1 00:00:02,400 --> 00:00:06,120 Castles have been part of our landscape for a thousand years. 2 00:00:07,600 --> 00:00:10,520 Arriving as a tool of Norman invasion, 3 00:00:10,520 --> 00:00:15,440 they spread to the furthest corners of England. 4 00:00:15,440 --> 00:00:20,040 Then in the 13th century Edward I, an English warrior king, 5 00:00:20,040 --> 00:00:23,880 pitted the people of Britain against each other. 6 00:00:23,880 --> 00:00:29,520 Edward would use castles to become an emperor in the Roman mould, 7 00:00:29,520 --> 00:00:35,600 to seize the crowns of his rivals and recognise no superior. 8 00:00:37,840 --> 00:00:40,680 Edward was playing a real game of thrones. 9 00:00:44,440 --> 00:00:49,520 In Wales, he would build gigantic fortresses to subjugate the Welsh. 10 00:00:49,520 --> 00:00:52,400 They would be colonial headquarters, 11 00:00:52,400 --> 00:00:57,240 symbols of engineering genius and brutal military occupation. 12 00:01:00,600 --> 00:01:04,360 But triumph in Wales would turn to failure in Scotland, 13 00:01:04,360 --> 00:01:09,360 as a new champion emerged to turn castles against the English. 14 00:01:09,360 --> 00:01:13,560 What followed was a struggle of epic sieges 15 00:01:13,560 --> 00:01:19,600 and terrifying weapons, to determine the future of the kingdom. 16 00:01:19,600 --> 00:01:22,200 It was an era of unparalleled aggression, 17 00:01:22,200 --> 00:01:25,360 that saw castles reach the peak of their design. 18 00:01:27,080 --> 00:01:30,960 And behind it all is the story of the greatest castle-building king 19 00:01:30,960 --> 00:01:33,360 these islands have ever seen. 20 00:01:56,680 --> 00:01:58,720 An intense conflict is under way. 21 00:02:00,640 --> 00:02:06,760 Vast armies are on the march and thrones are at stake, 22 00:02:06,760 --> 00:02:11,440 amidst some of the mightiest walled cities and castles ever seen. 23 00:02:11,440 --> 00:02:14,360 But these castles aren't here in England. 24 00:02:14,360 --> 00:02:18,240 These are the great Crusader fortresses of the Holy Land. 25 00:02:20,200 --> 00:02:24,280 The armies are engaged across the Holy Land and right in the middle 26 00:02:24,280 --> 00:02:26,280 of it all, taking it all in, 27 00:02:26,280 --> 00:02:30,240 is the future king of England, Edward Plantagenet. 28 00:02:33,200 --> 00:02:37,080 The House of Plantagenet had ruled England for more than a century. 29 00:02:38,440 --> 00:02:41,640 A powerful royal family with lands across France. 30 00:02:42,680 --> 00:02:47,360 The son of King Henry III, Prince Edward, was nicknamed Longshanks 31 00:02:47,360 --> 00:02:49,480 for his intimidating height, 32 00:02:49,480 --> 00:02:52,200 with a furious temper and ego to match. 33 00:02:53,240 --> 00:02:58,760 The warrior prince had gone on crusade in 1271 and been inspired. 34 00:02:58,760 --> 00:03:04,120 He returned with ambitions to expand his kingdom and his power. 35 00:03:04,120 --> 00:03:07,720 For Edward, castles were the key to fulfilling the destiny 36 00:03:07,720 --> 00:03:09,200 he had in mind. 37 00:03:09,200 --> 00:03:13,440 Castles would be his Camelots, the HQ of brand Plantagenet. 38 00:03:13,440 --> 00:03:16,840 Not only a tool for conquering the countries around him, 39 00:03:16,840 --> 00:03:19,080 but for permanently colonising them 40 00:03:19,080 --> 00:03:22,280 and reshaping their way of life as he saw fit. 41 00:03:25,160 --> 00:03:29,520 The fate of Wales and Scotland would turn on the building 42 00:03:29,520 --> 00:03:31,480 and besieging of castles. 43 00:03:38,200 --> 00:03:41,840 In 1272, on his way home from the Crusades, 44 00:03:41,840 --> 00:03:44,600 the prince learned that his father had died 45 00:03:44,600 --> 00:03:50,360 and that he was now Edward I, King of England. 46 00:03:51,840 --> 00:03:55,760 He'd soon embark on his first colonial project... 47 00:03:55,760 --> 00:03:57,080 Wales. 48 00:03:59,400 --> 00:04:03,280 The borderland with England was known as the Marches, 49 00:04:03,280 --> 00:04:08,240 a dangerous frontier controlled by the violent Marcher Lords, 50 00:04:08,240 --> 00:04:10,640 who worked on behalf of the English Crown. 51 00:04:12,920 --> 00:04:17,760 North Wales had its own independent nobles 52 00:04:17,760 --> 00:04:20,040 and there was constant friction. 53 00:04:22,920 --> 00:04:28,000 This is White Castle, in the heart of the Marches in Monmouthshire. 54 00:04:29,320 --> 00:04:33,120 In the 1250s, it became one of the young Prince Edward's 55 00:04:33,120 --> 00:04:34,640 very first castles. 56 00:04:36,640 --> 00:04:40,120 In the 1260s, the situation in the Welsh Marches had reached 57 00:04:40,120 --> 00:04:43,920 boiling point. One northern Welsh ruler, Llywelyn ap Gruffydd, 58 00:04:43,920 --> 00:04:47,680 had expanded his power here, in a way that panicked not only 59 00:04:47,680 --> 00:04:51,320 the Marcher Lords, but the English monarchy itself, and 60 00:04:51,320 --> 00:04:53,880 it became a major thorn in Edward's side. 61 00:04:56,800 --> 00:05:00,280 Llywelyn was an independent ruler from the House of Gwynedd, 62 00:05:00,280 --> 00:05:03,040 whose lands centred around North Wales. 63 00:05:05,160 --> 00:05:09,840 He adopted the title Prince of Wales, as overlord of the Welsh. 64 00:05:09,840 --> 00:05:13,680 His territory grew throughout the 1250s and into the '60s. 65 00:05:13,680 --> 00:05:17,040 You can see the effects of this growing standoff 66 00:05:17,040 --> 00:05:18,760 in White Castle itself. 67 00:05:21,760 --> 00:05:25,880 This entire castle was once rendered in white, hence the name, 68 00:05:25,880 --> 00:05:29,280 and although that is quite a significant statement 69 00:05:29,280 --> 00:05:32,280 this place has no airs or graces. 70 00:05:32,280 --> 00:05:36,840 It's an entirely military set-up with no creature comforts. 71 00:05:36,840 --> 00:05:41,480 It's a powerful reminder of just how tense things had become here. 72 00:05:41,480 --> 00:05:44,920 The rise of Llywelyn had not gone unnoticed, and in the 1260s 73 00:05:44,920 --> 00:05:48,480 Edward gave this place a massive makeover. 74 00:05:54,080 --> 00:05:57,400 Edward used the very latest ideas in castle design 75 00:05:57,400 --> 00:06:00,840 to strengthen the defences. 76 00:06:00,840 --> 00:06:03,600 Round towers were added along the castle walls. 77 00:06:03,600 --> 00:06:07,400 They're four storeys high and pierced only with arrow slits. 78 00:06:07,400 --> 00:06:10,120 Round towers were more difficult to undermine than 79 00:06:10,120 --> 00:06:12,960 the square towers, because the corners of square towers were 80 00:06:12,960 --> 00:06:14,280 their weakest point. 81 00:06:14,280 --> 00:06:17,280 In fact, if you look all around the curtain walls here, 82 00:06:17,280 --> 00:06:19,680 you won't find a corner anywhere. 83 00:06:19,680 --> 00:06:24,520 It was also more difficult to rest a siege ladder against a round tower. 84 00:06:24,520 --> 00:06:28,120 Fighting from siege ladders was difficult enough, but it was almost 85 00:06:28,120 --> 00:06:31,280 impossible if you were trying to keep your balance as well. 86 00:06:32,760 --> 00:06:37,080 The new arrow slits were an unusual design that allowed bowmen 87 00:06:37,080 --> 00:06:40,680 to track their target horizontally along the steep moat. 88 00:06:43,440 --> 00:06:45,800 It was uncompromising stuff, 89 00:06:45,800 --> 00:06:49,240 a response in stone to Llywelyn's growing power. 90 00:06:51,360 --> 00:06:54,560 The independent Welsh rulers of Gwynedd had castles 91 00:06:54,560 --> 00:06:56,160 and ambitions of their own. 92 00:06:57,800 --> 00:07:02,880 In Llywelyn's hinterland territory stood Dolbadarn Castle, 93 00:07:02,880 --> 00:07:05,840 one of his most prized strongholds. 94 00:07:08,280 --> 00:07:11,280 The mountains of Snowdonia themselves were said to be 95 00:07:11,280 --> 00:07:16,120 like a castle for the Welsh kings, and Dolbadarn guards a key pass. 96 00:07:16,120 --> 00:07:19,400 In fact, the mountains formed part of the castle itself. 97 00:07:19,400 --> 00:07:23,320 You can see how these outer walls are built up of un-mortared slate 98 00:07:23,320 --> 00:07:25,320 mined from the surrounding area. 99 00:07:26,720 --> 00:07:30,560 The Welsh didn't just build castles to keep outsiders out, 100 00:07:30,560 --> 00:07:33,240 but to control their families as well. 101 00:07:35,880 --> 00:07:39,040 Under the Welsh system, inherited lands were divided up 102 00:07:39,040 --> 00:07:43,160 between sons rather than going to a sole heir. 103 00:07:43,160 --> 00:07:46,640 This meant men like Llywelyn needed secure prisons 104 00:07:46,640 --> 00:07:49,040 for scheming brothers or cousins. 105 00:07:50,040 --> 00:07:52,680 He imprisoned his own brother Owain 106 00:07:52,680 --> 00:07:57,800 in this tower for 22 years, earning him the scorn of a Welsh poet, 107 00:07:57,800 --> 00:08:00,960 who questioned whether he'd got his priorities right. 108 00:08:04,760 --> 00:08:09,400 "There is a hero in a tower in long captivity 109 00:08:09,400 --> 00:08:13,040 "A brave, kingly, sovereign hawk 110 00:08:13,040 --> 00:08:18,400 "A hero whose loss I feel from among the living 111 00:08:18,400 --> 00:08:22,600 "A hero who would not allow England to burn HIS border." 