Castle Builders

Meet the Castle Builders – the masons and labourers who did the hard work; the geniuses of design and structural engineering who imagined these mediaeval mega-structures; and the kings and barons who commissioned them. This episode outlines how the history of the Middle Ages –Wars in France and England, the Inquisition and the Reformation and how the castles changed the course of that history.

This is the story of castles under attack. The Medieval journey from bows and arrows to gunpowder, with developments like trebuchet and cannon, meant engineers were always making advancements in defence construction. By the late Middle Ages, the military importance of castles was decreasing, as artillery power became unstoppable.

Increasingly the role of castles changed from being military fortresses to becoming places of symbolism and fantasy. This episode traces the changes to Windsor Castle under Edward III, when it became an icon of regal glory and a centrepiece for his cult of chivalry – including his famous recreation of King Arthur’s Knights of the Garter.