1 00:00:07,400 --> 00:00:12,040 Westminster Abbey has always been where religion meets royalty. 2 00:00:14,880 --> 00:00:19,160 Monarchs have been crowned on this site for nearly 1,000 years. 3 00:00:20,400 --> 00:00:24,960 Through the Royal rituals held here, the medieval world lives on, 4 00:00:24,960 --> 00:00:28,680 just as it does in this breathtaking architecture. 5 00:00:28,680 --> 00:00:32,360 But for me, the abbey's most remarkable treasure 6 00:00:32,360 --> 00:00:35,800 is something most people never get to see. 7 00:00:37,240 --> 00:00:41,040 It's hidden from everyone except the occasional scholar 8 00:00:41,040 --> 00:00:42,920 in the abbey library. 9 00:00:42,920 --> 00:00:46,120 MUSIC: "Zadok The Priest" by Handel 10 00:00:51,240 --> 00:00:54,840 This is Liber Regalis - the Book of the King. 11 00:00:56,120 --> 00:00:59,040 I believe that this part of the regalia 12 00:00:59,040 --> 00:01:02,160 is just as potent a symbol of British monarchy 13 00:01:02,160 --> 00:01:04,920 as the orb, sceptre or crown. 14 00:01:06,280 --> 00:01:09,000 It's been the basis of every coronation 15 00:01:09,000 --> 00:01:13,240 since the reign of Richard II at the end of the 14th century. 16 00:01:14,400 --> 00:01:18,480 Here history, art, and religion collide. 17 00:01:21,040 --> 00:01:24,960 An illuminated manuscript is always much more than a book. 18 00:01:24,960 --> 00:01:28,640 This is a powerful, even mystical object and for us, 19 00:01:28,640 --> 00:01:33,480 it can act as a portal to the lost world of the medieval monarchy. 20 00:01:36,160 --> 00:01:40,080 In this series, I'll be exploring not just the Liber Regalis, 21 00:01:40,080 --> 00:01:43,000 but also the other crown jewels of illumination. 22 00:01:45,840 --> 00:01:47,800 I've been given unrivalled access 23 00:01:47,800 --> 00:01:51,200 to the Royal Manuscript collection at the British Library. 24 00:01:51,200 --> 00:01:55,720 Few people have seen these miraculous survivors, 25 00:01:55,720 --> 00:01:58,840 except the monarchs who owned them. 26 00:01:58,840 --> 00:02:02,560 They were custom made for kings. They were about kings. 27 00:02:02,560 --> 00:02:04,320 And they were read by kings. 28 00:02:07,160 --> 00:02:10,480 I'll be exploring the world which created these manuscripts. 29 00:02:13,680 --> 00:02:16,480 I'll be going to the places where they were made... 30 00:02:18,640 --> 00:02:21,680 ..and discovering what they reveal about the centuries of conflict 31 00:02:21,680 --> 00:02:23,440 when England was forged. 32 00:02:27,320 --> 00:02:29,160 It's a story of monarchy 33 00:02:29,160 --> 00:02:32,400 which spans six centuries from the Anglo Saxons to the Tudors. 34 00:02:37,480 --> 00:02:39,680 In this episode, 35 00:02:39,680 --> 00:02:43,320 I'm starting my journey with the first kings to unite England. 36 00:02:43,320 --> 00:02:46,640 I'll reveal how manuscripts gave them divine authority, 37 00:02:46,640 --> 00:02:50,120 even when the reality was rather more human. 38 00:02:50,120 --> 00:02:53,520 Edgar isn't the complete goody-goody that you might think he would be. 39 00:02:53,520 --> 00:02:55,480 If Henry had seen some of the things 40 00:02:55,480 --> 00:02:58,440 Paris was writing, he would be absolutely appalled. 41 00:02:58,440 --> 00:03:03,680 I'll see for myself the unlikely origins of these beautiful objects. 42 00:03:03,680 --> 00:03:08,400 Now, the finest manuscripts came from the urine of the abbot. 43 00:03:10,440 --> 00:03:12,400 And I'll discover 44 00:03:12,400 --> 00:03:16,880 how the ideal of an English monarchy even survived the Norman Conquest. 45 00:03:30,520 --> 00:03:34,200 When the British Library began life in the 18th century, 46 00:03:34,200 --> 00:03:38,680 some of its very first books were donations from the Royal Family. 47 00:03:41,440 --> 00:03:45,120 Among them were some 2,000 illuminated manuscripts, 48 00:03:45,120 --> 00:03:49,000 amassed by the monarchy over several centuries. 49 00:03:49,000 --> 00:03:53,040 The most precious of these are hidden from public view 50 00:03:53,040 --> 00:03:57,240 in a highly secure bunker, deep in the bowels of the building. 51 00:04:04,880 --> 00:04:08,080 Even for an art historian like me, 52 00:04:08,080 --> 00:04:11,880 this inner sanctum is normally off limits. 53 00:04:11,880 --> 00:04:16,760 I've spent my working life poring over individual manuscripts, 54 00:04:16,760 --> 00:04:21,520 but to be allowed in here in the heart of the British Library, 55 00:04:21,520 --> 00:04:23,720 it's almost overwhelming. 56 00:04:25,360 --> 00:04:28,320 These volumes can give us unique insights 57 00:04:28,320 --> 00:04:30,200 into the monarchs of the past, 58 00:04:30,200 --> 00:04:31,880 from how they ran their courts, 59 00:04:31,880 --> 00:04:34,600 to how they raised their children. 60 00:04:36,120 --> 00:04:38,760 To discover their royal secrets, however, 61 00:04:38,760 --> 00:04:42,040 you often have to dig deeper than the book's professed subject. 62 00:04:45,040 --> 00:04:50,320 Take, for example, this monumental biography of Julius Caesar, 63 00:04:50,320 --> 00:04:52,600 created for Edward IV in 1479. 64 00:04:55,480 --> 00:04:57,240 Gosh. 65 00:04:57,240 --> 00:05:01,000 I'm touching something that, more than 500 years ago, 66 00:05:01,000 --> 00:05:02,920 was made for a king. 67 00:05:04,760 --> 00:05:08,000 As I turn the pages, 68 00:05:08,000 --> 00:05:13,480 I can imagine the hands of Edward IV himself turning them. 69 00:05:15,560 --> 00:05:17,560 The book's subject matter 70 00:05:17,560 --> 00:05:21,120 tells us something about this particular king's interests. 71 00:05:22,400 --> 00:05:26,080 He was one of the greatest generals during the Wars of the Roses, 72 00:05:26,080 --> 00:05:27,640 so would have identified 73 00:05:27,640 --> 00:05:29,960 with its accounts of Caesar's military career. 74 00:05:31,520 --> 00:05:35,200 Edward saw his father and his brother killed in battle 75 00:05:35,200 --> 00:05:38,520 and he saw his grandfather and another brother 76 00:05:38,520 --> 00:05:40,280 executed for treason. 77 00:05:43,160 --> 00:05:45,800 The illustrations here mirror the turmoil 78 00:05:45,800 --> 00:05:48,400 which was often a part of a medieval king's life. 79 00:05:51,040 --> 00:05:54,280 Because although this is a book about the ancient world, 80 00:05:54,280 --> 00:05:56,960 it also reflects the era when it was made. 81 00:05:58,680 --> 00:06:01,960 It says here that the manuscript is "fait a Bruges..." 82 00:06:01,960 --> 00:06:06,080 made in Bruges, at the commandment 83 00:06:06,080 --> 00:06:10,560 of the most excellent and victorious prince, the King Edward IV. 84 00:06:12,600 --> 00:06:16,640 So Edward hasn't just bought this, he's commissioned it, 85 00:06:16,640 --> 00:06:18,720 he's ordered it to be made. 86 00:06:18,720 --> 00:06:23,120 It's entirely bespoke, like a Savile Row suit. 87 00:06:23,120 --> 00:06:24,400 He can be certain 88 00:06:24,400 --> 00:06:28,040 that there's not another book like this anywhere in the world. 89 00:06:29,360 --> 00:06:32,720 He would have paid some 3,000 Flemish groats for it - 90 00:06:32,720 --> 00:06:36,080 hundreds of thousands of pounds in today's terms. 91 00:06:36,080 --> 00:06:41,040 It would have taken a scribe six months to handwrite the 359 pages. 92 00:06:42,240 --> 00:06:45,600 And more than one artist was employed 93 00:06:45,600 --> 00:06:47,760 to paint the 40 illustrations here. 94 00:06:47,760 --> 00:06:51,600 These images are not just pleasing to the eye, 95 00:06:51,600 --> 00:06:53,120 they're full of information 96 00:06:53,120 --> 00:06:56,480 and I think they can often speak louder than the words. 97 00:06:56,480 --> 00:06:58,520 Take a look at this one. 98 00:06:58,520 --> 00:07:01,840 It's the first image we encounter in the manuscript. 99 00:07:01,840 --> 00:07:06,840 The subject here is the birth of Caesar, which took place in 100BC. 100 00:07:06,840 --> 00:07:09,680 But the people don't look like ancient Romans, 101 00:07:09,680 --> 00:07:12,720 they're wearing 15th-century costume. 102 00:07:14,080 --> 00:07:17,000 Images like this are hugely useful. We can look at it 103 00:07:17,000 --> 00:07:23,000 and determine what was fashionable during the time of Edward IV. 104 00:07:23,000 --> 00:07:25,120 The dress of the doctor for example. 105 00:07:25,120 --> 00:07:28,200 The sleeves on some of the female attendants, 106 00:07:28,200 --> 00:07:31,640 even these hooks at the front of the headdresses 107 00:07:31,640 --> 00:07:34,640 that were used to keep them balanced, to keep them up. 108 00:07:34,640 --> 00:07:37,760 These are all really important pieces of information 109 00:07:37,760 --> 00:07:41,560 for the historian trying to recreate Edward IV's court. 110 00:07:43,400 --> 00:07:47,880 But for the artist, including some of these contemporary details 111 00:07:47,880 --> 00:07:49,680 allowed them to do something else - 112 00:07:49,680 --> 00:07:53,040 to blur the boundary between the ancient past 113 00:07:53,040 --> 00:07:54,680 and the medieval present. 