Medieval Lives: Birth, Marriage, Death

Season 1

TV-PG

In Medieval Lives: Birth, Marriage, Death, historian and author Dr. Helen Castor (She-Wolves: England's Early Queens) examines how the people of the Middle Ages handled three of life's great rites of passage birth, marriage, and death. Why were physicians of no help to women enduring the pains of labor and the dangers of childbirth? Why were newly married couples "put to bed" by the priest on their wedding night? What did it mean to "die well" and why was death such a communal affair, both before and after it happened?

Where to Watch Medieval Lives: Birth, Marriage, Death • Season 1

3 Episodes

A Good Birth
E1
A Good BirthA documentary series of 3 episodes that explain the rituals and meaning in the lives of people and the church in the Middle Ages.
A Good Marriage
E2
A Good MarriageBecause it was very easy to initiate by simply exchanging words of consent, marriage in the Middle Ages was simple to get into but extremely difficult to get out of. Try as it might to impose its order on the matrimonial free-for-all, the Church found it no easy matter to regulate the most unpredictable of human emotions, love and lust.
A Good Death
E3
A Good DeathIn the medieval world, death was always close at hand, for young and old, rich and poor alike. But rather than seeing death as an end, people thought of it as a doorway to everlasting life, and much of their time and effort in this life was spent getting ready for the next.