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00:28Transcription by CastingWords
00:38Transcription by CastingWords
01:28Transcription by CastingWords
01:30Our history of knights begins not in castles, but in forests and fields, with free peasants.
01:37We know the name of one of them.
01:41Heinrich Tangeln from Tanroda.
01:52Every summer, when the campaigning season began, he could expect his king to summon him
01:58to arms, for he was a subject of King Otto.
02:16The young man, they burn and burn again! In eight days on the cliff!
02:21Und wo ist das?
02:23Bei Augsburg!
02:24Das ist unmöglich!
02:26Ihr müsst! Der König ruft euch!
02:28Breiter Tag und Nacht!
02:33Heinrich was neither a professional warrior nor part of the Saxon nobility.
02:39But in the early middle ages, all free men had to follow their kings to war.
03:02The peasant soldiers, the king's warriors on horseback, had to provide their own armor and weapons.
03:17Du bist ein Tangel, mein Sohn. Mach mir Ehre.
03:26Pass auf dich auf und komm gesund zurück.
03:30Für den König! Für Tanroda!
03:33Für den König! Für den König! Für den König!
03:38Für den König! Für den König!
03:40The first knights were simply horsemen in helmets and chain mail, armed with swords and lances.
03:50They were not noblemen, but ordinary soldiers.
03:54In France, they were called Chevaliers.
03:56In Spain, Caballeros.
03:59In Italy, Cavalieri.
04:01And in Germany, Ritter or Riders.
04:07By 955, the Holy Roman Empire had been raided many times by bands of Hungarian horsemen.
04:14They marauded their way across Germany and even crossed the Rhine.
04:19King Otto called on his subjects to come to the Lechfeld near Augsburg to wage a decisive battle.
04:32All of Otto's stand-by warriors reached the Lechfeld in just three weeks, some by riding day at night.
04:40For Otto, everything depended on his men in iron.
04:49Werner, wir müssen vor den Heiden und ihrer Kühnheit festen Mut beweisen.
04:57Lieber im Kampf sterben als in Knechtschaft leben.
05:03Doch jetzt!
05:12Jetzt lasst uns lieber mit dem Schwert statt mit der Zunge sprechen.
05:24Vater im Himmel, gib uns sieg und leben!
05:317,000 armoured horsemen had answered their king's rallying call.
05:36His chosen battleground, the Lechfeld, was a wide open field.
05:42In all of Europe, no enemy was more feared than the horsemen from the Hungarian steppes.
05:48For they did not seek single combat, which Otto's warriors preferred.
05:55They used mainly long-range weapons, and so Otto held his riders back.
06:07He waited until the Hungarians had advanced far enough for close combat.
06:16The Hungarians were able to use their bows, even at the gallop.
06:20Shower after shower of arrows rained down on Ottos' men.
06:26Die Art und Weise, wie die ungarischen Bogenschützen kämpften,
06:29kann man schon fast als taktische Vorwegnahme der mobilen Kriegsführung bezeichnen.
06:35Die Stärke dieser Bogenschützen lag in ihrer Beweglichkeit und ihrer Schnelligkeit im offenen Feld.
06:41Sie versuchten, den Nahkampf zu vermeiden, starteten blitzartige Angriffe.
06:47Eine sogenannte Hit-and-Run-Technik, würde man heute sagen.
06:51Zogen sich schnell zurück, um darauf sofort wieder den nächsten Angriff zu starten.
06:57An experiment kann illustrate just what effect the Hungarians' arrows would have had.
07:09Andrzej Brynneke is one of a handful of specialists in Hungarian bows.
07:16It took him many weeks to make this bow.
07:45Andre will loose an arrow from this high-tech bow at a time.
08:03In the experimental ballistic and wound ballistic is used glycerin-seife to simulate how the human body would behave if
08:14it would be shot with an opponent.
08:37From a standard fighting range, Andre draws back the bowstring and takes aim at the chainmail.
08:46Nine millimeter steel rings riveted together, backed by a padded vest, the gambeson, versus a razor-sharp 11-gram arrowhead.
09:02A warrior without chainmail could never survive a shot like this.