114 00:07:56,800 --> 00:08:00,880 In the border framing the story, we see Edward's coat of arms 115 00:08:00,880 --> 00:08:05,520 and symbols of the house of York that he belonged to. 116 00:08:05,520 --> 00:08:09,200 Edward was very aware that there were rival claimants to his throne, 117 00:08:09,200 --> 00:08:13,720 so he needed to establish his lineage and his legitimacy. 118 00:08:13,720 --> 00:08:17,840 I think there are elements within this image that do that for him. 119 00:08:19,280 --> 00:08:21,560 Growing out from the crown, 120 00:08:21,560 --> 00:08:25,240 these roses represent a stylised family tree. 121 00:08:26,640 --> 00:08:31,480 If you follow the line upwards, it leads directly to the infant Caesar. 122 00:08:34,840 --> 00:08:38,680 This vertical line dominates the page. 123 00:08:38,680 --> 00:08:42,280 You could say, it's a line of succession. 124 00:08:44,720 --> 00:08:47,560 There's so much here about royal blood. 125 00:08:47,560 --> 00:08:51,440 We even have this bowl of blood here sat on the table. 126 00:08:52,760 --> 00:08:56,520 It's the result of young Julius' Caesarean birth. 127 00:08:56,520 --> 00:09:00,680 The red is sprinkled with gold to show it's imperial blood. 128 00:09:00,680 --> 00:09:05,320 The eye connects this with all the red and gold in Edward's heraldry, 129 00:09:05,320 --> 00:09:09,040 encouraging the mind to connect the two men. 130 00:09:09,040 --> 00:09:11,800 So I think what this image is showing 131 00:09:11,800 --> 00:09:14,200 is that there's a direct link 132 00:09:14,200 --> 00:09:17,840 between one of the greatest emperors of the ancient world 133 00:09:17,840 --> 00:09:22,520 and Edward IV, this medieval King of England. 134 00:09:26,960 --> 00:09:29,000 Edward offers just one example 135 00:09:29,000 --> 00:09:31,400 of how monarchs made use of manuscripts. 136 00:09:33,840 --> 00:09:35,520 Long before HIS reign, 137 00:09:35,520 --> 00:09:38,360 kings were using books to prove their legitimacy, 138 00:09:38,360 --> 00:09:41,280 define their image and assert their power. 139 00:09:45,520 --> 00:09:49,360 The story begins in the courts of Anglo Saxon rulers. 140 00:09:54,200 --> 00:09:56,040 This was an era 141 00:09:56,040 --> 00:09:59,280 when the greatest power in the British isles was the Church 142 00:09:59,280 --> 00:10:01,520 and when most illuminated manuscripts 143 00:10:01,520 --> 00:10:03,520 were made in monastic settings. 144 00:10:07,480 --> 00:10:11,160 These sacred artefacts radiated divine power 145 00:10:11,160 --> 00:10:15,920 which would prove invaluable to the first kings of England. 146 00:10:17,680 --> 00:10:20,880 This is the earliest English manuscript 147 00:10:20,880 --> 00:10:24,320 in the Royal Collection at the British Library. 148 00:10:24,320 --> 00:10:27,040 We can date this book - from the script 149 00:10:27,040 --> 00:10:29,440 and from the remarkable decoration - 150 00:10:29,440 --> 00:10:32,720 to the first half of the 8th century, 151 00:10:32,720 --> 00:10:35,120 so firmly in the Anglo Saxon period, 152 00:10:35,120 --> 00:10:39,760 this great period of production of manuscripts 153 00:10:39,760 --> 00:10:43,840 and particularly of what we have here - the four Gospels in Latin. 154 00:10:43,840 --> 00:10:46,640 I can see you're handling it without gloves. 155 00:10:46,640 --> 00:10:49,880 Now that's official British Library policy, isn't it? It is. 156 00:10:49,880 --> 00:10:54,000 You see, as I turn the pages, I have a very good sense, feedback, 157 00:10:54,000 --> 00:10:59,200 from the end of my fingers as to how hard to press on the pages, 158 00:10:59,200 --> 00:11:05,520 what speed to do it at. It gives me much greater sense of control. 159 00:11:05,520 --> 00:11:08,760 The book is very important to the Christian religion, isn't it? 160 00:11:08,760 --> 00:11:10,560 Yes. 161 00:11:10,560 --> 00:11:14,240 The early Christian church is a sort of powerhouse for creating books. 162 00:11:14,240 --> 00:11:17,480 Every church, every religious house 163 00:11:17,480 --> 00:11:20,840 would have had at least a copy of the Gospels 164 00:11:20,840 --> 00:11:23,520 and other parts of the Bible. 165 00:11:23,520 --> 00:11:28,240 But a book like this would rarely have ever been seen 166 00:11:28,240 --> 00:11:30,920 by the average person during this period. 167 00:11:30,920 --> 00:11:33,760 And if they saw it at all, 168 00:11:33,760 --> 00:11:37,640 they would make nothing of the script because they couldn't read. 169 00:11:37,640 --> 00:11:40,280 What's the Royal connection with this manuscript? 170 00:11:40,280 --> 00:11:44,160 Well, the Royal connection comes, if I turn another page here, 171 00:11:44,160 --> 00:11:48,160 we continue the biblical text, so this is Matthew's Gospel, 172 00:11:48,160 --> 00:11:51,720 but we also have, at the foot of the left hand column, 173 00:11:51,720 --> 00:11:54,680 this inscription which relates to King Athelstan 174 00:11:54,680 --> 00:11:58,520 who was crowned in 925. 175 00:11:58,520 --> 00:12:00,560 And the inscription says, 176 00:12:00,560 --> 00:12:06,760 "Athelstan the King freed Eadhelm forthwith 177 00:12:06,760 --> 00:12:10,960 "as he was crowned King." 178 00:12:10,960 --> 00:12:14,840 So it seems to be that this was an important statement 179 00:12:14,840 --> 00:12:17,120 that he was doing this, if you like, 180 00:12:17,120 --> 00:12:22,280 an act of kingly generosity right from the start of his reign. 181 00:12:22,280 --> 00:12:26,360 And that's captured, it's recorded in a Biblical manuscript. 182 00:12:26,360 --> 00:12:28,440 This is interesting, isn't it? 183 00:12:28,440 --> 00:12:30,800 We've got this reference to kingship 184 00:12:30,800 --> 00:12:35,080 in what's otherwise a functional Gospel book, isn't it? 185 00:12:35,080 --> 00:12:40,960 It is. The context gives authority, links the two together. 186 00:12:40,960 --> 00:12:43,000 And it's recorded for all time now. 187 00:12:49,280 --> 00:12:52,360 The appearance of a king's name and deeds 188 00:12:52,360 --> 00:12:56,680 in something as valued as a Gospel book is evidence of his power. 189 00:12:58,480 --> 00:13:02,120 And Athelstan is a king who deserves to be remembered. 190 00:13:02,120 --> 00:13:05,280 He changed the course of this island's history. 191 00:13:06,520 --> 00:13:09,440 In the centuries before Athelstan's reign, 192 00:13:09,440 --> 00:13:13,280 there had been a number of different Anglo Saxon kingdoms. 193 00:13:13,280 --> 00:13:15,760 Through a mixture of diplomacy and war, 194 00:13:15,760 --> 00:13:18,960 Athelstan united them all into a single entity. 195 00:13:23,160 --> 00:13:26,920 The place he treated as capital of his new kingdom was near its centre. 196 00:13:26,920 --> 00:13:28,640 Malmesbury. 197 00:13:35,000 --> 00:13:37,560 These days there's little to suggest 198 00:13:37,560 --> 00:13:41,920 that the Cotswolds town was once such a significant place. 199 00:13:44,360 --> 00:13:48,960 But there's one big clue to its past glory - 200 00:13:48,960 --> 00:13:52,200 its vast, half-ruined abbey. 201 00:13:55,960 --> 00:14:01,200 This site has been used for Christian worship since 676. 202 00:14:09,520 --> 00:14:11,760 As well as being a mighty warrior, 203 00:14:11,760 --> 00:14:17,400 Athelstan was famously pious and he was a generous patron of this abbey. 204 00:14:20,920 --> 00:14:25,400 It's also where he was buried in 939AD, 205 00:14:25,400 --> 00:14:29,240 though the statue on his tomb is more recent, from the 15th century. 206 00:14:31,080 --> 00:14:35,240 Amazingly though, there is an image that survives from his own lifetime. 207 00:14:35,240 --> 00:14:37,800 And apart from the faces on coins, 208 00:14:37,800 --> 00:14:42,200 it's the earliest surviving portrait of an English king. 209 00:14:44,520 --> 00:14:46,920 He's pictured showing his devotion 210 00:14:46,920 --> 00:14:50,600 to the great Northumbrian saint Cuthbert. 211 00:14:50,600 --> 00:14:54,040 This image is found at the front of a religious manuscript 212 00:14:54,040 --> 00:14:57,280 which Athelstan gave to a northern monastery. 213 00:14:59,200 --> 00:15:02,280 I get goosebumps when I look at this image. 214 00:15:02,280 --> 00:15:05,440 I'm actually looking at the face of King Athelstan. 215 00:15:05,440 --> 00:15:08,840 And he's holding a book. 216 00:15:08,840 --> 00:15:12,280 So here we have a book within a book. It's setting up this idea 217 00:15:12,280 --> 00:15:17,480 that there's a close association between kings and manuscripts. 218 00:15:19,040 --> 00:15:21,960 Whether he's depicted with them, donating them, 219 00:15:21,960 --> 00:15:24,640 or having deeds recorded in them, 220 00:15:24,640 --> 00:15:29,360 it seems the first King of all England needs manuscripts. 221 00:15:31,400 --> 00:15:32,600 Back in the library, 222 00:15:32,600 --> 00:15:37,480 another survivor from Athelstan's reign gives us more insights. 223 00:15:38,960 --> 00:15:42,880 This Gospel book is again over 1,000 years old, 224 00:15:42,880 --> 00:15:47,240 though its pages have been remounted more recently. 