The Calming Life And Legacy Of Walt Disney | Boring History For Sleep

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Well look at you captain of the 
Cozy Corner. 

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Pretending you're not already 
half asleep from glad you made 

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it over to our little Community 
fire. 

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It's burning low tonight steady 
and warm. 

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The kind of glow that makes Big 
Ideas, feel simple. 

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We're immersing ourselves in the
Life and Legacy of Walt Disney 

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not through spectacle or 
Sparkle, but through a journey 

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of imagination, perseverance and
a quiet conviction. 

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That small drawings can 
transform into vast worlds. 

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If this boring calm storytelling
helps, you unwind. 

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Feel free to subscribe and leave
a like and let me know where 

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you're listening from and what 
time it is for you. 

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Now, draw a little closer to the
warmth. 

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Turn on a fan for some noise, 
slow your breathing and let the 

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fire carry us gently into the 
story. 

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Your standing on a farm outside 
mastering Missouri in the early 

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1900s where the air smells of 
turned Earth and possibility. 

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The morning sun hasn't quite 
burned off the due and somewhere

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in the distance. 
A rooster announces the day with

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all the authority of a town 
crier who has never learned 

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subtlety. 
This property is where Walter 

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Elias Disney spent his Boyhood 
though, calling him Walter feels

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a bit like putting a top hat on 
a scarecrow. 

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Technically correct, but missing
something essential about the 

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spirit underneath. 
The farm itself sprawls across 

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45 Acres of gentle Missouri 
Countryside. 

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And if you watch closely, you'll
spot a young boy, Crouch near 

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the barn, completely absorbed in
watching a spider construct, its

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web He's not supposed to be 
here. 

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There are chores, waiting 
animals that need tending. 

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And a father, whose temperament 
runs toward the Practical and 

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the stern. 
But the web holds him captive 

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this geometric Miracle 
appearing, strand by impossible,

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Strand, and he's wondering if 
anyone as ever tried to capture 

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this particular Magic on paper. 
Elias Disney Waltz, father 

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carries to disappointment the 
way other men, carry pocket 

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watches close to the chest, 
wound, tight, occasionally 

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consulted. 
For the time, he is ventured 

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into orange groves in Florida, 
construction work in Chicago. 

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And now, this Farm each Endeavor
beginning with hope and ending 

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with debt. 
You can almost see the weight of

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it in his shoulders, as he 
crosses the farmyard searching 

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for his son, finding him 
eventually by following the 

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sound of humming. 
Walt has this habit of providing

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his soundtrack, a musical 
accompaniment to whatever he's 

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observing or imagining. 
The boy doesn't look up 

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immediately. 
When his father's Shadow Falls 

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across the grass, he's learned 
to steal these moments to 

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stretch them like taffy before 
they snap back into the shape of

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obligation. 
When he finally stands, there's 

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dirt on his knees and something 
in his eyes that looks 

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suspiciously like calculation. 
He's already composing the 

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excuse weighing which version of
truth will cause the least 

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turbulence. 
Inside The Farmhouse Flora, 

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Disney moves through the morning
routine with the Quiet 

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efficiency of someone who has 
learned to make peace with 

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circumstances. 
She is gentle where Elias is 

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hard, finding small ways to 
protect her children from the 

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worst of their fathers 
frustration. 

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When Walter Pearce at The 
Breakfast Table, slightly late 

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slightly disheveled, she sets 
down his plate with out comment,

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Though, her eyes suggests, she 
knows exactly where he's been 

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and what he's been avoiding. 
The farm animals become Waltz 

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first models though. 
They never quite sit. 

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Still the way a proper subject 
should The horses, ignore his 

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attempts to sketch them more 
interested in their feed than in

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artistic immortality. 
The pigs actively mock the 

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Endeavor as if they understand 
the futility of trying to 

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capture their particular 
combination of intelligence and 

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indignity on paper. 
The chickens, the chickens 

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accidentally cooperate through 
sheer obliviousness and Walt 

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feels page after page with 
studies of feathers beaks and 

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the peculiar waddle that manages
to look both purposeful and 

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completely random. 
The arrival of school brings 

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with it, a combination of 
structure and Escape. 

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The masking Schoolhouse sits at 
the end of a dirt road that 

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turns to Mud whenever it 
remembers how and what walks at 

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each morning with his sister 
Ruth. 

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Their lunch pail swinging in 
rhythm with their steps, In. 

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He occupies a comfortable. 
Middle Ground, allowing 

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observational scrutiny. 
But then the teacher asks who 

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can draw on the Blackboard and 
suddenly Waltz hand shoots up 

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with the enthusiasm of someone 
who has been waiting. 

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For this question, his entire 
life He approaches the chalk, 

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like an artist approaches a 
fresh canvas and what emerges 

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surprises? 
Everyone including himself a 

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horse. 
That actually looks like a 

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horse. 
Not the stick figure 

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approximations that typically 
Grace the educational Boards of 

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rural Missouri, the teacher Mrs.
Schertz sees something in these 

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drawings despite her patients 
being tested by countless 

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students who confuse creativity 
with chaos. 

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She keeps Walter after class not
to scold but to encourage 

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pulling out pictures from 
magazines and asking him to copy

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them. 
He does with an accuracy that 

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seems to bypass his hands 
entirely flowing directly from I

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to page through some channel. 
That doesn't require conscious 

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thought Word, spreads through 
mostly with the speed that news 

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travels in small towns, which is
to say faster than any Telegram.

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The local barber offers Walter 
free hair cut in exchange for a 

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drawing to hang in his shop. 
The doctor asks, for sketch of 

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his horse, Suddenly this farm 
boy has found something that 

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feels less like work and more 
like breathing despite his 

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struggle to show up on time for 
chores. 

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However, farms in 1909 don't 
function solely on drawing. 

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And when a liar comes to typhoid
fever, the Practical reality is 

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override. 
Any artistic Vision that may 

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have been forming The farm fails
not through lack of effort, but 

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through the combination of bad 
luck and worst timing. 

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That seems to plague the Disney 
family like a hereditary 

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condition by 1910. 
They're packing their belongings

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and heading to Kansas City 
trading Open Fields for urban 

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streets and animal sounds for 
the mechanical Symphony of a 

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growing City. 
Kansas City in the early 1910s, 

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hums with the particular energy 
of a place that's figured out 

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it's going somewhere, but hasn't
quite decided where Trolley 

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cars. 
Clang down streets, still 

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learning to be streets, 
automobiles sputter alongside 

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horses who view them with 
Justified skepticism and 

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everywhere. 
There's construction building's 

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Rising like ambitious children 
standing on tiptoes to see over 

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the crowd, Elias Disney 
purchases, a newspaper, 

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distribution route, which sounds
more impressive than it actually

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is. 
What it means practically 

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speaking. 
Is that Walton his brother Roy, 

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spend their mornings before 
school delivering papers in the 

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bitter cold, their fingers going
numb, their breath forming 

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clouds that dissipate into the 
winter are like small ghosts. 

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Walt is 10 years old, then 11, 
then 12. 

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And each morning arrives with 
the same dark insistence. 

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The same pile of papers that 
need to be delivered before the 

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rest of the world wakes up. 
You can picture him on those 

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roots, shoulders, hunched 
against the cold bag, heavy with

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newsprint but his mind somewhere
else entirely. 

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He's composing, scenarios, 
imagining stories and turning 

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the sleeping houses into stages 
where dramas unfold by curtained

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windows. 
The monotony of the root becomes

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a kind of meditation, his body 
moving through memorized 

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patterns while his imagination. 
Roams free. 

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The Kansas City Post brings news
of a world in motion Europe, 

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sliding toward War inventions 
appearing with dizzying 

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frequency and social movements 
that promised to reshape 

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everything. 
But Waltz attention snags on the

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illustration, the comic strips 
the way artists, like Winsor 

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McCay, can make static, images, 
suggestion, and how a few 

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carefully, placed lines can 
convey emotion that paragraphs 

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of text might fumble. 
A Benton grammar school, Walt 

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finds an unexpected Ally in his 
teacher, who notices how his 

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notebook margins filled with 
drawing during lessons. 

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Instead of confiscating the 
notebook or delivering lectures 

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about attention and application,
she asked to see them. 

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There's a monkey that appears 
repeatedly engaging in, various 

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Misadventures falling from 
trees, stealing hats and making 

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faces at zookeepers who've given
up on dignity. 

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The drawings have something that
can't quite be taught timing 

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personality, a sense that these 
aren't just pictures, but Frozen

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moments in ongoing narratives. 
McKinley High School opens, new 

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possibilities, Walt takes 
drawing and photography classes,

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contributes cartoons to the 
school newspaper. 

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And discovers that making people
laugh. 

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Feels almost as good as making 
them look. 

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His cartoon's lean toward the 
Patriotic and the political 

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America's entry into World War 1
provides endless material. 

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Though he is understanding of 
geopolitics remains comfortably 

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simple. 
The kind of clarity that comes 

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from, not yet, Having learned 
that most situations refused to 

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divide neatly into heroes and 
villains. 

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The schools like classes become 
Waltz real education. 

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He enrolls at the Chicago 
Academy of Fine Arts studying 

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under professional cartoonist 
who've actually made careers 

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from drawing. 
They teach them about Anatomy 

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composition, how to convey 
motion through static lines and 

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the tricks that professional 
illustrators use to meet 

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deadlines without sacrificing 
quality. 

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He soaks it up with the 
desperate. 

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Intensity of someone who's found
their language and wants to 

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become fluent as quickly as 
possible. 

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But then comes 1918 and what 
makes the decision that will 

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temporarily interrupt, his 
artistic education, he wants to 

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join the Army to participate in 
the great drama unfolding across

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the ocean. 
There's only one problem, he 16 

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and the Army has opinions about 
minimum ages that they've 

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codified into actual rules. 
His mother refuses to sign the 

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papers that would let him lie 
about his age. 

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So Walt does what teenagers have
done throughout history, when 

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parents stand between them and 
their questionable decisions, he

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finds an alternative route, the 
American Ambulance Corps 

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operating in France under Red 
Cross. 

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All species needs drivers and 
doesn't scrutinize birth, dates 

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quite as carefully. 
Walt forges is Mother's 

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signature on the application. 
Adds a year to his age and 

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suddenly he's head to France 
though, not before the war 

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decides to end. 
He arrives in Europe in November

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1918, just as the Armistice 
takes effect and spends the next

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year. 
Driving ambulances through a 

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France. 
That's learning to be peaceful 

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again, delivering supplies 
transporting officers and 

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covering the ambulance. 
He's assigned with cartoons that

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make the other drivers laugh. 
French landscape passes by the 

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ambulance Windows, like a series
of postcards Villages 

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reconstructing. 
The cells Fields remembering how

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to be fields and stead of 
Battlegrounds and people 

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emerging from basements and bomb
shelters with Expressions that 

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mix relief with uncertainty. 
Walt drawers at all, filling 

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sketchbooks with observations, 
developing his eye for detail, 

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and his sense of how environment
shape the people who inhabit 

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them, he returns to Kansas City 
in 1919 slightly older, 

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marginally wiser and absolutely 
certain that he wants to make 

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art for a living. 
The question is how to transform

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that certainly into something 
resembling a career, which turns

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out to be significantly more 
complicated than simply wanting 

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it badly enough. 
The pest men in Commercial Art 

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Studio occupies, a modest space.
In Kansas City producing, 

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advertisements for local 
businesses, and they're willing 

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to hire Walt for 25 dollars a 
month. 

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It's not quite art as you'd 
imagine it. 

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There are more drugstore 
advertisements than there are 

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opportunities for Creative 
expression. 

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But it's a paycheck for drawing,
which feels like a minor 

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miracle. 
At pejman Ruben Walt meets uberX

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whose name sounds like something
you'd make up if you were trying

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to invent the most animator 
sounding name possible. 

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But who is in fact a real person
with exceptional Talent up can 

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draw faster than anyone will 
ever seen with a Precision that 

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seems to bypass the usual human 
limitations. 

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They recognize something in each
other. 

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That particular combination of 
ambition, skill and willingness 

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to work, until reasonable people
have long since gone to bed. 

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When Ruben lets them, both go 
after the Christmas rush. 

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Subside Walton AB make the leap 
that young people make when they

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are two inexperienced to know 
better, they start their own 

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company. 
He works Disney commercial 

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artists, opens in January 1920, 
filled with optimism and almost 

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completely. 
Devoid of clients. 

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The business lasts about a month
before reality asserts itself. 

236
00:13:30,900 --> 00:13:35,800
In the form of empty order books
and rent that insists on being 

237
00:13:35,800 --> 00:13:40,000
paid, regardless of creative 
enthusiasm, Walt takes a job 

238
00:13:40,000 --> 00:13:43,200
with the Kansas City film ad 
company and this is where the 

239
00:13:43,200 --> 00:13:47,000
trajectory changes where the 
path diverges towards something 

240
00:13:47,000 --> 00:13:49,600
that will eventually become his 
life's work. 

241
00:13:50,400 --> 00:13:53,600
The company produces crude 
animated advertisements for 

242
00:13:53,600 --> 00:13:56,700
local theaters. 
Simple figures that move jerkily

243
00:13:56,700 --> 00:13:59,700
across the screen selling 
everything from farming 

244
00:13:59,700 --> 00:14:03,400
equipment to household goods. 
The animation is primitive 

245
00:14:03,400 --> 00:14:07,400
barely more sophisticated than 
sequential flipbook drawings 

246
00:14:07,400 --> 00:14:09,000
photographed. 
One frame at a time. 

247
00:14:09,800 --> 00:14:12,400
There's something about it that 
captures, Walt like a hook. 

248
00:14:13,200 --> 00:14:17,700
He watches the process of Lee. 
The way individual drawings. 

249
00:14:17,700 --> 00:14:21,000
Each slightly different from the
last create the illusion of 

250
00:14:21,000 --> 00:14:23,100
movement. 
When photographed in sequence, 

251
00:14:23,100 --> 00:14:27,900
how time affects comedy, a 
character pausing for just two 

252
00:14:27,900 --> 00:14:30,700
frames before, reacting creates 
different laughter. 

253
00:14:30,700 --> 00:14:34,900
Then a character pausing for six
frames, the Alchemy of 

254
00:14:34,908 --> 00:14:38,100
transforming, static art into 
something that breathes and 

255
00:14:38,100 --> 00:14:40,500
moves and tell stories without 
needing words. 

256
00:14:41,500 --> 00:14:44,600
The Kansas City, Public Library 
becomes Waltz nighttime 

257
00:14:44,600 --> 00:14:47,400
classroom. 
Checks out every book they have 

258
00:14:47,400 --> 00:14:51,400
on animation on the early 
Pioneers, like Winsor McCay and 

259
00:14:51,400 --> 00:14:55,300
his astonishing Gertie, the 
dinosaur, and on the technical 

260
00:14:55,300 --> 00:14:57,600
aspects of Photography and film 
development. 

261
00:14:58,600 --> 00:15:02,400
He reads about Persistence of 
vision about how the human eye 

262
00:15:02,400 --> 00:15:06,600
retained images for a fraction 
of a second creating continuity,

263
00:15:06,600 --> 00:15:09,600
where there's actually just a 
rapid succession of still 

264
00:15:09,600 --> 00:15:12,600
pictures. 
It feels like learning the 

265
00:15:12,600 --> 00:15:15,500
mechanics of magic, 
understanding the trick without 

266
00:15:15,500 --> 00:15:19,500
diminishing the Wonder, What 
starts experimenting at home? 

267
00:15:19,500 --> 00:15:22,900
Setting up a makeshift Animation
Studio in the garage. 

268
00:15:23,700 --> 00:15:27,400
He acquires a used camera built,
a crude animation, stand from 

269
00:15:27,400 --> 00:15:30,600
whatever materials he can 
scrounge and begins producing 

270
00:15:30,600 --> 00:15:34,900
his own short films. 
The first attempt to disasters 

271
00:15:34,900 --> 00:15:38,500
by any objective measure. 
The timing is off, the drawing 

272
00:15:38,500 --> 00:15:40,500
is inconsistent and the 
movement. 

273
00:15:40,500 --> 00:15:43,500
So jerky, they look like the 
characters are having seizures 

274
00:15:44,400 --> 00:15:49,500
but with each attempt, something
improves timing gets smoother, 

275
00:15:49,500 --> 00:15:53,700
the movements more natural and 
the storytelling more coherent. 

276
00:15:54,900 --> 00:15:58,700
The luffa, Graham Studio emerges
from these experiments and 

277
00:15:58,700 --> 00:16:02,500
ambitious Venture that Walt 
launches in 1922 with a small 

278
00:16:02,500 --> 00:16:05,400
team of animators, he's 
recruited from Kansas City's, 

279
00:16:05,400 --> 00:16:08,600
modest pool of artistic talent. 
They're going to produce 

280
00:16:08,600 --> 00:16:13,100
animated Fairy, Tales modernized
versions of classic stories that

281
00:16:13,100 --> 00:16:16,700
will play in theaters before, 
the main features is a beautiful

282
00:16:16,700 --> 00:16:20,200
vision and like many beautiful 
Visions launched by people in 

283
00:16:20,200 --> 00:16:23,100
their early 20s. 
It's completely unsustainable. 

284
00:16:23,100 --> 00:16:27,600
From a business perspective, the
studio produces several films, 

285
00:16:27,600 --> 00:16:32,300
Little Red Riding Hood the four 
Musicians of Bremen and Puss in 

286
00:16:32,300 --> 00:16:34,300
Boots. 
And there are actually good 

287
00:16:34,300 --> 00:16:38,100
demonstrating real advancement 
in animation, technique and 

288
00:16:38,100 --> 00:16:41,000
storytelling. 
Distributors in New York, 

289
00:16:41,000 --> 00:16:43,800
express interest, theaters, 
booked them. 

290
00:16:43,800 --> 00:16:47,300
And for a brief Shining Moment 
is seems like Kansas City. 

291
00:16:47,300 --> 00:16:50,700
Might become an unlikely 
animation hub, Then the 

292
00:16:50,700 --> 00:16:53,300
distributor declares bankruptcy 
without paying what? 

293
00:16:53,300 --> 00:16:57,100
They owe and laugh, a gram, 
Studio collapses, like a souffle

294
00:16:57,100 --> 00:17:01,600
that heard allowed noise. 
Walt finds himself. 21 years old

295
00:17:01,600 --> 00:17:06,200
technically bankrupt sleeping in
the studio because he can't 

296
00:17:06,200 --> 00:17:10,300
afford other accommodations 
bathing at the train station and

297
00:17:10,300 --> 00:17:13,200
surviving on canned beans heated
over hot plate. 

298
00:17:13,800 --> 00:17:17,000
It's the kind of romantic 
poverty, that sounds better in 

299
00:17:17,000 --> 00:17:19,300
retrospect than it feels while 
you're living through it. 

300
00:17:20,000 --> 00:17:24,200
Los Angeles in 1923 sprawls, 
across Southern California like 

301
00:17:24,200 --> 00:17:26,500
a city that hasn't learned its 
own boundaries yet. 

302
00:17:27,400 --> 00:17:30,100
Orange groves, give way to 
neighborhoods, that give way to 

303
00:17:30,100 --> 00:17:33,300
more orange groves, the whole 
thing, connected by streetcar, 

304
00:17:33,300 --> 00:17:37,000
lines and optimism. 
The film industry is established

305
00:17:37,000 --> 00:17:41,300
itself here drawn by reliable 
sunshine and varied Landscapes 

306
00:17:41,300 --> 00:17:44,500
that can double for anywhere 
from the Arctic to the Sahara. 

307
00:17:45,300 --> 00:17:48,000
Depending on camera angles and 
creative geography. 

308
00:17:49,300 --> 00:17:52,600
Walter rised with 40 dollars in 
his pocket, a cardboard 

309
00:17:52,600 --> 00:17:55,900
suitcase, containing one suit, 
and a lot of drawing materials 

310
00:17:55,900 --> 00:18:00,400
and absolutely no prospects. 
His brother Roy is in Los 

311
00:18:00,400 --> 00:18:02,900
Angeles recovering from 
tuberculosis at a veteran 

312
00:18:02,900 --> 00:18:05,400
hospital, and family feels like 
as good. 

313
00:18:05,408 --> 00:18:07,100
A reason as any to choose a 
city. 

314
00:18:07,100 --> 00:18:09,300
When you have no particular ties
to anywhere. 

315
00:18:10,200 --> 00:18:13,800
He moves into an Uncle's house 
sets up his drawing board and 

316
00:18:13,800 --> 00:18:16,500
prepares to storm Holly wood 
through sheer persistence. 

317
00:18:18,100 --> 00:18:20,500
The Disney Brothers Studio, 
because Roy has recovered enough

318
00:18:20,500 --> 00:18:24,500
to join the Venture operates out
of an Uncle's garage, which is 

319
00:18:24,500 --> 00:18:26,900
aware all good. 
American Enterprise is begin. 

320
00:18:27,700 --> 00:18:31,300
They produce a series called the
Alice comedies which combine 

321
00:18:31,300 --> 00:18:34,400
live action with animation, 
featuring a real girl 

322
00:18:34,400 --> 00:18:36,100
interacting with cartoon 
characters. 

323
00:18:36,100 --> 00:18:40,500
It's technically Innovative and 
commercially viable enough that 

324
00:18:40,500 --> 00:18:43,300
they actually get distribution 
actual money. 

325
00:18:43,300 --> 00:18:46,700
And the kind of sustainable 
business, that pays rent without

326
00:18:46,700 --> 00:18:50,700
requiring Creative Accounting. 
Success brings expansion. 

327
00:18:50,700 --> 00:18:55,100
They move to a proper Studio 
space on Hyperion Avenue, hire 

328
00:18:55,100 --> 00:18:57,100
more animators and increased 
production. 

329
00:18:58,400 --> 00:19:02,100
Walt marries Lillian bound an 
ink and paint artist who works 

330
00:19:02,100 --> 00:19:05,600
at the studio and who possesses 
the particular patients required

331
00:19:05,600 --> 00:19:07,200
to live. 
With someone whose mind is 

332
00:19:07,200 --> 00:19:11,700
always partly somewhere else. 
Composing scenes, imagining 

333
00:19:11,700 --> 00:19:15,300
possibilities, and unable to 
fully inhabit the present when 

334
00:19:15,300 --> 00:19:17,700
the future keeps calling so 
insistently. 

335
00:19:18,900 --> 00:19:22,200
The studio develops, a character
called Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. 

336
00:19:23,000 --> 00:19:25,900
a floppy-eared creation who 
becomes genuinely popular, 

337
00:19:26,900 --> 00:19:31,000
Theaters, want morals walled, 
cartoons, audiences laugh at his

338
00:19:31,000 --> 00:19:33,900
Misadventures. 
And for the first time in Waltz 

339
00:19:33,900 --> 00:19:35,500
career stability, seems 
possible. 

340
00:19:36,300 --> 00:19:38,200
He and Lilian, take the train to
New York. 

341
00:19:38,200 --> 00:19:42,300
In 1928, to negotiate a new 
contract with Charles Mintz, 

342
00:19:42,300 --> 00:19:46,600
their distributor, Expecting to 
discuss improved terms based on 

343
00:19:46,608 --> 00:19:50,700
Oswald success. 
Instead minced and forms, Walt 

344
00:19:50,700 --> 00:19:53,800
that he's hired away. 
Most of Disney's animators that 

345
00:19:53,800 --> 00:19:56,900
he owns the rights to Oswald the
Lucky Rabbit and that Walt can 

346
00:19:56,900 --> 00:20:00,600
either accept reduced payment 
for future cartoons, or find 

347
00:20:00,600 --> 00:20:02,700
himself without a character 
without a staff. 

348
00:20:02,700 --> 00:20:06,200
And without a business It's the 
kind of betrayal that could 

349
00:20:06,200 --> 00:20:09,400
break someone the sort of moment
where you discover that the 

350
00:20:09,400 --> 00:20:12,800
industry you've been courting 
doesn't particularly care about 

351
00:20:12,800 --> 00:20:14,500
your feelings or your 
contributions. 

352
00:20:15,500 --> 00:20:17,600
The train ride back to 
California, becomes Legend, 

353
00:20:17,600 --> 00:20:20,000
though the detail shift 
depending on. 

354
00:20:20,008 --> 00:20:23,600
Who's telling the story? 
What seems clear is that 

355
00:20:23,600 --> 00:20:25,100
somewhere between New York and 
Los Angeles. 

356
00:20:25,100 --> 00:20:29,300
Well, begins sketching a mouse, 
not just any Mouse. 

357
00:20:29,300 --> 00:20:32,700
This one has round ears 
appointed nose and a tail that 

358
00:20:32,700 --> 00:20:34,600
could be read as either 
Whimsical or slightly 

359
00:20:34,600 --> 00:20:37,800
questionable depending on your 
disposition toward Road rodents.

360
00:20:38,800 --> 00:20:42,100
He's thinking about personality 
about making a mouse, feel like 

361
00:20:42,100 --> 00:20:45,400
a character rather than just a 
pest that cartoon have to make 

362
00:20:45,400 --> 00:20:48,600
appealing through. 
Sheer force of Animation back in

363
00:20:48,600 --> 00:20:51,800
Los Angeles Walter by works who 
remained loyal. 

364
00:20:51,800 --> 00:20:56,500
When other animators jumped ship
develop the mouse in secret they

365
00:20:56,500 --> 00:20:59,700
named him Mortimer, initially 
until Lily and points out the 

366
00:20:59,700 --> 00:21:01,800
Mortimer. 
Sounds like a mouse who wears a 

367
00:21:01,800 --> 00:21:04,000
monocle and discusses for 
philosophy. 

368
00:21:04,000 --> 00:21:07,100
Not like a mouse who people will
actually enjoy watching. 

369
00:21:08,000 --> 00:21:10,600
She suggests Mickey, which 
sounds friendly or more 

370
00:21:10,600 --> 00:21:13,500
approachable, like a mouse. 
You might actually invite into 

371
00:21:13,500 --> 00:21:15,700
your house if he promised to 
leave the wiring alone. 

372
00:21:16,800 --> 00:21:20,500
The first two, Mickey Mouse 
cartoons plane crazy and the 

373
00:21:20,500 --> 00:21:24,900
gallopin Gaucho fail to find 
distributors. a technically, 

374
00:21:24,900 --> 00:21:27,900
well, made the animation is 
smooth and Mickey has 

375
00:21:27,900 --> 00:21:30,900
personality, but there are 
hundreds of cartoon characters 

376
00:21:30,900 --> 00:21:33,900
competing for attention and a 
mouse doesn't seem particularly 

377
00:21:33,900 --> 00:21:37,800
special just because he's well 
drawn, Then Walt learns about 

378
00:21:37,800 --> 00:21:41,000
sound. 
The jazz singer has demonstrated

379
00:21:41,000 --> 00:21:43,000
that audiences will pay for 
talking pictures. 

380
00:21:43,000 --> 00:21:46,500
And while most Animation Studios
are ignoring this development 

381
00:21:46,500 --> 00:21:51,000
while sees an opportunity. 
If he can sink realize sound 

382
00:21:51,000 --> 00:21:55,400
with animation and actually 
match sound effects and music to

383
00:21:55,400 --> 00:21:58,800
the on-screen action instead of 
just adding a generic Musical 

384
00:21:58,800 --> 00:22:01,600
soundtrack, he might have 
something that stands out. 

385
00:22:02,900 --> 00:22:05,800
Steamboat Willie premieres at 
the colony theater in New York, 

386
00:22:05,800 --> 00:22:09,900
on November 18th 1928. 
And it's not just a cartoon, 

387
00:22:09,900 --> 00:22:14,200
it's a revelation. 
Mickey, whistles in sync with 

388
00:22:14,200 --> 00:22:17,300
the Steamboat's whistle. 
He plays music on various 

389
00:22:17,300 --> 00:22:21,100
animals and objects, The Sounds 
matching the movements exactly 

390
00:22:21,100 --> 00:22:24,000
the audience. 
Laughs, not just at what's 

391
00:22:24,000 --> 00:22:27,900
happening, but at the Precision 
of it, the waist sound and 

392
00:22:27,900 --> 00:22:31,500
image, marry in ways that feel 
both Innovative and inevitable. 

393
00:22:32,300 --> 00:22:34,600
Mickey Mouse becomes a 
phenomenon with a speed that 

394
00:22:34,600 --> 00:22:39,200
surprises everyone including 
Walt theaters demand more Mickey

395
00:22:39,200 --> 00:22:43,900
cartoons merchandise appears 
Mickey Mouse watches toys and 

396
00:22:43,900 --> 00:22:46,600
clothing parents who would 
normally discourage their 

397
00:22:46,600 --> 00:22:49,700
children from thinking fondly of
rodents, suddenly find 

398
00:22:49,700 --> 00:22:51,900
themselves purchasing Mouse 
eared products. 

399
00:22:52,600 --> 00:22:56,100
Mickey transcends being a 
cartoon character and becomes 

400
00:22:56,100 --> 00:22:59,300
something closer to a cultural 
Touchstone, a symbol of 

401
00:22:59,308 --> 00:23:01,700
something, optimistic and 
fundamentally American. 

402
00:23:02,600 --> 00:23:06,300
The Hyperion Avenue studio in 
the early 1930s, hums with the 

403
00:23:06,300 --> 00:23:09,200
particular energy of a place 
that's figured out its onto 

404
00:23:09,200 --> 00:23:13,000
something significant. 
Animators crowd around drawing 

405
00:23:13,000 --> 00:23:15,400
boards. 
Each responsible for specific 

406
00:23:15,400 --> 00:23:19,000
characters or specific scenes 
their pencils moving with 

407
00:23:19,000 --> 00:23:22,700
practiced efficiency. 
The room smells of paper and ink

408
00:23:22,700 --> 00:23:25,000
coffee. 
That's been sitting too long and

409
00:23:25,000 --> 00:23:27,700
the faint chemical Tang of the 
film development process 

410
00:23:27,700 --> 00:23:31,700
happening in a Json rooms. 
Walt moves through the studio 

411
00:23:31,700 --> 00:23:34,500
like a conductor whose learned 
that the best performance is 

412
00:23:34,500 --> 00:23:37,900
come not from rigid control. 
But from understanding each 

413
00:23:37,900 --> 00:23:42,200
musician, strengths he knows 
which animators excel at comedy,

414
00:23:42,200 --> 00:23:45,800
which ones handle emotion better
and who can draw the most 

415
00:23:45,800 --> 00:23:49,500
expressive eyes. 
The studio has grown from a 

416
00:23:49,500 --> 00:23:54,400
handful of people to over 100 
employees, each one contributing

417
00:23:54,400 --> 00:23:57,200
to an assembly line, that 
produces entertainment the way, 

418
00:23:57,200 --> 00:24:00,800
Ford produces automobiles, 
through specialization and 

419
00:24:00,800 --> 00:24:04,200
coordination. 
The Silly Symphony series 

420
00:24:04,200 --> 00:24:07,100
launches as an experimental 
Counterpoint to Mickey Mouse 

421
00:24:07,100 --> 00:24:10,000
cartoons. 
While Mickey has to maintain his

422
00:24:10,000 --> 00:24:13,700
personality, in his brand, the 
Symphonies can explore different

423
00:24:13,700 --> 00:24:17,400
styles, different stories and 
different approaches to 

424
00:24:17,400 --> 00:24:22,500
animation. 
Flowers and trees in 1932 become

425
00:24:22,500 --> 00:24:26,700
the first full color cartoon 
using the new three-strip 

426
00:24:26,700 --> 00:24:29,400
Technicolor process to create 
visuals. 

427
00:24:29,400 --> 00:24:32,000
That audience is of literally 
never seen before. 

428
00:24:32,900 --> 00:24:36,200
Trees bloom in actual color, 
flowers display, their full 

429
00:24:36,200 --> 00:24:40,000
spectrum and suddenly animation 
isn't just black and white 

430
00:24:40,000 --> 00:24:42,100
figures moving across great 
backgrounds. 

431
00:24:42,800 --> 00:24:46,000
What becomes obsessed with 
improvement, with pushing 

432
00:24:46,000 --> 00:24:48,800
animation, beyond what anyone 
considers is natural 

433
00:24:48,800 --> 00:24:52,000
limitations. 
He sends animators to art 

434
00:24:52,000 --> 00:24:56,200
classes at the tree, not art 
institute, insists, they study 

435
00:24:56,200 --> 00:24:59,800
anatomy and movement and brings 
in animals for them to observe 

436
00:24:59,800 --> 00:25:03,100
and sketch. 
When they're animating dear. 

437
00:25:03,100 --> 00:25:07,700
He wants them to understand how 
dear actually move, not just how

438
00:25:07,700 --> 00:25:10,200
cartoonists of traditionally 
drawn deer movement. 

439
00:25:11,100 --> 00:25:14,500
The studio develops innovations,
that become industry standards, 

440
00:25:14,500 --> 00:25:18,200
the multi-plane camera, which 
allows different animation 

441
00:25:18,200 --> 00:25:21,200
levels to be photographed. 
Separately to create depth, and 

442
00:25:21,200 --> 00:25:25,000
Parallax. 
Effects transforms flat cartoons

443
00:25:25,000 --> 00:25:28,800
into three-dimensional spaces, 
character, animation becomes 

444
00:25:28,800 --> 00:25:31,400
more sophisticated. 
A movement become more 

445
00:25:31,400 --> 00:25:34,400
naturalistic while maintaining 
cartoon exaggeration. 

446
00:25:35,400 --> 00:25:38,400
Background paintings, grow more 
detail and atmosphere rack. 

447
00:25:39,200 --> 00:25:43,700
Donald Duck appears in 1934, the
wise Little Hen and suddenly 

448
00:25:43,700 --> 00:25:45,900
Mickey has competition within 
his own Studio. 

449
00:25:46,900 --> 00:25:50,900
Donald's areas of Personality, 
his tendency towards tantrums 

450
00:25:50,900 --> 00:25:55,100
and his voice, that sounds like 
someone gargling while angry all

451
00:25:55,100 --> 00:25:57,500
of it creates a character that 
audiences Embrace with 

452
00:25:57,500 --> 00:26:01,800
unexpected in enthusiasm Turns 
out people enjoy watching 

453
00:26:01,800 --> 00:26:05,100
characters, who display the 
frustration and annoyance is 

454
00:26:05,100 --> 00:26:08,100
that polite Society requires 
them to suppress in real life. 

455
00:26:08,900 --> 00:26:11,800
goofy arrives as a character 
built entirely around physical 

456
00:26:11,800 --> 00:26:15,700
comedy and cheerful, 
obliviousness, Pluto 

457
00:26:15,700 --> 00:26:18,500
demonstrates that you can have a
popular character who never 

458
00:26:18,500 --> 00:26:22,600
speaks communicating entirely 
through body language and facial

459
00:26:22,600 --> 00:26:25,300
expressions. 
The studio builds a Repertory 

460
00:26:25,300 --> 00:26:28,600
company of characters, each one 
bringing different comedic 

461
00:26:28,600 --> 00:26:31,400
possibilities and different 
storytelling opportunities. 

462
00:26:31,400 --> 00:26:35,900
But Waltz ambition won't be 
contained by 7 Minutes shorts. 

463
00:26:36,500 --> 00:26:39,400
You starts talking about a 
feature length, animated film, 

464
00:26:39,400 --> 00:26:43,200
which makes Financial backers 
nervous, and makes industry 

465
00:26:43,200 --> 00:26:47,100
insiders predict disaster. 
The received wisdom is clear 

466
00:26:47,100 --> 00:26:51,000
audiences won't sit through an 
hour of animation. 

467
00:26:51,800 --> 00:26:55,200
Cartoon and novelties, 
appetizers before the main 

468
00:26:55,200 --> 00:26:58,900
course of live action films. 
Trying to make an animated 

469
00:26:58,900 --> 00:27:02,500
feature is like trying to make a
meal entirely of parsley 

470
00:27:02,500 --> 00:27:06,700
technically possible, but who 
would actually want it Walt 

471
00:27:06,700 --> 00:27:09,100
doesn't argue with them so much 
as ignore their concerns 

472
00:27:09,100 --> 00:27:11,800
entirely. 
He's already decided on the 

473
00:27:11,800 --> 00:27:15,800
story Snow White and the Seven 
Dwarfs a fairy tale that 

474
00:27:15,800 --> 00:27:18,000
everyone knows. 
But that's never been told quite

475
00:27:18,000 --> 00:27:21,400
this way. 
He starts production in 1934, 

476
00:27:21,400 --> 00:27:26,200
initially estimating, it will 
cost $250,000 dollars and take 

477
00:27:26,200 --> 00:27:29,000
18 months. 
He's wrong on both counts by 

478
00:27:29,000 --> 00:27:30,700
margins. 
That would be funny if they 

479
00:27:30,700 --> 00:27:33,300
weren't. 
So financially terrifying, the 

480
00:27:33,300 --> 00:27:37,200
production expands to consume 
everything, the budget, balloons

481
00:27:37,200 --> 00:27:40,000
to 1.5 million dollars and 
amounts. 

482
00:27:40,000 --> 00:27:43,000
So astronomical that industry. 
Insight is nicknamed, the 

483
00:27:43,008 --> 00:27:46,500
project Disney's folly. 
Walt mortgages everything. 

484
00:27:46,500 --> 00:27:50,200
His house, his life insurance 
and the studio itself. 

485
00:27:51,100 --> 00:27:54,800
He becomes impossible to live 
with obsessed with details, 

486
00:27:54,800 --> 00:27:59,000
demanding retakes of scenes that
other people think are perfectly

487
00:27:59,000 --> 00:28:01,400
fine and pushing for a level of 
quality. 

488
00:28:01,400 --> 00:28:04,600
That no one has achieved before 
because no one has been foolish 

489
00:28:04,600 --> 00:28:06,800
enough to attempt feature length
animation. 

490
00:28:08,100 --> 00:28:12,300
The animators work, brutal 
hours, redrawing scenes over and

491
00:28:12,300 --> 00:28:15,800
over until they satisfy Waltz 
exacting standards. 

492
00:28:16,600 --> 00:28:19,400
The dwarfs alone require months 
of development. 

493
00:28:19,400 --> 00:28:23,200
They need to be distinct from 
each other recognizable. 

494
00:28:23,200 --> 00:28:26,200
Not just by their names, but by 
their movements, their 

495
00:28:26,200 --> 00:28:28,700
personalities and the way they 
occupy space. 

496
00:28:29,700 --> 00:28:33,200
Snow White herself has to be 
believable as a young woman, not

497
00:28:33,200 --> 00:28:36,600
just a cartoon character, which 
requires study of actual human 

498
00:28:36,600 --> 00:28:38,300
movement that borders on 
obsessive. 

499
00:28:39,200 --> 00:28:42,200
The studio develops, new 
techniques, specifically for 

500
00:28:42,200 --> 00:28:45,200
Snow White. 
They build elaborate storyboards

501
00:28:45,200 --> 00:28:47,500
planning every scene before 
animating it. 

502
00:28:47,500 --> 00:28:50,800
They create detailed model. 
Sheets showing each character 

503
00:28:50,800 --> 00:28:55,100
from multiple angles ensuring 
consistency across hundreds of 

504
00:28:55,108 --> 00:28:57,800
animators and thousands of 
drawings. 

505
00:28:57,800 --> 00:29:02,700
They test sequences with preview
audiences learning what works, 

506
00:29:02,700 --> 00:29:08,400
and what Falls flat? 
December 21st, 1937 arrived, and

507
00:29:08,400 --> 00:29:11,400
Snow White premieres at the 
carface Circle Theater in Los 

508
00:29:11,400 --> 00:29:13,800
Angeles. 
The audience includes 

509
00:29:13,800 --> 00:29:17,000
Hollywood's Elite critics who 
have sharpen their knives in 

510
00:29:17,000 --> 00:29:20,900
anticipation of Disney's failure
and Walton himself whose two 

511
00:29:20,900 --> 00:29:23,700
nervous to watch and spends. 
Most of the premiere pacing in 

512
00:29:23,708 --> 00:29:26,700
the lobby. 
But then something unexpected 

513
00:29:26,700 --> 00:29:30,200
happened. 
The movie works the audience 

514
00:29:30,200 --> 00:29:33,500
laughs at the dwarves gets 
frightened by the evil, queen 

515
00:29:33,500 --> 00:29:36,100
and cries when Snow White 
appears to die. 

516
00:29:37,100 --> 00:29:40,500
They sit through all 83 minutes 
without fidgeting without 

517
00:29:40,500 --> 00:29:43,800
leaving without any sign that 
they're watching something 

518
00:29:43,800 --> 00:29:47,200
unprecedented. 
The standing ovation at the end,

519
00:29:47,200 --> 00:29:51,200
lost several minutes and critics
who arrived prepare to write a 

520
00:29:51,200 --> 00:29:52,800
bitter is in Stead write 
Valentine's. 

521
00:29:54,100 --> 00:29:58,800
Snow White becomes the highest 
grossing film of 1938, earning 8

522
00:29:58,800 --> 00:30:01,900
million dollars during its 
initial release at a time when 

523
00:30:01,900 --> 00:30:06,300
movie tickets cost quarters. 
It demonstrates that animation 

524
00:30:06,300 --> 00:30:09,800
can carry feature-length, 
narratives, can make audiences 

525
00:30:09,800 --> 00:30:13,900
feel genuine emotion and can be 
art and commerce simultaneously.

526
00:30:15,100 --> 00:30:18,100
Disney's Folly becomes Disney's 
Triumph. 

527
00:30:18,600 --> 00:30:22,200
And suddenly Walt has both 
Vindication and a terrible new 

528
00:30:22,200 --> 00:30:24,400
problem. 
What do you do for an encore 

529
00:30:24,400 --> 00:30:26,800
after you've accomplished 
something everyone said was 

530
00:30:26,800 --> 00:30:30,500
impossible. 
The studio in the late, 1930s 

531
00:30:30,500 --> 00:30:33,900
operates at a level of ambition,
that makes previous work. 

532
00:30:33,900 --> 00:30:37,900
Look like preliminary sketches. 
With Snow White's success. 

533
00:30:37,900 --> 00:30:41,700
Walt has both capital and 
credibility to attempt even more

534
00:30:41,700 --> 00:30:45,500
elaborate projects. 
He greenlights multiple feature 

535
00:30:45,500 --> 00:30:51,200
films, simultaneously Pinocchio,
Fantasia, Bambi and Dumbo. 

536
00:30:51,900 --> 00:30:54,200
Each one pushing different 
Technical and artistic 

537
00:30:54,200 --> 00:30:57,800
boundaries. 
Pinocchio released in 1940. 

538
00:30:57,800 --> 00:31:00,800
Showcases technical 
achievements, that still impress

539
00:31:00,800 --> 00:31:04,100
modern viewers. 
The underwater sequences the 

540
00:31:04,100 --> 00:31:07,200
transformation. 
Scenes, monstro the ways attack 

541
00:31:07,200 --> 00:31:10,900
all of it, required Innovations 
in effects animation and 

542
00:31:10,900 --> 00:31:15,100
Technical problem solving The 
film costs 2.6 million dollars 

543
00:31:15,100 --> 00:31:19,300
even more than Snow White and 
while it's a critical success, 

544
00:31:19,300 --> 00:31:22,600
the outbreak of World War Two in
Europe, closest off 

545
00:31:22,600 --> 00:31:25,300
International markets that Snow 
White relied on for 

546
00:31:25,300 --> 00:31:28,800
profitability. 
Fantasia becomes Waltz, most 

547
00:31:28,800 --> 00:31:32,200
ambitious experiment, and 
attempt to elevate, animation to

548
00:31:32,200 --> 00:31:34,500
high art by marrying it with 
classical music. 

549
00:31:35,700 --> 00:31:39,600
Leopold Stokowski conducts, the 
Philadelphia Orchestra while 

550
00:31:39,600 --> 00:31:42,100
Mickey Mouse appears. 
As The Sorcerer's Apprentice 

551
00:31:42,100 --> 00:31:46,600
hippos and alligators perform 
ballet and dinosaurs marched to 

552
00:31:46,600 --> 00:31:52,000
Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring.
it's beautiful Innovative and 

553
00:31:52,000 --> 00:31:55,500
two avant-garde for General 
audiences, who prefer their cars

554
00:31:55,500 --> 00:31:59,100
to include more jokes and fewer 
abstract visualizations of 

555
00:31:59,100 --> 00:32:03,400
Beethoven's pastoral symphony 
The studio has grown to over 

556
00:32:03,400 --> 00:32:07,800
1000 employees, operating out of
a brand new facility in Burbank.

557
00:32:07,800 --> 00:32:10,400
That looks more like a college 
campus than a factory for 

558
00:32:10,400 --> 00:32:13,100
fantasy. 
The buildings are sleek and 

559
00:32:13,100 --> 00:32:16,600
modern designed with the latest 
thinking of about workspace 

560
00:32:16,600 --> 00:32:21,400
efficiency and employee comfort.
There's a cafeteria recreational

561
00:32:21,400 --> 00:32:25,000
facilities and even classes 
available on company time. 

562
00:32:25,000 --> 00:32:28,300
It's the kind of workplace that 
should generate loyalty and 

563
00:32:28,300 --> 00:32:31,900
satisfaction. 
Instead tension, builds like 

564
00:32:31,900 --> 00:32:36,200
pressure in a sealed container. 
The animators at the top earn, 

565
00:32:36,200 --> 00:32:38,900
excellent. 
Salaries received screen credits

566
00:32:38,900 --> 00:32:42,900
and enjoy creative input on 
projects. the artist at the 

567
00:32:42,900 --> 00:32:46,000
bottom, The Inbetweeners the 
Incas, the painters, who do 

568
00:32:46,000 --> 00:32:50,700
crucial, but unglamorous work, 
Earn a fraction as much receive 

569
00:32:50,700 --> 00:32:53,700
no recognition and have no 
creative input. 

570
00:32:54,900 --> 00:32:57,900
The inequality feels more Stark 
in a company that projects 

571
00:32:57,900 --> 00:33:01,300
itself, as a happy family 
creating magic together. 

572
00:33:02,500 --> 00:33:08,300
In May 1941 the studio strikes. 
Workers, pick it outside the 

573
00:33:08,300 --> 00:33:12,400
Burbank, Gates carrying signs 
that protest wages and working 

574
00:33:12,400 --> 00:33:16,000
conditions. 
Walt takes it personally viewing

575
00:33:16,000 --> 00:33:19,200
the strike as a betrayal by 
people he considered family 

576
00:33:19,200 --> 00:33:23,100
unable or unwilling to see how a
business of over 1000. 

577
00:33:23,100 --> 00:33:26,100
People might have different 
Dynamics than a garage. 

578
00:33:26,100 --> 00:33:29,500
Operation of five people who all
knew each other's birth days. 

579
00:33:31,000 --> 00:33:34,100
The strike last five weeks and 
ends with a federal mediator, 

580
00:33:34,100 --> 00:33:37,400
negotiating, a settlement that 
grants many of the unions 

581
00:33:37,400 --> 00:33:41,300
demands. 
Walt agrees to the terms, but 

582
00:33:41,300 --> 00:33:43,800
something in him. 
Hardened, the innocence of 

583
00:33:43,800 --> 00:33:47,300
thinking everyone shares his 
vision, everyone will sacrifice 

584
00:33:47,300 --> 00:33:49,700
for the dream and everyone 
values. 

585
00:33:49,700 --> 00:33:54,300
The work of compensation, all of
that, evaporates, the studio 

586
00:33:54,300 --> 00:33:58,100
continues making films and 
continues innovating, but the 

587
00:33:58,100 --> 00:34:00,400
family feeling never quite 
returns. 

588
00:34:01,200 --> 00:34:06,000
Dumbo released in October 1941 
demonstrates, that Disney can 

589
00:34:06,000 --> 00:34:08,500
work simpler and more 
economically when necessary. 

590
00:34:09,400 --> 00:34:14,300
The film costs 800,000 dollars 
less than a third of Pinocchio's

591
00:34:14,300 --> 00:34:18,000
budget and becomes the studios 
most profitable release in Snow 

592
00:34:18,000 --> 00:34:21,300
White. 
Sometimes limitations Force 

593
00:34:21,300 --> 00:34:25,000
creativity, rather than 
stifling, it Dumbo's watercolor 

594
00:34:25,000 --> 00:34:26,900
backgrounds and straightforward 
storytelling. 

595
00:34:26,900 --> 00:34:30,100
Prove that technical 
sophistication isn't always 

596
00:34:30,100 --> 00:34:32,000
necessary for emotional 
resonance. 

597
00:34:32,800 --> 00:34:36,199
Then comes December 7th. 1941 
and Pearl. 

598
00:34:36,199 --> 00:34:40,500
Harbor changes everything. 
Within 24 hours of the attack. 

599
00:34:40,500 --> 00:34:43,699
The US Army commanders. 
Most of the Burbank Studios 

600
00:34:43,699 --> 00:34:47,199
using it to house troops 
protecting nearby aircraft 

601
00:34:47,199 --> 00:34:50,900
facilities. 
Disney's feature animation gets 

602
00:34:50,900 --> 00:34:54,100
placed on hold as the studio 
shifts to produce in training 

603
00:34:54,100 --> 00:34:58,300
films, propaganda shorts, an 
educational content for the 

604
00:34:58,300 --> 00:35:01,600
military. 
Walter approaches the Warwick 

605
00:35:01,600 --> 00:35:05,200
with characteristic thoroughness
the studio producers, over 

606
00:35:05,200 --> 00:35:08,100
400,000 feet of educational and 
training film. 

607
00:35:08,100 --> 00:35:11,100
During the War years, teaching 
soldiers, everything from 

608
00:35:11,100 --> 00:35:15,400
aircraft identification to 
malaria prevention. they create 

609
00:35:15,400 --> 00:35:19,300
propaganda films like defyers 
face and education for death, 

610
00:35:19,300 --> 00:35:24,000
using animations ability to 
simplify complex ideas and make 

611
00:35:24,000 --> 00:35:28,700
abstract Concepts visual The War
years of financially stable, but

612
00:35:28,700 --> 00:35:32,600
creatively frustrating. 
Walt wants to make feature films

613
00:35:32,600 --> 00:35:35,600
that push artistic boundaries, 
but the government needs 

614
00:35:35,600 --> 00:35:37,800
training films, about food 
sanitation. 

615
00:35:37,800 --> 00:35:42,200
And the importance of paying 
taxes, the studio stays solvent,

616
00:35:42,200 --> 00:35:45,700
keeps people employed and 
contributes to the war effort, 

617
00:35:45,700 --> 00:35:48,300
but won't spends much of the 
period planning. 

618
00:35:48,300 --> 00:35:51,600
For after imagining, what Disney
will become once the world 

619
00:35:51,600 --> 00:35:56,000
returns to normal. 
Bambi finally released in August

620
00:35:56,000 --> 00:36:00,700
1942 represents the peak of a 
certain kind of Animation, the 

621
00:36:00,700 --> 00:36:03,100
pursuit of naturalism within 
cartoon form. 

622
00:36:03,100 --> 00:36:06,300
The forest backgrounds are so 
detailed their practically 

623
00:36:06,300 --> 00:36:08,800
painting's. 
The animal movements are study 

624
00:36:08,800 --> 00:36:12,000
from real deer and rabbits. 
And the emotional beats are 

625
00:36:12,000 --> 00:36:15,000
handled with restraint and Trust
in the audience's intelligence. 

626
00:36:16,600 --> 00:36:19,000
The death of Bambi's. 
Mother becomes one of Cinema's. 

627
00:36:19,000 --> 00:36:23,500
Most famous traumatic moments 
demonstrating that animation can

628
00:36:23,500 --> 00:36:26,100
devastate just as effectively as
live action. 

629
00:36:27,100 --> 00:36:30,800
The late 1940s find Walt 
Restless searching for the next 

630
00:36:30,800 --> 00:36:34,000
Direction. 
The studio produces package 

631
00:36:34,000 --> 00:36:37,700
films, compilations of short, 
strung together with loose 

632
00:36:37,700 --> 00:36:40,800
themes, because making 
full-fledged features remains 

633
00:36:40,800 --> 00:36:44,700
financially risky. 
Make my music fun and fancy 

634
00:36:44,700 --> 00:36:47,400
free, and Melody time they're 
competent. 

635
00:36:47,400 --> 00:36:51,300
But clearly stop Gap measures 
keeping the studio active while.

636
00:36:51,300 --> 00:36:54,200
Walt figures out, what Disney 
Animation should become in a 

637
00:36:54,200 --> 00:36:55,700
world that survived a global 
war. 

638
00:36:55,700 --> 00:37:00,900
True Life, Adventures emerges as
an unexpected success, Walt 

639
00:37:00,900 --> 00:37:04,800
funds documentary filmmakers, 
traveling to remote locations to

640
00:37:04,800 --> 00:37:09,100
capture actual animal behavior. 
Then edits the footage into 

641
00:37:09,100 --> 00:37:12,200
theatrical releases, Seal 
Island. 

642
00:37:12,200 --> 00:37:15,000
The Living Desert, The Vanishing
prayer Prairie. 

643
00:37:15,700 --> 00:37:19,600
The satisfy Waltz in nature, 
while generating steady revenue 

644
00:37:19,600 --> 00:37:23,400
and critical Acclaim, including 
multiple Academy Awards. 

645
00:37:24,900 --> 00:37:28,400
But whats attention increasingly
drifts toward live action, film,

646
00:37:28,400 --> 00:37:32,400
animation remains profitable. 
But it's also labor-intensive 

647
00:37:32,400 --> 00:37:36,100
and expensive, requiring 
thousands of hours and hundreds 

648
00:37:36,100 --> 00:37:38,500
of artists to produce 90 minutes
of film. 

649
00:37:39,400 --> 00:37:42,500
Live action offers different 
possibilities, faster, 

650
00:37:42,500 --> 00:37:46,200
production, broader subject 
matter, and stories that don't 

651
00:37:46,200 --> 00:37:49,400
require translating reality into
drawn form. 

652
00:37:50,500 --> 00:37:54,900
Treasure Island released in 1950
becomes Disney's first 

653
00:37:54,900 --> 00:37:59,000
completely live action feature. 
Its successful enough to 

654
00:37:59,000 --> 00:38:02,200
encourage more 20,000 Leagues, 
Under the Sea. 

655
00:38:02,200 --> 00:38:05,200
The Swiss Family Robinson and 
Old Yeller. 

656
00:38:05,800 --> 00:38:09,400
The studio diversifies becoming 
more than just animation. 

657
00:38:09,400 --> 00:38:12,900
Though the animated features 
continue appearing at regular 

658
00:38:12,900 --> 00:38:16,600
intervals. 
Cinderella in 1950, Alice in 

659
00:38:16,600 --> 00:38:22,100
Wonderland in 1951 and Peter Pan
in 1953 Cinderella proves 

660
00:38:22,100 --> 00:38:26,000
particularly crucial Financial 
earning 8 million dollars and 

661
00:38:26,000 --> 00:38:28,700
giving the studio. 
The capital needed to expand in 

662
00:38:28,700 --> 00:38:32,500
new directions. 
The film returns to fairy tale 

663
00:38:32,500 --> 00:38:34,600
territory. 
But with Lessons Learned From 

664
00:38:34,600 --> 00:38:38,300
early features, the animation is
elegant without being as 

665
00:38:38,300 --> 00:38:41,800
exhaustively details. 
As Bambi, the songs are catchy 

666
00:38:41,800 --> 00:38:45,000
without overwhelming, The 
Narrative and the mice, like 

667
00:38:45,000 --> 00:38:47,600
kicks provide comedy relief 
without becoming annoying. 

668
00:38:47,600 --> 00:38:51,500
Its animation, that knows 
exactly what it wants to be and 

669
00:38:51,500 --> 00:38:55,000
achieve it with apparent ease 
that mosques tremendous effort. 

670
00:38:56,200 --> 00:39:00,300
Television enters Walt strategic
thinking as the 1950s progress 

671
00:39:00,300 --> 00:39:04,000
other Studios, fear. 
Television viewing it as 

672
00:39:04,000 --> 00:39:06,600
competition that will destroy 
theatrical film. 

673
00:39:07,400 --> 00:39:10,500
Waltzes it is another 
distribution Channel, another 

674
00:39:10,500 --> 00:39:13,000
way to reach audiences and 
promote Disney products. 

675
00:39:13,800 --> 00:39:18,300
The Disneyland television showed
abuse in 1954, combining new 

676
00:39:18,300 --> 00:39:21,500
content with repurposed 
animation, and behind the scenes

677
00:39:21,500 --> 00:39:25,400
footage from upcoming films. 
The show becomes a massive 

678
00:39:25,400 --> 00:39:27,600
success. 
One of the highest rated 

679
00:39:27,600 --> 00:39:31,400
programs on television, Walt 
hosts segments, himself, 

680
00:39:31,400 --> 00:39:34,500
appearing, comfortable, and 
natural, in a way that surprises

681
00:39:34,500 --> 00:39:37,800
people who know him primarily as
an intense perfectionist. 

682
00:39:38,600 --> 00:39:43,200
On television he becomes Uncle 
Walt, genial and accessible 

683
00:39:43,200 --> 00:39:46,600
explaining how animation works 
or introducing Nature 

684
00:39:46,600 --> 00:39:48,700
Documentaries with genuine 
enthusiasm. 

685
00:39:50,400 --> 00:39:54,100
The Mickey Mouse Club, launches 
in 1955 targeting children 

686
00:39:54,100 --> 00:39:58,100
directly with a daily Variety 
Show featuring the mouse tears, 

687
00:39:58,100 --> 00:40:01,700
talented young performers, 
singing dancing, and appearing 

688
00:40:01,700 --> 00:40:04,700
in cereals. 
The shows the theme song become 

689
00:40:04,700 --> 00:40:08,600
so ubiquitous that adults 
decades later, can still sing it

690
00:40:08,600 --> 00:40:11,200
reflectively, which suggests 
either impressive. 

691
00:40:11,200 --> 00:40:14,700
Cultural penetration all the 
lingering effect of childhood 

692
00:40:14,700 --> 00:40:16,900
programming depending on your 
perspective? 

693
00:40:18,200 --> 00:40:21,700
But what's most ambitious 
project in the 1950s isn't a 

694
00:40:21,700 --> 00:40:24,400
film or a television show, it's 
something that will eventually 

695
00:40:24,400 --> 00:40:27,200
transform his company and 
influence entertainment 

696
00:40:27,200 --> 00:40:30,800
worldwide. 
It's a park picture Walt in the 

697
00:40:30,808 --> 00:40:34,600
early 1950s sitting on a bench 
at Griffith Park in Los Angeles 

698
00:40:34,600 --> 00:40:37,000
watching his daughters ride, the
merry-go-round. 

699
00:40:38,200 --> 00:40:41,700
Other parents sit on similar 
benches looking vaguely bored 

700
00:40:41,700 --> 00:40:45,000
waiting for their children to 
Tire of repetitive circular 

701
00:40:45,000 --> 00:40:47,600
motion. 
Watches and thinks. 

702
00:40:48,400 --> 00:40:51,000
What if there was a place where 
parents and children could have 

703
00:40:51,000 --> 00:40:53,700
fun together? 
Where the entertainment wasn't 

704
00:40:53,700 --> 00:40:56,100
just competent but actually 
imaginative. 

705
00:40:57,000 --> 00:41:00,000
Where every detail contributed 
to creating a cohesive 

706
00:41:00,000 --> 00:41:03,700
experience. 
The idea starts small, a smaller

707
00:41:03,700 --> 00:41:06,300
attraction near the studio, 
where people visiting Burbank 

708
00:41:06,300 --> 00:41:09,300
could see how films are made and
maybe enjoy some simple 

709
00:41:09,300 --> 00:41:12,100
entertainment, but Walt doesn't 
do small for long. 

710
00:41:12,900 --> 00:41:16,600
The concept expands grows and 
become something unprecedented. 

711
00:41:17,900 --> 00:41:21,700
Full-scale amusement park that's
actually clean were employees, 

712
00:41:21,700 --> 00:41:25,200
are trained to be helpful, 
rather than merely present where

713
00:41:25,200 --> 00:41:28,300
the theming is consistent. 
And where the attractions tell 

714
00:41:28,300 --> 00:41:33,300
stories Amusement parks in the 
early 1950s exist, primarily to 

715
00:41:33,300 --> 00:41:36,600
separate working-class people 
from their money through 

716
00:41:36,600 --> 00:41:39,900
mechanical, Thrills and games of
dubious probability. 

717
00:41:40,700 --> 00:41:43,900
They're often dirty 
occasionally, dangerous and 

718
00:41:43,900 --> 00:41:47,200
staffed by people who view 
children, as loud obstacles to 

719
00:41:47,200 --> 00:41:51,200
endure until quitting time. 
The idea of creating a park 

720
00:41:51,200 --> 00:41:53,800
that's family friendly and 
immersive, and actually, 

721
00:41:53,800 --> 00:41:57,800
Pleasant strikes, most people as
economically questionable. 

722
00:41:58,600 --> 00:42:02,400
Walt visits amusement parks, 
across the country, taking notes

723
00:42:02,400 --> 00:42:05,700
on what works and what doesn't 
mostly what does doesn't. 

724
00:42:06,600 --> 00:42:11,000
He travels to Europe and visits,
Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen and

725
00:42:11,000 --> 00:42:13,200
other parks, that take 
Aesthetics, seriously. 

726
00:42:13,200 --> 00:42:15,600
And that understand atmosphere 
matters. 

727
00:42:16,700 --> 00:42:20,500
He fills notebooks with sketches
and observations gradually 

728
00:42:20,500 --> 00:42:22,200
refining what this park should 
be. 

729
00:42:23,100 --> 00:42:27,500
The location becomes critical. 
Anaheim in 1953 is mostly orange

730
00:42:27,500 --> 00:42:30,700
Grove's, far enough from Los 
Angeles to have available land, 

731
00:42:30,700 --> 00:42:32,200
but close enough to be 
accessible. 

732
00:42:33,300 --> 00:42:37,100
Walt buys 160 Acres through 
dummy, corporations to keep 

733
00:42:37,100 --> 00:42:41,000
prices down preparing to build 
something that exists primarily 

734
00:42:41,000 --> 00:42:46,100
in his imagination but is about 
to become extremely expensively 

735
00:42:46,100 --> 00:42:48,900
real. 
Financing proves challenging 

736
00:42:48,900 --> 00:42:52,800
because Banks remain skeptical. 
The entire concept sounds too. 

737
00:42:52,800 --> 00:42:56,400
Ambitious to risky and too 
dependent on Walt's Vision. 

738
00:42:56,400 --> 00:42:59,000
Being correct? 
When he's primarily known for 

739
00:42:59,000 --> 00:43:02,200
making cartoons, not for 
understanding amusement park 

740
00:43:02,200 --> 00:43:05,100
economics. 
Walt ends up leveraging, 

741
00:43:05,100 --> 00:43:08,800
everything selling his vacation 
home, borrowing, against his 

742
00:43:08,800 --> 00:43:12,000
life insurance, and using the 
television shows, both a 

743
00:43:12,000 --> 00:43:17,200
promotion and a funding source. 
Construction begins in July 1954

744
00:43:17,200 --> 00:43:20,000
and it's immediately clear. 
This won't be a conventional 

745
00:43:20,000 --> 00:43:23,200
project. 
Walters involved in every detail

746
00:43:23,200 --> 00:43:25,000
from the shape of the trash 
cans. 

747
00:43:25,000 --> 00:43:28,500
The uniforms the employees. 
He insist their cast members 

748
00:43:28,500 --> 00:43:33,900
will wear Main Street USA gets 
designed to look like an 

749
00:43:33,900 --> 00:43:36,900
idealized small town America 
from around 1910. 

750
00:43:36,900 --> 00:43:40,800
The kind of place that may have 
never actually existed but that 

751
00:43:40,800 --> 00:43:44,900
feels true enough to trigger 
nostalgia. the park divides into

752
00:43:44,900 --> 00:43:49,500
themed lands Adventureland, 
frontierland Fantasyland, and 

753
00:43:49,500 --> 00:43:53,500
Tomorrowland Each one promises 
transportation to different 

754
00:43:53,500 --> 00:43:57,100
places and time creating 
distinct experiences while 

755
00:43:57,100 --> 00:44:00,600
maintaining cohesion through 
careful design and Relentless 

756
00:44:00,600 --> 00:44:04,600
attention to detail. 
The castle Rises at the Hub 

757
00:44:04,600 --> 00:44:07,400
visible. 
From most of the park, providing

758
00:44:07,400 --> 00:44:13,000
both a landmark and a symbol 
Opening day, July 17th. 1955, 

759
00:44:13,000 --> 00:44:16,000
becomes a legendary disaster in 
Disney law. 

760
00:44:16,700 --> 00:44:19,100
The temperature in Anaheim 
reaches, 100 degrees, 

761
00:44:19,100 --> 00:44:21,800
counterfeit tickets. 
Flood the park bringing 

762
00:44:21,800 --> 00:44:25,400
thousands more people than 
expected The asphalt on Main 

763
00:44:25,400 --> 00:44:28,900
Street is so fresh, that women's
high heels sink into it. 

764
00:44:29,600 --> 00:44:34,900
Drinking fountains don't work 
rides, break down food, runs 

765
00:44:34,900 --> 00:44:39,200
out, its chaos with corporate 
sponsorship and the Press covers

766
00:44:39,200 --> 00:44:42,200
it with the gleeful, enthusiasm 
reporters, bring to expensive 

767
00:44:42,200 --> 00:44:45,300
failures. 
But waltzes passed opening day 

768
00:44:45,300 --> 00:44:46,800
problems to what the park can 
become. 

769
00:44:47,600 --> 00:44:51,100
Within weeks, the king's get 
worked out the asphalt hardens 

770
00:44:51,100 --> 00:44:53,400
and the systems function as 
intended. 

771
00:44:54,400 --> 00:44:59,100
Attendance exceeds projections. 
Families line up for hours to 

772
00:44:59,100 --> 00:45:02,200
experience actions that 
transport them to Jungle rivers 

773
00:45:02,200 --> 00:45:06,000
and Frontier Forts and 
futuristic rocket trips. 

774
00:45:07,100 --> 00:45:09,900
Something about the park works 
at a level deeper than just 

775
00:45:09,900 --> 00:45:13,600
mechanical entertainment. 
Disneyland becomes profitable 

776
00:45:13,600 --> 00:45:17,100
within its first year which 
surprises the financial experts 

777
00:45:17,100 --> 00:45:20,800
who predicted disaster. 
More importantly, it proves the 

778
00:45:20,808 --> 00:45:25,200
concept people will pay for 
experiences not just rides. 

779
00:45:25,800 --> 00:45:28,700
They'll return multiple times 
because the park keeps adding 

780
00:45:28,700 --> 00:45:33,000
new attractions keeps refining, 
existing ones, and maintain 

781
00:45:33,000 --> 00:45:37,300
standards, that other amusement 
parks can't match. the park 

782
00:45:37,300 --> 00:45:41,500
influences, everything Walt does
afterward films get designed 

783
00:45:41,500 --> 00:45:45,600
with potential Park attractions 
in mind television shows promote

784
00:45:45,600 --> 00:45:49,300
upcoming Park Editions The park 
itself becomes a kind of 

785
00:45:49,300 --> 00:45:52,900
three-dimensional version of 
what Disney represents optimism 

786
00:45:52,900 --> 00:45:56,900
imagination. 
Attention to detail and family 

787
00:45:56,900 --> 00:45:59,800
entertainment, that doesn't 
condescend to children or Bora 

788
00:45:59,800 --> 00:46:04,700
adults. walks through Disneyland
constantly observing how people 

789
00:46:04,700 --> 00:46:08,400
interact with it noting what 
works and What needs adjustment 

790
00:46:09,200 --> 00:46:11,000
He stands in lines with other 
guests. 

791
00:46:11,600 --> 00:46:15,700
Watches their faces on actions 
and learns from their reactions.

792
00:46:16,400 --> 00:46:19,200
The park isn't finished on 
opening day, it's never 

793
00:46:19,200 --> 00:46:22,400
finished. 
Walt famously says, Disneyland 

794
00:46:22,400 --> 00:46:25,400
will never be complete. 
As long as there's imagination 

795
00:46:25,400 --> 00:46:28,600
left in the world. 
Which sounds like marketing copy

796
00:46:28,600 --> 00:46:31,300
but actually describes his 
approach accurately. 

797
00:46:32,200 --> 00:46:35,600
The 1960s find Walter at the 
height of influence, but 

798
00:46:35,600 --> 00:46:38,300
increasingly focused on projects
Beyond traditional 

799
00:46:38,300 --> 00:46:41,400
entertainment. 
Mary Poppins becomes the 

800
00:46:41,400 --> 00:46:45,100
culmination of decades pursuing 
film rights and the Perfect 

801
00:46:45,100 --> 00:46:48,500
Blend of live-action, animation 
and music. 

802
00:46:49,700 --> 00:46:53,500
Released in 1964, it became the 
biggest Disney box office 

803
00:46:53,500 --> 00:46:57,800
success during Walt's lifetime. 
Earning 13 Academy Award 

804
00:46:57,800 --> 00:47:00,900
nominations and cementing, Julie
Andrews, as a star. 

805
00:47:02,000 --> 00:47:03,700
But Walt's, mind is already 
elsewhere. 

806
00:47:04,500 --> 00:47:06,700
Focused on an even more, 
ambitious project than 

807
00:47:06,700 --> 00:47:09,800
Disneyland. 
He has been secretly buying land

808
00:47:09,800 --> 00:47:15,400
in Central Florida. 27,000 Acres
of swamps and orange Grove's, 

809
00:47:15,400 --> 00:47:18,800
purchased through dummy 
Corporation, to prevent price 

810
00:47:18,800 --> 00:47:22,200
speculation. 
The Florida project will be more

811
00:47:22,200 --> 00:47:24,500
than a park. 
It will be a city. 

812
00:47:24,500 --> 00:47:28,600
The experimental, prototype 
community of Tomorrow Epcot 

813
00:47:28,600 --> 00:47:33,300
consumes Waltz imagination in 
his final years, he envisions 

814
00:47:33,300 --> 00:47:37,500
and actual working City, where 
20,000 residents will test new 

815
00:47:37,500 --> 00:47:40,400
technologies and urban planning 
Concepts. 

816
00:47:41,200 --> 00:47:44,600
The city will be climate 
controlled built in concentric 

817
00:47:44,600 --> 00:47:48,700
circles, with businesses at the 
center and residential areas 

818
00:47:48,700 --> 00:47:52,600
radiating outward Transportation
will be efficient and 

819
00:47:52,600 --> 00:47:55,300
Innovative. 
Everything will be designed to 

820
00:47:55,300 --> 00:47:58,100
demonstrate how cities could 
function if freed from 

821
00:47:58,100 --> 00:48:00,400
historical constraints and 
conventional thinking. 

822
00:48:01,500 --> 00:48:04,400
Walt presents the Florida 
project in a film made. 

823
00:48:04,400 --> 00:48:09,100
In October 1966, explaining his 
vision with the enthusiasm of 

824
00:48:09,100 --> 00:48:12,700
someone describing something 
that already exists, rather than

825
00:48:12,700 --> 00:48:15,100
something that's mostly wish 
lines and ambition. 

826
00:48:15,100 --> 00:48:20,100
He's 64 years old, still smoking
heavily despite Health warnings 

827
00:48:20,100 --> 00:48:23,900
and still working brutal hours 
because the work itself provides

828
00:48:23,900 --> 00:48:28,100
energy that rest never could. 
The California Institute of the 

829
00:48:28,100 --> 00:48:31,400
Arts calarts represents another 
final project. 

830
00:48:32,500 --> 00:48:35,600
Walton Road donate land and 
resources to create a school, 

831
00:48:35,600 --> 00:48:39,600
that merges Visual Arts music, 
dance and theater. 

832
00:48:39,600 --> 00:48:43,300
It's meant to train the artist, 
who will carry Disney forward, 

833
00:48:43,300 --> 00:48:47,100
who will innovate, rather than 
simply replicating what's worked

834
00:48:47,100 --> 00:48:49,500
before? 
The school will eventually 

835
00:48:49,500 --> 00:48:53,200
become influential in ways that 
extend far beyond Disney, but 

836
00:48:53,200 --> 00:48:58,100
Walt won't live to see it. 
November 1966 brings a diagnosis

837
00:48:58,100 --> 00:49:01,300
that probably doesn't surprise 
Walt even if it devastates him. 

838
00:49:02,100 --> 00:49:06,000
Vance danced in operable. 
The doctors can offer palliative

839
00:49:06,000 --> 00:49:09,000
care but not much. 
Hope Walter approaches his 

840
00:49:09,000 --> 00:49:11,100
mortality with the same 
practicality. 

841
00:49:11,100 --> 00:49:12,600
He's brought to every other 
problem. 

842
00:49:12,600 --> 00:49:17,100
He has projects, to finish plans
to communicate and are not 

843
00:49:17,108 --> 00:49:20,100
probable, lung cancer, a legacy 
to secure. 

844
00:49:20,100 --> 00:49:24,500
He spent his final weeks trying 
to ensure the Florida project 

845
00:49:24,500 --> 00:49:27,500
will proceed correctly. 
There are meetings with 

846
00:49:27,500 --> 00:49:31,000
engineers and planners notes 
dictating how various elements 

847
00:49:31,000 --> 00:49:34,500
should function and sketches 
showing preferred layouts. 

848
00:49:34,500 --> 00:49:38,200
He's building something. 
He'll never see trying to 

849
00:49:38,200 --> 00:49:41,200
communicate a vision complex 
enough that it requires someone 

850
00:49:41,200 --> 00:49:44,100
else to believe in it as 
intensely as he does. 

851
00:49:44,100 --> 00:49:51,100
December 15th, 1966 arrives to 
quickly Walt Disney dies at St. 

852
00:49:51,100 --> 00:49:54,900
Joseph's Hospital in Burbank, 
his brother Roy at his bedside. 

853
00:49:54,900 --> 00:49:58,800
His vast Empire of entertainment
suddenly without its driving 

854
00:49:58,800 --> 00:50:02,400
visionary. 
He 65 years old, having spent 

855
00:50:02,400 --> 00:50:05,900
four decades transforming 
animation from a novelty into an

856
00:50:05,900 --> 00:50:08,600
art form. 
Theme parks from questionable, 

857
00:50:08,600 --> 00:50:12,700
Enterprises in to experiential 
destinations and family 

858
00:50:12,700 --> 00:50:15,100
entertainment from something 
apologetically. 

859
00:50:15,100 --> 00:50:19,700
Simple into something genuinely 
worthy of the attention to it. 

860
00:50:19,700 --> 00:50:22,500
The immediate question after 
Walt's, death is where the 

861
00:50:22,508 --> 00:50:24,300
Disney can survive without 
Disney. 

862
00:50:25,400 --> 00:50:29,000
Roy, postpones is retirement, 
takes over the company and 

863
00:50:29,000 --> 00:50:32,300
determined to see the Florida 
project completed as a tribute 

864
00:50:32,300 --> 00:50:35,800
to his brother. 
The park that opens in October 

865
00:50:35,800 --> 00:50:40,100
1971 is called Walt Disney 
World, ensuring, everyone knows 

866
00:50:40,100 --> 00:50:42,200
who imagined it, even though he 
never saw it. 

867
00:50:43,400 --> 00:50:46,500
Epcot doesn't become the working
City, Walton visioned, 

868
00:50:46,500 --> 00:50:50,400
practicalities of governance and
liability make that impossible. 

869
00:50:51,300 --> 00:50:55,800
Instead, it becomes another 
Theme Park opening in 1982 with 

870
00:50:55,800 --> 00:50:59,400
Pavilions celebrating technology
and international culture. 

871
00:50:59,400 --> 00:51:03,300
It's not what Walt described in 
his final filmed presentation, 

872
00:51:03,300 --> 00:51:07,300
but it carries his DNA. 
Ambitious educational, 

873
00:51:07,300 --> 00:51:11,100
forward-looking and believing 
entertainment can include 

874
00:51:11,100 --> 00:51:13,100
substance without becoming 
tedious. 

875
00:51:14,000 --> 00:51:17,300
The animation studio, Walt 
continues producing films 

876
00:51:17,300 --> 00:51:19,100
though. 
The decades after his death 

877
00:51:19,100 --> 00:51:23,000
become uneven. 
The Aristocats Robin Hood and 

878
00:51:23,000 --> 00:51:26,100
The Rescuers their competent, 
but lack the Innovation. 

879
00:51:26,100 --> 00:51:30,100
That defined early eras. 
The studio is running on 

880
00:51:30,100 --> 00:51:33,800
momentum producing what 
audiences expect, rather than 

881
00:51:33,800 --> 00:51:38,600
pushing boundaries, it takes 
until 1989, The Little Mermaid 

882
00:51:38,600 --> 00:51:42,200
for Disney Animation to 
ReDiscover its creative footing 

883
00:51:42,200 --> 00:51:45,900
and launch the period critics 
called the Disney Renaissance. 

884
00:51:47,200 --> 00:51:53,500
The parks expand globally, Tokyo
in 1983, Paris, in 1992, Hong 

885
00:51:53,500 --> 00:51:57,500
Kong and 2005 and Shanghai in 
2016. 

886
00:51:57,500 --> 00:52:02,200
Each one adapts the Disneyland 
concept to local cultures while 

887
00:52:02,200 --> 00:52:06,500
maintaining Disney standards of 
cleanliness safety and themed 

888
00:52:06,500 --> 00:52:09,600
experience. 
The parks become pilgrimage 

889
00:52:09,600 --> 00:52:13,200
sites for families worldwide, 
creating memories that span 

890
00:52:13,200 --> 00:52:15,900
Generations. 
The company grows beyond what 

891
00:52:15,900 --> 00:52:20,400
will probably imagined acquiring
Pixar, Marvel lucasfilm, and 

892
00:52:20,400 --> 00:52:23,900
21st Century Fox becoming an 
entertainment conglomerate. 