112 00:08:24,440 --> 00:08:28,800 Llywelyn had risen to the top at the cost of his own brothers, 113 00:08:28,800 --> 00:08:31,280 but his grip on power was fragile. 114 00:08:34,600 --> 00:08:37,920 For a while, Llywelyn was secure in his achievements. 115 00:08:37,920 --> 00:08:43,120 By 1267, he ruled around 75% of the Welsh population. 116 00:08:43,120 --> 00:08:45,400 But this was a man under pressure. 117 00:08:45,400 --> 00:08:48,640 That same year he signed the treaty of Montgomery, 118 00:08:48,640 --> 00:08:51,840 which, for the first time, formally acknowledged his title 119 00:08:51,840 --> 00:08:55,640 as the Prince of Wales, but which also committed him to paying 120 00:08:55,640 --> 00:08:58,120 vast sums of money to the English Crown. 121 00:09:04,280 --> 00:09:07,920 It was a determined attempt to stay independent of England. 122 00:09:10,160 --> 00:09:14,600 But then Llywelyn made a catastrophic mistake - 123 00:09:14,600 --> 00:09:16,240 insulting Edward I. 124 00:09:18,720 --> 00:09:23,480 He refused to acknowledge Edward as his King five times in a row 125 00:09:23,480 --> 00:09:26,720 and the feud exploded into open combat. 126 00:09:29,360 --> 00:09:31,520 King Edward fielded the largest army 127 00:09:31,520 --> 00:09:34,760 since 1066 against this Prince of Wales. 128 00:09:36,960 --> 00:09:40,600 Not for nothing is he known as Llywelyn the Last. 129 00:09:43,040 --> 00:09:46,640 By the time the hard-fought wars had ended, Llywelyn 130 00:09:46,640 --> 00:09:51,160 and his brother Dafydd were both dead, and the timbers of Dolbadarn 131 00:09:51,160 --> 00:09:54,800 were carried off by Edward to build a castle of his own. 132 00:09:54,800 --> 00:09:57,680 The House of Gwynedd was finished. 133 00:09:57,680 --> 00:10:02,200 Edward took direct control of Wales and developed a strategy 134 00:10:02,200 --> 00:10:04,720 to subdue the Welsh permanently. 135 00:10:07,280 --> 00:10:10,040 The King built castles that would change 136 00:10:10,040 --> 00:10:11,920 the very shape of their country. 137 00:10:11,920 --> 00:10:15,720 These would be the mightiest fortresses Europe had ever seen 138 00:10:15,720 --> 00:10:18,760 and were the tools with which Edward would not only conquer Wales, 139 00:10:18,760 --> 00:10:20,800 but colonise it. 140 00:10:25,200 --> 00:10:27,120 Wales was ruthlessly oppressed. 141 00:10:28,120 --> 00:10:30,960 Edward I constructed a series of castles, 142 00:10:30,960 --> 00:10:35,160 described as an iron ring around the north of the country. 143 00:10:36,200 --> 00:10:37,920 There were 17 in total, 144 00:10:37,920 --> 00:10:43,960 with enormous new fortresses at Conway, Harlech and Beaumaris. 145 00:10:47,080 --> 00:10:51,360 They were later described by one Welshman as magnificent badges 146 00:10:51,360 --> 00:10:53,640 of our subjection. 147 00:11:00,800 --> 00:11:03,840 To supervise the vast construction process, 148 00:11:03,840 --> 00:11:08,800 Edward summoned a Master Mason from Savoy, called James of St George. 149 00:11:08,800 --> 00:11:12,200 He'd worked on a number of major castles in Europe. 150 00:11:12,200 --> 00:11:17,400 He was part engineer and part project manager 151 00:11:17,400 --> 00:11:21,240 and the man who made Edward's castle building obsession a reality. 152 00:11:26,880 --> 00:11:29,720 The most spectacular of his creations was built 153 00:11:29,720 --> 00:11:31,120 here at Caernarfon. 154 00:11:36,960 --> 00:11:40,760 If you look at Dolbadarn and look at Caernarfon, 155 00:11:40,760 --> 00:11:45,560 what strikes you is the huge size of Caernarfon, 156 00:11:45,560 --> 00:11:48,080 the shear wealth that went into it. 157 00:11:48,080 --> 00:11:52,880 A modest ruler in Gwynedd couldn't even dream of building 158 00:11:52,880 --> 00:11:56,600 something on that scale, but Edward I could. 159 00:12:00,760 --> 00:12:04,480 King Edward had Caernarfon designed for military domination, 160 00:12:04,480 --> 00:12:09,120 but he took advantage of history to give it cultural firepower as well. 161 00:12:10,720 --> 00:12:15,400 Edward knew that to gain traction in Wales and to make his rule last, 162 00:12:15,400 --> 00:12:19,160 he not only needed enormous military bastions, 163 00:12:19,160 --> 00:12:22,880 but to make it seem as though his reign was inevitable. 164 00:12:22,880 --> 00:12:27,760 Like a fulfilled prophecy, as though ruling Wales was somehow fate. 165 00:12:29,680 --> 00:12:32,720 As James of Saint George was constructing Caernarfon, 166 00:12:32,720 --> 00:12:34,960 workers discovered a body. 167 00:12:34,960 --> 00:12:39,000 It was claimed to be none other than Roman Emperor Magnus Maximus, 168 00:12:39,000 --> 00:12:43,440 then thought to be the father of Constantine the Great. 169 00:12:43,440 --> 00:12:47,160 Edward ordered the body to be reburied in a local church. 170 00:12:50,080 --> 00:12:54,040 A cynic might say this was all suspiciously convenient. 171 00:12:54,040 --> 00:12:56,920 What better sign could there be of Edward's greatness 172 00:12:56,920 --> 00:12:59,600 than following in the imperial Roman footsteps? 173 00:12:59,600 --> 00:13:02,000 But there's even more to it than that. 174 00:13:02,000 --> 00:13:05,000 Co-opting Roman power and prestige was good, 175 00:13:05,000 --> 00:13:09,200 but that Maximus was also linked to a Welsh legend was just perfect. 176 00:13:14,680 --> 00:13:18,120 And that legend was the Dream of Macsen Wledig, 177 00:13:18,120 --> 00:13:20,160 the Welsh name for Maximus. 178 00:13:20,160 --> 00:13:23,840 In this tale, Macsen dreamed of travelling from Rome to a land 179 00:13:23,840 --> 00:13:28,560 of high mountains and arriving at a river flowing into the sea. 180 00:13:28,560 --> 00:13:33,200 There was a great fortified city with towers of many colours 181 00:13:33,200 --> 00:13:36,840 and a great fort, the fairest man ever saw, 182 00:13:36,840 --> 00:13:41,800 with the image of eagles in gold sat by an ivory throne. 183 00:13:43,800 --> 00:13:47,800 At Caernarfon, Edward took this imagery of the past 184 00:13:47,800 --> 00:13:49,800 and built it into his castle. 185 00:13:49,800 --> 00:13:52,760 And here on top of the Eagle Tower, 186 00:13:52,760 --> 00:13:55,440 you can see how those symbols of legend were made real. 187 00:13:55,440 --> 00:14:00,840 Three stone eagles like this one were set atop the Eagle Tower, 188 00:14:00,840 --> 00:14:03,120 possibly gilded for all the world to see. 189 00:14:03,120 --> 00:14:06,960 It was particularly clever because the eagle is a symbol 190 00:14:06,960 --> 00:14:12,880 both of the Roman Empire and from centuries-old Welsh folk stories. 191 00:14:19,000 --> 00:14:23,720 The architecture cemented an imperial connection. 192 00:14:23,720 --> 00:14:27,400 Bands of coloured masonry and polygonal towers were 193 00:14:27,400 --> 00:14:31,560 inspired by Roman designs like these in Constantinople, 194 00:14:31,560 --> 00:14:33,440 known today as Istanbul. 195 00:14:34,520 --> 00:14:38,160 The incorporation of more elaborate practices, 196 00:14:38,160 --> 00:14:42,400 for example Krak des Chevaliers, which is now in Syria, 197 00:14:42,400 --> 00:14:44,520 which was built by the Crusaders. 198 00:14:44,520 --> 00:14:48,800 You can see elements of those castles in Caernarfon. 199 00:14:48,800 --> 00:14:52,280 You can even see elements, some people claim, of Istanbul, 200 00:14:52,280 --> 00:14:57,120 because the towers on the corners have got bands of different stone. 201 00:14:57,120 --> 00:15:01,440 Edward the Crusader knew well the value of sturdy walls 202 00:15:01,440 --> 00:15:03,240 and international symbolism. 203 00:15:08,840 --> 00:15:12,600 The lords who once united the Welsh were dead 204 00:15:12,600 --> 00:15:16,160 and the King wanted Welsh unity to stay dead with them. 205 00:15:18,680 --> 00:15:23,120 But Edward could use their legacy for his own ends. 206 00:15:23,120 --> 00:15:28,680 In 1284, his wife Eleanor gave birth to a son within these walls 207 00:15:28,680 --> 00:15:34,680 and presented the King with a chance to bind Wales to the English Crown. 208 00:15:34,680 --> 00:15:39,360 For years tradition maintained that the young prince was born here 209 00:15:39,360 --> 00:15:43,360 in this room in Eagle Tower, but we now know that the castle 210 00:15:43,360 --> 00:15:47,840 was then a building site and that this floor had yet to be finished. 211 00:15:47,840 --> 00:15:51,280 The prince was born in Caernarfon Castle and Edward 212 00:15:51,280 --> 00:15:55,720 deliberately chose it as the location for the birth. 213 00:15:55,720 --> 00:15:59,160 According to legend, he had a very good reason to do so. 214 00:16:02,240 --> 00:16:05,800 The story goes that his new Welsh subjects implored 215 00:16:05,800 --> 00:16:09,120 the King only to anoint a new Prince of Wales 216 00:16:09,120 --> 00:16:13,680 who was born in Wales and who spoke no word of English. 217 00:16:13,680 --> 00:16:17,400 The crafty Edward realised that his newborn son, 218 00:16:17,400 --> 00:16:21,240 who couldn't speak at all, fitted the bill perfectly 219 00:16:21,240 --> 00:16:23,400 and he handed his son the title. 220 00:16:23,400 --> 00:16:27,000 From now on, the title of Prince of Wales went to the first-born son 221 00:16:27,000 --> 00:16:29,560 of every English monarch. 