1 00:00:02,800 --> 00:00:05,960 Castles dominated the medieval landscape 2 00:00:05,960 --> 00:00:08,680 and Britain has some of the finest in the world. 3 00:00:10,280 --> 00:00:12,680 Today, most are decaying relics, 4 00:00:12,680 --> 00:00:14,800 many of their secrets buried in time. 5 00:00:19,560 --> 00:00:22,240 Now, historian, Ruth Goodman... 6 00:00:22,240 --> 00:00:23,320 Whoa! 7 00:00:23,320 --> 00:00:28,240 ..and archaeologists Tom Pinfold and Peter Ginn are turning the clock 8 00:00:28,240 --> 00:00:32,080 back to relearn the secrets of the medieval castle builders. 9 00:00:32,080 --> 00:00:34,680 This is the ultimate in medieval technology. 10 00:00:36,280 --> 00:00:39,160 The origin of our castles is distinctly French, 11 00:00:39,160 --> 00:00:43,040 introduced to Britain at the time of the Norman Conquest of 1066. 12 00:00:43,040 --> 00:00:46,920 MAN: Trois, deux, un. Tirez! 13 00:00:50,080 --> 00:00:54,080 Here in the Burgundy region of France is Guedelon Castle, 14 00:00:54,080 --> 00:00:56,960 the world's biggest archaeological experiment... 15 00:01:01,120 --> 00:01:05,080 ..a 25-year project to build a castle from scratch 16 00:01:05,080 --> 00:01:06,840 using the same tools, 17 00:01:06,840 --> 00:01:10,120 techniques and materials available in the 13th century. 18 00:01:11,240 --> 00:01:15,360 It's a lot of hard work at the coal face because this is industry. 19 00:01:15,360 --> 00:01:18,360 For the next six months, Ruth, Peter 20 00:01:18,360 --> 00:01:22,800 and Tom will experience the daily rigours of medieval construction... 21 00:01:22,800 --> 00:01:24,600 Job down. Yeah. 22 00:01:24,600 --> 00:01:26,040 ..and everyday life... 23 00:01:27,520 --> 00:01:29,520 ..how workers dressed 24 00:01:29,520 --> 00:01:30,560 and ate... 25 00:01:30,560 --> 00:01:34,040 You can really smell your food, Ruth. SHE LAUGHS 26 00:01:34,040 --> 00:01:36,040 ..and the art of combat. 27 00:01:39,480 --> 00:01:43,640 This is the story of how to build a medieval castle. 28 00:01:58,040 --> 00:02:02,640 It's April, and since their arrival a month ago, the team have been 29 00:02:02,640 --> 00:02:05,600 learning ancient skills from the Guedelon masons. 30 00:02:07,680 --> 00:02:10,320 Perfect. Oh, good. HE LAUGHS 31 00:02:12,680 --> 00:02:15,000 They've also set up a base for themselves in the shadow 32 00:02:15,000 --> 00:02:16,600 of the castle. 33 00:02:17,720 --> 00:02:20,320 Building a castle involves such a lot of people 34 00:02:20,320 --> 00:02:22,240 and they've all got to live somewhere. 35 00:02:25,000 --> 00:02:29,000 The 13th century was part of the golden age of castle building... 36 00:02:32,120 --> 00:02:35,200 ..when ever-evolving tactics and fortifications were driven 37 00:02:35,200 --> 00:02:39,320 by the legacy of bloody crusades and vicious dynastic struggles. 38 00:02:41,720 --> 00:02:44,600 Medieval dynasties sought to expand their influence 39 00:02:44,600 --> 00:02:46,400 and protect their gains. 40 00:02:48,240 --> 00:02:53,360 They built imposing stone castles, not only to assert power 41 00:02:53,360 --> 00:02:56,200 but, more fundamentally, to withstand attack. 42 00:03:00,760 --> 00:03:05,040 Now the team learn about building the castle's defensive structures. 43 00:03:06,200 --> 00:03:10,160 They look at the ingenious features medieval castle builders devised. 44 00:03:10,880 --> 00:03:14,360 MAN: Trois, deux, un. Tirez! 45 00:03:14,360 --> 00:03:18,120 And explore the craft behind the weapons they had to resist. 46 00:03:24,320 --> 00:03:27,200 Defence, for me, really is the raison d'etre of a castle. 47 00:03:27,200 --> 00:03:29,480 It's not just, you know, the battles, the attacking, 48 00:03:29,480 --> 00:03:33,480 the defending, it's the structural input that you have to think about - 49 00:03:33,480 --> 00:03:36,280 your defences, curtain walls, your towers, things like that. 50 00:03:36,280 --> 00:03:38,480 RUTH: They are defensive structures I suppose. 51 00:03:38,480 --> 00:03:40,800 They're much more than that, though, aren't they? 52 00:03:40,800 --> 00:03:43,960 I mean, they're...they are about defending yourself psychologically. 53 00:03:43,960 --> 00:03:46,360 They're about telling everybody, "Don't even try it." 54 00:03:46,360 --> 00:03:47,800 And what about the weapons too? 55 00:03:47,800 --> 00:03:50,240 I mean, what could they actually do against a castle? 56 00:03:50,240 --> 00:03:52,400 How effective were they? Yeah. 57 00:03:52,400 --> 00:03:55,040 I guess, how many men do you need to defend a castle? 58 00:03:55,040 --> 00:03:58,360 And you'd need some ruddy great big stores of food. Yeah. 59 00:03:58,360 --> 00:04:00,000 THEY LAUGH 60 00:04:00,000 --> 00:04:03,200 Castles - people sometimes...knights and princesses, but it isn't, 61 00:04:03,200 --> 00:04:05,040 it's mostly about the likes of us, isn't it? 62 00:04:05,040 --> 00:04:06,480 It's about everybody else. Yeah. 63 00:04:06,480 --> 00:04:08,280 And how do we survive? Yeah. 64 00:04:08,280 --> 00:04:09,600 THEY LAUGH 65 00:04:18,720 --> 00:04:21,640 A castle like this at Guedelon would have been built for a prosperous 66 00:04:21,640 --> 00:04:26,160 Lord who wanted to display his wealth and power... 67 00:04:27,520 --> 00:04:29,520 ..and also needed his home to be strong enough 68 00:04:29,520 --> 00:04:31,400 to withstand potential attack. 69 00:04:34,760 --> 00:04:37,960 And this dictates much of its design, 70 00:04:37,960 --> 00:04:41,760 with 36-feet-high curtain walls protecting the courtyard 71 00:04:41,760 --> 00:04:43,800 and residential spaces. 72 00:04:43,800 --> 00:04:44,920 Entry is via 73 00:04:44,920 --> 00:04:47,560 a twin-towered gatehouse. 74 00:04:47,560 --> 00:04:49,120 And at each corner above the 75 00:04:49,120 --> 00:04:51,000 crenulated walls there will be 76 00:04:51,000 --> 00:04:54,080 four round towers, 77 00:04:54,080 --> 00:04:56,720 the highest of which will be the Great Tower, 78 00:04:56,720 --> 00:04:59,960 a superb vantage point at nearly 100 feet high. 79 00:05:03,720 --> 00:05:06,520 In charge of the defensive structure of the castle 80 00:05:06,520 --> 00:05:09,080 is Master Mason, Florian Renucci. 81 00:05:09,080 --> 00:05:10,240 He's travelled the world 82 00:05:10,240 --> 00:05:13,600 studying the ancient secrets behind medieval stonework. 83 00:05:17,840 --> 00:05:21,080 Guedelon's walls are over 12 feet thick in places. 84 00:05:23,080 --> 00:05:26,520 Today, the masons are placing a special long stone called 85 00:05:26,520 --> 00:05:29,440 a boutisse into a section of castle wall, 86 00:05:29,440 --> 00:05:32,680 designed specifically to reinforce it against attack. 87 00:05:33,880 --> 00:05:38,600 The boutisse is to connect the front of the wall... Yeah. 88 00:05:38,600 --> 00:05:44,680 ..front part, to the stone inside the wall. Right. 89 00:05:44,680 --> 00:05:47,800 Er, the boutisse, for instance, you have one here. 90 00:05:47,800 --> 00:05:51,120 This stone here is very long, it's here. 91 00:05:51,120 --> 00:05:53,720 Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. I can see that, yeah. 92 00:05:53,720 --> 00:05:58,520 We have to have wall really, um, strong. Yeah. 93 00:05:58,520 --> 00:06:02,520 This wall have to resist an enemy. Yeah. 94 00:06:02,520 --> 00:06:06,160 And a better way to fight a castle... Yeah. 95 00:06:06,160 --> 00:06:08,960 ..is to throw stone to the wall. HE LAUGHS 96 00:06:08,960 --> 00:06:10,040 At the wall, yeah. 97 00:06:10,040 --> 00:06:16,680 If we don't boutisse, the front part of the wall will go down. 98 00:06:16,680 --> 00:06:20,640 You can really see from this wall that you've got the external face, 99 00:06:20,640 --> 00:06:23,520 the internal face and the bit in the middle, the infill. 100 00:06:23,520 --> 00:06:25,800 Exactly. 101 00:06:25,800 --> 00:06:27,840 We are going to put one boutisse. 102 00:06:27,840 --> 00:06:29,240 Can you help us to...? Yeah. 103 00:06:29,240 --> 00:06:30,680 Definitely. Very good. 104 00:06:30,680 --> 00:06:32,480 Are you feeling strong, Peter? 105 00:06:32,480 --> 00:06:35,680 I don't need to. That's...that's the beauty of this. 106 00:06:35,680 --> 00:06:39,040 Yes. Er, try to be always in the middle of the stone. 107 00:06:39,040 --> 00:06:40,720 Right. Yeah, OK. 108 00:06:40,720 --> 00:06:43,480 It's a heavy stone to have a strong castle. 109 00:06:45,280 --> 00:06:49,040 Boutisse stones are not just placed at random, 110 00:06:49,040 --> 00:06:51,800 they're fixed into the wall at three-feet intervals 111 00:06:51,800 --> 00:06:53,800 to give maximum strength. 112 00:06:56,280 --> 00:07:00,400 The boutisse go, er, in the middle... Right. 113 00:07:00,400 --> 00:07:01,800 ..of the joint. 114 00:07:01,800 --> 00:07:04,120 So it's just linking in but it's so clever 115 00:07:04,120 --> 00:07:06,720 because the pressure is now spread between two stones. 116 00:07:06,720 --> 00:07:08,760 Yes, we have to think everything. 117 00:07:08,760 --> 00:07:12,320 It's like, um, a game. THEY LAUGH 118 00:07:12,320 --> 00:07:14,080 Like medieval Tetris. 119 00:07:16,000 --> 00:07:19,960 At Guedelon they're using a medieval formula to make mortar, 120 00:07:19,960 --> 00:07:23,040 mixing water with quarry sand and lime putty. 