893
00:52:23,900 --> 00:52:26,300
So vast. 
It feels more like an ecosystem 

894
00:52:26,300 --> 00:52:30,800
than a company. the Disney plus 
streaming service, launches in 

895
00:52:30,800 --> 00:52:35,100
2019, bringing Decades of 
content, directly to homes 

896
00:52:35,100 --> 00:52:39,400
worldwide, The company, Walt 
started in a garage with his 

897
00:52:39,400 --> 00:52:41,600
brother. 
Now, generates annual revenue 

898
00:52:41,600 --> 00:52:46,500
exceeding, 60 billion dollars. 
But the numbers impressive as 

899
00:52:46,500 --> 00:52:49,100
they are. 
Don't quite capture Walt actual 

900
00:52:49,100 --> 00:52:52,100
Legacy. 
His last in contribution isn't 

901
00:52:52,100 --> 00:52:55,800
just successful businesses or 
popular characters though those 

902
00:52:55,800 --> 00:52:58,300
certainly matter. 
It's something more fundamental.

903
00:52:58,300 --> 00:53:01,600
The belief that entertainment 
can be both popular and good 

904
00:53:02,400 --> 00:53:04,100
That attention to detail 
matters. 

905
00:53:04,100 --> 00:53:08,000
Even when audiences might not 
consciously, notice it And that 

906
00:53:08,000 --> 00:53:11,400
stories told through animation 
can carry the same emotional 

907
00:53:11,400 --> 00:53:14,000
weight, a stories told any other
way. 

908
00:53:15,500 --> 00:53:18,600
Walt demonstrated that theme 
parks don't have to be cynical 

909
00:53:18,600 --> 00:53:21,500
operations. 
Separating families from money 

910
00:53:21,500 --> 00:53:24,200
through mechanical Thrills and 
overpriced food. 

911
00:53:25,000 --> 00:53:27,300
They can be places where 
environments are carefully 

912
00:53:27,300 --> 00:53:30,700
crafted, where cast members are 
trained to maintain character 

913
00:53:30,700 --> 00:53:33,900
where every sight line is 
considered and where every 

914
00:53:33,900 --> 00:53:35,700
detail contributes to 
Atmosphere. 

915
00:53:35,700 --> 00:53:40,300
This philosophy extends Beyond 
Disney Parks, influencing how 

916
00:53:40,300 --> 00:53:44,400
other entertainment companies 
approach themed experiences, the

917
00:53:44,400 --> 00:53:48,100
impact on animation is 
impossible to overstate The four

918
00:53:48,108 --> 00:53:51,900
Disney Animation was a novelty 
short films playing before 

919
00:53:51,900 --> 00:53:54,300
features. 
Simple stories with crude 

920
00:53:54,300 --> 00:53:57,600
movement. 
Walt insisted animation could 

921
00:53:57,600 --> 00:54:02,100
carry feature length, narratives
could make audience as cry and 

922
00:54:02,100 --> 00:54:07,000
could be art, that happened to 
be drawn rather than filmed Snow

923
00:54:07,000 --> 00:54:10,400
White opened possibilities that 
animators worldwide of spent 

924
00:54:10,400 --> 00:54:13,500
decades exploring. 
The business model Walt 

925
00:54:13,500 --> 00:54:17,600
pioneered using one medium to 
promote another creating 

926
00:54:17,600 --> 00:54:21,100
character that work across 
multiple platforms, and building

927
00:54:21,100 --> 00:54:22,800
brands. 
That transcend individual 

928
00:54:22,800 --> 00:54:26,100
products has become standard 
practice throughout 

929
00:54:26,100 --> 00:54:29,700
entertainment films. 
Promote Theme Park attractions 

930
00:54:29,700 --> 00:54:33,200
that promote merchandise that 
promotes streaming content that 

931
00:54:33,200 --> 00:54:35,700
promotes films. 
It's circular and 

932
00:54:35,700 --> 00:54:38,700
self-reinforcing. 
And so completely normal. 

933
00:54:38,700 --> 00:54:41,000
Now that is easy to forget. 
Someone had to invent this 

934
00:54:41,000 --> 00:54:44,100
approach. 
The cultural impact reaches 

935
00:54:44,100 --> 00:54:46,700
further than business models, or
animation techniques. 

936
00:54:47,600 --> 00:54:50,700
Mickey Mouse remains among the 
most recognizable characters 

937
00:54:50,700 --> 00:54:54,900
worldwide recognized by people 
who've never seen a Disney film.

938
00:54:56,000 --> 00:54:58,400
The castle silhouette that opens
Disney films. 

939
00:54:58,400 --> 00:55:01,300
Triggers, instant recognition 
phrases. 

940
00:55:01,300 --> 00:55:05,100
Like when you wish upon a star 
and happiest place on earth have

941
00:55:05,100 --> 00:55:09,600
entered common language. 
More subtly, Walt shaped how 

942
00:55:09,600 --> 00:55:12,500
multiple Generations understand 
childhood entertainment. 

943
00:55:13,300 --> 00:55:16,200
The idea that family film should
be, well, made rather than 

944
00:55:16,200 --> 00:55:20,000
condescending. the stories for 
children can include genuine 

945
00:55:20,000 --> 00:55:24,100
emotion, rather than just noise 
and color, And that animation 

946
00:55:24,100 --> 00:55:27,300
deserves the same care and 
crafts as any other art for 

947
00:55:27,300 --> 00:55:31,200
these Concepts seem obvious. 
Now, partly, because Walt made 

948
00:55:31,200 --> 00:55:35,100
the standard critics sometimes 
argue that Disney sanitized 

949
00:55:35,100 --> 00:55:38,400
fairy, tales and removed their 
dark edges and moral complexity 

950
00:55:38,400 --> 00:55:41,800
in favor of commercial 
palatability, This truth in This

951
00:55:41,800 --> 00:55:46,100
Waltz version of classic 
stories. 10 taught optimism and 

952
00:55:46,100 --> 00:55:50,100
clear moral lessons rather than 
the ambiguity found in original 

953
00:55:50,100 --> 00:55:53,400
fake tales. 
But this criticism often 

954
00:55:53,400 --> 00:55:56,800
underestimates how difficult it 
is to create genuinely good 

955
00:55:56,800 --> 00:55:59,600
entertainment. 
The works for both children and 

956
00:55:59,600 --> 00:56:03,400
adults that doesn't bore one 
group while overwhelming the 

957
00:56:03,408 --> 00:56:07,300
other The optimism that defined 
Walt's world view. 

958
00:56:08,000 --> 00:56:12,000
Some might say, his Relentless 
optimism has influenced American

959
00:56:12,000 --> 00:56:14,600
culture in ways. 
Both obvious and subtle. 

960
00:56:15,600 --> 00:56:19,300
Disneyland's Main Street, USA, 
presents an idealized version of

961
00:56:19,300 --> 00:56:22,400
small town America that probably
never existed. 

962
00:56:22,400 --> 00:56:25,400
But the shaped how Generations 
imagine the past. 

963
00:56:26,200 --> 00:56:30,900
The films, consistently suggest 
that goodness triumphs that hard

964
00:56:30,900 --> 00:56:34,200
work brings rewards and that 
dreams come true for those who 

965
00:56:34,200 --> 00:56:38,100
believe strongly enough. 
These messages can seem naive. 

966
00:56:38,100 --> 00:56:42,200
But they've also provided 
comfort and hope to millions of 

967
00:56:42,200 --> 00:56:46,100
people during difficult times. 
You can argue about whether Walt

968
00:56:46,100 --> 00:56:49,200
Disney was a genius or just 
extremely talented and 

969
00:56:49,200 --> 00:56:52,700
relentlessly driven. 
You can debate whether his 

970
00:56:52,700 --> 00:56:56,000
influence on American culture 
has been primarily positive, or 

971
00:56:56,000 --> 00:56:59,300
if it's sanitized visions of 
stories and history of created 

972
00:56:59,300 --> 00:57:03,300
unrealistic expectations. 
You can discuss his business 

973
00:57:03,300 --> 00:57:06,800
practices, his complicated 
relationships with employees, 

974
00:57:06,800 --> 00:57:10,700
his political views, and his 
strengths, and limitations, as a

975
00:57:10,700 --> 00:57:14,000
leader, but you can't reasonably
argue that he didn't matter. 

976
00:57:14,000 --> 00:57:17,400
The world would look, genuinely 
different without Walt Disney's 

977
00:57:17,400 --> 00:57:20,700
contribution and animation would
have developed differently 

978
00:57:20,700 --> 00:57:24,100
probably more slowly. 
Theme parks would be less 

979
00:57:24,100 --> 00:57:27,300
immersive and less concerned 
with theming and atmosphere. 

980
00:57:28,100 --> 00:57:30,600
Family, entertainment might 
still be the overlooked 

981
00:57:30,600 --> 00:57:33,800
stepchild of the industry, 
considered less important than 

982
00:57:33,800 --> 00:57:37,400
content for adults. 
As you drift towards sleep 

983
00:57:37,400 --> 00:57:41,200
picture that Kansas City Garage,
where a young man set up an 

984
00:57:41,200 --> 00:57:45,000
animation stand, convinced that 
drawings could tell stories that

985
00:57:45,000 --> 00:57:47,800
mattered. 
Picture, the California, orange 

986
00:57:47,800 --> 00:57:51,300
groves that became Disneyland 
transforming from Farmland to 

987
00:57:51,300 --> 00:57:55,300
Fantasy through the belief that 
experiences could be crafted as 

988
00:57:55,300 --> 00:57:58,900
carefully as films picture. 
The Burbank Studio, where 

989
00:57:58,900 --> 00:58:02,100
thousands of artists spent 
careers bringing imagination to 

990
00:58:02,100 --> 00:58:07,000
life frame, by painstaking 
frame, Walt Disney's Legacy 

991
00:58:07,000 --> 00:58:09,300
isn't just the company that 
bears, his name or the 

992
00:58:09,300 --> 00:58:13,000
characters, he created all the 
parks that carry his philosophy.

993
00:58:13,000 --> 00:58:17,100
It's the persistent slightly 
absurd, belief that 

994
00:58:17,100 --> 00:58:20,800
entertainment matters. 
The quality matters that what we

995
00:58:20,800 --> 00:58:23,800
create for families and children
deserves the same care, we'd 

996
00:58:23,800 --> 00:58:27,600
give to anything else. 
That imagination properly 

997
00:58:27,600 --> 00:58:30,500
applied with enough persistence 
and attention to detail. 

998
00:58:30,500 --> 00:58:35,300
Can transform drawings, into 
experiences, can turn swamps 

999
00:58:35,300 --> 00:58:38,900
into destinations and can make 
mice into icons. 

1000
00:58:40,000 --> 00:58:43,900
The optimism might seem naive 
from certain angles, the belief 

1001
00:58:43,900 --> 00:58:47,600
in Happy Endings unsophisticated
and the insistence on 

1002
00:58:47,608 --> 00:58:51,300
wholesomeness limiting. 
But there's something to be said

1003
00:58:51,300 --> 00:58:54,900
for people who spend their lives
trying to create Joy who believe

1004
00:58:54,900 --> 00:58:58,400
that careful craft matters even 
when shortcuts would be easier 

1005
00:58:58,400 --> 00:59:01,600
and who think that the world 
could use a little more magic 

1006
00:59:01,600 --> 00:59:05,100
and are willing to work brutally
hard to provide it. 

1007
00:59:06,500 --> 00:59:07,200
Sleep. 
Well. 

1008
00:59:08,200 --> 00:59:11,600
Knowing that somewhere tonight. 
Children are watching. 

1009
00:59:11,600 --> 00:59:15,400
Have a ventures. 
Families are walking down 

1010
00:59:15,400 --> 00:59:18,000
carefully. 
Maintained main streets designed

1011
00:59:18,000 --> 00:59:21,400
to feel like home and artists 
are learning their craft at 

1012
00:59:21,400 --> 00:59:25,200
schools, he helped to establish 
The man who started by drawing 

1013
00:59:25,200 --> 00:59:28,900
on farmyard animals and ended by
reshaping entertainment is gone.

1014
00:59:29,800 --> 00:59:34,100
But the belief that drove him, 
the stories matter that crafted 

1015
00:59:34,100 --> 00:59:37,300
matters, that imagination 
applied with enough, persistence

1016
00:59:37,300 --> 00:59:40,700
can actually change. 
Things continues in ways, both 

1017
00:59:40,700 --> 00:59:44,300
obvious and subtle both 
commercial and cultural in 

1018
00:59:44,300 --> 00:59:47,400
theme, parks and film studios 
and animation departments 

1019
00:59:47,400 --> 00:59:51,100
worldwide. 
The castle stands, the mouse 

1020
00:59:51,100 --> 00:59:56,300
still smiles and somewhere. 
Someone is learning that dreams 

1021
00:59:56,300 --> 00:59:59,900
properly, pursued with enough 
coffee and stubborn refusal to 

1022
00:59:59,900 --> 01:00:03,700
accept conventional. 
Limitations, sometimes actually 

1023
01:00:03,700 --> 01:00:06,400
do come true. 
Good night. 

1024
01:00:15,400 --> 01:00:19,600
Imagine you're living in England
in the Autumn of 1703 and your 

1025
01:00:19,600 --> 01:00:21,800
life moves at the pace of a 
horse-drawn cart. 

1026
01:00:22,600 --> 01:00:25,100
There are no weather apps on 
your phone because there are no 

1027
01:00:25,100 --> 01:00:28,900
phones, no meteorologists are 
tracking pressure systems 

1028
01:00:28,900 --> 01:00:31,300
because the barometer is only 
recently been invented. 

1029
01:00:31,300 --> 01:00:34,900
And most people think it's some 
kind of scientific curiosity 

1030
01:00:34,900 --> 01:00:38,900
rather than a practical tool. 
Queen Anne sits on the throne, 

1031
01:00:38,900 --> 01:00:41,600
having recently succeeded her 
brother-in-law. 

1032
01:00:41,600 --> 01:00:44,500
William the Third. 
The country is embroiled in the 

1033
01:00:44,500 --> 01:00:48,100
war of Spanish succession which 
is one of those complicated 

1034
01:00:48,100 --> 01:00:50,700
European conflicts where 
everyone seems to be fighting 

1035
01:00:50,700 --> 01:00:52,700
everyone else. 
So over inheritance is in 

1036
01:00:52,700 --> 01:00:56,400
territory. 
For ordinary people, wore is 

1037
01:00:56,400 --> 01:01:00,500
something that happens far away 
while the real concerns are much

1038
01:01:00,500 --> 01:01:04,700
closer to home bringing in the 
Harvest fixing the fat on the 

1039
01:01:04,708 --> 01:01:08,100
roof before winter and making 
sure there's enough firewood 

1040
01:01:08,100 --> 01:01:09,600
stacked for the cold months 
ahead. 

1041
01:01:09,600 --> 01:01:13,800
November in England, means the 
farming season is winding down 

1042
01:01:13,800 --> 01:01:18,000
the fields of being harvested. 
The animals are being prepared 

1043
01:01:18,000 --> 01:01:21,200
for winter and people are 
settling into that cozy. 

1044
01:01:21,200 --> 01:01:23,200
Rhythm of shorter days and 
longer nights. 

1045
01:01:23,200 --> 01:01:27,400
It's the time of year when your 
grateful for solid roof, a warm 

1046
01:01:27,400 --> 01:01:29,800
Hearth and walls that keep out 
the wind. 

1047
01:01:30,900 --> 01:01:35,200
The houses of 1703 would seem 
almost impossibly fragile to you

1048
01:01:35,200 --> 01:01:37,200
now. 
Most buildings outside. 

1049
01:01:37,200 --> 01:01:40,700
Major cities are timber frame 
with walls made of wattle and 

1050
01:01:40,700 --> 01:01:43,900
daub. 
Basically sticks and mud with 

1051
01:01:43,900 --> 01:01:47,700
some hope mixed in. 
Roofs are thatched with straw or

1052
01:01:47,700 --> 01:01:50,700
reads held down by wooden pegs 
and prayer. 

1053
01:01:51,700 --> 01:01:53,900
Even in London, which is 
rebuilding. 

1054
01:01:53,900 --> 01:01:58,100
After the Great Fire of 1666, 
many structures are still 

1055
01:01:58,100 --> 01:02:00,000
partially. 
Wooden glass. 

1056
01:02:00,000 --> 01:02:03,400
Windows are expensive luxuries, 
so many homes. 

1057
01:02:03,400 --> 01:02:05,800
Make do with oiled paper or 
wooden shutters. 

1058
01:02:06,900 --> 01:02:09,600
The English Countryside is 
dotted with windmills that grind

1059
01:02:09,600 --> 01:02:13,200
grain into flour. 
These tall wooden structures. 

1060
01:02:13,200 --> 01:02:16,900
Turn their sails to catch the 
wind like patient Sentinels 

1061
01:02:16,900 --> 01:02:20,900
watching over the fields. 
There are 100s of them essential

1062
01:02:20,900 --> 01:02:24,000
to feeding the population 
standing on hilltops and in 

1063
01:02:24,000 --> 01:02:25,800
valleys where the wind blows 
strongest. 

1064
01:02:26,700 --> 01:02:29,500
Their marvels of engineering for
their time though. 

1065
01:02:29,500 --> 01:02:32,400
They have one significant 
vulnerability that nobody has 

1066
01:02:32,400 --> 01:02:35,300
quite sold. 
There are extremely susceptible 

1067
01:02:35,300 --> 01:02:40,200
to strong winds churches, rise 
above most Villages, their Stone

1068
01:02:40,200 --> 01:02:43,000
towers and wooden Steeples 
pointing toward heaven like 

1069
01:02:43,000 --> 01:02:46,400
fingers in prayer. 
These spiers can be seen for 

1070
01:02:46,400 --> 01:02:50,400
miles around helping Travelers 
navigate and reminding everyone 

1071
01:02:50,400 --> 01:02:53,000
of the central place religion 
holds in daily life. 

1072
01:02:53,900 --> 01:02:56,700
The church bells marked the 
hours called people to worship 

1073
01:02:56,700 --> 01:03:00,200
and warn of danger. 
They're the communication system

1074
01:03:00,200 --> 01:03:03,700
of the age, ringing out 
messages, across the landscape, 

1075
01:03:03,700 --> 01:03:08,000
along the coasts Maritime life, 
pulses with constant Activity. 

1076
01:03:08,000 --> 01:03:12,100
The Royal Navy maintains dozens 
of Warships in various ports, 

1077
01:03:12,100 --> 01:03:15,700
while Merchant vessels crowd, 
the harbors loading, and 

1078
01:03:15,700 --> 01:03:17,900
unloading goods from around the 
world. 

1079
01:03:19,000 --> 01:03:21,900
Portsmouth Plymouth, and the 
Thames Estuary, a forests of 

1080
01:03:21,900 --> 01:03:25,300
masts and rigging. 
Sailors, live lives that 

1081
01:03:25,300 --> 01:03:28,800
alternate between the tedium of 
Port maintenance, and the danger

1082
01:03:28,800 --> 01:03:32,800
of sea voyages were storms are 
an accepted occupational. 

1083
01:03:32,800 --> 01:03:36,400
Hazard. 
The weather in late 1703 is 

1084
01:03:36,400 --> 01:03:40,100
being odd not dramatically. 
So but enough that people notice

1085
01:03:41,000 --> 01:03:44,100
There have been unusually strong
winds throughout November, the 

1086
01:03:44,100 --> 01:03:46,700
kind that make you lean into 
your walk and hold on to your 

1087
01:03:46,700 --> 01:03:49,300
hat. 
Trees have been shedding their 

1088
01:03:49,300 --> 01:03:52,400
leaves early than usual, as if 
they know something the humans 

1089
01:03:52,400 --> 01:03:55,800
don't. 
Old Timers, the kind to feel 

1090
01:03:55,800 --> 01:03:59,200
storms in their bones have been 
muttering about the signs. 

1091
01:03:59,200 --> 01:04:04,000
Red skies at odd hours. 
Birds behaving, strangely and an

1092
01:04:04,000 --> 01:04:06,000
unsettled feeling in the air 
itself. 

1093
01:04:07,300 --> 01:04:09,200
But England is weathered storms 
before. 

1094
01:04:09,200 --> 01:04:13,100
This is an island nation after 
all, surrounded by temperamental

1095
01:04:13,100 --> 01:04:16,700
seas and subject to whatever. 
Whether the Atlantic decides to 

1096
01:04:16,700 --> 01:04:20,900
send its way, People have 
learned to bend With the Wind to

1097
01:04:20,900 --> 01:04:23,400
secure their belongings and to 
wait out whatever nature throws 

1098
01:04:23,400 --> 01:04:25,800
at them. 
They've survived Norse, Raiders 

1099
01:04:25,800 --> 01:04:28,200
the Black Death, Civil War and 
the great fire. 

1100
01:04:29,400 --> 01:04:32,700
How bad could a little wind be 
this sense of resilient 

1101
01:04:32,700 --> 01:04:35,200
confidence. 
This very British attitude of 

1102
01:04:35,200 --> 01:04:38,100
muddling through is about to be 
tested in ways. 

1103
01:04:38,100 --> 01:04:41,500
No one can imagine. 
Because the storm that's 

1104
01:04:41,500 --> 01:04:43,800
Gathering out in the Atlantic, 
isn't a normal. 

1105
01:04:43,800 --> 01:04:47,500
Autumn Gail is not even an 
exceptional storm by the usual 

1106
01:04:47,500 --> 01:04:51,100
standards. 
It's something else entirely a 

1107
01:04:51,100 --> 01:04:54,000
meteorological monster that will
make weather history and haunt 

1108
01:04:54,000 --> 01:04:56,000
European Consciousness for 
Generations. 

1109
01:04:56,000 --> 01:05:00,800
The last week of November 1703 
feels like nature is taking a 

1110
01:05:00,800 --> 01:05:05,200
deep breath before screaming You
step out side on November 24th, 

1111
01:05:05,200 --> 01:05:07,400
and the air has that peculiar 
quality. 

1112
01:05:07,400 --> 01:05:09,200
That makes the hair on your 
arms. 

1113
01:05:09,200 --> 01:05:11,200
Stand up. 
It's not just cold. 

1114
01:05:11,200 --> 01:05:15,600
It's charged electronic. 
As if the atmosphere itself is 

1115
01:05:15,600 --> 01:05:19,200
holding tension, like a drawn, 
both string, the sky takes on 

1116
01:05:19,200 --> 01:05:20,700
colors that don't appear in 
normal. 

1117
01:05:20,700 --> 01:05:24,800
Whether there are brassy yellows
near the Horizon deep, purple's 

1118
01:05:24,800 --> 01:05:27,800
in the clouds and that 
particular shade of green that 

1119
01:05:27,800 --> 01:05:29,900
experienced Sailors, know means 
trouble. 

1120
01:05:30,800 --> 01:05:33,800
Clouds themselves seem to be 
moving in several directions at 

1121
01:05:33,800 --> 01:05:36,900
once low scud racing across the 
sky. 

1122
01:05:36,900 --> 01:05:41,500
While higher formations Lumber 
along at different angles, It's 

1123
01:05:41,500 --> 01:05:43,800
like watching a badly 
choreographed dance. 

1124
01:05:43,800 --> 01:05:47,700
When none of the performers can 
agree on the music. birds are 

1125
01:05:47,700 --> 01:05:50,900
acting strangely and if you were
the noticing type, this would 

1126
01:05:50,900 --> 01:05:55,300
concern you seagulls those 
Perpetual optimists of the avian

1127
01:05:55,300 --> 01:05:59,200
world have moved. 
Inland on Mass Crows Gather in 

1128
01:05:59,200 --> 01:06:02,300
unusual numbers making a racket.
That sounds almost like 

1129
01:06:02,300 --> 01:06:05,100
warnings. 
Even the farm animals seem 

1130
01:06:05,100 --> 01:06:08,600
unsettled horses, stamp and 
Winnie in their Stables. 

1131
01:06:08,600 --> 01:06:13,400
Cows refused to go into their 
Barns and dog's Pace nervously 

1132
01:06:13,400 --> 01:06:17,700
whining at their owners. 
The barometer in the few places 

1133
01:06:17,700 --> 01:06:20,700
where such newfangled 
instruments exist is doing 

1134
01:06:20,700 --> 01:06:25,100
something unprecedented. 
It's falling but not in the 

1135
01:06:25,100 --> 01:06:27,600
gradual way that suggests an 
approaching storm. 

1136
01:06:27,600 --> 01:06:31,800
It's plummeting like a stone 
dropped in water faster than 

1137
01:06:31,800 --> 01:06:36,100
anyone has seen before Daniel 
Defoe, who will later document. 

1138
01:06:36,100 --> 01:06:39,200
The storm in extraordinary 
detail owns one of these 

1139
01:06:39,200 --> 01:06:42,300
instruments. 
He watches it drop and one 

1140
01:06:42,300 --> 01:06:44,200
wonders if perhaps the device is
broken. 

1141
01:06:45,200 --> 01:06:47,900
Surely the air pressure can't 
actually be falling this 

1142
01:06:47,900 --> 01:06:51,500
rapidly. 
November 26th Dawns with an 

1143
01:06:51,500 --> 01:06:54,100
eerie calm. 
The wind that has been bothering

1144
01:06:54,100 --> 01:06:56,500
people for weeks, has died down 
to almost nothing. 

1145
01:06:56,500 --> 01:07:00,900
The airfields, heavy thick like 
trying to breathe through a damp

1146
01:07:00,900 --> 01:07:04,000
wool blanket. 
This is the kind of Stillness 

1147
01:07:04,000 --> 01:07:06,400
that precedes something 
significant though. 

1148
01:07:06,400 --> 01:07:08,400
Most people interpret it as a 
relief. 

1149
01:07:09,500 --> 01:07:13,400
Finally, they think the Winds of
stopped perhaps, they can get 

1150
01:07:13,400 --> 01:07:17,200
some repairs done, secure their 
properties properly, and maybe 

1151
01:07:17,200 --> 01:07:19,800
even sleep without the constant 
whistling and rattling. 

1152
01:07:19,800 --> 01:07:23,200
But Seasons Sailors and 
Shepherds people whose lives 

1153
01:07:23,200 --> 01:07:26,400
depend on reading. 
Whether no, beta, this isn't 

1154
01:07:26,400 --> 01:07:29,500
peaceful carb. 
This is nature pausing for 

1155
01:07:29,500 --> 01:07:32,800
effect, like a Storyteller, 
taking a breath before the 

1156
01:07:32,800 --> 01:07:36,100
climax. 
The old Maritime saying comes to

1157
01:07:36,100 --> 01:07:39,000
mind, Calm. 
Before the storm, though, in 

1158
01:07:39,008 --> 01:07:43,200
this case storm is going to 
prove a grossly inadequate word 

1159
01:07:43,200 --> 01:07:47,800
for what to approaching By the 
evening of November 26th the 

1160
01:07:47,800 --> 01:07:50,000
wind returns. 
But it's different now. 

1161
01:07:50,900 --> 01:07:52,700
It's no longer the Blustery, 
Autumn Breeze. 

1162
01:07:52,700 --> 01:07:57,000
People of grown accustomed to 
Purposeful building with an 

1163
01:07:57,000 --> 01:08:00,300
almost conscious intent, like 
something that has decided to 

1164
01:08:00,300 --> 01:08:01,900
stop playing around and get 
serious. 

1165
01:08:02,800 --> 01:08:06,800
The sound changes too from the 
familiar whistle and moan to a 

1166
01:08:06,800 --> 01:08:09,900
deeper more ominous Roar that 
seems to come from everywhere at

1167
01:08:09,900 --> 01:08:12,200
once. 
People begin their evening 

1168
01:08:12,200 --> 01:08:14,500
preparations with growing 
uneasiness. 

1169
01:08:14,500 --> 01:08:18,800
You secure your shutters bring 
in anything from the yard that 

1170
01:08:18,800 --> 01:08:21,600
might blow away and double check
that the animals are safely. 

1171
01:08:21,600 --> 01:08:26,000
Housed in coastal towns Sailors.
Look at their Maude vessels with

1172
01:08:26,000 --> 01:08:29,800
worried Expressions wandering. 
If the ropes and chains will 

1173
01:08:29,800 --> 01:08:34,899
hold ship captains who can put 
out additional anchors and say, 

1174
01:08:34,899 --> 01:08:37,600
prayers to whatever Saints 
specialize in Maritime 

1175
01:08:37,600 --> 01:08:40,700
protection. 
As Darkness Falls on November 

1176
01:08:40,700 --> 01:08:45,100
26th, the wind continues to 
build, it's no longer just 

1177
01:08:45,100 --> 01:08:48,000
moving, air is Coming a physical
presence. 

1178
01:08:48,000 --> 01:08:51,600
Something you can lean against 
something that pushes back. 

1179
01:08:52,800 --> 01:08:55,600
The sound grows from a raw to 
something that resembles 

1180
01:08:55,600 --> 01:08:59,500
Continuous Thunder. 
A bass note that you feel in 

1181
01:08:59,500 --> 01:09:01,800
your chest as much as here with 
your ears. 

1182
01:09:03,000 --> 01:09:06,500
Inside homes across Southern 
England, families, gather close 

1183
01:09:06,500 --> 01:09:10,399
to their fires, trying to ignore
the increasingly alarming noises

1184
01:09:10,399 --> 01:09:13,899
from outside. 
Shutters begin to Rattle despite

1185
01:09:13,899 --> 01:09:17,600
being latched, the wind finds 
every Gap in the walls. 

1186
01:09:17,600 --> 01:09:21,300
Every crack around doors and 
windows, creating whistling 

1187
01:09:21,300 --> 01:09:23,399
harmonics. 
That would sound almost musical 

1188
01:09:23,399 --> 01:09:28,200
if they weren't so unsettling. 
That roof start to lift, and 

1189
01:09:28,200 --> 01:09:32,200
settle lift and settle like, the
building itself is breathing 

1190
01:09:32,200 --> 01:09:35,100
heavily. 
Around midnight, the storm stops

1191
01:09:35,100 --> 01:09:38,000
building and simply arrives in 
its full Fury. 

1192
01:09:38,700 --> 01:09:42,500
It's as if someone has flipped a
switch from very bad weather to 

1193
01:09:42,500 --> 01:09:45,899
apocalyptic nightmare. 
The wind doesn't just blow 

1194
01:09:45,899 --> 01:09:47,300
anymore. 
It hammers. 

1195
01:09:47,300 --> 01:09:51,399
It screams it attacks. 
The sound becomes so 

1196
01:09:51,399 --> 01:09:53,800
overwhelming that it's almost 
impossible to think clearly 

1197
01:09:53,800 --> 01:09:57,900
imagine standing next to a jet 
engine and you're getting close 

1198
01:09:57,900 --> 01:10:01,300
to the volume and intensity of 
what people are experiencing and

1199
01:10:01,300 --> 01:10:02,800
here's the thing that makes this
storm. 

1200
01:10:02,800 --> 01:10:08,000
So strange, so different from 
normal tempests it's not coming 

1201
01:10:08,000 --> 01:10:12,600
from a single Direction. 
The wind seems to swirl and 

1202
01:10:12,600 --> 01:10:15,900
Eddie attacking from multiple 
angles simultaneously. 

1203
01:10:17,300 --> 01:10:20,400
This isn't a weather pattern. 
People understand storms have 

1204
01:10:20,400 --> 01:10:23,000
direct directions. 
They have fronts and they move 

1205
01:10:23,000 --> 01:10:26,400
in predictable ways. 
This storm seems to be 

1206
01:10:26,400 --> 01:10:30,500
everywhere. 
Once a circular Fury that defies

1207
01:10:30,500 --> 01:10:35,800
normal meteorological Behavior. 
What nobody realizes yet because

1208
01:10:35,800 --> 01:10:39,100
the science doesn't exist to 
understand it is that their 

1209
01:10:39,100 --> 01:10:42,500
experiencing something 
exceptionally rare, a bomb 

1210
01:10:42,500 --> 01:10:45,800
Cyclone, what modern 
meteorologist, call explosive 

1211
01:10:45,800 --> 01:10:49,100
cyclogenesis. 
The atmospheric pressure is 

1212
01:10:49,100 --> 01:10:52,200
dropping so rapidly. 
That the storm is intensifying 

1213
01:10:52,200 --> 01:10:55,500
at a rate that occurs perhaps 
once or twice a century. 

1214
01:10:56,800 --> 01:10:59,400
The rotating winds are reaching 
speeds that won't be 

1215
01:10:59,400 --> 01:11:03,600
scientifically measured for 
another 150 years when someone 

1216
01:11:03,600 --> 01:11:06,000
invents proper instruments for 
such things. 

1217
01:11:06,800 --> 01:11:10,600
As the Knight of November 26th 
deepens into the early hours of 

1218
01:11:10,600 --> 01:11:14,100
November 27th. 
Everyone in Southern England is 

1219
01:11:14,100 --> 01:11:17,700
about to experience the longest 
most terrifying Knight of their 

1220
01:11:17,700 --> 01:11:20,700
lives and the truly horrifying 
part. 

1221
01:11:21,400 --> 01:11:25,300
The storm is still intensifying.
Picture yourself huddled in a 

1222
01:11:25,300 --> 01:11:28,600
stone Cottage somewhere in Kent 
as the clock approaches two a.m.

1223
01:11:28,600 --> 01:11:32,500
on November 27th. 
Fire in your half is being 

1224
01:11:32,500 --> 01:11:36,200
sucked up the chimney, by the 
incredible draft sending Sparks 

1225
01:11:36,200 --> 01:11:40,100
and smoke into the room. 
Every few seconds the entire 

1226
01:11:40,100 --> 01:11:43,100
building shutters as if being 
struck by a Giants fist. 

1227
01:11:43,900 --> 01:11:48,100
The noise is beyond description,
imagine a freight train a 

1228
01:11:48,100 --> 01:11:52,200
waterfall and Continuous Thunder
all happening at once and you're

1229
01:11:52,200 --> 01:11:55,600
still not quite there. 
True for your head is now 

1230
01:11:55,600 --> 01:11:58,800
lifting and sections. 
You can actually see it moving 

1231
01:11:58,800 --> 01:12:02,800
and feel the sudden drafts of 
freezing air as gaps appear and 

1232
01:12:02,800 --> 01:12:06,200
then close again. 
Bits of straw are falling into 

1233
01:12:06,200 --> 01:12:10,500
the room like strange snow. 
You're making calculations about

1234
01:12:10,500 --> 01:12:13,100
whether it's safer to stay 
inside a building that might 

1235
01:12:13,100 --> 01:12:15,700
collapse or venture outside into
wind. 

1236
01:12:15,700 --> 01:12:18,000
That could literally knock you 
off your feet and blow your 

1237
01:12:18,000 --> 01:12:20,600
Countryside across Southern 
England. 

1238
01:12:20,600 --> 01:12:24,300
Roofs are now leaving buildings 
entirely not being damaged 

1239
01:12:24,300 --> 01:12:27,900
leaving. 
Whole thatched roofs lift off 

1240
01:12:27,900 --> 01:12:31,000
like birds Taking Flight sailing
through the air. 

1241
01:12:31,000 --> 01:12:33,900
In one piece before 
disintegrating into gold and 

1242
01:12:33,900 --> 01:12:36,800
clouds of straw that scatter 
across the landscape. 

1243
01:12:37,900 --> 01:12:41,700
Tiles and slates become 
projectiles, flying through the 

1244
01:12:41,700 --> 01:12:44,500
air, with enough Force to embed 
themselves in walls, or 

1245
01:12:44,500 --> 01:12:47,800
tragically in anything living 
that happens to be in their 

1246
01:12:47,800 --> 01:12:50,000
path. 
The windmills that have stood 

1247
01:12:50,000 --> 01:12:53,200
Sentinel over the countryside or
experiencing catastrophic 

1248
01:12:53,200 --> 01:12:56,200
failures. 
Their sails designed to catch 

1249
01:12:56,200 --> 01:12:59,500
the wind efficiently and now 
catching far too much of it. 

1250
01:13:00,600 --> 01:13:03,300
Unable to be shut down or furled
fast enough. 

1251
01:13:03,300 --> 01:13:07,400
The Mills begin spinning at 
impossible speeds the wooden 

1252
01:13:07,400 --> 01:13:10,300
gears inside never meant for 
such rotational rates. 

1253
01:13:10,300 --> 01:13:15,400
Start smoking from friction. 
some Mills, simply explode from 

1254
01:13:15,400 --> 01:13:19,700
the centrifugal force sending 
massive wooden beams flying 

1255
01:13:19,700 --> 01:13:24,000
through the air like enormous 
javelin's Others catch fire from

1256
01:13:24,000 --> 01:13:26,000
the friction of their over 
spinning Machinery. 

1257
01:13:26,000 --> 01:13:29,300
Becoming bizarre torches in the 
storm racked night. 

1258
01:13:30,200 --> 01:13:33,900
Church Steeples those proud 
fingers pointing to Heaven are 

1259
01:13:33,900 --> 01:13:36,100
toppling. 
The Spire of Saint. 

1260
01:13:36,100 --> 01:13:39,600
Mary's in Somerset goes first 
crashing through the roof of the

1261
01:13:39,600 --> 01:13:42,700
church itself. 
Then dozens more across the 

1262
01:13:42,708 --> 01:13:46,100
South follow suit their lead 
covered wooden frames. 

1263
01:13:46,100 --> 01:13:48,700
No match for winds that are 
essentially trying to tear 

1264
01:13:48,700 --> 01:13:51,700
England apart. 
Each falling steeple, makes a 

1265
01:13:51,700 --> 01:13:54,100
sound like a forest tree being 
felled. 

1266
01:13:54,100 --> 01:13:57,800
A groaning crack followed by an 
enormous crash. 

1267
01:13:58,700 --> 01:14:00,600
For deeply religious people 
seeing churches. 

1268
01:14:00,600 --> 01:14:02,600
Destroyed, feels a specially 
ominous. 

1269
01:14:03,500 --> 01:14:06,600
God's house is aren't safe. 
What hope to ordinary buildings.

1270
01:14:06,600 --> 01:14:11,400
Have in London, the scene is 
apocalyptic, the city still 

1271
01:14:11,400 --> 01:14:15,700
recovering from the Great Fire 
of 1666 is being battered by 

1272
01:14:15,700 --> 01:14:18,400
winds, that a methodically 
undoing Decades of 

1273
01:14:18,400 --> 01:14:22,800
reconstruction roof tiles, fly 
through the streets, like deadly

1274
01:14:22,800 --> 01:14:27,200
frisbees, chimneys topple 
sending bricks raining down onto

1275
01:14:27,200 --> 01:14:31,200
cobblestone's below Anyone 
foolish or desperate enough to 

1276
01:14:31,200 --> 01:14:33,600
be outside. 
Quickly realizes their mistake 

1277
01:14:33,600 --> 01:14:37,600
as the wind shoves them against 
walls or literally lifts them 

1278
01:14:37,600 --> 01:14:40,900
off their feet. 
The Thames is behaving in ways. 

1279
01:14:40,900 --> 01:14:44,200
Nobody has seen before. 
The wind is so powerful that 

1280
01:14:44,200 --> 01:14:47,500
it's actually pushing water 
Upstream reversing the rivers 

1281
01:14:47,500 --> 01:14:51,000
flow. 
Waves are forming on the river's

1282
01:14:51,000 --> 01:14:54,900
surface waves on a river in 
central London. 

1283
01:14:55,800 --> 01:14:58,600
Barges and small boats. 
Moored at the Docks are being 

1284
01:14:58,608 --> 01:15:01,100
tossed. 
Like, bath toys breaking their 

1285
01:15:01,100 --> 01:15:04,600
Moorings and crashing into each 
other or smashing against the 

1286
01:15:04,600 --> 01:15:08,100
embankments. 
Daniel, Defoe future author of 

1287
01:15:08,100 --> 01:15:10,700
Robinson, Crusoe, but currently 
as somewhat, controversial, 

1288
01:15:10,700 --> 01:15:14,000
political writer is in his 
London home watching what he 

1289
01:15:14,000 --> 01:15:16,700
describes as tiles. 
Flying past his windows. 

1290
01:15:16,700 --> 01:15:19,900
Like Autumn Leaves. 
He's making mental notes for 

1291
01:15:19,900 --> 01:15:22,400
what will become the world's 
first real investigative 

1292
01:15:22,400 --> 01:15:24,600
journalism piece about a natural
disaster. 

1293
01:15:25,800 --> 01:15:28,400
Between flinching at each new 
crash and bang. 

1294
01:15:28,400 --> 01:15:31,000
He is already planning how to 
document this night for 

1295
01:15:31,000 --> 01:15:34,800
posterity. but the truly 
catastrophic scenes are playing 

1296
01:15:34,808 --> 01:15:38,400
out along the coast and at sea 
at the Eddystone Light House 

1297
01:15:38,400 --> 01:15:42,300
perched, on rocks, 14 miles off 
the coast of Plymouth The 

1298
01:15:42,300 --> 01:15:46,400
situation is beyond desperate. 
This is the first light house 

1299
01:15:46,400 --> 01:15:49,600
ever built on these treacherous 
rocks, completed. 

1300
01:15:49,600 --> 01:15:53,200
Just five years early. 
It's a wooden structure, which 

1301
01:15:53,200 --> 01:15:56,000
seems insane now. 
What was considered reasonable 

1302
01:15:56,000 --> 01:15:59,600
engineering at the time? 
The Lighthouse Keeper Henry. 

1303
01:15:59,600 --> 01:16:01,900
Winstanley is actually at the 
Lighthouse. 

1304
01:16:01,900 --> 01:16:05,100
Having gone out to perform, 
repairs, just days before. 

1305
01:16:06,000 --> 01:16:09,300
The lighthouse is flexing and 
swaying in ways that wooden 

1306
01:16:09,300 --> 01:16:11,000
structures should never flex and
sway. 

1307
01:16:11,700 --> 01:16:15,900
Around 2 a.m. a wave larger than
any in recorded memory hits the 

1308
01:16:15,900 --> 01:16:18,700
lighthouse. 
When dawn of eventually comes 

1309
01:16:18,700 --> 01:16:23,000
the lighthouse is simply gone, 
vanished is completely as if it 

1310
01:16:23,000 --> 01:16:27,700
never existed. 
Henry would Stanley his crew and

1311
01:16:27,700 --> 01:16:30,100
the entire structure have been 
erased from the ocean. 

1312
01:16:30,100 --> 01:16:33,200
Not a single piece of wreckage 
will ever be found. 

1313
01:16:34,300 --> 01:16:38,100
In Portsmouth Harbour, the Royal
Navy is experiencing its worst 

1314
01:16:38,100 --> 01:16:42,400
piece time disaster in history. 
Dozens of warships are moored 

1315
01:16:42,400 --> 01:16:44,600
here. 
And as the storm intensifies, 

1316
01:16:44,600 --> 01:16:48,900
their anchors begin to drag. 
These aren't small boats. 

1317
01:16:48,900 --> 01:16:52,600
Some are three decked ships of 
the line, massive wooden 

1318
01:16:52,600 --> 01:16:55,700
Castle's that carry hundreds of 
men and dozens of Canon. 

1319
01:16:56,500 --> 01:16:59,400
But in this wind there as 
helpless as children's toys. 

1320
01:17:00,500 --> 01:17:02,700
Ships begin colliding with each 
other in the darkness. 

1321
01:17:02,700 --> 01:17:06,200
The sound of wooden hulls 
grinding together as audible. 

1322
01:17:06,200 --> 01:17:11,500
Even over the storms snap with 
cracks like Canon fire rigging 

1323
01:17:11,500 --> 01:17:15,800
Tangles between ships, creating 
a chaos of rope and canvas that 

1324
01:17:15,800 --> 01:17:19,100
makes it impossible to separate 
vessels even if anyone could 

1325
01:17:19,100 --> 01:17:23,100
work on deck which they can't. 
The wind is strong enough to 

1326
01:17:23,100 --> 01:17:26,300
blow men off their feet and over
the railings into the churning, 

1327
01:17:26,300 --> 01:17:29,200
water below. 
Some ships are being driven onto

1328
01:17:29,200 --> 01:17:32,700
the shore, despite their 
anchors, the HMS Association, 

1329
01:17:32,700 --> 01:17:37,000
and 90 gun of the line, drags 
her anchors and grounds near the

1330
01:17:37,008 --> 01:17:40,700
Isle of Wight. 
The HMS restoration, snaps at 

1331
01:17:40,700 --> 01:17:43,900
anchor, cables and has driven 
onto the mud flats where she'll 

1332
01:17:43,900 --> 01:17:46,700
eventually sink. 
All across the southern coast 

1333
01:17:46,700 --> 01:17:49,700
from Bristol to Kent ships and 
eating similar Fates. 

1334
01:17:49,700 --> 01:17:54,200
Merchant vessels fishing, boats,
and naval ships are all equally 

1335
01:17:54,200 --> 01:17:57,000
helpless. 
Before the storms Fury, The 

1336
01:17:57,000 --> 01:18:00,400
human cost at Sea is staggering.
Sailors who have survived 

1337
01:18:00,400 --> 01:18:04,900
battles storms and years of hard
service, a drowning within sight

1338
01:18:04,900 --> 01:18:08,100
of their home ports. 
Some attracted below decks and 

1339
01:18:08,100 --> 01:18:11,700
ships that are flooding. 
Others are washed overboard into

1340
01:18:11,700 --> 01:18:14,100
water, so violent. 
That rescue is impossible. 

1341
01:18:14,100 --> 01:18:17,700
Even if anyone could mount an 
attempt which they can't. 

1342
01:18:18,900 --> 01:18:21,300
The Navy alone will lose over 
1000 men. 

1343
01:18:21,300 --> 01:18:24,300
This night more than most Naval 
battles of the era. 

1344
01:18:24,300 --> 01:18:28,100
Inland trees that have stood for
centuries are falling by the 

1345
01:18:28,100 --> 01:18:31,100
thousands ancient Oaks that were
already old. 

1346
01:18:31,100 --> 01:18:35,700
When Shakespeare was born topple
like dominoes entire forests are

1347
01:18:35,700 --> 01:18:39,600
being flattened creating lunar 
Landscapes of Fallen Timber that

1348
01:18:39,600 --> 01:18:43,000
will take decades to clear. 
The New Forest loses an 

1349
01:18:43,000 --> 01:18:49,300
estimated 4,000 ancient trees in
a single night Dear foxes Badges

1350
01:18:49,300 --> 01:18:52,400
and birds that depend on these 
trees are being crushed or left 

1351
01:18:52,400 --> 01:18:54,600
homeless. 
Agricultural damage is 

1352
01:18:54,600 --> 01:18:57,400
catastrophic Barnes and storage 
buildings. 

1353
01:18:57,400 --> 01:19:01,000
Collapse crushing livestock, and
destroying the winter Food 

1354
01:19:01,000 --> 01:19:04,900
Supplies that farming families 
depend on Haystacks that 

1355
01:19:04,908 --> 01:19:08,300
represent months of Labor 
scatter across the countryside. 

1356
01:19:09,300 --> 01:19:12,100
Sheep and cattle terrified by 
the noise. 

1357
01:19:12,100 --> 01:19:16,300
Unable to find shelter huddle in
fields were some are actually 

1358
01:19:16,300 --> 01:19:20,000
blown over and killed by the 
force of the wind a detailed. 

1359
01:19:20,000 --> 01:19:23,400
So bizarre that people will 
initially refused to believe the

1360
01:19:23,400 --> 01:19:26,200
reports. 
As the storm rages through the 

1361
01:19:26,200 --> 01:19:29,800
early hours of November 27th 
people, huddling in whatever, 

1362
01:19:29,800 --> 01:19:33,400
shelter, they can find listening
to their world being torn apart,

1363
01:19:33,400 --> 01:19:38,000
every crash, every splintering 
sound, every moment. 

1364
01:19:38,000 --> 01:19:41,000
When the wind seems to increase 
impossibly beyond what it 

1365
01:19:41,000 --> 01:19:45,000
already, was it all contributes 
to a growing certain to that 

1366
01:19:45,000 --> 01:19:48,800
this isn't a normal storm. 
This is something unprecedented.

1367
01:19:48,800 --> 01:19:53,200
Something that's revealing just 
how fragile human civilization 

1368
01:19:53,200 --> 01:19:57,700
really is when Nature decides to
stop being cooperative And still

1369
01:19:57,700 --> 01:20:00,900
remarkably the storm continues 
to intensify. 

1370
01:20:01,800 --> 01:20:05,200
Let's focus on individual 
moments within this catastrophic

1371
01:20:05,200 --> 01:20:09,300
night because statistics and 
general descriptions can't quite

1372
01:20:09,300 --> 01:20:10,900
capture what it means to live 
through. 

1373
01:20:10,900 --> 01:20:14,800
Something like this. 
These are the human Stories, the

1374
01:20:14,800 --> 01:20:17,600
small dramas playing out across 
Southern England, while the 

1375
01:20:17,600 --> 01:20:19,600
great drama of the storm rages 
on. 

1376
01:20:20,900 --> 01:20:24,700
In a small village in Sussex, a 
family of seven huddles in their

1377
01:20:24,700 --> 01:20:26,600
Cottage as the walls, begin to 
crack. 

1378
01:20:27,600 --> 01:20:30,500
Father, a farmer named Thomas as
moved. 

1379
01:20:30,500 --> 01:20:34,200
Everyone into the oldest part of
the house, the stone section 

1380
01:20:34,200 --> 01:20:36,400
that his grandfather built 60 
years ago. 

1381
01:20:37,500 --> 01:20:40,000
The newer Timber framed rooms 
are already showing. 

1382
01:20:40,000 --> 01:20:44,000
Alarming signs of stress with 
beams visibly, shifting and 

1383
01:20:44,000 --> 01:20:48,900
walls leaning. around 3 a.m. the
decision makes itself with a 

1384
01:20:48,900 --> 01:20:52,400
sound like a thousand trees 
breaking at once the timber 

1385
01:20:52,400 --> 01:20:56,400
section of their homes, simply 
disintegrates One moment, it's 

1386
01:20:56,400 --> 01:20:58,900
there. 
The next it's gone scattered 

1387
01:20:58,900 --> 01:21:01,200
across the countryside in a 
million pieces. 

1388
01:21:02,100 --> 01:21:05,200
The family packed into the stone
room survives because of a 

1389
01:21:05,200 --> 01:21:08,200
building decision made two 
generations earlier by a careful

1390
01:21:08,200 --> 01:21:10,500
craftsmen. 
Who mixed his mortar properly 

1391
01:21:10,500 --> 01:21:12,700
and chose good Stone in the 
morning. 

1392
01:21:12,700 --> 01:21:14,800
They'll walk out to find that 
everything they owned. 

1393
01:21:14,800 --> 01:21:18,200
Except what's in this one room 
is gone spread across Three 

1394
01:21:18,200 --> 01:21:22,000
Counties. 
Meanwhile in Bristol a midwife 

1395
01:21:22,000 --> 01:21:24,200
named Eleanor is facing an 
impossible decision. 

1396
01:21:24,200 --> 01:21:28,200
A woman has gone into labor and 
complications mean, Eleanor 

1397
01:21:28,200 --> 01:21:31,900
needs to reach a quickly. 
But going outside in this storm 

1398
01:21:31,900 --> 01:21:34,800
is madness. 
The streets are rivers of flying

1399
01:21:34,800 --> 01:21:37,800
debris, and the wind is strong 
enough to make walking nearly 

1400
01:21:37,800 --> 01:21:40,500
impossible. 
Eleanor looks at the store. 

1401
01:21:40,500 --> 01:21:44,200
Looks at her bag of instruments 
and herbs thinks about the woman

1402
01:21:44,200 --> 01:21:46,400
and unborn child and makes the 
choice. 

1403
01:21:46,400 --> 01:21:49,700
She wraps herself in every piece
of heavy clothing. 

1404
01:21:49,700 --> 01:21:52,100
She owns and sets out into the 
Tempest. 

1405
01:21:53,200 --> 01:21:55,700
Her journey of less than half, a
mile takes over an hour. 

1406
01:21:56,700 --> 01:22:00,100
She crawls part of the way 
holding onto walls and fences 

1407
01:22:00,100 --> 01:22:03,300
moving between buildings when 
the wind briefly lessons. 

1408
01:22:04,200 --> 01:22:07,600
A roof tile strike her shoulder,
leaving a bruise. 

1409
01:22:07,600 --> 01:22:11,700
But fortunately not breaking a 
bone. 1 to gusts simply lifts 

1410
01:22:11,700 --> 01:22:13,800
her off her feet and deposits 
for 10 feet away. 

1411
01:22:15,200 --> 01:22:19,500
But Eleanor keeps going driven 
by professional Duty and sheer 

1412
01:22:19,500 --> 01:22:21,600
stubbornness until she reaches 
her patient. 

1413
01:22:22,600 --> 01:22:25,100
The baby will be born healthy 
just after Dawn. 

1414
01:22:25,100 --> 01:22:27,900
And Eleanor, will later say that
bringing life into the world 

1415
01:22:27,900 --> 01:22:29,500
during history's deadliest 
storm? 

1416
01:22:29,500 --> 01:22:32,200
Gave her a perspective on 
resilience that she never lost. 

1417
01:22:33,400 --> 01:22:38,600
Out at Sea, the situation is a 
pure Nightmare on the HMS Mary 

1418
01:22:38,600 --> 01:22:42,100
of 4th rate, ship with 50 guns. 
The crew has done everything. 

1419
01:22:42,100 --> 01:22:46,700
Right anchors are down, sales 
are fulfilled and hatches a 

1420
01:22:46,700 --> 01:22:49,200
baton. 
The wind is so strong that the 

1421
01:22:49,200 --> 01:22:51,900
ship is dragging. 
Her anchors anyway, moving 

1422
01:22:51,900 --> 01:22:55,000
slowly, but inexorably toward 
the rocky shore of the Isle of 

1423
01:22:55,000 --> 01:22:57,800
Wight. 
The captain knows what's coming.

1424
01:22:57,800 --> 01:23:01,500
He can feel it through the 
ship's Timbers that subtle 

1425
01:23:01,500 --> 01:23:05,100
change in motion that tells an 
experienced Seaman that his 

1426
01:23:05,100 --> 01:23:08,600
vessel is doomed. 
He can't save the ship perhaps. 

1427
01:23:08,600 --> 01:23:11,800
He can save the crew. 
He orders everyone into the 

1428
01:23:11,800 --> 01:23:15,700
rigging counterintuitive, but it
gets them by the deck before the

1429
01:23:15,700 --> 01:23:19,000
ship grounds. 
When the Mary finally strikes, 

1430
01:23:19,000 --> 01:23:22,400
the Rocks around 4 a.m. the 
impact is so violent, that it 

1431
01:23:22,400 --> 01:23:24,000
tears the bottom out of the 
hull. 

1432
01:23:24,700 --> 01:23:28,800
The ship floods in minutes. 
But most of the crew clinging to

1433
01:23:28,800 --> 01:23:33,000
the master and yards. 
Survive until dawn when Rescuers

1434
01:23:33,000 --> 01:23:35,700
can reach them. 
Not everyone is so fortunate. 

1435
01:23:37,100 --> 01:23:40,500
The HMS Northumberland, a large 
Merchant vessel pressed into 

1436
01:23:40,508 --> 01:23:43,800
Navy service, breaks, free of 
her Moorings in Portsmouth, and 

1437
01:23:43,800 --> 01:23:48,300
is driven directly into the path
of the HMS. Mary, Two ships 

1438
01:23:48,300 --> 01:23:52,300
Collide in the darkness with a 
grinding splintering crash that 

1439
01:23:52,300 --> 01:23:54,600
can be heard on Shore. 
Over the wind, the 

1440
01:23:54,600 --> 01:23:58,400
Northumberland Mass fall like 
trees, crushing men who have no 

1441
01:23:58,400 --> 01:24:01,900
time to escape. 
Ship begins taking on water 

1442
01:24:01,900 --> 01:24:07,400
immediately and in the chaos and
darkness rescue is impossible of

1443
01:24:07,400 --> 01:24:10,400
a crew of 200 fewer than 20 will
see the dawn. 

1444
01:24:11,100 --> 01:24:14,200
In Kent, a Shepherd named 
William has been caught away 

1445
01:24:14,200 --> 01:24:15,800
from home. 
When the storm truly hit. 

1446
01:24:16,500 --> 01:24:19,800
He is taken shelter in a small 
Stone Hut used for storing 

1447
01:24:19,800 --> 01:24:23,100
tools, basically four walls, and
a solid roof. 

1448
01:24:23,100 --> 01:24:27,300
No windows. 
And one door it's cramped and 

1449
01:24:27,300 --> 01:24:32,400
cold, but it Stone and it's 
holding William settles in to 

1450
01:24:32,400 --> 01:24:36,700
wait out the storm, listening to
The Unbelievable Fury outside 

1451
01:24:36,700 --> 01:24:40,500
and probably thinking about 
every poor decision that led to 

1452
01:24:40,508 --> 01:24:42,800
him being here in state of Home 
in his own bed. 

1453
01:24:43,800 --> 01:24:47,800
Around midnight, William, hears,
something over the storm, an odd

1454
01:24:47,800 --> 01:24:50,700
bleeding sound. 
Opening the door, slightly. 

1455
01:24:50,700 --> 01:24:53,700
He finds a you from his flock 
terrified and pressed against 

1456
01:24:53,700 --> 01:24:56,800
the wall. 
He pulls her inside within an 

1457
01:24:56,800 --> 01:25:00,000
hour, three more sheep have 
found his shelter, then a fox 

1458
01:25:00,000 --> 01:25:02,600
appears and William's. 
First instinct is to drive it 

1459
01:25:02,600 --> 01:25:05,800
away. 
Something about the absolute 

1460
01:25:05,800 --> 01:25:07,700
Terror. 
In the animals eyes makes him 

1461
01:25:07,700 --> 01:25:10,800
hesitate. 
The fox links into a corner as 

1462
01:25:10,800 --> 01:25:13,400
far from the Sheep as possible 
and lies their shaking. 

1463
01:25:14,600 --> 01:25:17,300
They'll all survive the night 
together in that, Tiny Stone 

1464
01:25:17,300 --> 01:25:21,100
Hut. 
Predator and prey United by fear

1465
01:25:21,100 --> 01:25:22,500
of something worse than each 
other. 

1466
01:25:23,400 --> 01:25:27,000
Back in London, Westminster 
Abbey is suffering devastating 

1467
01:25:27,000 --> 01:25:29,300
damage. 
This isn't some wooden 

1468
01:25:29,300 --> 01:25:32,800
structure, but a massive Stone 
building that stood for 

1469
01:25:32,800 --> 01:25:35,600
centuries. 
Yet the wind is finding 

1470
01:25:35,600 --> 01:25:37,700
weaknesses that nobody knew 
existed. 

1471
01:25:38,800 --> 01:25:40,600
Lead sheets on the roof, 
appealing back. 

1472
01:25:40,600 --> 01:25:44,600
Like paper flying debris has 
broken several ancient stained 

1473
01:25:44,600 --> 01:25:47,900
glass windows. 
Most dramatically the Abby's 

1474
01:25:47,900 --> 01:25:51,600
roof which weighs several tons 
actually lifts and shifts 

1475
01:25:51,600 --> 01:25:54,000
dropping back down at slight 
angle. 

1476
01:25:54,000 --> 01:25:57,500
The architectural damage will 
take years to properly repair 

1477
01:25:58,400 --> 01:26:01,400
The Tower of London, that 
ancient Fortress that is with 

1478
01:26:01,400 --> 01:26:04,500
stood, sieges fires and 
political upheavals is 

1479
01:26:04,500 --> 01:26:08,500
experiencing something new. 
The wind is so strong that it's 

1480
01:26:08,500 --> 01:26:10,200
actually pushing in the leaded 
windows. 

1481
01:26:11,000 --> 01:26:14,300
The famous Ravens that live in 
the tower who according to 

1482
01:26:14,300 --> 01:26:18,300
Legend, protect England by their
presence of all taken shelter in

1483
01:26:18,300 --> 01:26:21,900
the deepest most protected 
corners of the Fortress even 

1484
01:26:21,900 --> 01:26:24,000
birds that are essentially carry
an eaters. 

1485
01:26:24,000 --> 01:26:28,800
Built to handle harsh conditions
know when to admit defeat, in 

1486
01:26:28,800 --> 01:26:33,600
Portsmouth a naval officer named
Samuel peeps not the diarist but

1487
01:26:33,600 --> 01:26:36,900
a distant relative is trapped 
aboard, his ship making 

1488
01:26:36,900 --> 01:26:41,400
impossible decision His vessel 
has dragged anchor and his 

1489
01:26:41,400 --> 01:26:45,000
heading toward the rocks. 
Storm is so violent that he 

1490
01:26:45,008 --> 01:26:47,900
can't order men on Deck without 
essentially sending them to 

1491
01:26:47,900 --> 01:26:51,100
their deaths. 
He watches three ships, Collide 

1492
01:26:51,100 --> 01:26:55,700
nearby sees, masts for, and 
here's the screams of men going 

1493
01:26:55,700 --> 01:26:58,300
into the water. 
There's nothing he can do 

1494
01:26:58,300 --> 01:27:01,000
command in. 
This storm is meaningless. 

1495
01:27:01,000 --> 01:27:05,200
Nature is in charge now and all 
human authority is temporarily 

1496
01:27:05,200 --> 01:27:09,600
suspended. 
Around 4 a.m. something shift in

1497
01:27:09,600 --> 01:27:12,900
the storms character. 
It doesn't weaken if anything. 

1498
01:27:12,900 --> 01:27:16,800
This is the peak of its Fury. 
but the wind begins to change 

1499
01:27:16,800 --> 01:27:20,800
direction swinging, around from 
the southwest to the west and 

1500
01:27:20,800 --> 01:27:24,800
then Northwest This rotation 
means that places that had been 

1501
01:27:24,800 --> 01:27:28,900
somewhat protected by geography.
Now get hit with full force 

1502
01:27:28,900 --> 01:27:31,800
while areas that had borne the 
brunt for hours. 

1503
01:27:31,800 --> 01:27:36,600
Get briefed relative respects. 
This windshift causes a new wave

1504
01:27:36,600 --> 01:27:39,700
of Destruction. 
Buildings that had survived by 

1505
01:27:39,700 --> 01:27:42,300
facing away from the wind now. 
Have it hitting them from 

1506
01:27:42,300 --> 01:27:45,500
unexpected angles? 
Ships that had positioned 

1507
01:27:45,500 --> 01:27:48,300
themselves carefully for South 
West Winds, find themselves 

1508
01:27:48,300 --> 01:27:53,000
broadside and north-west gales. 
The windshift feels almost 

1509
01:27:53,000 --> 01:27:57,100
malicious as if the storm is 
making sure nothing escapes its 

1510
01:27:57,100 --> 01:28:00,600
attention. 
On the coast of Hampshire, a 

1511
01:28:00,600 --> 01:28:03,500
small fishing Village experience
is what locals will later 

1512
01:28:03,500 --> 01:28:06,100
describe as the most terrifying 
hour of the night. 

1513
01:28:07,100 --> 01:28:10,200
The wind had been bad but 
survivable, then the shift 

1514
01:28:10,200 --> 01:28:13,500
happened and suddenly the wind 
is coming, straight off the 

1515
01:28:13,500 --> 01:28:17,700
ocean with nothing to block it. 
The entire Villages fishing 

1516
01:28:17,700 --> 01:28:22,400
fleet 20 small boats drawn up on
the beach is picked up and 

1517
01:28:22,400 --> 01:28:27,300
thrown against the Seawall. 
house is near the water struck 

1518
01:28:27,300 --> 01:28:31,300
by waves, that have no business 
being that large, Three 

1519
01:28:31,300 --> 01:28:34,400
Cottages, simply collapse into 
the sea which is now reaching 

1520
01:28:34,400 --> 01:28:36,100
places, it has never reached 
before. 

1521
01:28:37,000 --> 01:28:41,300
The Village Church which sits on
a slight rise and has been a 

1522
01:28:41,300 --> 01:28:45,700
landmark for 200 years loses, 
its entire roof in one piece, 

1523
01:28:46,600 --> 01:28:50,400
The roof simply lifts off sails,
several hundred yards, Inland 

1524
01:28:50,400 --> 01:28:53,600
and lands in a field where it 
will remain largely intact. 

1525
01:28:55,200 --> 01:28:58,200
The church bell falls from the 
tower and rolls down into the 

1526
01:28:58,200 --> 01:29:01,500
Village Square where it will 
stay for weeks because it's too 

1527
01:29:01,500 --> 01:29:05,000
heavy to move easily and there 
are far more pressing concerns. 

1528
01:29:05,000 --> 01:29:08,500
As the first hints of gray. 
Light begin to appear in the 

1529
01:29:08,500 --> 01:29:11,800
Eastern Sky though. 
Light is a generous term for the

1530
01:29:11,800 --> 01:29:15,600
murky dimness that passes for 
Dawn on November 27th. 

1531
01:29:16,400 --> 01:29:18,900
People begin to realize that 
they might actually survive 

1532
01:29:18,900 --> 01:29:23,100
this, the storm is still raging,
but there's a subtle lessening 

1533
01:29:23,100 --> 01:29:26,200
of intensity. 
A sense that perhaps the worst 

1534
01:29:26,200 --> 01:29:31,300
as passed, Of course, nobody can
be sure the storm has already 

1535
01:29:31,308 --> 01:29:34,300
defied every expectation and 
broken, every rule. 

1536
01:29:35,200 --> 01:29:38,300
Whose to say it won't settle 
intense fire again but slowly 

1537
01:29:38,300 --> 01:29:41,600
gradually. 
The wind does begin to decrease.

1538
01:29:42,500 --> 01:29:45,100
Not quickly. 
This isn't like a switch being 

1539
01:29:45,100 --> 01:29:50,600
flipped off, but measurably by 6
a.m. it's possible to stand 

1540
01:29:50,600 --> 01:29:53,800
outside without being knocked 
down, though, you still need to 

1541
01:29:53,800 --> 01:29:56,100
lean into the wind and watch for
flying debris. 

1542
01:29:57,300 --> 01:29:59,900
By 7 a.m. the wind has dropped 
to. 

1543
01:29:59,900 --> 01:30:01,800
What would normally be called 
gale force? 

1544
01:30:01,800 --> 01:30:03,600
Which after the horrors of the 
night? 

1545
01:30:03,600 --> 01:30:08,300
Feels almost calm by comparison.
The storm isn't over, it will 

1546
01:30:08,300 --> 01:30:11,400
continue to batter parts of 
England and move on to ravage 

1547
01:30:11,400 --> 01:30:13,000
sections of Europe for another 
day. 

1548
01:30:13,800 --> 01:30:17,000
But the absolute Peak that 
nightmare period between 

1549
01:30:17,000 --> 01:30:19,700
midnight and Dawn is finally 
ending. 

1550
01:30:20,700 --> 01:30:23,400
People begin to emerge from 
whatever shelter they found. 

1551
01:30:24,300 --> 01:30:26,900
Stepping out into a world that 
has been fundamentally 

1552
01:30:26,900 --> 01:30:30,000
transformed. 
Imagine stepping out of your 

1553
01:30:30,000 --> 01:30:33,500
shelter as the gray light of 
November 27th, gross strong 

1554
01:30:33,500 --> 01:30:38,200
enough to actually see by The 
wind is still blowing hard but 

1555
01:30:38,200 --> 01:30:41,300
compared to the night's Fury. 
It feels almost gentle. 

1556
01:30:42,200 --> 01:30:45,900
First thing that strikes you is 
the smell fresh wood from 

1557
01:30:45,900 --> 01:30:50,800
thousands of broken trees salt. 
Spray carried miles, Inland from

1558
01:30:50,800 --> 01:30:54,700
the sea Disturbed Earth from 
building that have collapsed and

1559
01:30:54,700 --> 01:30:57,600
smoke from fires that have 
broken out in the chaos. 

1560
01:30:58,300 --> 01:31:01,900
The second thing you notice is 
the sound after hours of 

1561
01:31:01,900 --> 01:31:04,600
continuous roaring. 
Wind the relative quiet is 

1562
01:31:04,600 --> 01:31:07,600
almost disorienting. 
Your ears are ringing from the 

1563
01:31:07,600 --> 01:31:10,800
sustained volume. 
But there are new sounds now, 

1564
01:31:10,800 --> 01:31:14,600
the crash of delayed structural 
collapses as buildings that were

1565
01:31:14,600 --> 01:31:18,100
weakened during the night. 
Finally, give up The calls of 

1566
01:31:18,100 --> 01:31:21,200
people searching for family 
members and neighbors, and the 

1567
01:31:21,208 --> 01:31:23,900
creaking of damaged structures 
that are still partially 

1568
01:31:23,900 --> 01:31:26,900
standing. 
Then you look around and your 

1569
01:31:26,900 --> 01:31:28,800
mind struggles to process what 
you're seeing. 

1570
01:31:29,600 --> 01:31:32,800
The landscape has been 
transformed, so completely that 

1571
01:31:32,800 --> 01:31:34,800
it takes a moment to orient your
self. 

1572
01:31:35,700 --> 01:31:39,100
Trees that will landmarks that. 
You've used your entire life to 

1573
01:31:39,100 --> 01:31:42,800
navigate our gone. 
Buildings that Define the 

1574
01:31:42,800 --> 01:31:46,300
skyline have vanished or are now
unrecognizable ruins. 

1575
01:31:47,000 --> 01:31:49,300
The Village or town. 
You've lived in your whole life 

1576
01:31:49,300 --> 01:31:51,100
has become a foreign country 
overnight. 

1577
01:31:52,000 --> 01:31:54,700
In the countryside, the 
devastation is staggering but at

1578
01:31:54,700 --> 01:31:58,100
least its spread out. 
Entire forests are flattened. 

1579
01:31:58,100 --> 01:32:00,100
Yes. 
But Forest we're going to be cut

1580
01:32:00,100 --> 01:32:03,800
down eventually anyway. 
For Timber, it's shocking, but 

1581
01:32:03,800 --> 01:32:05,800
it's not as immediately 
heartbreaking as what's 

1582
01:32:05,800 --> 01:32:09,300
happening in population centers 
in towns and cities, the 

1583
01:32:09,300 --> 01:32:12,600
destruction is intimate and 
immediate this pile of rubble 

1584
01:32:12,600 --> 01:32:15,700
was the baker family's house 
where Mrs. Baker made the best 

1585
01:32:15,708 --> 01:32:18,800
bread in the village. 
That scattered Timber was the 

1586
01:32:18,800 --> 01:32:23,300
Smithy where horses were shot 
and tools were mended the church

1587
01:32:23,300 --> 01:32:26,800
where you were baptized where 
your parents were married and 

1588
01:32:26,800 --> 01:32:28,400
where your grandparents are 
buried. 

1589
01:32:28,400 --> 01:32:32,100
It's now missing half its roof 
and its entire steeple. 

1590
01:32:32,900 --> 01:32:36,100
The communities physical memory 
has been partially erased 

1591
01:32:36,100 --> 01:32:39,000
overnight. 
People are emerging slowly and 

1592
01:32:39,000 --> 01:32:43,100
cautiously many of them in 
shock, you see a woman standing 

1593
01:32:43,100 --> 01:32:46,400
in front of where a house used 
to be just standing there 

1594
01:32:46,400 --> 01:32:49,500
staring at the ruble, not 
moving, not speaking. 

1595
01:32:50,900 --> 01:32:53,900
A man is walking in circles in 
his yard, picking up random 

1596
01:32:53,900 --> 01:32:56,100
objects or cooking pot. 
A child shoe. 

1597
01:32:56,100 --> 01:32:59,300
A book holding each one for a 
moment before setting it down 

1598
01:32:59,300 --> 01:33:02,400
and picking up something else. 
As if he's lost the ability to 

1599
01:33:02,400 --> 01:33:06,400
decide what's important, 
children are crying from Fear, 

1600
01:33:06,400 --> 01:33:10,300
some from exhaustion and some 
from that peculiar distress that

1601
01:33:10,300 --> 01:33:13,700
comes from having their entire 
world revealed as less safe and 

1602
01:33:13,700 --> 01:33:17,500
stable than they believed. 
Dog's a barking frantically 

1603
01:33:17,500 --> 01:33:20,900
trying to find their owners or 
protect property that no longer 

1604
01:33:20,900 --> 01:33:23,700
exists. 
Cats are nowhere to be seen. 

1605
01:33:23,700 --> 01:33:27,400
They've all hidden in whatever 
deep dark places they could find

1606
01:33:27,400 --> 01:33:31,700
and won't emerge for days. 
The death toll becomes apparent.

1607
01:33:31,700 --> 01:33:34,700
Gradually Someone finds a body 
under Rubble here. 

1608
01:33:34,700 --> 01:33:39,100
Another is discovered in a 
collapsed building their Family 

1609
01:33:39,100 --> 01:33:40,900
didn't make it out when their 
house collapsed. 

1610
01:33:41,500 --> 01:33:44,900
An elderly person too. 
Frail to evacuate a stronger 

1611
01:33:44,900 --> 01:33:48,300
shelter was crushed. 
When a beam fell, the numbers 

1612
01:33:48,300 --> 01:33:51,700
start to accumulate and with 
each Discovery, the community 

1613
01:33:51,700 --> 01:33:56,000
shock deepens. 
In London, the scene is, 

1614
01:33:56,000 --> 01:34:00,200
apocalyptic streets are 
impossible, blocked by Fallen 

1615
01:34:00,200 --> 01:34:03,500
chimneys collapsed walls and 
debris. 

1616
01:34:04,400 --> 01:34:07,400
The lead Merchants Warehouse 
near the Thames as collapsed. 

1617
01:34:08,200 --> 01:34:11,700
Spilling thousands of sheets of 
LED roofing material into the 

1618
01:34:11,700 --> 01:34:14,600
streets. 
Tiles and Bricks Like 

1619
01:34:14,600 --> 01:34:17,500
everywhere. 
Mixed with broken glass 

1620
01:34:17,500 --> 01:34:21,400
splintered wood and Scattered 
belongings from homes that no 

1621
01:34:21,400 --> 01:34:23,500
longer have roofs to protect 
their contents. 

1622
01:34:24,600 --> 01:34:26,800
Where Westminster Abbey looks 
like it's been hit by artillery.

1623
01:34:26,800 --> 01:34:31,400
The roof damage is extensive 
exposing the interior to the 

1624
01:34:31,400 --> 01:34:34,300
elements. 
Several Pinnacles and decorative

1625
01:34:34,300 --> 01:34:36,900
elements of Fallen smashing into
the streets below. 

1626
01:34:36,900 --> 01:34:41,200
The clock tower stopped working,
its mechanism jammed by the 

1627
01:34:41,200 --> 01:34:44,500
building structural shifts. 
The queen will be told that the 

1628
01:34:44,500 --> 01:34:47,300
damage to the Abbey alone will 
cost thousands of pounds to 

1629
01:34:47,300 --> 01:34:53,500
repair a fortune in 1703 money. 
Daniel Defoe having survived the

1630
01:34:53,508 --> 01:34:56,700
night with his family begins. 
What will become the world's 

1631
01:34:56,700 --> 01:34:58,500
first. 
Systematic disaster 

1632
01:34:58,500 --> 01:35:01,400
investigation. 
He places advertisements in 

1633
01:35:01,400 --> 01:35:05,000
London newspapers asking people 
to send him their observations 

1634
01:35:05,000 --> 01:35:07,800
and experiences. 
He's going to collect data, 

1635
01:35:07,800 --> 01:35:12,100
compiles, statistics and create 
a comprehensive account of the 

1636
01:35:12,100 --> 01:35:15,300
storm. 
Its revolutionary journalism 

1637
01:35:15,300 --> 01:35:19,900
using systematic investigation 
and I witnessed testimony to 

1638
01:35:19,900 --> 01:35:24,700
document a natural disaster. 
His eventual publication, the 

1639
01:35:24,700 --> 01:35:28,500
storm will become a historical 
document of immense value. 

1640
01:35:29,400 --> 01:35:33,300
Along the coast, the maritime 
disaster is beyond anything. 

1641
01:35:33,300 --> 01:35:35,600
The Royal Navy has experience in
peace time. 

1642
01:35:36,300 --> 01:35:38,500
Portsmouth, Harbour looks like a
Battlefield. 

1643
01:35:39,600 --> 01:35:43,300
Ship's a piled on top of each 
other, masks are broken and 

1644
01:35:43,300 --> 01:35:46,900
trailing in the water and hulls 
a stove in and sinking. 

1645
01:35:47,900 --> 01:35:50,700
Bodies are washing up on shore 
Sailors, who went into the water

1646
01:35:50,700 --> 01:35:55,000
during the night and never made 
it out. the Eddystone light, 

1647
01:35:55,000 --> 01:35:58,200
which stood as a symbol of human
engineering triumphing over 

1648
01:35:58,200 --> 01:36:02,500
Nature, has vanished completely 
Search ships, will eventually 

1649
01:36:02,500 --> 01:36:06,000
find the Rocks where it stood, 
but not a single piece of the 

1650
01:36:06,000 --> 01:36:10,100
structure remains. 
Henry wind Stanley who designed 

1651
01:36:10,100 --> 01:36:13,300
and built the lighthouse and who
famously said he wanted to be 

1652
01:36:13,300 --> 01:36:15,200
inside it. 
During the greatest storm to 

1653
01:36:15,200 --> 01:36:18,400
prove its strength. 
God is wish in the cruelest way 

1654
01:36:18,400 --> 01:36:20,900
possible. 
His confidence in his 

1655
01:36:20,900 --> 01:36:22,800
engineering as cost him 
everything. 

1656
01:36:23,600 --> 01:36:27,200
Merchant ships from around. 
The world have been destroyed a 

1657
01:36:27,200 --> 01:36:30,100
vessel from the East Indies, 
carrying spices and silk with a 

1658
01:36:30,100 --> 01:36:32,400
small fortune as sunk in the 
harbor. 

1659
01:36:33,400 --> 01:36:37,500
Ship from the Americas loaded 
with tobacco and sugar has been 

1660
01:36:37,500 --> 01:36:39,700
driven onto the rocks and broken
apart. 

1661
01:36:40,500 --> 01:36:43,700
Insurance companies in London 
will face bankruptcy from the 

1662
01:36:43,700 --> 01:36:46,200
claims. 
The financial impact of the 

1663
01:36:46,208 --> 01:36:48,500
storm will Ripple through the 
economy for years. 

1664
01:36:49,500 --> 01:36:52,300
The total ship losses are 
difficult to calculate initially

1665
01:36:52,300 --> 01:36:55,600
because ships, keeping found 
wrecked in unexpected places. 