222 00:16:29,560 --> 00:16:33,040 What had been the proud boast of Llywelyn's ancestors 223 00:16:33,040 --> 00:16:36,360 was claimed for England along with all of their lands. 224 00:16:38,400 --> 00:16:40,840 Surrounded by a resentful population, 225 00:16:40,840 --> 00:16:43,840 Caernarfon was designed with a myriad of defences. 226 00:16:45,560 --> 00:16:49,400 And, like all of James of St George's castles, it was supplied 227 00:16:49,400 --> 00:16:53,840 by the sea, making it that much harder to cut off during a siege. 228 00:16:55,040 --> 00:16:57,920 Soon enough, Caernarfon faced its first proper test 229 00:16:57,920 --> 00:17:00,840 and it failed spectacularly. 230 00:17:00,840 --> 00:17:03,880 In doing so, it highlighted a real problem for castle builders. 231 00:17:03,880 --> 00:17:07,000 Castles were mighty strongholds when the walls were up, 232 00:17:07,000 --> 00:17:09,600 but what happened when they were being built? 233 00:17:11,440 --> 00:17:14,600 In 1292, work had been halted. 234 00:17:14,600 --> 00:17:16,920 The walls of the town were largely complete 235 00:17:16,920 --> 00:17:19,880 and the southern side of the castle was built high. 236 00:17:19,880 --> 00:17:23,240 But the north was a different matter, 237 00:17:23,240 --> 00:17:25,920 and, in 1294, there was an uprising. 238 00:17:25,920 --> 00:17:29,080 At the time of the rebellion, none of this was here. 239 00:17:29,080 --> 00:17:31,880 The entire north face of the castle was unfinished. 240 00:17:31,880 --> 00:17:36,280 It was only protected by the town walls and by a timber palisade. 241 00:17:36,280 --> 00:17:39,960 So, rather un-sportingly, the rebels just hopped over the barriers, 242 00:17:39,960 --> 00:17:43,680 took control of the castle and burned everything in sight. 243 00:17:43,680 --> 00:17:46,000 The castle was retaken six months later. 244 00:17:47,480 --> 00:17:50,080 The results of this incident are visible 245 00:17:50,080 --> 00:17:52,320 in the fabric of the castle itself. 246 00:17:52,320 --> 00:17:56,200 The south facade has a stylish and elegant construction. 247 00:17:56,200 --> 00:17:59,000 But here on the north the stonework is a bit rougher, 248 00:17:59,000 --> 00:18:01,080 completed in a bit of a hurry. 249 00:18:01,080 --> 00:18:06,400 Gone is the eye for detail and the multicoloured layers of stone. 250 00:18:06,400 --> 00:18:09,280 They just wanted it fortified and sharpish. 251 00:18:13,440 --> 00:18:17,120 At Caernarfon, James of St George led an international 252 00:18:17,120 --> 00:18:21,160 building project, with a small army drafted in to work on it. 253 00:18:21,160 --> 00:18:24,280 He had assistants with ideas and expertise from across 254 00:18:24,280 --> 00:18:29,240 the continent, but the bulk of his workforce were a different story. 255 00:18:30,400 --> 00:18:34,080 Although Caernarfon's about as far as you can get from England, 256 00:18:34,080 --> 00:18:38,560 all of the labourers and workmen who built this place were English. 257 00:18:38,560 --> 00:18:42,360 Edward had them shipped in from as far afield as Kent 258 00:18:42,360 --> 00:18:44,960 and Cumbria in their thousands. 259 00:18:44,960 --> 00:18:48,680 The Welsh simply weren't trusted to work on his pet castle. 260 00:18:51,120 --> 00:18:53,840 Castles were, of course, entirely handmade 261 00:18:53,840 --> 00:18:58,080 and the skills required to make them were highly prized. 262 00:18:58,080 --> 00:19:01,240 Andy Oldfield is a modern-day master mason. 263 00:19:04,680 --> 00:19:08,680 Andy, what was the place of the mason in the medieval world? 264 00:19:08,680 --> 00:19:12,200 It was one of privilege. The actual mason, 265 00:19:12,200 --> 00:19:15,320 they were one of the few people that could actually travel. 266 00:19:15,320 --> 00:19:18,320 They would actually, not just travel to the next town, 267 00:19:18,320 --> 00:19:21,320 but travel to the other side of the country, travel to the other side of 268 00:19:21,320 --> 00:19:24,920 the continent if they were in demand, hence why we get the term, Freemason. 269 00:19:24,920 --> 00:19:26,920 They were allowed to freely travel. 270 00:19:26,920 --> 00:19:29,520 The key building block was the ashlar, 271 00:19:29,520 --> 00:19:33,720 the tough and squared-off facing stone on the front of the walls. 272 00:19:33,720 --> 00:19:36,160 We're going to make one the old way. 273 00:19:36,160 --> 00:19:39,320 We're going to split this stone the old-fashioned way 274 00:19:39,320 --> 00:19:40,840 using plug and feathers. 275 00:19:40,840 --> 00:19:44,880 Plug and feathers is just a series of metal wedges, really. 276 00:19:44,880 --> 00:19:48,200 These are classed as the feathers and this is a plug. 277 00:19:48,200 --> 00:19:50,360 We're going to insert them into the hole 278 00:19:50,360 --> 00:19:52,440 and put the wedge down between them. 279 00:19:53,520 --> 00:19:56,760 We'll put them in to push the stone apart. 280 00:19:56,760 --> 00:19:58,680 It doesn't take a lot of strength. 281 00:19:58,680 --> 00:20:02,920 What it does take... is a bit of gentle tapping. 282 00:20:02,920 --> 00:20:06,600 As we start to hit it with a hammer, they start to talk to you. 283 00:20:06,600 --> 00:20:09,480 They sing to you. The noise they make tells you how far the stone 284 00:20:09,480 --> 00:20:11,760 is through before it breaks. 285 00:20:11,760 --> 00:20:14,600 Keep going until the feathers talk to me? They do indeed. 286 00:20:14,600 --> 00:20:17,480 Gentle taps, because you're not trying to smash your way through. 287 00:20:17,480 --> 00:20:20,520 Is that all right? That's fine. 288 00:20:20,520 --> 00:20:24,160 That one is singing a bit. There we go. 289 00:20:24,160 --> 00:20:26,040 Talking feathers. 290 00:20:26,040 --> 00:20:30,720 There we go, it's getting close. And there we go. 291 00:20:30,720 --> 00:20:34,520 That's it, as simple as that. You can give it another tap if you wish. 292 00:20:34,520 --> 00:20:36,920 There we go, it's done. Hooray! 293 00:20:36,920 --> 00:20:40,720 What we have there, if we just pull it apart, 294 00:20:40,720 --> 00:20:44,080 is two stones ready for the next stage of carving. 295 00:20:45,480 --> 00:20:48,640 It's amazing how effective these tiny things are. 296 00:20:48,640 --> 00:20:51,720 This is a piece of stone I could never pick up 297 00:20:51,720 --> 00:20:55,200 but I've managed to break it in half with just a few taps, 298 00:20:55,200 --> 00:20:58,920 playing the stone xylophone with these feathers and it cracked. 299 00:20:58,920 --> 00:21:00,440 It's amazing. 300 00:21:02,480 --> 00:21:05,000 Were there different skill levels of mason? 301 00:21:05,000 --> 00:21:07,680 There were, in fact there were about seven levels, 302 00:21:07,680 --> 00:21:11,920 from the rough hewers down in the quarry, right up to the master mason 303 00:21:11,920 --> 00:21:15,720 who was the architect who put together the designs, made sure 304 00:21:15,720 --> 00:21:18,800 everything worked together and it all stayed up and didn't fall down. 305 00:21:18,800 --> 00:21:22,840 Was it a really treasured skill? It was a protected skill. 306 00:21:22,840 --> 00:21:25,240 It was highly protected. 307 00:21:25,240 --> 00:21:28,080 The more knowledge you had, the greater you could earn, 308 00:21:28,080 --> 00:21:32,400 the more power you wielded. How was that knowledge passed down? 309 00:21:32,400 --> 00:21:36,800 Through a very strict and very close guarded secret to training. 310 00:21:36,800 --> 00:21:39,000 They would set up a lodge, 311 00:21:39,000 --> 00:21:41,720 which is where a lot of the carving work went on. 312 00:21:41,720 --> 00:21:44,200 They also...they didn't necessarily sleep in the lodges, 313 00:21:44,200 --> 00:21:46,400 but they took their meals in there and that's where 314 00:21:46,400 --> 00:21:49,480 a lot of the training went on for the apprentices and where 315 00:21:49,480 --> 00:21:53,000 they were assessed to whether or not they could make it to be a mason. 316 00:21:53,000 --> 00:21:58,040 What's next, Andy? This is the next process. It's called boning in. 317 00:21:58,040 --> 00:22:02,680 Basically involved cutting four small areas, it didn't have to 318 00:22:02,680 --> 00:22:06,360 be in corners, it could be anywhere using a mallet and chisel. 319 00:22:06,360 --> 00:22:12,120 What we do is we gently create a flat surface. 320 00:22:12,120 --> 00:22:17,120 They had to be flat enough to put one of our boning blocks on. I see. 321 00:22:17,120 --> 00:22:19,960 This is where it really becomes part of a skilled trade 322 00:22:19,960 --> 00:22:23,160 and deep dark secrets of the masons. 323 00:22:23,160 --> 00:22:27,040 Then we're going to take our flat surface, a straight edge, 324 00:22:27,040 --> 00:22:29,520 and this was the mason's Bible. 325 00:22:29,520 --> 00:22:33,240 We've got to create a flat surface out of this moonscape of a rock. 326 00:22:33,240 --> 00:22:38,240 A mason would look between the two levels, 327 00:22:38,240 --> 00:22:41,440 top of the levels of stone and to see if they lined up. 328 00:22:41,440 --> 00:22:44,440 If they didn't line up... Between this one and this one? Yes. 329 00:22:44,440 --> 00:22:47,240 You'd sight your way through and if they didn't line up, 330 00:22:47,240 --> 00:22:50,760 you'd know one of those corners was a bit higher, a bit lower. 