[Music] it is evening the cold winter night approaches the year is 1117 the place Canterbury Cathedral Archbishop Thomas Becket prepares to meet four Knights in the service of King Henry ii they'd overheard his majesty wishing Becket dead his Majesty's will be done they came eager to win the Kings favour but now they stood as if confused one of the knights struck my lord Becket with the flat of his sword saying fly you are a dead man and he could have escaped through the crypt or up into the roof chambers they tried to drag him from the church but we held him back a brother Edward putting his arm up was slashed and by that same stroke Archbishop Becket was wounded in the head and as he knelt there clasping and stretching his hands out to God a second stroke was dealt him a blow of such force that the sword was broken against his head he took four blows in all God rules us all no one in the medieval world doubted that but on earth who should rule on earth the king or the church Thomas Beckett had made his choice and for putting his church before his king he was murdered but what made the church in medieval England so powerful that it could challenge kings st. Mary's kill Peck in Herefordshire a 12th century parish church there was a church in almost every village in medieval England so many survived today because most weren't built in wood and thatch but in stone it shows their importance the church was the center of village life churches are used for dancing and people come to church to drink ale yes and the church yards are used for fairs and markets and over this wrestling and summer sport and much music but the church was more than a place where people could meet and be together it taught how people should behave it laid down rules what was good what was bad and on Sundays and feast days and services across the country the message was drummed home do not fall into sin be not proud lazy drunken do not keep a bad house come to charge that the church can bless your children and make your marriage legal come to church to confess your sins come to church to celebrate the Christian faith respectfully and in the proper manner I am a poor old woman who knows nothing I never could read but in my parish church I see heaven painted with harps and lutes and hail where the damned ax boiled hell frightens me the heaven brings joy heaven was God's home a place of light and rest it was here according to the church the people who'd followed the church's rules when alive were rewarded after death those that broke the rules were punished in hell [Music] Aries are weeping and the gnashing of teeth there are devils that bind Jay huntin and torture is that last forever my feet turned toad like for in life I'd stood in sin my breast was eaten up with worms my stomach devoured by snakes for I had loved evil and rotten things more than I had loved God my lips were cut off my nose was cut off my eyes hung down upon my cheeks [Music] was it the fear of Hell that gave the church its power perhaps for believers but there were many for whom hell didn't seem to make much difference it's a problem my bishop has mentioned it often how strangely unmoved people seen by the Hellfire that awaits them they'll chatter in the church and when I ask them why they'll say the priest speaks in legend the service is all in Latin we do not understand and when I ask them are they believers some will say oh yes but then I find they believe such absurd things not the true gospel at all but the old superstitions that you must be may an extra plate for the fairies or that you should place sick children on the roof of the house to cure them or that you couldn't work witchcraft on the corpse of a dead man but in the face of such nonsense men laughter in the church seems trifling the job of enforcing the Church's teachings fell on the priests so were they failing in their duty the vicar never wears his robe ask him where it is you'll say he lost it gamblin vicars aren't meant to marry barn lives with a woman and frolics openly through the meadow and he was away for six weeks and had no one stand in for him the vicar spends his life in the a louse gossiping and getting drunk there was a problem with the quality of local priests many joined not because they were religious but because a priest's life was comfortable paid for the locals expense but they weren't all bad I know a goodly priest always giving to the poor not just money raised in church but his own money sure and though his parish is wide come hell or high water he's out there visiting like a good priest Otto until by spotless living and through simple good behavior he draws his parish with him unto heaven priests involved themselves at every level of village life drawing up charters overseeing wills ministering to the sick their presence gave the National Church a representative in every parish in the country but that was only one half of the church's power these are the ruins of Fountains Abbey in Yorkshire fountains was one of 750 religious communities in twelfth century England these monasteries controlled 15% of the land and all from men and women to come and dedicate their lives to God [Music] we must live without furs linen shirts combs mattresses that we must of course have farms and meadows to grow food otherwise we couldn't entertain guests and one must be hospitable but let us not grow rich no as Jesus Christ was poor so we will be poor and give up the riches of the world what made someone become a monk or a nun the only surviving life story of a nun in the 12th century is that of Christina of Mark II 8 I was 13 and my parents had taken me to the monastery of st. Alban his bones were kept there you could pray to them and ask His blessing and I remember how the monks seemed so perfect so content I wanted to join them and as I left I scratched the sign of the Cross in a door with my fingernail that I should return there one day and take my vows I'd lost all interest in the world I wanted to be pure women joined the nunneries for many different reasons they could prove themselves there they could study if they reached the rank of a bizarre Prioress they could experience real power denied them in so many other walks of life for some the nunneries were simply an escape my parents were preparing my wedding I said I don't want to get married they just laughed they tried to tempt me wouldn't let me go to church took me to banquets to get me drunk hoping at last I'd take the pleasures of the world but I was obstinate and then they locked me in my bridal chamber and they'd found this husband for me and