1666
01:36:55,600 --> 01:36:59,200
The wind was strong enough to 
blow vessels miles from where 

1667
01:36:59,200 --> 01:37:03,300
they should have been one 
merchant ship is found several 

1668
01:37:03,300 --> 01:37:06,000
miles. 
Inland blown up a title Creek 

1669
01:37:06,000 --> 01:37:07,800
and deposited in a farmer's 
field. 

1670
01:37:07,800 --> 01:37:10,800
Like some bizarre, sea monster 
that lost his way. 

1671
01:37:11,900 --> 01:37:14,300
It will stay there for years 
because moving it is in 

1672
01:37:14,300 --> 01:37:17,400
Practical. 
Eventually, it will just rot in 

1673
01:37:17,400 --> 01:37:22,500
place, becoming a landmark. 
And a reminder, Bishop's Palace 

1674
01:37:22,500 --> 01:37:24,900
in Wells Somerset has lost most 
of its roof. 

1675
01:37:25,800 --> 01:37:28,800
Tiles that have protected this 
building for centuries are gone 

1676
01:37:28,800 --> 01:37:33,500
scattered across the countryside
rain is now falling into rooms 

1677
01:37:33,500 --> 01:37:35,400
that haven't been wet since they
were built. 

1678
01:37:36,100 --> 01:37:38,300
Ancient manuscripts and 
documents are being. 

1679
01:37:38,308 --> 01:37:41,200
Hastily moved to try to save 
them from water damage. 

1680
01:37:41,200 --> 01:37:44,700
It will take months to make the 
palace weatherproof again. 

1681
01:37:45,500 --> 01:37:48,400
Canterbury Cathedral one of the 
most important religious sites 

1682
01:37:48,400 --> 01:37:51,800
in England has suffered damage 
to its Bell Harry Tower 

1683
01:37:52,700 --> 01:37:56,000
stonework that has stood since 
the 1400s has been weakened or 

1684
01:37:56,000 --> 01:37:59,100
destroyed, Lead sheets of have 
been torn from the roof. 

1685
01:37:59,100 --> 01:38:02,100
The Archbishop will later 
calculate that the storm has 

1686
01:38:02,100 --> 01:38:03,600
done more damage to the 
cathedral. 

1687
01:38:03,600 --> 01:38:06,300
That was inflicted during the 
entire Reformation. 

1688
01:38:07,300 --> 01:38:09,900
As people begin to assess the 
damage and start the 

1689
01:38:09,900 --> 01:38:14,000
overwhelming task of recovery. 
Stories emerged that strain 

1690
01:38:14,000 --> 01:38:17,200
credibility. 
A woman in Kent claims that her 

1691
01:38:17,200 --> 01:38:21,200
chickens were blown, two miles 
from her farm, and landed alive.

1692
01:38:21,200 --> 01:38:23,700
But extremely confused in 
neighbor's yard. 

1693
01:38:24,500 --> 01:38:27,800
A farmer insist that the wind 
was so strong at blew the fleece

1694
01:38:27,800 --> 01:38:30,700
off several of his sheep. 
Claim that seems impossible 

1695
01:38:30,700 --> 01:38:34,000
until you see the sheep and 
questioned harshly sheared by 

1696
01:38:34,000 --> 01:38:37,600
wind and flying debris. 
Someone finds a haystack from 

1697
01:38:37,600 --> 01:38:42,200
Sussex City in a field in Kent 
blown, 20 miles from its 

1698
01:38:42,200 --> 01:38:45,500
original location. 
A weather vane from a church 

1699
01:38:45,508 --> 01:38:48,800
steeple in Hampshire, is 
discovered embedded in a tree 

1700
01:38:48,808 --> 01:38:53,000
endorse it 40 miles away. 
These objects aren't just blown 

1701
01:38:53,000 --> 01:38:56,000
around, they're becoming 
projectiles that travel 

1702
01:38:56,000 --> 01:38:58,700
distances that seem to violate 
the laws of physics. 

1703
01:38:58,700 --> 01:39:01,600
The task of clearing, the debris
and beginning. 

1704
01:39:01,600 --> 01:39:05,600
Repairs is overwhelming in every
village in every town. 

1705
01:39:05,600 --> 01:39:08,400
People are looking at months or 
years of work. 

1706
01:39:08,400 --> 01:39:13,200
Roofs need to be rebuilt, walls,
need to be repaired and trees 

1707
01:39:13,200 --> 01:39:17,300
need to be cleared and winter is
coming damaged. 

1708
01:39:17,300 --> 01:39:19,200
Buildings. 
Need to be made whether proof 

1709
01:39:19,200 --> 01:39:23,400
before the real cold arrives. 
There's desperate urgency to the

1710
01:39:23,400 --> 01:39:27,600
work driven by the knowledge, 
that another storm, even a 

1711
01:39:27,600 --> 01:39:29,900
normal one. 
Could be catastrophic for 

1712
01:39:29,900 --> 01:39:31,500
buildings that are barely 
standing. 

1713
01:39:32,300 --> 01:39:34,900
Help begins to arrive from areas
that were less affected. 

1714
01:39:35,900 --> 01:39:38,600
The northern counties which 
experienced strong winds, but 

1715
01:39:38,600 --> 01:39:41,800
nothing like the destruction, in
the South send workers and 

1716
01:39:41,800 --> 01:39:45,900
materials, the queen opens, the 
Royal purse to help with repairs

1717
01:39:45,900 --> 01:39:47,500
to churches and public 
buildings. 

1718
01:39:47,500 --> 01:39:51,000
Wealthy landowners, organized 
relief efforts for their 

1719
01:39:51,000 --> 01:39:53,100
tenants. 
It's not enough. 

1720
01:39:53,100 --> 01:39:57,200
It can't be enough. 
But it's something and in the 

1721
01:39:57,208 --> 01:40:00,900
aftermath of disaster, something
is infinitely better than 

1722
01:40:00,900 --> 01:40:04,500
nothing as the day progresses 
and the wind continues to die 

1723
01:40:04,500 --> 01:40:06,000
down. 
People start trying to 

1724
01:40:06,000 --> 01:40:09,200
understand what happened. 
This is the beginning of a 

1725
01:40:09,200 --> 01:40:11,400
collective attempt to make sense
of something that defies 

1726
01:40:11,400 --> 01:40:14,500
comprehension. 
In an age before. 

1727
01:40:14,500 --> 01:40:17,900
Modern meteorology before 
whether science, as we know it, 

1728
01:40:17,900 --> 01:40:20,900
people are reaching for 
explanations that make sense 

1729
01:40:20,900 --> 01:40:24,100
within their world view. 
In the days and weeks. 

1730
01:40:24,100 --> 01:40:27,000
Following the great storm people
across, England are asking the 

1731
01:40:27,000 --> 01:40:28,900
same question what just 
happened? 

1732
01:40:29,800 --> 01:40:33,200
You have to remember that in 
1703, the scientific 

1733
01:40:33,200 --> 01:40:35,600
understanding of whether was 
primitive at best. 

1734
01:40:36,300 --> 01:40:37,700
The barometer exists. 
Yes. 

1735
01:40:37,700 --> 01:40:41,600
But it's a novelty. 
Concept of air pressure is 

1736
01:40:41,600 --> 01:40:45,200
understood in abstract terms by 
a few scientists, but the 

1737
01:40:45,200 --> 01:40:48,400
connection between precious 
systems and weather is still 

1738
01:40:48,400 --> 01:40:50,300
being debated in academic 
circles. 

1739
01:40:50,300 --> 01:40:53,800
Most people's understanding of 
weather comes from centuries of 

1740
01:40:53,808 --> 01:40:55,900
folk wisdom and religious 
interpretation. 

1741
01:40:56,900 --> 01:41:00,800
Storms are sent by God either as
punishment for sin or as tests 

1742
01:41:00,800 --> 01:41:04,600
of faith. whether patterns are 
influenced by the Moon by the 

1743
01:41:04,600 --> 01:41:08,100
stars, and by various signs and 
Omens that experience people 

1744
01:41:08,100 --> 01:41:11,600
learn to read It's not 
scientific but it's the 

1745
01:41:11,600 --> 01:41:14,100
framework people have for 
understanding their world. 

1746
01:41:14,900 --> 01:41:18,400
So when a storm of unprecedented
violent strikes without warning 

1747
01:41:18,400 --> 01:41:22,500
and causes unimaginable 
destruction, Search for meaning 

1748
01:41:22,500 --> 01:41:26,500
becomes urgent. 
Religious leaders, who serve as 

1749
01:41:26,500 --> 01:41:30,300
the primary interpreters of 
major events immediately frames 

1750
01:41:30,300 --> 01:41:34,100
the storm in theological terms. 
Sermons, across the country. 

1751
01:41:34,100 --> 01:41:37,000
Describe it as Divine judgment 
though. 

1752
01:41:37,000 --> 01:41:40,300
What exactly England is being 
judged for various depending on 

1753
01:41:40,308 --> 01:41:44,100
the preachers particular 
theological emphasis, Some 

1754
01:41:44,100 --> 01:41:47,800
ministers point to the ongoing 
war with France, suggesting that

1755
01:41:47,800 --> 01:41:51,700
God is displeased with the 
Bloodshed others focus on moral 

1756
01:41:51,700 --> 01:41:55,100
decay in London, claiming that 
the storm is punishment for the 

1757
01:41:55,100 --> 01:41:59,500
theater gambling and other vices
flourishing in the capital. 

1758
01:42:00,500 --> 01:42:03,700
Still others, take a more 
political angle, suggesting that

1759
01:42:03,700 --> 01:42:07,000
religious divisions between 
anglicans and dissenters, have 

1760
01:42:07,000 --> 01:42:10,900
angered the all Mighty. 
These explanations provide 

1761
01:42:10,900 --> 01:42:14,400
comfort in their way. 
If the storm is divine judgment 

1762
01:42:14,400 --> 01:42:18,600
then it's not random. 
It has meaning purpose and cause

1763
01:42:18,600 --> 01:42:22,500
and if it has a cause then 
perhaps it can be prevented next

1764
01:42:22,500 --> 01:42:24,200
time by improving moral 
Behavior. 

1765
01:42:24,200 --> 01:42:28,500
Reforming religious practices, 
It's a way of restoring a sense 

1766
01:42:28,500 --> 01:42:31,700
of control in a situation that 
revealed how little control 

1767
01:42:31,700 --> 01:42:35,100
anyone actually has. 
Queen Anne, who is deeply 

1768
01:42:35,100 --> 01:42:38,600
religious orders are national 
day of fasting and prayer to be 

1769
01:42:38,600 --> 01:42:42,200
held in January. 
It's both a religious observance

1770
01:42:42,200 --> 01:42:45,700
and a political statement 
acknowledging the disaster while

1771
01:42:45,700 --> 01:42:48,500
demonstrating Royal concern for 
the nation's welfare. 

1772
01:42:49,300 --> 01:42:52,900
Churches across England will 
hold special services and people

1773
01:42:52,900 --> 01:42:55,900
will pray for the souls of the 
dead and for protection from 

1774
01:42:55,900 --> 01:42:59,400
future disasters. 
But not everyone is satisfied 

1775
01:42:59,400 --> 01:43:03,200
with purely religious, 
explanations a small but growing

1776
01:43:03,200 --> 01:43:06,600
number of natural philosophers. 
The term scientists won't be 

1777
01:43:06,600 --> 01:43:09,900
coined for another Century are 
approaching the storm from a 

1778
01:43:09,900 --> 01:43:13,400
more analytical perspective. 
They want to understand the 

1779
01:43:13,400 --> 01:43:16,900
physical mechanisms that could 
produce such extraordinary wins.

1780
01:43:17,700 --> 01:43:20,700
Daniel defoe's investigation 
represents this new way of 

1781
01:43:20,700 --> 01:43:25,100
thinking he's collecting data, 
systematically comparing 

1782
01:43:25,100 --> 01:43:28,300
accounts from different 
locations and trying to map the 

1783
01:43:28,300 --> 01:43:33,000
storm's path and intensity. 
He's asking questions like how 

1784
01:43:33,000 --> 01:43:36,200
fast were the winds? 
Nobody knows because instruments

1785
01:43:36,200 --> 01:43:39,100
to measure wind speed won't be 
invented until the 1800s. 

1786
01:43:40,000 --> 01:43:43,000
What was the air pressure? 
A few people with barometers 

1787
01:43:43,000 --> 01:43:46,200
report unprecedented lows, but 
there's no standard measurement 

1788
01:43:46,200 --> 01:43:49,500
system, did the storm follow a 
predictable path. 

1789
01:43:50,100 --> 01:43:54,000
The account suggests something 
strange a rotating storm system 

1790
01:43:54,000 --> 01:43:55,400
that moved across Southern 
England. 

1791
01:43:55,400 --> 01:43:59,200
But the concept of cyclonic 
rotation won't be understood for

1792
01:43:59,200 --> 01:44:02,700
over a century. 
Robert Hooke the brilliant, but 

1793
01:44:02,700 --> 01:44:06,200
often overlooked scientist, who 
serves as curator of experiments

1794
01:44:06,200 --> 01:44:10,100
for the Royal Society has been 
keeping detailed weather records

1795
01:44:10,100 --> 01:44:13,100
for years. 
He reviews his observations from

1796
01:44:13,100 --> 01:44:16,900
late November and notes the 
unusual barometric pressure 

1797
01:44:16,900 --> 01:44:19,000
readings. 
He suspects. 

1798
01:44:19,000 --> 01:44:21,600
There's a connection between the
rapid pressure drop and the 

1799
01:44:21,600 --> 01:44:24,900
storms intensity. 
But he lacks the theoretical 

1800
01:44:24,900 --> 01:44:26,700
framework to explain it 
properly. 

1801
01:44:28,200 --> 01:44:31,900
The Royal Society England's 
Premier scientific institution 

1802
01:44:31,900 --> 01:44:35,500
holds several meetings, 
dedicated to discussing the 

1803
01:44:35,500 --> 01:44:38,000
storm. 
Members present observations 

1804
01:44:38,000 --> 01:44:42,900
theories and speculations. 
Some of their ideas are 

1805
01:44:42,900 --> 01:44:46,000
surprisingly close to Modern, 
understanding the correctly. 

1806
01:44:46,000 --> 01:44:49,900
Identify that the storm involved
rotating wins and move from west

1807
01:44:49,900 --> 01:44:54,400
to east. other ideas are 
completely wrong including 

1808
01:44:54,400 --> 01:44:57,400
suggestions that earthquakes 
under the Atlantic somehow 

1809
01:44:57,400 --> 01:45:00,200
caused the storm or that 
unusual, planetary alignments 

1810
01:45:00,200 --> 01:45:03,500
influenced atmospheric 
conditions, What makes the 

1811
01:45:03,500 --> 01:45:06,400
discussion interesting is that 
they're trying to apply 

1812
01:45:06,400 --> 01:45:09,700
empirical observation and 
logical reasoning to a natural 

1813
01:45:09,700 --> 01:45:13,100
phenomenon rather than simply 
accepting Supernatural 

1814
01:45:13,100 --> 01:45:16,000
explanations. 
This represents an important 

1815
01:45:16,000 --> 01:45:18,700
moment in the development of 
meteorological science. 

1816
01:45:18,700 --> 01:45:22,700
Even if the actual understanding
is still primitive, one 

1817
01:45:22,700 --> 01:45:26,000
observation that particularly 
puzzles natural philosophers is 

1818
01:45:26,000 --> 01:45:28,100
the storm's extraordinary wind 
speed. 

1819
01:45:29,000 --> 01:45:32,200
Several people report seeing 
objects blown velocities that 

1820
01:45:32,200 --> 01:45:36,700
seemed impossible. 
Tiles flying like birds pieces 

1821
01:45:36,700 --> 01:45:40,200
of roof traveling for Miles. 
People actually being lifted off

1822
01:45:40,200 --> 01:45:43,000
their feet. 
These accounts suggest wind 

1823
01:45:43,000 --> 01:45:46,100
speeds far beyond what anyone 
has measured or documented 

1824
01:45:46,100 --> 01:45:49,800
before. 
Modern meteorological analysis, 

1825
01:45:49,800 --> 01:45:54,200
conducted centuries later using 
defoe's collected accounts and 

1826
01:45:54,200 --> 01:45:57,700
other historical records. 
Suggest that wind speeds during 

1827
01:45:57,700 --> 01:46:02,600
the storms Peak, may have 
reached 120 to 130 miles per 

1828
01:46:02,600 --> 01:46:07,500
hour possibly higher in gusts. 
That's Category, 3, hurricane 

1829
01:46:07,500 --> 01:46:10,900
strength, but occurring in a 
Latitude where such storms 

1830
01:46:10,900 --> 01:46:14,200
essentially never happen. 
It's the equivalent of a major 

1831
01:46:14,200 --> 01:46:16,600
Caribbean hurricane somehow 
appearing in the English 

1832
01:46:16,600 --> 01:46:19,200
Channel. 
Meteorologically bizarre and 

1833
01:46:19,200 --> 01:46:23,200
historically unprecedented. 
The storm's path is also 

1834
01:46:23,200 --> 01:46:27,000
unusual, most Atlantic storms. 
That reach England come from the

1835
01:46:27,000 --> 01:46:29,500
southwest and weaken as they 
approached land. 

1836
01:46:29,500 --> 01:46:33,000
This storm seems to have 
intensified as it approached, 

1837
01:46:33,000 --> 01:46:35,700
which violates normal storm 
Behavior. 

1838
01:46:36,500 --> 01:46:39,100
It also maintained its strength 
far longer than normal. 

1839
01:46:39,100 --> 01:46:43,000
Battering, Southern England for 
over 12 hours at Peak intensity.

1840
01:46:44,100 --> 01:46:47,800
Everything about it, is 
exceptional, anomalous and 

1841
01:46:47,800 --> 01:46:49,300
wrong. 
According to the typical 

1842
01:46:49,300 --> 01:46:51,700
patterns, that experienced 
observers recognize, 

1843
01:46:51,700 --> 01:46:55,200
agricultural, communities are, 
particularly concerned with 

1844
01:46:55,200 --> 01:46:58,400
understanding, what happened, 
because they need to know if it 

1845
01:46:58,400 --> 01:47:01,100
could happen. 
Again, if this was a one-time 

1846
01:47:01,100 --> 01:47:04,100
Divine judgment, that's one 
thing, but if it's a weather 

1847
01:47:04,108 --> 01:47:07,000
pattern that might recur, then 
building practices need to 

1848
01:47:07,000 --> 01:47:11,700
change farming strategies need 
to adapt and communities need to

1849
01:47:11,700 --> 01:47:13,700
prepare differently for winter 
storms. 

1850
01:47:13,700 --> 01:47:18,900
The answer frustratingly. 
Is that nobody knows, This could

1851
01:47:18,900 --> 01:47:21,900
be a once in a millennium event 
that won't recur for centuries 

1852
01:47:21,900 --> 01:47:25,700
or it could be the first of a 
new pattern, maybe the climate 

1853
01:47:25,700 --> 01:47:29,200
is changing, maybe some 
fundamental shift in atmospheric

1854
01:47:29,200 --> 01:47:32,800
conditions has occurred. 
Without historical records going

1855
01:47:32,800 --> 01:47:35,800
back more than a generation or 
two and without scientific 

1856
01:47:35,800 --> 01:47:38,000
instruments to measure 
conditions properly. 

1857
01:47:38,000 --> 01:47:41,300
It's impossible to put the storm
in proper context. 

1858
01:47:41,300 --> 01:47:44,300
What people do know is that 
their understanding of what 

1859
01:47:44,300 --> 01:47:48,200
weather can do has been 
fundamentally revised Before the

1860
01:47:48,200 --> 01:47:51,600
storm people thought they knew 
the limits of wind strength, the

1861
01:47:51,600 --> 01:47:55,600
maximum height of waves and the 
worst that nature could throw at

1862
01:47:55,600 --> 01:47:58,400
England. 
Storm has demonstrated that 

1863
01:47:58,400 --> 01:48:02,000
those limits were imaginary. 
That nature is capable of 

1864
01:48:02,000 --> 01:48:04,300
violence. 
Far beyond what anyone 

1865
01:48:04,300 --> 01:48:07,400
considered possible. 
This realization is both 

1866
01:48:07,400 --> 01:48:12,500
terrifying and in an odd way 
liberating If the old certain 

1867
01:48:12,500 --> 01:48:15,500
teas about whether or wrong, 
then perhaps other certain teas 

1868
01:48:15,500 --> 01:48:17,900
are all. 
So questionable, Maybe the world

1869
01:48:17,900 --> 01:48:21,600
is more Dynamic, more 
changeable, and more surprising 

1870
01:48:21,600 --> 01:48:23,400
than traditional wisdom 
suggests. 

1871
01:48:24,300 --> 01:48:27,300
It's an uncomfortable thought, 
but it's also the kind of 

1872
01:48:27,300 --> 01:48:29,500
thinking that drives scientific 
progress. 

1873
01:48:30,300 --> 01:48:33,200
Insurance companies are also 
trying to understand the storm 

1874
01:48:33,200 --> 01:48:36,900
but for purely practical 
reasons, they need to calculate 

1875
01:48:36,900 --> 01:48:40,900
risks and set premiums, which 
requires some ability to predict

1876
01:48:40,900 --> 01:48:42,700
the likelihood of future 
disasters. 

1877
01:48:42,700 --> 01:48:46,300
The losses from the storm are 
bankrupting several Insurance 

1878
01:48:46,300 --> 01:48:48,500
firms. 
And the survivors need to figure

1879
01:48:48,500 --> 01:48:51,000
out how to price policies in a 
world where apparently 

1880
01:48:51,000 --> 01:48:53,100
impossible disasters can 
actually occur. 

1881
01:48:54,600 --> 01:48:57,700
This leads to some of the first 
attempts at Actuarial science. 

1882
01:48:57,700 --> 01:49:01,300
Apply to whether trying to use 
historical records and 

1883
01:49:01,300 --> 01:49:05,200
mathematical probability to 
estimate storm frequency and 

1884
01:49:05,200 --> 01:49:08,600
intensity. 
Its crewed by modern standards, 

1885
01:49:08,600 --> 01:49:12,500
but it represents the beginning 
of treating weather disaster is 

1886
01:49:12,500 --> 01:49:16,700
calculable risks rather than 
simply unpredictable acts of 

1887
01:49:16,708 --> 01:49:19,600
God. 
As weeks turned to months and 

1888
01:49:19,600 --> 01:49:21,900
England slowly recovers from the
great storm. 

1889
01:49:21,900 --> 01:49:25,000
The ways, it has changed the 
country, begin to emerge. 

1890
01:49:26,000 --> 01:49:29,500
Some changes are obvious and 
immediate thousands of buildings

1891
01:49:29,500 --> 01:49:31,700
have been rebuilt with stronger 
construction methods. 

1892
01:49:31,700 --> 01:49:34,400
For instance. 
Other changes are more subtle 

1893
01:49:34,400 --> 01:49:37,400
working their way through 
culture and Consciousness in 

1894
01:49:37,400 --> 01:49:40,100
ways that will influence British
Society for Generations. 

1895
01:49:41,400 --> 01:49:43,600
The most immediate Legacy is 
architectural. 

1896
01:49:43,600 --> 01:49:47,800
The storm has provided a brutal 
lesson in what works. 

1897
01:49:47,800 --> 01:49:51,100
And what doesn't when it comes 
to withstanding, extreme winds, 

1898
01:49:51,100 --> 01:49:54,700
thatched, roofs while 
traditional and relatively 

1899
01:49:54,700 --> 01:49:58,000
inexpensive have proven 
catastrophically vulnerable. 

1900
01:49:58,800 --> 01:50:01,800
In the Reconstruction that 
follows you can see a shift 

1901
01:50:01,800 --> 01:50:05,600
toward tiles and slates toward 
heavier roofing materials that 

1902
01:50:05,600 --> 01:50:09,200
won't simply Blow Away. 
Building techniques change too 

1903
01:50:09,200 --> 01:50:12,800
Timber framing gets reinforced 
buildings. 

1904
01:50:12,800 --> 01:50:16,400
Are anchored more securely to 
their foundations and walls are 

1905
01:50:16,400 --> 01:50:18,800
built thicker. 
There's a new appreciation for 

1906
01:50:18,800 --> 01:50:21,500
stone construction even though 
it's more expensive. 

1907
01:50:22,500 --> 01:50:25,700
The storm has essentially 
provided free but extremely 

1908
01:50:25,700 --> 01:50:29,100
harsh testing of construction 
methods and Builders are 

1909
01:50:29,100 --> 01:50:32,200
learning from the results. 
The windmill industry undergoes 

1910
01:50:32,200 --> 01:50:36,300
a complete redesign. 
The catastrophic failures during

1911
01:50:36,300 --> 01:50:39,000
the storm Mills spinning 
themselves to destruction 

1912
01:50:39,000 --> 01:50:43,100
Catching Fire or simply 
exploding have made it clear. 

1913
01:50:43,100 --> 01:50:46,400
That Current Designs are 
inadequate Engineers develop 

1914
01:50:46,400 --> 01:50:49,500
better brake systems stronger, 
gearing and emergency shutdown 

1915
01:50:49,500 --> 01:50:54,300
mechanisms future windmills will
be lower and sturdier trading 

1916
01:50:54,300 --> 01:50:56,900
some efficiency for much better 
storm, survival. 

1917
01:50:57,800 --> 01:51:00,900
Lighthouse construction sees 
even more dramatic changes. 

1918
01:51:01,900 --> 01:51:04,700
The complete obliteration of the
Eddystone light makes it clear 

1919
01:51:04,700 --> 01:51:08,800
that wooden structures no matter
how cleverly designed, simply 

1920
01:51:08,800 --> 01:51:11,600
cannot withstand the worst. 
The ocean can throw at them. 

1921
01:51:12,400 --> 01:51:15,400
When the lighthouse is rebuilt, 
it will be Stone. 

1922
01:51:15,400 --> 01:51:18,500
And when that proves 
insufficient and is replaced. 

1923
01:51:18,500 --> 01:51:22,300
Again, 50 years later, it will 
be even heavier stone with 

1924
01:51:22,300 --> 01:51:26,600
Innovative engineering. 
The storm effectively ends the 

1925
01:51:26,600 --> 01:51:28,700
era of wooden offshore light 
houses. 

1926
01:51:28,700 --> 01:51:32,100
The Royal Navy learned hard 
lessons about Harbor management 

1927
01:51:32,100 --> 01:51:35,400
and ships security. 
New Mooring systems are 

1928
01:51:35,400 --> 01:51:38,500
developed Harbor. 
Configurations are redesigned 

1929
01:51:38,500 --> 01:51:42,500
and procedures for securing 
ships during extreme weather a 

1930
01:51:42,500 --> 01:51:46,100
completely overhauled. 
The loss of so many ships in 

1931
01:51:46,100 --> 01:51:48,700
Harbor where they should have 
been safe. 

1932
01:51:48,700 --> 01:51:51,800
Is an embarrassment that the 
Navy is determined not to 

1933
01:51:51,800 --> 01:51:54,200
repeat. 
But beyond these practical 

1934
01:51:54,200 --> 01:51:57,300
changes, the storm leaves deeper
marks on British culture and 

1935
01:51:57,308 --> 01:52:01,300
psychology, it becomes a 
reference point, a benchmark 

1936
01:52:01,300 --> 01:52:03,500
against which all future storms 
are measured. 

1937
01:52:04,300 --> 01:52:07,600
For Generations, afterward 
people will say things like the 

1938
01:52:07,600 --> 01:52:13,200
worst storm since 2003 or not, 
as bad as the great storm, it 

1939
01:52:13,200 --> 01:52:16,400
enters the national memory as a 
shared trauma, that defined an 

1940
01:52:16,400 --> 01:52:18,700
era. 
Storm. 

1941
01:52:18,700 --> 01:52:21,800
Also contributes to a slowly 
growing sense that the world is 

1942
01:52:21,800 --> 01:52:24,100
more knowable and less 
mysterious than previous 

1943
01:52:24,100 --> 01:52:28,200
generations believed. 
The fact that someone like Dafoe

1944
01:52:28,200 --> 01:52:31,900
could systematically investigate
a natural disaster, collect 

1945
01:52:31,900 --> 01:52:34,400
data, and produce a 
comprehensive account. 

1946
01:52:35,300 --> 01:52:38,100
This represents a new way of 
understanding the world. 

1947
01:52:39,000 --> 01:52:42,400
Not through divine, revelation 
or ancient Authority, but 

1948
01:52:42,400 --> 01:52:45,900
through observation, 
documentation and Analysis. 

1949
01:52:47,700 --> 01:52:51,300
The foes, the storm published in
1704 becomes a best-seller and 

1950
01:52:51,300 --> 01:52:55,200
remains in print for decades, 
it's part disaster, account part

1951
01:52:55,200 --> 01:52:57,800
investigation, and part 
meditation, on human 

1952
01:52:57,800 --> 01:52:59,600
vulnerability, in the face of 
nature. 

1953
01:53:00,600 --> 01:53:04,300
But more importantly, it's proof
that complex natural phenomena 

1954
01:53:04,300 --> 01:53:07,200
can be studied systematically 
and understood rationally. 

1955
01:53:08,200 --> 01:53:10,700
This approach will influence 
everything from how future 

1956
01:53:10,700 --> 01:53:13,500
disaster does. 
A documented to how significant 

1957
01:53:13,500 --> 01:53:17,900
investigation is conducted. 
The insurance in Industry forced

1958
01:53:17,900 --> 01:53:20,900
to reinvent itself after the 
storms Financial Devastation 

1959
01:53:20,900 --> 01:53:24,500
becomes more sophisticated and 
more mathematical in its 

1960
01:53:24,500 --> 01:53:27,600
approach. 
The disaster accelerate, the 

1961
01:53:27,600 --> 01:53:30,200
development of Actuarial science
and risk assessment. 

1962
01:53:31,700 --> 01:53:35,300
In a very real way, the modern 
insurance industry with its 

1963
01:53:35,300 --> 01:53:37,700
complex calculations of risk and
probability. 

1964
01:53:38,800 --> 01:53:42,700
Has roots in the attempts to 
understand and price the risk of

1965
01:53:42,700 --> 01:53:46,800
another great storm. 
Weather observation becomes more

1966
01:53:46,800 --> 01:53:48,800
systematic in the storms 
aftermath. 

1967
01:53:49,600 --> 01:53:53,300
More people invest in barometers
detail, whether logs are kept 

1968
01:53:53,300 --> 01:53:57,000
and patterns are noted. 
The Royal Society encourages 

1969
01:53:57,000 --> 01:54:00,500
this systematic observation 
collecting data, that will 

1970
01:54:00,508 --> 01:54:03,600
eventually contribute to the 
development of meteorology as a 

1971
01:54:03,600 --> 01:54:06,600
proper science. 
It will take another century and

1972
01:54:06,600 --> 01:54:09,200
a half before weather 
forecasting becomes reliable. 

1973
01:54:09,800 --> 01:54:12,500
But the great storm marks an 
important step in that 

1974
01:54:12,500 --> 01:54:15,400
direction, the religious 
response to the store. 

1975
01:54:15,400 --> 01:54:17,600
More. 
So has lasting effects though. 

1976
01:54:17,600 --> 01:54:19,800
Perhaps not the ones the clergy 
intended. 

1977
01:54:20,600 --> 01:54:23,400
While sermons frame the disaster
as Divine judgment. 

1978
01:54:24,300 --> 01:54:27,300
The fact that the Godly and 
ungodly suffered equally, raises

1979
01:54:27,300 --> 01:54:31,100
uncomfortable questions. 
Why would God destroy churches, 

1980
01:54:31,100 --> 01:54:34,800
while sparing taverns, why kill 
Pious Sailors? 

1981
01:54:34,800 --> 01:54:38,800
While sparing sinful, Merchants 
these questions don't shake 

1982
01:54:38,800 --> 01:54:43,200
religious Faith, England remains
deeply Christian, But they 

1983
01:54:43,200 --> 01:54:46,100
contribute to a gradually 
developing sense, that may be 

1984
01:54:46,100 --> 01:54:50,000
natural events, have natural 
causes rather than being direct,

1985
01:54:50,000 --> 01:54:54,100
expressions of divine will. 
This is part of a larger 

1986
01:54:54,100 --> 01:54:56,100
intellectual shift happening 
across Europe. 

1987
01:54:56,100 --> 01:55:00,300
The Enlightenment with its 
emphasis on reason observation 

1988
01:55:00,300 --> 01:55:04,200
and natural law. 
The great storm doesn't cause 

1989
01:55:04,200 --> 01:55:07,800
this shift, but it provides 
dramatic evidence that supports 

1990
01:55:07,800 --> 01:55:11,500
the new way of thinking. if even
the weather follows natural 

1991
01:55:11,500 --> 01:55:14,400
laws, rather than being directly
controlled by divine 

1992
01:55:14,400 --> 01:55:18,400
intervention, then perhaps the 
entire universe operates 

1993
01:55:18,400 --> 01:55:20,900
according to predictable 
principles that humans can 

1994
01:55:20,900 --> 01:55:24,400
discover and understand in 
literature and culture. 

1995
01:55:24,400 --> 01:55:27,900
The storm becomes a symbol of 
Nature's power and human 

1996
01:55:27,900 --> 01:55:31,300
vulnerability. 
It appears in poems plays and 

1997
01:55:31,300 --> 01:55:35,100
novels artists to pick the 
devastation in an engraving and 

1998
01:55:35,100 --> 01:55:39,200
paintings the image of ships. 
Being torn apart in Harbor of 

1999
01:55:39,200 --> 01:55:42,800
ancient trees, toppling of 
churches losing their Steeples, 

2000
01:55:42,800 --> 01:55:46,500
these become powerful metaphors 
for the fragility of human 

2001
01:55:46,500 --> 01:55:49,600
achievements. 
In the face of natural forces, 

2002
01:55:49,600 --> 01:55:53,900
the storm also influences. 
British Maritime culture and the

2003
01:55:53,900 --> 01:55:57,500
national self-image. 
Britain sees itself as a naval 

2004
01:55:57,508 --> 01:56:00,300
power as a nation connected to 
the Sea. 

2005
01:56:01,100 --> 01:56:04,500
Fact that the sea could strike. 
So devastating a blow right in 

2006
01:56:04,500 --> 01:56:06,800
the heart of British Naval 
strength is sobering. 

2007
01:56:06,800 --> 01:56:10,400
It reinforces the respect for 
the ocean that is Central to 

2008
01:56:10,400 --> 01:56:14,100
British Maritime tradition. 
He understanding that the sea is

2009
01:56:14,100 --> 01:56:17,900
never fully tamed never 
completely safe and always 

2010
01:56:17,900 --> 01:56:22,100
demands respect. 
For the families who lost loved 

2011
01:56:22,100 --> 01:56:25,300
ones in the storm, the legacy is
more personal and more painful. 

2012
01:56:26,100 --> 01:56:31,000
Approximately 8,000 people died.
Most of them Sailors who drowned

2013
01:56:31,000 --> 01:56:34,400
when their ships went down. 
That's a staggering number for a

2014
01:56:34,400 --> 01:56:36,200
country. 
With England's population, in 

2015
01:56:36,200 --> 01:56:41,700
1703 nearly every Coastal 
Community, lost someone every 

2016
01:56:41,700 --> 01:56:44,100
port town has widows and 
orphans. 

2017
01:56:45,000 --> 01:56:48,700
The human cost ripples through 
Society for a generation. 

2018
01:56:50,200 --> 01:56:53,400
There's all so, an economic 
Legacy, the destruction of 

2019
01:56:53,400 --> 01:56:56,800
property, the loss of ships and 
cargo, and the cost of 

2020
01:56:56,800 --> 01:57:00,400
reconstruction, all of this 
represents an enormous. 

2021
01:57:00,400 --> 01:57:05,100
Financial burden England in 1703
is already fighting and 

2022
01:57:05,100 --> 01:57:08,400
expensive war with France. 
Adding a massive natural 

2023
01:57:08,400 --> 01:57:11,200
disaster on top of that strange.
The national economy. 

2024
01:57:12,100 --> 01:57:14,700
Taxes are raised to fund 
reconstruction of government 

2025
01:57:14,700 --> 01:57:18,500
buildings and churches 
insurance, premiums Skyrocket. 

2026
01:57:18,500 --> 01:57:22,400
Some businesses never recover. 
But there's also resilience in 

2027
01:57:22,408 --> 01:57:25,500
the response communities. 
Come together to rebuild, 

2028
01:57:25,500 --> 01:57:28,900
neighbors, help, neighbors, 
clear, debris, and repair homes,

2029
01:57:28,900 --> 01:57:31,400
the nation as a whole 
demonstrates. 

2030
01:57:31,400 --> 01:57:34,400
A capacity to absorb a 
devastating blow and keep 

2031
01:57:34,400 --> 01:57:37,500
functioning. 
This resilience becomes part of 

2032
01:57:37,500 --> 01:57:40,500
Britain's National character 
part of the story. 

2033
01:57:40,500 --> 01:57:44,300
The Country, tells about itself 
that British people endure 

2034
01:57:44,300 --> 01:57:47,700
persist and carry on, regardless
of circumstances. 

2035
01:57:49,100 --> 01:57:52,200
The great storm becomes part of 
the cultural mythology that 

2036
01:57:52,200 --> 01:57:54,100
helps Define what it means to be
British. 

2037
01:57:54,100 --> 01:57:56,400
It's invoked during World War 
Two. 

2038
01:57:56,400 --> 01:57:59,300
When the blitz is compared to 
natural disasters of the past 

2039
01:57:59,300 --> 01:58:02,800
its reference during subsequent 
hurricanes and floods. 

2040
01:58:02,800 --> 01:58:06,300
It becomes one of those 
foundational stories that helped

2041
01:58:06,300 --> 01:58:09,100
a nation. 
Understand itself, a reminder 

2042
01:58:09,100 --> 01:58:12,800
that Britain has face 
catastrophe before and survived.

2043
01:58:13,700 --> 01:58:16,200
From a modern perspective, 
knowing what we now know about 

2044
01:58:16,200 --> 01:58:20,900
climate and weather systems, the
great storm of 1703 remains 

2045
01:58:20,900 --> 01:58:25,300
meteorologically fascinating. 
Computer models, attempting to 

2046
01:58:25,308 --> 01:58:27,800
recreate the storm based on 
historical accounts. 

2047
01:58:27,800 --> 01:58:32,100
Suggest it was essentially a 
bomb cyclone. an extra tropical 

2048
01:58:32,100 --> 01:58:36,200
storm that underwent explosive 
intensification with pressure 

2049
01:58:36,200 --> 01:58:40,300
dropping at unprecedented rates,
These storms are rare, but not 

2050
01:58:40,300 --> 01:58:42,700
impossible. 
And when they occur in the North

2051
01:58:42,700 --> 01:58:45,500
Atlantic, they can produce 
conditions similar to Major 

2052
01:58:45,500 --> 01:58:49,500
hurricanes. 
What makes the 1703 storm 

2053
01:58:49,500 --> 01:58:52,200
exceptional? 
Is that it struck a peak 

2054
01:58:52,200 --> 01:58:56,700
intensity, maintain that, 
intensity for many hours and hit

2055
01:58:56,700 --> 01:58:59,900
the most populated and developed
part of England directly. 

2056
01:59:00,900 --> 01:59:03,400
It was a perfect storm in the 
literal sense. 

2057
01:59:03,400 --> 01:59:07,000
The perfect combination of 
meteorological, conditions, 

2058
01:59:07,000 --> 01:59:11,000
timing and geography to produce 
maximum devastation. 

2059
01:59:12,200 --> 01:59:14,000
Modern climate science can't say
with. 

2060
01:59:14,000 --> 01:59:17,200
Certainly whether the storm was 
a pure anomaly or whether it 

2061
01:59:17,200 --> 01:59:21,500
reflected broader climate 
patterns, the early 1700s fall 

2062
01:59:21,500 --> 01:59:23,300
within What's called the little 
Ice Age. 

2063
01:59:23,300 --> 01:59:26,600
Appeared of cooler than average 
temperatures in Europe. 

2064
01:59:27,500 --> 01:59:30,000
Some climate historians, 
speculate that the unusual 

2065
01:59:30,000 --> 01:59:32,900
temperature patterns of this 
period, might have contributed 

2066
01:59:32,900 --> 01:59:36,500
to unusual storm patterns, but 
the evidence is inconclusive, 

2067
01:59:36,500 --> 01:59:41,000
what we can say is that storms 
of similar intensity are 

2068
01:59:41,000 --> 01:59:43,500
possible today. 
The technology and 

2069
01:59:43,508 --> 01:59:46,200
infrastructure of modern 
Britain, a better equipped to 

2070
01:59:46,200 --> 01:59:49,400
handle extreme weather than the 
wooden buildings and sailing 

2071
01:59:49,400 --> 01:59:53,900
ships of 1,703. 
But a storm of truly equivalent 

2072
01:59:53,900 --> 01:59:57,800
intensity. 
Sustained winds of 120 plus 

2073
01:59:57,800 --> 02:00:00,900
miles per hour. 
Striking Southern England would 

2074
02:00:00,900 --> 02:00:04,100
still cause catastrophic damage,
despite all our modern 

2075
02:00:04,100 --> 02:00:07,100
advantages. 
As you settle deeper into your 

2076
02:00:07,108 --> 02:00:10,700
blanket and the story wins 
toward its end, it's worth 

2077
02:00:10,700 --> 02:00:14,800
reflecting on what the great 
storm of 1703 can teach us more 

2078
02:00:14,800 --> 02:00:18,500
than three centuries later. 
Because while the specifics are 

2079
02:00:18,500 --> 02:00:23,600
historical, the themes are 
Eternal, Nature's power, human 

2080
02:00:23,600 --> 02:00:28,100
vulnerability resilience in the 
face of disaster and the ongoing

2081
02:00:28,100 --> 02:00:30,900
challenge of understanding 
forces, beyond our control. 

2082
02:00:32,200 --> 02:00:35,500
The people of 1703 lived in a 
world that was in many ways, 

2083
02:00:35,500 --> 02:00:39,500
utterly different from ours. 
He traveled by horse and sailing

2084
02:00:39,500 --> 02:00:42,400
ship lit. 
Their homes with candles and had

2085
02:00:42,400 --> 02:00:46,900
no electricity no engines and no
synthetic materials of any kind.

2086
02:00:48,000 --> 02:00:51,200
There are entire technological. 
Civilization was based on wood 

2087
02:00:51,200 --> 02:00:56,900
Stone metal and muscle power 
human and animal. 

2088
02:00:58,000 --> 02:01:01,000
Yet their emotional responses to
the storm would be immediately 

2089
02:01:01,000 --> 02:01:03,700
recognizable to anyone who has 
lived through a natural 

2090
02:01:03,700 --> 02:01:07,600
disaster. 
The fears, the winds intensified

2091
02:01:07,600 --> 02:01:10,400
the uncertainty about whether 
shelter would hold. 

2092
02:01:11,300 --> 02:01:14,300
The shock of seeing familiar 
Landscapes transformed into 

2093
02:01:14,300 --> 02:01:18,700
unrecognizable Devastation. 
The grief of loss the overwhelm 

2094
02:01:18,700 --> 02:01:22,000
of recovery and the gradual 
emergence of resilience and 

2095
02:01:22,008 --> 02:01:25,400
determination to rebuild. 
These human experiences 

2096
02:01:25,400 --> 02:01:29,700
transcend technology and time. 
The storm also reminds us that 

2097
02:01:29,700 --> 02:01:33,500
nature operates on scales and 
with forces that dwarf human 

2098
02:01:33,500 --> 02:01:36,400
power. 
For all our modern technology 

2099
02:01:36,400 --> 02:01:40,500
are reinforced buildings. 
Our weather satellite our 

2100
02:01:40,500 --> 02:01:43,600
computer models, we remain 
fundamentally vulnerable to 

2101
02:01:43,600 --> 02:01:46,500
Natural Forces. 
We've gotten better at 

2102
02:01:46,500 --> 02:01:49,300
predicting disasters and 
surviving them but we haven't 

2103
02:01:49,300 --> 02:01:52,200
eliminated the vulnerability. 
Storm. 

2104
02:01:52,200 --> 02:01:54,800
Strong enough can still 
overwhelm our preparation. 

2105
02:01:54,800 --> 02:01:58,900
This isn't a depressing thought,
or at least it doesn't have to 

2106
02:01:58,900 --> 02:02:00,700
be. 
There's something almost 

2107
02:02:00,700 --> 02:02:03,700
comforting about the reminder 
that humans aren't in complete 

2108
02:02:03,700 --> 02:02:06,900
control that there are forces in
the world larger than our 

2109
02:02:06,900 --> 02:02:12,300
politics, our economies, and our
personal concerns, The wind that

2110
02:02:12,300 --> 02:02:15,500
blew through England in 1703 
didn't care about National 

2111
02:02:15,500 --> 02:02:19,400
boundaries, religious 
differences, social class or 

2112
02:02:19,400 --> 02:02:23,100
individual achievement. 
It treated everyone equally 

2113
02:02:23,100 --> 02:02:25,200
which in its way, was a form of 
Justice. 

2114
02:02:26,100 --> 02:02:27,900
The great storm. 
Also demonstrates, the 

2115
02:02:27,900 --> 02:02:30,900
importance of systematic, 
observation and record-keeping. 

2116
02:02:31,600 --> 02:02:34,300
Without Daniel defoe's 
investigation without the 

2117
02:02:34,300 --> 02:02:37,000
detailed accounts. 
He collected our understanding 

2118
02:02:37,000 --> 02:02:38,500
of the storm would be much more 
limited. 

2119
02:02:39,500 --> 02:02:43,000
We'd have scattered references 
in letters and Diaries but not 

2120
02:02:43,000 --> 02:02:45,800
the comprehensive picture that 
defies work provides. 

2121
02:02:46,700 --> 02:02:49,400
This has relevance for how we 
approach modern challenges. 

2122
02:02:50,200 --> 02:02:53,200
Climate change. 
For instance, requires exactly. 

2123
02:02:53,200 --> 02:02:57,200
This kind of systemic long-term,
observation and documentation. 

2124
02:02:58,600 --> 02:03:02,100
We need people willing to do the
patient unglamorous work of 

2125
02:03:02,100 --> 02:03:05,800
collecting data comparing 
accounts and building 

2126
02:03:05,800 --> 02:03:10,500
comprehensive records. 
Defoe's work in 1703 was 

2127
02:03:10,500 --> 02:03:14,400
pioneering in this regard. 
He essentially invented disaster

2128
02:03:14,400 --> 02:03:18,200
journalism and established a 
model for investigating natural 

2129
02:03:18,200 --> 02:03:20,300
catastrophes that we still use 
today. 

2130
02:03:21,400 --> 02:03:25,300
The storm also illustrates how 
disaster can accelerate change. 

2131
02:03:25,300 --> 02:03:30,100
The architectural, improvements 
the advances in Maritime safety,

2132
02:03:30,100 --> 02:03:34,100
the development of insurance 
practices and the progress in. 

2133
02:03:34,100 --> 02:03:37,500
Whether observation all of these
might have happened eventually, 

2134
02:03:38,600 --> 02:03:41,900
Storm compressed years or 
Decades of gradual development 

2135
02:03:41,900 --> 02:03:45,200
into a few months of urgent 
necessity. 

2136
02:03:46,200 --> 02:03:49,800
Sometimes it takes a crisis to 
overcome inertia and Implement 

2137
02:03:49,800 --> 02:03:52,600
improvements that people had 
been discussing but not acting 

2138
02:03:52,600 --> 02:03:55,400
on this pattern repeats 
throughout history. 

2139
02:03:56,900 --> 02:04:00,800
The Great Fire of London in 
1666, led to improved building 

2140
02:04:00,800 --> 02:04:04,300
codes and the first organized 
firefighting Services. 

2141
02:04:04,300 --> 02:04:09,000
The Titanic sinking in 1912. 
Revolutionized Maritime safety 

2142
02:04:09,000 --> 02:04:13,000
regulations. 
Hurricane Katrina in 2005 

2143
02:04:13,000 --> 02:04:15,500
transformed Emergency Management
planning. 

2144
02:04:16,400 --> 02:04:19,500
Disaster for all their tragedy 
can be powerful, Catalyst for 

2145
02:04:19,500 --> 02:04:22,500
positive change. 
Assuming were willing to learn 

2146
02:04:22,500 --> 02:04:25,100
from them. 
The religious responses to the 

2147
02:04:25,100 --> 02:04:29,000
storm are also instructive. 
Not because they were correct in

2148
02:04:29,000 --> 02:04:32,400
their attribution of divine 
judgment because they show how 

2149
02:04:32,400 --> 02:04:36,700
people seek meaning in natural 
disasters, Humans seemed 

2150
02:04:36,700 --> 02:04:40,500
psychologically wired to find 
patterns and purposes even in 

2151
02:04:40,500 --> 02:04:44,800
random or probabilistic events. 
When something terrible happens 

2152
02:04:44,800 --> 02:04:49,300
saying it's just bad luck or 
it's a statistical. 

2153
02:04:49,300 --> 02:04:52,900
Inevitability doesn't provide 
the same psychological 

2154
02:04:52,900 --> 02:04:57,200
comforters finding meaning in 
the event. modern secular 

2155
02:04:57,200 --> 02:05:00,300
society is largely replaced, 
religious interpretations, with 

2156
02:05:00,300 --> 02:05:03,500
scientific ones, but the 
underlying need to understand 

2157
02:05:03,500 --> 02:05:08,300
and contextualize disaster 
remains We explain hurricanes in

2158
02:05:08,300 --> 02:05:10,500
terms of sea surface, 
temperatures, and atmospheric 

2159
02:05:10,500 --> 02:05:13,900
pressure gradients, which is 
more accurate than explaining 

2160
02:05:13,900 --> 02:05:17,300
them as Divine judgment. 
But the psychological function 

2161
02:05:17,300 --> 02:05:20,700
is similar to make the 
incomprehensible comprehensible,

2162
02:05:20,700 --> 02:05:24,600
and to restore a sense of order 
and understanding to chaotic 

2163
02:05:24,600 --> 02:05:27,500
events. 
The storm also reminds us about 

2164
02:05:27,500 --> 02:05:29,200
the power of community and 
Recovery. 

2165
02:05:29,900 --> 02:05:32,200
The immediate aftermath saw 
people helping each other 

2166
02:05:32,200 --> 02:05:36,100
sharing resources and working 
together to clear debris and 

2167
02:05:36,100 --> 02:05:39,100
repair damage. 
This spontaneous cooperation 

2168
02:05:39,100 --> 02:05:42,500
wasn't organized by government 
or mandated by Authority. 

2169
02:05:42,500 --> 02:05:46,700
It emerged naturally from 
people, recognizing their Mutual

2170
02:05:46,700 --> 02:05:49,400
vulnerability and mutual 
dependence. 

2171
02:05:50,200 --> 02:05:52,600
This pattern appears in 
virtually every disaster, 

2172
02:05:52,600 --> 02:05:56,900
ancient or modern. 
When catastrophe strips away, 

2173
02:05:56,900 --> 02:05:59,700
the normal social structures and
economic systems. 

2174
02:05:59,700 --> 02:06:02,700
People tend to cooperate rather 
than compete. 

2175
02:06:03,800 --> 02:06:07,400
The popular image of disaster 
survivors to sending into chaos 

2176
02:06:07,400 --> 02:06:11,900
and violence is largely myth. 
The reality is usually Mutual 

2177
02:06:11,900 --> 02:06:15,600
Aid and solidarity. 
The great storm of 1703 

2178
02:06:15,600 --> 02:06:19,700
demonstrated this and every 
disaster since has confirmed it.

2179
02:06:20,500 --> 02:06:23,900
There's something deeply 
optimistic in this pattern, it 

2180
02:06:23,900 --> 02:06:26,400
suggests that beneath all our 
divisions and differences. 

2181
02:06:26,400 --> 02:06:30,300
Humans retain a fundamental 
capacity for empathy and 

2182
02:06:30,300 --> 02:06:34,700
cooperation When things are 
really bad, when survival is 

2183
02:06:34,700 --> 02:06:37,100
uncertain and the normal rules, 
don't apply. 

2184
02:06:37,900 --> 02:06:42,200
People tend to help each other. 
this capacity for Mutual Aid, 

2185
02:06:42,200 --> 02:06:46,300
might be one of Humanity's most 
important, survival traits The 

2186
02:06:46,300 --> 02:06:49,300
storms Legacy are includes all 
the stories that have been 

2187
02:06:49,300 --> 02:06:53,100
passed down through generations.
The grandmother who survived by 

2188
02:06:53,100 --> 02:06:57,000
hiding in a Stone cellar Sailor 
who was washed overboard, but 

2189
02:06:57,000 --> 02:07:01,200
managed to grab floating debris 
and was rescued at dawn, the 

2190
02:07:01,200 --> 02:07:04,000
village that lost his church, 
but rebuilt, its stronger. 

2191
02:07:05,000 --> 02:07:06,700
These stories become part of 
family. 

2192
02:07:06,700 --> 02:07:10,400
History is local traditions and 
the narrative fabric of 

2193
02:07:10,400 --> 02:07:13,500
communities, these oral 
histories serve important 

2194
02:07:13,500 --> 02:07:16,900
functions, they preserve memory,
they transmit lessons, and they 

2195
02:07:16,900 --> 02:07:20,900
connect Generations. they remind
people that their ancestors 

2196
02:07:20,900 --> 02:07:24,300
faced catastrophes and survived,
which provides perspective 

2197
02:07:24,300 --> 02:07:28,100
during current difficulties When
your own world feels like it's 

2198
02:07:28,100 --> 02:07:31,700
falling apart, knowing that your
great-great-great-grandparents 

2199
02:07:31,700 --> 02:07:36,500
survived, the great storm of 
1703 can be genuinely comforting

2200
02:07:36,500 --> 02:07:40,200
as weather patterns become more 
extreme due to climate change. 

2201
02:07:40,900 --> 02:07:43,900
The great storm takes on new 
relevance as a historical 

2202
02:07:43,900 --> 02:07:47,000
benchmark. 
It reminds us that even without 

2203
02:07:47,000 --> 02:07:50,600
human caused climate change. 
Nature is capable of producing 

2204
02:07:50,600 --> 02:07:54,000
extreme events. 
It provides a calibration point.

2205
02:07:54,000 --> 02:07:57,200
If storms like this were 
possible in the little Ice Age, 

2206
02:07:57,200 --> 02:08:01,500
what might be possible in a 
warming world, this isn't to 

2207
02:08:01,500 --> 02:08:04,400
minimize climate change or 
suggest that extreme weather is 

2208
02:08:04,400 --> 02:08:07,800
nothing new rather. 
It's to acknowledge that we're 

2209
02:08:07,800 --> 02:08:12,600
not starting from a baseline of 
calm predictable weather earth's

2210
02:08:12,600 --> 02:08:16,500
climate as always, produced 
extremes and human civilization 

2211
02:08:16,500 --> 02:08:19,800
has always had to contend with 
Nature's capacity for violence. 

2212
02:08:20,800 --> 02:08:24,400
Climate change is making this 
worse potentially much worse, 

2213
02:08:24,400 --> 02:08:27,400
but the underlying vulnerability
was always there. 

2214
02:08:28,600 --> 02:08:32,700
The great storm of 1703 stands 
as a testament to both human 

2215
02:08:32,700 --> 02:08:34,800
vulnerability and human 
resilience. 

2216
02:08:35,800 --> 02:08:38,800
It showed how quickly the 
comfortable familiar world can 

2217
02:08:38,800 --> 02:08:42,800
be torn apart by natural forces.
But it also showed how people 

2218
02:08:42,800 --> 02:08:47,600
respond with courage with mutual
Aid and with determination, to 

2219
02:08:47,600 --> 02:08:50,400
understand what happened and to 
rebuild better than before. 

2220
02:08:51,900 --> 02:08:55,200
As you drift towards sleep, 
imagine the wind that blew 

2221
02:08:55,200 --> 02:09:00,600
through England on that November
1903, it started as disturbances

2222
02:09:00,600 --> 02:09:03,800
in the atmosphere over the 
Atlantic subtle differences in 

2223
02:09:03,800 --> 02:09:07,200
temperature and pressure that 
gradually Amplified into 

2224
02:09:07,200 --> 02:09:10,700
something. 
Monstrous Travel thousands of 

2225
02:09:10,700 --> 02:09:14,500
miles across the ocean 
gathering, strength, until it 

2226
02:09:14,500 --> 02:09:17,800
struck a small island with 
unprecedented Fury. 

2227
02:09:19,000 --> 02:09:22,900
The wind itself was just are in 
motion, molecules responding to 

2228
02:09:22,900 --> 02:09:25,300
physical laws with no 
consciousness or intent. 

2229
02:09:26,100 --> 02:09:28,900
Yet, the people who experience 
it, described it in almost 

2230
02:09:28,900 --> 02:09:33,700
personal terms as if the wind 
had will had purpose had rage. 

2231
02:09:33,700 --> 02:09:38,000
This is how humans make sense of
forces, beyond our control, by 

2232
02:09:38,000 --> 02:09:41,500
anthropomorphizing them by 
creating narratives that turn 

2233
02:09:41,500 --> 02:09:45,600
natural processes into stories. 
We can understand that wind is 

2234
02:09:45,600 --> 02:09:48,000
gone. 
Now its energy long since 

2235
02:09:48,000 --> 02:09:51,700
dissipated its molecules 
scattered across the atmosphere 

2236
02:09:51,700 --> 02:09:54,600
and cycled through. 
Countless other weather systems 

2237
02:09:54,600 --> 02:09:59,500
over the past three centuries. 
But its effects Ripple forward 

2238
02:09:59,500 --> 02:10:02,900
through time, the buildings that
were redesigned because of it, 

2239
02:10:02,900 --> 02:10:06,700
still stand incorporating 
Lessons Learned on that terrible

2240
02:10:06,700 --> 02:10:09,700
night. 
The maritime safety procedures. 

2241
02:10:09,700 --> 02:10:11,600
It inspired still protect 
sailors. 

2242
02:10:12,400 --> 02:10:15,500
The systematic approach to 
disaster investigation, that 

2243
02:10:15,500 --> 02:10:19,100
Dafoe pioneered still guides, 
how we respond to catastrophes. 

2244
02:10:20,000 --> 02:10:21,900
The people who experience the 
storm are gone, too. 

2245
02:10:21,900 --> 02:10:24,800
Of course. 
The last survivor died sometime 

2246
02:10:24,800 --> 02:10:28,400
in the late 1700s and with them 
died, the immediate memory of 

2247
02:10:28,408 --> 02:10:32,700
that night. 
But they left records stories 

2248
02:10:32,700 --> 02:10:36,600
and descriptions that allow us 
to reconstruct their experience.

2249
02:10:37,600 --> 02:10:40,900
Daniel defoe's investigation 
preserved hundreds of accounts. 

2250
02:10:40,900 --> 02:10:42,800
That would otherwise have been 
lost. 

2251
02:10:43,800 --> 02:10:46,000
Parish records documented the 
deaths. 

2252
02:11:01,300 --> 02:11:04,900
We can read their words, follow 
their logic, and share Their 

2253
02:11:04,900 --> 02:11:07,600
Fear and grief and eventual 
determination. 

2254
02:11:08,400 --> 02:11:10,300
History isn't just dates and 
facts. 

2255
02:11:10,300 --> 02:11:13,900
It's the accumulated experience 
of countless individuals 

2256
02:11:13,900 --> 02:11:17,500
preserved in fragments that we 
can piece together into 

2257
02:11:17,500 --> 02:11:21,600
something like understanding. 
If you visited Southern England 

2258
02:11:21,600 --> 02:11:25,100
today, you could still find 
traces of the great storm. 

2259
02:11:25,100 --> 02:11:28,600
If you knew where to look, there
are ancient trees, whose trunk 

2260
02:11:28,600 --> 02:11:33,400
showed damage from 1703 and 
limbs that were torn away and 

2261
02:11:33,400 --> 02:11:37,300
never quite grew back properly. 
There are buildings that 

2262
02:11:37,300 --> 02:11:39,700
incorporate salvaged Timbers 
from structures. 

2263
02:11:39,700 --> 02:11:43,100
Destroyed in the storm, there 
are graveyards where unusual 

2264
02:11:43,100 --> 02:11:47,300
clusters of burials from 
November and December 1703, tell

2265
02:11:47,300 --> 02:11:50,800
silence stories of loss. 
The storm has become part of the

2266
02:11:50,800 --> 02:11:54,600
landscape's deep History, part 
of the accumulated memory that 

2267
02:11:54,600 --> 02:11:58,800
makes a place what it is. 
Every location has these layers 

2268
02:11:58,800 --> 02:12:03,000
events that shape the land and 
the people that influenced, how 

2269
02:12:03,000 --> 02:12:06,800
communities developed that left 
marks both physical and cultural

2270
02:12:06,800 --> 02:12:10,200
that persist long. 
After the events themselves of 

2271
02:12:10,200 --> 02:12:14,100
faded from living memory. 
And somewhere in the Atlantic 

2272
02:12:14,100 --> 02:12:17,900
right now, air is moving 
precious systems are forming, 

2273
02:12:17,900 --> 02:12:22,400
and weather is being made. 
The same physical processes that

2274
02:12:22,400 --> 02:12:27,100
created, the great storm of 1703
are still operating the same 

2275
02:12:27,100 --> 02:12:30,400
equations govern how storms form
and intensify. 

2276
02:12:31,200 --> 02:12:34,500
Same motion that bred that 
ancient Tempest still breeds 

2277
02:12:34,500 --> 02:12:37,200
modern ones and still 
occasionally produces 

2278
02:12:37,200 --> 02:12:39,000
conditions. 
That create extraordinary 

2279
02:12:39,000 --> 02:12:41,700
violence. 
We're better prepared now than 

2280
02:12:41,700 --> 02:12:45,600
people were in 1703. 
We have Warning Systems, sturdy 

2281
02:12:45,600 --> 02:12:48,900
buildings and weather forecasts 
that can predict storms days in 

2282
02:12:48,900 --> 02:12:50,700
advance, but we're not 
invulnerable. 

2283
02:12:50,700 --> 02:12:55,400
Nature, still has the capacity 
to surprise us to produce events

2284
02:12:55,400 --> 02:12:58,600
at the edge of probability that 
exceed our preparations and 

2285
02:12:58,600 --> 02:13:02,000
assumptions. 
This is both sobering and in a 

2286
02:13:02,000 --> 02:13:05,000
strange way exciting. 
It means the world retains its 

2287
02:13:05,000 --> 02:13:08,500
capacity to astonish us to 
remind us that for all our 

2288
02:13:08,500 --> 02:13:11,500
knowledge and Technology. 
We remain part of natural 

2289
02:13:11,500 --> 02:13:14,700
systems that operate on scale 
beyond our control. 

2290
02:13:15,700 --> 02:13:19,500
We're passengers on a planet 
spinning through space protected

2291
02:13:19,500 --> 02:13:22,800
by a thin layer of atmosphere 
that sometimes moves in ways 

2292
02:13:22,800 --> 02:13:24,700
that can tear our civilization 
apart. 

2293
02:13:25,500 --> 02:13:29,100
But were passengers with memory 
with records with the 

2294
02:13:29,108 --> 02:13:32,800
accumulated wisdom of 
generations who faced disasters 

2295
02:13:32,800 --> 02:13:38,600
and learned from them. 
The great storm of 1703 is part 

2296
02:13:38,600 --> 02:13:42,900
of that accumulated wisdom, a 
reminder of what's possible a 

2297
02:13:42,900 --> 02:13:44,800
lesson invulnerability, and 
resilience. 

2298
02:13:44,800 --> 02:13:49,100
And a story that connects us to 
people long Dead who face their 

2299
02:13:49,100 --> 02:13:52,700
Darkest Night, with whatever 
courage they could muster, as 

2300
02:13:52,700 --> 02:13:56,200
you sleep tonight, safe in a 
building that incorporates three

2301
02:13:56,200 --> 02:13:59,000
centuries of improved 
understanding of wind resistance

2302
02:13:59,000 --> 02:14:02,300
and Structural Engineering. 
Your benefiting from lessons 

2303
02:14:02,300 --> 02:14:05,300
that were purchased with great 
suffering and 1703. 

2304
02:14:06,300 --> 02:14:10,600
Every secure roof, beam every 
well, anchored Foundation, every

2305
02:14:10,600 --> 02:14:12,700
building code and safety 
regulation. 

2306
02:14:12,700 --> 02:14:16,600
They all rest on the accumulated
experience of people who faced 

2307
02:14:16,600 --> 02:14:20,700
disasters and said never again, 
or at least not like this. 

2308
02:14:21,800 --> 02:14:24,100
Sleep. 
Well, knowing that your part of 

2309
02:14:24,100 --> 02:14:27,700
this ongoing human story of 
learning from catastrophe of 

2310
02:14:27,700 --> 02:14:31,400
building, better after disaster.
A facing an indifferent Universe

2311
02:14:31,400 --> 02:14:33,200
with determination and 
ingenuity. 

2312
02:14:34,500 --> 02:14:38,300
The wind that blew in 1703 is 
gone but the lessons, it taught 

2313
02:14:38,300 --> 02:14:42,900
remain woven into the fabric of 
how we build, how we prepare, 

2314
02:14:42,900 --> 02:14:45,900
and how we understand our place 
in the natural world. 

2315
02:14:47,200 --> 02:14:50,400
And tomorrow, when you check the
weather forecast, a routine 

2316
02:14:50,400 --> 02:14:52,700
action that would have seemed 
like magic to someone. 

2317
02:14:52,700 --> 02:14:56,200
In 1703. 
Remember that your benefiting 

2318
02:14:56,200 --> 02:15:00,000
from centuries of careful 
observation that began in part 

2319
02:15:00,000 --> 02:15:03,100
with people trying to understand
the incomprehensible storm that 

2320
02:15:03,100 --> 02:15:05,400
struck on a November night 300 
years ago. 

2321
02:15:06,900 --> 02:15:11,600
The great storm of 1703 is over 
but its Legacy continues. 

2322
02:15:11,600 --> 02:15:16,300
It lives in our buildings, our 
institutions are scientific 

2323
02:15:16,300 --> 02:15:18,800
understanding and our cultural 
memory. 

2324
02:15:20,000 --> 02:15:23,700
It reminds us that history isn't
just about Kings, and wars and 

2325
02:15:23,700 --> 02:15:26,900
political events. 
It's also about ordinary people 

2326
02:15:26,900 --> 02:15:30,300
facing extraordinary 
circumstances about human 

2327
02:15:30,300 --> 02:15:33,300
vulnerability and resilience, 
and about the ongoing 

2328
02:15:33,300 --> 02:15:36,600
conversation between human 
civilization and the natural 

2329
02:15:36,600 --> 02:15:40,200
forces that shape the planet 
long before we arrived and will 

2330
02:15:40,200 --> 02:15:43,600
continue long. 
After we're gone, Sweet dreams 

2331
02:15:43,600 --> 02:15:46,400
and may your sleepy as peaceful 
as that November night was 

2332
02:15:46,400 --> 02:15:50,000
violent. 
The storm has passed the wind is

2333
02:15:50,000 --> 02:15:53,600
settled and mourning always 
comes even after the longest 

2334
02:15:53,600 --> 02:16:04,600
darkest Knight. 
Imagine if you will the world in

2335
02:16:04,600 --> 02:16:07,600
the year 1346. 
Not the world. 

2336
02:16:07,600 --> 02:16:10,600
As you might picture it from 
history books, all mud, and 

2337
02:16:10,600 --> 02:16:14,300
misery, but the actual living 
breathing medieval world that 

2338
02:16:14,300 --> 02:16:17,000
people loved, and complained 
about and took completely for 

2339
02:16:17,000 --> 02:16:18,800
granted, just as you do with 
your own time. 

2340
02:16:19,400 --> 02:16:22,600
European cities in the mid-14th 
century smelled like a 

2341
02:16:22,600 --> 02:16:26,300
combination of baking bread. 
Horseman Neuer would smoke and 

2342
02:16:26,300 --> 02:16:29,400
the particular mustiness of too 
many people living in two 

2343
02:16:29,400 --> 02:16:31,000
smaller space without proper 
Plumbing. 

2344
02:16:31,900 --> 02:16:34,799
The smell wasn't necessarily 
unpleasant to people who'd never

2345
02:16:34,808 --> 02:16:38,200
known anything different. 
It was simply the smell of life 

2346
02:16:38,200 --> 02:16:41,799
as familiar and unremarkable, as
the center of your own home. 

2347
02:16:41,799 --> 02:16:45,000
Is to you now. 
Picture a typical Morning in 

2348
02:16:45,000 --> 02:16:48,100
Florence which was then one of 
the wealthiest cities in 

2349
02:16:48,100 --> 02:16:51,100
Christendom. 
The day would begin Before, Dawn

2350
02:16:51,100 --> 02:16:55,100
with church bells, dozens of 
them, each with its own voice. 

2351
02:16:55,100 --> 02:16:58,600
Creating a bronze Symphony. 
That told people went to wake 

2352
02:16:58,600 --> 02:17:03,799
when to pray when to work and 
when to rest, if you'd asked to 

2353
02:17:03,799 --> 02:17:07,000
Florentine to imagine a world 
without those bells, they would 

2354
02:17:07,000 --> 02:17:09,400
have looked at you as strangely 
as you'd look at someone who 

2355
02:17:09,400 --> 02:17:11,799
asked you to imagine a world 
without electricity. 

2356
02:17:12,700 --> 02:17:15,200
The streets filled early with 
Kraft's people, opening their 

2357
02:17:15,200 --> 02:17:18,100
shops. 
Imagine the textile workers in 

2358
02:17:18,100 --> 02:17:20,799
their wool. 
Centered workshops fingers, move

2359
02:17:20,799 --> 02:17:24,100
with the kind of automatic 
Precision that comes from doing 

2360
02:17:24,100 --> 02:17:29,000
the same tasks and his childhood
The Bakers were pulling loaves 

2361
02:17:29,000 --> 02:17:30,799
from Stone Ovens that had been 
heating. 

2362
02:17:30,799 --> 02:17:34,299
Since Before Sunrise, The 
merchants were unrolling. 

2363
02:17:34,299 --> 02:17:39,000
Their Ledges calculating profits
in Roman numerals because Arabic

2364
02:17:39,000 --> 02:17:41,799
numerals were still suspiciously
foreign and mathematical 

2365
02:17:42,500 --> 02:17:46,000
medieval cities, had a 
particular kind of energy dense 

2366
02:17:46,000 --> 02:17:49,900
intimate and communal in ways 
that Modern urban life has 

2367
02:17:49,900 --> 02:17:53,900
largely forgotten You couldn't 
walk down a street without 

2368
02:17:53,900 --> 02:17:55,799
knowing most of the people, you 
passed. 

2369
02:17:56,500 --> 02:17:58,600
The baker, New York families 
bread presses. 

2370
02:17:59,500 --> 02:18:01,700
Cloth Merchant a new which 
colors you favored. 

2371
02:18:02,400 --> 02:18:07,400
Previously, as we understand it,
barely existed. life happened in

2372
02:18:07,400 --> 02:18:11,600
public, in workshops, open to 
the street in communal Wells, 

2373
02:18:11,600 --> 02:18:15,100
where people gathered for water 
and gossip and in churches where

2374
02:18:15,100 --> 02:18:19,400
the entire Community assembled 
multiple times daily, this 

2375
02:18:19,400 --> 02:18:22,900
closeness created a society that
felt both supportive and 

2376
02:18:22,900 --> 02:18:25,500
suffocating depending on your 
temperament. 

2377
02:18:26,500 --> 02:18:29,299
If you fell ill, your neighbor's
would know immediately and bring

2378
02:18:29,308 --> 02:18:31,900
soup. 
If you made a social misstep, 

2379
02:18:31,900 --> 02:18:34,299
your neighbor's would know 
immediately and remember 

2380
02:18:34,299 --> 02:18:37,000
forever. 
It was the kind of community 

2381
02:18:37,000 --> 02:18:40,700
that modern people claimed to 
miss while simultaneously doing 

2382
02:18:40,700 --> 02:18:45,400
everything possible to have 
actually living in one. the 

2383
02:18:45,400 --> 02:18:48,200
medieval economy, functioned 
through networks of personal 

2384
02:18:48,200 --> 02:18:52,500
relationships, that spanned 
continents, Talion, Merchants 

2385
02:18:52,500 --> 02:18:56,200
maintain trading posts, and 
Constantinople and Alexandria. 

2386
02:18:57,100 --> 02:19:00,200
German Bankers had branches in 
London and Paris. 

2387
02:19:01,000 --> 02:19:04,400
Chinese silk arrived in Venice 
through a chain of traders that 

2388
02:19:04,400 --> 02:19:06,799
stretched across the entire 
width of Asia. 

2389
02:19:06,799 --> 02:19:10,700
Each link in the chain, knowing 
only the trade is immediately 

2390
02:19:10,700 --> 02:19:12,700
before. 
And after them, yet the whole 

2391
02:19:12,700 --> 02:19:16,200
system functioning with 
remarkable efficiency in the 

2392
02:19:16,200 --> 02:19:18,799
countryside life, followed 
rhythms, that hadn't changed 

2393
02:19:18,799 --> 02:19:23,100
significantly in 1,000 years. 
Peasant's worked land. 

2394
02:19:23,100 --> 02:19:27,000
Their ancestors had worked using
tools, their grandfathers had 

2395
02:19:27,000 --> 02:19:30,799
used planting crops according to
wisdom passed down through so 

2396
02:19:30,799 --> 02:19:34,200
many generations that no one 
remembered who first figured out

2397
02:19:34,200 --> 02:19:36,900
that beans and wheat shouldn't 
be planted in the same field, 

2398
02:19:36,900 --> 02:19:40,299
two years running. 
The agricultural year was a 

2399
02:19:40,308 --> 02:19:43,700
cycle of planting and harvest 
feast and famine. 

2400
02:19:43,700 --> 02:19:47,900
Work and Festival as predictable
and reassuring as the seasons 

2401
02:19:47,900 --> 02:19:50,600
themselves. 
Bring meant plowing. 

2402
02:19:50,600 --> 02:19:54,100
Summer meant, weeding, and 
praying for rain, but not too 

2403
02:19:54,100 --> 02:19:57,200
much rain. 
Autumn meant Harvest and the 

2404
02:19:57,200 --> 02:20:00,000
collective anxiety about whether
you'd ordered enough food to 

2405
02:20:00,000 --> 02:20:03,000
survive winter. 
Winter meant huddling near 

2406
02:20:03,000 --> 02:20:05,600
fires, mending tools and telling
stories. 

2407
02:20:06,400 --> 02:20:10,500
People's lives were short by 
modern standards reaching 40 was

2408
02:20:10,500 --> 02:20:13,500
an achievement worth celebrating
but they weren't uniformly. 

2409
02:20:13,500 --> 02:20:18,000
Miserable, medieval People Fell 
in Love told jokes through 

2410
02:20:18,000 --> 02:20:20,800
parties. 
Got annoyed by their relatives 

2411
02:20:20,800 --> 02:20:25,000
took pride in their work and 
generally experience the full 

2412
02:20:25,000 --> 02:20:28,300
range of human emotion. 
They didn't sit around moping 

2413
02:20:28,300 --> 02:20:32,000
about not having smartphones or 
antibiotics because those things

2414
02:20:32,000 --> 02:20:35,300
hadn't been invented yet. 
Just as you presumably, don't 

2415
02:20:35,300 --> 02:20:38,500
mope about not having whatever, 
miraculous technology people in 

2416
02:20:38,500 --> 02:20:43,600
the Year. 2005 and 2525 will 
consider a sensual Religious 

2417
02:20:43,600 --> 02:20:46,800
faith, permeated everything in 
ways that modern secular 

2418
02:20:46,800 --> 02:20:48,600
society, struggled to 
comprehend. 

2419
02:20:48,600 --> 02:20:53,000
God, was in an abstract, 
theological concept, but a daily

2420
02:20:53,000 --> 02:20:55,700
presence as real and relevant as
the weather. 

2421
02:20:56,600 --> 02:21:00,600
Saints interceded in every day 
problems demons caused. 

2422
02:21:00,600 --> 02:21:03,000
Miss. 
Fortune Angels watched over 

2423
02:21:03,000 --> 02:21:06,100
Travelers. 
Heaven and Hell weren't distant 

2424
02:21:06,100 --> 02:21:09,400
metaphysical destinations but 
places your deceased relatives 

2425
02:21:09,400 --> 02:21:12,700
currently inhabited as real as 
London or Paris. 

2426
02:21:12,700 --> 02:21:16,900
This didn't mean everyone was 
constantly Pious medal. 

2427
02:21:16,900 --> 02:21:21,100
People were perfectly capable of
swearing sinning and generally 

2428
02:21:21,100 --> 02:21:23,200
ignoring religious teachings 
when convenient. 

2429
02:21:24,000 --> 02:21:26,900
But it meant that the universe 
made sense within a coherent 

2430
02:21:26,900 --> 02:21:29,800
framework. 
Everything happened for a reason

2431
02:21:29,800 --> 02:21:34,600
even if that reason was God's 
mysterious plan or demonic 

2432
02:21:34,600 --> 02:21:37,800
temptation. 
Random chance as we understand, 

2433
02:21:37,800 --> 02:21:41,600
it didn't really exist. 
The Medieval World System 

2434
02:21:41,600 --> 02:21:44,400
connected three continents 
through trade routes that had 

2435
02:21:44,400 --> 02:21:47,500
existed for millennia. 
The Silk Road wasn't a single 

2436
02:21:47,500 --> 02:21:50,800
road, but a network of paths 
threading through deserts and 

2437
02:21:50,800 --> 02:21:53,000
mountains, connecting China to 
the Mediterranean. 

2438
02:21:54,200 --> 02:21:57,800
Maritime routes link the Indian 
Ocean, the Red Sea, and the 

2439
02:21:57,800 --> 02:22:00,800
personal Gulf. 
European ships plaid the 

2440
02:22:00,800 --> 02:22:02,800
Mediterranean and the Atlantic 
coasts. 