331 00:22:50,760 --> 00:22:52,320 You'd trim a little bit more out 332 00:22:52,320 --> 00:22:55,080 until both of those straight edges were in line. 333 00:22:57,960 --> 00:23:00,080 Right, there we go. I think that is pretty good. 334 00:23:00,080 --> 00:23:01,760 I think we're about there at that. 335 00:23:01,760 --> 00:23:04,240 If we put these blocks on, because we always have to check. 336 00:23:04,240 --> 00:23:06,360 It's about checking your work all the time. 337 00:23:06,360 --> 00:23:09,040 Using our straight edge again and one of our chisels. 338 00:23:10,320 --> 00:23:14,320 We look down again and check again. You check from your side. 339 00:23:14,320 --> 00:23:18,560 That looks pretty good to me. I think we're bob on at that. 340 00:23:18,560 --> 00:23:20,440 That's pretty good. 341 00:23:20,440 --> 00:23:22,880 After chipping away the waste from the middle, 342 00:23:22,880 --> 00:23:24,600 the surface is smoothed off. 343 00:23:26,960 --> 00:23:30,360 You're virtually there at that. Then the final process. 344 00:23:30,360 --> 00:23:32,680 With any ashlar, you've got to make it square, 345 00:23:32,680 --> 00:23:34,960 so it fits in, and build a building block. 346 00:23:37,360 --> 00:23:40,640 It was the mason's square which enables them to do this. 347 00:23:42,680 --> 00:23:44,880 By etching a straight line with the set square, 348 00:23:44,880 --> 00:23:48,320 a tool called a pitcher, can be used to create the flat edge. 349 00:23:51,240 --> 00:23:54,280 Be gentle, now. Excellent. 350 00:23:54,280 --> 00:23:56,280 When I think about medieval buildings, 351 00:23:56,280 --> 00:23:59,680 it's so easy to compare castles with cathedrals, which seem 352 00:23:59,680 --> 00:24:02,000 so much more complex in their construction. 353 00:24:02,000 --> 00:24:04,200 Is that a fair way of thinking about it? 354 00:24:04,200 --> 00:24:05,920 A castle was designed for one thing only 355 00:24:05,920 --> 00:24:09,480 and that was to withstand being stormed and broken into. 356 00:24:09,480 --> 00:24:13,760 It was quite a complex sort of design to take a lot of abuse. 357 00:24:14,920 --> 00:24:18,040 Now we've got our mason's mark. You've got to sign it. 358 00:24:18,040 --> 00:24:19,640 Be proud of my stone. 359 00:24:29,600 --> 00:24:32,800 The masons at Caernarfon were working on something that 360 00:24:32,800 --> 00:24:35,160 hadn't been seen on these shores before. 361 00:24:36,720 --> 00:24:41,240 Edward I's new fortresses had a colonial town built into them. 362 00:24:42,320 --> 00:24:46,280 These were known as bastides, an idea taken from Gascony. 363 00:24:47,480 --> 00:24:51,400 For Wales, he built the most heavily fortified version possible. 364 00:24:52,680 --> 00:24:55,960 Bastides were a truly colonial idea. 365 00:24:55,960 --> 00:24:58,600 They were surrounded by higher walls and laid out 366 00:24:58,600 --> 00:25:01,320 on a military-style grid system. 367 00:25:01,320 --> 00:25:04,240 They were designed to provide both goods and taxes 368 00:25:04,240 --> 00:25:07,040 and were even subject to their own colonial laws. 369 00:25:11,080 --> 00:25:14,760 Bastides were a way of generating income for the project. 370 00:25:16,720 --> 00:25:21,200 But in Wales, the King's new bastide towns had a far more sinister side. 371 00:25:21,200 --> 00:25:26,080 The Welsh were cut out and the English filled the townships. 372 00:25:32,960 --> 00:25:36,600 It was clear that the building of these new towns represents 373 00:25:36,600 --> 00:25:41,160 a process of deliberate Anglicisation of North Wales, 374 00:25:41,160 --> 00:25:45,640 by bringing in new towns which the Welsh were totally unaccustomed to 375 00:25:45,640 --> 00:25:49,160 and bringing in new settlers from England. 376 00:25:52,040 --> 00:25:56,800 These civilian settlements formed part of a classic frontier-land. 377 00:25:56,800 --> 00:26:00,240 Hostile territory peopled by a defeated enemy. 378 00:26:08,600 --> 00:26:11,440 The last castle Edward built in Wales would be Beaumaris, 379 00:26:11,440 --> 00:26:13,800 meaning beautiful marsh. 380 00:26:17,240 --> 00:26:19,360 Standing on the island of Anglesey, 381 00:26:19,360 --> 00:26:22,920 it was intended to be the crowning glory of the iron ring 382 00:26:22,920 --> 00:26:27,440 and the finest work of his master mason, James of St George. 383 00:26:34,800 --> 00:26:37,600 Beaumaris was a military masterpiece, 384 00:26:37,600 --> 00:26:41,720 planned with an almost impenetrable series of defences. 385 00:26:41,720 --> 00:26:44,600 It was based around the idea of concentric walls, 386 00:26:44,600 --> 00:26:48,520 essentially, building a castle within a castle. 387 00:26:48,520 --> 00:26:52,240 Like so much else, it was a lesson learnt from the great 388 00:26:52,240 --> 00:26:55,360 fortresses of the Holy Land. 389 00:26:55,360 --> 00:26:58,720 If you were an attacker and you managed to make it through or 390 00:26:58,720 --> 00:27:01,560 over this wall, you'd then be trapped here in a killing zone. 391 00:27:01,560 --> 00:27:04,320 You'd face a constant barrage of missiles and 392 00:27:04,320 --> 00:27:07,720 you still had to make it past this even bigger wall. 393 00:27:18,760 --> 00:27:21,320 If you were a defender, you could mount a solid defence 394 00:27:21,320 --> 00:27:23,760 of the outer walls, firing over the moat 395 00:27:23,760 --> 00:27:27,120 while constantly being protected by covering fire from your 396 00:27:27,120 --> 00:27:30,040 comrades here up on the inner wall. 397 00:27:30,040 --> 00:27:33,520 If that outer wall was then breached, you could retreat here. 398 00:27:34,800 --> 00:27:38,560 Every time the attackers were slowed down by a new line of defences, 399 00:27:38,560 --> 00:27:41,640 whether it was the moat, the outer wall, or the inner wall, 400 00:27:41,640 --> 00:27:43,360 they were exposed. 401 00:27:46,000 --> 00:27:48,000 James of St George was now known 402 00:27:48,000 --> 00:27:50,640 as the Master of the King's Works in Wales 403 00:27:50,640 --> 00:27:53,600 and Beaumaris offered him something unique. 404 00:27:55,360 --> 00:27:58,720 Unlike all the other castles in the ring of iron, 405 00:27:58,720 --> 00:28:01,800 Beaumaris was built on an entirely new site. 406 00:28:01,800 --> 00:28:03,400 It was a blank canvas, 407 00:28:03,400 --> 00:28:08,040 and it allowed Master James to build exactly the castle that he wanted. 408 00:28:08,040 --> 00:28:12,120 The flat marshland terrain allowed him to build an almost 409 00:28:12,120 --> 00:28:16,800 perfectly symmetrical fortress, with no compromises in form. 410 00:28:29,080 --> 00:28:32,960 More than 2,500 people were brought in to work on this project 411 00:28:32,960 --> 00:28:34,600 in the first year alone, 412 00:28:34,600 --> 00:28:39,560 and the castle bears scars of that construction process. 413 00:28:39,560 --> 00:28:42,200 These holes are for scaffolding poles 414 00:28:42,200 --> 00:28:45,040 and they arch their way around the tower 415 00:28:45,040 --> 00:28:49,200 and they were used to support a distinctively spiral 416 00:28:49,200 --> 00:28:52,320 type of scaffolding technique that was imported from 417 00:28:52,320 --> 00:28:54,280 Master James' homeland of Savoy. 418 00:29:01,680 --> 00:29:05,880 But there was a problem. Castles were enormously expensive 419 00:29:05,880 --> 00:29:10,080 and Edward's brutal wars had almost bankrupted the kingdom. 420 00:29:10,080 --> 00:29:14,000 For all its design genius, Beaumaris was never actually finished. 421 00:29:16,040 --> 00:29:20,720 In 1296, James of St George wrote a letter complaining of tightly 422 00:29:20,720 --> 00:29:24,560 squeezed budgets in a way some of us might still recognise today. 423 00:29:26,600 --> 00:29:29,880 "We write to inform you that the work we're doing is very costly 424 00:29:29,880 --> 00:29:32,760 "and we need a great deal of money. 425 00:29:32,760 --> 00:29:36,280 "In case you should wonder where so much money could go in a week, 426 00:29:36,280 --> 00:29:40,240 "we would have you know we have needed and shall continue to need 427 00:29:40,240 --> 00:29:43,440 "400 masons, both cutters and layers, 428 00:29:43,440 --> 00:29:48,160 "together with 2,000 minor workmen, 100 carts, 60 wagons 429 00:29:48,160 --> 00:29:52,880 "and 30 boats bringing stone and sea coal, 200 quarrymen, 430 00:29:52,880 --> 00:29:57,000 "30 smiths and carpenters. PS, and Sirs, for God's sake, 431 00:29:57,000 --> 00:30:01,000 "be quick with the money for the works, otherwise everything 432 00:30:01,000 --> 00:30:03,760 "done up till now will have been of no avail." 433 00:30:05,320 --> 00:30:08,640 At the national archives, there's a document that takes us 434 00:30:08,640 --> 00:30:11,400 behind the scenes of the building of Beaumaris. 435 00:30:14,240 --> 00:30:16,600 This manuscript is known as a pipe roll. 436 00:30:16,600 --> 00:30:21,080 It's 700 years old and it's a financial record written on vellum 437 00:30:21,080 --> 00:30:23,000 and sent to the Treasury. 438 00:30:23,000 --> 00:30:26,320 It records all sorts of details relating to royal expenditure 439 00:30:26,320 --> 00:30:28,000 and debts owed to the Crown. 