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00:00We've all seen the pictures and read the stories in the history books about the kings and queens with their power and privilege and silks and furs.
00:12But in this series, I want to discover the other side of history. I'm already quite nervous.
00:18The side we don't often hear about. How ordinary British people lived their lives.
00:24From the Tudors, you'll see why it did attract my attention.
00:31Disgusting.
00:32To the Victorians.
00:34Throw a stone in Victorian London, you'll hit a drunken cabman. There's that many of them.
00:38We are not amused.
00:41From the Georgians.
00:43You take a saw.
00:44Oh my God.
00:44It's horrible just seeing you do that.
00:48To the people who really fought the Second World War.
00:51James could hear the ping of bullets and the platter of shrapnel.
00:58One thing's for sure, these people knew the meaning of the word tough.
01:03I'll be finding the truth about their daily lives.
01:07What they ate.
01:08How long would that have lasted?
01:10Up to three years.
01:13How they made a living.
01:15There's even value in a rat, but it's dead.
01:18And those vital necessities of life.
01:20What did you do if you wanted to pee?
01:22Go in the bucket.
01:23The bucket.
01:24This is British history from the bottom up.
01:28You've got to admit, I am terrifying.
01:30This time, I'm going back 500 years to England in the reign of Henry VIII.
01:43A time of sex scandals, executions, and cod pieces.
01:49Here I say.
01:51The history books are full of his antics, but what about the people who really made the country tick?
01:57They may not have been well-dressed or had any money, but their lives are full of surprises, love, and courage.
02:10During Henry's reign, living in towns was going out of fashion.
02:14And it's not at all hard to see why.
02:17The streets were paved with evil-smelling mud, and inside, floors became layered with spittle, vomit, urine, and bits of fish.
02:27But even for the Tudors, there was someone you really didn't want to live next to.
02:33A knacker.
02:35No giggling, please, because a knacker was a very important person in Tudor society.
02:41He was the bloke who went round collecting dead animals, then taking them home, skinning them, chopping them up, and making money out of them in whatever way he could.
02:52Now, there aren't any specific names of actual Tudor knackers in the records.
02:58We're going to call our one Thomas Grimes.
03:01Here's Tom, skinning a carcass to make saddles.
03:06His whole house would have been full of little bits of bleeding animal, and it would have permeated such a stink that it would have been foul even by Tudor standards.
03:18Nevertheless, he would have had a way of making a steady income.
03:23Enough for clothes and food, and maybe even a long-suffering wife.
03:27This is how Tom's day would go.
03:40He'd leave home about 6am, like most Tudor men, pick up his cart, head off out of town towards the local farms.
03:49The big money-makers for Tom were dead or dying cattle.
03:56And horses.
03:58Hmm, this one's got potential.
04:01Poor old thing.
04:05Even in town there could be opportunities.
04:08You'd find dogs, cats, even the occasional horse.
04:13Hang on, what have we got down here?
04:16Look at this.
04:20A rat.
04:21There's even value in a rat when it's dead.
04:29Back at base, Tom would skin carcasses for leather, boil them to get the fat out for candles, extract gelatin for glue, and grind up the bones to make fertiliser.
04:40And after years hacking about with all this flesh, he became pretty good at it, and wasn't bothered by the smell and sight of blood.
04:50And these skills were about to open new horizons for Tom, all thanks to his king.
04:57Because Henry was making a lot of enemies.
05:01And Tom was just the sort of chap he needed as an executioner.
05:07Whenever the paranoid monarch Henry VIII threw all his toys out of his cot and demanded the head of some hapless noble, it could mean a very big payday involving one of these.
05:24Although the reality is, wasn't it, John, that most criminals were hung rather than having their heads chopped up.
05:30That's true. Hanging was for the ordinary people.
05:34It was only people of royal or noble blood who were actually decapitated.
05:38I mean, decapitation was a whole different business.
05:41John White is a historian of crime and punishment, and he's studied Tudor executions.
05:47So how does Tom, my knacker, come into it?
05:50Well, you see, the axe was often a messy business, so in order to perfect the process, you needed to have somebody who, day by day, was proficient in chopping flesh with an axe and wasn't bothered by a bit of blood and gore.
06:01I can see that, at least when Tom started to be an executioner, he might feel pretty shaky about doing this job, particularly if it was someone who was high nobility.
06:15Well, on the basis that decapitation is for people who are noble and royal, you could be intimidated by the sheer process.
06:21Because there you are in front of an enormous crowd, booing and jeering.
06:25They like a good death.
06:27Yeah.
06:28It could be a great lord and somebody that, you know, literally frightens you, and you're now going to have to publicly kill them.
06:34Would he get decent money for this job?
06:36Well, he'd get paid more than being a knacker, because as an executioner, there are benefits.
06:40The clothes that the condemned wore, they would become his, but it was also the custom that the condemned would pay, almost like a tip, to do me a good job.
06:48What would the relationship have been like between Tom and his audience?
06:53Well, they would cheer him if he did a good execution.
06:57They would boo him if he conducted a poor execution.
07:01And would he have been patted on the back in the street afterwards?
07:03Oh, no, no, no, no, no.
07:05You see, as a knacker, he'd be the lowest of the low.
07:08As an executioner, he'd be even lower than that.
07:11Everybody knows who he was.
07:13He'd be jeered.
07:15He was a social pariah.
07:16So they were almost the underclass, the untouchables.