they egged him on call yourself a man go on you can talk her round and he came into the room and I was hiding behind a tapestry after he left I climbed out the window It was as if I had escaped some devil with blackened teeth that made to seize me the priori that Christina founded at Marquee 8 was small in comparison to Fountains at its height there were 200 monks here and light in their separate world was Christian worship at its most perfect the first thing that strikes you is how quiet it is Shh bow of silence the second thing the white of their habits dies a reluctor a so they wear cloth of undyed sheep's wool they count honors and riches as dung they're an example to us all like the fist of God battering in our faces good food means nothing strong drink won't touch it pleasures of the flesh women aren't even allowed past their gates no women no Hawks no dogs [Music] daily routine followed a strict timetable of work prayer and study eight times a day the monks were called into the abbey church to hear the mass or to sing psalms in praise of the Lord the first service is 2:00 in the morning what a sorry sight they're all fighting to stay awake hoping no one will notice if they slump back and rest awhile catch 40 winks [Music] beyond the abbey church lay the hospital the kitchens the workshops for five hours a day the monks labored at household chores or in the fields or in the scriptorium where in the days before the printing press monks would write books by hand the monasteries became great centers of learning and the manuscripts the monks produced remain amongst the highest achievements of medieval art you only need three fingers to write but your whole body is working anyone who says it's easy never tried it and in midwinter when you're numb with cold once every day the monks would gather in the chapter house here would be read out the rules of the order a chapter a day and lapses and discipline would be dealt with one of the younger brothers gives to the punishment strong arm to swing the cane who decided who should be punished the abbot these Abbott's were men of great power they looked after the spiritual health of the community but just as important it was they that had responsibility for the monasteries business interests its farms estates forests breweries at fountains the abbot ran a staff of over 400 farm workers Butler's launderers and the abbot also had to look after the many pilgrims who came to be blessed or to catch a free meal in the refectory the monks have a duty to welcome travelers and they serve a better meal than they eat themselves they make do on bread cabbage beans meats only allowed in the hospital when the brothers are sick the pilgrims that visited the monasteries ensured that the monks in their separate world never quite lost touch with life beyond the monastery walls they brought the gossip that found its way into the monastic chronicles and they also brought money gifts of gold or other more humble offerings that the monks piled high in the monastery cellars but with such endless comings and goings could the monks preserve the simplicity their order had once known not always as money flooded in from pilgrims and land rents vows of poverty were often forgotten monks and nuns became corrupted by their enormous wealth I visited the convent of st. himand and found that the nuns wear undergarments strictly not allowed they dye their hair wear cloaks of rabbit-skin but far worse on questioning I found the cell Prioress to be sleeping with thomas the carter and sister Jacqueline's left the nunnery pregnant as a result of her relations with one of the chaplains monks these days lead lazy comfortable lives they have no pity for the poor they own such large estates they think of themselves only as landlords riding around from Manitou Manor with a pack of dogs at their heels monks for their comfort depend on the labor of others they take money from pilgrims lap up gifts of land or gold they live in the cloister but their riches mark them out as men of the world the growing influence of the monasteries had won them many enemies even the king henry ii was aware of the problem i remember once the monks Iturbide st. Swithin's in winchester grumbling in the dust before king henry for it seemed their abbot had cut three of their daily dishes well the King asked them how many were they used to thirteen they said thirteen cried the King outraged I am by Corps to content with five dammit blast rabbit therefore if he doesn't cut your dishes to match the number in my court why was Henry so angry because the church rivaled his authority and was out of his control the head of this enormous organization wasn't the king but the Pope in Rome and a church considered itself separate it had its own prisons its own courts members of the church were above the law let it be heard that the prisoner William de worde killed William Lavington in a fight outside Salisbury Cathedral last Michaelmas but the same William de worde pleads he is a clergyman and so this same William de worde will be handed over to the church or authorities be tried in the bishops court King Henry knew of 200 cases where murderers had hid behind the special privilege of the church and so escaped his justice he found the situation intolerable but his Archbishop Thomas Becket refused to compromise we clergy have Christ alone as our King and so being under the power of no earthly ruler we should be judged by our own law and that wasn't all Becket even dared good the king further you princes you think we bishops should bow down before you compared to the church your power is as nothing I will not obey in fact I think you should bow down before me until at last the king lost his temper and for ignorant nights took it upon themselves to rid him of his burden Beckett was to die he falls by the altar as he lies there one night strikes him a blow of such force that the sword was broken against his head he took four blows in all the whole of the crown of his head was lopped off but he didn't try to avoid or parry the blows he accepted death from a desire to be with God then one of the knights hue of horse he extracted the blood and brains from the hollow of his skull with the point of his sword what did Beckett's death achieve public opinions swung against Henry Europe was outraged and the King was forced to do penance kneeling dressed in sackcloth to be whipped by one of Becket's monks the church never let Beckett's name die he was made a saint and miracles were said to take place at his tomb so what was the power of the Church in medieval England you