121 00:07:24,680 --> 00:07:26,880 Unlike lime produced industrially, 122 00:07:26,880 --> 00:07:29,560 it will take many centuries to set completely. 123 00:07:30,960 --> 00:07:32,720 We were afraid about it. 124 00:07:32,720 --> 00:07:35,720 Cos thousands of tonnes of stone being held together is 125 00:07:35,720 --> 00:07:37,960 a bit of a risk at the start, then? Exactly. 126 00:07:37,960 --> 00:07:45,880 And, er, it's perhaps the first time in Guedelon that we use this old 127 00:07:45,880 --> 00:07:48,240 way of making mortar. 128 00:07:50,200 --> 00:07:53,400 Through experimentation they've discovered that clay impurities 129 00:07:53,400 --> 00:07:56,320 in the quarry sand give this mortar great strength. 130 00:07:58,280 --> 00:08:01,360 So the experiments of archaeology has actually given you a really good 131 00:08:01,360 --> 00:08:04,480 building substance to build your castle. 132 00:08:04,480 --> 00:08:05,520 Exactly. 133 00:08:07,520 --> 00:08:10,600 Tom's just putting the mortar down here and he's making it rough, 134 00:08:10,600 --> 00:08:14,360 so when the stone goes down, that mortar will press into the... 135 00:08:14,360 --> 00:08:15,600 ..the cracks of the stone. 136 00:08:15,600 --> 00:08:18,880 If it was smooth, then you'd just have gaps, so if there's a bump 137 00:08:18,880 --> 00:08:21,800 in the stone and smooth mortar, it just wouldn't touch it. 138 00:08:21,800 --> 00:08:25,600 Whereas, because he's making it all rough, it'll squidge together 139 00:08:25,600 --> 00:08:29,840 and just keep that stone absolutely solidly fixed into place. 140 00:08:31,080 --> 00:08:32,480 It's looking good, Tom. 141 00:08:36,600 --> 00:08:40,000 Every stone has to be in line because this will go up and up 142 00:08:40,000 --> 00:08:42,480 and up, potentially another four metres. 143 00:08:42,480 --> 00:08:45,840 These stones are slightly off, your build is slightly off 144 00:08:45,840 --> 00:08:47,680 and eventually it'll collapse. 145 00:08:47,680 --> 00:08:51,680 Now the stone will be... Solid. ..solid. 146 00:09:03,320 --> 00:09:06,320 The biggest threat to castles was sieges. 147 00:09:07,840 --> 00:09:10,560 These were far more common than pitched battles 148 00:09:10,560 --> 00:09:12,920 and could last for months, even years. 149 00:09:17,280 --> 00:09:19,160 If they couldn't get through the gates, 150 00:09:19,160 --> 00:09:23,560 invaders could try going over the walls with towers and ladders... 151 00:09:23,560 --> 00:09:24,960 ..or mining under them. 152 00:09:30,520 --> 00:09:34,000 But another more sophisticated means of attack developed. 153 00:09:39,400 --> 00:09:43,080 From basic stone throwers to mangonels, couilllards 154 00:09:43,080 --> 00:09:47,120 and trebuchets, a range of deadly medieval war machines evolved. 155 00:09:49,240 --> 00:09:52,560 These came to dominate siege warfare for hundreds of years 156 00:09:52,560 --> 00:09:55,640 until they were ultimately superseded by the cannon. 157 00:09:58,040 --> 00:10:02,280 The largest-ever trebuchet, it is thought, was that commissioned by 158 00:10:02,280 --> 00:10:06,960 Edward Longshanks, King of England, in the War of Scottish Independence. 159 00:10:06,960 --> 00:10:10,560 And he was trying to bring down Stirling Castle. 160 00:10:10,560 --> 00:10:14,320 It was a vast beast called Warwolf... SHE CHUCKLES 161 00:10:14,320 --> 00:10:16,080 ..as a nickname. 162 00:10:16,080 --> 00:10:19,240 Disassembled, it took 30 wagons to move it. 163 00:10:19,240 --> 00:10:23,920 Five master carpenters worked on it along with 49 other workers 164 00:10:23,920 --> 00:10:30,000 and it could hurl an object of 300 pounds' weight with accuracy. 165 00:10:33,960 --> 00:10:37,520 30 miles from Guedelon is St Brisson Castle, 166 00:10:37,520 --> 00:10:40,560 which houses a collection of replica siege engines. 167 00:10:47,440 --> 00:10:51,240 The Romans introduced basic catapults to Britain. 168 00:10:51,240 --> 00:10:54,280 But by the 13th century the development of counterweight 169 00:10:54,280 --> 00:10:58,640 technology saw the introduction of deadly high-powered stone-hurling 170 00:10:58,640 --> 00:10:59,680 war machines. 171 00:11:00,720 --> 00:11:04,240 They were used in sieges to bombard defending troops 172 00:11:04,240 --> 00:11:06,080 and collapse castle walls. 173 00:11:10,120 --> 00:11:14,280 The crew wear protective helmets in case the machine malfunctions. 174 00:11:14,280 --> 00:11:16,360 TOM: How big do you think that counterweight is? 175 00:11:18,600 --> 00:11:20,640 PETER: How's it going, Tom? It's good mate. 176 00:11:20,640 --> 00:11:22,400 It's amazing how only four people 177 00:11:22,400 --> 00:11:24,920 can manoeuvre such a heavy counterweight. 178 00:11:24,920 --> 00:11:27,680 Yeah, I mean, what, that's about 500 kilograms? 179 00:11:27,680 --> 00:11:30,200 The energy you're putting into that to raise it up 180 00:11:30,200 --> 00:11:32,480 is going to be stored as potential energy, 181 00:11:32,480 --> 00:11:35,440 then when it's released, this, which is about 10 kilograms, 182 00:11:35,440 --> 00:11:39,280 this ball is going to be swung out and flung into the distance. 183 00:11:39,280 --> 00:11:41,480 They reckon it'll go about 100 metres. 184 00:11:44,480 --> 00:11:48,440 Looking good. Right, he's just going to lock this off. 185 00:11:48,440 --> 00:11:50,480 There we go. 186 00:11:50,480 --> 00:11:51,720 Tension's on the pin. 187 00:11:53,240 --> 00:11:56,960 Now it's locked off, they can unwind this rope so that when it fires, 188 00:11:56,960 --> 00:12:00,680 or when it's loosed, the rope doesn't hold it back. 189 00:12:00,680 --> 00:12:03,120 So here we go, unwinding the rope. 190 00:12:03,120 --> 00:12:04,720 Whoa! Watch those handles. 191 00:12:08,080 --> 00:12:11,000 Well, this is a well-trained crew. They know what they're doing. 192 00:12:11,000 --> 00:12:13,520 And this is... It's, er, very different, isn't it, 193 00:12:13,520 --> 00:12:16,880 from doing it in peacetime as it would be in the heat of battle? 194 00:12:16,880 --> 00:12:20,160 I think about the shouting, the noise. Yeah. 195 00:12:20,160 --> 00:12:22,240 These ropes could snap, the wood could snap. 196 00:12:22,240 --> 00:12:24,000 Here we go. 197 00:12:24,000 --> 00:12:28,480 The ball, the projectile, into the sling and it's ready to go. 198 00:12:28,480 --> 00:12:30,760 RUTH: I think we'll leave. So, standing back. 199 00:12:30,760 --> 00:12:33,680 HE LAUGHS NERVOUSLY Standing back. 200 00:12:33,680 --> 00:12:36,440 We're just moving back in to the seclusion zone. 201 00:12:36,440 --> 00:12:39,160 Imagine if it was in the heat of battle, you'd just be there... 202 00:12:39,160 --> 00:12:40,720 Yeah. Yeah. You'd feel quite lonely 203 00:12:40,720 --> 00:12:42,760 if you were the guy who was about to pull the rope. 204 00:12:42,760 --> 00:12:44,560 Right, we're going to count down. 205 00:12:44,560 --> 00:12:49,400 MAN: Cinq, quatre, trois, deux, un. Tirez! 206 00:13:00,840 --> 00:13:03,520 I mean, still, look how much energy is still in there. 207 00:13:03,520 --> 00:13:06,200 And you have to get the mathematics absolutely right. 208 00:13:06,200 --> 00:13:09,400 The difference between the length of that arm and the length of the rope 209 00:13:09,400 --> 00:13:12,000 and the...because if you don't get that spot-on, 210 00:13:12,000 --> 00:13:14,400 it can fly backwards instead of flying forwards. 211 00:13:14,400 --> 00:13:18,960 But if you...if you deconstruct this, it's essentially scaffolding, 212 00:13:18,960 --> 00:13:21,040 it's a mason's-shaped ball. It is. 213 00:13:21,040 --> 00:13:22,960 It's the ropes that we made on site. 214 00:13:22,960 --> 00:13:25,600 It's exactly the same mathematics that the masons are using. 215 00:13:25,600 --> 00:13:27,520 I mean, it's really... It's sort of simple 216 00:13:27,520 --> 00:13:29,480 but it's also really quite sophisticated. 217 00:13:29,480 --> 00:13:32,360 If you can build a castle, you can fight a castle. 218 00:13:32,360 --> 00:13:35,160 That's the arms race that's happening in our period, isn't it? 219 00:13:35,160 --> 00:13:38,640 You know, the castles get more strong, more developed, 220 00:13:38,640 --> 00:13:41,640 more technical and so the siege weapons become stronger, 221 00:13:41,640 --> 00:13:43,400 more powerful, more technical. Yeah. 222 00:13:43,400 --> 00:13:45,920 It's each driving each other further and further onwards. 223 00:13:45,920 --> 00:13:50,240 It's not fast, though, is it? No. No. THEY LAUGH 224 00:13:57,200 --> 00:13:58,800 Despite being slow, 225 00:13:58,800 --> 00:14:02,560 these mighty war machines were greatly feared in the Middle Ages. 226 00:14:05,240 --> 00:14:08,680 Some fortified towns surrendered at the very sight of them. 227 00:14:12,560 --> 00:14:15,160 TOM: Right. RUTH: Shall we go and have a look? 228 00:14:18,440 --> 00:14:22,360 Projectiles ranged from carved stone or mortar balls like these, 229 00:14:22,360 --> 00:14:26,160 to rotting animal carcasses intended to spread disease, 230 00:14:26,160 --> 00:14:29,840 and even the heads of defeated soldiers to really lower morale. 