07:20Tom's tale is a really miserable one.
07:24Scavenging to earn a living.
07:26A rat.
07:28Being looked down on.
07:30And then the only way of making more money is to become a figure of hate.
07:35Despite all this, we know that many executioners were proud of the contribution that they made towards Tudor society and that, by and large, ordinary people believed that the death penalty was the bedrock of their system of justice.
07:52But coming up, a punishment even worse than decapitation, death by boiling, and the latest thing to wear in the fields.
08:06I didn't realise that ordinary people had codpieces.
08:09During the reign of Henry VIII, one bad harvest could spell ruin, even death.
08:24Everyone was constantly famished.
08:26So, imagine that you're an ordinary poor Tudor person, constantly obsessed by where the next meal is coming from, and suddenly you're given the opportunity of a new life, where every day you're faced with a banquet.
08:43I'm talking about a career in the culinary profession.
08:48Not only was it a proper paid job, but you'd be fed and surrounded by a bounty of delicious food, which often needed testing.
08:58Yes, but be careful what you wish for, because this tale has a bitter ending.
09:04Richard Roos began working in a kitchen in the early 1500s, around the time young Henry VIII was getting to know the ropes as king.
09:15Richard was probably too poor to attend school, so at age seven, when a kitchen boy was wanted at his Lord's Manor house, he jumped at it.
09:24Before sun-up, on his first day, he was sent off by his mum to walk several miles across the fields to his new life.
09:34It was a chance that offered Richard career development, and who knows, maybe even the opportunity to meet the rich and famous.
09:46If he was lucky, little Richard got to stay in the big house with the other staff, with a proper bed and windows with glass in.
09:57But he probably only saw his mum once a week on his day off.
10:00Mark Meltonville is a Tudor cooking expert.
10:08So he's just started here.
10:10What kind of jobs would he have been doing?
10:12Well, if he is a boy of the kitchen, then it's right down the bottom to start with.
10:16There's going to be a lot of sweeping that and go and get me some wood, chopping wood.
10:19So he's going to do a lot of really menial stuff.
10:22Pot washing, not very nice, I'm afraid, cleaning all those cauldrons.
10:25How do you clean them? Because they didn't have squeegee soap bottles.
10:29No, no squeegee, but they have plenty of soap.
10:32It's very easy to make. It was made commercially.
10:34And even if you want to just make some yourself in the kitchen, you take a pan full of fats and bacon fat and put a little bit of ash in it.
10:41Richard would have been expected to use the soap to wash his hands before the day's work began.
10:48To clean his teeth, he'd have used candle soot, chalk or salt.
10:53What kind of hours would he have been working?
10:55Probably starting quite early in the morning.
10:57So they're going to be down here between 5 and 6, getting everything ready.
11:00Because the meal of the day is going to be sent over to the house by half past 10, 11, but there's only two cooked meals a day.
11:07The last one's out by 3.30, so after that, it's clear up, set it all down, and once he gets a bit older, a pot of beer.
11:13That's really quite pleasant, isn't it?
11:18I'm beginning to warm to the idea of being a Tudor cook.
11:22And we haven't even got to the food yet.
11:24He's going to be working with so much more fresh meat than anybody outside in a farm's getting.
11:30It's going to be fresh meat almost every day, so it's just going to wow him.
11:34Perhaps it was access to all that rich food, but Richard grew a little curvy.
11:39And must have made a name for himself, because he was soon headhunted to be cook for the Bishop of Rochester.
11:49This should have been a major opportunity for Richard.
11:52But the country was in the middle of a major political crisis, and Richard soon found himself in hot water.
12:00Quite literally.
12:03In 1527, Henry VIII asked the Pope if he could divorce his queen, Catherine.
12:09She was knocking on a bit, hadn't given him a son, and besides, Henry had met someone new.
12:16Gorgeous Anne Boleyn, who, as Henry noted, had a nice pair of pretty duckies.
12:21But some people in England failed to support Henry, including, yes, the Bishop of Rochester.
12:30The Bishop's opposition to Henry's divorce was about to have a devastating impact on his cook.
12:36It all started on February the 18th, 1531, when the Bishop held a banquet.
12:43And he wasn't feeling great that evening, so he didn't eat anything, but his guests scoffed away.
12:48And by morning, 17 of them were ill, and two had died.
12:55Immediately, rumours abounded.
12:58Everybody thought it was poison, and the finger was pointed at the cook that night, who was Richard Roos.
13:05They said that he had deliberately attempted to murder the Bishop on the instructions of a vengeful Anne Boleyn.
13:14More likely, it was just a bad case of food poisoning.
13:20But Henry was hopping mad that the name of his sweet Anne had been dragged through the mud.
13:27So he sent Richard to the tower to be tortured, until, guess what?
13:31He confessed to it all being his fault.
13:34It sounds like things were pretty grim for Richard, but they were about to get a whole lot grimmer.
13:40Henry passed the law, especially for Richard, permitting a new form of execution.
13:47Death by boiling.
13:50But it wouldn't be a simple matter of 12 minutes in the pan and you're done.
13:54No, it's recorded that Richard was locked in a chain and pulled up and down with a gibbet at diverse times, till he was dead.
14:07And that took two long hours.
14:10Documents from the time record how Henry VIII joked to his courtiers,
14:15I've cooked the cook.
14:19It was a world away from what kitchen boy Richard had imagined all those years ago.
