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The Middle Ages

Episode 2 of 2

A look at the clash between luxury and Christianity in medieval Europe and how the Black Death paradoxically liberated it from the church.

In the second and last episode of this series we follow the clash between luxury and Christianity which convulsed medieval Europe. Luxury was a roadblock on the road to heaven, so the church was quick to condemn the jewellery, gorgeous weapons and pattern-welded swords of the early medieval world. Yet the church also had its own form of luxury, in the form of spectacular manuscripts designed to do the work of God through astonishment and display but soon the Black Death paradoxically liberated luxury from the church by initiating a new world of relative luxury and consumerism - the luxury world we inhabit today.

50 minutes

Last on

Sun 18 Dec 2016 20:10GMT

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Credits

Role Contributor
Presenter Michael Scott
Producer David Wilson
Director David Wilson
Executive Producer Harry Bell

Broadcasts