1. Gladiators The Brutal Truth

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. 3 January 2004. 30 min

Medieval Lives...Knights in shining armor, damsels in distress, pious monks... Nonsense. The Middle Ages were far more entertaining than that. Legendary Monty Python star and medieval scholar, Terry Jones, has been leafing through the history books to find out what the medieval world was really like. What he discovered is a treasure trove of extraordinary stories and characters that challenges those tired traditional stereotypes. With the help of animated medieval paintings, these wonderful tales bring the Middle Ages vividly to life in all its corruption, violence and greed, courage, enterprise and learning. Anyone who enjoys Chaucer or Rabelais will be familiar with the earthy humour of the time, but few people know about the dark side of chivalry or that women and serfs were not downtrodden creatures at all. Each episode explores the role and function of a different medieval archetype. All of these stories are absolutely true and full of amazing facts.