14:24When all he had to worry about was the washing out.
14:31So a top tip for survival in Henry's England would be,
14:35Don't ruffle the king's ruff.
14:40Which you'd think would be easy,
14:43given that most people lived in the countryside, in simple houses,
14:47with thatched roofs and walls made of sticks and dung,
14:51minding their own business.
14:54This is what life was like for the vast majority of people in Tudor England,
14:59a world away from the sex scandals and skullduggery and fabulous costumes
15:05that you saw in the court of King Henry VIII.
15:09Take, for example, a Yorkshire farmer, Richard Jenkinson, and his wife,
15:14whose name isn't recorded, so let's call her Anne.
15:18This might be the couple out in the field at harvest time.
15:22Richard must be as worn out as his trousers.
15:26Like 90% of the Tudors,
15:29Richard's family spent most of their time in the great outdoors,
15:33teasing a living from the soil.
15:35And it was long, long hours.
15:38They could start from as early as 5 o'clock in the morning
15:41and not finish till they lost the light,
15:43which in the summer months might be 10 o'clock.
15:46In contrast to their king, who pigged out on banquets every day,
15:50there were just two simple meals.
15:53Something to munch in the fields, perhaps bread and cheese,
15:56and at the end of the day, one hot meal to look forward to.
16:00This is the kind of thing that Anne would have prepared for their tea.
16:05This is pottage made out of turnips and beans,
16:08thickened with a few breadcrumbs,
16:10and maybe just a sprinkle of local herbs.
16:14On special occasions, they might even eat a chicken.
16:19At night, totally exhausted from the labours of the day,
16:23Richard and Anne would fall asleep on their crude mattress
16:26made of straw, with the kids just a few yards from them.
16:31With five or six, it would be a squeeze.
16:33Get up! It's over!
16:35And if they had any precious animals, like a prized pig,
16:38that could sleep in the room too.
16:41You couldn't afford to let it slope off,
16:44and pigs are notoriously difficult to house train,
16:48so as you can imagine, the room would have stunk like crazy.
16:51But more important, if you spent a lot of time
16:54in the proximity of farm animals,
16:57you ran the risk of contracting killer diseases.
17:01It's no wonder that the average life expectancy was just 35 years.
17:06There was no NHS, and Tudor medicine was rubbish.
17:11Problem with gout?
17:12Apply worms, pig's marrow and herbs,
17:15boiled with a red-haired dog.
17:17Bit deaf?
17:18Stick a hare's gallbladder and some fox grease in your ear.
17:23With a fire in the middle of the room and no chimney,
17:27the place would have been full of smoke,
17:28so the children might well have had respiratory infections.
17:32But people and animals would be snugged together,
17:35and hopefully the thatch wouldn't catch fire.
17:43If they were lucky, the next day would be a Sunday
17:46and their only day off.
17:48But there was no let-up for Anne,
17:50because she'd also have to make everybody's clothes.
17:56Starting with a bit of fleece straight off a sheep's back.
18:00Marion Knights, a Tudor technology expert, knows Anne's secret.
18:04How do we get it from that
18:06into some kind of yarn that we can make something out of?
18:09Well, that's where this comes in.
18:12Ah, the spindle.
18:13This is the dropped spindle.
18:15How does it work?
18:16Well, basically, you just spin it.
18:20So this twiddles round,
18:22and I can feel when there's enough twist,
18:24because it nips my finger up here.
18:26Then you can start pulling this out a bit more.
18:29It is very slow, isn't it?
18:31It's very labour-intensive and slow, yes.
18:33How often would people have been doing this?
18:35Every time she'd got an empty pair of hands,
18:37she would have got the spindle out.
18:40You know, waiting for the pot to boil,
18:42waiting for the baby to wake up,
18:44standing at the well, waiting her turn.
18:47This was the only way she could clothe her family.
18:51Anne would also have done her own weaving.
18:54So what sort of outfit would she have made
18:57for her husband, Richard?
18:59I'm meeting clothing expert, Nina McKayla.
19:02The thing that sticks out for me more than anything else
19:05is how robust all this is.
19:07I would have thought that he would have been in rags.
19:09Well, no, I don't suppose he'd last very long
19:11in the fields in rags.
19:12It is very robust.
19:13He's got a warm woolen layer on the top,
19:15and in fact, the whole thing is lined
19:16in another layer of wool.
19:18Yeah, you'd be all right in the fields in this.
19:20And what's all this under here?
19:22Well, yeah, that's a bit startling, isn't it?
19:23He's got red.
19:24Wow.
19:25Wasn't expecting that.
19:27There was a very strong belief in this period
19:29that red was a colour that kept you healthy,
19:32and it was a good colour to wear near to your skin.
19:34And then you've got this shirt underneath that.
19:36Yeah, so everyone, man, woman and child,
19:39always has a linen layer next to their skin,
19:41and that's the bit you can wash,
19:43which none of these you could be washed in water.
19:45Big question.
19:47Vest and pants?
19:48No pants, I'm afraid.
19:49Most men used their shirt,
19:51which was long and split at the sides,
19:53so you could tuck the front this way
19:55and the back that way,
19:56and that was basically your pants.
19:57You'd be nice and warm.
19:58Yeah.
19:59What about the women?
20:00Well, women, absolutely no pants.
20:02Long skirts, don't need them.
20:03All the time that we've been talking,
20:05there's been one item of clothing
20:07that's been catching my eye.
