, the Tudors had another four days to go.

0:43:060:43:10

But the biggest party was saved until the very end,

0:43:160:43:19

on the Twelfth Night, the 5th January.

0:43:190:43:22

I've been feeding such large numbers for so many days now.

0:43:220:43:26

This is going to be the final blast of our 12 days of feasting.

0:43:280:43:34

On the Twelfth Night there was music,

0:43:350:43:37

abundant food and alcohol and an especially indulgent treat -

0:43:370:43:42

Twelfth Night cake.

0:43:420:43:44

I'm going to use eggs and butter in large quantities

0:43:440:43:49

and work them in to enrich it.

0:43:490:43:51

Italian panettone is the nearest thing the modern world has.

0:43:550:43:59

And I just keep going.

0:43:590:44:01

Oh! Now I start with the flavours.

0:44:080:44:11

So we're back on the Christmas flavours.

0:44:110:44:13

A handful of raisins.

0:44:160:44:17

We're getting a bit low on raisins.

0:44:200:44:22

So I thought we'd have some nuts in this one as well.

0:44:220:44:25

Plenty of hazelnuts.

0:44:250:44:27

And last little bits of my spice that I've been saving.

0:44:280:44:32

There's one more addition to the cake, a precursor to the sixpence

0:44:320:44:36

that Victorians put in their Christmas puddings.

0:44:360:44:40

One tiny little lonely dried pea.

0:44:400:44:43

So the little pea goes in the middle there

0:44:430:44:45

and whoever finds that pea will be our Lord of Misrule for the night.

0:44:450:44:49

The Lord of Misrule would lead the celebrations.

0:44:510:44:54

Like the boy bishop, he represented role reversal

0:44:540:44:58

and subverting normal social order.

0:44:580:45:00

For a few hours a peasant would have permission

0:45:000:45:03

to order his master about.

0:45:030:45:05

The Lord of Misrule would dress as a king

0:45:070:45:09

and Peter's putting together a costume for the occasion.

0:45:090:45:12

First he's making a crown out of felt,

0:45:130:45:16

a fabric produced by matting wool fibres together.

0:45:160:45:18

Felt is such an amazing material. It's perhaps one of the oldest

0:45:190:45:23

fabrics known to man and that is essentially

0:45:230:45:27

my inspiration for making a crown for the Lord of Misrule.

0:45:270:45:30

Layers of sheep's fleece are laid down with their fibres

0:45:320:45:35

at opposing angles.

0:45:350:45:37

Got some red dye in there.

0:45:370:45:39

A bit of green, a bit of red, are very Christmassy colours,

0:45:400:45:44

the holly, the ivy.

0:45:440:45:45

And wisp this over the top. Like a woollen mist,

0:45:500:45:54

through which our Christmas colours will glow.

0:45:540:45:57

Boiling water and soap are poured onto the wool,

0:45:580:46:02

then Peter agitates it.

0:46:020:46:03

Oh! Hot potato.

0:46:050:46:07

Oh! Jeez, that's hot. Ah!

0:46:080:46:10

There's got to be an easier way to do this.

0:46:120:46:14

Necessity is the mother of invention, as they say.

0:46:160:46:18

This agitation interconnects the fibres into a solid mass.

0:46:200:46:24

The scales are opening up. They're locking together.

0:46:240:46:27

They're closing again so it's virtually impossible to unfelt felt.

0:46:270:46:31

Right, so I think this is ready for the next stage of agitation.

0:46:370:46:41

Just want to just keep working those fibres.

0:46:460:46:48

This is going to be very,

0:46:500:46:51

very similar to I suppose a party hat you might get in a cracker.

0:46:510:46:54

Perfect accoutrement to the Lord of Misrule.

0:46:560:46:59

And there we have it.

0:47:060:47:08

When I sew this up,

0:47:080:47:10

hopefully we have a crown fit for a Lord of Misrule.

0:47:100:47:14

Right, chaos!

0:47:140:47:16

No-one else here. Hm, right.

0:47:170:47:19

Tom's visiting Sean Jones,

0:47:290:47:31

to get some instruments to play at the revels.

0:47:310:47:34

In an age without recorded music,

0:47:340:47:36

singing, dancing and playing instruments were essential

0:47:360:47:40

ingredients of a Tudor Christmas party.

0:47:400:47:42

Reed pipes are what everybody played, through history,

0:47:440:47:47

made out of the stems of plants. This is teasel.

0:47:470:47:49

So all you really need is a knife. Absolutely.

0:47:490:47:51

And you have to make your own musical instrument.

0:47:510:47:54

To move from this to a fancier instrument,

0:47:540:47:56

we're going to make it out of wood. It's going to last...

