1 00:01:50,000 --> 00:01:54,391 I'm in the deserts of the eastern end of the Mediterranean in Jordan. 2 00:01:54,480 --> 00:01:57,995 People have been wandering through these lands for tens of thousands of years 3 00:01:58,080 --> 00:02:01,277 and I'm with one of the last groups to do so, the Bedouin. 4 00:02:01,360 --> 00:02:05,239 Like their ancestors, they're almost entirely dependent 5 00:02:05,320 --> 00:02:07,470 on their domesticated animals. 6 00:02:07,560 --> 00:02:10,791 Their camels, their sheep and their goats. 7 00:02:11,880 --> 00:02:14,678 But the animal that they prize most of all 8 00:02:14,760 --> 00:02:18,673 is, oddly, the one which seems to have little practical value to them. 9 00:02:18,760 --> 00:02:20,796 They neither eat it nor milk it, 10 00:02:20,880 --> 00:02:22,836 nor use it as a beast of burden. 11 00:02:22,920 --> 00:02:25,559 It's this. The horse. 12 00:02:25,640 --> 00:02:29,952 The Arabs are great judges of horse flesh and great riders. 13 00:02:30,040 --> 00:02:33,112 And they used the horse, only until recently, 14 00:02:33,200 --> 00:02:36,590 on those raids and skirmishes which up to 30 years ago 15 00:02:36,680 --> 00:02:38,716 were so much a part of their lives. 16 00:02:40,960 --> 00:02:42,916 Wild horses, like these, 17 00:02:43,000 --> 00:02:45,719 once lived over much of Europe and central Asia. 18 00:02:46,200 --> 00:02:49,556 They have short, stiff manes that stand more or less upright 19 00:02:49,640 --> 00:02:53,030 and a bold black stripe running down their back. 20 00:02:55,320 --> 00:02:59,916 Man tamed them some 3,000 years after he had domesticated cattle, 21 00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:02,309 initially in order to eat them. 22 00:03:02,400 --> 00:03:07,793 But by 3,000BC he had found that he could use them to pull carts and wagons. 23 00:03:08,360 --> 00:03:11,875 The Egyptians harnessed them with wide reins low around their necks 24 00:03:11,960 --> 00:03:14,349 and used them for pulling their war chariots. 25 00:03:17,000 --> 00:03:19,195 At around the same time, farther to the east, 26 00:03:19,280 --> 00:03:24,798 the Assyrians were putting a jointed bar of metal... a bit... into the horse's mouth 27 00:03:24,880 --> 00:03:27,110 and controlling it much more effectively. 28 00:03:27,200 --> 00:03:31,239 Stirrups were unknown in the Mediterranean, even in Greek times. 29 00:03:31,320 --> 00:03:33,276 That invaluable aid for riding 30 00:03:33,360 --> 00:03:37,319 probably originated far away in the steppes of central Asia. 31 00:03:37,400 --> 00:03:42,269 Some people there, even today, virtually live on horseback. 32 00:03:42,360 --> 00:03:46,751 In Afghanistan, they still play the ancient and violent game of Buzkashi, 33 00:03:46,840 --> 00:03:48,831 a kind of mass polo, 34 00:03:48,920 --> 00:03:53,357 in which the ball is a sand... filled skin of a freshly killed goat. 35 00:03:55,360 --> 00:03:57,999 Roman writers said that the wild tribes 36 00:03:58,080 --> 00:04:01,436 who regularly raided settlements along the frontier of the empire 37 00:04:01,520 --> 00:04:05,229 were perpetually on the move, driving their livestock in front of them, 38 00:04:05,320 --> 00:04:08,232 the women and children following behind in wagons. 39 00:04:08,320 --> 00:04:11,949 They never slept inside a house nor planted any crops. 40 00:04:12,040 --> 00:04:14,554 They lived entirely on milk and meat. 41 00:04:14,640 --> 00:04:18,838 Their cruelty shocked even the Romans, who had such a taste for it. 42 00:04:18,920 --> 00:04:21,639 After battles, they skinned their slaughtered enemies 43 00:04:21,720 --> 00:04:25,235 and slung the bloody pelts over their horses as trophies. 44 00:04:35,360 --> 00:04:39,319 This passion for horses spread right round the eastern Mediterranean 45 00:04:39,400 --> 00:04:43,075 and along the northern coast of Africa, where it still flourishes. 46 00:04:55,880 --> 00:04:59,953 In the 4th century, the mounted tribes living along the northern frontier 47 00:05:00,040 --> 00:05:01,871 of the decaying Roman Empire, 48 00:05:01,960 --> 00:05:04,713 in a series of extraordinary mass migrations, 49 00:05:04,800 --> 00:05:06,358 overran western Europe, 50 00:05:06,440 --> 00:05:10,115 burning, looting and destroying wherever they went. 51 00:05:14,760 --> 00:05:18,719 The Huns rode west around the Caspian Sea into Hungary. 52 00:05:18,800 --> 00:05:22,110 Another tribe, the Visigoths, started southwards, 53 00:05:22,200 --> 00:05:24,589 fighting their way through Greece into Italy 54 00:05:24,680 --> 00:05:27,194 and on into France and Spain. 55 00:05:27,600 --> 00:05:29,750 The Vandals rode down from the north 56 00:05:29,840 --> 00:05:32,070 right across Europe into North Africa 57 00:05:32,160 --> 00:05:35,789 to cross the Mediterranean again and sack Rome. 58 00:05:35,880 --> 00:05:39,509 The Huns, on the move once more, were joined by Goths 59 00:05:39,600 --> 00:05:41,830 to complete the destruction of Roman power 60 00:05:41,920 --> 00:05:45,037 and the civilisation that had grown up under its protection. 61 00:05:48,000 --> 00:05:51,276 By this time the great Roman cities of North Africa, 62 00:05:51,360 --> 00:05:54,272 such as Leptis were already in decline. 63 00:05:54,360 --> 00:05:57,193 The fields around them, once so fertile, 64 00:05:57,280 --> 00:06:00,078 but now stripped of their cover of natural vegetation 65 00:06:00,160 --> 00:06:03,789 were badly eroded and could no longer provide the food 66 00:06:03,880 --> 00:06:05,836 to support a large population. 67 00:06:05,920 --> 00:06:08,798 So the aqueducts fell into into disrepair, 68 00:06:08,880 --> 00:06:10,950 the columns of the temples tumbled 69 00:06:11,040 --> 00:06:13,793 and the influence of Rome began to wane. 70 00:06:14,440 --> 00:06:17,830 How far nomads were responsible for this change 71 00:06:17,920 --> 00:06:20,354 is a matter of argument among historians. 72 00:06:20,440 --> 00:06:23,477 But certainly, as the Roman way of life diminished, 73 00:06:23,560 --> 00:06:27,439 so the surviving peoples took to a more pastoral way of life 74 00:06:27,520 --> 00:06:29,988 becoming more and more dependent on grazing animals, 75 00:06:30,080 --> 00:06:31,957 and in particular, the goat. 76 00:06:35,040 --> 00:06:38,112 The goat has the most extraordinary mouth. 77 00:06:38,200 --> 00:06:40,794 It seems impervious to the sharpest thorns 78 00:06:40,880 --> 00:06:44,998 and goats will eat vegetation that no cow or sheep will tackle. 79 00:06:45,080 --> 00:06:47,878 That means that they can live in near desert. 80 00:06:47,960 --> 00:06:50,918 It also means that because they eat every seedling 81 00:06:51,000 --> 00:06:52,638 and anything else that is green, 82 00:06:52,720 --> 00:06:55,029 they keep the land a near desert. 83 00:07:10,520 --> 00:07:14,069 The desert peoples had another important animal in their lives, 84 00:07:14,160 --> 00:07:16,071 a beast of burden, the camel. 