20:09Here.
20:11Excuse me about this.
20:12You'll see why it did attract my attention.
20:15I don't know what you're talking about.
20:18Are you sure?
20:19I didn't realise that ordinary people had codpieces.
20:23Yeah, by this day,
20:24it was just completely standard wear on men's hose.
20:27So that they were taking in the fashion of the richer people
20:30and incorporating it into their own clothes?
20:32Exactly.
20:33I mean, it does seem like a weird fashion,
20:34but in the 15th century, the codpiece didn't exist.
20:37It starts as just a simple flat flap
20:40that's used to cover the fly,
20:41and then human, maybe male nature comes in,
20:45and it becomes a bit more exaggerated
20:46and a bit more padded and embellished
20:48until it is, by this date, just standard,
20:50almost like the one the king's wearing.
20:53But King Henry's influence on Richard and Anne
20:56was about to extend even beyond codpieces.
20:59It was the summer of 1513,
21:02just four years into the reign of young King Henry.
21:11One morning, Richard got up, as usual,
21:14went down to the river
21:16to fetch a bucket of water,
21:18probably had a quick pee in the hedge on the way,
21:21when suddenly he was stopped
21:23by one of his landowner's servants
21:25who gave him a message,
21:27or more likely an order.
21:29The lives of Richard and his family
21:31were about to be turned upside down
21:33by the activities of his firebrand king,
21:37Henry VIII.
21:38Richard was being called up for military service.
21:44Coming up,
21:45Richard is sent to fight for Henry VIII
21:47with nothing more than a hedge trimmer,
21:51and can this brave seaman
21:53stop the Mary Rose from sinking?
21:55During the reign of Henry VIII,
22:05an Englishman could be called up at any time
22:08to serve his king in battle.
22:10And in 1513,
22:12that's exactly what happened
22:13to a Yorkshire farmer
22:14called Richard Jenkinson.
22:18The young Henry VIII
22:20looked like this,
22:21and he dreamt of being
22:23a great warrior king
22:25and ruling both Scotland and France.
22:28So, aged 22,
22:29he took his toughest troops
22:31and invaded France.
22:33James IV of Scotland
22:35couldn't believe his luck.
22:37With Henry gone,
22:38England could be his.
22:40So it fell to Henry's queen, Catherine,
22:43to recruit an army for him.
22:4625,000 soldiers,
22:48including Richard.
22:51Poor farmers like him
22:53had to provide their own weapons.
22:55Luckily, Richard had just the thing.
23:01Because in Tudor times,
23:03there were sheep everywhere.
23:06Hello.
23:08Bear with me here.
23:09You see,
23:10in order to stop them
23:11wandering all over the fields
23:13and eating the turnips,
23:15these things began to appear
23:17throughout the Tudor landscape,
23:19hedgerows,
23:20and to trim those
23:21you needed
23:22one of these things,
23:24a billhook,
23:24which was a simple
23:25slashing,
23:27scything tool,
23:28which you just
23:29made the
23:30hedges tidy with.
23:34With a few modifications,
23:36Richard's hedge trimmer
23:38was fashioned into a lethal weapon.
23:46His local blacksmith
23:47simply tweaked
23:49the billhook design
23:50with a series
23:52of nasty twists and turns.
23:59Now,
24:00Richard was ready
24:01to take on
24:04the Scots.
24:09To find out how,
24:11I'm visiting
24:11the Royal Armouries
24:13in Leeds
24:13and meeting
24:14curator Andy Dean.
24:17Richard wouldn't have been able
24:19to escape
24:19from going into the army,
24:21would he?
24:21No, I mean,
24:21it's part of that
24:22feudal system.
24:23So they knew that
24:24if the call came,
24:25there was no getting out of it
24:26and possibly
24:27your wives and your children
24:28would come along with you.
24:30Oh, really?
24:30Why would they do that?
24:31Well, it's part of the baggage train
24:32and women had a vital role
24:34before the battle
24:34and after the battle.
24:35I mean, obviously,
24:36picking up the bits.
24:37But, of course,
24:38you're more likely to fight
24:40if you feel comfortable.
24:41You have your loved ones
24:42around you
24:43and, of course,
24:44you don't sort of
24:44just go somewhere,
24:45fight and come home again.
24:46You might be away
24:47for 40 days
24:48and so having family
24:50around you,
24:51then maybe there's
24:51a greater reason
24:52for the ordinary man
24:54to fight harder.
24:55Yeah.
24:56To get to the battle,
24:58Richard, Anne
24:59and the kids
24:59had to walk
25:00about 150 miles
25:02sleeping in the fields
25:03each night.
25:05They couldn't carry much food
25:07so the army often looted
25:08from villages
25:09along the way.
25:11Of course,
25:12going to war
25:12would have been terrible
25:13but it would have been
25:14a bit of an adventure too.
25:16Remember,
25:16Richard had probably
25:17only ever been
25:17about 10 miles
25:18from his home before
25:20and suddenly off he goes
25:21and he can bring
25:22his wife and kids.
25:24It would have been
25:25like some sort of
25:25weird summer holiday
25:27except he might have
25:28got killed.
25:30Richard would have
25:31to summon up
25:32the courage
25:33to confront
25:35one of these guys.
25:41So noisy
25:42and heavy.
25:46I'd have wet myself.
25:47What am I going to do
25:53against this guy?
25:54I don't think
25:55this is going to be
25:55much use.
