Synopsis

Art from late medieval England and the early years of the Renaissance is revealed in this film in all of its splendour and variety. This is the age of the Hundred Years' War, the Wars of the Roses and the early Tudors. Under kings from Henry IV to Henry VIII, artists in England produced dazzling illuminated manuscripts, exquisite jewels and moving devotional images and sculptures.

Featuring many of the exhibits in the landmark V&A exhibition, Gothic: Art for England 1400-1547 also reveals the glories of Perpendicular architecture: the Beauchamp Chapel in Warwick, King's College, Cambridge and Henry VII's Chapel at Westminster Abbey, as well as some of the greatest parish churches.

Gothic: Art for England 1400-1547 is an accessible, visually delightful introduction to the late Middle Ages. Leading historians offer new interpretations of the period, with revealing discussions of patronage, of England's artistic relations with Europe, and of the fundamental importance of the Church and of attitudes to death.

This film is a specially extended edition, with exclusive material, of the film The Glory of Gothic, commissioned for Five.