85 00:07:17,240 --> 00:07:19,515 In the seventh century, a camel driver 86 00:07:19,600 --> 00:07:22,319 working with the caravans that crossed the Arabian deserts, 87 00:07:22,400 --> 00:07:25,870 taking gold and spices to the Mediterranean ports, 88 00:07:25,960 --> 00:07:30,033 had profound religious visions and began to preach a new faith. 89 00:07:30,120 --> 00:07:33,669 His name was Mohammed and his faith, Islam. 90 00:07:36,240 --> 00:07:38,151 (Call to prayer) 91 00:07:59,160 --> 00:08:03,950 Mohammed's revelations were recorded in the sacred book of Islam, the Qur'an. 92 00:08:04,040 --> 00:08:08,033 Associated with it were a great variety of religious texts 93 00:08:08,120 --> 00:08:11,908 which included detailed instructions on how to care for the horse 94 00:08:12,000 --> 00:08:14,275 and this account of its origin. 95 00:08:15,160 --> 00:08:18,550 God took a handful of the south wind, it says, 96 00:08:18,640 --> 00:08:20,517 and created the horse. 97 00:08:20,600 --> 00:08:24,388 And he said unto it, "I create thee and name thee Arab. 98 00:08:24,480 --> 00:08:28,439 "Goodness I tie to the hair of thy forlock. 99 00:08:28,520 --> 00:08:30,715 "Booty shall come from the strength of thy back. 100 00:08:30,800 --> 00:08:33,758 "Power shall be with you, wherever you are. 101 00:08:33,840 --> 00:08:38,914 "I hold you above all beasts, making you lord of them all. 102 00:08:39,000 --> 00:08:42,788 "I make you obedient to your master 103 00:08:42,880 --> 00:08:45,952 "and able to fly without wings. 104 00:08:46,040 --> 00:08:49,510 "You are destined for flight and pursuit." 105 00:09:07,960 --> 00:09:11,430 Inspired with the fanatical fervour by Mohammed's teaching, 106 00:09:11,520 --> 00:09:15,354 the horsemen of Islam set of on a series of lightning campaigns 107 00:09:15,440 --> 00:09:18,352 to convert all the people around them to this new faith. 108 00:09:19,440 --> 00:09:24,150 No foot soldiers or baggage trains accompanied this swashbuckling cavalry. 109 00:09:24,240 --> 00:09:27,994 They lived off the land and they carried their swords and the Qur'an 110 00:09:28,080 --> 00:09:30,036 all around the Mediterranean. 111 00:09:30,120 --> 00:09:32,953 From Mecca, where Mohammed first preached, 112 00:09:33,040 --> 00:09:36,032 they rode north to Jerusalem and onto Constantinople. 113 00:09:36,120 --> 00:09:39,192 They went west all along the coast of North Africa 114 00:09:39,280 --> 00:09:42,113 across the Straits of Gibraltar and into Spain. 115 00:09:42,200 --> 00:09:45,112 There they defeated the armies of the Visigoths, 116 00:09:45,200 --> 00:09:48,112 the one... time nomads who had ruled Spain for three centuries. 117 00:09:48,200 --> 00:09:53,433 So the Spanish people lost one alien rule and gained another. 118 00:09:55,640 --> 00:09:58,996 They established their Spanish capital here at Cordoba 119 00:09:59,080 --> 00:10:02,311 They partly demolished the Christian basilica 120 00:10:02,400 --> 00:10:06,871 and using marble columns rescued from the Roman ruins 121 00:10:06,960 --> 00:10:08,791 that lay all around this ancient city, 122 00:10:08,880 --> 00:10:13,032 They converted it in the year 785, into a mosque. 123 00:10:13,120 --> 00:10:17,636 They were to build over 3,000 mosques in this one city. 124 00:10:17,720 --> 00:10:21,235 They installed street lighting and public sanitation. 125 00:10:21,320 --> 00:10:23,515 They established a university. 126 00:10:23,600 --> 00:10:27,673 And so they converted Cordoba with its half million inhabitants 127 00:10:27,760 --> 00:10:30,479 into one of the great cities of Islam. 128 00:10:31,560 --> 00:10:34,279 They also greatly enlarged this mosque 129 00:10:34,360 --> 00:10:37,557 by building a forest of pillars. 130 00:10:37,640 --> 00:10:42,509 To do that, they needed no specifically Islamic architectural technique. 131 00:10:42,600 --> 00:10:47,071 But on one side, facing not east, towards Mecca, as is traditional 132 00:10:47,160 --> 00:10:50,038 but south towards land from which they came, 133 00:10:50,120 --> 00:10:52,315 they built a mihrab. 134 00:10:52,960 --> 00:10:54,916 (# Arabic music) 135 00:10:58,360 --> 00:11:01,193 It's one of the glories of Islamic architecture 136 00:11:01,280 --> 00:11:05,319 and epitomises the dazzling artistry craftsmanship of these people. 137 00:11:13,720 --> 00:11:16,314 The Arab prince who ruled over Granada, 138 00:11:16,400 --> 00:11:19,915 built himself a magnificent citidel on the hill above the city 139 00:11:20,000 --> 00:11:22,958 that became known as the Red Palace, Alhambra. 140 00:12:02,160 --> 00:12:05,835 As might be expected of people with traditions of living in deserts, 141 00:12:05,920 --> 00:12:10,710 they lavished great care and skill on conserving and controlling water. 142 00:12:19,440 --> 00:12:23,911 They built giant water wheels like these, which still survive in Syria. 143 00:12:24,000 --> 00:12:26,594 Groaning as they turn on their wooden axles, 144 00:12:26,680 --> 00:12:29,672 as they have done on this site for a thousand years. 145 00:12:39,080 --> 00:12:42,755 Driven by the current of the river, they lift water 70 or 80 feet, 146 00:12:42,840 --> 00:12:46,230 and tip it out into an aqueduct along which it flows 147 00:12:46,320 --> 00:12:48,914 throughout the city to irrigate its gardens. 148 00:13:12,600 --> 00:13:15,751 For them a garden was literally paradise. 149 00:13:15,840 --> 00:13:17,796 They used the same word for both. 150 00:13:17,880 --> 00:13:23,512 Outside its walls, lay the blazing sand and harsh sun of the desert. 151 00:13:23,600 --> 00:13:27,593 Inside, cool shade, the sound of trickling water, 152 00:13:27,680 --> 00:13:30,069 the colour and perfume of flowers. 153 00:13:30,160 --> 00:13:33,118 So around their castles here in Spain 154 00:13:33,200 --> 00:13:36,510 they built gardens, just as they had back in Africa. 155 00:13:36,600 --> 00:13:40,275 And they brought with them many of their favourite plants. 156 00:13:40,360 --> 00:13:43,716 Including, for example, this. The orange. 157 00:13:45,280 --> 00:13:47,635 They had acquired this tree from the Chinese, 158 00:13:47,720 --> 00:13:50,871 and grew it as much for its perfume as for its fruit, 159 00:13:50,960 --> 00:13:53,315 which in the early varieties, was bitter, 160 00:13:53,400 --> 00:13:55,391 as several oranges are still today. 161 00:13:56,880 --> 00:14:00,839 They also imported peacocks from the eastern territories of their empire, 162 00:14:00,920 --> 00:14:02,990 which now extended as far as India, 163 00:14:03,080 --> 00:14:06,993 to glorify their gardens with their astounding displays. 164 00:14:38,560 --> 00:14:41,552 The Arabs, indeed, were particularly knowledgeable and skilled 165 00:14:41,640 --> 00:14:43,437 in the handling of birds. 166 00:14:45,280 --> 00:14:49,512 Pigeons were probably the first birds to be domesticated by man anywhere. 