0:47:560:47:59

Based on the same principle as the teasel pipe,

0:47:590:48:01

Sean's making Tudor bagpipes.

0:48:010:48:03

First, wooden poles are hollowed out to make the pipes.

0:48:030:48:07

Though Scottish bagpipes are the most well-known today,

0:48:090:48:12

they were once just as popular in England

0:48:120:48:15

and have been played throughout Europe since the 15th century.

0:48:150:48:20

Start to pare down the outside.

0:48:200:48:22

That is amazingly quick.

0:48:220:48:24

I imagine it's one of those jobs you could actually end up taking

0:48:240:48:27

too much and you're just trying to perfect.

0:48:270:48:29

It's... There's no way back.

0:48:290:48:31

You have to think about the shape of the thing that you're making

0:48:310:48:34

and not get distracted really from that.

0:48:340:48:36

So what are you doing now?

0:48:390:48:41

This is the final polish.

0:48:410:48:43

What's this material you're using? Is that sandpaper?

0:48:430:48:46

It's... Well, it doesn't exist yet. Oh! It's a piece of dogfish skin.

0:48:460:48:49

Dogfish? Yeah. The scales are very sharp.

0:48:490:48:51

They only run one way, so you have to hold it the right way round.

0:48:510:48:54

But it cuts nicely.

0:48:540:48:56

The drone pipes are made in two sections that must be joined together.

0:48:560:49:00

Yeah. Well, these form parts of the drone which goes over

0:49:000:49:03

the shoulder and they need to be adjustable

0:49:030:49:06

because the length of the drone fixes the pitch it plays at.

0:49:060:49:10

I want to tune it to the chanter.

0:49:100:49:12

So I need to make an airtight join between these two and let them

0:49:120:49:15

still slide. And the way I'm going to do that... Thank you.

0:49:150:49:18

..is with the thread, with lapping. You just wrap it round.

0:49:180:49:21

Yes, lap it on and make a nice tight,

0:49:210:49:24

airtight joint between the two which is adjustable.

0:49:240:49:28

We've done all the woodwork for our bagpipes now,

0:49:290:49:31

and we're going to do the bag. How you doing that?

0:49:310:49:34

I've got an awl to make the hole with

0:49:340:49:36

and then I'm sewing with hogs bristles on the end of the thread.

0:49:360:49:40

So... It's very flexible... ..flexible but quite strong.

0:49:400:49:42

Yeah, it means you can actually sew round corners.

0:49:420:49:45

The difficult part is actually attaching them to the thread.

0:49:450:49:48

But once they're on, they make a flexible needle that'll go

0:49:480:49:51

through a hole as small as a thread.

0:49:510:49:53

It's thought that the bags evolved from leather water carriers

0:49:530:49:56

used by shepherds.

0:49:560:49:57

Connecting them to teasel pipes produced the first bagpipes.

0:49:570:50:01

So what does the reed do?

0:50:010:50:03

Well, the reed actually makes the noise.

0:50:030:50:05

The chanter at the end of the day is a stick with holes in

0:50:050:50:08

and a bore down the middle. The reed.

0:50:080:50:11

There's two blades that beat together, erm,

0:50:110:50:14

let the air through, opening and closing all the time.

0:50:140:50:18

And when we put it in the bore, the pitch of the reed drops

0:50:180:50:21

and it makes the instrument resonate.

0:50:210:50:24

So it's a bit deeper this, isn't it?

0:50:270:50:29

It is. It's lower pitch and obviously the pitch of the note depends on the length of the tube.

0:50:290:50:34

So all the pieces are now made. We just got to put it together.

0:50:340:50:37

Yeah.

0:50:370:50:39

Brilliant.

0:50:570:50:59

As the Twelfth Night approached, as well as preparing for a final

0:51:030:51:06

feast, farmers also got ready for the return to work.

0:51:060:51:10

To ensure a bountiful harvest, farmers asked the monastery

0:51:160:51:19

to bless a relic of a saint, and parade it across their land.

0:51:190:51:23

Professor James Clark has come to explain the ritual.

0:51:280:51:32

So what would we as tenants be hoping this would achieve for us?

0:51:320:51:37

You would hope that because of the presence of the relic,

0:51:370:51:41

there would be a charge of the spiritual power.

0:51:410:51:45

That would ensure a good farming year,

0:51:470:51:51

the right climate for crops to grow and for the livestock to thrive.

0:51:510:51:56

You bring the relic and crops grow. It's almost like a magic amulet.

