500 years ago, England was emerging into a new era. 500年前，英国步入了一个新时代。
After years of war, plague and famine, 经历了连年的征战、瘟疫和饥荒后，
the kingdom was enjoying peace and prosperity 王国在第一任都铎国王亨利七世的统治下
under the reign of the first Tudor king - Henry VII. 被和平与繁荣所笼罩。
A new class of business-savvy farmer was thriving, 农民这一具有商业头脑的新兴阶层茁壮成长
boosting food production. 极大增加了粮食的产量
And then over she goes. 这样它就翻身了。
While wool from their sheep was generating half the nation's wealth. 当时羊毛产业占据了全国财富的一般。
Many of the nation's farms were under the control of the biggest 全国大量的农场都由除国王之外
landowner in England after the king - 英国最大的地主所控制
the monasteries. 那就是修道院。
Their influence could be felt in every aspect of daily life. 修道院在日常生活中的影响力无处不在。
They were not just places of religion, 它们不仅是宗教场所，
they were at the forefront of technology, education and farming. 更引领者技术、教育和农业的前沿。
But with the daily lives of monks devoted to prayer 然而道士生活的大部分时间都被祷告所占据，
they depended increasingly on tenant farmers, 因此他们越来越依赖
who worked and tended their lands. 那些在他们领地上工作并照料农田的佃农。
Steady girl. 稳住。
Now historian Ruth Goodman 现在历史学家Ruth Goodman
and archaeologists Tom Pinfold and Peter Ginn 以及考古学家Tom Pinfold和Peter Ginn
are turning the clock back to Tudor England, 尝试把时光倒流到都铎时代英国的
here at Weald and Downland in West Sussex, 西萨西克威尔德镇和唐兰德镇，
to work as ordinary farmers 在修道院地主的监视下
under the watchful eye of a monastic landlord. 像普通农民一样工作。
That's the way, nice. 就这样，很好。
To succeed they'll have to master long lost farming methods. 要想成功他们必须重新掌握失传已久的农耕技术。
Watch those flanks, they're going again. 看好那些羊，它们又跑了。
And get to grips with Tudor technology. 并深入掌握都铎技术。
SCREAMING （尖叫声）
Quite noisy. 很吵。
It's a really violent process. 这真是一个暴力的过程。
While immersing themselves in the beliefs... 同时全身心地投入信仰...
ALL: Amen. 阿门。
..customs... 习俗
..and rituals that shaped the age. 以及刻画了那个时代的仪式。
This is merry England for heaven's sake, so to speak, let's enjoy it. 这么说来，这真的是上天保佑的快乐英国，让我们享受吧。
SCREAMING （尖叫）
This is the untold story of the monastic farms of Tudor England. 这就是都铎英国的修道院农场的未知故事。
In 1500, England was at a crossroads. 在1500年，英国站在了一个十字路口上。
The subsistence farming of the medieval era 中世纪式勉强度日的农耕
was giving way to a modern spirit of commercialisation. 逐渐被充满现代精神的商业化模式所替代。
A world dominated by the Church and the rhythm of farming 一个被教堂和农耕节奏主宰的世界
was now opening up to a new force - 正向一股新兴力量开放：
money. 金钱的力量。
As great landowners, the monasteries had capitalised 几个世纪依赖，修道院这一庞大的地主
on their land and their tenants for centuries... 在他们的土地上投资，雇佣佃农，
controlling everything, from crop production 控制着所有的一切，从粮食生产
to new technologies and trading relationships with merchants. 到新技术以及和商人的贸易往来。
But now as more and more monastic farms were being rented out, 但现在越来越多的修道院农场被出租，
Tudor tenant farmers realised that they too 都铎佃农意识到他们也可以
could make a profit from the land. 从土地里赚钱。
Ruth is doing the monthly accounts. Ruth正在做月账。
In 1500, those farmers who are in a position 在1500年，那些可以向诸如修道院之类的对象
to rent large parcels of land from people like the monasteries, 承租大量田地的农民
were becoming much more businessmen, and perhaps businesswomen. 男人甚至是女人，都越来越具有商业头脑。
They were thinking much more in terms of profit and loss 他们比之前任何时候都更加
and, erm, accumulated wealth than perhaps had been the case before. 在乎利益、损失以及财富积累。
I mean, this is a moment which farming is beginning to change 我想说的是，这是一个农业即将产生变化的时代
into something that's closer 变成当下我们所熟知的
to the buying and selling and trading and merchant thinking 买卖、交易
that we're so accustomed to these days. 和商业化思维
But for even the most industrious farmers, 然而即便对于最勤奋的农民而言，
the farming calendar was still shaped 农耕的日历依然由
by the cycle of religious festivals. 年复一年的宗教节日所决定。
It's May and the feast of Whitsun, 现在是五月，
also known as Pentecost, 圣灵降临节，也被成为五旬节，
is on the horizon - 即将到来，
traditionally celebrated with a special market day. 传统中人们通过一个特殊的市场日庆祝这一节日。
Falling seven weeks after Easter, 在复活节后七周后的圣灵降临节
it commemorated the descent of the Holy Spirit to Jesus' disciples. 纪念圣灵降临于耶稣的门徒。
Although the team's main income will come from their sheep, 尽管团队的主要收入来源于他们的羊，
Tom and Peter have also been raising geese to sell. Tom和Peter也饲养鹅用于出售。
We've got two sitting over there, and six very angry ones there. 我们有两只公鹅，还有六只愤怒的母鹅。
So we're going to have a load of little goslings pretty soon. 因此我们很快就会有一群鹅宝宝。
That's very exciting. Just hope these ones come out then. 这真是令人激动。希望能有结果。
A bit of hissing starting up. 它们开始叫了。
They look pretty good condition, those ones, don't they? 它们看上去状态不错，不是吗？
This is when it gets exciting though. 它们激动时状态一向不错。
They're certainly good mothers, aren't they? 它们一定会成为好母亲，不是吗？
Cos they're hissing, they're protecting their nests. 因为它们在嘶叫，它们在保护自己的巢。
Yeah. I'm always a little wary of being in here. 是的。我每次在那里的时候都很仔细。
So if we don't feed them in here, they might not go out for food, 如果我们不在这里喂它们，它们也许不会外出觅食。
so they'll start losing condition, 所以它们的体重会减轻，
they won't be able to rear their young properly, 这样它们就不能很好地孕育下一代了，
