Terry Jones: Medieval Lives

Has anyone seen this? It's a funny and very informative
series about how life in the medieval period really was, as opposed
to what most people think it was like. I recently watched it on
Netflix instant-view, and was pleasantly surprised when episode 8:
The King debunked commonly-held myths about the three Kings Richard.
It doesn't tell much that the average Ricardian wouldn't know, but
describes some of the most common misconceptions, where they came
from, and the truth of the matter, including the Woodvilles' grabs
for power, that Richard was Edward IV's choice as Protector, and the
posthumous smear campaign that was intended to make Henry Tudor look
like something better than a pretender who murdered the true king. If
you want to give someone a brief and entertaining look at the facts
of King Richard's life as opposed to the propaganda, this program
could be a good way (and fun for a Ricardian to watch as well!)

I was also greatly amused to find that the cover of the
series shows Mr. Jones dressed up as Our Hero!

I believe it's out on DVD, but those of you with Netflix can
watch the whole series on Instant View. Obviously ep 8 is a must-see,
but I highly recommend the other episodes as well, especially #3: The
Damsel, and #5: The Knight.


Take care,
Katharine

It's a lot of fun, available on YouTube here
<http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=terry+jones+medieval+lives&\
aq=1> and there's a companion book. One of my favorite movies is Monty
Python's Holy Grail--I'm sure Terry Jones had a lot to say about the
content.

Joan
Joan
---
author of This Time, a novel about Richard III in the 21st-century
website: http://www.joanszechtman.com/
blog: http://rtoaaa.blogspot.com/
ebook: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/3935
2010 Next Generation Indie Book Awards General Fiction Finalist

--- In , Rogue <roguefem@...>
wrote:
>
>
>
> Has anyone seen this? It's a funny and very informative
> series about how life in the medieval period really was, as opposed
> to what most people think it was like. I recently watched it on
> Netflix instant-view, and was pleasantly surprised when episode 8:
> The King debunked commonly-held myths about the three Kings Richard.
> It doesn't tell much that the average Ricardian wouldn't know, but
> describes some of the most common misconceptions, where they came
> from, and the truth of the matter, including the Woodvilles' grabs
> for power, that Richard was Edward IV's choice as Protector, and the
> posthumous smear campaign that was intended to make Henry Tudor look
> like something better than a pretender who murdered the true king. If
> you want to give someone a brief and entertaining look at the facts
> of King Richard's life as opposed to the propaganda, this program
> could be a good way (and fun for a Ricardian to watch as well!)
>
> I was also greatly amused to find that the cover of the
> series shows Mr. Jones dressed up as Our Hero!
>
> I believe it's out on DVD, but those of you with Netflix can
> watch the whole series on Instant View. Obviously ep 8 is a must-see,
> but I highly recommend the other episodes as well, especially #3: The
> Damsel, and #5: The Knight.
>
>
> Take care,
> Katharine
>
>
>
>

Thank you for link, Joan. I've had the book for some time, but have never seen
the series. He also wrote one on Chaucer and Richard II, "Who Killed Chaucer?"
(I think). We had another series with him just recently on Australian TV about
the first British road atlas, which was also a lot of fun, though outside of our
era (Charles II).

Cheers, Dorothea





________________________________
From: Joan <u2nohoo@...>
To:
Sent: Fri, 9 July, 2010 4:37:51 AM
Subject: Re: Terry Jones: Medieval Lives


It's a lot of fun, available on YouTube here
<http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=terry+jones+medieval+lives&\
aq=1> and there's a companion book. One of my favorite movies is Monty
Python's Holy Grail--I'm sure Terry Jones had a lot to say about the
content.

Joan
Joan
---
author of This Time, a novel about Richard III in the 21st-century
website: http://www.joanszechtman.com/
blog: http://rtoaaa.blogspot.com/
ebook: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/3935
2010 Next Generation Indie Book Awards General Fiction Finalist

--- In , Rogue <roguefem@...>
wrote:
>
>
>
> Has anyone seen this? It's a funny and very informative
> series about how life in the medieval period really was, as opposed
> to what most people think it was like. I recently watched it on
> Netflix instant-view, and was pleasantly surprised when episode 8:
> The King debunked commonly-held myths about the three Kings Richard.
> It doesn't tell much that the average Ricardian wouldn't know, but
> describes some of the most common misconceptions, where they came
> from, and the truth of the matter, including the Woodvilles' grabs
> for power, that Richard was Edward IV's choice as Protector, and the
> posthumous smear campaign that was intended to make Henry Tudor look
> like something better than a pretender who murdered the true king. If
> you want to give someone a brief and entertaining look at the facts
> of King Richard's life as opposed to the propaganda, this program
> could be a good way (and fun for a Ricardian to watch as well!)
>
> I was also greatly amused to find that the cover of the
> series shows Mr. Jones dressed up as Our Hero!
>
> I believe it's out on DVD, but those of you with Netflix can
> watch the whole series on Instant View. Obviously ep 8 is a must-see,
> but I highly recommend the other episodes as well, especially #3: The
> Damsel, and #5: The Knight.
>
>
> Take care,
> Katharine
>
>
>
>

Dear all,
I recall the Terry Jones series: it was decent enough, if light-
weight, and he is a very interesting writer on Chaucer (his
background is in mediæval English literature, I think). I'm not
inclined to put too much trust in him, though: his 'Crusades' series
was pretty poor, largely a pop rehash of Runciman's 1950s work, so
already well superseded by academic research by the time it was
broadcast. It fell foul of my Crusades-history litmus-test, by
repeating (and embellishing) an easily demonstrable factual error
made by Runciman, which suggested a failure to check primary sources.
cheers,
Doc M

You must remember that these films are made for the general public,
not an academic audience. I did not find them "lightweight' but
basically sound on their history, particularly the one on the three
king Richards, and very entertaining. If viewers were encouraged to
look into the subjects further, then good on him.
I also loved the Crusades series which with clever use of period art
work and computer techniques brought the events to life. Did it do a
good job, hold the attention, and create further interest? Yes.
Runciman be hanged ! :-)
Paul



On 29 Jul 2010, at 12:12, Dr M M Gilchrist wrote:

> Dear all,
> I recall the Terry Jones series: it was decent enough, if light-
> weight, and he is a very interesting writer on Chaucer (his
> background is in mediæval English literature, I think). I'm not
> inclined to put too much trust in him, though: his 'Crusades' series
> was pretty poor, largely a pop rehash of Runciman's 1950s work, so
> already well superseded by academic research by the time it was
> broadcast. It fell foul of my Crusades-history litmus-test, by
> repeating (and embellishing) an easily demonstrable factual error
> made by Runciman, which suggested a failure to check primary sources.
> cheers,
> Doc M
>
> ------------------------------------
>
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>
>
>