25:56No, he's almost
25:57impervious
25:57but if you came
25:59across this guy
25:59actually you
26:01and your mates
26:01have got the perfect
26:02weapon.
26:03You can see
26:03where the gaps are.
26:04Where would you
26:04thrust this spike?
26:05Blank.
26:06Exactly.
26:06So it's gone through
26:07his eye socket
26:07into his brain.
26:09Now, it's called
26:09a billet hook
26:10for a reason.
26:11What would you do
26:11with the hook here?
26:12No idea.
26:13Alright, well
26:14I would wrap this
26:15around the back
26:16of his neck
26:16haul him to the ground.
26:18Richard would need
26:19nerves of steel
26:20but he did also
26:22have some protection.
26:23This would be
26:24the most basic
26:25jack of plates.
26:27The plates
26:28inside the
26:29linen garment
26:30could be made
26:31out of horn
26:32This is really heavy
26:33actually.
26:34Well, it needs
26:34to be heavy
26:35but not so heavy
26:35it limits you
26:36and it's protecting
26:38obviously your engine
26:39heart, lungs
26:40so your engine
26:41is protected
26:42but your computer
26:43is not
26:43so we need
26:43something for
26:44the top end
26:45of you as well.
26:45Alright, let's have a
26:46computer cover.
26:47Yep.
26:48And there would be
26:49an armoury
26:49and there would be
26:5050, 100 of these
26:52and you'd get one
26:53of these
26:53and you'd pad it
26:54to make it your own
26:55on it goes.
26:56You've got your
26:57billet hook
26:57you've got your
26:58jack of plates
26:59and now
26:59with 20 other blokes
27:01all lined up
27:02who are motivated
27:03you've suddenly
27:04become a very
27:05important part
27:06of the army.
27:07You've got to admit
27:07I am terrifying.
27:10When they finally
27:12arrived to fight
27:13the Battle of Flodden
27:14the English army
27:15faced stiff odds
27:17attacking uphill
27:18against greater numbers
27:20and the Scots
27:21had bigger cannons.
27:23If the Scots
27:24won and captured
27:25a chunk of England
27:26it could have been
27:27the end of Henry VIII.
27:29Richard watched
27:31in awe
27:31as he waited
27:32for his turn.
27:33On one side
27:34you'd got the Scots
27:36with their long pikes
27:37which were brilliant
27:38against knights
27:40in armour
27:40on horseback
27:41but weren't nearly
27:42as good
27:42when it came
27:43to close fighting.
27:45And they were up
27:46against Richard
27:47and the other
27:47Tudor farmer soldiers
27:49armed with equipment
27:50better suited
27:51to hand-to-hand combat.
27:54Bill hooks
27:54which were
27:55stabbing
27:56and scything
27:56weapons.
27:58Richard and his comrades
27:59began to push
28:00the Scots back.
28:01Finally
28:01in one last
28:02desperate move
28:03the Scottish king
28:05charged down
28:06right into the heart
28:07of the English ranks
28:09but the infantry
28:10held firm
28:12they pulled him
28:13off his horse
28:14and slaughtered him.
28:17King James IV
28:18of Scotland
28:18killed by
28:19common farmers
28:20with bill hooks.
28:25The English army
28:26had won a famous
28:28victory
28:28and Richard
28:29could now
28:30return home.
28:31With his adapted
28:32hedge trimmer
28:33our simple farmer
28:35had helped
28:35save Henry VIII
28:37from a humiliating
28:38defeat
28:39one that could have
28:40ended
28:40his entire reign.
28:44Phew!
28:49And with all that
28:50blood, sweat and toil
28:51the Tudors
28:52needed to let
28:53their hair down.
28:56And fun
28:57for our Tudor
28:58ancestors
28:58was pretty much
28:59the same
29:00as it is
29:00today for us.
29:02Festivals
29:02Is this the way
29:03to Glastonbury?
29:04Football
29:04Or medicine
29:06And most important
29:07of all
29:08a glass of ale
29:09down the pub.
29:11And if you lived
29:12in Leatherhead, Surrey
29:13this could have
29:14been your local.
29:16500 years ago
29:17presiding over
29:19everything
29:19from the brewing
29:20of the beer
29:21through to
29:22the ladling
29:22out to the guests
29:24was a woman
29:25Eleanor
29:26rumming.
29:28Can I have a pint
29:28please?
29:32This is Eleanor
29:33still welcoming
29:34customers to the pub
29:36and the running horse
29:39is a modern twist
29:40on the pub's
29:40original name
29:41rummings house.
29:45Eleanor's life
29:46was tough
29:46she'd be up at dawn
29:48seven days a week
29:49fetching water
29:50from the river
29:51and cleaning up
29:52from the night
29:52before.
29:54She had a kitchen
29:55over here somewhere
29:56set away
29:58from the pub
29:59and in here
30:00she would have
30:01made bread
30:02and cooked all
30:02the meals
30:03for the family
30:04and around here
30:05you would have
30:05had pigs
30:07and chickens
30:08and there would
30:08have been
30:08lots of herbs
30:10growing
30:10so that she could
30:11produce the meat
30:13and the medicine
30:13for her family
30:15but the most
30:16important part
30:17of her workplace
30:18was here
30:19this would have
30:20been where
30:21she did
30:21the brewing.