167 00:14:49,600 --> 00:14:51,716 The Romans had kept them imprisoned 168 00:14:51,800 --> 00:14:53,916 and even broke their wings to prevent them flying 169 00:14:54,000 --> 00:14:56,116 so as to fatten them for the table. 170 00:14:56,200 --> 00:14:58,760 The Arabs, however, allowed them to fly free 171 00:14:58,840 --> 00:15:02,435 and provided them with miniature castles, like these in Egypt. 172 00:15:02,520 --> 00:15:05,717 They're built of earthenware pipes stuck together with mud, 173 00:15:05,800 --> 00:15:07,836 inside which the birds nest. 174 00:15:07,920 --> 00:15:11,674 From these colonies they range over the surrounding countryside, 175 00:15:11,760 --> 00:15:15,514 collecting scattered grains of corn and other tiny particles of food. 176 00:15:15,600 --> 00:15:19,354 These they convert into meat and eggs and droppings 177 00:15:19,440 --> 00:15:21,829 which accumulate in the bottom of these towers 178 00:15:21,920 --> 00:15:24,229 and constitute a magnificent fertiliser. 179 00:15:31,160 --> 00:15:34,232 But falcons are the Arabs' passion. 180 00:15:34,320 --> 00:15:37,118 500 years ago, when they had no guns, 181 00:15:37,200 --> 00:15:40,909 hawks were almost the only means they had of catching game 182 00:15:41,000 --> 00:15:44,151 and they carried falcon with them wherever they went. 183 00:15:44,600 --> 00:15:47,717 The tradition continues unbroken. 184 00:15:51,360 --> 00:15:54,716 The favourite quarry in winter is the houbara bustard. 185 00:15:54,800 --> 00:15:57,792 It's a big bird, about twice the size of most falcons, 186 00:15:57,880 --> 00:16:01,316 which must have both strength and courage if they're to bring one down. 187 00:16:28,960 --> 00:16:31,315 The hood is an Arab invention. 188 00:16:31,400 --> 00:16:33,436 It has drawstrings around the neck 189 00:16:33,520 --> 00:16:36,080 and fits snuggly over the beak when it's on, 190 00:16:36,160 --> 00:16:39,118 so that light is totally excluded from the bird's eyes 191 00:16:39,200 --> 00:16:41,919 and it immediately settles down and remains clam. 192 00:16:52,560 --> 00:16:56,155 These portable perches were also devised by the Arabs. 193 00:16:59,640 --> 00:17:03,713 By tradition, the falconers always make a point of handling their birds a great deal, 194 00:17:03,800 --> 00:17:07,713 both to keep them tame and to make it easier to treat them for minor injuries, 195 00:17:07,800 --> 00:17:09,756 such as broken feathers. 196 00:17:19,680 --> 00:17:22,353 A hare, an eagerly sought... after quarry, 197 00:17:22,440 --> 00:17:25,910 both for the skill needed to catch it and the value of its meat. 198 00:17:43,640 --> 00:17:45,596 (Squealing) 199 00:17:49,520 --> 00:17:52,910 This is exactly how falcons catch their prey in the wild. 200 00:17:53,000 --> 00:17:56,709 For the bird, is of course, at this moment an entirely free agent. 201 00:17:58,440 --> 00:18:00,476 (Man speaking Arabic over loudhailer) 202 00:18:04,360 --> 00:18:07,318 The falconer allows his bird a share of its catch. 203 00:18:07,400 --> 00:18:10,517 Usually the liver, the lungs and the heart. 204 00:18:10,600 --> 00:18:13,512 If he did not, the falcon might not continue to hunt. 205 00:18:15,280 --> 00:18:18,113 But the owners take the main part of the carcass 206 00:18:18,200 --> 00:18:20,555 and they will eat it with particular relish. 207 00:18:20,640 --> 00:18:24,269 For, although falconry in Arabia is certainly a sport, 208 00:18:24,360 --> 00:18:27,557 it also remains, as once most importantly was, 209 00:18:27,640 --> 00:18:29,870 a way of catching food in the desert, 210 00:18:29,960 --> 00:18:34,476 where real hunger continually afflicts most animals and men. 211 00:18:40,280 --> 00:18:43,511 The Europeans also hunted with falcons for many centuries 212 00:18:43,600 --> 00:18:46,160 but their techniques were less sophisticated 213 00:18:46,240 --> 00:18:49,357 and the Arab style of hawking spread from places 214 00:18:49,440 --> 00:18:51,112 where Muslim influence was strong, 215 00:18:51,200 --> 00:18:54,397 such as Sicily and also of course from Islamic Spain. 216 00:18:57,400 --> 00:19:00,710 Although the people of Medieval Europe 217 00:19:00,800 --> 00:19:05,510 were learning newer and more efficient ways of hunting animals, 218 00:19:05,600 --> 00:19:08,637 their beliefs about them and their attitudes towards them 219 00:19:08,720 --> 00:19:13,430 remained in many instances rooted in a pre... Christian pagan past. 220 00:19:13,960 --> 00:19:17,316 They credited some animals with the most extraordinary powers. 221 00:19:17,400 --> 00:19:19,709 For example in gullies like this, 222 00:19:19,800 --> 00:19:21,916 where the moss... covered rocks 223 00:19:22,000 --> 00:19:25,390 retain just a particle of moisture even during the hottest summer, 224 00:19:25,480 --> 00:19:30,918 they believed they occasionally could find one of the most lethal and poisonous creatures 225 00:19:31,000 --> 00:19:32,319 in the whole of creation. 226 00:19:33,880 --> 00:19:36,269 A 13th... century writer describes 227 00:19:36,360 --> 00:19:38,715 how the army of Alexander the Great 228 00:19:38,800 --> 00:19:42,713 drank from a stream through which this animal had just passed 229 00:19:42,800 --> 00:19:45,360 and during the night all 4,000 men 230 00:19:45,440 --> 00:19:48,352 and their 4,000 horses died. 231 00:19:48,440 --> 00:19:52,115 And this is the creature they were so terrified of. 232 00:19:54,360 --> 00:19:55,713 It's a salamander. 233 00:19:55,800 --> 00:19:58,268 And of course it's entirely harmless. 234 00:19:58,360 --> 00:20:01,989 It's a kind of large newt that spends most of its time on land. 235 00:20:02,080 --> 00:20:04,674 Being an amphibian it has a moist skin 236 00:20:04,760 --> 00:20:07,558 and during the day it usually hides in damp places... 237 00:20:07,640 --> 00:20:12,191 under leaves or beneath the bark of wet rotten logs... and is rarely seen. 238 00:20:13,200 --> 00:20:15,634 Perhaps if such a log were thrown on a fire 239 00:20:15,720 --> 00:20:17,517 a salamander might come out of it. 240 00:20:17,600 --> 00:20:19,556 And if the log were really damp and rotten, 241 00:20:19,640 --> 00:20:21,915 the fire might be put out. 242 00:20:23,880 --> 00:20:27,714 At any rate, the salamander was believed to be so magically powerful 243 00:20:27,800 --> 00:20:31,429 that it could live in fire and extinguish it. 244 00:20:38,600 --> 00:20:40,318 And still, to this day, 245 00:20:40,400 --> 00:20:43,551 we call a species the fire salamander. 246 00:20:58,360 --> 00:21:01,909 Even as inoffensive and harmless a creature as a moth 247 00:21:02,000 --> 00:21:05,515 could become in the medieval mind, a creature of dread. 248 00:21:09,960 --> 00:21:12,315 If it flew in through an open window at night, 249 00:21:12,400 --> 00:21:15,551 people believed it might kill them as they lay sleeping. 250 00:21:21,240 --> 00:21:23,674 And all because it had on its body 251 00:21:23,760 --> 00:21:26,638 a mark that looked like a death's head. 252 00:21:32,520 --> 00:21:35,717 The fox was believed to be so sly and deceitful 253 00:21:35,800 --> 00:21:41,193 that it would feign death and entice birds to fly down and feed on its corpse. 