BBC Four’s Medieval Season (part 1)

BBC Four’s medieval season starts to night with;

In Search of Medieval Britain (part 1 of 6) at 7.10pm – medieval art historian, Dr Alixe Bovey, uses the oldest surviving route map of Britain to make a series of journeys through Britain in the Middle Ages.

In this first episode, she follows the trail north from York to the hotly contested Scottish border, and uncovers tantalising clues to Medieval Britain’s most dangerous war zone.

On Monday we have;

Stephen Fry and the Gutenberg Press at 9.00pm. Stephen Fry goes in search of the story behind the inventor of the printing press, Johann Gutenberg, travelling across Europe to find out how Gutenberg kept his development work secret, and how his approach started a cultural revolution.

In order to fully understand the man and his machine, Stephen assembles a team to help him build a copy of Gutenberg’s printing press as well as learning how to make the paper and type so that they can print as Gutenberg once did.

Saints at 12.00am – The Catholic Church is the only Christian persuasion with an official saint-making process, overseen by the Vatican’s Congregation for the Causes of Saints. Hinduism and Buddhism have something akin in the idea of the holy man and the guru and the Islamic Sufi tradition not only recognises Christian saints but actively celebrates them. Vatican priests, academics, sacristans and pilgrims debate the worldwide idea of sanctity.

Wednesday brings;

The Saint and the Hanged Man at 9.00pm – Rob Bryden investigates the strange case of a Catholic holy court in Hereford that convened to decide whether a 14th-century dead bishop, who reputedly performed miracles including the resurrection of a hanged man, should be sanctified.

On Thursday we have;

In Search of Medieval Britain (part 2 of 6) at 7.30pm – Dr Alixe Bovey heads west from Gloucester into Wales, following in the footsteps of the huge armies of Edward I. She uncovers evidence of a lawless borderland, a medieval arms race, and reveals clues to the origins of the map itself.

Inside the Medieval Mind (part 1 of 4) at 9.00pm – Professor Robert Bartlett, one of the world’s leading authorities on the middle Ages, looks at how our medieval forebears viewed the world; as a mysterious and even enchanted place, where sightings of green men, dog heads, and alien beings were commonplace. But as the middle Ages grew to a close, the world became a place to be mastered, even exploited.

Crusades (part 1 of 4) at 10.00pm – Pilgrims in Arms: Terry Jones sets out to discover what really happened 900 years ago. Following the route of the Crusaders, he travels to Byzantium.

These are the listings published on BBC Four’s website at the moment I’ve not included any repeat viewings and will post more as they become available.