0:51:570:52:01

Yes, that's right, that there is a sense in which this again is

0:52:010:52:05

a tangible link to something that is very intangible,

0:52:050:52:09

something that is charged with a kind of supernatural air,

0:52:090:52:13

and there would be hope amongst the onlookers that something

0:52:130:52:17

supernatural would happen here.

0:52:170:52:18

The Twelfth Night was the culmination of the Tudor Christmas.

0:52:240:52:27

In the farmhouse the celebrations are under way.

0:52:320:52:35

Twelfth Night cake, everyone.

0:52:380:52:40

Who's lucky night is it going to be?

0:52:400:52:43

With abundant food and drink consumed,

0:52:460:52:48

it's time to select the Lord of Misrule for the evening.

0:52:480:52:52

Who's got the pea? Who's got the pea? Who...

0:52:520:52:55

I have made a crown.

0:53:000:53:02

And we have our Lord of Misrule.

0:53:090:53:12

Yeah!

0:53:120:53:13

For most of the year you must toil. Tonight you may make festivity.

0:53:150:53:20

Yeah!

0:53:200:53:23

I proclaim misrule.

0:53:250:53:27

It's an idea that has come from ancient Rome

0:53:360:53:38

where at Saturnalia, the feast of midwinter, a slave used to be

0:53:380:53:42

put in charge of noble households in order to turn the world

0:53:420:53:46

topsy-turvy and devise party games and entertainments for midwinter.

0:53:460:53:52

The Lord of Misrule has called for a game to be played.

0:53:520:53:56

The egg game was a Tudor favourite.

0:54:020:54:04

An egg was tossed back and forth as the players moved further apart.

0:54:040:54:08

The first to drop it lost.

0:54:080:54:09

Oh, Peter lost! Peter lost! I win, I win, I win!

0:54:150:54:19

Another popular game was snapdragon.

0:54:230:54:25

It's fallen over.

0:54:250:54:27

Raisins soaked in brandy were set alight.

0:54:270:54:30

Just one Peter, just one. Ow!

0:54:300:54:32

The person who dared to retrieve the most raisins was the winner.

0:54:320:54:36

Next, the revellers would head out carol singing,

0:54:500:54:53

known as wassailing, accompanied by the bagpipes.

0:54:530:54:56

They're singing a Tudor carol, The Boars Head,

0:55:020:55:05

describing the traditional sacrifice of a boar at Christmas.

0:55:050:55:08

Carols are something that first comes to the fore in the 14th

0:55:100:55:13

and 15th century and their heyday is just about now.

0:55:130:55:16

They'd started way back in the 12th, 13th century as a sort of sun dance.

0:55:180:55:22

You sang to provide your own music as you danced in a circle.

0:55:220:55:26

That's what a carol was.

0:55:260:55:27

But by 1500, the dance and the song had become separate

0:55:270:55:31

and there was this whole new crop of Christmas-orientated carols.

0:55:310:55:35

ALL: Wassail!

0:55:420:55:44

We Wish You a Merry Christmas, Ding Dong Merrily on High,

0:55:450:55:48

In Dulce Jubilo and the Coventry Carol all have their roots

0:55:480:55:52

in this period.

0:55:520:55:53

Wassailers moved from house to house receiving food

0:55:570:56:01

and drink in exchange for good will.

0:56:010:56:03

I'll tell you what, those bagpipes sound fantastic.

0:56:060:56:09

Yeah, I know. They are absolutely perfect

0:56:090:56:11

although I can't hear them over your triangle!

0:56:110:56:14

I know, I'm not sure that's music.

0:56:140:56:16

Shh, shh, shh.

0:56:230:56:25

While the carol singers process round the village,

0:56:470:56:49

Tom and Peter have some important business to attend to.

0:56:490:56:53

Even though it's Christmas, you've got to think about the smallest

0:56:540:56:57

members of the farm.

0:56:570:56:59

No exactly, we've got to go and check on our piglets,

0:56:590:57:02

they're going to be our sustenance, they're going to be our money.

0:57:020:57:04

Dude, it's Christmas!

0:57:040:57:06

Give them a break from the butcher's knife.

0:57:060:57:08

Look at that. All snuggled together with their mums.

0:57:170:57:20

We're happy. They're happy. I feel quite content.

0:57:210:57:24

Merry Christmas, little pigs. We'll see you in the morning.

0:57:260:57:30

May you live as long as you want to and want to as long as you live.

0:57:470:57:50

ALL: Hooray!

0:57:500:57:52

The Tudor farmer would make the most of this last night of revelry...

0:57:580:58:02

..as the next day it was back to work.

0:58:040:58:06

The first Monday after Christmas was Plough Monday

0:58:080:58:11

and the farming year would begin all over again.

0:58:110:58:13

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