Summary: Perhaps no members of European royalty rejected wealth and embraced poverty so utterly as Elizabeth and Margaret, Hungarian princesses and members of a ruling family that produced ten saints. Filmed amidst the spectacular vistas of Hungary's medieval past, this program traces the lives of Elizabeth, queen of Thuringia, and her niece, Margaret, comparing and contrasting their asceticism and...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: A 14th-century English mystic who enclosed herself for life in order to fully develop her relationship with God after a series of revelations, Julian of Norwich and her writings are still studied by Christian theologians. Her prose, some of the most terrifying and compelling, is the first to refer to God as "She," forging the way for inclusive language that is used in many Bibles today. This...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: An illiterate common woman, Constance of Rabastens' visions of the apocalypse and prophecies of the coming of the Antichrist resulted in her imprisonment at the hands of the Inquisition and the Archbishop of Toulouse. In this program, McMaster University's Madeleine Jeay places Constance of Rabastens in the historical context of the tumultuous 15th century, including the Hundred Years' War, the...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: Poet, essayist, musician, and visionary, Hildegard of Bingen is the most well-known female mystic of the Middle Ages, renowned in Europe for advising popes and bishops, conducting theological debates with Bernard of Clairvaux, and composing Ordo Virtutum. In this program, host Avril Benoit and theology experts Dr. Kathy Garay and Dr. Madeleine Jeay of McMaster University tour the abbey...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: From within her own brief life to the present day, Joan of Arc's mystique has been appropriated by many groups and causes. This program, filmed in Orleans and Joan's native village of Domremy, allows her to speak for herself through voice-over readings of her letters and her responses before the Inquisition, as well as testimony from the minutes of her rehabilitation trial. Leading scholars...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: As women mystics became more common throughout Europe in the late 14th and 15th centuries, the manner in which they expressed and practiced their devotion became more diverse. In this program, Kathy Garay, of McMaster University, presents Margery Kempe's unconventional life in context. Topics such as bridal mysticism are discussed, along with Kempe's pilgrimage to Jerusalem. The transcription...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: Inspired by Saint Francis, Clare of Assisi abandoned a comfortable and privileged life to establish her own order; founded on vows of poverty, self-denial, and working for the poor, it flourishes to this day. This program provides a biography of Clare's life along with an in-depth analysis by McMaster University's Kathy Garay of Clare's relationship to the Church and to her peer St. Francis. A...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: Devoting their lives to works of charity and to unifying a divided church, Bridget of Sweden and Catherine of Siena challenged the limitations imposed on their gender, playing key roles in world affairs. In this program filmed on location, theology experts Dr. Kathy Garay and Dr. Madeleine Jeay of McMaster University trace the lives of Bridget, diplomat and prophet whose revelatory visions...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: A 13th-century French mystic, Douceline de Digne established the first community for laywomen devoted to caring for the sick and the poor. This program presents an in-depth biography of an early mystic who embraced an ascetic life and who was emulated by many, both rich and poor, male and female. Commentary from Kathy Garay, of McMaster University, offers insight into medieval culture and...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: By the Middle Ages, women's roles as defined by the Church were strictly circumscribed; however, alternate role models were also available, beginning with the Virgin Mary, Mary Magdalene, and the transvestite saints from the early Church. This program examines the options available to women living in the 12th through 15th centuries and how some subverted traditional roles in order to discover...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: This program analyzes terrorism used in the name of national liberation through studies of covert wars for independence in British Palestine, British Malaya, French Algeria, apartheid South Africa, and Northern Ireland. Bruce Hoffman, co-author of Countering the New Terrorism, and Archbishop Desmond Tutu offer their insights, while former Irgun commander Shraga Alis; former Malayan Communist...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
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Summary: For modern revolutionaries the world over, Cuba's Che Guevara literally wrote the book. This program examines radical political movements in Germany, Italy, Peru, and Colombia to see how Che's theories have fared in practice. Former gunman Peter Jurgen Boock, of the Baader-Meinhof Gang; former gunman Valerio Morucci, of the Red Brigades; a former Shining Path insurgent; and Raul Reyes,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
