Europe in the Middle Ages

screenable online: 4 episodes

The four-part series under the auspices of the "ZDF Expedition" takes viewers on a guided tour of life in the Middle Ages. Superstition, plague, the Inquisition - the horrors of this grim age are only part of the complete picture of the epoch. For the first time on German television the ZDF series "Paths out of the Darkness - Europe in the Middle Ages" performs a long-overdue service by rescuing the epoch from the reputation it has attained. The four-part series describes too the brilliant aspects of medieval life, demonstrating clearly that the essential foundation of modern life was put in place 800 years ago.

Picturesque castles, noble knights, minnesingers and troubadours – these romantic images fire our imagination in the generally accepted conception of the Middle Ages. On the darker side of this world…

As centres of missionary activity and science, monasteries made an important contribution to progress. Here, not only theology was taught and studied, but medicine, mathematics, astronomy, law and…

Most of the population in the Middle Ages lived on the land – a silent, suffering majority, who as serfs had to do soccage service and pay taxes to the ruling noblemen and were repeatedly exposed to…

Historians for a long time considered the picturesque maze of alleyways in mediaeval towns to be construction planning gone haywire. New research reveals the surprising fact that many mediaeval towns…

Knights and Tournaments (Episode 1)

Monks and Heretics (Episode 2)

Peasants and Nobles (Episode 3)

Cities and Cathedrals (Episode 4)