2441
02:22:03,600 --> 02:22:07,500
Goods moved slowly but steadily 
each Caravan and ship carrying 

2442
02:22:07,500 --> 02:22:11,500
not just merchandise but also 
ideas Technologies and though no

2443
02:22:11,500 --> 02:22:16,600
one yet realized it diseases. 
In Central Asia, the Mongol 

2444
02:22:16,600 --> 02:22:19,700
Empire was slowly fragmenting 
after centuries of relative 

2445
02:22:19,700 --> 02:22:23,000
stability. 
Mongol rule had been brutal in 

2446
02:22:23,008 --> 02:22:26,200
his establishment but generally 
peaceful in his maintenance 

2447
02:22:26,200 --> 02:22:29,800
which facilitated trade across, 
previously, impossible, 

2448
02:22:29,800 --> 02:22:32,700
boundaries. 
You could travel from Beijing to

2449
02:22:32,700 --> 02:22:34,900
the Mediterranean without 
crossing a major border 

2450
02:22:34,900 --> 02:22:37,100
provided. 
You have the right papers and 

2451
02:22:37,100 --> 02:22:40,300
paid the right bribes. 
This interconnected World 

2452
02:22:40,300 --> 02:22:44,000
created Prosperity on a scale 
medieval Europe had an 

2453
02:22:44,000 --> 02:22:45,300
experience since the Roman 
Empire. 

2454
02:22:46,200 --> 02:22:49,100
Cities grew universities, 
flourished. 

2455
02:22:49,100 --> 02:22:53,000
Gothic Cathedrals reached toward
heaven with engineering that 

2456
02:22:53,000 --> 02:22:54,900
still impresses modern 
architects. 

2457
02:22:55,700 --> 02:22:58,900
Banking and insurance developed 
to facilitate long-distance 

2458
02:22:58,900 --> 02:23:01,400
trade. 
People could borrow money in 

2459
02:23:01,400 --> 02:23:05,000
Florence and repay it in London 
through letters of credit which 

2460
02:23:05,000 --> 02:23:08,500
was essentially medieval Finance
capitalism without computers. 

2461
02:23:09,300 --> 02:23:12,100
But this interconnectedness came
with a price that no one 

2462
02:23:12,100 --> 02:23:15,900
anticipated, the same trade 
routes that carried silk and 

2463
02:23:15,900 --> 02:23:18,300
spices. 
And silver would soon carry 

2464
02:23:18,300 --> 02:23:20,700
something else. 
Something that traveled 

2465
02:23:20,700 --> 02:23:24,600
invisibly lodged in the fur of 
rats and the bodies of fleas, 

2466
02:23:24,600 --> 02:23:27,900
patient, and deadly, and 
completely indifferent to human 

2467
02:23:27,900 --> 02:23:32,000
prosperity. 
In the spring of 1347, most 

2468
02:23:32,000 --> 02:23:34,600
Europeans had never heard of a 
place called Cafe. 

2469
02:23:35,500 --> 02:23:38,800
A generous Trading Post on the 
Black Sea in what's now Crimea? 

2470
02:23:39,600 --> 02:23:41,600
They would soon learn about it 
though. 

2471
02:23:41,600 --> 02:23:43,300
Not in any way. 
They would have chosen. 

2472
02:23:44,700 --> 02:23:49,000
The Sea of Cafe in 1346 must 
have seemed to the generous 

2473
02:23:49,000 --> 02:23:52,200
Merchants trapped in side, like 
just another episode. 

2474
02:23:52,200 --> 02:23:55,500
In the endless cycle of warfare,
that characterized medieval 

2475
02:23:55,500 --> 02:23:59,200
international relations, the 
Mongol Army outside their walls,

2476
02:23:59,200 --> 02:24:02,900
was merely the latest military 
inconvenience in a region where 

2477
02:24:02,900 --> 02:24:06,000
military inconveniences were as 
common as Mediterranean 

2478
02:24:06,000 --> 02:24:09,800
thunderstorms. 
When something strange happened 

2479
02:24:09,800 --> 02:24:14,100
the Mongol soldiers started 
dying not from Siege related 

2480
02:24:14,100 --> 02:24:19,100
causes not from infected wounds 
or contaminated water or the 

2481
02:24:19,100 --> 02:24:21,700
normal attrition, that 
accompanies military campaigns. 

2482
02:24:22,400 --> 02:24:25,500
They were dying from something 
that came on suddenly that 

2483
02:24:25,500 --> 02:24:29,200
turned their lymph nodes into 
swollen blackish masses and that

2484
02:24:29,208 --> 02:24:32,000
brought fever and delirium and 
death within days. 

2485
02:24:32,900 --> 02:24:36,100
The Mongol commanders watching 
their army dissolve, not through

2486
02:24:36,100 --> 02:24:40,200
enemy action, but through 
invisible attack, made a 

2487
02:24:40,200 --> 02:24:41,700
decision that would echo through
history. 

2488
02:24:41,700 --> 02:24:45,900
They used catapults to hurl the 
corpses of plague victims over 

2489
02:24:45,900 --> 02:24:49,900
kafas walls, whether this 
medieval biological warfare. 

2490
02:24:49,900 --> 02:24:53,300
Actually, transmitted the 
disease historians debate, this 

2491
02:24:53,300 --> 02:24:57,000
is almost beside the point. 
The plague was already inside. 

2492
02:24:57,000 --> 02:25:00,200
Kaffir brought by the same 
trade, Caravans that brought 

2493
02:25:00,200 --> 02:25:03,100
prosperity. 
The generous merchants and 

2494
02:25:03,100 --> 02:25:07,400
sailors found themselves trapped
between a dying Army outside and

2495
02:25:07,400 --> 02:25:11,000
a dying City in sight. 
So they did what medieval 

2496
02:25:11,000 --> 02:25:14,400
merchants did when things went 
badly, they got in their ship's 

2497
02:25:14,400 --> 02:25:17,800
and home. 
Picture these ships leaving Cafe

2498
02:25:17,800 --> 02:25:21,900
in the Autumn of 1347. 
January's galleys were beautiful

2499
02:25:21,900 --> 02:25:27,000
vessels in their way, Sleek 
fast, powered by both sale and 

2500
02:25:27,000 --> 02:25:30,000
or, and designed for the 
peculiar conditions of 

2501
02:25:30,008 --> 02:25:34,000
Mediterranean trade, where speed
mattered more than cargo 

2502
02:25:34,000 --> 02:25:36,800
capacity. 
They were built from Italian 

2503
02:25:36,800 --> 02:25:41,800
Timber caught with pitch from 
who knows where sailed by Crews 

2504
02:25:41,800 --> 02:25:45,300
from a dozen different ports and
carrying goods from three 

2505
02:25:45,300 --> 02:25:48,000
continents. 
The sailors on these ships 

2506
02:25:48,000 --> 02:25:51,600
didn't feel sick when they 
departed, that's the Insidious 

2507
02:25:51,600 --> 02:25:55,500
thing about Bubonic plague. 
It has an incubation period. 

2508
02:25:55,500 --> 02:26:00,100
You can carry it for days. 
Feeling perfectly, fine, going 

2509
02:26:00,100 --> 02:26:03,600
about your business and only 
later do the symptoms of here. 

2510
02:26:03,600 --> 02:26:06,100
These Sailors left kaffir 
thinking. 

2511
02:26:06,100 --> 02:26:09,500
They escaped catastrophe unaware
that they were bringing it with 

2512
02:26:09,500 --> 02:26:12,700
them. 
The journey from the black seed.

2513
02:26:12,700 --> 02:26:16,000
Italy, normally took several 
weeks depending on whether and 

2514
02:26:16,000 --> 02:26:19,900
wind. imagine being on one of 
the ships, as the first sailor 

2515
02:26:19,900 --> 02:26:24,100
fell ill, Perhaps he complained 
of feeling tired, and feverish. 

2516
02:26:25,300 --> 02:26:28,300
Nothing unusual Sailors. 
Got sick all the time from bad 

2517
02:26:28,300 --> 02:26:32,900
food, contaminated water or any 
of the 100 minor ailments that 

2518
02:26:32,900 --> 02:26:34,300
played. 
Pre-modern Travelers. 

2519
02:26:34,300 --> 02:26:38,900
His Shipmates probably told him 
to rest drink some water and 

2520
02:26:38,900 --> 02:26:41,600
stop complaining. 
Then the fever Spike. 

2521
02:26:41,600 --> 02:26:45,700
Then the bow bows appeared, 
those characteristics swelling 

2522
02:26:45,700 --> 02:26:50,100
in the lymph nodes of the groin,
armpits and neck darkening to 

2523
02:26:50,100 --> 02:26:54,000
purple black as blood vessels 
burst beneath the skin, then 

2524
02:26:54,000 --> 02:26:58,100
delirium then death often within
three days of the first 

2525
02:26:58,100 --> 02:27:01,100
symptoms. 
Now imagine being the ship's, 

2526
02:27:01,100 --> 02:27:04,000
Captain watching your crew, die,
one by one. 

2527
02:27:04,000 --> 02:27:07,800
Knowing that something terrible 
Has Come Aboard but having no 

2528
02:27:07,800 --> 02:27:10,100
understanding of what it is or 
how to stop it. 

2529
02:27:11,400 --> 02:27:14,000
Medieval medicine understood 
illness through the theory of 

2530
02:27:14,008 --> 02:27:19,600
humors, imbalances of blood, 
phlegm yellow, bile and black 

2531
02:27:19,600 --> 02:27:22,600
bile. 
This didn't fit any recognizable

2532
02:27:22,600 --> 02:27:25,700
pattern. 
Speed the symptoms, the 

2533
02:27:25,700 --> 02:27:29,400
mortality rate nothing in the 
medieval medical tool kit 

2534
02:27:29,400 --> 02:27:30,400
prepared. 
Anyone for this. 

2535
02:27:31,200 --> 02:27:34,100
Some ships, probably tried to 
turn back, but where would they 

2536
02:27:34,100 --> 02:27:36,800
go? 
Kafa was dead or dying? 

2537
02:27:36,800 --> 02:27:40,500
Other Black Sea ports were no 
better and so they can continue 

2538
02:27:40,500 --> 02:27:43,400
West leaving a trail of dead. 
Sailors. 

2539
02:27:43,400 --> 02:27:47,200
Floating in the Mediterranean 
wrapped in canvas shrouds with 

2540
02:27:47,200 --> 02:27:49,200
whatever rocks could be found 
for ballast. 

2541
02:27:49,200 --> 02:27:53,500
The first of these plague ships 
reached Sicily in October 1347 

2542
02:27:54,400 --> 02:27:57,900
Messina a prosperous Port City 
on the islands, North Eastern 

2543
02:27:57,900 --> 02:27:59,700
tip. 
Welcome them with the 

2544
02:27:59,700 --> 02:28:02,800
hospitality traditionally 
extended to Italian Merchants 

2545
02:28:02,800 --> 02:28:06,900
within days. 
The authorities responded with 

2546
02:28:06,900 --> 02:28:11,600
what would become a familiar 
pattern, Panic, denial, Escape 

2547
02:28:11,600 --> 02:28:15,200
coating and eventually Desperate
Measures that proved useless 

2548
02:28:15,200 --> 02:28:16,900
against an enemy. 
No one understood. 

2549
02:28:17,700 --> 02:28:21,500
The city expelled, the genoese 
ships, which sailed North to 

2550
02:28:21,500 --> 02:28:24,600
other ports, spreading the 
disease with each Landing. 

2551
02:28:25,300 --> 02:28:28,200
It was like trying to stop a 
fire by throwing burning embers 

2552
02:28:28,200 --> 02:28:32,800
in every direction. 
By November, the plague had 

2553
02:28:32,800 --> 02:28:35,700
reached Marseille on the 
southern coast of France by 

2554
02:28:35,700 --> 02:28:38,700
December. 
It was in peaceful and Genoa by 

2555
02:28:38,700 --> 02:28:41,900
January 1348. 
It had arrived in Venice, 

2556
02:28:41,900 --> 02:28:46,500
perhaps the wealthiest and most 
sophisticated city in Europe and

2557
02:28:46,500 --> 02:28:48,900
proceeded to demonstrate that 
wealth and sophistication 

2558
02:28:48,900 --> 02:28:51,100
offered, no protection 
whatsoever. 

2559
02:28:52,900 --> 02:28:56,500
A plague traveled fast of the 
news of the plague medal 

2560
02:28:56,500 --> 02:29:00,100
communication moved at the speed
of horses and ships, which meant

2561
02:29:00,100 --> 02:29:04,100
word of catastrophe arrived days
or weeks after the catastrophe 

2562
02:29:04,100 --> 02:29:07,200
itself. 
Imagine being a merchant in 

2563
02:29:07,200 --> 02:29:10,300
Barcelona. 
Hearing vague rumors about a 

2564
02:29:10,300 --> 02:29:14,000
disease in Italy, maybe worrying
a little and then one day 

2565
02:29:14,000 --> 02:29:17,300
noticing that your neighbor 
seems on well and then within a 

2566
02:29:17,308 --> 02:29:20,500
week, half your neighborhood is 
dead and you're wondering where 

2567
02:29:20,500 --> 02:29:24,100
this came from, having no idea 
that the answer was a ship from 

2568
02:29:24,100 --> 02:29:25,700
Genoa that docked three weeks 
ago. 

2569
02:29:27,300 --> 02:29:30,100
The disease spread through 
multiple routes simultaneously. 

2570
02:29:30,100 --> 02:29:33,300
Overland trade, route, carried 
it North through Italy into 

2571
02:29:33,300 --> 02:29:36,800
France and Germany. 
Ships carried it to every port 

2572
02:29:36,800 --> 02:29:40,100
in the Mediterranean and then 
out into the Atlantic reaching 

2573
02:29:40,100 --> 02:29:45,300
England by June 1348 and 
Scandinavia by 1349. 

2574
02:29:46,200 --> 02:29:49,500
It moved like water, finding 
every crack in a foundation. 

2575
02:29:49,500 --> 02:29:52,800
Following the established 
channels of human Commerce and 

2576
02:29:52,800 --> 02:29:55,800
settlement. 
Different regions, experience 

2577
02:29:55,800 --> 02:30:00,000
different timelines that the 
pattern was consistent, arrival,

2578
02:30:00,000 --> 02:30:05,800
denial, Panic, Mass death. 
And finally, a strange quiet as 

2579
02:30:05,800 --> 02:30:09,600
there were enough people left to
maintain normal activity cities 

2580
02:30:09,600 --> 02:30:13,300
that commercial energy fell 
silent except for the sounds of 

2581
02:30:13,308 --> 02:30:17,700
the dying and the bells tolling 
for the dead, assuming they were

2582
02:30:17,700 --> 02:30:19,400
still people healthy enough to 
ring them. 

2583
02:30:20,200 --> 02:30:23,500
Plague travel traveled Inland 
along Rivers and Roads spread by

2584
02:30:23,500 --> 02:30:27,000
refugees fleeing infected cities
who carried the disease to 

2585
02:30:27,000 --> 02:30:31,500
previously, untouched areas. 
Merchants pilgrims soldiers 

2586
02:30:31,500 --> 02:30:35,800
beggars, anyone who traveled 
became a potential Vector for 

2587
02:30:35,800 --> 02:30:38,600
transmission. 
The very Mobility that had 

2588
02:30:38,600 --> 02:30:41,500
created medieval Prosperity. 
Now, ensured medieval 

2589
02:30:41,500 --> 02:30:46,200
catastrophe, in some ways, the 
diseases Journey mirrored the 

2590
02:30:46,208 --> 02:30:50,400
structure of medieval Society 
itself, It struck hardest in 

2591
02:30:50,400 --> 02:30:54,500
cities where density May 
transmission easy, it followed 

2592
02:30:54,500 --> 02:30:57,500
trade routes which meant 
commercial centers suffered 

2593
02:30:57,500 --> 02:31:01,600
first and worst it ravaged, the 
poor who lived in cramped 

2594
02:31:01,600 --> 02:31:05,400
conditions with poor nutrition 
and no ability to flee. 

2595
02:31:05,400 --> 02:31:09,400
But it also killed the wealthy 
demonstrating the diseases 

2596
02:31:09,400 --> 02:31:13,900
essential democracy. 
By the end of 1348. 

2597
02:31:13,900 --> 02:31:16,000
Roughly a year. 
After those first ships left. 

2598
02:31:16,000 --> 02:31:19,200
Kaffir Plagued spread across 
most of Europe. 

2599
02:31:20,000 --> 02:31:23,300
It would continue spreading for 
several more years, reaching 

2600
02:31:23,300 --> 02:31:27,300
into Russia, penetrating to the 
farthest inhabited regions of 

2601
02:31:27,300 --> 02:31:30,800
Europe and establishing itself 
as a recurring, nightmare, that 

2602
02:31:30,800 --> 02:31:33,500
would return periodically for 
the next fourth centuries. 

2603
02:31:34,600 --> 02:31:40,100
But in that first wave in 1347 
to 1353, it achieves, something 

2604
02:31:40,100 --> 02:31:44,500
unprecedented in human history. 
It reduced the population of 

2605
02:31:44,500 --> 02:31:49,800
Europe by somewhere between 1/3 
and 1/2. 30 to 50% of all 

2606
02:31:49,800 --> 02:31:53,900
Europeans alive in 1347 were 
dead by 1353. 

2607
02:31:53,900 --> 02:31:58,400
To put this in perspective, 
World, War 1, probably the most 

2608
02:31:58,400 --> 02:32:01,000
catastrophic event in modern 
European history. 

2609
02:32:01,000 --> 02:32:04,700
Killed about two to three 
percent of Europe's population. 

2610
02:32:06,000 --> 02:32:07,900
The Black Death killed, 20 
times. 

2611
02:32:07,900 --> 02:32:10,500
That proportion. 
It was, as if every third 

2612
02:32:10,500 --> 02:32:14,400
person, you knew family, members
friends colleagues, neighbors 

2613
02:32:14,400 --> 02:32:19,000
simply disappeared within a few 
years, And it happened quietly 

2614
02:32:19,000 --> 02:32:22,600
not with the drama of war or 
natural disaster. 

2615
02:32:22,600 --> 02:32:26,200
But with a kind of inevitable 
progression that made resistance

2616
02:32:26,200 --> 02:32:29,400
seem futile. 
City by City, region. 

2617
02:32:29,400 --> 02:32:34,200
By region the world fell silent.
There's A peculiar Stillness 

2618
02:32:34,200 --> 02:32:36,700
that comes to places that have 
suddenly lost most of their 

2619
02:32:36,700 --> 02:32:40,600
people not the comfortable quiet
of evening or the peaceful 

2620
02:32:40,600 --> 02:32:44,500
Silence of snowfall. 
But an empty abandoned quality. 

2621
02:32:44,500 --> 02:32:49,200
That makes even small sounds 
seem wrong like coughing in a 

2622
02:32:49,200 --> 02:32:52,600
cathedral during prayer. 
This is the quiet that settled 

2623
02:32:52,600 --> 02:32:57,300
over Europe in 1348 and 1349 and
if you could travel back to 

2624
02:32:57,300 --> 02:33:01,600
experience it which mercifully 
you cannot it would unsettle you

2625
02:33:01,600 --> 02:33:05,400
in ways that no amount of 
preparation could prevent Your 

2626
02:33:05,400 --> 02:33:08,800
modern mind, a custom to the 
background hum of human 

2627
02:33:08,800 --> 02:33:11,200
activity. 
Would register the wrongness 

2628
02:33:11,200 --> 02:33:15,600
immediately even if you couldn't
articulate, exactly what felt 

2629
02:33:15,600 --> 02:33:18,500
off. 
Picture of Village in rural 

2630
02:33:18,500 --> 02:33:22,200
England in the Autumn of 1348, 
six months earlier. 

2631
02:33:22,200 --> 02:33:28,000
It might have held 300 people 
now, perhaps 100, romaine, and 

2632
02:33:28,000 --> 02:33:30,500
many of those are too weak or 
traumatized to work. 

2633
02:33:31,400 --> 02:33:34,300
The fields that should have been
harvested stand, unharvested 

2634
02:33:34,300 --> 02:33:36,800
grain, rotting on the stalk 
because there aren't enough 

2635
02:33:36,800 --> 02:33:40,300
hands to bring it in. 
The millwheel turned slowly or 

2636
02:33:40,300 --> 02:33:44,200
not at all the blacksmiths Forge
sits cold because the blacksmith

2637
02:33:44,200 --> 02:33:48,700
died and no one has claimed his 
tools church bell still ring but

2638
02:33:48,700 --> 02:33:51,700
less frequently now partly 
because there are fewer people 

2639
02:33:51,700 --> 02:33:54,500
to ring them and partly because 
people have stopped keeping 

2640
02:33:54,500 --> 02:33:56,800
track of time with quite the 
same diligence. 

2641
02:33:58,000 --> 02:34:01,000
When Death can come in three 
days, the difference between 

2642
02:34:01,000 --> 02:34:05,400
morning and afternoon seems less
pressing Survivors move through 

2643
02:34:05,400 --> 02:34:09,900
their days with a kind of numb, 
automaticity doing what needs to

2644
02:34:09,900 --> 02:34:12,600
be done without quite believing 
in the perks of any of it. 

2645
02:34:13,600 --> 02:34:17,100
The silence extended Beyond 
individual communities to entire

2646
02:34:17,100 --> 02:34:20,400
Regional Networks. 
Trade routes that had with 

2647
02:34:20,400 --> 02:34:23,300
activity. 
Fell quiet as Merchants died or 

2648
02:34:23,300 --> 02:34:26,800
stopped traveling. 
Markets that had met weekly now 

2649
02:34:26,800 --> 02:34:29,700
couldn't gather enough. 
Participants roads went 

2650
02:34:29,700 --> 02:34:33,200
unrepaired because the officials
responsible were dead and no one

2651
02:34:33,200 --> 02:34:35,200
had clear authority to organize 
maintenance. 

2652
02:34:36,300 --> 02:34:40,600
Bridges collapsed irrigation 
systems broke down the 

2653
02:34:40,600 --> 02:34:43,500
infrastructure of daily life, 
required constant, human 

2654
02:34:43,500 --> 02:34:47,000
attention and suddenly that 
attention was in drastically 

2655
02:34:47,000 --> 02:34:50,800
short supply. 
In cities, the quiet had a 

2656
02:34:50,800 --> 02:34:53,300
different quality. 
Urban life, depends on 

2657
02:34:53,308 --> 02:34:56,100
population. 
Density on having enough people 

2658
02:34:56,100 --> 02:34:59,800
to support specialization. 
You need enough customers to 

2659
02:34:59,800 --> 02:35:03,100
keep a baker in business enough.
Sick people to keep a physician 

2660
02:35:03,100 --> 02:35:06,200
employed and enough students to 
justify a school. 

2661
02:35:07,300 --> 02:35:11,900
When population drops Suddenly 
by 40, or 50% the systems 

2662
02:35:11,900 --> 02:35:16,400
collapse, like a tower, losing 
its foundation, stones. imagine 

2663
02:35:16,400 --> 02:35:21,400
walking through Florence in late
1348, Normally, the streets 

2664
02:35:21,400 --> 02:35:23,200
would be nearly impossible with 
traffic. 

2665
02:35:24,100 --> 02:35:28,400
People carts and animals. 
All competing, for limited 

2666
02:35:28,400 --> 02:35:31,500
space, in medieval thoroughfares
designed for a smaller 

2667
02:35:31,500 --> 02:35:35,200
population and no vehicles. 
Now, you could walk down Main 

2668
02:35:35,200 --> 02:35:36,900
Streets without encountering 
anyone. 

2669
02:35:37,700 --> 02:35:41,600
Shot stood shuttered, their 
owners dead and no heirs to the 

2670
02:35:41,600 --> 02:35:45,400
premises. 
Grand house is Satan their 

2671
02:35:45,400 --> 02:35:48,400
wealthy owners had fled to 
country estate or simply dead. 

2672
02:35:49,400 --> 02:35:52,700
Weeds grew in Courtyards that 
had been meticulously maintained

2673
02:35:52,700 --> 02:35:56,100
just months earlier. 
Smell changed too. 

2674
02:35:56,800 --> 02:35:59,400
Without enough people to 
maintain Municipal Services 

2675
02:35:59,400 --> 02:36:03,400
cities, began to rot in ways, 
both literal and metaphorical. 

2676
02:36:04,200 --> 02:36:09,100
Garbage piled up Drainage 
Systems clogged. bodies in the 

2677
02:36:09,100 --> 02:36:12,200
worst months, sometimes lay 
where they'd Fallen because 

2678
02:36:12,200 --> 02:36:14,400
there weren't enough healthy 
people to maintain burial 

2679
02:36:14,400 --> 02:36:18,900
routines Medieval cities had 
never been particularly sanitary

2680
02:36:18,900 --> 02:36:22,700
by modern standards, but they'd 
had working systems for managing

2681
02:36:22,700 --> 02:36:24,600
waste and maintaining basic 
cleanliness. 

2682
02:36:25,700 --> 02:36:31,000
Those systems broke down in 1348
agricultural rhythms which had 

2683
02:36:31,000 --> 02:36:33,100
continued basically unchanged 
for centuries. 

2684
02:36:33,100 --> 02:36:35,200
Suddenly became impossible to 
maintain. 

2685
02:36:36,200 --> 02:36:38,000
Spring planting happened, late, 
or not? 

2686
02:36:38,000 --> 02:36:40,300
At all summer. 
Weeding went undone. 

2687
02:36:40,300 --> 02:36:43,000
The Autumn Harvest. 
Was makeshift at best? 

2688
02:36:44,000 --> 02:36:47,300
In some regions fields that had 
been cultivated since the Roman 

2689
02:36:47,300 --> 02:36:51,500
occupation reverted to Forest 
within a generation because 

2690
02:36:51,500 --> 02:36:53,800
there simply weren't enough 
people to keep working them. 

2691
02:36:54,700 --> 02:36:57,100
Animals, presented their own 
strange problems. 

2692
02:36:58,000 --> 02:37:01,600
Farm animals that depended on 
human care, began to die or turn

2693
02:37:01,600 --> 02:37:04,500
Farrell. 
Horses wandered, roads without 

2694
02:37:04,500 --> 02:37:08,500
Riders, cattle broke through 
unmended fences to graze 

2695
02:37:08,500 --> 02:37:11,600
wherever they pleased. 
Pigs routed through Villages, 

2696
02:37:11,600 --> 02:37:15,400
eating garden vegetables, and 
getting into stored grain. 

2697
02:37:16,300 --> 02:37:20,300
In some areas, Wildlife, 
populations exploded as human 

2698
02:37:20,300 --> 02:37:24,400
pressure decreased and domestic 
animals provided easy, prey for 

2699
02:37:24,400 --> 02:37:28,000
wolves and bears. 
The sounds that did remain took 

2700
02:37:28,000 --> 02:37:31,600
on new significance, in the 
daytime you might hear wind 

2701
02:37:31,600 --> 02:37:34,300
moving through. 
Empty, building's shutters 

2702
02:37:34,300 --> 02:37:38,600
banging loose, and roof tiles 
crashing down from unmaintained 

2703
02:37:38,600 --> 02:37:41,900
roofs. 
At night, the sound of animals, 

2704
02:37:41,900 --> 02:37:45,900
both domestic and wild filled 
spaces. 

2705
02:37:45,900 --> 02:37:48,300
Usually dominated by human 
activity. 

2706
02:37:49,100 --> 02:37:54,400
Owls nested in abandoned attics 
rats, thriving on unguarded 

2707
02:37:54,400 --> 02:37:56,900
stores, scratched and squeaked 
through walls. 

2708
02:37:57,900 --> 02:38:00,700
But perhaps, the most profound 
change was psychological. 

2709
02:38:01,400 --> 02:38:04,100
Devil people at understood, 
their world as fundamentally 

2710
02:38:04,100 --> 02:38:09,400
orderly, despite its hardships. 
Goddard created a higher Archie.

2711
02:38:09,400 --> 02:38:13,900
Nobles about peasants humans 
about animals and the living 

2712
02:38:13,900 --> 02:38:16,900
above the Dead. 
Everything had its place. 

2713
02:38:16,900 --> 02:38:20,900
The plague demonstrated that 
this order was an illusion that 

2714
02:38:20,900 --> 02:38:23,500
death could come to anyone, 
regardless of rank or 

2715
02:38:23,500 --> 02:38:25,800
righteousness. 
And that prayers and Priests 

2716
02:38:25,800 --> 02:38:27,400
offered, no, reliable 
protection. 

2717
02:38:28,400 --> 02:38:30,600
This realization produced what 
we might Now. 

2718
02:38:30,600 --> 02:38:34,200
Call a collective trauma. 
Survivors struggled with what 

2719
02:38:34,200 --> 02:38:38,500
modern psychology would 
recognize as PTSD difficulty 

2720
02:38:38,500 --> 02:38:42,200
sleeping sudden, fears, and 
inability to plan for the 

2721
02:38:42,200 --> 02:38:45,100
future. 
Why save money when you might be

2722
02:38:45,100 --> 02:38:48,300
dead next week? 
Why Apprentice to learn a trade 

2723
02:38:48,300 --> 02:38:51,500
that requires years of training?
Why get married and have 

2724
02:38:51,500 --> 02:38:56,000
children who will probably die. 
The plague also created a 

2725
02:38:56,000 --> 02:38:58,900
strange inversion of normal 
economic relationships. 

2726
02:38:59,700 --> 02:39:04,300
Suddenly labor was scarce and 
land was abundant, the exact 

2727
02:39:04,300 --> 02:39:06,800
opposite of the usual medieval 
situation. 

2728
02:39:08,300 --> 02:39:12,200
Peasants who survived found 
themselves in demand able to 

2729
02:39:12,200 --> 02:39:15,800
negotiate better terms with 
landlords who needed workers. 

2730
02:39:16,800 --> 02:39:19,700
This would have political 
consequences that took decades 

2731
02:39:19,700 --> 02:39:24,000
to fully emerge. 
But even in 1348 to 13149 

2732
02:39:24,000 --> 02:39:27,400
astute, observers could see that
the fundamental balance between 

2733
02:39:27,400 --> 02:39:31,800
labor and capital had shifted. 
Artistic and intellectual life 

2734
02:39:31,800 --> 02:39:35,400
contracted dramatically. 
Painters and Poets died 

2735
02:39:35,400 --> 02:39:38,600
alongside everyone else, and the
survivors had more pressing 

2736
02:39:38,600 --> 02:39:43,900
concerns than beauty or wisdom. 
Universities closed sometimes 

2737
02:39:43,900 --> 02:39:46,600
temporarily sometimes 
permanently. 

2738
02:39:47,500 --> 02:39:50,400
Manuscripts, that would have 
been copied and preserved were 

2739
02:39:50,400 --> 02:39:54,500
lost when scriptoria fell 
silent. knowledge accumulated, 

2740
02:39:54,500 --> 02:39:58,200
over Generations, disappeared 
simply because the people who 

2741
02:39:58,200 --> 02:40:02,700
held it died before, passing it 
on religious institutions face 

2742
02:40:02,700 --> 02:40:07,100
particular challenges and monks 
because they provided care to 

2743
02:40:07,100 --> 02:40:11,200
the dying and administered last 
rites died at higher rates than 

2744
02:40:11,200 --> 02:40:15,000
the general population. 
This created a clergy shortage 

2745
02:40:15,000 --> 02:40:18,700
that lasted for generations and 
arguably weakened the churches 

2746
02:40:18,700 --> 02:40:20,400
intellectual and moral 
Authority. 

2747
02:40:20,400 --> 02:40:25,200
Just when people needed it. 
Most The plague years saw, an 

2748
02:40:25,200 --> 02:40:29,500
influx of poorly educated. 
Hastily trained priests filling 

2749
02:40:29,500 --> 02:40:34,200
positions left, vacant by Death.
Which had long-term implications

2750
02:40:34,200 --> 02:40:37,500
for religious life. 
The silence that settled over 

2751
02:40:37,500 --> 02:40:41,000
Europe in these years, wasn't 
peaceful, it was the quiet of 

2752
02:40:41,000 --> 02:40:46,300
Abandonment of systems, shutting
down of normalcy, suspended in 

2753
02:40:46,300 --> 02:40:49,600
definitely. 
It was the sound a house makes 

2754
02:40:49,600 --> 02:40:53,300
when everyone has left and isn't
coming back that particular 

2755
02:40:53,300 --> 02:40:56,400
quality of Stillness that feels 
temporary but you know might be 

2756
02:40:56,408 --> 02:40:59,700
permanent. 
And in that quiet, something 

2757
02:40:59,700 --> 02:41:02,900
unexpected began to happen, not 
immediately. 

2758
02:41:02,900 --> 02:41:07,900
The survivors were too shocked, 
too traumatized and too focused 

2759
02:41:07,900 --> 02:41:11,700
on simple survival. 
But gradually, as people 

2760
02:41:11,700 --> 02:41:14,500
adjusted to a world that had 
fundamentally changed. 

2761
02:41:14,500 --> 02:41:18,100
They began to imagine different 
ways of organizing society, 

2762
02:41:18,100 --> 02:41:21,800
different relationships between 
workers and employers. 

2763
02:41:21,800 --> 02:41:25,900
And different questions about 
the nature of God and human 

2764
02:41:25,900 --> 02:41:29,400
existence. 
The great choir that followed 

2765
02:41:29,400 --> 02:41:33,000
the Black Death was not an 
ending, but an intermission, a 

2766
02:41:33,000 --> 02:41:35,800
pause before the world 
rearranged itself into new 

2767
02:41:35,800 --> 02:41:39,100
patterns that would eventually 
produce what historians call the

2768
02:41:39,108 --> 02:41:41,400
Renaissance. 
But we're getting ahead of 

2769
02:41:41,400 --> 02:41:45,400
ourselves first, we need to 
understand how people responded 

2770
02:41:45,400 --> 02:41:47,300
to catastrophe when it was 
actually happening. 

2771
02:41:48,300 --> 02:41:51,300
Medieval people weren't stupid, 
whatever stereotypes might 

2772
02:41:51,300 --> 02:41:54,600
suggest they were intelligent 
observant. 

2773
02:41:54,600 --> 02:41:58,300
Incapable of sophisticated 
reasoning within the Frameworks 

2774
02:41:58,300 --> 02:42:01,600
of available to them. 
When the plague arrived, they 

2775
02:42:01,600 --> 02:42:04,000
tried everything they could 
think of to understand and 

2776
02:42:04,000 --> 02:42:06,900
combat it. 
The most of these efforts proved

2777
02:42:06,900 --> 02:42:09,700
useless doesn't diminish. 
The genuine intelligence and 

2778
02:42:09,700 --> 02:42:13,900
courage, they represented. 
The First Response naturally was

2779
02:42:13,900 --> 02:42:16,700
Medical. 
Physicians in the 14th century 

2780
02:42:16,700 --> 02:42:19,300
were learned men. 
And they were almost exclusively

2781
02:42:19,300 --> 02:42:23,300
men, who'd studied at 
universities, read classical 

2782
02:42:23,300 --> 02:42:27,100
texts and understood illness 
through theories, inherited from

2783
02:42:27,100 --> 02:42:30,700
ancient, Greece, and Rome. 
These theories emphasized, the 

2784
02:42:30,700 --> 02:42:34,600
importance of balance among 
bodily humors, the influence of 

2785
02:42:34,608 --> 02:42:39,500
planetary alignments, and the 
role of miasmas corrupt are in 

2786
02:42:39,500 --> 02:42:42,900
disease. 
This framework wasn't entirely 

2787
02:42:42,900 --> 02:42:45,900
wrong. 
The emphasis on bad are actually

2788
02:42:45,900 --> 02:42:49,100
captured something true. 
The plague did spread through 

2789
02:42:49,100 --> 02:42:52,600
environmental conditions, just 
not in the way medieval 

2790
02:42:52,600 --> 02:42:56,100
Physicians thought. 
Their recommendations to avoid, 

2791
02:42:56,100 --> 02:43:00,300
bad smells improved sanitation 
and Escape crowded cities. 

2792
02:43:00,300 --> 02:43:03,400
Probably did help reduce 
transmission even though they're

2793
02:43:03,400 --> 02:43:05,600
understanding of why was 
completely incorrect. 

2794
02:43:07,100 --> 02:43:10,000
Physicians recommended 
bloodletting to balance humours 

2795
02:43:10,000 --> 02:43:13,300
which definitely didn't help and
probably killed people already 

2796
02:43:13,300 --> 02:43:18,000
weakened by disease. 
They prescribed Theory act, a 

2797
02:43:18,000 --> 02:43:21,500
complex mixture of dozens of 
ingredients including opium and 

2798
02:43:21,508 --> 02:43:25,000
Viper flesh which was 
essentially medieval snake oil 

2799
02:43:25,000 --> 02:43:29,500
expensive, elaborate and 
therapeutically useless. 

2800
02:43:30,900 --> 02:43:34,600
The advise patients to avoid 
bathing which prevented the body

2801
02:43:34,600 --> 02:43:38,400
from absorbing bad air through 
open pores, which was exactly 

2802
02:43:38,400 --> 02:43:41,400
wrong, but made sense within 
their theoretical framework. 

2803
02:43:42,400 --> 02:43:46,200
Some Physicians fled abandoning,
their patients in cities and 

2804
02:43:46,200 --> 02:43:49,200
taking refuge in Country Estates
where they hoped the disease 

2805
02:43:49,200 --> 02:43:52,800
wouldn't follow. 
This was understandable, they 

2806
02:43:52,800 --> 02:43:56,500
had no effective treatments and 
staying meant certain death. 

2807
02:43:57,200 --> 02:43:59,900
But it further weakened social 
structures at exactly. 

2808
02:43:59,900 --> 02:44:03,800
The moment when leadership was 
most needed, Others stayed and 

2809
02:44:03,800 --> 02:44:08,500
died, providing futile, care 
motivated by professional Duty 

2810
02:44:08,500 --> 02:44:11,600
or religious Faith, or simple 
human compassion. 

2811
02:44:11,600 --> 02:44:15,300
These Physicians deserve 
recognition not for their 

2812
02:44:15,300 --> 02:44:18,900
medical efficacy, but for their 
courage in facing an enemy, they

2813
02:44:18,900 --> 02:44:23,100
didn't understand and couldn't 
defeat surgeons, who occupied a 

2814
02:44:23,100 --> 02:44:25,600
lower social position than 
Physicians, but had more hands 

2815
02:44:25,600 --> 02:44:28,900
on experience with bodies. 
Sometimes attempted to Lance 

2816
02:44:28,900 --> 02:44:32,100
buboes which occasionally 
prevented death by releasing 

2817
02:44:32,100 --> 02:44:35,900
pressure and infection. 
This probably saved a few lives 

2818
02:44:35,900 --> 02:44:39,500
purely by acts and though the 
surgeons had no way of knowing 

2819
02:44:39,500 --> 02:44:42,900
which patients would benefit and
which would die anyway. 

2820
02:44:44,100 --> 02:44:46,800
Public Health measures were 
improvised with varying degrees 

2821
02:44:46,800 --> 02:44:50,200
of success. some cities 
appointed, Health boards with 

2822
02:44:50,200 --> 02:44:54,500
authority to enforce quarantines
dispose of bodies and Implement 

2823
02:44:54,500 --> 02:44:59,100
sanitation measures Venice, 
pioneered the quarantine system 

2824
02:44:59,100 --> 02:45:03,500
requiring ships to wait, 40 days
before unloading, which is where

2825
02:45:03,500 --> 02:45:07,600
we get the word quarantine from 
the Italian, quarante journey 

2826
02:45:07,600 --> 02:45:11,500
quarante journey. 
These measures probably help 

2827
02:45:11,500 --> 02:45:13,900
slow transmission without 
stopping it entirely. 

2828
02:45:14,700 --> 02:45:17,300
The problem was that, no one 
understood how the disease 

2829
02:45:17,300 --> 02:45:20,900
actually spread medieval people 
noticed that it seemed 

2830
02:45:20,900 --> 02:45:23,500
contagious but couldn't agree on
the mechanism. 

2831
02:45:24,600 --> 02:45:27,200
Some thought it passed through 
are others. 

2832
02:45:27,200 --> 02:45:30,700
Believed it came from sight, 
that looking at a plague victim 

2833
02:45:30,700 --> 02:45:34,000
could infect you Still others 
thought it spread through 

2834
02:45:34,000 --> 02:45:37,900
objects touched by the Sick. 
All of these theories had some 

2835
02:45:37,900 --> 02:45:41,400
truth, but none were completely 
accurate which made it 

2836
02:45:41,400 --> 02:45:44,300
impossible to develop truly 
effective countermeasures. 

2837
02:45:45,100 --> 02:45:47,600
It was like trying to solve an 
equation when you don't know 

2838
02:45:47,600 --> 02:45:50,900
what numbers are. 
Religious responses, varied, 

2839
02:45:50,900 --> 02:45:54,500
widely the churches official 
position emphasized prayer, 

2840
02:45:54,500 --> 02:45:57,100
Penance and accepting, God's 
will. 

2841
02:45:58,000 --> 02:46:01,600
Plague was understood as Divine 
punishment for sin, which meant 

2842
02:46:01,600 --> 02:46:03,800
the solution was spiritual 
reform. 

2843
02:46:03,800 --> 02:46:08,000
This made sense within medieval 
Christian Theology and probably 

2844
02:46:08,000 --> 02:46:10,700
provided genuine Comfort to 
believers who needed to 

2845
02:46:10,700 --> 02:46:13,000
understand their suffering 
within a moral framework. 

2846
02:46:14,100 --> 02:46:17,700
Mass processions, wound through 
cities, featuring penitence 

2847
02:46:17,700 --> 02:46:21,700
praying for divine mercy. 
In some regions flagellants, 

2848
02:46:21,700 --> 02:46:25,400
appeared groups of lay people 
who whipped themselves publicly 

2849
02:46:25,400 --> 02:46:29,300
to atone, for Humanity sins. 
Believing that if they suffered 

2850
02:46:29,300 --> 02:46:30,900
enough, God would end the 
plague. 

2851
02:46:31,700 --> 02:46:34,500
Church authorities, generally, 
disapproved of flagellants 

2852
02:46:34,500 --> 02:46:38,200
seeing them as theologically 
suspect and socially disruptive.

2853
02:46:39,300 --> 02:46:41,800
But couldn't stop the movement 
during the crisis years. 

2854
02:46:42,700 --> 02:46:45,200
Escape coating emerged as a 
darker response. 

2855
02:46:46,100 --> 02:46:48,600
When people needed someone to 
blame for incomprehensible 

2856
02:46:48,600 --> 02:46:52,500
catastrophe, they often turned 
on my minority communities, 

2857
02:46:52,500 --> 02:46:57,400
particularly Jews. 
The logic was medieval, but the 

2858
02:46:57,400 --> 02:47:00,900
psychology was timeless. 
Something terrible as happened. 

2859
02:47:00,900 --> 02:47:04,600
Someone must be responsible and 
let's blame people who are 

2860
02:47:04,600 --> 02:47:06,300
already marginalized in 
different. 

2861
02:47:07,300 --> 02:47:11,500
Pokemon swept through Europe. 
Specially in Germany or entire 

2862
02:47:11,500 --> 02:47:14,600
Jewish communities, were 
murdered by Christians convinced

2863
02:47:14,600 --> 02:47:18,400
that Jews had poisoned Wells or 
deliberately spread disease. 

2864
02:47:19,200 --> 02:47:23,500
Some authorities, try to protect
Jewish, populations recognizing 

2865
02:47:23,500 --> 02:47:27,200
the accusations as false. 
But mob, violence is difficult 

2866
02:47:27,200 --> 02:47:30,200
to stop. 
Once started, it was Humanity at

2867
02:47:30,200 --> 02:47:34,900
its worst fear and anger 
directed at innocent victims. 

2868
02:47:35,700 --> 02:47:39,000
Economic responses revealed how 
suddenly the basic rules of 

2869
02:47:39,000 --> 02:47:42,500
society had changed. 
Landlords accustomed to an 

2870
02:47:42,500 --> 02:47:45,200
abundance of cheap. 
Labor now competed for scarce 

2871
02:47:45,200 --> 02:47:47,600
workers. 
Peasants who had previously 

2872
02:47:47,600 --> 02:47:51,000
accepted poverty as divinely 
ordained suddenly demanded 

2873
02:47:51,000 --> 02:47:55,000
higher wages and conditions. 
Prices for agricultural. 

2874
02:47:55,000 --> 02:47:57,500
Goods Rose. 
While prices for luxury goods 

2875
02:47:57,500 --> 02:48:00,000
fell. 
He can't eat silk or where 

2876
02:48:00,000 --> 02:48:02,600
wheat. 
Governments tried to enforce 

2877
02:48:02,600 --> 02:48:06,900
prepaid economic relationships, 
through law England, statute of 

2878
02:48:06,900 --> 02:48:11,400
laborers in 1351, attempted to 
freeze wages at pre-plague 

2879
02:48:11,400 --> 02:48:13,500
levels. 
Forbidding workers from 

2880
02:48:13,500 --> 02:48:16,000
demanding more money, despite 
the change circumstances. 

2881
02:48:17,300 --> 02:48:20,900
It was Economic Policy based on 
wishful, thinking attempting to 

2882
02:48:20,900 --> 02:48:24,200
legislate, to a supply and 
demand, and it worked about as 

2883
02:48:24,200 --> 02:48:26,600
well as you'd expect, which is 
to say not at all. 

2884
02:48:27,500 --> 02:48:30,100
Some people responded to 
catastrophe with what we might 

2885
02:48:30,100 --> 02:48:33,700
call existential Hedonism. 
If death could come at any 

2886
02:48:33,700 --> 02:48:36,200
moment, why not enjoy life while
you can? 

2887
02:48:37,400 --> 02:48:40,500
Contemporary sources, describing
increased gambling, drinking 

2888
02:48:40,500 --> 02:48:44,300
sexual license, and general, 
disregard for traditional 

2889
02:48:44,300 --> 02:48:47,700
morality. 
This scandalized religious 

2890
02:48:47,700 --> 02:48:51,000
authorities but was probably a 
psychologically, understandable,

2891
02:48:51,000 --> 02:48:53,000
response to trauma and 
uncertainty. 

2892
02:48:54,100 --> 02:48:57,900
Others became more religious, 
not less interpreting the plague

2893
02:48:57,900 --> 02:49:01,700
as a call to deeper Faith rather
than evidence of God's absence. 

2894
02:49:02,600 --> 02:49:06,400
New religious movements emerged,
emphasizing personal piety, 

2895
02:49:06,400 --> 02:49:10,700
mystical experience. 
And direct relationship with the

2896
02:49:10,700 --> 02:49:13,100
Divine without institutional 
mediation. 

2897
02:49:14,200 --> 02:49:17,100
These movements would later 
contribute to religious reforms 

2898
02:49:17,100 --> 02:49:21,300
that reshaped Christianity. 
Artistic responses captured 

2899
02:49:21,300 --> 02:49:23,700
something of the period cycle 
state. 

2900
02:49:24,400 --> 02:49:28,100
The dance of death Motif became 
popular, showing skeleton 

2901
02:49:28,100 --> 02:49:31,100
figures, leading people from all
social classes to the Grave. 

2902
02:49:32,100 --> 02:49:35,800
It was momentum. 
Morrie art taken to extreme a 

2903
02:49:35,800 --> 02:49:39,000
visual reminder that death comes
to everyone regardless of wealth

2904
02:49:39,000 --> 02:49:42,600
or status. 
These images have a carb charm 

2905
02:49:42,600 --> 02:49:46,500
now but they represented genuine
attempts to process Collective. 

2906
02:49:46,500 --> 02:49:50,300
Trauma through aesthetic 
expression Literature began to 

2907
02:49:50,308 --> 02:49:53,000
Grapple with plague themes, not 
immediately. 

2908
02:49:53,000 --> 02:49:57,200
But in the Years, following the 
worst outbreaks, Will cut shows 

2909
02:49:57,200 --> 02:50:00,700
to Cameron written in the early 
1350 frames. 

2910
02:50:00,700 --> 02:50:04,100
Its stories as entertainment for
a group of young florentines who

2911
02:50:04,100 --> 02:50:06,300
have fled the city to escape the
plague. 

2912
02:50:07,200 --> 02:50:10,700
The stories themselves mostly 
avoid plague themes, but the 

2913
02:50:10,700 --> 02:50:14,400
frame narrative captures, the 
periods, atmosphere of fear, and

2914
02:50:14,400 --> 02:50:16,600
the need for distraction from 
horror. 

2915
02:50:17,600 --> 02:50:21,300
What's striking about all these 
responses, medical religious 

2916
02:50:21,300 --> 02:50:25,600
economic and cultural is their 
fundamental ineffectiveness 

2917
02:50:25,600 --> 02:50:28,700
against the disease itself. 
Nothing worked. 

2918
02:50:29,400 --> 02:50:31,500
Prayers didn't stop. 
It medicine. 

2919
02:50:31,500 --> 02:50:33,900
Couldn't cure it. 
Running away. 

2920
02:50:33,900 --> 02:50:36,300
Only spread it further killing 
Jews. 

2921
02:50:36,300 --> 02:50:40,200
Certainly didn't help and added 
moral catastrophe to physical 

2922
02:50:40,200 --> 02:50:43,100
catastrophe. 
Plague burn through Europe 

2923
02:50:43,100 --> 02:50:46,200
essentially unchecked and until 
it ran out of susceptible hosts 

2924
02:50:46,200 --> 02:50:50,400
achieve some kind of biological 
equilibrium or disappeared for a

2925
02:50:50,400 --> 02:50:52,500
reasons. 
No one understood that and 

2926
02:50:52,500 --> 02:50:56,800
historians still debate now. 
Humans were spectators to their 

2927
02:50:56,800 --> 02:51:00,700
own catastrophe, trying 
everything, they could think of 

2928
02:51:00,700 --> 02:51:03,200
and discovering that, nothing 
made any difference. 

2929
02:51:03,900 --> 02:51:07,100
This helplessness had profound 
psychological and philosophical 

2930
02:51:07,100 --> 02:51:10,400
implications. 
If human wisdom couldn't prevent

2931
02:51:10,400 --> 02:51:12,600
disaster. 
If God didn't protect the 

2932
02:51:12,600 --> 02:51:16,800
faithful, if social hierarchies 
offered no safety, what did 

2933
02:51:16,800 --> 02:51:19,600
anything mean? 
These questions wouldn't be 

2934
02:51:19,600 --> 02:51:23,800
fully articulated for decades. 
But they began fermenting in the

2935
02:51:23,808 --> 02:51:27,000
minds of survivors who had 
watched their world collapsed, 

2936
02:51:27,000 --> 02:51:30,900
despite everyone's best efforts.
The most effective human 

2937
02:51:30,900 --> 02:51:34,800
response was probably the 
simplest communities that cared 

2938
02:51:34,800 --> 02:51:37,700
for each other. 
Shared resources, maintained 

2939
02:51:37,700 --> 02:51:41,500
basic functions and help the 
sick, die with dignity. 

2940
02:51:42,600 --> 02:51:46,000
These efforts didn't stop the 
plague but they preserved some 

2941
02:51:46,000 --> 02:51:48,500
measure of humanity during 
inhumane circumstances. 

2942
02:51:49,900 --> 02:51:53,000
They were small acts of decency 
in the face of overwhelming 

2943
02:51:53,000 --> 02:51:57,700
catastrophe and they mattered. 
The Black Death wasn't a 

2944
02:51:57,700 --> 02:52:01,000
European phenomenon. 
It was a Eurasian catastrophe. 

2945
02:52:01,000 --> 02:52:03,000
That killed Millions across 
three continents. 

2946
02:52:03,000 --> 02:52:07,000
There we know far less about its
impact outside Europe because 

2947
02:52:07,000 --> 02:52:10,400
European sources are more 
abundant understanding the 

2948
02:52:10,400 --> 02:52:12,400
plagues. 
Global reach helps us, see it 

2949
02:52:12,408 --> 02:52:16,300
not just as a medical event, but
as a fundamental disruption of 

2950
02:52:16,300 --> 02:52:21,400
the Medieval World System, In 
China, the plagued likely be an 

2951
02:52:21,400 --> 02:52:25,200
endemic for centuries in remote,
provinces maintained in rodent 

2952
02:52:25,200 --> 02:52:28,000
populations without causing 
major human outbreaks. 

2953
02:52:28,800 --> 02:52:32,000
But something changed in the 
early 14th century possibly 

2954
02:52:32,000 --> 02:52:36,200
environmental shifts, possibly 
human disturbance of ecosystems,

2955
02:52:36,200 --> 02:52:40,300
possibly just bad luck and the 
disease spread into human 

2956
02:52:40,300 --> 02:52:42,600
populations with devastating 
effect. 

2957
02:52:42,600 --> 02:52:47,100
The Yuan Dynasty established by 
the Mongol conquests was already

2958
02:52:47,100 --> 02:52:49,700
showing signs of strain by the 
1330s. 

2959
02:52:50,700 --> 02:52:54,100
Plague added to existing 
problems of corruption, natural 

2960
02:52:54,100 --> 02:52:57,600
disasters, and ethnic tensions 
between Mongol rulers and 

2961
02:52:57,600 --> 02:53:01,400
Chinese subjects. 
Population estimates are 

2962
02:53:01,400 --> 02:53:05,300
uncertain and contentious. 
China's population, probably 

2963
02:53:05,300 --> 02:53:10,900
declined by millions between 
1330 and 1370 with plague as one

2964
02:53:10,900 --> 02:53:16,200
of several contributing factors.
the collapse of the end in 1368 

2965
02:53:16,200 --> 02:53:19,500
and the establishment of the 
Ming Dynasty happened against 

2966
02:53:19,500 --> 02:53:23,600
this backdrop of demographic 
catastrophe, The new rulers face

2967
02:53:23,600 --> 02:53:26,000
the challenge of governing a 
deep populated Empire 

2968
02:53:26,000 --> 02:53:29,900
re-organizing, agricultural 
production and rebuilding 

2969
02:53:29,900 --> 02:53:32,800
infrastructure. 
Their success in these efforts 

2970
02:53:32,800 --> 02:53:35,000
helped to establish the Ming as 
one of China's. 

2971
02:53:35,000 --> 02:53:38,500
Most successful dentists. 
though, the population wouldn't 

2972
02:53:38,500 --> 02:53:41,500
fully recover to pre-plague 
levels for at least a century, 

2973
02:53:42,400 --> 02:53:45,700
The Middle East experience, the 
plague with particular severity 

2974
02:53:45,700 --> 02:53:50,500
Egypt, which depended on a 
sophisticated irrigation system 

2975
02:53:50,500 --> 02:53:53,000
for agriculture saw. 
That system. 

2976
02:53:53,000 --> 02:53:55,700
Begin to break down as plague 
killed the workers, who 

2977
02:53:55,700 --> 02:53:58,500
maintained it. 
Contemporary Chronicles 

2978
02:53:58,500 --> 02:54:02,000
described scenes, similar to 
those in Europe, Mass death, 

2979
02:54:02,000 --> 02:54:05,100
social disruption and economic 
collapse. 

2980
02:54:05,900 --> 02:54:08,900
The mamluk sultanate, which 
controlled Egypt and Syria? 

2981
02:54:08,900 --> 02:54:13,600
Never fully recovered from the 
plagues demographic impact. its 

2982
02:54:13,600 --> 02:54:16,400
military power based on 
importing slave soldiers from 

2983
02:54:16,400 --> 02:54:20,400
Central Asia weakened as plague 
disrupted those supply routes, 

2984
02:54:20,400 --> 02:54:25,000
its economic Prosperity based on
controlling East West Trade 

2985
02:54:25,000 --> 02:54:27,700
diminished as that trade 
contracted in the plague's 

2986
02:54:27,700 --> 02:54:31,800
aftermath in Persia and 
Mesopotamia cities that have 

2987
02:54:31,800 --> 02:54:34,500
been major Trade Centers, 
suffered population, collapses 

2988
02:54:34,500 --> 02:54:38,400
that permanently altered 
Regional power balances Baghdad,

2989
02:54:38,400 --> 02:54:41,300
which had already been 
devastated by Mongol conquest in

2990
02:54:41,300 --> 02:54:46,800
1258 experience further decline 
during the plague years, The 

2991
02:54:46,800 --> 02:54:50,100
intricate irrigation systems 
that had sustained Mesopotamian 

2992
02:54:50,100 --> 02:54:54,600
agriculture for Millennia 
continued deteriorating, never 

2993
02:54:54,600 --> 02:54:58,000
to fully recover. 
India's experience with the 

2994
02:54:58,000 --> 02:55:01,000
plague is poorly documented but 
appears to have been somewhat 

2995
02:55:01,000 --> 02:55:03,000
less severe than in Europe or 
the Middle East. 

2996
02:55:03,800 --> 02:55:06,400
This might reflect better 
Healthcare infrastructure, 

2997
02:55:06,400 --> 02:55:10,500
different climatic conditions, 
or simply different patterns of 

2998
02:55:10,500 --> 02:55:12,600
human settlement. 
That made transmission more 

2999
02:55:12,600 --> 02:55:16,600
difficult. or it might reflect 
gaps in historical records 

3000
02:55:16,600 --> 02:55:21,700
rather than actual differences 
in mortality, North Africa, 

3001
02:55:21,700 --> 02:55:25,700
integrated into Mediterranean 
trade networks experience, 

3002
02:55:25,700 --> 02:55:27,900
mortality comparable to southern
Europe. 

3003
02:55:28,800 --> 02:55:32,800
This had long-term consequences 
for trans-saharan trade for 

3004
02:55:32,800 --> 02:55:35,100
relationships between nomadic 
and settled. 

3005
02:55:35,100 --> 02:55:38,000
Populations. 
And for Islamic civilization, 

3006
02:55:38,000 --> 02:55:42,400
more broadly the great medieval 
Islamic synthesis of Greek 

3007
02:55:42,400 --> 02:55:46,700
philosophy, Persian wisdom and 
Arabic scholarship had already 

3008
02:55:46,700 --> 02:55:50,800
passed its peak before the 
plague afterward, intellectual 

3009
02:55:50,800 --> 02:55:55,100
life contracted further, 
Sub-Saharan Africa's experience 

3010
02:55:55,100 --> 02:55:58,000
remains largely unknown due to 
limited written records. 

3011
02:55:58,900 --> 02:56:01,300
The plague probably didn't 
penetrate far beyond North 

3012
02:56:01,300 --> 02:56:05,200
African coastal regions. 
The trade disruptions rippled 

3013
02:56:05,200 --> 02:56:07,700
through commercial networks, 
that connected the Mediterranean

3014
02:56:07,700 --> 02:56:12,200
to Gold producing regions for 
the South The medieval African 

3015
02:56:12,200 --> 02:56:15,700
empires, that had prospered from
trans-saharan trade faced 

3016
02:56:15,700 --> 02:56:17,700
challenges. 
That may have been partly plague

3017
02:56:17,700 --> 02:56:20,000
related though. 
Other factors were certainly 

3018
02:56:20,000 --> 02:56:23,100
involved. 
In Central Asia, where the 

3019
02:56:23,100 --> 02:56:26,000
plague likely originated before 
spreading to Europe and East 

3020
02:56:26,000 --> 02:56:29,800
Asia, nomadic populations 
experience mortality, that's 

3021
02:56:29,800 --> 02:56:34,500
difficult to estimate but was 
probably substantial the Mongol 

3022
02:56:34,500 --> 02:56:37,100
successor States that had 
emerged from Genghis. 

3023
02:56:37,100 --> 02:56:40,500
Khan's empire were already 
competing for resources and 

3024
02:56:40,500 --> 02:56:43,000
territory. 
Plague weakened all of them 

3025
02:56:43,000 --> 02:56:45,700
further and accelerated, 
political fragmentation. 

3026
02:56:47,200 --> 02:56:49,800
The golden horde which 
controlled the Western steps 

3027
02:56:49,800 --> 02:56:54,400
suffered particularly severe, 
impacts its Economy based on 

3028
02:56:54,400 --> 02:56:58,200
controlling trade between Europe
and Asia collapsed to that trade

3029
02:56:58,200 --> 02:57:02,000
contracted. 
Its military power dependent on 

3030
02:57:02,000 --> 02:57:05,800
mobilizing large numbers of 
nomadic Warriors diminished as 

3031
02:57:05,800 --> 02:57:09,600
population declined. 
By the late 14th century. 

3032
02:57:09,600 --> 02:57:14,400
It had fragmented into competing
karnatz setting the stage for 

3033
02:57:14,400 --> 02:57:18,700
musk of his eventual expansion, 
Russia's experience Illustrated,

3034
02:57:18,700 --> 02:57:21,800
how plague affected societies 
with different structures from 

3035
02:57:21,800 --> 02:57:25,400
Western Europe. 
Russian principalities more 

3036
02:57:25,400 --> 02:57:29,100
Rural and dispersed than Western
European cities may have 

3037
02:57:29,100 --> 02:57:33,500
experienced somewhat lower 
mortality rates but trade cities

3038
02:57:33,500 --> 02:57:36,800
like Novgorod and Moscow 
suffered severely, and the 

3039
02:57:36,800 --> 02:57:39,700
political consolidation that 
eventually produced the Russian 

3040
02:57:39,700 --> 02:57:43,200
Empire happened partly in 
response to plague era 

3041
02:57:43,200 --> 02:57:47,100
disruptions Scandinavia at 
Europe's, Northern periphery 

3042
02:57:47,100 --> 02:57:50,400
experience the plague later than
Mediterranean regions. 

3043
02:57:50,400 --> 02:57:54,400
But with comparable severity, 
Norse expansion which had been 

3044
02:57:54,408 --> 02:57:56,700
ongoing for centuries, 
essentially stopped. 

3045
02:57:57,500 --> 02:58:01,500
Iceland Greenland and the Faroe 
Islands experienced population, 

3046
02:58:01,500 --> 02:58:05,400
collapses, that permanently 
altered their societies. the 

3047
02:58:05,400 --> 02:58:08,500
Norse colony in Greenland 
already, struggling with climate

3048
02:58:08,500 --> 02:58:12,700
change disappeared entirely 
probably finished off by plague 

3049
02:58:12,700 --> 02:58:16,300
combined with isolation, What's 
striking about the plagues 

3050
02:58:16,300 --> 02:58:18,900
globally impact is how it 
affected societies very 

3051
02:58:18,900 --> 02:58:21,800
differently depending on their 
existing structures. 

3052
02:58:21,800 --> 02:58:26,300
Highly urbanized commercially 
connected regions suffered most 

3053
02:58:26,300 --> 02:58:31,000
because those characteristics 
facilitated transmission More 

3054
02:58:31,000 --> 02:58:35,600
dispersed, rural societies, 
experienced lower mortality but 

3055
02:58:35,600 --> 02:58:39,000
still faced severe disruption to
trade and administration. 

3056
02:58:40,200 --> 02:58:43,200
The plague also demonstrated the
degree to which the Medieval 

3057
02:58:43,200 --> 02:58:46,900
World was interconnected. 
He disease that originated 

3058
02:58:46,900 --> 02:58:50,700
somewhere in Central Asia, 
spread to Western Europe, North 

3059
02:58:50,700 --> 02:58:54,800
Africa, and East Asia. 
Within a few years, this wasn't 

3060
02:58:54,800 --> 02:58:58,500
an accident, but a consequence 
of the trade, networks, Imperial

3061
02:58:58,500 --> 02:59:02,400
systems and population movements
that characterize the Medieval 

3062
02:59:02,400 --> 02:59:06,100
World System. 
To connectedness would only 

3063
02:59:06,100 --> 02:59:10,200
increase in subsequent centuries
making it possible for diseases 

3064
02:59:10,200 --> 02:59:14,400
ideas Technologies and people to
move around the world with 

3065
02:59:14,400 --> 02:59:18,400
increasing speed. 
The Black Death was perhaps the 

3066
02:59:18,400 --> 02:59:22,500
first truly Global catastrophe. 
Aking multiple continents 

3067
02:59:22,500 --> 02:59:25,500
simultaneously? 
It wouldn't be the last. 

3068
02:59:26,300 --> 02:59:28,500
The immediate aftermath or 
contraction of these. 

3069
02:59:28,500 --> 02:59:32,900
Global networks trade decreased 
travel became more dangerous and

3070
02:59:32,900 --> 02:59:37,000
less frequent. the Cosmopolitan 
world of the early 14th century,

3071
02:59:37,000 --> 02:59:40,500
gave away to a more isolated 
localized, 14th century world 

3072
02:59:41,500 --> 02:59:44,700
This trend would have eventually
reverse but it took Generations.

3073
02:59:45,900 --> 02:59:48,600
Different societies interpreted 
and remembered the plague 

3074
02:59:48,600 --> 02:59:52,500
differently Europeans understood
it primarily in religious terms,

3075
02:59:52,500 --> 02:59:55,700
this Divine punishment, require 
a spiritual response. 

3076
02:59:56,700 --> 02:59:59,500
Middle Eastern sources, also 
emphasized religious 

3077
02:59:59,500 --> 03:00:02,500
interpretation. 
But with more practical, focus 

3078
03:00:02,500 --> 03:00:05,300
on public health, measures 
derive from Islamic legal 

3079
03:00:05,300 --> 03:00:09,400
traditions, Chinese sources 
treated it as one of several 

3080
03:00:09,400 --> 03:00:14,400
concurrent disasters, famine 
flood political chaos, that 

3081
03:00:14,400 --> 03:00:16,500
collectively explained, dynastic
transition. 

3082
03:00:17,600 --> 03:00:20,500
These different interpretations,
reflected different cultural 

3083
03:00:20,500 --> 03:00:25,000
Frameworks, but they all shared 
a Common Thread, the recognition

3084
03:00:25,000 --> 03:00:29,700
that the world had fundamentally
changed. the plague was not just

3085
03:00:29,700 --> 03:00:33,700
an epidemic but a watershed 
moment that divided history into

3086
03:00:33,700 --> 03:00:37,000
before and after People who 
lived through it. 

3087
03:00:37,000 --> 03:00:39,900
Understood instinctively that 
they were experiencing something

3088
03:00:39,900 --> 03:00:42,500
that would reshape human 
civilization. 

3089
03:00:44,100 --> 03:00:48,500
The plague didn't end suddenly, 
it faded gradually like a storm 

3090
03:00:48,500 --> 03:00:51,500
that passes over the horizon 
rather than stopping all at 

3091
03:00:51,500 --> 03:00:55,100
once. 
By 1353, the worst was over in 

3092
03:00:55,100 --> 03:00:57,900
most of Europe, though. 
Local outbreaks, continued for 

3093
03:00:57,900 --> 03:01:01,500
decades and the disease would 
return periodically for the next

3094
03:01:01,500 --> 03:01:05,200
four centuries. 
But survivors began the slow 

3095
03:01:05,200 --> 03:01:09,100
difficult process of rebuilding 
a world that had been shattered.

3096
03:01:10,300 --> 03:01:16,500
Imagine being a survivor in 1355
after the plague first arrived 

3097
03:01:16,500 --> 03:01:19,200
in your region enough time has 
passed that. 

3098
03:01:19,200 --> 03:01:22,500
The initial shock has worn off, 
but not enough that you've 

3099
03:01:22,500 --> 03:01:25,700
forgotten what was lost. 
Your perhaps in your thirties, 

3100
03:01:25,700 --> 03:01:29,400
which makes you middle-aged by 
medieval standards but young 

3101
03:01:29,400 --> 03:01:33,100
enough to rebuild. 
The question is, what kind of 

3102
03:01:33,100 --> 03:01:37,300
world Do you want to build? 
The first challenge was purely 

3103
03:01:37,300 --> 03:01:40,100
practical. 
Fields needed planting 

3104
03:01:40,100 --> 03:01:43,200
buildings. 
Needed repair trade routes 

3105
03:01:43,200 --> 03:01:46,800
needed re-establishing. 
Life's basic functions had to 

3106
03:01:46,800 --> 03:01:48,900
resume before. 
Anyone could think about larger 

3107
03:01:48,900 --> 03:01:51,900
questions. 
Survivors through themselves 

3108
03:01:51,900 --> 03:01:55,600
into the work with a kind of 
manic, energy, partly from 

3109
03:01:55,600 --> 03:01:59,200
necessity partly from the 
psychological need to do 

3110
03:01:59,200 --> 03:02:02,800
something anything after years 
of helpless watching. 

3111
03:02:03,900 --> 03:02:07,400
Agricultural recovery happened 
faster in summer regions than 

3112
03:02:07,400 --> 03:02:09,700
others. 
Areas with good land and 

3113
03:02:09,700 --> 03:02:12,700
surviving population's rebounded
relatively quickly. 

3114
03:02:13,500 --> 03:02:15,900
Marginal land that had been 
cultivated during the 

3115
03:02:15,900 --> 03:02:18,000
population, boom of the 12th and
13th. 

3116
03:02:18,000 --> 03:02:22,300
Centuries was simply abandoned 
reverting to Forest or pasture. 

3117
03:02:23,200 --> 03:02:26,800
this wasn't necessarily bad, it 
meant the remaining population 

3118
03:02:26,800 --> 03:02:30,500
could focus on the best land 
actually improving agricultural 

3119
03:02:30,500 --> 03:02:35,300
productivity per capita even as 
total production declined, The 

3120
03:02:35,300 --> 03:02:38,100
labor shortage that had begun 
during the plague years became a

3121
03:02:38,100 --> 03:02:40,300
permanent feature of the 
post-play economy. 

3122
03:02:40,300 --> 03:02:44,200
Workers understanding their 
Newfound bargaining power, 

3123
03:02:44,200 --> 03:02:49,300
demanded and often received 
better wages shorter hours and 

3124
03:02:49,300 --> 03:02:52,900
improved conditions. 
Landowners who couldn't attract 

3125
03:02:52,900 --> 03:02:55,100
workers had to offer tenancy 
agreements. 

3126
03:02:55,100 --> 03:02:58,400
That were far more favorable to 
peasants than the exploitative 

3127
03:02:58,400 --> 03:03:00,400
arrangements common before the 
plague. 

3128
03:03:01,500 --> 03:03:04,200
This shift occurred despite 
vigorous opposition from 

3129
03:03:04,200 --> 03:03:08,000
traditional authorities, 
legislation attempted to freeze 

3130
03:03:08,000 --> 03:03:09,900
wages and restrict worker 
Mobility. 

3131
03:03:09,900 --> 03:03:13,000
But economic reality, proved 
stronger than law. 

3132
03:03:13,800 --> 03:03:16,700
You can pass all the wage 
controls you want, but if there 

3133
03:03:16,700 --> 03:03:20,000
aren't enough workers to harvest
the crops you either pay what 

3134
03:03:20,000 --> 03:03:23,100
the market demands or watch your
grain rot in the fields. 

3135
03:03:24,600 --> 03:03:26,700
The social implications rippled 
outward. 

3136
03:03:27,500 --> 03:03:29,800
Peasants, who had always 
accepted their subordinate 

3137
03:03:29,800 --> 03:03:34,500
position began questioning, why 
God supposed hierarchy, placed 

3138
03:03:34,500 --> 03:03:37,800
them at the bottom. 
If Nobles couldn't protect them 

3139
03:03:37,800 --> 03:03:41,000
from plague. 
What Justified Noble, 

3140
03:03:41,000 --> 03:03:43,700
privileges. 
Churches prayers, haven't 

3141
03:03:43,700 --> 03:03:46,300
stopped the disease. 
Why should priests receive 

3142
03:03:46,300 --> 03:03:49,800
tithes and deference These 
questions wouldn't immediately 

3143
03:03:49,800 --> 03:03:53,300
produce Revolution, but they 
planted seeds of doubt that 

3144
03:03:53,300 --> 03:03:55,100
would flower in subsequent 
Generations. 

3145
03:03:56,600 --> 03:03:59,300
The Peasants Revolt in England 
in 1381 though. 

3146
03:03:59,300 --> 03:04:02,800
It failed demonstrated. 
That traditional hierarchies 

3147
03:04:02,800 --> 03:04:05,600
were no longer simply accepted 
as natural and inevitable. 

3148
03:04:06,700 --> 03:04:09,200
The social contract had been 
renegotiated through 

3149
03:04:09,200 --> 03:04:12,400
catastrophe. 
Urban Revival took, different 

3150
03:04:12,400 --> 03:04:15,400
forms and Rural recovery some 
cities. 

3151
03:04:15,400 --> 03:04:18,700
Rebounded, quickly, their 
commercial advantages, proving 

3152
03:04:18,700 --> 03:04:20,600
more important than population 
loss. 

3153
03:04:21,400 --> 03:04:25,000
Others never recovered, their 
pre-plague prosperity, their 

3154
03:04:25,000 --> 03:04:28,400
form of Vitality, transferred to
rival cities, better positioned 

3155
03:04:28,400 --> 03:04:33,000
for postpaid economic realities.
What's fascinating is how 

3156
03:04:33,000 --> 03:04:35,900
quickly human Ingenuity adapted 
to new circumstances? 

3157
03:04:37,300 --> 03:04:40,700
faced with labor, shortages 
people developed, labor-saving 

3158
03:04:40,700 --> 03:04:44,600
Technologies, watermills and 
windmills which had existed 

3159
03:04:44,600 --> 03:04:49,600
before the plague proliferated 
afterward Mechanical devices for

3160
03:04:49,600 --> 03:04:51,600
textile production, became more 
common. 

3161
03:04:52,400 --> 03:04:55,700
It was as if losing so many 
people forced the survivors to 

3162
03:04:55,700 --> 03:04:59,400
think more carefully about 
efficiency and productivity. 

3163
03:05:00,700 --> 03:05:03,700
trade networks, which had 
contracted during the play 

3164
03:05:03,700 --> 03:05:07,900
years, gradually re-established 
themselves, but with altered 

3165
03:05:07,900 --> 03:05:11,400
patterns, Some trade routes that
had been primary before the 

3166
03:05:11,400 --> 03:05:15,100
plague became secondary. 
New commercial centers emerged. 

3167
03:05:15,100 --> 03:05:18,300
While old ones declined. 
Venice and Genoa. 

3168
03:05:18,300 --> 03:05:22,300
Remained important, but cities 
like Amsterdam began their rise 

3169
03:05:22,300 --> 03:05:24,900
to prominence. 
Positioning themselves to 

3170
03:05:24,900 --> 03:05:28,200
dominate Commerce in ways that 
would fully emerge in subsequent

3171
03:05:28,200 --> 03:05:31,600
centuries Banking and finance of
old to meet change 

3172
03:05:31,600 --> 03:05:36,000
circumstances, the great banking
families, the medicis, the 

3173
03:05:36,000 --> 03:05:39,900
fuggers, and others built 
fortunes by adapting Financial 

3174
03:05:39,900 --> 03:05:42,500
techniques to post plague 
economic realities. 

3175
03:05:43,300 --> 03:05:47,200
Credit became more sophisticated
in Insurance developed to manage

3176
03:05:47,200 --> 03:05:50,400
the risks of long distance trade
in a still dangerous world. 

3177
03:05:51,600 --> 03:05:54,800
The tools of capitalism, which 
had been emerging before. 

3178
03:05:54,800 --> 03:05:59,000
The plague accelerated, their 
development afterward, cultural 

3179
03:05:59,000 --> 03:06:01,700
and intellectual life recovered 
with surprising vigor. 

3180
03:06:02,400 --> 03:06:05,900
The generation that came of age,
after the worst, outbreak seemed

3181
03:06:05,900 --> 03:06:09,700
determined to celebrate life 
Beauty and human achievement. 

3182
03:06:10,800 --> 03:06:13,500
The Italian Renaissance which 
had been stirring before the 

3183
03:06:13,500 --> 03:06:15,800
plague. 
Accelerated afterward. 

3184
03:06:16,800 --> 03:06:20,400
Artists began painting with new 
realism and emotional depth. 

3185
03:06:21,200 --> 03:06:25,200
Architects designed buildings, 
that emphasized human proportion

3186
03:06:25,200 --> 03:06:30,500
and classical ideals writers 
explored, secular themes with an

3187
03:06:30,500 --> 03:06:34,200
enthusiasm that would have seen 
someone suspects times. 

3188
03:06:35,000 --> 03:06:38,700
This cultural flowering wasn't a
rejection of religion, medieval 

3189
03:06:38,700 --> 03:06:42,100
people remained deeply religious
but it represented a 

3190
03:06:42,100 --> 03:06:47,100
rebalancing, a determination to 
celebrate Earthly life alongside

3191
03:06:47,100 --> 03:06:51,200
preparing for the afterlife. 
It was, as if having seen how 

3192
03:06:51,200 --> 03:06:53,900
quickly life could end. 
People wanted to make the most 

3193
03:06:53,900 --> 03:06:57,600
of it while they had it. 
Education, rebounded, a 

3194
03:06:57,600 --> 03:07:00,000
survivors recognized that 
knowledge loss during the plague

3195
03:07:00,000 --> 03:07:03,600
needed to be preserved and 
transmitted University's that 

3196
03:07:03,600 --> 03:07:07,400
had closed reopened new 
University's were founded. 

3197
03:07:08,200 --> 03:07:13,000
The printing press invented in 
the mid-15th century made books,

3198
03:07:13,000 --> 03:07:16,800
affordable and accelerated. 
The spread of learning in ways 

3199
03:07:16,800 --> 03:07:19,900
that would have been impossible 
in a purely manuscript culture. 

3200
03:07:21,000 --> 03:07:23,900
The psychological recovery took 
longer than the economic, or 

3201
03:07:23,900 --> 03:07:27,200
cultural recovery. 
Survivors carried, trauma that 

3202
03:07:27,208 --> 03:07:31,500
expressed itself in subtle ways.
Popular culture became somewhat 

3203
03:07:31,500 --> 03:07:36,400
darker more preoccupied with 
death and judgment. the cheerful

3204
03:07:36,400 --> 03:07:39,800
optimism of the 13th century 
gave way to a more sober 

3205
03:07:39,800 --> 03:07:45,800
sometimes cynical 14th and 15th 
century Sensibility Humans are 

3206
03:07:45,800 --> 03:07:49,800
remarkably resilient within a 
generation children, were being 

3207
03:07:49,800 --> 03:07:52,800
born who had no memory of the 
plague years to them. 

3208
03:07:52,800 --> 03:07:56,600
The post plague world was simply
the world not a recovery from 

3209
03:07:56,600 --> 03:08:00,500
catastrophe. 
They took for granted conditions

3210
03:08:00,500 --> 03:08:03,600
that their grandparents would 
have found revolutionary higher 

3211
03:08:03,600 --> 03:08:07,200
wages more mobility and greater 
social fluidity. 

