Castles: Britain's Fortified History
Castles: Britain's Fortified History is a documentary on BBC4. Historian Sam Willis traces the story of Britain's castles and their unique role in our history, art and literature. The program has been available since 2024. A total of 3 episodes have been broadcast, most recently in June 2024.
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Castles: Britain's Fortified History
Sam Willis looks at how castles survived into the Tudor era. But these strategic seats of power had to become palaces to impress monarchs such as Elizabeth I.
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Sam Willis tells the story of the English ruler who left the most indelible mark on the castle, Edward I, as he turned it into an instrument of colonisation.
Sam Willis shows how the castle arrived as an instrument of invasion with the Normans but became a weapon with which unruly barons challenged the Crown.