we'll have massive problems, 我们就会遇上大问题。
but little bit of, er, pottage goes a long way. 但是一点点的，呃，粥对它们大有帮助。
Looks better than it did last night actually in my opinion. 我觉得它比昨晚好很多。
HE LAUGHS （笑声）
Most rural households, including monastic ones, 大部分乡村家庭，包括修道院的家庭，
kept geese for their eggs, meat and fat, 饲养鹅用来获得它们的蛋、肉
which was used in medicine. 和药用的脂肪。
GOOSE HISSES （鹅叫）
Back in the Tudor times, good source of revenue. 回到都铎时代，这是很好的利润来源。
Exactly, and we are here to make money. 没错，我们也在赚钱。
We, we've got Whitsun fair coming up, 圣灵降临节集市马上就要来了，
so it might be nice to take a couple of our geese to market. 带一对鹅到集市上出售是一个好主意。
Especially since we've got little goslings coming on. 尤其是当小鹅孵化出来的时候。
In 1500, the farming landscape was very different. 在1500年，农耕环境非常不同。
Common lands had not yet been enclosed 公用土地还没有被圈占，
and farmers had the right to graze their animals 因此农民有权利
on lush upland pastures - 在茂盛的高地牧场上放牧
kept fresh and green by the wet climate. 这些牧场因湿润的气候而草质新鲜、嫩绿。
It meant sheep produced longer, fuller fleeces, 这意味着绵羊能产出更长、更浓密的羊毛，
putting English wool in great demand. 使得英国羊毛大受欢迎。
Raw fleece and woollen cloth 粗羊毛和羊毛织物
accounted for 75% of England's exports. 占据了英国对外出口量的75%
For hundreds of years the monasteries had dominated the trade, 几百年来修道院控制了贸易，
keeping huge flocks of up to 20,000 sheep. 饲养了数量达20000只羊的巨大羊群。
May was the time of year for flocks to be driven from the uplands 五月是一年里把羊群从高地
back to the farm, 赶到农场的时间。
for the most profitable job in a sheep farmer's calendar - shearing. 为了牧羊人一年中利润最大的一件事——剪羊毛。
Claire King is an expert in the history of shepherding. Claire King是牧羊历史专家。
She's making some Tudor style crooks to control 她正在做一些都铎式的牧羊棍
the sheep on the journey - 用来在途中控制羊群
made from hollow cow horns. 牧羊棍由空心牛角制成。
So your mud, stones goes in there. Yep. 因此泥巴、石块从这里穿过。 是的。
And basically you just swing it. 而且基本上你只需要摇摆它。
Yes, almost like a slingshot. 对，几乎就像一个弹弓。
Are these going to be any good for controlling our sheep? 这些对于控制羊群管用吗？
They will be in the confined spaces of the lanes. 羊群会跑到小道上的局限空间。
If you've got a gap you don't want them to go through, 如有一个空档你不想让它们钻过去，
or they're hesitating, 或者它们在犹豫，
then you can throw some stones ahead of them 你就可以扔一些石头在它们前面，
and that will frighten them out of that gap. 这会把它们吓得离开空挡。
Yeah. That's the plan. 是的，这就是计划。
Obviously they've got a practical purpose. Mm-hmm. 显然它们有一个实用的目的。是的。
They do look quite fun. 它们看上去很有趣。
They are fun. 是很有趣。
RUTH: Hopeless. 无药可救。
I just missed them entirely. 我不知道把它们弄哪去了。
The crooks, known as hulets, were invaluable to the Tudor shepherd 牧羊棍，被称为hulets，对于在都铎时代广袤辽阔的乡村土地上
who looked after a whole community's sheep in the wide-open countryside. 照看整个社区的牧羊人而言意义非凡
Oh, that was a bit better. Oh, yeah, that's better. 哦，这下好一点了。 是的，好多了。
Whee! Whee！
But gathering the sheep out in the open was a difficult task. 但在野外想把羊群集中起来是一个艰巨的任务。
In addition to the crooks, the team have enlisted the help of Bess, 除了牧羊棍，团队还请Bess和她的主人Hugh Emerson
and her owner Hugh Emerson, to drive the flock back to the farm. 来帮忙把羊群赶回农场。
Sheep naturally flock together. Right. 绵羊通常是聚集在一起的。 是的。
So that's an essential characteristic of sheep. 这是绵羊的一个重要特点。
There are only really three commands - 实际上只有三种指令-
go left, go right and stop. 向左，向右以及停下。
That's the key one. 这是关键。
That's the key one. Nice and simple then. 这确实是关键。 简单有效。
If you don't stop your dog, 如果你不阻止你的狗，
then she'll just drive them off and they'll disappear. 它就会把羊群赶跑，它们就不见了。
If you've got those three commands, your dog will work sheep. 如果你掌握了这三种指令，你的狗就能管好羊群。
Walk on. Go on, Bess. Go on, Bess. 快走。Bess，快走。Bess，快走。
Getting them moving. 让羊群动起来。
Bess is a bearded collie, a traditional sheepdog. Bess是一只胡须柯利犬，一种传统的牧羊犬。
Bess, this way. Bess, here to me. Bess，到这里来。Bess，到我这儿来。
The breed traces its roots back to 16th-century Scotland. 这个品种的牧羊犬可追溯至16世纪的苏格兰。
You see how she drops her head down to the ground, can't you? 你能看见她把头垂到地上，不是吗？
She's tracking them. Yeah. She actually tracks them, Bessy. 她正在跟踪羊群。是的。她是会跟踪它们的，Bessy。
They don't seem too spooked at the moment. 羊群现在看上去并太受惊吓。
Bess, Bess, this way. Bess, here to me. Bess，Bess，到这里来。Bess，到我这儿来。
Go on, Bess. Go on, Bess. Walk on. 快走，Bess。快走，Bess。快走。
Worth her weight in gold, eh? 她价值千金，对不对？
Once out of the field, the team need to get the sheep down the lane 离开牧场后，团队需要让羊群穿过小路
and back to the farm. 回到农场
Oi! They're off. 糟！它们跑了。
Crook time, isn't it? 是时候用牧羊棍了，不是吗？
Oh. 哦。
And that did nothing. 没起作用。
SHE LAUGHS （笑声）
Come on, sheep. Heh! Heh, heh. 快走啊，羊儿。嘿！嘿！嘿！
Good sheep, they know where they want to go. 好羊儿，它们知道自己想往哪儿去。
They'll get there. 它们会到那里去的。
Tudor shepherds lived on a knife edge. 都铎时代的牧羊人活在刀尖上。
Disease commonly claimed up to a third of their flocks. 疾病常常让多达三分之一的羊群丧命。
So safeguarding healthy sheep was vital. 因此确保羊群健康非常重要。
Watch those flanks, they're going again. Stay on the lane. 看好路边，它们又要跑了。让它们留在小路上。
These crooks are actually pretty good, erm... 这些牧羊棍实际上很管用，呃...
