The Norman Conquest of 1066, culminating in the legendary Battle of Hastings, is perhaps the greatest turning point in the history of the English nation. It was a year that changed the fate of England forever, forging empires, and settling continents. And yet, despite its infamy and significance, the true nature of those totemic events are often forgotten. So what happened in the build up to the Battle of Hastings? The dramas of 1066 were set in motion by a succession crisis in 975 AD, following the death of King Edgar. England by that time was the wealthiest and best run government in Northern Europe, a kingdom of united English speaking peoples, established by Alfred the Great and his successors. Following the mysterious death of Edgar’s first son, Edward, his second son, Æthelred - later known as ‘The Unready’ - took the throne. For many years his kingdom flourished, until disaster struck: the Vikings returned to reign terror upon the Anglo-Saxon people, under the leadership of the terrifying Olaf Tryggvason, King of Norway. With his coffers straining, his people enslaved, and his lands shrinking, Æthelred, now wed to the foreign Emma of Normandy, finally decided to take drastic action, and weed the Vikings out once and for all. So it was that with the dawning of the millennium, a terrible, bloody massacre began…. Join Tom and Dominic as they set out upon one of greatest narratives in all English history, with the build up to 1066 and the Battle of Hastings. Would England survive the wrath of the Vikings? EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/restishistory Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! _______ Twitter: @TheRestHistory @holland_tom @dcsandbrook Producer: Theo Young-Smith Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett + Aaliyah Akude Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chapter 1: Why is the Norman Conquest so significant?
Thank you for listening to The Rest Is History. For weekly bonus episodes, ad-free listening, early access to series, and membership of our much-loved chat community, go to therestishistory.com and join the club. That is therestishistory.com. The Norman Conquest is the great turning point in the history of the English nation.
Since the first settlement of the English in Britain, the introduction of Christianity is the only event which can compare with it in importance. And there is this wide difference between the two. The introduction of Christianity was an event which would hardly fail to happen sooner or later.
In accepting the gospel, the English only followed the same law which sooner or later affected all the Teutonic nations. But the Norman conquest is something which stands without a parallel in any other Teutonic land. If that conquest be only looked on in its true light, it is impossible to exaggerate its importance.
And yet, there is no event whose true nature has been more commonly and more utterly mistaken. So that was Edward Augustus Freeman, who is the Regis Professor of History at Oxford University. And this is the opening of his gargantuan six-volume history of the Norman Conquest, which was commissioned to mark its 800th anniversary, the 800th anniversary of the Battle of Hastings.
And it was published. It took him 13 years to publish it between 1867 and 1879. And Tom, finally in the rest is history. we come to the greatest narrative of English history. And at its centre is the most famous year in our history. It's the astonishingly thrilling and unpredictable events of 1066.
Yes, a year, as you said, of unbelievable drama. And as Edward Augustus Freeman said, a year that is perhaps the decisive dividing line in English history. And the drama revolves, I suppose, at its most basic around three men, doesn't it? Yeah. So you have the King of England, who comes to the throne on the 5th of January, 1066, Harold Godwinson.
And over the course of 1066, he fights two great battles against invaders who are aiming to topple him from his throne. And the first of these invaders, Harold Hardrada, the hard ruler, the King of Norway, he fails in his attempt. But the second invader, William the Duke of Normandy, succeeds. And Harold perishes in this great battle fought outside Hastings.
I would say the most decisive battle in not just English, but British history. He is then crowned king on Christmas Day in 1066. And he establishes Norman rule permanently over a conquered people.
So Tom, we're going to get into this story in tremendous and thrilling detail in the weeks that follow. But first of all, you said British history. So obviously this happens in England, but it's enormously significant in the long run for Wales and for Scotland, but also for Ireland too, am I right?
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Chapter 2: Who were the key figures in the events leading to 1066?
So it's not surprising that when Athelred gets reports that these Viking ships with their English loot and captives are going to Norman ports, he's not surprised in the slightest. This is what he would expect.
And yet there is another side to the story, which is that As you said, as time has passed, these people have been slowly, dare I say, Frenchified. They've become a little bit more Christian over time.
Is that fair? And Frankish. So the title that they are given is the Count of Rouen. That's a Latinate title. Again, you can see the way in which even their language is changing by the fact that Rollo's son is William. That is not a Viking name. William is praised by a monk as a lover of peace and a lover and consoler of the poor and a defender of orphans and a protector of widows. Is that true?
Well, those are lines that are written to commemorate his murder by the Count of Flanders. William had gone to meet the Count of Flanders under truce. And as a good Christian who had sworn an oath not to take a sword, he had assumed that the Count of Flanders would do the same. And poor old William ends up being cut down.
So in a sense, he's proven himself more Christian than the Count of Flanders. And we mentioned Richard the Fearless, this guy who looks like Odin, kind of wandering around and fighting the dead. His son is also called Richard, and he becomes so admired for his piety that he is given the title Richard the Good. And he's a great founder of monasteries. He's a great patron of churches.
He has excellent relations with the king of, let's call him the king of France by this point, you know, West Francia, this, this kind of realm that is evolving out of what had been the empire of Charlemagne and, and, and kind of becoming the kingdom of France. It won't be called France until much later, but I think we can call it France without too much risk of anachronism. And, and,
Richard the Good, he's a loyal ally of the French king. And I think he's kind of angling for a promotion. He's a bit bored of being the Count of Rouen. He started to call himself the Duke of Normandy and he wants the French king and everyone else to kind of buy into this as well. And And so you can see that the Viking and the Christian and the Frankish are all part of the mix.
And because you have this Christian element, there is actually something there for Athelred to play with.
Right, because could you not argue, if you're him, you could say, instead of just buying these people off year after year, or maybe trying to fight them, why don't I say to them, you know, I don't know, a bit like the Romans with the Germanic tribes. Why don't you say to them, guys, you know, why don't you just come and live here and you can police the coast for me?
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