Terry Jones' Medieval Lives

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Terry Jones' Medieval Lives is a series of documentaries written and hosted by ex-Python Terry Jones and originally aired by the BBC. Each half-hour episode examines a particular Medieval personality, with the intent of separating myth from reality.

Being a comedian as well as a historian, Terry Jones takes an "established belief," turns that around and presents proof for his assertion.

In the episode on Kings, he says, "History isn't necessarily what happened. It's often what people want us to think happened.", with the following examples:

• • Richard the Lionheart was actually a bad king, who only saw England (which he hated) as a means to finance his warmongery, whereas Richard II did a lot of good for England. Modern perceptions of these kings are reversed because chroniclers of the time were commissioned to write what was politically most convenient.
  • Louis was (acclaimed as) a king of England yet appears in no history books as such (see First Barons' War#Louis a king of England?).

Terry Jones explains his main reason for making this series in the article The Middle Ages of reason in The Observer.

The eight episodes were as follows:

• The Peasant
• The Monk
• The Damsel
• The Minstrel
• The Knight
• The Philosopher
• The Outlaw
• The King

After its initial run on the BBC, the series was shown on the History Channel.

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