254 00:21:43,280 --> 00:21:46,397 Then it would suddenly come to life and catch them. 255 00:21:49,760 --> 00:21:52,194 The eagle was thought to be immortal. 256 00:21:52,280 --> 00:21:54,748 When it got old it flew close to the sun, 257 00:21:54,840 --> 00:21:57,752 scorched off its tattered, worn... out feathers 258 00:21:57,840 --> 00:22:00,035 and dived into the waters of a lake. 259 00:22:01,240 --> 00:22:03,435 Then it came out, rejuvenated, 260 00:22:03,520 --> 00:22:07,513 perhaps even, like this one, with a fish in its talons. 261 00:22:07,600 --> 00:22:10,319 Maybe the artist had seen an osprey fishing. 262 00:22:14,840 --> 00:22:18,913 This species of wild goose is a rare visitor to southern Europe 263 00:22:19,000 --> 00:22:22,515 and no one living there in medieval times could have seen its nest. 264 00:22:22,600 --> 00:22:26,912 So, people reasoned, these geese must come into the world in some other fashion. 265 00:22:27,000 --> 00:22:28,956 Perhaps from these barnacles 266 00:22:29,040 --> 00:22:32,430 which have what look like small, bedraggled feathers inside them. 267 00:22:32,520 --> 00:22:35,717 And, as everyone knows, only birds have feathers. 268 00:22:35,800 --> 00:22:40,316 So, the illustrators of the medieval natural history books, the bestiaries, 269 00:22:40,400 --> 00:22:43,358 obligingly showed exactly how that came about. 270 00:22:45,960 --> 00:22:48,554 Nonsense? 0f course. 271 00:22:48,640 --> 00:22:52,110 These geese lay eggs in nests like any other bird. 272 00:22:52,200 --> 00:22:55,317 But they do so out of most people's sight in the Arctic. 273 00:22:55,400 --> 00:22:59,598 Nonetheless, we still call this species of goose the barnacle goose, 274 00:22:59,680 --> 00:23:02,717 and that kind of barnacle, the goose barnacle. 275 00:23:03,680 --> 00:23:06,956 There were also superstitions about plants. 276 00:23:07,040 --> 00:23:10,919 This strange spike appears each summer on a rocky islet in Malta. 277 00:23:13,000 --> 00:23:18,154 For centuries, it was thought that it lived only in this one tiny location. 278 00:23:18,240 --> 00:23:21,710 Though now it has been found in one or two other places as well. 279 00:23:21,800 --> 00:23:25,509 And for centuries, too, it was thought not only to be rare 280 00:23:25,600 --> 00:23:30,230 but a very powerful medicine against a whole variety of diseases. 281 00:23:30,320 --> 00:23:33,118 So much so, it was extremely valuable. 282 00:23:33,200 --> 00:23:36,192 And the Grand Master of the Knights of St John in Malta 283 00:23:36,280 --> 00:23:39,033 had to post a guard on this rock to prevent thieves. 284 00:23:39,120 --> 00:23:41,031 And he regularly gathered it 285 00:23:41,120 --> 00:23:43,509 and sent it as a most valued gift 286 00:23:43,600 --> 00:23:45,556 to all the crown heads of Europe. 287 00:23:47,360 --> 00:23:50,909 The mandrake contains a drug that produces hallucinations 288 00:23:51,000 --> 00:23:53,878 and was used by apothecaries in potions. 289 00:23:53,960 --> 00:23:55,916 Its root, often cleft, 290 00:23:56,000 --> 00:23:58,912 was believed to be shaped like a human being. 291 00:23:59,000 --> 00:24:02,515 And close inspection could determine whether it was male or female. 292 00:24:02,600 --> 00:24:05,910 If it was pulled up, it was supposed to scream, 293 00:24:06,000 --> 00:24:09,709 and anyone who heard that dreadful sound would be struck dead immediately. 294 00:24:11,760 --> 00:24:14,274 So an apothecary gathering a mandrake 295 00:24:14,360 --> 00:24:18,512 had to take with him a horn and to plug his ears with beeswax. 296 00:24:19,960 --> 00:24:22,190 Even tugging at the plant could be lethal 297 00:24:22,280 --> 00:24:24,635 and to deal with that, he had to have a dog, 298 00:24:24,720 --> 00:24:27,314 which he had to tie to the mandrake. 299 00:24:30,160 --> 00:24:32,833 Then, blowing his horn to drown the dreadful shriek 300 00:24:32,920 --> 00:24:35,309 and whipping the dog so that it bolted, 301 00:24:35,400 --> 00:24:37,709 he could draw the root in safety. 302 00:24:43,760 --> 00:24:45,716 (Church bells ringing) 303 00:24:49,440 --> 00:24:52,716 Not all of these pagan beliefs have completely died. 304 00:24:53,240 --> 00:24:57,916 In Cucullo, a small village in the Abruzzi mountains, east of Rome, 305 00:24:58,000 --> 00:25:00,275 an ancient animal cult still flourishes. 306 00:25:00,880 --> 00:25:03,235 0n the first Thursday in May, every year, 307 00:25:03,320 --> 00:25:06,437 a statue of St Dominic is brought out from the church. 308 00:25:07,880 --> 00:25:10,110 He is being adorned with snakes. 309 00:25:21,320 --> 00:25:23,276 The snakes are harmless. 310 00:25:23,360 --> 00:25:25,828 They are four... lined and Aesculapian snakes. 311 00:25:25,920 --> 00:25:29,037 And as they, in the wild, frequently climb in trees, 312 00:25:29,120 --> 00:25:31,315 they tend to cling to the statue. 313 00:25:32,400 --> 00:25:35,437 As the saint and his snakes are carried in procession, 314 00:25:35,520 --> 00:25:39,195 the worshippers entreat him to protect them from the bites of other snakes, 315 00:25:39,280 --> 00:25:42,716 for there are dangerously poisonous snakes in the countryside. 316 00:25:43,320 --> 00:25:47,199 He is also said, by a rather curious and convoluted logic, 317 00:25:47,280 --> 00:25:49,236 to be able to cure toothache. 318 00:25:52,480 --> 00:25:54,436 (Brass band playing) 319 00:26:02,280 --> 00:26:05,113 The people believe that their saint, St Dominic, 320 00:26:05,200 --> 00:26:08,510 who founded the Dominican order of monks in the 13th century, 321 00:26:08,600 --> 00:26:11,034 was once bitten by a poisonous snake 322 00:26:11,120 --> 00:26:14,317 but, miraculously, he suffered no ill effects, 323 00:26:14,400 --> 00:26:17,915 and that therefore he has the power to grant protection to others. 324 00:26:21,960 --> 00:26:25,714 But it's likely that the origins of this bizarre cult 325 00:26:25,800 --> 00:26:29,110 are rooted in practices of a far more distant past. 326 00:26:29,200 --> 00:26:32,988 Many pagan myths became absorbed into Christian practice in this way 327 00:26:33,080 --> 00:26:37,756 and some were even built into the fabric of the churches themselves. 328 00:26:39,360 --> 00:26:41,920 This centaur... half horse, half human... 329 00:26:42,000 --> 00:26:44,355 is an inheritance from the myths of Greece. 330 00:26:44,440 --> 00:26:49,070 There's also another alien influence in this cloister, that of Islam. 331 00:26:49,160 --> 00:26:51,720 For this church in Le Puy in southern France 332 00:26:51,800 --> 00:26:54,917 has arches reminiscent of the mosque in Cordoba. 333 00:26:55,880 --> 00:26:57,871 Le Puy stands on the pilgrim road 334 00:26:57,960 --> 00:27:01,157 leading to the shrine of St James in Compostela in Spain, 335 00:27:01,240 --> 00:27:03,879 one of the most holy sites in all Christendom. 