Castles: Britain's Fortified History

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Castles: Britain's Fortified History

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.

2018
Discover the story of Britain's castles, from the Norman conquest in 1066 to the longest siege on English soil at Kenilworth Castle some 200 years later.
Discover the story of Britain's castles, from the Norman conquest in 1066 to the longest siege on English soil at Kenilworth Castle some 200 years later.
Episodes 2016
Expired
Sam Willis explores how, by the Wars of the Roses, castles were under attack from a new threat - the cannon - but survived into the Tudor era only to find their whole purpose challenged. What had once been strategic seats of power now had to keep up with the fickle fashions of the court, and become palaces to impress monar...
Expired
Sam Willis tells the story of the English ruler who left the most indelible mark on the castle - the great Plantagenet king, Edward I, who turned it into an instrument of colonisation. Edward spent vast sums to subdue Wales with a ring of iron comprised of some of the most fearsome fortresses ever built. Castles like Caern...
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