Re: (Rathe short) Actual Medieval Stuff according to the History ?Channel...

Larry Swain <giles@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Paul J Gans wrote:
am05@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

On Sep 23, 12:50 pm, Paul J Gans <g...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:


Speaking about things medieval:


Day or two ago I bumped into History Channel's (or perhaps it was
Military History Channel) program on (surprise, surprise) Knights
Templars. Unfortunately, I switched to this channel somewhere in the
middle and had to turn TV off before program ended so I probably
missed quite a few 'jewels' but what I did see was, errrr....
'interesting':


According to the authors, some of the KT's (besides those who decided
to keep operating in Portugal under the different name) settled in
Switzerland because (a) they were bankers and (b) terrain was fitting
for their fighting style. As a result, the early victories of the
cantons against the Austrians were due to the KT's.


Of course, it is quite possible that I missed explanations on what was
common tactics-wise between Swiss pikemen and the mounted KT's or how
come that these Templars had been manifestly dormant for 3 plus
centuries before launching Swiss banking industry (I was under
impression that it was started mostly by the French Hugenots somewhere
in the late XVII but who am I to argue?)...


:-)


I know a number of medieval historians who have been paid to be
"talking heads" on such shows. One thing I learned is that
they film *hours* of interviews with the historians -- and then
use about 10 minutes, broken up, of what *they* chose to use.

The result has actually shamed some of the historians. On the
other hand, one can seriously increase one's salary by doing
such shows. Capitalism rules!

The upshot is that the important thing on such shows is who
the producers are, who the director is, and who paid the bills.

Beyond that, books are more important.


Yes, I confirm this. There have been a number of conversations at
conferences and on elists about this very thing that Paul mentions. If
you sign on to do one of these programs, you have absolutely no say or
control of the program, what they air, even of what they decide to use
of the interview of yourself.......

But they do fly you out to the location, house and feed you
well, and pay a fair bit too...

--
--- Paul J. Gans
.

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