231 00:14:31,480 --> 00:14:33,800 It's funny, isn't it, looking at the damage, you know? 232 00:14:33,800 --> 00:14:36,800 Cos it is just a small hole. 233 00:14:36,800 --> 00:14:39,640 But I suppose, when you think again, against a stone wall, 234 00:14:39,640 --> 00:14:42,280 it's going to keep going until it finds a weakness... 235 00:14:42,280 --> 00:14:44,480 This is the hammer, isn't it? ..one after another. 236 00:14:44,480 --> 00:14:48,280 Yeah, a hammer doesn't crack something with one blow. It's not a great explosion, it's... 237 00:14:48,280 --> 00:14:51,520 The persistent drip, drip, drip until you crack. 238 00:15:09,600 --> 00:15:13,440 As well as being an archaeologist, Tom is a midshipman in the 239 00:15:13,440 --> 00:15:17,200 Royal Naval Reserve with a special interest in military history. 240 00:15:21,600 --> 00:15:24,840 He's been looking into what kind of armour an ordinary soldier 241 00:15:24,840 --> 00:15:27,040 might have worn in the 1200s. 242 00:15:28,920 --> 00:15:31,440 Not everyone could afford the expensive metal helmets 243 00:15:31,440 --> 00:15:34,560 and mail worn by wealthy lords and knights. 244 00:15:36,640 --> 00:15:40,080 A more basic form of protection commonly worn for combat 245 00:15:40,080 --> 00:15:41,120 was the gambeson... 246 00:15:42,640 --> 00:15:46,880 ..a padded linen tunic whose main protective element was - 247 00:15:46,880 --> 00:15:47,920 sheep's wool. 248 00:15:51,720 --> 00:15:54,160 Tom's visiting Ruth in the hovel. 249 00:15:56,720 --> 00:15:58,840 She wants to make him a gambeson 250 00:15:58,840 --> 00:16:01,280 and the process starts with the sheep's wool. 251 00:16:03,280 --> 00:16:06,360 Ruth, when you asked me here for a fitting for my protective clothing, 252 00:16:06,360 --> 00:16:08,520 I was thinking chainmail and armour. SHE LAUGHS 253 00:16:08,520 --> 00:16:10,000 But that's not the case, is it? 254 00:16:10,000 --> 00:16:13,960 No, no, no, this is. Well, it is but it's not. This is cloth armour. 255 00:16:13,960 --> 00:16:17,000 Cloth armour? Yeah. And that's good, is it? It is good, yeah. Yeah? 256 00:16:17,000 --> 00:16:18,800 You're going to be glad of this, I reckon. 257 00:16:18,800 --> 00:16:20,840 THEY LAUGH 258 00:16:20,840 --> 00:16:24,240 So, you make...have lots and lots and lots of layers of linen 259 00:16:24,240 --> 00:16:28,040 and then a big fat layer of wool, prepared wool. 260 00:16:28,040 --> 00:16:30,600 And then more and more and more layers, many. 261 00:16:30,600 --> 00:16:34,480 And then you've got to stitch the whole lot together really tight. 262 00:16:34,480 --> 00:16:37,080 Not so it's, like, big and fluffy like a duvet but... 263 00:16:37,080 --> 00:16:39,080 Right, compact it down. 264 00:16:39,080 --> 00:16:42,480 ..compacted right down into something truly dense. 265 00:16:42,480 --> 00:16:43,520 I mean, it's almost... 266 00:16:43,520 --> 00:16:46,680 This is... Modern body armour is the evolution from this. Yeah. 267 00:16:46,680 --> 00:16:49,840 You've still got a balance between protection and manoeuvrability 268 00:16:49,840 --> 00:16:52,120 and trying to cover as much of the body as possible. 269 00:16:52,120 --> 00:16:54,280 And this is the ancestor of Kevlar. 270 00:16:54,280 --> 00:16:55,800 THEY LAUGH Yeah. 271 00:16:55,800 --> 00:16:57,320 Of the bullet-proof vest. 272 00:17:14,120 --> 00:17:15,760 Here it goes. 273 00:17:25,960 --> 00:17:29,320 One of the defining visual features of medieval castles 274 00:17:29,320 --> 00:17:30,760 is their arrow loops. 275 00:17:33,040 --> 00:17:36,920 The ingenious design of these simple slits in the walls provided 276 00:17:36,920 --> 00:17:40,560 protection and gave castle archers a huge advantage. 277 00:17:44,640 --> 00:17:46,000 STONEMASON: Very good. 278 00:17:51,480 --> 00:17:55,160 Guedelon mason, Constantin Lemesle, has specially shaped a stone 279 00:17:55,160 --> 00:17:58,240 needed for building an arrow loop in a corner tower. 280 00:18:01,800 --> 00:18:05,520 Before they mortar the stone in place, they need to be sure it fits. 281 00:18:09,120 --> 00:18:11,240 All right, so that's in position. 282 00:18:11,240 --> 00:18:13,760 I thought that was going to go the other way round actually, 283 00:18:13,760 --> 00:18:15,120 I thought... 284 00:18:15,120 --> 00:18:18,520 Er, no, we have to alternate, we have to... 285 00:18:18,520 --> 00:18:22,880 ..to have a long face here and after a short one. Yeah, yeah, OK. 286 00:18:22,880 --> 00:18:25,760 Er, and when you have a short one, you have a long here. Yeah. 287 00:18:25,760 --> 00:18:28,760 And a short under. 288 00:18:28,760 --> 00:18:34,000 It's to get something very strong when you cross the... 289 00:18:34,000 --> 00:18:35,760 ..the stones. Yeah, OK. 290 00:18:36,960 --> 00:18:39,320 The funnel-shape design of the arrow loop, 291 00:18:39,320 --> 00:18:41,560 tapering to a mere three-inch gap, 292 00:18:41,560 --> 00:18:45,880 gave attackers outside only a tiny slit to aim at, 293 00:18:45,880 --> 00:18:48,600 while the defenders could look out without being seen. 294 00:18:50,840 --> 00:18:54,840 The arrow loops sloped down so archers could see invaders 295 00:18:54,840 --> 00:18:56,480 even at the foot of the tower. 296 00:18:57,480 --> 00:19:01,640 If it was, um, like this, for instance, 297 00:19:01,640 --> 00:19:04,560 we can't, er... You can only hit people over there. 298 00:19:04,560 --> 00:19:07,000 You can't hit them down there. Fight and shoot people. 299 00:19:07,000 --> 00:19:09,080 Unless you've got a step ladder. THEY LAUGH 300 00:19:09,080 --> 00:19:13,320 So, people can be in front of the tower, no problem for them. Completely safe. 301 00:19:13,320 --> 00:19:15,880 And I guess also this is a weak point of the castle, isn't it? 302 00:19:15,880 --> 00:19:19,320 You're actually creating a crack in your castle wall 303 00:19:19,320 --> 00:19:20,840 so you need to reinforce it. 304 00:19:20,840 --> 00:19:26,800 People say that in the 13th century, the round tower was very useful to 305 00:19:26,800 --> 00:19:32,520 resist when stone are throw... throwing on the tower. 306 00:19:32,520 --> 00:19:40,400 Because when the stone...coming, the round form used to be stronger. 307 00:19:40,400 --> 00:19:42,000 You spread the pressure, don't you? 308 00:19:42,000 --> 00:19:44,920 The stone hits there and it's curved then all these other stones... 309 00:19:44,920 --> 00:19:47,440 Exactly. Yeah. ..take the impact. Exactly. 310 00:19:47,440 --> 00:19:49,520 Peter and I are probably firing arrows at it - 311 00:19:49,560 --> 00:19:51,680 we'd just break our arrows on the inside, so... 312 00:19:51,680 --> 00:19:53,360 Of course, it'll be interesting to see 313 00:19:53,360 --> 00:19:57,040 if you fire an arrow or a bolt back in. 314 00:19:57,040 --> 00:19:59,000 That's it, that's the trick, isn't it? Yeah. 315 00:19:59,000 --> 00:20:02,600 If you're attacking, you want to be able to know you're going to at least scare people, 316 00:20:02,600 --> 00:20:04,760 if not kill them on the inside. THEY CHUCKLE 317 00:20:07,040 --> 00:20:11,240 There'll be around 40 arrow loops in the finished castle. 318 00:20:11,240 --> 00:20:13,320 In order to test their effectiveness, 319 00:20:13,320 --> 00:20:15,720 Peter and Tom will need a suitable weapon. 320 00:20:19,760 --> 00:20:23,160 One of the most infamous at the time was the crossbow. 321 00:20:25,520 --> 00:20:30,000 First seen in 4th century BC China, by the 1200s, 322 00:20:30,000 --> 00:20:33,600 crossbows were increasingly used in European siege warfare. 323 00:20:36,560 --> 00:20:39,600 Crossbows were probably introduced into Britain around the time 324 00:20:39,600 --> 00:20:41,680 of the Norman Conquest. 325 00:20:41,680 --> 00:20:45,360 In some ways, they were less effective than the longbows, 326 00:20:45,360 --> 00:20:49,680 they took an awful lot longer to load, so the rate of fire was much, 327 00:20:49,680 --> 00:20:51,280 much slower. 328 00:20:51,280 --> 00:20:54,600 Out in the battlefield, in the heat of the moment, they were pretty 329 00:20:54,600 --> 00:20:59,520 useless, but in a siege it was a completely different thing. 330 00:20:59,520 --> 00:21:03,320 Behind some nice safe walls, you had time. 331 00:21:04,640 --> 00:21:07,040 And it was the sort of weapon that anybody could use 332 00:21:07,040 --> 00:21:10,520 with no training and no skill at all. 333 00:21:10,520 --> 00:21:14,760 Richard the Lionheart eventually met his end when a crossbow bolt, 334 00:21:14,760 --> 00:21:18,960 fired by a boy in 1199, pierced him in the shoulder. 335 00:21:18,960 --> 00:21:22,120 The resulting infection did for him. 336 00:21:26,000 --> 00:21:30,080 As a weapon that made knights more vulnerable to lowly foot soldiers, 337 00:21:30,080 --> 00:21:33,520 some despised it for breaking the conventions of chivalry. 338 00:21:35,520 --> 00:21:38,320 But the art of crossbow-making became a whole industry 339 00:21:38,320 --> 00:21:39,480 by the 13th century. 340 00:21:44,520 --> 00:21:47,560 In Britain it survives to this day 341 00:21:47,560 --> 00:21:51,360 among a few specialist craftsmen like bowyer, Chris Jury. 342 00:21:51,360 --> 00:21:53,600 This is what's commonly known as a crossbow prod, 343 00:21:53,600 --> 00:21:55,480 which is basically the bow on a crossbow. 