336 00:27:03,960 --> 00:27:08,590 But Compostela was not far from the Spanish territories held by the Muslims. 337 00:27:08,680 --> 00:27:12,719 And the Bishop of Le Puy must have regarded Islam as a very real threat. 338 00:27:12,800 --> 00:27:17,316 In 1095, the Pope arrived here from Rome to confer with the Bishop. 339 00:27:20,600 --> 00:27:23,034 We can't be certain exactly what they talked about 340 00:27:23,120 --> 00:27:28,194 but we do know for sure that the Pope had been receiving urgent pleas for help 341 00:27:28,280 --> 00:27:30,032 from the Christians of Constantinople 342 00:27:30,120 --> 00:27:33,396 who were under continuous attack by the armies of Islam. 343 00:27:33,480 --> 00:27:36,517 And it seems likely that they were planning a holy war. 344 00:27:36,600 --> 00:27:38,591 At the end of their conversations, 345 00:27:38,680 --> 00:27:41,274 the Pope summoned all the bishops of Christendom 346 00:27:41,360 --> 00:27:43,316 to come and meet him in three months' time 347 00:27:43,400 --> 00:27:46,198 in Clermont, 50 miles from here. 348 00:27:46,280 --> 00:27:51,479 At the end of that conference, the Pope preached a sermon to an enormous congregation 349 00:27:51,560 --> 00:27:54,154 just outside the city of Clermont. 350 00:27:54,240 --> 00:27:57,073 It was an insult to Christianity, he said, 351 00:27:57,160 --> 00:28:01,039 that Jerusalem and the Holy Land should be in the hand of the infidel. 352 00:28:01,120 --> 00:28:03,918 And he called for an army to go and free it. 353 00:28:04,000 --> 00:28:07,515 The sermon was met with wild enthusiasm. 354 00:28:07,600 --> 00:28:10,398 The Bishop of Le Puy was one of the first to volunteer 355 00:28:10,480 --> 00:28:12,869 and was put in charge of the whole enterprise. 356 00:28:12,960 --> 00:28:15,793 And the next autumn, men from all over Europe 357 00:28:15,880 --> 00:28:19,714 started marching eastwards to assemble in Constantinople 358 00:28:19,800 --> 00:28:22,109 and to go on the first Crusade. 359 00:28:27,960 --> 00:28:30,838 There was much squabbling about who should take command, 360 00:28:30,920 --> 00:28:33,992 but eventually the huge army marched out of the gates of the city, 361 00:28:34,080 --> 00:28:38,596 crossed the straits of the Bosphoros and set off eastwards for Asia. 362 00:28:39,360 --> 00:28:42,158 In the mountains of Turkey, the going is rough. 363 00:28:42,240 --> 00:28:45,118 The Crusaders' horses were large, heavily... built animals, 364 00:28:45,200 --> 00:28:47,031 unsuited for such country. 365 00:28:48,760 --> 00:28:51,718 Many fell and were eaten by the hungry troops. 366 00:28:54,160 --> 00:28:56,390 By the time the Christian army reached the desert 367 00:28:56,480 --> 00:28:58,710 and turned south towards Jerusalem, 368 00:28:58,800 --> 00:29:02,236 much of the baggage was being carried by locally obtained mules, 369 00:29:02,320 --> 00:29:04,276 even goats and dogs. 370 00:29:06,720 --> 00:29:09,712 The heavily... armoured knights fought by charging the enemy, 371 00:29:09,800 --> 00:29:11,995 and trying to unseat them with a lance. 372 00:29:12,080 --> 00:29:14,310 They could then butcher them with their swords. 373 00:29:18,400 --> 00:29:20,914 The Muslim horses were small and agile, 374 00:29:21,000 --> 00:29:23,912 ideal for making swift, surprise raids. 375 00:29:25,080 --> 00:29:28,914 In their citadels, they defended themselves with spears and arrows. 376 00:29:29,960 --> 00:29:32,633 The Crusaders stormed the walls directly, 377 00:29:32,720 --> 00:29:34,676 and tunnelled beneath them. 378 00:29:34,760 --> 00:29:38,912 They used huge catapults to hurl boulders over the ramparts, 379 00:29:39,000 --> 00:29:40,911 or to batter them down. 380 00:29:41,920 --> 00:29:44,718 0ne by one, the Muslim cities were taken, 381 00:29:44,800 --> 00:29:49,920 each siege ending only too often in a wholesale massacre of the inhabitants. 382 00:29:50,000 --> 00:29:53,709 Until at last, July 15th, 1099, 383 00:29:53,800 --> 00:29:56,314 Jerusalem, the Holy City itself, 384 00:29:56,400 --> 00:29:58,914 was reclaimed for Christendom. 385 00:30:02,680 --> 00:30:04,318 To keep control of their gains, 386 00:30:04,400 --> 00:30:08,712 the Crusaders set up a chain of huge castles round the eastern end of the Mediterranean. 387 00:30:09,240 --> 00:30:13,153 The most perfectly surviving today is Crac De Chevalier in Syria. 388 00:30:15,560 --> 00:30:19,314 Inside the fortified walls lived a huge community, 389 00:30:19,400 --> 00:30:23,518 some 4,000 Christian souls in the case of this particular castle. 390 00:30:24,440 --> 00:30:27,910 There was the commander, his wife and his children, 391 00:30:28,000 --> 00:30:30,912 100 knights or so who had sworn allegiance to him, 392 00:30:31,000 --> 00:30:35,312 and many more foot soldiers and locally recruited servants and helpers. 393 00:30:35,960 --> 00:30:40,715 Here in the heart of the castle, the knights had their lodgings where they slept. 394 00:30:41,680 --> 00:30:44,911 Beyond that stood the vaulted refectory where they ate 395 00:30:45,000 --> 00:30:48,913 and the chapel where together they all prayed. 396 00:30:52,960 --> 00:30:55,918 Beneath, on the ground floor, is a vast hall 397 00:30:56,000 --> 00:30:58,070 where they stabled all their horses. 398 00:30:58,160 --> 00:31:00,754 And below that, vaults that held enough supplies 399 00:31:00,840 --> 00:31:03,559 for them to withstand sieges of months or even years. 400 00:31:04,440 --> 00:31:07,637 An aqueduct channelled in water, though during a siege, 401 00:31:07,720 --> 00:31:11,030 rain could be collected in vast cisterns cut deep in the rock. 402 00:31:12,400 --> 00:31:15,915 Even so, the Christian soldiers who patrolled these walls 403 00:31:16,000 --> 00:31:18,195 began to adopt the local customs. 404 00:31:18,280 --> 00:31:20,669 They developed a taste for spicy food 405 00:31:20,760 --> 00:31:23,320 and wore silken robes, even turbans. 406 00:31:24,960 --> 00:31:27,269 Crac's defences were unsurpassed 407 00:31:27,360 --> 00:31:31,273 and surrounded by an outer ring of walls studded with towers. 408 00:31:31,360 --> 00:31:33,316 Inside that lies a moat 409 00:31:33,400 --> 00:31:36,278 and beyond that another line of walls. 410 00:31:36,360 --> 00:31:40,751 The only way in was over a drawbridge and through a heavily... guarded gate. 411 00:31:44,160 --> 00:31:47,914 Lf, by some trickery or sheer force of arms, 412 00:31:48,000 --> 00:31:51,709 attackers got across the drawbridge and through the main gate, 413 00:31:51,800 --> 00:31:55,713 they then had to fight their way up this long, sloping passage. 414 00:31:56,360 --> 00:31:58,669 And when they got here they were faced 415 00:31:58,760 --> 00:32:00,751 with a confusing change of direction. 416 00:32:00,840 --> 00:32:05,630 A hairpin bend, behind which a fresh band of defenders could be waiting. 417 00:32:05,720 --> 00:32:08,314 And up this passage there was a new peril. 