As part of BBC Four's Medieval Season, Professor Robert Bartlett (pictured) - one of the world's leading medievalists - takes a trip into the medieval psyche in a new, four-part series, Inside The Medieval Mind. Each hour-long episode - Knowledge, Sex, Belief and Power - focuses on a different aspect of medieval life.
The medieval world was full of marvels and, in tonight's episode, Professor Bartlett unearths how medieval men and women understood the world - and how that knowledge came to be transformed.
Medieval science was not nonsense: it was known that the world was round, for example. However, for medieval man, it was possible to attribute both a natural and a divine cause to a single event - an eclipse could be caused by the movement of the planets and be a sign from God.
In a medieval chained library (books were so rare in the Middle Ages that they would be chained together so that no one could steal them) Robert explains how, for hundreds of years, learning remained (almost literally) in the hands of monks. But that monopoly was to be challenged with the discovery of the classical learning of Aristotle, and of Arabic science, in the great libraries of Spain, seized by Christian soldiers in the 11th and 12th centuries. He also looks at the work of theologians including Thomas Aquinas, and scientists such as Roger Bacon, who were pushing back the frontiers of knowledge in favour of a more evidence-based analysis of the world.
Incredibly, the medieval times were also a period of great discovery; Marco Polo and other travellers returned with amazing tales of the East, signalling the beginning of the end for the established medieval world view. As the Middle Ages drew to a close, Robert discovers that the world had become a place not to be contemplated, but mastered, even exploited.
How can I get a copy of the medieval version of Purple Haze, the theme music from this series...
it's seriously cool !
April 17th, 2008 - 4:40pmxander said...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/medieval/audio.shtml
April 16th, 2008 - 11:57pmShelly said...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purple_Haze
I think it's on there... Tam Nightingale
April 16th, 2008 - 10:10pmYevgen said...
Can anyone identify the music played over the closing credits of the "The Saint and the Hanged Man" programme? Any help would be much appreciated
April 14th, 2008 - 5:22pmJonny said...
I want the music from the advert, where can I find it?
April 11th, 2008 - 2:14pmPaul Pennington said...
Can you tell me who does the version of purple haze on the medieval mind trip advert
April 9th, 2008 - 4:52pmPhil Davies said...
I too am keen to find out how to obtain a copy of the "Purple Haze" trailer music. Can you please advise
April 9th, 2008 - 7:41amR Nightingale said...
Just trying to find out who recorded the theme music for the trailer (a version of Purple Haze that sounds as if it's played on viols and other early instruments?) and whether it is available to buy on CD? It's quite amazing!
April 8th, 2008 - 9:26pmSimon Moore said...
Totally agree with the previous comment. Would love to know how I can get hold of this music.
April 8th, 2008 - 8:57pmj said...
To clarify
lots of differentsites for the same groups of programmes or parts of - which appear to clash with what is shown on the sky listings
it is not clear when all the different Medieval Mind programmes are to be shown.
Starts on Monday - as on the trailer is not good enough
More details please
April 8th, 2008 - 8:44pmj said...
it is not clear when all the different Medieval Mind programmes are to be shown.
Starts on Monday - as on the trailer is not good enough
More details please
April 7th, 2008 - 8:55pmJohn Hall said...
Please tell me if the theme music which has been played during the trailer of Inside the Medieval Mind is available. It is a version of Purple Haze unlike anything I have heard before
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