225 00:15:47,240 --> 00:15:50,480 It was damaged by fire in 1731 - 226 00:15:50,480 --> 00:15:54,240 you can see how it's all singed around the edges. 227 00:15:54,240 --> 00:15:57,920 It acts as a reminder of how vulnerable these things are 228 00:15:57,920 --> 00:16:01,040 and how lucky we are that any manuscripts survive at all. 229 00:16:02,480 --> 00:16:05,440 Yet what's MOST striking is not the damage, 230 00:16:05,440 --> 00:16:08,960 but how vivid and impressive this work of art still is. 231 00:16:16,280 --> 00:16:19,600 Despite everything this manuscript's been through 232 00:16:19,600 --> 00:16:21,880 and the passage of centuries, 233 00:16:21,880 --> 00:16:25,040 the gold still really shines out of the page. 234 00:16:27,040 --> 00:16:29,480 Literally illuminates. 235 00:16:29,480 --> 00:16:31,640 And I suppose that's the advantage 236 00:16:31,640 --> 00:16:33,960 of the pages being kept out of the light 237 00:16:33,960 --> 00:16:36,360 and shut within covers all this time. 238 00:16:41,400 --> 00:16:44,040 And here's the name of Athelstan. 239 00:16:44,040 --> 00:16:46,560 It says he's "Anglorum basyleos", 240 00:16:46,560 --> 00:16:51,040 ruler of the English and ruler of all of Britain. 241 00:16:51,040 --> 00:16:54,440 This is a reminder of why he's so important. 242 00:16:56,920 --> 00:17:00,760 But what reveals most about Athelstan is not the words here, 243 00:17:00,760 --> 00:17:02,760 but the pictures. 244 00:17:03,800 --> 00:17:07,080 The human figures are relatively realistic. 245 00:17:07,080 --> 00:17:11,120 There's even some basic use of perspective. 246 00:17:11,120 --> 00:17:14,080 At the time, English artists didn't work in this style, 247 00:17:14,080 --> 00:17:17,440 which means this book must have come from the European mainland, 248 00:17:17,440 --> 00:17:20,960 most likely the Low Countries. 249 00:17:20,960 --> 00:17:24,720 I find the presence of this great Continental artwork 250 00:17:24,720 --> 00:17:28,800 in English Royal hands a really inspiring thought. 251 00:17:28,800 --> 00:17:31,840 It shows that the British Isles weren't some backwater, 252 00:17:31,840 --> 00:17:34,080 disconnected from the rest of Europe. 253 00:17:34,080 --> 00:17:36,120 Athelstan's court was welcoming 254 00:17:36,120 --> 00:17:38,880 international scholars and artists with open arms. 255 00:17:40,360 --> 00:17:42,400 The King's reach clearly extended 256 00:17:42,400 --> 00:17:44,840 beyond the borders of the new England. 257 00:17:46,480 --> 00:17:50,280 On another page, there's evidence of his foreign policy. 258 00:17:51,880 --> 00:17:53,600 Here's another inscription - 259 00:17:53,600 --> 00:17:57,440 "Odda Rex". Definitely not the name of an English king. 260 00:17:57,440 --> 00:18:01,040 He is what would now be known as a German, Otto I. 261 00:18:03,200 --> 00:18:06,160 Athelstan had many sisters and half-sisters, 262 00:18:06,160 --> 00:18:08,520 and he used them as diplomatic tools, 263 00:18:08,520 --> 00:18:12,280 marrying them into the different royal families across Europe. 264 00:18:12,280 --> 00:18:15,520 Apparently he sent two to Otto so he could have a choice, 265 00:18:15,520 --> 00:18:18,760 and he, of course, chose the most beautiful of the sisters. 266 00:18:20,400 --> 00:18:24,680 What Athelstan got in return was international prestige and influence 267 00:18:24,680 --> 00:18:29,600 and, most likely, he also got this manuscript as a wedding gift. 268 00:18:31,600 --> 00:18:34,240 It's proof that there was more value to a manuscript 269 00:18:34,240 --> 00:18:38,400 than just its contents. It could also act as a kind of currency. 270 00:18:39,920 --> 00:18:42,960 Some time after Otto gave him this manuscript, 271 00:18:42,960 --> 00:18:46,960 Athelstan passes it on to the monks of Christ Church in Canterbury. 272 00:18:46,960 --> 00:18:51,560 He's spreading Christian learning throughout the country. 273 00:18:53,680 --> 00:18:57,560 In return, the grateful monks add a poem to the Gospel book 274 00:18:57,560 --> 00:19:02,400 which praises devout King Athelstan, renowned through the wide world. 275 00:19:11,680 --> 00:19:15,800 Manuscripts clearly enhanced Athelstan's status. 276 00:19:16,960 --> 00:19:19,080 And a strong reputation 277 00:19:19,080 --> 00:19:23,320 gave him more power over his newly formed kingdom. 278 00:19:23,320 --> 00:19:26,840 Greater territory brings a lot of responsibilities. 279 00:19:26,840 --> 00:19:31,160 Hand in hand with that, we see Athelstan using a more judicial, 280 00:19:31,160 --> 00:19:35,080 bureaucratic type of kingship because he's got more to administer. 281 00:19:35,080 --> 00:19:38,680 And we see him setting up an obligatory assembly 282 00:19:38,680 --> 00:19:42,040 and every noble from across the entire country 283 00:19:42,040 --> 00:19:44,440 has got to attend his court regularly. 284 00:19:44,440 --> 00:19:48,960 We see him trying to run the economy effectively by controlling coinage, 285 00:19:48,960 --> 00:19:52,040 so it really is a concerted effort 286 00:19:52,040 --> 00:19:55,520 to make England function as a country as a whole. 287 00:19:55,520 --> 00:19:58,200 Yes, that's definitely the impression I get 288 00:19:58,200 --> 00:20:01,520 from looking at Athelstan and the manuscripts surrounding him. 289 00:20:01,520 --> 00:20:04,400 He's harnessing all the language and the imagery of power. 290 00:20:04,400 --> 00:20:07,040 If you're concerned for your image, 291 00:20:07,040 --> 00:20:11,120 if you're concerned for the sort of reputation of your kingship, 292 00:20:11,120 --> 00:20:15,080 as Athelstan was, you have a scribe to talk up your kingship, 293 00:20:15,080 --> 00:20:18,920 to try to elevate and create a sense of a king 294 00:20:18,920 --> 00:20:22,240 who's more than the sort of king you used to have in England. 295 00:20:22,240 --> 00:20:25,800 It's an amazing propaganda machine, isn't it? It is a propaganda... 296 00:20:25,800 --> 00:20:27,960 You've got everything working together - 297 00:20:27,960 --> 00:20:31,160 law, imagery, language all building him up. 298 00:20:31,160 --> 00:20:36,800 One could argue it's no accident that we have the first image of a king 299 00:20:36,800 --> 00:20:38,320 being the image of Athelstan 300 00:20:38,320 --> 00:20:41,240 when he was a king who was so concerned for his image 301 00:20:41,240 --> 00:20:45,400 and had to be because he was pushing forward the frontiers of kingship. 302 00:20:50,600 --> 00:20:54,680 When Athelstan died in 939AD, 303 00:20:54,680 --> 00:20:57,440 he left not just a united England, 304 00:20:57,440 --> 00:21:01,440 but a model for how manuscripts could enhance royal image. 305 00:21:03,440 --> 00:21:06,720 His successors would build on that legacy. 306 00:21:11,040 --> 00:21:15,240 Just 20 years later, when Edgar the Peaceful takes the throne, 307 00:21:15,240 --> 00:21:19,040 the role of King of England had evolved further. 308 00:21:21,880 --> 00:21:24,040 Like his Great Uncle Athelstan, 309 00:21:24,040 --> 00:21:28,000 Edgar lives on in manuscripts held by the British Library. 310 00:21:31,560 --> 00:21:34,600 One is a Royal charter, 311 00:21:34,600 --> 00:21:37,840 which shows clearly just how powerful a figure Edgar was, 312 00:21:37,840 --> 00:21:41,680 and where he got his power from - the Church. 313 00:21:44,080 --> 00:21:45,360 Gosh. 314 00:21:48,120 --> 00:21:50,200 Wow. Well, we're clearly dealing 315 00:21:50,200 --> 00:21:54,760 with something quite different to what we've seen before. 316 00:21:54,760 --> 00:21:58,160 Every page is written in gold. 317 00:21:58,160 --> 00:22:02,880 It just glistens off the vellum there. 318 00:22:02,880 --> 00:22:07,080 You can only imagine what it must have been worth. 319 00:22:07,080 --> 00:22:09,120 It shows me that this text 320 00:22:09,120 --> 00:22:13,160 is about something, and someone, very important. 321 00:22:14,600 --> 00:22:18,600 It was created by the monks of Winchester's New Minster. 322 00:22:18,600 --> 00:22:21,440 At the front, they included a flattering portrait of Edgar. 323 00:22:22,920 --> 00:22:25,560 And what have we here? 324 00:22:25,560 --> 00:22:27,480 Another book, 325 00:22:27,480 --> 00:22:32,840 held in the hand of the King, a gold book, probably this book itself. 326 00:22:32,840 --> 00:22:35,440 And again we have this connection 327 00:22:35,440 --> 00:22:38,160 between an English monarch and manuscripts, 328 00:22:38,160 --> 00:22:40,200 the giving of manuscripts. 329 00:22:42,040 --> 00:22:45,840 The book is doing the same job as the crown in this image. 330 00:22:45,840 --> 00:22:49,720 It too is now a symbol of royal power. 331 00:22:49,720 --> 00:22:53,160 This charter was created to commemorate 332 00:22:53,160 --> 00:22:56,240 a major reform of England's monasteries in 964 333 00:22:56,240 --> 00:23:00,640 in which Edgar gave more power and land to the Benedictine order. 