440 00:30:28,000 --> 00:30:31,320 For storage, it was rolled up tightly, 441 00:30:31,320 --> 00:30:34,000 which is why it's known as a pipe role. 442 00:30:34,000 --> 00:30:37,240 This one details the royal accounts for the construction 443 00:30:37,240 --> 00:30:40,400 of Beaumaris between 1295 and 1298, 444 00:30:40,400 --> 00:30:44,000 from a clerk called Walter of Winchester. 445 00:30:44,000 --> 00:30:46,280 It may be the musings of a medieval accountant, 446 00:30:46,280 --> 00:30:51,440 but there's so much detail here, you get a real glimpse into the past. 447 00:30:51,440 --> 00:30:54,200 The roll gives you a sense of the sheer scale of the work being 448 00:30:54,200 --> 00:30:56,760 carried out, because it records the volumes of material 449 00:30:56,760 --> 00:30:58,920 needed by the builders. 450 00:30:58,920 --> 00:31:03,640 In the first year alone, it talks of 220,000 nails 451 00:31:03,640 --> 00:31:06,560 and 48,000 tonnes of stone. 452 00:31:08,400 --> 00:31:11,240 Building a castle was a labour-intensive process 453 00:31:11,240 --> 00:31:13,400 and the site would have been swarming with people 454 00:31:13,400 --> 00:31:16,720 and, rather wonderfully, we can work out from the pipe roll 455 00:31:16,720 --> 00:31:18,440 what these people were paid. 456 00:31:18,440 --> 00:31:23,120 Here, it says "forsata et motam", referring to the labourers 457 00:31:23,120 --> 00:31:25,320 building the ditches and the moat 458 00:31:25,320 --> 00:31:27,840 and also to the stipend cementariorum, 459 00:31:27,840 --> 00:31:31,560 which is talking about the wages of the masons. 460 00:31:32,720 --> 00:31:35,960 We know that labourers might have been paid as much as eight pence 461 00:31:35,960 --> 00:31:40,880 per week but that a skilled mason would earn three times as much, 462 00:31:40,880 --> 00:31:43,440 a more reasonable-sounding 22 pence per week. 463 00:31:45,440 --> 00:31:49,240 The period covered by these accounts was the last time any serious cash 464 00:31:49,240 --> 00:31:51,600 was available for his castles. 465 00:31:51,600 --> 00:31:56,720 By 1298, construction at Beaumaris had effectively halted. 466 00:31:56,720 --> 00:32:00,080 James of St George's masterwork would remain unfinished. 467 00:32:03,200 --> 00:32:06,200 Edward had run out of money but he'd always had 468 00:32:06,200 --> 00:32:08,680 an eye for an opportunity. 469 00:32:08,680 --> 00:32:12,280 As King, he didn't actually own all the land in his kingdom, 470 00:32:12,280 --> 00:32:15,680 so one of the quickest ways of raising cash was to expand 471 00:32:15,680 --> 00:32:21,080 his royal property portfolio by whatever means necessary. 472 00:32:21,080 --> 00:32:24,080 Among the property in his sights was that owned by one 473 00:32:24,080 --> 00:32:28,040 Isabella de Fortibus, the richest lady in England 474 00:32:28,040 --> 00:32:32,200 and a woman sometimes described as the Queen of the Isle of Wight. 475 00:32:35,880 --> 00:32:39,760 Isabella had become a widow at the age of just 23. 476 00:32:39,760 --> 00:32:42,520 She inherited her husband's land and title 477 00:32:42,520 --> 00:32:45,440 along with some of her late brother's estate. 478 00:32:45,440 --> 00:32:48,800 It gave her much of the Isle of Wight, as well as extensive 479 00:32:48,800 --> 00:32:50,120 lands on the mainland. 480 00:32:51,160 --> 00:32:55,440 Isabella was not just wealthy, she was also determined. 481 00:32:55,440 --> 00:32:57,360 She's a character who demonstrates 482 00:32:57,360 --> 00:33:00,000 the often overlooked power of women at this time. 483 00:33:01,520 --> 00:33:05,880 Isabella made her home here at Carisbrooke Castle. 484 00:33:05,880 --> 00:33:08,960 She transformed the fortress into something befitting her wealth 485 00:33:08,960 --> 00:33:10,320 and status. 486 00:33:10,320 --> 00:33:14,200 Throughout her life, she continually sought out new additions. 487 00:33:17,280 --> 00:33:20,040 Her greatest innovation happened here. 488 00:33:20,040 --> 00:33:23,720 We know that Isabella was one of the first people to use glass 489 00:33:23,720 --> 00:33:27,400 in castle windows and this is a particularly beautiful one, 490 00:33:27,400 --> 00:33:29,240 complete with window seat. 491 00:33:35,240 --> 00:33:39,840 It was some of the very first glass used in a secular building 492 00:33:39,840 --> 00:33:42,040 and eye-wateringly expensive. 493 00:33:43,600 --> 00:33:48,760 But for Edward a rich widow was a tempting target. 494 00:33:48,760 --> 00:33:52,480 As a widow she had a degree of legal authority and security, 495 00:33:52,480 --> 00:33:56,800 but it also made her an attractive target for greedy suitors. 496 00:33:56,800 --> 00:34:00,400 We know she evaded at least two nobles whom the King had said 497 00:34:00,400 --> 00:34:01,760 could marry her. 498 00:34:02,760 --> 00:34:07,040 Edward made repeated attempts to buy control of Isabella's land. 499 00:34:07,040 --> 00:34:10,080 He went so far as to challenge her in court, 500 00:34:10,080 --> 00:34:14,640 and, in a mark of her strength, she took him on and defeated him. 501 00:34:14,640 --> 00:34:16,840 It should come as no surprise 502 00:34:16,840 --> 00:34:20,160 that among the items listed in her household 503 00:34:20,160 --> 00:34:22,640 was a full set of the code of laws. 504 00:34:22,640 --> 00:34:23,840 Eventually, however, 505 00:34:23,840 --> 00:34:27,240 even a lady as strong as Isabella could not resist for ever. 506 00:34:27,240 --> 00:34:30,080 Her husband and brother had died when she was still young 507 00:34:30,080 --> 00:34:33,160 and she outlived her children. 508 00:34:33,160 --> 00:34:34,320 As she lay dying, 509 00:34:34,320 --> 00:34:37,880 the King's counsellors made her sign away her lands to Edward. 510 00:34:39,120 --> 00:34:41,240 Or so it's been claimed. 511 00:34:41,240 --> 00:34:46,280 For years Isabella had resisted Edward's attempts to gain her lands. 512 00:34:46,280 --> 00:34:51,240 Finally, it's only on her deathbed that agreement is reached 513 00:34:51,240 --> 00:34:55,840 and one wonders, this poor old woman, lying ill and sick, 514 00:34:55,840 --> 00:34:58,440 could she really have agreed to a sale 515 00:34:58,440 --> 00:35:00,720 that she'd resisted for so long? 516 00:35:00,720 --> 00:35:02,840 It seems very, very questionable. 517 00:35:06,880 --> 00:35:09,680 Edward's ego was still not satisfied. 518 00:35:09,680 --> 00:35:13,120 He would seek out new lands, new power and new money 519 00:35:13,120 --> 00:35:14,560 by conquest. 520 00:35:17,440 --> 00:35:20,200 This time, turning north for Scotland. 521 00:35:22,200 --> 00:35:25,040 In 1296 Edward invaded, 522 00:35:25,040 --> 00:35:28,080 determined to take the Scottish throne for himself. 523 00:35:30,080 --> 00:35:35,720 But even this mighty king's plans were limited by his finances. 524 00:35:35,720 --> 00:35:38,520 It had proved difficult enough for King Edward to raise 525 00:35:38,520 --> 00:35:39,920 enough cash for an army. 526 00:35:39,920 --> 00:35:43,040 There was simply not enough money left in the coffers 527 00:35:43,040 --> 00:35:46,720 to start building huge castles like he had in Wales. 528 00:35:48,320 --> 00:35:51,160 The war in Scotland, it was hoped, 529 00:35:51,160 --> 00:35:54,360 would capture a new source of income. 530 00:35:54,360 --> 00:35:57,760 That he would have access to the revenues of the Scottish Crown 531 00:35:57,760 --> 00:36:00,640 and that those would be used as a way of effectively making 532 00:36:00,640 --> 00:36:03,240 the English occupation of Scotland pay for itself. 533 00:36:03,240 --> 00:36:04,840 It didn't happen. 534 00:36:06,680 --> 00:36:10,400 When it came to Scotland, Edward's wars would be fought 535 00:36:10,400 --> 00:36:15,560 with the existing castles and the outcome would be very different. 536 00:36:15,560 --> 00:36:18,640 Edward's Scotland campaign tore through the country 537 00:36:18,640 --> 00:36:21,840 but, no matter how hard he clamped down, 538 00:36:21,840 --> 00:36:25,160 defiant pockets of resistance kept springing up. 539 00:36:29,080 --> 00:36:31,240 July 1300. 540 00:36:31,240 --> 00:36:34,120 The English King marched north from Carlisle 541 00:36:34,120 --> 00:36:36,440 to the border castle of Caerlaverock. 542 00:36:37,680 --> 00:36:39,960 With the army were huge wooden weapons, 543 00:36:39,960 --> 00:36:45,200 catapults known as trebuchets and other siege engines, 544 00:36:45,200 --> 00:36:47,840 all designed to overwhelm the castle. 545 00:36:50,360 --> 00:36:54,560 Caerlaverock's Scottish defenders were about to feel the full wrath 546 00:36:54,560 --> 00:36:56,040 of Edward Longshanks. 547 00:37:00,400 --> 00:37:05,000 Edward and his army arrived exactly here, looked out across the moat 548 00:37:05,000 --> 00:37:08,880 towards those curtain walls and that massive gatehouse. 549 00:37:08,880 --> 00:37:12,640 3,000 soldiers and 87 knights, all armed to the teeth 550 00:37:12,640 --> 00:37:17,640 and equipped with the very latest engines of war, prepared to attack. 551 00:37:17,640 --> 00:37:20,600 Manning the triangular-shaped battlements was the garrison 552 00:37:20,600 --> 00:37:24,840 of Scottish troops, poised to do everything they could to stop them. 553 00:37:24,840 --> 00:37:27,360 This castle would be no pushover. 554 00:37:27,360 --> 00:37:30,680 A herald accompanying Edward's army described the events of that day 555 00:37:30,680 --> 00:37:33,400 in a poem called The Roll Of Caerlaverock. 