418 00:32:08,400 --> 00:32:10,960 Holes in the roof. 419 00:32:12,560 --> 00:32:15,074 Through them poured a lethal hail 420 00:32:15,160 --> 00:32:17,276 of boulders and arrows 421 00:32:17,360 --> 00:32:19,715 and boiling pitch and oil. 422 00:32:19,800 --> 00:32:22,314 Even if he survived as far as this, 423 00:32:22,400 --> 00:32:26,313 an attacker had then to face the massed knights, 424 00:32:26,400 --> 00:32:29,517 who awaited him to do battle in the inner courtyard. 425 00:32:29,600 --> 00:32:32,512 In fact, during the entire history of the castle, 426 00:32:32,600 --> 00:32:35,512 no invader fought his way as far as this. 427 00:32:37,080 --> 00:32:40,038 Indeed, these defences were so carefully planned 428 00:32:40,120 --> 00:32:42,190 and so ingeniously designed, 429 00:32:42,280 --> 00:32:44,714 that the castle was virtually impregnable. 430 00:32:47,360 --> 00:32:51,911 But in the end, the defence of a castle depends on an adequate number of men. 431 00:32:52,000 --> 00:32:56,835 And after a century and a half of sending successive armies to the Holy Land, 432 00:32:56,920 --> 00:32:59,115 the Europeans were beginning to lose their zeal. 433 00:32:59,760 --> 00:33:02,718 In 1271 a much depleted garrison 434 00:33:02,800 --> 00:33:06,076 surrendered this castle after only a month's siege, 435 00:33:06,160 --> 00:33:10,915 in exchange for a safe passage down to the Mediterranean coast, at Tripoli. 436 00:33:11,960 --> 00:33:17,159 Over the next 20 years, the rest of the Crusaders straggled back home. 437 00:33:17,240 --> 00:33:20,277 They took with them a love of silk and spices, 438 00:33:20,360 --> 00:33:23,955 an admiration of the agile lightly... built Arabian horse, 439 00:33:24,040 --> 00:33:25,996 and something that ultimately 440 00:33:26,080 --> 00:33:28,310 was to devastate all Europe. 441 00:33:30,360 --> 00:33:33,158 It crept on board the ships of the returning armies 442 00:33:33,240 --> 00:33:35,196 and travelled with them. 443 00:33:35,280 --> 00:33:37,236 It was the black rat. 444 00:33:37,320 --> 00:33:41,108 It had already reached Europe, one way or another, in previous centuries. 445 00:33:41,200 --> 00:33:44,317 But the rats the Crusaders inadvertently carried with them 446 00:33:44,400 --> 00:33:46,914 had come from the ports of the eastern Mediterranean 447 00:33:47,000 --> 00:33:49,594 where plague was rampant and endemic. 448 00:33:58,720 --> 00:34:02,156 The rats were infected with a form of septicaemia in their blood, 449 00:34:02,240 --> 00:34:04,196 which eventually killed them. 450 00:34:04,280 --> 00:34:06,840 They couldn't transmit this directly to man. 451 00:34:06,920 --> 00:34:09,718 But they were also infested with fleas... 452 00:34:09,800 --> 00:34:11,756 and they could. 453 00:34:14,960 --> 00:34:17,394 Some fleas are very particular about their hosts 454 00:34:17,480 --> 00:34:19,516 and will bite only one kind of animal. 455 00:34:20,000 --> 00:34:24,915 But, tragically for humanity, that was not so with these fleas. 456 00:34:36,720 --> 00:34:39,712 The fleas fed by sucking the rat's blood. 457 00:34:40,160 --> 00:34:42,230 And when the rat died of its disease, 458 00:34:42,320 --> 00:34:44,709 the fleas hopped onto another rat, 459 00:34:44,800 --> 00:34:46,756 or a human being, 460 00:34:46,840 --> 00:34:50,071 and passed on the bacillus by injecting when they next fed 461 00:34:50,160 --> 00:34:52,310 into the blood of their new host. 462 00:35:00,320 --> 00:35:03,153 As the rats spread through the increasingly crowded 463 00:35:03,240 --> 00:35:05,435 and insanitary cities of Western Europe, 464 00:35:05,520 --> 00:35:07,476 so did the disease. 465 00:35:08,600 --> 00:35:11,512 The great pestilence broke out in 1347. 466 00:35:11,600 --> 00:35:13,670 It appeared first in Sicily 467 00:35:13,760 --> 00:35:16,115 but soon it was raging all over the continent. 468 00:35:18,840 --> 00:35:21,115 Boils appeared on people's bodies. 469 00:35:21,200 --> 00:35:24,397 Their breath became foul and they vomited blood. 470 00:35:24,480 --> 00:35:27,517 And then they died. Sometimes in a few days, 471 00:35:27,600 --> 00:35:29,716 sometimes within a few hours. 472 00:35:30,360 --> 00:35:32,669 Nobody knew what caused the disease. 473 00:35:32,760 --> 00:35:34,716 Nobody knew how to stop it. 474 00:35:34,800 --> 00:35:36,950 Within three years of its outbreak in Europe, 475 00:35:37,040 --> 00:35:39,713 it had killed one person in three. 476 00:35:47,640 --> 00:35:50,916 Most of Europe at this time was covered with forest. 477 00:35:51,000 --> 00:35:52,956 Although towns were growing, 478 00:35:53,040 --> 00:35:55,793 there were still vast tracts of the wild wood 479 00:35:55,880 --> 00:35:57,916 largely unaffected by man. 480 00:35:59,280 --> 00:36:01,316 Every species of animal that had been known 481 00:36:01,400 --> 00:36:03,709 to the Romans still flourished. 482 00:36:09,360 --> 00:36:11,510 Wild pig were very common 483 00:36:11,600 --> 00:36:14,797 and they regularly interbred with domesticated pigs 484 00:36:14,880 --> 00:36:16,836 that wandered out into the forest. 485 00:36:33,120 --> 00:36:37,272 Deer were abundant and much hunted for their excellent meat. 486 00:36:57,600 --> 00:37:00,433 The beaver, which today is almost entirely restricted 487 00:37:00,520 --> 00:37:02,476 to northern and eastern Europe, 488 00:37:02,560 --> 00:37:05,074 was, in medieval times, common in rivers 489 00:37:05,160 --> 00:37:07,549 right down to the coast of the Mediterranean. 490 00:37:23,760 --> 00:37:27,309 But others were felling trees in the forest at that time, too. 491 00:37:27,400 --> 00:37:30,597 Wood, after all, was still people's primary fuel. 492 00:37:30,680 --> 00:37:33,353 It was used for building and the population, 493 00:37:33,440 --> 00:37:36,318 now rapidly increasing after the ravages of the plague, 494 00:37:36,400 --> 00:37:40,632 wanted more cleared land for their houses, their crops and their herds. 495 00:37:43,360 --> 00:37:48,878 In Spain, this animal had a particular responsibility for the destruction of the forests. 496 00:37:48,960 --> 00:37:50,916 These are merino sheep, 497 00:37:51,000 --> 00:37:54,356 a breed which was introduced in the 13th century into Spain 498 00:37:54,440 --> 00:37:56,829 by the Arabs from North Africa. 499 00:37:56,920 --> 00:37:59,434 Every summer since then, huge herds of them 500 00:37:59,520 --> 00:38:02,159 have been driven right across Spain from south to north. 501 00:38:02,960 --> 00:38:04,916 They stick to the same traditional routes, 502 00:38:05,000 --> 00:38:09,118 even though during the last few centuries towns have grown up in their path. 503 00:38:09,200 --> 00:38:12,954 No matter. The traffic must stop to let the sheep past. 504 00:38:23,600 --> 00:38:26,068 The journey is made because as summer approaches, 505 00:38:26,160 --> 00:38:29,516 their winter pastures on the lowlands of southern Spain dry up 506 00:38:29,600 --> 00:38:33,513 and the sheep have to get to the grass that is now sprouting in the mountains. 