334 00:23:02,920 --> 00:23:05,440 In return, the artist of the charter 335 00:23:05,440 --> 00:23:08,840 seems to have elevated the King to a near-divine status. 336 00:23:10,240 --> 00:23:13,280 There's some potent symbolism going on here. 337 00:23:13,280 --> 00:23:15,120 This is the first time 338 00:23:15,120 --> 00:23:19,800 we've seen an English king inserted so prominently in a spiritual scene. 339 00:23:19,800 --> 00:23:23,120 He's there in the centre 340 00:23:23,120 --> 00:23:27,080 and, in terms of scale, he seems to be the largest figure. 341 00:23:28,640 --> 00:23:31,960 And then coming after that very regal frontispiece, 342 00:23:31,960 --> 00:23:37,720 we see the name of the king himself, "Edgar Rex". King Edgar. 343 00:23:37,720 --> 00:23:41,120 And it's on the facing page to this Kairo, 344 00:23:41,120 --> 00:23:44,160 the name of the King of Kings Christ. 345 00:23:44,160 --> 00:23:48,240 So Edgar and Christ paired up alongside one another. 346 00:23:52,880 --> 00:23:55,560 His image is one of pious perfection. 347 00:23:57,160 --> 00:23:59,720 The reality was rather different. 348 00:24:08,520 --> 00:24:11,840 Edgar made his capital in Winchester. 349 00:24:14,640 --> 00:24:18,480 The city was also one of the centres of the English Church 350 00:24:18,480 --> 00:24:20,320 in the 10th century. 351 00:24:27,880 --> 00:24:30,320 Near where the cathedral now stands, 352 00:24:30,320 --> 00:24:34,600 the scribes at the New Minster produced Edgar's golden charter, 353 00:24:34,600 --> 00:24:39,520 along with many other great illuminated manuscripts of the era. 354 00:24:42,800 --> 00:24:46,120 In this city, the relationship between church and state 355 00:24:46,120 --> 00:24:49,360 could not have been closer. 356 00:24:49,360 --> 00:24:53,000 Well, there'd be an amazing collection of buildings here. 357 00:24:53,000 --> 00:24:55,640 We're actually walking over the Old Minster 358 00:24:55,640 --> 00:24:58,360 which was the Anglo Saxon cathedral. 359 00:24:58,360 --> 00:25:01,960 Over there is the New Minster of the charter, 360 00:25:01,960 --> 00:25:05,840 the Royal Nunnery back there and, ahead of us, the Royal Palace. 361 00:25:05,840 --> 00:25:09,520 Winchester's an important place, isn't it? It is. 362 00:25:09,520 --> 00:25:14,800 London might be a trading centre but this is really the ritual 363 00:25:14,800 --> 00:25:17,600 and the religious centre of Edgar's England. 364 00:25:17,600 --> 00:25:21,000 We know from the New Minster charter that Edgar's very involved 365 00:25:21,000 --> 00:25:24,720 with church affairs here in Winchester. Why might that be? 366 00:25:24,720 --> 00:25:28,040 Bishop Aethelwold of Winchester was actually Edgar's tutor, 367 00:25:28,040 --> 00:25:31,200 so he's been indoctrinated from a young age 368 00:25:31,200 --> 00:25:34,040 about his duty towards the Church. 369 00:25:34,040 --> 00:25:37,520 But Edgar isn't the goody-goody that you might think he would be. 370 00:25:37,520 --> 00:25:40,520 He has got a reputation as a womaniser. 371 00:25:40,520 --> 00:25:43,920 Yes, and it's all sorts of women, isn't it, including nuns 372 00:25:43,920 --> 00:25:46,040 and chasing them into sewers and things. 373 00:25:46,040 --> 00:25:49,200 Yes, it's not the sort of relationship with nuns 374 00:25:49,200 --> 00:25:51,640 that Aethelwold was anticipating! 375 00:25:53,160 --> 00:25:56,360 But later stories do associate him with attempts to seduce a nun. 376 00:25:56,360 --> 00:25:59,840 Uh-huh! Though, admittedly, he wanted to marry her, 377 00:25:59,840 --> 00:26:03,080 but when she turned him down and ran away from him, 378 00:26:03,080 --> 00:26:05,880 he did agree to marry her cousin instead. 379 00:26:05,880 --> 00:26:09,400 So we could look at the frontispiece as propaganda for the King's image? 380 00:26:09,400 --> 00:26:12,640 Yes, that is the public view that you're being given of Edgar. 381 00:26:12,640 --> 00:26:15,720 He is Christ's representative on Earth 382 00:26:15,720 --> 00:26:19,560 and a figure that is bolstered by these religious connections. 383 00:26:22,800 --> 00:26:25,240 In return for cleaning up his image, 384 00:26:25,240 --> 00:26:29,080 the King gave the church large donations of money and land. 385 00:26:31,760 --> 00:26:36,240 This mutual back-scratching is suggested by an image of Edgar 386 00:26:36,240 --> 00:26:39,240 where he's literally bound together with his clergy 387 00:26:39,240 --> 00:26:42,640 by another Winchester manuscript. 388 00:26:42,640 --> 00:26:46,360 The boundaries between divine authority and earthly power 389 00:26:46,360 --> 00:26:48,240 are increasingly blurred. 390 00:26:49,840 --> 00:26:53,480 It was very much in all their interests to work together. 391 00:26:53,480 --> 00:26:57,160 The kings protect the monasteries, the monasteries protect the king 392 00:26:57,160 --> 00:26:59,560 but also, of course, promote his image. 393 00:26:59,560 --> 00:27:01,720 Yes, that's strong here, isn't it? 394 00:27:01,720 --> 00:27:06,600 Yes, very much you see here, with the King wearing that imperial crown. 395 00:27:06,600 --> 00:27:09,720 And, of course, there is this parallel 396 00:27:09,720 --> 00:27:13,280 between the King on Earth and Christ in heaven. 397 00:27:13,280 --> 00:27:17,400 It's a really big statement about just how important the King is 398 00:27:17,400 --> 00:27:20,040 and how different he is from other laymen 399 00:27:20,040 --> 00:27:22,360 or indeed other rulers in other parts of Britain. 400 00:27:22,360 --> 00:27:25,320 So in texts like this and the New Minster charter, 401 00:27:25,320 --> 00:27:27,400 Edgar's taking a new position, isn't he? 402 00:27:27,400 --> 00:27:30,240 He's referring to himself as the Vicar of Christ. 403 00:27:30,240 --> 00:27:33,480 This is quite an unusual change in the idea of kingship, isn't it? 404 00:27:33,480 --> 00:27:36,560 Yeah, I think there's a much more self-conscious use 405 00:27:36,560 --> 00:27:41,000 of the religious role of kings. The Church is really trying to show here 406 00:27:41,000 --> 00:27:45,800 that kingship is almost a sort of clerical office. 407 00:27:45,800 --> 00:27:52,480 They're moving it away from the, you know, the king as a war leader. 408 00:27:56,800 --> 00:28:00,760 Although the imagery of monarchy was becoming more defined, 409 00:28:00,760 --> 00:28:06,360 no king at this time was entirely secure in his position. 410 00:28:06,360 --> 00:28:08,640 The threat from challengers to the throne 411 00:28:08,640 --> 00:28:11,760 and enemies to the kingdom was constant. 412 00:28:16,760 --> 00:28:21,080 Just 40 years later, a Dane was ruling England. 413 00:28:21,080 --> 00:28:23,120 Yet unlike other invaders, 414 00:28:23,120 --> 00:28:26,480 Cnut is not remembered now as a violent conqueror. 415 00:28:28,040 --> 00:28:33,040 Quite how he managed to integrate himself into English history 416 00:28:33,040 --> 00:28:36,320 is partly explained in the pages of another book 417 00:28:36,320 --> 00:28:38,920 produced at Winchester's New Minster. 418 00:28:40,520 --> 00:28:43,720 This is a list of Anglo Saxon names 419 00:28:43,720 --> 00:28:47,240 that's clearly been added to throughout the centuries. 420 00:28:47,240 --> 00:28:49,640 We've got Leofric, 421 00:28:49,640 --> 00:28:52,320 Alfric...and down here Godwin. 422 00:28:53,720 --> 00:28:55,040 At its simplest, 423 00:28:55,040 --> 00:28:57,600 this is a membership register 424 00:28:57,600 --> 00:29:01,160 of people associated with the brotherhood at the New Minster. 425 00:29:01,160 --> 00:29:05,120 But it's also a list of names that are going to be prayed for. 426 00:29:06,920 --> 00:29:09,400 If your name was written into these pages, 427 00:29:09,400 --> 00:29:13,400 it was believed you'd go to the front of the queue for heaven. 428 00:29:13,400 --> 00:29:16,440 Because this is no ordinary manuscript. 429 00:29:16,440 --> 00:29:19,720 It's the Liber Vitae, the Book of Life. 430 00:29:21,160 --> 00:29:22,600 It's the earthly draft 431 00:29:22,600 --> 00:29:26,280 of the register Christ will call from on the Day of Judgement. 432 00:29:27,680 --> 00:29:30,480 It shows where those in the Church's good books 433 00:29:30,480 --> 00:29:32,400 can hope to spend eternity. 434 00:29:33,760 --> 00:29:37,560 And underneath is where you'd end up if your name's not on the list. 435 00:29:47,560 --> 00:29:51,320 Given pride of place in this sacred artefact of the English church, 436 00:29:51,320 --> 00:29:54,240 however, is a foreigner. Cnut. 437 00:29:55,880 --> 00:29:57,240 These days Cnut's best known 438 00:29:57,240 --> 00:29:59,520 for that story about turning back the waves. 439 00:29:59,520 --> 00:30:01,080 But the makers of this image 440 00:30:01,080 --> 00:30:03,200 knew him more as a fearsome Danish warrior 441 00:30:03,200 --> 00:30:06,640 who'd conquered their country through a series of bloody battles. 442 00:30:10,120 --> 00:30:15,600 Even in this scene of pious harmony, he's still drawing his sword. 443 00:30:15,600 --> 00:30:19,400 But keeping hold of the throne would call for more than military power. 