What Kind of Power Did a Medieval Monarch Actually Have?

Video Description

Head to Squarespace.com for a free trial, and when you're ready to launch, go to http://squarespace.com/BRAINFOOD to save 10% off on your first purchase of a website /domain using the code BRAINFOOD A revival of the fantasy genre in recent years has also brought about a revival of historical fiction set in the Middle Ages. With an endless array of titles, we are sure that you can easily visualise scenes from some Hollywood, TV or streaming service production, in which mounted knights charge at a line of terrified spearmen, tattooed Vikings pillage an unfortunate monastery, or some poor sod gets fried in boiling oil while storming a castle. Decades ago in popular perception, knights and jesters sported lively colours, a fashionable bob hairstyle, and armour was usually shining. In more recent years, it seems more like Medieval Europe is constantly smothered in grey and mud, and knights are more interested in oppressing peasants than abiding to their alleged code of chivalry, which, accurate. See our video Did Any Medieval Knight Ever Rescue a Damsel in Distress. But for whatever reason, popular culture is besotted with the Middle Ages. The King. The Queen. The Emperors. The Monarchs. Whether evil or righteous, they are frequently portrayed as wielders of absolute power, whose will and authority are uncontested. It only takes their word to bestow incredible fortune on the story’s protagonist or redress some criminal wrong. And it only takes their whim to heavily tax the poor, burn down some village, behead a jester whose jokes are no longer funny. Or more directly, to unleash a war for their own gain. But how much of any of that representation corresponds to reality? What kind of power did a Medieval monarch actually have? This video is #sponsored by Squarespace. Host: Simon Whistler Author: Arnaldo Teodorani Editor: Daven Hiskey Producer: Samuel Avila