Medieval jobs
Websites
Channel 4 Television is not responsible for the content of third-party sites.
Red Gold: Blood basics
www.pbs.org/wnet/redgold/basics/index.html
Fun historical site on all things related to blood, covering the history of bloodletting,
leeches and the appearance of barber-surgeons in the Middle Ages.
Cathedrals
www.britainexpress.com/Where_to_go_in_Britain/
Cathedrals/Cathedrals1.htm
An A–Z guide to medieval cathedrals in England, Scotland and Wales.
The common soldier
http://library.thinkquest.org/10949/fief/
medsoldier.html?tqskip1=1
Describes the roles of the archers and the crossbowmen, both an integral part
of the medieval army.
The Hawk Conservancy Trust
www.hawk-conservancy.org/histfalc.shtml
Gives an overview of the history of falconry and royal falconers.
Health: What was it really like to live in the Middle Ages?
www.learner.org/exhibits/middleages/health.html
Overview of medieval medicine, plus a chance to try your hand at medieval diagnosis.
Life in a medieval monastery
www.britainexpress.com/History/
medieval-monastery.htm
An overview of what life was like for monks in the Middle Ages. There are also
links to other relevant articles.
Mid Wales Falconry
www.midwalesfalconry.co.uk/
Dedicated school for falconry that was used in the programme. They host displays and offer courses, and the website has a brief history of falconry.
Nathan Tudor Armoury
http://chain-mail-armour.co.uk/
Company of chain maille specialists.
Purple
www.mmdtkw.org/VPurple.html
Fascinating account of the production of the colour purple through history and how it was once made from smashing thousands of Murex molluscs.
The Colour of Words - Purple
www.worldwidewords.org/articles/colour.htm
Takes a look at the words we use to describe colours. Purple, it seems, comes to us from Greek via Latin and refers to the dye extracted from a species of Mediterranean shellfish, which was so rare and valuable that it was reserved for royal garments.
Textiles
www.slaidburn.org.uk/textiles.htm
Looks at the processes of spinning, weaving and fulling in Britain from the
12th century, when the woollen industry relied on certain methods involving
soaking the wool in water and stale urine.
Time traveller's guide to medieval Britain
www.channel4.com/history/microsites/
H/history/guide12/
Everything the intrepid explorer needs to know to examine the age of chivalry
in England, Scotland and Wales.
Weapons that Made Britain
www.channel4.com/history/microsites/W/weapons/
The weapons (sword, lance and longbow) that fighting men of the Middle Ages
used to maim and kill others, and the sorts of protection (shield and armour)
that they employed to stop others doing the same to themselves.
Books
The
Black Death by Philip Ziegler (Sutton, 2003)
This classic account traces the course of the virulent pandemic through Europe
and its dramatic effect on society. It includes a reconstruction of life in an
English village suddenly overtaken by plague.
Get
this book
Chivalry and Violence in Medieval Europe by Richard W Kaeuper
(Oxford University Press, 2001)
Examination of the role of chivalry in a period of violent disorder.
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this book
Medieval Combat by Hans Talhoffer edited by Mark Rector (Greenhill,
2004)
Talhoffer's original 'fight book' of 1467 illustrates the intricacies of the
medieval art of fighting.
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this book
Cathedral, Forge and Waterwheel: Technology and invention in the Middle
Ages by Frances and Joseph Gies (HarperCollins, 1995)
An exploration of how western Europe, after the chaos of the Dark Ages, rose
to lead the world in technology. Examines such inventions as the flying buttress,
the blast furnace, the water wheel and the building of cathedrals.
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this book
Gold and Gilt, Pots and Pins: Possessions and people in medieval Britain by David Hinton (Oxford University Press, 2005)
From elaborate gold jewellery to clay pots, the author looks at what possessions meant to people at every level of society, emphasising their reasons for acquiring, keeping, displaying and disposing of the things that they wore and had in their houses.
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The Kings and Their Hawks: Falconry in medieval England by Robin S Oggins (Yale University Press, 2004)
A broad history of English royal falconry in medieval times that provides a full description of the actual practice and conditions of the sport and of the role of falconers in the English royal household.
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A Medieval Family by Joseph and Frances Gies (HarperCollins, 2001)
A book compiled from a study of the personal correspondence of the Pastons, a 15th-century Norfolk family.
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The Medieval Kitchen by Odile Redon, Françoise Sabban and Silvano Serventi (University of Chicago Press, 2000)
Dishes of the 14th and 15th centuries from authentic medieval cookery sources.
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The Medieval World View by William Cook and Ronald Herzman (Oxford
University Press, 1983)
A textbook rich in fact and detail about medieval society, religion and monarchy.
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this book
The New Penguin Atlas of Medieval History by Colin McEvedy (Penguin,
1961)
Overview of the era, with political maps every 40 years or so and a concise
narrative to accompany each one.
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this book