444 00:30:20,440 --> 00:30:23,360 What Cnut really needs to do to maintain power 445 00:30:23,360 --> 00:30:25,520 is to establish his legitimacy. 446 00:30:25,520 --> 00:30:27,040 And looking at this image, 447 00:30:27,040 --> 00:30:30,000 I can see a number of ways in which he's trying to do that. 448 00:30:30,000 --> 00:30:32,880 He's got this crown coming down from heaven to begin with. 449 00:30:32,880 --> 00:30:36,480 But he's also got this other figure pictured along side him. 450 00:30:36,480 --> 00:30:42,000 And the inscription reads, "Aelfgifu Regina" - Queen Aelfgifu. 451 00:30:42,000 --> 00:30:45,240 Aelfgifu was married to Ethelred the Unready, 452 00:30:45,240 --> 00:30:47,880 one of Cnut's Anglo-Saxon predecessors. 453 00:30:47,880 --> 00:30:51,400 By marrying her, he's bringing the two nations together, 454 00:30:51,400 --> 00:30:54,000 and this image is really emphasising that. 455 00:30:54,000 --> 00:30:56,680 she's put in this position of prominence 456 00:30:56,680 --> 00:31:00,960 on the right hand of the father, beneath the feet of the virgin. 457 00:31:00,960 --> 00:31:04,440 This is a hugely significant image for me. 458 00:31:04,440 --> 00:31:06,400 Other than religious figures, 459 00:31:06,400 --> 00:31:09,720 there are virtually no women in manuscripts of this period. 460 00:31:11,000 --> 00:31:13,480 It's also proof of just how badly 461 00:31:13,480 --> 00:31:17,280 Cnut needed some Anglo-Saxon pedigree. 462 00:31:17,280 --> 00:31:20,880 The other figures almost literally supporting his kingship here 463 00:31:20,880 --> 00:31:23,840 are the monks of the New Minster. 464 00:31:23,840 --> 00:31:25,880 In order to keep a grip on his throne, 465 00:31:25,880 --> 00:31:29,720 Cnut needed the support and the political backing of the Church. 466 00:31:29,720 --> 00:31:33,760 So he tries to ingratiate himself with particular establishments, 467 00:31:33,760 --> 00:31:37,280 like New Minster in Winchester. And how does he do that? 468 00:31:37,280 --> 00:31:39,680 He gives donations and gifts. 469 00:31:39,680 --> 00:31:42,040 Here we see a magnificent golden cross 470 00:31:42,040 --> 00:31:44,080 that he's placing on the altar. 471 00:31:46,840 --> 00:31:50,880 Crucifix and manuscript would have been displayed side by side. 472 00:31:50,880 --> 00:31:55,120 In today's cathedral, there's a similar arrangement. 473 00:31:57,240 --> 00:31:59,600 People looking at this image 474 00:31:59,600 --> 00:32:02,640 will see the same gold cross on the altar. 475 00:32:02,640 --> 00:32:07,080 Like a picture by Escher, it's an endlessly repeating image, 476 00:32:07,080 --> 00:32:09,720 where the real and the imagined are blended. 477 00:32:13,720 --> 00:32:16,640 And there's a further dimension at work here. 478 00:32:16,640 --> 00:32:19,520 The cross is pictured on the Day of Judgement, 479 00:32:19,520 --> 00:32:22,880 which means it also exists at the end of time. 480 00:32:23,960 --> 00:32:27,160 The medieval imagination had little difficulty 481 00:32:27,160 --> 00:32:30,040 moving between the now and the eternal. 482 00:32:30,040 --> 00:32:32,520 And so this cross in the manuscript 483 00:32:32,520 --> 00:32:36,040 is acting like a portal between earth and heaven. 484 00:32:44,360 --> 00:32:47,080 The other book on the altar in Cnut's day 485 00:32:47,080 --> 00:32:49,760 would have been King Edgar's charter. 486 00:32:49,760 --> 00:32:53,400 The two images side by side would have further reinforced 487 00:32:53,400 --> 00:32:56,840 the idea that Cnut was Edgar's rightful successor. 488 00:33:01,200 --> 00:33:04,560 All Cnut's efforts to write himself into England's Royal story 489 00:33:04,560 --> 00:33:09,240 eventually paid off. He remains to this day at Winchester, 490 00:33:09,240 --> 00:33:12,360 in one of the cathedral's ancient mortuary chests. 491 00:33:13,920 --> 00:33:17,080 He clearly made the grade in the eyes of the Church. 492 00:33:17,080 --> 00:33:20,120 The image of kingship that Cnut was to create 493 00:33:20,120 --> 00:33:23,960 has withstood the tides of time for almost a thousand years. 494 00:33:33,200 --> 00:33:36,640 The manuscript was such a powerful object a thousand years ago, 495 00:33:36,640 --> 00:33:38,040 it seemed almost alive. 496 00:33:38,040 --> 00:33:41,560 It's a quality referred to in a poem of the period. 497 00:33:41,560 --> 00:33:45,360 So I've got an Anglo-Saxon riddle for you. 498 00:33:45,360 --> 00:33:47,640 SHE SPEAKS IN OLD ENGLISH 499 00:33:54,840 --> 00:33:56,840 Have you guessed what it is yet? No? 500 00:34:05,720 --> 00:34:10,920 The answer to the riddle and the voice we hear in the poem is vellum. 501 00:34:10,920 --> 00:34:15,680 Paper doesn't reach northern Europe until the 14th century. 502 00:34:15,680 --> 00:34:18,520 All manuscripts created here before then are written on 503 00:34:18,520 --> 00:34:22,520 the treated skins of calves and other beasts. 504 00:34:22,520 --> 00:34:25,240 The Anglo-Saxons would have been very aware 505 00:34:25,240 --> 00:34:27,320 that their precious manuscripts 506 00:34:27,320 --> 00:34:31,120 had their origins in the living creatures around them. 507 00:34:36,400 --> 00:34:39,440 Amazingly, vellum is still being made today, 508 00:34:39,440 --> 00:34:43,280 in much the same way as the Anglo-Saxon poet describes. 509 00:34:44,520 --> 00:34:48,040 William Cowley in Buckinghamshire are one of just a handful of firms 510 00:34:48,040 --> 00:34:52,120 in the world keeping the tradition alive. 511 00:34:56,320 --> 00:34:59,480 So here we are, this is our storeroom. Wow. 512 00:34:59,480 --> 00:35:02,000 The raw material, as we say. 513 00:35:02,000 --> 00:35:03,400 Animal skins. Animal skins. 514 00:35:03,400 --> 00:35:05,760 Nice and smelly. Lots and lots of animal skins. 515 00:35:05,760 --> 00:35:07,880 It does smell, yeah. Oh! 516 00:35:07,880 --> 00:35:10,120 So we have calf here, we have goat over there, 517 00:35:10,120 --> 00:35:12,360 and in the box there would be sheep. Wow. 518 00:35:12,360 --> 00:35:13,520 Every skin in here 519 00:35:13,520 --> 00:35:16,680 has been hand-selected from the abattoir. What do you look for? 520 00:35:16,680 --> 00:35:20,040 We'll be looking for if there's any marks from barbed wire, 521 00:35:20,040 --> 00:35:22,720 from thorns, even insects. 522 00:35:22,720 --> 00:35:24,520 A tick will get well into the skin 523 00:35:24,520 --> 00:35:27,360 and can leave quite a hole. Oh, I've seen manuscripts 524 00:35:27,360 --> 00:35:30,040 with these large holes which have been written around. 525 00:35:30,040 --> 00:35:33,920 If you pick the wrong skins, you'll end up with a duff manuscript. 526 00:35:33,920 --> 00:35:35,720 Right, so what happens next, then? 527 00:35:35,720 --> 00:35:38,760 Well, from here, we'll take the skins... Right. 528 00:35:38,760 --> 00:35:42,200 ..and we then have to soak them. OK. 529 00:35:42,200 --> 00:35:44,240 Ooh, it smells like rotting flesh. 530 00:35:44,240 --> 00:35:46,600 Well, yeah, you're not that far away. 531 00:35:46,600 --> 00:35:49,520 What we've done is we've now got it soaking in a lime bath. 532 00:35:49,520 --> 00:35:53,840 OK. Now, bear in mind, if you go back far enough, 533 00:35:53,840 --> 00:35:56,600 it was urine and dog faeces, and everything. Ugh, yeah. 534 00:35:56,600 --> 00:35:58,280 Cos what you're looking to do, 535 00:35:58,280 --> 00:36:00,920 you're looking to get the skin to start to break down. 536 00:36:00,920 --> 00:36:05,960 The finest manuscripts came from the urine of the Abbot. 537 00:36:05,960 --> 00:36:07,800 The Abbot's diet was so much better 538 00:36:07,800 --> 00:36:10,240 than that of an average monk... Ah, there you go. 539 00:36:10,240 --> 00:36:12,640 ..so his urine was said to be of better quality 540 00:36:12,640 --> 00:36:14,680 when producing parchment and vellum. 541 00:36:14,680 --> 00:36:17,360 So there's all these different things you can adapt 542 00:36:17,360 --> 00:36:19,360 to get the absolute best quality. Yeah. 543 00:36:19,360 --> 00:36:22,720 You haven't got Abbot's wee today? No, no. 544 00:36:27,120 --> 00:36:30,560 So here we have what we call the grain with the hair on it. Yeah. 545 00:36:30,560 --> 00:36:32,200 We're looking to get this off... 546 00:36:32,200 --> 00:36:36,280 Right, right, right. ..without marking the writing surface. Ah. 547 00:36:36,280 --> 00:36:39,080 This is going to be the writing surface. 548 00:36:39,080 --> 00:36:42,120 And if you feel, you can already feel how soft that is. 549 00:36:42,120 --> 00:36:43,280 Wow, yeah. 550 00:36:45,800 --> 00:36:48,440 'I've handled plenty of vellum over the years, 551 00:36:48,440 --> 00:36:50,440 'but never at this stage of its life.' 552 00:36:50,440 --> 00:36:53,040 A real parchment maker's apron. Wow. 553 00:36:53,040 --> 00:36:55,120 Right, so here we go. 554 00:36:55,120 --> 00:36:57,760 Here's our knife. Mmm-hmm. 555 00:36:57,760 --> 00:37:01,360 Just lean over, two hands on the knife... Yep. 556 00:37:01,360 --> 00:37:04,480 ..and just push down. There you go. Oh, wow, it's actually... 