3212
03:08:08,800 --> 03:08:12,100
Religious life, underwent 
complex transformation, the 

3213
03:08:12,100 --> 03:08:15,900
institutional Church emerged 
weakened from the play Gears its

3214
03:08:15,900 --> 03:08:19,300
moral Authority questioned. 
Its practical Effectiveness 

3215
03:08:19,300 --> 03:08:21,900
doubted. 
This didn't mean people became 

3216
03:08:21,900 --> 03:08:24,800
less religious, but it did mean 
they became more willing to 

3217
03:08:24,808 --> 03:08:28,600
question Church teaching and 
sequel ternative forms of 

3218
03:08:28,600 --> 03:08:32,400
religious expression. 
Mr. Susan, flourished, as people

3219
03:08:32,400 --> 03:08:35,000
sought direct experience of the 
Divine with without 

3220
03:08:35,000 --> 03:08:39,300
institutional mediation. 
New religious orders emphasized 

3221
03:08:39,300 --> 03:08:42,100
poverty, Simplicity and service 
to the poor. 

3222
03:08:42,900 --> 03:08:45,800
Partly in reaction to the wealth
and Corruption that had made. 

3223
03:08:45,808 --> 03:08:48,300
The church seem ineffective 
during the plague. 

3224
03:08:49,100 --> 03:08:52,000
These movements would eventually
contribute to the Protestant 

3225
03:08:52,000 --> 03:08:55,500
Reformation though that was 
still more than a century away. 

3226
03:08:57,200 --> 03:09:01,400
Women's lives changed and 
complex ways the labor shortage,

3227
03:09:01,400 --> 03:09:04,200
created opportunities for women 
to work in occupations, 

3228
03:09:04,200 --> 03:09:08,200
previously closed to them. 
Widows, who are numerous after 

3229
03:09:08,200 --> 03:09:12,300
the plague, sometimes Inherited,
property and businesses, giving 

3230
03:09:12,300 --> 03:09:15,300
them economic independence rare 
in medieval Society. 

3231
03:09:16,700 --> 03:09:19,400
This didn't produce anything 
like gender equality by modern 

3232
03:09:19,400 --> 03:09:23,100
standards, but it did crack open
possibilities that hadn't 

3233
03:09:23,100 --> 03:09:26,600
existed before. 
Family, structures evolved as 

3234
03:09:26,600 --> 03:09:28,800
well. 
With so many deaths. 

3235
03:09:28,800 --> 03:09:32,300
The extended family networks 
that had characterized medieval 

3236
03:09:32,300 --> 03:09:36,700
life became fragmented. 
Nuclear families, parents and 

3237
03:09:36,700 --> 03:09:39,300
children. 
Came more Central to social 

3238
03:09:39,300 --> 03:09:43,300
organization. 
This shift like so many player 

3239
03:09:43,300 --> 03:09:45,500
changes. 
Wouldn't reach full expression 

3240
03:09:45,500 --> 03:09:49,100
for centuries but it began in 
the decades following the 

3241
03:09:49,100 --> 03:09:52,500
catastrophe. 
The return of Life wasn't a 

3242
03:09:52,500 --> 03:09:55,600
return to what had been before. 
It was the emergence of 

3243
03:09:55,600 --> 03:09:59,500
something new built on Plague 
era ruins, but oriented toward 

3244
03:09:59,500 --> 03:10:03,300
different Futures survivors and 
their children were creating the

3245
03:10:03,300 --> 03:10:06,200
late medieval world that would 
eventually transition into the 

3246
03:10:06,200 --> 03:10:09,500
early modern world. 
And they were doing so, in ways 

3247
03:10:09,500 --> 03:10:12,500
shaped fundamentally by their 
experience of catastrophe. 

3248
03:10:13,500 --> 03:10:18,500
By 1400 about 50 years after the
worst of the plague Europe had 

3249
03:10:18,500 --> 03:10:20,800
stabilized at new lower 
population level. 

3250
03:10:21,700 --> 03:10:24,000
Life was materially better for 
many survivors. 

3251
03:10:24,000 --> 03:10:28,300
They ate more meat lived in less
crowded conditions and had more 

3252
03:10:28,300 --> 03:10:32,200
negotiating power with employers
and landlords but the cycle 

3253
03:10:32,200 --> 03:10:37,000
scars remained visible in art 
literature and popular culture 

3254
03:10:37,000 --> 03:10:39,600
that couldn't quite forget what 
had been lost. 

3255
03:10:40,700 --> 03:10:43,700
As you sit here now centuries 
remove from the Black Death 

3256
03:10:43,700 --> 03:10:46,700
sipping your tea and enjoying 
the security of modern medicine.

3257
03:10:46,700 --> 03:10:50,800
You might wonder what possible 
relevance are medieval pandemic 

3258
03:10:50,800 --> 03:10:52,700
could have to your life the 
answer. 

3259
03:10:52,700 --> 03:10:56,000
It turns out is more than you 
might think the world you 

3260
03:10:56,000 --> 03:10:59,000
inhabit was shaped in 
fundamental Ways by the plague 

3261
03:10:59,000 --> 03:11:03,200
and its aftermath Not directly 
you're not living with Bubonic 

3262
03:11:03,200 --> 03:11:07,600
plague but in directly through 
chains of causation that stretch

3263
03:11:07,600 --> 03:11:11,100
across centuries, Let Me Trace 
some of these connections and 

3264
03:11:11,100 --> 03:11:13,700
you'll see how that 14th century
catastrophe. 

3265
03:11:13,700 --> 03:11:15,800
Still echoes in the 21st 
century. 

3266
03:11:16,800 --> 03:11:19,500
Start with something. 
Basic your economic 

3267
03:11:19,500 --> 03:11:24,300
expectations, the idea that 
workers deserve Fair wages that 

3268
03:11:24,300 --> 03:11:27,300
labor has value, that must be 
respected, and that you can 

3269
03:11:27,300 --> 03:11:30,500
negotiate with employers from a 
position of a relative strength.

3270
03:11:30,500 --> 03:11:34,100
These Concepts have deep roots 
in the post-play labor shortage.

3271
03:11:34,900 --> 03:11:39,200
Before the Black Death labor was
abundant and cheap afterward. 

3272
03:11:39,200 --> 03:11:42,700
It was scarce and valuable which
fundamentally altered the 

3273
03:11:42,708 --> 03:11:44,600
relationship between workers and
employers. 

3274
03:11:45,700 --> 03:11:48,300
This shift didn't happen 
overnight or without resistance,

3275
03:11:48,300 --> 03:11:52,000
but it began a process that 
eventually produced modern labor

3276
03:11:52,000 --> 03:11:56,200
rights, minimum wage laws, and 
the expectation that work should

3277
03:11:56,200 --> 03:11:58,000
provide a decent standard of 
living. 

3278
03:11:58,800 --> 03:12:01,600
The direct line from The 14th 
Century to your paycheck isn't 

3279
03:12:01,600 --> 03:12:05,100
obvious, but it exists. 
The medical Legacy is more 

3280
03:12:05,100 --> 03:12:07,600
visible. 
The plague forced medieval 

3281
03:12:07,600 --> 03:12:11,300
Society to develop Public Health
institutions hospitals, 

3282
03:12:11,300 --> 03:12:14,500
quarantine systems and health 
boards with authority to 

3283
03:12:14,500 --> 03:12:16,400
informal measures during 
epidemics. 

3284
03:12:17,100 --> 03:12:20,100
These institutions evolved over 
centuries in to the public 

3285
03:12:20,100 --> 03:12:23,100
health infrastructure. 
You now take for granted when 

3286
03:12:23,100 --> 03:12:25,900
you get vaccinated when 
restaurants undergo Health 

3287
03:12:25,900 --> 03:12:28,900
inspections and when disease 
outbreaks are tracked and 

3288
03:12:28,900 --> 03:12:32,600
contained your benefiting from 
systems whose Roots Trace back 

3289
03:12:32,600 --> 03:12:37,900
to play gear in innovation. 
Modern epidemiology the science 

3290
03:12:37,900 --> 03:12:41,700
of how diseases spread through 
populations emerged directly 

3291
03:12:41,700 --> 03:12:43,700
from attempts to understand the 
plague. 

3292
03:12:44,400 --> 03:12:48,200
Early epidemiologists in the 
16th and 17th centuries, studied

3293
03:12:48,200 --> 03:12:51,200
plague patterns, trying to 
discern rules, governing 

3294
03:12:51,200 --> 03:12:54,500
transmission. 
Their work laid, the groundwork 

3295
03:12:54,500 --> 03:12:57,800
for the scientific study of 
infectious disease that 

3296
03:12:57,800 --> 03:13:02,100
eventually produced vaccines and
antibiotics and the medical 

3297
03:13:02,100 --> 03:13:05,900
Revolution that makes your life 
expectancy roughly twice what a 

3298
03:13:05,900 --> 03:13:09,900
medieval person could expect. 
The cultural Legacy is subtler 

3299
03:13:09,900 --> 03:13:13,900
but equally profound the 
Renaissance which transformed 

3300
03:13:13,900 --> 03:13:17,700
European art literature 
philosophy and science happened 

3301
03:13:17,700 --> 03:13:20,700
partly because the plague 
disrupted traditional Authority 

3302
03:13:20,700 --> 03:13:23,800
structures and created space for
new thinking. 

3303
03:13:24,900 --> 03:13:28,100
When you visit an art museum and
admire Renaissance paintings, 

3304
03:13:28,100 --> 03:13:31,900
you're looking at work, created 
in a post plague World by 

3305
03:13:31,900 --> 03:13:35,800
artists who thought differently 
about Humanity Beauty and 

3306
03:13:35,800 --> 03:13:38,400
knowledge because the 
catastrophe had shaken 

3307
03:13:38,400 --> 03:13:42,000
traditional certain teas. 
The printing press invented 

3308
03:13:42,000 --> 03:13:44,200
about a century after the 
plague's first. 

3309
03:13:44,200 --> 03:13:48,200
Wave succeeded partly because 
post-play Europe was red for new

3310
03:13:48,200 --> 03:13:51,300
technologies that could preserve
and spread knowledge more 

3311
03:13:51,300 --> 03:13:52,900
efficiently than manuscript 
culture. 

3312
03:13:54,400 --> 03:13:56,700
The knowledge economy that 
eventually produced the 

3313
03:13:56,708 --> 03:14:00,300
Scientific Revolution, the 
Enlightenment and the modern 

3314
03:14:00,300 --> 03:14:03,200
world, you inhabit required 
Technologies for sharing 

3315
03:14:03,200 --> 03:14:05,900
information. 
The plague created conditions 

3316
03:14:05,900 --> 03:14:09,900
that made people receptive to 
such Technologies political 

3317
03:14:09,900 --> 03:14:11,800
transformations in the wake of 
the play. 

3318
03:14:11,800 --> 03:14:15,200
Contributed to the development 
of nation-states, centralized 

3319
03:14:15,200 --> 03:14:18,300
governments and eventually 
Democratic institutions. 

3320
03:14:18,300 --> 03:14:22,300
The feudal system already 
showing strain before the plague

3321
03:14:22,300 --> 03:14:25,800
collapsed afterward as labor 
shortages and social Mobility. 

3322
03:14:25,800 --> 03:14:29,100
Undermine traditional 
hierarchies, the absolute 

3323
03:14:29,100 --> 03:14:30,900
monarchies that replaced 
feudalism. 

3324
03:14:30,900 --> 03:14:34,100
Eventually gave way to 
constitutional governments and 

3325
03:14:34,100 --> 03:14:37,700
democracies but the process 
began with plague gear or 

3326
03:14:37,700 --> 03:14:41,900
disruption religious 
Transformations matter to The 

3327
03:14:41,900 --> 03:14:45,900
Protestant Reformation, which 
split Christianity and redefine.

3328
03:14:45,900 --> 03:14:48,200
The relationship between 
individuals and religious 

3329
03:14:48,200 --> 03:14:52,100
institutions happened, partly, 
because the plague had weaken 

3330
03:14:52,100 --> 03:14:55,500
the Catholic churches, Authority
and encourage people to seek 

3331
03:14:55,500 --> 03:15:00,100
direct religious experience. 
The religious pluralism you. 

3332
03:15:00,100 --> 03:15:03,900
Now enjoy the separation of 
church and state, and the idea 

3333
03:15:03,900 --> 03:15:07,400
that individuals should follow 
their own Consciousness, these 

3334
03:15:07,400 --> 03:15:11,300
Concepts have roots and post 
play religious firm and Even 

3335
03:15:11,300 --> 03:15:14,500
something as abstract as the 
concept of progress reflects 

3336
03:15:14,500 --> 03:15:17,700
plague influence. 
Medieval people generally 

3337
03:15:17,700 --> 03:15:19,400
thought the world was in 
Decline. 

3338
03:15:19,400 --> 03:15:23,600
Falling away from a golden age. 
The catastrophe of the plague 

3339
03:15:23,600 --> 03:15:25,300
seemed to confirm this 
pessimism. 

3340
03:15:26,500 --> 03:15:30,000
But the subsequent recovery, the
material, improvements in 

3341
03:15:30,000 --> 03:15:32,900
survivors lives, and the 
cultural flowering of the 

3342
03:15:32,908 --> 03:15:35,900
Renaissance. 
All of this suggested that may 

3343
03:15:35,900 --> 03:15:39,200
be things could get better. 
Human effort could improve 

3344
03:15:39,200 --> 03:15:43,600
circumstances this idea that the
future might be better than the 

3345
03:15:43,600 --> 03:15:46,700
past that human Ingenuity 
consult problems. 

3346
03:15:46,700 --> 03:15:50,700
That progress is possible. 
Became a foundational Assumption

3347
03:15:50,700 --> 03:15:54,800
of modern Western culture. 
It's so deeply embedded in your 

3348
03:15:54,800 --> 03:15:57,900
worldview that you probably 
don't even notice it, but it 

3349
03:15:57,900 --> 03:16:00,900
would have been alien to people 
before the plague demonstrated 

3350
03:16:00,900 --> 03:16:04,600
that societies could survive. 
Catastrophe and emerged, 

3351
03:16:04,600 --> 03:16:08,200
transformed. 
The Black Death also provides 

3352
03:16:08,200 --> 03:16:09,900
perspective on more recent 
events. 

3353
03:16:10,800 --> 03:16:14,500
Covid-19 pandemic which you live
through killed Millions 

3354
03:16:14,500 --> 03:16:17,300
worldwide and disrupted life. 
In ways that seemed 

3355
03:16:17,300 --> 03:16:20,300
unprecedented. 
But compared to the Black Death.

3356
03:16:21,000 --> 03:16:24,500
Killed, perhaps half the 
population and disrupted every 

3357
03:16:24,500 --> 03:16:26,300
aspect of society for 
Generations. 

3358
03:16:27,400 --> 03:16:31,300
Covid was almost mild. 
This isn't to minimize covid's 

3359
03:16:31,300 --> 03:16:34,800
impact, every death matters 
every disruption causes 

3360
03:16:34,800 --> 03:16:38,900
suffering but to recognize that 
Humanity has survived worse and 

3361
03:16:38,908 --> 03:16:41,700
rebuilt. 
The resilience that carried 

3362
03:16:41,700 --> 03:16:44,500
medieval people through the play
years is the same resilience 

3363
03:16:44,500 --> 03:16:46,700
that helps you navigate 
contemporary challenges. 

3364
03:16:47,600 --> 03:16:50,800
The plague also offers lessons 
about how societies respond to 

3365
03:16:50,808 --> 03:16:54,900
crisis, the scapegoating of 
Jews, during the Black Death 

3366
03:16:54,900 --> 03:16:58,700
parallels, modern tendency to 
blame minority groups for 

3367
03:16:58,700 --> 03:17:01,500
problems. 
They didn't cause the spread of 

3368
03:17:01,508 --> 03:17:05,700
misinformation about the plagues
Origins and cures resembles 

3369
03:17:05,700 --> 03:17:08,300
contemporary struggles with 
medical misinformation. 

3370
03:17:08,300 --> 03:17:12,800
The tension between individual 
liberty and public health 

3371
03:17:12,800 --> 03:17:16,900
measures that you saw during 
covid echoed similar tensions. 

3372
03:17:16,900 --> 03:17:18,700
During historical Playhouse 
breaks. 

3373
03:17:18,700 --> 03:17:22,400
Medieval people face these 
dilemmas without benefit of 

3374
03:17:22,400 --> 03:17:26,100
scientific knowledge or 
Democratic institutions, which 

3375
03:17:26,100 --> 03:17:28,700
makes their struggles 
simultaneously, more tragic and 

3376
03:17:28,700 --> 03:17:31,800
more instructive. 
They did the best they could 

3377
03:17:31,800 --> 03:17:35,800
with what they knew, which is 
all anyone can do. recognizing 

3378
03:17:35,800 --> 03:17:39,600
this connect you to those long 
dead, ancestors making their 

3379
03:17:39,600 --> 03:17:44,000
experiences feel less remote The
environmental Legacy deserves 

3380
03:17:44,000 --> 03:17:47,800
mention too, the post-plague 
population, decline meant 

3381
03:17:47,800 --> 03:17:52,000
forests regroup, Wildlife, 
populations recovered and human 

3382
03:17:52,000 --> 03:17:54,000
pressure on ecosystems 
decreased. 

3383
03:17:54,700 --> 03:17:57,100
This wasn't planned 
conservation, it was an 

3384
03:17:57,100 --> 03:17:59,400
accidental consequence of 
demographic catastrophe. 

3385
03:18:00,200 --> 03:18:03,100
But it demonstrated that human 
impact on the environment could 

3386
03:18:03,100 --> 03:18:07,100
be reversed. the forests you 
enjoy today in Europe, partly 

3387
03:18:07,100 --> 03:18:09,900
descent from trees that grew 
back after plague era 

3388
03:18:09,900 --> 03:18:13,500
agricultural contraction 
Demographically, the plagues 

3389
03:18:13,500 --> 03:18:17,200
impact lost for centuries. 
Europe's population didn't fully

3390
03:18:17,200 --> 03:18:21,000
recover to PrePlayed levels 
until the 16th century and in 

3391
03:18:21,000 --> 03:18:25,000
some regions it took even longer
this prolonged depression of 

3392
03:18:25,000 --> 03:18:27,700
population numbers meant that, 
when European expansion 

3393
03:18:27,700 --> 03:18:31,200
accelerated in the Age of 
Exploration, it happened with 

3394
03:18:31,200 --> 03:18:35,300
population, still recovering 
from medieval catastrophe, The 

3395
03:18:35,300 --> 03:18:37,900
wealth concentration that 
occurred during the plague years

3396
03:18:37,900 --> 03:18:41,600
with survivors inheriting from 
multiple deceased relatives 

3397
03:18:41,600 --> 03:18:45,900
helped finance, the expense of 
Voyages of exploration, the 

3398
03:18:45,900 --> 03:18:49,200
eventually connected all human 
population and created the 

3399
03:18:49,208 --> 03:18:54,200
globalized world you inhabit. 
Columbus's Voyage was financed 

3400
03:18:54,200 --> 03:18:57,300
partly by wealth. 
Accumulated in the aftermath of 

3401
03:18:57,300 --> 03:19:01,100
demographic catastrophe. 
Thinking about the plague also 

3402
03:19:01,100 --> 03:19:02,800
offers philosophical 
perspective. 

3403
03:19:03,600 --> 03:19:06,400
Those medieval people who died, 
thought their concerns were 

3404
03:19:06,400 --> 03:19:10,200
monumentally important. 
Political disputes, business 

3405
03:19:10,200 --> 03:19:12,100
dealings, and personal 
grievances. 

3406
03:19:12,100 --> 03:19:16,300
All seemed vitally significant, 
then plague arrived and 

3407
03:19:16,308 --> 03:19:18,300
demonstrated that from a cosmic 
perspective. 

3408
03:19:18,300 --> 03:19:20,800
Human concerns are fragile and 
temporary. 

3409
03:19:20,800 --> 03:19:25,500
This isn't depressing so much as
liberating If medieval people 

3410
03:19:25,500 --> 03:19:28,400
seemingly, all important 
problems now seemed quaint and 

3411
03:19:28,400 --> 03:19:31,100
irrelevant. 
Probably your current anxiety is

3412
03:19:31,100 --> 03:19:33,300
will seem equally trivial in a 
few centuries. 

3413
03:19:34,200 --> 03:19:36,900
This doesn't mean nothing 
matters, but it does suggest 

3414
03:19:36,900 --> 03:19:39,500
that maintaining perspective 
about what truly matters, 

3415
03:19:39,500 --> 03:19:46,200
relationships experience, is 
human connection is valuable The

3416
03:19:46,200 --> 03:19:49,200
plague reminds us that 
catastrophe is possible that the

3417
03:19:49,200 --> 03:19:52,100
world can change in ways, we 
can't predict or control. 

3418
03:19:52,100 --> 03:19:54,800
And that security is always 
provisional. 

3419
03:19:56,400 --> 03:19:59,700
But it also reminds us that 
humans are remarkably resilient.

3420
03:20:00,500 --> 03:20:04,000
That Society can rebuild after 
even the worst disasters. 

3421
03:20:04,000 --> 03:20:07,800
And that life, persists and 
often finds new forms more 

3422
03:20:07,800 --> 03:20:12,200
adapted to change circumstances.
Medieval people didn't know, 

3423
03:20:12,200 --> 03:20:13,500
they were living through the 
transition. 

3424
03:20:13,500 --> 03:20:16,200
From the medieval to the early 
modern world. 

3425
03:20:16,200 --> 03:20:20,100
They just knew their world had 
changed and they had to adapt. 

3426
03:20:21,100 --> 03:20:24,300
Your living through your own 
historical transition toward 

3427
03:20:24,300 --> 03:20:26,100
what? 
No one knows yet and you're 

3428
03:20:26,100 --> 03:20:28,800
adapting too. 
Using the same basic human 

3429
03:20:28,800 --> 03:20:31,300
capacities, that carried people 
through the plague years. 

3430
03:20:32,500 --> 03:20:34,200
As you prepare to drift into 
sleep. 

3431
03:20:34,200 --> 03:20:37,100
Let your mind rest on this final
thought. 

3432
03:20:37,900 --> 03:20:41,600
The black death for all its 
horror was not an ending, but a 

3433
03:20:41,600 --> 03:20:44,200
transformation. 
It destroyed a world. 

3434
03:20:44,200 --> 03:20:47,100
Yes. 
But in doing so, it created 

3435
03:20:47,100 --> 03:20:51,400
space for new ways of thinking, 
living, and organizing Society. 

3436
03:20:52,400 --> 03:20:55,300
The Medieval World that existed 
before the plague was already 

3437
03:20:55,300 --> 03:20:58,700
showing strains. 
Population had been growing for 

3438
03:20:58,700 --> 03:21:01,900
centuries pressing against the 
limits of agricultural 

3439
03:21:01,900 --> 03:21:05,400
technology. 
Social hierarchies had calcified

3440
03:21:05,400 --> 03:21:08,200
into forms that seemed 
increasingly arbitrary and 

3441
03:21:08,200 --> 03:21:11,300
unjust. 
Church at accumulated, wealth 

3442
03:21:11,300 --> 03:21:14,100
and power that sat uneasily with
its spiritual mission. 

3443
03:21:15,000 --> 03:21:17,600
Trade networks had grown 
complex, but fragile. 

3444
03:21:18,400 --> 03:21:20,800
The plague shattered these 
structures not through intention

3445
03:21:20,800 --> 03:21:24,500
but through indifference. 
Disease doesn't care about 

3446
03:21:24,500 --> 03:21:29,500
social hierarchies or economic 
systems, it simply spreads kills

3447
03:21:29,500 --> 03:21:33,300
and moves on. 
This very indifference made it 

3448
03:21:33,300 --> 03:21:35,800
an equal opportunity, 
catastrophe that affected 

3449
03:21:35,800 --> 03:21:40,200
everyone regardless of status. 
What emerged from the ruins was 

3450
03:21:40,200 --> 03:21:43,300
a world that while still unjust 
and difficult by modern 

3451
03:21:43,300 --> 03:21:47,400
standards, was materially 
better, for many survivors, they

3452
03:21:47,400 --> 03:21:51,500
worked less 8 better and had 
more choices about their lives. 

3453
03:21:51,500 --> 03:21:54,700
The plague had inadvertently 
redistributed. 

3454
03:21:54,700 --> 03:21:59,200
Well, shifted power, balances 
and created opportunities that 

3455
03:21:59,200 --> 03:22:03,700
hadn't existed before, This 
doesn't justify the catastrophe,

3456
03:22:03,700 --> 03:22:07,300
millions of deaths, can't be 
justified by any subsequent 

3457
03:22:07,300 --> 03:22:11,400
improvements. but it does 
illustrate how historical chain 

3458
03:22:11,400 --> 03:22:14,900
often emerges from The 
Unexpected places, how 

3459
03:22:14,900 --> 03:22:18,900
catastrophe can inadvertently 
produce transformation that 

3460
03:22:18,900 --> 03:22:22,400
deliberate reform couldn't 
achieve The survivors who 

3461
03:22:22,400 --> 03:22:25,900
rebuilt, medieval Europe, 
weren't heroes or villains, just

3462
03:22:25,900 --> 03:22:28,100
people trying to make the best 
of terrible circumstances. 

3463
03:22:28,100 --> 03:22:33,700
They grieve their losses adapted
to new realities and gradually 

3464
03:22:33,700 --> 03:22:35,800
constructed. 
A world that worked differently 

3465
03:22:35,800 --> 03:22:39,800
than the one they'd lost. 
The pragmatism and resilience 

3466
03:22:39,800 --> 03:22:43,100
deserve recognition. 
The quiet that settled over 

3467
03:22:43,100 --> 03:22:47,600
Europe in 1348 to 1349 was the 
sound of a world ending. 

3468
03:22:49,100 --> 03:22:52,700
But ending's contain Beginnings 
in the emptied Villages and 

3469
03:22:52,700 --> 03:22:56,900
Silent cities in the abandoned 
fields and shuttered workshops. 

3470
03:22:56,900 --> 03:22:59,400
New possibilities were 
germinating. 

3471
03:22:59,400 --> 03:23:03,100
It would take generations for 
those possibilities to fully 

3472
03:23:03,100 --> 03:23:08,100
emerge, but they were there 
waiting. as you close your eyes 

3473
03:23:08,100 --> 03:23:11,700
to night safe, in your bed with 
modern medicine protecting you 

3474
03:23:11,700 --> 03:23:15,600
from the diseases that terrified
medieval people, Remember that 

3475
03:23:15,600 --> 03:23:18,600
your security is built on 
foundations, laid by those who 

3476
03:23:18,600 --> 03:23:22,400
survived the unsurvivable, their
struggles, created the world, 

3477
03:23:22,400 --> 03:23:26,200
you inherited the resilient 
echoes in your ability to face 

3478
03:23:26,200 --> 03:23:29,400
contemporary challenges. 
The Black Death teachers that 

3479
03:23:29,400 --> 03:23:34,000
catastrophe, a survivable that 
humans adapt and that life finds

3480
03:23:34,000 --> 03:23:37,000
away forward, even through the 
darkest circumstances. 

3481
03:23:37,900 --> 03:23:40,600
Medieval people couldn't have 
imagined your world. 

3482
03:23:40,600 --> 03:23:42,700
Any more than you can? 
Imagine the world. 

3483
03:23:42,700 --> 03:23:45,900
Your descendants will inhabit in
2525. 

3484
03:23:47,600 --> 03:23:50,100
But the human capacity is that 
carried them through their 

3485
03:23:50,100 --> 03:23:54,500
catastrophe, resilience 
creativity, hope and 

3486
03:23:54,500 --> 03:23:57,400
determination are the same 
capacities. 

3487
03:23:57,400 --> 03:24:00,900
You possess sleep. 
Well, knowing that your part of 

3488
03:24:00,900 --> 03:24:04,400
a human story that has survived 
plagues Wars famines and 

3489
03:24:04,400 --> 03:24:08,600
countless other catastrophes. 
These same spirit that rebuilt 

3490
03:24:08,600 --> 03:24:10,300
Europe. 
After the Black Death lives in. 

3491
03:24:10,300 --> 03:24:13,600
You ready to face whatever 
challenges your own time 

3492
03:24:13,600 --> 03:24:16,100
presents. 
The great quiet that followed 

3493
03:24:16,100 --> 03:24:19,100
the plague, eventually gave way 
to new voices, new ideas, and 

3494
03:24:19,100 --> 03:24:23,100
new ways of Being Human. 
Your quiet tonight is not a 

3495
03:24:23,100 --> 03:24:26,000
catastrophe. 
But rest, the peaceful silence 

3496
03:24:26,000 --> 03:24:27,700
that precedes tomorrow's 
possibilities. 

3497
03:24:28,900 --> 03:24:32,900
And in that silence across the 
centuries, you might almost hear

3498
03:24:32,900 --> 03:24:35,400
The Echoes of those medieval 
survivors going about their 

3499
03:24:35,400 --> 03:24:40,100
lives rebuilding, their world, 
choosing hope over Despair and 

3500
03:24:40,100 --> 03:24:42,000
proving that even the worst 
disaster. 

3501
03:24:42,000 --> 03:24:44,400
Cannot permanently defeat human 
resilience. 

3502
03:24:45,300 --> 03:24:53,900
Sweet dreams. 
You've been looking forward to 

3503
03:24:53,900 --> 03:24:57,100
this Thanksgiving for weeks. 
Now, though, you'd never admit 

3504
03:24:57,100 --> 03:25:00,100
it out loud. 
In Cedar Mills Massachusetts, 

3505
03:25:00,100 --> 03:25:03,100
anticipation shows itself 
quietly. 

3506
03:25:04,100 --> 03:25:07,500
In the extra polish, you give 
the good silver in the way. 

3507
03:25:07,500 --> 03:25:10,600
You've checked your pantry three
times to make sure you have 

3508
03:25:10,600 --> 03:25:15,800
enough butter and flour November
1942 carries a particular weight

3509
03:25:15,800 --> 03:25:19,800
this year with so many boys 
overseas and the war making 

3510
03:25:19,800 --> 03:25:22,400
itself felt in a thousand small 
lapses. 

3511
03:25:23,500 --> 03:25:27,000
But Thanksgiving remains 
stubborn and necessary. 

3512
03:25:27,000 --> 03:25:30,800
As always your kitchen, smells 
like cinnamon and possibility, 

3513
03:25:30,800 --> 03:25:34,300
you've been up since before 
Dawn, not because the turkey 

3514
03:25:34,300 --> 03:25:38,000
demands it that won't go in the 
oven until tomorrow morning, but

3515
03:25:38,000 --> 03:25:41,800
because sleep lately comes in 
fits and starts interrupted by 

3516
03:25:41,800 --> 03:25:44,700
thoughts of your nephew 
somewhere in the Pacific and 

3517
03:25:44,700 --> 03:25:46,300
your sister's boy. 
Training in England. 

3518
03:25:46,300 --> 03:25:49,400
The radio brings news. 
You'd rather not hear most 

3519
03:25:49,400 --> 03:25:52,500
evenings, so you've taken to 
turning it off after dinner and 

3520
03:25:52,500 --> 03:25:54,100
finding comfort in more 
tangible. 

3521
03:25:54,100 --> 03:25:58,500
Things pie dough, for instance, 
the satisfaction of flour and 

3522
03:25:58,500 --> 03:26:00,900
shortening becoming something 
entirely new under your 

3523
03:26:00,908 --> 03:26:04,300
fingertips. 
Kitchen window, frame of Maple 

3524
03:26:04,300 --> 03:26:06,300
Street in its late, Autumn 
dress? 

3525
03:26:07,300 --> 03:26:10,500
Most of the leaves of Fallen 
leaving the neighborhood trees 

3526
03:26:10,500 --> 03:26:13,600
looking exposed and somehow 
dignified in their bareness. 

3527
03:26:14,700 --> 03:26:17,900
Mrs. Kowalski across the street.
As already hung her pine tree. 

3528
03:26:17,900 --> 03:26:20,400
She always jumps straight from 
Halloween to Christmas. 

3529
03:26:21,400 --> 03:26:24,500
Sipping Thanksgiving entirely 
and her decorating enthusiasm. 

3530
03:26:24,500 --> 03:26:28,800
You've learned not to judge. 
Everyone finds their own way 

3531
03:26:28,800 --> 03:26:32,600
through these uncertain times 
your preparation span three 

3532
03:26:32,600 --> 03:26:33,300
days. 
Really? 

3533
03:26:33,300 --> 03:26:37,000
The calling it preparation, 
makes it sound more organized 

3534
03:26:37,000 --> 03:26:39,700
than it actually feels. 
You've been collecting 

3535
03:26:39,700 --> 03:26:43,300
ingredients slowly working 
within the rational books and 

3536
03:26:43,300 --> 03:26:47,700
trading favors with neighbors. 
Mrs. Patterson down at number 47

3537
03:26:47,700 --> 03:26:49,900
needed help with a victory 
garden cleanup. 

3538
03:26:49,900 --> 03:26:53,000
So you spent a Saturday 
afternoon, pulling up the last 

3539
03:26:53,000 --> 03:26:56,400
of her tomato plants and she 
repaid you with a precious pound

3540
03:26:56,400 --> 03:26:59,700
of sugar, from her extra 
allocation, the Hendersons gave 

3541
03:26:59,708 --> 03:27:02,400
you, their butter action for the
month in exchange for watching 

3542
03:27:02,400 --> 03:27:05,500
their daughter, while they 
visited his mother in Rhode 

3543
03:27:05,500 --> 03:27:07,900
Island. 
This is how things work now. 

3544
03:27:08,800 --> 03:27:12,900
A careful economy of needs and 
offerings with nobody keeping 

3545
03:27:12,900 --> 03:27:15,400
strict accounts because that 
would feel too much like the 

3546
03:27:15,400 --> 03:27:18,600
transaction. 
It is turkey came from Johnson's

3547
03:27:18,600 --> 03:27:20,400
farm. 
Six miles outside town. 

3548
03:27:20,400 --> 03:27:22,600
He took the bus out their last 
Tuesday. 

3549
03:27:22,600 --> 03:27:26,400
Walking the final mile along a 
road where Frost made the grass 

3550
03:27:26,400 --> 03:27:30,200
crunch pleasantly underfoot. 
Johnson himself showed you three

3551
03:27:30,200 --> 03:27:33,500
birds, letting you choose, 
treating the selection with the 

3552
03:27:33,508 --> 03:27:37,700
seriousness it deserved. 
You picked the middle-sized one,

3553
03:27:37,700 --> 03:27:42,300
not the largest that felt greedy
somehow and not the smallest, 

3554
03:27:42,300 --> 03:27:44,900
which seemed too sad for a 
proper holiday. 

3555
03:27:46,200 --> 03:27:50,000
Johnson raped in butcher paper 
with twine, the way things were 

3556
03:27:50,000 --> 03:27:53,400
wrapped before the war before 
everything became scarce and 

3557
03:27:53,400 --> 03:27:57,300
careful tomorrow, you'll host 7 
people, maybe eight, if your 

3558
03:27:57,300 --> 03:27:58,700
brother can get away from the 
mill. 

3559
03:27:59,900 --> 03:28:02,900
The dining table, which usually 
sits against the wall looking 

3560
03:28:02,900 --> 03:28:06,300
decorative and slightly lonely. 
Has already been pulled to the 

3561
03:28:06,308 --> 03:28:09,000
center of the room. 
You've polished it until the 

3562
03:28:09,000 --> 03:28:13,300
Walnut grain seems to glow from 
within the Good China, your 

3563
03:28:13,300 --> 03:28:15,400
mother set the one. 
She received as a wedding gift 

3564
03:28:15,400 --> 03:28:20,100
in 1911 waits in the hutch. 
Each piece carefully examined 

3565
03:28:20,100 --> 03:28:24,300
for chips or cracks. 
The gravy boat has a tiny floor 

3566
03:28:24,300 --> 03:28:27,600
near the handle practically 
invisible that you've been aware

3567
03:28:27,600 --> 03:28:31,100
of for 20 years. 
Sometimes you run your thumb 

3568
03:28:31,100 --> 03:28:35,000
over it while serving a private 
acknowledgment of all the meals 

3569
03:28:35,000 --> 03:28:38,300
this set as witnessed your 
neighbor's daughter Betty. 

3570
03:28:38,300 --> 03:28:41,700
Stop by this afternoon to show 
you her first attempt at pumpkin

3571
03:28:41,700 --> 03:28:45,700
pie, She's 17. 
Newly married to a boy who left 

3572
03:28:45,700 --> 03:28:48,800
the basic training, two days 
after the ceremony, and she'd 

3573
03:28:48,800 --> 03:28:51,000
been crying in her kitchen. 
When you found a staring at a 

3574
03:28:51,000 --> 03:28:54,000
collapsed, Pike crossed. 
You didn't mention the tears, 

3575
03:28:54,000 --> 03:28:56,400
just rolled up your sleeves and 
showed her, how to work the 

3576
03:28:56,400 --> 03:29:00,600
dough with a gentler hand, how 
the secret to flaky crossed lies

3577
03:29:00,600 --> 03:29:03,100
in keeping everything cold and 
not overthinking it. 

3578
03:29:04,400 --> 03:29:07,800
By the time she left, she had 
two respectable pies and you had

3579
03:29:07,800 --> 03:29:10,900
the satisfaction of having been 
useful in a small, but definite 

3580
03:29:10,900 --> 03:29:14,100
way, the light outside has gone 
gold in the way it does. 

3581
03:29:14,100 --> 03:29:17,200
In late November, that 
particular slant, that makes 

3582
03:29:17,200 --> 03:29:18,900
everything. 
Look, both beautiful and 

3583
03:29:18,908 --> 03:29:21,500
temporary. 
You've set the good linen. 

3584
03:29:21,500 --> 03:29:25,600
Napkins soaking in the sink with
a handful of borax to brighten 

3585
03:29:25,600 --> 03:29:29,000
them, the white damask 
tablecloth, which spends most of

3586
03:29:29,000 --> 03:29:32,400
its life folded in tissue paper.
Hangs over the back of a chair 

3587
03:29:32,400 --> 03:29:36,200
waiting to be pressed. 
Your iron Heats on the stove and

3588
03:29:36,200 --> 03:29:38,900
you've cleared the kitchen table
to serve as a pressing board 

3589
03:29:38,900 --> 03:29:41,500
threading through all these 
preparations runs and 

3590
03:29:41,500 --> 03:29:43,800
undercurrent of something. 
You can't quite name. 

3591
03:29:43,800 --> 03:29:48,700
Gratitude, certainly your 
intensely aware of how lucky you

3592
03:29:48,700 --> 03:29:51,900
are to have a house with heat 
food to serve and people 

3593
03:29:51,900 --> 03:29:56,400
together. but there's also a 
kind of defiance in it a 

3594
03:29:56,400 --> 03:30:00,000
determination to mark this day 
properly, despite everything 

3595
03:30:01,200 --> 03:30:05,500
Maybe because of everything the 
world feels precarious enough 

3596
03:30:05,500 --> 03:30:08,500
without abandoning the rituals 
that make you feel human. 

3597
03:30:08,500 --> 03:30:11,400
You've been listening to the 
weather reports with half an ear

3598
03:30:11,400 --> 03:30:14,100
all week. 
The four cost keeps mentioning a

3599
03:30:14,100 --> 03:30:17,000
storm system moving in from the 
Northwest, but weather 

3600
03:30:17,000 --> 03:30:18,700
predictions always sound 
ominous. 

3601
03:30:19,800 --> 03:30:23,300
Significant snowfall possible. 
They said, on Tuesday, which 

3602
03:30:23,300 --> 03:30:25,700
could mean anything from a 
dusting to something more 

3603
03:30:25,700 --> 03:30:28,300
serious. 
You've lived in Massachusetts, 

3604
03:30:28,300 --> 03:30:30,900
long enough to know that 
November snow is nothing 

3605
03:30:30,900 --> 03:30:34,100
unusual. 
And besides you have a turkey to

3606
03:30:34,100 --> 03:30:37,400
roast and pies to bake, nature 
will do what she does. 

3607
03:30:37,400 --> 03:30:40,600
And you'll do what you do. 
Mrs, Chen from the grocery 

3608
03:30:40,600 --> 03:30:41,800
store. 
Cornered you yesterday 

3609
03:30:41,800 --> 03:30:45,200
afternoon, while you were buying
celery, and she spent 10 minutes

3610
03:30:45,200 --> 03:30:47,000
expressing her concerns about 
the weather. 

3611
03:30:47,800 --> 03:30:51,400
Mrs. Chen is the worrying type. 
She worries about late 

3612
03:30:51,400 --> 03:30:54,800
deliveries about her son in the 
Army about whether her husband 

3613
03:30:54,800 --> 03:30:58,000
remembers to wear his scarf. 
About everything really. 

3614
03:30:59,000 --> 03:31:01,500
So you nodded sympathetically, 
while trying to calculate 

3615
03:31:01,500 --> 03:31:04,300
whether you had enough onions at
home or needed to buy more. 

3616
03:31:05,100 --> 03:31:08,800
You bought more just to be safe.
Running out of onions on 

3617
03:31:08,800 --> 03:31:11,900
Thanksgiving would be its own 
small tragedy, the house feels 

3618
03:31:11,900 --> 03:31:15,300
particularly cozy this evening 
with the kitchen warmed by your 

3619
03:31:15,300 --> 03:31:18,500
baking and the living room 
radiator, hissing, companion in 

3620
03:31:18,500 --> 03:31:21,200
the corner. 
You've already made two, pies 

3621
03:31:21,200 --> 03:31:25,700
apple and mincemeat and they 
cool on the counter beneath 

3622
03:31:25,700 --> 03:31:29,200
clean dish, towels filling the 
air with cinnamon and clove. 

3623
03:31:29,900 --> 03:31:32,400
Tomorrow, you'll make the 
pumpkin pie and the dinner rolls

3624
03:31:32,400 --> 03:31:35,100
timing everything. 
So the turkey can have the oven 

3625
03:31:35,100 --> 03:31:36,800
to itself during the critical 
hours. 

3626
03:31:37,600 --> 03:31:40,500
You've done this enough times 
that the logistics feel almost 

3627
03:31:40,500 --> 03:31:43,300
automatic though. 
You still wrote yourself a 

3628
03:31:43,300 --> 03:31:44,600
schedule on the back of an 
envelope. 

3629
03:31:44,600 --> 03:31:48,500
Just to be certain, your brother
plans to bring sweet potatoes 

3630
03:31:48,500 --> 03:31:51,800
from his victory garden and your
sister in law promised her 

3631
03:31:51,800 --> 03:31:55,700
famous cranberry sauce, which is
really just cranberry sauce like

3632
03:31:55,700 --> 03:31:58,900
everyone else's but tastes 
better because she serves it in 

3633
03:31:58,900 --> 03:32:02,900
her mother's cut glass bowl. 
These small distinctions matter.

3634
03:32:02,900 --> 03:32:06,800
There are the difference between
a meal and a celebration between

3635
03:32:06,800 --> 03:32:09,900
getting through the day and 
marking it as something worth 

3636
03:32:09,900 --> 03:32:13,200
remembering the evening settles 
in with the kind of Stillness 

3637
03:32:13,200 --> 03:32:16,600
that makes you notice. 
Small sounds clock ticking in 

3638
03:32:16,608 --> 03:32:20,600
the hallway, the house, creaking
as temperatures drop outside and

3639
03:32:20,600 --> 03:32:24,400
the distant whistle of the last 
train heading south You've laid 

3640
03:32:24,400 --> 03:32:27,100
out your church clothes for 
tomorrow morning service which 

3641
03:32:27,100 --> 03:32:31,200
starts at 9:00 Sharp. 
Reverend Matthews always keeps 

3642
03:32:31,200 --> 03:32:34,800
the Thanksgiving service brief 
and sincere understanding that 

3643
03:32:34,800 --> 03:32:37,600
everyone has turkeys to 10 and 
families to welcome. 

3644
03:32:37,600 --> 03:32:41,300
You check the pantry one more 
time running through your mental

3645
03:32:41,300 --> 03:32:46,200
list, flower check butter. 
Check eggs, check bread for 

3646
03:32:46,200 --> 03:32:49,100
stuffing slightly stale exactly 
as it should be. 

3647
03:32:50,000 --> 03:32:52,200
Everything is ready. 
Everything is prepared. 

3648
03:32:52,200 --> 03:32:56,600
You've done what you can do. 
The rest is timing and attention

3649
03:32:56,600 --> 03:32:59,600
and a bit of luck outside. 
The temperature is dropped, 

3650
03:32:59,600 --> 03:33:02,900
noticeably since this afternoon,
when you step onto the back 

3651
03:33:02,900 --> 03:33:06,300
porch to check the milk box, the
Milkman delivered late today, 

3652
03:33:06,300 --> 03:33:09,300
the cold hits, your face like 
something solid. 

3653
03:33:10,600 --> 03:33:14,200
Sky looks heavy, somehow clouds 
moving in, whether this morning,

3654
03:33:14,200 --> 03:33:18,000
there was clear Autumn blue. 
You can smell the change in the 

3655
03:33:18,000 --> 03:33:21,300
air that particular mineral 
scent that precedes snow. 

3656
03:33:22,100 --> 03:33:25,300
Maybe Mrs. Chen wasn't just 
being her usual, anxious self 

3657
03:33:25,300 --> 03:33:28,900
after all back inside, you lock 
the door and draw the blackout 

3658
03:33:28,900 --> 03:33:31,500
curtains a habit. 
So, ingrained, now that you 

3659
03:33:31,500 --> 03:33:35,700
barely think about it. 
The war feels very far away and 

3660
03:33:35,700 --> 03:33:39,700
simultaneously very close a 
paradox, you've stopped trying 

3661
03:33:39,700 --> 03:33:43,400
to resolve you settle into your 
chair with a cup of tea in the 

3662
03:33:43,400 --> 03:33:45,800
newspaper, though. 
You've already read it twice. 

3663
03:33:46,700 --> 03:33:50,100
The cross word is half finished.
You'll save the rest for 

3664
03:33:50,100 --> 03:33:52,700
tomorrow. 
Something to occupy your hands 

3665
03:33:52,700 --> 03:33:56,300
while the turkey roasts you wake
up at 5:30 on Thanksgiving 

3666
03:33:56,300 --> 03:33:59,300
morning which is early than you 
plan but not surprising. 

3667
03:34:00,100 --> 03:34:02,800
Your body has its own ideas 
about important days. 

3668
03:34:02,800 --> 03:34:06,700
The house is cold. 
The furnace always struggles on 

3669
03:34:06,700 --> 03:34:10,000
the coldest mornings and you 
wrap yourself in your robe and 

3670
03:34:10,000 --> 03:34:12,700
Shuffle to the window before 
your brain is fully awake. 

3671
03:34:12,700 --> 03:34:15,700
What you see makes you stop 
completely one. 

3672
03:34:15,700 --> 03:34:18,300
Hand on the curtain breath, 
catching in your throat. 

3673
03:34:19,100 --> 03:34:21,500
Snow. 
Not the light dusting. 

3674
03:34:21,500 --> 03:34:25,700
You might have expected not a 
respectable inch or two but snow

3675
03:34:25,700 --> 03:34:28,800
that has transformed the entire 
visible world into something 

3676
03:34:28,800 --> 03:34:30,900
from a different season in 
entirely. 

3677
03:34:31,700 --> 03:34:33,300
Maple Street is disappeared 
under. 

3678
03:34:33,300 --> 03:34:36,600
What looks like six inches 
already and it still coming down

3679
03:34:36,600 --> 03:34:39,300
thick determined flakes, 
falling. 

3680
03:34:39,300 --> 03:34:42,800
So densely, you can barely see 
the Kowalski house across the 

3681
03:34:42,800 --> 03:34:44,800
way. 
Your first thought is the 

3682
03:34:44,800 --> 03:34:48,000
turkey, your second thought is 
the turkey. 

3683
03:34:48,000 --> 03:34:51,500
Your third thought is how you'll
get seven people here through 

3684
03:34:51,500 --> 03:34:53,700
this mess and your fourth 
thoughts. 

3685
03:34:53,700 --> 03:34:58,000
Back to the turkey again. 
You've been planning this meal 

3686
03:34:58,000 --> 03:35:02,600
for weeks, negotiating rations 
and trading favors and now 

3687
03:35:02,600 --> 03:35:06,400
nature is decided to throw its 
own plans, into the mix, the 

3688
03:35:06,400 --> 03:35:08,800
kitchen thermometer confirms 
what your body already knows 

3689
03:35:08,800 --> 03:35:13,500
it's 28 degrees and the Four 
cast to your refrigerator with a

3690
03:35:13,500 --> 03:35:15,900
magnet, suddenly seems laugh of 
Lee an adequate. 

3691
03:35:16,800 --> 03:35:18,000
Possible. 
Snow showers. 

3692
03:35:18,000 --> 03:35:21,200
It said, This isn't possible 
snow showers. 

3693
03:35:21,200 --> 03:35:24,800
This is a full winter storm. 
Making itself comfortable in 

3694
03:35:24,800 --> 03:35:29,100
late, November settling in like 
an Uninvited Guest who has no 

3695
03:35:29,100 --> 03:35:30,900
intention of leaving anytime 
soon. 

3696
03:35:30,900 --> 03:35:34,500
You turn on the radio while 
starting the coffee needing 

3697
03:35:34,500 --> 03:35:36,400
information more than you need 
the usual. 

3698
03:35:36,400 --> 03:35:40,000
Thanksgiving morning, music 
programming, The announcers 

3699
03:35:40,000 --> 03:35:42,600
voice sounds almost gleeful with
the drama of it all. 

3700
03:35:43,500 --> 03:35:46,400
An unexpected storm system 
installed over central, 

3701
03:35:46,400 --> 03:35:49,800
Massachusetts, bringing heavy 
snowfall throughout the region. 

3702
03:35:50,700 --> 03:35:55,000
Accumulations of 12 to 18 inches
are expected by this evening. 

3703
03:35:55,000 --> 03:35:58,300
Residents are advised to stay 
home if possible. 

3704
03:35:59,100 --> 03:36:03,000
Stay home as if you weren't 
already home, as if you hadn't 

3705
03:36:03,000 --> 03:36:05,000
spent three days preparing for a
meal. 

3706
03:36:05,000 --> 03:36:09,000
That now seems suddenly 
Complicated by weather, The 

3707
03:36:09,000 --> 03:36:11,900
turkey sits in the refrigerator 
stubbornly present and 

3708
03:36:11,900 --> 03:36:15,700
impossible to ignore 22 pounds 
of obligation that won't cook 

3709
03:36:15,700 --> 03:36:18,700
itself. 
Telephone rings at 615 

3710
03:36:18,700 --> 03:36:21,600
startling. 
You badly enough that you flash 

3711
03:36:21,600 --> 03:36:25,100
coffee on the counter. 
It's your sister voice with 

3712
03:36:25,100 --> 03:36:27,300
frustration. 
Have you looked outside? 

3713
03:36:27,300 --> 03:36:30,900
Charlie, says, the roads are 
impossible, the mill, closed 

3714
03:36:30,900 --> 03:36:32,200
closed. 
They never closed. 

3715
03:36:32,200 --> 03:36:35,400
I don't think we can make it. 
You tell her you understand? 

3716
03:36:35,400 --> 03:36:39,600
Because you do and that you'll 
save them plates because you 

3717
03:36:39,600 --> 03:36:42,100
will. 
And that the important thing is,

3718
03:36:42,100 --> 03:36:45,100
everyone's safety. 
All of this is true. 

3719
03:36:45,100 --> 03:36:48,900
It's also true that you feel a 
sharp prick of disappointment 

3720
03:36:48,900 --> 03:36:52,200
that you won't acknowledge even 
to yourself. 

3721
03:36:53,200 --> 03:36:55,900
Seven people are suddenly become
four, maybe three. 

3722
03:36:55,900 --> 03:36:58,600
If your brother can't get 
through either, the snow keeps 

3723
03:36:58,600 --> 03:37:00,900
falling. 
You watch it while drinking your

3724
03:37:00,900 --> 03:37:04,000
coffee, mesmerized by the sheer 
quantity of it. 

3725
03:37:05,000 --> 03:37:08,100
The Street Lamp on the corner 
which usually turns off at dawn 

3726
03:37:08,100 --> 03:37:10,600
remains lit. 
Its glow. 

3727
03:37:10,600 --> 03:37:14,600
Creating a cone of swirling 
white that looks almost festive.

3728
03:37:15,300 --> 03:37:18,900
Mrs. Kowalski's Pine wreath, has
become a white circle on her red

3729
03:37:18,900 --> 03:37:21,100
door. 
The cars, parked along, the 

3730
03:37:21,100 --> 03:37:23,000
street are becoming shapeless 
humps. 

3731
03:37:23,000 --> 03:37:26,600
There are identity, slowly 
erased by accumulated snow, 

3732
03:37:26,600 --> 03:37:29,200
you're practical side, reasserts
itself. 

3733
03:37:29,200 --> 03:37:32,400
You have a turkey. 
You have heat and electricity 

3734
03:37:32,400 --> 03:37:36,200
for now, at least you have 
ingredients and time and a 

3735
03:37:36,200 --> 03:37:39,300
perfectly good kitchen. 
The meal will happen even if 

3736
03:37:39,300 --> 03:37:42,800
it's smaller than you planned, 
you've adapted to worse things 

3737
03:37:42,800 --> 03:37:44,700
in the past two years and are 
changing guest. 

3738
03:37:44,700 --> 03:37:47,700
Count the turkey goes into the 
oven at 7:00. 

3739
03:37:47,700 --> 03:37:51,300
Exactly a scheduled, you've 
stuffed it with bread and onions

3740
03:37:51,300 --> 03:37:54,900
and celery, and Sage the way 
your mother taught you the way 

3741
03:37:54,908 --> 03:37:59,400
her mother taught her The ritual
of preparation feels grounding 

3742
03:37:59,400 --> 03:38:03,000
your hands, know what to do, 
even when your mind is spinning.

3743
03:38:03,000 --> 03:38:07,900
Through revised Logistics based 
every 30 minutes tent with foil.

3744
03:38:07,900 --> 03:38:11,600
If it Browns to quickly, check 
the internal temperature. 

3745
03:38:11,600 --> 03:38:15,900
These are certain teas in an 
uncertain morning by 8:00 the 

3746
03:38:15,900 --> 03:38:17,500
snow shows. 
No signs of stopping. 

3747
03:38:17,500 --> 03:38:20,900
You're supposed to be at church 
in an hour but that now seems 

3748
03:38:20,900 --> 03:38:23,900
like a plan from a different 
lifetime, the turkey, smells 

3749
03:38:23,900 --> 03:38:26,800
wonderful. 
At least that warm Savory, 

3750
03:38:26,800 --> 03:38:28,700
Center of roasting meat and 
herbs. 

3751
03:38:28,700 --> 03:38:31,300
That means Thanksgiving 
regardless of whether oral 

3752
03:38:31,300 --> 03:38:35,000
circumstances, You make yourself
another cup of coffee and start 

3753
03:38:35,000 --> 03:38:37,700
peeling potatoes. 
Because what else is there to do

3754
03:38:37,700 --> 03:38:41,400
the telephone rings again? 
At 8:30, your brother this time 

3755
03:38:41,400 --> 03:38:45,600
apologetic, but firm the roads 
are completely snowed in. 

3756
03:38:45,600 --> 03:38:47,800
We can't even get the car out of
the driveway. 

3757
03:38:47,800 --> 03:38:50,300
I'm sorry sis, we'll make it up 
to you. 

3758
03:38:50,300 --> 03:38:54,500
You tell him, it's fine. 
It's absolutely fine. 

3759
03:38:54,500 --> 03:38:58,700
Don't worry about it at all. 
Your Voice Sounds convincing 

3760
03:38:58,700 --> 03:39:01,700
even to yourself. 
When you hang up, you stand 

3761
03:39:01,700 --> 03:39:05,400
looking at the dining table set 
for seven polished and perfect 

3762
03:39:05,400 --> 03:39:09,700
decorated with the nice China. 
And the good napkins and feel 

3763
03:39:09,700 --> 03:39:13,200
something shift inside you. 
Not quite disappointment 

3764
03:39:13,200 --> 03:39:16,100
anymore. 
Something closer to acceptance 

3765
03:39:16,100 --> 03:39:19,900
with a touch of bemused humor, 
you've prepared A Feast for an 

3766
03:39:19,900 --> 03:39:23,300
audience that can't arrive your 
putting on a performance for an 

3767
03:39:23,300 --> 03:39:25,700
empty theater. 
The storm intensifies around 

3768
03:39:25,700 --> 03:39:29,200
9:00, right when you should be 
sitting in a church pew, singing

3769
03:39:29,200 --> 03:39:34,000
hymns in Stead, your basting the
turkey and watching The Wind 

3770
03:39:34,000 --> 03:39:37,100
Drive, snow against the kitchen 
window in horizontal sheets. 

3771
03:39:38,100 --> 03:39:41,100
The whole world has narrowed to 
your house, your street, and 

3772
03:39:41,100 --> 03:39:44,600
this immediate and suddenly 
intimate space, everything 

3773
03:39:44,600 --> 03:39:48,000
beyond your front yard as 
become, theoretically knocks on 

3774
03:39:48,000 --> 03:39:51,400
your back door at 9:30, 
appearing out of the white nurse

3775
03:39:51,400 --> 03:39:54,900
like a snow dusted ghost. 
She's wearing her husband's 

3776
03:39:54,900 --> 03:39:58,900
oversized coat and boots and her
face is red with cold and 

3777
03:39:58,900 --> 03:40:03,100
exertion I walked over. 
She announces unnecessarily, 

3778
03:40:03,100 --> 03:40:05,600
couldn't stand being alone in 
that house on Thanksgiving 

3779
03:40:05,600 --> 03:40:07,400
watching the snow and thinking 
about Jim. 

3780
03:40:08,200 --> 03:40:10,300
Her voice crack slightly on her 
husband's name. 

3781
03:40:10,300 --> 03:40:13,600
You pull her inside, help her 
out of the wet coat and sit her 

3782
03:40:13,608 --> 03:40:16,300
down with hot coffee and 
suddenly, your Thanksgiving has 

3783
03:40:16,300 --> 03:40:19,000
two guests. 
Instead of zero, which changes 

3784
03:40:19,000 --> 03:40:22,900
everything you have someone to 
cook for someone to talk to and 

3785
03:40:22,900 --> 03:40:26,200
someone to share the strange 
intimacy of being snowed in on a

3786
03:40:26,200 --> 03:40:29,800
holiday. 
The dining table set for seven. 

3787
03:40:29,800 --> 03:40:34,000
Now feels less sad and more 
hopeful as if those empty chairs

3788
03:40:34,000 --> 03:40:37,400
are just waiting for a different
year, the radio continues, its 

3789
03:40:37,400 --> 03:40:40,200
coverage of the storm which is 
apparently caught, everyone by 

3790
03:40:40,200 --> 03:40:44,300
surprise train service, 
suspended roads in possible 

3791
03:40:44,300 --> 03:40:47,100
throughout the county. 
The emergency crews are 

3792
03:40:47,100 --> 03:40:49,500
struggling to keep up. 
You listen, while putting the 

3793
03:40:49,500 --> 03:40:53,000
sweet potatoes into roast, your 
brother's sweet potatoes, that 

3794
03:40:53,000 --> 03:40:55,300
he grew in his victory garden 
and brought over yesterday 

3795
03:40:55,300 --> 03:40:58,100
before the world turned white 
and impossible. 

3796
03:40:59,000 --> 03:41:00,900
At least they'll get eaten 
Betty. 

3797
03:41:00,900 --> 03:41:03,500
Helps you make the cranberry 
sauce, following the recipe, her

3798
03:41:03,500 --> 03:41:08,000
mother-in-law sent in a letter 
cranberries sugar, orange zest, 

3799
03:41:08,000 --> 03:41:12,100
and a splash of water. 
You work side by side and 

3800
03:41:12,100 --> 03:41:15,300
comfortable near silent. 
The kind of quiet that comes 

3801
03:41:15,300 --> 03:41:18,500
from shared purpose rather than 
lack of things to say. 

3802
03:41:19,500 --> 03:41:24,100
The Cranberries pop and soften 
Transforming from hard bitter. 

3803
03:41:24,100 --> 03:41:26,900
Berries into something Ruby 
colored and tart. 

3804
03:41:26,900 --> 03:41:28,800
Sweet. 
Small magic. 

3805
03:41:28,800 --> 03:41:31,300
The kind that happens in 
kitchens Everywhere. 

3806
03:41:31,300 --> 03:41:35,100
By 10:00 the snow is accumulated
to what the estimate is. 

3807
03:41:35,100 --> 03:41:38,800
At least 10 inches with no signs
of stopping the world. 

3808
03:41:38,800 --> 03:41:43,200
Beyond your windows has become a
moving curtain of white hypnotic

3809
03:41:43,200 --> 03:41:46,900
in its relentlessness you've 
stopped checking the forecast 

3810
03:41:46,900 --> 03:41:49,200
because clearly the forecast is 
useless. 

3811
03:41:49,200 --> 03:41:53,300
Nature is writing her own story 
today and you're all just living

3812
03:41:53,300 --> 03:41:55,700
in it. 
The turkey emerges from the oven

3813
03:41:55,700 --> 03:42:00,300
at noon, golden and perfect it 
skin crackling with the kind of 

3814
03:42:00,300 --> 03:42:03,800
deeply satisfying brownness, 
that only comes from careful 

3815
03:42:03,800 --> 03:42:06,600
attention. 
You've tented it under foil to 

3816
03:42:06,600 --> 03:42:09,200
rest. 
The way proper turkey, protocol 

3817
03:42:09,200 --> 03:42:13,600
demands and the kitchen smells 
so intense of Thanksgiving that 

3818
03:42:13,600 --> 03:42:17,200
it almost eight weeks. 
All this food for two people. 

3819
03:42:17,200 --> 03:42:19,700
It would be absurd if it weren't
all. 

3820
03:42:19,700 --> 03:42:21,200
So somehow, exactly. 
Right. 

3821
03:42:21,200 --> 03:42:24,100
Betty sets the table, while you 
make the gravy. 

3822
03:42:24,100 --> 03:42:26,900
Both of you, moving around the 
kitchen in a dance, you've 

3823
03:42:26,908 --> 03:42:30,800
improvised on the spot, but 
feels almost choreographed. she 

3824
03:42:30,800 --> 03:42:34,800
tells you about Jim about how 
they met at a church social, and

3825
03:42:34,800 --> 03:42:38,800
about their three-day honeymoon 
at Cape, Cod before he left, You

3826
03:42:38,800 --> 03:42:41,600
tell her about your nephew about
the letters that arrived 

3827
03:42:41,600 --> 03:42:44,600
irregularly and about how you 
stopped watching the news reels 

3828
03:42:44,600 --> 03:42:47,100
at the cinema because they make 
your chest feel tight. 

3829
03:42:47,100 --> 03:42:50,800
This isn't the Thanksgiving you 
planned, but it's becoming the 

3830
03:42:50,800 --> 03:42:53,600
Thanksgiving, you're having, 
there's something freeing in 

3831
03:42:53,600 --> 03:42:56,100
that distinction. 
The mashed potatoes, turn out, 

3832
03:42:56,100 --> 03:42:59,200
perfectly creamy and buttery, 
despite the rational 

3833
03:42:59,200 --> 03:43:01,700
restrictions, because you've 
learned to make a little butter.

3834
03:43:01,700 --> 03:43:04,200
Go a long way with the help of 
hot milk, and plenty of beating 

3835
03:43:04,200 --> 03:43:08,700
the sweet potatoes emerge from 
the oven caramelized and sweet. 

3836
03:43:09,600 --> 03:43:13,600
The roles which you made from do
you started yesterday, rise 

3837
03:43:13,600 --> 03:43:15,900
beautifully. 
Their tops turning, the exact 

3838
03:43:15,900 --> 03:43:19,600
shade of golden brown that makes
bread look like a promise. 

3839
03:43:19,600 --> 03:43:24,100
He carry dish off to Dish to the
dining table which seems less 

3840
03:43:24,100 --> 03:43:26,000
empty, despite all the vacant 
chairs. 

3841
03:43:27,300 --> 03:43:30,900
You've decided to leave it set 
for seven, a kind of hopeful 

3842
03:43:30,900 --> 03:43:33,700
acknowledgment, of the people 
who would be here if they could.

3843
03:43:34,800 --> 03:43:38,100
Their absence feels less like 
loss and more like postponement.

3844
03:43:38,100 --> 03:43:41,200
A celebration delayed, but not 
canceled. 

3845
03:43:41,200 --> 03:43:43,900
The cranberry sauce gleams in 
its bowl. 

3846
03:43:43,900 --> 03:43:47,300
The stuffing steams when you 
spoon it into its serving dish. 

3847
03:43:48,100 --> 03:43:50,800
the turkey takes the place of 
honor at the head of the table 

3848
03:43:50,800 --> 03:43:54,200
and for a moment, you both just 
stand there, looking at it all 

3849
03:43:55,300 --> 03:43:58,800
Thanksgiving feast prepared, 
with care and serve to an 

3850
03:43:58,800 --> 03:44:02,700
audience of two in a town that 
has been frozen in place by an 

3851
03:44:02,700 --> 03:44:06,200
unexpected storm. 
It's ridiculous and beautiful. 

3852
03:44:06,200 --> 03:44:09,200
At the same time. 
You say a brief grace before 

3853
03:44:09,200 --> 03:44:13,400
eating thanking, God for food 
and shelter and safety for 

3854
03:44:13,400 --> 03:44:16,500
Betty's company and for all the 
people who aren't here but a 

3855
03:44:16,500 --> 03:44:19,400
thought of any way. 
Bet he had her own quiet. 

3856
03:44:19,400 --> 03:44:21,600
Thanks for Jim's, safety, 
wherever he is. 

3857
03:44:21,608 --> 03:44:24,900
And you notice she touches the 
simple wedding band on her 

3858
03:44:24,900 --> 03:44:29,000
finger as she says it the meal 
itself is delicious, which feels

3859
03:44:29,000 --> 03:44:31,900
like a small Triumph. 
The turkey is moist and 

3860
03:44:31,900 --> 03:44:34,200
flavorful. 
The gravy has just the right 

3861
03:44:34,200 --> 03:44:36,800
consistency. 
And the roles are exactly as 

3862
03:44:36,800 --> 03:44:40,300
bread should be. 
You eat slowly savoring not just

3863
03:44:40,300 --> 03:44:45,100
the food but the strangeness of 
the whole situation outside the 

3864
03:44:45,100 --> 03:44:49,500
storm continues its patient. 
Work of burying the world inside

3865
03:44:49,500 --> 03:44:53,800
you have warmth and plenty and 
unexpected companionship Betty 

3866
03:44:53,800 --> 03:44:57,800
laughs suddenly a real laugh. 
Not the polite kind when she 

3867
03:44:57,808 --> 03:45:00,800
tries to take another role and 
realizes she's already too full 

3868
03:45:01,700 --> 03:45:04,900
I'll be eating turkey sandwiches
for a week, she says, and you 

3869
03:45:04,900 --> 03:45:06,700
laugh, too? 
Because you're thinking the same

3870
03:45:06,708 --> 03:45:09,700
thing. 
A 22-pound turkey for two people

3871
03:45:09,700 --> 03:45:12,800
might be the definition of 
optimism, you're clearing the 

3872
03:45:12,800 --> 03:45:15,100
dessert plates When someone 
knocks on the front door. 

3873
03:45:15,800 --> 03:45:18,300
Solid determined. 
Knocks that make you both. 

3874
03:45:18,300 --> 03:45:21,200
Look at each other in Surprise. 
Who would be out in this 

3875
03:45:21,200 --> 03:45:23,700
weather? 
You open the door to find Mr. 

3876
03:45:23,700 --> 03:45:27,100
Patterson, from down the street 
snow-covered and slightly 

3877
03:45:27,100 --> 03:45:30,200
sheepish holding a shovel saw 
your lights on. 

3878
03:45:30,200 --> 03:45:33,900
He says, breathe making clouds 
in the cold air in making sure 

3879
03:45:33,900 --> 03:45:37,900
the elderly focus on the street.
All right Mrs. Chen's furnace 

3880
03:45:37,900 --> 03:45:40,400
went out. 
We got it working again but 

3881
03:45:40,400 --> 03:45:41,900
she's nervous about staying 
alone. 

3882
03:45:41,900 --> 03:45:45,100
She mentioned. 
You might have extra food and 

3883
03:45:45,100 --> 03:45:48,200
just like that, your 
Thanksgiving expands again. 

3884
03:45:49,300 --> 03:45:53,600
Mrs. Chen arrives, 20 minutes 
later awarded by Mr. Patterson 

3885
03:45:53,600 --> 03:45:55,700
through snow, that's now easily 
a foot deep. 

3886
03:45:56,500 --> 03:45:59,600
She brings her appetite and her 
gratitude and her tendency to 

3887
03:45:59,600 --> 03:46:01,700
worry. 
Which suddenly seems more 

3888
03:46:01,700 --> 03:46:05,100
endearing than annoying, you set
another place at the table. 

3889
03:46:05,100 --> 03:46:08,900
He'd up more food and watch. 
Mrs. Chen's face transformed. 

3890
03:46:08,900 --> 03:46:12,700
When she sees the spread of laid
out the afternoon on folds, in a

3891
03:46:12,700 --> 03:46:16,300
way you never could have planned
Mr. Pettersson returned with old

3892
03:46:16,300 --> 03:46:19,700
Mr. Johnson from two houses 
over, who has been widowed since

3893
03:46:19,700 --> 03:46:21,500
April and was planning to spend 
the day alone? 

3894
03:46:22,500 --> 03:46:25,600
The Hendersons appear having 
walked over from their place 

3895
03:46:25,600 --> 03:46:27,600
because their daughter was 
asking about you and they 

3896
03:46:27,600 --> 03:46:29,700
figured they might as well check
if you needed anything. 

3897
03:46:30,900 --> 03:46:33,900
Each arrival brings more snow 
inside more voices, more 

3898
03:46:33,900 --> 03:46:37,400
laughter and more life into your
warm house, while the storm, 

3899
03:46:37,400 --> 03:46:41,000
does its work outside, you're 
carefully, planned dinner for 

3900
03:46:41,000 --> 03:46:44,500
seven becomes an impromptu 
gathering for eight, then nine, 

3901
03:46:44,500 --> 03:46:47,900
then 10. 
The turkey, which seemed 

3902
03:46:47,900 --> 03:46:50,900
absurdly large at noon. 
Begins to make sense. 

3903
03:46:50,900 --> 03:46:55,700
You heat up more roles, make 
more gravy and slice, more pies.

3904
03:46:55,700 --> 03:46:58,800
Your kitchen become a warm Hub 
of activity. 

3905
03:46:58,800 --> 03:47:02,600
People moving through it to 
hell, or to make coffee, or just

3906
03:47:02,600 --> 03:47:05,500
to stand near the heat of the 
stove and watch the snowfall. 

3907
03:47:05,500 --> 03:47:09,100
The dining room fills with 
conversations that overlap and 

3908
03:47:09,100 --> 03:47:12,000
into weave. 
Mr. Johnson tells stories about 

3909
03:47:12,000 --> 03:47:15,200
thanksgiving's passed back when 
his wife was alive, and his 

3910
03:47:15,200 --> 03:47:19,500
children were small, Mrs. Chen 
describes traditional Chinese, 

3911
03:47:19,500 --> 03:47:22,600
New Year, feasts making 
connections between your 

3912
03:47:22,600 --> 03:47:24,800
holidays that you'd never 
considered before. 

3913
03:47:25,800 --> 03:47:29,100
Henderson girl, who seven and 
deeply impressed by the snow 

3914
03:47:29,100 --> 03:47:32,600
makes everyone laugh by asking. 
If the storm means it's 

3915
03:47:32,600 --> 03:47:33,400
Christmas. 
Now. 

3916
03:47:33,400 --> 03:47:35,800
Betty gravitates toward Mrs. 
Chen. 

3917
03:47:35,800 --> 03:47:38,300
And you watch them talk quietly 
in the corner. 

3918
03:47:38,300 --> 03:47:42,400
Two women missing husbands 
finding comfort in shared 

3919
03:47:42,400 --> 03:47:47,000
experience, Mr. Patterson helps.
You slice more turkey his 

3920
03:47:47,000 --> 03:47:50,000
movements practiced from years 
of carving his own holiday 

3921
03:47:50,000 --> 03:47:53,000
Birds. 
The Hendersons manage the small 

3922
03:47:53,000 --> 03:47:55,100
miracle of keeping their 
energetic daughter. 

3923
03:47:55,100 --> 03:47:58,600
Entertained, in your living room
building elaborate structures 

3924
03:47:58,600 --> 03:48:01,500
with the throw pillows. 
This isn't the Thanksgiving you 

3925
03:48:01,500 --> 03:48:04,700
planned. 
It's Messier more chaotic and 

3926
03:48:04,700 --> 03:48:08,500
completely unexpected. 
It's also more alive than 

3927
03:48:08,500 --> 03:48:11,300
anything. 
You could have organized your 

3928
03:48:11,300 --> 03:48:13,800
house, which you keep. 
So carefully neat, most of the 

3929
03:48:13,800 --> 03:48:17,800
time has become filled with the 
comfortable disorder of actual 

3930
03:48:17,800 --> 03:48:20,600
life happening. 
Coats piled on the bed. 

3931
03:48:20,600 --> 03:48:23,800
Boots dripping by the door and 
voices and laughter. 

3932
03:48:23,800 --> 03:48:26,600
Spilling from room to room he 
catch yourself. 

3933
03:48:26,600 --> 03:48:29,800
Smiling. 
Really smiling or watching Mr. 

3934
03:48:29,800 --> 03:48:32,800
Johnson teach the Henderson girl
from old song about a pumpkin, 

3935
03:48:32,800 --> 03:48:37,300
the war hasn't gone anywhere. 
Your nephew is still overseas, 

3936
03:48:37,300 --> 03:48:40,300
everything that worry you this 
morning is still worth worrying 

3937
03:48:40,300 --> 03:48:44,000
about, but right now in this 
moment in the house full of 

3938
03:48:44,008 --> 03:48:47,000
neighbors who became friends, 
who became something like family

3939
03:48:47,000 --> 03:48:52,300
you feel genuinely happy The 
snow continues to fall steady 

3940
03:48:52,300 --> 03:48:56,100
and implacable adding inch after
inch to the accumulation 

3941
03:48:56,100 --> 03:48:59,700
outside. 
But Insight your warm and fed 

3942
03:48:59,700 --> 03:49:03,100
and surrounded by people who 
chose to be here, despite or 

3943
03:49:03,100 --> 03:49:05,200
perhaps, because of the 
impossibility of the weather. 

3944
03:49:06,100 --> 03:49:09,100
You serve pies with coffee and 
everyone insists. 

3945
03:49:09,100 --> 03:49:11,500
They're too full. 
But somehow manages to eat a 

3946
03:49:11,500 --> 03:49:14,900
slice anyway The apple pie in 
particular, disappears, quickly 

3947
03:49:14,900 --> 03:49:18,700
helped Along by Mr. Patterson's 
enthusiasm for your crust 

3948
03:49:18,700 --> 03:49:21,700
recipe. 
By mid-afternoon, the snow has 

3949
03:49:21,700 --> 03:49:23,700
achieved a kind of hypnotic 
monotony. 

3950
03:49:24,400 --> 03:49:28,600
It simply keeps coming steady 
and patient, like it has all the

3951
03:49:28,600 --> 03:49:32,000
time in the world and no 
interest in being anywhere else.

3952
03:49:33,300 --> 03:49:36,300
The accumulation outside your 
window has reached levels. 

3953
03:49:36,300 --> 03:49:41,100
You've rarely seen 15. 
Maybe 16 inches with drifts 

3954
03:49:41,100 --> 03:49:44,300
significantly deeper where the 
wind has pushed it against 

3955
03:49:44,300 --> 03:49:47,800
buildings and cars. 
Cedar Mills has become a snow 

3956
03:49:47,800 --> 03:49:51,800
globe, shaken and set down to 
settle in his own time. 

3957
03:49:51,800 --> 03:49:55,600
The peculiar thing about heavy 
snow is how it changes sound. 

3958
03:49:55,600 --> 03:49:58,700
The world becomes muffled 
distant. 

3959
03:49:58,700 --> 03:50:02,900
As if someone has raped the 
entire town in Cotton wool, you 

3960
03:50:02,900 --> 03:50:05,300
notice it, when you step onto 
the back porch to check the 

3961
03:50:05,300 --> 03:50:09,800
thermometer 24 degrees and 
holding steady, But the usual 

3962
03:50:09,800 --> 03:50:13,800
sounds of the neighborhood. 
Have vanished, no cars, no 

3963
03:50:13,800 --> 03:50:17,200
distant train, whistles. 
Even the birds have gone quiet, 

3964
03:50:17,200 --> 03:50:21,800
presumably tucked in to whatever
shelter, they could find just 

3965
03:50:21,800 --> 03:50:26,100
the soft Whisper of falling snow
and your own breathing, Mrs. 

3966
03:50:26,100 --> 03:50:29,400
Chen has taken over your kitchen
radio, tuning it to different 

3967
03:50:29,400 --> 03:50:31,200
stations, trying to find 
updates. 

3968
03:50:32,100 --> 03:50:35,400
What she finds is mostly the 
same information repeated with 

3969
03:50:35,400 --> 03:50:39,300
slight variations. 
Storm is unprecedented for this 

3970
03:50:39,300 --> 03:50:43,300
time of year, emergency services
are struggling and everyone 

3971
03:50:43,300 --> 03:50:46,700
should stay inside. 
One announcer mentions with 

3972
03:50:46,700 --> 03:50:50,000
audible excitement that this 
might be the heaviest November 

3973
03:50:50,000 --> 03:50:54,700
snowfall since 1898. 
Mrs. Chen looks at you with 

3974
03:50:54,700 --> 03:50:58,400
raised eyebrows as if the 
historical significance makes 

3975
03:50:58,400 --> 03:51:01,900
the current situation somehow 
better, the Gathering in your 

3976
03:51:01,908 --> 03:51:04,100
living room is settled into a 
comfortable rhythm. 

3977
03:51:04,800 --> 03:51:07,800
People have stopped apologizing 
for being here and stopped 

3978
03:51:07,800 --> 03:51:12,300
asking if their imposing. 
Mr. Johnson has fallen asleep in

3979
03:51:12,300 --> 03:51:15,100
your armchair. 
His hands folded over a stomach 

3980
03:51:15,100 --> 03:51:18,100
looking peaceful in a way that 
makes your heart. 