556 00:37:33,400 --> 00:37:37,040 It's one of the most detailed accounts of a medieval siege 557 00:37:37,040 --> 00:37:39,000 to have survived the centuries. 558 00:37:39,000 --> 00:37:41,520 "Caerlaverock was a castle so strong 559 00:37:41,520 --> 00:37:45,120 "That it did not fear siege before the king came there 560 00:37:45,120 --> 00:37:47,560 "For it became it not to surrender." 561 00:37:47,560 --> 00:37:49,920 But Edward was no ordinary monarch. 562 00:37:49,920 --> 00:37:53,880 Longshanks was a master of castle warfare, and the brave defenders 563 00:37:53,880 --> 00:37:57,600 of Caerlaverock stood in the way of his imperial ambition. 564 00:38:00,520 --> 00:38:02,640 The foot soldiers went in first 565 00:38:02,640 --> 00:38:05,960 and attacked the gatehouse with everything that they had. 566 00:38:05,960 --> 00:38:09,280 The garrison responded with a hail of arrows, 567 00:38:09,280 --> 00:38:11,360 stones and crossbow bolts. 568 00:38:11,360 --> 00:38:16,040 What happened next was described in stark terms in the poem. 569 00:38:16,040 --> 00:38:18,640 "The footmen began to march against the castle 570 00:38:18,640 --> 00:38:23,240 "And it might be seen fly among them stones, arrows and quarrels 571 00:38:23,240 --> 00:38:27,160 "But so effectually exchanged those within with those without 572 00:38:27,160 --> 00:38:30,640 "That in a short time many bodies there were wounded and maimed 573 00:38:30,640 --> 00:38:32,960 "And I know not how many killed." 574 00:38:32,960 --> 00:38:35,840 From inside the gatehouse, the defenders would have seen 575 00:38:35,840 --> 00:38:39,120 the landscape literally heaving with soldiers, 576 00:38:39,120 --> 00:38:43,200 all hellbent in getting through or over these walls. 577 00:38:43,200 --> 00:38:45,400 It would have been a terrifying ordeal. 578 00:38:49,640 --> 00:38:52,480 The purpose of a castle like Caerlaverock 579 00:38:52,480 --> 00:38:54,200 was to avoid open battle. 580 00:38:54,200 --> 00:38:56,840 If the walls were breached, the garrison would have 581 00:38:56,840 --> 00:39:00,080 to defend themselves in armoured hand-to-hand combat. 582 00:39:03,640 --> 00:39:08,120 Andy Deane is an expert in medieval martial arts at the Royal Armouries. 583 00:39:10,200 --> 00:39:12,440 Sword? I have my sword. 584 00:39:12,440 --> 00:39:16,080 And you'll need a buckler. OK. 585 00:39:16,080 --> 00:39:19,640 One of the many weapons that are shown on medieval manuscripts... 586 00:39:19,640 --> 00:39:23,200 I like a shield I can hide behind. What is this? 587 00:39:23,200 --> 00:39:26,480 This is the most magnificent weapon because it's not for hiding. 588 00:39:26,480 --> 00:39:29,240 It's like a saucer. It is brilliant. 589 00:39:29,240 --> 00:39:32,560 It's your own Jedi force field, that buckler. 590 00:39:32,560 --> 00:39:36,200 It is, because as people come swinging down... Let me show you. 591 00:39:36,200 --> 00:39:39,080 Stand by for some swashbuckling! 592 00:39:39,080 --> 00:39:40,480 Now, you always want to try 593 00:39:40,480 --> 00:39:45,800 and keep the buckler out in front of you and/or covering your hand. 594 00:39:45,800 --> 00:39:48,480 This is the sort of position, it can either come over the top 595 00:39:48,480 --> 00:39:50,120 or it can come back this way there. 596 00:39:50,120 --> 00:39:52,840 But you want the pointy bit threatening the bad man, 597 00:39:52,840 --> 00:39:55,200 that would be me. OK. 598 00:39:55,200 --> 00:39:59,400 So from here, now you've got the pointy bit in front of you, 599 00:39:59,400 --> 00:40:02,680 I've got to either come round it, over it, under it somehow, yeah? 600 00:40:02,680 --> 00:40:04,720 Yeah. So the most important thing... 601 00:40:04,720 --> 00:40:07,240 One of the things they talk about in the manuscript 602 00:40:07,240 --> 00:40:09,080 is engaging your opponent's sword. 603 00:40:09,080 --> 00:40:11,760 If you can engage your opponent's sword, you know where it is, 604 00:40:11,760 --> 00:40:15,040 so maybe you can just simply come under and then straight up. 605 00:40:15,040 --> 00:40:17,200 Or if you were engaging from the sword, 606 00:40:17,200 --> 00:40:20,920 have both of them out in front of you, maybe you just slide through, 607 00:40:20,920 --> 00:40:24,720 take both weapons and pull yourself through and down. 608 00:40:26,400 --> 00:40:28,840 The lowest men on this ladder of seniority, 609 00:40:28,840 --> 00:40:31,040 what sort of weapons were they using? 610 00:40:31,040 --> 00:40:33,400 Well, I suppose the things from the farm 611 00:40:33,400 --> 00:40:37,960 that were laying about are easily manipulated into deadly weapons. 612 00:40:37,960 --> 00:40:41,560 You can have a bastardised farming utensil - sharpen it up, 613 00:40:41,560 --> 00:40:44,040 shove it on a long stick and away you go. 614 00:40:45,640 --> 00:40:48,760 So we're starting right at the bottom, the very agricultural... 615 00:40:48,760 --> 00:40:51,880 You've got the English billhook. Wow, look at that. 616 00:40:51,880 --> 00:40:55,280 Now if you imagine just this bit here and the small handle, 617 00:40:55,280 --> 00:40:58,840 that's where you're laying your hedges. You've got this curve here... 618 00:40:58,840 --> 00:41:00,880 Like a scythe. Yeah, exactly. 619 00:41:00,880 --> 00:41:02,600 And now, sharpen it up, 620 00:41:02,600 --> 00:41:06,480 send it down to the old smithy, stick a couple of extra spikes on it 621 00:41:06,480 --> 00:41:08,920 and now you've got a weapon that is sublime 622 00:41:08,920 --> 00:41:10,800 at taking out other infantrymen. 623 00:41:10,800 --> 00:41:12,720 Back of tendons, neck areas... 624 00:41:12,720 --> 00:41:15,160 It's all there for them with a very basic weapon. 625 00:41:15,160 --> 00:41:16,960 So for a farmer, laying a hedge is the same 626 00:41:16,960 --> 00:41:18,760 as cutting someone's Achilles tendon? 627 00:41:18,760 --> 00:41:21,200 Well...or the backs of the knees, yeah. Exactly. 628 00:41:21,200 --> 00:41:24,680 Lots of skeletons that have been found on various battlefields 629 00:41:24,680 --> 00:41:26,040 from the Middle Ages... 630 00:41:26,040 --> 00:41:28,040 So many of the wounds are on the shoulder, 631 00:41:28,040 --> 00:41:30,880 neck area or the backs of the legs, so they've obviously been 632 00:41:30,880 --> 00:41:34,240 brought down and then a slightly longer weapon is easier to do 633 00:41:34,240 --> 00:41:38,240 than a sword. As long as he's not a threat any more, you've done your job 634 00:41:38,240 --> 00:41:41,200 and, as you're working in a tight press, the next person 635 00:41:41,200 --> 00:41:44,240 or the young lad just comes behind, does that job and you move on. 636 00:41:44,240 --> 00:41:45,720 Next person, next person. 637 00:41:50,040 --> 00:41:53,480 At the siege of Caerlaverock, it wasn't just enemy soldiers 638 00:41:53,480 --> 00:41:56,960 but technology that the defenders were fighting. 639 00:41:56,960 --> 00:42:00,320 They also faced catapult-like giant trebuchets. 640 00:42:03,800 --> 00:42:06,440 Siege engines continually hurled rocks 641 00:42:06,440 --> 00:42:10,640 that shattered into sharp and deadly fragments against the stonework. 642 00:42:10,640 --> 00:42:13,960 Archaeologists have found stone trebuchet balls littered 643 00:42:13,960 --> 00:42:17,000 all around the grounds of Caerlaverock Castle. 644 00:42:17,000 --> 00:42:19,640 With a certain black humour, some of the machines 645 00:42:19,640 --> 00:42:22,640 were even given nicknames, like Brother Robert, 646 00:42:22,640 --> 00:42:25,120 after the priest that operated one of them. 647 00:42:26,560 --> 00:42:31,120 The garrison's morale began to sink as the situation became hopeless. 648 00:42:31,120 --> 00:42:33,680 One of them was killed by a flying boulder, 649 00:42:33,680 --> 00:42:36,520 the walls and roofs began to crumble around them 650 00:42:36,520 --> 00:42:40,080 and the Scottish troops had no choice but to surrender. 651 00:42:42,400 --> 00:42:48,560 When the gates finally opened, only 60 men emerged from the rubble. 652 00:42:48,560 --> 00:42:53,600 The poem says that Edward's army marvelled at how so few men 653 00:42:53,600 --> 00:42:56,160 had given such fierce resistance. 654 00:42:57,280 --> 00:43:00,040 Caerlaverock showed just how effective castles were 655 00:43:00,040 --> 00:43:02,880 as force multipliers, 656 00:43:02,880 --> 00:43:06,920 increasing the effectiveness of each soldier exponentially. 657 00:43:06,920 --> 00:43:10,840 Just a small number of soldiers could slow down and even stop 658 00:43:10,840 --> 00:43:15,680 a much larger force, and when you're moving through enemy territory, 659 00:43:15,680 --> 00:43:20,480 every extra day taken was another day that you had to feed, maintain 660 00:43:20,480 --> 00:43:24,440 and, most damagingly for Edward, pay your troops. 661 00:43:34,400 --> 00:43:37,000 The Scottish were not going to give up easily. 662 00:43:37,000 --> 00:43:39,960 Caerlaverock was a modest-sized castle... 663 00:43:42,520 --> 00:43:45,480 ..but Edward I would soon face a stronghold 664 00:43:45,480 --> 00:43:48,520 on an altogether different scale - 665 00:43:48,520 --> 00:43:49,960 Stirling Castle. 666 00:43:51,600 --> 00:43:57,160 By 1304, Stirling was the last major castle in his opponents' hands 667 00:43:57,160 --> 00:44:00,880 and it appeared to be the key to the whole kingdom. 