557 00:37:04,480 --> 00:37:07,320 Yeah, I'm hardly putting much pressure on there. No. 558 00:37:07,320 --> 00:37:11,800 Gosh, this process is just like the one that I've read about. 559 00:37:11,800 --> 00:37:14,640 There's an Old English riddle that describes 560 00:37:14,640 --> 00:37:17,640 the process of making a manuscript and it says... 561 00:37:17,640 --> 00:37:19,280 SHE SPEAKS IN OLD ENGLISH 562 00:37:25,960 --> 00:37:28,320 And it's talking about precisely this bit. 563 00:37:28,320 --> 00:37:32,120 Yes. Scraping, shaping the skin. Yep. 564 00:37:32,120 --> 00:37:36,560 And it's so evocative, I really feel like that poem's coming to life 565 00:37:36,560 --> 00:37:38,000 while I'm doing this. 566 00:37:43,480 --> 00:37:46,920 Manufacturing vellum is both labour and time-intensive. 567 00:37:46,920 --> 00:37:51,680 After the fat is scraped off, the skin takes several weeks to dry. 568 00:37:54,640 --> 00:37:58,440 From abattoir to finished sheet can take up to three months - 569 00:37:58,440 --> 00:38:01,760 one reason why vellum has always been a luxury good. 570 00:38:04,360 --> 00:38:08,880 Some of the stock in this room will go on to be Acts of Parliament. 571 00:38:08,880 --> 00:38:11,080 Today's Royal Family are customers too. 572 00:38:11,080 --> 00:38:13,680 The marriage certificate for William and Kate 573 00:38:13,680 --> 00:38:15,440 was written on vellum made here. 574 00:38:17,400 --> 00:38:20,160 So here we have the finished product now. Amazing. 575 00:38:20,160 --> 00:38:23,480 All that effort and energy and this is what you end up with. 576 00:38:23,480 --> 00:38:26,240 Feel that lovely smooth surface. Absolutely amazing. 577 00:38:26,240 --> 00:38:28,360 This is so exciting for me, 578 00:38:28,360 --> 00:38:31,160 because I'm used to seeing finished manuscripts 579 00:38:31,160 --> 00:38:33,240 with their ink and their illuminations, 580 00:38:33,240 --> 00:38:36,080 and yet to see it like this - just pure and white and new - 581 00:38:36,080 --> 00:38:37,520 it is just fantastic. 582 00:38:37,520 --> 00:38:41,960 I really feel there's this passage of time taking place. 583 00:38:41,960 --> 00:38:43,800 It's come from a life, from a calf, 584 00:38:43,800 --> 00:38:46,880 and it's going onto something else, isn't it? Absolutely. 585 00:38:46,880 --> 00:38:51,120 Long after everyone else is gone, this will still be here. 586 00:38:58,720 --> 00:39:02,080 This is vellum as I'm used to encountering it. 587 00:39:02,080 --> 00:39:05,120 And despite the fact it's a thousand years old, 588 00:39:05,120 --> 00:39:09,600 you still get the sense that this was once a living creature. 589 00:39:09,600 --> 00:39:13,480 You can feel the hair side underneath your fingertips. 590 00:39:13,480 --> 00:39:15,920 And what's really remarkable is that, 591 00:39:15,920 --> 00:39:19,040 despite the fact it's been used for centuries, 592 00:39:19,040 --> 00:39:21,880 it's still so well preserved. 593 00:39:24,480 --> 00:39:26,480 There's something extraordinary 594 00:39:26,480 --> 00:39:28,960 about the contents of this manuscript too. 595 00:39:28,960 --> 00:39:31,920 This time the key figure is not a king, but a queen. 596 00:39:33,160 --> 00:39:37,000 It's Cnut's wife, Aelfgifu, or Emma. 597 00:39:37,000 --> 00:39:40,320 And this book was made after Cnut's death. 598 00:39:40,320 --> 00:39:45,560 It's a highly flattering biography of her and her husband, 599 00:39:45,560 --> 00:39:48,280 and like the other manuscripts I've looked at, 600 00:39:48,280 --> 00:39:51,680 there's a sense in which image is being manipulated here, 601 00:39:51,680 --> 00:39:55,080 because Emma has commissioned it herself. 602 00:39:56,480 --> 00:39:58,840 Cnut's death caused a power struggle. 603 00:39:58,840 --> 00:40:01,600 The throne passed not to one of Emma's children, 604 00:40:01,600 --> 00:40:05,960 pictured with her here, but to his son by a previous marriage. 605 00:40:07,280 --> 00:40:10,080 Emma's clearly learnt the power of manuscripts 606 00:40:10,080 --> 00:40:13,160 from her Royal relatives. This is her version of history, 607 00:40:13,160 --> 00:40:15,160 and she's had it written 608 00:40:15,160 --> 00:40:18,680 to ensure she and Cnut remain at the heart of it. 609 00:40:20,480 --> 00:40:24,360 Their reign is described here as one of peace and prosperity, 610 00:40:24,360 --> 00:40:28,360 in contrast to the bloody turmoil which ensued afterwards. 611 00:40:28,360 --> 00:40:32,480 This text does everything it can to prove Emma's sons 612 00:40:32,480 --> 00:40:35,480 are the rightful heirs to the throne. 613 00:40:37,400 --> 00:40:41,200 In the end, both her sons did rule England. 614 00:40:41,200 --> 00:40:44,280 But in this image, it's not the boys that are on the throne - 615 00:40:44,280 --> 00:40:46,280 it's Emma herself. 616 00:40:46,280 --> 00:40:49,960 It really strikes me what an important historical figure she is - 617 00:40:49,960 --> 00:40:52,960 married to two kings and mother to two kings. 618 00:40:57,240 --> 00:40:59,280 But it was another of Emma's relatives 619 00:40:59,280 --> 00:41:02,320 who was to have the most dramatic effect on English history. 620 00:41:02,320 --> 00:41:04,320 Emma had grown up in Normandy 621 00:41:04,320 --> 00:41:07,200 and her great-nephew was called William. 622 00:41:12,080 --> 00:41:15,320 The most famous imagery of the Norman Conquest, of course, 623 00:41:15,320 --> 00:41:17,440 isn't on vellum, but on fabric. 624 00:41:20,400 --> 00:41:22,920 The story told by the Bayeux Tapestry 625 00:41:22,920 --> 00:41:26,480 not only spelt the end of the Anglo-Saxon Royal line, 626 00:41:26,480 --> 00:41:29,960 but also caused a deep rupture in the story of England. 627 00:41:31,360 --> 00:41:33,200 For generations to come, 628 00:41:33,200 --> 00:41:36,880 this would prove a challenge to the makers of Royal manuscripts. 629 00:41:36,880 --> 00:41:41,520 How do you present the Royal line as legitimate when its power was won 630 00:41:41,520 --> 00:41:45,400 through such widespread cultural and political upheaval? 631 00:41:55,960 --> 00:42:00,320 'This is one solution - the genealogical chronicle. 632 00:42:03,280 --> 00:42:07,480 'Once the descendants of the Norman invaders had put down roots here, 633 00:42:07,480 --> 00:42:09,600 'they wanted to prove that they too 634 00:42:09,600 --> 00:42:12,040 'had their place in the Royal family tree.' 635 00:42:17,760 --> 00:42:20,560 The artist that's worked on this genealogical roll 636 00:42:20,560 --> 00:42:23,560 has come up with a number of different strategies to show 637 00:42:23,560 --> 00:42:28,040 a continuity throughout the history of the English kings. 638 00:42:29,680 --> 00:42:33,320 The language used for the manuscripts may now be French, 639 00:42:33,320 --> 00:42:35,720 but the roll includes all the familiar names 640 00:42:35,720 --> 00:42:39,200 of the Anglo-Saxon era, such as Edgar and Athelstan. 641 00:42:41,880 --> 00:42:45,240 Around that most famous of dates, 1066, 642 00:42:45,240 --> 00:42:47,320 the roll gets a little bit more confusing. 643 00:42:47,320 --> 00:42:52,440 The last Anglo-Saxon king, Harold Godwinson, who died at Hastings, 644 00:42:52,440 --> 00:42:54,480 is shown in isolation. 645 00:42:54,480 --> 00:42:58,120 For the Normans, he had no legitimate claim to be king. 646 00:42:58,120 --> 00:43:02,160 In contrast, we see here William the Bastard. 647 00:43:02,160 --> 00:43:04,040 This is William The Conqueror. 648 00:43:04,040 --> 00:43:08,280 And there's been a huge amount of effort made to connect him 649 00:43:08,280 --> 00:43:10,640 to the other kings on the roll. 650 00:43:10,640 --> 00:43:15,400 So we have this stand-alone section here showing William's heritage. 651 00:43:15,400 --> 00:43:20,040 He's come from a strong line of Dukes of Normandy. 652 00:43:20,040 --> 00:43:22,120 And following on from him, 653 00:43:22,120 --> 00:43:26,200 we see this line coming out of his descendants 654 00:43:26,200 --> 00:43:28,560 and connecting into future kings. 655 00:43:28,560 --> 00:43:32,040 So here we have Henry, the first of the Plantagenet kings. 656 00:43:32,040 --> 00:43:34,880 And there's been an attempt made to link him back 657 00:43:34,880 --> 00:43:39,920 to the Anglo-Saxon monarchy, through his wife here, Queen Maud. 658 00:43:39,920 --> 00:43:44,000 And if we follow this long blue line past the Normans, 659 00:43:44,000 --> 00:43:46,440 past Cnut and Harthacnut, 660 00:43:46,440 --> 00:43:50,400 we get back to this character - St Margaret, 661 00:43:50,400 --> 00:43:54,560 a descendent of the Anglo-Saxon king Edmund Ironside. 662 00:43:57,840 --> 00:44:01,280 This particular roll is almost five metres long, 663 00:44:01,280 --> 00:44:04,320 and features 32 successive kings of England. 664 00:44:05,840 --> 00:44:09,320 Dozens of other Royal family trees survive 665 00:44:09,320 --> 00:44:12,120 from the 13th and 14th centuries. 