3981
03:51:18,100 --> 03:51:21,600
Squeeze slightly. 
The Henderson girl is teaching 

3982
03:51:21,600 --> 03:51:23,700
Betty. 
A complicated hand clapping 

3983
03:51:23,700 --> 03:51:26,700
game, both of them laughing when
they mess up the pattern. 

3984
03:51:28,000 --> 03:51:30,500
Mr. Henderson has found your 
husband's old pipe. 

3985
03:51:30,500 --> 03:51:33,500
You forgot. 
You even kept it and sits 

3986
03:51:33,500 --> 03:51:36,200
holding it. 
Unlit just for the comfort of 

3987
03:51:36,200 --> 03:51:38,700
the familiar shape. 
You've been thinking about your 

3988
03:51:38,700 --> 03:51:40,900
husband more today than you have
in months. 

3989
03:51:41,700 --> 03:51:45,900
He died in the spring of 41, 
just before everything changed 

3990
03:51:45,900 --> 03:51:49,400
before the war, made its way to 
your doorstep in the form of 

3991
03:51:49,400 --> 03:51:51,300
rational books and air raid 
drills. 

3992
03:51:52,000 --> 03:51:56,100
He would have liked this the 
unexpected company, the gentle 

3993
03:51:56,100 --> 03:51:59,100
chaos, the way your organized 
Thanksgiving transformed into 

3994
03:51:59,100 --> 03:52:02,700
something Messier and more real.
He always said you were too 

3995
03:52:02,700 --> 03:52:05,400
rigid in your planning that the 
best moments come from 

3996
03:52:05,408 --> 03:52:07,900
accidents. 
You're beginning to think he 

3997
03:52:07,900 --> 03:52:10,600
might have been right? 
The light outside is starting to

3998
03:52:10,600 --> 03:52:14,400
change that imperceptible shift 
from afternoon to early evening.

3999
03:52:15,500 --> 03:52:19,500
The snow has slowed slightly, 
not stopping, but easing from 

4000
03:52:19,500 --> 03:52:23,500
its earlier Relentless pace. 
You can actually see individual 

4001
03:52:23,500 --> 03:52:25,400
flakes. 
Now in stead of just an 

4002
03:52:25,400 --> 03:52:27,400
undifferentiated curtain of 
white. 

4003
03:52:28,400 --> 03:52:31,900
The Street Lamp on the corner is
switched on creating that same 

4004
03:52:31,900 --> 03:52:34,800
cone of illuminated snowfall 
that you watched this morning. 

4005
03:52:34,800 --> 03:52:39,200
It feels like you've lived an 
entire week in one day, Betty 

4006
03:52:39,200 --> 03:52:42,000
finds you in the kitchen where 
you've escaped under the 

4007
03:52:42,000 --> 03:52:44,900
pretense of making more coffee. 
Thank you. 

4008
03:52:44,900 --> 03:52:47,500
She says, quietly. 
For today. 

4009
03:52:48,400 --> 03:52:50,800
For letting me come over for all
of this. 

4010
03:52:52,500 --> 03:52:55,900
She gestures vaguely at the 
house, the Gathering and the 

4011
03:52:55,900 --> 03:52:59,600
whole improbable situation. 
You tell her she's welcome 

4012
03:52:59,600 --> 03:53:03,800
because she is but also that she
saved your Thanksgiving as much 

4013
03:53:03,800 --> 03:53:07,500
as you saved hers. 
Being alone in that perfectly 

4014
03:53:07,500 --> 03:53:10,100
prepared, dining room would have
been its own small tragedy. 

4015
03:53:10,100 --> 03:53:12,500
Having her here. 
Made everything else possible. 

4016
03:53:12,500 --> 03:53:16,500
The Henderson girl appears in 
the doorway her face serious 

4017
03:53:16,500 --> 03:53:18,300
with the kind of profound 
question. 

4018
03:53:18,300 --> 03:53:21,700
Only 7 year olds ask Will the 
snow ever? 

4019
03:53:21,700 --> 03:53:25,400
Stop, she wants to know you tell
her yes, of course, it will 

4020
03:53:25,400 --> 03:53:29,200
probably by tomorrow morning, 
but privately you're not 

4021
03:53:29,208 --> 03:53:30,000
entirely. 
Sure. 

4022
03:53:30,000 --> 03:53:32,800
This storm has its own logic, 
its own timeline. 

4023
03:53:32,800 --> 03:53:35,800
It'll stop when it's ready and 
not a moment before. 

4024
03:53:35,800 --> 03:53:39,300
Mr. Patterson, has organized, an
expedition to check on a few 

4025
03:53:39,308 --> 03:53:43,000
more neighbors, specifically, 
the kowalskis an old Mrs. Barnes

4026
03:53:43,000 --> 03:53:46,500
who lives alone, at the end of 
the street, you loan him extra 

4027
03:53:46,500 --> 03:53:49,500
scarves and mittens and watching
bundle up, like he's heading to 

4028
03:53:49,500 --> 03:53:51,600
the Ark in stead of just three 
houses down. 

4029
03:53:52,500 --> 03:53:56,100
He returns 30 minutes later 
reporting that everyone is fine.

4030
03:53:56,100 --> 03:53:59,100
Well stocked and mostly amused 
by the whole situation. 

4031
03:54:00,900 --> 03:54:03,000
Mrs. Barnes sent back a loaf of 
bread. 

4032
03:54:03,000 --> 03:54:06,400
She'd baked this morning before 
the snow got serious and it 

4033
03:54:06,400 --> 03:54:09,500
still slightly warm. 
You slice the bread and serve it

4034
03:54:09,500 --> 03:54:12,900
with butter, real butter from 
your Thanksgiving Supply and 

4035
03:54:12,900 --> 03:54:16,200
watch it disappear in minutes. 
People who claimed to be 

4036
03:54:16,200 --> 03:54:20,100
completely full somehow find 
room for warm bread with butter.

4037
03:54:20,100 --> 03:54:23,700
It's one of life's small 
Mysteries right up there with 

4038
03:54:23,700 --> 03:54:26,600
how you always find room for 
dessert, no matter how stuff you

4039
03:54:26,600 --> 03:54:29,400
are from dinner, the radio, 
announces that the storm is 

4040
03:54:29,400 --> 03:54:32,400
expected to continue through the
evening, but should take her off

4041
03:54:32,408 --> 03:54:36,000
overnight. 
The official accumulation total 

4042
03:54:36,000 --> 03:54:40,400
is now 18 to 22 inches, which 
makes this the third largest 

4043
03:54:40,400 --> 03:54:42,800
November snowstorm in recorded 
State history. 

4044
03:54:44,300 --> 03:54:48,400
Mrs. Chen looks Vindicated by 
this news as if her earlier 

4045
03:54:48,400 --> 03:54:51,300
worrying has been justified by 
the storm's impressive, 

4046
03:54:51,300 --> 03:54:55,600
statistics, Mr. Johnson newly 
awake from his nap. 

4047
03:54:55,600 --> 03:54:58,900
Simply Grunts and says he seen 
worse, though. 

4048
03:54:58,900 --> 03:55:01,800
He can't quite remember when 
you've moved Beyond thinking 

4049
03:55:01,800 --> 03:55:04,300
about the logistics of everyone 
getting home. 

4050
03:55:04,300 --> 03:55:08,100
That's a problem for tomorrow 
for a world with plowed streets 

4051
03:55:08,100 --> 03:55:12,300
and functioning Transportation. 
Right now, your existing in this

4052
03:55:12,300 --> 03:55:15,900
strange suspended time where 
normal rules don't quite apply, 

4053
03:55:15,900 --> 03:55:18,400
you have enough food for several
more meals. 

4054
03:55:18,400 --> 03:55:22,300
The furnace is working. 
You have blankets and space and 

4055
03:55:22,300 --> 03:55:25,100
a full pantry. 
If people need to stay the night

4056
03:55:25,100 --> 03:55:28,000
well you'll figure it out the 
evening. 

4057
03:55:28,000 --> 03:55:31,100
Settles in with that particular 
coziness that only comes from 

4058
03:55:31,100 --> 03:55:33,800
being warm and safe while 
weather does its worst outside. 

4059
03:55:34,800 --> 03:55:38,400
You've turned on every lamp in 
the house creating pools of 

4060
03:55:38,400 --> 03:55:40,200
soft. 
Yellow light that make the rooms

4061
03:55:40,200 --> 03:55:42,200
feel like illustration from a 
storybook. 

4062
03:55:43,400 --> 03:55:46,000
The Henderson girl is convinced 
Betty and Mrs. Chen to play 

4063
03:55:46,008 --> 03:55:48,900
cards with her though. 
The rules of the game seem to be

4064
03:55:48,900 --> 03:55:53,900
evolving continuously. 
Mr, Johnson and Mr. Patterson 

4065
03:55:53,900 --> 03:55:57,900
have discovered a shared 
interest in Woodworking and are 

4066
03:55:57,900 --> 03:56:00,000
deep in conversation, about 
dovetail joints. 

4067
03:56:00,000 --> 03:56:02,100
And the proper way to sharpen 
chisels. 

4068
03:56:02,100 --> 03:56:05,400
You find yourself moving through
your house touching familiar 

4069
03:56:05,400 --> 03:56:09,400
objects, the ceramic Bowl, on 
the hallway table, the frame 

4070
03:56:09,400 --> 03:56:12,800
photograph of your mother, the 
door frame, your husband once 

4071
03:56:12,800 --> 03:56:14,700
were hung when it started to 
stick. 

4072
03:56:15,800 --> 03:56:19,000
Your space has been transformed 
by the company from something 

4073
03:56:19,000 --> 03:56:23,000
private into something communal.
You're surprised to discover you

4074
03:56:23,000 --> 03:56:27,900
don't mind, in fact you more 
than don't mind your grateful 

4075
03:56:27,900 --> 03:56:30,400
for it. 
The snow creates patterns on the

4076
03:56:30,400 --> 03:56:34,400
Windows intricate Frost crystals
that catch the Lamplight and 

4077
03:56:34,400 --> 03:56:38,200
throw tiny rainbows. 
The Henderson girl presses, her 

4078
03:56:38,200 --> 03:56:41,800
nose against the cold, glass 
marveling, at the designs. 

4079
03:56:42,500 --> 03:56:44,500
You remember doing the same 
thing as a child. 

4080
03:56:44,500 --> 03:56:47,700
Believing the frost formed 
pictures if you looked at them. 

4081
03:56:47,700 --> 03:56:50,100
Right? 
You almost tell her to look for 

4082
03:56:50,100 --> 03:56:52,400
the ice fairy. 
The way your father wants told 

4083
03:56:52,400 --> 03:56:55,800
you, but then you stop yourself.
She's creating her own 

4084
03:56:55,800 --> 03:56:59,200
relationship with the snow. 
Making her own sense of this 

4085
03:56:59,200 --> 03:57:02,400
strange day. 
Someone suggests singing and 

4086
03:57:02,400 --> 03:57:05,600
before you can politely damir 
Mr. Johnson, as launched in, to 

4087
03:57:05,600 --> 03:57:08,900
over the river and through the 
woods in a surprisingly, strong 

4088
03:57:08,900 --> 03:57:13,400
baritone, Others, join in 
voices, blending and clashing in

4089
03:57:13,400 --> 03:57:16,300
the particular Harmony of people
who aren't musicians, but don't 

4090
03:57:16,300 --> 03:57:19,100
care. 
You find yourself singing too? 

4091
03:57:19,100 --> 03:57:22,500
Would you learned 70 years ago 
coming back without effort? 

4092
03:57:23,400 --> 03:57:26,500
The Henderson girl knows only 
the first verse but sings it 

4093
03:57:26,500 --> 03:57:30,900
three times, increasingly loudly
until everyone is laughing, too 

4094
03:57:30,900 --> 03:57:34,000
much to continue the moment. 
Crystallizes somehow. 

4095
03:57:34,000 --> 03:57:37,400
All of you in your living room. 
Full of turkey and Pie singing 

4096
03:57:37,400 --> 03:57:40,300
old songs while historic 
snowstorm buries the world 

4097
03:57:40,300 --> 03:57:43,600
outside. 
It's absurd and perfect at the 

4098
03:57:43,600 --> 03:57:45,900
same time. 
You think about taking a 

4099
03:57:45,900 --> 03:57:47,500
photograph but decide against 
it? 

4100
03:57:48,100 --> 03:57:51,200
Some moments exist, better in 
memory than in any physical 

4101
03:57:51,200 --> 03:57:54,700
record the evening deepens into 
something that feels almost 

4102
03:57:54,700 --> 03:57:57,300
sacred. 
Not in a religious sense. 

4103
03:57:57,300 --> 03:58:01,300
Exactly, though, this certainly 
reverence in it more, like the 

4104
03:58:01,300 --> 03:58:04,200
sense that you've stumbled into 
a moment slightly outside of 

4105
03:58:04,200 --> 03:58:08,300
normal time, a pocket of 
existence where the usual rules 

4106
03:58:08,300 --> 03:58:12,500
of being suspended, Cedar Mills 
has become a place where no one 

4107
03:58:12,500 --> 03:58:17,300
can go anywhere do anything or 
be anywhere except exactly where

4108
03:58:17,300 --> 03:58:20,000
they are. 
For a world that's been moving 

4109
03:58:20,000 --> 03:58:21,700
at wartime speed for over a 
year. 

4110
03:58:21,700 --> 03:58:25,600
The enforced Stillness feels 
almost radical you've made more 

4111
03:58:25,600 --> 03:58:27,500
coffee. 
You've lost count of how many 

4112
03:58:27,508 --> 03:58:31,100
pots today and someone found the
good Brandy, you keep in the 

4113
03:58:31,100 --> 03:58:34,700
back of the cupboard for 
medicinal purposes. small 

4114
03:58:34,700 --> 03:58:38,300
glasses are pulled for those who
want them sipped slowly, while 

4115
03:58:38,300 --> 03:58:41,900
the conversation drifts from 
topic to topic without urgency 

4116
03:58:42,800 --> 03:58:46,400
The Henderson girl is finally 
worn herself out and lies 

4117
03:58:46,400 --> 03:58:49,700
sleeping on your sofa covered 
with the Afghan, your mother 

4118
03:58:49,700 --> 03:58:54,400
crochet in 1950. 
Her parents sit nearby, looking 

4119
03:58:54,400 --> 03:58:55,400
relaxed. 
In a way. 

4120
03:58:55,408 --> 03:58:59,000
You rarely see, even they've 
stopped fighting the situation 

4121
03:58:59,000 --> 03:59:03,000
and accepted it, Mrs. Chen tells
stories about growing up in San 

4122
03:59:03,000 --> 03:59:06,900
Francisco, about markets and 
festivals and food that sounded 

4123
03:59:06,900 --> 03:59:08,700
like magic to your New England 
ears. 

4124
03:59:09,500 --> 03:59:12,300
She talks about her son who 
somewhere in Italy doing 

4125
03:59:12,300 --> 03:59:15,200
something she's not allowed to 
know about and her voice catches

4126
03:59:15,200 --> 03:59:18,600
but doesn't break. 
Everyone in the room understands

4127
03:59:18,600 --> 03:59:22,700
that particular strain the 
loving and worrying from a 

4128
03:59:22,700 --> 03:59:25,200
distance. 
The not knowing that somehow 

4129
03:59:25,200 --> 03:59:28,800
worse than knowing Mr. Patterson
contributes, memories of the 

4130
03:59:28,800 --> 03:59:31,100
mill in its Heyday back in the 
20s. 

4131
03:59:31,100 --> 03:59:34,900
When Cedar Mills actually 
bustled, when three shifts kept 

4132
03:59:34,900 --> 03:59:40,000
the Looms running 24 hours a 
day, He describes the sound, the

4133
03:59:40,000 --> 03:59:42,500
rhythmic clacking that you could
hear from blocks away. 

4134
03:59:43,300 --> 03:59:46,500
The whistle that marked shift 
changes and the whole town 

4135
03:59:46,500 --> 03:59:48,800
moving to the mills in 
industrial heartbeat. 

4136
03:59:49,800 --> 03:59:52,800
The war has brought some of that
energy back though. 

4137
03:59:52,800 --> 03:59:57,300
Now it's military contracts and 
of Civilian textiles uniforms 

4138
03:59:57,300 --> 04:00:00,700
instead of dress fabric. 
Your Own Story, surprise, you 

4139
04:00:00,700 --> 04:00:04,400
things you haven't thought about
in years surfacing in this late 

4140
04:00:04,400 --> 04:00:06,200
evening atmosphere of shared 
confidence. 

4141
04:00:07,000 --> 04:00:10,000
You tell them about learning to 
cook from your mother about the 

4142
04:00:10,000 --> 04:00:12,500
summer. 
You spent in May as a girl and 

4143
04:00:12,500 --> 04:00:14,800
about your husband's terrible 
jokes that Were Somehow 

4144
04:00:14,800 --> 04:00:16,700
endearing because of their 
terrible nurse. 

4145
04:00:17,800 --> 04:00:21,300
You talk about your nephew about
the Smart Boy Who Loved baseball

4146
04:00:21,300 --> 04:00:24,300
and building model airplanes 
whose now somewhere in the 

4147
04:00:24,300 --> 04:00:26,100
Pacific doing what ever it is 
Sailors. 

4148
04:00:26,100 --> 04:00:29,000
Do you don't cry but it's a near
thing. 

4149
04:00:29,000 --> 04:00:32,300
The radio is moved Beyond storm 
coverage into its regular 

4150
04:00:32,300 --> 04:00:35,300
evening programming. 
Someone finds a music station 

4151
04:00:35,300 --> 04:00:39,300
and quiet, Jazz fills the 
background saxophone and piano, 

4152
04:00:39,300 --> 04:00:42,700
creating a mood that fits the 
snowbound coziness perfectly. 

4153
04:00:44,300 --> 04:00:47,800
Mr. Johnson Taps his foot on 
consciously, keeping time with 

4154
04:00:47,800 --> 04:00:50,200
music. 
He probably danced to 40 years 

4155
04:00:50,200 --> 04:00:53,200
ago. 
The room has developed its own 

4156
04:00:53,200 --> 04:00:56,800
ecosystem. 
Its own internal logic separate 

4157
04:00:56,800 --> 04:01:00,600
from the Frozen World outside 
around a clock, Mr. Henderson 

4158
04:01:00,600 --> 04:01:03,900
makes a practical announcement. 
They're not going home tonight. 

4159
04:01:03,900 --> 04:01:07,200
It's too far too dark and too 
dangerous with the snow. 

4160
04:01:07,200 --> 04:01:09,200
Still falling. 
And no streetlights working at 

4161
04:01:09,200 --> 04:01:11,800
their end of town. 
Offer them. 

4162
04:01:11,808 --> 04:01:14,700
The guest bedroom and before you
can work out where everyone else

4163
04:01:14,700 --> 04:01:17,100
will sleep. 
Mrs. Chen and Betty have 

4164
04:01:17,100 --> 04:01:21,100
declared their staying too. 
The whole thing is decided in 

4165
04:01:21,100 --> 04:01:25,200
about 90 seconds and suddenly 
you're running a boarding house 

4166
04:01:25,200 --> 04:01:27,400
for refugees from a Thanksgiving
storm. 

4167
04:01:27,400 --> 04:01:31,200
The logistics work themselves 
out with surprising ease. 

4168
04:01:31,200 --> 04:01:35,300
The Hendersons, take the guest 
room, Mrs. Chen and Betty will 

4169
04:01:35,300 --> 04:01:37,200
share your bed while you take 
the sofa. 

4170
04:01:37,200 --> 04:01:40,700
Mr. Johnson, who lives closest 
and insists. 

4171
04:01:40,700 --> 04:01:43,900
He can make it agrees to wait 
until morning after Mr. 

4172
04:01:43,900 --> 04:01:47,600
Patterson offers to walk with 
him, Mr. Patterson himself will 

4173
04:01:47,600 --> 04:01:50,500
take the armchair, which he 
claims as more comfortable than 

4174
04:01:50,500 --> 04:01:51,700
his bed at home. 
Anyway. 

4175
04:01:52,700 --> 04:01:55,100
The Henderson girl never wakes 
during these negotiations 

4176
04:01:55,100 --> 04:01:58,800
sleeping through the entire 
rearrangement of her life with 

4177
04:01:58,800 --> 04:02:01,800
the profound unconcerned of 
childhood, you distribute 

4178
04:02:01,800 --> 04:02:04,800
blankets and pillows digging 
through closets to find the 

4179
04:02:04,800 --> 04:02:06,500
extras. 
You've accumulated over the 

4180
04:02:06,500 --> 04:02:09,300
years. 
The house, which usually feels 

4181
04:02:09,300 --> 04:02:11,000
slightly too large for one 
person. 

4182
04:02:11,000 --> 04:02:15,200
Suddenly seems perfectly sized 
for this unexpected crowd. 

4183
04:02:16,200 --> 04:02:20,000
People move through rooms, 
claiming space's settling in and

4184
04:02:20,000 --> 04:02:22,500
making themselves, comfortable 
with the kind of casualness that

4185
04:02:22,500 --> 04:02:25,500
comes from necessity. 
Rather than presumption, the 

4186
04:02:25,500 --> 04:02:28,200
wind has picked up outside 
driving, the snow against the 

4187
04:02:28,200 --> 04:02:31,100
windows, and occasional gusts 
that sound almost alive. 

4188
04:02:31,900 --> 04:02:35,900
But inside your snug and warm 
your furnace working overtime. 

4189
04:02:35,900 --> 04:02:41,200
But managing to keep up, The 
house creaks and settles the way

4190
04:02:41,208 --> 04:02:45,400
old houses do familiar sounds 
that usually keep you company in

4191
04:02:45,400 --> 04:02:49,100
the evening but now form a 
background to human voices and 

4192
04:02:49,100 --> 04:02:52,000
movement, Betty helps you make 
up the bed with fresh sheets. 

4193
04:02:52,000 --> 04:02:55,400
Moving through the routine like 
you've done this together 100 

4194
04:02:55,400 --> 04:02:57,500
times. 
She's gained confidence 

4195
04:02:57,500 --> 04:02:59,000
throughout the day. 
You've noticed. 

4196
04:02:59,800 --> 04:03:02,300
The weepy girl, from the this 
morning has been replaced by 

4197
04:03:02,300 --> 04:03:05,400
someone steadier, someone who's 
discovering she's stronger than 

4198
04:03:05,400 --> 04:03:08,700
she thought. 
Marriage and War and unexpected,

4199
04:03:08,700 --> 04:03:12,400
snowstorms will do that. 
Force you to find resources, you

4200
04:03:12,400 --> 04:03:15,900
didn't know, you had Mrs. Chen 
insists on washing the dishes, 

4201
04:03:15,900 --> 04:03:19,500
despite your protests in 
listing, Mr. Patterson to drive.

4202
04:03:19,500 --> 04:03:22,700
While she washes, you can hear 
them in the kitchen, the 

4203
04:03:22,700 --> 04:03:26,400
comfortable sounds of domestic 
routine, water, running plates, 

4204
04:03:26,400 --> 04:03:28,400
clinking and occasional 
laughter. 

4205
04:03:29,400 --> 04:03:33,400
The Henderson girl wakes briefly
confused about where she is then

4206
04:03:33,400 --> 04:03:35,300
settles back to sleep when her 
mother explains. 

4207
04:03:36,000 --> 04:03:38,900
Everything is fine. 
Everything is taken care of. 

4208
04:03:38,900 --> 04:03:42,400
Just close your eyes. 
The house has never felt more 

4209
04:03:42,400 --> 04:03:46,400
full or more alive. 
Every room contains people every

4210
04:03:46,400 --> 04:03:50,000
corner has been claimed and 
every space has been put to use.

4211
04:03:50,000 --> 04:03:53,500
Its the opposite of the careful 
controlled environment. 

4212
04:03:53,500 --> 04:03:58,800
You usually maintained and you 
love it, you absolutely love it.

4213
04:03:58,800 --> 04:04:03,100
The chaos and closeness and 
Casual intimacy of sharing your 

4214
04:04:03,100 --> 04:04:05,900
space with near strangers who've
become something. 

4215
04:04:05,900 --> 04:04:08,200
More than neighbors over the 
course of one. 

4216
04:04:08,200 --> 04:04:11,400
Impossible day. 
You make one last round before 

4217
04:04:11,400 --> 04:04:14,400
preparing, for bed yourself. 
Checking that everyone has what 

4218
04:04:14,400 --> 04:04:16,400
they need. 
Extra blankets. 

4219
04:04:16,400 --> 04:04:18,700
Yes! 
Water glasses. 

4220
04:04:18,700 --> 04:04:22,100
Yes, enough pillows. 
Mostly. 

4221
04:04:22,100 --> 04:04:23,900
Yes. 
With some improvisation 

4222
04:04:23,900 --> 04:04:26,200
involving throw cushions and 
rolled towels. 

4223
04:04:26,900 --> 04:04:28,900
The house settles into nighttime
mode. 

4224
04:04:28,900 --> 04:04:32,600
Lamps switching, off 
conversations becoming Whispers 

4225
04:04:32,600 --> 04:04:36,600
And movements slowing to 
Stillness from your position on 

4226
04:04:36,600 --> 04:04:38,800
the sofa which is actually quite
comfortable. 

4227
04:04:38,800 --> 04:04:41,900
Once you've arranged the pillows
correctly, You can hear the 

4228
04:04:41,908 --> 04:04:44,600
various sounds of a house full 
of sleeping people. 

4229
04:04:45,500 --> 04:04:49,500
Someone snores, gently someone 
else shifts position with a 

4230
04:04:49,500 --> 04:04:52,900
creek of bedsprings, the 
Henderson girl talks in her 

4231
04:04:52,900 --> 04:04:56,100
sleep, a brief mumbled sentence 
about snow angels. 

4232
04:04:56,100 --> 04:04:59,600
The furnace kicks on with its 
familiar whoosh. 

4233
04:05:00,400 --> 04:05:04,700
Outside the storm continues, its
patient work adding inch after 

4234
04:05:04,700 --> 04:05:09,500
inch to the accumulation but it 
is quieter now winding down from

4235
04:05:09,500 --> 04:05:12,000
earlier. 
Intensity you lie there in the 

4236
04:05:12,000 --> 04:05:15,700
darkness, listening to the 
evidence of life around you and 

4237
04:05:15,700 --> 04:05:17,900
feel something. 
You have not in the two years 

4238
04:05:17,900 --> 04:05:22,100
since your husband died, Not 
Alone, the house breathes with 

4239
04:05:22,108 --> 04:05:26,200
multiple presence is your spaces
has been shared and divided. 

4240
04:05:26,200 --> 04:05:29,800
And transformed tomorrow will 
bring the work of digging out 

4241
04:05:29,800 --> 04:05:34,200
the logistics of return and the 
slow process of Life. 

4242
04:05:34,200 --> 04:05:38,500
Resuming, its normal patterns. 
But tonight right now, you'll 

4243
04:05:38,500 --> 04:05:42,500
simply one person among many all
of you together in this warm 

4244
04:05:42,500 --> 04:05:46,300
space while the world outside 
remains Frozen white and waiting

4245
04:05:46,300 --> 04:05:48,400
sleep, comes easier than you 
expected. 

4246
04:05:48,400 --> 04:05:52,000
Pulling you down into darkness, 
while snow continues to fall. 

4247
04:05:52,000 --> 04:05:56,500
And the town remains paused held
in suspension between yesterday 

4248
04:05:56,500 --> 04:05:58,900
and tomorrow between normal 
life. 

4249
04:05:58,900 --> 04:06:03,300
And this strange Option to all 
the usual rules, Friday, morning

4250
04:06:03,300 --> 04:06:05,100
arrives with shocking 
brightness. 

4251
04:06:05,100 --> 04:06:08,700
You wake to light streaming 
through the windows with an 

4252
04:06:08,700 --> 04:06:10,200
intensity. 
That takes a moment to 

4253
04:06:10,200 --> 04:06:14,200
understand son on snow. 
Amplifying and reflecting. 

4254
04:06:14,200 --> 04:06:17,700
Turning your living room into 
something almost too bright to 

4255
04:06:17,700 --> 04:06:20,500
look at directly. 
The storm has stopped. 

4256
04:06:20,500 --> 04:06:24,500
The world is silent. 
And when you pull yourself up to

4257
04:06:24,500 --> 04:06:27,200
look outside, what you see, 
takes your breath away. 

4258
04:06:27,200 --> 04:06:31,500
Cedar Mills has been completely 
transformed, every surface, 

4259
04:06:31,500 --> 04:06:34,500
every angle, every object has 
been smoothed. 

4260
04:06:34,500 --> 04:06:38,900
And softened, by snow that must 
measure close to two feet. the 

4261
04:06:38,900 --> 04:06:42,600
cars on the street are in 
distinguishable white males, the

4262
04:06:42,600 --> 04:06:46,400
picket fences of disappeared 
entirely trees were thick 

4263
04:06:46,400 --> 04:06:48,900
coating that make them look like
they've been dipped in white 

4264
04:06:48,900 --> 04:06:52,800
paint and over everything. 
The sun shine with that 

4265
04:06:52,800 --> 04:06:56,100
particular crystalline 
brightness, that only happens on

4266
04:06:56,100 --> 04:07:00,000
clear days after heavy snow, 
each flake catching and throwing

4267
04:07:00,000 --> 04:07:02,200
light until the whole world 
Sparkles. 

4268
04:07:02,200 --> 04:07:06,500
Your house comes to life slowly 
people emerging from rooms 

4269
04:07:06,500 --> 04:07:09,900
looking rumpled and slightly 
confused, remembering where they

4270
04:07:09,900 --> 04:07:14,100
are and why? 
Mrs. Chen appears first already 

4271
04:07:14,100 --> 04:07:17,500
dressed and had straight for the
kitchen to make coffee with the 

4272
04:07:17,508 --> 04:07:20,100
Assurance of someone who's 
claimed that particular morning 

4273
04:07:20,100 --> 04:07:23,100
Duty. 
Smell of brewing, coffee draws 

4274
04:07:23,100 --> 04:07:26,500
others, like a summons Mr. 
Patterson from his armchair 

4275
04:07:26,500 --> 04:07:30,400
Betty from the bedroom and the 
Hendersons, one by one, as they 

4276
04:07:30,400 --> 04:07:33,900
Orient themselves to this 
strange Bright Morning, the 

4277
04:07:33,900 --> 04:07:36,600
Henderson girl, presses her face
against the window and releases,

4278
04:07:36,600 --> 04:07:39,700
a squeal of pure delight. 
It's a Snow Mountain. 

4279
04:07:39,700 --> 04:07:42,200
She announces and she is not 
entirely wrong. 

4280
04:07:43,400 --> 04:07:45,200
The drift against your front 
porch. 

4281
04:07:45,200 --> 04:07:48,700
Reach, nearly to the railing. 
The street itself is invisible 

4282
04:07:48,700 --> 04:07:51,100
under an unblemished expanse of 
white. 

4283
04:07:51,100 --> 04:07:55,000
No one has driven anywhere. 
No one has walked anywhere. 

4284
04:07:55,000 --> 04:07:58,600
Cedar Mills has become a 
pristine winter landscape, 

4285
04:07:58,600 --> 04:08:02,200
untouched, and perfect, and 
completely impossible. 

4286
04:08:02,200 --> 04:08:04,300
Breakfast becomes a group 
effort. 

4287
04:08:04,300 --> 04:08:06,500
Everyone contributing something 
to the meal. 

4288
04:08:06,500 --> 04:08:08,500
You make pancakes from 
ingredients. 

4289
04:08:08,500 --> 04:08:13,200
You didn't know you had enough 
of flour, eggs, milk stretched 

4290
04:08:13,200 --> 04:08:16,000
with water and a precious 
spoonful of vanilla. 

4291
04:08:17,100 --> 04:08:21,200
Mr. Patterson discovers bacon in
your refrigerator leftover from 

4292
04:08:21,200 --> 04:08:24,900
last week's rationing and Cooks 
it with the concentration of a 

4293
04:08:24,900 --> 04:08:28,900
man performing surgery. 
Mrs. Chen makes tea in the 

4294
04:08:28,908 --> 04:08:32,900
particular way she prefers 
strong and dark and fortifying. 

4295
04:08:33,800 --> 04:08:37,100
The Henderson Girl sets the 
table with exaggerated care, 

4296
04:08:37,100 --> 04:08:40,100
treating each plate and Fork. 
Like it matters tremendously, 

4297
04:08:40,100 --> 04:08:45,100
the meal itself is cheerful and 
chaotic everyone, talking over 

4298
04:08:45,100 --> 04:08:48,300
everyone else sharing 
observations about the snow and 

4299
04:08:48,300 --> 04:08:50,200
the Sunshine and the strange 
situation. 

4300
04:08:50,200 --> 04:08:54,600
You've all found yourselves in 
Mr. Johnson mentions that his 

4301
04:08:54,600 --> 04:08:56,700
daughter in Connecticut is 
probably worried. 

4302
04:08:56,700 --> 04:08:59,200
Sick unable to reach him by 
phone. 

4303
04:08:59,900 --> 04:09:03,200
Mrs. Chen admits a grocery store
will be fine without her for one

4304
04:09:03,208 --> 04:09:06,600
day, maybe even better since she
tends to micromanage. 

4305
04:09:07,900 --> 04:09:11,300
Mr. Henderson confesses he's 
never been so grateful to skip 

4306
04:09:11,300 --> 04:09:13,500
work in his life after 
breakfast. 

4307
04:09:13,500 --> 04:09:16,900
Mr. Patterson and Mr. Henderson 
announced their intention to dig

4308
04:09:16,900 --> 04:09:20,900
out at least partially. 
They find your snow shovels in 

4309
04:09:20,900 --> 04:09:23,900
the garage and set to work. 
Clearing a path from your front 

4310
04:09:23,900 --> 04:09:26,500
door to the street though. 
What they'll do when they reach 

4311
04:09:26,500 --> 04:09:30,200
the street which remains 
completely snowed in is unclear.

4312
04:09:31,400 --> 04:09:34,900
But the activity itself seems 
important a way of asserting 

4313
04:09:34,900 --> 04:09:37,900
human agency against Nature's 
overwhelming, presidents. 

4314
04:09:38,600 --> 04:09:41,500
He watched them through the 
window, Two Men and borrowed, 

4315
04:09:41,500 --> 04:09:44,900
scarves attacking snow with 
determined Strokes breath, 

4316
04:09:44,900 --> 04:09:48,600
making clouds and the cold air, 
the Henderson girl begs to go 

4317
04:09:48,608 --> 04:09:51,700
outside and after bundling her 
in layers, that make her look 

4318
04:09:51,708 --> 04:09:54,000
twice. 
Her actual size, her mother 

4319
04:09:54,000 --> 04:09:58,300
releases her into your backyard.
You watch her, discover the joy 

4320
04:09:58,300 --> 04:10:02,100
of deep snow the way she can 
simply fall backward and 

4321
04:10:02,100 --> 04:10:04,600
disappear. 
The way each step requires 

4322
04:10:04,600 --> 04:10:09,000
effort and purpose the way. 
Undisturbed snow offers itself 

4323
04:10:09,000 --> 04:10:12,700
as a canvas, for whatever 
design, she can imagine, She 

4324
04:10:12,700 --> 04:10:15,900
makes what might be a snow angel
or might just be random 

4325
04:10:15,900 --> 04:10:18,500
flailing. 
And either way, it's perfect 

4326
04:10:18,500 --> 04:10:22,100
Betty finds your radio and tune 
it to a music station. 

4327
04:10:22,100 --> 04:10:25,400
And suddenly the house fills 
with Perry, Como's Voice 

4328
04:10:25,400 --> 04:10:28,000
singing, something cheerful and 
romantic. 

4329
04:10:29,000 --> 04:10:31,300
Mrs. Chen. 
Hums along while washing dishes,

4330
04:10:32,200 --> 04:10:34,600
You find yourself swaying 
slightly while tidying the 

4331
04:10:34,600 --> 04:10:37,500
living room returning. 
Cushions to their proper places 

4332
04:10:37,500 --> 04:10:39,600
and folding. 
The blankets everyone used last 

4333
04:10:39,600 --> 04:10:42,200
night. 
The normal sea of housework 

4334
04:10:42,200 --> 04:10:45,700
combined, with the strangeness 
of company, creates an oddly 

4335
04:10:45,700 --> 04:10:48,800
Pleasant, dissonance the 
telephone rings, at noon 

4336
04:10:48,800 --> 04:10:52,800
startling, everyone. 
It's your sister, frantic with 

4337
04:10:52,800 --> 04:10:56,300
worry and you assure her your 
fine, more than fine, really 

4338
04:10:56,300 --> 04:10:59,600
surrounded by neighbors, who 
become impromptu house guests. 

4339
04:11:00,400 --> 04:11:02,100
You hear the relief in her 
voice? 

4340
04:11:02,100 --> 04:11:04,400
When she understands you weren't
alone for Thanksgiving. 

4341
04:11:04,400 --> 04:11:07,900
That the empty places at your 
table somehow fill themselves. 

4342
04:11:07,900 --> 04:11:12,600
She promises to visit once the 
roads clear, maybe this weekend.

4343
04:11:12,600 --> 04:11:16,500
Definitely soon more calls 
follow people checking on 

4344
04:11:16,500 --> 04:11:20,700
people, making sure everyone 
whether the storm safely, the 

4345
04:11:20,700 --> 04:11:24,400
telephone becomes a Lifeline 
proof, that cedar mill, still 

4346
04:11:24,400 --> 04:11:27,600
exists, as a connected 
Community, even though physical 

4347
04:11:27,600 --> 04:11:30,300
movement remains impossible. 
You learn that. 

4348
04:11:30,300 --> 04:11:33,600
The mill is closed for a second 
day that church services are 

4349
04:11:33,600 --> 04:11:35,500
canceled. 
That the elementary school 

4350
04:11:35,500 --> 04:11:39,300
definitely won't open Monday. 
And that the downtown stores are

4351
04:11:39,300 --> 04:11:42,800
all snowed in and not expecting 
to open until Tuesday at the 

4352
04:11:42,800 --> 04:11:45,700
earliest. 
The town has been forced into a 

4353
04:11:45,700 --> 04:11:48,500
collective holiday and unplanned
Sabbath of sorts. 

4354
04:11:48,500 --> 04:11:52,700
Lunch is turkey sandwiches. 
Of course, it is with the last 

4355
04:11:52,700 --> 04:11:55,100
of the cranberry sauce and some 
lettuce, you discover in the 

4356
04:11:55,108 --> 04:11:57,400
crisper draw somehow still 
fresh. 

4357
04:11:58,400 --> 04:12:01,600
You serve it with the bread. 
Mrs. Barnes, Center over, which 

4358
04:12:01,600 --> 04:12:04,300
has become slightly stale, but 
toasts up beautifully. 

4359
04:12:05,400 --> 04:12:07,900
The Henderson girl declares it 
the best sandwiches she's ever 

4360
04:12:07,900 --> 04:12:10,500
eaten, which makes everyone 
smile because children 

4361
04:12:10,500 --> 04:12:14,100
enthusiasm is contagious. 
You're inclined to agree with 

4362
04:12:14,100 --> 04:12:17,000
their actually. 
Something about eating turkey 

4363
04:12:17,000 --> 04:12:20,300
sandwiches while snowed in with 
a house full of people, makes 

4364
04:12:20,300 --> 04:12:22,900
them taste different better and 
more. 

4365
04:12:22,900 --> 04:12:25,900
Significant somehow the 
afternoon developed its own. 

4366
04:12:25,900 --> 04:12:29,400
Lazy Rhythm, Mr. Johnson 
teaches, the Henderson girl to 

4367
04:12:29,400 --> 04:12:31,700
play Checkers on a set, you'd 
forgotten you owned. 

4368
04:12:32,400 --> 04:12:35,700
Mr. Patterson and Mr. Henderson 
of giving up on shoveling and 

4369
04:12:35,700 --> 04:12:38,500
instead built a respectable 
Snowman in your front yard 

4370
04:12:38,500 --> 04:12:42,000
complete with a carrot nose and 
stones for eyes. 

4371
04:12:42,800 --> 04:12:45,300
Mrs, Chen and Betty work on a 
jigsaw puzzle. 

4372
04:12:45,300 --> 04:12:49,300
You find in the whole closet. 
1000 pieces, depicting some 

4373
04:12:49,300 --> 04:12:52,600
idyllic Farms seen that will 
take days to complete. 

4374
04:12:53,400 --> 04:12:56,700
You drift between activities 
participating in none fully, but

4375
04:12:56,700 --> 04:13:00,200
connected to all of them, the 
host who's also somehow a guest 

4376
04:13:00,200 --> 04:13:04,100
at the extended Gathering the 
light shifts as often noon moves

4377
04:13:04,100 --> 04:13:07,800
towards evening that gold and 
quality of late November sun, on

4378
04:13:07,800 --> 04:13:10,500
snow. 
Your standing at the kitchen 

4379
04:13:10,500 --> 04:13:13,600
window, watching the Shadows 
length, and across the white 

4380
04:13:13,600 --> 04:13:16,500
expanse of your backyard. 
When Betty appears at your 

4381
04:13:16,508 --> 04:13:18,900
elbow, I should call Jim's 
mother. 

4382
04:13:18,900 --> 04:13:21,900
She says quietly, let him know 
I'm, alright, she'll worry. 

4383
04:13:23,400 --> 04:13:24,800
She doesn't move to do it 
immediately. 

4384
04:13:24,800 --> 04:13:27,600
She just stands there watching 
the snow with you. 

4385
04:13:28,300 --> 04:13:31,200
After a moment, she adds. 
Do you think this is what? 

4386
04:13:31,200 --> 04:13:34,900
It's like where Jim is the 
waiting and the being stuck in 

4387
04:13:34,900 --> 04:13:38,500
one place and the not knowing 
when things will change you tell

4388
04:13:38,500 --> 04:13:41,000
it honestly that you don't know.
But maybe. 

4389
04:13:41,900 --> 04:13:44,800
Yes. 
Maybe the war is full of this 

4390
04:13:44,800 --> 04:13:48,600
kind of unexpected suspension. 
These stretches of time where 

4391
04:13:48,600 --> 04:13:51,700
nothing happens except the 
slower accumulation of days 

4392
04:13:51,700 --> 04:13:54,700
punctuated by moments of 
significance. 

4393
04:13:55,500 --> 04:13:59,100
Maybe Jim is all so learning to 
find comfort in small things, 

4394
04:13:59,100 --> 04:14:04,300
warm food friendly faces and the
simple fact of being safe right 

4395
04:14:04,300 --> 04:14:08,700
now, even if the future remains 
uncertain, she nods accepts this

4396
04:14:08,700 --> 04:14:12,000
and makes her phone call. 
You hear her voice from the 

4397
04:14:12,008 --> 04:14:13,900
whole way. 
Reassuring her mother in law, 

4398
04:14:13,900 --> 04:14:17,900
promising to come visit as soon 
as the roads, clear, when she 

4399
04:14:17,900 --> 04:14:20,700
returns. 
She looks steadier somehow, more

4400
04:14:20,700 --> 04:14:23,500
grounded in her own reality. 
Dinner is turkey. 

4401
04:14:23,500 --> 04:14:26,100
Again, you're working your way 
through the leftover 

4402
04:14:26,100 --> 04:14:29,500
systematically. 
This time is soup, you've made 

4403
04:14:29,500 --> 04:14:33,000
it with stock Boyd from the 
carcass with vegetables and 

4404
04:14:33,000 --> 04:14:35,400
noodles and generous amounts of 
salt and pepper. 

4405
04:14:35,400 --> 04:14:38,400
It's the kind of soup that 
tastes like Comfort. 

4406
04:14:38,400 --> 04:14:42,200
Distilled into liquid form. 
You serve it with more of Mrs. 

4407
04:14:42,200 --> 04:14:45,400
Barnes's bread and everyone eats
in a priest of Silence. 

4408
04:14:45,400 --> 04:14:48,800
Occasionally punctuated by 
compliments, about your cooking 

4409
04:14:48,800 --> 04:14:50,600
that make you flush with 
pleasure. 

4410
04:14:50,600 --> 04:14:53,300
The evening. 
Settles in much like yesterday's

4411
04:14:53,300 --> 04:14:55,000
though, somehow more 
comfortable. 

4412
04:14:55,000 --> 04:14:56,500
Now that everyone knows the 
routine. 

4413
04:14:58,100 --> 04:15:01,700
The Henderson girl is less wound
up having worn herself out with 

4414
04:15:01,700 --> 04:15:06,400
snow play the adults settle into
familiar spots claiming spaces. 

4415
04:15:06,400 --> 04:15:10,600
They occupied last night. 
Conversation drifts in gentle 

4416
04:15:10,600 --> 04:15:14,400
directions touching on childhood
memories and future plans and 

4417
04:15:14,400 --> 04:15:17,900
the small details of daily life.
That become interesting when you

4418
04:15:17,908 --> 04:15:19,300
can't actually live them right 
now. 

4419
04:15:19,300 --> 04:15:23,800
Mr. Johnson tells a story about 
Thanksgiving in 1923 when he and

4420
04:15:23,800 --> 04:15:26,400
his wife were newlyweds and she 
tried to cook a turkey in 

4421
04:15:26,400 --> 04:15:27,900
another that wouldn't hold a 
proper temperature. 

4422
04:15:27,900 --> 04:15:31,600
They'd eaten it. 
Half raw half burnt and laughed 

4423
04:15:31,600 --> 04:15:35,800
so hard they cried. worst meal 
we ever made together, he says 

4424
04:15:35,800 --> 04:15:40,000
and one of the best days we ever
had His eyes are wet, but he 

4425
04:15:40,000 --> 04:15:42,400
smiling. 
And you understand completely 

4426
04:15:43,200 --> 04:15:46,400
how disaster can become Joy with
the right person and how the 

4427
04:15:46,400 --> 04:15:49,500
stories we tell ourselves about 
our lives matter as much as the 

4428
04:15:49,500 --> 04:15:52,900
actual events. 
The radio brings news that plows

4429
04:15:52,900 --> 04:15:56,500
will start working tomorrow 
concentrating on main roads 

4430
04:15:56,500 --> 04:15:59,000
first before moving to 
residential streets. 

4431
04:15:59,800 --> 04:16:02,400
It might be Sunday before your 
street sees a plow. 

4432
04:16:02,400 --> 04:16:06,300
A Monday before things return to
what passes for normal. 

4433
04:16:07,200 --> 04:16:09,900
No one seems particularly 
bothered by this time line. 

4434
04:16:09,900 --> 04:16:14,300
If anything you sense relief 
permission to remain in this 

4435
04:16:14,300 --> 04:16:17,400
suspended State a little longer 
this pocket outside. 

4436
04:16:17,400 --> 04:16:21,900
Regular time you prepare for bed
early at unusual worn out by the

4437
04:16:21,900 --> 04:16:25,300
emotional intensity of the past 
two days more than any physical 

4438
04:16:25,300 --> 04:16:27,800
labor. 
The sleeping Arrangements of 

4439
04:16:27,808 --> 04:16:30,700
become routine. 
Now everyone knows where they're

4440
04:16:30,700 --> 04:16:33,700
going, what they need and how to
move through your house in the 

4441
04:16:33,700 --> 04:16:35,600
darkness without bumping into 
furniture. 

4442
04:16:36,700 --> 04:16:39,700
The Henderson girl is already 
asleep, carried to bed by her 

4443
04:16:39,700 --> 04:16:42,900
father without ever fully waking
from your sofa. 

4444
04:16:42,900 --> 04:16:45,900
You listen, once again to the 
sounds of your occupied house, 

4445
04:16:46,700 --> 04:16:49,300
but tonight there's something 
different in the quality of the 

4446
04:16:49,300 --> 04:16:52,300
silence. 
Not the tentative quiet of 

4447
04:16:52,300 --> 04:16:56,200
strangers, unsure of their 
welcome, but the relaxed Silence

4448
04:16:56,200 --> 04:16:58,200
of people who've become 
comfortable together. 

4449
04:16:59,400 --> 04:17:03,000
Shared food, and space and 
stories, you've weathered 

4450
04:17:03,000 --> 04:17:05,700
something together. 
Even if that's something is just

4451
04:17:05,700 --> 04:17:09,900
an unexpected snowstorm, you've 
created a small community in the

4452
04:17:09,900 --> 04:17:13,800
face of circumstances that could
have left everyone isolated in 

4453
04:17:13,800 --> 04:17:16,500
their separate homes. 
Sleep finds you thinking about 

4454
04:17:16,500 --> 04:17:20,600
connection about how the storm 
Force to kind of togetherness 

4455
04:17:20,600 --> 04:17:25,000
that normal life rarely allows 
How you've learned The rhythms 

4456
04:17:25,000 --> 04:17:29,400
of Mrs, Chen's humming and Mr. 
Johnson, snoring and Betty's 

4457
04:17:29,400 --> 04:17:33,400
habit of sighing and her sleep. 
How your private space has 

4458
04:17:33,400 --> 04:17:36,800
become communal, territory, and 
you've discovered you don't mind

4459
04:17:36,800 --> 04:17:38,500
nearly as much as you would have
thought. 

4460
04:17:39,500 --> 04:17:43,100
How sometimes the best moments 
of the ones you never could have

4461
04:17:43,100 --> 04:17:45,900
planned. 
Saturday arrives with a sense of

4462
04:17:45,900 --> 04:17:48,500
change. 
In the are not a literal thaw. 

4463
04:17:48,500 --> 04:17:51,400
The temperature remains 
stubbornly below freezing, but 

4464
04:17:51,400 --> 04:17:54,800
something atmospheric a shift in
the quality of the morning that 

4465
04:17:54,800 --> 04:17:57,600
suggests the world is preparing 
to unfreeze itself. 

4466
04:17:57,600 --> 04:18:01,200
When you look out the window at 
dawn, the snow remains as deep 

4467
04:18:01,208 --> 04:18:03,900
as ever. 
But you notice the first signs 

4468
04:18:03,900 --> 04:18:07,500
of human activity distant 
figures on the main road. 

4469
04:18:07,500 --> 04:18:11,600
The sound of a plow somewhere 
blocks away and smoke rising 

4470
04:18:11,600 --> 04:18:15,100
from chimneys up and down the 
street, your household Rises 

4471
04:18:15,100 --> 04:18:18,900
early than yesterday, everyone 
sensing that this day will Mark 

4472
04:18:18,900 --> 04:18:20,700
the transition back to normal 
life. 

4473
04:18:22,000 --> 04:18:24,000
There's a subtle change in 
Behavior, too. 

4474
04:18:24,000 --> 04:18:27,100
People, folding their borrowed, 
blankets, more carefully, 

4475
04:18:27,100 --> 04:18:31,000
tidying up after themselves with
more attention and the small 

4476
04:18:31,000 --> 04:18:35,000
gestures of guests preparing to 
depart Henderson. 

4477
04:18:35,000 --> 04:18:38,500
Girl is quieter than she's been 
perhaps sensing her parents 

4478
04:18:38,500 --> 04:18:41,800
shift toward leaving. 
Perhaps just tired from two days

4479
04:18:41,808 --> 04:18:44,400
of excitement. 
Breakfast is the last of the 

4480
04:18:44,408 --> 04:18:46,700
turkey fried up with eggs and 
potatoes. 

4481
04:18:46,700 --> 04:18:49,200
In a hash that makes brilliant 
use of your remaining 

4482
04:18:49,200 --> 04:18:52,800
Thanksgiving leftovers. 
It's delicious in that way that 

4483
04:18:52,800 --> 04:18:55,700
last meals together. 
Often are everyone aware that 

4484
04:18:55,700 --> 04:18:58,300
this is the closing act of your 
shed time. 

4485
04:18:58,300 --> 04:19:01,300
Mr. Patterson, compliments, your
coffee with particular, 

4486
04:19:01,300 --> 04:19:05,600
enthusiasm Mrs. Chen insists on 
writing down her soup, recipe 

4487
04:19:05,600 --> 04:19:10,200
for you, even though you've been
making soup for 40 years, the 

4488
04:19:10,200 --> 04:19:12,600
small exchanges carry more 
weight than they, otherwise 

4489
04:19:12,600 --> 04:19:16,400
might the sound of the plows 
closer throughout the morning. 

4490
04:19:17,400 --> 04:19:19,800
You're all in the living room. 
When it finally reaches Maple 

4491
04:19:19,800 --> 04:19:23,500
Street, a massive orange, truck 
pushing a wall of snow before 

4492
04:19:23,500 --> 04:19:26,500
it, the scrap of its blade 
against pavement. 

4493
04:19:26,500 --> 04:19:29,200
The first mechanical sound, 
you've heard in two days that 

4494
04:19:29,200 --> 04:19:33,100
isn't from inside your house. 
The Henderson girl rushes to the

4495
04:19:33,100 --> 04:19:37,000
window to watch fascinated by 
the machines Brute Force 

4496
04:19:37,000 --> 04:19:40,400
approached to the problem of 
snow within an hour of the 

4497
04:19:40,400 --> 04:19:42,700
plows, passage the street begins
to come alive. 

4498
04:19:43,600 --> 04:19:46,900
People emerge from houses 
tentatively at first testing the

4499
04:19:46,900 --> 04:19:50,000
plowed surface. 
Cause a Dugout from their white 

4500
04:19:50,000 --> 04:19:53,900
tombs, the kowalskis appear on 
their front porch waving across 

4501
04:19:53,900 --> 04:19:57,200
the street. 
Mr. Williams from three houses 

4502
04:19:57,200 --> 04:20:00,700
down walks past with his dog, 
both of them looking slightly 

4503
04:20:00,700 --> 04:20:04,900
dazed by the return to Mobility,
Cedar Mills is remembering how 

4504
04:20:04,900 --> 04:20:07,800
to be a town again. 
Mr. Henderson makes the first 

4505
04:20:07,800 --> 04:20:11,100
move to leave standing up with 
visible reluctance and 

4506
04:20:11,100 --> 04:20:12,900
announcing. 
They should probably head home. 

4507
04:20:12,900 --> 04:20:16,000
Let you have your house back and
get their daughter into her own 

4508
04:20:16,008 --> 04:20:19,300
bed. 
The words are practical but his 

4509
04:20:19,300 --> 04:20:23,100
tone suggests he just as soon. 
Stay his wife nods agreement 

4510
04:20:23,100 --> 04:20:26,500
while looking around your living
rooms, if memorizing it The 

4511
04:20:26,500 --> 04:20:28,600
Henderson girl showing 
remarkable emotional 

4512
04:20:28,600 --> 04:20:30,900
intelligence for seven year old 
Solomon. 

4513
04:20:30,900 --> 04:20:34,100
Shakes your hand and thank you 
for letting them visit their 

4514
04:20:34,100 --> 04:20:38,100
departure triggers, a Cascade 
Mrs. Chen needs to check on her 

4515
04:20:38,100 --> 04:20:40,800
store. 
Should really see about her own 

4516
04:20:40,800 --> 04:20:44,300
house and make sure the pipes 
didn't freeze Mr. Johnson's 

4517
04:20:44,300 --> 04:20:46,900
daughter is left three. 
Increasingly worried messages 

4518
04:20:46,900 --> 04:20:51,600
only Mr. Patterson's in, no, 
hurry settling deeper into the 

4519
04:20:51,600 --> 04:20:54,700
armchair as if planning to stay 
permanently though. 

4520
04:20:54,700 --> 04:20:57,400
Eventually, even he acknowledges
the need to return to his own 

4521
04:20:57,400 --> 04:20:59,600
life. 
The goodbye is a more prolonged 

4522
04:20:59,600 --> 04:21:03,000
than anyone intended. 
Hugs are exchanged and promises 

4523
04:21:03,000 --> 04:21:05,300
are made to visit soon and to do
this again sometime. 

4524
04:21:06,200 --> 04:21:09,900
Hello, everyone understands that
this was unrepeatable a product 

4525
04:21:09,900 --> 04:21:14,200
of specific circumstances that 
can't be recreated by intention.

4526
04:21:15,000 --> 04:21:18,900
Mrs. Chen, presses something 
into your hand as she leaves a 

4527
04:21:18,900 --> 04:21:21,200
small Jade charm, she claims 
brings good luck. 

4528
04:21:22,200 --> 04:21:25,200
Betty, hugs, you tight enough to
suggest you holding on to more 

4529
04:21:25,200 --> 04:21:29,000
than just a neighbor, who helped
her through a hard day by early 

4530
04:21:29,000 --> 04:21:30,900
afternoon, your house is empty 
again. 

4531
04:21:31,900 --> 04:21:35,800
Sudden silence feels profound 
after two days of constant, 

4532
04:21:35,800 --> 04:21:38,700
human noise. 
You walk through rooms that 

4533
04:21:38,700 --> 04:21:42,500
still show signs of occupation. 
I've forgotten scarf and 

4534
04:21:42,500 --> 04:21:45,800
indentation in a cushion, a 
water glass on the left on the 

4535
04:21:45,800 --> 04:21:48,100
coffee table. 
The guest bed needs stripping, 

4536
04:21:48,100 --> 04:21:51,600
the bathroom needs cleaning 
dishes, remain in the sink, the 

4537
04:21:51,600 --> 04:21:54,000
physical evidence of community 
requires attention. 

4538
04:21:54,000 --> 04:21:58,500
But before you start the work of
restoration, you pour yourself a

4539
04:21:58,500 --> 04:22:00,200
cup of coffee and sit in your 
living room. 

4540
04:22:00,200 --> 04:22:04,600
Just looking at the space, the 
Snowman in your front yard is 

4541
04:22:04,600 --> 04:22:06,900
already listing slightly in the 
afternoon sun. 

4542
04:22:07,800 --> 04:22:10,700
The puzzle on your dining table 
is perhaps a quarter finish. 

4543
04:22:10,700 --> 04:22:14,000
Mrs. Chen and Betty made good 
progress on the border. 

4544
04:22:14,000 --> 04:22:17,200
The house smells like coffee and
people and the lingering ghost 

4545
04:22:17,200 --> 04:22:20,400
of roasted turkey. 
Smells like life. 

4546
04:22:20,400 --> 04:22:24,200
You think about the past three 
days, how spectacularly they 

4547
04:22:24,200 --> 04:22:27,400
diverged from your plans. 
The carefully, organized 

4548
04:22:27,400 --> 04:22:30,000
Thanksgiving dinner, that became
an impromptu Feast for 

4549
04:22:30,000 --> 04:22:33,200
Neighbors, The Quiet holiday. 
You'd anticipated that 

4550
04:22:33,200 --> 04:22:37,800
transformed into two days of 
unexpected companionship the 

4551
04:22:37,800 --> 04:22:40,600
empty house that filled itself 
with people and noise and 

4552
04:22:40,600 --> 04:22:43,300
warmth. 
None of it was what you wanted, 

4553
04:22:43,300 --> 04:22:45,400
but all of it was what you 
needed. 

4554
04:22:45,400 --> 04:22:48,300
The afternoon passes in domestic
activity. 

4555
04:22:48,300 --> 04:22:52,000
You strip beds and wash sheets, 
clean bathrooms and vacuum 

4556
04:22:52,000 --> 04:22:54,300
floors. 
You return your house to its 

4557
04:22:54,300 --> 04:22:57,900
usual order erasing, the 
physical traces of your extended

4558
04:22:57,900 --> 04:23:00,900
Gathering. 
Hunter race, the memory of it, 

4559
04:23:00,900 --> 04:23:04,600
the sound of multiple 
conversations layering over each

4560
04:23:04,600 --> 04:23:06,900
other. 
The Henderson girls, laughed 

4561
04:23:06,900 --> 04:23:10,000
after Mr. Johnson stories, and 
Betty's. 

4562
04:23:10,000 --> 04:23:14,000
Gradual, emergence from grief 
into something more stable. 

4563
04:23:15,000 --> 04:23:18,500
These things have soaked into 
the walls somehow becoming part 

4564
04:23:18,500 --> 04:23:21,400
of The house's history. 
Your sister calls in the late 

4565
04:23:21,400 --> 04:23:25,000
afternoon, you tell her 
everything, how the storm 

4566
04:23:25,000 --> 04:23:29,200
stranded, you how neighbors 
became house guests and how your

4567
04:23:29,200 --> 04:23:31,300
lonely, Thanksgiving something 
entirely different. 

4568
04:23:32,900 --> 04:23:36,300
She listens with increasing 
amazement, occasionally, 

4569
04:23:36,300 --> 04:23:38,900
interrupting with questions or 
exclamations. 

4570
04:23:39,600 --> 04:23:43,100
When you finish, she's quiet for
a moment before saying that's 

4571
04:23:43,100 --> 04:23:46,800
the best Thanksgiving story. 
I've heard in years, maybe ever 

4572
04:23:46,800 --> 04:23:50,200
you realize, she's right, it is 
a good story. 

4573
04:23:50,200 --> 04:23:52,500
More than that. 
It was a good experience, 

4574
04:23:52,500 --> 04:23:57,300
difficult and inconvenient, and 
completely unplanned. but good 

4575
04:23:57,300 --> 04:24:00,600
in ways that the smooth 
execution of your original plan,

4576
04:24:00,600 --> 04:24:04,100
never could have been you 
learned something about yourself

4577
04:24:04,100 --> 04:24:08,400
these past few days about your 
capacity for flexibility and 

4578
04:24:08,400 --> 04:24:11,100
about how much you've been 
isolating yourself under the 

4579
04:24:11,100 --> 04:24:14,200
guise of Independence. 
You learned that your house 

4580
04:24:14,200 --> 04:24:17,600
could hold more life than you'd 
been allowing it to contain the 

4581
04:24:17,600 --> 04:24:21,200
evening finds you alone again. 
Truly alone for the first time 

4582
04:24:21,200 --> 04:24:24,700
since Wednesday evening. 
You make yourself a small dinner

4583
04:24:24,700 --> 04:24:28,500
suit because they're still 
plenty and a slice of bread. 

4584
04:24:29,300 --> 04:24:32,300
You eat at the kitchen table and
instead of the dining room and 

4585
04:24:32,300 --> 04:24:36,400
the quiet feels different than 
it has in months, not a pressive

4586
04:24:36,400 --> 04:24:38,000
or sad. 
Just peaceful. 

4587
04:24:38,000 --> 04:24:42,200
The Solitude is a choice. 
Now rather than a default State 

4588
04:24:42,200 --> 04:24:45,600
you call your nephew's. 
Mother your sister in law and 

4589
04:24:45,600 --> 04:24:48,800
tell her about the storm about 
the Gathering and about how you 

4590
04:24:48,800 --> 04:24:50,100
thought of him throughout the 
holiday. 

4591
04:24:51,000 --> 04:24:53,500
She shares his latest letter 
which arrived Friday. 

4592
04:24:54,600 --> 04:24:57,200
Describing some jungle island, 
where the temperatures are 

4593
04:24:57,200 --> 04:25:00,000
sweltering and the food is 
terrible, but he's safe and 

4594
04:25:00,000 --> 04:25:02,900
thinking of home. 
You both take comfort in the 

4595
04:25:02,900 --> 04:25:06,200
word safe. 
Even while understanding how 

4596
04:25:06,200 --> 04:25:09,900
fragile and temporary such 
safety might be before bed you 

4597
04:25:09,900 --> 04:25:12,500
stand at your front window 
looking out at Maple Street 

4598
04:25:12,500 --> 04:25:16,000
under its covering of snow. 
The flowers come through twice, 

4599
04:25:16,000 --> 04:25:19,800
more pushing the accumulation 
into smaller mountains at the 

4600
04:25:19,800 --> 04:25:21,700
corners. 
Tire tracks. 

4601
04:25:21,700 --> 04:25:25,600
Mark the streets surface 
Evidence of normal life resuming

4602
04:25:26,500 --> 04:25:30,000
But the yards remain untouched 
white expanses and the trees 

4603
04:25:30,000 --> 04:25:31,600
still wear their winter 
decoration. 

4604
04:25:32,500 --> 04:25:36,500
The storms affects will linger 
for days, maybe weeks in the 

4605
04:25:36,500 --> 04:25:39,600
shaded areas, where the sun 
can't reach you think about 

4606
04:25:39,600 --> 04:25:41,400
Monday. 
When you're routine, will fully 

4607
04:25:41,400 --> 04:25:44,300
reassert itself. 
The grocery shopping the 

4608
04:25:44,300 --> 04:25:47,100
library, visit, and the ordinary
tasks that fill your days. 

4609
04:25:48,200 --> 04:25:50,500
Part of you looks forward to 
that return to normal. 

4610
04:25:50,500 --> 04:25:54,700
But part of you a larger part 
than you would have guessed more

4611
04:25:54,700 --> 04:25:57,300
the end of this strange 
suspended time when your house 

4612
04:25:57,300 --> 04:26:00,300
was full and your life was 
briefly less singular from 

4613
04:26:00,300 --> 04:26:02,900
somewhere down the street. 
You hear laughter children 

4614
04:26:02,900 --> 04:26:06,000
playing in the snow probably 
taking advantage of their 

4615
04:26:06,000 --> 04:26:10,400
unexpected vacation from school.
The sound carries clearly in the

4616
04:26:10,408 --> 04:26:13,300
cold air, a reminder that life 
continues. 

4617
04:26:13,300 --> 04:26:16,300
That other people are living 
their own versions of returning 

4618
04:26:16,300 --> 04:26:19,200
to normal. 
Tomorrow, the mill will reopen 

4619
04:26:19,200 --> 04:26:22,200
on Monday, the stores will be 
back in business. 

4620
04:26:22,200 --> 04:26:26,200
Tuesday will feel almost like 
any other Tuesday, the storm 

4621
04:26:26,200 --> 04:26:30,100
already becoming a memory, the 
details beginning to blur, but 

4622
04:26:30,100 --> 04:26:31,500
you'll remember. 
This Thanksgiving. 

4623
04:26:31,500 --> 04:26:35,100
You'll remember the Panic of 
waking to unexpected snow. 

4624
04:26:35,100 --> 04:26:38,600
The adjustment of plans and the 
gradual Gathering of neighbors 

4625
04:26:38,600 --> 04:26:42,000
into something like family. 
You'll remember Mrs, Chen's 

4626
04:26:42,000 --> 04:26:46,500
worrying, and Betty's resilience
and the Henderson girls, pure 

4627
04:26:46,500 --> 04:26:49,900
delight in the snow. 
You'll remember Mr. Johnson's 

4628
04:26:49,900 --> 04:26:53,700
stories, and Mr. Patterson's 
helpfulness and the way your 

4629
04:26:53,700 --> 04:26:56,900
house when it was full of life, 
most of all, you'll remember 

4630
04:26:56,900 --> 04:26:59,200
that you're not as a loan as you
sometimes feel. 

4631
04:27:00,000 --> 04:27:02,500
That Cedar Mills is more than 
just the place you live. 

4632
04:27:03,300 --> 04:27:05,900
It's a community of people who 
show up for each other when 

4633
04:27:05,900 --> 04:27:09,700
circumstances require it. 
Your neighbor's know where you 

4634
04:27:09,700 --> 04:27:12,700
keep your good Brandy and how 
you take your coffee and what 

4635
04:27:12,700 --> 04:27:15,700
makes you laugh. 
That connection doesn't require 

4636
04:27:15,700 --> 04:27:18,300
perfect planning or ideal 
circumstances. 

4637
04:27:18,300 --> 04:27:22,400
Sometimes it just requires a 
historic, snowstorm and the 

4638
04:27:22,400 --> 04:27:26,200
willingness to open your door. 
Winter settles in to Cedar Mills

4639
04:27:26,200 --> 04:27:28,900
with the kind of authority. 
That late November snow brings 

4640
04:27:28,900 --> 04:27:32,900
the Thanksgiving storm becomes 
The Benchmark against which all 

4641
04:27:32,900 --> 04:27:36,500
other storms are measured. 
Not as bad as that Thanksgiving 

4642
04:27:36,500 --> 04:27:40,200
storm people say, or almost as 
much snow as we got that 

4643
04:27:40,200 --> 04:27:45,000
Thanksgiving in 42. 
Specific details fade for most, 

4644
04:27:45,000 --> 04:27:47,800
people becoming generalized into
a story. 

4645
04:27:48,700 --> 04:27:51,900
The year, the town froze, the 
holiday where nobody could go 

4646
04:27:51,900 --> 04:27:55,900
anywhere and that crazy storm 
right after Pearl Harbor's first

4647
04:27:55,900 --> 04:27:58,800
anniversary. 
But you remember the specifics 

4648
04:27:58,800 --> 04:28:01,900
you remember them through 
December when Betty stops by 

4649
04:28:01,900 --> 04:28:03,400
once a week for coffee and 
conversation. 

4650
04:28:03,400 --> 04:28:07,200
When the Henderson girl draws 
you pictures of snowmen that you

4651
04:28:07,200 --> 04:28:09,200
stick to your refrigerator with 
magnets. 

4652
04:28:10,000 --> 04:28:12,200
You remember them at Christmas 
when Mrs? 

4653
04:28:12,200 --> 04:28:15,500
Chen brings you homemade 
dumplings a Mr. Johnson invite 

4654
04:28:15,500 --> 04:28:16,700
you to his daughter's house for 
dinner. 

4655
04:28:17,500 --> 04:28:20,100
Because you shouldn't be alone 
on Christmas after being such a 

4656
04:28:20,100 --> 04:28:22,900
saint on Thanksgiving. 
You remember the texture of 

4657
04:28:22,908 --> 04:28:25,800
those three days? 
Not just the events, but the 

4658
04:28:25,800 --> 04:28:29,400
feeling of them, A particular 
quality of time when the normal 

4659
04:28:29,400 --> 04:28:32,600
rules were suspended the way 
your house sounded when it was 

4660
04:28:32,600 --> 04:28:35,700
full of voices. 
Comfort of waking to know. 

4661
04:28:35,700 --> 04:28:38,600
You want to loan that other 
people were breathing in 

4662
04:28:38,600 --> 04:28:42,100
adjacent rooms. 
The strange intimacy of sharing 

4663
04:28:42,100 --> 04:28:45,500
space with near strangers, who 
became something more through 

4664
04:28:45,500 --> 04:28:48,000
simple, proximity and shared 
circumstance. 

4665
04:28:48,000 --> 04:28:50,800
January brings your nephew home 
on unexpected. 

4666
04:28:50,800 --> 04:28:53,800
Leave Nutella him. 
The whole story of a turkey 

4667
04:28:53,800 --> 04:28:57,400
sandwiches You've never 
completely stopped making turkey

4668
04:28:57,400 --> 04:29:00,500
sandwiches since that 
Thanksgiving always keeping some

4669
04:29:00,500 --> 04:29:02,900
in the freezer. 
He listens with the kind of 

4670
04:29:02,908 --> 04:29:05,500
attention that suggests. 
He understands something about 

4671
04:29:05,500 --> 04:29:07,400
the experience. 
You can't quite articulate. 

4672
04:29:09,400 --> 04:29:11,400
Sounds like my unit. 
He says, finally. 

4673
04:29:12,300 --> 04:29:14,700
A bunch of guys who didn't know 
each other thrown together by 

4674
04:29:14,700 --> 04:29:18,100
circumstances figuring out how 
to be a family of sorts. 

4675
04:29:18,100 --> 04:29:21,800
It's not the same as home, but 
it's something, you think about 

4676
04:29:21,800 --> 04:29:25,500
that comparison for days, 
afterward how crisis creates 

4677
04:29:25,500 --> 04:29:27,900
Community Helping stuck 
together? 

4678
04:29:27,900 --> 04:29:32,300
Literally, in your case 
figuratively, in his forces, a 

4679
04:29:32,300 --> 04:29:35,000
kind of connection that 
comfortable circumstances and 

4680
04:29:35,000 --> 04:29:38,100
never require How the storm gave
you something? 

4681
04:29:38,100 --> 04:29:41,800
You didn't know you needed? 
Proof that you could open your 

4682
04:29:41,800 --> 04:29:43,900
life to others that your 
carefully. 

4683
04:29:43,900 --> 04:29:47,500
Maintained Independence. 
Wasn't the only way to live by 

4684
04:29:47,500 --> 04:29:49,100
February. 
The snow from Thanksgiving has 

4685
04:29:49,100 --> 04:29:52,500
long since melted though. 
Other storms have added their 

4686
04:29:52,500 --> 04:29:55,200
own. 
Accumulation life has returned 

4687
04:29:55,200 --> 04:29:59,200
to its normal patterns work and 
errands and the small routines 

4688
04:29:59,200 --> 04:30:02,800
that structured days. 
But something fundamental has 

4689
04:30:02,800 --> 04:30:05,400
shifted. 
You accept more invitations. 

4690
04:30:05,400 --> 04:30:07,700
Now, you invite more people 
over. 

4691
04:30:08,700 --> 04:30:10,800
Your house which you kept so 
carefully. 

4692
04:30:10,800 --> 04:30:15,100
Private for two years opens its 
doors more readily, not 

4693
04:30:15,100 --> 04:30:18,100
constantly, you still value your
solitude. 

4694
04:30:18,100 --> 04:30:21,100
But enough to remember that 
you're part of something larger 

4695
04:30:21,100 --> 04:30:24,600
than yourself, Betty gets a job 
at the Mill, taking the place of

4696
04:30:24,608 --> 04:30:28,000
a man who was drafted. 
She stops by to tell you about 

4697
04:30:28,000 --> 04:30:31,800
it on her way home from her. 
First shift, her face glowing 

4698
04:30:31,800 --> 04:30:35,600
with tired Pride. 
I'm actually good at it. 

4699
04:30:35,608 --> 04:30:38,700
She says, surprised at herself 
better than I thought I'd be. 

4700
04:30:39,500 --> 04:30:43,400
not surprised you saw her find 
her strength during those snowed

4701
04:30:43,400 --> 04:30:46,100
in days and watched to discover 
resources, she didn't know she 

4702
04:30:46,100 --> 04:30:50,400
had The war is teaching 
everyone, unexpected lessons 

4703
04:30:50,400 --> 04:30:53,200
about their own capabilities, 
spring arrives. 

4704
04:30:53,200 --> 04:30:56,700
Eventually the way it always 
does turning the world green and

4705
04:30:56,700 --> 04:30:59,100
soft. 
The last traces of the 

4706
04:30:59,100 --> 04:31:01,200
Thanksgiving storm. 
Finally disappear. 

4707
04:31:02,200 --> 04:31:04,400
The persistent ice and shaded 
Corners. 

4708
04:31:04,400 --> 04:31:07,500
The dirty snow piled in parking 
lots. 

4709
04:31:07,500 --> 04:31:11,100
You're working in your garden. 
One afternoon in April, when the

4710
04:31:11,100 --> 04:31:14,200
Henderson girl appears bigger 
somehow though, it's only been 

4711
04:31:14,200 --> 04:31:16,900
four months. 
She's brought you dandelions 

4712
04:31:16,900 --> 04:31:20,200
picked from her own yard 
presented with the Slam City of 

4713
04:31:20,200 --> 04:31:23,400
someone offering roses. 
You invite her in for lemonade 

4714
04:31:23,400 --> 04:31:26,500
and cookies and she sits at your
kitchen table, chattering about 

4715
04:31:26,500 --> 04:31:29,300
school, and friends, and the 
tadpoles in the pond at the end 

4716
04:31:29,300 --> 04:31:34,400
of town, Before she leaves, she 
asks with a casual curiosity of 

4717
04:31:34,400 --> 04:31:37,000
children. 
If you remember that time when 

4718
04:31:37,000 --> 04:31:39,000
it snowed so much they stayed at
your house. 

4719
04:31:39,000 --> 04:31:41,500
You tell her. 
Yes you remember. 

4720
04:31:41,500 --> 04:31:45,900
You'll always remember the 
Thanksgiving of 1943 approaches 

4721
04:31:45,900 --> 04:31:48,800
and you make plans early your 
hosting again. 

4722
04:31:48,800 --> 04:31:52,100
But this time with full 
knowledge and intention your 

4723
04:31:52,100 --> 04:31:54,800
sister and brother, and their 
families will come as they were 

4724
04:31:54,800 --> 04:31:58,400
supposed to last year. 
But you've also invited Mrs. 

4725
04:31:58,400 --> 04:32:00,800
Chen and Betty and the 
Hendersons and Mr. Johnson, 

4726
04:32:00,800 --> 04:32:05,100
maybe Mr. Patterson, if he's 
free your dining table will 

4727
04:32:05,100 --> 04:32:09,000
actually need all seven settings
this time, possibly more the 

4728
04:32:09,000 --> 04:32:11,300
night before Thanksgiving, you 
walk through your house 

4729
04:32:11,300 --> 04:32:14,700
preparing, setting the table, 
checking your supplies and 

4730
04:32:14,700 --> 04:32:17,700
making lists. 
The rituals of the same as they 

4731
04:32:17,700 --> 04:32:19,600
were a year ago but you're 
different. 

4732
04:32:19,600 --> 04:32:23,400
You move through the tasks with 
less anxiety and more confident.

4733
04:32:24,300 --> 04:32:26,700
You're not just going through 
the motions of hosting a 

4734
04:32:26,700 --> 04:32:28,800
holiday, your creating space for
people. 

4735
04:32:28,800 --> 04:32:32,100
You care about people who have 
become genuinely important to 

4736
04:32:32,100 --> 04:32:34,300
you over the past year. 
You think about the woman? 

4737
04:32:34,300 --> 04:32:38,100
You are last Thanksgiving, 
organized and isolated prepared,

4738
04:32:38,100 --> 04:32:41,100
and lonely going through the 
motions of Celebration. 

4739
04:32:41,100 --> 04:32:44,600
While missing the point of it. 
You think about how the storm 

4740
04:32:44,600 --> 04:32:47,900
Stripped Away Your careful plans
and forced you into something 

4741
04:32:47,900 --> 04:32:51,900
Messier and more real. 
How the worst case scenario, 

4742
04:32:51,900 --> 04:32:55,500
you're carefully planned, dinner
disrupted, your house, invaded 

4743
04:32:55,500 --> 04:32:59,400
by neighbors, your Solitude 
shattered, became the best thing

4744
04:32:59,400 --> 04:33:03,800
that could have happened that 
night you dream about snow not 

4745
04:33:03,800 --> 04:33:06,400
threatening or scary just 
present. 