344 00:21:56,840 --> 00:21:59,400 What kind of wood is this? This is yew wood. 345 00:21:59,400 --> 00:22:02,280 Now, yew wood is probably the best wood for making a bow. 346 00:22:02,280 --> 00:22:06,840 In any piece of yew, you get the sapwood and the heartwood. 347 00:22:06,840 --> 00:22:11,920 The sapwood is good in tension, which means it can stretch, and the 348 00:22:11,920 --> 00:22:14,520 heartwood is good in compression, which means it can crush. 349 00:22:14,520 --> 00:22:17,480 So, the two grow naturally together in a single piece of wood 350 00:22:17,480 --> 00:22:19,200 to form a natural spring. 351 00:22:21,400 --> 00:22:24,000 Chris uses a spokeshave to take off the bark. 352 00:22:29,560 --> 00:22:32,320 I would imagine in the medieval period they would have done it in, 353 00:22:32,320 --> 00:22:36,720 like a production process, so it'd be done in fairly large batches. 354 00:22:36,720 --> 00:22:40,880 Apprentices would have started off maybe at the sort of age of 13, 14. 355 00:22:40,880 --> 00:22:43,680 After seven years, then you was a journeyman who was... 356 00:22:43,680 --> 00:22:46,320 ..who was nearly at the point where he was a master of the craft. 357 00:22:46,320 --> 00:22:49,160 Then you'd be a master bow maker and by that time you wouldn't even 358 00:22:49,160 --> 00:22:51,600 get your hands dirty with the making of the bows. HE LAUGHS 359 00:22:51,600 --> 00:22:54,200 You'd just let your minions get on and do it for you basically. 360 00:22:54,200 --> 00:22:57,120 As I am your apprentice, is there any chance I can have a go with that? 361 00:22:57,120 --> 00:22:58,760 Yeah, of course you can, yes. 362 00:23:05,120 --> 00:23:08,480 You want to be gentle but you've also got to put a bit of pressure on, haven't you? 363 00:23:08,480 --> 00:23:12,000 It's quite a delicate task cos you don't want to be cutting into the sapwood at all. 364 00:23:12,000 --> 00:23:13,840 You just want to remove the bark. 365 00:23:17,000 --> 00:23:19,840 I'm taking off lumps there. Don't look. Don't look. 366 00:23:19,840 --> 00:23:21,760 HE LAUGHS I'll slow down. 367 00:23:30,160 --> 00:23:33,200 The next stage is to taper the prod with an axe. 368 00:23:34,920 --> 00:23:37,680 I can tell you've used an axe before. You've definitely got 369 00:23:37,680 --> 00:23:40,400 a better technique than that than with a spokeshave. HE LAUGHS 370 00:23:40,400 --> 00:23:42,760 If you don't mind me saying so. HE LAUGHS 371 00:23:42,760 --> 00:23:45,480 The more we do this, the more likely it is that I'm going to 372 00:23:45,480 --> 00:23:47,880 make a mistake, so... 373 00:23:47,880 --> 00:23:50,720 You need all ten toes, do you? 374 00:23:50,720 --> 00:23:52,800 Pretend it's one of your own legs. HE LAUGHS 375 00:23:57,920 --> 00:24:00,240 I think I'm done. That's it, that's good, that's good. 376 00:24:00,240 --> 00:24:03,000 Yeah, a bit of aggression's OK? Yeah, that's it, go on. 377 00:24:03,000 --> 00:24:07,080 A draw knife is used to further smooth and shape the crossbow prod. 378 00:24:07,080 --> 00:24:09,160 That's it, round it in. 379 00:24:10,240 --> 00:24:13,320 That's it. It's still way too thick, so you can take off a lot of wood. 380 00:24:14,640 --> 00:24:17,520 I suppose it's like with everything. It's just getting your eye in, 381 00:24:17,520 --> 00:24:21,240 understanding the material you're working with and understanding the tools, 382 00:24:21,240 --> 00:24:24,080 and hopefully it all comes together. 383 00:24:24,080 --> 00:24:28,280 Yes, that's why certain tools like the axe and like the spokeshave 384 00:24:28,280 --> 00:24:31,000 and the draw knife are ideal because they follow the grain. 385 00:24:31,000 --> 00:24:32,680 So, while the tools look a bit crude, 386 00:24:32,680 --> 00:24:34,280 they actually do the job rather well. 387 00:24:34,280 --> 00:24:37,560 But you can understand how the apprentices did seven years 388 00:24:37,560 --> 00:24:40,400 cos it's quite a...it's quite a specialist kind of task really. 389 00:24:40,400 --> 00:24:42,600 So it's... Yeah. 390 00:24:42,600 --> 00:24:44,680 That's starting to take shape rather nicely. 391 00:24:46,680 --> 00:24:49,280 If you've done good work with your tapers, then it should bend 392 00:24:49,280 --> 00:24:50,680 relatively evenly. 393 00:24:50,680 --> 00:24:53,840 Well, I think I've done exceptional work with my tapering. 394 00:24:53,840 --> 00:24:55,960 Well, er, yeah, it looks... it looks pretty good. 395 00:25:03,560 --> 00:25:04,880 You are so accurate with that. 396 00:25:04,880 --> 00:25:06,440 Carpenter, Sam Rooney, 397 00:25:06,440 --> 00:25:09,480 has come all the way from New Zealand to work at Guedelon. 398 00:25:09,480 --> 00:25:12,040 In his spare time, he makes traditional bows. 399 00:25:16,640 --> 00:25:18,840 Today, Sam and Ruth are experimenting 400 00:25:18,840 --> 00:25:22,400 with making a crossbow arrow known as a bolt or quarrel, 401 00:25:22,400 --> 00:25:26,680 which was shorter, heavier and more deadly than a regular arrow. 402 00:25:29,360 --> 00:25:33,360 You imagine an arrow, whether it be for a crossbow or a longbow, 403 00:25:33,360 --> 00:25:35,240 and you imagine a little stick. Yeah. 404 00:25:35,240 --> 00:25:37,640 Why are you starting with a great big piece of wood? 405 00:25:37,640 --> 00:25:40,760 Mainly for mass producing arrows. 406 00:25:40,760 --> 00:25:45,680 And you can have several lengths of a tree and then just split it 407 00:25:45,680 --> 00:25:48,400 into small squares and then you round them. 408 00:25:48,400 --> 00:25:51,640 I suppose if you think really mass production, that makes sense, doesn't it? 409 00:25:51,640 --> 00:25:55,640 If you've gotta make 20,000... Yeah. ..for a castle... Yeah. 410 00:25:55,640 --> 00:25:58,680 ..the amount of time it will take you to find 20,000 sticks 411 00:25:58,680 --> 00:26:00,440 that were the right size and shape... 412 00:26:00,440 --> 00:26:04,720 You'd have to send an army of people off to gather twigs, yeah. 413 00:26:04,720 --> 00:26:07,640 Yeah. Whereas two or three trees would do you your 20,000 arrows. 414 00:26:07,640 --> 00:26:10,960 Yeah. Right. Yeah. That makes a lot of sense. 415 00:26:12,400 --> 00:26:14,680 You're just squaring this off at the moment, are you? 416 00:26:14,680 --> 00:26:16,520 Yeah, I'm just squaring it off... Right. 417 00:26:16,520 --> 00:26:20,480 ...using a medieval bandsaw. 418 00:26:25,480 --> 00:26:29,280 The thin piece of wood is then cut into individual strips which will be 419 00:26:29,280 --> 00:26:31,320 shaped to make each bolt shaft. 420 00:26:34,240 --> 00:26:36,520 Yep. And it will be practically a circle. Yeah, yeah. 421 00:26:36,520 --> 00:26:39,240 Like this one here. Oh, right. That one's pretty much finished. 422 00:26:39,240 --> 00:26:41,400 That's about as round as you'll need it, isn't it? 423 00:26:41,400 --> 00:26:45,400 So we're going to drill a small hole in the end of the bolt. 424 00:26:45,400 --> 00:26:47,920 A metal bolt head is then attached. 425 00:26:47,920 --> 00:26:51,280 You would not want that pushed through you, would you? Aargh! 426 00:26:51,280 --> 00:26:53,000 No. A foul-looking thing. HE LAUGHS 427 00:26:55,000 --> 00:26:57,480 And a slit is cut so it can be fletched. 428 00:26:58,920 --> 00:27:02,960 It's recorded that in 1250, a chief English quarrel maker 429 00:27:02,960 --> 00:27:05,960 produced 25,000 quarrels a year 430 00:27:05,960 --> 00:27:08,720 and could be expected to make 100 in a single day. 431 00:27:11,040 --> 00:27:12,280 I'm fine with that. 432 00:27:12,280 --> 00:27:14,640 It is a huge amount of work, all of this, isn't it? 433 00:27:14,640 --> 00:27:16,200 Well, yeah, I guess so. 434 00:27:18,040 --> 00:27:21,320 Bows are still really woven into our modern life. 435 00:27:21,320 --> 00:27:26,760 I mean, think of the surnames - Bowyer, Fletcher, Stringer, Archer. 436 00:27:26,760 --> 00:27:30,440 And then all the number of phrases that come from one form of archery 437 00:27:30,440 --> 00:27:34,320 or another, things like 'to pick a quarrel' or 'a bolt from the blue' 438 00:27:34,320 --> 00:27:36,760 or 'he's got lots of strings to his bow'. 439 00:27:36,760 --> 00:27:38,360 They're all archery terms. 440 00:27:42,760 --> 00:27:46,560 They finish off their bolt by warming up a medieval glue 441 00:27:46,560 --> 00:27:48,400 made from an unusual source. 442 00:27:52,440 --> 00:27:55,320 SAM: It's made from the bladder of a fish 443 00:27:55,320 --> 00:27:58,000 and you actually get the bladder and dry it out. 444 00:27:59,120 --> 00:28:00,640 Shove a bit of glue in here. 445 00:28:02,040 --> 00:28:05,440 So it's just a bit of glue on the leather, shove it in the slot. 446 00:28:05,440 --> 00:28:08,440 Yeah, just here, yeah. SHE LAUGHS 447 00:28:08,440 --> 00:28:11,520 There we go. That's it. Yeah. There we go, one quarrel. 448 00:28:11,520 --> 00:28:15,640 Well, thanks very much. I shall give it a go. OK. Good luck. 449 00:28:15,640 --> 00:28:16,680 Thanks, Sam. 450 00:28:25,400 --> 00:28:27,200 By the end of the 12th century, 451 00:28:27,200 --> 00:28:29,640 a new design of crossbow was introduced. 