666 00:44:12,120 --> 00:44:15,400 Though they were made by a variety of scribes across England, 667 00:44:15,400 --> 00:44:17,680 they all follow a common template, 668 00:44:17,680 --> 00:44:19,400 using this graphic style 669 00:44:19,400 --> 00:44:22,400 of depicting each of the monarchs as if on a coin. 670 00:44:24,320 --> 00:44:26,080 And, unusually for this period, 671 00:44:26,080 --> 00:44:28,320 we actually know the name of the artist 672 00:44:28,320 --> 00:44:30,960 who first came up with this much-copied design. 673 00:44:34,040 --> 00:44:38,680 Matthew Paris. He even left us this self-portrait. 674 00:44:38,680 --> 00:44:41,080 As the haircut suggests, he was a monk. 675 00:44:42,520 --> 00:44:45,560 He lived during the reign of Henry III 676 00:44:45,560 --> 00:44:49,640 and exemplifies the confident Anglo-French culture of the era. 677 00:44:51,560 --> 00:44:55,040 And he produced various kinds of chronicles, 678 00:44:55,040 --> 00:44:57,760 including this, his Historia Anglorum. 679 00:45:01,840 --> 00:45:04,360 Matthew Paris has been involved 680 00:45:04,360 --> 00:45:07,320 in all aspects of creating this manuscript. 681 00:45:07,320 --> 00:45:10,760 Not only is he the author - he's actually composed this text - 682 00:45:10,760 --> 00:45:14,600 but this is his handwriting, so he's acting as scribe as well. 683 00:45:14,600 --> 00:45:16,440 And then he's gone through 684 00:45:16,440 --> 00:45:19,080 and illuminated and illustrated throughout. 685 00:45:19,080 --> 00:45:24,040 There's some really lovely detailing where he's painted it too. 686 00:45:24,040 --> 00:45:26,360 It's quite an exceptional feat for one man. 687 00:45:29,280 --> 00:45:32,320 Among the illustrations are a hospital, and a man threshing. 688 00:45:32,320 --> 00:45:37,560 They're clearly drawn from the contemporary world around him, 689 00:45:37,560 --> 00:45:39,520 as is much of the text. 690 00:45:39,520 --> 00:45:43,880 The majority of the work concerns Paris' own lifetime 691 00:45:43,880 --> 00:45:46,800 and the king who ruled over him - Henry. 692 00:45:49,120 --> 00:45:51,200 As we get towards the end, 693 00:45:51,200 --> 00:45:55,040 Paris is writing about events almost as they're happening, 694 00:45:55,040 --> 00:45:58,080 and he's also offering opinions on them. 695 00:45:58,080 --> 00:46:01,520 So what we seem to be dealing with here is less like history 696 00:46:01,520 --> 00:46:03,120 and more like journalism. 697 00:46:03,120 --> 00:46:07,040 As a result, this work offers a view of monarchy 698 00:46:07,040 --> 00:46:10,800 quite unlike anything that's gone before. 699 00:46:10,800 --> 00:46:14,000 There are a number of points in this manuscript 700 00:46:14,000 --> 00:46:18,800 where Paris is openly critical of Henry and his family. Here's one. 701 00:46:18,800 --> 00:46:22,480 He's describing John, Henry's father, 702 00:46:22,480 --> 00:46:26,320 and the taxation that he's imposing on the English people, 703 00:46:26,320 --> 00:46:29,760 and he refers to him here as "tyrannus" - "tyrant". 704 00:46:29,760 --> 00:46:33,240 That's pretty strong criticism of the king's father. 705 00:46:33,240 --> 00:46:35,640 And it's seems it's so strong, perhaps, 706 00:46:35,640 --> 00:46:38,720 that Paris has returned to the manuscript later, 707 00:46:38,720 --> 00:46:40,160 and added this note, 708 00:46:40,160 --> 00:46:42,760 "vacat" - "disregard". 709 00:46:44,040 --> 00:46:48,040 Does this suggest that Paris knew he'd gone too far? 710 00:46:50,480 --> 00:46:52,760 And look at this image here. 711 00:46:52,760 --> 00:46:56,400 In its composition, it's saying something really telling 712 00:46:56,400 --> 00:46:59,800 about the relationship between the Church and the King. 713 00:46:59,800 --> 00:47:01,480 So you can see the Bishop, 714 00:47:01,480 --> 00:47:04,760 the representative of the Church, is on a really stable footing. 715 00:47:04,760 --> 00:47:09,080 And yet the King, King Henry, is teetering on the edge. 716 00:47:09,080 --> 00:47:12,200 He's very contorted and unstable-looking. 717 00:47:12,200 --> 00:47:14,640 It's not a very flattering image of him. 718 00:47:14,640 --> 00:47:18,440 In many ways, it's a bit like a satirical cartoon. 719 00:47:18,440 --> 00:47:22,560 Frankly, Paris reads less like a medieval scribe 720 00:47:22,560 --> 00:47:25,480 and more like a modern author. 721 00:47:25,480 --> 00:47:29,080 But how could this startlingly independent approach 722 00:47:29,080 --> 00:47:31,720 have arisen in 13th-century Britain? 723 00:47:37,240 --> 00:47:41,040 Matthew Paris lived and worked for most of his life 724 00:47:41,040 --> 00:47:44,600 in St Albans Abbey, now the foundations of the town's cathedral. 725 00:47:49,000 --> 00:47:53,240 On its walls are some 13th-century paintings. 726 00:47:56,480 --> 00:47:58,520 Paris would have seen these. 727 00:48:01,040 --> 00:48:05,040 In Medieval times, the abbey was a major site of pilgrimage. 728 00:48:08,240 --> 00:48:13,120 And chief among the devout visitors was Henry III himself. 729 00:48:15,880 --> 00:48:19,400 I think Matthew Paris is an absolutely unique chronicler 730 00:48:19,400 --> 00:48:21,680 because of his relationship with the King. 731 00:48:21,680 --> 00:48:27,600 He knows Henry III intimately. Henry III comes here, he meets Paris. 732 00:48:27,600 --> 00:48:31,040 It's a curious relationship because, on the one hand, 733 00:48:31,040 --> 00:48:34,320 Henry III says to Paris, "Write this, write that," 734 00:48:34,320 --> 00:48:36,320 cos Henry III has this huge desire 735 00:48:36,320 --> 00:48:38,720 to have the events of his reign recorded 736 00:48:38,720 --> 00:48:42,240 and have his own great deeds recorded, and Paris does that. 737 00:48:42,240 --> 00:48:44,840 On the other hand, if Henry had seen some of the things 738 00:48:44,840 --> 00:48:47,960 Paris was writing, he would have been absolutely appalled. 739 00:48:47,960 --> 00:48:51,160 Absolutely, yes. It is the most critical text we've had to date 740 00:48:51,160 --> 00:48:53,400 of someone writing about a king, 741 00:48:53,400 --> 00:48:56,840 and so there's this strange ambiguity and tension. 742 00:48:56,840 --> 00:49:01,720 I think with Paris it's that God is working his purpose out in history, 743 00:49:01,720 --> 00:49:05,160 and Paris feels it's absolutely obligatory on him 744 00:49:05,160 --> 00:49:08,640 to actually say what is good and what is bad. Yes. 745 00:49:08,640 --> 00:49:11,800 Because in God's history, some things are good and some are bad. 746 00:49:11,800 --> 00:49:15,040 And I wonder, you know, whether at St Albans itself, 747 00:49:15,040 --> 00:49:17,440 there was a party within the monks, 748 00:49:17,440 --> 00:49:23,240 perhaps the Abbot himself, who deeply worried about Paris' tone. 749 00:49:23,240 --> 00:49:24,640 And I think, in the end, 750 00:49:24,640 --> 00:49:27,080 this may help to explain the extraordinary way 751 00:49:27,080 --> 00:49:29,120 in which, very late in life, 752 00:49:29,120 --> 00:49:32,960 Paris went through the work and excised a great deal. 753 00:49:32,960 --> 00:49:34,440 Did it in a funny sort of way, 754 00:49:34,440 --> 00:49:36,840 because sometimes he stuck bits of paper... Yes. 755 00:49:36,840 --> 00:49:38,320 ..over what he'd excised, 756 00:49:38,320 --> 00:49:41,720 so actually you can still lift it up... And find the criticisms. 757 00:49:41,720 --> 00:49:43,080 So, you know, you lift... 758 00:49:43,080 --> 00:49:46,680 On the top, it says, "The venerable archbishop Boniface came 759 00:49:46,680 --> 00:49:48,720 "and behaved in a dignified way," 760 00:49:48,720 --> 00:49:52,000 and underneath it says, "The appalling archbishop Boniface 761 00:49:52,000 --> 00:49:54,080 "took all our horses," and everything. 762 00:49:57,880 --> 00:50:01,960 The volume I've seen was perhaps intended as a first draft, 763 00:50:01,960 --> 00:50:05,280 to be copied again later without the offending passages. 764 00:50:08,360 --> 00:50:13,480 And in his major portraits of the kings, Paris is much less critical. 765 00:50:13,480 --> 00:50:18,240 They're imbued with the spirituality of their divine calling. 766 00:50:20,280 --> 00:50:25,160 And Henry is glorified by his greatest act of piety - 767 00:50:25,160 --> 00:50:28,200 the reconstruction of Westminster Abbey. 768 00:50:36,760 --> 00:50:41,000 The greatest of Anglo-Saxon cathedrals had remained the centre 769 00:50:41,000 --> 00:50:44,760 for Royal ritual, despite the Norman conquest of England. 770 00:50:46,040 --> 00:50:51,400 Now it was assuming a grander, more awe-inspiring form, 771 00:50:51,400 --> 00:50:53,440 much like the monarchy itself. 772 00:50:58,680 --> 00:51:02,400 This must have been a really vibrant and stimulating place 773 00:51:02,400 --> 00:51:04,400 in the mid-13th century. 774 00:51:04,400 --> 00:51:08,280 Under Henry III, there was masses of building work taking place. 775 00:51:08,280 --> 00:51:10,120 And alongside architecture, 776 00:51:10,120 --> 00:51:13,920 there were other artistic activities based right here in Westminster. 777 00:51:22,080 --> 00:51:26,880 The best English manuscript art was now being produced in London, 778 00:51:26,880 --> 00:51:29,320 rather than in Winchester or Northumbria. 779 00:51:35,400 --> 00:51:38,360 Some of the most stunning illustrations of this era 780 00:51:38,360 --> 00:51:39,680 appear in psalters - 781 00:51:39,680 --> 00:51:44,200 small, personal prayer books made from the Book of Psalms. 782 00:51:47,640 --> 00:51:51,400 These had a particular relevance for Royal readers, 783 00:51:51,400 --> 00:51:54,960 because they centred on a model of monarchy from the Bible. 784 00:51:54,960 --> 00:51:58,280 King David combined two of the qualities of kingship 785 00:51:58,280 --> 00:52:00,800 which Medieval England most valued. 786 00:52:03,080 --> 00:52:06,440 Psalters were the perfect learning tool for a young prince, 787 00:52:06,440 --> 00:52:08,160 because they could teach them 788 00:52:08,160 --> 00:52:10,760 how to be pious rulers and valiant soldiers. 789 00:52:10,760 --> 00:52:12,760 I've got one here that was custom-made 790 00:52:12,760 --> 00:52:14,480 for an heir to the English throne. 791 00:52:16,920 --> 00:52:21,760 It's a shining example of the 13th-century Westminster style. 792 00:52:21,760 --> 00:52:24,080 The difference between this manuscript 793 00:52:24,080 --> 00:52:26,560 and the other ones I've encountered 794 00:52:26,560 --> 00:52:29,360 is that this one has been designed throughout 795 00:52:29,360 --> 00:52:32,240 for the personal use of one individual Royal. 796 00:52:35,680 --> 00:52:38,720 This psalter was commissioned as a wedding gift. 797 00:52:38,720 --> 00:52:43,320 In 1284, King Edward I was preparing to celebrate 798 00:52:43,320 --> 00:52:45,600 the marriage of his young son and heir, 799 00:52:45,600 --> 00:52:49,200 the exotically-named Prince Alphonso. 800 00:52:49,200 --> 00:52:52,240 He was engaged to a countess from Holland, 801 00:52:52,240 --> 00:52:55,880 so next to England's coat of arms is her Dutch heraldry. 802 00:52:58,120 --> 00:53:00,760 As was often the case at this time, 803 00:53:00,760 --> 00:53:04,120 the groom was a boy of just ten years old. 804 00:53:04,120 --> 00:53:08,080 And that's why the margins of this book are full of images 805 00:53:08,080 --> 00:53:10,320 that would have appealed to a young prince, 806 00:53:10,320 --> 00:53:14,360 like a man wrestling with a lion. 807 00:53:15,880 --> 00:53:17,640 Compared to a typical psalter, 808 00:53:17,640 --> 00:53:21,280 the images of battle here are fantastical. 809 00:53:21,280 --> 00:53:25,120 At times, it's like a high-class comic book. 810 00:53:25,120 --> 00:53:28,480 There are also images of fertility in here, 811 00:53:28,480 --> 00:53:30,840 like a mermaid suckling her young. 812 00:53:30,840 --> 00:53:33,640 These were seen as perfect for a wedding gift, 813 00:53:33,640 --> 00:53:35,720 but are perhaps a little strange 814 00:53:35,720 --> 00:53:38,960 when you remember that the groom is a prepubescent boy. 815 00:53:41,400 --> 00:53:44,800 Other illustrations are probably references 816 00:53:44,800 --> 00:53:48,480 to the opulent lifestyle of the Royal household. 817 00:53:48,480 --> 00:53:52,400 Queen Eleanor kept lions in her menagerie, 818 00:53:52,400 --> 00:53:54,840 while the aviary may have provided models 819 00:53:54,840 --> 00:53:57,240 for these exquisitely delicate birds. 820 00:53:59,480 --> 00:54:02,960 This really is one of the most beautiful manuscripts I've seen. 821 00:54:02,960 --> 00:54:06,600 This use of gold and bright colours 822 00:54:06,600 --> 00:54:10,920 is really in keeping with the fashion for lavish display. 823 00:54:10,920 --> 00:54:14,600 Like any manuscript, many months of labour 824 00:54:14,600 --> 00:54:18,760 would have gone into creating this exquisite work. 825 00:54:22,240 --> 00:54:26,520 But the marriage that all this work was done for never took place. 826 00:54:26,520 --> 00:54:29,760 Just months before the wedding day, the young prince died, 827 00:54:29,760 --> 00:54:32,000 aged just ten years old, 828 00:54:32,000 --> 00:54:34,320 and work on the psalter ceased. 829 00:54:37,480 --> 00:54:41,680 The margins, so richly decorated in the early pages, 830 00:54:41,680 --> 00:54:43,960 are suddenly left painfully blank. 831 00:54:47,960 --> 00:54:51,280 Yet an unlikely set of circumstances 832 00:54:51,280 --> 00:54:55,120 meant that this book did eventually have a second life. 833 00:54:55,120 --> 00:54:57,120 Some 15 years later, 834 00:54:57,120 --> 00:55:01,440 Alphonso's sister became engaged to his fiancee's brother. 835 00:55:01,440 --> 00:55:06,120 The arms of Holland and England that feature in this beautiful book 836 00:55:06,120 --> 00:55:07,920 would finally be united. 837 00:55:11,160 --> 00:55:13,760 It's proof of just how valuable these objects were, 838 00:55:13,760 --> 00:55:16,640 that someone was keen to make use of all the work 839 00:55:16,640 --> 00:55:18,480 which had already been done. 840 00:55:25,720 --> 00:55:27,360 Alphonso, meanwhile, 841 00:55:27,360 --> 00:55:31,600 rests to this day in the most sacred chapel of Westminster Abbey, 842 00:55:31,600 --> 00:55:35,760 near both his father Edward and his grandfather Henry III. 843 00:55:37,400 --> 00:55:41,880 By the time this part of the Abbey was built in the late 13th century, 844 00:55:41,880 --> 00:55:45,080 the English monarchy seemed permanent and assured. 845 00:55:47,720 --> 00:55:50,800 Set in stone, in fact, and brass. 846 00:55:53,440 --> 00:55:57,280 It had come a long way since Athelstan began to define 847 00:55:57,280 --> 00:55:59,720 what a king of England could be. 848 00:55:59,720 --> 00:56:04,840 One English monarch had even been elevated to sainthood - 849 00:56:04,840 --> 00:56:07,680 Edward the Confessor's shrine was the centrepiece 850 00:56:07,680 --> 00:56:09,280 of the new Westminster. 851 00:56:12,000 --> 00:56:15,800 Religious and Royal power remained intertwined 852 00:56:15,800 --> 00:56:18,440 in the architecture and the rituals of the Abbey, 853 00:56:18,440 --> 00:56:21,080 and in its manuscripts. 854 00:56:21,080 --> 00:56:23,880 Above all, in the coronation book. 855 00:56:26,200 --> 00:56:30,640 We've got so much going on here in terms of the centuries 856 00:56:30,640 --> 00:56:36,680 of manipulating kingly imagery that we've seen in earlier manuscripts. 857 00:56:36,680 --> 00:56:39,360 Here we have a joint coronation going on. 858 00:56:39,360 --> 00:56:40,520 In this instance, 859 00:56:40,520 --> 00:56:43,960 we're looking at Richard the II and his wife Anne of Bohemia. 860 00:56:43,960 --> 00:56:47,480 The King and the Queen have all this regalia. 861 00:56:47,480 --> 00:56:50,520 They have these enormous crowns on their heads, 862 00:56:50,520 --> 00:56:54,200 and the whole composition is really showing 863 00:56:54,200 --> 00:56:57,360 the sanctification of the King and Queen. 864 00:56:57,360 --> 00:56:59,800 You can see there are these archbishops - 865 00:56:59,800 --> 00:57:01,960 the archbishops of York and Canterbury - 866 00:57:01,960 --> 00:57:04,760 framing the King and his queen, 867 00:57:04,760 --> 00:57:10,000 making them seem divine, even. And anyone looking at this image 868 00:57:10,000 --> 00:57:11,840 would call to mind the coronation 869 00:57:11,840 --> 00:57:14,240 of Edward the Confessor, the saintly king. 870 00:57:14,240 --> 00:57:18,960 He was crowned by both the archbishops of York and Canterbury, 871 00:57:18,960 --> 00:57:22,400 so all future coronations are harking back to this earlier one, 872 00:57:22,400 --> 00:57:23,800 this ideal one. 873 00:57:25,440 --> 00:57:27,480 And the use of gold - 874 00:57:27,480 --> 00:57:32,560 it's just absolutely absorbing them into this divinity, 875 00:57:32,560 --> 00:57:36,840 this wealth, this absolute image of power. 876 00:57:44,240 --> 00:57:47,320 The manuscripts of the English monarchy 877 00:57:47,320 --> 00:57:52,680 did so much more than just record knowledge and bequeath us portraits. 878 00:57:52,680 --> 00:57:58,240 Over the centuries, when England was first formed, then conquered, 879 00:57:58,240 --> 00:58:02,840 they gave legitimacy and continuity to a succession of rulers. 880 00:58:04,680 --> 00:58:08,000 Manuscripts defined the image of the English monarchy. 881 00:58:08,000 --> 00:58:11,600 They shaped its role, and they communicated its meaning. 882 00:58:11,600 --> 00:58:15,840 They did that in ways which formed this kingdom in their lifetimes... 883 00:58:17,360 --> 00:58:19,840 ..and which are still with us today. 884 00:58:27,200 --> 00:58:28,760 Next time... 885 00:58:28,760 --> 00:58:31,000 In an age of plague, rebellion, 886 00:58:31,000 --> 00:58:36,120 and a Hundred Years' War with France - 887 00:58:36,120 --> 00:58:38,960 how manuscripts taught kings the tools of their trade. 888 00:58:57,280 --> 00:59:00,160 Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd 889 00:59:00,160 --> 00:59:03,160 E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk