Series in which historian and author Helen Castor explores how the people of the Middle Ages handled the most fundamental moments of transition in life - birth, marriage and death.
EPISODE 1
A Good Birth
Helen Castor reveals how the moment of labour and birth was one of the most dangerous times for a medieval woman, with no antiseptics or anaesthetics available.
EPISODE 2
A Good Marriage
Historian Helen Castor reveals how the Catholic church tried to control marriage from the 12th century onwards, as a way to contain the troubling issue of sex.
EPISODE 3
A Good Death
Helen Castor reveals how being remembered shaped not only the worship of the people of the Middle Ages but the very buildings and funding of the medieval Church itself.