668 00:44:00,880 --> 00:44:03,920 It was the most strategically important castle in Scotland, 669 00:44:03,920 --> 00:44:07,880 the natural gateway between the Highlands and the Lowlands. 670 00:44:09,040 --> 00:44:11,320 Stirling is very much like something 671 00:44:11,320 --> 00:44:13,720 that Edward himself would have built. 672 00:44:13,720 --> 00:44:17,040 The castle on the rock today was built centuries later 673 00:44:17,040 --> 00:44:18,840 than the original Scottish fortress, 674 00:44:18,840 --> 00:44:21,880 but you can still see how ideal the site was - perfect to defend, 675 00:44:21,880 --> 00:44:26,000 radiating authority from a commanding position, 676 00:44:26,000 --> 00:44:29,480 visible for miles around. 677 00:44:29,480 --> 00:44:31,520 Edward must have hated it. 678 00:44:40,920 --> 00:44:44,080 Castle warfare had become like chess. 679 00:44:44,080 --> 00:44:48,720 If you controlled Stirling, then you controlled all of Scotland, 680 00:44:48,720 --> 00:44:52,760 but if it lay in the hands of your enemy, even if you controlled 681 00:44:52,760 --> 00:44:57,000 all the castles around it, they could still hold you to a stalemate. 682 00:44:58,680 --> 00:45:02,640 The royal army gathered artillery from all over Scotland. 683 00:45:02,640 --> 00:45:05,200 The lead was stripped from church roofs to make weights 684 00:45:05,200 --> 00:45:10,280 and missiles for trebuchets to fire an "unbearable rain of metal". 685 00:45:10,280 --> 00:45:11,920 They fired huge rocks 686 00:45:11,920 --> 00:45:16,320 and a type of incendiary known as Greek fire at the castle. 687 00:45:16,320 --> 00:45:19,880 Edward even had a window installed in the Queen's lodgings 688 00:45:19,880 --> 00:45:22,840 so she could marvel at his kingly prowess. 689 00:45:22,840 --> 00:45:25,480 Edward threw everything he had at it, 690 00:45:25,480 --> 00:45:28,200 but Stirling was nigh-on impregnable. 691 00:45:28,200 --> 00:45:32,720 He had 17 siege engines, teams of miners, thousands of soldiers, 692 00:45:32,720 --> 00:45:36,360 but he was held off by a garrison of just 30 men, 693 00:45:36,360 --> 00:45:39,960 many of them hidden in caves and tunnels deep under the castle. 694 00:45:45,200 --> 00:45:48,960 After four months of bombardment, the castle still hadn't 695 00:45:48,960 --> 00:45:52,120 been captured and Edward was getting impatient. 696 00:45:52,120 --> 00:45:55,960 Time was money and there was already pressure on the royal purse. 697 00:45:55,960 --> 00:45:58,880 So Edward brought in his greatest weapon yet - 698 00:45:58,880 --> 00:46:02,640 an enormous siege engine he'd had specially made. 699 00:46:02,640 --> 00:46:05,960 He called it the loup de guerre, or the Warwolf. 700 00:46:09,000 --> 00:46:13,480 This new weapon to terrorise the enemy was a type of trebuchet, 701 00:46:13,480 --> 00:46:15,400 the heavy artillery of its day. 702 00:46:17,480 --> 00:46:19,640 It may have been the largest ever built 703 00:46:19,640 --> 00:46:24,560 and took five master carpenters and 50 men months to construct. 704 00:46:30,680 --> 00:46:33,400 To see one of these fearsome weapons in action, 705 00:46:33,400 --> 00:46:36,560 I've headed south to Warwick Castle. 706 00:46:36,560 --> 00:46:39,440 This is the Ursa, or She-Bear. 707 00:46:39,440 --> 00:46:42,720 It's a replica of a 13th century trebuchet and it gives you 708 00:46:42,720 --> 00:46:47,760 a fascinating insight into how these terrifying weapons actually worked. 709 00:46:47,760 --> 00:46:51,000 It's 18 metres tall, it weighs 22 tonnes, 710 00:46:51,000 --> 00:46:55,080 but Edward's Warwolf may well have been bigger. 711 00:46:55,080 --> 00:46:57,280 It's quite a piece of engineering. 712 00:46:59,120 --> 00:47:02,400 Siege engines like this could devastate castle walls. 713 00:47:04,960 --> 00:47:08,000 Hi, Charlotte. Hello there. How are you doing? I'm all right, thank you. 714 00:47:08,000 --> 00:47:09,640 How does this wonderful thing work? 715 00:47:09,640 --> 00:47:12,840 OK, basically, two people in each of the wheels here. 716 00:47:12,840 --> 00:47:15,520 As you walk in the wheels, it pulls on the big rope here 717 00:47:15,520 --> 00:47:17,400 that's attached to the top of the arm 718 00:47:17,400 --> 00:47:20,360 and, as the arm is pulled down, the box goes up. 719 00:47:20,360 --> 00:47:23,600 And then you let fly? Yes, and then we let fly. 720 00:47:23,600 --> 00:47:26,600 The counterweight is around five tonnes 721 00:47:26,600 --> 00:47:29,520 and is winched to the top as we turn the wheels. 722 00:47:29,520 --> 00:47:32,800 A projectile is hooked on and when the weight drops to earth, 723 00:47:32,800 --> 00:47:36,680 sending the arm up, it's hurled like a bowler's action in cricket. 724 00:47:38,800 --> 00:47:42,840 Hello. Hello. Thank you. Safety hat. 725 00:47:42,840 --> 00:47:46,240 Right. Winders, are you ready? 726 00:47:46,240 --> 00:47:50,760 Ball ready! Walk on! Whoa... You all right? Yeah. 727 00:47:53,680 --> 00:47:56,560 Bring yourself forward and straighten your back. 728 00:47:56,560 --> 00:47:59,080 Look out to the side so that you're not... 729 00:47:59,080 --> 00:48:01,800 Winders, slow and halt. 730 00:48:03,120 --> 00:48:05,360 SAM LAUGHS 731 00:48:05,360 --> 00:48:07,120 I'm hilariously out of breath. 732 00:48:07,120 --> 00:48:10,960 I feel sick, my calves hurt, my legs...everything hurts. 733 00:48:10,960 --> 00:48:12,720 It feels so dangerous. 734 00:48:12,720 --> 00:48:16,080 There must have been some terrible trebuchet accidents 735 00:48:16,080 --> 00:48:18,240 in the 13th century. 736 00:48:20,200 --> 00:48:22,200 Right, Charlotte, I'm out of breath. 737 00:48:22,200 --> 00:48:25,400 I'm not sure anyone else was doing any work, I think it was all me. 738 00:48:25,400 --> 00:48:28,680 So it's primed, it's good to go. How big are the balls? 739 00:48:28,680 --> 00:48:31,160 These are the balls here. So this is one of our fireballs. 740 00:48:31,160 --> 00:48:35,560 It's about 18kg, so about 2st. Quite heavy, yeah. 741 00:48:35,560 --> 00:48:38,760 It's about the smallest thing we can shoot, 742 00:48:38,760 --> 00:48:41,800 so the largest thing we can shoot is about 150kg. 743 00:48:41,800 --> 00:48:44,280 Sorry, how big did you say this was? This is 18kg. 744 00:48:44,280 --> 00:48:46,520 18, and you can throw something that's 150? 745 00:48:46,520 --> 00:48:50,840 Yes, so we can throw something a lot larger. That's a heavy bit of kit. 746 00:48:50,840 --> 00:48:54,600 Trebuchets were also used to hurl everything from prisoners of war 747 00:48:54,600 --> 00:48:58,600 to beehives to try and demoralise the enemy. 748 00:48:58,600 --> 00:49:00,120 Clear the machine! 749 00:49:00,120 --> 00:49:03,680 We're shooting the projectile they called Greek Fire. 750 00:49:03,680 --> 00:49:05,000 Have a care! 751 00:49:21,400 --> 00:49:22,720 That was amazing. 752 00:49:22,720 --> 00:49:25,360 The noise was so sinister of that fireball 753 00:49:25,360 --> 00:49:27,680 going through the air, it kind of roared. 754 00:49:27,680 --> 00:49:32,320 And it stayed up in the air for so long in a huge, high trajectory. 755 00:49:32,320 --> 00:49:37,880 This thing is still creaking and groaning like it's exhausted. 756 00:49:37,880 --> 00:49:41,920 Even after all this time, it's an amazing piece of engineering. 757 00:49:41,920 --> 00:49:45,960 And it can achieve the most extraordinary things. 758 00:49:45,960 --> 00:49:48,680 That ball's gone miles down there, it still on fire. 759 00:49:50,640 --> 00:49:52,040 It's a fearsome weapon. 760 00:49:55,320 --> 00:49:59,240 At the siege of Stirling, the sight of Edward's giant Warwolf 761 00:49:59,240 --> 00:50:02,080 must have been the last straw for the defenders. 762 00:50:06,720 --> 00:50:09,880 Annoyingly for Edward, the garrison tried to surrender 763 00:50:09,880 --> 00:50:12,360 before he could try out his new toy. 764 00:50:12,360 --> 00:50:15,120 As they came out barefoot with ashes on their heads 765 00:50:15,120 --> 00:50:18,560 as a token of surrender, he ordered them back inside, 766 00:50:18,560 --> 00:50:22,840 saying, "You don't deserve my grace, but must surrender to my will." 767 00:50:22,840 --> 00:50:26,400 Edward wanted to see his weapon in action. 768 00:50:29,680 --> 00:50:33,520 He ordered, "The king wills it that none of his people enter 769 00:50:33,520 --> 00:50:37,400 "the castle till it is struck with his Warwolf and that those within 770 00:50:37,400 --> 00:50:41,960 "the castle defend themselves from the said Warwolf as best they can." 771 00:50:41,960 --> 00:50:44,880 A few shots from Warwolf devastated the gatehouse 772 00:50:44,880 --> 00:50:47,920 and, finally satisfied, Edward allowed the garrison 773 00:50:47,920 --> 00:50:49,160 to throw in the towel. 774 00:50:49,160 --> 00:50:52,600 The siege had dragged on and it had been an expensive business 775 00:50:52,600 --> 00:50:55,800 and had cost him nearly £9,000. 776 00:50:55,800 --> 00:50:59,520 In taking Stirling, Edward could've been forgiven for thinking 777 00:50:59,520 --> 00:51:03,040 that he'd finally crushed resistance to his rule. 778 00:51:03,040 --> 00:51:05,680 But he'd not banked on what would happen next. 779 00:51:09,400 --> 00:51:12,640 The ageing Edward was about to face a new adversary 780 00:51:12,640 --> 00:51:15,760 and rival for the Scottish throne, 781 00:51:15,760 --> 00:51:17,120 Robert the Bruce. 