452 00:28:32,560 --> 00:28:34,320 The addition of a metal stirrup 453 00:28:34,320 --> 00:28:36,160 enabled the crossbowman to hold 454 00:28:36,160 --> 00:28:37,680 the bow with his foot 455 00:28:37,680 --> 00:28:39,360 and draw back the string, 456 00:28:39,360 --> 00:28:40,760 either with both hands 457 00:28:40,760 --> 00:28:42,120 or a belt hook. 458 00:28:42,120 --> 00:28:44,520 This was known as spanning the bow. 459 00:28:53,280 --> 00:28:57,400 Peter has come to make the stirrup with Martin Claudel who's been 460 00:28:57,400 --> 00:28:59,720 a blacksmith at Guedelon for four years. 461 00:29:03,000 --> 00:29:05,360 PETER: They use a process called 'smith and striking'. 462 00:29:05,360 --> 00:29:08,520 The smith is the blacksmith - he's the guy doing the thinking. 463 00:29:08,520 --> 00:29:12,880 He's got the little hammer, he's moving the metal around, he taps it. 464 00:29:12,880 --> 00:29:15,600 The striker has the big hammer and that is me. 465 00:29:15,600 --> 00:29:17,920 I always hate doing the striking. 466 00:29:17,920 --> 00:29:20,040 I've got no rhythm basically. 467 00:29:20,040 --> 00:29:22,680 But then he hits, I hit, he hits, I hit, 468 00:29:22,680 --> 00:29:24,880 and when he hits the anvil, I stop. 469 00:29:24,880 --> 00:29:26,400 OK, we good? 470 00:29:30,200 --> 00:29:31,720 Your turn. Oh, right. 471 00:29:34,760 --> 00:29:37,640 Peter and Martin will hammer the iron flat 472 00:29:37,640 --> 00:29:41,000 and then bend it at four corners, making a stirrup shape. 473 00:29:48,320 --> 00:29:49,880 I think we got away with that. 474 00:29:49,880 --> 00:29:51,800 Um, it's certainly starting to take shape. 475 00:29:51,800 --> 00:29:54,840 We've got a kink in it, we've got a bend. 476 00:29:57,080 --> 00:29:59,720 And in these two ends, he's going to fire weld. 477 00:29:59,720 --> 00:30:02,560 So he's basically splitting the metal 478 00:30:02,560 --> 00:30:05,680 so when they come together, they interlock. 479 00:30:05,680 --> 00:30:09,480 He'll heat all that up and then he'll basically smack it as hard as 480 00:30:09,480 --> 00:30:13,480 he can and compact that back into a single piece of metal, essentially 481 00:30:13,480 --> 00:30:17,120 creating a fire weld which is ultimately very, very strong. 482 00:30:18,880 --> 00:30:21,120 Which will give it the strength it needs 483 00:30:21,120 --> 00:30:24,720 because if you think about putting your foot in it and pulling on that 484 00:30:24,720 --> 00:30:29,200 crossbow in order to cock it, you don't want your metal coming apart. 485 00:30:30,480 --> 00:30:33,600 He's going to ramp up the heat so it goes white-hot. 486 00:30:33,600 --> 00:30:37,800 The reason for the darkness in here is so he can see the colours. 487 00:30:37,800 --> 00:30:39,160 Here we go. 488 00:30:49,200 --> 00:30:53,040 That's fantastic. Yeah. Are you happy? I'm happy. Yeah. 489 00:31:08,920 --> 00:31:12,320 Back at the hovel, Ruth has enlisted some help 490 00:31:12,320 --> 00:31:14,400 to stitch Tom's gambeson together. 491 00:31:16,720 --> 00:31:18,640 Hello. Hello, chaps. Oh, dear. Hello. 492 00:31:18,640 --> 00:31:21,600 What are these? Are you making rugs or something, are you? RUTH LAUGHS 493 00:31:21,600 --> 00:31:25,520 You told me they were making you a suit of armour. THEY LAUGH 494 00:31:25,520 --> 00:31:29,040 We are. Really? Very, very, very slowly. 495 00:31:30,160 --> 00:31:33,920 That's the first layers of cloth all sewn together 496 00:31:33,920 --> 00:31:36,320 with the wool going on top. Yeah. 497 00:31:36,320 --> 00:31:38,280 And then I've started quilting this panel 498 00:31:38,280 --> 00:31:39,840 and putting the other layers on top. 499 00:31:39,840 --> 00:31:42,080 It's like a front piece and a back piece? Yeah. Yeah. 500 00:31:42,080 --> 00:31:45,440 Then as soon as you start sewing, you can see it's starting to compress it down. 501 00:31:45,440 --> 00:31:49,280 Have a feel of the difference of that. Look how wobbly that is, soft and wobbly. Yeah. 502 00:31:49,280 --> 00:31:53,680 And then feel where it is when it's sewn. Oh, wow! I think so. 503 00:31:53,680 --> 00:31:56,080 Fight in the winter cos this looks quite warm. 504 00:31:56,080 --> 00:31:58,080 I think it's quite warm! Yeah. 505 00:31:58,080 --> 00:32:00,520 In fact, I have to be honest, don't fight any time soon. 506 00:32:00,520 --> 00:32:03,000 You wouldn't believe... This is a day's work! 507 00:32:03,000 --> 00:32:05,840 I mean, I've done nothing all day today except this. 508 00:32:05,840 --> 00:32:07,400 Who was wearing gambesons? 509 00:32:07,400 --> 00:32:11,400 They were being worn by men at arms, fairly ordinary soldiers, 510 00:32:11,400 --> 00:32:12,440 you know. Yeah. 511 00:32:12,440 --> 00:32:16,280 And being worn by the rich soldiers in combination with chainmail. 512 00:32:16,280 --> 00:32:18,880 Mmm. So they were being worn by quite a lot of people. Yeah. 513 00:32:18,880 --> 00:32:22,480 I'd certainly be happier if I was on the walls wearing a gambeson to 514 00:32:22,480 --> 00:32:25,360 sort of stand there with my crossbow than I would be if I was just... 515 00:32:25,360 --> 00:32:28,680 Yeah. ...in my shirt. I don't know, I... 516 00:32:28,680 --> 00:32:32,560 In the 13th century, gambeson-making was a skilled craft 517 00:32:32,560 --> 00:32:33,760 done mainly by men. 518 00:32:35,400 --> 00:32:39,680 You keep your right arm underneath, so you just keep poking and pointing. 519 00:32:39,680 --> 00:32:43,200 And I find if you stretch the cloth with your left hand... Blimey! 520 00:32:43,200 --> 00:32:44,800 Yeah, blimey, I'm glad you said that. 521 00:32:44,800 --> 00:32:47,120 You've missed. You've gone, come up right over there. 522 00:32:47,120 --> 00:32:50,160 Do I want to go back down? Yeah, you gotta come up in line. 523 00:32:50,160 --> 00:32:51,560 OK, OK. SHE LAUGHS 524 00:32:51,560 --> 00:32:54,280 He's not a natural, is he? At least I'm giving it a go, eh? 525 00:32:54,280 --> 00:32:56,440 At least you're giving it a go. 526 00:32:56,440 --> 00:32:58,840 Go on. No, missed again. No, try again. 527 00:32:58,840 --> 00:33:00,720 Argh! RUTH LAUGHS 528 00:33:00,720 --> 00:33:03,480 This is like potluck. Right, this time. 529 00:33:03,480 --> 00:33:06,840 OK, that's better. That'll do, that'll do, it's good enough, right. 530 00:33:06,840 --> 00:33:10,120 Yeah. And you need to pull really tight, though don't break the thread. 531 00:33:10,120 --> 00:33:13,280 Yeah. Marvellous. And then straight back down again. Straight back down. 532 00:33:13,280 --> 00:33:16,640 That's it. And catch it with the other arm. 533 00:33:16,640 --> 00:33:21,600 I do not envy you one iota. It is slow, isn't it? It is. 534 00:33:38,360 --> 00:33:42,080 Chris is nearing the final stages of his work on the crossbow. 535 00:33:43,640 --> 00:33:46,320 CHRIS: OK, so here we have your bow, all nicely shaped 536 00:33:46,320 --> 00:33:49,440 and expertly tapered and nice and smooth. 537 00:33:49,440 --> 00:33:53,000 Um, and now the next stage is to make sure it bends evenly. 538 00:33:54,880 --> 00:34:00,040 The prod is ready to be put under tension, using a tiller stick. 539 00:34:00,040 --> 00:34:03,760 If the bow is not evenly shaped, the prod may snap. 540 00:34:05,560 --> 00:34:09,520 So now we basically examine the curve of the bow. Right. 541 00:34:09,520 --> 00:34:12,200 So the trick...the trick is you need to spot the weak bits 542 00:34:12,200 --> 00:34:14,960 before they develop into a problem and shave them away. 543 00:34:14,960 --> 00:34:17,480 Even after all this time and work, there's still jeopardy 544 00:34:17,480 --> 00:34:19,400 about whether it'll actually be effective. 545 00:34:19,400 --> 00:34:22,440 There's a massive amount of jeopardy involved in doing it. 546 00:34:22,440 --> 00:34:26,120 This is the real art of the bowyer. You need to train your eye to see 547 00:34:26,120 --> 00:34:30,480 the curve and to notice any flat spots in the curve. 548 00:34:30,480 --> 00:34:32,760 Yeah, I was going to say because, to be honest, 549 00:34:32,760 --> 00:34:35,240 it looks pretty good to me. So we're happy with that. 550 00:34:35,240 --> 00:34:37,640 That would be... That would make a good shooting bow. 551 00:35:00,400 --> 00:35:04,680 The deep ditch and sloped walls at the base of the castle are designed 552 00:35:04,680 --> 00:35:06,560 to make them harder to approach. 553 00:35:10,400 --> 00:35:13,360 The only entrance across the ditch is a 10-foot-high bridge 554 00:35:13,360 --> 00:35:14,480 to the main gate... 555 00:35:16,560 --> 00:35:21,600 ..a structure which relies on a very humble element to hold it together, 556 00:35:21,600 --> 00:35:23,040 the nail. 557 00:35:27,120 --> 00:35:29,800 677 were needed to make this bridge... 558 00:35:31,120 --> 00:35:32,400 ..all forged on site. 559 00:35:34,080 --> 00:35:37,320 Martin, the blacksmith, makes all the nails for the doors 560 00:35:37,320 --> 00:35:39,880 and fixtures in the castle. 561 00:35:39,880 --> 00:35:43,800 Inspired by a popular story from the Middle Ages, Ruth has come to 562 00:35:43,800 --> 00:35:45,240 the blacksmith's forge. 