09:06But what about a warrior wearing the mail?
09:09The bowstring is, in this case, through the chainmail.
09:14In this case, you can see that at least one of the glider was thrown through the bowstring.
09:21From there, the bowstring is then through the gambeson.
09:26In this case, you can see that at least one of the glider was thrown through the bowstring.
09:30And then, the glider was thrown through the glycerin-seifen block.
09:34You can see that at least one of the glider was thrown into the glider was thrown into the glider
09:41was thrown into the glider.
09:46Chainmail was no protection against a well-aimed arrow.
09:50They could only fend them off with their shields.
09:55And wait for the order to attack.
10:01For Otto knew that if his men could bring the Hungarians to bay and use their swords and lances at
10:07close quarters, they would have the advantage.
10:20It was through hand-to-hand combat like this that ordinary horsemen evolved into noble knights.
10:34Otto's men won the battle of Lechfeld, not a Hungarian left the field alive.
10:40No prisoners were taken.
10:44The victory secured the German border against the Hungarians once and for all.
10:52Most of Otto's warriors were of humble birth, like Heinrich Tangon.
10:57Sieg and live for the Reich!
11:08Even though Heinrich was born a peasant, his service was rewarded with the right to bear a sword in the
11:14king's name.
11:21He wasn't knighted. The rank of knighthood would not exist for another century.
11:34But future knights would be recruited from horsemen like him.
11:44In the year of our Lord, 961, Heinrich Tangon was presented with a sword in the name of the king.
11:53Heinrich von Tonroda, der König macht dich zu seinem Gefolgsmau. Knie nieder!
11:59Sei weise und voller Güte. Sei mutig vor den Herrn und wohltätig zu den Armen.
12:09Sorge für Weise und Witwen. Vor allem aber, liebe und Ehre Gott, folge seinen heiligen Geboten in deinen Tagen.
12:18Ich schwöre, dass ich dem König treu und gehorsam sein werde.
12:22So war mir Gott helfe. Um Christus' Willen. Amen.
12:29The sword meant that Heinrich had joined the warrior elite of the Holy Roman Empire.
12:38It was the last time he would have to tolerate a blow.
12:45From then on, he was permitted to draw his sword to defend his honour to the death.
12:50His sword was a sign of his power and freedom.
12:57In the 11th century, many ordinary mounted soldiers, men like Heinrich Tangon, were raised to the status of noblemen and
13:06knights.
13:08The ritual blow on the back and conferring of the sword evolved into the gentler dubbing, also known as the
13:15accolade.
13:16Only a king could perform an accolade, and the term is still used to mean great recognition and honour.
13:29Ninety percent of the medieval population were peasants who labored to feed the nobility.
13:35Knights were the lowest of the noble ranks. Above them were counts, dupes and princes.
13:40At the apex of the social pyramid was the king. In time of war, the knights fought for him.
13:54From this fire, Stefan Roth forges authentic fighting swords based on medieval originals.
14:05I use different stones for my swords.
14:09I prefer to use old steel steel, or steel steel that I have to hide myself.
14:15So, lupes steel steel.
14:18With the old material, it's just like, for me, it's organic.
14:22Although it's not organic, but it's organic.
14:26When he forges a sword, Stefan says, he breathes life into his materials, just like the swordsmiths of old.
14:35Both the type of steel and his style of craftsmanship date back to the Middle Ages.
14:42I've had a few years in the Middle Ages in the Middle Ages.
14:44I didn't have a metal gun, who said to me,
14:47that the steel steel has so much and so much and so much and so much.
14:50But, through observation and intuition, we had to figure out what I'm doing right now.
14:59What I'm doing right now.
14:59That's very important.
15:01Because so much like temperature in the form, that you couldn't measure it,
15:05that you couldn't measure it.
15:09A blacksmith works with the four traditional elements.
15:13Fire, fed by air.
15:15Earth, which gives the ore.
15:17And water, which hardens it.
15:23In the Middle Ages, a good sword was believed to have magical powers.
15:28Many had names.
15:29Siegfried's sword was Balmung, and King Arthur's Excalibur.
15:33Many swords were inscribed with the name Ulfbert.