782 00:51:18,200 --> 00:51:22,000 Scotland had turned out to be much more difficult to subdue than Wales 783 00:51:22,000 --> 00:51:27,240 and in 1306 Robert the Bruce had crowned himself as King. 784 00:51:27,240 --> 00:51:29,200 As conflict with England escalated, 785 00:51:29,200 --> 00:51:34,120 Bruce ordered his family to the safety of Highland castle Kildrummy. 786 00:51:34,120 --> 00:51:35,640 Edward ordered his son, 787 00:51:35,640 --> 00:51:39,680 the now-grown-up Prince of Wales, to besiege it. 788 00:51:39,680 --> 00:51:42,040 He didn't have to attack for long. 789 00:51:42,040 --> 00:51:45,640 Full-on direct assaults on castles were actually very rare 790 00:51:45,640 --> 00:51:50,400 because there was usually a simpler way that a castle could be captured. 791 00:51:50,400 --> 00:51:53,480 It was a matter of finding the castle's weak point - 792 00:51:53,480 --> 00:51:57,040 it could be the gatehouse, it could be the source of supplies... 793 00:51:57,040 --> 00:51:59,120 or it could be someone inside. 794 00:52:03,280 --> 00:52:05,240 To hold out for as long as possible, 795 00:52:05,240 --> 00:52:08,600 the defenders had filled the hall with grain. 796 00:52:08,600 --> 00:52:11,560 At first, the prince's forces couldn't make any impression 797 00:52:11,560 --> 00:52:13,720 on the walls or the garrison. 798 00:52:13,720 --> 00:52:15,680 Then they found a way in. 799 00:52:18,960 --> 00:52:22,160 Osbourne, the castle's blacksmith, was promised 800 00:52:22,160 --> 00:52:25,560 "as much gold as he could carry" to betray them. 801 00:52:25,560 --> 00:52:29,080 He set fire to the grain stores and the castle was done for. 802 00:52:29,080 --> 00:52:31,840 Legend has it that the English paid him his gold 803 00:52:31,840 --> 00:52:35,480 but, when the castle was later retaken by the Scots, 804 00:52:35,480 --> 00:52:38,680 they melted it and poured it down his throat 805 00:52:38,680 --> 00:52:40,560 as punishment for his betrayal. 806 00:52:42,080 --> 00:52:45,360 Most of Robert the Bruce's family had made a lucky escape 807 00:52:45,360 --> 00:52:47,600 before the fighting started 808 00:52:47,600 --> 00:52:51,400 but not so the castle's commander, his brother, Neil Bruce. 809 00:52:51,400 --> 00:52:54,440 He was taken to Berwick and hung, drawn and quartered. 810 00:52:56,520 --> 00:53:01,000 King Robert lost many of his family and best men in castles. 811 00:53:01,000 --> 00:53:04,560 Kildrummy was a painful personal and military lesson, 812 00:53:04,560 --> 00:53:06,600 and one that he wouldn't forget. 813 00:53:10,960 --> 00:53:13,760 A year after Kildrummy, Edward died 814 00:53:13,760 --> 00:53:16,000 and his dream of an English monarch 815 00:53:16,000 --> 00:53:19,680 sitting on the throne of all three kingdoms died with him, 816 00:53:19,680 --> 00:53:22,120 as did his concept of castle warfare. 817 00:53:22,120 --> 00:53:26,240 Edward had failed to conquer Scotland and the next generation 818 00:53:26,240 --> 00:53:29,840 of Scottish rulers learned from what had happened. 819 00:53:33,240 --> 00:53:36,440 The Bruce in particular recognised that taking on the English 820 00:53:36,440 --> 00:53:38,800 at their own game simply wouldn't work. 821 00:53:40,040 --> 00:53:42,440 He needed to develop a new strategy. 822 00:53:45,600 --> 00:53:48,400 Castles were one of his biggest problems, 823 00:53:48,400 --> 00:53:50,120 but the Bruce had a solution. 824 00:53:53,560 --> 00:53:56,400 The first couple of years, he still tries to do the same thing - 825 00:53:56,400 --> 00:53:59,200 capture a castle, garrison that for himself and hold it out. 826 00:53:59,200 --> 00:54:02,920 He realises that cannot work and so when he captures the castles, 827 00:54:02,920 --> 00:54:04,480 he destroys them. 828 00:54:04,480 --> 00:54:08,560 And what he's fighting is a new style of guerrilla warfare 829 00:54:08,560 --> 00:54:11,800 where fixed military installations like castles 830 00:54:11,800 --> 00:54:13,480 no longer have a purpose. 831 00:54:15,560 --> 00:54:18,920 And rather than match the English castle-for-castle, 832 00:54:18,920 --> 00:54:20,640 he did the opposite. 833 00:54:20,640 --> 00:54:23,640 He simply pulled down as many of them as he could, 834 00:54:23,640 --> 00:54:28,320 rendering them useless to everyone, in his words, "Lest the English 835 00:54:28,320 --> 00:54:33,120 "ever afterwards might lord it over the land by holding castles". 836 00:54:33,120 --> 00:54:36,960 Stirling, the castle that Edward had invested so much time 837 00:54:36,960 --> 00:54:40,880 and money in capturing, eventually drew the English to defeat 838 00:54:40,880 --> 00:54:44,960 at the Battle of Bannockburn as they raced to relieve its garrison. 839 00:54:44,960 --> 00:54:48,400 After the battle, Robert the Bruce, taking no chances, 840 00:54:48,400 --> 00:54:51,960 demolished the castle, tearing it to the ground. 841 00:54:54,240 --> 00:54:59,160 Under Edward, castles had become awesome in scale and military clout. 842 00:54:59,160 --> 00:55:02,720 His successors would never again attempt to build anything 843 00:55:02,720 --> 00:55:07,880 like the iron ring or use castles as an instrument of colonialism. 844 00:55:07,880 --> 00:55:09,640 Times were changing. 845 00:55:12,880 --> 00:55:16,080 Castles permanently stamped Edward's mark on Britain. 846 00:55:16,080 --> 00:55:20,160 They represented his utter ruthlessness and his naked ambition, 847 00:55:20,160 --> 00:55:22,680 but in the end their sheer expense contributed 848 00:55:22,680 --> 00:55:26,160 to his failure to become King of all Britons. 849 00:55:26,160 --> 00:55:30,000 According to legend, Edward decreed that he wasn't to be buried properly 850 00:55:30,000 --> 00:55:32,440 until Scotland had been conquered, 851 00:55:32,440 --> 00:55:35,080 and he was buried in a plain stone tomb. 852 00:55:39,520 --> 00:55:43,440 So what would the future of castles be? 853 00:55:43,440 --> 00:55:47,680 In the century that followed, they began to occupy a new place 854 00:55:47,680 --> 00:55:51,480 in English life as icons of nostalgia for the nobility. 855 00:55:53,760 --> 00:55:58,160 Writers of courtly literature fantasised about ideals of chivalry 856 00:55:58,160 --> 00:56:02,520 that had never really existed, set amongst the great fortresses of old. 857 00:56:04,000 --> 00:56:08,800 Castles became more about romance than war. 858 00:56:08,800 --> 00:56:10,560 Take Bodiam. 859 00:56:10,560 --> 00:56:14,360 In every sense it's the textbook image of a medieval castle. 860 00:56:14,360 --> 00:56:19,360 It's imposing, it's grand and it really looks the part. 861 00:56:19,360 --> 00:56:21,160 But if you look a little closer, 862 00:56:21,160 --> 00:56:24,000 there's something really interesting going on. 863 00:56:28,400 --> 00:56:32,920 Bodiam has been designed to make you think that it's mighty, 864 00:56:32,920 --> 00:56:35,680 and along with it the owner who had it built. 865 00:56:40,080 --> 00:56:42,280 The moat is not for protection, 866 00:56:42,280 --> 00:56:45,400 it's there to enhance the appearance of the castle. 867 00:56:45,400 --> 00:56:49,760 On a still day like this, the reflection's not only beautiful, 868 00:56:49,760 --> 00:56:52,120 but it makes everything look twice as big. 869 00:56:57,520 --> 00:57:00,760 The approach to this castle was brilliantly over the top. 870 00:57:00,760 --> 00:57:04,040 Pass over this, which is a drawbridge, 871 00:57:04,040 --> 00:57:06,280 past here, a portcullis, 872 00:57:06,280 --> 00:57:08,920 through the barbican, 873 00:57:08,920 --> 00:57:11,680 and then you were faced with another drawbridge 874 00:57:11,680 --> 00:57:13,160 before you got to the gate, 875 00:57:13,160 --> 00:57:16,120 there was a portcullis, and then once through that gate 876 00:57:16,120 --> 00:57:18,520 there were two more portcullises. 877 00:57:18,520 --> 00:57:22,480 It's so elaborate, it can only have been for show. 878 00:57:23,640 --> 00:57:26,080 A nice bit of bling in rural Sussex. 879 00:57:28,800 --> 00:57:32,840 Bodiam shows us that military architecture could be about style 880 00:57:32,840 --> 00:57:36,160 or fashion as much as it could be about function. 881 00:57:36,160 --> 00:57:38,720 An important part of that style was nostalgia 882 00:57:38,720 --> 00:57:43,040 for the good old days of chivalry and perfect knights. 883 00:57:45,520 --> 00:57:48,200 They were less and less important in war 884 00:57:48,200 --> 00:57:52,600 and increasingly becoming symbols of a mythical past, 885 00:57:52,600 --> 00:57:56,640 as much about the trappings of wealth and comfort 886 00:57:56,640 --> 00:57:58,200 as martial strength. 887 00:58:00,480 --> 00:58:03,480 Edward I would've found it hard to believe 888 00:58:03,480 --> 00:58:06,440 but the days of castles seemed numbered. 889 00:58:10,560 --> 00:58:14,360 Next time, how castles faced a new threat... 890 00:58:14,360 --> 00:58:15,840 Firing the cannon! 891 00:58:15,840 --> 00:58:19,640 ..the arrival of the cannon. And it was not all military shock, 892 00:58:19,640 --> 00:58:24,200 but artistic awe, as castles now colonised the imagination.