I'm going for the scattergun approach with stones. 我要尝试用石头制造一些散弹枪。
Love it. 爱死它了。
SHE LAUGHS （笑声）
That... Oh, they've seen the grass now, no bother now. 这...噢，它们看见草了，这下不用麻烦了。
Yeah. 是的。
Safely back, there's one more job to do in preparation for shearing. 安全回家后，在剪羊毛前还有一项准备工作要做。
Because sheep were so valuable, 由于绵羊非常珍贵，
the farming manuals of the day 那个时代的务农手册上
had plenty of advice on how to rear them. 写着大量饲养绵羊的建议。
To secure a good price it was recommended that sheep must be 为确保卖一个好价钱，推荐在剪羊毛前
well washed before their fleeces were removed. 好好给绵羊洗个澡。
Yeah, who's going in first, you, me or the sheep? 耶，谁先下去？你，我，还是羊？
Normally sheep would have been washed by swimming in deep water, 通常情况下，羊群应该在深水里游泳来洗干净。
but the pond on the farm is shallow 但是农场的池塘很浅。
so the team have decided to wash them by hand. 因此团队决定用手把它们洗干净。
Sheep seems happy. 羊儿看起来很开心。
Is she coming up clean? 她会变干净吗？
No. 不会。
Not really compared to before, to be honest. 和之前比起来一点也不干净，实话实说。
We want to get all the dirt out the fleece, 我们想出去羊毛上所有的脏东西。
not just so you've got a nice clean fleece at the end, 不仅仅是为了最后得到漂亮干净的羊毛，
but also if the shears come across anything it will blunten them. 更因为如果剃刀刮到了什么，会弄伤它们。
But things aren't going quite to plan. 但是事情并不像预料中那么简单。
SHEEP BAAS （羊叫）
Yeah, runaway sheep. 是的，逃跑的羊。
It's going back. 它回来了。
Peter's just driving her round to the other side of the pond. Peter正在把它赶到池塘的另一边。
SHE LAUGHS （笑声）
Right, another victim. Come on. 好了，又一个受害者，快来吧。
Come on. Come on, girl. 快来，快来呀，姑娘。
You'll enjoy it once you're in there, everyone else has. 保管你一下来就会很享受的，其他羊都这样。
Oh, here we are. Hello. 哦，我们好了。你好。
I mean what was the, the deal with the wool if it, 我想说的是羊毛的买卖，是否是，
I mean, if it's really mucky? 我的意思是，羊毛是否很脏？
Well, if it's all glued together by dung then you can't use it, 呃，如果它沾满了粪便，你就没法用它了，
it becomes unsaleable and unusable. 它就变得不适宜出售和使用。
Argh, that was a good dunk. 呕，这真是一大块粪便。
So doing this increases a farmer's profit margins essentially? 所以说这么做从根本上增加了农夫的利润？
It does indeed. 的确是这样。
She's done, let her out. 她洗完了，放它出去吧。
I thought they were supposed to be white sheep, these ones. 我想这些羊本该是白色的吧。
LAUGHTER （笑声）
I know they look dirty on the outside, 我知道它们外表看上去很脏。
but if we've managed to get the dung off from underneath 但如果我们把下面的粪便除干净，
and out of the matting, a bit of surface silt might not be that bad. 把缠绕在一团的结打开，一点表面的淤泥不一定会很糟糕。
I don't know how efficient we're being, but we're definitely quicker. 我不知道我们有多高效，但我们肯定比刚开始时快多了。
Apart from naughty sheep, we did quite, did quite well. 除了羊儿有点淘气外，我们做得相当，相当的好。
It sort of worked, didn't it? 可以说我们成功了，不是吗？
I'll be honest, I thought it was great fun. 说实话，我觉得这相当有趣。
SHE LAUGHS （笑声）
The sheep will need to dry out thoroughly in the sun 在接下去的几周时间里，绵羊在剃毛前
over the coming week before they can be sheared. 需要在阳光下把羊毛彻底晒干。
Oh, it's cold, cold, cold, cold, cold, cold. 噢，真的是冻死了，冻死了，冻死了，冻死了。
In Tudor England, 在都铎时代的英国，
religion formed part of the ebb and flow of everyday life. 宗教在日常生活的悲欢离合中无处不在。
But people also turned to the Church in times of need, 而人们在需要帮助的时候也会去教堂，
especially during illness. 尤其是在生病的时候。
The Church taught that saints interceded 教会声称圣徒会替那些
on behalf of those who worshiped them, 崇拜他们的人向上天求情，
bringing good health and curing ailments. 给予他们健康，治愈疾病。
But people didn't rely solely on the saints. 但是人们并不完全依赖圣徒。
There was also a firm tradition of turning to nature to produce cures. 在自然中寻找治病疗法也是一个古老的传统。
Unfortunately I've got a summer cold 不幸的是我得了夏天的风热感冒，
and it's starting to get into my throat, 现在嗓子有些不舒服，
so I'm going to try and find myself a remedy. 因此我要尝试给自己弄一些草药。
And in a Tudor garden we've got a number of plants that I can use. 在都铎时代的花园里能找到一大堆可以供我使用的植物。
We have ground ivy, they called alehoof, 这里有常春藤，当时人们叫它啤酒马蹄。
partly because it looks like a hoof 部分原因是它长得像一个马蹄，
and the leaves are also used to flavour ale, alehoof. 而且这种叶子也被用于酿造麦芽酒。
Alehoof is rich in Vitamin C, perfect for treating a cold. 常春藤富含维生素C，非常适合治疗感冒。
Very interesting concept, the idea of edible weeds 可食用的野草是一个很有趣的概念，
and essentially this is one of them. 而实际上常春藤就是一种可食用的野草。
Peter adds honey to the alehoof. Peter在常春藤里加了蜂蜜。
Back in Tudor times it was always honey, 在都铎时代，人们总是在药里加蜂蜜，
because sugar was so exotic, it's so expensive, it's got so far to travel. 因为白糖是外来物，非常昂贵，从很远的地方过来。
So I'm just going to add a bit of hot water here. 然后我要在里面加一点点热水。
And you know what they say, what doesn't, doesn't kill ya... 然后你懂的，杀不死你的（能让你更强壮）
That's really nice, that's really good. 真的很好吃，很不错。
Hopefully that'll work its magic, so for me it's back to work. 但愿它能奏效，能让我回去工作。
Getting stiff. 开始变稠了。
In addition to revenue from sheep's wool, 除了羊毛的利润，
money could also be made from their milk. 人们还能从羊奶里赚钱，
Like many Tudor farmers, Ruth plans to supplement the farm's income 正如很多都铎时代的农民一样，Ruth计划通过制作奶酪
by producing cheese to sell at the upcoming Whitsun market. 并在即将到来的圣灵降临节市场上出售来增加农场的收入。
Milking sheep for sheep's cheese 挤羊奶来制作奶酪
was really common through the high Middle Ages, 在中世纪晚期非常普遍
but was already beginning to go out of fashion, 但已经开始变得过时了，
if that's the right word, in 1500. 如果人们在1500年也用“过时”一词的话。
Basically a cow gives so much more milk than a sheep, 本质上一头牛的产奶量比一只羊的要大得多，
more than ten times much, as much milk. 是它的十倍以上。
So many people were beginning to leave off milking their sheep 因此很多人渐渐放弃了挤羊奶，
and turning for milk instead to a cow. 转而开始挤牛奶。
But monastic herds were a bit different. 然而修道院的羊群却不一样。
Basically because they were so large. 本质上因为它们太大了。
When you've got these huge flocks up on the hill 当你在山丘上拥有大量的羊群，
and somebody's got to be there looking after them 何况总得有人在那里
day and night anyway... 日以继夜地照看它们。
..milking them, making use of that produce 给它们挤奶，用羊奶赚钱
just makes a whole lot more sense. 就说得通了。
And the milk itself? 羊奶直接拿来出售吗？
Well, that was mostly used for cheese making, 嗯，大部分羊奶都用于制作奶酪，
and that's what I plan to do. 接下来我就准备做些奶酪。
Keep your feet out of it, girl. 不要踩它，姑娘。
SHE LAUGHS （笑声）
To guarantee a good return on their wool, 为了确保羊毛卖个好价钱，
the fleeces will need to be of impeccable quality. 必须确保羊毛拥有无可挑剔的品质。
To help protect them during the shearing process 为了帮助在剃羊毛过程中保护它们，
Peter is making a special Tudor contraption - Peter正在制作一个都铎时代的奇异装置-
a shearing bench. 一个剃毛台。
Made distinctive by the unusual shape of its seat. 这种剃毛台因为不寻常的形状而与众不同。
They look a little something like this, it's kind of bottle shaped. 它们看上去就像这样，某种瓶状的造型。
So you've got these curves, and then there's slats in between. 这里有一些弧线，在弧线中间有板条。
This whole bench it's going to keep the sheep off the ground, 着整个工作台是用来让羊群不要踩在地上，
it's going to keep the wool clean. 从而使羊毛保持干净。
This bit's where the sheep's going to go 这是羊群进来的地方，
and this bit is where you're going to sit. 这是你坐着的地方。
Now the bit I'm trying to do at the moment, 现在我正要尝试去做的地方，
and I think the really hard bit, are these outside edges. 也是我感觉最难做的地方，就是外部的边缘。
I'm going to try and steam bend two pieces of hazel. 我想尝试通过蒸汽来弯曲两片榛树木条。
Now I've never steam bent a piece of wood in my life. 目前我还从来没有通过蒸汽来弯曲过木条。
Erm, so it'll be interesting to see how it goes. 呃，所以看到这一切是如何发生的一定很有趣。
I know the theory. 我了解理论。
Peter's first task is to dig a pit in which to steam the wood. Peter的第一个任务就是挖一个用来蒸木条的坑。
It looks disturbingly like a grave at the moment, 它现在看上去就像是一个令人不安的坟墓，
but I think it's just the right size. 但我觉得这就是正确的尺寸。
It'll contain a fire to generate enough heat 我将会在这里生火以产生足够的热量
to turn the water into steam. 来把水变成水蒸气。
These stones are going to act as a radiator, 这些石头将会起到散热器的作用，
they're going to retain the heat of the fire. 它们会被用于留存火的热量。
I'm then going to cover them with wet straw and wet grass 然后我将会把潮湿的稻草和嫩草盖在石头上，
into which I will put the pieces of wood that I want to bend. 在那里我会放上想要弯曲的木条。
And the heat from those stones, that'll heat up the moisture 利用石头产生的热量
in that grass 把水分蒸发到草里，
and that'll turn into steam and force itself into the wood. 水就会变成水蒸气，进入木条。
To make my fire I've essentially built a chimney, 为了生火，我实际上造了一个烟囱，
and inside that I'm going to put a few oak shavings, 我将在这里放一些橡树枝条，
and around it I'll put my...my, er, wood upright. 并在它的外围，呃，垂直地放一些树枝。
And the thing about the wood being upright 之所以垂直放置，
is it will transport this heat up and just get that fire going. 是为了把热量送到上面，让火苗持续燃烧。
Relatively more successful than I thought it would be. 比我想象中的要成功得多。
A dairy was a vital part of any substantial Tudor farmstead. 乳制品作坊是所有都铎时代大型农庄的重要组成部分。
Run by the woman of the house, 作坊由农庄的女人经营，
the profits traditionally belonged to her rather than the household. 所获利润通常属于她而不是整个家庭。
Ruth is getting straight to work making her sheep's cheese. Ruth正准备用她的羊奶制作奶酪。
I've just heated the milk over the fire next door, 我刚在隔壁房间的火上加热了羊奶。
bringing it up to blood temperature, 把它加热到人体的温度，
and now I'm going to settle it in wooden bowls. 现在我正准备把它装入木碗。
And I'm doing that because I don't want it to cool down too quickly 我这么做是因为我不想让它太快降温，
and I want the wood to insulate, to keep my milk as warm as possible. 我想让木碗起隔离作用，让羊奶尽可能地保持温度。
Ruth adds rennet to the sheep's milk. Ruth把凝乳酶添加入羊奶。
Rennet is an enzyme extracted from a lamb's stomach and it will 凝乳酶是一种从羊羔的胃里提炼出来的酶
coagulate the milk into solid curds and a liquid called whey. 它会让羊奶分离成固态凝乳以及一种液态乳清。
Having stirred it I now want to leave it very still, 搅拌过以后，我现在要让它非常平静地放置，
and if I've got the right temperature and the right strength of rennet, 如果我把温度以及凝乳酶强度控制得当，
over the next sort of half an hour or so it will set into curds and whey. 大约半小时后它们就会变成凝乳和乳清。
Seemingly simple in construction, 尽管看上去构造简单，
Tudor dairies were cleverly designed to regulate temperature - 都铎时代的乳制品作坊经过巧妙的设计可以控制温度，
vital, especially in the summer months. 这一点非常重要，尤其在夏天。
The dairy's attached to the north-facing side of the farmhouse, 乳制品作坊建造在农舍的北面，
so that the main building shields it from the heat of the sun. 因此房屋主体为它挡住了阳光的热量。
Then you'll notice the windows. 然后你就会注意到窗户。
You can see that they provide loads of light, 你可以看见它们让光线进入房间，
but more importantly they provide ventilation. 但更重要的是它们让房间通风。
I've got a through draught. 这样就有了一股穿堂风。
The next thing to look at is the floor. 接下来我们看一下地板。
Tiles - these tiles are not glazed, they're porous, 看这些地砖，它们不是釉制的，而是多孔的，
which means that they will hold water in 意味着它们可以留存住水分，
and that is really important, that's where the clever bit comes in. 这一点非常重要，这才是设计的精妙处。
Here we go. 水来了。
Whoosh. 哇。
The water sinks into the pores of the tiles and sits there, 水分沉入地砖的空隙中并待在那里，
and then gradually over the next few hours it quietly evaporates. 然后渐渐地，在接下来的几个小时里它们悄悄蒸发。
And as it evaporates it cools the room, 当它们蒸发时它降低了室温，
and with my strong cross draught 加上北面和东面窗户
between my north and my east windows, 产生的强烈的穿堂风，
it's drawing that damp air out all the time, 把潮湿的空气不断排出去，
allowing more to rise and fill its space. 让更多的水分蒸发到房间里。
This room will sit at between five and six degrees 这间房间温度几乎能恒定在5-6摄氏度，
almost regardless of what the weather does outside. 无论外面天气如何。
Oh, my! Heat coming off this is intense. 我的天哪！这里冒出来的热气真厉害。
We're pretty much ready to steam our wood. 我们差不多准备好来蒸木条了。
Ah, dear. 噢，天哪。
Either that or we're going to set fire to our straw 不然我们就一把火把稻草烧了，
and then we'll have to start again. 那样的话我们就不得不重新开始了。
Peter is soaking his straw in hot water, to ensure it's saturated. Peter正在用往稻草上浇热水来确保它完全浸湿。
On it goes. 水来了。
It's this water that will be turned into steam by the heat 正是这些水会被储存在石头里的火
of the fire stored in the stones. 产生的热量变成水蒸气。
There we go. 开始了。
Oh! Right. 哦！好了。
I think I've got to be pretty fast with this. 我想我们得速战速决。
Can already see the steam coming up, 我已经能看见蒸汽冒上来了，
some sort of... 有着一种，
vision of hell. 炼狱的既视感。
There we go, wood in. 下一步，放入木条。
Of course this isn't going to catch fire, 当然这不会着火，
cos fire needs three things - 因为火的燃烧需要三因素，
it needs heat which it's got, 这里有热量，
it needs fuel, which I'm giving it, 还有我正在添加的燃料，
but it needs oxygen, 但它还需要氧气，
which I'm about to take away. 而我正准备把氧气隔离走。
This technique dates back to Anglo-Saxon times 这项技术可追溯至盎格鲁-撒克逊时代，
but would still have been used in the Tudor period 但在都铎时代已然得以沿用，
for the production of ships, weapons and tools. 用于制造轮船、武器和工具。
The reason why I have to work so quickly is 我之所得速战速决的原因是，
because already you can see the steam coming up 你已经能看到蒸汽冒上来了，
and I've got to keep that steam in there, 而我得把蒸汽埋在地下，
cos otherwise the straw will dry out 否则的话稻草就会烘干，
and there won't be the moisture to steam my wood. 这样就没有水汽来蒸木条了。
Every inch of the wood's diameter needs an hour of steaming - 每一英寸粗的木条都需要蒸一小时，
for the next two hours all Peter can do is wait. 在接下来的两小时里Peter能做的就是等待。
OK, just... 好了...
Ooh, that's a good set! 哇，凝固得不错！
After sitting for half a day, 在静置了将近半天后，
Ruth's milk has transformed. Ruth的羊奶形态发生了改变。
Really pleased. They've all set beautifully. 真不错。它们都凝固得非常好。
So now I have to start separating out the whey from the curd. 现在我要把乳清从凝乳中分离出来。
You can see little bits of it already here, 你已经能在这里看到一点点乳清了，
this very pale greeny, yellow liquid. 这种浅绿，浅黄色的液体。
That's the whey. 它就是乳清。
And the next stage now is to cut it and to try 下一步就是切割和晾干。
and drain some of that whey out. 并把部分乳清过滤走。
In later centuries you'd use, you know, fancy knives to make 在往后的几世纪你将使用精致的小刀
perfect cubes of curd. 来把凝乳切成小块。
In 1500 you use these. 而在16世纪你用的是这个。
Ruth transfers the curds and whey to strain through the cheese mould. Ruth把凝乳和乳清转移到奶酪模具上过滤。
Right, now, if I just pop that up on the draining stool 好了，现在我只需把这个放到过滤台上，
you should start to see the whey is dripping through. 你就能看见乳清滴下来了。
Once all the whey has drained, Ruth can salt the cheese 等所有的乳清都滤干以后，Ruth就能在奶酪里加盐，
and start pressing it. 并压制它。
Hopefully this has had enough steaming time. 但愿蒸得足够久了。
Ugh! Up it comes. 啊！把它挖出来。
Oh, look you can still see a bit of steam there. 哦，还可以看到一点蒸汽。
That's a good sign. 这是一个好兆头。
Right, let's just get it in here. 好，我们把它放在这儿。
Yeah, and there it goes. 对了，这样就可以了。
That is pretty hot actually. 它实际上很烫。
And there we go, we've got our two sides of our shearing bench. 压下去，剃毛台的两边就做好了。
Brilliant. 太棒了。
Tom is also preparing for the upcoming shearing. Tom也在为即将到来的剃羊毛做准备。
He's using a Tudor recipe to make a sheep first aid kit. 他要用一种都铎配方来制作一种羊用急救药。
What I'm doing is making a salve for our sheep 我正在做得是一种供羊群使用的软膏，
just in case of nicks or cuts, which stops the parasites 用在伤口上，防止诸如蛆虫之类的
getting in there, prevents things like maggots, 寄生虫入侵，
which will obviously harm the sheep 这些寄生虫显然会对羊群造成伤害，
and also affect the quality of the wool. 也会影响羊毛的质量。
Normally shearers would use tar to seal any wounds, 通常情况下剃毛工人会用焦油来封住伤口，
but Tom is making a budget alternative. 但Tom要采用另一个备选方案。
Quite simple, just... Ah, here we go. 很简单，只需要...啊，好了。
"To make broom salve."
Four ingredients -
broom, which is what I've just been cutting up.
I need suet, I need brine and I need urine.
Right, I'm just going to finish off this bit of broom here.
Most parts of the broom plant have a medicinal use -
for everything from curing a hangover
to clearing the skin of parasites.
But the salve's crucial ingredient is the urine.
And the reason the urine works well, if you leave it for three weeks
it reacts with the air, creating ammonia.
Ammonia is what actually gives our salve
its healing and cleansing properties.
Mix it together.
Clear that out.
Interesting thing, the crafts when they were using things,
they weren't 100% sure why they worked, I mean it was acts of faith.
The mixture will solidify as it cools.
A lot of me in this, and hopefully it works.
So this one now has had a full press on both sides,
it should be ready to come out of its cloth.
Let's have a little look.
In she comes.
What I'm doing now is maturing it, and I...
I need to sort of develop a rind on the cheese,
so that's where the salt comes in.
From today onwards I'll wipe it down each day with brine,
and then tomorrow the next one will join it on the shelf.
At the end of the week there should be five or six
ready for Whitsun market.
It's 19th May, St Dunstan's Day,
and it's time for spring-cleaning.
Ruth has made herself a brush from butcher's broom -
the same plant Tom used to make his salve.
Works really well this broom, this seems to get everything
out of all those little crooks and crannies.
Oh, I might stick a bigger, longer handle in it.
The geese are fattening up nicely for market.
But there's some bad news about the eggs.
I'm having a look around and there's just no evidence
whatsoever of any eggs hatching.
We've got a goose here that's sitting -
but it's over a month now and no sign of any goslings.
And that means we can't actually increase our gaggle.
It's not the end of the world, however,
we want to make money, I mean, this is why we have them,
this is why we're feeding them, looking after them.
Best we can hope for -
sell them for meat and feathers and that's about it.
But there's welcome news elsewhere on the farm.
After a run of fine weather
the sheep are dry and ready for shearing.
In some areas of Tudor England the right time to shear sheep was
determined by astrological signs and the phase of the moon.
Good girls, come on, nice and steady.
Timing was crucial.
Shear too early and the sheep might die of cold,
shear too late and maggots would grow
in their overgrown hind parts.
It's not going to be easy, is it?
Oh, right, let's get this shearing bench together.
Your Tudor flat pack. My Tudor flat pack.
It's very impressive, actually.