507 00:38:34,760 --> 00:38:38,992 Merinos, when they first appeared in Europe, were a sensation. 508 00:38:39,080 --> 00:38:41,719 Their wool was longer than any other known until then 509 00:38:41,800 --> 00:38:43,916 and it made a marvellous cloth. 510 00:38:44,000 --> 00:38:46,912 Everyone wanted it and only Spain produced it. 511 00:38:50,760 --> 00:38:55,470 More and more Spanish aristocrats acquired bigger and bigger herds. 512 00:38:55,560 --> 00:38:59,917 The King of Spain put a tax on the head of every merino sheep 513 00:39:00,000 --> 00:39:02,389 and every pound of wool they produced. 514 00:39:02,480 --> 00:39:05,119 And eventually he, too, had became a great sheep owner. 515 00:39:05,760 --> 00:39:10,276 By the 16th century there were three million merino sheep in Spain. 516 00:39:10,360 --> 00:39:13,716 And their wool was a major element in the country's economy. 517 00:39:14,360 --> 00:39:17,909 The King of Spain did everything he could to protect them 518 00:39:18,000 --> 00:39:20,912 and, therefore, his wealth. 519 00:39:21,000 --> 00:39:24,310 He made it illegal to export a living merino sheep, 520 00:39:24,400 --> 00:39:26,709 so as to protect the country's monopoly. 521 00:39:26,800 --> 00:39:29,439 And he did his best to protect these, 522 00:39:29,520 --> 00:39:35,595 These great, wide drovers' roads running right across Spain, the caņadas. 523 00:39:49,400 --> 00:39:52,153 The sheep needed these broad ribbons of land 524 00:39:52,240 --> 00:39:55,038 not simply to walk on but to feed on. 525 00:39:55,120 --> 00:39:57,509 The 500... mile journey took them a month or so 526 00:39:57,600 --> 00:39:59,750 and they had to eat as they travelled. 527 00:39:59,840 --> 00:40:03,116 The King made laws forbidding the farmers to fence their fields, 528 00:40:03,200 --> 00:40:06,749 or even to drive the sheep away if they started feeding on their crops. 529 00:40:07,320 --> 00:40:09,993 Land was commandeered to widen the caņadas, 530 00:40:10,080 --> 00:40:12,719 and if a farmer objected he could be put to death. 531 00:40:12,800 --> 00:40:18,272 Eventually these great paths were 250 feet across, as this one is. 532 00:40:21,360 --> 00:40:25,353 Up in the mountains the pastures were also greatly expanded. 533 00:40:25,440 --> 00:40:28,000 The forests that had once come close to the summits 534 00:40:28,080 --> 00:40:30,913 of all except the highest peaks, were cut down. 535 00:40:31,000 --> 00:40:33,036 First around the high moorland, 536 00:40:33,120 --> 00:40:35,714 and then farther and farther down into the valleys, 537 00:40:35,800 --> 00:40:39,713 until, in some places, the whole mountain had been stripped bare 538 00:40:39,800 --> 00:40:42,030 to provide grass in the summertime 539 00:40:42,120 --> 00:40:45,112 for the searching muzzles of thousands of sheep. 540 00:40:55,160 --> 00:40:57,720 So, the forests of Spain, 541 00:40:57,800 --> 00:41:00,030 from the lowland winter pastures, 542 00:41:00,120 --> 00:41:02,190 along the wide caņadas, 543 00:41:02,280 --> 00:41:04,430 and up here into the mountains 544 00:41:04,520 --> 00:41:07,318 were sacrificed for the merino sheep. 545 00:41:07,400 --> 00:41:12,758 At the end of the 15th century, the King of Spain sent merinos to Italy, 546 00:41:12,840 --> 00:41:15,559 where he also owned vast territories. 547 00:41:15,640 --> 00:41:17,790 And the same thing happened there. 548 00:41:17,880 --> 00:41:22,908 And there too, there was another reason for the wholesale felling of trees. 549 00:41:50,760 --> 00:41:53,274 Italy was not yet united into one nation, 550 00:41:53,360 --> 00:41:55,715 but was a group of independent states. 551 00:41:55,800 --> 00:41:57,916 And foremost among them was Venice, 552 00:41:58,000 --> 00:42:00,912 the most serene republic as she called herself, 553 00:42:01,000 --> 00:42:03,070 and certainly the greatest naval power 554 00:42:03,160 --> 00:42:06,118 and richest trading nation in the western Mediterranean. 555 00:42:11,560 --> 00:42:13,949 Every year, her ruler, the Doge 556 00:42:14,040 --> 00:42:17,112 was rode in great states down the Grand Canal 557 00:42:17,200 --> 00:42:20,715 and out into the lagoon to be ceremonially wedded to the sea 558 00:42:20,800 --> 00:42:23,314 on which the city's prosperity depended. 559 00:42:58,760 --> 00:43:01,957 But the cities wealth also depended on ships 560 00:43:02,040 --> 00:43:04,315 and ships required trees. 561 00:43:05,360 --> 00:43:08,909 Venice owned vast forest that stretched almost unbroken 562 00:43:09,000 --> 00:43:12,037 from the shores of her lagoon, to the flanks of the Alps. 563 00:43:12,120 --> 00:43:16,636 And in them were all the different kinds of trees her shipwrights required. 564 00:43:16,720 --> 00:43:19,871 0aks for ribs, deck beams and keels. 565 00:43:19,960 --> 00:43:23,316 Elms for capstains, walnut for rudders. 566 00:43:23,400 --> 00:43:25,994 Spruce and fir for masts 567 00:43:26,080 --> 00:43:28,036 and beech for oars. 568 00:43:33,360 --> 00:43:35,999 She built two very different kinds of ship. 569 00:43:36,680 --> 00:43:39,911 Huge, square... rigged broad... bellet merchantmen 570 00:43:40,000 --> 00:43:41,956 which carried her bulk trade. 571 00:43:43,680 --> 00:43:45,875 And slim, speedy galleys, 572 00:43:45,960 --> 00:43:48,838 driven by oars that maintained regular schedules 573 00:43:48,920 --> 00:43:51,718 and carried valuables like spices and gold. 574 00:43:53,600 --> 00:43:56,910 The galleys were built in the state dockyard, the arsenal. 575 00:43:57,000 --> 00:44:00,913 For they were also the most powerful of the state's fighting ships. 576 00:44:02,960 --> 00:44:05,110 These yards were the base of the navy 577 00:44:05,200 --> 00:44:07,395 that dominated the western Mediterranean. 578 00:44:08,200 --> 00:44:11,158 The fleet was essential to Venice's survival. 579 00:44:11,640 --> 00:44:13,676 The war between Christendom and Islam 580 00:44:13,760 --> 00:44:17,036 had not ended when he Crusaders had return from the Holy Land. 581 00:44:17,120 --> 00:44:19,111 It was now being fought at sea. 582 00:44:19,200 --> 00:44:22,317 Turkish fleets were attacking Venice's eastern colonies. 583 00:44:22,400 --> 00:44:24,516 Moorish pirates, the Corsairs, 584 00:44:24,600 --> 00:44:26,636 were sailing from the North African coast 585 00:44:26,720 --> 00:44:28,756 and plundering her merchantmen. 586 00:44:28,840 --> 00:44:32,037 Eventually, this conflict came to a climax 587 00:44:32,120 --> 00:44:35,908 when the mass fleets Christendom met the might of Islam 588 00:44:36,000 --> 00:44:38,912 in a narrow strait in Greece called Lepanto. 589 00:44:42,360 --> 00:44:44,316 The battle lasted only one day. 590 00:44:44,400 --> 00:44:49,269 In that time, 44,000 men were killed or seriously wounded. 591 00:44:49,360 --> 00:44:54,070 Eventually, the Christians won and the westward expansion of Islam was stopped. 