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Summary: By detailing key incidents ranging from the Dawson's Field hijackings to the Luxor massacre, this program charts the ever-widening holy war that is pitting Islamists against Zionists and the Arab world against the West. The Kach Party's Noam Federman; Bassam abu Sharif, founder of the Palestine Democratic Party; Abdel Aziz Rantisi and Sheikh Ahmad Yassin, operational and spiritual leaders of...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
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Summary: This program profiles cases of Iranian-sponsored terrorism via the Hezbollah and the PLO as well as Argentina's dirty war, when the government used terror tactics against its own people. U.S.-backed insurgency in Nicaragua via the Contras is also analyzed. Joseph Kennedy II; Duane Clarridge, former chief of the CIA's Latin American division; and Bayardo Izaba, of the Nicaraguan Center for Human...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
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Summary: This program provides an introduction to medieval Europe by showing surviving traces to provide a feel of medieval style and practice and by tracing the roots of the fall of civilization and the onset of darkness. Much that is medieval survives, sometimes in unlikely places: in a feudal community in sub-Saharan Africa, where an absolute ruler holds court surrounded by ministers, courtiers, and...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: Out of the ashes of the Roman Empire rose the Holy Roman Empire, born during Christmas of 800 in the Basilica of St. Peter's in Rome. This program covers the antecedents and the life of Charlemagne, shows life at the court, life of the courtiers and of the peasants, recounts the battle of Roncevaux-site of the epic Chanson de Roland-and counterpoints the glories of the Carolingian Renaissance...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: During the Middle Ages, most of Europe's inhabitants were illiterate and lived in the shadow of the wealthy; knowledge of peasant culture is therefore limited. This program addresses the historical lack of firsthand written materials, viewing serfs and servants through the eyewitness accounts of a fictitious traveler. Although a peasant farmer's daily existence was indeed oppressive, defined by...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: The Vikings were farmers and food gatherers, fierce and violent in battle, with family and clan loyalties that lasted beyond life. This program covers the Viking sea prowess and explorations: Viking influences in England and Scotland, trade with the Far East 300 years before Marco Polo and the discovery of America 500 years before Columbus, the Viking presence as far as the Black Sea, and...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: This program illustrates life from the perspective of the medieval merchant: urban, financially sophisticated, and revolving around trade and travel. Demonstrating how the growth of European cities prefaced the end of feudal society and the founding of major universities-while unfortunately enabling the spread of the Black Plague-the program reveals surprising facts regarding city planning,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: This program covers the founding of Constantinople as a second Rome, its flowering when the Roman Empire in the West was shattered, its gradual decline under the impact of Normans, Turks, Venetians, and the Crusades, and finally, its fall in 1453. The program describes the history, art, and religious significance of Byzantium, its attempts to restore the Roman Empire, its influence in the West,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: This program covers the social and economic organization of Europe in the Middle Ages: life in a medieval farming hamlet; the role of the feudal lord, whose role was to defend its inhabitants in return for a share of the produce and other tribute; the role of tenant farmers, indentured servants, and serfs; the economy of the peasant community and the landed estate; construction and organization...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
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Summary: This program surveys the courtly culture of armored knights, their duties and privileges, and their significance in the religious and political conflicts of the Middle Ages. Presided over by royalty, knights formed an elite caste with a code of honor steeped in the arts of hand-to-hand combat and chivalry. Knights and Nobles examines their everyday customs, coats of arms, weaponry, and-with the...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: Due partly to the weakness of its Visigothic rulers, partly to its proximity to Africa, the Iberian peninsula was conquered by Berbers and by Arabs belonging to the Ommayad Dynasty of Damascus. This program describes the history of Spain from the time of the first landing in 711, through the nearly 800-year-long war that ended in the expulsion of both Moors and Jews in 1492; the development of...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: Augustine of Hippo is a symbol of humankind in early medieval times, seeking to understand the terror and destruction resulting from the barbarian devastations of the Roman world, seeking to find the hand of God-and finding it in the counterpart to the destroyed city of man in the city of God. The program covers the church resurgence, filling the vacuum left by the collapse of civil government...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008