Time Crashers - Episode 2

Good morning, the Time Crashers are going to take part in a Medieval Jousting Tournament.  The run time for this episode is 46:17.

The year is 1468 and it was a year of peace in England.  It was one of the few years of the Wars of the Roses that did not have fighting in it.  The Time Crashers find themselves in Derbyshire and at a jousting tournament.  They are squires serving the knights.  The ten Time Crashers are divided into two teams: Red and Black.  They are competing with each other to prepare the knight for the tournament.  The tournament allowed knights to practice their war games.  War games were not a sporting spectacle.  It was a way for young men to flex their muscles.  Even the King participated in these tournaments. 

Keith Allen takes charge of the Red team and reads out the Time Crashers’ guide.  It is here that they learn they will compete for the Black Team.  Chris Ramsey of the Black Team sizes up the competition.  Being a squire was a man’s job.  So women are going to be considered as men for this period.  Kristie Alley is delighted that she is in a masculine role because her status would have been raised. 

The team meets up with the men who will be in charge of them.  The boss will make sure that everything is followed.  The Blacks and the Reds compete with each other, and the team that wins the competition will be treated to a feast.  The losers get nothing.  The Time Crashers then meet up with the Knight.  The Time Team signs the indentures.  Germaine is taking his new role seriously.  Kristie is liking the period.  1468 would have given the people a chance to lift their lot.

The squires’ work is at the heart of the Knight’s success.  It was not just the joust itself that determined the winner.  How the knight behaved.  How the people beneath the knight behaved.  How clean the armor was.  How the knight looked on his horse.  There were plenty of factors that determined the winner of the joust. 

The Reds immediately set to work.  The Time Crashers will have five hours to prepare the knight.  They are preparing the lance and it is twelve feet long.  The blacks are struggling to divide up the jobs.  Louise and Fern will work with the horses and it is here that Louise takes charge.  Germaine will work with the knight’s kit. 

Kristie works on the knight’s shield and she is trying to match the Knight’s crest.  The Reds are coming together well.  They each have a different set of skills and are voicing their concerns when necessary.  The Blacks are working on polishing the knight’s armor.  The boys chat about the life of a squire and the knight.  Louise and Fern are at loggerheads over cleaning the horse.

Time continues to go on.  However, there is a concern in the camp that the knight is not well enough to take part in the joust.  One of the men will have to take the jar of urine to the barber-surgeon.  Barber surgeons cut hair, pulled teeth, and cut off limbs.  Urine played an important role in determining health.  The barber-surgeon determined that the knight is well enough to fight.  The Red team works on cleaning the horse.  Kristie is in her element cleaning the horse.  Keith and Greg take the Red Knight’s armor in for maintenance. 

The Time Crashers worked through the morning without eating and they come to eat.  Eating was a communal affair.  Knights and Squires lived by a strict code.  Keith goes off to find fruit for the vegetarian on the team.  However, the theft did not go unnoticed and Keith is told off by the knight.  Meg enjoys her ill-gotten fruit.  Knights and squires were required to live by the code of chivalry.  In two hours the joust will begin.  The reds have raced ahead while the Blacks have fallen behind.  Will the Blacks manage to catch up?  Who will win the tournament?  Which team will emerge victorious?  Tune into the rest of this episode to find out more.

This was a fascinating look at knights and tournaments.  It was good to look at the life of squires.  This would be a good episode to show in the classroom.