An International City: Chester in the Middle Ages

Dr Katherine Wilson, Senior Lecturer in Medieval History at the University of Chester, shows us how Chester in the Middle Ages was a thriving, international city, with global trade links, through evidence we can still see today in the buildings themselves and in the Grosvenor Museum.

[@christabedwin]

What a delight!! Thank you for making this video. I paused it several times to enjoy looking more closely at the excellent images you chose.

[@tomskih203]

Brilliant video. I hope she does more.

[@orionaerialimages]

Very interesting facts about Chester, amazing that the water tower was actually in the river Dee back then. Love the visuals also 👍

[@sylviadunn1622]

However much we know (or think we know!) about the history of Chester, there is also so much more to discover. Fascinating, thank you!

[@annstubbs2256]

So much to learn

[@stephwoodhouse3223]

Really fascinating. I especially enjoyed the use of the reconstruction images. Hope there will be more episodes to explore medieval Chester in more depth. Thank you.

[@This_doesnt_feel_right]

I'm a child and going to Chester museum on Thursday :)

[@damiancarratt2398]

Great, thank you 👍👍👍

[@RalphEllis]

The elliptical building in Fortress Dewa is a Temple of the Zodiac. Or more precisely, it was a Vesica Piscis shape and therefor a Temple of Pisces. (Note: the precessional Great Month of Pisces began in AD 10.) So where else in the Empire do we find precessional zodiacs? Ah yes, the Nazarene Jews venerated the zodiac in Judaea, which is why we get so many zodiacs in synagogues - like at Hamat Teverya and Huqoq in Galilee. And the Chester Temple of the Zodiac was designed in Egyptian royal cubits - the same measurement system used by the Jews, as it says in the Torah. Ok, so now we know what the Chester fortress really was for. It was a vast 1st century Guantanamo Bay, built by Emperor Vespasian to hold the dangerous rebel leaders from the Jewish Revolt. (It was built a year after the Revolt ended.). Rome wanted to keep these rebel leaders (the kings and princes of Adiabene-Edessa) as far from their power base in the East as possible. And they did not want to kill them, as happened with the British Druids, and spark a massive revolt like the Icenae Revolt, which happened only ten years previously. So they built Fortress Dewa; a Guantanamo Bay with a separate: accommodation block, exercise yard, bath house, and Temple of the Zodiac - to hold rebel leaders from the Jewish Revolt. Note: The elliptical Temple was destroyed in AD 110, after all the rebel leaders had died (of old age). But the eliptical Temple of the Zodiac was rebuilt in AD 222, after Emperor Elagabalus was deposed. Why? Because Elagabalus was a Galilean eunuch, and priest of the sacred Elagabal stone - and thus he was of exactly the same religion as the 1st century Galilean rebels of the Jewish Revolt. So the priests and administrators of Elagabalus’ regime (and Elagabalus himself?) were similarly exiled to Fortress Dewa. And to keep him and his religion happy, the Romans rebuilt the Temple of the Zodiac. And although it was a slightly different shape (fatter) it was again designed and built in Egypto-Israelite royal cubits. Ralph

[@stevejones4275]

you say little about your closest neighbouring nation, WALES, Chester ias above all else a border town.

[@nickdavies3075]

I’ve lived there my whole life it’s less interesting to me