15:37It was not a mythical name, but the name of a master swordsmith,
15:41a guarantee of quality.
15:44There were also low-quality imitations.
15:46A sword of poor quality could be deadly to the man who tried to fight with it.
15:55Swords and knights are bound up together.
16:03In war, swords were their weapons.
16:05In peace, their status symbols.
16:13It takes Stefan Roth two months of hard physical work to polish a sword to its final, perfect sheen.
16:20He says that price was no object in the Middle Ages.
16:25A sword, made by a master swordsmith, cost a fortune.
16:32The sword was always the shadow of its age.
16:37And it's a technical, a high-tech product.
16:41It's the best thing you could make in the time.
16:50How did this high-tech product perform?
16:53How did knights use this most knightly of weapons and protect themselves against it?
17:01Andreas Kruger has studied medieval weapons in depth and has learned to fight with them like a medieval knight.
17:15The sword of the Ritters can be treated as his life.
17:19The sword of the Ritters often took place, because he had to fight against himself.
17:22This example here is a typical sword from the age of 1200.
17:27It's been carried out.
17:29It has a relatively wide range, a short width.
17:34It's very sharp.
17:46One thing is obvious.
17:49The sword is as sharp as a Japanese sushi knife.
17:54So did chainmail provide any protection?
18:01It did against the sword blow.
18:07The sword glances off the male.
18:15But what about a forceful thrust with the tip of the sword?
18:21The sword is concerned that one can do with the hammer?
18:22Bei a sword did it without a sharpest armament, with which one can put stitches and snitches.
18:27In the previous case, the force was not in the spirit ofießen.
18:34It was not possible to destroy the hammer.
18:35It means that the hammer is hardly so gross.
18:38The hammer is done by a hammer.
18:38This hammer was taken off, so that it didn't happen by penetrating its experience.
18:41in the body.
18:43You can see here,
18:45that it came to a stump of an effect,
18:47which is also seen here,
18:49so that it can probably be
18:52to the fracture of one or two Ripps.
18:57However,
18:58are not going to be affected,
19:00so that the effect of this Kettenhemm is
19:04comparable to a Kevlar-Waste,
19:07like the police today.
19:11And this is how the medieval equivalent
19:13of a Kevlar-Waste was made.
19:16Geralt taught himself how to link chainmail,
19:19carefully joining up to 50,000 rings
19:22to make a single suit.
19:24The process takes 1,500 metres
19:27of expensive steel wire
19:29and four weeks of work.
19:31It cost a fortune, even in medieval times.
19:35A complete suit of chainmail weighs 20 kilos.
19:39Suits like this protected generations of knights.
19:45One suit of chainmail from the time of the Crusades
19:48was used for an incredible 700 years.
19:53Fire!
19:53Fire!
19:54Fire!
19:57A modest rebel wore it in a charge
20:00against British troops
20:01at the Battle of Omdoman in 1898.
20:05Unfortunately for him,
20:06the British had by then acquired the Maxim gun,
20:09an early form of machine gun.
20:15It took the fancy of someone among the British
20:18to stuff the courageous warrior as a kind of trophy.
20:24Today, this very old chainmail is kept in a wardrobe
20:27in a South German castle.
20:31It is probably the oldest and best preserved
20:35medieval chainmail in existence.
20:37It was often patched
20:39and was also extended several times.
20:43It was American soldiers who, in 1945,
20:47finally gave the modest warrior a dignified burial.
20:52The king also gave Heinrich Tangeln a fiefdom,
20:56which had to produce enough to feed him
20:58and pay for his costly weapons,
21:00as he was now a professional warrior.
21:03He was also given the privilege of building a castle.
21:10Castles were still very basic
21:12Mott and Bailey structures on raised earthworks,
21:15like the Verla Castle in Saxony.
21:19A palisade enclosed the servants' quarters
21:23and animal pens, granaries and the Lord's home.
21:29The donjon, or keep, doubled as a watchtower
21:32and the last bastion of defence.
21:37Castles were built mainly as refuges from war or feuds.
21:44A knight's life was no grand affair in Heinrich's time.
