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00:01From the mists of the north, Germanic tribes headed south,
00:05reaching as far as the borders of the Roman Empire.
00:09Barbarians, the Romans called them.
00:12But in 375 AD, the most feared of all warriors
00:17descended upon Europe murdering and pillaging.
00:21The Huns triggered a great migration.
00:24Hundreds of thousands of Goths, Vandals, and Franks
00:27went in search of a new homeland.
00:31They sacked Rome.
00:35Some tribes disappeared almost without trace.
00:39Others left behind valuable treasures.
00:43The Germanic barbarians were to become the founders of Europe.
00:54Starting in the 5th century AD, the Franks migrated to France,
01:00the Anglo-Saxons to Britain, and the Goths to Spain and Italy.
01:04Europe and the Christian West grew out of their empires.
01:19The Natural History Museum in Budapest is a tomb for many people
01:24from the era of the Völkerwanderung, the great tribal migrations.
01:28Tens of thousands of skulls are stored here.
01:34The skull of an unknown woman found in a Gothic grave in Spain.
01:47Using a new scientific procedure,
01:50the anthropologist Agnes Cushtar is reconstructing her face.
02:01Who was she?
02:07What can she tell us about the history of her tribe?
02:12We know that around the time of Christ, her ancestors left Scandinavia.
02:17That s recorded in Jordanus, the saga of the Goths.
02:21Her tribe already had a century-long journey behind them.
02:27But it was not over yet.
02:32Let's go back into the past with her,
02:35on the busy Goths' great trek to Spain.
02:45It's the year 507 AD.
02:50They had reached the Pyrenees.
02:57Once again, the busy Goths were fleeing with their scant possessions.
03:05Once again, they'd had to leave everything behind
03:07and set out on an arduous journey.
03:18Their ancestors had come to southern France as refugees from the Danube.
03:23But they were driven from there as well, this time by the Franks.
03:31Anyone who joined the busy Goths on their journey was welcomed as a Goth,
03:36regardless of their origin.
03:38So, in the course of their history, they became a tribe of many peoples.
03:4930, 40,000 people and more walked over the Pyrenees to Spain.
04:00On the Iberian Peninsula, they sought a new homeland.
04:05It was the sixth on their long journey, or so Jordanus does.
04:10It was the fifth on their own land.
04:17It was the fifth on their own land.
04:18It was the fifth on their own land.
04:19At the beginning of the sixth century,
04:21the busy Goths had been forced out of their kingdom in southern France
04:25by the all-powerful Franks.
04:27So, the Goths walked to the former Roman provinces in Spain
04:32and made them their new kingdom.
04:36They wanted to stay there forever.
04:41In 550, Toledo, formerly the Roman Toletum,
04:45became Urbs Regia, the seat of their kings.
04:54For almost two centuries, Toledo was the residence of the busy Gothic kings.
05:02But the few traces that remain on the walls of churches and houses
05:07are known only to experts.
05:15stones with relief carvings from a demolished church.
05:20These busy Gothic crosses were later used to decorate this palace.
05:28Archaeologist Carmen Jimenez is looking for relics of the busy Goths.
05:34When we were researching the church on the other side,
05:38we found something wonderful
05:40and it was the casual discovery of these two pieces.
05:44It has something very interesting,
05:45and it is that this is a classic,
05:48theoretically Roman,
05:50and this other is a piece, theoretically visigodal,
05:54because of the size, in imitation of this other.
05:56It is something very interesting that we have not found in any other place here.
06:01Carmen Jimenez has recorded over 400 busy Gothic capitals,
06:06columns and reliefs in a database.
06:09So far, they are the only evidence of the busy Goths in Toledo.
06:15In the church at San Salvador,
06:17one of the few busy Gothic portrayals of people has been preserved.
06:23We think that it is visigodal,
06:25especially for the technique,
06:26because the figures are very schematic,
06:29and for this type of detail in my being,
06:33which is very characteristic of the time.
06:36The figures bear witness to the faith of the busy Goths,
06:40Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead.
06:49Carmen Jimenez suspects that there is further evidence of their rule
06:53under the foundations of the houses and churches of Toledo,
06:56it will probably stay hidden forever.
07:03So far, no evidence has been found of the Goths' own constructions.
07:07They probably simply moved into what the Romans had left behind.