Right. Ah, look, made to measure, almost.
Specialist shearers were often brought in to help get the job done.
That's it.
Brilliant, right you go and get the hurdle.
Ed Noble and Doug Winkfield have come to give Peter and Tom a hand.
You've got the front end. Got the front end.
Ready one, two, three, up. And she's down.
It's a lovely rich fleece
and hopefully your shearing bench will be up to the mark.
HE LAUGHS
Monastic flocks were sheared using a production line system.
First, the most experienced shearers removed the best wool.
And that is really this, the flanks.
You don't want to go too high to the head
and you don't want this belly wool.
The other team will get that off.
The second, less skilled team then remove the rest of the fleece.
Today Tom is trying his luck with the best wool.
You're right-handed, aren't you? So you want your left hand
and your left arm just to pull the skin tight,
and try and make the blades, you want to kiss the skin.
Remember this is your high-value wool,
you want as much of it as possible.
And remember you're trying to do it all in one smooth motion.
Some of it's come off really easily. Yes.
The blades go right through.
And if you get it right, you will feel it almost fly through the wool.
That's it. Is that far enough?
You're probably going just a little high.
Can you see you're a bit higher than me?
Remember, this is high value wool. You want as much of it as possible.
Just get down as close to the skin as you can.
You're doing really well. LAUGHS
No, you are, really.
Oh, one slight cut here.
I'm going to apply some salve to cover that up.
Obviously we don't want maggots and stuff getting in, do we?
No, that's it. Brilliant.
Right, well, I think we're about done on this side. Shall we turn her?
That sounds interesting.
And if you bring her up here,
I'll have a go at shearing a bit of her sat down.
If you get that other leg, that's it,
on to her back to start with, one, two, three.
And then over she goes.
Still lively, isn't she? Yes. Yes.
Shearing benches were designed to protect the wool,
but also to save the shepherd's back while shearing hundreds of sheep.
Only going out of fashion
with the advent of machine clippers in the 19th century.
Actually, this is quite comfy.
It's well made.
It's quite sturdy, isn't it? Yeah.
It's coming off quite well.
This method of shearing was the first stage of quality control -
keeping the good wool separate from the scraps.
There you go, girl.
Let's grab another one.
Why not?
Sheep in Tudor England were not yet organised into breeds.
So wool buyers used a system of classification
based on the quality of the wool - its colour, length and coarseness.
Claire is helping Ruth select the best wool to be sold.
Not going to be doing a perfect job as a shearer,
there'll be bits of field, there'll be bits of manure or dung.
Yes, a bit like that.
That would be hard to pull apart nicely. Get rid of it!
Right, I'm getting rid of it.
The quality of fleece in the wool trade varied enormously.
Tudor tenant farmers had a reputation for producing
inferior wool, and some merchants even refused to accept fleeces
that weren't farmed directly by the monastery.
Why then is it that the monasteries have this reputation for really good wool
and tenant farmers have a reputation for much poorer wool?
Money.
Money! If you own the land, you'll put your sheep on the best bits.
If you have lots and lots and lots of sheep you can choose
from a huge number for good genetic stock, good breeding stock.
If we're going to send this off to the monastery, we have to select
only the VERY best of our wool in order to meet that quality bar.
Now the wool just needs to be weighed for the farm's records.
OK. So just move it along.
No, that's still a lot heavier, that side.
Is that level? Yeah, it looks about level.
So that's just a smidgen over 20lbs.
So for ten fleeces... Very good.
That's not bad, is it? They're pretty good fleeces, then.
Any wool not good enough for the monastery
is now Ruth's to make cloth for the home.
Peter and Tom are ready to take their wool to the monastery.
As dominant players in the industry,
the monasteries had strong relationships with the merchants
and the boys will need to strike a good deal.
1500 was a good time to be a wool producer.
Under Henry VII, the value of sterling had fallen,
meaning British goods were now cheaper to buy in Europe
and the cloth trade was expanding.
Not only was English wool fine,
it also grew longer than on European sheep,
a result of better nutrition from English pastures.
Professor James Clark and wool grader Richard Martin
will judge its quality.
If it was good enough
it would have been sold along with the Abbey's wool to the merchant.
What do we actually think about this wool?
Well, you're a big chap, so I think it's absolutely fantastic!
When you look at some wool like this,
you could judge some of it by just looking at it.
You're looking for wool which is fairly even-coloured,
and then if you feel the wool,
there's all sorts of things you can tell about the quality.
If you sort of spin a bit of yarn in your hand
and break it next to your ear and it goes "ping",
then the fibres are strong and the yarn will be strong.
But if it pulls apart, the chances are there's weakness in the fibre.
What would happen to it now?
The monastery of course is going to look after its own interest and they are concerned
to manage their brand image.
They want to collaborate with their tenants
but only if they hold to that quality threshold.
If so, then we will include it in the deal we do with the merchant.
And if you produce something that is substandard we certainly will overlook you.
We could end up with absolutely nothing, all that work? Yeah.
With wool prices fluctuating constantly,
farmers would often delay selling,
gambling on when they would get the best price.
Assuming I will pass the test,
are we likely to see any money at the end of the day?
Er, well, don't hold your breath. LAUGHTER
It's going to take a while.
We deal with the middleman,
the middleman brokers a deal with the merchant,
the merchant then sells the wool on the European market
and really it's only when that sale is concluded
that money begins to pass back down the chain to the producer.
You're putting your faith in the whole deal coming off.
I guess the question is, are you going to buy our wool?
I am going to recommend
that we put this into our brand wool, as James says.
One thing I didn't think was that I was going to go home empty-handed.
Well, as we say in the monastery, you have to have faith. LAUGHTER
For the time being!
Faith wasn't just part of business transactions.
Religion was a thread that ran through everyday life.
Contributions to the church on the main holy days of the year
were obligatory, and took many forms.
It's just coming up to the Feast of Pentecost, or Whitsun,
one of the many religious festivals that punctuated the year.
And part of the celebrations, a live dove is released in the church
or in some parishes, a mechanical dove,
and I get this year's star prize of making a mechanical dove!
Ruth is using a mixture of soft cheese and lime
to fix the feathers to her dove.
The religious calendar of course was THE calendar.
That was the way that people kept track of time -
knowing when to plant a crop, when to re-pit.
Also knowing things like when you've got a meeting coming up, you'd say,
you know, I'll meet you the day after St Agnes' Day.
All sorts of ordinary practical things were linked and tied
and counted by the religious rhythm of life.
GEESE HONK
Come on!
In preparation for the upcoming Whitsun market,
the boys have been nurturing their flock of geese.
I reckon he's the gander. Oh!
It's good exercise for us! Give me a sheep any day!
In the Tudor period, geese would have been driven many miles
to be sold, and required protection for their feet.
GOOSE SQUAWKS Good job. Good job.
Now these feet, they're going to have to walk long distances.
These feet are designed for swimming, aren't they?
Now, that beak's designed for pecking. Yeah!
I appreciate you holding that.
Many Tudor farmers would have used tar and sand
to form a hard coating on the feet
but some used cloth or leather boots.
Peter and Tom are testing out their own version.
There, what do you think? Mmm.
Doesn't look convinced. I'm not overly convinced.
Let's pull that tight, and tie that on behind.
I'll tell you what, her heart isn't hammering or anything like that.
She's perfectly calm.
That one seems pretty secure. Looking pretty good.
Give her a go? Yeah, stand to one side in case she's...
Oh, boots off. The other one's all right.
That one's on. No, it's not.
Back to the drawing board.
In 1500, manufacturing was the growth sector of England's economy.
And at its centre was cloth.
Before the Tudor period, England's main wool export was raw fleece.
But competition from Europe meant
demand for English fleeces had fallen.
However, the demand for woollen cloth made in England was growing.
English producers made some of the finest woollen fabrics,
which commanded high prices on the Continent.
By the mid 1500s, cloth exports topped £1.5 million a year.
The first process is to card it.
I mean, really, it's a sort of cleaning process.
Cleaning and organising the fibres.
As a well-off farmer, Ruth would not have sold cloth,
but she is processing her wool in the same way
as commercial producers, to make cloth for the farmhouse.
I think you can see that already it is starting to look more like soft, fluffy wool.
Once the wool is prepared, it's time to spin.
Now, some people call this a great wheel, cos it's big,
and others call it a walking wheel
because you spend such a lot of time walking backwards and forwards.
Indeed, somebody once estimated that it could be
about 30 miles a day, a really good spinner walked.
I'm not quite up to those standards. So a really good spinster,
and that, of course, is the female form of somebody who spins,
and they were mostly unmarried girls, so you can see why it was
that the word spinster came to mean an unmarried girl
as well as somebody who spins.
Give the wheel one flick and walk backwards
controlling the fibres with one hand.
15 maybe even 20 feet before,
by moving her arm round and changing direction,
giving another flick,
the same motion wound the thread onto the spindle.
When you look at the textiles that were actually produced
during this period, on this technology, it just blows your mind.
There are threads produced by hand like this
that rival anything any modern machine can achieve.
Wool was not the only source of revenue
for wealthy Tudor farmers,
who constantly explored other ways to make money.
In 1496, Henry VII was preparing to go to battle with Scotland,
and needed iron for the campaign.
He invested in a revolutionary new method for producing iron,
the blast furnace.
The results were so impressive
that Tudor farmers began building their own furnaces,
a development encouraged by commercially-minded monasteries.
This is new technology. This is the new way to make iron.
A half-size replica blast furnace
has been built at the Rural Life Centre in Surrey.
Expert Jeremy Hodgkinson is showing Tom and Peter its possibilities.
The charcoal is fed in from top of the furnace, as is the iron ore
and it slowly descends down through the furnace over the course of time,
and as it goes down it melts, held in the bottom of the furnace
in a liquid form, and then you'll allow it to run out into a mould.
Right.
Right. Have a feel.
Pretty solid!
About every 12 hours, you produce a length of iron
probably ten feet long.
Weighing about half a ton.
Wow. That's huge!
It is. Very heavy. It is very heavy!
The blast furnace produced the intense heat necessary
to create liquid iron, which was easier to purify.
To generate such heat required oxygen provided by the bellows.
The key to the bellows of course is water power,
because what is powering those bellows is a water wheel,
so that they'll pump that blast of air into the furnace.
Hence it's a blast furnace. It's the blast furnace, yes.
Am I right in thinking that these things ran for months at a time?
Yes. They'd go into blast, they'd blow them in as they would say,
blow them in after the harvest, so once your labour force is available.
Yeah. And then you'd work the iron through the winter
because then you've got a more reliable water supply.
Once the iron was produced,
it was re-melted in a refinery
and any impurities hammered out.
What you get eventually is this, which is bar iron, suitable
for blacksmiths to make into objects and ironmongers to sell.
Here's a couple of pieces you can take back to the farm.
I'll take this one, it's like me, it's broad and flat,
where as that one is... Thick! Square and thick!
LAUGHTER
Thank you very much!
OK, good to see you. Pleasure. Thank you.
What are we going to make?
This new, plentiful source of stronger,
better quality iron opened up a world of possibilities.
Without the blast furnace
the Industrial Revolution would not have been possible.
In the rapidly expanding cloth industry,
loom technology had also been mastered by 1500.
With a sharp eye for business the monasteries rented out
commercial premises, reaping the financial rewards
of other people's enterprise, including cloth production.
Ruth has brought her wool to weaver Diane Wood.
The first job is to set up the loom, a craft in its own right.
I mean, we're putting all that yarn that we produced onto the loom,
and we start with each thread at that end,
and they all have to pass through these here, these shafts.
The strings are called heddles.
They have got two important knots here in the centre,
and the knots create a lovely little eye,
through which every thread goes
and the threads go one thread through one heddle.
So if we could take that thread there, that comes through to this.
That comes through shaft number one.
The threads are passed through either the first or second shaft,
alternating across the loom.
Pull it through the eye there. That's it.
Not many to go, but still let's get them right.
Once all the threads have been passed through the heddles,
they must go through a comb structure called a reed.
The reed is designed to keep the threads evenly spaced.
We have something like 600 threads here.
We need to keep them all under control
and that's what this stage of processes are,
putting order into the threads.
Otherwise we'd just have a giant knot.
You'd have a terrible mess on your hands.
The threads are tied to a beam at the front of the loom,
known as the cloth beam.
I'll just check that the tension is even all the way across.
I suppose this only comes with practice, getting the feel.
It's the feel, it's in your fingertips, yes, yes.
It is very technical, isn't it? Tiny subtle changes
make the difference between success and failure. Indeed they do.
Rods are inserted to spread the threads away from the cloth beam.
These threads are known as the warp.
The ones that Diane will weave, adjacent to them, are called the weft.
So you press down on one of the pedals
and one of the shafts comes up and the other one comes down.
So now we've got half of our threads going up,
half of our threads going down and a gap between the two.
The gap's called the shed. The shed.
And that's where we pass the shuttle.
It's the first thread through and we pull the beater,
and beat the first weft into place.
And then you press the other pedal and the other shaft comes up.
So now all the threads that were down are now up
and all the threads that were up are now down. That's it.
And there we have weaving.
That is it, isn't it? It is.
In some ways this is a really simple piece of technology.
In other ways it's really quite subtle and complex,
but whichever way you look at it, it hasn't actually changed that much.
Yes, the only difference is it works a little bit faster.
It's just to do with speed.
With the cloth finished, Ruth needs to take it to the monastic mill
for a finishing process known as fulling.
The monasteries had invested heavily in water mill technology,
and for cloth production, the fulling mill represents
the first transition from a domestic craft to a factory industry.
Miller Dowey Jones is in charge of operating the machinery.
So this needs fulling. What exactly is it that fulling does?
What would happen now, if we're to go outside and hold this to the light
you'd see the light coming through the cloth.
After fulling, what happens, the cloth will tighten down
and there'll be no light coming through and it fats it up, gives a nice, soft effect to it.
Right. So it changes something that looks almost like sacking
into something that looks like this.