30:24Eleanor's ale
30:25was old school
30:26even then
30:26after the barley
30:28was malted
30:28she'd have added
30:29her own signature
30:30mix of herbs
30:31like thyme
30:32rosemary
30:33nettle
30:34yarrow
30:34and mugwort
30:35it would have
30:37been a murky
30:37brown brew
30:38and tasted
30:39sour
30:40and smoky
30:41and it would
30:42go off
30:43pretty quickly
30:43because Eleanor
30:44didn't use
30:45hops
30:46which are
30:46important
30:47for preserving
30:48beer
30:48she produced
30:50about 10 gallons
30:51a week
30:52for her family
30:52and all the rest
30:54was put on sale
30:55because in those days
30:56everybody drank ale
30:59even children
31:00partly because
31:01it was thought
31:02to be more
31:03nutritious than water
31:04certainly didn't
31:05give you the gyp
31:06like water did
31:07and it made you
31:08feel good
31:08we know all
31:15about Eleanor
31:16from a bloke
31:17who stopped off
31:18at the pub
31:19one night
31:19for a drink
31:19and he happened
31:22to be
31:22Henry VIII's
31:24poet laureate
31:25a bloke
31:25by the name
31:26of John Skelton
31:27and he wrote
31:28this poem
31:29about Eleanor
31:29from our point
31:31of view
31:31it's brilliant
31:31because
31:32it describes
31:33an ordinary
31:34person
31:35in great detail
31:36you may think
31:38he wrote it
31:39because he was
31:39besotted
31:39by her beauty
31:40but in fact
31:41what he says
31:42was
31:43her face
31:44all boozy
31:45comely crinkled
31:47wonderfully wrinkled
31:48like a roast pig's ear
31:51bristling with hair
31:53it's charming
31:54isn't it
31:55Skelton goes on
31:58insulting Eleanor
31:59for about 600 lines
32:01but it wasn't just
32:06her looks
32:06that he was
32:07flagging off
32:08this was full-scale
32:09character assassination
32:10according to Skelton
32:12she was a sexual
32:13deviant
32:14she was a dodgy
32:15businesswoman
32:16she cut her ale
32:17with all sorts of
32:18disgusting
32:19stuff
32:20look at this
32:21and sometimes
32:23she blends
32:24the dung
32:25of her hens
32:26I can't imagine
32:28Skelton came back
32:29for a second pint
32:30can you
32:31so what's the truth
32:34about Eleanor
32:34Jager Wise
32:362018 Brewer of the Year
32:38has studied
32:39the ancient craft
32:40of ale making
32:41all the way back
32:42to Tudor times
32:43why does the poem
32:46slag her off
32:47so much
32:48it's implied
32:49quite heavily
32:50that she's doing
32:51things like
32:52watering down
32:53the ale
32:53or cheating
32:54customers
32:55do you think
32:56she really did
32:57cheat the customers
32:58yeah
32:58she was fined
33:00two pennies
33:01for preserving
33:02false measures
33:04and she was lucky
33:05that she was fined
33:06one of the other
33:07punishments
33:07would have been
33:08a thorough ducking
33:09in the local pond
33:11like a witch
33:12yeah
33:12like a witch
33:13that's one of the
33:13things that strikes me
33:14about the poem
33:15she does come across
33:16as a bit witchy
33:17doesn't she
33:17there is said to be
33:19a relationship
33:20between witches
33:22and ale wives
33:24it's true that ale wives
33:26would have used
33:27a big cauldron
33:28may well have had
33:29a cat for pest control
33:30and they did put a broom
33:31outside the pub
33:32to show the beer
33:33was ready
33:34but why would anyone
33:37want to demonize
33:38women like Eleanor
33:39what begins to happen
33:41is the brewing industry
33:43begins to become
33:44professional
33:45and when that happens
33:47the ale wives
33:48are a considerable threat
33:50so what do you do
33:52when you're under threat
33:53you spread rumours
33:54about them
33:55you spread lies
33:55about them
33:56you want to make
33:56their product
33:57sell less than your product
33:59what about Mr Rumming
34:00we don't hear much
34:01about him
34:01I imagine him
34:02as some drunken old
34:04sot
34:04sitting in the corner
34:05while his wife
34:06coins it all in
34:07yes and there is a reason
34:09why ale wives
34:11are called ale wives
34:12and not ale women
34:13it's because most of them
34:14were probably married
34:16and Eleanor would have had
34:18a certain amount
34:19of financial freedom
34:22but it all belonged
34:23to their husbands
34:24so Eleanor did all
34:26that hard work
34:27didn't directly receive
34:29any financial reward
34:30and risked a ducking
34:32in the local pond
34:33I wish I could have been
34:38standing here
34:38500 years ago
34:40watching the real Eleanor
34:42presiding
34:43over her little
34:44boozy kingdom
34:45but as for this poem
34:47I feel split down
34:48the middle about it
34:49because on one hand
34:50it's funny
34:51it's bawdy
34:52it brings to life
34:54a working woman
34:55in the Tudor period
34:56but on the other hand
34:57it takes the mick out of her
34:59it slags her off
35:01and that kind of writing
35:02about working women
35:04at that time
35:05helped dry the nail
35:06in the coffin
35:07of their lives
35:08and it meant that
35:09they were cut off
35:10from their work
35:11and all the opportunities
35:12that go with it
35:13for centuries to come
35:15coming up
35:18come on open the door
35:20the tough life
35:22and tragic end
35:23of a seaman
35:23who lived on board
35:24the pride of Henry VIII
35:26Navy
35:26the Mary Rose
35:29oh wow
35:30over the course of his reign
35:40Henry VIII managed to annoy
35:42the Pope
35:42the French
35:44the Scots
35:45and it seems
35:46most people in Europe
35:47how did it happen
35:50they'd had quite enough of Henry
35:52just another oops on me
35:54and now
35:57the threat of invasion
35:58hung in the air
35:59the new situation
36:02demanded that England
36:03have a ready
36:04and well equipped navy
36:06which meant that suddenly
36:07a lot of ordinary people
36:09had exciting new job possibilities
36:11and the chance
36:12of long haul travel
36:137,000 new seamen
36:17were taken on
36:18as Henry expanded
36:19the Royal Navy
36:20from 5 to 40 warships
36:22so what kind of life
36:27could a novice sailor expect
36:28in the swashbuckling
36:30early days of the Navy
36:31well for once
36:32we can answer that question
36:34in incredible detail
36:35thanks to a remarkable
36:37Tudor time capsule
36:38that emerged from the drink
36:40nearly 40 years ago
36:42there is the wreck
36:44of the Mary Rose
36:46it has come to the surface
36:47in 1982
36:48it's a wonderful structure
36:49and a wonderful site
36:50salvagers recovered
36:52Henry's flagship
36:53Mary Rose
36:54which had sunk
36:55back in 1545
36:56the Mary Rose
36:58is safe
36:59and well
36:59on board
37:00were 19,000
37:02artefacts
37:03and the jumbled bones
37:04of 179 sailors
37:06and in one corner
37:08of a lower deck
37:09archaeologists
37:10found one complete skeleton
37:12an ordinary seaman
37:14we'll call John
37:15a man who went down
37:17with his ship
37:18so this is our man
37:20this is John
37:21this is John
37:22Alex Hildred
37:25is a curator
37:26at the Mary Rose Trust
37:27and first died the wreck
37:29back in 1979
37:30he doesn't seem hugely tall
37:33he isn't actually
37:34he's about our height
37:36more or less
37:36about 5 foot 4ish
37:39maybe 5 foot 5
37:40it's
37:40I'm 5, 4 and a half
37:41so
37:42perfect
37:42almost identical
37:43almost identical
37:44what about age
37:45age
37:47you can see
37:48that the sutures
37:48have all closed
37:49so he's probably
37:50between 20 and 30
37:52a perfect age
37:53for somebody
37:53who's a hardworking
37:54individual
37:55John
37:56who would have
37:56looked something
37:57like this
37:57was one of a crew
37:59of over 400
38:00I can't wait
38:03to see his home
38:04the ship
38:05where his body
38:06was found
38:06are you ready
38:08yeah
38:08you know
38:09I've never seen
38:10this before
38:10no
38:11really
38:11truly
38:12come on
38:16over the door
38:16come on
38:17have a look
38:18oh
38:20oh wow
38:23I've so
38:28always wanted
38:29to see this
38:30to me
38:32this is like
38:33the tomb
38:34of Tutankhamen
38:35half the ship
38:41rotted away
38:42but the remaining
38:43half's in good nick
38:45it's as though
38:46the Mary Rose
38:46was cut down
38:47the middle
38:48lengthways
38:48to give us
38:49a sneaky look
38:50inside John's
38:51home
38:52where was he
38:53actually found
38:53he was found
38:55just over there
38:56so this is the
38:57hold of the ship
38:58and there were
38:59four people
38:59in there
39:00and five
39:01big barrel
39:02well barrels
39:03about this high
39:03with tar
39:04or pitch in them
39:05so it looks
39:06as though he was
39:07working
39:07it looks as
39:08though he was
39:09working
39:09John had about
39:13the most important
39:14job on the ship
39:15to stop it sinking
39:16by keeping it
39:18waterproof
39:18what's known
39:19as caulking
39:20at sea
39:22his mission
39:23was to constantly
39:24check that the
39:25timbers were
39:25watertight
39:26and to repair
39:27them with tar
39:28and pitch
39:28before the ship
39:29sank
39:30every day
39:32he would have
39:33worked a relentless
39:34shift pattern
39:35of four hours
39:36on four hours
39:37off
39:37signalled
39:38by the tolling
39:39of the ship's
39:40bell
39:40John may have
39:44been a local
39:44lad
39:45who learnt
39:45his craft
39:46from about
39:4714 years
39:47of age
39:48as an apprentice
39:49at Portsmouth
39:50Dockyard
39:50then around 18
39:52he'd have had
39:52his big chance
39:53of a life
39:54of adventure
39:54at sea
39:56imagine
39:57his first day
39:58he must have
39:58been completely
39:59all struck
40:01you get any idea
40:05where John
40:06might have slept
40:07likely he would
40:08have just slept
40:08anywhere that he
40:09could have done
40:09maybe on the
40:10storage deck above
40:11or on the main
40:12deck by the guns
40:13that's the sort
40:13of thing we hear
40:14of people just
40:15crunching themselves
40:16up beside the guns
40:17and falling asleep
40:18as much as they can
40:19I bet everybody
40:20would assume
40:21that he would have
40:21slept in a hammock
40:22hammocks weren't
40:23around yet
40:24so no no hammocks
40:25and for an ordinary
40:27seaman like John
40:28there were certainly
40:29no cabins
40:30or bunks either
40:31all right
40:32we've got him up
40:33in the morning
40:34what about his
40:35ablutions
40:35well the only evidence
40:38we have for that
40:38are two channels
40:40if you like
40:40both up on the
40:41upper deck
40:42in the stern
40:42which basically
40:43they were like
40:44urinals
40:44and they went out
40:46through the side
40:46of the ship
40:47with little
40:47protruding
40:48basically beams
40:49which had a hole
40:50in the centre
40:51so everything
40:52would go out
40:52the side
40:53have we got any
40:56evidence of the
40:57kinds of things
40:58that he might have
40:59done in order to
41:00make his spare time
41:01bearable
41:02actually
41:03really close to
41:04where he was found
41:05just on the deck
41:06above
41:06we have evidence
41:07of two gaming boards
41:09musical instruments
41:10in fact
41:11we had a fiddle
41:12that was found
41:12just by the main mast
41:14so we've got a fiddle
41:16and a taber drum
41:17and pipes
41:17I love the idea
41:20that you've got
41:20a ship's band
41:21you look at something
41:22like this
41:23all you see
41:24in your mind's eye
41:25is the serious nature
41:26of running a ship
41:27but they were grooving
41:29away as well
41:29also near John Skeleton
41:33they found one of these
41:34I know what that is
41:36that reminds me
41:37of primary school
41:38yeah those are
41:38one of our most
41:39common objects
41:40both the anti-knit
41:42cones part
41:44which are very very fine
41:45and then the one
41:45for normal grooming
41:47he would have had nets
41:48wouldn't he
41:49probably
41:50and you do hear
41:51of people throwing
41:52themselves in the sea
41:52to get rid of the nits
41:53but John might have
41:56got comfort
41:56from a special friend
41:58a small skeleton
42:00was found in the doorway
42:01where John would have
42:02picked up his tools
42:03interestingly in the
42:05opening of it
42:06because it was a sliding
42:06door so almost jammed
42:07in the crack
42:08was a small dog
42:09I know we called him
42:14hatch because he wasn't
42:16too far away
42:16from the hatches
42:17but he was so far away
42:19that he couldn't get out
42:20he couldn't get out
42:20no I know
42:21and he actually
42:22is our most complete skeleton
42:24I don't want to get
42:26too weepy about this
42:27but John would have
42:27seen him every day
42:28wouldn't he
42:28would have
42:29and he was only
42:2918 months old
42:30the dog
42:31just a baby really
42:33let's move on
42:33before I show myself up
42:35this may be one of the
42:42great archaeological
42:43treasures of the world
42:44but it's also the place
42:46where young John
42:47lived and worked
42:49every day
42:50along with 500 of his mates
42:52in very dark
42:53cramped conditions
42:55imagine though
42:56how proud
42:58he must have felt
42:59about being
43:00a crew member
43:01of the Mary Rose
43:02but in July 1545
43:06the French
43:08attacked the English fleet
43:09at Portsmouth
43:10Henry watched
43:14as the Mary Rose
43:15went out to engage
43:16the enemy
43:17all the cannons
43:21to starboard
43:21fired a volley together
43:23but as she turned
43:24her gun ports
43:25fatally dipped
43:26beneath the waterline
43:28and water rushed in
43:29John's whole world
43:36would literally
43:36have been turned
43:38upside down
43:39there would have been
43:39things flying
43:41across the room
43:42up, down
43:42backwards, forwards
43:43smacking him
43:45in the face
43:45then a final gush
43:47of freezing cold water
43:49and then
43:50that was it
43:51no escape
43:52the Mary Rose
43:56sank like a stone
43:58only 30
44:00of over 400
44:01crew members
44:02escaped
44:02John perished
44:04where he worked
44:05I like to think
44:07that John
44:08would be pleased
44:09to know
44:10that the English Navy
44:12finally managed
44:12to repulse
44:13the French
44:14and also that he
44:15might be a bit
44:15tickled
44:16if he knew
44:17that 500 years
44:19after he died
44:20his life
44:21would become
44:22immortalised
44:23the Mary Rose
44:28had been Henry's
44:29pride and joy
44:30for 34 years
44:31its end
44:33foreshadowed his own
44:34he died
44:36two years later
44:37and thanks
44:39to his reign
44:40the lives
44:41of ordinary people
44:42would never
44:43be the same
44:44again
44:44in the next
44:48episode
44:49right
44:50let's go
44:51I'll be meeting
44:52some Victorian
44:53Britons
44:53the female
44:55miners who
44:56hauled coal
44:57but it wasn't
44:58the backbreaking
44:59conditions that
45:00shocked everyone
45:01it was believe it
45:02or not
45:03the nudity
45:04and new
45:05experiences
45:06that changed
45:06their world
45:07it's the invention
45:09of modern
45:10shopping
45:10catch all that
45:17new next
45:17Saturday
45:18at 8
45:19from Coco Pops
45:20to Weetabix
45:21what breakfast
45:22helps you
45:23start the day
45:23Britain's favourite
45:24cereal is revealed
45:26brand new
45:27tomorrow at 7
45:27and tonight
45:29looking back
45:29on the railway
45:30revolution
45:31that changed
45:31our country
45:32how the Victorians
45:33built Britain
45:34is new next
45:35to Weetabix
45:37to Weetabix
45:37to Weetabix
45:38to Weetabix
45:39to Weetabix
45:40to Weetabix
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