4746
04:33:07,300 --> 04:33:12,000
Falling steadily quietly. 
Transforming the world into 

4747
04:33:12,000 --> 04:33:15,200
something new. 
In the dream, you're watching 

4748
04:33:15,207 --> 04:33:18,500
from your window as people 
gather outside drawn to your 

4749
04:33:18,508 --> 04:33:21,900
house, like it's sending out 
some signal their cold and you 

4750
04:33:21,900 --> 04:33:25,500
let them in they're hungry and 
you feed them, they need shelter

4751
04:33:25,500 --> 04:33:28,700
and you provide it. 
The dream has the quality of 

4752
04:33:28,700 --> 04:33:31,700
myth of something architectural 
and ancient. 

4753
04:33:32,700 --> 04:33:35,500
When you wait you remember the 
feeling of it more than the 

4754
04:33:35,500 --> 04:33:37,900
details? 
The satisfaction of having 

4755
04:33:37,900 --> 04:33:41,800
something to give the joy of 
being useful and the rightness 

4756
04:33:41,800 --> 04:33:46,000
of opening your door, 
Thanksgiving 1943, unfolds with 

4757
04:33:46,000 --> 04:33:48,099
the smoothness. 
You'd hoped for the year before 

4758
04:33:48,099 --> 04:33:53,500
everyone arrives on time. 
The turkey Cooks perfectly the 

4759
04:33:53,500 --> 04:33:57,900
conversations flowy punctuated 
by laughter and the comfortable 

4760
04:33:57,900 --> 04:33:59,700
silence is of people who know 
each other. 

4761
04:33:59,700 --> 04:34:03,300
Well, Your nephew. 
Is there still stationed in the 

4762
04:34:03,300 --> 04:34:07,599
states training for something, 
nobody talks about and watching 

4763
04:34:07,599 --> 04:34:10,400
him joke, with the Henderson 
girl while helping Mrs, Chen, 

4764
04:34:10,400 --> 04:34:14,099
carry dishes, make something in 
your chest, feel warm, and full.

4765
04:34:14,099 --> 04:34:17,599
At some point during dinner, 
talk turns to last year's storm.

4766
04:34:17,599 --> 04:34:21,200
Everyone has their own version 
of events their own details. 

4767
04:34:21,200 --> 04:34:24,700
They remember the Henderson girl
insists. 

4768
04:34:24,700 --> 04:34:29,099
The snow was as tall as Daddy, 
which is an exaggeration, but 

4769
04:34:29,099 --> 04:34:33,000
not by much. 
Mr. Patterson describes digging 

4770
04:34:33,000 --> 04:34:35,700
out your driveway with the 
reverence of someone recounting 

4771
04:34:35,700 --> 04:34:39,500
an Epic Quest. 
Mrs. Chen mentioned her worried 

4772
04:34:39,500 --> 04:34:42,400
about the store. 
Though, she admits it was fine 

4773
04:34:42,400 --> 04:34:44,800
when she finally got back to it 
Betty. 

4774
04:34:44,800 --> 04:34:47,099
Who's gained confidence along 
with her job at the Mill? 

4775
04:34:47,099 --> 04:34:51,000
Raises her glass, water, not 
wine, but it doesn't matter. 

4776
04:34:52,200 --> 04:34:55,500
To unexpected blessings. 
She says and everyone 

4777
04:34:55,500 --> 04:34:58,000
understands she's talking about 
more than just the meal. 

4778
04:34:58,900 --> 04:35:02,000
She is talking about the storm 
about the way crisis, revealed 

4779
04:35:02,000 --> 04:35:05,599
connection and about how the 
worst Thanksgiving the best one.

4780
04:35:06,400 --> 04:35:09,800
Everyone Echoes the toast and 
you feel tears, prick. 

4781
04:35:09,800 --> 04:35:11,200
Your eyes, though, you're 
smiling. 

4782
04:35:11,200 --> 04:35:13,800
Later. 
After everyone has left and 

4783
04:35:13,800 --> 04:35:16,700
you're cleaning up, you find 
yourself standing at the kitchen

4784
04:35:16,700 --> 04:35:20,099
window in the exact spot. 
You stood a year ago, the 

4785
04:35:20,099 --> 04:35:23,500
weather outside is clear and 
cold with no snow in the 

4786
04:35:23,500 --> 04:35:26,000
forecast. 
Everything is going according to

4787
04:35:26,000 --> 04:35:30,800
plan and yet you feel a small 
Pang for last year's chaos for 

4788
04:35:30,800 --> 04:35:32,700
the way. 
The storm forced you out of your

4789
04:35:32,700 --> 04:35:36,400
comfortable isolation into 
something wider and more 

4790
04:35:36,400 --> 04:35:38,900
generous. 
You realize the storm gave you 

4791
04:35:38,900 --> 04:35:42,108
more than just a memorable 
Thanksgiving It gave you a 

4792
04:35:42,116 --> 04:35:43,599
different way of being in the 
world. 

4793
04:35:43,599 --> 04:35:47,500
It taught you that perfect plans
are less important than perfect 

4794
04:35:47,500 --> 04:35:51,099
presents. 
That opening your door literally

4795
04:35:51,099 --> 04:35:53,800
and metaphorically makes your 
life bigger rather than smaller.

4796
04:35:54,800 --> 04:35:57,099
that the things you think you 
want aren't always the things, 

4797
04:35:57,099 --> 04:36:00,500
you actually need the phone, 
rings as your wiping down, the 

4798
04:36:00,500 --> 04:36:04,099
counters, your sister calling to
thank you again and to tell you 

4799
04:36:04,099 --> 04:36:07,700
what a wonderful day it was You 
talked for a while about family 

4800
04:36:07,700 --> 04:36:10,599
and food and the small details 
that make holidays matter. 

4801
04:36:11,500 --> 04:36:15,400
Before hanging up, she says, you
know, I was so disappointed last

4802
04:36:15,400 --> 04:36:18,099
year when we couldn't make it, 
but I think that storm might 

4803
04:36:18,099 --> 04:36:19,599
have been exactly what you 
needed. 

4804
04:36:20,400 --> 04:36:24,000
You agree because it's true. 
The storm was exactly what you 

4805
04:36:24,000 --> 04:36:26,000
needed. 
Even though, you didn't know you

4806
04:36:26,000 --> 04:36:29,599
needed anything years later 
after the war ends after your 

4807
04:36:29,599 --> 04:36:33,000
nephew comes home, after Betty's
husband returns and they have 

4808
04:36:33,000 --> 04:36:36,200
children of their own, you'll 
still remember the Thanksgiving 

4809
04:36:36,200 --> 04:36:39,700
when the storm stopped time 
You'll remember it not as a 

4810
04:36:39,700 --> 04:36:43,200
disaster but as a gift, not as 
disruption. 

4811
04:36:43,200 --> 04:36:48,000
But as a revelation, You'll tell
the story to anyone who listened

4812
04:36:48,000 --> 04:36:51,599
embellishing the details 
slightly with each telling the 

4813
04:36:51,599 --> 04:36:53,500
way. 
All good stories evolved over 

4814
04:36:53,500 --> 04:36:56,099
time, but the heart of it will 
remain true. 

4815
04:36:56,099 --> 04:36:59,500
How nature, intervened in your 
carefully, ordered life and 

4816
04:36:59,500 --> 04:37:03,200
forced you into connection. 
How a town Frozen in place 

4817
04:37:03,200 --> 04:37:06,500
became a community held 
together. how your empty house 

4818
04:37:06,500 --> 04:37:09,900
filled with people who needed 
shelter and how you discovered, 

4819
04:37:09,900 --> 04:37:13,800
you needed the just as much How 
the worst weather created, the 

4820
04:37:13,800 --> 04:37:17,400
best memory is how sometimes the
things that seem terrible in the

4821
04:37:17,400 --> 04:37:20,400
moment, become the things you're
most grateful for in retrospect.

4822
04:37:21,200 --> 04:37:24,800
Thanksgiving storm of 1942 
becomes part of Cedar Mills 

4823
04:37:24,800 --> 04:37:28,900
mythology, part of your personal
history and part of the tapestry

4824
04:37:28,900 --> 04:37:30,800
of small town life during 
wartime. 

4825
04:37:31,599 --> 04:37:35,599
But more than that, it becomes a
touchstone, a reminder that 

4826
04:37:35,599 --> 04:37:39,300
flexibility matters more than 
planning that people matter more

4827
04:37:39,300 --> 04:37:43,200
than Perfection and that opening
yourself to the unexpected, can 

4828
04:37:43,200 --> 04:37:46,800
lead to the most meaningful 
experiences of all and on Cold 

4829
04:37:46,800 --> 04:37:48,500
November nights for the rest of 
your life. 

4830
04:37:48,500 --> 04:37:51,800
When snow begins to fall and the
wind picks up and the world 

4831
04:37:51,800 --> 04:37:55,000
outside your window starts to 
disappear, under white 

4832
04:37:55,000 --> 04:37:58,300
accumulation. 
You'll remember You'll remember 

4833
04:37:58,300 --> 04:38:01,800
the sound of voices, filling 
your house, the taste of turkey 

4834
04:38:01,800 --> 04:38:04,700
shared with neighbors. 
The Henderson girls laughed 

4835
04:38:04,700 --> 04:38:08,700
after Betty's tears giving way 
to resilience and Mrs. Chen's 

4836
04:38:08,700 --> 04:38:12,400
humming in your kitchen. 
You'll remember that you're not 

4837
04:38:12,408 --> 04:38:15,900
alone that your part of 
something larger that your life 

4838
04:38:15,900 --> 04:38:19,800
touches other lives in ways that
matter you'll remember, and 

4839
04:38:19,800 --> 04:38:22,800
you'll be grateful grateful for 
the storm that stopped your 

4840
04:38:22,800 --> 04:38:25,300
world grateful. 
For the Neighbors who became 

4841
04:38:25,300 --> 04:38:29,700
family grateful for the lesson 
learned slowly over three snowed

4842
04:38:29,700 --> 04:38:33,099
in days that the best things in 
life, for rarely the things, you

4843
04:38:33,099 --> 04:38:37,800
plan the community happens in 
crisis and that an Open Door can

4844
04:38:37,800 --> 04:38:41,900
change everything, the snowfalls
in your memory, soft and steady 

4845
04:38:41,900 --> 04:38:45,099
and infinite covering the world 
in white and possibility. 

4846
04:38:46,200 --> 04:38:49,000
And somewhere deep inside, 
you're still standing at that 

4847
04:38:49,000 --> 04:38:51,599
window. 
On Thanksgiving morning. 1942. 

4848
04:38:52,400 --> 04:38:56,200
Watching The Impossible 
accumulation and not yet knowing

4849
04:38:56,200 --> 04:38:57,599
how it will transform 
everything. 

4850
04:38:58,400 --> 04:39:00,099
Still planning your meal for 
seven. 

4851
04:39:00,099 --> 04:39:05,200
Not knowing it will feed 10. 
Still thinking you're alone, not

4852
04:39:05,200 --> 04:39:07,700
knowing you're about to 
discover, you never really were 

4853
04:39:07,700 --> 04:39:11,400
the storm taught. 
You the snow showed you, the 

4854
04:39:11,400 --> 04:39:14,400
Frozen Town gave you the gift of
connection wrapped in 

4855
04:39:14,408 --> 04:39:18,200
inconvenience of community 
disguised as crisis. 

4856
04:39:19,300 --> 04:39:23,599
And every Thanksgiving afterward
whether snowy or clear cold or 

4857
04:39:23,599 --> 04:39:27,400
miles you carry that gift with 
you, the knowledge that your 

4858
04:39:27,400 --> 04:39:31,099
life is bigger than you knew 
that your capacity for opening 

4859
04:39:31,099 --> 04:39:34,300
and sharing and connecting is 
wider than you imagined. 

4860
04:39:35,000 --> 04:39:37,800
And that sometimes the best 
moments of the ones you never 

4861
04:39:37,800 --> 04:39:42,200
could have planned the Memory 
Remains persistent as snow, in 

4862
04:39:42,200 --> 04:39:45,900
shaded Corners present as the 
changing seasons. 

4863
04:39:45,900 --> 04:39:50,100
The Thanksgiving winter storm, 
that Frozen entire town, and in 

4864
04:39:50,100 --> 04:39:54,200
doing so he thought a frozen 
heart, your heart. 

4865
04:39:55,200 --> 04:39:56,700
Heart. 
You didn't even know needed 

4866
04:39:56,700 --> 04:40:00,200
thorong until the snow came down
and the world stopped and the 

4867
04:40:00,208 --> 04:40:03,900
door opened, and the people came
in and everything changed, and 

4868
04:40:03,900 --> 04:40:07,900
you carry that change forward 
year after year, storm after 

4869
04:40:07,900 --> 04:40:09,900
storm. 
Thanksgiving after Thanksgiving.

4870
04:40:11,300 --> 04:40:14,300
Carrying it like a gift. 
Crit. 

4871
04:40:14,900 --> 04:40:18,900
Like a story worth telling. 
The story of when the snow fell 

4872
04:40:18,900 --> 04:40:23,800
in the world stopped in life. 
Real life, messy, and unexpected

4873
04:40:23,800 --> 04:40:36,800
and beautiful finally began. 
Okay, check this out. 

4874
04:40:36,800 --> 04:40:40,300
You're stepping into the year 
1066 and you've just witnessed 

4875
04:40:40,300 --> 04:40:42,400
the most successful hostile 
Takeover. 

4876
04:40:42,400 --> 04:40:45,200
In English History, though, they
didn't call it that back then. 

4877
04:40:46,400 --> 04:40:48,900
William the Conqueror who 
probably would have made an 

4878
04:40:48,900 --> 04:40:53,100
excellent corporate CEO has just
defeated Harold at Hastings and 

4879
04:40:53,100 --> 04:40:55,500
suddenly everyone who matters is
speaking French. 

4880
04:40:55,500 --> 04:40:59,100
The Norman Court wasn't like the
chaotic Saxon Halls of old. 

4881
04:40:59,100 --> 04:41:02,700
Where Warriors might burst into 
song between horses and dogs 

4882
04:41:02,700 --> 04:41:06,300
wandered, freely, among the 
rushes know, William brought 

4883
04:41:06,300 --> 04:41:09,500
Continental sophistication to 
England, which was rather like 

4884
04:41:09,500 --> 04:41:12,600
introducing fine wine to a group
of people who'd been perfectly 

4885
04:41:12,600 --> 04:41:14,800
happy with ale. 
You can imagine the culture 

4886
04:41:14,800 --> 04:41:18,900
shock one day, or an Anglo-Saxon
Noble comfortable, in your 

4887
04:41:18,900 --> 04:41:21,600
familiar, world of mead halls 
and familiar customs. 

4888
04:41:21,600 --> 04:41:24,600
And the next day, there's a 
french-speaking king issuing 

4889
04:41:24,600 --> 04:41:26,800
orders in a language. 
That sounds like someone 

4890
04:41:26,800 --> 04:41:29,600
gargling honey. 
The Normans didn't just conquer 

4891
04:41:29,600 --> 04:41:33,300
England, they redecorated it 
entirely William's Court, moved 

4892
04:41:33,300 --> 04:41:36,800
constantly a medieval Roadshow 
that would have given Modern 

4893
04:41:36,800 --> 04:41:40,100
event planners nightmares. 
The Royal household packed up 

4894
04:41:40,108 --> 04:41:43,300
every few weeks and trudged from
Castle to Castle carrying. 

4895
04:41:43,300 --> 04:41:45,700
Everything from the King's 
favorite chair to the Royal 

4896
04:41:45,700 --> 04:41:48,500
toilet seat. 
Yes, medieval kings had portable

4897
04:41:48,500 --> 04:41:50,900
toilet seats. 
Even conquerors need comfort. 

4898
04:41:50,900 --> 04:41:54,500
The domesday book, Williams 
famous survey of England reads, 

4899
04:41:54,500 --> 04:41:56,700
like the world's most 
comprehensive tax audit. 

4900
04:41:57,300 --> 04:42:00,200
Imagine teams of Norman, 
Clarke's descending on English 

4901
04:42:00,200 --> 04:42:03,700
Villages like medieval 
accountants, counting every Pig,

4902
04:42:03,700 --> 04:42:07,100
chicken, and patch of turnips. 
The locals, must have watched 

4903
04:42:07,100 --> 04:42:09,000
these proceedings with the same 
enthusiasm. 

4904
04:42:09,000 --> 04:42:11,300
Modern people show for tax 
season. 

4905
04:42:11,300 --> 04:42:13,700
What made the Norman Court 
fascinating? 

4906
04:42:13,700 --> 04:42:16,900
Was that it was essentially a 
startup that achieved success 

4907
04:42:16,900 --> 04:42:21,000
Beyond anyone's expectations. 
William took a relatively small 

4908
04:42:21,000 --> 04:42:23,900
group of French Nobles and 
convinced them to cross the 

4909
04:42:23,900 --> 04:42:26,200
channel and reinvent an entire 
Kingdom. 

4910
04:42:27,200 --> 04:42:30,100
They brought new architecture, 
new laws, new fashions. 

4911
04:42:30,100 --> 04:42:33,300
And most importantly, new ideas 
about how Royal courts should 

4912
04:42:33,300 --> 04:42:36,500
function the Normans turn, the 
English Court into Europe's, 

4913
04:42:36,500 --> 04:42:39,200
most efficient government 
machine, they created a 

4914
04:42:39,200 --> 04:42:41,400
bureaucracy. 
So organized that historian, 

4915
04:42:41,400 --> 04:42:44,700
still Marvel at it today. 
Every penny was accounted for 

4916
04:42:44,700 --> 04:42:49,100
every legal decision recorded at
every Royal progress plan with 

4917
04:42:49,100 --> 04:42:52,700
military precision. 
The Saxons had been Jazz 

4918
04:42:52,700 --> 04:42:56,000
musicians improvising freely and
following their instincts. 

4919
04:42:56,000 --> 04:42:59,200
The Normans were a full 
orchestra playing from 

4920
04:42:59,200 --> 04:43:02,600
carefully, written sheet music. 
What's remarkable is how quickly

4921
04:43:02,600 --> 04:43:06,200
the two cultures began to blend 
within a generation Norman, 

4922
04:43:06,200 --> 04:43:08,900
Knights were marrying English 
heiresses and their children. 

4923
04:43:08,900 --> 04:43:11,500
Grew up by lingual. 
The court became a place where 

4924
04:43:11,500 --> 04:43:15,200
French efficiency met English 
practicality creating something 

4925
04:43:15,200 --> 04:43:17,900
entirely new. 
You might say it was the 

4926
04:43:17,900 --> 04:43:21,300
Medieval equivalent of fusion 
Cuisine except instead of mixing

4927
04:43:21,300 --> 04:43:24,500
thigh and Mexican flavors, they 
were blending governmental 

4928
04:43:24,500 --> 04:43:26,900
systems. 
The castle became the symbol of 

4929
04:43:26,900 --> 04:43:29,400
this new order. 
These weren't just fortresses, 

4930
04:43:29,400 --> 04:43:33,900
they were corporate headquarters
Law Courts, tax offices and 

4931
04:43:33,900 --> 04:43:36,500
luxury hotels. 
All rolled into massive Stone 

4932
04:43:36,500 --> 04:43:38,900
packages. 
You were entering the nerve 

4933
04:43:38,900 --> 04:43:40,800
center of a kingdom. 
That was systematically 

4934
04:43:40,800 --> 04:43:43,800
reorganizing from the ground up.
When you stepped into a Norman 

4935
04:43:43,800 --> 04:43:46,200
Castle's. 
Great Hall fast, forward to the 

4936
04:43:46,200 --> 04:43:49,200
plantagenets and you'll find 
yourself in what amounts to the 

4937
04:43:49,200 --> 04:43:51,100
world's longest running family 
drama. 

4938
04:43:52,000 --> 04:43:55,400
If the Normans were efficient to
administrators the plantagenets 

4939
04:43:55,400 --> 04:43:58,100
were passionate performers, who 
happened to run a kingdom on the

4940
04:43:58,100 --> 04:44:00,500
side. 
Henry the second, the first plan

4941
04:44:00,500 --> 04:44:04,000
at King inherited an Empire that
stretched from the Scottish 

4942
04:44:04,000 --> 04:44:07,600
borders to the Pyrenees. 
Managing this required him to be

4943
04:44:07,600 --> 04:44:11,800
part politician, part, general 
part Diplomat and part traveling

4944
04:44:11,800 --> 04:44:14,700
salesman. 
He was constantly on the Move, 

4945
04:44:14,700 --> 04:44:17,600
governing his vast territories, 
with the energy of someone who 

4946
04:44:17,600 --> 04:44:20,800
had far too much medieval 
coffee, if such a thing had 

4947
04:44:20,800 --> 04:44:23,800
existed, the plantagenet court 
was where politics became 

4948
04:44:23,800 --> 04:44:25,700
personal in the most spectacular
ways. 

4949
04:44:25,700 --> 04:44:29,900
Take Henry's marriage to Eleanor
of Aquitaine a woman who was 

4950
04:44:29,900 --> 04:44:31,800
essentially the power broker of 
her age. 

4951
04:44:31,800 --> 04:44:35,100
Eleanor had already been queen 
of France before marrying Henry 

4952
04:44:35,100 --> 04:44:37,500
bringing with her the 
sophisticated culture of 

4953
04:44:37,508 --> 04:44:40,600
Southern France. 
He turned the English Court into

4954
04:44:40,600 --> 04:44:44,000
a place where Troubadour sang 
Love Songs poets competed for 

4955
04:44:44,000 --> 04:44:48,000
Royal favor and courtly romance.
Flourished like exotic flowers 

4956
04:44:48,000 --> 04:44:50,900
in a hot house but Eleanor and 
Henry's marriage was less 

4957
04:44:50,900 --> 04:44:53,600
romance novel and more 
psychological Thriller. 

4958
04:44:54,300 --> 04:44:57,000
They spent years alternately 
partnering in ambitious 

4959
04:44:57,000 --> 04:44:59,900
political schemes and plotting 
each other's downfall. 

4960
04:44:59,900 --> 04:45:04,200
Their four Sons Henry, the young
king Richard, the lionheart 

4961
04:45:04,200 --> 04:45:07,600
Jeffrey and John grew up 
watching their parents complex 

4962
04:45:07,600 --> 04:45:10,800
relationship and apparently 
decided that family Harmony was 

4963
04:45:10,800 --> 04:45:13,100
overrated. 
The result was a royal family 

4964
04:45:13,100 --> 04:45:15,700
that treated succession planning
like a contact sport. 

4965
04:45:16,600 --> 04:45:19,600
The prince is rebelled against 
their father formed alliances 

4966
04:45:19,600 --> 04:45:22,800
with foreign Kings and generally
behaved, like teenagers with 

4967
04:45:22,800 --> 04:45:25,500
armies. 
When Henry the young king died 

4968
04:45:25,500 --> 04:45:29,200
in the 1183, he was technically 
still in Rebellion against his 

4969
04:45:29,200 --> 04:45:31,300
father. 
Family, dinners must have been 

4970
04:45:31,300 --> 04:45:34,800
extraordinarily awkward. 
Richard the first, the lionheart

4971
04:45:34,800 --> 04:45:37,200
spent most of his Reign away 
from England crusading in the 

4972
04:45:37,208 --> 04:45:39,800
Holy Land. 
He treated his kingdom, rather 

4973
04:45:39,800 --> 04:45:43,000
like a wealthy parent, might 
treat a trust fund a reliable 

4974
04:45:43,000 --> 04:45:44,500
source of income for more 
exciting. 

4975
04:45:44,500 --> 04:45:48,600
Adventures elsewhere, Richard 
spoke little English and visited

4976
04:45:48,600 --> 04:45:50,900
England, perhaps twice during 
his 10-year Reign. 

4977
04:45:50,900 --> 04:45:53,700
However, he continues to be one 
of England's. 

4978
04:45:53,700 --> 04:45:57,100
Most renowned monarchs 
demonstrating that time, apart, 

4979
04:45:57,100 --> 04:46:00,000
truly deep, and once affection 
Then Came John. 

4980
04:46:00,000 --> 04:46:03,000
And if you've seen any movie 
about Robin Hood, you know, John

4981
04:46:03,000 --> 04:46:06,400
as the villain. 
The real John was more complex 

4982
04:46:06,400 --> 04:46:09,800
than Hollywood suggests, less 
cartoonishly evil more 

4983
04:46:09,800 --> 04:46:13,200
disastrously incompetent. 
He succeeded in losing the 

4984
04:46:13,200 --> 04:46:15,500
majority of his French 
territories facing 

4985
04:46:15,500 --> 04:46:18,700
excommunication from the pope 
and inciting armed Rebellion 

4986
04:46:18,700 --> 04:46:22,800
among his own barons. 
In 1215 they literally cornered 

4987
04:46:22,800 --> 04:46:24,000
him at running Meade and made 
him. 

4988
04:46:24,000 --> 04:46:27,200
Sign Magna carter which was 
medieval England's way of 

4989
04:46:27,200 --> 04:46:29,300
saying. 
We need to have a serious talk 

4990
04:46:29,300 --> 04:46:32,600
about your management style the 
plantagen at court during John's

4991
04:46:32,600 --> 04:46:36,100
Reign likely felt like working 
for a startup in which the CEO 

4992
04:46:36,100 --> 04:46:39,300
continually makes decisions that
everyone knows will lead to 

4993
04:46:39,300 --> 04:46:40,900
failure. 
Yet. 

4994
04:46:40,900 --> 04:46:42,600
No one can determine how to 
intervene. 

4995
04:46:43,300 --> 04:46:46,400
The Barons ultimately took 
action establishing the first 

4996
04:46:46,400 --> 04:46:48,700
formal limits on Royal power in 
English History. 

4997
04:46:48,700 --> 04:46:54,100
John's son Henry III inherited 
this mess at age 9 growing up as

4998
04:46:54,100 --> 04:46:56,000
a child. 
King meant the Henry's entire 

4999
04:46:56,000 --> 04:46:58,800
education in kingship. 
Came from watching Regents and 

5000
04:46:58,808 --> 04:47:01,500
advisors managed the kingdoms 
recovery from his father's 

5001
04:47:01,500 --> 04:47:04,800
disasters. 
Perhaps this explains why Henry 

5002
04:47:04,800 --> 04:47:08,400
developed such an obsession with
beautiful things, architecture 

5003
04:47:08,400 --> 04:47:10,800
art and luxury goods. 
That would make medieval 

5004
04:47:10,800 --> 04:47:14,200
Instagram followers, weep With 
Envy Henry, the third's court 

5005
04:47:14,200 --> 04:47:16,400
was where English Royal 
ceremonial really began to 

5006
04:47:16,408 --> 04:47:19,800
flourish He reconstructed 
Westminster Abbey in the gothic 

5007
04:47:19,800 --> 04:47:22,900
style setting the stage for the 
crowning of English monks for 

5008
04:47:22,908 --> 04:47:27,300
the ensuing 8th centuries, he 
collected art patronize Scholars

5009
04:47:27,300 --> 04:47:30,500
and turn the Royal Court into a 
cultural center that attracted 

5010
04:47:30,500 --> 04:47:33,800
Talent from across Europe. 
The plantagen at established 

5011
04:47:33,800 --> 04:47:37,100
patterns that would echo through
English, Royal history, the 

5012
04:47:37,100 --> 04:47:40,000
tension between the king's 
personal desires and his public 

5013
04:47:40,000 --> 04:47:42,400
duties. 
The constant need to balance 

5014
04:47:42,400 --> 04:47:45,500
English interests against 
Continental Ambitions and the 

5015
04:47:45,500 --> 04:47:48,300
recurring discovery, that even 
Kings must occasionally listen 

5016
04:47:48,300 --> 04:47:50,200
to their subjects, opinions 
about governance. 

5017
04:47:50,200 --> 04:47:53,400
Edward the first arrived on the 
throne, like someone finally 

5018
04:47:53,400 --> 04:47:56,100
reading the instruction manual 
after generations of 

5019
04:47:56,100 --> 04:47:59,500
improvisation. 
Where his predecessors had 

5020
04:47:59,500 --> 04:48:01,600
stumbled through the 
complexities of medieval 

5021
04:48:01,600 --> 04:48:04,400
kingship Edward approached the 
job with the systematic, 

5022
04:48:04,400 --> 04:48:06,300
thoroughness of a master 
Craftsman. 

5023
04:48:06,300 --> 04:48:09,500
You can picture Edwards Court as
a place where everything finally

5024
04:48:09,500 --> 04:48:12,200
ran on time. 
This was a king who conquered 

5025
04:48:12,200 --> 04:48:15,400
Wales, not through dramatic, 
Cavalry Charges, but through 

5026
04:48:15,400 --> 04:48:18,200
methodical strategic planning 
and Superior Logistics. 

5027
04:48:18,200 --> 04:48:21,700
He built a ring of castles that 
looked like they'd been designed

5028
04:48:21,700 --> 04:48:24,600
by someone who studied every 
military engineering textbook 

5029
04:48:24,600 --> 04:48:29,100
ever written, which in a sense, 
Edward had the court of Edward. 

5030
04:48:29,100 --> 04:48:31,500
The first buzzed with legal 
innovations that would have 

5031
04:48:31,500 --> 04:48:33,500
impressed. 
Modern constitutional lawyers 

5032
04:48:33,500 --> 04:48:38,600
Edward didn't just rule he 
legislated he created new laws 

5033
04:48:38,600 --> 04:48:41,500
reformed old ones and 
established legal procedures 

5034
04:48:41,500 --> 04:48:44,600
that lasted for centuries. 
His statutes read. 

5035
04:48:44,600 --> 04:48:47,300
Like the work of someone who 
genuinely enjoyed the technical 

5036
04:48:47,300 --> 04:48:50,500
challenges of governance. 
While other kings or lawmaking 

5037
04:48:50,500 --> 04:48:54,400
as a tedious, necessity, Edward 
treated it as creative problem 

5038
04:48:54,400 --> 04:48:56,800
solving. 
But Edwards, greatest Innovation

5039
04:48:56,800 --> 04:48:59,200
was turning Royal ceremony into 
Political theater. 

5040
04:49:00,000 --> 04:49:03,500
His conquest of Wales Coleman in
one of history's, most effective

5041
04:49:03,500 --> 04:49:06,600
publicity stunts, presenting his
infant son. 

5042
04:49:06,600 --> 04:49:10,500
Edward later, Edward the second 
to the Welsh as their prince of 

5043
04:49:10,500 --> 04:49:13,200
Wales. 
The native-born ruler, who 

5044
04:49:13,200 --> 04:49:16,000
happened to speak. 
No Welsh, but whose birth in 

5045
04:49:16,000 --> 04:49:18,400
carefull and castle made him. 
Technically, Welsh enough to 

5046
04:49:18,400 --> 04:49:20,200
satisfy the political 
requirements. 

5047
04:49:20,200 --> 04:49:23,300
The court during Edward's Reign 
felt like the headquarters of a 

5048
04:49:23,308 --> 04:49:27,400
successful consulting firm 
organized, purposeful, and 

5049
04:49:27,400 --> 04:49:29,300
slightly intimidating to 
Outsiders. 

5050
04:49:30,300 --> 04:49:33,400
Foreign ambassadors, arrived 
expecting medieval chaos and 

5051
04:49:33,400 --> 04:49:36,200
instead found Clarks who could 
produce any document within 

5052
04:49:36,200 --> 04:49:39,700
minutes treasury officials who 
knew exactly how much money was 

5053
04:49:39,700 --> 04:49:42,800
available for any proposed 
Venture and a king who actually 

5054
04:49:42,800 --> 04:49:45,600
read The Briefing papers. 
Edwards relationship with 

5055
04:49:45,600 --> 04:49:48,400
Parliament illustrates his 
practical approach to politics. 

5056
04:49:48,400 --> 04:49:51,000
He didn't summon Parliament, 
because he believed in 

5057
04:49:51,000 --> 04:49:54,600
Democratic principles, such 
ideas were still centuries in 

5058
04:49:54,600 --> 04:49:57,200
the future. 
He called Parliament because he 

5059
04:49:57,200 --> 04:50:00,500
needed money for his military 
campaigns and he discovered that

5060
04:50:00,500 --> 04:50:03,500
representatives were more likely
to approve taxes if they felt 

5061
04:50:03,500 --> 04:50:06,200
consulted about how those taxes 
would be spent. 

5062
04:50:07,400 --> 04:50:10,700
It was medieval crowdfunding 
with a constitutional twist, the

5063
04:50:10,700 --> 04:50:14,600
courts daily routine, reflected 
Edward systemic, nature morning,

5064
04:50:14,600 --> 04:50:16,600
councils dealt with 
administrative business. 

5065
04:50:16,600 --> 04:50:19,300
After noon. 
Session's handled legal appeals 

5066
04:50:19,300 --> 04:50:22,300
and evening's were reserved for 
diplomatic receptions and 

5067
04:50:22,300 --> 04:50:25,100
cultural events. 
Even the Royal meals. 

5068
04:50:25,100 --> 04:50:28,400
Followed precise protocols, not 
because Edward was particularly 

5069
04:50:28,400 --> 04:50:31,700
formal, but because he'd figured
out that consistent procedures. 

5070
04:50:31,700 --> 04:50:34,900
Prevented the sort of chaos that
had plagued earlier Reigns. 

5071
04:50:34,900 --> 04:50:38,600
Edward's Queen Eleanor of 
Castile brought her own 

5072
04:50:38,600 --> 04:50:41,000
sophisticated household that 
merged seamlessly with the 

5073
04:50:41,000 --> 04:50:44,000
English Court. 
Eleanor was no mere ornamental 

5074
04:50:44,000 --> 04:50:46,400
Royal wife. 
She was a political partner who 

5075
04:50:46,400 --> 04:50:49,600
managed extensive Estates 
engaged in diplomatic 

5076
04:50:49,600 --> 04:50:52,600
negotiations, and helped to 
create the cultural atmosphere 

5077
04:50:52,600 --> 04:50:55,700
that made Edwards Court a magnet
for European Talent. 

5078
04:50:55,700 --> 04:50:59,000
The famous Eleanor crosses. 
The elaborate monuments Edward 

5079
04:50:59,000 --> 04:51:01,400
directed at every place. 
Eleanor's funeral procession 

5080
04:51:01,400 --> 04:51:05,000
rested on its way to Westminster
not just expressions of Royal 

5081
04:51:05,000 --> 04:51:07,100
grief. 
They were architectural 

5082
04:51:07,100 --> 04:51:09,200
advertisements for the 
plantagenet dynasties 

5083
04:51:09,200 --> 04:51:12,900
sophistication and power. 
Each crossed as a visual cue 

5084
04:51:12,900 --> 04:51:15,300
that those ruling. 
This Kingdom understood both 

5085
04:51:15,300 --> 04:51:18,900
emotional depth, and artistic 
Excellence, Edwards Court. 

5086
04:51:18,900 --> 04:51:21,300
Produced the administrative 
Innovation that allowed in 

5087
04:51:21,300 --> 04:51:24,500
England to function as a unified
Kingdom, rather Than a 

5088
04:51:24,500 --> 04:51:27,800
collection of semi-independent 
regions, the Royal Chancery 

5089
04:51:27,800 --> 04:51:30,100
developed standardized 
procedures for everything from 

5090
04:51:30,100 --> 04:51:32,300
diplomatic correspondence. 
To land grants. 

5091
04:51:32,300 --> 04:51:35,600
The exchequer refined accounting
methods, that track Royale 

5092
04:51:35,600 --> 04:51:38,400
income with Precision that would
have impressed Renaissance. 

5093
04:51:38,400 --> 04:51:41,600
Bankers. 
When Edward died in 1307, he 

5094
04:51:41,600 --> 04:51:44,300
left his son a kingdom that 
functioned like a well-designed 

5095
04:51:44,300 --> 04:51:47,800
machine unfortunately. 
As we'll discover, not every 

5096
04:51:47,800 --> 04:51:51,200
King was mechanically inclined. 
Edward the second inherited. 

5097
04:51:51,200 --> 04:51:54,200
His father's efficient Kingdom 
and promptly, demonstrated. 

5098
04:51:54,200 --> 04:51:57,200
That governmental expertise 
isn't necessarily genetic. 

5099
04:51:58,100 --> 04:52:01,300
If Edward the first Court had 
been a Precision, timepiece, his

5100
04:52:01,300 --> 04:52:04,800
son's caught was more like an 
expensive watch the kept losing 

5101
04:52:04,800 --> 04:52:07,000
time because the owner couldn't 
stop fiddling with the 

5102
04:52:07,000 --> 04:52:09,200
mechanism. 
The problem wasn't that Edward, 

5103
04:52:09,200 --> 04:52:10,900
the second elect intelligence or
education. 

5104
04:52:10,900 --> 04:52:14,200
He'd received the finest, 
medieval schooling of available 

5105
04:52:14,200 --> 04:52:17,300
and understood Royal duties 
perfectly well in theory. 

5106
04:52:18,300 --> 04:52:21,100
The problem was that Edward. 
The second found the actual work

5107
04:52:21,100 --> 04:52:23,100
of King ship, monumentally 
boring. 

5108
04:52:23,900 --> 04:52:27,100
He preferred spending time with 
his close friends engaging in 

5109
04:52:27,100 --> 04:52:29,900
manual crafts and generally 
behaving like someone who did 

5110
04:52:29,908 --> 04:52:33,200
inherited a successful family 
business but would rather be 

5111
04:52:33,200 --> 04:52:36,500
pursuing artistic interests, 
this created the medieval 

5112
04:52:36,500 --> 04:52:39,600
equivalent of an office where 
the CEO spends most of his time 

5113
04:52:39,600 --> 04:52:42,800
in the employee break room while
important decisions pile up on 

5114
04:52:42,800 --> 04:52:45,400
his desk. 
Edwards Court became a place 

5115
04:52:45,400 --> 04:52:48,200
where ambitious Nobles competed 
not for the king's attention 

5116
04:52:48,200 --> 04:52:52,000
regarding policy matters. 
But for positions in his inner 

5117
04:52:52,000 --> 04:52:54,800
Social Circle, the situation 
became complicated. 

5118
04:52:54,800 --> 04:52:57,400
When Edward developed an 
intensely close relationship 

5119
04:52:57,400 --> 04:53:00,700
with Piers gaveston, a young 
nobleman who possessed, the 

5120
04:53:00,700 --> 04:53:02,900
medieval equivalent of magnetic 
charisma. 

5121
04:53:03,600 --> 04:53:07,800
Galveston was witty stylish and 
completely uninterested in the 

5122
04:53:07,800 --> 04:53:10,700
sort of respectful, deference 
that other Nobles expected to 

5123
04:53:10,708 --> 04:53:14,200
receive from Royal favourites. 
He nicknamed the powerful URLs 

5124
04:53:14,200 --> 04:53:17,400
with insulting pet names and 
generally behaved like someone 

5125
04:53:17,400 --> 04:53:20,600
who'd never read the handbook 
on, medieval Court Politics, the

5126
04:53:20,600 --> 04:53:23,100
established nobility. 
Watch this relationship with the

5127
04:53:23,100 --> 04:53:26,000
mounting horror of senior 
Executives discovering that the 

5128
04:53:26,000 --> 04:53:28,400
bosses college roommate has been
appointed as their new 

5129
04:53:28,400 --> 04:53:31,000
supervisor. 
Galveston wasn't just 

5130
04:53:31,000 --> 04:53:33,700
inappropriate. 
He was effective at making the 

5131
04:53:33,700 --> 04:53:36,400
traditional power Brokers, feel 
excluded from important 

5132
04:53:36,400 --> 04:53:40,500
decision, the court split into 
factors, those who found the 

5133
04:53:40,500 --> 04:53:43,100
situation tolerable. 
And those who decidedly did not 

5134
04:53:43,100 --> 04:53:46,600
the result was a series of 
political crises that read like,

5135
04:53:46,600 --> 04:53:49,500
medieval office politics taken 
to their logical extreme. 

5136
04:53:49,500 --> 04:53:53,200
The Barons repeatedly forced 
Edward to send gaveston into 

5137
04:53:53,200 --> 04:53:57,600
Exile, Edward repeatedly, found 
ways to bring him back and gave 

5138
04:53:57,600 --> 04:53:59,800
us an repeatedly. 
Managed to offend everyone who 

5139
04:53:59,800 --> 04:54:03,000
mattered. 
Cycle continued until 1312. 

5140
04:54:03,000 --> 04:54:06,400
When a group of URLs decided to 
solve the problem permanently, 

5141
04:54:06,400 --> 04:54:09,800
by murdering gaveston Edwards 
reaction to his favorites death.

5142
04:54:09,800 --> 04:54:12,600
Transformed him from an 
ineffective but harmless King 

5143
04:54:12,600 --> 04:54:17,100
into a genuinely dangerous enemy
The gentle artistic Soul who 

5144
04:54:17,100 --> 04:54:20,700
preferred crafts to Conquest 
suddenly developed a talent for 

5145
04:54:20,700 --> 04:54:23,000
sustained Vengeance. 
That would have impressed his 

5146
04:54:23,000 --> 04:54:25,500
Warrior. 
Father, the court became a place

5147
04:54:25,500 --> 04:54:28,900
where courteous calculated not 
just political Advantage, but 

5148
04:54:28,900 --> 04:54:32,400
personal survival. 
The dispenser family, who the 

5149
04:54:32,400 --> 04:54:35,500
Elder and Hugh the younger 
replaced Galveston as Edwards 

5150
04:54:35,500 --> 04:54:38,600
closest advisors but they 
brought none of Galveston's 

5151
04:54:38,600 --> 04:54:40,900
charm and all of his talent for 
making enemies. 

5152
04:54:41,800 --> 04:54:45,000
The dispensers treated Royal 
favour as a licensed for 

5153
04:54:45,000 --> 04:54:48,600
systemic corruption, using their
positions to acquire lands 

5154
04:54:48,600 --> 04:54:51,100
titles and wealth through 
methods that would have 

5155
04:54:51,100 --> 04:54:52,800
embarrassed medieval robber 
barons. 

5156
04:54:52,800 --> 04:54:55,900
Meanwhile, Edwards, Queen, 
Isabella of France. 

5157
04:54:55,900 --> 04:54:58,700
Watched her husband's 
relationships with male favorite

5158
04:54:58,700 --> 04:55:02,200
and gradual descent into 
Political paranoia with the 

5159
04:55:02,200 --> 04:55:04,800
patience of someone waiting for 
the right moment to file for 

5160
04:55:04,800 --> 04:55:07,300
divorce. 
If such a thing had existed in 

5161
04:55:07,300 --> 04:55:10,000
medieval Royal marriage 
contracts, Isabella's 

5162
04:55:10,000 --> 04:55:12,800
transformation from neglected 
wife to political revolutionary,

5163
04:55:12,800 --> 04:55:15,700
deserves its own chapter, in any
study of medieval character 

5164
04:55:15,700 --> 04:55:19,200
development, She began the reign
as a conventional, Royal, 

5165
04:55:19,200 --> 04:55:22,400
consort dutifully producing 
heirs and managing her 

5166
04:55:22,400 --> 04:55:26,300
household. 
By 1325, she had evolved into a 

5167
04:55:26,300 --> 04:55:29,400
master political strategist who 
could give lessons in regime 

5168
04:55:29,400 --> 04:55:32,900
change to Modern intelligence 
agencies her alliance with Roger

5169
04:55:32,900 --> 04:55:34,800
Mortimer. 
One of England's, most powerful 

5170
04:55:34,800 --> 04:55:37,900
Barons created the medieval 
equivalent of a shadow 

5171
04:55:37,900 --> 04:55:40,200
government. 
Isabella and Mortimer 

5172
04:55:40,200 --> 04:55:43,000
established themselves in 
France, gathered military 

5173
04:55:43,000 --> 04:55:45,600
support and planned their 
invasion of England with the 

5174
04:55:45,608 --> 04:55:48,300
thoroughness that Edward. 
The second had never applied to 

5175
04:55:48,300 --> 04:55:51,000
actual governance. 
When Isabella's forces, landed 

5176
04:55:51,000 --> 04:55:54,700
in England, in 1326 Edwards, 
government collapsed with the 

5177
04:55:54,700 --> 04:55:58,600
speed of a house of cards in a 
stiff breeze, the king who had 

5178
04:55:58,608 --> 04:56:01,600
spent 20 years alienating. 
His most important supporters 

5179
04:56:01,600 --> 04:56:05,100
discovered that loyalty cannot 
be stored like grain in a Royal 

5180
04:56:05,108 --> 04:56:07,900
Warehouse. 
It spoils if neglected for too 

5181
04:56:07,900 --> 04:56:12,600
long Edwards capture and forced 
abdication in 1327 ended one of 

5182
04:56:12,608 --> 04:56:15,500
the most psychologically complex
rains in English History. 

5183
04:56:16,500 --> 04:56:18,000
His court had become a 
cautionary. 

5184
04:56:18,000 --> 04:56:21,100
Tale about what happens when 
personal relationships override 

5185
04:56:21,100 --> 04:56:24,500
political judgment and when 
King's forget that their private

5186
04:56:24,500 --> 04:56:27,000
preferences cannot be separated 
from their public 

5187
04:56:27,000 --> 04:56:30,000
responsibilities Edward. 
The third inherited, a kingdom 

5188
04:56:30,008 --> 04:56:33,000
that desperately needed someone 
who actually wanted to be king. 

5189
04:56:33,900 --> 04:56:35,800
Fortunately, that's exactly what
they got. 

5190
04:56:37,000 --> 04:56:39,500
Where his father had approached 
kingship, like a reluctant 

5191
04:56:39,500 --> 04:56:42,900
employee showing up for a job. 
He'd never wanted Edward, the 

5192
04:56:42,900 --> 04:56:45,900
third embraced royal power with 
the enthusiasm of someone who'd 

5193
04:56:45,900 --> 04:56:48,200
been waiting his entire life for
the opportunity. 

5194
04:56:48,200 --> 04:56:51,200
The court of Edward, the third 
felt like a medieval version of 

5195
04:56:51,200 --> 04:56:53,500
Mission Control during an 
exciting Space Program. 

5196
04:56:53,500 --> 04:56:57,100
Everything was focused on the 
great project of proving that 

5197
04:56:57,100 --> 04:57:00,200
England could compete with 
France as a major European 

5198
04:57:00,200 --> 04:57:02,700
power. 
This required transforming 

5199
04:57:02,700 --> 04:57:06,700
English, military capabilities, 
diplomatic relationships and 

5200
04:57:06,700 --> 04:57:09,800
cultural Prestige. 
Simultaneously Edwards solution 

5201
04:57:09,800 --> 04:57:12,200
was to turn Warfare into a 
combination of professional 

5202
04:57:12,200 --> 04:57:15,300
efficiency. 
In respectable his court, became

5203
04:57:15,300 --> 04:57:17,500
the headquarters for military 
innovations, that would 

5204
04:57:17,500 --> 04:57:21,400
revolutionize European combat. 
English longbowmen weren't just 

5205
04:57:21,400 --> 04:57:24,500
skilled archers, they were 
Precision weapons specialist, 

5206
04:57:24,500 --> 04:57:27,100
whose training regiments would 
have impressed modern Olympic 

5207
04:57:27,100 --> 04:57:30,800
coaches, the creation of the 
order of the Garter in 1348. 

5208
04:57:30,800 --> 04:57:34,000
Illustrate Edwards. 
Genius for combining practical 

5209
04:57:34,000 --> 04:57:38,000
politics with romantic imagery. 
The Story Goes that Edward 

5210
04:57:38,000 --> 04:57:40,900
rescued, a lady's garter that 
had fallen during a court dance,

5211
04:57:40,900 --> 04:57:43,600
declaring honey, sweaty, Molly 
pass. 

5212
04:57:43,600 --> 04:57:45,700
Shame on him. 
Who thinks evil of it? 

5213
04:57:46,400 --> 04:57:48,900
Whether this actually happened 
matters less than Edwards 

5214
04:57:48,900 --> 04:57:51,200
Insight. 
That nightly honor needed 

5215
04:57:51,200 --> 04:57:53,700
institutional structure to 
remain politically useful. 

5216
04:57:53,700 --> 04:57:56,700
The Garter Knights weren't just 
ceremonial appointments. 

5217
04:57:56,700 --> 04:58:00,400
They were Edwards Corps military
and political leadership bound 

5218
04:58:00,400 --> 04:58:03,400
together by Oaths that merged 
personal loyalty with service to

5219
04:58:03,400 --> 04:58:05,900
the kingdom. 
It was medieval team building 

5220
04:58:05,900 --> 04:58:09,300
with lasting constitutional 
implications Edwards Court 

5221
04:58:09,300 --> 04:58:13,800
during the early phases of the 
100th of a successful startup. 

5222
04:58:13,800 --> 04:58:15,300
That's just secured major 
funding. 

5223
04:58:16,300 --> 04:58:20,300
The victory had crazy in 1346 
proved that English Tactical 

5224
04:58:20,300 --> 04:58:23,000
Innovations could defeat 
traditional French military 

5225
04:58:23,000 --> 04:58:26,800
superiority, the capture of Cali
gave England, a permanent 

5226
04:58:26,800 --> 04:58:31,600
foothold on the continent, the 
victory at party in 1356 where 

5227
04:58:31,600 --> 04:58:33,600
Edward son? 
The black prince captured. 

5228
04:58:33,600 --> 04:58:36,100
The French King himself 
established, the English. 

5229
04:58:36,100 --> 04:58:38,900
Royal Family's reputation as 
Europe's Most formidable 

5230
04:58:38,900 --> 04:58:42,500
military Dynasty but courts that
revolve around military success 

5231
04:58:42,500 --> 04:58:45,300
inevitable challenges when the 
victory stop coming. 

5232
04:58:46,200 --> 04:58:50,100
The black death, which reached 
England in 1348, killed 

5233
04:58:50,100 --> 04:58:53,300
approximately 1/3 of the 
population and disrupted. 

5234
04:58:53,300 --> 04:58:55,900
The economic systems. 
That funded Edwards, Continental

5235
04:58:55,900 --> 04:58:58,700
ambitions. 
Suddenly, the court found itself

5236
04:58:58,700 --> 04:59:01,300
managing not just military 
campaigns, but social 

5237
04:59:01,300 --> 04:59:04,100
Revolution, the plagues 
aftermath created labor. 

5238
04:59:04,100 --> 04:59:07,100
Shortages that gave surviving 
peasants, unprecedented 

5239
04:59:07,100 --> 04:59:10,200
bargaining power. 
Traditional social hierarchies 

5240
04:59:10,200 --> 04:59:13,100
began shifting in ways that made
established Nobles nervous. 

5241
04:59:13,100 --> 04:59:16,200
The court had to navigate 
between maintaining traditional 

5242
04:59:16,200 --> 04:59:20,000
Privileges and acknowledging New
Economic realities, Edward age 

5243
04:59:20,000 --> 04:59:22,500
into someone who learned that 
even successful Kings cannot 

5244
04:59:22,500 --> 04:59:25,500
control all the variables, that 
determine their Reigns outcomes.

5245
04:59:26,200 --> 04:59:28,600
The energetic Warrior who 
launched England's bid for 

5246
04:59:28,608 --> 04:59:31,600
Continental Empire became a 
somewhat Melancholy figure 

5247
04:59:31,600 --> 04:59:34,000
presiding over a kingdom. 
That was simultaneously more 

5248
04:59:34,000 --> 04:59:35,800
powerful, and more troubled than
it had. 

5249
04:59:35,800 --> 04:59:38,600
Been at his accession the court 
during Edwards. 

5250
04:59:38,600 --> 04:59:42,100
Final years reflected, this 
complexity Royal ceremonies 

5251
04:59:42,100 --> 04:59:45,400
maintained their magnificent 
diplomatic negotiations. 

5252
04:59:45,400 --> 04:59:48,700
Continue to cross Europe and 
Military campaigned proceeded, 

5253
04:59:48,700 --> 04:59:50,400
according to established 
strategies. 

5254
04:59:51,400 --> 04:59:54,500
But underneath the familiar 
routines, everyone could sense 

5255
04:59:54,500 --> 04:59:57,400
that the assumptions underlying 
Edwards, early successes were 

5256
04:59:57,400 --> 04:59:59,100
becoming increasingly 
questionable. 

5257
04:59:59,100 --> 05:00:02,900
The black prince is premature 
death in. 1376 symbolized the 

5258
05:00:02,900 --> 05:00:07,000
broader challenges facing the 
plantagenet system Edward the 

5259
05:00:07,000 --> 05:00:09,300
third had created a court 
culture based on chivalrous, 

5260
05:00:09,300 --> 05:00:11,900
military Excellence, but 
chivalry offered limited 

5261
05:00:11,900 --> 05:00:14,800
guidance for managing plague 
disrupted social structures 

5262
05:00:14,800 --> 05:00:18,300
economic inflation and the 
growing political sophistication

5263
05:00:18,300 --> 05:00:21,000
of England's. 
Urban populations when Edward 

5264
05:00:21,000 --> 05:00:25,100
the third died in 1377, he left 
a kingdom that had achieved his 

5265
05:00:25,100 --> 05:00:27,800
goal of establishing England as 
a major European power. 

5266
05:00:27,800 --> 05:00:31,400
But at costs that his successes 
would spend Generations, 

5267
05:00:31,400 --> 05:00:34,600
calculating 10 year old Richard,
the Second inherited a kingdom 

5268
05:00:34,608 --> 05:00:38,200
expecting another warrior king 
and instead got an artist who 

5269
05:00:38,200 --> 05:00:41,700
happened to wear a crown. 
If Edward the third's court had 

5270
05:00:41,700 --> 05:00:45,200
been focused outward toward 
Continental Conquest Richards, 

5271
05:00:45,200 --> 05:00:47,500
Court turned inward toward 
creating something 

5272
05:00:47,500 --> 05:00:51,000
unprecedented, a royal household
that treated cultural 

5273
05:00:51,000 --> 05:00:54,000
sophistication as seriously as 
previous generations. 

5274
05:00:54,000 --> 05:00:57,800
Had treated military prowess you
can imagine the confusion this 

5275
05:00:57,800 --> 05:01:00,500
caused among Nobles, who spent 
their entire careers preparing 

5276
05:01:00,500 --> 05:01:02,500
for careers, as Knights and 
Military Commanders. 

5277
05:01:03,500 --> 05:01:06,400
Suddenly they found themselves 
in a court where success went 

5278
05:01:06,400 --> 05:01:09,100
understanding, poetry 
appreciating architectural 

5279
05:01:09,100 --> 05:01:12,800
Innovation, and navigating 
social protocols that resembled 

5280
05:01:12,800 --> 05:01:15,300
elaborate performance is more 
than traditional feudal 

5281
05:01:15,300 --> 05:01:17,800
relationships. 
Richards, Court developed its 

5282
05:01:17,800 --> 05:01:20,400
own aesthetic that modern 
artists in still study with 

5283
05:01:20,400 --> 05:01:23,500
fascination The king, 
commissioned illuminated 

5284
05:01:23,500 --> 05:01:25,300
manuscripts. 
That looked like medieval 

5285
05:01:25,300 --> 05:01:29,000
graphic novels patronized 
architects who created buildings

5286
05:01:29,000 --> 05:01:31,800
that seemed to float. 
Despite being constructed from 

5287
05:01:31,800 --> 05:01:35,100
heavy Stone and surrounded 
himself with intellectuals who 

5288
05:01:35,108 --> 05:01:38,800
treated political philosophy as 
an art form, worthy of Lifetime 

5289
05:01:38,800 --> 05:01:41,300
dedication. 
The famous Wilton diptych 

5290
05:01:41,300 --> 05:01:44,300
probably created for Richard's 
Court, captures the atmosphere 

5291
05:01:44,300 --> 05:01:48,600
perfectly shows Richard being 
presented to the Virgin Mary by 

5292
05:01:48,600 --> 05:01:52,400
his patron saints, The paintings
real subject is the idea that 

5293
05:01:52,400 --> 05:01:55,600
Royal Authority derives from 
Divine aesthetic judgment rather

5294
05:01:55,600 --> 05:01:58,600
than military prowess. 
Richard looks less like a 

5295
05:01:58,608 --> 05:02:01,700
warrior more like a medieval art
critic, whose discovered 

5296
05:02:01,700 --> 05:02:04,500
something beautiful. 
This cultural revolution wasn't 

5297
05:02:04,500 --> 05:02:07,800
just decorative, Richard 
understood that Royal Authority 

5298
05:02:07,800 --> 05:02:09,100
needed. 
New Foundations. 

5299
05:02:09,100 --> 05:02:11,500
Now that the Black Death had 
disrupted traditional social 

5300
05:02:11,500 --> 05:02:14,200
hierarchies. 
If Kings could no longer rely 

5301
05:02:14,200 --> 05:02:16,900
solely on military force with 
feudal obligation to maintain 

5302
05:02:16,900 --> 05:02:20,400
power, they needed to create new
forms of prestige and Authority.

5303
05:02:21,400 --> 05:02:23,500
Richard's solution was to make 
the Royal Court. 

5304
05:02:23,500 --> 05:02:26,800
So culturally magnificent, that 
association with it, became 

5305
05:02:26,800 --> 05:02:30,000
irresistible to ambitious. 
Nobles, the result was a court 

5306
05:02:30,008 --> 05:02:32,800
where political negotiations 
felt like elaborate theatrical 

5307
05:02:32,800 --> 05:02:36,600
performances, Richard developed 
ceremonies that turned routine 

5308
05:02:36,600 --> 05:02:39,600
administrative tasks into 
rituals that demonstrated Royal 

5309
05:02:39,600 --> 05:02:42,800
Authority through aesthetic 
Excellence rather than raw power

5310
05:02:42,800 --> 05:02:45,600
foreign ambassadors. 
Arrived expecting traditional 

5311
05:02:45,600 --> 05:02:48,800
medieval formality and instead 
encountered governmental 

5312
05:02:48,800 --> 05:02:52,500
procedures that seem designed by
choreographers Richards personal

5313
05:02:52,500 --> 05:02:55,900
style, reflected, this approach 
he dressed with an attention to 

5314
05:02:55,900 --> 05:02:57,100
detail. 
That would have impressed 

5315
05:02:57,100 --> 05:03:00,000
Renaissance fashion designers 
spoke with the Precision of 

5316
05:03:00,008 --> 05:03:03,400
someone who studied rhetoric as 
a fine art and carried himself 

5317
05:03:03,400 --> 05:03:06,600
with the conscience of a 
performer who understood that 

5318
05:03:06,600 --> 05:03:09,700
every public appearance was a 
political statement, the king's 

5319
05:03:09,700 --> 05:03:11,200
relationship with literature 
produced. 

5320
05:03:11,200 --> 05:03:13,900
Some of the most important 
cultural developments in English

5321
05:03:13,900 --> 05:03:16,700
History. 
Richard's, Court patronized 

5322
05:03:16,700 --> 05:03:19,800
Geoffrey Chaucer whose 
Canterbury Tales captures the 

5323
05:03:19,800 --> 05:03:22,600
social complexity of late, 
medieval England with 

5324
05:03:22,600 --> 05:03:25,500
psychological insight, that 
still amazes modern readers 

5325
05:03:25,500 --> 05:03:29,900
position as a royal Customs 
official allowed him to observe 

5326
05:03:29,900 --> 05:03:33,300
English society from both 
aristocratic and Commercial 

5327
05:03:33,300 --> 05:03:36,900
perspectives, giving his writing
a breath that purely academic 

5328
05:03:36,900 --> 05:03:39,700
poets could not match. 
But Richards, aesthetic approach

5329
05:03:39,700 --> 05:03:42,100
to King ship created, its own 
political challenges. 

5330
05:03:43,000 --> 05:03:45,400
Nobles, who'd expected to 
advance their careers through 

5331
05:03:45,400 --> 05:03:48,100
military service. 
Found themselves competing in 

5332
05:03:48,100 --> 05:03:52,200
cultural Arenas, where they felt
disadvantaged The court became a

5333
05:03:52,200 --> 05:03:54,100
place where traditional 
Warriors, tried to master 

5334
05:03:54,100 --> 05:03:58,000
skills, sophisticated 
conversation appreciation of 

5335
05:03:58,000 --> 05:04:02,400
artistic subtlety, understanding
of literary references that seem

5336
05:04:02,400 --> 05:04:05,200
to have little connection to the
Practical business of governing 

5337
05:04:05,200 --> 05:04:08,000
a kingdom. 
The Peasants Revolt of 1381, 

5338
05:04:08,000 --> 05:04:11,100
tested Richards, unconventional 
approach to Royal Authority. 

5339
05:04:11,800 --> 05:04:14,400
When what Tyler, LED thousands 
of rebellious peasants to 

5340
05:04:14,400 --> 05:04:17,500
London, demanding social, and 
economic reforms that would have

5341
05:04:17,508 --> 05:04:21,000
dismantled the feudal system. 
The 14 year old King Face, his 

5342
05:04:21,000 --> 05:04:25,100
first major, political crisis, 
His response, demonstrated both 

5343
05:04:25,100 --> 05:04:28,100
the strengths and limitations of
his aesthetic approach to power.

5344
05:04:28,100 --> 05:04:31,400
Richard met the rebels 
personally, using his Royal 

5345
05:04:31,400 --> 05:04:34,500
presents and rhetorical skills 
to diffuse their immediate 

5346
05:04:34,500 --> 05:04:38,000
anger, For a moment, it seemed 
as if the young kings cultural 

5347
05:04:38,000 --> 05:04:41,300
sophistication might succeed, 
where traditional military 

5348
05:04:41,300 --> 05:04:45,000
responses would have failed. 
But when Tyler was killed during

5349
05:04:45,000 --> 05:04:47,800
the negotiations Richards, 
promise of reforms was quickly 

5350
05:04:47,800 --> 05:04:50,700
forgotten and the Revolt was 
suppressed with traditional 

5351
05:04:50,700 --> 05:04:54,000
violence, The Experience seems 
to have convinced Richard, that 

5352
05:04:54,000 --> 05:04:57,000
cultural Authority alone was not
sufficient for Royal survival. 

5353
05:04:57,800 --> 05:05:01,600
His court during the 1390 is 
combined aesthetic, magnificence

5354
05:05:01,600 --> 05:05:04,300
with increasingly authoritarian 
political methods. 

5355
05:05:05,200 --> 05:05:07,900
Richard began demanding, new 
forms of Royal reverence 

5356
05:05:07,900 --> 05:05:09,800
creating ceremonies that 
elevated. 

5357
05:05:09,800 --> 05:05:13,000
The king above traditional 
feudal relationships, the famous

5358
05:05:13,000 --> 05:05:15,700
scene where Richard required 
Nobles, to approach his throne 

5359
05:05:15,700 --> 05:05:19,100
on their knees and address him. 
Only when spoken to wasn't just 

5360
05:05:19,100 --> 05:05:22,100
Royal vanity, it was a 
systematic attempt to 

5361
05:05:22,100 --> 05:05:25,500
reconstruct Royal Authority 
along different lines than his 

5362
05:05:25,500 --> 05:05:28,800
predecessors had used. 
Richard understood that if 

5363
05:05:28,800 --> 05:05:31,700
cultural Prestige was going to 
replace military dominance as 

5364
05:05:31,700 --> 05:05:35,000
the foundation of royal power, 
then Royal dignity needed. 

5365
05:05:35,000 --> 05:05:38,100
Unprecedented protection by the 
late 1390. 

5366
05:05:38,100 --> 05:05:41,100
Richards Court had become a 
place where aesthetic Excellence

5367
05:05:41,100 --> 05:05:42,900
co-existed with political 
paranoia. 

5368
05:05:44,000 --> 05:05:45,700
The king who'd created 
England's. 

5369
05:05:45,700 --> 05:05:48,600
Most culturally sophisticated 
Royal household was 

5370
05:05:48,600 --> 05:05:51,800
simultaneously alienating the 
noble families who support he 

5371
05:05:51,800 --> 05:05:55,200
needed for political survival. 
The beautiful ceremonies and 

5372
05:05:55,200 --> 05:05:58,200
magnificent art were real 
achievements but they couldn't 

5373
05:05:58,200 --> 05:06:01,300
substitute for the Practical 
political skills that successful

5374
05:06:01,300 --> 05:06:04,700
medieval King ship required. 
When Henry bowling broke deposed

5375
05:06:04,700 --> 05:06:08,300
Richard the Second in 1399, he 
faced a challenge that no 

5376
05:06:08,300 --> 05:06:10,100
previous English. 
King had confronted. 

5377
05:06:10,900 --> 05:06:14,000
How do you establish legitimacy 
when you've just proven that 

5378
05:06:14,000 --> 05:06:16,800
Royal Authority isn't actually 
sacred Henry. 

5379
05:06:16,800 --> 05:06:19,600
The 4th Court had to function 
simultaneously as a functioning 

5380
05:06:19,600 --> 05:06:22,900
government and as a constant 
argument for why the lancastrian

5381
05:06:22,900 --> 05:06:26,200
dynasty deserve to rule England,
the solution was to create a 

5382
05:06:26,208 --> 05:06:29,300
court culture that emphasized 
practical competence over 

5383
05:06:29,300 --> 05:06:32,800
aesthetic, magnificence. 
Where Richards Court had felt 

5384
05:06:32,800 --> 05:06:34,700
like an art gallery. 
That occasionally conducted 

5385
05:06:34,700 --> 05:06:38,000
government business Henry's 
Court, operated more like a 

5386
05:06:38,008 --> 05:06:41,100
well-run law firm that happened 
to be housed in Royal palaces 

5387
05:06:41,100 --> 05:06:44,000
Henry, the fourth understood 
that his questionable claim to 

5388
05:06:44,000 --> 05:06:45,700
the throne meant. 
He needed to govern more 

5389
05:06:45,700 --> 05:06:48,400
effectively than Kings with 
uncontested legitimacy. 

5390
05:06:49,600 --> 05:06:52,000
His Court established 
administrative procedures aimed 

5391
05:06:52,000 --> 05:06:55,700
at showcasing Royal competence 
by ensuring visible efficiency. 

5392
05:06:57,100 --> 05:07:00,400
Foreign ambassadors and domestic
Nobles alike could see that this

5393
05:07:00,400 --> 05:07:04,400
government actually worked. 
Bills were paid on time, legal 

5394
05:07:04,400 --> 05:07:07,800
decisions were rendered promptly
and Military campaigns were 

5395
05:07:07,800 --> 05:07:09,400
organized with professional 
thoroughness. 

5396
05:07:09,400 --> 05:07:12,200
The Lancaster Inn courts 
relationship with Parliament 

5397
05:07:12,200 --> 05:07:14,100
illustrates this practical 
approach. 

5398
05:07:14,900 --> 05:07:17,600
Henry didn't call Parliament 
because he enjoyed legislative 

5399
05:07:17,600 --> 05:07:20,800
debate but because he needed 
regular communication with the 

5400
05:07:20,808 --> 05:07:23,300
social groups who support 
maintained his Dynasty's 

5401
05:07:23,300 --> 05:07:25,900
position. 
Parliamentary sessions during 

5402
05:07:25,900 --> 05:07:29,400
Henry's Reign felt less like 
Royal ceremonies and more like 

5403
05:07:29,400 --> 05:07:32,100
business meetings where 
practical people discussed, 

5404
05:07:32,100 --> 05:07:35,400
practical problems, this created
a court atmosphere, that was 

5405
05:07:35,400 --> 05:07:38,400
less visually spectacular than 
Richards, but more politically 

5406
05:07:38,400 --> 05:07:41,200
sustainable. 
Henry's courtiers Advance their 

5407
05:07:41,200 --> 05:07:44,100
careers through administrative 
competence military, 

5408
05:07:44,100 --> 05:07:47,100
Effectiveness and practical 
problem-solving rather than 

5409
05:07:47,100 --> 05:07:49,600
cultural sophistication or 
aesthetic sensitivity. 

5410
05:07:50,500 --> 05:07:54,300
The change was not necessarily 
an improvement, England lost 

5411
05:07:54,300 --> 05:07:56,200
some of the cultural 
achievements that Richard's 

5412
05:07:56,200 --> 05:07:58,800
patronage had fostered. 
But it was more suited to the 

5413
05:07:58,808 --> 05:08:01,800
political realities of Europe's.
Kingship Henry. 

5414
05:08:01,800 --> 05:08:04,600
The fifth inherited this 
practical Court culture and 

5415
05:08:04,600 --> 05:08:07,900
applied it to the grandest 
possible project proofing that 

5416
05:08:07,900 --> 05:08:11,700
the lancastrian dynasty could 
achieve military successes that 

5417
05:08:11,700 --> 05:08:13,800
would justify its questionable 
Origins. 

5418
05:08:14,800 --> 05:08:17,200
His court became the planning 
headquarters for the most 

5419
05:08:17,200 --> 05:08:19,500
successful military campaign in 
English History. 

5420
05:08:19,500 --> 05:08:23,000
The preparation for Henry's 
French campaigns reveals how the

5421
05:08:23,000 --> 05:08:25,600
Lancaster Inn Court had evolved 
into something resembling a 

5422
05:08:25,600 --> 05:08:28,900
modern general staff. 
Every aspect of the Adrian. 

5423
05:08:28,900 --> 05:08:32,000
Court campaign Logistics 
intelligence gathering 

5424
05:08:32,000 --> 05:08:36,100
diplomatic preparation. 
Financial planning was organized

5425
05:08:36,100 --> 05:08:38,800
with systematic attention to 
detail that previous generations

5426
05:08:38,800 --> 05:08:41,900
of English kings, and rarely 
achieved Henry's Court. 

5427
05:08:41,900 --> 05:08:44,300
During the French campaigns. 
Must have felt like Mission 

5428
05:08:44,300 --> 05:08:46,400
Control during a successful 
space program. 

5429
05:08:47,300 --> 05:08:50,500
Maps, covered the walls. 
Dispatchers arrived daily from 

5430
05:08:50,500 --> 05:08:53,300
Agents throughout France and 
treasury officials. 

5431
05:08:53,300 --> 05:08:55,800
Calculated the cost of 
maintaining English armies on 

5432
05:08:55,808 --> 05:08:58,700
foreign soil with accounting 
Precision that would have 

5433
05:08:58,700 --> 05:09:01,900
impressed Renaissance Bankers 
the victory at Agincourt in 

5434
05:09:01,900 --> 05:09:04,500
1415, provided exactly the 
legitimacy. 

5435
05:09:04,500 --> 05:09:08,100
Boost that lancastrian kingship 
needed Henry had proven that. 

5436
05:09:08,100 --> 05:09:11,400
His dynasty could achieve 
military successes that rivaled 

5437
05:09:11,400 --> 05:09:13,300
the greatest accomplishments of 
the plantagenets. 

5438
05:09:14,400 --> 05:09:16,900
The Court's practical approach 
to governance had produced 

5439
05:09:16,900 --> 05:09:18,900
practical results. 
That no one could question. 

5440
05:09:18,900 --> 05:09:22,000
But Henry's early death in 1422 
left. 

5441
05:09:22,000 --> 05:09:25,200
His infant son, Henry, the sixth
to inherit both the French 

5442
05:09:25,200 --> 05:09:28,500
conquests and the systematic 
Court culture that had achieved 

5443
05:09:28,500 --> 05:09:30,900
them. 
This created a fascinating 

5444
05:09:30,900 --> 05:09:33,000
problem. 
What happens when a court 

5445
05:09:33,008 --> 05:09:35,600
designed around practical 
competence is headed by someone?

5446
05:09:35,600 --> 05:09:37,300
Who's more interested in 
scholarly? 

5447
05:09:37,300 --> 05:09:40,900
Pursuits, an administrative 
efficiency Henry, the sixth 

5448
05:09:40,900 --> 05:09:42,800
Court represents. 
One of the most intriguing 

5449
05:09:42,800 --> 05:09:46,600
experiments in English, Royal 
history, King was genuinely 

5450
05:09:46,600 --> 05:09:50,800
Pious, intellectually gifted and
temperamentally unsuited for the

5451
05:09:50,800 --> 05:09:53,700
aggressive political leadership 
that his father's Legacy 

5452
05:09:53,700 --> 05:09:56,000
required. 
His courtiers found themselves 

5453
05:09:56,000 --> 05:09:58,800
managing a kingdom on behalf of 
someone who is more interested 

5454
05:09:58,800 --> 05:10:01,800
in founding educational 
institutions that maintaining 

5455
05:10:01,800 --> 05:10:04,700
military conquests. 
The result was a court where 

5456
05:10:04,700 --> 05:10:07,100
practical administrators 
gradually took over the 

5457
05:10:07,100 --> 05:10:09,600
functions that previous Kings 
had performed personally. 

5458
05:10:10,800 --> 05:10:13,400
This might have worked, if 
Henry's Nobles had been content 

5459
05:10:13,400 --> 05:10:16,600
with administrative kingship, 
but many of them had their own 

5460
05:10:16,600 --> 05:10:18,800
ideas about how Royal Authority 
should function. 

5461
05:10:18,800 --> 05:10:22,200
Henry, the 6th Court was too 
well, organized for its own 

5462
05:10:22,200 --> 05:10:25,500
good, which contributed to the 
start of the wars of the Roses. 

5463
05:10:26,500 --> 05:10:29,200
the efficient administrative 
systems that Henry the fourth 

5464
05:10:29,200 --> 05:10:33,300
and Henry, the 5th had created 
to function even when the king 

5465
05:10:33,300 --> 05:10:36,800
himself provided minimal 
leadership, This allowed 

5466
05:10:36,800 --> 05:10:39,700
ambitious Nobles to use Royal 
administrative machinery for 

5467
05:10:39,700 --> 05:10:42,200
their purposes. 
Turning the crowns own 

5468
05:10:42,200 --> 05:10:44,700
governmental Effectiveness 
against Lancaster and Authority 

5469
05:10:44,700 --> 05:10:47,600
by the 1450s. 
The Lancaster Inn Court had 

5470
05:10:47,600 --> 05:10:49,900
become a place where formal 
governmental procedures 

5471
05:10:49,900 --> 05:10:53,800
continued while actual political
power shifted toward Noble 

5472
05:10:53,800 --> 05:10:58,100
factions that were preparing for
Civil War The courtiers who 

5473
05:10:58,100 --> 05:11:00,900
created England's most efficient
medieval government found 

5474
05:11:00,900 --> 05:11:03,300
themselves managing the 
systematic destruction of the 

5475
05:11:03,300 --> 05:11:06,000
dynasty they'd serve. 
So effectively head with the 

5476
05:11:06,000 --> 05:11:09,200
fourth Court. 
After 1461 face, The Peculiar 

5477
05:11:09,200 --> 05:11:11,900
challenge of governing a kingdom
where everyone had just learned 

5478
05:11:11,900 --> 05:11:14,500
that King's could be 
overthrowing by subjects with 

5479
05:11:14,500 --> 05:11:17,300
sufficient military support and 
political determination. 

5480
05:11:18,300 --> 05:11:20,300
The Orca solution was to create 
a royal. 

5481
05:11:21,500 --> 05:11:24,300
The court was so magnificently 
impressive that people would 

5482
05:11:24,300 --> 05:11:26,700
forget how recently, the dynasty
had come to power. 

5483
05:11:26,700 --> 05:11:29,600
Edward understood that 
successful usurpers, need to 

5484
05:11:29,600 --> 05:11:32,200
establish legitimacy, through 
demonstration, rather than 

5485
05:11:32,200 --> 05:11:35,000
argument. 
His court became a showcase 

5486
05:11:35,000 --> 05:11:37,000
designed to prove. 
That York is kingship 

5487
05:11:37,000 --> 05:11:40,100
represented, not just political 
change, but cultural advancement

5488
05:11:40,100 --> 05:11:43,800
every ceremony, every 
architectural project and every 

5489
05:11:43,800 --> 05:11:47,600
diplomatic reception was planned
to demonstrate that this dynasty

5490
05:11:47,600 --> 05:11:50,400
governed with a sophistication 
that justified. 

5491
05:11:50,400 --> 05:11:53,800
Its hold on power the orcas 
courts daily routine reflected 

5492
05:11:53,800 --> 05:11:56,600
this strategy morning 
administrative session. 

5493
05:11:56,600 --> 05:11:59,900
Handled governmental business 
with efficiency that maintained 

5494
05:11:59,900 --> 05:12:03,700
continuity from Lancaster and 
practices but after noon an 

5495
05:12:03,700 --> 05:12:06,600
evening event, showcased Royal 
magnificence that surpassed 

5496
05:12:06,600 --> 05:12:09,000
anything England had seen. 
Since Richard the Second 

5497
05:12:09,000 --> 05:12:12,600
aesthetic experiments Edwards, 
personal style contributed 

5498
05:12:12,600 --> 05:12:16,400
significantly to his atmosphere.
The King was exceptionally tall,

5499
05:12:16,400 --> 05:12:19,500
strikingly handsome and 
possessed the sort of natural 

5500
05:12:19,500 --> 05:12:22,500
Charisma that made people want 
to be associated with his court.

5501
05:12:23,500 --> 05:12:26,600
Foreign visitors, consistently 
reported that Edward looked like

5502
05:12:26,600 --> 05:12:30,000
what they expected a king to 
look like which provided exactly

5503
05:12:30,000 --> 05:12:32,800
the sort of visual legitimacy 
that usurped dynasties 

5504
05:12:32,800 --> 05:12:35,900
particularly needed. 
But the yorkist courts, really 

5505
05:12:35,900 --> 05:12:38,200
Innovation, was its approached 
economic policy. 

5506
05:12:39,300 --> 05:12:42,300
Edward, the Fourth was the first
English king to understand that 

5507
05:12:42,300 --> 05:12:46,100
Royal Authority in the late 15th
century needed to be financially

5508
05:12:46,100 --> 05:12:49,100
self-sustaining. 
His court developed trading 

5509
05:12:49,100 --> 05:12:51,900
relationships, investment, 
strategies and revenue, 

5510
05:12:51,900 --> 05:12:54,800
generating systems that made the
crown less dependent on 

5511
05:12:54,808 --> 05:12:58,200
parliamentary grants than any 
previous medieval Dynasty. 