Yes. Probably over time, yeah, will change into that.
And we do it by bashing it with hammers?
These two hammers here will do the work for us.
Just make sure we don't get our hands caught!
It's like this effect, up and down.
It'll be quite noisy, so it's quiet at the moment.
When the water is running through and the hammer's going,
it'll be quite noisy.
A water wheel is used to power the stocks.
Ruth has soaked her cloth in stale urine.
Full of ammonium salts, the urine will clean and whiten the cloth.
OK. Ready?
Out.
Woo!
WATER GUSHES
MACHINE CLATTERS
Quite noisy! Wow!
It's a really violent process, isn't it? It is.
I mean, as somebody who put so much work into spinning
and weaving that cloth, this is a bit terrifying, frankly!
It is a bit, but the end results will be nice. It's worth the effort.
But using the fulling mill didn't come free.
The monastery would have charged its tenants.
As a tenant of the monasteries, we were required to use their mill.
They had something of a monopoly.
If we want our cloths fulled,
we have to bring it to the monastic mill.
Mills, therefore, were a really important source of income
for the monasteries.
It's another way, I suppose, of taxing your tenants.
For centuries, fulling was the only mechanised part of cloth production.
Wool would go on being carded and spun by hand until the 18th century.
SHE LAUGHS
Look how it's changed!
Look!
It's all gone fluffy! It's all knitted up together.
Needs a bit longer yet, but we're definitely getting somewhere.
The fulling will take six hours to complete.
For the final stage of Ruth's cloth production,
Peter is putting the iron from the blast furnace to good use,
by making tenterhooks.
The hooks are attached to a frame
for the fulled cloth to be stretched across.
You stretch it out on the tenterhooks,
get it under tension, which is obviously where, you know,
why we say somebody's on tenterhooks
if they're feeling really highly strung.
Because that's exactly what I'm going to do to the cloth.
Stretching the cloth after fulling
is one of the most important parts of the manufacturing process.
If you don't stretch it, you end up with a sort of rumpled effect
on the cloth. It never lies flat, it always sort of lies puckered.
You also find that you can't abide by the law.
Legally, if you're going to sell the cloth you've got to be able
to produce a perfect product, a consistent product.
So if your cloth shrank too much, it would be unsaleable
unless you could stretch it back out
to the prescribed legal length and legal width.
The cloth is stretched under the weight of rocks.
Nice and taut, and when it's dry it'll have set square.
It's Whitsun morning. The feast commemorating
the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Disciples.
The team are attending church to see Ruth's mechanical dove,
a biblical symbol of the Holy Spirit, take flight.
Yep, I've seen it all.
The cloth is finished.
A chest of cloth like this
represents a serious amount of wealth,
as, to be honest, do the clothes I'm stood up in.
Ruth has loaded up her cheese.
The boys have finally got the shoes on their geese,
and they're off to Whitsun market.
Come on. Come on!
Let's herd you to market.
LIVELY MEDIEVAL MUSIC
Attended by the whole community,
the market was one of the few times in the year
when strict trade regulations were lifted,
and ordinary farmers, rather than merchants, could sell their wares.
Be glad to get rid of these guys.
I know. I'm sick of them.
They're so vicious, aren't they? Just aggression, isn't it?
Geese for sale, anyone want a goose?
Yes, I'm interested in the geese. I was going to say, if you,
if you don't want a whole goose, we've got parts of geese!
Processed dairy products, cheese and butter,
were often traded across considerable distances.
Ruth's cheese might even have found its way to the markets of London.
With the geese sold,
the boys are off to see what their profits can buy them in the market.
The Tudor era saw the world begin to open up.
Advances in shipbuilding meant people were sailing further
and trade routes to the Middle East
brought new and exotic products to England.
All this sort of stuff we take for granted.
It would have been new and exciting in Tudor England.
And a most wonderful luxury.
Not many people have seen these, lemons,
and don't know what to do with them.
Well, I suppose England's wealth was built on the wool trade
and this is competition coming in right here.
Well, if it brings things like this in, a bit of flavour,
something we're not used to, I think it's very exciting. Yeah.
Hi, Ruth. Hi, Ruth. Oh, hello.
How's your cheese?
I've only got a little bit left. That's fantastic!
You sounds like you've got a bit of time for a bit of fun, a bit of Morris dancing.
A bit of ale. Bit of ale, bit of music. A bit more ale.
Let's go. HE LAUGHS
Folklore historian Professor Ronald Hutton
has come to join the festivities.
Whitsun, around 1500, is party time, for two reasons.
The first is it's a gap in agriculture.
You've done your ploughing and your sowing and your weeding, and there's
a bit of a space in which you can relax and actually have some fun.
Other reason is, it's warming up!
THEY LAUGH Yes!
Around about 1500, ordinary people have a serious shortage of
indoor spaces, which are warm, where they can gather in large numbers.
The church is usually off limits
because it's a sacred building, so you can't party in it.
But come Whitsun, usually England's warm enough to be able to get outside
and in the open spaces, you can have as many people as you like.
The Maypole was a central feature of Whitsun celebrations.
Decorated with fresh foliage, it symbolised growth and new life,
particularly significant in agricultural communities.
But while young people still danced in this traditional way,
there was also a new craze sweeping the country.
The Morris Dance is really, really hot and new
and exciting, round about 1500.
It's a courtly dance
and it's leaking out into the villages around the royal palaces.
In the original courtly form,
it was an elaborate game by which strapping young men competed
to show how far they could leap in the air,
to dance with and woo a lady.
RUTH LAUGHS
Quite fashionable then. Very, very much so. Cutting edge.
By Tudor times, Whitsun had become one of
the most popular feasts of the year, where people let their hair down,
indulging in revelry and merry-making.
The Church, initially, was rather worried about this development,
because alcohol plus crowds
equals misbehaviour.
But then it learned how to cash in.
So the Church ale was invented, the Whitsun ale, which was this
wonderful arrangement by people in the village would provide
the raw materials for the food and drink, and then the villagers,
when all this was ready, would pay an entrance fee,
and the Church would take the profits to supply its parish needs
for the rest of the year, and everybody was happy
and it worked like an absolute dream.
This complete intertwining of social life and religious life
and economic life, is so typical of this period, isn't it?
Everything has a religious element to it,
it's sort of almost like the air you breathe.
Yeah, and pretty free of tension. On the whole it'd got it right.
They'd created a perfect medieval society.
In many ways, too perfect.
People began to worry there might be
something wrong in the middle of all this. RUTH LAUGHS
I mean, you sleep on that for a bit, you get a reformation. Yes!
So should enjoy the calm now before the storm begins?
Well, this is Merrie England, for heaven's sake, so to speak.
Let's enjoy it!
THEY LAUGH
Ha-ha! Yes!
Next time on Tudor Monastery Farm,
the team learn about the rhythm of life.
Little ones are ready to go, get the boar in,
get them pregnant, carry on.
What sustained people.
Looking forward to this, going to be a proper treat. That is fantastic, that.
And how to celebrate summer.
RUTH GIGGLES MANICALLY
Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd