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| · | Introduction |
| 0:01 | · | The Norman Conquest was the biggest land |
| 0:03 | · | grab in Western medieval history. |
| 0:07 | · | This prosperous, stable country called England |
| 0:10 | · | was just taken by William, Duke of Normandy |
| 0:13 | · | seemingly overnight. And stone castles like this one |
| 0:19 | · | sprang up all over the land. |
| 0:24 | · | This is Pevensey Castle, |
| 0:26 | · | the first Norman castle on English soil. |
| 0:30 | · | But it's actually a repurposed Roman fort. |
| 0:35 | · | Of course, England had been invaded before. |
| 0:38 | · | There were the Romans, but they eventually left. |
| 0:42 | · | Then the Vikings, |
| 0:44 | · | but they never gained complete control. |
| 0:48 | · | But when the Normans invaded in 1066, |
| 0:52 | · | they created a regime that lasted. |
| 0:55 | · | They transformed the country, and they left traces |
| 0:59 | · | that we can still see to this day. |
| 1:04 | · | In fact, we can trace a line |
| 1:06 | · | from William the Conqueror to our current monarch, |
| 1:11 | · | King Charles the Third. |
| 1:15 | · | But this belies the truth |
| 1:17 | · | of how difficult the conquest really was. |
| 1:21 | · | It took two decades for William to cement Norman rule. |
| 1:26 | · | So how did he do it? |
| 1:29 | · | And was William a conqueror |
| 1:31 | · | or a war criminal? |
| 1:37 | · | I think I'll begin my investigation in the place |
| 1:40 | · | where William's master plan for conquest was originally formed. |
| 1:45 | · | Normandy, in northwest France. |
| 1:50 | · | Duke William built his castle |
| 1:52 | · | here at Cong in 1060. |
| 1:55 | · | He did it to consolidate |
| 1:58 | · | his control over all of this part of France here. |
| 2:03 | · | He was a Norman, the word coming from Northman |
| 2:06 | · | or even Norseman, because William's |
| 2:09 | · | ancestors were warlike Vikings from Scandinavia. |
| 2:13 | · | They came down here and they settled. |
| 2:15 | · | And once they made this their home, they renamed it |
| 2:19 | · | as Normandy. |
| · | William the Conqueror |
| 2:22 | · | At this point, William wasn't known |
| 2:25 | · | as William the Conqueror, but William the Bastard. |
| 2:29 | · | He'd risen a long way as the |
| 2:32 | · | illegitimate son of Robert the 1st of Normandy. |
| 2:37 | · | Now he wanted to expand his territory |
| 2:40 | · | and conquer the lands across the English Channel. |
| 2:45 | · | If William ever came up here himself, |
| 2:48 | · | I think he'd have spent his time looking in that direction. |
| 2:52 | · | Because 100 miles over there is the English coast. |
| 2:55 | · | And on the 5th of January, 1066, |
| 3:00 | · | the English King Edward the Confessor. |
| 3:02 | · | Died. |
| 3:04 | · | Without leaving an obvious successor. |
| 3:06 | · | And William believed that he was the rightful heir |
| 3:10 | · | to the English crown. |
| 3:14 | · | There's one astonishing historical artifact |
| 3:17 | · | just a few miles away in the town of Bayeux, |
| 3:21 | · | which might explain exactly why William believed this. |
| 3:25 | · | It's not a book or a manuscript. |
| 3:29 | · | It's nearly 230 |
| 3:31 | · | feet long, and it's over 900 years old. |
| · | The Bayeux Tapestry |
| 3:37 | · | It's kept in the dark. |
| 3:40 | · | Quite literally, for its own protection. |
| 3:47 | · | There it is. |
| 3:49 | · | The Bayeux Tapestry. |
| 3:55 | · | This tapestry shows the invasion of England |
| 3:59 | · | and the Battle of Hastings in 1066 |
| 4:02 | · | as a heroic enterprise. |
| 4:08 | · | It's basically a medieval movie. |
| 4:11 | · | It tells the story, scene |
| 4:14 | · | by scene, from beginning to end. |
| 4:18 | · | And did you know it's not actually a tapestry at all? |
| 4:21 | · | The pictures are stitched on, which is embroidery. |
| 4:26 | · | This is women's work, and I suspect that the men |
| 4:30 | · | who give names to things |
| 4:31 | · | like this don't necessarily know what they're looking at. |
| 4:34 | · | But the first thing that strikes me is the sheer scale of it. |
| 4:39 | · | Look how long it is. |
| 4:41 | · | And it goes off right round the corner. |
| 4:44 | · | It's just a stunning piece of work. |
| 4:51 | · | And here's the scene I'm looking for. |
| 4:55 | · | It depicts a |
| 4:56 | · | pact which allegedly took place between two of the main |
| 5:00 | · | contenders for the English throne. |
| 5:04 | · | The hero of the tapestry, that's William. |
| 5:07 | · | And Harold, King Edward the Confessor's |
| 5:10 | · | brother in law. |
| 5:14 | · | This is Harold. |
| 5:15 | · | And you can tell because of his ginger mustache. |
| 5:19 | · | The Anglo-Saxons have mustaches. |
| 5:21 | · | The Normans are all clean shaven. |
| 5:24 | · | And what's happening here? |
| 5:25 | · | It says in the caption. |
| 5:27 | · | This is the bit where Harold, |
| 5:30 | · | he "fecit a sacramentum." |
| 5:32 | · | He makes an oath to Duke William |
| 5:36 | · | of Normandy, whos that chap there |
| 5:39 | · | And Harold is touching |
| 5:40 | · | a casket full of holy relics |
| 5:43 | · | to make the oath even more powerful. |
| 5:44 | · | And in his oath, he swears he will support. |
| 5:47 | · | William's claim to be king. |
| 5:50 | · | Let's see what happens next. |
| 5:52 | · | Well. |
| 5:54 | · | Oh, here we go. |
| 5:55 | · | Edward the Confessor dies. |
| 5:58 | · | There's his dead body. |
| 6:00 | · | He's "defunctus" - he's defunct. |
| 6:04 | · | And in this scene, |
| 6:07 | · | Harold has made himself king. |
| 6:10 | · | "Rex Anglorum," King of the English. |
| 6:14 | · | It says. |
| 6:16 | · | So in this version of the story, at least the Norman |
| 6:20 | · | version of the story, Harold has betrayed William. |
| 6:23 | · | This is why William is justified in invading England. |
| · | The Battle of Hastings |
| 6:31 | · | But like all historical sources, |
| 6:34 | · | the tapestry has an agenda. |
| 6:38 | · | It was commissioned by William's half brother Odo, |
| 6:42 | · | Bishop of Bayeux, and it was basically propaganda |
| 6:46 | · | justifying William's invasion of England. |
| 6:50 | · | On the 28th September 1066, |
| 6:54 | · | William's fleets of hundreds of ships carrying thousands of men |
| 6:59 | · | landed here at Pevensey on the south coast of England |
| 7:06 | · | This is the very beach where the Normans landed. |
| 7:11 | · | But the battle took place a few miles away in that |
| 7:14 | · | direction at Hastings. |
| 7:16 | · | It was a brutal fight. |
| 7:19 | · | It lasted for more than nine hours. |
| 7:26 | · | You could |
| 7:27 | · | be forgiven for thinking that although William's |
| 7:29 | · | victory was hard won, it was basically inevitable. |
| 7:34 | · | The tapestry suggests that the Normans had |
| 7:37 | · | enormous military superiority. |
| 7:45 | · | Here are the Norman knights. |
| 7:47 | · | And what's brilliant is the way that you see them moving off. |
| 7:50 | · | They're starting to gallop off. |
| 7:52 | · | It's really exciting. |
| 7:54 | · | And here are the Norman archers. |
| 7:57 | · | It's really striking that the Normans have got better weapons. |
| 8:01 | · | They've got these horses. They've got bows and arrows. |
| 8:04 | · | The poor Anglo-Saxons have only got things like axes and clubs. |
| 8:08 | · | You do get the impression that this indomitable. |
| 8:11 | · | Norman war machine, |
| 8:14 | · | The Storm Troopers are coming. |
| 8:22 | · | The Bayeux tapestry |
| 8:23 | · | famously ends with the death of Harold. |
| 8:28 | · | An arrow from a Norman archer |
| 8:31 | · | hits him in the eye. |
| 8:37 | · | It's a heroic end to the story. |
| 8:42 | · | Harold is dead, and William, the rightful king is triumphant. |
| 8:48 | · | But is this what really happened? |
| 8:53 | · | There's another source that historians now |
| 8:56 | · | believe to be |
| 8:57 | · | one of the earliest depictions of the Battle of Hastings. |
| 9:01 | · | This Latin poem, probably dating from |
| 9:04 | · | 1068, has a very different story |
| 9:07 | · | to tell about Harold's last moments. |
| 9:12 | · | It's called The Common |
| 9:14 | · | or the song at the Battle of Hastings, |
| 9:17 | · | written two years after the battle, we think. |
| 9:20 | · | And according to this version, |
| 9:23 | · | it took four Norman soldiers to finish him off. |
| 9:27 | · | It's quite hard to read, |
| 9:29 | · | but I've got some notes here from the translation. |
| 9:32 | · | It says the first of them did the job of |
| 9:36 | · | shattering his breast through his shield. |
| 9:39 | · | The second, by his sword, severed the head. |
| 9:43 | · | The third of them by his spear, poured forth |
| 9:46 | · | the body's entrails. |
| 9:50 | · | And then the fourth of them hued of a leg. |
| 9:54 | · | Some other translations say it was a different body part |
| 9:57 | · | than that. |
| 9:58 | · | And then, being removed, he drove it afar. |
| 10:00 | · | He threw the body part away. |
| 10:04 | · | So that makes it |
| 10:05 | · | sound like Harold was really difficult to kill. |
| 10:09 | · | And there's no mention at all of the arrow going |
| 10:11 | · | into his eye. |
| 10:13 | · | Unlike the tapestry, the poem is an unsanitized, hyper violent |
| 10:19 | · | account of the battle. |
| 10:23 | · | Harold's body was so mutilated |
| 10:26 | · | it could only be identified by some marks on his skin. |
| 10:31 | · | One of those four Normans who killed |
| 10:33 | · | Harold was William himself. |
| 10:36 | · | I wonder if this poem is |
| 10:38 | · | the more accurate predictor at the violence still to come |
| 10:42 | · | after the battle. |
| 10:45 | · | When it was over and William had won, |
| 10:48 | · | he wasn't automatically King of England. |
| 10:51 | · | He was kind of in limbo. |
| 10:54 | · | He waited for the English to formally surrender to him, |
| 10:59 | · | but nobody came. |