5512
05:12:58,200 --> 05:13:01,400
This economic independence 
allowed Edward to create a court

5513
05:13:01,400 --> 05:13:04,200
culture that combined political 
Effectiveness with cultural 

5514
05:13:04,200 --> 05:13:08,400
sophistication, Royal patronage 
during his Reign supported 

5515
05:13:08,400 --> 05:13:11,800
architectural projects, 
manuscript illumination and 

5516
05:13:11,800 --> 05:13:14,500
musical innovations, that 
demonstrated England's, growing 

5517
05:13:14,500 --> 05:13:17,600
cultural confidence. 
The court became a place where 

5518
05:13:17,600 --> 05:13:19,700
practical governance and 
aesthetic, achievement 

5519
05:13:19,700 --> 05:13:23,200
reinforced each other, rather 
than competing for Royal 

5520
05:13:23,200 --> 05:13:25,900
attention Edwards. 
Marriage, to Elizabeth Woodville

5521
05:13:25,900 --> 05:13:29,500
in 1464 illustrates both the 
strengths and the complications 

5522
05:13:29,500 --> 05:13:33,000
of this approach Elizabeth 
wasn't a foreign princess, whose

5523
05:13:33,000 --> 05:13:35,100
marriage would cement diplomatic
alliances. 

5524
05:13:35,100 --> 05:13:38,200
She was an English Widow whose 
family connections could 

5525
05:13:38,200 --> 05:13:40,100
strengthen domestic political 
Networks. 

5526
05:13:41,000 --> 05:13:43,500
The decision was politically 
practical, but socially 

5527
05:13:43,500 --> 05:13:46,700
controversial, creating Court 
factions that would influence 

5528
05:13:46,700 --> 05:13:50,000
English politics for decades. 
The Woodville families rapid 

5529
05:13:50,000 --> 05:13:53,100
advancement through Royal favor 
created, the medieval equivalent

5530
05:13:53,100 --> 05:13:57,100
of nepotism concerns but their 
actual administrative competence

5531
05:13:57,100 --> 05:14:00,700
was generally impressive. 
Elizabeth's relatives, brought 

5532
05:14:00,700 --> 05:14:03,400
new energy and fresh 
perspectives, to court positions

5533
05:14:03,400 --> 05:14:06,200
that had sometimes, become 
routine under previous dynasties

5534
05:14:06,200 --> 05:14:08,700
Edwards. 
Court during the 1470s 

5535
05:14:08,700 --> 05:14:12,300
represented, the high point of 
yorkist achievement the king had

5536
05:14:12,300 --> 05:14:15,600
successfully combined military, 
Effectiveness administrative 

5537
05:14:15,600 --> 05:14:18,600
competence and cultural 
sophistication in ways that seem

5538
05:14:18,600 --> 05:14:21,800
to justify the walls of the 
Roses as necessary modernization

5539
05:14:21,800 --> 05:14:23,700
rather than destructive civil 
conflict. 

5540
05:14:23,700 --> 05:14:28,500
The brief restoration of Henry, 
the 6th and 147 to 1471 provided

5541
05:14:28,500 --> 05:14:31,700
an inadvertent demonstration of 
how much English Royal Court 

5542
05:14:31,700 --> 05:14:34,200
culture had evolved Underwood's 
leadership. 

5543
05:14:35,000 --> 05:14:38,300
Henry's restored, Corps felt our
care and ineffective compared to

5544
05:14:38,300 --> 05:14:40,600
the yorkist innovation's that 
courtiers had recently 

5545
05:14:40,600 --> 05:14:44,900
experienced. when Edward 
returned, from exile to reclaim 

5546
05:14:44,900 --> 05:14:48,300
his throne, He found that many 
previously neutral Nobles and 

5547
05:14:48,300 --> 05:14:51,100
decided that Yorkies King ship 
was simply more impressive than 

5548
05:14:51,100 --> 05:14:55,100
Lancaster and Alternatives 
Edwards sudden death in 1483 at 

5549
05:14:55,100 --> 05:14:58,800
age, 40 ended this experiment in
systemic Royal magnificence 

5550
05:14:58,800 --> 05:15:01,200
before. 
Its long-term Effectiveness 

5551
05:15:01,200 --> 05:15:04,000
could be fully evaluated His 
brother. 

5552
05:15:04,000 --> 05:15:06,700
Richard the third inherited a 
kingdom, where Court culture, 

5553
05:15:06,700 --> 05:15:09,000
had become Central to political 
legitimacy. 

5554
05:15:09,000 --> 05:15:12,400
But whether specific elements of
that culture were closely 

5555
05:15:12,400 --> 05:15:15,300
associated with Edwards, 
personal Charisma, and 

5556
05:15:15,300 --> 05:15:18,300
leadership, style Richard, the 
third's court represents. 

5557
05:15:18,300 --> 05:15:20,800
One of history's. 
Most fascinating studies in the 

5558
05:15:20,800 --> 05:15:23,300
relationship between political 
Effectiveness and public 

5559
05:15:23,300 --> 05:15:25,900
perception. 
By most objective measures, 

5560
05:15:25,900 --> 05:15:28,900
Richard was a competent 
administrator who governed 

5561
05:15:28,900 --> 05:15:31,100
England efficiently during his 
brief reign. 

5562
05:15:31,900 --> 05:15:34,200
His court maintained the 
organizational systems that 

5563
05:15:34,200 --> 05:15:36,800
Edward had established 
continued, the cultural 

5564
05:15:36,800 --> 05:15:40,500
patronage that had made Yorkies 
kingship impressive and handled 

5565
05:15:40,500 --> 05:15:43,900
domestic and foreign policy with
reasonable skill but Richard's 

5566
05:15:43,900 --> 05:15:46,900
Court could never escape the 
circumstances of his accession 

5567
05:15:46,900 --> 05:15:49,400
to power, The Disappearance of 
his nephews. 

5568
05:15:49,400 --> 05:15:54,100
Edward, the fifth and Richard 
Duke of York created suspicions 

5569
05:15:54,100 --> 05:15:56,800
that no amount of governmental 
competence could overcome 

5570
05:15:57,600 --> 05:16:00,800
Richard found himself managing a
court where formal procedures 

5571
05:16:00,800 --> 05:16:03,600
continued, normally while 
underlying political support 

5572
05:16:03,600 --> 05:16:07,200
steadily eroded, the irony of 
Richards Reign was that he'd 

5573
05:16:07,200 --> 05:16:10,100
inherited the most sophisticated
Royal Court in English History. 

5574
05:16:10,100 --> 05:16:13,800
At precisely the moment when 
courts of sophistication cease 

5575
05:16:13,800 --> 05:16:17,000
to matter, The yorkist 
Innovations in governmental 

5576
05:16:17,000 --> 05:16:20,900
efficiency cultural patronage 
and economic independence were 

5577
05:16:20,900 --> 05:16:23,700
genuine achievements but they 
couldn't compensate for 

5578
05:16:23,700 --> 05:16:27,500
fundamental questions about 
dynastic legitimacy when Henry 

5579
05:16:27,500 --> 05:16:29,900
Tudor landed at Milford Haven in
1485. 

5580
05:16:29,900 --> 05:16:34,400
He represented not just another 
dynastic claimant, but a return 

5581
05:16:34,400 --> 05:16:37,500
to the principle that Royal 
courts should be judged 

5582
05:16:37,500 --> 05:16:41,200
primarily on their political 
Effectiveness rather than their 

5583
05:16:41,200 --> 05:16:44,900
cultural achievements. 
The Battle of Bosworth field 

5584
05:16:44,900 --> 05:16:47,900
ended the orcust experiment and 
began a new phase in English. 

5585
05:16:47,900 --> 05:16:51,700
Royal Court development Henry, 
the 7th Court after 1485 

5586
05:16:51,700 --> 05:16:54,900
functioned like a startup 
company, whose founder 

5587
05:16:54,900 --> 05:16:57,300
understood that survival 
required completely different 

5588
05:16:57,300 --> 05:17:00,200
strategies than those needed for
initial success. 

5589
05:17:01,200 --> 05:17:03,300
Having won the crown through 
military Victory. 

5590
05:17:03,300 --> 05:17:06,200
Henry faced the challenge of 
establishing a dynasty that 

5591
05:17:06,200 --> 05:17:08,800
could maintain power through 
means other than continued 

5592
05:17:08,800 --> 05:17:10,900
Warfare. 
The early Tudor Court was 

5593
05:17:10,900 --> 05:17:14,800
deliberately modest compared to 
your kissed magnificent Henry, 

5594
05:17:14,800 --> 05:17:17,400
understood that impressive 
ceremonies and cultural 

5595
05:17:17,400 --> 05:17:20,700
patronage were luxuries that 
usurped dynasties could afford 

5596
05:17:20,700 --> 05:17:23,600
only after establishing 
unquestioned legitimacy. 

5597
05:17:24,800 --> 05:17:27,400
His court focused on 
administrative competence 

5598
05:17:27,400 --> 05:17:31,400
financial responsibility and the
systematic elimination of 

5599
05:17:31,400 --> 05:17:34,200
potential Rivals. 
You can pick your Henry's Court 

5600
05:17:34,200 --> 05:17:37,200
as a place where accountants 
held higher status than poets. 

5601
05:17:37,200 --> 05:17:40,100
Where treasury records received 
more attention than 

5602
05:17:40,100 --> 05:17:43,800
architectural projects and where
every expenditure was evaluated 

5603
05:17:43,800 --> 05:17:46,000
for its contribution to dynastic
security. 

5604
05:17:47,500 --> 05:17:50,000
This wasn't because Henry lacked
appreciation for cultural 

5605
05:17:50,000 --> 05:17:53,200
ceremony, but because he 
understood the priorities that 

5606
05:17:53,200 --> 05:17:57,000
newly established dynasties must
observe the Court's daily 

5607
05:17:57,000 --> 05:17:59,500
routine reflected. 
These priorities morning 

5608
05:17:59,500 --> 05:18:01,400
sessions, dealt with financial 
planning. 

5609
05:18:01,400 --> 05:18:04,400
That would have impressed, 
modern budget analysts after 

5610
05:18:04,400 --> 05:18:07,400
noon meetings, handled 
diplomatic correspondence, that 

5611
05:18:07,400 --> 05:18:10,500
gradually established England's 
credibility with European powers

5612
05:18:10,500 --> 05:18:13,400
who are still uncertain about 
due to legitimacy. 

5613
05:18:14,200 --> 05:18:17,200
Evening events were modest 
Affairs, that demonstrated Royal

5614
05:18:17,200 --> 05:18:19,300
dignity without the 
extravagance. 

5615
05:18:19,300 --> 05:18:22,400
That might suggest governmental 
irresponsibility, Henry's 

5616
05:18:22,400 --> 05:18:25,200
marriage to Elizabeth of York 
was, perhaps the most successful

5617
05:18:25,200 --> 05:18:26,800
political Alliance in English 
History. 

5618
05:18:27,800 --> 05:18:31,100
By uniting the Yorkies and 
Lancaster, and claims Henry 

5619
05:18:31,100 --> 05:18:34,100
created a dynasty, whose 
legitimacy was based on National

5620
05:18:34,100 --> 05:18:37,000
reconciliation rather than 
fictional victory. 

5621
05:18:37,800 --> 05:18:40,300
The court became a place where 
former enemies worked together 

5622
05:18:40,300 --> 05:18:43,900
on shared governmental projects 
demonstrating that the wars of 

5623
05:18:43,900 --> 05:18:46,900
the Roses are truly ended. 
The Tudor courts approached to 

5624
05:18:46,908 --> 05:18:50,000
Noble management was 
particularly Innovative rather 

5625
05:18:50,000 --> 05:18:51,600
than trying to eliminate 
powerful. 

5626
05:18:51,600 --> 05:18:55,100
Aristocratic families Henry 
created systems that channel 

5627
05:18:55,100 --> 05:18:57,600
Noble ambition towards service 
to the crown. 

5628
05:18:58,500 --> 05:19:00,900
Colt positions became 
opportunities for career 

5629
05:19:00,900 --> 05:19:03,600
advancement, that required, 
demonstrated, loyalty and 

5630
05:19:03,600 --> 05:19:06,400
competence rather than 
hereditary privilege alone. 

5631
05:19:06,400 --> 05:19:09,300
This created a court atmosphere 
that combined traditional 

5632
05:19:09,300 --> 05:19:12,500
medieval hierarchy with 
meritocratic elements that 

5633
05:19:12,500 --> 05:19:14,800
anticipated later. 
Governmental developments. 

5634
05:19:15,600 --> 05:19:19,000
Noble birth remained important, 
but actual responsibility was 

5635
05:19:19,000 --> 05:19:22,600
distributed based on proven 
ability to advance Tudor 

5636
05:19:22,600 --> 05:19:24,800
dynastic. 
Interests Henry, the seventh 

5637
05:19:24,800 --> 05:19:27,300
success in establishing 
Financial Independence for the 

5638
05:19:27,300 --> 05:19:30,300
crown had profound implications 
for court culture. 

5639
05:19:30,300 --> 05:19:34,200
Unlike previous dynasties, that 
needed to maintain parliamentary

5640
05:19:34,200 --> 05:19:37,400
support for regular Tax. 
Grants, the Tudor Court could 

5641
05:19:37,400 --> 05:19:40,400
plan long-term projects, without
constant, negotiation, with 

5642
05:19:40,400 --> 05:19:42,800
potentially hostile legislative 
assemblies. 

5643
05:19:42,800 --> 05:19:46,300
This financial autonomy allowed 
Henry the 8th to inherit a court

5644
05:19:46,300 --> 05:19:48,600
that could support, dramatic, 
cultural and political 

5645
05:19:48,600 --> 05:19:51,300
Innovations. 
Where his father had necessarily

5646
05:19:51,300 --> 05:19:54,400
focused on consolidation and 
survival Henry. 

5647
05:19:54,400 --> 05:19:57,000
The 8th could pursue Grand 
Ambitions that were transforming

5648
05:19:57,000 --> 05:20:00,200
English, Royal Authority and 
fundamental ways Henry. 

5649
05:20:00,200 --> 05:20:03,200
The 8th Court represents the 
moment when medieval King ship 

5650
05:20:03,200 --> 05:20:06,600
evolved into something 
recognizably modern The young 

5651
05:20:06,600 --> 05:20:09,300
king inherited, his father's 
financial resources and 

5652
05:20:09,300 --> 05:20:12,500
administrative competence but 
applied them to projects that 

5653
05:20:12,500 --> 05:20:15,000
would have seemed impossible to 
previous generations of English.

5654
05:20:15,000 --> 05:20:18,700
Monarchs Henry, the 8th achieved
a dramatic change in Royal Court

5655
05:20:18,700 --> 05:20:22,000
culture as Illustrated in the 
field of the cloth of gold in 

5656
05:20:22,000 --> 05:20:25,000
1520. 
This meeting with Francis. 

5657
05:20:25,000 --> 05:20:27,700
The first of France was 
essentially a three-week 

5658
05:20:27,700 --> 05:20:31,000
festival that demonstrated 
English wealth, cultural 

5659
05:20:31,000 --> 05:20:34,500
sophistication and technological
capability on a scale that 

5660
05:20:34,500 --> 05:20:38,600
amazed contemporary Observers. 
The temporary buildings, 

5661
05:20:38,600 --> 05:20:41,500
constructed for the event, 
rivaled permanent Royal palaces 

5662
05:20:41,500 --> 05:20:44,300
in their magnificence. 
But Henry's Court culture wasn't

5663
05:20:44,300 --> 05:20:47,800
just about impressive displays, 
the king assembled intellectual 

5664
05:20:47,800 --> 05:20:50,400
and artistic talent that 
transformed England's cultural 

5665
05:20:50,400 --> 05:20:55,100
landscape, Thomas More hands, 
Holbein Thomas, cranmer and 

5666
05:20:55,100 --> 05:20:58,300
Thomas Cromwell all contributed 
to creating a court that 

5667
05:20:58,300 --> 05:21:01,700
combined Renaissance Learning, 
artistic Innovation and 

5668
05:21:01,700 --> 05:21:04,500
administrative efficiency and 
unprecedented ways. 

5669
05:21:04,500 --> 05:21:07,800
The king's break with Rome in 
the 1530s transformed, the 

5670
05:21:07,800 --> 05:21:09,500
English Court into something 
unprecedented. 

5671
05:21:09,500 --> 05:21:13,100
A royal household that functions
simultaneously as a government 

5672
05:21:13,100 --> 05:21:16,600
Headquarters, A Center of 
religious reform, and a cultural

5673
05:21:16,600 --> 05:21:19,700
laboratory experimenting with 
new forms of Royal Authority, 

5674
05:21:19,700 --> 05:21:23,000
Henry's Court during the 
Reformation years buzzed with 

5675
05:21:23,000 --> 05:21:25,500
the energy of people who 
understood, they were 

5676
05:21:25,500 --> 05:21:28,300
participating in his historical 
changes that would reshape 

5677
05:21:28,300 --> 05:21:31,500
European civilization. 
Courtiers found themselves 

5678
05:21:31,500 --> 05:21:34,200
managing not just traditional 
governmental business but also 

5679
05:21:34,200 --> 05:21:37,600
the systematic reorganization of
English religious life, the 

5680
05:21:37,600 --> 05:21:40,700
redistribution of monastic 
wealth, and the creation of new 

5681
05:21:40,700 --> 05:21:42,400
legal Frameworks for Royal 
Supremacy. 

5682
05:21:42,400 --> 05:21:45,300
The dissolution of the 
monasteries provided Henry's 

5683
05:21:45,300 --> 05:21:47,700
court with resources that 
previous English kings could 

5684
05:21:47,700 --> 05:21:51,300
hardly have imagined. 
Certainly centuries of religious

5685
05:21:51,300 --> 05:21:53,800
patronage had given the crown 
control over vast. 

5686
05:21:53,800 --> 05:21:57,700
Estates architectural, Treasures
libraries and artistic 

5687
05:21:57,700 --> 05:22:00,400
collections. 
The court became a place, where 

5688
05:22:00,400 --> 05:22:03,700
former monastic buildings, were 
converted into Royal residences 

5689
05:22:03,700 --> 05:22:07,500
where illuminated manuscripts 
were repurposed for secular use 

5690
05:22:07,500 --> 05:22:10,700
and where centuries of religious
art were evaluated for their 

5691
05:22:10,700 --> 05:22:14,500
potential contribution to Royal 
magnificence Thomas cromwell's 

5692
05:22:14,500 --> 05:22:16,200
role in managing these 
Transformations. 

5693
05:22:16,200 --> 05:22:19,000
Demonstrates how Tudor Court 
culture had evolved Beyond 

5694
05:22:19,000 --> 05:22:22,600
traditional feudal relationships
Cromwell was neither a powerful 

5695
05:22:22,600 --> 05:22:26,500
nobleman, nor a church official,
but a lawyer and administrator 

5696
05:22:26,500 --> 05:22:28,900
whose expertise in governmental 
procedure. 

5697
05:22:28,900 --> 05:22:31,400
Made him indispensable to 
Henry's revolutionary projects. 

5698
05:22:32,100 --> 05:22:35,000
His rise to power illustrates 
how the Tudor Court had become a

5699
05:22:35,000 --> 05:22:37,900
meritocracy where technical 
competence could overcome 

5700
05:22:37,900 --> 05:22:41,600
traditional social limitations. 
Henry's six, marriages created a

5701
05:22:41,608 --> 05:22:44,400
court atmosphere, where personal
relationships and political 

5702
05:22:44,400 --> 05:22:46,700
calculations became inseparably 
intertwined. 

5703
05:22:47,700 --> 05:22:50,900
Each wedding brought new 
families into Royal favor each 

5704
05:22:50,900 --> 05:22:54,100
divorce or execution eliminated 
established Court networks. 

5705
05:22:54,100 --> 05:22:57,200
And each new Queen created 
opportunities for ambitious 

5706
05:22:57,200 --> 05:22:59,800
courtiers, to advance their 
careers, through association 

5707
05:22:59,800 --> 05:23:02,400
with their household, the court 
during Henry's. 

5708
05:23:02,400 --> 05:23:05,300
Final years, had become a place 
where survival required constant

5709
05:23:05,300 --> 05:23:08,800
attention to the king's changing
moods shifting, political 

5710
05:23:08,800 --> 05:23:11,300
alliances and evolving religious
policies. 

5711
05:23:11,300 --> 05:23:15,400
Courtiers developed the sort of 
psychological sensitivity, that 

5712
05:23:15,400 --> 05:23:18,300
would have impressed. 
Modern Diplomatic Corps learning

5713
05:23:18,300 --> 05:23:22,300
to interpret, Royal gestures 
decode, ambiguous statements and

5714
05:23:22,300 --> 05:23:25,300
anticipate policy changes before
they were officially announced. 

5715
05:23:25,300 --> 05:23:28,900
Elizabeth, the first inherited a
kingdom, exhausted by religious 

5716
05:23:28,900 --> 05:23:31,100
upheaval and dynastic 
uncertainty. 

5717
05:23:31,100 --> 05:23:34,900
Then spent 45 years transforming
her Court into the most 

5718
05:23:34,900 --> 05:23:38,000
successful piece of political 
theater in European history. 

5719
05:23:39,200 --> 05:23:41,800
Henry, the 8th Court had been a 
workshop for religious and 

5720
05:23:41,800 --> 05:23:44,900
political Innovation. 
Elizabeth's Court was a stage 

5721
05:23:44,900 --> 05:23:47,400
where every day brought new 
performance is designed to 

5722
05:23:47,400 --> 05:23:50,400
demonstrate that England, had 
achieved, cultural and political

5723
05:23:50,400 --> 05:23:52,600
greatness. 
You can imagine the challenge 

5724
05:23:52,600 --> 05:23:55,200
Elisabeth as a young Queen in 
1558. 

5725
05:23:56,000 --> 05:23:58,600
She was unmarried in an age when
female rule was considered 

5726
05:23:58,600 --> 05:24:02,300
unnatural religiously suspect in
a kingdom divided between 

5727
05:24:02,300 --> 05:24:05,000
Catholic and Protestant, 
factions and politically 

5728
05:24:05,000 --> 05:24:07,500
vulnerable in a Europe where 
major Powers were actively 

5729
05:24:07,500 --> 05:24:08,900
plotting. 
England's destruction. 

5730
05:24:09,700 --> 05:24:11,800
Her solution was to create a 
court culture. 

5731
05:24:11,800 --> 05:24:15,700
So dazzling, that domestic and 
foreign observers became too 

5732
05:24:15,700 --> 05:24:18,300
fascinated by the spectacle to 
focus on the underlying 

5733
05:24:18,300 --> 05:24:21,100
vulnerabilities, the Elizabethan
Court operated on 

5734
05:24:21,100 --> 05:24:23,900
multiple-level. 
Simultaneously, the surface 

5735
05:24:23,900 --> 05:24:27,200
level was pure pageantry, 
elaborate costumes, complex 

5736
05:24:27,200 --> 05:24:30,700
ceremonies and artistic displays
that made Royal receptions feel 

5737
05:24:30,700 --> 05:24:34,800
like theatrical performances. 
but underneath the spectacle was

5738
05:24:34,800 --> 05:24:37,800
a sophisticated intelligence 
operation that gathered 

5739
05:24:37,800 --> 05:24:41,300
information from a cross Europe,
a diplomatic Network that played

5740
05:24:41,300 --> 05:24:44,700
Major Powers against each other 
and an administrative system, 

5741
05:24:44,700 --> 05:24:47,400
that managed England's 
transformation into a major 

5742
05:24:47,400 --> 05:24:51,600
commercial power Elizabeth's, 
famous progresses annual tours 

5743
05:24:51,600 --> 05:24:54,800
through England's, Countryside 
illustrate this, multi-layered 

5744
05:24:54,800 --> 05:24:58,500
approach perfectly From one 
perspective, these were costly 

5745
05:24:58,500 --> 05:25:02,000
exercises in Royal vanity that 
allowed the queen to enjoy 

5746
05:25:02,000 --> 05:25:04,700
magnificent Hospitality at her 
subjects expense. 

5747
05:25:05,500 --> 05:25:07,900
From another perspective, they 
were systematic efforts to 

5748
05:25:07,900 --> 05:25:10,400
demonstrate. 
Royal accessibility gather 

5749
05:25:10,400 --> 05:25:13,600
intelligence about local 
conditions and maintain personal

5750
05:25:13,600 --> 05:25:16,800
relationships with the noble 
families, who support the crown 

5751
05:25:16,800 --> 05:25:20,100
needed for political stability. 
The progress is also served as 

5752
05:25:20,108 --> 05:25:22,400
mobile, advertisements for 
Elizabeth and achievement. 

5753
05:25:23,300 --> 05:25:26,000
When the Queens enormous 
Entourage arrived at the country

5754
05:25:26,000 --> 05:25:29,800
estate local populations, could 
see for themselves, the wealth 

5755
05:25:29,800 --> 05:25:32,900
sophistication and cultural 
confidence of their government. 

5756
05:25:33,900 --> 05:25:36,100
These visits were live 
demonstrations that England 

5757
05:25:36,100 --> 05:25:39,100
under Elizabeth was prospering 
in ways that justified the 

5758
05:25:39,100 --> 05:25:42,300
religious and political changes 
of the previous generation, the 

5759
05:25:42,300 --> 05:25:44,900
courts relationship with 
literature during Elizabeth's 

5760
05:25:44,900 --> 05:25:47,400
Reign created some of the 
greatest achievements in English

5761
05:25:47,400 --> 05:25:50,400
cultural history. 
Edmond Spencer's. 

5762
05:25:50,400 --> 05:25:53,700
The fairy queen was essentially 
an extended compliment to 

5763
05:25:53,700 --> 05:25:55,900
Elizabeth that happened to be 
written in some of the most 

5764
05:25:55,900 --> 05:25:57,700
beautiful. 
Poetry in the English language. 

5765
05:25:57,700 --> 05:26:01,000
Christopher, Marlowe and William
Shakespeare wrote plays that 

5766
05:26:01,000 --> 05:26:04,200
explored themes of power 
ambition and political 

5767
05:26:04,200 --> 05:26:08,000
legitimacy with psychological 
depth, that still amazes modern 

5768
05:26:08,000 --> 05:26:11,500
audience's, but this wasn't just
Royal patronage of talented 

5769
05:26:11,500 --> 05:26:13,900
artists. 
Elizabeth understood, that 

5770
05:26:13,900 --> 05:26:17,700
cultural achievement was a form 
of political power, and foreign 

5771
05:26:17,700 --> 05:26:19,800
ambassadors attended, 
performance of Shakespeare's 

5772
05:26:19,800 --> 05:26:21,900
plays at court. 
They were witnessing 

5773
05:26:21,900 --> 05:26:25,200
demonstrations of English 
intellectual sophistication that

5774
05:26:25,200 --> 05:26:28,500
carried diplomatic implications.
A kingdom that could produce 

5775
05:26:28,500 --> 05:26:30,400
such art. 
Was clearly not the backward 

5776
05:26:30,400 --> 05:26:34,000
isolated nation, that hostile 
European observers preferred to 

5777
05:26:34,000 --> 05:26:36,800
imagine the famous question of 
Elisabeth marriage, 

5778
05:26:36,800 --> 05:26:39,500
demonstrates, how thoroughly she
had integrated personal 

5779
05:26:39,500 --> 05:26:41,300
decisions with political 
strategy? 

5780
05:26:42,300 --> 05:26:45,300
Every potential marriage 
Alliance was simultaneously, a 

5781
05:26:45,300 --> 05:26:49,000
romantic possibility, a 
diplomatic negotiation, and a 

5782
05:26:49,000 --> 05:26:51,600
piece of theatrical performance 
designed to keep foreign powers 

5783
05:26:51,600 --> 05:26:54,400
guessing about English. 
Intentions, the Queen's 

5784
05:26:54,400 --> 05:26:58,300
courtship with various suitors, 
Philip the second of Spain Eric,

5785
05:26:58,300 --> 05:27:02,400
the 14th of Sweden Archduke 
Charles of Austria and most 

5786
05:27:02,400 --> 05:27:06,300
famously Robert Dudley Earl of 
Leicester provided ongoing 

5787
05:27:06,300 --> 05:27:09,200
entertainment that distracted 
attention from more sensitive 

5788
05:27:09,200 --> 05:27:11,900
political matters. 
Elizabeth managed to keep 

5789
05:27:11,908 --> 05:27:15,300
multiple marriage, negotiations 
active for decades without 

5790
05:27:15,300 --> 05:27:19,100
actually committing to any of 
them using romantic possibility.

5791
05:27:19,100 --> 05:27:22,500
As a diplomatic tool with 
unprecedented skill, the courts 

5792
05:27:22,500 --> 05:27:24,500
response to the Spanish Armada 
in 1588. 

5793
05:27:24,500 --> 05:27:28,400
Showcased Elizabethan political 
theater at his most effective 

5794
05:27:28,400 --> 05:27:32,400
Elizabeth's appearance before 
her troops at Tilbury declaring 

5795
05:27:32,400 --> 05:27:35,800
that she had the body of a weak 
and feeble woman, but the heart 

5796
05:27:35,800 --> 05:27:38,700
and stomach of a king was 
political communication that 

5797
05:27:38,700 --> 05:27:42,100
transformed a potential military
disaster into a moment. 

5798
05:27:42,300 --> 05:27:45,600
National inspiration, the 
victory over the Spanish Armada 

5799
05:27:45,600 --> 05:27:48,100
validated, all of Elizabeth's. 
Governmental strategies 

5800
05:27:48,100 --> 05:27:52,100
simultaneously, English Naval 
Innovations had, proven Superior

5801
05:27:52,100 --> 05:27:55,800
to Spanish, military tradition, 
Protestant religious conviction 

5802
05:27:55,800 --> 05:27:59,700
had apparently received Divine 
approval, and Elizabeth's, son, 

5803
05:27:59,700 --> 05:28:02,300
married status, which critics 
had long considered a national 

5804
05:28:02,300 --> 05:28:05,400
weakness, suddenly appeared to 
be evidence of her unique 

5805
05:28:05,400 --> 05:28:08,800
dedication to England's welfare,
the Elizabethan Court during the

5806
05:28:08,800 --> 05:28:12,900
1590s felt like the headquarters
of a successful Revolution that 

5807
05:28:12,900 --> 05:28:16,700
had exceeded, everyone's 
expectations England had become 

5808
05:28:16,700 --> 05:28:19,600
a major European power despite 
lacking the traditional 

5809
05:28:19,600 --> 05:28:24,300
resources, vast territories, 
massive population's, abundant 

5810
05:28:24,300 --> 05:28:27,500
precious metals that other 
powers relied upon for their 

5811
05:28:27,500 --> 05:28:30,500
International influence. 
Elizabeth's achievement, was to 

5812
05:28:30,500 --> 05:28:33,800
demonstrate that a relatively 
small Kingdom could compete with

5813
05:28:33,800 --> 05:28:37,800
Continental Empires, through 
Superior organization, cultural 

5814
05:28:37,800 --> 05:28:40,300
sophistication and political 
creativity. 

5815
05:28:41,300 --> 05:28:44,800
Her Court became the model that 
later English monarchs would 

5816
05:28:44,800 --> 05:28:48,200
many attempt to emulate her, but
few can match her unique 

5817
05:28:48,200 --> 05:28:51,200
combination of theatrical Flair,
and practical, Effectiveness 

5818
05:28:51,200 --> 05:28:53,300
James, the first arrived in 
England. 

5819
05:28:53,300 --> 05:28:57,500
In 1603 created a fascinating 
collision between Scottish Royal

5820
05:28:57,500 --> 05:28:59,500
traditions and Elizabethan Court
culture. 

5821
05:29:00,400 --> 05:29:02,500
James brought with him ideas 
about kingship. 

5822
05:29:02,500 --> 05:29:05,400
That were theoretically more 
sophisticated than Elizabeth's, 

5823
05:29:05,400 --> 05:29:08,400
practical approach, but proved 
less suited to English political

5824
05:29:08,400 --> 05:29:11,200
realities. 
The Jacobian cord, resembled a 

5825
05:29:11,200 --> 05:29:14,200
university that had unexpectedly
taken on governmental duties. 

5826
05:29:14,900 --> 05:29:18,200
James was genuinely learned, he 
wrote books on political Theory,

5827
05:29:18,200 --> 05:29:20,100
Theology, and even Tobacco 
Control. 

5828
05:29:20,100 --> 05:29:23,600
But his intellectual approach to
kingship, sometimes conflicted 

5829
05:29:23,600 --> 05:29:26,300
with the Practical political 
skills, that successful, English

5830
05:29:26,300 --> 05:29:28,900
Monarchy required. 
You can picture the culture 

5831
05:29:28,900 --> 05:29:31,300
shock that occurred. 
When James is Scottish courtiers

5832
05:29:31,300 --> 05:29:33,800
encountered, the complex 
Protocols of Elizabethan Court 

5833
05:29:33,800 --> 05:29:36,400
life. 
The Scots were accustomed to 

5834
05:29:36,400 --> 05:29:39,100
more informal relationships 
between the king and his Nobles.

5835
05:29:39,100 --> 05:29:42,200
While English courtiers had 
developed elaborate ceremonial 

5836
05:29:42,200 --> 05:29:44,300
procedures. 
That treated Royal access as a 

5837
05:29:44,308 --> 05:29:47,700
carefully rationed privilege. 
The result was a court where two

5838
05:29:47,700 --> 05:29:50,600
different styles of monarchy 
existed in constant tension. 

5839
05:29:51,300 --> 05:29:54,300
James preferred scholarly 
discussion and theoretical 

5840
05:29:54,300 --> 05:29:56,400
debate. 
While his English, courtiers 

5841
05:29:56,400 --> 05:29:59,300
were more comfortable with the 
sort of political theater that 

5842
05:29:59,300 --> 05:30:00,900
had made Elizabeth reign 
successful. 

5843
05:30:02,100 --> 05:30:04,200
The mixture produced some 
fascinating cultural 

5844
05:30:04,200 --> 05:30:07,100
achievements, but also political
complications that would 

5845
05:30:07,100 --> 05:30:08,800
influence English history for 
Generations. 

5846
05:30:08,800 --> 05:30:12,300
James's Court, patronized the 
translation of the Bible that 

5847
05:30:12,300 --> 05:30:15,500
bears his name. 
The King James version completed

5848
05:30:15,500 --> 05:30:19,000
in 1611 which became one of the 
most influential works of 

5849
05:30:19,000 --> 05:30:22,400
English prose. 
Everton the king's personal 

5850
05:30:22,400 --> 05:30:25,100
involvement in this project 
demonstrates, how Jacobian 

5851
05:30:25,100 --> 05:30:28,100
caught culture, could combine 
serious intellectual work with 

5852
05:30:28,100 --> 05:30:32,000
practical, political purposes, 
The new Bible translation was 

5853
05:30:32,000 --> 05:30:34,900
simultaneously, a scholarly 
achievement, a religious 

5854
05:30:34,900 --> 05:30:37,700
statement, and a political 
document designed to establish 

5855
05:30:37,700 --> 05:30:40,100
Royal authority over English 
spiritual life. 

5856
05:30:40,100 --> 05:30:43,400
The Court's relationship with 
theater during James's Reign. 

5857
05:30:43,400 --> 05:30:47,500
Produced some of Shakespeare's 
greatest plays King Lear Macbeth

5858
05:30:47,500 --> 05:30:50,600
and the Tempest were all written
for Royal audiences. 

5859
05:30:50,600 --> 05:30:53,000
Who understood the political 
themes, these Works explored. 

5860
05:30:54,000 --> 05:30:56,800
When Corti is watched Macbeth's,
meditation on the relationship 

5861
05:30:56,800 --> 05:30:59,900
between ambition and legitimacy.
They were seeing their own 

5862
05:30:59,900 --> 05:31:02,600
political concerns, reflected in
dramatic, poetry of 

5863
05:31:02,600 --> 05:31:06,100
extraordinary power, but James 
is theoretical approach to 

5864
05:31:06,100 --> 05:31:08,600
monarchy created. 
Practical problems that became 

5865
05:31:08,600 --> 05:31:10,900
increasingly serious as his 
reign progressed. 

5866
05:31:11,700 --> 05:31:14,500
His belief in the divine, right 
of kings was intellectually 

5867
05:31:14,500 --> 05:31:17,700
coherent that politically in 
practical in a kingdom, where 

5868
05:31:17,700 --> 05:31:20,400
Parliament had grown accustomed 
to being consulted about major 

5869
05:31:20,400 --> 05:31:23,900
policy decisions. 
The Gunpowder Plot of 6805 

5870
05:31:23,900 --> 05:31:26,700
provided James with an 
opportunity to demonstrate that 

5871
05:31:26,700 --> 05:31:29,600
his scholarly approached King 
ship could handle serious 

5872
05:31:29,600 --> 05:31:32,900
political crises his 
investigation of the conspiracy.

5873
05:31:32,900 --> 05:31:36,200
Showed genuine detective skills 
and his management of the 

5874
05:31:36,200 --> 05:31:38,400
aftermath. 
Demonstrated both Mercy towards 

5875
05:31:38,400 --> 05:31:41,600
the innocent and decisive action
against genuine threats. 

5876
05:31:41,600 --> 05:31:45,200
However James's financial 
management created ongoing 

5877
05:31:45,200 --> 05:31:48,100
tensions that his son, Charles 
the first would inherit along 

5878
05:31:48,100 --> 05:31:52,000
with the crown. the Jacobian 
Court was expensive in ways that

5879
05:31:52,000 --> 05:31:55,600
even Elizabeth's magnificent 
progresses had not been James 

5880
05:31:55,600 --> 05:31:59,000
distributed titles lands and 
pensions with generosity that 

5881
05:31:59,000 --> 05:32:00,700
reflected his theoretical 
belief. 

5882
05:32:00,700 --> 05:32:03,500
That Royal magnificence was 
essential to monarchical 

5883
05:32:03,500 --> 05:32:06,600
dignity, but his practical 
accounting skills were less 

5884
05:32:06,600 --> 05:32:09,700
impressive than his theoretical 
knowledge, Charles the first 

5885
05:32:09,700 --> 05:32:11,900
inherited, his father's 
intellectual approach to 

5886
05:32:11,908 --> 05:32:15,000
kingship, but lacked James's, 
political flexibility and 

5887
05:32:15,000 --> 05:32:18,200
personal charisma. 
Charles's Court, became a place 

5888
05:32:18,200 --> 05:32:21,300
where theoretical Perfection was
pursued with systemic, 

5889
05:32:21,300 --> 05:32:24,300
Dedication, that ignored the 
political compromises that 

5890
05:32:24,300 --> 05:32:28,500
successful monarchy required the
Carolyn caught during the 1630s 

5891
05:32:28,500 --> 05:32:30,900
achieved, a level of artistic 
and cultural sophistication. 

5892
05:32:30,900 --> 05:32:34,100
That rivaled the greatest 
European achievements. 

5893
05:32:34,100 --> 05:32:38,300
Anthony van Dykes portraits of 
Charles and his family created 

5894
05:32:38,300 --> 05:32:41,900
visual representations of Royal 
dignity that still influence. 

5895
05:32:41,900 --> 05:32:45,400
How we imagine? 
17th century monarchy The court 

5896
05:32:45,400 --> 05:32:49,200
musk's designed by Inigo Jones. 
Combined architecture music 

5897
05:32:49,200 --> 05:32:53,900
poetry and Theatrical spectacle 
in ways that amazed contemporary

5898
05:32:53,900 --> 05:32:56,000
observers. 
But this cultural achievement 

5899
05:32:56,000 --> 05:32:59,400
existed in increasing tension 
with political realities, that 

5900
05:32:59,400 --> 05:33:02,200
Charles seemed determined to 
ignore his court. 

5901
05:33:02,200 --> 05:33:05,700
Became a place where beautiful 
ceremonies and magnificent art 

5902
05:33:05,700 --> 05:33:08,500
co-existed with governmental 
policies that were 

5903
05:33:08,500 --> 05:33:11,500
systematically alienating, the 
social groups who support the 

5904
05:33:11,500 --> 05:33:13,200
English. 
Monarchy traditionally required 

5905
05:33:13,200 --> 05:33:17,200
the 11-year period, when Charles
ruled without Parliament, the so

5906
05:33:17,200 --> 05:33:21,900
called personal rule from 1629 
to 1640, transformed the Royal 

5907
05:33:21,900 --> 05:33:24,000
Court in to something 
unprecedented in English 

5908
05:33:24,000 --> 05:33:26,300
History. 
A government that functioned 

5909
05:33:26,300 --> 05:33:29,100
independently of the legislative
institutions that had been 

5910
05:33:29,100 --> 05:33:32,000
Central to English political 
developments in medieval times 

5911
05:33:32,000 --> 05:33:35,600
Charles's Court during these 
years operated with a fishy that

5912
05:33:35,600 --> 05:33:38,400
would have impressed his Tudor 
predecessors but its 

5913
05:33:38,400 --> 05:33:42,000
Effectiveness was undermined by 
growing popular conviction that 

5914
05:33:42,000 --> 05:33:44,800
the King was governing in ways 
that violated fundament. 

5915
05:33:44,900 --> 05:33:46,400
English. 
Political traditions. 

5916
05:33:47,100 --> 05:33:50,300
The court became isolated from 
the broader political nation in 

5917
05:33:50,300 --> 05:33:52,600
ways that made future conflicts 
almost inevitable. 

5918
05:33:52,600 --> 05:33:56,000
When Charles finally, recalled 
parliament in 1640. 

5919
05:33:56,000 --> 05:33:59,100
His court, found itself 
confronting political opposition

5920
05:33:59,100 --> 05:34:02,200
that had been growing stronger. 
While Royal Authority had been 

5921
05:34:02,200 --> 05:34:05,700
growing more rigid The result 
was a political crisis that 

5922
05:34:05,700 --> 05:34:08,600
neither traditional Royal 
Authority, nor Innovative Court 

5923
05:34:08,600 --> 05:34:11,700
culture could resolve through 
conventional means the execution

5924
05:34:11,700 --> 05:34:14,500
of Charles. 
The first in 1649 created a 

5925
05:34:14,500 --> 05:34:17,600
unique situation in European 
history, a major Kingdom 

5926
05:34:17,600 --> 05:34:20,300
attempting to function without 
any Royal Court at all. 

5927
05:34:21,400 --> 05:34:23,700
The Commonwealth period 
represents the ultimate test of 

5928
05:34:23,700 --> 05:34:26,800
whether traditional governmental
functions required traditional 

5929
05:34:26,800 --> 05:34:29,900
Royal ceremonies and protocols, 
Oliver cromwell's, government 

5930
05:34:29,900 --> 05:34:32,800
faced the challenge of 
maintaining domestic order and 

5931
05:34:32,800 --> 05:34:35,900
international respectability 
without the institutional 

5932
05:34:35,900 --> 05:34:38,700
structures that had supported 
English political Authority for 

5933
05:34:38,708 --> 05:34:41,700
centuries. 
The result was a series of 

5934
05:34:41,700 --> 05:34:44,700
improvised solutions that were 
sometimes successful but never 

5935
05:34:44,700 --> 05:34:48,400
entirely convincing to domestic 
or foreign observers you can 

5936
05:34:48,408 --> 05:34:51,100
imagine the confusion that 
ordinary English people felt 

5937
05:34:51,100 --> 05:34:54,100
when familiar Royal ceremony is 
simply disappeared from public 

5938
05:34:54,100 --> 05:34:56,800
life. 
No more Royal progresses through

5939
05:34:56,800 --> 05:34:59,300
the countryside, no more, 
elaborate Court. 

5940
05:34:59,300 --> 05:35:02,800
Celebrations, to Mark important 
occasions, and no more visible 

5941
05:35:02,800 --> 05:35:06,200
demonstrations of governmental 
continuity that had reassured 

5942
05:35:06,200 --> 05:35:08,600
previous generations about 
political stability. 

5943
05:35:08,600 --> 05:35:12,300
The cromwellian court, though, 
it was never officially called a

5944
05:35:12,300 --> 05:35:14,600
court developed. 
Its own protocols, that 

5945
05:35:14,600 --> 05:35:18,100
attempted to combine Republican,
Simplicity with the ceremonial 

5946
05:35:18,100 --> 05:35:20,700
dignity that governmental 
Authority seem to require 

5947
05:35:21,700 --> 05:35:24,600
Foreign ambassadors still needed
to be received with appropriate 

5948
05:35:24,600 --> 05:35:28,100
formality important state 
occasions, still required public

5949
05:35:28,100 --> 05:35:30,700
ceremonies and political 
authorities, still needed 

5950
05:35:30,700 --> 05:35:34,200
visible demonstrations of its 
legitimacy cromwell's personal 

5951
05:35:34,200 --> 05:35:37,800
style reflected this challenge. 
He rejected Royal titles and 

5952
05:35:37,800 --> 05:35:40,400
traditional monocle ceremonies 
but he lived in. 

5953
05:35:40,400 --> 05:35:44,400
Royal palaces used Royal 
ceremonial objects and gradually

5954
05:35:44,400 --> 05:35:46,700
adopted many of the protocols 
that had previously been 

5955
05:35:46,700 --> 05:35:49,500
associated. 
With crowned Kings, the line 

5956
05:35:49,500 --> 05:35:52,400
between Republican leadership 
and monarchical Authority proved

5957
05:35:52,400 --> 05:35:54,700
more difficult to maintain than 
theoretical political 

5958
05:35:54,700 --> 05:35:57,100
philosophy. 
Had suggested the Commonwealth 

5959
05:35:57,100 --> 05:36:00,000
periods, cultural achievements 
were real but different from 

5960
05:36:00,000 --> 05:36:04,000
traditional Royal patronage. 
John Milton's political writings

5961
05:36:04,000 --> 05:36:07,100
including the tenure of kings 
and magistrates and later 

5962
05:36:07,100 --> 05:36:11,000
Paradise, Lost explored, themes 
of authority, rebellion and 

5963
05:36:11,000 --> 05:36:14,000
political legitimacy with 
intellectual depth that 

5964
05:36:14,000 --> 05:36:16,300
surpassed most Court sponsored 
literature. 

5965
05:36:17,300 --> 05:36:19,900
But these Works were produced 
despite governmental policy 

5966
05:36:19,900 --> 05:36:23,800
rather than because of Royal 
encouragement, the absence of a 

5967
05:36:23,800 --> 05:36:25,300
Royal Court. 
Also affected English 

5968
05:36:25,300 --> 05:36:27,800
international relations in ways 
that became increasingly 

5969
05:36:27,800 --> 05:36:30,800
problematic as the Commonwealth 
period continued. 

5970
05:36:31,700 --> 05:36:34,700
European monks were reluctant to
treat cromwell's government as a

5971
05:36:34,700 --> 05:36:37,900
legitimate equal partly, because
it lacked the ceremonial 

5972
05:36:37,900 --> 05:36:39,800
structures. 
That traditional diplomacy 

5973
05:36:39,800 --> 05:36:42,100
required for normal 
International relationships, 

5974
05:36:42,100 --> 05:36:46,600
when Cromwell died in 1658, his 
son, Richard briefly attempted 

5975
05:36:46,600 --> 05:36:49,700
to continue the Commonwealth 
system, But the experiment 

5976
05:36:49,700 --> 05:36:52,400
quickly, demonstrated that 
Republican government, required 

5977
05:36:52,400 --> 05:36:55,800
personal Authority that couldn't
be inherited through family 

5978
05:36:55,800 --> 05:36:58,500
succession. 
The irony was that effective 

5979
05:36:58,500 --> 05:37:00,000
Republican. 
Leadership seemed to require 

5980
05:37:00,000 --> 05:37:03,000
many of the same qualities that 
successful monarchy demanded. 

5981
05:37:03,000 --> 05:37:07,100
Charles the second's returned to
England in 1660 created, one of 

5982
05:37:07,100 --> 05:37:09,600
the most remarkable 
transformations in English Court

5983
05:37:09,600 --> 05:37:12,600
history. 
The king had spent his Exile in 

5984
05:37:12,608 --> 05:37:15,600
French and Dutch courts. 
That had continued developing 

5985
05:37:15,600 --> 05:37:18,000
while England. 
Experimented with republicanism 

5986
05:37:18,800 --> 05:37:21,500
When Charles established his 
restored Court, he brought 

5987
05:37:21,500 --> 05:37:24,400
Continental innovations that 
revolutionized English Royal 

5988
05:37:24,400 --> 05:37:26,800
culture. 
The restoration Court felt like 

5989
05:37:26,808 --> 05:37:30,400
a party that had been postponed 
for 11 years and was finally 

5990
05:37:30,400 --> 05:37:32,800
being celebrated with 
accumulated in enthusiasm 

5991
05:37:34,000 --> 05:37:36,400
Charles understood that his 
restoration needed to 

5992
05:37:36,400 --> 05:37:39,600
demonstrate, not just political 
legitimacy, but cultural 

5993
05:37:39,600 --> 05:37:42,800
superiority over the Republican 
experiment that had temporarily 

5994
05:37:42,800 --> 05:37:45,000
replaced. 
Traditional monarchy, you can 

5995
05:37:45,000 --> 05:37:47,400
pick the excitement that must 
have filled London when 

5996
05:37:47,400 --> 05:37:49,200
familiar. 
Royal ceremony is returned to 

5997
05:37:49,200 --> 05:37:52,500
English public life. 
The coronation procession caught

5998
05:37:52,500 --> 05:37:55,600
celebrations and Royal 
progresses provided Visual 

5999
05:37:55,600 --> 05:37:58,100
Evidence that normal political 
order had been restored. 

6000
05:37:59,100 --> 05:38:01,900
Charles's Court was more than 
just a return to pre-civil war 

6001
05:38:01,900 --> 05:38:03,900
Traditions. 
It was an upgrade that 

6002
05:38:03,900 --> 05:38:06,500
incorporated, the best features 
of European Royal culture. 

6003
05:38:06,500 --> 05:38:09,500
The king's personal style, 
reflected his Continental 

6004
05:38:09,500 --> 05:38:13,700
education, Charles was witty 
sophisticated and possessed, the

6005
05:38:13,700 --> 05:38:16,300
sort of easy charm that made 
people want to spend time in his

6006
05:38:16,300 --> 05:38:18,800
presence. 
His court became a place where 

6007
05:38:18,800 --> 05:38:21,700
conversation was considered an 
art form where scientific 

6008
05:38:21,700 --> 05:38:25,000
discussion co-existed with 
theatrical entertainment and 

6009
05:38:25,000 --> 05:38:27,500
where English cultural life 
reconnected with broader 

6010
05:38:27,500 --> 05:38:29,900
European developments, the Royal
Society. 

6011
05:38:29,900 --> 05:38:33,900
Founded in 1660 illustrates how 
the restoration courts supported

6012
05:38:33,900 --> 05:38:37,300
intellectual achievements that 
combined practical utility with 

6013
05:38:37,300 --> 05:38:41,300
cultural Prestige, when is Isaac
Newton, Christopher Wren, and 

6014
05:38:41,300 --> 05:38:43,700
Robert Hooke conducted their 
experiments under Royal 

6015
05:38:43,700 --> 05:38:46,100
patronage, they were advancing 
human knowledge. 

6016
05:38:46,100 --> 05:38:49,000
While simultaneously 
demonstrating that the English 

6017
05:38:49,000 --> 05:38:52,500
Monarchy supported the sort of 
scientific progress, that was 

6018
05:38:52,508 --> 05:38:54,500
transforming European 
civilization. 

6019
05:38:54,500 --> 05:38:58,100
Charles's Court was also where 
English theater achieved some of

6020
05:38:58,108 --> 05:39:01,900
its greatest successes The 
king's enthusiastic support for 

6021
05:39:01,900 --> 05:39:04,400
dramatic performance is helped 
create the conditions that 

6022
05:39:04,400 --> 05:39:08,400
produced restoration comedy. 
Theatrical form that combines 

6023
05:39:08,400 --> 05:39:12,100
sophisticated social observation
with entertainment that appealed

6024
05:39:12,100 --> 05:39:15,400
to both courtly and popular 
audiences, but the restoration 

6025
05:39:15,400 --> 05:39:18,300
courts, most significant 
Innovation was its approach to 

6026
05:39:18,308 --> 05:39:21,700
religious diversity. 
Charles's personal Catholic 

6027
05:39:21,700 --> 05:39:24,400
sympathies were balanced by his 
political understanding. 

6028
05:39:24,400 --> 05:39:27,700
That England required Protestant
Royal Authority for domestic 

6029
05:39:27,700 --> 05:39:30,400
stability. 
His court became a place where 

6030
05:39:30,400 --> 05:39:32,500
religious differences were 
managed through practical 

6031
05:39:32,500 --> 05:39:34,500
tolerance rather than 
theoretical. 

6032
05:39:34,500 --> 05:39:37,300
Resolution this created a court 
atmosphere. 

6033
05:39:37,300 --> 05:39:39,800
That was more intellectually 
diverse than England had 

6034
05:39:39,800 --> 05:39:43,900
experienced since before the 
Reformation, Catholics anglicans

6035
05:39:43,900 --> 05:39:47,000
and various Protestant 
denominations, all found places 

6036
05:39:47,000 --> 05:39:50,100
in court life, though, their 
relationships were sometimes 

6037
05:39:50,100 --> 05:39:52,200
tense, and always politically 
complicated. 

6038
05:39:52,200 --> 05:39:57,000
The Great Fire of London in 1666
provided Charles's court with an

6039
05:39:57,000 --> 05:39:59,800
opportunity to demonstrate Royal
leadership during a genuine 

6040
05:39:59,800 --> 05:40:02,800
National crisis. 
The king's personal involvement 

6041
05:40:02,800 --> 05:40:05,900
in firefighting efforts and his 
support for Christopher. 

6042
05:40:05,900 --> 05:40:08,700
Wren's rebuilding plans showed 
that the restored monarchy could

6043
05:40:08,700 --> 05:40:11,500
provide effective practical 
leadership, as well as 

6044
05:40:11,500 --> 05:40:15,600
ceremonial magnifiscents James. 
The second succession in 1685 

6045
05:40:15,600 --> 05:40:18,400
created immediate tension 
between the court culture that 

6046
05:40:18,400 --> 05:40:21,900
Charles had established and 
James's determination to restore

6047
05:40:21,900 --> 05:40:24,500
Catholicism. 
As England's official religion. 

6048
05:40:25,300 --> 05:40:28,900
James had inherited his brother 
sophisticated court system but 

6049
05:40:28,900 --> 05:40:31,700
lacked Charles's political 
sensitivity about the religious 

6050
05:40:31,700 --> 05:40:34,100
compromises that the English 
Monarchy required. 

6051
05:40:34,100 --> 05:40:37,100
The Jacobite Court during 
James's brief Reign felt like a 

6052
05:40:37,108 --> 05:40:39,700
place where people were waiting 
for something dramatic to happen

6053
05:40:39,700 --> 05:40:41,300
though. 
No one was quite sure. 

6054
05:40:41,300 --> 05:40:44,500
What formed that drama would 
take James's policies, 

6055
05:40:44,500 --> 05:40:46,900
systematically alienated. 
The Protestant political 

6056
05:40:46,900 --> 05:40:50,000
establishment that had supported
his brothers restoration, while 

6057
05:40:50,000 --> 05:40:53,100
his court ceremonies in the 
emphasized, Catholic religious 

6058
05:40:53,100 --> 05:40:56,800
elements that made most English 
observers nervous when William 

6059
05:40:56,800 --> 05:41:01,300
of Orange landed in England, in 
1688 James's Court collapsed 

6060
05:41:01,300 --> 05:41:04,400
with startling speed. 
The king who had inherited the 

6061
05:41:04,400 --> 05:41:06,600
most sophisticated Royal 
household in English. 

6062
05:41:06,600 --> 05:41:09,800
History, found himself with 
almost no domestic political 

6063
05:41:09,800 --> 05:41:11,800
support. 
When the crisis finally arrived,

6064
05:41:11,800 --> 05:41:15,600
the Glorious Revolution of 1688 
fundamentally changed. 

6065
05:41:15,600 --> 05:41:18,300
The relationship between 
English, Royal courts and 

6066
05:41:18,300 --> 05:41:21,500
political Authority. 
William the third and Mary, the 

6067
05:41:21,500 --> 05:41:24,600
second established a court 
system that operated within 

6068
05:41:24,600 --> 05:41:27,800
constitutional limitations that 
would have seemed impossible to 

6069
05:41:27,800 --> 05:41:29,600
earlier generations of English. 
Monarchs. 

6070
05:41:29,600 --> 05:41:32,800
The new Royal Court had to 
function simultaneously as a 

6071
05:41:32,800 --> 05:41:36,000
ceremonial Center that 
maintained monarchical dignity 

6072
05:41:36,000 --> 05:41:39,100
and as a governmental 
institution that acknowledged 

6073
05:41:39,100 --> 05:41:41,800
parliamentary Supremacy over 
major policy decision. 

6074
05:41:43,100 --> 05:41:45,800
This required developing new 
protocols that preserved Royal 

6075
05:41:45,800 --> 05:41:48,600
Prestige, while respecting the 
political realities, that the 

6076
05:41:48,600 --> 05:41:50,100
Glorious Revolution had 
established. 

6077
05:41:50,100 --> 05:41:53,200
You can imagine the delicate 
balance that caught officials 

6078
05:41:53,200 --> 05:41:55,500
needed to maintain during this 
transitional period. 

6079
05:41:56,400 --> 05:41:59,500
Royal ceremonies still needed to
demonstrate appropriate Majesty,

6080
05:41:59,500 --> 05:42:02,700
but they couldn't suggest that 
the crowned Authority that 

6081
05:42:02,700 --> 05:42:05,900
Parliament now controlled 
foreign diplomats still needed 

6082
05:42:05,900 --> 05:42:08,900
to be received with suitable 
formality but diplomatic 

6083
05:42:08,900 --> 05:42:11,000
policies required, legislative 
approval. 

6084
05:42:11,000 --> 05:42:14,200
In ways that complicated 
traditional Royal prerogatives, 

6085
05:42:14,200 --> 05:42:18,100
the Hanoverian succession in 
1714 brought another Continental

6086
05:42:18,100 --> 05:42:21,100
influence to English Court 
culture, but George, the first 

6087
05:42:21,100 --> 05:42:23,400
Court face, the additional 
challenge of establishing 

6088
05:42:23,400 --> 05:42:28,000
legitimacy for a dynasty with 
limited English connections, The

6089
05:42:28,000 --> 05:42:30,800
early Georgian Court compensated
for this linguistic and cultural

6090
05:42:30,800 --> 05:42:33,700
Distance by developing 
ceremonial procedures that 

6091
05:42:33,700 --> 05:42:37,100
emphasize constitutional 
propriety rather than personal 

6092
05:42:37,100 --> 05:42:39,200
Charisma. 
George the second Court 

6093
05:42:39,200 --> 05:42:41,600
achieved, a more comfortable 
balance between German Royal 

6094
05:42:41,600 --> 05:42:44,900
traditions and English 
constitutional requirements, the

6095
05:42:44,900 --> 05:42:46,700
king spoke better English than 
his father. 

6096
05:42:46,700 --> 05:42:50,100
Understood English, political 
customs, more thoroughly and 

6097
05:42:50,100 --> 05:42:52,900
created a court atmosphere that 
successfully combined. 

6098
05:42:52,900 --> 05:42:56,600
Continental sophistication with 
domestic political sensitivity, 

6099
05:42:56,600 --> 05:42:59,100
but it was during George. 
The third's, long Reign that the

6100
05:42:59,100 --> 05:43:02,400
Georgian Court System reached 
its mature form George. 

6101
05:43:02,400 --> 05:43:04,700
The third was the first Hannah 
Varian Monarch who was 

6102
05:43:04,700 --> 05:43:08,100
thoroughly English in education 
temperament and political 

6103
05:43:08,100 --> 05:43:11,700
understanding his court became 
the template for constitutional 

6104
05:43:11,700 --> 05:43:14,600
monarchy that would influence 
British royal culture for the 

6105
05:43:14,600 --> 05:43:18,300
next two centuries, the Georgian
courts daily routine reflected 

6106
05:43:18,300 --> 05:43:20,000
these constitutional 
limitations. 

6107
05:43:20,900 --> 05:43:22,900
Morning sessions, dealt with 
ceremonial business. 

6108
05:43:22,900 --> 05:43:25,900
That maintained Royal dignity 
without challenging 

6109
05:43:25,900 --> 05:43:29,200
parliamentary Authority. 
After noon, meetings, handled 

6110
05:43:29,200 --> 05:43:32,200
diplomatic correspondence. 
That required coordination with 

6111
05:43:32,200 --> 05:43:34,400
government ministers, who were 
responsible to Parliament. 

6112
05:43:34,400 --> 05:43:38,000
Rather than to the crown alone, 
George the third's court, during

6113
05:43:38,000 --> 05:43:40,400
the American Revolution, 
demonstrates how constitutional 

6114
05:43:40,400 --> 05:43:44,700
monarchy functioned during major
political crises, the king 

6115
05:43:44,700 --> 05:43:47,800
personally opposed American 
independence, but his court had 

6116
05:43:47,800 --> 05:43:50,600
to manage a military conflict 
that was primarily directed by 

6117
05:43:50,600 --> 05:43:52,000
ministers. 
Who were accountable to 

6118
05:43:52,000 --> 05:43:54,900
Parliament. 
Royal Authority and 

6119
05:43:54,900 --> 05:43:57,200
parliamentary government 
operated in parallel rather than

6120
05:43:57,200 --> 05:44:00,300
in the hierarchical relationship
that had characterized earlier 

6121
05:44:00,300 --> 05:44:02,500
periods. 
The Court's response to George 

6122
05:44:02,500 --> 05:44:05,700
the third's periodic mental 
illness created unprecedented 

6123
05:44:05,700 --> 05:44:09,100
constitutional challenges that 
required improvised Solutions. 

6124
05:44:09,100 --> 05:44:13,300
The Regency crisis of 1788 
forced Parliament and the Royal 

6125
05:44:13,300 --> 05:44:16,300
household to develop procedures 
for managing governmental 

6126
05:44:16,300 --> 05:44:18,600
continuity. 
When the Monarch was unable to 

6127
05:44:18,600 --> 05:44:20,300
perform his constitutional 
duties. 

6128
05:44:20,300 --> 05:44:23,400
These experiences established 
precedents, that would prove 

6129
05:44:23,400 --> 05:44:26,500
crucial during the formal 
Regency period from 1811 to 

6130
05:44:26,500 --> 05:44:28,800
1820. 
When the future, George the 

6131
05:44:28,800 --> 05:44:30,400
fourth governed on his father's 
behalf. 

6132
05:44:31,400 --> 05:44:34,400
The Regency Court represented, 
the full flowering of Georgian 

6133
05:44:34,400 --> 05:44:37,600
Royal culture. 
Sophisticated Cosmopolitan and 

6134
05:44:37,600 --> 05:44:41,300
expensive enough to scandalize 
contemporary critics George, the

6135
05:44:41,300 --> 05:44:43,800
fourth quarter as Prince. 
Regent achieved, a level of 

6136
05:44:43,800 --> 05:44:46,600
cultural patronage that rivaled 
the greatest European 

6137
05:44:46,600 --> 05:44:49,000
achievements. 
The rebuilding of the royal 

6138
05:44:49,000 --> 05:44:52,000
Pavilion at Brighton, the 
planning of Regent Street and 

6139
05:44:52,000 --> 05:44:54,800
Regents Park in London. 
And the support for artists 

6140
05:44:54,800 --> 05:44:58,300
writers and musicians, created a
court culture that combined 

6141
05:44:58,300 --> 05:45:01,000
aesthetic achievement with 
constitutional propriety 

6142
05:45:01,000 --> 05:45:04,600
Victoria's accession in 1837 
created a dramatic 

6143
05:45:04,600 --> 05:45:07,700
transformation in English Court 
culture that reflected broader 

6144
05:45:07,700 --> 05:45:11,300
changes in social attitudes, 
economic relationships and 

6145
05:45:11,300 --> 05:45:15,600
Imperial responsibilities, The 
18 year old Queen inherited, a 

6146
05:45:15,600 --> 05:45:17,700
court system that had been 
designed for Georgian Royal 

6147
05:45:17,700 --> 05:45:20,700
lifestyle but would need to 
accommodate Victorian moral 

6148
05:45:20,700 --> 05:45:22,800
expectations and Global Imperial
duties. 

6149
05:45:22,800 --> 05:45:25,900
The early, Victorian Court faced
the challenge of establishing 

6150
05:45:25,900 --> 05:45:28,800
respect for a young female 
Monarch in an age. 

6151
05:45:28,800 --> 05:45:31,200
When political Authority was 
generally associated with 

6152
05:45:31,200 --> 05:45:34,900
masculine leadership. 
Taurus solution was to create a 

6153
05:45:34,900 --> 05:45:38,900
court culture that emphasized 
moral Authority, domestic virtue

6154
05:45:38,900 --> 05:45:41,600
and Imperial responsibility 
rather than the personal 

6155
05:45:41,600 --> 05:45:44,300
Charisma or cultural 
sophistication that had 

6156
05:45:44,300 --> 05:45:46,100
characterized earlier. 
Royal Traditions. 

6157
05:45:46,100 --> 05:45:49,000
You can imagine the dramatic 
change in the caught atmosphere 

6158
05:45:49,000 --> 05:45:50,900
that Victoria's moral standards 
produced. 

6159
05:45:51,800 --> 05:45:55,200
Where Georgian Court life had 
celebrated wit sophistication 

6160
05:45:55,200 --> 05:45:57,800
and a certain tolerance for 
personal Scandal. 

6161
05:45:57,800 --> 05:46:02,300
Victorian Court culture, 
emphasized, Duty propriety and 

6162
05:46:02,300 --> 05:46:04,800
the sort of moral earnestness 
that would have made earlier 

6163
05:46:04,800 --> 05:46:08,100
generations of courtiers, deeply
uncomfortable, Victoria's 

6164
05:46:08,100 --> 05:46:11,800
married to Prince Albert in 1840
established the partnership that

6165
05:46:11,800 --> 05:46:14,300
would define Victorian Royal 
culture for the next two 

6166
05:46:14,300 --> 05:46:16,800
decades. 
Albert Braut, German 

6167
05:46:16,800 --> 05:46:19,500
thoroughness, and intellectual 
seriousness to English Court 

6168
05:46:19,500 --> 05:46:23,000
life, creating an atmosphere 
where governmental efficiency 

6169
05:46:23,000 --> 05:46:26,600
cultural patronage, and moral 
Improvement, were pursued with 

6170
05:46:26,600 --> 05:46:29,800
systemic dedication. 
The Victorian courts approached 

6171
05:46:29,800 --> 05:46:31,800
to ceremonial Innovation 
illustrates this. 

6172
05:46:31,800 --> 05:46:35,300
New seriousness of purpose. 
The great exhibition of 1851 

6173
05:46:35,300 --> 05:46:39,500
organized under Albert's 
leadership was simultaneously a 

6174
05:46:39,500 --> 05:46:42,200
celebration of British 
industrial achievement a 

6175
05:46:42,200 --> 05:46:45,100
demonstration of Imperial wealth
and a moral statement about the 

6176
05:46:45,108 --> 05:46:48,300
benefits of international 
cooperation and technological 

6177
05:46:48,300 --> 05:46:50,800
progress. 
Albert's influence on court 

6178
05:46:50,800 --> 05:46:53,900
culture, extended far beyond 
ceremonial occasions, he 

6179
05:46:53,900 --> 05:46:57,400
reorganized Royal finances. 
Modernized Royal Estates and 

6180
05:46:57,400 --> 05:47:00,400
established new standards for 
the sort of cultural patronage 

6181
05:47:00,400 --> 05:47:04,000
that the monarchy should provide
The prince consort treated Royal

6182
05:47:04,000 --> 05:47:06,500
duties with the systematic 
attention to detail that 

6183
05:47:06,500 --> 05:47:09,000
successful. 
Businesses required applying 

6184
05:47:09,000 --> 05:47:12,400
commercial principles to 
monarchical responsibilities the

6185
05:47:12,400 --> 05:47:15,100
courts, daily routine, during 
Albert's lifetime reflected. 

6186
05:47:15,100 --> 05:47:17,500
This business like approach, 
Morning. 

6187
05:47:17,500 --> 05:47:20,700
Session's handled administrative
business with efficiency that 

6188
05:47:20,700 --> 05:47:24,100
would have impressed Tudor 
bureaucrats after noon meetings,

6189
05:47:24,100 --> 05:47:27,100
dealt with the charitable 
organizations educational 

6190
05:47:27,100 --> 05:47:29,500
institutions and cultural 
projects that have become 

6191
05:47:29,500 --> 05:47:33,300
Central to Victorian Royal 
identity Victoria's grief after 

6192
05:47:33,300 --> 05:47:35,900
Albert's death in 1861, 
transformed the court. 

6193
05:47:35,900 --> 05:47:39,500
Once again this time in ways 
that created long-term problems 

6194
05:47:39,500 --> 05:47:43,500
for monarchical Prestige, the 
Queen's withdrawal from public 

6195
05:47:43,500 --> 05:47:46,700
ceremonial duties meant that the
Victorian Court maintained its 

6196
05:47:46,700 --> 05:47:49,400
administrative functions while 
losing much of its symbolic 

6197
05:47:49,400 --> 05:47:51,600
visibility. 
The court during Victoria's 

6198
05:47:51,600 --> 05:47:54,700
widowhood operated like a 
governmental Department, whose 

6199
05:47:54,700 --> 05:47:56,900
chief executive had chosen to 
work from home. 

6200
05:47:57,700 --> 05:48:01,000
While Royal business proceeded, 
efficiently, the ceremonial 

6201
05:48:01,000 --> 05:48:04,300
aspects of monarchy which served
as public demonstrations of 

6202
05:48:04,300 --> 05:48:07,100
constitutional continuity. 
Saw a significant reduction, 

6203
05:48:07,100 --> 05:48:10,100
this created opportunities for 
other members of the royal 

6204
05:48:10,100 --> 05:48:12,400
family, particularly the Prince 
of Wales, the future. 

6205
05:48:12,400 --> 05:48:15,800
Edward the seventh to develop, 
alternative approaches to Royal 

6206
05:48:15,800 --> 05:48:19,300
public life. 
Edwards Court in Waiting became 

6207
05:48:19,300 --> 05:48:22,100
a center for the sort of social 
activities that Victoria's 

6208
05:48:22,100 --> 05:48:24,300
morning had eliminated from 
official Royal culture. 

6209
05:48:24,300 --> 05:48:27,500
The tension between Victoria's 
withdrawn approach and Edwards 

6210
05:48:27,500 --> 05:48:30,400
social style created two 
different models of Royal 

6211
05:48:30,400 --> 05:48:33,400
behavior that coexisted 
uncomfortably within the same 

6212
05:48:33,400 --> 05:48:37,200
constitutional system. 
The Queen's moral Authority was 

6213
05:48:37,200 --> 05:48:40,000
unquestioned, but her sons 
understanding of Royal 

6214
05:48:40,000 --> 05:48:42,700
ceremonial requirements, seemed 
more suited to practical 

6215
05:48:42,700 --> 05:48:46,600
political needs Victoria's 
golden jubilee in 1887 and 

6216
05:48:46,600 --> 05:48:50,200
Diamond Jubilee in 1897 
demonstrated that the Queen's 

6217
05:48:50,200 --> 05:48:52,300
moral Authority. 
Had created a new form of 

6218
05:48:52,308 --> 05:48:55,400
monarchical. 
Prestige these celebrations were

6219
05:48:55,400 --> 05:48:58,500
just British occasions. 
They were Imperial festivals. 

6220
05:48:58,500 --> 05:49:01,600
That demonstrated how Victorian 
Royal culture had expanded to 

6221
05:49:01,600 --> 05:49:03,200
Encompass Global 
responsibilities. 

6222
05:49:03,200 --> 05:49:06,400
The Victorian courts final 
achievement was establishing the

6223
05:49:06,400 --> 05:49:09,600
Constitutional framework that 
would allow the British Monarchy

6224
05:49:09,600 --> 05:49:12,200
to survive the Democratic 
transformation of the 20th 

6225
05:49:12,200 --> 05:49:15,200
century. 
Victoria's combination of moral 

6226
05:49:15,200 --> 05:49:18,100
Authority, Imperial 
responsibility, and 

6227
05:49:18,100 --> 05:49:21,400
constitutional propriety created
a template for monarchical. 

6228
05:49:21,400 --> 05:49:24,400
Relevance that proved adaptable 
to changing political 

6229
05:49:24,400 --> 05:49:27,400
circumstances as we reach the 
end of our gentle Journey 

6230
05:49:27,400 --> 05:49:29,300
Through the centuries of Royal 
courts. 

6231
05:49:29,300 --> 05:49:32,100
You might find yourself 
reflecting on how these ancient 

6232
05:49:32,100 --> 05:49:34,300
patterns still echo in 
contemporary life. 

6233
05:49:35,300 --> 05:49:38,900
The challenges that medieval 
kings faced balancing personal 

6234
05:49:38,900 --> 05:49:41,800
desires with public 
responsibilities managing 

6235
05:49:41,800 --> 05:49:44,400
competing interest groups, 
adapting traditional 

6236
05:49:44,400 --> 05:49:48,300
institutions to changing 
circumstances remain remarkably 

6237
05:49:48,300 --> 05:49:51,100
familiar to anyone who observes 
modern politics or 

6238
05:49:51,100 --> 05:49:54,200
organizational leadership 
English, Royal courts of old 

6239
05:49:54,200 --> 05:49:57,200
from the conquerors of efficient
Norman Administration to 

6240
05:49:57,200 --> 05:49:59,300
Victoria's moral Imperial 
Authority. 

6241
05:49:59,300 --> 05:50:02,900
Illustrating Humanity's 
continuing experiment, with the 

6242
05:50:02,900 --> 05:50:05,900
relationship between individual 
Authority and Collective. 

6243
05:50:05,900 --> 05:50:08,500
Governance. 
Each generation discovered that 

6244
05:50:08,500 --> 05:50:12,000
successful leadership required 
inherited Traditions to 

6245
05:50:12,000 --> 05:50:15,500
contemporary realities while 
maintaining enough continuity to

6246
05:50:15,500 --> 05:50:17,100
preserve institutional 
legitimacy. 

6247
05:50:17,100 --> 05:50:20,700
Perhaps, the most striking 
pattern is how consistently 

6248
05:50:20,700 --> 05:50:24,000
English, Royal courts, served as
Laboratories for political 

6249
05:50:24,000 --> 05:50:27,000
innovation. 
The Magna Carta emerged from 

6250
05:50:27,000 --> 05:50:30,200
King John's administrative 
failures Parliament developed 

6251
05:50:30,200 --> 05:50:32,800
from Edward. 
The first financial needs the 

6252
05:50:32,800 --> 05:50:36,300
Reformation Grew From Henry, the
8th's personal circumstances and

6253
05:50:36,300 --> 05:50:39,400
constitutional monarchy evolved 
from the Glorious revolutions, 

6254
05:50:39,400 --> 05:50:42,100
political Necessities. 
These weren't planned 

6255
05:50:42,100 --> 05:50:44,000
developments Guided by 
theoretical political 

6256
05:50:44,000 --> 05:50:47,600
philosophy, they were practical 
solutions to immediate problems,

6257
05:50:47,600 --> 05:50:50,900
created by people who are trying
to make inherited governmental 

6258
05:50:50,900 --> 05:50:53,300
systems work under changing 
circumstances. 

6259
05:50:54,600 --> 05:50:57,600
The Genius of English political 
development was its capacity to 

6260
05:50:57,600 --> 05:51:01,000
transform temporary expedience 
into permanent constitutional 

6261
05:51:01,000 --> 05:51:04,300
principles, the human Stories 
Behind These institutional 

6262
05:51:04,300 --> 05:51:07,300
changes, Eleanor of aquitaine's 
political sophistication, 

6263
05:51:07,300 --> 05:51:11,400
Richard the second's aesthetic 
innovation's Elizabeth the first

6264
05:51:11,400 --> 05:51:14,100
theatrical State craft and 
Charles the second's. 

6265
05:51:14,100 --> 05:51:17,100
Continental sophistication. 
Remind us that political 

6266
05:51:17,100 --> 05:51:20,200
systems, ultimately expressions 
of individual personality 

6267
05:51:20,200 --> 05:51:23,800
interacting with historical 
circumstance, as you settle 

6268
05:51:23,800 --> 05:51:25,300
deeper into your comfortable 
spot. 

6269
05:51:25,300 --> 05:51:28,600
Tonight, you might consider how 
these Royal courts created, the 

6270
05:51:28,600 --> 05:51:31,300
governmental Traditions that 
still influenced Democratic 

6271
05:51:31,300 --> 05:51:34,600
societies today. 
The idea that political 

6272
05:51:34,600 --> 05:51:38,200
Authority requires popular 
consent, that governmental power

6273
05:51:38,200 --> 05:51:41,200
should be limited by law and 
that cultural achievement, 

6274
05:51:41,200 --> 05:51:45,200
enhances political legitimacy, 
these Concepts developed through

6275
05:51:45,200 --> 05:51:48,600
centuries of experimentation in 
Royal households that were 

6276
05:51:48,608 --> 05:51:51,200
trying to solve practical, 
problems of leadership and 

6277
05:51:51,200 --> 05:51:53,000
governance. 
The English Royal courts 

6278
05:51:53,000 --> 05:51:56,300
Evolution from medieval warrior 
Kings to constitutional monarchs

6279
05:51:56,300 --> 05:51:59,100
reflects Humanities broader 
journey toward more 

6280
05:51:59,100 --> 05:52:01,000
sophisticated forms of social 
organization. 

6281
05:52:02,300 --> 05:52:05,400
Each generation built upon 
previous achievements while 

6282
05:52:05,400 --> 05:52:08,400
adapting to New Challenges, 
creating institutional, 

6283
05:52:08,400 --> 05:52:11,800
continuity that allowed gradual 
transformation rather than 

6284
05:52:11,800 --> 05:52:15,400
revolutionary upheaval tonight, 
as you drift towards sleep, you 

6285
05:52:15,400 --> 05:52:18,300
carry with you, the stories of 
nearly 1000 years of human 

6286
05:52:18,300 --> 05:52:22,900
creativity adaptation and the 
endless fascinating complexity 

6287
05:52:22,900 --> 05:52:25,900
of people learn to live together
in organized societies. 

6288
05:52:26,800 --> 05:52:30,000
Sweet dreams and may your rest 
be as peaceful as a medieval 

6289
05:52:30,000 --> 05:52:31,900
Monastery Garden on a quiet 
summer evening.