07:16The immigrants settled not only in the cities,
07:18but also in the vast Spanish countryside.
07:26Many lived as simple farmers.
07:29Others became large estate owners,
07:31who took over Roman government land.
07:37The history of the Goths in Spain is associated above all
07:41with one great name.
07:44He was their king, Leovigild,
07:47who defeated the soldiers of Rome and waged war against the Suevi.
07:52Soon, the greatest part of Spain belonged to him.
07:56With wonderful speed, he built up an empire in the Gothic tradition.
08:09The crown of Guaratha comes from one of the most precious treasures of the time of tribal migrations.
08:16It adorned an altar in the 7th century.
08:22It was a votive offering from the king and sent a clear new message.
08:27After God, the king is the highest lord over his subjects and sovereign in his country.
08:35This principle, which represented a new self-awareness,
08:39was introduced to Spain by the Visigothic kings.
08:42For 1,000 years up to the French Revolution, this principle held sway in Europe.
08:51At first, the natives regarded the Goths with their insalubrious furs as barbarians.
09:00It is said of Leovigild that he discarded forever the traditional fur clothing
09:06because the Romans turned up their noses at its unbearable stink.
09:21Instead, he donned a purple cloak.
09:25A provocative act.
09:27Because only the Roman emperor was entitled to wear such a precious robe as a sign of his power.
09:37The self-confident Leovigild claimed this right for himself.
09:44The Gothic kings recognised the emperor in distant Constantinople,
09:49but claimed the power in their own realms for themselves.
09:58He was also the first to sit on a throne in a regal robe,
10:02because until then the Goths had worn the same clothes and sat on the same chairs as their kings.
10:12The Visigothic king was the first ruler to practice what later became a principle in medieval Europe.
10:19In his realm, the king is emperor.
10:27Rex Incletus, Pius Victor.
10:30On his coins it says,
10:32King Leovigild, the famous, pious and victorious.
10:38The minting of gold coins, too, had previously been the privilege of Roman emperors.
10:44With their own currency, the Visigoths proudly announced their independence.
10:50With these coins, a nation, the first in Europe, was being minted.
11:05From the era of the Visigoths in Spain, only the remains of a very few churches have been preserved.
11:13One of them is the Basilica at Recopolis.
11:22Recopolis was named after Recered, the king's son.
11:26In 578, Leovigild laid the foundation stone.
11:31For 1,500 years it lay buried.
11:40The Troy of the Great Migrations has become the life's work of archaeologist Lauro Ulmo.
11:47For three decades, he has led the excavation of a new section every year.
11:54He is fascinated that Recopolis must have been an open, tolerant city
12:00in which Christians and Jews, Romans and Visigoths live together peacefully.
12:11During their excavations, the archaeologists discovered
12:15that the city was built on completely new foundations.
12:19This is unique for the time of the Great Tribal Migrations.
12:25This is what the huge city gate looked like.
12:33In front of it lay the trading area, with a market and shops.
12:37For the Visigoths, the city gate was more than just a building.
12:44Here we are in front of the rest of what was a monumental arch of entrance to the city
12:52and that marked the transition between the area of housing and the area of the palace.
13:00It is part of the process of monumentalization of the city
13:04effected by the reyes Visigoths in the first phase of the life of Recopolis
13:10and it has to do with a maniobra of an ideological type.
13:15The reforzation of the structures of the political power of the Visigoths
13:19through a series of buildings or monuments such as this arch
13:25that contributed to the power of this monarchy.
13:30With every square meter that is dug up, the archaeologists make new discoveries.
13:37Simple pottery fragments enable them to draw conclusions about the city's trading partners.
13:46Pots from France and North Africa have been found,
13:49and the handles of amphorae from the eastern Mediterranean.
13:56So Recopolis must have been an important trading place
14:00and a wealthy financial center for the Visigoths.
14:07A bronze buckle, like those ordinary women probably wore.
14:14Such apparently minor finds are often more valuable for what they reveal
14:19than seemingly spectacular ones.
14:22I could talk about gold objects, stone objects,
14:26but I would like to reflect on the interaction between a humble piece of ceramics
14:35or a basket with rest of grain,
14:39and that gold because, in definitiva,
14:42it offers much more data for the reconstruction of the history
14:45of those baskets, those streets and those houses
14:48than the concrete aspect of a valuable piece.
14:55Recently, the foundations of the king's palace have also been uncovered.
15:00It was 133 meters long.
15:04For this design, says Olmo, there was no precedent.
15:10Recopolis.
15:11Here stood a unique palace.
15:14In a unique city.
15:19Several thousand people, farmers, tradesmen, merchants, nobles and kings,
15:24lived here peaceably.
15:33Laura Olmo says it will take several generations to excavate everything.
15:40As an archaeologist, he must maintain a disciplined focus on the evidence.
15:45Nonetheless, he has a personal vision of this unique city of the Visigothic kings.
15:53Of their palaces and churches, the city gate,
15:58and the houses in which Goths and natives all lived by the same laws.
16:09The Visigothic immigrants originally came as foreigners with foreign customs and traditions,
16:16but like the Romans, they spoke Latin,
16:18for the Goths had already lived in the south for generations
16:21and had adapted to the inhabitants of the Roman provinces.
16:26Did this happen in Spain, too?
16:32We know something of their kings, but of the simple folk,
16:35we often know only what the graves in their new homeland reveal.
16:45Grave number 257 is the last resting place of a Visigothic woman.
16:52Like Roman women, she wore small gold earrings.
16:56And like Spanish women, a magnificent buckle on her belt.
17:01She decorated her gown with a large brooch of silver alloy,
17:05made in the ancient Gothic tradition of the Danube countries.
17:10Several hundred Visigothic graves were discovered near the village of El Carpio de Tajo, near Toledo.
17:24The archaeologist Gisela Ripolle has dated every grave
17:30and researched how the burial site grew with each generation.
17:33She made a surprising discovery.
17:38The study of the Necropolis of El Carpio de Tajo has allowed us to testify,
17:44for the first time,
17:46a mixture of a fairly early population,
17:49from the beginning of the VI century,
17:52of the Visigothian population and Roman population.
17:58There is, therefore, a series of mixed marriages
18:01that, even though there is a law that prohibits them,
18:06they are detected archaeologically in these sepultures.
18:13A Gothic clasp of bronze, studded with ruby-coloured glass beads.
18:21Visigothic jewellery has been found only in graves dating to the end of the 6th century.
18:27After that, the women adopted the fashions and jewellery of the natives.
18:36The grave of a second-generation immigrant yielded this belt buckle,
18:41a typically Spanish piece of work.
18:46For Giselle Ripolle, the objects found in the graves are an indicator
18:51of the harmonious assimilation of the Visigoths.
18:56In the third generation, all these objects of God tradition
19:00disappear completely,
19:03and there are other objects,
19:05which are the liriform cinturones,
19:08that are extended throughout the peninsula geography
19:11and that show the homogeneity of the population at that time.
19:18So, the Visigoths, like the woman from grave 257,
19:24found a home after their long wanderings.
19:29For 200 years, they lived in peace.
19:33Then, a new danger loomed.
19:37In 711, Moorish troops took Toledo.
19:45Islamic rulers determined Spain's fortunes for centuries,
19:49not to the detriment of Spain or Europe, however.
19:52The ordinary people stayed and settled down under the new rulers.
19:58Many nobles fled to the north of the country.
20:02Gothic rule in Spain was over forever.
20:09500 years earlier, their journey had begun in Poland.
20:14On the way, the Gothic tribe had split in two.
20:17One group had headed west,
20:19the other had stayed in the east,
20:21and they were called the Ostrogoths.
20:24What traces did they leave in history?
20:31In Corinthia, at the foot of the Alps,
20:33many Ostrogoths found a home.
20:36Here, too, it is the graves
20:39that tell us something of the fate of these people.
20:46Archaeologist Franz Glaser
20:47has a reputation among his colleagues
20:50of having a nose for a sight.
20:53In Globasnitz, in Corinthia,
20:56he discovered an Ostrogothic cemetery.
20:59Here, new migrants were buried,
21:01like this woman with her child.
21:06The Ostrogoths migrated from the Black Sea to Austria
21:09at the same time as the Huns descended upon Europe.
21:12Over 100 skeletons have already been excavated,
21:15dozens more lie in the earth.
21:18Glaser is proud of his discovery
21:20because previously,
21:21only a few Ostrogothic graves
21:23had been found in this area.
21:28Glaser also made a sensational find during his excavations,
21:32an elongated skull.
21:35The strange head of this man was artificially deformed in childhood.
21:46Skull deformations are found principally on Huns.
21:50At the time of Attila,
21:51they also became fashionable among the Germanic tribes,
21:55who came into contact with his hordes.
21:58So the elongated skulls are silent testimony
22:02to the Germans' migration.
22:04This woman died at the age of 40.
22:08Her high skull is a particularly fine example,
22:12says anthropologist Teschla Nikola.
22:15The künstliche Schädeldeformation
22:17was immediately after the birth of her birth
22:22and was supposed to be with the 3rd or 4th life
22:25being closed.
22:27She was not to functions changes
22:31or even to a brain function
22:34but she was supposed to be with quite a certain
22:37not very schmerz-free for the underlying individuals.
22:41What are you doing?
22:45In Paris,
22:46Elisabeth Dennis is reconstructing the face
22:49of an artificially elongated skull for us.
22:53She is an internationally recognised specialist
22:56in lifelike facial reconstructions.
23:01Why was this woman forced to suffer as a child?
23:04What did she look like?
23:06For weeks, Dennis has worked on the task
23:10of reconstructing her face.
23:13With her pointed skull,
23:15she must have stood out among the Germans.
23:21Even though Elisabeth Dennis uses special makeup
23:24and even real hair implants,
23:26she does not simply invent a face.
23:28She uses scientific methods
23:31plus a little intuition.
23:36This is what the German Nefertiti looked like
23:39when she was alive.
23:41Was she stigmatised for adopting Hun fashion
23:45or did it give her a special aura?
23:48She took the answer with her to the grave.
23:51One of the many thousands of refugees at that time.
23:56She died at the end of the 5th century
23:58on the fringe of the Ostrogothic Empire.
24:02The king of the Ostrogoths, Theodoric,
24:05extended his area of rule from the Borkans to Italy
24:09into the heart of the Roman Empire.
24:14The Roman Empire.
24:15Rex Theodoricus, the pious ruler.
24:18He ruled over his subjects
24:20with all the qualities of someone
24:21who is an emperor by nature.
24:28That is what the historian Procopius wrote.
24:33The city walls of Ravenna on the Adriatic.
24:36Behind them, the Roman emperor
24:38had often sought refuge from the barbarians.
24:43In 493, Theodoric made Ravenna his seat.
24:50In no other city is there so much
24:53architectural evidence of the Germanic peoples.
24:57Theodoric's slogan was,
24:59renew what is Roman, build what is Gothic.
25:04Ravenna is famous for its churches and mosaics.
25:07They speak of the golden age of the Ostrogoths in Italy.
25:13In one mosaic,
25:15one of the very rare portrayals of contemporary Goths can be seen.
25:20The palace guard with their Germanic hairstyles.
25:27Witness to their faith is the Aryan baptistry
25:31which Theodoric had built.
25:33The Ostrogoths had been Christian for a long time.
25:37Not Roman Catholics, however, but Aryans.
25:44They didn't believe in the Holy Trinity.
25:46They did not hold Jesus to be of one substance with God the Father.
25:56For the Roman Catholic Church, that was blasphemy.
26:00A wicked heresy, a shocking sacrilege.
26:03The Goths, however, were more tolerant towards people of other faiths.
26:10Although King Theodoric was a follower of the Aryan sect,
26:14he took no action against the Catholic faith.
26:20In the churches of Ravenna,
26:23Theodoric had all the walls decorated with magnificent mosaics,
26:27including one of the three wise men.
26:34The archerologists have discovered that Theodoric had himself immortalized in a mosaic.
26:40But today you look for him in vain.
26:44Archaeologist Sauro Gielicki tells us why.
26:47Alcuni personaggi, probabilmente compromessi con la corte di Teodorico
26:55e personaggi di Confessionarana,
26:58furono cancellati per essere sostituiti
27:01nella raffigurazione del palazzo con dei tendaggi
27:05e nella raffigurazione della città di classe
27:08con il rifacimento del paramento murario
27:11della cortina delle mura cittadine.
27:15The experts took a close look at this mosaic of Ravenna Harbour.
27:21The different colours of these tiles give it away.
27:24The portraits of the Ostrogothic rulers have been removed.
27:31Damnatio memoriae.
27:33The memory of the Aryan heretics was to be cursed and wiped out forever.
27:39In place of Theodoric's courtiers, simple curtains.
27:43But their hands on the columns were overlooked during the iconoclastic attack.
27:51They are reminders today of Theodoric the Great and his reign.
28:07Theodoric's mausoleum is the only remaining king's tomb from the era of the Great Tribal Migrations.
28:14Theodoric died in 526.
28:19For three decades, peace and justice had ruled.
28:24Even his Roman subjects had thought the rule of the barbarian king was a golden age.
28:34The Ostrogothic Empire survived its founder by just 26 years.
28:39After that, the Ostrogoths faded from history.
28:48Meanwhile in the north, another Germanic tribe was making its mark.
28:54Archaeologists came across traces of them in Nudambog in Denmark.
28:58There, the Anglo-Saxons.
29:07Thousands of spears, swords and shields were sunk in the bog around 360 AD.
29:15Today, we know they were thank offerings to their war god, Odin.
29:21As a young archaeologist, Michael Gebur studied the Anglo-Saxons' weapons piece by piece.
29:29He made an interesting discovery.
29:31What was previously thought to be corrosion is, in reality, the traces of bloody battles.
29:40The tip of one spear is bent.
29:43On one blade, he found the marks of deadly blows.
29:47They are signs of an extremely warlike time in the middle of the 4th century.
29:54At the end of this time, the large parts of the west coast is empty.
29:58The people leave our village.
30:00At the same time, the writings and archaeological finds that the angels, Sachs and Jews come to England.
30:05So, the people that we had previously believed here in our village.
30:10And it's not so difficult to imagine that one reason for this village to rest,
30:16a push factor that pushes people from the land,
30:19is these constant wars that ensure the coasts.
30:22The wars that we find in these weapons and weapons very clearly illustrated here.
30:29The Anglo-Saxons were not only fierce warriors, but experienced sailors.
30:36They explored the seas, searching for a new homeland.
30:40One of their ships can be seen in Schleswig.
30:43The Nudam ship was found in a bog in 1860.
30:47The bit, however, was not discovered until 2000.
30:51The museum houses only a replica.
30:53The original was found by the expert on the Nudam ship, the Dane Fleming Riek.
31:01As it was destroyed in Nudam,
31:03also, there was holes in the rump,
31:08um the water to drink,
31:10and that ship was destroyed in Nudam.
31:13It was destroyed in Nudam, as a whole ship.
31:16It was not auseinandergenommen.
31:30The Nudam ship is the only ship from the Völkerwanderung to survive completely intact.
31:36Its hull of oak planks is 23 meters long and is caught with moss.
31:42It was a sea-worthy warship, equipped to cross the North Sea.
31:49It was a sea-worthy warship.
31:51There were over 40 warship,
31:52who had that ship was destroyed.
31:54And we believe that it could be 60 people transport in the war.
32:00The ship was like this,
32:02the Nudam ship,
32:04that people had traveled from England to England.
32:07From Friesland and so.
32:09The Angle and the Saxons were this type of ships.
32:13They were the first ships over the sea.
32:17Led by the brothers Hengist and Horsa,
32:21the great grandsons of Odin,
32:23they came over the sea in three ships.
32:28Hengist, so the legend goes,
32:30is the forefather of all Anglo-Saxons.
32:35But they did not go to England as conquerors,
32:38as we often read.
32:40It was the Britons themselves who,
32:42around the year 430,
32:44summoned them as mercenaries.
32:48The migration across the sea had begun much earlier.
32:52Jutes, Angles and Saxons
32:54had been migrating in small groups since the third century.
32:57But when the Romans left England in 400,
33:01the Britons were dependent on the help of the Germanic warriors.
33:07The Britons had called them to fight the Picts,
33:10and they did so.
33:12And wherever they went, victory was theirs.
33:16So says the Anglo-Saxon chronicle.
33:20The remains of Hadrian's Wall in the north of England.
33:27After the withdrawal of the Roman legions,
33:30Angles and Saxons took on the task of defending the country.
33:35One could say that it marked the start of England's national history.
33:44The barrows at Sutton Hoo show that they quickly became masters of the land.
33:50Redwald, the king of East Anglia, was buried here in 625.
33:59As a reminder of the Anglo-Saxon's journey across the sea,
34:03he had himself buried in a ship.
34:06The impression left by the ship was preserved under the barrow.
34:10The only other ship graves like this are in Scandinavia.
34:14For King Redwald, it was a kind of last will and testament,
34:18says Martin Carver.
34:20This burial seems to be a theatrical event,
34:24which tells everybody who comes
34:27that this is the future of the people of East Anglia.
34:33Autonomous, maritime, and friends with Scandinavia.
34:37That's what I think it's saying, that burial.
34:40The Anglo-Saxon immigrants left no written records,
34:44so we must learn about them from the property they left behind.
34:49Artistic silver fittings decorate a drinking horn.
34:52A real German king like King Redwald would want to carry on carousing in the next world.
35:03Silver spoons went with him too on his last journey.
35:07This offering is of particular significance.
35:10On one spoon it says,
35:12Saul, in Greek letters.
35:14And on the other,
35:16Paul.
35:19King Redwald had been christened, that much is certain.
35:23But in his heart of hearts he remained loyal to the Germanic gods.
35:27For in the face of death, he turned to them again.
35:38A magnificent buckle of pure gold from Redwald's grave.
35:42It weighs almost a pound, or nearly half a kilo.
35:45It's the largest and most beautiful to have been found in England.
35:50Evidence of the splendour and wealth of the early Anglo-Saxon kings who subjugated Britain.
36:03Pictures of fabled animals.
36:06Gods and demons made of gold and precious gems.
36:10Jewelry in the Germanic tradition.
36:13With heathen motifs,
36:14Redwald demonstrated the independence of the Anglo-Saxons from the Christian continent.
36:21The Anglo-Saxon had no appreciation of Roman culture.
36:25In Northern Europe, they had been untouched by Romanisation.
36:29They were Germanic and stayed so.
36:35In 1965, a settlement of Anglo-Saxon migrants was excavated and reconstructed at West Stowe.
36:44They built their houses of wood, as they had done in their homelands of Denmark and North Germany.
36:52Roman civilisation did not interest the Anglo-Saxons.
36:55They let the cities decay.
37:00They did not adapt to the country.
37:02Instead, the Britons took over the customs and language of the Germanic immigrants.
37:07That is unique for the era of the tribal migrations.
37:16Genetic comparisons between the dead and the living confirm this.
37:20Molecular biologist Mark Thomas has discovered that the Anglo-Saxons soon mixed with the Britons.
37:29What we've done is we've looked at Y-chromosomes, which are carried by men only, in England and in Wales,
37:38and then in Friesland, in Northern Holland, and also in Norway.
37:45What we've done is we've looked at how similar or how different these different populations are.
37:52We actually collected from different towns in England and in Wales.
37:56What we found was that the English towns were all very, very similar to each other.
37:59In fact, they were so similar to each other that, statistically, we couldn't tell the difference.
38:04But they were very different from the Welsh towns.
38:08Now, when we looked at Friesland, we found that, in fact, the English towns were indistinguishable from the Friesian population.
38:15So what we seem to have is a much, much larger affinity between the English and the Friesians than the
38:23English and the Welsh.
38:26Recent research has confirmed that there was a mass immigration of Anglo-Saxons, but they didn't simply wipe out the
38:33native population as was previously maintained.
38:38Archaeologist Heinrich Herker suspects, however, that the British men were forced to live as slaves under their new lords and
38:45were not allowed to marry.
38:47So it's quite clearly.
38:50That's an astonishingly clear pattern.
38:52We have also very much more Kriegergruppen than früher angenommen, not complete communities, that wanders.
38:58And we have a mix of these Kriegergruppen with the homeless women.
39:03And then, through a process that lasted for 200, 300 years, there was an increasing force of the homeless women.
39:21Faces of Germanic ancestors on King Redwald's scepter, it was found in his ship burial.
39:27The immigrants' genes became dominant in Britain.
39:31They made war on British men, but to British women they made love.
39:36So the Anglo-Saxons became masters of the land.
39:44A further symbol of their might is Redwald's famous helmet, found in the Sutton Hoo grave.
39:50Similar designs have also been found in Scandinavia among the allies of the Anglo-Saxons.
39:58Marks on this distinctive helmet indicate that King Redwald must have worn it in battle.
40:10The Anglo-Saxons who came to Britain were both farmers and warriors.
40:15But whenever their king called them, they left their fields and meadows and followed him into battle.
40:26Brethwalder, ruler of Britain, is what they called their overlord.
40:33For the Anglo-Saxons, 80 armed men was a large army.
40:39It was composed of free men.
40:42They chose the bravest and noblest amongst them to be king.
40:50If he is fortunate he has vassals, then you kneel to receive the fiefdoms.
40:57A free man subordinated himself to his protector.
41:04The followers pledged to serve their king.
41:07They vowed to go to war with him and to defend his kingdom.
41:14In return, the king promised them protection and support.
41:19A relationship based on reciprocity.
41:22The Germanic tribal structure from the era of the Great Migrations developed into the feudal system of the Middle Ages.
41:29It was to shape European society for over a thousand years.
41:41England was a country of warlords.
41:44In 600 AD, there were over one dozen Anglo-Saxon kingdoms.
41:50A few too many.
41:53A merciless contest to eliminate some ensued.
41:57The murder and thuggery perpetrated by the king's hooligans was endless.
42:06Fair play had not yet been invented.
42:12Ethelred fought against Redwald.
42:15Edwin against Cadwallon.
42:18Ethelwald against Kinegils.
42:20Oswy against Pender.
42:25East Anglia fought against Northumbria.
42:28Wessex against Mercia.
42:30Kent against Sussex.
42:32Then Kent and Sussex against the Isle of Wight.
42:38Between 610 and 690, in just 80 years, thousands of Anglo-Saxons lost their lives,
42:45in battle against their own brothers.
42:51England's road to unity was long and bloody.
42:54Around the end of the 7th century, there were still seven kingdoms.
43:02One of the mightiest, Northumbria, had once belonged to King Redwald.
43:07At a time of upheaval, he stayed true to his old faith.
43:12He had decided against continental Europe in favour of an insular mentality.
43:17So says British archaeologist Martin Carver.
43:21This is the key moment, I think, for the birth of Europe.
43:25When, at least as far as England is concerned, as far as the island of Britain is concerned,
43:31hard decisions are having to be taken.
43:34Do we go with the new Christian power block, or do we stay with our alliances across the North Sea,
43:43and our friends across the North Sea?
43:46Very difficult decisions.
43:47In some ways, it has never been decided. Never.
43:50The British people are still a bit confused on this matter, I think.
43:55The Anglo-Saxons were still heathens when they came to Britain in 430 AD, and they stayed so for a
44:02long time.
44:03But eventually, they too were being buried with a Christian blessing.
44:08By the middle of the 7th century, the British kingdoms were Christian.
44:16But there was no ecclesiastical uniformity.
44:20In Whitby, for example, in the kingdom of King Ozwy, Easter was celebrated twice.
44:26Once according to the Irish Scottish calendar, and once according to the Roman calendar.
44:31At court, they had to fast twice.
44:35To correct this unfortunate state of affairs,
44:38the Celtic and the Roman church factions were asked to present their arguments.
44:43In 664, King Ozwy called a synod at Whitby.
44:50A dispute with historic consequences.
44:57The Irish bishop, Coleman, declared,
45:00I celebrate Easter on the day on which all my ancestors who were pleasing to God celebrated it.
45:07And as John the Evangelist taught us.
45:13It was strange, he declared, that the Romans took exception to their custom.
45:19From Rome's point of view, that was sectarian provincialism.
45:26Wilfred, the Pope's envoy, replied,
45:30We celebrate Easter as the Apostle Peter taught us.
45:33And that is how it is observed in Rome, in Africa and Asia,
45:38in all the countries and languages of the Church of Christ,
45:42on the same day, at the same time.
45:45Apart from those Scots and Britons who, on their remote island,
45:49oppose the rest of the world.
45:53Coleman cited St. John, Jesus' favourite Apostle.
45:59Wilfred demurred.
46:01Peter was the first among the Apostles.
46:04Jesus had said to him,
46:05Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church,
46:10and I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven.
46:15King Oswe decided he must obey Peter,
46:18in case he should be barred from heaven.
46:24And so, at Whitby in the year 664,
46:29not only was it decided when to celebrate Easter,
46:35but a decision was also made in favour of the papacy in Rome.
46:40Tu es Petrus.
46:42Upon this rock I will build my church.
46:48The Anglo-Saxon idea that Peter would personally unlock the gate to the kingdom of heaven
46:53was also taken as applying to his successors, the Popes.
47:01From then on, many Anglo-Saxons made the pilgrimage to the seat of Peter in Rome
47:07to see God's representative on earth.
47:13And so it was the Anglo-Saxons of all people
47:15who helped the Bishop of Rome, the Pope, to universal power.
47:24A rejection of the Germanic gods and turning to Christianity
47:29also happened among those tribes who had until then been most strongly opposed,
47:34as Rheims Cathedral attests.
47:38At the end of the 4th century,
47:40the Franks had crossed the Rhine to seize the Roman province of Gaul.
47:50Deep in the foundations of the cathedral,
47:52the remains of Roman hot springs, the public baths,
47:57can still be found.
48:00Recent excavations have revealed a small pool
48:03previously thought to have been a simple Roman bath.
48:08Archaeologists were surprised to find that it was not Roman,
48:11but dated from the time of the tribal migrations.
48:14Is it, in fact, the church baptistry?
48:20And did the christening of a heathen Germanic king
48:23from the Frankish tribe of the Sigambrians take place here?
48:27Possibly.
48:29In any case, it was on Christmas Day,
48:32probably in the year 496,
48:35that the Frankish king Clovis appeared before Emigius,
48:39the bishop of Rheims.
48:42Mitis depone colla Sigambria.
48:46You, from the tribe of the Sigambrians,
48:48bow your head.
48:53Clovis, as legend has it,
48:55had vowed to be christened
48:57if he beat the Allemans at the Battle of Zülpig.
49:02He did win.
49:06Worship what you have burnt.
49:09Burn what you have worshipped.
49:14Until the day of his victory under the sign of the cross,
49:18Clovis had believed in Odin like all his ancestors.
49:21Now he forswore the pagan gods once and for all.
49:30Credis in omnipotentum Deum.
49:33Dost thou believe in God the Father Almighty?
49:38I baptize thee in the name of the Father,
49:41and of the Son,
49:42and of the Holy Ghost.
49:52Clovis was the first Germanic king
49:55to be christened a Roman Catholic.
49:58A baptism of far-reaching significance.
50:05On that same day in Reims,
50:083,000 Frankish warriors professed themselves Christians
50:11like their king.
50:19The Franks were one of the last Germanic tribes
50:21to adopt the Christian faith.
50:29Under the sign of the cross,
50:32Clovis had triumphed over his adversaries.
50:37His new faith became the state religion throughout the West.
50:49And the Franks too, the new Christians,
50:52became the heirs of the disintegrating empire
50:55and the founders of a new modern empire
50:58under its emperor, Charles the Great.
51:03Charlemagne.
51:04Like Emperor Marcus Aurelius,
51:07he had himself depicted on horseback.
51:10On Christmas Day in the year 800,
51:12the Pope crowned him emperor.
51:15He called himself ruler of the Roman Empire.
51:18He created the greatest and most lasting empire
51:22to emerge from the tribal migrations.
51:26Contemporaries called him
51:27Pater Europae, the father of Europe.
51:32At the end of the great tribal migrations,
51:34the Germanic empires of the Visigoths,
51:37Ostrogoths, Franks and Anglo-Saxons,
51:40and the empires east of the Rhine
51:42formed the basis for the future nations of Europe.
51:45The Völkerwanderung began with German barbarians
51:50leaving the far north before the time of Christ's birth.
51:54In search of a new, better homeland,
51:58they crossed the entire continent.
52:00At the end of their journey,
52:02they too were among the founders of Europe
52:05and left their mark on the Christian Western world.
52:24Their missionaries were even more than the first people of America.
52:25Their missionaries were under theinnen and the third and the two people of Mexico.
52:25At the end of their journey,
52:27the generations of Republic of Peru were in the United States,
52:27and the first place of the N.C.
52:28Why is it being a part of the number one to pray to God?
52:32This was not as good as I am,
52:32We also had a group of people in the United States.
52:33The final thing was called the S.T.
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