21:49A contemporary complained,
21:50Knights too hear the sheep bleating,
21:53cows, cattle and people in wooden clogs everywhere you look,
21:57and nothing but worry and hard work day in, day out.
22:07For centuries that was what daily life was like for many knights.
22:11They had to pitch in,
22:13and often had both feet firmly planted in muck.
22:16Castle life revolved around ensuring self-sufficiency,
22:20and a knight's main duty was to manage his estate.
22:24A man like Heinrich Tangeln
22:26would have reminisced quite fondly
22:28about the adventures and challenges of times of war.
22:31He was a warrior, after all.
22:41And the noble lady?
22:45She was born to give birth.
22:50The primary purpose of medieval marriage was reproduction.
22:57With our children, above all a son and heir to keep the dynasty alive,
23:02all the effort would be in vain.
23:05He was a young man.
23:07God bless you.
23:15People lived by the tenant,
23:17it's not love that leads to marriage,
23:19but marriage that leads to love.
23:29Knightly families were mainly interested
23:31in increasing their power, wealth and social standing.
23:35A marriage was an alliance between two families.
23:41Neither the bride nor the groom might have much say in it.
23:45Today, some medieval marriages would even be called forced marriages.
23:52A knight was the guardian of his wife
23:55and was obliged to protect her.
23:59After the wedding night, she received her mourning gifts.
24:03A manor, cattle, servants, furniture, clothes, jewellery and shoes.
24:09These were to provide for her in case she was widowed,
24:13which was not unlikely if her husband went to war.
24:16Her duty was to the home and family,
24:19above all supervising the making of cloth.
24:24As long as her husband was living,
24:27she remained under his authority.
24:30This hierarchical relationship
24:32was so long as the family
24:35as the smallest unit
24:37of a god-wolled society
24:39was seen as a society.
24:41From today's perspective,
24:43it may be discriminatory.
24:46However,
24:47the thoughts of Emancipation
24:49or Gleichstellung
24:50or Gleichberechtigung
24:52have not existed in the middle-old world.
24:58The great thing was one's ancestry.
25:03The castle of the princely von Bentheim dynasty
25:07houses one of Europe's longest family trees.
25:10It reaches back into the Middle Ages.
25:14In 1230, a royal decree laid down
25:18that henceforth a noble pedigree
25:20would be required to become a knight.
25:36Some family trees were polished a little
25:38in order to avert that fate.
25:41That is why signed and sealed evidence
25:43was required for every ancestor.
25:51Heinrich Tangeln of Tanroda
25:53was promoted into the warrior elite
25:55solely on his merits.
26:00He was not required to prove noble ancestry.
26:06In the eyes of the established nobility,
26:08that made him an upstart.
26:12Pulled out of the gutter,
26:14raised from the dirt.
26:19Nobody could guess
26:20that he would be the founder
26:21of a noble dynasty
26:22that ran for 30 generations
26:24or more than 800 years.
26:28By then,
26:29the von Tangeln were ancient nobility.
26:38By contrast,
26:40Reinbold von Rappelstein
26:41was born a knight.
26:43He had inherited everything
26:45that made a knight a knight.
26:47A title,
26:47a horse,
26:48armor,
26:48and weapons.
26:49But a knight still had to prove himself.
26:57Aha!
26:59Wer bist du?
27:00Wer bist du?
27:01Ritter Reinbold.
27:04Ritter Reinbold?
27:06Ritter Reinbold von was?
27:08Von Rappelstein.
27:10Und du?
27:11Ich war, was du werden willst.
27:13Und wohin soll es gehen?
27:15Ich bin auf der Suche nach einem Mann,
27:16der Waffen trägt wie ich
27:17und den Kampf mit mir wagt.
27:19Wenn er mich schlägt,
27:20so bringt ihm das Ruhm.
27:21Siege aber ich,
27:22so bin ich ein Held.
27:23Und meine Ehre wächst.
27:26So, so.
27:30Wenn es um dein Gemüt so steht,
27:32dass du nach Ungemacht strebst,
27:33nach einem Leben voller Aventüre,
27:35so will ich dir sagen,
27:36wo du es finden kannst,
27:37es finden kannst.