592 00:44:54,160 --> 00:44:58,278 For centuries to come, Lepanto was celebrated in paintings and poetry, 593 00:44:58,360 --> 00:45:00,715 as one of the great turning points of history. 594 00:45:03,400 --> 00:45:08,713 It was the last great battle in which oar... driven galleys played a decisive part. 595 00:45:08,800 --> 00:45:12,509 Developments in naval artillery and improvements sailing technique 596 00:45:12,600 --> 00:45:14,556 made them out of date. 597 00:45:14,640 --> 00:45:17,791 Since then, this craft have been studied in proud detail, 598 00:45:17,880 --> 00:45:22,635 and the galley that carried the Christian flag that day at the Lepanto, El Real, 599 00:45:22,720 --> 00:45:25,917 has been reconstructed as this full... sized replica. 600 00:45:32,600 --> 00:45:34,556 Whatever else this ship may show, 601 00:45:34,640 --> 00:45:37,712 it is appalling evidence of what men will do to other men. 602 00:45:38,640 --> 00:45:41,598 It was rowed by 236 slaves, 603 00:45:41,680 --> 00:45:43,716 prisoners of war or criminals, 604 00:45:43,800 --> 00:45:46,314 who were chained to their oars. 605 00:45:46,400 --> 00:45:50,518 They were fed from a kind of stew brewed in those great iron pots. 606 00:45:50,600 --> 00:45:53,910 They were cleaned simply by throwing buckets of water over them. 607 00:45:54,000 --> 00:45:57,515 And they remained permanently at their oars, 608 00:45:57,600 --> 00:46:04,631 rowing on command, until such time as their sentences were expired or they died. 609 00:46:05,520 --> 00:46:08,557 But this ship is also evidence of the great impact 610 00:46:08,640 --> 00:46:12,349 that these naval wars had on the forests of the Mediterranean. 611 00:46:12,440 --> 00:46:18,549 To build this one ship involved felling 59 beech trees for the oars alone. 612 00:46:18,640 --> 00:46:21,279 Over 300 pine and fir trees 613 00:46:21,360 --> 00:46:23,920 for the planking and the spars. 614 00:46:24,000 --> 00:46:27,197 And most important of all and in shortest supply, 615 00:46:27,280 --> 00:46:31,717 over 300 oak trees to build the ribs and the hull. 616 00:46:32,480 --> 00:46:35,995 Furthermore, the Christian fleet in the battle of Lepanto, 617 00:46:36,080 --> 00:46:38,833 has five more ships like this, 618 00:46:38,920 --> 00:46:42,310 together with over 200 smaller ships. 619 00:46:42,400 --> 00:46:44,391 The Turkish fleet was even bigger, 620 00:46:44,480 --> 00:46:47,870 274 fighting ships. 621 00:46:47,960 --> 00:46:53,159 So, in that one battle where many of these great ships were burnt or sunk 622 00:46:53,240 --> 00:46:58,360 they had to be felled over a quarter of a million mature trees. 623 00:46:58,440 --> 00:47:02,149 So it's little wonder that by the end of the 15th century, 624 00:47:02,240 --> 00:47:07,394 the Venetians were so short of timber that this ship, the Christian flagship, 625 00:47:07,480 --> 00:47:09,436 had to be built not in Italy, 626 00:47:09,520 --> 00:47:12,318 but here in Barcelona in Spain. 627 00:47:12,960 --> 00:47:15,633 And by the end of the next century 628 00:47:15,720 --> 00:47:20,919 the majority of ship building had shifted away from the shores of the Mediterranean, 629 00:47:21,000 --> 00:47:23,719 up to northern Europe, where the shipwrights 630 00:47:23,800 --> 00:47:26,917 could get their timber from the great forests of the Baltic. 631 00:47:30,400 --> 00:47:33,915 0n the deforested land the horse still ruled. 632 00:47:38,560 --> 00:47:41,552 Armies depended on their well... drilled cavalry 633 00:47:41,640 --> 00:47:45,315 and skills of horsemanship had reached extraordinary levels. 634 00:47:45,400 --> 00:47:48,915 The Spanish riding school in Vienna still preserves them. 635 00:49:39,960 --> 00:49:42,793 Breeding horses to produce the different kind of animals 636 00:49:42,880 --> 00:49:45,553 needed to for the many different purposes they served, 637 00:49:45,640 --> 00:49:48,313 had now become a highly expert business. 638 00:49:50,840 --> 00:49:53,638 Those horses, like all thoroughbreds, 639 00:49:53,720 --> 00:49:58,589 can trace their ancestry back to just three stallions from the Middle East. 640 00:49:58,680 --> 00:50:03,515 Indeed 90% of thoroughbreds, can trace them back to just one. 641 00:50:03,600 --> 00:50:08,549 A horse that was imported by the British consul to Syria 642 00:50:08,640 --> 00:50:12,315 and traded in the markets of Aleppo, it's said, for a gun. 643 00:50:12,400 --> 00:50:15,437 It arrived here in 1704, 644 00:50:15,520 --> 00:50:20,071 and by that time the sport of horseracing was already well established. 645 00:50:20,160 --> 00:50:22,913 In the previous century, King Charles II 646 00:50:23,000 --> 00:50:26,310 had become a fanatical race horse enthusiast 647 00:50:26,400 --> 00:50:29,710 and he started the custom of bringing his whole court 648 00:50:29,800 --> 00:50:34,920 down to this heath and this town of Newmarket, to see the races. 649 00:50:37,360 --> 00:50:41,512 The famous winners, then as now, became the idols of the public. 650 00:50:41,600 --> 00:50:44,990 Their portraits painted to show them to their best advantage 651 00:50:45,080 --> 00:50:48,516 and even perhaps like other portraits to flatter them a little, 652 00:50:48,600 --> 00:50:52,354 gives some notion of the ideal horse that breeders had in their minds 653 00:50:52,440 --> 00:50:54,795 and which owed so much to the horses 654 00:50:54,880 --> 00:50:57,713 that were ridden by the nomads in the Middle East. 655 00:51:05,360 --> 00:51:09,069 The characteristics that go to make a really great race horse, 656 00:51:09,160 --> 00:51:13,073 are of course a matter of experience in judgment and opinion. 657 00:51:13,560 --> 00:51:18,680 But in general the animal should have a deep chest here 658 00:51:18,760 --> 00:51:22,230 so there's plenty of room for a big heart and lungs. 659 00:51:22,320 --> 00:51:25,915 Legs that are well boned so that they support the body, 660 00:51:26,000 --> 00:51:29,310 but are also lissome and long to give it speed. 661 00:51:30,080 --> 00:51:33,914 A back that neither too long nor too short 662 00:51:34,000 --> 00:51:36,434 and big, powerful hind quarters 663 00:51:36,520 --> 00:51:39,353 because its from here that you get the speed. 664 00:51:40,200 --> 00:51:45,513 But whether you're looking at a wonderfully... bred, aristocratic athlete, 665 00:51:45,600 --> 00:51:49,309 like this one, or indeed a wild horse, 666 00:51:49,400 --> 00:51:52,915 surely the horse is one of the loveliest of animals. 667 00:52:17,520 --> 00:52:20,717 After 5,000 years of serving humanity, 668 00:52:20,800 --> 00:52:24,031 carrying him on his travels and his sports, 669 00:52:24,120 --> 00:52:26,918 on his business and into his battles, 670 00:52:27,000 --> 00:52:31,710 the horse had now been replaced by the internal combustion engine. 671 00:52:32,480 --> 00:52:36,598 But it still retains a unique place in human affections 672 00:52:36,680 --> 00:52:38,716 and in human history.