Saints and Sinners: Britain's Millennium of Monasteries — Season 1, Episode 1: Pagans to Vikings
Documentary • 30 min • 1 season, 3 episodes • ★ 8.0/10
Episode synopsis
Dr Janina Ramirez explores how monasteries evolved from a cult of extreme isolation and self-deprivation into powerhouses of Anglo-Saxon art, industry and learning. Janina begins her journey on the desolate rock of Skellig St Michael off the east coast of Ireland, home to the oldest surviving monastery in the British Isles. Monasteries such as Lindisfarne and Whitby became beacons of civilisation and literature in the barbaric Anglo-Saxon world, creating wondrous works of art including the Lindisfarne Gospels and St Cuthbert's pectoral cross. They transform the culture and landscape of England, until they too were destroyed by a new wave of barbarian invaders
About Saints and Sinners: Britain's Millennium of Monasteries
Janina Ramirez discovers how monasteries shaped all aspects of medieval Britain and created a dazzling array of art, architecture and literature, a story of faith, sacrifice, violence and corruption.