563 00:35:48,600 --> 00:35:50,560 I'm going to have a go at making a nail. 564 00:35:52,880 --> 00:35:56,840 This, believe it or not, is a really female activity. 565 00:35:56,840 --> 00:35:58,440 The story goes... 566 00:36:00,000 --> 00:36:03,680 ...that when they needed the nails to crucify Christ, 567 00:36:03,680 --> 00:36:07,680 the blacksmith that they asked refused to be involved 568 00:36:07,680 --> 00:36:10,600 and his wife stepped up, "I'll make 'em," she said. 569 00:36:10,600 --> 00:36:11,760 SHE LAUGHS 570 00:36:11,760 --> 00:36:17,280 It was a story that had a lot of popularity in the 13th century 571 00:36:17,280 --> 00:36:21,640 and, as a result, there are lots and lots of pictures of women 572 00:36:21,640 --> 00:36:25,720 working at a blacksmith's forge, nail-making. 573 00:36:25,720 --> 00:36:30,480 Frequently rather ugly, demonised women, great big hook noses. 574 00:36:31,680 --> 00:36:33,120 But dressed just like me. 575 00:36:36,720 --> 00:36:39,560 This one little piece of metal that we're working, 576 00:36:39,560 --> 00:36:41,360 how many nails will it make? 577 00:36:41,360 --> 00:36:45,480 Maybe between ten and 20 maybe. 578 00:36:45,480 --> 00:36:48,200 It's not many, is it, for this much work? Not many. 579 00:36:49,400 --> 00:36:51,760 I mean, I suppose that really explains why 580 00:36:51,760 --> 00:36:54,840 things like furniture are made entirely with no nails. 581 00:36:54,840 --> 00:36:56,960 They're all made of wood with wood joints. 582 00:36:56,960 --> 00:37:00,680 So you only use your nails where you really need them. 583 00:37:00,680 --> 00:37:03,080 It's a precious thing, the nail. 584 00:37:05,800 --> 00:37:08,880 It's a funny thing that when you talk about the past and you list all 585 00:37:08,880 --> 00:37:12,160 the crafts, people imagine that that means it's only men. 586 00:37:13,520 --> 00:37:18,160 If you look at the lists of guildspeople in London and, indeed, 587 00:37:18,160 --> 00:37:21,800 in Paris, it's amazing how many crafts are, in fact, 588 00:37:21,800 --> 00:37:23,560 headed up by a female name. 589 00:37:23,560 --> 00:37:25,960 There were female blacksmiths. 590 00:37:27,960 --> 00:37:30,520 Once the iron has turned red in the hearth, 591 00:37:30,520 --> 00:37:32,320 it softens and can be worked. 592 00:37:32,320 --> 00:37:35,200 Almost ready. Almost ready! 593 00:37:35,200 --> 00:37:39,040 Ruth is going to try 'smith and striking' with Martin. 594 00:37:39,040 --> 00:37:42,000 I can scarcely lift this hammer let alone do anything useful with it. 595 00:37:42,000 --> 00:37:43,080 We'll see. 596 00:37:45,000 --> 00:37:48,600 A scary moment - ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh! 597 00:37:49,600 --> 00:37:52,400 I've got a block of wood to stand on cos I'm short. 598 00:37:57,240 --> 00:37:58,880 Ooh, sorry. Ooh. 599 00:37:58,880 --> 00:38:00,360 I'm not on strike, am I? 600 00:38:01,600 --> 00:38:03,200 Oh! Terrible. 601 00:38:16,040 --> 00:38:19,120 OK. Whoa-oo! Good. SHE LAUGHS 602 00:38:23,200 --> 00:38:27,280 Poor Martin is having to reshape it as my hits are not quite central 603 00:38:27,280 --> 00:38:30,280 and so I'm making dents down the edges and he's being very, you know... 604 00:38:30,280 --> 00:38:32,560 SHE PUFFS 605 00:38:32,560 --> 00:38:34,560 ..sorting out all my... 606 00:38:37,440 --> 00:38:40,440 The metal is heated again and again... 607 00:38:40,440 --> 00:38:42,640 Nice and sharp on the end. 608 00:38:43,760 --> 00:38:47,240 ..and gradually driven into a point before being squared up. 609 00:38:53,240 --> 00:38:54,640 The head is then shaped. 610 00:38:58,480 --> 00:38:59,800 It gets clouted. 611 00:39:02,400 --> 00:39:06,680 That's it. Then just straightened out. 612 00:39:08,000 --> 00:39:10,640 And plunged in the water to cool it. 613 00:39:20,360 --> 00:39:21,840 Just like that. 614 00:39:23,000 --> 00:39:27,560 I can really see why 13th century people were finding 615 00:39:27,560 --> 00:39:30,120 ways of using as few nails as possible. 616 00:39:30,120 --> 00:39:31,680 It's such a lot of work. 617 00:39:43,280 --> 00:39:47,320 The stirrup is in a fairly straight line. 618 00:39:47,320 --> 00:39:51,840 To make the finished weapon, crossbow expert, Robin Knight, 619 00:39:51,840 --> 00:39:56,120 binds Peter's iron stirrup and Tom's yew prod. 620 00:39:56,120 --> 00:39:58,840 I mean, one of the interesting things, for me, about making this 621 00:39:58,840 --> 00:40:01,400 crossbow is you're relying on a lot of different skills - 622 00:40:01,400 --> 00:40:04,720 a blacksmith making a stirrup... Yeah, there was... ..a bowyer making the... 623 00:40:04,720 --> 00:40:08,560 There was no such thing as a crossbow maker. 624 00:40:08,560 --> 00:40:13,840 One man made the tiller, the blacksmith made all of the ironwork, 625 00:40:13,840 --> 00:40:15,640 another man made the string. 626 00:40:15,640 --> 00:40:17,600 That's where you get the surname 'Stringer'. 627 00:40:17,600 --> 00:40:19,960 And when the guy at the end of the process got all the bits 628 00:40:19,960 --> 00:40:23,680 together, he didn't know how each individual part was made because, 629 00:40:23,680 --> 00:40:27,960 to him - the trades were, before the guilds, 630 00:40:27,960 --> 00:40:31,160 were called mysteries - to him, it was a mystery. 631 00:40:31,160 --> 00:40:32,720 Right, that simple. 632 00:40:32,720 --> 00:40:36,880 He just wasn't aware of how it was done. 633 00:40:36,880 --> 00:40:40,040 A group of individuals with very specific knowledge and skills... 634 00:40:40,040 --> 00:40:41,360 Exactly. 635 00:40:41,360 --> 00:40:45,120 ..bringing together almost like a, a flat pack of a crossbow 636 00:40:45,120 --> 00:40:47,880 and then... Yeah. ...one man. One man put it together. 637 00:40:50,800 --> 00:40:54,560 Now, what separates a crossbow from the longbow is really... 638 00:40:54,560 --> 00:40:57,680 In defence, you don't actually need a huge amount of strength 639 00:40:57,680 --> 00:41:00,680 or skill... Or training. ..to use it and use it effectively. 640 00:41:00,680 --> 00:41:03,800 Training for longbows took from about the age of seven. 641 00:41:03,800 --> 00:41:07,000 A crossbowman, you can train him up in half a day. 642 00:41:07,000 --> 00:41:09,840 But he's still got the capability of killing you with half a day's 643 00:41:09,840 --> 00:41:14,000 training as a longbowman with 15 years training. 644 00:41:14,000 --> 00:41:17,480 I mean, this is a weapon that was actually banned by the church, wasn't it? 645 00:41:17,480 --> 00:41:22,040 A weapon unfit to be used on Christians, only to be used on 646 00:41:22,040 --> 00:41:24,480 heathens and Saracens. 647 00:41:24,480 --> 00:41:28,000 Nobody liked crossbows. Unfortunately you get the oddballs like me 648 00:41:28,000 --> 00:41:30,080 that sort of quite like them. 649 00:41:30,080 --> 00:41:31,720 TOM LAUGHS 650 00:41:35,760 --> 00:41:39,360 OK, now we come to the crunch. We're going to span the bow. 651 00:41:39,360 --> 00:41:42,840 The moment of truth. The moment of truth. Now... 652 00:41:42,840 --> 00:41:45,240 The stirrup works, get your foot in there. 653 00:41:46,960 --> 00:41:49,520 OK, is everybody...? 654 00:41:49,520 --> 00:41:52,440 Holy Mother! 655 00:41:57,200 --> 00:41:59,720 That looks... That looks pretty good, doesn't it? 656 00:41:59,720 --> 00:42:03,080 It looks solid. That's a proper piece of killing machinery, that. 657 00:42:12,720 --> 00:42:16,840 Back at the castle, the team are almost ready for basic siege combat. 658 00:42:19,480 --> 00:42:23,120 Look at you two relaxing whilst I've been away working. 659 00:42:23,120 --> 00:42:25,040 This is it - there's your stirrup, mate. 660 00:42:25,040 --> 00:42:27,200 I'll come in between you, if that's all right? 661 00:42:27,200 --> 00:42:31,160 Oh, that looks pretty good. Are you surprised? Yes. 662 00:42:31,160 --> 00:42:33,720 THEY LAUGH Fair enough. 663 00:42:33,720 --> 00:42:36,400 I'll be honest - it wasn't me that did most of it. 664 00:42:36,400 --> 00:42:39,080 This is our medieval killing machine, to be perfectly honest. 665 00:42:39,080 --> 00:42:41,520 I've got the other bit. That's quite a long trigger there. 666 00:42:41,520 --> 00:42:44,160 It's a long trigger. Oh, wow! And that's our ammunition, is it? 667 00:42:44,160 --> 00:42:45,600 Mmm. OK. 668 00:42:45,600 --> 00:42:49,200 Yeah, it looks quite deadly. It does. Looks horrible, doesn't it? 669 00:42:49,200 --> 00:42:52,520 And think, you've dipped that in some animal dung 670 00:42:52,520 --> 00:42:55,880 or something like that, you've actually got a biological weapon there as well. 671 00:42:55,880 --> 00:42:59,560 You're going to infect someone even if you don't kill them straight off. Yeah. 672 00:42:59,560 --> 00:43:03,000 You're going to do damage. It's not a nice weapon. 673 00:43:03,000 --> 00:43:06,400 Is there any such thing? Well, very true, very true. 674 00:43:06,400 --> 00:43:09,520 So, Ruth, how is Tommo's gambeson coming on? 675 00:43:09,520 --> 00:43:11,440 Well, it's not finished, I can tell you that. 676 00:43:11,440 --> 00:43:13,600 That's it there, is it? Well, it's the front panel. 677 00:43:13,600 --> 00:43:15,720 That's all right. I've got it sort of shaped. 678 00:43:15,720 --> 00:43:18,040 That's looking pretty good. And mostly bound. 679 00:43:18,040 --> 00:43:21,840 It's a pretty rigid beast. Have I got the right shape? 680 00:43:21,840 --> 00:43:25,040 It's quite heavy. Ooh! Ooh! RUTH LAUGHS 681 00:43:25,040 --> 00:43:28,520 I'll have to tense up. Come on, come on, get your... Oh, blimey. 682 00:43:28,520 --> 00:43:31,440 How much more work is there to do? Well, I'm going to do the back panel. 683 00:43:31,440 --> 00:43:33,760 You're not getting sleeves. I've given up on sleeves. 684 00:43:33,760 --> 00:43:37,640 Initially I was going to plan you the proper full gambeson with the sleeves, but I'm sorry. 685 00:43:37,640 --> 00:43:40,640 I think it will be a bit like a straitjacket without sleeves. But... 686 00:43:40,640 --> 00:43:43,960 I found an ancient gambeson that's at the end of its life, 687 00:43:43,960 --> 00:43:48,320 if you want to try a complete one on. Oh, yeah. Put one on, Peter. 688 00:43:48,320 --> 00:43:51,080 Oh, no. I told you it was a bit smelly and ancient, didn't I? 689 00:43:51,080 --> 00:43:56,120 This is classic. It's smelly. Oh! It might still be... 690 00:43:56,120 --> 00:43:58,480 It might actually be alive. It smells like a tent, that. 691 00:43:58,480 --> 00:44:00,600 Looks like a straitjacket, doesn't it? Arms out. 692 00:44:00,600 --> 00:44:04,000 Look how much softer this one is than the other one. This is much more flexible. 693 00:44:04,000 --> 00:44:06,560 I quite like mine, to be honest. I like the cleanness of mine. 694 00:44:06,560 --> 00:44:09,680 Cleanness. Ooh, let's do me up. It is like in a straitjacket. 695 00:44:09,680 --> 00:44:13,520 You start at the top, do you? Shall I hold it across? Yeah. 696 00:44:13,520 --> 00:44:17,240 You could just imagine some chaps trying to get into all this lot in a hurry, can't you? 697 00:44:17,240 --> 00:44:19,760 A sort of team effort, isn't it, actually? It's a... 698 00:44:19,760 --> 00:44:23,240 There you are, go on - that'll do. What do you think? 699 00:44:23,240 --> 00:44:26,520 Yes, this is... Suits you. It's pretty good. 700 00:44:26,520 --> 00:44:29,080 And not just the staining. 701 00:44:29,080 --> 00:44:31,440 Do you feel strong? Yeah. 702 00:44:32,600 --> 00:44:35,760 You've got a few little weak points. That's going to protect... 703 00:44:35,760 --> 00:44:38,680 Those who could afford it would have covered their gambeson with 704 00:44:38,680 --> 00:44:42,280 a chainmail shirt weighing over 25 pounds. 705 00:44:42,280 --> 00:44:46,680 Feel. Whoa! THEY LAUGH 706 00:44:46,680 --> 00:44:48,480 There is only one way of doing this. 707 00:44:49,960 --> 00:44:52,880 Oh, no, this is like... 708 00:44:52,880 --> 00:44:56,600 Try your hand to the right, Peter. Oh, my hair is stuck in it. 709 00:44:56,600 --> 00:45:00,520 Ooh, I'm going to have a bald spot by the time I get out of here. 710 00:45:00,520 --> 00:45:01,560 Can you get in? 711 00:45:03,360 --> 00:45:05,640 Ah, we've lost a sleeve on this side. 712 00:45:05,640 --> 00:45:06,680 THEY LAUGH 713 00:45:11,360 --> 00:45:14,480 Oh, so glamorous. There we go. All right, pull your sleeve down. 714 00:45:14,480 --> 00:45:15,520 Oh! 715 00:45:17,640 --> 00:45:20,440 That's... RUTH LAUGHS There we go. 716 00:45:21,560 --> 00:45:24,040 I really... How's your movement now? I mean... 717 00:45:24,040 --> 00:45:26,720 It's good, it's... It's a bit more restrictive under the arms. 718 00:45:26,720 --> 00:45:28,720 It's actually not that restrictive. 719 00:45:28,720 --> 00:45:31,880 It's just the weight, you know. It's heavy. It's heavy. It's really heavy. 720 00:45:31,880 --> 00:45:35,360 But it's not that heavy, I can still... 721 00:45:35,360 --> 00:45:37,720 Seeing the chainmail on, it looks like it would give you 722 00:45:37,720 --> 00:45:42,680 better protection than I thought originally against something like this. It is quite dense, isn't it? 723 00:45:43,960 --> 00:45:46,800 That's fine, that is... That is actually fine. 724 00:45:46,800 --> 00:45:49,400 I'll take a run-up. Close contact. Yeah. 725 00:45:49,400 --> 00:45:53,840 You'll be pretty safe from an assault blow in that. Yeah. Now we get to see him taking that off. 726 00:45:53,840 --> 00:45:56,400 We're not going to help him, then? No. Oh. Sorry, Peter. 727 00:45:56,400 --> 00:45:58,880 No, no, this is going to be the amusing moment. There we go. 728 00:45:58,880 --> 00:46:01,800 I've seen some wonderful period images of blokes 729 00:46:01,800 --> 00:46:04,960 trying to get out of their mail shirts. Go on. Here we go. 730 00:46:04,960 --> 00:46:07,680 Here we go. Whoa! 731 00:46:07,680 --> 00:46:11,200 Ah! The years I spent in the asylum. 732 00:46:11,200 --> 00:46:13,880 This is exactly what the pictures show. 733 00:46:13,880 --> 00:46:18,200 This is exactly what they show. SHE LAUGHS 734 00:46:18,200 --> 00:46:21,600 Unbelievable. Hooray! I am impressed. 735 00:46:23,080 --> 00:46:26,000 Ooh! Wow, that's a weight off your shoulders! 736 00:46:40,560 --> 00:46:43,880 The team are going to give the gambeson a sterner test 737 00:46:43,880 --> 00:46:45,400 using their new crossbow. 738 00:46:50,480 --> 00:46:53,680 RUTH: I can't tell you how glad I'm not really in the 13th century facing 739 00:46:53,680 --> 00:46:55,640 an invading army. 740 00:46:55,640 --> 00:46:57,720 I just can't imagine how horrible that would be. 741 00:47:00,720 --> 00:47:04,320 Bolts shot from a high-powered crossbow could be as deadly 742 00:47:04,320 --> 00:47:05,840 as bullets and shellfire. 743 00:47:07,000 --> 00:47:11,880 OK, I'll duck down so you can rest. I'll hide. Thumb is on there. 744 00:47:11,880 --> 00:47:15,400 Ooh! OK. I wish it looked less like a person. 745 00:47:15,400 --> 00:47:17,680 There's no head. OK. Ooh! It's horrible. OK. 746 00:47:17,680 --> 00:47:20,600 Yeah, there is, it's very, very small. THEY LAUGH 747 00:47:20,600 --> 00:47:22,440 OK, here we go. OK. 748 00:47:22,440 --> 00:47:25,000 Three, two, one. 749 00:47:26,920 --> 00:47:29,200 Ah! Thank goodness for that, I missed. 750 00:47:31,040 --> 00:47:33,080 Load you up, big boy. 751 00:47:35,040 --> 00:47:37,480 Peter, Peter, Peter. RUTH LAUGHS 752 00:47:38,520 --> 00:47:40,800 You're below that. 753 00:47:40,800 --> 00:47:46,000 Trois, deux, un. Urggh! 754 00:47:47,160 --> 00:47:49,600 Nice. You meanie. 755 00:47:49,600 --> 00:47:53,960 You meanie. Well, I've gone to the side and low. Yeah, yeah. 756 00:47:53,960 --> 00:47:55,680 Shall we have a look? Yeah. 757 00:47:58,320 --> 00:48:01,120 How are we looking? How...? 758 00:48:01,120 --> 00:48:05,320 Well, it has gone through. It's gone through, has it? That much. 759 00:48:05,320 --> 00:48:07,680 I really expected that to be, you know, up to the flight. 760 00:48:07,680 --> 00:48:10,960 Yeah, I thought it was going to be spaded into you, yeah. 761 00:48:10,960 --> 00:48:13,120 And let's not forget the quality of the gambeson. 762 00:48:13,120 --> 00:48:16,040 You know, that layered approach has obviously worked. 763 00:48:25,680 --> 00:48:29,680 While some sieges were won by overpowering the castle, 764 00:48:29,680 --> 00:48:33,200 it was often something far more basic which finally forced 765 00:48:33,200 --> 00:48:34,840 the defenders to surrender. 766 00:48:38,560 --> 00:48:43,880 In truth, when castles fell it was rarely to actual siege engines 767 00:48:43,880 --> 00:48:47,000 and far more frequently to starvation. 768 00:48:47,000 --> 00:48:50,160 Indeed, in 1215 at Rochester, 769 00:48:50,160 --> 00:48:52,080 besieged inside the castle, 770 00:48:52,080 --> 00:48:54,000 the people were holding out. 771 00:48:54,000 --> 00:48:58,720 King John on the outside had amassed five trebuchets that were battering 772 00:48:58,720 --> 00:49:00,880 the walls for two months. 773 00:49:00,880 --> 00:49:05,000 Inside, food was running short and they looked around them 774 00:49:05,000 --> 00:49:08,040 and began to eat their expensive war horses. 775 00:49:08,040 --> 00:49:12,120 And it was only when they had finished eating every horse 776 00:49:12,120 --> 00:49:13,520 that they surrendered. 777 00:49:18,880 --> 00:49:23,280 Defending your food was a vital aspect of strategic castle design. 778 00:49:24,960 --> 00:49:29,240 With this in mind, Guedelon's Great Tower contains its own food store 779 00:49:29,240 --> 00:49:30,280 and a well. 780 00:49:32,280 --> 00:49:34,600 It's the castle's ultimate stronghold. 781 00:49:35,880 --> 00:49:37,440 If the walls were breached, 782 00:49:37,440 --> 00:49:40,400 it would be possible to fall back to the Great Tower. 783 00:49:44,040 --> 00:49:48,160 Next to the Great Tower is the kitchen where Ruth begins preparing 784 00:49:48,160 --> 00:49:50,200 a meal fit for fighting men. 785 00:50:01,160 --> 00:50:04,400 Meanwhile, Peter and Tom are about to put the arrow loops 786 00:50:04,400 --> 00:50:06,120 of the Great Tower to the test. 787 00:50:09,760 --> 00:50:12,760 TOM: That's quite a narrow target, isn't it, really? PETER: Yeah. 788 00:50:12,760 --> 00:50:15,720 You know, I mean, do you ever really aim to hit someone on the other side 789 00:50:15,720 --> 00:50:17,840 or are you just trying to get the bolts out the gap? 790 00:50:17,840 --> 00:50:20,400 Can't actually see much out of the... 791 00:50:20,400 --> 00:50:23,960 Guess there's only one thing to do. Yeah, go for it. 792 00:50:23,960 --> 00:50:25,560 TOM LAUGHS 793 00:50:27,960 --> 00:50:30,480 Are you aiming for anything out there or are you just...? 794 00:50:30,480 --> 00:50:33,000 Just aiming for the gap, my friend. Aiming for the gap. 795 00:50:33,000 --> 00:50:35,200 Right, bolts in, touching string. OK. 796 00:50:44,120 --> 00:50:46,280 That was fast. 797 00:50:46,280 --> 00:50:49,640 In this environment, that seemed far more powerful 798 00:50:49,640 --> 00:50:51,600 and these a lot faster. 799 00:50:51,600 --> 00:50:54,320 I guess from a defensive point of view then, something like that 800 00:50:54,320 --> 00:50:56,520 shooting out of the loop, you know, 801 00:50:56,520 --> 00:50:59,040 it's a bit of a fear factor straightaway, isn't it? 802 00:51:04,000 --> 00:51:07,280 Satisfied with the defensive capacity of Guedelon's arrow loops 803 00:51:07,280 --> 00:51:10,960 on the inside, Tom and Peter set about seeing how resistant they are 804 00:51:10,960 --> 00:51:12,640 to attack from the outside. 805 00:51:14,440 --> 00:51:18,840 Do you think we can get a bolt through that gap? 806 00:51:18,840 --> 00:51:24,120 Luckily we're not under fire and having rocks thrown at us. 807 00:51:24,120 --> 00:51:26,600 I reckon we could definitely do it in six. 808 00:51:26,600 --> 00:51:30,240 Shall we give it a go, then? Yeah, let's give it a go. OK. 809 00:51:31,360 --> 00:51:34,880 So, you're going to load for me? I'll load. 810 00:51:34,880 --> 00:51:36,600 Arrow in the groove. 811 00:51:45,040 --> 00:51:46,920 It's on the spring. It's loaded. 812 00:51:49,920 --> 00:51:52,280 Oh, that was terrible, that was. No, it wasn't. 813 00:52:04,000 --> 00:52:07,640 After many attempts, a shot finally finds its target. 814 00:52:09,080 --> 00:52:10,200 Yes! 815 00:52:10,200 --> 00:52:13,920 A feat that would be somewhat harder to achieve in the heat of battle. 816 00:52:15,040 --> 00:52:18,000 No, that was lucky. Well, still... 817 00:52:18,000 --> 00:52:19,960 I mean, that was a good height on there as well. 818 00:52:19,960 --> 00:52:23,120 That would have gone in about head height inside. Yeah. 819 00:52:24,480 --> 00:52:28,560 Architecturally, these arrow loops, they work for this castle, don't they? 820 00:52:28,560 --> 00:52:33,800 You can be in there, you can fire out but if you're outside here 821 00:52:33,800 --> 00:52:36,120 trying to fire in, it's not impossible 822 00:52:36,120 --> 00:52:38,680 but it's lucky if you do. 823 00:52:46,520 --> 00:52:50,800 While Peter and Tom return to the building work, in the castle kitchen 824 00:52:50,800 --> 00:52:53,560 Ruth is preparing food for medieval men at arms. 825 00:52:57,320 --> 00:52:58,920 It is slightly conjectural. 826 00:52:58,920 --> 00:53:02,640 We have to sort of look at as many sources as we can to come up with 827 00:53:02,640 --> 00:53:06,840 what a 13th century soldier would actually be eating. 828 00:53:06,840 --> 00:53:09,120 So, it largely comes down to pork. 829 00:53:10,120 --> 00:53:14,560 Pork was considered to be THE food which was most compatible with 830 00:53:14,560 --> 00:53:15,600 the human body. 831 00:53:22,440 --> 00:53:26,720 Medieval thinking was that the body of someone of high social standing 832 00:53:26,720 --> 00:53:30,560 digested and responded to food differently to that of a common man. 833 00:53:34,080 --> 00:53:36,760 So their food needed to be cooked differently. 834 00:53:40,920 --> 00:53:46,800 For the common soldiery, it just all goes in - fat, skin, marrow - 835 00:53:46,800 --> 00:53:50,000 all good for building strong, fighting bodies. 836 00:53:51,200 --> 00:53:56,080 This broth, or pottage, simply contains pork, onions, beans 837 00:53:56,080 --> 00:53:57,120 and some herbs. 838 00:53:59,320 --> 00:54:02,920 So that should just quietly... 839 00:54:04,240 --> 00:54:06,360 ...cook for the next couple of hours. 840 00:54:07,600 --> 00:54:12,320 So almost the same ingredients - the pork, the beans and the onions - 841 00:54:12,320 --> 00:54:16,400 are also going to form the basis of a dish suitable for the lord. 842 00:54:16,400 --> 00:54:19,680 But it is the cooking methods that make the difference. 843 00:54:21,640 --> 00:54:27,120 13th century medical ideas thought of the stomach as a cauldron 844 00:54:27,120 --> 00:54:29,240 that had to cook through the food. 845 00:54:30,560 --> 00:54:35,120 They thought that by cooking food itself, you could be helping 846 00:54:35,120 --> 00:54:37,160 the stomach to do that process. 847 00:54:38,560 --> 00:54:42,240 So for the lord, we start by boiling the meat - it's par-boiled, 848 00:54:42,240 --> 00:54:44,360 part cooked by boiling it - 849 00:54:44,360 --> 00:54:47,840 then we roast it, which is the stage I've reached here. 850 00:54:47,840 --> 00:54:50,640 And then once it's mostly roasted, 851 00:54:50,640 --> 00:54:54,680 it's going to come off the spit again, cut up and then fried lightly. 852 00:54:57,760 --> 00:55:00,080 So, this is still running a little bit pink. 853 00:55:00,080 --> 00:55:04,960 Done to a turn, as they say, meaning to within one turn of the spit, 854 00:55:04,960 --> 00:55:09,360 which is exactly what I want ready for this last quick flash fry. 855 00:55:11,640 --> 00:55:14,440 Although we call it frying, it's more like sort of braising. 856 00:55:15,840 --> 00:55:19,360 I shan't give it long. About two minutes and it will be done. 857 00:55:21,680 --> 00:55:26,600 And that with the beans and a sprinkle of dandelion leaves should 858 00:55:26,600 --> 00:55:29,120 make him one of the most fearsome warriors in Christendom. 859 00:55:41,800 --> 00:55:44,960 It's nearly time to down tools at the end of the day. 860 00:55:50,840 --> 00:55:54,800 But first there's a special delivery to the top of the tower. 861 00:56:00,240 --> 00:56:03,440 Oh, you can really smell your food, Ruth. SHE LAUGHS 862 00:56:03,440 --> 00:56:07,000 What have you got for us? All I can smell is smoke. Oh, wow! Well... 863 00:56:07,000 --> 00:56:08,840 THEY LAUGH Right on cue. 864 00:56:08,840 --> 00:56:14,600 Oh, a pot. All right. Pass it over. Crockery. Crockery. Fried onions. 865 00:56:14,600 --> 00:56:18,640 Fried onions. Tommo's food. Beans. My food. 866 00:56:18,640 --> 00:56:20,920 Ugh! Pork. Ruth's food. 867 00:56:20,920 --> 00:56:23,320 A nicely balanced diet then? Oh, yeah. 868 00:56:23,320 --> 00:56:27,480 So, you know, where do you fancy yourself on the social scale really? 869 00:56:27,480 --> 00:56:31,160 Well, I know where I am on the social scale. THEY LAUGH 870 00:56:31,160 --> 00:56:32,800 I'm roughing it at the moment but... 871 00:56:32,800 --> 00:56:35,080 Oh, and by the way, dandelion petals... Mmm. 872 00:56:35,080 --> 00:56:38,840 ...they are associated with the planet Mars. Oh, really. 873 00:56:38,840 --> 00:56:41,520 So you're going to be that martial by the time you've finished. 874 00:56:41,520 --> 00:56:44,680 Ah, I see. That's the point, yeah. So you're going to start with... 875 00:56:44,680 --> 00:56:46,880 I'll start with a bit of pottage. ..some man of arms. 876 00:56:46,880 --> 00:56:49,080 Mmm, yeah. I know you're a man. THEY LAUGH 877 00:56:49,080 --> 00:56:52,000 That's enough of that, OK. You've got to start doing a bit of work. 878 00:56:52,000 --> 00:56:54,640 I'll eat this and I'll start working. 879 00:56:54,640 --> 00:56:59,000 I'm going to... I'm going to nick a bit of that thrice-cooked pork. 880 00:56:59,000 --> 00:57:00,840 It's the only way you'll keep your belly up. 881 00:57:00,840 --> 00:57:05,040 It would look more lovely if it was on silver platters with beautiful napkins. But never mind. 882 00:57:05,040 --> 00:57:09,880 Oh, it's got that rustic look to it. Yeah, I'm good at rustic. I don't really do posh, pretty food. 883 00:57:09,880 --> 00:57:12,480 But if you're up on the walls doing guard duty, I reckon 884 00:57:12,480 --> 00:57:15,240 you actually want the kind of pottage, almost stew-type meal, 885 00:57:15,240 --> 00:57:19,520 you can just... You don't have to think about it. You can just enjoy your food. It will warm you up. 886 00:57:19,520 --> 00:57:24,120 Course, I suppose, you know, if you're in a castle, 887 00:57:24,120 --> 00:57:27,440 this is a great meal on day one of the siege. 888 00:57:27,440 --> 00:57:31,240 But by day four, you're starting to look at the stocks and say, 889 00:57:31,240 --> 00:57:33,520 "How, how much have we got?" 890 00:57:33,520 --> 00:57:34,680 As it drags on. 891 00:57:34,680 --> 00:57:38,800 As much as anything, food is a weapon of war. Yeah. Exactly. 892 00:57:42,960 --> 00:57:47,800 Next time, interior design, 13th century style, 893 00:57:47,800 --> 00:57:51,920 which means mud, paint... 894 00:57:51,920 --> 00:57:54,640 Yerrup! 895 00:57:54,640 --> 00:57:57,040 ..and a fiery furnace. 896 00:57:57,040 --> 00:58:02,520 Can you imagine living in a world with no electric lights?