27:38Dann sag's.
27:39Na los.
27:41Sonst wird's dein Schaden sein.
27:43Der Ritter Ewald ruft zum Turnier.
27:45Da reite ihn.
27:46Da reite ihn.
27:49Sei gedankt.
27:50Ich habe einen Lohn verdient.
27:52Wie du siehst,
27:52bin ich ein armer Ritter.
27:54Verdiene dir etwas
27:55und den lohne mich dann.
27:57Bei meiner Ehre.
27:59Bei deiner Ehre.
28:00Versprochen.
28:00Reinbold von Rappelstein,
28:02and that really was his name,
28:04was on a quest for Aventure.
28:07Wir haben das Wort Aventüre ja auch noch
28:10in unserem heutigen Wortschatz,
28:11nämlich als Abenteuer.
28:13Und ganz verkehrt ist das nicht.
28:14Der Ritter sucht Abenteuer.
28:17Er sucht nach einer Herrschaft
28:18und er sucht nach einer Frau.
28:21Und beides fällt ihm nicht einfach zu,
28:23sondern beides erlangt er über Bewährungen.
28:28A knight like Reinbold
28:29could prove himself on the tournament field.
28:33Early tournament fields were not purpose-built,
28:36or lavishly decorated.
28:38Rather, knights would agree
28:40to meet in an actual field
28:42or in a forest clearing.
28:47Da.
28:49Siehst du den?
28:50Ja.
28:50Das ist der Ritter von Hohenstein.
28:52Den überlasse ich dir.
28:53Ein ziemlich harter Brocken.
28:55Sehr gut.
28:56Von Hohenstein.
28:58Wie man hört,
28:59bringt der alte Knabe
29:00ein hohes Lösegeld
29:01und das schnappe ich mir.
29:03Knights did not fight
29:04only for honour and fame,
29:06but for helmets and swords,
29:09and to win ransoms.
29:18There was not much difference
29:20between a tournament
29:21and an actual battle.
29:26Tournaments were war games
29:27with real fighters
29:29and real weapons.
29:34fighting was prohibited
29:35only in corners of the field
29:37where wounded men
29:38could seek refuge.
29:40Otherwise,
29:41there were few rules.
29:46The wounded were treated by barbers.
29:51the loss of a limb
29:53was always a possibility.
29:59Lucky those who survived
30:01the crude surgery.
30:08The church was strictly against
30:10what it considered to be
30:12a vile and violent pastime.
30:14It placed a ban on it.
30:22But hardly any knights
30:23heeded the ban.
30:26And their ladies?
30:29As a poet put it,
30:31they looked on
30:31with reddened eyes
30:33and chilled hearts
30:34as their men fought.
30:36They always had to reckon
30:37with losing them.
30:42Whether in jousts
30:44or in battle,
30:45knights were ultimately
30:46thrill-seekers,
30:47looking to prove
30:48their boldness
30:49and courage.
30:59Their motto was
31:00go for it.
31:04Regardless of whether
31:05some of their number
31:06were left on the field
31:07injured,
31:08maimed,
31:09or even dead.
31:25peace was the word
31:27that ended a joust.
31:28The opposing knight
31:29had to honor it.
31:35Tournaments could be fought
31:36by 20 men against 20
31:38or 50 against 50.
31:44Sometimes even 100 men
31:46battled another 100
31:48as if in a war.
31:50Or knights from
31:52different countries
31:52would meet
31:53in a sword fight.
31:58The culture of the knight
32:00was a culture of violence.
32:04Whether in attack
32:05or defence.
32:07Some knights
32:08seemed to have been
32:09driven by a sheer
32:10love of violence.
32:14But as the exemplars
32:16of their society,
32:17they were meant to fight
32:18for fame and honour
32:19and to win
32:21their ladies' favour.
32:25And to practice
32:26the laws of chivalry
32:27on the tournament field.
32:37A tournament often ended
32:39only at nightfall.
32:44Quite a few limbs
32:45might be left
32:46on the so-called
32:47field of honour
32:48and fame.
32:54And plenty of dead
32:55who left behind
32:57widows and orphans.
32:59For no matter how famous
33:00he might be,
33:02a knight still had
33:03only one life.
33:06we have
33:07with you.
33:12After a tournament,
33:14prizes were awarded
33:16to the winners
33:16and the spoils
33:18were divided.
33:26a wife could recover her husband
33:28for a price.
33:50The knights would feast as ferociously as they had fought,
33:54although some had to be prized out of their armour first.
34:07The spoils and any ransoms were shared out.
34:13For many, though not for all,
34:15the motto was
34:17easy come, easy go.
34:19But if a knight wanted to be well regarded,
34:22he had to be generous.
34:23Wer weiß?
34:25Der Ritter sucht
34:27im Turnier
34:28auch nach Beute,
34:30er sucht nach Gewinn,
34:32aber er sitzt nicht auf diesem Gewinn,
34:35sondern er verschleudert ihn.
34:37Dabei kann man an zwei Motive denken.
34:39Einerseits braucht er ja auch Leute,
34:41die ihn unterstützen
34:42und das Ganze führt dann zu einer Bindung aneinander.
34:46Auf der anderen Seite aber will sich der Ritter auch unterscheiden
34:49von dem Bürger.
34:50Der Bürger, der auf seinen Pfeffersack sitzt,
34:53der immer mehr Gewinn anhäuft.
34:55Das ist nicht das Leitbild,
34:56sondern das Leitbild ist dieser freie Mann,
34:59der nicht nur frei ist,
35:00in der Schlacht sozusagen andere umzubringen,
35:03sondern auch diesen Gewinn zu verschleudern.
35:06Das ist wahre Freiheit.
35:15Medieval Literature recounts
35:17many heroic deeds of knighthood.
35:19Poets wrote these epic tales
35:21and travelling bards spread them far and wide.
35:27Wer Frauenlohn auf rechte Weise sich erwirbt,
35:30wer muss dabei auch bitteres Ungemach leiden,
35:34denn...
35:34Erzähl endlich von Siegfried.
35:36Da erschlug im Zorne Siegfrieds Hand siebenhundert...
35:40Ich möchte lieber von Arthus und der Tafelrunde hören.
35:43Nein, er soll weiter erzählen.
35:44Das Hildebrandslied, wie sehr es da muss jetzt?
35:47Ruhe.
35:49Heute darfst du bestimmen.
35:51Dann soll er erzählen,
35:52wie der große Ritter Roland mit seinem Schwert kämpft
35:55und wie er all seinen Feinden ihre Köpfe und Beine abschlägt.
36:01Die Schlacht ist groß und wunderbar.
36:04Roland's Schwert, es sticht und trifft.
36:07Der Helm zerspringt, der Eiter spritzt.
36:11Gespalten ist das Haupt, die Augen, das Gesicht zerschlitzt in zwei Hälften.
36:17Vom Scheitel bis zum Steiß.
36:19Durch Rüstung und durch Sattel spaltet er Ross und Reiter.
36:26Gähne.
36:30Naht's tales of the early Middle Ages
36:32were what Splatter movies are for us today.
36:35Their gory details sent a shiver down the spine
36:38even as the audience luxuriated in the safety of the fireside.
36:42But they were also a form of mental preparation.
36:47Knights had to be able to endure the horrors of the battlefield
36:50and to kill without mercy.
37:01Knights' castles offered shelter in peacetime
37:05and protection in time of war for themselves and for their vassals.
37:13But castles were, above all, symbols of the power and prestige
37:18of the nobility visible from afar.
37:23In the 13th century, the heyday of chivalric culture,
37:27there were 13,000 castles in the Holy Roman Empire alone.
37:32How were these castles built?
37:35They were often built on top of steep hills,
37:38entirely without modern machinery.
37:50We can see how it was done at Guadelon near Paris.
37:55Guadelon is an experimental archaeological construction site,
37:59a kind of open-air laboratory
38:01where medieval building techniques are being rediscovered,
38:05for surprisingly little is known
38:07about the practical aspects of building a castle.
38:15Everything is done by hand and by learning on the job.
38:19About 50 people have been working on this unique project
38:22since it began in 1997.
38:24The stonemasons, judging by experience,
38:28work with the utmost precision
38:30to ensure that the building blocks are a perfect fit.
38:37There are masons, blacksmiths, brickmakers,
38:41a dozen different trades.
38:42In the Middle Ages, they all work together without an architect.
38:46The fortification and the seigneurial residence
38:50do not need a master's work
38:54who have a culture and a knowledge of traces,
38:58such as we have for Gothic cathedrals.
39:02These are master's work who are first artisans
39:05who will obey
39:06and create a bit repetitive and similar to the modes.
39:26Medieval castles were regional buildings.
39:30Everything had to be sourced locally.
39:34The timber, the stone, the clay for tiles and bricks,
39:39for transport was expensive.
39:45The modern world would call it
39:47environmental best practice.
39:50And castle building was also
39:52a sustainable source of employment,
39:54even if some of the labour was hardly voluntary.
39:59We can suppose that a seigneur
40:01will engage with limited teams,
40:03that 50 people employed for construction
40:08are sufficient.
40:10And there are some texts that allow us to imagine
40:12that a construction could be built in 10 or 15 years.
40:17The tread wheel is a major attraction at Guédelon.
40:21This magna rota was built according to medieval plans.
40:25A wheel, an axle, a rope,
40:28that's all it took to build the medieval version of a crane.
40:31One man can work the wheel and lift stone weighing several tons to any height.
40:43Guédelon illustrates every aspect of how a medieval castle was built.
40:50It will be 15 years before the castle is ready to face a siege by a medieval army,
40:56or more likely by tourists.
41:02For many centuries, a castle was the ideal refuge from an attack or a siege.
41:13Only a handful of knights and men-at-arms were needed to defend a well-fortified castle.
41:26Castles usually had only one entrance, the gate.
41:30This was the weak point in any attack.
41:38A drawbridge spanning a wide moat helped keep unwanted visitors out.
41:43The gates were usually guarded by a crenellated gatehouse to give early warning.
41:48And even if attackers managed to get through the gate,
41:51they met further obstacles.
41:57From the murder hole, stones would rain down upon them.
42:04Then they had to fight their way across the courtyard.
42:11Towers and heavy walls protected the knights' home and the work areas.
42:16This is where the richest loot could be found.
42:19But an attacker would be met not only by armed knights,
42:23but also by blacksmiths and peasants with their hammers, scythes and pitchforks.
42:28The castle's last bastion was the Towering Keep, or Donjon.
42:37If necessary, the castle's defenders could destroy the timber stairs to the keep
42:42and use another murder hole to defend the entrance.
42:46But if the attackers managed to break open the door, all was lost.
42:51There was no retreat except upward.
42:55To finish the defenders off, the attackers could resort to fires.
43:04But knights were worth more alive than dead.
43:07Alive, they would fetch a ransom.
43:09And few attackers would wish to take possession of a ruin.
43:13The alternative was to fight one's way up the stairs.
43:18But in reality, not many attackers got that far.
43:26Before the invention of heavy siege equipment, castles like this one were virtually unassailable.
43:33After all, deterrence is the best defence.
43:36So castles remained the symbol of power for centuries.
43:44Historians estimate that a castle would suffer a siege only once in three generations,
43:50meaning that peace would reign in them for about 75 years at a time.
44:01There are plenty of myths about castles.
44:07Researchers such as Joachim Zeuner are quick to dismiss them.
44:12Our idea is that the Burg for the Krieg was built,
44:15that from the Burgers out was the whole Umland underjoined,
44:18that the Bauern with their blood and sweat had to build the Burgers.
44:21It was all pretty blut-and-trust, what we hear about the Burgers.
44:26The fact is that the Burgherr had a very important function.
44:30He had the right to speak about the Umland.
44:31He had the right to speak about the Umland.
44:32He had the right to speak about the Umland.
44:34He had the right to speak about the Umland.
44:37He had the right to speak about the Umland.
44:38He was a leader in certain functions.
44:39He was also a leader.
44:40And that's why it was clear for the middle-old people,
44:42that where a Burg is, there must be a peaceful country.
44:45And where many Burgers are,
44:47that the country was extremely peaceful and not extremely warped.
44:50That's the huge fear we have today to connect with Burgers.
44:54The Burg is a peace symbol and a management centre for the whole Umland.
44:59And that's its most important function.
45:03But during emergencies, the symbol of peace was also a last refuge for the desperate.
45:09Reinwald von Rappelstein's duties included the protection of his vassals.
45:17He had to be prepared for any contingency.
45:25The castle itself might not be easy prey for raiders, but the villages around it were.
45:44Landless knights who marauded the countryside were known as raptores,
45:48Latin for plunderers.
46:02The villagers' refuge in case of attack was their lord's castle.
46:10Lords such as Reinbold were duty-bound to take their people in.
46:20That was part of the division of labour between the socialist states.
46:24The peasants fed him and he had to protect them in his own interest.
46:40The peasants fed him and the
46:57Deine Brüder fressen Dreck!
46:59Reinbold!
47:00Wie soll ich eine edle Frau bekommen, wenn ich nichts besitze?
47:02Keine Burg, kein Geld, nichts!
47:04Soll ich ins Kloster?
47:05Ich bin Ritter wie du!
47:06Das ist kein Grund, den Gottesfrieden zu brechen und alle Gesetze der Ritter!
47:11Ich werde euch bestrafen!
47:12Das kommt euch teuer zu stehen!
47:13Und jetzt geht!
47:15Verschwindet von hier!
47:16Schert euch zum Teufel!
47:18Fede auf Leben und Tod!
47:20Habt ihr verstanden?
47:23Jawohl, Fede auf Leben und Tod!
47:25Wie du willst!
47:26Wirst ihr sehen!
47:27Das ist euer Ende!
47:34Knights fought against knights.
47:37Feuds and border disputes were the order of the day.
47:43Even churches and monasteries were not spared.
47:46They too suffered the depredations of marauding knights.
47:53That is why the church decreed the peace and truce of God
47:57which banned feuding and marauding, at least from Thursday to Sunday.
48:03But how to enforce this truce?
48:08By threatening the knights with the eternal torments of hell.
48:12If they feared God, they would comply with his truce.
48:35The directive was also a means to have the peace of the night.
48:38that was legitimately legitimate if they followed certain rules.
48:44And this rule was made to a right way to decide
48:49rights or rights to decide,
48:52or even to make a broken honor again.
48:57Once the truce of God was passed,
49:00knights could return to private warfare
49:03with the tacit approval of the church.
49:20Might is right. That was the knight's understanding of the law.
49:37In fact, the knight's code of honor obliged him
49:40to settle a serious dispute in life and death single combat.
49:55Ein meiner Knechte hast du auf dem Gewissen!
49:58Auge um Auge!
50:04Gnade!
50:25The ideal of the Christian night was still a long way off.
50:40Aha! Aus dem Weg!
50:42Lass ab! Gut, Freund!
50:45Gut, Freund! Gut, Freund!
50:49Hier ist ein Lohn. Wie versprochen.
50:51Hat er sich's also verdient?
50:54Genau so ist es. Und ich bin es dir schuldig. Du hattest mein Ehrenwort als Ritter.
50:57Dein Ehrenwort, dein Ehrenwort. Und? Hat er gefunden, was er gesucht hat?
51:01Freilich.
51:02Ungemach und ein unbequemes Leben?
51:04Ich habe turniert. Ich habe gesiegt. Ich habe es zu Ruhm und reichem Lohn gebracht.
51:09So, so. Das ist also dein Ding.
51:11Ja.
51:12Und will er denn nicht ein edler Ritter sein?
51:14Ein edler Ritter bin ich doch schon.
51:16Ihr tragt strahlende Helme und ein geweihtes Schwert. Strahlende Helme und ein geweihtes Schwert.
51:21Aber bist du auch Gottes Segen wert? Gottes Segen wert? Gottes Segen wert?
51:41Vertraue und glaube, es hilft, es heilt die göttliche Kraft!
51:42Vertraue und glaube, es hilft, es heilt die göttliche Kraft!
52:04Vertraue und glaube, es hilft, es heilt die göttliche Kraft!
52:04You
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